Babylon

Discussion about the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, pseudepigrapha, Philo, Josephus, Talmud, Dead Sea Scrolls, archaeology, etc.
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John2
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Re: Babylon

Post by John2 »

Interesting article in today's Yediot Aharonot:
Once one of the Middle East's most vibrant, ancient communities, Iraq's Jewish population now numbers in the single digits, as most of its members came to Israel; 'We kept our tradition, but it's not the joy you feel in Israel,' says one Iraq Jew; Iraqis nevertheless nostalgic for a time country was 'mosaic' of minorities, says another ...

Drive west to the shores of the Mediterranean—just a day's journey geographically but a world away politically—and there is a lament inscribed at the entrance to the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in Israel: "The Jewish community in Iraq is no more."

It is no accident that such a somber epitaph to Iraq's Jews should be found in Israel, where tens of thousands of them fled after 1948 amid the violent spasms that accompanied the birth of that state.

That transplanting of an educated, vibrant and creative community unquestionably enriched Israel, which celebrated its 70th anniversary Wednesday.

But it also denuded Iraq of a minority that had long contributed to its political, economic and cultural identity.

In 1947, a year before Israel's birth, Iraq's Jewish community numbered around 150,000. Now their numbers are in single figures. And they are missed.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,734 ... 54,00.html
What a curious ending to the story of Babylonian Jewish history.
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John2
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Re: Babylon

Post by John2 »

The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center was established in 1973 to preserve the history of the Jewish community in Iraq and to ensure that it remains part of the future narrative of the Jewish nation. To this end, the Center fosters research, preservation and publication of the culture and folklore of Iraqi Jewry.

Adjacent to the Center is the Museum of Babylonian Jewry, opened to the public in 1988 and exhibiting chapters from the history of Babylonian Jewry throughout the generations over the course of more than 2,600 years.

http://www.bjhcenglish.com/about-us
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John2
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Re: Babylon

Post by John2 »

Ancient Babylonian Jewish Wedding Song - "Ashir Shirim":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUV196lCN28
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semiopen
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Re: Babylon

Post by semiopen »

John2 wrote: Sat Apr 21, 2018 1:41 pm Ancient Babylonian Jewish Wedding Song - "Ashir Shirim":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUV196lCN28
Ancient Babylonian Jewish Wedding Song sort of reminds me of the old Calgon commercial Ancient Chinese Secret - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJP5f-fsHrs.

This was probably more of a pain in the ass to look up than it had to be, because Ashir Shirim seems to be Shir Hashirim from the Song of Songs
שִׁ֥יר הַשִּׁי רִ֖ים (Cant. 1:1 WTT). Odd mistake (if that's what it is) since it seems to be an instrumental.

Just a guess, but the instrumental can't be that ancient, maybe a slight possibility of it going back as far as the middle ages.
Ethan
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Re: Babylon

Post by Ethan »

Jewish Phoenicians exported their culture too Babylon, not the other way around.

Shirim, from שִׁ֥יר , also used figuratively for the sea and ships (Ezekiel 27:25) and are Sirens in Greek mythology, Ships are always females, so wedding-motifs alludes too this.

Σειρήνων is שִׁ֥יר יענה in Hebrew, Sirione .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siren_(mythology)
https://vivliothikiagiasmatos.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/joseph-yahuda-hebrew-is-greek.pdf
John2
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Re: Babylon

Post by John2 »

I'm revisiting Ezra now, and of what I can see on Google books, Fried's Ezra and the Law in History and Tradition looks interesting and I'm linking to it here so I can read more of it later.

https://books.google.com/books?id=tQHQB ... be&f=false

As Fried notes in the introduction, "Ezra appears in only six chapters in the entire Bible, yet he has sparked the interest and concern of writers for more than two thousand years."

I was unaware of the hodgepodge nature of Ezra (and Nehemiah); at first glance it seems hopeless to try and sort everything out. And Kratz has a good chapter in Scribes, Sages, and Seers: The Sage in the Eastern Mediterranean World, in which he notes on pages 163-165:
Jewish tradition regards Ezra, who is sometimes identified with the prophet Malachi, as a second Moses and, like that of his great predecessor, his legend is equally opaque ... he is supposed to be responsible for collecting and on occasion writing the sacred books; additionally he is credited with introducing the square script as well as the diacritical marks, i.e., the Masorah ... he is responsible for the transformation of the age of the prophets, commencing with Moses, into the time of the sages ...

There are three legends concerning the place of his burial: one in Jerusalem (Josephus), one in Persia (Talmud), and one on the western Tigris (near 'Uzair). Several synagogues are named after him, among them one in Raccia, Mesopotamia, which he supposedly had founded on his journey from Babylon to Palestine.

https://books.google.com/books?id=L1Lrt ... be&f=false
According to Ginzberg the synagogue in Raccia stood "as late as the twelfth century."

https://books.google.com/books?id=mLY41 ... ue&f=false

Ezra's tomb in Uzair:
The present buildings, which unusually comprised a joint Muslim and Jewish shrine, are possibly around 250 years old; there is an enclosing wall and a blue-tiled dome, and a separate synagogue, which though now disused has been kept in good repair in recent times ...

The vast majority of the Iraqi Jewish population emigrated in 1951–52. The shrine has continued in use, however; having long been visited by the Marsh Arabs, it is now a place of pilgrimage for the Shi'a of southern Iraq. The Hebrew inscriptions of the wooden casket, the dedication plaque, and large Hebrew letters of God's name is still prominently maintained in the worshiping room.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra%27s_Tomb
Not to say that I buy these legends, just noting them. I'm not in the analysis stage yet, just (re)processing things.

And out curiosity, I checked Youtube for videos of the Euphrates River, and while it focuses on the northern part, this one is the most interesting to me so far, and I'm starting to appreciate this part of the world more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8fyCD0yZaA

One of the commenters says:
I heard the river is crying, why?, cause nobody care about her anymore-no one praying or swimming there again-only some strangers enjoying their vacation, what about the native blood surround? all they care is just winning the war and killing their own brothers, how that can be? greed and passion of lust fill the land with overwhelming and spilling blood to satisfy their anger.
Last edited by John2 on Fri Apr 27, 2018 8:00 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Ben C. Smith
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Re: Babylon

Post by Ben C. Smith »

John2 wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 6:21 pmI was unaware of the hodgepodge nature of Ezra (and Nehemiah); at first glance it seems hopeless to try and sort everything out.
It is quite a mess. Something like this:

Hebrew Masoretic
Old Greek
Latin Vulgate
English Authorized
EzraEsdras BI EsdrasEzra
Also EzraAlso Esdras BII EsdrasNehemiah
-Esdras AIII EsdrasI Esdras
--IV EsdrasII Esdras

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John2
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Re: Babylon

Post by John2 »

Thanks for the chart, Ben. What I've read about Ezra's (and Nehemiah's) hodgepodge nature so far made my head spin (and I was surprised to see that Ezra is not mentioned until chapter seven of his book when I re-read it the other day).

And I wasn't looking forward to trying to track down the references to Ezra in rabbinic writings but I found this Wikipedia page called "Ezra in rabbinic literature," which makes it easy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_in_r ... literature
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John2
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Re: Babylon

Post by John2 »

I've yet to find a translation for all of the Song of Songs Rabbah, but a partial one mentions a tradition about the Psalms that I was unaware of:
The Psalms were composed by ten individuals: Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, Korah's three sons (taken as one of the composers), and Ezra. But although they were composed by ten different individuals, David's name alone is connected with them. It is like a company of musicians who appear before a king, and are told: 'Although you are, everyone of you, efficient in your art, yet I wish the one with the sweetest voice to sing before me.'

http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/tmm/tmm13.htm
San. 21b-22a:
Torah was given to the Jewish people in Ivrit script, the original form of the written language, and the sacred tongue, Hebrew. It was given to them again in the days of Ezra in Ashurit script and the Aramaic tongue. The Jewish people selected Ashurit script and the sacred tongue for the Torah scroll and left Ivrit script and the Aramaic tongue for the commoners ...

It is taught in a baraita (Tosefta 4:5): Rabbi Yosei says: Ezra was suitable, given his greatness, for the Torah to be given by him to the Jewish people, had Moses not come first and received the Torah already. With regard to Moses the verse states: “And Moses went up to God” (Exodus 19:3), and with regard to Ezra the verse states: “This Ezra went up from Babylon and he was a ready scribe in the Torah of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given” (Ezra 7:6). Just as the going up stated here, with regard to Moses, is for the Torah, which he received from God and transmitted to the Jewish people, so too, the going up stated there, with regard to Ezra, is for the Torah, as he taught Torah to the Jewish people and was suitable to have originally merited to give it.

The baraita continues: With regard to Moses the verse states: “And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances” (Deuteronomy 4:14), and with regard to Ezra the verse states: “For Ezra had set his heart to seek the Torah of the Lord his God and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances” (Ezra 7:10). And even though the Torah was not given literally by him, the script of the Torah was changed by him, as it is stated:

“And the writing of the letter [hannishtevan] was written in the Aramaic script, and set forth in the Aramaic tongue” (Ezra 4:7). The term “hannishtevan” is similar to the word nishtana, meaning changed, alluding to the fact that the script had been changed.

https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.21b.22?lang=bi
Suk. 20a:
The Gemara notes: And Reish Lakish follows his line of reasoning stated elsewhere, as Reish Lakish said: I am the atonement for Rabbi Ḥiyya and his sons, as initially, when some of the Torah laws were forgotten from the Jewish people in Eretz Yisrael, Ezra ascended from Babylonia and reestablished the forgotten laws. Parts of the Torah were again forgotten in Eretz Yisrael, and Hillel the Babylonian ascended and reestablished the forgotten sections.

https://www.sefaria.org/Sukkah.20a.11?lang=bi
BB 15a:
Ezra wrote his own book and the genealogy of the book of Chronicles until his period.

https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Batra.15a?lang=bi
BK 82a:
The Sages taught that Ezra the Scribe instituted ten ordinances: He instituted that communities read the Torah on Shabbat in the afternoon; and they also read the Torah on every Monday and Thursday; and the courts convene and judge every Monday and Thursday; and one does laundry on Thursday; and one eats garlic on Shabbat eve. And Ezra further instituted that a woman should rise early and bake bread on those days when she wants to bake; and that a woman should don a breechcloth; and that a woman should first comb her hair and only then immerse in a ritual bath after being ritually impure; and that peddlers of cosmetics and perfumes should travel around through all the towns. And Ezra further instituted the requirement of immersion for those who experienced a seminal emission.

https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Kamma.82a.3?lang=bi
Meg. 15a:
It is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa said: Malachi is in fact Ezra. And the Rabbis say otherwise: Malachi was his real name, and it was not merely another name for Ezra or another prophet. Rav Naḥman said: It stands to reason that indeed, they are one and the same person, like the opinion of the one who said that Malachi is Ezra, since there is a similarity between them, as it is stated in Malachi’s prophecy: “Judah has dealt treacherously, and a disgusting thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctity of the Lord which he loved, and has married the daughter of a strange god” (Malachi 2:11).

And who was the one that removed the foreign women who were married to Jews? It was Ezra, as it is written: “And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra: We have broken faith with our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land” (Ezra 10:2). It therefore appears that Malachi was one of Ezra’s names, as the Bible describes them both as confronting an intermarriage epidemic.

https://www.sefaria.org/Megillah.15a?lang=bi
Last edited by John2 on Fri Apr 27, 2018 8:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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John2
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Re: Babylon

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Josephus on Ezra, Ant. 11.5.1-5 (based on 1 Esdras):
Moreover, there was now in Babylon a righteous man, and one that enjoyed a great reputation among the multitude. He was the principal priest of the people, and his name was Esdras. He was very skillful in the laws of Moses, and was well acquainted with king Xerxes. He had determined to go up to Jerusalem, and to take with him some of those Jews that were in Babylon; and he desired that the king would give him an epistle to the governors of Syria, by which they might know who he was. Accordingly, the king wrote the following epistle to those governors: "Xerxes, king of kings, to Esdras the priest, and reader of the Divine law, greeting. I think it agreeable to that love which I bear to mankind, to permit those of the Jewish nation that are so disposed, as well as those of the priests and Levites that are in our kingdom, to go together to Jerusalem. Accordingly, I have given command for that purpose; and let every one that hath a mind go, according as it hath seemed good to me, and to my seven counselors, and this in order to their review of the affairs of Judea, to see whether they be agreeable to the law of God. Let them also take with them those presents which I and my friends have vowed, with all that silver and gold that is found in the country of the Babylonians, as dedicated to God, and let all this be carried to Jerusalem to God for sacrifices. Let it also be lawful for thee and thy brethren to make as many vessels of silver and gold as thou pleasest. Thou shalt also dedicate those holy vessels which have been given thee, and as many more as thou hast a mind to make, and shall take the expenses out of the king's treasury. I have, moreover, written to the treasurers of Syria and Phoenicia, that they take care of those affairs that Esdras the priest, and reader of the laws of God, is sent about. And that God may not be at all angry with me, or with my children, I grant all that is necessary for sacrifices to God, according to the law, as far as a hundred cori of wheat. And I enjoin you not to lay any treacherous imposition, or any tributes, upon their priests or Levites, or. sacred singers, or porters, or sacred servants, or scribes of the temple. And do thou, O Esdras, appoint judges according to the wisdom [given thee] of God, and those such as understand the law, that they may judge in all Syria and Phoenicia; and do thou instruct those also which are ignorant of it, that if any one of thy countrymen transgress the law of God, or that of the king, he may be punished, as not transgressing it out of ignorance, but as one that knows it indeed, but boldly despises and contemns it; and such may be punished by death, or by paying fines. Farewell."

When Esdras had received this epistle, he was very joyful, and began to worship God, and confessed that he had been the cause of the king's great favor to him, and that for the same reason he gave all the thanks to God. So he read the epistle at Babylon to those Jews that were there; but he kept the epistle itself, and sent a copy of it to all those of his own nation that were in Media. And when these Jews had understood what piety the king had towards God, and what kindness he had for Esdras, they were all greatly pleased; nay, many of them took their effects with them, and came to Babylon, as very desirous of going down to Jerusalem; but then the entire body of the people of Israel remained in that country; wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Iomans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers. Now there came a great number of priests, and Levites, and porters, and sacred singers, and sacred servants to Esdras. So he gathered those that were in the captivity together beyond Euphrates, and staid there three days, and ordained a fast for them, that they might make their prayers to God for their preservation, that they might suffer no misfortunes by the way, either from their enemies, or from any other ill accident; for Esdras had said beforehand that he had told the king how God would preserve them, and so he had not thought fit to request that he would send horsemen to conduct them. So when they had finished their prayers, they removed from Euphrates on the twelfth day of the first month of the seventh year of the reign of Xerxes, and they came to Jerusalem on the fifth month of the same year. Now Esdras presented the sacred money to the treasurers, who were of the family of the priests, of silver six hundred and fifty talents, vessels of silver one hundred talents, vessels of gold twenty talents, vessels of brass, that was more precious than gold, (8) twelve talents by weight; for these Presents had been made by the king and his counselors, and by all the Israelites that staid at Babylon. So when Esdras had delivered these things to the priests, he gave to God, as the appointed sacrifices of whole burnt-offerings, twelve bulls on account of the common preservation of the people, ninety rams, seventy-two lambs, and twelve kids of the goats, for the remission of sins. He also delivered the king's epistle to the king's officers, and to the governors of Celesyria and Phoenicia; and as they were under a necessity of doing what was enjoined by him, they honored our nation, and were assistant to them in all their necessities.

Now these things were truly done under the conduct of Esdras; and he succeeded in them, because God esteemed him worthy of the success of his conduct, on account of his goodness and righteousness. But some time afterward there came some persons to him, and brought an accusation against certain of the multitude, and of the priests and Levites, who had transgressed their settlement, and dissolved the laws of their country, by marrying strange wives, and had brought the family of the priests into confusion. These persons desired him to support the laws, lest God should take up a general anger against them all, and reduce them to a calamitous condition again. Hereupon he rent his garment immediately, out of grief, and pulled off the hair of his head and beard, and cast himself upon the ground, because this crime had reached the principal men among the people; and considering that if he should enjoin them to cast out their wives, and the children they had by them, he should not be hearkener to, he continued lying upon the ground. However, all the better sort came running to him, who also themselves wept, and partook of the grief he was under for what had been done. So Esdras rose up from the ground, and stretched out his hands towards heaven, and said that he was ashamed to look towards it, because of the sins which the people had committed, while they had cast out of their memories what their fathers had undergone on account of their wickedness; and he besought God, who had saved a seed and a remnant out of the calamity and captivity they had been in, and had restored them again to Jerusalem, and to their own land, and had obliged the kings of Persia to have compassion on them, that he would also forgive them their sins they had now committed, which, though they deserved death, yet, was it agreeable to the mercy of God, to remit even to these the punishment due to them.

After Esdras had said this, he left off praying; and when all those that came to him with their wives and children were under lamentation, one whose name was Jechonias, a principal man in Jerusalem, came to him, and said that they had sinned in marrying strange wives; and he persuaded him to adjure them all to cast those wives out, and the children born of them, and that those should be punished who would not obey the law. So Esdras hearkened to this advice, and made the heads of the priests, and of the Levites, and of the Israelites, swear that they would put away those wives and children, according to the advice of Jechonias. And when he had received their oaths, he went in haste out of the temple into the chamber of Johanan, the son of Eliasib, and as he had hitherto tasted nothing at all for grief, so he abode there that day. And when proclamation was made, that all those of the captivity should gather themselves together to Jerusalem, and those that did not meet there in two or three days should be banished from the multitude, and that their substance should b appropriated to the uses of the temple, according to the sentence of the elders, those that were of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin came together in three days, viz. on the twentieth day of the ninth month, which, according to the Hebrews, is called Tebeth, and according to the Macedonians, Apelleius. Now as they were sitting in the upper room of the temple, where the elders also were present, but were uneasy because of the cold, Esdras stood up and accused them, and told them that they had sinned in marrying wives that were not of their own nation; but that now they would do a thing both pleasing to God, and advantageous to themselves, if they would put those wives away. Accordingly, they all cried out that they would do so. That, however, the multitude was great, and that the season of the year was winter, and that this work would require more than one or two days. "Let their rulers, therefore, [said they,] and those that have married strange wives, come hither at a proper time, while the elders of every place, that are in common to estimate the number of those that have thus married, are to be there also." Accordingly, this was resolved on by them, and they began the inquiry after those that had married strange wives on the first day of the tenth month, and continued the inquiry to the first day of the next month, and found a great many of the posterity of Jeshua the high priest, and of the priests and Levites, and Israelites, who had a greater regard to the observation of the law than to their natural affection, (9) and immediately cast out their wives, and the children which were born of them. And in order to appease God, they offered sacrifices, and slew rams, as oblations to him; but it does not seem to me to be necessary to set down the names of these men. So when Esdras had reformed this sin about the marriages of the forementioned persons, he reduced that practice to purity, so that it continued in that state for the time to come.

Now when they kept the feast of tabernacles in the seventh month (10) and almost all the people were come together to it, they went up to the open part of the temple, to the gate which looked eastward, and desired of Esdras that the laws of Moses might be read to them. Accordingly, he stood in the midst of the multitude and read them; and this he did from morning to noon. Now, by hearing the laws read to them, they were instructed to be righteous men for the present and for the future; but as for their past offenses, they were displeased at themselves, and proceeded to shed tears on their account, as considering with themselves that if they had kept the law, they had endured none of these miseries which they had experienced. But when Esdras saw them in that disposition, he bade them go home, and not weep, for that it was a festival, and that they ought not to weep thereon, for that it was not lawful so to do. (11) He exhorted them rather to proceed immediately to feasting, and to do what was suitable to a feast, and what was agreeable to a day of joy; but to let their repentance and sorrow for their former sins be a security and a guard to them, that they fell no more into the like offenses. So upon Esdras's exhortation they began to feast; and when they had so done for eight days, in their tabernacles, they departed to their own homes, singing hymns to God, and returning thanks to Esdras for his reformation of what corruptions had been introduced into their settlement. So it came to pass, that after he had obtained this reputation among the people, he died an old man, and was buried in a magnificent manner at Jerusalem. About the same time it happened also that Joacim, the high priest, died; and his son Eliasib succeeded in the high priesthood.

http://earlyjewishwritings.com/text/josephus/ant11.html
1 Esdras: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rs ... te=3584099
You know in spite of all you gained, you still have to stand out in the pouring rain.
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