Wimpfheimer_ Is it not so.pdf

Toward a Poetics of Legal Narrative in the Talmud ❙ 71
through interpretationÐto develop a nuanced and textured depth. In interpreting
legal narratives with the assumption that they possess a literary knowledge that goes
beyond itself, we let the possibilities of such knowledge inform our reading and
improve our interpretation.
ANGER AND SHAME AS OPPOSITES
Legal narratives in the Talmud are vehicles for transmitting important legal
information, but that transmission is not their exclusive function. Narratives of
court stories are legally signi®cant, but they are also narratives. As narratives, they
tell us not only about the status of law, but also about the human vicissitudes that
surround law's creation and application. The juxtaposition of our tale with the
preceding oneÐtwo narratives concerned not only with Rava's teachings, but also,
and importantly, with his emotional well-beingÐsuggests that we as readers
under-read talmudic narratives when we focus too strongly on their bottom-line
legal positions. In our text, the juxtaposition of two narratives anchored in
seemingly gratuitous psychological a²ects highlights the way in which the narrative
of Rava's shame reads, and is read by, the narrative of Rava's rage.
Both narratives contain a talmudic rarityÐan emotional marker in the midst
of a legal tale. In the ®rst story, Rava is enraged and boisterously attempts to assert
his control over the sugya. In the second story, Rava is ashamed and promptly
disappears from the discussion, hiding from the implications of his too-swift justice.
Rava's con®dence in the prior passage is contrasted with his oversight in the
subsequent one. It is the RabbisÐhis studentsÐwho not only know the material,
but know it better than he. If the contested issue of the ®rst encounter is the
students' need for Rava, in the second his need for them remains unchallenged.
Rava's students in this second narrative seize control from their teacher. In
talmudic context, the study hall functions as both judiciary and legislature. Rava's
ruling is as responsible to the questions of his students as is his curriculum of
teaching. The case before him is another lectureÐanother opportunity for the
teacher to dictate terms to the student. But the students here are well learned. Like
the wily lender in the ®rst passage, they know when to utilize their knowledge of
talmudic law and turn the tide. They wait patiently from one narrative to the other