Wimpfheimer_ Is it not so.pdf

Toward a Poetics of Legal Narrative in the Talmud ❙ 61
The notion of play does not speak to the interpreter of Talmud for whom the
act of study and interpretation is an imperative. There is reductive beauty to the
rabbinic interpretation that generates out of the biblical text an obligation to study,
to interpret.⁴⁰ This normative claim establishes the act of interpretation as already
an act of adherence. The notion of play cannot su³ce, for the interpreter is not
simply freely interpreting, but is mandated to interpret. The interpretation performed
by one who is mandated is informed by that performanceÐby the
replication of adherence inherent in the act of interpretation itself.
Replication, occurring on both a microlevel and a metalevel, highlights the
manner in which the material that we study is always already encountered in the
structure of the teaching of these relationships. Writ small, Rava's attempt to assert
his authority uses control of the topic as the substance of the assertion. By changing
the currency to suit his needs, Rava imposes control over the topic and over the
students simultaneously. Writ large, the notion of service that is the subject of Rava's
lecture and that frames the relationship between two subjects and an objectÐ
between a borrower and a lender vis-Áa-vis the animalÐis similarly replicated in the
various ways that one envisions textual production. While Rava and his students
struggle to control their objectÐthe lectureÐand the stam struggles similarly with
Rava for authority over the text, the interpreter struggles with other interpreters and
with the text itself for control of the text's meaning. All three struggles are charged
by the importance of the endeavor of Torah study to its participants qua adherents.
The ®nal struggleÐthe struggle over ®nite meaningÐis perhaps the most charged
of all, for it locates itself at the nexus of law's prescription, where theory and practice
coincide and play is not an option.
RAVA'S SHAME
The adjoining talmudic passage continues to replicate the explicit teacher/student
struggle within the rhetoric of its legal narration. The passage extends our context
beyond the classroom, recounting an instance in which Rava's decision on a legal
question, rather than just his teaching, is called into question. By highlighting a
moment in which Rava's students prove more knowledgeable than he, the text
demonstrates the potential pitfalls of his arrogance.