“Babylonian Rabbinic ‘Class Consciousness’ and Competition for Social and Religious Influence in Sasanian Iran”

• In Event: Imperial Jews and An Integrationist Model of Empire

Abstract

Looking primarily at traditions pertaining to wealth, poverty, and charity, I will show that Babylonian rabbis were keenly interested and actively engaged in (1) constructing themselves as a distinct class in Jewish society; (2) competing with wealthy non-rabbis for influence in Jewish society; and (3) polemicizing against Iranian Christians. Specifically, I will demonstrate how Babylonian rabbis deployed charity as a way to construct themselves as patrons of the poor and mediators between Jewish socioeconomic classes.

Author

• Alyssa Gray, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion