@article{Kosman2017, author = {Kosman, Admiʾel}, title = {The temptation in the garden of R. Hiyya bar Ashi and his wife}, series = {European Judaism}, volume = {50}, journal = {European Judaism}, number = {2}, publisher = {Berghahn Journals}, address = {Brooklyn}, issn = {0014-3006}, doi = {10.3167/ej.2017.500214}, pages = {129 -- 146}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The narrative in BT Kiddushin 81b about R. Hiyya bar Ashi tells of a sage who waged a battle with his Urge after he refrained from engaging in sexual relations with his wife. He, however, did not reveal to her the battle being waged within him, but rather pretended to be an 'angel'. When his wife incidentally found it, she disguised herself as a harlot and set out to seduce him. After they had engaged in sexual relations, the rabbi wanted to commit suicide. The traditional readings view R. Hiyya as the hero of the tale. This article claims that the aim of the narrative is to present the rabbi as being carried away by dualistic-Christian conceptions. The article further argues that the topic of the narrative is not sexual relations, but dialogue.}, language = {en} } @article{Pinkas2023, author = {Pinkas, Ronen}, title = {On prayer and dialectic in modern Jewish philosophy}, series = {Religions}, volume = {14}, journal = {Religions}, number = {8}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2077-1444}, doi = {10.3390/rel14080996}, pages = {1 -- 28}, year = {2023}, abstract = {This paper is founded on two philosophical assumptions. The first is that there is a difference between two patterns of recognition: the dialectical and the dialogical. The second assumption is that the origins of the dialogical pattern may be found in the relationship between human beings and God, a relationship in which prayer has a major role. The second assumption leads to the supposition that the emphasis of the dialogic approach on moral responsibility is theologically grounded. In other words, the relationship between humanity and God serves as a paradigm for human relationships. By focusing on Hermann Cohen and Franz Rosenzweig, in the context of prayer and dialectic, this paper highlights the complexity of these themes in modern Jewish thought. These two important philosophers utilize dialectical reasoning while also criticizing it and offering an alternative. The conclusions of their thought, in general, and their position on prayer, in particular, demonstrate a preference for a relational way of thinking over a dialectical one, but without renouncing the latter.}, language = {en} }