Ancient Israelite cuisine aside, and the loaves were baked on the heated surface. People also began placing a convex dome, initially earthenware and later metal, over the pit-oven and cooking the flatbreads on the dome instead of on the ash-covered surface; this type of oven is probably what was meant by the biblical "machabat", often translated as “griddle”. The Persians introduced a clay oven called a tanur (similar to the Indian tandoor), which had an opening at the bottom for the fire, and through which the bread was placed to be baked on the inner wall of the upper chamber from the heat
The Oven of Akhnai position or Rabbi Joshua's statement, the story in the Talmud does not overlook the fact that Rabban Gamaliel's draconian measures may have gone too far. Scholar Jeffrey Rubenstein has argued that the Oven of Akhnai focuses on the fact that the majority need to take charge over the minority, but in a way that it is fair to all. The majority needs to work off the minority to attend the needs of everyone in the community. Yet, explains Rubenstein, the midrash says there is a limit to what the majority can do. People should not aim to cause someone to