;

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

435

Baerwald is a member of tlic central

committee of the Alliance Israelite Universelle in
There is hardly a benevolent institution in
Paris.
Frankfort that has not felt his benign intiueucc. The
the needy.

young men who are indebted

making is legion. After an

name

of the

wald

for their

to Baer-

activity
of thirty -one years at the Philanthropin, Baerwald
retired from the office he had tilled with considerable
honor imder general manifestations of admiration
and gratitude.
Baerwald is the author of: "Formelbuch," "Ilistorische Miscellen: Lebensrettung Kaiser Otto II.

den Juden Kalonymus," in Wertheimer's

"Jahrbucli,"1857; and "Zur Gescliichte der Israelitischen Real- und Volksschulc in Frankfurt am Main
von 1804-1822," 1875.
H. I.
s.

durch

BAEZA

City in the province of Jaen, Spain,

which, as early as the Moorish rule, had a considerable Jewish community tliat suffered greatly during the war between Castile and Mohammed al-Nasir
In 1391 there was great slaughter among
in 1312.
the Jews of Baeza; the survivors being spared only
on condition of submitting to baptism. Five years
later, only Maranos were left in the city
and many
of these, in 1473, fell victims to the fury of the populace, as in Cordova and in other cities, while others
were saved through the protection of the count de
Cabra, governor of the city.
:

Bibliography
en EspaFia,

ii.

J.

Amador de

401,

lii.

los Rlos,

Historia de

los

Judios

159.

M. K.

G.

BAG: A comprehensive term in the A. V. for

various Hebrew words. The most adequate Hebrew expression for a large bag is " harit " (compare
Arabic), which can contain a talent of silver, as in II
Kings V. 23. The same word occurs in the list of
woman's apparel and ornaments, given in Isa. iii. 22,
and is usually understood as a satchel (thus R. V.
"crisping pins," A. V.). In Gen. xlii. 25 the general term for a vessel (" keli ") to carry grain is freely
translated "bag," being used interchangeably with
"sack." In I Sam. ix. 7, xxi. 6, the same word
A. V. " vessels " denotes the receptacles for carrying food, which need not necessarily have been bags.
In I Sam. xvii. 40, 49, it stands for the same word
("vessel," A. V., margin) in "the shepherd's bag."
The Hebrew text seems to mean rather "a shepherd's outfit" in a much more general sense (compare Zech, xi. 15, " the instruments of a foolish sliep-

herd ").
There

is, furthermore, the small bag (" kis "), containing the weights of the merchant (Deut. xxv. 13;
Prov. xvi. 11; Micah vi. 11) carried in the girdle;

and perhaps another containing

his

money (Isti.

xlvi.

rendered "purse," Prov. i. 14). Another word

for the small money-bag is "zeror" (Prov. vii. 20;
Hag. i. 6; "bundle," Gen. xlii 35; I Sam. 25, 29;
compare the denominative verb "to put up or to
bind in bags," II Kings xii. 10 [Hebr. 11], see margin).
The word is used in a more general sense,
perhaps, in Job xiv. 17. In Cant. i. 13 the " bundle
of myrrh " seems to mean a little perfume-bag hung
6;

around the neck of a woman.

J.

JR.

BAGDAD
same

Capital of the Turkisli vilayet of the

is situated in lower Mesopotamia

on botli sides of tiie Tigris. The vilayet formerly
extended from Dialjckr to Yemen, with tlie Persian
frontier as its eastern border; but in 1878 tlie vilayet
of Mosul was Mparated from it, ami in lHK4alstj that of
Bassora.
According to Arabic tmdition, the town
of Bagdad was founded in the miiidle of tlie cigliili
century by the Abbassid calif Aim Ja'far Mansur.
But the fact tiiata Babylonian city named Bagdad
is already mentioned in the Talmud (Ket. ~Ij, Zeb.
9a) proves tliat tlie calif Mansur only rebuilt and
enlarged tiie old l^rsian City of Bagdad. That Bagdad was originally a Persian city is also proved by
the name, which is Persian.
Being situated on the
left bank of the Tigris, the town was in ch^se proximity to the two centers of Jewish spiritual life, Sura
and Pumbedita. As the calif was an.xious to see the
population of his new residence increase, lie olTcrcd
no resistance to Jews settling there and forming .i

iiainc,

wiiich

They became so numerous that one of

the bridges over the Kaikhaya canal in the western
suburb was called "Kantarah-al-Yahud " or Jews'
Bridge, also Bridge of the Jews' Fief (G. Le Strange,
community.

"Baghdad under Abbaside

Caliphate," p. 150), and

Y^akut mentions that the Jewish quarter, called

"Daral-Y^'ahud," was in the neighborhood (iv.1015).
The Jews were, of course, occasionally troubled by
revivals of the restrictions to which non-Moslrn.s
were subject. These regulations were first renewed
by Harun al-Rashid (786-809), who ordered that Jews
and Christians should wear distinguishing marks on
their clothing, refrain from riding on horseback, and
suffer other similar humiliations.

Af t-

Under the erward these restrictions were relaxed,

Abbassid but Avere again imposed by Al-Mutawakkil (880), who went so far as to
Califs.
convert the synagogues into mos(iues.
Notwithstanding this, Jews are found holding state
offices under Al-Mutadid (892-902).
As the seat of the califate, Bagdad soon rose to a
It was a home for Jewish
conspicuous height.
learning; and a number of men prominent in the
Aauon
history of that time had their home there.
BEN SamueIj ha-Nasi, of Babylon, the mystic of
the ninth century, came to Italy from this city
(Graetz," History of the Jews," Hebrew transl.. v.,
Appendix, p 46). Its importance at the time of the
Geonim must not be imderrateil, as it is often mentioned at this time under the name of "Babylon"
(On the name rty\V, see
(^33) (see Babylonia).
Steinschneider, " Polem. und Apolog. Lit." p. 293;
idem, "Hebr. Bibl." xiii. 90; "Jewish Quarterly Review," xii. 115). Bagdad belonged rather to Pumbedita than to Sura; but the heads of the Jewish
community in both places came to the cabf s city in
order to swear allegiance to the "resh galuta" or ex" Wissenschaftliche Zeitschnft," v.
398; Griltz, "Gesch. der Juden," v. 479).
The Jews of Bagdad must have been affected by
Ishmael of "Akbara (c 840)
the Karaite schism.
came from a jilace only seven miles from the city;
and Abual-SariSalh ben Mazliah (eleventh century)
preached publicly in the streets against the Rabbin-

ilarch (Geiger,

He was answered in the same way by Jacob

ben Samuel (Graetz, " History of the Jews. " Hebrew

ites.

W. M. M.

Baer, Seli^mau

Bagdad

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Bagrdad

transl.,

of a

iii.

new

Abu Imian al-Za'farani.the fouuder

was born in Bagdad in the nintli cen-

311).

sect,

tury (Graetz, ib. iii. 508).

At the time of the calif Al-Mutadid the Jews of
Bagdad fared well on account of the kind treatment
accorded to them by the vizier 'Ubaid Allah ibn
Sulaiman. The heads of the community were Joseph
ben Phineas and Natira (Graetz, ib. iii. 274). The
gaon Aaron ibn Sargada (943-960) came from Bagdad, and it was here that his relative, Kasher ibn
Abraham, was called upon to settle a dispute in
which he had become Involved (Graetz, ib. iii. 306,
About the year 950 the grammarian Dunash
308).
ben Labrat was in Bagdad; and in this city the
gaons Hai, Kimui bar Kab Ahai, and Yehudai bar
Samuel were officials (nnj23 {<22T ''T''!) before going to Pumbedita. According to Hai (died 1038)
the Bagdad Jews of his day were accustomed to say
tlie 'Abodah of the Daj^ of Atonement both at the

morning and musaf service (Graetz, ib. iii. 166). It

also probable that the exegete and traveler Abraham ibn Ezra visited Bagdad between the years
1138 and 1140 (see Ins commentaiy to Ex. xxv. 18).
is

Ibn Ezra's son Isaac,

who probably came with

him,

and was baptized, wrote in Bagdad (1143) a poem

in honor of another convert, Nathaniel Hibat Allah
("Kokbe Yizliak," 1858, p. 23; Graetz, "History of
the Jews," Hebr. transl., Iv., Appendix, p. 47).
During the twelfth century the Jews of Bagdad
attained again some measure of self-government.
The calif Al-Muktafi appointed a wealtliy man, Samuel ben Hisdai, exilarch in Bagdad.
He gathered
the taxes, paying a certain portion over into the
state treasurj^
and all important apIn the
pointments had to receive his saneTwelfth,
tion.
Both Benjamin of Tudela and
Century. Pethahiah of Regensburg visited Bagdad, and have left interesting information regarding the Jews there. According to
Benjamin, there were at his time in the city 23 synagogues, 1,000 Jewish families, and 10 .yeshibot (rabbinical schools). According to Pethahiali, however,
" At Bagdad there are three synagogues, besides that
built by Daniel on the spot on which the angel
;

stood on the brink of the river, ... as is written

the Book of Daniel." Pethahiah adds: "The
head of the academy has many servants. They flog
any one not immediately executing his orders therefore people fear him.
He is clothed in gold and
colored garments like the king his palace also is
hung with costly tapestries like that of the king."
The most prominent heads of the yesliibot were
David Alro}'^
at that time Ali and his son Samuel.
studied under Ali at the time Hisdai was exilarch
(Wiener, "'Emek ha-Baka," pp.' 27, 167; "Shebet
Yehudah,"ed. Wiener, p. 50; Sambari, inNeubauer,
"Medieval Jewish Chronicles," i. 123; Graetz, "History of the Jews," Hebrew transl., iv. 317). The
reputation of Samuel seems to have spread far and
wide; for we learn that Rabbi Moses of Kiev (2Vp)
came from Russia especially to receive information
from him (Epstein, in "Monatsschrift," xxxix. 511,
512; Graetz, ib. iv. 44).
It was this same Sauuiel
who, in later years, was a determined opponent of
Maimonides, and who made Bagdad for the time a
very hotbed of anti-Maimonist intngue (Graetz, ib.
in

436

A])pendix, p. 34). Maimonides' favorite pupil, Ibn

Aknin, iiad formed u plan of opening a school at
Bagdad for the purpose of propagating his masMaimonides, however, advised liim
ter's teachings.
against such an action, as he wished to spare him
the opposition which he knew Ibn Aknin would encounter (Gratz, "Gesch. der Juden," vi. 362). Daniel, the son of Hisdai, followed his father in office:
but he left no son; and though two of his cousins
in Mosul pretended to hold office, the short-lived
recrudescence of the resh galuta was at an end
(Gratz, "Gesch. der Juden," vi. 460; Hebrew transl.,

Appendix, p. 59). The anonymous author

Hebrew-Arabic Diwan published in "HeHaluz," iii. 150 (MS. Bodleian 2424 and MS. in collection of E. N. Adler), who lived before the middle
of the thirteenth century, traveled as far as Bagdad,
where he met the head of the yesliibah ("Jewish
Quarterly Review," xii. 115, 202).
iv. 459,

of the

The Jews of Bagdad diminished largely in numbers and influence, not only because of the general
movement of the Jews toward Europe and because
of the Crusades, but also through the storming of
Arghun (1284-91), howthe town by the Mongols.
had a Jewish physician

in Bagdad, Sa'ad alconsulted in all financial matbut upon the death of Arghun
ters by the sultan
the position which the Jews had gained through
Sa'ad al-Daulah was quickly lost, and the streets of
the city flowed with Jewish blood (see "Revue
Etudes Juives," xxxvi. 254).
With the fall of the Abbassid power the eastern
Very little is known concerncalifate went to ruin.
ing the Jews of Bagdad during the following period,
and Ave can only find a few notes here and there
in the works of travelers who have passed through
In 1400 the city was besieged by Tamerthe place.
lane, and many Jews who had taken refuge here
from other villages perished (Jost, " Annalen," 1839,
Pedro Teixeira, at the beginning of the
p. 197).
seventeenth century, found in Bagdad 20,000 to
30, 000 houses, of which 200 to 300 were inhabited by
Jews. He says that they lived in a certain part of
the town in which their " kanis " (synagogue) was
situated.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century Ezekiel Bagdagli was the richest banker in
He became involved in politics and went
the city.
to Constantinople, where he exercised great influence
Armenian inas a court banker ("saraf bashi").
trigues, however, occasioned his fall, and he was put
to death between the years 1820 and 1826 at Adalia
in Asia Minor (Franco, "L'Histoire des Israelites de

ever,

Daulah,

who was
;

'Empire Ottoman,"

p. 132).

Benjamin II. was in Bagdad in 1847,

and tells us that the Jews at that time numbered 3,000
families and were living in happ)' circumstances.
They were under a "hakam bashi" appointed by
Their dayyanim or rabbinthe Sublime Porte.
ical chiefs were Jacob ben Josepli, Elijah Obadiah,
and Rabbi Abdola (Abdallah). Every male Hebrew
of the community paid a tax which
In Modern varied between 15 and 120 piasters per
Times.
year.
Raphael Kassin was hakam
baslii, and next to him in rank was the
The yeshibah had then
nasi Joseph Moses Reuben.
sixty pupils, who were in the charge of Abdullah ben

The

traveler

437

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Abraliam Seumecli. Though the Jews inhabited

a certain quarter of tho city, to live in that quarter
was not compulsory upon them. Of the nine synagogues which Benjamin the Second mentions, eight
were situated in one court; while the ninth was a
large building, resting on sixteen columns, called
"Bet ha-Keneset Sheik Isaac Gaon," in a side
room of which building the body of that saint was
interred.

The rude
t

of

Bagdad with India was then

largely

Bagdad

d'Asie," ii. 66, 97, 104) there were in the

year 1890
53,800 Jews in the vilayet of Bagdad, of
whom 52 500 lived in Bagdad, 500 in Hilla, and 800 in
Kerbela.
He gives tlie nmnber of primary schools as
52, of synagogues as 20, and of cemeteries
2.

The

Wf)men and young children were at tiiat time

engaged in manufacturing wiiat is called the
"agabaiii," a garment made of European
stuffs endjroidered with India silk.
Assyrian antiquities

The
is

trade in Babylonian and

largelv in the Jiands of the

Girls' School of the alliance isRAfiLixE Umvkrselle, at Bagdad.

(From a photograph by D. Gazala, Bagdad.)

in the liands of the

Jews,

who

liad

manufactories in

Calcutta, Bombay, Singapore, and Canton.

This is
corroborated by the evidence of the Rev. Henry A.
Stern ("Dawningsof Light," p. 46, London, 1854),

who

"Jews are the governing element of

They have their stored booths in every

says:

the
bazaar, occupy all the principal caravansaries, and entirely control the business of banking and monopolies."
Stern estimated the Jewish population in his
day at 16,000, as against 1,500 Christians and 40,000
Moslems. The Jews were at that time divided into
Persian and Arabian. On March 27, 1845, a " herem "
(ban) was launched against all who had any connection with the missionaries (compare "Narrative of a
Mission of Inquiry to the Jews from the Church of
Scotland," 1848, ii. 373).
In 1860 H. Petermann of
Berlin found 1,300 Jewish families in Bagdad, of
whom 2,300 persons paid the poll-tax. The oldest
Jewi.sh families, he says, came there from Ana on the
place.

Euphrates.

According

to

Cuinet ("La Turquie

Jews of Bagdad

(Delitzsch, "Babvlon," 2d edition,

1901, p. 5).

Of the history of the Jews during the second half

of the nineteenth century very little is known.
In
1876 and 1877 the city was attacked by a plague, and
the Jews suffered terrible hardships in consequence.
For a time they were compelled

camp

to leave the city

in the wilderness ("Ha-Zefirah,"

and

No. 26,
p. 202; iv.. No. 20. p. 157; No.' 24, p. 188: No. 28,
The relation of the Jews to their non-Jewp. 221).
ish brethren seems, for the most jmrt, to have been
amicable. In 1860, however, an attemjit was made
to deprive the Jews of the Tomb of Ezekiel,. situated a short distance outside of the city, and vi.sited
by Jews in the jiionth of Ab. The Anglo-Jewish
Association interposed in the matter; and the tomb
was given back to its proper owners. A similar difticulty arose in the year 1889 with regard toa shrine
to

iii..

"Nabi Yusha"or "Kohen Yusha," situated

about an hour's walk from the city in a small building
called

Bagrdad
Bag-insky,

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Benno

shaded by eight gigantic trees. Tlie liigli priest

Joshua (Zecli. iii. 1) is said to liave been l)uned here;
and, according to Teixeraaiul Benjamin tlie Second,
the Jews are accustomed to make pilgrimages tliitiicr
every month. Tlie shrine is maintained b}^ the contributions of the Jews in Bagdad and in India, and
is used not only as a synagogue, but as a burying

One of the latter liad been

place for the rabbis.
buried there in the year 1889, and becau.se of a dis
pute as to whctlier the property really l)elonged to
the Jews or to the Mohammedans, a persecution of
the former was set ou foot, and the principal Jews
of the city, including the chief rabbi, -were impris
memorial on
oned by direction of the governor.
the subject was addressed to the marquis of Salis
bury Oct. 25, 1889, on behalf of the JewLsh Board (.f
Deputies and the Anglo-Jewish Association, as a le-

which the governor was removed. Other

tombs similarly visited by the Jews of Bagdad arcthat of Ezra, near Gurna (Kurna), between Bagdad
and Bassorah, and that of Daniel, near Hillah. In
1899 the Jews numbered 3.'),00() souls, with about 30
to 35 synagogues known by the name of "Toiah."
Each Torali had a hakam, a '"muallim kabir"
(senior teacher), and a "mu'allim saghir" (junior
teacher).
The Alliance Israelite Univcrselle founded
a school for boys there in 1865, which in 1899 had
254 pupils; in 1895 the same body founded a school
for girls which in 1899 had 132 pupils.
There is also
a Jewish apprentices' school for the education of
Bagdad boys along industrial lines. The study of
English has been encouraged by a foundation made
sult of

Silas Sassoon, a

member

of the Sassoon family

Avhich has its origin in Bagdad, David Sassoon, the
founder of the family, having been born there, 1793.
During the last years of the nineteenth centuiy
a few Hebrew books have been printed in Bagdad,
especially by Solomon Behor Husain; e.cj., jnriD "iSD
bj'

niOlpn (the second part of Solomon Almoli's work),

1892; DVy^ ND"ID of Isaac Farhi the story of Esther
(iriDN nVp), told in Arabic by Joseph al-Shamsani
l^nfj n^nn of Sasshon Mordecai Moses; and ^E^'y)^
D^DJ on the wonders which happened in Palestine,
taken from the DPEJ'I")' ^lyK*. Of earlier works may
be mentioned pnv mjlp 1DD of David Salih Ya'kob,
published by Kahamim Reuben Mordecai ct Co.,
1867, and D''^J?1t' ""^K^ "IDD. printed by Judah Moses
;

Joshua, 1874.
Bibliography:
Benjamin

of

In addition to the authoiities quoted aboveTudela, Itinerary, ed. Asher, Index, 8.r.;

Travels of Rahhi Petathia, ed. A. Benisch, pp. 15, 25, 31,

G. Le Strange. Baqhdad under the Ahbaside Calipliate,
81
p. 1.50, Oxford, 19()0; M. Streck, Die Alte Landschaft Balnilonicn nach den Ai-abischen Geographe^i, Leyden, liHX),
p. 85; .1. J. Benjamin II., Eight Years in Asia and Africa,
pp. lfJ9 et serj., Hanover, 18.59; W. Schur, D"nn mrnc, p. 7,
Vienna, 1883; Morris Colien, Jewish Home Life in Bagdad,
in the Reports of the Anqlo-Jexn^h Associatvm, 188(), p. 74,
;

1881, p. 71, 1882, p. 29, 1880, p. 38; compare also ibid. 1889.
p. 18 (Cohen's articles have been reprinted in AUg. Zeit. des
xliv. 538 etseq.).

Judenthurns,

G.

[Bagdad and

possess a certain number

of antiquities of Jewish interest.
large mosque,
containing a tomb, is consecrated to the memory of
its vicinit}^

a holy marabout,

Abd

According

Jewish tradition

el-Kader, called the Great.

this is none other
than R. Jose ha-Galili. One hour's journey from
the city, there is a mausoleum surrounded by eight
to local

438

almond-trees.
Popular ludief declares this to be the
tomb of the high priest Joshua mentioned in Zechariahiii.; Ilaggai i. 1, etc.
The Jews of Bagdad make
l)ilgrimages to it once a month.
Distant a journey
of two days and a half southward of Bagdad is Ililleh, where the ruins of ancient Babylon are shown,
and near by is a well, called by the natives " Daniel's
Well," into which, according to hjcal tradition, Daniel was thrown.
Near the bank of the Euphrates
is Kabur Kei)il, a village having a tomb which it is
said is that of the j)rophet E/.ekiel.
At the side of the
tomb are two ancient synagogues,. one of which contains a sacred scroll, which some persons claim was
the property of the prophet, and others that of
Anan. the founder of Karaism. This synagogue also
contains a genizah.
The village is said to contain
tombs of Zedekiah and other kings of Judah, and of
the prophet Zephaniah.
Three hours' journej'from
Bagdad, again toward the south, and not far from
the Tigris, the tomb of Ezra the Scribe is shown,
venerated equally by Jews and Arabs. It is covered

with inscriptions

now

illegible.]

M.

(i.

Fii.

BAG:fi-LA VILLE:

Village in the canton Bagedepartment of Aln, France. It was inhabited by Jews in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; and in 1331 they were divided into elder and
younger.
le-Chalet,

Inventaire Sommairedes Archives Departrmentales. Cote d'Or. iii. 6740. 6748, 6749, 6750, 6753. 6755.

Bibliography

G.

I.

BAGI A prominent Karaite family

:

L.

lived in Con-

sttmtinople in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and .seventeenth centuries. The family name, which is variousl}- written Badschi (Fiirst, "Geschichte des
iii. 14), Pegi, Poki (Neubauer, " Aus
der Petersburger Bibliothek," p. 55), is, according to
SteinschneiderC'Hebniische Bibliographic," xx. 94),
derived from the Turkish "Bak" (pronounced
"Bag"). The following members of the family are
those best known
Scholar; lived at Constantinople
Elijah Bag!
in the first half of the seventeenth century.
He is
also called Aphida or Aphda (KHDN).
He was the
author of the following works: (1) " Hilkot Shehitah," ritual laws concerning slaughtering of aafinals;
" Biur 'Aseret 'Ikkarim," a commentary on tlie ten
(2)
articles of belief of the Karaites; (3) "MiktabEIi}-ahu," selections of literary essaj's, letters, and
poems. These three works are mentioned by Simlia
Luzki in his catalogue "Orah Zaddikim."
Isaac Bag! Crimean scholar; lived at the beginning of the seventeenth centuiy. He is mentioned liy Luzki (I.e. 21/;).

Karaertlmms,"

Joseph ben Moses ha-Kohen Bagi

Turkish

scholar; lived at Constantinople at the end of the fifteenth centurj" and at the beginning of the sixteenth.

He was the author of the following works mentioned by Luzki: (1) "Kiryah Ne'emanah " (Faithful City), an ai)ology for Karaism, in refutation of
the assertion of many Rabbinites that the Karaites
are a remainder of the Sadducees; (2)"Iggeret" (Letter), a decision on a marriage question
(3) " Keter
Kehuna" (Crown of Priesthood), six dissertations ou
various subjects; (4) "Shulhan Haberini " (Table of
;