Rabbi Akiba's Crowns: Postmodern Discourse and the Cost of Rabbinic Reading

Judaism, Fall, 2000 by Laurence L. Edwards

Most accounts of biblical revelation involve speaking and hearing; these pages of Menahot (28a--45b), in emphasizing the gesture of deixis, privilege seeing. Following a brief discussion of purity and impurity with regard to certain Temple vessels, the passage goes on to describe how Moses was shown certain details:

A Tanna of the school of R. Ishmael stated, Three things presented difficulties to Moses, until the Holy One, blessed be He, showed Moses with His finger, and these are they: the candlestick, the new moon, and the creeping things. The candlestick, as it is written, And this was the work of the candlestick, The new moon, as it is written, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. The creeping things, as it is written, And these are they which are unclean. Others add, Also the rules for slaughtering [beasts], as it is written, Now this is that which you shall offer upon the altar. [29a]

The word "this" is taken to indicate pointing (deixis). [30] We have the written text, e.g., "this was the work of the candlestick," apparently accompanied by interpretive details revealed in a kind of visual aid which will enable Moses to convey accurate instructions to the craftsmen who will do the actual work. It is worth noting that the deictic reading of "this" comes from the School of Rabbi Ishmael, and is therefore presumably not an "over-reading" of the language, since as we saw earlier, R. Ishmael generally favored simpler, more literal interpretation.

The discussion then moves to a consideration of the correct writing of the Torah. Parchments for tefillin and for the mezuzah, which contain specific verses of the Torah, are analogous to the Torah scroll and must also be written without error. We are reminded of our earlier question regarding the word m'akev. The text repeats the statement of the Mishnah: "Of the two portions [of Scripture] in the mezuzah, the [absence of, or a defect in] one invalidates (m'akev) the other." When we see this word repeated in Moses' question, "Who m'akev (stays, prevents, detains) your hand?" we are led to ask also about potential invalidation. In a sacred text, each letter is important. Interpretive potential extends to the shape of the letter, even perhaps to decorative additions. God takes great care with the written text, delaying its transmission until each detail is perfect. Inaccurate writing would invalidate the Torah. Its transmission would be invalidated by incorrect interpretation, by a defect in the chain of trad ition through which it passes from one generation to the next. Might this suggest that, if Akiba is an invalid reader, Moses too is invalidated?

Reading and Death

The question that immediately precedes the Moses/Akiba narrative has to do with the word va-yakarog--"He slew" ("the Lord slew every first-born in the Land of Egypt"--Exodus 13:15), a passage which is included in the parchment of the tefiiin. If a letter is defective, the parchment (or similarly, a Torah scroll) may be ritually unfit for use. An actual case is reported in which the initial vav of va-yaharog is defective. A common sense solution is offered: if an average child is able to read the word correctly, then it is valid. If, however, it cannot be read, then it is ritually unfit for use.