Avot de-Rabbi Nathan

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Avot de-Rabbi Nathan ( Hebrew אבות דרבי נתןabbreviated ARN ) is a rabbinical commentary on the Mishnah Avot that has been preserved in two main versions and is one of the extra-canonical treatises that are printed in the appendix to the Babylonian Talmud , usually as an appendix to the order Nesiqin .

Content and versions

Avot de-Rabbi Nathan is a commentary on the mixed natractate Avot (“Proverbs of the Fathers”), which he quotes and interprets in the style of a midrash . It does not contain any provisions on the Jewish religious law, the Halacha , but only aggadic material: wisdom sayings by rabbis , stories, ornamental interpretations of the Bible, sayings of numbers and the like.

Avot de-Rabbi Nathan has come down to us in two main versions, some of which differ considerably in terms of scope and structure. Version A is divided into 41 chapters, but is considerably longer than the 48 chapters of Version B. According to Solomon Schechter , the following rough structure can be made out: ARN A 1–18 / B 1–30 offer a midrash on the mixed natractic, which they comment on in detail and provided with several interpretations, seasoned with biblical quotations. Chapters 20–30 (A) and 31–35 (B), on the other hand, are more similar to Avot himself in that they only quote sayings of the rabbis and dispense with further interpretations. The final chapters 31-41 (A) and 36-48 (B) list a number of numerical sayings analogous to Avot chapter 5 and expand them with their own material. The structure of the number sayings usually resembles the following example:

“There are four character traits in women, but not in men: women are voracious, jealous, lazy and secretly listen. How do we know they are voracious? It is written: “And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and she took of its fruit…” (Gen 3,6) How do we know…? [The other characteristics are dealt with in the same way.] Rabbi Jossi says: Just as there are four character traits in women, there are also four character traits in men: men are voracious, jealous, lazy and secretly listen. How do we know they are voracious? It is written: “And they sat to eat bread…” (Gen 37:25) How do we know…? [The other properties are dealt with in the same way.] "

- Avot de-Rabbi Nathan, version B, chapter 45

Both ARN versions differ from each other and from Mishnah Avot in terms of the text and the arrangement of the material. Much material from the mixed natractic, especially from Chapter 6, is not included in the ARN. In contrast, ARN brings the rabbis' sayings into a chronologically correct sequence. Basically, the structure is designed in parallel. What all versions have in common - in ARN after a short preface - is the introduction with a representation of the transmission chain for the oral and written Torah . It begins with Moses on Sinai and leads through the men of the great assembly at the time of Ezra and the five couples to Hillel and Shammai and finally to the rabbis in the time after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem .

Literary character, writer and age

Avot de-Rabbi Nathan is written in a Hebrew that is similar to the Mishnah language level. Almost only teachers of the Mishnah ( Tannaim ), but no teachers of the Talmud ( Amoraim ), are cited as rabbinical authorities . Based on these observations, ARN was characterized as Tosefta zu Avot or as Baraita . Judah Goldin and Anthony J. Saldarini, on the other hand, speak of a midrash, while Günter Stemberger and Hans-Jürgen Becker are cautious about such classifications. The latter speaks neutrally of a “rabbinical compilation”.

Schechter assumed that the different versions of ARN can be traced back to a common original text . J. Goldin, on the other hand, suspects two different forms of the oral tradition. In version A, the main idea is to study the Torah, while version B is primarily concerned with the meritorious works. In relation to Mishnah Avot, L. Finkelstein suspects that the ARN underlying template is also an older preliminary stage of the text contained in the Mishnah. For Becker, the “Urtext” category is absolutely not applicable to rabbinical works.

The attribution to a Rabbi Nathan contained in the title of the work remains - as in almost all rabbinical works - unclear. There is a well-known Tannaite with this name, but a special relationship between him and the work cannot be established. It is also possible that the naming can be traced back to the fact that Rabbi Nathan, according to Version A, is the first to raise his own question in the style of the Midrash and answer it in an interpretative way:

“R. Nathan said: Why did Moses stay (on Mount Sinai) for six whole days without the speech (of God) being on him? So that he could get rid of all eating and drinking in his bowels until the hour when he was sanctified and equal to the angels on duty. "

- Avot de-Rabbi Nathan, version A 1.3

Since Avot de-Rabbi Nathan was mostly printed together with the other small tracts, they were seen as a unit and generally dated to the post-Talmudic period. The comparison with Mishnah Avot suggests, however, that at least one core of ARN goes back to the 3rd century. On the other hand, Stemberger argues for a separate consideration of the two versions, of which version B is undoubtedly the older. It can be dated with M. Lerner towards the end of the 3rd century, whereas version A is more likely to be assigned to the late seventh or early eighth century.

Text witnesses

Version a

Avot de-Rabbi Nathan (version A) was first printed in 1550 by Justiniani in Venice as part of the so-called “extra-canonical” tracts of the Babylonian Talmud. This print already has the division into 41 chapters, only by mistakenly using the chapter number 24 twice, the treatise ends with chapter 40. The text is handwritten in four complete and five only partially preserved manuscripts. They date from the 15th to 17th centuries, only manuscript Vatican 44 possibly dates back to the 14th century. There are also a smaller number of fragments from the Cairo Geniza .

Version B

Three manuscripts are known by Avot de-Rabbi Nathan (version B), of which Vatican Manuscript 303 offers the most complete text, whereby the writer can be shown to have made numerous careless mistakes. In contrast, manuscript Parma 2785 is more carefully written, but has a preservation gap. The third manuscript, München 222, often differs in comparison and offers a strongly abbreviated text, in the later chapters only a selection. There are also a few Geniza fragments for version B, although most of them are barely legible and do little to clarify the text.

expenditure

  • Solomon Schechter (Ed.): Aboth de Rabbi Nathan. Edited from Manuscripts with an Introduction, Notes and Appendices. Vienna 1887 (Hebrew; reprints Hildesheim 1979, ISBN 3-487-06737-4 , and New York 1997, ISBN 965-456-023-2 ).
  • Marc Bregmann: An Early Fragment of Avot deRabbi Natan from a Scroll. In: Tarbiz . 52 (1982/83), ISSN  0334-3650 , pp. 201-222, JSTOR 23595970 (Hebrew with English abstract).
  • Hans-Jürgen Becker (Hrsg.): Geniza fragments for Avot de-Rabbi Natan (= texts and studies on ancient Judaism. Volume 103). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2004, ISBN 3-16-148325-1 .
  • Hans-Jürgen Becker (Ed.) In collaboration with Christoph Berner: Avot de-Rabbi Nathan /אבות דרבי נתן. Mahadurah sinopṭit shel shete ha-girsot. Synoptic edition of both versions (= texts and studies on ancient Judaism. Volume 116). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2006, ISBN 3-16-148887-3 (Hebrew).

Translations

Version a

  • Francis Taylor: Tractatus de patribus Rabbi Nathane autore. In linguam Latinam translatus, una cum notis marginalibus… opera. London 1654.
  • Kaim Pollak: Rabbi Nathan's system of ethics and morals. Budapest 1905.
  • Judah Goldin: The Fathers according to Rabbi Nathan. New Haven 1955.
  • Jacob Neusner : The Fathers according to Rabbi Nathan: An Analytical Translation and Explanation. Atlanta 1986.
  • María Angeles Navarro Peiró: Abot de Rabbí Natán. Valencia 1987, ISBN 84-86067-17-0 .

Version B

  • Anthony J. Saldarini: The Fathers according to Rabbi Nathan (Abot de Rabbi Nathan) Version B. A Translation and Commentary (= Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity. Volume 11). Brill, Leiden 1975, ISBN 90-04-04294-6 (English).
  • Hans-Jürgen Becker (Ed.): Avot de-Rabbi Natan B (= Texts and studies in ancient Judaism. Volume 162). Translated from the Hebrew by Hans-Jürgen Becker. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-16-154088-2 , urn : nbn: de: 101: 1-201708063957 (based on the oldest and most completely preserved manuscript MS Parma 2785 [= de Rossi 327, Spain 1289], supplemented by MS Vatican 303 [Italy, 15th century]; partly synopsis of variants; text-critical apparatus).

literature

  • Louis Finkelstein: Introduction to the Treatises Abot and Abot of Rabbi Nathan. New York 1950 (Hebrew).
  • Judah Goldin: The two Versions of Abot de Rabbi Nathan. In: Hebrew Union College Annual. Volume 19, 1945/46, pp. 97-120.
  • Menachem Kister: Studies in Avot de-Rabbi Nathan. Text, Redaction and Interpretation. Jerusalem 1998, ISBN 965-217-148-4 (Hebrew).
  • Günter Stemberger : Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash. 8th edition. Beck, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-406-36695-3 , pp. 224-226.
  • Leopold Zunz : The worship lectures of the Jews developed historically. 2nd Edition. Frankfurt am Main 1892, pp. 114–116.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ See Solomon Schechter: Aboth de Rabbi Nathan (see editions ), p. XVI f.
  2. ↑ Cf. David Hoffmann: The first Mishnah and the controversies of the Tannaim. Berlin 1882, p. 27.
  3. ↑ See Leopold Zunz: The worship lectures of the Jews historically developed (see literature), p. 114; Chanoch Albeck : Introduction to the Mishnah. Berlin 1971, p. 410.
  4. ↑ Cf. Günter Stemberger: Introduction to Talmud and Midrash (see literature), p. 225.
  5. ↑ See Hans-Jürgen Becker: Avot de-Rabbi Nathan (see editions ), SV
  6. ↑ See Solomon Schechter: Aboth de Rabbi Nathan (see editions ), pp. XX – XXIV.
  7. ↑ See Judah Goldin: The two Versions of Abot de Rabbi Nathan (see literature), p. 98 f.
  8. ↑ See Louis Finkelstein: Introduction to the Treatises Abot and Abot of Rabbi Nathan (see literature), p. 4 f.
  9. ↑ See Hans-Jürgen Becker: Avot de-Rabbi Nathan (see editions ), p. IX, note 3.
  10. ↑ Cf. Leopold Zunz: The worship lectures of the Jews historically developed (see literature), p. 116.
  11. ↑ Cf. Günter Stemberger: Introduction to Talmud and Midrash (see literature), p. 226.
  12. ↑ See Myron B. Lerner: External Tractates. In: Shmuel Safrai (ed.): The Literature of the Sages. Volume 1: Oral Tora, Halakha, Mishna, Tosefta, Talmud, External Tractates (= Compendia rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum. Section 2: Literature of the Jewish people in the period of the Second Temple and the Talmud. Volume 3). Royal Van Gorcum, Assen 1987, ISBN 0-8006-0605-1 , pp. 367-403, here p. 378.
  13. ↑ a b See in detail Hans-Jürgen Becker: Avot de-Rabbi Nathan (see editions ), p. X f.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on October 24, 2007 .