It was a very strong line among the Tannaim, with Hillel the Elder, Rabbi Akiva, and Judah ha. Nasi being two of those who made that line. Amarim refers to sages involved in the execution of the Torah when it was not sealed for the end of the prohibition period (220 – 500 CE).
You see, in the East, sages are still to be found, usually gray-bearded elders, honored and influential in the tribe or town. [Sidenote: Source of their knowledge and inspiration] Of the three classes of Israel’s teachers the sages stood in closest touch with the people. They were naturally the father-confessors of the community.
A question we ran across in our research was “What was the role of the sages in Israel’s life?”.
I found the answer was [Sidenote: Role of the sages in Israel’s life] In the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer. xviii.18; Ezek. vii.26) three distinct classes of religious teachers were recognized by the people: the prophets, the priests, and the wise men or sages. From their lips and pens have come practically all the writings of the Old Testament.
You may be asking “Why do we need both a sage and a prophet?”
Some think that the sage looks into the past and shows us how we made way for God’s healing presence and loving power in the choices we made and the paths we followed. The prophet fortifies us with the gift of hope. The sage strengthens us with the gift of meaning. We need both prophets and sages. We need to hear both voices.
What can we learn from Joseph the sage?
As a mature man, Joseph the sage understood what it meant to be his brothers’ leader and retold their story in such a way that it reflected the power of God and not the forces of anger and jealousy working in their lives. We are far more like Joseph’s brothers than Joseph.
What is the book Sages of the Talmud?
This is a collection of biographical information about the authors of the Talmud. It contains about four hundred entries and hundreds of anecdotes about the sages, all as recorded in the Talmud itself.
While researching we ran into the question “What is the sage’s great gift?”.
The sage guides us in the search for value and meaning in our already closed past. Joseph’s great gift was that he was both a prophet and a sage. He was by nature a visionary.
How many sages are there in Judovits?
The bulk of the volume is devoted to the 400 sages. Judovits gives us their names, dates, and country. He places each in historical perspective, telling us about their era and who were their teachers. He informs us how they made their living. He narrates events in their lives and significant statements that they made.
One answer was he is the author of Sages of the Talmud. He lives in Boca Raton, Florida.
You might be wondering “Who is Mordechai Judovits?”
Some articles claimed His life-long love of Talmud led to his quest to know something of the life and times of the sages.