Monographs by Zev Farber
What is the bond between a cultural icon and the surrounding culture? Using Joshua as an exemplar... more What is the bond between a cultural icon and the surrounding culture? Using Joshua as an exemplar, this book investigates the presentation of his character in the Bible and explores the continuities and discontinuities in his reception among classical interpreters, Jewish, Christian and Samaritan. The study of a hero shared by several cultures sheds light on the elements that bind these cultures together as well as those that keep them apart.
Edited Volumes by Zev Farber
Ancient Near Eastern Monographs, 2018
Essays from an international group of experts on the ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible honor... more Essays from an international group of experts on the ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible honor Oded Borowski's pioneering work in the archaeology and history of ancient Israel and Judah. Contributors approach the question of what we know of eighth-century Judah from multiple angles, including a survey of Judah's neighbors, the land of Judah and its cities, daily life and material culture, religious beliefs and practices, and early forms of what are now biblical texts.
Papers by Zev Farber
10. Yaakov Levado, “Gayness and God: Wrestlings of an Orthodox Rabbi”
Religions , 2019
The Pentateuch and later Jewish tradition associates the key pilgrimage festivals with stories ab... more The Pentateuch and later Jewish tradition associates the key pilgrimage festivals with stories about Israel's past. Nevertheless, these festivals all began as agricultural or seasonal festivals. Using comparative evidence from the ancient Near East, and looking at the Covenant Collection, the earliest biblical law collection, through a redaction critical lens, we can uncover the early history of these festivals and even how they developed in stages. A similar process is evident with the Sabbath, which appears to have begun as a moon festival, as per certain biblical references and from comparative evidence, but which eventually developed into the seventh day of rest as part of the institution of the week, and then comes to be associated with the story of God resting after creation. These developments, from celebrating agricultural and lunar cycles to celebrating mnemohistorical events, can be seen as part of two parallel processes: the coalescing of Israelite cultural memory and the institution of the linear calendar as the dominant conception of time.
Archaeology and History of Eighth-Century Judah, 2018
An overview of the religious beliefs and practices in Judah in the 8th century B.C.E. using archa... more An overview of the religious beliefs and practices in Judah in the 8th century B.C.E. using archaeological data and critical Bible studies.
Now It Happened in Those Days": Studies in Biblical, Assyrian, and Other Ancient Near Eastern Historiography Presented to Mordechai Cogan on His 75th Birthday , 2017
Certain texts about Joshua appearing in the book of Joshua and the Pentateuch appear to have been... more Certain texts about Joshua appearing in the book of Joshua and the Pentateuch appear to have been cut from a lost work or lost works about Joshua by a later editor and placed into the biblical books in which they are now found.
From Creation to Redemption: Progressive Approaches to Midrash, 2017
The article argues that Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities is closely connected to Rabbinic trad... more The article argues that Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities is closely connected to Rabbinic tradition and may offer a glimpse at the Jewish world of the late Pharisees/early Rabbis.
Halakhic Realities - Collected Essays on Organ Donation, 2017
The ability to graft cadaveric skin onto burn victims and other people in need became controversi... more The ability to graft cadaveric skin onto burn victims and other people in need became controversial in Israeli hospitals in the 70s and 80s, both because restoring skin was not thought of by some halakhic authorities as "life-saving" and because skin needed to be banked in large quantities in preparation for emergencies such as battles or terrorist attacks. Co-authored with Irving (Yitz) Greenberg.
Halakhic Realities - Collected Essays on Organ Donation, 2017
As the ability to retrieve corneas from cadavers and use them to restore people's eyesight became... more As the ability to retrieve corneas from cadavers and use them to restore people's eyesight became possible, halakhists debated whether the degradation of a corpse would be permissible for to accomplish this, since restoring eyesight does not fit the usual category of "saving a life." Co-authored with Irving (Yitz) Greenberg.
Halakhic Realities: Collected Essays on Organ Donation, 2017
In the early 1900s, a debate broke out between rabbinic authorities in the US about whether it wa... more In the early 1900s, a debate broke out between rabbinic authorities in the US about whether it was appropriate for the National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives in Denver to be performing autopsies. Co-authored with Irving (Yitz) Greenberg.
Halakhic Realities: Collected Essays on Organ Donation, 2017
A historical survey of the debate about whether autopsies should be permitted according to halakh... more A historical survey of the debate about whether autopsies should be permitted according to halakha (Jewish law), focusing on the difference between authorities who express optimism about science and medicine and those who express skepticism, sometimes extreme skepticism. Co-authored with Irving (Yitz) Greenberg.
Halakhic Realities: Collected Essays on Brain Death, ed. Zev Farber, 2015
An argument for upper-brain death or death of the conscious mind as the preferable definition of ... more An argument for upper-brain death or death of the conscious mind as the preferable definition of "human death" as opposed to the standard (lower) brainstem death, which focuses on the loss of autonomous breathing and certain other autonomic reflexes. The argument is made both from a scientific as well as a Jewish Law perspective.
Halakhic Realities: Collected Essays on Brain Death, ed. Zev Farber, 2015
Rabbi Hershel Schachter has argued that brain death cannot be the proper definition of death acco... more Rabbi Hershel Schachter has argued that brain death cannot be the proper definition of death according to halakha based on his interpretation of the concept of "vital organs" in b. Arakhin and Nazir. Here I argue that his interpretation of these Talmudic pericopae is mistaken and that the concept has no bearing on the modern issue of brain death.
Journal of Hebrew Scriptures v. 13 a. 12, 2013
This article analyzes the halakhic issues regarding changing the nussah¸ for the three daily bles... more This article analyzes the halakhic issues regarding changing the nussah¸ for the three daily blessings about not being created as a gentile, a slave, or a woman (“the Creation Blessings”) in light of the current controversy about them. Taking the birkot ha-shahar (“the Morning Blessings”) as a comparative model, I survey how fluid or static the Morning Blessings and the Creation Blessings have been over the centuries, and try to design a working paradigm for halakhically acceptable fluidity of nussah. I conclude by discussing the pros and cons of previous solutions to the sociological problem and finally offer my own suggestion for an alternative nussah¸ that seems both halakhically defensible and more in keeping with contemporary mores.
Relegere 3:1, pp. 121-147, 2013
Three translations of the opening word of the Torah through the lens of classical commentaries an... more Three translations of the opening word of the Torah through the lens of classical commentaries and ANE parallels.
This article surveys the reasons for leniency and strictness offered on the question of whether a... more This article surveys the reasons for leniency and strictness offered on the question of whether a convert to Judaism (ger) can serve on a conversion panel (beit din le-giyyur) and argues for the correctness of the lenient view.
This piece discusses the position of the ger (convert) in rabbinic literature and halakha.
Mishpetei Shalom - A Jubilee Volume in Honor of Rabbi Saul (Shalom) Berman, pp. 191-231, 2010
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Monographs by Zev Farber
Edited Volumes by Zev Farber
Papers by Zev Farber