Eretz-Israel 005

21:
So far we have studied a passage from the Tosefta whose main burden was that there is a duty devolving on every Jew to reside in Eretz-Israel. (You can find the text of that passage in E-I 003, in paragraph 14.) The Tosefta, of course, was produced in Eretz-Israel; so it would be interesting and instructive to see what the sages of Babylon made of the ruling of the Tosefta. The passage under discussion is quoted in the Babylonian Talmud [Ketubot 110b-111a].

22:
Firstly, the Gemara quotes the barayta from the Tosefta (with a few significant changes):

One significant omission from the original barayta is the explanatory text that we found there:

The reason why the editors of the Babylonian Talmud saw fit to omit that sentence will become apparent much later on. The Gemara now continues its quotation from the original barayta:

You can find an explanation of the above passage in E-I 004, where we studied the original barayta.

23:
After quoting the barayta the Gemara makes no comment. However, the fact that the Jews in Babylon did not see eye to eye with the Jews of Eretz-Israel on this matter is suggested by the juxtapposition to the barayta of an anecdote from real life:

Since Zera (he only became 'Rabbi Zera' after making aliya) did not want a confrontation with his teacher about aliya he did his best to avoid meeting him. We are told that Rav Yehudah was born on the day that Rabbi Yehudah, the President of the Sanhedrin and compiler of the Mishnah, died. That would place Rav Yehudah's birth around the year 217 CE. Rav Yehudah bar Yeĥezkel became one of the most important students of Rav (Abba Aricha), who so admired Yehudah that he made him the personal teacher of his own son and whenever he had to go on a trip for the benefit of the community he would take Yehudah with him so as to have not only an escort but also an intelligent pupil with whom to discuss Torah matters. When Rav died, in the year 247 CE, Rav Yehudah went to Neharde'a to study under Shemu'el. Shemu'el too befriended him and would call him "Shinena" ('Brilliant'). Rav Yehudah had a remarkable memory. Hundreds of laws are mentioned in the Gemara that Rav Yehudah handed down in the name of his great teachers, Rav and Samuel. After Shemu'el died Rav Yehudah, who was by now middle-aged, founded the famous Yeshiva of Pumbedita. Under the leadership of Rav Yehudah, the Yeshiva of Pumbedita became famous for its scholars. There was a saying about the sharpness of the scholars of Pumbedita: "They can draw an elephant through the eye of a needle." Not everyone, however, was in agreement with the idea of too much pilpul in learning.

I have given that rather detailed biography of Rav Yehudah in order to demonstrate that his halakhic opinion was certainly one that should be treated with the greatest of respect. The differing ways that Rav Yehudah and his student, Zera, interpreted the biblical verses will be dealt with by the Gemara much later on. For now it is sufficient for our purposes to note that Rav Yehudah was of the opinion that the threat uttered by the prophet Jeremiah [Jeremiah 27:22] that the exiles from Judah were to remain in Babylon until He determined otherwise was a positive mitzvah.

24:
In order to understand this matter we must preface a considerable amount of history.

In the winter of the year 598 BCE a young man became king of Judah. His name was Yeyoyakhin and he was only 18 years old. He ascended the throne at the most difficult of times. His country had been invaded by the Babylonian army which was laying siege to Jerusalem. In a desperate attempt to save the city and the kingdom Yehoyakhin did a deal with Nebuchadrezzar, the Babylonian king. He would deliver himself into the hands of the Babylonian king as a prisoner together with a sizeable segment of the more prosperous elements of his kingdom; in exchange the Babylonians would spare the city and appoint Yehoyakhin's uncle, Zedekiah, as king. Thus it was that on 16th March 597 BCE, after a reign of only three months, Yehoyakhin was taken to Babylon with a group of several thousand exiles. Scripture [2 Kings 24:9] says that Yehoyakhin "did evil in the eyes of the Lord". though what evil the young man could have done in only three months is not explained. On the contrary, the prophet Jeremiah speaks of him most affectionately, calling him by his nickname 'Conya'. And later midrashic elaborations say that in Babylon Yehoyakhin repented and studied and observed Torah most assiduously.

This is not the place to elaborate on the history of the kingdom of Judah at this time, fascinating though it is. Most briefly, let us say that Zedekiah did not utilize the respite given him by his nephew and led the kingdom into renewed confrontation with Babylon, a confrontation which ended 10 years later with the complete destruction of the kingdom of Judah and the exile to Babylon of all but the peasantry. During the whole of the reign of Nebuchadrezzar Yehoyakhin was kept a prisoner – and in excavations in Babylon chits have been discovered concerning food and drink for the royal prisoner and his entourage. Yehoyakhin was 18 years old when he entered prison and was 55 years old when he was released by Nebuchadrezzar's successor in the year 562 BCE. We do not know whether he survived to see the fall of Babylon and the permission that Cyrus the Persian gave to the exiles to return home. (In 539 BCE Yehoyakhin would have been 77 years old.)

Not all the exiles returned home. Life in Babylon had not been all that difficult, it would seem, and the majority of the exiles preferred to stay there. Thus, when the Jews returned to Eretz-Israel – in several waves during the century that began in 538 BCE – a diaspora had been created in Babylon at the same time. The community in Babylon claimed that its 'Exilarchs' (heads of the diaspora) were direct descendents of King Yehoyakhin, and thus legitimate heirs of the House of David.

25:
Thus, by the time we reach Rav Yehudah in the middle of the 3rd century CE the Babylonian diaspora had been well established for almost 800 years! Rav Yehudah must have understood that Shivat Tziyyon (the restoration of the exiles to Zion at the time of Cyrus) had been the end of the divine threat against the exiles. So, maintaining as he did his opposition to aliya from Babylon to Eretz-Israel must have been political as well as religious.

To be continued.