Tales of the Neighborhood: Jewish Narrative Dialogues in Late Antiquity

by Galit Hasan-Rokem

In this lively and intellectually engaging book, Galit Hasan-Rokem shows that religion is shaped not only in the halls of theological disputation and institutions of divine study, but also in ordinary events of everyday life. Common aspects of human relations offer a major source for the symbols of religious texts and rituals of late antique Judaism as well as its partner in narrative dialogues, early Christianity, Hasan-Rokem argues. Focusing on the "neighborhood" of the Galilee that is the birthplace of many major religious and cultural developments, this book brings to life the riddles, parables, and folktales passed down in Rabbinic stories from the first half of the first millennium of the Common Era.

223 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Galit Hasan-Rokem is a folklore scholar, translator, and Professor Emerita in the Department of Hebrew Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She continues to conduct research, supervise graduate students, and translate poetry, mainly from the Swedish into Hebrew. She is the author of many books and articles and a published poet, as well as the founding editorial board member and cultural editor of Palestine-Israel Journal, the coeditor of Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore, and the associate editor of Proverbium.