YONATAN ADLER — The Origins of Judaism: An Archaeological-Historical Reappraisal

Throughout much of history, the Jewish way of life has been characterized by strict adherence to the practices and prohibitions legislated by the Torah: dietary laws, ritual purity, circumcision, Sabbath regulations, holidays, and more.

But when did this unique way of life first emerge, and why at that specific time?

In this lecture, Yonathan Adler explored how ancient texts can be used alongside archaeological discoveries to reveal the earliest evidence of Torah observance among ordinary Judeans. Animal bones, purification pools, chalk vessels and figural representations provide clues to the lived experience of these earliest observers. The presentation was framed around his recent book, The Origins of Judaism: An Archaeological-Historical Reappraisal (Yale University Press 2022),

Yonatan Adler is Associate Professor at the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Ariel University, where he also heads the Institute of Archaeology. Recent excavations include the sites of 'Einot Amitai and Reina in the Galilee. In 2018, he was appointed by the Minister of Culture to the Israeli Council for Archaeology.

[pasquino]

Yonatan’s argument seems water tight. All except for a purely artificial academic distinction between intellectual and cultural history in his conclusion. Maintaining that distinction makes sense for his initial data driven research but in the conclusion it seems to make ZERO sense that the Torah or scrolls of the Hebrew Bible could have existed in their present form before the Hasmonean period. No one would write an expensive scroll, like say the contents of Leviticus at a time prior to it being taken up for observance in the Hasmonean period. He should be more brave and at the very least assert the likelihood that the Hebrew Bible scrolls came into their final form, in the period he asserts practising Judaism emerged. There is no need to maintain this distinction in his conclusion. The social history of the Hebrew Bible itself is non existent without a thriving cultural application at some level. Granted that many parts of its content existed in differing forms much earlier. The final observant parts were surely not in their known form until then.

[jordanbey]

Education will soon be a hobby not a means to get a decent job..