THE PROFESSIONALIZATION OF THE RABBINATE

It is also clear that this professionalization was controversial and violated a cherished“ideal” that, likewise, was preserved in the Talmud .

What was the rabbinic ideal? Talmudic passages suggest that sincerity and true conviction were absolute musts for the rabbi. Raba said:“Any scholar whose inside is not like his outside is no scholar... Woe unto the enemies of the scholars[i.e., those corrupted scholars] who occupy themselves with the Torah , but have no fear of heaven.”*® The ideal rabbi had to be thoroughly versed in all matters of the halakhah. Rabbi Johanan said:“Who is the scholar that is appointed a leader of the community? He who when asked a matter of halakhah in any place can answer it, even in the Tractate Kallah.”® The“ideal rabbi” supported himself by means of a secular vocation. Shammai was a builder ; Rabbi Joshua was a blacksmith; Rabbi Jose was a tanner ; Abba Hoshaiah of Turya was a laundryman; Rabbi Hanina and Rabbi Oshaya were shoemakers; Karna was a wine expert; Hisda and Rabbi Pappa were brewers of mead; and while other rabbis were sandal makers, carpenters and merchants, most worked in agriculture.®® Thus, the ideal rabbi was a pious and humble man who sought no advantage due to his scholarship. He was thoroughly expert in all the law, and he supported himself by means of a secular vocation and devoted all his spare time to teaching and study. Is it any wonder, therefore, that many were unable to live up to the Talmud 's rabbinic ideal?®' It is in this vein that we can fully appreciate Rabbi Simeon b. Yochai 's lament:“Is it possible? If a man ploughs in the ploughing season, and sows in the sowing season, and reaps in the reaping season, and threshes in the threshing season, and winnows in the season of wind, what is to become of the Torah ?”

How can we explain the contradictory traditions? One could make a case for the fact that the ideals of“gentlemen

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