"I Babilonesi avevano un bel dire che la struttura portante delle usanze palestinesi era viziata alla base, in quanto espressione di una paralisi intellettuale imposta dall'esterno all'ebraismo palestinese in un periodo di persecuzioni. Oggi sappiamo bene che questa argomentazione del gaonato babilonese non era piu che propaganda. E il fatto che i Karaiti avessero adottato parte delle usanze palestinesi, nel quadro della loro battaglia contro l'establishment babilonese." (Bonfil 1983, p. 143) Bonfil, Robert (1983). "Tra due mondi: prospettive di ricerca sulla storia culturale degli Ebrei dell'Italia meridionale nell'alto Medioevo". Italia Judaica (in Italian). 1: 135–158.
Fenek's Rīsh Melle adopts a similar argument to Pirqoi's, but with diametrically opposed conclusions. He argued that the Eastern Church was superior to its western counterpart precisely because the former had undergone persecutions, with the result that a particular diligence in ritual observance was maintained (Gross 2017, pp. 286–292). Gross, Simcha M. (May 2017). Empire and Neighbors: Babylonian Jewish Identity in its Local and Imperial Context(pdf) (Thesis) – via ProQuest.
This reasoning extended to the accompanying craftsmen (ḥarash) and smiths (masgēr) via an argument of etymological reasoning: when the craftsmen spoke, everyone else became hereshim, silent like mutes, while when a smith would "close" (sogēr) a matter of impurity and purities, what is disallowed or permitted, no one could reopen it and assert it was clean (Gross 2017, p. 264). Gross, Simcha M. (May 2017). Empire and Neighbors: Babylonian Jewish Identity in its Local and Imperial Context(pdf) (Thesis) – via ProQuest.
"Rabbi Yehuda the son of Rabbi Shalom said: Moses asked that the Mishnah be in written form [like the Torah]. But the Holy One, blessed be He, foresaw that the nations would get to translate the Torah and would read it in Greek, and declare: 'They aren't Israel.' God said to him [Moses] 'Behold, since in the future the nations will say 'We are Israel; we are the children of the Lord,' and Israel will say 'we are the children of the Lord' the scales would appear to be balanced [between the two claims]. The Holy One, blessed be He, will say to the nations: Why do you claim you are my children? I recognize as my child only the one who possesses my secret lore (mistinn i.e. mysteries). The nations will ask: And what is Your secret lore? God will reply: It is the Mishnah." (Gross 2017, p. 277,n.61) Gross, Simcha M. (May 2017). Empire and Neighbors: Babylonian Jewish Identity in its Local and Imperial Context(pdf) (Thesis) – via ProQuest.
"The sugya discusses only whether certain methodologies are appropriate for deriving halakha le-ma'aseh when it is unknown. Deriving practical law from a conclusion which is itself already derived from Scripture or from the observation of the practices of others or by analogy to other practices is inappropriate, presumably because such rulings stand at a double remove from the authoritative source of Scripture." (Gross 2017, pp. 276–277) Gross, Simcha M. (May 2017). Empire and Neighbors: Babylonian Jewish Identity in its Local and Imperial Context(pdf) (Thesis) – via ProQuest.