Jewish Identity Formation as Reflected in the Halakha of Gentile Bestiality ABabylonian Talmud Avodah Zarah 22bA

This paper is concerned with the issue of how Jewish identity has been constructed in late antiquity. Although the question of “who is a Jew?” is a much debated one in the modern period, the question of Jewish identity and its construction in late antiquity has rarely been given the attention it deserves. This study is concerned with the role the Babylonian Talmud, the major legal compendium of rabbinic Judaism, played in attempts to define Jewish identity and pays particular attention to the sugya of tractate Avodah Zarah 22b. This text deals primarily with precautions against violating the prohibition of bestiality, which ? according to the rabbinic tradition ? was the form of sexuality practiced by gentiles. This study examines how the rabbinic discourse on this halakhic prohibition of a sexually immoral mode of behavior defined Jewish self in contrast to the gentile other and shows how certain aspects of the halakha played a significant role in creating rabbinic perceptions of distinctions between Jews and gentiles. By paying special attention to the significance of the halakha in the formation of the social and cultural boundaries that distinguish Jews from gentiles, it can be shown that the erection of such boundaries was indispensable to Jewish identity formation. This study thus illuminates one aspect of rabbinic Judaism in which the halakha as a cultural construct defines the notion of Jewish identity in relation and opposition to gentiles.論文/Article