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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

home country. sified

Indeed, these differences were inten-

and cherished.

The Babylonian Talmud

peatedly contains the remark, "This lonian]

custom



is

re-

our [Baby-

theirs [the Palestinians'] is different

(see Kid. 29J>). Such expressions as Opposition "here" and "yonder," "in the east," to and " in the west, " are employed to Palestine, specify differences of usage. The lat-

ter expressions are particularly rife as applied by the Masoretes to the verification of the Biblical text and comparisons of variant readings; but are likewise applied to minor differences of ritual and legal custom, especially in the time of the Geonim differences which a modern scholar has enumerated to the number of seventy-three (J. Mtiller, " Hilluf Minhagim "). Of a different nature are the variations between the Babylonian and Jerusalem (or Palestinian) Talmuds, known already to the Geonim, who, of course, always preferred " our Talmud " (the Babylonian), and accordingly transplanted the study of the latter to Europe, where it became the dominant authority for modern Judaism in general.

—

But

this

independence of Palestine and Palestinian

authority was not achieved by Babylonian Judaism all at once: it came about gradually. Thus, the exilarch R. Huna I., as many others, no doubt, before and after him, was buried in Palestine at his own request (Yer. Ket. xii. 35a) while, later on, it was maintained that in this respect Babylon must be considered as the equal of Palestine (Ket. Ilia). "Just as one should not leave Palestine to live in Babylon, so one should not leave Babylon to dwell in other lands," ran a modest saying but afterward the popular axiom was, "Who lives in Babylon, lives the same as in Palestine" (ib.); indeed, it soon became, " To leave Babylon is to transgress a precept " (ib. Huna, principal of the Pumbedita Academy, 1106). is credited with the utterance, "Since Rab came hither, we of Babylon have constituted ourselves in matters of divorce the peers of those in Palestine " Learned intercourse between both coun(Git. 6a).



was maintained by many amoraim traveling to and fro, as, for instance, Dimi and Zei'ra. Babytries

lonian scholars rightfully ranked themselves higher than their Palestinian colleagues, not, however, without incurring the ridicule of the latter for so doing R. Zei'ra is said to have fasted a hun(Zeb. 15a). dred days in order that he might forget the Baby-

Gemara (B. M. 85a), and R. Jeremiah always speaks of the "stupid Babylonians" (Yoma 57a). The Mishnah (Yoma vi. 4) mentions a particular instance of coarseness on the part of the Babylonians. They were accustomed to eat something raw which the Palestinians only ate cooked (Bezah 16a). It was declared to be improper to entrust the oral tradition to men of Nehardea, or, according to another reading, to the Babylonians at all (Pes. 62b). Scholars in Palestine were called " Rabbi, " whereas in Babylonia they were styled "Rab," possibly a In Babylonia, finally, difference of dialect only. people spoke more correctly and with sharper intonation than in Palestine. At a period when Hebrew was still spoken in Palestine—at least in scholarly circles the people in Babylonia had already adopted Aramaic, owing to the proximity of the Aramaic-Syriac districts. Hillel lonian

—

Babylonia

expressly stated to have spoken a Babylonian Aramaic or Targum dialect (Ab. R. N. xii., p. 55, ed. Schechter). This dialect, of which the' Language. Babylonian Talmud is the chief literis

ary monument, was closely related to< the tongue of the natives, such as the Mandseans speak to-day. Persian never became the vernacular of the Babylonian Jews: a few words only were borrowed from it; more, perhaps, than from the Greek (Levias, " Grammar of the Aramaic Idiom ... in the Babylonian Talmud," pp. 3, 237, Cincinnati, 1900). Rabbi Joseph (fourth century) asks: "Why do we speak Aramaic in Babylon? It should be either the holy language [Hebrew] or Persian" (Sotah 496) an utterance which shows that the Jews did not speak Persian. There are, of course, hundreds of Persian

A

—

—

—

more correctly, Pahlavi words in Babylonian and the amoraim of the first and second generations, like Rab and Judah, frequently intermingle Persian words in their utterances. Nevertheless, the or,

tex ts



proportion of Persian vocables in the Jewish Bab}'lonian idiom is not so great as some (for instance,

Kohut, in his " Aruch Completum," and Schorr, in "He-Haluz," viii.) maintain. The Jewish incantations (see below) are Aramaic, and the Geonim render their responsa only in Aramaic, even during the Arabic period, as Sherira's and Hai's writings prove. But, of course, Arabic was then the ruling idiom, and Saadia not a born Babylonian, it is true calls the Aramaic " the language of the fathers " (comment, on the "Sefer Yezirah," text, p. 45); it was, therefore, no longer a living language. Hebrew, of course, was retained in a measure, as everywhere, by the Jews and the Karaites especially wrote mainly in Hebrew. Pethahiah, the traveler, was rejoiced to find that Aramaic was closely related to Hebrew. Although Babylonia, or Ir&k, was largely populated by Jews, the population was still a mixed one, and in the course of time the non-Jew Nonish population grew to be in the ma-

—

—



Jewish

jority.

The uncultivated Parthians

Population, could, of course, exercise no religious influence upon the Jews but it was otherwise with the Persians, and it is still a moot

what extent Judaism, both Biblical was influenced by Zoroastrianism. In Palestine it was acknowledged that the names of the angels (see Akgelology) were of Babylonian point to-day to

and

post-Biblical,

9), and were adopted in the In this direction in general the Jews were strongly influenced by Zoroastrianism (Kohut, "Ueber die Jiidische Angclologie und Damonologie in Hirer Abhitngigkeit vom Parsismus," Leipsic, 1866 Stave, " Einfluss des Parsismus auf das Judenthum," Haarlem, 1898). Talmud and Midrash speak very often of the Persians. Nahman, presiding judge at the court of the exilarch, was well versed in Persian law (Shebuot 346) and a Persian

origin (Gen. R. xlviii.

Parthian period.





document is mentioned (Git. 196; compare B. M. 108a). The Persians were acute enough to prize the Jewish Law a Jewish soldier found a Hebrew copy

of

it

in the Persian treasury (Sanh. 976).

Persian

trousers, a characteristic garment, are, according to

some, mentioned several times (' Ab. Zarah 26 Meg. 11a; Kid. 72a). Interesting, too, is the mention of the Persian festivals (Yer. 'Ab. Zarah i. 39c),