Perception, Compassion, and Surprise: Literary Coherence in the Third Chapter of Bavli Ta'anit
The third chapter of Bavli Ta'anit includes a plethora of aggadot, among them such famous stories as those about Honi the Circle-Drawer. Rabbinic stories are most commonly studied in isolation from each other, although recent scholarship has increasingly called attention to the literary context...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
HUC
2014
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual
Year: 2011, Volume: 82/83, Pages: 61-117 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | The third chapter of Bavli Ta'anit includes a plethora of aggadot, among them such famous stories as those about Honi the Circle-Drawer. Rabbinic stories are most commonly studied in isolation from each other, although recent scholarship has increasingly called attention to the literary contexts of aggadot. The present article attempts to take this enterprise one step further and to explore the interrelationships among the aggadot in this chapter of Bavli. I argue that there is a set of motifs and themes that weave throughout many of the aggadot in this chapter, which suggests that we might see the chapter as a literary unit, and I begin by surveying these themes and motifs. I go on to look at biblical narratives that are echoed in some of these motifs, and I consider how the echoes of these narratives in our chapter contribute to our chapter's discussion of issues such as prayer in times of crisis and divine compassion. Finally, I explore the meaning of the elements that I have highlighted in relation to the chapter's focus on rain, and I offer some thoughts about the chapter's stance on core issues relating to prayer and to proper and improper domains of human activity and attempted control. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual
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