Torah in the Mouth: Writing and Oral Tradition in Palestinian Judaism, 200 BCE-400 CE, by Martin S. Jaffee

Alexander, Loveday, Shofar

New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 242 pp. $49.95.

Jaffee's detailed and richly-textured study provides a fascinating account of the rabbinic doctrine of Oral Torah, placed firmly within the broader context of orality and literacy in the Mediterranean world of Greco-Roman antiquity. Part I deals with the role of oral tradition in Second Temple scribalism, looking first at the social settings in which scribal orality functioned (Ch. 1), then in turn at patterns of performative reading and text interpretation among two Jewish groups from the Second Temple period, the Qumran sectaries (Ch. 2) and the Pharisees (Ch. 3). Here Jaffee professes his debt to classic studies of …

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Publication information: Article title: Torah in the Mouth: Writing and Oral Tradition in Palestinian Judaism, 200 BCE-400 CE, by Martin S. Jaffee. Contributors: Alexander, Loveday - Author. Journal title: Shofar. Volume: 23. Issue: 2 Publication date: Winter 2005. Page number: 156. © Not available. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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