Subject: History of the Jews in Babylon
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Subject: JUICE Diaspora 3
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World Zionist Organization
Student and Academics Department
Jewish University in CyberspacE
juice@wzo.org.il birnbaum@wzo.org.il
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Course: Actors on the World's Stage: Jewish Life in the Diaspora
Lecture: 3/12
Lecturer: Rabbi Zvi Berger
To all JUICE subscribers: Shana Tova (Happy New Year) 5758
Today we're going to deal with an extremely important Diaspora community,
Babylonian Jewry. What makes this community so important not only for our
history, but also for Judaism itself? The editing of the Babylonian
Talmud. With the possible exception of the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, no
other work has had such a profound impact upon Jewish life. To this day, the
Babylonian Talmud is the most widely studied text in the yeshivot, (schools
of advanced Torah study), and no other source conveys the richness and
uniqueness of classical rabbinic culture as the Talmud does. So let's take
a look at the world we call Babylonian Jewry.
The modern day Iraqi Jewish community, (most of which made aliyah to Israel
in 1950-1952 in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah), are the contemporary
representatives of a community whose history stems back more than 2500
years! Their roots lie in the Biblical period, when the ancient Israelites
reached the Tigris and Euphrates river regions as a consequence of two
imperial conquests. With the death of King Solomon (c. 922 B.C.E.), the
united Israelite monarchy split up as a result of tribal jealousies and
power struggles. The 10 northern tribes became known as Israel, while the
two remaining southern tribes formed the kingdom of Judah. Around 722
B.C.E., the northern kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians. The
Assyrians settled northern Israel with various peoples from their empire,
who intermingled with the remaining Israelites, ultimately forming the
group known to this day as the Samaritans. More importantly for our
story, however, the Assyrians exiled much of the population of the 10
northern tribes, and these tribes were settled in various regions in
Assyria. We know very little about what happened to these tribal
populations. The Tanakh hardly speaks of the Israelite exiles, and
contemporary Assyrian records are sparse. It appears that the general
policy of forced "Assyrianization" followed by the imperial
administration led the majority of the Israelites to assimilate into the
ranks of the local population, just as other ethnic peoples conquered by
the Assyrians had done. Here lies the origin of the well known "Ten Lost
Tribes of Israel". To this day, various tribal and national populations
claim to trace their ancestry from one of these tribes, (though most of
these claims are quite suspect on a historical level). At any rate, the
ancient Israelite tribes did not succeed in maintaining their separate
national and tribal identities in Assyria. But the results of the
conquest of Judah by the Babylonians were quite different. The Babylonians
under Nebuchadnezzar had succeeded the Assyrians as the dominant
"superpower" of the Ancient Near East. In 586 B.C.E., the Babylonian armies
sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Beit Hamikdash, the holy Temple. Most
of the Judeans were exiled to Babylon, just as their Israelite brethren
had been exiled to Assyria some 140 years before them. But now the
pattern of assimilation does not repeat itself! The Judean exiles were
resettled by the banks of the Chebar River, an irrigation canal near the
city of Nippur. Most of the exiles worked in agriculture, while others
worked as skilled craftsmen and builders. The genealogical lists in Ezra
2:1-70 suggest that the extended family units maintained their sense of
identity, as did the Kohanim and the Levites. The community appears to
have taken to heart Jeremiah's practical advice (in Jeremiah 29), "Build
houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their fruit...", which I
mentioned in Lecture 1 as an example of the willingness to adjust. But
the Biblical record makes eminently clear that the adjustment to
Babylonian realities was tempered by a profound sense of loss. This was a
community in exile. The words of Psalm 137 evoke the pain and emotional
upheaval of the exiles:
"By the waters of Babylon, there we sat, sat and wept, as we remembered
Zion. There on the poplars we hung up our lyres, for our captors asked
us there for songs, our tormentors for amusement, 'Sing us one of the songs
of Zion'. How can we sing a song of the Lord on alien soil?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither, let my tongue
stick to my palate, if I cease to think of you, if I do not keep Jerusalem in
memory even at my happiest hour."
Above and beyond the sense of loss, one senses here a profound determination
to keep the national memory alive, to keep Jerusalem alive in the recesses
of the heart.
In 538 B.C.E., the Jewish people received their golden opportunity to return
to Jerusalem, in order to rebuild the holy city and its Temple. The Persian
Empire had vanquished the Babylonians, and the emperor Cyrus issued a royal
edict allowing Babylonian Jews to return to their homeland, rebuild the Beit
Hamikdash, and live in Jerusalem (under Persian rule). According to the
book of Ezra, 42,360 Jews returned to Eretz Yisrael in the days and months
following the publishing of this edict. According to historians,
approximately 10% of the Babylonian Jewish community returned to the Land
during this period, known as Shivat Zion (the Return to Zion). Do you find
this to be at all surprising?! Wouldn't one expect a mass movement of Jews
to spontaneously rise up and embrace this wonderful opportunity? Well, it
appears that also in ancient times the gap between Ideal and Reality was as
large as it often seems to be today! Judah in general, and Jerusalem in
particular lay in shambles. Hostile local peoples awaited the Judeans upon
their return to the land. And it appears that many of the Babylonian exiles
had become quite comfortable in Babylon...
The Beit Hamikdash was, in fact, rebuilt, (though it took some 20 years to
accomplish), and Jewish life began to reestablish itself in Eretz Yisrael.
But it is significant that about 90 years after Cyrus's edict, fundamental
religious reforms are instituted under the leadership of two Babylonian
Jews, Ezra and Nehemiah, who are summoned to Jerusalem with the approval and
backing of the Persian emperor himself! Ezra's claim to leadership was a
strong one, for he was not only a kohen, but also a sofer, or scribe. The
scribes were the experts in Torah law, (in retrospect we view them today as
the spiritual ancestors of the Pharisees and the rabbis). Ezra was
particularly distraught by the rampant intermarriage that had taken place
between Jewish men and local pagan women, and he led an effort to forbid
such intermarriage and force the men to divorce their gentile spouses.
Nehemiah served as a Persian court official, who is summoned to Judea to
serve as the Persian rulers as governor of the region. Under the
leadership of these two strong figures, a national assembly is called in
Jerusalem on Rosh Hashana in 445 B.C.E., during which Ezra reads the
entire Torah to the people, who tearfully accept the Torah as their
Divinely ordained "constitution"! (By the way, I hope you'll forgive me
for straying off the subject a bit, but I can't resist the temptation to
direct your attention to Nehemiah 8:10, which is apparently the
scriptural basis for the long established custom of eating apples and
honey on Rosh Hashana)! What's important about all of this for us is that
Ezra's status as a scribe shows us that Torah study apparently flourished
in Babylonia, and the fact that the emperor gives Ezra the authority to
impose reforms based on Torah law points to the official recognition of
Torah as the legal basis for Jewish communal autonomy throughout the
Babylonian dominions. Nehemiah's high position in the Persian court also
testifies to the high standing of the Jewish community in Persian Babylonia.
You may be wondering at this stage why I've gone to such great lengths to
describe the Biblical background of the Babylonian community. After all, I
began by stressing that the "golden age" of Babylonian Jewry was the period
of the editing of the Talmud and the subsequent period of the great geonim,
which of course took place long after Biblical times! But there's an
important point here, which is that the Babylonian community had a strong
sense of pride and purity of lineage, which was rooted in the community's
ancient past. The very use of the term "Babylonia" in regard to the Jewish
community of the Tigris and Euphrates region is of significance, since the
Babylonian Empire had long since been conquered by the Persians and had
vanished from the political scene. By still referring to the Jews there
as "Babylonian Jewry", the sense of historical continuity with the early
Babylonian exiles was affirmed. Moreover, if Moses was to go down in
Jewish history as the Lawgiver, it was nonetheless the Babylonian Jew
Ezra who ensured the formal acceptance and application of Torah Law by
the Jewish people. It appears that from a very early age, Babylonia
began to view itself as closely approaching the spiritual level of Eretz
Yisrael itself! In fact, as we shall soon see, in the Talmudic period
some Babylonian scholars would even go so far as to assert Babylonia's
superiority over Eretz Yisrael. This was based partially upon the supposed
superiority of Babylonian lineage. According to their tradition, the
Babylonians had refrained from intermarrying with foreign slaves and
proselytes whose conversion was suspect. It is with this in mind that we
may understand the rather shocking statement written in the Babylonian
Talmud (Kiddushin 71a):
"All countries are dough [a mixture of pure and impure lineage]
compared to the Land of Israel, and the land of Israel is dough
compared to Babylonia."
Let's move forward now to the period of the Second Temple, the Mishnah, and
the Talmud, and trace the historical developments from the perspective of
the Babylonian community.
The Second Beit Hamikdash which had been completed by the returning
Babylonian exiles in 516B.C.E. was a small and unassuming structure. During
the period of Roman rule over Israel, King Herod (who ruled the land under
Roman patronage from 37-4B.C.E.), embarked upon a massive project of
expanding and renovating the Temple structure. The result was extremely
impressive; the Beit Hamikdash truly ranked as one of the most amazing
engineering achievements of the ancient world. Just as the Temple dominated
the "skyline" of ancient Jerusalem, so did Eretz Yisrael dominate Jewish
life during this time. For not only the Temple cult, but also the
Sanhedrin, the great law court, were located in Jerusalem on the Temple
Mount, and Jews from all over the land as well as from the countries of
the Diaspora would flock to the holy city for the Three Pilgrimage
Festivals (Shalosh Regalim), of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.
Many great Babylonian scholars such as Hillel, made aliyah to Israel or
visited the Land in order to study Torah there. During this time there was
much contact between these two great centers of Jewish life, but the
spiritual superiority of Eretz Yisrael remained unquestioned. It was from
Jerusalem, for example, that the proclamation of the New Month would be
made, (based on the sighting of the New Moon), and from there the word was
sent by signals of fire to the various Jewish communities throughout the
Land, and from there through the neighboring regions all the way to
Babylonia! The Babylonian community also viewed the rulings of the
Sanhedrin as binding. And while the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E.
by the Romans during the Great Revolt was a painful blow, the Sanhedrin
reestablished itself in the town of Yavneh, and Jewish spiritual life
continued to flourish in Eretz Yisrael.
The tide began to turn in the second half of the 2nd Century C.E., when a
large influx of Torah scholars reached Babylonia from Eretz Yisrael. This
was a direct development of the devastation and decline following the
failure of another Jewish revolt against Rome in 132-135C.E., known as the
Bar Kochba revolt. Hundreds of thousands of Jews lost their lives in this
struggle, Jewish economic life was devastated, Yavneh was destroyed, Jews
were forbidden from entering the holy city of Jerusalem (except for once a
year on Tisha b'Av, when they were allowed to mourn the loss of their
Temple), and the Sanhedrin began a series of travels through various Jewish
communities in the Galilee. The Galilee had never been the center of Jewish
scholarship in Israel, and while the Torah shb'al peh, (the Oral Tradition)
continued to develop, culminating in the editing of the Mishnah in 200
C.E. by Rabbi Judah the Prince, many scholars nonetheless preferred to
leave Israel for the greener pastures of the Torah academies of
Babylonia. Economic factors certainly contributed as well to the
movement to Babylonia.
The turning point came with the return to Babylonia in 219 C.E. of a rabbi
named Abba Aricha, who became known as Rav. Rav had spent a long period
studying in Eretz Yisrael, and brought with him a thorough knowledge of the
Mishnah which had recently been completed there. Rather than attach himself
to one of the established academies, Rav went to the city of Sura, which
boasted a large Jewish population but had no major center for Torah study.
The Sura academy attracted scholars from all over Babylonia, and it soon
became a spiritual center for the entire community. A little later on,
another large academy was established by a scholar named Samuel, in the town
of Nehardea. A particularly well known ruling of Samuel's had major
implications for Jewish life in the Diaspora. In regard to the laws of the
non-Jewish ruling authority, Samuel stated categorically, "dina d'malchuta
dina", "the law of the land is law". This was not meant to apply where
ceremonial matters were concerned, nor did it apply concerning matters
within the province of the Jewish community alone. But civil laws must
be obeyed, otherwise the very foundation for Jewish existence as a
minority in host societies would be undermined. The two academies
established by Rav and Samuel quickly became the focus of Jewish
religious life in Babylonia, with some communities accepting Sura's
Halakhic rulings, while others followed those of Nehardea.
(The Nehardea academy was reestablished in the town of Pumbedita in the year
259, after Nehardea was sacked by the Palmyrans). The discussions
concerning the interpretation of the Mishnah which take place over the years
in these two great yeshivot, will became the basis for the compilation of
the Babylonian Talmud around the year 500.
It is in documents dating from the second century that we also begin to find
references to the Resh Galuta, the Exilarch. The Exilarch was an officially
recognized royal official, who served as the head of the Jewish community.
He stemmed from the house of David, thus providing a clear connection to the
longlost days of Jewish sovereignty and independence. The Exilarchate was a
powerful institution, combing legislative, executive, and even judicial
functions. Some of the exilarchs, such as Mar Ukva, were highly regarded
Torah scholars, others had little Halakhic background and expertise. As the
power of the scholars of Sura and Pumbedita increased, so did the potential
for conflict with the exilarch, particularly if an exilarch ignorant of the
intricacies of Torah law got too involved in judicial matters. But by and
large, the office of the exilarch carried with it great prestige in the
Babylonian Jewish community. Try to imagine the coronation ceremony of a
new exilarch. We are in a large synagogue in Baghdad. It is Shabbat, and a
procession has set out from the home of one of the VIP's of the Jewish
community. They proceed towards the synagogue, where the congregation
awaits them excitedly. A choir is concealed in a wooden tower, the exilarch
enters the synagogue and conceals himself in the same wooden tower. When
the service for the reading of the Torah begins, the Exilarch emerges from
his hiding place in the middle of the tower...
"And when they see him, all the people rise to their feet until he
takes his seat on the tower...and the head of the Sura yeshiva emerges
behind him and takes his seat on the tower after making a deep obeisance before
him, which he returns. And after that the head of the Pumbedita yeshiva
comes forth and also bows before him and takes his seat on his left. And
meanwhile all the people stand erect until the three of them are settled in
their places."
The Exilarch served as a majestic figure for Babylonian Jewry. He served an
important psychological function. He was the closest we had to a king, and
he was in fact "royal' in many ways; his Davidic lineage, his royal robes,
the grandeur of his court, etc. One exilarch, in fact, even served as an
actual Jewish king for a brief period! Towards the end of the 5th Century
C.E., a period of religious intolerance and persecution spread through the
Parthian Empire. The great academies were closed, and some teachers were
executed. At this time, the Exilarch, Mar Zutra, led a revolt which
succeeded in creating a small independent Jewish kingdom in Babylonia which
held out for seven years, until he was defeated and publicly executed.
Most of the time, however, the Exilarch was content to remain in his
communal role, with its symbolic trappings of royal authority. The
symbolic or "psychological" importance of the Exilarch as a royal figure
for a subjected people became particularly important for Babylonian Jewry
after the Muslim conquest of the Parthian Empire. For now Jews were
living as a tolerated, but second-class people, under the shadows of a
powerful and triumphant religion, Islam, which was monotheistic and bore
important similarities to Judaism. But the importance of the Exilarch
was certainly not confined to the symbolic grandeur of his position. For
the exilarchs often used their access to the corridors of power to
intercede for the Jewish community with the authorities.
Let's return to the great yeshivot now in order to trace the development of
the Talmud. The yeshiva was a bit different than most schools you might be
used to.
There were no formal entrance requirements, nor were there were formal
classes per se! The Rosh Yeshiva, the head of the academy would begin the
discussion by quoting a particular passage from the Mishnah. He would then
add other relevant statements made by various Tannaim (sages of the period
up to the editing of the Mishnah), and Amoraim (sages since the period of
the Mishnah), and attempts would be made by the scholars to apply the law or
point of discussion to particular situations. Discussions were free flowing
and associative in nature, often leading to issues far removed from the
starting point. For example, if the words of a particular Tanna were brought
concerning the legal matter being discussed, many times the scholars would
seize the opportunity to recite other rulings or statements made by the
same Tanna, which of course would steer the conversation to a totally
different direction!
By the 5th Century, it became clear that it was impossible to
retain all of the important discussions which had taken place, and that if
they were not edited and written down, they would be lost to future
generations. Rav Ashi, the head of the academy at Sura, took it upon
himself to edit the vast body of material. The process took about 80 years,
continuing on after Rav Ashi's death. The result was the Babylonian Talmud,
organized as a commentary on the Mishnah, including the Mishnah itself,
and the Gemara, the interpretations of Babylonian amoraim as well as
other amoraim from Eretz Yisrael. It is written partially in Hebrew, but
primarily in Aramaic, a Semitic language similar to Hebrew which had for
hundreds of years been the lingua franca of the Ancient Near East. The
Talmud includes both halakhah (Jewish Law) as well as aggadah (legend).
But if you're looking for a systematic introduction to Jewish thought and
practice, boy have you gone to the wrong place!! The same type of
associative thinking mentioned earlier in regard to the learning in the
academies reflects itself in the Talmud, which is designed to accurately
render the debates and free flowing discussions which characterized those
academies. As a result of the complicated legal reasoning, the frequent
changes in subject, the difficulties in understanding Aramaic
terminology, and the total lack of any punctuation marks, Talmud study is
very challenging! To add to the fun, hundreds of different amoraim are
quoted in the Talmud, and often amoraim who lived in totally different
periods are described as if they are debating with each other! Yet there
is no problem here, because as the Jewish tradition says, "There is no
early days or later days in the world of Torah...". It is no coincidence
that Talmud forms the crux of the curriculum in yeshivot to this day, and
that it is also a required subject for young aspiring Israeli law students!
The creativity of the Babylonian Jewish community continued long after the
editing of the Talmud was completed. In the period of the geonim (lit.
masters" or "wise ones", the term refers to the leaders of Sura and
Pumbedita after the completion of the Talmud), we no longer hear of hundreds
of distinguished sages, but the geonim themselves are great Torah scholars
whose impact upon Judaism in their day and also in subsequent generations
was profound! During this time, Jews from all over the world would send
difficult Halakhic questions to the geonim, who would send back their
responses. The literature which resulted is known as the Responsa. Though
the geonim and the great Babylonian academies no longer exist, Responsa
literature is still being written to this very day. It is the primary means
of adapting and applying Jewish Law to everchanging societal and
technological realities. But back to Babylonia! In the year 857, a
letter was sent from a small Jewish community in Spain to the newly
appointed Rav Amram Gaon, head of the yeshiva of Sura. The question in
the letter concerned the proper order of the prayers. Rav Amram sent
back a detailed answer, including the siddur (lit. "order") of the
prayers to be said for regular days, Shabbat, and on the holidays. What
we're talking about here, folks, is the creation of the first siddur, that
is, the Jewish prayer book, which was first written down in a comprehensive
and organized manner as a Responsum to this Spanish community!
Well. I think it's just about time to wrap this one up, as I can almost see
your eyelids beginning to droop. There was a lot of material to condense in
this lecture; I hope it was reasonably clear. Let me sum up that the golden
Age of Babylonian Jewry lasted until about the year 1000. The major factors
contributing to the decline of the community were external, that is,
economic decline and political fragmentalization of the Islamic Empire led
many Jews to search for a more hospitable environment to live. But the
Babylonian Jewish community continued to exist even into the 20th Century.
With the aliyah to Israel of almost the entire Iraqi Jewish community in the
early 1950's the saga of this proud and vibrant Diaspora community came to
an end.
Next week it's on to Spain. In the meantime, I'd like to wish you all a
Shana Tova (Happy New Year)!
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