(2 of 2) Rabbi Labaton discuss’s some of the most controversial parts of the book of Samuel, in Prophets. In addition, he discusses how sometimes the commentators will take a strange text and find ways to normalize it or unstrangize it. A question to keep in mind, Why did the rabbis keep certain texts that they were uncomfortable with, when they could have altered the text as they have done in the past. Tikunei Sofrim- The rabbis altered the text in 13 places in the Nevi’im/Prophets and Ketuvim/Writings, along with 2 places in the 5 Books of Moses. Rabbi Labaton says this idea of Tikunei Sofrim can be found in Encyclopedia Judaica. In some cases they were worried that certain words and scenarios in Tanach might send the wrong message. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, they found certain chapters of the books of Shemuel/Samuel and Yirmiyahu/Jeremiah that we do not have today . The degree of rabbinic activity/commentary around a passage, the more they try to un-strangize the text.
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