July 20: Ezra the Scribe

According to modern scribes of the Lubavitcher hasidic movement, this is the date in 348 BCE on which Ezra the Scribe arrived in Israel with about 1,500 Jewish men and their families, exiles from Babylon, as detailed in the biblical books Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra, a descendant of the high priest of Jerusalem, is credited with restoring Judaism after nearly eight decades of assimilation and separation in Babylon. He insisted that Jewish men who had married non-Jewish women dissolve their marriages, he restored the Torah as the law, and he emphasized the separation of Jews from other peoples. Ezra is also traditionally credited with establishing the Great Assembly of scholars and leaders, forerunner of the Sanhedrin, as the governing body of Jewish life. Different accounts cite him as buried in Jerusalem, in Basra, Iraq, and in Tedef, Syria. Rabbi Harold Schulweis has pointed to two traditions in Jewish life, that of Ezra (separateness and strictness, inreach) and that of Ruth (universalism and inclusion, outreach), both of which have been vital to Jewish life and the Jewish contribution to humanity across the centuries.
“ ‘We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel. Now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all these women and their children, in accordance with the counsel of my lord and of those who fear the commands of our God. Let it be done according to the Law. Rise up; this matter is in your hands. We will support you, so take courage and do it.’ So Ezra rose up and put the leading priests and Levites and all Israel under oath to do what had been suggested. And they took the oath.” —Ezra 2-5