Going West: Migrating Personae and Construction of the Self in Rabbinic Culture by Reuven Kiperwasser

Abstract

Reviewed by: Going West: Migrating Personae and Construction of the Self in Rabbinic Culture by Reuven Kiperwasser Matthew Goldstone Reuven Kiperwasser. Going West: Migrating Personae and Construction of the Self in Rabbinic Culture. Providence, RI: Brown Judaic Studies, 2021. 237 pp. Reuven Kiperwasser’s Going West: Migrating Personae and Construction of the Self in Rabbinic Culture explores how narrators of the Yerushalmi and Bavli constructed regional identities through portrayals of rabbinic interactions with internal Others (i.e., rabbis from one location visiting or residing in another location). Grounded in both theoretical and literary methodologies, this work encourages readers to redirect their attention from rabbinic interactions with groups typically understood as outsiders in the eyes of the rabbis (e.g., minim) to the prevalent experiences of alterity among those within rabbinic circles. Kiperwasser presents a compelling case for understanding narratives about Babylonian and Palestinian rabbinic interactions as important sites for the negotiation of the respective storyteller’s geographic identity. Moreover, he highlights the greater significance of Babylonian visitors impacting Palestinian rabbinic identity than the role of Palestinian figures impacting Babylonian rabbinic identity. In conceptualizing travel narratives, Kiperwasser adopts the helpful framework of hospitality. This perspective allows him to reflect on the roles and [End Page 178] expectations of both host and guest as rabbinic characters uphold or deviate from these positions. In articulating the nature of hospitality, Kiperwasser draws upon certain Derridean theorizations, such as the interrupted self, that at times enhance his textual readings throughout the eight main chapters. Following an introduction that provides background and some methodological considerations, the first six chapters of the book focus on depictions within Palestinian literature (primarily the Yerushalmi) of Babylonians (most of whom are rabbis) coming to Palestine. The first chapter adopts a bird’s eye view of Palestinian perceptions of Babylonians. In addition, this chapter discusses the erection of geographic boundaries through the need for Palestinian rabbis to ask permission before leaving Palestine and explores the use of humor as a form of defense mechanism. The subsequent two chapters revolve around the ways lay and elite visitors from Babylonia impact the formation of Palestinian rabbinic selves. According to Kiperwasser, through mocking stereotypes about Babylonians and the reinforcement of hierarchies in which Babylonians remain inferior to their peers, Palestinian narrators construct their own identities in response to the presence of internal Others. Chapters 4 and 5 narrow in on a few specific rabbis, examine rabbinic openness to absorbing elements of their peers’ cultural particulars, and explore the ways in which Palestinian leaders might have felt reliant upon their Babylonian colleagues. Chapter 6, the last of the chapters that focus on Palestinian sources about Palestinian hosting of Babylonian figures, looks at the use of shared traditions in the Yerushalmi and Bavli, paving the way for an articulation of the differences between the Palestinian and Babylonian employment of hospitality narratives for the cultivation of regional rabbinic identities. The final two chapters revolve around Bavli narratives about Palestinians coming to Babylonia (chapter 7) and Babylonians going to Palestine (chapter 8). Within these stories, Kiperwasser observes the way in which the Bavli minimizes conflict between figures and transforms what appeared in Palestinian sources as an interacademy episode into an internal Babylonian story. The foci of these accounts lead Kiperwasser to conclude that the narrators of Bavli hospitality episodes were less drawn to utilizing such interactions as a basis for the construction of Babylonian rabbinic identities than were Palestinian authors. Kiperwasser consolidates his observations in the conclusion, which delineates three forms of rabbinic selves: the more empathetic self, torn between xenophobia and philoxenia; the xenophobic self, as captured by a passage in Song of Songs Rabbah; and the more benevolent Babylonian narrator who uses Palestinian figures to embellish his sense of self. These abstracted representations map the variety of sources onto a simplified framework for basic comparison, allowing Kiperwasser to posit core geographic differences in the rabbinic depiction and use of hospitality narratives. Bearing in mind that an author can never include everything relevant to a particular topic, there are two lacunae that stand out as areas that would have strengthened the work. First, although Kiperwasser devotes attention to a theoretical Derridean framework for thinking about hospitality, he...