The Wordplay of Tovim Dadecha Miyayin

For a while now, my Talmud website, Mivami, has been down, but at a user’s request, I spent a little bit of time and updated the code so that it is up and running. The color highlighting and the graphs are all back, though the graph data in a somewhat iffy state and still needs more work.

Here is an example sugya from today’s daf, where the generation color highlighting is a bit helpful. From Avodah Zarah 29b:

What this tells us is that Rabbi Yehuda, a 5th generation Tanna, is telling over the story. Rabbi Yishmael is one generation earlier, that is 4th generation. And he is asking a question to Rabbi Yehoshua (ben Chanania), 2nd/3rd generation, spanning before the churban and after, so he is the source of knowlege, with Rabbi Yishmael in the student role. Here, a persistent student that does not let the teacher get away with anything.

Finally, Rabbi Yehoshua diverts his attention. Is this an example of “Hey, look! A squirrel!” ? Or, is there any connection whatsoever to it.

I’m pretty sure I have written about it before, but I cannot find it at the moment. There are three items of gentiles (among others) that Chazal forbade for quasi-unknown reasons, but seem to work to create a distance between societies.

1. oil

2. wine

3. cheese

The Talmud does not come with nekudot. It was orally transmitted. Further, Shadal uses this sugya among others to show that even the orthography — the written symbols — of nikkud and trup were not yet employed in the time of Chazal. So, firstly, the proper vocalization of an opening verse in Shir Hashirim is up for debate; and secondly, we don’t even really know what the debate was, in terms of the competing vocalizations.

Well, to some extend we do. Some manuscripts uses matres lectiones, that is, imot hakeri’a, or consonantal letters used to indicate the presence of vowels. For instance דדך certainly starts with dod, with a cholam, and this is indicated with a vav. And whether it is dodecha or dodayich is indicated in some manuscripts, for instance, with a double yud. Even so, I don’t absolutely know at what point this handy written indicator was introduced by a scribe. Was it immediately upon the transition from written to oral, or was it several manuscripts down the line and based on logic and an understanding of the sugya.

Anyway, in the sugya, only one segment of one verse is quoted, namely the part of Shir Hashirim 1:2 I bolded.

שִׁ֥יר הַשִּׁירִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר לִשְׁלֹמֹֽה׃

The Song of Songs, by Solomon.

יִשָּׁקֵ֙נִי֙ מִנְּשִׁיק֣וֹת פִּ֔יהוּ כִּֽי־טוֹבִ֥ים דֹּדֶ֖יךָ מִיָּֽיִן׃

Oh, give me of the kisses of your mouth,^-b
For your love is more delightful than wine.

לְרֵ֙יחַ֙ שְׁמָנֶ֣יךָ טוֹבִ֔ים שֶׁ֖מֶן תּוּרַ֣ק שְׁמֶ֑ךָ עַל־כֵּ֖ן עֲלָמ֥וֹת אֲהֵבֽוּךָ׃

Your ointments yield a sweet fragrance,
Your name is like finest oil—
Therefore do maidens love you.

However, to reckon, we have

1. oil in verse 3, שְׁמָנֶ֣יךָ

2. wine in verse 2

If so, and since we are dealing with revocalizing a word, and the word דדיך is written chaser, without the vav indicating the cholam, it can be read as dadecha, your breasts. Which produce milk, and milk is associated with cheese. Which would give us item 3. And all of them are associated with one another.

Further, if the problem is socializing and intermarriage from their daughters, we have עַל־כֵּ֖ן עֲלָמ֥וֹת אֲהֵבֽוּךָ׃ — “Therefore do maidens love you.”

Even without this last explanation of dodecha, given the presence of wine and oil, the question is not entirely out of left field.