In this book Jacob Neusner conducts a close textual analysis of Sifra, a commentary on the book of Leviticus. He argues that Sifra should be understood as successfully relating the Mishnah, the authoritative writing down of the Oral Torah, to Jewish Scripture, or the written Torah.

Autorentext

Jacob Neusner is Research Professor of Religion and Theology at Bard College and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard. He has published more than 900 books and unnumbered articles, both scholarly and academic, popular and journalistic, and is the most published humanities scholar in the world. He has been awarded nine honorary degrees, including seven US and European honorary doctorates. He received his A.B. from Harvard College in 1953, his Ph.D. from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary in 1961, and Rabbinical Ordination and the degree of Master of Hebrew Letters from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1960. Neusner is editor of the 'Encyclopedia of Judaism' (Brill, 1999. I-III) and its Supplements; Chair of the Editorial Board of 'The Review of Rabbinic Judaism,' and Editor in Chief of 'The Brill Reference Library of Judaism', both published by E. J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands. He is editor of 'Studies in Judaism', University Press of America. Neusner resides with his wife in Rhinebeck, New York. They have a daughter, three sons and three daughters-in-law, six granddaughters and two grandsons.

Klappentext

In this book Jacob Neusner analyzes the text of Sifra, a commentary on the book of Leviticus, arguing that Sifra should be understood as successfully relating the Mishnah, the authoritative writing down of the Oral Torah, to Jewish Scripture, or the written Torah. Neusner shows how Sifra's authors adopted a mediating position between the written Torah and the Mishnah, reconstructing large tracts of the Mishnah according to the logic and program of the written Torah of Leviticus.

Inhalt

Preface; Prologue; 1. The problem of the Mishnah; 2. Torah as a common noun: the solution of the Talmuds; 3. A sample of Sifra; 4. From common noun to proper noun: Sifra's re-presentation of the two Torahs as one; 5. Sifra's alternative to the Mishnah's topical program and its order; 6. Sifra's alternative to Mishnah's logic of cogent discourse; 7. Sifra's alternative to the Mishnah's proof of prepositions through taxonomic classification and hierarchization; 8. Re-presenting the Torah: Sifra's rehabilitation of taxonomic logic; 9. Torah as proper noun and the structure of the logic of creation; Appendix. The distinctive character of Sifra among Midrash compilations; Bibliography; Index.