Talmud sur Zevahim 1:3

⁶⁶The story of this dispute should be compared with the Babli version, Berakhot 27b, where R. Joshua’s profession is given as a charcoal burner. Since Rabban Gamliel in the aftermath of the destruction of the Temple insisted not only on uniformity of practice but also of doctrine (and in this was successful in eliminating Sadduceeism) and R. Joshua was known for his dislike of public quarrels, Rabban Gamliel thought that he was taking little risk in provoking a quarrel. It happened that one student came and asked Rebbi Joshua: What is about evening prayer? He said to him: It is voluntary. He asked Rabban Gamliel: What is about evening prayer? He said to him: It is obligatory. He said to him: But Rebbi Joshua told me that it was voluntary. He said to him: Tomorrow, when I enter the assembly hall, stand up and ask me about this practice. The next day, this student stood up and asked Rabban Gamliel: What is about evening prayer? He said to him: It is obligatory. He said to him: But Rebbi Joshua told me that it was voluntary. Rabban Gamliel said to Rebbi Joshua: Are you the one who says it is voluntary? He answered him: No. He said to him: Stand up on your feet so that they may testify against you. Then Rabban Gamliel was sitting down and lecturing while Rebbi Joshua was standing up until the people started talking and said to Rebbi Ḥuṣpit the interpreter: Send the people home. They said to Rebbi Zenon the ḥazan: Start⁶⁷The ḥazan was not only the reader in congregational prayers, but also the general organizer of religious affairs. In outlying communities he was the ritual slaughterer and the conduit through whom questions of religious practice were addressed to the Academies. Here it seems that he had to recite the prayer at the end of a study which it was customary to start with a Bible verse and that the people spontaneously chose one which was a curse on the speaker.! He said: Start! All the people stood up and said to him: Certainly, on whom did your evil not pass always⁶⁸Nah. 3:19.? They immediately appointed Rebbi Eleazar ben Azariah to the Yeshivah when he was 16 years old; his head became all white. Rebbi Aqiba sat and was sad; he said, not that he is a greater Torah scholar than I am, but he comes from a greater family than I do; hail to the man whose forefathers created merit for him, hail to the man who has a peg to hang on to. What was Rebbi Eleazar ben Azariah’s peg? He was the tenth generation after Ezra⁶⁹Also he was very rich and could afford the expenses of representing the Jewish population before the Roman government.. How many seats were there? Rebbi Jacob ben Sisi said: Eighty seats were there of accomplished scholars, not to count those standing behind the railing. Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun said 300 were there, not to count those standing behind the railing. As we have stated there⁷⁰Mishnah Zevaḥim 1:3.: “On the day Rebbi Eleazar ben Azariah was appointed to the Academy.” There we have stated⁷¹Mishnah Ketubot 4:6.: “This inference did Rebbi Eleazar ben Azariah present before the Sages at the vineyard of Jabneh.” Was there a vineyard? It means that the scholars sat there in rows like vines in a vineyard. Rabban Gamliel went immediately to pacify each one in his house. He came to Rebbi Joshua and found him occupied with the making of needles. He asked him: This is how you earn your living? He answered him: Until now you did not know? Woe to the generation whose caretaker you are! He said to him: I humble myself before you. They sent a washerman to Rebbi Eleazar ben Azariah, but some say that it was Rebbi Aqiba. He told him: The sprinkler, son of a sprinkler, should sprinkle. Should anyone who is neither a sprinkler nor the son of a sprinkler say to the sprinkler: your water is water from a cave and your ashes are ashes from a fireplace? He said to him: You made your peace with him! I and you shall go in the morning to Rabban Gamliel’s door. Nevertheless they did not remove him from his dignity but made him head of the court.

It happened that one student came and asked Rebbi Joshua: What is about evening prayer? He said to him: It is voluntary. He asked Rabban Gamliel: What is about evening prayer? He said to him: It is obligatory. He said to him: But Rebbi Joshua told me that it was voluntary. He said to him: Tomorrow, when I enter the assembly hall, stand up and ask me about this practice. The next day, this student stood up and asked Rabban Gamliel: What is about evening prayer? He said to him: It is obligatory. He said to him: But Rebbi Joshua told me that it was voluntary. Rabban Gamliel said to Rebbi Joshua: Are you the one who says it is voluntary? He answered him: No¹¹⁴Since Rabban Gamliel went to great lengths to insist on uniformity, not only of practice, but also of doctrine, Rebbi Joshua, the most important member of the generation preceding Rabban Gamliel, did not want to start a quarrel.. He said to him: Stand up on your feet so that they may testify against you. Then Rabban Gamliel was sitting down and lecturing while Rebbi Joshua was standing up until the people started talking and said to Rebbi Ḥuẓpit the interpreter¹¹⁵The “Amora” of Rabban Gamliel, one of the “Ten Martyrs”.: Send the people home. They said to Rebbi Zenon the ḥazan¹¹⁶The ḥazan was not only the reader in congregational prayers, but also the general organizer of religious affairs. In outlying communities he was the ritual slaughterer and the conduit through whom questions of religious practice were addressed to the Academies. Here it seems that he had to recite the prayer at the end of a study session discussed in the next Halakhah, that it was customary to start with a Bible verse and that the people spontaneously chose one which was a curse on the speaker.: Start! He said: Start! All the people stood up and said to him (Nahum 3:19): “Certainly, on whom did your evil not pass always?” They went and appointed¹¹⁷In the Yerushalmi, “appoint” (מנה) is the equivalent of the Babli’s “ordain” (סמך). Rebbi Eleazar ben Azariah was ordained the same day he was appointed head of the Synhedrion. Rebbi Eleazar ben Azariah to the Yeshivah when he was 16 years old¹¹⁸In pre-war Poland, that was the usual age for sĕmikha. (In the Babli, the age is given as 18 years.) The difficulty of this age determination is discussed at length by the author in The Scholar’s Haggadah, p. 265–266.; his head became all white. Rebbi Aqiba sat and was sad; he said, not that he is a greater Torah scholar than I am, but he comes from a greater family than I do; hail to the man whose forefathers created merit for him, hail to the man who has a peg to hang on to. What was Rebbi Eleazar ben Azariah’s peg? He was the tenth generation after Ezra¹¹⁹His family was of equal rank with that of the Patriarch. In the Rome manuscript, there is an addition that he alone was as rich as the Patriarch (and, hence, had the money to deal with the Roman government).. How many seats were there¹²⁰This insertion is more detailed in the Babli (28a), where the question is discussed how many seats were added when, with the deposition of Rabban Gamliel, also his elitistic exclusionary policies of admission to the Yeshivah were scrapped. The insertion is Amoraïc, as is shown by the names of the authorities and the quotes from the Mishnah. The previous paragraph and the following one are Tannaïtic.? Rebbi Jacob ben Sisi¹²¹A Galilean Amora of the fourth generation, contemporary of the Amora R. Yose, older than R. Yose ben R. Abun. said: Eighty seats were there of accomplished scholars, not to count those standing behind the railing. Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun said 300 were there, not to count those standing behind the railing. As we have stated there (Mishnah Zebaḥim 1:3) “On the day Rebbi Eleazar ben Azariah was appointed to the Academy.”¹²²In the tradition of the Babli, all of tractate Idiut was presented on that day. There (Mishnah Ketubot 4:6) we have stated: “This inference did Rebbi Eleazar ben Azariah present before the sages at the vineyard of Jabneh.” Was there a vineyard? It means that the scholars sat there in rows like vines in a vineyard. Rabban Gamliel went immediately to pacify each one in his house. He came to Rebbi Joshua and found him occupied with the making of needles¹²³In the Babli, his profession is given as charcoal-burner.. He asked him: This is how you earn your living? He answered him: Until now you did not know? Woe to the generation whose caretaker you are! He said to him: I humble myself before you. They sent a washerman to Rebbi Eleazar ben Azariah, but some say that it was Rebbi Aqiba. He told him: The sprinkler, son of a sprinkler, should sprinkle. Should anyone who is neither a sprinkler nor the son of a sprinkler say to the sprinkler: your water is water from a cave and your ashes are ashes from a fireplace¹²⁴The argument is taken from the ritual of the ashes of the red heifer. The ashes have to be given into “living” water, drawn from a stream. Sprinkling the water was not a reserved profession, but it may be assumed that the care of the ashes, and supervision of the cleansing ritual, was in the hands of the priests, of whom R. Eleazar ben Azariah was one. Hence, it was intimated to him that just as a non-Cohen should not presume upon his duties, so an outsider should not presume upon the duties of the Patriarch.? He said to him: You made your peace with him! I and you shall go in the morning to Rabban Gamliel’s door. Nevertheless they did not remove him from his dignity but made him head of the court.