Midrash Aleph Beth belongs to the post-Talmudic collection of Jewish midrashim. Its structure and subject matter are centred on the Hebrew alphabet which provides sequential pairs of letters for the theme of ea.ch chapter. In the first part, the Midrash progresses from the first letter of the alphabet to the last, and its subject is the story of the universe from its creation to its destruction at the end of time. In the second and third parts, using different combinations of the alphabet, the ·:;tory is told of t he judgment and annihilation of all God's enemies in the heavens and on the earth. In the final part, a fourth combination of the alphabet is introduced to describe life in the world to Come for' the righteous remnant of Israel. In this Midrash we encounter' ideas and beliefs that can be found in similar or parallel form scattered throughout Jewish midrashic literature. It is an extremely useful text in that most Jewish thought from the first millennium of the common era concerning cosmology and eschatology is here collected together in one work. In presenting an orthodoxy account of Jewish thought on these subjects, heterodoxy ideas, questioning for example1 the supremacy of God and his role as sale creator of the universe, are included to be proved erroneous. Hence the Midrash is in effect a significant depository of both Jewish heterodoxy and orthodoxy.An edition 0f Midrash ,Aleph Beth , based on the one extant manuscript was published by S. A. Wertheimer" and subsequently reprinted with minor emendations by A. J. Wertheimer, but it has not hitherto been translated into any modern language. These edition"5 are highly inaccurate with m":3.ny differences from the manuscript, some of which seem to be deliberate alterations for dogma tic reasons. It is shown in this thesis to have no value as a basis for" scholarly study. The thesis present s a. critical edition of the text (making use of, but not relying on the previous editions), accompanied by an English translation. An introduction and commentary attempt to explain the contents of the Midrash and place it in its textual and historical context, taking into account the most recent debates concerning the nature and function of Jewish midrash.

Submitted by Clara Bráz dos Santos null (clara.huf@gmail.com) on 2016-10-03T18:03:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 SANTOS, Clara Braz dos. Dissertação de mestrado CORRIGIDA (UNESP 2016).pdf: 1393830 bytes, checksum: 796e2aa30df03fb538b561a8830d5ef9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Grisoto (grisotoana@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-10-05T13:33:39Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 santos_cb_me_fran.pdf: 1393830 bytes, checksum: 796e2aa30df03fb538b561a8830d5ef9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-05T13:33:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 santos_cb_me_fran.pdf: 1393830 bytes, checksum: 796e2aa30df03fb538b561a8830d5ef9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-22 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / No Brasil, durante os séculos XVII e XVIII, pregadores e moralistas difundiram entre os colonos, por meio de sermões, livros de devoção, elogios e sonetos fúnebres, a ideia de que deveriam lembrar cotidianamente da morte, caso almejassem viver e morrer de acordo com os ditames da religião católica. A preocupação com os possíveis destinos das almas no além-túmulo – purgatório, inferno ou paraíso – foi fundamental para que esses letrados propagassem entre os colonos valores morais sobre a morte, pois a salvação ou condenação de suas almas por Deus estavam diretamente relacionadas aos cuidados que dedicaram à morte ainda durante a vida. Saber bem morrer era pré-condição para os fiéis pleitearem o reino dos céus, e, segundo os pregadores e moralistas, a boa morte só seria conquistada por meio de uma vida dedicada à fé e à contemplação da morte. Todavia, outra questão mereceu a atenção desses homens do Seiscentos e do Setecentos: os pecados praticados pelos colonos. Segundo esses letrados, depois dos lucros com a produção da cana-de-açúcar, a extração do ouro e pedras preciosas das minas, os colonos teriam se tornado vaidosos, cobiçosos, soberbos, interessados apenas nos bens mundanos, esquecidos das obrigações religiosas e das contas que deveriam prestar no juízo final. Mostrou-se imperioso, então, a esses religiosos, conduzir os homens e mulheres da colônia para o caminho da vida devota, a única concebida como digna de um verdadeiro católico, e que poderia ser garantida mediante um exercício que tinha o propósito de ensiná-los a desapegarem-se dos bens supérfluos, reconhecerem suas condições mortais e os perigos de viverem e morrerem em pecado. Desse modo, o objetivo dessa pesquisa é entender como se configurava o exercício moral de memória da morte e como tal exercício deveria permitir aos colonos se tornarem católicos devotos. / In Brazil, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, preachers and moralists spread among the settlers, through sermons, books of devotion, praise and funeral sonnets, the assertion that they should remember the death daily if they wondered live and die according to the dictates of the Catholic religion. The worry about the possible destinations of souls in the afterlife – purgatory, hell or heaven – was key to these scholars propagate among the settlers moral values about death, for salvation or damnation of their souls by God were directly related to care they dedicated to death even during life. Knowing well die was pre-condition for the faithful plead the kingdom of heaven, and according to the preachers and moralists, the good death would only be achieved through a life devoted to faith and contemplation of death. However, another issue attracted the attention of these men of the Six hundred and Seven hundred: the sins committed by settlers. According to these scholars, after the profits with the production of sugarcane, the extraction of gold and precious stones from the mines, the settlers would have become conceited, greedy, proud, interested only in worldly goods, forgotten religious obligations and accounts that they should provide in the final judgment. It was essential, therefore, to these religious, lead these men and women the way of pious life, the only conceived as worthy of a true Catholic, and it could be ensured by an exercise that was meant to teach them to detach, of the surplus goods, recognize their deadly conditions and the dangers to live and die in sin. Thus, the objective of this research is to understand how was configured the moral exercise of the death memory and how such exercise should allow settlers become devout Catholics. / CNPq: 133302/2014-8