Chapters on Jewish Literature | Page 7

holds out a beautiful prospect to the faithful.
The book opens with an invocation:
Hear, people of proud Asia, Europe, too, How many things by great, loud-sounding mouth, All true and of my own, I prophesy. No oracle of false Apollo this, Whom vain men call a god, tho' he deceived; But of the mighty God, whom human hands Shaped not like speechless idols cut in stone.
The Sibyl speaks of the true God, to love whom brings blessing. The ungodly triumph for a while, as Assyria, Media, Phrygia, Greece, and Egypt had triumphed. Jerusalem will fall, and the Temple perish in flames, but retribution will follow, the earth will be desolated by the divine wrath, the race of men and cities and rivers will be reduced to smoky dust, unless moral amendment comes betimes. Then the Sibyl's note changes into a prophecy of Messianic judgment and bliss, and she ends with a comforting message:
But when all things become an ashy pile, God will put out the fire unspeakable Which he once kindled, and the bones and ashes Of men will God himself again transform, And raise up mortals as they were before. And then will be the judgment, God himself Will sit as judge, and judge the world again. As many as committed impious sins Shall Stygian Gehenna's depths conceal 'Neath molten earth and dismal Tartarus.
But the pious shall again live on the earth, And God will give them spirit, life, and means Of nourishment, and all shall see themselves, Beholding the sun's sweet and cheerful light. O happiest men who at that time shall live!
The Jews found some consolation for present sorrows in the thought of past deliverances. The short historical record known as the "Scroll of Fasting" (Megillath Taanith) was perhaps begun before the destruction of the Temple, but was completed after the death of Trajan in 118. This scroll contained thirty-five brief paragraphs written in Aramaic. The compilation, which is of great historical value, follows the order of the Jewish Calendar, beginning with the month Nisan and ending with Adar. The entries in the list relate to the days on which it was held unlawful to fast, and many of these days were anniversaries of national victories. The Megillath Taanith contains no jubilations over these triumphs, but is a sober record of facts. It is a precious survival of the historical works compiled by the Jews before their dispersion from Palestine. Such works differ from those of Josephus and the Sibyl in their motive. They were not designed to win foreign admiration for Judaism, but to provide an accurate record for home use and inspire the Jews with hope amid the threatening prospects of life.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
JOSEPHUS.
Whiston's English Translation, revised by Shilleto (1889).
Graetz.--II, p. 276 [278].
SIBYLLINE ORACLES.
S.A. Hirsch.--Jewish Sibylline Oracles, J.Q.R., II, p. 406.
CHAPTER III
THE TALMUD
The Amoraim compile the Palestinian Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud.--Representative Amoraim: I (220-280) Palestine--Jochanan, Simon, Joshua, Simlai; Babylonia--Rab and Samuel. II (280-320) Palestine--Ami, Assi, Abbahu, Chiya; Babylonia--Huna and Zeira. III (320-380) Babylonia--Rabba, Abayi, Rava. IV (380-430) Babylonia--Ashi (first compilation of the Babylonian Talmud). V and VI (430-500) Babylonia--Rabina (completion of the Babylonian Talmud).
The Talmud, or Gemara ("Doctrine," or "Completion"), was a natural development of the Mishnah. The Talmud contains, indeed, many elements as old as the Mishnah, some even older. But, considered as a whole, the Talmud is a commentary on the work of the Tannaim. It is written, not in Hebrew, as the Mishnah is, but in a popular Aramaic. There are two distinct works to which the title Talmud is applied; the one is the Jerusalem Talmud (completed about the year 370 C.E.), the other the Babylonian (completed a century later). At first, as we have seen, the Rabbinical schools were founded on Jewish soil. But Palestine did not continue to offer a friendly welcome. Under the more tolerant rulers of Babylonia or Persia, Jewish learning found a refuge from the harshness experienced under those of the Holy Land. The Babylonian Jewish schools in Nehardea, Sura, and Pumbeditha rapidly surpassed the Palestinian in reputation, and in the year 350 C.E., owing to natural decay, the Palestinian schools closed.
The Talmud is accordingly not one work, but two, the one the literary product of the Palestinian, the other, of the Babylonian Amoraim. The latter is the larger, the more studied, the better preserved, and to it attention will here be mainly confined. The Talmud is not a book, it is a literature. It contains a legal code, a system of ethics, a body of ritual customs, poetical passages, prayers, histories, facts of science and medicine, and fancies of folk-lore.
The Amoraim were what their name implies, "Expounders," or "Discoursers"; but their expositions were often original contributions to literature. Their work extends over the long interval between 200 and 500 C.E. The Amoraim naturally were men of various