Rosh Hashana 31

On each day a different psalm is selected for the Levites to recite (or sing).  The rabbis choose these psalms based on connections between them and what was done on each day of creation.

The same decision is made regarding Shabbat afternoon prayers.  We learn about the ha'azenu prayer, which is divided according to a mnemonic.  

The great court of the rabbis called the Great Sanhedrin was forced to move to different parts of the land.  It is said that the Sanhedrin moved from Jerusalem to Tiberius in ten stages.  

Similarly the rabbis teach that the Divine Presence travelled on ten journeys.  The first was in the Ark and the last was in Heaven.  A note tells us that the Jewish peoples' increasingly bad behaviour led to G-d leaving us on our own.

We are told to go to the Great Sanhedrin itself when we must stand before a court.  Even if the head rabbi remained in one of the the cities along the way, Jews facing justice were expected to travel.

A person refusing to see the judges in the Sanhedrin or who did not accept their ruling was first issued a  peticha, an opening or a warning of impending excommunication.  If s/he continued to refuse to comply, s/he would be issued an excommunication order, or a shamta.

Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai issued nine ordinances regarding Jewish ritual practice. A number of these are detailed in today's daf.  One regards the crimson thread that is cut in half and tied both to the scapegoat and to a rock.  That thread will turn white if the azazel has indeed atoned for our sins.  

Interestingly the rabbis comment both on the meaning of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai's ordinance and upon the context of his ordinance. Since he commented on the crimson thread at a particular time, he must have been alive at that time.  Thus the rabbis conclude that other rabbis with competing ordinances were alive at that time as well.

Even the rabbis of antiquity were learning Torah in part to understand the social and contextual implications of their predecessors.  Makes me feel slightly better about where my interests lie as I continue to struggle with the text.