An’shei K’nesset Ha-g’dolah/Men of the Great Assembly (Yoma 69b)

Background:

Our quotation is from the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Yoma. Yoma/The Day, is a tractate that covers all aspects of Yom Kippur/The Day of Atonement. The Mishnah to which this gemara/teaching attaches details how the Kohen Gadol/High Priest begins the ritual procedures by receiving in hand a Torah scroll, reading, and then reciting a series of prescribed blessings which today remain part of our fixed liturgy.

The institution of the Great K’nesset/Gathering remains a mystery to this day. Whether it existed for hundreds of years or for a generation, it certainly preceded the Common Era. According to the Talmudic sources, one accomplishment of this governing body was the fixing of large parts of our liturgy.

Why were they called the ‘Men of the Great K’nesset/Gathering’? It is because they returned the crown to its original state. Moses had come and said: God, Great, Might, and Awesome (Deuteronomy 10:17). Then Jeremiah came and said: Aliens are destroying His Temple! Where are, then, His awesome deeds? He did not say ‘Awesome’ (Jeremiah 32:17ff: ‘O Great and Mighty God…You have caused all this misfortune to befall them…) Daniel came and said: ‘Aliens are enslaving his children! Where are his mighty deeds? He did not say ‘Mighty’. (Daniel 9:4-16: ‘O Lord, Great and Awesome God…your people has become a mockery among all who are around us.’).

But [the ‘Men of the Great K’nesset/Gathering’] came and said: ‘On the contrary! Therein lie His Mighty deeds—that He suppresses His wrath and suffers the wicked [to accomplish what history requires]. Therein lie his Awesome acts. But for the awe of him How could one people continue among the nations?!

But how could Rabbis [Jeremiah and Daniel] abolish something established by Moses? Rabbi Eleazar said: ‘Since they knew that the Holy One, blessed be He, insists on truth, they would not ascribe false statements to Him! (From)

Study Hint:

It’s always a good idea to have a Bible handy so that you can examine the context of the particular citation. The Rabbis did not have texts divided into chapters and verses. Hence, a quotation might gesture towards an entire “field” of Scripture in which there is as much to learn from the context as from the particular citation.

· We know the phrase, God, Great, Might, and Awesome (Deuteronomy 10:17), as the beginning of the Amidah. But, was Moses praying when he said it? Was he speaking to God? What is there about that phrase that makes it a good candidate for use in the first beracha/blessing of the Amidah? (The entire text of the first berachah of the Amidah is available—text, translation, and transliteration—on the Beth El On-Line Transliterated Siddur Project page http://www.betheldurham.org/rituallife/siddur.htm )

· What do we learn from the contexts of the Jeremiah and Daniel verses?

· What is the gemara’s attitude towards the prayers of Jeremiah and Daniel?

· Does this text from Yoma betray some preference for either fixed or for individual prayer? How does the predicament of public or private prayer emerge in this text?

· What does it mean to “return the crown to its original state”? What are the roles of history and of truth in that work?

Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai and Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa (Berachot 34b)

Background:

This story comes from the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Berachot/Blessings. The Mishnah from which this story unfolds concerns itself with the efficacy of fluent, ‘sure footed’ prayer as opposed to the portents of halting and uneven prayer. In this Mishnah, Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa is acknowledged as a virtuoso!

Rabbi Yohanan be Zakkai was the most prestigious, aristocratic sage of his day. He, according to legend, established the academy of the sages at Yavneh on the eve of the Temple’s destruction in the year 70CE.

Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa, a disciple of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, was known as the paragon of piety, God’s favorite. Few of his teachings survive; most of what rabbinic tradition preserves are legends about him and his legendary talent for prayer.

Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa went to study Torah with Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai. When the son of Rabban Yohanan be Zakkai fell ill, the father said to Rabbi Hanina, “Hanina, by son, pray on my behalf that he may recover.” Rabbi Hanina lowered his head between his knees and prayer on his behalf and the son recovered. Rabban Yhanan ben Zakkai said, “If I, Ben Zakkai, had kept knocking my head between my knees the entire day, no one would have heeded me.” His wife asked, “Is Hanina greater than you?” He replied, “No, but he, is like a servant attending the king, while I am like a nobleman attending the king”.

· In how many ways does this story raise its questions about the ability to pray?

· In the story, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai does not, himself, pray for his child. Can you speculate as to why?

· What of the unique posture of Rabbi Hanina? (The pose appears only two more times in the entire Babylonian Talmud—once as an example of a position in which it is impossible to fall asleep (Sukkah 26a), another time as a posture of extreme grief (Avodah Zarah 17a).

· The surprised question of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai’s wife, suggests that his greater prominence should make him a more powerful pray-er.

· What insights into prayer are gained through the analogy that he offers in response to his wife?

· What does the analogy suggest about formal, fixed prayer and private prayer?