אגדת בן דורדיא—הצהרה מונותיאיסטית כנגד תפיסה מיתית

The talmudic legend of Rabbi Eleazar Ben Dordia in the tractate Abodah Zarah 17a is perceived in this paper as an oikotyp of the tale type whose subject is the search for a lost hero, turning to nature as an intervening force (AT 400, 425, 451). As against the mythical approach embodied in the appeal to nature as an intervening entity, the talmudic legend presents a monotheistic answer based on the biblical ethos of the relativity of nature compared with the eschatological vision of the Day of Judgement. The interspersed verses from the Book of Isaiah reflect this approach. Instead of seeking the relativity of nature, the legend suggests a better possibility: reflective introspection. This contrast between inner contemplation and external action expresses the contrast between monotheism, with its suggestion of penitence, and the myth, which uses the forces of nature. This structure is served by all the compositional means of the text — literary function, semantic structure and symbolic imagery. The structure of the move from nature to the metaphysical is a traditional pattern, whose primary source is biblical, and which also appears in the legends of the death of Moses and the giving of the Torah.