Nahum the Mede

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Nahum the Mede (Hebrew : נחום המדי‎, transliteration: Nahum HaMadi) was a first-century tanna of the first generation who came to the Land of Israel from Media. He lived in Jerusalem and according to Nathan the Babylonian, he was one of the three most renowned criminal judges in the city. [1] He was one of the seven great contemporaries of Johanan ben Zakai who had survived the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans [2] and who probably became members of the Sanhedrin at Yavne.

Hebrew language Semitic language native to Israel

Hebrew is a Northwest Semitic language native to Israel; the modern version of which is spoken by over 9 million people worldwide. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, although the language was not referred to by the name Hebrew in the Tanakh. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language.

Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters in predictable ways.

Tannaim were the Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10-220 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also referred to as the Mishnaic period, lasted about 210 years. It came after the period of the Zugot ("pairs"), and was immediately followed by the period of the Amoraim ("interpreters").

Contents

Rulings

Only six of his laws have been preserved in the Babylonian Talmud, three of which were said not to have been recognized. [3] Some, however, attribute to him four other and anonymous teachings. [4] The opposition to the decisions of Nahum, according to the view of a later amoraim, seems to have been due to the dislike of the scholars of the Land of Israel for those of other countries.[ citation needed ]

Amoraim refers to the Jewish scholars of the period from about 200 to 500 CE, who "said" or "told over" the teachings of the Oral Torah. They were concentrated in Babylonia and the Land of Israel. Their legal discussions and debates were eventually codified in the Gemara. The Amoraim followed the Tannaim in the sequence of ancient Jewish scholars. The Tannaim were direct transmitters of uncodified oral tradition; the Amoraim expounded upon and clarified the oral law after its initial codification.

Nahum's teachings include:

Sabbath day set aside for rest and worship

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Jacob Neusner holds that there is no evidence that Nahum came from Parthia or was in fact a Medean, because the suffix "the Medean" may be indicative of the origins of his family before him. [7]

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Parthia region of north-eastern Iran

Parthia is a historical region located in north-eastern Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BC, and formed part of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire following the 4th-century-BC conquests of Alexander the Great. The region later served as the political and cultural base of the Eastern-Iranian Parni people and Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire. The Sasanian Empire, the last state of pre-Islamic Persia, also held the region and maintained the Seven Parthian clans as part of their feudal aristocracy.

15th-century scholar Abraham Zacuto in his Sefer Yuchasin (1498) speculates that mention of a certain "Nahum the Elder" in the Baraita refers to Nahum the Mede. [8]

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Baraita

Baraita designates a tradition in the Jewish oral law not incorporated in the Mishnah. "Baraita" thus refers to teachings "outside" of the six orders of the Mishnah. Originally, "Baraita" probably referred to teachings from schools outside the main Mishnaic-era academies – although in later collections, individual Baraitot are often authored by sages of the Mishna (Tannaim).

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References

  1. ↑ Ketubot 105a; Yer. Ketubot 13:1; Frankel, "Darke ha-Mishnah," p. 63
  2. ↑ Grätz, "Gesch." iv. 20
  3. ↑ "nishtaḳa 'ha-dabor"; 'Abodah Zarah 7
  4. ↑ Weiss, "Dor," i. 182
  5. ↑ Shabbat 2:1
  6. ↑ Bava Batra 5:2
  7. ↑ Jacob Neusner (1968). A History of the Jews in Babylonia. Brill Archive. p. 122. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  8. ↑ Dominican studies. Blackfriars Publications. 1 January 1948. p. 224. Retrieved 28 August 2011.

Sources

PD-icon.svg  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  A. S. Waldstein (1901–1906). "Nahum the Mede". In Singer, Isidore; et al. The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography: Grätz, Gesch, iv. 22; Frankel, Darke ha-Mishna, p. 63, Leipsic. 1859.E. C.

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Isidore Singer American encyclopediast

Isidore Singer was an editor of The Jewish Encyclopedia and founder of the American League for the Rights of Man.

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