Rabbinic Bible Research Articles

The Bible on the Shakespearean Stage: Cultures of Interpretation in Reformation England. Edited by Thomas Fulton and Kristen Poole

This stimulating collection takes up a subject that has been somewhat neglected in the “turn to religion” in Shakespeare studies: popular hermeneutics. The Reformation called on believers not only to read the Bible but also to interpret it; the introduction to the volume takes us into the worlds of Bible reading and interpretation and shows us how sixteenth- and seventeenth-century readers learned exegesis from notes and paratextual material in early modern Bibles, as well as from theological tracts and sermons that modeled typological reading, collocation, and ways of working with the densely figured “literal” narrative. To read about open-air sermons, attended by as many as six thousand people with Bibles in hand to check and annotate referenced passages, helps us imagine the attention and interpretive energy audiences might have brought to bear on Shakespeare’s plays in the theater. The volume is divided into four parts. Bruce Gordon’s and Aaron T. Pratt’s respective essays in the first part (“Europe, England: Contextualizing Shakespeare’s Bible”) historicize the discussion of biblical interpretation in the context of international linguistic scholarship and textual developments (Gordon) and publishing and marketing books in England (Pratt). Gordon’s essay provides valuable information on the work of Christian Hebraists, and notes the publication of a Rabbinic Bible in the period, but I would have liked some assessment of how this scholarship fed into the Geneva translation (the one most used in England), how it might illuminate the vexed question of Shakespeare’s attitude toward real Jews. Pratt studies translations of the New Testament, beginning with the extremely popular volume produced by Sir John Cheke (1553). The paratextual material in that edition provided continuity for the different authorized translations that circulated throughout the century, and Pratt explains that its function was to stress that the Bible should be understood within the context of the official church. If Shakespeare did work from a Cheke volume, as Pratt thinks possible, and was typical in that sense, the paratextual guides for interpretations did not constrain the uniqueness of his biblical readings and the originality of his theology.

The Commentator’s Bible: Genesis

The Commentator’s Bible: Genesis

Does the Yod of ‮נַפְשִׁי‬‎ in Ps 24:4 Represent a Minuscule Waw?

AbstractIn BHS, Ps 24:4 has a reading of ‮נַפְשִׁי‬‎ “my soul” in a context that logically demands a reading of ‮נַפְשׁוֹ‬‎ “his soul.” In several manuscripts and in the Rabbinic Bible, there is a kəṯîḇ ‮נפשו‬‎ “his soul” and a qərê ‮נַפְשִׁי‬‎ “my soul.” However, some prominent Masoretic scholars, Elias Levita, Solomon Norzi and Solomon Frensdorff, have rejected this qərê reading by suggesting that the yod of ‮נַפְשִׁי‬‎ is the result of a scribal error, and that it represents a so-called minuscule waw. This article surveys the history of this debate, examines the nature of the minuscule letters, and shows that new evidence in a Genizah fragment and in the Masoretic appendices to the Leningrad Codex offers support for this dissenting opinion. As a result, the best reading in the context would probably be ‮נַפְשׁוֹ‬‎.

Joseph: Portraits through the Ages by Alan T. Levenson

Reviewed by: Joseph: Portraits through the Ages by Alan T. Levenson Kapali Lyon (bio) Alan T. Levenson. Joseph: Portraits through the Ages. U of Nebraska P, 2016, 312 pp. ISBN 978-0827612501, $32.95. The biblical story of Joseph, one of the gems of world literature, has been the subject of long and fascinating scholarly inquiry. Rabbis and other Jewish scholars have squeezed every letter and cantillation mark for interpretive clues and signposts. Christian commentators, working from Greek and Latin translations before the Renaissance and from Hebrew and modern languages ever since, as well as Muslims, who know the story from its retelling in the Qu'rān, have also contributed to this discussion, now in its third millennium. Lastly, modern scholars of literature and the ancient Near East have not been idle; books, commentaries, and articles on the Joseph story would fill many a shelf. This is an impressive body of work, one that can only be navigated through years of patient language study, wide reading, and indefatigable interest. Even the simplest survey of such a mass is beyond what most interested readers of biblical literature could seriously contemplate. Fortunately, there is now a guidebook that allows us a look at a few important paths through this literary labyrinth. Alan T. Levenson, chair in Judaic history and director of the Schusterman Center for Judaic and Israel Studies at the University of Oklahoma, is the author of Joseph: Portraits through the Ages, almost too much of a good thing for those interested in the history of biblical interpretation. The original Joseph story, comprising most of the final thirteen chapters of Genesis, has long been recognized as a remarkable, weighty, and yet sometimes perplexing account of Joseph's trials and triumphs. He is no cardboard hero: the Hebrew account is nuanced and beautifully told but also challenging, perhaps not always intentionally so. The original author's use of Biblical Hebrew, the terse, economical, literary dialect of ancient Israel, is both provocative and enticing, inviting the reader to ponder each detail, a veritable feast for commentators. [End Page 438] Levenson has set a place at the table for all interested readers, inviting all to listen in on significant questions in a conversation that has been going on for millennia. Before Levenson's book, the key to participation in this conversation was the hard-won ability to make one's way in Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew, the fine print of the multivolume Rabbinic Bible, obscure tomes accessed only by a learned elite. Most Jewish readers have been on the outside looking in and all but a handful of non-Jews who have specialized in Hebraic studies scarcely know of their existence. Not only was a reading knowledge of the language hard to come by, but commentary Hebrew is a kind of code in itself, often difficult for fluent speakers of the modern language of Israel. The great contribution of Levenson's work is that, for this story at least, he offers the interested reader, even those with little or no Hebrew, a pleasant guided tour. I am reminded of the great private cars of nineteenth-century millionaires traveling on the newly opened railways of the American West. These cars conveyed their passengers in style but only where tracks had been laid down through the toil of thousands. The view was limited to what could be seen from their windows, but this was far more than they ever could have seen on their own. Readers who cannot navigate the complex terrain of rabbinic biblical scholarship might not be able to follow up on their own questions about the Joseph story, but Levenson's book still allows them to venture deeply into what might otherwise be terra incognita. Over the past thousand years, learned rabbis have composed a host of biblical commentaries and treatises, usually available only to those with similar training. Levenson handles this difficult literature with an appealing enthusiasm. The reader is invited to listen in and ponder privately the views of scholars such as Rashi, Maimonides, Nachmanides, and many more, as well as anonymous, often legendary interpretations embedded in talmudic and haggadic literature. Levenson has also invited a good many moderns to...

The 1525 Rabbinic Bible and How to Read It: A Study of the Annotated Copy in the John Rylands Library

Daniel Bombergs 1525 edition of the Rabbinic Bible is a typographical masterpiece. It combines the text of the Hebrew Bible with Aramaic Targumim, medieval Jewish commentaries and the Masoretic textual apparatus. As testified by the numerous copies in the libraries of Jewish and Christian readers, this was a popular edition that remained in demand long after its publication. This article examines why and how readers studied the 1525 Rabbinic Bible by analysing the annotated copy now in the John Rylands Library (shelfmark: R16222). This particular copy furnishes detailed information about the reading habits of past owners, including early-modern Ashkenazi Jews and nineteenth-century English Hebraists. Studying how it has been used sheds light on why readers selected this edition and how they studied the apparatus and exegetical resources that Daniel Bomberg placed alongside the biblical text.

Qumran Scholarship and the Study of the Old Testament in the New Testament

This article argues that Qumran scholarship provides contextual and contingent perspectives in the study of the use of scripture by the New Testament authors. First, post-Qumran textual criticism has highlighted textual diversity in the period of the New Testament, raising questions about alleged exegetical variants as well as the characterizations of the Pauline citations as ‘septuagintal’. Second, while the canon of the Hebrew Bible remained open in the middle of the first century, Paul’s implied bible was consistent with the Pharisaic canon that eventually became the Rabbinic Bible. Finally, the theory of the sectarian matrix both accounts for the use of the same biblical passages and the divergent interpretations of them among various sects in the Second Temple period.

Were the Psalms Collections at Qumran True Psalters?

Since the publication of 11QPsa (11Q5) in 1965, the following question has remained open about this document and subsequently about other Dead Sea Scrolls containing psalms: Do they comprise genuine psalters or do they represent secondary liturgical collections derived from a standard proto-MT psalter? Scholarly debate over the question has proceeded on the assumption that there exists a standard 150-psalm sēper tәhillim of the configuration found in the Second Rabbinic Bible and reproduced in all subsequent printings of the Hebrew Bible to the present day. The question about scrolls from Qumran containing psalms, then, has been framed with reference to this presumed standard Hebrew Psalter, usually identified in the shorthand as the MT Psalter. This article builds on an examination of virtually all the world’s Hebrew manuscripts of sēper tәhillim . This survey has produced evidence showing that, while the semantic content of sēper tәhillim did indeed become the fixed text known as the MT, the ways in which the content was configured into discrete psalmic compositions varied widely among the medieval manuscripts. Drawing from medieval halakists, the article offers a partial explanation for the variety in psalter configurations centered on different liturgical customs. By applying the evidence from hundreds of Hebrew medieval Psalms manuscripts, the article concludes that, since no standard MT configuration of the premodern Hebrew psalter ever existed, framing the question about scrolls from Qumran as either true psalters or as secondary collections finds no basis in the manuscript evidence.

The Targum Vorlage of the 1525 Rabbinic Bible

‭This article investigates possible sources behind the Targum in Jacob ben Hayyim’s Rabbinic Bible (Venice 1525), which served as the authoritative text for centuries. The previous edition of the Rabbinic Bible (Venice 1517) already received much attention in this regard and this inquiry builds on those findings. It focuses on the Targum of 1Samuel and compares Ben Hayyim’s deviations from the former Rabbinic Bible with various manuscripts. It allows for a tentative conclusion regarding Ben Hayyim’s Targum Vorlage.‬

The Targum of Lamentations (review)

The Targum of Lamentations. Translated, with a Critical Introduction, Apparatus, and Notes by Philip S. Alexander. [The Aramaic Bible, Vol. 17B.] (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press. 2008. Pp. xvi, 224. $99.95. ISBN 978-0814-65864-2.) Targum Lamentations contains fewer than 2900 words across five chapters. Despite this brevity, Philip Alexander's thoughtful and thorough study begins with 100 pages of introduction followed by 100 pages of translation and commentary. The volume's centerpiece is, of course, the translation, on which the commentary and the introduction depend, and it accurately reflects the Aramaic's meaning with a high degree of precision. Alexander has an ear not only for the Aramaic's meaning but also for conveying that meaning in an English style that is literal while remaining clear and expressive. When nuances cannot be captured in the English, they appear in the notes. Alexander translates Targum Lamentations' Western recension, which provided the foundation for the later Yemenite recension, as recent scholarship has demonstrated. Unfortunately, he translates the unpublished manuscript Heb. 110 of Paris' Bibliotheque Nationale. The best available Western text to use with Alexander's translation is Urbinus Hebr. 1 from the Vatican Library, which appears in Christian Brady's The Rabbinic Targum of Lamentations (Leiden, 2003), alongside Brady's own translation. Sperber 's readily available text (in volume 4a of The Bible in Aramaic [Leiden, 1968]) should be avoided, since it constitutes an idiosyncratic combination of a Yemenite manuscript with selections from Bomberg's second Rabbinic Bible. The commentary constitutes a model of the tradition-history approach to the analysis of Jewish texts and takes up most of the book's second half. Beginning with close attention to the lexical meaning of each word, Alexander then considers the interpretation conveyed through inner-scriptural exegesis (both in the Hebrew text and other Targums), which conveys nuances and connections of the Targum with the Hebrew Bible. Beyond that, Alexander's remarks range across comparisons with rabbinic literature; the Dead Sea Scrolls; other ancient translations such as the Septuagint, Peshitta, and Vulgate; as well as medieval Jewish writers such as Saadya Gaon. Comparison with the rabbinic midrash Lamentations Rabbah rightly receives most attention. The volume's critical introduction fulfills the same purpose as it does in the other Aramaic Bible volumes. But rather than slavishly reiterate previous scholarship, Alexander pushes the envelope, bringing in not only the best of the past but also putting together well-argued and solidly founded new proposals. Although he readily addresses textual, dating, and linguistic matters, Alexander's primary interests stand out in the explorations of the theological, liturgical, and literary character and context of Targum Lamentations; he believes, along with Brady, that it was composed as a single, unified work. …

Les compléments deutérocanoniques dans la Bible

The deuterocanonical books form an intertestament between the books of the rabbinic Bible and those of the New Testament. They are on a border line, a rift or a bridge between the new rising Christianity and the Judaism rising anew after 135. They also provide a connection between the Aramaic Gola and the Hellenistic Diaspora. The intertestamentary books - and namely the deuterocanonical writings which are like a canonical intertestament - prove to be necessary to the understanding of the Bible.

Fixing God's Torah: The Accuracy of the Hebrew Bible Text in Jewish Law (review)

Reviewed by: Fixing God’s Torah: The Accuracy of the Hebrew Bible Text in Jewish Law Moshe Sokolow B. Barry Levy. Fixing God’s Torah: The Accuracy of the Hebrew Bible Text in Jewish Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Pp. xvii + 237. God's Torah is perfect, restoring the soul; God's testimony is steadfast, making wise the simple. Psalms 19.7 Therefore were the ancients called scribes [soferim], for they would enumerate all the letters in the Torah. bKiddushin 30a From the time writing was invented, scribes have made mistakes. Moshe Sokolow Frankly, I initially found the title of this book offputting. Insert Torah, accuracy, and Jewish law into the same sentence and it appears to be an Orthodox "no brainer." Combine Torah and fixing, however, and it presents itself, to an Orthodox reader, as an almost heretical oxymoron. Happily, reading Fixing God's Torah disabused me of my reservations. B. Barry Levy, professor of religious studies and dean of the faculty of religious studies at McGill University, conducts us on a voyage of discovery that chronicles the traditional veneration of the Torah text yet surprises us by illustrating the genuinely critical lengths to which various rabbinical authorities were prepared to go in order to preserve their perception of its accuracy. Wielding talmudic passages and rabbinical responsa with the erudition and rhetorical dexterity of a talmid hakham (old world scholar), he enables his readers—scholars and laymen alike—to come to terms with the overt evidence of textual anomalies without surrendering their faith in either the Torah or in its rabbinic interpreters. The "protagonist" of the book is Rabbi David [ben Solomon] Ibn Abi Zimra (Radbaz; Egypt, sixteenth century), prolific author of over 2,400 responsa, several of which—featured in the book—deal specifically with the validity of the textual transmission of the Torah. In one case, Radbaz discusses the propriety of changing a word in the Torah to conform to the spelling indicated by the Zohar. Another responsum comprises an [End Page e29] important statement on the origin and authority of the Masorah (the collective scribal wisdom pertaining to the consonantal text of the Jewish Bible, its vocalization and accentuation) and the extent to which it should be used to determine the correct spelling of biblical words. A third deals with the letter waw in the word shlwm, "peace," in Nm 25.12, and whether it was necessary to follow a talmudic teaching that required it to be interrupted (ketu'ah). A fourth responsum considers a medieval suggestion to change the traditional reading of hw', "it," in Lev 25.33, to hi'. Levy also examines the position of the outstanding Spanish sage Rabbi Solomon Ibn Adret (Rashba, d. 1310), whose own responsa served as a basis and precedent for Radbaz. He inquires, as well, into Radbaz's use of the Masoretic notes of Jacob ben Hayyim Ibn Adoniyah, who prepared the text for Daniel Bomberg's "Rabbinic Bible" (aka Mikra'ot gedolot). Finally, he concludes with a brief examination of the attempts that have been made since the sixteenth century to reconcile Torah texts with those of Talmud and midrash, with particular emphasis on the twenty-one discrepancies noted by Rabbi Akiva Eger (Poznan, nineteenth century) in his glosses to tractate Shabat. Talmudic and midrashic literature, ranging from explicit references to variant readings among scrolls that were kept in the Temple precincts to allusions implicit in text-based hermeneutics, already testifies to the absence of complete uniformity among extant Torah texts. Given that testimony, it is difficult to comprehend why the suggestion of textual variation (mostly of the least invasive variety, comprising plene and/or defective spellings) should raise the hackles of religious Jews. Even granting that the minute care that was exercised in copying the Torah worked to severely limit the possibility of scribal deviation, ever since writing was invented scribes have made mistakes. And yet, the importance of the accuracy of revealed Scripture—and the implications of its absence—is hardly unique to Orthodox Judaism or even to Judaism in general. Witness the following claim made on behalf of the Koran: No other book in the world can match the Qur'an . . . The astonishing...

The New Rabbinic Bible: A Quantum Leap

The two volumes reviewed here are latest in series Mikra3ot Gedolot Haketer prepared by Professor Menachem Cohen at Institute for History of Jewish Biblical Research at Bar-Ilan University. The previ ous six volumes covered biblical books of Joshua and Judges (1992), Kings (1995), Isaiah (1996), Genesis 1-25 with Haftaroth (synagogal pro phetic lection) (1997), Genesis 25-51 with Haftaroth (1999), and Ezekiel (2000). The avowed purpose of this series, which, Deo volente, will include all twenty-four books of Hebrew Bible (corresponding to all thirty-nine books of Lutheran canon of Old Testament), is to replace com mon editions of Mikra'ot Gedolot, commonly called in English the Rabbinic Bible. The so-called Rabbinic Bible presents in a few compact volumes Masoretic Text of Hebrew Bible, one or more Aramaic versions of Jewish Bible, Masorah, and several Hebrew commentaries, mostly from High Middle Ages. The reason for replacing common editions of so-called Rabbinic Bible with new editions is that common editions pre sent inaccurate versions of Masoretic Text, Masoretic notes, privi leged (indeed, canonical, for Pentateuch and Prophets) Aramaic translations (Targumim) of Bible, and selected biblical commentaries com posed in Rabbinic Hebrew, primarily in Spain, France, and Italy in High Middle Ages. Moreover, older editions, in which most commentaries are printed in so-called Rashi script, rarely identify quotations and sources, and they lack modern punctuation. Cohen's editions, on other hand, transcribe insofar as is humanly pos sible Hebrew text and Masoretic notes from Aleppo Codex. Where (as in Ps 15:1-25:1, only portion missing from Book of

Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary (review)

Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, for Rabbinical Assembly and United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, 2001. 1560 pp. $72.50. For close to sixty years, Joseph Hertz's The Pentateuch and Haftorahs (London: Soncino Press, 1936) was a fixture in American synagogues, arguably serving as the for many, if not most, American Jews. However, Hertz has long been considered dated and its polemics against both Christianity and modern biblical scholarship out of touch with contemporary views. It is, therefore, not surprising that replacements have begun to appear. The first came from Reform movement, which published The Torah, A Modern Commentary in 1981. Although it drew on a wide range of thinkers, Jewish tradition was shortchanged, as symbolized by omission of biblical accent marks (trope), which are used for Bible's ritual chanting, and minimization of traditional Sabbath lections (parashot). Barely a decade later, Orthodox community produced an English commentary of its own. However, ArtScroll Humash (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1993) paid even less attention to modernity than Reform commentary had given to Jewish tradition. Now Conservative movement, out of which Hertz, first graduate of its Jewish Theological Seminary of America, emerged, has produced its own commentary for synagogue use. Drawing title from Proverbs 3:18, which is recited before Torah scroll during Jewish worship, its goal is to be reverential but not apologetic (p. xix) by embracing both tradition and modernity. It is also proudly Jewish. Although non-Jews are seldom mentioned by name, especially in commentary, it quotes a remarkable range of Jewish thinkers from almost every century and stream of Jewish history. Jewish practice is also regularly identified, typically as what we do, and there are frequent references to Conservative movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. Both commentary and short essays which follow are fully conversant with findings of contemporary biblical scholarship. Biblical statements are not automatically accepted as true, and readings from ancient versions are pointed out along with instances in which translation deviates from Masoretic text it supposedly follows. There are also frequent references to relevant findings from ancient Near East, although Der Allah inscription goes strangely unmentioned as does generally accepted connection between book of Deuteronomy and Judah's King Josiah. Most striking is book's openness to diversity. The organizers of this project have gone out of their way to involve a broad range of movement's constituents, including important scholars who work outside of its own institutions. Following a format that recalls Daniel Bomberg's classic Rabbinic Bible (Mikra'ot Gedolot), each page includes both Hebrew text and 1985 Jewish Publication Society translation as well as three commentaries -- one, based on recent JPS commentary series, which presents text's straightforward meaning (peshat), a second that is more homiletical (derash), and a third that describes relationship between text and Jewish observance (halacha l'ma-aseh). …

The End of Rashi's Commentary on Job. The Manuscripts and the Printed Editions (with three appendices)

In the Warsaw 1860-1866 Rabbinic Bible and in its many reprints, there is a note in Rashi's commentary on Job chapter 40, after verse 20: here Rashi composed [the commentary], from here and on [i. e. until the end of chapter 42] is not the language of Rashi. In other words, the end of Rashi's commentary on Job as it appears in the printed editions (40:25 through chapter 42) was not written by Rashi, but rather by another author. However, the printed note does not disclose his identity. The status of the end of Rashi's commentary on Job was already discussed by several scholars in the 19th century,1 and more recently

The Chapter Divisions in the 1525 Rabbinic Bible

La division en chapitres de la Bible hebraique n'est pas due a l'activite massoretique mais aux efforts de l'archeveque Stephen Langton qui a divise la Vulgate en chapitres au debut du 13e siecle. La division de Langton a ete adoptee par les Juifs et transferee a la Bible hebraique. L'A. presente la Bible rabbinique de 1525 car elle constitue le textus receptus puis la premiere Bible rabbinique imprimee avec la division en chapitres en 1517.

The Sub Loco Notes in the Torah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (review)

Hebrew Studies 37 (1996) 156 Reviews of the scribes has made it into a lie?"). In Isa 10:1 we find the following complaint: "Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes." These passages seem to reflect a "realist" conception that laws were nonnally made, not by divine communication or some idealistic and immutable principle, but by rulers pursuing their own mutable interests. Presumably, these biblical authors would like to refonn the laws and the principles in question. Although the responses to Westbrook seem decisive, this book will not be the last word on the debate. However, this is an important collection of essays which should be read by all those interested in current issues in biblical and cuneifonn law. Heclor Avalos Iowa Slale University Ames, IA 50011 THE SUB LOCO NOTES IN THE TORAH OF BIBLIA HEBRAICA STUTTGARTENSIA. By Daniel S. Mynatt. BIBAL Dissertation Series 2. Pp. x + 278. N. Richland Hills, TX: BIBAL Press, 1994. In editing the masora of the Leningrad codex for the publication of the BHS, Gerard Weil had provided the nomenclature sub loco ("in the/this place") for several types of problematic notes encountered in the Masora parva. He had intended to provide a critical analysis of these notes in the third volume of the Massorah Gedolah, but he died after publishing only one volume. Daniel Mynatt, who presently serves as Assistant Professor of Religion at Anderson College in Anderson, South Carolina, has diligently provided a user-friendly volume containing a textual analysis of each of the 297 sub loco notes in the Torah of the BHS. The current work is a revision of his 1992 doctoral dissertation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In the introduction, the author provides methodological considerations necessary to interpreting the data. The initial step was to compare the sub loco note in the Masora parva of the Leningrad codex with that of BHS, with clarification of legibility from Kittel's Biblia Hebraica 3 where necessary . Analysis is made ofWeil's alterations based on the sub loco notes, and then each is discussed "within the context of its Mp text feature:' Mynatt notes a number of the organizational problems faced by the interpreter of the masoretic apparatus, such as the general rule that the Masora magna list Hebrew Studies 37 (1996) 157 Reviews numbers are cited only once per chapter on a page. Likewise, in contra texturn situations where the Masorah parva differs from the text of the Leningrad codex (in which case Weil had corrected the Masorah parva note), Mynatt evaluates each on the basis of its own merit. He also rightly notes the variant orthographic and notation traditions among the masoretic schools regarding the plene/defective readings. Also included are variations from other Hebrew Bibles, such as the Second Rabbinic Bible, in his discussion of the sub loco notes. Chapter Two contains a "Catalog of Entries" of all 297 sub loco notes with a extensive discussion of each entry. The fonnat of each entry is: (1) Statement of Location-note number according to the order found in the biblical text, the biblical citation, and the index number for the Masorah parva; (2) Evidence for Analysis-the text of BHS, the Masorah parva note of BHS with translation and explanation of the symbols utilized, as well as the Masorah parva of the Leningrad codex with translation and explanation; and (3) Discussion of the Masorah parva of both texts, including a listing of other occurrences of the same tenn, phrase, spelling, etc. The value of Mynatt's reference work is in the text-critical approach to understanding the variations and explanatory notes referenced in the Masorah parva. Corrections and additions are made by the author to Weil or the Masorah parva of either text where applicable. Mynatt attempts to trace the history of the variant in order to provide a possible explanation for the given reference. The Masorah parva of the Aleppo codex is provided at the bottom of the entry if such is extant. In Chapter Three, "Classification of Errors in the Sub Loco Notes," Mynatt created a system of categorizing the types of errors "based on the circumstances which caused the errors" (p. 223). Two broad...

Las <em>’Ôṯiyyôṯ Gĕḏôlôṯ</em> en las compilaciones masoréticas

En este trabajo se ponen de manifiesto las muchas discrepancias que existen en las masoras de ’ôṯiyyôṯ gĕḏôlôṯ editadas por Ben Ḥayyîm en la segunda Biblia Rabínica, por S. Frensdorff en Ochlah W'Ochlah y por C. D. Ginsburg en su obra de recopilación de masoras, y se analizan con ayuda de los comentarios masoréticos más importantes: el ’Ôr Tôrâ de Mĕnaḥem de Lonzano y el Minḥaṯ Šay de Y. S. de Norzi. Si bien la falta de normativa que existe respecto al tema impide dar una opinión concluyente, sí se sugieren algunas posibles explicaciones.

Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible

Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible