Contradictions and Vile Utterances: the Zoroastrian Critique of Judaism in the Škand Gumānīg Wizār
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Contradictions and Vile Utterances: The Zoroastrian Critique of Judaism in the Škand Gumānīg Wizār By Samuel Frank Thrope A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Joint Doctor of Philosophy with the Graduate Theological Union in Jewish Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Martin Schwartz, Chair Professor Wali Ahmadi Professor Deena Aranoff Professor Daniel Boyarin Spring 2012 © Samuel Thrope, 2012 All rights reserved Abstract Contradictions and Vile Utterances: The Zoroastrian Critique of Judaism in the Škand Gumānīg Wizār by Samuel Frank Thrope Joint Doctor of Philosophy with the Graduate Theological Union in Jewish Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Professor Martin Schwartz, Chair My dissertation examines the critique of Judaism in Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen of the Škand Gumānīg Wizār. The Škand Gumānīg Wizār is a ninth century CE Zoroastrian theologi- cal work that contains polemics against Islam, Christianity, and Manichaeism, as well as Ju- daism. The chapters on Judasim include citations of a Jewish sacred text referred to as the "First Scripture" and critiques of these citations for their contradictory and illogical portrayals of the divine. This dissertation comprises two parts. The first part consists of an introductory chapter, four interpretative essays, and a conclusion. The second part consists of a text and new English translation of Škand Gumānīg Wizār Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen. My first essay presents a new approach to the relation between the citations from the First Scripture in the Škand Gumānīg Wizār and Jewish literature. Previous scholars have tried to identify a single parallel text in the Hebrew Bible or rabbinic literature as the origin for each of citation. Borrowing approaches developed by scholars of the Qurʾān and early Islamic litera- ture, I argue that the Škand Gumānīg Wizār's critique draws on a more diverse and, likely, oral network of traditions about the biblical patriarchs and prophets. My second essay contains a close reading of three linked passages concerning angels in Škand Gumānīg Wizār Chapter Fourteen. I argue that the depiction of angels in these passages re- sponds to a widespread Jewish belief in Metatron, an angelic co-regent whose power equals God's,. This essay analyzes the these angelic passages in light of the traces of this belief that can be found in the Babylonian Talmud, Jewish mystical literature, and other texts. My third essay concerns one of the longest citations in the critique of Judaism, a version of the story of the Garden of Eden from the first three chapters of the Book of Genesis. This essay - 1 - demonstrates that this citation is one of a motif of connected and mutually illuminating garden passages found throughout the apologetic and polemical chapters of the Škand Gumānīg Wiz- ār. I argue that gardens' prominence in the critique of Judaism, and the Škand Gumānīg Wizār as a whole, derives from gardens' symbolic role in Iranian culture. My final essay compares the critique of Judaism in the Škand Gumānīg Wizār to a Zoroastrian anti-Jewish text from another Middle Persian work, the Dēnkard. Whereas the earlier Dēnkard depicts Judaism mythically, relating the story of Judaism's creation by an evil demon, the Škand Gumānīg Wizār depicts Judaism textually, as citations from the First Scripture. I argue that the Škand Gumānīg Wizār's presentation of Judaism as a text is an interpretative key for understanding the Zoroastrian work as a whole. - 2 - Table of Contents Acknowledgements ii Abbreviations iii Chapter One: Methods and Approaches 1 Chapter Two: The Genealogy of Abraham 31 Chapter Three: Unnecessary Angels 57 Chapter Four: The Garden as Motif 77 Chapter Five: Creating Judaism 107 Chapter Six: Conclusion 126 Bibliography 131 Appendix One: Text and Translation of Škand Gumānīg Wizār Chapters Thirteen 151 and Fourteen Appendix Two: Aṇgōšīdaa, Terminus Technicus? 175 Appendix Three: Manuscripts of the Škand Gumānīg Wizār 178 - i - Acknowledgements Over the course of writing this dissertation, I have benefitted from the support and guidance of individuals at three great institutions: the University of California, Berkeley; the Graduate Theological Union; and the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. In the Bay Area, I would like to thank the staff, faculty, and my fellow students in Jewish Studies and through- out the university, in particular G. R. F. Ferrari and the late David W. Johnson, S. J. In Jerusalem, I owe a special debt of gratitude to Domenico Agostini, Julia Rubanovich, Shai Secunda, David Shulman, and Shaul Shaked for their unflagging support of me and this project. Yaakov Elman of Yeshiva University helped me formulate the idea at the outset and read drafts of chapters early on and Richard Kalmin of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America read a draft of the entire dissertation in a late stage of preparation, as did Eli Stern of the Hebrew University; the work is better for their comments and suggestions. I spent January to May 2011 doing manuscript research in India. My hosts in Bombay and Navsari were unceasingly helpful in navigating their libraries and archives. I have a great debt of gratitude to the staff, librarians, and trustees of the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute, Bombay, in particular Muncherji N. M. Cama, Homai N. Modi, and Dr. Nawaz B. Mody; of the First Dastur Meherjirana Library in Navsari, Gujarat, especially the chief librar- ian Bharti Ghandi; and of the Bombay Parsi Punchayat. My special thanks go to Dastur Kaikhusroo M. JamaspAsa for allowing me access to his family's personal manuscript collec- tion housed at the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute in Bombay and to Ervad Parvez Bajan for helping me navigate that collection. Versions of the arguments in Chapter Two were presented at the ARAM Society Con- ference on Zoroastrianism in the Levant at Oxford in July of 2010; Chapter Three at the Irano-Judaica Conference at Jerusalem in October of 2010 and at the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute in February of 2011; Chapter Four at the Association of Jewish Studies Conference in Washington, DC in December of 2011; and Chapter Five at The 7th European Conference of Iranian Studies in Cracow in September of 2011. I thank the participants in these confer- ences for their questions and feedback, in particular Patricia Crone, Geoffery Hermann, Yishai Keil, Dan Sheffield, Michael Shenkar, Mihaela Timuş, and Arash Zeini. Galit Hasan- Rokem, Gershon Lewenthal, Jason Mokhtarian, Yosefa Raz, and Yuhan Vevaian read and commented on versions of the paper presentation that became Chapter Two. My committee at Cal, Wali Ahmadi, Daniel Boyarin, and Deena Aranoff, read the var- ious stages of this work with patience and a critical eye. Martin Schwartz, my dissertation chair, contributed his vast knowledge in Iranian and cognate fields as well as his mentshlikhkayt. The research and writing of this dissertation was made possible by the generous con- tributions of the Council on Library and Information Resources Mellon Foundation Fellow- ship for Dissertation Research in Original Sources (2010-2011), the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture's International Doctoral Scholarship for Studies Specializing in Jewish Fields (2011-2012), and a grant by the UC Berkeley Department of Jewish Studies (2011-2012). Finally, my thanks go to my fellow students Lena Salaymeh and Zvi Septimus, on whose advice, support, and wisdom I relied throughout the research and writing of this dis- sertation. You have been the best of friends and the best of study partners. - ii - Abbreviations Bavli, BT Babylonian Talmud ARN Avot de Rabbi Nathan BD Bundahišn CPD Concise Pahlavi Dictionary DD Dādestān ī Dēnīg DK Dēnkard DMMPP Dictionary of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian GR Ginza Rabbā PRDD Pahlavi Rivāyat Accompanying the Dādestān ī Dēnīg PRE Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer ŠGW Škand Gumānīg Wizār - iii - Chapter One: Methods and Approaches The Škand Gūmānīg Wizār (ŠGW) contains Zoroastrian literature's longest polemic against Judaism. This polemic, referred to in what follows as the critique of Judaism, is com- prised entirely of citations from a work the author refers to as the naxustīn niβǝ̄ , which can be translated as "the First Scripture" or "the First Book"; many of these citations are paralleled in Jewish sources. The scholarly attention that has been devoted to the two chapters on Judaism in the ŠGW has focused on the question of the origin of these citations. Scholars have been particularly interested in how and to what degree Mardānfarrox ī Ohrmazddādān, the otherwise unknown author of the ŠGW, was influenced by Jewish sources, especially the Bible and rabbinic literature. Building on this previous work, this dissertation will consider the critique of Judaism from a new perspective. While taking up the question of the citations' relation to potential sources, Jewish and otherwise, my focus will be on the connection between the critique of Judaism and the rest of the ŠGW. In this dissertation, I hope to demonstrate that the contents of the citations, Mardānfarrox's interpretations of them, and even the "Judaism" that is the object of the critique, are determined by the theological, ethi- cal, and literary priorities of the ŠGW, rather than by the requirements of an exterior source. In other words, I will argue that the critique of Judaism is an integral part of the ŠGW and not a set of citations transplanted from another text. The ŠGW and Pahlavi Literature The ŠGW is one of the texts written in Zoroastrian Middle Persian,1 also known as Zoroastrian Book Pahlavi, in the centuries after the fall of the Sasanian Empire (226-650 CE) to the invading Arab and Islamic forces.2 Much of Pahlavi literature consists of works finally redacted in the early Islamic period that preserve Sasanian and earlier traditions.