February 2008 – biblicalia

Resurrection, imperfect

Sleep sleep old Sun, thou canst not have repast
As yet, the wound thou took’st on friday last;
Sleepe then, and rest; The world may beare thy stay,
A better Sun rose before thee to day,
Who, not content to’enlighten all that dwell
On the earths face, as thou, enlightened hell,
And made the darke fires languish in that vale,
As, at thy presence here, our fires grow pale.
Whose body having walk’d on earth, and now
Hasting to Heaven, would, that he might allow
Himselfe unto all stations, and fill all,
For these three daies become a minerall;
Hee was all gold when he lay downe, but rose
All tincture, and doth not alone dispose
Leaden and iron wills to good, but is
Of power to make even sinfull flesh like his.
Had one of those, whose credulous pietie
Thought, that a Soule one might discerne and see
Goe from a body, at this sepulcher been,
And, issuing from the sheet, this body seen,
He would have justly thought this body a soule,
If not of any man, yet of the whole.

John Donne, before 1633

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While clod returns to clod

Before the mountains were brought forth, before
     Earth and the world were made, then God was God :
And God will still be God when flames shall roar
     Round earth and heaven dissolving at His nod :
     And this God is our God, even while His rod
Of righteous wrath falls on us smiting sore :
And this God is our God for evermore,
     Through life, through death, while clod returns to clod.
For though He slay us we will trust in Him ;
     We will flock home to Him by divers ways :
     Yea, though He slay us we will vaunt His praise,
Serving and loving with the Cherubim,
Watching and loving with the Seraphim,
     Our very selves His praise through endless days.

Christina Georgina Rossetti, before 1882

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Mishnah Comparison Chart

I’ve just posted a comparison chart detailing the coverage of the tractates of the Mishnah in the Tosefta, the Talmud Yerushalmi, and the Talmud Bavli. It should prove useful as a general reference.

As one can see in the chart, the Tosefta gives the widest coverage, with the Yerushalmi and Bavli providing coverage of roughly two-thirds of the Mishnaic tractates, and different ones at that, though they do both cover a number of tractates. The only tractates to have no presence in Tosefta and the Talmuds are Abot, Middot, and Qinnim. In the case of Abot, this is likely because it was added to the Mishnah some time later than its original compilation. Middot and Qinnim were likely excluded due to their subject matter, being the measurements of the Temple precincts, and complications related to bird sacrifices, respectively.

As always, suggestions for improvement are welcome.

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Random Acts of Aggadah

“Take heed of the heavens” (Deut 32.1). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Say to them, to Israel: Gaze at the heavens, which I created to serve you. Have they perhaps changed their ways? Does the orb of the sun perchance not rise out of the east and light up the entire world, all of it? The fact is: the sun rejoices in its commission to do My will, for Scripture says, “The sun . . . is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course” (Ps 19.6).

“And let the earth be heard” (Deut 32.1). Gaze at the earth, which I created to serve you. Has it perhaps changed its ways? Have you perchance sown seed and it has not sprouted? Or have you sown wheat and it brought forth barley? Or did the heifer perhaps say, “I will not plow,” “I will not thresh”? Or did the ass say, “I will bear no burden,” “I will not move”?

Likewise, the sea. “I . . . have placed the sand for the bound of the sea (Jer 5.22). Has it perhaps changed its ways and, rising, flooded the world?

Is this not a matter to be argued a fortiori? The heavens, the earth, and the sea were created to receive neither reward nor penalty. If they earn merit, they receive no reward; if they go astray, they are subjected to no penalty. They need not be concerned about their sons and daughters. Yet they have not changed their ways. You—who receive reward when you earn merit and receive punishment when you sin, who are concerned about your sons and daughters—how much more and more by far should you not change your ways.

The Book of Legends 7.492
(a translation by William Braude of the classic Sefer ha-Aggadah, edited by Hayim Bialik and Yehoshua Ravnitzky)

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Holy Baba Batra!

[UPDATE: See the comments below for welcome attribution information from Professor Neusner, and information on forthcoming electronic editions of his translations of the Rabbinic canon. The attribution information is lacking in the electronic edition of the Talmud Bavli translation.]

I just yesterday received a copy of Jacob Neusner’s The Babylonian Talmud: A Translation and Commentary on CD (Thanks, Eisenbrauns!). Hendrickson Publishers used Ages Software to create the program, which is essentially just pdf files of all the chapters (of Neusner’s devising) of the tractates. Neusner’s work in outlining the entire Babylonian Talmud is a truly breathtaking labor of great erudition. The precision of language and the patterns observable in the original are conveyed very well indeed in this translation, which fortunately doesn’t skimp on the explanatory parentheses necessary to make the extremely telegraphic nature of the Talmud’s language intelligible to those not very familiar with it. A general introduction to the Babylonian Talmud is included, as well as an introduction for and a treatise on the structure of each tractate. Very interesting.

There are, however two drawbacks. The first is the lack of facility in searching by the traditional folio numbers. Neusner’s outline organization of the tractates breaks them down into chapters, which the files are also broken into, but this means each tractate then has a number of files, and one needs to open several before finding the proper one with the correct folio numbers in it. The “Talmud Librarian” page doesn’t list the folios at all, and you’ll only find the folios included in the chapter headings. Oh, hold on a minute . . . . After a bit of work, I’ve come up with a basic html file that includes links to all the files, with the titles, transliterations, and descriptions given by Neusner in the general introduction, and including the folio numbers next to each link, a vast improvement I think. To get it to work, you’ll of course need to have purchased this Neusner Talmud CD, and having installed that, you’ll simply save this page (or this color-coded one) to the same directory in which all the files are installed. The pages will open in your web browser when you click the links, if you’ve got Adobe Acrobat (or its Reader) installed. (Note that it must be saved in the same directory that the files reside in for the file to work as is. If you’re comfortable with html editing, you can change that if you like.)

[UPDATE: The following paragraph/drawback is incorrect. Neusner’s is a complete translation of the Babylonian Talmud, which itself only comments on 37 of the Mishnah’s tractates. The presumption of forgetfulness is a wretched thing!]

The second drawback, which you’ll notice upon looking at that file, is that only 37 of the Babylonian Talmud’s 63 tractates are actually included in Neusner’s translation. This was quite a disappointment. Perhaps he’ll complete it in the future. [So ignorant I was! —ed.] If that’s the case, I’ll make a note of it here. It’s a fine translation, and the outline format is extraordinarily useful, helping to clarify the text, so I certainly hope Newusner’s Babylonian Talmud translation will be completed in the same format, and likewise made available on CD to complete this collection seamlessly. In the meantime, the (older, and thus somewhat inferior) Soncino translation of the complete Babylonian Talmud is available online, also in pdf format.

[UPDATE: Note that I have removed the link, as the pdfs of the Soncino Talmud to which I linked are clearly both a poor presentation of the Soncino Talmud, and in copyright infringement.]

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Deuterobaruchian Pearls

For the youth of this world has passed away, and the power of creation is already exhausted, and the coming of the times is very near and has passed by. And the pitcher is near the well, and the ship to the harbor, and the journey to the city, and life to its end.

——2 Baruch 85.10

But now, the righteous have been assembled, and the prophets are sleeping. Also we have left our land, and Zion has been taken away from us, and we have nothing now apart from the Mighty One and his Law.

——2 Baruch 85.3

And it will happen at that time that those treasuries will be opened in which the number of the souls of the righteous were kept, and they will go out and the multitudes of the souls will appear together, in one assemblage, of one mind. And the first ones will enjoy themselves and the last ones will not be sad.

——2 Baruch 30.2

Adam is, therefore, not the cause, except only for himself, but each of us has become our own Adam.

——2 Baruch 54.19

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Biblioblog versus Biblicablog

So, because Esteban brought up my suggestion made in Biblical Studies Carnival XXVI (search the page for “biblicablog”) for an alternative monicker for blogs devoted to Bible-related issues, namely “biblicablog” in preference to the unspecific and widely otherwise-used “biblioblog,” I myself have bitten the bullet to count usage. In a Google search of “biblioblog” I received 552 hits. I just looked at every single one of those hits and made a tally of whether “biblioblog” is used in reference to Bible-related blogs, or general book-related blogs, including book reviews, library sites, etc. The findings:

Biblical: 129
Book-related: 360
Uncertain/neither: 5

So, on usage alone, we should find in favor of my neologism biblicablog, which with its seven Google hits, 4 relate to Biblical Studies, and 3 are domain name lists, so uncertain or unclaimed. It is, however, quite certain that no one wishing to form a blog of book reviews or on library science would choose any of the biblicablog domains, simply because the root biblica- refers to the Bible exclusively.

Now, I understand there is a certain amount of inertia, if not stubbornness involved in sticking with “biblioblog” as a description blogs devoted to Biblical Studies. But the word does not mean that etymologically, and usage is likewise against it, not merely in English, but internationally. Take a look at biblioblog.de and biblioblog.fr, for instance, or go ahead and do the whole Google thing yourself and see how overwhelmingly, by a factor of 2 to 1, biblioblog is used in reference to book- or library-related blogs, thus hewing closer to the root meaning of biblio- as referring to books in general and not merely one specific subset of books (ta biblia) or one book (the Bible).

Sticking to “biblioblog” and maintaining that its referent is “Biblical Studies” or more widely the Bible is what I’ve always thought of as a Humpty-Dumptyism:

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean

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International Septuagint Day!

On the LXX list, Bob Kraft reminds us (once and twice) that today is International Septuagint Day!

To quote the inestimably esteemed Professor Kraft: “Do something septuagintal today, from a septuaginarian.”

The date was established last year by the IOSCS in 2006, reflecting, as Kraft says, “the one date we know of from late antiquity on which LXX/OG/Aquila received special attention (in Justinian’s Novella 146).” This novella (or imperial rescript or command) permitted the Jews of the empire (which now included much of the just-recovered west) to read the Scriptures in their synagogues in Greek, Latin, or any language they choose. Previous laws had restricted their public readings to Hebrew. This novella was published 8 February 553 AD.

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The Face of the Deep (1.7-8)

It’s been a long time since I’ve touched this. Herewith, I continue posting Christina Rossetti’s devotional commentary on the Apocalypse, The Face of the Deep, published in London in 1892 by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. This was, so far as is known, also the first verse-by-verse commentary on the entire Apocalypse by a woman. I recommend the first entries (Introduction, 1.1-2, 1.3, 1.4-6). I place this in the category “Poetry” rather than “Biblical Studies” because this work is rife with the poetry of Christina Rossetti, who is acknowledged today, finally, deservedly, as one of the finest poets of the English language in all ages.

7. Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Once to Nicodemus our Lord said : “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen: and ye receive not our witness.” So now St. John, on the threshold of his revelation, cries to us: “Behold”—being about to make us see with his eyes and hear with his ears, if only we will understand with hearts akin to his own.

Dare we then aspire to become like St. John? Wherefore not, when we are bidden and invited to become like Christ?

Our likeness to St. John (if by God’s grace we assume any vestige of such glory) must include faith and love, but need not involve more than an elementary degree of knowledge.

Continue reading “The Face of the Deep (1.7-8)”

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Is Yeats also among the prophets?

Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of Innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Who are “the best” but the boni of our day—the politicians like their forebears, ancient cynical senators jockeying for power, for the role of princeps. What conviction do they display, with their records of social and political policies changing with the wind of opinion? The courage of their conviction goes only so deep as their demagoguery finds necessary—in another day, a week, perhaps a month—never so long as a year!—all is changed. Is is not that “Power corrupts” or even “Power corrupts the corruptible” but that “Power is corruption.”

Who are “the worst . . . full of passionate intensity,” but the terrorists of these days and their enablers, of whom are some of “the best”? Such coarse certitude, drawing lines that none may cross but themselves, they with an adolescent fixation on an imagined utopia of fairness—one founded on their own terms, and thus eminently “fair” only to themselves!—a utopia as imaginary as every other ever imagined by minds both greater and lesser.

And yet Yeats wrote this so long ago, in 1921 or before, with very different referents in mind. Even so, do we not think, all of us, but for some very brief interludes when all is well with us, that in our generations each one of them is (again) the time when some “rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born”? Is not every generation prone to see (again) the coming of the man of sin, the lawless one, the antichrist, the beast, the great Satan, Beliar—and the end of the world is at hand (again)?

From my journal, and spruced up a bit. On the night of 1 February 2008, reflecting on Fr Andrew Louth’s quotation of Yeats (at the top of the post) in his Discerning the Mystery, p. 1

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