THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Alexander Jannseus
According to Bi-rshadski, the Jews were biiuislied from llie cities and districts of Brest. Troki, Wilna. Tlicy Liit/.k, Vladimir, and Kiev. Banished were adniilled inlii Poland tiy Ale.Jews ander's hrollier Kiri^' John Allicrt. and reniaincil in Kaino and vicinity Return. until l.VKi. when they again relumed to Lithuania by the order of Alexander. In
iriOl
Alexander, after the death of his brother
In his John Albert, was elected king of I'oland. new dominions dwelt the Jews who had previously As it was been expelled by him Irom Lithuania. (litliciilt for him to banish them from Poland owing to their wealth, tlii'ir great numbers, and the |irotection of the inlluential Polish nobility, he found politic to "iiermit" Ihem to return to Lithuania.
it
colonists from Germany and Sweden, who were to have taken the place of the banAs Xing' ished Jews, had failed to come; the of Poland, new tax-collectors did not meet hisex pectations; and the war with Jbiscow re(|uired great sums of money. Accordingly the .lews were "permilled" to rettun to Lithuania in March and April. ')i)3. on the following conditions: 'i'hey were to settle in the same places where they had lived before; and all their houses, stores, gardens, fields, meadows, etc.,. were to be sold back to them at the prices paid by the present owners. In their turn the .lews had the right to collect all outstanding debts not paid lo Ihem at the lime of Iheir banishment they were obliged to furnish 1.000 horsemen for the army, and to pa.v a considerable annual amoiuit to the aulhorities. Probably not long before the end of Alexander's reign the Jews contrived to have the obligation touching the 1.000 hor.semeu abolished, and had to pay taxes and additional imposts like all other burghers instead.
The
BnamcR.M'nv
Hershadskl, Lilnrxkir Yr
mi.
Si. I'i'ti'i>lHiru',
ISSi: Itiiifsliii jV(i»ljiwi,V(il.i..si. I'l-tfrslniiL.'. |s!i;); .s',,;.rn/iit (roi<U'larslvc}iniikh i Cliastinil'h Al,l>>r Kii--<iiiiusluiiihlisif.-«i Istorii Litrii. Wilna, 1H.')S; T. Czaoki. Rozprawa o Zudach
Karaitafli, Wilna,
I
isnr.
H. R.
ALEXANDER JANNiEUS King of was the
.luilea
born about
lOii n.c.
(Jonathan): died 7fi n.e. He
third son of John Ilyreanus. by his second wife, and ascended the throne in the year 102 B.C. He was alwa.vs badly treated by his father in order thereby lo enhance the prestige of the heir apparent, Aristobulus I., and of his brother Autigonus both
—
children of Hyreanus' former marriage.
Aristobu-
352
tary one, the son of a deceivsi-d high priest could not clami he succession by right (Sifra, Ahare^Iot. viii.). [It has been suggested that the .Mexniidra whom .VleXiUider married was not the widow of .Vristobnlus: Detilsch. in Rahmer's " Lilcranublall. lilOO.] Alexander, accordingly, did not conllici with I'lniri sale views when he married a widow and later took |)osses,sion of the high jiriesfs ollice. Resides the Talinnd itself (Yeb. 20/)) considers the prohibition against a high priest's contra<ting a levirate mar riage as a later picseriplion of the nibbis, as a "preventive" im'TJ) which possibly in Alexander's time had not even been theorelicidly considered. It is ceit.iin thai the Sadducees, adhering to the liteial conceplionof the Law (Lev. xxi. Ui), considered the levimte marriage as ina|)plicable to the case of a high priest so that the first public act of this new t
—
—
king the marriage of his brother's widow wasonc of antiSaddueaie tendency. But in the beginning of his reign .leaniler had no time looccnpy himself with matlers of internal jiolilical importance; and the stalemeni Ihal on his accession he |>nt to death a brother whom he fi'ared as a ])ossible rival is therefore highly improbable'. Such a step woidd certainly have alienated a considerable proportion of Moreover, the jihuis of conc(uest Ihat the people. he clierishcd demanded large siipplies of soldiei's. which could certainly not be olitaiiU'd, especially
among
Pharisaic .lews, by blood stained hands. Alexaniler's chief aim was to muUi- .ludea great and jiowcrful to this he devoted hislif<'. His first expedition was against the city of Ptole;
His 'Wars.
mais(Acre). This campaign seems to have been W(dl timed jiolilically for
just then the two Antiochi of Syria, the eight h iind ninth of that name, were actively en,i;aged against each other, so that neither could lend any assistance to the beleaguered city. Help, however, came to the eili/.ens of Ptolemais from Plolemy Lalhurus. who had been cast ontby his mother. Cleopatra, queen of Egj'pt, and had founded for himself a king<lom in Cyprus. He landed a large army for the relief of the town; but .Iexander met him with treachery, arI'anging an alliance with him openly while secretly he sought to obtain the help of his mother against him. As.soon as Plolemy learncil of this intrigue, he marched against Asochis. near Se|)iihoris, wlii<-h. together wilh 10.000 ))rison<'rs and much plunder, he caplured iiiion a Sabbath. similar attack U])on Sep|)horis failed; but in a later batlh' at .zophon on the Jordan. .Vlcxander wilh his whole army sufTereda wofnl defeat at the hands of Plolemy wilh a much smallerforee. Tothisdefeat of the Jews .Mexander's own lemerity contributed not a little; for, relying upon his own sirenglh. he allowed lhe<Ticmy to cross the river unimpeded, in ord<'r thai, as lie thought, he might the more easily catch him belwcen his army and the stream. He ssiw his error only when it was too late. The enemy fell upon the Jewish camp, women and children were struck down, their corpses pieces, flungintocaldronsand boiled, so Ihat the people thought they were dealing wilh Alexander might easily have lost his cannibals. crown and Jiidea ils indeix'iidence as the result of this battle, had it not been for the assistance ex-
were hacked to
Copper
f'uiu of
(After MadiJ«D.
lus,
his it
Alexander Janna-us.
" HlsUiry
of Jtrwlsh Coiuage.")
when he became king, de<'med it necessary for own seeurily to imjuison his half-brother; and his queen, Salome, who first set him at lib-
was
erty.
Aristobulus died after a reign of one year,
and Alexander, as the oldest living brother, had the right not only to the throne but also to Salome, the widow of his deceased brother, who had died childless; and. although she was thirteen years older than he. he manned her. As. according to Pharisiic conceptions the dignity of high priest was not a heredi-
Cleopatra's tended by Egypt in this extremity. two .lewish generals. Helkias (n'p^n) and Ananias (n'Jjn). represented so vividly the dangers of allowing her baiushed son Ptolemy to remain victorious that she entrusted them with an army against him. As a result Plolemy was forced to withdraw to Cyprus, and Alexander was sjived. The Egyptians, it
is
true, as comjicnsation for their aid. desired to to their country; but considerations
annex Judea
