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

Between Samuel and the founder of the Sora academy there subsisted a fraternal harmony, although the Sidra of Nahardea was eclipsed by Rab. In his modesty he willingly subordinated himself to Rab. The celebrated Shila family was possessed of the precedence in the ceremony of paying homage to the Prince of the Captivity; by them it was relinquished to Samuel, and he, in his turn, surrendered it to his comrade in Sora, contenting himself with the third place. After Rab's death Samuel was recognized as the sole religious chief of Babylon, and continued in this capacity for ten years. At first Jochanan, of Judæa, hesitated whether to acknowledge him as an authority. In the letter which the principal of the schools of Tiberias sent to Babylonia, he addressed Rab by the title of "our teacher in Babylonia," while Mar-Samuel he called simply "our comrade." The teachers of Judæa did not, in fact, give him credit for the requisite knowledge of the Halachas, basing their conclusion upon the fact that he occupied himself with other branches of science. It was in vain that Samuel sent to Judæa a festival calendar calculated for sixty years; Jochanan remarked slightingly, when the fact came to his knowledge: "At any rate he is well acquainted with arithmetic." It was not until Samuel forwarded several scrolls, filled with investigations of certain little-known diseases of animals, that he began to be respected.

It was during this period (the third century) that there occurred simultaneously in the Roman and Parthian empires certain political catastrophes which were attended with the most important results. Through their influence history acquired an altered aspect, and considerable changes were effected in the state of things existing in these two countries and their dependencies. It was impossible for Jewish history to remain unaffected by these events. During the reign of the noble Alexander Severus occurred the overthrow of the Parthian dynasty, which, beginning with Arsaces, had subsisted during four centuries. A new and more vigorous race seized the scepter, and this change of dynasty gave rise to many revolutions both at home and abroad. The author of these changes was Ardashir, or Arbachshter, as he was called in his own language, a descendant of the race of ancient Persians (Arians). Such of the Persians as still remained true to their nationality, nourished a hatred against the impure dynasty of Arsaces, on account of the semi-Grecian origin of its members, their leaning to Greek views in matters of religion, their contempt for the national faith, and finally, their impotence to check the ever-increasing conquests of the Romans. It was with them that Ardashir united himself and conspired to overthrow Artabanus, the monarch who entertained so great a reverence for Rab. A decisive battle was fought, in which Artabanus succumbed, and the neo-Persian dynasty of the Sassanides was founded by the conqueror. The race which thus obtained the upper hand is known in history by the name of the neo-Persians; the Jewish authorities called them Chebrim (Chebre), and a deteriorated residue of the stock still subsists in India under the name of the Guebres. This revolution was attended by results as important in matters of religion as in politics. In place of the indifference with which the ancient rulers had regarded the primitive worship of fire, Ardashir manifested an ardent enthusiasm for it. He proudly called himself "the worshiper of Ormuz, divine Ardashir, the King of the Kings of Iran, the offspring of a heavenly race." He ordered such of the parts of the ancient Persian law (the Zend-Avesta) as were still extant to be collected, and commanded them to be regarded as the religious code. Zoroaster's doctrine of the twin principles of light and darkness (Ahura-Mazda and Ahriman) was everywhere enforced; the Magi, the sacerdotal caste of this cult, recovered their credit, their influence, and their power, while the partisans of the Greeks were persecuted with fire and sword. The fanaticism which was thus aroused in the Magians also caused them to direct their hostile attacks against the Christians, who resided in great numbers in the districts of Nisibis and Edessa in upper Mesopotamia (conquered by the Romans), and who possessed their own schools.

The Jews were not entirely exempt from the attacks of this fanaticism, and only escaped severe persecution through their solidarity, their centralization, and their powers of defense. In the first intoxication of victory the neo-Persians deprived the Jewish courts of the criminal jurisdiction which they had been permitted to exercise until then; the Jews were admitted to no offices, and were not even allowed to retain the supervision of the canals and rivers, but they do not seem to have complained very bitterly of these measures. They were even compelled to submit to restraints upon their freedom of conscience. On certain festivals, when the Magi worshiped light in their temple as the visible representation of God (Ahura-Mazda), the Jews were not suffered to maintain any fire on their hearths, nor to retain any light in their rooms. The Persians forced their way into the houses of the Jews, extinguished every fire and collected the glowing embers in their consecrated braziers, bringing them as an offering to their temple of fire. They also dug the corpses out of the graves, because, according to their notion, dead bodies lying in the bosom of the earth desecrated this "Spenta Armaita" (holy soil). For these various reasons the majority of the teachers of the Law were not greatly prepossessed in favor of the neo-Persians. When Jochanan heard that they had triumphantly invaded Jewish Babylonia, he was greatly concerned for the fate of his Babylonian brethren, but his anxiety was allayed by the assurance that the Persians were very poor and would therefore easily allow themselves to be bought off with bribes. By reason of their semi-savage state he referred to them as "the abandoned people into whose hands the Babylonian communities had been delivered." Levi bar Sissi, who was continually traveling to and fro between Judæa and Babylon, was anxiously questioned by the Patriarch Judah II as to the character of the conquering race. With obvious prepossession in favor of the vanquished Parthians, he described them and the victorious neo-Persians in the following words: "The former are as the armies of King David, but the latter resemble the devils of hell." Little by little, however, the fanaticism of the neo-Persians moderated, and there sprang up between them and the Jews so sincere a friendship that on their account the latter relaxed the severity of the Law, and even assisted now and again at their banquets. The teachers of the Law permitted the Jews to deliver up fuel which the Magi demanded of them on the occasion of the Festival of Light, and ceased to consider this act as a furtherance of idolatry, though it would certainly have been regarded as such by the old Halacha in similar cases. Even Rab, the essence of strictness, acquiesced in the demand of the Magi, and allowed the lamps to be brought from the open street into the houses on the Sabbath on the occasion of the Festival of the Hasmonæans, in order not to give offense to the prejudices of the ruling sacerdotal class. This mutual toleration, doubtless, first made its appearance under the rule of Shabur I (242–271), the liberal-minded monarch whose friendship with Samuel has already been mentioned. This magnanimous king assured Samuel that during the many wars which he had waged against the Romans in countries thickly populated with the Jews, he had never spilt Jewish blood, except on the occasion of the capture of Cappadocia, when 12,000 Jews had been put to death as a punishment for their stubborn resistance.

The radical changes which occurred about this time in the Roman empire were also attended with important effects and reactions on Jewish history. The death of Alexander Severus was the signal for anarchy, the many-headed hydra, to rage in all its terror in Rome and the Roman provinces. During the short space of half a century (235–284) the throne was occupied by nearly twenty emperors and as many usurpers, who willingly laid down their lives to obtain the gratification of their desire to wear the purple, if only for a day, and to decree executions by the hundred. From nearly every nation which Rome had subjugated there arose an emperor who enslaved the Italian Babylon. The time of retribution had come; the birds of prey were contending for the putrefying body of the State. It was during the time of Samuel (248) that the thousandth anniversary of Rome was celebrated by the assassin-emperor Philip, an Arab by birth and a robber from his childhood; but Rome was powerful wherever its legions were stationed, except in Rome itself, the city whose senate was obliged to accept with smiling face the humiliations which it experienced at the hands of the soldier emperors, and to sanction them in servile humility by Senatus-Consulta. The Roman empire was invaded on the one hand by the Parthians, on the other by the Goths, as if in fulfilment of the sibylline threats of punishment.

Valerianus had undertaken a campaign with the intention of recovering the districts which had been conquered by Shabur. Rome now experienced the further disgrace of seeing her emperor fall into his enemy's power, and suffer all the humiliations of slavery at the hands of the haughty victor. In the eastern provinces, in the neighborhood of the mighty Persian empire, disorder and dissolution had reached a still higher degree. A rich and adventurous native of Palmyra, Odenathus by name, had collected a band of wild and rapacious Saracens around him, and he and his troops made frequent incursions from his native city into Syria and Palestine on the one side, and the region of the Euphrates on the other, plundering and laying waste the country through which they passed. Odenathus had already assumed the title of Senator. Why should he not become the emperor of the Romans, like his fellow-countryman Philip? Odenathus was known in Jewish circles as the robber captain, "Papa bar Nazar," and to him was applied the passage in Daniel's vision: "The little horn coming up among the greater horns, and having eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." The predatory incursions of this adventurer were accompanied by results which were highly detrimental to the Jews of Palestine and Babylonia. He demolished the ancient city of Nahardea (259), which had formed the central point of the Jewish communities ever since the time of the Babylonian exile. It was many years before this town was able to recover itself from this destructive blow. The Amoraim of Nahardea, Samuel's disciples, were obliged to take to flight; they emigrated to the region of the Tigris. They were – Nachman, a son-in-law of the Prince of the Captivity, Sheshet, Rabba b. Abbuha, and Joseph b. Chama.

On the occasion of the destruction of Nahardea by Odenathus, Samuel's daughters, doubtless together with many others, were taken prisoners by the enemy and brought to Sepphoris. The freebooters speculated on heavy ransoms, which appeared to them more lucrative than the sale of the captives in the slave market, for it was well known that the Jews spared no expense in order to procure the release of their fellow-countrymen. Samuel's daughters had derived so much benefit from their father's profound knowledge of the Halacha that they succeeded in escaping the application of a strict law, which placed all maidens who had been taken prisoners on the same footing with those who had been dishonored, thus incapacitating them from contracting a spotless marriage. Before it was known whose daughters they were they had already recovered their freedom, and their assertion that their innocence had received no taint at the hands of the rough warriors was readily believed. When Chanina heard in Sepphoris that they were Samuel's daughters he strongly enjoined a relation of theirs, Simon b. Abba, to marry one of them.

Odenathus, the destroyer of Nahardea, gradually became a petty Asiatic prince of Palmyra or Tadmor, the oasis which King Solomon had converted into a city. The Roman empire was so feeble and tottering that it was this hitherto disregarded warrior who was obliged to oppose a bulwark to the conquests of the Persians on Roman territory. The great services which he thus rendered to the empire compelled his recognition (264) as co-emperor by Gallienus, a monarch characterized by his weakness and love of satire. Odenathus did not long enjoy this high dignity, for in 267 he fell by the hand of an assassin, instigated, as the story went, by Zenobia, his wife. After his death the regency devolved upon Zenobia, her two sons being still minors. Through her influence Palmyra, the city of the desert, was transformed into the home of imperial pomp, culture, and refined taste. A Christian report represents the empress Zenobia as a Jewess, but the Jewish authorities make no mention of this fact. No colors seem to be vivid enough for the Roman accounts of Zenobia in order to paint the picture of her strange personality. The palace of this second Semiramis, the ruins of which still bear witness to refined and artistic taste, was the meeting-place of original-minded geniuses, with whom the queen delighted to hold philosophical intercourse.

At her court resided Longinus, the refined and philosophical lover of the fine arts, who in his æsthetic work on the Sublime was unable sufficiently to express his admiration of the poetical contents of the Biblical account of the Creation, "Let there be light." Paul of Samosata, Bishop of Antioch, when accused of heresy, also found shelter at her court. Zenobia, his patroness, also seems to have had some leaning towards the fundamental truth of Judaism. The Jews were, nevertheless, not particularly well disposed towards the court of Palmyra. Jochanan, although not blind to the beauties of Greek, gave utterance to the most unfavorable opinions concerning the Palmyrene state: "Happy will he be who sees the fall of Tadmor." Subsequent generations were at a loss to explain this aversion.

There can be no doubt that many Jews took up arms against Zenobia, whose rule must also have extended over Judæa. It is related that a certain Zeïra bar Chanina having been brought up before Zenobia to receive sentence for an offense which seems to have been of a political nature, two of Jochanan's disciples, Ami and Samuel, presented themselves before the empress, in order to intercede on his behalf and obtain his liberation. They were most ungraciously received, however, by Zenobia. "Do you think," said she, "that because God has worked so many miracles for your nation you can hazard everything, simply putting your trust in Him?" Another occurrence, which is related by the same authority, seems also to have taken place during Zenobia's reign. A certain Ulla bar Kosher, of whom no further mention is made in history, was prosecuted for a political offense, and fled to Joshua ben Levi in Lydda. So much importance must, however, have attached to his capture that a troop of soldiers surrounded Lydda, and threatened to destroy the city if the fugitive were not delivered up to them. In this sad dilemma in which the life of a single individual must either be sacrificed or the safety of an entire community endangered, Joshua ben Levi prevailed upon Ulla to give himself up. He justified this course of conduct by referring to a Mishnaic law which permits the surrender to the political power of a culprit specially designated, in the case of many lives depending on such compliance. But the Jewish conscience, symbolized by the prophet Elijah, refused to take any part in bringing about the death of a man. Elijah, the ideal of pure zeal for Judaism, appeared to Joshua ben Levi and inspired him with remorse for having allowed himself to deliver up the culprit; he ought not to have relied solely on the simple preceptive law, but should also have been mindful of the "Mishna of the Pious," which widened and elevated their views concerning the precepts of duty.

Zenobia's reign, after enduring brilliantly for several years (267–273), was brought to a termination by Aurelian, who gained a hard-earned victory over the haughty empress, and brought her in golden fetters to Rome to figure in his triumph. Jochanan lived to see the fulfilment of his wish regarding Tadmor, and died a few years after its fall (279).

CHAPTER XX.

THE PATRIARCHATE OF GAMALIEL IV. AND JUDAH III

The Amoraim in Palestine – Ami and Assi – The Brothers Chiya and Simon bar Abba in Tiberias – Abbahu in Cæsarea – The Emperor Diocletian – Complete Separation from the Samaritans – Character and Political Position of Abbahu – Huna in Babylonia – Chama's Generosity – Huna's Contemporaries and Successors – Judah ben Ezekiel – Chasda of Cafri – Mar Sheshet – Nachman bar Jacob – Zeïra.

279–32 °C. E

The period during which Christianity emerged from the position of a persecuted community and acquired that of an established church, marks a crisis in the development of the history of the world, and forms an epoch of transition also in the history of the Jews. The influence exerted by the mother-country began gradually to decline. It was Babylonia that now occupied the universal interest, while Judæa became a holy antiquity; it still possessed the power of arousing glorious memories, but was no longer the scene of memorable deeds. The teachers of this generation, indeed, were not few, including in their numbers the disciples of Chanina, Jochanan, and Resh-Lakish; and the youth of Babylonia, smitten with a holy longing, still preferred the schools of Palestine to those of their native land. But only very few of the principals of the schools were possessed of any eminence, and the most important of them, Ami, Assi, Chiya b. Abba, and Zeïra, were all Babylonians by birth. Abbahu, the only one who was a native of Judæa, was a person of much originality, but of no authority in the Halacha. The superiority of Babylon was so readily acknowledged that Ami and Assi, the leaders of Judæa, of their own accord subordinated themselves to Rab's successor. The Babylonian novices excelled their masters in the knowledge of the Law; Sora and Pumbeditha took the lead of Sepphoris and Tiberias. Even the Patriarchs of this period, Gamaliel IV and Judah III, possessed but an insignificant knowledge of the Law, and were both obliged to receive instruction from Amoraim. Under Judah the duty of examining witnesses concerning the appearance of the new moon degenerated into a mere pretense and a formality. When Ami expressed a desire that this duty should be seriously fulfilled, the Patriarch informed him that he had often understood from Jochanan, that as soon as, according to astronomical calculation, the thirtieth day was ascertained to be the beginning of the new month, it was permissible to press a witness into declaring that he had perceived the new moon, although this was not the case. The accurate calculation of the Festivals gradually made this burdensome custom of the examination of witnesses so superfluous that Judah's successor was able to entirely abrogate this duty of the Patriarchate. Of more importance appeared to Judah the ordering of the affairs of the communities and the schools, and to this point he devoted his entire attention. He commissioned the three principal Amoraim, Ami, Assi, and Chiya, to undertake a journey through the cities of Judæa, in order to inspect the various institutions of a religious or educational character, and to restore them in those places where they were falling into decay. In one town, where the envoys found neither teachers of the people nor of the young, they summoned the elders to bring before them the guardians of the city. On the armed guard of the town being brought into their presence, the envoys of the Nasi exclaimed: "These are in nowise the guardians of the city, but its destroyers; the true guards are the teachers of the young and of the people; 'If God protect not the house, in vain watcheth the warder.'"

The Patriarchate of Judah III falls in the reign of Diocletian and his co-emperor, who, by the strength of their rule and their sincere devotion, delayed for a time the decline of the Roman empire. Diocletian was not unfavorably disposed towards the Jews. He was, perhaps, all the more tolerant to them in proportion as he hated and persecuted the Christians; these latter he considered as the sole cause of the dissolution of the Empire, on account of their persistent struggle against the Roman state religion, and their zeal for conversion. The rigorous edicts which this monarch considered it necessary to decree during the last years of his reign (303–305), and which aimed at compelling the Christians to adopt the worship of idols, at closing their churches, and at prohibiting their meetings for divine service, did not include the Jews within their terms, although, curiously enough, the Samaritans do not seem to have escaped their action. Nevertheless, the enemies of the Jews appear to have exerted themselves in order to prejudice Diocletian against them. The emperor was secretly informed that the Patriarch and his companions made merry over his obscure parentage and his surname Aper (Boar), concerning which the emperor was especially sensitive. The story relates that the emperor, highly exasperated, commanded the Patriarch and the most distinguished members of the community to appear before him on a Saturday night, at Paneas, about twenty miles from Tiberias. As this command was not communicated to them until late on Friday, they found themselves in the desperate dilemma of undertaking a journey on the Sabbath, or disregarding the imperial summons. On their arrival at Paneas, Diocletian ordered them to bathe themselves for several days previous to appearing before him in audience. This insult was intended as an allusion to the uncleanliness with which the Jews were reproached. When at last they were brought before the emperor, the Patriarch and his companions assured Diocletian of their loyalty and faithfulness, and they are said to have convinced him that they had been iniquitously calumniated, whereupon he graciously dismissed them (about 297 or 298).

By reason of the constraint of sacrificing to the gods, under which Diocletian laid both Samaritans and Christians, the former were completely and forever excluded from the Jewish community. A peculiar fate controlled the relations of these two kindred and neighboring races, and prevented them from living on good terms for any length of time. At any moment which appeared favorable to mutual advances, trifling circumstances were sure to arise which widened the breach between them. After the destruction of the Temple the two peoples lived in tolerably good relations with one another; the Samaritans were admitted to be in many respects strict Jews. The war of Hadrian united Jew and Samaritan even more closely, and this friendly relation took so deep a root, that Meïr's decision to regard the Samaritans as heathens never gained general acceptance. Daily intercourse and business connections had bound them closely to each other. Even Jochanan did not hesitate to partake of meat prepared by the Samaritans. His successors were, however, more severe, and contrived to bring about a separation from the Samaritans. The occasion of this rupture is said to have been as follows: Abbahu having once ordered some wine from Samaria, an observation was made to him by an old man that the Law was no longer strictly observed in that country. Abbahu communicated this intimation to his friends, Ami and Assi, who investigated the matter there and then, and determined to declare the Samaritans as heathens, irrevocably and in every respect. This was perhaps the last resolution arrived at by the Synhedrion. No mention is made of the Nasi in connection with this decree, thus affording a further proof of the insignificance of the authority enjoyed by him, and of the depth to which the Patriarchate had fallen. This disunion had the effect of weakening both Jews and Samaritans. Christianity, shrewder and more active than its parent, Judaism, and more refined and supple than Samaritanism, its sister, gained the empire of the world soon after this rupture, and Jew and Samaritan alike felt its superior power. Golgotha, raised upon the height of the Capitol, pressed with a two-fold burden on Zion and Gerizim.

Notwithstanding the slight respect in which the Patriarchate of Judah III (280–300) was held, a phenomenon makes its appearance for the first time, which betrays indeed the poverty that existed in Palestine, but on the other hand shows the adherence of the Jews to the Patriarchal house of David, the last remnant of their ancient glory. It had always been the custom to announce to such communities as were situated at a distance, the resolutions arrived at by the Synhedrion, and especially the period of the festivals, by means of special messengers (Shaliach Zion, Apostoli). As a rule, men of merit and members of the Synhedrion were chosen to fill this honorable post, for they represented the highest authorities, and were also required to explain and apply the various resolutions. The more the numbers of the Jews in the Holy Land were lessened by revolts and wars, and the greater the part of the country that fell into the hands of the heathen, the more also that extortionate taxes spread poverty far and wide, the greater difficulty the Patriarchs found in defraying the expenses of their office from their own private means. They were obliged to turn to the wealthy communities of other countries to request contributions for their support. Originally, perhaps, these aids constituted a voluntary contribution (aurum coronarium), forwarded by the communities as a proof of allegiance on the occasion of the accession of a Patriarch as prince of the Jews. About this time, however, Judah III found himself obliged to send messengers to raise a regular tax (canon, pensio). Such an envoy was Chiya bar Abba, whom the Patriarch Judah authorized and sent abroad armed with peculiar powers: "We send you an excellent man, who possesses equal authority with ourselves until he return unto us." This same Chiya was, in fact, an excellent man, as poor in means as he was rich in character. It was only on account of grievous necessity that he allowed this post to be conferred on him by the Patriarch, and its acceptance constituted in so far a sacrifice that he was obliged to quit the Holy Land, which he had chosen as his residence in preference to his native country. During a long period he was supported by a rich and charitable family of Tiberias, named Silvani (Beth-Silvani), who furnished him, as a descendant of Aaron, with the tithes of the produce of their property. On a certain occasion, however, Chiya forbade them to commit a deed which another teacher of the Law declared to be lawful; and they, in return, made him feel his dependency on their tithes. Upon this he determined never again to accept tithes from any one, and, in order to avoid temptation, he resolved to quit Judæa.