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- Title
In the Wake of the New Leaf of Megillat Ta'anit and its Scholion.
- Authors
Noam, Vered
- Abstract
The newly discovered page of the commentary on Megillat Ta'anit (Scroll of Fasting) significantly corroborates the conclusions that emerged from the earlier study of Megillat Ta'anit, with respect to the nature of the exegetical traditions of the Scholion and their representation in the manuscripts hitherto in our possession. It fits very well into the general picture traced by that study in terms of the existence of three different commentaries on the Megillah. The new passage confirms the separate existence of tradition O of the Scholion and enriches our knowledge of its content, wording, and history of transmission. The manuscript demonstrates the multiplicity and variety of the versions of the Scholion and their inner division into further secondary branches. Beyond these general emphases, the article comments on the consequences of the textual variations in the manuscript regarding the commentaries of three dates mentioned in the Scroll of Fasting, and presents a new hypothesis regarding the origin of Megillat Ta'anit itself. According to this hypothesis, the ancient prohibition against fasting and eulogies, which applied in the Second Temple Era to those who brought wood and first fruits to the Temple, served as the first model for the formation of the Scroll of Fasting as a whole. The ancient list of the dates of the wood sacrifice served as inspiration for formulating the list of consecrated historical occasions that is included in the Megillah. The displacement of the custom from a ban on fasting on certain dates due to an ongoing ritual (the sacrifice of wood on set dates) to a list of festivals commemorating the historical past (the unique events at the basis of Megillat Ta'anit) was actually a bold innovation. The utilization of an existing halakhic principle, along with the formulae that accompanied it, in the creation of Megillat Ta'anit, helped blur the boldness of this composition, which generated an entire ritual calendar with no biblical basis and commemorated historical events lacking canonical status.
- Subjects
FASTING (Judaism); BIBLE. Pentateuch; JEWISH antiquities; JEWISH relics; LINGUISTIC analysis; ANTHROPOLOGICAL linguistics; LANGUAGE &; history; LINGUISTIC rights; HEBREW manuscripts; LANGUAGE &; culture
- Publication
Tarbiz, 2008, Vol 77, Issue 3/4, p411
- ISSN
0334-3650
- Publication type
Article