tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post3853774828097872030..comments2023-10-12T14:09:33.965-07:00Comments on The Biblia Hebraica Blog: Identifying Insertions in Rabbinic TextsDouglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-2905530091495713442009-12-05T21:01:19.564-08:002009-12-05T21:01:19.564-08:00This is very characteristic of the Talmud. I know ...This is very characteristic of the Talmud. I know (even) less about the development of Midrash Rabba, but I imagine the Talmud as being like a set of lecture notes that have been passed down by generations of students. The core of each subject has been revised so many times that it is as terse and precise as it can possibly be. Later revisions bracket that with explanations, comments and so forth, but these expansions have themselves been redacted. It's only the notes left by the final recension that are at all easy to see.Joe in Australianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-5350590553038741352009-12-03T15:14:20.369-08:002009-12-03T15:14:20.369-08:00You're right. It is an insertion (our terminol...You're right. It is an insertion (our terminology). There's no way of telling when in the transmission (oral and/or written) of the "six things" tradition it was inserted because Genesis Rabbah (with all rabbinic writings) is characteristically anthological (viz. Max), sometimes incorporating medium-size units that were themselves anthologically-composed.Carl Kinbarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08537643816208245842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-5165766997179970322009-12-03T08:59:15.479-08:002009-12-03T08:59:15.479-08:00Perhaps not a later insertion, but a differing opi...Perhaps not a later insertion, but a differing opinion that was recorded. Maybe this last item was rejected because the midrash used is not as compelling as the others.<br /><br />This style seems to be a pattern in Rabbinic literature. A list of items is completed or a question has been answered, and then an additional opinion is offered at the end of the passage. But this usually appears in the context of a halakhic discussion. So there could very well be merit to your theory.<br /><br />Here are some examples that I think might be similar to the midrash above in that an item is added to or subtracted from a list just given.<br />Avot 5:5<br />Sanhedrin 10:2Max Powernoreply@blogger.com