Cyrus King of Persia and the Return to Zion: A Case of Neglected Memory
Author(s): Yaacov Shavit and Barbara Harshav
Reviewed work(s):
Source: History and Memory, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Fall, 1990), pp. 51-83
Published by: Indiana University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25618590 .
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Yaacov
Shavit
Cyrus King of Persia and the Return
A Case of Neglected Memory1
to Zion:
51
Then we began to examine the plan for the building of the (Jewish]
state.
"I would believe in it," / said toHerzl, "if what happened before the
building of the second Jewish state [the Return to Zion] were to
happen."
"What happened then?" asked Herzl curiously.
'Then Zerubabbel roused theJews to return to their ancient homeland.
Zerubabbel also exists today - that's you, Doctor, but then - and this
is more important - there was Cyrus, who supported Zerubabbel s
...
enterprisewith his universal force. Is theresuch a Cyrus today?"
Zerubabbel [Herzl] bent his head and whispered in my ear - so the
English guests who had just arrived would not hear: "Who knows,
maybe
there already
Miksa
is a
Cyrus."
Szabolci,
"Conversations
with Dr. Herzl,"
1903
I
new nations
to Bernard
which
have
Lewis,
According
most
turn
to
of
their
to
the
reveal
it,
past
history
forgotten
reconstruct it and grant it a symbolic and creative function in
To buttress this claim, he cites the
the national consciousness.
in
Ritual"
Persia
(Iran) of the Pahlavi dynasty and the
"Cyrus
"Masada
Ritual"
in Israel as representative and prominent
In Persia, Cyrus became
the image of a founding
examples.
in Israel,
the Herodian
fortress at Masada
father, while
attained the status of a heroic site of a symbolic nature.
The
two cases are similar since the memory of Cyrus is
preserved
that of
primarily by Greek and Jewish historiography, while
Masada
is preserved
primarily by the Jewish historian Josephus
Yaacov
Shavit
Flavius, usually regarded by Jews with disfavor, whose historical
were aimed at the educated Roman
In both
reader.
writings
to
consciousness
turned to foreign sources
cases, historical
and which it itself had consigned
discover the past it needed
52
to oblivion.
The distinction between these two cases of "recovery of the
is ironic, as Lewis
of tradition"
and
"invention
past"
the
Persians
chose
the
myth of a beginning, for
emphasizes:
in the ancient East
not
order
world
the
only changed
Cyrus
to be the founder of a new nation.
but was also considered
on the other hand, chose the myth of an
Jewish nationalists,
a heroic war
in
that ended
end, for Masada
symbolizes
to Lewis, they
destruction and exile, and thereby, according
after the
some
their soul:
facet of
profound
exposed
Destruction, Jewish tradition forgot or repressed the story of
an
out of a "healthy
Masada
instinct"; now, paradoxically,
and
event
this
has
rediscovered
national
society
emerging
turned it into the central stratum of its group consciousness.2
for
it would, perhaps, have been more appropriate
However,
the new Jewish nation also to have chosen Cyrus to embody a
tale of origins, and not the Masada
historical
myth, since
If this is so,
a "founding father" for Israel as well.
was
Cyrus
to
the fact that Cyrus and the "Return
how can we explain
in
a fitting place
Zion" he made possible have not acquired
the collective memory of the Jewish people?
Indeed, as I shall argue in this essay, Cyrus's role in Jewish
to the margins
of the Jewish
relegated
history has been
the status
historical memory and he has not been accorded
on
the
His
and honor he deserves.
stage of
appearance
return
to
from
the
Jews
history and the permission he granted
not
have
the
Second
and
build
their exile in Babylon
Temple
in
or
status
a
been
commemorated
attained
any
symbolic
official way and have played practically no role in the creation
This argument might jusdy
of Jewish historical consciousness.
or
be regarded as puzzling
invalid, since the story of the
in the official
has been
preserved
"Cyrus Declaration"
in Ezra
is
recounted
It
in various forms.
"national memory"
as
historical
as
in
the
well
in the later Prophets
and Nehemia,
the book of Josippon and the
writings of the Second Temple,
Cyrus and theReturn toZion
all historical writing on that
Moreover,
two
the
hundred
past
years refers to the
period
during
and
It would
declaration
seem,
positively
admiringly.
was never
the
of
the
that
declaration
therefore,
memory
new national
forgotten and that the
historiography had no
to rediscover
it: Jews did not need Greek
need
historical
to
he
learn
about
had
since
been
Cyrus
writings
part of
always
If this is so, how can it be argued that Cyrus
their history.
are neglected
and
the Cyrus Declaration
items of Jewish
historical memory?
This paradox can be elucidated by considering
the nature of
Talmudic
"historical
Midrashim.
its affinities and
relations with
the
of
various modes
writing."
general,
are
not
the
writing,
including
historiography,
or even
of "historical memory"
primary textual embodiment
its sole source.
The
central position of historiography
in
the
of
constructs
and
historical
and in
past
creating images
the
of
and
forming
repertoire
paradigmatic
analogic examples
in the last two hundred
us with
years should not mislead
to
our
The
former
fact
that
regard
generations.
knowledge
in the past comes from historical
about many periods
writing
does not prove that those previous generations
knew about
"historical
historical
memory''
and
In
their past from the same writings. Josephus, for example, was
known only to a handful of Jews, and he was not the source
for the Jews' knowledge
about
the Second
or the
Temple
ancient history of their nation.
As for earlier generations,
historical writings from the Biblical period were the property
of a relatively small group of readers.
If the lost books were
we
know
what
the
would
scribes
found,
wrote, not what
royal
the
"nation"
knew
and
remembered.
In fact, we do not know what a Jew of the Second
Temple
period knew about his near and distant past and from what
historical writings and traditions he derived his
knowledge
which was certainly not complete.
Greeks apparently knew
more about their past from the speeches of rhetoricians who
used
than from regular
examples
history books;3 and
in
the
Hellenistic
did
turn into a
only
period
historiography
Historical
from
these
widespread
literary genre.
writing
cannot
ancient
teach
much
state
about
of
the
periods
historical
53
Yaacov Shavit
about the past at that time or the relationship of
knowledge
the society as a whole to its past.
In the case of Cyrus, except
to him
in
for references
historical literature and various legends, neither his name nor
are preserved
in the "collective memory''
in any
his deeds
first names as was Alexander
other way (not even in Hebrew
no coins or stamps
immortalize him, no
of Macedonia)4:
54
to him, there are no
legends or songs are devoted
popular
commemorate
sites connected with his name, no ceremonies
him on any public holiday.5
is
Thus,
although his name
indeed retained in canonic historical memory, has never been
to a central
it has also never moved
forgotten or repressed,
not
The
is
whether
therefore,
important question,
position.
an
was
but
historical
"available
whether
memory
Cyrus
past"
used this available knowledge
supplied by historical writing to
turn Cyrus into practical knowledge or "practical past," into a
an image of a formative historical event.
paradigm, a model,
The preservation of "historical fact" in writing can of course
to come - even in the distant
have value for generations
future - who can discover and use it whenever
it;
they need
is passive
the knowledge
until it finds a "use,"
but meanwhile,
a
fact
fact.
Hence
the
and
is
the
question
passive
knowledge
is when, in what circumstances and in response to what needs
does a historical fact become a practical one; and when does
a historical event become a paradigmatic
event, singled out by
and endowed with validity and status
historical consciousness
language"?
by the "historical
is a fascinating and illustrative case study
The "Cyrus case"
of how available knowledge
can, under certain circumstances,
fact
turn into practical
and how a historical
knowledge,
an
can
into
be
transformed
in
passive memory
preserved
a
not
is
since
it
historical
active
item
of
memory,
important
or secondary
event whose
historical
importance
peripheral
or enhance.
The
memory has no real reason to emphasize
true. To some extent, it is similar to the Exodus
is
opposite
in the religious
from Egypt whose formative and active place
needs no
of the Jewish people
and historical consciousness
from
that the Exodus
It can even be argued
discussion.6
Egypt attained
its formative status in the history of the Jewish
Cyrus and theReturn to Zion
was
to Zion, which
Return
similar to it. Those who returned to
Zion interpreted the events of their own dme by analogy with
the earlier event and even described their own Return to Zion
as the more miraculous
event.
But even
they did not
after
primarily
presented as parallel and
people
the
the King
of Persia
the day when
celebrate
issued his
or other formative events in the history of the
proclamation
Return to Zion; they did not write a scroll or legends about
or
to Zion
erect monuments
the Return
for public
same
The
is true of modern Jewish history.
commemoration.
to Zion:
about
the Return
"knows"
it is in the
Everyone
in
historical
it
is not
but
etc.,
textbooks,
novels,
in any way in the collective
consciousness.
commemorated
of the organs of the "institutionalization
None
of memory"
has selected this particular event from the long history of the
in order to underscore
its formative status in
Jewish people
that history.
and
The
of a formative
secondary
neglected
position
as
event
such
the Cyrus Declaration
historical
is all the more
the
remarkable since
contemporary prophets granted Cyrus a
status.
sublime
Indeed, the Declaration was the only messianic
event in the history of Israel which can be termed a real
event: it effected and inaugurated a long
historical messianic
in
in fact,
the history of the Jewish people
and,
period
to return to history.
enabled
the Jewish people
The Cyrus
Declaration
initiated the Return to Zion and thus lies at the
very heart of the "pattern of repetition" of the history of the
in turn forms the core of the Jewish
Jewish people, which
historical
messianic-restorative-realistic
consciousness.7
to this model,
to Zion
the Return
is simply a
According
a
even
of
from
the
Exodus
reproduction,
repetition,
Egypt;
after the destruction of
similarly, the hopes for redemption
the Second Temple
interpreted the future in images of the
or second redemption.
the
first
of
repetition
Jews regarded
or exemplary
the past not quite as a chain of paradigmatic
events but as one complete entity which was to repeat itself.
The future was to be a re-creation of the past.8
The Return to Zion was the outstanding model
of this re
creation
of
the
past.
Thus
it was
understood
by
55
Yaacov Shavit
56
and
thus it was
in historical
immortalized
contemporaries
a
in
Its
its
and
second
re-creation
strength lay
being
writing.
a symbol of a third creation.
It was a restorative event which
the significance of a messianic
filled with
assumed
beginning
was
This
taken up
of
theme
great expectations.
repetition
at
the
end
the
when
of
the early
nineteenth
century
briefly
of
Hibbat
Zion
of
members
the
Zionists,
(Love
Zion)
between
their period and
found many analogies
movement,
situation and the period of the Return to Zion.
Not only did
the "historical repetition" begin to be realized from 1882 for
a third time, but the different features of the modern
period
superficially similar to those of the earlier Return to
appeared
Zion.
Historical
repetition resembles not only a return based
on
the pattern of the formative event, the frame event, but
are
a
of various
which
restoration
also
aspects
again
in reality: in this case, the tension between an
internalized
isolationist, nationalist outiook and a universalist perspective;
of the land"
the struggle with the "people
(the Arabs) who
the
between
the
national
and
revival;
relationship
opposed
in Exile.
those who returned to Zion and those who remained
we
as
Return
shall
the
of
the
see,
Indeed,
position
analogous
to Zion
was
nourished
and supported
by these similarities.
were parallel both as a historical unit within the
periods
of
and as a complex
framework of a trans-temporal model
The
as well.9
components
nor the Cyrus
to Zion
neither
the Return
Nevertheless,
a prominent
it
which
achieved
Declaration
inaugurated
historical
and
in
the
active
memory,
only during the
position
brief period of Hibbat Zion did they serve as an active, that is,
a
"useful,"
past.
This,
therefore,
between
striking difference
formative, even "messianic,"
is an
exemplary
the importance
event at the time
case
of
a
of a unique,
in
it occurred,
and in Jewish history,
of its contemporaries,
the consciousness
in historical
on the one hand, and the status it achieved
in
and
the
the
formative,
ages
organized
writing throughout
of
the various
"agents
through
Jewish historical memory
memory,"
on
the
other.
Cyrus and theReturn toZion
II
of Cyrus in more detail, the
and
"historical
memory"
and
be
We
have
should
examined.
historiography
writing"
that
the
systematic writing of
already argued
historiography,
aware
of
and
its
not necessarily
itself
does
rules,
history,
Often
collective
it
is the creation
historical
memory.
embody
and property of a relatively small group of writers and readers.
It is only in the last two hundred years that historiography has
to create a consciousness
of the past and an
been mobilized
In any case, only a
official collective historical memory.
texts
limited selection from the plethora of historiographic
"texts in culture," i.e., texts in which the pictures of
becomes
the past that are drawn, the historical claims that are made,
are internalized
in the collective
the figures that appear
and serve to form and translate reality.
In
consciousness
must
historical
be
and
fastidious
memory
necessarily
general,
in ways that are
the historical past in it must be organized
Before
distinction
we
consider
between
the case
"historical
is created
in
completely different from the way the past
various modes of historiography.
The difference is not only in
the historical approach
(or attitude to history) or in the fact
that historiography
is critical and precise while the historical
and myth, but also
memory is selective and tends to metaphor
that historical memory must focus on general arguments and
statements, on focused pictures of the past and
unambiguous
clear images, while historiography is narrative and analytic.
the function of historiography as a "text in culture"
Hence,
is to serve the historical memory by supplying it with new
knowledge, exegesis and images that it can use for its various
This
is the essential and multifaceted
needs.
relationship
between historiography and the "collective memory."
There
is historical writing that is aware of this issue and consciously
to influence the "historical memory."
endeavors
It supplies
the historical consciousness
with arguments about sequence,
affiliation, origin, rights, etc., as well as ad hoc instructions,
It scans history for dramatic events
lessons and examples.
and conveying a trans-temporal
basic
embodying
principles
create
to
collective
and
message
accepted pictures of the past
57
Shavit
Yaacov
-
the "historical
of history,
Another
kind
myth."10
even
and
"academic"
history, indirecdy
unwittingly provides
historical facts and images of the past which are internalized
a
of the past, thus becoming
into society's consciousness
"useful
58
past."
is therefore only one form of texts in a
Historiography
forms of
culture which are concerned with the past.
Other
historical writing can also be important sources of historical
knowledge and valuable forms of relating to history and may
the shaping of historical
have even greater
influence on
at
least
until
the
modern
Indeed,
age it was not
reality.
was
in
the
modern
which
the dominant
sense,
historiography,
source of knowledge or determinant of the culture's image of
the past, but rather other forms of historical writing.
the Age of Enlightenment,
historians who were well
During
aware of the nature of their scientific occupation with the past
carefully between historical memory or historical
distinguished
on
the one hand and the new scientific discipline of
writing
on
in the West,
For the Enlightenment
the other.
history
was
history
merely
an
enormous
reservoir
of
examples
For
the
abstract principles.11
embodying
illustrating and
was
in
of
the
historians
Germany,
historiography
Aujkldrung
its
not
in the breadth
of
from memory
distinguished
and
in
of
the
system
description
knowledge and interest but
of time, as stated by
analysis of the facts in the sequence
von Mosheim
in his 1755 book, Ecclesiastical
Johann Lorenz
History:
A bare recital of facts can at best enrich the memory,
but the
and furnish a certain degree
of amusement;
historian who enters the secret springs that direct the
course of outward
events, and views things in their
and tendencies, gives thus
various relations, connexions
a proper
exercise
to the judgement
of the reader....12
to these historians, researches
"Pragmatic history," according
of time and
the internal and external causes and processes
not concerned with the clarification of formative
is
and
place
or
events, with transforming them into myths or paradigms
Cyrus and theReturn to Zion
to explain
laws and basic principles
universal
events. Thus,
in fact, they followed the Greek
of the past, using examples from the past, but
understanding
not out of a belief that history repeats itself. Rhetoricians
used historical examples primarily for rhetorics and poetics, as
of influence on
the
with a measure
historical
parables
a
as
not
with
metahistorical
audience,
analogies
validity.
clearly stated that a tale of events is not myth,
Thucydides
is
but
useful in that it can teach what will happen
someday.
with
and
isolating
represent
that historical knowledge
allows us to
can help
future
but
that
such
the
only
predict
knowledge
what happened
understand
Events can be
post factum,
or
but
this fundamental
similar
identical,
resemblance,
in human
inherent in factors immanent
nature, does not
grant the power of prophecy and certainly does not imply the
He
did
not mean
"return of history.''
That, however, is what
seek in history, as Jakob Burckhardt wrote:
The
saying
"historia
an
vitae
even
magistra"
...
human
assumes
beings
at
the
a more
loftier and
modest
more
we
want
to
than
Since,
significance.
experience
make us smarter (for the next time), we want it to
make us wiser (forever).14
same
time
is very skeptical about such a possibility.
Thus, historiography
(and other kinds of historical writing as
to the rules of
is
subordinate
and
well)
understanding
are
which
different
from
the
fundamentally
reasoning
is no history without
collective historical memory.
There
different modes
memory, but memory has different meanings,
and different functions in society and culture.
of organization
The way the collective memory functions and organizes
the
it
from
which
past
clearly
distinguishes
historiography,
sometimes
and dynamic relations
(not always) has complex
with it.
we talk about "historical
we often imply
When
memory,"
some metaphysical
not
an
the
of
memory
entity,
organized,
and
events
diachronic
of
and
sequence
synchronic
a
but
of
selected
and
series
intensified
of
phenomena,
And
he, of course,
59
Yaacov
Shavit
status.
formative events with a symbolic or representative
*
not
cannot
remember
and
historical
every
Society
Everything"
the
fact can have an equal status, value or function.
Thus,
a
is
and
culture
of
of
selection
process
history
dynamic
reflecting its nature and proclivity. This kind of
preference,
60
unites societies, endowing
"historical memory"
undoubtedly
them with a common
consciousness
and common objectives.
It is not merely an embellishment or a repertoire of examples
or rules. On the contrary, it
serving to demonstrate principles
is often described correcdy as a central and vital expression of
of its "inner
the character of the collective, the embodiment
turns
the
and
reads
it
into
the
which
present, into
past
spirit,"
as
the
is
storehouse
understood
"now."
Memory
functioning
and fears.
of society's dreams, expectations,
disappointments,
is concerned
with metahistory,
But this concept of memory
not with history, and is on a par with such vague concepts as
or "historical justice."
research
"historical judgment"
Hence,
as a branch of cultural research or
into historical memory
into the collective mentality necessitates
research
elucidating
the
of the past in memory,
the nature of the organization
nature of the memory agents and how they operate, and the
There
is
in culture.
of memory
of functioning
modes
a
and
a
for
need
therefore
(classification
typology
of the various forms of memory by nature and
categorization)
function.
Culture can also be defined as a reservoir of various kinds
and knowledge which are stored by the different
of memories
memory agents and change their place in the hierarchy, their
Not every form of
value and function from time to time.
same
the same
has
the
of memory
value,
organization
same
not
same
the
and
the
status,
function,
certainly
for
the
influence. Monuments,
tangible
outstanding
example,
are commemorative
sites which
of memory,
embodiment
isolate out of time and space a place representing a historical
event. The selection of the place, the event and the nature of
of the
the nature
of course,
the monument
indicates,
its
to
system
history and
relationship of the selecting culture
It would, however, be difficult to prove that those
of symbols.
and shape their
its message
who visit the site also absorb
Cyrus and theReturn toZion
historical concepts
(and their political behavior)
accordingly.
a previous
confirms
the
Often,
only
tangible memory
fundamental position, endowing itwith a necessary measure of
In other words, it is not enough to detail the
personification.
historical
of
ceremonies,
(belles-lettres,
memory
repertoire
as
not
it
is
monuments,
landmarks,
etc.),
just
holidays,
enough
are publicly
to survey various
historical
which
opinions
etc.
Such
educators,
politicians,
by historians,
expressed
surveys merely demonstrate what available historical material
was chosen to be a "practical past" and for what needs. They
indicate the status of the memory agents, but, as we said, it is
necessary to prove that this "memory" was indeed influential,
that the message
conveyed was not a passive memory but had
a memory
an
active memory,
that is not a
turned into
an element
liturgical or rhetorical element but
determining
the norms of conduct and shaping the modes of decision and
behavior.
is that repertoire of
In short, an active historical memory
historical facts used by society and culture not only to preserve
the past but also to make the past present and functioning in
the planes of functioning can be
the culture.
Schematically,
divided
into two. The first is the thematic plane: here the
to
the past,
and
memory
agent
consciously
appeals
a
to
full
either
of
the
present
past and its
deliberately,
picture
- which
or circumstantial
is a system of organic
exegesis
historical sequence, a system of justifications, assertions, etc. or to create a system of models, metaphors,
symbols and
events to illustrate principles,
use historical
images which
The
values, and arguments, with regard to historical behavior.
second is the poetic plane: here historical symbols, images and
allusions play a role in communication.
They convey various
and
within
the cultural
messages
economically
effectively
framework,
which
has
an
accepted
and
common
"historical
the historical facts serve as signals for
Indeed,
language."
On
the first plane
it is possible
to use
communication.15
a
to
broad
historical
complex arguments,
explain
picture (in
fact to write historical exegesis),
and to speak in principles.
it is necessary
to isolate selected
On
the second plane,
use
to
in
them.
order
components
Every culture and every
61
Yaacov Shavit
group in a culture has such a system of historical signs that it
uses to convey messages
its members.
I would argue
among
that texts of a thematic and poetic nature contain
the most
intensive
and
influential
expression
of
the "active
historical
memory.''
in
62
The concept of "Return to Zion"
in Jewish consciousness
is
a formative historical symbol on both the thematic and
poetic
planes, but one that has not been institutionalized within the
national culture.
in historical
Hence, we find it internalized
consciousness
but we do not find it used by this consciousness
direcdy and openly, either on the thematic or on the poetic
it has no sign outside
the defined
Since
corpus of
plane.
texts, its place in historical memory and its active function can
be examined
of those texts that
empirically only by means
deal with it direcdy and use it for various purposes.
Again,
the fact that it is in a generally familiar text (the Bible)
is not
it has been
evidence
into the collective
of how
absorbed
To
memory and certainly not of the way it has been used.
prove that we are talking about active memory, we must find
or the event that initiates it, the Cyrus
that the period
has been mentioned
throughout the generations
as
in
for
various
various
However,
ways
purposes.
repeatedly
was
we have seen, it
mentioned
rarely and appeared
actively
only during a brief period in Jewish history.
to the
and consigned
Why was this key event so neglected
Declaration,
And why did it
periphery of the active historical memory?
a limited period
in
with
such
and
function
emerge
intensity
to the margins
of memory,
and
then retreat once more
a passive memory?
to
status
the
of
Why did this
reverting
fail to transform the Return to Zion as a
intensive emergence
within it, into a valuable
whole, and the Cyrus Declaration
or
historical
into a desirable
part of the historical tradition
paradigm?
of 536
that the Cyrus Declaration
Not many would question
a
is
historical fact, especially since the discovery of the
B.C.E.
(the Babylonian
Cyrus Cylinder
writing on a clay tablet) in
Cyrus and theReturn toZion
1879 and its
the historical
to immigrate
a community
semantic analysis, which shed light on
of the permission granted the Jews
background
to Eretz Israel and rebuild the Temple as well as
with all its institutions.16 The second Isaiah, as
historical
we know, grants Cyrus the lofty tide of messiah:
"That saith of
Cyrus, He is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure*'
to
and "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed,
(Isaiah 44:28);
to subdue nations
I have holden,
Cyrus whose
right hand
In
before him; I will loose the loins of kings"
(Isaiah 45:1).
this late prophecy the foreign king Cyrus is accorded a status
in the history of Israel or human
history in
unparalleled
the Persian period
lasted about
However,
although
general.
was a
two hundred years and although
the Cyrus Declaration
in the "living"
formative historical event certainly preserved
one
later generations,
that was
historical
of
memory
in time and place, a
historical
miraculous
but nonetheless
act with far-reaching
human
results, the literature of the
of Chronicles,
after the composition
of the Book
period
the time of the Second
the
Temple
(including
during
litde historical
information about
the
contains
Apocrypha),
Return
to Zion.17
The
literature of the Sages contains mainly historiosophic
evidence of the period, but no history of it. The explanation
is the meager
omission
sometimes given for this conspicuous
impression left by the period on the "historical experience"
seems tenuous since
The explanation
of the Jewish people.
a
"historical experience"
is
vague and flimsy concept and it is
difficult, as we
have
left
a
said,
"meager
to understand
impression."
how
It
such an
seems
more
event could
reasonable
to attribute this neglect
to the fact that the Sages were
as was the
with
concerned
issues
of chronography,
primarily
writer of Josippan of the tenth century, who
tells of the
Declaration
three times in different ways (4:128-29, 5:145-75,
who
describes life under the government of Persia
8:1-2)
(and
as "gentle
The
and
slavery," 8:40).18
Sages
succeeding
were
to Zion as a
in
interested
the
Return
generations
mainly
set its seal on the
and formative period which
completed
entire Second Temple
and
their
attitude
toward it was
period,
a
sense
of
missed
and
While
failure.
shaped by
opportunity
63
Yaacov
Shavit
the Book of Ezra does
Sages were ambivalent
64
not blame Cyrus for this failure, the
about him.
On
the one hand
they
described
him positively, unlike
their negative portrayal of
other foreign kings, and in one legend they even placed him
on the exalted throne of King Solomon.
On
the other hand,
the
internal
of
attributed
weakness
the
Second
they
Temple
the defects of those generations by
period to him, explaining
the fact that the Temple
had been built during the reign of a
race
the
from
of
king
Japhet. We also find in the Sages the
version
that
it was
the
apologetic
Cyrus who
stopped
not
want
from
because
he
did
his
immigration
Babylon
country weakened
by the emigration of Jews (The Song of Songs
Rabbah 5:5): that is, it was Cyrus, not the people, who was to
blame for the failure of the Return to Zion.19
reason for this ambivalence
The
stemmed from
apparendy
the profound gap between the Declaration
and contemporary
on
one
the
hand, and the delay in
expectations
regarding it,
the
and
number
the
small
of immigrants, on
Temple
building
the other.
Others
relieved Cyrus of responsibility for the
it to the Jewish people who did not
failure and ascribed
to
"Thus said the Holy One blessed be
Eretz
Israel:
immigrate
if
all
the
of Israel will be immigrants, the
children
He,
and
if not, not"
will descend,
Shekhinah [Divine Presence]
Rabbati
This
is
shared
80:35).
(Pesikta
by the
interpretation
ben Yehiel Mikhal)
in his
MALBIM
Loeb
(Rabbi Meir
to the commentary on the Book
of Haggai.20
introduction
Some think that the immediate historical reason for the Sages'
the
tepid attitude to Cyrus was their ambivalence
regarding
in 362 C.E., who
initiative of Emperor Julian, "the Apostate,"
declared his intention to rebuild the Temple
destroyed in the
the building
time of Adrian as an explicit attempt to "repeat"
The
with
of the Temple
inspired by Cyrus.
disappointment
an
was
anachronistic
into
translated
interpretation of
Julian
Here, historical memory conflated the King of
Cyrus's deeds.
Persia and the Emperor of Rome.21
and explained
that formative
the Sages remembered
Thus,
in order to
event and even added details and anachronisms
own facts
their
their
view, introducing
express
historiosophic
and
interpretations
into the consciousness
of the Jewish past.
Cyrus and theReturn toZion
seem that, more
than recalling the period as it had
recalled
and prophecies
of the
been,
they
expectadons
really
future which had been current at the time.
The debate on the nature of the Second Temple
period
in the philosophy and exegeses of the Middle Ages:
continued
whether it had been a period of a "second
redemption,, or a
and
lack
the
Divine Presence,
of
lost
of
opportunity
period
to blame.22
In any event, this
and if so, who had been
not contain
of the unique
literature does
any repetition
saw the Cyrus
of
of
the
Book
Chronicles
which
perspective
as initiating a new period
in the history of the
declaration
It would
(and which completely ignored the Exodus from
Jewish people
as
though wanting to erase it from historical memory).
Egypt
is not referred to in historiosophic
The Cyrus Declaration
or systematic historiography
in the Middle Ages and
thought
a
as
in the period of the
model
and
reappears,
metaphor,
Eretz
of
Israel
from the Byzantines
brief Persian
conquest
(614-26 C.E.), as an immediate response to the events of the
time.
The
similarity of the names of Cyrus and Chosroes,
Persia
and Cozro),
of
Coresh
(in Hebrew,
naturally
King
and
the
roused
for a
expectations
parallel
encouraged
a
as
of history.23 Similarly,
served
"Cyrus"
repetition
name
for the literature of expectation
in the
typological
exiles
from
In
the
the
of
of
commentary
Spain.
generation
on Pirkei Divrei Rabbi Eliezer, the
Rabbi Yitzhak Abrabanel
II was endowed with the title of
Ottoman
Sultan Mohammed
to
"Divine Messiah
of Israel" and one who was appointed
"avenge
its enemies."24
in later
occasionally
image of Cyrus
re-emerged
as a model
of an enlightened
ruler
absolute
generations
his Jewish subjects.
It is found in a
willing to emancipate
"choral
of
the Jewish
(adherent
by the maskil
song"
the
Baer
Issachar
movement,
Haskalah)
Enlightenment
"Astinas
Grandson
of
of
and
His
Minister
Cyrus
Schlesinger,
War Herpagus,"
"based on the tale of the chronicles of the
In 1781, the Italian Jewish maskil
kings of Mede and Persia."25
Eliahu Morpurgo
compared Cyrus to the Hapsburg
Emperor
The
Josef II, who
that year.26
issued the Patent of Tolerance
(Toleranzedikt) in
In the poem by the renowned Russian-Jewish
65
Yaacov Shavit
"The Road of My People," written
maskil poet Y. L. Gordon,
II appears
in 1865, Tsar Alexander
in the figure of "Cyrus my
an
ruler who
initiates far-reaching
enlightened
shepherd,"
reforms in the life of the Jews:
in our country, the ice broke
And both spring and flowers were revealed,
to strike its roots in us:
Wisdom
hastened
The King ordered the opening of schools,
And
66
Where
things,
For God
the children of Jacob will be
taught beautiful
has roused his spirit as the heart of Cyrus!27
a
Y. L. Gordon
spoke of the "Cyrus spirit" in the sense of
to the Jews.
in
the
the
authorities
relation
of
change
was also described
as a Cyrus, and the
Napoleon
Bonaparte
in October
1806
of
the
Sanhedrin
Jewish
proclamation
to the prophecy
in Isaiah about
deliberately used allusions
the two events that
Cyrus to indicate the similarity between
the conquest of Napoleon
and the Cyrus
the world
changed
Declaration.28
we have surely overlooked
other references to the
Although
in historical writings during the long period
Cyrus Declaration
to the 1880s, it seems clear that the Cyrus
from the Sages
- a well-known
in the
fact stored
historical
Declaration
can
was
not
We
active
collective memory
memory.
part of
the
and
from
consciousness
culture
learn about historical
the
historical
make
from
selections they
information,
hierarchy
use them.
From our
they grant the facts and the way they
can
that the Cyrus
conclude
brief, we
survey, however
event
in Jewish
a
formative
and
dramatic
Declaration,
key
- described
as a messianic
in its own time - was
act
history
an honored
status in the hierarchy created by
not accorded
either on the thematic or the poetic
the collective memory
both from the descriptions of the past
It disappeared
plane.
texts. The
and eschatalogical
messianic
the
various
and from
which
his
Declaration
and
or
historical,
legendary, Cyrus
of
were
in
the
buried
initiated his period
memory.
depths
Cyrus and theReturn toZion
IV
entire period of the Return to Zion, and along with it
from this oblivion
emerged
King Cyrus and his Declaration,
two
for
main
in
the
1880s
reasons.29
First, Jewish
early
only
scholars turned to this period in response to the challenge of
in Christian
of the past depicted
historical
the picture
research. The latter saw the Return to Zion as a fundamental
transforming
turning-point in the history of the Jewish people,
to a religious
it from a territorial nation
community or
The
church.
Second,
and
more
important
for
our
purpose,
was
status which Jewish consciousness
of the 1880s
the analogical
to
to
the
of
Return
which arose
the
Zion
and
assigned
period
to Zion was
an
that the Return
from the recognition
event
the
from
historical
Exodus
(unlike
indisputable
Egypt)
and an outstanding messianic
event, the result of both the
and
dramatic
fulfillment
of
international
prophecy
a
was
not
It
achieved
by
military conquest of
developments.
Eretz Israel, but with the permission of the ruling power and
under its aegis, and was accompanied
by the conflict between
of
the
small
of
the mundane
reality
"day
things," on the one
which were
both
and high messianic
hand,
expectations
restorative and Utopian, on the other.
In other words, there were various themes in the period of
to those of the earlier
Zion which seemed analogous
the
the
of
immigrants, the relation between
profile
period:
those who remained in exile and those who returned to Eretz
the "returnees"
and the population
of the
Israel, between
the Jewish settlement there and the foreign
Land, between
authority, as well as the attitude to the isolationist policy of
- all these themes were used as
Ezra and Nehemia
analogies
in the polemics within Hibbat
Zion between
the religious
Hibbat
groups
and
the
"freethinkers,"
and
later
in other
contexts.30
Hibbat Zion saw itself as a third historical turning-point
to Zion.
from Egypt and the Return
after the Exodus
The
and to
Sages' ambivalent attitude to Cyrus and his Declaration,
the entire period of the Return to Zion, was of course familiar
to the maskilim.
the religious historian
Thus,
seem
Shmuel Yosef Fein, noted that: "It would
and maskil,
that because
67
Yaacov
Shavit
in his time and he
the building of the Temple was canceled
to
not
to
his order,
hasten
the people
did
give force
that Cyrus did not carry out his favor to the Jews
concluded
and willingly."*1
that traditional
However,
wholeheartedly
was
now
not
to negate
the
criticism
powerful
enough
as an active memory.
relevance of the "Cyrus model"
Both
68
and
secular Hovevei
Zion
of Zion,"
("Lovers
religious
a
assessment
of
adherents of Hibbat
embraced
Zion)
positive
the Cyrus Declaration
and used it to grant legitimation - with
the past as inspiration - to their acts in the present.
They
the Declaration
and the subsequent Return to Zion
explained
as an outstanding example of redemption by natural means, as
means.
to the redemption from Egypt by miraculous
opposed
was
to
to
the Exodus
the United States
compared
Immigration
the tiny
it was a mass
from Egypt because
exodus, unlike
to Zion
setdements of the Hovevei Zion.
Indeed, the Return
a
as
but
of
could be used
general metaphor
redemption;
was
to
concrete
it
historical
when
it
transferred
the
plane,
to
Return
value
the
the limited
historical
of
assumed
Zion,
of Zion" as a metahistorical
and not the "Setdement
symbol.
and
the 1880s were marked by a messianic
Indeed, although
was
a
the
abstract
there
wide
between
gap
revolutionary mood,
referred
rhetoric and the specific historical models
messianic
to by contemporaries.
was thus an outstanding
The Cyrus Declaration
example
and a historical precedent
legitimizing action in the present
of how national goals could be achieved with the approval of
under
and under their aegis - of "redemption
governments
the aegis of a foreign king" (acta Dei per francos).
Cyrus was
seen as one who had enabled
the realization of the prophecy
and vision immanent in Jewish history, i.e., as an instrument
of Divine Providence.
Nevertheless, without that human act,
the act of a foreign king at that, redemption could never have
come from the power of the Jews themselves. This is a typical
to call
I propose
which
of historical messianism
paradigm
paradoxically
attached
history
"amessianic
to a
rather
messianism,"
event which
dramatic
than in a vision, a
i.e.,
actually
historical
messianism
took place
breakthrough
in
Cyrus and theReturn toZion
which,
however,
was
not
accompanied
by
eschatological
events.32
literature of the observant Hovevei Zion also used many
from the time of the Second
examples
Temple,
probably
because
the model of the Return to Zion endowed
them with
historical
from Orthodox
legitimation against the opposition
to
and
them
enabled
resolve
the
dilemma
Jewry
arising not
The
only from their cooperation with the secular nationalists, but
also from their adoption of the latter's historical and realistic
concept
perspective which rejected the prevailing, deep-rooted
of not "forcing
the end."
Significantly, I did not find
in the rhetoric and polemical
references
literature of the
to
or their
the
doubts
about
intentions
Cyrus's
period
Sages'
to its
of the Second
attribution of the weakness
Temple
a
foreign king.
inception by
Thus, Rabbi Mordechai
Eliasberg, one of the first leaders of
Hibbat Zion in Russia, wrote that:
The redemption from Babylon by Ezra the Scribe ... was
to the order of
hidden in the mists of nature according
the
of
and
desire
the
King Cyrus
peoples who helped
the returnees from Babylon with silver and gold and
property....33
statement was designed, as noted above, to give a "seal
to the political activity of the movement
of approval"
and was
at Orthodox
aimed
secular
nationalists
used
the
Jews;
historical
the
the
anti-nationalist
maskilim,
example
against
In an 1884 pamphlet
adherents of emancipation.34
the
"On
Revival of Israel on the Land of Our Ancestors,"
the Hebrew
one of
writer and political journalist Moshe Leib Lilienblum,
the leaders of Hibbat Zion, wrote:
This
If our German
sages had lived in the time of Cyrus and
if the latter had asked them if he should help the exiles
to their view of the
immigrate to Eretz Israel, according
facts they would have had to answer: The people
of
Israel have no land, they are scattered all over Asia
Minor - in Assyria, Babylonia, Media,
and
Persia, Halah
69
Yaacov
70
Shavit
Sheba and even in the land of China;
Habor,
they do
not speak their own language (Nehemiah
therefore
13),
they are not a nation and it is not right to return them
to the Land of Israel as a nation.
Fortunately for us,
of Israel
there were no such casuists, the children
to a
to the land of their ancestors
and
returned
a
a
once again,
life. Then
had
national
land,
they
all
national
and
properties.35
language
a letter to
wrote
In the summer of 1882, Lilienblum
and
writer
the
Christian
Laurence
mystic,
English
Oliphant,
who was working to help the Russian-Jewish refugees in Galicia
and trying to obtain approval from the Turkish Sultan for his
in Palestine - and who,
plan for large-scale Jewish setdement
more
than anyone else before or after him, was
paradoxically,
endowed with the lofty title of "Cyrus"
(a distinction which
the
the expectations
of the time and
about
reveals more
to
it
whom
the
than
current
about
of
figure
images
repertoire
was applied).
In the letter (which may not have been sent),
Lilienblum wrote:
to
... when Israel was in
Babylon, they had little strength
the Lord roused the
find freedom for their souls. Then
called
spirit of his messiah, Cyrus King of Persia, who
in exile and allowed
for freedom for those imprisoned
The
to the land of their ancestors.
them to migrate
was not one of the children of Israel and
who
King,
therefore was able to release the imprisoned Israel, sent
saw him as a
forth his word and the oppressed
people
to
the
Holy Land.... God
finger of God and returned
to
in
will
succeed
returning the redeemed
willing, you
a
new
will
call
ancestors
and
their
the land of
you
they
name:
the messiah
of
Israel.36
itself has given you the scepter
"Lord, the Divine Providence
of leadership of our people," Hovevei Zion in Nikolayev wrote
of the Cyrus
in 1882.37 The historical precedent
to Oliphant
the pious and the traditionalists to
also enabled
Declaration
to traditional
initiative as opposed
find legitimation in human
Cyrus and theReturn toZion
It was Oliphant
who was given the
messianic
expectations.
status of divine messiah,
the human
instrument operating
in
on
of
the
God
Israel.
behalf
of
the
leaders
of
Thus,
history
in Bucharest
the Society for the Setdement of the Holy Land
wrote to Oliphant
at the beginning of 1881:
the children of Israel, will always place our trust in
God, the maker of heaven and earth, who, in His mercy
and grace, showed us many times miracles
that a human
hand cannot perform.... But our history teaches us that
the Highest Providence
always chose the chosen ones It
to
be
redeemers
of this despised
the
and
preferred
one
not
of
the
but
children
of
Israel,
persecuted people,
was
of the Righteous Gentiles.
of
Persia
the
Cyrus King
chosen one of God His Messiah, God
roused his spirit
We,
and he spread the word throughout his kingdom.... And
one
did not choose His
who knows if God
chosen
... and due to
honorable
the
efforts,
sir,
your
Oliphant
cornerstone of our community will be laid in the ruined
and
The
issue
here
of
land
desolated
is
not
a
our
forefathers....38
"messianic
.spirit"
or
a
"messianic
itwas
age" but a personal messiah who is not a Jew. Perhaps
more
to place
on a
the mantle
of messianism
convenient
to Cyrus because he
(Herzl could not be compared
foreigner.
was a Jew.)
seem
to
an ideological
These
express
analogies
in some of them this appears more on the
need, although
or
the thematic plane:
than on
indicates
poetic
Cyrus
a
event
and thus the rhetorical
familiar historical
symbolizes
use of him
to convey an
and metaphorical
is designed
a
in
condensed
way.
accepted message
Those who criticized the relation between Hovevei Zion and
referred to the latter as a "false Cyrus" and denied
Oliphant
the parallel
between him and the Persian King.39
In any
not
the
Hibbat
Zion
of
leaders
did
in
event,
engage
diplomacy
with the aim of reproducing
the "Cyrus model."
Cyrus simply
served as a good case - in fact the only one in remembered
- which
historical
should
be
experience
symbolized what
from
and
as
a
the
latter
diplomacy
expected
legitimized
71
Yaacov
Shavit
on both
It functioned
method.
the
political
was
to
thematic and the poetic planes,
it
used
i.e.,
emphasize
two periods
between
the
to convey
the parallel
and
and conventionally
the message
economically
contemporaries
their own period and define their acts.
used to understand
historical
V
72
numerous
the
the
throughout
writings of
Declaration''
"Balfour
his
to Cyrus
references
scattered
this period prove that Cyrus and
had
to the
indeed
returned
The basic question
is what this collective
collective memory?
can it be "found"?
Is a body of
memory represents. Where
to demonstrate
texts enough
its
its presence - and especially
What exemplary group of
active presence - in consciousness?
texts can constitute sufficient proof of the existence
of an
active item of memory and, even more so, its influence on the
formation of morals and attitudes or decisions and actions?
Would
of the
All we can say in this instance is that the presence
in
this
is
because
model"
period
previously it
striking
"Cyrus
it
with
existed
and
because
such
had
hardly
appeared
use
a
of
time.
If
the
of
within
brief
span
history in
frequency
to paraphrase
M.
I. Finley,
the context of culture means,
selection by focusing on a few bits of the past which thereby
acquire
permanence,
relevance
and
significance,40
we
can
of Cyrus is significant, expressing
argue that the appearance
In any case,
in the modern Jewish Weltanschauung.
dimensions
that a corpus of
this is still a long way from the argument
almost
of an
of
the existence
is evidence
quotations
have
We
"historical
memory."
entity
metaphysical
the
indications that the memory of Cyrus served to explain
as
a
and
of
and
it,
granting
legitimizing
symbol
sign
present,
it a sense of certainty, in both the cultural and the political
But it would be difficult to argue that Hibbat Zion
debate.
to Zion or that the
arose
in order to restore the Return
to
was
event
motivated people
the
what
of
memory
previous
new movement.
and
decisions
At
the
most,
processes,
join
trends were endowed with historical "validity" or a historical
Cyrus and theReturn toZion
illustration after - and not before - the fact, by
of the historical precedent.
this reservation, it must be stated that
Despite
there were an official holiday in Israel
example,
or if schools were
instructed
Cyrus Declaration,
the memory
even if, for
to mark the
to devote a
as was
to
of
the
the
lesson
Declaration,
day
commemorating
once done to mark the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration
of November
1917, or if every Israeli city had a "Cyrus
Declaration
Street,'' all these official, organized
signs would
in the
still not necessarily indicate the strength of its presence
This is why I have argued that the
public national memory.
use of the past in the system of signs in the diverse kinds of
everyday verbal communication, which is usually simplistic and
turns "historical
facts" into signs in the
iconic and which
sometimes
"historical
has
greater value than the
language,"
many
forms
of
passive
presence
(street
names,
monuments,
the function of the message,
its transmission and
Here
etc.).
can be
seem
and
direct
A
quantified and evaluated.
reception
monument
is a passive part of everyday life, despite its physical
presence, while a text is an active part of the active historical
memory,
"not
although
present."
it is dispersed
and
unsystematic,
almost
The selection of a period with an analogical
status and of
is naturally influenced by changing
the repertoire of "signs"
occur
in the signifier and his
which
historical
processes
was
the
of
The
Balfour Declaration
signified.
understanding
a
as
almost
realization
of
dramatic
interpreted,
automatically,
the pattern of repetition and as conclusive
evidence of the
This was also the general
validity of the analogy.
feeling
the
overall
analogy between the Return to Zion and
regarding
the beginning of the Zionist enterprise.
Thus, a romantic
nationalist historian like Yosef Klausner,
after describing
the
to
Return
could
of
the
"...
and
Zion,
age
solemnly:
proclaim
when we turn our hearts to the Yishuv [Jewish community] in
Eretz Israel in our time, it is hard for us to refrain from
been!"'
Yet, when
crying out:
'Everything has already
to stress that the Cyrus Declaration
was not
Klausner wanted
a
a
also
miraculous
but
and
historical,
event,
only
unexpected
an extraordinary breakthrough, he made
the opposite parallel:
73
Yaacov
Shavit
"... history starts in every place
in which extraordinary events
is not the Balfour Declaradon
take place.
And
of our dme
and on our behalf a stunning and extraordinary
event?,,4,
Academic writing on the two periods also frequently used such
analogies.
74
as a
the Balfour
Declaration
perceived
Contemporaries
a
as
the
and
event
of
Declaration,
Cyrus
repetition
typological
The
and a turning-point.
from the Balfour
expectations
were
reinforced
Declaration
by the results of the Cyrus
a sense of security and
The
Declaration.
past granted
was
a
to
which
still
present
certainty
foggy and precarious.
to
The Balfour Declaration
stated a delegate
and the Mandate,
should
be
Executive
in
the Zionist
Committee
1920,
to
with
"the
documents
the
remembered
Jews
together
given
by Cyrus and Artaxerxes.,,42
The writer and political figure Moshe
Smilansky took the
a newspaper
to
extremes
when
in
he
asserted
article
parallel
was
"a
Declaration
that the Balfour
royal proclamation
us in advance,
in all our streets it will be read."
prepared for
to the literature of the
article abounds with allusions
The
of Cyrus which
Return to Zion and compares the "Declaration
of
was achieved by a Jew from Babylon and the Declaration
Balfour which is in the hands of a Jew from Lithuania"
(that
and
Enthusiasm about the declaration
is, Chaim Weizmann).43
that the Jewish
the model
of return made
Smilansky declare
was facing the predetermined
realization of the pattern
people
the
return
inherent in Jewish history: the present was
of
of
the
the
of
of
the
realization
past (not only
past)
prophecies
and its reproduction.
in the
This presence of the model of the Cyrus Declaration
in the years 1917-18 prompted
active historical consciousness
the excitement and
the writer Y. H. Brenner to try to dampen
with
of
the
balloon
the
pin of "historical
expectations
prick
articles
enthusiastic
the
described
He
realism."
sarcastically
it
horizons
the
and
Balfour
Declaration
about
the
and talk
as being full of "the Cyrus faith" and as celebrating
opened
"Balfour-Cyrus."44
Brenner
was
referring
to
the
current
to support Zionism
political faith that Britain's agreement
mean
historical
the fulfillment of the
indeed
prophecy.
naive
did
He
Cyrus and theReturn to Zion
as it
thereby rejected the typology of the Cyrus Declaration
in
literature
of
Hibbat
Zion.
the
appeared
of Cyrus in the polemics
of this
the prominence
Given
no wonder
a
that
when
of
the
it
is
symbol
period,
was
was needed,
with
Britain
British
policies
disappointment
the eschatalogical
Thus,
compared with the Persia of Cyrus.
national poet Uri Zvi Greenberg wrote in 1930, after the Arab
Our wounded
riots of 1929: "You king have cheated me.
nation called to you: / Cyrus, king - the most powerful king
in the world! With the prayer of freedom which was covered
he describes
Here
by / The follies of the generations...."45
terms
to
in
in
distinction
the
Cyrus
negative portrayal
positive
of the "King of Britain,'' who represents the policies of his
government.
from
However,
the
literature
1920s,
to
returned
The
defects in the
the Sages'
negative attitude to Cyrus.
to
the Mandatory
Yishuv under
government were compared
to Zion."
those in the earlier "returnees
Just as the essential
in the latter case had stemmed from the fact that
weakness
had been built by the permission
the Second Temple
and
the protection of a foreign king of flesh and blood,
under
and that even the priests of the Second Temple
had received
their authority from a foreign power, so the "national home"
was now being born under foreign license and protection, and
not as the outcome
of the subjective,
immanent, visionary
force of the new Jewish nationalism.
the spirit of the
Thus,
national home was defective, even defiled, and its liberation
was also a liberation from the model of the Return to Zion.
Moreover,
anyone
who
to
continued
refer
to
the
Cyrus
Declaration
and to compare
the Yishuv to the Return to Zion
was depicted as a political minimalist, a defeatist willing to be
a miserable
content with a "day of small things,"
autonomy
was a need for an
the
of
If
there
grace
foreigners.
granted by
analogous
historical
model,
there
were
other,*
more
positive,
that could be cited: the period of the settlement of
periods
the Land of Canaan
and the kingdom of David and Solomon,
or other
in
the Second Temple
chapters
period, from the
time of the Hasmoneans
on.46
We can therefore conclude
that it was not only ideological
to
status
the
of the Return to Zion that
opposition
analogous
75
Yaacov
Shavit
in the collective memory, but also that the
its decline
caused
model no longer had content or signs perceived as relevant or
useful. This was not simply an instance of deliberate neglect,
but of ignoring an event because
it could no longer be used.
case of Cyrus as such, and as part of the case of the
The
Return to Zion as a whole, is therefore an instructive example
76
of the complex and stratified nature of "historical memory,"
its link with historical writing (including historiography),
and
its various uses and functions. A single case, however, cannot
of the subject.
exhaust
the complexities
More
precise
and more case-study research, so that
definitions are needed,
more
abstract
than
this general
and
concept,
metaphor
"reality,"
may
achieve
its rightful place
in
the history
of
culture.
Translated from theHebrew byBarbara Harshav
Cyrus and theReturn toZion
Notes
1 This
essay
is an expanded
version of a
at Tel Aviv University, 13 January
I
short paper
1989, in honor
of essays by Bernard
presented
of the collection
of the publication
in Hebrew
Lewis
translation, Rachel
Simon,
ed., Bernard
Lewis on History: Collected Studies (Jerusalem, 1988).
The
in the epitaph below appears
in an appendix
conversation
to Avigdor Lowenheim,
"Herzl and the Jews of Hungary: A
Tzion 54, no.4 (1989):
from 1903"
Discussion
(in Hebrew),
467.
2 See Bernard
Lewis, History, Remembered, Recovered, Invented
The question
(Princeton, 1976) (Hebrew translation, 5-30).
to what extent the myth of Masada
represents the situation
and state of mind
of the new Israeli nation requires a
on another
I shall undertake
which
separate discussion
There
is another connection between
the myth
occasion.
of Cyrus and the history of the Jewish people:
the myth of
the sublime king, who personally embodies
the "national
by divine grace and is the earthly fulfillment
golden mean"
into Judaism
of divinity, may have
under
the
passed
If so,
influence of the Persian concept of true kingship.
the figure of King David may have been created on the
in the Persian
model
of Cyrus
historical memory
and
and
national
Cf.
K.
Samuel
propaganda.
religious
Eddy,
Studies in the New Eastern Resistance
to
The King Is Dead.
B.C.
34-31
37-64.
Hellenism,
(Nebraska, 1961),
3 See Lionel
"Historical
Allusions
in the Attic
Pearson,
no.
3
Classical
Orators,"
Philosophy 34,
(July 1941): 209-29.
4 Only in modern Persia is Cyrus common as a first name.
It
is also used as a family name (the Tel Aviv phone book lists
about 30 families named Coresh - the Hebrew
version of
the name).
In European
languages,
as far as
I know,
the
77
Yaacov Shavit
name
is used only in English and fairly recendy, and from
there it became a Jewish first name as well.
In Israel there
are only seven streets named
after Cyrus, and
in Holon
emigrants from Iran are erecting a "Cyrus House."
the period of the Hasmoneans
5 During
it was apparently not
known how long the Persian period
in the history of the
Land
of
Hasmonean
78
Jerusalem
they began
sources do
The Megillat Taanit
of the
lasted.
mentions
the
wall
the
of
of
dedication
period
after the return from exile ("the day on which
to build they made
But the
into a holiday").
Israel
had
not mention
that the dedication
of the wall of
was
not
return
to Zion)
wall
and
the
(the
Jerusalem
in any way in that period.
Cf. H. Lichtenstein's
celebrated
I am
edition in Hebrew Union College Annual 8/9 (1930/31).
grateful to Dr. Yoram Arder for this information.
6 Cf. Michael Walzer, Exodus and Revolution (New York, 1985).
from Egypt is a myth of complete messianic
The Exodus
even though it is not accompanied
by a myth of
beginning,
From
the
fulfillment.
messianic
complete
point of view of
the Bible the Exodus from Egypt is a full redemption which
leads it to the promised
creates the people of the Torah and
There
is therefore no
land and promised
redemption.
was
a
messianic
need for
picture of the future: the latter
in the
while
evoked
only after failure or destruction,
from Egypt a brand new beginning
Exodus
lay before the
Jewish people.
the "pattern of repetition"
7 On
(Wiederholungsstruktur), see
Book
The
the
Sara Japhet,
of Chronicles and Its Place
Ideology of
in Biblical Thought (in Hebrew)
(Jerusalem, 1977), 327. The
term is in W. Rudolph,
the
Ezra und Nehemia
of
origin
conflict
6.
On
the
of the historical
1949),
(Tubingen,
on the
of the "remnant"
traditions in the consciousness
to Zion" on the other, see
one hand and of the "returnees
to the
"The Relation of the Jewish People
Tadmore,
and
Exile
the
in
the
the
Israel
of
of
Land
Babylonian
Light
in A. Mirsky et al., eds., Exile and Diaspora:
Return to Zion,"
Studies in the History of the Jewish People
(in Hebrew)
(Jerusalem, 1988), 50-56.
"Visions of the Past: Jews and Greeks,"
8 Howard Jacobson,
Haim
Cyrus and theReturn toZion
no. 4 (Fall 1986): 467-82.
Judaism 35,
see below, and also my
detailed
discussion
9 For a more
to Zion
in
"The
Return
the Hibbat
Zion
ardcle,
Movement"
(in Hebrew), Ha-Tzionut 9 (1984): 359-72.
10 This definidon of myth is taken from G. S. Kirk, The Nature
ofGreekMyths (New York, 1975), 28-29.
and Hellenistic
11 Such a view is characteristic of Roman
literature and that of the Jewish Sages, although we should
a moral
distinguish between examples which demonstrate
literature and that of the Sages) and
lesson (as in Roman
and eternal
laws of
general
examples which demonstrate
"universal history" (as in the Enlightenment's
philosophy of
the history of rationalism).
in H. Reill, The German Enlightenment and theRise of
12 Quoted
Historicism (Berkeley, 1975), 102.
that there
13 Thucydides, Historiae 1.22. This does not mean
that events recur but
is a law in history which determines
rather that there are universally valid rules that operate
within a framework of specific conditions.
translation of Jacob Burckhardt,
14 Quoted
from the Hebrew
Isaak (Jerusalem,
Weltgeschichtliche Betrachtungen, trans. Ch.
1962), 8.
15 See Roman
and Poetics,"
in idem,
"Linguistics
Jacobson,
Selected
Hebrew
translation
Semiotics, Linguistics, Poetics,
Papers,
ed. I. Even-Zohar and G. Touri (Tel Aviv, 1986), 140-41.
"The Edict of Cyrus in Ezra,"
in idem,
16 Elias Bikerman,
Studies in Jewish and Christian History (Leyden, 1976), 1:72
108. Bikerman also discusses here the relationship of the
their conclusion
that
Sages to the Declaration,
emphasizing
the Divine Presence did not rest upon the Temple
because
it was built by the inspiration of a foreign king (in the
tractate Yoma 9).
See also Haim Tadmore,
"The Rise of
to His Declaration,"
Coresh and the Historical Background
in idem, The Restoration in the Persian Period (in Hebrew)
(Tel Aviv, 1983); and Y. Ben-Zvi, "Cyrus King of Persia and
His Edict to the Exiles"
Third World Congress of
(in Hebrew),
The Cyrus Cylinder
Studies
29-31.
1961),
(Jerusalem,
Jewish
was discovered by H. Rassam in 1879 and deciphered
by C.
in 1880 - two years before the inception of
G. Rawlinson
79
Yaacov
Shavit
Hibbat Zion.
17 See Shmuel Hacohen,
Nehemia (in Hebrew)
"The Persian Period
80
Introduction to the Books of Ezra and
1987); and Yosef Tavori,
to
the Sages,"
in Millet:
According
Studies
in
and
Culture
(in
Everyman's University
Jewish History
Tavori claims that the
Hebrew)
(Tel Aviv, 1985), 2:66-77.
Sages had no historical tradition on the period other than
that in the Bible and emphasizes
their interest in making
Persian
to
conform
that of
the Bible.
chronography
it seems unlikely that the Sages really did not
However,
know anything about the period from 538 to 330 B.C.E. or
that they were
content with chronographical
knowledge,
in
especially
light of the fact that they were in Persia and
thus close to the Persian historical tradition.
18 The Josippon (Josephus Gorionides) (in Hebrew),
ed. with an
introduction,
(Jerusalem,
the episode
(Ramat Gan,
and
notes
Flusser
commentary
by David
in
includes
1981). Josephus,
Jewish Antiquities,
in a very abbreviated
form in vol. 3, book 11,
3-5.
19 See
the detailed discussion
in Hacohen,
Introduction to the
Books of Ezra and Nehemia, 80-92, and in Efraim A. Orbach,
to the Sages"
(in
"Cyrus and His Declaration
According
no.
Molad
157
368-74.
19,
Hebrew),
(1961):
Introduction to theBooks ofEzra and Nehemia, 89.
20 Hacohen,
21 See the analysis of the policies of Julian and the Jewish
to his plan in Moshe
David Herr, The History of
response
Eretz Israel, vol. 5, The Roman Byzantine Period (in Hebrew)
(Jerusalem, 1985), 70-74.
and the Return to
22 For the concept of the Second Temple
in the Book of Principles of Rabbi Yosef Albo,
Zion
for
see
Yona
"The
Picture
of
Ben-Sasson,
example,
History of
in R. Bonfil et al., eds., Culture and
Rabbi Yosef Albo,"
Society in theHistory of Israel in theMiddle Ages: Collection of
Articles in Honor
(in Hebrew)
of Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson
(Jerusalem, 1989), 503-9.
"The
Persian Conquest
and
the End of the
23 Zvi Baras,
in
et
Baras
Eretz
Israel from the
Rule,"
al.,
eds.,
Byzantine
Destruction of the Second Temple to theMuslim
Conquest (in
In
1:323-26.
Hebrew)
1982),
(Jerusalem,
religious
Cyrus and theReturn toZion
in that period, Jews and Christians
and debates
one
in the use of the "memory of
with
another
competed
the Return to Zion" and its parallels.
in the Time of the Expulsion from
24 Isaiah Tishbi, Messianism
and
(Jerusalem, 1985), 75-76.
Spain
Portugal (in Hebrew)
to
of
the
the
future, Cyrus,
picture
eschatalogical
According
who had destroyed Babylon, was also to destroy "Rome":
and Christianity as
identified as "Persia"
the Turks were
propaganda
"Rome."
25 Bikkurei ha-Ittim (Vienna,
1829).
(These Hebrew
literary
scientific journals published
from 1821
annually in Vienna
to 1832 were a central forum for Haskalah
literature.)
of the Jews of Italy to
26 Shlomo Simonson, "A Few Responses
and the Haskalah"
the 'First Emancipation'
(in Hebrew),
Italia Judaica (Rome, 1989), 38.
27 Yehuda
(1884; Tel Aviv,
Leyb Gordon, Poetry (in Hebrew)
18.
1956),
28 Baruch Mevorach,
ed., Napoleon and His Period (in Hebrew)
to the Cyrus
In a clear allusion
1968), 8.
(Jerusalem,
of October
the proclamation
1806 states that
Declaration,
"God of the world, who rules over all the kings of the
as a ruler and commander of
earth, chose him [Napoleon]
these
lands...."
to Zion";
also Ezriel Shohat,
Shavit, "The Return
and
of
Life
in
Hibbat
Zion"
"Names,
(in
Way
Symbols
Shivat Tzion 2/3 (1981/82):
238-50.
Hebrew),
to be the practice
to stage a
30 It used
in Israeli schools
on
whether
Ezra
trial
Nehemia
and
behaved
had
public
to
law
when
Jewish
they expelled foreign women
according
and assumed an "isolationist"
policy; this, apparently, was
the last theme of the period which
historical memory
29 See
continued
to use.
Fein, The Book of Chronicles (in Hebrew)
(Vilna, 1891),9, note 1.
the survey of religious
literature in S. Z. Schechter,
32 See
"The Reason Given by the Rabbis
for Their Cooperation
in the 'Hibbat Zion' Movement,"
with the Maskilim
in the
yearbook, Studies in theHistory of theJewish People and the
31 Shmuel
Land
Yosef
of Israel
(in Hebrew)
(Haifa,
1978),
4:224-52.
In his
81
Yaacov Shavit
book
82
Drishat Tzion, Rabbi Zvi Kalischer writes specifically
will begin with the "awakening
that redemption
of the
state
to
of
and
with
the
of
desire
the
spirit
generosity
a few of the
in
of
the
Land."
Israel
gather
dispersed
Holy
See The Zionist Writings of Rabbi Zvi Kalischer (in Hebrew)
(Jerusalem, 1947), 38.
in Schechter, "The Reason Given by the Rabbis."
33 Quoted
are numerous
34 There
in writings of the
such statements
time.
See Shulamit Laskov, ed., Documents on theHistory of
Hibbat Zion and the Settlement of Eretz Israel (in Hebrew)
(Tel
Aviv,
The
literature
vol. 1, 1870-1882.
rabbinical
that the Return to Zion was a "redemption
by
nature"
and by royal permission.
For further
to the
Allusions
Shavit, "The Return to Zion."
its background
and
scattered
results are
1982),
emphasized
means
of
details see
Declaration,
throughout many contemporary texts.
in Sh. Yavnieli,
The Period of Hibbat
Zion
35 Quoted
(in
2nd ed. (Tel Aviv, 1961), 2:129.
Hebrew),
36 Laskov, ed., Documents on theHistory ofHibbat Zion, doc. 65,
pp. 259-60.
is an extensive literature
37 Ibid., doc. 64, pp. 257-58. There
in
on Laurence
and
the
Zionist,
Oliphant
Jewish episode
concerns us here is contained
in Shulamit
his life. What
Laskov, The Biluim (in Hebrew)
(Jerusalem, 1979), 49-83.
See also Ann Taylor, Laurence Oliphant, 1829-1888
(Oxford,
1982).
in Yavnieli, The Period ofHibbat Zion, 1:105-6.
38 Quoted
39 Laskov, ed., Documents on theHistory ofHibbat Zion, doc. 70,
pp. 268-72.
in idem, Abuses
40 M. I. Finley, "Myth, Memory and History,"
30.
ofHistory (New York, 1972),
The Messianic
Idea in Israel (in Hebrew)
41 Yosef Klausner,
on
the
For
his commentary
114.
1927),
(Jerusalem,
see
95-96.
in
view
his
about Cyrus
time,
prophetic point of
et al., eds., The Minutes of the Zionist General
42 Gedalia
Yogev
1921
vol. 2, February 1920-August
Council 1919-1929,
(in
Ben
See also Mordechai
(Tel Aviv, 1984), 29.
Hebrew)
War of theNations in Eretz Israel: Diary 1914
Hillel Hacohen,
After the
1918
(in Hebrew)
1985), vol 2.
(Jerusalem,
Cyrus and theReturn toZion
wrote
of Jerusalem, Hacohen
in 1917 that the
conquest
was "a kind of proclamadon
of Cyrus
Balfour Declaration
Persia.
of
Hearts
beat
and
that it
(999),
King
strongly"
would do for the Jewish people what the Cyrus Declaration
had done for it in the distant past - despite all the efforts
slanderers (the traitors) (1008).
of the modern
43 Moshe
(in Hebrew),
Smilansky, "Looking Toward History"
of Hadashot me-ha-Aretz, 5 July
in the literary supplement
1918.
44 Y. H. Brenner, "Obsolete
Conversations"
(in Hebrew), Ha
Adamah (1920), in The Writings of Y. H. Brenner (in Hebrew)
(Tel Aviv, 1960), 2:159.
45 Uri Zvi Greenberg, Book of Accusation and Faith (in Hebrew)
(Tel Aviv, 1937).
46 In Israel today the image of Cyrus and the erection of the
under the aegis of a foreign king are placed
in
Temple
to
the
of
the
and
of
the
conquest
opposition
purity
Temple
in ancient
the land
times or
in the period
of the
Hasmoneans.
See
Israel Eldad,
"First
idem, Reflections on Festivals (in Hebrew)
131-32.
in
Second,"
(Tel Aviv, 1981),
and
83