JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

egypt
Testament) and the preference for an allegorical and “spiritual”
interpretation of the Jewish Scriptures, a tendency later
adopted by Clement of Alexandria and the exegetical school
of the Alexandrian, *Origen (d. 253 C.E.). Another early work,
found only in citations, the Kerygma Petrou, accused the Jews
of angel and star worship.
Some of the knowledge of the Jews in these times is derived
from Christian sources. The martyrologies of the time,
as a matter of style, brought in the Jews as the accusers. Generally
though, as Baron reports (Social 2 , 2 (1952), 188), the early
Christians got along with their Jewish neighbors. Indeed, toward
300 C.E., Jewish names begin to appear more frequently
in the papyri, giving witness to a renewal of activity. There are
even some Hebrew fragments found at Oxyrhynchus which
speak of rashei (“heads”), benei (“members”), and ziknei (“elders”)
of the keneset (“the community”; Cowley, Journal of
Egyptian Archaeology, 2 (1915), 209ff.). An interesting feature
of the Greek papyri of this period is the appearance of the
name “Sambathion” among both Jews and non-Jews, giving
testimony to the great respect given the Sabbath among the
Egyptians (for a fuller discussion cf. Tcherikover, Corpus, 3
(1964), 43–56). It is true that the Jews did support the Arians
in their disputes with orthodox Christianity, and patristic literature
placed the Jews together with the heretics and pagans
as the hated enemies of the church. This attitude later became
codified into law by the Codices of the emperors Theodosius
and Justinian. A pogrom and expulsion of the Jews from Alexandria
by the patriarch Cyril occurred in 415 C.E. Whether
or not this expulsion was fully carried out is still a moot point,
since later Christian literature points to the fact that Jews were
still living there (M. Chaine, in Mélanges de la Faculté orientale
de l’Université Saint-Joseph, Beyrouth, 6 (1913), 493ff.). The
Persian conquest seemed to be especially helpful to the Jews
in Egypt, since they were able to receive those Jews persecuted
in Syria by the emperor Heraclius. The Arab conquest in 632
saw the beginning of a new regime.
[Evasio de Marcellis]
Arab Period
There is little information available concerning the condition
of the Jews from the Arab conquest in 640 until the end of the
tenth century. In Fostat, founded by the conqueror of Egypt,
ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, a relatively large community was established,
while the Jewish population probably also grew in other Egyptian
cities. Ahmad ibn Ṭūlūn (ninth century), the first independent
ruler of Egypt under the Muslims, seems to have favored
the Jews. The historian al-Masʿūdī relates that he had a
Jewish physician. Documents found in the Cairo *Genizah of
Fostat give evidence of the commercial ties between the Jews
of Egypt and those of *Kairouan (Tunisia) during the second
half of the tenth century. The Jews of Egypt also renewed
their relations with the major academies of Babylonia. It is
significant for the high standard of Jewish learning in Egypt
itself that *Saadiah Gaon (born in Faiyum in 882) acquired
his widespread culture there. At that time many Babylonian
Jews settled in the principal Egyptian cities and established
communities with their own synagogue and bet din. They also
maintained a close relationship with the academies in their
country of origin. Students traveled there to study, and religious
and judicial queries were addressed to the heads of the
Babylonian academies. The Palestinian and Syrian Jews who
settled in Egypt acted in the same manner. They established
Palestinian communities and synagogues, and they recognized
the heads of the Palestinian academies, to whom they gave
their material support, as their spiritual leaders. The activities
of Saadiah Gaon prove the presence of large numbers of
*Karaites in Egypt at the time. It seems that during the ninth
and tenth centuries, there was still a variety of sects in Egypt.
The work Kitāb al-Anwār wa-al-Marāqib (“The Book of Lights
and Watch Towers”) by al-*Kirkisānī, in 936 (L. Nemoy (ed.),
1 (1939), 12), mentions a sect which observed Sunday as a day
of rest instead of Saturday. Members of this sect lived on the
bank of the Nile, some 20 miles from Fostat (Bacher, in: JQR,
7 (1894/95) 704).
THE *FATIMIDS. A change in the condition of the Jews
occurred with the conquest of the country by the Fatimids
in 969. After the conquest by this dynasty of Shiʿites which
was in rivalry with the *Abbasīd caliphs, Egypt became the
center of a vast and powerful kingdom, which, at the end
of the tenth century, included almost all of North Africa,
*Syria, and *Palestine. The union of all these countries brought
a period of prosperity in industry and commerce from which
the Jews also benefited. Of even greater importance was the
characteristically tolerant attitude adopted by the Fatimids
toward non-Muslim communities. They did not insist on
the observance of the decrees of discrimination, such as the
wearing of a distinctive sign on the garments; they permitted
the construction and repair of non-Muslim houses of prayer,
and they even accorded financial support to the academies
in Palestine. In the court of al-Muʿizz (d. 975) and his son
al-ʿAzīz (975–996), a Jew converted to Islam, Yaʿqūb *Ibn Killis,
occupied an important position and was finally appointed
vizier. He was the first to hold this post under the reign
of the Fatimids in Egypt. There were also Jewish physicians
in the service of al-Muʿizz. The third Fatimid caliph, al-Ḥākim
(996–1020), founder of the *Druze sect and a controversial
personality, departed from the policy of tolerance toward
non-Muslims, which was characteristic of his dynasty, during
the second half of his reign. At first, he ordered that the
Christians and Jews mark their clothes with the ghiyār (“distinctive
sign”; see Jewish *Badge); later, he issued orders for the
destruction of their houses of prayer. He also prohibited
Christians and Jews from riding horses and purchasing slaves
and maidservants. Many Christians and Jews converted to Islam
in order to escape these degrading decrees, while others
emigrated to different countries, such as Yemen and *Byzantium.
However, after some time, al-Ḥākim revoked his decrees
and authorized the converts to return to their former
religion.
230 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6