The Council of Yavneh (also known as Jabneh, Javneh, or Jamnia) was a rabbinical council or school held around or in the wake of the c. 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem's Temple. Many scholars think that it was responsible for codifying (or helping to settle on) the list of books of the TaNaKh. The council or school also introduced the Birkat Ha Minim or "Blessing on the Heretics", which scholars generally think was directed against Christians (explicitly or implicitly).
According to the Virtual Jewish Library's article on the Birkat Ha-Minim,
Birkat ha-Minim is also distinguished from the other Amidah benedictions by the fact that it was appended after the formulation and fixing of the Amidah text. The tradition of its secondary addition at Jabneh is shared by TJ (Ber. 4:3, 8a) and TB, which attributes its formulation to Samuel ha-Katan at the explicit request of the Nasi, Rabban Gamliel (Ber. 28b).
Scholarly opinion is divided, however, with regard to the precise understanding of this process. One view holds that the tradition reflected by TB (ibid.) should be accepted literally; accordingly Birkat ha-Minim was formulated at Jabneh and added to the already existing eighteen benedictions (see Fleischer), upping the number to nineteen. Accepted in this nineteen-benediction form in the early Babylonian rite, it was subsequently transmitted from this rite to all prayer books up to the present. Others contend (see Heinemann) that Rabban Gamliel's request simply concerned the updating of an already existing benediction among the eighteen – whose content spoke out in general against separatists (see T. Ber. 3:25) – to incorporate explicit mention of the minim. This also explains why the versions of the Amidah in the Palestinian rite number only eighteen benedictions, inclusive of Birkat ha-Minim. The proponents of this view submit that the nineteen-benediction form of the Amidah in the Babylonian rite reflects a Babylonian custom of splitting the petition for the building of Jerusalem and for the coming of the Davidic messiah into two separate benedictions. In Palestine, both subjects were combined in a single benediction regarding Jerusalem.
So according to the Babylonian Talmud, there were 18 Daily Blessings until the Council of Javneh added a 19th one, the Birkat Ha-Minim.
Let me please ask a few questions about what I didn't understand when reading about it:
(Question 1) Should the "G-d of Glory" count toward the number of divine names in Psalm 29?
Jerusalem Talmud Berakoth 4:3 explains that there are 18 Daily Blessings for the 18 names of G-d in Psalm 29:
[A] And why [do they recite] eighteen [blessings]?
...
[G] Said R. Levi, “[The eighteen blessings] correspond to the eighteen invocations [of G-d’s name in Psalm 29]: ‘Ascribe to the Lord’ [T. 3:25].
[H] R. Huna said, “And if someone will say to you that there are nineteen [invocations in that psalm], tell him that the rabbis at Yavneh established a [nineteenth blessing] concerning the heretics.” [The twelfth blessing in the Daily Prayer.]
[ I ] R. Eleazar b. R. Yosé [accordingly] objected before R. Yosé, “Lo it is written, ‘The G-d of glory thunders’ [Ps. 29:3] [in the psalm there is yet another invocation of G-d’s name (El). They should have established another blessing on its account.]”
So according to the Jerusalem Talmud, there are 18 Blessings for 18 divine names in Psalm 29, but if someone should claim that there are 19 Blessings in Psalm 29, then the answer is that there are 19 Blessings because of the Birkat Ha-Minim.
Here is where the Babylonian Talmud talks about the 18 Blessings:
To what do these eighteen benedictions correspond? R. Hillel the son of Samuel b. Nahmani said: To the eighteen times that David mentioned the Divine Name in the Psalm, Ascribe unto the Lord, O ye sons of might.
...
These eighteen are really nineteen? — R. Levi said: The benediction relating to the Minim was instituted in Jabneh. To what was it meant to correspond? — R. Levi said: On the view of R. Hillel the son of R. Samuel b. Nahmani, to The G-d of Glory thundereth
So Rabbi Levi's answer is that there are really 19 Blessings due to the introduction of the Birkat Ha-Minim, corresponding to the 19th name ("The Glory of G-d") in Psalm 29.
On the other hand, Tosefta Berakhot 3:25 asserts that there are only 18 divine names in Psalm 29:
Eighteen Berachot (blessings) that the Sages have established [for the prayer of Shemoneh Esreh have been established] corresponding to eighteen mentionings [of God’s name] that are in [the chapter of Tehillim that begins with] “Ascribe to G-d, children of princes…”
(Question 2) Can you make sense of Footnotes 92, 95, and 97 in Tractate Ta'aniot 2, below?
Tractate Ta'aniot 2 addresses why there are 18 Daily Blessings this way:
Rebbi Levi said, corresponding to the eighteen Divine Names [92] written in 'Give to the Eternal, sons of the mighty.'
FOOTNOTE 92: In biblical language Azkrh is the part of a cereal sacrifice burned on the altar (Lev. 2:2). It is best explained from Accadic zekrun 'pronounced name', since the part to be burned
The Hebrew, along with the footnotes, can be found on page 59 in
Tractates Ta'aniot, Megillah, Hagigah and Mo'ed Qatan, Heinrich Guggenheimer, ed., online at:
Tractates Ta'aniot, Megillah, Hagigah and Mo'ed Qatan (Mašqin)
Why does the editor start talking about Azkrh (a memorial offering) here?
The passage continues:
Rebbi Huna said: If it were said that they are seventeen, tell him the one against sectarians the Sages fixed already at Jabneh. Rebbi Eleazar ben Rebbi Yose objected before Rebbi Yose, but is it not written 'the God of Glory thundered[95]?
Footnote 95: Psalm 29:3 This Divine name is not an askara.
So according to R. Huna, there were 17 Blessings, but then Javneh added an 18th, and it looks like R. Eleazar asked whether there should also be a 19th because of Psalm 29:3.
What is an "askara" and why doesn't this particular divine name count as one? It wasn't not used during sacrifices?
The passage continues:
He said to him: Has it not been stated: 'He takes together the one against sectarians and sinners in 'He Who subdues offenders', the one for elders and proselytes in 'Assurance to the righteous', and the one for David in 'He Who builds Jerusalem.'[96]" Then you have enough to have a <Divine Name>[97] for each one of them.
FOOTNOTES
[96] This implies that the benediction containing the curse upon apostates and sectarians (i.e. Christians) was not newly introduced at Jabneh but that it was a modification of an old benediction directed at those who wantonly transgress the commandments of the Torah. Hence, the original number of benedictions instituted by the Great Assembly was 18... Psalm 29 accommodates both the Galilean 18 benedictions based on the number of mentions of the Tetragrammaton, and the 19 of the Babylonian version, based on all invocations of the Deity in the Psalm.
[97] Added from G and [Hebrew letter Bet].
SOURCE:
Tractates Ta'aniot, Megillah, Hagigah and Mo'ed Qatan (Mašqin)
What is it talking about in Footnote 97?
