Letter

Nowadays, because of our sins, we do not have in our generation an expert sage who can be consulted about any scholarly issue and will offer a response. This [is true for] the applied law [as well], as people came before Mar R. Yehuday, an outstanding scholar, unrivaled in his generation and beyond. But he said to them, “I am not wise enough to release oaths and vows, as our sages taught: [If a man says to a woman, ‘Be betrothed to me] on the condition that I am a scholar,’ [he must be able to answer questions about any topic in order for the betrothal to take effect] [b. Kiddushin 49b]. As for me, there are several statements of the sages about which you could ask me and I would not know them. Rather, go and fulfill your oaths and complete your vows.” And he did not release [oaths and vows]. If Mar R. Yehuday, who had no equal over several generations, would not release oaths and vows, all the more so his students and the students of his students!

They further asked [Yehuday], “Those who release oaths and vows on the eves of Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, what do you say about them?” He replied, “They recite an unnecessary blessing, speak falsehoods, and make fools of their learning in the yeshiva, as no person in the world does so, not even ignoramuses.” From the day that Mar R. Yehuday prohibited them, and [even earlier], they would not do this in large cities, only in small towns. Today, even in the small towns, they do not annul vows and oaths. [Thus] one who vows must complete his vow and one who swears an oath must fulfill his oath. [ . . . ]

And also, Mar Yehuday said that they decreed persecution against the inhabitants of the land of Israel not to recite the Shema‘ and not to pray, but they would allow them to gather Sabbath mornings to recite and sing ma‘amadot.¹ They would recite a ma‘amad during the morning service and only recite the sanctification of the name and Shema‘ during the additional service. They practiced this under duress. But now that the Holy One has destroyed the kingdom of Edom [i.e., Rome] and nullified its decrees, and the Ishmaelites have come and allowed the Jews to study Torah, recite the Shema‘, and pray, one must recite each matter in its [appropriate] place, in accordance with the enactment of our sages. [ . . . ]

Know that it is so, and it is an enactment due to persecution, to recite Shema‘ between [the recitation of the verses] Holy (Isaiah 6:3) and He should reign (Psalms 146:10) [during the Kedushah in the Amidah] only in the Sabbath morning service. However, we do not say [Shema‘] in the additional prayer or the afternoon prayer or throughout the days of the week.

Even to this day they only recite the sanctification of the name and Shema‘ in the land of Israel on the Sabbath or festivals, and only in the morning prayer, except for [in] Jerusalem and any place where there are Babylonians, who have quarreled and disputed about this matter until [the community] agreed to recite the sanctification of the name every day. But in the other cities and towns in the land of Israel, where there are no Babylonians, they only recite the sanctification of the name on the Sabbath and festivals.

And as for these matters, only devout individuals [vatikin] examine them and are scrupulous regarding them, such as Mar Yehuday, the likes of whom there has not been for many years, as he was a great scholar in scripture, Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Tosefta, aggadah, and applied law. He would not say anything that he had not heard from his teacher. He was great in holiness, purity, piety, and humility. He was exacting in the performance of all the commandments, and he dedicated himself to heaven. He brought people close to the Torah and the commandments and did not leave behind anyone like him. Now you, too, reflect upon his words and understand them, as you fear heaven and are scholars, and discern that all these things are in the Talmud, and [the] Talmud was given to study it day and night, to discern matters, and to fulfill the details of the Torah and the details of the commandments. [ . . . ]

Mar Yehuday further said, “You have never asked me anything that I answered unless there was proof from the Talmud [regarding which] I had learned the applied law from my teacher, and my teacher from his teacher. But a matter for which there is proof from the Talmud but I did not possess [knowledge] of applied law from my teacher, or if I did possess [knowledge] of applied law from my teacher [but] it did not have a proof from the Talmud, I did not respond to you [ . . . ], in fulfillment of what we learned: One may not rule on matters of law from a verse, nor law from a mishnah, nor law from teaching [Talmud] until he is instructed as applied law and it is implemented” [see b. Bava Batra 130b]. [ . . . ]

But they [the Jews living in the land of Israel] did not accept [correction] from him, and they sent [the following]: “Custom nullifies law” [b. Bava Meẓi‘a 74b]. So he sought to impose [his opinion] upon them, and he did so, so that they should not be heretics, and [then] he let them be. [ . . . ]

In Babylonia, the Torah did not cease from Israel, as it says: And it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth (Daniel 7:5), and R. Yoḥanan said: This is Haran, Adiabene, and Nusaybin, as the wicked Roman government, which reigns over these places, sometimes swallows and sometimes spits them out [see b. Kiddushin 72a]. For the Persians come and harass [the Romans], and the Persian kings rule over Edom, and the evil kingdom [i.e., Rome] did not rule over Babylonia and never [even] crossed the Euphrates. So [the Jews of Babylonia] did not forget the Oral Torah, nor the applied law, [in the] two academies from the days of yore until now, as it is written: For it shall not be forgotten by their offspring (Deuteronomy 31:21).