Lemaire, Sarah

Yose ben Yose was the first poet to write in Hebrew whose name has come down to us since Ben Sirah. He began his piyyut “Atah konanta ᶜolam be-rov ḥesed” (‘You created the world with great love’) with a creation hymn. In clear, sublime language, the poet created a mosaic of creation legends. This double fascination of the beginning – the world creation hymn of an avant-gardist of synagogue poetry – is what I am trying to capture in my dissertation. I also examine the piyyut-genre of avodah as verbal sacrifice, how the Day of Atonement is reflected in Jose ben Jose’ poetic representation of creation, and what similarities and differences “Atah konanta ᶜolam be-rov ḥesed” has to other early avodah poems. Another focus is the particularly close connection between piyyut and targum in dealing with the biblical creation accounts and their function as a bridge between the house of study and the synagogue.

Areas of Interest

early poetry of the synagogue (pre-classical piyyutim), Aramaic Bible translation (targumim), Aramaic poetry in Late Antiquity

Historical Periods of Interest

2nd through 8th centuries CE

Positions

Education