483) What Are We Supposed To Be Doing on Tisha B'Av?

Another guest post by Rabbi Boruch Clinton

We all know the things we can’t do on Tisha B’Av. But just not doing stuff can’t be the whole story. The real point, I suppose, is the mourning. But how does that happen?

The poskim (אורח חיים תקנ”ד) point to a custom to avoid labor (מלאכה) and business (בפרקמטיה). That, no doubt, is to keep us from being distracted from the mourning. We’re also expected to refrain from learning most Torah sources as it’s assumed those will give us joy.

The tefilos and kinnos are certainly there to help us focus on this specific flavor of mourning. But tefilos don’t take that much time, and the kinnos - even when properly understood - are relatively modern: it’s unlikely that any of them is older than 1,000 years, and it’s only very recently that we began reciting the “whole book” regardless of our individual family traditions. So how did our ancestors from previous centuries actually fill the day?

472) Expanding on Rabbinic Distinctions Between the Titles and Texts of the Psalms

 

Psalms in the Aleppo Codex showing spacing after the paratexts

                         Abstract

This article examines how the subtle ‘textual framing’ embedded within the titles and headings of texts, and can affect texts even before they are read. Using the Psalms as a point of departure, 116 of the 150 psalms, begin with introductory titles or superscriptions also known as paratexts. An example of a paratext would be “Lamenatzeach – For the Choirmaster; or “Livenei Korach – For the sons of Korach. Depending on the editions, these paratexts are often distinguished from the base or main text of the Psalms by some form of spacing to indicate that they were not part of the original text. The purpose of these paratexts was to frame the Psalms for the reader. We first show how the Talmudic rabbis dealt with these paratexts by either heeding, ignoring, altering or challenging them. Then we attempt to extend and analogise this rabbinic approach and apply it to the ubiquitous ‘paratexts’ or ‘framing devices’ inherent, not only in the Psalms but within the presentation of all forms of theology in general. In other words, we look at the important but often unnoticed ways religion is framed and presented to the people. We also note a contemporary example of paratextual framing in a recently published popular edition of the Hebrew Psalms, which subtly interpolates a Jewish messianic reading into its English “explanatory translation.” Essentially, this study explores the paratext as an idiom for the general framing devices of religious ideology and suggests similar multifaceted responses as those adopted by the rabbis in their relationship to Psalm framing.

357) Tehillim as a Rebellion against the Monarchy

                                       Political and Theological tensions in the Siddur

Introduction

In this article, I propose that the early to central section of the Shacharit (morning prayer) service, known as Pesukei Dezimra - incorporated into the Siddur (prayer book)  only at around the 10^th to 11^th centuries - was related to the decline and eventual demise of the office of the Reish Galuta (Exilarch), occurring at that time. The Reish Galuta had overwhelming religious, political and social powers, indeed mirroring the status of a Jewish king. The general tenor of the Pesukei Dezimra (essentially comprising the last six psalms of Sefer Tehillim) is one of rebellion against, and minimising the role of, the monarchy and drawing focus, instead, towards a divine Kingship. In other words, it was a reaction against human intervention and intercession in a theology that was supposed to be monotheistic.

Simply put, this is an attempt at answering why it was that specifically the last six psalms of Sefer Tehillim were chosen to be inserted into an already well-established Siddur, at that late juncture in history. Was it a “re-enactment” of why those types of psalms were instituted in the first place when the parallel and original biblical monarchy was also in decline?

Although I do draw on previous scholarship (in Part I), this hypothesis (in Part II) is my own and any shortcomings or inaccuracies are entirely my own.

355) R. Moshe Ibn Gigatila: The Psalms are just prayers

Introduction

 

In the previous post, The Psalms are not prayers, we saw how Rav Saadia Gaon held the unusual view that psalms may not be used as prayers and that, like the Torah itself they are meant only to be studied but not prayed. Psalms are not liturgy. According to Rav Saadia, the psalms were used as a strictly controlled and regulated ritual during Temple times, but never as liturgy (supplications or prayers). On this view, the psalms were never an ‘early prayer book’ as was claimed by the Karaite Jews. It is believed that Rav Saadia formulated his unusual and limited view on the function of the psalms, in reaction to the Karaites, who had rejected the Rabbanite siddur and used the psalms as their prayer book instead.

In this article, however, based extensively on the work by Professor Uriel Simon[1], we explore another unusual view of the psalms. This is the view held by R. Moshe Ibn Gigatila, who believed that that the psalms are indeed prayers - but nothing more than prayers. And because they are just prayers, they are not profoundly holy nor do they carry any prophetic or spiritually subliminal innuendo.