a nation in flux #3

The 3rd century

The Mishna

• The basic framework of Jewish Law
• 6 Orders of the Oral Law
• Which opinions did he include? He picked the mainstream approaches
• Elucidated by Rav Chiya and Rav Oshiya in the Tosephta

Other Teachings

• Texts that Rebbe omitted are called Braita - lit. outside
• Tosephta - ellucidaiton

220-230CE in israel

• Rebbe is succeeded by his son, Rabban Gamliel III
• Tumultuous leadership in Rome, local rulers take charge
• Rabbi Yehuda Nesiya takes over, but there is a serious famine
• Roman legions ravaged villages every Yom Tov

The Rise of Babylon

• Rebbe believed that the center of Torah should always be in Israel
• R' Chiyyah disagreed - Bavel was more hospitable and a better environment for Judaism to flourish
• Poverty was common, but outside influences were limited
• 228 CE - Rabbi Yehuda Nesiyah is the last unanimous leader

Babylonian leadership

• The Reish Galuta - The Exilarch
• Descended from Davidic Lineage
• Reish Galuta was sometimes a scholar, sometimes not
• Wielded immense authority and ruled with automony

Rav - Abba Arichta

• Student of Rebbe, Nephew of Rabbi Chiyyah - A Babylonian who settled in Israel
• Author of Medrash Halacha - Mechilta, Sifra, Sifrei, Toras Kohanim - Connecting the Written and Oral Torah
• Formalized prayer services
• Resettled in Bavel in his 60's

Shmuel

• Vice Rosh Yeshiva of Neharda'a
• Physician - Insistent on bathing and hygiene to prevent disease
• Astronomer: "The pathways of the heavens are as familiar as the streets of Neharda'a."
• Composed a calendar and calculated the Solar year, within seconds of NASA

Rav in bavel

• Took a position as the "Turgeman" of Rav Shayla - fired for adding his own ideas
• Mar Ukva became the Reish Galuta
• Is given the opportunity to open a new school in Sura - which lasts for 800 years - Instituted the Yarchei Kala
• Instituted the Yarchei Kala
• He is quoted in the Talmud by 167 different students

Rav and Shmuel

• Hundreds of disputes - later summarized by: We follow Rav in religious matters, and Shmuel in legal matters
• Shmuel institutionalized דינא דמלכותא דינא - The Law of the Land is Law

A model for the exile

• Stability interrupted by brutal persecution
• 216 CE Roman conquest of Bavel - lasts until late 220's
• Civil War between Partians is won by fanatical Zoroastrians who instituted a unified religion
• Lighting Channuka Candles indoors

240's

• 241CE: The fire worshippers are replaced by Shvor Malka
• 259CE: Neharda'a is destroyed in war after 700 years of Jewish Settlement since the first Temple.
• A new Yeshiva opens in Pumpedisa, lead by Rav Yehuda

Meanwhile in Israel

• Rabbi Yochanan assumes the spiritual inheritance of Rebbe (d. 288)
• Stability is achieved in northern Israel, but Torah leadership is firmly decentralized.