Sunday, February 24, 2019

Birkat haMinim


https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/birkat-ha-minim

Birkat haMinim. The Birkat haMinim (Hebrew ברכת המינים "Blessing on the heretics") is a Jewish curse on heretics ( minim ). Modern scholarship has generally evaluated that the Birkat haMinim probably did originally include Jewish Christians before Christianity became markedly a gentile religion. It is the 12th of the Eighteen Benedictions or Amidah.
Awhile back, I posted a query for elaboration on this 12th of the 18 benedictions,Here is what I was able to find  please amend or correct:
Birkat haMinim
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigation
Jump to search

Birkat haMinim.
The Birkat haMinim (Hebrew ברכת המינים "Blessing on the heretics") is a Jewish curse on heretics (minim). Modern scholarship has generally evaluated that the Birkat haMinim probably did originally include Jewish Christians before Christianity became markedly a gentile religion.[1] It is the 12th of the Eighteen Benedictions or Amidah.[2]
The writing of the benediction is attributed to Shmuel ha-Katan at the supposed Council of Jamnia which was inserted in the "Eighteen Benedictions" as the 19th blessing in the silent prayer to be said thrice daily, the Amidah. The benediction is thus seen as related to the Pharisees, the development of the Hebrew Bible canon, the split of early Christianity and Judaism as heresy in Judaism, the origins of Rabbinic Judaism, origins of Christianity, Christianity in the 1st century, and the history of early Christianity.
According to one theory, it was useful as a tool for outing minim ("heretics"), because no min would recite aloud or reply amen to it, as it was a curse upon minim.[3]
Contents
1
Composition
2
Identification of Minim
3
See also
4
References
5
Bibliography
Composition[edit]
According to the Babylonian Talmud Tractate Berakhot 28b–29a, Shmuel ha-Katan was responsible for the writing of the Birkat haMinim:
"Rabban Gamaliel said to the sages: Is there no one who knows how to compose a benediction against the minim? Samuel Ha-Qatan stood up and composed it."[4]
The blessing exists in various forms.[5][6] Two medieval Cairo Genizah copies include references to both minim and Notzrim ("Nazarenes", i.e. "Christians").[7][8][9]
"For the apostates let there be no hope. And let the arrogant government be speedily uprooted in our days. Let the noẓerim and the minim be destroyed in a moment. And let them be blotted out of the Book of Life and not be inscribed together with the righteous. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who humblest the arrogant" (Schechter)."[10]
Identification of Minim[edit]
The extent of reference to Notzrim, or application of minim to Christians is debated.[11][12] In his analysis of various scholarly views on the Birkat haMinim, Pieter W. van der Horst sums up,
"It is certain that minim in Tannaitic times are always Jews... It is certain that notsrim was not a part of the earliest version(s) of our berakhah."[13]
During the medieval period, whether the blessing included Christians or not was the subject of disputations, a potential cause for persecution and thus a matter relevant for the safety of Jewish communities.[14] It is generally viewed in modern studies that the term "heretics" at an early point in split of early Christianity and Judaism had included Jewish Christians.[15][16][17][18] It was David Flusser's view (1992) that the Birkat haMinim was added in reference to the Sadducees.[19]
Many scholars have seen reference to the Birkat haMinim in Justin Martyr's complaint to Trypho of the Jews "cursing in your synagogues those that believe on Christ." Reuven Kimelman (1981) challenged this, noting that Justin's description places the curse in the wrong sequence in the synagogue service.[20]
Christian awareness of this prayer as a curse against them is only attested from the time of Jerome and Epiphanius in the fifth century CE. In the subsequent anti-Judeaic literature, it was almost universally ignored until the 13th century. The one exception is the work of Agobard of Lyons, writing in 826/827 to protest what he saw was the granting of too many privileges to Jews by the Carolingian monarch.[21]
See also[edit]
Eikev
References[edit]
^ The Cambridge History of Judaism: The late Roman-Rabbinic period pp. 291-292 ed. William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz - 2006
^ Pieter Willem van der Horst, Hellenism, Judaism, Christianity: essays on their interaction, Kok Pharos: 1998, Page 113 ".. who humblest the insolent" (Palestinian recension) The 12th berakhah in the Jewish Shemoneh Esreh (Eighteen [benedictions]) is usually called the Birkat ha-minim 'the blessing of the heretics', which is a euphemism for a curse"
^ http://www.answers.com/topic/birkat-ha-minim
^ Translation supplied from Steven T. Katz, "Issues in the Separation of Judaism and Christianity after 70 C.E.: A Reconsideration", in Journal of Biblical Literature, 103/1, p.64
^ Ruth Langer, “The Earliest Texts of the Birkat Haminim”, with Uri Ehrlich, forthcoming in Hebrew Union College Annual 77.
^ Pieter Willem van der Horst, Selected works: The Birkat Ha-minim in Recent Research. T. & T. Clark, 1994. "Aspects of Religious Contact and Conflict in the Ancient World."
^ Yaakov Y. Teppler, Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in conflict in the ancient world, Mohr Siebeck: 2007 - p.56 "Thus Krauss speaks on the one hand of notzrim and on the other of minim, and his two pleas do not really hold up side by ... 207 Rashi on BT Megillah 17b: "The minim are disciples of Jesus the Notzri which is why they put Birkat haMinim ..."
^ Marvin R. Wilson, Our father Abraham: Jewish roots of the Christian Faith, Wm. B. Eerdmans: 1989, p.68 "We must emphasize that only two texts of the Birkat ha-Minim (both found in the Cairo Genizah) explicitly mention Christians. Both texts refer to "the Christians [notzrim, ie, the Nazarenes] and the heretics / minim]. "
^ William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) The Cambridge History of Judaism: The late Roman-Rabbinic period 2006, p.291 "He (Gedaliah Alon) proposes that the original Yavnean version of the Birkat ha-Minim, following the medieval Genizah fragment, included both minim and 'Nazarenes,' and that 'in this liturgical fragment minim and Notzrim are synonymous, ie, that both refer to the Jewish Christians.' But Alon's 'assumption' about the form of the original version is unconvincing, and this not least because, if the terms minim and Notzrim are synonymous, there would be no need for both of them in the benediction. Thus, as already argued, it appears more reasonable to suspect that Notzrim was added to a pre-existing malediction after the period of Yavneh – and most likely after the Bar Kochba Revolt (or later)"
^ https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0003_0_02999.html
^ Antti Marjanen, Petri Luomanen, A Companion to Second-Century Christian "Heretics", 2008 p.283 "59–61, in contrast to R. Kimelman, "Birkat ha-Minim and the Lack of Evidence for Anti-Christian Jewish Prayer in Late Antiquity," in Jewish and Christian Self-Definition, II: Aspects of Judaism in the Greco-Roman Period, ed. E. P. Sanders, A. I. Baumgarten, and A. Mendelson, London, 1981, 226-244.
^ William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) The Cambridge History of Judaism: The late Roman-Rabbinic period, p.291-292
^ Pieter Willem van der Horst, "The Birkat ha-minim in Recent Research", in The Expository Times, 1994, p.367
^ Israel Jacob Yuval, Two Nations in Your Womb: Perceptions of Jews and Christians in ... (2008), p.116.
^ From the back cover of Yaakov Y. Teppler, Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in conflict in the ancient world, 2007, "Yaakov Y. Teppler studies the identity of those Minim and lays a firm foundation for understanding the processes of separation between Judaism and Christianity in this stormy and fascinating period."
^ James D. G. Dunn, Jews and Christians: the parting of the ways, A.D. 70 to 135, 1992
^ Edward Kessler, An Introduction to Jewish-Christian Relations, 2010
^ Pieter Willem van der Horst, Hellenism, Judaism, Christianity: essays on their interaction, 1998
^ Doris Lambers-Petry; Peter J. Tomson, (eds.) The image of the Judaeo-Christians in ancient Jewish and Christian literature, 2003, chapter 'The War Against Rome', p.15 "... who unearthed the conceptual background of the birkat ha-minim. In his analysis, the material of the berakha basically dates from temple times, when it was directed against such 'separatists' (perushim or porshim) as Sadducees who ..."
^ Ora Limor, Guy G. Stroumsa (eds.), Contra Iudaeos: ancient and medieval polemics between Christians and Jews, 1996, p.31 "Although this has been generally accepted, R. Kimelman recently challenged the view that Justin's mention of a curse has to do with the 12th benediction: "Birkat Ha-Minim and the Lack of Evidence for an Anti-Christian Jewish Prayer in Late Antiquity" in EP Sanders et al., eds., Jewish and Christian Self-Definition, vol. 2: Aspects of Judaism in the Greco-Roman Period, London, 1981, "... But it is not as clear whether one may take Justin's words in a too narrow sense"
^ Ruth Langer, Cursing the Christians?: A History of the Birkat HaMinim, Oxford University Press, 2011 pp.84-85.
Bibliography[edit]
Ruth Langer, Cursing the Christians?: A History of the Birkat HaMinim, New York: Oxford University Press 2011.
Yaakov Yanki Teppler, Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in Conflict in the Ancient World, Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck 2007.

Identification of Minim[edit]


The extent of reference to Notzrim, or application of minim to Christians is debated.[11][12] In his analysis of various scholarly views on the Birkat haMinim, Pieter W. van der Horst sums up,

"It is certain that minim in Tannaitic times are always Jews... It is certain that notsrim was not a part of the earliest version(s) of our berakhah."[13]

During the medieval period, whether the blessing included Christians or not was the subject of disputations, a potential cause for persecution and thus a matter relevant for the safety of Jewish communities.[14] It is generally viewed in modern studies that the term "heretics" at an early point in split of early Christianity and Judaism had included Jewish Christians.[15][16][17][18] It was David Flusser's view (1992) that the Birkat haMinim was added in reference to the Sadducees.[19]
14   ^ Israel Jacob Yuval, Two Nations in Your Womb: Perceptions of Jews and Christians in ... (2008), p.116. 
15  ^ From the back cover of Yaakov Y. Teppler, Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in conflict in the ancient world, 2007, "Yaakov Y. Teppler studies the identity of those Minim and lays a firm foundation for understanding the processes of separation between Judaism and Christianity in this stormy and fascinating period."
16   ^ James D. G. Dunn, Jews and Christians: the parting of the ways, A.D. 70 to 135, 1992
17  ^ Edward Kessler, An Introduction to Jewish-Christian Relations, 2010
18   ^ Pieter Willem van der Horst, Hellenism, Judaism, Christianity: essays on their interaction, 1998
19  ^ Doris Lambers-Petry; Peter J. Tomson, (eds.) The image of the Judaeo-Christians in ancient Jewish and Christian literature, 2003, chapter 'The War Against Rome', p.15 "... who unearthed the conceptual background of the birkat ha-minim. In his analysis, the material of the berakha basically dates from temple times, when it was directed against such 'separatists' (perushim or porshim) as Sadducees who …"

20  ^ Ora Limor, Guy G. Stroumsa (eds.), Contra Iudaeos: ancient and medieval polemics between Christians and Jews, 1996, p.31 "Although this has been generally accepted, R. Kimelman recently challenged the view that Justin's mention of a curse has to do with the 12th benediction: "Birkat Ha-Minim and the Lack of Evidence for an Anti-Christian Jewish Prayer in Late Antiquity" in EP Sanders et al., eds., Jewish and Christian Self-Definition, vol. 2: Aspects of Judaism in the Greco-Roman Period, London, 1981, "... But it is not as clear whether one may take Justin's words in a too narrow sense"
21  ^ Ruth Langer, Cursing the Christians?: A History of the Birkat HaMinim, Oxford University Press, 2011 pp.84-85.
Many scholars have seen reference to the Birkat haMinim in Justin Martyr's complaint to Trypho of the Jews "cursing in your synagogues those that believe on Christ." Reuven Kimelman (1981) challenged this, noting that Justin's description places the curse in the wrong sequence in the synagogue service.[20]
Christian awareness of this prayer as a curse against them is only attested from the time of Jerome and Epiphanius in the fifth century CE. In the subsequent anti-Judeaic literature, it was almost universally ignored until the 13th century. The one exception is the work of Agobard of Lyons, writing in 826/827 to protest what he saw was the granting of too many privileges to Jews by the Carolingian monarch.[21]


References[edit]


  1. ^ The Cambridge History of Judaism: The late Roman-Rabbinic period pp. 291-292 ed. William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz - 2006
  2. ^ Pieter Willem van der Horst, Hellenism, Judaism, Christianity: essays on their interaction, Kok Pharos: 1998, Page 113 ".. who humblest the insolent" (Palestinian recension) The 12th berakhah in the Jewish Shemoneh Esreh (Eighteen [benedictions]) is usually called the Birkat ha-minim 'the blessing of the heretics', which is a euphemism for a curse"
  3. ^ http://www.answers.com/topic/birkat-ha-minim
  4. ^ Translation supplied from Steven T. Katz, "Issues in the Separation of Judaism and Christianity after 70 C.E.: A Reconsideration", in Journal of Biblical Literature, 103/1, p.64
  5. ^ Ruth Langer, “The Earliest Texts of the Birkat Haminim”, with Uri Ehrlich, forthcoming in Hebrew Union College Annual 77.
  6. ^ Pieter Willem van der Horst, Selected works: The Birkat Ha-minim in Recent Research. T. & T. Clark, 1994. "Aspects of Religious Contact and Conflict in the Ancient World."
  7. ^ Yaakov Y. Teppler, Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in conflict in the ancient world, Mohr Siebeck: 2007 - p.56 "Thus Krauss speaks on the one hand of notzrim and on the other of minim, and his two pleas do not really hold up side by ... 207 Rashi on BT Megillah 17b: "The minim are disciples of Jesus the Notzri which is why they put Birkat haMinim ..."
  8. ^ Marvin R. Wilson, Our father Abraham: Jewish roots of the Christian Faith, Wm. B. Eerdmans: 1989, p.68 "We must emphasize that only two texts of the Birkat ha-Minim (both found in the Cairo Genizah) explicitly mention Christians. Both texts refer to "the Christians [notzrim, ie, the Nazarenes] and the heretics / minim]. "
  9. ^ William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) The Cambridge History of Judaism: The late Roman-Rabbinic period 2006, p.291 "He (Gedaliah Alon) proposes that the original Yavnean version of the Birkat ha-Minim, following the medieval Genizah fragment, included both minim and 'Nazarenes,' and that 'in this liturgical fragment minim and Notzrim are synonymous, ie, that both refer to the Jewish Christians.' But Alon's 'assumption' about the form of the original version is unconvincing, and this not least because, if the terms minim and Notzrim are synonymous, there would be no need for both of them in the benediction. Thus, as already argued, it appears more reasonable to suspect that Notzrim was added to a pre-existing malediction after the period of Yavneh – and most likely after the Bar Kochba Revolt (or later)"
  10. ^ https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0003_0_02999.html
  11. ^ Antti Marjanen, Petri Luomanen, A Companion to Second-Century Christian "Heretics", 2008 p.283 "59–61, in contrast to R. Kimelman, "Birkat ha-Minim and the Lack of Evidence for Anti-Christian Jewish Prayer in Late Antiquity," in Jewish and Christian Self-Definition, II: Aspects of Judaism in the Greco-Roman Period, ed. E. P. Sanders, A. I. Baumgarten, and A. Mendelson, London, 1981, 226-244.
  12. ^ William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) The Cambridge History of Judaism: The late Roman-Rabbinic period, p.291-292
  13. ^ Pieter Willem van der Horst, "The Birkat ha-minim in Recent Research", in The Expository Times, 1994, p.367
  14. ^ Israel Jacob Yuval, Two Nations in Your Womb: Perceptions of Jews and Christians in ... (2008), p.116.
  15. ^ From the back cover of Yaakov Y. Teppler, Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in conflict in the ancient world, 2007, "Yaakov Y. Teppler studies the identity of those Minim and lays a firm foundation for understanding the processes of separation between Judaism and Christianity in this stormy and fascinating period."
  16. ^ James D. G. Dunn, Jews and Christians: the parting of the ways, A.D. 70 to 135, 1992
  17. ^ Edward Kessler, An Introduction to Jewish-Christian Relations, 2010
  18. ^ Pieter Willem van der Horst, Hellenism, Judaism, Christianity: essays on their interaction, 1998
  19. ^ Doris Lambers-Petry; Peter J. Tomson, (eds.) The image of the Judaeo-Christians in ancient Jewish and Christian literature, 2003, chapter 'The War Against Rome', p.15 "... who unearthed the conceptual background of the birkat ha-minim. In his analysis, the material of the berakha basically dates from temple times, when it was directed against such 'separatists' (perushim or porshim) as Sadducees who ..."
  20. ^ Ora Limor, Guy G. Stroumsa (eds.), Contra Iudaeos: ancient and medieval polemics between Christians and Jews, 1996, p.31 "Although this has been generally accepted, R. Kimelman recently challenged the view that Justin's mention of a curse has to do with the 12th benediction: "Birkat Ha-Minim and the Lack of Evidence for an Anti-Christian Jewish Prayer in Late Antiquity" in EP Sanders et al., eds., Jewish and Christian Self-Definition, vol. 2: Aspects of Judaism in the Greco-Roman Period, London, 1981, "... But it is not as clear whether one may take Justin's words in a too narrow sense"
  21. ^ Ruth Langer, Cursing the Christians?: A History of the Birkat HaMinim, Oxford University Press, 2011 pp.84-85.


Birkat haMinim. The Birkat haMinim (Hebrew ברכת המינים "Blessing on the heretics") is a Jewish curse on heretics ( minim ). Modern scholarship has generally evaluated that the Birkat haMinim probably did originally include Jewish Christians before Christianity became markedly a gentile religion. It is the 12th of the Eighteen Benedictions or Amidah.
Awhile back, I posted a query for elaboration on this 12th of the 18 benedictions,Here is what I was able to find  please amend or correct:
Birkat haMinim
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigation
Jump to search

Birkat haMinim.
The Birkat haMinim (Hebrew ברכת המינים "Blessing on the heretics") is a Jewish curse on heretics (minim). Modern scholarship has generally evaluated that the Birkat haMinim probably did originally include Jewish Christians before Christianity became markedly a gentile religion.[1] It is the 12th of the Eighteen Benedictions or Amidah.[2]
The writing of the benediction is attributed to Shmuel ha-Katan at the supposed Council of Jamnia which was inserted in the "Eighteen Benedictions" as the 19th blessing in the silent prayer to be said thrice daily, the Amidah. The benediction is thus seen as related to the Pharisees, the development of the Hebrew Bible canon, the split of early Christianity and Judaism as heresy in Judaism, the origins of Rabbinic Judaism, origins of Christianity, Christianity in the 1st century, and the history of early Christianity.
According to one theory, it was useful as a tool for outing minim ("heretics"), because no min would recite aloud or reply amen to it, as it was a curse upon minim.[3]
Contents
1
Composition
2
Identification of Minim
3
See also
4
References
5
Bibliography
Composition[edit]
According to the Babylonian Talmud Tractate Berakhot 28b–29a, Shmuel ha-Katan was responsible for the writing of the Birkat haMinim:
"Rabban Gamaliel said to the sages: Is there no one who knows how to compose a benediction against the minim? Samuel Ha-Qatan stood up and composed it."[4]
The blessing exists in various forms.[5][6] Two medieval Cairo Genizah copies include references to both minim and Notzrim ("Nazarenes", i.e. "Christians").[7][8][9]
"For the apostates let there be no hope. And let the arrogant government be speedily uprooted in our days. Let the noẓerim and the minim be destroyed in a moment. And let them be blotted out of the Book of Life and not be inscribed together with the righteous. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who humblest the arrogant" (Schechter)."[10]
Identification of Minim[edit]
The extent of reference to Notzrim, or application of minim to Christians is debated.[11][12] In his analysis of various scholarly views on the Birkat haMinim, Pieter W. van der Horst sums up,
"It is certain that minim in Tannaitic times are always Jews... It is certain that notsrim was not a part of the earliest version(s) of our berakhah."[13]
During the medieval period, whether the blessing included Christians or not was the subject of disputations, a potential cause for persecution and thus a matter relevant for the safety of Jewish communities.[14] It is generally viewed in modern studies that the term "heretics" at an early point in split of early Christianity and Judaism had included Jewish Christians.[15][16][17][18] It was David Flusser's view (1992) that the Birkat haMinim was added in reference to the Sadducees.[19]
Many scholars have seen reference to the Birkat haMinim in Justin Martyr's complaint to Trypho of the Jews "cursing in your synagogues those that believe on Christ." Reuven Kimelman (1981) challenged this, noting that Justin's description places the curse in the wrong sequence in the synagogue service.[20]
Christian awareness of this prayer as a curse against them is only attested from the time of Jerome and Epiphanius in the fifth century CE. In the subsequent anti-Judeaic literature, it was almost universally ignored until the 13th century. The one exception is the work of Agobard of Lyons, writing in 826/827 to protest what he saw was the granting of too many privileges to Jews by the Carolingian monarch.[21]
See also[edit]
Eikev
References[edit]
^ The Cambridge History of Judaism: The late Roman-Rabbinic period pp. 291-292 ed. William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz - 2006
^ Pieter Willem van der Horst, Hellenism, Judaism, Christianity: essays on their interaction, Kok Pharos: 1998, Page 113 ".. who humblest the insolent" (Palestinian recension) The 12th berakhah in the Jewish Shemoneh Esreh (Eighteen [benedictions]) is usually called the Birkat ha-minim 'the blessing of the heretics', which is a euphemism for a curse"
^ http://www.answers.com/topic/birkat-ha-minim
^ Translation supplied from Steven T. Katz, "Issues in the Separation of Judaism and Christianity after 70 C.E.: A Reconsideration", in Journal of Biblical Literature, 103/1, p.64
^ Ruth Langer, “The Earliest Texts of the Birkat Haminim”, with Uri Ehrlich, forthcoming in Hebrew Union College Annual 77.
^ Pieter Willem van der Horst, Selected works: The Birkat Ha-minim in Recent Research. T. & T. Clark, 1994. "Aspects of Religious Contact and Conflict in the Ancient World."
^ Yaakov Y. Teppler, Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in conflict in the ancient world, Mohr Siebeck: 2007 - p.56 "Thus Krauss speaks on the one hand of notzrim and on the other of minim, and his two pleas do not really hold up side by ... 207 Rashi on BT Megillah 17b: "The minim are disciples of Jesus the Notzri which is why they put Birkat haMinim ..."
^ Marvin R. Wilson, Our father Abraham: Jewish roots of the Christian Faith, Wm. B. Eerdmans: 1989, p.68 "We must emphasize that only two texts of the Birkat ha-Minim (both found in the Cairo Genizah) explicitly mention Christians. Both texts refer to "the Christians [notzrim, ie, the Nazarenes] and the heretics / minim]. "
^ William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) The Cambridge History of Judaism: The late Roman-Rabbinic period 2006, p.291 "He (Gedaliah Alon) proposes that the original Yavnean version of the Birkat ha-Minim, following the medieval Genizah fragment, included both minim and 'Nazarenes,' and that 'in this liturgical fragment minim and Notzrim are synonymous, ie, that both refer to the Jewish Christians.' But Alon's 'assumption' about the form of the original version is unconvincing, and this not least because, if the terms minim and Notzrim are synonymous, there would be no need for both of them in the benediction. Thus, as already argued, it appears more reasonable to suspect that Notzrim was added to a pre-existing malediction after the period of Yavneh – and most likely after the Bar Kochba Revolt (or later)"
^ https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0003_0_02999.html
^ Antti Marjanen, Petri Luomanen, A Companion to Second-Century Christian "Heretics", 2008 p.283 "59–61, in contrast to R. Kimelman, "Birkat ha-Minim and the Lack of Evidence for Anti-Christian Jewish Prayer in Late Antiquity," in Jewish and Christian Self-Definition, II: Aspects of Judaism in the Greco-Roman Period, ed. E. P. Sanders, A. I. Baumgarten, and A. Mendelson, London, 1981, 226-244.
^ William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) The Cambridge History of Judaism: The late Roman-Rabbinic period, p.291-292
^ Pieter Willem van der Horst, "The Birkat ha-minim in Recent Research", in The Expository Times, 1994, p.367
^ Israel Jacob Yuval, Two Nations in Your Womb: Perceptions of Jews and Christians in ... (2008), p.116.
^ From the back cover of Yaakov Y. Teppler, Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in conflict in the ancient world, 2007, "Yaakov Y. Teppler studies the identity of those Minim and lays a firm foundation for understanding the processes of separation between Judaism and Christianity in this stormy and fascinating period."
^ James D. G. Dunn, Jews and Christians: the parting of the ways, A.D. 70 to 135, 1992
^ Edward Kessler, An Introduction to Jewish-Christian Relations, 2010
^ Pieter Willem van der Horst, Hellenism, Judaism, Christianity: essays on their interaction, 1998
^ Doris Lambers-Petry; Peter J. Tomson, (eds.) The image of the Judaeo-Christians in ancient Jewish and Christian literature, 2003, chapter 'The War Against Rome', p.15 "... who unearthed the conceptual background of the birkat ha-minim. In his analysis, the material of the berakha basically dates from temple times, when it was directed against such 'separatists' (perushim or porshim) as Sadducees who ..."
^ Ora Limor, Guy G. Stroumsa (eds.), Contra Iudaeos: ancient and medieval polemics between Christians and Jews, 1996, p.31 "Although this has been generally accepted, R. Kimelman recently challenged the view that Justin's mention of a curse has to do with the 12th benediction: "Birkat Ha-Minim and the Lack of Evidence for an Anti-Christian Jewish Prayer in Late Antiquity" in EP Sanders et al., eds., Jewish and Christian Self-Definition, vol. 2: Aspects of Judaism in the Greco-Roman Period, London, 1981, "... But it is not as clear whether one may take Justin's words in a too narrow sense"
^ Ruth Langer, Cursing the Christians?: A History of the Birkat HaMinim, Oxford University Press, 2011 pp.84-85.
Bibliography[edit]
Ruth Langer, Cursing the Christians?: A History of the Birkat HaMinim, New York: Oxford University Press 2011.
Yaakov Yanki Teppler, Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in Conflict in the Ancient World, Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck 2007.

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Encyclopedia Judaica:Table of Contents |The Amidah|Selichot


BIRKAT HA-MINIM (Heb. בִּרְכַּת הַמִּינִים, "benediction concerning heretics"), the twelfth benediction of the weekday Amidah (the Shmoneh Esreh prayer). The benediction belongs to the latter part of the Amidah petitions, which beseech the redemption of the people of Israel. Worded more like an imprecation (see Tanḥuma [Buber ed.], Vayikra 3), in its invocation of divine wrath against internal enemies to Jewish integrity and against external enemies of the Jewish people, it differs from the other petitions.
Birkat ha-Minim is also distinguished from the other Amidah benedictions by the fact that it was appended after the formulation and fixing of the Amidah text. The tradition of its secondary addition at Jabneh is shared by TJ (Ber. 4:3, 8a) and TB, which attributes its formulation to Samuel ha-Katan at the explicit request of the Nasi, Rabban Gamliel (Ber. 28b). Scholarly opinion is divided, however, with regard to the precise understanding of this process. One view holds that the tradition reflected by TB (ibid.) should be accepted literally; accordingly Birkat ha-Minim was formulated at Jabneh and added to the already existing eighteen benedictions (see Fleischer), upping the number to nineteen. Accepted in this nineteen-benediction form in the early Babylonian rite, it was subsequently transmitted from this rite to all prayer books up to the present. Others contend (see Heinemann) that Rabban Gamliel's request simply concerned the updating of an already existing benediction among the eighteen – whose content spoke out in general against separatists (see T. Ber. 3:25) – to incorporate explicit mention of the minim. This also explains why the versions of the Amidah in the Palestinian rite number only eighteen benedictions, inclusive of Birkat ha-Minim. The proponents of this view submit that the nineteen-benediction form of the Amidah in the Babylonian rite reflects a Babylonian custom of splitting the petition for the building of Jerusalem and for the coming of the Davidic messiah into two separate benedictions. In Palestine, both subjects were combined in a single benediction regarding Jerusalem.
Its exceptional importance in Christian-Jewish relations from the first century C.E. to the present has focused intense scholarly attention on this benediction. The relatively crystallized wording of the benediction in the extant early siddurim (ninth to twelfth centuries) makes it likely that the text preserved there closely resembles its original formulation. We find the following wording in a Palestinian siddur from the Cairo Genizah:
For the apostates let there be no hope. And let the arrogant government be speedily uprooted in our days. Let the noẓerim and the minim be destroyed in a moment. And let them be blotted out of the Book of Life and not be inscribed together with the righteous. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who humblest the arrogant" (Schechter).
This was also the version commonly used in the Babylonian rite, in which the penultimate sentence, "And let them be blotted out," was replaced by a petition to cut off all enemies, "may all the enemies of your people and their opponents be speedily cut off." Other variants reflect a longer, more elaborated request for obliteration of enemies. The language of the benediction clearly demonstrates that it was directed, not at non-Jews in general, but rather specifically aimed against external persecutors of the Jews and against Jewish separatists who posed a danger to Judaism's internal cohesion. Nonetheless, as early as the first centuries C.E. we find church fathers voicing the claim that the Jews curse the Christians in their prayers. Such contentions, alongside censorship of siddurim, wrought significant changes in the wording of the benediction during the Middle Ages. Also contributing to this modificatory process were shifts in the social environment of the Jews and in their worldview. Without exception, the word noẓerim was expunged from all Jewish prayer rites, and in many, substitutions were made for minim (heretics) and meshummadim (apostates), as in the accepted opening in the Ashkenazi rite: "may the slanderers (malshinim) have no hope." Some Reform prayer books omit this benediction entirely.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

G. Alon, The Jews in Their Land in the Talmudic Age (70–640 C.E.) (1980), 288–307; I. Elbogen, Jewish Liturgy: A Comprehensive History. tr. R.P. Scheindlein (1993), 31–34, 45–46; E. Fleischer. "Le-Kadmoniyyut Tefillot ha-Ḥovah be-Yisrael," in: Tarbiz, 59 (1990), 435–37; D. Flusser, "Mikat ma'asei ha-Torah' u-Virkat ha-Minim." in: Tarbiz, 61 (1992), 333–74; J. Heinemann, Prayer in the Talmud: Forms and Patterns (1977), 225–26; W. Horbury. "The Benediction of the 'Minim' and Early Jewish-Christian Controversy," in: Journal of Theological Studies, 33:1 (1982), 19–61; R. Kimelman. "Birkat Ha-Minim and the Lack of Evidence for an Anti-Christian Prayer in Late Antiquity," in: E.P. Sanders (ed.), Jewish and Christian Self-Definition, vol. 2 (1981), 226–44; J.J. Petuchowski, Prayerbook Reform in Europe (1968), 223–25; S. Schechter, "Genizah Specimens," in: JQR,10 (1898), 657.
[Uri Ehrlich (2nd ed.)]
Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.

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