latter, then the Birkat ha-Minim was perhaps meant to be somewhat analogous to the Niddui, that is, to raise the consciousness of the sinner and facilitate thereby his return to the community at large. If the former, then it appears as a straightforward case of cursing the sinner per se. It may well be, however, that this trichotomy of possible explanations of Yavnean intent is all too sophisticated and unrepresentative of the empirical reality that generated the Birkat ha-Minim. Instead, the truth