Noah Hacham

Hebrew University of Jerusalem | HUJI · Department of History of the Jewish People and Contemporary Jewry

The Bible is silent regarding the death of Esau, Jacob’s brother, but Second Temple and rabbinic literature filled the lacuna. Although similar in their basic narrative, these versions differ in significant details, most notably the circumstances of and the person responsible for Esau’s death. This paper examines the extent to which these accounts...

According to the Letter of Aristeas, the ancient treatise on the creation of the Greek translation of the Pentateuch, the high priest Eleazar chose seventy-two elders and dispatched them to Egypt where they translated the Torah into Greek. Scholars discerned the meaning of this number, indicating the affinity to the seventy elders who joined Moses...

The Letter of Aristeas has long been considered the work most emblematic, elucidatory and declarative of Jewish identity in Hellenistic Egypt. The work embraces emphatically Jewish content alongside a profound identification with Hellenistic concepts, ideas and frameworks. This complexity has intrigued scholars and it continues to do so as they att...

The text of 3 Maccabees chapter 2 relates that after returning to Egypt from Jerusalem, where the Jews did not permit him to enter and desecrate the Temple, the victorious Ptolemy IV Philopator ordered that all Jews be reduced to menial status, and that they be registered and branded with the ivyleaf emblem of Dionysus. He added, however, that anyo...

The final part of Joseph and Aseneth (chs. 23–29) tells a story that seems unconnected to the main part of the book. It recounts an attempt by Pharaoh's son to kill Joseph and Aseneth, his death and Joseph's 48-year rule over Egypt. Scholarly research barely relates to this story, probably since it inhabits the margins of the love story of Joseph a...

The account of Bigthan's and Teresh's conspiracy against the king (Esth 2:21-23) was transposed in the Septuagint to Addition A, which opens the book, while an additional story regarding a conspiracy to kill the king was introduced, in its stead, at the end of chapter 2 of this translation. These moves are part of Greek Esther's reworking of the st...

The conclusion of addition A of the Greek translation of Esther known as the Alpha text relates that Haman was handed over to Mordekhai (as his slave). This unexpected, singular detail appears, with slight variations, in later Jewish sources in the Babylonian Talmud and Aramaic translations of Esther. It is not unlikely that this represents a well-...

A common opinion views the purpose of the Letter of Aristeas as strengthening the self-identity of Egyptian Diaspora Jewry by sanctifying the Greek translation of the Torah. As Orlinsky has shown, this view is supported by linguistic and thematic parallels between Aristeas and biblical descriptions of the giving of the Torah. The linguistic and the...

The nature and exact location of the Qumran sect's exile has occupied scholars from the time the Scrolls were discovered, and the subject continues to evoke interest and controversy today. Almost every pos-sible scenario has been suggested: Damascus is actually Damascus; Damascus is only a symbolic designation; the desert is the actual loca-tion of...