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V D Aehi <5 \Fieckcolle ‘4 V nhq, ‘ b ms arr/w -' - @9 . THREE AMORAIM N LEO B v <5 \fiECKCOLLE Y o ch anen, R a b an d Aehi~ . EQEQR}, (H3 The death of Judah the Prince was a tu:ning-point in Jewish history, both ;eligiously ana politically. Religiously on account of the Mishnah. ’Now, for the first time, the Jews possessed an euthovttative, up-to—date text—book of their religious laws. It was no longer neéessary to memorise the Oral Law, for every scholar had aficess to a copy of Judah's Mishnah} An; it was no longer necessary to the sam: extenfi to search the ntten Law, the Pantateuch, for scriptural proof—text: whereby the Oral Law 'might be justified and elucidated} With some exxaggeration it might be said that the Mishnah-becamé e substifute'foi the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch, of course, was still studied, as was the rest of the Bible. But it was used more as a source of homilies, midra him, and less as a legal code. The Mighnah wés 3g; legal code, incorporating most, though not all, of the civil and ritual léws derivable from the Pentateuch. Nevertheless the Mishnah was not_complete. It was Judah's seléction from the almost unlimited store of legal decisions and discussions whiqh had taken place in the Palestinian sbhools during the first two centuries of the Common Era. Many traditipns had been excluded 0: ignored by Judah the Prince. These were known as Baraitot (singular Baraita). deny of them were later éollected in a béok called the Tosgfta, a kind of apoeryphal Mishnah, and many found their way into the Talmud. Moreover, the Mi§1nah was often I m | jncinclusive. It recarded divergent opinions, and its language was sometimes unclear. It even used words whose meaning was latgr forgotten. Furthermore, no legal code can stand still. New problems always arise, unforeseen by previous generations, and these problems have to be solved by new decisions, and by the arglication to the existtng code of certain well—defined methods of legal interpretation. For all these reasons Jewish Law continued to grew, and the scholars who conducted its growth were known as Amoraim, "Expositors". They are diéugnguiShéd fiom the earlier scholars, who were givén the name Tenneim, "Teachers". The task of the Tanneim had been to build up a Code of Jewish Law; the task of the Amoraim was to straighten out its rough edges, and to develop it further, in matters of detail, on the basis-of the Mispnah. The work of the Amoraim continued for severél centuries and was finally collected in the two Talmuds, the Palestinian Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud. The death of Judah the Prlhce is therefore the dividing line between the age of the Taxmaim, or or the Misnnah, and the Age of the Amoraim, or of the Tahnud. Camgared with about 150 Tannaim whose names have been handed dewn to us, there were about 5000 Amoraim. Of these we shall turn the spotlight on three of the most outstanding, namely Yochaaan, Rev and Ashi. \ Politically, the 2nd century also brought many changeg. Above all, it witnessed a gradual transfer‘of the centre of Jewish life from Palestine to babylonia; an& that meant a trénsfer from the Roman Empire to the Eergian Empire. Several causes contributed to that development. Politically and economically the condition .. 5 _ of the Jews in Palestine grew steadily worse. The two rebellions against Rome, in the 605 and the 150s, had resulted in the decimation of the Jewish pepulation and the devastation of the land. Jerusalem was do longer a Jewish city. Many Jews emigrated to other parts of the Roman Empire and to Babylonia. There is evidence of a progressive desiccation, or diminution of rainfall. The GentiLe- population of Palestine became more powerful and competed economically. mmmwwmymggxggmxmmmm Roman. taxatioh continued and often became an intolerable burden. Christianity was gaining in force. In the 4th century it became the o£:icial religion 6f the Roman Empire, and already before that time Christian bishoys were often able to prevail 6n the Emperor tb issue anti—Jewish edicts. most of the time convérsion to Judaism was a criminal offence, and JewiSh religious freedom was burtailed though not suppressed. A local rebellion in 351 made things still worse. There were brighter episodes, as when the Emperor Caracalla, in 212{ raised the Jews to the status of Roman‘citizeHS, and when, in 361, Julian the Apostate showed greater favour to the Jews than to the Christians, eVen making an unfulfilled offer to rebuild the Temple, But in the main the horizon darkefled for Palestinian Jewry. The Patriarché continued to exercise local rule, and were sunetimes accorded royal honours. But they were less learned men thah their predecessors, and there developed an increasing gap between the Patriarch as éecular ruler and the scholar as intellectual and religious leader. Under these circuflstances some of the greatest scholars sought in Babylonia a more congenial atmosphere for fiheir activities. In 425 the last or the Patriarchs, Gamalial VI, -4— died without male issue, and the Emperor, Theoddsius II, took the opporténity of abclishing the P.triarchate altogether. VThat mean: the finél eclipse of Palestinian Jewry, though it did not fade out without leavihg behind a monument of its religious and legal achievemnmts, the Palestinian Talmud. The person main}y responsible, innthe days after Judah the Prince, for the activity “hich culminated in the Palestinian Talmud, was Rabbi Yochanani YOCHANAN Rabbi Yochannn was the greatest Palestinian Amoré of the 51d century and of succeéding centuries. His full name was Iochenan bar Nappacha, that is Yochanan, the gen 6f the gnith, his father being referred to by his trade. Yochanan is probably quoted more frequently than any other Rabbi in the Rabbinic Literature. In the Babylonian Talmug alone his name is mentioned about 2000 times. Usually be is referred to simply as Rabbi Yochaaan, sometimes és Bar Nappache. mfiiégifigéfie is quoyed simply for an oyénion on some very intiicahe and_technical point of law; Therefore EKEXMKIEKEKEK figequotations, despite their multitude, do not permit us tb form a very full impression of his life and wofk. Nevertheless there are a good many anecdotes and legends about him, varying in their degree of historicity, which reveal to us a man of great intellect and saintly character, and incidgntally of great physical héndsomcness. He was born at Sepphoris at the and of the 2nd century. Sepphoris, it will be remembered, was the place in Galilee where Judah the Prince had estcbbiShed his school fowards the end of his life. Yochenan's father died before he was born, while his mqther ' (1:16.. 511)) died in giving birth to him. Thus Yochanan began life as an qrphan, and was brought uy by his grandfather. This grandfather gave him the oyportunity of studying from his boyhood. he must have been very young when, as tradition relates, he attended some lectures by Judah the Prince, but could hardly understand a word. (Chullin 137b) Navertheless it seems that Judah perceived in him a very prdmiSing student. (Yoma 82b) deh was succeeded as Patriarch by his sbn Gamaliel Ill (217—235) and he was succeeded by his son Judah 11 (255—250){ Probably the most important years of Yochanan's life.were sggnt during the patriarchate of-Judah II, with whom he cc—operatefl closely in several imgortant gieées of legislation, affecting fispecially the purchase of various goods from Gentiles; Such purchases were made consifierably easier.~ Judah II revived a good deal of the splendour which surrounded the Patriarchate in his grandfather's time, and there is cohsiderable doubt, conperning the many stories about the respect sh0wn to the Patriarchate by the Roman authoritieS, whether they refer £0 Judah I or Judah II.' On the other hand Judah II passessed less private wealth than his grandfather, and had to araw his revenue from a system of taxes imposed on the Jewish communities in Ealestine and abroad. nevertheless, like his grandfather, he used that wealth, not.for personal luxuries, but for the public good, and espenially for the maintenance of scholars and for the consolidation of -6- the system of elementary education._ Yochanan himself benefittad from the Patriarch's generosity when he was granted a regular salary as a lecturer. Judah, incidentally, mo ved the éeat of the Patriarhhate from Sepphoris to Tiberias, which remained for many centuries the chief centre.of JewiSh learning in Palestine. It was here that‘Yochman established his school, and in that city he taught and lived until his death in‘mne year 279. Many of the stories about Yochaaan bar Nappacha bear a striking resemblance to those related of Yochanan ben Zakkai, the Tanna of the first century. Clearly the identity of name has caused some confusion in the transmission of these anecdotes. Both, fbr exa;ple, are reported to have been exceptionally handsome. m" " RREWXM Hammmmmm' "AT "Rabbi Yochaaan said: I am the only one remaining of Jerusalem's men of outéfianding beauty. (This is clearly a confusion XXXX with Yoahanan,ben Zakkai; but what follows probably relates to 9g; Ioehanan.) He who desires to see Rabbi Yochanan's beauty, let him take a goblet of refined silver, and fill it with the seeds of a red pomegranate, adorn its rim with a garland of re& roseS, and place it between the sun and the shadé — the same eélendour-issues from the appearance of Rabbi Yochanan." (Elm. 842)' Of our Yochanan, as of Yochenan ben Zakkai, it is related that at one time in his life he supported himself from agricultural or horticultural pursuits, but he sold his meagre possessions in _.7 _ _ ‘ order to devote himself to study.
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