AI economics: From the persuasive to the pragmatic - an introduction

If Canaanite was once a borrowed expression for a merchant, then in the first centuries AD even the Jews were swallowed up in the general economic and professional affiliation of Canaanite=pragmatic (and not without reason in the Greek language). And don't be mistaken, the word "merchandise" does not mean dealing in mere trade but in all that is involved in the fields of the economy, including agriculture, crafts and industry and of course trade.

Persuasive to Pragmatic - Introduction

During the Biblical period, a quite logical identity was known between a Canaanite and a merchant, and in the Age of Condemnation, the days of the Second Temple until the fourth-fifth century AD, the Midrash interprets the equation as follows: "Because you are coming to the land of Canaan." What is Canaan? A land of pragmatism, where there is merchandise" (Bamadbar Rabbah 14:XNUMX). And in other words - if Canaanite was once a borrowed phrase and lent to a merchant, then in the current era even the Jews are swallowed up in the general economic and professional affiliation of Canaanite=pragmatic (and not without reason in the Greek language). And don't be mistaken, the word "merchandise" does not mean dealing in mere trade but in all that is involved in the fields of the economy, including agriculture, crafts and industry and of course trade.

In any case, the midrash not only changes the ancient, biblical equation, but also clarifies the change as a result of the control of the Middle Eastern region by the Hellenes/Hellenists and later the Romans, based on the Greek linguistic box - "pragmatia" and its Hebrew translation - goods and commerce, and as a whole the aforementioned term A whole economic world is hidden.

But we will admit the truth, such a change, in terms of an apparent transformation, already appears in the Bible, in the book of Proverbs (10:23 and on) in the somewhat moving description of "a woman of valor who will find her, and far from the pearls of her mine (her fortune, her property, her investments)... she was like a merchant ship , from a distance bring bread... She made a sheet and will sell it. And a girdle she gave to the Canaanites..." But May? First - the text is indeed biblical and rooted in the Bible, but it is similar, as is the case with the book of Proverbs and others, which it turns out were written in the post-biblical period. Somewhere into the Hellenistic era; Second - the revered "lady" is the one who sells to the "Canaanite" and not the other way around, and at least exchanges a product with him in a barter transaction; Thirdly - she is the one who controls and decides on her home, her estate and her properties and allows her husband to "be idle" - "in his Sabbath with the elders of the land" (ibid., XNUMX), perhaps for a trial and perhaps for elderly parliament meetings as we do nowadays in coffee shops, or to study Torah as the ultra-Orthodox public does nowadays, which is certainly News information in the ancient world.
And in our case - the period of the current study was enriched by several trade factors as we will immediately notice and we will expand on them in the following chapters:

First - the issue of urbanization that intensified as a result of the establishment of cities that were blessed with many and varied privileged voyages, mainly from the second half of the second century CE. In connection with this, there was a reliance on the wealthy classes in the cities, with Sage sources full of testimonies about various entities that are getting rich, such as the "Bulvatin". This enrichment followed commercial involvement and the circulation of many funds. In the second century AD, a positive balance was recorded between the city and the village, when there was a fear of large and powerful cities without a stable and established economic/agricultural hinterland. Even the citizenship law of the Roman emperor Caracalla in 212 AD was aimed at the residents of the urban areas and was not intended to encourage the founding of new cities.
The goals of urbanization in general had several flavors: an economic flavor, when every city became a craft and industrial center as well as a local commercial, and sometimes even an international one. On the other hand, the city was used together with the rural territory next to it as a single, almost self-sufficient, farm. Bodies responsible for fiscal tasks were established in the cities. Another reason was military-security mainly in Safar areas.

In cities with Jewish rule, such as Tiberias and Tzipori, the customary division was based between the wealthy class and the strata below it, with the economic reliance resting on the shoulders of the property owners in accordance with the financial politics of the Roman Empire and in general on basic social practices.

Along with a minority of Jewish settlements, non-Jewish cities such as Caesarea, Beit Shean, Emmaus, Samaria, Beit Gobrin, Lod, and more arose from the Hellenistic period, and Jews who lived in these urban settings received significant concessions that were intended to establish a positive position towards the Roman government in matters such as law, administration and Enterprises of local-social government. All of this, along with the encouragement of the sages of the Sanhedrin for the spread of Jewish settlement in these cities, and this with the help of many regulations, laws and permits laid out in the Mishnah and Talmud literature. And so Jews found themselves integrating into the Greco-Roman polis cities in economic activity - craft, industrial and commercial.

Second - the period in question saw a record boom in the occupation of roads, in the construction of roads and important changes in the network of routes, which contained a poignant importance to the issue of urbanization in general and commercial activities in particular and all their consequences. The image of the "limes" (limes) - the fortified road network and its many sides along and across the provincial borders (in Israel, for example, on the curve between Gaza and the Dead Sea) was also fixed on the same "wall". This served as a tested defensive suit for the internal and international trade routes, say for example between Petra and Basra, and Jews were even found taking an active part in the settlement along the aforementioned lines.

It is well known in this context the evident conflict between the more liberal wing in the Sanhedrin and the belligerent and rebellious one in connection with the leveraging of the road network at the initiative of Rome, such as: "...Rabbi Yehuda opened and said (note): How bad are the actions of this nation (Rome)?! Buy (build, set up) markets, buy bridges, buy baths. Rabbi Yossi was silent. Rashbi answered and said: Everything you buy, you will not buy except for your own needs: buy markets for prostitutes to sit in, baths to refine themselves in, bridges to collect tolls from them" (Talmud Babili Shabbat, XNUMX p. XNUMX). The rebellious rabbi presents a negligible, somewhat extreme aspect of the Roman economic enterprises, but he could not ignore the very enterprises themselves, such that they had a positive effect on the economic activity of the Jewish community at that time.

Third - the Land of Israel and its city served as an important stop in the passage of goods between the Far East and the West of the Roman Empire. During the period in question, the network of international roads expanded and branched out, and alongside them were spread Jewish communities, whose number and population grew from the end of the second century AD onward, and in these urban communities members of the Sanhedrin worked alongside famous merchants such as Rabbi Haya, Rabbi Shimon Barbi and others. We also witnessed the establishment of trade agencies on behalf of the center in Israel, such as in Rome, and even the large influx of Babylonian Jews may have testified to the scope of international trade and the Jews who took an active and dominant part in it.

Fourth - in the literature of the Sages, there is increasing evidence regarding the movement of ships and trading caravans of Jews, as well as professional associations of Jewish sailors and merchants.
Fifth - there was a reduction in import products and on the other hand there was an increase in export products with the development of craft and industry.

Sixth - the archaeological-epigraphical and literary evidence (Sage literature) about the settlement of Jews living and trading in the various port and coastal cities such as: Sidon, Tyre, Acre, Shekmona (Haifa) Dar, Caesarea, Achziv, Jaffa, Ashkelon, Gaza and Ila (Eilat), They teach about the extent of the economic involvement and the commercial activity of the Jews in these areas. All those testimonies dating back to the days of the Roman emperor Pompey (from 63/67 BC), are understood against the background of involvement in local and international trade life. And the Sages, as we have already seen and will see further on, were acutely aware of the economic problems that prevailed in the country, tried, as much as possible, to find, to "scratch", various permits that would facilitate the aforementioned settlements.

Seventh - and regarding the markets: ports are mountains of markets, and such as the Chazal permits, especially with regard to the issues of negotiations with the foreign populations in the cities of the polis in Israel, as well as the so many testimonies in the Chazal literature regarding negotiations in general, they have nothing but to point on contacts and commercial operations on an unprecedented scale.

Eighth - the changes in the ratio between the metals, the flow of provincial coins to the Roman East, the beginning of the era of rampant inflation from the beginning of the third century AD... all these caused the more and more active integration of the desk clerk, the money changer, and the change of his role as a true professional as a responsible craftsman. The issue of finances involved, of course, the problem of interest, when Sages were repeatedly harnessed to find and draft permits in order to lead to the management of a normal commercial life, and this in the face of the decisive statement: "To a foreigner you shall associate (usury) and to your brother (the Jew) you shall not associate."

In any case, the guiding hand of the Roman Empire can be found in every economic field, such as strengthening the position of the wealthy, encouraging the transportation of luxury goods, organizing the guarding and ensuring the routes through which the sky, salts, gems and metals were transported. Rome was also known as the one who made it easier for Jewish merchants to transfer rare and expensive products from the East to the West, especially during the period of severe tensions between Rome and the Babylonian-Persian kingdom.

A very important factor in the field of commerce was urbanization. Yosef ben Mattathieu explicitly informs us that the emperor Vespasian did not build cities in the Land of Israel and this was for political and even economic reasons in terms of creating a chronological level of peace and tranquility and creating an important balance between the village and the city and the emperor's business - to expand the imperial countryside in order to generate handsome economic profits, and hence the process of urbanization In the Land of Israel it begins in the Hadrian period (from about 138 CE onwards), when this emperor, unlike his predecessors, tended to turn villages into cities and grant them many privileges. This was the great hour of urban settlements that were affected by the Great Rebellion such as Jaffa, Antipatris, Lod, Caesarea and more over their agricultural fields.

This tendency and trend characterized the following emperors such as Antoninus Pius, (who formulated a line of densification of the city and its rural territory) Marcus Aurelius, (as the one who transferred the responsibility of collecting taxes to the rich of the city), Commodus (in whose days cities flourished mainly in Syria, Africa and the Danube ropes), Septimius Severus (that due to political and economic conditions such as the increase of production forces, the balance of expenses and income, etc., we find a new tendency in the imperial policy of equilibrium and balance between the city and the countryside. Thus, simultaneously with the strengthening of the countryside, new cities arose on the one hand and colonial titles were awarded to several settlements. In order to find a solution to cover the various expenses, the position of those responsible for collecting the taxes was strengthened. However, there have been cases where the Roman Syrian Empire became aware that a danger to the provincial economy was expected when strong and large cities without a solid and established economic backbone were built, therefore the emperors were careful not to exaggerate the establishment of cities, and when certain settlements received urban status This is after the establishment of the surrounding rural settlements, such as Lod and Beit Govrin. As an example, we will cite Gersh-Grasa, whose northern gate was built in the days of Hadrian, however, even with regard to other public buildings there, construction was stopped and a special economic-financial commissioner was sent to examine what was happening in the city and take care To regulate the funds poured into the city and the multiple investments within it. In other words, the Romans were able to understand the high economic importance inherent in this international trading city, and therefore decided to plan its expenses and income properly. It should be noted that in connection with this the class of the affluent "Bulvatin" in the city developed, who dabbled in commerce), Caracalla (as someone who continued his father's policy regarding the affluent classes in the city - and it is difficult not to mention in this context the numerous testimonies in the sage literature about President Rabbi Yehuda who "respected the rich". During the reign of the condemned emperor, in 212 CE, the well-known edict was published, under which Roman citizenship was granted to the imperial world, and especially to the inhabitants of the cities. In this era, the urban direction developed greatly, which on the one hand increased and strengthened the commercial sphere, and on the other hand subjugated a large number of residents under the fiscal obligations and municipal services in general) and Alexander Severus, who closes the list of Syrian emperors, also continued the burden of taxes on the wealthy classes and subjecting them to their municipal position. He was the first emperor to develop and implement the same overall responsibility of the municipal government institutions for the payment of the taxes of the urban residents who avoided paying them.

As for the goals of the urbanization process as a declared Roman policy and its consequences, it can be said as follows: First - each city constituted a commercial center for the surrounding rural territory, in terms of a central market; Second - the city served as a central body for the collection of imperial taxes and other services for the needs of the empire and its army. Indeed, by the way, Sage sources pointed to the enrichment of those parties and entities, especially from the second half of the XNUMXnd century onwards; Thirdly - the city served as a center for industry and crafts such as Beit Govrin and Lod; Fourth - the city was used to realize strategic goals such as Emmaus and even Lod.

There is reason to believe that behind the issue of the permits of the Sages, and in particular of Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi and his Beit Dino, an interesting fact is hidden, namely - in those areas to which the aforementioned permits referred, such as Acre, Caesarea, Ashkelon, Beit Shean, Susita, and more, there was a shift of Jews from the villages to the cities, partly for not giving imperial privileges to those cities, and in light of the same policy of imperial-sovereign balance between the city and the countryside and the policy of encouraging the productive forces in agriculture, the presidency ensured the existence of a stable and solid agricultural hinterland. The above list of cities is joined by many testimonies of sages that confirm the privileges granted to the urban areas and their result - Jewish settlement in those cities and with the encouragement of the presidency and the Sanhedrin with interesting regulations and permit orders.

As part of this existence, Rabbi Elazar Barbi Shimon was appointed by the Roman authorities as a catcher of criminals, probably on the basis of the cooperation between the Jewish leadership and the Roman authorities, when this position is explained in terms of concern for the safety of life and property and the establishment of policing frameworks to maintain public order in the cities. The same Rabbi Elazar Barbi Shimon was also appointed to the "Engarbatis", we were in charge of the affairs of the angria (forced labor for the benefit of the Roman authorities), also within the framework of this appointment the office bearer had the right to be involved in the ongoing security in the area, and perhaps even the term "emissary" in this context involves was in the fulfillment of the same municipal tasks.

In this context, it should be noted that the attitude of the Jewish leadership - the presidency and the Sanhedrin - towards the Roman rule changed definitely for the better, after the reservation and even the opposition to the Roman presence in the Land of Israel from the aftermath of the Great Revolt until the end of the Revolt of Ben Kusaba (135-73 AD). The change took place after the difficult results of the revolts and the understanding and assumption that there is no point in future revolts on the one hand and there is a lot of sense in accepting the Roman presence on the other hand, one that ultimately improved the situation of Judaism at that time in many and varied respects.

The attitude of the Jewish leadership and, following it, the attitude of the Jewish population towards the Roman authorities touched on several important and central issues such as: First - towards the Roman law, such as drafting orders and documents in "Gentile courts" as the Sages say, and even making sure, for example, to write a Roman date on Gitin documents and more.

This was a reconciliation of the Jewish leadership with the reality on the ground. On the one hand, the Jewish leadership acted in light of "Dina Damlakuta Dina" and on the other hand, there is no force to impose a decree on the public if the majority of the public does not comply with it.
Second - in the field of Roman administration. In contrast to Rabbi Tarpon who helped to bury (hide) Jews who fled from the government and its laws/regulations, Rabbi Elazar served as Rabbi Shimon as well as Rabbi Ishmael as Rabbi Yossi in the service of arresting listicles on behalf of the Roman authorities without any disapproving criticism from the Jewish leadership table and there were such as Rabbi Haya who distinguished between the term "dictated to the kingdom" As a completely legal act, or on the other hand a recognition of the legality of the tax and customs and an explicit demand not to evade paying taxes and not to "evade the customs".

Thirdly - in the area of ​​the government establishments in the city, and in general, the destruction in question is depicted after the Ben Khosva rebellion in the construction of various factories and buildings, as well as the occupation of roads, the construction of bridges, and more, especially those that are intended to encourage commercial life and employment in general. This phenomenon inevitably led to a dispute between the members of the Sanhedrin, which began with the judgment of whether "the actions of this nation (Rome) are good that "they (the Romans) (built and renovated) markets, built bridges, built baths" (Talmud Babili, Shabbat Lg p. XNUMX) , when Rabbi Yehuda in the majority opinion blessed it, while the Zealot Rabbi rejected it for radical, messianic, anti-Roman reasons, with the logic leaning in the positive direction. This source, like many others, testifies to the Jewish tendency to settle in cities.