In the Persian Empire of the book of Esther, the Gnostic fire ... - WBM

Recommendations

Info

Yehud – the Persian designation for the Land of Israel at that time – to provide a fascinating window into Jewish-Zoroastrian relations, yet this is not the case. Just as we find in the Cyrus Cylinder, Persian pragmatism and “secular” bureaucracy ruled the day. On the other hand, despite its many historical problems and the total absence of references to divinity, the book of Esther preserves some intriguing fragments of the Jewish-Zoroastrian encounter. Zoroastrianism is to be found first and foremost in the theophoric names (i.e., those including the name of a god) of some of the book’s main characters. Typical of Zoroastrianism, many of these appellations express concepts deified in the Avesta. For example, the name Mehuman derives from Vohu Manah, which means “Good Mind.” Fascinatingly, in the Zoroastrian pantheon, Vohu Mana is one of the seven Amesha Spentas, or beneficent immortals. This parallels Mehuman’s position as one of Ahasuerus’ seven eunuchs. Another reference to the Mind can be found in the name of the arch villain, Haman, which seems to come from hammanah – “of like mind.” As Harvard scholar James Russel has put it, rulers in all times and places tend to cherish yes-men. Haman’s father, similarly, is Hammedatha, which means “of the same dat,” or law. Indeed, it seems that the use of the word dat (source of the Hebrew term dat – religion) throughout the book of Esther subtly critiques the seemingly arbitrary rule of law in Persian and Zoroastrian culture. Once we reach the Second Temple era, Jewish literature and thought shifts dramatically. Emphasis is placed on the afterlife, eschatology, and the soul – now a battleground of good versus evil. These ideas dominate Zoroastrianism and how Zoroastrians perceived reality. Nowhere in ancient Judaism is this new dualism stronger than at Qumran, where the sect responsible for composing the Dead Sea Scrolls contemplated the end of history and the ultimate war between good and evil. In numerous Second Temple texts – including the scrolls – evil is seen as separate from God, and opposing Him. Satan and his cohorts develop into a full-blown maleficent force. The demon Ashmedai debuts in Jewish tradition in the book of Tobit, written in the second century BCE. Unlike his more playful talmudic counterpart, this character is lustful and dangerous. In the literature of the Second Temple period, Jewish monotheism veers closer to dualism than ever before. Surprisingly, this trend takes place at a point when there was little direct contact between Jews and Zoroastrians. Alexander the Great had already defeated the Persian armies during the fourth century BCE; subsequently, Hellenist forces ruled Judea as well as most Iranian lands. In fact, one of the greatest mysteries of ancient Jewish intellectual history is how Second Temple Jews, and particularly sects living in relative isolation, seem to have engaged in a protracted dialogue with Iranian ideas. However this encounter came about, its far-reaching effects on the development of Judaism are indisputable. The Sasanian Talmud Not long after its completion in the fifth or sixth century, the Babylonian Talmud became the most influential text in Judaism besides the Bible. Its authority was of course assumed in Babylonia, but in time the Talmud’s influence spread to North Africa and Europe as well. Because of this profound impact, a proper understanding of the Talmud is essential not only for historians of Babylonian Jewry, but also for scholars of subsequent periods of Jewish history. The question of how to define the voluminous tome that graces the Jewish bookshelf to this day affects how Jewish practice, theology, and culture – which derive largely from the Talmud – are to be understood. This basic definitional problem has puzzled Talmud scholars and historians for centuries. On the one hand, despite its name, the Babylonian Talmud is preoccupied with the Land of Israel and is a commentary on and repository of Palestinian rabbinic texts. It explains the Mishna, compares it to the Tosefta and other early rabbinic works, and transmits the opinions of the Sages, many of whom dwelt in Palestine. Yet a perusal of its pages indicates that it was firmly Zoroastrianism The Cube of Zoroaster, from the Achaemenid period in Naqsh-e Rustam, Iran. For centuries, this stone structure was assumed to be a Zoroastrian fire temple, but this supposition has been discredited Photo: dynamosquito The Jewish Journey through History Shevat/Adar 5772 35
Zoroastrianism Burial Instead of burying the dead in the sacred earth, Zoroastrians lay corpses on a high, exposed platform, to be consumed by birds of prey. There were periods when Zoroastrian priests exhumed Jews and Christians from their graves to prevent them from defiling the earth. Animal Slaughter Zoroastrians kill animals by strangulation. The Jewish method of cutting the windpipe is unacceptable to them, as is the practice of allowing the blood to flow onto the ground, as required by Jewish law. grounded in Babylonia. The talmudic rabbis are fiercely loyal to Babylonia, even boasting of their particular towns and villages. The challenges of living under the Roman Empire – which had destroyed the Temple and persecuted the Jews – are mentioned, but only from a distance. Babylonian Jewry and the Babylonian Talmud were first and foremost citizens and products of the Sasanian Empire – named for the Persian dynasty that ruled a vast expanse of territory from Mesopotamia in the west as far as the Indus region in the east between the third and seventh centuries CE. Zoroastrianism was an important facet of Sasanian identity. The coins minted by this empire typically depicted, on the flip side of a bust of the emperor, a fire altar administered by Zoroastrian priests. Many of the officials in charge of day-to-day legal and financial affairs were also Zoroastrian priests. Along with Christians, Mandaeans, and Manichaeans, Zoroastrian laymen made up a sizable religious community in Mesopotamia. Thus, understanding the Babylonian Talmud requires a deeper appreciation of the Zoroastrian-Jewish encounter in Babylonia. There is evidence that Jews living under the Sasanians were harassed on occasion, but in comparison with other eras and cultures, this mistreatment was mild. The Jews were also not the only community occasionally persecuted by zealous Zoroastrian priests. A third-century inscription by the Zoroastrian high priest Kirder boasts of the various religious communities made to suffer under his tenure. These included Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, and Manichaeans – adherents of a new dualistic Highly Flammable Various elements and beings are sacred to the Zoroastrian faith: fire, water, earth, plants, cattle, and the priest or holy man. This resulted in a number of areas of tension between Jewish law and its Zoroastrian counterpart: Immersion Menstruating women are ruled by the forces of evil, according to Zoroastrian belief, and are therefore expected to keep a distance from their families. Their purification process involves rubbing their bodies with bull urine. By submerging herself in water, an unpurified woman would transfer her impurity to the sacred liquid, so the immersion of Jewish women in a mikve is anathema to Zoroastrians. Ritual Fire Fire plays a vital part in Zoroastrian ritual. Therefore Zoroastrians opposed the use of fire in private rituals performed by non-believers, such as lighting candles at the beginning of the Sabbath, or kindling Hanukkah lamps. 36 February/March 2012 www.segulamag.com
Page 1 and 2: Zoroastrianism of A two-thousand-ye
Page 3 and 4: Zoroastrianism n November 26, 2008,
Page 5: Zoroastrianism Good vs. Bad Zoroast
Page 9 and 10: Zoroastrianism women immerse in the

In the Persian Empire of the book of Esther, the Gnostic fire ... - WBM

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?