The Fifth Passover Cup and Magical Pairs: Isaac Baer Levinsohn and the Babylonian Talmud
Abstract The Fifth Passover Cup is mentioned in a textual variant of a baraita in Tractate Pesaḥim of the Babylonian Talmud (118a), attributed to Rabbi Ṭarfon and another anonymous Palestinian tanna . Scholars have demonstrated that the variant is primary in talmudic manuscripts and among the Babylo...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2021
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| In: |
European journal of jewish studies
Year: 2021, Volume: 15, Issue: 1, Pages: 84-103 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Levinsohn, Isaac Baer 1788-1860
/ Talmûd bavlî. Pesaḥim
/ Passover
/ Pair
/ Magical thinking
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| RelBib Classification: | BH Judaism FA Theology HB Old Testament |
| Further subjects: | B
Levinsohn
B Passover B Halakhah B Magic B magical pairs B Haskalah B Talmud B Source Criticism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (Publisher) |
| Summary: | Abstract The Fifth Passover Cup is mentioned in a textual variant of a baraita in Tractate Pesaḥim of the Babylonian Talmud (118a), attributed to Rabbi Ṭarfon and another anonymous Palestinian tanna . Scholars have demonstrated that the variant is primary in talmudic manuscripts and among the Babylonian Geonim. Following a nineteenth-century proposition of Isaac Baer Levinsohn, it is argued that the fifth cup was instituted in Babylonia due to concern for magical evil spirits aroused by even-numbered events [ zugot ]. Objections to Levinsohn’s theory can be allayed by critical source analysis: the Talmud’s attribution of the fifth cup to the Palestinian tanna Rabbi Ṭarfon in a baraita is pseudoepigraphic, based upon Rabbi Ṭarfon’s teaching regarding the recitation of Hallel ha-Gadol in Mishnah Ta‘anit 3:9. A special appendix is devoted to Levinsohn’s separate study on zugot in the ancient and medieval world. |
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| ISSN: | 1872-471X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: European journal of jewish studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/1872471X-BJA10020 |
