7-5-0 m npiy ISD THE RABBINICAL MALMS. A HISTORY OF THE Dialecticians ^ Dialectics OF THE MISHNAH AND TALMUD, BY Rabbi of the Tifereth Israel Congregation, Cleveland, Ohio. A V HLOCH X ( (J.. PUBI.ISHEKS, CINt'IXXATI, O. Entered aivunliiit: to act of Congress, in tin- \vnr ISTti, l>> tn.ocH & CO., In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. SRtfl PREFACE. >5 H '- The nineteenth century has seen much zeal and activity displayed in the field of Jewish science. The sea of Jewish literature has been crossed in all direc- tions, and in the diving bells of inquiry pearls of knowl- edge have been elevated and deposited in monthlies, pamphlets, and special works on history, philology, phi- losophy, archaeology, poetry, Hagada, zoology, botany, mineralogy, mathematics, jurisprudence, ethics, etc.; but, the sea of Jewish literature being too vast, a great many branches are entirely neglected and unnoticed. Actuated by the desire to contribute our scientific mite to the great fund of Jewish science, we are endeavoring to have published a series of small volumes on subjects of Jewish science not treated as yet in any modern language. We begin the series with "The Rabbinical Dialectics," D*Hn ^plj? *)DD Oker Horim is the Talmudical term for a dialectician. Being the first book on Rabbinical Dialectics ever written from an historical standpoint, with plain examples where elucidation is necessary, and covering the whole ground of the subject, it must be welcome to all interested in the internal development of post-biblical Judaism. Putting our trust in God, and in all who are interested in the science of Judaism, we hope that our endeavor to bring to light precious metals from the mines of Jewish literature will be crowned with success. We render our best thanks to " the Father of the Union of the American Congregations" and of u the Azileh Bench Israel College," Rev. Dr. I. M. Wise, who, having read the manuscript, was kind enough to recommend it to the publisher. THE AUTHOR. CLEVELAND, 0., Choi Hamoed, Succoth, 5639. 2096656 THE INTRODUCTION, A proper study for all interested in the internal develop- ment of Judaism is the Dialectics of the Talmud. People not familiar with the history of the Talmudical Dialectics must consider the whole difference between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, the Caraites and the Rab- binites, the Judaism of the Prophets and the Judaism of the Middle Ages, a work brought about by the Rabbis ac- cording to their whims, vagaries and pleasure, but by the light of the history of Rabbinical Dialectics that differ- ence is an evolution from the Mosaic Law. no TTDK IDIK n yenrp robn mow "i3D i:n ^zb nmnb -rny TDD Yerus. Peah. II. The study of Dialectics is important, because Jewish ministers, no matter how great their scholarship may be in the Bible, in history, in philosophy, in homiletics and in philology, are not capacitated to be Rabbis unless they are versed in the application of the Rabbinical Dialectics to hermeneutic and halachic purposes. Gentiles, to whom the Dialectics of Hillel, Ismael, Akiba, Elieser, Abaji, Raba and others is a terra incognita, can not but have very paltry and deficient notions about the traditional progressive Judaism. The Bible, until its canonization, was, as it were, a living and growing code, and could easily, when the advanced culture, the social relations and other circumstances made it advisable, be altered by the authorities of the age, but after the canonization of the Bible, when its words and letters were counted, when a great many knew the whole Law by heart, and would have condemned the slightest alteration as a blasphemy, then it was possible only by means of Dialectics to ingraft progressive ideas upon the stem of the Written Law. The Dialectics was also the most effective means in the unification of the Sadducees and Pharisees. All innovations of the Pharisees were considered by the Sadducees heresies, unfounded in the Bible ; but the con- clusive force of Hillel's Dialectics convinced them that many things, though not explicitly and plainly taught in the Bible, can be derived from it by the application of Dialectics, and may be fully in conformity with the spirit and tendency of the Bible and the orthodoxy of its authors } nay, the Sadducees were also convinced that, without the application of the Dialectics, many Biblical passages were unintelligible and many religious practices unaccountable. THE ORIGIN OF THE DIALECTICS. The orthodox Israelites believe in the divine origin of the Talmud ; they do not believe that the wording of the Talmud is divine, but they hold that the dialectical rules and principles underlying the Talmud are divine, and the view that the Talmud is merely of an historical origin is to them a heterodoxy. This question engaged consider- ably the attention of the Israelites several years ago, when Rabbi Hirsh, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, attacked the late Dr. Zacharias Frankel, of Breslau, for having accounted for the origin of the Talmu I by historical events. This controversy was concomitated by much aspersion and par- tisanship, and all the efforts of Rabbi Hirsh and his party- friends to prove the divine origin of the Talmud could not but confirm every rationalist in the conviction that the divinity of the Talmud was a matter of belief overcome by the scientifically-educated rabbis. It is a fact that Hillel laid down seven, Ismael thirteen, and Rabbi Elieser thirty-two dialectical rules. If all these rules had already been delivered to Moses, then why did not VI Hillel mention them all? This question was often put and answered from a mystical and dogmatical standpoint, but never from an historical one. An historical point in view was something so strange to the rabbis of the Middle Ages, and so far above their horizon, that they never accounted historically for anything of that kind. Rabbi Simon, of Chinon, writes that Hillel knew well of all the dialectical rules of Ismael and Elieser, but he would mention only such as were of practical use for his age. A specimen of the unhistorical mode of explanation the rabbis of the old school indulged in is that by Rabbi Eliah, of Wilna, one of the greatest Talmudists of his age: " The seven rules of Hillel respond to the word ' covenant,' which is mentioned seven times with Noah; the thirteen rules of Ismael respond to the same word, mentioned thirteen times with Abraham; and the thirty- two rules of Rabbi Eliezer respond to the thirty-two " paths" taught in the Cabala." It is unquestionable that some of the dialectical rules are of a very remote past, as may be inferred from the expres- sion, Halacha Le Mosche Mesina, " the Sinaic Traditions of Moses." roS-i IDD lens* E^ TDD n^D^ ro*?n IDJ? TDD Rab. Ashef Hil. Mikw. I. The Mislma contains a great many halachas about juris- prudence, offerings, and leprosy, which it established by means of dialectical rules. Halachoth of that kind were established when they were yet wants of the time, while Hillel's age was the juncture, when such halachas became almost a matter of the past. It seems that the maxim of deriving laws by analogy must be done traditionally. 1213 .-62p 2NK 1D^ nitf ITTU p D"!N ]\S was prevalent at the time when Hillel argumented before the sons of Bethyra ; otherwise people would not have asked VII for traditional proofs, and would have been satisfied with the validity of his analogy. According to the Talmud many a crime committed by the generals of David was palliated by means of Dialectics. Synhedrin 49. m Ji^-fl ji^N K?DJJ Rabbi Sherira Gaon thinks that even in the remotest past the Jews had a Talmud, which differed from ours only in the wording, the arrangement and the compilation, but was, like ours, brought about by the Dialectics we call Rabbinical. Iggereth Sherirja Gaon 20-21 Editio Goldberg. THE JEWISH DIALECTICIANS AND THE GREEK SOPHISTS. The term " sophist" meant in its original adaptation a savant, and did not savor of the ill-repute it became identi- fied with after the Persian wars, when, under Athens' supre- macy, the laws of Solon were superseded by a licentious democracy, and when sensuality, luxury and other vices prevailed and corrupted the manners of the Greeks. At those times only he might expect to become influential and powerful who could command the charms of deceptive elo- quence; and the sophists, seeking popularity, riches and success, did not shrink from recommending, defending and carrying through anything, no matter how foul, how detri- mental and how preposterous, provided it secured them their selfish designs and egotistic objects. The spread of the ethics of Socrates put a stop to the maxims of the sophists, and it was Socrates' immortal merit that exposed and laid bare the fallacy of the sophists. Sophistry of that kind and to the extent which it prevailed among the Greeks could not flourish among the Israelites, where the most successful and most expert sophist could expect to have scope only within the limits of the pro- phetic ethics. Hence, Akiba, Mair, Raba and others were certainly men unstained by corruption, men of great integ- rity, disinterestedness and humanity. The Rabbis Akiba, Ben Asai, Ismael, Mair, Symmachos, and others were famil- iar with the Greek language and philosophy, but it is hard to ascertain what they adopted from the Greek sophistry.* VIII There is a striking similarity in the sophistry of Rabbi Josuah ben Chananja and of Dyonidisor, in the definition of words by Akiba and Prodicus, and in the all-proving and all-disproving methods of Rabbi Mair and of Gorgias. The Greeks studied Dialectics in order to train the intellect, to discover the criterions of truth, to be able to distinguish between essentials and casualties, and to draw syllogisms from experience and facts ; but to the Rabbis the Dialectics was the contents of the methods of interpretation of the Law and of legalizing views and prin- ciples which otherwise would have been considered mere exotics. Sophistry was a prerequisite for recommendation to a seat in the Jewish Senate. Synhedrin 17. jnw ID * p-irura rrnnn JD THE RABBINICAL TERMS FOR DIALECTICIANS. A term is no meaningless sound; it conveys to man's mind a certain idea, it designates a certain phase in the development of a subject, or commemorates a certain event. The great number of terms for dialecticians expresses the varietv of subjective modes of the application of the Dialec- tics, The Jewish dialecticians, not being restricted by any authority, vied with each other in the display of the acute- ness and the brilliancy of their intellect, and thus, by straining their intellect in their respective spheres, they augmented the stock of Dialectics with original methods. mp^CDD^T")^ Arch-scholastic, Rabbi Josua ben Chananja. (Midr. Genesis). /^ a butting ram, Rabbi Akiba. (Sifri, Chuccoth). *1!IO the Satan's first-born, Ben Dosa's brother. (Yebam. 16). (Berachoth 27) Rabbi Gamliel's collegiates. Dialectical interpreters. Pesachim 54 55. Dialectical interpreters. Sefri Ekebh. IX the Sophists. Ketuboth 16. i i " the sagacious." Berachoth 59. the disciples of Rabbi Akiba. Ketub 40. an analyzer. Barach 6. 2lDD a dialectician. a second Moses. Chulin 93. a flying bird. Succoth 28. a flying raven. Chulin. IplJJ an uprooter of mountains. Berach 28. "VS!J the he-goat. Rabbi Joseh Haglili. a precocious dialectician, a ram. Rabbi Akiba. the acute. Rabbi Jehuda ben Jecheskel. the demon. Yonathan ben Usiel. Fesachim 110. a dissecter. Sabbat 92. the snake, a collegiate of Abaji. Kidushin 29. TD^n a dialectician. Symmachos. Erubim 13. Most of these terms are figurative expressions used by those who were struck at first by the peculiarity of the method of the respective men, and later these terms were used to designate a turn of mind or the respective method. Several of these terms are expressive only of the senti- ments and prejudices of the individual who first uttered them. The great number of expressions for dialectician is indic- ative of the great attention given at that time to the study of Dialectics and of the large field it occupies in the Tal- mud. Some rabbis found a pleasant pastime in the ingenious application of Dialectics. Specimens of dialectical amuse- ment are in the Hagada of Passover, where the Rabbis dis- pute about the number of plagues which came over the Egyptians. X THE LITERATURE OF THE DIALECTICS. Up to Saadja Gaon (892-942) no special book had been written on the Rabbinical Dialectics. There was no need of it. The students entered upon the study of the Talmud with the presupposition that not manuals, but a diligent and repeated study of the Talmud itself, could make of them Talmudical scholars. Dialectical outlines like that speci- men in the Halachoth Gedoloth, 53 served only halachic purposes. In the age of Saadja Gaon the metaphysics made also an impression upon the methods of the study of the Talmud. Philosophically-trained rabbis tried to be methodical also in the study of the Talmud, and that gave an impulse to write special books 011 Rabbinical Dialectics. The seven dialectical rules of Hillel are mentioned in the Tosefta Syhedrin, 7; in the Pirke by Rabbi Nathan, 37, and in the introduction to the Torath Cohanim. The thirteen rules of Rabbi Ismael are mentioned in the introduction to the Torath Cohanim, but the thirty-two rules of Rabbi Elieser Haglili are scattered in the Talmud- ical writings. Samuel Hanagid (born 993) is the first of whom we know had collected them in his Dialectics Meboh Hatalmud, which forms the introduction to the Babylonian Talmud. Dialectical books written in the Rabbinical idiom are : "Oil by Saadja Gaon. " NISC by Samuel Hanagid. ""HD by Moses Maimon. !,! 1 "1D by Simon Chinon. i~i Tm by Isaac Campanton. by Josua ben Levi. by Joseph Caro. 3 by Samuel Sidilo. 2 by Rabbi Bezalel. XI Joseph ben Virga. f^" 1 by Samuel Algasi. 2 vi"l by Samuel Algasi. i^3 by Samuel Algasi. 25O T by Malachi Montipaskoly. E2n n^nn by Jacob Chagis. 1"! "Oil by Jacob Ohagis. C3p7 by an anonym. HUE by Abraham Ibn Chajim. pip by Abraham Ibn Chajim. &TVD by RaJ)bi Salomon Jizchaki in Kobak's Ginse Nistaroth, I.-II. i by Abraham ben David Pashkiro. by Hirsch Kanzelnbogen. by Moses Hajim Luzzato. " ""IVD by David Nieto. p^n D^IIH fc^O by Jacob Hirsh Yalish. I "YftsE) by Baruch Heilprin. "'E'D by Jacob Reifmann. ^ by Mordechai Plongian. by Eliah Wilna. by Elieser Efrothi. "l^p by Seligman B. Bamberger. L. f "'^ll by Samuel Waldberg. v The different commentaries on the Mishnah and Talmud, and the Rabbinical responses, contain a great many very interesting remarks and explanations on the Rabbinical Dialectics. The critical commentator of the Alfasi, Rabbi Serachja Halevi, of Girondi, called Baal Hamoor, wrote, in imita- tion of the thirteen rules of Rabbi Ismael, a book \ XII ~ on thirteen dialectical rules for the study of "The Oral Law." It was published with annotations by Rabbi Moses ben Nachman. (Zolkiew 5573.) The best dialectical books are very useful and instructive for well-read Talmudists, but a beginner, except by obtain- ing some explanations on dialectical rules, can not profit much by their perusal or study. A catalogue of all Halachic and Hagadic works on Dia- lectics was composed by Dr. A. Jellinek, Wien, 1878: I. The Dialectics of the Tana? im. The Teachers of the Mishna Epoch. (37-250 A. c.) HILLEL. Hillel, a descendant of the royal family of David and a native of Babylon, was educated in the college of Nisibis P3^J, but, goaded by the desire to obtain information on some questionable subjects, he left for Jerusalem, where he became a disciple of the chiefs of the Synhedrin,. Schemaja and Abtaljon, arid there he stayed till Herod had issued a proscription against the leaders of the national party. About forty of them were put to death, Baba ben Buta, the Croesus of Jerusalem, hid himself, while others, among them Hillel, retired to Babylon. Later when Herod pursued a more peacable policy, Hillel returned to Jerusalem, but being a native of Babylon, he had against him the current of popular prejudices, and he had to wait his chance, which came when the sons of Batyras, the chief rabbis, were at a loss about a decision, as to whether it was lawful to slay the Paschal lamb on a Sabbath, on which day in that year the Passover happened to come. The whole store of traditional knowledge furnished the Bene Batyras with no precedent. The friends of Hillel availed themselves of that occasion to bring him before the people. He being a disciple of Schemaja and Abtaljon,. they proposed to call upon him in the hope of obtaining an explanation. Some objected to him, as he was a Baby- lonian, but his friends prevailed; Hillel was called and decided in the affirmative. His argumentation was based upon the principles of analogy, Gesera Schawa, and upon the Syllogism de Minore ad Majorem, Kal We Chomer: 2 a. The analogy: The daily offerings are brought on Sabbath because they are communal, and so is the Paschal lamb. b. The analogy: The Paschal lamb has in common with the daily offerings a stated time of being brought. c. The Syllogism de Minore ad Majorem : Upon the intermittance of the Paschal lamb is a more severe punish- ment inflicted than upon the intermittance of the daily offerings. This argumentation combined with the assurance that his decision was traditionally sanctioned, won him the favor of the people to such a degree that the sons of Batyras deemed it advisable to resign their office, and Hillel be- came their successor. Talmud Yerush. Pes. 6, 1. That the argumentation on such trivial subjects sufficed to recommend him to the highest dignity among the Jews, was natural at that time, when " Herod had put out the light of the world," the teachers, and because with Hillel's promotion his whole system of Dialectics was adopted by the people. The seven dialectical rules of Hillel are: 1. Kal Wechomer : A syllogism implicitly drawn from a minor case upon a more important one. Example: If thou meet thy enemy's animal going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. Exod. xxiii. 4. If that be one's conduct toward an enemy, how much more should one be considerate toward a friend. The Pentateuch contains ten Kal Wechomer cases: Gen. v. 9; vi. 3; xiv. 15; xvii. 20; xliv. 8. Exod. vi. 12; Levit. x. 19; Numb. xii. 14; Deut. xxxi. 27; xxxii. 39. 2. Geserah Schawah. The analogy. A syllogism drawn from analogous cases and expressions. Example: See above Hillel's argumentation before the Batyras. To avoid abuse of this dialectical rule, it was agreed upon that only traditionally-sanctioned cases should be valid 3. Binjan Abh. A definition which is given only once in the Bible, and which is definitive for all recurrent terms, irrespective of the subjects they refer to. 3 Example : " I afflicted ray soul with fasting," Psalms xxxv. 13, is definitive that all self-imposed affliction, when expressed by the Hebrew word inna, means fasting. 4. Klal U-prat : If there be in the Bible a general rule and a specification, then the specification exemplifies the contents of the general rule. Example: Leviticus i. 2 : The General Rule: If any one of you wish to bring an offering of the animals. The Specification: Either of the herd or of the flocks shall ye bring it. This specification is to exclude all undomesticated ani- mals. 5. Prat U-Klal. When there is a specification and a gen- eral rule in the Bible, then the specification is to say that all cases which can actually be covered by the general rules are, in the widest sense of the term, implied in the general rule. Example: Deuteronomy xxii. 1: A Specification: "Thou shalt not see thy brother's ani- mals go astray and withdraw thyself from them, thou shalt surely bring them back again unto thy brother; in like manner shalt thou do with his ass and raiment." A General Rule: "And in like manner shalt thou do with every lost thing of thy brother." The general rule means to say that all and everything, irrespective of name and form, when found shall be restored. 6. Kayozeh bo Mimokom Achar. The inductive method. Subjects unexplained and undescribed in the proper place can become so by a quotation of similar cases from other places. 7. Dabbar Halomed Meinjano. The meaning of the subject has to be made clear by the general contents of the chapter, or by the category of the commandments. These seven dialectical rules were the foundation to the whole Talmudical structure ; they were the means of in- grafting the scions of progress upon the Biblical stems and the hammer whereby the consolidation of the Pharisees and Sadducees was accomplished. Hillel, presiding over -4 the Synhedrin without an assessor, wielded an absolute authority bordering on autocracy, but, being a genius in, meekness and humanity, he judiciously exerted his in- fluence in the interest of the religious union and progress- of his nation. Under the weak hands of his son Simon, two parties, the Hillelites and the Schamaites, arose. Their disputes favored the development of Dialectics, but the dialectical abuse to which the amazing flexibility of the Hebrew words and the lack of a system of punctuation ex- posed the Bible, made the conscientious doctors look about for a common basis spared from the tides of sophistry and partisanship, and to that purpose the doctors of both parties agreed that the Hebrew word has, in point of casuistry, to be defined according to its adoption or meaning in spelling, and not according to the meaning it might re- ceive by a varying pronunciation. p mirr -am 21 *npD^ DK en into wpy 'mi 'HEP rvai (Synhed. 4.) .fclpD The meaning of a word, obtained by means of pronun- ciation, independent of spelling, fniDD? QN ^i was only adopted when it did not contradict the established tra- dition. A pre-eminent dialectician among the Hillelites was Jonathan ben Usiel, the eldest of the eighty great disciples of Hillel, and the translator of the Prophets into the Chal- dean language. nvw njraoff bww p jr^r ^y rhy ncN ^D TIXD vby nncts; p]iy to rmm pow (Succa28.) The College in Yabneh. Rabbi Yochanan ben Saccai, the youngest of the eighty great disciples of Hillel, and, after Simon ben Gamaliel's death, the president of the Synhedrin, anticipated the sad consequences of the war with the Romans, but he had not influence enough to induce the Jewish parties to make 5 peace with the Romans. Yet, being anxious to save the Jewish religion, he devised a plan to establish a college in Yabneh, and make that place the center of religious life a second Jerusalem. Wholesome as the measure was, steps to its realization had to be taken in secret. He pre- concerted with his disciples the spread of a rumor of his sudden death and his removal in a coffin out of the city into the Roman camp. They succeeded, and he was also favored with an audience by Vespasian. Yochanan's well- known antipathy to the war-party, his venerable appearance and his affability, gained him such an ascendancy over Vespasian that his desire of starting a college in Yabneh was instantly gratified. In the college of Yabneh, Judaism underwent a new phase of development; there it was practiced and taught in its form and essence, without a temple, without priests, and without offerings. Separated from all political influ- ences, the Jewish religion was there regenerated, rejuve- nated, and perpetuated. The Talmudical writings contain no specimen of R. Jo- chanan's Dialectics, but the great reforms, alterations, innovations and improvements which he introduced pre- suppose, besides great authority, also great skill in Dialectics. In Succa 28, he is represented as a dialectician equal to Abaja and Raba && \^] p pnV "2*1 mmi nmcrn rrfe Two of his contemporaries applied new dialectical prin- ciples. Secharja ben Hakazabh interpreted dialectically the let- ter 1 (Waf). Example : Secharja ben Hakazabh derived the interdic- tion of the staying of an adultress with her husband, and of marrying her seducer from the conjunctive ^ of (Sota v. 1.) 6 The second contemporary, Nalium Ish-Gamsu, inter- preted dialertically the adding particles, the precluding articles, p") QJ "^. Example: Simon Ilaainsoni was engaged in interpret- ing the dialectical meaning of the adding particle, pfc$, in the Bible, and. except in one case, ""pn^K 'H D& ne made all congruent. Rabbi Akiba, in the name of Nahum Ish Gamsu, made also that one case, congruent ; it meant to say : " Divines shall share thy love of God." pfc$ HP! rfQ-^ (Pesachim.) The Socratic method of Jochanan's teachings, his reck- lessness in the introduction of reforms, his conferring of all formerly -enjoyed prerogatives of Jerusalem upon Yabneh, and his eagerness to promote the study of law as a prere quisite of the immortality of the Jewish nation, made the college of Yabneh a hot-house of dialecticians. The Dialectics became a favorite study at that time. It trained the minds, it amused the students, but, at the same time, "it startled the conservatives, and among them no- body was more alarmed at its spread than Rabbi Gamliel, whose hereditary privileges were at stake. The removal of Rabbi Yochanan ben Saccai from Yab- neh to Berur Chajil may be a consequence of the secret steps Gamliel took to check the liberty of discussion and the freedom of interpretation. Gamliel inaugurated his career as the head of the Yab- neh college by the formation of a Synhedrin, whose au- thority, like that of the administration of his grand sire, Hillel, was to be considered decisive, and thus put a stop to all liberty of individual decisions. His next effort was to unite the two great parlies, the Shamaites and the Hillel- ites, and, after three years and a half of constant exertion, his endeavors were crowned with complete success. (Erub. 13.) The beneficial result of such a unification and reconcil- iation was felt in all religious, social and political circles among the Israelites, and in order to secure its permanency, he was cautious enough to adopt a middle course. To please -7- the rigorous and inflexible Shamaites, of whom an aban- donment of all their time-honored traditions could not be expected, he often decided according to their traditions, though according to the agreement of the parties, the usages of the Hillelites were decisive, with the reserve that, in private affairs, the Shamaites should be unmolested. Such success encouraged Rabbi Gamliel to continue on his course of suppressing all liberty of interpretation, and he excluded every sophist from the college. "PO/H TO DJD" 1 b* VQD DIP! ] W Dm- (Berachoth 28.) Such a course was very imprudent. Gamliel himself was not invested by the Romans with any authority, nor was he superior in knowledge to his great contemporaries, and be- sides this. Dialectics became a favorite study of the age, and to contest it was synonymous with " swimming against the current;'' but Gamliel's anxiety to preserve all his hered- itary privileges, blinded him to the extent that he could not perceive the threatening danger. The victims of his imperiousness, who preceded and ac- celerated his fall, were : Rabbi Elieser ben Hyrcanos, his own brother-in-law, a man of great independence, originality and recklessness, who was excommunicated for refusing to submit to the majority. Akabya ben Mahalalel, whose watchword was, " I had rather be called all my life a fool by man than to become for one moment a sinner before God," lived according to the dictates of his own conscience, and would by no means submit to the majority. Such praiseworthy resolution and firmness of character were laid to his charge as a crime ; and he was excommunicated. Rabbi Eliezer ben Chanoch was excommunicated for failing to observe every minute particular of the rite of the hand-washing before meals. Rabbi Jose ben Tadai was excommunicated because he drew a sophistic syllogism : 8 p w ^i ^ rbwsr 11 nnm IIDK ^JN .12 imo ^^ TIPN no 'y P p ir ra ' |ro (Derech Erez. Raba L) C3 pi While Gamliel hurled the thunderbolts of excommunica- tion against eccentric characters, he excused himself by declaring that such a course was necessary to prevent the formation of parties detrimental to the prosperity of Juda- ism: fc&N *QN rra "i^r^ *6i 'n^i; ^nr 1 ^ vx'^ blflBPS Hpl^riD n*)" 1 X^ tut tllis apology could not avail when he dared to attack a man like Rabbi Joshua ben Chananja, who enjoyed great popularity, and had en- listed the sympathies of the collegiates. The evening prayer was not an obligatory part of the daily service till Rabbi Gamliel declared it so. Outside of the college Rabbi Joshua expressed his disapproval of it, but had not the courage to own it when Rabbi Gamliel solicited his opinion inside the college. Gamliel considered it an act of equivocacy and duplicity, and insulted him personally. Such an affront aroused a storm among Gam- liel's opponents, which resulted in his deposition. The col- leagues thereupon elected in his place Rabbi Elieser ben Asarja. Rabbi Elieser ben Asarja was a man of mediocrity in knowledge, but his constituents expected of him pliancy and indulgence in the liberty of interpretation and discus- sion, which privilege they were denied by. Gamliel. They were not disappointed. On the very day of his installation, DV21D Edjoth I., they carried all the points they desired. Contrary to Rabbi Gamliel, whose regime it was to ex- clude from 'the college all sophists, Rabbi Elieser ben Asarja acknowledged the right of individual opinions, and -auctioned the principle of antagonism. In one of his lec- tures he compared the law to plants. ,11 1H "HIDI _ f) _ them it increases, and, though it is differently interpreted, all the decisions are sustained by the authority of one shepherd. (Chagiga III.) He is also the author of a dialectical rule called CT'ED? Serauchim, according to which the portions of the Pentateuch are connected in order to intimate and teach that which otherwise might have been overlooked, mim |C DTlED *)UT /N " wi ncra D^IEW Ehwb iib ncwp (Jebamoth, 4). Remarkable is his independence of Akiba when discussing with him. 13*^7 llJT^N "'21 *fo *1J2K H 1 ? JJEIP "UN r Dvn ^- rone nnx (Nidda72) ^m in Had Rabbi Elieser lived in another generation his knowl- edge would have sufficed to make him a great authority, but in a generation that could boast a Rabbi Akiba, Habbi Tarfon, Rabbi Ismael, Rabbi Joshua ben Chananja, he was eclipsed and had no sway over the minds of his grea*t con- temporaries. Very often the collegiates spoke slightingly of him, but Rabbi Joshua ben Chananja exerted all his moral influence to raise his authority, and he used to say of him : U A generation which can boast an Elieser ben Asarja is no orphan." During his deposition, Gamliel deported himself with such modesty and generosity that he fascinated even his opponents, and when later he became reconciled to Joshua ben Chananja, the wave of popular favor brought him back again in his former office, but only co-ordinately with Rabbi Elieser ben Asarja. Rabbi Elieser's great contemporary, Rabbi Josua ben Chananja, a disciple of Rabbi Jochanan ben Saccai, was a very eminent sophist. The Midrash Rabba, Genesis 57, pronounces him "the Arch-Dialectician of the Law," NrVTiN") niiTiSDI^r^K He was such an expert in dis- puting with Gentiles that when he died his contemporaries woefully said: "What shall become of us now, when Gen- tiles come to dispute with us?" (Chagiga 5.) 10 A specimen of his sophistry with the Savants of Athens is contained in the Talmud. Rabbi Josua. A. hybrid gave birth to a young one, and put upon its neck an assignment to the father's house. Savants. What? A hybrid does not bear. R. Josua. Well, did you not wish me to amuse you? Savants. If salt loses its savor, how can it be seasoned ? R. Josua. With a secundine of a hybrid. Savants. What? A hybrid has no such thing. R. Josua. Neither can salt lose its savor. Savants. Can you build a house in the higher region of the air? R. Josua. Yes, provided you can furnish me there with the requisite material. Savants. Where is the center of the earth ? R. Josua Here, on this very spot. Savants. Prove it. R. Josua. Bring me a rope long enough to mete it. Savants. Can you remove a well ? R. Josua. If you furnish me with a rope of bran. Savants. Can you stitch together a broken millstone? R. Josua. Yes, if you furnish me with a thread of sand. Savants. What instrument would you use to mow a field planted with knives? R. Josua. Horns of asses ! The savants placed before him two eggs, one from a black and one from a white chicken, saying : u Distinguish them apart." But Rabbi Josua would not answer till they had decided between two loaves of cheese, one from a black and one from a white cow. (Berachoth 8.) A closer explanation, as given by the commentaries, of his controversy with the savants of the Atheneum, is not 11 in place here, where it is the purpose merely to represent Rabbi Josua in his capacity as a Dialectician. Opposed to all decisions emanating directly from the Mishna, without any consideration to dialectical discussion, he denounced those of his contemporaries who bowed before the letter of the Mishna as "Destroyers of the World." jrufc'D -pno rohn amse? D^iy ^DB D\x:nn (Sota22.) Characteristic of his religious views is his utterance that " the majority must decide upon the ground of rational reasons, and dare not regard supernatural references," *?lp rQD rrVWD r^ and tliat tlie whole frame and bulk of the rabbinical casuistry are as mountains hanging on the hairs of biblical passages. D^Y?n!"i D'HlrO rnjJCO (Tosefta Erubin.) The college, under the presidency of a man who had such liberal views about casuistry and Halacha, and who, besides this, taught that "All righteous people, without distinction as to religion, have a share in the happiness hereafter" (Synhed. 105), and that "No law shall be en- acted which is not gratifying to the majority of the com- munity " (Bab. Bat. 60), must have been a hot-house of free thought. Though an opponent of Rabbi Gamliel, he was considered, not only by the people, but also by Gamliel himself, his superior in wisdom, at least so he told Josua, when once Josua would not silently submit to his authority After Gamliel's death, Josua became the president of the Synhedrin. Rabbi Ismael. Rabbi Ismael, the founder of a college in Kephar-Asis, was a representative of the old school of Dialectics, inaugu- rated by Hillel. His genealogy is veiled in obscurity, and that made some think he was the son of Ismael ben Fabi, whom the Israelites commissioned to Rome to receive the decision of Nero relative to the encroachments made by 12- Agrippa II. in raising part of his palace so high that he ml. I in-pert t!i'.> whole interior of the temple court ; but. others again assume that he was the grandson of the high- prie-t Ismael ben Elisah. There is also a tradition to the effect that he was ransomed when quite young, at Rome, by Rabbi Josua ben Ghana nia. Opposed to all perversion of passages, to the use of pleo- nasms, rhetorical expressions, and to all the artifices of in- terpretation, as applied by Rabbi Akiba, for dialectical purposes, he made it his paramount principle in interpreta- tion of the Bible to observe the Biblical idiom, and not to use it for dialectical purposes. "^3 fl&v!} ulin !"n2"l Q1N- (Kerithoth 11.) From these rules he deviated four times, and then only because the natural sense of laws favored his allegorical interpretation. Hl^lp*- 'JQ ^&$>?i2 n *2^ ^ l "'JH Enin 1 ? in** mpcDi anpc 1 ? ropw rc^nn. (Sota 16, Jerus. Kidu. 1, 2.) He was not the author of all the thirteen dialectical rules which are ascribed to him. His great predecessors in the rational Dialectics were Hillel and his own teacher, Rabbi Nechunia ben Hakana. p^ ^D*C'~' minr. bz n &nn rrr.p rap- p D"1E1 bb-2 rbl2- (Shebuoth 26.) The thirteen dialectical rules of Rabbi Ismael are : 1. Kal WeChomor. See Hillel's Dialectical Rules, I. 2. GeseraShawa. " " " II. 3. BinjanAbh. " " li III. 4. Rial U-Prat. " " IV. 5. Prat U-Klal. u " V. ' I When there is a general rule and a specification, and again a general rule, then the specification is explanatory. If a man delivers unto his neighbor money or vessels to keep, and it is stolen out of the man's house, then he shall -13 swear that he did not stretch out his hand against the neighbor's goods. (Exodus xxii. G.) General rule: " For all manner of trespass." Specification: "For all animals or raiment.'' General rule: "For any manner of lost things." This specification denotes movables of intrinsic value, and excludes from this category immovables, and movables of no intrinsic value, Hl"1COk^- 1- vrsh -pa *on&' fei fe 1 ? -px Nine? There are specifications which are explained by general rules, and vice versa. Example: Numbers vi. 3. A specification: A Nazarite shall abstain from vine and strong drink. A general rule: All the days of his abstinence he shall eat nothing of the grape vine. A specification: From the kernel even to the husk. This last specification is to forbid the Nazarite the use of all offal of fruit. Another example : Numbers iii. 40. A general rule: Count all the first-born. A specification: The males of the children. In this case the specification excludes the females, and the general rule excludes all who are born unnaturally, or who are not first-born. s. *6 -\nbb fen p Niri fe^ rmv *OT te Nir te fen by ivbb xbx KIT ic^y by izbb A case which is implicitly implied in a general rule, and is then specified, is it to the purpose that its peculiarities shall also govern every case implied in the general rule? Example : Leviticus xx. 2. Whoever giveth of his children to the Moloch shall be stoned. This specification is to teach that upon every mode of idolatry the stoning is inflicted as a punishment. bsrh w ir:yr wnsy. Any case which 14 is implicitly implied in the general rule, and is specified through a similar case, has become so to indicate that all eases implied in the general rule may equal in advantage and merit the specified case. Example: Exodus xxi. I'-'. The general rule: u He that smiteth a man so that he die, shall surely be put to death,'' implies all murderers col- lectively; but the specification (Deut. xix. 4): "And this is the case of a man-slayer who shall flee thither that he may live," is to teach that just as the man-slayer has the advantage of the cities of refuge, so shall every murderer nave all possible advantages of the case. 10. JIJKD yyzh bbzn p K*n bbzi .THS? -m b? venrbi bprb NST ir:yr xbv nnx- Any case which is merely nominally implied in the general rule, and is specified, then its specification refers to all its advantages and merits, and all its disadvantages and demerits, to the other cases implied in the general rule. Example: Deut. xv. 12: "If thy brother, the Hebrew, or the Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, he shall serve thee six years, and in the seventh year shalt thou let him go free from thee." But, in Exodus xxi. 2, the Hebrew woman is not mentioned : " If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve ;" and again, Exodus xxi. 7, it reads, " If a man sells his daughter for a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the man servants go out." The merit of the specification the Hebrew woman is, that she may leave before the six years expire, in case the master die, and the disadvantage of that specification is that the master or his son have a right to marry her against her will. 11. "1313 jr6 bb?r> p N!Ti bbn m-p 131 bz mrro iy mnr\b bw nnx - trin C2 P TO / Any case which is comprised in the rule, when it becomes specified for a certain purpose, then the specification has to remain valid under all circumstances till it is expressly recomprised by another passage. 15 Example: Levit. xxii. 10: "They who are born in the- house of a priest may eat of a holy thing." Here are im- plied all children of a priest; but (xxii. 12), the married daughter is excluded, and would remain so though her circumstances change and she is a widow if the passage there (xxii.) had not expressly allowed her to return when a widow to her father's house. 12. 751DD "n -DTI irjy the general contents and the end of a portion have to be taken into consideration. Example: Levit. xviii. 6: ' None of you shall approach to any that are near of kin to him." This passage interdicts the intermarriage of relatives altogether, but at its close it specifies those relatives who are allowed to intermarry. n Kin? 137 rn nx m a Two contradictory passages must be reconciled by a third one. Example: "All fat, all blood ye shall not eat." That in- cludes also the fat of beasts and birds; but this command is contradicted by another passage (Deuter), which allows the eating of the fat of stags and roes ; but both again are reconciled by a third passage, which forbids the fat of cattle and flock. (Leviticus.) These thirteen rules are concerning the Halacha, and there are in the Talmud two more rules which he applied to the Hagada. . Being quite familiar with the Greek language, he oc- casionally used the Greek in explanation of the Hebrew. p TO "in** n iniN >"nvxi iniN -no Nm nil**'? pip ^V JlEa- (SynhedrinTe.) J. All repetitions in the Pentateuch are intended to im- ply that, which otherwise, might be overlooked. H 527 "ID TO 16 Judging from the Talmud (Synhedrin 54), where one dialectical rule of the system of Rabbi Elie.*er Ilaglili is mentioned in IsmaePs name, lu- must havi- known many dialectical rules besides tliose mentioned above. IE 1 ? NyM izbb *a MI -im bxyzz* "21 IEN Rabbi Ismael's disciples, called "Tanah dbe Israael," used a method of transmutation "HpH ^, according to which another or a desired meaning is given to words when single letters are transmuted, omitted or differently pro- nounced. The Hebrew language is like a kaleidoscope ; no matter what transmutation the letters undergo, new words are formed and they are very often expressive of great and progressive ideas. Rabbi Akiba. mr^n cmo ppm&' Nrpy 'in (Talmud Yem- shalmi 5, 1), Rabbi Akiba, the greatest rabbi among the teachers of the Mishnah epoch, and the founder of a new dialectical school, endeavored to derive every halacha directly from the Pentateuch ; hence, when he had no con- clusive arguments, he used pleonasms, picturesque and rhetorical expressions, tenses, conjunctive letters, foreign words, the perversion of passages and the disconnection of sentences. He was so impassioned of such irrational methods that he frequently waived conclusive arguments, saying : t; It is not necessary to resort to them." "TH^ Ij" 1 ^- Rabbi Akiba as a dialectician was theantipode of Rabbi Ismael. (Yerushalmi Nedarim I. 1.) 2i nrn -in n^nr mi- rmnm p 1122 Methods so irrational, so illogical and so militating with common sense would have become subversive and fatal to Judaism had he not restricted his application of them only within the limits of morality, and for the promotion and 17 spread of his ideas relative to the tendency and main- tenance of Judaism. Akiba lived in an age which was favorable to progress- ive ideas and innovations only when they had the sanction of dialectical argumentation, and any dialectical plausi- bility sufficed, especially when it was only of hagadic origin The dialectical rules of Rabbi Akiba were : 1. rD" 1 *") Rebah. The Hebrew particles, p,^, Q^, p^, served to intimate that where there was a Halacha, or an idea which is not mentioned especially, it could be derived dialectically. 2. 0>TO Meat. The Hebrew particles, j, p"), -j^, inti- mate an exclusion of a certain idea or Halacha. These two dialectical rules had also been applied by Nahum ben Gamsu, a contemporary of Rabbi Jochanan ben Saccai, but Akiba applied them in a more compound figure : An addition, exclusion and addition J"Q" An addition after an addition r An exclusion after an exclusion 2 3. D^Cm DEKP ilEO "lEini p (<*&* 23). The syllogism de minore ad majorem, when the minore premise is a mere rabbinical decision or statement. This principle had already been applied by Akiba's teacher, the Rabbi Elieser ben Hyrcanos. 4. Nirpy ^-n bbz D nn-6 nni IK IDIN NT pj; 'n-i ErHp 11- Tlie conjunctives ^ " the ore " and the 1 " the and." Example (Leviticus xvii. 3): "Any Israelite who kills an ox or a sheep or a goat outside, and does not bring it into the tabernacle, it shall be imputed to him as a blood guiltiness." The " or " means to say that also he who sprinkles it is guilty. This rule had also been taught by Secharja ben Hakazan, a contemporary of Rabbi Jochanan ben Saccai. 5. The word "1^5^ is applied to a dialectical purpose. 18 Sifri Nasa II., Sota, p. 5. ^D*6 PI3 1CWP DlD ^ l:vv See Akiba's Dialectical Rule 1. 3. ^ 4- B1JPD nnX WD- MM. 2. 5 - ^"llDD ^iC'ini 7p- A syllogism de minore ad majorem, which is drawn by the Bible itself. "IDlHl /- A syllogism de minore ad majorem, which the reader of the Bible may draw from premise or by comparison. 21 MTU See HillePs Dialectical Rules II. 9 - rn^p -p"!. The ellipsis. Example: (Psalm xciv.): "He that planteth the ear, shall he not hear? He that formeth the eye, shall he not see ? He that admonisheth nations, shall he not correct ? Is it not he that teacheth man knowledge ? The last sentence ought to read, "That teacheth man, shall he not know." 10. *0^r NlTO ""QT Alterations of the biblical text. The ancient rabbis do not deny that the biblical text under- went alterations. The Tosefta (Megilla III.) speaks of an alteration of all obscene words in the Bible : The MidrashTanchuma, SidraBeschallach, mentions quite a number of altered passages. Rabbi Simon teaches that the chapter treating of Abra- ham's intercession with God for Sodom is an alteration. IDK "n ^z HEW r\rry DH'IDW HDTJD (Genesis Rabba 49.) ^ln The intersection. Example : The eighth verse of Psalm cxlviii. belongs to- the fourth. 12- ID 1 ? WftMVID.% N22? 121- A subject is to depict another subject, and by that means we learn some- thing the first time about its existence. Example: (Sabarjah xii. 11): "On that day great will be the lamentation of Jerusalem, like the lamentation of Hadad Rimon in the valley of Megido." Hadad Rimon is explanatory, and, at the same time, we hear of it for the first time. 13. p^&n 78 ions Kim PTOD rnrw Wpp A general rule with a fact seemingly disconnected with that general rule is still explanatory. 22 Example: (Deuteronomy xvii. 15) : "Thou mayest seta king over thee," is the rule, and the subsequent prescrip- tions, though seemingly disconnected from the rule, are explanatory of what a Jewish king is required to be. nb i^n ppn r6n:tf ^ru -m ""p""Q- An illustration or metaphor, though in itself inadequate to the subject it depicts, is still calculated to make a wonderful impression. Example: (Amos 38): "The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Eternal hath spoken, who will not prophesy ?" m nx HT D^nrsn trans ^w Wb&r\ Slnm- (See Rabbi Ismael's Dialectical Rule 13. ) A word which is unmistakable and admits of no other definition. Example : prayer, roaring, sighing. The inductive method. is. rs :nui inspoa -ISN:::' *i2n- A part is men- tioned, but the whole category is intended. Example: (Exod. xxii. 22) : "A widow and an orphan you shall not oppress," this doos not mean to imply that other unfortunate people may be oppressed. 19. nan 1 ? pn Nim nis *DW^ -me- A predi- cate is mentioned in connection with a subject, but refers also to other subjects. Example: (Psalm xcvii.) : " Light is sown for the right- eous and joy for the upright heart." Both of these predi- cates refer to either of these subjects. 20. p?; Kin bix b ]^y irxi ma "IDW^ ^21 n^an/- A predicate which only nominally refers to the subject, but in reality it alludes to a subject which is connected with the first one. Example : (Deuteronomy xxxiii.) : ''And this is the bless- ing of Juda, and he said, hear, Lord, the voice of Juda." The first part of this blessing refers to Juda's neighbors, Simon and Reuben, who were united with him. 21. ro -6 jnu nni nnD TIE^ qwp im Di"!TlOG^ nCTi- A subject compared with two things has to be taken in the light of all their advantages and merits. Example : "The righteous blossom like a palm-tree, like a cedar on the Lebanon." This illustration means that the righteous bear fruit like a palm-tree and give umbrage like a cedar. 22. Vby JTOID VPSriEf *Q"1- A subject is defined by another subject. Example: (Psalm xxxviii. 2) : " O Lord, correct me not in thy wrath and chastise me in thy fury." The " not " of the first passage refers also to the second one. 23. ITOn by rPDlQ NVTtf -Q"!. A subject which is explanatory of another one. Example: (Proverbs xiii. 1) : "A wise son the correction of his father, but a scorner hearkeneth not to rebuke." The word hearkeneth refers to the first part, and it ought to read : A wise son hearkeneth to the correction. 24. is^y by ivbb bbzn p Km fen rmw -on- A thing that was implied in the general rule and was speci- fied, the specification may mean emphasy. Example : (Joshua ii. 1) : " Go ye, view the land and Jericho." 25. rvDn by ^b bbsr\ JD Kin bbn rm& nm- A thing that was implied in the general rule and is specified, the specification may be explanatory. Example : (Psalm cxlv. 18) : " The Lord is nigh unto all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 26. 7?ft. The metaphors. Rabbi Isrnael explained 24 words metaphorically (Exod. xxi.) : The crutch meaning health; sunshine* (Exod. xxi.) meaning peaceably, and the sheet (Deut. xxii.) meaning the case, shall be made clear. 27. pvb by teu yvb- The Puns - ' Example: Numbers xxi. 9 ; Isaiah v. 7. 28. "13.3ft. The Parallelism. Example: (Genesis xlix. 11): u He washes his garments in wine, and in the blood of grapes his clothes." The word Suso, raiment, does not occur again in the Bible, and is defined "raiment" only on account of another synonymous word. 29. fcTHJOE" 1 .} or ^20""1> Geometry, or the numerical value of the words; grammateis, the permutation of gut- terals and dentals, or the alphabets when taken backward- CD n& or wnen commenced with the middle letter CD 7^. 30. ?l"HOl3- The short-hand writing. The notaries used to put down one letter for a word, and this expediency of the writers was later applied as a rule in the interpretation of the Bible. 31. nVfcnDS iniNE NTO' DIplD- The arrangement of the events in the Bible is not of a historical succession. 32. jn 1TINS WHIP D"llE- The peculiarity of the Hebrew syntax is according to which parts of a sentence which ought to be subsequent take prece- dence. Example : (1 Samuel iii. 3) : "And the lamp of God had not yet gone out while Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the ark was," ought to read : And the lamp of God had not yet gone out in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was. While Samuel was lying down, the Lord called Samuel. The thirty-two dialectical rules of Rabbi Elieser are scat- tered in the Talmud, but were collected by Samuel Hana- gid, and are printed as an introduction to the Talmud Berachoth. 25 The text of these rules varies so considerably in the differ ent dialectical books that critical studies were adopted to restore the original texts by Rabbi Eliah Wilna (Zolkiew 5563), and by Jacob Reifman (Mewakesh Dawar, Wien, 5626). The College of Usha. The Hadrianic persecutions pressed hard upon the Jew- ish nation, and especially upon the rabbis, to whom, under the penalty of death, the study and the teaching of the Law were prohibited ; but in their devotion and piety they defied their Roman persecutors, and treated with indiffer- ence the threats of exile and death. Under such circumstances, the rabbis, anxious for the progress of Judaism, took measures to secure an asylum for the Law somewhere out of the reach of the Roman per- secutors. Usha seemed to them the right place, and thither emigrated the Rabbis Juda ben Hay, Nehemiah, Mair, Joseph, Simon b. Jochai, Elieser Haglili, Elieser ben Jacob. (Mid Shir Hashirim Samchuni). The most eminent among the rabbis, called Holcheh Usha, was Rabbi Mair ; he was distinguished for his knowl- edge, brilliant intellect and skill in dialectical contests. iy2p xb no ^BDI imra TND ^:n bw nro injn P]ID by mo^ won *h^ xbw irror ft n*Oi TTO KSCO bw NED TTO by -IDK (Erubin 13.) .Q^S Conscious of his superiority as its head, he endeavored to elevate the College of Usha to a very Synhedrin. But this endeavor clashed with the hereditary claims of Rabbi Simon ben Gamliel, the head of the Synhedrin of Yabneh. Alarmed at the seriousness of the commotion, Simon removed to Usha and there personally assumed the presi- dency of the Synhedrin. Simon thwarted Rabbi Mair's plan, but, at the same time, he aroused a secret jealousy, which threatened ere long to break forth and prove fatal to either or both of them. The moment for the eruption came. The more Simon felt that he was gradually being eclipsed 26 by Mair's dialectical acuteness the greater were his endeavors to thrust him, by insisting upon hereditary privi- leges and etiquette, into the background. It was the custom, upon the entrance of the three heads of the Synhedrin, for all the collegiates to arise as a mark of reverence. Once on the occasion of the absence of the two assessors, Rabbi Mair and Rabbi Nathan, Simon enacted that all collegiates should arise in future only when he, the Nasi, entered, but when the President, Rabbi Nathan T entered that only two rows should arise, and only one row when the referendary, Rabbi Mair, entered. Such a proceeding embittered and insulted the two assessors, and cast the seeds of resentment in their minds. They conspired against Simon, and determined to surprise him unexpectedly in the college with questions which they supposed he could not answer, and thus put him to the blush and cause him to be deposed as not fully qualified for his high office. But their plan failed. Rabbi Jacob ben Cursari betrayed the conspirators, Rabbi Simon ben Gamliel prepared himself to meet his enemies, and, to their disappointment, he answered all their questions to the fullest satisfaction, and when through answering he reproached them with their guilty and mali- cious designs. He took still a bolder step ; he excluded them from the college. This exclusion from the college of men who were his superiors in knowledge, and who were of the founders of that institution, might have proved i'at al to him had not Eabbi Joseph ben Chalafta interceded, and ? by his weighty influence, reconciled them to the terras, that they were to be re-admitted into the college, and that their teachings should be recorded as anonymous Q^C^ D"Hn^ Rabbi Mair, and Q'HEIN >"> Rabbi Nathan. Rabbi Nathan was again a regular attendant at the col- lege, but Rabbi Mair regretted the step of reconciliation that had been taken, and, rather than humiliate himself by teaching anonymously, he went to Sardis in Asia, and established there a college (Synhed. 24) ^"l n'^l^ TO m prnBi onn -ipw "6*0 Brrran rvzn 27 Rabbi Mair's talents and merits succumbed to the weight of Simon's hereditary claims and privileges. Having thus experienced the wrong and the power of hereditary preferences, he contested them by his teaching: "A Gentile who has been devoted to the study of law equals in dignity a high priest. (Aboda Sara.) bm ]rra wn nn nmro pow ^ noi TND an Like the Gamalielites, Rabbi Simon also held that plain modes of study were preferable to dialectical methods. TD nDN nn pirn bwbzti p JWDP "n m ^rte (Horiyoth.) .FVHy D*Hn npij? nDN nni ppny The assessor, Rabbi Nathan, was a Babylonian, and as such he ranked next to Hillel, who, though a native of Babylog, occupied a high office in Palestine. Varying from his contemporaries, who believed that God judges the world on the New Year's Day, he taught that God always sat in judgment over the world. (Rosh Hashanah 16.) Rabbi Joseph ben Chalafla was a man of a very peace- able character. The party strife in Israel he imputed to the incompetency of the rabbis. b? y^w xbw bb^n nai **xw na i. ss.) rrnin TIEO nmnn nty^ With a remarkable frankness, he used to say : " I am no Aharonite, but if my colleagues should desire me to offi- ciate as an Aharonite, I should not hesitate to comply with their wishes." (Sabbath 118.) He was the first who interpreted dialectically the punc- tuation of the Hebrew words, _Pesachiin 9 ; Perek 4. ) Next to him. is known Rabbi Simon ben Elieser, who made it a.rule (Midrash Rabba Genesis 78) that regard should be taken of punctuation. p D'pD bs -tiybto p |TO^ an nDK ^nrn ^nn nn rmp:n by nnn nnnn -nmp:n i^mn nnrn by \ 28 In behalf of the re admittance of Rabbi Mair and Rabbi Nathan, he interfered, under the plea, "jj^"t VIH^^ miH D" 1 ^- C> " * ne ^ aw i s abroad and we are inside." The College of Tiberias. The son of Rabbi Simon ben Gamliel, Rabbi Jehuda, the patriarch, started a college in Beth Schearim. Later he moved to Sophoris, and finally to Tiberias. Like his father and his grandsires, he was opposed to all dialectical strata- gems, fearing they might undermine his hereditary claims and his authority. The janitors of the college were strictly ordered not to admit any one of Rabbi Mair's disciples, whom he considered mere sophists. mrp "m vrb -,CN TKD ""i bw jr "ODD |*Ob> T*0 "I ''TlDbn IDJp" 1 b* ircS-a ^nDpt> *6N p&a jn ivbb xbi jn It was, again, Rabbi Jose ben OhalaHa who interfered, pleading: u Rabbi Mair is dead, Rabbi Jehuda is angry, Joseh is silent, what shall become of the Lawf His ascendancy over Rabbi Jehuda was great p} 1 ^ *,,") "12- ]pin (Sabbat 51), and the disciples of Rabbi Mair were admitted. Rabbi Jehuda was an admirer of Rabbi Mair and owned that all he knew about dialectical methods he had learned from Rabbi Mair. (Erubin 13.) In the interpretation of the Law, Rabbi Jehuda was guided by the principle, " Neither too literally nor too free." m m irvmo p-oe cnrcn hi ^EIN rm,T ^i p)i3^i rj-^niD m nn vby ^oiam \xnn (Kiddnshin 49.) A great dialectician whom he disliked was the Sym- machos, most likely the translator of the Bible into Greek. (Erubin 13.) fop DDD1D1 D^^CS D v ^^m "^^D 'C'" 29 Another dialectician, Polimo, asked him whether a mis- creant with two heads must lay Tefillin? Rabbi Jehuda frowned at him. Dm nr*o D^'&n "n b EPS? >n " (Menach 36.) Rabbi Jehuda kept his disciples in a very strict disci- pline, QiTD^HS rHD pill- He invested himself with all the authority of a rabbi, Synhedrin and Patriarch, and he was favored in his autocracy by his genealogy, his riches and by his great ascendancy over the Roman Em- peror, Mark Aurelius Antonius. In spite of his autocracy, Rabbi Jehuda was so liked by the people that they looked upon him as an ideal of a Messiah. (Synhed. 98.) II. The Dialectics of the Amoraim. The Rabbis of the Talmud. (250-450.) The Dialectics in the Babylonian Colleges. The Israelites who were exiled to Babylon by Nebuchad- nezzar found there a good home. The equal rights which they enjoyed there in common with the other citizens, the fertility of the ground they settled upon, and the common interests, advantages and sufferings which they experienced in political respects, endeared unto them their new abode to such a degree that when, a few decades later, an emigra- tion to Palestine took place, only the poorer class re- turned, while the wealthier class preferred Babylon to Palestine. Babylon was the new country " flowing with milk and honey," and there they prospered, and, according to the words of Jeremiah, there they built their " own houses ;" but, in the midst of their prosperity they forgot, as S. L. Rappaport- (Shaaloth Hagonim, Cassel) says, to build the houses of God, the colleges. While the Jews of Palestine, through all the horrors of war and persecution, did not abstain from establishing colleges^ writing books and studying the Law, the Jews in Babylon gave hardly any evidence of a higher spiritual life during all those centuries from the exile till the Hadrianic perse- cutions, when Palestine Jews made Nehardea their resort. While the leaders of the Babylonian Jews were invested by the government with the authority of vassal kings, the leaders of the Palestine Jews were persecuted, and, even in the palmy days of Rabbi Jehuda, the patriarch, they were only tolerated by the Roman emperors, and yet the Baby- 31 lonians subjected themselves in all religious affairs to the Palestine rabbis, till the araora of the second generation, Rabbi Jehuda ben Jecheskeel, boldly declared, tfc Babylon equals Palestine in every respect." After the death of Rabbi Jehuda, the patriarch, many of his- great disciples emigrated to Babylon, where they started colleges and sowed the seeds of the Law broadcast into the juvenile minds of the Babylonian Jews, and which pro- duced so rich a harvest that ere long Palestine was sur- passed and the Babylonians could boast, " One Dialectician, of ours is a match for two of theirs." There is a great difference between the Dialectics of the rabbis of the Mishnah and the Tanaim. and the rabbis of the Talmudical epoch, the Amoraim. The Tanaim laid down certain rules, maxims and prin- ciples, according to which they interpreted, discussed, ex- plained and developed the Law. The Amoraim acknowledged the dialectical rules of the Tanaim as authoritative, but they themselves did not lay down new ones. They grasped a subject at issue in the same manner as do very dexterous and sagacious disputants who regard traditional authority, expediency, psychological facts, natural circumstances and capabilities Mar Samuel Yarchini. Mar Samuel Yarchini, the son of Rabbi Abba and a disciple of Rabbi Jehuda, the patriarch, was the head of the college of Nehardea, and was the first Dialectician among the Amoraim. The Jews in Babylon had a jurisdiction of their own, which was administered by their rabbis according to their traditional laws; but Mar Samuel, convinced of the insuffi- ciency and superfluousness of mere traditional laws, entered into the spirit of Jewish jurisprudence, and, by his juridi- cal principles and decisions, he raised Jewish jurisprudence to a higher standard of development. Such a work could not be accomplished without great skill and dexterity in Dialectics. Mar Samuel's Dialectics are plain, logical, natural and conclusive, and the Jewish 32- jurisprudence, emanating from broad principles of justice and equality, and being only rarely stunted in its develop- ment by authoritative decisions of the Bible, afforded full scope for his dialectical acuteness. His advice was sought by the Persian King, Sabur I. After the death of his colleague, Rabh, the head of the college in Sura, Rabh's disciples flocked to his college in Nehardea. Mar Samuel was a universal genius. He was a distin- guished physician, and in astronomy he was so learned that he made a calendar for sixty years in advance and sent it to the chief rabbi of Palestine, Rabbi Jochanan, to show him that the festival calculation sent to them from Pales- tine was of little value. The College of Pumbaditlia. Rabbi Jehuda ben Yecheskeel, Samuel's disciple, opened a college in Pumbaditha, which for centuries was the most important alma mater among the Jewish colleges in Babylon. Rabbi Jehuda, nick-named ben Schweskel, was called on account of his pre-eminent dialectical acuteness fcOJ"^, u the acute."' A specimen of his sophistry is : "Iron is solid, but it suc- cumbs to fire, and the fire again succumbs to the water, and stronger than water are the clouds which bear the water, and stronger than the clouds is the wind which dis- pels them ; stronger than the wind is man, he resists the wind ; mightier than man is the trouble which breaks him down ; mightier than trouble is the vine ; mightier than the vine is the sleep, and stronger than the sleep is the death, and mightier than the death is the charity which saves man from starvation." (Baba Batra 10.) The golden ages of the Dialectics were, according to him, at the days of Othniel ben Knas, who, by Dialectics, rescued all the halachas which had been neglected during the period of mourning after the death of Moses. (Temura 16.) p nD?n D^K "j- And 33 another golden age of the Dialectics was that in which the Prophet Isaiah 33, according to a Talmudical interpretation in Chagiga 15, says they built a labyrinth of halachas in the air. Ynp rmraff piorn jp \ HIND To the jurisprudence he devoted almost all his time, and thereby neglecting all other branches of casuistry to such a degree that when once asked to give a decision in a ceremonial case he was at a loss what to say, and, as a sub- terfuge, he referred such questions as this to the category of futile sophistry. (Berachoth 20.) ^tflD^I TT1 Win pin Np Rabh Yehuda placed Babylonia and Palestine on an equal footing in every respect, and considered as prejudi- cial any predilection or preferment for Palestine. When Rabbi Zeira, an enthusiast of Palestine, returned to Palestine, he escaped in secret lest Jehuda would not have allowed it. (Sabbath 41.) He was careful in the selection of disciples. (Ohulin 133.) TD^D^ rUIOT ^D DJ!TJQ /DU pjn l.TN!^ an( i was verv scrupulous about the purity of genealogy, but his veracity in tell- ing the traditions in the name of the author was doubted very much by his own brother (Chulin 44) IfY^n K/ on .TWO ^nK rmrv ^m -bbs ^nh Rabh Juda's successor was Rabh Hasda, who was so rich that, before he was called to Pumbaditha, he maintained his private college in Sura out of his own means. He was a great Dialectician, and whenever he met with the great Halachist, the blind Rabh Scheschet, they both trembled. Rabh Scheschet trembled because of Rabh Hasda's dialectical acuteness, and Rabh Hasda trembled because of R. Scheschet's great store of traditional knowl- 34 edge. (Erubin 86.) "HrO 3tt2 T HEW 211 KIDf! 31 rccr 311 NrruncD rprvc^' jj?rn;: *ncn 31 mn fensn 311 rrbic^SD meu rp^ir ynis In discussion with Rabh Acha, Rabh Hasda used to remark, slightingly : (Pesachim 33, Nedar 59) f^ |N!D 131 PHY 1 ^31^1 "p? an( i when mentioning some bold decisions of his teacher, Rabh, he used to add Qlp^H 1111V3 JTiT (Succa 33.) In asseverations he used the exclamation "By God! 1 ' DM^H (Berach. 54.) Upon Rabh Hasda's death, Rabba bar Nachmani was appointed the head of the college, but he declined in favor of Rabbi Huna bar CJiija ; and when Rabbi Huna bar Hija died, after a few years, the election fell again upon Rabba bar Nachmani and upon Rabbi Joseph, a blind man, who translated the Prophets into the Chaldean language. Only one chief was needed, and it was agreed to lay the matter before the rabbis in Palestine for decision. Rabba bar Nachmani was a great Dialectician and Rabbi Joseph a great halachist. The rabbis of Tiberias decided in favor of the halachist, Rabbi Joseph, but in the meantime he was disadvised by an astrologer to accept the office, and he declined it. Thus Rabba bar Nachmani became the head of the college of Pumbaditha. rai \xro pr 31 JIQ \rb rrby ^3p *6 rs'^w ^on nD*? pn^ tern (Horijoth 14.) .rDT 1 31 Rabba bar Nachmani was one of the greatest Dialecti- cians that ever lived among the Jews in Babylon. His great dialectical acuteness the Talmud describes in the hyperbolic language : " If God be in controversy with the rabbis, then Bar Nachmani must be the arbiter." (Baba Meziah 86.) 35 -nna -IDN Tvrrp'n jrp-n PDU JNO nsN NEB nsK jrp*n TTP ^N DTO3 TIT On account of his poverty and mania of censuring the people of Pumbaditha, he lived on no good terms with them (Sabbath 153) NrVHDEID n^lD iT^ ^D"l> but de ' pended mostly upon the subvention he received from Exi- larch, Mar Ukba ben Nehemia. This Exilarch, it seems, was a good friend to him, and, in the name of Mar Samuel, told him three halachas : a. Any contract made in a non- Jewish court is valid. b. Though according to the Jewish law the occupant of real estate for three successive years, that property not being claimed justly by anybody in the meantime, is the rightful owner of it; still the Jews in Persia must wait forty years before they can become rightful owners of such property, because " that is Persian law." G. The Jewish law, which does not allow the one who pays tax for a man unable to pay to keep the poor man's field, is not obligatory for the Jews in Persia. (Baba Batra 45.) vpm inra) Npoco 1 ? KJDN pn nnni- At that time the political horizon of the Jews in Babylon be- came cloudy. King Sabur II. was hostile against the Jews, the chiefs of the college of Pumbitha were forced to flee before the soldiers. Later Rabba bar Nachmani was charged with giving, through his lecturing in Pumbaditha, twelve thousand Israelites from the country an opportunity to escape the collectors of personal tax. He fled, but death overtook him while sitting in a tree. His successor in the college of Pumbaditha was his nephew, Abaji bar Nachmani, who was brought up in his uncle's house and" enjoyed the diligent care of his uncle. 36 NIP! ^Dan *~\r\n re*!- Abaji was quite young when his uncle detected in him great promising talents, and he used to say: ''The gourds can be recognized in the buds." (Erubin29.) Jp-p NDCDpC p$l3 pyQ. His hopes were well founded, for Abaji's dialectical acuteness and dexterity became proverbial i^K! nVin (Synhed. 26), and still he could not maintain the reputation of his col- lege, but lived to see the glory of Pumbaditha fading, and the number of his disciples so diminished that he called his college "an orphan among the orphans/' (Ketuboth 106.) Norn Korp. The cause of the decline of Abaji's college was Raba bar Joseh, who, being an unequaled Dialectician, instituted a college in Machuza, where his great reputation, combining all the qualities and abilities of an ideal Babylonian rabbi, was a great attraction for the disciples of all other colleges. Abaji, who boasted of himself, U I am the second Ben Asai," tfnM-i NplEG W pD ^N m "3N -138 (Sota 45), was so totally eclipsed by Raba bar Joseph that only six points at issue with Rabba Abaji's decisions were final, Q"j" ^'"0 "Ittn rPttlD Abaji lived to see the persecutions of the Jews by Con- st a ntinus. The College of Machuza. Raba bar Joseph, a disciple and a son-in-law of Rabh Hasda, the President of the Pumbaditha College, established the college of Machuza. His great scholarship, brilliant intellect, progressive energy, combined with a noble character and affability, made his college an attraction for thousands of disciples, placed him ahead of the rabbis in Babylon, and made iiii.i a favorite of the people of Machuza. 37 Abaji, the President of the Pumbaditha College, viewed with envy the ascendancy of Raba over the people and imputed it to Raba's indulging the faults of the people of Machuza. NH3 ^3 PP^ 'BCD DI DI^D But Raba ascribed his popularity to his impartiality and to the good, sound sense of the people of Machuza. I was thinking that all the people of Machuza loved me, though in my capacity as judge I can but expect only one party to have good feeling toward me ; but, to judge from their sub- mission to my impartial decisions, I can not but think that either they all love me or that they all hate me. (Ketuboth 115.) Raba is the greatest among the rabbis of the Talmud, and still only a little attention was devoted to his teaching and life by modern historians and biographers. Dr. Jost tells a few historical remarks about him and represents him as an active, energetic and enlightened man, who devoted much attention to the cause of education. (Gitin 37 ; JBaba Bathra 2 ; Baba Meziah 109 ; Maccot 16.) Dr. Graetz selected Raba as a victim of his libelling mania. He misrepresents him as a selfish, egotistical and low character and a sophist in the meanest acceptation of the term. Raba is charged by Dr. Grsetz with self-aggran- dizing motives and selfishness, because, in Dr. Graetz's opinion, he sought to deprive Rabh Mari of the inheritance his father, the proselyte Issor, deposited for him with Raba. The passage in the Talmud to which Dr. Graetz refers relates something quite the reverse, and it requires the imagination, inaccuracy and partiality of Dr. Graetz to make such a discovery in that passage. Every sober Tal- mudist knows, according to the Talmud, Baba Bathra 149, that it was not Raba who would cheat the Rabh Mari out of his inheritance, but that it was Raba who was cheated out of a sum of money that was allotted to him by virtue of the traditional law of the Jews. 38 Raba had such a strong claim on that sum of money that when cheated out of it he complained of having suffered a loss, and complained in an indignant tone without being remonstrated with by any one concerned in the affair. In this light it was taken by Altasi, Nimuke Joseph, and Mor- dechai. A law may be unjust, but so long as it is consistent no one has a right to accuse another of meanness, selfishness and injustice m availing himself of it. Raba's action was not considered even morally wrong at that time, or he would not have dared to speak of it in a city like Machuza, populated mostly by proselytes, and especially as it was himself who reproved the Rabbi Zeira II. for a reckless decision, whereby he offended the prose- lytes of Machuza and brought upon himself their odium. Dr. Graetz quotes only the faults he imputed to Raba, but leaves unnoticed any of his own merits. Such unfairness is unworthy an historian. One of the many examples not mentioned by Dr. Graetz, testifying to Raba's honesty and high tone of morality, is : Rabh Papa and Rabh Huna hired boatmen to carry them over the stream Nahar Malka, but, by incidents unforeseen and not within their control, the boatmen were prevented from keeping the agreement. The rabbis urged them to keep the agreement, and to transport them by mules on a roundabout way. They came before Raba, who, deciding in favor of the boatmen. NilT^ N^"i NS.31N' rebuked and reproved the rabbis, saying: u Ye unscrupulous, hoary men, wouldst rob the boatmen of theif clothes?" (Gitin 73; Ketub 85.) ipr&n to^i T6ffD "nrn "p^p- Is that the language of an unscrupulous man ? Without citing a single specimen of Raba's dialectics, Dr. Graetz places him among the caviling and captious sophists. Dr. Graetz might have written differently had he taken into consideration that Raba's halachic maxims breathe sound sense; that he treated of the topics of the time ; that he warned the people of the many devilish sophists : that he 39 disapproved of Akiba's severing methods ; that to interpret the Law naturally was his tantamount principle ; and that he collected and observed the wisdom embodied in popular adages, which no other rabbi ever did. p p The analysis of a p The restrictions of a "")Jpl!"V) 7p. (c) jniD nrn^ pn )o (B. K. 25) .ip -pDD NT"! II APPENDIX. irK bprh IBIDI Tsnn 1 ? irfrnn p nns; p bs (Pesachim 27.) .p^ n'no on ^i D^DID nniD nmn "nm p:n p (Pesachim 65.) D""^ D""! ^^1 D^HD n^ini ^>p pjn p !7.) rnn p j^^nic r (Synhed. 74.) DTD- The invalidation of a no ^a On): MB^DM nm D JWID nsn no 6 inn ^ ^no (Chulin 115.) APPENDIX. . IU The Geserah Schawah based on objects, (a) 11 jron *ai jron 3fcn bwDfcn ">:n iD*n fcc^n fcOM N^D ^n n*ra fcon IT p^b' 1 rrb 'CTID n^ i-n ^^ ^ (Chulin85; Erab 51.) The Geserah Schawah derived from expressions. (5) 31 DV^D ^XID^ ID nmn* 1 rrru pi^ ten (Nidda 22; Yebamoth 70.) The tranfer of the Geserah Schawah peculiarities, (c) nro JHDI .nroi nro p-a in 120.) .mnn 'pi^i nro |n o^ ^" (Critoth 22.) Hekesh means, when of two subjects, which are in one passage, only of one is spoken, but both are meant.. (Kid 77.) ion wn pnnn pnn n 1 ? now IV APPENDIX. n-raa IS'^DI inn px ppv,a ivbr\ iaii inn PN fc'pvo ic^n ian 2^:21 inn E^pnia isbn ^'^ ina i^im iy nTua i^ v ^ ino iim ?iDim ^pa i^* 1 ^ MO isini ^pa it: nTuai ^pMa 113^ no a^ |^:aa (Sebachim 48, 49, 50, 51.) iv.-ax pa Rabbi Yosuah ben Chananja calls the "jnN ainD^D aK T^a also I^SD (1C- The Q^airD ^^'D -^ TJa is a l so called ]. The recurrence Pi1 1*n commences with the term |"|] ^"IHD HT "HH ^7? but the coincidence commences with the term The restrictions of the n^an c^airo ^^ noi nmn n (Synhed. 67.) in^a o^an D^aina ^^ i^\x ^N^S:^ (Kidushin 37, 58.) VHE^J (Yebomoth 103,) (Kidushin 28.) (Chulin 98.) p^^ K 1 ? P&HDD P (B.M.20, Berach 19.) (Synhed. 71.) (Succoth50; Yebam. 46; Menach. 82.) APPENDIX. (Sebach. 4.) p-j Q f pnnsn BIBI ^?D Tn DIPD 'p.mcDEK n m * p:"] pK HTO ni ppnnon COIDI ^D ^DI mo ni (Menachoth 55.) fa*\$] bh HTD m ppnnsn sro i^ (Nidda 33.) (Erubin. 27.) p mi.T ^11 ^r ^ D 13D (Synhed. 78; Berachoth 3.) (Pesach. 61.) ^D^D IHSpD (Pesach. 43.) "bzr c ste (Sebach. 82.) (Maccoth 14.) " -jni: " (Chulin78; Synhed. 85; B. M. 94.) (Crises 14; Chulinl 01.) VI APPENDIX. penm PB^DIDI pjnu "D DUiycttN p Nr:r (Bechoroth 44.) yvb c^ysi nin 5 ? cray^ jrcn- (Baba Kama 77-78.) (Baba Kama 56.) 17.) inm m xcDirsi ri (Synhed. 17, 51; Temura 2.) pnv ^1 (Chulin 118.) nibnn p (Synhed. 3.) (Pesach. 71; Kid. 4; (Chulin 118.) (M. Tanchuma, Terumah.) niinD im^Dl D*lp1D 'conB pini XDISI ^r pin n rri> ^11 NCDIB D" N^DI ^12 nn p^io n^ ins inn p^ns pus ^^^ 'c"n (Nosir 35; Erubin 28.) (Kesuboth 32; Kidu 78.) UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A 000197252 o