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Ruah Ha-Kodesh in Rabbinic Literature The Dissertation Committee for Julie Hilton Danan Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: THE DIVINE VOICE IN SCRIPTURE: RUAH HA-KODESH IN RABBINIC LITERATURE Committee: Harold A. Liebowitz , Supervisor Aaron Bar -Adon Esther L. Raizen Abraham Zilkha Krist en H. Lindbeck The Divine Voice in Scripture: Ruah ha-Kodesh in Rabbinic Literature by Julie Hilton Danan, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May, 2009 Dedication To my husband, Avraham Raphael Danan Acknowledgements Thank you to the University of Texas at Austin Graduate School, the Middle Eastern Studies Department, and particularly to the Hebrew Studies faculty for their abundant support over my years of study in graduate school. I am especially grateful to the readers of my dissertation for many invaluable suggestions and many helpful critiques. My advisor, Professor Harold Liebowitz, has been my guide, my mentor, and my academic role model throughout the graduate school journey. He exemplifies the spirit of patience, thoughtful listening, and a true love of learning. Many thanks go to my readers, professors Esther Raizen, Avraham Zilkha, Aaron Bar-Adon, and Kristen Lindbeck (of Florida Atlantic University), each of whom has been my esteemed teacher and shared his or her special area of expertise with me. Thank you to Graduate Advisor Samer Ali and the staff of Middle Eastern Studies, especially Kimberly Dahl and Beverly Benham, for their encouragement and assistance. Thank you to my colleagues at California State University, Chico, particularly to Andrea Lerner and Sam Edelman for leading me in independent studies. Jed Wyrick, chairperson of Religious Studies was especially generous with his time, providing guidance in both research and organization. Thanks also go to the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where I did part of my coursework, especially to professors Mark Allen Powell, Joseph Boenzi, and Rabbi Benay Lappe. Thanks to my administrative assistant, Liz Bohn, for her help. I am very grateful to Rabbi Dr. Judith Abrams for all that I gained through private tutorials in Talmud and Rabbinic Literature. Rabbis Louis Reiser, Ruth Gan Kagan, and iv Dennis Beck-Berman shared helpful insights. Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi guided me to explore the significance of gender in my study of Ruah ha-Kodesh . Thank you to my children: Liora, Elisheva, Shira, Charles Haviv and Arielle, for your patience during many long hours in which I have been busy with my studies. Your own academic achievements show that the model has been a positive one. My late mother, Betty Hilton, of blessed memory, passed on while I was in candidacy. She always cheered and encouraged me, and together with my stepfather Joel Feinglass, helped make my studies possible by caring for my younger children when I commuted from San Antonio to Austin. Finally—aharon, aharon haviv —thank you to my husband, Avraham Danan, to whom this dissertation is lovingly dedicated. Without your continual encouragement and support, I would have given up long ago. Whatever I have accomplished is yours as well. v The Divine Voice in Scripture: Ruah ha-Kodesh in Rabbinic Literature Publication No._____________ Julie Hilton Danan, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2009 Supervisor: Harold Liebowitz Abstract The “Holy Spirit” is a familiar concept in Christianity, but in its original Hebrew construction as Ruah ha-Kodesh , it also plays an active role in classical Rabbinic literature. This dissertation surveys uses of the term Ruah ha-Kodesh in major texts from the Tannaitic period through the Aggadic Midrash and the two Talmuds. Drawing on Scriptural roots, the Rabbis identify Ruah ha-Kodesh as the divinely given power that enables individuals to prophesy. While the term never loses this biblical meaning, the Rabbis take Ruah ha-Kodesh further by personifying it as a metonym for God, and more specifically, as “the divine voice in Scripture.” This dissertation first surveys the historical background of the term in pre- Rabbinic ancient Judaism, and then turns to a detailed textual analysis of its uses as both vi prophecy and personification in Rabbinic literature. The study notes and examines conventional and formulaic terms associated with Ruah ha-Kodesh . Four major Ruah ha- Kodesh traditions are analyzed in depth over the course of their diachronic development. There are numerous Rabbinic sources that claim that Ruah ha-Kodesh has ended, yet others offer advice on how to achieve it or indicate its existence in the Rabbinic present. The solution to this paradox is that Ruah ha-Kodesh has not gone, but changed. Even as Ruah ha-Kodesh is said to have departed from Israel in her role of inspiring the prophets, she continues to speak actively as part of the ongoing Midrashic dialogue with the Sages. The final chapter examines Ruah ha-Kodesh as a metonym for God, particularly as it contrasts and interacts with other divine metonyms of feminine grammatical gender: the Shekhinah and the Bat Kol. The Shekhinah and Ruah ha-Kodesh are frequently identified, but not identical. The changing role of Ruah ha-Kodesh exemplifies a shift in the locus of divine communication, from prophecy to the Midrashic study of Torah. vii Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 1 The Purpose of This Study .......................................................................................1 Technical Notes ..............................................................................................2 Translations ............................................................................................2 Transliterations ......................................................................................3 The Textual Evidence: What is Rabbinic Literature? ..............................................4 Halakhic Midrashim........................................................................................6 The Mekhiltot.........................................................................................7 Sifra, Sifre Numbers, Sifre Deuteronomy..............................................9 Talmudic Literature ........................................................................................9 Mishnah, Tosefta and Beraitot ...............................................................9 The Talmuds of the Land of Israel and Babylonia ..............................11 Aggadic Midrashim (Midrash Aggadah) ......................................................12 A Note on the terms “Midrash” and “Aggadah” ..........................................14 The Historic study of Midrash and Aggadah ................................................16 Literature Review: Previous Studies on Ruah ha-Kodesh in Rabbinic Literature.22 Chapter 1: Methodology: How I Approach the Textual Evidence ........................46 Literary Studies of Midrash and Aggadah ....................................................46 Specific Literary Methodologies to Be Used in this Dissertation........48 Form Criticism ............................................................................49 Tradition History .........................................................................51 Oral-Formulaic Studies ...............................................................54 Intertextuality ..............................................................................63 An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Literary Study of Aggadah and Midrash .......................................................................................65 viii HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 68 Chapter 2: Pre-Rabbinic Literary References to Ruah ha-Kodesh .......................68 Ruah in the Bible ..........................................................................................69 Wind ………………………………………………………………… 71 Breath ...................................................................................................72 Spirit and Inspiration............................................................................73 Holy Spirit ............................................................................................76 Spirit in the Dead Sea Scrolls .......................................................................77 Hellenistic Jewish Literature.........................................................................82 The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha ............................................................87 The New Testament ......................................................................................93 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS 99 Chapter 3: Conventional and Formulaic Uses of the term .....................................99 Ruah ha-Kodesh in Rabbinic Literature ................................................................99 Ruah Ha-Kodesh as the Power of Prophecy ...............................................102 The “Ranking” of Ruah ha-Kodesh as Prophecy ...............................105 Common Uses of the term Ruah ha-Kodesh in Association with Prophecy107 Ruah ha-Kodesh “Resting” ................................................................107 “Resting” in the Mekhilta .........................................................108 “Resting” in Sifrei Deuteronomy ..............................................111 Other Common Uses of Ruah ha-Kodesh as Prophecy .....................111 “Sparks” of Prophecy in Aggadic Midrash ...............................111
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