An Ancient Coded Letter Embedded in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 12a)

A Fascinating Example of A Literary Passage in the Talmud. With discussions of: “Officer” = Month; “Luz” = Producer of Techelet; “Eagle” = Roman Legion

Dec 11, 2023

A modern reconstruction of a Roman “aquila” - eagle symbol (from Wikimedia Commons)

The Passage - Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 12a

Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 12a (sections #6-8), with the message itself further indented (I omitted the framing question and answer in that sugya, which are not relevant for our purposes here):

Steinzaltz translates and explains:

[T]he Sages of Eretz Yisrael sent the following encoded message to Rava during the time of Roman persecution:
A pair of Torah scholars came from Rakkath, the biblical name for Tiberias (see Joshua 19:35), which was the seat of the Sanhedrin in Rava’s time.
They meant to reach the Diaspora community, but the pair was apprehended by the eagle, i.e., Roman soldiers, whose symbol was the eagle;
and in their possession were precious items made in Luz.
The Gemara interrupts the story to explain: And what are those items from Luz? Sky-blue dye, which is necessary for ritual fringes.
The message continued: In the merit of divine mercy and in their merit, they were spared execution and emerged in peace. Nevertheless, they did not reach their destination.
The message continued: And the offspring of Nahshon, meaning the Sages of the court of the Nasi, who was descended from the prince of Judah, Nahshon ben Amminadab (see Numbers 7:12), sought to establish an officer, i.e., they sought to add a month to the year.
But that Edomite, the local Roman governor, did not allow them to intercalate the year.
Nevertheless, the members of the assembly gathered,
and they established an officer,
in the month in which Aaron the priest died, i.e., the Sages of Eretz Yisrael convened in the month of Av, which is before Rosh HaShana, and determined that the following year should be intercalated.
The Gemara asks about the language of the coded message. From where may it be inferred that this word officer1 [netziv] is a term for the month?
As it is written: “And Solomon had twelve officers [netzivim] over all Israel, and they provided for the king and his household for a month in the year” (I Kings 4:7). This indicates that each netziv was responsible for a particular month.
Once this verse was quoted, the Gemara inquires: But isn’t it written afterward: “And one officer that was in the land” (I Kings 4:19), indicating that there were more than twelve netzivim?
Rav Yehuda and Rav Naḥman offer answers.
One says: One officer was appointed over all of the others.
And one says: The extra officer corresponded to the intercalated month. If the year had an additional month, he was responsible for the king’s provisions during that month.

The anonymous Talmud itself unpacks these symbols, specifically, the meanings of “things made in Luz” and “officer”. Seemingly, the assumption is that it was meant to be written in code, for secrecy due to Romans, and not purely to be literary.

“Officer” = Month

The anonymous Talmud makes an effort to say that although the word netziv clearly means “officer”, this is only true on a surface level. On a deeper level, in this context it is a symbol meaning month (this is crucial for the the question in the larger sugya there). Is this the correct historical explanation? Unclear.

“Luz” = Producer of Techelet

See Wikipedia English on techelet, which cites our passage, to show the following:

“The idea that it was illegal to wear tekhelet is corroborated by a Talmudic story, in which rabbis caught smuggling tekhelet were liable to the death penalty.“

And cites earlier Roman literature on how techelet (=Tyrian purple) was tightly controlled by the Romans

Luz is a legendary place in the Talmud, though it’s a real city mentioned in Tanach.

See:

לוז (עיר מקראית) – ויקיפדיה

It's explicitly mentioned elsewhere as a place where techelet is produced ("dyed"), as Rashi cites:

היא לוז שצובעין בה תכלת

What's strange is that the biblical Luz is near Bet-El in Binyamin, while techelet is produced in the North West coast, in Zebulun and Phoenicia (Lebanon).

“Eagle” = Roman Legion

The explanation that they're Roman soldiers is contra the traditional commentators (Rashi and Ramah), who say that it was Persian soldiers. On the eagle as a symbol, it's well known that the eagle was a symbol of Rome. Less well known, and relevant here, is that the aquilla was a highly important symbol of specifically a Roman legion. (BTW, this word is the etymology of the name Aquila / Onkelos). See Aquila (Roman) - Wikipedia:

An aquila ([...] lit. 'eagle') was a prominent symbol used in ancient Rome, especially as the standard of a Roman legion.

The fact that the soldiers are Roman is also strongly implied by the continuation, where Edomi is mentioned, which is one of the standard terms for Rome/Romans in the talmudic literature.

Literary / Archaic, vs. Code

Even if it's written in code, it's hard to deny that it's also literary/ archaic.

For example, הלז is a more literary way of writing הזה, and ירח is the archaic Biblical word for חודש.

A Critical Analysis

Focusing on the “letter” as a whole, from a critical perspective, there seems to be two parts:2

First 4 lines: A pair of people with techelet were captured by a Roman legion, but sucessfully went free.
Next 5 lines: Jewish leaders from the Davidic line wanted to appoint a new exilarch. A Roman leader tried preventing them from doing this,3 but the Jewish leaders were nevertheless successful.

Appendix - full text

שלחו ליה לרבא:
זוג בא מרקת,
ותפשו נשר,
ובידם דברים הנעשה בלוז
ומאי ניהו? תכלת
בזכות הרחמים ובזכותם יצאו בשלום
ועמוסי יריכי נחשון בקשו לקבוע נציב אחד,
ולא הניחן אדומי הלז,
אבל בעלי אסופות נאספו,
וקבעו לו נציב אחד,
בירח שמת בו אהרן הכהן
[...]
מאי משמע דהאי נציב לישנא דירחא הוא?
דכתיב (מלכים א ד, ז) "ולשלמה שנים עשר נציבים על כל ישראל, וכלכלו את המלך ואת (אנשיו) חדש בשנה"
והכתיב (מלכים א ד, יט) ונציב אחד [אשר] בארץ ?
רב יהודה ורב נחמן:
חד אמר: אחד ממונה על כולם
וחד אמר: כנגד חדש העיבור

Steinzaltz incorrectly translates here and later netziv as “pillar”. I corrected this. While it can mean pillar, it is clear that here is means “officer”, even according to the anonymous Talmud’s understanding. See my discussion later.

Compare also the relatively lengthy three letters (שלש איגרות) cited verbatim in Sanhedrin 11a (sections #2-5). They are written in Aramaic, and have a greeting, plus a message. According to the beraita cited, they were dictated by Raban Gamaliel in Jerusalem, and transcribed by a scribe named Yochanan (יוחנן סופר). All three start with the greeting “To our brothers, the people of X, may your peace increase (שלומכון יסגא)“. The message then all start with the formula “We are informing you that [….] (מהודעין אנחנא לכון )“.

On the related Roman opposition to ordination (semicha), on pain of death (according to the Talmud), see Sanhedrin 14a (section #1):

פעם אחת גזרה מלכות הרשעה גזירה על ישראל שכל הסומך יהרג וכל הנסמך יהרג ועיר שסומכין בה תיחרב ותחומין שסומכין בהן יעקרו

Steinzaltz translates and explains: “[A]t one time the wicked kingdom of Rome issued decrees of religious persecution against the Jewish people with the aim of abolishing the chain of ordination and the authority of the Sages. They said that anyone who ordains judges will be killed, and anyone who is ordained will be killed, and the city in which they ordain the judges will be destroyed, and the signs identifying the boundaries of the city in which they ordain judges will be uprooted. These measures were intended to discourage the Sages from performing or receiving ordination due to fear for the welfare of the local population.”