institution · I0005
Bnei Beteira בני בתירא
The Bnei Beteira were a group of sages who led before Hillel's elevation — modeled here as a corporate body, since the sources name no individuals. Their best-known episode concerns a forgotten law when Passover eve fell on Shabbat. After Hillel demonstrated the ruling from received learning and interpretation, they placed him at their head, an act later cited as exceptional modesty.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- בני בתירא
- Also known as
- Sons of Beteira, Sons of Bathyra
- Era
- zugot
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3720–3770 AM, near the end of the Second Temple's pre-destruction leadership
- Duration
- ≈50 years
- Precision
- approximate
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Bavli describes the Bnei Beteira as leaders of their generation who forgot whether the Paschal sacrifice overrides Shabbat when the fourteenth of Nisan falls on Shabbat.
Directly stated in the cited source. |
rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| They summoned Hillel, who had come from Babylonia and had served Shemaiah and Avtalyon, to resolve the question.
Directly stated in the cited source. |
rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| After Hillel established that slaughter of the Paschal sacrifice overrides Shabbat, the Bnei Beteira seated him at the head and appointed him leader over them.
Directly stated in the cited source. |
rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| A later Bavli passage lists the Bnei Beteira among paradigmatic modest people because they relinquished leadership to Hillel when they recognized his superiority.
The Gemara itself briefly asks whether their resignation necessarily proves humility, since Hillel had demonstrated superior knowledge.
|
rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| The traditional placement c. 3720–3770 AM, near the end of the Second Temple's pre-destruction leadership, is a schematic Mesorah Atlas reconstruction from their leadership immediately before Hillel's elevation; the cited sources do not state an absolute AM range.
The cited sources establish relative chronology or regnal duration; they do not state the absolute AM range.
|
tradition reconstruction | ★★☆☆☆ |