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

Zoroastrianism
women immerse in the mikve – water from
a natural source – following their menstrual
period, thus defiling water, another element
revered by the Persian faith. Fascinatingly, a
midrashic Aramaic translation of the book of
Esther known as Targum Sheni claims that this
was one of Haman’s complaints to Ahasuerus!
Finally, interring the dead also violated the
sacred status of the earth. Additional talmudic
passages and Christian parallels reflect
Zoroastrian efforts to remove corpse impurity
from the earth. Zoroastrian law prescribed a
ritual wherein the body was placed high on a
bier and consumed by birds. To this day, one can
see such a place on the outskirts of Mumbai. It is
known as the Tower of Silence.
A Source for the Gartel
As significant as these anti-Judaic decrees may
have been, they were only one aspect of the
Jewish-Zoroastrian encounter during talmudic
times. There were periods in which curious
Sasanian rulers organized “interfaith activities,”
including their Jewish subjects as well. These
meetings were held in a structure known as the
Bei Abedan. The Talmud records that many
rabbis invented excuses to avoid such gatherings,
although Shmuel, a major talmudic personality,
was said to have put in an appearance.
We do not know what was discussed in the Bei
Abedan, but some brief theological exchanges
preserved in the Talmud may give us a clue. Not
surprisingly, one such passage returns to the old
monotheism-dualism debate:
A magus said to Amemar [a talmudic
sage]: From your waist upward belongs
to Ohrmazd [Ahura Mazda, the Force of
Good]. From your waist downward belongs
to Ahrimen [Angra Mainyu, the Evil Spirit].
[Amemar] said to [the magus]: If so, how
does Ahrimen let Ohrmazd pass urine
through his land? (Sanhedrin 39a)
At stake here is not only the concept of
dualism, but also the way it might be mapped
onto this world. Does the body, including the
half that produces waste, represent one unified
organism, as Amemar saw it? Or are the upper
and lower regions divided and ruled by positive
and negative forces, as the magus claimed?
Although the passage presents the two sides of
the debate as irreconcilable, the Zoroastrian
approach seems to have left an impact.
Elsewhere in the Talmud (Zevahim 19a), the
Sasanian king Yazdegerd encourages Huna son
of Nathan to adjust his belt. In Zoroastrianism,
this article of clothing is highly symbolic: by
dividing the upper and lower parts of the body,
the belt keeps evil at bay, as it were. To this day,
some Jews don a special belt, or gartel, when
they pray, echoing a similar conception of the
body.
The encounter with Zoroastrianism seems
to have influenced other aspects of Jewish
thought as well, including essential questions
such as the role of destiny in man’s lot. There is
also evidence that Sasanian legal notions were
utilized – including the Talmud’s claim that a
temporary gift constitutes a gift. Furthermore,
Zoroastrian mythology and narrative motifs
had a major effect on talmudic storytelling.
These topics are all related to a relatively new
area of academic research, known as Irano-
Ridding the earth of
impurity. The Tower
of Silence, Mumbai.
Traditionally, bodies were
left here to be consumed
by birds of prey. Engraving
from True Stories of the
Reign of Queen Victoria, by
Cornelius Brown, 1886
38 February/March 2012 www.segulamag.com