Jewish Concepts of Scripture

Concepts of Scripture in the Schools of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Ishmael 53

Ishmael seems not to be the disciple of any expert in Oral Law; and many of
the interpretive principles these midrashim apply to Scripture are applied
in the Mishnah to extrascriptural traditions. In one passage, Rabbi Ishmael
apparently off ers a minimalist understanding of extrascriptural tradition:

“You shall take an awl” [Deut. 15:17]: Th is was the source of Rabbi Ishma-

el’s saying: In three places extra-scriptural tradition [halakhah] circum-

vents Scripture: the Torah says, “he shall pour out its blood and cover it

with earth” [Lev. 17:13] while the halakhah says, with anything that grows

plants; the Torah says “He writes her a document of divorce” [Deut. 24:1]

while the halakhah says, he may write on anything that was separated from

the ground; the Torah says “with an awl.” (Sifre Deuteronomy §122, Finkel-

stein, 180)

Th e point of this derashah is that there are only three halakhot — extra-
scriptural traditions — that circumvent Scripture.10 Th is is signifi cant be-
cause an extrascriptural tradition functions as an independent source of
authority only inasmuch as it does bypass Scripture, that is, only inasmuch
as it stands as an independent source of legal authority. By limiting the
number of independent traditions to three, the derashah marginalizes the
role of extrascriptural tradition, limiting it to a bare minimum of instances.

Th e School of Rabbi Akiva

I begin the discussion of Rabbi Akiva at the point with which Rabbi Ish-
mael concluded — extrascriptural traditions, since the contrast between the
two is immediately apparent. Unlike the Rabbi Ishmael midrashim, those
of Rabbi Akiva (here and throughout, my focus is on the outstanding rep-
resentative of this school, the Sifra) regularly transmit legal rulings that
are not scriptural, at times accompanied by the characteristic terminology
of extrascriptural transmission, “in the name of ” (mishem) a sage: “Rabbi
Elazar says in the name of Rabbi Yose  .  .  .” (Tzav pereq 13.6; Weiss, 37a;
TK, 164);11 “Rabbi Shimon ben Yehudah says in the name of Rabbi Shi-
mon . . .” (Tazri’a Nega’im pereq 9.15; Weiss, 66b; TK, 475); “Rabbi Yehudah
said in the name of Rabbi Elazar . . .” (Ah.arei Mot pereq 4.10; Weiss, 81b;
TK, 347). Similarly, the Sifra speaks of the “testimony” of sages, a technical
term for the transmission of halakhot: “Rabbi Zadoq testifi ed that the brine