62 Azzan Yadin-Israel
Indiana University Press, 1994), 27. It is no coincidence that this book, the most
forceful and sophisticated statement of midrash as close reading, grew out of Boya-
rin’s intensive engagement with the Mekhilta.
- I discussed the legal hermeneutics of the Rabbi Ishmael midrashim at length
in Azzan Yadin, Scripture as Logos: Rabbi Ishmael and the Origins of Midrash (Phil-
adelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004). - Th e editions cited in this study are: Sifre Numbers, ed. H. S. Horovitz (Jeru-
salem: Shalem, 1992; repr. of Leipzig, 1917); Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, ed. H. S.
Horovitz and I. Rabin (Jerusalem: Bamberger and Wahrman, 1960; repr. of Frank-
furt, 1931); Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, ed. and trans. Jacob Z. Lauterbach (Philadel-
phia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1933 – 36); H. Weiss, Sifra: Commentar
zu Leviticus (Vienna: Schlossberg, 1862); Siphre ad Deuteronomium, ed. Louis Fin-
kelstein (New York: Jewish Th eological Seminary of America, 1993). - For a full list, citations, and analysis, see Yadin, Scripture as Logos, 26 – 33.
- It is important to recognize that the legitimacy of interpretation is truly
in question. Th ere are derashot in which one interpreter thinks he has identifi ed
a hermeneutic marker, but that turns out not to be the case. Th e repetition of a
word, for instance, is commonly accepted as legitimizing rabbinic interpretation;
however, the Rabbi Ishmael midrashim explicitly reject the interpretation of the
fi rst instance of the word, since this marks the introduction of the matter and is
thus not superfl uous. Only from the second occurrence and on can one speak of
redundancy. Th is rule is ’ein dorshin tehilot, “fi rst statements of a matter cannot
be interpreted.” Once a verse has been shown to be unmarked, no interpretation
is proff ered. - See Yadin, Scripture as Logos, 142 – 47.
- Sifra citations are followed by page number to the H. Weiss edition (Sifra:
Commentar zu Leviticus [Vienna: Schlossberg, 1862]) and to the facsimile edition
of MS Assemani 66, published by L. Finkelstein (Sifra or Torat Kohanim [New
York: Jewish Th eological Seminary of America, 1956]). - In terms of biblical Hebrew grammar, however, the repetition produces
a distributive sense (“every person”). For a discussion, see B. Waltke and M.
O’Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Winona Lake, IN: Eisen-
brauns, 1990), 7.2.3. - See Sifra Emor pereq 4.1; Weiss, 96b; TK, 427.
- Th e Sifra’s representation of Rabbi Akiva accords precisely with that of the
Mishnah. See Yishai Rosen-Zvi, “Who Will Uncover the Dust from Your Eyes?
Mishnah Sotah 5 and Rabbi Akiva’s Midrash,” Ta r b i z 75 (2005 – 2006): 95 – 128. - For a fuller discussion, see Azzan Yadin, “Resistance to Midrash? Midrash
and Halakhah in the Halakhic Midrashim,” in Current Trends in the Study of Mid-
rash, ed. Carol Bakhos (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2006), 35 – 58, here page 54; and
see Rosen-Zvi, “Who Will Uncover the Dust from Your Eyes,” 96 – 101. - Th e debate is recorded in Sifra Vayiqra, parashah 4.5; Weiss, 6a.