Six memos from the last millennium: a novelist reads the Talmud

265 Pages·2016·8.211 MB·English

by  Skibell, Joseph

Six MeMoS fro M the LaSt MiLLenniuM
expL oring JewiSh artS and Cu Lture
Robert H. Abzug, Series Editor
Director of the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies
Jews in the realms of the arts and culture have imagined extraordinary
worlds and shaped dominant cultures in ways that are only now being
fully recognized and studied. The books in this series, produced by
established scholars and artists, will further this revelation and make
substantive contributions to both scholarly and public understandings
of art, drama, literature, photography, film, dance, music, foodways, cul-
tural studies, and other expressions of humanity as filtered through the
Jewish experience, both secular and religious.
Six Memos froM the
Last Millennium
a n oveLi St readS the t aLM ud
By Joseph Skibell
University of Texas Press
Austin
Copyright © 2016 by Joseph Skibell
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 2016
Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be
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♾ The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of
anSi/niSo Z39.48- 1992 (r1997) (Permanence of Paper).
Library of CongreSS CataLoguing- in- pubLiCation data
Skibell, Joseph, author.
 Six memos from the last millennium : a novelist reads the Talmud / by
Joseph Skibell. — First edition.
  pages  cm — (Exploring Jewish arts and culture)
 iSbn 978- 1- 4773- 0734- 2 (cloth : alk. paper)
 iSbn 978- 1- 4773- 0735- 9 (library e- book)
 iSbn 978- 1- 4773- 0736- 6 (non- library e- book)
1. Talmud—Biography. 2. Tannaim—Biography. 3. Amoraim—
Biography. I. Title. II. Series : Exploring Jewish arts and culture.
 bM501.15.S55 2016
 296.1′20092—dc23
 [b] 2015020373
doi: 10.7560/307342
For my uncle
Richard Skibell
and in memory of my uncles
Leslie Lezan
Bernard Skibell
and
David Skibell
.הדשה אצנ ידוד הכל
בי:ז -- םירישה ריש
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ContentS
A Note on the Title ix
Acknowledgments xi
A Novelist Reads the Talmud: An Introduction xiii
Timeline of Relevant Events, According to Rabbinic Tradition xxi
MeMo one. Rabbi Yohanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish 1
Chapter 1. Eros and Alchemy in the Waters of the Jordan 3
MeMo two. Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai 41
Chapter 2. Turning the Hearts of Fathers 44
MeMo three a, b, and c. Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Shimon,
Rabbi Pinhas ben Yair, and Rabbi Judah ben Gerim 75
Chapter 3. Towards the Hearts of Sons 82
MeMo four. Rabban Gamliel II of Yavneh, Rabbi Joshua ben
Hananiah, and Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus 117
Chapter 4. The Gate of a Broken Heart 124
MeMo five. Rabbi Akiva, Shimon ben Azzai, Shimon ben Zoma,
and Elisha ben Avuyah 169
Chapter 5. Revelation, Retribution, Perdition, Ecstasy, and
Bliss: An Epic Canvas 170
Endnotes 219
Glossary 235
vii
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a n ote on the titLe
itaLo CaLvino Spent the better part of 1985 pre-
paring to deliver the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard.
The great Italian novelist died before he could pres ent his talks,
and though he’d completed only five of the six lectures he had
planned, the work was published the following year under its in-
tended title, Six Memos for the Next Millennium.
According to the Hebrew calendar—which, unlike its Grego-
rian counterpart, moves in only one direction—the current year
is 5776. In other words: we’re deep into the sixth millennium.
The Talmud was closed, by its editors, around 4235 (475 Ce),
and with Calvino in mind—his playful erudition has long been a
beacon for me—I’ve come to think of the stories I discuss in this
book as memos from an unnamed writer working in the hinge-
time between the fourth and fifth millennia.
Hence: Six Memos from the Last Millennium.
And in deference to the tradition created unintentionally by
Calvino—a cosmicomic baker’s half- dozen in reverse: five pieces
for the price of six—I’ve included only five chapters here.
ix