{"id":1222,"date":"2013-09-14T15:52:46","date_gmt":"2013-09-14T19:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/?page_id=1222"},"modified":"2013-09-14T15:52:46","modified_gmt":"2013-09-14T19:52:46","slug":"eldad-ha-dani-beney-mosheh-texts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/research-projects\/trajectories-in-near-eastern-apocalyptic\/eldad-ha-dani-beney-mosheh-texts\/","title":{"rendered":"Eldad ha-Dani beney Mosheh texts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beney Mosheh<\/em> or \u2018people of Moses\u2019 is the appellation used by the elusive Eldad ha-Dani, a traveling messianic agitator of the eighth or ninth century, for the Jewish inhabitants of a distant land located east of Eretz Israel beyond the legendary Sambatyon or \u2018sand\u2019 river.\u00a0 Since the theme of the \u2018people of Moses\u2019 became such a prominent part of the medieval apocalyptic mentalit\u00e9<\/em>, and because the testimonies still remain largely unknown among Anglophone readers, I incorporate here a selection of annotated English translations of the most important texts.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>The most comprehensive treatment of the Eldad ha-Dani texts and traditions remains the 1891 study of Abraham Epstein, \u201cSefer Eldad ha-Dani,\u201d reprinted in A. M. Habermann, ed., Kitvey Avraham Epstein<\/em> (2 vols.; Jerusalem: Mosad ha-Rav Kook, 1949-56), 1:1-211, see also 1:357-90.\u00a0See also D. H. M\u00fcller, \u201cDie Recensionen und Versionen des Eldad Had-Dani \u2026 ver\u00f6ffentlicht und kritisch untersucht,\u201d Denkschriften der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, philosophisch-historische Klasse<\/em> 41 (1892): 1-80; Max Schloessinger, The Ritual of Eldad ha-Dani <\/em>(Leipzig and New York: Rudolf Haupt, 1908); and Joseph Dan, Ha-Sippur ha-\u2018ivri be-yemey ha-beyanim: \u2018Iyyunim be-toldotav<\/em> (Jerusalem: Keter, 1974), 47-61.\u00a0 A recent useful summary of the primary traditions about this figure is provided by David J. Wasserstein, \u201cEldad ha-Dani and Prester John,\u201d in Prester John, the Mongols and the Ten Lost Tribes <\/em>(ed. Charles F. Beckingham and Bernard Hamilton; Aldershot: Variorum, 1996), 213-36.\u00a0 For the precise bibliographical references to the texts excerpted below, see the relevant chapter in my Trajectories in Near Eastern Apocalyptic<\/em> (pp. 200-224).<\/p>\n

1. Chronicles of Yera\u1e25meel<\/em> (ed. Yassif):<\/h3>\n

The levitical people of Moses: they are encamped east of the River Sa(m)batyon.\u00a0 Our Sages say that at the time when Israel went into exile to Babylon, they brought them to the Euphrates river, as Scripture says: \u2018we sat down <there> by the rivers of Babylon, etc.\u2019 (Ps 137:1).\u00a0 Their captors said to them; i.e., to the Levites: \u2018Serve before the idol and sing a song the same way which you sang in the Temple.\u2019\u00a0 They answered them: \u2018You fools!\u00a0 Had we sung (only) one song to celebrate all the miracles which the Holy One, blessed be He, has performed for us, we would not have been exiled from our land.\u00a0 Instead, He would have augmented our honor with yet more honors!\u00a0 And we should sing before an idol?!?\u2019\u00a0 They (the Babylonians) immediately arose and killed great heaps\u00a0of them.\u00a0 Even though they slew a large number of them, (their?) joy was great, for they (the Levites) would not worship an idol.\u00a0 Therefore Scripture says: \u2018our heaps (produced) joy\u2019 (Ps 137:3).<\/p>\n

What did the remaining Levites do?\u00a0 They severed the fingers of their hands so that they could not play the harps, and when they commanded them to play the harps and sing the same way that they did in the Temple, they showed them their severed fingers.\u00a0 At nightfall a cloud covered them: it concealed them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters.\u00a0 The Holy One, blessed be He, shone over them in a column of fire, and He led them throughout the night until daybreak, and He brought them to the shore of the sea.\u00a0 When the sun rose, the cloud lifted, and (also) the column of fire (departed).\u00a0 The Holy One, blessed be He, stretched out the river before them\u2014the Sabbatyinos\u2014and it closed around them so that no one would be able to cross over to them.\u00a0 It surrounds them for a distance of a three month journey by a three month journey on every side, and the back side is surrounded by the sea in every direction.\u00a0 The Holy One, blessed be He, stretched out that river and it closed before them.\u00a0 The depth of that river is three hundred cubits.\u00a0 The river is full of sand and rocks, and it flows (like) an earthquake, its sound (carrying) at night a distance of half a day\u2019s journey.\u00a0 It drags sand and rocks all during the six days on which one is permitted to labor, but on the Sabbath it rests.\u00a0 Then a fire emerges from the western side of the valley, burning from the eve of Sabbath until its end, and no one is able to approach closer than about a mile while the fire is burning (and) shooting out in all directions around the river.<\/p>\n

No unclean animal or bird or reptile can be found among them; they have with them (only) their flocks and cattle.\u00a0 Six springs are there whose waters they have collected into a pool which they constructed, and they irrigate their land from the pool.\u00a0 All types of pure fish flourish in it (the pool), and by the springs and the pool flourish all kinds of pure waterfowl.\u00a0 They enjoy all kinds of fruits: (the fertility of the land is such that) whoever plants one seed harvests a hundredfold.<\/p>\n

They are religiously observant, each of them learned in Torah, Bible, Mishnah, and Aggadah.\u00a0 They are \u2018pure pietists.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0None of them ever swears a false oath.\u00a0 They live to be one hundred and twenty years old, and a son or daughter never dies during the lifespan of their father: they (usually) witness the succession of three or four generations.\u00a0 They construct their own houses and do their own sowing and harvesting because they have no slaves or maidservants.\u00a0 They never lock their doors at night.\u00a0 A very small child might go and tend their cattle for a number of days, and no one will be in the least bit anxious, for there are no thieves or dangerous wild animals or pests, and there are no demons or anything that might cause harm.\u00a0 Because they are holy and persist in the sanctity revealed by our teacher Moses, He (God) has granted all this to them and chosen them.\u00a0 They never interact with other human beings, nor do other humans interact with them, save for only four (Israelite) tribes: (those of) Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher, who live \u2018on the other side of the rivers of Cush\u2019 (Isa 18:1; Zeph 3:10), with the River Sa(m)batyon separating them.\u00a0 They will remain there until the time of the Eschaton, and Scripture says about them: \u2018Say to the captive ones, \u201cDepart!\u201d\u2019 (Isa 49:9); i.e., (to) those in the direction of the River Sa(m)batyon.<\/p>\n

2. Chronicles of Yera\u1e25meel <\/em>(ed. Yassif):<\/h3>\n

The exile of Titus, Vespasian, and Hadrian took place on the eve of the ninth of Av, at the end of Sabbath, and during the final period of a sabbatical year.\u00a0 The Levites remained in their places with their harps in their hands and continued singing their songs.\u00a0 What verse were they reciting?\u00a0 \u2018He turns upon them their wickedness and annihilates them with their evil\u2019 (Ps 94:23).\u00a0 They had not finished saying \u2018He annihilates them\u2019 before the enemy came upon them, killed some of them, and exiled the rest.\u00a0 When Nebuchadnezzar exiled them, it was also on the eve of the ninth of Av, at the end of the Sabbath day, and during the final period of a sabbatical year.\u00a0 The Levites remained in their places, sixty myriads of them, and they moreover were descended from the lineage of our teacher Moses.\u00a0 They were reciting this verse with their harps in their hands, saying: \u2018He turns upon them their wickedness and annihilates them with their evil\u2019 (ibid.).\u00a0 They had not finished saying \u2018He annihilates them\u2019 before the enemy came upon them and exiled them to Babylon.<\/p>\n

When they arrived in Babylon, their enemies and captors said to them: \u2018Sing us one of the songs of Zion!\u2019 (Ps 137:3).\u00a0 They responded: \u2018How can we sing a song of Zion in a foreign land?\u2019\u00a0 Their captors said to them: \u2018You will nevertheless be compelled to sing now!\u2019\u00a0 Immediately they bit off their fingers with their teeth and threw them down before them, saying: \u2018How can we strum in a foreign land with fingers we used to play with in the Temple?!?\u00a0 The Holy One, blessed be He, has said: \u201cI will forget My right hand before I forget you, O Jerusalem!\u201d (Ps 137:5).\u2019<\/p>\n

A cloud came and lifted up all the beney Mosheh<\/em>\u2014they only with their flocks and cattle\u2014and brought them to Havilah in the east and set them down there at night.\u00a0 That night they heard there a heavy rumbling, for He was changing the location of the river.\u00a0 There was no spray from water: (they heard only) the rolling of stones and sand from a place where no great river had previously been.\u00a0 The river rolled stones and sand\u2014not a drop of water\u2014with a loud rumbling.\u00a0 If one were to encounter the great river it would crush him until the end of the Sabbath.\u00a0 This is the River Sa(m)batyon, and they named it Sabbatyinos.\u00a0 There were places at that river which were no wider than sixty cubits, and they would stand on one bank of the river and speak from there.\u00a0 On the Sabbath it would stop (flowing), but on the eve of the Sabbath a cloud would descend over it and it (the valley) would be filled with fog, and no one was able to approach nearer to it, neither we to them or they to us.<\/p>\n

No harmful animal or unclean beast or vermin or insects live among them: (they live alone) with just their flocks and cattle.\u00a0 They plow and they sow.\u00a0 These once made inquiry of those (on the opposite side of the river), and they recounted to them (the news) about the destruction of the Second Temple.<\/p>\n

We do not know what there is beyond the people of Moses, but Naphtali, Gad, and Asher came to Dan after the destruction of the Second Temple.\u00a0 (Initially) they were with Issachar in the mountains of Tehom, but they would quarrel with them, for they would call them \u2018descendants of the maidservants.\u2019\u00a0 Fearing hostilities would break out between them, they journeyed until they reached Dan, and (now) four tribes remain in one place.<\/p>\n

3. Bereshit Rabbati <\/em>(ed. Albeck):<\/h3>\n

Some say that the levitical people of Moses\u00a0are encamped east of the River Sa(m)batyon.\u00a0 Our Sages say that at the time when Israel went into exile to Babylon, they brought them to the Euphrates river, as Scripture says: \u2018we sat down <there> by the rivers of Babylon, etc.\u2019 (Ps 137:1).\u00a0 The nations of the world said to the Levites: \u2018Serve before the idol and sing a song the same way which you sang in the Temple.\u2019\u00a0 The Levites answered them: \u2018You fools!\u00a0 Had we sung (only) one song to celebrate all the miracles which the Holy One, blessed be He, has performed for us, we would not have been exiled from our land.\u00a0 Instead, He would have augmented our honor with yet more honors and our greatness with yet more greatness!\u00a0 And we should sing before an idol?!?\u2019\u00a0 They (the Babylonians) immediately arose against them and killed great heaps\u00a0of them.\u00a0 Even though they slew a large number of them, (their?) joy was great, for they (the Levites) would not worship an idol.\u00a0 Therefore Scripture says: \u2018our heaps (produced) joy\u2019 (Ps 137:3).<\/p>\n

What did the remaining Levites do?\u00a0 They severed their fingers so that they could not play the harps, and when they commanded them to sing, they displayed their severed fingers and said to them: \u2018How can we sing?\u00a0 Our fingers are severed!\u2019\u00a0 When nightfall came, a cloud descended and covered them, their wives, their daughters, and their sons.\u00a0 The Holy One, blessed be He, shone for them in a column of fire, and He led them throughout the night until daybreak, and He left them on the shore of the sea.\u00a0 When the sun rose, the cloud lifted, and (also) the column of fire (departed).\u00a0 The Holy One, blessed be He, stretched out a river before them named the Sa(m)batyon, and it closed around them so that no one would be able to cross over to them.\u00a0 It surrounds them for a distance of a three month journey by a three month journey on every side, and (since) the back side was not surrounded in every direction, the Holy One, blessed be He, stretched out that river and it closed before them.\u00a0 The depth of that river is two hundred cubits.\u00a0 The river is full of sand and rocks, and it drags sand and rocks and makes a loud rumbling at night (whose noise carries) a distance of half a day\u2019s journey.\u00a0 It drags sand and rocks all during the six days on which one is permitted to labor, but on the Sabbath it rests.\u00a0 Then a fire emerges from the side of the valley, and the fire burns from the eve of Sabbath until its end, and no one is able to approach it; that is, the valley any closer than about a mile.\u00a0 The fire burns away all the vegetation surrounding the valley until the ground is swept clean.\u00a0 These are the levitical people of Moses, and they remain on the east side of the valley.<\/p>\n

No unclean domestic beast or wild animal or any type of pest can be found among them; they have with them (only) their flocks and cattle.\u00a0 They have moreover six springs whose waters they have collected into a pool, and they irrigate their land from them.\u00a0 In that pool all types of fish flourish, and by the springs and the pool fly all kinds of pure waterfowl.\u00a0 They enjoy all kinds of fruits: they sow and they harvest, and (the fertility of the land is such that) whoever plants one seed harvests a hundredfold.<\/p>\n

They are religiously observant, each of them learned in Torah, Mishnah, and Aggadah.\u00a0 They are pious sages and saints.\u00a0 None of them ever swears a false oath.\u00a0 They live to be one hundred and twenty years old, and a son or daughter never dies during the lifespan of their father: they (usually) witness the succession of three or four generations.\u00a0 They construct their own houses and do their own plowing and sowing because they have no slaves or maidservants.\u00a0 They never lock their doors at night.\u00a0 A very small child might go and tend their cattle for a number of days, and no one will be anxious, for there are no thieves or dangerous wild animals or pests, and there are no demons or anything that might cause harm.\u00a0 Because they are holy and still persist in the sanctity revealed by our teacher Moses, He (God) has granted all this to them and chosen them.\u00a0 They never interact with any other human beings, nor do any other humans interact with them, save for only four (Israelite) tribes: (those of) Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher, who live \u2018on the other side of the rivers of Cush\u2019 (Isa 18:1; Zeph 3:10).<\/p>\n

How did they (i.e., the aforementioned four tribes) arrive there?\u00a0 Our Sages say that when Jeroboam b. Nebat arose and made two golden calves and made Israel err by seceding from the kingdom of the House of David, he assembled the Ten Tribes of Israel and ordered them: \u2018Go forth and make war against Rehoboam and the inhabitants of Jerusalem!\u2019\u00a0 They said to him: \u2018Why should we fight with our kinsmen, the citizens of our lord David, the king of Israel and Judah?\u2019\u00a0 The elders of Israel came up to him and said to him: \u2018In all Israel there is not among us warriors and soldiers as mighty and skilled as the tribe of Dan.\u00a0 Command them to make war on Judah!\u2019\u00a0 Immediately Jeroboam said to the Danites: \u2018Go forth and fight against Judah!\u2019\u00a0 They answered him: \u2018We swear by the life of our ancestor Dan that we will not make war against our kinsman and that we will not shed blood without cause!\u2019\u00a0 Then the Danites took up their swords, bows, arrows, and spears, and resigned themselves to doing battle with Jeroboam until the Lord delivered them from having to shed the blood of their kinsmen.\u00a0 They made proclamation throughout the entire tribe of Dan, saying: \u2018(Let us) flee, O Danites, and leave the Land of Israel!\u00a0 We will go to Egypt!\u2019\u00a0 They were planning to destroy and kill all the inhabitants of the land of Egypt, (but) their leaders said to them: \u2018Is this where we should go?\u00a0 Is it not already written in the Torah: \u201cyou will not see them (i.e., the Egyptians) again forever\u201d (Exod 14:13)?\u2019\u00a0 They continued to discuss (the possibility of invading) Egypt or Ammon, but when they saw that it was written in the Torah that the Holy One, blessed be He, would prevent Israel from taking possession of their territory(s), [they withdrew until] the Holy One, blessed be He, could give them good direction.<\/p>\n

The Danites went up opposite the River Pishon and journeyed on camels, setting up encampments, until they arrived among the rivers of Cush.\u00a0 They found the land to be rich, desirable, and broad, consisting of fields, vineyards, gardens, and parks.\u00a0 The inhabitants of the land did not prevent the Danites from dwelling (there) with them, and they formed an alliance with them.\u00a0 The Cushites paid them tribute, and they dwelt with them for many years until they had grown very populous and numerous.<\/p>\n

After the death of Sennacherib, three tribes from Israel made the journey to them; namely, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.\u00a0 They journeyed, setting up encampments, until they arrived next to the territory of the Danites.\u00a0 Each tribe spends three months a year killing the Cushites \u2026.\u00a0 Members of the tribe of Simeon are with the Danites, [and the Levites are] with these three tribes camped in Havilah \u2018where there is gold\u2019 (Gen 2:11).\u00a0 They possess gold, for it is as common as stones, and very many flocks, herds, camels, and horses.\u00a0 They sow and reap; they dwell in tents made of hair; and they migrate and encamp from border to border over an area two hundred days journey by two hundred days journey in size.\u00a0 The place where they pitch their tents is not a place where one should enter, and they only set up camp in fields and vineyards.\u00a0 They adjudicate in accordance with the four types of capital punishment.\u00a0 Scripture says about them: \u2018on the other side of the rivers of Cush are My worshippers, the progeny of My dispersed ones: they will bring My offering\u2019 (Zeph 3:10).<\/p>\n

The tribe of Issachar dwell among the mountains of Tehom.\u00a0 These are located in the lower part of the land of the Medes and Persians.\u00a0 They are fulfilling (the Scriptural verse) \u2018the book of the Torah will not depart [from your mouths]\u2019 (Josh 1:8); consequently, no yoke of sovereignty achieves dominance over them except for the yoke of the Torah.\u00a0 They enjoy security and tranquility, \u2018untroubled by any adversary or misfortune\u2019 (1 Kgs 5:18).\u00a0 They encamp (over an area the size of) a ten-day journey in circumference.\u00a0 They possess numerous herds, camels, and slaves.\u00a0 However, they do not raise horses, nor do they own any weapons except for the knife which they use for slaughtering (animals).\u00a0 They are religiously observant and never experience robbery or theft.\u00a0 Should they chance to find some money in the road, even their slaves will not extend their hands to take it.\u00a0 (By contrast), their neighbors are wicked: they worship fire (and) contract marriages with their mothers and their sisters.\u00a0 They do not engage in the tilling of the soil or in labor on vineyards, but purchase everything (produced agriculturally) with money.\u00a0 They have a judge and a prince who adjudicate with the four types of capital punishment.\u00a0 They speak Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic.<\/p>\n

The descendants of Zebulon encamp in the hill-country of Paran, pitching tents of hair.\u00a0 They come from Armenia, and extend up to the Euphrates river.\u00a0 The tribe of Reuben is opposite them on the back-side of the mountains of Paran.\u00a0 They enjoy peace and friendship between themselves, fighting their wars in common and cutting the roads which they make \u2026 and together they divide all their spoil.\u00a0 They acquire a camel\u2019s load of a kind of food for two pieces of silver.\u00a0 They speak Arabic and possess the Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, and Haggadah.\u00a0 Every Sabbath they expound (the Scripture portions) in Hebrew and translate (them) into the Arabic language.\u00a0 The tribe of Simeon and the half-tribe of Manasseh are in the land of the Chaldeans, a six-month journey\u2019s distance from the Temple.\u00a0 They are too numerous to be counted.\u00a0 They receive tribute from twenty-five kingdoms, and some of the Ishmaelites even pay them a tax.\u00a0 The tribe of Ephraim and the other half of the tribe of Manasseh are there opposite the city of Mecca.\u00a0 They are ill-tempered and dull-minded, skilled horsemen.\u00a0 They show mercy to no one and will cut out their heart.\u00a0 They possess no wealth except for the spoil taken from their enemies.\u00a0 They are professional warriors: one of them (can prevail) over a thousand (adversaries).\u00a0 However, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin are dispersed among all lands.\u00a0 Woe to the \u2018other son\u2019 (Gen 30:24): \u2018another\u2019\u00a0for exile!\u00a0 Another opinion: he will do the work of others.<\/p>\n

4. BHM <\/em>2:103-105 (ed. Jellinek):<\/h3>\n

And also (there) are members of the \u2018people of Moses\u2019 our teacher (upon whom be peace!) making their encampment next to the river which is named Sa(m)batyon.\u00a0 It is so called because they fled from Eretz Israel and the river surrounds them.\u00a0 The gentile nations call that river Sabbation.\u00a0 The river surrounds them for a distance of a three month journey on every side.\u00a0 They dwell in houses, courtyards, and towers, and there is no impure thing among them.\u00a0 There are no impure birds or animals, no dogs or wolves, no dangerous wild animals, no flies, no fleas, no lice, no swarms, no scorpions, no snakes, no foxes, no lions, and no panthers\u2014only flocks and cattle.\u00a0 Their flocks give birth twice a year, and they sow and reap.\u00a0 They possess all the kinds of fruit there are in the world and all kinds of legumes, cucumbers, melons, onions, and garlic.<\/p>\n

They are religiously observant, being learned in Torah, Mishnah, and Talmud.\u00a0 When they teach, they say: \u2018(Thus did) Joshua b. Nun say, who received it orally from God.\u2019\u00a0 They never mention the name of a (rabbinic) Sage, for they do not know them.\u00a0 They do not know how to speak except in Hebrew.\u00a0 Their halakhot<\/em> pertaining to libation wine, ritual slaughter, and declaring animals ritually unfit for food are stricter than those of the scribes, because Moses our teacher (upon whom be peace!) made them more stringent than the rulings of the scribes.\u00a0 They maintain purity, they are pious, they are righteous, and they never swear oaths using the Name (of God).\u00a0 And if they hear that someone has sworn by the Name, they say to him: \u2018Wretch!\u00a0 Why did you swear with the Ineffable Name?\u00a0 How can you bear the Name in your mouth?\u00a0 Is it a morsel of bread that you can eat it, or water that you can drink it?\u00a0 You will realize no benefit from mentioning the Name in vain.\u00a0 Come and see, for it is on account of swearing oaths that children die while they are still young!\u2019\u00a0 They are religiously observant and pious, and they live long lives, almost one hundred and twenty years, and no child dies during the lifespan of their father.\u00a0 They behold (their) children and grandchildren up to the third and fourth generations.<\/p>\n

They sow and they harvest.\u00a0 A small child accompanies their herds on a journey lasting a number of days, but they do not worry about anything: there are no dangerous animals, no demons, or anything extant that might cause harm.\u00a0 It is on account of their holiness, purity, righteousness, and piety that the Holy One, blessed be He, has granted them all these good things, for they still persist in maintaining the sanctity associated with Moses our teacher (upon whom be peace!).\u00a0 They dwell alone: they never see (other) human beings, nor do (other) human beings ever see them, save for the four tribes who dwell adjacent to them on the other side of the River Cush (sic<\/em>).\u00a0 The River Sa(m)batyon effects a division between them.\u00a0 They are the ones of whom the verse speaks: \u2018Say to the prisoners, \u201cDepart,\u201d and to those in darkness, \u201cBecome visible!\u201d\u2019 (Isa 49:9).\u00a0 They have vast quantities of gold.\u00a0 They sow flax and raise the worm that yields scarlet coloring and manufacture beautiful garments from them.\u00a0 They are very soft, more than twice as soft as those produced by Egypt.\u00a0 Of those four tribes Scripture states: \u2018O land of buzzing wings, which lies beyond the rivers of Cush\u2019 (Isa 18:1).<\/p>\n

The width of the River Sa(m)batyon is two hundred and twenty cubits, \u2018about a bowshot\u2019s distance\u2019 (Gen 21:16).\u00a0 The river is full of sand and rocks.\u00a0 It all flows for a great distance, and the noise of the rocks is similar to a great rumbling like that of the waves of the sea or like a storm wind, and at night its noise is audible a distance of a half-day\u2019s journey.\u00a0 They possess a number of springs from which they collect the waters into one pool and from which they irrigate their land.\u00a0 In that pool swarm all kinds of fish, and all kinds of pure waterfowl flourish around it.\u00a0 The river and the sand and the rocks flow all the days of the week, but they cease (flowing) on the Sabbath.\u00a0 It remains stationary from Sabbath eve until the end of the Sabbath.\u00a0 On the other side of the river is a fire (whose nature is) that no one is able to approach the river closer than about a mile.\u00a0 The fire burns everything surrounding the river which the ground has produced.\u00a0 Those four tribes come with their herds to the bank of the river in order to shear their flocks, for the ground is flat and clear: no thorns or briars or vegetation or grass take root there.\u00a0 When the people of Moses our teacher (upon whom be peace!) see them, they assemble and stand on the (opposite) bank of the river.\u00a0 They call out to them, saying: \u2018By the life of the One Who is!\u00a0 O Danites, show us <your> horses, camels, and asses!\u2019\u00a0 They discuss how long this one is, how long its neck is, how small its ear appears, (and) how much it has straightened.\u00a0 They are righteous and pious, and they dwell securely, peacefully, and complacently.<\/p>\n

5. BHM <\/em>3:9-11 (ed. Jellinek):<\/h3>\n

And also (there) is the tribe of Moses our teacher (upon whom be peace!), the righteous one (and) servant of the Lord.\u00a0 The tribe\u2019s name is called by us \u2018Yan\u016bs\u2019, for it fled\u00a0from idolatry and adhered to reverence for the Lord.\u00a0 The sea surrounds them for a distance of a three month journey by a three month journey.\u00a0 They live in magnificent houses and in splendid structures and in towers which they erected for themselves at the time they celebrated (victory?) over the elephant (?).\u00a0 No impure thing troubles them: there are no impure birds, wild beasts, or cattle, and there are no flies, fleas, lice, foxes, scorpions, snakes, or dogs, for all these are the result of idolatrous worship practiced in a land.\u00a0 (No animals live there) except for flocks, herds, and game fowl.\u00a0 Their flocks give birth twice a year, and they also plant their seed twice a year, sowing and harvesting.\u00a0 They have gardens, parks, olive groves, pomegranates, figs, and all kinds of legumes, melons, vegetables, onions, garlic, barley, and wheat.\u00a0 Each crop yields a hundred-fold.<\/p>\n

They are religiously observant, learned in Mishnah, Talmud, and Aggadah.\u00a0 Their Talmud is entirely in Hebrew, and this is what they say: \u2018Our Sages learned it this way orally from Joshua b. Nun, who received it orally from our ancestor Moses, who received it orally from God.\u2019\u00a0 They have no knowledge of the Sages who were active during the Second Temple period, nor do they engage in argument with them.\u00a0 The only language which they can speak is Hebrew.<\/p>\n

All of them observe (the rules of) purity, engaging in ritual immersion.\u00a0 They never swear oaths.\u00a0 Should someone ever trivially invoke the Name, they cry out against that person saying, \u2018Because of (your) sinful oath, your children may prematurely die!\u2019\u00a0 They have prolonged life-spans, living to an age of one hundred or one hundred and twenty, and no child dies during the lifetime of its parent; instead their life-spans overlap those of the third or fourth succeeding generations.\u00a0 They do their planting and harvesting [themselves], for they have no bondsmen or maidservants.\u00a0 All of them are equal (in social status).\u00a0 They never lock their houses at night: (such a habit) would cause them shame.\u00a0 A small child might accompany the herd for a distance of a ten-day journey, and there is no anxiety about thieves or demons.\u00a0 All of them are Levites; no priests or laity are present among them.\u00a0 They still maintain the sanctity associated with Moses our Teacher, the servant of the Lord.<\/p>\n

They never see other human beings, nor do other humans see them except for those four tribes who inhabit \u2018the opposite side of the rivers of Cush\u2019 (Isa 18:1; Zeph 3:10).\u00a0 There is a spot where they can see and converse with one another by each shouting (to the other), with the River Sa(m)batyon separating them.\u00a0 They (the people of Moses) will say, \u2018Something like this happened to us in battle,\u2019 and they (the four tribes) will communicate to all Israel what happened to them.\u00a0 And when they wish to relate an important message or matter, they possess among them a certain type of pigeon: they write down their messages and tie them to the wings or the feet of the pigeons, and the pigeons then fly over the River Sa(m)batyon and come to their (i.e., the four tribes\u2019) rulers and princes.<\/p>\n

They moreover possess a vast quantity of precious stones, silver, and gold.\u00a0 They sow flax and raise the worm that yields scarlet coloring and manufacture countless beautiful garments.\u00a0 They are more than five times as numerous as those produced by Egypt.<\/p>\n

The width of that spot by the river is two hundred cubits, \u2018about a bowshot\u2019s distance\u2019\u00a0 (Gen 21:16).\u00a0 The river is full of stones, both large and small, and their noise thunders like a massive earthquake, like a storm wind during the day, and at night its noise is audible a distance of a day\u2019s journey.\u00a0 They have among them six springs, and they collect all of them into a single pool from which they irrigate their land.\u00a0 Pure fish swarm in it.\u00a0 The river flows and the rocks and the sand thunder during the six days when one labors, but on the seventh day it ceases and rests until the end of the Sabbath.\u00a0 On the opposite side of the river at the side of those three (sic<\/em>!) tribes, there is a fire burning in the place, and no one is able to approach the side of the land of the princep<\/em>[e<\/em>]\u00a0closer than about the distance of a mile.<\/p>\n

6. BHM <\/em>5:18-20 (ed. Jellinek):<\/h3>\n

And also (there) is the tribe of Moses our teacher, the righteous one (and) servant of the Lord.\u00a0 Its name is called \u2018tribe that flees\u2019, for it \u2018fled\u2019\u00a0from idolatry and adhered to reverence for the Lord.\u00a0 The river surrounds them for a distance of a three month journey by a three month journey on every side.\u00a0 They live in magnificent houses and in splendid structures and in towers which they erected for themselves.\u00a0 No impure thing is among them: there are no impure fowl, animals, or cattle.\u00a0 There are no dangerous wild animals, flies, foxes, fleas, lice, serpents, scorpions, dogs, or any thing that might cause harm.\u00a0 They have only their flocks and herds, and their flocks bear young twice a year.\u00a0 They sow and reap, and they have gardens and parks and all kinds of fruits and all kinds of legumes, melons, vegetables, onions, garlic, wheat, and barley, and each (seed) yields a hundred-fold.<\/p>\n

They are religiously observant, learned in Torah, Mishnah, Talmud, and Aggadah.\u00a0 Their Talmud is in Hebrew, and this is how they teach: \u2018Thus did our ancestors learn it, and thus did our sages learn it orally from Joshua b. Nun, (who learned it) orally from Moses, (who received it) orally from God.\u2019\u00a0 They know nothing about the tannaim<\/em> or amoraim<\/em> (whose floruit was) during the period of the Second Temple because they (i.e., their teachings) did not reach them and they have no knowledge of them.\u00a0 They only know how to speak Hebrew.\u00a0 They are stringent regarding the use of libation wine, and whereas the Rabbis were strict in the halakhot <\/em>pertaining to slaughter and the fitness of animals for sacrifice in accordance with the opinions of the scribes, Moses our Teacher was more stringent than the opinions of the scribes.\u00a0 They never swear oaths using the Name, and they become vocally angry with anyone who so swears in their presence.\u00a0 They upbraid them and say to them: \u2018O wretches!\u00a0 How can you bear to mention the Name with your mouth?\u00a0 (Think of) all that has been on your mouth!\u00a0 Is it bread that you can eat it, or water that you can drink it?\u00a0 Do you not know that your children will die while they are young for the sin of swearing?\u2019\u00a0 Thus do they warn everyone to serve the Lord with awe and reverence and complete integrity.\u00a0 The \u2018people of Moses, servant of the Lord\u2019 have prolonged life-spans, living for one hundred or one hundred and twenty years.\u00a0 No daughter or son dies during the lifetime of their parent, and they attain (an age) reaching to the third or fourth generation (after them), personally seeing their children, grandchildren, and their descendants.<\/p>\n

They (themselves) do their plowing and harvesting because they have no slaves or maidservants.\u00a0 They are store-owners (?).\u00a0 While their houses have locks, they never shut them at night because there are no thieves or criminals among them, nothing that would cause damage.\u00a0 There is also this: a small child will go with the cattle a distance of many days, and no one worries at all about brigands or demons or dangerous animals or anything else in the world that is harmful, for they maintain sanctity and purity.\u00a0 They are Levites who exert themselves for the Torah and the commandments, and they still maintain the level of sanctity associated with Moses our Teacher.\u00a0 For this reason the Holy One, blessed be He, has given them all this.\u00a0 They moreover never see other human beings, nor do other humans see them except for those four tribes who inhabit \u2018the opposite side of the rivers of Cush\u2019 (Isa 18:1; Zeph 3:10).\u00a0 They can see each other and they can converse together, with the River Sa(m)batyon between them.\u00a0 Scripture says about them: \u2018[Say] to the prisoners, Depart!\u2019 (Isa 49:9).<\/p>\n

They possess moreover large quantities of silver and gold.\u00a0 They sow flax and raise the worm that yields scarlet coloring and manufacture beautiful garments and cloaks.\u00a0 Their population is twice or four times that (of Israel) at the time of the Exodus, so many the number cannot be determined.\u00a0 The width of the River Sa(m)batyon is two hundred cubits, \u2018about a bowshot\u2019s distance\u2019 (Gen 21:16).\u00a0 The river is full of sand and rocks, but no water, and the noise of those rocks rumbles like the loud sound of thunder, or like (the sound of) the waves of the sea, or like that of a windstorm, and its noise is audible at night up to a distance of half a day\u2019s journey.\u00a0 They possess springs there, and they collect all of them into a single pool which they use to irrigate their land.\u00a0 Fish swarm in that pool, and all kinds of pure waterfowl fly around it on every side.\u00a0 That river rumbles due to the rocks and the sand during the six days when one labors, but on the Sabbath it ceases and rests, and immediately a fire ascends on the banks of the river from Sabbath eve until the end of the Sabbath, and the fire blazes with flame, and no one is able to approach the river or either shore of the river closer than half a mile.\u00a0 The fire consumes everything that grows on the banks of the river until the ground is bare.\u00a0 Those four tribes\u2014Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher\u2014stand with their cattle next to the bank of the river in order to shear their flocks, for the ground is smooth, level, and bare with no thorns or vegetation growing.\u00a0 When the tribe of Moses sees (them), they come together and stand on the (opposite) bank of the river.\u00a0 They shout (to them) and say: \u2018Tribes of Jeshurun, our brethren!\u00a0 Show us camels, dogs, and asses!\u2019\u00a0 They ask: \u2018How long is this camel?\u00a0 How long is its neck?\u00a0 How short is its tail?\u2019\u00a0 They exchange greetings with one another.<\/p>\n

7. Cambridge Genizah fragment:<\/h3>\n

\u2026 concerning them and concerning the Levites which were among them.\u00a0 They said to them: \u2018Sing us one of the songs of Zion!\u2019 (Ps 137:3).\u00a0 The Levites arose and focused their thoughts upon God, and then their group collectively sought to sever their fingers with their teeth, for they said: \u2018We once used our fingers to play song(s) in the Temple!\u00a0 How can we use them for music in an impure land?!\u2019\u00a0 They assembled themselves and sought to move, and the Holy One, blessed be He, performed a miracle for them and assisted their departure.\u00a0 While they journeyed, a cloud surrounded them so that they, their children, and their herds effected a departure to the ancient land of Havilah.\u00a0 They arrived at that place where the cloud stopped during the night\u2014thus their ancestors recounted to them.\u00a0 That night there was a mighty thundering and quaking, and when it was morning they saw a great and resplendent light, for there were among them righteous ones, pious ones, perfect ones, fearers of God, and His servants.\u00a0 At that time a river which rolled stones and sand surrounded them, having burst forth where no river had previously been located.\u00a0 It rolled many rocks and (a quantity of) sand that defied measurement, making a loud noise which was audible to a great distance.\u00a0 On the Sabbath it would be filled with smoke, and the areas around it would be encompassed by fog and darkness.\u00a0 No one was able to approach it, nor could anyone discern the road or its (i.e., the river\u2019s) location until the end of the Sabbath when it would return (to flowing) as it previously did.\u00a0 They call it the River Sanbatyon, but in their language they call it \u2018Sabbatyinos.\u2019\u00a0 By this river are places where the width (of it) is sixty cubits.<\/p>\n

These are tribes who have no knowledge about the destruction of the Second Temple, for they went into exile at the time of the first destruction, but Naphtali, Gad, and Asher were exiled <before> the destruction of the First Temple.\u00a0 They gathered together adjacent to the Danites, and they were with \u2026.<\/p>\n

The Sages of Eretz Israel and the Sages of Babylonia have one Mishnah expressed in one language, with no (textual) deficiencies or additions except for the matter of Talmud.\u00a0 There are differences between them, for these will have a reason for this (practice or interpretation), but those will substitute another reason.\u00a0 So too for this (group) scriptural verses appear with one intonation, and for that (group) they appear with a different intonation: even when the consonantal spelling has been fixed, they retain between them differences in pronunciation.\u00a0 The Babylonians have arranged, added, opened, closed, punctuated, supplied Masorah, and demarcated the verses.\u00a0 This is all the more so with regard to Mishnah, which is an opaque subject \u2018and very deep\u2014who can find it out?\u2019 (Qoh 7:24), where one does not find differences between the (two schools of Sages), but is not so with regard to Talmud, for the Babylonians learn it in Aramaic, but those of Eretz Israel use their own rendition.\u00a0 And what you have said is that the (lost) tribes have their own Talmud, for the Sages who went into exile to Cush with the tribes arranged for them a Talmud in Hebrew, and their Mishnah does not record the name of a Sage, for before \u2026.<\/p>\n

8. Cambridge Genizah fragment:<\/h3>\n

And he (i.e., Eldad) recounted the excellence of the tribes, they being Dan, Asher, and Naphtali, who dwell on \u2018the opposite side of the rivers of Cush\u2019 (Isa 18:1; Zeph 3:10) in the ancient land of Havilah, where they inhabit a territory measuring forty days journey square in size.\u00a0 He testified that his custom was to go out (sailing) upon the Great Sea, to procure garments and iron, and then to return to his home.\u00a0 But this time the Holy One, blessed be He, decided to reveal His power to him.\u00a0 A great windstorm blew up over them at midnight and cast them in the land of their enemies, where they were captured by Cushites who were cannibals.\u00a0 One who was with them (i.e., the shipwrecked merchants) from the tribe of Naphtali was fat, and they ate him.\u00a0 The Holy One, blessed be He, worked a miracle for me: a raiding party attacked them and took me along with them as spoil.\u00a0 I remained with them for four years, being passed (as a slave) from the possession of one to another in the land of Cush until they brought me near the border of Ishmael, and Isr[ael] ransomed me.\u00a0 I came among the tribe of Issachar, who lived among the mountains of Tehom in the land of the Medes and Persians.<\/p>\n

He said: They are pious, learned sages, and fearers of Heaven.\u00a0 I went up from there to the mountains of Paran, wherein is <Mecca> about which the Ishmaelites get excited.\u00a0 There I saw the descendants of Zebulun, who are tent-dwellers, and behind them the tribe of Reuben, and behind them the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim.<\/p>\n

He moreover said: These tribes possess among them Torah and abundant wisdom, for they were exiled from Sa[maria] before the destruction of the First Temple, and they retain their wisdom \u2026 narrative.\u00a0 And when we heard this message \u2026 Elijah to instruct us (about) this matter, and by the taking of this R. Eldad ha-Dani to inform us.\u00a0 May He gather our dispersed ones soon, amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beney Mosheh or \u2018people of Moses\u2019 is the appellation used by the elusive Eldad ha-Dani, a traveling messianic agitator of the eighth or ninth century, for the Jewish inhabitants of a distant land located east of Eretz Israel beyond the legendary Sambatyon or \u2018sand\u2019 river.\u00a0 Since the theme of the \u2018people of Moses\u2019 became such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":454,"featured_media":0,"parent":136,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1222","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P3kl1F-jI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1223,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1222\/revisions\/1223"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}