Tannaim

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Rabbinical eras

Tannaim (Amoraic Hebrew: Hebrew: תנאים [tannɔʔim] "repeaters", "teachers", singular tanna תנא [tanˈnɔː], borrowed from Aramaic)[1] were the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah,[2] 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".[3]

The root tanna (תנא) is the Aramaic equivalent of the

root word
of Mishnah. The verb shanah means "to repeat [what one was taught]" and is used to mean "to learn".

The Mishnaic period is commonly divided 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 Zakkai and his students founded a new Council of Jamnia.[citation needed] Other places of learning were founded by his students in Lod and in Bnei Brak.

Some Tannaim worked as laborers (e.g., charcoal burners, cobblers) in addition to their positions as teachers and legislators. They were also leaders of the people and negotiators with the Roman Empire.[citation needed]

AcharonimRishonimGeonimSavoraimAmoraimTannaimZugot

History

The Tannaim operated under the occupation of the

Idumea and Judea proper[4]
) led to riots, revolts and general resentment.

Until the days of Hillel and Shammai, the last generation of the Zugot, there were few disagreements among Rabbinic scholars. After this period, though, the Houses of Hillel and Shammai came to represent two distinct perspectives on Jewish law, and disagreements between the two schools of thought are found throughout the Mishnah.[citation needed]

The Tannaim, as teachers of the

Oral Law, are said to be direct transmitters of an oral tradition passed from teacher to student that was written and codified as the basis for the Mishnah, Tosefta, and tannaitic teachings of the Talmud. According to rabbinic tradition, the Tannaim were the last generation in a long sequence of oral teachers that began with Moses
.

Early rabbinic Bible exegesis was preserved in tannaitic texts compiled in the second century CE or later, but is likely to contain much earlier material. It certainly contains some interpretations that can be traced back explicitly to the first century CE because of parallels with motifs found in the writings of Josephus or Philo, such as the legend of the extraordinary beauty of Moses as a child.[5]

— Martin David Goodman, A History of Judaism (2018)

Language of the Mishnah

The language in which the Tannaim of Israel and Babylonia wrote is referred to as Mishnaic Hebrew (MH), or in Hebrew Lešon hakhamim, meaning the language of the Sages. Texts were written in MH between roughly 70 CE and 500 CE. Tannaitic literature, which includes the Mishnah, the Tosefta, the halachic midrashim, and Seder 'olam Rabba was redacted between roughly 70 CE to 250 CE. Research has demonstrated that Hebrew was spoken in Israel until about 200 CE, and it is generally agreed that tannaitic literature reflects the language and speech used in various regions of Israel during that time period.[6]

Prominent Tannaim

Titles

The

Judah haNasi
(Judah the Nasi), often referred to simply as "Rabbi", not even the Nasi is given the title Rabban, but instead, Judah haNasi is given the lofty title Rabbeinu HaKadosh ("Our holy rabbi [teacher]").

Generations

The Mishnaic period is commonly divided into five generations:

  1. First Generation before and shortly after the
    Judah ben Baba
  2. Second Generation between the destruction of the Temple and
    Bar Kokhba's revolt:
    Rabban Gamaliel II of Yavneh, Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah and Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurcanus, the teachers of Rabbi Akiva, as well as Gamaliel of Yavne and Eleazar ben Arach
  3. Third Generation around
    Ishmael ben Elisha, Eleazar ben Azariah, Jose the Galilean, Nathan the Babylonian and Elisha ben Abuyah
    (the "Other" or apostate)
  4. Fourth Generation after the revolt:
    Yehuda ben Ilai and Rabbi Nehemiah
  5. Fifth Generation: the generation of Rabbi
    Judah haNasi
    , who compiled the Mishnah.
  6. Sixth Generation, an interim generation between the Mishnah and the Gemara:
    Shimon ben Judah HaNasi and Yehoshua ben Levi
    .

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-60280-020-5
    . The rabbis educated at Yavneh would be links in the great unbroken chain of teachers of the Torah. Yohanan and those who followed him were called tannaim, meaning "repeaters" or "teachers.
  2. ISBN 9780812218626
    . Retrieved Oct 21, 2022. Tanna (pl. Tannaim)—authorities cited in the Mishna and coëval writings.
  3. ISBN 978-0-88125-545-4
    . ... both in Palestine and in Babylonia, were called amoraim, meaning "speakers" or "interpreters"
  4. ISBN 978-0-674-39731-6. Retrieved 2023-08-18. When Archelaus
    was deposed from the ethnarchy in 6 CE, Judea proper, Samaria and Idumea were converted into a Roman province under the name Iudaea.
  5. ISBN 978-0-691-18127-1
    .
  6. ^ The Cambridge History of Judaism, vol 4, CHAPTER 15, "MISHNAIC HEBREW: AN INTRODUCTORY SURVEY," MOSHE BAR-ASHER, p. 369

External links

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