Kalir was a Tanna. Rabbenu Tam's invocation of antiquity in defense of the Ashkenazi Payyetanic tradition

One of the central arenas of controversy in the medieval world between actual synagogue custom and the Babylonian talmudic traditions was the question of the legitimacy of the insertion of liturgical poetry (piyyut) into the statutory prayers. A variety of arguments against piyyut by influential sag...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Langer, Ruth 1960- (Auteur)
Type de support: Imprimé Article
Langue:Anglais
Vérifier la disponibilité: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Publié: 1996
Dans: Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion
Année: 1996, Volume: 67, Pages: 95-106
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Judaïsme / Moyen Âge
Classifications IxTheo:BH Judaïsme
TE Moyen Âge
Sujets non-standardisés:B Jüdische Liturgie
B Ashkénazes
Édition parallèle:Électronique
Description
Résumé:One of the central arenas of controversy in the medieval world between actual synagogue custom and the Babylonian talmudic traditions was the question of the legitimacy of the insertion of liturgical poetry (piyyut) into the statutory prayers. A variety of arguments against piyyut by influential sages eventually led to the elimination or marginalization of this poetry in most Sephardi rites. In Ashkenaz, in contrast, the tradition continued into the modern period, largely because of the great importance placed there on maintaining ancestral custom, but also because of the vigorous defense of this custom by several sages, the most important of which was Rabbenu Tam. In this paper, I analyze Rabbenu Tam's famous responsum defending piyyut and suggest that his unprecedented identification of Kalir as the second-century Tanna, Rabbi Elazar beRabbi Shimon, is a) a deliberate invocation of the authority placed on antiquity in Judaism, especially in Ashkenaz; and b) likely a specific response to the challenges to Kalirian piyyut raised by Abraham Ibn Ezra and other Spanish emigres.
ISSN:0360-9049
Contient:In: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion