320 A History of Judaism
century. To some extent these scholars built on an existing movement in
Worms and Mainz in the late eleventh century to synthesize varied tal-
mudic texts in order to clarify practical decisions, but from the twelfth
century their critique took the form of tosafot, additions to the com-
mentary of Rashi. These additions, presented often in the form of an
oral discussion within an academy – ‘and if you were to say’ and ‘and it
is possible to say’ are common formulas – often questioned Rashi’s
comments on the basis of his statements elsewhere or new information
not adduced by Rashi himself, such as manuscript readings from new
copies of the Talmud from North Africa or material from the Palestin-
ian Talmud, which was generally less studied. The most influential of
these early Tosafists, through notes of his teachings incorporated into
manuscripts of the Talmud by his pupils, was Jacob b. Meir Tam, a
grandson of Rashi generally known as Rabbenu Tam. There are clear
similarities between the Tosafists’ academies and the new cathedral
schools in northern Europe in the twelfth century, and there are paral-
lels between the activities of the Tosafists and the activities of Christian
glossators of this period, but whether there were direct intellectual con-
nections between Jews and Christians at this level remains unknown.^12
Rabbenu Tam was not afraid to advocate quite drastic revisions to
traditional interpretations of the Torah if his reading of talmudic texts sug-
gested that this was necessary. Thus, for instance, he advocated, against
the view of his grandfather, Rashi, that the contents of the tefillin (phylac-
teries) should be altered so that the biblical texts they contain be written
in a different order – the arguments between the two men are so finely
balanced that some pious Jews nowadays put on two sets of tefillin, one
set in accordance with the rulings of each rabbinic teacher. Such intense
readings of the Talmud could lead to uncomfortable discussions of tal-
mudic dicta such as the procedure, put forward in the name of the tanna
R. Ilai, for dealing with uncontrollable urges to sin and the importance of
keeping up appearances and avoiding being seen to sin: ‘If a man sees that
his [evil] desire is conquering him, let him go to a place where he is
unknown, don black and cover himself with black, and do what his heart
desires, but let him not publicly profane God’s name.’ This particular
teaching the Tosafists were (unsurprisingly) unwilling to take literally.^13
On the other hand, legal theory was often used by the Tosafists to jus-
tify existing practice when it conflicted with the law as laid down in the
Talmud. Sometimes they argued from a minority opinion in the Talmud.
Sometimes they claimed that existing practice safeguards other values
which justify ignoring the talmudic rules. Most frequently they asserted