Myth and Anti-Myth in bBaba Meṣiah 84a: The Tragedy of Resh Laqish and Rabbi Yoḥanan

• In Event: Graduate Student Lightning Session: Rabbinic Literature and Culture

Abstract

Many of the narratives of the Babylonian Talmud engage in a thick cultural discourse. The story of Rabbi Yoḥanan and Resh Laqish as it appears at bBaba Meṣiah 84a is one such narrative. This paper explores that narrative using a philological interpretive lens with a goal of elucidating both the many interwoven layers of cultural ‘tissue’ as well as the fine literary artistry that this narrative displays. It also suggests a literary-cultural context - Ovid’s Pygmalion myth - through which we can re-read this story showing how the narrative acts to both inscribe and problematize a familiar set of norms prevalent in rabbinic culture and literature.

My interest in writing this paper is part of a larger project to evaluate the humanistic aspects of rabbinic culture as depicted in the narratives that appear in the Bavli.

Author

• Dov Kahane, JTS