combines the meanings of "rustic" with those of "boorish, uncivilized, ignorant". In antiquity (Hasmonean to the Roman era, 140 BCE–70 CE), the am ha'aretz were the uneducated rustic population of Judea, as opposed to the learned factions of the Pharisees or Sadducees. The am ha'aretz were of two types, the am ha'aretz le-mitzvot, Jews disparaged for not scrupulously observing the commandments, and the am ha'aretz la-Torah, those stigmatized as ignoramuses for not having studied the Torah at all. The am ha'aretz are denounced in a very late and exceptional passage in Talmud Bavli Pesahim 49, where they are contrasted with the chachamim ("wise") and talmidei chachamim ("wise students", i.e. scholars of the Talmud). The text contains the rabbinical teaching that no man should marry the daughter of an am ha'aretz because if he should die or be exiled, his sons will then also be ammei ha'aretz (see Jewish matrilineality). A man should rather sell all his possessions in order to afford marriage to a daughter of a talmid chacham. Marriage of a talmid chacham to a daughter of an am ha'aretz is compared to the crossbreeding of grapevine with wild wine, which is "unseemly and disagreeable". The am ha'aretz is often contrasted with the chaber - a term used to describe someone scrupulous enough in Jewish law (namely laws of ritual purity and tithes) for an observant Jews of Second temple times to eat by their house. It too later evolved into a term to describe Torah knowledge - in this case a high degree of it. See also Diaspora Jew Ger toshav ("resident alien" in Hebrew) Goy (non-Jew in Hebrew) Hellenistic Judaism Heresy in Judaism Pagan Sabra Who is a Jew? Zera Yisrael References Sources Mayer Sulzberger, The Am Ha-aretz, The Ancient Hebrew Parliament: A Chapter In The Constitutional History Of Ancient Israel (1910) A'haron Oppenheimer, The ʻam ha-aretz: a study in the social history of the Jewish people in the Hellenistic-Roman period, vol. 8 of Arbeiten zur Literatur und Geschichte des hellenistischen Judentums, Brill Archive, 1977, . External links Am ha’aretz, by Rabbi Julian Sinclair, October 28, 2008. Ethno-cultural designations Hebrew words and phrases in the Hebrew Bible Society of Israel Jews in the Land of Israel