When is a text not a text? When it is an object. When a Torah scroll is held up in the air so that congregants can view its columns of words, it is not being read. The words that the congregation chants—"And this is the Teaching that Moses put before the Israelites, at the command of the LORD through the hand of Moses"—are indeed found in the scroll, but in two different places. The first phrase comes from Deuteronomy 4:44; the second occurs four times in the book of Numbers (as well as once in Joshua). The combined sentence is not found in the Torah at all. In any case, it is not a statement of fact or a textual citation, but something quite different: a pledge of allegiance.
The importance of this sort of observation is the premise of a growing scholarly field that examines the "materiality" of texts: not just how new technologies (e.g., moveable type) change the ways texts are produced and read, but also the role the objects containing the texts—from scrolls to screens—play in the lives of those who encounter them. Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, and perhaps others as well, have ongoing seminars in "The History of the Book" to examine just such questions. Penn Press has a "Material Texts" series centered on this growing field of study.
Read Full Article »