JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

aruch ben david yavan
Jerusalem. Before they depart, however, Jeremiah examines
them to ensure that there are no uncircumcised among them
and none married to foreign women. Those who are thus disqualified
desire to return to Babylon, but are not permitted to
do so by the Babylonians, and so they build themselves the city
of Samaria. The story concludes with the offering of sacrifices
in Jerusalem and Jeremiah’s death in the Temple. The sequel
is Christian and, as generally agreed, not part of the original
work. This story is extant in Greek, various Slavonic, Ethiopic,
Coptic (P. Morgan Ms. 601), and three different Armenian
recensions. The problem of textual history and the relationship
between the various text forms have not been adequately
studied. Klausner (EIV, s.v.) defends the primacy of the Ethiopic
but, like most previous students of the work, he was not
familiar with the Armenian recensions. The Jewish nature of
the original is apparent from many distinctive features. Thus
the approval of sacrifice, the rejection of foreign women, and
the attitude to circumcision, to mention the most prominent,
clearly disprove the theory of a Christian original.
It is probable that the book was composed after the destruction
of the Second Temple, and some would even suggest
that the hatred displayed toward the Samaritans indicates a
date in the reign of the emperor Hadrian. It depends at many
points on the Syriac Apocalypse of *Baruch. Recent studies
have emphasized the prominence of Jewish religious ideas and
terminology in this work.
Bibliography: A. Dillmann, Chrestomathia Aethiopica
(1866), 1–15; J.R. Harris, The Rest of the Words of Baruch (1889); J.
Issaverdens, Uncanonical Writings of the Old Testament (1900); E.
Kautzsch, Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen des Alten Testaments,
2 (1900), 402ff.; DBI, suppl. 1 (1928), 454f. (incl. bibl.); J. Klausner,
Meḥkarim Ḥadashim u-Mekorot Attikim (1957), 90–117; J. Licht, in:
Bar Ilan, Sefer ha-Shanah, 1 (1963), 66–80; G. Delling, Juedische Lehre
und Froemmigkeit in den Paralipomena Jeremiae (1967); W. Baars, in:
VT, 17 (1967), 487ff.
[Michael E. Stone]
BARUCH BEN DAVID YAVAN (18th cent.), *Court Jew of
the Polish king August III, financier of his minister Count
Bruehl. He was a leader in the *Council of Four Lands and
as *shtadlan for the Council used his influence at court for
furthering Jewish causes. Baruch received a talmudic education
under R. Jacob Joshua *Falk and knew several languages.
He was prominent in combating the remnants of *Shabbateanism
and the *Frankists. In the controversy over Jonathan
*Eybeschuetz’ adherence to Shabbateanism he upheld Jacob
*Emden (who was related to him by their children’s marriage)
in his condemnation of Eybeschuetz. Baruch did not hesitate
to effect the removal of Ḥayyim b. Abraham, an adherent
of Eybeschuetz, from his post of rabbi of Lublin and his
imprisonment in 1751. Baruch took a leading role in Jewish
diplomatic efforts to counter the Frankists. When the disputation
between the talmudists and Frankists became in 1757
the occasion for an ecclesiastical order to burn the Talmud,
Baruch, aided by the shtadlan Mordecai Merkil, sought the
help of Count Bruehl. He obtained access to the papal nuncio
and succeeded in saving many talmudic works. Baruch also
persuaded Count Bruehl to use his influence at the papal curia
to thwart the *blood libel instigated by Frank. In 1764 he
frustrated Frank’s intrigues with Russia, using his connections
with the Russian nobility to convince the synodal authorities
of the Russian Orthodox Church that Frank’s application for
acceptance into their faith was insincere.
Bibliography: H. Graetz, Frank und die Frankisten (1868);
A. Kraushar, Frank i Frankiści (1895); M. Balaban, Le-Toledot ha-
Tenu’ah ha-Frankit (1934). Add. Bibliography: Halpern, Pinkas,
361 (Barukh me-Ereẓ Yavan).
[Nathan Michael Gelber]
BARUCH BEN ISAAC OF ALEPPO (c. 1050–c. 1125),
scholar. Baruch appears to have been born in Spain, where
he studied together with his younger kinsman *Baruch b.
Samuel of Aleppo. From there he went to Aleppo where he
was the head of a large yeshivah. From 1085 his signature appears
on various documents, among them a letter of recommendation
on behalf of Obadiah the Proselyte of Normandy.
He wrote a commentary on the order Kodashim, of the Babylonian
Talmud, which was highly recommended by *Joseph
Rosh ha-Seder, who considered it equal to the commentaries
of *Hananel b. Ḥushi’el on the orders Mo’ed, Nashim, and Nezikin
and of *Isaac b. Melchizedek on Zera’im and Tohorot. He
also wrote commentaries on other tractates, including Shabbat
(quoted by Isaiah di Trani in his commentary on this tractate)
and Bava Meẓia (see Ginzei Kedem, 5 (1934), 131–4). S. Assaf
was of the opinion that the commentary on tractate Zevaḥim
(Jerusalem, 1942), attributed to Hananel, was by Baruch, but
this identification does not appear to be correct.
Bibliography: Mann, in: Ha-Tekufah, 24 (1928), 337, 352–4;
Epstein, in: Tarbiz, 16 (1944/45), 49–53; Assaf, ibid., 19 (1947/48),
105–8.
[Israel Moses Ta-Shma]
BARUCH BEN ISAAC OF REGENSBURG (second half of
12th century), talmudic scholar. He was a member of the bet
din of Regensburg, together with *Isaac b. Jacob Ha-Lavan of
Prague, Abraham ben Moses of Regensburg, and *Judah he-
Ḥasid b. Samuel (Sefer Ḥasidim, ed. by J. Wistinetzki (19242),
390). Baruch was one of the teachers of *Abraham b. Azriel,
the author of Arugat ha-Bosem. There is record of a question
addressed to Baruch and his two fellow judges by R. *Joel
ben Isaac ha-Levi (Sefer Ravyah, no. 1031). Baruch engaged
in disputations with his older contemporary *Eliezer b. Nathan
of Mainz, who esteemed him highly, and with *Isaac b.
Samuel ha-Zaken of Dampierre. Some scholars have incorrectly
identified him with *Baruch b. Isaac of Worms, author
of the Sefer ha-Terumah.
Bibliography: H. Gross, in: MGWJ, 34 (1885), 558–60; idem,
in: ZHB, 11 (1907), 179; J. Wellesz, in: MGWJ, 48 (1904), 442; V. Aptowitzer
Mavo le-Sefer Ravyah (1938), 174, 326–9; Urbach, Tosafot,
286ff., 299, 334; idem, Arugat ha-Bosem (1963), index; idem, in: Tarbiz,
10 (1938/39), 86ff.
[Moshe Nahum Zobel]
188 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3