Epistle

Now, in regard to your inquiry as to the chronology of our rabbis, the savoraim, following [the amora] Ravina, and as to who ruled after them from that time to the present:

We have seen fit to explain the essence of this subject, how the leadership of Israel originally operated, and how the two talmudic academies became separated, since an element [of confusion] exists in relation to this matter. Be aware that initially, when Israel was exiled in the exile of Jeconiah, the craftsmen and the smiths and quite a number of prophets along with them, came to Nehardea and Jeconiah, king of Judah. And his supporters built a synagogue and laid its foundations with stones and loose earth that they had brought with them from the Temple, so as to fulfill what is stated: For Your servants take pleasure in her stones and love her dust (Psalms 102:14). And they called that synagogue “the synagogue that moved and settled in Nehardea”; that is to say that it “traveled” from the Temple and settled here. And the divine presence was with them, as it is stated in Megillah:

Now when Ezra [and Zerubbabel] went up [to the Holy Land] from Babylonia, together with the exiles, and rebuilt the Temple, and the heads of the Sanhedrin were there, such as Simeon the Just and Antigonus of Sokho, and the rest of the pairs [who shared the headship of the Sanhedrin], and the majority of them had come up from Babylonia, and Hillel the Elder had gone up with them from Babylonia, nonetheless [there remained sages] disseminating Torah here. And they had exilarchs from the House of David, but they did not have heads of academies or a Sanhedrin among them, as they held that these may only be [selected] from the place which the Lord will have chosen (Deuteronomy 12:5) [i.e., Jerusalem].

Now, until Rabbi [Judah the Prince] died, it was the exilarch who exercised authority in Babylonia, and not the heads of the academies, and it was the nesi’im [“princes”; descendants of David] who were the heads of the Sanhedrin in the land of Israel until Hillel and Shammai, as is explained in [Tractate] Avot.

And after [Hillel], [the head of the Sanhedrin] was his son Simon, and after him came his son R. Gamaliel the Elder, and after him came R. Simon ben Gamaliel the First, who was slain before the destruction of the Temple. And R. Ishmael, son of Elisha, was the high priest.

And these four generations are included within those hundred years referred to in [the talmudic chapter] Yetsi’ot ha-shabbat [which states]: Hillel and Simon, Gamaliel and Simon, occupied their princely offices for a hundred years prior to the [destruction of] the Temple. [ . . . ]

And it was for the following reason that Rav left Samuel in Nehardea: because it was his native town and it was a place of Torah, while he himself went far away, to a place where there was no Torah, that being Sura, otherwise known as Mata Meḥasya. And there were many Jews there, but they were not conversant even with the dietary laws. Accordingly, Rav said [to himself], “Let me settle here so that there should be Torah in this locality”—in accordance with what is related in [the talmudic chapter] Kol ha-basar: Rav found a valley and fenced it around, and when he arrived at Tatlafush, he taught them and issued rulings to them on the prohibition of [eating] cow udders.

Now, he was called the head of the hall of study, for R. Yoḥanan said to Isi, son of [Hini] [b. Ḥullin 137b], “Who is the head of studies in Babylonia?” He replied to him, “[It is] Abba the Tall” [Rav]. And the dream that R. Ḥanina had had concerning him [that he was hung up on a palm tree] was fulfilled for his benefit, in that he was elevated to the position of head of the academy there [in Babylonia], as is explained in the [talmudic chapter] Yom ha-kippurim. [ . . . ]

Now there were two great rabbinic courts in Babylonia; one in Nehardea, which had already been in existence, and one in Sura, which Rav established. And this is the statement made by Samuel [b. Gittin 36b]: “We may not write out a deed of prosbul [permitting outstanding loans to be claimed even after the sabbatical year] other than in the rabbinic court of Sura or in the rabbinic court of Nehardea.”

And Rav and Samuel had two [separate] talmudic academies, as is stated in [the talmudic chapter] Ha-mevi get mi-medinat ha-yam: “As regards Babylonia, Rav declared it to enjoy the same status as the land of Israel for bills of divorce, while Samuel declared it to enjoy the status of places outside Israel”—and the Gemara explains that Rav held that since there was an academy [in Babylonia], [witnesses] could always be found [to confirm the signatures on the bill of divorce], whereas Samuel thought that the [members of] the academy were preoccupied with their learning [and would accordingly be unable to recognize the signatures].