05-15-2009, 01:06 AM
Shlama all--
I think we need to take a step back and define things a bit better. The canon in Israel for Tanakh was not the same in Babylon or in Alexandria and, of course, Ethiopia.
In terms of the last one, this is another greatly neglected area of research. The Ethiopian Jewish and Christian communities have many legends between them, and while certain details of the Tebra Negast have been proven false, at their heart many truths are being ignored. The legends have obscured the real history of the matter.
Ethiopian Jewry is the oldest continuous Jewish community on earth. You heard me correctly. They have rituals that pre-date the oldest form of Rabbinic Judaism by at least 500 years. Their rituals are not just from the Second Temple times but EARLY SECOND TEMPLE times. There is no doubt in my mind that the source of their Judaism were Aaronic priests fleeing persecution, possibly during Manasseh's time or maybe earlier.
By the way, they don't like being called "falashas" any more than the COE likes "Nestorians". I know some of these people--they are quite sensitive on the matter. Beyt Israel is their proper name.
Now as for Jamnia and such, yes, the official pronouncement of canon in 24 books very likely came from that time. The Mishnaic record is close enough to the original time as to be credible here. The process, begun by people like Yochanan ben Zakkai, was likely not finished 100% on the Israel side until the middle of the second century. It was certainly completed well before Shimon bar Yonai begun the Mishnah itself by that century's end.
This type of "lag" happened on the Christian side as well. Constantine put out his "official" Bible in 325, but the list wasn't codified completely for Catholics until the 397 CE Council of Carthage, and in both cases, Jewish and Christian, debates erupted continuously during and after the matter was supposedly settled.
The Christian decision on what was in for the NT had largely to do with authorship and pedigree. Was it by an apostle or a known apostle's associate. A secondary consideration was if there was at least an oral understanding that said books were universally received/accepted by a majority of assemblies.
The Jewish decision IN ISRAEL was more about provenance and linguistics. Specifically, did it come from Israel and from the Hebrew language? In at least one case--Tobit--the rabbis guessed wrong and assumed a Greek original, but that was because the Dead Sea Scrolls were not found yet. The rabbis relied heavily on what we call MINHAG, or "custom" tradition (" a custom in Israel is counted as Torah"). If the books had a strong minhag that they were from the right author, language, time and place, they were in. Whether what got in was in each case the best version of that work is a matter for debate. MT Isaiah clearly gets a pass. MT Jeremiah--not so much.
The wild bunch though were the Hellenistic and Baylonian factions of Jewry. It seems clear they had a longer canon and in a few cases, different content in their books. I have already commented that the Babylonian division of the Tanakh superseded the earlier one done in Israel, but many other aspects to what they did back then and how it might apply now are shrouded in mystery. There aren't many Jews left in old Babylon or Persia (Iran and Iraq) and what the few old folks there now is dying out and not being passed down. If it keeps at this rate, their ancient voices will be gone within 2 generations forever.
In short, while we know there were strong ancient variants in Scripture and diversity in liturgy (look at Psalm 151) the precise details of what was where and when are elusive. If we look at how difficult it was for the Jews even in Israel to re-establish a Beit Din just for themselves, we can ust imagine applying that to all the Jews of the Dispersion. It is humbling to remember that 90% of the Jews in Babylon did NOT return to the Land under Ezra or any other Jewish leader. What secrets do their descendants still have and what has been lost? We may never really know for sure...
I think we need to take a step back and define things a bit better. The canon in Israel for Tanakh was not the same in Babylon or in Alexandria and, of course, Ethiopia.
In terms of the last one, this is another greatly neglected area of research. The Ethiopian Jewish and Christian communities have many legends between them, and while certain details of the Tebra Negast have been proven false, at their heart many truths are being ignored. The legends have obscured the real history of the matter.
Ethiopian Jewry is the oldest continuous Jewish community on earth. You heard me correctly. They have rituals that pre-date the oldest form of Rabbinic Judaism by at least 500 years. Their rituals are not just from the Second Temple times but EARLY SECOND TEMPLE times. There is no doubt in my mind that the source of their Judaism were Aaronic priests fleeing persecution, possibly during Manasseh's time or maybe earlier.
By the way, they don't like being called "falashas" any more than the COE likes "Nestorians". I know some of these people--they are quite sensitive on the matter. Beyt Israel is their proper name.
Now as for Jamnia and such, yes, the official pronouncement of canon in 24 books very likely came from that time. The Mishnaic record is close enough to the original time as to be credible here. The process, begun by people like Yochanan ben Zakkai, was likely not finished 100% on the Israel side until the middle of the second century. It was certainly completed well before Shimon bar Yonai begun the Mishnah itself by that century's end.
This type of "lag" happened on the Christian side as well. Constantine put out his "official" Bible in 325, but the list wasn't codified completely for Catholics until the 397 CE Council of Carthage, and in both cases, Jewish and Christian, debates erupted continuously during and after the matter was supposedly settled.
The Christian decision on what was in for the NT had largely to do with authorship and pedigree. Was it by an apostle or a known apostle's associate. A secondary consideration was if there was at least an oral understanding that said books were universally received/accepted by a majority of assemblies.
The Jewish decision IN ISRAEL was more about provenance and linguistics. Specifically, did it come from Israel and from the Hebrew language? In at least one case--Tobit--the rabbis guessed wrong and assumed a Greek original, but that was because the Dead Sea Scrolls were not found yet. The rabbis relied heavily on what we call MINHAG, or "custom" tradition (" a custom in Israel is counted as Torah"). If the books had a strong minhag that they were from the right author, language, time and place, they were in. Whether what got in was in each case the best version of that work is a matter for debate. MT Isaiah clearly gets a pass. MT Jeremiah--not so much.
The wild bunch though were the Hellenistic and Baylonian factions of Jewry. It seems clear they had a longer canon and in a few cases, different content in their books. I have already commented that the Babylonian division of the Tanakh superseded the earlier one done in Israel, but many other aspects to what they did back then and how it might apply now are shrouded in mystery. There aren't many Jews left in old Babylon or Persia (Iran and Iraq) and what the few old folks there now is dying out and not being passed down. If it keeps at this rate, their ancient voices will be gone within 2 generations forever.
In short, while we know there were strong ancient variants in Scripture and diversity in liturgy (look at Psalm 151) the precise details of what was where and when are elusive. If we look at how difficult it was for the Jews even in Israel to re-establish a Beit Din just for themselves, we can ust imagine applying that to all the Jews of the Dispersion. It is humbling to remember that 90% of the Jews in Babylon did NOT return to the Land under Ezra or any other Jewish leader. What secrets do their descendants still have and what has been lost? We may never really know for sure...
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth
Andrew Gabriel Roth