Rabbi Yochanan the Tanna
Given the particulars of the Jewish calendar this year, there is only one day between the end of Pesach and the Shabbos for shlissel challah and parashat Shemini. So here are two old parshablog posts which relate: the “real” reason to oppose schlissel challah — I don’t really think the problem is purported avodah zara; and the true identity of the atalef — I suggest an alternative to the bat.
For some reason, as I read through today’s daf (Sotah 16a) over Yom Tov, I got to thinking about Rabbi Yochanan the Tanna.
The famous Rabbi Yochanan is of course Rabbi Yochanan II, the second-generation Amora based in Teveriah. But, as Rav Aharon Hyman details in Toledot Tannaim vaAmoraim, there is another one, a fifth-generation Tanna, who would thus be contemporary with Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda. Thus:
Now, he doesn’t use the term fifth-generation Tanna explicitly, but he has this Tannaitic Rabbi Yochanan citing (Shimon) Ben Azzai who is a fourth-generation Tanna. Meanwhile, the rejected candidate, Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri, is essentially of the same, fourth generation, though Rav Hyman says he is older, kashish than ben Azzi and therefore wouldn’t be citing him.
So what if we have, as in today’s gemara, Rabbi Yochanan citing fourth-generation Rabbi Yishmael (ben Elisha) II?
תָּא שְׁמַע, דְּאָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן מִשּׁוּם רַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל: בִּשְׁלֹשָׁה מְקוֹמוֹת הֲלָכָה עוֹקֶבֶת מִקְרָא.
Come and hear evidence from that which Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Rabbi Yishmael: In three instances the halakha supersedes the verse, i.e., the tradition alters the straightforward meaning of the verse.
הַתּוֹרָה אָמְרָה בְּ״עָפָר״, וַהֲלָכָה בְּכׇל דָּבָר. הַתּוֹרָה אָמְרָה בְּ״תַעַר״, וַהֲלָכָה בְּכׇל דָּבָר. הַתּוֹרָה אָמְרָה ״סֵפֶר״, וַהֲלָכָה בְּכׇל דָּבָר.
The Torah states: “And whatsoever man…that takes in hunting any beast or fowl that may be eaten, he shall pour out the blood thereof, and cover it in dust” (Leviticus 17:13), but the halakha is that the blood may be covered in anything similar to dust. The Torah states with regard to the nazirite: “All the days of his vow of naziriteship there shall be no razor come upon his head” (Numbers 6:5), but the halakha is that the nazirite may not remove his hair with anything. The Torah states: “That he writes her a bill [sefer] of divorce” (Deuteronomy 24:1). The word sefer denotes a scroll, but the halakha is that the husband may inscribe the bill of divorce on anything that is detached from the ground and suitable to be written upon, not only on a scroll.
As I’ve discussed in the past, mishum is the citation verb employed when the target exists in Tannaitic territory. But we could very well have plain, standard Rabbi Yochanan who cites a Tanna. (Indeed, many a time Rabbi Yochanan cites Rashbi — Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, rather than Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak, and in addition to wondering whether this is a scribal error for ben Yehotzadak in the citation target, I can wonder whether the citation source is actually Rabbi Yochanan I.)
However, if we already know of a Tanna named Rabbi Yochanan I operating in masechet Sotah, we might say it is he. By the way, what sparked this was “mishum”, knowledge of the people, but also the potential that it could really be Rabbi Yonatan. This is a common scribal error for Yochanan, and Rabbi Yonatan was a member of Rabbi Yishmael II’s academy. However, none of the manuscripts at Hachi Garsinan had this, only Rabbi Yochanan or shorthand thereof.
Finally, I’ll note that Rabbi Yochanan citing Rabbi Yishmael is rare. Other than here in Sotah 16a, we have about a dozen instances. There are (with deAmar): Yevamot 68b; Sotah 26b; Bava Metzia 22b; Zevachim 86a; Zevachim 103b. Also (with amar): Yerushalmi Yevamot 7:6; Pesachim 79a; Yoma 3b; Chagiga 9a; Yevamot 74a; Kiddushin 75b; Kiddushin 80b; Menachot 26a.
However, without exploring manuscripts of each of these — I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader, so please let me know if you spot something or do not — even the plain printed text of Bava Metzia 22b has Rabbi Yochanan citing Rabbi Yishmael ben Yehotzadak. So we may again be dealing with either scribal error, or simply obvious shortening apparent to the audience, where of course when the Amora Rabbi Yochanan is citing Rabbi Shimon or Rabbi Yishmael, he is citing the famous ben Yehotzadak whom he often cites. (And as covered elsewhere, as a transitional Tanna / Amora figure, Rabbi X ben Yehotzadak merits the “mishum” citation pattern.)
[Update: I posted the above after only beginning the daf (over Yom Tov). I fully learned the daf today. So let me just update in light of later material on the page. Here, Rabbi Yochanan citing Rabbi Yishmael listed three instances where the “halacha” overcame the Scripture.
This is challenged, for aren’t there other such instances? One brayta uses klal ufrat to detail which areas a leper must shave, to the exclusion of others. And a Mishnah says that he is shaved smooth like a gourd. One named Amora explains that this isn’t an instance of the halacha overwhelming Scripture because the brayta is Rabbi Yishmael while the Mishnah is Rabbi Akiva. It is a dispute, rather than a halacha leMoshe miSinai overwhelming a derasha based on pesukim.
This works well with klal ufrat being specifically the methodology of Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha II, vs. Rabbi Akiva with his miut and ribuy methodology.
Now, it works even more nicely if the original statement of three instances of halacha overwhelming Scripture is the selfsame Rabbi Yishmael, rather than one of my suggestions, that it is a shorthand for Rabbi Yishmael ben Yehotzadak. Even so, the sugya will still work out in either direction we take it.
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