NEḤUTEI

NEḤUTEI (Aram. נָחוֹתֵאי, נְחוּתֵאי, Nahutei, sing. נְחוּתָא Neḥuta; "one who goes down"), rabbis who went from Ereẓ Israel academies to those of Babylonia, or vice-versa. The name was first applied to *Ulla, a native of Ereẓ Israel in the third century c.e. (tj, Kil. 9:4, 32c). He was given this epithet because from time to time he "went down" from Ereẓ Israel to Babylonia and had discussions in Babylonia with the heads of its academies and its scholars. Rav *Ḥisda referred to Ulla as "our teacher who came down from Ereẓ Israel" (Ber. 38b: see DikdukeiSoferim). When he came to Babylonia, Ulla brought with him the halakhic and aggadic sayings of Johanan and Eleazar, the heads of the academy of Tiberias at that time. He also described the customs and ways of the Jews of Israel, and evoked historical memories and popular sayings current among them. He used to compare the customs current among the Jews of Babylonia with those current in Ereẓ Israel. Generally he gave preference to the customs of Ereẓ Israel, and more than once he uttered caustic comments about the Jews and scholars of Babylonia (Ta'an. 9b). In the first half of the fourth century the name neḥutei was given to a few scholars, born apparently in Babylonia, who traveled to the academies of Ereẓ Israel and brought back with them the teachings of its scholars. The best known of them were *Dimi, Samuel b. Judah, Rabin, and *Isaac b. Joseph. The purpose of their activity was to transmit the teachings of Ereẓ Israel to Babylonia, and vice versa. Through their activity, the texts of the Mishnah and the beraitot and their exact meaning were established, and the halakhic and aggadic sayings of the first amoraim of Ereẓ Israel, such as *Ḥanina, *Johanan, *Eleazar, and *Simeon b. Lakish in Tiberias and *Abbahu in Caesarea, and of the first amoraim of Babylonia, such as *Rav and *Samuel, *Huna and *Ḥisda, and others, were elucidated.

By their activities the neḥutei contributed to the cross-fertilization of the academies of Ereẓ Israel and Babylonia. Their words were tested in the academies and compared with parallel traditions, and in this way they attempted to arrive at the precise implication of the statements, their truth, and their reliability. In this manner the neḥutei made their contribution to the formation and elucidation of many topics in the Babylonian Talmud. As a result of the connections established by the neḥutei between the academies of Ereẓ Israel and Babylonia the mutual knowledge of the two large Jewish communities was increased, and so the Oral Law was prevented from developing separately with the two communities becoming two nations, alien one to another. The scholars mentioned were especially active in two academies–in Tiberias in Ereẓ Israel and in Pumbedita in Babylonia. References are found at times to the neḥutei informing Babylonia of various halakhot by means of letters (Git. 9b). These scholars were active until the middle of the fourth century c.e. In the opinion of *Sherira Gaon (Iggeret…, ed. B. Lewin, p. 61) their mission ceased because of the increase of restrictive edicts in Ereẓ Israel and the decrease of Torah there. The reference is apparently to the restrictive edicts of Constantius (377–361) in the 340s and 350s and the revolt by a section of the Jews of Ereẓ Israel against Gallus in 351.

bibliography:

Halevy, Dorot, 2 (1923), 467ff.; A. Steinsaltz, in: Talpioth, 9 (1964), 294–306.

[Moshe Beer]