Strange Encounter in Ninth-Century Tunisia August 9, 2014
Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval , trackback
In the late ninth century A.D. a curious encounter took place in Islamic Tunisia, an encounter between outsiders. On the one hand, there was the Jewish community of Kairouan, living now under Arab rule, but with its roots stretching back to Roman times and perhaps beyond. On the other, was a foreigner named Eldad Ben Mahli Ha-Dani. Eldad’s name was Jewish (albeit an unusual Jewish name) and he spoke Hebrew, albeit a strange dialect of the language, he also followed Jewish laws, though with some curious differences to the ‘orthodox’ Jews of Tunisia. Eldad caused confusion in Tunisia, but also wonder. He told stories of his Jewish homeland in a far away country and the nomadic Jewish tribes there. He himself claimed to be of the tribe of Dan. He also talked about a paradise on earth where a tribe of Jewish Levites lived surrounded by a river that rested every Sabbath day, a tribe that had no rabbis. There has long been a suspicions that Eldad exaggerated… There were also stories about having a fat friend eaten by cannibals (sun-worshippers) and, possibly, a trip to China: though much depends there on a crux in the text.
Where, on earth, did Eldad come from? Scholars have suggested, broadly speaking, four possibilities: (i) Eldad never actually existed and was created as part of an ideological inter-communal war between Jewish communities; (ii) he was a fantasist and invented everything he said (something that a number of medieval Jewish scholars claimed); (iii) he was from Sub-Saharan Africa and a Jewish community there; or (iv) he was from one of the far eastern Jewish communities, hence the trip to China. (i) has been roundly rejected. There may be an element of (ii) but most scholars suggest that Eldad really did come from a lost Jewish community somewhere (however much their laws and customs were exaggerated by he or his audience). As to (ii) or (iii) the text does speak of Kush (Ethiopia) and the majority opinion is now that Eldad belonged to one of the Jewish tribes that somehow got themselves beyond the Mountains of the Moons, in antiquity. These tribes are remembered today collectively as the Falashas (or exiles) and most have long since decamped from an unhappy existence in Ethiopia, becoming Israeli citizens thanks to the law or return being extended to them in 1977: and thanks to Operation Moses and Operation Solomon. It seems the best explanation. Now enjoy the frisson: in the 880s a black African from the Ethiopian Highlands and a Tunisian Rabbi meet and speak Hebrew together. Oh to have been there. Other theories on Eldad: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
14 Aug 2014: Chris S. make a point that is new to me, though looking online several commentators have gone after it. Could Eldad be the Jewish Prester John or could he even be the inspiration behind the ‘real’ (ahem) Prester John.
