hatsoff

I'm listening to Luke Timothy Johnson's lecture series Jesus and the Gospels from the Teaching Company. In lecture #15, he made references to two Jewish traditions.

At about 9:15, he says:

Indeed, we have a saying of a rabbi close to the time of Jesus that says "where two or three people gather and read Torah, there is the shekhinah among them." God's presence is among them. And then one rabbi even said, "if only one person occupies himself with Torah, there the shekhinah is present." So, Torah mediates God's presence.

Then, at about 25:15, he adds:

Here I remind you of the way in which Jesus interprets Torah, his use of the first person singular: "But I say to you." This is completely unprecedented within Judaism. In fact, there's a famous story about Rabbi Hillel who went off and learned all kinds of rules of argumentation in Babylon, came back, entered into the group of fellow Pharisees and scribes. They're reading a hard passage of Scripture and he said, "Here's what I think it means," and they threw him out. He came back in: "Here's what I think it means." They threw him out. (Everything has to happen three times, of course.) He comes back a third time, and he says, "This is what I heard from my teacher, who heard it from his teacher, who heard it from his teacher, who heard it from Moses on Mount Sinai," and they said, "Now we'll listen to you." So the entire Rabbinic tradition is based upon this deference to authority.

These are both very interesting traditions, for various reasons, but I'd like to look directly at the ancient sources. Unfortunately, I have no idea where to find them. I tried emailing Prof. Johnson, but he has not responded yet, and I suspect no such response is forthcoming (presumably since he is busy). Any help would therefore be much appreciated.

Thanks!

andrewcriddle

Mishnah Tractate Abot chapter 3 (This is a loose translation, Johnson is more literal.) R. Chananiah ben Teradyon dates from the very early 2nd century CE.
I'm not sure of the source for this but it is probably a late tradition with little to do with the historical Hillel.

Andrew Criddle

andrewcriddle

I now think that this is from the Jerusalem Talmud tractate Pesahim (Passover) 6:1 33a. If so Johnson's cite is inaccurate, there is no explicit statement that the tradition received by Hillel from his teachers goes back to Moses (such a statement is found in similar rabbinic narratives but not here.)

This passage occurs in three versions, in the Tosefta, in the Jerusalem Talmud and in the Babylonian Talmud for Pesahim. The passage is formally a supplement to an early 2nd century CE debate in Mishnah tractate Pesahim about what to do when Passover falls on the Sabbath.

In the Tosefta (almost certainly the earliest version) Hillel impresses his audience with several arguments that Passover overrides Sabbath culminating in an argument based on what his teachers told him. None of these arguments is clearly more persuasive than the others.

In the Babylonian Talmud the story is rewritten in a way that is not relevant here. In the Jerusalem Talmud Hillel's early arguments are rejected and only the argument from authority accepted.

What seems to have happened is that a historical early 2nd century CE rabbinic debate about Passover on the Sabbath was expanded with a legend about Hillel. This story about Hillel was then rewritten c 300 CE to emphasize that logical arguments are not convincing. Convincing arguments must be based on tradition.

Andrew Criddle

hatsoff

Thanks, Andrew! That was very helpful indeed!