Shmuel Safrai - Spoken and Literary Languages in the Time of Jesus

SAFRAI, SHMUEL (1919–2003), scholar in the fields of Jewish history, Talmud, and Bible.Safrai was born in Warsaw and arrived in Palestine with his parents in 1922. From 1931 to 1939 he studied at the Merkaz ha-Rav Yeshivah, being ordained there as a rabbi at the age of 20. In 1952 and 1957 he received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, becoming a professor there in 1978. With his colleagues David Flusser* and Robert Lindsey, he founded the Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research, dedicated to the historical, linguistic, and critical study of the synoptic gospels. He was also a frequent contributor to Jerusalem Perspective magazine. Safrai received the Jerusalem Prize in 1986 and the Israel Prize in 2002 for "his great expertise in the Mishnah and Talmud, in Greek and Latin sources, and in the formation of nascent Christianity." He wrote over 80 articles and 12 books, including Pilgrimage in the Period of the Second Temple and Rabbi Akiva ben Yosef: His Life and Teachings. [Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)] http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0017_0_17276.html Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Shmuel Safrai - [1919-2003] - Professor and Rabbi Shmuel Safrai died on July 16, 2003. He was buried the following day in a section of Jerusalem’s Har Ha-Menuhot Cemetery reserved for faculty of the Hebrew University. His grave is only a few feet from the grave of his close friend and research colleague, Professor David Flusser. Safrai was 84. Safrai was the last of a scholarly triumvirate that included David Flusser (1917-2000) and Robert Lindsey (1917-1995). Together, the three created a new school of thought, the Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research. A founding member of the Jerusalem School, Safrai was professor emeritus of Jewish History of the Mishnaic and Talmudic Period at the Hebrew University. Safrai was born in Warsaw in 1919, and at the age of three immigrated to Palestine with his family. He was ordained as a rabbi at the age of twenty at the prestigious Mercaz Harav Yeshivah in Jerusalem. He later received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the fields of Jewish History, Talmud and Bible. Safrai was the recipient of many literary prizes for his research, including the Jerusalem Prize (1986), and the Israel Prize (2002), the State of Israel’s most prestigious honor. He wrote over eighty articles and twelve books, including Pilgrimage in the Period of the Second Temple (in Hebrew), Rabbi Akiva ben Yosef: His Life and Teachings (in Hebrew), The Jewish People in the First Century, co-editor (2 vols.), and The Literature of the Sages, Part I, editor. http://www.jerusalemperspective.com/author/shmuel-safrai/ List of Articles by Shmuel Safrai [1919-2003]: A Friend of Tax Collectors A Priest of the Division of Abijah Did Jesus Wear a Kippah? Insulting God’s High Priest Jesus and the Hasidim John the Nazirite Literary Languages in the Time of Jesus Master and Disciple Naming John the Baptist No Room in the Inn? Pilgrimage in the Time of Jesus Sabbath Breakers Spoken Languages in the Time of Jesus Synagogue and Sabbath The Centurion and the Synagogue The Jewish Cultural Nature of Galilee in the First Century The Place of Women in First-century Synagogues The Role of Women in the Temple The Synagogue the Centurion Built The Value of Rabbinic Literature as an Historical Source Trees of Life Were Women Segregated in the Ancient Synagogue? With All Due Respect… Zechariah’s Prestigious Task