Browsing by Author "Gitay, Yehoshua"

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    Book of Ecclesiastes-Kohelet Kohelet : a living dialogue
    (1997) Kohn, Eli; Gitay, Yehoshua
    The book of Ecclesiastes or Kohelet, using its Hebrew title is one of the Five Megilloth (Scrolls). This Biblical book characterizes life as utter futility like "shepherding" or "chasing the wind". Throughout the book one encounters teachings that stand in considerable tension with each other. For example in 7:3 Kohelet states: "Anger is better than happiness" while later in 8: 15 he writes: "I praised Happiness: In 7: 1 he says: "Better the day of one's death than the day one is born'; while in 11: 7 he states: "Light is sweet and good for the eyes so as 'to see the sun". Contradictions such as these are found throughout the book. The following study of Kohelet will attempt to analyze.previous studies of the book which have offered ways of interpreting these contradictions. Several responses have commended themselves to interpreters. Some see the author of Kohelet as citing traditional wisdom and then refuting it. Others see the book as reflecting a single author's changing viewpoints over the years as well as life's ambiguities. Some understand Kohelet as a book written by one author while later editors added their viewpoints.
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    The book of Genesis and the Genesis Apocryphon : a literary and thematic comparison
    (2001) Weener-Hartney, Johanna; Gitay, Yehoshua
    The main focus in this thesis is the understanding of Genesis 12: 1- 13: 4 and its development in the Genesis Apocryphon, one of the re-written Bible text, dealt with in this dissertation. Reading the Genesis Apocryphon, it draws your attention to firstly find out why, and secondly, to see how the author/s of this scroll re-wrote the above-mentioned passage in Genesis. The focus of the Genesis account is particularly on Abram leaving the Promised Land of Egypt, and consequently, what may be regarded as his ill behaviour towards Sarai, his wife, while they were in Egypt. Abraham's leave-taking of the Promised Land, and his behaviour towards his wife are unexpected, for Abram had followed God's calling, and had been promised Canaan for his and Sarai's offspring, However interfers, and lead Abram back on his steps.
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    A characterization of Samuel in terms of the psychological model of Erikson
    (2004) Burke, Guenevere; Gitay, Yehoshua
    The story of Samuel forms an integral part of the Hebrew saga, marking the transition from the period of Judges to the Israelite monarchy. Book I of Samuel is unusual in that it portrays the birth, death and major episodes of the prophet's life. In fact, Samuel, along with Moses and Jeremiah, is one of the few characters whose full life history is documented in the Biblical text: we not only have the significant events which lead up to his birth, but he makes an appearance again after his death. Given this detail, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether a re-reading of the character of Samuel through a psychological model can throw fresh insights on how the Israelites effected the transition from a theocracy to a monarchy. The choice of Erikson is motivated by two considerations. In the first, Erikson extended the boundaries of Freudian psychoanalysis by describing both normal as well as abnormal development. His ego-psychology, with its eight-stage developmental plan, its theses and antitheses, is particularly suitable in the case of Samuel, whose life-cycle for the most part can be viewed as problematic, a series of crises. In the second, though he wrote prolifically on numerous leading historical figures and literary characters, Erikson himself never analysed a Biblical figure. This work is, however, not confined to a psychological typification of the character of Samuel. It is intended to be an interdisciplinary study: it deals with the text as an integrated literary unit and relies on the insights of classical Biblical scholarship to support many of its conclusions.
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    A comparison between the descriptions of the Tabernacle and Solomon's temple with special attention to the number seven
    (2001) Cole, David; Gitay, Yehoshua
    Bibliography: leaves 178-182.
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    Jewish theodicy : reflections on the Holocaust and Zionism in rabbinical thought
    (2002) Kadosh, Refael; Gitay, Yehoshua
    Includes bibliographical references.
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    The message of the prophet Haggai : a socio-political approach
    (2003) Sherrell, Atarah Christina; Gitay, Yehoshua
    In this dissertation my study of the Book of Haggai was done by means of historical-critical exegesis. By entering into the sociological and historical world of Haggai I have attempted to reconstruct the political and religious settings operative at that time in order to gain a deeper understanding of the oracles of Haggai. The dissertation commences with the destruction of the First Temple and the fall of Judah. The elite in Jerusalem are exiled by their Babylonian conquerors. The people who remained behind lived in a state of economic depression, yet they rally together and soon the sacrificial cult is resumed. New leaders come to the fore in both the religious and political arenas. Meanwhile the exiled people are living in an economic prosperous country and soon the exiled King of Judah is allowed to eat at the table of the Babylonian king. Some years later the Persians conquer the Babylonians. Cyrus the Persian king adopts an attitude of religious tolerance and provides financial assistance to restore the temples of his subjects for entirely selfish reasons. In this way the Persian rulers gained popularity and the loyalty of their subjects. King Darius needed to ensure stability in Yehud (Judah) so he returns the Davidide scion Zerubbabel together with Jehozadak the high priest in exile, to Jerusalem. On the basis of Trito-Isaiah a number of biblical scholars have identified two main groups who may be classified as being either pro-Isaiah or pro-Ezekiel both of whom looked forward to gaining control of the Temple cult should it be re-established in Jerusalem. It was at this time that the prophet Haggai exhorts all the people to support Zerubbabel and Jehozadak and to reconstruct the Temple of the God of Israel. Haggai succeeds with clever rhetoric to gain the cooperation of the people. In his second major oracle Haggai addresses the priests and by means of analogy condemns the immorality that was taking place. His third major oracle is directed at Zerubbabel and expresses the hope that with the support and assistance of the God of Israel, Zerubbabel will become a king of Judah. Haggai attempts to re-establish the old order of kingship and temple cult in Jerusalem. He succeeds in re-establishing the temple cult and the Zadokite priesthood is restored giving them control of temple matters once again. Amongst the duties of Jehozadak would have been the collection of taxes for the Persian government. The taxes were in form of money and provisions that would then be used to provide for the needs of the Persian army on its way to Egypt. In his endeavour to restore the ""king"" of Judah Haggai is however unsuccessful. A careful study reveals that an underlying element of opposition had remained in Jerusalem since the fall of Judah. This leads me to conclude that Zerubbabel met a similar fate to that of Gedaliah, the first governor of Yehud. The fear of Persian reprisals became the motive for the silence surrounding the mysterious disappearance of Zerubbabel.
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    Representations of the other in modern Hebrew literature
    (1997) Goodman, Zilla Jane; Gitay, Yehoshua; Spicehandler, Ezra
    This study posits that the concept of the Other is central in modern Hebrew literature. It traces its beginnings in Jewish thought to the Bible, and connects the creation and Eden narratives to contemporary psychoanalytic thought on ego formation and the Other. It considers the importance of the figure of the talush to the focus on the Other in modern Hebrew literature and suggests that the conflicts of the collective versus the individual that are expressed in the early stages of the literature do not disappear as it moves into the present day, but are discernible in different guise and can be seen in the burden of group consciousness which besets Hebrew authors and vitiates their attempts to configure the unique. The feminized Other is seen as especially important in this regard because of the collective textual and thus social repression of women in the tradition. Its presentation is thus taken as a useful measure of the successful resolution of individual as opposed to group narration. The modern Hebrew texts analyzed, beginning with a poem by the late Haskhalah poet, Y.L. Gordon through D. Baron, M.Y. Berdichewski, A. Kahana-Carman, S.Y. Agnon, A Appelfeld and ending with a novel by the contemporary Israeli writer, D. Grossman, support this decision as the collective is subjugated only in Kahana-Carman's text where the feminine is fully realized. The thesis examines the ways the eight narratives grapple with the awareness of the Other, and focuses on the aspects, including body, war and language, that are highlighted variously in each text. The struggles of modern Hebrew writers are also viewed as part of the difficulties entailed in the denotative endeavors of writing itself which strives, towards the always elusive Other that predates ego-formation and thus individuality itself. It is proposed that this intensifies the tensions about the Other in modern Hebrew literature which derive from its specific cultural heritage.
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    A rhetorical analysis of the budget speeches of South Africa : 1985, 1993, 1994, 2002
    (2004) WynSculley, Catherine; Gitay, Yehoshua
    The annual national Budget Speeches made by the Ministers of Finance of South Africa are epideictic (ceremonious) speeches that praise the government's economic policy for the coming year, recommend it to the nation, and also present the proposed Budget to the world. This speech contains information that is the policy of the government since it is ultimately written into law and so affects the fortunes of every citizen of South Africa. The Ministers of Finance have to persuade the nation to adopt a plan for distributing the wealth of the nation which becomes a greatly significant exercise in the context of a developing third world country like South Africa where there is still great inequality. The Ministers of Finance do this by using ceremonious rhetoric that attempts to unite the people of South Africa under a common vision for the economy. In this thesis, I provide an analysis of the political rhetoric of four Budget Speeches of South Africa, each selected because of their importance in the various stages of South Africa's political history. This thesis is not an economic analysis; it is a rhetorical analysis of the speeches since the technique of rhetoric is used to analyse the Budget Speech. The selection of speeches is as follows: the Budget Speech of 1985 represents the apartheid era, even though at that time there were some moves towards reform. The peculiar two-pronged apartheid rhetoric of providing a place for all South Africans, of working together to build the nation and the economy, while there is still racial oppression is present in the introduction and conclusion of this speech. With the development of negotiations in the early 1990s which culminated in the first democratically elected Government of National Unity in 1994, the Budget Speeches of 1993 and 1994 became more representative of the interests of all South African citizens. In these speeches there is the rhetoric of hope for the future, transparency and nation-building. The 2002 Budget Speech represents a mature Budget Speech of a post-1994 South Africa where a democratically elected majority black party is in power. In the 2002 speech there is the rhetoric of solidarity, poverty and nation building. In the chapters containing the rhetorical analysis for each speech there is a description of the rhetorical situation, a summary of the speech, and then an analysis of the inventio, dispositio, and elocutio of the speech. In the final section of the thesis I provide a comparison of the four speeches analysed. Included in this dissertation are illustrations of the Ministers of Finance, the official print version of their speeches, a selection of media articles published on or around the day that each of the Budget Speeches were delivered, and also the transcripts of two interviews that I conducted with two of the former Ministers of Finance.
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    The genre of suffering in the 'ancient near eastern literature, the Hebrew bible, and in some examples of modern literature.
    Middelkoop, Roeland; Gitay, Yehoshua
    The aim of this thesis is to compare works of drama regarding the suffering of the human being in the context of life and literature and in relation to the issue of justice, which revolves around the impact of Justice, Humanity and God. My aim is to look at the development of the genre of suffering starting with the Ancient Near Eastern Literature, to define the genre in its development and to characterise its features in the various literatures discussed, especially with respect to the Book of Job. The book of Job is well known for its input in world literature on the theme of suffering. It is therefore important to trace the genre of suffering from its literary origins in the ancient near east and from there to Job. Hence, I will look at ancient works on suffering from Sumeria, from Babylon and from Egypt, and then at the book of Job. I will compare and examine the differences in their approaches and their understanding of God and of justice.