The Economy of Israel Chapter 13 The Development of Craft and Industry among the Jews of the Land of Israel in the Roman Era

For work and craft - coefficients and characteristics * During the second century CE, imperial urbanization reached its peak and thus, among other things, the demand for rural craft and industrial products increased, especially among the wealthy classes who served as important customers for the rural produce, which was mainly cheap

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It is very important to emphasize here and place a good comment and explanation for all the chapters that have been discussed so far and that have been brought up during the entire series in one way or another: I am referring to the Sanhedrin that meets for chapters and discusses all kinds of issues: social, political, spiritual-religious and of course for our purposes economic. After all, all the literature of the Sages, beginning with the Mishnah and ending with the Gemara and the Midrash, is nothing more than an outgrowth of those discussions that took place in the Sanhedrin, in which on the one hand different opinions were presented that ended in a single ruling and on the other hand - an abundance of stories, testimonies and allegories, which considering the time span of hundreds of years, it will be difficult to draw clear historical conclusions -Significance.

Furthermore, our ability to compare and verify these literary sources with the sparseness and sparseness of more tangible finds such as archaeological, numismatic and epigraphic exhibits, makes it very difficult, if at all, to reach definitive historical conclusions. Moreover, at the head of the system stood the Presidency of the Land of Israel and was managed by the senior sages, when in truth there is no parallel for this in the ancient civilizations, where things were decided in very limited frameworks of kings, emperors and nobles. It is true that in ancient Greece the people's assembly (the ekklesia) and the council of elders (the girosia) operated and in ancient Rome it was the senate, but these were directly and/or indirectly subordinated to the plans and instructions of the royal house on the one hand and the emperor on the other. Moreover, these usually represented the opinions and worldviews of the aristocratic stratum, while the Sanhedrin also had a representation for the heart murmurs of the public in general.

All is well and good, except that unlike all of the above frameworks, the Sanhedrin was in most cases, even during the presidency of strong and influential figures such as Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, quite limited in the extent of enforcing its regulations and hence the Sanhedrin's instructions and laws were only recommendations, and mainly in relation to Jewish communities In the Hellenistic and Roman polis cities, or in urban settings of Jewish and non-Jewish population. And this is a rather important point in any discussion of the chronological context of the past.

Moreover, the above comment is very important for all the work in the ancient period among the people of Israel and unfortunately the best scholars have fallen at its feet in all modesty since then. Every decision, every law and every Sanhedrin instruction was functional and relevant to a relatively limited public in ancient Israel. The majority of the Jewish public acted out of various motives that the local and environmental reality dictated to them, and as evidenced by the endless testimonies of Sages crying out against the lack of connection between the various communities and the Sanhedrin center.

The following sentence may provoke sharp criticism from me and I will present it anyway: the Jewish leadership in the Land of Israel, namely the presidency and the Sanhedrin, were nothing but a puppet, a marionette, operated directly and indirectly by the Roman authorities. These acted on their own in minor issues such as religion and faith, economy and society at a micro and cultural level, and in the end resembled playing with toys in the face of close parental supervision. However, we can draw quite a bit of information from their discussions regarding the economic and social situation in ancient Israel.

And for our purposes - several points were put together to give the unique dimension to the issue of the development of craft and industry among the Jews of the Land of Israel in the Roman era:
A - A policy directed by the Roman Empire to the encouragement of agriculture and the development of its products, considering a process that reached its peak towards the end of the second century AD. Thus we witness the departure of industry from the center of the empire (west) and its spread in the east. That's when the old economic enterprises arose that displaced the products of the earlier industrialized countries in the center of the empire.
B - A policy aimed at increasing the production forces in the provinces on behalf of the Roman Empire and from the middle of the second century AD, the provinces became a strong economic base compared to the center's dependence on it.
C - In the course of the second century CE, imperial urbanization reached its peak and thus, among other things, the demand for rural craft and industrial products increased, especially among the wealthy classes who served as important customers for the rural produce, which was mainly cheap.
D - In the period in question, roads were occupied and internal-local roads were paved, and imperial roads were paved, which brought together near and far consumers and producers, and in our case the Land of Israel.
E - Domestic and foreign wars in the Roman Empire, including those that required the funding of the defense of the imperial borders and harmed the Roman economic and monetary balance (at the beginning of the third century AD, when Rome had to pay huge sums to its soldiers while trying to absorb a budget deficit of millions of sesterces) such that it strived for a balance between expenses and revenues and tried to overcome Thus, among other things, by providing various benefits to the craftsmen.
And - the decline in the value of the Roman currency, mainly from the beginning of the third century AD, led on the one hand to the imposition of unusual taxes that were paid "in kind" (ie in produce) and on the other hand to forced labor and various services that were imposed on the inhabitants of the empire. As a result, the local craftsmen were forced to increase and improve the productivity of their work.
G - Our period in question is unique in the transformation of the city and its peripheral rural territory into a well-designed and cohesive economic unit. The empire requested to strengthen the status of the urban oligarchy (the "Bulvotin" in Sage sources), when this approach was based on the aspiration to lean on this status, and the latter shifted part of the burden onto the rural population, who were thus required to perfect and optimize the industrial production quotas in order to meet a burden In our time, we are witnessing the enrichment of various parties, among them, of course, those who were connected to the presidency, and especially during the presidency of Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, as evidenced by the sources, and perhaps not without a hint of criticism and cynicism: "Rabbi respects the rich" and more of that kind. These reached out and invested in trade and crafts, alongside agricultural investments.
H - The Galilee, which became the subject of most economic importance after the rebellion of Ben Kusaba (135 AD onwards) because the majority of the attacks of the rebellion were in Judah, was inhabited by many Jews and reached its peak of prosperity during the Syrian Empire (which corresponded to the days of the presidency of Rabbi Judah the President), when one of the indications of this was The emergence and flourishing of synagogues throughout the Galilee, when these required various types of building materials as well as many structures, glass, ceramics, weaving products and more. It can be said in this context, which the many researchers have not noticed, that the minority of the appearance of synagogues in Judah was related to the difficult atmosphere after the Great Revolt and the eschatological messianic feelings that led to the outbreak of the rebellion of Ben Khosva.
XNUMX - In the lead up to Ben Kusaba's rebellion and after it, the Roman military units multiplied in the country and with them also the urban Roman clerkships, as these served as important consumers for agricultural produce from one and industrial production from the other, and therefore, incidentally, production centers of rare and expensive products developed in the country under Roman influence, such as perfumes, glass, metal, etc. .
XNUMX - After the rebellion of Ben Khosva and onward, the foreign element in the villages and cities increased and served as a significant consumer of the products of craft and industry. This phenomenon is explained on the background of the relative minority of war events in Judea and the Galilee, unlike the neighboring geopolitical environment.
XNUMX - There was supervision, encouragement and organization on the part of the Roman authorities over the issues of industry and craft within the imperial estates, and the fact that emerges from the books of the Sages about Jews who purchased these lands after the rebellion was over and at least some of them that were in the possession of "mitzikaim" in absolute ownership is significant. Also significant is the fact that during the presidency of Rabbi Yehuda the President, the "Sikrikon Law" was formed, which concerned the recognition of land confiscation by the authorities and their purchase by the owners and on their behalf.
XNUMX - "Farmhouses" (Roman-style villas and Roman processing methods) that specialized mainly in the production of wine and oil are multiplying in Israel.
XNUMX - Until Ben Kusva's revolt, the customers would hand over the raw materials to artisans for processing and development, while later whole villages, including villas, would be dedicated to professional specializations in the production of one product or another, and a functional division was created between groups of workers producing the same type of product and a differentiation between the artisans and Those who provided them with the raw materials.
Yad - The areas of the imperial estates (praedia caesaris) which were given to Rabbi Yehuda the President on lease, gave the Presidency House enormous economic power, within the framework of which the Presidency House was obliged to supply various products to the Roman Imperial Court.
F - The multiple demands for craft products were encouraged both as a mere reality and as an imperial push to establish professional unions for various crafts.
XNUMX - The close geographical connection between the industries of ceramics, dyeing, weaving, fishing, glass, wine, oil, perfumes and more, caused them to be used as ancillary industries to each other, and within this framework each and every product improved and perfected, and the craft took on an industrial, intensive dimension. As a result, the economy of the Land of Israel anticipated an economic system that would only be published in Rome in the third century.
XNUMX - For the needs of the craft and industry, special varieties of plants were developed such as for dyeing, washing, perfumes, etc., as well as varieties of trees for this purpose and mainly as fuel for the furnaces of the creators of ceramics and glass.
XNUMX - The contemporaneous and Talmudic sources of our time make a clear distinction between the worker "craftsman" and "layman", and from this we can learn about the specializations in the manufacturing industries, along with the mass distribution of various products, and this is how we learn from the Jerusalem Talmud: "Matanintin (we were from the year of...) Darbi Yehuda, Darbi Yehuda said: A craftsman in his craft is obliged" (Yerushalmi Shabbat chapter XNUMX p. XNUMX). "Must" means responsible for his profession or responsible for his work as someone who has been invited to perform some task. In another place we learn about someone who took two hundred zoz (a considerable amount) to learn art, to teach us about an attitude towards the profession and compulsory professional study and perhaps about holding study workshops for certain professions.
XNUMX - In my humble opinion, there was a connection between the "wanderings of the Sanhedrin" and the presidency and the development in the field of crafts and industry such as the center in Osha which was close to the production of textiles and pottery, Beit Shaarim which was close to the production of pottery and glass, Shafaram - for oil and weaving tools, Tiberias - for perfumes, weaving, weaving and glass . After all, the creation of a legal, halachic and religious center and especially a presidential center involves clear economic development.