JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

index; Friedmann, in: YIVO Bleter, 31–32 (1948), 170 n91; EG, 3 (1955),
262–6.
[Josef Horovitz]
BABAD, JOSEPH BEN MOSES (1800–1874/5), Polish rabbi
and author. Little is known about him. His father was av bet
din at Przeworsk. Babad served as rabbi at Bohorodezany,
Zabariz, Sniatyn, and Tarnopol. Babad’s best-known work
is his Minḥat Ḥinnukh, consisting of expositions of the Sefer
*ha-Ḥinnukh (“The Book of Education”) ascribed to Aaron
ha-Levi of Barcelona (1869, frequently republished; the 1952
edition containing 26 addenda (commentaries, novellae, notes,
and emendations) to Sefer ha-Ḥinnukh and Minḥat Ḥinnukh
by various authors). The publisher, Reuben Kohen Rappaport,
stated in the introduction that he had long tried to persuade
the author to publish it, but in his modesty he had refused
and finally agreed only after the theft of a manuscript containing
his novellae on the Torah. As Babad himself states, the
arrangement of his work is based on that of Sefer ha-Ḥinnukh.
On each halakhah he quotes commentators and halakhic
authorities. Minḥat Ḥinnukh together with Sefer ha-Ḥinnukh
covers all the principles, laws, and customs concerning the
commandments, from talmudic times to the aḥaronim. In
his novellae and legal statements, Babad arrives at no final
conclusion, but instead poses questions and problems, stimulating
the reader to new ideas and further research. The
many supplementary comments and novellae on Minḥat
Ḥinnukh have created an entire literature around these two
works.
There are extant two responsa addressed to Babad by
his grandfather Joshua Hoeschel Babad, two from Joseph Joel
Deutsch to Babad when he was av bet din at Zabariz and Sniatyn,
and one responsum of Babad, dated 1850 (Koveẓ Teshuvot,
Supplement to Minḥat Ḥinnukh (1952), 120ff.). His son
Simeon Babad, who served as rabbi at Tarnopol until 1909,
wrote glosses to Minḥat Ḥinnukh. He was succeeded in turn
by his son Joshua Hoeschel who occupied the position until
his death in 1919.
Bibliography: Z. Horowitz, Kitvei ha-Ge’onim (1928), 39;
H. Tchernowitz, Toledot ha-Posekim, 2 (1947), 98, 105; J. Lewinstein,
Dor va-Dor ve-Doreshav (19492), 77, no. 1544; B. Wachstein, Zur Bibliographie
der Gedaechtnis- und Trauervortraege in der hebraeischen
Literatur, 1 (1922), 24; 2 (1927), 20; EG, 3 (1955), 262–3; Sefer ha-Hashlamah
le-Minḥat Ḥinnukh ha-Shalem, 2 (1952), end.
[Yehoshua Horowitz]
BABAI BEN FARHAD (18th century), author of a versified
short history of the Jews mainly of *Kashan and *Isfahan.
His chronicle is called Ketāb-e sargozasht-e Kāshān and
comprises approximately 1,300 verses written in Judeo-Persian
(Persian using Hebrew script). The chronicle deals with
the persecutions of the Jews in the above cities in the years
1729–30, when they were forced to convert to Islam for a period
of seven months. The chronicle also notes some interesting
details about the Afghan invasion of Isfahan and Kashan,
Babai ben LuŢf
as well as Naderqoli Khan’s (later Nader Shah) wars against
them. The author mentions Mahmud and Ashraf, the leaders
of the Afghans (especially the latter), favorably while he
criticizes Naderqoli for his harsh measures against the Jews.
We know from other historical sources that the Zoroastrians
also mention the Afghan conquests favorably and even assisted
them (as in the occupation of Kerman). The Jews and
Zoroastrians were accorded by the Afghan conquerors superior
status to Shi‘ites in the socio-political structure of Iran.
According to the chronicle, the Jewish community of Kashan
was wealthy, mostly involved in the silk trade. According to
the author, there were 13 synagogues in Kashan; nevertheless,
he mentions with disapproval the lack of religious observance
among most of the Jews of his town. Another Jew from Kashan
named Mashi’aḥ ben Raphael appended approximately 80
verses to Babai ben Farhad’s narrative in which he mentions
favorably Mollā Ebrāhim, the leader of the Jews of Kashan,
who together with a number of supporters was instrumental
in getting the Jews who had been forced to accept Islam to
return to Judaism.
Bibliography: W. Bacher, “Les Juifs de Perse aux xviie et
xviiie siècles d’après les chroniques poétiques de Babai b. Loutf et
de Babai b. Farhad,” in: REJ 53 (1907), 85–110; A. Netzer, Kronika shel
Babai ben Farhad (1978), 1–38 (photoprint of ms no. 917 of the Ben-
Zvi Institute of Jerusalem); V.B. Moreen, Iranian Jewry during the
Afghan Invasion (1990).
[Amnon Netzer (2nd ed.)]
BABAI BEN LUŢF (17th century), historian of Kashan who
left the first and only written history of his time, covering a
period from about 1613 until the beginning of the year 1662.
His history, which contains about 5,300 lines of poetry in Judeo-Persian
(Persian language written in Hebrew script), is
called Ketāb-e Anusi. The work still remains in manuscript
form, of which six copies are known to us in the major libraries
of the U.S., Europe, and Israel. The author depicts the savage
persecution of the Jews all over Iran by the two Safavid
kings, *Abbas I (1588–29) and *Abbas II (1642–66). He mentions
19 cities by name whose Jewish population were killed,
tortured, and forced to embrace Islam. The veracity of Babai’s
account is supported by the Iranian historians of the period,
by the travelogue of Pietro della Valle, and by Arakel, the Armenian
priest of Tabriz. The author speaks favorably of two
Shiʿite priests with a strong Sufi orientation who interceded
on behalf of the Jews: Shaikh Bahā al-Dīn Ameli (d. 1621), and
Mollā Moḥsen Feiz of Kashan (d. 1680). Babai also mentions
with respect Shah Safi (1629–42) who reigned after Abbas I.
Ketāb-e Anusi is a valuable historical document also containing
important information regarding Jewish demography
and communal organization as well as historical events concerning
Iran. We also know of a short Judeo-Persian poem,
Monājāt-Nāmeh, composed by Babai ben Luţf in praise of the
prophet Elijah.
Bibliography: A. Netzer, “Redifot u-Shmadot be-Toledot Yehudei
Iran be-Me’ah ha-17,” in: Peʿamim 6 (1980), 32–56; V.B. Moreen,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 15