SAPERE XXXVII: Interpreting and Living God’s Law at Qumran

Introduction, Text, Translation and Interpretative Essays by Jonathan Ben-Dov, John J. Collins, Lutz Doering, Jörg Frey, Charlotte Hempel, Reinhard G. Kratz, Noam Mizrahi, Vered Noam, Eibert Tigchelaar

Published in English

The text Miqṣat Ma῾aśe Ha-TorahSome of the Works of the Torah (4QMMT), is one of the most interesting writings among the famous Dead Sea texts that were found in the caves near the settlement of Khirbet Qumran around the middle of the 20th century and have since been published in their entirety. It is a teaching letter in the form of a letter, written by an unknown author and addressed to an unknown addressee - addressed in the singular and plural. The teaching letter is the oldest witness from pre-Christian, Hellenistic times to the explicit interpretation of Jewish law, the so-called Halakha, as it became common and widely attested in later rabbinic tradition. After an introduction to the Dead Sea finds in general and the text Miqṣat Ma῾aśe Ha-Torah in particular, this volume offers a new edition and translation as well as contributions by proven specialists on the manuscript tradition, the language, the contents as well as the literary and contemporary historical contexts of the scripture.