Blotting Out the Name, Part 2: Scribal Methods of Erasing the Tetragrammaton in Medieval Hebrew Bible Manuscripts
Part 1 of this study considered how the rabbinic prohibition against erasing the Tetragrammaton led to scribes performing diverse procedures to resolve scribal errors. In part 2 it will be shown that special procedures were performed in Torah scrolls, namely, skiving, excision, and removing sheets....
| 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: |
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2020
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| In: |
Textus
Year: 2020, Volume: 29, Issue: 2, Pages: 111-155 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Name of God
/ Scribe
/ Correction
/ Middle Ages
/ tôrah
/ Rabbi
/ Karaites
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| RelBib Classification: | BH Judaism HB Old Testament |
| Further subjects: | B
Aleppo Codex
B Hebrew Bible manuscripts B scribal errors B Adonai B Tetragrammaton B Scribal Practices B textual variants |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Part 1 of this study considered how the rabbinic prohibition against erasing the Tetragrammaton led to scribes performing diverse procedures to resolve scribal errors. In part 2 it will be shown that special procedures were performed in Torah scrolls, namely, skiving, excision, and removing sheets. Washing off the divine name was not found in the corpus examined. Despite the rabbinic prohibition, medieval Jewish scribes occasionally marked the Tetragrammaton with a strikethrough or erased it through abrasion. This may have been the handiwork of Karaite scribes who did not see themselves bound by the midrashic interpretation of Deut 12:4. The scribes who wrote the Aleppo Codex may have abraded erroneous instances of the Tetragrammaton in order to create a model codex. Scribes in the isolated Jewish community of Kaifeng, who erased erroneous instances of the Tetragrammaton, may not have been familiar with rabbinic strictures. |
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| ISSN: | 2589-255X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Textus
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/2589255X-bja10010 |