{"id":72816,"date":"2020-04-05T06:52:54","date_gmt":"2020-04-05T03:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=72816"},"modified":"2020-04-05T06:52:54","modified_gmt":"2020-04-05T03:52:54","slug":"the-rivers-of-babylonia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-rivers-of-babylonia\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rivers Of Babylonia"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"72816","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36277,"related_cahpter":"451","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"From Biblical castigation to Talmudic safe haven\r\n\r\n","content":"

The penultimate chapter of Jeremiah is a furious tirade by the prophet excoriating the greed, arrogance and opulence of Babylon, condemning the overweening pride of her leaders, the idolatry endemic in the land, and foretelling the utter destruction that God would wreak on Babylonia as retribution for her wickedness. Babylon’s great, wealth-creating rivers are cited as a chief cause and enabler of her evil, as in the verse:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cO, you that dwells on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end is come, and the measure of your greed.” (Jer.51:14)<\/span><\/p>\n

Given this context, the rabbis deployment of this text in tractate <\/span>Ta\u2019anit<\/span><\/i> 10a is astounding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRabbi Oshaya says, \u2018you that dwell on many waters; great are your store houses\u2019 (51:13). Why are Babylonia’s storehouses filled with corn? Because she rests on many waters.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Rav said \u2018Babylonia is wealthy, because you can harvest there, even if there is no rain.\u2019 <\/span>
\n<\/span>Abbaye said \u2018my opinion is that it’s better to live in a wet place than a dry one.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A discussion of the precarious economic and climatic circumstances of the Land of Israel ends with rabbis praising the bounty of Babylonia!<\/span><\/p>\n

We students of Jeremiah know, of course, that the verse has been dramatically decapitated and wrenched out of context. The wealth giving rivers are the very cause of Babylon\u2019s downfall. But did the rabbis know this?<\/span><\/p>\n

No doubt they did. It is unimaginable that either Rabbi Oshaya or the gemara’s editors could have quoted five complimentary words about Babylonia without being fully aware that the surrounding two chapters passed damning judgment on that nation. Why then would they have chosen to ignore the context and mine this verse for its passing positive opinion?<\/span><\/p>\n

I would argue that the rabbis are deliberately repressing the broader context here, and that this is something which the Jewish people in exile have periodically and perhaps necessarily done.<\/span><\/p>\n

These scholars flourished in Babylonia, whose plenty enabled the <\/span>yeshivot<\/span><\/i> to take root and Torah study to thrive. I suggest that by plucking a phrase about the bounty of Babylonia from its grim context, the rabbis of Babylonia are acknowledging the material conditions that made their creative work possible while hinting also at their knowledge of the darker side of excessive wealth, and endemic arrogance that undergirded the economic order from which they benefitted \u2013 and which would eventually cause its downfall.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over 2000 years of wandering Jews have been attracted to successful societies which offered them the chance to thrive economically and build Jewish life. At their best, Jewish leaders were able to emulate the Talmudic rabbi’s combination of appreciation for the blessings conferred by host society, with recognition of fatal flaws that could ultimately undermine that country (and the viability of Jewish life there.) But sometimes that balance was lost, and Jews celebrated the current utopia as their perfect and permanent home. This remarkable misreading teaches us to stay clear-eyed about even the most comfortable diaspora havens for Jews and Judaism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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