Parody and Polemics on Pentecost: Talmud Yerushalmi Pesahim on Acts 2? more

PARODY AND POLEMICS ON PENTECOST: TALMUD YERUSHALMI PESA IM ON ACTS 2? Daniel Stökl-Ben Ezra Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Aix en Provence, France Liturgy1 and especially festivals offer a convenient vantage point to analyze collective identities providing access to collective mentalities rather than individual ideas of intellectuals often more or less confined to ivory tower (e.g. Assmann 1991, 13–30). Ritual addresses the whole human being, the intellect, emotions, and the body and it does so in establishing and defining relations between the individual, its in-group and the out-group (cf. Bell 1992 and 1997). Every collective identity is built and rebuilt in a continuous process encompassing exchange with as well as distinction from other optional collective identities in the vicinity. Sometimes, this construction of a ‘we’ in distinction to a ‘them’ takes place in more explicit, sometimes in rather clandestine and encrypted fashions. Both approaches are relevant to this article. Many studies have been written on the emergence of Pentecost and the Christian festivals in the first two centuries (cf. Rouwhorst 2001, 309–322; Cocchini 1977, 297–326; Erez 1993, Potin 1971, Cabié 1965, Kretschmar 1954/1955, 209–253). However, research on the interrelationship of Christian and Jewish festivals after the second century when both religions were already separate entities has largely concentrated on Pesa /Easter and Sabbath/Sunday (e.g. Yuval 2006, Bauckham 1982, 221–250). In this paper on Shavuot and Pentecost, my focus shall therefore be not so much on the early times, but rather on their less researched interrelationship in the fourth and fifth century, making 1 I would like to thank the organizers of the conference, Clemens Leonhard and Albert Gerhards, for the invitation and the participants for their comments. Tali Artmann, Oded Irshai, Clemens Leonhard, Ophir Münz-Manor, Israel Yuval and especially Michael Kohlbacher provided most helpful comments. Holger Zellentin kindly sent me a chapter from his Princeton dissertation in progress on parody in Rabbinic literature. I would also like to thank Avital Erez for making a copy of her unpublished M.St. thesis (2003) available to me. My research assistant, Avi Perrodin was very helpful in the preparations and during the search for bibliography. GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 279 6/22/2007 10:56:34 PM 280 daniel stökl-ben ezra three points: after a short introduction on Shavuot in the Bible and the Second Temple and tannaitic periods, I shall discuss some patristic references on Pentecost/Shavuot that show that Christian religious leaders were acquainted with post-biblical Jewish Shavuot traditions. Then, I will argue that Jewish sources as well wrestle with the challenge posed by the Christian Pentecost by demonstrating that a passage from Toledot Yeshu on the Christian festival calendar can be dated to the early Byzantine era and is acquainted with the Christian Ascension/Pentecost festival. Finally, in light of this, i.e. bearing in mind that the Christian Pentecost was not unknown to (some) rabbinic Jews, I want to suggest reading a story from the Palestinian Talmud as a polemical parody of the foundational story of the Christian Pentecost. In the Bible, Shavuot—one of the three pilgrimage festivals—is a harvest festival considered a particularly suitable day to offer first fruits in the Temple (cf. Num 28:26; VanderKam 1992, 895–897). At some point, this festival became connected to revelation, to the covenant and to the giving of the Torah, a crucial point for the understanding of the relation between the Jewish and the Christian Pentecost. It is, however very difficult to say when and to which extent—i.e. how widespread—this conception of Shavuot was. In addition to the well known passage in the book of Acts, hints can be found in at least three pre-rabbinic texts (van Goudoever 1967; 95–100, 170, 199–206). For Jubilees, which uses a different calendar, Shavuot falls on the 16th of the third month and is the day of revelation (and covenant) par excellence: for Abraham, for Jacob and for Moses ( Jub 1:1; 15:1–3; 44:1–5; cf. also 4Q266 11.17 and 4Q275 1.3 and [the late] Targum to 2 Chr 15:8–15 cf. VanderKam 1992, 896). The Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum dates the covenant of Joshua on Shavuot.2 In 2 Enoch, according to the oldest manuscript, Enoch ascends to heaven on the sixth of Sivan.3 In addition, a story in Josephus about a kind of voiceless Bat Kol (φωνῆς ἀθρόας, Bell 6.299) in the Temple on Shavuot might possibly reflect an ancient connection between this festival and revelation. In Qumran, LibAnt 23.2. The reading is uncertain and could be either sixth or sixteenth day of Sivan. Despite the ambiguity, ‘it is nonetheless quite clear that the dating of Joshua’s covenant to the month of Sivan must be due to the parallel with the Sinai covenant.’ Jacobson (1996, 2.711). 3 2 Enoch 68:1–3 according to ms P and J. Ms R has Pamovousa (i.e. Tammuz). The former reading is preferred by Andersen (1983, vol. 1, 196), while Böttrich (1996, 1002) favors the latter one. 2 GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 280 6/22/2007 10:56:34 PM parody and polemics on pentecost 281 the festival of Pentecost probably commemorated the yearly covenant renewal ceremony described in the Community Rule.4 According to the consensus, the revelation motif was less prevalent in the early tannaitic times. In general, the festival becomes somehow elusive in rabbinic literature, especially in the early compositions (cf. Tabory 1995, 146–155). Unlike the other principal holidays, Pesa , Sukkot, Yom Kippur, Shabbat, even Rosh Hashanah, no tractate is dedicated to the discussion of Shavuot. And this is the case—despite the fact that it had been one of the three pilgrimage festivals. Amoraic literature provides little information on this festival either.5 The central ritual in the transitory period after the destruction of the Temple seems to have been a discussion of the sacrifices (t.Meg 3.5). The oldest extant list of readings for the festivals in the Mishna suggests Deuteronomy 16:9ff (the description of the offerings of Shavuot) for reading (Meg 3.5). The Tosefta is the first to attest the comeback of the revelation motif by including Exodus 19, the Sinai covenant, as an alternative to the liturgical readings (t.Meg 3.5). In principle, this tradition in the Tosefta might be at least as early as the Mishna or describe an alternative early practice. However, being closer to the later liturgical usage, it is the lectio facilior in comparison with the Mishna. Therefore, the absence of any reference to revelation texts among the readings in the Mishna seems to have been the more prevalent practice in rabbinic circles of tannaitic times. While the connection of Shavuot and the giving of the Torah appears also in SOR: ‘In the third [month] | on the sixth of the month, the Ten Commandments were given to them | and it was a Friday,’6 the early dating of this text to the tannaitic period remains controversial (Stemberger 1996, 362f and Milikowsky 1981). 4 1QS I 16–II 28. The oldest fragments of the Damascus Document date the covenant renewal ceremony to the third month. 4Q266 11.16–18 = 4Q270 ii 11; cf. also the very fragmentary 4QCommunal Ceremony (4Q275) 1.3. Cf. Eiss (1997, 165–178) and Elgvin (1985, 103–106), but see Schreiber (2002, 58–77 esp. 68). 5 The main name for Shavuot in the Rabbinic literature is ‫( עצרת‬or ‫ עצרתא‬in Aramaic), probably emphasizing the aspect of the festival as the conclusion of the paschal period. Cf. already Josephus, Ant 3.253. According to Tabory (1995, 146 n. 3), the term ‫ עצרת‬appears 24 times in the Mishna, 39 times in the Tosefta and 16 times in Sifra, never ‫( שבועות‬but see ‫ חג השבועות‬in t.Hag 1.6). In the amoraic literature ‫חג השבועות‬ appears many times. According to the Bar Ilan CD Rom (Responsa), it appears on 6 pages of the Bavli and on 2 of the Jerusalem Talmud. 6 SOR 5.49–51. Other textual witnesses read ‘Sabbath.’ For the translation and discussion of the various textual witnesses, see Milikowsky (1981, 2.465). GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 281 6/22/2007 10:56:34 PM 282 daniel stökl-ben ezra It was only in the amoraic period that the association of Shavuot with the revelation at Sinai becomes frequent.7 A) Jewish and Christian Views on Pentecost as Recorded by the Church Fathers At least from the second half of the fourth century onwards, some Church Fathers are aware of the Jewish tradition that ascribes the giving of the Torah to Shavuot. Typically, Christian theology contrasted the giving of the Spirit on Pentecost in a typology with the giving of the Torah on Shavuot. To the best of my knowledge, the first attestation can be found in Quaestiones veteris et novi testamenti by Ambrosiaster (366–384), who is well known for his acquaintance with many Jewish traditions (Geerlings 2002, 18f ):8 The Law has been given on the very same day, on which also the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in order that they may obtain authority and know to preach the evangelical law, i.e. on Pentecost. Beyond this text, Jerome, Augustine, Leo the Great, and Chrysostom also demonstrate that this typology became widespread from the end of the fourth century to the mid fifth century. In a tractate on the camps of Israel in the desert dedicated to Fabiola, Jerome writes (ep. 78, cf. Newman 1997, 163, text: PL 22:707D–708A): The law was given on the summit of Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. Whence both the festival of Pentecost is celebrated, and afterwards through the descent of the Holy Spirit the 7 The tradition from SOR is quoted explicitly in Shab 86b with the naming of ‘Seder Olam’ (‫88 דתניא בסדר עולם‬a). In Pes 68b, a similar expression is put into the mouth of R. Eliezer. Cf. also Shab 86b ‘The Sages say: on the sixth of the month, the Ten Commandments were given to Israel. Rabbi Jose says: on the seventh of it’; cf. also Taan 28b (in the context of a list of bad things that happened to Israel on Tammuz 17) and PRE 45.5 as well as the Aramaic statement in Shab 129b (Israel would have been destroyed on Shavuot had it not received the Torah). Cf. also PRK 12.4. According to a passage in p.RH 4.8 [7] 59c attributed to R. Mesharshaya, the description of the offerings on Shavuot differs slightly from that of other festivals since Israel received the yoke of the Torah, presumably (but not unambiguously) on Shavuot. Liturgically, the connection of the festival to revelation was further reinforced when Ezekiel 1 became one of the Haftarot in Meg 31a. 8 CSEL 50.168.6–9 cf. PL 35.2289. This statement is followed by a complicated calculation. Those Christian traditions supporting their typology with a calendrical calculation arrive at Pentecost based on grounds differing from the Jewish calculations in Shab 86b–88b or SOR 5. GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 282 6/22/2007 10:56:34 PM parody and polemics on pentecost 283 revelation of the Gospel is fulfilled, in order that just as previously on the fiftieth day, a true Jubilee and true Sabbath year and through the true 550 dinars which are given away to debtors, the law has been given to the people, [now] also to the apostles and those who were with them ([their] number [of 120 people, cf. Acts 1:15] being constituted in the 120 years of Moses’ age) the Holy Spirit would descend and through many languages of the believers the whole world would be filled by the proclamation of the Gospel. Around 400 C.E., Augustine writes in the long Epistle 55 to Januarius explaining the reasons behind various ecclesiastical celebrations and liturgical customs, among them Pentecost:9 The fiftieth day is also commended to us in Scripture; and not only in the Gospel, by the fact that on that day the Holy Spirit descended, but also in the books of the Old Testament. For in them we learn, that after the Jews observed the first Passover with the slaying of the lamb as appointed, 50 days intervened between that day and the day on which upon Mount Sinai there was given to Moses the Law written with the finger of God; and this ‘finger of God’ is in the Gospels most plainly declared to signify the Holy Spirit: therefore one evangelist quotes our Lord’s words thus, ‘I cast out devils with the finger of God,’ another quotes them thus, ‘I cast out devils by the Spirit of God’. In his first Sermon on Pentecost dated to May 23, 443, Leo the Great states that (Sermon 75.1; Dolle SC 74bis, 2nd ed. 1976, 286–289; I amended the translation in NPNF) For as of old, after the Hebrew nation had been released from the Egyptians, on the fiftieth day after the sacrificing of the lamb the Law was given on Mount Sinai, so after the suffering of Christ, wherein the true Lamb of God was slain, on the fiftieth day from His Resurrection, the Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles and the multitude of believers, so that the attentive Christian may easily perceive that the beginnings of the Old Testament were preparatory to the beginnings of the Gospel, and that the second covenant was founded by the same Spirit that had instituted the first. [An exegesis of Acts 2 follows]. Chrysostom opens his first Homily on Matthew with the following highly polemic typology of the giving of the Torah and the descent of the Holy Spirit (First Homily on Matthew 3, PG 57.15, NPNF 1.10.12): 9 Ep 55.16 (29) NPNF, cf. also On the Catechising of the Uninstructed 23. Intriguing is Dialogue with Faustus 12 where Augustine ascribes to Pentecost forgiveness as a central element, similar to Qumran’s covenant renewal festival. GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 283 6/22/2007 10:56:34 PM 284 daniel stökl-ben ezra How then was that law given in time past, and when, and where? After the destruction of the Egyptians, in the wilderness, on Mount Sinai, when smoke and fire were rising up out of the mountain, a trumpet sounding, thunders and bolts of lightning, and Moses entering into the very depth of the cloud. But in the new covenant not so,—neither in a wilderness, nor in a mountain, nor with smoke and darkness and cloud and tempest; but at the beginning of the day, in a house, while all were sitting together, with great quietness, all took place. For to those, being more unreasonable, and hard to guide, there was need of outward pomp, as of a wilderness, a mountain, a smoke, a sound of trumpet, and the other similar things: but those who were of a higher character and submissive and who had risen above mere corporeal imaginations, [had no need of anything of these]. Of course, the Sitz im Leben and the contexts of these texts differ widely. Leo’s text is the only one directly related to the liturgy of the Pentecost. Nevertheless, it becomes immediately clear that for Christian ears, the typology proved at once the authenticity of the descent of the Spirit, the identity of God at Sinai and God at Pentecost as well as its superiority. For Christian spiritual leaders, Pentecost is closely related to Shavuot but utterly different in that it supersedes it. B) An Ancient List of Festivals in Toledot Yeshu Just as the Jewish tradition linking the giving of the Torah to Shavuot did not remain hidden from Christian writers who exploited the similarity ideologically, likewise the Christian Pentecost and its traditions were not unknown to Jews. An explicit reference to Christian Pentecostal traditions is found in some recensions of Toledot Yeshu, a Jewish antiChristian romance or kind of anti-Gospel (see Newman 1999, 59–79; di Segni 1985; Krauss 1902. Cf. Krauss and Horbury 1996 on the history of motifs as well as Howard 1988, 60–70). Dating Toledot Yeshu is notoriously difficult and this question is further complicated by the fact that there exist numerous recensions and the literary development is rather complex.10 The Pentecost-tradition appears in the recension 10 See the nice introduction in Newman (1999) as well as di Segni (1984, 83–100) and (1985, 29–42, 216–219). Most manuscripts are late medieval or modern and, indeed, some details are best explained as medieval or even modern embellishments. However, single traditions appear as early as Origen’s Contra Celsum, Tertullian, and the Talmudic literature. Agobard in the ninth century seems to be the first witness for a full fledged story (cf. Krauss & Horbury 1996, 68–71): Agobard, De iudaicis supersti- GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 284 6/22/2007 10:56:35 PM parody and polemics on pentecost 285 customarily called the Helena-Group, the sole recension to include a kind of ‘anti-Acts’.11 The following argument will demonstrate that some Jews were acquainted with the Christian Pentecost as early as the fourth or beginning fifth of the century. The passage in question appears in a speech given by a certain Elijah, a code-name for Paul, to the Christian Jews:12 Jesus said to you: Everybody in my power shall desecrate the Sabbath (that already the Holy One, may he be blessed, hated) and keep the First Day [Sunday] instead since on this day the Holy One, may he be blessed, enlightened his world; and for Pessah, which Israel does, make yourself a festival of the resurrection (‫ 31,)מועדה דקיימתא‬since he rose from his tomb; and for Shavuot (‫ )עצרתא‬Ascension (‫ ,)סולקא‬and this is the day on which he ascended to heaven; and for Rosh Hashanah the invention of the Cross (‫ ;)אשכחתא דצליבא‬and for the Great Fast [Yom Kippur] the Circumcision (‫ ;)גזורתא‬and for Chanukkah Calenda. This text represents a sort of Jewish perspective on the parting of the ways. It gives considerable space and detail to the question regarding the development of an independent Christian festival calendar. Apparently, it matters greatly to the Jewish authors, the redactors, copyists and readers of this tractate to distinguish the Christian festivals from their all too similar Jewish counterparts. The birth of the Christian calendar is dated extremely early, another sign for the fundamental importance attributed to its establishment. Samuel Krauss dated the list of festivals early in the history of Toledot Yeshu, emphasizing that the festival names are in Aramaic while the rest of the text is in Hebrew. Yet, he also regarded it as confused or imprecise (Krauss 1902, 271f ). He complains, e.g. that Shavuot is compared to the Ascension instead of Pentecost and Rosh Hashanah to the tionibus et erroribus 10 (PL 104.77–100 = MGH Ep. V.185–199); cf. also the Epistula contra Iudaeos of Agobard’s successor Amulo (PL 116.141–184) and several Aramaic witnesses from the Genizah which give the earliest direct attestation (Newman). 11 The three main recensions have been named according to the protagonists supervising the trial of Jesus (Pilate, Helena, and Herod). On the ‘Anti-Acts’, see Legasse (1974, 99–132) and (1974/1975, 121–139), als well as di Segni (1985, 203–215). 12 ‫ישו אמר לכם כל מי שיהיהה בחזקתי יחלל השבת שכבר שנא אותו ה"ק"ב"ה וישמור‬ ‫יום ראשון תחתיו כי בו האיר הקב"ה עולמו ובשביל פסח שעושין ישראל עשו אותם עדה‬ ‫]או :מועדה[ דקיימתא שעמד בו מקברו ובשביל עצרתא סולקא והוא יום שעלה בו בשמים‬ ‫.ובשביל ראש השנה אשכחתא דצליבא ובשביל צומא רבא גזורתא ובשביל חנוכה קלנדא‬ Manuscript Strassburg according to Krauss (1902, 48) with the variants according to Krauss (1933, 44–61). 13 According to a better manuscript mentioned by Krauss (1933, 47). GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 285 6/22/2007 10:56:35 PM 286 daniel stökl-ben ezra Invention of the Cross in May instead of the Exaltation of the Cross. Krauss is correct from the perspective of the modern liturgy. However, if we consider Christian liturgical practice at the end of the fourth or the fifth century, the confusion vanishes and the Jewish text emerges as being informed about Christian festivals including Pentecost. In the fourth and early fifth century, Pentecost commemorates both the Outpouring of the Spirit on the Apostles and the Ascension of Jesus (Cabié 1965, 127–142; Kretschmar 1954/1955, 209–253). A separate festival of Ascension developed only slowly from the late fourth century onwards as we can learn from Egeria and even from the Old Armenian Lectionary, reflecting the Jerusalem liturgy from the early fifth century, where Ascension seems to be a rather recent development (Egeria, Itinerarium 43.5; cf. Renoux 1971, nos LVII [Ascension] and LVIII [Pentecost] 336ff, esp. n. 1 and 5 to LVII). This prima facie impression is reinforced by further observations regarding the other festivals mentioned.14 This passage from Toledot Yeshu about Christian festivals demonstrates the centrality of heortology beyond Pesa in the Jewish dispute with Christianity even as early as in late antiquity, shortly after the redaction of the Palestinian Talmud (or even parallel to it). The following section is an attempt to elaborate on a rabbinic passage from the Yerushalmi that mentions Shavuot and possibly polemicizes and parodies the Christian Pentecost and its tradition. C) A Parody/Polemic on Pentecost in the Yerushalmi One of the few rabbinic texts mentioning Shavuot tells a short story of a Rabbi who is (falsely) accused of being drunk and justifies his strange appearance by referring to the effect of wisdom. This recalls the account in Acts 2 where the disciples are (wrongly) accused of being drunk on Shavuot when the Holy Spirit descends on them. As I mentioned above, Shavuot appears rarely in the rabbinic corpora. If one of these few texts seems to be close to the fundamental story of the Christian Pentecost, this is all the more noteworthy. Let me add 14 I will deal more extensively with this passage in a paper for the conference ‘Between Syncretism and Independence Models of Interaction between Judaism and Christianity’ (Bar Ilan in 2007). I would like to express my deep gratitude to Michael Kohlbacher whose detailed and erudite comments greatly enhanced my interpretation of this passage. GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 286 6/22/2007 10:56:35 PM parody and polemics on pentecost 287 that in both cases, the accusation comes from an outsider, a ‘Matrona’, a rich Roman lady here, a non-Christian Jew there. In both stories, the claim is rebutted by referring to the source of authority as cause for the unusual look, not the spirit but learnedness in the Torah. But let us look at the text first:15 [A] When Rabbi Yona drank four cups during the night of Pesa , he held his head until Pentecost. [B] Rabbi Yuda son of Rabbi Elai, drank four cups in the night of Pesa and held his head until Sukkot! [C1] A Matrona saw his face glowing. [C2] She said to him: Old man, old man, one out of three things is in you: [C3] Either you are a wine drinker, or a usurer or a pig farmer. [D1] He answered her: May the spirit leave this woman! [D2] None of these three things is in me but my learning as is written [D3] ‘the wisdom of a man makes his face shine’ (Eccl 8:1c). This difficult but fascinating story appears in the tractate Pesa im and emerges from a discussion of the question of which kind of wine is suitable to be used for the four cups during the Pesa Seder. It is, of course a piece of literature reflecting social history, not the account of an actual encounter. The absurdity of a hangover longer than one month reveals a grain of rabbinic humor. Before we pursue our comparison with Acts 2, however, we have to respond to the question whether we can be sure that Shavuot is the pivotal point of the story, not Sukkot. Quite clearly, the only phrase referring to Sukkot, sentence [B], about Rabbi Yuda’s six-month hangover from Pesa to Sukkot seems to be an addition to the original folkloristic account by the redactor of this part (or a later figure). It does not appear in the parallel in the Bavli. Moreover, Rabbi Yona belongs to the Palestinian amoraim in the mid fourth century and Rabbi Yuda, son of Rabbi Elai, to the tannaim of the mid second century. Had the story grown according to chronological order starting with R. Yuda, it would have been very strange indeed to supplement the six-month hangover with a one and a half month long period. The opposite process is much more plausible from a literary standpoint. Finally, the 15 My translation of p.Pes 10.1 37c. Cf. the verbal parallels p.Shab 8.1 11a and p.Sheq 3.2 47b. Related versions appear also in EcclR 8.1 (22a); TanB Huqqat 19 (58a); PesR 14 (62b–63a); PRK 4.4 (68), Ned 49b, cf. also Ber 55a. GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 287 6/22/2007 10:56:35 PM 288 daniel stökl-ben ezra supposedly tannaitic fragment, is not written in Hebrew but in Aramaic. It simply continues the story in the same language and is even phrased in exactly the same words as the first sentence ascribed to an amoraic speaker.16 Clearly, the phrase on Sukkot fulfills a literary function—to exaggerate the already absurdly long hangover of Rabbi Yona in extremis: Not just a mere one and a half months, but this hangover lasts six months. The Matrona therefore, primarily responds to Rabbi Yona on Shavuot as mentioned in the opening phrase [A]. There are further connections to Shavuot beyond the explicit mention in the opening sentence [A]. The shining face [C3] recalls, of course, Moses’ face glowing from the divine kavod upon his descent after the giving of the Torah in Exodus 34. The connection to the imaginaire17 of Shavuot is a strong argument since the shining face motif is otherwise not very widespread in rabbinic literature. Furthermore, the prooftext [D3] quoted from Eccl 8:1c, appearing rarely in amoraic and never in tannaitic literature, seems to be particularly closely related to the concept of revelation. In the talmudim, all four attestations can be found in this story and its parallels, all dealing with revelation. Among the midrashim, PRK is the earliest composition to mention this verse several times: all of them in an anthology containing practically all the exegeses of this verse that can be found in the other amoraic and medieval midrashim (PRK 4.4 Mandelbaum 1.65–69). One of these links the verse with Israel at the giving of the Torah at Sinai, another one with Moses, and another one is a direct parallel to the Yerushalmi story. (The other traditions relate the verse to Adam, the prophets and the Talmid Hakhamim. At least the second is again clearly connected to revelation.) All of them demonstrate the close relation of this verse to the imaginaire of Shavuot. After assessing the explicit and implicit motifs connecting the story to Shavuot, we can proceed to the comparison with the account in Acts 2. As mentioned above, both narratives depict an outsider (wrongly) accusing the protagonist(s) of intoxication and both relate this event to Shavuot/Pentecost. The Matrona is clearly a code, not a historical The Tanna R. Yuda replaces the amora R. Yona as protagonist in the parallel accounts in EcclR, the Bavli and PRK. In the Yerushalmi, R. Yona is the anchor of the story in the halakhic discussion in the immediate context. Possibly, the story about the faces of R. Yosi and R. Yona appearing in the vision of Ursicinus in p.Ber 5.1 37b played an important role in the attribution of the shining face to R. Yona, here. I would like to thank Oded Irshai for this suggestion. 17 For a definition of imaginaire, cf. Stökl Ben Ezra (2003, 8–10). 16 GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 288 6/22/2007 10:56:35 PM parody and polemics on pentecost 289 person. Though she does not belong to the group, she is potentially interested in it. This is true for the non-Christian Jews in Acts and the non-Jewish Roman Lady in the Yerushalmi.18 In the parallel tradition in EcclR, the outsider status of the interlocutor is emphasized, being explicitly called a goy. The sugya is therefore clearly dealing with boundaries and a traversing between the Jews and others. And it is in this context, in opinion, that we are able to understand a real crux in the text, the awkward tripartite combination of accusations against R. Yona uttered by the Matrona: to have a shining face as a drunkard, a usurer or a pig breeder [C3] (these accusations reappear in all parallels, not always in the same order, but nevertheless with intoxication as the acme.) The accusations clearly have widely varying degrees of plausibility. While the imbibing of alcohol certainly may influence facial expression and color, pig breeding and usury simply do not. The traditional explanation that pig breeding and usury are professions generating high profits which cause the face to shine seems rather fanciful. I do not know of any clear-cut rabbinic proof-text for the arguments of financial profit making the face to shine and that pig breeding was particularly lucrative (though usury was). A symbolic interpretation as a literary function seems more plausible. Similarly as with intoxication though even more so than it, usury and pig breeding define the boundaries between insiders and outsiders. Rabbinic traditions liken both usury and pig breeding to apostasy. The biblical distinction between the interdiction of usury of fellow Jews and the permission to outsiders already demonstrates the connection of usury to definitions of boundaries. A clear connection to apostasy is found in the following quotation from the Tosefta (t.BM 6.17): Said R. Yose: Come and see how blind are the eyes of those who lend at usurious rates. A man calls to his fellow to serve an idol, have unlawful sexual relations, or shed blood, [for] he wants him to fall [into sin] with him. But this one brings a scribe, pen, ink, document, and witnesses, and says to them: Come and write concerning him that he has no share in the One who commanded concerning usury. And he writes the document and registers it in the archives, and so denies him who spoke and thereby 18 ‫ מטרונא‬and ‫ מטרוניתא‬do not appear very often in the Talmudim (15 times in the Bavli, 6 times in the Yerushalmi) but very often in the aggadic midrashim (333 times, of these 71 in the earlier collections, e.g. 17 in GenR). On the Matrona, see Artmann (2002) focusing, however on aspects less relevant to ours. The same is true for Gershenzon (1985, 1–41). The anthology by Ganan (2002, 131–150) is not any more helpful. GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 289 6/22/2007 10:56:35 PM 290 daniel stökl-ben ezra brought the world into being, blessed be he. Thus you have learned that those who lend at usurious rates deny the principle [of divine authority]. R. Simeon b. Eleazar says: More than they make they lose. For they treat the Torah like a fraud, and Moses like a fool. They say: Now if Moses knew how much money we would make, he would never have written [the prohibition of usury]! Accordingly, the Matrona is accusing Rabbi Yona of behaving like a non-Jew or an apostate. The next accusation, pig breeding, a forbidden profession according to the Mishnah, is not one of the favorite topics of the rabbinic literature. Yet wherever it appears, there is a clear connection between pigs and the non-Jewish world, between pigs and apostasy. Diocletian is called a swine herdsman (p.Ter 8.11 46b) and the Roman kingdom is called a pig (LevR 13.5 Margulies 291f ): R. Phinehas and R. Hilkiah, in the name of R. Simeon, said: Out of all the prophets, only two, namely Asaph and Moses, named it (i.e. the fourth beast). Asaph said: The boar (‫ )חזיר‬out of the wood does ravage it (Ps 80:14). Moses said: And the swine (‫ ,)חזיר‬because it parts the hoof, and is cloven footed, but does not chew the cud, he is unclean to you (Lev 11:7). Why is it (i.e. Edom or Rome) compared to a ‫( חזיר‬swine or boar)? To tell you this: Just as the swine when reclining puts forth its hooves as if to say: See that I am clean, so too does the empire of wickedness (Edom/Rome) boast as it commits violence and robbery, under the guise of establishing a judicial tribunal. This may be compared to a governor who put to death the thieves, adulterers, and sorcerers. He leaned over to a counsellor and said: I myself did these three things in one night. Famous is the following tradition from the Bavli where the study of Greek wisdom as well as (raising) pigs are connected to treachery (Men 64b, Sot 49b): Our Rabbis taught: When the Kings of the Hasmonean house fought one another, Hyrcanus was outside and Aristobulus within (the city wall). Each day (those that were within) used to let down (to the other party) denars in a basket, and haul up (in return) animals for the daily offerings. An old man there, who was learned in Greek wisdom, spoke with them in Greek wisdom, saying: As long as they carry on the Temple service they will never be delivered into your hands. On the morrow, they let down denars in a basket and hauled up a pig. When it reached halfway up the wall, it stuck its claws into the wall, and the land of Israel was shaken over a distance of four hundred parasangs by four hundred parasangs. At that time they declared: Cursed be the man who rears pigs and cursed be the man who teaches his son Greek wisdom! Also the third accusation, intoxication, is not a frequent topos in rabbinic literature, and, unlike the Bible, it does not even appear many times as GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 290 6/22/2007 10:56:35 PM parody and polemics on pentecost 291 a narrative element with non-Biblical figures (cf. Git 57a, 68a). In Rabbinic literature, we find frequent declarations against drunkenness (cf. Ber 31b; Er 64a–65a; Pes 113b; Taan 17b; Sanh 22b, 42a), yet much less compared to other offences such as incest. Likened to apostasy e.g. in Hos 4:11–12, intoxication, too, belongs to the characteristics of a gentile.19 The only well known exception is, of course the commandment to get drunk on Purim (Meg 7b). In this light, I would like to suggest that we might understand the crux of the intention of the Matrona’s accusations as follows: ‘Your face shines since you are like one of those pig breeders and usurers, those apostates, those who became Christians who appeared on Pentecost as having drunk too much.’ The outsider accuses the insider of being closer to being an outsider than she herself is. The rabbi’s answer is ‘None of this is true! I am not like one of those apostates who falsely claim that the Spirit is enlightening them. I belong to God’s people and it is my learning of God’s Torah that makes my face shine just like Moses at Sinai who was truly inspired by God on the authentic, original Pentecost. I adhere to the Torah and its commandments and therefore I drink four cups of wine on Pesa as commanded. Those Christians and we Jews look similar to outsiders like you, but we are utterly different.’ The redactor of the Talmudic story then parodied this polemic by exaggerating the already absurd 50 days of the hangover to 180 days without changing the character of the episode as a humorous self-definition narrative, a polemical parody. Finally, R. Yona’s curse [D1] ‘May the spirit leave this woman’, fits extraordinarily well to a polemical anti-Christian function in the context of Pentecost. While it is clearly not a rare formula in the rabbinic corpus, many other expressions could have been used instead. To be sure, there are differences between Acts 2 and the Yerushalmi story.20 Yet we should not expect a full-fledged typology. It is the nature of parody to choose a specific set of elements to make fun of. 19 See e.g. LamR 3.5 on Lam 3.14: ‘I have become a derision to all my people.’ It is written, They that sit in the gate talk of me (Ps 69:13). This refers to the nations of the world who sit in theatres and circuses. ‘And I am the song of the drunkards.’ After they sit eating and drinking and become intoxicated they sit and talk of me, scoffing at me and saying: We have no need to eat carobs like the Jews! 20 While in Acts 2 it is the expression of the disciples’ mouth, the strange talk, that causes attraction. Here, it is the expression of R. Yona’s face. There, many are accused, here only one. The only possible ‘convert’ mentioned in the Yerushalmi is the Matrona herself in distinction to the masses in Acts 2. The Scriptural prooftexts GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 291 6/22/2007 10:56:35 PM 292 daniel stökl-ben ezra Conclusions Numerous Christian texts polemicize against the Jewish festival of Shavuot and against exploiting Jewish traditions of this festival to ideologically justify its substitution by the Christian Pentecost. The passage from Toledot Yeshu shows that Jews were not apathetic vis-à-vis the Christianization of liturgical time in the Roman empire. Some rabbinic Jews were familiar with liturgical aspects of the Christian Pentecost at least in the fourth or fifth century, and the general framework of that passage attests also to some acquaintance with the story of Acts. Viewing the Yerushalmi story as parodying polemics of the Christian Pentecost plausibly solves some difficulties in traditional understandings of this passage. It offers a glimpse of the Jewish perspective on the Jewish-Christian rivalry—a rivalry regarding the implementation of biblical festivals and the liturgical calendar that clearly was not limited to Pesa as demonstrated by the account from Toledot Yeshu, with its linkage of usury, pig breeding and shining faces. Literature Andersen, F.I., ‘2 (Slavonic Apocalypse of ) Enoch’ in: J.H. Charlesworth (ed.), The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha [2 vols], New York etc. 1983. Assmann, J., ‘Der zweidimensionale Mensch. Das Fest als Medium des kollektiven Gedächtnisses’ in: idem (ed.), Das Fest und das Heilige; Religiöse Kontrapunkte zur Alltagswelt (Studien zum Verstehen fremder Religionen 1), Gütersloh 1991. Artmann, T., ‫דיאלוג, מיתוס וייצוג דמוי היסטוריה: קריאה בשבעה מפגשים בין מטרונה לרי יוסי‬ ‫[ ,בבראשית רבה‬unpublished M.A. thesis, Hebrew University] Jerusalem 2002. Bauckham, R., ‘The Lord’s Day,’ in: D.A. Cardon (ed.), From Sabbath to Lord’s Day; A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Investigation, Grand Rapids/Michigan 1982. Bell, C., Ritual Perspectives and Dimensions, New York—Oxford 1997. ———, Ritual Theory—Ritual Practice, New York—Oxford 1992. Böttrich, C., Das slavische Henochbuch ( JSHRZ 5:7), Gütersloh 1996. Cabié, R., La Pentecôte; L’évolution de la cinquantaine pascale au cours des cinq premiers siècles (Bibliothèque de liturgie), Tournai 1965. Cocchini, F., ‘L’evoluzione storico-religiosa della festa di Pentecoste’, RivBib 25 (1977). Eiss, W., ‘Das Wochenfest im Jubiläenbuch und im antiken Judentum’, in: M. Albani et al. (eds), Studies in the Book of Jubilees (TSAJ 65), Tübingen 1997. Elgvin, T., ‘The Qumran Covenant Festival and the Temple Scroll’, JJS 36 (1985). differ, Joel there, Ecclesiastes here. The disciples claim not to have drunk at all, while R. Yona drank, even if 50 days ago. GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 292 6/22/2007 10:56:35 PM parody and polemics on pentecost 293 Erez, A., The Evolution of Shavuot; From a Temple Oriented Festival to a Commemoration of the Giving of the Torah [unpublished M.St. dissertation in Hebrew and Jewish Studies] Oxford 2003. Ganan, M., ‘Matrona’, Shana be Shana (2002) [Hebrew, also: http://www.daat.ac.il/ daat/kitveyet/shana/ganan-1.htm]. Geerlings, W., ‘Ambrosiaster’ in: idem and S. Döpp (eds), Lexikon der antiken christlichen Literatur, Freiburg—Basel—Wien 3rd ed. 2002. Gershenzon, R. and E. Slomovic, ‘A Second Century Jewish-Gnostic Debate: Rabbi Jose ben Halafta and the Matrona’, JSJ 16 (1985). Goudoever, J. van, Fêtes et calendriers bibliques (Théologie historique 7), Paris 3rd ed. 1967. Howard, H., ‘A Primitive Hebrew Gospel of Matthew and the Tol’doth Yeshu’, NTS 34 (1988). Jacobson, H., A Commentary on Pseudo-Philo’s Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum with Latin Text and English Translation [2 vols] (AGJU 31), Leiden 1996. Kretschmar, G., ‘Himmelfahrt und Pfingsten’, ZKG 66 (1954/1955). Krauss, S., Das Leben Jesu nach jüdischen Quellen, Berlin 1902. ———, ‘Neuere Ansichten über “Toledoth Jeschu”’, MGWJ 77 (1933). ———, and W. Horbury, The Jewish-Christian Controversy from the Earliest Times to 1789; Volume I. History. Edited and Revised by William Horbury (TSAJ 56), Tübingen 1996. Legasse, S., ‘La légende juive des Apôtres et les rapports judéo-chrétiens dans le haut Moyen Age’, BLE 75 (1974). ———, ‘La légende juive des Apôtres et les rapports judéo-chrétiens dans le Moyen Age occidental’, Yearbook of the Ecumenical Institute for Advanced Theological Studies (1974/1975). Milikowsky, C., Seder Olam; A Rabbinic Chronography [2 vols, unpublished Ph.D. Diss.] Yale 1981. Newman, H., Jerome and the Jews [unpublished Ph.D. Diss, Hebrew University] Jerusalem 1997. ———, ‘The Death of Jesus in the Toledot Yeshu Literature’, JThS 50 (1999). Potin, J., La fête juive de la Pentecôte [2 vols] (LeDiv 65), Paris 1971. Renoux, Ch./A., Le Codex arménien jérusalem 121; Tôme 2: Édition, comparée du texte et de deux autres manuscrits (PO 36.2), Turnhout 1971. Rouwhorst, G., ‘The Origins and Evolution of Early Christian Pentecost’, StPatr 35 (2001). Schreiber, S. ‘Aktualisierung göttlichen Handelns am Pfingsttag. Das frühjüdische Fest in Apg 2,1’ ZNW 93 (2002). Segni, R. di, ‘La tradizione testuale delle Toledoth Jeshu: Manoscritti, edizioni a stampa classificazione’, RasIsr 50 (1984). ———, Il Vangelo del Ghetto, Rome 1985. Stemberger, G., Introduction ot the Talmud and Midrash, Minneapolis 2nd ed. 1996 Stökl Ben Ezra, D., The Impact of Yom Kippur on Early Christianity (WUNT 163), Tübingen 2003. Tabory, J., Jewish Festivals in the Time of the Mishna and Talmud, Jerusalem 1995 [Hebrew]. VanderKam, J.C., ‘Weeks, Festival of ’ in: D.N. Freedman (ed.), Anchor Bible Dictionary [vol. 6], New York, 1992. Yuval, I., Two Nations in Your Womb; Perceptions of Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Berkeley 2006. GERHARDS_f17_279-293.indd 293 6/22/2007 10:56:35 PM