|
The Great Assembly ((ヘブライ語:כְּנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה)) or Anshei Knesset HaGedolah (אַנְשֵׁי כְּנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה, "The Men of the Great Assembly"), also known as the Great Synagogue, or ''Synod'', was, according to Jewish tradition, an assembly of 120 scribes, sages, and prophets, in the period from the end of the Biblical prophets to the early Hellenistic period. It comprised such prophets as Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi (who is Ezra), Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, Nehemiah b. Hachaliah, Mordechai and Zerubabel b. Shaaltiel, among others.〔Maimonides' Introduction to his Mishnah Commentary (ed. Nehemiah Shmuel Rot), Jerusalem 2005, p. 59 (Hebrew)〕 Sometimes, the ''Great Assembly'' is simply designated as "Ezra and his court of law" (''Beit Din'').〔Maimonides' Introduction to his Code of Jewish Law (Mishne Torah).〕 Among the developments in Judaism that are attributed to them are the fixing of the Jewish Biblical canon, including the books of Ezekiel, Daniel, Esther, and the Twelve Minor Prophets; the introduction of the triple classification of the oral law, dividing the study of the Mishnah (in the larger sense) into the three branches of midrash, halakot, and aggadot; the introduction of the Feast of Purim; and the institution of the prayer known as the "Shemoneh 'Esreh" as well as the synagogal prayers, rituals, and benedictions. Some modern scholars question whether the Great Assembly ever existed as an institution as such. Louis Jacobs, while not endorsing this view, remarks that "references in the () Rabbinic literature to the Men of the Great Synagogue can be taken to mean that ideas, rules, and prayers, seen to be pre-Rabbinic but post-biblical, were often fathered upon them".〔Louis Jacobs (1995), (Great Synagogue, Men of ), in ''The Jewish religion: a companion'', p. 201. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-826463-1〕 ==Inclusion of the last Hebrew Bible prophets== The members of the Great Assembly are designated in the Mishnah (Ab. i. 1) as those who occupied a place in the chain of tradition between the Prophets and the earliest scholars known by name. The Prophets transmitted the Torah to the men of the Great Synagogue. . . . Simon the Just was one of those who survived the Great Synagogue, and Antigonus of Soko received the Torah from him. (Ab. i. 1 et seq.). The first part of this statement is paraphrased as follows in Ab. R. N. i.; Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi received from the Prophets; and the men of the Great Synagogue received from Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. In this paraphrase the three post-exilic prophets are separated from the other prophets, for it was the task of the former to transmit the Law to the members of the Great Synagogue. It must even be assumed that these three prophets were themselves included in those members, for it is evident from the statements referring to the institution of the prayers and benedictions that the Great Synagogue included prophets. According to R. Johanan, who wrote in the third century, The men of the Great Synagogue instituted for Israel the benedictions and the prayers, as well as the benedictions for Kiddush and habdalah (Ber. 33a). This agrees with the sentence of R. Jeremiah (fourth century), who states (Yer. Ber. 4d), in reference to the "Shemoneh 'Esreh," that one hundred and twenty elders, including about eighty prophets, have instituted these prayers. These one hundred and twenty elders are undoubtedly identical with the men of the Great Synagogue. The number given of the prophets must, however, be corrected according to Meg. 17b, where the source of R. Jeremiah's statement is found: R. Johanan said that, according to some, a baraita taught that one hundred and twenty elders, including some prophets, instituted the 'Shemoneh 'Esreh.' Hence the prophets were in a minority in the Great Synagogue. Another statement regarding the activity of this institution alludes to the establishment of the Feast of Purim according to Esth. ix. 27 et seq., while the Babylonian Talmud (Meg. 2a) states, as a matter requiring no discussion, that the celebration of the Feast of Purim on the days mentioned in Meg. i. 1 was instituted by the men of the Great Synagogue. But in the Jerusalem Talmud, R. Johanan (Meg. 70d; Ruth R. ii. 4) speaks of ''eighty-five elders, among them about thirty prophets.'' 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Great Assembly」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|