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RABBIS and COMMUNITY in THIRD CENTURY BABYLONIA JACOB NEUSNER the Babylonian Rabbis Played No Special Role in the Life of the Sy

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RABBIS and COMMUNITY in THIRD CENTURY BABYLONIA JACOB NEUSNER the Babylonian Rabbis Played No Special Role in the Life of the Sy RABBIS AND COMMUNITY IN THIRD CENTURY BABYLONIA BY JACOB NEUSNER Brown University I The Babylonian rabbis played no special role in the life of the syna­ gogue. They exercised no sacerdotal functions. While some of them, notably Rav and Samuel, composed prayers, we have no way of knowing how widely, if at all, rabbinic liturgies were accepted in syna­ gogues during their lifetimes. Many of these, for instance blessings to be said before eating various kinds of food, and the Grace after Meals, probably were initially recited in the school house alone, even there posing some complex difficulties for the students, as we shall see. In any event, the rabbis did not normally recite the services, read from the Torah, bless the people, or assume any other sacerdotal duties which set them apart from, and above, the people in the synagogue. While they quite naturally praised synagogue prayer, they held that their studies were more important. R. I;Iisda (late 3rd century), for example, explained (Ps. 87.2), "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion [?iyyon]" to mean that the Lord loves the gates distinguished [me?uyan-im] through law [halakhah] more than synagogues and houses of study, and similarly we have the following sayings: Abaye said, "At first I used to study in my house and pray in the synagogue. Since I heard the saying of R. I:liyya b. 'Ammi in the name of 'Ulla, 'Since the day that the Temple was destroyed, the Holy One, blessed be He, has nothing in his world but the four cubits of the law alone,' I pray only in the place where I study ... " Rav Sheshet used to turn his face to another side and study [ during the public reading of the Torah], saying, "We with our [business], and they with theirs." (Bab. Talmud Berakhot 8a) A contemporary of Rav Sheshet, R. Nal:_i.man, said that he found it too much trouble to gather ten people in his home to permit him to engage in public prayer even there.1) The rabbis' attitude was based 1) Bab. Talmud, Berakhot 7b. RABBIS AND COMMUNITY IN THIRD CENTURY BABYLONIA 439 in part upon the theological presupposition, expressed many times from the first century A.D. onwards, that study of the Torah was the highest religious action, exceeding in sanctity the sacrifice of the Temple priests. Since Temple sacrifice had been replaced for the present age by synagogue worship, it was quite natural for the rabbis to regard their studies, particularly of law, as more important than synagogue prayer. At the same time, it is quite likely that the rabbis in this period dis­ approved of aspects of synagogue affairs, but, possessing no power to change things to suit themselves, merely tolerated the status quo. We have a number of stories which indicate rabbinical objection to syna­ gogue practices, not merely concerning which prayers were said at a given time, or whether the Torah was to be blessed before it was read, but more significantly, involving the presence in the synagogue of mosaics and statues. The chief sources are as follows: Was there not the synagogue which 'moved and settled' in Nehardea and in it was a statue [andarta1)], and Rav and Samuel and Samuel's father used to go in there to pray ... (Bab. Talmud Rosh Hashanah 24b) Rav happened to be in Babylonia on a public fast. The whole congre­ gation fell on their faces, but Rav did not fall on his face. Why did Rav not fall on his face? There was a stone pavement there, and it has been taught, 'Neither shall you place any figured stone in your land to bow down upon it' (Lev. 26.1). Upon it you may not bow down in your land, but you may prostrate yourselves on the stones in the Temple . ... If that is the case, why is only Rav mentioned? All the rest should equally have abstained? ... (Bab. Talmud Megillah 22b2) Rav once came to Babylonia, and noticed that they recited the Halle1 on the New Moon festival. At first he thought of stopping them, but when he saw that they omitted parts of it, he remarked, 'It is clear that it is an old ancestral custom with them.' (Bab. Talmud Ta'anit 28b) 1) See Bab. Talmud 'Avodah Zarah 40b and Shabbat 72b (Sanhedrin 62b). In the latter discussion, bowing down to an andarta (carved image of a man) is not regarded as idolatry if the man did not regard it as a god. In the.former, Samuel interprets the Tanna, R. Meir's prohibition of "all images" to include, quite ex­ plicitly, a royal statue. In any event, whether the rabbis permitted the placement of such a statue or not, it was clearly not they who instigated it, and the tenor of the Talmudic discussions le aves no doubt on that score. 2) Note that in the same source, it is reported Rav refrained from following the congregational practice in blessing the Torah. The geonic traditions ad foe., say that later on, the synagogue floor-mosaics were covered up with dirt. .
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