RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIESample of the kind of popular Judaism that existed in such a mixed
society is the use of a variant of the Shema' (Deut. 6:4), "Hear, Israel,
YYYY our God is one YYYY," on the bowl of a man called Berik-
Yahbeh (or Berik Yah-be-Yah) bar Miime and his wife Ispandarmed.^31
More important than the presence of Persian names is the Magian
significance of many of them. Aramaean Jews had names such as
Bahmandiich and Hormizdiich;32 Yezidiid ("Theodore"), the son of
Izdiindiich ("Theodora") and Merdiich;33 Ispandarmed;34 Rashnoi;35
and even Sardust bath Shirin.36 The Persian concept of the primal man
(Gayomarth) was applied in a Talmudic description of Adam,37 and
may have influenced anthropomorphic tendencies in early Jewish mys-
ticism.^38 Jews may also have been affected by Magian demonology.
The Talmud provides instructions for the proper ablutions when one
has been defiled by a reptile,39 and the Nippur incantation texts contain
a reference to demons "in the likeness of vermin and reptiles. "40 The
Jews of Sasanian Iraq were also familiar with Persian festivals, legal
traditions, and social customs, and Rabbi Papa (d. 374) found it nec-
essary to forbid Jews to wear tight Persian trousers.^41
Socially, Jews were a representative cross-section of the Aramaean
population in the Sasanian period. They were landlords, officials, sol-
diers, scholars, merchants, craftsmen, laborers, peasants, and slaves.
The rich Jews of Mahoza were the aristocrats of the community. The
descendants of converts with their own dialect, they were known for
their luxury, laziness, selfishness, fastidiousness, drunkenness, intel-
ligence, and charity. Their women did not work and wore more jewelry
31 C. Isbell, Corpus of the Aramaic Incantation Bowls (Missoula, Montana, 1975),
pp. 89-90; Montgomery, Incantation Texts, pp. 209-11.
32 Montgomery, Incantation Texts, pp. 117, 127-28. These are theophoric 'names.
The first signifies "daughter [given by] Bahman" (Vohuman), the first of the Amas-
haspentas.
33 Ibid., pp. 147-48, 152. Compare these names with Yazdiindiikht and Yazdiid (Justi,
Namenbuch, pp. 146, 149), and with Mitr-duxt (ibid., pp. 207-8, 213).
34 This is the New Persian form of Spenta Armaiti, one of the Amashaspends and a
daughter of Ohrmazd (Justi, Namenbuch, p. 308; Montgomery, Incantation Texts, pp.
209-11). Note that a name such as this occurs in the same text as the Shema'.
35 This is a hypocoristic form of Rashn, the spirit of justice who judges the souls of
the dead along with Mithra and Sraosha (Justi, Namenbuch, p. 259; Montgomery,
Incantation Texts, pp. 155, 158).
36 Here Zarathustra has been turned into a feminine name (Justi, Namenbuch, p.
380; Montgomery, Incantation Texts, p. 161).
37 Rodkinson, Talmud, XVI, "Sanhedrin," 369.
38 G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (New York, 1954), p. 66.
39 Rodkinson, Talmud, VIII, "Taanith," 41.
40 Montgomery, Incantation Texts, p. 148.
41 Neusner, History, p. 285.
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