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Rabbinic Authority
Rabbinic authority in Judaism relates to the theological and communal authority attributed to rabbis and their pronouncements in matters of Jewish law. The extent of rabbinic authority differs by various Jewish groups and denominations throughout history. The origins of rabbinic authority in Judaism is understood as originally linked to the High Court of ancient Israel and Judah, known as the Sanhedrin. Scholars understand that the extent of rabbinic authority, historically, would have related to areas of Jewish civil, criminal, and ritual law, while rabbinic positions that relate to non-legal matters, such as Jewish philosophy would have been viewed as non-binding.Turkel, E. (1993). The nature and limitations of rabbinic authority. Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought, 27(4), 80-99. Rabbinic authority also distinguished the practice of Judaism by the Pharisees (i.e., Rabbinic Judaism) to the religious practice of the Sadducees and the Qumran sect. This concept is linked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moses Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. In his time, he was also a preeminent astronomer and physician, serving as the personal physician of Saladin. Born in Córdoba, Almoravid Empire (present-day Spain), on Passover eve, 1138 (or 1135), he worked as a rabbi, physician and philosopher in Morocco and Egypt. He died in Egypt on 12 December 1204, when his body was taken to the lower Galilee and buried in Tiberias. During his lifetime, most Jews greeted Maimonides' writings on Jewish law and ethics with acclaim and gratitude, even as far away as Iraq and Yemen. Yet, while Maimonides rose to become the revered head of the Jewish community in Egypt, his writings also had vociferous critics, particularly in Spain. Nonetheless, he was posthumously acknow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horayot
Horayot ( he, הוֹרָיוֹת; "Decisions") is a tractate in Seder Nezikin in the Talmud. In the Mishnah, this is the tenth and last tractate in Nezikin; in the Babylonian Talmud the ninth tractate; in the Jerusalem Talmud the eighth. It consists of three chapters in the Mishnah and two in the Tosefta. The tractate mainly discusses laws pertaining to erroneous rulings by a Jewish court, as well as unwitting actions performed by leading authorities of the Jewish people, and the sacrificial offerings (Hebrew korban, plural ''korbanot'') that might be brought as a consequence of these actions. The conclusion of the tractate (12a-13b) deals with the prioritization of korbanot in the temple and explores the question of how to quantify human life in emergency situations. Mishnah The Mishnah of Horayot is the final work of Nezikin. Horayot contains three chapters. There are twenty paragraphs of Mishna, or twenty ''mishnayot'', within the three chapters. These chapters deal with t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yavne
Yavne ( he, יַבְנֶה) or Yavneh is a city in the Central District of Israel. In many English translations of the Bible, it is known as Jabneh . During Greco-Roman times, it was known as Jamnia ( grc, Ἰαμνία ''Iamníā''; la, Iamnia); to the Crusaders as Ibelin; and before 1948, as Yibna ( ar, يبنى). History Yavne was one of the major ancient cities in the southern coastal plain, situated south of Jaffa, north of Ashdod, and east of the Mediterranean.Moshe Fischer, Itamar Taxel and David AmitRural Settlement in the Vicinity of Yavneh in the Byzantine Period: A Religio-Archaeological Perspective Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 350 (May, 2008), pp. 7-35. Excavations were carried out on the ancient tell (mound created by accumulation of archaeological remains) known as ''Tel Yavne'' (Hebrew), which developed on a natural kurkar_hill._The_tell_was_inhabited,_possibly_continuously,_from_either_the_Bronze_or_Iron_Age_until_the_Mandato ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beth Din
A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it is invested with legal powers in a number of religious matters (''din Torah'', "matter of litigation", plural ''dinei Torah'') both in Israel and in Jewish communities in the Diaspora, where its judgments hold varying degrees of authority (depending upon the jurisdiction and subject matter) in matters specifically related to Jewish religious life. History Rabbinical commentators point out that the first suggestion in the Torah that the ruler divest his legal powers and delegate his power of judgment to lower courts was made by Jethro to Moses (Exodus ). This situation was formalised later when God gave the explicit command to "establish judges and officers in your gates" ( Deuteronomy ). There were three types of courts (Mishnah, trac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Council Of Jamnia
The Council of Jamnia (presumably Yavneh in the Holy Land) was a council purportedly held late in the 1st century CE to finalize the canon of the Hebrew Bible. It has also been hypothesized to be the occasion when the Jewish authorities decided to exclude believers in Jesus as the Messiah from synagogue attendance, as referenced by interpretations of in the New Testament. The writing of the Birkat haMinim benediction is attributed to Shmuel ha-Katan at the supposed Council of Jamnia. The theory of a council of Jamnia that finalized the canon, first proposed by Heinrich Graetz in 1871, was popular for much of the 20th century. However, it was increasingly questioned from the 1960s onward, and the theory has been largely discredited. Background The Talmud relates that some time before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai relocated to the city of Yavneh, where he received permission from the Romans to found a school of ''halakha'' (Jewish reli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sifre
Sifre ( he, סִפְרֵי; ''siphrēy'', ''Sifre, Sifrei'', also, ''Sifre debe Rab'' or ''Sifre Rabbah'') refers to either of two works of ''Midrash halakha'', or classical Jewish legal biblical exegesis, based on the biblical books of Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Talmudic era Sifre The title ''Sifre debe Rav'' (lit. "the books of the school of Rav") is used by Chananel ben Chushiel, Isaac Alfasi, and Rashi; it occurs likewise in Makkot 9b. The 8th century author of Halachot Gedolot names four "exegetical books belonging to the Scribes" (Heb. ''Midrash sofrim'') and which, in all appearances, seem to refer to "Sifre debe Rav" and which comprised the following compositions: 1) ''Genesis Rabbah'' 2) '' Mekhilta'' (on Exodus), 3) ''Sifrei'' (on Numbers) and 4) ''Sifrei'' (on Deuteronomy). Regarding the reference in Sanhedrin 86a to the Sifre of Rabbi Simeon, see Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon; the question has likewise been raised whether, in view of the well-known close relation th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerusalem Talmud
The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish Oral law, oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talmud after Palestine (region), Palestine or the Land of Israel rather than Jerusalemis considered more accurate, as the text originated mainly from Galilee in Byzantine Palaestina Secunda rather than from Jerusalem, where no Jews lived at the time. The Jerusalem Talmud predates its counterpart, the Talmud#Babylonian Talmud, Babylonian Talmud (known in Hebrew as the ), by about 200 years, and is written primarily in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic. Both versions of the Talmud have two parts, the Mishnah (of which there is only one version), which was finalized by Judah ha-Nasi around the year 200 CE, and either the Babylonian or the Jerusalem Gemara. The Gemara i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Not In Heaven
Not in Heaven (לֹא בַשָּׁמַיִם הִיא, ''lo ba-shamayim hi'') is a phrase found in a Biblical verse, , which encompasses the passage's theme, and takes on additional significance in rabbinic Judaism. In its literal or plain meaning, the verse means that God's commands are not overwhelming but rather close to human hearts and abilities to obey. As noted in the '' New Oxford Annotated Bible,'' "The covenant demand is not beyond human reach or understanding but has been graciously revealed... 'the word is near you.'"''New Oxford Annotated Bible,'' Deut. 30:14. The full verse states: "It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?' In general, the verse conforms with how "... the deuteronomic tradition believed its Torah to be an immediately accessible wisdom, neither distant nor wondrous." Jewish interpretations The phrase "not in Heaven" is understood to justify human authority ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voice Of God
In the Abrahamic religions, the voice of God is a communication from God to human beings, heard by humans as a sound with no apparent physical source. In rabbinic Judaism, such a voice was known as a ''bat kol'' ( he, בַּת קוֹל ''baṯ qōl'', literally "daughter of voice"), and was a "heavenly or divine voice which proclaims God's will or judgment."The Jewish Encyclopedia: BAT ḲOL': It differed from prophecy in that God had a close relationship with the prophet, while the ''bat kol'' could be heard by any individual or group regardless of their level of connection to God. Hebrew Bible In the Hebrew Bible, the characteristic attributes of the voice of God are the invisibility of the speaker and a certain remarkable quality in the sound, regardless of its strength or weakness. A sound proceeding from some invisible source was considered a heavenly voice, since the Revelation#Mass revelation, mass revelation on Biblical Mount Sinai, Sinai was given in that way: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Oven Of Akhnai
''The Oven of Akhnai'' is a Talmudic story found in Bava Metzia 59a-b which is set around the early 2nd century CE. In the Talmud, the story is told after a discussion of being careful not to mistreat a person and the power of prayers which are said in pain to be heard by God. The story concerns a debate which was held over the halakhic status of a new type of oven. In the course of the rabbinic disagreement, the story expresses differing views of the nature of law and authority, concerns over a fractured and divisive community, and the issue of harming another person through words and actions. Story A new type of oven is brought before the Sanhedrin, consisting of tiles separated from one another by sand, but externally plastered over with cement. The rabbis debate whether or not this oven is susceptible to ritual impurity. Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurcanus argues that the oven is ritually pure while the other rabbis, including the nasi Rabban Gamaliel, argue that the oven is impure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eliezer Ben Hurcanus
Eliezer ben Hurcanus or Hyrcanus ( he, אליעזר בן הורקנוס) was one of the most prominent Sages (tannaim) of the 1st and 2nd centuries in Judea, disciple of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai Avot of Rabbi Natan 14:5 and colleague of Gamaliel II (whose sister Ima Shalom he married), and of Joshua ben Hananiah.''Pirkei Abot'' 2:8 He is the sixth most frequently mentioned sage in the Mishnah. Biography Introduction to Torah He was a kohen. His earlier years are wrapped in myths, but from these it may be inferred that he was somewhat advanced in life when a desire for learning first seized him, and impelled him, contrary to the wishes of his father, to desert his regular occupation and to depart to Jerusalem to devote himself to the study of the Torah. Here he entered Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai's academy and for years studied diligently, despite having to cope with great privations. It is said that sometimes many days elapsed during which he did not have a single meal. Ben-Z ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
