THE PROFESSIONALIZATION OF THE RABBINATE

We see how the ideal(as reflected in the d’rash of Deut. 4.5, in B. Bekhorot 29a, that we should teach for free because God taught for free) is contradicted by the custom of some communities to pay fees to scholars. The contradiction is“resolved” by Rav and Rabbi Johanan who taught that the fees were compensation only for the sekhar tirha(i.e., the trouble and physical labor). The passage from the Talmud of Eretz Yisrael? is especially interesting. The Jerusalem Talmud determined that remuneration for the teaching of Scripture and translation was not prohibited d'oraita, and, by implication, that teachers of Scripture could receive direct fees. Only“statutes and judgements”(i.e. Mishnah and halakhot) had to be taught gratuitously. Even so, teachers of Mishnah were eligible for compensation for loss of time(agar bateilah).

While compensation by means of sekhar tirha and sekhar batalah was widely accepted, we cannot speak of a“professional” rabbinate without evidence of salaries. Salaries paid to scholars out of communal funds would free the scholar from the necessity of a secular occupation and would make him regularly available to attend to the community's needs. The following passages establish the existence of communal funds through which rabbis and judges received salaries:

R Judah stated in the name of R. Assi:“Those who enact laws(gozrei gezerot) in Jerusalem received their salaries out of the Temple funds[at the rate of] ninety-nine maneh. If they were not satisfied, they were given an increase.” They were not satisfied? Are we dealing with wicked men? The reading in fact is:“(If the amount was] not sufficient, an increase was granted to them even if they objected.”

Of course, drawing salaries from communal funds was controversial. Such support seemed contradictory to the above