What are the Contours of Torah? Targumic Roles in Defining and Delimiting the Nature of Torah Observance

Abstract

This article attempts to redescribe the social and political roles of the Pentateuch Targums using the tools of the political theory articulated by Ernesto Laclau. Based around three analyses of key texts, this article concludes that the idea of ‘Torah observance’, as it is articulated in the examples herein, is an empty concept waiting to be filled by some particular content or another. There are several options for where this content may come from, including the social contexts of the Pentateuch Targums, or from the framers of the targums themselves, who did not make this content explicit in their targumic texts. Based on this structural dynamic, it becomes possible that the Pentateuch Targums may have been used as political tools to open up spaces for debate and discussion, in addition to providing conceptual rallying points for the groups that used them.