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The Redaction of the Talmud According to Rashi, the term hora’ah does not refer to the activity of Gemara as we commonly understand it. Rather it refers to the terse legal rulings and Mishnaic interpretations of the Amoraic sages who lived from the time of Rebbi up until the time of Rav Ashi and Ravina. This is made explicitly clear by Rashi’s grandson, Rashbam, in his commentary to Bava Batra 130b where he writes, “certainly one may rely on the laws which are written in the Gemara as they were organized by Rav Ashi for it is stated in Bava Metzia “Rav Ashi and Ravina are the end of hora’ah”. From whom can we ask and rely upon if not on the terse definitive laws which were organized by Rav Ashi.” According to Rashbam, hora’ah refers to “halachot peshutot” - tersely worded legal decisions. It is only from the time of Rav Ashi and onward that they were incorporated into a give-and-take. Neither Rashi nor Rashbam deny that there was a tradition of Talmudic give-and-take before the time of Rav Ashi. Indeed, Rashi writes explicitly that in the generations before Rav Ashi “if a question was posed regarding the underlying reason [of a law] in a Mishna in the study hall, or regarding an [independent] monetary matter or prohibition, each [Amoraic Sage] would offer his opinion.” There is no reason to think that these discussions were not transmitted across the Amoraic generations. What Rashi is saying is that Rav Ashi was the one who constructed the canonical text of give-and-take which would serve as the basis of the Talmudic text for all future generations. As we shall see later this construction was continued after Rav Ashi in the generations which followed him. What we can say, however, is that Rav Ashi established a new type of canon – one of legal discussion and dialogue which is characterized by a dialectical give-and-take. The transmission of the oral tradition thereby took upon a new form as a result of Rav Ashi’s efforts. This is because after the redaction of the Gemara all interpretations and legal rulings based themselves on the dialectical Talmudic text and not on statements of the Amoraic sages. 38
Rabbi Meir Triebitz According to Rashi, then, the meaning of “Rav Ashi and Ravina are the end of hora’ah” is that Rav Ashi concluded the formal transmission of terse statements and comments of the Amoraic sages before him and begins the transmission of canonical dialogue and discussion. This understanding of the term hora’ah is much more in line with the general meaning of the term as denoting a specific and definitive legal ruling. We see this meaning of the word in the phrase, “It is taught: the Tannaim confused the world… Ravina [explains this] “they rule [morah which is the verb of the noun hora’ah] from their Mishna.” Rashi writes in his commentary “they are not careful to understand the underlying reasons of the Mishna” (Sotah 21a). Thus Rashi explains the parallelism being made by the Gemara’s two statements. Rav Ashi’s redaction was similar to that of Rebbi. The organization of Amoraic traditions within the framework of Rebbi’s Mishna and their incorporation into a canonical dialogue of give-andtake brought about a paradigmatic shift in the oral tradition which assured both its faithfulness to the past and its usefulness to the future. The two part project of editing and methodology of interpretation which Rashi understood to be Rebbi’s construction of the Mishna was duplicated by Rav Ashi almost 300 years later. Rav Ashi produced an entirely new type of canon which satisfied the twofold criteria of faithfulness to the past and usefulness to the future. This opinion of Rashi and Rashbam that the canonical give-and-take of our Talmud only commences with Rav Ashi and Ravina appears to be universally assumed by both earlier and later medieval authorities and commentators. Rav Sherira Gaon in his famous epistle in which he chronicles the entire history of the oral law up until his own period of Gaoneca, quotes our passage in Bava Metzia and continues “Afterwards, even though there was certainly not any hora’ah, there were interpretations and reasoning (sevara) close to hora’ah and the Rabbis [who did so] are called Rabbanan Savorai (p. 69 in the French version). 39
Page 1 and 2: Reshimu Studies in Jewish Thought a
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents Reshimu Studies i
Page 5: Table of Contents Rambam’s Theory
Page 8 and 9: Introduction underlying cause of th
Page 10 and 11: Introduction A correction: In my ar
Page 12 and 13: The Redaction of the Babylonian Tal
Page 36 and 37: The Redaction of the Talmud stateme
Page 40 and 41: The Redaction of the Talmud The Fre
Page 42 and 43: The Redaction of the Talmud this is
Page 44 and 45: The Redaction of the Talmud The sou
Page 46 and 47: The Redaction of the Talmud Come an
Page 48 and 49: The Redaction of the Talmud The opi
Page 50 and 51: The Redaction of the Talmud commenc
Page 52 and 53: The Redaction of the Talmud Rav Ach
Page 54 and 55: The Redaction of the Talmud take, t
Page 56 and 57: Aish Dat: A Brief History of the De
Page 73 and 74: Rabbi Meir Triebitz Rambam’s Theo
Page 75 and 76: Rabbi Meir Triebitz The bulk of thi
Page 77 and 78: Rabbi Meir Triebitz consequence of
Page 79 and 80: Rabbi Meir Triebitz Saadiah could o
Page 81 and 82: Rabbi Meir Triebitz (Guide 64b/124)
Page 83 and 84: Rabbi Meir Triebitz basic premises
Page 85 and 86: Rabbi Meir Triebitz describe God an
Page 87 and 88: Rabbi David Sedley Rav Moshe Taku:
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