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In this episode, Rabbi Reinman discusses when the seeds of the Talmud were planted.
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Chapter Forty-One: The Oral Law Emerges
After Antigonus passed away, a new phenomenon appeared in Jewish history. For over a thousand years, the Oral Torah had been passed down faithfully from generation to generation, each generation teaching it to the next. The students who received it from their elders numbered in the hundreds and thousands, but only one person in every generation was the Baal Mesorah, the official custodian of the Torah, the ultimate authority whenever questions arose.
There were undoubtedly points of dispute over the years and the centuries, but they always arrived at a resolution. According to the Rambam, the earlier generations enjoyed a very high level of wisdom, and they were almost always able to come to a meeting of the minds. If not, the Baal Mesorah would issue a ruling. In some cases, questions would come to the Sanhedrin, and they would be resolved by a majority vote. The minority opinions that arose during the earlier generations were not recorded for posterity, because the resolutions were so authoritative.
As a result, the minority opinions of previous generations were not recorded. They were irrelevant to the practical performance of the Torah’s demands and instructions. The process of determining the law was esoteric. The only people privy to it were the highest echelons of rabbis and their disciples. And even the ones privy to the current discussions were probably unfamiliar with the discussions and opinions offered on issues that arose generations before. Once the issues were discussed and the decisions were determined under the guidance of the Baal Mesorah, they were set in stone; they did not need to be revisited.
After Antigonus, however, there was a change in the transmission of the Oral Torah. Until then, there had only been one Baal Mesorah at a time, but Antigonus had two co-equal successors, Yosei ben Yoezer and Yosei ben Yochanan; they were the first of the Zugos, the Pairs. Yosei ben Yoezer was the nasi, the president of the Sanhedrin, and Yosei ben Yochanan was the av beis din, the father of the court. The nasi preceded the av beis din in ceremonial rank, but in all else they were equal. For the first time, the course of the Torah was no longer in the hands of a single final authority. It was to be guided by consensus.
The rabbinic literature does not give a reason for this radical innovation. It was undoubtedly God’s will, but we cannot presume to know His reasons. The best we can do is speculate. We are faced with two consecutive bifurcations in Judaism. The first was the Sadducee schism during the lifetime of Antigonus. The second came with his passing, when two successors took his place. Could there be a connection? …
Read full chapter and earlier chapters at www.rabbireinman.com.
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