Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Brak <Brak AT neo.rr.com>]

My question isn't with the Torah/Haftora Reading cycles. I understand 
the sedarim breaks in regards to that section of the text.

My question is with the rest - especially with the Minor Prophets and 
Psalms.

When you look at the sedarim divisions for the Minor Prophets and Psalms 
it goes against (in my opinion) logic.
You have the lack of sedarim breaks at the beginning of the books in the 
Minor Prophets - such as the 4th sedarim break at Hosea 14:6 and the 5th 
break at Joel 2:27. Why no break at Joel 1:1. If you look at the sedarim 
breaks from the Psalms they are in the middle of the various Psalms, not 
at the beginning of them.

So if the sedarim breaks are to be thought of as the ancient versions of 
chapter breaks then these locations to me make no sense. You would have 
a sedar break at Joel 1:1.

So what I want to know is the logic behind the placement of these 
breaks. What is it based on - what do they really mean.
Maybe to some this isn't serious or interesting - to me it is very much 
so. This is a tradition preserved almost identically in numerous Hebrew 
manuscripts. Shouldn't we know the reasoning behind them - especially 
where they deviate from apparent logic?
I know I want to know!

So for the sake of focus of discussion allow me to ask just one specific 
question - a kind of focusing on one tree instead of the whole forest. 
Why is the 4th sedarim break in the Minor Prophets at Hosea 14:6, and 
the 5th at Joel 2:27 - with no break at Joel 1:1.

Once again Daniel, thank you for your most gracious responses. I just 
pray that the answer will avail itself.


B"H
Brak

Daniel R. Pater wrote:

> Bratt:
>
>
>
> Returning to your question regarding the rationale guiding the old 
> Palestinian three-year cycle divisions (sedarim), I am ignorant of any 
> research or position on this and would be interested to know, for purely 
> intellectual curiosity (see below).  Perhaps manageable length?  I have not 
> looked into this at all.  Again, if anybody else has information....
>
>
>
> Furthermore on the Leningrad Codex (LC) matter of the specific division in I 
> Sam20:4-5, two modern "rabbinic" Hebrew Bibles differ:
>
>
>
> 1)   In the "Jerusalem Crown" edition of the Aleppo Codex (Jerusalem, 2000) 
> for use by the Hebrew University, the seder in question is placed at I Sam 
> 20:5 ("And David said to Jonathan, behold.").  This perplexes, as it 
> diverges from the Codex itself, which places it in the text at 20:4, as does 
> the LC.
>
>
>
> 2) In the Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia (Hendrickson: Peabody, 
> Massachusetts,  2001), a revised and reset version of the 1973 Tel Aviv 
> printing of BHL based on LC, the discrepancy is noted by placing the marker 
> "s" at 20:4 ("And Jonathan said to David."), as in the LC manuscript text, 
> but also noting with "/s/" it's position at 20:5 as placed in the LC lists 
> with the words "Behold, a [new] moon".
>
> The editor, Aron Dotan, explains this generally in his introduction: "In 
> some books the "s" signs in the manuscript are accompanied also with 
> Hebrew-letter numeration of the Sedarim, but since this is not consistent, 
> the numeration was omitted in our edition.  In the Leningrad Codex there are 
> also three lists of Sedarim at the end of the three divisions of the 
> Bible -- after the Pentateuch (folio 120 recto and verso), after the 
> Prophets (folio 326 recto and verso), and after the Hagiographa (folio 463 
> recto and verso) -- not always compatible with the division in the margins 
> of the text.  However, this list, together with the occasional numeration in 
> the margins, enabled us to restore mission division signs... When the two 
> divisions vary from each other, differing in place by one verse either way, 
> the variant division of the final list is marked between slant lines /s/. 
> Two questionable divisions, with contradictory testimony, are enclosed in 
> curly brackets {s} (Deut 20:1; 2 Kgs 20:8."
>
>
>
> Just to keep all this in perspective, earlier in his introduction Prof. 
> Dotan states: "This division represents the Palestinian triennial cycle of 
> reading the Pentateuch and is no longer of practical use.  It is marked here 
> for scholarly purposes."  I think the same can be said about all of the 
> sedarim.  They are interesting as representing the textual situation in the 
> manuscript, but there are more serious (and interesting) textual challenges 
> provided by the Leningrad Codex, as we all know.
>
>
>
> As for the reading divisions used by the principal Jewish communities today, 
> both the Jerusalem Crown and the Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia provides 
> lists of these 'haphtaroth'.
>
>
>
> Daniel R. Pater
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