אין אם למסורת או: האם דרשו התנאים את כתיב התורה שלא כקריאתו המקובלת?

The widespread opinion, both in the Talmud and among later commentators, is that many halakhic derashot expounded by the tannaim are based on a new reading of the script of the Torah, a reading which is a free innovation by the exponent for the sake of a specific derasha. A famous example is connected with the script אשר תקראו אתם... מקראי קדש ('...which you shall proclaim them as sacred occasions': Lev. 23:2), where the authorized reading is ʾotam (=them), but, according to the common interpretation, is read by R. Akiva: ʾattem (=you; Mishnah, Roshhashana 2:9). Here it is contended that the tannaim themselves did not use this exegetical method in halakhic material, or, at least, that there is no real evidence to this effect in the tannaic literature. In order to exemplify this claim two major problems are discussed in detail. Both are included in the main sugya in the Babylonian Talmud dealing with this issue (Sanhedrin 4a and b): (1) the opinion of R. Judah exempting a blind man from the obligation of the festival pilgrimage, which is apparently based on an innovative reading of the verse יראה כל זכורך ('all your males shall appear [lit.: shall be seen]...': Exod. 23:17): reading yirʾe (=shall see) instead of the authorized reading yeraʾe (=shall be seen). (2) The suggested reading of shivʿim (=seventy) instead of the authorized reading shevuʿayim (=two weeks), in the case of וטמאה שבעים כנדתה ('...she shall be unclean two weeks as during her menstruation': Lev. 12:5). A scrutinized analysis of the tannaic sources themselves (in the Tosefta and the Sifra) in comparison with their talmudic versions shows that the tannaic sources cannot be interpreted in the manner proposed by the Babylonian Talmud and that they are not based on any exegetical innovation in reading the verses. The analysis of the second example is intimately connected with the ancient controversy between the Sages and the Boethusians concerning the exact date of the Pentecost and the meaning of the seven weeks that must be counted before it. This issue is dealt with here from a semantic point of view, focusing on the meaning of the word SBWʿ in biblical and mishnaic Hebrew.