Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai, Part II: The Return to Yavneh

Down The Rabbi Hole

In this episode we look at several other passages from the Babylonian Talmud that oddly, anachronistically, and in contrast to sources from Eretz Yisrael, are set in Yavneh. We propose that the Bavli wanted to "bundle" these passages together so that we read them in light of one another. And what does that yield? That the Bavli envisioned the rabbinic leaders of that generation dealing with pressing theological and political issues that arose in the generation after the defeat of Bar Kokhba. We look (again) at the institution of the fourth berakhah of Birkat Hamazon, the successive exiles of the Sanhedrin, and a discussion among the tanna'im about the causes of a terrible disease. This sets the stage for the more famous discussion between Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai and Rabbi Yehuda Bar Ilai concerning attitudes toward Rome.