The Zugot (; ), also called Zugoth or Zugos in the Ashkenazi pronunciation, refers both to the two hundred year period ( 170 BCE – 30 CE, ) during the later Second Temple period, in which the spiritual leadership of the Jews was in the hands of five successions of "pairs" of religious teachers, and to each of these pairs themselves.
Etymology
In Hebrew, the word
zuḡoṯ indicates pairs; it is the plural of
zuḡ, one half of a pair. Like , it is a loanword from via and was commonly used to refer to a spouse (cf ).
Roles
The zugot were five pairs of scholars who ruled a supreme court of the Jews (
Sanhedrin) as
nasi (נָשִׂיא or "prince", i.e. president) and Av Beit Din (, "chief of the
beth din"), respectively. After this period, the positions
nasi and
av bet din remained, but they were not zugot. The title of
av beit din existed before the period of the zugot. His purpose was to oversee the
Sanhedrin. The rank of nasi was a new institution begun during this period.
List of zugot
There were five pairs of these teachers:
-
Jose ben Joezer and Jose ben Jochanan, who flourished at the time of the Maccabean Revolt
-
Joshua ben Perachiah and Nittai of Arbela, at the time of John Hyrcanus
-
Judah ben Tabbai and Simeon ben Shetach, at the time of Alexander Jannaeus and Salome Alexandra
-
Shmaya and Abtalion, at the time of Hyrcanus II
-
Hillel the Elder and Shammai, at the time of King Herod the Great
Other uses of term zugot
Zugot refers to pairs generally. The Babylonian Talmud contains an extensive discussion of the dangers of pairs and of performing various activities in pairs.
[ Pesachim 109b–112a] The discussants expressed belief in a
demonology and in practices of
witchcraft from which protection was needed by avoiding certain activities. The demonology included a discussion of
Ashmidai (Asmodai or
Asmodeus), referred to as the king of the
shedim "demons".
However, later generations did not make efforts to avoid harm from pairings, and their rabbis suggest various reasons why this is the case. The Tosafot ruled that the rules regarding pairs need not be followed as the shedim are no longer prevalent.[Tosafot to Yoma 77b, Hullin 107b] The Arba'ah Turim included the rules about pairings in Orach Haim 170, but the Beit Yosef disputed this based on the Tosafot. The Shulchan Aruch and Mishneh Torah do not mention concern for pairs. Most recent poskim, including Yosef Hayyim, do not require concern for pairs.
According to Maimonides, the Talmudic rabbis did not see any real danger in pairs; rather, their actual motivation in forbidding pairs was to distance Jews from dualistic religions such as Zoroastrianism which were common at the time.[See Abraham Maimonides, A Comprehensive Guide for the Servants of God ( Hamaspik Leovdei Hashem), chapter 29]
