Humor and Play in the Talmudic Queries of Rami bar Hama

• In Event: Methods and History in the Redaction of the Bavli

Abstract

The use of humor and play in the Babylonian Talmud has been the focus of recent scholarly research, most notably by Dr. Christine Hayes. As Hayes has shown in recent public lectures, humor and play come to the fore not only in the narratives of the Talmud, but also in the course of complex halakhic argumentation. In this paper I will demonstrate that the presence of humor and play extends to specific questions posed by amoraim as well. I will focus specifically on the IBAYA-style questions of Rami bar Hama as a case study. Rami bar Hama is a third-fourth generation Babylonian amora, whose questions appear in over 80 SUGYOT in the Babylonian Talmud, covering a wide range of topics. As I will show in this paper, Rami bar Hama employs multiple strategies of play in the formulation of his questions. These strategies are evident in both the specific content of the questions as well as the various styles in which these questions are asked. Furthermore, many of Rami bar Hama’s questions undergo interpretation and revision at the hands of the Stam. While in some cases the Stam criticizes the playful style of Rami bar Hama, in other cases the Stam adopts this self-same style. Thus, while the amoraic layer of these SUGYOT fully embraces the playful approach, the Stam maintain a more complex and often ambivalent attitude.

Author

• Shira Shmidman, Bar Ilan University