Scripture as logos : Rabbi Ishmael and the origins of midrash / Azzan Yadin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Yadin-Israel, Azzan.

Series:

Divinations

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Halakhic Midrashim--History and criticism--Theory, etc.

Halakhic Midrashim.

Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael--Hermeneutics.

Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael.

Sifrei. Numbers--Hermeneutics.

Sifrei.

Bible. Exodus--Criticism, interpretation, etc., Jewish.

Bible.

Bible. Numbers--Criticism, interpretation, etc., Jewish.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (246 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The study of midrash-the biblical exegesis, parables, and anecdotes of the Rabbis-has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years. Most recent scholarship, however, has focused on the aggadic or narrative midrash, while halakhic or legal midrash-the exegesis of biblical law-has received relatively little attention. In Scripture as Logos, Azzan Yadin addresses this long-standing need, examining early, tannaitic (70-200 C.E.) legal midrash, focusing on the interpretive tradition associated with the figure of Rabbi Ishmael. This is a sophisticated study of midrashic hermeneutics, growing out of the observation that the Rabbi Ishmael midrashim contain a dual personification of Scripture, which is referred to as both "torah" and "ha-katuv." It is Yadin's significant contribution to note that the two terms are not in fact synonymous but rather serve as metonymies for Sinai on the one hand and, on the other, the rabbinic house of study, the bet midrash. Yadin develops this insight, ultimately presenting the complex but highly coherent interpretive ideology that underlies these rabbinic texts, an ideology that-contrary to the dominant view today-seeks to minimize the role of the rabbinic reader by presenting Scripture as actively self-interpretive. Moving beyond textual analysis, Yadin then locates the Rabbi Ishmael hermeneutic within the religious landscape of Second Temple and post-Temple literature. The result is a series of surprising connections between these rabbinic texts and Wisdom literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Church Fathers, all of which lead to a radical rethinking of the origins of rabbinic midrash and, indeed, of the Rabbis as a whole.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface: Legal Midrash

Introduction: On the Hermeneutic Dimension of Midrash Halakhah

Chapter 1. Torah and Ha-Katuv

Chapter 2. Inaction and Attention

Chapter 3. Freedom and Restraint in Midrash Halakhah

Chapter 4. The Role of the Reader I

Chapter 5. The Role of the Reader II

Chapter 6. Presponsive Torah

Chapter 7. Rabbi Ishmael and the Rabbis

Chapter 8. The Non-Rabbinic Landscape

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [177]-222) and index.

ISBN:

0-8122-0412-3

OCLC:

859161072