BOULÉ (
, plural 
and 
; Greek, βουλή = "council"):
Court of justice, or Sanhedrin; also the seat of the senate (Josephus, "B. J." v. 4, § 2; hence also 
, βουλευτής = "senator"; Giṭ. 37a; Sem. viii., "the boulés or senates of Judea"). According to Yer. Ned. iii. 2; Shab. iii. 8; Pesiḳ. R. xli.; Ab. R. N. xx. (ed. Schechter, p. 72), there were twenty-four boulés in the south of Judea, which passed out of existence on account of the general disregard of the sanctity of the oath. Compare Sanhedrin and Prosbul.
Bibliography:
- Brüll's Jahrb. i. 41;
- Levy, Neuhebr. Wörterb.;
- Jastrow, Dict. s.v.
, and 
; - Schürer, Gesch., 3d ed., ii. 211;
- Büchler, Das Synedrion in Jerusalem, p. 18 (compare pp. 57, 232 et seq.), Vienna, 1902.
