Baer, Selig-man
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
435
BAGDAD
Bagdad
Baerwald is a member of the central committee of the Alliance Israelite Universelle in Paris. There is hardly a benevolent institution in Frankfort that has not felt his benign influence. The
same name, which is situated in lower Mesopotamia on both sides of the Tigris. The vilayet formerly extended from Diabekr to Yemen, with the Persian
name
frontier as its eastern border
wald
of Mosul Bassora.
the. needy.
of the young men who are indebted to Baerfor their making is legion. After an activity of thirty-one years at the Philanthropin, Baerwald retired from the office he had filled with considerable honor under general manifestations of admiration and gratitude. Baerwald is the author of: "Formelbuch," "Historische Miscellen: Lebensrettung Kaiser Otto II. durch den Juden Kalonymus," in Wertheimer's " Jahrbuch,"1857; and "Zur Oeschichte der Israeli tischen Real- und Volksschule in Frankfurt am Main von 1804-1822," 1875. s. H. I. -
BAEZA
City in the province of Jaen, Spain, which, as early as the Moorish rule, had a considerable Jewish community that suffered greatly during the war between Castile and Mohammed al-Nasir In 1391 there was great slaughter among in 1212. 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 Espana, ii.
Amador ae
J. 401,
lil.
los Rios,
Historia ie
los
Judios
159.
M. K.
6.
—
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."
mean
rather "a shepherd's outfit" in a much more general sense (compare Zech. xi. 15, "the instruments of a foolish shep-
The Hebrew text seems
to
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
(Isa. 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 around the neck of a woman. 6;
j.
je.
W. M. M.
Capital of the Turkish vilayet of the
but in 1878 the vilayet
was separated from it,and in 1884 also that of According to Arabic tradition, the town of Bagdad was founded in the middle of the eighth century by the Abbassid calif Abu Ja'far Mansur. But the fact that a Babylonian city named Bagdad is already mentioned in the Talmud (Ket. 7b, Zeb. 9a) proves that the calif Mansur only rebuilt and enlarged the old Persian 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 close proximity to the two centers of Jewish spiritual life, Sura and Pumbedita. As the calif was anxious to see the population of his
new
residence increase, he offered
no resistance to Jews settling there and forming a community. They became so numerous that one of the bridges over the Karkhaya canal in the western suburb was called " Kantarah-al-Yahud " or Jews' Bridge, also Bridge of the Jews' Fief (G. Le Strange, "Baghdad under Abbaside Caliphate," p. 150), and Yakut mentions that the Jewish quarter, called "Daral-Yahud," was in the neighborhood (i v. 1045). The Jews were, of course, occasionally troubled by revivals of the restrictions to which non-Moslems 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
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
suffer other similar humiliations.
Af t-
Under the erward these restrictions were relaxed, Abbassid but were again imposed by Al-Mutawakkil (880), who went so far as to Califs. convert the synagogues into mosques. 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
had their home there. Aakon ben Samuel ha-Nasi, of Babylon, the mystic of the ninth century, came to Italy from this city (Graetz," History of the Jews," Hebrew transl., v., history of that time
Appendix, p
Its
46).
importance at the time of the
Geonim must not be underrated, as it is often men" tioned at this time under the name of " Babylon name (On the see Babylonia). (see n:HJ?, 633) Steinsclmeider, "Polem. und Apolog. Lit." p. 293; idem, "Hebr. Bibl."
view,"
xii. 115).
bedita than to Sura
community
xiii.
90;
"Jewish Quarterly Re-
Bagdad belonged
rather to
Pum-
but the heads of the Jewish
in both places
came
to the calif's city in
order to swear allegiance to the "resh galuta" or exilarch (Geiger, " Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrif t, " v. 398; Griitz, "Gesch. der Juden," v. 479). The Jews of Bagdad must have been affected by Ishmael of 'Akbara (0. 840) the Karaite schism. came from a place only seven miles from the city and Abu al-Sari Salh ben Mazliah (eleventh century) preached publicly in the streets against the Rabbin-
He was answered in the same way by Jacob ben Samuel (Graetz, " History of the Jews, " Hebrew
ites.
