The Making of a Sage: A Study in Rabbinic Ethics (review)

Abstract

Hebrew Studies 48 (2007) 395 Reviews formly or exceptionally written plene or defective”; Ginsburg, Introduction, p. 774). Three indices appear at the end of the volume including an index of terms from Appendix 1; an index of terms from Appendix 3; and an index of verses cited throughout the volume. One fundamental principle of working with manuscripts such as the Madrid Codex is the need to consult the original manuscript rather than to rely solely on printed editions. One never knows when an error in transcription might appear or a relevant feature of the original manuscript might be overlooked or omitted. Martín Contreras attempts to overcome this problem by supplying the reader with reproductions of the appendices from the manuscript itself at the end of the volume. Unfortunately, the reproductions are too small to be fully useful, but nevertheless can supply the reader with at least some perspective from the manuscript. Altogether, Martín Contreras has provided readers with an important tool for investigating the development of the Spanish Masoretic tradition, most notably the grammatical treatise Diqdûqê hatt{amîm and the compilation Sefer Okhlah we-Okhlah. Masoretic specialists, linguists, and textual scholars will be in her debt for providing such relatively inexpensive access to these aspects of one of the key manuscripts of the Spanish Masoretic tradition. Marvin A. Sweeney Claremont School of Theology and Claremont Graduate University Claremont, CA 91711 msweeney@cst.edu THE MAKING OF A SAGE: A STUDY IN RABBINIC ETHICS. By Jonathan Wyn Schofer. Pp. xiv + 310. Madison, Wisc.: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2005. Paper, $24.95. This revised dissertation, originally completed at the University of Chicago under the guidance of Professor Michael Fishbane, contains many of the strengths and weaknesses of almost any good dissertation. On the positive side, Schofer carefully probes a central rabbinic work, The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan (ARN), in ways that illuminate its history and its meaning both in antiquity and for those living today. While many will no doubt quibble with or seriously contest some of Schofer’s individual arguments, no one can doubt that he has produced an important monograph that brings a prodigious amount of scholarship together, making this a book that any scholar of rabbinic literature will want and need to own. Hebrew Studies 48 (2007) 396 Reviews Schofer explores the various ways that the ancient rabbis, or at least those who edited this anthology, conceived of a spiritually developed human being. He does this through examining various narratives and metaphors found in this rabbinic text that shed light on the way in which these ancient rabbis understood how a life dedicated to Torah, that is a life of study and practice lived in orientation to God and his revelation, transformed those who engaged in it. In particular, he carefully unpacks not only passages that idealize certain rabbis and their behaviors but also materials that touch upon students, or humans more generally, who have not yet reached this ideal state. The book is divided into three major sections. It begins with various introductory essays. First there is a set of theoretical reflections followed by a helpful introduction to ARN. The latter includes an overview of this ancient collection of rabbinic sayings and stories as well as an introduction to the categories that Schofer will employ to analyze it. The following two sections attempt to get at the ethics implicit in this midrashic anthology through tracing out certain tropes or theological ideas including: “Torah and Transgressive Tendencies,” The Heart and Its Formation,” and “Divine Reward and Punishment.” Schofer recognizes how difficult it is to treat a rabbinic text such as ARN systematically and these broad categories are his solution to imposing some order on the ocean of rabbinic thought. On balance, while Schofer is successful in creating a set of maps through this composite anthology, at times one wonders if he might not have been better served by treating a smaller portion of ARN in a more systematic and comprehensive fashion. His thematic approach integrates material from across ARN into discrete and accessible units. However, it necessitates that the reader will already have read through ARN in order to gain some sense...