From Tradition to Commentary: Torah and Its Interpretation in the Midrash Sifre to Deuteronomy (SUNY series in Judaica: Hermeneutics, Mysticism, and Religion) - Softcover

Fraade, Steven D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 079140496X ISBN 13: 9780791404966

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 1991

Synopsis

This book examines Torah and its interpretation both as a recurring theme in the early rabbinic commentary and as the very practice of the commentary. It studies the phenomenon of ancient rabbinic scriptural commentary in relation to the perspectives of literary and historical criticisms and their complex intersection. The author discusses extensively the nature of ancient commentary, comparing and contrasting it with the antecedents in the pesharim of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the allegorical commentaries of Philo of Alexandria. He develops a model for a dynamic understanding of the literary structure and sociohistorical function of early rabbinic commentary, and then applies this model to the Sifre - to the oldest extant running commentary to Deuteronomy and one of the oldest rabbinic collections of exegesis.

Fraade examines the commentary's representation of revelation and its reception at Mt. Sinai, with particular attention to its fractured refiguration and interrelation of Scripture, tradition, and history. He discusses the commentary's discursive empowering of the class of sages in their collective self-understanding as Israel's authorized teachers, leaders, legislators, and judges. The author also probes the tension between Torah and nature as witnesses to Israel's covenant with God.

About this title

About the Author

Steven D. Fraade is Mark Taper Professor of the History of Judaism at Yale University.

Edition details

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 079140496X
• ISBN 13: 9780791404966
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 365