2. The Work of the Amoraim. — As the title implies, these Amoraim had to examine, decide, and expoimd the import of the Mishna for general practice. After the redaction of the Mishna by Jehudah the Holy (A.D. 1G3-193), this corpus juris became the canonical code, and constituted the source of study and the rule ofjjrac- ticc, both in Bab\don, whither it was imported imme- diately after its appearance by the celebrated Rab (q. v.), and in Palestine. These commentaries and dis- cussions on the Mishna in the two countries are embod- ied in the two Talmuds, or more properly (Jemaras, which are named after them — viz. Jerusalem and Baby- lon. The Jerusalem Talmud was made up in Tiberias about A.D. 400, because the Christian government took awa\' from the doctors of the law the right of ordina- tion, thus causing the extinction of the patriarchate and the declension of tiie Palestinian school; while the Bab- ylonian Talmud was not closed finally till the period
of the Saboraim, as the schools were still greatly flour- ishing in Babylon under the presidency of 7?f67t Methib- ia (Sn3'^n?3 113"^"!), or heads of schools, and the Resh Galutha (X?Tlb3 U*^"!), or the princes of the exiles, as they were called. See Midrash ; Talmud. For the distinguished doctors of the law who occupied the pa- triarchate, and were the presidents and vice-presidents of colleges during this period, we must refer to the ar- ticle Schools, Jewish, where they are enumerated iu chronological order.
lY. 7 he Saboraim, or the Teachers of the Law after the Conclusion of the Talmud. — 1. Name and Date. — The appellation Saboraim (C^XIISD, from the Aramaic 1-0, to think; to discern, to Judge) properly signifies de- cisores, and was given to those doctors of the law who determined the law (tl^bln) from a careful examination of all the pros and cons (X"CD) nrged by the Amoraim in their controversies on divine, legal, and ritual ques- tions contained in the Talmud. Hence the remark of Sherira (Jaon (A.D. 968-998), " Though no independent legislation existed after the cessation of the Amoraim, yet there continued exposition and weighing of the transmitted and prevalent opinions; and it is from this weighing of opinions that the doctors derive their name, Saboraim" (Griitz, v, 426). The period of the Saboraim extends from about A.D. 500 to A.D. 657. This period, however, is divisible into two parts, and it is only the first part — i. e. from the death of Rabina, A.D. 500, to the death of R. Giza and R. Simuna, A.D. 550 — which can properly be denominated the real Saboraim epoch ; while the second part, which consists of the interval be- tween the real Saboraim and the rise of the Gaonim, from A.D. 550 to 657, has no proper designation, because the doctors who lived at this time and the work which they did are alike unimportant and desultory.
2. The Work of the Saboraim. — Unlike their prede- cessors the Tanaim and Amoraim, and their successors the Gaonim, these doctors of the law neither formed a succession of teachers nor were they engaged in any new work. They were a circle of literati and teachers, who supplemented and completed the work of the Amo- raim. They explained all doubtful questions in the Talmud, made new additions to it both from oral tradi- tions and MS. notes, inserted into it all the anecdotes which were current in the different schools, closed it, and wrote it down in the form in which we now have it. Hence their work had nothing to do with theories, but was pre-eminently practical. The chief men among these Saboraim which have come down to ns by name are R. Giza, the president of the college at Sora, and R. Simuna, the president of the college at Pumbaditha and Rabai of Rob. Their disciples and successors who be- long to this period are unknown (Griitz, v, 15 sq. ; 422 sq.).
V. The Gaonim, or the Last Doctors ofthe.Law in the Chain of Rabbinic Succession. — 1. Name and Date. — It is now difficult to ascertain the etymology of Ga^n ("1XJ), the title of the chief doctors of the law who suc- ceeded the Saboraim. One thing, however, is certain— namely, that it is not Hebrew, since both in the Bible and in the Talmud this word signifies ^Jr/Jc, haughtiness, while here it is an honorable appellation given exclu- sively to the presidents of the two distinguished col- leges" at Sora and Pumbaditha. Now, the period in which it originated may throw some light on the etymology of this title. (Jriitz (v, 139, 477) has shown that this title obtained A.D. cir. 658. When All, the son-in-law and vizier of Mohammed, was elected caliph (655), and the Islamites were divided into two parties, one for and the other against him, both the Babylonian Jews and the Nestorian Christians decided in his favor and ren- dered him great assistance. Maremes, who supported All's commander-in-chief in the siege of IMosul, was nominated Catholicos, while R. Isaac, the president of
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the college at Sora, who at the head of several thousantl Jews aided Ali iu the capture of Firuz-Shabur (May, 657), was rewarded witli the title Gaon (excellence). Ac- cordingly the title '(1X5 is either of Arabic or Persian origin, and properly belonged to the presidents of the Sora college, who alone bore the appellation at the be- ginning. The president of the subordinate sister col- lege at Pumbaditha w^as called the head of the college (Heb. nn^a"' UJX-i, Aramaic Xr2in?2 UJi".) by the Babj'lonians; and the appellation Gaon, whereby they were sometimes styled, obtained at first among the non- Babylonian Jews, who were not thoroughly acquainted with the dignities of the respective colleges in Babylon. It was only after 917, when Pumbaditha became of equal importance with Sora, and especially after 942-1038, when Sora, after the death of Saadia, began to decay altogether, and Pumbaditha continued alone to be the college of the doctors of the law, that the presidents of its college, like those of Sora, were described by the title Gaon. The period of the Gaonini extends from A.D. G57 to 1034 in Sora, and from (557 to 1038 in Pum- baditha, during which time the former college had no less than thirty -live presidents and the latter forty- three. See Pumbaditha; Sora.