Hakhamim, volume II ("Sages II: The Yavne Period until the Bar-Kochba Revolt?"), part of the "Aggadata: Readings in the Literature of the Aggada" series by Benjamin Lau, Beit Morasha/Yedioth Aharonoth/Sifrei Hemed, 383 pages, NIS 98
Whereas many millions of readers this past summer picked up the latest Harry Potter title and, by their own accords, were drawn in irresistibly, "unable to put it down" until they arrived at the last page, I must confess that on a hot summer day, and in a crowded bus, no less, I was drawn into the experience of reading the second, latest volume of Benjamin Lau's "Sages."
Nothing about the book's restrained cover hints at the great dramas, the personal and political tensions, even passions, that are described within. In the larger sense, it's the crucial story of how the rabbis of the Talmud attempted to lead the public during the period between the destruction of the Second Temple and the Bar-Kochba Revolt ?(70-135 C.E.). And though it may seem strange for me to recommend a book that is concerned with a historical reading of Talmudic texts on the grounds that it was a great read, I honestly do think that this is the book's main strength.
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The latest volume continues a project that began with an earlier book of the same name that dealt with the scholars who were active during the Second Temple period. Here Lau, a congregational rabbi and well-known educator ?(and author of a regular column in this paper on the weekly Torah portions), continues the story, focusing on two important challenges that faced the Tannaim, the leading Jewish scholars during the Mishnaic period, following the Temple's destruction: the re-establishment of religious life in the absence of a Temple, and, later, deciding how to respond to the Bar-Kochba revolt and its outcome.
The book's five sections are arranged chronologically. Each section begins with historical background, continues with a discussion of the sages of that particular period and their activity, and concludes with "a look at the present," in other words, an attempt to look for the roots of contemporary conflicts in controversies of the past.
The discussion itself is based for the most part on Talmudic sources, but also refers to historical ones. Lau searches for every scrap of biographical information, and insofar as possible ties it to debates on matters of principle and to halakhot (religious laws) that were cited in the name of those same sages. This could be considered a good example of the rule, "The personal is political."
The first section describes the activity of someone considered a leftist-pragmatist: Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai. After the Temple's destruction, in 70 C.E., the sages are torn between tremendous longing for the rituals they can no longer carry out, and the need to construct a way of life without a Temple. Ben Zakkai tries to pave two paths simultaneously, by means of various regulations, some of which are intended for "life without a Temple."
His disciples, who differ very much from one another, find it difficult to establish a unified path. Rabbi Eliezer Ben Hyrcanus fanatically sanctifies halakhic conservatism, whereas his opposite, Rabbi Elazar Ben Erekh, sanctifies innovation and interpretative daring. Alongside the two of them is Rabbi Yehoshua, who encourages the multiplicity of opinions in the beit midrash (study house) without taking sides himself.
The second section deals with the intolerable political tension between Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua. The former, a political leader "from the elites," works very hard to unify the ranks ("so that there will not be much controversy among the Jews"), and tries to achieve one uniform decision on each question. To Gamliel's distress, in the beit midrash, Rabbi Yehoshua defies him when he publicly reinforces the opposite trend: encouraging halakhic creativity, encouraging innovation, sanctifying the process of dynamic study.
When to all these we add the struggle for leadership - does it belong to the presidential family or to the world of the sages in the beit midrash - the friction between the sages following the Bar-Kochba revolt becomes so serious that it creates political ferment, in which the personal and the political are combined. The tension and the insults lead to the inevitable end - the death of the sages.
The integrity of Lau, who claims that "there are no ideas without any personal interest," is courageous and impressive, in light of the fact that he is active as a rabbi and educator in the religious sector, a group that usually tends toward apologetics in its judgment of the early formulators of the halakha.
The third section discusses a fierce dispute between Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva, the latter of whom was followed by his disciple, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai. Rabbi Akiva's innovation was in exclusively studying the Torah for the sake of study, Torah study as a religious value. Up until his time the sages engaged in a combination of physical labor and Torah study, whereas he invented the Jewish model of a life totally dedicated to Torah. As opposed to him, Rabbi Yishmael educates toward "derekh eretz," a life of secular preoccupations and of earning a livelihood alongside the study of Torah.
More than a hint of criticism
The ideology of national redemption in the philosophy of Rabbi Akiva and its increasing power are at the center of the fourth section, which deals with the figure of Bar-Kochba, who merits sweeping approval from Rabbi Akiva. Lau emphasizes in the introduction that he was surprised to discover the attitude of the sages to the Bar-Kochba revolt. He claims that, as opposed to what is generally thought, many sages did not identify with the viewpoint of Akiva, who was supportive of Bar-Kochba's fight for national independence.
Of course, beyond the underlying academic question, these distinctions have significance and implications regarding "the lessons of the revolt and its significance for our time" and "the moral and ethical balances required in national life." There is here more than a hint of criticism of the unbridled nationalist-chauvinist extremism of contemporary rabbinical leadership. How predictable, therefore, that the bitter, devastating results of the revolt, such as the anti-religious edicts that followed in its wake, gave rise to the ideology, which finds expression in later sources, that it is prohibited to revolt against "the nations" (foreign rulers), an ideology that is discussed in the fifth section.
A fascinating exegesis
In terms of methodology, there is of course a basic problem with writing a historical biography of the sages on the basis of familiar Talmudic texts, as well as with attempting to find a correspondence between historical knowledge and these texts. (Lau discusses some of the methodological problems in the introduction to his first book as well as in the introduction to this volume.) But the declared purpose, which does not pretend "to pass the test of pure academic criticism," enables him to accept as many traditions as possible as long as they don't contradict one another.
This volume may be more a matter of learned exegesis than canonical historical research, a combination of a history book and a book of sermons, as it is called in a foreword to the previous volume by Daniel Schwartz, a historian of the Second Temple period. However, this is certainly learned exegesis, and above all it is fascinating. Its main advantage is that it will be of interest to a broad audience, ranging from scholars to perhaps even teenagers, the latter if they not put off by the book jacket, whose anachronistic design tries for some reason to compete with history textbooks.
Lau might have done better, however, had he omitted the concluding part of each section, "A Look at the Present." The temptation to apply the debates and the various disputes of the Talmudic sages to the here and now is certainly understandable, especially since the "contemporary" interpretation is in itself interesting and to some extent critical. But on balance, it detracts from the book, especially since it necessarily becomes very "sectoral," or, to be more precise, addresses itself to the national-religious public (for example, Lau pursues a discussion of the curriculum of the yeshiva high school?).
Some of the concepts referred to will not necessarily be known to the entire reading audience (for example, criticism of the "yeshiva world"), and the same is true of the ethical tensions mentioned (which will only occasionally be of relevance to more than a small percentage of the broad potential reading audience).
Lau recently joked that were he sufficiently courageous, he would have called his book "Hazal al hazman" ?(literally, "The Sages' View of Time," and a pun on the expression "haval al hazman" - a waste of time?).
Had he used that name, its double meaning would actually have served the spirit of the book: On the one hand, the sages' view of time, its challenges and its tribulations; on the other, "Hazal me'al hazman" (The sages beyond time), in other words, the Talmudic sages as the architects of a culture of turbulent and passionate debate, whose echoes continue to be heard and whose reverberations continue to rage even after 2,000 years.
Noam Seri is writing a doctoral dissertation in the
department of hermeneutics at Bar-Ilan University.
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