The Three Deaths of Rabbi Judah Ben Bava

Amram TROPPER Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA

ABSTRACT

The earliest narrative of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death appears in the Baby- lonian Talmud and according to the talmudic tale, the Romans butchered Rabbi Judah ben Bava when they caught him violating their prohibition against rabbinic ordination. In contrast to the Babylonian Talmud’s tale, two other sources, Tosefta Babha Qama and The Story of the Ten Martyrs, offer alternative portraits of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s demise. These contrasting portraits of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s end challenge the traditional notion that the talmud accurately reported the Roman prohibition of rabbinic ordination, Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s violation of the prohibition and his subsequent death. Treating the talmudic tale as a literary narrative, I hope to offer a close reading, critique some historical interpretations of the tale and shed light on its formation.

RÉSUMÉ

Le récit le plus ancien de la « noble mort » de Rabbi Judah ben Bava apparaît dans le Talmud de Babylone et, selon le récit talmudique, les Romains ont massacré Rabbi Judah ben Bava quand ils l’ont surpris en train de transgresser leur interdic- tion de l’ordination rabbinique. Deux autres sources, Tosefta Babha Qama et L’His- toire des dix martyrs, racontent autrement la mort de Rabbi Judah ben Bava. L’existence de ces versions divergentes remet en question l’opinion traditionnelle selon laquelle le Talmud rend compte avec précision de la prohibition de l’ordination rabbinique par les Romains et de la mort de Rabbi Judah ben Bava dans ce contexte. En lisant l’histoire talmudique comme un récit littéraire, j’espère offrir une explica- tion du texte, critiquer les interprétations historiques qui en ont été faites et éclaircir les détails de sa formation.

Rabbi Judah ben Bava has long been viewed as a heroically defiant rabbinic sage brutally slain by the Romans in the mid-second century CE. The earliest narrative of his noble death appears in the Babylonian Talmud 1 and according to the talmudic tale, the Romans butchered Rabbi Judah ben Bava

1. See Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 13b-14a; Babylonian Talmud ῾Abhoda Zara 8b.

Revue des études juives, 179 (1-2), janvier-juin 2020, pp. 35-61. doi: 10.2143/REJ.179.1.3287588 36 THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA when they caught him violating their prohibition against rabbinic ordination. Presuming the historical credibility of the talmudic narrative, generations of commentators and scholars have read it as the faithful record of a tragic chapter in Roman-Jewish relations.2 Dominant till just a few decades ago, this historical reading classically maintains that when the Romans sought to abolish ordination as part of their efforts to undermine rabbinic authority in the wake of the Bar Kokhva revolt, Rabbi Judah ben Bava fearlessly thwarted the Roman plan by daring to ordain five or six disciples, selflessly sacrificing his life for the sake of ordination. In contrast to the Babylonian Talmud’s tale, however, two other sources offer alternative portraits of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s demise: The Story of the Ten Martyrs (first attested in Heikhalot Rabati)3 and Tosefta Babha Qama 8:13.4 Although The Story of the Ten Martyrs, like the talmud, depicts Rabbi Judah ben Bava as a martyr, its rendering of his noble death bears no resemblance to the talmud’s tale. Tosefta Babha Qama, for its part, does not even portray Rabbi Judah ben Bava as a martyr! With no mention of the ordination prohibition or any Roman oppression, the Tosefta’s Rabbi Judah ben Bava dies of natural causes. These contrasting portraits of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s death underscore the problematic presumption at the heart of the historical reading of the Babylonian Talmud’s tale. More specifically, they challenge the notion that the talmud accurately reported three historical events: the Roman prohibition of rabbinic ordination, Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s violation of the prohi bition and his subsequent death. In line with current scholarship on sage stories,5 the three conflicting portraits encourage us to view their respective stories as literary narratives rather than historical reports. Treating the talmudic tale as a literary composition I will offer a close reading, critique some historical interpretations of the tale and explore its formation, seeking out the raw literary materials which informed its creation. In the process, I also hope to show how appreciation for the talmudic story’s formation sheds new light on Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s three deaths.

2. See n. 22 below. 3. The Story of the Ten Martyrs I.43, III-V.33-35 (G. Reeg, Die Geschichte von den Zehn Märtyrern: Synoptische Edition mit Übersetzung und Einleitung, Tübingen, 1985). See also Midraš Ele Ezkera (A. Jellinek, Beit ha-Midraš, vol. 2, Leipzig, 1853, reprint: Jerusalem, 1967, p. 69). 4. Tosefta Babha Qama 8:13. See also Palestinian Talmud Soṭa 9, 10 24a. 5. See n. 45 below. THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA 37

A Close Reading of the Talmudic Tale

The talmudic story of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death appears twice, once in Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 13b-14a and once in Babylonian Talmud ῾Abhoda Zara 8b. These parallel editions are almost identical, with only slight variations between them, and contextual considerations reveal that Sanhedrin has preserved the earlier and more original setting.6 The following citation quotes the story in Sanhedrin along with its immediate literary context: וחד לא סמיך? והאמ' רב יהוד' אמ' רב: ברם זכור אתו האיש לטוב ור' יהוד' בן בבא שמו שאילמל' הוא נשתכחו דיני קנסות מישר'. נישתכחו? לגרוסינהו! אלא בטלו דיני קנסות מישר'. פעם אחת גזרו מלכות הרשעה שמד על ישר' שכל הסומך יהרג וכל הניסמך יהרג ועיר שסומכין בה תחרב ותחום שסומכין בו תעקר.

6. Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 13b-14a cites the tale because it appears to contradict a baraita (Tosefta Sanhedrin 1:1) which parallels the mišna under consideration (Mišna San- hedrin 1:1; see Rashi, ad loc.; cf. Maimonides, Peruš ha-mišnayot, ad loc., Mišna ‘im peruš rabenu Moše ben Maimon, Y. Kapah (trans. and ed.), Jerusalem, 1964, p. 147-149). Whereas the baraita states that ordination must be performed by three sages, the tale suggests that one sage is sufficient and Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin’s mobilization of the tale to contradict the ordination law at hand is both natural and straightforward. In contrast, Babylonian Talmud ῾Abhoda Zara 8b locates the tale within a parenthetical discussion that has little to do with either ordination or the local mišna. ῾Abhoda Zara enlists the tale to counter the claim that Jewish authorities ceased to implement fine (i.e. penalty) laws, which could only be adminis- tered by ordained sages, 40 years prior to the destruction of the temple. However, the claim that Jewish authorities ceased to implement fine laws in temple times because they were not ordained is weak since both talmuds presume that ordination was practiced after the destruction of the temple. Since ῾Abhoda Zara enlists the tale when responding to a forced question within a parenthetical aside while Sanhedrin embeds the tale within a perfectly natural context, it seems likely that Sanhedrin has preserved the more original setting. Moreover, disparate elements scattered over distinct sugyot on Sanhedrin 13b-14b, such as the tale of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death, the link between the abolishment of fine laws and the cessation of ”מלמד שהמקום גורם“ ”,ordination, and the use of the phrase “to teach that the place matters (see also Babylonian Talmud Soṭa 45a; Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 87a), are neatly inte- grated into a single sugya on ῾Abhoda Zara 8b. Since the conflation of these elements in ῾Abhoda Zara is far more likely than their dispersal in Sanhedrin, it seems most probable that the ῾Abhoda Zara sugya drew inspiration from the sugya in Sanhedrin. On the philological consideration just applied, see A. Tropper, Rewriting Ancient Jewish History: The History of the Jews in Roman Times and the New Historical Method, London, 2016, p. 138 (n. 17). In sum, the tale’s better fit in Sanhedrin and the conflation of scattered elements from Sanhedrin 13b-14b in ῾Abhoda Zara 8b point to Sanhedrin as the tale’s earlier and more original setting. Cf. D. Henschke, “Custom Abrogates Law? (Corroborating a Theory) (Hebrew),” Diné Israel 17 (1993-1994), p. 135-155 (138 n. 6). In any event, the history of the tale prior to its appearance in Sanhedrin is beyond our ken. 38 THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA

מה עשה ר' יהוד' בן בבא? הלך וישב בין שני הרים גדולים, בין שני עיירות גד�ו לות, בין שני תחומי שבת, בין אושא לשפרעם, וסמך שם חמשה זקנים: ר' מאיר ור' יהוד' ור' שמע' ור' אלעזר בן שמוע, ור' אויא מוסיף אף ר' נחמיה. כיון שהכירו בהן אויבים אמ' להן: בני, רוצו! אמרו לו: ר', ואתה מה תהא עליך? אמ' להם: הרי אני מוטל לפניהם כאבן שאין לה הופכים. אמרו: לא זזו משם עד שנעצו7 בו שלש מאות לונכיאות8 של ברזל ועשאוהו ככברה. ר' יהוד' בן בבא אחריני הוו בהדי, והאי דלא קא חשיב להו משום כבודו דר' יהוד' בן בבא. ור' מאיר, ר' יהוד' בן בבא סמכיה? והא' רבה בר בר חנה אמ' ר' יוח': כל האומ' ר' מאיר לא סמכו ר' עקיב' אינו אלא טועה! סמכיה ר' עקיבא ולא קיבלוה, סמכיה ר' יהוד' בן בבא וקיבלוה.

Cannot one man ordain (alone)? For did not Rav Judah say in Rav’s name: May this man indeed be remembered for blessing, and Rabbi Judah ben Bava is his name, for were it not for him, the laws of fines would have been forgotten from Israel. Forgotten? Let them study them (and they will not be forgotten)! Rather these laws would have been abolished from Israel. One time the wicked government decreed an act of religious persecution against Israel that all who ordained should be put to death, and all who were ordained should be put to death, and a city in which ordination took place should be demolished, and the boundaries wherein it had been performed should be uprooted. What did Rabbi Judah ben Bava do? He went and sat between two large mountains, between two large cities, between two Sabbath boundaries, between Usha and Shefaram, and there ordained five elders: Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Judah and Rabbi Simeon and Rabbi Jose and Rabbi Eleazar ben Shamua. And Rabbi Awia adds also Rabbi Nehemiah. As soon as their enemies discovered them,9 he (Rabbi Judah ben Bava) said to them: My sons, flee! They said to him: Rabbi, and you, what will become of you?

until they had“) ”עד שנעצו“ until they had made”) to“) ”עד שנעשו“ I have corrected .7 driven”) on the basis of other textual witnesses. in accordance with MS Yad Harav ”לונכיאות“ has been corrected to ”לזנכיאות“ .8 Herzog 1. See M. Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, London-New York, 1903, p. 700; M. Sokoloff, A Dictionary of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic of the Talmudic and Geonic Periods, Ramat-Gan-Baltimore- London, 2002, p. 621. they came to kill them.” See also“ ”,באו להרגן“ :MS Yad Harav Herzog 1 adds here .9 MS New York-JTS Rab. 15 and MS Paris 1337 on Babylonian Talmud ῾Abhoda Zara 8b. THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA 39

He said to them: Behold, I lie before them like a stone which none overturn. It was said that the enemy did not stir from the spot until they had driven three hundred iron spear-heads into him, making him like a sieve. With Rabbi Juda ben Bava were others (i.e. other ordaining sages) but they were not mentioned in honor of Rabbi Judah ben Bava. Was Rabbi Meir indeed ordained by Rabbi Judah ben Bava? Did not Rabbah bar bar Hannah say in Rabbi Yohanan’s name: All who assert that Rabbi Meir was not ordained by Rabbi Akiva are certainly in error? Rabbi Akiva ordained him but they did not accept it,10 Rabbi Judah ben Bava ordained him (later), and they accepted it.11

After citing a baraita which states that ordination must be performed by three sages,12 the talmud questions whether three ordaining sages are truly required since the tale of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death implies that a single ordaining sage is sufficient. The tale itself, attributed to Rav Judah in the name of Rav, is preceded by a preface which declares that Rabbi Judah ben Bava should be fondly remembered for ensuring that the laws of fines were not forgotten. Before proceeding to the tale, however, the anonymous voice of the talmud interrupts, questioning how the laws of fines could have possibly been forgotten when the mere study (or memorization13) of the laws would have easily secured their preservation. In response to this question, the talmud adjusts the declaration’s language, claiming now that ,(”בטלו“) Rabbi Judah ben Bava saved the laws of fines from being abolished .(”נשתכחו“) not from being forgotten The story proper opens with a description of the Roman decree against ordination purportedly enacted as a persecuting measure sometime around the Bar Kokhva revolt. The decree, in a word, transformed ordination into a capital offense. It specified that both ordaining sages and ordained

10. As M. Sabato has noted (A Yemenite Manuscript of Tractate Sanhedrin and its Place in the Text Tradition (Hebrew), Jerusalem, 1998, p. 154, 309), MS Yad Harav Herzog 1 inserted two explanatory glosses to this passage, stating that when Rabbi Akiva performed דאיכתי הוה“) ”Rabbi Meir’s ordination it was rejected because Rabbi Meir “was still a child see also MS Munich 95) but later on when Rabbi Judah ben Bava performed the ;”ינוקא .(”כי הוה סיב“) ordination it was accepted because Rabbi Meir was older 11. Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 13b-14a according to MS Florence II-I-9. My translation is heavily indebted to that by J. Schachter (Sanhedrin, London, 1969, ad loc.). 12. According to Rashi, while the baraita (or Tosefta Sanhedrin 1:1) relates to ordination, Mišna Sanhedrin 1:1 does not. The Rambam argues, however, that Mišna Sanhedrin 1:1 relates to ordination so for him, the talmud’s question, “Cannot one man ordain (alone)?” is also directed towards the mišna. See n. 6 above. 13. See J. N. Epstein, Introduction to the Mishnaic Text (Hebrew), vol. 2, Jerusalem, 1948, p. 699; Y. Sussmann, “‘Tora še-be-‘al pe’ pešuṭa ke-mašma‘a (Hebrew),” in Y. Sussmann, D. Rosenthal (eds), Mehqerei Talmud: Talmudic Studies Dedicated to the Memory of Profes- sor Eliezer Shimshon Rosenthal, vol. 3a, Jerusalem, 2005, p. 209-384 (p. 249 n. 19). 40 THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA disciples were to be put to death, that cities where ordination was imple- mented were to be demolished and that Sabbath boundaries where ordination was practiced were to be uprooted. In the face of this devastating decree, Rabbi Judah ben Bava sought to keep ordination alive. Taking care not to give the Romans cause for col- lectively punishing any innocent civilians, he went and sat “between two large cities, between two Sabbath boundaries, between Usha and Shefaram.” Rabbi Judah ben Bava also sat between two large mountains but the ration- ale for this location is not clear since, unlike cities and Sabbath boundaries, the Roman decree made no mention of mountains. Perhaps Rabbi Judah ben Bava hoped to hide the illicit ordination ceremony behind the mountains,14 or, alternatively, perhaps the story enlisted the mountains in order to highlight the notion that he sat in no man’s land, somewhere no innocents would suffer the possible fallout of his daring actions. In any event, at this liminal point betwixt mountains, cities and Sabbath boundaries, Rabbi Judah ben Bava violated the Roman decree and ordained five disciples: Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Judah, Rabbi Simeon, Rabbi Jose and Rabbi Eleazar ben Shamua. According to Rabbi Awia, he ordained Rabbi Nehemiah as well. News of the illegal ordination quickly reached the Romans and as they approached, Rabbi Judah ben Bava enjoined the newly ordained sages to flee for their lives. Too old or frail to flee himself, Rabbi Judah ben Bava hoped that the sages he had just ordained would not perish with him and thereby render the whole purpose of their ordination null and void. Hesitat- ing to leave Rabbi Judah ben Bava behind, the disciples questioned him about his fate and he replied “Behold, I lie before them like a stone which none overturn.” The meaning of this phrase is unclear but a similar phrase from elsewhere in Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin may shed light on it. On Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 91a, Antoninus suggests to Rabbi Judah Hanasi that the body can free itself from judgment by blaming the soul, claiming “from the day it (the soul) left me I am like a stone lying in the Without the soul 15”.שמיום שפרשה ממני הריני כאבן מוטל בקבר“ ”,grave the body is like an inanimate stone, powerless to do anything hence the body can blame the soul for being the animating force responsible for all of its sins. Similarly, Rabbi Judah ben Bava likens himself to a stone that none overturn, i.e. an inanimate, powerless and worthless object. Rabbi Judah ben

14. See Ya‘abheṣ (Jacob Emden), ad loc. 15. See Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 91a according to MS Florence II-I-9. Cf. MS Yad Harav Herzog 1 which employs the very phrase which appears in our story. See also Psalms 114: 8. THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA 41

Bava apparently adopted this imagery to portray himself as a man with one foot already in the grave, perhaps because he was old and frail or perhaps because he had just accomplished his final mission in life, ordaining the next generation of rabbinic sages.16 In any event, the story closes with the Romans fulfilling the decree with which the story had opened,17 driving three hundred spears18 into Rabbi Judah ben Bava at the very spot where he had violated their decree. Structurally, the narrative neatly divides into a preface followed by three distinct literary units. The preface extols Rabbi Judah ben Bava for saving the laws of fines, the first unit describes the ordination decree, the second narrates its carefully orchestrated violation and the third reports its enforce- ment. The three units also trace a set of ascending numbers. The 1 of “one time,” which opens the first unit, gradually increases in the second unit, first to 2, in the “two large mountains,” “the two large cities” and the “two Sabbath boundaries,” and then to the 5 of the “five elders.” In tune with the shocking and horrifying conclusion of the story, the next and final number in the set, the 300 of the “three hundred iron spear-heads,” does not repre- sent another gradual increase but rather creates a discordant gap between the three single digit numbers of the first two units and the final unit’s three digit number. In terms of rhythm, while each of the first two units leisurely sets the stage with two sets of doubled phrases,19 the final unit emphasizes Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s abrupt end with a terse description of his death. In respect to imagery, the first unit refers to Rabbi Judah ben Bava as an honorable “man,” while the third unit likens him to a “stone” and ultimately to a “sieve.” This transition from man to stone to sieve aptly reflects the horror of Rabbi Judah’s tragic demise and the use of a Greek loanword from λόγχη), highlights the foreign identity) ”לונכיאות“ ”,for “spear-heads of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s savage killers.

16. Alternatively, perhaps he hoped to convince his students to flee right away by telling them that the Romans would overlook a feeble old man and leave him alone. Cf. ῾Ein Abhraham, ad loc. (Agadat Babhli – ῾Ein Ya‘aqobh, Königsberg, 1848, p. 16). 17. Cf. W. Horbury, Jewish War under Trajan and Hadrian, Cambridge, 2014, p. 413 who seems to say that Rabbi Judah ben Bava was captured and killed for aiding “the flight of others.” 18. Perhaps the exaggerated number of spears is meant to reflect the frustration of the Roman authorities with their inability to exact, in this case, any collective punishment. 19. The first unit’s doubled phrases are: “all who ordained should be put to death, and all who were ordained should be put to death – and a city in which ordination took place should be demolished, and the boundaries wherein it had been performed should be uprooted.” The second unit’s doubled phrases are: “between two large mountains, between two large cities – between two Sabbath boundaries, between Usha and Shefaram.” 42 THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA

In short, the talmudic story reveals how Rabbi Judah ben Bava forfeited his life to preserve the laws of fines for future generations when he carefully and courageously violated the Roman decree against rabbinic ordination. Immediately following the tale, the talmud seeks to resolve the contradiction between the tannaitic requirement of three ordaining sages and the tale’s implication that one ordaining sage is sufficient by claiming that Rabbi Judah ben Bava did not officiate alone. According to the talmud, Rabbi Judah ben Bava was joined by other ordaining sages who were left unmentioned out of deference to him. However, it is more plausible that, like many agadot, our tale is simply unconcerned with halakhic minutia such as the precise number of sages required for ordination.20 The talmud concludes its discussion of the tale of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death with a second contradiction and resolution. According to a tradition ultimately attributed to Rabbi Yohanan, Rabbi Meir was ordained by Rabbi Akiva – but our tale explicitly states that Rabbi Meir was ordained by Rabbi Judah ben Bava! In order to reconcile these conflicting traditions, the talmud asserts that both Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Judah ben Bava ordained Rabbi Meir. According to the talmud, Rabbi Akiva initially ordained Rabbi Meir but this early ordination was rejected by the rabbinic establishment, perhaps because Rabbi Meir was considered too young. Later on Rabbi Meir was ordained a second time, this time by Rabbi Judah ben Bava, and the second ordination was accepted perhaps because Rabbi Meir had become of age by then.21 In any case, this resolution is a harmonizing conjecture gener- ated by the talmudic presumption that both traditions concerning Rabbi Meir’s ordination are historically accurate.

Historical Interpretations of the Talmudic Tale and their Shortcomings

Let us turn now to consider some historical interpretations of our talmudic tale. The traditional approach to rabbinic sage stories presumes that sage

20. Cf. S. Shepkaru, Jewish Martyrs in the Pagan and Christian Worlds, Cambridge, 2006, p. 81. On the tension sometimes found between halakhic and aggadic texts, see A. Walfish, “Iḥud ha-halakha we-ha-agada: ῾Iyun be-darkhei ῾arikhata šel ha-tosefta (Hebrew),” in J. Levinson, J. Elbaum, G. Hasan-Rokem (eds), Higayon l’Yona: New Aspects in the Study of Midrash, Aggadah and Piyut in Honor of Professor Yona Fraenkel, Jerusalem, 2006, p. 309-331 (310). In addition, S. Safrai argued that if the tale had truly presupposed that Rabbi Judah ben Bava ordained alongside his colleagues, it would certainly have related their fate as well. See S. Safrai, In Times of Temple and Mishnah: Studies in Jewish History (Hebrew), vol. 2, Jerusalem, 1994, p. 604. 21. See Rashi, ad loc. See also n. 10 above. Cf. Safrai, In Times, p. 604. THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA 43 stories ultimately stem from genuine and credible eyewitness testimonies and therefore it considers their details historical facts so long as there are no local or immediate grounds for doubt.22 Embracing this traditional approach and detecting no grounds to doubt our talmudic tale, many have viewed it as a credible historical report. For example, on the basis of the talmudic tale, Gedalyahu Alon argued that the criminalization of ordination was “but one expression of a general abolition of Jewish autonomy” that “is a fact established beyond question” and regarding which “there seems to be complete certainty.”23 Michael Avi-Yonah lauded the “heroic self-sacrifice of Rabbi Judah ben Baba, who had ordained five of Rabbi Akiba’s pupils at a time when the Roman authorities punished both those ordinating and those receiving ordination with death.”24 Jacob Neusner referred to the students of R. Akiva who had fled “because of their illegal ordination by R. Judah b. Bava”25 and both Ephraim E. Urbach and Moshe David Herr went to great lengths to harmonize the talmudic tale with the apparently conflicting

22. For an overview of the traditional stance, see Tropper, Rewriting, p. 106-117. For a formulation of the traditional stance in the context of traditions about the Bar Kokhva revolt, see S. Kraus, “῾Aśeret harugei malkhut” (Hebrew), Ha-Shiloaḥ 44 (1925), p. 10-22, 106-117, 211-233 (239-240). 23. G. Alon, The Jews in their Land in the Talmudic Age (70-640 C.E.), Jerusalem, 1984, p. 632-633 (227, 657-658). See also H. Graetz, History of the Jews, vol. 2, Philadelphia, 1956, p. 429; S. Dubnov, History of the Jews, vol. 2, New York-South Brunswick, NJ- London, 1968, p. 59; I. H. Weiss, Dor dor we-dorshaw (Hebrew), vol. 2, Vilna, 1876, p. 119- 120; S. W. Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews, vol. 2, New York, 1952, p. 120-121; J. Goldin, “The Period of the Talmud (135 B.C.E.-1035 C.E.),” in L. F inkelstein (ed.), The Jews: Their History, Culture, and Religion, New York, 1960, p. 115-215 (158); S. Yeivin, Milḥemet Bar Kokhbha (Hebrew), Jerusalem, 1957, p. 125; S. Abramsky, Bar Kokhbha: Nesi Yiśrael (Hebrew), Tel-Aviv, 1961, p. 134-135; S. Lieberman, “On Persecu- tion of the Jewish Religion,” in S. Lieberman, A. Hyman (eds), Salo Wittmayer Baron Jubilee Volume, Hebrew Section, Jerusalem, 1974, p. 213-246 (215, 217); Sh. Appelbaum, “Milḥemet Bar Kokhbha we-toṣe’oteha (Hebrew),” in U. Rappaport (ed.), Judea and Rome – The Jewish Revolts, Jerusalem, 1983, p. 229-260 (259-260); M. Mor, The Bar-Kochba Revolt: Its Extent and Effect (Hebrew), Jerusalem, 1991, p. 238. Even in respect to The Story of the Ten Martyrs, “modern scholars have accepted the story about the Ten Martyrs as historical” (S. Zeitlin, “The Legend of the Ten Martyrs and its Apocalyptic Origins,” JQR 36 (1945-1946), p. 1-16 (3)). See also the discussion by R. S. Boustan, From Martyr to Mystic: Rabbinic Martyrology and the Making of Merkavah Mysticism, Tübingen, 2005, p. 31 (n. 50). 24. M. Avi-Yonah, The Jews under Roman and Byzantine Rule: A Political History of Palestine from the Bar Kokhba War to the Arab Conquest, Jerusalem, 1984, p. 54-55. Won- dering how the Romans could have possibly known about the role of ordination in rabbinic life, Avi-Yonah makes the unwarranted assumption that “The Roman persecutors, guided by such renegade scholars as Aher, were perfectly aware what the semikhah meant to Israel” (55). Cf. A. Tropper, Like Clay in the Hands of the Potter: Sage Stories in Rabbinic Litera- ture (Hebrew), Jerusalem, 2011, p. 148-151. 25. J. Neusner, A History of the Jews in Babylonian: I. The Parthian Period, Leiden, 1965, p. 125 (126). 44 THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA tannaitic story of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s natural death (cited below) in their insistence on the tale’s historicity.26 In short, until just a few decades ago, most scholars regarded the talmudic tale of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death as an accurate historical account. In more recent decades, however, some scholars have discerned a variety of reasons to question the details of this talmudic narrative. Consider first a number of difficulties which emerge from just a cursory reading. The preface, which states “for were it not for him, the laws of fines would have been forgotten from Israel,” is problematic as the talmud itself notes, because it is unlikely that the laws of fines were ever in danger of being forgotten. There were enough sages and disciples at the time to preserve the laws of fines. The Roman decree incorporates Sabbath boundaries into its collective punishment framework but it seems highly improbable that the Romans would have been familiar with the halakhot of Sabbath boundaries, let alone think of integrating them into a religious decree.27 The tale’s reference to two large mountains between Usha and Shefaram is topographically inaccurate for no such mountains exist.28 The assumption that almost an entire generation of sages was wiped out around the time of the Bar Kokhva revolt, leaving Rabbi Judah ben Bava as the sole surviving sage qualified to confer ordination, is not in tune with the overarching impression given by rabbinic literature.29 In addition, there is no reason to think that ordination was ever considered such an important institution that it justified risking so many lives.30 In short, the tale’s colorful, exaggerated, inaccurate and improbable details are all historically suspect. Once one expands the purview of investigation beyond the tale itself, the grounds to doubt the historicity of the story only increase. Not only does no other text corroborate the existence of a Roman decree against ordination31

26. See E. E. Urbach, The Sages: Their Concepts and Beliefs, Jerusalem, 1975, p. 883 n. 84; M. D. Herr, “Persecutions and Martyrdom in Hadrian’s Days,” Scripta Hierosolymi- tana 23 (1972), p. 85-125 (114 n. 104). 27. See A. Oppenheimer, “Qedušat ha-ḥayim we-ḥeruph ha-nepheš be-‘iqbhot mered Bar Kokhbha (Hebrew),” in I. Gafni, A. Ravitzky (eds), Sanctity of Life and Martyrdom: Studies in Memory of Amir Yekutiel (Hebrew), Jerusalem, 1992, p. 85-97 (93); Shepkaru, Jewish Martyrs, p. 85. 28. See Oppenheimer, “Qedušat ha-ḥayim,” p. 93; Shepkaru, Jewish Martyrs, p. 85. See also B. Lau, Sages – Volume 3: The Gallilean Period (Hebrew), Tel-Aviv, 2008, p. 46 n. 9. 29. See Oppenheimer, “Qedušat ha-ḥayim,” p. 93. 30. Cf. Avi-Yonah, The Jews, p. 54-55. 31. On Babylonian Talmud ῾Abhoda Zara 17b (according to MS New York-JTS Rab. 15), the Romans accuse Rabbi Eleazar ben Parta saying, “for what reason do they call you Rabbi?” and Maharsha (ad loc.) interprets the accusation to mean that the ,(”מאי טעמא קרו לך ר׳?“) Romans suspected Rabbi Eleazar ben Parta of violating their ordination decree. If Maharsha’s THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA 45 or Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s heroic actions, some sources even contradict the tale. The Babylonian Talmud itself notes that a saying ultimately attributed to Rabbi Yohanan emphatically claims that Rabbi Meir was ordained by Rabbi Akiva and, in the name of Rabbi Abba, the Palestinian Talmud states that both Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Simeon were ordained by Rabbi Akiva, not by Rabbi Judah ben Bava.32 In addition, Tosefta Babha Qama 8:13 relates the following story of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s end which lacks any mention of a noble or violent death: אמרו עליו על ר' יהודה בן בבא שהיו כל מעשיו לשום שמים אלא שגידל בהמה דקה.33 פעם אחת חלה ונכנס רופא אצלו ואמ' לו: אין לך רפואה אלא חלב רותח. לקח לו עז וקשרה בכרעי המיטה והיה יונק הימנו חלב רותח שהיה גונח. פעם אחת ביקשו חכמים ליכנס אצלו. אמרו: היאך ליכנס אצלו שליסטים עמו בבית? וכשמת דיקדקו חכמים במעשיו ולא מצאו בו עון אלא זו בלבד. אף הוא אמר בשעת מיתתו יודע אני שאין בי עון אלא זו בלבד שעברתי על דברי חביריי.

They said about Rabbi Judah ben Bava that all of his deeds were for the sake of heaven except that he raised small cattle. One time he fell ill and a doctor entered his home and said to him: There is no remedy for you except for boiling milk. He took for himself a goat and tied it to legs of his bed and would suck from it boiling milk for he would groan (in pain). One time the sages wished to enter his home. They said: How can we enter his home, when there is a robber with him in the house? When he died the sages examined his deeds and they did not find in him a sin except this sin alone. He also said at the time of his death: I know that I have no sin in me except for this alone, that I trans- gressed the words of my colleagues.34

Although this tannaitic story does not explicitly state how Rabbi Judah ben Bava died, it implies that he died of natural causes.35 The story portrays interpretation were correct, then one late story, which most likely was familiar with the tale of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death, borrowed the notion that the Romans had outlawed ordination. However, why would the Romans question Rabbi Eleazar ben Parta’s ordination when it is quite likely that he had been ordained, like many other sages, prior to the enactment of the persecuting decree? Hence, it seems likely that the Roman accusation did not relate to rabbinic ordination but to Torah instruction (which the context in ῾Abhoda Zara 17b-18a presumes to have been outlawed), and the fact that students called Rabbi Eleazar ben Parta “Rabbi”/“my master” suggested to the Romans that he was teaching them Torah. 32. Palestinian Talmud Sanhedrin 1, 3 19a. See also Oppenheimer, “Qedušat ha-ḥayim,” p. 93; Safrai, In Times, p. 604. .small,” was inserted on the basis of the other textual witnesses“ ”,דקה“ The word .33 34. Tosefta Babha Qama 8:13 according to MS Erfurt 12. See also Palestinian Talmud Soṭa 9, 9 24a. 35. See G. Alon, Jews, Judaism and the Classical World, Jerusalem, 1977, p. 402-403 n. 83; Oppenheimer, “Qedušat ha-ḥayim,” p. 93; id., “Gedalyahu Alon Fifty Years On” (Hebrew), Zion 69 (2004), p. 459-486 (472-473); Safrai, In Times, p. 604. 46 THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA

Rabbi Judah ben Bava as dreadfully ill, otherwise he would not have violated the halakhic prohibition against raising small cattle in the land of Israel36 nor merited a visit from the sages. Keeping the severity of his illness in mind, the juxtaposition of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s illness to his death naturally creates the impression that the former led to the latter. Moreover, the story mentions Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s death on two occasions, Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s reflection “at the time of his death” and the sages’ exami- nation “when he died;” had the Tosefta known of his noble death, it would have mentioned it as well. Attempts to harmonize the two narratives by suggesting that Rabbi Judah ben Bava articulated his Tosefta reflection just prior to being pierced by 300 spears or that his colleagues, presumed dead (or absent) in the talmudic tale, contemplated his minor infraction in the wake of his tragic martyrdom, are incongruous and farfetched. Rather, the absence of any whiff of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s martyrdom in the tannaitic story strongly indicates that the Tosefta was unfamiliar with the later talmudic tale of his noble death. Although the Babylonian Talmud did preserve elsewhere the tannaitic story of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s natural death, it transformed the story’s or pious man. In ”חסיד“ hero, Rabbi Judah ben Bava, into an anonymous removing Rabbi Judah ben Bava from the tannaitic story, the talmud might have intended to resolve the conflict between the tannaitic story of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s natural death and the talmudic tale of his noble death.37 Alternatively, perhaps Rabbi Judah ben Bava was removed from the Tosef- ta’s story for entirely unrelated reasons (as Yonatan Feintuch suggests38) and once he was uncoupled from a natural death, he was free to be assigned a noble one. Another story which further confounds the historical readings of the talmudic tale is the account of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s martyrdom in The Story of the Ten Martyrs (of Heikhalot Rabati):39

36. See Mišna Babha Qama 7:7; Tosefta Babha Qama 8:10-12. 37. See Babylonian Talmud Babha Qama 80a; Babylonian Talmud Temura 16b; Yelam- denu Ha-qadmon 46-47 (L. Ginzberg, Genizah Studies in Memory of Doctor Solomon Schechter, New York, 1928). In addition, the Babylonian Talmud’s claim that stories about relate to Rabbi Judah ben Bava (see Babylonian Talmud ”חסיד“ an anonymous pious man or Babha Qama 103b; Babylonian Talmud Temura 16b) probably stems from the knowledge that the story about the pious man and his goat originally featured Rabbi Judah ben Bava, a pious man in tannaitic tradition (see Tosefta Soṭa 13:4; Palestinian Talmud Soṭa 9, 14 24b; Babylonian Talmud Soṭa 48b; Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 11a). 38. See Y. Feintuch, “‘Anonymous hasid’ Stories in Halakhic Sugyot in the Babylonian Talmud,” JJS 63 (2012), p. 238-262 (255). 39. See, for example, Kraus, “῾Aśeret,” p. 112. THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA 47

ואחריו הוציאו ר' יודה בן בבא שלא טועם שינה אלא כשינת סוס מי"ח שנה עד פ' שני'. ואותו היום שהוציאוהו ליהרג מט' שעות ולמעלה והתחיל מבקש מהם: בחייכם המתינו לי מעט עד שאקיים מצוה שציוה הקב"ה עליה. א"ל: עדיין אתה בטוח באלוהיך? א"ל: הן. א"ל: כי עדיין יש כח באלוהים שאתה בוטח עליו? א"ל: "גדול אדונינו ומהלל מאוד ולגדולתו אין חקר" )תהלים קמה:ג(. א"ל: אם יש בו כח למה לא הציל אותך ואת חבירך מיד מלכות? א"ל: אנו חייבים מיתה למלך גדול ונורא. הוא מסר אותנו ביד מלך כדי לתבוע את דמינו מידו. באו והגידו למלך את דבריו. שלח המלך אליו ואומר לו: אמת שהגידו לי ממך או לא? א"ל: אמת הוא. א"ל הקיסר: כמה עז פנים אתם שעל פתח מיתה אתם עומדים ועדיין עזות אתם! א"ל ר' יודא: אוי לך קיסר! רשע בן רשע! הלוא ראה חורבן ביתו והריגת חסידיו וצדיקים ולא עטה קנאה להנקם מיד? אמרו ליה תלמידיו: רבינו היה לך להחניף אותו. אמר להם: וכי לא למדתם שכל המחניף לרשע סופו נפל לידו. א"ל: בחייך קיסר, המתין לי עד שאקיים מצוה אחת ושבת שמה והוא עולם הבא. א"ל: לזה שמעתי לעשות שאילתיך. מיד היתחיל בקידוש היום "ויכילו השמים והארץ" )בראשית ב:א(. והיה אומר בנעימות ובקול רם. והיה תמיהם כל העומדים עליו וכיון שהגיע עד "ברא אלוקי' לעשות" לא הניחוהו ליגמור. וציוה הקיסר להורגה והורגוה ויצתה נשמתו ב"אלוהים." יצתה בת קול ואמ': אשריך ר' יודא שהיית דומה למלאך ויצתה נשמתך ב"אלוהים." וציוה וחתכוהו איברים איברים והשלכוהו לכלבים ולא הוספד ולא הוקבר. Next they brought forth Rabbi Judah ben Bava who never tasted sleep other than the sleep of a horse (= a nap) from the time he was eighteen years old until eighty years old. The day he was brought forth for execution, it was after the ninth hour and he began to beseech his captors: On your lives, wait for me just a little until I fulfill one precept the Holly blessed be He has commanded. They said to him: You still trust in your God? He said to them: Yes. They said to him: Does this God in whom you trust still have strength left in him? He said to them: “Great indeed is the Lord and very exalted, and to His greatness there is no end of searching” (Psalms 145:3). They said to him: If your God still has strength, why has He not saved you and your colleagues from this kingdom? He said to them: A great and awesome king requires our death. He has handed us over to your king so as to later requite our blood from his hands. Those men went and told the king his words. The king summoned him and said to him: Is it true or not what my men have told me you said? Rabbi Judah replied: It is true. The emperor said to him: How insolent you people are! You stand upon the threshold of death, and you still keep up your insolence! Rabbi Judah said to him: O Caesar! Wicked man son of a wicked man! Did the Lord 48 THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA

not see His Temple destroyed, His pious and righteous murdered? And yet He did not make haste to avenge them at once. Rabbi Judah’s students said to him: Our teacher, you should have flattered him! He said to them: Have you not learned that any who flatters a wicked man is destined to fall in his hands? Then he said to the emperor: By your life, Caesar, permit me to fulfill one commandment. The Sabbath is its name and it is (like) the world to come. He said to him: Was it to fulfill this request I agreed to listen to you ? At once he (Rabbi Judah ben Bava) began to sanctify the Sabbath with the verses “The heaven and earth were completed…” (Genesis 2:1). He uttered them in a pleas- ing and loud voice and all who stood around him were amazed. But when he reached “Which in creating God had done” (Genesis 2:3), they did not let him complete it. The emperor ordered to execute him and they executed him and his soul departed just as he pronounced the word “God.” A heavenly voice came forth and declared: Blessed art thou, Rabbi Judah! For you resembled an angel and your soul departed with the word “God.” The emperor commanded and they cut his limbs apart and threw them to the dogs and he was neither eulogized nor buried.40

This martyrdom narrative opens in praise of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s daytime sleeping habits41 and is framed by Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s desire to perform one final commandment before dying. Within the body of the narrative, Rabbi Judah ben Bava converses with his captors, his disciples and the emperor, and in the process he justifies the divine judgment and also defends his unwillingness to compromise his principles. He is executed while performing a final commandment, sanctifying the Sabbath, and upon his death, a heavenly voice marvels over his angelic death. The emperor orders that his body be cut up and fed to dogs and the story concludes on a sorrowful tone, noting that though a great sage, Rabbi Judah ben Bava was neither eulogized nor buried. In short, The Story of the Ten Martyrs’s narrative of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s martyrdom bears no hint of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s commitment to ordination, the discovery of his illicit ordaining activity or his immediate punishment. In other words, The Story of the Ten Martyrs has nothing in common with the talmudic tale save for the bare notion that Rabbi Judah ben Bava died a noble death. Needless to say, The Story of the Ten Martyrs

40. The Story of the Ten Martyrs I.43. See also references in n. 3 above. My translation is largely based on Stern’s translation. See D. Stern, “Midrash Eleh Ezkerah or The Legend of the Ten Martyrs,” in D. Stern, M. Jay Mirsky (eds), Rabbinic Fantasies: Imaginative Narratives from Classical Hebrew Literature, Philadelphia-New York, 1990, p. 143-166 (154-156). 41. See Babylonian Talmud Suka 26b. THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA 49 also shares almost no common ground with the tannaitic story of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s natural death.42 The traditional scholarly approach to sage stories, as noted above, regards their details as historical facts just so long as there are no local or immediate grounds to conclude otherwise. In the case of the talmudic tale of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death, we have seen that there are good grounds for concluding otherwise. In light of such grounds, Aharon Oppenheimer con- cluded that the tale is largely fictitious but he also insisted that one element of the tale had not been discredited, namely the decree outlawing ordination. Hence, Oppenheimer argued that while Rabbi Judah ben Bava did not sacrifice his life for the sake of ordination, the Romans did forbid ordination and, later on, the talmudic legend coalesced around this authentic historical kernel.43 However, other scholars no less traditional than Oppenheimer have come to recognize that once the credibility of a rabbinic story, like our talmudic tale, has been so impugned, one cannot simply presume that a central detail, like the Roman decree, is credible.44 In any event, most scholars today no longer accept the traditional presumption that sage stories are accurate historical records unless proven otherwise. Rather than regarding sage stories as embroidered historical reports, scholars now view them as works of didactic fiction and, absent independent corroboration, we lack any objective or rational criteria for distinguishing between their representations of historical events and literary construc- tions.45 As a result, the robust and numerous reasons for concluding that the talmudic tale of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death is fictitious should no longer surprise us. By the same token, though the early tannaitic story about Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s natural death might possibly stem from a historical

42. Due to the conflicts between The Story of the Ten Martyrs and the talmudic tale, some scholars have preferred “the historical truth” of the talmudic tale to the fictitious “legend” of The Story of the Ten Martyrs. See H. J. Zimmels, “The Historical Background of the Midrash Eleh Ezkerah,” in A. Sheiber (ed.), Semitic Studies in Memory of Immanuel Löw, Budapest, 1947, p. 334-338 (335-336). See also L. Finkelstein, “The Ten Martyrs,” in I. Davidson (ed.), Essays and Studies in Memory of Linda R. Miller, New York, 1938, p. 29-55 (43-44); n. 23 above. 43. See Oppenheimer, “Qedušat ha-ḥayim,” p. 92-93. 44. See, for example, Safrai, In Times, p. 604. See also G. A. Wewers, “Rabbi Jehuda Ben-Baba: Skizze zun Problem der Individualüberlieferung in der frühen rabbinischen Litera- tur,” Kairos 19 (1977), p. 81-115 (102); E. M. Smallwood, The Jews under Roman Rule: From Pompey to Diocletian: A Study in Political Relations, Leiden, 1981, p. 464-466; M. Simon, Verus Israel: A Study of the Relations between Christians and Jews in the Roman Empire (135-425), Oxford, 1986, p. 99-100. 45. For an overview of this change in the historical method spearheaded by Yona Fraenkel and Jacob Neusner, see Tropper, Rewriting, p. 118-133. 50 THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA kernel, there is no way to corroborate its account, which may well be wholly or partially fictitious, and therefore we have no reason to presume that it faithfully reflects an actual event. Insofar as the tale of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s martyrdom in The Story of the Ten Martyrs is concerned, it is a patently fictitious account that was largely modeled on earlier martyrdom traditions, as noted below.

On the Formation of the Talmudic Tale

Since there is no reason to presume, a priori, that the talmudic tale of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death captured an underlying historical event and there are even good grounds to doubt its historical accuracy, we may turn to the literary materials which likely inspired, influenced or informed the formation of the rabbinic story. Exploring the literary formation of the story, we open our investigation at the beginning, with the attribution and preface: והאמ' רב יהוד' אמ' רב: ברם זכור אתו האיש לטוב ור' יהוד' בן בבא שמו שאילמל' הוא נשתכחו דיני קנסות מישר’. For did not Rav Judah say in Rav’s name: May this man indeed be remembered for blessing, and Rabbi Judah ben Bava is his name, for were it not for him, the laws of fines would have been forgotten from Israel.

A very similar preface along with the same exact attribution appears at the beginning of two other traditions in the Babylonian Talmud: אמר רב יהודה אמר רב: ברם זכור אותו האיש לטוב וחנניה בן חזקיה שמו שאלמלא הוא נגנז ספר יחזקאל שהיו דבריו סותרין דברי תורה. Rav Judah said in Rav’s name: May this man indeed be remembered for blessing, and Hananiah ben Hezekiah is his name, for were it not for him, the Book of Ezekiel would have been hidden, since its words contradicted the words of the Torah.46 דאמר רב יהודה אמר רב ברם זכור אותו האיש לטוב ויהושע בן גמלא שמו שאלמלא הוא נשתכח תורה מישראל.

46. Babylonian Talmud Šabat 13b. See also Babylonian Talmud Ḥagiga 13a; Babylonian Talmud Menaḥot 45a. THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA 51

For Rav Judah said in Rav’s name: May this man indeed be remembered for blessing, and Joshua ben Gamala is his name, for were it not for him, the Torah would have been forgotten from Israel.47

At first glance, one might imagine that Rav Judah actually repeated three very similar prefaces in Rav’s name, but it is curious that he would have used such similar formulations on three different occasions. Moreover, a careful comparison of the two prefaces which laud remedies to “forget- ting,” the prefaces to the Rabbi Judah ben Bava and the Joshua ben Gamala stories, reveals that the former was apparently modeled on the latter. Since the Joshua ben Gamala story explains how Joshua saved the Torah from being forgotten by ordaining “that teachers of young children should be appointed in each district and each city, and that children should enter school at the age of six or seven,”48 the opening claim of the preface, “for were it not for him, the Torah would have been forgotten from Israel,” is perfectly at home in this story. By contrast, Rabbi Judah ben Bava never saved the laws of fines from being forgotten as claimed in the preface to his story. Indeed, the talmud itself interrupts his story to question this precise point, even concluding that one should alter the preface’s language from “the laws of fines would have been forgotten from Israel” to “the laws of fines would have been abolished from Israel.” Since the shared preface is perfectly aligned with the continuation of the Joshua ben Gamala narrative but jarringly clashes with the continuation of the Rabbi Judah ben Bava narrative, it seems most likely that the preface’s natural fit attests to its original home in the Joshua ben Gamala story while its awkward fit attests to its secondary presence in the Rabbi Judah ben Bava story.49 In addition, since the attribution to Rav Judah in the name of Rav was apparently lifted from the Joshua ben Gamala story, it most probably is not authentic. Following the altered preface, the story proper opens with the following phrase: “One time the wicked government decreed an act of religious persecution against Israel.” This phrase, with slight variations, opens a number of traditions in the Babylonian Talmud which discuss supposed persecutions inflicted on the Jews by the Seleucids or Romans.50 These traditions spell

47. Babylonian Talmud Babha Batra 21a. 48. Translation by M. Simon, Baba Bathra, London, 1976, ad loc., slightly modified. 49. Now that it seems likely that the Rabbi Judah ben Bava story drew inspiration from the Joshua ben Gamala tradition, perhaps the reference to “each district and each city” in the Joshua ben Gamala story inspired the reference to (“בכל מדינה ומדינה ובכל עיר ועיר”) .in the Rabbi Judah ben Bava tale (“עיירות”) cities 50. See also Genesis Raba 64 (Y. Theodor, H. Albeck (eds), Berlin, 1927, reprint: Jeru- salem, 1965, p. 710). 52 THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA out how a cruel decree was annulled or circumvented,51 how a city was exempted from a decree,52 how a violator avoided detection miraculously53 or was executed.54 In opening with the phrase shared by these other traditions, our story is clearly marked as a persecution story, one which ends in the hero’s noble death. Furthermore, by juxtaposing this opening phrase to the preface, our story synthesizes two literary models as it embeds a persecution story within an encomium about a person who saved Torah lore for posterity. In response to the Roman decree, Rabbi Judah ben Bava “went and sat between two large mountains,55 between two large cities, between two Sab- bath boundaries, between Usha and Shefaram, and there ordained five elders: Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Judah and Rabbi Simeon and Rabbi Jose and Rabbi Eleazar ben Shamua.” The notion that Rabbi Judah ben Bava carefully measured the distances from two cities, making sure not to implicate either one, is unusual. In fact, the only other instance in ancient Jewish literature where the distances to two or more cities are measured (so far as I know) is the ceremony of removing bloodguilt in the case of an unsolved murder, when elders and magistrates measure the distances between the corpse and the nearest cities before performing the ceremony.56 Strikingly, Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin discusses this very ceremony immediately following its discussion of ordination, just a few lines after the story about Rabbi Judah ben Bava.57 In light of the proximity of our story to the

51. See Babylonian Talmud Roš Ha-šana 18a, 19a (= Babylonian Talmud Ta῾anit 18a); Babylonian Talmud Ta῾anit 28a; Babylonian Talmud Me῾ila 17a. See also Megillat Ta‘anit, 15th of Av (V. Noam (ed.), Jerusalem, 2003, p. 82). 52. See Babylonian Talmud Šabat 130a. 53. See Babylonian Talmud Šabat 49a (= Babylonian Talmud Šabat 130a). Like our story, this tradition also discusses a case in which the violation of a decree is detected and the violator flees. 54. See Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 61b. 55. Shortly after the story of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death on Babylonian Talmud ῾Abhoda Zara 8b, another story appears in which Eleazar ben Dordaya “went and sat between (two) mountains and hills” (17a). The word “two” does not appear in the manuscripts here (see MS Munich 95, MS New York-JTS Rab. 15 and MS Paris 1337) but is found in the printed editions. Other than in these two stories, the phrase “went and sat between (two) mountains” appears nowhere else in rabbinic literature and since the phrase does not appear in the earlier sources underlying the Eleazar ben Dordaya story (see Siphre Numbers, M. I. Kahana (ed.), Jerusalem, 2015, p. 329-331; Babylonian Talmud Menaḥot 44a; Baby- lonian Talmud Yebhamot 78b; Midraš Tanḥuma, Wa’etḥanan 6 (S. Buber (ed.), Vilna, 1885, p. 11-12); see also E. Yassif, The Hebrew Folktale: History, Genre, Meaning, Bloomington, 1999, p. 123), it seems likely that the phrase (or, at the very least, the word “two”) migrated to his story from the nearby story about Rabbi Judah ben Bava. 56. See Deuteronomy 21:1-9. 57. See Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 14a. THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA 53 bloodguilt ceremony, it seems not unlikely that the law of the adjacent sugya, in which a ceremony is performed after the distances from nearby cities are measured, inspired the idea that Rabbi Judah ben Bava also measured the distances from nearby cities before performing a ceremony. In both cases, the measure of a city’s proximity to the performance of an illegal activity, whether murder or ordination, determines its responsibility for the violation of the law. The juxtaposition of Usha to Shefaram in the phrase “between Usha and Shefaram” appears only one more time in all rabbinic literature, in Babylo- nian Talmud Roš Hašana 31a-b: וכנגדן גלתה סנהדרין מגמרא: מלשכת הגזית לחנות ומחנות לירושלים ומירושלים ליבנה ומיבנה לאושא ומאושא ליבנה ומיבנה לאושא ומאושא לשפרעם ומשפרעם לבית שערים ומבית שערים לצפורי ומצפורי לטבריא. Correspondingly, the Sanhedrin wandered to ten places of banishment, as we know from tradition: from the Chamber of Hewn Stone to Hanut, and from Hanut to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem to Yavneh, and from Yavneh to Usha, and from Usha to Yavneh, and from Yavneh to Usha, and from Usha to Shefaram, and from Shefaram to Beth Shearim and from Beth Shearim to Sep- phoris and from Sepphoris to Tiberias.58

In sketching the supposed route of the Sanhedrin in its exile from Jerusa- lem, this tradition underscores the role of the Galilean cities Usha and She- faram in the wake of the Bar Kokhva revolt. According to this tradition, rabbinic leadership in the guise of the Sanhedrin moved to Usha and later on to Shefaram in the decades following the Bar Kokhva revolt and save for our story, no other rabbinic text juxtaposes Usha to Shefaram. In echoing the language of the Sanhedrin-in-exile tradition and prominently highlight- ing Usha and Shefaram, the talmudic narrative of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s death tells the story of the rabbinic recovery from the Bar Kokhva revolt.59 In other words, the talmudic narrative is a foundation legend for the rabbinic movement in Galilee of the second century CE, a legend which spells out how rabbinic leadership survived the catastrophic period of the Bar Kokhva revolt and its aftermath. Rabbinic leadership survived the war, according to

58. Translation by M. Simon, Rosh Hashanah, London, 1983, ad loc., slightly modified. 59. See Wewers, “Rabbi Jehuda Ben-Baba,” p. 83; P. Schäfer, Der Bar Kokhba- Aufstand: Studien zum zweiten jüdischen Krieg gegen Rom, Tübingen, 1981, p. 219-221; A. Oppenheimer, “Šiqum ha-yišubh ha-yehudi ba-galil” (Hebrew), in Z. Baras, S. Safrai, Y. Zafrir, M. Stern (eds), Eretz Israel from the Destruction of the Second Temple to the Muslim Conquest, vol. 1, Jerusalem, 1982, p. 75-92 (79); id., “Gedalyahu Alon,” p. 474; Shepkaru, Jewish Martyrs, p. 81, 85-88. 54 THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA the tale, because Rabbi Judah ben Bava heroically and selflessly ensured that the leading sages of the next generation were properly ordained. The list of disciples ordained in the talmudic tale was apparently drawn from a list of Rabbi Akiva’s seven disciples which already appears in Gen- esis Raba: שנים עשר אלף זוגות תלמידים היו לו לר' עקיבה מגבת ועד אנטיפטריס וכולהון מתו בפרק אחד. למה? שהיתה עיניהם צרה אילו באילו. ובסוף העמיד שבעה: ר' מאיר ור' יהודה ר' יוסי ור' שמעון ור' אלעזר בן שמוע ור' יוחנן הסנדלר ור' אל�י עזר בן יעקב, ואית דאמ' ר' יהודה ור' נחמיה ור' מאיר ור' יוסי ור' שמעון בן יוחי ור' חנניה בן חכינאי ור' יוחנן הסנדלר. Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of disciples from Gevat to Antipatris and all of them died at one time. Why? Because their eyes were narrow with each other. And in the end he raised seven (disciples): Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Judah, Rabbi Jose, and Rabbi Simeon and Rabbi Eleazar ben Shamua and Rabbi Yohanan the sandal-maker and Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob. And others say: Rabbi Judah and Rabbi Nehemiah and Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Jose and Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai and Rabbi Hananiah ben Hakhinai and Rabbi Yohanan the sandal-maker.60

All the ordained disciples listed in our story, Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Judah, Rabbi Simeon, Rabbi Jose and Rabbi Eleazar ben Shamua (as well as Rabbi Nehemiah, according to Rabbi Awia) are listed in Genesis Rabbah as disciples of Rabbi Akiva, the greatest rabbinic sage in the generation prior to the Bar Kokhva revolt. The talmudic tale apparently drew inspiration from such a list of Rabbi Akiva’s disciples and then reduced the number of disciples from seven to five.61 Viewing Rabbi Akiva’s disciples as the natural leaders of the rabbinic movement following the Bar Kokhva revolt, our story ima- gines that Rabbi Judah ben Bava officially ordained these five disciples. In short, the talmudic tale entwined a persecution story which culminates in a noble death with an encomium about a savior of Torah lore when invent- ing a foundation legend for the rabbinic movement after the Bar Kokhva revolt. On its surface, the story is a straightforward tale of ordination’s

60. Genesis Raba 61 (Theodor-Albeck (eds), p. 660). A similar list appears in Palestin- ian Talmud Ḥagiga 3, 1 78d and the context there implies that the listed sages were disciples of Rabbi Akiva: see A. Amit, “The Death of Rabbi Akiva’s Disciples: A Literary History,” JJS 56 (2005), p. 265-284 (280 n. 51). However, Rabbi Eleazar ben Shamua, who appears in both Genesis Raba and our story, is missing from the Palestinian Talmud’s tradition. See also Song of Songs Rabah 2:16 (S. Dunsky (ed.), Tel-Aviv, 1980, p. 60). 61. See Amit, “The Death,” p. 271. See also the Babylonian Talmud’s parallel to the Genesis Raba tradition (Babylonian Talmud Yebhamot 62b) which also reduces the number of Rabbi Akiva’s disciples to five. THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA 55 rescue during the upheavals surrounding the Bar Kokhva revolt. However, since, as the talmud itself notes, the legal ramifications of saving ordination – such as the preservation of the ability of rabbinic courts to enforce the laws of fines62 – were rather minor, the story was apparently also designed for a deeper, ideological purpose: the legitimation of rabbinic authority after the disastrous Bar Kokhva revolt. As an obvious manifestation of rabbinic continuity, ordination served as a clear way of linking rabbinic leadership after the Bar Kokhva revolt to rabbinic leadership prior to the revolt. In other words, the story was designed to convey the message that Rabbi Judah ben Bava established the rabbinic movement in Galilee after the Bar Kokhva revolt by ordaining the next generation of rabbinic sages. For both rabbis and their followers, the story revealed how the chain of ordained rabbinic sages was heroically safeguarded and preserved during the trying times of the Bar Kokhva revolt. After ordaining the disciples and encouraging them to flee, Rabbi Judah ben Bava is killed in a horrific manner: “It was said that the enemy did not stir from the spot until they had driven three hundred iron spear-heads into him, making him like a sieve.” In light of this description of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s death, consider the description of Josiah’s death in Palestinian Talmud Qidušin: "ונופל בחרב" )שמואל ב ג:כט( זה יאשיהו. דכת' "ויורו המורים למלך יאשיהו" )דברי הימים ב לה:כג(. ואמ' ר' יוחנן: מלמד שעשו גופו ככברה. תני ר' ישמעאל: שלש מאות חיצים יורו במשיח י"י. “Or one slain by the sword” (2 Samuel 3:29) – this refers to Josiah as it is written: “Archers shot King Josiah (and the king said to his servants: Get me away from here, for I am badly wounded)” (2 Chronicles 35:23). And Rabbi Yohanan said: This teaches that they made his body like a sieve. Rabbi Ishmael taught: They shot three hundred arrows into the anointed of God.63

According to 2 Chronicles, the good and faithful King Josiah died in bat- tle when the archers of King Necho of Egypt mortally wounded him. Elabo- rating upon the biblical reference to Josiah’s wounds, Rabbi Yohanan imag- ined that Josiah’s body was like a sieve and Rabbi Ishmael similarly thought that three hundred arrows had pierced his body. These two amplifications of the biblical description of Josiah’s violent end, which appear side by side in the Palestinian Talmud, were apparently merged in the Babylonian

62. Cf. Avi-Yonah, The Jews, p. 54-55. 63. Palestinian Talmud Qidušin 1, 7 61a. See also Lamentations Raba 1:53 (S. Buber (ed.), Vilna, 1899, p. 37); Babylonian Talmud Ta‘anit 22b; Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 48b. 56 THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA

Talmud’s description of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s death. Viewing Josiah as a worthy king unfortunately killed by foreign forces, our story conflated the juxtaposed portraits of his violent death in the Palestinian Talmud and applied them to Rabbi Judah ben Bava.64 By modeling Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s tragic end on that of Josiah, our story portrays Rabbi Judah ben Bava as a noble Jewish leader who was tragically killed because of his efforts to stymie an invading enemy force. Having identified literary sources which helped inspire the preface, the introduction, the carefully measured distance from cities, the reference to Usha and Shefaram, the list of ordained disciples and the description of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s wounds, it is time to consider the story’s central literary kernel: Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death. Although Rabbi Judah ben Bava dies a natural death in tannaitic literature, his noble death was not invented especially for our story since it is already attested in two earlier Palestinian traditions, one found in Lamentations Raba and the other in Song of Songs Raba (as well as the Babylonian Talmud). Lamentations Raba includes Rabbi Judah ben Bava in its list of ten martyrs, revealing that by sometime in amoraic Palestine Rabbi Judah ben Bava was already viewed as a martyr: ד"א "את כל נאות יעקב" )איכה ב, ב(, את כל אומרי ניאותיו של יעקב, כגון ר' ישמעאל )בן אלישע כהן גדול(, ור' שמעון )בן גמליאל(, ור' ישבב )הסופר(, ור' חוצפית )המתורגמן(, ור' חנינא בן תרדיון, ור' יהודה הנחתום, ור' יהודה בן בבא, ור' שמעון בן עזאי, ור' עקיבא, ור' טרפון, ואית דמפקי לר' טרפון ומעלי לר' אלעזר בן חרסום. “Another interpretations of “(The Lord has laid waste without pity), all the habitations of Jacob” (Lamentations 2:2): All those who sing the praises of Jacob, such as Rabbi Ishmael (ben Elisha the High Priest) and Rabbi Simeon (ben Gamaliel) and Rabbi Yeshevav (the scribe) and Rabbi Hutspit (the

64. Josiah’s death is described as follows in Midraš Tanḥuma, Mas῾ei 9 (S. Buber (ed.), And“ ,”ואמר רב יהודה אמר רב: נעצו בו שלש מאות לונכיאות של ברזל עד שנקבוהו ככברה“ :(p. 167 Rav Judah said in Rav’s name: they drove three hundred iron spear-heads into him until they pierced him like a sieve.” See also Midraš Tanḥuma, Mas῾ei 12 (Jerusalem, 1969, p. 98b). If this tradition predates our story, then our story most probably inherited the merged portrait of from it. However, it seems more likely that ”לונכיאות“ Josiah’s death as well as the loanword the Tanḥuma’s tradition postdates our story and drew these elements from our story since it enlists the very same attribution given to our story, the attribution to Rav Judah in the name of Rav. Since the attribution in the Rabbi Judah ben Bava story most probably stems from the Joshua ben Gamala tradition (as argued above), a second source for the attribution is superflu- ous and so the Tanḥuma probably drew it from our story (and then went on to omit all but the final line of the story). If this reconstruction is correct, then the Tanḥuma corroborates our sense that the description of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s violent death is indebted to the rabbinic description of Josiah’s death. THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA 57

interpreter) and Rabbi Hanina ben Teradyon and Rabbi Judah the baker and Rabbi Judah ben Bava and Rabbi Simeon ben Azzai and Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon. And some exclude Rabbi Tarfon and include Rabbi Eleazar ben Harsum.65

This list, however, sheds no further light on the origins of the idea that Rabbi Judah ben Bava was killed; it nowhere indicates why anyone would have thought to include Rabbi Judah ben Bava in a list of rabbinic martyrs. In contrast, a clue to the origins of the tradition that Rabbi Judah ben Bava died at the hands of the Romans lies hidden in the second Palestinian tradition, an amoraic tradition which appears in Song of Songs Raba and, with slight variations, in the Babylonian Talmud as well: ואף על יהודה בן בבא התקינו שיהו אומרין עליו: הא ענו, הא חסיד, תלמידו של שמואל, אלא שנטרפה לו השעה, שאין מספידין הרוגי מלכות. And also regarding Rabbi Judah ben Bava they enacted that it should be said about him: Woe! The humble man! Woe! The pious man! A disciple of Sam- uel the Little. But the times did not permit it, for one does not eulogize those martyred by the government.66

According to this tradition, the sages wished to eulogize Rabbi Judah ben Bava with the lament – “Woe! The humble man! Woe! The pious man! “נטרפה A disciple of Samuel the Little” – but were unable to do so because the times did not permit it.” The phrase – “the times did not“ ,לו השעה” permit it” – does not reveal the nature of the circumstances which precluded lamentation and so the tradition adds an explanation: “for one does not eulogize those martyred by the government.” In other words, this amoraic tradition claims that since Rabbi Judah ben Bava had died a martyr’s death at the hands of the Romans, eulogizing him risked invoking Roman wrath. In both Songs of Songs Raba as well as the Babylonian Talmud, the Rabbi Judah ben Bava eulogy tradition includes the two phrases: “the times did

65. Lamentations Raba 4:2 (S. Buber (ed.), p. 100). See also Lamentations Raba 4:4 (in Midraš Raba, Vilna, 1887, p. 41); Midraš Psalms 9:13 (S. Buber (ed.), Vilna, 1891, p. 88-89). However, since some of the martyrs in this list, such as Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Hutspit, are not portrayed as martyrs elsewhere in Palestinian literature, it is possible that this passage was dependent on late martyrdom traditions first attested in the Babylonian Talmud. On the presence of late traditions in Lamentations Raba, see G. Stemberger, Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash, Edinburgh, 1996, p. 286. In other words, it is possible that this tradition does not predate our story. 66. Song of Songs Raba 8:11 (S. Dunsky (ed.), p. 174-175). See also Babylonian Talmud Soṭa 48b; Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 11a; Baraitot me-ebhel rabati 4:3 (in Treatise Semaḥot, M. Higger (ed.), New York, 1931, p. 244). 58 THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA

for one does not eulogize“ ,“שאין מספידין הרוגי מלכות” not permit it” and those martyred by the government.” However, the earlier editions of the eulogy tradition in both the Tosefta and the Palestinian Talmud lack the latter phrase: אף ר' על ר' יהודה בן בבא התקינו שיהו אומ' עליו: הא עניו, הא חסיד, תלמידו של שמואל הקטן, אלא שנטרפה שעה. And also regarding Rabbi Judah ben Bava they enacted that it should be said about him: Woe! The humble man! Woe! The pious man! A disciple of Sam- uel the Little. But the times did not permit it.67

The appearance of the phrase “for one does not eulogize those martyred by the government” only in later works suggests that it is an explanatory gloss from amoraic times. Moreover, the object of the gloss, “the times did not permit it,” also appears elsewhere in rabbinic literature but never relates to martyrdom as per the gloss.68 Since the amoraic gloss lacks a linguistic or philological foundation, its claim that “the times did not permit it” refers to Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s violent end is difficult.69 If the martyrdom gloss did not arise from a linguistic or philological analysis, what prompted its invention? Why elect to interpret “the times did not permit it” as a reference to Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s martyrdom and not to some other difficulty which might have precluded the eulogy? I would like to suggest that the gloss was inspired by the literary context immediately prior to the eulogy tradition: שוב פעם אחת היו יושבין ביבנה ושמעו בת קול אומרת: יש כאן אדם שראוי לרוח הקודש אלא שאין הדור זכיי, ונתנו עיניהם בשמואל הקטן. בשעת מיתתו מה היו או'? הא עניו הא חסיד תלמידו של הלל הזקן. אף הוא אומ' בשעת מיתתו: שמעון וישמעאל לקטלא, ושאר חברוהי לחרבא, ושאר עמא לביזה, ועקן רברבן יהויין לאחר דנא. בלשון ארמי אמרן. אף ר' על ר' יהודה בן בבא התקינו שיהו אומ' עליו: הא עניו הא חסיד תלמידו של שמואל הקטן אלא שנטרפה שעה. Once again they were sitting in Yavneh and they heard a heavenly voice say: There is a man worthy of the Holy Spirit but his generation does not merit it. They directed their eyes towards Samuel the Little. In the hour of his death, what did they say? Woe! The humble man! Woe! The pious man! A disciple

67. Tosefta Soṭa 13:4. See also Palestinian Talmud Soṭa 9:14 24b. 68. See, for example, Tosefta Yebhamot 1, 9; Palestinian Talmud Demai 5, 9 24d; Pales- tinian Talmud ῾Erubhin 5, 1 22b; Palestinian Talmud Yebhamot 1, 6 3a, 3, 1 4c; Palestinian Talmud Giṭin 7, 1 48c; Babylonian Talmud Yebhamot 15a, 27a. 69. See G. Alon, Jews, Judaism in the Classical World: Studies in Jewish History in the Times of the Second Temple and Talmud, Jerusalem, 1977, p. 403 n. 83; Boustan, From Martyr to Mystic, p. 73-74. THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA 59

of Hillel the Elder. He also said in the hour of his death: Simeon and Ishmael will be killed and the rest of their colleagues will die by the sword and the rest of the people will be plundered and after this there will be many disasters. He said these things in Aramaic. Also regarding Rabbi Judah ben Bava they enacted that it should be said about him: Woe! The humble man! Woe! The pious man! A disciple of Samuel the Little. But the times did not permit it.70

The Rabbi Judah ben Bava eulogy tradition, in the Tosefta, the Palestin- ian Talmud, Song of Songs Raba and the Babylonian Talmud, comes on the heels of Samuel the Little’s prediction that “Simeon and Ishmael will be killed and the rest of their colleagues will die by the sword.” The explicit reference to martyrdom, to the violent deaths of “Simeon,” “Ishmael” and “their colleagues,” just before the eulogy tradition apparently inspired an amoraic glossator to interpret the eulogy tradition through the prism of martyrdom. In the spirit of the local literary context, the glossator read the phrase “the times did not permit it” as a thinly veiled reference to Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s violent death. Apparently ignoring the tannaitic tradition of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s natural death, the glossator invented Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death and the literary kernel of our talmudic tale.71 A final question we might ask about the formation of our talmudic tale is what inspired the idea of connecting Rabbi Judah ben Bava to ordination. In other words, why make Rabbi Judah ben Bava the hero of a story about ordination? In light of the talmudic notion that ordination is required for halakhic “instruction,” i.e. halakhic ruling,72 perhaps the following tannaitic tradition from the Tosefta triggered the association between Rabbi Judah ben Bava and ordination: אמ' ר' יהודה בן בבא: אני אחד מן הראויין להורות… Rabbi Judah ben Bava said: I am one of those fit to instruct.73

In other words, perhaps the emphasis placed here on Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s fitness to “instruct,” i.e. to render halakhic rulings, inspired the creation of his literary role as one who ordained others for “instruction.”

70. Tosefta Soṭa 13:4 according to MS Vienna with some minor corrections. 71. Cf. S. Lieberman, Tosefta Ki-fshuṭa: Nashim (Hebrew), New York, 1973, p. 738. 72. See, for example, Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 5a-b. 73. Tosefta Teruma 5:10 according to MS Vienna. 60 THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA

Conclusion

By way of concluding, let us trace the evolution of the traditions surrounding Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s death as set out above. The earliest extant traditions about Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s death appear in the Tosefta. Tosefta Babha Qama suggests that Rabbi Judah died a natural death after falling sick and also reports that he proclaimed on his deathbed, as his colleagues did after his passing, that his only sin had been to transgress the words of his colleagues by raising small cattle. Tosefta Soṭa states that upon Rabbi Judah’s death, the sages wished to eulogize him as humble and pious, “but the times did not permit it.” In short, the tannaitic traditions assign Rabbi Judah ben Bava a natural death and note how, upon his death, his rabbinic colleagues fondly remembered his piety and humility. In referring to Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s natural death and offering no whiff of his violent end, tannaitic literature intimates that Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death had not yet been invented. In amoraic Palestine, the eulogy tradition of Tosefta Soṭa was transformed when a glossator suggested, in light of the local literary context, that the times did not permit eulogizing Rabbi Judah ben Bava because he had been killed by the Roman authorities. This gloss signals the invention of the notion that that Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s died a noble and violent death. In the wake of the gloss, Lamentations Raba included Rabbi Judah ben Bava in its list of ten martyred sages and the Babylonian Talmud constructed a narrative of his noble death. In the talmudic tale, Rabbi Judah ben Bava safeguards rabbinic ordination in a time of persecution, ordaining five of Rabbi Akiva’s students so as to ensure the survival of the rabbinic movement in Galilee after the Bar Kokhva revolt. He is a righteous leader, like King Josiah, viciously cut down because of his opposition to a foreign occupation. Linked to instruction/ordination already in tannaitic times, Rabbi Judah ben Bava was the ideal hero for a rabbinic story about the fate of ordination in the mid-second century CE, he was the perfect candidate for a story about the continuity of rabbinic leadership in the turbulent times surrounding the Bar Kokhva revolt. Although this talmudic tale of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s noble death contra- dicts the tannaitic tradition of his natural death, the contradiction was averted in the Babylonian Talmud because it transformed the hero of the tannaitic tradition into an anonymous figure. On the heels of Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s inclusion in Lamentations Raba’s list of martyrs, The Story of the Ten Martyrs developed an account of his martyrdom that bears no imprint of the talmudic tale of Rabbi Judah’s THE THREE DEATHS OF RABBI JUDAH BEN BAVA 61 demise. This late story weaves together a host of earlier literary elements and motifs linked to martyrdom such as an official execution,74 the fulfil- ment of a final precept,75 justification of the divine judgment,76 dialogue with the king,77 dialogue with disciples,78 expiration while enunciating a liturgical text,79 declaration of a divine voice,80 dogs feeding on the martyr’s body81 and lack of a eulogy. In short, this is a full blown martyrdom narrative which seeks to portray Rabbi Judah ben Bava’s death with a host of literary accoutrements from the martyrdom tradition. In comparison, the talmudic tale is less a martyrdom narrative and more a foundation legend for the post-Bar Kokhva rabbinic movement.

Amram Tropper [email protected]

74. See M. D. Herr and S. G. Wald, “Judah Ben Bava,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition, vol. 11, Detroit, 2007, p. 484-485 (485). 75. See, for example, Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 61a. 76. See, for example, Siphra, Emor 8, 9 (I. H. Weiss (ed.), Vienna, 1862, p. 99b). 77. This literary element is first attested in 2 Maccabees 7. 78. See, for example, Babylonian Talmud ῾Abhoda Zara 18b; Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 61a. 79. See, for example, Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 61a. See also Tropper, Like Clay, p. 130-131. 80. See, for example, sources in n. 78. 81. See, for example, Palestinian Talmud Ḥagiga 2, 1 77b.