The First Hermeneutic Principles of Rabbinic Judaism: Hillel’s Seven Hermeneutic Rules

Year 2016, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 321 - 337, 06.04.2016

Ömer Araz

https://doi.org/10.15869/itobiad.00110

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Rabbinic Judaism represents the understanding that after the destruction of the Second Temple at A.D. 70, the disappearance of religious approaches and practices related to the Temple, and to replace them the Tanah and its interpretation. Therefore, the Tanah and its interpretation constitutes the basis of Rabbinic Judaism. According to Rabbinic Judaism, on Mount Sinai God has revealed Torah and its interpretation and the rules which rabbis interprets Torah depending on those rules. Therefore, interpretations made by the rabbis are a part of divine revelation. However, these interpretations were made according to certain rules. Some application examples of these rules are situated in Tanah. In Rabbinic Judaism, seven interpretation rules (Middot) which attributed to Hillel are the first step in its field, and the basis and pioneer the other rules which developed after them.

Keywords

Hillel, Middot, Rabbinic, Dual Tora, Hermeneutic Rules

Rabbani Yahudiliğin İlk Yorum Prensipleri: Hillel’in Yedi Yorum Kuralı

Abstract

Rabbâni Yahudilik, m.s. 70 yılında II. Mabed’in yıkımı sonrasında, Mabed’e bağlı dini yaklaşım ve uygulamaların ortadan kalkması ve bunun yerini Yahudi Kutsal Kitabı ile onun yorumlarının almasını ifade etmektedir. Bu sebeple Rabbâni Yahudiliğin temelini Tanah ve  yorumu oluşturmaktadır. Rabbâni Yahudiliğe göre Tanrı Sina’da Hz. Musa’ya Tora ile birlikte onun yorum kuralları ve bunlara uygun yapılan yorumlarını da vermiştir. Bu sebeple rabbiler tarafından yapılan bu yorumlar ilahi vahyin bir parçasıdır. Ancak bu yorumlar belli kurallara göre yapılmaktadır. Bu kurallarının uygulama örnekleri Tanah içerisinde bulunmaktadır. Rabbâni Yahudilikte Hillel’e izafe edilen yedi yorum kuralı (middot), alanında ilk basamaktır ve kendisinden sonra geliştirilen diğer yorum kurallarının temeli ve öncüsüdür.

Keywords

Hillel; Middot; Rabbâni; Çift Tora; Yorum Kuralları

References

• Araz, Ömer Faruk, Yahudilikte Midraşik Literatürün Tarihsel Gelişimi, Basılmamış Doktora Tezi, İstanbul, 2016.
• Bacher, Wilhelm, “Hillel”, The Jewish Encyclopaedia, c.VI, s.397-399.
• Brown, Francis ve S.R. Driver, C.A. Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of The Old Testament, New York: The Riverside Press, 1906.
• Chan, Man Ki, A Comparative Study Of Jewish Commentaries And Patristic Literature On The Book Of Ruth, Yayınlanmamış Doktora Tezi, University of Pretoria, Faculty of Theology, Department of Old Testament Studies, 2010.
• Cohen, Shaye J. D., “The Judean Legal Tradition and the Halakhah of the Mishnah”, The Cambridge Companion to The Talmud and Rabbinic Literature, (ed.) Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert, Martin S. Jaffee, New York: Cambridge Un. Press, 2007, 121-143.
• Daube, David, “Rabbinic Methods of Interpretation and Hellenistic Rhetoric”, HUCA, 22 (1949), 239-264.
• Davies, Philip R., “Judaism and the Hebrew Scriptures”, (ed.) Jacob Neusner and Alan Avery-Peck, The Blackwell Companion to Judaism, USA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2004, 37-57.
• Epstein, Isidore, “Foreword”, Midrash Rabbah, (ed.) H. Friedman, M. Simon, London: The Soncino Press, 1939.
• Fishbane, Michael, The Garments of Torah: Essays in Biblical Hermeneutics, USA: Indiana University Press, 1992.
• Fraade, Steven D., “The Early Rabbinic Sage”, The Sage in Israel and the Ancient Near East, (ed.) John G. Gammie and Leo G. Perdue, Indiana: 1990, 417-436.
• Frankel, Israel, Peshat in Talmudic and Midrashic Literature, Toronto: La Salle Press, 1956.
• Gertner, M., “Terms of Scriptural Interpretation: A Study in Hebrew Semantics”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 25, No.1/3 (1962), 1-27.
• Glatzer, Nahum N., Hillel the Elder: The Emergence of Classical Judaism, New York: Schocken Books, 1956.
• Goldin, Judah, “Hillel the Elder”, The Journal of Religion, vol.26, no.4 (Oct., 1946), 263-277.
• Guttman, Alexander, Rabbinic Judaism in the Making, Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press, 1970.
• Handelman, Susan A., The Slayers of Moses, The Emergence of Rabbinic Interpretation in Modern Literary Theory, New York: State Un. Of New York Press, Albany, 1982.
• Kahana, Menahem I., “The Halakhic Midrashim”, The Literature of the Sages II, (ed.) Shmuel Safrai v.dğr., Netherlands: Royal Van Gorcum Fortress Press, 2006, 4-105.
• Kugel, James L., Traditions of the Bible: A Guide to the Bible As It Was at the Start of the Common Era, USA: Harvard Un. Press,1999.
• Lauterbach, Jacob Zallel, “Zugot”, The Jewish Encyclopaedia, c.XII, s. 698.
• Lieberman, Saul, “Rabbinic Interpretation on Scripture”, Hellenism in Jewish Palestine: Studies in the Literary Transmission, Beliefs and Manners of Palestine in the I Century BCE-IV Century CE, 2. bs., New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1962, 47-82.
• Mielziner, Moses, Introduction to the Talmud: Historical and Literary Introduction, Cincinnati and Chicago: Bloch Printing Company, 1894.
• Najman, Hindy, Seconding Sinai: The Development of Mosaic Discourse in Second Temple Judaism, Boston, USA: Brill, Leiden, 2003.
• Neusner, Jacob, Invitation to Midrash, USA: Atlanta Scholar Press 1998.
• ________ , “Midrash and the Oral Tora: What Did the Rabbinic Sages Mean by ‘The Oral Tora’”, The Encyclopaedia of Judaism, ed. J. Neusner v.dğr., Netherlands: Brill 2005, c.III, s.1707-1708.
• ________ , The Rabbinic Traditions About The Pharisees Before 70, Leiden: Brill, 1971, c.I-III.
• ________ , “The History of Earlier Rabbinic Judaism: Some New Approaches”, History of Religions, 16:3 (1977: Feb), 216-236.
• ________ , Introduction to Rabbinic Literature, New York: Doubleday, 1989.
• Newman, Jacob, Halakik Sources: From the Beginning to the Ninth Century, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1969.
• Rosensweig, Bernard, “The Hermeneutic Principles and Their Application”, Tradıtıon: A Journal of Ortodox Thought, vol.13, no.1 (Summer 1972), 49-76.
• Santala, Risto, The Midrash of Messiah, Finland: Tummavuoren Kirjapaino Oy, 2002.
• Schiffmann, Lawrence H., From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism, New Jersey: Ktav Publishing House Inc., Hoboken, 1991.
• Schürer, Emil ve Geza Vermes v.dğr.(ed.), The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C. – A. D. 135), Edinburg: T&T Clark Ltd., 1979.
• Sifra, Baraita deRabbi Yişma'el 1, 1-17. erişim tarihi 10.02.2016, http://www.sefaria.org/Sifra,_Braita_d'Rabbi_Yishmael.2?lang=he-en&layout=heLeft&sidebarLang=all.
• Sinanoğlu, Mustafa, “Eski Ahid ve Kur’an-ı Kerim’de Sina Vahyi”, İslam Araştırmaları Dergisi, 2 (1998), 1-22.
• Steinschneider, Moritz, Jewish Literature from the Eighth to the Eighteenth Century: with an Introduction on Talmud and Midrash, terc. William Shotliswoode, London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, 1857.
• Strack, H.L. ve G. Stemberger, Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash, terc. Marcus Bockmuehl, Edinburg: T & T Clark, 1991.
• Toprak, Mehmet Sait, Talmud ve Hadis, İstanbul: Kabalcı Yayıncılık, 2012.
• Towner, W.Sibley, “Hermeneutical Systems of Hillel and the Tannaim: A Fresh Look”, Hebrew Union College Annual 53 (1982), 101-135.
• Urbach, Ephraim E., The Sages Their Concepts and Beliefs, Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1975, I,II.
• Wald, Stephen G., “Hillel”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, c.IX, s.108-110
• Zeitlin, Solomon, “Hillel and the Hermeneutic Rules”, JQR, New Series, Vol.54, No.2 (Oct., 1963), 161-173.