Eldad ha-Dani

Eldad ha-Dani or Eldad HaDani or Eldad ben Mahli ha-Dani (Hebrew: אלדד הדני‬) was a Jewish, Hebrew-writing merchant and traveler of the ninth century. He professed to be a citizen of an "independent Jewish state" in eastern Africa, probably in the Gihon region, inhabited by people claiming descent from the tribes of Dan (hence his name, "ha-Dani" = "the Danite"), Asher, Gad, and Naphtali. Starting from this state, Eldad visited Babylonia, Kairouan, and Iberia, causing everywhere a great stir among the Jews by his fanciful accounts of the Ten Lost Tribes, and by the halakhot which he claimed he had brought from his native country.

These halakhot, written in Hebrew, deal with the slaughtering and subsequent examination of animals (see Kosher). They differ in many places from the Talmudic ordinances, and are introduced in the name of Joshua ben Nun, or, according to another version, of Othniel Ben Kenaz. Eldad's accounts soon spread, and, as usual in such cases, were remolded and amplified by copyists and editors. There are numerous differing versions in several languages.[1]

His travels

The story begins with Eldad leaving the land "on the other side of the river of Kush." This region has been hypothesized as multiple different areas by different scholars, including the Nile river delta and Abyssinia.[2] Eldad traveled with a man of the tribe of Asher. A great storm wrecked the boat, but God prepared a box for him and his companion, on which they floated until thrown ashore among a cannibal Ethiopian tribe called Romrom.[3] (As to the existence of such a tribe, see Metz in "Das Jüdische Litteraturblatt," 1877, No. 41[4]) The Asherite, who was fat, was immediately eaten, while Eldad was put into a pit to fatten. Soon after, a fire-worshiping tribe assailed the cannibals, and Eldad was taken prisoner. He remained in captivity for four years. His captors brought him to the province of Azanian (according to another version, to China[5]). He was ransomed to a Jewish merchant from the tribe of Issachar for thirty-two pieces of gold.[6]

Now with the tribe of Issachar, Eldad dwelled among high mountains near Media and Persia, their land extending ten days' journey on every side. Eldad says the people of the tribe "live in peace and comfort and there is no disturber and no evil chance."[6] Their judge and prince is called Nahshon,who uses the four death penalties: stoning, burning, beheading, and strangling.[6] The tribe of Zebulon occupies the land extending from the province of Armenia to the River Euphrates. Behind the mountains of Paran the tribe of Reuben faces them. Peace reigns between these two tribes; they war as allies and divide the spoils. They possess the Bible, the Mishnah, the Talmud, and the Haggadah.

The Tribe of Ephraim and half of the Tribe of Manasseh dwell in the southern mountains of Arabia, and are very warlike.

The Tribe of Simeon and the other half of the Tribe of Manasseh are in the land of the Chazars. They take tribute from twenty-eight kingdoms, and many Muslims are subjected to them. He states the tribe of Simeon is the most numerous of all the tribes.[7]

The tribe of Dan emigrated to the land of gold, Havilah (Kush), shortly after the separation of Judah and Israel. The tribes of Naphtali, Gad, and Asher joined the Danites later. They have a king called Adiel ben Malkiel, a prince by the name of Elizaphan of the house of Elihab, and a judge named Abdan ben Mishael, who has the power to inflict the four capital punishments prescribed in the Law. The four tribes lead a nomadic life, and are continually at war with the five neighboring Ethiopian kings. Each tribe is in the field three months, and every warrior remains in the saddle without dismounting from one Sabbath to the next.

They possess the entire Scriptures, but they do not read the Book of Esther (not having been included in the miraculous salvation mentioned in it) nor Lamentations (to avoid its disheartening influence). They have a Talmud in original Hebrew,[8] but none of the Talmudic teachers are mentioned.[9] Their ritual is introduced in the name of Joshua, who had received it from Moses, who in his turn had heard its contents from the Almighty. They speak only Hebrew. (Eldad himself professed not to understand a word of Amharic or Arabic.)

On "the other side of the river of Kush" dwell the Bene Mosheh (tribe of Levi). The River Sambation encircles their land. It rolls sand and stones during the six working days and rests on the Sabbath. From the first moment of Sabbath to the last, fire surrounds the river, and during that time no human being can approach within half a mile of either side of it. The four other tribes communicate with the Bene Mosheh from the borders of the river. The Bene Mosheh dwell in beautiful houses, and no unclean animal is found in their land. Their cattle and sheep as well as their fields bear twice a year. No child dies during the lifetime of its parents, who live to see a third and fourth generation. They do not close their houses at night, for there is no theft or wickedness among them. They speak Hebrew, and never swear by the name of God.

Reception of his story

This fanciful narrative was accepted by his contemporaries as true.[10] Its origins are to be found in the aggadic literature, of which Eldad must have had a very extensive knowledge. The inhabitants of Kairouan were troubled by the differences between his halakhot (laws) and those of the Talmud, and by some of his strange Hebrew words. Eldad pretended to speak only Hebrew, however, many of the words in his letters are derived from Arabic, suggesting that he may have understood other languages as well.[11] The gaon Ẓemaḥ ben Hayyim of Sura, whose opinion they had asked, soothed them by saying that there was nothing astonishing in the four tribes disagreeing with the Talmud on some halakic points.[8]

Moreover, Eldad was known to the Gaon through Isaac ben Mar and R. Simḥah, whom the Danite associated with while he was in Babylonia. Hisdai ibn Shaprut cites Eldad in his letter to the king of the Khazars, and Eldad's halakot were used by both Rabbinites and Karaites as weapons in defense of their respective creeds. Talmudic authorities like Rashi, Abraham ben David (RABaD), and Abraham ben Maimon quote Eldad as an unquestioned authority; and lexicographers and grammarians interpret some Hebrew words according to the meaning given them in Eldad's phraseology.[12]

However, many writers of the Middle Ages expressed doubts as to the genuineness of Eldad's narrative and his halakot, most explicitly Abraham ibn Ezra (Commentary to Exodus ii. 22)[8] and Meïr of Rothenburg (Responsa, No. 193). "Translation of the Original Latin Letter of Prester John". Instructure. Retrieved October 30, 2017. </ref></ref>

Relationship to "Prester John" letters

The influence of Eldad's narrative extended beyond Jewish circles, and some sources link it to the Prester John letters.[13] Perhaps intending to refute Eldad's assertion of the existence of independent Jewish states — an assertion contrary to the teaching of the Roman-Catholic Church— the presumably Christian writer claimed to be a priest (Prester John) who ruled over the great kingdom of Ethiopia. According to the letters, Prester John's subjects included some Jewish tribes, such as the Bene Mosheh who dwelt beyond the River Sambation.[14]

Nineteenth and twentieth century opinions

"Modern" (that is, up to 1906) critics were divided in their opinions concerning Eldad. Pinsker, Grätz, and Adolf Neubauer saw in him a Karaite missionary endeavoring to discredit the Talmud through his statement that the four tribes did not know the names of the Tannaim and Amoraim, and that their halakhot were different from those of the Talmud. This opinion was refuted by Moses Schorr and Adolf Jellinek, who observed that Eldad's halakot contain rules concerning the examination of slaughtered animals which are not accepted by the Karaites. P. Frankl regarded Eldad as a mere charlatan whose sayings and doings are not worth attention. Reifmann denied outright the existence of Eldad, and considered the letters of the community of Kairwan and of Ẓemaḥ ben Ḥayyim of Sura to be forgeries.

Metz was the first to analyze the contents of Eldad's book in the light of the reports of other travelers.[4] Abraham Epstein followed Metz's method, and came to the conclusion that Eldad's book is like a historical novel in which truth is mixed with fiction.[15][16] According to Epstein, the Halakhot and laws described by Eldad are genuine, and were in use among the countrymen of Eldad, either in a province of eastern Africa or in Yemen, where the Jews at that time knew Hebrew but not the Talmud. Eldad could not have been a native of Ethiopia, the country of the Beta Israel, since only Ge'ez is spoken there; and no trace of this language appears in Eldad's Hebrew. There are, however, some traces of Arabic, which Eldad must have known, although he asserted the contrary.

Some Zionist thinkers have considered Eldad ha-Dani to be an early precursor of their movement, as having presented to the Jews of his time the bright vision of a sovereign Jewish state. The radical Revisionist Zionist Israel Eldad, whose original family name was "Scheib", had taken "Eldad" as his nom de guerre during his involvement in the anti-British underground and later made this his official family name.

Later authors have made the connection between the Jewish names Eldad mentioned in his travels to a codex published in the mid-twentieth century. Eldad's account includes very biblical names for the people of his tribe, such as Uzziel, Adiel, and Abdon, and even his own. These names do not seem to appear in post-biblical literature, supporting the claim that Eldad was, in fact, a charlatan. However, these names and their equivalents appear in the codex Chinese Jews by W. C. White, which connects the Jews in China to those from Persia. This evidence suggests that the Jewish communities here are descendants of the Ten Tribes.[17]

Editions

Eldad's travels have been published from the various existing versions: Mantua, 1480; Constantinople, 1516; ib.1519; Venice, 1544, 1605, 1648; Fürth, with a Judæo-German translation by S. H. Weil, 1769; Zolkiev, 1772; Jessnitz, 1772; Leghorn, 1828; in Jellinek's "Bet ha-Midrash," iii., vi.; Presburg, 1891 (ed. by Abraham Epstein).

As to the differences between the various versions, see D. H. Müller, "Die Recensionen und Versionen des Eldad ha-Dani," in "Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften" (vol. xli. Vienna, 1892).

Eldad's narrative was translated into Latin by G. Genebrard (Paris, 1584), and also, anonymously, into Arabic (St. Petersburg MSS. Nos. 674, 703) and into German (Dessau, 1700; Jessnitz, 1723). Extracts of the Hebrew text are given by Bartolocci ("Bibl. Rab.," i. 100) and by Johann Andreas Eisenmenger ("Entdecktes Judenthum," ii. 527).

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Eldad ben Mahli ha-Dani | Jewish traveller and philologist". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2017-11-04.
  2. ↑ Norman., Roth, (2017). Routledge Revivals: Medieval Jewish Civilization (2003). London: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 1351676989. OCLC 993698867.
  3. ↑ Adler, Elkan Nathan (1987). Jewish Travellers in the Middle Ages: 19 First Hand Accounts. London: George Routledge & Sons, Ltd. p. 6.
  4. 1 2 Metz (1877). "Das Jüdische Litteraturblatt". Das Jüdische Litteraturblatt. 41.
  5. ↑ Alanna E. Cooper. “Conceptualizing Diaspora: Tales of Jewish Travelers in Search of the Lost Tribes.” AJS Review, vol. 30, no. 1, 2006, pp. 95–117. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4131639.
  6. 1 2 3 Adler, Elkan Nathan (1987). Jewish Travellers in the Middle Ages. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. pp. 7–8.
  7. ↑ Jewish Travelers in the Middles Ages, Elkan Nathan Adler.
  8. 1 2 3 Kadari, Adiel (January 2010). ""All drink from the same fountain": The Initial Acceptance of the Halakhot of Eldad Ha-Dani into the Halakhic Discourse" (PDF). Review of Rabbinic Judaism. 13.2: 211–228 – via academia.com.
  9. ↑ Neubauer, A. “Where Are the Ten Tribes? II. Eldad the Danite.” The Jewish Quarterly Review, vol. 1, no. 2, 1889, pp. 95–114. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1450319.
  10. ↑ Giuseppe., Veltri, (2009). Renaissance philosophy in Jewish garb : foundations and challenges in Judaism on the eve of modernity. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9004171967. OCLC 646008419.
  11. ↑ Adler, Elkan N. (2016). Jewish Travelers in the Middle Ages. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-486-25397-8.
  12. ↑ "Hebrew literature". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2017-11-04.
  13. ↑ Perry, Micha (2010-01-01). "The Imaginary War between Prester John and Eldad the Danite and Its Real Implications". Viator. 41 (1): 1–23. doi:10.1484/J.VIATOR.1.100565. ISSN 0083-5897.
  14. ↑ Bar-Ilan, Meir;. "Prester John: Fiction and History". faculty.biu.ac.il. Retrieved 2017-11-04.
  15. ↑ Epstein, Abraham. "Sefer Eldad ha-Dani" reprinted in A.M. Habermann. Jerusalem: Mossad haRav Kook. pp. 1–211.
  16. ↑ (הדני), אלדד (1891). אלדד הדני: ספוריו והלכותיו במהדורות שונות על פי כתבי־יד ודפוסים עתיקים עם מבוא והערות בצרוף מאמר על הפלשים ומנהגיהם (in iw). בדפוס אברהם אלקאלאי.
  17. ↑ Rabinowitz, L. (January 1946). "Eldad Ha-Dani and China.". The Jewish Quarterly Review. 36.3. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 231–238. doi:10.2307/1452110.com. JSTOR 1452110. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  • Pinsker, Liḳḳuṭe Ḳadmoniyyot, p. 100;
  • Moses Schorr, in He-Ḥaluẓ, vi. 64;
  • P. Frankl, in Monatsschrift, 1873, p. 491;
  • Adolf Neubauer, in Journal Asiatique, 1861, 3d ed., v. 239 et seq.;
    • idem, in Jew. Quart. Rev. i. 95, iii. 441;
  • Grätz, Gesch. ii. 473;
  • A. Epstein, Eldad ha-Dani (Hebr.), Presburg, 1891;
    • idem, inR. E. J. xxv.;
  • Reifmann, in Ha-Karmel, viii.;
  • Berliner's Magazin, xv. 65;
  • Metz, in Das Jüdische Litteraturblatt, 1877, No. 40;
  • Cassel, in Ersch and Gruber, section ii., part 27, p. 166;
  • Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 923.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Eldad ben Mahli ha-Dani". Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.

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