<HTML>
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 22:26:10 +0200
From: <>
To:
LOOKJED@mail.biu.ac.il,
RabbiPenn@aol.com
I recently saw your questions in the Lookjed Digest 20. First of all, I am
delighted that there is at least one gemara teacher who is seriously
concerned with conveying to his students what the words really mean. More
power to you. All too often some of our colleagues view themselves as
miniature "gedolei hador" and attempt to overwhelm their students with
their "hiddushei Torah".=20
Now to your questions:=20
(1) One would expect that "AND Rav Ploni said" indicated more of a
connection with what has preceded -- even a formal connection. e.g., a
series of statements by the same amora. However, I would hesitate to get
so excited about the presence or absence of the "vav" without checking at
least "Dikdukei Soferim"- or better yet the manuscripts themselves.=20
(2) BEN is Hebrew, and BRAY is Aramaic. To be more precise, BRAY literally
means BNO, "his son," so that, E.G., RAV YEHUDA BRAY DRAV HIYYA means
literally RAV YEHUDA HIS SON, i.e., THAT OF RAV HIYYA. If you will study
carefully the brief chapter on Talmudic Syntax, Chapter 9 in Yitzhak
Frank's "GRAMMAR FOR GEMARA" (distributed to your local bookstore by
Feldheim), especially Section 9.2 "The Anticipatory Pronoun Suffix" (pp.
132-3) -- you will get a clearer picture of this usage.
(3) If it is worth the effort to determine which amoraim are called "ben
Rav Ploni" and which AMORAIM are called "bray dRav Ploni" (in Aramaic),
you could do a search on the Bar-Ilan CD under "bray d-" as a starter. I
doubt you will find TANNAIM among them.
(4) Last, but hardly least, my favorite reference book in English is
Yitzhak Frank's, THE PRACTICAL TALMUD DICTIONARY, published by the Ariel
Institute in Jerusalem in 1991 and 1992, distributed by Feldheim and
reprinted several times. It is "user friendly" (for people who know the
order of the Hebrew alphabet), and it is arranged alphabetically according
to the spelling of the words and expressions in the Talmud. Your questions
indicate that you might be interested in the entries RAV, REBBI and
RABBANAN on pp. 236-7. Warning: The book does NOT contain every Aramaic
word in the Talmud Bavli, but it is only guaranteed to include Aramaic
words and expressions that occur at least ten times in the Bavli. My
research indicates that Rashi usually explicates words that occur less
frequently.
IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING THIS WORK (PTD), PLEASE COMMUNICATE
WITH ME.
Yitzhak Frank</HTML>
