The RABBIS post revolts LITERATURE CONVENTIONAL VIEW 19th century Political and Religious authority transferred from Priests to Rabbis 11 29 12 Post 70 CE o Run courts o Taxation o Settlements Rabbis understood to be transmitters of tradition going back centuries bearers rather than creators of Jewish authoritarianism Rabbis implement traditional Judaism Rabbis taken from all over country Rabbis become sort of elite Authority of Rabbi based on piety and scholarship open to anyone who is up to challenge democratizing VS Authority of Priest based purely on lineage Rabbis understood to exercise control over Jewish population through well established institutions Rabbis take on 3 jobs o Teachers system of academies central academy smaller off shoots o Judges system of courts 3 man beit din 21 man court 71 man Sanhedrin o Synagogue leaders system of synagogues prayers sermons ritual regulation Establishment of Patriarch Nasi o Political office AND chief Rabbi o Presides over academy o Influential role in court o Tax collectors internally o Claim to Davidic dynasty PROBLEMS Where does this conventional view originate What do we know about the Rabbis What is the source for this view o Writings exist thousands of pages by these rabbis themselves Compared to evidence of Sadducees and Pharisees there is a plethora of info o Talmud Does not seem to be written as record of historical events Bible Edited and compiled hundreds of years after the time of the people it talks about Edited and compiled in completely different part of the world talks about Rabbis in 2nd century Judaea stories edited and compiled in Mesopotamia EG Yochanan ben Zakkai lives in Jerusalem during Roman siege YBZ gets smuggled out with permission of Titus and granted permission to build new Rabbinic city in Yavneh Josephus story about himself and Vespasian Credibility of the story Usage of story not history but literature Rabbinic sources contradict the conventional view in many ways explicitly o Strong resentment in Talmud bc Rabbis are not being treated properly Rabbis come off as bitter within the text bc they are not given enough power NEW CONCENSUS in terms of reality the rabbis were much smaller more peripheral less powerful group than previously imagined But if that s the case how many people were actually listening to these rabbis who produced thousands upon thousands of pages of work It s hard to imagine that the rabbis were marginalized considering their great works Questions become theoretical they were interested in the law but more theoretically rather than practically So what s going on in Judaea at 135 CE specifically the Rabbis o EG o Political power legal authority is concentrated in hands of Romans not Jews or Judges in courts practice law with Roman law mixed with local customs People in society practice largely Roman lifestyle mixed with Jewish style o Judaea looks like a typical Roman province nothing points to the city being run by Rabbis bc they could not have been running it Judaism is just one part of a city that is largely Greco Roman in lifestyle and culture As a Driven Leaf rabbis are not running the city o Rabbis develop identity that is almost a rejection of in opposition to the Greco Roman effect dedicated to adherence to the Torah No political or legal authority Teachers with small following Holy men regarded as treated as men with special charisma Issue rulings on spiritual matters no criminal cases or business transactions marriage and divorce but tithing purity piety and religious observance o Rabbinic movement is not as organized as perceived As a Driven Leaf not regimented structural system of hierarchy institutionally grounded informal and diffused movement no evidence of grandeur of Sanhedrin Disciple Circles teacher with a few disciples sitting around him informal o Rabbinic Material portrays rabbis as being powerful but also discusses its lack thereof Archives of Jews discovered in Judaea containing legal documents Self contradictory Babatha Archive revolt o Babatha female lived in Southern Judaea around time of BK o Seems vaguely familiar to Jewish law but no evidence of rabbis controlling situation o Synagogues Many from this period Building structure inscriptions which identify it as a synagogue texts and passages from prayers Synagogues are designed in ways the Rabbis do not approve of etc well funded organized dominated landscape but not officially aligned with the rabbis When do Rabbis start to begin more power o 3rd Century o Patriarchal Office gains importance and begins to support rabbis As a Driven Leaf not head of rabbinic institution Jewish position but not necessarily identified with rabbis representative of local Roman authority o Earliest big work Mishnah 200 edited by Patriarch Yehuda HaNasi collection of o Employment of rabbis increases around this time slowly but surely not instantly code of law Theodosian Code 398 CE Formally recognizes Rabbis as having power Lists specific area where this authority is allowed still limited o Dietary laws o Prayer issues Everything else is left in hands of Imperial Court o Marriage and divorce What s up with Christianity o Justice o Christianity is dominant religion in Roman Empire o Rabbis status increases in 2nd and 3rd century peaks at 4th and 5th Jews are able to accept the Greco Roman lifestyle of society and courts in the first centuries but when the later centuries come around and Christianity starts to infiltrate society and the courts the Rabbis are not able to accept this and begin to separate from this lifestyle even more What s up with the Torah o Text of Scripture Written Torah o Proper understanding interpretation of text Oral Torah Subdivisions Halacha law Aggadah homiletic material stories anecdotes pieces of Biblical interpretation anything that is not strictly legal EG Sabbath is described numerous times in WT Exodus Numbers etc but the details of Sabbath observance are considerably expanded upon in OT o Relationship between two Rabbis goes back to the beginning of time OT is grounded in G d s Revelation of WT this is not an innovation Mishnah format of On the issue of X the ruling is Y presents ruling in form of opinions of and arguments among rabbis 200 CE compiled in both Judaea and Babylonia Persia Gemara series of discussions of text of Gemara touches upon inconclusiveness of Mishnah text 500 CE compiled in both Judaea and Babylonia Persia Talmud Mishnah Gemara Bavli and Yerushalmi Ben Sorer U moreh