The Tanaim were followed by the Amor aim, 01 later doctors of the law: and the fruits of their work are laid
down in the Tali I (q. v.), the completion of which
1 about A.D. 500 i terminated the period of the Amoraim, io be opened by that of the Saboraim, or the teachers of the law after the conclusion of the Talmud. To this period (A.D. 500 657), perhaps, belongs the collection, or final redaction. o| some ■•(' the lesser Talmudic trea- tises and the Masorah 1 q. v. t. After the \ came the so-called Gaonim, or the last doctors of the law in the chain of Rabbinic succession, comprising a period fnun A.D. 657 i^ 1040. 'I he work of these dif- ferent schools, together with the biographies of tin most, distinguished men. will be treated more fully in the art. Scribes.
tin the dissolution of the Babylonian schools, Spain, Portugal, and Southern France became the centre of Rabbinism. As early as about A.D. 1000 the Talmud is said to have been translated into Arabic. In Spain, the most flourishing school was that of Cordova, found- ed by .Moses ben-Chanoch (q.v.). Besides Cordova, Rabbinism flourished in Granada, then in Lucena, the most famous representative of which was Isaac ben- Jacob Alfasi (q.v.). To the 11th and l'Jth centuries belong especially Jehudah ha-Levi ben-Samuel (q.v.), Aben-Ezra (q. v.), the Kimchis (q.v.), and Solomon Parchon (q.v.). In France flourished Gershom ben- Jehudah, or Rabbenu < iershom 1 q. v.), and Rashi (q. v.). Bul the most distinguished of all was Moses Maimon-
ides (q. v.), of Cordova, whose philosophical treatment of tradition divided Judaism, after his death, into two hostile parties; and the Spanish and French schools were divided for some tine-. When, 111 1305, A-her
ben-Jechiel, of Germany, came into Spain, he succeeded in bringing the French school, which was hostile to philosophy, to supremacy, and thus philosophy was proscribi d. Bul there was another kind of philosophy it it deserve thai name at all which was especially cultivated in these times ill,, so-called Cabala, as it especially appears in the Sohar (q.v.). As the fore- mosl representatives of this branch of literature, we mav mention Meir ibn-Gabbai (q. v.), Joseph Karo (q. v.i. Salomo al ELabez, Moses Cordovero (q.v.), [saac Loria (q. v.), Moses Galante (q. v.), Samuel Laniado (q. v. . Jacob Zemach, and FJajim Vidal. The invention of the art of printing produced a new activity in the Church as well as in the Synagogue; and the first
printed edition of the Talmud, in 1520, al Venice; the edition of the second Bomberg Rabbinic Bible, by Ja- cob ben-Chajim, in 1526; and the writings of Ulias Levita (q.v.), an- the fust Jewish fruit- of the art. Rabbinism was again revived and represented in the schools of Hro.lv. Lemberg, Lublin, Cracow. Prague, I'urih. Frankfort, Venice, and Amsterdam. The party spirit which, in former ages, was represented in the -Spanish and French schools was revived in the Portu- gueso - Italian and Germano - Polish school-. Moses Mendelssohn (q.v.), and in- friends as Bartwig Wes-
sely. David l'ricdliindcr. and Others opened a new ep- och, and endeavored to enlighten their coreligionists;
but the chasm was nol healed. On the contrary, a final division was produced; and Reformed and <>rtho-
RABBITI!
871
RAB-SARIS
dox Judaism are the two antipodes of the present day. As a religious system, " Rabbinism," says the late Dr. M'Caul, " has fared like all other religious systems : it has had prejudiced assailants to attack, and over-zeal- ous admirers to defend it. The former have produced whatever they could find objectionable; the latter have carefully kept out of view whatever seemed to its dis- advantage. The truth is, that it is a mixed system of good and bad. Founded on the inspired writings of Moses and the prophets, it necessarily contains much truth and wisdom ; but, expounded and enlarged by prejudiced men, it presents a strange incongruity of materials."' See the art. "Rabbinism," in Ilerzog's Real-Encykl.; the same art. in Theol. Universal- Lex- icon; Wesen des Rabbinismus, in Jost, Gesch. </. Judenth. u.s.Secten, i,227 sq. ; M'Caul, Sketches of Judaism and the Jews (London, 1838), ch. iv— " Rabbinism Considered as a Religious System," p. G9 sq. (B. P.)
Rab'bith (Heb. n"^. Rabbit h' [always with the art.], multitude; Sept. 'Pa/3j3d& v. r. Aa/3ipiov),a city in the tribe of Issachar (Josh, xix, 20). Schwarz {Palest, p. 166) found a village, Arubuni, three English miles west of Beth-shean, which he is disposed to iden- tify with the Rebbo of Jerome, and the Rabbith of Joshua. But this is beyond the bounds of Issachar. Probably the locality in question is in the north-east part of the tribe, possibly at the ruins Sumurieh (? Samaria).
Rabbling, a term employed to denote the sum- mary ejectment, on Christmas-day, 1688, of Episcopal clergymen and their families by the Scottish populace, after the Revolution. The incumbents were turned out of their houses, and often into the snow; the church doors were locked, and the key was taken away. These measures were certainly harsh and uncalled for; but the people had been exasperated, especially in the west country, by twenty-five years of bloodshed and persecu- tion. Though they were " rude, even to brutality," yet, as lord Macaulay says, " they do not appear to have been guilty of any intentional injury to life or limb." The better part of the people put a stop to the riotous proceedings on the part principally of the Cam- eronians: but a form of notice, or a threatening letter, was sent to every curate in the Western Lowlands. — Eadie, EccUs. Cyclop, s. v.