For generations stories have been retold. This article focuses on Kalmin's book of stories and how many stories are interpreted. The focus on Kalmin's book is for the historical content to fit that time period. He explains the transmission and migration through his book. For example, the non-rabbinic traditions from the Roman East ended up in the Babylonian Talmud, and rabbinic teachings that went to Rome. He also discusses the role of the rabbis was not always the leader but they sought power within the community. His book reinforces the power of written communication and how it changes throughout time.
Written communication assuredly changes people's interpretations of it over time, but the words stay identical. Only the oral Torah physically changes in its language, but the written Torah has essentially not been edited for thousands of years. Attempting to comprehend ancient text today seems a Sisyphian task, with barely any parallels to modern times. Commentary and the Mishnah Torah certainly make our lives easier, but it is impossible to follow the letter of the law today, and Jews grow ever distant from the original Torah.
ReplyDeleteI really liked and agreed with what you had to say. Once the oral torah was written down by Yehuda it became the Mishna. This was good because we now had a way to remember the oral total, but it also meant we could not change it as society progressed. This is why it is still so important to interpret it as it is not caught up with our current time period. However, we have to learn how to interpret without losing sight of the actual torah for fear of assimilation.
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