Studies in a Rabbinic Family: The de Botons (review)

THE JEWISHQUARTERLYREVIEW,XCII, Nos. 1-2 (July-October, 2001) 185-187 M. BEN-SASSON,W. Z. HARVEY,Y. BEN-NAEH,and Z. ZOHAR,eds. Studies in a Rabbinic Family: Thede Botons. Jerusalem:Misgav Yerushalayim, The HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem,1998. Pp. xii + 201, 47 facsimiles, genealogical tables. Studies in a RabbinicFamilyis a volume of essays treatingthe de Boton family, exiles from Spain who settled in Salonika in the mid-16th century. An interdisciplinaryeffort,it is also the firstvolume to be publishedby Misgav Yerushalayim,the Centerfor Researchand Study of SephardiandOriental Jewish Heritageat the HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem.The readeris here treatedto studies thatexamine genealogical, hermeneutical,historical, halakhic,andpoetic dimensions of this family'sleading members.Focusing as it does on relatively unknown figures, Studies in a Rabbinic Family affords theEnglish-languagereaderanopportunityto get pastthebrightlights of better-knownrabbis (Karo, Abarbanel,etc.) to encounter men both intrinsically fascinating and significantly representativeof their time. After providing a carefully researchedfamily tree by Yaron Ben-Naeh, the volume opens with a well-crafted historical introductionby Abraham Socher, which provides a helpful backgroundto the specialized studies that follow. Socher surveysthehistoryof theJewish communityof 16th-century Salonika,andprovidesgeneralintellectual,biographical,andbibliographical informationon the de Botons andtheir culturalmilieu. Socher'sessay is followed by a two-part,70-page studyby Daniel Boyarin, which examinesthehermeneuticalstrategiesdeployedby Abrahamde Boton in his LehemMishneh, a well-known commentaryto the Mishneh Torahof Moses Maimonides.Boyarinuses the LehemMishnehto exemplify the type of analysischaracteristicof the school of Sephardi'iyyun.His contributions serve, as he suggests, "as a fine introductionto rabbinic hermeneutics in general, and to the distinctive methodology of one of the most important schools of the early modernperiod in particular"(p. 19). This contribution will prove especially useful to those who lack the Hebrew skills to negotiate Boyarin'sHa-'Iyyun ha-Sepharadi(1989). In a numberof interesting examples (rangingfrom treatmentsof sex to saintliness), Boyarin takes the readerthroughde Boton'sdialecticalmazes, thicklyillustratingthemannerin which de Boton'sexposureof (apparent)contradictionswithin the Mishneh Torahcould, in the process of resolution,yield significanthalakhicconclusions and ultimately more profound understandingsof the talmudic passages that underlie them. In the second partof the study,Boyarin exposes aspects of de Boton'smethodology throughfurtherclose readings.Here we see de Boton'sown methodof close readingat work, keeping him attentive 186 THEJEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW "to the linguistic and logical form of the text that was being interpreted" (p. 60). This deep unpackingof the text was farremovedfrom othermodes of pilpul thattendedto violatetheinternallogic of textsunderscrutiny;itwas not de Boton'smethodto resolve contradictionsthroughsophistic comparisons withothertexts in the canon.Oneof de Boton'smost significantvirtues, accordingto Boyarin,was his willingness to conclude his inquirieswith the admissionthat"the matterrequiresfurtherstudy." Hayyim Sabbato'sshortcontributionfollowing Boyarin'sessays addsyet another fascinating dimension to the study of de Boton's hermeneutics. Sabbato demonstratesa unique insight of de Boton: whenever there is a contradiction between halakhic methodology and the conclusion of the sugya in the Talmud,Maimonidessystematicallycodifies the law according to halakhic methodology, and ignores the conclusion of the Gemara.This insightis significantnot only for an appreciationof de Boton'smethodology, but for ourunderstandingof Maimonides'shalakhicmethodology as well. The second section of the volume, "Responsa and History"consists of two brief essays by Renee Levine Melammed.The aim of the firstessay is primarilyto bring Abrahamde Boton explicitly into the orbit of his more famouscontemporary,JosephKaro,by establishingvariousactualandplausible lines of affiliationbetween the two men. The second is somethingof a case-study in the use of responsafor historicalpurposes.The volume concludes with annotatedtranslationsand Hebrew originals of an epistle and poem of anotherde Boton, Meirben Moses (transcribedfromuniquemanuscripts ), and a eulogy for Moses de Boton recordedby its author,Moses Almosnino. Hebrew indices to Abrahamde Boton'scollection of responsa, LehemRav, are also included. Intendedto reflectthe cultureandthe literarysensibilities of Jewish Salonikain those days, the primarysourcesin the volume areof uneven quality. The minor works of Meir ben Moses are charmingin themselves. I especially enjoyedhis amusingdialoguebetweenthe Good andEvil Inclinations, designed to providecomic relief on the Day of Atonement!The inclusionin bilingualform-of a lengthy eulogy by Moses Almosnino was, however, ratherforced.This eulogy sheds little light on the de Boton whose deathwas the occasion of its delivery, andis, on the whole, an unremarkableexample of its genre.Indeed,Almosnino preservedthe eulogy forits exegetical qualities ; its actualSitz-im-Lebenis only summarilynoted.Moreover,unlikethe short works by R. Meir, the eulogy may...