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<strong>Torah</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Mouth</strong>, Writ<strong>in</strong>g and Oral Tradition <strong>in</strong> Palest<strong>in</strong>ian Judaism, 200 BCE - 400 CE<br />

Jaffee, Mart<strong>in</strong> S., Samuel and Al<strong>the</strong>a Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Wash<strong>in</strong>gton<br />

Pr<strong>in</strong>t publication date: 2001, Published to Oxford Scholarship Onl<strong>in</strong>e: November 2003<br />

Pr<strong>in</strong>t ISBN-13: 978-0-19-514067-5, doi:10.1093/0195140672.001.0001<br />

historians that <strong>the</strong> Temple <strong>in</strong>deed conta<strong>in</strong>ed some sort of library (e.g., R. T. Beckwith, “Formation of <strong>the</strong> Hebrew Bible,” pp. 40–45).<br />

Never<strong>the</strong>less, as H. Gamble, Books and Readers <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Early Church , p. 196, po<strong>in</strong>ts out, <strong>the</strong> best that can be said is that <strong>the</strong>re is “a<br />

strong presumption of <strong>the</strong> existence of a library and archives <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jerusalem temple, though [<strong>the</strong> sources do] not provide any clear idea<br />

of what <strong>the</strong> library was like.” The recent discussions of Davies, Scribes and Schools , pp. 85–87, and S. Niditch, Oral World and Written<br />

Word , pp. 61–69, are equally reticent about <strong>the</strong> nature of <strong>the</strong> Temple library.<br />

In <strong>the</strong> doma<strong>in</strong> of Qumran studies it has long been common to speak of <strong>the</strong> “Qumran library.” A vocal supporter of <strong>the</strong> hypo<strong>the</strong>sis that<br />

Qumran Cave 4 actually housed a sectarian community library is L. Schiffman, Reclaim<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> Dead Sea Scrolls , pp. 54–57. It is<br />

important, however, to keep <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d <strong>the</strong> caveat of Y. Shavit (“The 'Qumran Library' <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Light of <strong>the</strong> Attitude Towards Books and Libraries<br />

<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Second Temple Period,” pp. 306–307): “ . . . <strong>the</strong>re can be no doubt that Jews <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Second Temple period wrote many books. . . .<br />

But <strong>the</strong> sources mention only isolated names out of a wide corpus, and we have no evidence at all that <strong>the</strong>re were collections of books,<br />

and even less, that <strong>the</strong>re were public libraries, such as existed <strong>in</strong> Hellenistic centers of learn<strong>in</strong>g.”<br />

12. My dist<strong>in</strong>ction between libraries and archives draws upon P. R. Davies, Scribes and Schools , pp. 17–19.<br />

13. Thus, for example, <strong>the</strong> Isaiah scroll found <strong>in</strong> Qumran Cave 1 (1QIs a ) is estimated to have orig<strong>in</strong>ally been about 24 feet long (M.<br />

Burrows, ed. The Dead Sea Scrolls of St. Mark's Monastery , vol. 1, p. xiv). The longest recovered scroll, <strong>the</strong> Temple Scroll (11QTemple),<br />

is about 28½ feet <strong>in</strong> length.<br />

For aspects of <strong>the</strong> physical nature of papyrus, lea<strong>the</strong>r, and o<strong>the</strong>r materials as repositories of writ<strong>in</strong>g, see M. Haran, “Book-Scrolls at <strong>the</strong><br />

Beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g of <strong>the</strong> Second Temple Period: The Transition from Papyrus to Sk<strong>in</strong>s,” pp. 111–122; M. Bar-Ilan, “Scribes and Books <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Late<br />

Second Commonwealth and <strong>the</strong> Rabb<strong>in</strong>ic Period,” pp. 24–28; idem, articles “Papyrus,” and “Parchment” <strong>in</strong> E. Meyers, ed., The New<br />

Oxford Encyclopedia of Archeology <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Near<br />

end p.165<br />

East, vol. 4, pp. 146–148; H. Gamble, Books and Readers <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Early Church , pp. 43–48; and S. Niditch, Oral World and Written Word ,<br />

pp. 71–77.<br />

14. Observations about <strong>the</strong> difficulties of work<strong>in</strong>g with scrolls may be consulted <strong>in</strong> S. Niditch, Oral World and Written Word , pp. 113–114,<br />

and R. Chartier, Forms and Mean<strong>in</strong>gs , pp. 18–20. H. Gamble, Books and Readers <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Early Church , pp. 55–57, cautions aga<strong>in</strong>st<br />

overestimat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>convenience of <strong>the</strong> scroll <strong>in</strong> expa<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> ultimate victory of <strong>the</strong> codex <strong>in</strong> Christian culture. The fullest description of<br />

<strong>the</strong> use of books <strong>in</strong> a variety of Greco-Roman sett<strong>in</strong>gs—<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g those of diverse Second Temple Jewish communities—is <strong>the</strong> recent<br />

Yale University dissertation of H. G. Snyder, Teachers, Texts, and Students: Textual Performance and Patterns of Authority <strong>in</strong> Greco-<br />

Roman Schools (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1998). For his observations on <strong>the</strong> success of <strong>the</strong> codex <strong>in</strong> early Christianity, see pp.<br />

326–328.<br />

15. M. Mart<strong>in</strong>, The Scribal Character of <strong>the</strong> Dead Sea Scrolls , vol. 1, pp. 6–7.<br />

16. The oral-performative, ritualized nature of read<strong>in</strong>g throughout <strong>the</strong> ancient world has been generally recognized among classicists for<br />

some time (e.g., J. Balogh, “Voces Pag<strong>in</strong>arum,” pp. 83–109, 202–240). The impact of this model of ancient read<strong>in</strong>g has had an important<br />

impact on <strong>the</strong> study of early Christianity (e.g., P. Achtemeier, “Omne Verbum Sonat,” pp. 3–27) and on <strong>the</strong> study of <strong>the</strong> Hebrew Bible<br />

(e.g., Niditch, Oral World and Written Word ). It has recently made headway as well among students of Second Temple Judaism (e.g., S.<br />

Talmon, “Oral Tradition and Written Transmission,” pp. 122–158). For a syn<strong>the</strong>tic, comparative treatment of Jewish and non-Jewish oral-<br />

performative textual practices, see H. G. Snyder, Teachers, Texts, and Students .<br />

17. Such a figure seems clearly to stand beh<strong>in</strong>d <strong>the</strong> terms 'yš dwrš btwrh (“a man who expounds <strong>the</strong> <strong>Torah</strong>,” 1QS 6:6) and dwrš htwrh<br />

(“expounder of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Torah</strong>,” CD 7:18, 4QFlor 1:11) that appear <strong>in</strong> some of <strong>the</strong> Qumran scrolls. We will discuss such ritualized Qumranian<br />

expositions of <strong>the</strong> book <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> next chapter.<br />

18. This is, of course, <strong>the</strong> fundamental postulate of all form-criticism of <strong>the</strong> Hebrew Bible. See, for example, R. Rendtorff, The Old<br />

Testament, pp. 77–128, and <strong>the</strong> representative essays <strong>in</strong> R. C. Culley, ed., Oral Tradition and Old Testament Studies . While <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>sights<br />

and methods of form-criticism have been employed with great success <strong>in</strong> adjacent literatures, such as early Christian and rabb<strong>in</strong>ic<br />

writ<strong>in</strong>gs, <strong>the</strong>re seems to be no comprehensive form-critical attention devoted to <strong>the</strong> Second Temple literature, o<strong>the</strong>r than <strong>the</strong> extensive<br />

<strong>in</strong>terest <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> genre of Apocalyptic.<br />

19. Crucial observations on <strong>the</strong> various relationships between works <strong>in</strong> manuscript and <strong>the</strong>ir oral-performative background are offered by F.<br />

Bäuml, “Medieval Texts and <strong>the</strong> Two Theories of Oral-Formulaic Composition,” pp. 31–49.<br />

20. M. Parry's demonstration of this proposition with regard to Homeric verse transformed <strong>the</strong> study of <strong>the</strong> Western classics, with<br />

repercussions throughout <strong>the</strong> humanities. See M. Parry, The Mak<strong>in</strong>g of Homeric Verse ; J. M. Foley, The Theory of Oral Composition , pp.<br />

19–35; and idem, The S<strong>in</strong>ger of Tales <strong>in</strong> Performance , pp. 60–98. The <strong>in</strong>sights of Foley and o<strong>the</strong>rs were largely unexplored <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> context<br />

of Second Temple studies until <strong>the</strong> recent work of S. Niditch.<br />

21. The Qumran scrolls, <strong>in</strong> which multiple copies of specific works are preserved, have been crucial <strong>in</strong> demonstrat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> flexible<br />

boundaries of even <strong>the</strong> most authoritative books. For a discussion of <strong>the</strong> diverse character of <strong>the</strong> biblical texts, see E. Tov, Textual<br />

Criticism of <strong>the</strong> Hebrew Bible, pp. 100–117.<br />

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