above and beyond explicit biblical law. The Toseftashares this tendency, to
a significantly lesser degree, again, because of its own quite different rhetor-
ical rules. Mishnah Avodah Zarah1:1–2 (ed. Romm) follows (my transla-
tion):
M.1:1
A. [For] three days prior to the holy days of Gentiles,
B. it is forbidden:
C. 1. to buy [from] and to sell [to] them;- to lend [property to] and to borrow [property] from them;
- to lend [money to] and to borrow [money] from them;
- to pay back [a loan] or to require payment [of a loan] from them.
D. Rabbi Judah says:
E. They require payment [of a loan] from them,
F. because it is a vexation to him [i.e., the Gentile].
G. They said to him:
H. even though it is a vexation now, it is a [cause for] joy after a while.
M.1:2
I. Rabbi Ishmael says:
J. 1. For three days prior to them [i.e., the Gentiles’ holy days] - and [for three days] subsequent to them
- it is forbidden.
K. And sages say:
L. 1. Prior to their holy days - it is forbidden;
- subsequent to their holy days
- it is permitted.
This is typical Mishnah:laconic language; balanced repetition of phrases
and clauses, varied by permutation and opposing operative terms (e.g.,
forbidden and permitted); disputes described by these balanced phrases,
often as glosses of an antecedent list. There is little, or nothing, in the way
of articulated principles, nor is the problem at issue spelled out. From m.
Avodah Zarah1:1–2, one gets a clear sense of how the literary tightness
demanded by Mishnaic rhetoric restricts the opportunity for elaborate
social differentiation, despite the rhetorical tendency to generate lists and
permute phrases in order to create new circumstances. The passage cited
thus lends weight to the methodological claims outlined earlier. But what
of the conceptual claim: that inter-religious rivalry is, and should be viewed
as, a subset of a larger system of social differentiation?
Despite the Mishnah’s laconic rhetoric, it is clear that the (unstated)
issue is the appropriate degree of social separation—the definition of social
boundaries and of rules about their permeability—between Jews and Gen-
My Rival, My Fellow 93