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61-566: Judah was born at Usha in the Galilee . His teachers were his father Rabbi Ilai I (himself a pupil of Eliezer ben Hurcanus ), Rabbi Akiva , and Rabbi Tarfon . He studied under Tarfon in early youth, and was so closely associated with Tarfon that he even performed menial services for him. He was ordained by Judah ben Bava at a time when the Roman Empire forbade ordination. Judah was forced to flee Hadrian 's persecution. Almost at

122-458: A hiding complex , carved out probably no later than the Bar Kokhba revolt, was found to cut through and put out of use an earlier Mikveh . Two Jewish ritual baths ( mikveh s or mikva'ot ) with plastered walls and steps, carved out of the living rock in the 2nd century and kept in use until the 6th, were discovered near wine and olive oil production facilities. The immediate proximity to

183-564: A second time from Yavne to Usha. The Sanhedrin's final location was in Tibereas , where it stopped to exsit after in 425 CE , as Emperor Theodosius VI prevented the appointment of a successor for Raban Gamliel VI . The Sanhedrin's settlement in Usha indicates the ultimate spiritual supremacy of Galilee over Judea, the latter having become depopulated after the Bar Kokhba revolt . Usha

244-508: A work focused on rabbinic exposition (of the Torah or of Torah based laws and ethics). The word is applied only to compilations of Tannaic midrash or to the Tannaic exposition process. However, the common term midrash used by itself has come to be a shorthand for the term midrash aggadah which, in contrast to midrash halakha, are non-legal tannaic expositions that are based on

305-528: Is believed to have lived to an old age; surviving his teachers and all of his colleagues. Among his disciples who paid him the last honors was Judah ha-Nasi . His grave was found at Ein Zeitim beside the tomb of his father. Obadiah of Bertinoro , after visiting his tomb, wrote in 1495: 2,000 cubits from Safed is the grave of Rabbi Judah beRabbi Ilai, and there is a little village there called Ein Zeitoun. On

366-465: Is contrary to the interpretation of Rabbi Eliezer . From the expression be-miksat (Exodus 12:4), which, according to it, can mean only "number," the older halakha deduces the rule that when killing the Passover lamb the slaughterer must be aware of the number of persons who are about to partake of it. The statement that the determination of the calendar of feasts depends wholly on the decision of

427-519: Is explained by the fact that the redactors of the two forms of halakhot borrowed passages from one another. Since the halakhic midrashim had for their secondary purpose the exegesis of the Bible, they were arranged according to the text of the Pentateuch . As Genesis contains very little matter of a legal character, there was probably no halakhic midras h to this book. On the other hand, to each of

488-443: Is meant in all passages reading, "It once happened to a pious man". Bar Ilai was naturally passionate and irascible, but such was his self-control that he seemed the reverse. He once showed exceptional mildness when he had an opportunity to reconcile a married couple. The study of Halakha was his chief and dearest occupation, and he lamented the fact that such a devotion was no longer widespread as in former times. Yet his interest in

549-492: The Av Beit Din "President of a Court" was known to have transgressed, he was not to be excommunicated as a first resort, but rather asked to simply "show self-respect" by resigning his post. If he persisted in the same act, only then would he be excommunicated by the community. The court at Usha also ruled that if a wife, during the life of her husband, conveyed any of her private possessions to another, her husband has got

610-473: The Nasi and his council is derived from Leviticus 23:37, the defectively written otam (them) being read as attem (you) and the interpretation, "which you shall proclaim," being regarded as conforming to the original meaning of the phrase. When two different forms of the same word in a given passage have been transmitted, one written in the text ( ketib ), and the other being the traditional reading ( qere ),

671-743: The Persian period through the Roman period until the and was abandoned in the 8th century . During the Ottoman period There were additional findings indicating habitation in the Persian period next to pottery from the Hellenistic period . After the Bar Kokhba Revolt the Sanhedrin left Yavne in 135 and settled for a period of 10 years in Usha, which was already a jewish town from

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732-616: The Scroll of Esther in his hometown of Usha, and that he was not rebuked by the Chazal for doing so publicly, and as a mere child. The exemplum shown by the Sages led to an easing of strictures, whereby youth, from that time forward, were permitted to read the Megillah ("Scroll of Esther") in public. A record of the place's material culture has been preserved in the writings of the rabbis in

793-493: The first right of refusal and may recover such items from the hands of the purchaser. The court, moreover, augmented the earlier rabbinic decrees concerning the defilement of foreign lands , making the air-space of foreign lands capable of disqualifying the Terumah (heave-offering eaten by the priests of Aaron's lineage), and that, if it had made contact with the earth from the same lands, required it to be burnt. Likewise,

854-436: The halakha , not wishing to designate either as wrong, interprets the word in such a way that both forms may be regarded as correct. Thus it explains Leviticus 25:30-where according to the qere the meaning is "in the walled city," but according to the ketib , "in the city that is not walled"-as referring to a city that once had walls, but no longer has them. In a similar way it explains Leviticus 11:29. According to Krochmal,

915-563: The ketib was due to the Soferim themselves, who desired that the interpretation given by the halakha might be contained in the text; for example, in the case of otam and attem noted above, they intentionally omitted the letter vav . The younger halakha did not confine itself to the mere literal meaning of single passages, but sought to draw conclusions from the wording of the texts in question by logical deductions, by combinations with other passages, etc. Hence its midrash differs from

976-529: The 6th century. In Usha, for example, they produced mats from natural fibers to be used as a utilitarian item, and which, because of its unique shape and design, was unfit for use as a covering in a sukkah , but could be used to sleep on. In 2004, a survey of the " Khirbet/Horbat/Hurvat Usha " site was made by the IAA. From 2008 - 2012, archaeological surveys and excavations were conducted at Khirbet Usha by Aviram oshri, Abdallah Massarwa and Ella Nagorski on behalf of

1037-495: The Bible. Midrash halakha is not aggadic , sometimes resulting in confusion with the common shorthand meaning of midrash . Instead, the product of midrash halakha are legal works, primarily Mishnah and Beraisa . The phrase "Midrash halakha" was first employed by Nachman Krochmal , the Talmudic expression being Midrash Torah = "investigation of the Torah ". These interpretations were often regarded as corresponding to

1098-544: The IAA. The excavations kept going up to 2019. In October of 2019, traces of metallurgical activities from the Byzantine period were unearthed. In 2009, Hurvat Usha was declared a National Park of Israel , an area spanning over 263 dunams (nearly 65 acres). The archaeological excavations at Usha are included in the Sanhedrin Trail Project initiated by the IAA, which touches on the stations of

1159-718: The Israel Antiquity Authority have identified the site as Usha a Jewish town from the Persian period that during the Roman and Byzantine period was the seat of the Sanhedrin after the Bar Kokhba revolt . Usha came to renown in the 2nd century (c. 135), after the Hadrianic persecutions, when the Sanhedrin , or rabbinic court, was moved from Yavne in Judea to Usha, and then from Usha back to Yavne, and

1220-576: The Mekilta, just as the Mekilta included in the Midrash HaGadol has incorporated many doctrines from Akiba's midrash . Midrashic halakhot found also scattered through the two Talmuds; for many halakhic baraitot (traditions in oral law) that occur in the Talmuds are really midrashic , recognizable by the fact that they mention the scriptural bases for the respective halakhot, often citing

1281-577: The Mishnah of Eliezer, which he had received from his father. He frequently explains the traditional halakhot by particularizations introduced by the phrases "Ematai?" (= "When does this statement apply?") and "Bameh debarim amurim?" (= "In what connection was this said?"). His most frequent teachings, however, are the doctrines of his master Akiba. His own halakhot he sets forth in the form of midrashim , for in his view, mishnah and midrash are identical. Those who devote themselves only to "mishnah" (that is, to

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1342-616: The Persian period. According to Amitzur, Usha started being mentioned in Jewish sources in the first century CE. The Jerusalem Post cites the Israel Antiquities Authority as stating that the second period of significant inhabitance was during the Ottoman period when, starting in the late 18th century, a village was established there, which existed until the 1948 Arab–Israeli War . They were attemps to connect

1403-532: The Sanhedrin through Galilee, leading from Bet She'arim in the west to Tiberias in the east. Midrash Halakah Midrash halakha ( Hebrew : מִדְרָשׁ הֲלָכָה ) was the ancient Judaic rabbinic method of Torah study that expounded upon the traditionally received 613 Mitzvot (commandments) by identifying their sources in the Hebrew Bible , and by interpreting these passages as proofs of

1464-462: The Sifre to Deuteronomy forms a halakhic midrash on that book from the school of R. Akiva, while another from the school of R. Ishmael has been shown by Hoffmann to have existed. This assignment of the several midrashim to the school of R. Ishmael and to that of R. Akiva respectively, however, is not to be too rigidly insisted upon; for the Sifre repeats in an abbreviated form some of the teachings of

1525-710: The Temple at Jerusalem are very numerous; and special interest attaches to his accounts of the origin of the Temple of Onias and of the Septuagint , as well as to his description of the synagogue at Alexandria and of the conditions and institutions of antiquity. His high conception of the calling and the responsibility of a teacher of the Law, as well as his mild judgment of the multitude, was expressed in his interpretation of Isaiah 58:1: "Show my people their transgression"—that is,

1586-400: The beginning of Hadrian's persecution, Judah was forced to flee from Usha and conceal himself, and he often related episodes of the "times of peril". When, after the revocation of Hadrian's edicts of persecution, the pupils of Akiba held their reunions and councils in Usha, Judah received the right to express his opinion before all others. He was then known as "Rosh ha-Medabbebrim" ("leader among

1647-560: The biblical passage it derives from—that the name midrash applies, whereas one that, though ultimately based on the Bible, is cited independently as an established statute is called a halakha . Collections of halakhot of the second sort are the Mishnah and the Tosefta ; compilations of the first sort are the halakhic midrashim . This name they receive to distinguish them from the haggadic midrashim , since they contain halakhot for

1708-417: The court passed a law making it unlawful for any person to be wasteful with his own money, goods or property, and that he is not to expend more than one-fifth (20%) in charitable or philanthropic causes. The rabbis of Usha also decided in the case of citron fruits that their time of picking determined their tithing status and bi'ur (time of removal). For example, if they were picked during any time of

1769-490: The feast. However, to find a ground for the halakha that those who are unclean through contact with other objects than a corpse may have no share in the Passover, it explains the repetition of the word ish in this passage (Leviticus 9 10) as intending to include all other cases of defilement. Despite this difference in method, the midrashim of the older and of the younger halakha alike believed that they had sought only

1830-506: The grave is a handsome tomb at which candles are lit . . . Italian pilgrim Moses ben Mordecai Bassola wrote in 1523: I was in Ein Zeitoun, which is a mil from Safed . . . and a bowshot from the village is the grave of Rabbi Judah beRabbi Ilai and Rabbi Yose his son. On this grave is an almond tree, fallow these last three years, and a great field of olive trees which are given over to this saint. They say that an Arab woman climbed

1891-469: The industrial area indicates that workers purified themselves by immersion before work, in order to produce kosher oil and wine. The mikvehs were filled in at the time when the Jews left the village (c. 6th century). The size and complexity of the olive oil and wine producing installations indicate that these were among the primary industries and sources of income for the Jewish inhabitants, who processed

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1952-518: The inhabitants of Usga knew the art of making tools: "This slag gave the IAA archeologists the clue that helped them conclude that Usha’s inhabitants didn’t just take the family donkey down the road to a Kol-Bo bazaar selling merchandise from afar – they themselves knew how to manufacture iron tools". Regarding Rabbi Yitzhak Nafha, his by-name would be generally associated in Rabbinical-period Hebrew with "blacksmith", but in his time

2013-452: The joys and sorrows of his fellow men was keener still. Whenever a funeral or a wedding procession passed, he interrupted his study to join it. Judah lived in poverty. His wife made a cloak that served them both in turn—his wife as she went to the market, and he on his way to the bet midrash . Nevertheless, he declined all assistance; he had accustomed himself to the simplest mode of life, and desired to have no delight in this world. Judah

2074-402: The last times to pray the afternoon prayer is at Plag HaMincha. In his Biblical interpretation and in the deduction of legal requirements from it, Judah adheres strictly to the method of his teacher Akiba, whose rules of exegesis he adopts. It is thus that he explains a word apparently superfluous, and employs the rules of "al tiḳri" and "noṭariḳon". Nevertheless, he interprets also according to

2135-417: The laws contained in the scriptures by an accurate interpretation of the text and a correct determination of the meaning of the various words. The form of exegesis adopted is frequently one of simple lexicography , and is remarkably brief. A few examples will serve to illustrate the style of the older midrash halakha . It translates the word ra'ah (Exodus 21:8) "displease" ( Mekhilta , Mishpatim ), which

2196-441: The laws' authenticity. The term midrash halakha is also applied to the derivation of new laws, either by means of a correct interpretation of the obvious meaning of scriptural words themselves or by the application of certain hermeneutic rules. The word midrash is rooted in the term drash , literally "seek," or "enquire," but practically meaning exposition. Midrash is then "that which has been expounded," or more simply,

2257-522: The local glassblowers . One of them seems to have been Rabbi Isaac Nappaha , known from Rabbinical sources and whose by-name is based on the Hebrew root for "to blow". In 2019, the IAA published the discovery of an iron hammer-head, a rare find for the Byzantine period, along with nails and iron slag discovered together at Usha and dated to about 1400 years ago, finds which prove that the town's inhabitants also worked in metallurgy. According to Amitzur,

2318-459: The most part, although there are haggadic portions in them. In these collections the line between independent halakha and midrash halakha is not sharply drawn. Many mishnayot (single paragraph units) in the Mishnah and in the Tosefta are midrashic halakhot. On the other hand, the halakhic midrashim contain independent halakhot without statements of their scriptural bases. This confusion

2379-535: The older halakha and the artificiality of the younger is illustrated also by the difference in the method of explaining the Law, cited above, in regard to uncleanness. Both halakhot regard it as self-evident that if a man is unclean, whether it be from contact with a corpse or from any other cause, he may not share in the Passover. The younger halakha , despite the dot over the ה, reads rechokah and makes it refer to derekh ("road" or "way") even determining how far away one must be to be excluded from participation in

2440-657: The older Halakah in cases where he deduces a definition from the literal wording of a passage, and bases his explanation strictly on its obvious meaning, "debarim ki-ktavan". Most of the Sifra is to be attributed to Judah, nearly all the anonymous statements in it being his, "Setam Sifra R. Yehudah". Of his exegetical principles only one need be noted: "In the Holy Scriptures certain phrases which border on blasphemy have been altered". Many aggadic utterances and traditions of Judah's have been preserved. His traditions regarding

2501-610: The other four books of the Pentateuch there was a midrash from the school of Rabbi Akiva and one from the school of Rabbi Ishmael , and these midrashim are still in great part extant. The halakhic midrash to Exodus from the school of R. Ishmael is the Mekilta , while that of the school of R. Akiva is the Mekilta of R. Shimon bar Yochai , most of which is contained in Midrash ha-Gadol . A halakhic midrash to Leviticus from

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2562-405: The produce of the olive orchards and vines which they grew on the gentle hills in the area. The other major local industry dealt in glass production. Witness are the numerous remains of delicate wine glasses and glass lamps found next to raw glass lumps. The fragments come in shades of pale blues and greens and a beautiful finish, their quality and quantity bearing witness to the proficiency of

2623-560: The real meaning of the scriptural texts; thus it was held that a correct elucidation of the Torah carried with it the proof of the halakha and the reason for its existence. In the midrash halakha three divisions may be distinguished: The older halakha sought only to define the compass and scope of individual laws, asking under what circumstances of practical life a given rule was to be applied and what would be its consequences. The older midrash , therefore, aims at an exact definition of

2684-561: The regular yearly cycle, they are deemed as not having Seventh-year sanctity, even if picked one day following the Seventh-year and had grown during the Seventh-year. If picked at the very onset of the Seventh-year, even though they grew in an ordinary year, they are deemed as Seventh-year produce and the laws of removal ( bi'ur ) would apply to them. Judah bar Ilai recalled that, in his youth, he stood up on Purim to read from

2745-482: The ruins on which the Arab village of Hawsha was built. The modern kibbutz of Usha, Israel is located several kilometers to the west. The site is close to the town of Kiryat Ata . Archaeological excavations began at the site in 2008 until 2012, another dig took place in 2014 just along the southwestern fringes of Horbat. These excavations led to the conclusion that the site had been continuously inhabited from

2806-543: The school of R. Akiva exists under the name " Sifra " or "Torat Kohanim." There was one to Leviticus from the school of R. Ishmael also, of which only fragments have been preserved. The halakhic midrash to Numbers from the school of R. Ishmael is the " Sifre "; while of that of the school of R. Akiva, the Sifre Zutta , only extracts have survived in Yalkut Shimoni and Midrash HaGadol . The middle portion of

2867-403: The scriptures is frequently very distant from the literal meaning of the words. The same is true of many explanations by the younger tannaim . These occur chiefly as expositions of such halakhot as were not based on scripture but which it was desired to connect with or support by a word in the Bible. The Talmud often says of the interpretations of a baraita: "The Biblical passage should be merely

2928-461: The sentences in Exodus 13 than the one generally received; connecting the word ha-yom (= "this day", the first word of verse 13:4) with verse 13:3 and so making the passage read: "There shall no leavened bread be eaten this day." The younger halakha reads ha-yom with verse 13:4, and finds its support for the traditional halakha by means of the principle of semukot (collocation); that is to say,

2989-414: The simple exegesis of the older halakha . It treats the Bible according to certain general principles, which in the course of time became more and more amplified and developed (see Talmud ); and its interpretations depart further and further from the simple meaning of the words. A few examples will illustrate this difference in the method of interpretation between the older and the younger halakhah . It

3050-563: The site to the bilical site of Hosah, mentioned in the book of Joshua. The connectio between the two is considered as yet unknown, but most researchers tend to identify it with Tell Rashidiyeh or Khirbet el-Hos, today both in Lebanon , one south of modern Tyre , and one southeast of Tyre. 19th-century researchers such as Leopold Zunz and those from the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF), as well as archeologitst from

3111-466: The smithy was not in operation, while the large glass industry was, which makes Amitzur associate it with glassblowing. The rabbis who settled in Usha were active in making many reforms, under the leadership of Simeon ben Gamaliel II . They ruled in favor of several legal enactments, such as making it compulsory upon Jewish fathers to support their small children by providing sustenance unto them, until they were able to provide for themselves, and that if

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3172-516: The speakers") on the grounds that he was the best authority on Jewish traditions. He was intimately associated with the patriarch Simeon ben Gamaliel II , in whose house he is said to have been entrusted with the decision in matters pertaining to the religious law . He was also able to win the confidence of the Romans by his praise of their civilizing tendencies as shown in their construction of bridges, highways, and marketplaces. Judah's personal piety

3233-509: The stereotyped halakhah without its Scriptural basis, he terms "enemies"; but those who direct their attention to the Scriptures are "brothers." Yet it is only they who interpret or expound the Bible who receive this latter name; for he who makes a literal translation of a verse of Scripture is a "liar," and he who adds to it a "blasphemer". Judah's most famous teaching appears in the fourth chapter of Mesechet Berakhot. Rabbi Judah holds that

3294-421: The teachers of the Law, from whose errors wickedness arises—"and the house of Jacob their sins"—that is, the ignorant, whose wickedness is only error. Many of Judah's maxims and proverbs have likewise been preserved; they include: Usha (city) Usha ( Hebrew : אושא ) was an ancient Jewish town in the western part of Galilee . It was identified in the late 19th century by Victor Guérin , who found

3355-590: The text at the very beginning. In the Jerusalem Talmud the midrashic baraitot frequently begin with ketib (= "It is written"), followed by the scriptural passage. From the instances of midrashic baraitot in the Talmud that are not found in the extant midrashim , the loss of many of the latter class of works must be inferred. The midrash which the Amoraim use when deducing tannaitic halakhot from

3416-405: The tree on the gave to gather almonds, disdaining to ask the saint's permission first as she had been instructed by others and mocking them instead. She fell from the tree and broke all her bones, so she gave up her golden bracelets and bought with them olive trees, and others followed suit, so that now he has four hundred olive trees. This incident occurred some sixty years past. Judah often teaches

3477-427: The true meaning of the scriptures. Their interpretations and deductions appeared to them to be really contained in the text; and they wished them to be considered correct biblical expositions. Hence they both have the form of scriptural exegesis, in that each mentions the biblical passage and the halakha that explains it, or, more correctly, derives from it. It is to a law stated in this form—i.e., together with

3538-404: The two sentences, "There shall no leavened bread be eaten," and "This day came ye out," though they are separated grammatically, are immediately contiguous in the text, and exert an influence over each other. What the older halakha regarded as the obvious meaning of the words of the text, the younger infers from the collocation of the sentences. The wide divergence between the simple exegesis of

3599-570: Was a generally accepted opinion that the first Passover celebrated in Egypt, that of the Exodus , differed from those that followed it, in that at the first one the prohibition of leavened bread was for a single day only, whereas at subsequent Passovers this restriction extended to seven days. The older halakha represented by R. Jose the Galilean , bases its interpretation on a different division of

3660-426: Was also important because some of the pupils of Rabbi Akiva resided there, including Shimon Bar Yochai , Judah bar Ilai , whose original home was in Usha, Jose ben Halafta , and Rabbi Meir . The site received prominence after a Talmudic passage which names the boundary between Usha and Shefa-Amr as the place where Judah ben Bava met his death after ordaining seven elders and disciples of Rabbi Akiva. In 2012,

3721-584: Was most rigid, and he observed many of the practises of the Hasideans and the Essenes . He drank no wine except on the days when Jewish law required, and recommended against eating expensive meats so as to avoid developing a taste for luxuries. On Friday, after he had bathed and clad himself in white to prepare for the Sabbath , he seemed to his pupils an angel. According to a later rule of interpretation, Judah

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