ארמית מקראית[Biblical Aramaic] (review)

Hebrew Studies 36 (1995) 206 Reviews Word that passed backwards and forwards between God and Israel (pp. 2732 ); that Neusner does not comment on the content of this Midrash, its relation to the Logos, and so forth, would encourage students to regard it as secondary. Even more seriously, Neusner thereby overlooks many of the structural correlations between the appendices and the main text. Attention to these correlations would reveal a much closer, more intricate and comprehensive structure. For example, Neusner neglects entirely the structural function of the parables which reflect or subvert the main parable of the text. I wonder if the difference between Neusner and his opponents is as great as it appears. Sometimes it amounts to a difference of emphasis or semantics. His opponents will emphasize disagreement between the sages, Neusner their contribution to a coherent world view. Neusner takes Steinsaltz to task for claiming that the Talmud "has no formal external order, but is bound by a strong inner connection" (p. 29). It could be, however, that if Steinsaltz were pressed to specify the "strong inner connection ," he would point to precisely those features, the rhythm of rhetorical argument, the reiteration of the same propositional sequences. that Neusner makes the basis of his analysis and that comprise the most convincing aspect of his book. Francis Landy University ofAlberta Edmonton, Alberta CANADA T6G 2B4 n'~ipc n'Ci~ [BIBLICAL ARAMAIC] [Hebrew]. By Elisha Qimron. The Biblical Encyclopaedia (Encyclopaedia Miqra'it) Library 10. Pp. x + 147. Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1993. Paper. This brief volume includes a complete grammar and dictionary of biblical Aramaic, together with paradigms and textual examples, that are designed to introduce biblical Aramaic to students who have already mastered intermediate Hebrew. It therefore places special emphasis on features of biblical Aramaic grammar that differ from those of Hebrew, and it offers only brief discussion of features that are well-known from Hebrew, such as the phonology of the bg"d kp"t letters and the pointing of the gutturals. It is based primarily on the grammar by Bauer and Leander Hebrew Studies 36 (1995) 207 Reviews (H. Bauer and P. Leander, Biblisch-Aramaischen Grammatik [Halle, 1927]), to which it makes frequent reference, and other works that have since advanced discussion of various aspects of biblical Aramaic. Indeed, Qimron's consistently rich bibliographical references, both in Hebrew and in other languages, are one of the outstanding features of this volume. New features appear especially in the discussion of phonology and the presentation of the verbal system, which is written from the perspective of the "grammar of the creator" (diqduq hayyotzer), for example, paradigms are presented so that the student can learn to form verbs on his/her own rather than simply to learn those forms that appear within the Aramaic texts of the Bible. Qimron expects thereby to facilitate the work of the researcher and teacher as well. Following a brief introduction and table of abbreviations for the principle bibliographical references, the volume is divided into three basic chapters. The first is a discussion of the history of the development of the Aramaic language which serves as a guide for the student to understand the place of biblical Aramaic in relation to its developmental stages. Qimron presents five major stages: 1) Old Aramaic (1000-700 B.C.E.), known from ancient Syrian and other sources; 2) Official or Imperial Aramaic (700-300 B.C.E.), known from Persian and other sources, principally in Egypt; 3) Middle Aramaic (300 B.C.E.-200 C.E.), including Qumran, Nabatean, and Palmyrene sources; 4) various Aramaic dialects from 200 C.E. until 1000 C.E., including western dialects such as Galilean, Christian, Samaritan, and eastern dialects such as Mandean and Babylonian Aramaic; and 5) Modem Aramaic dialects from the east and west. Qimron maintains that the examples of Aramaic found in the Bible all represent Imperial Aramaic, although some scholars maintain that the Aramaic of the book of Daniel best relates to Middle Aramaic (e.g., S. A. Kaufman, Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 4, p. 174). The second chapter of the volume focuses on phonology and includes sub-sections on the consonants, the vowels, the accents, the doubled consonants , the...