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Rabbi Yaakov Trump on the Malakh in Halakhah

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Folklore, Superstition, and Kabbalah in the EJ absent from the JE
The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1904-1908 devoted little space to Jewish folklore and superstition as opposed to the 1972 edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica whereby this field was founded on solid anthropological grounds by Raphael Patai, So too the JE (1904) devoted little attention to the academic field of Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism while by the time of the EJ Gershon Scholem had pioneered this field. Such areas were considered by the Enlightened Wissenschaft des Judtentums perspective of the JE as worthy of little attention while by the time of the JE these subjects had become legitimate fields of academic study.. Thus every encyclopedia is not only a record of knowledge but an expression of the spirit of its times.

Rabbinic Censorship of Dualism by dbl

Dualism and Rabbinic texts
This paper first exams the Dualism of the Dead Sea Scroll sect that saw the romans and the sons of darkness and the mahadren le mehadrin of the Jewish elite the Essenes as the sons of Light. Then we see how the Rabbis of the mishnah censored Zorastrianism in mishnayot such as "Modim Modim shetiko oto". We then investigate the gemarah for the amoraim's views of dualsim as a form of heresy as well as look at halakhic midrashim including: Mekilta, Pesikta Rabbati, Sirei to the Gaonic era of Rav Saadia Gaon's Sefer Emunot ve-deot. We then turn to liturgical examples fo rabbinic censorship of dualism. The text is peppered with academic scholarly work of the Orthodox practiioners of the Wissenshaft des Judentums Beweigung including Rabbi Isaac Heinemann's Der Juedische Gottesdienst in der Talmud (later trans. to hebrew as tefillah bi ha talmudim), and Elbogen's 1913 Der jueidsche Gottesdienst in seiner geschichtenlichen Entwicklung (trans later into hebrew as Hatefilah beyisrael behitpathutah hahisorit (1972). This paper was originally written by DBL ca 1988 unter der Einleitung fuen der Fuhrer Professor Rabbi Dr. Joseph M. Baumgarten, orginally from Austria.

Jewish Folklore from an Anthropological and Historical Perspective

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Rabbinic Censorship of Dualism by dbl