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The aim of this work is to analyse and evaluate the Minýat Shai - the masoretic biblical commentary of Rabbi Yedidyah Shelomoh R. Wel Norzi of Mantua. Chapters four through nine offer a copiously annotated translation of Norzrs observations on pericope Bereshit and constitute the central feature of the thesis. The preceding chapters place Norzi's work in its historicai context and the final chapter offers a characterisation of Norzi and his magnum opus. Chapter one is a history of the reproduction of the biblical text from the earliest times, and deals with the existence of divergent texts in the Second Temple period, the ultimate acceptance by the rabbis of the text that would become known as the Masoretic Text, masoretic activity in Second Temple times and the first written masoretic records in the Classical Rabbinic Texts, the Masoretes - from c. 500 to c. 1000, the gradual dominance of the codex over the scroll for biblical texts and masoretic glosses the three masoretic schools, the dominance of Tiberias, the Tiberian sub-schools of Ben Asher and Ben Naftali, and the dominance of Ben Asher. I have also, here, surveyed the masoretic literature compiled independently of the biblical text, lost and extant biblical manuscripts and the post-Masoretes from c. 1000 to the mid-twentieth century. The chapter proceeds to a survey of the printed Hebrew Bible from the fifteenth to the mid-twentieth century with a final section on masoretic scholars, literature and Bible-editions from c. 1950 and into the twenty-first century. Chapter two presents a history of the Jewish community of Mantua prefixed by a historical sketch of the city itself Mostly devoted to the rabbinic scholars of Mantua, the chapter surveys briefly all the main aspects of Jewish communal life in the city. The period more fully covered is from from c. 1400 to c. 1800 though the earliest periods and the 19th and 20th centuries are touched on. Chapter three contains a biographical vignette of Norzi and discusses the historicalp erspectiveo f the Minot Shai. It surveys the manuscripts and printed editions 9 of the Minhat Shai and its addenda and illustrates the influence of this work of unsurpassed fame on contemporary and future generations. Chapters four through nine are a translation of Minhat Shai to pericope Bereshit (Genesis 1:1 -6:8 ) based on the Bodleian manuscript with references to the readings of the British Library manuscript MSS Kauft= A44 and A45 and the main editions. In the notes, I have attempted to elucidate technical terms and difficult passages, to supply exact sources for quotations, to identify all authors and works mentioned by Norzi and to supply basic biographical or bibliographical information on them. I have also tried to extricate the biblical and rabbinic allusions and the humorous asides embedded in his literary style. Chapter ten is a characterization of Norzi and the Minýat Shal describing the author and the completenesso f his commentary- dealing with every aspect of the Masoretic Text, Norzis sources, terminology and methodology, the embodiment of biblical and rabbinic phraseology in his language and his sense of humour

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Dialogue between Jews and Christians is of the utmost importance to both communities of faith. This thesis examines the status and role of one particular constituency which has a vested interest in the process and outcome of that dialogue. The people concerned are the Messianic Jewish community, which is to say, Jewish people who, from conviction, have accepted that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed Israel's Messiah. They claim to be firmly established in the full teaching of the New Testament about the person and work of Jesus, and at the same time irrevocably Jewish in their own persons and lives. Whereas there have been a few sociological studies of specific groups of such Messianic Jews, or Hebrew Christians, as some prefer, this thesis has three distinctives: a) It is primarily a theological study. b) It is an examination of the whole movement. c) It is an attempt to let the movement's leaders speak for themselves, and at some length. The thesis of the thesis is that dialogue should be opened up by both the Church and-the Synagogue with the Messianic Jewish movement.

This dissertation is an exploration of the ways in which Jewish youth movements create, recreate and re-envision wider Jewish communal norms relating to authenticity, or what it means to be a `real' or `legitimate' Jew. The culmination of thirteen months participant observation fieldwork within one Jewish youth movement, as well as interviews with other youth movement leaders and archival research of one prominent British Jewish newspaper, I argue that the modem Orthodox Jewish Establishment in the United Kingdom has a strong grip on the concept of authenticity. The stakes for maintaining control over the boundary between the authentic and the inauthentic are high, as British Jewry is shrinking rapidly and education has been identified as the primary means by which to secure communal continuity. Consequently, Jewish formal education often supports particular (Orthodox) interpretations of Jewish authenticity, specifically in relation to communal pluralism, appropriate gender identifications and relationships with Zionism. However, these Orthodox expectations of authenticity are often incompatible with how many young British Jews today lead their lives. Youth movements are key sites in which the battle for continuity is being waged; British Jewish youth movements aim to create informal education agendas that inspire young people to create lifelong affiliations with Judaism. I contend that informal education has the necessary flexibility to disrupt (and thus redefine) the boundaries of Jewish authenticity. Specifically, the very pillars of Orthodox authenticity (pluralism, gender and Zionism) are beginning to be (re)- constructed in new and innovative ways by some movements. It is in this space, created through the negotiation of a movement's ethos and its simultaneous obligation to, or disregard for, communal (Orthodox) expectations, that the validation of `alternative' performances of Judaism is possible. In turn, such validation helps to associate authenticity with a fluid and context- dependent belief system that is more likely to secure communal continuity than the exclusive Orthodox system currently so predominant.

This study provides an analysis of the attitudes of a minority faith in the UK, the Jews, to interfaith engagement, to the Council of Christians and Jews and other monotheistic religions. It is based on oral testimonies of interviewees who were all members of the Oxford Jewish Congregation, a unique community which has three Jewish groupings of Orthodox, Masorti and Liberal all under one roof. The objectives are to determine the influence of upbringing and life experiences on resultant interfaith attitudes, and link these with the religious denomination of the respondents. Thereafter these attitudes are considered in relation to Israel; to membership of the Council of Christian and Jews; to the attitudes of Jews entering into the sacred space of the ‘Other’ in situations of increasing intensity. Finally this thesis explores attitudes of Jews welcoming non-Jews to attending services in synagogues. The thesis firstly highlights that the participants’ attitudes towards those of other religions were dependent upon upbringing, background and life experiences, irrespective of whether these resultant attitudes were positive, ambivalent or negative. Secondly, the most significant result found was that all the respondents were involved in dialogue with the Other irrespective of whether they had positive, ambivalent or negative attitudes towards interfaith and despite which Jewish denomination they belonged to. Thirdly, with regard to Israel, each had their own view and opinion which was not dependent on religious affiliation. Fourthly, with regard to the space of the Other, there is more complexity from whether the respondents would enter a church, attend, then participate in an interfaith service held in a church, and finally if they would take part in a service in a church involving a friend or colleague. The responses were divided by the Jewish grouping of the interviewees and demonstrated a new paradigm. There were personal interfaith boundaries beyond which responders would not pass. There was no correlation between background or religious affiliation, revealing an underlying level of unpredictability within the interviewees. Fifthly, this study demonstrated that half of the Orthodox responders were engaged in interfaith activity. Anecdotally, without previous evidence, it has been assumed that Orthodox Jews were less likely to engage in interfaith work. Within this research this was not the case.

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