User:Codhecht/sandbox

= Article Evaluation = Isaac Ben Abraham of Troki was a popular scholar and writer during the 16th century who lived in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth otherwise known as "Troki." Isaac was a Karaite Jew meaning he only interprets the written messages of the Ten Commandments and rejects the oral history of the Jewish religion. Isaac would frequently engage in debates with those who looked down on the Jewish religion and would use his wit to alter the minds of those who discriminated against the Jews. His writings were mainly read by interested Jewish individuals who felt obliged to further his points into their own beliefs and perspectives. Monsieur de Voltaire described Isaac's anti-Christian work "Hizzuk Emunah" as a masterpiece.

When looking at the article, it seemed that all information was relevant to the topic of Isaac of Troki. Although there is no out-of-date information, there is some missing information that could be vital in the context of Isaac. There is no personal life section for Isaac meaning those who read this will not be able to see when he was born, when he died, or how he was raised. If they had the information of how Isaac was raised, it would be easier to understand how he became such a critical writer for the anti-Christian, pro-Jewish campaign.

This article is very neutral in the sense it gives quotes from other famous writers when describing how influential his work was in the 16th century. The writer of the article did a good job finding different sources to detail their experience reading and appreciating the work of Isaac.

When looking at the citations and references I noticed not all of the information presented had a citation at the end of the sentence meaning the writer of the article forgot to include all of his sources. There are only three references yet there is an abundance of information on Isaac. Also, there are not links to each citation the writer put under the reference section so going to these sources are unattainable. Finally, all of the information on Isaac comes from Judaic readings which could present a bias due to the fact he was a Jewish man yet there are no notes that a bias could be present from the author.

On the talk page of this article, there is one response from a person questioning the validity of a statement without a source at the end of the sentence. The writer of the article called Johann Christoph Wagenseil "anti-Jewish" to which the response had a problem with. There was no source showing the evidence that this was the case and the responder said he/she has looked at many other sources where Wagenseil is not described as Anti-Jewish. The writer of the article respectfully responds to these statements by giving the source of where they found this information and thanks the responder for carefully reading the page. Since, the writer of the article has published a note inserting an external link to the page where he found the information for Wagenseil.

= Kairouan Jews =

Notes (Drafting Contributions)
These laws puzzled the Kairouan Jews, and so they sent an enquiry to Rabbi Tzemach Ben Haim of the Sura Academy, who attempted to explain them and reconcile them with halacha. Other rabbis, including Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg and members of the Tosafists were not similarly sympathetic. The Sura Academy was not the only major Babylonian academy, as the Academy of Kairouan worked closely with Pumbedita Academy as well. With the arrival of Rabbi Chushi'el B. Elhanan, the institutions of learning in Kairouan became much more self-sufficient as they adopted more and more Jewish educators into the land. Natronai B. Chavivai and Mar Ukba, two leaders in Jewish diaspora during the Middle Ages, arrived in Kairouan due to religious persecution in Babylon and Baghdad respectively.

The Tunisian city of Kairouan (Hebrew: קירואן‎, Arabic: قيروان‎  Qirwān), also known as Kirwan or al-Qayrawan was a world center of Talmudic and Halakhic scholarship for at least three generations. While inhabited by the Jewish population, Kairouan was known as the most well-recognized cultural and economic paradise of the Jewish community.

Today there is no Jewish community." This emigration took place from 1946-1960 until the Jewish community was all but nothing in the place that was the cultural center for Jews 900 years earlier.

During the eleventh century, the Banu Hilal conquest dramatically altered the cultural and political landscape of the land. As nomadic people, the Arab Banu Hilal invaded from the east while the Almoravid people invaded from southern Morocco. The nomadic group sacked the city of Qayrawan, destroying the first wave of Arab influence over the empire of Kairouan. The conquest of the city of Qayrawan caused a mass migration of the Jewish population from the area of Kairouan while creating an Arab stronghold over the land. Although this conquest destroyed the interior of the area, the coastal cities prevailed as cities such as Tunisia was still an important location for North African culture producing textiles, ceramics, glass, oil, soap, and other manufacturing goods. Another devastating outcome from the conquest was the destruction of irrigation systems within North Africa, leading to desertfication and nomadization of the area until European powers colonized North Africa for the resources.

The devastating Banu Hilal conquest of Kairouan in 1057 so utterly destroyed the city that it never regained its former cultural appropriation as the area became a blend of Arab and Berber cultures, and the size of the Jewish community declined significantly. The result of the conquest officially made Arabic the official language of North Africa at the time. The community disbanded in 1270 when the Hafsids forbade non-Muslims from living in the city; the remaining Jews were forced to convert to Islam or to leave." After the invasion, the area once flushed with cultural excellence, became an impoverished land currently occupied by Tunisia and now Libya. The Jewish population that was previously living in migrated to areas such as Egypt and Sicily.