RABBIS AND PATRIARCHS ON THE MARGINS 123the story is important evidence that people in rabbinic circles were in the
third and fourth centuries being employed as functionaries, at least in the
larger and wealthier villages in Lower Galilee like Simonias, which could
afford it.^64 It also rather touchingly supposes that rabbis might be overwhelmed
by suc hunaccustomed power. But, t houg hit significantly presupposes t he
patriarch’s influence, it tells us very little indeed about the extent and nature
of his authority and certainly fails to demonstrate that he was more influential
than other important rabbis.
Likewise, Y. Hagigah 1:7, 76c, another homiletic tale, this time about the
importance of Tora hstudy for all (per haps intended to encourage rabbis to
accept positions as rural schoolmasters), is often used as “proof” that “the
patriarchs” supervised rural education. What the story actually says is that one
patriarch, Judah III, once sent out three rabbis to tour Palestinian villages and
appoint in them (or examine) schoolteachers. In one village, finding none,
they asked the villagers to bring to them the guardians of the village. When
they did so, the rabbis asserted that these were not the village’s guardians but
its destroyers; the true guardians are teachers of Torah, as it is written, etc.
Once again, the point is not historical but moral; nevertheless, this story, like
the previous one, may assume the increasing importance of rabbis as commu-
nal functionaries. It may even be true that a patriarch did once (or several
patriarchs did several times) send out teams to villages to inspect teachers.
Can we conclude from this isolated sermon that rural Palestinian education
was under the supervision of the patriarchs,tout court? Obviously not. In
sum, the Talmudic anecdotes that scholars use to demonstrate the institutional
authority of the patriarchate demonstrate at most the prestige and influence
of some of the incumbents.
TheFourthCenturyThere is little reason a priori to think that the position of the rabbis changed,
despite the elevation of the patriarchate. Many of the homiletic and legal tales
in the Palestinian Talmud reflect conditions in the fourth century, and these
indicate that while rabbis or people with rabbinic associations still worked,
and were expected to work, as communal functionaries, teachers, and so on,
sometimes in villages, their geographical diffusion was not in fact very great.
Information provided by the Palestinian Talmud and the Palestinianmid-
(^64) Cf. the story in Y. Megillah 4:5, 75b of Rabbi Shimon the Bible teacher/reader (safra)of
Tarbenet, vel sim. (the text is uncertain), dismissed from his job for refusing to adopt an unlawful
manner of Tora hreading and subsequently praised for his obstinacy by an important rabbi.
Clearly there was anxiety in some rabbinic circles about the implications of taking a post in a
village—the compromises required, and so on.