- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Dedication
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Transliteration and Conventions Used in the Text
- Introduction
-
Chapter One Agobard of Lyons, Megillat Aḥima’ats, and the Babylonian Orientation of Early Ashkenaz -
Chapter Two Dialectics, Scholasticism, and the Origin of the Tosafot -
Chapter Three Minhag Ashkenaz ha-Kadmon: An Assessment -
Chapter Four The Authority of the Babylonian Talmud and the Use of Biblical Verses and Aggadah in Early Ashkenaz -
Chapter Five On the Use of Aggadah by the Tosafists: A Response to I. M. Ta-Shma -
Chapter Six Characterizing Medieval Talmudists: A Case Study -
Chapter Seven Communications and the Palestinian Origins of Ashkenaz -
Chapter Eight The Palestinian Orientation of the Ashkenazic Community and Some Suggested Ground Rules for the Writing of Halakhic History -
Chapter Nine The ‘Third Yeshivah of Bavel’ and the Cultural Origins of Ashkenaz—A Proposal - A Response to David Berger
- Introduction
-
Chapter Ten Between Cross and Crescent -
Chapter Eleven Halakhah, Hermeneutics, and Martyrdom in Ashkenaz -
Chapter Twelve Maimonides’ Iggeret ha-Shemad: Law and Rhetoric -
Chapter Thirteen Responses to Critiques of ‘Maimonides’ Iggeret ha-Shemad: Law and Rhetoric’ -
Chapter Fourteen Classification of Mishneh Torah: Problems Real and Imaginary -
Chapter Fifteen Mishneh Torah: Polemic and Art - Bibliography of Manuscripts
- Source Acknowledgments
- Index of Names
- Index of Places
- Index of Subjects
(p.202) A Response to David Berger
(p.202) A Response to David Berger
- Chapter:
- (p.202) A Response to David Berger
- Source:
- Collected Essays: v. 2
- Author(s):
Haym Soloveitchik
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
This chapter presents a response to Professor David Berger's queries and questions regarding the author's argument both for the existence of a Third Yeshivah in Bavel and its role in the founding of the halakhic culture of Ashkenaz. The response is divided into three sections: interpretation, language and curriculum, and finally, the founders' attitude towards the Geonim. What struck the author most in the so-called Perush Rabbenu Gershom was both its unique curriculum and the radical, new, and sweeping conception of what talmudic interpretation entails. Professor Berger and the author are in agreement that the Talmud is far too abrupt and telegraphic a text to be comprehended by simply grasping the words alone. Professor Berger also suggests that the founding fathers need not have been native Babylonians; they could well have come from elsewhere and attained the necessary knowledge of Aramaic both from studying the Targum of the Tanakh and from studying Talmud with some oral tradition.
Keywords: David Berger, Third Yeshivah, Bavel, halakhic culture, Ashkenaz, Geonim, talmudic interpretation, Talmud, Aramaic
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Dedication
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Transliteration and Conventions Used in the Text
- Introduction
-
Chapter One Agobard of Lyons, Megillat Aḥima’ats, and the Babylonian Orientation of Early Ashkenaz -
Chapter Two Dialectics, Scholasticism, and the Origin of the Tosafot -
Chapter Three Minhag Ashkenaz ha-Kadmon: An Assessment -
Chapter Four The Authority of the Babylonian Talmud and the Use of Biblical Verses and Aggadah in Early Ashkenaz -
Chapter Five On the Use of Aggadah by the Tosafists: A Response to I. M. Ta-Shma -
Chapter Six Characterizing Medieval Talmudists: A Case Study -
Chapter Seven Communications and the Palestinian Origins of Ashkenaz -
Chapter Eight The Palestinian Orientation of the Ashkenazic Community and Some Suggested Ground Rules for the Writing of Halakhic History -
Chapter Nine The ‘Third Yeshivah of Bavel’ and the Cultural Origins of Ashkenaz—A Proposal - A Response to David Berger
- Introduction
-
Chapter Ten Between Cross and Crescent -
Chapter Eleven Halakhah, Hermeneutics, and Martyrdom in Ashkenaz -
Chapter Twelve Maimonides’ Iggeret ha-Shemad: Law and Rhetoric -
Chapter Thirteen Responses to Critiques of ‘Maimonides’ Iggeret ha-Shemad: Law and Rhetoric’ -
Chapter Fourteen Classification of Mishneh Torah: Problems Real and Imaginary -
Chapter Fifteen Mishneh Torah: Polemic and Art - Bibliography of Manuscripts
- Source Acknowledgments
- Index of Names
- Index of Places
- Index of Subjects
