Influences of Greco-Roman Thought & the Rabbis

Ben Zoma, Pirke Avot 4:1

משנה מסכת אבות פרק ד משנה א •בן זומא אומר איזהו חכם הלומד מכל אדם שנאמר •

)תהלים קי"ט( מכל מלמדי השכלתי איזהו גבור הכובש את יצרו שנאמר )משלי טו /טז/( •

טוב ארך אפים מגבור ומושל ברוחו מלוכד עיר איזהו עשיר השמח בחלקו שנאמר )תהלים קכ"ח( יגיע •

כפיך כי תאכל אשריך וטוב לך אשריך בעולם הזה וטוב לך לעולם הבא

איזהו מכובד המכבד את הבריות שנאמר )שמואל א' • ב'( כי מכבדי אכבד ובוזי יקלו:

Quotes from Roman Writers

• Who then is sane? He who’s no fool. )Horace [56-8BCE], Satires, II.iii.158(

• Who then is free? The Sage who masters himself. )Horace, Satires II.vii.83(

• To be content with one’s things are riches. )Cicero, Paradoxa Stiocorum, 51(

• A noble thing is joyful poverty. )Seneca, Epistle II.5(• Honoring the Sage is a great bonus to the honorers.

)Gnomologium Vaticanum, 32(• Only the Sage is sane. Only the Sage is free. Only the

Sage is rich. )Cicero, pro Murena 60-66(

Kohelet Rabbah 5:14

AS HE CAME FORTH OF HIS MOTHER’ S WOMB [naked shall he go back as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor] )5:14(. Genibah said: It is like a fox who found a vineyard which was fenced in on all sides. There was one hole through which he wanted to enter, but he was unable to do so. What did he do? He fasted for three days until he became lean and frail, and so got through the hole.Then he ate [of the grapes] and became fat again, so that when he wished to go out he could not pass through at all. He again fasted another three days until he became lean and frail, returning to his former condition, and went out. When he was outside, he turned his face and gazing at the vineyard, said, ' O vineyard, O vineyard, how good are you and the fruits inside! All that is inside is beautiful and commendable, but what enjoyment has one from you? As one enters you so he comes out.’ Such is this world.

Aesop’s Fables

A hungry fox spied some bread and meat left in a hollow tree by some shepherds. He crawled in and ate it, but his belly swelled so that he could not get out again. As he moaned and groaned, another fox passing b y came up and asked what was the matter. When he heard what had happened, he said to the first fox: “I guess you’ll just have to wait until you get back to the size you were when you went in, and then you won’t have any trouble getting out.” The story shows that time overcomes difficulties.

More Fables• (Baba Kama 60b) When R. Ammi and R. Assi were sitting before R. Isaac the Smith, one of them said to

him: ‘Will the Master please tell us some legal points?’ while the other said: ‘Will the Master please give us some homiletical instruction?’

When he commenced a homiletical discourse he was prevented by the one, and when he commenced a legal discourse he was prevented by the other. He therefore said to them: I will tell you a parable:

To what is this like? To a man who has had two wives, one young and one old. The young one used to pluck out his white hair, whereas the old one used to pluck out his black hair. He thus finally remained bald on both sides. He further said to them: I will accordingly tell you something which will be equally interesting to both of you…

• (Aesop’s Fables)In the old days, when men were allowed to have many wives, a middle-aged man had

one wife that was old and one that was young; each loved him very much, and desired to see him like herself.

Now the Man's hair was turning grey, which the young Wife did not like, as it made him look too old for her husband. So every night she used to comb his hair and pick out the white ones.

But the elder Wife saw her husband growing grey with great pleasure, for she did not like to be mistaken for his mother. So every morning she used to arrange his hair and pick out as many of the black ones as she could. The consequence was the man soon found himself entirely bald.

Yield to all and you will soon have nothing to yield.

Studying Greek

Rabban Gamaliel was given permission to teach the students Greek due to the relationship with the Romans.

)Tosefta Sot 15:8(

R. Gamaliel's son, Rabbi Simeon even said, "There were a 1000 pupils in my father's house; 500 studied the Torah and 500 studied Greek wisdom." )Bavli Sota 49b(

May a Jew study Greek?

תלמוד ירושלמי מסכת פיאה פרק א דף טו טור ג /ה"אשאלו את רבי יהושע מהו שילמד אדם את בנו יוונית אמר להם ילמדנו בשעה שאינה לא •

יום ולא לילה דכתיב והגית בו יומם ולילה מעתה אסור לאדם ללמד את בנו אומנות בגין דכתיב והגית בו יומם ולילה •והתני ר' ישמעאל ובחר' בחיים זו אומנות •רבי בא בריה דרבי חייא בר ווא רבי חייא בשם רבי יוחנן מפני המסורות •רבי אבהו בשם רבי יוחנן מותר לאדם ללמד את בתו יוונית מפני שהוא תכשיט לה •שמע שמעון בר ווה אמר בגין דו בעה מלפה בנתיה הוא תלי ליה בר' יוחנן יבא עלי אם •

שמעתיה מר' יוחנן • They asked R. Yehoshua, May one teach his son Greek? He replied, he may

teach it at a time which is neither day nor night for it is written, You shall study it day and night.

• If so, then one may not teach his son a trade since it is written, You shall study it day and night.

• But didn’t R. Ishmael say, Choose life – this is a trade.• R. Abba…because of the slanderers.• R Abhu said in the name of R. Yohanan, One may teach his daughter Greek for it

serves her as an ornament.• Shimon bar Abba heard this. He said, because he wanted to teach his daughters

he ascribed it to R. Yohanan. May [a curse] come upon me if I heard this from R. Yohanan.

Pandora’s JarBeresheet Rabbah, 179-180• “And he said, I heard Your voice, and I was afraid for I am naked and I hid.

And he said, who told you that you are naked?” )Gen 3:9-10(• Rabbi Levi said, This should be compared to a woman who comes to

borrow vinegar, who enters into the house of the wife of a colleague.• She [the borrower] asks her [the wife], “How does your husband treat you?”• She [wife] said to her [visitor], “Everything he does with me is good, except

that there is this jar, which is full of snakes and scorpions, which he does not let me touch.”

• She [visitor] said, “All of his jewels are in there. And he plans to marry another woman and give them to her.”

• What did she [wife] do? She stretched out her hand into the jar. They began to bite her.

• When her husband came, he heard her voice crying out, and said, “Perhaps you touched that jar?”

• Similarly [God said to Adam]: “Did you eat from the tree which I commanded you?” )Gen 3:11(

Jews in Babylonia

How did they get there?

• 722BCE – Northern tribes deported• 597BCE – Deportation of Yehoyakhin• 586BCE – Deportation of ZedekiahTo: Chebar Canal )Ez 1:1(, Tel-Abib )Ez 3:15(, Tel-

Melah, and Tel-Harsha )Ez 2:59(

Talmud wonders why they were taken to Babylonia: “Because God sent them back to their mother’s house. To what might this be likened? To a man angered at his wife. To where does he send her—to her mother’s house” )Bavli Pesahim 87b(

By the rivers of Babylon

Jeremiah 29:5-7:Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Marry and beget sons and daughters, in order that you may increase in number there rather than decrease. Seek the welfare of the country to which I have deported you, and pray on its behalf to God, for on its welfare your own depends.

Fast-Forward

We know nothing about the community from 586 until Amoraic times except for a few small details:

Babylonia during Second Temple

• Ezra and Nehemiah come from Babylonia to restore Judaism in Palestine.

• Murashu Tablets list Jewish businessmen )5th cent BCE(

• Babylonian Jews contribute to the Temple and help Palestinian brothers militarily

• They had a large population )Josephus, Antiquities, 15:14-15(

• Hillel goes from Babylonia to Jerusalem

Political History

• Babylonian rule – Nebuchadnezzar

• Persian Achaemenid monarchy – – Cyrus, Xerxes… )539-331BCE(

• Seleucid Rule )331-141BCE(

• Parthian Rule )120BCE - 224CE(

• Persian Sassanian Rule )224 - 651 CE(

Rabbinic Reaction to Sassanian Rule

A. Bavli Yevamot 63b:When R. Yohanan was informed that the Parsees had come to Babylon, he reeled and fell When however he was told that they accepted bribes he recovered and sat down again.

They issued three decrees as a punishment for three [transgressions]:

1. They decreed against [ritually prepared] meat, because the priestly gifts [were neglected].

2. They decreed against the use of baths, because ritual bathing [was not observed].

3. They exhumed the dead, because rejoicings were held on the days of their festivals…

B. Shmuel says: The law of the land is the law.

Zoroastrianism

• One benevolent God, Ohrmazd, created the world

• Messianic end of days will come, resurrection of the dead

• Water and fire are holy• Complex purity laws• No burial in the ground• Scripture is the Avesta with Zand

commentary

Rabbis and Magi

A magus used to exhume corpses. When he came to the burial cave of Rav Tuvi bar Matna, [the latter] seized the priest by his beard. Abaye happened by and said to him, “[Rav Tuvi], I beg you, release him.”

The following year the priest returned. Rav Tuvi seized him by his beard. Abaye came, but Rav Tuvi would not release him until they brought scissors and cut off his beard.

)Bavli Bava Bathra 58a(

Manichaeism

• Started by Mani, 3rd cent. CE in Babylonia

• Dualistic, powers of good and evil, soul vs. body

Exilarch – ריש גלותא

• Begins in second cent. CE

• Mediated between the Jewish community and the government

• Were often learned and involved with Rabbis

• Claimed authority based on Davidic lineage

• Dressed and acted like Persian nobles

• Names: Mar Ukba, Mar Zurtra, Huna

Beginnings of Scholarship in Bavel

• The Mishnah )Yev 16:7( reports that R. Akiva went to Nehardea and learned a tradition from Nehemiah of Beth Deli.

• R. Judah b. Bathyra studied in Palestine but settled in Nisibis.

• Students of Ishmael fled from Israel during the Bar Kokhba revolt to Huzal where they began to spread their Torah.

• R. Hanania caused a great controversy by intercalating the calendar in Babylonia against the wishes of the sages in Palestine.

Ctesiphon – capital of Sasanian Empire

Sasaniam Empirecapitol

Mahoza is a suburb of Ctesiphon and is home of R. Nahman and Rava.

Persian Influence

• Accommodators – Rav, R. Hannah b. Rava, Shmuel all from Sura; R. Nahman, Rava from Mahoza

• Resisters – R. Yosef from Pumbedita, far from capitol

Shmuel & the King

• King Shapur once said to Shmuel: You Jews profess to be very clever; tell me what I shall se in my dream.

• Shmuel said to him: You will see the Romans coming and taking you captive and making you grind date-stones in a golden mill.

• Shapur thought about it all day and in the night saw it in his dream.

)Bavli Berakhot 56a(

Persian Language

דאמר ריש לקיש: טב למיתב טן דו מלמיתב ארמלו.

For Resh Laqish said: It is better [for a woman] to live as two bodies than to live as a widow.

Middle Persian tan = body, do = two.

Yev 118b, Ket 75a, Qid 7a, 41a, B.Q. 118a

Polygamy

• If he husband states that he intends to take another wife to test his potency to beget childred, R. Ammi )Palestinian( rules: He must in this case also divoce his present wife and pay her the amount of her ketubah, for I maintain that whoever takes another wife in addition to his present one must divorce the former and pay her the amount of her ketubah

• Rava )Babylonian( said: A man may marry wives in addition to his first wife, provided only that he possesses the means to maintain them.

Bavli Yevamot 65a

More on Polygamy

• Rav )Babylonian( said to R. Assi: Do not marry two wives, but if you marry two marry three.

)Bavli Pesahim 113a(

• Rab, whenever he happened to visit Dardeshir, used to announce, ‘Who would be mine for the day’! So also R, Nahman, whenever he happened to visit Shekunzib, used to announce, ‘Who would be mine for the day’!

)Bavli Yevamot 37b(

Reward vs Fate• Rava said: [Length of] life, children, and sustenance

depend not on merit but rather on mazzal. For take Rabbah and R. Hisda as examples. Both were absolutely righteous rabbis, for each master prayed for rain and rain came.

• Yet, R. Hisda lived to the age of 92; Rabbah only lived to age 40. In R. Hisda’s house there were 60 marriage feasts, in Rabbah’s there were 60 bereavements. At R. Hista’s house there were purest what bread for dogs and ti went to waste. At Rabbah’s house there was barely bread for humans and even that could not be found.

)Bavli Moed Katan 28b(

• The sages have said that there are some things through allotment and some things through deeds. They have judged as follows: being born, wife, child ,authority and property are through allotment. Priesthood, warriorhood, husbandry, righteousness, and wickedness are through deeds.

)Dedastan I Denig, passox 70(