|
Architects for Jewish Living: A Series Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai: From Out of the Coffin The last century before the Common Era, and the first century of this Era were perhaps the bleakest in Jewish History. Palestine, during most of this period, was under the domination of the Caesars, though it continued to be a sovereign state until it was conquered by the Roman legions. The Jewish people who resided in Palestine were hopelessly divided into parties and factions. The Zealots, the Pharisees, and the Saducees fought bitterly among themselves. Many who were disillusioned and disappointed joined the Essenes, a sect that sought escape from reality by living as hermits in the wilds of the desert or in flights of their imagination. A wide esoteric literature was developed. Messianic movements were rampant. From this crucible emerged the man who was to be called the "Savior" by those who follow the Christian faith. The Romans violated the sensitivities of the Jewish people when they desecrated the Temple grounds by setting the Roman Eagle over its gate. The Zealots raised the banner of revolt. A decentralized command and frequent defections of influential people to the Romans caused the Jews to lose ground rapidly. They made their last stand within the walled city of Jerusalem. The armed might of Rome, under the command of their ablest general, Vespasian, who later was to become Emperor, invaded the Holy City, and loosed its battering rams against its walls. In the besieged city, people died of the plague and starvation. Services in the Temple were completely disrupted. The Zealots were determined to continue to the bitter end. Others, more rational, aware of the hopelessness of the situation, were of the opinion that they should sue for peace and surrender to the Romans. Fighting broke out between the two factions, and the situation deteriorated even further. However, the Zealots were in control of military operations, and no one was allowed to enter the city; only the dead were permitted to leave. One day, a coffin bearing the body of a man was carried through the gates of Jerusalem on the shoulders of weeping men. Once beyond the city, their countenance changed, and they turned from the road to the cemetery to the one leading to the Roman camp. From this coffin stepped Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. Legend tells us that Vespasian was impressed by this old man, who told him that he was soon to become the emperor of Rome. In return, the general offered him a favor. Rabbi Yochanan did not ask for the sovereignty of the state nor did he request that Jerusalem be spared. He did not plead for the safety of the Holy Sanctuary, the Temple. He merely asked for Yavneh, a little town not far from Jerusalem, and her wise men. A request so simple was readily granted. Vespasian shortly afterward was recalled to Rome to become the Emperor. His son Titus took over the command of the Roman legions. The walls of Jerusalem, after months of siege, were finally breached by Titus in the year 70 of the Common Era. By accident or intent, the Holy Temple was sent up in flames on the 9th day of Av -- Tisha B'Av. Titus, his mission accomplished, returned to Rome to march in triumph under the special arch erected for him, bearing the inscription: "JUDAECUS MORTUS EST" -- "THE JEW IS DEAD." But out of a coffin and into the camp of his father, there had stepped the man who would make Judaism live. Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai was one of the younger pupils of Hillel. At the time of the destruction of the Temple, however, he was already an old man. He had been a member of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, and one of his first acts after the destruction was to reconstitute the governing body in Yavneh. He claimed for it the authority to regulate and legislate for Jewish life. He established the office of the Nassi, who would be the temporal head of the Jewish people. For that office, he chose a descendant of Hillel. From the school in Yavneh came forth guidance for the reorientation of Jewish life to a world without the Temple in Jerusalem; a world in which Jews were scattered without a land of their own and had to acclimate themselves to various forms of living. The processes of the Oral Law, developed during centuries of crisis, served them well in the centuries of readjustment. The scholars of Yavneh urged the study of Torah and loyalty to the teachings of Moses as a substitute for the political allegiance to the land the Jew had lost. This preserved the unity of the Jewish people and kept alive their undying hope for the re-establishment of the land. Now that the Temple was no more, sacrifice as a means of worship was prohibited, prayer was designated as the norm for religious expression, and the Synagogue became "mikdash me'at," the "miniature temple." Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai led his generation out of their hour of greatest depression and set the pattern for their further development. For the next two centuries, the scholar became known as the "Tanna" or teacher who attempted to spread the knowledge of the law. Men like Akiva, Rabbi Mayer, Eliezer ben Hurcanus, and a host of others engaged in discussions of the law and formulated religious practices. They taught many thousands the way of life for the Jew in the Galut. Many schools were established in Palestine and later in Babylonia. Each Tanna taught the law as he understood and interpreted it. Some kept notes to assist them in their lectures. They established various schemes for memorization: acrostics, similarities in numbers, subject matter, etc. At about the year 135 C.E. -- legend tells us it was on the anniversary of the day when Rabbi Akiva suffered martyrdom -- there was born into the House of the Nassi an heir: Judah, who was in later days to be referred to as "Rabbi" or teacher. He was reared in his father's home, the Patriarch Simon ben Gamliel II, and absorbed the teachings of all the great teachers of that day. In addition, he also received extensive instruction in general subjects. He was well acquainted with foreign languages, especially Greek. When his father died, at about 170 C.E., Judah succeeded him as Nassi, since the office was hereditary. Jews enjoyed serenity and peace during his days. He was a man of great wealth, but he lived very simply and used his affluence to provide for and support numerous students in his academy. Judah's life's work was the redaction of the Mishnah, the commitment of the Oral Law to writing. This was not easily done. There were those who objected to this project because they felt that the Oral Law should not be committed to writing, lest it become a competitor to the Holy Scriptures, and furthermore "men tor nit" -- "it's not allowed." They objected strenuously to Rabbi Judah's departure from strict tradition. However, he was convinced that , unless these teachings were organized, Jewish life would become more confused. The great number of sages who conducted schools multiplied the approaches to Jewish law and procedure. Unless their opinions were correlated and integrated, Rabbi Judah felt Judaism would suffer in the end. Furthermore, he was afraid that, in evil days, much of this Jewish heritage would be lost if we depended on memory alone. Over the objections of some of his colleagues, he assembled the greatest authorities of his day to evaluate the teachings of the sages found in the Oral Law. They issued the accepted version of the tradition, organized it into six volumes which, in turn, were subdivided into tractates. The notes that some of the teachers had compiled for their own use as well as that which each of the men had learned from his teachers formed the basis for the study. Rabbi Judah followed the rule of the majority, and where there were dissenting opinions, that of the majority was recorded anonymously; the opinion of the minority was mentioned under the name of its author. The language of the Mishnah is Hebrew, and the law is stated succinctly without any elaboration. It deals not only with religious matters but covers the entire field of what we would call civil law -- dealing with compensation for injuries, employer-employee relationship, marriage and divorce, regulations for purchase and sales, etc. It is a record for all times of the Jewish legislation as it developed, we might say, from the day of Moses to that of Rabbi Judah the Nassi, or the Prince. Those teachings that were not included in the Mishnah were preserved in a special collection known as the "Tosefta." The Talmud relates that Rabbi Judah the Prince combined learning, wealth, and authority. He used all of these gifts to the best advantage of his people. He was privileged to record the teachings of the generations preceding him, and to review them once again to check his findings. Thus, the work is known as the "Mishnah," meaning "repetition." To the ages he is known as "Rabbi" or teacher, or "Rabbenu Hakodosh" -- "Our sacred teacher." Upon the foundations of the Mishnah, Judaism flourished and developed. From it came two streams; the Talmud developed in Babylonia that was committed to writing in the sixth century, and that which grew up in Palestine. The Babylonian Talmud, written in Aramaic, a sister language of Hebrew, was destined to become the authoritative accepted law. This is Judaism as we know it. The Mishnah of Rabbi Judah became the point of reference for the continued study and elucidation of the law in the "Gemara," which was combined with the Mishnah to form the Talmud. The Torah, the Five Books of Moses, was always in the background of all study. So great was the love of the people for Rabbi Judah the Prince that no one dared to announce his death sometime after the opening of the third century (200 C. E.). Finally, Bar Kappara made the announcement in the form of an allegory: "Angles and men contended for the possession of the Tablets of the Covenant. The Angels prevailed, and took the Tablets." |
|
|