The Mishnah Development and Codification

What happened at Yavneh was to shape Jewish life to the present day. For the first time there was a unified legislative and administrative authority with unrivaled power and acceptance by all who were part of the Tribe now known and forever as “The Jews.” This unification was birthed by the Roman Empire as midwife to assure the compliance of the Jews as subjects and taxpayers of the Roman Empire. To be sure there were always elements that wished to revolt against Roman rule. But their failure only ensured the continuing authority of the rabbis who in most cases advised consent. The one time a revolt had the consent of a leading scholar, Rabbi Akiva, resulted in such devastation that submission to whatever secular authority had power became ingrained in the rabbinic advice for all time. ¹ The rump of the House of Hillel who assumed leadership of both the legislature and academy had always promoted peace. Hillel and Shammai were Pharisee conferees who differed on many issues. Their schools of thought and action were at times diametrically opposed to one another and at times came to blows. While the leadership of the Jews became the inheritance of the descendants of Hillel, after the disappearance of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, the members of the school of Shammai were part of both the legislature and academy and at times had their opinions accepted as both law and means of interpretation. This was to codify in thought and action the acceptance by Jews of the possibility that the opposite opinion from your own can have validity. As found in the discussion of later centuries in the academy in Babylonia: Rabbi Abba reported in the name of Shemuel (Founder of the Academy of Nehardea (subsequently moved to Pumbeditha): For three years the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel disagreed…a Divine Voice went out and said: “Both these and these are the words of the living God.” ² Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai was followed by Rabban Gamliel II a great-grandson of Hillel. He formalized and set the standard to this day of three daily prayers, morning, afternoon and evening. In his assertion of authority he overstepped the bounds by humiliating a beloved follower of the school of Hillel, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hannanyah. The revolt of the rabbis evinced a ready disrespect for authority that exceeded its power that became a trait of the “Tribe” not to pay unbending obedience. Rabban Gamliel acknowledged his mistake and made amends and was reinstated. ³ Beyond the acceptance that the opinion of someone else may have validity is the irony that after having fought under the Maccabees not to accept Greek religion and culture the rabbis at Yavneh studied Greek Wisdom and incorporated it into their interpretation of their own tradition. According to his son Rabban Gamliel who was the potent figure for the new direction of Jewish intellectual and cultural life had in his academy five hundred students studying Greek as will as five hundred studying traditional material. ⁴
It is in their debates with Greek philosophers that the rabbis of the Mishnaic period first defined what might be called “natural law.” The sages taught: Certain philosophers asked the Jewish Sages in Rome (probably on a mission to intercede with the government there) if your God doesn’t want idol worship why doesn’t He destroy it. The Sages replied, if people were only worshipping objects that are not necessary for the world He would do so. But the sun and the moon, the stars and the constellations are worshipped. Should He destroy the world because of fools. “Rather, the world follows its course and the fools who sinned will be held in judgment in the future. ⁵ It is very possible that the legend related in Talmud ⁶ about Rabbis Akiva, (Shimeon) Ben Zoma, (Shimeon) Ben Azzai and Elisha ben Abuya as to their delving in mystic lore is more realistic to believe they entered into the Greek Academy as Academe was the grove in which Plato taught. This is bolstered by the teachings of Ben Zoma and Ben Azzai in the fourth chapter of the Mishnah Avot; Ben Zoma -Who is wise? He who learns from every human being.

Who is a hero? He who master’s his nature Who is rich? He who is happy in his circumstances. Who is honored? He who honors every human being.

Ben Azzai-Do a mitzvah (commandment) no matter how minor as you would do a major one and flee from any infraction. For the doing of a mitzvah invites the next one to be done as one sin leads to another. The reward of righteousness is its own reward, and the penalty of sin is to be in that state of sin.

As for Elisha ben Abuya he became a convert to the Greek way of life and left the rabbinical community.

For the relationship to philosophy and the reaction to it in tannaitic (Mishnah) times see the excellent work of Henry A. Fischel, Rabbinic Literature and Greco-Roman Philosophy. ⁷ How do I interpret an ancient text? We know from the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls that there was a form of interpretation known as “Pesher.” Pesher used the ancient text to be a prophecy of that which was to come. This method of interpretation was used by the writers of the New Testament to find in the various books of the Bible hints as to the coming of their messiah. From the reputed age of the “Sofrim (Scribes) there arose methods of interpreting the text of the Torah (First five books of the Bible). There was an effort to replace the plain meaning of the text with a “traditional” interpretation known as the “Torah She Baal Peh.” This became the method of the Pharisees and was inherited by their spiritual heirs the rabbis of post 70 CE. With the destruction of the Temple and the loss of authority of Priests and Sadducees, the rabbis now were to be the arbiters of what was correct practice. It is best represented by the contrast between Deuteronomy 31:9 –“And Moses wrote This “Torah” (First Five Books) and gave it to the Priests sons of Levi, who were carrying the Ark of the covenant of YHVH and to all the Elders, of Israel,” and the section of the Mishnah Tractate Avot, that states the views of the rabbis and begins: “Moses received the Torah from Sinai, and gave it to Joshua, and Joshua to then Elders, and the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets transferred it to the Men of the Great Assembly.” It became dogma for the rabbis that Deutronomy spoke of the “Written Torah” and what was recorded in Avot was the “Oral Torah” (the true meaning of the written document). This interpretation gave the rabbis carte blanche to fix the interpretation of what was to be legal, moral and social norms for Jews in contradistinction what might be taken and in many cases were the plain meaning of the text. Midrash. A word, a method, a literature. From the Hebrew verb to search, Midrash means searching the Text of the Torah (First five books of the Bible) for its true meaning. The Lex Talonis of the Hammurabi Code of the eighteenth century BCE as duplicated in part in Exodus twenty-one-twenty-two was replaced with monetary payments.
Two different schools of interpretation known by their chief expositors but developed before them were those associated with Rabbis Yishmael ben Elisha and Rabbi Akiva ben Yosef. Rabbi Yishmael adhered to a more conservative approach while Rabbi Akiva used a method that enabled an almost unlimited interpretation that could include the most novel ideas. Rabbi Akiva’s method allowed for the introduction of contemporary ideas as to morality, punishment and codes of conduct to be inserted into the meaning of a revered document that reflected past ideas that were considered no longer relevant to present situation. ⁸

In the Talmud ⁹ the question of how to interpret the sign of the definite article in Hebrew (et) which has no intrinsic meaning came to a dead end when confronted with the verse from Deuteronomy 10:20: “You shall be in awe of (et) the Lord your God….” Rabbi Akiva, always interpreting (et) to include something else had no difficulty including in the commandment to fear God so to that also includes Torah Scholars! None of the Torah Scholars disagreed! The realization that the interpretation of the rabbis especially those of Rabbi Akiva was recognized by the founder of the Babylonian Academy of Sura. His disciple Rav Yehudah told the following story: That when Moses went up to Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, he found God putting crowns on the letters. Moses asked God if this was necessary? God replied that there would come a man who would interpret all the crowns. Moses asked to see him. God sent Moses through time and space to the Academy of Rabbi Akiva. Moses heard the lecture and did not understand anything that Akiva was saying. A student asked Akiva how he knew what he taught. Akiva replied that it was a “Law from Moses on Mount Sinai!” Moses was pleased and humbled and asked God to give the Torah to Rabbi Akiva. God replied this is my decree! ¹⁰ The adoption and the adaption of new interpretations and modes of belief and actions on the part of members of the “Tribe” is something baked into the weltanschauung of the group. Two different methods of presentation of rabbinic thought developed side by side. Midrash that was an exposition of the text of the Torah (First five books of the Bible) followed the flow of biblical presentation verse by verse. It is divided into two categories Tannaitic which deal with the legal and standard of behavior in the last four books of the Torah. Aggadah which explicate the moral teachings and folklore derived or associated with the text, that is on the other books of the Bible and whose period of development extends into the middles ages. Both the schools of rabbi Yishmael and rabbi Akiva participated in the development of both types of Midrashim (plural thereof).

In their explication of the text there was an effort to limit some of the punishments that offended the sense of humanity that the rabbis tried to imbue in actions and psyches of the Tribe. To give two examples where the rabbis played quick and fast with the text are the case of then “Rebellious Son, “Deuteronomy 21:18-21 and the “Heretical City,” Deuteronomy 13:13-19. Rabbi Yehudah, one of the foremost disciples of Rabbi Akiva said of this law in which parents could have the court put a son to death: “The Rebellious Son, never was and will never be why is it written in the Torah? Explain it and receive a reward! Such patent nonsense was and is accepted by those faithful to rabbinic Judaism. The rabbis were determined to make the faith and the actions of those who followed them be rational and humane. Contrast a similar law concerning the “Heretical City.” According to Deuteronomy 13:13-19 the city is to be burnt to the ground and the inhabitants slaughtered. Whereas other rabbis hedged the application of such a terrible punishment Rabbi Eliezer boldly asserted as Rabbi Yehudah-“It never was and will never will be, explain it and receive a reward. ¹¹ Contrast that with the Albigensian Crusade called by Pope Innocent III. Besieging the city of Beziers July 21-22 the Papal legate, Arnaud Amalric told the attackers: “Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius-Kill them, for the Lord knows those that are His.” This is reported by Caesarius of Heisterbach, a fellow Cistercian. (12) It was the school of Rabbi Akiva however that was the source of the Mishnah. According to a later authority Rabbi Yochanan of Tiberias:

An unattributed Mishnah (which usually is considered the accepted ruling) is Rabbi Meir; an unattributed Baraita (non-mishnaic) is in accordance with Rabbi Nechemya, an unattributed Baraita in the Sifra (midrash on Leviticus) is rabbi Yehudah, an unattributed Baraita in the Sifrei (midrash on Numbers and (Deuteronomy)is Rabbi Shimon. All of these are in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva. (13) According to the story in the Talmud [^14] Rabbi Meir’s name was excised from all attribution that the law was in his name because of an attempted revolt against Rabban Shimeon ben Gamliel the father of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi who was the final editor of the Mishnah. Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi who was the final editor of the Mishnah restored Jewish relations with the Roman Government which had fallen into dire disrepair after the Bar Kochba revolt of 135 BCE and the martyrdom of Rabbi Akiva and many other rabbis as well as the death of thousands and others sold into slavery. What might have prompted the editing and publishing of the Mishnah was to give a guide to those who sat on rabbinical courts as to base their decisions on a standard of practice. Certainly, the Edict of Caracalla issued in 212 CE that declared that all free men were to be given Roman citizenship and all women the same rights Roman women must have urged a law code for rabbinical courts so that Jews should not avail themselves of the opportunity of going to Roman law courts. As did Paul according to “The Acts of the Apostles” 25:10, and the Mishnah of Gittin 9:8 where a woman could force a man to divorce in a Roman court (held invalid by the rabbis).

Footnotes

1. See Jews vs. Rome: Barry Strauss; Simon and Schuster New York etc.) ↩

2. Talmud Bavli Eruvin 13b ↩

3. Talmud Bavli Berakhot 27a-27b ↩

4. Talmud Bavli Sotah 49b. ↩

5. Talmud Bavli Avodah Zarah 54b ↩

6. Talmud Bavli Hagigah 14b ↩

7. Henry A. Fischel, Rabbinic Literature and Greco-Roman Philosophy. Leiden E. J. Brill 1973 ↩

8. For the sources of these ideas Talmud Bavli Shevuot 26a ↩

9. Talmud Bavli Pesachim 22b ↩

10. Talmud Bavli Menachot 29b ↩

11. Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 71a ↩