JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

was not viewed favorably in all places and practical powers
were not entrusted to them. This opposition was particularly
outspoken in Palestine, which was not part of the Diaspora,
and in those places in the Orient where the Jewish communities
were led by negidim.
Hulagu, the Mongolian khan who liquidated the Abbasid
caliphate with the conquest of Baghdad in 1258, did not harm
the Jewish community and its exilarch Samuel b. David. The
exilarchs maintained their positions during subsequent years
and some opinions assume that their status was improved.
There is no information available on their activities and only
the names of some of them are known. The exilarchate was
brought to an end by Tamerlane in 1401. Until the beginning
of the 18th century it was the practice of the governors of the
important towns of Iraq to appoint a wealthy Jew as ṣarrāf
bāshī (“chief banker”); he also acted as nasi of the local Jews.
His powers were almost identical to those of the Babylonian
exilarch during the Middle Ages. The nasi of Baghdad was the
“nasi of the state” and his authority also extended to distant
communities. This office was the patrimony of the descendants
of the House of David and was passed down from father
to son. From the 18th century until 1849 the nesi’im who
were appointed were not from the House of David. From
then onward the functions of nesi’im were transferred to the
*ḥakhām bāshī.
[Eliezer Bashan (Sternberg)]
Bibliography: UNTIL THE ARAB CONQUEST: F. Lazarus, in:
Bruell, Jahrbuecher, 10 (1890), 1–181; A.D. Goode, in: JQR, 31 (1940/41),
149–69; J. Liver, Toledot Beit David (1959), 37–46; M. Beer, in: Zion,
28 (1963), 3–33; idem, in: PAAJR, 35 (1967), 43–74; Neusner, Babylonia,
1 (1965), 50–58, 97–112; 2 (1966), 92–125; 3 (1968), 41–94; 4 (1968),
73–124; J. Gafni, in: Niv ha-Midrashiyyah (1968/69), 221–3; M. Beer,
Rashut ha-Golah be-Bavel bi-Ymei ha-Mishnah ve-ha-Talmud (1970).
FROM THE ARAB CONQUEST ON: Neubauer, Chronicles, 1 (1887),
63–67; 2 (1895), 78–87; Ibn Daud, Tradition, index; H. Tykocinski,
in: Devir, 1 (1923), 145–79; J. Mann, in: Sefer Zikkaron… S. Poznański
(1927), 18–32; Mann, Texts, index; idem, in: Tarbiz, 5 (1934), 148–61;
I. Goldziher, in: Jeschurun (ed. by J. Kobak), 8 (1871), 76–78; idem, in:
REJ, 8 (1884), 121–5; S. Pines, ibid., 100 (1936), 71–73; F. Lazarus, in:
MGWJ, 78 (1934), 279–88; W. Fischel, ibid., 79 (1935), 302–22; idem, in:
Sefer Magnes (1938), 181–7; A.D. Goode, in: JQR, 31 (1940/41), 149–69;
S. Assaf, Geonim, 24–41; S.D. Goitein, in: Sefer ha-Yovel… M.M. Kaplan
(1953), 51–53; idem, in: Bo’i Teiman, ed. by Y. Ratzaby (1967),
15–25; Abramson, Merkazim, 9–24; G. Vajda, in: Bulletin de l’Institut
de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes, 15 (1967/68), 137–50.
EXILE, ASSYRIAN. The mass deportation of population
groups from conquered nations, as a measure to prevent these
nations from rebelling, was introduced as a general policy
by Tiglath-Pileser III in the second half of the eighth century
B.C.E. Although deportation by Assyrian kings is well
attested in the ninth century, it was Tiglath-Pileser’s innovation
to practice deportation on a vast scale and to accompany
it with population exchange; a practice continued by his successors
in Assyria. (The Babylonians did not accompany deportation
with population exchange.) The first deportation
of peoples from the northern Israelite kingdom took place
exile, assyrian
when Tiglath-Pileser III campaigned against Syria and Palestine
(734–732 B.C.E.), at which time *Pekah son of Remaliah
joined the rebellion led by the king of *Aram-Damascus
against Assyria. In the course of this campaign the Assyrians
conquered Gilead and deported the heads of the Israelite clans
that inhabited Transjordan (I Chron. 5:6, 26). One of Tiglath-
Pileser III’s fragmentary inscriptions lists several thousand
captives, apparently only males, whom he exiled from eight
cities in Galilee (among which were biblical Hannathon, Jotbah,
Rumah, and Merom).
When *Hoshea son of Elah revolted against Assyria,
Shalmaneser V besieged and conquered Samaria. His successor,
Sargon II, states that 27,290 people (variant 27,280)
were exiled from the city of Samaria. In place of the Israelite
deportees, Sargon settled residents of other defeated nations
in the Assyrian province of Samaria. In this connection the
Bible mentions exiles from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath,
and Sepharvaim (II Kings 17:24), while an inscription of Sargon
II specifies members of four Arab tribes who were settled
in “Omriland” (Bīt H ̆ umri) in 716/5 B.C.E. Finally, according
to Ezra 4:1–2, forbears of the later Samaritans were brought
into the province of Samaria by Esarhaddon, and, according
to Ezra 4:9–10, “the great glorious Asenappar” – probably to
be identified with Ashurbanipal – settled people from *Erech,
*Babylon, *Shushan, and other localities in the city of Samaria
and elsewhere in Syria-Palestine. However, it cannot be determined
whether these seventh-century colonists were brought
in to replace Israelites, who may have revolted again and been
deported. The foreign elements that were brought to Samaria
assimilated into the remaining Israelite population; the outcome
of this lengthy process was a distinct cultural-national
group which became known as the *Samaritans, i.e., the population
of the province of Samaria. The Assyrians also exiled
inhabitants of Judah (see *Sennacherib, *Hezekiah).
The Israelite exiles were settled mainly in the Assyrian
provinces in Upper Mesopotamia (biblical Aram-Naharaim),
along the Habor River in the vicinity of Gozan (Tell-Ḥalāf).
After 716 when some “cities of the Medes” came under Assyrian
control, some Israelites were resettled in Media (II Kings
17:6; 18:11; probably in the province of H ̆ arh ăr (Diakonoff in
Bibliography)). In I Chronicles 5:26 there is the addition “and
Hara” (ארה: LXX, Lucian recension kai harran, possibly referring
to Haran (cf. Isa. 11:11)).
Notwithstanding the manifold legends fabricated about
the exile of the so-called “*Ten Lost Tribes,” there is no certain
information about the fate of the Israelite exiles in Mesopotamia
during the Assyrian empire or at a later period. Only
a few extant allusions in the Bible and in epigraphic sources
testify to their existence. Of the latter sources, the onomastic
evidence from Mesopotamia contained in Assyrian documents
dated to the end of the eighth and to the seventh centuries
is of particular significance, since it presents names
which are known from the Bible to be Israelite. However, with
the exception of personal names composed of the Israelite
theophoric element yau (YHWH), it is not always certain that
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