Nehardea נהרדעא
The oldest Torah centre of Babylonia: tradition traces its community to the exile of Jehoiachin, a generation before the First Temple fell.
Nehardea stood on the Euphrates at the Nahr Malka canal; the exact site is disputed, the accepted identification is near present-day Fallujah. Tradition says its synagogue was built by Jehoiachin's exiles from stones brought out of Jerusalem—"Shaf ve-Yativ", "it moved and settled": the Divine Presence left the Temple and made its dwelling in Babylonia.
Here sat the exilarch's court; here Shmuel turned the old community into a great academy, the equal of Rav's Sura. In 4019 (259 CE) the city was destroyed by Palmyra's army; the learning moved to Pumbedita, and from there the line of Nehardea runs through the whole Babylonian Talmud.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Megillah 29a — the synagogue Shaf ve-Yativ
- Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon — the destruction of Nehardea and the move to Pumbedita
Basis: Talmud and midrash.