Scrolls raise questions as to Afghan Jewish history

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Scrolls raise questions as to Afghan Jewish history

By GIL SHEFLER

01/02/2012 21:49

Scholar hopes findings might shed light on medieval merchants.

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“There’s no doubt that they are authentic. They correspond with similar findings from the past.”

The expert in ancient Persian languages said the scrolls included an ancient copy of the book of Jeremiah; hitherto unknown scholarly works by the medieval sage Rabbi Sa’adia Gaon; personal poems of loss and mourning and even bookkeeping records that could teach us about everyday life in the community.

“The person who wrote it, a Jewish merchant, keeps track of who owed him how much,” said Shaked.

He added that the texts show the community may have been Karaite, a sect of Judaism which strictly adheres to the bible rather than the Talmud and other later Jewish texts, and name several early Karaite leaders.

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He said there may be many more findings in that part of the world that would provide valuable information about ancient Jewish communities.

Prof. Robert Eisenman, a noted scholar of the Dead Sea Scrolls, hopes such findings might shed light on the Rhadanites, a group of early medieval Jewish merchants who set up an expansive trade network that connected Europe and Asia. He said the Jewish community that penned the documents found in Afghanistan might be a “left over” of the Rhadanites, which had mostly disappeared by the 11th century. Moreover, he said such discoveries might teach us about the historical origins of peoples in Central Asia.

“In Afghanistan and northern Pakistan they all say they are the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel and I never knew what they were talking about,” said Eisenman, who visited the country in the ’60s. “If this was part of a Jewish permanent settlement then to my mind it reinforces the mythology that the 10 Lost Tribes were in that part of the world.”

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