Accuracy of the Biblical Text

נמצאו 9 תוצאות חיפוש

  1. Nusach Ha-mikra – Accuracy of the Biblical Text

    Part 1

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    From time immemorial, great care has been taken concerning the precise transmission of the text of the Tanakh, which has been regarded as having the utmost importance.

    Chazal were altogether proficient with the entirety of the biblical text, as we may deduce from the corpus of midrashim, in which verses from throughout the Tanakh are treated. In addition, the Sages also concerned themselves with the clarification of the precise text of the Tanakh, and many sources testify to the tremendous care taken concerning textual details.

    It is clear that, in general, Chazal worked with a single textual version that they all shared. Nevertheless, this does not mean that there was a single textual version that was agreed upon absolutely in all its details, as can be gathered from various sources in Chazal.

  2. Nusach Ha-mikra – Accuracy of the Biblical Text

    Part 2 - The Text of the Tanakh during the Period of Chazal

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    From various sources it can be concluded that during the time of Chazal the version of the Tanakh was for the most part fixed and uniform, but in some instances there arose questions of textual variants, and where such details as plene (Maleh) or defective (Hasser) spelling were concerned there was a lack of clarity, which became more pronounced during the period of the Amoraim.

  3. Nusach Ha-mikra – Accuracy of the Biblical Text

    Part 3 - The Version of Chazal and the Masora Version

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    The Masoretes lived between the 8th and 10th centuries, and sought to establish a uniform version of the text that would be accepted, from that point onwards, in all Jewish communities.The Masora text was preserved with great accuracy and meticulousness by means of various devices.

    In general, the Masora version of the text continues the version used by Chazal, nevertheless, it should be noted that in dozens of instances the Masora version differs from the text used by Chazal, and sometimes these differences are substantial. A clear awareness of the many discrepancies between the Masoretic version of Tanakh and the version used and cited by Chazal existed amongst authorities and commentators through the ages.

  4. Nusach Ha-mikra – Accuracy of the Biblical Text

    Part 4 - Keri u-Khetiv

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    There are examples of the keri u-khetiv phenomenon that indicate the possibility of linguistic errors and grammatical updates, but there are also instances of 'keri u-khetiv' which appear to indicate the existence of different textual versions, reflecting discrepancies between different manuscripts.

  5. Nusach Ha-mikra – Accuracy of the Biblical Text

    Part 5 - Development of the Masoretic Text

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    The Masoretic version is indeed accepted as authoritative, but since the Tanakh is such a remarkably complex work, including tens of thousands of details  - letters, vowels, cantillation marks, etc. - in many instances the general acceptance of an authoritative version was not sufficient for it to be implemented with perfect accuracy throughout the Jewish Diaspora.

  6. Nusach Ha-mikra – Accuracy of the Biblical Text

    Part 6 - Textual Witnesses and Textual Amendments

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    The Masoretic text is the most complete and most accurate extant testimony for the Tanakh, nevertheless, there are many other ancient textual witnesses, which contain numerous instances of different versions of words or verses. The first group consists of the ancient Hebrew textual witnesses, first and foremost among them the Dead Sea Scrolls. Until the discovery of these scrolls, many biblical scholars had dismissed the significance of the Masoretic text owing to its relatively late appearance. The scrolls brought about a change in attitude, since they demonstrated that the Masora preserved a tradition that was older by a millennium or more, and that had been passed down meticulously.

  7. Nusach Ha-mikra – Accuracy of the Biblical Text

    Part 7 - Textual Amendments

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    An examination of several proposals to amend the biblical text shows that while the amendment might make sense on a superficial level, they miss various literary messages in the text. Therefore, the greatest degree of caution must be exercised in this area.

  8. Nusach Ha-mikra – Accuracy of the Biblical Text

    Part 8 - Linguistic Phenomena in the Biblical Text

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    Classical commentators raise different exegetical possibilities that seem to resemble proposals for emending the text. However, they do so within the framework of commentary on the existing text, with an awareness of the various linguistic phenomena that characterize Biblical literature rather than proposing emendations to a text they view as corrupt. Two such phenomena are the exchangeability of similar letters and letter or words that should be read as though repeated.

  9. Nusach Ha-mikra – Accuracy of the Biblical Text

    Part 9 - Summary

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    With all due caution, both from a religious perspective and in terms of textual analysis, we are left with R. David Zvi Hoffmann's assertion that the biblical text in our possession is not perfect. Thus, while we uphold the exegetical effort to maintain the Masoretic version, we do not rule out categorically the possibility of textual emendations. It is important to emphasize that even where the commentators find no way of explaining the Masoretic text, the proposals of textual emendations, nevertheless, remain nothing more than suggestions or hypotheses. Thus, the mandate of the student is not to "decide," and our logic is not always able to substantiate a decision.