Talmudic Academies in Babylonia

The history of the Jews in Iraq is largely unknown for the four centuries covering the period from Ezra (c. 5th century BCE)[7] to Hillel the Elder (traditionally c. 110 BCE-10 CE); and the history of the succeeding two centuries, from Hillel to Judah the Prince (fl. 2nd century CE), furnishes only a few scanty items on the state of learning among the Babylonian Jews. In the chief source of information about the Babylonian schools, Sherira Gaon referred to those dark centuries in his famous letter: "No doubt, here in Babylonia public instruction was given in the Torah; but besides the exilarchs there were no recognized heads of schools until the death of Rabbi [Judah]."[8]

The principal seat of Babylonian Judaism was Nehardea, where there were some institutions of learning. A very ancient synagogue, built, it was believed, by King Jeconiah, existed in Nehardea. At Huzal, near Nehardea, there was another synagogue, not far from which could be seen the ruins of Ezra's academy. In the period before Hadrian, Rabbi Akiva, on his arrival at Nehardea on a mission from the Sanhedrin, entered into a discussion with a resident scholar on a point of matrimonial law (Mishnah Yeb., end). At the same time there was at Nisibis, in northern Mesopotamia, an excellent Jewish college, at the head of which stood Judah ben Bathyra, and in which many Judean scholars found refuge at the time of the persecutions. A certain temporary importance was also attained by a school at Nehar-Peqod, founded by the Judean immigrant Haninah, nephew of Joshua ben Hananiah, which school could have become the cause of a schism between the Jews of Babylonia and those of Judea and Israel, had not the Judean authorities promptly checked Hananiah's ambition.

Among those that helped to restore Jewish learning, after Hadrian, was the Babylonian scholar Nathan, a member of the family of the exilarch, who continued his activity even under Judah the Prince. Another Babylonian, Hiyya bar Abba, belonged to the foremost leaders in the closing age of the Tannaim. His nephew, Abba Arika, afterward called simply Rav, was one of the most important pupils of Judah. Rav's return to his Babylonian home, the year of which has been accurately recorded (530 Seleucid era, 219 CE), marks an epoch; for from it dates the beginning of a new movement in Babylonian Judaism—namely, the initiation of the dominant rôle which the Babylonian academies played for several centuries. Leaving Nehardea to his friend Samuel of Nehardea, whose father, Abba, was already reckoned among the authorities of that town, Rav founded a new academy in Sura, where he held property. Thus, there existed in Babylonia two contemporary academies, so far removed from each other, however, as not to interfere with each other's operations. Since Rav and Samuel were acknowledged peers in position and learning, their academies likewise were accounted of equal rank and influence. Thus both Babylonian rabbinical schools opened their lectures brilliantly, and the ensuing discussions in their classes furnished the earliest stratum of the scholarly material deposited in the Babylonian Talmud. The coexistence for many decades of these two colleges of equal rank originated that remarkable phenomenon of the dual leadership of the Babylonian academies which, with some slight interruptions, became a permanent institution and a weighty factor in the development of Babylonian Judaism.

When Odaenathus destroyed Nehardea in 259—twelve years after Rav's death, and five years after that of Samuel—its place was taken by a neighboring town, Pumbedita, where Judah bar Ezekiel, a pupil of both Rav and Samuel, founded a new school. During the life of its founder, and still more under his successors, this school acquired a reputation for intellectual keenness and discrimination, which often degenerated into mere hair-splitting. Pumbedita became the other focus of the intellectual life of Babylonian Israel, and retained that position until the end of the gaonic period.

Nehardea once more came into prominence under Amemar, a contemporary of Rav Ashi. The luster of Sura (also known by the name of its neighboring town, Mata Meḥasya) was enhanced by Rav's pupil and successor, Rav Huna, under whom the attendance at the academy reached unusual numbers. When Huna died, in 297, Judah ben Ezekiel, principal of the Pumbedita Academy, was recognized also by the sages of Sura as their head. On the death of Judah, two years later, Sura became the only center of learning, with Rav Chisda (died 309) as its head. Chisda had in Huna's lifetime rebuilt Rav's ruined academy in Sura, while Huna's college was in the vicinity of Mata Meḥasya (Sherira). On Chisda's death Sura lost its importance for a long time. In Pumbedita, Rabbah bar Nahmani (died 331), Joseph (died 333), and Abaye (died 339) taught in succession. They were followed by Raba, who transplanted the college to his native town, Mahuza (al-Mada'in). Under these masters the study of the Law attained a notable development, to which certain Judean-Palestinian scholars, driven from their own homes by the persecutions of Roman tyranny, contributed no inconsiderable share.

After Raba's death, in 352, Pumbedita regained its former position. The head of the academy was Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak (died 356), a pupil of Raba. In his method of teaching may be discerned the first traces of an attempt to edit the enormous mass of material that ultimately formed the Babylonian Talmud. Not Pumbedita, however, but Sura, was destined to be the birthplace of this work. After Raba's death, Papa of Naresh, another of his pupils, founded a college in Naresh, near Sura, which, for the time being, interfered with the growth of the Sura school; but after Papa's death, in 375, the college at Sura regained its former supremacy. Its restorer was Rav Ashi, under whose guidance, during more than half a century (Ashi died 427), it attained great prominence, and presented such attractions that even the exilarchs came there, in the autumn of each year, to hold their customary official receptions. The school at Pumbedita recognized the preeminence of that of Sura; and this leadership was firmly retained for several centuries.

The unusual length of Ashi's activity, his undeniable high standing, his learning, as well as the favorable circumstances of the day, were all of potent influence in furthering the task he undertook; namely, that of sifting and collecting the material accumulated for two centuries by the Babylonian academies. The final editing of the literary work which this labour produced did not, it is true, take place until somewhat later; but tradition rightly names Ashi as the originator of the Babylonian Talmud. Indeed, Ashi's editorial work received many later additions and amplifications; but the form underwent no material modification. The Babylonian Talmud must be considered the work of the Academy of Sura, because Ashi submitted to each of the semiannual general assemblies of the academy, treatise by treatise, the results of his examination and selection, and invited discussion upon them. His work was continued and perfected, and probably reduced to writing, by succeeding heads of the Sura Academy, who preserved the fruit of his labors in those sad times of persecution which, shortly after his death, were the lot of the Jews of Babylonia. These misfortunes were undoubtedly the immediate cause of the publication of the Talmud as a complete work; and from the Academy of Sura was issued that unique literary effort which was destined to occupy such an extraordinary position in Judaism. Ravina II (R. Abina), a teacher in Sura, is considered by tradition the last amora; and the year of his death (812 of the Seleucidan, or 500 of the Common Era) is considered the date of the close of the Talmud. After his death the Jewish center moved to Pumbedita, where Raba Yossi was the head of the academy. Sura declined in this period as the Jews were persecuted. In Pumbedita the study continued and the academy became the leading one in Babylonia.

The three centuries in the course of which the Babylonian Talmud was developed in the academies founded by Rav and Samuel were followed by five centuries during which it was zealously preserved, studied, expounded in the schools, and, through their influence, recognized by the whole diaspora. Sura and Pumbedita were considered the only important seats of learning: their heads and sages were the undisputed authorities, whose decisions were sought from all sides and were accepted wherever Jewish communal life existed. In the words of the aggadah, "God created these two academies in order that the promise might be fulfilled, that the word of God should never depart from Israel's mouth" (Isaiah 59:21)."[9] The periods of Jewish history immediately following the close of the Talmud are designated according to the titles of the teachers at Sura and Pumbedita; the time of the Geonim and that of the Savoraim. The Savoraim were the scholars whose diligent hands completed the Talmud in the first third of the sixth century, adding manifold amplifications to its text. The title "gaon," which originally belonged preeminently to the head of the Sura Academy, came into general use in the seventh century, under Muslim supremacy, when the official position and rank of the exilarchs and of the heads of the academy were regulated anew. But in order to leave no gaps between the bearers of the title, history must either continue the Savoraim into the seventh century or accept an older origin for the title of gaon. In point of fact, both titles are only conventionally and indifferently applied; the bearers of them are heads of either of the two academies of Sura and Pumbedita and, in that capacity, successors of the Amoraim.

The inherited higher standing of Sura endured until the end of the eighth century, after which Pumbedita came into greater importance. Sura will always occupy a prominent place in Jewish history; for it was there that Saadia Gaon gave a new impulse to Jewish lore, and thus paved the way for the intellectual regeneration of Judaism. Pumbedita, on the other hand, may boast that two of its teachers, Sherira and his son Hai Gaon (died 1038), terminated in most glorious fashion the age of the Geonim and with it the activities of the Babylonian academies.

When the Abbasid Caliphate and the city of Baghdad declined in the 10th century, many Babylonian Jews migrated to the Mediterranean region. The geonic academies declined and eventually closed, but the migrants helped Babylonian Jewish traditions become dominant throughout the Jewish world.[10]

• Firuz Shapur, modern-day Anbar, a town adjacent or identical to Nehardea; academy of Pumbedita was moved to this town for half of the 6th century
• Mahuza, modern-day Al-Mada'in; the academy of Pumbedita was relocated to Mahuza during the time of the Amora sage Rava
• Nehardea Academy (in Nehardea)
• Pumbedita Academy (in Pumbedita for most of its history, near modern-day Fallujah)
• Pum-Nahara Academy
• Sura Academy, in Sura (city) - the political center of Jewish Babylonia after Nehardea

• Talmudic Academies in Syria Palaestina (in the Land of Israel)