About Rabbis and Talmudic Schools

During the Second Diaspora, rabbis had turned the pilars of the Jewish communities. First termed like 'talmid hachamim,' or the 'disciples of Wise men' and then 'rabbis,' or the 'communities' masters,' they succeeded to those who had put Talmud into writings et gave a exegetic frame to the study of the great moments of Biblical history, like the Creation, Eden Garden, the Patriarchs, the Captivity in Egypt, the Revelation on Mount Sinai, the Temple, the Exile, etc. Rabbis were to constitute the fundamental figure of Judaism. A rabbi is vowed to speak to the 'other side' of the rabbinic Jewish world, which is constituted of the people, which is considered uneducated, or the 'am ha-arets.' A rabbi had to match a ideal figure like defined by Talmud. His erudition must be flawless, he has to know the Torah completely, he must devote almost all his time to study. He must respect his master and have relations with other rabbis, etc. The faith of Jews into rabbis, or 'Emounat 'hakhamim' is one basic of Jewish life. Each pious Jew has to pick up a rabbi who is wise into oral Torah and the interpretations of it. That rabbi is to guide him, at least as far the religious aspects of his life are concerned. Most important rabbis are termed like 'Wise men,' 'Torah's Greats,' 'luminaries,' or 'decision-makers.' Those rabbis have access to 'supreme knowledge' and are able to discern, at a superior level, what is to happen in the long term

The 'yashiva' or 'bet-hamidrach' is the place where students, or the disciples of a rabbi, or master, are training. It may be termed a Talmudic school. The plural is 'yashivoth.' Students there are reading the Talmud and get soaked with its reasonings. As they read they are stressing reasonings with motions of the hand and thumb as they also stand up frequently to go and consult reference books which are located on the library's rows surrounding the room. A yashiva is filled with noice and motion compared to the muffled and meditating atmosphere of a Western library. The study of Talmud works upon group, dialog, discussion (between disciples, between the disciples and the rabbi, etc.) Albeit still students, they may receive consultants to share between two points of view about a same question. The student is to quote the appropriate Talmud's passage and then he gives his own view along with the views of old commentators. When the rabbi, who is the master of the yashiva, comes to give a class, he is sitting by the end of the room, on a leather chair which is settled by the end of a long wooden table. Students are listening to the class with their Talmud opened. The class bases upon theological considerations, like 'men must study night and day,' and it merges with that, in important numbers, considerations related to Jewish numerology, or 'guematria' which come to support reasoning. Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a numeric value and thus each word of Torah or Talmud also have a value. For example, the current world is worth 513, the world to come is 399. As substraction of both gives 114. A fair man is worth 204. 114 taken from 204 gives 90, which means water, as water is what Torah always has been compared to, etc. A class in short in time. It is followed with a dialog with one of the students, who may have some questions about what the rabbi said. That dialog is also the occasion to the rabbi to question the disciple -and also others, who participate into- about Talmud's treatises. Long exchanges ensue, with quotes of varied commentators and examination of possible contradictions between their views. The rabbi moreover also may play with such reasonings as, for example, he may knowingly quote a false reference or a false numerial value to check whether his students discovered the fact as such a trick is itself the basis to a deeper class, like to always keep alive one's critical acumen