Eisenberg - Essential Figures in the Talmud

Preface

Searching for information about Talmudic figures can be a difficult task. In my own studies, I have found that the available sources provide either brief identification of the more than 2,000 Rabbis mentioned in the text or detailed descriptions of a small number of individuals. In response to what I perceived as a gap in existing reference works, I decided to develop Essential Figures in the Talmud to present manageable amounts of information about the more than 250 Rabbis that I found to be most important to an understanding of the text. The goal was to make the book sufficiently comprehensive, yet efficient and accessible. Written in a narrative style and taking material from the vast expanse of the Talmud and Midrash, each entry contains biographical information with illustrative quotations from the Talmud and cross-references to other entries in the book.

In addition to interpretations of the biblical commandments and legal issues, the Talmudic rabbis were deeply involved in all aspects of life, from scientific speculations in medicine, astronomy, and biology, to moral and ethical teachings, folklore and legends, and profound observations on all phases of human experience. Since these elements of the Talmud could be of interest to anyone who wants to learn more about Jewish life and history, I wanted to make sure that my discussion of them was accessible to everyone, not just the rabbinic scholar. Consequently, I have added material in parentheses to improve the flow in English of the often terse Talmudic writing, also inserting additional explanations to clarify the text.

Besides an introduction to the various components of the Talmud, several appendices are included to aid the reader. One table provides a timeline of the individuals in the book, which extends from the fourth century B.C.E. to the sixth century C.E. There is also a list of the abbreviations of the biblical and rabbinic works cited in the text, as well as a glossary of terms that includes a brief synopsis of the tractates of the Mishnah and other rabbinic writings. Two maps illustrate the geographic locations of the major Talmudic academies in Babylonia and the Land of Israel.

The individuals described in the book developed the rabbinic Judaism that persists to the current day. Therefore, Essential Figures in the Talmud is designed to appeal not only to a broad Jewish audience, but also to educated general readers of diverse cultural backgrounds who want to learn more about the development of traditional Jewish thought during its formative period.

Acknowledgments

In preparing the English translations from the Bible and rabbinic literature, I consulted several superb references I would like to acknowledge. These include the Jewish Publication Society Tanach, the CD-version of the Soncino edition of the Babylonian Talmud (Davka), and the Schottenstein editions of the Babylonian Talmud and Jerusalem Talmud (Mesorah).

I also want to express special thanks to my wife, Zina Schiff, for her continual encouragement and constant enthusiasm in reading and thoughtfully editing my writing, which were so vital to the publication of this book.

Introduction

The destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 C.E. ended the sacrificial system and convinced the Rabbis that the survival of the Jewish people depended on an intensified dedication to Torah. In addition to the Five Books of Moses, the Written Law, this required a focus on the Oral Law, the body of rabbinic discussions, expositions, and commentaries on the Torah that deals with all aspects of existence from the most trivial to the sublime. Consisting of two major divisions halachah (legal) and aggadah (nonlegal)the Oral Law was traditionally considered part of the Revelation given to Moses and subsequently transmitted faithfully by the leaders of each generation to their successors.

In about 220, Judah ha-Nasi (Judah the Prince) wrote the Mishnah, the earliest rabbinic book, which contained a summary of the large number of legal opinions of the tannaim (literally, repeaters who acted as living books) that had developed over the centuries in the academies of learning, primarily in the Land of Israel. This book describes those Rabbis living in the Land of Israel, then and later, as Palestinian. This reflects the term that was applied to the country during the rabbinic period by the Romans, who refused to use the Jewish word Judah (or even the Roman adaptation Judea) for the land.

The Mishnah is divided into six sections, known as sedarim (orders): Zeraim (seeds), dealing with the laws of agriculture; Moed (appointed seasons), dealing with the laws of the Sabbath and holidays; Nashim (women), dealing with the laws of marriage and divorce; Nezikin (damages), dealing with civil and criminal law; Kodashim (holy things), dealing with ritual slaughter, the dietary laws, and sacrifices; and Tohorot (purities), dealing with various aspects of ritual purity. Each order is divided into massechot (tractates), which are generally arranged according to their length. The first order, though primarily dealing with agricultural tithes, first fruits, and similar topics, opens with tractate Berachot (Blessings), presumably because this seemed to be the most appropriate way to begin this compendium of the Divine will (Holtz, 132). Written in Hebrew, the Mishnah records disagreements among the various sages and schools and frequently does not conclusively determine the halachah , yet it provides a uniformly recognized basis for the subsequent deliberations of centuries of scholars and commentators.

The Tosefta (supplement) is a collection of baraitot , which are legal, historic, or aggadic traditions that were not included in the Mishnah of Judah ha-Nasi. From an Aramaic word meaning outside, the baraitot are attributed to rabbinic teachers who lived in the Land of Israel at or before the time of the Mishnah. The Tosefta is arranged according to the order of the Mishnah, but is about four times larger.

The Gemara (Aramaic for study) refers to the extensive legal and ethical discussions and interpretations on the Mishnah in the great academies of learning that were compiled over several centuries by the amoraim (those who discuss). The combination of the Mishnah and Gemara constitutes the Talmud. In general use, the term Talmud refers to the Babylonian Talmud, though there is also a much smaller Jerusalem Talmud, which actually was compiled in the Galilee. The Babylonian Talmud, a monumental work of almost 6,000 folio pages, is the authoritative text of rabbinic Judaism.