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Zugot (Hebrew: תְּקוּפָת) הַזּוּגוֹת)) ((təqūphāth) hazZūghôth) refers to the hundred year period during the time of the Second Temple (515 BCE - 70 CE), in which the spiritual leadership of the Jewish people was in the hands of five successive generations of zugot ("pairs") of religious teachers. Image File history File links Wiki_letter_w. ... The Mishnah (Hebrew משנה, Repetition) is a major source of rabbinic Judaisms religious texts. ... Amora, plural Amoraim, (from the Hebrew root amar to say or tell over), were renowned Jewish scholars who said or told over the teachings of the Oral law, from about 200 to 500 CE in Babylonia and Israel. ... A savora (Aramaic: סבורא, plural savoraim, saboraim, סבוראים) is a term used in Jewish law and history to signify the leading rabbis living from the end of period of the Amoraim (around 500 CE) to the beginning of the Geonim (around 700 CE). ... Geonim (also Gaonim) (גאונים) (Singular: Gaon [גאון] meaning pride in Biblical Hebrew and genius in modern Hebrew) were the rabbis who were the Jewish Talmudic sages who were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of the Jewish community in the early medieval era, in contrast to the Resh Galuta/ Exilarch who wielded secular... Rishonim (ראשונים Hebrew - sing. ... Acharonim (Hebrew - sing. ... Hebrew redirects here. ... Drawing of the Second Temple in Jerusalem during the time of Herod the Great A stone (2. ... The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or a member of the Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ...

Origin of the name

In Hebrew, the word "zugot" indicates a plural of two identical objects. (In English: "pairs".) The name was given to the two leading teachers of the Law during each successive generation during the period. According to tradition, two of them always stood at the head of the Sanhedrin; one as president ("nasi") and the other as vice-president or father of the court ("Av beit din"; see Sanhedrin). For the tractate in the Mishnah, see Sanhedrin (tractate). ... Nāśī’ (נָשִׂיא) is a Hebrew term meaning, roughly, Prince. In classical times it was the title given to the head of the Sanhedrin, the supreme court and legislative body of ancient Israel. ... Av Beit Din, Hebrew for Father [of the] House of Justice. ... For the tractate in the Mishnah, see Sanhedrin (tractate). ...

The term "Zugot" refers to 5 pairs of legal scholars who ruled the Supreme Court Beit Din HaGadol from 142 BCE when the 2nd Judean State was established as an independent state to the end of Hillel the Elder's rule ca. 40 BCE. Afterwards the positions Chief Justice Nasi and Vice President Av Beit Din remained, but they were not Zugot. With the rise of the independent Judean state under Simon the Maccabee of the Hasmonean's, the nature of Judaism changed from Theocracy to Nomocracy. The change reflected a radical transformation from the rule of the Jewish community by God through the High Priest, to rule of the community through the judicial and legislative discourse of the Supreme Court. The High Priest, the Kohen Gadol, went from being the supreme legal and spiritual authority to a figure head who ruled in the Temple but was still subservient to the Supreme Court. After the destruction of the Judean state and the 2nd Temple in 70 CE, the Supreme Court Beit Din HaGadol ceased to exist. With Roman permission the Sanhedrin was established and it became the government in exile for the Jewish community. In 425 CE the Roman government shut down the Sanhedrin as a result of its Christian intent to dominate religious expression and marginalize Judaism. Desert hills in southern Judea, looking east from the town of Arad Judea or Judaea (יהודה Praise, Standard Hebrew Yəhuda, Tiberian Hebrew Yəhûḏāh) is a term used for the mountainous southern part of historic Palestine, an area now divided... Hillel (הלל) was a famous Jewish religious leader who lived in Jerusalem during the time of King Herod; he is one of the most important figures in Jewish history, associated with the Mishnah and the Talmud. ... Nāśī’ (נָשִׂיא) is a Hebrew term meaning, roughly, Prince. In classical times it was the title given to the head of the Sanhedrin, the supreme court and legislative body of ancient Israel. ... Av Beit Din, Hebrew for Father [of the] House of Justice. ... Simon Maccabaeus (died 134 BC) was a member of the Maccabees family. ... The Maccabees were a Jewish family who fought against the rule of Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty, who was succeeded by his infant son Antiochus V Eupator. ... The Hasmonean Kingdom (Hebrew: Hashmonai) in ancient Judea and its ruling dynasty from 140 BCE to 37 BCE was established under the leadership of Simon Maccabaeus, two decades after Judah the Maccabee defeated the Seleucid army in 165 BCE. // The origin of the Hasmonean dynasty is recorded in the books... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The term High Priest may refer to particular individuals who hold the office of ruler-priest in local regional or ethnic contexts. ... Even in death, many Kohanim choose to have this symbol, the special positioning of their fingers and hands during the Priestly Blessing, placed as a crest or symbol on their gravestones to indicate their status. ... The Roman Empire is the name given to both the imperial domain developed by the city-state of Rome and also the corresponding phase of that civilization, characterized by an autocratic form of government. ...

Historical background

The title of av beit din existed before the period of the zugot. His purpose was to oversee the Sanhedrin, the court of religious law (also known as the "beth din"). The rank of nasi (president) was a new institution that was begun during this period. Av Beit Din, Hebrew for Father [of the] House of Justice. ... For the tractate in the Mishnah, see Sanhedrin (tractate). ... A beth din (בית דין, Hebrew: house of judgment, plural battei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. ... Nāśī’ (נָשִׂיא) is a Hebrew term meaning, roughly, Prince. In classical times it was the title given to the head of the Sanhedrin, the supreme court and legislative body of ancient Israel. ...

During the first generation of the Zugot, the Jewish supporters of Hellenistic control in Israel managed to gain control over the position of the "Cohen Ha'Gadol" (the High Priest of the Temple), and raised Greek sympathizers to that position. The purpose of the High Priest was to be a spiritual leader of the Jewish people, which led the religious leaders among the people to elect a nasi, to provide an alternative to the growing corruption of the priests of the Temple. This conflict led to the split between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and to the political upheaval that followed. The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... Nāśī’ (נָשִׂיא) is a Hebrew term meaning, roughly, Prince. In classical times it was the title given to the head of the Sanhedrin, the supreme court and legislative body of ancient Israel. ... The sect of the Sadducees (or Zadokites and other variants) - which may have originated as a political party - was founded in the 2nd century BC and ceased to exist sometime after the 1st century AD. Their rivals, the Pharisees, are said to have originated in the same time period, but... The Pharisees (from the Hebrew perushim, from parash, meaning to separate) were, depending on the time, a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews that flourished during the Second Temple Era (536 BCE–70 CE). ...

List of zugot

There were five pairs of these teachers:

1. Jose ben Joezer, and Jose ben Johanan
   who flourished at the time of the Maccabean wars of independence
2. Joshua ben Perachyah, and Nittai of Arbela
   at the time of John Hyrcanus
3. Judah ben Tabbai, and Simeon ben Shetach
   at the time of Alexander Jannæus and Queen Salome
4. Shemaiah, and Abtalion
   at the time of Hyrcanus II
5. Hillel, and Shammai
   at the time of King Herod the Great

Yose ben Yoezer was a rabbi of the early Maccabean period, possibly a disciple of Antigonus of Soko, though this is not certain. ... Nittai of Arbela (Hebrew: נתאי הארבלי) was av beit din or vice-president of the Sanhedrin under the nasi Joshua ben Perachyah at the time of John Hyrcanus. ... John Hyrcanus (Yohanan Girhan) (reigned 134 BC - 104 BC, died 104 BC) was a Hasmonean (Maccabeean) leader of the 2nd century BC. Apparently the name Hyrcanus was taken by him as a reignal name upon his accession to power. ... Simeon ben Shetach or Shimon ben Shetach (c. ... Coin of Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BC). ... Coin of Salome (daughter of Herodias), queen of Chalcis and Armenia Minor. ... This entry incorporates text from Eastons Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernisation. ... Hyrcanus II was the Jewish High Priest from about 79 to 40 BCE. He was the eldest son of Alexander Jannæus and Alexandra Salome. ... Hillel is a Hebrew name that has been held by many famous Jewish rabbis and thinkers. ... Shammai (50 BCE–30 CE) was a Jewish scholar of the 1st century, and an imporant figure in Judaisms core work of rabbinic literature, the Mishnah. ... Hordos (Hebrew: הוֹרְדוֹס, ; Greek: , ; trad. ...

Other uses of term Zugot

The term zugot refers to pairs generally. The Babylonian Talmud (Pesachim 109b-112a) contains an extensive discussion of dangers of zugot and of performing various activities in pairs. The discussants expressed belief in a demonology and practices of sorcery from which protection was needed by avoiding certain activities. The demonology included a discussion of Ashmidai (Asmodai or Asmodeus), referred to as king of the shadim or demons. No such demonology occurs in the Palestinian Talmud. The first page of the Talmud, in the standard Vilna edition. ... Demonology is the systematic study of demons. ... Asmodai (Asmodeus, Asmodaeus, pronounced Ashmed or Ashmedai in Hebrew, also Chammadai, Sydonai) is a semi-Biblical demon mostly known thanks to the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit; he is also mentioned in some Talmudic legends and in demonology, as he is a leading figure in the construction efforts of the Temple... Although Asmodai is mostly known thanks to the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit, he is also mentioned in some Talmudic legends and in demonology. ... The Jerusalem Talmud (In Hebrew Talmud Yerushalmi, in short known as the Yerushalmi), also known as the Palestinian Talmud, was written in the Land of Israel at the same time of the writing of the Babylonian Talmud, (which is known as the Talmud Bavli or simply the Bavli in Hebrew...

Both belief in a Jewish demonology in which demons could cause one harm, and reservations against pairs generally, disappeared entirely from Judaism by the Middle Ages, and do not exist today. Medieval commentators, who are followed today, asserted that the practice of avoiding doing things in pairs out of concern for being harmed by demons was not applicable to then-contemporary conditions. They gave various reasons. Meiri, for example, stated that belief in the harm of pairs was widespread among the masses of the time and the Sages sought to allay their fears and draw them away from their excesses. Tosafot held that we need not concern ourselves with zugot because evil spirits are no longer prevalent. Ben Yehoyada held that any harm from pairs has 'nowadays' become completely negated. The Rambam suggested that the Rabbis of the Talmud were susceptible to contemporary superstitions. Rabbi Menachem Meiri (1249-c. ... Tosafists were medieval rabbis who collected commentaries on the Talmud, and appear in virtually every edition since it was first printed. ... Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Hebrew: רבי משה בן מיימון; Arabic: Mussa bin Maimun ibn Abdallah al-Kurtubi al-Israili; March 30, 1135—December 13, 1204), commonly known by his Greek name Maimonides, was a Jewish rabbi, physician, and philosopher. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.
• Talmud Bavli, The Schottenstein Edition, Tractate Pesachim, Vol. III. Mesorah Publications Ltd., 1998.