Jewish Concepts of Scripture

Concepts of Scripture in the Schools of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Ishmael 55

one who slaughters the purifi cation off ering in the south is liable? Scrip-

ture teaches, saying “outside the camp.” (Ah.arei Mot parashah 6.3; Weiss,

83b; TK, 358)

Leviticus 17:3 introduces the prohibition against nonritual slaughter, and
the Sifra addresses a certain aspect of the slaughter, namely, its location.
For the question at hand, however, I am concerned with what goes unad-
dressed, namely, the repetition ’ish ’ish. Th e phrase is also ignored in the
Sifra’s commentary to Leviticus 22:4 (“No man [’ish ’ish] of Aaron’s off -
spring, who has an eruption or a discharge shall eat of the sacred dona-
tions  .  .  .”).13 Th is is a critical issue, since couching midrash in terms of a
response to a biblical irregularity shift s the agency of initiating interpreta-
tion to the text and away from the reader (who is now merely picking up
on textual clues). But for this to work, the marker must be consistently rec-
ognized. Otherwise, the agency shift s back to the reader, who must decide
arbitrarily whether, in this case, the repetition “ ’ish ’ish” counts as a marker
(as in Leviticus 17:10) or not (as in Leviticus 17:3). An inconsistent marker
is no marker at all.
Another perplexing aspect of the Sifra is the wide range of conclu-
sions it can draw from the same biblical phrase. Repetitions such as ’ish
’ish function in the Sifra as a ribbui, or inclusive argument; that is, they
appear to legitimate the introduction of new elements not mentioned ex-
plicitly in the verse. Th us, in the commentary on Leviticus 17:10, ’ish ’ish
served to “include the off spring of an Israelite woman from a gentile or
from a slave.” Th is is not problematic in and of itself, but the procedure
grows increasingly opaque as we examine additional verses that contain
the phrase ’ish ’ish and the additional elements that, according to the Sifra,
they introduce:

• “YHWH spoke to Moses, saying .  . . Whenever any person [’ish ’ish]
  from the house of Israel or from the aliens in Israel presents an off er-
  ing . . .” [Lev. 22:17 – 20]: . . . why is ’ish ’ish stated? To include the gen-
  tiles, that they be held accountable on matters of vows and freewill of-
  ferings like Israel. (Emor parashah 7.1; Weiss, 98a; TK, 434)


• “And if anyone [’ish ’ish] from among the Children of Israel or any alien
  who resides among them hunts down an animal or a bird that may be
  eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth” [Lev. 17:13]:
  . . . why does it say ’ish ’ish? Since it says “hunts.” From this I know only
  regarding hunting. Whence do I learn regarding one who purchases,