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A Tale Of Two Fathers: Leadership Between The Estate And The Study House In The Origin Story Of Eliezer Ben Hyrcanus, John Mandsager
A Tale Of Two Fathers: Leadership Between The Estate And The Study House In The Origin Story Of Eliezer Ben Hyrcanus, John Mandsager
Journal of Religious Competition in Antiquity
The coming-of-age tale of R. Eliezer b. Hyrcanus, found in a number of late midrash collections, contains competing ideals of masculine mastery and leadership. Through analysis of the three main characters of the story, R. Eliezer, and his two fathers, Hyrcanus, and his master R. Yoḥanan b. Zakkai across the variants of the story, this article demonstrates that the spaces of the agricultural estate and the study house are idealized in competing ways in rabbinic midrash as spaces for mastery of ideals of masculine identity (success in estate management and excellence in Torah study). In addition, Hyrcanus and R. Yoḥanan …