Gesila Nneka Uzukwu, «Gal 3,28 and its Alleged Relationship to Rabbinic Writings», Vol. 91 (2010) 370-392
Scholars have suggested that Gal 3,28 is comparable to similar sayings found in rabbinic writings, and that the latter can help in interpreting and understanding the meaning and theology of Gal 3,28. In this study we have analysed and compared the alleged similar sayings found in Jewish texts and Gal 3,28 in order to demonstrate that Gal 3,28 is neither literally nor thematically related to the former, and we should not allow the alleged similar sayings found in rabbinic writings to influence our reading of Gal 3,28. Both texts reflect the conceptual uses of pairs of opposites in the Greco-Roman tradition, but at the same time, their subsequent usages or occurrences in Jewish and Christian texts came into being independently from one another.
372 GESILA NNEKA UZUKWU
The Genizah
fragments of the
Tosefta 3 Palestinian Talmud 4 Babylonian Talmud 5
Palestinian order
of Service 6
wnyhla yy hta Èwrb
rça mlw[h Èlm
ytwa tarb
hmhb alw μda
ywg ynç[ alç Èwrb ywg ynaç[ alç Èwrb ywg ynaç[ alç
rwb ynaç[ alç Èwrb
hça ynç[ alç Èwrb hça ynaç[ alç Èwrb hça ynaç[ alç hça alw çya
(hbqn alw rkz)
rwb ynç[ alç [Èwrb] rwb ynaç[ alç
ywg alw larçy
lr[ alw lm
db[ alw yçpt
(fam alw rwhf)
gentile (non Jew), thank you for not making me a woman, (thank you) for not
making me a boarâ€. The Hebrew text is taken from http://www.mechon-
mamre.org/b/f/f11.htm (9 April 2009). For rwb other sources have “ignoramusâ€.
For other translations, see Die Tosefta. Rabbinische Texte, Seder 1: Zeraim
(eds. E. LOHSE – G. MAYER) (Stuttgart 1999) 18.
In the Palestinian Talmud, dated between late fourth and or early fifth
4
centuries, the three blessings are found in Berachot 9.1, 63b. The translations
are mine, “Thank you for not making me a gentile (non Jew), thank you for not
making me a boar, thank you for not making me a womanâ€. The above Hebrew
text is accessed 10 April 2009 from http://mechon-mamre.org/b/r/r1109.htm.
In the Babylonian Talmud, dated between the late fifth and late eight
5
centuries, the three blessings are found in Menahot 43b. The Hebrew text is
accessed 9 April 2009 from http://www.mechon-mamre.org/b/l/l5204.htm.
See also L. GOLDSCHMIDT (ed.), Der Babylonische Talmud (Berlin 1935)
Menahot 43b.
Lastly, it is attested in a few manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah
6
fragment of the Palestinian order of service, dating from the ninth to fifteen
centuries. The translations are mine, “Blessed are you, O God, Our Lord king
of the universe who has made me a human being and not an animal, a man and
not a woman (male and not a female), Israel and not a gentile, circumcised and
not uncircumcised, a free person and not a slaveâ€. See J. MANN, “Genizah
Fragments of the Palestinian Order of Serviceâ€, HUCA 2 (1925) 277. MANN
(“ Genizah Fragmentsâ€, 274, n. 19) also notes that the “Turin Mahzor†has these
five antitheses, in slightly different form. In D.M. GOLDENBERG, “Scythian-
Barbarian : The Permutations of a Classical Topos in Jewish and Christian Texts
of Late Antiquityâ€, JJS 49 (1998) 87-102, 100-101, n. 33, we find reference to
FOLLOW US