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Proquest Dissertations Listing and Enlisting: The Rhetoric and Social Meaning of Tractate Avot Daniel Bernard A thesis in The Department of Religion Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Religion) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada September 2008 © Daniel Bernard, 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-45718-4 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-45718-4 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. •*• Canada iii ABSTRACT Listing and Enlisting: The Rhetoric and Social Meaning of Tractate Avot Daniel Bernard, Ph.D. Concordia University, 2008 The Mishnah's tractate Avot (c. 250-300 CE) is very popular in the Jewish tradition, however its origins, as well as its intended purpose, have yet to be specifically identified. Using a "socio-rhetorical" approach, this study aims to relocate the social context for the composition of Avot. The study begins by analyzing Avot's rhetoric, focusing especially on its rhetoric of "listing," demonstrating that the document's structure is determined by its authors' use of listed or list-like language. This language is observed to be arranged in a transitional manner, moving the reader from the authors' listing of sages—who themselves are shown to favour the use of list-like speech—into, finally, exercises in listing. Following a comparison of Avot with Mishnah and other Greco-Roman literature, the conclusion emerges that Avot's progressive structure is meant to mirror a social transition between the status of a (non-rabbinic) Jewish scribe, to that of a disciple within the nascent rabbinic guild. Avot was created in order to facilitate the recruitment and initial training of rabbinic neophytes. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The following is a study of the Mishnah's tractate Avot, and of how it was used within its original school setting as a sort of textbook for rabbinic students. Avot's authors recognized the vital importance of friends, associates, families, mentors, teachers, patrons, and schools in the student's path towards wisdom, and so, too, must I. My first and greatest thanks must go to my parents, Natalie and Sonny Bernard. If not for their staggering love, support, and generosity, I have no doubt that I could not have completed this work. My sincerest thanks also go to Michelle Aiello, Sandra Chirico, Dr. Maria Mamfredis, and Fr. James Halstead for their early belief in my potential. Third, I would like to express my appreciation for the significant support provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, Concordia University, the family of Romek Hornstein, Abe and Harriet Gold, and the Concordia University Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies. Finally, I am privileged to thank the faculty and staff at Concordia University, who have always represented enthusiastic and invaluable resources to me, as well as valued colleagues. To Dr. Jack Lightstone, who taught my very first university course in ancient Judaism, I am grateful for his steadfast encouragement of my abilities as a scholar. I would also like to thank Dr. Lynda Clarke, Dr. Leslie Orr, and Patricia Verret; and my committee members, Dr. Adele Reinhartz, Dr. Lionel Sanders, Dr. Norma Baumel Joseph, Dr. Ira Robinson, and Dr. Christine Jamieson. I reserve my final thanks for the infinitely patient and sympathetic Tina Montandon and Munit Merid, who never failed to remind me of that final piece of wisdom in Avot: KIJK tnpr D13? ("According to the effort is the reward" [Avot 5:23]). V DEDICATION I dedicate this monograph to the memories of my Bubbies Ann and Bella, both of whom passed away during the writing process. nyi? ?3 yiT1 "O 1? nwyx nD«n "WN ?3 nx ?T[ TW» ^ ^y (Ruth 3:11). Daniel Bernard, Ph.D. September 2008 VI TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES vii I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. Background: Third Century Galilee and the Early Rabbinic Movement 2 1.2. Problem: The Received View on Avot 18 1.3. Critical Studies of Avot 31 1.3.a. Jacob Neusner 33 1.3.b. Anthony J. Saldarini 37 1.4. Methodology and Conceptual Framework: Socio-Rhetorical Interpretation 39 1.5. Anticipation of Conclusions, Procedure and Structure 45 II. RHETORICAL ANALYSIS: LISTING IN AVOT 47 ILL Object and Procedure of Analysis 52 11.2. Isolating, Analyzing, and Interpreting Avot's List-Making Rhetorics 54 II.2.a. The Listing of Sages 58 II.2.b. The Explicit and Implicit Listing of Items, Clauses or Phrases 67 11.3. Conclusions 80 III. SOCIO-CULTURAL INTERPRETATION: ENLISTING AS A RABBINIC DISCIPLE 84 III. I. Topical Content and Non-Listing Dependent Rhetoric in Avot 86 111.2. Avot as a Recruitment and Training Text for Rabbinic Neophytes 94 111.3. Social Transition and Liminality in the Context of the Greco-Roman World 99 111.4. Avot's Intersection with Mishnah 103 111.4.a. Joining Guilds in the Greco-Roman World Ill III. 5. Avot's Intersection with Wisdom and Philosophical Literature 117 III.5.a. Joining Schools in the Greco-Roman World 130 111.6. Avot's Function within the Setting of the Third Century Rabbinic School 133 111.7. Conclusions 141 IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUDING REMARKS 152 IV. 1. Summary 152 IV.2. Concluding Remarks 156 NOTES 162 REFERENCES 195 APPENDIX 206 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Avot's "Other Content" 57 Figure 2: Progression of Avot's Rhetorics of Sage-Listing 65 Figure 3: Distribution of Avot's Listing of Items, Clauses, or Phrases 78 Figure 4: Key Topics in Avot 88-90 Figure 5: Chiastic Structure of Avot 92 Figure 6: The Social Boundaries of the Early Rabbinic Guild (As Implied by Avot).... 149 1 I. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this monograph is to recover something of the context for the creation of the Mishnah's1 tractate "Avot" (max, "Fathers"; c. 250-300 C.E.)2, by understanding its rhetoric as appropriate to a specific type of social situation. Avot has probably been the most familiar of all early rabbinic texts amongst Jews for hundreds of years, uniquely entrenched as it is in the Jewish prayer book (Siddur), and available in countless popularly translated and interpreted editions. This brief document has been a popular subject for Jewish thinkers for centuries, read as much as an historical record of early rabbinism as it has been as an ethical guide or philosophical treatise. Yet despite its popularity and its concomitant emphasis in faith-based studies of rabbinic texts, contemporary critical studies of early rabbinic Judaism have tended to focus somewhat less on Avot than they have on other texts such as the Mishnah or Talmuds. Although Avot is one of the most popular rabbinic texts within the Jewish tradition, it is also generally misunderstood or misused as evidence of the early rabbinic movement. The publishing of only rare, brief, or perfunctory critical studies of what is such a widely known rabbinic text as Avot has resulted in a relative scholarly ignorance of that text and of its place within a definable, original circumstance. Therefore scholars who would normally take care to understand a text based in criteria appropriate to the contemporary study of history are left, in the case of Avot, too often to rely on biased assumptions appropriate to and derived from traditional Jewish understandings of the text. We have very little material or external corroborating evidence about the early rabbinic movement. Consequently, contemporary students of this period are generally left 2 to focus on the more abundant internal textual evidence (from the Mishnah to the Talmuds) that the early rabbis left us. In the absence of a more concrete understanding of the character of early rabbinic Judaism, Avot in particular has commonly been interpreted according to its perceived value as, at best, a collection of earlier strata of redaction, from which the scholar can prune earlier sources. But this study will argue that to regard Avot as useful historical evidence it must be first taken seriously as a whole document authored with some kind of function or persuasive agenda.
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