almud Yerushalmi
T-S F17.20

Date: 10th century

MATERIAL:Vellum

LANGUAGE: Hebrew and Aramaic

CONTENT:
This fragment is apparently part of what was originally a small codex of a few folios providing a text of the early chapters of the tractate Berakhot in the Talmud Yerushalmi (Palestinian Talmud). One folio deals with the recitation of the shema‘ and the order of the ‘amidah benedictions as found in chapter two (2.4; 4d) while the other is concerned with mourning customs as practiced by the second-century rabbis as found in chapter three (3.1; 5d).

IMPORTANCE:Since the Babylonian Talmud was the primary centre of Jewish educational and religious attention in the middle ages, there were many fewer texts of the Palestinian Talmud and every Genizah fragment is consequently of major significance for the reconstruction of a reasonably early text of that work. The Genizah texts provide important textual variations which often demonstrate the inadequacy of later transmissions on which popular printed editions were based.

QUOTE: "R. Aha in the name of R. Joshua b. Levi said: Whoever arranged this [‘amidah] prayer also paid particular attention to the order. The first three and the last three benedictions constitute praise of God while those between enumerate human needs. ‘Favor us with intelligence’; once you have done so, ‘Accept our repentance’; once you have done so, ‘Forgive our sins’; once you have done so, ‘Bring us redemption’; once you have done so, ‘Heal our sickness’"

READING: Yerushalmi Fragments from the Genizah, ed. L. Ginzberg, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York, 1909