Language:
Hebrew
Year of publication:
2020
Titel der Quelle:
תרביץ
Angaben zur Quelle:
פח,א (תשף) 5-40
Keywords:
Mishnah Language, style
;
Mishnah Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Midrash History and criticism
;
Midrash Language, style
Abstract:
The abbreviations of Mishnayot in the Tannaitic Midrashim, primarily Sifre on Deuteronomy, using expressions such as ’וכולה מתניתין‘ or ’וגומר‘, were discussed by Epstein and Melamed, who maintained that they were introduced by the copyists of the Midrashim. This article reexamines the identity of the abbreviators. We located forty-nine such abbreviations in Sifre on Deuteronomy, which we may assume to be relatively early for the following reasons: (1) their proliferation in the good textual witnesses – both MS. Vatican 32 and the Eastern witnesses – in contrast with their scarcity in the textual witnesses of lesser quality; (2) many of the abbreviations vary in the extent of the quotation from the Mishnah (often the quotation from the Mishnah, without any sign of abbreviation, is fragmentary and unclear, or does not include the continuation of the Mishnah which contains the prooftext on which ’מיכן אמרו‘ [‘On the basis of this they said’] is based); (3) the presence of many abbreviations in Mishnah citations that are incorporated in the Midrash, without the introductory ’מיכן אמרו‘. This poses a difficulty for attributing the abbreviations to the copyists, who had perfect knowledge of the entire Mishnah. Therefore, most of the abbreviations probably date to the redactive phases of Sifre, and only in later phases were the abbreviation signs omitted or the quotation was replaced by a less partial or complete quotation from the Mishnah. If so, the Mishnah of R. Judah ha-Nasi was already familiar at the time of the redaction of Sifre on Deuteronomy, and the target audience of the redactors of the Midrash were outstanding Torah scholars, who were fluent in the Mishnah and acknowledged its authority. Indeed, the close relationship of Sifre on Deuteronomy to the Mishnah is expressed in the inclusion of the expositions of verses cited in the Mishnah in its discussions. Moreover, the majority of the instances of ’מיכן אמרו‘ in it refer to the Mishnah. In contrast, Mishnah abbreviations are absent from Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael and Sifre on Numbers, from the school of R. Ishmael. Most of the ’מיכן אמרו‘ citations in these Midrashic works cite the Mishnah of R. Ishmael and other Mishnaic collections rather than the Mishnah of R. Judah ha-Nasi. It would seem therefore that the redactors of the Midrashim from the school of R. Ishmael did not recognize the superior authority of the Mishnah of R. Judah ha-Nasi. The complete manuscripts of Sifra contain no abbreviated Mishnayot, while three partial copies of this Midrash, most prominent among which is an extremely early copy from the Cairo Genizah, contain more than ten abbreviations using the term ’וגומר‘, most from the ‘esoteric’ tractate of Negaim. The identity of the abbreviators of the Mishnayot in Sifra remains unknown. Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon ben Yohay contains a single abbreviated Mishnah, using the wording ’וכולה מתניתא‘, which also appears in the parallel in Sifre on Deuteronomy, from which it might have been transferred. Additional Mishnah abbreviations are absent from Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon ben Yohay, probably because it does not quote many Mishnayot, in striking contrast to the other Midrashim from the classic school of R. Akiva. Further study is required to determine the initial format of the Midrashim that included Mishnah abbreviations: were all the Mishnayot abbreviated; and if not, why were certain Mishnayot abbreviated, and others, not? Likewise, the reason for abbreviating Mishnayot is unclear. In addition to considerations of concision and convenience, were the abbreviations influenced by a strict understanding of the prohibition: ‘you may not write halakhot’ [i.e., Mishnah], which might not apply to the Tannaitic genre of Midrash? This question is connected to the weighty question of whether the Tannaitic Midrashim were orally redacted, like the Mishnah, or written. Only the discovery of good, ancient textual witnesses of Tannaitic Midrashim, if such are discovered in the future, can resolve these issues.
URL:
אתר את הפרסום בקטלוג המאוחד של ספריות ישראל
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