Authority Auto da 1*6
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
measure or institution was ascribed to him, or to him and his bet din (R. H. ii. 5-9, iv. 1-4; Yeb. 77a, and
Authority
elsewhere). At any rate, the Nasi, or patriarch, announced the decision,
of Presiproclaimed the New Moon, and repdent or resented on all official occasions the Patriarch, whole rabbinical body as its highest authority. The power of investing others with Rabbinical Authority was therefore presumably his exclusive privilege. It is known that from the beginning of the third century before the common era, rabbinical authorization by the patriarch consisted in the bestowal of authority and power ("reshut") to teach, to judge, and to grant
regarding "the forbidden first-born " (" yore yore, yadin yadin, yattir bekorot," Sanh. 5«). But it is obvious that this is no longer the original form of rabbinical authorization. Par more significant and expressive of the idea of Rabbinical Authority are the words used by Jesus when ordaining Peter as chief apostle, or his disciples as his successors, and undoubtedly taken from pharisaic usage: "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be This loosed in heaven" (Matt. xvi. 19, xviii. 18). corresponds exactly with what Joseph us, or rather his source, tells of the Pharisees in the time of Queen Alexandra: "They were the real administrators of the public affairs; they removed and readmitted whom they pleased they bound and loosed [things] The terms at their pleasure" ("B. J." i. 5, § 2). " bind " and " loose " (" asar we-hittir "), employed by the Rabbis in their legal terminology, point indeed to a sort of supernatural power claimed by the Pharisees for their prohibitory or permissory decrees, probably because they could place both men and See Binding things under the ban, or "herem." and Loosing. permission
among animals
But
there are other expressions which were prein the old formula of rabbinical ordi-
sumably used
"Elijah," says Johanan ben Zakkai ('Eduy. "does not come to declare as clean or unThis was clean and to separate or bring nigh." indeed a very important function at the time when the Levitical laws of purity and the questions of family or purity of blood ruled the entire social life Here the authority of the Pharisees of the Jews. made and unmade men and homes and it is to this that Josephus (I.e.) possibly refers in saying, "They removed and readmitted whom they pleased." When with the Bar Kokba war the solemn act of ordination ceased, Rabbinical Authority changed its character also, inasmuch as the continuity of tradiHence tion was no longer its basis and safeguard. nation.
viii. 7),
the greater learning became the chief source of Thus, for instance, Rab's authority was authority. decisive in ritualistic questions and Samuel's in legal From Abaye and Raba onward the lattermatters. day authorities were regarded as of greater weight
than the earlier ones, because they could weigh all In the Middle Ages this attitude sides better. changed, from lack of self-confidence, and the respect for the former generation, which amounted to blind adoration,
grew greatly
(see
Aharonim).
In fact,
338
the great lack of a central binical Authority
was
felt
body representing Rabmore and more, and the
attempts of Jacob Berab to reintroduce the ordinaSee Semikah. tion, or Semikah, failed. Thus Rabbinical Authority was transferred from the personality of the teachers to the codes of law, until finally the Shulhan 'Aruk became its embodiment, while Jewish synods in various countries provided for temporary emergencies. Singularly enough, the abolition of the power of excommunica-
under the influence of modern times and through the interference of the worldly government, marks the beginning of the decline of Rabbinical Authority in occidental Judaism; while the derogation of the Shulhan 'Aruk in the modern life of the Jew practically hastened the process, and led to the convocation of rabbinical conferences, synods and like measures. See Synods; Conferences, Rabbinical Rabbinism Reform Halakah Ordination; Codification of Law; Karaism. tion,
Bibliography: Hamburger, B. B. T. ii., s. v. Ordination, Babbinismus, Synedrum, and Binden und LOsen.
K. Portuguese form of the Spanish "auto de fe" (in French, "acte de foi," from the Latin "actus fidei"), the solemn proclamation and subsequent execution of a judgment rendered by the Court of the Inquisition on "reos, " or persons con-
AUTO DA F33
demned by
though in the ordinary acceptance of it the term it is applied to the carrying out of the sentence only. The expression is also erroneously, or perhaps metaphorically, applied to the burning of books (the Talmud, etc.) in the early Middle Ages. The solemn proclamation was ordinarily made in a church and on the first Sunday in Advent; because
on that day the lection from the Gospel (Luke xxi.) Some authorities held deals with the last j udgment. that such sentences should not be publicly read in a church because of the death-penalty connected with many of them. Where this view was held, as in Spain, some public place in the city was chosen where a large estrade was erected so that a great concourse of people could gather and witness the ceremony; "for," says Nicolas Eymeric ("Manuel des Inquisiteurs, " p. 143), " it is a sight which fills the spectators with terror and is an awful picture of the last judgment. Such fear and such sentiments ought to be inspired, and are fraught with the greatest advantages."
Some time previous to the auto a formal proclamawas made before the public buildings and in the
tion
public squares of the city, which proclamation, in the case of the auto held at Madrid in 1680, was worded as follows " The inhabitants of the town of Madrid are hereby informed that the Holy Office of the Inquisition of the city and kingdom of Toledo will celebrate a general Auto da Fe on Sunday, the 30th of June of the present year, and that all those who shall in any way contribute to the promotion of or be present at the said auto will be made partakers of all the spiritual graces granted by the
Roman
Pontiff."
There were various kinds of autos: the "Auto Publico General," which was surrounded with much
pomp and was
held in the presence of
all
the magis-
trates of the city, often in celebration of the birth
