The 9th day of Tevet is the traditional Yahrzeit of Ezra HaSofer (the Scribe) also called Ezra Ha-Kohen (the Priest), who lived some 24 centuries ago. Born in Babylon during the Babylonian Captivity in the sixth century B.C. to Seraiah ben Azaria IV, Ezra is believed to have lived 120 years. He lived during a time of transition and great challenges for the Jewish people and is credited, along with Nehemiah, for the survival of the Jewish religion through this trying era. His story is told in the book “Ezra.” At the end of the sixth century B.C., the kingdom of Judah was dismantled by the Babylonian empire. Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed, and thousands of Judahites were exiled to Babylon. Those who were exiled, however, did not see this as a final stage in Israels history. They were aware that Jeremiah had prophesied that there would be an exile, but there would also be a return. The opportunity for that return came about in 538 B.C. when Babylonian empire fell, and the Persian empire gained control of most of the Middle East. One of the first rulers of the empire, Cyrus, sought to show tolerance to all of his communities and issued an edict, allowing Jews who wished to return to Jerusalem that is in Judah” and build a “House for the God of Heaven” to do so. Not all the Jews in Babylon were interested in returning to Zion. Those who did were inspired by the hope of building a society which would restore Israels ancient glory. The book of Ezra tells of the three distinct stages in the return. The first wave of returnees consisted of about 40,000 individuals led by Zerubabbel, a descendant of King David. Fired by the vision of restoring the glory of the age of David and Solomon, the returnees sought to re-establish the Temple, and to run the community in a way that would elicit divine approval. The returnees began rebuilding the Temple, but the inhabitants of Samaria, the Samaritans, demanded a part in the project. The returnees did not see the Samaritans as legitimate heirs of ancient Israel, and felt they should take no part in the rebuilding. Angered by the returnees refusal to include them in building the Temple, the Samaritans successfully lobbied the Persian empire to stop the project. The second stage of the return was headed by Ezra who, as the primary disciple of Baruch the son of Neriah (who had been the primary disciple of Jeremiah), had remained by the side of his great teacher in Babylon until his passing. An edict was issued in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, corresponding to 458 B.C. granting Ezra permission to lead a band of exiles back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. When Ezra arrived in the Land of Israel, he saw a Jewish community that had broken down spiritually. Some traditional sources that suggest the intermarriage rate was as high as 85-90%. Ezra also saw that all the Jewish-owned stores in Jerusalem were open on the Sabbath. The Jewish shop-owners told Ezra that they had found legal loopholes in Jewish law for doing so. Ezra reacted strongly to this news: He tore his clothes as a sign of mourning, and prayed and fasted as a sign of repentance. Like all the returnees, he believed that the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were destroyed because their inhabitants did not live up to Gods laws, and Ezra was determined to avoid a similar fate for the new society they were building. Therefore, the laws of the Torah had to become the blueprint for the new society. Ezra convinced the people to begin a process of separating from non-Israelite wives, but the process was longer than one day or two days work and it is doubtful if the process was ever completed. The leader of the third stage of the return was Nehemiah, a high official in the Persian imperial administration, of Jewish ancestry, who was seized with a desire to ameliorate the physical condition of Jerusalem and of its Jewish community. Against threats of war from the Samaritans, who did not want to see Jerusalem become the political center of the land, Nehemiah rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem. The fortifications of the rebuilt wall then allowed for the rebuilding of the temple itself. Ezra passed decrees closing the loopholes and forbidding work on the Sabbath. Ultimately, Ezra and Nehemiah called a convention and administered what became known as, “The Covenant of Faith.” The people read from the Book of Deuteronomy, which describes all the laws and ideals they were not living up to. They all wept and repented, and agreed to uphold the Torah from then on, especially to observe the Sabbath, bring the tithes and donations to the Temple and refrain from intermarriage. Ezra and Nehemiah tell a frustrating story. In many ways, the reality of the return to Zion did not measure up to the returnees expectations. The temple they rebuilt was smaller and far less glorious than Solomon’s had been, and religious challenges such as intermarriage and resistance to Shabbat observance vexed their leaders. But the persistence and doggedness with which the Jews of the period confronted these challenges became a model for all the generations that followed. Ezra and Nehemiah were the first leaders of the Jewish people who were not prophets. The age of prophets and miracle workers was over. They were the first of many Chachamim (wise men and sages) who would become the new leaders of Judaism until the present day. Pictures are by Gustav Dore and illustrate scenes from the book Of “Ezra”. geni/people/Ezra-the-Scribe/6000000003645906093 (Posted by Edna Kalka Grossman, using material from myjewishlearning)
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 23:00:02 +0000
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