Essential Judaism Chap. 6 Notes

INTRODUCTION TO JUDAISM – The Talmud – Week 8

Study Outline

Week 8 – “The Rabbis Said: The Talmud and Other Rabbinical Writings” Essential Judaism, Chapter 6, George Robinson, Pocket Books, 2000, pp. 310 – 359; Resource Sheet 100 “Our Literary Legacy” by Ammiel Hirsch in Introduction to Judaism, pp. 271 – 288

Chapter 6 in Essential Judaism is particularly difficult. Please read Resource Sheet 100 “Our Literary Legacy” by Ammiel Hirsch in Introduction to Judaism, pp. 271 – 288 first. There is a helpful glossary on pages 287-288. Then, if you have the time, read Chapter 6 in Essential Judaism to reinforce your knowledge. Use this outline tohelp prepare and review.

Study Outline for Essential Judaism, Chapter 6 “The Rabbis Said: The Talmud and Other Rabbinical Writings”

Roots of Rabbinic Judaism
1. Ezra the Scribe – 5th c. BCE
  1. Promulgated the Torah
  2. Questions concerning implementation of Torah laws
2. Great Assembly / Knesset Ha-Gadol
  1. Little known – what is known seems to be an historical reconstruction from the 2nd and 3rd c. CE / seems to be convenient term for the predecessors of the rabbis of the Talmudic period [Lewis Eron]
  2. Members called Soferim / Scribes
  3. Important task was the establishment of the Canon of the Hebrew Bible
  4. Developed concept of “Oral Law” / “Torah she be’al Peh”.
3. From the Pairs to the Tannaim (pp. 313 – 314)
  1. The Zugot / The Pairs
    1. Heads of the Sanhedrin / The High Court and Parliament
      1. The Nasi – the President – literally “The Prince”
      2. The Av Bet Din – the Vice-President – literally “Father of the Court”
    2. Most important last pair Shammai (c. 50 BCE – 30 CE) and Hillel (c. 70 BCE – c. 10 CE)
      1. Hillel and his school are generally more open in terms of interpretation
      2. Shammai and his school are generally more restrictive.
  2. Rules of Interpreting Torah – Logical rules of interpretation (pp. 316-318)
    1. 7 principles of Hillel
    2. 13 principles of Rabbi Ishmael
4. Scribes and Pharisees (pp. 319 – 312)
  1. Who were the Pharisees?
    1. Sources Limited
      1. Jewish Historian Josephus
      2. Gospels of the New Testament
      3. Writings of the Church Fathers
        
        A group of Jews cast in bad light by early Christians as the Christians were separating from the Jewish community, even though Jesus’ teachings were very close to those of the Pharisees. Early Christian literature was polemical in nature. (p. 319)
    2. Three Religious Parties of 2nd Temple (Greco-Roman Period) Judaism – based on Josephus’ description.
      1. Sadducees
        
        Elite group – includes High Priest
        
        Focus on Written Torah
        
        Interest in Priesthood and Temple
      2. Essenes
        
        Small group
        
        Monastic – perhaps produced some of the Dead Sea Scrolls
        
        Withdrew from society – separate communities
        
        Ascetics – some were celibate
      3. Pharisees
        
        Largest group
        
        Popular base
        
        Included many scribes
        
        Exponents of Oral Law – which would become the Talmud – as an adjunct to Written law
        
        Reformists not radicals
Tragedy, Dispersion, and the Writing of the Mishnah
1. Great disasters (pp. 322-323)
  1. The Jewish War resulted in the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 CE
    1. Cause – abusive and exploitative Roman administration of the Roman Province of Judea
    2. Result – Loss of Temple in Jerusalem and the Centrality of the Priesthood and the Religious Worship system based in the Temple
    3. See legend of Rabbi Yokhanan ben Zakkai, the founder of the new center of Jewish life in Yavneh shortly before the fall of Jerusalem (p. 322)
  2. The Bar Kokhba Revolt resulted in the Roman devastation of Judah
    1. Cause – Roman persecution and laws forbidding Jewish practice
    2. Result
      1. Final loss of nationalist hopes – failed messianic movement
      2. Assured rise of the rabbis of the Mishnah (the Tannaim) and the centrality of Torah
2. The Birth of the Mishnah (pp. 323-324)
  1. Importance of academy at Yavneh – shift in focus from Temple to Torah – not based on political independence and a central institution
  2. Activities of the Tannaim – rabbis whose teachings are collected in the Mishnah
    1. Establish Canon to TaNaK (Hebrew Bible - T = Torah; N = Neviim (Prophets); K + Ketuvim (Holy Writings)
    2. Set basic structure of prayer service
    3. Began process of codifying the Law – creating the “Oral Torah”
  3. Editing of the Mishnah
    1. Mishnah from Hebrew verb “shanah” / “to teach, to repeat” – the rabbis of the Mishnah are called Tannaim “teachers”
    2. Judah Ha-Nasi (Judah the Prince or the Patriarch) – leader of Jewish people in the Land of Israel under Roman rule (the Romans changed the name of the province from Judea to Palestine after their defeat of Bar Kokhba in 132 CE)
      1. Collected and organized Halakhic rulings
      2. Called the Mishnah – written over a 20 year period – between 200 and 220 CE
    3. Mishnah
      1. Organizes an overwhelming collection of legal rulings on all sorts of issues – religious practice, criminal law, civil law, family law, ritual purity and Temple worship
      2. Presents a new interpretation of Judaism “as faith and practice not bound by the fleeting passage of historical time.” (p. 324)
        
        Focus on pattern of Jewish life
        
        The rhythms of the Jewish calendar
        
        The concerns of Jewish life in the home and in the villages
        
        Interest in classifying all things in a hierarchical system.
        
        Prof. Jacob Neusner claims this is a concern that the Tannaim derived from their reading of Aristotle and his writings on natural history.
What is in the Mishnah
1. Structure (pp. 324-325)
  1. Sedarim (singular Seder) “Orders” – there are six sedarim in the Mishnah
    1. Masekhot (singular Masekhet) “Tractates” – each Seder has between 7 to 12 Masekhot
      1. Perakim (singular Perek) “Chapters” each Masekhet has a number of Perakim
        
        Mishnayot (singular Mishnah) “Teachings” – the smallest unit
  2. The Gemara follows the divisions of the Mishnah – one of the names of the Talmud, which includes both the Mishnah and Gemara is “shas, an acronym derived from shishah sedarim / six orders. (p. 324)
2. Six Orders of the Mishnah
  1. Zeraim / Seeds – agricultural law but also includes the Masekhet (Tractate) Berakhot which deals with issues of Jewish prayer including blessings, regularly scheduled prayer, spontaneous prayer)
  2. Mo’ed / Season – laws governing the festivals, fast days and the Shabbat
  3. Nashim / Women – family law as well as two Masekhot that deal with vows.
  4. Nezikin / Damages – Civil and Criminal Law but includes the famous collection of ethical maxims Pirke Avot / Sayings of the Fathers
  5. Kedoshim / Holy Things – matters concerning worship in the Temple in Jerusalem as well as ritual slaughter
  6. Tohorot / Purities – issues of ritual purity and impurity
3. Observations
  1. Structure not entirely systematic – arranged to facilitate memorization – associative not hierarchical – follows an idea to its conclusions (see pp. 329-330)
  2. Great emphasis on Temple matters even though the Temple was destroyed – constructing an “eternal” Temple in the mind – perhaps hopeful with the intent to preserve Temple practices until the time of restoration
  3. Focus on the quotidian (the common place, daily activities, the regular) – holiness is potentially present in everything we do.
4. How the Mishnah Works(pp. 329-331)
5. An example from the Mishnah (pp. 331-332) – We will discuss in Class
6. Tosefta and Baraita (pp. 332-333)
  1. Other sources for the teachings of the Tannaim
  2. Tosefta (from Hebrew meaning “addition” or “supplement”)
    1. Structured like the Mishnah
    2. Contains additional material
  3. Baraitot (singular Baraita) – (from Aramaic meaning “an external teaching:
  4. Any statement from a Tanna not in the Mishnah – some are collected in the Tosefta while others are found in the Talmud and in collections of halakhic material structured as commentaries on the Torah (Midrash Halakhah)
Gemara: The Task Continues
1. Gemara mean “from the Aramaic word for “study”
2. Continue the development of Jewish law after the completion of the Mishnah
3. There are two Gemaras - one complied in the Land of Israel (Yerushalmi or Jerusalem Talmud about 400 CE) and the other in Babylon, present day Iraq, (Bavli or Babylonian Talmud about 500 CE) (see pp. 344-345)
4. The Great Academies
  1. In Roman Palestine
    1. Yavneh – est. 70 CE by Yokhanan ben Zakkai after fall of Jerusalem
    2. Moved to Usha in the Galilee in 140 CE after failure of Bar Kokhba Revolt
    3. Moved to Tzippori (Sepphoris), also in the Galilee, about 200 CE where Judah Ha-Nasi complied the Mishnah
    4. Moved to Tiberias, on the shore of the Sea of the Galilee where the Yerushalmi / Jerusalem or Palestinian Talmud was compiled
  2. In Babylon (present day Iraq)
    1. Centers of study in the Late 2nd Temple Period
    2. About 200 CE establishment of academy in Nehardea
    3. About 220 CE establishment of academy in Sura, the Sura Academy would move over time and was the center where the Bavli (Babylonian Talmud would be compiled)
    4. Babylonian Academies served as
      1. Centers for advanced study of Jewish law
      2. Centers for popular instruction – the two months of gathering – yarhei kallah
      3. Law Court for the Jewish community
  3. Amoraim – Rabbis of the Talmud
    1. Used Aramaic, the everyday language of the Jewish people in Palestine and in Babylon
    2. Worked for a living at a wide variety of occupations
    3. Lectures in academies in early morning and in the evening to allow for students and teachers to work
5. Nature of the Gemara (pp. 342 -345)
  1. Appears to be the edited notes of centuries of discussions on Jewish law and thought
  2. Halakhah and Aggadah – Two types of material in the Talmud (and other rabbinic literature) (pp. 342-343)
    1. Halakha – Jewish Law expressed in discussions of legal issues – how to live Jewishly
    2. Aggadah – Jewish thought expressed in parables, sayings, legends, etc – how to think Jewishly
  3. How the Gemara Works (p. 343-345)
    1. Explain reasoning behind the laws complied in the Mishnah
    2. Resolves differences in legal (halakhic) matters between Tannaim and Amoraim – includes arguments from both sides
    3. Records cases and issues under discussion.
    4. Structure
      1. The Gemara is a teaching document – it trains a student how to think like a rabbi, an expert in Jewish law
      2. Smallest unit is a sugya (plural Sugyot) “topic” – each mishnah from the Mishnah is followed by the suyyot that analyze it
Proliferation and Persecution (pp 348-349)
1. Burning and Censoring the Talmud (p. 349)
2. Importance of Printing
  1. 1520– Daniel Bomberg prints the complete Bavli in Venice
  2. 1880 - Vilna Shas (the Vilna Talmud)
    1. Standard text
    2. Sets pagination and page orientation – references to the Talmud are to the Masekhet and page in the Vilna Talmud.
Midrash (pp. 357 – 359)
1. From Hebrew word meaning “study”
2. Structured to follow the Torah text
3. Two kinds from the Tannaitic period (the time of the tannaim, the rabbis whose teachings are found in the Mishnah)
  1. Midrash Halakha (completed around 300 CE with many earlier traditions)
    1. Mekhita de Rabbi Yishmael on Exodus (includes Midrash Aggadah as well since Exodus includes the narrative of the Exodus and the giving of the Torah
    2. Sifra on Leviticus
    3. Sfire on Numbers and Deuteronomy
  2. Midrash Aggadah (essential collections for 4th through 8th centuries CE)
    1. Crisis period – rise of Christianity in Roman Empire
    2. Two types
      1. Appear as commentaries on the Torah and other Biblical Books – Genesis Rabba, Lamentations Rabba
      2. Collections of Sermons and Homilies – Pesikta de Rav Kahana on the Festivals and special Shabbatot.

Thought Questions:

1. What does George Robinson mean when he says, “The Bible is the cornerstone. The Talmud is the foundation.”?

2. In what ways are the teachings of Hillel and his school different from those of his contemporary, Shammai, and his school? (pp. 313-314)

3. What is the significance of the story of the perspective convert who come to both Hilel and Shammai?

4. Why did Hillel and, then, Rabbi Ishmael compose a series of rules for interpreting the Torah? What purpose did it fulfill?

5. Why was the founding of the academy in Yavneh, the center of Jewish life and learning, after the fall of Jerusalem central to the survival of the Jewish people and the development of rabbinic Judaism. (pp. 322-323)

6. What is the spiritual and philosophic goal of the Mishnah? (pp. 323-330)

7. Why did European Church leaders and rulers burn the Talmud in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance?

8. What is Midrash Aggadah?

Key Words:

Mishnah (pp. 311)
Gemara (p. 311)
Knesset Ha-Gadol (p. 312)
Sanhedrin (pp. 313-314)
The 3 Jewish Groups in Late 2nd Temple Period (pp. 320-321)
1. Sadducees
2. Pharisees
3. Essenes
Tannaim (p. 323)
Seder / Sedarim
Masekhet / Masekhot
Midrash Halakhah
Midrash Aggadah
Shas
Suyga