Table Of ContentRabbinic Discourse as a System of Knowledge
Philosophy of Religion
World Religions
Editor in Chief
Jerome Gellman (Ben Gurion University)
Editorial Board
Pamela Anderson (University of Oxford)
Richard Hayes (University of New Mexico)
Robert McKim (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
Rusmir Mahmutćehajić (Međunarodni forum Bosna/
International Forum Bosnia)
Volume 5
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/prwr
Rabbinic Discourse
as a System of Knowledge
“The Study of Torah is Equal to Them All”
By
Hannah E. Hashkes
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: Menaḥot 29b of the Babylonian Talmud, Frankfurt on the Main 1720–1722 print edition.
Image courtesy of the Schocken Institute for Jewish Research of the Jewish Theological Seminary of
America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hashkes, Hannah E., author.
Rabbinic discourse as a system of knowledge : the study of Torah is equal to them all / by Hannah E.
Hashkes.
pages cm. — (Philosophy of religion. World religions, ISSN 2210-481X ; volume 5)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-29047-1 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-29048-8 (e-book)
1. Jewish philosophy—21st century. I. Title.
B5800.H37 2015
181'.06—dc23
2014048901
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual ‘Brill’ typeface. With over 5,100 characters
covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities.
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ISSN 2210-481X
ISBN 978-90-04-29047-1 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-29048-8 (e-book)
Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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'הבַּ יבִּלִ ץלַעָ
1:ב ,א לאומש
․․․
My heart rejoices in the Lord
1 Samuel 2:1
․․․
- הרישו ,הכימ ,ליגיבא ,ליא ,סחנפל
ילִ םכֶ תְ בַ הֲ אַ האָ לָפְ נִ
26:א ,ב לאומש לע ססובמ
․․․
To Pinchas, Eyal, Avigail, Micha, and Shira
Your love for me is wonderful
Based on 2 Samuel 1:26
∵
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 Preface 1
2 A Cohesive Concept of Rabbinic Judaism: A Philosophical
Theology 6
3 Approaches in Jewish Thought since Modernity 10
4 An Epistemological Model for Torah Study 23
5 Components of an Epistemological Model of Religious
Reasoning 27
5.1 The Linguistic Turn and Hermeneutics 28
5.2 The Communal Nature of Knowledge 30
5.3 Rejection of Dualism 33
6 Subject Matter and Methods: Torah Study and Textual
Reasoning 39
1 God Transcendent and Immanent
Rabbinic Discourse and the Conceptualization of God 46
1.1 Introduction 46
1.2 Peirce’s Pragmatism: An Epistemological Background 48
1.3 God in the Bible 56
1.4 God without Being 67
1.5 Jean-Luc Marion: God, Self and Love 72
1.6 Emmanuel Levinas: God, Self, and Moral Command 79
1.7 God in Rabbinic World 85
1.7.1 God as a Commanding Other 85
1.7.2 Midrash 86
1.7.3 Midrash and Court of Law 90
1.8 Destruction and Prayer: The House of Assembly 99
1.9 Conclusion 107
2 Torah Study
The Logical Space of Bet Hamidrash 111
2.1 Introduction 111
2.2 Torah Study as a Field of Meaning: The Postliberal and Aftermodern
Theological Contexts 113
viii contents
2.3 Belief and Knowledge in Contemporary Epistemology 124
2.3.1 Holism 128
2.3.2 Interpretation 133
2.3.3 Objectivity 135
2.4 Belief and Knowledge in Rational Discourse 138
2.5 Belief and Knowledge in Rabbinic Discourse 142
2.6 The Torah as a Communal System of Meaning 149
2.7 Torah Study in Rabbinic Tradition 157
2.8 Conclusion 175
3 Autonomy, Community, and the Jewish Self 182
3.1 Introduction 182
3.2 Heteronomy, Autonomy and Thought 186
3.3 Personal Freedom 191
3.4 Eugene Borowitz: A Covenantal Notion of Judaism 196
3.5 Freedom and Religious Communities 207
4 Torah’s Seventy Faces
Authority and Hermeneutics in Rabbinic Discourse 215
4.1 Introduction 215
4.2 Torah’s Seventy Faces: Three Models 224
4.2.1 The Referential Model 227
4.2.2 The Self-Referential Model 233
4.2.3 An Interactive Model of Torah’s Formation 236
4.3 Conclusion: Rabbinic Authority and Hermeneutics 248
Conclusion 254
Bibliography 261
Index 272
Acknowledgments
A Hebrew poet named Raḥel, who immigrated to Palestine in 1909 and died
at the age of 40 of tuberculosis, compared herself to an ant combating ele-
ments and blind cruelty in her futile journey to fulfill her ambitious dreams.1
I became intimately familiar with this image after teaching her poem “I have
only known . . .” to my high school students. It taught me one of the most
important lessons for life. I follow the ants. Like Ra ʾhel’s ants I see my way to
“the top of the tree” as a “a way of pain and struggle” that could end in frustra-
tion. Like Ra’hel I set lofty goals for myself; I am tempted by “distant beacons;”
I search for “miraculous lands.” What I learned from the ants is to take only one
step at a time. Whenever I imagine the enormity of a task, or when I consider
quitting, I remember the ants; and I summon just enough energy to take the
next step. And I pray to God.
Thankfully, I am spared the obstruction of arbitrariness, malice and con-
tempt; but obstacles I know closely. I thank God for the blessings that enabled
me to complete this book. Indeed, it took a tremendous amount of emotional
and intellectual energy to do so. I thank God also for sending many good peo-
ple in my way, without which I can’t imagine arriving at this stage. They have
enriched my world and taught me much of what I know. Without their faith,
support, and encouragement, I could not have done it.
In an important sense the story of this project is the story of women empow-
ering each other, a force discovered by many of us in this feminist age. Thus,
I begin this list of tributes with acknowledging the circle of female supporters
I had the privilege of encountering at various points of my journey.
My Ph.D. behind me, I told my friend Shulamit Magnus, Professor of Jewish
history at Oberlin College, about the challenges of getting started with the
project of exploring Pragmatist theological thought. With no hesitation she
offered her help. “Just put your thoughts on paper, and I will give you the feed-
back you need to get started,” she said. That attempt to give my thoughts some
coherence turned into the rough draft of my first formulation of the ideas in
the basis of this book. Shulamit’s experienced and wise voice enabled me to
turn my thinking into academic work and to write “Torah Study as a Reality
Check: a Close Reading of a Midrash.”2
1 Ra ʾhel Bluwstein, “I have only known . . .,” in Flowers of Perhaps: Selected Poems of Ra ʾhel,
trans. Robert Friend (London: Menard Press, 1995), 46.
2 Hannah Hashkes, “Studying Torah as a Reality Check,” Journal of Jewish Thought and
Philosophy, 2:16 (2008), 151.
x Acknowledgments
Another well-needed encouragement appearing at the right time came in
the person of Amy Burzinski, of Cleveland, Ohio. I met Amy in her role as coun-
selor at my children’s Junior High school. As a mother of four and clinical social
worker, Amy sympathized with the challenges facing a woman jumpstarting
a career in a fairly advanced stage. She suggested we start our own women’s
empowerment group, and with her expertise and knowledge our meetings gave
me precisely the encouragement I needed. I thank her, Mia Euton Goldstein,
and Rebecca Bar-Shain for telling me what I needed to hear: “You have it; just
sit down and write.” Rebecca remains a close friend who never fails to make me
feel marvelous about myself. I also wish to thank Yael Shenker, Vered Nuriel-
Porat, Debbie Zimmerman, Yocheved Raskind, Leah Herzog, Robin Avery, and
Sarah Snyder for providing the priceless female comradery so necessary for the
juggling of family and careers common to women today. Among these I owe a
special mention to Penina de Hartog for being part of my life for so many years.
The value of our close friendship exceeds any superlatives I can think of. Thank
you, ladies, for having so much faith in me.
Another woman whose scholarly input and availability has been of immense
value is Professor Tamar Ross. Tamar’s scholarship, her firm religious commit-
ment, her intellectual courage and integrity are a guiding light in my search for
direction.
I would also like to thank those who provided the academic settings for my
research and writing. First, I owe special mention to Dr. Yoram Hazony, founder
and president of the Herzl Institute and former founder and president of the
Shalem Center in Jerusalem. The research time I was given, first on a Shalem
post-doctoral fellowship and then on a Templeton fellowship made this proj-
ect possible. Yoram’s advice that I begin writing a book is the direct cause for
the product you see here today.
At the Shalem Center, Jerusalem, now Shalem College, I also met Dr. Josh
Weinstein. Josh’s sharp and informed brain made our philosophical corridor
discussions, while brewing and consuming high quality espresso, a valuable
exercise in thinking, as well as a source for refining my line of argument.
Many thanks to Professor Menachem Kellner of Shalem College who took
it upon himself to mentor me through the academic publishing maze, kindly
read my papers, and made important suggestions for their improvement.
Finally I would like to mention in this list of my former Shalem colleagues
and present friends Rabbi Isaac Lifshitz, or, as his acquaintances know him,
Rav Yitzhak. Rav Yitzhak is a Talmid Ḥakham (rabbinic scholar) and prolific
intellectual, but above all he is a mensch. His support of the path of my religious
