A Rabbinic Scholarly Elite

An excellent primary education in the reading and memorization of scripture would have been a prerequisite for studying with a rabbi. Only if the student had memorized large portions of the Bible, could quote verses at random, and could create keyword associations between two or more passages would he be ready to proceed to rabbinic study, here categorized as Mishnah and Talmud. These terms probably refer to specific modes of study or to tannaitic (Mishnah) and amoraic (Talmud) oral traditions rather than to the written documents of the Mishnah and Talmud as we know them. The text suggests that the process of advancing from biblical to rabbinic study was very selective and demanding. Only one in a thousand would emerge as a rabbinic scholar at the end of it. The implication is that the rabbis formed a very small scholarly elite in late antique Jewish society.