Later traditions recognized the importance of Rabbi Judah ben Bathyra I’s teachings in Babylonia as can be seen from his presence in this list with the great figures of tannaitic tradition and their centers of learning. “Righteousness, righteousness, pursue!” (Deut. 16:20) Go after the sages to the academy, after Rabbi Eliezer to Lud, after Rabbi […]
Already in the tannaitic period, Rabbinic sages were to be found in Babylonia. Most prominent among them was Rabbi Judah ben Bathyra I (mid-first century C.E.) settled in Nisibis before the destruction of the Temple. Rabbi Yose said, “Once I visited Nisibis, (128) and I saw an old man there, and I said to him, […]
King Shaµpuµr receives tribute from the Roman emperors Valerian (253–260), who bows before him, and Philip the Arab (244–249), who stands in the background, offering his arms to the mounted king. Shaµpuµr, who called himself “King of Kings of Iran and Non-Iran,” ruled over the Persian Sassanian empire from 241–272. The rapid spread of Manichaeism […]
The Amoraim made use of various techniques to impart the oral Torah to their students. Most prominent was simple repetition. To aid in memorizing, since the oral Torah was transmitted and taught through an oral process, mnemonic devices and other formulations were used. R. Pereda had a pupil whom he taught his lesson four hundred times […]
The various locations of the Sanhedrin are linked with the verse in Genesis which locates the tribe of Zebulun by the seashore. Genesis Rabbah, a midrash on Genesis edited in the fifth century C.E., locates the resting place of the Sanhedrin in Zebulun’s territory in Sepphoris but was also aware that it later moved to […]
The book of Acts pictures Rabban Gamliel I as reacting to the arrest of the Christian apostles. This passage has him reviewing the history of messianic pretenders in the Second Temple period. 33- When they heard this they were enraged and wanted to kill them. 34- But a Pharisee in the council named Gama’li-el, a […]
Photo courtesy of bibleplaces.com. Sepphoris, Zippori in Hebrew, is located in the center of the Lower Galilee, three miles northwest of Nazareth. Although it was probably founded in First Temple days (eighth or seventh century B.C.E.) it reached its floruit much later. In the Hasmonean period (first century B.C.E.) as well as in the Herodian […]
An example of the intricate carvings in the catacombs of Beth She’arim, this menorah stands on top of the head of a man in a Roman military tunic. Jewish symbols such as the menorah appear side by side with pagan motifs of lions, eagles, bulls’ heads and garlands. A carved shell, another common ornament, decorates […]
This narrative indicates that even Rabbis were in contact with Jewish Christians and that they exchanged interpretations and teachings. It once happened that R. Eliezer was arrested on account of heresy and they brought him up to the bema to be tried. The hegemon asked him: Should an elder like you engage in those things? He […]
The Tosefta presents a list of regulations put together from previously existing statements, reflecting tannaitic steps to distance Jews from the early Christians, who were increasingly regarded as members of a separate religious community. If meat is found in the hand of a non-Jew, it is permitted to derive benefit from it. [If it is […]