The Patriarch and the Head of the Court

This passage in the Babylonian Talmud reworks earlier Palestinian traditions, adapting them to the new institutionalized realities of the Babylonian academy. In the Babylonian academy, appointments to leadership followed strict hierarchical rules. Not only the candidate’s scholarship but also features of his heritage, such as his father’s official role in the community, determined his status within the academy. There was fierce competition for leadership roles. In their wrangling for official status, scholars tried to undermine one another by questioning their competitors’ competence and trying to win the support of their colleagues. Being shamed in front of one’s peers in the public context of the academy threatened not only one’s own honor but also the honor of one’s entire family for generations.

Here, the Talmud presents the origin of the difference in practice between when the patriarch enters, when the head of the court enters, and when the sage enters. This source also describes an attempt to discredit the patriarch that ultimately backfires.

A second source presents a long-standing disagreement between patriarchs and heads of the court regarding whether one should lay one’s hands on a sacrifice on festivals.