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" Between the human and the holy: The construction of Talmudic theology in Massekhet Ta`anit "
Julia Watts Belser
D. Boyarin
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Latin Dissertation
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English
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| Record Number
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55517
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| Doc. No
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TL25471
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| Call number
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3331531
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| Main Entry
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Julia Watts Belser
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| Title & Author
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Between the human and the holy: The construction of Talmudic theology in Massekhet Ta`anit\ Julia Watts Belser
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| College
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University of California, Berkeley
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| Date
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2008
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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2008
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| Page No
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310
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| Abstract
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Massekhet Ta`anit, a tractate of the Babylonian Talmud that addresses fasts in response to drought among rabbinic Jewish communities in Iate antiquity, envisions rainfall as a tangible manifestation of divine blessing and a key signifier of the relationship between God and Israel. Alongside a literary, folkloristic, and cultural analysis of the contents of the massekhet, I show how the unique form of the massekhet allows the Stam to set conflicted aggadic narratives and halachic legal discussions into dialogue, fashioning them into a dialectical whole. My analysis of Massekhet Ta`anit moves beyond the individual sugya and reads the tractate as a carefully crafted text whose dialogical form allows its creators to express a polyphonous, mulitvalent theology--and grapple with cultural questions in a way that resists unitary resolutions to complex cultural tensions. My reading of Massekhet Ta`anit analyzes the symbolic power of the rain and the fast, showing how the fast turns the vulnerable body into an instrument for crying out to God. The text crystallizes this discourse of human-holy relationship through the provocative activism and celebrated intimacy of certain "beloved sons" able to summon forth rain. While some later rabbis still access these realms of charismatic power, the massekhet highlights the limits of rabbinic power and prowess in contrast to the illustrious heroes of old. By courting deliberate confusions between human and divine fathers, the massekhet simultaneously questions and sacralizes the power of human word, prayer and deed. By exposing a profound tension between the revealed and the concealed, the sage's capacity to interpret the signs of the natural world becomes both essential and elusive. By rupturing presumed relationships between human merit and divine reward, suffering, poverty, and miracle become complex signs that resist a single, unitary meaning. In each case, Massekhet Ta`anit reveals a self-interrogating discourse that expresses the prowess and the powerlessness of its protagonists--giving voice to both the yearnings and the misgivings of the rabbis who crafted its complex polyphony.
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| Subject
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Philosophy, religion and theology; Social sciences; Rabbinic literature; Folklore; Jewish studies; Talmud; Miracle workers; Fasting; Massekhet Ta`anit; Theology; Judaic studies; 0751:Judaic studies; 0358:Folklore; 0469:Theology
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D. Boyarin
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University of California, Berkeley
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