Negardea (Nehardea; Nehardeah; aram. נהרדעא; [nəhardəʿā]; other Greek Νααρδά ) - the city of Babylonia , located at or near the junction of the Euphrates River with Nakhr-Malka (also known as Nar-Sharri, Ar-Malcha, Nakhr- El-Malik or the Royal Channel ); one of the earliest centers of Babylonian Judaism , the location of the Talmudic Academy . In the last decades of the Second Temple, it was considered "Babylonian Jerusalem " [1] ; it annually received money collected in favor of the temple from all over Babylonia, where only Jews lived [2] .
| Ancient city | |
| Negardea | |
|---|---|
History
According to a legend reported by [3] , during the first exile by King Jehoyakin , the synagogue Schaf we-Jatib was erected; it is mentioned in the Talmud [4] . According to Abbaia , Negardea was the only place where the “ shekhinah ” appeared in Babylonia ( Meg. 29a). [one]
The significance of this city, considered “Babylonian Jerusalem” ( Grace ) in the last decades of the Second Temple , can be seen from the following message of Flavius : “ The city of Negardea is extremely lively, has excellent and abundant land; to all other advantages is also the fact that there was an excess of population ... Negardea and Nizibis were fortified centers in Babylonia, where money was stored, which should have been sent to Jerusalem and from there already sent for the purpose ”(Ancient, XVIII, 9, § 1) [1] .
Negardea was the birthplace of the brothers Anilaya and Asinaya , who in the first third of the 1st century formed a band of robbers and instilled fear in Babylonian Jews [5] . After the destruction of the Temple, the city was first mentioned in connection with the trip there of Rabbi Akiba (I-II centuries) [1] [6] .
The city entered the historical arena only at the end of the Tannanite period. It became the residence of the excilarchs , who previously lived in Nezibis , and the main center of Talmudic science in Babylonia. The prominent Rav Shela School of Lawmaker paved the way for Babylonian academies . At this time, Samuel's father and his son and Karna moved there). Samuel headed the famous Academy in Negardaia while Abba Arica had an academy in the city of Sura , located 20 parasangs from Negardea. It was the heyday of Talmudic science in Negardea, but some time later, after the death of Mar Samuel (257), the city was destroyed by Odenathus in 259, and the non-guards academy was moved to Pumbedita . [one]
Benjamin Tudelsky mentions the ruins of the Schaf we-Jatib synagogue, two days away from Sura and one and a half from Pumbedita [1] [7] .
See also
- Ardea
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Negardea // Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron . - SPb. , 1908-1913.
- ↑ Diaspora // Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron . - SPb. , 1908-1913.
- ↑ ed. Neubauer, I, 26
- ↑ R. ha-Sh. 24b; Ab. Zara , 43b
- ↑ Ancient XVIII, 9, § 1
- ↑ Jeb. 121a
- ↑ Itinerary, ed. Grünhut 64