Avot Reconsidered: Rethinking Rabbinic Judaism
The opening passage of tractate Avot and its claim that all of the rabbinic tradition goes back to the revelation to Moses at Sinai is frequently seen as the manifesto of rabbinic Judaism. In this paper I seek to challenge this widespread view by suggesting that Avot stems from one circle of rabbini...
| Published in: | The Jewish quarterly review |
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| Main Author: | |
| 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
2015
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| In: |
The Jewish quarterly review
Year: 2015, Volume: 105, Issue: 3, Pages: 287-311 |
| Further subjects: | B
Divine Law
B Words of Torah B Rabbinic Judaism B Rabbi Eliezer B tractate Avot B Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai B rabbinic law B revelation at Sinai B Words of Scribes |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The opening passage of tractate Avot and its claim that all of the rabbinic tradition goes back to the revelation to Moses at Sinai is frequently seen as the manifesto of rabbinic Judaism. In this paper I seek to challenge this widespread view by suggesting that Avot stems from one circle of rabbinic Judaism, which was related to Rabbi Eliezer or his followers, and it reflects specifically the ideology of that group. Indeed, a close reading of the opening passage of the Tosefta, tractate Eduyot, may suggest that the claim that all of the rabbinic tradition is rooted in Sinai was rejected by the “mainstream” of rabbinic circles in second century Palestine, that is, the rabbinic circles that produced the Mishnah and the Tosefta. |
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| ISSN: | 1553-0604 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The Jewish quarterly review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/jqr.2015.0016 |