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The acrostic is a form of embellishment used in the Bible and later in piyyut, spelling out the alphabet or the name of the author using the first letters of lines or verses. Various forms exist. ⸙Acrostic, from Greek ἄκρος (highest, topmost) and στίχος (verse), is a form of embellishment used in Hebrew texts since the Bible (all chapters of Lamentations, Psalms 25, 34, 111, 112, 119, and 145, Proverbs 31:10-31), in which verses or stanzas begin with letters that can be read as a unit. Biblical acrostics are alphabetic, sometimes …

1. Manuscripts 1.1. Oriental Jewish liturgy may be divided into two broad categories: statutory liturgy, organized around the "hard core" that is enshrined in Jewish law, and poetic ( piyyuṭ) liturgy, which historically originates in Byzantine-period Palestine and whose purpose is to either replace or embellish specific parts of the statutory liturgy. In codicological terms (Codicology), this division is reflected in the distinction that exists in most European rites between the siddur and the maḥzor - the former being the book containin…

[German Version] (Heb. שְׁבָחִים, from שֶׁבַ, “praise”). The term shevachim applies to both praise of God formulated privately in spontaneous individual prayer and to individual expressions of praise. A familiar example is the string of 15 terms for the praise of God at the end of the Pesuqe de-Simra ( yishtabbach), meant to be recited in a single breath. Because shevachim are pure praise of God, not associated with petitions or thanksgiving, they are subject to fewer formal rules. The otherwise mandatory repetition of the benediction formula barukh can ¶ be reduced to a single occur…

[German Version] I. Old Testament In the preexilic period, Sabbath (שַׁבָּת/ šabbāt) meant the day of the full moon; from the Exile on, it denoted a weekly day of rest. The origins of this day of rest go back to the early days of Exile. The earliest laws regarding the preexilic day of rest appear in the Book of the Covenant (Exod 23:10) and the cultic code in Exod 34:18–23, 25f. (v. 21) (Law and legislation: III). In the Book of the Covenant, the commandment to ¶ observe a day of rest is part of the privilege law of YHWH that deals with setting apart the firstfruits and firstborn …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies 1. The terms The terms rite and ritual are often used synonymously, both in daily speech and in the specialized language of religious studies, leading to a lack of clarity. “Rite” is etymologically related to Sanskrit ṛta, “right, order, truth, custom,” and may thus be regarded as the “smallest” building block of a ritual, which can be defined as a complex series of actions in a (logical) functional relationship. Within a three-level sequence, cult (Cult/Worship : I, 2) must also be taken into cons…

[German Version] (Heb. סידור, from סֵדֶר/ sēder, “order”), since the Gaonic period (Gaon) the name of the Jewish prayer books (III). Until the modern period, the terms Siddur and Makhzor were not clearly distinguished; today the Siddur is the Jewish prayer book for daily prayers and Sabbath worship. As siddur ha-shalem it also includes alternative forms of prayers for feast days, Piyyutim (Poetry: I, 2) for special Sabbaths, and liturgies for rites of passage. In antiquity and Late Antiquity, it was forbidden to reduce prayers (XI) to writing ( t. Šabb. 13:4; b. Šabb. 115b; y. Šabb. 16:1, …

[German version] (Hebrew 'my master'; Greek ῥαββί/ rhabbí, Latin rabbi). Prior to 70 BC, documented only as a personal form of address (cf. Jo 1:38); in ancient Judaism, the title used for most scholars in Palestine. 'Rabbi' is frequently used to refer to the patriarch Jehuda ha-Nasi, credited with the redaction of the Mishnah (Rabbinical literature). The Babylonian Amoraim were called rab for linguistic reasons. The plural 'rabbinim' ('rabbis') encompasses both groups in their capacity as authors of rabbinical literature. In ancient inscriptions, rab denotes honoured men who…

[German version] I. Mesopotamia The Sumerian term é and the Akkadian term bītu, meaning 'temple' or 'house (of the deity)', were not restricted to 'dwellings' of deities of a particular size or importance. They applied to sanctuaries from small neighbourhood shrines in residential areas to large, freestanding, tall buildings, from one-room cult sites to temple complexes with extensive auxiliary buildings, and they could be used for temples where one or many deities were worshipped. Prehistoric structures are often classified as temples only because apparently they nei…

I. General [German version] A. Notions of measuring time Most cultures have some method of measuring time, frequently based on periodical changes within nature or the stars. The oldest of these is the pars-pro-toto method, in which it is not a certain period of time as a whole that is connected, but a regularly recurring phenomenon within that time [1. 9 f.] (e.g. lunar phases). Metaphors of time or the measuring thereof play no great role in antiquity, with the exception of the field of  metrics. Usually, the focus was not on …

[German version] I. Definition The term 'creation of the world' ('CW') (κτίσις/ ktísis, Lat. creatio) in the narrower sense should be distinguished from two similar concepts. Unlike 'cosmogony', 'CW' refers to a personal act. Secondly, unlike 'fashioning of the world' in the sense of the craft of a demiourgos [3] (cf. [1]), 'CW' does not mean the mere modelling of existing material in analogy to the creative intervention of an artist, but the absolute bringing-into-being of everything (the universe, i.e. 'the whole', τὰ πάντα/ tà pánta) out of the void. The concept of a creation…

I. Terminology and philosophy [German version] A. Modern concept The general modern meaning of the word 'tolerance' is the readiness of individuals, groups or states to permit the opinions, ways of life and philosophical and religious convictions of others to 'have validity' alongside their own. Today, the meaning of the word ranges from 'sufferance' (e.g. in the sense of constitutional law: the sufferance of immigrants, diverse confessions, religions) to the emphatic affirmation of the 'different' pheno…

(συναγωγή/ s ynagōgḗ, literally 'bringing together', 'assembly'; Latin synagoga). A Greek word that can refer either to the Jewish congregation or to the place (the building) where the congregation comes together. I. Architecture [German version] A. Definition and function The synagogue building consists of a large rectangular room with benches on some or all of its sides, in front of which columns are built. There is often a throne for the leader of the synagogue and a platform ( bêma) from which the Torah is read. A central element is the shrine housing the Torah scrolls…

[German version] City in lower Galilee, mentioned in the annals of Sennacherib (a,40); an Israelite settlement in Biblical times is recorded by burial finds. Following the Bar Kochba uprising c. 140 AD the place of a rabbinical synod (Sanhedrin; Synhedrion II.), at which leading scholars of the period, initially without the later patriarch Simon ben Gamaliel, appointed new people to rabbinical positions and issued edicts relating primarily to family law (Song of Songs Rabbah 2,5,3). For a time U. was the seat of the patriarc…

(σοφία/ sophía, Latin sapientia). I. Greco-Roman [German version] A. General and philosophical concept The Greek noun σοφία/ sophía (Ionic: σοφίη/ sophíē), derived from the adjective σοφός ( sophós), which has been documented since the 6th cent. BC, generally refers to the superior skill and knowledge that distinguishes the expert and artist from the masses and accounts for the high regard in which he is held. The term sophía is used to describe any practical mastery, such as that of a helmsman, master builder, physician, military commander or statesman (cf. Ho…

I. Ancient Near East [German version] A. Definition When applying the term wisdom literature (WL) to ancient Mesopotamian literature we need to distinguish between the idea of wisdom (Akkadian nēmequ, Sumerian nam.kù.zu, 'precious knowledge') [10; 11] as 'wealth of general human experience' and the concept of wisdom as expertise in a cult. On the one hand, there are a number of non-homogenous, formally different literary genres in which knowledge, procedures, advice and behavioural guidelines are passed on; on the other han…

(συναγωγή, wörtl. “Zusammenführung”, “Versammlung”; lat. synagoga). Griech. Wort, das sowohl die jüd. Gemeinde als auch den Ort (das Gebäude) ihrer Versammlung bezeichnen kann. I. Architektur [English version] A. Definition und Funktion Der S.-Bau besteht aus einem großen, rechtwinkligen Raum mit Bänken an allen oder mehreren Seiten, vor denen Säulen plaziert sind. Oft findet sich ein Thron für den Leiter der S. und eine Plattform ( bḗma) für die Lesung der Torā. Ein zentrales Element ist der Schrein für die Aufbewahrung der Torā-Rollen, der sich normalerweis…

[English version] I. Definition Der Begriff W. (κτίσις/ ktísis, lat. creatio) in engem Sinne ist in zwei Richtungen abzugrenzen: Im Unterschied zu Kosmogonie bezieht sich W. auf einen personalen Akt; im Unterschied zu Weltbildung ( dēmiurgós [3]; vgl. [1]) bezeichnet W. nicht die bloße Gestaltung einer bereits existierenden Materie vergleichbar dem schöpferischen Tun eines Künstlers, sondern das absolute Erschaffen von allem (der Welt im Sinne des “Alls”, τὰ πάντα/ ta pánta) aus dem Nichts. Die Vorstellung einer W. in diesem Sinne läßt sich erst im Christentum des…

I. Allgemein [English version] A. Vorstellungen von Zeitmessung Die meisten Kulturen verfügen über Methoden der Zeitmessung, die häufig auf periodischen Veränderungen der Natur oder der Gestirne beruhen. Die älteste stellt die pars-pro-toto-Methode dar, nach der nicht die zeitliche Einheit als Ganzes gezählt wird, sondern ein regelmäßig, innerhalb einer Zeiteinheit wiederkehrendes Phänomen [1. 9 f.] (z. B. Mondphasen). Die Metaphern der Z. wie Zeitmessung spielen in der Ant. keine große Rolle, nimmt man den Bereich der Metrik…

I. Begriff und Philosophie A. Moderner Begriff B. Lateinisch tolerantia: Wort und Begriff C. Toleranz zwischen Staat und Religionsgemeinschaften Cancik-Lindemaier, Hildegard [English version] A. Moderner Begriff Das Wort T. bezeichnet in der Neuzeit allg. die Bereitschaft von Individuen, Gruppen oder Staaten, die Meinungen, Lebensformen, philos. und rel. Überzeugungen anderer neben den eigenen “gelten” zu lassen. Die Bed. des Wortes reicht h. von “Duldung” (z. B. im staatsrechtlichen Sinne: Duldung von Immigranten, ve…

[English version] I. Mesopotamien Der Begriff T., sumer. é, akkad. bītu, “Haus (der Gottheit)”, wurde unabhängig von Größe oder Bed. der Gottheit gebraucht: vom kleinen, in ein Wohngebiet eingebauten Nachbarschaftsschrein bis zu großen, freistehenden, hohen Bauten, von Einraumkultstätten bis zu mit ausgedehnten Nebengebäuden versehenen T.-Komplexen, von der Verehrung einer Gottheit zu Mehrfach-T. Für die Frühzeit sind T. häufig nur dadurch zu identifizieren, daß sie weder Wohnzwecken dienten noch als Palast angesehen werden können. Eindeutige Mer…