Fractured Tablets: Forgetfulness and Fallibility in Late Ancient Rabbinic Culture

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 300 pages
Publication date: 25 April 2023
Publisher: University of California Press

This comprehensive book delves into the profound impact of memory failures on early rabbinic literature. The rabbis who shaped Judaism in late antiquity saw the commitment to the Torah and its commandments as permeating every aspect of a person's life. Their vision of a Jewish subject responsible for meticulously tracking multiple obligations and teachings led them to be deeply concerned with the phenomenon of forgetting. In her insightful work, Fractured Tablets, Mira Balberg explores the approaches and strategies employed by the early rabbis to address and comprehend the possibility of forgetfulness in both practice and study. She also examines the various solutions and responses they devised to counteract forgetfulness, as well as how they capitalized on human fallibility to reinforce their vision of Jewish observance and their roles as religious authorities. Through her meticulous analysis, Balberg demonstrates that the rabbis' intense preoccupation with the prospect of forgetfulness was a deliberate and meaningful ideological choice, with far-reaching implications for our understanding of Judaism in late antiquity.

This comprehensive book delves into the profound impact of memory failures on early rabbinic literature. The rabbis who shaped Judaism in late antiquity saw the commitment to the Torah and its commandments as permeating every aspect of a person's life. Their vision of a Jewish subject responsible for meticulously tracking multiple obligations and teachings led them to be deeply concerned with the phenomenon of forgetting. In her insightful work, Fractured Tablets, Mira Balberg explores the approaches and strategies employed by the early rabbis to address and comprehend the possibility of forgetfulness in both practice and study. She also examines the various solutions and responses they devised to counteract forgetfulness, as well as how they capitalized on human fallibility to reinforce their vision of Jewish observance and their roles as religious authorities. Through her meticulous analysis, Balberg demonstrates that the rabbis' intense preoccupation with the prospect of forgetfulness was a deliberate and meaningful ideological choice, with far-reaching implications for our understanding of Judaism in late antiquity.

Weight: 404g
Dimension: 152 x 230 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520391864