The Assembly at Usha and the Restoration of the Sanhedrin

Hadrian died, the decrees were lifted, and it turned out that only a handful of the great generation remained. The five students of Rabbi Akiva, ordained at the cost of Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava's life, sent word: whoever has learned, let him come and teach; whoever has not, let him come and learn. The meeting place was Usha in the Lower Galilee.

The midrash lists those who came by name: Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Nechemiah, Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yose, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and others. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, son of the executed leader, became nasi — and so the line of Hillel was restored as well.

At Usha the Sanhedrin functioned again as a supreme court. Its enactments dealt with the most domestic matters: a father must support his minor children; one who gives away his property must retain enough to live on; one should not give away more than a fifth to charity, lest he become dependent himself; and a wife who sells nichsei melog property during her husband's lifetime does not deprive him of its usufruct (Ketubot 78b). These are the laws of people who had seen ruined families and knew the price of bread.

Usha was one stop on a long road. The Talmud lists the Sanhedrin's migrations: from the Chamber of Hewn Stone to the Temple Mount shops, then Jerusalem, Yavneh, Usha, Shefaram, Beit Shearim, Tzipori and finally Tiberias. And it adds: from there they are destined to be redeemed.