The Signifying Creator: Nontextual Sources of Meaning in Ancient Judaism

Index

| 117 Aaron, 39, 43. See also High Priest Abusch, Zvi, 11, 92 Abraham, 39, 41, 65 Adam, 26, 40–42 Agency, 75, 80, 83, 89, 90 Angels, 50, 51–52, 59, 62, 68, 80, 105n79 Animals, 8, 60, 84–89, 96n11, 103n40; created for human consumption, 30–32, 101n79; myths about, 84; punishment of, 84 Art, 10, 39 “Atah Konanta Olam Me-Rosh,” 52 Astrology, 59, 63 Austin, J. L., 1 Automatic writing, 57 Avodah, 8, 25–32, 48–52. See also individual piyyutim Avot (Mishnah Tractate), 13, 42, 76, 98n9 Avot de-Rabbi Natan, 19–20 “Az be-En Kol,” (“When All Was Not”), 25, 28–29, 48, 49, 50, 52, 78 “Azkir Gevurot Elohah” (“Let Me Recount the Wonders of God”), 25–26, 48, 49 Backal, Meir, 70 Barthes, Roland, 34–35 Behemoth, 30 Bell, Catherine, 33 Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus), 45, 50, 51–52 Benjamin, Walter, 57–58 Bibliomancy, 66 Birds, 65, 68–69, 75. See also Raven Blood, 77–83, 113n28; earth’s acceptance of, 78–80; in Greek religion, 77; in Jewish law, 77; sacrificial, 77, 82 Bourdieu, Pierre, 33 Boyarin, Daniel, 96n20, 98n11 Brontology, 62 Brüll, Jacob, 3–5, 7–8 Cage, John, 55–56, 58 Cain and Abel, 77–79 Chance, 55–58, 72–73 Children, 64, 57, 66–67 Chiromancy, 69 Christianity, 6, 36, 93, 95n1 Cicero, 6, 60–61, 68 Clooney, Francis X., 3 Clothing, significance of, 33–35, 53; instrumental and representational functions, 35, 48–50, 53–54 Coon, Lynda L., 36 Creation and Precreation: creation for cultic purpose, 26–27; lists of precreated things, 13, 16–24, 76; lists of things created before Sabbath, 13, 76; myths of Creation, 13–15 Day of Atonement. See Yom Kippur Dead Sea Scrolls, 59, 61 Derrida, Jaques, 6, 96n20 Dietary Laws. See Kashrut Dada, 56–58, 60 Daiches, Samuel, 67, 68 Derrida, Jacques, 6, 96 Divination, 8, 40, 44, 75, 89–90; Arabic divination texts, 69–70; in Bible, 61, 65; books of, 69–72; in the Greco-Roman world, 60–61, 67, 89–90; as hermeneutics, 6, 11, 59, 92; in Mesopotamia, 59, 62; oil divination, 67, 68; in rabbinic literature, 64–69; in statecraft and established institutions, 6, 62 Index 118 | Index Dreams, 57, 59, 61, 63–64, 67–68 Dura-Europas, 39 Eilberg-Schwartz, Howard, 11 “Emet Mah Nehedar,” (“Truly How Glorious ”), 51 Esau, 41–42, 103n40 Fashion, 34–35 Faur, José, 5–6 Feldman, Morton, 55–56 Fischel, Henry, 42 Fishbane, Michael, 6, 13 Flood, 28 Food, 29–31 Frog and scorpion, 87–88 Garden of Eden, 17, 18, 19, 23, 40–42 Gates, Henry Louis, 9 Genesis Rabbah (Bereshit Rabbah), 15–16, 20–21, 24, 41, 78 Genizah, 62–64, 69–72 Geomancy, 71 Ginzberg, Louis, 97n4, 98n13 Goralot, 70–72 Graf, Fritz, 107n19 Handelman, Susan, 6 Harari, Yuval, 107n22 Hasan-Rokem, Galit, 68, 84, 87 Hecataeus, 75 Herod, 35 High Priest: glorification of, 48–50; as symbol or representative of Israel, 40, 45–47. See also Vestments Humankind, creation of, 26–27 Iamblichus, 6, 93 Isaac, 41, 65 Ibn Ezra, Abraham, 70 Islam 1, 19, Israel, 20; land of, 21–22 Jacob, 41–42, 49, 63 Jews, as “people of the book,” 1; in omen literature, 63. See also Israel Jonah, 87 Jonathan, 4, 65 Joseph, 46, 49, 63, 104n58 Josephus, 35, 39, 44, 75 Kabbalah, 13 Kalmin, Richard, 83 Kashrut, 19–20, 31, 96n11 Kraeling, Carl, 39 Leichtz, Eric, 59 Letter of Aristeas, 39 Leviathan, 30, 100n70 Levine, Moshe, 35 Leviticus Rabbah (Vayiqra Rabbah), 46, 87–89 Lieberman, Saul, 6, 59 Liebes, Yehudah, 13 Logocentrism, 6, 7 Logos, 15–16, 98n11 Lots. See Goralot Magic, 1, 10, 40, 60, 107n19, 111n78 Manetti, Giovanni, 59 Mekhilta de-Millu’im, 42–44, 103n41 Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, 78 Memorization, 3, 7, 96n10 Merkavah mysticism. See Mysticism, early Jewish Mesopotamia: vestments in, 35–36; divination traditions, 59, 62 Messiah, 18–20, 23 Messianic era. See World to come Midrash, 8, 9, 13, 40, 59, 92, 94. See also individual midrashim Midrash to Psalms, 17–19 Mishnah, 10, 13, 37, 46, 111n13 Miller, Patricia Cox, 6, 93 Moses, 36, 43 Mosquito, 84–87 Mysticism, 13; early Jewish, 50, 62, 105n79 Myth, definitions of, 13–14 Neusner, Jacob, 101n10 Nebuzaradan, 80–83 Necromancy, 60–61, 68 Index | 119 Noah, 41, 68 Oppenheim, A. Leo, 35–36, Palmomancy, 70 Pantextuality, 6, 7, 27, 94, 97n39 Parker, Robert, 77 Patriarchs...