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R. Johanan connected the following story with Neh.
x.
1-2 ( Ruth R. ii.
4 ): " The men of the Great Synagogue wrote a document in which they voluntarily agreed to pay heave-offerings and tithes.
This document they displayed in the hall of the Temple ; the following morning they found the divine confirmation inscribed upon it.
" Since Nehemiah himself was a member, Samuel b. Marta, a pupil of Rab, quoted a phrase used by Nehemiah in his prayer ( i. 7 ) as originating with his colleagues ( Ex.
R.
li.
; Tan., Peḳude, beginning ).
Ezra was, of course, one of the members, and, according to Neh.
viii., he was even regarded as the leader.
In one of the two versions of the interpretation of Cant.
vii.
14 ( Lev.
R. ii.
11 ), therefore, Ezra and his companions ("' Ezra wa-ḥaburato ") are mentioned, while the other version ( Cant.
R. ad loc.
) speaks merely of the " men of the Great Synagogue " ( compare the statements made above regarding the pronunciation of the Tetragram ).
In the targum to Cant.
vii.
3, in addition to " Ezra the priest " the men mentioned in Ezra ii.
2 as the leaders of the people returning from the Exile — Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Mordecai, and Bilshan — are designated as " men of the Great Synagogue.
" In the same targum ( to vi.
4 ) the leaders of the exiles are called the " sages of the Great Synagogue.

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