SAVORA

also spelled sabora (Aramaic: reasoner, or one who reflects), plural savoraim, or saboraim any of a group of 6th-century-AD Jewish scholars who determined the final internal form of the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli), a collection of authoritative interpretations and explanations of Jewish oral laws and religious customs. Some experts feel that certain (perhaps many) of the critical textual remarks now found in the Talmud represent the work of savoraim, though early manuscripts are lacking to confirm this opinion. Whatever the extent of their role in the history of Jewish sacred literature, the savoraim were the successors of the amoraim, the scholars who previously had interpreted and explained the codification of Jewish oral law known as the Mishna. The savoraim were followed by another group of Talmudic scholars (geonim), who developed oral law still further and adjudicated points of legal controversy. See also amora; gaon.