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412 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Babylonia

Mar Yanka, closely allied to the exilarcli, persecuted the rabbis of Pumbedita so bitterly that several of them were compelled

Sura (Sherira,

to flee to

I.e.

p.

not to return until after their persecutor's death (about 730). "The exilarchate was for sale in the Arab period " (Ibn Daud) and centuries later, Sherira boasts that he was not descended from Bostanai. In Arabic legend, the resh galuta (ras al-galut) remained a highly important personage; one of them could see spirits (Goldziher, in "Revue Etudes Juives," viii. 127); another is said to have been put to death under the last Ommiad, Merwan ibn Mo35),



hammed

(743-750).

Messianic hopes were nurtured by external op-

The Ommiad

pression.

Omar

calif,

II.

(717-720),

He

persecuted the Jews.

issued orders to his gov" Tear down no church, synaernors gogue, or fire-temple but permit no new ones to be built" (Weil, I.e. i. 583).

Omar

II.



A

pseudo-Messiah, called Serenus by Graetz, but probably named Severus (see Bar-Hebrosus, " Chronicon Syriacum," p. 123; Payne Smith, "Thesaurus Syriacus," col. 2549), appeared in Syria (about 720); his adherents were received back into Judaism on the decision of the gaon Natronai b. Nehemiah of Pumbedita (Responsa, "Sha'are Zedek," Nos. 7-10). Another Messiah, Obadiah Allah abu-Isa, took up arms in Ispahan; but the strong house of the Abbassids, which attained sovereignty about this time (750), soon put an end to the Messiah "across the river. "

The

sect of the Isawites, as also that of the

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Yudghanites called after their founder, Yudghan (Judah) and other small sects which appeared at this time, all amalgamated in Karaism. Karaism owes its origin to a struggle for the suc-

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cession to the exilarchate. Anan b. David, residing probably in the recently founded (758) city of Bagdad, and therefore inclined to the free views of life current at the court of the calif Almansur, was passed over in an election for exilarcli he thereupon pub:

licly

renounced (762) Rabbinism altogether and founded the sect of the Karaites (see

Anan b. DwrD). Ten years later, again owing to dissensions, the exilarcli Natronai b. Habibai was compelled to emigrate Isaac Iskawi II. (about 800) reto Africa (773). ceived from Harun al-Rashid (786-809) confirmation of the right to carry a seal of office (see Lazarus, in At the court of the "Briill's Jahrbuch," x. 177). mighty Harun appeared an embassy from the emperor Charlemagne, in which a Jew, Isaac, took part (Pertz, "Monumenta Germaniie Historica, " i. 190, Charles (possibly Charles the Bald) is said to 353). have asked the " king of Babel " to send him a man of royal lineage and in response the calif despatched R. Makir to him (" Yuhasin, " 845) this was the first Karaism.





step toward establishing communication between the Jews of Babylonia and European communities. Although it is said that the law requiring Jews to wear a yellow badge upon their clothing originated

with Harun (Weil, I.e. ii. 162, note 1), and although the intolerant laws of Islam were stringently enforced by him, the magnificent development which Arabian culture underwent in his time must have benefited the Jews also; so that a scientific tendency began to make itself noticeable among the

412

Babylonian Jews under Harun and his successors, under Al-Ma'mun (813-833). Like the Arabs, the Jews were zealous promoters of knowledge, and by means of translations of the Greek and Latin authors contributed essential^ to They took up religio-philosophtheir preservation. ical studies (the "kalam "), siding generally with the Motazilites and maintaining the freedom of the human will ("kadr"). The sects mentioned above In opposition to the also accepted this doctrine. enlightenment of the Motazilites, however, there arose at this period a system of m3 sticism Joseph b. Abba, who taught at the Academy of Pumbedita, was a mystic, claiming intercourse with Elijah. In addition to the religious differences among the Rabbinites, there was continuous strife with the Karaites, who wished to have a certain Daniel, a Karaite, appointed exilarch, while the Rabbinites insisted upon David b. Juda (825). As the calif Al-Ma'especially

r



to regulate similar quarrels among the Syrian Christians, gave his decision in such a manner as to show that he washed his hands of the whole matter, the candidate of the Rabbinites had no diffiSuch episodes could not culty in asserting himself. but ultimately contribute to the complete downfall Some mysteriof the influence of the exilarchate. ous event compelled the Babylonian Abu Aaron, son of the prince Samuel, to emigrate to Europe (about 876, under Charles the Bald), where he imparted a mystic prayer-formula of the Babjdonians (" Revue Etudes Juives," xxiii. 230; see Aaeon ben Samuel ha-Nasi).

mun, who had

The government meanwhile accomplished all it could toward the complete humiliation of the Jews. All non-believers Magi, Jews, and Christians were compelled by Al-Mutawakkil to wear a badge thenplaces of worship were confiscated and turned into mosques they were excluded from public offices, and compelled to pay to the calif a tax of one-tenth of the value of their houses (about 850; Weil, I.e. ii. 354). An utterance of the calif Al-Mu'tadhel (892-902) ranks the Jews, as state servants, after Christians (Assemani, I.e. iii. 1, 215). How insignificant the exilarchate had become is shown by the fact that Ukba, one of the best of the exilarchs, was deposed after a long rule by a gaon, Cohen Zedek of Pumbedita (917) this is reported by a contemporary, Nathan the Babylonian, who has transmitted many valuable facts relating to this period (preserved by Zacuto, in "Yuhasin "). On the other hand, the Decline of geonim of Pumbedita, because their the Exil- district embraced the capital, Bagdad, archate. soon attained equal rank with their colleagues of Sura. The gaon of Sura, Mar Amram, had distinguished himself by the form of prayers ("siddur") which he sent to Spain; but the brilliant period of the literary activity of the Geonim was inaugurated byZemah b. Paltoi I. (872890), of Pumbedita, fragments of whose Talmudic dictionary are still extant. Nahshon of Sura left a key to the calendar system, thus marking a depar-

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ture from the strict field of Talmudism, hitherto the only department studied by the Geonim. In addition, an entire series of geonim left responsa to various religious questions that came to them from the whole diaspora.