Rabbinic Promulgation of Torah Study

Rabbis encouraged Torah study among their fellow Jews and tried to convince them of everyone’s ability to study Torah. However, public perception seems to have differed, as this text from Sifre Deuteronomy indicates. Common opinion seems to have associated Torah study with the sons of rabbinic scholars, prominent families, and the wealthy. Against such notions, rabbis claimed that every (male) Jew had access to the Torah and should engage in its study. In contrast to civil society, where one’s status was based on heritage, property, political position, and connections, in the intellectual circles of Torah scholars, one’s scholarly expertise mattered most. The text from m. Avot associates R. Yoḥanan ben Zakkai with five disciples, whose individual qualities he is eager to highlight. The tradition also claims a continuous chain of transmission of Oral Torah from the time before the destruction of the Temple (the era of Hillel and Shammai) to tannaitic rabbis after 70 CE.