TALMID ḤAKHAM

TALMID ḤAKHAM (Heb. תַּלְמִיד חָכָם; pl. talmidei ḥakhamim; lit. "a disciple of the wise" rather than "a wise student"), the appellation given to a rabbinical scholar. The Talmud expresses the preference of the aristocracy of learning over that of distinguished descent or position by stating that "a talmid ḥakham, even though a *mamzer [who is on the lowest rung of the ladder of descent] takes precedence over the high priest [who represents the highest degree of aristocratic descent] who is an ignoramus" (Hor. 3:8, tj, ibid., 48c, end). The Jerusalem Talmud (Hor. loc. cit.) in extending that list of precedences puts the talmid ḥakham (though the word ḥakham alone is used) at the top of the list of protocol, preceding the king.

The talmid ḥakham, however, represented not only the aristocracy of learning, but much more significant, the learned aristocrat. Although his basic qualification was a comprehensive knowledge of the whole Bible ("the 24 books," Ex. R. 41:5) and the whole of the Oral Law ("Mishnah, Talmud, halakhah, and aggadot," Song R. 5:13), scholarship alone did not suffice. There were two essential additional qualifications – one was shimmush, attending upon, and thus coming under the personal influence of, his teacher and learning from his deportment (Yoma 86a). It was conceivably this duty which lay behind the connotation "disciple of the wise." The other qualification was piety, "Woe unto the enemies of the talmidei ḥakhamim (a euphemism for talmidei ḥakhamim) who occupy themselves with the Torah and do not possess the fear of heaven" (Yoma 72b).

In Babylonia Rav attempted to lay down a list of attainments that the talmid ḥakham should acquire. R. Judah said in his name that they should include a knowledge of writing (a scroll), sheḥitah, and circumcision, while Hananiah b. Shelemiah added, also in the name of Rav, the ability to tie the knot of tefillin and of ẓiẓit, as well as the blessings of the marriage ceremony (Ḥul 9a) – these are not to be regarded as qualifications for being a talmid ḥakham, but accomplishments which it was desirable that he should possess. The whole conception of the talmid ḥakham in rabbinical literature is based upon the principle of noblesse oblige. If on the one hand the rabbis insisted upon the privileges, both material and of status to which the talmid ḥakham was entitled, on the other hand they equally insisted upon his maintenance of a rigid and exalted standard of conduct and ethical behavior which was not demanded of the ordinary person.

The material advantages which accrued to the talmid ḥakham were considerable. Whereas the Jerusalem Talmud makes the list of preferences which puts the talmid ḥakham first apply to both social precedence and such material benefits as redemption from captivity, providing for his means, including clothing, the Babylonian Talmud confines it to the latter. He was exempt from communal taxation, and from all corvées or levies of manpower. One amora, interpreting the ḥanikhim of Gen. 14:14 as referring to talmidei ḥakhamim, states that exile was decreed on the descendants of Abraham because he pressed them into the angaria (Ned. 32a), a word which, though in the context refers to military service, applies to all forced labor. As long as he devoted himself only to study, "his stint was performed by the other citizens of the town" (Shab. 114a). He was even exempt from, or forbidden to, indulge in fasting, since "he thereby reduces his toil for the sake of heaven" (Ta'an. 11b). Where an ordinary claimant of lost goods had to produce evidence of identification, the talmid ḥakham could claim it solely on his assurance that he recognized it as his (Shab. 114a – this is the real meaning of the phrase, which is often wrongly explained as meaning that he had a "discerning eye"). He was appointed to communal positions (Shab. 114a; Git. 60a).

All the regulations and injunctions with regard to the talmid ḥakham bear the unmistakable stamp common to every conscious aristocracy, which finds its expression not only in a rigid standard of ethical conduct (and, of course, in this case the requirements of the ceremonial and ritual law), but a whole host of regulations which belong to the sphere of etiquette and even elegance. To this category, for instance, belong the injunctions that he should be moderate in his sexual life, not "frequenting his wife like a cock" (Ber. 22a) but limiting himself to once a week, on the eve of Sabbath (Ket. 62b). Not only should he wear a distinctive dress; his undergarment should be such that his skin is not visible, his upper garment so long that only a handbreath of his undergarment is visible (bb 57b). He had to be immaculate in his dress, and so insistent were the rabbis on this that they actually stated that "a talmid ḥakham on whose garment there is a stain is deserving of death" (Shab. 114a). He should not wear patched shoes, indulge in casual conversation with women in the marketplace, or be found in the company of ignoramuses (Ber. 43b), nor eat in the street or marketplace (tj, Ma'as. 3:5, 50d). Whereas the am ha-areẓ put so many things under his bed that it was like "a packed storehouse," the talmid ḥakham kept under it only his sandals in summer and shoes in winter (bb 58a), and whereas the table of the am ha-areẓ was like "a hearth with pots all round it," that of the talmid ḥakham had to be only two-thirds covered, the other third should be cleared for placing on it the dishes and vegetables (ibid., 57b). Although it was regarded as praiseworthy to bring him gifts (Ber. 54b; Ket. 105b, 111a), the talmid ḥakham was enjoined to refrain from benefiting from the public (Tanna de-Vei Eliyahu 18). In general he had to be "externally as he was internally" (Yoma 72b), and he had to be entirely beyond reproach (Song R. 6:2 no. 2). He was permitted an "eighth part of an eighth part of pride" (Sot. 5a). It is therefore not surprising that the most compact and comprehensive of the qualities expected of the talmid ḥakham are to be found in the post-talmudic tractate *Derekh Ereẓ Zuta, which treats of etiquette. "The talmid ḥakham should be modest in his deportment but renowned for his actions; pursuing truth and not falsehood, faithfulness and not violence, humility and not arrogance, peace and not war, following the counsel of the elders and not of children, a lion rather than a woman" (ch. 7, cf. also ch. 1 which is more comprehensive and poetical).

The praise of the talmidei ḥakhamim is unbounded. They are the builders who "occupy themselves with the building up of the world during their whole life" (Shab. 114a); they "increase peace in the world" (Ber. 64a); this passage too is connected with the idea of the talmid ḥakham as a "builder"); they are compared to the prophets (Shab. 119b). The talmid ḥakham had to be held in the utmost respect. R. Akiva went so far as to interpret the "et" (אֶת) of Deut. 6:13, "thou shalt have reverence for (et) the Lord," to include the talmidei ḥakhamim (Pes. 22b). He had to be provided with an escort when going out at night (Ber. 43b), and one of the reasons put forward for the destruction of the Temple was that they held the talmidei ḥakhamim in light esteem (Shab. 119b). If in the sphere of social status the lowest rung of the ladder was the mamzer, in the social and intellectual sphere he was represented by the am ha-areẓ, and "he is an am ha-areẓ" (e.g., "he who has studied Bible and Mishnah but has not done shimmush") is a synonym for "he is no talmid ḥakham" (Ber. 47b; Suk. 22a). There is ample evidence of a tension and even enmity between the am ha-areẓ and the talmid ḥakham, and similar expressions of hatred for the am ha-areẓ on the part of the talmidei ḥakhamim, especially in later traditions of the Babylonian Talmud (Pes. 49b). In the Palestinian rabbinic tradition we often find a different tone, such as in the passage where the talmid ḥakham who "enters the houses of the amei ha-areẓ and delights them with words of Torah" is praised (Lev. R. 34:13). These contradictions have long been the subject of scholarly debate (see: *Am ha-Areẓ). In general, however, it was clear that the talmid ḥakham should not associate with the amei ha-areẓ, by sitting in their company (Ber. 43b) and, all the more, by dining with them (Pes. 49a). If one could not belong to this aristocracy by virtue of one's attainments, at least one could follow the time-honored practice of "marrying into the aristocracy," and with unusual frequency the advice is given to "marry one's daughter to a talmid ḥakham" (cf. Ket. 111b; Pes. 49a) and even the purpose of this "marrying into the aristocracy" would be fulfilled; "the children will be talmidei ḥakhamim" (Tanna de-Vei Eliyahu R., 5).

Especial consideration was given to the apparent incongruity of the talmid ḥakham, who was supposed to "increase peace in the world," indulging in wordy and often heated controversy with his colleagues in debate. The many references to it are evidence of the desire to solve this apparent contradiction. They point to the fact that whereas the scholars in Ereẓ Israel conducted their debates in an atmosphere of pleasantness, those of Babylonia conducted them with vehemence, not sparing one another's feelings, and "wounding" one another (Sanh. 24a), and it was a Palestinian scholar who taught that "when two talmidei ḥakhamim are amiable to one another in their halakhic debates, the Holy One, blessed be He, gives heed to them" (Shab. 63a). The Babylonian scholars, however, while admitting the sharpness and vigor of their discussions, regarded it as a virtue (Ta'an. 7a). Despite the opposition between them they were permitted to combine to form a zimmun (the minimum of three for reciting the Grace After Meals in unison) which presupposes a harmony of mind between those participating, and both R. Ḥisda and R. Sheshet who, representing two different trends, the one a reliance on tradition and the other the method of keen dialectics (Er. 67a), cited themselves as examples of halakhic disputants who nevertheless were of common mind (Ber. 47b). In fact, it was insisted that talmidei ḥakhamim (the text has "even a father and son" and "a master and a disciple," but the reference is obviously to talmidei ḥakhamim) who "study together and become enemies to one another, at the end come to love each other" (Kid. 30b).

An idealized picture of the talmid ḥakham is presented; but there is ample evidence that the sages consciously strove to live up to these exalted ideals. In a discussion on what constitutes ḥillul ha-Shem (see *Kiddush ha-Shem and Ḥillul ha-Shem), Rav stated that "in my case [i.e., because he was a talmid ḥakham ] it would constitute ḥillul ha-Shem if I took meat from the butcher and did not pay him on the spot," while R. Johanan applied it to personal deportment, "walking four cubits without speaking in Torah or wearing tefillin" (Yoma 86a). R. Eleazar rejected gifts sent to him by the nasi and refused invitations to be his guest, excusing himself wittily by saying, "Do you not want me to live? – as it is written (Prov. 15:27), 'He that hateth gifts shall live'" and R. Ze'eira and R. Neḥunya b. ha-Kanah did likewise (Meg. 28a; Ḥul. 44b). Innumerable examples could be given of each and every one of these virtues and manners of deportment being not only preached but practiced. The significance of the talmid ḥakham as the ideal type of the aristocracy of Judaism is reflected in the fact that the Oẓar ha-Aggadah of H.D. Gross lists no less than 281 dicta from the Talmud and Midrashim in which the talmid ḥakham is mentioned, yet the list is incomplete, and it can also be supplemented, as he indicates, by those on the synonymous terms, or related subjects of ẓurva mi-rabbanan, ḥakham, rav and talmid, etc.

In the modern vernacular the term talmid ḥakham merely conveys the person who is learned in Talmud.

See also *Sages.

bibliography:

L. Ginzberg, Students, Scholars, and Saints (1928), 35–58; A. Buechler, The Political and Social Leaders of the Jewish Community of Sepphoris in the Second and Third Centuries (n.d.); M. Beer, in: Bar Ilan, 2 (1964), 134–62; E.E. Urbach, Ma'amad ve-Hanhagah be-Olamam shel Ḥakhmei Ereẓ Yisrael (1965).

[Louis Isaac Rabinowitz]