by Rabbi Jeremy Rosen
Many years ago, in Israel, I and my family, stayed at a rather drab Government Hotel in Herzliya called The Tadmor! It has now been taken over by a commercial company and spruced up. But the name remains and what a significant historical one it is.
Palmyra or Tadmor is an ancient city, now in the center of modern Syria, that dates back thousands of years to the Neolithic era. Two thousand years ago it was an independent city state. By the third century of the common era, Palmyra had become a prosperous regional center and acted as a link between the Persian Empire and the Roman Empire and was a crucial link in the Silk Road to China.
Under French rule in 1932, the inhabitants were moved into the new village of Tadmor, and the ancient site became available for excavations. It was known for its magnificent temples, baths, communal buildings, and tombs that eventually would make it a magnet for Archaeologists.
During the recent Syrian civil war, ISIS destroyed most of the ancient city. As the Taliban did to many ancient sites in Afghanistan that offended their jihadi sensibilities. Palmyra was recaptured and an international team began work on restoration that continues to this day.
Around 260 CE according to Roman records, King Odaenathus defeated the Persian Sassanian emperorShapur 1st (or in Hebrew Shavur). Which came after the fall of the Roman emperor Valerian into Persian captivity in 259 CE. Several sources describe Odaenathus’s victory over Shapur because the emperor was overconfident after Valerian’s defeat and was drunk. Soon afterwards Odaenathus was assassinated and succeeded by his widow Queen Zenobia ( regent for his son). Zenobia was an enlightened, charismatic woman. She initiated the golden age of Palmyra and established a short-lived empire that extended from Asia to Egypt.
Zenobia in turn rebelled against Rome. In 273, Roman emperor Aurelian destroyed the city, which was later restored by Diocletian, and it continued under Byzantine and Muslim invaders, becoming part of the Ottoman Empire.
The Talmud has a lot to say about Palmyra. Odaenathus was known as Papa Ben Netzer which might indicate that he was Jewish. Some sources call him a king and others call him a robber (Ketubot 51b). When he led the city in battle against the Persian cities, amongst those he destroyed was Nehardea, one of the most important Jewish cities in Mesopotamia. It was the home of the great Talmudic academy Nehardea, which had existed since the days of Yehoachin the Judean king of the first exile by the Babylonians in 598 BCE. Almost a thousand years.
Some suggest that Zenobia was Jewish too. A Jewish ruler was not unique in those days, several small Jewish kingdoms rose and fell. Most notably Mar Zutra II, a Jewish Exilarch who led a revolt against the Sasanian rulers in 495 CE and achieved seven years of political independence in Mahoza but ended up being executed.
The point of all this is to look at some quotes from the Talmud about Zenobia and the Palmyrans in general. The Jerusalem Talmud recounts encounters between the rabbis, Ben Netzer, and Zenobia against a background of assassinations and attempts to save hostages and victims from the conquest of Nehardea that seriously affected the Jewish community. And Zenobia engages them in a discussion about the nature of God. In this narrative, she is regarded favorably, and she urges them to rely on the Almighty.
Perhaps as with the story of The Khazars, her engagement in debate might have led to her conversion. But it certainly shows that the rulers of Palmyra at that moment were not antagonistic towards the Jews.
However, the Jerusalem Talmud (Taanit 4:5) says
“Fortunate is the person who witnesses the fall of Palmyra for she participated both in the destruction of the first temple and in the destruction of the second temple. In the case of the first temple, she provided 80,000 bowmen and in the destruction of the second temple she provided 8000 bowmen.”
But here’s another source in the Babylonian Talmud ( Yevamot 16b)
“Why do we not accept converts from Palmyra? Because the Babylonians and Romans were only interested in gold and silver whereas the Palmyrians ravaged the women in Zion. “
The Palmyrians were never forgiven for their treatment of the daughters of Jerusalem and seeing their downfall was something that we should rejoice over. Interestingly, there’s no such statement about the Babylonians who destroyed the first temple or about the Romans who destroyed the second temple.
The Palmyrians were set aside as being particularly horrible because they used rape as a means of warfare. Not during Zenobia’s day, but anyway we are talking about Temple hundreds of tears earlier. The Talmud is saying that a nation that uses rape as a tool of war can never be redeemed or trusted.
I don’t pay too much attention to so-called predictions from one era to the next, or that they knew then what we know now historically. Whether the source is the Talmud or Nostradamus. But I find this idea relevant at this moment, as we are still traumatized by the brutality of Hamas. We should have nothing to do with any movement, tribe, or people that resort to rape much less trust them.
February 2024
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Jeremy Rosen was born in Manchester, England, the eldest son of Rabbi Kopul Rosen and Bella Rosen. Rosen's thinking was strongly influenced by his father, who rejected fundamentalist and obscurantist approaches in favour of being open to the best the secular world has to offer while remaining committed to religious life. He was first educated at Carmel College, the school his father had founded based on this philosophical orientation. At his father's direction, Rosen also studied at Be'er Yaakov Yeshiva in Israel (1957–1958 and 1960). He then went on to Merkaz Harav Kook (1961), and Mir Yeshiva (1965–1968) in Jerusalem, where he received semicha from Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz in addition to Rabbi Dovid Povarsky of Ponevezh and Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Shapiro of Yeshivat Be'er Ya'akov. In between Rosen attended Cambridge University (1962–1965), graduating with a degree in Moral Sciences.