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The Transmission of the Talmud and the Computer Age 145 The Transmission THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD is a direct of the Talmud and outgrowth of the ancient oral Torah of pharisaic and rabbinic Judaism. We will address the explora- tion of modern technology and the dissemination the Computer Age of the Talmud in the twenty-first century upon the background of the oral Torah, its ultimate reduc- by SHAMMA FRIEDMAN tion to writing, and the various stages of the trans- mission of the Talmud text. The Sinaitic revelation culminated in a covenant whose conditions and bylaws engraved in stone were intended for deposit in this form.1 In addition, explicit divine instructions call for the recording of specific covenantal obligations and encompassing documentation.2 Joshua recorded an exemplar of the Mosaic Torah in public monumental form on stone.3 According to rabbinic tradition this text encompassed the entire Pentateuch, 1. On “deposit” as a form of with translation into seventy languages.4 Throughout the biblical saga, important publication, see S. Lieberman, Hellenism in Jewish Palestine texts and information are recorded in writing. Jeremiah employed a professional (New York 1962), p. 86. scribe, Barukh ben Neriah, in order to record his prophecy. 2. Exodus 17:14, Deutero- After the Babylonian exile, Ezra used the written text of the Torah for renewed nomy 6:9, 11:20, 32:22–26. 3. Joshua 8:32. See Deuter- inquiry into the contents of the commandments and to expand their detailed onomy 27:3. This method of 5 elucidation. The inquiry, elucidation, and midrashic expansion were certainly per- publication is reminiscent of formed orally, and eventually the oral, non-written character became a base norm Hammurabi’s stele. The fine of rabbinic lore. One cannot say with certainty when the formal ban against writing execution and large amount of text there should dispel was laid down. In the post-biblical period, however, written composition by Jews in the concern that only a small both Hebrew and Greek continued unabated, and we can assume that appropriate amount of text can be pre- means for the reproduction and dissemination of these works existed. The Penta- sented in this manner (see Naòmanides to Deut. ibid.; teuch was translated into Greek in about 250 b.c.e. The Book of Ben Sira and other Kaufmann to Joshua ibid.). works whose remains were to become “Apocrypha,” took form in writing. 4. Mishnah Sotah 7:5; Tosefta At Qumran, book production was a well-developed pastime, if not an obses- Sotah 8:6–7. 5. Neòemiah 8:7–8. sion. A plethora of genres were represented, including what we would today call 6. And acceptance as such in halakhah. Even the proto-rabbinic work, Megillat Taanit (Scroll of Fasting), was rabbinic literature. See Rashi composed during the Second Temple period and was transmitted in writing. Its very Shabbat 13b s.v. megillat; title containing the word “scroll,” thusly referred to in the Mishnah, testifies to its Eruvin 62b, s.v. kegon; cf. V. Noam, Megillat Taanit (Jeru- 6 written form. salem, 2003), p. 22. However, in tannaitic sources we learn that the recording of post-biblical sacred 7. Tosefta Shabbat 13:4. Did -are as this refer to a sort of proto (ברכות) ’literature in writing was prohibited. “Those who write ‘blessings type prayerbook? “Blessings,” those who burn the Torah.” R. Yishmael once went to inspect a person suspected although they contain God’s of writing down ‘blessings.’ The person threw the copy in a basin of water when he name and many matters from heard him coming, to which R. Yishmael remarked, “The punishment for the latter the Torah, are not to be res- 7 cued from a burning house on act is greater than for the former.” the Sabbath (ibid). 15Talmud.Friedman.indd 143 6/2/05 4:02:51 PM 144 printing the talmud: from bomberg to schottenstein 8. See E.E. Urbach, The Written translations of the Bible were banned. When found they were confiscated Sages (Jerusalem, 1979), p. and removed from circulation. 410, who saw the mention of a translation of Job in the R. Yose said: R. Óalafta once went to visit Rabban Gamliel in Tiberias Rabban Gamliel the Elder and found him sitting at the table of Yoòanan ben ha-Nazif with a account as indeterminate as to whether it was Aramaic or targum [Aramaic translation] of the book of Job in his hand, read- Greek. However, the word ing it. R. Óalafta said to him: “I remember that Rabban Gamliel the targum is a technical term Elder, your paternal grandfather, was sitting on a step on the Temple for Aramaic: “[Bible texts] Mount and they brought before him a targum of the book of Job, and written in targum or any lan- he instructed the builder to seal it in the wall.” At that moment [hear- guage are rescued (from a fire on Sabbath) but sealed from ing this], Rabban Gamliel (the grandson) sent [his attendant] and had distribution” (Tosefta ibid.). it sealed o√. R. Yose ben R. Yehuda said [concerning the builder]: he The reference is to translation overturned a vat of cement upon it. of any part of the Bible (see Friedman, “The Primacy of The prohibition of a written translation was softened in the interval between Tosefta in Mishnah-Tosefta grandfather and grandson. The latter was relishing the opportunity of reading an ״ Parallels—Shabbat 16:1 8 9 Hebrew), Aramaic translation of the most di¥cult book in the Bible in relative privacy when) ״כל כתבי הקדש" Tarbiz 62 (1993), p. 318) he was called to order by a report that his grandfather prohibited its use.10 and not just Ketuvim (as R. The above-quoted Tosefta (“Those who write ‘blessings’ are as those who burn Weiss, The Aramaic Targum of Job (Tel Aviv, 1979), p. 4; the Torah”) forms the basis of the statement in Bavli Temurah in the name of cf. Rashi Shabbat 115a s.v. Rabbi Yoòanan: “Those who write halakhot are as those who burn the Torah.” R. itmar; teunim). Yehoshua ben Levi said, “Aggadah, whoever writes it down has no portion [in the 9. In the home of Yoòanan world to come], whoever expounds it [from a written text]11 is burnt, and whoever ha-Nazuf (“the rebuked”), hears it [from him] receives no reward.” Nonetheless, the same R. Yehoshua ben ",לחקר השמות והכנוים“ ,S. Klein Leshonenu 2 (1928), p. 338. Levi said, “In all my days I never looked at a Perhaps he was rebuked for holding a library. book of aggadah except once, and I found written 10. Ostensibly due to the prohibition to write it down, cf. Lieber- 12 man, Tosefta ki-Feshutah, 3 (Jerusalem, 1955), p. 203, n. 6. Urbach there. .” (see n. 8 above) claimed that the objection was to translation itself The prayerbook, the Targum, and the agga- of Job, even oral, or to Rabban Gamliel’s dissatisfaction with the dah were available in written form as the above particular translator’s method (p. 410). However, the context in the Tosefta relates it to a prohibition of all written Bible translation (see indicates. O¥cially banned, their use may have n. 9 above). been on the increase, a type of gradual accep- 11. See Lieberman, Ha-Yerushalmi ki-Feshuto (Jerusalem, 1935), p. tance. Sifra, the halakhic midrash to Leviticus, 194. was reduced to writing (at least in Babylonia) 12. Yerushalmi Shabbat 16:1, 15c. early enough to influence the terminology used 13. S. Naeh, “The Structure and Division of Torat Kohanim,” Tarbiz 13 66 (1997), see p. 504 and n. 93. On the Babylonian nature of the R. for its divisions and structure. Reading Mish- Shimon b’Rabbi account (“two thirds of a third”) in Bavli Kiddushin nah by candle light was apparently one of the 33a, see Friedman, “Historical Aggadah in the Babylonian Talmud” themes introduced in the later version of Avot de- (Hebrew), Saul Lieberman Memorial Volume (Jerusalem and New 14 York, 1993), p. 143. Rabbi Nathan. O¥cially, however, the written 14. Friedman, “A Good Story Deserves Retelling—The Unfolding of form was never granted full acceptance, for the the Akiva Legend,” JSIJ 3 (2004), p. 29, n. 95. http://www.biu.ac.il/ oral quality of the traditions and the abhorrence JS/JSIJ/3-2004/Friedman.pdf. of granting them written form were deeply rooted 15. See J.M. Baumgarten, Studies in Qumran Law (Leiden, 1977), 15 pp. 18–21. in the history of pharisaic Judaism. 15Talmud.Friedman.indd 144 6/2/05 4:02:52 PM the transmission of the talmud and the computer age 145 The Qumran/pharisaic contrast must be understood on several levels. In Qumran 16. See the report brought the works are written down from the time of their original composition by anony- to R. Eliezer of the debate in Yavneh, where decisions and mous authors, copied in scriptoria and deposited in o¥cial collections. Among argumentation are given by the pharisees, composition as such rarely exists. The traditions emanate from live count (Tosefta Yadaim 2:16). and complex interaction of a social class of sages and their disciples. They are pro- 17. Mishnah Yadain 4:5. See Friedman, “The Holy Scrip- duced and transmitted orally, as small discrete units of teachings and dialectical tures Defile the Hands—the 16 discourse. If they reach the stage of composition, it is only after a long process Transformation of a Biblical that somehow arrives at a structure and closure, converting them into a literary Concept in Rabbinic Theol- ogy,” : “work.” This reality of practice is matched by ideology. Canonization of scripture Minòah le-Naòum Biblical and Other Studies was equivalent to assigning the physical scroll, in its o¥cial parchment and ink Presented to Nahum Sarna makeup, a ritual status.17 The proto-masoretic text is fixed on a word-by-word, even in Honour of his 70th Birth- letter-by-letter basis.
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