THE AGE OF THE GEONIM.
The Conquests of Islam--Omar's Intolerance--Condition
of the Jews in Babylonia--Bostanaï--The Princes of the
Captivity and the Geonim--Dignity and Revenues of the Prince
--Communal Organization--Excommunication--Julian of Toledo
and the Jews--The Moslems in Spain--The Jews and Arabic
Literature--The Assyrian Vowel-system--The Neo-Hebraic
Poetry: José ben José--Simon ben Caipha--Employment of
Rhyme--Jannaï--Eleazar Kaliri--Opposition to the Study of
the Talmud--The False Messiah Serenus, the Syrian--The Jews
in the Crimea and the Land of the Chazars--The False Messiah
Obadia Abu-Isa.
640-760 C. E.
Scarcely ten years after Mahomet's death the fairest lands in the north
of Arabia and the northwest of Africa acknowledged the supremacy of the
Arabs who, with the sword in one hand and the Koran in the other, swept
across the borders of Arabia with the cry: "There is no God but Allah,
and Mahomet is his prophet." Although there was no distinguished man at
the head of the Arab troops, they conquered the world with far greater
speed than the hosts of Alexander of Macedon. The kingdom of Persia,
weakened by old age and dissension, succumbed to the first blow, and
the Byzantine provinces, Palestine, Syria, and Egypt, whose inhabitants
had but little sympathy with the intriguing court of Constantinople,
did not offer the slightest resistance to the Arabs.
Medina, an oasis in the great desert, a spot unknown to the different
nations, became the lawgiver for millions, just as Rome had been in
olden times. The various peoples that had been conquered, had no choice
but to recognize Mahomet as a prophet and be converted to Islam, or
to pay tribute. The Emperor Heraclius had taken Palestine from the
Persians only ten years before it was again lost. Jews and Samaritans
both helped the Arabs to capture the land, in order that they might
be freed from the heavy yoke of the malignant Byzantine rule. A Jew
put into the hands of the Mussulmans the strongly-fortified town of
Cæsarea, the political capital of the kingdom, which is said to have
contained 700,000 fighting men, amongst whom were 20,000 Jews. He
showed them a subterranean passage, which led the besiegers into the
heart of the town. The Holy City, too, after a short siege, had to
yield to the Mahometan arms. The second successor of Mahomet, the
Caliph Omar, took personal possession of Jerusalem (about 638), and
laid the foundation-stone of a mosque on the site of the Temple. Bishop
Sophronius, who had handed over the keys of Jerusalem to Omar, untaught
by the change of fate which he had himself experienced, is said to have
made arrangements with the Caliph, in capitulating, that the Jews be
forbidden to settle in the Holy City. It is true that Jerusalem was
looked upon by the Mussulmans as a holy place, and pilgrimages were
made thither by them. It was also called the Holy City (Alkuds) by
them, but it was to remain inaccessible to its sons. Omar is said to
have driven out both Jews and Christians from Tiberias. Thus ceased the
literary activity of the school of that place. They, however, received
permission to settle there again under the succeeding Caliphs.
Rising Islam was as intolerant as Christianity. When Omar had driven
the Jews out of Chaibar and the Christians out of Najaran, he gave
instructions to his generals against the Jews and Christians. These
orders were called "the covenant of Omar," and contained many
restrictions against the "peoples of the Book" (Jews and Christians).
They were not allowed to build new houses of worship, nor to restore
those that were in ruins. They had to sing in subdued tones in the
synagogues and churches, and were compelled to pray silently for the
dead.
They dared not hinder their followers from accepting Islam, and were
compelled to show marks of respect to Mussulmans whenever they met
them. Further, they were not allowed to fill judicial or administrative
offices. They were forbidden to ride on horses, and had to wear marks
whereby they could easily be distinguished from the Moslems. Jews and
Christians were not allowed to make use of a signet-ring, which was
considered a mark of honor. Whilst the Mahometans were exempt from
taxes, and at most only had to pay a slight contribution for the poor,
Jews and Christians had to pay a poll-tax and ground-rent.
In spite of this fact, the Jews felt themselves freer under the new
rule of Islam than they did in the Christian lands. The restrictive
laws of Omar were not carried out even during Omar's lifetime, and
though the fanatic Mussulmans scorned the Jews for their religion, they
did not despise them as citizens, but showed great honor to worthy
Jews. The first Mahometans treated the Jews as their equals; they
respected them as friends and allies, and took an interest in them
even as enemies. The Asiatic and Egyptian Jews consequently treated
the Mahometans as their liberators from the yoke of the Christians. A
mystical apocalypse makes a distinct reference to the joy experienced
at the victory of Islam. Simeon bar Yochaï, who was looked upon as
a mystic, foretells the rise of Islam, and bewails the same in the
prayer which runs as follows: "Have we not suffered enough through the
dominion of the wicked Edom (the Roman-Christian dominion), that the
dominion of Ishmael should now rise over us?" Metatoron, one of the
chief angels, answers him: "Fear not, son of man! God sets up the
kingdom of Ishmael only in order that it may free you from the dominion
of the wicked Edom. He raises up a prophet for them, he will conquer
countries for them, and there will be great hatred between them and the
sons of Esau" (the Christians). Such were the sentiments of the Jews
with regard to the conquests of the Mahometans.
The Jews in the ancient Babylonian district (called Irak by the Arabs)
attained a great measure of freedom through the victories of the
Mahometans. During their campaigns against the last Persian kings, the
Jews and the Nestorian Christians, who had been persecuted under the
last Sassanian princes, had rendered them much assistance. The Jews
and the Chaldean Christians formed the bulk of the population near the
Euphrates and the Tigris. Their assistance must have been opportune, as
we find even the fanatical Caliph Omar bestowing rewards and privileges
upon them. It was, doubtless, in consequence of the services which
they had rendered that the Mahometan generals recognized Bostanaï, the
descendant of the Exilarch of the house of David, as the chief of the
Jews. Omar respected Bostanaï so highly that he gave him a daughter
of the Persian king Chosru in marriage. She had been taken prisoner,
together with her sisters (642)--a singular turn of fate! The grandson
of a race that boasted descent from the house of David married a
princess whose ancestors traced their descent from Darius, the founder
of the Persian dynasty. Bostanaï was the first Exilarch who was the
vassal of the Mahometans.
The Exilarch exercised both civil and judicial functions, and all the
Jews of Babylonia formed a separate community under him. Bostanaï also
obtained the exceptional permission to wear a signet-ring (Gushpanka).
By this means he was able to give his documents and decrees an official
character. The seal, in reference to some unknown historical allusion,
bore the impress of a fly. Bostanaï must have been an important
personage in other respects, since legends cluster about him, and would
make his birth itself appear a miraculous event. The Judæo-Babylonian
community, which had acquired some importance through Bostanaï,
obtained its real strength under Ali, the fourth Caliph, Mahomet's
comrade and son-in-law, the hero of Chaibar.
Omar had died at the hands of an assassin (644), and his successor,
Othman, had been killed in an insurrection (655). Ali was nominated
Caliph by the conspirators, but he had to struggle against many bitter
opponents. Islam was divided into two camps. The one declared for Ali,
who resided in the newly-built town of Kufa; the other for Moawiyah, a
relative of the murdered Caliph Othman.
The Babylonian Jews and Nestorian Christians sided with Ali, and
rendered him assistance. A Jew, Abdallah Ibn-Sabâ, was a spirited
partisan of Ali. He asserted that the succession to the Caliphate was
his by right, and that the divine spirit of Mahomet had passed to
him, as it had from Moses to Joshua. It is said that when Ali took
the town of Firuz-Shabur or Anbar, 90,000 Jews, under Mar-Isaac, the
head of a college, assembled to do homage to the Caliph, who was but
indifferently supported by his own followers (658). The unhappy Ali
valued this homage, and, doubtless, accorded privileges to the Jewish
principal. It is quite probable that from this time the head of the
school of Sora was invested with a certain dignity, and took the title
of Gaon. There were certain privileges connected with the Gaonate, upon
which even the Exilarch did not venture to encroach. Thus a peculiar
relation, leading to subsequent quarrels, grew up between the rival
offices--the Exilarchate and the Gaonate. With Bostanaï and Mar-Isaac,
the Jewish officials recognized by the Caliph, there begins a new
period in Jewish history--the Epoch of the Geonim. After Bostanaï's
death dissension arose among his sons. Bostanaï had left several sons
by various wives, one of them the daughter of the Persian king. Perhaps
her son was his father's favorite, because royal blood flowed in his
veins, and he was probably destined to be his successor. His brothers
by the Jewish wives were consequently jealous of him, and treated him
as a slave, _i. e._, as one that had been born of a captive non-Jewess,
who, according to Talmudic law, was looked upon as a slave, so long as
he could not furnish proof that either his mother or himself had been
formally emancipated. This, however, he could not do. The brothers
then determined to sell the favorite, their own brother, as a slave.
Revolting as this proceeding was, it was approved by several members of
the college of Pumbeditha, partly from religious scruples, partly from
the desire to render a friendly service to Bostanaï's legitimate sons.
Other authorities, however, maintained that Bostanaï, who was a pious
man, would not have married the king's daughter before he had legally
freed her, and made her a proselyte. In order to protect her son from
humiliation, one of the chief judges, Chaninaï, hastened to execute a
document attesting her emancipation, and thus the wicked design of the
brothers was frustrated; but the stain of illegitimacy still attached
to the son, and his descendants were never admitted to the rank of the
descendants of the Exilarch Bostanaï.
Bostanaï's descendants in the Exilarchate arbitrarily deposed the
presidents of the colleges, and appointed their own partisans to
the vacant places. The religious leaders of the people thus bore
Bostanaï's descendants a grudge. Even in later times, an authority
amongst the Jews had to defend himself with the words: "I am a member
of the house of the Exilarch, but not a descendant of the sons of
Bostanaï, who were proud and oppressive." The vehement quarrels
about the Caliphate, between the house of Ali and the Ommiyyades,
were repeated on a small scale in Jewish Babylonia. The half-century
from Bostonaï and the rise of the Gaonate till the Exilarchate of
Chasdaï (670 to 730) is in consequence involved in obscurity. Few also
of the Geonim who held office and of the presidents of the colleges
during this period are known, and their chronological order cannot be
ascertained. After Mar-Isaac, probably the first Gaon of Sora, Hunaï
held office, contemporaneously with Mar-Raba in Pumbeditha (670 to
680). These presidents issued an important decree with respect to the
law of divorce, whereby a Talmudical law was set aside. According to
the Talmud, the wife can seek a divorce only in very rare cases, _e.
g._, if the husband suffers from an incurable disease. Even if the
wife were seized with an unconquerable aversion to her husband, she
could be compelled by law to live with him, and to fulfil her duties,
on penalty of losing her marriage settlement, and even her dowry, in
case she insisted upon the separation. Through the domination of Islam
circumstances were now changed. The Koran had somewhat raised the
position of women, and empowered the wife to sue for a divorce. This
led many unhappy wives to appeal to the Mahometan courts, and they
compelled their husbands to give them a divorce without the aforesaid
penalties. It was in consequence of the events just related that Hunaï
and Mar-Raba introduced a complete reform of the divorce laws. They
entirely abrogated the Talmudical law, and empowered the wife to sue
for a divorce without suffering any loss of her property-rights. Thus
the law established equality between husband and wife. For the space of
forty years (680 to 720), only the names of the Geonim and Exilarchs
are known to us; historical details, however, are entirely wanting.
During this time, as a result of quarrels and concessions, there arose
peculiar relations of the officials of the Jewish-Persian kingdom
towards one another, which developed into a kind of constitution.
The Jewish community in Babylonia (Persia), which had the appearance of
a state, had a peculiar constitution. The Exilarch and the Gaon were
of equal rank. The Exilarch's office was political. He represented
Babylonian-Persian Judaism under the Caliphs. He collected the taxes
from the various communities, and paid them into the treasury. The
Exilarchs, both in bearing and mode of life, were princes. They drove
about in a state carriage; they had outriders and a kind of body-guard,
and received princely homage.
The religious unity of Judaism, on the other hand, was embodied in the
Gaonate of Sora and Pumbeditha. The Geonim expounded the Talmud, with a
view to a practical application of its provisions; they made new laws
and regulations; administered them, and meted out punishment to those
that transgressed them. The Exilarch shared the judicial power with the
Gaon of Sora and the head of the college of Pumbeditha.
The Exilarch had the right of nomination to offices, though not without
the acquiescence of the college. The head of the college of Sora,
however, was alone privileged to be styled "Gaon"; the head of the
college of Pumbeditha did not bear the title officially. The Gaon of
Sora together with his college, as a rule, was paid greater deference
than his colleague of Pumbeditha, partly out of respect to the memory
of its great founders, Rab and Ashi, partly on account of its proximity
to Kufa, the capital of Irak and of the kingdom of Islam in the East.
On festive occasions, the head of the college of Sora sat at the right
side of the Exilarch. He obtained two-thirds of certain revenues for
his school, and performed the duties of the Exilarch when the office
was vacant. For a long time, too, only a member of the school of Sora
was elected president of the school of Pumbeditha, this school not
being permitted to elect one from its own ranks.
Now that the Exilarch everywhere met with the respect due a prince,
he was installed with a degree of ceremony and pomp. Although the
office was hereditary in the house of Bostanaï, the acquiescence of
both colleges was required for the nomination of a new Exilarch, and
thus there came to be a fixed installation service. The officials of
both the colleges, together with their fellow-collegians, and the most
respected men in the land, betook themselves to the residence of the
designated Exilarch. In a large open place, which was lavishly adorned,
seats were erected for him and the presidents of the two schools. The
Gaon of Sora delivered an address to the future Exilarch, in which he
was reminded of the duties of his high office, and was warned against
haughty conduct toward his brethren. The installation always took
place in the synagogue, and on a Thursday. Both officials put their
hands upon the head of the nominee, and declared amidst the clang of
trumpets, "Long live our lord, the Prince of the Exile."
The people, who were always present in great numbers on the occasion,
vociferously repeated the wish. All present then accompanied the new
Exilarch home from the synagogue, and presents flowed in from all
sides. On the following Saturday evening there was a special festive
service for the new prince. There was a platform in the shape of a
tower erected for him in the synagogue. This was decked with costly
ornaments that he might appear like the kings of the house of David in
the Temple, on a raised seat, apart from the people. He was conducted
to divine service by a numerous and honorable suite. The reader chanted
the prayers with the assistance of a well-appointed choir.
When the Exilarch was seated on his high seat, the Gaon of Sora
approached the Exilarch, bent the knee before him, and sat at his right
hand. His colleague of Pumbeditha having made a similar obeisance, took
his seat on the left. When the Law was read, they brought the scroll
to the Exilarch, which was looked upon as a royal prerogative. He was
also the first one called to the reading of the Law, which on ordinary
occasions was the prerogative of the descendants of the house of Aaron.
In order to honor him, the president of the college of Sora acted as
interpreter (Meturgeman), expounding the passage that had been read.
After the Law was read, it was customary for the Prince of the
Exile to deliver an address. But if the Exilarch was not learned,
he delegated this duty to the Gaon of Sora. In the final prayer for
the glorification of God's name (Kadish, Gloria), the name of the
Exilarch was mentioned: "May this happen in the lifetime of the
Prince." Thereupon followed a special blessing for him, the heads of
the colleges and its members (Yekum Purkan), and the names of the
countries, places and persons, far and near, that had advanced the
welfare of the colleges by their contributions. A festive procession
from the synagogue to the house or palace of the Exilarch, and a
sumptuous repast for the officials and prominent personages, which
often included state officers, formed the conclusion of this peculiar
act of homage to the Exilarch.
Once a year, in the third week after the Feast of Tabernacles, a
kind of court was held at the house of the Exilarch. The heads of
the college, together with their colleagues, the presidents of the
community, and many people besides, came to see him at Sora, probably
with presents. On the following Sabbath the same ceremonial took place
as at the nomination. Lectures were delivered during this court week,
which was afterwards known as "the Great Assembly," or the "Feast of
the Exilarch."
The Exilarch derived his income partly from certain districts and
towns, and partly from irregular receipts. The districts Naharowan
(east of the Tigris), Farsistan, Holwan--as far as the jurisdiction of
the Exilarch extended--even during the period of decadence, brought
him an income of 700 golden denarii ($1700). We can easily imagine how
great his revenue must have been in palmy days. The Exilarch also had
the right of imposing a compulsory tax upon the communities under his
jurisdiction, and the officials of the Caliph supported him in this
because they themselves had an interest in it.
The president of the college of Sora was the second in rank in the
Judæo-Babylonian community. He was the only one who held the title
of Gaon officially, and he had the precedence over his colleague of
Pumbeditha on all occasions, even though the former were a young man
and the latter an aged one. Meanwhile, the school of Pumbeditha enjoyed
perfect equality and independence with respect to its internal affairs,
except when one or another Exilarch, according to Oriental custom, made
illegal encroachments upon it.
Next to the president came the chief judge, who discharged the judicial
duties, and was, as a rule, his successor in office. Below these
were seven presidents of the Assembly of Teachers, and three others
who bore the title of Associate or scholar, and who together seem to
have composed the Senate in a restricted sense. Then came a college
of a hundred members, which was divided into two unequal bodies, one
of seventy members representing the "great Synhedrion," the other of
thirty forming the "smaller Synhedrion." The seventy were ordained, and
consequently qualified for promotion; they bore the title of Teacher.
The thirty or "smaller Synhedrion" do not seem to have been entitled to
a seat and vote, they were simply candidates for the higher dignity.
The members of the college generally bequeathed their offices to their
sons, but the office of president was not hereditary.
This peculiarly organized council of the two colleges by degrees lost
its strictly collegiate character, and acquired that of a deliberative
and legislative Parliament. Twice a year, in March and September
(Adar and Elul), in accordance with ancient usage, the college held
a general meeting, and sat for a whole month. During this period
the members occupied themselves also with theoretical questions,
discussing and explaining some portion of the Talmud, which had been
given out beforehand as the theme. But the attention of the meeting was
principally directed to practical matters. New laws and regulations
were considered and decreed, and points which had formed the subject
of inquiry by foreign communities, during the preceding months, were
discussed and answered. Little by little the replies to the numerous
inquiries addressed to them by foreign communities on points of
religion, morals, and civil law, came to occupy the greater part of
the session. At the end of the session all opinions expressed by the
meeting on the points submitted for their consideration were read over,
signed by the president, in the name of the whole council, confirmed
with the seal of the college (Chumrata), and forwarded by messenger to
each community with a ceremonious form of greeting from the college.
It was customary for the various congregations to accompany their
inquiries with valuable presents in money. If these presents were
sent specially to one of the two colleges, the other received no
share; but if they were remitted without any precise directions, the
Soranian school, being the more important, received two-thirds, and the
remainder went to the sister-college. These presents were divided by
the president among the members of the college and the students of the
Talmud.
Over and above such irregular receipts, the two colleges derived a
regular income from the districts which were under their jurisdiction.
To Sora belonged the south of Irak, with the two important cities Wasit
and Bassora, and its jurisdiction extended as far as Ophir (India or
Yemen?). In later times the revenues of these countries still amounted
to 1500 gold denars (about $3700). The northern communities belonged to
Pumbeditha, whose jurisdiction extended as far as Khorasan.
The appointment of the judges of a district was, in all probability,
the duty of the principal of the college, in conjunction with the chief
judge and the seven members of the Senate-council. Each of these three
heads of the Babylonian-Jewish commonwealth accordingly possessed the
power of appointing the judges of his province, and the communities
were thus either under the Prince of the Captivity or the Soranian
Gaonate, or were dependent on the college of Pumbeditha. When a judge
was appointed over a certain community he received a commission from
the authorities over him. He bore the title of Dayan, and had to decide
not only in civil but also in religious cases, and was therefore at the
same time a rabbi. He chose from amongst the members of the community
two associates (Zekenim), together with whom he formed a judicial and
rabbinical tribunal. All valid deeds, marriage contracts, letters of
divorce, bills of exchange, bills of sale, and deeds of gift, were also
confirmed by this rabbi-judge. He was, at the same time, the notary
of the community. For these various functions he received--first, a
certain contribution from every independent member of the community;
secondly, fees for drawing up deeds; and, thirdly, a weekly salary from
the vendors of meat. The children's schools, which were in connection
with the synagogue, were probably also under the supervision of this
rabbi-judge.
The communal constitution in Jewish Babylonia has served as a
model for the whole Jewish people, partly until the present time.
At the head of the community stood a commission entrusted with the
public interests, and composed of seven members, who were called
Parnesé-ha-Keneset (Maintainers of the Community). A delegate of a
Prince of the Captivity, or of one of the principals of the colleges,
was charged with the supervision of public business, and also possessed
the power of punishing refractory members. The punishments inflicted
were flogging and excommunication. The latter, the invisible weapon
of the Middle Ages, which changed its victims to living corpses, was,
however, neither so often nor so arbitrarily exercised by the Jews as
by the Christians; but even among them it fell with terrible force.
Those who refused to comply with religious or official regulations,
were punished with the lesser excommunication. It was mild in form,
and did not entail the total isolation of the person excommunicated,
and affected the members of his own family still less. But whosoever
failed to repent within the given respite of thirty days, and to
make application to have the excommunication annulled, incurred the
punishment of the greater ban. This punishment scared away a man's most
intimate friends, isolated him in the midst of society, and caused
him to be treated as an outcast from Judaism. No one was allowed to
hold social intercourse with him, under penalty of incurring similar
punishments. His children were expelled from school, and his wife from
the synagogue. All were forbidden to bury his dead, or even to receive
his new-born son into the covenant of Abraham. Every distinctive mark
of Judaism was denied him, and he was left branded as one accursed of
God. The proclamation of the ban was posted up outside the court of
justice, and communicated to the congregation. Although this punishment
of excommunication and its consequences were extremely horrible, it was
nevertheless, at a time when the multitude was not open to rational
conviction, the only means of preserving religious unity intact, of
administering justice, and of maintaining social order.
The Jewish commonwealth of Babylonia, notwithstanding its dependence on
the humors of a Mahometan governor and the caprice of its own leaders,
seemed nevertheless to those at a distance surrounded with a halo of
power and greatness. The Prince of the Captivity appeared to the Jews
of distant lands, who heard only confused rumors, to have regained
the scepter of David; for them the Geonim of the two colleges were
the living upholders and the representatives of the ideal times of
the Talmud. The further the dominion of the Caliphate of the house of
Ommiyyah was extended, to the north beyond the Oxus, to the east to
India, in the west and the south to Africa and the Pyrenees, the more
adherents were gained for the Babylonian Jewish chiefs. Every conquest
of the Mahometan generals enlarged the boundaries of the dominion under
the rule of the Prince of the Captivity and the Geonim. Even Palestine,
deprived of its center, subordinated itself to Babylonia. The hearts
of all Jews turned towards the potentates on the Euphrates, and their
presents flowed in freely, to enable the house of David to make a
worthy appearance, and the Talmudical colleges to continue to exist in
splendor. The grief for their dispersion to all corners of the earth
was mitigated by the knowledge that by the rivers of Babylon, where the
flower of the Jewish nation in its full vigor had settled, and where
the great Amoraim had lived and worked, a Jewish commonwealth still
existed. It was universally believed by the Jews that in the original
seat of Jewish greatness the primitive spring of ancient Jewish wisdom
was still flowing. "God permitted the colleges of Sora and Pumbeditha
to come into existence twelve years before the destruction of the
Temple by Nebuchadnezzar, and vouchsafed them His special protection.
They never suffered persecution at the hands of the Romans or the
Byzantines, and have known neither coercion nor bondage. From thence
will proceed the deliverance of Israel, and the dwellers in this happy
corner of the earth will be spared the sufferings that are to usher in
the age of the Messiah." Such was the view held by all who had not seen
the Babylonian settlement with their own eyes.
It was accounted an honor for a dead person to be mentioned at a
memorial service at the colleges. For this purpose a special day was
set apart in each month of assembly, during which no business was
transacted by the colleges; the members mourned for the benefactors of
the colleges that had died during the past year, and prayed for the
peace of their souls (Ashkabá). Later on it became customary to forward
lists of the dead, even from France and Spain, in order that they might
also be thus honored.
The Jews of Spain, to whom so brilliant a part is allotted in Jewish
history, drained the cup of misery to the dregs, at the very time
when their brethren in Irak obtained almost perfect freedom and
independence. Some of them had been obliged to emigrate; others were
compelled to embrace Christianity, and were required by the king
Chintila, solemnly to declare in writing their sincere adherence
to the Catholic faith and their entire repudiation of Judaism. But
although they had been forcibly converted, the Jews of Visigothic
Spain nevertheless clung steadfastly to their prohibited religion. The
independent Visigothic nobles, to a certain extent, protected them
from the king's severity, and no sooner were the eyes of the fanatical
Chintila closed in death than the Jews openly reverted to Judaism under
Chindaswinth, his successor (642-652). This monarch was at open enmity
with the clergy, who desired to restrain the power of the throne in
favor of the Church, but was well affected towards the Jews.
His son, Receswinth, however, who was altogether unlike him, adopted
an entirely different policy. Either from fanaticism, or in order to
ingratiate himself with the clergy, at that time hostile to the throne,
he proposed in an ecclesiastical council (which was at the same time
a parliament) to deal rigorously with the Jews, more especially with
such of them as had formerly feigned to be Christians. In his speech
from the throne, Receswinth made the following appeal to the members of
the council: "It is because I have learnt that my kingdom is polluted
by them as by an epidemic that I denounce the life and the behavior of
the Jews. For while the Almighty has entirely freed the country from
heresy, a disgraceful desecration of the churches still continues. This
shall either be reformed by our piety or rooted out by our severity. I
mean that many of the Jews still persist in their old unbelief, while
others, although purified by baptism, have relapsed so deeply into the
errors of apostasy that their blasphemy seems even more abominable than
the sin of those who have not been baptized. I adjure you, therefore,
to decree against the Jews, without favor or respect of persons, some
measure which shall be agreeable to God and to our faith." The Council
of Toledo (the eighth), however, passed no new law against the Jews,
but simply confirmed the canonical decisions of the fourth Council of
Toledo. The Jews were, it is true, allowed to remain in the country,
but could neither possess slaves, nor hold any office, nor appear as
witnesses against Christians. But far harder was the fate of those
who, during the persecutions, had pretended to embrace Christianity.
They were compelled to remain within the pale of the Church, and
to abjure Judaism once again. Flight was impossible, for severe
punishments were decreed against all who renounced Christianity, or
hid themselves anywhere, or attempted to leave the country. Even the
abettors of, or accessories to, the flight of converts incurred heavy
punishment. Those, however, who desired to continue outwardly in their
pretended faith, but who still clung to Judaism in their inmost hearts,
were required to subscribe anew to a renunciation of their religion
(placitum Judæorum).
On February 18th, 654, the Jews of the capital Toletum (Toledo) signed
a confession of the purport that they had already promised, it was
true, under king Chintila, to remain steadfast to the Catholic faith,
but that their unbelief and the erroneous opinions which they had
inherited from their fathers had prevented them from acknowledging
Christ as their Master. Now, however, they voluntarily promised for
themselves, their wives, and their children that, in future, they would
not observe the rites and ceremonies of Judaism. They would no longer
hold culpable intercourse with unconverted Jews, neither would they
intermarry with near relations (children of brothers and sisters), nor
take Jewish wives, nor observe Jewish marriage-customs, nor practice
circumcision, nor keep the Passover, the Sabbath, nor any other Jewish
festivals; they would no longer observe the dietary laws--in a word,
they would henceforward disregard the laws of the Jews and their
abominable customs. On the other hand, they would honestly and devoutly
profess a religion in conformity with the gospel and the apostolic
traditions, and observe the precepts of the Church without deceit or
pretense. One thing, however, was impossible, namely, that they should
partake of pork; they were entirely unable to overcome their abhorrence
of it. They promised, however, to partake freely of anything which
might have been cooked with pork. Whoever among them should be guilty
of a violation of this promise was to be put to death by fire or by
stoning at the hands of their companions or their sons. To all of this
they swore "by the Trinity." It is probable that the forced converts in
the other cities of the Visigothic-Spanish empire were obliged to give
similar written assurances. At the same time they were still compelled
to pay the tax levied on the Jews, for the Treasury could not afford to
lose by their change of faith.
As king Receswinth was well aware, however, that the independent nobles
of the country afforded the Jews their protection, and allowed such
of them as had been converted by force to live according to their
convictions, he issued a decree forbidding all Christians to befriend
the secret Jews, under penalty of excommunication and exclusion from
the pale of the Church. But these measures and precautions by no means
accomplished the intended result.
The secret Jews, or as they were officially termed, the Judaizing
Christians, could not tear Judaism out of their hearts. The Spanish
Jews, surrounded as they were by perils of death, early learnt the
art of remaining true in their inmost soul to their religion, and of
escaping their Argus-eyed foe. They continued to celebrate the Jewish
festivals in their homes, and to disregard the holy-days instituted by
the Church. Desirous of putting an end to such a state of things, the
representatives of the Church issued a decree, which aimed at depriving
this unfortunate people of their home life; they were henceforward
compelled to spend the Jewish and Christian holy-days under the eyes of
the clergy, in order that they might thereby be obliged to disregard
the former and to observe the latter (655).
When, after a long reign, Receswinth died, the tormented Jewish
converts took part in a revolt against his successor, Wamba (672-680).
Count Hilderic, Governor of Septimania, a province of Spain, having
refused to recognize the newly-elected king, raised the standard
of revolt. In order to gain adherents and means, he promised the
converted Jews a safe refuge and religious liberty in his province,
and they, taking advantage of the invitation, emigrated in numbers.
The insurrection of Hilderic of Nismes assumed greater proportions,
and at first gave hopes of a successful issue, but the insurgents were
eventually defeated. Wamba appeared with an army before Narbonne, and
expelled the Jews from this city. At the council which he convened
(the eleventh) the Jews did not form the subject of any legislation;
they seem, on the contrary, to have enjoyed a certain amount of
freedom during his reign, and to have made some efforts towards their
self-preservation.
In order, on the one hand, to prove that, although they were unable to
reconcile themselves to Christianity, they were not entirely bereft of
reason, as their enemies had declared at the councils and also in their
writings; and, on the other hand, in order to keep their ancestral
belief alive both in themselves and in such of their brethren as only
partly belonged to the Christian faith, certain talented Jews set
themselves to compose anti-Christian treatises, probably in Latin.
One point alone is known of the arguments advanced in these polemical
writings. The authors referred to a tradition relating that the Messiah
would not appear before the seventh cycle of a thousand years, counting
from the creation of the world; the first six cycles corresponded to
the six days of the creation, and the seventh would be the universal
Sabbath, the reign of the Messiah. But as, according to their method
of reckoning, hardly five thousand years had elapsed from the creation
to the birth of Jesus, it was impossible, they maintained, that the
Messiah had appeared. This objection must have been forcibly urged by
the Jewish writers, for many Christians were thereby made to waver in
their faith.
This partial liberty of religion, thought, and speech, was suppressed
by Wamba's successor, who gained possession of the throne by
treacherous means. Erwig, who was of Byzantine origin, and who
possessed to the full the deceitfulness and unscrupulousness of the
degenerate Greeks, caused Wamba to assume the cowl, and proclaimed
himself king. In order to have his usurpation recognized as lawful
succession, Erwig found himself obliged to make some concessions to the
clergy, and accordingly he handed the Jews over to them as victims.
With assumed earnestness, he addressed the council which was assembled
to crown him, and in a fanatical speech, submitted for confirmation a
series of laws against the Jews. The portion of the royal speech which
was directed against the Jews ran as follows: "With tears streaming
from my eyes, I implore this honorable assembly to manifest its zeal,
and free the land from this plague of degeneracy. Arise, arise, I cry
unto you; put to the test the laws against the apostasy of the Jews
which we have just promulgated."
Of the seven-and-twenty paragraphs which Erwig submitted to the council
for ratification, one alone related to the Jews; the rest were leveled
at those forced converts who, despite their promises to persist in the
Christian faith, and the severe punishment that followed in case of
detection, were still unable to abandon Judaism. Erwig's edict made but
short work of the Jews. They were commanded to offer themselves, their
children, and all persons under their control, for baptism within the
space of a year, otherwise their property would be confiscated, one
hundred lashes would be inflicted on them, the skin torn off their head
and forehead to their everlasting shame, and they themselves driven out
of the country. On the converted Jews, fresh hardships were imposed.
They were now not only obliged to spend the Christian and Jewish
holy-days under the eyes of the clergy, but were further subjected to
clerical control in all their movements. Whenever they set out upon
a journey, they had to present themselves before the ecclesiastical
authorities of the place, and obtain a certificate from them, setting
forth the time they had lived there, and attesting that their conduct
had been in rigorous conformity with Church law during that period. At
the same time, unless they could prove that they had led a blameless,
Christian life, they were incompetent to hold any office, even to act
as village bailiff (vilicus, actor) over Christian slaves. They always
had to carry about with them a copy of the laws which had been passed
against them, so that they might never be able to plead ignorance in
excuse. The ecclesiastical and royal judges were instructed to watch
strictly over the execution of these orders, and all Christians were
forbidden to accept any presents from converted Jews.
The council, at the head of which was Julian, the Metropolitan of
Toledo, a man of Jewish descent, passed all Erwig's proposals, and
enacted that these laws, as ratified by the decision of the synod,
were by general acknowledgment inviolable for all time. Two days
after the prorogation of this council, the Jews, both those that had
remained true to their religion and those that had been converted, were
called together, the laws were read to them and their rigid observance
strictly enjoined (January 25th, 681). A third time the converted
Jews were compelled to abjure Judaism and to draw up a confession
of faith--with the same sincerity, of course, as under Chintila and
Receswinth.
But the Visigothic-Spanish Jews fared still worse under Erwig's
successor, Egica. He did not drive them out of the country, it is true,
but he did what was worse, he restricted their rights. He prohibited
the Jews and the Judaizing Christians from possessing landed property
and houses; moreover, they were forbidden to repair to Africa, or to
trade with that continent, or to transact business with any Christians
whatever. They were compelled to surrender all their real estate to the
Treasury, and were indemnified, probably not too liberally, for the
same (693). Only those that were really converted were left unfettered
by these restrictions.
The Jews were driven to despair by this new law, which it was
impossible to evade, as their real estate was actually confiscated;
they accordingly united in a perilous conspiracy against their
unrelenting foe. They entered into an alliance with their more
fortunate brethren in Africa, with the intention of overthrowing the
Visigothic empire, and were probably aided by the boldly-advancing
Mahometans and the malcontent nobles of the country (694). The attempt
might easily have succeeded, for, owing to dissension, unnatural
vices and weakness, the country was far advanced in a state of ruin
and dissolution. But the conspiracy of the Jews was discovered before
it had matured, and severe punishment was inflicted not only on the
culprits, but on the whole Jewish population of Spain, including that
of the province of Septimania (together with Narbonne). They were all
sentenced to slavery, presented to various masters, and distributed
throughout the country, their owners being prohibited from setting
them free again. Children of seven years of age and upwards were torn
from their parents and given to Christians to be educated. The only
exception made was in favor of the Jewish warriors of the narrow passes
of the Gallic province, who formed a bulwark against invasion. They
were indispensable, and their bravery protected them from degradation
and slavery, but even they were compelled to change their religion.
The Spanish Jews continued in this state of degradation until Egica's
death. When his son Witiga followed him to the grave, the last hours
of this empire were evidently at hand. The Jews of Africa, who at
various times had emigrated thither from Spain, and their unlucky
co-religionists of the Peninsula, made common cause with the Mahometan
conqueror, Tarik, who brought over from Africa into Andalusia an army
eager for the fray. After the battle of Xeres (July, 711), and the
death of Roderic, the last of the Visigothic kings, the victorious
Arabs pushed onward, and were everywhere supported by the Jews. In
every city that they conquered the Moslem generals were able to leave
but a small garrison of their own troops, as they had need of every man
for the subjection of the country; they therefore confided them to the
safe-keeping of the Jews. In this manner the Jews, who but lately had
been serfs, now became the masters of the towns of Cordova, Granada,
Malaga, and many others. When Tarik appeared before the capital,
Toledo, he found it occupied by a small garrison only, the nobles
and clergy having found safety in flight. While the Christians were
in church, praying for the safety of their country and religion, the
Jews flung open the gates to the victorious Arabs (Palm-Sunday, 712),
receiving them with acclamations, and thus avenged themselves for the
many miseries which had befallen them in the course of a century since
the time of Reccared and Sisebut. The capital also was entrusted by
Tarik to the custody of the Jews, while he pushed on in pursuit of the
cowardly Visigoths, who had sought safety in flight, for the purpose of
recovering from them the treasure which they had carried off.
Finally, when Muza Ibn-Nosair, the Governor of Africa, brought a second
army into Spain and conquered other cities, he also delivered them into
the custody of the Jews. It was under these favorable conditions that
the Spanish Jews came under the rule of the Mahometans, and like their
co-religionists in Babylonia and Persia, they were esteemed the allies
of their rulers. They were kindly treated, obtained religious liberty,
of which they had so long been deprived, were permitted to exercise
jurisdiction over their co-religionists, and were obliged, like the
conquered Christians, to pay only a poll-tax (Dsimma). Thus were they
received into that great alliance, which, to a certain extent, united
all the Jews of the Islamite empire into one commonwealth.
As the Mahometan empire grew in size, the activity of its Jewish
inhabitants increased in proportion. The first Caliphs of the house
of Ommiyyah, by reason of their continual wars with the descendants
and comrades of Mahomet, with the fanatical upholders of the letter
of the Koran, and with the partisans of the spiritual Imamate
(high-priesthood), had become entirely free from that narrow-mindedness
and mania for persecution which characterized the founder and the
first two Caliphs. The following rulers of the Mahometans, Moawiyah,
Yezid I., Abdul-Malik, Walid I., and Suliman (656-717), were far more
worldly than spiritual; their political horizon was extensive, and they
fettered themselves but little with the narrow precepts of the Koran
and the traditions (Sunna). They loved Arabic poetry (Abdul-Malik was
himself a poet), held knowledge in esteem, and rewarded the author
quite as liberally as the soldier who fought for them. The Jewish
inhabitants of Mahometan countries soon adopted the Arabic language.
It is closely related, in many of its roots and forms, to Hebrew,
with which language all of them were more or less familiar, and they
needed a knowledge thereof, as it was the indispensable medium of
communication. The enthusiasm which the Arabs felt for their language
and its poetry, the care which they took to keep it pure, accurate
and sonorous, had their effect upon the Jews, and taught them to
employ correct forms of speech. During the six hundred years which
had elapsed since the fall of the Jewish nation, the Jews had lost
the sense of beauty and grace of expression; they were negligent in
their speech, careless of purity of form, and indifferent to the
clothing of their thoughts and emotions in suitable terms. A people
possessed of an imperfect delivery, using a medley of Hebrew, Chaldee,
and corrupt Greek, was not in a position to create a literature,
much less to enchain the wayward muse of poetry. But, as already
mentioned, the Jews of Arabia formed an exception. They acquired from
their neighbors correct taste, and the art of framing their speech
pleasantly and impressively. The Jewish tribes of Kainukaa and Nadhir,
which had emigrated to Palestine and Syria, the Jews of Chaibar and
Wadil-Kora, who had been transplanted to the region of Kufa and the
center of the Gaonate, brought with them to their new home this love
and taste for the poetical Arabic tongue, and gradually instilled
them into their co-religionists. Hardly half a century after the
occupation of Palestine and Persia by the Arabs, a Babylonian Jew was
able to handle the Arabic language for literary purposes: the Jewish
physician, Messer-Jawaih of Bassorah, translated a medical work from
the Syriac into Arabic. Henceforward the Jews, together with the Syrian
Christians, were the channels through which scientific literature
reached the Arabs.
The enthusiasm of the Arabs for their language and the Koran evoked
in the hearts of the Jews a similar sentiment for the Hebrew tongue
and its holy records. Besides this, the Jews were now obliged to make
closer acquaintance with the Scriptures, in order that they might not
be put to the blush in their controversies with the Mahometans. Until
now the talented men among them had turned their attention exclusively
to the Talmud and the Agadic exposition, but necessity at last
compelled them to return to the source, the Bible.
As soon, however, as it was desired to recover what had been lost
for centuries, and to return with ardor to the study of Biblical
literature, a need manifested itself which first had to be supplied. In
supplying the Biblical text with the vowel signs invented in Babylonia
or in Tiberias, it was necessary to proceed in such passages, as
had not become familiar by frequent reading in public, according to
grammatical rules. The Punctuators were obliged to be guided partly
by tradition and partly by their sense of language. In this manner
there arose the rudiments of two branches of knowledge: one treating
of the above-mentioned rules of the Hebrew language, the other of
the science of orthography, together with the exceptions as handed
down by tradition (Massora). This apparently unimportant invention
of adding certain strokes and points to the consonants thus led to
the comprehension of the Holy Scriptures by the general public and
the initiation of a more general knowledge of Judaism. By its help
the holy language could now celebrate its revival; it was no longer
a dead language employed only by scholars, but might become a means
of educating the people. The auxiliary signs tended to break down the
barrier between the learned (Chacham) and the unlearned (Am-ha-Arez).
An immediate consequence of contact with the Arabs and the study of
the Holy Writ was the birth of neo-Hebraic poetry. Poetical natures
naturally felt themselves impelled to make use of the copious Hebrew
vocabulary in metrical compositions and polished verse, in the same
manner as the Arabs had done with their language. But while the
Arabic bards sang of the sword, of chivalry, of unbridled love,
bewailed the loss of worldly possessions, and attacked with their
satire such of their enemies as they could not reach with the sword,
the newly-awakened Hebrew poetry knew of but one subject worthy of
enthusiasm and adoration, God and His providence, of but one subject
worthy of lament, the destitution and sorrows of the Jewish nation.
The new-born Hebrew poetry, however different in form and matter from
that of the Bible, had a religious foundation in common with it. The
psalm of praise and the soul-afflicting dirge of lamentation were taken
by the neo-Hebraic poets as their models. But a third element also
claimed attention. Since the state had lost its independence, learning
had become the soul of Judaism; religious deeds, if not accompanied by
knowledge of the Law, were accounted of no worth. The main feature of
the Sabbath and festival services was the reading of portions of the
Law and the Prophets, the interpretation thereof by the Targumists and
the explanation of the text by the Agadists (preachers of homilies).
Neo-Hebraic poetry, if it was to reach the hearts of the people, could
not be entirely devoid of a didactic element. The poet's only scene of
action was the synagogue, his only audience, the congregation assembled
for prayer and instruction, and his poetry, therefore, necessarily
assumed a synagogical or liturgical character.
The poetical impulse was strengthened by practical necessity. The
original divine service with its short and simple prayers was no longer
sufficient. It was extended, it is true, by the recitation of psalms
and appropriate liturgical compositions, but even this did not fill up
the time which the congregation would gladly have spent in the house
of God. This was especially felt on the New Year's festival and on the
Day of Atonement, which were dedicated to deep devotion, and during the
greater part of which the congregation remained in the house of prayer,
contrite, and imploring forgiveness and redemption. It was evident that
the divine service must be amplified, and more matter for meditation
provided. In this manner arose the synagogical, or, as it was also
called, the _poetanic_ composition. At the head of the succession of
neo-Hebraic poets stands José bar José Hayathom (or Haithom), whose
works are not without true poetic ring, although devoid of artistic
form. The date and nationality of this poet are entirely unknown, but
it appears probable that he was a native of Palestine, and that he
lived not earlier than the first Gaonic century.
José b. José took as the subject of his poems the emotions and memories
which move a Jewish congregation on New Year's Day. On this occasion,
the birthday of a new division of time, on which, according to Jewish
ideas, the fate that the year has in store for men and communities is
decided, God is extolled in a sublime poem as the mighty Master, the
Creator of the world, the just Judge and the Redeemer of Israel. This
poem, which was attached to the old prayers for the prescribed blowing
of the cornet, and was intended to interpret them, embraces in a small
compass the story of Israel's glorious past, its oppressed present,
and promised future. José's poem is at once a psalm of triumph and of
lamentation, interwoven with penitential prayers and words of hope. The
resurrection is described in a few striking, picturesque lines.
Another and longer of José's poems has for its theme the ancient
worship in the Temple on the Day of Atonement, which an attentive
nation had once followed in devotional mood, and the description of
which was well calculated to awaken the great memories of the glorious
times of national independence (Abodah). It is a sort of liturgical
epic, which describes simply, and without any lyrical strain, the
creation of the universe and of man, the ungodliness of the first
generation, Abraham's recognition of God, the election of his posterity
as God's peculiar people, and the calling of Aaron's family to the
service of the Temple. Arrived at the priesthood of Aaron, the poet,
following the account of the Mishna, goes on to describe the duties of
the high-priest in the Temple on the Day of Atonement, and concludes
with the moment when the high-priest, accompanied by the whole nation,
joyful and assured by visible signs of forgiveness, leaves the Temple
for his home,--a beautiful fragment of the past, which has always
awakened a powerful echo in the hearts of the Jewish people.
Elevation of thought and beauty of language are the characteristics
of José b. José's poetry. His New Year's sonnets and Temple epic have
become parts of the divine service of certain congregations, and have
served as models for others. His verses are unrhymed and without
meter, a proof of their great antiquity. The only artificial feature
of his poetical works is the alphabetical or acrostic commencement
of verses, for which several of the Psalms, Jeremiah's Lamentations,
and the post-talmudical prayers served as models. In the first fruits
of the new Hebraic poetry, form is completely subservient to the
subject-matter. There has been preserved from ancient times another
Abodah, ascribed to a poet named Simon ben Caipha. It appears to have
been written in imitation of that of José b. José, but is greatly
inferior to its model. However, it was honored by being adopted by
the synagogue of the Gaonate. To the name of Simon Caipha, which
sounds like the Jewish name of the apostle Peter, a peculiar legend
is attached: The apostle, who supports the foundation of the Catholic
Church, is represented as having written this Abodah in order to
declare in the opening part his truly Jewish acknowledgment of God's
unity, and to renounce his adherence to Jesus, as though the disciple
who three times denied his Master had desired in this liturgical poem
to attest his unbelief.
It was impossible that Jewish liturgical poetry could long remain
satisfied with this simplicity of form. Little by little the Jews
became acquainted with the poetry of the Arabs, the agreeable sound
of its rhymes captivated them, and they were led to regard rhyme as
the perfection of poetry. The _poetanists_, therefore, if they would
be well received, could not afford to neglect this artistic device,
and they assiduously devoted themselves to its cultivation. As far as
is known, the first poet who introduced rhyme into the neo-Hebraic
poetry was a certain Jannai, probably an inhabitant of Palestine. He
composed versified prayers for those special Sabbaths which, either by
reason of historical events connected with them, or of being a time of
preparation for the approaching festivals, were possessed of particular
importance. The Agadic discourses, which had been introduced on these
Sabbaths, do not seem to have pleased the congregations any longer,
because the preachers were unable to find new and attractive matter;
they seem, indeed, to have read out the same discourses in a given
order from year to year.
The poems of Jannai and his fellow-workers aimed at giving the
substance of these Agadic expositions in the form of agreeable verse.
Hence, Jannai's productions are versified Agadas. But as he was not
enough of a poet to reproduce the elevated and striking passages of
Agadic literature, as his rhymes were heavy and labored, and as he
also burdened himself with the task of commencing his verses with
consecutive letters of the alphabet, and of interweaving his name into
them, his poems are dull, clumsy, and unwieldy.
Altogether neo-Hebraic poetry gained nothing during its earlier
years by the introduction of rhyme. Eleazar ben Kalir or Kaliri (of
Kiriat-Sepher), one of the first and most prolific of the _poetanic_
writers, and a disciple of Jannai, was just as clumsy and harsh as
his master, and his style was even more obscure. He wrote over 150
liturgical pieces, including hymns for the festivals, penitential
prayers for the holy-days, songs of lamentation for the principal
fasts, and various other compositions which cannot be classed under
distinct heads. Kaliri put into most artificial verses a large portion
of the Agadic literature, but only a few of his compositions have any
poetical value, and none possesses beauty. In order to overcome the
difficulties which were presented by the allusions to the Agada, by
the use of rhyme, of the alphabetically arranged initial words and the
interweaving of his name, Kaliri was obliged to do violence to the
Hebrew language, to set at defiance the fixed rules which govern the
use of words, and to create unprecedented combinations. In place of
word-pictures, he often presents to his reader obscure riddles, which
it is impossible to solve without a thorough acquaintance with the
Agadic writings. Nevertheless, Kaliri's poetic compositions made their
way into the liturgies of the Babylonian, Italian, German, and French
Jews; the Spaniards alone, guided by delicate feeling for language,
refused to adopt them. Kaliri was honored as the greatest of the
_poetanic_ writers, and tradition has glorified his name.
By the introduction of these compositions, the liturgy acquired
an altered character. The translation of the portions of the Law
which were read out to the congregation, and the Agadic expositions
thereof, which, as the Jews of the Islamic empire adopted the Arabic
language, had become unfamiliar to the multitude, gradually disappeared
from the divine service, and their places were filled by metrical
compositions (Piyutim) which answered the same purpose, and at the same
time possessed the advantage of a poetical character. By this means
considerable extension was given to the divine service. The reader
supplanted the preacher. Singing was introduced into the synagogue, as
the poetical prayers were not recited, but chanted (Chazanuth). Special
tunes were introduced for the various prayers. But the _poetanic_
compositions were not adopted by all congregations as part of their
divine service. The Talmudical authorities were at first opposed to
their adoption, for the reason that they were usually interpolated
between the various divisions of the principal prayer, and in this
manner destroyed the continuity and coherence of its separate parts.
The return to the source of the Bible had the result of kindling a
poetic flame in artistic natures; but, at the same time, it fanned
into existence a wild spirit which at first brought trouble, schism,
and malediction in its train, although afterwards it became a source
of purification, vigor, and blessing to the Jews. The origin of this
movement, which divided the Jewish commonwealth of the east and west
into two camps, dates from the first Gaonic century.
The Babylonian Talmud held sway over the Jewish community in Babylonia;
it was not only a code, but also the constitution for the community
of which the Prince of the Captivity and the two presidents of the
Talmudical colleges were the chief dignitaries. By the expansion of
the Islamic dominion from India to Spain, from the Caucasus far down
into Africa, the authority of the Talmud was extended far beyond its
original bounds; for the most distant congregations placed themselves
into communication with the Geonim, submitted points of religion,
morals, and civil law to them for advice, and accepted in full faith
their decisions, which were based on the Talmud. The Babylonian-Persian
communities felt themselves in nowise hampered by the Talmudical
ordinances, which were of their own creation, and had sprung up in
their midst, the outcome of their views, morals, and customs, the work
of their authorities. The African and European communities were too
unlearned in the Bible and the Talmud to be able to express an opinion
on the matter. They accepted the decisions of the Geonim as law,
without greatly troubling themselves as to their agreement with the
Bible.
Not so, however, with the Arabian Jews who had emigrated from Arabia to
Palestine, Syria and Irak, the Benu-Kainukaa, the Benu-Nadhir, and the
Chaibarites. They were sons of the desert, men of the sword, soldiers
and warriors, accustomed from their childhood to a free life and to the
development of their strength; men who cultivated social intercourse
with their former Arabic allies and fellow-soldiers, in whose midst
they again settled after the conquest of Persia and Syria. Judaism was
indeed dear to them, for they had sacrificed liberty, country, fame
and wealth in its cause, and had resisted Mahomet's importunities, and
had not allowed themselves to be converted to Islam. But between the
Judaism which they practised in Arabia, and the Judaism taught by the
Talmud, and set up as a standard by the colleges, there lay a deep
gulf. To conform to Talmudical precepts, it would have been necessary
for them to renounce their genial familiarity with their former
comrades, and to give up their drinking-bouts with the Arabs which,
despite their interdiction by the Koran, the latter greatly loved. In a
word, they felt themselves hampered by the Talmud.
The Jews of Arabia, who came into close contact with the Mahometans,
and were, therefore, frequently involved in controversy as to whether
Judaism was still possessed of authority or had been superseded by
Islam, were obliged, so as not to be at a loss in such discussions,
to familiarize themselves with the Bible. They in that way probably
discovered that much of what the Talmud and the colleges declared to be
religious precept, was not confirmed by the Bible. But from whatever
cause this aversion to Talmudical precepts may have arisen, it is
certain that it first had its origin in the Arabian Jewish colony in
Syria or Irak. It is related, in an authentic source, that during the
first part of the eighth century, many Jews allowed themselves to be
persuaded to abandon Talmudical Judaism and to conform only to the
precepts of the Bible.
The leader of this movement was a Syrian, Serene (Serenus) by name,
who called himself the Messiah (about 720). He promised the Jews to
put them into possession of the Holy Land, having first, of course,
expelled the Mahometans. This attempt to regain their long-lost
independence was perhaps occasioned by the fanatical Caliph Omar II
(717-720). That bigoted prince, who had been raised to the throne by
the intrigues of a zealous reader of the Koran, had re-enacted the
restrictive laws of his predecessor, Omar I (the covenant of Omar),
which had fallen into oblivion under the politic Ommiyyades. After
his accession to the throne, he wrote to his governors as follows:
"Do not pull down a church or a synagogue, but do not allow new ones
to be built within your provinces." Omar devoted himself to making
proselytes, holding out attractive promises to the new converts,
or unceremoniously compelling both Jews and Christians to embrace
Islam. It was probably for this reason that the Jews were disposed to
support the false Messiah, and to lend credence to his representations
that he would make them free again in the land of their fathers, and
exterminate their enemies. Upon his banner Serene inscribed the release
from Talmudical ordinances; he abolished the second day's celebration
of the festivals, the prescribed forms of prayer, and the laws of
the Talmud relating to food: he permitted the use of wine obtained
from non-Jews, and sanctioned marriage between persons of nearer
relationship than was allowed by the Talmud, as also celebration
of marriages without a marriage-contract. It is probable that this
hostility towards the Talmud gained him many adherents.
Serene's fame spread as far as Spain, and the Jews of that country
resolved to abandon their property and to place themselves under the
leadership of the pseudo-Messiah. Hardly ten years after the Jews
of Spain had been delivered from the yoke of the Visigoths by the
conquests of the Mahometans, they, or at least many of them, were
desirous of again abandoning their newly-acquired fatherland. It
appears that they were dissatisfied with the rule and administration
of the Mahometan governors. As they had rendered signal services to
the Arabs in the conquest of the Peninsula, they probably expected
particular consideration and distinction, and instead of this they
were impoverished equally with the Christians. Serene's fate was
miserable, as indeed he deserved. He was captured and brought before
the Caliph Yezid, Omar II's successor, who put an end to his Messianic
pretensions by propounding insidious questions to him, which he was
unable to answer. Serene is said, however, to have denied before the
Caliph that he had had any serious designs, but that he only intended
to make game of the Jews; whereupon the Caliph handed him over to
the Jews for punishment. Many of his adherents, repenting of their
easy credulity, desired to rejoin the communities from which they
had severed themselves by infringement of the Talmudical ordinances.
The Syrian communities were doubtful, however, whether they ought to
re-admit their repentant brethren into their midst, or whether they
ought not to be treated as proselytes. They referred the matter,
therefore, to Natronaï ben Nehemiah, surnamed Mar-Yanka, the principal
of the college at Pumbeditha, and successor of Mar-Raba (719-730).
Natronaï's decision concerning the reception of Serene's adherents
was conceived in a liberal spirit, and ran as follows: According to
the laws of the Talmud, there is nothing to prevent them from being
re-admitted by the communities and being treated as Jews; but they are
to declare openly in the synagogues their sorrow and repentance, and
to promise that their future conduct shall be pious and in accordance
with the precepts of the Talmud, and in addition they are to suffer the
punishment of flogging. At that time there were also other apostates,
who went so far as to disregard the Biblical precepts concerning the
Sabbath, the ritual for slaughtering cattle, the eating of blood, and
the intermarrying of near relations. It is not known, however, in what
country these people lived. Without declaring either for Christianity
or Islam, they had entirely severed their connection with Judaism. When
some of these sought re-admission into the fold of Judaism, Natronaï
was again asked for his opinion. He said, "It is better to take them
under the wings of God than to cast them out."
At about this time the Jews of the Byzantine empire were subjected
to severe persecution, from the effects of which they did not for a
long time recover, and this, too, at the hands of a monarch from whom
they had least expected hostile treatment. Leo, the Isaurian, the
son of rude peasant parents, having had his attention drawn by the
Jews and the Arabs to the idolatrous character of the image-worship
which obtained in the churches, had undertaken a campaign with the
intention of destroying these images. Being denounced, however, before
the uncultivated mob as a heretic and a Jew by the image-worshiping
clergy, Leo proceeded to vindicate his orthodoxy by persecuting the
heretics and the Jews. He issued a decree commanding all the Jews of
the Byzantine empire and the remnant of the Montanists in Asia Minor
to embrace the Christianity of the Greek Church, under pain of severe
punishment (723). Many Jews submitted to this decree, and reluctantly
received baptism; they were thus less steadfast than the Montanists,
who, in order to remain faithful to their convictions, assembled in
their house of prayer, set fire to it, and perished in the flames.
Such of the Jews as had allowed themselves to be baptized were of
the opinion that the storm would soon blow over, and that they would
be permitted to return to Judaism. It was, therefore, only outwardly
that they embraced Christianity; for they observed the Jewish rites
in secret, thereby subjecting themselves to fresh persecutions. Thus
the Jews of the Byzantine empire pined away under unceasing petty
persecution, and for a time they are hidden from the view of history.
Many Jews of the Byzantine empire, however, escaped compulsory baptism
by emigration. They quitted a country in which their forefathers had
settled long before the rise of that Church which had so persistently
persecuted them. The Jews of Asia Minor chose as their home the
neighboring Cimmerian or Tauric peninsula (the Crimea), whose
uncivilized inhabitants, of Scythian, Finnish and Sclavonian origin,
practised idolatry. These Alani, Bulgarians and Chazars were, however,
not jealous of men of other race and of a different belief who settled
in their vicinity. Thus, side by side with the Jewish communities
which had existed from early times, there arose new communities on the
shores of the Black Sea and the Straits of Theodosia (Kaffa), and in
the interior, in Sulchat (Solgat, now Eski-Crimea), in Phanagoria (now
Taman), and on the Bosporus (Kertch), which lies opposite. From the
Crimea the Greek Jews spread towards the Caucasus, and the hospitable
countries of the Chazars on the west coast of the Caspian Sea and at
the mouth of the Volga (Atel). Jewish communities settled in Berdaa
(Derbend), at the Albanian Gates, in Semender (Tarki), and finally in
Balanyiar, the capital of the land of the Chazars. By their energy,
ability and intelligence, the Greek-Jewish emigrants speedily acquired
power in the midst of these barbarian nations, and prepared the way for
an important historical event.
Hardly thirty years after the fall of the false Messiah, Serene, an
anti-Talmudical movement, coupled with Messianic enthusiasm, was again
set on foot, but this time on a different scene. The prime mover was a
fantastic and warlike inhabitant of the Persian town of Ispahan, one
Obaiah Abu-Isa ben Ishak. He was not an ignorant man; he understood the
Bible and the Talmud, and was capable of expressing his thoughts in
writing. It is said that he was made aware of his call to an exalted
vocation by a sudden cure from leprosy. Abu-Isa did not proclaim
himself to be the Messiah, but asserted that he was the forerunner and
awakener (Dâï) who was to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. His
views concerning the office of precursor of the Messiah were, indeed,
altogether peculiar. He taught that five forerunners would precede the
Messiah, and that each one would be more perfect than his predecessor.
He considered himself the last and most perfect of the five, and of
equal merit with the Messiah. He assumed his vocation in good earnest,
and announced that God had called him to free the Jewish race from the
yoke of the nations and of unjust rulers.
The Messianic precursor of Ispahan found many partisans, 10,000 Jews,
it is said, gathering around him for the purpose of aiding him in
his work of deliverance. To them Abu-Isa expounded a form of Judaism
differing in some respects from that accepted at the time; the points
of difference, however, are not known. He entirely abolished divorce,
even in the case of adultery. He augmented the three daily periods
for prayer by four new periods, citing in support of this innovation
the verse of a psalm: "Seven times a day do I praise thee." Abu-Isa
retained the forms of prayer as prescribed by the Talmud, and in no
way disturbed the existing order of the calendar. He explained his
own peculiar system of religion in one of his works, in which he
prohibits the use of meat and wine by his followers, but pronounces the
abrogation of sacrificial worship.
Abu-Isa desired to accomplish his Messianic task of liberation with
sword in hand. He accordingly made soldiers of his followers, and rode
at their head like a general. There could have been no more favorable
moment for an attempt to regain liberty by open force. In all the
provinces of the Mahometan empire the spirit of rebellion against
Mervan II, the last Caliph of the Ommiyyad dynasty, was aroused.
Ambitious governors, dissatisfied partisans, the Abassides, who laid
claim to the supreme power, all these antagonistic elements conspired
to overthrow the house of Ommiyyah, and turned the wide dominions of
the empire into a battlefield of fierce passions. During this period
of rebellion, Abu-Isa and his band seem to have begun their work of
deliverance in the neighborhood of Ispahan. They probably strengthened
their position during the disturbances consequent upon the severe
defeat sustained by Mervan's general on the Euphrates (at Kerbella,
August, 749).
Finally, Abu-Isa fell in battle; his followers dispersed, and
the Jews of Ispahan had to suffer for his revolt. His adherents,
however, loyally cherished his memory; under the name of Isavites or
Ispahanites they continued to exist until the tenth century, forming
the first religious sect to which Judaism had given birth since the
fall of the Jewish state. The Isavites lived in accordance with their
master's teaching, observing some points of Talmudical Judaism, while
disregarding many others.
During this time, however, no extraordinary movement occurred in the
center of Jewish religious life; everything continued on the old
lines, the principals of the colleges and the Geonim succeeded each
other without leaving any perceptible traces behind them. They had no
suspicion that a new spirit was abroad in Judaism, which would shake it
to its very foundations.