The series Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature (CEJL) is devoted to the study of Jewish documents and traditions that can be dated or traced back to the Hellenistic and Roman periods (ca. 300 BCE–150 CE). The literature covered by the series represents a rich diversity of literary forms and religious perspectives. Formally, these writings include testaments, apocalypses, legends, expansions and interpretations of biblical writings, psalms and prayers, poetry, historiography, and wisdom literature. They witness to an immensely creative period during which many Jews were struggling to preserve a living faith in the wake of social, political, and religious upheavals in the Mediterranean world and the Near East.
