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Tanḥum Ha-Yerushalmi's Life and Works

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Tanḥum Ha-Yerushalmi's Life and Works Chapter 1 Tanḥum Ha-Yerushalmi’s Life and Works 1 General Historical Context The period during which Tanḥum Ha-Yerushalmi lived was characterized by considerable political turbulence.1 During the Faṭimid period, Egypt saw the emergence of a vibrant economic and cultural life, characterized by a largely free market economy and international trade.2 The rise of the Ayyubid dynasty in 1171 marked the introduction of increasingly conservative social policies, the end of open Ismaili activity in Egypt, and the establishment of increas- ingly centralized Sunni madrasas and Sufi lodges.3 They would rule Egypt and much of the Levant until 1250, when they were replaced by the Mamluks,4 1 My discussion here focuses on Egypt and the Levant, as it is in that region that Tanḥum lived (see discussion below). For the period of the Maimonidean dynasty’s prominence in Egypt (from c. 1165 to c. 1414) as a troubled one, see Menahem Ben-Sasson, “The Maimonidean Dynasty – Between Conservatism and Revolution,” in Maimonides after 800 years: Essays on Maimonides and His Influence (Harvard University Press: 2007), 1. On the lack of clarity surrounding Maimonides’ official position and titles, see J. Mann, Text and Studies in Jewish History and Literature (Hebrew Union College Press: 1931), vol. 1, 416–418 (where it is argued that he did not hold the title of nagid, but rather ra ʾīs al-yahūd); and Herbert A. Davidson, Moses Maimonides: The Man and His Works (Oxford University Press: 2005), 54–64 (where it is argued that his precise position is rather unclear, and that it is likely that he held neither position). The title of nagid was held by his son Abraham (d. 1237) and his descendants until the early fifteenth century. For a general treatment of the Maimondean negidim, see Mann, Texts and Studies, vol. 1, 416–429; and Ben-Sasson, “The Maimonidean Dynasty.” 2 See S. D. Goitein’s magisterial treatment of the economic and social life of Egypt during this period, A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza (University of California Press: 1967–1978), vol. 1, 29–74, and in particular 32–33. For a concise historical overview of the Fatimid period in North Africa, Egypt, and southern Syria, see Clifford Edmund Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties: A chronological and genealogical manual (Columbia University Press: 1996), 63–65. Egypt’s economic situation through the Fatimid period is described in Yaacov Lev, “The Fāṭimid Caliphate (358–567/969–1171) and the Ayyūbids in Egypt (567–648/1171–1250),” in The New Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 2: The Western Islamic World Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries (Cambridge University Press: 2010), ed. Maribel Fierro, 222–227. 3 For a concise historical overview of the Ayyubid period, see Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties, 70–75. 4 For a broad discussion of the Mamluk period in Egypt and Syria during Tanḥum’s lifetime, see Amalia Levanoni, “The Mamlūks in Egypt and Syria: the Turkish Mamlūk sultanate (648–784/1250–1382) and the Circassian Mamlūk sultanate (784–923/1382–1517),” In The New Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 2: The Western Islamic World Eleventh to Eighteenth © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004409118_003 6 Chapter 1 who in many ways continued to develop upon the Sunni conservatism that had been established by the Ayyubids.5 Protracted conflict with the crusader states had lasted since their establishment in the late eleventh century, and during Tanḥum’s lifetime the crusaders retained outposts in Antioch, Caesaria, Jerusalem, Tyre and Acre.6 Finally, the establishment of Mongol rule in the heart of Islamic lands ushered in a period of warfare between the Mamluks and the newly established Ilkhanate.7 These geopolitical upheavals left their mark on Tanḥum’s exegesis, particularly when treating eschatological themes.8 Centuries (Cambridge University Press: 2010), ed. Maribel Fierro, 237–248. A more concise his- torical overview of the Mamluk period may be found in Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties, 76–80. On the self-perception of the Mamluks and their origins, and on the terminology used in referring to distinct periods within the Mamluk sultanate, see Koby Yosef, “Dawlat al-atrāk or dawlat al-mamālik? Ethnic origin or slave origin as the defining characteristic of the ruling élite in the Mamlūk sultanate,” in Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 39 (2012), 387–410. 5 See Goitein, Mediterranean Society, vol. 1, 38. For a broad treatment of the educational prac- tices of Mamluk Cairo, see Jonathan Berkey, The Transmission of Knowledge in Medieval Cairo: A Social History of Islamic Education (Princeton University Press: 1992). 6 The crusader states were in existence for a total of just under two centuries, being estab- lished in Antioch in 1098 and lasting until the fall of Tyre and Acre in 1291. However, the individual states were shorter lived: Antioch from 1098 until 1268; Tyre from 1124 until 1291; Caesarea from 1101 until 1187, and from 1191 until 1265; Jerusalem from 1099 until 1187, and then from 1229 until 1244; and Nablus from 1099 until 1187. See Benjamin Z. Kedar, “The Subjected Muslims of the Frankish Levant,” in Muslims under Latin Rule, 1100–1300 (Princeton University Press: 1990), ed. J. M. Powell, 135. For a broad study of the establishment of the crusader states, their inner political and cultural life, and Muslim reactions to this reality, up until Philip VI of France’s final and unsuccessful attempt at renewing the Christian conquest of Palestine in 1336, see Andrew Jotischky, Crusading and The Crusader States (Pearson/Longman: 2004). See also Malcolm Barber, The Crusader States (Yale University Press: 2012); and Jean Richard, The Crusades c. 1071-c. 1291 (Cambridge University Press: 1999). 7 For a detailed account of the military conflict between the Mamluks and the Ilkhanate during Tanḥum’s lifetime – including the major battles at ʿAyn Jalut (1260) and Homs (1281) – viewed within the broader framework of Mamluk and Mongol relations with the Latin West, Byzantium, and the crusader states, see Reuven Amitai-Preiss, Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Īlkhānid War, 1260–1281 (Cambridge University Press: 1995). For a broad overview of the founding of the political and military life of the Ilkhanate from its establishment into the 1290’s, see Beatrice Forbes Manz, “The rule of the infidels: the Mongols and the Islamic world,” in The New Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 3: The Eastern Islamic World Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries (Cambridge University Press: 2010), eds. David O. Morgan and Anthony Reid, 144–150. 8 For Tanḥum’s actualizing interpretation of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38:2 as “the tribes of the Turks and Tatars and their towns (qabāʾil al-turuk wa-’l-tatar wa-bilādihim),” see Tal, “Parshanuto ha-maddaʿit,” 136. This interpretation almost certainly represents Tanḥum’s own experience of the upheavals of this period (ibid., 137–139). In addition, Tanḥum follows ear- lier exegetes (including Saadia Gaon) in identifying Christendom as a whole with the Edom of Isaiah and Jeremiah; see ibid., 135–136. Continuous war between the crusader states and Muslim states is likely to have colored this interpretation..
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