Tosafot - Character

Character

Up to and including Rashi, the Talmudic commentators occupied themselves only with the plain meaning ("peshaṭ") of the text; but after the beginning of the twelfth century the spirit of criticism took possession of the teachers of the Talmud. Thus some of Rashi's continuators, as his sons-in-law and his grandson Samuel ben Meïr (RaSHBaM), while they wrote commentaries on the Talmud after the manner of Rashi's, wrote also glosses on it in a style peculiar to themselves. The chief characteristic of the Tosafot is that in spite of the great respect in which Rashi was held by the Tosafists, the latter freely corrected him. Besides, the Tosafot do not constitute a continuous commentary, but, like the "Dissensiones" to the Roman Code of the first quarter of the twelfth century, deal only with the difficult passages of the Talmudic text. Single sentences are explained by quotations which are taken from other Talmudic treatises and which seem at first glance to have no connection with the sentences in question. On the other hand, sentences which seem to be related and interdependent are separated and embodied in different treatises. It must be added that the Tosafot can be understood only by those who are well advanced in the study of the Talmud, for the most entangled discussions are treated as though they were simple. Glosses explaining the meaning of a word or containing a grammatical observation are very rare. The Tosafot may be considered from the point of view of a methodology of the Talmud. The rules are certainly not gathered together in one series, as they are, for instance, in Maimonides' introduction to the Mishnah; they are scattered in various parts, and their number is quite considerable. Neither are they stated in fixed terms; a generally accepted rule is followed by "This is the way of the Talmud" or "The Talmud usually declares." Sometimes the negative expression is found, "This is not the way of the Talmud." A frequently recurring rule is indicated by some such formula as "We find many like this." It must be borne in mind that what has been said hitherto concerns the general features of the Tosafot, and does not conflict with the fact that the writings of different tosafists differ in style and method. With regard to method, it should be said that the Tosafot of Touques (see below) concern particularly the casuistic interpretation of the traditional law, but do not touch halakic decisions.