The Three Crowns Structures of Communal Politics in Early Rabbinic Jewry [Paperback]

Examines scholarly interest in the historical origins and manifestations of Jewry's distinctive traditions of constitutional thought and political action.The Jewish national revival of our times has stimulated scholarly interest in the historical origins and manifestations of Jewry's distinctive traditions of constitutional thought and political action. This study is a contribution to that enquiry.The Jewish national revival of our times has stimulated scholarly interest in the historical origins and manifestations of Jewry's distinctive traditions of constitutional thought and political action. This study is a contribution to that enquiry.The Jewish national revival of our times has stimulated scholarly interest in the historical origins and manifestations of Jewry's distinctive traditions of constitutional thought and political action. This study is a contribution to that enquiry. Focusing on the structures of communal rule forged during the first five centuries of the common era, the book presents an analysis of the processes whereby the rabbis and their disciples replaced both priests and civic rulers as foci of political royalty and instruments of domestic government throughout the Jewish world. Cohen argues that much of Jewish political history during the age of the Mishnah and Talmud can be read as a record of the attempt to reinterpret the ancient concept of the three crowns (or clusters of rulership which determined Jewish public behaviour) and adapt it to rabbinic purposes.Acknowledgements; Note on transliteration and translation; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The concept of the three ketarim; Part 1. Versions of the Past: Visions of the Future: 2. Institutions and their instruments; 3. History as propaganda: the rabbinic version; 4. Other positions, other priorities; Part II. From Theory to Practice: the Struggle for Supremacy: 5. The first phase (c.135 BCEc.100 CE); 6. Rabbis and priests (c.100 CEc.300 CE); 7. Rabbis and appointed rulers (c.1l“%