Andreas (or Andrew) [1] was the Archbishop of Bari from 1062 to at least 1066, and probably somewhat longer. [2] In 1066, he travelled to Constantinople where at some point he converted to Judaism. [2] He then fled to Muslim-ruled Egypt and remained there until his death in 1078. [2]
Andreas is attested in the ecclesiastical records of the Archbishopric of Bari, but very cursorily: Anonymi Barensis Chronicon , early-12th-century Bariot chronicle covering the years 855–1118, [3] mentions his elevation to archbishop in 1062, journey to Constantinople in 1066, and passing away in 1078. [4]
Obadiah the Proselyte, another convert to Judaism and émigré to Egypt of about a generation later, was moved and inspired by Andreas's story, and recorded it in his memoirs. [2] This autobiography, popularly known as the "Obadiah Scroll", was preserved in the Cairo Geniza, a collection of some 350,000 documents that accumulated in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo, Egypt, from the 9th to 19th centuries, and since dispersed among libraries and collections around the world. [2] [5] In the course of the 20th century, fourteen fragments of the Scroll, now in Budapest, Cambridge and New York, were identified. [6] The fragments in the Kaufmann Genizah Collection, Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, [7] were discovered by Alexander Scheiber, the director of the Budapest University of Jewish Studies, who published them in 1954. [8] In one of the fragments, Obadiah tells the story that was widely discussed when he was still Johannes, young son of minor nobility, living with his parents in the small Italian town of Oppido Lucano: [9]
It happened at that time regarding Archbishop Andraeas the high priest in the city of Bari, that the Lord put the love of the Torah of Moses into his heart. He forsook his land, his priesthood and all his glory and came to the city of Constantinople, where he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin.
There passed over him sufferings and hardships; he arose and fled for his life from before the uncircumcised seeking to slay him; but the Lord God of Israel saved him from their hands in purity. Many went up after him and, observing his deeds, they did as he had done — they also entered the covenant of the living God.
Then went the man to the metropolis of Egypt and dwelled there until the day of his death. The name of the king of Egypt in those days was al-Mustansir, and the name of his vezir was Badr al-Jamali.
The report concerning Archbishop Andraeas reached unto the entire land of Lombardy and unto the sages of Greece and the sages of Rome, which is the place of the throne of the kingdom of Edom. The Greek sages and all the sages of Edom were ashamed when they heard the report about him.
In the Middle Ages only two high-profile cases are known of Catholic clergy converting to Judaism:
Jewish philosophy includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until modern Haskalah and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism, thus organizing emergent ideas that are not necessarily Jewish into a uniquely Jewish scholastic framework and world-view. With their acceptance into modern society, Jews with secular educations embraced or developed entirely new philosophies to meet the demands of the world in which they now found themselves.
Religious ties between Muslims and the Jewish people have existed since the founding of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century; Muhammad's views on Jews were shaped by his extensive contact with the Jewish tribes of Arabia during his lifetime. Islam shares similar values, guidelines, and principles with the Jewish religion, and also incorporates Jewish history as a part of its own. Muslims regard the Israelites, to whom Jews and Samaritans trace their ethnic ancestry, as an important religious concept; they are referenced around 43 times in the Quran, excluding individual prophets, and in many accounts of hadith. Similarly, Moses, the most important Jewish prophet, is also regarded by Muslims as an Islamic prophet and messenger ; his name is mentioned in the Quran 136 times—more than any other individual—and his life is narrated and recounted more than that of any other prophet. The Torah, which is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, is also held by Muslims as an Islamic holy book that was revealed by God through various Israelite prophets and messengers. Later rabbinic authorities and Jewish scholars, such as Maimonides, engaged in discussions concerning the relationship between Islam and Jewish religious law. Maimonides himself, it has been argued, was influenced by Islamic legal thought while living in the caliphates of his time.
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Rabbinic Judaism, also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, or Rabbanite Judaism, has been an orthodox form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonian Talmud. Rabbinic Judaism has its roots in the Pharisaic school of Second Temple Judaism and is based on the belief that Moses at Mount Sinai received both the Written Torah and the Oral Torah from God. The Oral Torah, transmitted orally, explains the Written Torah. At first, it was forbidden to write down the Oral Torah, but after the destruction of the Second Temple, it was decided to write it down in the form of the Talmud and other rabbinic texts for the sake of preservation.
The persecution of Jews has been a major event in Jewish history prompting shifting waves of refugees and the formation of diaspora communities. As early as 605 BCE, Jews who lived in the Neo-Babylonian Empire were persecuted and deported. Antisemitism was also practiced by the governments of many different empires and the adherents of many different religions (Christianity), and it was also widespread in many different regions of the world.
The Khazar Correspondence is a set of documents, which are alleged to date from the 950s or 960s, and to be letters between Hasdai ibn Shaprut, foreign secretary to the Caliph of Cordoba, and Joseph Khagan of the Khazars. The correspondence is one of only a few documents attributed to a Khazar author, and potentially one of only a small number of primary sources on Khazar history.
Aquilaof Sinope was a translator of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, a proselyte, and disciple of Rabbi Akiva.
Norman Golb was a scholar of Jewish history and the Ludwig Rosenberger Professor in Jewish History and Civilization at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
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Obadiah the Proselyte, also known as Johannes of Oppido was an early-12th-century Italian convert to Judaism. He is best known for his memoirs and the oldest surviving notation of Jewish music, both unique survivals.
Edom was an ancient kingdom that stretched across areas in the south of present-day Jordan and Israel. Edom and the Edomites appear in several written sources relating to the late Bronze Age and to the Iron Age in the Levant, including the list of the Egyptian pharaoh Seti I from c. 1215 BC as well as in the chronicle of a campaign by Ramesses III, and the Tanakh.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Judaism:
The Jewish western art music is the art music which is created for performing and singing in a synagogue and is similar to the creation of church music known as classical music. Musical composition of verses for service is used for playing in liturgical events, holidays and shabbats as well as para- liturgical service events such as: weddings, Brit Milahs, and other performances with a Religious ground motive.
Gary A. Rendsburg is a professor of biblical studies, Hebrew language, and ancient Judaism at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He holds the rank of Distinguished Professor and serves as the Blanche and Irving Laurie Chair of Jewish History at Rutgers University (2004–present), with positions in the Department of Jewish Studies and the Department of History.