Oral Law: Beit She'arim/ Kibbutz Heftzibah
Let's do some review: the last few days we've begun to focus on oral law and tradition, תושבייע (toshba), to see how Judaism continued and adapted in a civilization post second temple. At this point, Jews made up the minority of Israel and Christians and Romans made up the majority. We started our tiyul at בית שערים (Beit She'arim), where we found many burial tombs of famous rabbis.
What did we find at these tombs? Funny you should ask, these tombs were huge, and the bodies were buried in coffins, unlike those we've seen before. Even more fascinating, these coffins had pictures of animals and various symbols carved on the outside of the sarcophagus.
So how do we know these tombs are Jewish tombs? In the very back we found the large sculpture of a Menorah symbolizing Jewish tradition. We focused the majority of today's lesson on famous rabbis whom impacted oral law. Rabbis הילל (Hillel) and שמאי (Shamai) lived and taught Torah around 30 BCE- 10CE. Their values of educating and teaching Torah differed greatly; Hillel believed that everyone deserves to learn whereas Shamai only feels that those whom are wealthy and wise deserve to be taught.
The next hot shot Rabbi was our good pal רבייז (Rebaz) who lived around the destruction of the second temple and it was his guidance that allowed the Jewish people to live on, he moved the Sanhedrin to Yavneh because after the בר כוכבה (Bar Kokhba) revolt, Roman rule was hard on Judaism, and it needed to be preserved.
רבן גמליאל (Rabban Gamleil), 80 CE- 120 CE changed how Jews practice completely by eliminating the sacrifices and adding the עמידה (Amidah) to create what we know today as T'fillah.
We get to רבן עקיבא (Rabban Akeva) who, in 135 BCE, moves the Sanhedrin from Yavneh to Usha, Shafar'im, Beit She'arim, Tzipori, and finally Tiberias. It was critical for the Sanhedrin to keep moving, because it was made illegal by Roman rule to practice, but the Sanhedrin did what they had to do and stay hidden so Jews could live on. Rabbi Akeva refused to write down the laws, but he does make order, סדר, of the times by implementing the
6 orders of משנה (Mishna):
-נשים (Nishim) Women
-זרעים (Zraim) Seeds
-קודשים (Kodeshim) Holy Things
-נזיקין (Nezikim) Damages
-מועד (Mo'ed) Festivities
-טהורות (Tehorot) Purity
We finally get to רבי יהודה הנשיא, or רבי, Rabee, for short. This guy went against tradition and wrote down the oral law. WHAT?!?! I know, I was thinking the same thing. He felt that because times in 200 BCE wasn't all that bad, and living in the wealthy north, meant that it was a good opportunity to write down oral laws, so that the mass murder of the תנאים (tena'im) would never happen again. So, he writes the משנה (Mishna) to put all of the oral laws from Akeva and the privious Rabbi's oral laws in order. What else does he do? רבי also takes Sanhedrin out of hiding. His famous quote: אם אין קמח אין מורה, translates to 'If there is no flour, there is no Torah' stressing the importance of learning and teaching Torah, but also oral laws.
Our next site was קיבוץ הפציבה (Kibbutz Heftzibah) where we saw an ancient set of, you guessed it ROCKS, but what was inside the rocks was actually pretty fascinating. It was an old mosaic built for an ancient synogoge בית כנסת (Beit Kinesset).
As we learned from Arielle, the mosaic represented the past, present, and future of the Jewish people. The first section represented the binding of Isaac, the past. The next section represented the present, which was the image of a zodiac chart, which is in no means Jewish, but at the time, the Jewish people had to cope with civilization with other cultures and religions. And the last section showed all the important symbols of Jewish traditions like the Menorah, the Lulav, and the Beit Kinesset. She went on to say that the mosaic represented the Amidah, which we learned is a prayer that yearns for the return to Jerusalem. We then went outside to read from our source books to learn how Jews had to avoid עבודה זרה (Avodah Zara) in the modern world (200 BCE):
1)Around חג (Festivals) don't trade or make deals.
2)Construction- how to build
Geography- Where one can and can't go.
3)Images- it's okay to have pictures, they are art, but only certain things can or can't be on them.
That was a mouthful, I apologize, but we did learn a lot of valuable information today, so what better way to end it than a nice relaxing dip in the natural springs at גן השלושה (Gan Hashlosha) We had our feet eaten by fish, some synchronized swimming practice, and it was a great way to end the day.
So, after today, we know when oral law was written down, and we know how Judaism little by little changed to be what we are familiar with now. Each Rabbi made some sort of a contribution to the time period and to Judaism that affects us today. Which action taken, or contribution made by one of the rabbis that we learned about the last few days, was the most controversial, and which is the most prevalent in today's Judaism?
I think that Rabbi Hillel's contribution was the most controversial of the time, and also the most prevalent in todays society. Hillel believed in more lenient halacha and universal education and I think that is very admirable for a time that may not have been so open to things of the sort. I think things like his golden rule are still very present in our lives as Jews, seeing that we use the term a lot and we value welcoming a stranger, and treating neighbors as ourselves so heavily.
ReplyDeleteBoth the most controversial and most prevalent action was that of Rabee. He wrote down the ORAL law, something that was illegal to write down. However, he did it in a way so that people could still interpret it in different ways and have their own opinions. It also created a fail-safe so that out tradition would be passed on no matter what. We still refer to some of this written oral law today, but clearly it was not as accepted when first done.
ReplyDeleteI think the most controversial contribution was that of Rabee. He wrote down oral law which had previously been prohibited, making it available to everyone. I think the most prevalent contribution today is that of Hillel. His schools taught many and his ideas are still respected and admired.
ReplyDeleteat the time i would think that Rabbi Hillel was the most controversial and had a very large impact on Jewish life. Hillel believes that anyone and everyone regardless of social and economic status. He had the original golden rule and that too still exsists today.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Rabbi Hillel had the most controversial, but Rabee had the most prevalent since he wrote down oral law. That was not allowed at all, but he did it because the times were so good. Hillel was lenient and said everyone could learn, but some didn't agree with him.
ReplyDeleteAt the time, Rabbi Hillel's actions were, I think, more controversial. He definitely had the more progressive ideas, and some of his ideas about studying torah I might even call revolutionary. However, he got his respect out of his devotion to torah, and from his ideas that helped many to truly connect with torah. Hill's teachings are also those more prevalent in today's judaism. There is no distinction of wealth as to who can study torah, and it is accessible to everyone, like Hillel wanted.
ReplyDeleteI think that Rabee had both the most controversial and influential action when he decided to write down the Oral Law. For the controversial side of things, the action of writing it down went totally against the concept of the Oral Law and the traditions of the centuries before. This decision was extremely influential for the Jewish people however, as it allowed Judaism to exist through the ages. It might not be a main focus of ours in everyday Jewish life, but I think that it is most influential because it was and is so critical to the existence of Judaism in its modern form or even at all.
ReplyDeleteAll though the writing down of the oral law had its great share of controversy, I feel that Hillel's contributions have made a bigger impact on Judaism today. Today, all Jews are granted access to Jewish education, if they wish to have it. That was what Hillel pushed for, every Jew being able to learn about their identity and strengthen ties with their faith.
ReplyDeleteI think that Rabbi Hillel's contribution was the most controversial because he had very new ideas that were never taught before. And I think Rabbi Hillel is the most prevalent in todays Judaism because he wanted everyone to learn, study and read Torah no matter what their circumstances were and today that is still a very important part of Judaism.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Rabbi Hillel has the most impact on today's time. This is because we believe that everyone should be able to learn Torah, not just the wealthy. However, this was very controversial idea during his time. But because Hillel saw past the money, it allowed the culture and religion to be more widely spread.
ReplyDeleteRabbi Hillel made the most controversial contribution because he wanted to teach Torah to everyone, regardless of their social status. This was not done often at the time and many people disagreed with it. Without Rabbi Hillel, Judaism would not have been studied as much today and there would be fewer Jews in the world.
ReplyDeleteOral law is just that, oral. When Rabee decided to write it down I am sure that there was a lot of consideration and thought went into it. Changing something as fundamental as oral law on such a basic level is an obvious cause for controversy. This decision allows us to glimpse into the past and see the oral traditions of the time. Having this written down is a very useful tool for modern jews.
ReplyDelete