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1 Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Faculty Of BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LITERATURES AND LINGUISTICS NATURE, SOCIETY AND SELF: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE RABBAH BAR BAR HANNAH TALES THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS REBECCA ROSE GLUECK UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROFESSOR GERDA ELATA-ALSTER UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROFESSOR MARK GELBER _____________________ FEBRUARY 2007 1 BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LITERATURES AND LINGUISTICS NATURE, SOCIETY AND SELF: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE RABBAH BAR BAR HANNAH TALES THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS REBECCA ROSE GLUECK UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROFESSOR GERDA ELATA-ALSTER UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROFESSOR MARK GELBER Signature of student: _______________________ Date: _____________ Signature of supervisor: _______________________ Date: _____________ Signature of supervisor: _______________________ Date: _____________ Signature of chairperson of the committee for graduate studies: _______________________ Date: _____________ FEBRUARY 2007 2 NATURE, SOCIETY AND SELF: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE RABBAH BAR BAR HANNAH TALES ABSTRACT: The Babylonian Talmud ( Bava Batra 73 a-b) recounts the tales of Rabbah Bar Bar Hannah, (3 rd century Amora who lived in Babylon and the Land of Israel). The enigmatic tales tell of incredible voyages and immense creatures. They are remarkable for their extreme hyperbole, and are often categorized as folktales or allegories. Based upon a gaonic tradition, I propose that the first ten tales are records of visionary and dream-like experiences, in which Rabbah confronts the mystery of Nature. Rabbah's vision quest may conflict with the prevalent Torah-centered viewpoint of the sages, which holds that Nature is just a reflection of Torah. I believe that Rabbah's tales present a myth-like view of Nature in which all beings share a sense of unity, and experience becomes an undifferentiated flow like the ocean's currents . Nature gives rise to symbols expressing concepts of the self, of social organization and of world-views. I propose that the tales present a vision of a society of individuated selves, living with Nature, in harmony with an evolutionary process, and not locked into a single world view. Rabbah may have been deeply troubled by the rift between Jewry in the Land of Israel and in Babylon, which developed at the outset of the Amoraic age. The desire to heal this rift finds expression in the tales. I am inspired by Freud's associative method of dream interpretation and employ a Freudian orientation in the interpretation of these tales. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is the result of many years of intellectual growth and maturation. My university education has extended over some seventeen years. During this time, through the ups and downs, the joys and the despair, my mentor, Professor Gerda Elata-Alster with her wealth of knowledge and depth of insight, has been my guide and my support with her calmness of spirit and ever present smile. She has my gratitude and I thank her with all my heart. Throughout this period, Professor Efraim Sicher has always been there to guide, inform and expand my thoughts. He always encouraged me when I lost hope. He has my thanks and sincerest appreciation for his invaluable help. I deeply enjoyed my years at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, where the faculty of the Department of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics taught and broadened my horizons beyond anything I had ever imagined. Each of my teachers has left an indelible impression on me, most notably Professor Mark Gelber, Dr. Chanita Goodblatt and Professor Yishai Tobin. They have my thanks and appreciation. I owe a special debt of gratitude to the department secretary, Suzanne Ganot, who has always been there for me with endless patience and her undefeatable smile. Her knowledge of departmental procedure and her willingness to go that extra mile helped me achieve my goals. In addition, I thankfully acknowledge the guidance provided by Professor Mayer Gruber, of the Department of Bible, Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, who introduced me to the fascinating realm of Talmudic Manuscripts and text critical analysis. I thank my parents, in-laws and children for their love, encouragement and continuous support and for being so understanding and patient with me, especially when things became difficult. Lastly, I thank my husband Rabbi Dr. Nathan Glick for his vital assistance in researching and translating the Talmudic texts. His uncanny ability to pull a volume off the shelf and open it to exactly the reference I need, has always amazed me. Nate, you are truly one of the greatest blessings G-d has gifted me. My love for you and my thanks, go beyond mere words. Above all, I give thanks to the Creator, for having brought me to this point in time. May it be Your will that Your Name be sanctified through me. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER TITLE PAGE Abstract 3 Acknowledgements 4 Table of Contents 5 Introduction 9 ONE: The Tales and Their Context 1-1. Overview 13 1-2. The Tales' Place in the Talmudic Discourse 14 1-3. The Water Tales and the Desert Tales 15 1-4. Rabbah Bar Hannah and Rabbah Bar Bar Hannah: Father and Son 17 1-5. The Travel Tales 20 1-6. Nature and Torah 23 1-7. Summary 24 TWO: The Tales: Testimony, Allegory or Folk Tales? 2-1. Overview 25 2-2. Testimony, Allegory or Empty Words? 25 2-3. The Tales as Folk Tales 29 2-4. Narrators: Religious and Secular 31 2-5. Parallels in the Literature of Antiquity 32 2-6. Sea, Earth and Heaven in Rabbinic Thought 35 2-7. Summary 36 THREE: The Tales as Visions 3-1. Overview 37 3-2. Ritba and the Geonic Tradition 38 3-3. Dreams and the Freudian Connection 39 3-4. Dreams as Emerging Self Concepts 42 3-5. Major Motifs of the Tales 48 5 3-6. Summary 54 FOUR: The Lives of Rabbah Bar Hannah and Rabbah Bar Bar Hannah: An Imaginative Reconstruction 4-1. Overview 55 4-2. Rabbah Bar Hannah and Rav in The Land of Israel 56 4-3. Rabbah Bar Hannah and Rav in Babylon 57 4-4. The Suppression of Rabbah Bar Hannah 60 4-5. Rabbah Bar Hannah and the Break with the Land of Israel 61 4-6. Rabbah Bar Bar Hannah in the Land of Israel 63 4-7. Rabbah Bar Bar Hannah in Babylon 66 4-8. Summary 68 FIVE: The Tales and Their Interpretations 5-1. Overview and Preliminary Comments 69 5-2. The Tales' Context 70 5-3. Tale W-1 74 5-3a. Textual Issues 74 5-3b. W-1: Fact or Vision? 75 5-3c. A Factual Apparition 76 5-3d. The Evil Omen 76 5-3e. Summary 78 5-4. Tale W-2 78 5-4a. Textual Issues 79 5-4b. Dividing Between Vision and Reality 82 5-4c. Babylonian Jewry, Waves and Ziggurats 83 5-4d. The Problems with Visions is that… 84 5-4e. The Wave, the Star, the Double and the Ideal 85 5-4f. Fire, Urination and the Origins of Society 86 5-4g. Rabbah Bar Hannah's Criticism of the Split 88 5-4h. The Dry Land and Mustard Seed 89 6 5-4i. W-1 and W-2, or is it W-2 and W-1? 91 5-4j. Summary 91 5-5. Tale W-3 92 5-5a. Textual Issues 93 5-5b. Rabbah Bar Hannah and the Acrobat 94 5-5c. The Demon of Light and Darkness 95 5-5d. The Trickster's Skill 96 5-5e. That Fateful Day 97 5-5f. Summary 99 5-6. Tale W-4 100 5-6a. Textual Issues 101 5-6b. Arrogant or Misunderstood? 102 5-6c. Fawn: Son of the Gazelle 103 5-6d. Waste and the Temple 104 5-6e. The Temple and Individuation 105 5-6f. A Happy Ending? 107 5-6g. Summary 107 5-7. Tale W-5 108 5-8. Tale W-6 110 5-9. Tale W-7 115 5-10. Tale W-8 117 5-11. Tale W-9 120 5-12. Tale W-10 122 5-13. Conclusions: Chronological Order 125 5-14. Conclusions: Thematic Order 126 5-15. Brief Summary of the Tales' Thematic Progression 127 5-16. The Influence of the Tales on Subsequent Jewish History 127 7 Notes Introduction 129 Chapter One: The Tales and Their Context 131 Chapter Two: The Tales: Testimony, Allegory or Folk Tales? 133 Chapter Three: The Tales as Visions 136 Chapter Four: The Lives of Rabbah Bar Hannah and Rabbah Bar Bar Hannah: An Imaginative Reconstruction 138 Chapter Five: The Tales and Their Interpretations 140 Works Cited Bibliographic, Internet and Lecture Sources 148 Hebrew Acknowledgements 155 Hebrew Abstract 156 Hebrew Cover Pages 157 8 Introduction In the Babylonian Talmud ( Bava Batra 73 a-b) 1 we find a legal discussion concerning the buying and selling of a ship. As the rabbis discuss the laws concerning this purchase, the dialogue is interrupted by the tales of Rabbah Bar Bar Hannah, hereby referred to as RBBH, (3 rd century Amora who lives both in Babylon and the Land of Israel). These tales tell of voyages across vast oceans and encounters with huge sea creatures. They tell of sighting gigantic antelope, snakes, fish, birds and frogs, and they recount incredible experiences of huge talking waves and bright sparks of light, of traveling at great speeds and traversing immense distances. They tell of the meeting of heaven and earth and of reaching the stars.
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