Zutra II

(c. 496–520)

   Babylonian exilarch 512–20. Zutra was the posthumous son of the exilarch Huna. During his period of office, the Jews revolted against the Persians and he headed a Jewish kingdom for seven years. Legend has it that Zutra would go out to battle with a band of four hundred picked followers, preceded by a pillar of fire. Eventually his followers sinned by eating non-kosher food and drinking wine used for pagan libations. At this the pillar of fire disappeared, and the Persians overcame Zutra’s forces and captured him and his grandfather. They were executed and crucified on the bridge in Mahoza. On the day Zutra died a son was born to him, who was given the same name, and later went to Palestine where he became the head of the Sanhedrin. ZWEIG, Arnold 1887–1968. German writer. Zweig was a successful novelist and playwright and wrote an eight-volume cycle of novels on modern German life. The work which made him internationally famous was The Case of Sergeant Grischa (1928; German original 1927). With the rise of Hitler in 1933, he settled in Palestine. A frustrated man, he became Communist in outlook and in 1948 returned to live in East Berlin, where he was made president of the East German Academy of Arts.