This paper situates Tannaitic attitudes toward the market for Torah scrolls within the larger historical context of Roman Palestine over the first two centuries CE. After developing a historical picture of how that market may have functioned, it explores the rabbis’ literary treatment of Torah scrolls within the Mishnah and Tosefta. Tannaitic text and context reveal a tension between two modes of thought, the “idealist” and the “pragmatist” viewpoints. On one hand, the Torah scroll stands sui generis, wholly separate from mundane considerations of economic profit. On the other, the rabbis reluctantly conceded to the reality of the market, however much they may have wished to ignore it.

本文在公元前两个世纪罗马巴勒斯坦的较大历史情境中，提出了坦尼克人对摩西五经的市场的态度。在绘制出该市场运作方式的历史图之后，它探索了拉比对密西拿（Mishnah）和托塞夫塔（Tosefta）内的《摩西五经》卷轴的文学处理。鞣制文本和语境揭示了两种思想模式之间的张力，即“理想主义者”和“实用主义者”的观点。一方面，《摩西五经》卷轴是特殊的，与平凡的经济利益考量完全分开。另一方面，拉比勉强地承认了市场的现实，尽管他们可能希望忽略它。