Studies on the Taqqanot of Yavneh

Extract

Along with the analogical (homer) exegeses, the Yavneh ordinances constitute the earliest components of the normative tradition concerning Yoḥanan ben Zakkai. Conventional forms occur, which indicate that even the earliest strata of edited materials have already been given substantially permanent shape, perhaps after circulating for a brief time in various unofficial formulations. We shall first review and comment on individual traditions, in order of the redaction of the documents in which they occur, and then offer some synoptic remarks.