Arabs in Ancient Rabbinic Texts

The rabbis of late antiquity were very aware that Arabs—tribal communities from the Arabian Peninsula—existed. It is also very likely that they interacted with Arabs in a range of commercial and social contexts. Rabbinic literature recounts interactions with both named and anonymous Arabs, reflects on the relative morality and righteousness of Arabs, and contains biblical exegeses linking Arabs to biblical Ishmael, their progenitor according to rabbinic tradition. The rabbis’ depiction of Arabs is complex and multivalent. As with rabbinic discussions of many Others, some of the depictions are flattering, but many are not. Arabs are often depicted as sources of what the rabbis would describe as primitive folk wisdom, possessing knowledge that is subordinated to and appropriated by the rabbinic movement. In other instances, Arabs serve as a foil for rabbinic superiority as negative examples of behavior, knowledge, or relationship to God.

The rabbis use three distinct terms to refer to Arabs. The first is Ishmaelites, which appears primarily but not exclusively in discussions linking Arabs to the biblical Ishmael. The second term is Tayaye, originally exemplified by the Tayyi tribe of the western Sasanian Empire, which was used across religious communities in late antiquity to refer to nomadic Arab communities and individuals. The third term is Arab, which was used primarily to refer to sedentary Arab communities. Even with this linguistic specificity, the modern reader must be careful to recognize that, while the rabbinic discussions of Arabs may well contain information about the realities of Arab life in late antiquity, these descriptions are always part of a larger rabbinic project. The information is shaped in particular ways to meet late antique rabbinic pedagogical, religious, and social goals.