374 GESILA NNEKA UZUKWU only when one encounters two distinct writings that are radically different that one begins to ask questions about the historical situation behind the texts under study. What is striking, however, is the significant difference between the blessing of gratitude found in early rabbinic writings and in the Genizah fragment. There is a closer parallel between the morning prayer of blessings found in the Cairo Genizah fragment and Gal 3,28 than between the blessings found in earlier Jewish writings and the related text found in the Cairo Genizah fragment. Thus, the question is whether or not the background of the blessings found in the Genizah fragments stems from a Christian usage of similar expressions, because it has closest parallels to the Pauline passages found in 1 Cor 12,13; Gal 3,28 and Col 3,11. Put in another way, do the suggestive parallels imply that there was Christian influence on Judaism in the later period? This discussion is in need of further research. b) The three blessings in their socio-historical context Turning now to the question of the social historical context in which the three blessings came into being and the social cultural world they envisage, our attempt to establish the context for understanding the use and function of the three blessings of gratitude found in rabbinic texts lies in understanding the history of Judaism in the rabbinic period 8. The study of rabbinic Judaism, — the social, religious and political structures that shaped rabbinic texts, rabbinic culture as well as its relationships and interactions with other surrounding cultures — is a difficult task, as scholars readily acknowledge. And for the very specific question of the social-cultural world that the three blessings of R. BIERINGER – F. GARCÍA MARTÍNEZ – D. POLLEFEYT – P.J. TOMSON) (JSJS 136 ; Leiden 2009) 43-61. See also S. SCHWARTZ, “The Political Geography of Rabbinic Texts”, The Cambridge Companion to the Talmud and Rabbinic Literature (ed. C.E. FONROBERT) (Cambridge, NY 2007) 75-96. Here we will focus on the three blessings of gratitude as found in the 8 Tosefta, in the Balylonian and in the Palestinian Talmud because they are the three texts that are compared with Gal 3,28 in the scholarly discussion of the text. The blessings of gratitude as found in the Genizah fragment are a later development, compared to the ancient sources under study.