The history of the Jews

by Gotthard Deutsch

BABYLONIA

Although in the fifth century B.C., Ezra is already mentioned as an expounder of the law, who had come from Babylon, although Hillel is said to have arrived in Palestine also from Babylon in the first century B.C. with a reputation for scholarship, and although Judah Hanasi is quoted as having said that the only man whose superiority he acknowledged was Huna, the Exilarch of Babylon, we find no distinct traces of literary activity in Babylon until the third century. At that time two men were prominent as scholars: Abba Areka, called Rab, and Samuel. Both had spent some time in Palestine, studying under Judah Hanasi. Rab was a member of the committee which assisted Judah Hanasi in the compilation of the Mishnah. Before he left Palestine, he was ordained by Judah Hanasi somewhat restrictedly, because it was a rule that the full prerogatives of the members of the Sanhedrin could not be exercised outside of the Holy Land. Probably for this reason Judah Hanasi refused to confer ordination upon Samuel. Rab taught in Sura, and Samuel in Nehardea. Both these places were for centuries the seats of prominent schools.

At this time, Rab was considered the greatest authority on ritual law, while Samuel was considered learned in civil law. Rab’s decisions are characterized by rigorous interpretation of the law, especially as to Passover. Samuel accommodated himself more to the spirit of the times. From him we have the famous decision which makes the civil law of the country binding upon the Israelites as a religious obligation. He also partly abolished those laws of the Sabbatical year which had become obsolete, such as the cancellation of debts. He also declared that the celebration of the second holydays was unnecessary. He further laid down the principle that the Messianic prophecy merely meant the political independence of the Jews, and not a change in the condition of humanity.

To the next generation (250-300) belong Nahman bar Jacob, who reformed the legal procedure by introducing an oath in cases where formerly no oath had been necessary, Huna, Hisda, Shesheth and Judah bar Ezekiel, the last of whom was the founder of the new school of Pumbeditha, subsequently the most prominent of all Babylonian schools existing until the middle of the eleventh century. The characteristics of this age were the growth of dialecticism, Pilpul, and the neglect of Biblical studies. To the succeeding generation belong Rabba bar Nahmani and Rab Joseph. The latter is known as the author or compiler of the Aramaic translation of the prophets (Targum), more a paraphrase than a translation.

In the succeeding generation we have (350-380) Abaje and Raba, whose teachings are quoted as the most pronounced type of keen dialecticism. The most important of Babylonian Amoraim is Rab Ashe (350-431) who compiled the commentaries and the discourses on the Mishnah, and so became, with his successor Rabina (died 499), the compilers of the Babylonian Talmud. The successors of these teachers are called Saboraim (reasoners). Of their chronology and work we know nothing with exactness except that they lived during the sixth and in the early part of the seventh century. They arranged the subject-matter of the Talmud, which they divided into chapters and to which they added some explanatory remarks.

CHAPTER IV
FROM THE RISE OF ISLAM (622) TO THE ERA OF THE CRUSADES (1096)

Jews had been living in Arabia long before the time of Mohammed, perhaps as early as the pre-Christian era. Their mode of life was like that of the Arabs. They were divided into tribes, and had fortified places to which they retreated in case of feuds with their Arab neighbors. Like the Arabs they had their warriors, who were at the same time poets. A famous man from the time preceding Mohammed is Samuel ibn Adijah. He is known among the Arabs as a faithful friend, because when an Arab chieftain, one of his friends, sought refuge in his fortress, he allowed his son, who was in the hands of the enemy, to be killed rather than deliver the fugitive into their hands.

Mohammed had frequent intercourse with the Jews, and received from them the first impetus to found a new religion in place of the crude worship of the old Arabs. He laid particular stress on converting the Jews to the new religion, which was to be a universal theocracy. For this purpose he adopted some of the Jewish ideas, customs, and modes of worship, the strict monotheistic idea, the fast of Yom Kippur and the turning toward Jerusalem in prayer. The Jews, however, were offended at his sensuality, and ridiculed him for his ignorance. He therefore became their enemy, and after the capture of one of their forts, killed the inhabitants who had surrendered. All other Jews were expelled from Arabia, which was to be a theocratically governed state, where only the religion of Mohammed would be tolerated.

Under Mohammed’s successors, the Caliphs, Islam rapidly spread over a great part of Asia and the theocratic principle could not be maintained. Under Omar (634-644), who conquered Jerusalem in 637, a law called the Covenant of Omar governing the treatment of non-Mohammedans was proclaimed. By this law the Jews had to pay a poll-tax, and were exempt from military service. In spite of certain disabilities, they enjoyed a relative state of freedom, and, as the literature of the period proves, greeted the rise of Islam as a relief from the oppression they had suffered in Christian countries and in Persia. They also looked upon Islam as the first step toward the realization of the Messianic kingdom. The improvement of their condition was especially manifest in Spain, which was conquered by the Mohammedans in 711.