Recent studies on ancient Israel's mortuary culture have shown that mourning rites were not restricted to the occasions of death, burial and subsequent grief but were, in fact, implemented in diverse contexts. In this thesis I am looking at biblical traditions in which these solemn practices contributed, or sought to contribute to various forms of social restoration. More specifically, I explore the stories of biblical grieving mothers who are placed at key junctures in Israel's history to renegotiate the destinies not only of their own children, dead or lost, but also those of larger communities, i.e. family lines, ethnic groups, or entire nations. Since 'the social and ritual dimensions of mourning are intertwined and inseparable ... [and] rites in general are a context for the creation and transformation of social order', these women use the circumstance of their 'interrupted' motherhood as a platform for a kind of grief-driven socio-political activism. Since maternal bereavement is generally understood as the most intense of all types of loss and was seen as archetypal of all mourning in ancient Near Eastern cultures, Israelite communities in crisis deemed sorrowing motherhood as a potent agent in bringing about their own survival and resurgence back to normalcy. I begin my discussion on mourning rites as tools of social preservation and restoration in biblical traditions with (1) a list of modern examples that attest to a phenomenon of social, political, and religious engagement among women that stems from the circumstance of child loss; (2) a survey of recent grief and death studies that identify maternal grief as the most intense and the most enduring among other types of bereavement; (3) an overview of ancient Near Eastern cultures (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Hatti, Syro-Palestine) that not only viewed maternal grief as paradigmatic of all mourning but also utilised ritual actions performed by mothers in contexts of large scale catastrophes as mechanisms for dealing with a collective trauma. Against this background my project then turns to discuss four biblical mothers: Hagar (Gen. 21:14-21), Rizpah (2 Sam. 21:1-14), the woman of Tekoa (2 Sam. 14:1-20) and Rachel (Jer. 31:15-22), all of whom perform rites for their dying or dead children and exhibit a form of advocacy for society at large.

O trabalho meticuloso de preservação e de transmissão da Bíblia Hebraica elaborado pelos massoretas, no período medieval, recebe o nome de massorá. Tal designação técnica refere-se, especificamente, ao conjunto de anotações escrito nos códices massoréticos medievais de tradição tiberiense. Tais observações são também encontradas nas modernas edições críticas da Bíblia Hebraica e em algumas publicações de Bíblias rabínicas. As observações foram elaboradas e desenvolvidas por três tradições massoréticas distintas: a babilônica, a palestina e a tiberiense. A massorá de tradição tiberiense é aquela que se tornou definitiva e a mais estudada pelo mundo acadêmico. A massorá de tradição tiberiense é composta por itens terminológicos de procedência aramaica e hebraica. Os termos massoréticos foram usados de forma específica para indicar os vários aspectos do texto da Bíblia Hebraica, como questões relacionadas a consoantes, sinais vocálicos, acentos de cantilação, palavras, expressões, grafias, além de detalhes e observações gramaticais. Esse trabalho teve como objetivo principal a preservação e a transmissão completa do corpus das Sagradas Escrituras hebraicas. Devido a tal fato, esta tese é dedicada a dois objetivos principais: 1. Estudar e trazer contribuições sobre a realidade lingüística vivida pelos massoretas e seu trato das línguas hebraica e aramaica dentro da massorá. Esse estudo pretende verificar se a linguagem da massorá poderia constituir um jargão, uma gíria ou uma linguagem de especialidade. Além disso, o trabalho aborda, mesmo que brevemente, questões relacionadas à linguagem elíptica e sintetizada da massorá. 2. Seleção e análise de um conjunto de itens terminológicos massoréticos registrados no Códice de Leningrado: Firkowitch I. B19a (L), classificando-os de acordo com sua natureza semântica, como monossememia e polissememia e tipos de neologia semântica, como extensão, estreitamento, sinédoque etc. Em suma, uma classificação de possíveis situações de neologismos semânticos presentes na massorá tiberiense, como registrada no Códice L. / The meticulous work of preservation and transmission of the Hebrew Bible created by the masoretes, in the Medieval period, is called Masorah. This technical designation refers, specifically, to the annotations written in the Medieval Masoretic codices of Tiberian tradition. These notes are also found in the modern critical editions of the Hebrew Bible and in some publications of Rabbinical Bibles. The notes were created and developed by three different Masoretic traditions: Babylonian, Palestinian and Tiberian. The Tiberian Masorah has been the definitive form and the most-studied one in the scholarly world. The Tiberian Masorah has terminological items of Aramaic and Hebrew origins. The Masoretic terms were used in a specific way to show the several aspects of the Hebrew Bible text, such as consonants, vocalic signals, intonation accents, words, expressions, spelling, orthography and also grammatical notes. The main aim of such work was the complete preservation and transmission of the corpus of the Sacred Hebrew Scriptures. On account of this fact, this thesis is dedicated to two main aims: 1. To study and to present contributions about the linguistic reality of the masoretes and their approach to the Hebrew and Aramaic languages inside the Masorah. In addition, this research verifies if the Masorah language would be jargon, slang or speciality language. Besides, this work broaches, briefly, issues about the elliptic and synthetic language of the Masorah. 2. Collection and analysis of a set of Masoretic terminological items registered in the Leningrad Codex: Firkowitch I. B19a (L), classifying them according to their semantic nature, such as monossememic and polissememic and classes of semantic neology such as extension, narrowing, synecdoche and so on. In summary, a linguistic classification of possible situations of semantic neologisms in the Tiberian Masorah that is found in the Codex L.

A atividade massorética surgiu aproximadamente no século VII na Babilônia e chegou ao seu auge por volta do século X, com os trabalhos dos massoretas de Tiberíades, Israel, principalmente com o último massoreta da família Ben Asher, Aarão ben Moisés ben Asher. A tradição tiberiense do ramo Ben Asher, entre outras tradições, nunca conheceu uma forma absolutamente uniforme e fixa que não pudesse apresentar algum tipo de divergência ou contradição, seja na vocalização ou na acentuação. A Massorá também apresentava suas próprias diferenças e contradições. Esta pesquisa pretende analisar notas massoréticas divergentes da Masora Parva nos dez capítulos do livro de Isaías em três textos de tradição Ben Asher: o Códice de Alepo A, o Códice de Leningrado B19a (L) e a Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS). Os dois primeiros são os principais manuscritos massoréticos que seguem a tradição Ben Asher e os mais relacionados entre si e além disso, são frutos da atividade massorética ocorrida nos séculos X e XI. A BHS, a principal edição crítica do texto bíblico hebraico surgida no século XX, é baseada no texto e na Massorá de um dos manuscritos Ben Asher, o Códice L. Ao analisar as diferenças nas notas mencionadas, este estudo pretende discutir a razão das divergências das notas massoréticas e os métodos de composição de tais notas por parte dos dois massoretas responsáveis por cada um dos dois manuscritos mencinados, o Códice A e o Códice L. Será analisada também a forma de composição empregada na Massorá da BHS cujo editor, Gérard E. Weil, teve como objetivo fazer um comentário massorético menos contraditório e mais detalhado. O método adotado por Weil é analisado tendo em vista a prática empregada pelos massoretas por volta dos séculos X e XI. / The masoretic activity appeared in circa VII century in Babylon and its pinnacle was in circa X century, with the works of Tiberias masoretes in Israel, especially with the last of the Ben Asher family, Aaron ben Moses ben Asher. The Tiberian masoretic tradition of the Ben Asher branch, amongst other traditions, never had an exact and uniform pattern that would avoid divergence and contradiction both in the vocalization and the marking with accents. The Masorah itself shows its differences and contratitions. This work aims at analysing divergent masoretic notes from Masora Parva in the first ten chapters of the book of Isaiah in three texts of Ben Asher tradition, namely Alepo Codex A, Leningrad Codex B19a (L) and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS). The first two texts are the most correlated and the main masoretic manuscripts that follow Ben Asher tradition. Furthermore, they are the outcome of the masoretic activity that took place in the X and XI centuries. BHS, the most important critical edition of the Hebrew biblical texts dates from XX century and is based in the text and in the Masorah of one of Ben Asher manuscripts, the Codex L. Analysing the differences in the above-mentioned sources, this work intends to discuss the reasons of the divergences and contraditions in the masoretic notes and the methods of composition of the notes used by two of the main masoretes in charge of the Codex A and the Codex L. The composition of the Masorah of BHS whose editor, Gérard E. Weil, aimed at making a more detailed and less contradictory masoretic commentary will also be analysed. The method adopted by Weil is analysed focusing on the practice of the masoretes in circa X and XI centuries.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Thesis. 1979. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND HUMANITIES. / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 419-426. / by John Joseph McCarthy, III. / Ph.D.

Ao lidar com uma parte considerável da Bíblia Hebraica, o leitor precisa estar a par do que é Poesia Hebraica Bíblica, suas características, peculiaridades e nuances a fim de entender e apreciar o texto. Mas como os Hebreus não deixaram nenhum manual de poética, o debate sobre a poesia da Bíblia Hebraica envolve desde sua presença no texto até suas características gerais e específicas. No presente trabalho, apresenta-se uma breve discussão sobre a Poesia Hebraica Bíblica no cenário acadêmico atual. Também são expostas as características dessa poesia, com ênfase no paralelismo. / When dealing with most part of the Hebrew Bible, the reader must be aware of what is biblical Hebrew poetry, its characteristics, peculiarities and details in order to understand and appreciate the text. Since there isn\'t a Hebrew manual of poetics, the debate about the biblical Hebrew poetry comprises from its presence in the text to its general and specific characteristics. The following research presents a brief discussion about Hebrew Bible in the current academic scenario, as the characteristics of this kind of poetry with an emphasis in parallelism.

Ao lidar com uma parte considerável da Bíblia Hebraica, o leitor precisa estar a par do que é Poesia Hebraica Bíblica, suas características, peculiaridades e nuances a fim de entender e apreciar o texto. Mas como os Hebreus não deixaram nenhum manual de poética, o debate sobre a poesia da Bíblia Hebraica envolve desde sua presença no texto até suas características gerais e específicas. No presente trabalho, apresenta-se uma breve discussão sobre a Poesia Hebraica Bíblica no cenário acadêmico atual. Também são expostas as características dessa poesia, com ênfase no paralelismo. / When dealing with most part of the Hebrew Bible, the reader must be aware of what is biblical Hebrew poetry, its characteristics, peculiarities and details in order to understand and appreciate the text. Since there isn\'t a Hebrew manual of poetics, the debate about the biblical Hebrew poetry comprises from its presence in the text to its general and specific characteristics. The following research presents a brief discussion about Hebrew Bible in the current academic scenario, as the characteristics of this kind of poetry with an emphasis in parallelism.

Thesis (M.A.E.T.)--Covenant Theological Seminary, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-83).

The poetry of Dahlia Ravikovitch presents as self-writing nestled in the wide embrace of non-linear écriture féminine. Each poem offers a glimpse of the persona: body and soul, the music of her voice and the perspective of her spirit. Together the poems comprise verbal self-portraits of a lovelorn soul, torn between impulses to fully remember and deliberately forget. Through years of love, life, disappointment, bouts of depression and renewed promise, Dahlia Ravikovitch continued to compose. Through the crystals of poetry the speaker examines, from varying angles and in multiple refractions of light, those figures of alterity who are her self. For Ravikovitch poetry was the only neutral space in which her self could comfortably exist and, even so, not always. The poet-persona experiences love in unsuitable proportions. She receives too little; she goes ‘overboard’ and ‘out of bounds’ in giving too much. She experiences love, even when accessible, as an affliction. She suffers love. She laments love. The persona performs her malaise through contrasting physical sensations, idiosyncrasies and profound cravings. Her personal thermostat is erratic. She exhibits pronounced wardrobe-predilections. Her throat reacts to a flow of eros and creative vitality or lack thereof. She yearns for pure memory and thirsts for pure essence. The speaker’s gallery displays an elaborate montage of a golden apple endowed with gifts of wisdom, eros, poetry and passion, alongside portraits of a royal chanteuse and a skilled scribe. Crucial brushstrokes illuminate lovers and sinners, souls in flames, shipwrecks, lyric-expressive throats in various states of constriction and release, as well as voices of collective responsibility. Ravikovitch encrypts her poetry with rich resources of biblical, rabbinic, medieval and early modern Hebrew literature. She forwards the linguistic and literary resonance of these layers. She innovates upon their motifs through feats in the dimensions of feminine writing, intertextual engagements and postmodern poetics.

The poetry of Dahlia Ravikovitch presents as self-writing nestled in the wide embrace of non-linear écriture féminine. Each poem offers a glimpse of the persona: body and soul, the music of her voice and the perspective of her spirit. Together the poems comprise verbal self-portraits of a lovelorn soul, torn between impulses to fully remember and deliberately forget. Through years of love, life, disappointment, bouts of depression and renewed promise, Dahlia Ravikovitch continued to compose. Through the crystals of poetry the speaker examines, from varying angles and in multiple refractions of light, those figures of alterity who are her self. For Ravikovitch poetry was the only neutral space in which her self could comfortably exist and, even so, not always. The poet-persona experiences love in unsuitable proportions. She receives too little; she goes ‘overboard’ and ‘out of bounds’ in giving too much. She experiences love, even when accessible, as an affliction. She suffers love. She laments love. The persona performs her malaise through contrasting physical sensations, idiosyncrasies and profound cravings. Her personal thermostat is erratic. She exhibits pronounced wardrobe-predilections. Her throat reacts to a flow of eros and creative vitality or lack thereof. She yearns for pure memory and thirsts for pure essence. The speaker’s gallery displays an elaborate montage of a golden apple endowed with gifts of wisdom, eros, poetry and passion, alongside portraits of a royal chanteuse and a skilled scribe. Crucial brushstrokes illuminate lovers and sinners, souls in flames, shipwrecks, lyric-expressive throats in various states of constriction and release, as well as voices of collective responsibility. Ravikovitch encrypts her poetry with rich resources of biblical, rabbinic, medieval and early modern Hebrew literature. She forwards the linguistic and literary resonance of these layers. She innovates upon their motifs through feats in the dimensions of feminine writing, intertextual engagements and postmodern poetics.