Biblical Hermeneutics

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PRINCIPLES OF BIBLICAL HERMENETICS ; M. M. NINAN http://robertcargill.com/ Talmudical Hermeneutics Talmudical Hermeneutics (Hebrew: approximately, שהתורה נדרשת בהן ‏(מידות refers to Jewish methods for the investigation and determination of the meaning of the Hebrew Bible, as well as rules by which Jewish law could be established. One well-known summary of these principles appears in the Baraita of Rabbi Ishmael. The rabbis of the Talmud considered themselves to be the receivers and transmitters of an oral law as to the meaning of the scriptures. They considered this oral tradition to set forth the precise, original meanings of the words, revealed at the same time and by the same means as the original scriptures themselves. Interpretive methods listed above such as word play and letter counting were never used as logical proof of the meaning or teaching of a scripture. Instead they were considered to be an asmakhta, a validation of a meaning that was already set by tradition or a homiletic backing for rabbinic rulings. Talmudical Hermeneutics (Hebrew: approximately, שהתורה נדרשת בהן ‏(מידות is the science which defines the rules and methods for the investigation and exact determination of the meaning of the Scriptures, both legal and historical. Since the halakha, however, is regarded simply as an exposition and explanation of the Torah, Talmud hermeneutics includes also the rules by which the requirements of the oral law are derived from and established by the written law. These rules relate to: • grammar and exegesis • the interpretation of certain words and letters and apparently superfluous and/or missing words or letters, and prefixes and suffixes • the interpretation of those letters which, in certain words, are provided with points 9
PRINCIPLES OF BIBLICAL HERMENETICS ; M. M. NINAN • the interpretation of the letters in a word according to their numerical value (see Gematria) • the interpretation of a word by dividing it into two or more words (see Notarikon) • the interpretation of a word according to its consonantal form or according to its vocalization • the interpretation of a word by transposing its letters or by changing its vowels • the logical deduction of a halakhah from a Scriptural text or from another law Classes of rules Compilations of such hermeneutic rules were made in the earliest times. The Tannaim תנאים "repeaters", "teachers" were the Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10-220 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also referred to as the Mishnaic period, lasted about 210 years. The root of the word tanna ‏(תנא)‏ is the Talmudic Aramaic equivalent for the Hebrew shanah ‏,(שנה)‏ which also is the root-word of Mishnah. The verb shanah ‏(שנה)‏ literally means "to repeat what one was taught" and is used to mean "to learn". The Tannaim lived in several areas of the Land of Israel. The spiritual center of Judaism at that time was Jerusalem, but after the destruction of the city and the Second Temple, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai and his students founded a new religious center in Yavne. Other places of Judaic learning were founded by his students in Lod and in Bnei Brak. Some Tannaim worked as laborers (e.g., charcoal burners, cobblers) in addition to their positions as teachers and legislators. They were also leaders of the people and negotiators with the Roman Empire. The name "tanna" is derived from the Aramaic "teni" or "tena" (="to teach"), and designates in general a teacher of the oral law, and in particular one of the sages of the Mishnah, those teachers of the oral law whose teachings are contained in the Mishnah and in the Baraita. The term was first used in the Gemara to indicate a teacher mentioned in the Mishnah or in a baraita, in contradistinction to the later authorities, the Amoraim. Not all the teachers of the oral law who are mentioned in the Mishnah are called tannaim, however, but only those belonging to the period beginning with the disciples of Shammai and Hillel and ending with the contemporaries of Judah ha-Nasi I. The authorities preceding that period are called "zeḳenim ha-rishonim" (the former elders). In the time of the Amoraim the name "tanna" was given also to one well versed in the Mishnah and the other tannaitic traditions. The period of the Tannaim, which lasted about 210 years (10-220 C.E.), is generally divided by Jewish scholars into five or six sections or generations, the purpose of such division being to show which teachers developed their principal activity contemporaneously. Some of the tannaim, however, were active in more than one generation. The following is an enumeration of the six generations and of the more prominent tannaim respectively belonging to them: 10
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Prof. Madathilparampil Mammen Ninan
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Biblical Hermeneutics

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