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76-634: The two Yekum Purkan prayers were composed in Babylonia and are written in Aramaic , where Aramaic had been the daily language of the Jews for more than a thousand years until Arabic became the vernacular in the ninth century. The prayers do not appear in writing in the manuscript prayer books of the Babylonian geonim , Rabbi Amram Gaon (died 875) and Rabbi Saadiah Gaon (died 942), thus indicating

152-633: A composition date towards the end of the Geonic period. The first of the two prayers was composed in the tenth or eleventh century, when the Talmudic Academies in Babylonia were weakening and scholars in Europe were increasingly assuming Jewish religious leadership. The diminishing status of the academies led to a decrease in their revenues, and it was against this backdrop that Yekum Purkan

228-578: A decree according to which all dhimmis (including the Jews) would need to wear in addition to the already established zunnar an honey-coloured outer garment and badge-like patches on their servant's clothing, by which he begun the long tradition of differentiation by colour. Like the Arabs, the Jews were zealous promoters of knowledge, and by translating Greek and Latin The caliph al-Mu'tadid (892–902) ranked

304-468: A high-priesthood for the exiled Hyrcanus, which they would have made quite independent of Judea. But the reverse was to come about: the Judeans received a Babylonian, Ananel by name, as their high priest which indicates the importance enjoyed by the Jews of Babylonia. Philo speaks of the large number of Jews resident in that country, a population which was no doubt considerably swelled by new immigrants after

380-483: A third captivity. After the overthrow of Babylonia by the Persians , Cyrus gave the Jews permission to return to their native land (537 BCE), and more than forty thousand are said to have availed themselves of the privilege. (See Jehoiakim ; Ezra ; Nehemiah .) The earliest accounts of the Jews exiled to Babylonia are furnished only by scanty biblical details, although a number of archaeological discoveries (such as

456-710: Is a prayer for the welfare of the Torah scholars in the Land of Israel and Babylonia, their teachers, the exilarch, and the judges. Many of the phrases of this prayer resemble those of the Kaddish de-Rabbanan ("the scholars' Kaddish"). It invokes God's blessings on the “heads of the academies” (the geonim), the “head of the Diaspora” (the exilarch) and the “judges at the gates” and requests divine favor for those who uphold Torah – by teaching, study, support and especially by undertaking

532-601: Is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c.  586 BCE . Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities. The Jewish community in Mesopotamia , known in Jewish sources as " Babylonia ", traces its origins to the early sixth century BCE, when a large number of Judeans from the defeated Kingdom of Judah were exiled to Babylon in several waves by

608-558: Is extremely limited. But with Alexander the Great 's campaign, some accurate information concerning the Jews in the East reached the western world. Alexander's army contained numerous Jews who refused, from religious scruples, to take part in the reconstruction of the destroyed Belus temple in Babylon. The accession of Seleucus Nicator , 312 BCE, to whose extensive empire Babylonia belonged,

684-734: Is found in the Sephardi liturgy, but a similar, although more lengthy prayer, called “Tefillah L’ma’an Ha’kahal” (Prayer for the Congregation) is found in some Yemenite prayer book manuscripts. Furthermore, some claim that it was recited in the Sephardic liturgy until the abolishment of the establishment of the Geonim , at which point it was deemed to be irrelevant. Yekum Purkan , and the Mi Sheberakh prayer that follows it, are among

760-543: The 1948 Arab–Israeli War , persecution against Jews culminated in increased government oppression and cultural discrimination. The Iraqi government, while maintaining a public policy of discrimination against Iraqi Jews, simultaneously forbade Jews from emigrating to Israel out of concern for strengthening the nascent Israeli state. In 1950, the Iraqi government reversed course and permitted Jews to emigrate in exchange for renouncing their Iraqi citizenship. From 1950 to 1952, nearly

836-526: The Al-Yahudu Tablets ) shed light into the social lives of the deportees; certain sources seek to supply this deficiency from the realms of legend and tradition. Thus, the so-called "Small Chronicle" ( Seder Olam Zutta ) endeavors to preserve historic continuity by providing a genealogy of the exilarchs ("Reshe Galuta") back to King Jeconiah . Jeconiah himself is made an exilarch. The "Small Chronicle" states that Zerubbabel returned to Judea in

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912-718: The First Jewish-Roman War (66–73 CE). How free a hand the Parthians permitted the Jews is perhaps best illustrated by the rise of the little Jewish robber-state in Nehardea (see Anilai and Asinai ). Still more remarkable is the conversion of the king of Adiabene to Judaism. These instances show not only the tolerance, but the weakness of the Parthian kings. The Babylonian Jews wanted to fight in common cause with their Judean brethren against Vespasian ; but it

988-668: The First Temple in Jerusalem was partially despoiled and a number of the leading citizens removed ( Book of Daniel , Daniel 5:1–5 ). After eleven years, in the reign of Zedekiah —who had been enthroned by Nebuchadnezzar— a fresh revolt of the Judaeans took place, perhaps encouraged by the close proximity of the Egyptian army. The city was razed to the ground, and a further deportation ensued. Five years later, Jeremiah records

1064-559: The Geonic period (6th–11th century CE). Abraham , the patriarch of the Hebrews , originated from Mesopotamia. The Ten Israelite Tribes from the northern Kingdom of Israel were exiled to Assyria from 730 BCE. In the Bible , Babylon and the country of Babylonia are not always clearly distinguished; in most cases, the same word is used in reference to both places. In some passages,

1140-624: The Jerusalem Talmud composed in the same period in the Galilee. The three centuries in the course of which the Babylonian Talmud was developed in the academies founded by Rav and Samuel were followed by five centuries during which it was intensely preserved, studied, expounded in the schools, and, through their influence, discipline and work, recognized by the whole diaspora. Sura , Nehardea , and Pumbedita were considered

1216-538: The Neo-Babylonian Empire . A few decades later, some had returned to Judah, following the edict of Cyrus . During this time, the Temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt , significant changes in Jewish religious tradition were made, and the Judeans were led by individuals who made Aliyah from Babylonia, such as Zerubbabel , Ezra and Nehemiah . Though not much is known about the community in Babylonia during

1292-702: The Orthodox practice , a person who is praying alone does not say the second Yekum Purkan , as it is recited on behalf of the congregation, which is not present when one prays alone. Some halachic authorities rule that both paragraphs of Yekum Purkan should be omitted by someone who prays alone.   History of the Jews in Iraq The history of the Jews in Iraq ( Hebrew : יְהוּדִים בָּבְלִים , Yehudim Bavlim , lit.   ' Babylonian Jews ' ; Arabic : اليهود العراقيون , al-Yahūd al-ʿIrāqiyyūn )

1368-560: The Second Temple and Mishnaic periods , scholars believe the community was still thriving and prospering at that time. The Jewish community of Babylonia rose to prominence as the center of Jewish scholarship following the decline of the Jewish population in the Land of Israel in the 3rd century CE. Estimates often place the Babylonian Jewish population of the third to seventh centuries at around one million, making it

1444-584: The Ten Lost Tribes , and one in central Mesopotamia associated with the Judean exiles. The continuity of Jewish culture in Babylonia across the centuries is indicated by certain names which appear among Babylonian Jews in Ezra-Nehemiah and centuries later among Babylonian amoraim , but never in Judean sources, such as Shereviah. Information regarding the early period of Jewish history in Iraq

1520-476: The dhimmis (Jews, Christians , and Zoroastrians ) after the conquests were the institution of the poll-tax (" jizyah ") and the tax upon real estate (" kharaj "). The kharaj land tax led to mass migration of Babylonian Jews from the countryside to cities like Baghdad . This in turn led to greater wealth and international influence, as well as a more cosmopolitan outlook from Jewish thinkers such as Saadiah Gaon , who now deeply engaged with Western philosophy for

1596-634: The "burden of Babylon" ( Isaiah 13:1 ), though at that time it still seemed a "far country" ( Isaiah 39:3 ). In the number and importance of its references to Babylonian life and history, the Book of Jeremiah stands preeminent in the Hebrew literature. With numerous important allusions to events in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah has become a valuable source in reconstructing Babylonian history within recent times. The inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar are almost exclusively devoted to building operations; and but for

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1672-457: The Book of Jeremiah, little would be known of his campaign against Jerusalem. During the 6th century BCE, the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah were exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in three waves. These three separate occasions are mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah ( Jer. 52:28–30 ). The first was in the time of Jehoiachin in 597 BCE, when, in retaliation for a refusal to pay tribute,

1748-587: The Davidic house especially, that induced the Parthian kings to elevate the princes of the Exile, who until then had been little more than mere collectors of revenue, to the dignity of real princes, called Resh Galuta . Thus, then, the numerous Jewish subjects were provided with a central authority which assured an undisturbed development of their own internal affairs. In religious matters the Babylonians, like

1824-685: The Greek period. Certainly, the descendants of the Davidic line occupied an exalted position among their brethren in Babylonia, as they did at that period in Judea. During the Maccabean revolt , these Judean descendants of the royal house had immigrated to Babylonia. According to the biblical account, the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great was "God's anointed", having freed the Jews from Babylonian rule. After

1900-627: The Jerusalemite academies of the Houses of Hillel and Shammai , albeit Rav and Samuel agreed with each other far more often than did the houses of Hillel and Shammai. Thus, both Babylonian rabbinical schools opened a new era for diaspora Judaism, and the ensuing discussions in their classes furnished the earliest stratum and style of the scholarly material deposited in the Babylonian Talmud . The key work of these semi-competing academies

1976-679: The Jewish diaspora exist in the United Kingdom , Ireland , Australia , Singapore , Canada , and the United States . What Jewish sources called "Babylon" and "Babylonia" may refer to the ancient city of Babylon and the Neo-Babylonian Empire ; or, very often, it means the specific area of Mesopotamia (the region between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers) where a number of Jewish religious academies functioned during

2052-593: The Jews are said to have gained over the Galatians in Babylonia (see II Maccabees – 2 Macc. 8:20 ) must have happened under Seleucus Callinicus or under Antiochus III . The last-named settled a large number of Babylonian Jews as colonists in his western dominions, with the view of checking certain revolutionary tendencies disturbing those lands. The persecutions of Antiochus IV (168 BCE) appear to have been limited to Judea, and likely were not imposed on Babylonian Jews. Mithridates (174–136 BCE) subjugated, about

2128-641: The Jews as "state servants". When the Abbasid Caliphate and the city of Baghdad declined in the 10th century, many Babylonian Jews migrated to the Mediterranean region, contributing to the spread of Babylonian Jewish customs throughout the Jewish world. Under the Seljuk Empire , new decrees enforcing discriminatory dress laws for non-Muslims were promulgated in 1091 by Abu Shuja al-Rudhrawari and in 1121 under sultan Mahmud II . As

2204-444: The Jews who served in his army, as reported by Marco Polo . Iraq's Jewish community reached an apex in the 12th century, with 40,000 Jews, 28 synagogues, and ten yeshivot , or Rabbinic academies. Jews participated in commerce, artisanal labor and medicine. Under Mongol rule (1258–1335) Jewish physician Sa’ad Al-Dawla served as musharrif , or assistant director of the financial administration of Baghdad, as well as Chief Vizier of

2280-462: The Jews. His friendship with Shmuel gained many advantages for the Jewish community. Shapur II 's mother was Jewish, and this gave the Jewish community a relative freedom of religion and many advantages. Shapur was also the friend of a Babylonian rabbi in the Talmud called Raba , and Raba's friendship with Shapur II enabled him to secure a relaxation of the oppressive laws enacted against the Jews in

2356-534: The Mede , and Nathan the Babylonian had ancestry in Babylonia or further east. In the 2nd century, Nisibis ("Netzivin") was such a center of rabbinic scholarship that figures like Eleazar ben Shammua could consider traveling there to study. The Jews of northern Babylonia appear to have suffered severely from the Roman-Parthian and Roman-Sasanian wars; this, and possibly the growing power of Christianity in

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2432-639: The Mongol Empire. Hulagu (a Buddhist), the destroyer of the Caliphate (1258) and the conqueror of Palestine (1260), was tolerant toward Muslims, Jews and Christians; but there can be no doubt that in those days of terrible warfare the Jews must have suffered much with others. Under the Mongolian rulers, the priests of all religions were exempt from the poll-tax. Hulagu's second son, Aḥmed , embraced Islam, but his successor, Arghun (1284–1291), hated

2508-515: The Persian Empire. In addition, Raba sometimes referred to his top student Abaye with the term Shvur Malka meaning "Shapur [the] King" because of his bright and quick intellect. Christians, Manicheans , Buddhists and Jews at first seemed at a disadvantage, especially under Sasanian high-priest Kartir ; but the Jews, dwelling in more compact masses in cities like Isfahan , were not exposed to such general discrimination as broke out against

2584-570: The Sabbath liturgy in Ashkenazic communities. In modern times, some communities have added the phrase “and all that are in the lands of our dispersion” to make the prayer more relevant to them while others interpret the term “Babylonia” – when used together in distinction to the term “Land of Israel” – to apply to all the lands outside of the Land of Israel in which Jews were dispersed. According to

2660-693: The Sasanian Empire. While occasionally there were disputes between Jews and the authorities, the Talmudic texts mainly show respect for the Sasanian government, and the Amora Samuel of Nehardea 's remark – "dina demalchuta dina" (The law of the kingdom, the governing empire, must be upheld) reflects this attitude. Shapur I (Shvor Malka, which is the Aramaic form of the name) was a friend to

2736-535: The allied armies defeated the Parthians (129 BCE) at the Great Zab (Lycus), the king ordered a halt of two days on account of the Jewish Sabbath and Feast of Weeks . In 40 BCE the Jewish puppet-king, Hyrcanus II , fell into the hands of the Parthians, who, according to their custom, cut off his ears in order to render him unfit for rulership. The Jews of Babylonia, it seems, had the intention of founding

2812-523: The area until the Muslim conquest in the seventh century CE and became known as the Sasanian Empire . During the 3rd to 7th centuries, the Babylonian Jewish community is estimated to have reached about one million, potentially making it the largest Jewish diaspora population of the time and possibly surpassing the Jewish population in the Land of Israel during the same period. The Babylonian Talmud

2888-435: The area, appear to have led to a weakening of the Jewish community in northern Mesopotamia while the center of Jewish culture shifted to the center and south. A new ruling family from an ancient dynasty of Iranian priests took control of the region around 223 CE and imposed a new system of government based on Zoroastrianism and local Iranian identity, which often suppressed dissident factions and heterodox views. It dominated

2964-407: The benefit of the community and calls for God's blessings on those individuals who provide funds for the general welfare. It calls for special blessings to those who “give candles for illumination and wine for Kiddush and Havdalah , bread for guests and charity to the poor; and all who involve themselves faithfully with the needs of the community.” Mi Sheberakh is written in Hebrew but is read in

3040-606: The center of Jewish thought. The Arabs conquered Iraq from the Sassanids in the 630s. Ali made Kufa, in Iraq, his capital, and it was there that Jews expelled from the Arabian Peninsula went (about 641). The capture by Ali of Firuz Shabur , where 90,000 Jews are said to have dwelt, is mentioned by the Jewish chroniclers. Mar Isaac, chief of the academy of Sura , paid homage to the caliph, and received privileges from him. The first legal expression of Islam toward

3116-724: The conquest of Babylonia by the Persian Achaemenid Empire Cyrus granted all the Jews citizenship and by decree allowed the Jews to return to Israel (around 537 BCE). Subsequently, successive waves of Babylonian Jews emigrated to Israel. Ezra (fl. 480–440 BCE) returned from Babylonian exile and reintroduced the Torah in Jerusalem (Ezra 7–10 and Nehemiah 8). During the Second Temple period two large Jewish communities developed in Mesopotamia: one in northern Mesopotamia who attributed their ancestry to

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3192-443: The earliest known recitations of personalized blessings in the Jewish liturgy, whose typical usage until then was standardized prayers using set Hebrew phrases, recited on behalf of the entire community, without specifying the roles or identities of the worshippers. Both prayers are very similar in form and derive their name from their opening words , yekum purkan , meaning “may deliverance arise” or “may salvation arise.” The first

3268-408: The early Sasanian era, the Jewish community's stature and their religious and communal autonomy were generally maintained. The Jewish communities in Mesopotamia flourished, particularly in the fourth century CE, as a result of Shapur's tolerant rule and the Christianization of the Roman Empire , which led to a large Jewish migration from Roman-controlled territory into the only Roman-independent region,

3344-879: The entire Iraqi Jewish population emptied out from Iraq to Israel through Operation Ezra and Nehemiah . Historians estimate that 120,000–130,000 Iraqi Jews (around 75% of the entire community) reached Israel . The remainder of the Jewish population continued to dwindle in the ensuing decades; as of the 2020s, less than a handful of Jews still reside in Iraq. As of 2014, the total number of Jews living in Iraq number around 100, mostly in Baghdad. The religious and cultural traditions of Iraqi Jews are kept alive today in strong communities established by Iraqi Jews in Israel , especially in Or Yehuda , Givatayim and Kiryat Gat . According to government data as of 2014, there were 227,900 Jews of Iraqi descent in Israel, with other estimates as high as 600,000 Israelis having some Iraqi ancestry. Smaller communities upholding Iraqi Jewish traditions in

3420-410: The fall of Jerusalem the very bulwark of Judaism. The collapse of the Bar Kochba revolt no doubt added to the number of Jewish refugees in Babylon. In the continuous Roman–Persian Wars , the Jews had every reason to hate the Romans, the destroyers of their sanctuary, and to side with the Parthians, their protectors. Possibly it was recognition of services thus rendered by the Jews of Babylonia, and by

3496-399: The final days of the festivals of Passover , Shavuot and Shmini Atzeret . One reason given for Yekum Purkan not being recited on a weekday holiday is so as to end the lengthy holiday services somewhat earlier so that people can leave to prepare their holiday meal (on the Sabbath, meals are prepared before the Sabbath). Another reason suggested is that it was decided that the prayer for

3572-457: The first time write prayers in a language other than Hebrew, such as the Kaddish , written in Judeo-Aramaic – a harbinger of the many languages in which Jewish prayers in the diaspora would come to be written in, such as Greek, Arabic, and Turkish. Accustomed in Jerusalem from early times to look to the east for help, and aware, as the Roman procurator Petronius was, that the Jews of Babylon could render effectual assistance, Babylonia became with

3648-472: The first time. The Umayyad caliph, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (717–720), issued orders to his governors: "Tear down no church, synagogue, or fire-temple; but permit no new ones to be built". Isaac Iskawi II (about 800) received from Harun al-Rashid (786–809) confirmation of the right to carry a seal of office. At the court of the Harun an embassy from the emperor Charlemagne included which a Jew, Isaac, took part. In 850, al-Rashid's grandson al-Muttawakil issued

3724-500: The historical books, Babylonia is frequently referred to (there are no fewer than thirty-one allusions in the Books of Kings ), though the lack of a clear distinction between the city and the country is sometimes puzzling. Allusions to it are confined to the points of contact between the Israelites and the various Babylonian kings , especially Merodach-baladan (Berodach-baladan of 2 Kings 20:12 ; compare Isa. 34:1 ) and Nebuchadnezzar . In Books of Chronicles , Ezra , and Nehemiah

3800-402: The interest is transferred to Cyrus (see, for example, Ez. 5:13 ), though the retrospect still deals with the conquests of Nebuchadnezzar , and Artaxerxes is mentioned once ( Neh. 13:6 ). In the poetical literature of Israel, Babylonia plays an insignificant part (see Ps. 87:4 , and especially Psalm 137 ), but it fills a very large place in the Prophets. The Book of Isaiah resounds with

3876-452: The land of Babylonia is called Shinar , while in the post-exilic literature, it is called Chaldea . In the Book of Genesis , Babylonia is described as the land in which Babel , Erech , Accad , and Calneh are located – cities that are declared to have formed the beginning of Nimrod 's kingdom ( Genesis 10:10 ). Here, the Tower of Babel was located ( Gen. 11:1–9 ); and it was also the seat of Amraphel 's dominion ( Gen. 14:1, 9 ). In

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3952-447: The largest Jewish diaspora community of that period. The area became home to many important Talmudic yeshivas such as the Nehardea , Pumbedita and Sura Academies , and the Babylonian Talmud was compiled there. The Mongol invasion and Islamic discrimination under the Caliphates in the Middle Ages eventually led to its decline. Under the Ottoman Empire , the Jews of Iraq fared better. The community established modern schools in

4028-451: The largest number of congregants could be expected to be present. The earliest written record of the first Yekum Purkan prayer is found in the Maḥzor Vitry manuscript of Simhah ben Shmuel of Vitry, who died 1105 in France. Only this first prayer was recited in the French rite. The earliest written record of the second prayer appears in the work known as Sefer HaRoke’ach by Eleazar ben Yehudah of Worms (c. 1176–1238). Neither prayer

4104-414: The more isolated Christians. The Sasanian period witnessed the flourishing of Jewish culture in Babylonia, and the beginning of a long period in which Babylonian Jewry took the lead in Jewish culture worldwide. A landmark in this process was the emigration of Rav from the Galilee , where he had studied with Judah HaNasi (author of the Mishnah ), to Babylonia in 219 CE. The Jewish community of Babylonia

4180-443: The next 250 years; much of the text did not reach its "perfected" form until around 600–700. The Mishnah , which had been completed in the early 3rd century CE, and the Babylonian Gemara (the discussions at and around these academies) together form the Talmud Bavli (the "Babylonian Talmud"). Jewish tradition to this day overwhelmingly relies on the Babylonian Talmud , composed by Babylonian scholars during this period, rather than

4256-407: The order that was used during the period of the gaonim when this was said after the address of the Reish Galuta . These prayers are recited on every Sabbath of the year, including festival days that occur on the Sabbath. However, they are not recited on festival weekdays, when instead, the service continues with Yah Eli in some customs, followed by Ashrei , or (in most communities) Yizkor on

4332-416: The period of the gaonim the resh galuta would give his address after the reading of the Torah , then a representative of the congregation would bless him, and then he would bless the congregation. Following the two paragraphs of Yekum Purkan , an additional prayer, the Mi Sheberakh (May He Who blessed our forefathers, Abraham , Isaac and Jacob ), is recited in honor of all those who volunteer for

4408-409: The public reading of the Torah and the haftarah . In many orthodox congregations, it has in recent years become the custom that the Rabbi gives his sermon immediately after the haftarah and before the recitation of Yekum Purkan (rather than the more common practice of the sermon being given after the Torah scroll is returned to the Aron HaKodesh ). The Rabbi's sermon at this juncture mimics

4484-417: The rabbis, God created these two academies in order to ensure the fulfillment of the Biblical promise that the word of God would never depart from Israel's mouth ( Isaiah 59:21 ). The periods of Jewish history immediately following the close of the Talmud are designated according to the titles of the teachers at Sura and Pumbedita; thus we have the time of the Geonim and that of the Saboraim. The Saboraim were

4560-417: The responsibilities of communal leadership. The second Yekum Purkan prayer is phrased similarly to the first and is a more general prayer for the welfare of the congregation; it requests God's blessing for all the members of the congregation and their families “wives, sons and daughters and all that is theirs.” In the Ashkenazi ritual, the two Yekum Purkan prayers are recited on Sabbath morning, following

4636-423: The scholars whose diligent hands completed the Talmud and the first great Talmudic commentaries in the first third of the 6th century. The two academies among others, and the Jewish community they led, lasted until the middle of the 11th century. Pumbedita faded after its chief rabbi was murdered in 1038, and Sura faded soon after. Which ended the centuries-long great scholarly reputation given to Babylonian Jews, as

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4712-409: The seats of diaspora learning; and the heads of these authorities were referred to later on as Geonim and were considered the highest authorities on religious matters in the Jewish world. Their decisions were sought from all sides and were accepted wherever diaspora Jewish communal life existed. They even successfully competed against the learning coming from the Land of Israel itself. According to

4788-433: The second half of the 19th century. Driven by persecution, which saw many of the leading Jewish families of Baghdad flee for India , and expanding trade with British colonies, the Jews of Iraq established a trading diaspora in Asia known as the Baghdadi Jews . The Iraqi Jewish community formed a homogeneous group, maintaining communal Jewish identity, culture and traditions. The Jews in Iraq distinguished themselves by

4864-407: The successors ( diadochoi ) of Alexander. Among other Asiatic princes, the Roman rescript in favor of the Jews reached Arsaces as well ( I Macc. 15:22); it is not, however, specified which Arsaces. Not long after this, the Partho-Babylonian country was trodden by the army of a Jewish prince. The Syrian king, Antiochus VII Sidetes , marched, in company with Hyrcanus I , against the Parthians. When

4940-428: The support of Torah study was most appropriate for the Sabbath day, as the day on which the Torah was traditionally believed to have been given on Mount Sinai . As the prayer concerns those who teach, learn and provide leadership and material support to maintain Torah study, the placement of the Yekum Purkan prayer in the order of the service is immediately following the readings from the Torah and Prophets. During

5016-410: The vernacular in some congregations because it clearly articulates the financial and moral responsibilities of the audience. In the Western Ashkenaic rite, this third prayer is omitted on Shabbat Mevorkhim . Even though the academies of Babylonia and positions referred to in the first Yekum Purkan no longer exist and Aramaic is no longer a spoken language of the Jews, this prayer has remained part of

5092-402: The way they spoke in their old Arabic dialect, Judeo-Arabic ; the way they dressed; observation of Jewish rituals, for example, the Sabbath and holidays ; and kashrut . In the 20th century, Iraqi Jews played an important role in the early days of Iraq's independence. According to Avi Shlaim , they were deeply integrated into the wider Iraqi society, culturally and linguistically. Following

5168-410: The whole diaspora, were in many regards dependent upon Judea. They went on pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the festivals, and were dependent on Judean authorities to fix the calendar. The early rabbis took for granted that their rulings would be followed in Babylonia as well as locally. That said, the influence was to some extent mutual: a number of early notable rabbis including Hillel the Elder , Nahum

5244-400: The year 160, the province of Babylonia, and thus the Jews for four centuries came under Parthian domination. Jewish sources contain no mention of Parthian influence; the very name "Parthian" does not occur, unless "Parthian" is meant by "Persian", which occurs now and then. The Armenian prince Sanatroces, of the royal house of the Arsacides , is mentioned in the "Small Chronicle" as one of

5320-431: Was accepted by the Jews and Syrians for many centuries as the commencement of a new era for reckoning time, called the Seleucid era , or in Jewish sources "minyan sheṭarot" (era of contracts), which was also officially adopted by the Parthians. Nicator's foundation of a city, Seleucia, on the Tigris is mentioned by the Rabbis; both the "Large" and the "Small Chronicle" contain references to him. The important victory which

5396-686: Was already learned, but Rav focused and organised their study. Leaving an existing Babylonian academy at Nehardea for his colleague Samuel , Rav founded a new academy at Sura , where he and his family already owned property, and which was known as a Jewish city. Rav's move created an environment in which Babylon had two contemporary leading academies that competed with one another, yet were so far removed from one another that they could never interfere with each other's operations. Since Rav and Samuel were acknowledged peers in position and learning, their academies likewise were considered of equal rank and influence. Their relationship can be compared to that between

5472-552: Was composed on behalf of the students and teachers of the academies, and their leaders – the geonim and the titular Head of the Diaspora known as the Resh Galuta or Exilarch . Thus, in addition to asking for God's help, the prayer also aimed to motivate people to give generously to support the academies of learning, and so were composed in the Aramaic vernacular rather than Hebrew and recited at Sabbath morning services when

5548-529: Was not until Trajan's Parthian campaign that they made their hatred felt; so that it was in a great measure owing to the revolt of the Babylonian Jews that the Romans did not become masters of Babylonia too. At the height of the war, Jerusalem and the Second Temple were destroyed . These events caused a wide dispersion of Jews in which many probably ended up in Babylonia. The Jews of Babylon would for

5624-466: Was often the case throughout Islamic history, the non-Muslims agreed to pay a substantial sum of money to the sultan so that decree be not enforced. The Caliphate hastened to its end before the rising power of the Mongol Empire . As Bar Hebraeus remarks, these Mongol tribes knew no distinction between heathens, Jews, and Christians; and their Great Khan Kublai Khan showed himself just toward

5700-529: Was the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud (the discussions from these two cities), completed by Rav Ashi and Ravina , two successive leaders of the Babylonian Jewish community, around the year 520, though rougher copies had already been circulated to the Jews of the Byzantine Empire. Editorial work by the Savoraim or Rabbanan Savoraei (post-Talmudic rabbis), continued on this text's grammar for

5776-578: Was written during this time and is a source of information for the political, religious, social, and linguistic facets of the empire. Under the Sasanians, Babylonia became the province of Asoristan , with its main city, Ctesiphon , becoming the capital of the Empire. Although there were some tensions between the Jewish community and Zoroastrian priests who sought to unify the entire empire under one religion and were less tolerant than their forebears during

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