Spiritual leader of the Jews of Eretz Israel at the beginning of the Second Temple period and one of the chief forces in the shaping of Judaism for all future generations. Ezra emigrated to Jerusalem from Babylonia at the head of a large group of returning exiles in the year 457 BCE. He dedicated himself to the promulgation of the Torah and to the strengthening of the people's faith in the God of Israel. Upon his arrival in Eretz Israel, Ezra's main efforts were devoted to ridding the Jewish population of numerous foreign influences including foreign wives. The next important stage of his activities began in 444, the year when Nehemiah was appointed governor of Judah, when he initiated the practice of regular public Torah readings with accompanying translation and explanation. In cooperation with Nehemiah, he established a covenant in which the people accepted the laws of the Torah upon themselves as the supreme law of Judah.
Ezra, one of Jewish history's most important figures, was a member of a priestly family and is described in the Bible as a "scribe expert in the Teaching of Moses" (Ezra 7:6). The epithet betokens his involvement with the transmission of Scripture and his enactment of new legislation in the spirit of biblical law. Of him, the sages said: "Had Moses not preceded him, Ezra would have been suitable to have the Torah revealed through him" (TB. Sanh. 21b). Moreover, "When the Torah had been forgotten by the Jewish people, Ezra journeyed from Babylonia to the Holy Land and re-established it" (TB. Suk. 20a). Tradition ascribes to Ezra the substitution of the present style of writing Hebrew, known as k'tav ashuri, or "Assyrian" script, for the ancient Hebrew script. He is also accredited with composing the book of the Bible that bears his name as well as the books of Malachi and Chronicles. A number of pseudepigraphical works composed during the Second Temple period are ascribed to Ezra, and in these he appears also as a prophet.
Ezra is traditionally credited as the founder of the Great Assembly (Knesset ha-Gedolah), the body that began the process of transmitting the Oral Law at the beginning of the Second Temple period, as well as other important religious programs. There is no reliable information about the final years of his life. According to Josephus, he died and was buried in Jerusalem. According to the oral traditions of the Jews of Iraq, however, Ezra returned to Persia and is buried in the town of El-Azar located near the Tigris River. His gravesite is marked by a large domed structure owned by the Jewish community.
In the past, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were considered to be one book (TB. BB 14b). Only in 1448 did the Book of Ezra appear separately for the first time. The opening chapters of the Book of Ezra describe the early stages of the Return to Zion (Shivat Zion) from the time of Cyrus's proclamation permitting Jews to return to Eretz Israel (538 BCE) to the dedication of the Second Temple in the days of Darius I (515 BCE). The concluding four chapters tell of Ezra's own emigration to the Holy Land at the head of a large group of returnees and of his activities in Jerusalem until Nehemiah's arrival. Sections of the Book of Ezra are written in Aramaic. Among these are official documents of the period.
