RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIEShemiah established the principle that the law of the government must
be respected, just as the Torah, which allowed him to employ Persian
legal principles in matters of property and land law,?8
Local administration was carried out through a three-member rab-
binical court (A. beth din). One judge (A. dayyan) was appointed by
the exilarch and chose the other two. Judges were ordained by the
scholars with the laying on of hands, which gave them the right to be
called rabbi and to judge cases involving fines. The importance of the
schools for the exilarch's administration is indicated by the complaint
of Mar Zutra I (d. 413) about "teachers who turn out ignorant men
and allow them licenses to be judges."79 These rabbinical courts were
responsible for the collection and distribution of charity, the water
supply, elementary education, the repair of walls, and the ransom of
captives. They functioned as small-claims courts dealing with matters
of personal status such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance that
involved documents and transfers of property. They also dealt with
commercial and land transactions and various forms of litigation. The
signatures of witnesses to bills of sale, deed, or gift had to be approved
by this court, which might have its own scribe to draw up documents.
The absence of appeals to secular officials or of cases of state inter-
vention in the decisions of these courts is taken by Neusner as proof
that the Sasanian government gave them at least tacit backing.^80
The growing power and authority of rabbis gained from their as-
sociation with the government was a potential source of resentment.
As a sign of respect for the relative status of rabbis, a commoner (Heb.
'am ha'are?-) was required to stand in the presence of a scholar in the
law court.^81 Two rabbis who were used by the government to appre-
hendJewish thieves were asked "How long will you deliver the people
of the Lord for slaying?"82 The rise of the rabbinate in the Sasanian
period also contained a potential for competition over religious au-
thority and communal leadership between exilarchs and rabbis.^83
Thus, from an institutional point of view, Rabbinic Jews were or-
78 Neusner, Talmudic Judaism, pp. 97, 105; Rodkinson, Talmud, XIII, "Baba Bathra,"
133.
79 Rodkinson, Talmud, 11, "Sabbath," 313.
80 Neusner, History, pp. xviii, 245, 265-68; Talmudic Judaism, pp. 96-98; Rodkin-
son, Talmud, IV, "Rosh Hashana," 51-52; idem, XI, "Baba Metzia," 70; XIV, "Baba
Bathra," 345, 348.
81 Rodkinson, Talmud, XVII, "Shebuoth," 48-49.
82 Ibid., XII, "Baba Metzia," 211-12.
83 Neusner, Talmudic Judaism, p. 105.