- - - [?] Ten years ago there arose a man, whose name was
David Elro’i, from the town Amadiah. He used to study in the school
of Hasdai the Head of the Community, and in the presence of the Dean of
the Yeshiva, Jacob Ga’on in the province of Baghdad. David was erudite
in Jewish Law, in Halakhah and in Talmud – as well as in all secular
fields. He was versed in Arabic language and Arabic texts [= including
the Arabic script], and in the works of magicians and wizards as well.
He once got it into his mind to lead a rebellion against the King of Persia.
He set out to muster the Jews who resided in the cities of HaPaton, and
to get them to make war on all the nations, and to go further –
and capture Jerusalem. He provided the Jews with signs, fraudulently textualized,
proclaiming to them: ‘The Holy-One Blessed Be He has sent me to
conquer Jerusalem, and to take you out rescued from the yoke of the gentile-nations’.
A certain number of Jews believed him, and [even] called him ‘Our
Messiah’. When the king of Persia heard of the matter, he ordered
David to come and answer up to him. David made his appearance fearlessly.
When the king convened with him, he asked him: ‘Are you king of
the Jews’. David answered him: ‘Yes I am’. At that,
the king was furious: he gave orders that he be arrested, and sent to
jail; he specified that he be imprisoned where the king’s prisoners
were always given life-imprisonment – namely in the city called
Revstahn (Tabristan) which was located on the great River Gozan. When
three days had passed, the king sat down to consult with his ministers,
about the Jews who had started an open rebellion against him... Facing
them stood none other than... David, himself: he had released himself
from the prison – without any human authority. Now when the king
saw him, he said to him: ‘Who escorted you here? Who sanctioned
your release?‘ He answered him: ‘My wisdom and my scheming;
because I have no fear, neither of you nor of your servants!’ The
king immediately shouted an order to his officers: ‘Catch him! Arrest
him!’ Then his officers answered him: ‘We cannot see his body;
we can merely hear his voice’. Then the king with all his ministers
were astonished at David’s wisdom. Then David said to the king:
‘I must make my way now’. So he moved on, with the king following
him ... So his ministers and officers continued following their king,
until they came to the riverside. David took his scarf, spread it out
on the water-surface, and crossed the river with it. At that point of
time, the king’s officers beheld him crossing the river on the scarf.
They made every attempt to pursue him with little fishing-rafts, in order
to get him back – but to no avail. They concluded: ‘There
is no wizard anywhere like this one!’ On that day, by using the
Ineffable Name, he travelled a distance [normally requiring] ten days,
and came to the city Amadiah. There he recounted to the Jews all his experiences;
they were all astounded at his brilliance. Then the king sent a gift to
the Emir Almunimin, the Khalif in Baghdad, the lord of the Arabs, urging
him to speak to the Exilarch and to the Dean of the Yeshiva Jacob Ga’on,
so that they use their influence to prevent David Elro’i continuing
these practices. He set it as an ultimatum: if they fail to use their
authority [in this matter], – so said the king – I shall kill
all the Jews throughout all my empire. At that time, all the Jewish communities
throughout Persia were in dire straits. They wrote letters to the Exilarch
and to the Deans of the Baghdad Yeshiva-Academies, saying: ‘Why
should we die before your eyes – we, together with all the communities
in the Persian empire? Curb this fellow; ban his activities, in order
that innocent Jewish blood be not spilt.’ Then the Exilarch and
the Deans of the Baghdad Yeshiva-Academies wrote to him the following:
You should know that the hour of the Redemption has not yet arrived; ‘Our
signs – we have [as yet] not observed’; ‘It is not by
physical force, that a man prevails’. We issue you a final warning,
that you absolutely refrain from any further performance of these practices.
If you fail to abide, you are retroactively excommunicated from Jewry.
They sent a communiqué to Zakkay the Nasi in Babylon [Musal] as
well as to R. Josef the Seer in that province, known as Burhan El-Muraq:
these latter two were to issue written warrants for Daid Elro’i
too. This they did, giving him final warning. He refused to accept the
warning and did not repent of his ways. Eventually, the King of the Togarmim
whose name was Zun-el-Din, being a vassal to the Persian king, communicated
with David Elro’i’s father-in-law – bribing him with
10,000 gold coins, so that he murder David stealthily. He executed this
task; he came to his house, found him asleep in bed, and he killed him.
This finally put an end to David Elro’i’s schemes and contrivances.
Nonetheless, the Persian King’s wrath toward the Jews who dwelled
in the mountain-land and in his land was not allayed. When they noticed
this, they appealed to the Exilarch to take up their plight with the king.
So he made informal overtures to the king; the latter was appeased by
the one hundred talents of gold they showered on him. Then his anger was
assuaged. And the land was tranquil thereafter.
Source: Excerpt taken from Hebrew edition of A. Z. Eshkoli,
Messianic Movements in Israel, Bialik Institute