[Avodah] Gezeiros after Sanhedrin

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 04:18:38PM -0400, Zev Sero wrote:
: That can't be so, because RYBZ's beis din was in Yavneh.

Well, it was in both. 40 of his 60 years were before the churban, and
we know from how he was snuck out that by the time of the churban, he
was famous enough for centurians to respect his sanctity. It's quite
possible that the taqanah of shofar was before "tein li Yavneh".

My problem is that if we don't say something like that, how do we justify
the amoraim revisiting the gezeirah? It was simply a convenient excuse
-- one was dealing with pre-churban realities, the other not. However,
any other reason for Rabba broadening the ban on shofar on Shabbos isn't
likely to change the basic point.

To wit:
Do we have reason to believe that Rabba's gezeirah was not made by a
Sanhedrin?

As for Hillel and the end of the Sanhedrin... the end of the Sanhedrin
is often dated to Hillel because of the belief that the calendar was
among the last acts of the Sanhedrin. Yes, it's possible that it was a
false alarm, or the beginning of a decades-long end, but that's not how
Doros haRishonim (eg) puts it.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha