Zugot

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As Zugot ( Hebrew זו jüdות pairs ; also Sugot or Suggot ) or the five pairs , the Mishnah and other literature on Jewish traditional history designate a total of ten Jewish scribes in the age of the Second Temple . According to this literature, they passed on the oral law during this period. They lived after the time of the Jewish prophets , but before the so-called Tannaites , who wrote down the oral law.

In the sayings of the fathers , the two most important scholars of their respective generation are put together in pairs. One of them is said to have been chairman ( Nasi ) and the other deputy head ( Ab Bet-Din ) of the Sanhedrin . In terms of institutional history, however, this report is probably not reliable, but rather an anachronism.

1 pair:

  • Jose (Josse / Josef) ben Joezer from Tsereda (town in the Manasseh tribe ), allegedly suffered a martyr's death. He is said to have said: Let your house be a meeting place for the wise, and dust yourself with the dust of their feet, and drink their words with thirst.
  • Jose (Josse) ben Jochanan (from Jerusalem ). From him the saying is passed down: Let your house be opened to relief, and let your housemates be poor, and do not chat too much with the woman. As for one's own wife ... how much more so with someone else's wife.

Both lived at the time of the Maccabean War of Independence.

2 pairs:

  • Joschua ben Perachja / Josua, son of Perachja (Jewish tradition according to Jesus' teacher ), and
  • Nittai (other reading: Mattai) from Arbelite (r) / Nittai from Arbela (Irbid near Tiberias ).

Joshua and Nittai lived in the time of John Hyrcanus I.

3rd pair:

  • Juda ben Tabbai (Jehuda, son of Tabbai)
  • Shimon ben Schetach (Simeon ben Schetach) (brother of Salome Alexandra ?); Simon, son of Schetach, acted impartially and without regard to the person of his office as President of the Synhedrion, had King Jannai appear in court in a legal case, instructed him to stand as a defendant ("before God, not before the judge") instead of sitting; The following story is told of his great honesty: Simon had bought a donkey from an Arab; The students had noticed a precious gem on the donkey's neck and joyfully brought it to their teacher; But the latter declared that he had only bought the donkey and not the precious stone and ordered the precious stone to be returned immediately to the Arab, who upon receipt of the Arab exclaimed: Praise be to the god Simons!

They lived at the time of Alexander Jannäus and Salome Alexandra.

4th pair:

  • Schemaja / Šemaja and
  • Abtalion / Abtaljon / Ptollion are mentioned in Abot I, 10.

Schemaja and Abtalion possibly correspond to Samaias and Pollion in Flavius ​​Josephus . They lived at the time of John Hyrcanus II and were descended from men from the descendants of the Assyrian king Sennacherib who converted to Judaism and then married Israelite women .

5th pair:

  • Hillel (Hillel "the old"), the traditions about his life are completely clichéd, contrast the "gentle" Hillel with the "strict" Shammai (and have a lot in common with the topoi of the Hellenistic scholarly biography); Hillel has passed down the following sayings: Belong to Aharon's disciples, loving peace and striving for peace, loving people and bringing them closer to the Torah ... Whoever spreads his name loses his name entirely, whoever does not gain weight decreases, who does not teach , is worthy of death, and whoever uses the crown fades away ... If I am not for myself, who is for me? And if I am to myself what am I? And if not now, when?
  • Shammai / Šammaj (sometimes also called "the old one"); From him the saying is passed down: Make your Torah a fixed occupation, speak little and do a lot, and receive everyone with a friendly expression.

Hillel and Shammai both lived in the time of Herod the Great . They passed the tradition on to Jochanan ben Sakkai .

Literature (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Abot I, 4.
  2. ↑ Abot I, 4.
  3. ↑ Sanh 107b and Sota 47a.
  4. ↑ Mentioned Abot I, 6-7.
  5. ↑ Debarim Rabba 3,3, cf. Übers. August Wünsche , Leipzig 1882, p. 42, DebarimRabbaGermanWuensche 052 on Wikisource in DjVu format.
  6. ^ Antiquitates Judaicae XIV; XV
  7. ↑ Abot I, 12-14.
  8. ↑ Abot I, 15