This will probably be the last bluffer's guide for a little while. Obviously there's no standard for "famous Rabbi", but there's half a dozen or so that you often hear about when people recount little Talmud stories, and once I'd heard the names a few times I found it helpful to get them straight so you had an idea of who future stories were about. [This technique also works with actual alive people].
Most of these people are from 100BCE to 200CE, so are described in the Mishnah (?). AIUI they are actual people, but descriptions of supernatural fights between them may have been exaggerated. I've rounded the dates to the nearest century just to give the general idea
100BCE-1BCE Hillel and Shamai
Hillel and Shamai established competing schools of study and are responsible for a lot of the earliest stuff in the Mishnah. They are typically paired and contrasted in anecdotes, which go something like this:
Shamai: *demonstrates immense learning*
Hillel: *one-ups him with some deft rhetorical quip that makes or refutes his point in about three words and makes Hillel look like a genius*
Of course, this rather gives Shamai the short end of the stick, because hundreds or thousands of years of people polishing your words of extensive learning and hundreds or thousands of years of people polishing your insightful quips both hone them to perfection, but the learning of both contributed to the all of the learning in Mishnah which isn't attributed to anyone specifically, whereas in all the anecdotes, Hillel gets the quips.
A typical example is something like:
Shamai: *is busy*
Annoying guy: Hey!
Shamai: *is busy*
Annoying guy: Hey!
Shamai: *is busy*
Annoying guy: Hey!
Shamai: WHAT?
Annoying guy: Hey, Shamai. I insult you by breaching etiquette in ways that are subtle for modern readers to grasp and have to be explained with a footnote, also I interrupt you when you're in the middle of things. So, I bet you can't teach me the whole Torah while standing on one leg?
Shamai: *explains why that is stupid*
Students of Shamai: *chase off annoying guy with big sticks*
Students of Shamai: *they had the sticks, not the annoying guy*
Hillel: *is busy*
Annoying guy: Hey!
Hillel: *is busy*
Annoying guy: Hey!
Hillel: *is busy*
Annoying guy: Hey!
Hillel: WHAT?
Annoying guy: Hey, Hillel. I insult you by breaching etiquette in ways that are subtle for modern readers to grasp and have to be explained with a footnote, except that they can probably see they're the same as the previous example. Also I interrupt you when you're in the middle of things. So, I bet you can't teach me the whole Torah while standing on one leg?
Hillel: The Torah says, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow." All the other stuff is footnotes.
Hillel: OK? Now go away.
( Read more... )
Most of these people are from 100BCE to 200CE, so are described in the Mishnah (?). AIUI they are actual people, but descriptions of supernatural fights between them may have been exaggerated. I've rounded the dates to the nearest century just to give the general idea
100BCE-1BCE Hillel and Shamai
Hillel and Shamai established competing schools of study and are responsible for a lot of the earliest stuff in the Mishnah. They are typically paired and contrasted in anecdotes, which go something like this:
Shamai: *demonstrates immense learning*
Hillel: *one-ups him with some deft rhetorical quip that makes or refutes his point in about three words and makes Hillel look like a genius*
Of course, this rather gives Shamai the short end of the stick, because hundreds or thousands of years of people polishing your words of extensive learning and hundreds or thousands of years of people polishing your insightful quips both hone them to perfection, but the learning of both contributed to the all of the learning in Mishnah which isn't attributed to anyone specifically, whereas in all the anecdotes, Hillel gets the quips.
A typical example is something like:
Shamai: *is busy*
Annoying guy: Hey!
Shamai: *is busy*
Annoying guy: Hey!
Shamai: *is busy*
Annoying guy: Hey!
Shamai: WHAT?
Annoying guy: Hey, Shamai. I insult you by breaching etiquette in ways that are subtle for modern readers to grasp and have to be explained with a footnote, also I interrupt you when you're in the middle of things. So, I bet you can't teach me the whole Torah while standing on one leg?
Shamai: *explains why that is stupid*
Students of Shamai: *chase off annoying guy with big sticks*
Students of Shamai: *they had the sticks, not the annoying guy*
Hillel: *is busy*
Annoying guy: Hey!
Hillel: *is busy*
Annoying guy: Hey!
Hillel: *is busy*
Annoying guy: Hey!
Hillel: WHAT?
Annoying guy: Hey, Hillel. I insult you by breaching etiquette in ways that are subtle for modern readers to grasp and have to be explained with a footnote, except that they can probably see they're the same as the previous example. Also I interrupt you when you're in the middle of things. So, I bet you can't teach me the whole Torah while standing on one leg?
Hillel: The Torah says, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow." All the other stuff is footnotes.
Hillel: OK? Now go away.
( Read more... )