Disclaimer
This entry contains information known to us from a variety of sources but may not include all the information currently available. Please be in touch if you notice any inadvertent mistakes in our presentation or have additional knowledge or sources to share. Thank you.
Archive
Pumbedita Yeshiva at Fallujah, Iraq
One of the most influential academies in Babylon, the Pumbedita Yeshiva educated Jewish students for close to eight hundred years. Judah ben Ezekiel established the academy in Pumbedita (present-day Fallujah) in 259 CE; it closed its doors in 1040, after the dean of the academy was executed by the caliph.1 The teachers at the academy were known for their accumen and casuistry, and it was said that their reasoning "could draw an elephant through the eye of a needle".2
Description
The Academy Judah ben Ezekiel founded the Yeshiva at Pumbedita in 259 CE, after the destruction of an academy at Nehardea.3 Along with a similar school at Sura, the Pumbedita Yeshiva's primary role was to spread the teachings of the Talmud.4 In its early years, the academy was overshadowed by the school at Sura, the center of work on the Babylonian Talmud. Pumbedita only really came into its own in the early fourth century, during the tenures of Rabbah and Rabbi Joseph.5 After that, Sura and Pumbedita were considered to be the only important seats of learning, and their teachers and sages the ultimate authorities in scholarship.6 The Pumbedita Yeshiva endured for almost eight hundred years, eventually closing in 1040.7
Pumbedita A Jewish settlement existed in Pumbedita existed during the era of the Second Temple; Sherira Gaon included the settlement among the communities that were centers of study of the Torah during that time.8 A caravan route to Syria passed close to the town, and an abundant water supply resulted in plentiful crops of dates and flax.9 When the yeshiva opened in Pumbedita in the middle of the third century, the community gradually became a center of learning and religious scholarship. According to a visitor to Babylonia in the 1170s, roughly 3,000 Jews lived in Pumbedita; while the number was apparently exaggerated, it seems that a significant community still remained in the city even after the academy closed.10
The Kallah The kallah, a staple of Babylonian Jewish education, was a twice-yearly meeeting of students who lived far from the academies, allowing them an opportunity to participate in discussions. A tenth-century account of a kallah offers a description of the structure of the academy:
"In the kallah-months, that is, in Elul, at the close of the summer, and in Adar, at the close of the winter, the disciples journey from their various abodes to the meeting, after having prepared in the previous five months the treatise announced at the close of the preceding kallah-month by the head of the academy. In Adar and Elul they present themselves before the head, who examines them upon this treatise. They sit inthe following order of rank: Immediately next to the president is the first row, consisting of ten men; seven of these are reshe kallah; three of them are called 'ḥaberim' [associates]. Each of the seven reshe kallah has under him ten men called 'alluflm' [masters]. The seventy alluflm form the Sanhedrin, and are seated behind the above-mentioned first row, in seven rows, their faces being turned toward the president. Behind them are seated, without special locations, the remaining members of the academy and the assembled disciples.
"The examination proceeds in this wise: They that sit in the first row recite aloud the subject-matter, while the members of the remaining rows listen in silence. When they reach a passage that requires discussion they debate it among themselves, the head silently taking note of the subject of discussion. Then the head himself lectures upon the treatise under consideration, and adds an exposition of those passages that have given rise to discussion. Sometimes he addresses a question to those assembled as to how a certain Halakah is to be explained: this must be answered only by the scholar named by the head. The head adds his own exposition, and when everything has been made clear one of those in the first row arises and delivers an address, intended for the whole assembly, summing up the arguments on the theme they have been considering. . . .
"In the fourth week of the kallah-month the members of the Sanhedrin, as well as the other disciples, are examined individually by the head, to prove their knowledge and capacity. Whoever is shown to have insufficiently prepared himself is reproved by the head, and threatened with the withdrawal of the stipend appropriated for his subsistence. . . . The questions that have been received from various quarters are also discussed at these kallah assemblies for final solution. The head listens to the opinions of those present and formulates the decision, which is immediately written down. At the end of the month these collective answers [responsa] are read aloud to the assembly, and signed by the head".11
Sources
[1] "Academies in Babylonia." JewishEnyclopedia. Accessed July 28, 2014. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12439-pumbedita
[2] Beer, Moshe, and Eliezer Bashan. "Pumbedita." The Jewish Virtual Library. 2008. Accessed July 28, 2014. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0016_0_16192.html
[3] "Academies in Babylonia."
[4] Weiss, Moshe. A Brief History of the Jewish People. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. 77. Accessed July 28, 2014. http://books.google.com/books?id=oJOvpkHg7msC
[5] Ibid, 70.
[6] "Academies in Babylonia."
[7] Beer and Bashan. "Pumbedita."
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] "Academies in Babylonia."