A little over five years ago I posted an idea about creating a social network analysis of the rabbis found in classical rabbinic literature. In the interim I have thought a lot about this project but have done very little on it. I still believe it is worth doing, though, and I have finally taken a concrete step forward. First, a brief justification for the project. According to several scholars, most of the rabbis we find in classical rabbinic literature (e.g., the Babylonian Talmud) worked in small disciple circles rather than larger educational institutions (e.g., the yeshiva) which only began to emerge at the end of Late Antiquity. These small circles formed a loose network. Students, for example, could move back and forth between circles, transmitting knowledge. It is unclear how often or in what contexts individual rabbis would have contact with their colleagues. Rabbinic literature, particularly the reports of cases and individual sayings (as opposed to the less reliable stories, or aggadah), mentions interactions between these rabbis. Sometimes these statements note simply that “rabbi x said in the name of rabbi y,” others mention biological or pedagogical relationships between them. The idea is to use social network analysis to […]
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