Q&A: A Letter from Y.
A Letter from Y.
Question
Hello Rabbi,
If there is a Mishnah or Talmudic passage that is very difficult and there are no other textual versions at all, would the medieval authorities (Rishonim), on that basis, press themselves to explain the Talmud as it stands? Or even in a situation where there are no other versions, can a medieval authority change the wording on the strength of an exceptionally powerful difficulty? (I saw in the Mishnahs in Ketubot that there is a mishnah about which Tosafot wrote that its reason was not clarified, and it is very strange, and I didn't understand why they were unwilling to adopt a reading that would make the mishnah understandable).
Answer
Hello Y.,
Certainly the medieval authorities (Rishonim) and later authorities (Acharonim) did this. Until Rabbenu Tam's decree, they even changed readings in the Talmud itself on the basis of difficulties. He instituted that one should not tamper with the text of the Talmud, but rather write the correction in the margin, like the Bach.
The question is whether there is a reasonable variant reading that resolves the difficulty. If there is, then it is indeed reasonable that they would do so. I am not talking about simply replacing the text, but about a reading that could plausibly have become corrupted.