(II.) Rabbinical Lexicons and Word-books. — Buxturf, Lexicon Chaldaicum, Talmudicum,et Rabbinicum (Basle, 1640, fol. [new ed. by Fischer, Leips. 1866 sq.j); id. Lexicon Breve Rabbinico-Philosqphieum (ibid. 1607, and often since) ; Hartmann, Supplementa ad J. Buxtorfii et W. Gesenii Lexicon ( Rostock, 1813 ) ; id. Thesaurus Lingua Hebraicce e Mishna augend, (ibid. 1825-26); Low}', C"1""" IllflP, Worterbuch enthedtend hebr. Wdrter u. Redensarten, die sich im Talmud befinden (Prague, 1845-47, 2 pts.); Nathan ben-Jechiel. Ha- Aruch (Rome, 1515) , Dessauer, Leshon Rabbanan 1 Er- langen, 1849); Stem, Ozar ha-Millin (Vienna, 1864);
RABBINISM
870
RABBINISM
Levy, Neuhebraisches und chaldaisches Worterbuch (Leips. 1875 m|. i; Rabinei, Rabbvnisch-aramdisches Worterbuch I Lemberg, 1857); Young, Rabbinical Vo- cabulary^ i tc. I Edinb. b. a. i.
(III. i Miscellaneous.- For the abbreviations, comp. Wolf (Bibl. Il.hr. vols. ii. ivi. and also Buj Fischer), where al the end of each letter the abbrevia- tions of the respective letter arc given. (B. P.)
Rabbinism is thai development of Judaism which, return from Babylon, bul more especially after the ruin of the Temple and the extinction of the public became a new bond of national union, and the great distinctive feature in the character of modern Ju- daism. After the return from the Babylonian captivi- ty, the Mosaic constitution could lie but partially re-es- tablished. The whole structure was too much shatter- ed, and its fragments too widely dispersed, to reunite in their ancienl and regular form. The Levites who had returned from the captivity, it is true, were the officiat- ing priesthood, and no more. They were bound to be acquainted with the forms and usages of the sacrificial ritual: bul the instruction of the people and the inter- pretation of the law by no means fell necessarily within their province. From the captivity the. lews brought with them a reverential, or. rather, a passionate, attach- ment to the Mosaic law ; and this it seems to have been the pi ii. I. in policy of their leaders, Ezra and Nehemiah, to encourage by all possible means as the great bond of social union, and the unfailing principle of separation
fr the resl of mankind. By degrees, attachment to
the law -auk deeper and deeper into the national char- acter: it was not merely at once their Bible and their statute-book; it entered into the mosl minute detail of common life. "Bul no written law can provide lor all possible exigencies. Whether general and comprehen- sive, or minute and multifarious, it equally requires the expositor to adapt it to the immediate ease which may occur, either before the public tribunal or that of the private conscience. Hence the law became a deep and intricate study. Certain men rose to acknowledged em- inence for their ingenuity in explaining, their readiness in applying, their facility in quoting, and their clearness in offering solutions of, the difficult passages of the writ- ten statutes. Learning of the law became the greal distinction to which all alike paid reverential homage. Public and private affairs depended on the sanction of this self-formed spiritual aristocracy," or rabbinical oligarchy, which, itself held together by a strong corporate spirit, by community of interest, by identity of principle, has contributed, more than any other external cause, to knit i in one body the widely dispersed members of the Jewish family, and to keep them the distinct and sep- arate people which they appear in all ages of the world.
The fir-t stage of development appears in the work of the so-called Sopherim, the lasl of whom was Simon the Jusl (q. v.); and their work will be more fully de- scribed in the art. Scribes. The Sopherim were fol- lowed by another class of men. known as the Tanaim, or ti achersof the law | the vofiodiSaoicaXot in the N.T.). comprising a period from B.C.200 toA.D. 220. While we i description of their work for the art. S< 1:11:1s. we will only mention that from this school proceeded the oldest Midrashim, as Mechiita, Siphra, and Sipkri [see Mini: \sii 1. and the Mishna (q.v.). The mosl distin- guished rabbins of the Tanaim | who are in part given al- ready, or win be given, in this ( i/clopo'dia) were: I. Au- tigonusol 3oho (B.C. 200 170), whose famous maxim
B like servants who serve their master for the sake of receiving wages, bul belike servants who serve their master without expecting to receive wages*, and let the fear of the Lord be upon you" ! Ibotk, i. 3) a maxim pronounced by Pressense (in his Jesus Christ : his Times, etc.) a- ■ a noble and almost, evangelical ' |i* truly a mosl beautiful maxim, and one denoting
• The clause in brat kets i- found In the Vmer. ed. of 1SCS, but is omitted in the 4th Engl. ed. (London, 1671).
a legitimate reaction from the legal formalism which was in process of development" 1- said to have given rise to Sadduceeism; 2. Jose ben-Joesi r. ofZereda, and bis companion, Jose ben-Jochanan, ol Jerusalt m ; :;. Jc- chanan, the high-priest (commonly called John llyr- canus, q. v.); I. Jehoshua ben-Perachja, the reputed teacher of Christ, and his colleague, Nithai of Arbela (q.v.) ; 5. Simon ben-Shetai b 1 q. v. 1 and Jehudah ben- Tabai; 6. Shemaja (q.v.) and Abtalion; 7. Ililhl I (q. v.); 8. simon ben-Hillel I (q.v.); 9. Gamaliel I (q.v. 1; 10. simon 11 ben-Gamaliel (q. \. . who fell al the de- fence of Jerusalem; 11. Jocbanan ben-Zachai (q.v); 12. Gamaliel II, of Jabne (q.v.); 13. simon II ben-Ga- maliel II (q.v.) and R. Nathan ba-Babli (q.v.); 11. Jehudah I the Holy (q.v.); and. 15. Gamaliel III.