Seder Olam Revisited: C39- Exilarchs
- Albert Benhamou
- Oct 7
- 16 min read
CHRONOLOGY OF JEWISH HISTORY
Generation 39: Hebrew years 4560-4680 (800-920 CE)
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Introduction
This 39th chronological generation sees the status quo of Christian and Muslim dominions. On their side, the Jews have to fight against the spin-off of the Karaites, the first major deviation from mainstream Judaism. In another hand, an European nation decides to adopt Judaism: the Khazars.
Hebrew Year | CE | Event | Source |
4560 | 800 | The Khazars adopt Judaism | Halevy, the book of Kuzari |
4564 | 804 | The Exilarchs | Seder Olam Zutta |
4590 | 830 | Ecclesia and Synagoga | |
4607 | 847 | Calcultation on the temples | Pesikta Rabbati |
4628 | 868 | Jerusalem under Tulunid rule | |
4662 | 902 | Saadia against the Karaites | |
4678 | 918 | Saadia authored the Tafsir | |
4695 | 935 | Jerusalem under Ikhshidid rule |
About Year 4560 – 800 CE – The Khazars adopt Judaism
The kingdom of Khazaria was a small state around the year 600 CE, located north of the Caucasus. The mountain range offered the region some natural protection that helped its population against the Romans reach, and against both the Byzantines and the Muslims.
By the year 800, the kingdom had stretched to its greatest extent and its king, Bulan, decided to choose a state religion for his Pagan people. He could have chosen one of the two monotheist religions that were on his borders to the south, Christianity and Islam, and secure one of these alliances. But, instead, he chose Judaism, which seemed a rather bad choice considering the inferior state of the Jews in these times. But according to Jewish tradition, this king was more searching for a religion by his own assessment rather than being guided by political consideration (his kingdom was already powerful enough). And to affect such a choice, he asked delegates from the three faiths to come and convince him to choose their faith. He chose Judaism based on the exposition made by the Jewish delegate.
This incredible story is told by Judah Halevi (1079-1141), a Jew from Al-Andalus (Umayyad Spain), in his book written in Judeo-Arabic, Kitab al Khazari (meaning the Book of the Kuzari). Halevi gives some idea about the time the event happened. If we assumed he authored his book in 1140, assuming the role of the imaginary rabbi who convinced the king of the Khazars of the truth of the Jewish traditions, he mentioned that the conversion took place 400 years earlier (Kuzari, Part I), meaning year 740. But he also wrote that the Hebrew year of the imaginary dialogue between the king and the rabbi was 4900 (Kuzari, Part I, 47), meaning 1140 CE, which is the year Halevi composed his book. But the two years contradict one another. In his imaginary dialogue, the author has mismatched the dates. Also, the text mentions a dialogue about the Karaites' rejection of Oral Law (Kuzari, Part III, 34-35). But this sect only started to emerge from about year 760, so Halevi has set the 400 years difference too far in time. This explains why we consider that the conversion of the Khazars was around year 800, not 740, and not 1140 of course.
To read online its translation in English, click here. Here is one extract which talks about force and motion, which Isaac Newton established as rules of Physics in the 17th century:
'Force' is a name for any of the causes of motion. Every motion arises from a force of its own, to the exclusion of other forces. The spheres of the sun and moon are not subject to one force, but to different ones. (Kuzari, Part IV, 1)
Part III contains arguments of rebuttal against the Karaites, which was a fierce debate in Jewish circles in these times. In Part II, the debate is about Science and Tradition:
The same is the case with the knowledge of the revolutions of the spheres, of which the yearly calendar is but one fruit. The excellence of the calculation of the calendar is famous, and it is well known what deep root it has taken among these people [the rabbis], few in number, yet excellently equipped with model institutions. [...] The calendar, based on the rules of the revolution of the moon, as handed down by the House of David, is truly wonderful. Though hundreds of years have passed, no mistake has been found in it, whilst the observations of Greek and other astronomers are not faultless. They were obliged to insert corrections and supplements every century, whilst our calendar is always free from error, as it rests on prophetic tradition. [...] In the same manner our sages were, without doubt, acquainted with the movements of the sun and astronomy in general. (Kuzari, Part II, 64)
The discussion also covers Hebrew as the original language:
According to tradition it [Hebrew] is the language in which God spoke to Adam and Eve, and in which the latter conversed. It is proved by the derivation of Adam from adamah, ishshah from ish; 'hayyah from 'hayy; Cain from canithi; Sheth from shath, and Noah from yena'h, menu. This is supported by the evidence of the Torah. The whole is traced back to Eber, Noah and Adam. It is the language of Eber after whom it was called Hebrew, because after the confusion of tongues it was he who retained it.
Abraham was an Aramaean of Ur Kasdim, because the language of the Chaldeans was Aramaic. He employed Hebrew as a especially holy language and Aramaic for everyday use. For this reason, Ishmael brought it to the Arabic speaking nations, and the consequence was that Aramaic, Arabic and Hebrew are like each other in their vocabulary, grammatical rules, and formations. (Kuzari, Part II, 68)
About the Land of Israel, the Kuzari states it is the place where prophecy can occur:
The Rabbi: Whosoever prophesied did so either in the Land [of Israel], or concerning it. [...] Was not Abraham also, and after having been greatly exalted, brought into contact with the divine influence, and made the heart of this essence, removed from his country to the place in which his perfection should become complete? Thus the agriculturer finds the root of a good tree in a desert place. He transplants it into properly tilled ground, to improve it and make it grow; to change it from a wild root into a cultivated one, from one which bore fruit by chance only to one which produced a luxuriant crop. In the same way the gift of prophecy was retained among Abraham's descendants in Palestine, the property of many as long as they remained in the land, and fulfilled the required conditions, viz. purity, worship, and sacrifices, and, above all, the reverence of the Shekhinah. (Kuzari, Part II, 14)
The following passage stresses the importance for Jews to live in the Land of Israel:
The Rabbi: One sentence is: All roads lead up to Palestine, but none from it. [...] They further say: It is better to dwell in the Holy Land, even in a town mostly inhabited by heathens, than abroad in a town chiefly peopled by Israelites; for he who dwells in the Holy Land is compared to him who has a God, whilst he who dwells abroad is compared to him who has no God. [...] Another saying is: To be buried in Palestine is as if buried beneath the altar [Talmud, Ketuboth,111a]. They praise him who is in the land more than him who is carried thither dead. This is expressed thus: He who embraces it when alive is not like him who does so after his death. They say concerning him who could live there, but did not do so, and only ordered his body to be carried thither after his death: "While you lived [outside the Land of Israel] you made My inheritance an abomination, but in death 'you come and contaminate my country' [Jeremiah 2:7] [...] Further, the atmosphere of the Holy Land makes wise [Talmud, Baba Batra, 158b]. They expressed their love of the land as follows: He who walks four cubits in the land is assured of happiness in the world to come [Talmud, Ketuboth,111a]. (Kuzari, Part II, 22)
The king is also puzzled with the fact that Jews still exist even after such a long exile out of their homeland:
Al Khazari: Certainly. A similar dispersion is not imaginable in any other people, unless it became absorbed by another, especially after so long a period. Many nations which arose after you have perished without leaving a memory, as Edom, Moab, Ammon, Aran, the Philistines, Chaldeans, Medians, Persians, and Yavan [ancient Greece], the Brahmans, Sabaeans, and many others.
The Rabbi: Do not believe that I, though agreeing with thee, admit that we are dead. We still hold connexion with that Divine Influence through the laws which He has placed as a link between us and Him. There is circumcision, of which it is said: 'My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant' (Gen. 17:13). There is further the Sabbath, 'It is a sign between me and you throughout your generations' (Exod. 31:13). Besides this there is 'the covenant of the Fathers,' and the covenant of the law, first granted on Horeb, and then in the plains of Moab in connexion with the promises and warnings laid down in the section. (Kuzari, Part II, 33-34)
Soon after composing the Kuzari, Halevi takes the decision to emigrate to the Land of Israel, putting in practice what we had professed. He arrived there in 1141 and died soon after. His legacy remains because the Book of the Kuzari has been a best-seller among Jewish circles since its first publication.
About Year 4564 – 804 CE – Seder Olam Zutta and the Exilarchs
A new book of Jewish chronology, called Seder Olam Zutta (the Smaller Order of the World), came out about this time. It borrowed from its famous predecessor, the Seder Olam (then named Seder Olam Rabbah), but added the diaspora in Babylon at the time when its Jewish community was thriving and was ruled by a Resh Galuta, or Exilarch, meaning Head of the Diaspora/Exile. This new composition started from the days of the captivity with King Jehoiachin, held many years in captivity by Nebuchadnezzar (see document C27a, year 597 BCE). The Exilarchs were at times in conflict with the heads of the academic institutions (the Gaonim). The list of the first Exilarchs was actually recorded in the Bible which gives the descendance from King Jehoiakim:
And the sons of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son. And the sons of Jeconiah (the same is Assir) Shealtiel his son; and Malchiram, and Pedaiah, and Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah. And the sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel, and Shimei. And the sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam, and Hananiah; and Shelomith was their sister; and [the sons of Meshullam] Hashubah and Ohel, and Berechiah, and Hasadiah, Jushabhesed, five. And the sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah, and Jeshaiah; the sons of [Jeshaiah]: Rephaiah; the sons of [Rephaiah]: Arnan; the sons of [Arnan]: Obadiah; the sons of [Obadiah]: Shecaniah. And the sons of Shecaniah: Shemaiah; and the sons of Shemaiah: Hattush, and Igal, and Bariah, and Neariah, and Shaphat, six. And the sons of Neariah: Elioenai, and Hizkiah, and Azrikam, three. And the sons of Elioenai: Hodaviah, and Eliashib, and Pelaiah, and Akkub, and Johanan, and Delaiah, and Anani, seven. (I Chronicles 3:16-24)
Note that in the Seder Olam Zutta, Zerubbabel is recorded as being the son of Shealtiel, and not his nephew as in the Biblical text above.
King Jehoiachin died soon after being released from prison, in the year 560 BCE. Zerubbabel conducted the first return to Sion in 537 BCE, with about 42,000 Jews, soon after the fall of Babylon and the decree of Cyrus (see document C27c). Although he was the son of Pedaiah, he is often mentioned as son of Shealtiel, who was the older brother of Pedaiah. This means that Zerubbabel was the "heir" (for the lineage), if not the actual biological "son". There is no son recorded for Shealtiel so, presumably, he didn’t have any, thus Zerubbabel was designated as the next exilarch. Another explanation is that Zerubabbel was de facto chosen from the prophecy of the prophet Haggai when he was ordered to start the reconstruction of the Temple:
In the second year of Darius the king [521 BCE], in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying: 'Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: This people say: The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.' Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying: 'Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house [the Temple] lies waste?' (Haggai 1:1-4)
Hashubah son of Meshullam, called Hashabneiah in Nehemiah 3:10, had remained in exile but his son Hattush returned to Sion at the same time than Ezra the Scribe as he is the one mentioned to be of Davidic descent:
Now these are the heads of their fathers' houses, and this is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king. Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, Hattush. (Ezra 8:1-2)
The Seder Olam Zutta gives the list of Exilarchs from the time of the Parthians' and Sasanians' rules:
Nahum (140-170)
Huna I (170-210)
Mar Uqba I (210-240)
Huna II (240-260)
Nathan I (260-270)
Nehemiah (270-313)
Mar Uqba II (313-337)
Huna
Mar I
Huna III (337-350)
Abba (350-370)
Nathan II (370-400)
Kahana I (400-415)
Huna IV (415-442)
Mar Zutra I (442-456)
Kahana II (456-465)
Huna V (465-470)
The next Exilarch was executed, during religious persecutions in 470 or 471, so there was no Exilarch for over 10 years until 484 when the function resumed after the death of the Sassanid ruler Peroz (459-484)
Huna VI (484-508)
Mar Zutra II (508-520)
Ahunai (520-560)
Hofnai (560-580)
Haninai (580-590)
Bustanai who witnessed the fall of the Sassanid empire and died in 670
The role of Exilarch continued long after the redaction of the Seder Olam Zutta, even during the Muslim rule until about the year 1400 CE.
A study of the Exilarchs has been done on the following site, Geni.
Year 4590 – 830 CE – Ecclesia and Synagoga
A depiction opposing the Church (Ecclesia) and the Synagogue (Synagoga) appeared for the first time about 830 CE with a pair of women, one holding a cross and one holding a broken spear with her eyes blind-folded. This depiction was subsequently used many times in the Middle-Age, also as statues in the Cathedral of Strasbourg, France.
The broken spear represents the spear that Jews had supposedly killed Jesus with, although it was a Roman soldier who did so, and the blind-folded eyes represents the "blindness" in which the Jews continued to reject Christian faith.
Year 4607 – 847 CE – Pesikta Rabbati (פסיקתא רבתי) and the duration of the Temples
The Pesikta Rabbati is assumed to have been compiled about 847 CE but it contains a certain number of Haggadic midrashim (allegories) and discourses about Messianic times that certainly date back from as early as the 1st century CE. Its compilers were most probably rabbis who lived in the Land of Israel. One of the themes found in this work relates to the importance of Jerusalem, of the Temple Mount, and of the Temple in Judaism. As mentioned in a previous work, the famous Midrash Tanchuma, the site of the Temple Mount is considered to be the navel of the world (see document C38, year 692):
As the navel is set in the middle of a person so is Israel the navel of the world, as it is said: 'That dwell in the navel of the earth' [Ezekiel 38:12]. The Land of Israel is located in the center of the world, Jerusalem in the center of the Land of Israel, the Temple in the center of Jerusalem, the 'heikhal' [Sanctuary] in the center of the Temple, the ark in the center of the heikhal, and in front of the heikhal is the 'even shetiyyah' [Foundation Stone] from which the world was started. (Ulmer, Rivka, "The Jerusalem Temple in Pesikta Rabbati: from Creation to Apocalyse" in Hebrew Studies (2010), Vol. 51, pp. 223-259, extract of Pesikta Rabbati Kah. 26:4, Mandelbaum edition)
The Pesikta introduced a gematria calculation that the First Temple for 410 years and the Second Temple for 420 years. It also compared the two periods with the number of high priests in each, 18 of them for the First and 80 for the Second, explaining that many high priests of the Second were corrupt and politically, rather than religiously, elected. The post of High Priest, since the time when Herod got rid of the Hasmonean family, was subject to competition, jealousy, political influence, bribary, and so on, which resulted in a shorter time in office. Here is the extract:
Another comment: "With this [bezot - בְּזֹאת] shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a bull calf [Leviticus 16:3]. R. Berekhia said: The term bezot signifies four hundred and ten, the letter 'bet' means two, the letter 'zayin' means seven, the letter 'aleph' means one, the letter 'tav' means four hundred. He said to him: 'With this [bezot] [means] that [the Solomonic Temple would exist for a period of exactly four hundred and ten years]; he said to him: "shall Aaron come". Are we to understand, then, from God’s saying to Moses: "with this shall Aaron come" that Aaron lived four hundred and ten years? No, this verse means that the eighteen High Priests who were to minister during the four hundred and ten years would come in such a consistent succession, son following upon son, that their ministries would be considered as one, identical, O Aaron, with yours. In this sense the verse states: "With this [bezot] shall Aaron come". But the verse does not apply to the Second Temple, because in its time the priests used to outbid one another for the office of the High Priest, thus there were eighty High Priests who served in the [Second] Temple. Therefore the first part of the verse "the fear of the Lord prolongs days" (Proverbs 10:27) applies to the priests of the First Temple and [the conclusion of the verse "the years of the wicked shall be shortened"] applies to the priests of the Second Temple. (Ulmer, Rivka, "the Jerusalem Temple in Pesikta Rabbati: from Creation to Apocalyse" in Hebrew Studies (2010), Vol. 51, pp. 223-259, extract of Pesikta Rabbati 47:24)
According to many commentators, this text gives the period during which the two Temples stood, respectively 410 and 420 years. But, in my opinion, the text is mostly concerned by the holiness of the Temple, not its actual physical envelop (the building itself). The 410 years period is derived from a verse referring to the role of Aaron in the Tabernacle during the wandering of the Hebrews in the desert. But the holy service in the First Temple was not always possible: for example, and at least, the High Priest was taken to captivity 10 years before the Temple was physically destroyed. And during the Second Temple, the situation was worse because many High Priests were chosen or influenced by either Hellenistic or Roman politics. Thus we consider, unlike most commentators, that these periods of 410 and 420 years do not apply to the duration when the temples physically stoof as buildings, but to the respective durations of their holy service, in the tradition of Aaron (at least with High Priests who had Aaron as ancestor, which was not the case for most of High Priests who took office from the later years of Herod's reign). This is reflected in the use of the same very verse: With this shall Aaron come into the holy place, which ought to be understood that only Aaron and his descendance should be counted in the years of the Temple, and not the High Priests who were not from Aaron's descent; and only when the Temple was a holy place, and not in the years where a foreign pagan service was done, or when the Shechina had quitted the Temple.
The Pesikta Rabbati was also focused on the reconstruction of the third Temple, in Messianic times. It covered the failed attempt by Emperor Julian to rebuild it in the year 362 CE (see document C35, year 362). Julian was called the 'Apostate' by Christians who vehemently opposed this initiative. The project was finally abandoned due to earthquakes and other disruptions that were quickly interpreted as divine signs against this reconstruction.
The return to the glory of the Temple is obviously central to the Pesikta Rabbati. The year of its final composition is assumed to be 847 because, when the text asked when will God restore the divine service, it is explained that a period of seven hundred and seventy-seven years (reflecting the Jubilee cycle of seven times seven years) had already passed. This is because the count of 777 years was calculated from the time of the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, thus making year 847. Yet nobody knows when the Messiah will come and thus when the third and last Temple will be standing again. The years that followed 847 must have been of great disappointment for those Sages who believed that time was up for Redemption. And this was the main reason of the Pesikta Rabbati who dared ask:
Master of the universe, when will You restore us to the glory of going up [to Jerusalem] during the three pilgrimages and see the countenance of the Shechinah? When will You return us to that glory? See how long has the House of our life [the Temple] been destroyed. (Ulmer, Rivka, "the Jerusalem Temple in Pesikta Rabbati: from Creation to Apocalyse" in Hebrew Studies (2010), Vol. 51, pp. 223-259, extract of Pesikta Rabbati 1:4 editio princeps of Prague, 17th century)
Year 4628 – 868 CE – Jerusalem passes under the rules of Egypt
The Abbasid Caliphate started to lose control with the rise of independent rulers in some parts of its empire. The Tulunid dynasty ruled over Egypt and Syria, including Palestine, from 868 until 905. It was followed in 935 by the Ikhshidid dynasty until 969. During their tenure over the Holy Land, the Tulunid built several coastal forts, separated by a distance of about 10-15 km one from another, and rebuilt the city of Caesaria which had been destroyed by an earthquake.
Then the Fatimid dynasty, which started in 909 in modern-day Tunisia, and which claimed to come from Fatima, Muhammad's daughter, took over North Africa, Egypt and Palestine. They followed Shia Islam, because Fatima was from Muhammad's family, and ruled from Cairo. In 1099, they lost the Land of Israel and Jerusalem to the First Crusade and could not reconquer it. The Fatimid finally collapsed, and its dominion was incorporated back into the Abbasid Caliphate from 1171 under the rule of Salah Al-Din who successfully reconquered the Holy Land from the Crusaders (see corresponding document).
Al-Andalus, in contrast, remained Umayyad during all these troubled times.
The authority of the Exilarch among the Jewish communities of the Muslim dominions followed the fate of the Abbasid authority: when the latter started to decline in profit of new centers of regional authority, some regional Jewish authorities also distanced themselves from the central Exilarch and its authority in Bagdad. By the end of the 10th century, new centers of Jewish authority in the Muslim dominions established themselves in Cordoba (Spain), Fustat (Egypt), Kairouan (North Africa), and Jerusalem. Other centers also existed such as in Persia and in Yemen.
Year 4662 – 902 CE – Saadia against the Karaites
Saadia ben Yosef, born in Fayyum, Egypt, composed at the age of twenty the first Hebrew dictionary and grammar book, the Agron. This helped the many Jews, scholars and non-scholars, with the practice of the Hebrew language. Not long after, Saadia attracted more attention when he defended core Judaism against the Karaite movement which surprisingly continued to exist after some 150 years and was even becoming strong in Egypt. But Saadia's writings convinced many Jews of the wrongness of the Karaite claims and helped turn many of them back to tradition. This however put his life in danger, because of the reaction of Karaite sect who was powerful in Egypt. So, he had to leave Egypt and went to the Land of Israel.
Year 4678 – 918 CE – Saadia compiles the Tafsir
In the Land of Israel, Saadia endeavored a gigantic task between 918 and 942: the first translation of the Torah, with his commentary, in Arabic which had become the primary language spoken by people and Jews since the Muslim invasion some 200 years before. This work is known as the Tafsir.
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Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
Tishri 5786 - October 2025
