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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Apulia

ishing communal life among the contemporary Jews of Apulia, seeing that in one of them a certain R.

Nathan b. Ephraim is eulogized as "an honored man, master of wisdom, chief of an academy, and leader of his generation

The commencement

"

(Ascoli, " Iscrizionc,

of the settlement of

" p. 71).

Jews

in

Apulia is surrounded by legends. Yosippon, for example, traces them back to the five thousand captives transplanted by Titus from Palestine to Taranto, Otranto, and similar places. The most important contribution, however, to the early annals of the Apulian Jews has been obtained in recent years from the unique " Chronicle " of Ahimaaz ben Paltibl. The attention of Ahimaaz, as regards Apulia, was almost entirely confined to the community of Oria, to which his family had belonged, and the members of which he also regarded as the descendants of the captives of Titus. It " Chron- was in Oria that the patriarch of the icle " of family, Amittai, became known about Ahimaaz. the middle of the ninth century, both as scholar and liturgical poet. In the age of his two sons, Shephatiah and Hananeel, the former of whom became particularly distinguished for his literary and communal activity, there appeared on the scene of Italian Jewish life the figure of Aakon the Babylonian. Under his influence the academies of Oria are alleged to have sprouted forth in unprecedented vitality, and the various branches of Jewish law and life to have burst into new activity. Eastern scholars probably were in the habit of visiting the flourishing communities of the Occident for the purpose of transplanting thither the traditions of scholarship and religion. Such a scholar is reported by Ahimaaz to have come to Venosa. He made it his practise to deliver public lectures every Sabbath, basing his expositions on the Midrashic interpretations of the weekly Scriptural sections. His lectures were given in Hebrew probably, as the services of an interpreter were needed to render them intelligible to the audience. Poetic and thaumaturgic talents were the favorite attributes bestowed by tradition on the Jews of medieval Apulia. Both are ascribed Thauby Ahimaaz in a great measure to maturgy R. Shephatiah b. Amittai, whom ill-

and

informed commentators had regarded as one of the captives of Titus and one of the authors of " We-hu Rahum," a liturgic piece, but who probably flourished in the second half of the ninth century in Oria. According to the testimony of Ahimaaz, it was Shephatiah's argumentative ability and miracle-working power that had saved the Jews of Oria from a serious re-

Poetry.

ligious persecution.

Synchronously with this persecution occurred a disastrous Arabian invasion of Calabria and Apulia. In the year 872 Saudan, an Arabian conqueror, entered Bari, where he usurped the government and established a court, in which, as legend has

it,

Aaron

the Babylonian was accorded boundless honors as counselor and oracle just prior to his departure for the East. Prom Bari, Saudan advanced upon Oria, to which he made the proposal of a siegeless settlement on condition of a certain voluntary tribute

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from the population.

Here, again, Shephatiah, legend presents as the disciple of the wondrous Aaron, and who probably was familiar with the Arabic language, was delegated to negotiate with the invader. The Saracen terror, however, was frustrated by the confederacy of the emperor Basil I. with Louis II. the emperor of Germany. That the conversion of the Jews was a prevalent ambition in Apulia in that age, is inferred, further, from what Ahimaaz records regarding Hananeel, He says that the younger brother of Shephatiah. Hananeel, too, was a noted miracle- worker and liturgical poet that the archbishop of Oria summoned him to his palace on one occasion, and forced him into a religious dispute, in the course of which the archbishop impeached the correctness of the Jewish calendar with a view of inducing him to accept

whom

,



Christianity.

Astrology, also, was cultivated in Apulia. Palthe son of Cassia the great-granddaughter of

—

tiel,

Hananeel b. Amittai

Astrology.

— owing to his

tinction in astrology,

became the

dis-

inti-

mate friend and counselor of the calif (called Muizz lidin-Allah or Almuizz), the conqueror of Egypt and builder of Cairo. The friendship between the two, according to Ahimaaz, had begun in Italy on the occasion of one of the Apulian invasions led by Almuizz when Oria was besieged and taken. This emigrant from Apulia had certainly achieved communal distinction among the Jews of Egypt in the second half of the tenth century, since the title of " Naggid " is mentioned in connection with his name. A cousin of Paltiel, Samuel b. Hananeel (died 1008), settled in Capua, where both he and his son Paltiel (988-1043) attained prominence as communal benefactors and leaders. It was Ahimaaz, the son

Abu Tamim Maad

of the latter, born in 1017, who not only returned to the ancestral dwelling-place in Oria, but also left a number of liturgic pieces, and rescued from oblivion the memory of his ancestors. His " Chronicle mentioned above, being one of the very few literary monuments of that period, is of assistance in forming an idea of the literary fashions and influences of his age. Of course, the influence of the Apulian vernacular shows itself in many peculiarities of expression characteristic of the "Chronicle." Even prior to the discovery of the " Chronicle " of Ahimaaz, however, Apulia had the distinction of being considered the birthplace of the first Jewish scholar in Europe whose name had been inscribed in the history of literature, Shahbethai Donnolo.

This noted physician and astronomer was born at Oria, in the district of Otranto, in the year 913. When he was twelve years old (925) an army of Patimite Mohammedans, led by .Ta'far ibn Ubaid, again invaded Calabria and Apulia, on which occasion, according to Donnolo's autobiographic note, the city of Oria was sacked, "ten wise and pious rabbis," whose names are given, and Shabbethai numerous other Jews, were killed, Donnolo. while a multitude of survivors, including himself, were taken captive. One of the. victims was Hasadiah b. Hananeel, nephew of Shephatiah b. Amittai, to whom Donnolo refers as a relation of his grandfather ("Hakmoni,"