THE SYNAGOGUE: ORIGINS AND DIFFUSION 231Taanit1),andtheceremonyofsupplicationistobegracedbythethepresence
of the patriarch and the “father of the court” (the patriarch’s deputy in the
rabbinicscheme:M.Taanit2:1),thoughtheMishnahassignsthemnofurther
role.^48 Yet the same Mishnah notes that the ceremony of supplication begins
when “they (who?) bring the ark into the town square,” and the prayers are
led by “the oldest among them (whom?).” It is tempting to think that the
editors have juxtaposed two conceptions of the public fast, the national and
the local, without trying to reconcile them.^49 Indeed, public fasts described
elsewhere in rabbinic literature are usually local, town-based rituals, not de-
creed byany centralbody or presidedover bythe patriarch.^50 TheTosefta, for
example,inadiscussionthatcloselyparallelstheMishnah,acknowledgesthe
local character of the ritual, for in its version, the bet din, the patriarch, and
his deputy are not mentioned, and the supplicatory prayers are led by the
oldestofthetowneldersandbythehazanofthesynagogue(T.Taanit1:8,14).
The Mishnah has apparently once again, as in the case of charity collection,
transformed what in real life was a locally based religious act into a national
one.^51
The Mishnah discusses the synagogue incidentally, in the context of its
legislation concerning the production and use of holy books (M. Megillah
3[4]).InelaboratingontheinherentandnontransferablesanctityoftheTorah
scroll, the Mishnah for the only time clearly acknowledges the town and the
synagogue as loci of limited sanctity:
Townspeople who sold the town square may buy with the proceeds a synagogue;
asynagogue—theymaybuyanark;anark—theymaybuywrappings(forscrolls);
wrappings—they may buy scrolls (of the Prophets—see Rashi ad loc.); scrolls—
they may buy a Torah scroll. But if they sell a Torah scroll, they may not buy
scrolls; scrolls—they may not buy wrappings; wrappings—they may not buy an
ark; an ark—they may not buy a synagogue; a synagogue—they may not buy a
square.Thesamerulesapplytothemoneyremaining(either,afterthelicittrans-
actions are complete, or, from funds raised for the purpose of the purchase).^52(^48) Jacobs,Die Institution,p.87,ascribestheirpresenceinthisMishnahtotheworkofaglossator.
(^49) Cf. Lapin, “Rabbis andPublic Prayers for Rain,” p. 112. The Mishnahallows for local fasts,
but only in the case of a localized drought or plague (M. Taanit 3:1).
(^50) Which is not surprising, considering the various and broken topography of Palestine and
the wide local variations in annual rainfall that result: see D. Ashbel, in theIsrael Pocket Library
Geography(Jerusalem: Keter, 1973), 94–111. See Y. Taaniyot 1:1, 63d, and passim throughout
the tractate;2:1, 65a: “R.Yosah said,‘the public fastswhich we makeare not reallyfasts, because
the patriarch is not with us.’ ” For a full listing of such stories, see D. Levine,Communal Fasts,
254–72.
(^51) Cf. M. Taanit 3:3–4, which states explicitly that towns declare fasts, but also 3:7, where the
“elders” (of the “high court”) do so.
(^52) Cf. discussion in Fine,This Holy Place, pp. 38–40.