Transmitting Mishnah: The Shaping Influence of Oral Tradition

by Elizabeth Shanks Alexander

• ISBN13: 9780521857505
• ISBN10: 0521857503
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-07-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Departing from the conventional view of mishnaic transmission as mindless rote memorization, Transmitting Mishnah reveals how multi-faceted the process of passing on oral tradition was in antiquity. Taking advantage of the recently burgeoning files of orality studies, Alexander develops a model of transmission that is both active and constructive. Proceeding by means of intensive readings of passages from tractate Shevuot and its talmudic commentaries, Alexander alerts us to the fact that transmitters and handlers of mishnaic text crafted both the vagaries of expression and its meanings. She illustrates how the authority of the Mishnah grew as the result of the sustained attention of a devoted community of students. She also identifies the study practices and habits of analysis that were cultivated by oral performance. She shows how they were passed on in tandem with the verbal contents of the Mishnah, thereby influencing how the text was received and understood.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
List of Abbreviations	xv
Introduction	1	(34)
The Oral Conceptual Lens	9	(5)
Caveats to the Theory of Oral Composition	14	(4)
The Literary and the Oral in Mishnah	18	(6)
The Theory of Textual Corruption	24	(5)
The Present Study	29	(2)
A Brief Introduction to the Tractate of Oaths and Other Technical Terminology	31	(4)
1 Mishnaic Textuality	35	(42)
Sharing an Overarching Structural Framework: M Shev. 5:4-5 and T Shev. 2:16	41	(14)
Fixed Phrases in Common: M Shev. 7:1-7 and T Shev. 6:1-4	55	(9)
Shared Underlying Conceptual Concerns: M Shev. 3:4 and T Shev. 2:1-2	64	(9)
Conclusion	73	(4)
2 The Scripturalization of Mishnah	77	(40)
Using the Talmudic Commentaries	81	(3)
Omnisignificance, Atomization, and a Narrow Exegetical Focus	84	(2)
The Yerushalmi on M Shev. 3:1	86	(7)
The Bavli on M Shev. 3:1	93	(11)
Ascribing Increasingly Intense Degrees of Authorial Intention	104	(2)
The Yerushalmi on M Shev. 3:8	106	(3)
The Bavli on M Shev. 3:2-3	109	(6)
Conclusion	115	(2)
3 Modes of Legal Analysis in the Mishnah	117	(57)
The Casuistic Form in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Codes	123	(5)
Basic Casuistic Form: Using Particular Cases to Illustrate General Rules	128	(13)
The Series of Related Cases: An Exercise in Compare and Contrast	141	(9)
Improbable Cases: Exploring How Different Legal Principles Interact	150	(5)
Borderline Cases and Disputes: Fleshing Out Legal Ambiguities	155	(12)
Conclusion	167	(7)
4 The Cultivation of an Analytic Habit and Its Impact on Mishnaic Exegesis	174	(46)
Pedagogical Uses of Borderline Cases	179	(7)
The Unsolvable Problem	186	(5)
Using Borderline Cases to Understand Disagreements	191	(6)
Borderline Cases in Mishnaic Exegesis	197	(11)
An Extended Exercise in Probing Mishnaic Ambiguity	208	(10)
Conclusion	218	(2)
Conclusion	220	(5)
Bibliography	225	(12)
Index	237