According to Jewish tradition, the Great Assembly (, also translated as Great Synagogue or Synod) was an assembly of possibly 120 scribes, sages, and prophets, which existed from the early Second Temple period (around 516 BCE) to the early Hellenistic period (which began in the region with Alexander's conquest in 332 BCE), roughly coinciding with the Persian hegemony over the nation of Israel. The assembly's members, known as Anshei Knesset HaGedolah (, the "Men of the Great Assembly"), traditionally included such figures as Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, Mordechai and Zerubbabel.Maimonides' Introduction to his Mishnah Commentary (ed. Nehemiah Shmuel Rot), Jerusalem 2005, p. 59 (Hebrew)
Among the developments in Judaism that are attributed to the sages of this period are the fixing of the Jewish biblical canon (including the Book of Ezekiel, Daniel, Esther, and the Twelve Minor Prophets); the introduction of the Feast of Purim; and the institution of many prayers and rituals including the Amidah prayer.
Membership Role of prophets The members of the Great Assembly are designated in the Mishnah as those who occupied a place in the chain of tradition between the Prophets and the tannaim: The Prophets transmitted the Torah to the men of the Great Assembly. … Simon the Just was one of those who survived the Great Assembly, and Antigonus of Sokho received the Torah from him.Pirkei Avot 1:1 et seq.
The first part of this statement is paraphrased as follows in Avot of Rabbi Natan: Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi received from the Prophets; and the men of the Great Assembly received from Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.Avot of Rabbi Natan 1
Number of members According to R. Johanan (3rd century), the Amidah prayer was established by the "men of the Great Assembly".Berakhot 33a; Jerusalem Talmud, Berakhot 2:4 (17a) Similarly, R. Jeremiah (4th century) attributed the establishment of the Amidah to "120 elders, including about 80 prophets".Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 2:4 (17a) These 120 elders are undoubtedly identical with the men of the Great Assembly. The number given of the prophets must, however, be corrected according to Megillah 17b, where the source of R. Jeremiah's statement is found: "R. Johanan said, and some say it was taught in a baraita, that 120 elders, including several prophets, instituted the Shemoneh Esreh."Megillah 17b Thus, prophets formed a minority in the Great Assembly. According to the Babylonian Talmud, the date of Purim was fixed by the men of the Great Assembly,Megillah 2a while the Jerusalem Talmud speaks of "85 elders, among them about 30 prophets" enacting the holiday.Yerushalmi Megillah 1:5 70d; Ruth Rabbah 2:4 These divergent statements may be reconciled by reading in the one passage, "beside them" instead of "among them" in the Jerusalem Talmud; "30" instead of "80" prophets in R. Jeremiah's teaching.See Krochmal, "Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman," p. 97
The number 85 is taken from , but the origin of the entire number (120) is unknown. It was undoubtedly assumed that the company of those mentioned in Nehemiah 10 was increased to 120 by the prophets who took part in the sealing of the covenant, this view, which is confirmed by Nehemiah 7:7,14, being based on the hypothesis that other prophets besides Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were then preaching in Israel. These passages indicate that this assembly was believed to be the one described in Nehemiah 9–10, and other statements regarding it prove that the Amoraim accepted this identification as a matter of course. According to Yoel Bin Nun, a total of 120 names are recorded among those returning to Judea with Zerubbabel (), another 120 in , and another 120 in , suggesting that throughout this period some kind of forum with 120 members was used to represent the people.אנשי כנסת הגדולה הם חותמי האמנה במעמד עזרא ונחמיה
Time period Numerous sources in rabbinic literature indicate that the Great Assembly existed in the generation of Ezra and Nehemiah.Similarly, Maimonides (introduction to Mishneh Torah) describes the Great Assembly as a rabbinic court established by Ezra These include: Rabbi Joshua ben Levi derived the term "Great Assembly" from Ezra's choice of words in .Yoma 69b [with other authorities]; Yerushalmi Berachot 11c and Megillah 74c; Midrash Tehillim on Psalms 19; see also Berachot 33b Various sources specify Nehemiah 9:5,Tanhuma Shemot 1, in the name of Abin 9:6,Genesis Rabbah 6; text: (בראשית א) ויתן אותם אלהים ברקיע השמים רבי פנחס בשם רבי אבהו אמר מקרא מלא הוא ואנשי כנסת הגדולה פירשו אותו (נחמיה ט) אתה הוא ה' לבדך אתה עשית את השמים שמי השמים וכל צבאם וגו' היכן הוא כל צבאם נתונים ברקיע שהוא למעלה מן השמים 9:7,Yerushalmi Berachot 3a; Genesis Rabbah 46, 78; text: "Did not the men of the Great Assembly call Abraham 'Abram'?" (referring to Nehemiah 9:7) and 9:18Exodus Rabbah 41, beginning; Tanhuma Ki Tissa 14 as being spoken by the Great Assembly, while in the Bible these verses refer to a ceremony led by Ezra. Nehemiah was considered to have been a member of the Great Assembly.Ruth Rabbah 4:5 (to 2:4); text:שמעון בר אבא בשם ר' יוחנן אמר: כיון שגלו נפטרו, והם חייבו עצמן מאליהן. מה עשו אנשי כנסת הגדולה? כתבו ספר ושטחוהו בעזרה, ובשחרית עמדו ומצאוהו חתום. הדא הוא דכתיב: (נחמיה י') ובכל זאת אנחנו כורתים אמנה וכותבים ועל החתום. Since Nehemiah himself was a member, Samuel b. Marta, a pupil of Rav, quoted a phrase used by Nehemiah in his prayer (1:7) as originating with his colleagues.Exodus Rabbah 41; Tanhuma Pekudei, beginning Ezra was one of the members, and, according to Nehemiah 8, he was even regarded as the leader. In the midrash to , one version mentions Ezra and his companions ("Ezra vahaburato"),Leviticus Rabbah 2:11 while the other version mentions "men of the Great Assembly".Shir haShirim Rabbah 7:14 In the targum to Song of Songs, the leaders of the exiles (Ezra, etc.) are described as "men" or "sages" of the Great Assembly.; In one textual version of Genesis Rabbah 71:3, the returning exiles mentioned in are dubbed "the men of the Great Assembly". In Esther Rabbah 3:7, the congregation of the tribes mentioned in is apparently termed "men of the Great Assembly." This is due to a corruption of the text, according to Luria's emendation this phrase must be read with the preceding words "Ezra and the men of the Great Assembly"; so that the phrase corresponds to the "benei ha-golah" of Ezra 10:16. Zechariah lived in approximately 516 BCESee , referring to 70 years since the destruction a few decades before Ezra's flourishing. Ezra uttered the Tetragrammaton.Yerushalmi Megillah 3, end; Yoma 69b Elsewhere, Abba bar Kahana states that "Two generations used the Tetragrammaton: the men of the Great Assembly and the generation of the shemad" (the persecution of Hadrian and the Bar Kochba revolt).Midrash Tehillim on Psalm 36, end
The last statement suggests that the Great Assembly lasted only for a single generation—the generation of Ezra. It appears from all these passages in traditional literature that the idea of the Great Assembly was based on the narrative in Nehemiah 8–10, and that its members were the leaders of Israel who had returned from exile and reestablished the Jewish community in Israel. According to the rabbinic chronology, the period of Persian rule lasted just 34 years, at the beginning of the period of the Second Temple,Seder Olam Rabbah 30 [ed. Ratner], p. 141; Avodah Zarah 86 therefore Abba bar Kahana speaks of a single "generation of the men of the Great Assembly".
Modern chroniclers put the period of Persian rule at c. 190 years, spanning several generations (see Missing years (Jewish calendar)).Based on the regnal years of successive Persian kings brought down by Herodotus, by Manetho, and by Ptolemy in his Canon of Kings, viz. Darius I (36 years) → Xerxes (Artaxerxes), the Great, b. Darius (21 years) → Artabanus (7 months) → Artaxerxes (Cyrus) b. Xerxes the Great (41 years) → Xerxes (2 months) → Sogdianus (7 months) → Darius, the son of Xerxes (19 years) → Artaxerxes II Mnemon (46 years) → Artaxerxes III Ochus (21 years) → Artaxerxes IV Arses (2 years) → Darius III Codomannus (6 years; at the end of his 4th year Alexander the Great usurped authority over the Persian empire's hold of Syria).. There, they conclude that this same period spanned from the first year of Darius I, in 522 BCE, to the 6th-year of Alexander the Great, in 331 BCE, a time-span of 191 years. As the last prophets were still active during this time, they also were included. Rabbinic chronology also held that prophecy ceased with the conquest of Alexander the Great.Seder 'Olam Rabbah 30; compare Sanhedrin 11a; the view is attested as early as Josephus ("Contra Apionem" 1, § 8) In view of these facts, it was natural that the Great Assembly should be regarded as the connecting-link in the chain of tradition between the Prophets and the sages. It may easily be seen, therefore, why Simeon the Just should be termed a survivor of the Great Assembly,Pirkei Avot 1:2 for, according to rabbinic tradition, it was he who met Alexander.See Yoma 69a; Megillat Ta'anit
The term "Great Assembly" (knesset hagedolah) primarily referred to the assembly of Nehemiah 9–10, which convened principally for religious purposes—fasting, reading of the Torah, confession of sins, and prayer.Nehemiah 9:1 et seq. Since every gathering for religious purposes was called knesset,Hence beit ha-knesset = "the synagogue"; compare the verb kenos () this term was applied also to the assembly in question; as it was an assembly of special importance it was designated more specifically as the "Great Assembly". For similar reasons, another important religious gathering in this period was known as the kehillah gedolah ("great gathering").
Rulings In addition to fixing the ritual observances for the first two quarters of the day, the Great Assembly engaged in legislative proceedings, making laws as summarized in the Book of Nehemiah.
As certain institutions assumed to have been established in the early Second Temple period were ascribed to Ezra, so others of them were ascribed to the "men of the Great Assembly". There is no difference between the two classes of institutions so far as origin is concerned. In some cases Ezra (the great scribe and the leader of the Great Assembly) is mentioned as the author, in others the entire Great Assembly mentioned; in all cases the Assembly with Ezra at its head must be thought of as the real authors. In traditional literature, however, a distinction was generally drawn between the institutions of Ezra and those of the men of the Great Assembly, so that they figured separately. But it is not surprising, after what has been said above, that in the TanhumaTanhuma, Beshallach 16, on Exodus 15:7 the "Tikkunei Soferim" (called also "Tikkunei Ezra""Okhla we-Okhla," No. 168) should be ascribed to the men of the Great Assembly, since the author of the passage in question identified the Soferim (i.e., Ezra and his successors) with them.
The following rulings were ascribed to the men of the Great Assembly: