Editing Pharisees (section)

==History==
{{Sources needed|date=May 2025}}

===From {{c.|600 BC|160&nbsp;BC}}===
The [[Babylonian captivity|deportation and exile]] of an unknown number of Jews of the [[Kingdom of Judah]] to [[Babylon]] by [[Nebuchadnezzar II]]—starting with the [[Siege of Jerusalem (597 BC)|first deportation in 597&nbsp;BC]],<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford History of the Biblical World |editor-first=Michael D. |editor-last=Coogan |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1999 |page=350}}</ref> and continuing after the [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BCE)|fall of Jerusalem]] and destruction of [[Solomon's Temple|the Temple]] in 587&nbsp;BC<ref>{{Bible verse||Jeremiah|52:28–30|HE}}</ref>—resulted in dramatic changes to Jewish culture and religion.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} During the 70-year exile in Babylon, Jewish houses of assembly (known in Hebrew as a {{transliteration|he|beit knesset}}, or in Greek as a ''[[synagogue]]'') and houses of prayer (Hebrew {{transliteration|he|Beit Tefilah}}; Greek {{lang|grc|προσευχαί}}, {{transliteration|grc|proseuchai}}) were the primary meeting places for prayer, and the house of study ({{transliteration|he|[[Beth midrash|beit midrash]]}}) was the counterpart for the synagogue.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

In 539&nbsp;BC, the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persians]] conquered Babylon, and in 537&nbsp;BC, [[Cyrus the Great]] allowed Jews to return to [[Judea]] and rebuild the Temple. He did not, however, allow the restoration of [[Kings of Judah|the Judean monarchy]], which left the [[Kohanim|Judean priests]] as the dominant authority. Without the constraining power of the monarchy, the authority of the Temple in civic life was amplified. It was around this time that the Sadducee party emerged as the party of priests and allied elites. However, the [[Second Temple]], which was completed in 515&nbsp;BC, had been constructed under the auspices of a foreign power, and there were lingering questions about its legitimacy.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} This provided the condition for the development of various sects or "schools of thought," each of which claimed exclusive authority to represent "Judaism," and which typically shunned social intercourse, especially marriage, with members of other sects. 

The Temple was no longer the only institution for Jewish religious life. After the building of the Second Temple in the time of [[Ezra]], the houses of study and worship remained important secondary institutions in Jewish life. Outside Judea, the synagogue was often called a house of prayer. While most Jews could not regularly attend the Temple service, they could meet at the synagogue for morning, afternoon, and evening prayers. On Mondays, Thursdays, and [[Shabbat]], a weekly Torah portion was read publicly in the synagogues, following the tradition of public Torah readings instituted by Ezra.<ref>See {{bibleverse||Nehemiah|8:1–18|HE}}</ref> Although priests controlled the rituals of the Temple, the [[scribes]] and sages, later called ''[[rabbi]]s'' (Hebrew for "Teacher/master"), dominated the study of the Torah. These men maintained an [[Oral Torah|oral tradition]] that they believed had originated at [[Biblical Mount Sinai|Mount Sinai]] alongside the Torah of Moses; a God-given interpretation of the [[Torah]].{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

The [[Hellenistic period]] of Jewish history began when [[Alexander the Great]] conquered Persia in 332&nbsp;BC. The rift between the priests and the sages developed during this time, when Jews faced new political and cultural struggles. This created a sort of schism in the Jewish community.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} After Alexander's death in 323&nbsp;BC, Judea was ruled by the Egyptian-Hellenic [[Ptolemaic dynasty|Ptolemies]] until 198&nbsp;BC, when the Syrian-Hellenic [[Seleucid Empire]], under [[Antiochus III the Great|Antiochus III]], seized control. In 167&nbsp;BC, the Seleucid King [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes|Antiochus IV]] invaded Judea, entered the Temple, and stripped it of money and ceremonial objects. He imposed a program of forced [[Hellenization]], requiring Jews to abandon their own laws and customs, thus precipitating the [[Maccabean Revolt]]. Jerusalem was liberated in 165&nbsp;BC, and the Temple was restored. In 141&nbsp;BC, an assembly of priests and others affirmed [[Simon Maccabeus]] as high priest and leader, in effect establishing the [[Hasmonean dynasty]].

===Emergence of the Pharisees===
[[File:John Hyrcanus medal.svg|thumb|right|John Hyrcanus from [[Guillaume Rouillé]]'s ''[[Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum]]'' (1553)]]
After defeating the Seleucid forces, [[Judas Maccabaeus]]'s nephew, [[John Hyrcanus]], established a new monarchy in the form of the priestly Hasmonean dynasty in 152&nbsp;BC, thus establishing priests as both political and religious authorities. Although the Hasmoneans were considered heroes for resisting the Seleucids, their reign lacked the legitimacy conferred by descent from the [[Davidic line|Davidic dynasty]] of the [[First Temple]] era.<ref>{{cite book |last=Catherwood |first=Christopher |title=A Brief History of the Middle East |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=krKeBAAAQBAJ |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |year=2011 |isbn=978-1849018074 |access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref>

The Pharisees emerged{{when|date=April 2024}} largely out of the group of scribes and sages.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} Some scholars observe some [[Idumean]] influences in the development of Pharisaical Judaism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Levin |first=Yigal |date=2020 |title=The Religion of Idumea and Its Relationship to Early Judaism |journal=Religions |volume=11 |issue=10 |page=487 |doi=10.3390/rel11100487 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The Pharisees, among other Jewish sects, were active from the middle of the 2nd century BC until the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.<ref name="Shaye" />{{rp|143}} Josephus first mentions them in connection with [[Jonathan Apphus]], the successor of Judas Maccabeus.<ref>Josephus, ''Antiquities'', 13:5 § 9</ref> One of the factors that distinguished the Pharisees from other groups prior to the destruction of the Temple was their belief that all Jews had to observe the purity laws (which applied to the Temple service) outside the Temple. The major difference, however, was the continued adherence of the Pharisees to the laws and traditions of the Jewish people in the face of assimilation. As Josephus notes, the Pharisees were considered the most expert and accurate expositors of Jewish law.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Josephus indicates that the Pharisees received the backing and good-will of the common people,<ref>Josephus, ''Antiquities'', 13:10 § 6</ref> apparently in contrast to the more elite Sadducees associated with the ruling classes. In general, whereas the Sadducees were aristocratic monarchists, the Pharisees were eclectic, popular, and more democratic.<ref>Roth, Cecil ''A History of the Jews: From Earliest Times Through the Six Day War'' 1970 {{ISBN|0-8052-0009-6}}, p. 84</ref> The Pharisaic position is exemplified by the assertion that "A learned {{transliteration|he|[[mamzer]]}} takes precedence over an ignorant High Priest." (A {{transliteration|he|mamzer}}—literally "bastard," according to the Pharisaic definition—is an outcast child born of a forbidden relationship, such as adultery or incest, in which marriage of the parents could not lawfully occur. The word is often but incorrectly translated as "illegitimate.")<ref>{{cite book |title=Great Ages and Ideas of the Jewish People |editor-first=Leo Walden |editor-last=Schwartz |first=Salo Wittmayer |last=Baron |url=https://archive.org/details/greatagesideasof00schw |url-access=registration |publisher=Random House |year=1956 |access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref>

Sadducees rejected the Pharisaic tenet of an Oral Torah, creating two Jewish understandings of the Torah. An example of this differing approach is the interpretation of "[[eye for an eye|an eye in place of an eye]]." The Pharisaic understanding was that the value of an eye was to be paid by the perpetrator.<ref>Babylonian Talmud tractate Bava Kamma Ch. 8</ref> In the Sadducees' view, the words were given a more literal interpretation, in which the offender's eye would be removed.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' s.v. "Sadducees"</ref>

The sages of the [[Talmud]] saw a direct link between themselves and the Pharisees, and historians generally consider Pharisaic Judaism to be the progenitor of Rabbinic Judaism, that is normative, mainstream Judaism after the destruction of the Second Temple. All mainstream forms of Judaism today consider themselves heirs of Rabbinic Judaism and, ultimately, the Pharisees.

===Hasmonean period===
{{main|Hasmoneans|Maccabees}}
Although the Pharisees did not support the wars of expansion of the Hasmoneans and the forced conversions of the Idumeans, the political rift between them became wider when a Pharisee named Eleazar insulted the Hasmonean ethnarch John Hyrcanus at his own table, suggesting that he should abandon his role as High Priest due to a rumour (probably untrue) that he had been conceived while his mother was a prisoner of war. In response, he distanced himself from the Pharisees.<ref>Ant. 13.288–296.</ref><ref>Nickelsburg, 93.</ref>

After the death of John Hyrcanus, his younger son, [[Alexander Jannaeus]], made himself king, and openly sided with the Sadducees by adopting their rites in the Temple. His actions caused a riot in the Temple, and led to a brief civil war that ended with a bloody repression of the Pharisees. However, on his deathbed, Jannaeus advised his widow, [[Salome Alexandra]], to seek reconciliation with the Pharisees. Her brother was [[Shimon ben Shetach]], a leading Pharisee. Josephus attests that Salome was favorably inclined toward the Pharisees, and their political influence grew tremendously under her reign, especially in the Sanhedrin or Jewish Council, which they came to dominate.

Following Salome’s death, her elder son, [[Hyrcanus II]], was generally supported by the Pharisees. Her younger son, [[Aristobulus II]], was in conflict with Hyrcanus and tried to seize power. The Pharisees seemed to be in a vulnerable position at this time.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mRUdnEVqersC |first=Junghwa |last=Choi |title=Jewish Leadership in Roman Palestine from 70 C.E. to 135 C.E. |publisher=Brill |year=2013 |page=90 |isbn=978-9004245143 |access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref> The conflict between the two sons culminated in a civil war that ended when the [[Roman Republic|Roman]] general [[Pompey]] intervened and [[Siege of Jerusalem (63 BC)|captured Jerusalem in 63&nbsp;BC]]. Josephus' account may overstate the role of the Pharisees. He reports elsewhere that the Pharisees did not grow to power until the reign of Salome.<ref>Josephus, ''Jewish War'' 1:110</ref> As Josephus was a Pharisee, his account may represent a historical creation meant to elevate the status of the Pharisees during the height of the Hasmonean dynasty.<ref>Sievers, 155</ref>

Later texts, like the [[Mishnah]] and the [[Talmud]], record a host of rulings by rabbis, some of whom are believed to be from among the Pharisees, concerning sacrifices and other ritual practices in the Temple, torts, criminal law, and governance. In their day, the influence of the Pharisees over the lives of the common people was strong, and their rulings on Jewish law were deemed authoritative by many.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

===Roman period===
{{main|Judaea (Roman province)}}
[[File:Pompée dans le Temple de Jérusalem.jpg|thumbnail|right|''Pompey in the Temple of Jerusalem'', by [[Jean Fouquet]].]]

According to Josephus, the Pharisees appeared before Pompey, asking him to interfere and restore the old priesthood, while abolishing the royalty of the Hasmoneans altogether.<ref>Josephus, ''Antiquities'', 14:3 § 2</ref> The Pharisees also opened Jerusalem's gates to the Romans, and actively supported them against the Sadducean faction.<ref>''The History of the Second Temple Period'', Paolo Sacchi, ch. 8 p. 269: "At this point, the majority of the city's inhabitants, pro-Pharisee and pro-Hyrcanus, decided to open the city's gates to the Romans. Only a small minority of Sadducees took refuge in the Temple and decided to hold out until the very end. This was Autumn 63 BCE. On this occasion Pompey broke into the Temple."</ref> When the Romans finally broke the entrance to Jerusalem's Temple, the Pharisees killed the priests who were officiating the Temple services on Sabbath.<ref>''The Wars of the Jews'', Flavius Josephus, Translated by William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo John E. Beardsley, 1895, sections 142–150: "And now did many of the priests, even when they saw their enemies assailing them with swords in their hands, without any disturbance, go on with their Divine worship, and were slain while they were offering their drink-offerings, ... The greatest part of them were slain by their own countrymen, of the adverse faction, and an innumerable multitude threw themselves down precipices"</ref> They regarded Pompey's defilement of the Temple in Jerusalem as a divine punishment of Sadducean misrule. Pompey ended the monarchy in 63 BC, and named Hyrcanus II high priest and [[ethnarch]] (a lesser title than "king").<ref>''A History of the Jewish People'', H.H. Ben-Sasson, p. 223: "Thus the independence of Hasmonean Judea came to an end;"</ref> Six years later, Hyrcanus was deprived of the remainder of political authority, and ultimate jurisdiction was given to the [[Roman Syria|proconsul of Syria]], who ruled through Hyrcanus's Idumaean associate, [[Antipater the Idumaean|Antipater]], and later, Antipater's two sons, [[Phasael]] (military governor of Judea) and [[Herod the Great|Herod]] (military governor of [[Galilee]]). In 40&nbsp;BC, Aristobulus's son, [[Antigonus II Mattathias|Antigonus]], overthrew Hyrcanus, and named himself king and high priest, whereafter Herod fled to Rome.

In Rome, Herod sought the support of [[Mark Antony]] and [[Caesar Augustus|Octavian]], and secured recognition by the [[Roman Senate]] as king, confirming the termination of the Hasmonean dynasty. According to Josephus, Sadducean opposition to Herod led him to treat the Pharisees favorably.<ref>Josephus, ''Antiquities'', 14:9 § 4; 15:1 § 1; 10 § 4; 11 §§ 5–6</ref> Herod was an unpopular ruler, perceived as a Roman puppet. Despite his [[Herod's Temple|restoration and expansion of the Second Temple]], Herod's notorious treatment of his own family and of the last Hasmonaeans further eroded his popularity. According to Josephus, the Pharisees ultimately opposed him, and thus fell victims (4&nbsp;BC) to his bloodthirstiness.<ref>Josephus, ''Antiquities'', 17:2 § 4; 6 §§ 2–4</ref> The family of [[Boethusians|Boethus]], whom Herod had raised to the high-priesthood, revived the spirit of the Sadducees, and thenceforth the Pharisees again had them as antagonists.<ref>Josephus, ''Antiquities'', 18:1, § 4</ref>

While it stood, the Second Temple remained the center of Jewish ritual life. Jews were required to travel to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices at the Temple [[Three Pilgrimage Festivals|three times per year]]: Pesach ([[Passover]]), [[Shavuot]] (the Feast of Weeks), and [[Sukkot]] (the Feast of Tabernacles). The Pharisees, like the Sadducees, were politically quiescent, and studied, taught, and worshiped in their own way. At this time, serious theological differences emerged between the Sadducees and Pharisees. The notion that the sacred could exist outside the Temple, a view central to the Essenes, was shared and elevated by the Pharisees.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

=== From Pharisees to rabbis ===
{{Main|Origins of Rabbinic Judaism|Rabbinic Judaism}}

Following the [[Jewish–Roman wars]], revolutionaries like the Zealots had been crushed by the Romans, and had little credibility (the last Zealots died at [[Masada]] in 73 AD).{{dubious|A. The only literary source is Josephus, and he calls them -> Sicarii, making a clear distinction between them and the Zealots. B. The archaeological evidence is not clear; scroll finds show presence of Qumran sect members. So careful with use of terms.|date=July 2022}} Similarly, the Sadducees, whose teachings were closely connected to the Temple, disappeared with the destruction of the Second Temple in 70&nbsp;AD. The Essenes also disappeared, perhaps because their teachings so diverged from the concerns of the times, or perhaps because they were sacked by the Romans at [[Qumran]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=VanderKam |first1=James |title=The meaning of the Dead Sea scrolls : their significance for understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity |last2=Flint |first2=Peter |date=26 November 2002 |publisher=HarperSanFrancisco |isbn=006068464X |edition=1st |page=292}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780060692001/page/20 |title=The Dead Sea scrolls : a new translation |date=11 October 1996 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=0060692006 |editor1-last=Wise |editor1-first=Michael |edition=First |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780060692001/page/20 20] |editor2-last=Abegg |editor2-first=Martin Jr. |editor3-last=Cook |editor3-first=Edward |url-access=registration}}</ref> Of all the major Second Temple sects, only the Pharisees remained. Their vision of Jewish law as a means by which ordinary people could engage with the sacred in their daily lives was a position meaningful to the majority of Jews. Such teachings extended beyond ritual practices. According to the classic [[midrash]] in ''Avot D'Rabbi Nathan'' (4:5):

{{blockquote|The Temple is destroyed. We never witnessed its glory. But Rabbi Joshua did. And when he looked at the Temple ruins one day, he burst into tears. "Alas for us! The place which atoned for the sins of all the people Israel lies in ruins!" Then Rabbi Yohannan ben Zakkai spoke to him these words of comfort: "Be not grieved, my son. There is another way of gaining ritual atonement, even though the Temple is destroyed. We must now gain ritual atonement through deeds of loving-kindness."{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}}}

Following the destruction of the Temple, Rome governed Judea through a [[Roman administration of Judaea (AD 6–135)|procurator]] at [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]] and a Jewish [[patriarch]], and additionally levied the [[Fiscus Judaicus]]. [[Yohanan ben Zakkai]], a leading Pharisee, was appointed the first patriarch (the Hebrew word ''nasi'' also means prince or president), and he reestablished the Sanhedrin at [[Yavneh]] (see the related [[Council of Jamnia]]) under Pharisee control. Instead of giving [[tithe]]s to the priests and sacrificing offerings at the destroyed Temple, the rabbis instructed Jews to give charity. Moreover, they argued that all Jews should study in local [[synagogue]]s, because the Torah is "the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob" (Deuteronomy 33:4).{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

After the destruction of the First Temple, Jews believed that God would forgive them and enable them to rebuild the Temple—an event that actually occurred within three generations. After the destruction of the Second Temple, Jews wondered whether this would happen again. When the Emperor [[Hadrian]] threatened to rebuild Jerusalem as a pagan city dedicated to [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] in 132 AD, some of the leading sages of the Sanhedrin supported a rebellion led by [[Simon bar Kokhba|Simon Bar Kosiba]] (later known as Bar Kokhba), who established a short-lived independent state that was conquered by the Romans in 135 AD. With this defeat, the Jews' hopes that the Temple would be rebuilt were crushed. Nonetheless, belief in a [[Third Temple]] remains a cornerstone of Jewish belief.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

Romans forbade Jews to enter Jerusalem (except for the day of [[Tisha B'Av]]), and prohibited any plan to rebuild the Temple. Instead, it took over the Province of Judea directly, renaming it [[Syria Palaestina]], and renaming Jerusalem [[Aelia Capitolina]]. Romans did eventually reconstitute the Sanhedrin under the leadership of Judah haNasi (who claimed to be a descendant of King David). They conferred the title of "nasi" as hereditary, and Judah's sons served both as patriarch and as heads of the Sanhedrin.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

===Post-Temple developments===
According to historian Shaye Cohen, by the time three generations had passed after the destruction of the Second Temple, most Jews concluded that the Temple would not be rebuilt during their lives nor in the foreseeable future. Jews were now confronted with difficult and far-reaching questions:
* How to achieve atonement without the Temple?
* How to explain the disastrous outcome of the rebellion?
* How to live in the post-Temple, Romanized world?
* How to connect present and past traditions?
Regardless of the importance they gave to the Temple, and despite their support of Bar Koseba's revolt, the Pharisees' vision of Jewish law as a means by which ordinary people could engage with the sacred in their daily lives provided them with a position from which to respond to all four challenges in a way meaningful to the vast majority of Jews. Their responses would constitute Rabbinic Judaism.<ref name="Shaye" />

After the destruction of the Second Temple, the sectarian divisions ended. The rabbis avoided the term "Pharisee," perhaps because it was a term more often used by non-Pharisees, but also because the term was explicitly sectarian.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} The rabbis claimed leadership over all Jews, and added to the [[Amidah]] the {{transliteration|he|[[birkat haMinim]]}}, a prayer which in part exclaims, "Praised are You O Lord, who breaks enemies and defeats the wicked," and which is understood as a rejection of sectarians and sectarianism. This shift by no means resolved conflicts over the interpretation of the Torah; rather, it relocated debates between sects to debates within Rabbinic Judaism. The Pharisaic commitment to scholarly debate as a value in and of itself, rather than merely a byproduct of sectarianism, emerged as a defining feature of Rabbinic Judaism.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Thus, as the Pharisees argued that all Israel should act as priests, the rabbis argued that all Israel should act as rabbis: "The rabbis furthermore want to transform the entire Jewish community into an academy where the whole Torah is studied and kept .... redemption depends on the "rabbinization" of all Israel, that is, upon the attainment of all Jewry of a full and complete embodiment of revelation or Torah, thus achieving a perfect replica of heaven."<ref name="inv" />{{rp|9}} Rabbinic Judaism, at this time and afterwards, contained the idea of the Heavenly Academy, a heavenly institute where God taught scripture.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zaleski |first=Carol |author-link=Carol Zaleski |date=2023-03-04 |title=heaven |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/heaven |access-date=2023-05-11 |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |language=en}}</ref>

The rabbinic era is divided into two periods. The first period was that of the [[Tannaim]] (from the Aramaic word for "repeat;" the Aramaic root TNY is equivalent to the Hebrew root SNY, which is the basis for "Mishnah." Thus, Tannaim are "Mishnah teachers"), the sages who repeated and thus passed down the Oral Torah. During this period, rabbis finalized the [[Biblical canon|canonization]] of the Tanakh, and in 200 AD, Judah haNasi edited together Tannaitic judgements and traditions into the [[Mishnah]], considered by the rabbis to be the definitive expression of the Oral Torah (although some of the sages mentioned in the Mishnah are Pharisees who lived prior to the destruction of the Second Temple, or prior to the Bar Kozeba revolt, most of the sages mentioned lived after the revolt).

The second period is that of the ''Amoraim'' (from the Aramaic word for "speaker") rabbis and their students, who continued to debate legal matters and discuss the meaning of the books of the Bible. In Judea, these discussions occurred at academies at Tiberias, Caesarea, and Sepphoris. In Babylonia, these discussions largely occurred at academies that had been established at Nehardea, Pumpeditha, and Sura. This tradition of study and debate reached its fullest expression in the development of the [[Talmud]]im, elaborations of the Mishnah and records of Rabbinic debates, stories, and judgements, compiled around 400 AD in Judea and around 500 AD in Babylon.

Rabbinic Judaism eventually emerged as normative Judaism, and in fact, many today refer to Rabbinic Judaism simply as "Judaism." Rabbinic scholar [[Jacob Neusner]], however, stated that the Amoraim had no ultimate power in their communities. They lived at a time when Jews were subjects of either the Roman or Iranian ([[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] and Persian) empires. These empires left the day-to-day governance in the hands of the Jewish authorities: in Roman Palestine, through the hereditary office of patriarch (also simultaneously the head of the Sanhedrin); in Babylonia, through the hereditary office of the ''[[Reish Galuta]]'', the "Head of the Exile" or "Exilarch" (who ratified the appointment of the heads of Rabbinical academies.) According to [[Jacob Neusner]]:

{{blockquote|The "Judaism" of the rabbis at this time is in no degree either normal or normative, and speaking descriptively, the schools cannot be called "elite." Whatever their aspirations for the future and pretensions in the present, the rabbis, though powerful and influential, constitute a minority group seeking to exercise authority without much governmental support, to dominate without substantial means of coercion.<ref name=inv/>{{rp|4–5}}}}

In Neusner's view, the rabbinic project, as acted out in the Talmud, reflected not the world as it was, but the world as rabbis dreamed it should be.

According to historian [[Salo Baron]], however, there existed "a general willingness of the people to follow its self-imposed Rabbinic rulership." Although the rabbis lacked authority to impose capital punishment, "[[Flagellation]] and heavy fines, combined with an extensive system of excommunication, were more than enough to uphold the authority of the courts." In fact, the rabbis took over more and more power from the Reish Galuta, until eventually, [[Rav Ashi|R' Ashi]] assumed the title rabbana, heretofore assumed by the exilarch, and appeared together with two other rabbis as an official delegation "at the gate of King [[Yazdegerd III|Yazdegard]]'s court." The Amorah (and Tanna) Rav was a personal friend of Parthian King [[Artabanus IV of Parthia|Artabenus IV]], and Shmuel was close to King [[Shapur I]] of Persia. Thus, the rabbis had significant means of "coercion," and the people seemed to have followed the rabbinic rulership.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}