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This paper concerns the historical realities of the Talmudic sages reflected in their midrashic interpretation on the meaning of the Biblical passages in the tractate Shabbat 88 a-b of the Babylonian Talmud. Summarizing the characteristics of the Talmudic discussions in four points following the approaches of E. Levinas, we assume that the sages were deeply concerned with the question whether the Torah was given forcefully by God or was accepted with the total commitment by the Israelites. This question, regarded as the difficult freedom by Levinas, was derived from the two Biblical passages opposing to each other in the Book of Exodus. It was seriously considered by two groups of the sages, firstly by R. Yohanan and the second generation of Palestinian Amoraim and then by Rava and the fourth generation of Babylonian Amoraim. It is highly probable that the attribute of total devotion of Moses was in reality recovered in Rava's commitment to the Torah and that the exegetical response of Rava was substantiated by his existential concern.
https://ror.org/057zh3y96 
