David Stern Responds
Rev. John Fieldsend Responds
The following article is an attempt by the author to explain and correct an
unfortunate choice of terminology early in his career. That poor choice may have
influenced others as they were formulating their own ideas on ancient Jewish
hermeneutics. While doing so, they tapped a rather startling source in support
of their conclusions.
In 1981 I traveled to several cities in the United States and gave a talk entitled
"Remez: Hinting at Scripture."[1]
As part of that talk, I said something similar to the following:
One of the basic, Jewish techniques of teaching in the time of Jesus involved the
use of remez, which is the Hebrew word for "hint" or
"allusion." Jewish teachers, instead of fully quoting verses of
Scripture, commonly alluded to the passages upon which their lessons were based.
By using the remez technique, a
teacher conveyed a great deal of information with remarkable brevity, in much
the same way a poet can express complex ideas through metaphors.
The
rabbis could teach in this manner because most Jews of the period — and
certainly all disciples of sages — were well-versed in the Torah, the Prophets
and the Writings. The substance of an allusion sometimes was found in a passage
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