Unit 2(I): What Did Moses Write? Alternative Models, Part 2 "Reading Curses"

Study Questions on Megillah 31b

**Background: Text #1 here is the Mishnah's statement, and Text #2 is the Gemara/Talmud commenting on it. Abaye (an important Amora) is offering a type of ukimta, a term we previously learned about: he tells us the specific situation where he believes the law applies.

The subject of this discussion are two sections of the Torah called Tokhechah ("Rebuke/Criticism") which contain dire warnings of punishment (or "curses") for the Israelites, if they do not keep the commandments (and, in each case, this follows a short list of blessings for keeping them).

An "aliyah," in this context is this: Each time we begin to read a new section of the Torah (there are at least seven aliyot during the Shabbat Torah reading), someone new comes up to say a blessing over the reading (and, originally, to read it themself).**

1. What do you think might be the Mishnah's rationale for not creating additional Torah reading aliyot in these sections of the Torah? (Think about the experience of reading the curses: What would it be like for the congregation? What would it be like for the person coming up to bless?)

2. Taking the words at face value, how does the sentence, "but those [in Deuteronomy] are said in the singular, and Moses said them with his own mouth" seem to address the question we asked earlier in this unit, "Is Deuteronomy Different?" Explain carefully.

Study Guide on Rashi and Tosafot

**Background: Tosafot ("Additions") were groups of scholars living primarily in France and Germany in the 12th-15th centuries who analyzed and commented on the Talmud. Many of the first Tosafists were students and descendants of Rashi, and their comments are now printed on the outside margin of the Talmud's pages, while Rashi's own commentary is printed on the inside margin.**

1. According to Rashi, why does Moses speak about God using the first person in the Leviticus curses? How do we know that Moses wasn't talking about himself?

2. If you look closely at Talmud Megillah 31a (Text #2, above), and at the language used by Rashi and Tosafot, you'll notice there are three slightly different wordings when discussing the Deuteronomy curses:

"Moses said them with his own mouth" (משה מפי עצמו אמרן)

"Moses said them on his own" (משה אמרן מאליו)

"Moses said them himself" (משה מעצמו אמרם)

Do you believe these small differences matter, or do they all mean more or less the same thing? Elaborate.

3. In your opinion, do Rashi and Tosafot agree about the way Moses wrote the curses in Deut? Explain your thinking about this.

Study Questions on Siftei Chakhamim

**Background: This is our first example of a "supercommentary," that is, a commentary written to help explain another commentary. Siftei Chakhamim ("The Lips of the Sages") was written by Shabbetai Bass Strom (17th-18th cent., Prague + Amsterdam) as a commentary to Rashi's work on the Torah. Shabbetai made use of many earlier explanations of Rashi, as well as his own analysis. In addition to his scholarly writing, he was also a singer, a printer, and a bibliographer (cataloguing over two thousand Jewish books). He accomplished these things despite the fact that both his parents were murdered in a pogrom when he was only 15. Shabbetai himself was also persecuted later in life by Christians for his efforts to publish Jewish books.**

1. Which previous text that we have studied is S. C. probably referring to when he mentions, "what is stated [in the Talmud] that Moses did not invent even one letter of the Torah on his own"?

2. What interpretation of Rashi on Megillah 31b is S. C. trying to avoid?

3. Here S. C. quotes the Tosafot which is our Text #5. But is his own interpretation the same as Tosafot's or different? If the same, explain how. If different, which one of them puts more emphasis on the independent role of Moses?