View source for Tannaim

{{short description|Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10-220 CE}}
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{{Eras of the Halakha}}
'''''Tannaim''''' ([[Mishnaic Hebrew|Amoraic Hebrew]]: {{langx|he|תנאים}} {{IPA|he|tannɔʔim|}} "repeaters", "teachers", singular ''tanna'' {{lang|he|תנא}} {{IPA|he|tanˈnɔː|}}, borrowed from [[Aramaic]])<ref>{{cite book |last1=Scharfstein |first1=Sol |title=Torah and Commentary: The Five Books of Moses : Translation, Rabbinic and Contemporary Commentary |date=2008 |publisher=KTAV Publishing House, Inc. |isbn=978-1-60280-020-5 |page=523 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vCfrt1cP_mkC |quote=The rabbis educated at Yavneh would be links in the great unbroken chain of teachers of the Torah. Yohanan and those who followed him were called tannaim, meaning "repeaters" or "teachers.}}</ref> were the [[rabbi]]nic [[Sage (philosophy)|sages]] whose views are recorded in the [[Mishnah]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Trachtenberg|first=Joshua|author-link=Joshua Trachtenberg|orig-date=Originally published 1939|chapter=Glossary of Hebrew Terms|chapter-url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/jms/jms43.htm|title=Jewish Magic and Superstition|publication-place=Philadelphia|publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]]|publication-date=2004|page=333|isbn=9780812218626|access-date=Oct 21, 2022|quote=''Tanna'' (pl. ''Tannaim'')—authorities cited in the Mishna and coëval writings.}}</ref> from approximately 10–220 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also referred to as the Mishnaic period, lasted about 210 years. It came after the period of the [[Zugot]] "Pairs" and was immediately followed by the period of the [[Amoraim]] "Interpreters".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Scharfstein |first1=Sol |title=Understanding Jewish History: From the patriarchs to the expulsion from Spain |date=1996 |publisher=KTAV Publishing House |isbn=978-0-88125-545-4 |page=116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Grj-wAEACAAJ |quote=... both in Palestine and in Babylonia, were called amoraim, meaning "speakers" or "interpreters"}}</ref>
The root ''tanna'' ({{lang|arc|תנא}}) is the Aramaic equivalent of the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] root ''shanah'' ({{lang|he|שנה}}), which also is the [[triliteral|root word]] of ''Mishnah''. The verb ''shanah'' means "to repeat [what one was taught]" and is used to mean "to learn".
The Mishnaic period is commonly divided into five periods according to generations. There are approximately 120 known Tannaim.
The Tannaim lived in several areas of the [[Land of Israel]]. The spiritual center of [[Judaism]] at that time was [[Jerusalem]], but after the destruction of the city and the [[Second Temple]], [[Yohanan ben Zakkai]] and his students founded a new [[Council of Jamnia]].{{cn|date=January 2021}} Other places of learning were founded by his students in [[Lod]] and in [[Beneberak|Bnei Brak]].
Some Tannaim worked as laborers (e.g., charcoal burners, cobblers) in addition to their positions as teachers and legislators. They were also leaders of the people and negotiators with the [[Roman Empire]].{{cn|date=January 2021}}
{{Rabbinical eras timeline|0|218|Era_of_the_Tannaim}}
== History==
The ''Tannaim'' operated under the occupation of the [[Roman Empire]]. During this time, the ''[[Kohen|Kohanim]]'' (priests) of the [[Second Temple|Temple]] became increasingly corrupt and were seen by the Jews as collaborators with the Romans, whose mismanagement of [[Iudaea province]] (composed of [[Samaria]], [[Idumea]] and [[Judea]] proper<ref>{{cite book | last=Malamat | first=A. | last2=Ben-Sasson | first2=H.H. | title=A History of the Jewish People | publisher=Harvard University Press | year=1976 | isbn=978-0-674-39731-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2kSovzudhFUC | access-date=2023-08-18|page=246|quote=When [[Herod Archelaus|Archelaus]] was deposed from the ethnarchy in 6 CE, Judea proper, Samaria and Idumea were converted into a Roman province under the name Iudaea.}}</ref>) led to riots, revolts and general resentment.
Until the days of [[Hillel the Elder|Hillel]] and [[Shammai]], the last generation of the Zugot, there were few disagreements among Rabbinic scholars. After this period, though, the [[Houses of Hillel and Shammai]] came to represent two distinct perspectives on [[Halakha|Jewish law]], and disagreements between the two schools of thought are found throughout the [[Mishnah]].{{cn|date=January 2021}}
The ''Tannaim'', as teachers of the [[Oral Law]], are said to be direct transmitters of an oral tradition passed from teacher to student that was written and codified as the basis for the Mishnah, [[Tosefta]], and tannaitic teachings of the [[Talmud]]. According to rabbinic tradition, the ''Tannaim'' were the last generation in a long sequence of oral teachers that began with [[Moses]].
{{Quote|text=Early rabbinic Bible exegesis was preserved in tannaitic texts compiled in the second century CE or later, but is likely to contain much earlier material. It certainly contains some interpretations that can be traced back explicitly to the first century CE because of parallels with motifs found in the writings of [[Josephus]] or [[Philo]], such as the legend of the extraordinary beauty of Moses as a child.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goodman |first=Martin David |date=2018 |title=A History of Judaism |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=63 |isbn=978-0-691-18127-1 }}</ref>
|author=[[Martin Goodman (historian)|Martin David Goodman]]
|title=
|source=''A History of Judaism'' (2018)
}}
== Language of the Mishnah ==
The language in which the Tannaim of [[Israel]] and Babylonia wrote is referred to as Mishnaic Hebrew (MH), or in Hebrew ''Lešon hakhamim'', meaning ''the language of the Sages.'' Texts were written in MH between roughly 70 CE and 500 CE. Tannaitic literature, which includes the Mishnah, the Tosefta, the halachic midrashim, and [[Seder Olam Rabbah|Seder 'olam Rabba]] was redacted between roughly 70 CE to 250 CE. Research has demonstrated that Hebrew was spoken in Israel until about 200 CE, and it is generally agreed that tannaitic literature reflects the language and speech used in various regions of Israel during that time period.<ref>''The Cambridge History of Judaism'', vol 4, CHAPTER 15, "MISHNAIC HEBREW: AN INTRODUCTORY SURVEY," MOSHE BAR-ASHER, p. 369</ref>
== Prominent ''Tannaim'' ==
=== Titles ===
The ''[[Nasi (Hebrew title)|Nasi]]'' (plural ''Nesi'im'') was the highest-ranking member and presided over the [[Sanhedrin]]. ''Rabban'' was a higher title than ''Rabbi'', and it was given to the ''Nasi'' starting with Rabban [[Gamaliel|Gamaliel Hazaken]] (Gamaliel the Elder). The title ''Rabban'' was limited to the descendants of Hillel, the sole exception being Rabban [[Yochanan ben Zakai]], the leader in Jerusalem during the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|siege]], who safeguarded the future of the Jewish people after the [[First Jewish-Roman War|Great Revolt]] by pleading with [[Vespasian]]. Rabbi [[Eleazar ben Azariah]], who was also ''Nasi'', was not given the title ''Rabban'', perhaps because he only held the position of ''Nasi'' for a short while and it eventually reverted to the descendants of Hillel. Prior to Rabban Gamliel Hazaken, no titles were used before someone's name, which gave rise to the [[Talmud]]ic adage "''Gadol miRabban shmo''" ("Greater than the title ''Rabban'' is a person's own name").{{cn|date=January 2021}} This is seen as the reason that Hillel has no title before his name: his name in itself is his title, just as [[Moses]] and [[Abraham]] have no titles before their names. (An addition is sometimes given ''after'' a name to denote significance or to differentiate between two people with the same name. Examples include ''Avraham Avinu'' (Abraham our father) and ''Moshe Rabbeinu'' (Moses our teacher). Similarly, Hillel is often referred to as ''Hillel Hazaken'' (Hillel the elder). Starting with Rabbi [[Judah haNasi]] (Judah the ''Nasi''), often referred to simply as "Rabbi", not even the ''Nasi'' is given the title ''Rabban'', but instead, Judah haNasi is given the lofty title ''Rabbeinu HaKadosh'' ("Our holy rabbi [teacher]").
===Generations===
The Mishnaic period is commonly divided into five generations:
#First Generation before and shortly after the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|Destruction of the Temple]] (c. 40 BCE – 80 CE):<br>Rabban [[Yohanan ben Zakkai]], [[Shimon ben Gamliel]] and [[Judah ben Baba]]
#Second Generation between the destruction of the Temple and [[Bar Kokhba's revolt]]:<br>Rabban [[Gamaliel II]] of Yavneh, Rabbi [[Joshua ben Hananiah]]  and Rabbi [[Eliezer ben Hurcanus]], the teachers of Rabbi Akiva, as well as [[Gamaliel II|Gamaliel]] of [[Yavne]] and [[Eleazar ben Arach]]
#Third Generation around [[Bar Kochba's revolt]]:<br>[[Rabbi Akiva]], [[Rabbi Tarfon]], [[Ishmael ben Elisha]], [[Eleazar ben Azariah]], [[Jose the Galilean]], [[Nathan the Babylonian]] and [[Elisha ben Abuyah]] (the "Other" or apostate)
#Fourth Generation after the revolt:<br>[[Shimon ben Gamliel II|Shimon ben Gamliel]] of Yavne, [[Rabbi Meir]], [[Shimon bar Yochai]] (who, according to traditional lore, wrote the [[Zohar]]), [[Jose ben Halafta]], [[Judah ben Ilai|Yehuda ben Ilai]] and [[Rabbi Nehemiah]]
#Fifth Generation: the generation of Rabbi [[Judah haNasi]], who compiled the Mishnah.
#Sixth Generation, an interim generation between the Mishnah and the Gemara:<br> [[Rabbi Hiyya]], [[Shimon ben Judah HaNasi]] and [[Joshua ben Levi|Yehoshua ben Levi]].
== See also ==
* [[Oral law#Oral law in Judaism|Oral law]]
* [[Pharisees]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=59&letter=T ''Jewish Encyclopedia'']
* [https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/115257/jewish/The-Mishnaic-Age.htm Chabad biographies of the Tannaim]
* [http://virtualreligion.net/iho/tannaim.html Tannaim] entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith
{{Tannaim}}
{{Mishnah tree}}
[[Category:Mishnah rabbis| ]]
[[Category:Rabbis by rabbinical period|2]]
[[Category:Chazal]]