Sixth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

The Jewish nation shifted from a half-oral half-writing society into a full-force writing society after the oral half of its laws, comprising the Mishnah, Gemara and all remaining oral commentaries were compiled and textualized as the Talmud in c. 500 C.E. After overviewing the historical and theological bases of the Written and Oral Torahs (the latter of which comprises, in chronological order, the Mishnah, the Gemara and the two Talmuds), and the conditions leading up to their textualization, this paper adopts a medium theory approach, drawing upon Socrates’, McLuhan’s, and Ong’s theories of orality and writing to compare how each subsequent textual adaptation differed in form and, subsequently, in their impact on Jewish learning, pedagogy, and unity. In keeping with McLuhan’s tetrad of media effects, Jewish and secular scholarship posit both cultural advances and reversals resulting from textualizing these oral laws; however, it seems that both theological and medium theorists would agree that the non-linear textual adaptation of the Talmud best marries the strengths of writing with those of oral societies, since its non-linear textual form and unique pedagogical style best retain Jewish law’s roots in dynamic, participatory pedagogy.