The classical Rabbinic tradition (legal, discursive, and exegetical) claims to be the Oral Torah, transmitted by word of mouth in an unbroken chain deriving its authority ultimately from divine revelation to Moses at Sinai. Since the third century CE, however, this tradition has been embodied in written texts. Through judicious deployment and analysis of the evidence, Martin Jaffee is able to show that the Rabbinic tradition, as we have it, developed through a mutual interpretation of oral and written modes. The ideology of the Oral Torah, however - which appeared in its first fully developed form only in the mid-third century CE - was intended to ground talmudic study practices and the authority of the Rabbinic master as the living embodiment of the Torah. Torah, as transformative religious knowledge and praxis, could only be internalized through discipleship to a religious Master within a circle of other disciples; it could not be mastered from a written text which, by itself, was deemed to be religiously inert.
Reviews
The debate will continue, and those conducting it will be grateful to Jaffee for his helpful contribution to the presentation of the data and to their scientific examination. * Journal of Jewish Studies *
Jaffee is to be commended on covering such a complicated and challenging topic in a clear, intellectually impressive and soundly critical fashion. * Journal of Jewish Studies *



Book Information
ISBN 9780195140675
Author Martin S. Jaffee
Format Hardback
Page Count 356
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 508g
Dimensions(mm) 241mm * 165mm * 20mm