What Happened to the Jews of Arabia?
A story that should make every Jew shudder.
Did you know that Saudi Arabia once hosted a thriving Jewish community? For almost a thousand years (three times longer than the Jews have been in America), Jews lived in the oases of Teyma, Khaybar, and Yathrib (later known as Medina), in the northern Arabian Peninsula. According to Dr. Hagai Mazuz, an Orientalist specializing in Arabic language, Islam, and Islamic culture, “The Jewish community of northern Arabia was one of the largest ancient Jewish communities in the history of the Jewish people.”1
They were powerful and wealthy. They were respected by the local Arabian tribes for their religion, culture, erudition, and literacy. They built castles on mountaintops and developed productive plantations. They had military prowess, horses, and advanced weaponry. And they were almost totally annihilated in the short span of a few years.
Their story should make every Jew shudder.
The Jews of Medina were divided into three groups: The Banu Qaynuqa were blacksmiths, weapon wrights, and goldsmiths. The Banu Nadir had date plantations. The Banu QurayUa were wine merchants. These groups often quarreled. Sometimes the hostility among them broke out into actual fighting.
When Mohammed fled from Mecca in 622, he went to Medina. At first, he entered into an alliance with the Jews. He studied in their study halls and adopted many of their customs into his incipient religion (e.g. not eating pork). But when, after two years, Mohammed could not convince the Jews to accept him as a prophet and convert to his religion, his attitude turned toward open hostility. He instructed his friends to murder and decapitate Ka’b Ibn al-Ashraf, a renowned Jewish poet and chief of the Banu Nadir (date farmers tribe), and ordered his followers, “Kill every Jew you can.” 2
Mohammed then besieged the Banu Qaynuqa (blacksmith tribe), knowing that the other two Jewish tribes would not come to their aid. Although the Banu Qaynuqa were proficient warriors, the lack of food and water due to the siege weakened them to the point of surrender.
Stop the story here! If I were reading a Hollywood screenplay that developed like this, I would reject it as unrealistic and absurd. Here the protagonist, Mohammed, has openly declared his intention to kill everyJew. And he has started his killing campaign with the grisly beheading of the head of the date famers tribe.
Is Jewish unity such a bitter pill that Jews would rather swallow cyanide?
Mohammed’s forces at that point were weaker than the combined Jewish forces would have been. Why didn’t the date farmers and the wine merchants unite to break the siege and save the blacksmiths? How could they sit on their hands and let their brethren perish? Even if they hated their fellow Jews, surely they should have realized that uniting in order to eradicate the murderous Mohammed’s forces would be in their long-term self-interest. And these are supposed to be smart Jews? With a sneer, I would toss this screenplay into the wastebasket.
History, however, is less sensible than Hollywood. The other two Jewish tribes did nothing to save the Jewish blacksmiths. After the surrender, Mohammed wanted to slaughter the vanquished tribe, but his ally Abdullah Ibn Ubayyy prevented the massacre, and instead they were exiled to Edri (now in Jordan).
Mohammed confiscated their considerable assets. Strengthened by captured Jewish wealth, one year later Mohammed turned his attention to the next Jewish tribe, the date growers. To ensure that the tribe of the wine merchants would not come to the rescue of their fellow Jews, Mohammed made an alliance with the wine merchants.
This is crazy! The reviewer in me, who has rejected many a far-fetched plot, cannot abide this one. The Jewish wine merchants must have drunk their own stock and become totally plastered to ally themselves with a sworn enemy of the Jews against their own people. Is Jewish unity such a bitter pill that Jews would rather swallow cyanide?
Mohammed’s forces laid siege to the strongholds of the Jewish date farmers in 625. Like the previous Jewish tribe, they succumbed to the siege. Again Abdullah Ibn Ubayyy intervened, and instead of slaughtering the vanquished Jews, Mohammed exiled them to the city of Khaybar, which, according to Muslim tradition, was inhabited by descendants of the Jewish priestly tribe.
Three years later Mohammed conquered Khaybar, the wealthiest city in northern Arabia. Because the Muslims did not know agriculture, Mohammed permitted most of the Jews to live as dhimmis, officially second-class citizens who had to pay exorbitant taxes. Eventually the second Caliph banished the Jews of Khaybar, in obedience to Mohammed’s policy that permitted no religion other than Islam to be practiced in Arabia.
Back in Medina, the wine merchant tribe had only two years to relish their position as the sole surviving Jews. Then, in 627, Mohammed, with 3,000 soldiers, laid siege to their fortress. The Jewish tribe had only 450 trained warriors. Because Abdullah Ibn Ubayyy had died a few months before, the Jews knew that no one would intercede on their behalf. The leader of the besieged Jews proposed that they either convert to Islam or, similar to Masada, kill their own women and children to prevent their being ravished and enslaved, and then fight the Muslims to the death. The Jews rejected both options and offered to surrender and leave Medina.
Mohammed rejected their offer. The vanquished wine merchants tribe, who had twice refused to help the other besieged Jewish tribes, suffered the worst fate. The children were sold as slaves; the women were given to the victorious soldiers “for the Muslims to use,” and the men (except for three who agreed to convert to Islam) were decapitated in the marketplace. According to Muslim tradition, the blood of the decapitated Jews flooded the marketplace of Medina.
A large, powerful, affluent Jewish community was destroyed in just three years. Was it destroyed by Mohammed’s forces or was it destroyed by its own divisiveness?
Our sages say that the Holy Temple was not destroyed by the superiority of the Roman forces. It was destroyed by sinat chinam,senseless hatred among Jews.
“Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” Apparently the Jews of Arabia did not learn from our tragic history.
How many times will we have to play this re-run?
- “Massacre in Medina,” Segula Magazine, issue 3.
- Ibid. Dr. Mazuz, who is a Senior Advisor to the Gatestone Institute, based his article, “Massacred in Medina” on exclusively Muslim sources.
UNITY
He succeeded in making them identify as a unified team and not as individuals coming from their separate backgrounds and universities.
This sets them on their way to eventually beat the unbeatable Soviets in the Olympic semi-finals and ultimately win the gold medal.
This conveys a critical message to us as Jews, especially during this time of year as we lead up to Tisha B'Av.
The Jewish people have been persecuted for thousands of years. After each round of murder and torture, all we have wanted is a respite and the knowledge that it is over. But then, just like the coach barking out "Again!" we are forced to go through our next round of suffering. We survive, assume it is over, and then we hear the pounding "Again."
The ninth of Av is a date in the Jewish calendar in which we reflect on all of our suffering through the past 2,000 years. We attempt to correct our flaws and pray for salvation. In our time, this includes a respite for our brothers and sisters in bombarded Sderot and other Negev towns, for people who live daily with the threat of terrorist attacks, for soldiers who risk their lives for us daily, and for Jews around the world who live with the fear of anti-Semitism and what could come next.
As we experience Tisha B'Av and reflect on what it will take to get us out of this cycle of persecution called "exile," perhaps we should take Mike Eruzione's insight to heart.
Our Sages of the Talmud teach us that we are in exile because of the hatred of one Jew to another. The only way to correct that flaw is to repair ourselves in that realm.
Perhaps the answer to our suffering and long exile is to see other Jews as members of the same team and family.
Perhaps each time God puts us through another round of suffering, His proclamation of "Again," He is waiting for us to stop identifying ourselves as an individual Jew coming from his separate background and upbringing. "I'm modern Orthodox." "I'm Reform." "I'm a Hasid." "I'm secular." "I'm Conservative." "I'm yeshivishe."
Those characterizations polarize the nation and make it impossible for us to function together as one team. As individual groups, we cannot accomplish what we can accomplish as one team. We are held back by that same baseless hatred which creeps in when we are not one unit.
Perhaps God is waiting for all of us to proclaim in unison, "I am a Jew." Plain and simple.
Even more importantly, perhaps God is waiting for us to stop seeing others as "He's modern Orthodox." "He's Reform." "He's a Hasid." "He's secular." "He's Conservative." "He's yeshivishe."
Perhaps the answer to our suffering and long exile is reaching the point where we see other Jews as members of the same team and family. Jews and nothing else.
Churban – the antithesis of chibur – is the state of being disbanded or dissolved.
Understanding churban in terms of dissolution is implicit in the expression used by the Talmud (Gittin 53a) to describe Titus's destruction of the Holy Temple: "He ground already-milled flour." Grinding is an act of dissolution. Grain ground into flour loses nothing of its substance. For every pound of grain one has at the outset, there remains one pound of grain in the form of flour. The only difference is that the original cohesion of the particles has been lost.
Love for fellow Jews is the cohesive force that keeps the nation together.
When the latter kind of dissolution occurs to the Jewish people,churban takes place and as a result, the body politic of Jewry suffers exile. The individual particles of the Jewish people become separated from one another. True, each individual remains essentially unchanged, but the cohesive force that unites them into one klal, one entity, has been removed.
It is fitting that our current exile, which is a punishment for baseless hatred, should be characterized by the fragmentation of the nation.Ahavas Yisrael (love for fellow Jews) is the cohesive force that keeps the nation together. When Jews became separated from one another by hatred, the entire Jewish people was forcibly splintered by exile.
Togetherness and Restoration
This explanation of churban offers insight into the well-known passage from the Talmud that states: "Whoever brings happiness to a bride and groom is considered as having rebuilt the ruins of Jerusalem" (Brachos 1b). When a bride and groom unite to build a home, no new substance is added. The bride was there before, as was the groom. New to the scene is the bond between the two, resulting in a new entity: a home. Added is the adhesive force of love, which was previously lacking in the Jewish people, and whose absence on a national scale had caused the churban.
Marriage not only represents the additional element of love, but it actually unites two dispersed Jews. Someone who helps in the creation of this bond is likened to a rebuilder of Jerusalem, for the united home is the antithesis of the churban, dissolution. The elements stand waiting for the adhesive element of love that brings them together.
Lack of adhesion is also the reason for dispersal from the Land of Israel. The shemittah year (the sabbatical from farming the land) is the link between the people of Israel and its land, for by renouncing ownership of the land, the Jewish farmer demonstrates his faith and freedom from the materialism born of land-ownership. As long as Israel kept shemittah, its bond to the land was totally spiritual, as it was meant to be. Once the Jews failed to keep shemittah, however, they broke their spiritual bond with the land. The people remained intact, and so did the land, but once that link was sundered, they – the people and the land – could no longer remain together.
Reuniting the Elements
The churban – the destruction of the Temple and the subsequent exile – came about through the power of dissolution. Thus redemption does not require a creation of a new entity, but a reunion of its disparate parts into one entity.
Each Jew must appreciate what his fellow Jew can offer him and not perceive him as a threat. The closeness that ensues not only serves to reunite the fragments of the Jewish people, it brings us back to our Creator and His Torah. This is the essence of our prayer on the High Holidays, "May they all form one union," representing the reunion of a fragmented Israel, and "to perform Your will with a complete heart," representing the reunion of Israel with God.
Why was the First Temple destroyed? Because that generation transgressed the three cardinal sins: idol worship, sexual immorality, and murder.
Why was the Second Temple destroyed? Because of unwarranted hatred.
This shows how great is the punishment for unwarranted hatred. Because the generation of the three cardinal sins was redeemed after 70 years, yet for the generation of unwarranted hatred, its redemption has yet to come.
Talmud, Yoma 9
* * *
What does the existence of the Temple have to do with love and hatred between fellow Jews?
The Temple was the main conduit for the flow of Godliness into this world. When we had the Temple, there was respect for God, for His Torah -- and for each other. There were no atheists, no doubt about God's existence. Every Jew acknowledged one God and understood the genius of His laws. The world was filled with awe of God and love of God.
As we began to lose that clarity, the flow of Godliness became severed. The prophet Ezekiel (ch. 9) actually describes seeing God's presence withdraw from the Temple. With the loss of the Temple, God has become more concealed -- resulting in a world filled not with clarity but with spiritual confusion. It is no coincidence that immediately following the destruction of the First Temple (circa 421 BCE), Greek and Roman philosophy (as well as Buddhism and Tao) rose to their peak. Similarly, Christianity began concurrently with the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE).
Back to the Garden
Today, the world is beset by jealousy, greed, theft, violence, lying, impatience, intolerance, deception and fraud. We are suspicious of our neighbors and cynical of our leaders. We are factionalized and worship different gods. Rather than cooperate, we compete. We are manipulative and seek advantage at the expense of others. It's dog-eat-dog and every man for himself. We withdraw into our homes behind a curtain of satellite dishes, internet, and take-out food. We shield ourselves from the harsh realities, and worst of all, we despair of the notion that things can be much better. We shrug our shoulders and lament, "That's just the way life is."
Judaism says: "No!" When Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, God assured us of a path back. Statesmen may speak of "peace in our time," but Isaiah said it best: "The lamb will lie down with the lion... and young children will play at the cobra's nest" (Isaiah 11:6).
"Shalom," the Hebrew word for "peace," comes from the root "shaleim," which means complete or whole. "Shalom," says the Talmud, is one of the Names of God, for His unity encompasses all. This "one-ness" is the primary theme of the Jewish Pledge of Allegiance: "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is ONE!"
Just as the ecosystem works to perfection -- with trees breathing carbon dioxide and clouds carrying rain, so too we seek a world where all humanity works together in harmony. This is not to suggest that we should all act the same and ignore our differences. As the saying goes: "Two Jews, three opinions." But because we have differences doesn't mean we can't love and be committed to one another, learn together, and work together for Jewish survival.
One Person, One Heart
Realize that all Jews must be united in order for the nation to be redeemed. The verse (Exodus 19:2) says that the Jewish people camped at Mount Sinai. Rashi points out that the word for "camped" is written in the singular, to indicate that they were "like one person with one heart." Say the commentators: Jewish unity is a prerequisite for acceptance of the Torah.
Further, the Midrash says: If the Jewish people were lacking just one person from the 600,000 Jews at Mount Sinai, they would not have received the Torah.
Why is this? The kabbalists point out that just as 600,000 Jewish souls stood at Mount Sinai, so too there are 600,000 letters in the Torah (including the white spaces between letters). Because just as a Torah scroll is invalid if even a single letter is missing, so too the Jewish people are handicapped if even one Jew has fallen away from our people.
Each and every Jew is completely integral -- regardless of their beliefs or level of observance. In fact, one of the spices used in the incense at the Holy Temple was "galbanum," which has a foul aroma. The Talmud (Kritot 6b) derives from here that even the worst sinners are inextricably bound into the community of Israel.
Redemption Today
Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz, one of the great rabbis of pre-war Europe, was quoted as saying: "When I will stand before the heavenly court, and they will ask me, 'What merit have you brought with you?' What shall I answer? Torah? Is my Torah knowledge worth enough to be mentioned? Fear of Heaven? Are my deeds worthy of that description? There is only one thing I could possibly claim -- that I loved every Jew with all my heart. Whenever I walk in the street and I see a Jew, one thought comes to me: A blessing on his head!'"
The Sages teach that the Temple and all that it represents can be rebuilt at any moment. The Midrash says that the Third Temple has already been constructed in heaven, and merely awaits our preparations here on earth. In every generation, an individual exists with the capacity to be Moshiach. The Jewish people have returned to the Land of Israel and made it bloom once again. God is ready when we are. For as King David writes in Psalms 95:7: "(Redemption will come) today -- if you hearken to His voice."
"A United Israel is a Strong Israel" Unity above all is a key to survival by YJ Draiman
"We must be ready to sacrifice all for our country Israel. For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must continue to acquire proficiency in defense and display determination and stamina in purpose." Never surrender - we are fighting for our survival and the alternative is extinction.
Israel's mission first and foremost is to take care of the Jewish people and insure their safety and security in Israel.Israel's obligation is to its Jewish People and not to pacify the world at large. The historical facts are that for thousands of years the world at large has always persecuted the Jewish people and stood idle while millions of Jews are exterminated and persecuted.
Right now we are in a badly separated, internally struggling, bickering state both within Israel and also in the Diaspora. And our enemies are happily latching onto this internal fragmentation exploiting us against each other and leading successful campaigns against us on all fronts.
No political wisdom, trickery neither weapons and a mighty army can save Israel or Jews worldwide unless we rise above our differences, above our argumentative nature and form a single united Nation that is impenetrable.
And that wouldn't just save us but would blaze a trail of hope for others in this crazy world where there are no allies or friends any more only enemies waiting for the opportunity to destroy each other.
We may not agree on everything, but we must respect each other and work together for our common goal which is survival in this hostile world which is on a spiral deterioration.
"A United Israel is a Strong Israel"
YJ Draiman
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