The Associations and the Others: Were Rabbinic Havurot Greco-Roman Associations?

Leonhard Clemens

Zusammenfassung

Were the groups formed by ancient rabbis voluntary associations? Rabbis met in ‎groups. Greeks and Romans also met in many kinds of groups-among others, ‎voluntary associations. Thus, the question arises whether the comparison between ‎rabbinic groups and voluntary associations in their respective environment aids our ‎understanding of either. The search for traces of Greco-Roman voluntary ‎associations among the rabbis addresses two major research questions. First, it ‎enhances our understanding of the rabbis’ relationship to their social and ‎cultural environment. The more the rabbis’ social institutions resemble Greek ‎and Roman ones, the more this movement becomes understandable as an ancient ‎Mediterranean phenomenon. It ceases to look like an isolated precursor of a ‎medieval or modern society and becomes a plausible part of the ancient world. ‎Second, scholars have discussed the question of whether or not the ‎‎yaḥad of Qumran should be understood as a voluntary association (or as ‎a network of voluntary associations). Thus, rabbinic similarities to Greek and Roman ‎voluntary associations may bridge the gap between Second Temple Judaism and the ‎Rabbis. If the rabbis were the heirs of the yaḥad in terms of their social ‎structure, one may be tempted to interpret further similarities as historically related ‎to each other. The following paper is designed to increase the distance between the ‎rabbis and the yaḥad on the one hand, and the rabbis and voluntary ‎associations on the other. Furthermore, it shows that the model of the Greco-‎Roman association is most useful as a heuristic tool to start comparisons and to look ‎for data. However, the negative conclusion of this paper does not lend further ‎support to comparisons between Greco-Roman associations and the ‎‎ḥavurot. [introductory paragraph]‎