off-limits, or immoral" and haram "set apart, sanctuary", and the Ge?ez word ?irm "accursed".

Summary

Although developed from the biblical ban, excommunication, as employed by the rabbis during Talmudic times and during the Middle Ages, became a rabbinic institution, the object of which was to preserve Jewish solidarity. A system of laws was gradually developed by rabbis, by means of which this power was limited, so that it became

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