From Rebuke to Consolation Exegesis and Theology in the Liturgical Anthology of the Ninth Av Season ELSIE R. STERN FROM REBUKE TO CONSOLATION Program in Judaic Studies Brown University Box 1826 Providence, RI 02912 BROWN JUDAIC STUDIES Edited by David C. Jacobson Ross S. Kraemer Saul M. Olyan Michael L. Satlow Number 338 FROM REBUKE TO CONSOLATION Exegesis and Theology in the Liturgical Anthology of the Ninth of Av Season by Elsie R. Stern From Rebuke to Consolation Exegesis and Theology in the Liturgical Anthology of the Ninth of Av Season Elsie R. Stern Brown Judaic Studies Providence, Rhode Island FROM REBUKE TO CONSOLATION Exegesis and Theology in the Liturgical Anthology of the Ninth of Av Season By Elsie R. Stern Copyright © 2020 by Brown University Library of Congress Control Number: 2019953399 Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program. 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To my parents, Jack Stern and Priscilla Rudin Stern (z”l), with great love Contents Acknowledgements . ix Abbreviations . xi 1 • Introduction 1 Interaction of Non-Rabbinic and Rabbinic Culture in the Late Antique Palestinian Synagogue. 7 Synagogue and Beit Midrash: The Intended Audiences of Rabbinic Literature . 8 The Theology of the Tisha b’Av Season in the Context of Late Antique Palestine . 11 Exegesis and Theology in the Literature of the Tisha b’Av Season . 12 2 • The Tisha b’Av Lectionary Cycle 17 The Synagogue Bible and Popular Jewish Theology . 17 History of the Tisha b’Av Lectionary Cycle . 20 Lectionary Poetics. 24 Identification . 26 Selection . 27 Correspondence . 27 Arrangement . 28 Analysis of the Lectionary Cycle . 28 Lamentations . 28 Summary . 39 Haftarot of Rebuke and Consolation . 39 Haftarot of Rebuke . 41 vii Sin-Punishment-Restoration . 43 Measure-for-Measure Punishment . 44 Reliability of the Prophetic Word. 48 Summary . 50 Haftarot of Consolation . 51 Lamentations and the Haftarot of Consolation . 51 The Dialogic Structure . 58 The Dialogic Paradigm and the Theology of Intimacy . 60 Redemptive Nature of Divine Love. 69 Enactment of Divine Reconciliation. 72 From Grief to Consolation . 72 Exhortation and Efficacy . 73 The Theology of Consolation in the Context of the Synagogue . 74 Conclusion . 76 3 • Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 13 and 22 79 Sitz im Leben . 81 Poetics . 83 Individual Units. 83 Chapters . 84 Analysis . 87 Chapter 13 . 87 Unit 1 . 89 Units 9–11 . 91 Unit 10 . 94 Unit 15 . 96 Summary . 97 Chapter 22 . 97 Unit 1 . 98 Unit 2 . 101 Unit 3 . 104 Unit 4 . 104 Unit 5 . 105 Summary . 107 Theology of Consolation and the Culture of the Synagogue . 108 Conclusion . 110 4 • Eleazar Kallir’s Kedushtot for the Sabbaths of Consolation 113 Sitz im Leben . 114 Piyyut as Prayer . 116 viii Piyyut as Poetry . 118 Kedushtot for the Sabbaths of Consolation by Eleazar Kallir . 118 Rhyme . 120 Allusion . 121 Case Study 1: Magen for Kedushta to Shabbat Na§amu . 123 Rhyme Patterns . 128 Allusion. 130 Litany of Biblical Verses . 134 Relationship to the Kedushta as a Whole . 136 Summary . 136 Case Study 2: Magen and Me§ayeh to Shabbat Vatomar Tzion . 137 Rhyme Patterns . 142 Allusion. 144 Litany of Biblical Verses . 149 Relationship to the Kedushta as a Whole . 152 Summary . 153 Poetry, Prayer, and the Synagogue Context . 153 5 • Targum Jonathan’s Translation of the Haftarot of Consolation 155 Targumic Function and Exegesis . 157 Analysis of Targum Jonathan to Isaiah 40:1–23 . 159 The Romantic Trope: Isaiah 49:14–23; 50:1–3; 54:1–8; 62:1–5 . 163 Conclusion . 167 6 • Conclusion: The Literature of the Tisha b’Av Season 169 Text, Ritual, and Communal Experience . 171 The Propagation of Rabbinic Judaism in Late Antiquity . 174 Bibliography . 177 Index of Texts Cited . 195 General Index . 205 ix Publishers’ Preface rown Judaic Studies has been publishing scholarly books in all areas Bof Judaic studies for forty years. Our books, many of which contain groundbreaking scholarship, were typically printed in small runs and are not easily accessible outside of major research libraries. We are delighted that with the support of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Pro- gram, we are now able to make available, in digital, open-access, format, fifty titles from our backlist. The topic of early Jewish liturgy, piyyut, is now receiving renewed scholarly interest. Elsie R. Stern’s study, From Rebuke to Consolation: Exege- sis and Theology in the Liturgical Anthology of the Ninth of Av Season (2004), analyzes a series of piyyutim, throwing light on both the ancient syna- gogue and liturgical practice and experience and the relationship of the Jewish liturgical poetry to contemporary works of biblical interpretation. This edition incorporates typographical corrections of the original text. Michael L. Satlow Managing Editor October, 2019 Acknowledgements could not have completed this project without the support, wise coun- Isel and good humor of many teachers, friends and colleagues. This pro- ject began as my dissertation at the University of Chicago Divinity School, which I wrote under the direction of Michael Fishbane and the readership of Tikva Frymer-Kensky and John Collins. Through their teaching, these mentors taught me to develop my skills as a scholar; through their exam- ples, they showed me how the best scholars ground their curiosity, pas- sion, and engagement with contemporary concerns in rigorous scholar- ship. I am also grateful to Larry Hoffman, Ray Scheindlin, and David Stern, who were incredibly generous with their time and wisdom at various stages of this project. I would also like to thank the administration of Fordham University and my former colleagues in the Theology department there. Fordham granted me the research leave that allowed me to revise this monograph for publication and my colleagues in the Theology department offered me vital counsel and support through the process. I am particularly grateful to my colleague, friend, and mentor, Harry Nasuti, whose relentless en- couragement catalyzed the rebirth of this project. I would also like to thank David Ruderman, Director of the Center for Advanced Judaic Stud- ies at the University of Pennsylvania, who has allowed and encouraged me to continue my scholarly research in my current professional home. I owe many thanks to Saul Olyan at the Brown Judaic Studies series as well as Abe Hendin and Nancy Zibman. Their eagle-eyes and attention to detail have made this a much better book. In addition to the many teach- ers and colleagues who have provided guidance and support, I am deeply grateful to the family and friends who have supported me through the various iterations of this project. I am especially grateful to my parents, Jack Stern and Priscilla Stern (z”l), my brothers, Jonathan and David Stern, xi my sisters-in-law, Nancy Kasten and Jamie Gardner, and my friends and comrades-in-arms, Rachel Anisfeld, Beth Berkowitz, Natalie Dohrmann, Connie Furey, Tim Lytton, Julie Schonfeld, Bradley Solmsen. Without their emotional, intellectual, and technical support, this book would not have come to be. Finally, I am most grateful to my husband, Steve Cohen. We met when I was putting the vowels in the manuscript of the dissertation, married when that manuscript was hibernating in a drawer, and welcomed our daughter Sarah into the world as I was revising the manuscript for publi- cation. Through our life together, I have been blessed with the experiences of joy, intimacy and consolation that are the true subjects of this book. xii Abbreviations Rabbinic Sources ARN Avot de-Rabbi Natan b. Babylonian Talmud BB Baba Batra BM Baba Metzia Deut R. Deuteronomy Rabbah Est R. Esther Rabbah Exod R. Exodus Rabbah Gen R. Genesis Rabbah j. Jerusalem Talmud Ket Ketubbot Kid Kiddushin Kil Kilayim Lam R. Lamentations Rabbah Lam Z. Lamentations Zuta Lev R. Leviticus Rabbah m. Mishnah Meg Megillah Mek Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael MHG Midrash Hagadol Mid Pss Midrash Psalms MK Moed Katan Num R. Numbers Rabbah Pes Pesahim Pes R. Pesikta Rabbati PRE Pirkei de-Rabbi Eleazar PRK Pesikta de-Rav Kahana RH Rosh Hashanah Ruth R. Ruth Rabbah xiii San Sanhedrin Shab Shabbat Sifre Deut Sifre Deuteronomy Sof Soferim Song R. Song of Songs Rabbah Song Z. Song of Songs Zuta Sot Sotah Suk Sukkah t. Tosefta Taan Taanit Tan Midrash Tanhuma TJ Targum Jonathan Yal Yalkut Shim’oni Yeb Yebamot Yom Yoma Secondary Sources AB Anchor Bible JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JJS Journal of Jewish Studies JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament MGJW Monatschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums PAAJR Proceedings of the American Academy of Jewish Research ScrHier Scripta Hierosolymitana xiv 1 Introduction n recent years there has been a significant shift in the scholarly under- Istanding of the development of rabbinic Judaism and the role of the rab- bis in late antique Judaism. Earlier generations of scholars relied primarily on a positivistic reading of rabbinic literature to describe the role of the rabbinic sages in late antiquity. As a result, they articulated a version of Jewish history in which the rabbis emerged as the leaders of Palestinian Judaism shortly after the destruction of the second temple. According to this narrative, rabbinic Judaism became “normative” Judaism as early as the beginning of the second century CE.1 Through a more critical reading of the rabbinic texts, increased attention to archaeological and epigraphi- cal evidence, and more serious consideration of the larger socio-political context of Palestine in the Roman and Byzantine periods, contemporary scholars have largely rejected this narrative of the rabbinic movement.