I am from Tudela and there are still remnants of the jewish past of the city. The public high school is named after Benjamin of Tudela. There is a square named after Judá Leví, and a statue in his honor in the middle. The old jewish quarter is still known as "Judería" colloquially.
It's just mind boggling to consider what all he would have encountered on such an epic journey in that time. That he could even have pulled it off, to have survived the trip at all is beyond comprehension. Wow. Great video. Very well done, my friend.
"History has a way of making exceptions." You say, as Mongol flashes on the screen for a split-second at 12:45, foreshadowing the fate of Baghdad. I see what you did there. Fascinating stuff as always. The detail I found particularly interesting was that about the Yevanic language. Are you planning to mention the so-called Knaanic or Judeo-Slavic in one of the future episodes?
I shall go back and rewatch every episode once I am through and leave a like. For now I am too transfixed on the ongoing adventures of a people, whose survival until today is akin to a miracle, considering all the hardship it had to endure,. Thank you so much!
@Αλέξης Δημόπουλος You know they're not mutually exclusive right? I've been reading the Alexiad by Anna Komnena and she literally calls herself Roman, her fellow citizens as Romans and the empire "The empire of the Romans". Claim all you want, but your ancestors agree with me.
Thanks for the great video! As always! Just a small observation: during the Middle Ages, the sound of "J" in Spanish was the same as in English, so "Judá Leví" was pronounced approx. "Yudá Leví"
9:10 "bolstered by an influx of Jewish refugees fleeing the Almohed conquest of Tunisia". Recently I heard a history lecture by an Israeli Professor of Jewish history who discussed the formation of the North African Jewish communities. He mentioned that a few hundred years later (around the 16th century or so), some Jews left Italy towards Algeria and/or Tunisia. Is it possible that some of these 16th century emmigrants were from the same family lines who fled to Italy hundreds of years earlier?
The reason that we don't know when Benjamin de Tudela didn't die is because he didn't... die. Ba.ba.baam. seriously though this videos are great, I'm descended Jewish on my great grandmothers side down to my mother and I'm trying to get back into touch with my roots, these videos are awesome in feeding my love for the community
Always a nice surprise to see another episode. I have spent some time in Saudi Arabia from the look of it Benjamin skirted the north of the country, the area known by the name of Najd, if he referred to the peninsula as a whole this could have included Yemen but if he only meant the very dry north the area was very sparsely populated for most of history. Looking forward to the next one.
10:45 Where do you get these city maps from? They're amazing! I wanna print out that map of Constantinople and put it on my student dorm wall as a poster.
I draw them myself. And the Constantinople one was never actually finished- I *only* drew exactly what needed to appear on camera due to an absence of high-detail guides to the ancient city.
@@SamAronow Thanks for the excellent content. Is it true Benjamin of Tudela was communicating to global Jewish communities in Hebrew?? If yes, it would seem our language wasn't purely liturgical.
Sam, keep up the great work. You need to put on your donation page a possibility of a one time donation as well. The more options, the more likely people will donate!
Patreon doesn't really offer a one-time donation option. That's why my PayPal link is also in the description. Merchandise is also an area I'm eager to do more of, though I'm too swamped with work to deal with it right now.
Fascinating discussion once again of an under taught period of Jewish history. My one question would be about the history of interpreting "Jewish Chosen-ness" in the Judah HaLevi section. It seems to me that your modern biases that take offense to such a notion are slipping in a bit here. I am not an expert on this subject, but certainly for 1000 years before HaLevi, the notion of "Chosen-ness" was interpreted by Jews in a Monotheistic context. Could make for an interesting video.
Monotheistic, yes, but not in a supremacist context. I had to thread the needle on that because of the problematic vocabulary. His views were definitely in the minority on that; I'm not even sure they were that popular among the [SPOILER ALERT] anti-Maimonidean faction.
@@SamAronow Love your content, but it's difficult to follow you here. Isn't all orthodox or fundamental religion "supremacist" in that the axioms of belief are held above any other possible philosophy? I think the only logical ways out of that are (1) to allow for a degree of agnosticism/atheism which I am unaware that any sect of Judaism supports, or (2) to implicitly support the rarely spoken of philosophy of omnism. I had thought that the idea of "chosenness" or an elevated status (i.e. "we are right, you are wrong, we will be redeemed, you won't be unless you obey the seven Noahide Laws") was (and still is) generally enshrined within traditional rabbinical Judaism, which wouldn't most of these Jewish communities been associated with before the 19th century? I am genuinely interested in hearing new viewpoints.
I agree with Benjamin Romm that you may have created a little confusion in your delivery and I think it'd be worthwhile to pick up on the issue in a "fun facts and corrections" video later where you could go over the development of monotheism in Judaism. The fundamental basis of a monotheistic election arguably starts as early as Deuteronomistic redaction, but is certainly well established at least by the completion of the Nevi'im, right? However, like Romm, I'm not a scholar.
@@pbjbagel I believe he means "racially supremacist" in the sense that the "Jewish Soul" is seen as having a higher status than other souls. I am not an expert in Jewish mysticism, so I can't trace the history of this concept. An interesting source that touches on this point is Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5, which reads: "It was for this reason that man was first created as one person [Adam], to teach you that anyone who destroys a life [from Israel] is considered by Scripture to have destroyed an entire world; and anyone who saves a life [from Israel] is as if he saved an entire world." The manuscripts disagree over whether the Mishna is universalistic or nationalistic - whether it contains the phrase "from Israel." It is not so simple to determine which the earlier reading is.
Cool vid as always. I noticed your earlier videos are shorter than your newer ones, is this because of lack of information, or do you plan on someday returning back to First Temple History videos again? BTW did you ever make a video about the Radhanites?
The longer videos are just the result of an evolution in style. I think you'll find that most history RUclipsrs' videos get longer over time. I talked about the Radhanites in my Khazar video.
Another enjoyable video, know it's a bit off topic but how many Samaritans were there at time, hard to believe that until so (comparatively) recently most Jews still lived in the Middle East. Also read up about those Epikoros Jews in Cyprus, surprised they weren't documented by anyone else that I know of.
Benjamin counted 1,800 Samaritan families, so around 7,200 individuals, which is honestly impressive considering how few there are today and how utterly devastated they were in the later Roman persecutions. As for the Jewish population being mostly in Asia, the Little Ice Age had a profound effect.
@@SamAronow I'd be interested why the population of Europe would be less affected by this than that of of the Middle East if the climate cooled , I'm a bit uninformed about this subject.
"Now to be clear, when Judaism teaches that Jews are God's chosen people, it doesn't mean that Jews have a more important or special place in the world at large; it just means that we were chosen by our god and not other people's gods" Isn't your god the one who created all things, so then doesn't that make him the only God? I am sure that is what Judaism teaches. If your god is the only God then means you were chosen by the only God to be his special people. Great video by the way.
It was written at a time when neighboring nations had their own god, and other gods were worshipped in Judea & Israel, even along side Elo'im. So, back than, it could be seen as proclaiming a national deity like all our neighbors. But the meaning of it for Jews is different from the meaning of it for gentiles. For Jews, we were chosen to be ourselves, nothing more, nothing less. as in, living in the holy land, observing tradition.
@@HebelDan I don't understand this logic. If only Jews were chosen to be themselves and not other peoples, is that not an implied "chosen" or elevated status?
@@pbjbagel everyone can claim they are chosen to be themselves. The jewish scripture just describes the rules of the nation. Jews have to live in the holy land & follow The instructions, or die. Or to be excommunicated, or enslaved & banished. I don't feel like it elevates me.
@@pbjbagelThe logic is simple He Chosen us is proclaiming God as our God and we are his people,no foriegner nations,lands,Gods or ideologies.We loyal only to him no others and can't betray his trust and pact he did with our ancestors.
@@HebelDan Hmm, I thought I wrote a comment here last night, but it looks like it didn't save. Your comment is interesting to think about. I do not wish to get into a protracted debate, but I did write a longer comment on Benjamin Romm's comment thread.
the amount of misinformation is incredibly horrifying but I'll only correct as much as I can. The Moravids were approached to help all the Taifa kings against Leon and they answered the call then went back to Morocco after the battle Battle of Sagrajas in 1086. they came back only when the Taifa kings started fighting each other again and annexed Al-Andalus.
I am from Tudela and there are still remnants of the jewish past of the city.
The public high school is named after Benjamin of Tudela.
There is a square named after Judá Leví, and a statue in his honor in the middle.
The old jewish quarter is still known as "Judería" colloquially.
This guy would have so many frequent flyer miles today
I got news for you- from Tudela to the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab is about the same distance as across the continental US. That's all.
@@SamAronow Wow, I'm glad I live with airplanes and cars
A truly perfect sight to see a new episode uploaded
Agreed!
It's just mind boggling to consider what all he would have encountered on such an epic journey in that time. That he could even have pulled it off, to have survived the trip at all is beyond comprehension. Wow. Great video. Very well done, my friend.
Another great episode. Especially love the cliffhanger ending.
Oh baby it's Rambam and Saladin time woohoo 🎉, can't wait
MOOD
"History has a way of making exceptions." You say, as Mongol flashes on the screen for a split-second at 12:45, foreshadowing the fate of Baghdad. I see what you did there.
Fascinating stuff as always. The detail I found particularly interesting was that about the Yevanic language. Are you planning to mention the so-called Knaanic or Judeo-Slavic in one of the future episodes?
I thought it was a reference to "CrashCourse - History", where the mongols are always the exception...
@@adrianblake8876 It sure was.
I'm loving these videos. Whenever a paragraph of text comes on the screen, I pause the narration and read the text
Hey brother. Loving your channel. You’re putting out some epic content. Very cool 😎
I shall go back and rewatch every episode once I am through and leave a like. For now I am too transfixed on the ongoing adventures of a people, whose survival until today is akin to a miracle, considering all the hardship it had to endure,. Thank you so much!
YES NEW EPISODE WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Oh that's some real hype for the next episode
Great episode as always! Keep up the good work!
I would like to find out more about the jews in the basque country and the kingdom of Navarre, as a basque diaspora and possibly Jewish diaspora.
Amazing video!
AH SALADIN AND HIS DOCTOR
Hey mate, I really appreciate you referring to Bizantium as what it was. The Roman Empire.
Muslims in this period called the Roman Empire a neo-Byzantine term
@Αλέξης
Δημόπουλος You know they're not mutually exclusive right? I've been reading the Alexiad by Anna Komnena and she literally calls herself Roman, her fellow citizens as Romans and the empire "The empire of the Romans".
Claim all you want, but your ancestors agree with me.
Thank you for doing this video! I read this years ago researching my genealogy. Such an important work! IMO
Thanks for the great video! As always! Just a small observation: during the Middle Ages, the sound of "J" in Spanish was the same as in English, so "Judá Leví" was pronounced approx. "Yudá Leví"
MAIMONIDES HYPE
Found a new favorite channel, liked and subscribed.
9:10 "bolstered by an influx of Jewish refugees fleeing the Almohed conquest of Tunisia". Recently I heard a history lecture by an Israeli Professor of Jewish history who discussed the formation of the North African Jewish communities. He mentioned that a few hundred years later (around the 16th century or so), some Jews left Italy towards Algeria and/or Tunisia. Is it possible that some of these 16th century emmigrants were from the same family lines who fled to Italy hundreds of years earlier?
Absolutely. Also, just by virtue of the amount of time that’s passed, you could say the same of everyone. People constantly moved around and mixed.
The reason that we don't know when Benjamin de Tudela didn't die is because he didn't... die. Ba.ba.baam. seriously though this videos are great, I'm descended Jewish on my great grandmothers side down to my mother and I'm trying to get back into touch with my roots, these videos are awesome in feeding my love for the community
Always a nice surprise to see another episode. I have spent some time in Saudi Arabia from the look of it Benjamin skirted the north of the country, the area known by the name of Najd, if he referred to the peninsula as a whole this could have included Yemen but if he only meant the very dry north the area was very sparsely populated for most of history. Looking forward to the next one.
The kingdom of the Nabataeans and the kingdom of Kedar Ibn Ismail want to talk to you
10:45 Where do you get these city maps from? They're amazing! I wanna print out that map of Constantinople and put it on my student dorm wall as a poster.
I draw them myself. And the Constantinople one was never actually finished- I *only* drew exactly what needed to appear on camera due to an absence of high-detail guides to the ancient city.
@@SamAronow Thanks for the excellent content. Is it true Benjamin of Tudela was communicating to global Jewish communities in Hebrew?? If yes, it would seem our language wasn't purely liturgical.
At the end of the video I was reminded of a book I read years ago called "The book of Saladin".
Sam, keep up the great work. You need to put on your donation page a possibility of a one time donation as well. The more options, the more likely people will donate!
Patreon doesn't really offer a one-time donation option. That's why my PayPal link is also in the description. Merchandise is also an area I'm eager to do more of, though I'm too swamped with work to deal with it right now.
12:45
Genghis Khan's mongol empire.
Is that the earliest records of putting notes in the Western Wall?
Idk but you can see it in early photographs. I wonder if they were scrubbed off and when
Fascinating discussion once again of an under taught period of Jewish history. My one question would be about the history of interpreting "Jewish Chosen-ness" in the Judah HaLevi section. It seems to me that your modern biases that take offense to such a notion are slipping in a bit here. I am not an expert on this subject, but certainly for 1000 years before HaLevi, the notion of "Chosen-ness" was interpreted by Jews in a Monotheistic context. Could make for an interesting video.
Monotheistic, yes, but not in a supremacist context. I had to thread the needle on that because of the problematic vocabulary. His views were definitely in the minority on that; I'm not even sure they were that popular among the
[SPOILER ALERT]
anti-Maimonidean faction.
@@SamAronow Shh! Don't spoil the next video!
@@SamAronow Love your content, but it's difficult to follow you here. Isn't all orthodox or fundamental religion "supremacist" in that the axioms of belief are held above any other possible philosophy? I think the only logical ways out of that are (1) to allow for a degree of agnosticism/atheism which I am unaware that any sect of Judaism supports, or (2) to implicitly support the rarely spoken of philosophy of omnism. I had thought that the idea of "chosenness" or an elevated status (i.e. "we are right, you are wrong, we will be redeemed, you won't be unless you obey the seven Noahide Laws") was (and still is) generally enshrined within traditional rabbinical Judaism, which wouldn't most of these Jewish communities been associated with before the 19th century? I am genuinely interested in hearing new viewpoints.
I agree with Benjamin Romm that you may have created a little confusion in your delivery and I think it'd be worthwhile to pick up on the issue in a "fun facts and corrections" video later where you could go over the development of monotheism in Judaism. The fundamental basis of a monotheistic election arguably starts as early as Deuteronomistic redaction, but is certainly well established at least by the completion of the Nevi'im, right? However, like Romm, I'm not a scholar.
@@pbjbagel I believe he means "racially supremacist" in the sense that the "Jewish Soul" is seen as having a higher status than other souls. I am not an expert in Jewish mysticism, so I can't trace the history of this concept.
An interesting source that touches on this point is Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5, which reads: "It was for this reason that man was first created as one person [Adam], to teach you that anyone who destroys a life [from Israel] is considered by Scripture to have destroyed an entire world; and anyone who saves a life [from Israel] is as if he saved an entire world."
The manuscripts disagree over whether the Mishna is universalistic or nationalistic - whether it contains the phrase "from Israel." It is not so simple to determine which the earlier reading is.
Cool vid as always. I noticed your earlier videos are shorter than your newer ones, is this because of lack of information, or do you plan on someday returning back to First Temple History videos again?
BTW did you ever make a video about the Radhanites?
The longer videos are just the result of an evolution in style. I think you'll find that most history RUclipsrs' videos get longer over time. I talked about the Radhanites in my Khazar video.
Benjamin and Assassin Creed link confirmed?
Another enjoyable video, know it's a bit off topic but how many Samaritans were there at time, hard to believe that until so (comparatively) recently most Jews still lived in the Middle East. Also read up about those Epikoros Jews in Cyprus, surprised they weren't documented by anyone else that I know of.
Benjamin counted 1,800 Samaritan families, so around 7,200 individuals, which is honestly impressive considering how few there are today and how utterly devastated they were in the later Roman persecutions. As for the Jewish population being mostly in Asia, the Little Ice Age had a profound effect.
@@SamAronow I'd be interested why the population of Europe would be less affected by this than that of of the Middle East if the climate cooled , I'm a bit uninformed about this subject.
Desertification. Europe had its problems due to the Little Ice Age, but they didn't have that.
I thought the myth had Prestor John around either central Africa or near Ethiopia in Africa, not in central Asia?
"except the mongols" transcending crash course into a general YT history meme is so funny
Such a refreshing escape from all the political videos.
Badass to be able to hear about familiar events from a Jewish perspective
Shalom all I Love Jews
Why is Yusuf ibn Tashfin depict black. He was a Berber and Arabic descriptions of him say that he was "اسمر", which means tan.
He was black 😂 we make fun of him in Spain
Very good crash course world history reference lol
"Now to be clear, when Judaism teaches that Jews are God's chosen people,
it doesn't mean that Jews have a more important or special place in the world at large; it just means that we were chosen by our god and not other people's gods"
Isn't your god the one who created all things, so then doesn't that make him the only God? I am sure that is what Judaism teaches. If your god is the only God then means you were chosen by the only God to be his special people.
Great video by the way.
It was written at a time when neighboring nations had their own god, and other gods were worshipped in Judea & Israel, even along side Elo'im. So, back than, it could be seen as proclaiming a national deity like all our neighbors.
But the meaning of it for Jews is different from the meaning of it for gentiles.
For Jews, we were chosen to be ourselves, nothing more, nothing less.
as in, living in the holy land, observing tradition.
@@HebelDan I don't understand this logic. If only Jews were chosen to be themselves and not other peoples, is that not an implied "chosen" or elevated status?
@@pbjbagel everyone can claim they are chosen to be themselves.
The jewish scripture just describes the rules of the nation.
Jews have to live in the holy land & follow The instructions, or die. Or to be excommunicated, or enslaved & banished.
I don't feel like it elevates me.
@@pbjbagelThe logic is simple He Chosen us is proclaiming God as our God and we are his people,no foriegner nations,lands,Gods or ideologies.We loyal only to him no others and can't betray his trust and pact he did with our ancestors.
@@HebelDan Hmm, I thought I wrote a comment here last night, but it looks like it didn't save. Your comment is interesting to think about. I do not wish to get into a protracted debate, but I did write a longer comment on Benjamin Romm's comment thread.
Do you think you could cover yohanan ben zakkai in detail?
What is the name of the song at 2:33
the amount of misinformation is incredibly horrifying but I'll only correct as much as I can.
The Moravids were approached to help all the Taifa kings against Leon and they answered the call then went back to Morocco after the battle Battle of Sagrajas in 1086.
they came back only when the Taifa kings started fighting each other again and annexed Al-Andalus.
The people with the inaccurate stereotype of being noseless claimed the emissary to a likely inaccurate claim of a noseless people? Interesting.
9:11 who were those spot in the shara desert below the caliphate
We're the exception😂
Your J is wrong J->x didn’t happen until much much later in Spanish history.
NEW RAMBAM DROPPING
Can you make a video on the origins of Ashkenazi Jews? Who do they descend from? How did they grow to become half the Jewish population?
I covered the origins of Ashkenazi Jews in the video "Roman Exile," and revisited the subject in the previous video "The Jewish Crusade."
ashkenazi jews become more prevalent and influential in the 13-14th centuries, exponentially more so by the 17th-19th. seems like later episode
Did you just called Rabbi Yehuda Halevi a fascist?? Have you ever even opened the Kuzari???
What a badass
Which video talks of rashi?
ruclips.net/video/5QRP_SaMZ08/видео.html
Justice is coming!
love your videos, but the expression 'Gd's chosen people' means that Jews were chosen to "bring light to the nations" by Gd. not what you said
Did you say adventure?
Bruh that text, I can’t read that fast
He’s like the Jewish Ibn battuta!
I hear CKII music
7% central/east Asia, should be a little higher
Bruh this stuff sounds like Lord of The Rings or smth
Heh… camels
Exceptions-mongols I see what you did their
Would u say Levi was a catalyst for the zionist movement way down the line
Yehudah Ha-Levi.