Yeridat Ha-dorot - Eras of Rabbinic Judaism

Eras of Rabbinic Judaism

Rabbinic tradition divides its historical development into distinct eras. According to traditional interpretation, scholars in one era within Halachic development (legal codification of Jewish observance) do not challenge the rulings of previous-era scholars.

Chazal is an acronym for "Chachameinu Zichronam Livracha" ("Our Sages may their memory be blessed"). In Rabbinic writings this refers to all Sages of the Talmud and other Rabbinic literature commentators, from the times of the Second Temple of Jerusalem until the 6th century. Up until the end of the Savoraim era, Chazal had the authority to commentate the Torah according to the Talmudical Hermeneutics standards required by the law given to Moses at Sinai (The non written laws handed to Moses at Sinai). Nowadays, this authority is not delegated to the current generation's Sages, and thus the Torah can not be commentated on, in matters concerning the Halakha, if it is in contradiction to Chazal's commentary. Earlier on, up until the midst of the Tannaim era, when there was a Sanhedrin (a Jewish law court), Chazal had also the authority to decree predestinations and to enact new religious regulations, in any matter they saw fit, concerning issues that were not included in the written "Torah", or were not handed at Biblical Mount Sinai.

Rishonim ("the first ones") were the leading Rabbis and Poskim (Halachic decisors) who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the Shulkhan Arukh (Code of Jewish Law) and following the Geonim. Rabbinic scholars subsequent to the Shulkhan Arukh are known as Acharonim ("the latter ones"). The distinction between Rishonim and Geonim is meaningful historically; in Halakha (Jewish Law) the distinction is less important. According to a widely held view in Orthodox Judaism, Acharonim generally cannot dispute the rulings of Rabbis of previous eras unless they find support of other Rabbis in previous eras. On the other hand, this view is not formally a part of Halakhah itself. Acharonim is a term used in Jewish law and history, to signify the leading Rabbis and Poskim living from roughly the 16th century to the present. The publication of the Shulkhan Arukh marks the transition from the era of the Rishonim to the Acharonim. The question of which prior rulings can and cannot be disputed has led to efforts to define which rulings are within the Acharonim era with precision. According to many Rabbis the Shulkhan Arukh is from an Acharon. Some hold that Rabbi Yosef Karo's Beit Yosef has the Halakhic status of a work of a Rishon, while his later Shulkhan Arukh has the status of a work of an Acharon.

The 18th century Vilna Gaon was one of the most influential Rabbinic authorities since the Middle Ages; although he is counted among the Acharonim, he is held by many authorities after him as belonging to the Rishonim.