Texts Without Boundaries: Protocols of Non-Documentary Writing in the Rabbinic Canon: Sifra and SifrZ to Numbers

The Rabbinic compilations in the canon of Rabbinic Judaism, from the Mishnah through the Bavli, ca. 200-600 C.E., are comprised by two classifications of writing, [1] documentary and [2] non-documentary. Documentary writing conforms to a protocol paramount in, and particular to, a given text. Non-documentary writing ignores the distinctive preferences of the compilation in which it appears. The former is defined for each Rabbinic document, respectively, by a unique combination of choices as to form or rhetoric, topic or problem or proposition, and logic of coherent discourse and analysis (terms explained presently). The latter type of writing simply ignores the indicative documentary traits. It thereby crosses the boundaries that separate one text from another, indeed a given canonical compilation from all others. ‘Texts without boundaries’ refers to writing that ignores the protocols of the document(s) in which it is preserved.