Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Glossary
- Abbreviations
- PART I MONOGAMY
- PART II COMMANDMENTS (MIṢVOT)
- 8 Zeman Gerama
- 9 Derekh
- 10 The Scriptural Evidence
- 11 Deuteronomy: A Pattern
- 12 The Priestly Torah
- 13 Two Writers on Purity Law
- 14 Torah Study
- PART III INTRINSIC EQUALITY
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index of Authors (Medieval & Pre-modern)
- Index of Citations from Rabbinic Literature
- Index of Names (Hebrew Bible)
- Index of Names (Talmudic)
- General Index
8 - Zeman Gerama
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Glossary
- Abbreviations
- PART I MONOGAMY
- PART II COMMANDMENTS (MIṢVOT)
- 8 Zeman Gerama
- 9 Derekh
- 10 The Scriptural Evidence
- 11 Deuteronomy: A Pattern
- 12 The Priestly Torah
- 13 Two Writers on Purity Law
- 14 Torah Study
- PART III INTRINSIC EQUALITY
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index of Authors (Medieval & Pre-modern)
- Index of Citations from Rabbinic Literature
- Index of Names (Hebrew Bible)
- Index of Names (Talmudic)
- General Index
Summary
In the Mishnah's taxonomy, the commandments are bisected into zeman gerama and en ha-zeman gerama. The first of these terms is understood by the Talmud as time-bound or intermittent, and the second as applicable at all times or perennial. What is the origin of this classification? Scripture is never invoked; nor, for that matter, is halakhah le-moshe mi-sinai. Moreover, according to Maimonides, traditions of Moses from Sinai are immune to dispute. This Maimonidean litmus test, though inadequate to identify Sinaitic material, helps eliminate non-Sinaitic. If Sifre Numbers is to be believed, classifying miṣvot into zeman gerama and en ha-zeman gerama was not the consensus. Rather was it a classification peculiar to the tanna R. Simeon.
Speak unto the children of Israel and tell them to make ṣiṣit [Num 15:38] – Holy Writ includes women. R. Simeon absolves women from ṣiṣit because being a positive miṣvah that is time-bound (zeman gerama) women are excluded. For this was a general rule propounded by R. Simeon: every positive miṣvah that is time-bound applies to men and not to women … (Sifre Num 115; cf. Men. 43a).
But whether broadly or narrowly subscribed to, the zeman gerama taxonomy seems totally arbitrary, and not even Sifre dispels the sense of arbitrariness. Why should so improbable a yardstick distinguish men's miṣvot from all-Israelite ones? Amazingly, only a handful of writers volunteer solutions to this conundrum. Among the handful, four approaches are discernible. These may be dubbed: the Maimonidean, the Abudrahamian, the apologetic and the dogmatic.
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- Information
- The Status of Women in Jewish Tradition , pp. 44 - 59Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011