Nehardea

Coordinates: 33°22′43″N 43°42′57″E / 33.37861°N 43.71583°E / 33.37861; 43.71583
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Nehardea
נהרדעא
Nehardea is located in Iraq
Nehardea
Nehardea
Nehardea's location inside Iraq
Coordinates: 33°25′11″N 43°18′45″E / 33.41972°N 43.31250°E / 33.41972; 43.31250
CountryIraq
GovernorateAl Anbar
Rabbinical eras

Nehardea or Nehardeah (

Babylonia, situated at or near the junction of the Euphrates with the Nahr Malka (the Royal Canal), one of the earliest and most prominent centers of Babylonian Judaism. It hosted the Nehardea Academy, one of the most prominent Talmudic academies in Babylonia, and was home to great scholars such as Samuel of Nehardea, Rav Nachman, and Amemar
.

Location

Nehardea was adjacent or identical to Anbar, a short distance from the modern city of Fallujah (formerly the site of Pumbedita).[1]

History

Before the amoraic period

As the seat of the

Sherira Gaon, Jehoiachin and his coexilarchs built a synagogue at Nehardea, for the foundation of which they used earth and stones which they had brought (in accordance with the words of Psalms 102:15) from Jerusalem.[2] For this reason it was called 'The Synagogue that Slid and Settled' ("Shaf we-Yatib") to which there are several references dating from the third and fourth centuries,[3] and which Abaye asserts was the seat of the Shekhinah in Babylonia.[4]

The

Jewish population of Nehardea was said to be descended from the slaves of Pashur ben Immer, the contemporary of King Jehoiachin.[5] There are also other allusions in the Talmud casting doubt upon the purity of blood of the Nehardean Jews.[5]

The fact that

Hasmoneans. The importance of the city during the last century of the existence of the Second Temple appears from the following statement by Josephus:[7]

The city of Nehardea is thickly populated, and among other advantages possesses an extensive and fertile territory. Moreover, it is impregnable, as it is surrounded by the Euphrates and is strongly fortified.

Reference to the extent of the territory of Nehardea is made in the Talmud also.

Babylonian Jews because of their marauder-like escapades. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Nehardea is first mentioned in connection with Rabbi Akiva's sojourn there.[11][12] From the post-Hadrianic tannaitic period there is the anecdote referring to the debt which Aḥai ben Josiah had to collect at Nehardea.[13]

Amoraic period

Further information: Nehardea Academy

Nehardea emerges clearly into the light of history at the end of the

Odenathus, or one of his generals) in 259 CE,[14] and its place as seat of the second academy was taken by Pumbedita
.

Nehardea, however, soon regained its importance, for the eminent

Mahuza, which was of considerable prominence at that time, and some to that of Pumbedita. About the middle of the 4th century the famous scholar Ḥama was living at Nehardea; the maxim "By the 'amoraim of Nehardea' Ḥama is meant"[21]
became a canon in the Babylonian schools.

Toward the end of the 4th and at the beginning of the 5th century Nehardea again became a center of Babylonian Judaism through

exilarchate, which belonged as an ancient privilege to Nehardea, transferred to Sura.[22] Amemar attempted in Nehardea to introduce the recitation of the Ten Commandments into the daily prayer ritual, but was dissuaded from doing so by Ashi. Another of Amemar's liturgical innovations is mentioned in Sukkot
55a (on the relation of Ashi to Amemar see Halevy, Dorot ha-Rishonim, ii. 515 et seq., iii. 68 et seq.).

Other scholars of the 4th and 5th centuries who are mentioned in the Talmud as natives of Nehardea include Dimi[23] (who subsequently presided at Pumbedita as second successor to Ḥama),[24] Zebid,[25] Rav Nachman,[26] Ḥanan[27] and Simai.[28] Adda b. Minyomi was called the "judge of Nehardea".[29]

A few scattered data concerning Nehardea may be added. It was an ancient liturgical custom there to read

Pentateuch Targum (Onkelos)—as being those of Sura, and certain others as of Nehardea.[35]

Geonic period

saboraic authorities of the 6th century. Mar R. Ḥanina is mentioned, among the earliest geonim of Pumbedita, as residing at Nehardea at the time of Muhammad. This is the last reference in Jewish history to Nehardea. Benjamin of Tudela, however, mentions the ruins of the synagogue Shaf-Yatib, two days' journey from Sura, and one and one-half from Pumbedita.[37]

Bibliography

  • Barak S. Cohen, "‘In Nehardea Where There Are No Heretics’: The Purported Jewish Response to Christianity in Nehardea (A Re-examination of the Talmudic Evidence)," in Dan Jaffé (ed), Studies in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity: Text and Context (Leiden: Brill, 2010) (Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity/Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums, 74)

See also

References

  1. ^ The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela (ed. Marcus Nathan Adler), London 1907, p. 34
  2. Ispahan
    , in Monatsschrift, 1873, pp. 129, 181
  3. R. H. 24b; Avodah Zarah 43b; Niddah
    13a
  4. Meg.
    29a
  5. ^ a b Kiddushin 70b
  6. ^ Josephus, Antiquities 15:1, § 2
  7. ^ op. cit. 18:9, § 1
  8. Ketuvot
    54a
  9. Shabbat
    108b
  10. Hullin
    50b
  11. ^ Oppenheimer, A. (2010). Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi and Babylonia: Ties and Tensions. Follow the Wise”: Studies in Jewish History and Culture in Honor of Lee I. Levine, 297-318.
  12. Yeb.
    , end
  13. Giṭtin
    14b; Bacher, Ag. Tan. ii. 385
  14. Ketubot 51b); Seder Olam Rabbah
  15. Megillah
    27b
  16. Chullin
    48b
  17. Eruvin (tractate)
    6b
  18. ^ Bava Kamma 83a; Bava Batra 145a
  19. Nedarim
    78a
  20. Shabbat 145b; Niddah
    21a
  21. Sanh.
    17a
  22. Sherira Gaon
    , l.c. i. 32
  23. Chullin
    113a
  24. ^ Letter of Sherira Gaon, l.c.
  25. Moed Kattan
    27b
  26. ^ Chullin 95b
  27. Kiddushin 81b; Niddah
    66b
  28. Shevuot 12b; Makkot
    16a
  29. Sanhedrin
    17b
  30. Shabbat
    116b
  31. ^ Bava Batra 36a
  32. ^ Yerushalmi Pesachim 32a; compare Bavli Pesachim 62b; see Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. i. 60
  33. ^ Bacher, l.c. i. 2
  34. ^ See M. J. C. i. 174; Strack, Diḳduḳ Ṭe'amim, p. 56
  35. ^ See Berliner, Die Massorah zum Targum Onkelos, pp. xiii. et seq., 61-70, Leipsic, 1877
  36. ^ Halevy, l.c. i. 25
  37. Grünhut
    , p. 64
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "NEHARDEA (NEARDA)". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Its bibliography:

  • Neubauer, G. T. pp. 230, 350;
  • Hirschensohn, Sheba Ḥokmot, p. 164, Lemberg, 1885.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Anbar". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

33°22′43″N 43°42′57″E / 33.37861°N 43.71583°E / 33.37861; 43.71583

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