Papers by Hallel Baitner
![Research paper thumbnail of Antioch in Eretz Israel. The Palestinian Targumim to Num 31:7-11 Reconsidered, in: T. Forderer and D. Schumann (eds.), Antiochia I Frühchristliche und diasporajüdische Identitätsbildung im Ausstrahlungsbereich einer antiken Großstadt, Mohr Siebeck 2024 [Please contact me for the full version]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/120002872/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The halakhic status of Syria in terms of agricultural and purity laws is a controversial issue in... more The halakhic status of Syria in terms of agricultural and purity laws is a controversial issue in rabbinic literature. According to some sources, the laws that apply in Eretz Israel apply also there. Others, however, consider Syria as a foreign territory, or “outside the land” (ḥutz la’aretz). This paper is not aimed to offer a comprehensive review of the relevant sources or to offer a theory for the interrelations and development of the rabbinic views in the matter. Instead, it focuses on traces of a non-rabbinic discourse on this issue, which have been arguably preserved in the Palestinian targumic tradition of Num 34:7–11, as well as in several rabbinic sources. I want to suggest that diasporic and other non-rabbinic views concerning the Land of Israel and its special laws, together with the unique sociocultural relationships between Syrian and Palestinian Jews, have contributed to the ambiguity of Syria’s halakhic status.
![Research paper thumbnail of The Sanctity of the War Camp and of Jerusalem in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in Early Rabbinic Writings, Meghillot 17 (2024) [Hebrew]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/120002627/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Meghillot , 2024
The Torah legislates the sanctity of the Israelites' camp in the wilderness by excluding defiled ... more The Torah legislates the sanctity of the Israelites' camp in the wilderness by excluding defiled people from it (Num. 5:1–4 and other sources). It has long been recognized that in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jerusalem’s sanctity is derived from the purity laws of the wilderness camp. The influence of those laws on the rabbinic view of Jerusalem and the Temple has also been described. The law of the war camp, which includes the exclusion of defiled people and a ban on defecation within the premises (Deut. 23:10–15), has also influenced the Qumranic legislation of Jerusalem, as well as the inner rules of the Yachad.
This paper claims, however, that the exegetical synthesis of the two camp laws has not yet been fully described. It turns out that both the sectarian writers and the rabbis thought that the Torah offered two different models of camps that should both be applied to the area of Jerusalem and the Temple, albeit not in the same way. The Qumranic view treated each city as a “camp”, but applied the laws of the war camp only to Jerusalem. The rabbinic Halakhah, however, located these two camps in the Temple Mount, leaving the rest of Jerusalem and the Land of Israel free of the definition of “camp”.
This paper claims, however, that the exegetical synthesis of the two camp laws has not yet been fully described. It turns out that both the sectarian writers and the rabbis thought that the Torah offered two different models of camps that should both be applied to the area of Jerusalem and the Temple, albeit not in the same way. The Qumranic view treated each city as a “camp”, but applied the laws of the war camp only to Jerusalem. The rabbinic Halakhah, however, located these two camps in the Temple Mount, leaving the rest of Jerusalem and the Land of Israel free of the definition of “camp”.
Continuity and innovation in architectural depictions of the Jerusalem Temple
Journal of Jewish Studies, 2023
Architectural depictions of the Israelite or Jewish sanctuaries are found throughout ancient Jewi... more Architectural depictions of the Israelite or Jewish sanctuaries are found throughout ancient Jewish literature, from the tabernacle account in Exodus to the Mishnah. This article examines how and to what extent the attempt to create architectural continuity has influenced some of the depictions of both the First and the Second Temple composed during the Second Temple period. It turns out that similar exegetical challenges underlie the Temple accounts of Chronicles, Josephus and the Mishnah, and their depictions were influenced not only by their historical sources but also by their exegetical and ideological views. The discourse on continuity and innovation in the architecture of the Temple is part of the larger question of the relation to the biblical past, which has preoccupied Jewish authors in the Second Temple period and in the first centuries after the destruction.
Journal for the Study of Judaism, 2020
The Hebrew Bible reflects ambiguity concerning the historical existence of the Levites as a group... more The Hebrew Bible reflects ambiguity concerning the historical existence of the Levites as a group distinguished from the priesthood. Post-exilic and late Second Temple sources also present a variety of voices concerning the extent to which Levites participated in the temple’s worship. This article argues that, while rabbinic sources appear to portray a straightforward retrospective description of the Levites as a group of temple-servants who are clearly subordinated to the priests and responsible for temple singing, a closer reading reveals differences of opinion. Disagreements concerning the exact place in the temple in which the Levites used to sing, reflect significantly different views concerning the status of the Levites in the temple and the importance of their singing. This rabbinic dispute echoes similar late Second Temple period controversies, and sources from the two periods may shed light on each other.
Tarbiz 87, 2020
Philo repeatedly describes the custom of sprinkling water mixed with the ashes of the
red heifer ... more Philo repeatedly describes the custom of sprinkling water mixed with the ashes of the
red heifer on people entering the Temple, even if they are ritually pure. Since this custom
contradicts biblical and rabbinic law, which requires this sprinkling only for corpse impurity,
scholars have claimed that Philo’s testimony does not reflect a ritual actually practiced in
first-century Jerusalem. This paper reevaluates the evidence, pointing out hitherto overlooked
aspects of rabbinic and early Christian texts that support Philo and affirm the existence of the
custom – a ritual which resembles contemporaneous Hellenistic purification practices. This
paper also demonstrates how the Rabbis reinterpreted the particulars of this ritual, trying to
reconcile them with their concepts of purity. For the Rabbis, a purification ritual should be
performed only after a defilement, and not, as implied by some Second-Temple sources, as
an act of transition between different levels of sanctity or purity.
red heifer on people entering the Temple, even if they are ritually pure. Since this custom
contradicts biblical and rabbinic law, which requires this sprinkling only for corpse impurity,
scholars have claimed that Philo’s testimony does not reflect a ritual actually practiced in
first-century Jerusalem. This paper reevaluates the evidence, pointing out hitherto overlooked
aspects of rabbinic and early Christian texts that support Philo and affirm the existence of the
custom – a ritual which resembles contemporaneous Hellenistic purification practices. This
paper also demonstrates how the Rabbis reinterpreted the particulars of this ritual, trying to
reconcile them with their concepts of purity. For the Rabbis, a purification ritual should be
performed only after a defilement, and not, as implied by some Second-Temple sources, as
an act of transition between different levels of sanctity or purity.
Thesis Chapters by Hallel Baitner
Reviews by Hallel Baitner
Journal of Jewish Studies, 2021