[Avodah] [Areivim] Who Wrote the Zohar

[Zev Sero]

On Areivim, Jonathan Baker wrote:

> Yaari's proof seems pretty strong.  Also, if the Zohar was written
> in EY in the Tannaitic period, why on earth would they have made a
> Simchat Torah on an annual basis?  Back then, they read the Torah 
> on a 3-1/2 year cycle, which is known from numerous sources, e.g.
> the discussion of special leinings and haftarot for holidays in Tr.
> Megillah.

We know this was the minhag in EY at the time of the Amoraim, when the
discussion in Megillah 29b took place, possibly quite late in the
Amoraic period.  The gemara's question from the Tosefta might have
shown that this was the case even in the times of the Tana'im, but
only had the conclusion been like Rav, that Parshat Shkalim is in
Pinchas; since Shmuel's opinion is eventually proven from a braita
that explicitly refers to Parshat Shkalim as "Ki Tisa", we no longer
need that hypothesis, and the Tosefta can be read much more simply as
talking about Ki Tisa.



-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas