Rabbinical Eras: Brief Time Line

Here is a brief time line for the rabbinical eras:

Rabbinical Eras

The Man With Two WIVES

When R. Ammi and R. Assi were sitting before R. Isaac the Smith, one of them said to him: “Will the Master please tell us some legal points?” While the other said: “Will the Master please give us some homiletical instruction?” When he commenced a homiletical [haggadic] discourse he was prevented by the one, and when he commenced a legal discourse he was prevented by the other. He therefore said to them: I will tell you a parable: To what is this like? To a man who has had two wives, one young and the other old. The young one used to pluck out his white hair, whereas the old one used to pluck out his black hair. He thus finally remained bald on both sides.

The immediate predicament of R. Isaac is that he cannot teach Torah at all because one colleague plucks out his haggadic hairs while the other is plucking his halakic ones.

Morale: Learning halakah ["law"] without homiletical (haggadic) application will leave the scholar bald on both sides.