Rabbinic Narrative: Documentary Perspectives on the Sage-Story in The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan Text A

• Published in: The review of rabbinic Judaism : ancient, medieval and modern Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 1 - 53
• Main Author: Neusner, Jacob
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2016
• ISSN: 1568-4857; 1568-4857
• DOI: 10.1163/15700704-12341292

In 250 ce tractate Abot, The Fathers, delivered its message through aphorisms assigned to named sages. A few centuries later—perhaps in 500 ce —Abot deR. Natan, The Fathers according to Rabbi Nathan, gave flesh and blood form to those sages, recasting the earlier tractate by adding a sizable number of narratives about its named authorities. The authorship of The Fathers presented its teachings in the form of aphorisms, rarely finding it necessary to supply those aphorisms with a narrative setting and never resorting to narrative for the presentation of its propositions. The authorship of The Fathers according to Rabbi Nathan provided a vast amplification and supplement to The Fathers, introducing into its treatment of the received tractate a huge corpus of narratives of various sorts. In this way, the later authorship indicated that it found, in narrative in general, and stories about sages in particular, the preferred modes of discourse for presenting its message.