{"id":55240,"date":"2019-05-10T08:40:35","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T05:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55240"},"modified":"2022-12-04T15:54:43","modified_gmt":"2022-12-04T13:54:43","slug":"what-does-sinai-have-to-do-with-sisera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/what-does-sinai-have-to-do-with-sisera\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does Sinai Have To Do With Sisera?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[366,575],"acf":{"old_id":"55240","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"216","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A conflict between tradition and reason","content":"

The \u201cSong of Deborah\u201d belongs to a tradition of celebrating military victory in song that extends back to the crossing of the Red Sea. Indeed, this chapter is part of the Haftarah (additional Prophetic reading) that accompanies the weekly Torah portion of Beshalah (Exodus 13:17 ff.) that incorporates the crossing and its accompanying song. A striking distinction between the two is that the crossing of the sea, having been led by Moses, was celebrated first by him and the men (Exodus 15:1) and only later by Miriam and the women (15:20). The victory over Sisera, having been initiated by Deborah, allows her name to precede that of Barak, the male general (v. 1).<\/span><\/p>\n

One particular detail of the song is the focus of one of the most enlightening and critical disputes in medieval biblical exegesis. It pits Rashi, the embodiment of rabbinically inspired interpretation, against a younger colleague of his, Rabbi Yosef Kara, one of the earliest champions of rationally inclined analysis. The verse in question reads:<\/span><\/p>\n

Lord, when you went forth out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, earth trembled, heavens also released, yes, the clouds released water (4).<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi, basing himself on the talmudic narrative (Aggadah) that prior to offering the Torah to Israel, God had offered it to the Edomites, who had refused it, commented: \u201cThis refers to the giving of Torah.\u201d Kara countered by saying:<\/span><\/p>\n

“What place does the revelation of Torah at Sinai have here? I have reviewed all the songs recorded in Scripture about miracles that were performed for Israel and have found that they all relate to their [historical] circumstances.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, according to Kara, Scripture is deemed always to be self-sufficient for its own interpretation.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Besides, it is uncustomary for a prophet in any of the 24 [canonical] books to speak so enigmatically that we would require an aggadah to understand him.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The tension between interpretations based solely upon rabbinic tradition and those that also incorporate critical rational analysis has enriched biblical exegesis in the past and continues to do so today.<\/span><\/p>\n

image: Carl Schleicher, Eine Streitfrage aus dem Talmud<\/em>.jpg\/wikipedia (A Controversy Whatsoever on Talmud, c 1859).<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":47571,"id":47571,"title":"Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud","filename":"Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/truth-v-power\/num17-carl_schleicher_eine_streitfrage_aus_dem_talmud\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"num17-carl_schleicher_eine_streitfrage_aus_dem_talmud","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":47570,"date":"2019-01-15 10:10:59","modified":"2021-07-21 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