Are there any Karaite traditions re. numerology, gematria, rearranging/interpreting parts of people’s names, etc., to compare to?
And those commentaries are important enough to Judaism that they’re recited at synagogue services and Passover seders. (Whereas you’ll never hear a priest tell his congregation “Open your lectionaries to the commentary of Thomas Aquinas.”)
It’s an explicit belief of Judaism that in addition to the written law (the Torah) there were other things that God explained to Moses, and he passed on to the people orally. It’s called (wait for it) the oral law. And, as Babale points out, at some point they decided they needed to write that stuff down too, and wrote the Mishnah.
The Prophets and the Writings weren’t part of the written law, either. (That’d be the parts of the Jewish Bible that aren’t the Torah.) Traditionally, they came later, and were written by people, not given by God
Yes. Some of the discussion in the Talmud is part of the standard Passover seder text. And commentary from the Talmud is regularly discussed at services.
Fwiw, the Talmud (including its layers of commentary) is considered to be among the primary scriptures of Judaism. Little kids learn about it in Reform religious school.
Yes, they’re literally what defines Rabbinical Judaism.
And even if you’re secular and don’t believe that the Mishnah is literally divinely inspired and passed down orally since Moses, it’s still the defining central text that sets Rabbinical Judaism apart from Temple era Judaism. From that perspecrive it’s “fanfiction” in the same sense that the New Testament or the Quran are. I guess if you’re the edgiest edgelord that’s a position you might take.
I’d argue that the Mishnah is second only to the Torah in its importance to Rabbinical Judaism, and definitely more central than Nevi’im or Ketuvim.
Every Torah book (not scroll, the books they hand out for you to follow along with during the Torah portion reading) I’ve seen used at services included a selection of commentaries right there on the page. As a kid, I was always a fast reader, and always found services quite boring; but I loved reading the commentaries on the Torah portions. They were very entertaining; Rabbis disagreed with one another quite vehemently at times.
I’m not an expert on Karaites, and they may have such traditions regarding interpreting the names of people outside the Tanakh, but they would not have any such traditions regarding interpretation of the Tanakh itself because what makes them Karaites is the belief that there is no divinely inspired oral Torah, only the written books, and that all people should read them for themselves (in the original Hebrew and Aramaic if possible, because translations are interpretations) and interpret them based on the Peshat, or simple meaning, of the words.
Rabbinical interpretation does look at the Peshat as well, but then it applies quite a few other forms of analysis, including Gematria as you mention. My understanding is that Karaites look down on that practice, so I would guess they don’t do it in other contexts either, but I could be wrong about that.
Actually, that leads me down a curious line of thinking. Rabbinical Judaism loves the story of Jacob wrestling the angel of God and getting the name Israel as a result (which means something like “he who competed with or struggled against God”). And the takeaway for Rabbinical Judaism is an affirmation of the idea of the Mishnah, of competing interpretations of the text in order to uncover more and more meaning through the process. It’s a central tenet of Rabbinical Judaism.
I wonder what Karaites make of that passage. Presumably, they take it more literally?
Yes, that’s where i was going with that.
There are lots of genealogies in the Torah for which that comment would be valid, but Methuselah lived before the Flood, so by definition has no descendants whose claims could be solidified. Indeed, Jewish tradition teaches that God arranged for everyone to descend from Noah precisely so that no person or nation would be able to claim its heritage is greater than any other.
Materialist interpretations are all very well, but they don’t explain the existence of every single verse in the Bible.
You still need a line of patriarchs leading up to Noah. Completists.
Rather, everyone would be able to claim descent from him, because he is Noah’s grandfather.
Who said Pharoah made the sun rise?
From Google KI, couldn’t find a better cite quickly, but this is consistent with many sources I’ve read before:
Or if you meant who the Egyptians told so: the priests of course.
But could he sprinkle it with dew?
Sorry, I don’t get that, seems like I’ve been whooshed.
Did you just know that off the top of your head?!
Cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two?
No, I’ve actually pretty much only heard of Metuselah in the context of SciFi using his name metaphorically for long age. He’s a minor footnote in the Bible.
But this thread made me curious about his name, because it doesn’t SOUND Hebrew whatsoever (especially because I’ve often heard it said with a soft T, or at least I thought I did, like Methuselah). So I wanted to know what his name is supposed to sound like before you translate it to Greek, then Latin, then English. Turns out, it’s more like “meh-toe-sha-lakh” with a hard Khet at the end.
When I looked that up, I saw that he is Noah’s grandfather.
But I mean, it makes sense - I don’t think he does anything notable, so the only reason he’d be listed is if he is related to someone important.
FWIW, that’s how I’ve always heard it pronounced, too.
There’s very little that sounds less Hebrew than a soft T.
https://forvo.com/word/מתושלח/
As an aside, that’s why “Sabbath” really grates my ears. It’s “Shabbat”!
If there’s not a Hebrew language metal cover band out there called Black Shabbat, it’s a missed opportunity.