Oral Law Tiyul

Today, Kitat Maayan visited Beit She'arim, Beit Alpha, and the Sachne spring. We started off our day with a quick two hour nap on the bus ride to Beit She'arim. Beit She'arim or the House of Measurements, is located in the lower Galilee. We sat on a couple of benches in the grass beneath the  trees. After a quick recap of yesterday's lesson, we began talking about Rabbi Hillel and Rabbi Shammai. The two rabbis existed side by side and both of their ideas were widely accepted. Hillel and Shammai had opposing views. An example of this would be the Hanukkah argument over which way to light the menorah. Hillel says start with the first candle, while Shammai says start with the eighth candle. We came to the conclusion that most Jews ended up following Hillel. Then, we sang the Hillel Omer song. After, we proceeded to talk about the narrowing of oral law. Oral law or Toshba, are the laws that are not written down and are often changed over time and are considered to be less important than the torah. We went over how different rabbis changed the oral law and narrowed it. Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakai made changes or takanot to the oral law after the temple was destroyed. He did this to help save or continue Judaism. An example of this was, the blowing of the shofar where there is a court. Then we talked about Rabbi Gamliel. Rabbi Gamliel came up with the Amida which all Jews recite. He also noticed the separation between Jews during this time. He saw the separation between those followed Shammai and those who followed Hillel. He feared that this would weaken the Jewish people (similar to the four sects). He changed the oral law and said, '...Jewish God is determined by Hillel', eliminating Shammai. He did this in order to maintain unity and prevent extremism. The next Rabbi who we talked about was Rabbi Akiva. Akiva noticed the memorization of the oral law and was afraid something would be forgotten. So he came up with the 6 orders of the Mishnah which were; festivals, holy things, purity, damages, seeds, and women. Lastly, we discussed Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi or Judah the Prince. Yehudah codified the mishnah or sealed it. He officially made the mishnah a holy book. He did this to take advantage of a prosperous time, to unite Jews, and keep Judaism alive. I think all of these developments of the oral law were good for Judaism in the long term because they helped to keep the religion alive. To sum up our time in the park we talked about the overall importance of the Beit  She'arim cite. We learned the origins of the nickname, 'house of measurements'. This is where everyone would go to standardize measurements of grain. We learned that very important people were buried there. Lastly, we learned that they produced coffins, perfume, and glass at Beit She'arim.

Next we visited the ancient burial sites. These really proved what a special place Beit She’arim was. As we walked through the burial grounds we saw the Head of the Sidonian synagogue burial cave. We also saw a burial cave of a woman named Sarah. We saw many other caves along the way. Then, we sat on what looked like a staircase. These stairs were actually an ancient Yeshiva, put there most likely to honor the people buried beneath it. Underneath the benches was the cave where Rabbi Yehuda Ha Nasi was said to have been buried. Archeologists have reason to believe he was buried here because his family was buried there and because the coffin was buried under ground as he had requested. He was a very famous and wealthy but modest rabbi. He was famous for codifying the Mishnah. He did this to take advantage of a good time in Jewish history, to save Judaism, and to unite the Jews. This was a very important discovery because it was the first Hebrew archaeological excavation.

As we explored the burial caves, we saw some unique and disturbing art. Surprisingly, throughout the caves we saw a lot of avoda zara, or worshipping of idols. We talked about different aspects of a Jewish sarcophagus. Although, most of what we saw was non-kosher art. Some of the things we saw were 'the four corners' on a sarcophagus. The four corners represent the altar at the Beit Hamikdash or the idea of redemption. We saw a sarcophagus with a lion sign on it. We were shocked when we saw animal art on a Jewish sarcophagus at first. Two explanations for this could have been; to represent the tribe of Judah or the person who was buried there was a hunter. Next we saw a sarcophagus with a golden calf, an eagle, and lions. How could we allow avoda zara like this? A possible explanation for these designs was an artist depicting the words of the prophets. After this, we were astounded to see the Roman goddess of victory, Nike, on the next grave. This was undoubtedly avoda zara, right? Ending on a good note, we saw a sarcophagus with a huge menorah, to reminding us of the Beit Hamikdash and Jerusalem.

Once we finished lunch we headed off to our next destination, Beit Alpha. Beit Alpha was an ancient  synagogue during the fifth century CE. We watched a quick movie about the synagogue and how its beautiful mosaic came to be. You could see the mosaic and the synagogue's pillars left over. At the bottom of the mosaic, we see the binding of Isaac seen, a representation of the past. In the middle, we see all the zodiac symbols and in the middle the god of the sun, Hellius, representing the present. On the top we see the Beit Hamikdash or the future messianic period. This is one interpretation of the mosaic. It could also be a depiction of the amida. There was avoda zara even in a synagogue. After this, we split up and went outside on the grass to talk about what we saw today. We came to the conclusion that polytheistic art was becoming less and less of a threat to Judaism. The rabbis were becoming more and more flexible with the idea of non-kosher art. We discussed the idea that, without flour there's no torah. Or if the Jews don't prosper, they can't study torah. We discussed how the rabbis drew the line between what was and what wasn't okay for Jews to do. We talked about different situations in which rabbis set boundaries for the Jewish people. An example was, should a Jew be able to do business such as repaying debts or loans with gentile before a festival. The rabbis decided that this was not okay within three days of this festival. The rabbis were being more lenient than ever. We discussed our own boundaries about Judaism and what makes us uncomfortable. One thing that most people were uncomfortable with was, a teacher preaching anti-israel ideas to a classroom full of kids. We talked about the story of Rabbi Gamliel visiting the bathhouse. A man asks the rabbi why he has come to the bathhouse if the goddess of aphrodite is depicted there. Rabbi Gamliel replies "I did not come into her domain, she has come into mine". This means that he did not come to see the goddess she happened to be there. Some of the simple laws the rabbis made were ones about not showing the hands or feet of people in your art. We wrapped up our time at Beit Alpha with a quick service and got on the bus.

Our final stop was at the beautiful Sachne Spring. The Sachne spring is a natural spring, full of fish who like to nibble your feet. We ate ice cream, went swimming, and laid in the sun. It was a perfect end to a perfect day.

My question for Kitat Maayan is, what is an example of the boundaries you set for yourself as a Jew? How do you feel about the rabbi's decision to change the laws? Were they right to do this?