Papers of the Institute of Jewish Studies London.

The article discusses the book "Papers of the Institute of Jewish Studies London," edited by J.G. Weiss that has a claim to the attention of the serious student of Judaism. It provides a slavery study as a source for social history, that is of special interest to the reader of a sociological journal. It argues that the slavery legislation in the Mishnah and Talmud is not just the product of rabbinic speculation as to what Jewish law would have been had this institution still been in existence in Israel. On the contrary, slavery was still very much in existence and, consequently, the laws relating to it reflect something of the life and values of the period in which they were formulated. It suggests that the pre-Maccabaean period was one in which fellow- Hebrews provided the main source of slaves. Enslavement at home was preferable to slavery abroad and that "the low prices paid for slaves from Palestine as compared with the prices in Egypt prove that the supply cannot have been scanty." During the Maccabaean period gentile slaves were so plentiful that "it is possible that matters reached such a pass that Jews anxious to sell themselves into slavery could not find Jewish purchasers."