Page "Elisha ben Abuyah" Paragraph 16

Rabbinic Judaism was based on vigorous and often contentious debate over the meaning of the Torah and other sacred texts.

One challenge facing the rabbis was to establish the degree of heterodoxy that was acceptable in debate.

In this context, Elisha the heretic and Eleazar, who is said to have forgotten the Torah, represent two extremes in attitudes towards the Torah ; actual rabbis and their arguments had to fit somewhere between these two limits.