What is Jewish Scripture?

Abstract

In the formative period of Judaism in late antiquity, most Jews encountered scripture in the form of text-supported performance in the context of the ritual recitation of torah in the synagogue. Since this was the form and modality in which most Jews encountered scripture, this performed scripture should be a central subject for scholarly analyses of the phenomenon of scripture in rabbinic Judaism. In this essay I demonstrate that this performed scripture differs both phenomenologically and in terms of content from the canon of the Hebrew Bible. I also demonstrate that the rabbis themselves were aware of the divergences between the performed scripture and the written scripture, and I explore how the awareness of this divergence shaped rabbinic attitudes toward written scripture as well.