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Simeon Ben Azzai
Simeon ben Azzai or simply Ben Azzai ( he, שמעון בן עזאי) was a distinguished tanna of the first third of the 2nd century. Biography Ben Azzai is sometimes called "Rabbi", but, in spite of his great learning, this title did not rightfully belong to him, for he remained all his life in the ranks of the "talmidim" or "talmidei hakhamim" (pupils or disciples of the wise). Ben Azzai and Ben Zoma were considered in the tannaitic school-tradition as the highest representatives of this degree in the hierarchy of learning. Ben Azzai is especially named as an eminent example of a "pupil who is worthy of the hora'ah," of the right of independent judgment in questions of religious law. Ben Azzai was close to the leaders of the school of Jabneh. On the same day, he (1) handed down "from the mouth of 72 elders" present a halakhic decision (which was accepted in Jabneh on the day when Eleazar ben Azariah was elected president in the place of Gamaliel II) and also (2) resolved tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tannaim
''Tannaim'' ( Amoraic Hebrew: תנאים , singular , ''Tanna'' "repeaters", "teachers") were the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10–220 CE. The period of the ''Tannaim'', also referred to as the Mishnaic period, lasted about 210 years. It came after the period of the '' Zugot'' ("pairs"), and was immediately followed by the period of the '' Amoraim'' ("interpreters"). The root ''tanna'' () is the Talmudic Aramaic equivalent for the Hebrew root ''shanah'' (), which also is the root-word of ''Mishnah''. The verb ''shanah'' () literally means "to repeat hat one was taught and is used to mean "to learn". The Mishnaic period is commonly divided up into five periods according to generations. There are approximately 120 known ''Tannaim''. The ''Tannaim'' lived in several areas of the Land of Israel. The spiritual center of Judaism at that time was Jerusalem, but after the destruction of the city and the Second Temple, Yohanan ben Zakk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rabbi Akiva
Akiva ben Yosef (Mishnaic Hebrew: ''ʿĂqīvāʾ ben Yōsēf''; – 28 September 135 CE), also known as Rabbi Akiva (), was a leading Jewish scholar and sage, a '' tanna'' of the latter part of the first century and the beginning of the second century. Rabbi Akiva was a leading contributor to the ''Mishnah'' and to Midrash halakha. He is referred to in the Talmud as ''Rosh la-Hakhamim'' "Chief of the Sages". He was executed by the Romans in the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Biography Early years Akiva ben Yosef (written ''aqívā'' in the Babylonian Talmud and ''aqívāh'' in the Jerusalem Talmud), born , was of humble parentage. According to some sources, he was descended from converts to Judaism. When Akiva married the daughter of Ben Kalba Sabua, a wealthy citizen of Jerusalem, Akiva was an uneducated shepherd employed by Ben Kalba Sabua. His wife's first name is not provided in earlier sources, but a later version of the tradition gives it as Rachel.Avot of Rabb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shammai
Shammai (50 BCE – 30 CE, he, שַׁמַּאי, ''Šammaʾy'') was a Jewish scholar of the 1st century, and an important figure in Judaism's core work of rabbinic literature, the Mishnah. Shammai was the most eminent contemporary of Hillel. His teachings mostly agree with those of Hillel, except on three issues. Both were divided over an earlier rabbinic dispute, regarding the actual laying on of hands upon a sacrificial animal on a Festival Day, which Hillel permitted.Jerusalem Talmud ('' Hagigah'' 2:2 0b; 12a Their disciples, who had differing views to their masters, disputed many other halakhic matters. The School of Shammai, founded by Shammai, is almost invariably mentioned along with the School of Hillel, founded by Hillel. They differed fundamentally from each other. Although they were contemporaries, Hillel was nearly sixty years old at the time of Shammai's birth. History Shammai, along with Hillel his contemporary, took on oversight of the Sanhedrin some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halakah
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandments (''mitzvot''), subsequent Talmudic and rabbinic laws, and the customs and traditions which were compiled in the many books such as the ''Shulchan Aruch''. ''Halakha'' is often translated as "Jewish law", although a more literal translation of it might be "the way to behave" or "the way of walking". The word is derived from the root which means "to behave" (also "to go" or "to walk"). ''Halakha'' not only guides religious practices and beliefs, it also guides numerous aspects of day-to-day life. Historically, in the Jewish diaspora, ''halakha'' served many Jewish communities as an enforceable avenue of law – both civil and religious, since no differentiation of them exists in classical Judaism. Since the Jewish Enlightenment (''Hask ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived from the Greek translation, (), meaning "instrumental music" and, by extension, "the words accompanying the music". The book is an anthology of individual Hebrew religious hymns, with 150 in the Jewish and Western Christian tradition and more in the Eastern Christian churches. Many are linked to the name of David, but modern mainstream scholarship rejects his authorship, instead attributing the composition of the psalms to various authors writing between the 9th and 5th centuries BC. In the Quran, the Arabic word ‘Zabur’ is used for the Psalms of David in the Hebrew Bible. Structure Benedictions The Book of Psalms is divided into five sections, each closing with a doxology (i.e., a benediction). These divisions were probably intr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soṭah
Sotah ( he, סוֹטָה or he, שׂוֹטָה) is a tractate of the Talmud in Rabbinic Judaism. The tractate explains the ordeal of the bitter water, a trial by ordeal of a woman suspected of adultery, which is prescribed by the Book of Numbers in the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh''). In most editions, this tractate is the fifth in the order of Nashim, and it is divided into nine chapters. The tractate exists in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud. ''Sotah'' is also the term used for the woman tried in this manner. Mishnah The ''mishnas'' (''mishnayot'') are devoted in the main to an exact definition of the rules of procedure in the case of a wife who was either actually or supposedly unfaithful. The mishnas discuss other rituals in which speech is a key component, such as ''egla arufa'', breaking the heifer's neck; '' Hakheil'', the Jewish King's septa-annual public Torah reading; and the Blessings and Curses of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. Toseft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bava Batra
Bava Batra (also Baba Batra; Talmudic Aramaic: בָּבָא בַּתְרָא "The Last Gate") is the third of the three Talmudic tractates in the Talmud in the order Nezikin; it deals with a person's responsibilities and rights as the owner of property. It is part of Judaism's oral law. Originally it, together with Bava Kamma and Bava Metzia, formed a single tractate called ''Nezikin'' (torts or damages). Unlike Bava Kamma and Bava Metzia, this tractate is not the exposition of a certain passage in the Torah. Mishnah The Mishnah is divided into ten chapters, as follows: * Regulations relating to jointly owned property (chapter 1) * Responsibilities of a property owner towards his neighbor (chapter 2) * Established rights of ownership and rights connected with property (chapter 3) * Laws referring to the acquisition of property by purchase, as also what constitutes an unclean vessel when purchased from a Gentile (chapters 4-7) * Laws of inheritance (chapters 8-9) * Laws concerni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amoraim
''Amoraim'' (Aramaic: plural or , singular ''Amora'' or ''Amoray''; "those who say" or "those who speak over the people", or "spokesmen") refers to Jewish scholars of the period from about 200 to 500 CE, who "said" or "told over" the teachings of the Oral Torah. They were primarily located in Babylonia and the Land of Israel. Their legal discussions and debates were eventually codified in the Gemara. The ''Amoraim'' followed the ''Tannaim'' in the sequence of ancient Jewish scholars. The ''Tannaim'' were direct transmitters of uncodified oral tradition; the ''Amoraim'' expounded upon and clarified the oral law after its initial codification. The Amoraic era The first Babylonian ''Amoraim'' were Abba Arika, respectfully referred to as ''Rav'', and his contemporary and frequent debate partner, Shmuel. Among the earliest ''Amoraim'' in Israel were Johanan bar Nappaha and Shimon ben Lakish. Traditionally, the Amoraic period is reckoned as seven or eight generations (dep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biblical Exegesis
Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical criticism,'' it was based on two distinguishing characteristics: (1) the concern to avoid dogma and bias by applying a neutral, non-sectarian, reason-based judgment to the study of the Bible, and (2) the belief that the reconstruction of the historical events behind the texts, as well as the history of how the texts themselves developed, would lead to a correct understanding of the Bible. This sets it apart from earlier, pre-critical methods; from the anti-critical methods of those who oppose criticism-based study; from later post-critical orientation, and from the many different types of criticism which biblical criticism transformed into in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Most scholars believe the German Enlightenment () led to the creation of biblical criticism, although some assert that its root ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chullin
Hullin or Chullin (lit. "Ordinary" or "Mundane") is the third tractate of the Mishnah in the Order of Kodashim and deals with the laws of ritual slaughter of animals and birds for meat in ordinary or non-consecrated use (as opposed to sacred use), and with the Jewish dietary laws in general, such as the laws governing the prohibition of mixing of meat (''fleishig'') and dairy (''milchig'') products. While it is included in the Seder Kodashim, it mainly discusses non-consecrated things and things used as the ordinary human food, particularly meats; it is therefore sometimes called "Shehitat Hullin" ("Slaughtering of Non-Consecrated Animals"). It comprises twelve chapters, dealing with the laws for the slaughtering of animals and birds for meat for ordinary as opposed to sacred use, with other rules relating to the eating of meat, and with the dietary laws in general. The rules prescribed for kosher slaughtering, known as Shechita, include five things which must be avoided: there ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
