Why Does R. Akiba Acclaim Bar Kokhba as Messiah?

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

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" Why Does R. Akiba Acclaim Bar Kokhba as Messiah? "
Matthew Novenson

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	1074935
Doc. No	:	LA118564
Call No	:	‭10.1163/004722109X12499530635251‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	Matthew Novenson
Title & Author	:	Why Does R. Akiba Acclaim Bar Kokhba as Messiah? [Article]\ Matthew Novenson
Publication Statement	:	Leiden: Brill
Title of Periodical	:	Journal for the Study of Judaism
Date	:	2009
Volume/ Issue Number	:	40/4-5
Page No	:	551–572
Abstract	:	Peter Schäfer has argued that the name of R. Akiba is secondary to y. Ta'an. 4:8/27, in which R. Akiba is said to have acclaimed Bar Kokhba as messiah. Some interpreters have countered, however, that rabbinic haggadah would not attribute such an embarrassing position to R. Akiba if he had not held it. In response to both these arguments, I propose that the R. Akiba-Bar Kokhba tradition fits a pattern of talmudic stories about the Second Revolt in which the rabbis are anachronistically cast in a position of influence. This tradition is an example of a late antique literary topos attested in Jewish, Christian, and pagan sources in which a founder of a minority movement is remembered as having conversed with a contemporary world leader. In short, both Schäfer and his critics are right: R. Akiba was not originally part of the tradition preserved in y. Ta'an. 4:8/27, but there is a compelling tradition-historical rationale for inserting him there.
Descriptor	:	BAR KOKHBA
Descriptor	:	General
Descriptor	:	Jewish Studies
Descriptor	:	LATE ANTIQUITY
Descriptor	:	LITERARY TOPOS
Descriptor	:	MESSIAH
Descriptor	:	R. AKIBA
Descriptor	:	RABBIS
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/004722109X12499530635251‬