You must rebuke your fellow!: Midrash Tanḥuma's subversion of Bavli Arakhin 16b
The past few decades have witnessed a revival of academic interest in early medieval midrashim such as Midrash Tanḥuma. 1 For scholars of rabbinic literature, one of the most important questions concerning these works is their relationship to earlier rabbinic texts. It is well known that Tanḥuma ado...
| Published in: | Hebrew Union College annual |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
HUC
2018
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual
|
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Talmud
/ Judaism
/ Middle Ages
|
| RelBib Classification: | BH Judaism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The past few decades have witnessed a revival of academic interest in early medieval midrashim such as Midrash Tanḥuma. 1 For scholars of rabbinic literature, one of the most important questions concerning these works is their relationship to earlier rabbinic texts. It is well known that Tanḥuma adopted and reworked earlier rabbinic material and, particularly in the case of earlier Palestinian midrashim, there are numerous examples to show how Tanḥuma drew from its forerunners. When it comes to the Babylonian Talmud, however, there are fewer obvious parallels. Jacob Elbaum, in describing the nature of Tanḥuma, and late midrashim more generally, thus suggests that while it is clear that these works used Amoraic midrashim, it is less certain as to whether or not they used the Bavli.2 In the present study, I demonstrate how the editor(s) of a homily in the printed edition of Midrash Tanḥuma (Mishpatim 7) actively built upon and reworked a sugya from the Babylonian Talmud (b. Arakhin 16b) in order to challenge the Bavli's presentation of the topic. The sugya and homily revolve around the biblical obligation of rebuke found in Leviticus 19:17 (“You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart. Reprove your kinsman but incur no guilt because of him”).3 In contrast to reactions to this verse in the Tannaitic midrashim and the Bavli, which call into question the applicability or value of rebuke, the Tanḥuma homily argues vociferously for the crucial importance of correcting others. I contend that Tanḥuma reworked this talmudic sugya by excluding some material and introducing other talmudic passages in order to challenge the Talmud's disparaging attitude by creating a sustained endorsement of rebuke. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.15650/hebruniocollannu.88.2017.0089 |