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Re: orion Chanukah, Tefillin and Minim





Martin Jaffee wrote:

> On Thu, 14 Jan 1999, Jack Kilmon wrote:
>
> > I realize that, Paul, but these methodologies rarely, in my experience,
> > recoognize or understand the dynamics of oral transmission, even over
> > several centuries.
> >
>
> The most recent ethnographic and literary-historical work on oral
> tradition yields little reason to trust the ability of orally transmitted
> narrative to preserve unchanged accounts of historical events. Rather, in
> the wake of numerous studies since those of Vansina, Goody, and many many
> others, it is clear that orally transmitted narratives undergo constant
> reframing and "updating" in the context of performance. So even if we
> could be sure that rabbinic sources ARE orally transmitted, we would
> still not be able to reliably reconstruct historical events without the
> aid of external sources.

I'm with you so far and I realize that this does not mean thatthe Talmud
account is not historical...just can't prove it.

> As Hillel said: zil gmor. MJ

Yes, as Hillel said according to oral tradition recorded in the Talmud.I hope
you don't mind my not standing on one foot though (g)

Jack


For private reply, e-mail to Jack Kilmon <jkilmon@historian.net>
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