Perspectives on Jewish Texts and Contexts

Ari Bergmann The Formation of the Talmud Perspectives on Jewish Texts and Contexts Edited by Vivian Liska Editorial Board Robert Alter, Steven E. Aschheim, Richard I. Cohen, Mark H. Gelber, Moshe Halbertal, Christine Hayes, Moshe Idel, Samuel Moyn, Ada Rapoport-Albert, Alvin Rosenfeld, David Ruderman, Bernd Witte Volume 17 Ari Bergmann The Formation of the Talmud Scholarship and Politics in Yitzhak Isaac Halevy’s Dorot Harishonim ISBN 978-3-11-070945-2 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-070983-4 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-070996-4 ISSN 2199-6962 DOI https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110709834 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Library of Congress Control Number: 2020950085 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2021 Ari Bergmann, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston. The book is published open access at www.degruyter.com. Cover image: Portrait of Isaac HaLevy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Isaac_halevi_portrait. png, „Isaac halevi portrait“, edited, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ legalcode. Typesetting: Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd. Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Oi, Oi, amar Rava, amar Abbaye Thus Rava said, and thus Abbaye taught (Backward and forward swaying he repeats With ceaseless sing-song the undying words). Is this the smithy, then; is the anvil Where a people’s soul is forged? Is this the source From which the life-blood of a people flows, To feed the generations yet unborn, And knit the thews of heroes yet to come? – Hayyim Nahman Bialik, “Hamatmid” (translated by Maurice Samuel) For Iona Foreword It is impossible to overstate the centrality of the Babylonian Talmud to the formation of Jewish religious thought and practice. While the classical Jewish library is massive, no text has shaped the tradition like the Babylonian Talmud. And yet, as has been noted by many scholars, the Babylonian Talmud – while attributing statements to hundreds of scholars (rabbis) who span at least the first six Christian centuries – has no discernible authorial voice, no obvious point of origin. It speaks from everywhere and anywhere, but nowhere in par- ticular; to all time, but from no time. It is almost as if those responsible for its emergence anticipated the historicist impulse of the modern academic world and said “we shall thwart your every effort to understand the history of this col- lection of material.” For this reason, I long ago came to the conclusion that a definitive history of the emergence of the Babylonian Talmud cannot be written, at least not without time travel. But even for those who might agree with that, the form and structure of Talmudic discourse present so many tantalizing clues that desisting from the effort to unravel the mysteries of the Babylonian Talmud’s emergence is impossible for the curious. Further, the many references to specific historical moments, whether to the lives of individual rabbinic figures, or to the political events of the surrounding environment, could not be ignored by those who wish to understand this most elusive of documents. Thus, for the better part of the last two centuries, scholars have presented their thoughts on the emergence of the Babylonian Talmud. Of course, pre- modern scholars were interested in where this text (among others) came from and who the named rabbis in the text were. But this interest tended to produce “chain of tradition” chronicles that were designed to buttress claims of unbro- ken tradition going back to antiquity and/or authority claims for their contem- porary institution(s). Yet other pre-modern scholars noticed the formal and structural elements that provide evidence of the history of the Babylonian Talmud; but such scholars tended to engage with them in response to a local interpretive need – that is, to the extent that engaging with historical questions might illuminate a specific passage of the Talmud. What neither type of scholar produced is a synthetic history that describes how the Babylonian Talmud in its entirety came to be. They had neither the historical consciousness nor religious interest to take on such a project. This changes in the nineteenth century, for a range of reasons, many of which are discussed in the pages that await you. Scholars – those with university educations, and auto-didacts as well – began to knit together the scattered historical claims spread throughout the Babylonian Talmud. They take note of Open Access. © 2021 Ari Bergmann, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110709834-202 X Foreword the fact that the Talmud consists of (usually short) statements attributed to specific individuals, generally in Hebrew, and extensive anonymous discussion of these statements, nearly always in Aramaic. How do these parts relate to one another? Is the anonymous layer contemporaneous (or nearly so) with the attributed statements it discusses, and often modifies? Is it much later? Recent scholarship, especially that of David Weiss Halivni and Shamma Friedman and their students, argues forcefully in favor of the latter. But there remain passages that seem to support the former. The latter position revolutionizes the way we understand how the Babylonian Talmud “speaks,” and raises an urgent set of historical questions: If the anonymous layer is later, when and why does it emerge? When did it end? In short, when was there a Babylonian Talmud? Such questions were rarely of concern to the most traditional of Jews, those who, since the middle of the nineteenth century, have come to be called Orthodox. This is especially true of those who came out of the Eastern European “yeshivah world.” While methodologically innovative in their analytical approach to the text, they were untroubled by the historical questions that engaged the academics. Perhaps the most important exception was Yitzchak Isaac Halevy (Rabinowitz; 1847–1914), a youthful prodigy who came to study at the famed Volozhin yeshiva at the age of 13, going on to become a member of the staff there. He eventually found his way to Germany and there took on a massive project to write the history of the rabbinic tradition, designed, among other things, to rebut theories of scholars like Nachman Krochmal, Heinrich Graetz, and Isaac Hirsch Weiss that were anathema to the Orthodox community. Because his work was generally treated as little more than Orthodox apologetics, Halevy’s influence on academic scholarship has been minimal. To the extent that historians of modern European Jewish life attended to him at all, it was generally to focus on his role in establishing the important Agudath Israel, an international organization created to advance the cause of Orthodox Judaism. It is the signal contribution of Ari Bergmann to demand that the academic community take another look. While one cannot deny the strong apologetic ten- dencies in Halevy’s opus (and he doesn’t), Bergmann shows that Halevy’snarra- tion of the emergence of the Babylonian Talmud – flawed though it is – must be taken seriously, not only as an important Orthodox stake in the ground, but also as “one of the most elaborate and detailed accounts ever written on this topic.” Bergmann, a student of Halivni, painstakingly reconstructs Halevy’s arguments, evaluates their strengths and weaknesses, situates them in their historical and political contexts, and provides his reader with a deeper understanding of the recondite nature of the whole question. The Babylonian Talmud stubbornly holds on to some of its mysteries, but the reader of Bergmann’sworkwillcome Foreword XI away with a new understanding of the current state of the question, as well as the role that ideology and politics have played in the development of the discussion. For that Bergmann has earned our gratitude. – Jay M. Harris, Harvard University Acknowledgments This book is the result of an exhilarating journey on which I encountered, and benefitted from the contributions of, many extraordinary people. It would not have reached its destination if not for the guidance, encouragement, feedback, and advice of so many outstanding mentors, colleagues, and friends. First and foremost, I was very fortunate to have David Weiss Halivni as my guide and mentor. I still remember the first day I attended his class, Critical Formation of Talmudic Texts, at Columbia University; it was then that I realized I had found a new teacher and guide. Over the years, Professor Halivni has been a constant source of inspiration and guidance, as a scholar and teacher and also as a mentsch. His unparalleled breadth of knowledge and mastery of all of rabbinic literature, as well as his keen literary insights, are generously shared with any student or colleague who seeks his wisdom. He has been a great influence on my life and my thinking. This book is the direct outcome of his advice, teaching, and guidance. This book also has greatly benefited from the wisdom and generosity of many colleagues and friends who were kind enough to lend me their vast knowledge and to illuminate many places where my own vision and understanding failed. Special among them is Aaron Amit, a friend and guide, whose insightful questions, comments, and edits throughout the entire process have vastly im- proved my work. His dedication and commitment knew no bounds. This book would not have been the same without his invaluable input. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Asaf Yedidya, who reviewed the areas of the manuscript dealing with scholarship on nineteenth- and twentieth-century eastern European Jewry and provided insightful comments and suggestions.

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