The conceptual significance of the prefatory sugya in the Babylonian Talmud
The prefatory sugya is unique in that the Mishnah is treated as a canonical text to be interpreted homiletically like a biblical verse. In this article I shift the scholarly focus from the technical interpretative methods of the prefatory sugya to its internal meaning. Homiletical interpretation of...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2018]
|
| In: |
Journal of Jewish studies
Year: 2018, Volume: 69, Issue: 1, Pages: 22-43 |
| Further subjects: | B
INTERPRETATION (Philosophy)
B Jewish literature B Mishnah B Jewish preaching B Talmud |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Publisher) |
| Summary: | The prefatory sugya is unique in that the Mishnah is treated as a canonical text to be interpreted homiletically like a biblical verse. In this article I shift the scholarly focus from the technical interpretative methods of the prefatory sugya to its internal meaning. Homiletical interpretation of the Mishnah is merely a rhetorical device employed by the author of the prefatory sugya in order to provide a conceptual preface to the tractate as a whole or to the central topic of the opening chapters. With this approach, the possibility emerges that the Talmudic prefatory sugya may have preceded the Savoraim, and may be considered a natural extension of the familiar petihta Midrash genre. This new 'content approach' significantly shifts and enriches our perception of the literary role of the prefatory sugya, from a playful intellectual curiosity to meaningful dicta of the sages emphasizing essential principles and values of the tractate. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2056-6689 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Jewish studies
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.18647/3349/jjs-2018 |
