בג’ ניסן תשע”ד הלך חברינו היקר מר יוסף אוני לעולמו. סיום המסכת דלהלן התרחש כמה שבועות אחרי זה, באסיפת החצי־שנתית של ועידת הרבנים האורתודוקסים דמדינת אשכנז. שתהיה לנשמתו עליה.
Talmud-Schi’ur Traktat Megillá #1 (2a)
October 25, 2012Talmud für alle! Traktat Megillá des babylonischen Talmuds zugänglich gemacht. Read the rest of this entry »
Plumbing the Depths of Aggaddic Exegesis
August 20, 2012One of the texts many, many thousands upon thousands of Jews studied recently, upon the beginning of a new cycle of Daf haYomi is the exegesis on the name of one of King David’s sons:
וא”ר יוחנן לא כלאב שמו אלא דניאל שמו ולמה נקרא שמו כלאב שהיה מכלים פני מפיבשת בהלכה
R. Jochanan said: His name [of King David’s second son] was not Kileav but Daniel. Why then was he called Kileav? Because he humiliated [maklim] Mephibosheth [David’s nemesis, presented here as David’s mentor, “av”] in the Halachah.
Ostensibly, all Rabbi Jochanan does, is to make sense out of a seeming contradiction in Scripture. In II Samuel 3:3, David’s second son is called Kileav, while in the parallel accound in I Chronicles 3:1, he is called Daniel. So one name – Daniel – is his real name, while the other – Kileav – is his biblical nickname, indicating, through midrashic exegesis some essential character trait (someone who defended David against his nemesis’ and erstwhile mentor’s accusations). However, I have long found this understanding too feeble. Is that all Rabbi Jochanan bases himself on? Is that all he wants to say? Is this midrashic exegesis totally independent from the plain understanding of the Scripture? Read the rest of this entry »