2018 AJS Annual Meeting
December 16-18, 2018
Boston Seaport Hotel
Boston, MA

“Why Is This Night Different?”:
Memorialization and Reenactment in Mishnah Pesahim

Although memory studies has emerged as a productive analytical tool through which we might better understand biblical texts, its effectiveness, as well as the extent to which its application accurately represents the various theories’ methods or aims, has yet to be critically applied to many of the texts of early Judaism.

This paper offers an investigation into the theories of memory studies and their applications to Mishnah Pesahim 10 in order to evaluate the effectiveness of memory theory as a critical lens and its potential usefulness for further study of rabbinic texts.

I will attempt this investigation in three parts. First, I will briefly rehearse the relationship of Mishnah Pesahim 10 to its biblical antecedent in Exodus 12 with a particular focus on each text’s injunction concerning inter-generational celebration. Second, I will explore the dynamics of reciprocal memorialization invoked through the enactment of the passover ritual. Third, I will demonstrate the theoretical usefulness of memory studies as a useful tool for analyzing the apparent multi-generational impulse prominent in both the biblical and rabbinic texts.