SYNAGOGAL RIVALRIES BETWEEN PALESTINE, ITALY AND BABYLON, DURING THE GEONIC PERIOD
By Abraham I. Schechter
It is difficult to work in a field which has been explored only by a few. But still more difficult is it to delve in a field which has been overworked to the point of exhaustion. Jewish liturgy is such a field. In spite of all valuable work already done in this department of literature, many points still remain without illumination. Hence, every effort tending to shed light on obscure spots in the Jewish liturgy must be welcome, especially where Palestinian sources are involved. For after all, Palestine is the cradle of our most ancient prayers, the land of the Aggadah, the Midrash, and the old Piyyut, where one harks back to the God-praising tunes of antiquity. Every ray of light cast on the original Palestinian ritual helps to elucidate the liturgy as a whole.
The fact that the Babylonian academies of Sura and Pumbedita became the standard authorities for Jews and Judaism throughout the world led Jewish scholars to believe that also the liturgy stood under their
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