The rhetoric of innovation : self-conscious legal change in rabbinic literature / Aaron D. Panken.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Panken, Aaron D.

Series:

Studies in Judaism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jewish law.

Rabbinical literature.

Genre:

Academic theses.

Physical Description:

xxxi, 373 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : University Press of America, [2005]

Language Note:

Hebrew translations throughout.

Summary:

A profound tension exists between the opposing tendencies of preservation and innovation in rabbinic legal literature. The rabbis made tremendous attempts to safeguard traditions handed down to them from prior generations in the face of significant new challenges. At the same time, these creative religious thinkers boldly invented new practices (or altered old ones) to fit shifting circumstances, designing and utilizing a rich rhetorical vocabulary to allow such necessary innovation.

Through critical examination of more than 1,000 occurrences of terms depicting legal innovation, this study maps the contours of legal change reported during the rabbinic period. The Rhetoric of Innovation examines temporal clusters of statements and actions attributed to authority figures in the Tannaitic and Amoraic periods, also reviewing the geographic distribution of these words and their divergent usages in documents edited in Roman Palestine and Babylonia. It also provides significant insight into rabbinic philosophies of legal change, through exploring the various rationales deemed acceptable within the rabbinic corpus. In this respect the book carries a relevant message for modern Jewish life in its consideration of the history of appropriate boundaries and reasons for legal change-questions that recur frequently in Jewish discourse today.

Contents:

Chapter 1 The Reflective Tendency: Barishonah 1

Secondary Literature/Parallels in Other Legal Systems 1

Chapter 2 The Innovative Tendency: Takkanot 111

The Meanings of the Root TKN 111

Secondary Literature/Parallels Related to TKN 114

The Characteristics of Takkanot 120

The Rationales-Initiation Takkanot 142

Other Categories 192

Chapter 3 The Conservative Tendency: Gezerot 247

The Meanings of the Root GZR 247

Some Characteristics of Gezerot 252

Major Groupings of Decrees

Fences Around the Torah 282

Other Categories 308.

Notes:

Originally published as the author's thesis (doctoral)--New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Science, 2004.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [339]-358) and indexes.

ISBN:

0761831665

OCLC:

61661293

Publisher Number:

9780761831662