The Surprising Origins of Judaism’s Greatest Scholars

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept as we recalled Zion. How can we sing God's song in a foreign land? So lamented the Jews in the 5th century BCE as the Babylonians conquered ancient Israel, carted the majority of its population into captivity, and deposited them in Nehado along the Euphrates' eastern bank. They had hauled stones and soil from Jerusalem's Temple Mount into exile, and they used these materials to build a synagogue in Nehado. They called it Sha'af V'etev, the Slipped and Settled Synagogue. God's Temple had fallen, but the Divine Presence accompanied the Jews into exile, and it would now find a station in Babylon itself. Babylon fell to Persia, and just 70 years after the Temple's destruction, the Edict of Persian King Cyrus allowed Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple. Still, a large Jewish population remained. A three-week journey divides Nehado and Jerusalem. The two Jewish centers kept in regular communication, and the exiled community proved a vital safe space for Judaism when Roman persecution in the Holy Land became unbearably brutal. At the beginning of the third century, a leading Nehadoan sage named Shmuel rose to prominence. A brilliant Torah scholar, expert in natural sciences including medicine, astronomy, and biology, and a Jewish judge with extensive experience in the application of civil and criminal Torah law. Under his guidance, Torah study blossomed. Another great Babylonian scholar was Abba Ariha, meaning Abba the Tall. Better known as Rav, his name appears throughout the Talmud. Rav spent time in Israel and participated in compiling the Mishnah. After returning to Babylon, he established an academy in the city of Surah, 30 miles south of Nehado, along the Euphrates, close to the ancient city of Babylon. This move was calculated. Surah's large Jewish population was not particularly observant, and Rav felt that a local study center would boost Torah observance. After Rav's and Shmuel's passing in the mid-third century, their disciples maintained the momentum. In the north, Shmuel's area, they had major academies in Nehado, Pompadissa, and Mechosa. In the south, Rav's territory, academies flourished in Surah, Massa Machasia, and Narash. By the mid-fourth century, Roman persecution in the Holy Land made it impossible for Torah scholarship to survive, and most of its leading sages escaped to the safety of the rivers of Babylon. At that point, Babylon became the undisputed center of Jewish life and Torah scholarship, an honor that continued for centuries to come.