Religion and Theology

Rabbis fulfill two important roles in the Jewish society.  The interpretive function as well as the legislative function.  When they made decisions as well as interpretations the function was judicial and in issuing ordinances and enactments they execute a legislative role. As far as general humanity is concerned this is done only in institutions.  But the Rabbinic authority being religious, functions much like an institution.  But all of it was accepted only if it was not against any of the written law, because none could contradict the written law or the Torah which had been given to Moses by the Almighty.  It consisted of two parts one was the written Torah and the other was the Oral Torah which was a commentary of the written one.  Till the second century of C.E. The oral Torah was transmitted by mouth. During the third century, Rabbi Judah the Prince felt that it could be lost.  So he compiled the basics into a six part document called the Mishnah.  It was in the teaching of this oral tradition and the interpretation of the written text that the influence of the sages mainly depended on.  The sages include all the names mentioned in the Talmudic period.

The Rabbis or Sages. The period of the Talmudic age may be marked by centers of learning that thrived during the particular periods. The period of AD 70 - AD133-5 is described as the Jabneh era.  This was the time of Rabbi Johannan Ben Zakkai who was a moderate, in his views.  He, during the impending doom of Jerusalem reached the Roman army camp and predicted accurately the appointment of Titus to the imperial throne.  With this, he was able to secure a future Jewish religious life and begged for the safety of Hillel the elder and saved Yavneh and its sages.  The sages of Yavneh redefined the festival calendar, which rituals should continue in the absence of the temple, which was destroyed, and established a judiciary system with Yavneh at its apex, instead of the Sanhedrin.

Rabbi Judah the Patriarch was called our holy Rabbi. He was very pious, wealthy and learned.  He created the Mishnah that was an authoritative statement of Jewish law. The scholars who produced the Mishnah were called the Amoriam, which represented loudspeakers who recited aloud the statements of the leading rabbis.  Later on the name passed on to the scholars themselves. They continued for about six generations.  During this period the rabbis became a major force in the Jewish religious scholarship. The Amoraic age mainly differs with the Tannaim age in the use of Aramaic instead of Hebrew as the language. Later on the Amoraic works easily eclipsed the works of the Tannaitic era.  The Mishnah alone does not encompass the whole of the oral tradition as it also includes the Tannaitic era books too.

Rabbi Joshua Ben Levi lived in Judah, and studied at the feet of three great scholars.  He is said to have met with Elijah from whom he learned the deepest wisdom of the Torah. He and his friend Rabbi Chanina bar Chama were always chosen as emissaries to visit the Roman rulers because of their appearance like angels. Rav Huna belonged to the second generation of Amoriam in the beginning of the third century. He was rich, righteous and a Leader of Israel. He was a sage and people believed that whoever saw him in a dream would receive a miracle.   Rav Nacham established principles dealing with disputes in money matters.  He constructed a pledge in case of debt denials.

Thus the Rabbis influenced the Jewish and the religion throughout the Talmudic age. They made legislations and interpreted the law for the common people.  To quote all of them in this situation would be impossibility for their number is many and their talents and influence varied (From genesis).