Talmudic Astrology: Is Israel’s Fate Determined by the Stars?
Rabbi Jeffrey L. Rubenstein, Ph.D., Skirball Professor of Jewish Thought & Literature at New York University, and author of a number of books and articles.
Book Publications
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Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010
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Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003
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Paulist Press, 2002
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Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999
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Scholars Press, 1995
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Jewish Publication Society and University of Nebraska Press, 2018
EDITED BOOKS
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Oxford University Press, 2013
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Nominalism and Realism in Halakha Revisited, special volume of Diné Yisrael 302015
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SBL Press, 2018
“Astrology and the Head of the Academy.” Shoshanat Ya’aqov (Ya’aqov Elman Festschrift). Ed. Shai Secunda and Steven Fine (BRLJ 35; Leiden: Brill, 2012), 303-21.
“The Bavli’s Ethic of Shame.” Conservative Judaism 53:3 (2001), 27-39.
“Bavli Gittin 55B-56B: An Aggadic Narrative in Its Halakhik Context.” Hebrew Studies 38 (1997), 21-45.
“Can a Goses Suvive for More Than Three Days? The History and Definition of the Goses,” Jewish Ethics 2 (2016), 1-37.
“Context and Genre: Elements of a Literary Approach to the Rabbinic Narrative.” How Should Rabbinic Literature be Read in the Modern World. Ed. Matthew Krauss. (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2006), 137-166.
“Coping with the Virtues of the Land of Israel: An Analysis of Bavli Ketubot 110b-112a” [התמודדות עם מעלות ארץ ישראל: ניתוח סוגיית בבלי, כתובות קי ע”א-קיב ע”ב]. In Israel-Diapora Relations in the Second Temple and Talmudic Periods. Ed. I. Gafni (Jerusalem: Shazar Institute, 2004), 159-88 (Hebrew).
“Criteria of Stammaitic Intervention in Aggada.” In Creation and Composition: The Contribution of the Bavli Redactors (Stammaim) to the Aggada. Ed. Jeffrey L. Rubenstein. (Tuebingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2005), 417-440.
“Cultic Themes in Sukkot Piyyutim.” Proceedings of the American Academy of Jewish Religion 49 (1993), 185-209.
“Dialectics and the Aggada of the Bavli” [הדיאלקטיקה כנושא מרכזי באגדה הבבלית]. Dinei Yisrael 24 (2007), 215-233.
“Elisha ben Abuya: Torah and the Sinful Sage.” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 7 (1998), 141-222.
“An Eschatological Drama: Bavli Avoda Zarah 2a-3b.” Association for Jewish Studies Review 21:1 (1996), 1-37.
“Ethics and the Liturgy of Conservative Judaism.” Judaism 40 (Winter, 1991), 95-114.
“The Explanation of Tannaitic Sources by Abstract Principles.” In Neti’ot Ledavid: Jubilee Volume for David Weiss Halivni. [פירושי מקורות תנאייים על ידי עקרונות כלליים ומופשטים]. Eds. Y. Elman, E. Halivni and Z. Steinfeld. (Jerusalem: Orhot Press, 2004), 275-304 (Hebrew).
“From Mythic Motifs to Sustained Myth: The Revision of Rabbinic Traditions in Medieval Midrashim.” Harvard Theological Review 89:2 (1996), 131-160.
“Hero, Saint, and Sage: The Life of R. Eleazar b. R. Shimon in Pesiqta deRav Kahana 11.” The Faces of Torah: Studies in the Texts and Contexts of Ancient Judaism in Honor of Steven Fraade. Ed. Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, Tzvi Novick and Christine Hayes (Vanderhoeck and Ruprecht, 2017).
“Introduction.” In Creation and Composition: The Contribution of the Bavli Redactors (Stammaim) to the Aggada. Ed. Jeffrey L. Rubenstein. (Tuebingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2005), 1-21.
“Introduction.” In The Formation of the Babylonian Talmud, by David Weiss Halivni. Translated, Introduced and Annotated by Jeffrey L. Rubenstein (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), xvii-xxxv.
“King Herod in Ardashir’s Court: The Rabbinic Story of Herod (Bava Batra 3b-4a) in light of Persian Sources.” AJSR 38:2 (2014), 231-56.
“The Laws of Heaven in Sefer Hasidim.” Freedom and Responsibility: Exploring the Dilemmas of Jewish Continuity. Ed. M. Edelman and R. Geffen (Gratz College Festschrift) (New York: Ktav, 1998), 69-89.
“Martyrdom in the Persian Martyr Acts and in the Babylonian Talmud.” The Aggadah of the Bavli and its Cultural World. Ed. Jeffrey L. Rubenstein and Geoffrey Herman (Brown Judaica Series; Providence, RI: SBL Press, 2018)
“Mythic Time and The Festival Cycle.” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 6 (1997), 157-183.
“Nominalism and Realism Again,” Nominalism and Realism in Halakha Revisited, special volume of Diné Yisrael 30 (2015), 79-120.
“Nominalism and Realism in Qumranic and Rabbinic Law: A Reassessment.” Dead Sea Discoveries 6 (1999), 157-183.
“On Some Abstract Concepts in Rabbinic Literature.” Jewish Studies Quarterly 4 (1997), 33-73.
“On the Culture of the Bavli.” In Of Scribes and Sages: Early Jewish Interpretation and Transmission of Scripture, vol. 2.. Ed. Craig E. Evans. (London: T & T Clark, 2004, 115-122.)
“The Plot Against Rabban Shimon b. Gamaliel (bHorayot 13b-14a): A Literary Analysis.” Proceedings of the Twelfth World Congress of Jewish Studies-1998 (2001): 429-444
“Purim, Liminality, and Communitas.” Association for Jewish Studies Review 17 (1992), 247-277.
“A Rabbinic Translation of Relics.” Crossing Boundaries in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity: Ambiguities, Complexities, and Half-Forgotten Adversaries: Essays in Honor of Alan F. Segal. Ed. Kimberly Stratton and Andrea Lieber (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 314-334.
“The Rise of the Babylonian Talmudic Academy: A Reexamination of the Talmudic Evidence.” Jewish Studies, an Internet Journal (http://www.biu.ac.il/JS/JSIJ/jsij1.html; 2002)
“The Role of Disgust in Rabbinic Ethics,” in Michael L. Satlow, ed., Strength to Strength: Essays in Honor of Shaye J.D. Cohen (Providence, Rhode Island: Brown Judaic Studies, 2018), 421-436
“The Sadducees and the Water Libation.” Jewish Quarterly Review 84:4 (1994), 413-440.
“The Shaming of Abdan.” Torah le-Shamma: Shamma Friedman Jubilee Volume. Edited M. Benovitz et al. (Jerusalem: Leshon Limudim, 2008), xx-xlvii.
“Siddur Sim Shalom and Developing Conservative Theology.” Conservative Judaism 49 (Fall, 1988), 21-38
“Social and Institutional Settings of Rabbinic Literature.” The Cambridge Companion to Rabbinic Literature. Eds. Charlotte Fonrobert and Martin Jaffee. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 58-74.
“Some Structural Patterns of Yerushalmi Sugyot.” In The Talmud Yerushalmi in Graeco-Roman Culture III. Ed. Peter Schaefer (Tubingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2003), 303-314
“The Story of the Oven of Akhnai: Literary Analysis” [סיפור תנור של עכנאי: ניתוח ספרותי]. In Higayon L’Yona: New Aspects in the Study of Midrash, Aggadah and Piyyut. in Honor of Yonah Fraenkel. Ed. J. Levinson. (Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 2006), 457-478 (Hebrew).
“The Sukka as Temporary or Permanent Dwelling: A Study in the Development of Talmudic Thought.” Hebrew Union College Annual 64 (1993), 137-166.
“Sukkot, Eschatology and Zechariah 14.” Revue Biblique 103-2 (1996), 161-195.
“The Sukkot Wine Libation.” In Ki Baruch hu, Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical and Judaic Studies in Honor of Baruch A. Levine. Eds. R. Chazan, W.W. Hallo, and L. H. Schiffman (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1998).
“The Symbolism of the Sukkah.” Judaism 43 (Fall, 1994), 371-387.
“The Symbolism of the Sukka (Part 2).” Judaism 45 (1996), 387-398.
“Syriac Christian Sources and the Babylonian Talmud.” Aaron Michael Butts and Simcha Gross (eds.), Jews and Syriac Christians: Intersections across the First Millennium (Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, forthcoming).
“Talmudic Astrology: Bavli Šabbat 156a-b.” Hebrew Union College Annual 78 (2007)
“Talmudic Stories and Their Rewards.” Why Study Talmud in the Twenty-First Century? Ed. Paul Socken (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), 177-94
“The Talmud Expression “Rabbi X, following his reasoning said” [ר’ פלוני לטעמיה דאמר]. Sidra 10 (1995), 111-130 (Hebrew).
“The Thematization of Dialectics in Bavli Aggada.” Journal of Jewish Studies 53:2 (2003), 71-84.
Drisha Kollel, Shiur Klali, July 10, 2020
Talmudic stories typically appear as “solitary” stories integrated within the Talmud’s legal or aggadic discussions and serve a variety of purposes. However, there are some cases of “story-cycles” of three or more stories in succession (sometimes over twenty stories), and these collections have their own function and purpose. We will examine one such story-cycle from Bavli Shabbat 156b, three stories about astrology, to understand its structure, function, literary aspects and meaning.
