ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses Talmudic vocabulary from a deconstructive point of view, by taking into account the complex interaction between orality and writing, the notion of correct interpretation of the Talmud, its gendered presuppositions, and their impact on an ideological level. This analysis of Talmudic vocabulary proves that the dimensions of orality and writing are mutually and inextricably connected. Therefore, the transition from the Gaonic oral teaching to a wholly developed textualism at the time of the Tosafists produced major changes in the appreciation of Talmudic idioms—transforming the Talmud into the ‘Absolute Book’ in Judaism.
