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Re: orion "Pure food" in 1QS
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Sarah Melcher wrote:
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> Reply to Dave Washburn's question.
> Dave, Jastrow has as an entry for HRHT: "Esp. HRHT or SDVQH TRHT
> observance of levitical rules originally prescribed for the handling of
> sacred food; also (mostly in pl.) secular food so prepared or pretended to
> be so prepared." [Marcus Jastrow, _A Dictionary of the Targumim, the
> Talmud Babli and Jerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature_ (New York:
> Judaica Press, 1989), 520.]
Thanks for the info. I confess the phrase almost makes the word look
adjectival, rather than a stand-alone abstract noun as in BH. If I may
conflate a bit now:
> Dave, An afterthought about your question of "pure food" in 1QS. It
> seems likely that the biblical basis for the usage you mentioned in your
> post would be Leviticus 11 and the dietary instructions. See, especially,
> Leviticus 11:47.
I can see where this section would be the basis for deciding what food is
pure and what isn't, but I'm not sure I see how it ties in with the usage
of +HRT in 1QS. What I'm trying to do is determine the semantic range of
this word, both synchronically (approximately at the time of 1QS, assuming
it can be determined) and diachronically, from the biblical usage to later
Mishnaic and similar usage. It looks to me as though the translations of
it in 1QS presuppose a shift in meaning from abstract "purity," "ceremonial
cleanness," to concrete, "pure food, especially a particular ceremonial
meal so designated." I don't see this shift based on the Jastrow entry
above. A good example of the biblical usage is Lev 12:4, right near the
passage you mentioned. This refers to ceremonial purification after giving
birth, and includes a scenario that is strongly remeniscent of the 1QS
usage: "She much not touch anything sacred" (NIV). In 1QS we see certain
individuals who are not to touch the +HRT of the community or of the
"rabbim." The other biblical examples I listed are abstract, and speak of
purification or cleanness in a ceremonial sense, usually being purified
from some similar ritual defilement like menstruation or other bodily
emissions, a rash (Lev 13:7 and several others following it), contact with
a dead body (Num 6:9) and the like. Thus, the biblical usage is pretty
abstract and doesn't appear to have much of anything to do with a specific
ritual meal. Between this and the Jastrow definition above, which actually
appears to be equally abstract (though based on the biblical examples I'm
not sure where he came up with "levitical rules originally prescribed for
the handling of
sacred food"), I can't help wondering where the semantic range that extends
to a specific meal might have come from. That's what I'm trying to figure
out.
Apologies to the moderator if this is too long,
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur/