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39-529: In the earliest references, such as the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan , the river is given no particular attributes, but later literature claims that it rages with rapids and throws up stones six days a week, or even consists entirely of stone, sand and flame. For those six days the Sambation is impossible to cross, but it stops flowing every Shabbat , the day Jews are not allowed to travel; some writers say this

78-625: A common linguistic shift from haphalah to aphalah forms. However, a minority of scholars believe that these words derive from a separate Aramaic root נגד meaning "draw, pull, spread, stretch" (corresponding to the Hebrew root משך or נטה). According to the latter etymology, aggadah may be seen as "the part of the Torah which draws man towards its teachings", or the teachings which strengthen one's religious experience and spiritual connections, in addition to explaining texts. (See similar re Masorah – in

117-498: Is a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporates folklore, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations, and practical advice in various spheres, from business to medicine. The Hebrew word haggadah (הַגָּדָה) is derived from the Hebrew root נגד, meaning "declare, make known, expound", also known from the common Hebrew verb להגיד. The majority scholarly opinion is that the Hebrew word aggadah (אַגָּדָה) and corresponding Aramaic aggadta (אֲגַדְתָּא) are variants of haggadah based on

156-720: Is devoid of understanding, it is the reader" ( Shnei Luchos HaBris , introduction). See also the Maharal's approach . The Aggadah is today recorded in the Midrash and the Talmud . In the Midrash, the aggadic and halakhic material are compiled as two distinct collections: Many of the Torah commentaries , as well as the Targumim , interpret the Torah text in the light of Aggadic statements, particularly those in

195-458: Is dry for six days and flows only on Shabbat. The river is believed by some to be an intermittent spring now called Fuwar ed-Deir . Others have said it is an active volcano (which explains the rapids, stones, fire and smoke) which rests on the Sabbath. In 1280, Abraham Abulafia (1240 – c. 1291), a mystic and Kabbalist , set out to find the Sambation. Nahmanides identifies the Sambation with

234-768: Is found in the Apocrypha , the Pseudepigrapha , the works of Josephus and Philo , and the remaining Judæo-Hellenistic literature; but aggadic exegesis reached its highest development in the great epoch of the Mishnaic-Talmudic period , between 100 and 550 CE. The Aggadah of the Amoraim (sages of the Talmud) is the continuation of that of the Tannaim (sages of the Mishna). The final edition of

273-579: Is in the TPsJ. More specifically, this expansion includes the phrase 'My people, children of Israel' (‮עמי בני ישראל‬‎), which is known from Neofiti and the Cairo Geniza , as well as the phrase 'As I am merciful in heaven, so shall you be merciful on earth', only found in TPsJ. Flesher and Chilton take this to imply that the Jerusalem Talmud, which reached its form by the first half of the fifth century, has cited

312-430: Is sometimes used to argue for an early date. Aggadic Aggadah ( Hebrew : אַגָּדָה , romanized :  Aggāḏā , or הַגָּדָה Haggāḏā ; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic : אֲגַדְתָּא , romanized:  Aggāḏṯā ; 'tales', 'fairytale', 'lore') is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism , particularly the Talmud and Midrash . In general, Aggadah

351-412: Is that the original title of this work was Targum Yerushalmi , which was abbreviated to ת"י (TY), and these initials were then incorrectly expanded to Targum Yonatan which was then further incorrectly expanded to Targum Yonatan ben Uziel . For these reasons, scholars call it "Targum Pseudo-Jonathan". TPsJ is known from two extant sources. One is a manuscript called British Museum Add. 27031, stored at

390-724: Is the origin of the name. Pliny the Elder , writing in the mid-1st century, mentions that there is a river in Judaea that dries up every Shabbat ( NH xxxi.18). His younger contemporary Josephus writes of the Sabbatical River (Σαββατικον) that he claims was called after "the sacred seventh day of the Jews" and that he locates between Arka (in the northern Lebanon range) and Raphanea (in Upper Syria) ( War 7.96-99), although according to his account it

429-878: The Alexander Romance have Alexander the Great encounter the river on his travels. In modern literature, the Sambation appears prominently in Umberto Eco 's novel Baudolino , whose protagonists manage to cross the raging river of stones and find on the other side, not the Lost Ten Tribes, but the Kingdom of Prester John of Christian myth. In 1929 Lazar Borodulin published the only Yiddish science fiction novel, Yiddish : אויף יענער זייט סמבטיון : וויסענשאפטליכער און פאנטאסטישער ראמאן , romanized :  Oyf yener zayt sambatyen, visnshaftlekher un fantastisher roman ( On

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468-737: The Babylonian Talmud is also presented separately in Ein Yaakov , a compilation of the Aggadah together with commentaries. Well-known works interpreting the Aggadot in the Talmud include: The Aggadah has been preserved in a series of different works, which, like all works of traditional literature, have come to their present form through previous collections and revisions. Their original forms existed long before they were reduced to writing. The first traces of

507-795: The British Museum in London , and first published by M. Ginsburger in 1903 though provenanced in 16th century Italy . Due to the many errors in Ginsburger's edition, Rieder published a new edition of this manuscript in 1973. This manuscript bears the date 1598, though was written earlier, and was transcribed in an Italian hand. The second is the Venice edition first printed in 1591 and whose manuscripts were known earlier to Azariah dei Rossi (d. 1578), an Italian physician who discussed them in his work Meʾor ʿEynayim (1573–1575). Earlier scholarship once posited that

546-724: The Guzana River mentioned in II Kings , located in Syria. An Ashkenazi tradition speaks of the Lost Tribes as di Royte Yiddelekh , "The little Red Jews ", cut off from the rest of Jewry by the legendary river Sambation, "whose foaming waters raise high up into the sky a wall of fire and smoke that is impossible to pass through". Obadiah Bartenura writes that he was informed by Adeni Jews in Jerusalem that they had heard from Muslim merchants that

585-608: The Hebrew Bible ( Exegetic Sayings— מאמרים ביאוריים ‎). Rabbinic thought, therefore, understands much of the Aggadah as containing a hidden, allegorical dimension, in addition to its overt, literal sense. In general, where a literal interpretation contradicts rationality, the rabbis seek an allegorical explanation: "We are told to use our common sense to decide whether an aggada is to be taken literally or not" (Carmell, 2005). Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707–1746), discusses this two-tiered, literal-allegorical mode of transmission of

624-482: The Jerusalem Targum , Targum Yerushalmi , or Targum Jonathan ) is an Aramaic translation and interpretation ( targum ) of the Torah (Pentateuch) traditionally thought to have originated from the land of Israel , although more recently a provenance in 12th-century Italy has been proposed. As a targum , it is not just a translation but incorporates aggadic material collected from various sources as late as

663-534: The Midrash Rabbah as well as earlier material from the Talmud . So it is a combination of a commentary and a translation. It is also a composite text, involving the Old Palestinian Targum, Targum Onkelos , and a diverse array of other material. The original name of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan was Targum Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Targum). However, due to an error in the fourteenth century, it came to be known as

702-666: The Aggadah in his Discourse on the Haggadot . He explains that the Oral Law, in fact, comprises two components: the legal component ( חלק המצוות ‎), discussing the mitzvot and halakha ; and "the secret" component ( חלק הסודות ‎), discussing the deeper teachings. The Aggadah, along with the Kabbalah , falls under the latter. The rabbis of the Mishnaic era ( c. 10 to c.  220 CE) believed that it would be dangerous to record

741-464: The Elder , fashioned an Aramaic translation of the Nevi'im . It makes no mention of any translation by him of the Torah. So all scholars agree that this Targum was not authored by Yonatan ben Uziel. Indeed, Azariah dei Rossi (16th century) reports that he saw two very similar complete Targumim to the Torah, one called Targum Yonatan Ben Uziel and the other called Targum Yerushalmi . A standard explanation

780-484: The Midrash, and hence contain much material on Aggadah interpretation. Throughout the Talmud, aggadic and halakhic material are interwoven—legal material comprises around 90%. (Tractate Avoth , which has no gemara , deals exclusively with non-halakhic material, though it is not regarded as aggadic in that it focuses largely on character development.) The Talmudic Aggadah, generally, convey the "deeper teachings"—though in concealed mode, as discussed. The aggadic material in

819-554: The Mishnah, which was of such signal importance for the Halakah, is of less significance for the Aggadah, which, in form as well as in content, shows the same characteristics in both periods. It is important to emphasize the fundamental difference in plan between the midrashim forming a running commentary (מאמרים ביאוריים) to the Scripture text, and the homiletic midrashim (מאמרים לימודיים). When

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858-516: The TPsJ dated to the first century or earlier, although this approach has been widely abandoned. The Aramaic dialect used is late and TPsJ is likely the latest of the Pentateuchal Targums. Today, a wide variety of dates have been proposed for Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, ranging from the 4th to 12th centuries, although most date it to after the Islamic conquests and the upper boundary for the date of

897-492: The TPsJ prior to the Islamic conquests, and these have included Robert Hayward, Paul Flesher, and Beverly Mortensen who place the text between the late fourth century to the early fifth century. A lower boundary for the date of TPsJ is given by references to certain external events, activities, and people. For example, TPsJ describes the six orders of the Mishnah , and the Mishnah dates to around 200. References can also be found to

936-515: The TPsJ. However, Leeor Gottlieb has retorted that this only provides evidence for the presence of a tradition acting as the common source for the Jerusalem Talmud and TPsJ Lev. 22:28. Instead, Gottlieb dates the TPsJ to the end of the 12th century in Italy on the basis of a textual relationship with a 12th-century Hebrew lexicon which Gottlieb argues has priority over it. Independently, Gavin McDowell reached

975-579: The Targum "Jonathan" instead of "Jerusalem" in reference to Jonathan ben Uzziel . Due to the pseudonymous nature of this attribution, it is now also referred to as the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, although this is variously abbreviated as TPsJ or TgPsJ. There are editions of the Pentateuch that continue to call it Targum Jonathan to this day. The Talmud relates that Yonatan ben Uziel , a student of Hillel

1014-421: The city of Constantinople which was constructed in 324–330. Later still, the rendering of Genesis 21:21 in the TPsJ contains a polemic reducing the status of Ishmael and against Khadija (called Adisha in the text), the first wife of Muhammad , and a daughter of theirs name Fatima. As such, the current form of the targum must date to the mid-7th century at the earliest, although some argue that this material

1053-448: The deeper teachings in an explicit, mishnah-like, medium. Rather, they would be conveyed in a "concealed mode" and via "paradoxes". (Due to their value, these teachings should not become accessible to those "of bad character"; and due to their depth they should not be made available to those "not schooled in the ways of analysis".) This mode of transmission nevertheless depended on consistent rules and principles such that those "equipped with

1092-470: The keys" would be able to unlock their meaning; to others they would appear as non-rational or fantastic. In line with the above, Samuel ibn Naghrillah (993–1056), in his "Introduction to the Talmud", states that "Aggadah comprises any comment occurring in the Talmud on any topic which is not a commandment (i.e. which is not halachic ) and one should derive from it only that which is reasonable." As regards this, Maimonides (1138–1204), in his preface to

1131-574: The midrashic exegesis are found in the Bible itself; while in the time of the Soferim the development of the Midrash Aggadah received a mighty impetus, and the foundations were laid for public services which were soon to offer the chief medium for the cultivation of Bible exegesis. Abtalion and Shemaiah are the first to bear the title darshan , and it was probably by no mere chance that their pupil Hillel

1170-473: The other side of the Sambation, a scientific and fantastic novel ), a novel in the " lost world " genre, written in a Jewish perspective. In the novel a journalist meets a mad scientist with a ray gun in the land of the Red Jews . 47°3′31″N 24°25′45″E  /  47.05861°N 24.42917°E  / 47.05861; 24.42917 Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (also known as

1209-463: The river was located about fifty-days' walking distance from their place as one journeys through the desert. The river, which flows with rocks for six days a week, completely surrounded a land inhabited by Jews who could not ever leave, for by doing so, Shabbat would be desecrated . These Jews were all the offspring of Moses and were as holy as angels and sinless. The Sambation was a popular subject in medieval literature, for instance, some versions of

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1248-520: The same conclusion as Gottlieb, both for a provenance in the 12th century and for Italian origins, on the basis of his renewed argument for dependence of the TPsJ on the Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer composed in the 9th century, as well as the Chronicles of Moses dating to the 11th century. According to McDowell, a 12th-century Italian provenance also explains the absence of Arabic loanwords, which

1287-551: The scholars undertook to edit, revise, and collect into individual midrashim the immense array of haggadot, they followed the method employed in the collections and revisions of the halakhot and the halakhic discussions. The form which suggested itself was to arrange in textual sequence the exegetical interpretations of the Biblical text as taught in the schools, or the occasional interpretations introduced into public discourses, etc., and which were in any way connected with Scripture. Since

1326-481: The sense of "tradition" – at Masoretic Text § Etymology .) The Aggadah is part of Judaism 's Oral Torah , the traditions providing the authoritative interpretation of the Written Torah . In this context, the widely-held view in rabbinic literature is that the Aggadah is in fact a medium for the transmission of fundamental teachings (Homiletic Sayings— מאמרים לימודיים ‎) or for explanations of verses in

1365-469: The tenth chapter of Tractate Sanhedrin ( Perek Chelek ), describes three possible approaches to the interpretation of the Aggadah: Maimonides' approach is also widely held amongst the non-rationalistic, mystical streams of Judaism—thus, for example, Isaiah Horowitz ( c.  1555 -1630) holds that "none of these sometimes mind-boggling 'stories' are devoid of profound meaning; if anyone

1404-406: The text is the 13th century due to its citation in material from that time, specifically its repeated reference by Rabbi Menahem Recanati (1250–1310) in his Perush 'Al ha-Torah . Earlier citations to the TPsJ are not known, and none exist in the works of Nathan b. Yehiel of Rome who otherwise cited Palestinian Targums many times. A small number of academics in recent times have continued to date

1443-460: The work of the editor was often merely that of compilation, the existing midrashim show in many passages the character of the sources from which they were taken. This was the genesis of the midrashim which are in the nature of running haggadic commentaries to single books of the Bible, as Bereshit Rabbah, Eikah Rabbati, the midrashim to the other Megillot, etc. See Midrash for more details. Ein Yaakov

1482-500: Was inserted into an earlier core of the TPsJ at a later date with respect to its original composition. Paul Flesher and Bruce Chilton have argued that all three major Targums, including Pseudo-Jonathan, should date to the fifth century or earlier because of a lack of Arabic loanwords, for one, and that the Jerusalem Talmud describes a variant containing an expansion of Leviticus 22:28 in y . Ber. 5.3 (9c) whose only similar witness

1521-558: Was the first to lay down hermeneutic rules for the interpretation of the Midrash ; he may have been indebted to his teachers for the tendency toward aggadic interpretation. These two scholars are the first whose sayings are recorded in the aggadah . The new method of derush (Biblical interpretation) introduced by Abtalion and Shemaiah seems to have evoked opposition among the Pharisees. Much Aggadah, often mixed with foreign elements,

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