Coin
(dinar) from Bar Kokhba
period (2nd cent. CE)
During the Second
Temple period, the economy of the Land of Israel was principally agricultural.
Wheat and particularly barley were produced in such quantities that, despite
the great population density, enough was produced in good years to sustain
the heavy burden of taxation in kind exacted by foreign rulers and, in
addition, even have cereals for export.
Even the Egyptian
author of the "Letter of Aristeas" extolled Judea's high agricultural
productivity. Some rabbis boasted, with homiletical recklessness, that
in blessed years the poorest region of Palestine gave a larger crop that
the richest part of Egypt, which from time immemorial had been the granary
of the Mediterranean world.
There is not a vine in the land of Israel
whose harvesting does not require the labor of a whole town. (TB
Ketubbot 111b)
Still richer was the fruit
crop. As Plutarch, Pliny and other classical writers tell us, Palestinian dates,
figs, olives andgrapes, wine and oil were of superior quality and prized even
in other Mediterranean countries rich in these products. They were served on
the imperial tables in Rome. With truly oriental abandon a rabbi contended that
"there is not a vine in the land of Israel whose harvesting does not require
the labor of a whole town." Another explained his three-day absence from
his job by saying, "My father left me a vine branch from which I harvested
on the first day three hundredclusters each yielding a barrel. On the second
day, I cut three hundred clusters yielding half a barrel each. On the third
day, the three hundred clusters produced one-third barrel each and I still left
behind more than half of the crop." (TB Ketubot 111b)[1]
Medieval Western
Europe
By the 15th century few Jews still owned vineyards and produced their own
wine, but trade in wine and liquor was becoming a major Jewish occupation
in Germany and the Slavic countries. The competition from Jews was often
serious enough to cause local guilds to complain about it. At times, this
commerce was developed in combination with money lending.
As Jews moved from
the more advanced Mediterranean countries into newer areas of settlement
in the Middle Ages (especially Spain, France and Germany) they could employ
more refined techniques in the cultivation of old [crops] and introduce
new crops, to their own and society's advantage. Jews were often attracted
to agriculture because of the opportunities opened here for their pioneering
efforts..… While rabbinic sources mention Jews raising grain, most
Jewish farmers seem to have devoted themselves to viticulture, the cultivation
of orchards or dairy and truck farming, all of which required a larger
initial investment of capital and labor, but later yielded higher returns
on limited areas.
They
make a banquet for revelry; wine makes life merry and money answers
every need. (Ecclesiastes 10:19)
For Jews, [viticulture]
appeared doubly attractive, as grapes could be cultivated in the immediate
vicinity, or even within the confines of many medieval towns. After the
initial plantings, vineyards and orchards require more intelligent supervision
than constant labor. Hence, even scholars like Rashi could grow grapes
for a living, while devoting their main attention to research and teaching.
Rashi's grandson Jacob Tam, though a prosperous moneylender and possibly
tax farmer, also engaged in the cultivation and the production of wine.
This practical experience taught him to be less stringent with respect
to the laws of "wine of libation." On one occasion he justified
his liberal interpretation by saying: "Wherever a considerable financial
loss is involved the Torah always evinces concern for Israel's money.
Should I not evince such concern, and refuse to decide that the matter
is permitted?"
Medieval Spain
In medieval Spain (both Muslim and Christian), the sale and consumption
of wine were taxed by the autonomous Jewish communal administration.
Jews
emigrating from Muslim lands easily transplanted the same methods especially
to countries of comparable climatic conditions such as northern Spain,
Provence and parts of Italy. The nascent states of Leon and Castile, Aragon
and Catalonia, as well as those of neighboring Provence therefore welcomed
and fostered Jewish land-ownership, and even the Church raised few objections.
Many 10th-12th churches and monasteries are even recorded as collaborating
with Jews in developing newly recovered lands.
[A claim has even been made]
though with much exaggeration, that between the tenth and twelfth centuries
Jews owned one third of all of the land around Barcelona. On their part, Jews,
whose ownership of entire villages is attested by the frequency of such designations
as allodium Judaicum or mons Judaicus or those derived from al-yehud
or yahudi, developed that attachment to the soil characteristic of persons
born and bred on it…[2]
[1]Salo
Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews. Volume I, New York:
Columbia University Press. 1957. pages 250, 51. [back]
[2]
Salo
Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews. Volume IV Meeting of
East and West, New York: Columbia University Press. 1957. [back]
