“Eyal Ben-Eliyahu has produced a sophisticated treatment of Jewish conceptions of the boundaries of the land of Israel and its internal geography, from the Hebrew Bible to the end of antiquity. This book deftly demonstrates how the Jewish discourse of space was shaped—and reshaped—at the dynamic intersection of communal memory, scriptural exegesis, demographic change, and the shifting structures of empire.”—Ra‘anan Boustan, Research Scholar in the Program in Judaic Studies, Princeton University

“This novel, original, and comprehensive work is a pioneering, long-awaited attempt to apply the spatial theory of history, prominent in the humanities and social sciences, to Jewish studies. Through scholarly erudition and shrewd analysis, this book brilliantly illuminates the reciprocal relations between territory and identity in post-biblical Jewish society.”—Vered Noam, Professor of Talmud and Second Temple Literature, Tel Aviv University

Eyal Ben-Eliyahu is Professor of Jewish History at the University of Haifa. He is the author of Handbook of Jewish Literature from Late Antiquity and Between Borders: The Boundaries of Eretz-Israel in the Consciousness of the Jewish People.

Identity and Territory

Jewish Perceptions of Space in Antiquity

By Eyal Ben-Eliyahu

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

Copyright © 2019 The Regents of the University of California
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-520-29360-1

Contents

List of Illustrations,
Preface,
Introduction: Identity, Space, Place, and Territory,
1. From Judah to Israel: Territory and Identity,
2. Borders, Space, and Identity in Second Temple Literature,
3. From Earthly Land to Holy Land,
4. Land of the Sages,
5. Rabbinic Literature Confronts Nonrabbinic Jewish Culture and Christianity: The Question of Holy Spaces,
Conclusion,
Notes,
Bibliography,
Index of Places,
Index of Sources,
Index of Persons,
Index of Subjects,

CHAPTER 1

From Judah to Israel

Territory and Identity

The relationship between Jewish ethno-national identity and the geographical space inhabited by Jews was dynamic in antiquity; it was reflected in the conversion of the name “Judea” to “Israel” and in the shifts in the name of the territory, as well. The borders of the land, though fluid, were closely bound up with the identity of its residents; as the territory shifted, so, in a sense, did their identity.

In this chapter, we trace the changes in the names for both land and nation in the biblical and rabbinic periods, focusing on the relationship between space and identity from the Second Temple to the Byzantine period. We open with an analysis of the names of the land and nation in biblical literature and other sources from the period under discussion, including contemporary coins. We then trace the transformation of these names from Judah or Judea (Yehudah) to Israel (Yisrael), discussing evidence from the Great Revolt of 66–70 C.E. to the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–135 C.E., as well as the corollary shift in the name of its members from Jews (Yehudim) to members of the nation of Israel living in the land of Israel (Erets Yisrael). Particular attention is given to the use of both nomenclatures in rabbinic literature, and these texts are compared with previous compositions and archaeological artifacts.

The correspondence between the nation’s names, territory, and members at particular times in history reflects the link between the nation’s self-concept and its view of the geographical expanse it identified as its land. It was only later, in the modern period, that the name of a nation began to adhere to one side of these dichotomies while the name of the land and/or polity reflected the other.

JUDAH AND ISRAEL IN BIBLICAL LITERATURE

We begin by looking at the names for the community and the land in biblical literature. In Jewish scriptural sources, the primary name for the nation is Israel (Yisrael). The Pentateuch uses “Sons of Israel” (Bnei Yisrael, often translated as “Israelites”) to identify the people, referring to the biblical Jacob, also known as Israel. Exodus, for example, begins with “And these are the names of the Sons of Israel that went down to Egypt” (Ex 1:1), and the pharaoh compares the size of the “nation of the Sons of Israel” to that of his own (Ex 1:9). Yet upon returning to the land after slavery in Egypt and wandering in the desert, the congregation enters what is simply referred to as the land (ha’arets) or the land of Canaan (Erets Canaan), not the land of Israel (Erets Yisrael).

“Judahite” (Yehudi) appears only in late biblical literature, mostly in the books of Jeremiah and Esther. This name refers to the inhabitants of the Southern Kingdom of Judah after the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 720 B.C.E. Seals and coins dating to the Persian period (ending with Alexander’s conquest of the land in 332 B.C.E.) identify the region according to the official name of the administrative province of the Persian Empire. Persian districts extended across what had formerly been the Kingdom of Judah, which in the Aramaic was rendered as Yehud (Judea).

In the books of Chronicles, which also date to the Persian period, the name “land of Israel” appears only four times; the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, from the same time, do not use the term for the land at all. The reason for this relates to the territorial significance of the term in Chronicles, where it refers to the entirety of both the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel. The author, who composed his text in the Persian province of Yehud, corresponding roughly to the territory of the defunct Kingdom of Judah, was primarily interested in historiography. He considered districts in what was once the Kingdom of Israel to his north as part of his own land, just as he considered the remnant of its population that had not gone into exile as part of his own nation. In contrast, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which recount primarily the events of their time, are concerned only with the Persian province of Yehud. The Aramaic passages in Ezra describe the exiles returning from Babylon as Judeans (Yehudaia; see Ezr 4:12, 23; 5:1, 5; 6:7, 8, 14). However, when the authors discuss the people of the historical past, they employ the name “Israel.” Accordingly, the name Israel sometimes appears in the Hebrew Bible exclusively for the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom, but at other times for both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, depending on the time period the text addresses. Nonetheless, “Judah” and “Judeans” refer only to the Southern Kingdom and its people, never the Northern Kingdom and its people. In later periods, the terms Judah and Jews also signified the Persian province Yehud.

SECOND TEMPLE LITERATURE: JUDEA AND ISRAEL

During the Second Temple era (more specifically, from the second century B.C.E.), a shift occurred. In literature of this period, the common name used by Jews and gentiles for the district inhabited by the community throughout most of the period was Judea; the name used for the ethnos was the corollary, Jews. These designations are corroborated by evidence on coins. The same picture emerges from official documents quoted in 1 Maccabees, which refer to “the Jews” or “the nation of the Jews.” However, Second Temple literature does contain a number of cases in which Israel refers to the nation as well as the land.

But what is the underlying distinction between these two names? What meaning did the Second Temple sources ascribe to the name when referring to the nation? I posit that Judah refers to the core district heavily inhabited by Jews, according to its official name from the Persian period onward. However, when expressing the living memory of the biblical Sons of Israel, Israel serves as the name of both the nation and the land.

Thus, for example, the name Israel appears in the book of Ezra. The returning exiles are described as sacrificing twelve he-goats “according to the number of the tribes of Israel” in order to atone for all of Israel (Ezr 6:17), relating to the memory of the biblical tribes. Similarly, in the first half of 1 Maccabees, Israel connotes the land of the united kingdom in the days of David and Solomon as preserved in collective memory. The use of Israel, therefore, reflects the author’s motivation in illustrating Judah Maccabee and his brothers as fighting across all the districts of the former united kingdom with the aim of restoration.

However, the use of the term Jews for the nation is not restricted to writers native to the province. Josephus and Philo both generally refer to the nation as Jews. Both writers employ both Judah and Palestina in reference to the land. Some writers used Israel as the name of the land when expressing an aspiration to restore the golden age of David and Solomon; Philo and Josephus, both of whom were committed to their Hellenistic present, would not have adopted this name.

THE SHIFT FROM JUDAH TO ISRAEL: THE END OF THE SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD AND THE RABBINIC ERA

The shift from the name Judah to Israel occurred during the second half of the Hasmonean period and continued during the period of rabbinic literature. This transition is reflected both in literature and on coins, specifically through the coins from the Great Revolt of 66–70 C.E. While those from the earlier Hasmonean revolt are marked with the terms Hever ha-Yehudim (Council of the Jews), coins from the Great Revolt read Shekel Yisrael, indicating the “measure” of Israel.

The name Israel also appears in documents from Wadi Murabba’at, which likely date to the Great Revolt as well. The letters of Shimon Bar Kokhba, written during his revolt of 132–135 C.E., continue to identify the nation as Israel; coins are stamped with Bar Kokhba’s rank as patriarch of Israel (Nesi Yisrael). In these sources, it is difficult to determine if Israel refers to the political regime or the ethnos or both. However, recently published letters include the term House of Israel (Beit Yisrael) as the name of the regime. It bears mention that the official Roman name for the province up until Hadrian was Judea, despite the fact that the name Israel appeared on the coins and documents of the inhabitants of the province, who rebelled against the empire.

The name “Palestine” is first found in the writings of Herodotus from the fifth century B.C.E., indicating his geographical orientation. As a Greek, he encountered the land from the sea; thus, he referred to it by the name of the coastal plane, which was the historical domain of the Philistines. “Palestine” is also mentioned by Aristotle. However, most of the Greco-Roman writers refer to [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] (Judea) for the land and its inhabitants as [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] (Judeans). This usage continued until Hadrian suppressed the Bar Kokhba revolt and the official name of the province was changed to “Syria Palestina” in retribution. Despite this change, the name Palestine appears only three times in rabbinic literature, ostensibly reflecting either ignorance about the official name of the province, disinterest, or perhaps even ideological resistance to foreign administration.

The shift from Judah to Israel is significant in rabbinic literature, which is the first corpus since the Pentateuch to employ the latter consistently as the name of the ethnos. The term Jews primarily reflects a gentile nomenclature, usually with a pejorative connotation. One prominent example appears in Lamentations Rabbah, the midrashic compendium of early rabbinic interpretations of verses in the book of Lamentations, which dates to the second half of the third century C.E.

Rabbi Abbahu opened his discourse with the text They that sit in the gate talk of me (Ps 69:13), saying “This refers to the nations of the world who sit in theaters and circuses … scoffing at me and saying: ‘We have no need to eat carobs like the Jews.’ They ask one another: ‘How long do you wish to live?’ To which they reply: ‘The Jews observe the law of Sabbatical Year and they have no vegetables, so they eat this camel’s thorns.'”

In the next passage, however, which references the view of the rabbinic sages, the name used is Israel: “Another interpretation: They that sit in the gate talk of me [refers to] Israel, for they sit in Synagogues and Houses of Study. …” This source, discussing the same biblical verse from two different perspectives, distinguishes between the imagined words of the gentiles, whom the sages depict referring to the nation as Jews, and the population’s self-identification as Israel.

Similarly, rabbinic literature generally refers to the entire biblical land as Israel, while Judah is used to describe only the province south of the Galilee and Samaria. The picture that emerges is that the sages identified their nation as Israel but imagined gentiles — often hostile ones — referring to them as Jews.

The use of Israel as a name for the land is found in several Tannaitic sources, rabbinic texts ascribed to the generations of Yavneh between the two revolts. For instance, Rabbi Akiva is quoted as laying down a “general rule” that establishes “the like of whatsoever is permitted in the Land of Israel may be performed in Syria.” The literature also relates that “when he [Rabbi Jeshbab] came to Rabbi Akiva, he [Rabbi Akiva] said to him, ‘All your labor has been in vain, you also would have to search out all the known graves of the Land of Israel.'” In the Mekilta, a Tannaitic midrash on the book of Exodus, we find Israel used as both the name of the land and that of the nation: “Before the land of Israel had been especially chosen, all other lands were eliminated … but Jonah thought: I will go outside the land where the [Divine Presence] does not reveal itself. For since the gentiles are more inclined to repent, I might be causing Israel to be condemned.” Thus, a nation once referred to as Judah was increasingly identified as Israel, with Judah becoming the name used by gentiles. This was true of the rabbinic literature, both the Tannaitic and Amoraic, throughout the ages.

Why the Shift from Judah to Israel?

This change in nomenclature was significant and speaks to the very identity and self-concept of the evolving nation. The consistent employment of Israel to connote the land and the ethnos reflects the complete transformation from a Judean to an Israelite identity. This crucial shift resulted from one very significant factor: territory. The land on which the nation lived was the primary reason behind their name and their identity.

The use of Israel in late biblical literature was intended mainly to preserve the memory of the earlier biblical period, including that of the confederation of the twelve tribes and the united kingdom under Saul, David, and Solomon. After the fall of the Kingdom of Israel in 720 B.C.E., the Kingdom of Judah remained; the returning exiles came back to a placed named Yehud, located within the territory of the Kingdom of Judah. This form is also employed up to the Hasmonean period, when “Jews” appears on the coins and in official letters. The change in the political regime’s self-identification is reflected in the coins of the Great Revolt.

The transition from Judah to Israel, then, occurred between the Hasmonean period and the Great Revolt. Territorially, the Hasmonean state in Judah was founded on the basis of the biblical Kingdom of Judah. Over the years, the boundaries of the polity extended to the sea, and — by the time of John Hyrcanus — Samaria and Idumea. At the end of the second century B.C.E., Judah Aristobulus added the Galilee.

Although Alexander Jannaeus still minted coins impressed with the words Yonatan and Hever ha-Yehudim, the situation was quite complex. The name Judah related to the historical kingdom and the southern province, while the Hasmonean state extended to Samaria and the Galilee. The rebels of the Great Revolt saw themselves as part of a polity that included the Galilee as well. While the Hasmoneans maintained their Judean identity, the rebels of the Great Revolt, who were not restricted to the province of Judah or Yehud and were part of a much larger political entity that encompassed all the regions of the biblical land, replaced it with Israel and revived the ancient identity, which included the biblical memory of the twelve tribes, named for the Sons of Israel. This identity was fitting for another reason; in the wake of the uprising, Judah was emptied of its Jewish population. The institutions of leadership moved initially to Yavneh and, after the Bar Kokhba revolt, to the Galilee.

The rabbis who moved their center northward did not refer to themselves as Galileans. This name would have expressed an abdication of their Judean identity. But “Israel” included that identity, when understood according to its broad meaning, like the Sons of Israel in the Pentateuch. Israel, in essence, has a double meaning in the Hebrew Bible: as we saw, the Pentateuch relates to all the Sons of Israel more broadly; in the later biblical literature, it relates only to the northern tribes more narrowly. Israel thus includes the entire nation, just as the land of Israel includes the entirety of the land.

The territorial dimension of this terminology can be distinguished from the communal dimension. One example is found in Christian attempts to co-opt the identity of Israel, promoting the Christian community as Verus Israel, the true Israel, as early as the second century C.E. The Christian preference for the name Israel, as opposed to Hebrews or Jews, reflects a motivation to replace and complete the identity of Israel, as reflected in rabbinic literature. Accordingly, the consistent preference of the rabbis for Israel when referring to both the ethnos and the land relates to the territorial dimension and reflects the dominant preoccupation with territory as shaping ethnic self-identification. In reading the rabbinic sources closely, we see that the sages upheld a tradition that tied the nation’s identity closely to the territory in which they and their forebears lived.

(Continues…)Excerpted from Identity and Territory by Eyal Ben-Eliyahu. Copyright © 2019 The Regents of the University of California. Excerpted by permission of UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS.
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