ejournals

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“And Gabriel Kept on Writing” (Megilla 16a). Literary Features of Traditions Involving Supernatural Entities in the Babylonian Talmud according to the Elyonim veTachtonim Project

Wojciech Kosior

The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture. New Series, 16 (2/2022), 2022, s. 47-69

https://doi.org/10.4467/24506249PJ.22.009.16832

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A Report from the “Ex Nihilo: Zero Conference”, Bologna, Italy, June 18th – 22nd 2017

Wojciech Kosior

The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture. New Series, 6 (2/2017), 2017, s. 127-132

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Book Review: Marc Michael Epstein (ed.), Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink. Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts, Princeton-Oxford, Princeton University Press 2015, pp. 288.

Wojciech Kosior

The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture. New Series, 4 (2/2016), 2016, s. 89-92

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Elyonim veTachtonim. Some Methodological Considerations on the Electronic Database of Angels, Demons and Ghosts in Early Rabbinic Literature

Wojciech Kosior

The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture. New Series, 5 (1/2017), 2017, s. 89-112

https://doi.org/10.4467/24506249PJ.17.005.6812

This paper presents the background, ambitions and the initial achievements of the Elyonim veTachtonim research project aimed at constructing an electronic database of accounts involving angels, demons and ghosts in early rabbinic literature. The first part summarises the history and transformations of the project together with its principles, textual range and purposes. It scrutinises the methodology behind the study by presenting a broader context including the cognitive theory of religion, formal analysis of myth and cognitive and statistic linguistics. The second part contains the technical analysis of the data mining process and provides a user’s manual. The third part furnishes some early findings and observations based on both the qualitative and quantitative evidence gathered in the database: the domination of the pragmatic orientation, the correlation of particular entities and specific genres and the overwhelmingly negative attitude of demons towards humans. Finally, the fourth part points out the most important improvements which need to be made to the existing database and outlines some directions for development and possible applications.

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Jacek Józef Proszyk, The History of Jews in Bielsko (Bielitz) and Biala between 17th Century and 1939. Liberals, Zionists and Orthodox Jews on the Border of Galicia and Austrian Silesia, HASKALA, tr. M. Jaszczurowska, Jaworze 2014, 345 pages, e-book (pdf)

Wojciech Kosior

The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture. New Series, 2 (2/2015), 2015, s. 99-102

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Kilka uwag o problemie przekładu na marginesie książki: Łukasz Stypuła, Keter malchut Szlomo ibn Gabirola (Korona królestwa). Wprowadzenie – tekst hebrajski – tłumaczenie – komentarz, Wydawnictwo Antykwa, Kraków 2013, s. 282.

Wojciech Kosior

The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture. New Series, 1 (1/2015), 2015, s. 109-113

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Making Culture Studies Count – A Report from the International
Conference “The uses of teaching and researching foreign cultures in
today’s universities: what seems to be the problem?”, Orléans, France,
June 11th – 13th 2015.

Wojciech Kosior

The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture. New Series, 3 (1/2016), 2016, s. 143-148

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Minor Mountain Elohim, Feminine Face of Yahweh and Assyrian Apotropaic Fad. Some Remarks on the Margins of: Izaak J. de Hulster, Joel M. LeMon, Image, Text, Exegesis. Iconographic Interpretation and the Hebrew Bible (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015), pp. 336.

Wojciech Kosior

The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture. New Series, 13 (1/2021), 2021, s. 213-217

https://doi.org/10.4467/24506249PJ.21.011.13738

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Przygody demona Asmodeusza i króla Salomona według Talmudu babilońskiego (Gittin 68a–b). Przekład i komentarz z perspektywy projektu Elyonim veTachtonim

Wojciech Kosior

The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture. New Series, 11 (1/2020), 2020, s. 93-111

https://doi.org/10.4467/24506249PJ.20.004.12990

Traktat Gittin 68a–b zawiera unikatową w skali wczesnej literatury rabinicznej opowieść o przygodach króla Salomona i demona Asmodeusza. Oto król Salomon pragnie zbudować świątynię jerozolimską, ale potrzebuje do tego wsparcia Asmodeusza. Ten pomaga królowi, jednak cena, którą Salomon musi za to zapłacić okazuje się bardzo wysoka i w rezultacie już przez resztę swoich dni król śpi w otoczeniu uzbrojonej służby w obawie przed powrotem demona. Opowieść ta mimo swojej złożoności i bogactwa treściowego jak dotąd nie doczekała się tłumaczenia na język polski, a ze względu na barwność przedstawionych tam postaci, doskonale nadaje się ona do egzemplifikacji niuansów świata istot nadprzyrodzonych. Niniejsze studium ma więc dwa podstawowe cele: (1) prezentację przekładu opowieści o Salomonie i Asmodeuszu obecnej w Gittin 68a–b oraz (2) analizę rzeczonego ustępu przy użyciu kategorii wypracowanych w ramach projektu Elyonim veTachtonim, zmierzającego do utworzenia kompletnej bazy istot nadprzyrodzonych występujących we wczesnej literaturze rabinicznej.

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Upadli (czy) giganci? Kilka uwag o nefilim i gigantes w Biblii hebrajskiej i Septuagincie

Wojciech Kosior

Przekładaniec, Numer 29 – Przekład żydowski. Żydowskość w przekładzie , 2014, s. 41-64

https://doi.org/10.4467/16891864PC.14.015.3000

The larger the gap between languages, cultures and religions involved in the translation process, the more challenging it becomes, as was the case with the Septuagint [LXX] rendition of the Hebrew Bible [HB], which aimed at compromising Hellenistic and Semitic entourages. Valuable insight into the translator’s work is offered by an analysis of a particular word or phrase which undergoes a linguistic and cultural transmission. The word nephilim appears just three times in the Masoretic text of the HB: once in Genesis 6:4 and twice in Numbers 13:33. In the LXX both of these instances have been rendered by the Greek gigantes, which means that the translator identified the mysterious antediluvian figures as the primeval inhabitants of one of the Canaanite valleys and, at the same time, interpreted both of them as the Semitic equivalent of the Greek giants. Given the etymological and semantic differences between nephilim and gigantes, the question arises: why was this particular decision made? This study follows the hypothetical process of interpretation and translation by reconstructing the ancient Greek mythical complex of giants and by analyzing the biblical sources (Genesis 6:1–4; Numbers 13:28–33; Ezekiel 32:22–27) where the nephilim/nophelim appear. Moreover, this article outlines the factors that have influenced the translation. Finally, by scrutinizing the issue of the nefilim–gigantes this article describes the ancient biblical translator’s workshop on the particular example. Given the limitations of every translation, it is crucial to acknowledge the ambivalent nature of this process: undoubtedly, the translator strives to find the most appropriate term being the closest semantic equivalent of the word in question at the same time, however, the particular decision reducing the semantic uncertainty blurs other interpretative options. In other words, whatever had been the initial interpretation of the mysterious nephilim in these passages, it was in a way “overwritten” and thus substituted by the Greek gigantes.

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Upadli (czy) giganci? Kilka uwag o nefilim i gigantes w Biblii hebrajskiej i Septuagincie

Wojciech Kosior

Przekładaniec, Numer 29 – Przekład żydowski. Żydowskość w przekładzie , 2014, s. 41-64

https://doi.org/10.4467/16891864PC.14.015.3000

The larger the gap between languages, cultures and religions involved in the translation process, the more challenging it becomes, as was the case with the Septuagint [LXX] rendition of the Hebrew Bible [HB], which aimed at compromising Hellenistic and Semitic entourages. Valuable insight into the translator’s work is offered by an analysis of a particular word or phrase which undergoes a linguistic and cultural transmission. The word nephilim appears just three times in the Masoretic text of the HB: once in Genesis 6:4 and twice in Numbers 13:33. In the LXX both of these instances have been rendered by the Greek gigantes, which means that the translator identified the mysterious antediluvian figures as the primeval inhabitants of one of the Canaanite valleys and, at the same time, interpreted both of them as the Semitic equivalent of the Greek giants. Given the etymological and semantic differences between nephilim and gigantes, the question arises: why was this particular decision made? This study follows the hypothetical process of interpretation and translation by reconstructing the ancient Greek mythical complex of giants and by analyzing the biblical sources (Genesis 6:1–4; Numbers 13:28–33; Ezekiel 32:22–27) where the nephilim/nophelim appear. Moreover, this article outlines the factors that have influenced the translation. Finally, by scrutinizing the issue of the nefilim–gigantes this article describes the ancient biblical translator’s workshop on the particular example. Given the limitations of every translation, it is crucial to acknowledge the ambivalent nature of this process: undoubtedly, the translator strives to find the most appropriate term being the closest semantic equivalent of the word in question at the same time, however, the particular decision reducing the semantic uncertainty blurs other interpretative options. In other words, whatever had been the initial interpretation of the mysterious nephilim in these passages, it was in a way “overwritten” and thus substituted by the Greek gigantes.

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What Can a Student of Jewish Demonology Learn from a Philosophical Book? Some Remarks on the Margins of: Michael T. Miller, The Name of God in Jewish Thought. A Philosophical Analysis of Mystical Traditions from Apocalyptic to Kabbalah, (London: Routledge 2016), pp. 188.

Wojciech Kosior

The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture. New Series, 5 (1/2017), 2017, s. 119-123

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What could a Student of Medicine learn from a Demonologist? Some remarks on: Siam Bhayro and Catherine Rider (eds.), Demons and Illness from Antiquity to the Early-Modern Period, Brill, 2017, 425 pages

Wojciech Kosior

The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture. New Series, 6 (2/2017), 2017, s. 133-140

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“Six Things Are Said Concerning Demons” (Hagigah 16a). The System of Topic Tags Used in the Elyonim veTachtonim Inventory to Describe the Features of Supernatural Entities and Their Relationships with Humans

Wojciech Kosior

The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture. New Series, 13 (1/2021), 2021, s. 109-131

https://doi.org/10.4467/24506249PJ.21.006.13733

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“The Name of Yahveh is Called Upon You.” Deuteronomy 28:10 and the Apotropaic Qualities of Tefillin in the Early Rabbinic Literature

Wojciech Kosior

Studia Religiologica, Tom 48, Numer 2, 2015, s. 143-154

https://doi.org/10.4467/20844077SR.15.011.3557

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