Rabbinic Authority : The Authority of the Talmudic Sages

The Rabbis of the first five centuries of the Common Era loom large in the Jewish tradition. Until the modern period, Jews viewed the Rabbinic traditions as the authoritative contents of their covenant with God, and scholars debated the meanings of these ancient Sages words. Even after the eighteenth century, when varied denominations emerged within Judaism, each with its own approach to the tradition, the literary legacy of the talmudic Sages continued to be consulted. In this book, Michael S. Berger analyzes the notion of Rabbinic authority from a philosophical standpoint. He sets out a typology of theories that can be used to understand the authority of these Sages, showing the coherence of each, its strengths and weaknesses, and what aspects of the Rabbinic enterprise it covers. His careful and thorough analysis reveals that owing to the multifaceted character of the Rabbinic enterprise, no single theory is adequate to fully ground Rabbinic authority as traditionally understood. The final section of the book argues that the notion of Rabbinic authority may indeed have been transformed over time, even as it retained the original name. Drawing on the debates about legal hermeneutics between Ronald Dworkin and Stanley Fish, Berger introduces the idea that Rabbinic authority is not a strict consequence of a preexisting theory, but rather is embedded in a form of life that includes text, interpretation, and practices. Rabbinic authority is shown to be a nuanced concept unique to Judaism, in that it is taken to justify those sorts of activities which in turn actually deepen the authority itself. Students of Judaism and philosophers of religion in general will be intrigued by this philosophical examination of a central issue of Judaism, conducted with unprecedented rigor and refreshing creative insight. Rabbinic Authority 1 PREFACE 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 8 CONTENTS 10 INTRODUCTION 11 One— The Domains of Divine Revelation and Rabbinic Activity and Their Relationship 24 The Range of Rabbinic Activity 25 Clarification of Biblical Law 25 Resolution of Disputes 26 Legislation 27 Nonhalakhic Biblical Exegesis 27 Rabbinic Advice on Nonlegal Matters 27 The Relationship of Divine Revelation and Rabbinic Activity 28 Minimalist Notions of Revelation 28 Maximalist Notions of Revelation 31 Rabbinic Legislation 32 PART I— INSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY OF THE TALMUDIC SAGES 34 Two— "The Judge in Charge at the Time": Rabbinic Authority As Divine Command 37 Background 37 Jurisdiction 39 The Sages as "the Judge" 41 Implications of an Interpretation of Indeterminacy 43 Summary 45 Three— The Sages as the Sanhedrin 46 An Overview of the Sanhedrin: History and Functions 47 The Sages As Substitutes for the Sanhedrin 49 The Sages as a Continuation of the Sanhedrin 51 The Babylonian Amoraim and the Sanhedrin 55 Summary 57 Four— Ordination: Standing in the Sandals of Moses 58 A Brief Overview of Semikhah 59 The Nature of Semikhah 60 Ordination As Substitution 63 Semikhah in the Pentateuch 63 The Nature of Moses' Authority 65 Implications for the Sages' Authority 66 Ordination As Substitution 66 One Court, Two Roles 68 Summary 69 The Issue of Error 70 PART II— PERSONAL QUALITIES OF THE TALMUDIC SAGES 74 Five— The Rabbis as Experts 77 Epistemic Authority: An Analysis 77 Realms of Rabbinic Activity That Relate to Expertise 79 The Rationality and Legitimacy of Seeing the Talmudic Sages As Experts 81 Rabbinic Legislation 81 Rabbinic Exegesis 83 Summary 85 Epistemic Authority in the Jewish Tradition: A Postscript 86 Six— The Divinely Guided Sages 87 Maximalist Revelation and Rabbinic Transmission or Recovery 87 Divinely Inspired Sages 90 Dependence on the Determinacy of the Divine Will 90 Difficulties with Postulating the Sages' Divine Inspiration 92 Hashgahah* Peratit—Divine Providence 95 Summary 98 PART III— RABBINIC AUTHORITY AS AUTHORITY TRANSFORMED 101 Seven— The Authority of Publicly Accepted Practice 104 Analysis of the Maimonidean Position 105 "Rabbinic Authority" or the "Authority of Rabbinic Practices"? 106 Rabbinic Authority As the Authority of the Local Court 108 Authority Transformed 110 Summary 116 Eight— The Authority of Texts 117 Accepting a Text in Jewish Law 118 Understanding Textual Authority 119 Implications of Textual Authority 128 Historical Contingency 128 Community of Scholars 129 Attitude toward Historical-Critical Study 130 "Authority Spreads to Fill Its Container" 132 Summary 134 Nine— Rethinking Authority: Interpretive Communities and Forms of Life 135 Texts and the Authority of Interpretive Communities 135 Fish-ing for a Model of Legal Interpretation 138 Reading Rabbinic Texts 144 Interpretive Communities and Jewish Denominations 150 Summary 153 CONCLUSION 156 NOTES 159 Preface 159 Introduction 159 Chapter 1 164 Preface to Part I 167 Chapter 2 168 Chapter 3 171 Chapter 4 178 Preface to Part II 184 Chapter 5 184 Chapter 6 188 Chapter 7 193 Chapter 8 197 Chapter 9 203 BIBLIOGRAPHY 207 INDEX 216 A 216 B 217 C 217 D 218 E 218 F 219 G 219 H 219 I 220 J 220 K 221 L 221 M 221 N 222 O 223 P 223 R 224 S 224 T 226 U 226 V 226 W 226 Y 227 Z 227

The Rabbis of the first five centuries of the Common Era loom large in the Jewish tradition. Until the modern period, Jews viewed the Rabbinic traditions as the authoritative contents of their covenant with God, and scholars debated the meanings of these ancient Sages words. Even after the eighteenth century, when varied denominations emerged within Judaism, each with its own approach to the tradition, the literary legacy of the talmudic Sages continued to be consulted.

In this book, Michael S. Berger analyzes the notion of Rabbinic authority from a philosophical standpoint. He sets out a typology of theories that can be used to understand the authority of these Sages, showing the coherence of each, its strengths and weaknesses, and what aspects of the Rabbinic enterprise it covers. His careful and thorough analysis reveals that owing to the multifaceted character of the Rabbinic enterprise, no single theory is adequate to fully ground Rabbinic authority as traditionally understood.

The final section of the book argues that the notion of Rabbinic authority may indeed have been transformed over time, even as it retained the original name. Drawing on the debates about legal hermeneutics between Ronald Dworkin and Stanley Fish, Berger introduces the idea that Rabbinic authority is not a strict consequence of a preexisting theory, but rather is embedded in a form of life that includes text, interpretation, and practices. Rabbinic authority is shown to be a nuanced concept unique to Judaism, in that it is taken to justify those sorts of activities which in turn actually deepen the authority itself.

Students of Judaism and philosophers of religion in general will be intrigued by this philosophical examination of a central issue of Judaism, conducted with unprecedented rigor and refreshing creative insight.

"In this book, Michael S. Berger analyzes the notion of Rabbinic authority from a philosophical standpoint. He sets out a typology of theories that can be used to understand the authority of these Sages, showing the coherence of each, its strengths and weaknesses, and what aspects of the Rabbinic enterprise it covers. His careful and thorough analysis reveals that owing to the multifaceted character of the Rabbinic enterprise, no single theory is adequate to fully ground Rabbinic authority as traditionally understood." "Students of Judaism and philosophers of religion in general will be intrigued by this philosophical examination of a central issue of Judaism."--Jacket