Sarah and Iscah: Method and Message in Midrashic Tradition
This article illustrates the variety of considerations that go into modern attempts to reconstruct the origins of midrashic traditions. Focusing on the rabbinic texts which identify Iscah (in Gen 11:29) with the matriarch Sarah, the study examines various considerations which might have motivated th...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Penn Press
1992
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| In: |
The Jewish quarterly review
Year: 1992, Volume: 82, Issue: 3/4, Pages: 417-429 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article illustrates the variety of considerations that go into modern attempts to reconstruct the origins of midrashic traditions. Focusing on the rabbinic texts which identify Iscah (in Gen 11:29) with the matriarch Sarah, the study examines various considerations which might have motivated the rabbis to invent such an identification, paying particular attention to hermeneutical considerations (i.e., issues arising from the biblical text) and to the homiletical uses that might have been served by this interpretation. It was noted that the Sarah-Iscah equation could be explained satisfactorily according to the literary and ideological conventions of aggadic midrashic exegesis. Nonetheless, an examination of texts from the Second Commonwealth period demonstrates that the Sarah/Iscah equation antedated the literary homiletics of rabbinic aggadah. In light of this early extra-Talmudic material, it appears more likely that our exegetical tradition owes its origins to Pharisaic attempts to find a precedent for their championing of uncle-niece marriages, a burning controversy which found expression in many writings of the period. With the disappearance of non-Pharisaic Jewish sects in the post-Destruction era, the Sarah/Iscah tradition became "just another" aggadic midrashic tradition to be dealt with according to the methods that characterize that genre, and its polemical and sectarian origins were probably forgotten. |
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| ISSN: | 1553-0604 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The Jewish quarterly review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/1454865 |