Torah: Written and Oral

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Torah Written and Oral
Unit 8 Early Rabbinic Writings Pirke Avot 26
March and 2 April

• David Weiss Halivni, The Oral Law, Why Isnt the
  Written Law Sufficient? 19 November, 2006, York
  University

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Unit 8 Early Rabbinic Writings Pirke Avot

• What is the Mishnah?
• The Mishnah, of which Pirke Avot is a part
  (19/1134 in Jacob Neusners translation Yale
  University Press, 1988), is the foundation of
  classical rabbinic Judaisms text, the Talmud.

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Unit 8 Early Rabbinic Writings Pirke Avot

• Outline
• The Ten Questions
• CS Cross-cultural comparison of traditions
  death
• CS Rhetorical Criticism Avot
• Interpretation

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Unit 8 Early Rabbinic Writings Pirke Avot

• Thesis
• The text becomes salvific in the interpretation
  traditionalized by the text.