History of the Jews, Vol. 2 (of 6)

The Princes of the Captivity were descendants of the house of David, for which reason the people gladly acknowledged their sway, since it honored itself and felt honored in its princes. An old chronicle gives the full details of their names and numbers. They traced back their descent as far as Zerubbabel, the grandson of the Jewish King Jojachin, who is supposed to have returned to Babel, and to have become the ancestor of a long line of descendants. It is not until the second century that a Resh-Galutha, by name Achiya, is visible through the deep obscurity of antiquity. Another, Mar-Huna, in the time of Judah I, commanded that his body should be brought to Palestine, in order to be buried in holy ground. From that time forward, however, the succession of the Princes of the Captivity can be traced in an unbroken chain till the eleventh century. They exercised considerable influence upon the development of Jewish history in Babylonia. Their relations with the people are indicated in a few occasional passages only.

The Resh-Galutha was the supreme judge of the Jewish communities, both in civil and in criminal cases; he either administered justice in person, or delegated his office to judges of his own nomination. The ordinary coercive measure employed in cases of disobedience was the bastinado, according to Eastern custom. The princes were also entrusted with the police of the cities, the control of weights and measures, the inspection of canals, and the guardianship of public safety, to all of which various charges they appointed their own officers. It is nowhere indicated what revenues the Princes of the Captivity derived from the people; it is most probable that the primitive Asiatic custom of making presents to the sovereign obtained. It is not until later times that mention is made of regular yearly revenues drawn by them from certain regions and cities. They enjoyed an honorable public distinction which was only conferred upon such rulers as were descended from David; this consisted of having the scrolls of the Law brought to them when they had to read a portion of the Torah aloud, whereas every one else was obliged to go to the scrolls. Wealthy by reason of the income accruing from their extensive lands, they also possessed many slaves and a numerous suite of attendants; even free men placed themselves under their patronage, wearing, as sign of their fealty, the arms of their masters on their garments. The Princes of the Captivity were most sensitive with regard to these distinctive marks, refusing to pardon even the scholars whom they themselves supported, if they laid aside or even only covered over these badges. There was too much power in the hands of the Prince, and this power was too little restrained or regulated by law or tradition, for cases of arbitrariness and abuse of authority not to be forthcoming. Numerous complaints were made of the arrogance, arbitrary encroachments, or violent deeds of many of the Princes of the Captivity or their servants; they deposed the principals of the schools, appointing others in their places who were often without merit. But what power has ever restrained itself within the bounds of justice and equity? In prehistoric times, that is to say, before the knowledge of the Law had been carried to Babylonia and there domesticated, the ignorance of the Princes of the Captivity in matters of religious practice appears to have been so profound, that it was possible to transgress the laws relating to food in their house with the greatest impunity. But history tells also of meritorious persons among their numbers, who in later times combined a knowledge of the Jewish law with the possession of Jewish virtues, and whose names became a source of glory to the nation. The Princes of the Captivity often united with their political power the authority of teachers of the Law, equaling in this respect the Palestinean Patriarchs. As certain of these latter attempted to acquire political influence, in order not to be inferior to the Resh-Galutha – in which attempt, however, they were not always successful – many of the Princes of the Captivity endeavored in turn to obtain the dignity of teacher. All these various circumstances, the great number of the Jewish population of Babylonia, their independence, and the concentrated power of the Princes, stamp the history of the Jews of this region with a peculiar character; new needs arose in this country which were unknown in Judæa; new needs produced new regulations and Halachas, and thus the Law entered upon a new development in which, as already intimated, Babylon played the most important part.

During the patriarchate of Judah I, the young students of Babylon had crowded in greater numbers than in former times to the academies of Galilee, as if desirous of catching the last rays of the setting sun of religion in the mother-country, in order to enlighten therewith the land of their birth. Chiya of Cafri and his two wonderful sons, his relatives Abba-Areka and Chanina-bar-Chama, Abba and his son Samuel, were all celebrated disciples of Judah's school; they were either directly or indirectly the instructors of Babylonia. It is true that Chiya and his sons, Judah and Chiskia, did not return to their native country, but died in Galilee, where they were honored as saints; but Chiya exercised the greatest influence on the education of his disciple and nephew, Abba-Areka. Before the return to Babylonia of Abba-Areka and Samuel from the academy of Judah I in Judæa, an otherwise unknown person, Shila by name, occupied the post of principal of the school (Resh-Sidra) in Nahardea. But with the appearance of these two men, who were endowed with all the qualities requisite in order to become the founders of new schools, extensive alterations were introduced; they initiated a new departure, and raised Babylonia to the level of Judæa.

Abba (born about 175, died 247), who is known in history by the name of Rab, had completed his education, after the death of his father Aibu, at the academy of Judah I in Tiberias. Great astonishment was expressed at the early development of the wonderful talents of this youth. Through Chiya's intercession, Rab obtained a somewhat restricted advancement, which the Patriarch Gamaliel III afterwards refused to extend. Great things were expected of him in his home, and when the news of his return from Palestine was known, Samuel, who had already returned, and his friend Karna, went to meet him on the bank of the Euphrates canal. The latter overwhelmed him with questions, and even Shila, the principal of the school, bowed to his superior knowledge. After Shila's death Rab ought to have succeeded him in his office, but he refused the post in favor of his younger friend, Samuel, whose home was in Nahardea.

The Prince of the Captivity of that period seems to have shown special regard for such Babylonians as were learned in the Law, in his appointments to the offices within his gift. He nominated as supreme judge in Cafri one of his relations, Mar-Ukba, whose wealth, modesty, character, and knowledge of the Law well fitted him for this post. He also appointed Karna as judge, who, not being rich, was obliged to be indemnified for his loss of time by the suitors. To Abba-Areka was given the post of inspector of markets (Agora-nomos), carrying with it the control of the weights and measures.

The arbitrariness of the rule of the Exilarch is well illustrated by the following example. Abba-Areka had been commanded to control the prices of the market, and to prevent the necessaries of life from becoming too dear. Having refused to obey this order, he was thrown into prison and kept there until Karna upbraided the Prince of the Captivity with thus punishing a man who was full of the "juice of dates" (genius). Abba-Areka had occasion, by reason of his position as Agoranomos, to journey to the various districts of Jewish Babylonia, and he thus became known throughout the country. Artabanus IV (211–226), the last Parthian monarch of the house of Arsaces, who had probably made his acquaintance on one of his circuits, esteemed him so highly that he once sent him a present of some valuable pearls. Between the last Parthian King and the first Babylonian Amora there existed the same friendly relations as between the Jewish Patriarch and the Roman Emperor of his time. Artabanus was afterwards deposed by Ardashir, and with him ended the dynasty of Arsaces. When Rab heard of the fall of Artabanus, he exclaimed sorrowfully, "The bond is broken."

Abba discovered with surprise during his journeys the unbounded ignorance of the Jewish laws into which those communities remote from the capital had fallen. In one place nothing was known of the traditional prohibition forbidding meat to be eaten with milk. In order to repress these transgressions and to remove this ignorance, Rab extended many laws, and forbade even what was otherwise allowed. In this way there arose many restrictions which, owing to his authority, acquired the force of law. The negligence existing throughout the district of Sora gave him the idea of founding an academy in that very place, in order that the knowledge of the Law might become more widely spread through the passage to and fro of the disciples. His efforts were crowned with complete success. If the development of the Law has greatly contributed to the preservation of Judaism, this result is for the most part due to the labors of Abba-Areka. With but few intermissions, Sora was the seat of Jewish science for nearly eight centuries.

The academy, which bore, as was customary, the name of "Sidra," was opened by Abba about the year 219. Twelve hundred disciples, attracted by Abba-Areka's reputation, flocked together from every district of Babylonia. More than a hundred celebrated disciples and associates afterwards disseminated his maxims and decisions throughout the land. The throng of auditors was so great that he was obliged to enlarge his lecture-room by enclosing a garden belonging to a recently deceased proselyte, which he acquired for this purpose as vacant ground. The reverence entertained for him by his disciples was so profound that they called him simply "Rab," the Teacher, in the same way as the Patriarch Judah was called Rabbi or Rabbenu, and this is the appellation by which he is generally known. His school was called Be-Rab (Be abbreviated from Beth, house), which afterwards became the general name for a school. His authority extended beyond the boundaries of Babylonia; even Jochanan, the most celebrated of the teachers of Judæa, wrote to him, "To our teacher in Babylonia," grew angry whenever any one spoke slightingly of Rab, and admitted that the latter was the only person to whom he would have willingly subordinated himself. Rab was accustomed to maintain such of his numerous disciples as were without means, for he was very wealthy, and owned land, which he cultivated himself. The excellent arrangements which he adopted permitted his auditors to devote themselves to the study of the Law without neglecting their livelihood. In two months of the year (Adar and Ellul), at the commencement of autumn and spring, they assembled at Sora. During these two months, which were called "months of assembly" (Yarche Kalla), lectures were delivered every day from the early morning on; the auditors hardly allowed themselves time enough to swallow their breakfast. The ordinary name for the public lectures was Kalla. Besides these two months, Rab devoted the week before the principal festivals to public lectures, in which not only the disciples, but the whole populace, were interested. The Prince of the Captivity used also to arrive in Sora about this time to receive the homage of the assembled crowd. The throng was generally so great that many were unable to get lodgings in the houses, and were consequently obliged to sleep in the open air, on the shore of lake Sora. These festival lectures were termed Rigle. The Kalla-months and the Rigle-week had also certain influences upon civil life; the judicial powers suspended their operation during these periods, and creditors were forbidden to summon their debtors before the court. Rab thus provided at one and the same time for the instruction of the ignorant multitude, and for the further advancement of the deeper study of the Law by the education of disciples.

Nothing is known of any peculiar method employed by Rab. His mode of teaching consisted of analyzing the Mishna, which he had brought with him in its latest state of perfection, of explaining the text and the sense of every Halacha, and of comparing them with the Boraitas. Of these decisions and deductions, which are known by the name of Memra, there exists a great number from Rab's hand, and they, together with those which proceeded from Samuel and Jochanan, the contemporary principals of the schools, form a considerable part of the Talmud. For the most part he was more inclined than his fellow Amoraim to render the Law severer, and to forbid such legal acts as verged on the illegal, at least in the opinion of the multitude of Babylonian Jews, who were incapable of nice discrimination. Most of Rab's decrees received the force of law, with the exception of those, however, which affected municipal law, for his authority was more respected in questions of ritual than of civil law.

With the most determined energy he undertook the amelioration of the morals of the Babylonians, which, like their religion, had fallen to a very low ebb among the lower classes. The ancient simplicity of married life which had formerly obtained was now superseded in Babylonia by a hollow and brutal immorality. If a young man and woman met, and were desirous of uniting in marriage, they summoned the first witnesses at hand, and the marriage was concluded. Fathers gave their daughters in marriage almost before they arrived at majority, and the bridegroom either did not see his bride until after the decisive step had been taken, when, doubtless, he often repented of his act, or else he lived in the house of his intended father-in-law in a too intimate relation with his betrothed. The law, instead of condemning this immorality, had afforded it the protection of its authority. Rab combated these prevailing customs with the full force of a moral ardor. He forbade the solemnization of marriage which had not been preceded by a courtship, and enjoined on fathers not to marry their daughters without the consent of the latter, and therefore still less before their majority. He further admonished all who were desirous of marrying to make the acquaintance of the maiden of their choice before their betrothal, lest when disappointed, their conjugal love should turn to hate, and finally he forbade the young men to live in the house of their betrothed before marriage. He baffled all the legal artifices which could be employed by a husband to make a divorce retrospective by withdrawing the support of the law from such cases. All these moral measures became laws of general application. Rab also increased the reputation of the courts of justice; every one was obliged to appear on being summoned before the court, and the bailiffs were invested with official authority; the punishment of excommunication was introduced for cases of refractoriness. This punishment was very severe in Babylonia, and consequently produced great effects. The transgressions of the offender were publicly announced, and he was avoided until he had made expiation. In Babylonia, where the Jewish population formed a little world of its own, this punishment was sufficient to procure obedience and respect for the laws. Rab's energies were thus employed in two directions; he refined the morals, and aroused intellectual activity in a country which, as the sources express it, had formerly been "a vacant and unprotected fallow field." Rab surrounded it with a two-fold hedge, severity of manners and activity of mind. He was in this respect for Babylonia what Hillel had been for Judæa.

Rab's virtues, his patience, conciliatory disposition, and modesty, also put one in mind of Hillel. He had a bad wife who opposed him in everything, but he bore her vexations with patience. In his youth Rab had acted badly towards Chanina, the head of the school in Sepphoris, and was therefore unceasing in his efforts to obtain his pardon. His forgiving disposition caused him to lose sight of his exalted station. Once, when he thought he had given offense to a man of the lower classes, he repaired to the latter's house on the eve of the Day of Atonement, in order to become reconciled with him. Whenever he was followed to his school by a crowd of people on the days of his lectures he used to repeat a verse of Job, in order to prevent his pride from rising too high: "Though the excellency of man mount up to the heavens, yet he shall perish forever." Before repairing to the court he was wont to exclaim: "I am prepared to meet my death; here the affairs of my house concern me not, and I return empty-handed to my home; may I be as innocent on my return as I was when I set out." He had the satisfaction of leaving a son, Chiya, who was exceedingly learned in the Law, and of marrying his daughter to a relative of the Prince of the Captivity. His descendants by this daughter were worthy and learned princes. His second son, Aibu, was not intellectually distinguished. To him his father recommended certain rules of life, among others a preference for agriculture: "Rather a small plot of land than a great magazine for goods."

For eight and twenty years, until his old age, Rab devoted himself to the Sidra at Sora (219–247). When he died all his disciples accompanied his body to its last resting-place, and went into mourning for him. At the suggestion of one of them Babylonia mourned for him a whole year, and the practice of wearing wreaths of flowers and myrtles at weddings was suspended. All the Jews of Babylonia, except one, Bar-Kasha of Pumbeditha, mourned for the loss of their great Amora.

Much more original and versatile than Rab was his friend, his Halachic opponent, and his fellow-worker in the task of elevating the Jewish population of Babylonia, Samuel or Mar-Samuel, also called Arioch and Yarchinai (born about 180, died 257). In a certain sense this highly talented man was an epoch-maker in the history of the doctrine of Judaism. Nothing more is known of his youth than that he once ran away from his father. As a young man he followed the usual course, and went to Judæa in order to complete his education at the academy of the Patriarch Judah I. It has already been narrated how he there cured a disease of the eyes from which the ailing Patriarch suffered, and how he was nevertheless refused his nomination as a teacher by the latter; how he returned to his home before Rab, and was elevated after Shila's death to the dignity of Resh-Sidra.

Mar-Samuel was of an even character, avoiding enthusiasm and demonstrativeness. While his contemporaries confidently expected the renewal of miracles as of old before the appearance of the Messiah, he propounded the view that everything would still follow its natural course, but that the subjection of Israel to foreign rulers would come to an end. His intellectual energies were employed in three branches of knowledge: the explanation of the Law, astronomy, and medicine.

As an Amora he was inferior to Rab in the knowledge of the laws of the ritual, but far surpassed him in his acquaintance with the Jewish civil law. Samuel developed and enriched the Jewish law in all its branches, and all his decisions have obtained Halachic force. None of his decrees, however, were possessed of such important results as the one by which he declared the law of the land to be just as binding on the Jews as their own law (dina d'malchuta dina). The object of this precept was not to bring about a compulsory toleration of the foreign legislation, but to obtain its complete recognition as a binding law, to transgress which would also be punishable from the religious point of view. This was an innovation which, after all, could only be approved by reason of the relations existing between the Babylonian Jews and the Persian states. Samuel's principle of the sanctity of the law of the land was a manifest contradiction of older Halachas, which treated foreign laws as arbitrary, and did not consider their transgression to be punishable. But the Amoraim had already succeeded in reconciling so many conflicting laws that these old and repellent decisions, and this new and submissive principle, were able to exist side by side. In the sequel Samuel's recognition of the laws of the country was a means of preservation to the dispersed nation. On the one hand it reconciled the Jews to living in that country into which they had been cast by remorseless fate. Their religious consciousness did not feel at variance with the laws set up for their observance, which were seldom humane. On the other hand, the enemies of the Jews, who in all centuries took as their pretext the apparently hostile spirit of Judaism, and advised the persecution and complete extermination of the Jewish nation, could be referred to a Jewish law, which, with three words, invalidated their contention. The Prophet Jeremiah had given to the families which were exiled to Babylon, the following urgent exhortation as to their conduct in a foreign land: "Seek the peace of the city whither ye have been carried away captives." Samuel had transformed this exhortation into a religious precept: "The law of the state is binding law." To Jeremiah and Mar-Samuel Judaism owes the possibility of existence in a foreign country.

Samuel possessed altogether a particular affection for Persian customs, and was consequently in exceedingly good repute at the Persian court, and lived on confidential terms with Shabur I. His contemporaries called him therefore, although it is not known whether as a mark of honor or of censure, "The king Shabur," and also "Arioch," the Arian (partizan of the neo-Persians). His attachment to the Persian dynasty was so great that it supplanted the affection for his fellow-countrymen in his heart. When Shabur extended his conquests to Asia Minor, 12,000 Jews lost their lives on the occasion of the assault of Mazaca-Cæsarea, the Cappadocian capital. Samuel refused to go into mourning for the victims, giving as his reason that they had fought against Shabur. He thus formed a peculiar type; living in the midst of the full tide of Judaism, immersed in its doctrines and traditions, he raised himself beyond the narrow sphere of his nationality, and was ever ready to extend his sympathies to other peoples and to take note of their intellectual efforts. Rab, entirely taken up with the affairs of his own nation, refused to allow the customs of the Persians to exert any influence on those of the Jews, and even forbade these latter to adopt any practice, however innocent, from the Magi: "He who learns a single thing of the Magi merits death." Samuel, on the other hand, learnt many things of the Persian sages. With his friend Ablaat, he used to study astronomy, that noble science which brings mortal man into closer proximity with the Deity. The low-lying plain between the Euphrates and the Tigris, whose wide-extended horizon is unbounded by any hill, was the cradle of astronomy, which, however, soon degenerated in this region into the pseudo-science of astrology. By reason of the ideas instilled into him by his Jewish education, Samuel attached no importance to the art of casting nativities, and only occupied himself with astronomy under its most elevated aspect. He used to boast that he was "as well acquainted with the ways of the heavens as with the streets of Nahardea." He was unable, however, to calculate the erratic movements of the comets. It is impossible to determine the extent of his astronomical acquirements, or to discover whether he was in advance of his times or simply on a par with his contemporaries. Mar-Samuel turned his knowledge of astronomy to practical account; he drew up a settled calendar of the festivals, for the purpose of delivering the Babylonian communities from continual uncertainty with regard to the exact days on which the festivals would fall, and in order to relieve them of their dependence on Palestine for the determination of the time of the appearance of the new moon. Probably out of regard for the Patriarch, and in order not to destroy the unity of Judaism, Samuel refrained from communicating his calendar to the general public, and allowed the computation of the festivals to retain its former character of a secret art (Sod ha-Ibbur). He was blamed by certain persons, however, for having in any way interfered with the calculation of the calendar. The extent of Samuel's knowledge of medicine is even less known; he boasted of being able to cure all diseases but three. An eye-salve of his invention was in great request.