At the Intersection of Texts and Material Finds: Stepped Pools, Stone Vessels, and Ritual Purity among the Jews of Roman Galilee by S. S. Miller (review)

Scholarly interest in ritual purity among Jews during and after the Second Temple period is hardly new. However, in the last decade, and especially during the past few years, this attention has reached a new height with the publication of three monographs dedicated to this subject, the volume discussed here, one by M. Balberg (2014), and another by Y. Furstenberg (2016). Whereas Balberg and Furstenberg primarily focus on textual sources (especially rabbinic literature), Miller's book analyzes both written sources and archaeological remains in an effort to present a more comprehensive historical picture. To date, most scholars have approached this topic from the perspective of either textual or material culture. Where the other body of evidence is included, it has been as a complement to the main field of interest. Despite the difficulties of incorporating both types of sources, Miller embraced this challenge, demonstrating erudition in a complex subject. Moreover, as the title suggests, this study explores the junction of "texts and material finds."

In addition to its eleven chapters, plus introduction and postscript, this volume features highly useful indices organized by primary sources, places, subjects, foreign terms, and phrases and expressions. In what follows, rather than presenting a chapter-by-chapter summary, since many core ideas are addressed in multiple discussions, I summarize the central claims of this study. Some of these points contrast sharply with views and research methods that are broadly held by historians and archaeologists, which, as such, have important implications for scholars in both fields. It therefore helps to begin with a brief outline of several common scholarly views that this monograph aims to challenge.

While scholars assert that the biblical purity laws were widely observed among Jews in Judea during the Second Temple, many also contend that interest in and adherence to these practices declined following the destruction of the Temple (70 CE) and dwindled to the point that almost only priests and sages continued to follow them after the unsuccessful Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–135 CE) (see, for example, Magen 1988: 103, 109; Adler 2011: 312–15; see also the general claims by Schwartz 2001: 15, 104). This thesis is mainly based on the fact that, relative to previous eras, fewer stepped pools for ritual purity (miqvaot in Hebrew) are dated from the period following these armed conflicts. Certain scholars have also claimed that the numerous stepped pools discovered in domestic settings in Sepphoris, which were in use during Late Antiquity, belonged to priestly or rabbinic families who remained concerned with matters of ritual purity. The popularity of stone vessels during the Second Temple period and the halt in their production after the revolts has similarly been associated with the practice of ritual purity. Since rabbinic texts state that such vessels are not susceptible to impurity, scholars have assumed a correlation between the manufacturing and circulation of these containers and adherence to purity laws within the Jewish community.

In contrast to these notions and others (discussed below) and to the methodology by which they were formulated, Miller argues that observance of the laws of purity continued well beyond the Bar Kokhba Revolt among the broader Jewish population. Widespread regard for these practices stemmed from the desire to fulfill this biblical command as an articulation of God's will (43). Miller states that tannaitic texts (third-century rabbinic compilations that may include earlier traditions) and material finds attest to devotion to the rites and concerns for purity among commoners, a term he uses to denote Jews who were not rabbis, nor their students or family members (28, 158, 213). He posits that, throughout the Second Temple period and in subsequent centuries, the observance of purity rituals was not restricted to sectarian groups, sages, and priests. Thus, he rejects the study...