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diff --git a/13678-0.txt b/13678-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..81aea11 --- /dev/null +++ b/13678-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6215 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13678 *** + + CHAPTERS ON JEWISH LITERATURE + + BY + ISRAEL ABRAHAMS, M.A. + _Author of "Jewish Life in the Middle Ages"_ + + + PHILADELPHIA + THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA + + COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY + THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA + + The Lord Baltimore Press + BALTIMORE, MD., U.S.A. + + + + +PREFACE + + +These twenty-five short chapters on Jewish Literature open with the fall +of Jerusalem in the year 70 of the current era, and end with the death +of Moses Mendelssohn in 1786. Thus the period covered extends over more +than seventeen centuries. Yet, long as this period is, it is too brief. +To do justice to the literature of Judaism even in outline, it is +clearly necessary to include the Bible, the Apocrypha, and the writings +of Alexandrian Jews, such as Philo. Only by such an inclusion can the +genius of the Hebrew people be traced from its early manifestations +through its inspired prime to its brilliant after-glow in the centuries +with which this little volume deals. + +One special reason has induced me to limit this book to the scope +indicated above. The Bible has been treated in England and America in a +variety of excellent text-books written by and for Jews and Jewesses. It +seemed to me very doubtful whether the time is, or ever will be, ripe +for dealing with the Scriptures from the purely literary stand-point in +teaching young students. But this is the stand-point of this volume. +Thus I have refrained from including the Bible, because, on the one +hand, I felt that I could not deal with it as I have tried to deal with +the rest of Hebrew literature, and because, on the other hand, there was +no necessity for me to attempt to add to the books already in use. The +sections to which I have restricted myself are only rarely taught to +young students in a consecutive manner, except in so far as they fall +within the range of lessons on Jewish History. It was strongly urged on +me by a friend of great experience and knowledge, that a small text-book +on later Jewish Literature was likely to be found useful both for home +and school use. Such a book might encourage the elementary study of +Jewish literature in a wider circle than has hitherto been reached. +Hence this book has been compiled with the definite aim of providing an +elementary manual. It will be seen that both in the inclusions and +exclusions the author has followed a line of his own, but he lays no +claim to originality. The book is simply designed as a manual for those +who may wish to master some of the leading characteristics of the +subject, without burdening themselves with too many details and dates. + +This consideration has in part determined also the method of the book. +In presenting an outline of Jewish literature three plans are possible. +One can divide the subject according to _Periods_. Starting with the +Rabbinic Age and closing with the activity of the earlier Gaonim, or +Persian Rabbis, the First Period would carry us to the eighth or the +ninth century. A well-marked Second Period is that of the Arabic-Spanish +writers, a period which would extend from the ninth to the fifteenth +century. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century forms a Third +Period with distinct characteristics. Finally, the career of Mendelssohn +marks the definite beginning of the Modern Period. Such a grouping of +the facts presents many advantages, but it somewhat obscures the varying +conditions prevalent at one and the same time in different countries +where the Jews were settled. Hence some writers have preferred to +arrange the material under the different _untries_. It is quite +possible to draw a map of the world's civilization by merely marking the +successive places in which Jewish literature has fixed its +head-quarters. But, on the other hand, such a method of classification +has the disadvantage that it leads to much overlapping. For long +intervals together, it is impossible to separate Italy from Spain, +France from Germany, Persia from Egypt, Constantinople from Amsterdam. +This has induced other writers to propose a third method and to trace +_Influences_, to indicate that, whereas Rabbinism may be termed the +native product of the Jewish genius, the scientific, poetical, and +philosophical tendencies of Jewish writers in the Middle Ages were due +to the interaction of external and internal forces. Further, in this +arrangement, the Ghetto period would have a place assigned to it as +such, for it would again mark the almost complete sway of purely Jewish +forces in Jewish literature. Adopting this classification, we should +have a wave of Jewish impulse, swollen by the accretion of foreign +waters, once more breaking on a Jewish strand, with its contents in +something like the same condition in which they left the original +spring. All these three methods are true, and this has impelled me to +refuse to follow any one of them to the exclusion of the other two. I +have tried to trace _influences_, to observe _periods_, to distinguish +_countries_. I have also tried to derive color and vividness by +selecting prominent personalities round which to group whole cycles of +facts. Thus, some of the chapters bear the names of famous men, others +are entitled from periods, others from countries, and yet others are +named from the general currents of European thought. In all this my aim +has been very modest. I have done little in the way of literary +criticism, but I felt that a dry collection of names and dates was the +very thing I had to avoid. I need not say that I have done my best to +ensure accuracy in my statements by referring to the best authorities +known to me on each division of the subject. To name the works to which +I am indebted would need a list of many of the best-known products of +recent Continental and American scholarship. At the end of every +chapter I have, however, given references to some English works and +essays. Graetz is cited in the English translation published by the +Jewish Publication Society of America. The figures in brackets refer to +the edition published in London. The American and the English editions +of S. Schechter's "Studies in Judaism" are similarly referred to. + +Of one thing I am confident. No presentation of the facts, however bald +and inadequate it be, can obscure the truth that this little book deals +with a great and an inspiring literature. It is possible to question +whether the books of great Jews always belonged to the great books of +the world. There may have been, and there were, greater legalists than +Rashi, greater poets than Jehuda Halevi, greater philosophers than +Maimonides, greater moralists than Bachya. But there has been no greater +literature than that which these and numerous other Jews represent. + +Rabbinism was a sequel to the Bible, and if like all sequels it was +unequal to its original, it nevertheless shared its greatness. The works +of all Jews up to the modern period were the sequel to this sequel. +Through them all may be detected the unifying principle that literature +in its truest sense includes life itself; that intellect is the handmaid +to conscience; and that the best books are those which best teach men +how to live. This underlying unity gave more harmony to Jewish +literature than is possessed by many literatures more distinctively +national. The maxim, "Righteousness delivers from death," applies to +books as well as to men. A literature whose consistent theme is +Righteousness is immortal. On the very day on which Jerusalem fell, this +theory of the interconnection between literature and life became the +fixed principle of Jewish thought, and it ceased to hold undisputed sway +only in the age of Mendelssohn. It was in the "Vineyard" of Jamnia that +the theory received its firm foundation. A starting-point for this +volume will therefore be sought in the meeting-place in which the +Rabbis, exiled from the Holy City, found a new fatherland in the Book of +books. + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE +PREFACE 5 + +CHAPTER + +I THE "VINEYARD" AT JAMNIA 19 + + Schools at Jamnia, Lydda, Usha, and Sepphoris.--The + Tannaim compile the Mishnah.--Jochanan, Akiba, Meir, + Judah.--Aquila. + +II FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AND THE JEWISH SIBYL 33 + +III THE TALMUD 43 + + The Amoraim compile the Palestinian Talmud and the + Babylonian Talmud.--Representative Amoraim: + + I (220-280) Palestine--Jochanan, Simon, + Joshua, Simlai; Babylonia--Rab and Samuel. + II (280-320) Palestine--Ami, Assi, Abbahu, + Chiya; Babylonia--Huna and Zeira. + III (320-380) Babylonia--Rabba, Abayi, Rava. + IV (380-430) Babylonia--Ashi (first compilation + of the Babylonian Talmud). + V and VI (430-500) Babylonia--Rabina + (completion of the Babylonian Talmud). + +IV THE MIDRASH AND ITS POETRY 55 + + Mechilta, Sifra, Sifre, Pesikta, Tanchuma, + Midrash Rabbah, Yalkut.--Proverbs.--Parables.--Fables. + +V THE LETTERS OF THE GAONIM 68 + + Representative Gaonim: + Achai, Amram, Zemach, Saadiah, Sherira, Samuel, Hai. + +VI THE KARAITIC LITERATURE 75 + + Anan, Nahavendi, Abul-Faraj, Salman, Sahal, al-Bazir, + Hassan, Japhet, Kirkisani, Judah Hadassi, Isaac Troki. + +VII THE NEW-HEBREW PIYUT 83 + + Kalirian and Spanish Piyutim (Poems).--Jannai.--Kalir. + +VIII SAADIAH OF FAYUM 91 + + Translation of the Bible into Arabic.--Foundation of + a Jewish Philosophy of Religion. + +IX DAWN OF THE SPANISH ERA 99 + + Chasdai Ibn Shaprut.--Menachem and Dunash, Chayuj + and Janach.--Samuel the Nagid. + +X THE SPANISH-JEWISH POETS (I) 107 + + Solomon Ibn Gebirol.--"The Royal Crown."--Moses + Ibn Ezra.--Abraham Ibn Ezra.--The Biblical + Commentaries of Ibn Ezra and the Kimchis. + +XI RASHI AND ALFASSI 119 + + Nathan of Rome.--Alfassi.--Rashi.--Rashbam. + +XII THE SPANISH-JEWISH POETS (II) 126 + + Jehuda Halevi.--Charizi. + +XIII MOSES MAIMONIDES 134 + + Maimon, Rambam--R. Moses, the son of Maimon, + Maimonides.--His Yad Hachazaka and Moreh + Nebuchim.--Gersonides.--Crescas.--Albo. + +XIV THE DIFFUSION OF SCIENCE 144 + + Provençal Translators.--The Ibn Tibbons.--Italian + Translators.--Jacob Anatoli.--Kalonymos.--Scientific + Literature. + +XV THE DIFFUSION OF FOLK-TALES 153 + + Barlaam and Joshaphat.--The Fables of Bidpai.--Abraham + Ibn Chisdai.--Berachya ha-Nakdan.--Joseph Zabara. + +XVI MOSES NACHMANIDES 160 + + French and Spanish Talmudists.--The Tossafists, + Asher of Speyer, Tam, Isaac of Dompaire, Baruch + of Ratisbon, Perez of Corbeil.--Nachmanides' + Commentary on the Pentateuch.--Public controversies + between Jews and Christians. + +XVII THE ZOHAR AND LATER MYSTICISM 169 + + Kabbala.--The Bahir.--Abulafia.--Moses of Leon.--The + Zohar.--Isaac Lurya.--Isaiah Hurwitz.--Christian + Kabbalists.--The Chassidim. + +XVIII ITALIAN JEWISH POETRY 178 + + Immanuel and Dante.--The Machberoth.--Judah + Romano.--Kalonymos.--The Eben Bochan.--Moses + Rieti.--Messer Leon. + +XIX ETHICAL LITERATURE 189 + + Bachya Ibn Pekuda.--Choboth ha-Lebaboth.--Sefer + ha-Chassidim.--Rokeach.--Yedaiah Bedaressi's + Bechinath Olam.--Isaac Aboab's Menorath ha-Maor.--Ibn + Chabib's "Eye of Jacob."--Zevaoth, or Ethical + Wills.--Joseph Ibn Caspi.--Solomon Alami. + +XX TRAVELLERS' TALES 200 + + Eldad the Danite.--Benjamin of Tudela.--Petachiah + of Ratisbon.--Esthori Parchi.--Abraham + Farissol.--David Reubeni and Molcho.--Antonio de + Montesinos and Manasseh ben Israel.--Tobiah + Cohen.--Wessely. + +XXI HISTORIANS AND CHRONICLERS 211 + + Order of the Tannaim and Amoraim.--Achimaaz.--Abraham + Ibn Daud.--Josippon.--Historical Elegies, or + Selichoth.--Memorial Books.--Abraham Zacuto.--Elijah + Kapsali.--Usque.--Ibn Verga.--Joseph Cohen.--David + Gans.--Gedaliah Ibn Yachya.--Azariah di Rossi. + +XXII ISAAC ABARBANEL 225 + + Abarbanel's Philosophy and Biblical + Commentaries.--Elias Levita.--Zeëna u-Reëna.--Moses + Alshech.--The Biur. + +XXIII THE SHULCHAN ARUCH 232 + + Asheri's Arba Turim.--Chiddushim and + Teshuboth.--Solomon ben Adereth.--Meir of + Rothenburg.--Sheshet and Duran.--Moses and Judah + Minz.--Jacob Weil, Israel Isserlein, Maharil.--David + Abi Zimra.--Joseph Karo.--Jair Bacharach.--Chacham + Zevi.--Jacob Emden.--Ezekiel Landau. + +XXIV AMSTERDAM IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 243 + + Manasseh ben Israel.--Baruch Spinoza.--The Drama + in Hebrew.--Moses Zacut, Joseph Felix Penso, Moses + Chayim Luzzatto. + +XXV MOSES MENDELSSOHN 253 + + Mendelssohn's German Translation of the + Bible.--Phædo.--Jerusalem.--Lessing's Nathan the + Wise. + + INDEX 263 + + + + +CHAPTERS ON JEWISH LITERATURE + +CHAPTER I + +THE "VINEYARD" AT JAMNIA + + Schools at Jamnia, Lydda, Usha, and Sepphoris.--The Tannaim + compile the Mishnah.--Jochanan, Akiba, Meir, Judah.--Aquila. + + +The story of Jewish literature, after the destruction of the Temple at +Jerusalem in the year 70 of the Christian era, centres round the city of +Jamnia. Jamnia, or Jabneh, lay near the sea, beautifully situated on the +slopes of a gentle hill in the lowlands, about twenty-eight miles from +the capital. When Vespasian was advancing to the siege of Jerusalem, he +occupied Jamnia, and thither the Jewish Synhedrion, or Great Council, +transferred itself when Jerusalem fell. A college existed there +already, but Jamnia then became the head-quarters of Jewish learning, +and retained that position till the year 135. At that date the learned +circle moved further north, to Galilee, and, besides the famous school +at Lydda in Judea, others were founded in Tiberias, Usha, and Sepphoris. + +The real founder of the College at Jamnia was Jochanan, the son of +Zakkai, called "the father of wisdom." Like the Greek philosophers who +taught their pupils in the gardens of the "Academy" at Athens, the +Rabbis may have lectured to their students in a "Vineyard" at Jamnia. +Possibly the term "Vineyard" was only a metaphor applied to the +meeting-place of the Wise at Jamnia, but, at all events, the result of +these pleasant intellectual gatherings was the Rabbinical literature. +Jochanan himself was a typical Rabbi. For a great part of his life he +followed a mercantile pursuit, and earned his bread by manual labor. His +originality as a teacher lay in his perception that Judaism could +survive the loss of its national centre. He felt that "charity and the +love of men may replace the sacrifices." He would have preferred his +brethren to submit to Rome, and his political foresight was justified +when the war of independence closed in disaster. As Graetz has well +said, like Jeremiah Jochanan wept over the desolation of Zion, but like +Zerubbabel he created a new sanctuary. Jochanan's new sanctuary was the +school. + +In the "Vineyard" at Jamnia, the Jewish tradition was the subject of +much animated inquiry. The religious, ethical, and practical literature +of the past was sifted and treasured, and fresh additions were made. But +not much was written, for until the close of the second century the new +literature of the Jews was _oral_. The Bible was written down, and read +from scrolls, but the Rabbinical literature was committed to memory +piecemeal, and handed down from teacher to pupil. Notes were perhaps +taken in writing, but even when the Oral Literature was collected, and +arranged as a book, it is believed by many authorities that the book so +compiled remained for a considerable period an oral and not a written +book. + +This book was called the _Mishnah_ (from the verb _shana_, "to repeat" +or "to learn"). The Mishnah was not the work of one man or of one age. +So long was it in growing, that its birth dates from long before the +destruction of the Temple. But the men most closely associated with the +compilation of the Mishnah were the Tannaim (from the root _tana_, which +has the same meaning as _shana_). There were about one hundred and +twenty of these Tannaim between the years 70 and 200 C.E., and they may +be conveniently arranged in four generations. From each generation one +typical representative will here be selected. + + THE TANNAIM + + First Generation, 70 to 100 C.E. + JOCHANAN, the son of Zakkai + + Second Generation, 100 to 130 C.E. + AKIBA + + Third Generation, 130 to 160 C.E. + MEIR + + Fourth Generation, 160 to 200 C.E. + JUDAH THE PRINCE + +The Tannaim were the possessors of what was perhaps the greatest +principle that dominated a literature until the close of the eighteenth +century. They maintained that _literature_ and _life_ were co-extensive. +It was said of Jochanan, the son of Zakkai, that he never walked a +single step without thinking of God. Learning the Torah, that is, the +Law, the authorized Word of God, and its Prophetical and Rabbinical +developments, was man's supreme duty. "If thou hast learned much Torah, +ascribe not any merit to thyself, for therefor wast thou created." Man +was created to learn; literature was the aim of life. We have already +seen what kind of literature. Jochanan once said to his five favorite +disciples: "Go forth and consider which is the good way to which a man +should cleave." He received various answers, but he most approved of +this response: "A good heart is the way." Literature is life if it be a +heart-literature--this may be regarded as the final justification of the +union effected in the Mishnah between learning and righteousness. + +Akiba, who may be taken to represent the second generation of Tannaim, +differed in character from Jochanan. Jochanan had been a member of the +peace party in the years 66 to 70; Akiba was a patriot, and took a +personal part in the later struggle against Rome, which was organized by +the heroic Bar Cochba in the years 131 to 135. Akiba set his face +against frivolity, and pronounced silence a fence about wisdom. But his +disposition was resolute rather than severe. Of him the most romantic of +love stories is told. He was a herdsman, and fell in love with his +master's daughter, who endured poverty as his devoted wife, and was +glorified in her husband's fame. But whatever contrast there may have +been in the two characters, Akiba, like Jochanan, believed that a +literature was worthless unless it expressed itself in the life of the +scholar. He and his school held in low esteem the man who, though +learned, led an evil life, but they took as their ideal the man whose +moral excellence was more conspicuous than his learning. As R. Eleazar, +the son of Azariah, said: "He whose knowledge is in excess of his good +deeds is like a tree whose branches are many and its roots scanty; the +wind comes, uproots, and overturns it. But he whose good deeds are more +than his knowledge is like a tree with few branches but many roots, so +that if all the winds in the world come and blow upon it, it remains +firm in its place." Man, according to Akiba, is master of his own +destiny; he needs God's grace to triumph over evil, yet the triumph +depends on his own efforts: "Everything is seen, yet freedom of choice +is given; the world is judged by grace, yet all is according to the +work." The Torah, the literature of Israel, was to Akiba "a desirable +instrument," a means to life. + +Among the distinctions of Akiba's school must be named the first literal +translation of the Bible into Greek. This work was done towards the +close of the second century by Aquila, a proselyte, who was inspired by +Akiba's teaching. Aquila's version was inferior to the Alexandrian Greek +version, called the Septuagint, in graces of style, but was superior in +accuracy. Aquila followed the Hebrew text word by word. This translator +is identical with Onkelos, to whom in later centuries the Aramaic +translation (_Targum_ Onkelos) of the Pentateuch was ascribed. Aramaic +versions of the Bible were made at a very early period, and the Targum +Onkelos may contain ancient elements, but in its present form it is not +earlier than the fifth century. + +Meir, whom we take as representative of the third generation of Tannaim, +was filled with the widest sympathies. In his conception of truth, +everything that men can know belonged to the Torah. Not that the Torah +superseded or absorbed all other knowledge, but that the Torah needed, +for its right study, all the aids which science and secular information +could supply. In this way Jewish literature was to some extent saved +from the danger of becoming a merely religious exercise, and in later +centuries, when the mass of Jews were disposed to despise and even +discourage scientific and philosophical culture, a minority was always +prepared to resist this tendency and, on the ground of the views of some +of the Tannaim like Meir, claimed the right to study what we should now +term secular sciences. The width of Meir's sympathies may be seen in his +tolerant conduct towards his friend Elisha, the son of Abuya. When the +latter forsook Judaism, Meir remained true to Elisha. He devoted himself +to the effort to win back his old friend, and, though he failed, he +never ceased to love him. Again, Meir was famed for his knowledge of +fables, in antiquity a branch of the wisdom of all the Eastern world. +Meir's large-mindedness was matched by his large-heartedness, and in his +wife Beruriah he possessed a companion whose tender sympathies and fine +toleration matched his own. + +The fourth generation of Tannaim is overshadowed by the fame of Judah +the Prince, _Rabbi_, as he was simply called. He lived from 150 to 210, +and with his name is associated the compilation of the Mishnah. A man of +genial manners, strong intellectual grasp, he was the exemplar also of +princely hospitality and of friendship with others than Jews. His +intercourse with one of the Antonines was typical of his wide culture. +Life was not, in Rabbi Judah's view, compounded of smaller and larger +incidents, but all the affairs of life were parts of the great divine +scheme. "Reflect upon three things, and thou wilt not fall into the +power of sin: Know what is above thee--a seeing eye and a hearing +ear--and all thy deeds are written in a book." + +The Mishnah, which deals with things great and small, with everything +that concerns men, is the literary expression of this view of life. Its +language is the new-Hebrew, a simple, nervous idiom suited to practical +life, but lacking the power and poetry of the Biblical Hebrew. It is a +more useful but less polished instrument than the older language. The +subject-matter of the Mishnah includes both law and morality, the +affairs of the body, of the soul, and of the mind. Business, religion, +social duties, ritual, are all dealt with in one and the same code. The +fault of this conception is, that by associating things of unequal +importance, both the mind and the conscience may become incapable of +discriminating the great from the small, the external from the +spiritual. Another ill consequence was that, as literature corresponded +so closely with life, literature could not correct the faults of life, +when life became cramped or stagnant. The modern spirit differs from the +ancient chiefly in that literature has now become an independent force, +which may freshen and stimulate life. But the older ideal was +nevertheless a great one. That man's life is a unity; that his conduct +is in all its parts within the sphere of ethics and religion; that his +mind and conscience are not independent, but two sides of the same +thing; and that therefore his religious, ethical, æsthetic, and +intellectual literature is one and indivisible,--this was a noble +conception which, with all its weakness, had distinct points of +superiority over the modern view. + +The Mishnah is divided into six parts, or Orders (_Sedarim_); each Order +into Tractates (_Massechtoth_); each Tractate into Chapters (_Perakim_); +each Chapter into Paragraphs (each called a _Mishnah_). The six Orders +are as follows: + +ZERAIM ("Seeds"). Deals with the laws connected with Agriculture, and +opens with a Tractate on Prayer ("Blessings"). + +MOED ("Festival"). On Festivals. + +NASHIM ("Women"). On the laws relating to Marriage, etc. + +NEZIKIN ("Damages"). On civil and criminal Law. + +KODASHIM ("Holy Things"). On Sacrifices, etc. + +TEHAROTH ("Purifications"). On personal and ritual Purity. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +THE MISHNAH. + +Graetz.--_History of the Jews_, English translation, + Vol. II, chapters 13-17 (character of the Mishnah, end of ch. 17). + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_ (London, 1857), p. 13. + +Schiller-Szinessy.--_Encyclopedia Britannica_ (Ninth Edition), + Vol. XVI, p. 502. + +De Sola and Raphall.--_Eighteen Tractates from the Mishnah_ + (English translation, London). + +C. Taylor.--_Sayings of the Jewish Fathers_ (Cambridge, 1897). + +A. Kohut.--_The Ethics of the Fathers_ (New York, 1885). + +G. Karpeles.--_A Sketch of Jewish History_ (Jewish Publication + Society of America, 1895), p. 40. + +AQUILA. + +F.C. Burkitt.--_Jewish Quarterly Review_, Vol. X, p. 207. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AND THE JEWISH SIBYL + + +Great national crises usually produce an historical literature. This is +more likely to happen with the nation that wins in a war than with the +nation that loses. Thus, in the Maccabean period, historical works +dealing with the glorious struggle and its triumphant termination were +written by Jews both in Hebrew and in Greek. After the terrible +misfortune which befell the Jews in the year 70, when Jerusalem sank +before the Roman arms never to rise again, little heart was there for +writing history. Jews sought solace in their existing literature rather +than in new productions, and the Bible and the oral traditions that were +to crystallize a century later into the Mishnah filled the national +heart and mind. Yet more than one Jew felt an impulse to write the +history of the dismal time. Thus the first complete books which appeared +in Jewish literature after the loss of nationality were historical works +written by two men, Justus and Josephus, both of whom bore an active +part in the most recent of the wars which they recorded. Justus of +Tiberias wrote in Greek a terse chronicle entitled, "History of the +Jewish Kings," and also a more detailed narrative of the "Jewish War" +with Rome. Both these books are known to us only from quotations. The +originals are entirely lost. A happier fate has preserved the works of +another Jewish historian of the same period, Flavius Josephus (38 to 95 +C.E.), the literary and political opponent of Justus. He wrote three +histories: "Antiquities of the Jews"; an "Autobiography"; "The Wars of +the Jews"; together with a reply to the attacks of an Alexandrian critic +of Judaism, "Against Apion." The character of Josephus has been +variously estimated. Some regard him as a patriot, who yielded to Rome +only when convinced that Jewish destiny required such submission. But +the most probable view of his career is as follows. Josephus was a man +of taste and learning. He was a student of the Greek and Latin classics, +which he much admired, and was also a devoted and loyal lover of +Judaism. Unfortunately, circumstances thrust him into a political +position from which he could extricate himself only by treachery and +duplicity. As a young man he had visited Rome, and there acquired +enthusiastic admiration for the Romans. When he returned to Palestine, +he found his countrymen filled with fiery patriotism and about to hurl +themselves against the legions of the Caesars. To his dismay Josephus +saw himself drawn into the patriotic vortex. By a strange mishap an +important command was entrusted to him. He betrayed his country, and +saved himself by eager submission to the Romans. He became a personal +friend of Vespasian and the constant companion of his son Titus. + +Traitor though he was to the national cause, Josephus was a steadfast +champion of the Jewish religion. All his works are animated with a +desire to present Judaism and the Jews in the best light. He was +indignant that heathen historians wrote with scorn of the vanquished +Jews, and resolved to describe the noble stand made by the Jewish armies +against Rome. He was moved to wrath by the Egyptian Manetho's distortion +of the ancient history of Israel, and he could not rest silent under the +insults of Apion. The works of Josephus are therefore works written with +a _tendency_ to glorify his people and his religion. But they are in the +main trustworthy, and are, indeed, one of the chief sources of +information for the history of the Jews in post-Biblical times. His +style is clear and attractive, and his power of grasping the events of +long periods is comparable with that of Polybius. He was no mere +chronicler; he possessed some faculty for explaining as well as +recording facts and some real insight into the meaning of events passing +under his own eyes. + +He wrote for the most part in Greek, both because that language was +familiar to many cultured Jews of his day, and because his histories +thereby became accessible to the world of non-Jewish readers. Sometimes +he used both Aramaic and Greek. For instance, he produced his "Jewish +War" first in the one, subsequently in the other of these languages. The +Aramaic version has been lost, but the Greek has survived. His style is +often eloquent, especially in his book "Against Apion." This was an +historical and philosophical justification of Judaism. At the close of +this work Josephus says: "And so I make bold to say that we are become +the teachers of other men in the greatest number of things, and those +the most excellent." Josephus, like the Jewish Hellenists of an earlier +date, saw in Judaism a universal religion, which ought to be shared by +all the peoples of the earth. Judaism was to Josephus, as to Philo, not +a contrast or antithesis to Greek culture, but the perfection and +culmination of culture. + +The most curious efforts to propagate Judaism were, however, those which +were clothed in a Sibylline disguise. In heathen antiquity, the Sibyl +was an inspired prophetess whose mysterious oracles concerned the +destinies of cities and nations. These oracles enjoyed high esteem among +the cultivated Greeks, and, in the second century B.C.E., some +Alexandrian Jews made use of them to recommend Judaism to the heathen +world. In the Jewish Sibylline books the religion of Israel is presented +as a hope and a threat; a menace to those who refuse to follow the +better life, a promise of salvation to those who repent. About the year +80 C.E., a book of this kind was composed. It is what is known as the +Fourth Book of the Sibylline Oracles. The language is Greek, the form +hexameter verse. In this poem, the Sibyl, in the guise of a prophetess, +tells of the doom of those who resist the will of the one true God, +praises the God of Israel, and holds out a beautiful prospect to the +faithful. + +The book opens with an invocation: + + Hear, people of proud Asia, Europe, too, + How many things by great, loud-sounding mouth, + All true and of my own, I prophesy. + No oracle of false Apollo this, + Whom vain men call a god, tho' he deceived; + But of the mighty God, whom human hands + Shaped not like speechless idols cut in stone. + +The Sibyl speaks of the true God, to love whom brings blessing. The +ungodly triumph for a while, as Assyria, Media, Phrygia, Greece, and +Egypt had triumphed. Jerusalem will fall, and the Temple perish in +flames, but retribution will follow, the earth will be desolated by the +divine wrath, the race of men and cities and rivers will be reduced to +smoky dust, unless moral amendment comes betimes. Then the Sibyl's note +changes into a prophecy of Messianic judgment and bliss, and she ends +with a comforting message: + + But when all things become an ashy pile, + God will put out the fire unspeakable + Which he once kindled, and the bones and ashes + Of men will God himself again transform, + And raise up mortals as they were before. + And then will be the judgment, God himself + Will sit as judge, and judge the world again. + As many as committed impious sins + Shall Stygian Gehenna's depths conceal + 'Neath molten earth and dismal Tartarus. + + But the pious shall again live on the earth, + And God will give them spirit, life, and means + Of nourishment, and all shall see themselves, + Beholding the sun's sweet and cheerful light. + O happiest men who at that time shall live! + +The Jews found some consolation for present sorrows in the thought of +past deliverances. The short historical record known as the "Scroll of +Fasting" (_Megillath Taanith_) was perhaps begun before the destruction +of the Temple, but was completed after the death of Trajan in 118. This +scroll contained thirty-five brief paragraphs written in Aramaic. The +compilation, which is of great historical value, follows the order of +the Jewish Calendar, beginning with the month Nisan and ending with +Adar. The entries in the list relate to the days on which it was held +unlawful to fast, and many of these days were anniversaries of national +victories. The Megillath Taanith contains no jubilations over these +triumphs, but is a sober record of facts. It is a precious survival of +the historical works compiled by the Jews before their dispersion from +Palestine. Such works differ from those of Josephus and the Sibyl in +their motive. They were not designed to win foreign admiration for +Judaism, but to provide an accurate record for home use and inspire the +Jews with hope amid the threatening prospects of life. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +JOSEPHUS. + +Whiston's English Translation, revised by Shilleto (1889). + +Graetz.--II, p. 276 [278]. + +SIBYLLINE ORACLES. + +S.A. Hirsch.--_Jewish Sibylline Oracles_, _J.Q.R._, II, p. 406. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE TALMUD + + The Amoraim compile the Palestinian Talmud and the Babylonian + Talmud.--Representative Amoraim: + I (220-280) Palestine--Jochanan, Simon, Joshua, Simlai; + Babylonia--Rab and Samuel. + II (280-320) Palestine--Ami, Assi, Abbahu, Chiya; + Babylonia--Huna and Zeira. + III (320-380) Babylonia--Rabba, Abayi, Rava. + IV (380-430) Babylonia--Ashi (first compilation of the + Babylonian Talmud). + V and VI (430-500) Babylonia--Rabina (completion of the + Babylonian Talmud). + + +The _Talmud_, or _Gemara_ ("Doctrine," or "Completion"), was a natural +development of the Mishnah. The Talmud contains, indeed, many elements +as old as the Mishnah, some even older. But, considered as a whole, the +Talmud is a commentary on the work of the Tannaim. It is written, not in +Hebrew, as the Mishnah is, but in a popular Aramaic. There are two +distinct works to which the title Talmud is applied; the one is the +Jerusalem Talmud (completed about the year 370 C.E.), the other the +Babylonian (completed a century later). At first, as we have seen, the +Rabbinical schools were founded on Jewish soil. But Palestine did not +continue to offer a friendly welcome. Under the more tolerant rulers of +Babylonia or Persia, Jewish learning found a refuge from the harshness +experienced under those of the Holy Land. The Babylonian Jewish schools +in Nehardea, Sura, and Pumbeditha rapidly surpassed the Palestinian in +reputation, and in the year 350 C.E., owing to natural decay, the +Palestinian schools closed. + +The Talmud is accordingly not one work, but two, the one the literary +product of the Palestinian, the other, of the Babylonian _Amoraim_. The +latter is the larger, the more studied, the better preserved, and to it +attention will here be mainly confined. The Talmud is not a book, it is +a literature. It contains a legal code, a system of ethics, a body of +ritual customs, poetical passages, prayers, histories, facts of science +and medicine, and fancies of folk-lore. + +The Amoraim were what their name implies, "Expounders," or +"Discoursers"; but their expositions were often original contributions +to literature. Their work extends over the long interval between 200 and +500 C.E. The Amoraim naturally were men of various character and +condition. Some were possessed of much material wealth, others were +excessively poor. But few of them were professional men of letters. Like +the Tannaim, the Amoraim were often artisans, field-laborers, or +physicians, whose heart was certainly in literature, but whose hand was +turned to the practical affairs of life. The men who stood highest +socially, the Princes of the Captivity in Babylonia and the Patriarchs +in Palestine, were not always those vested with the highest authority. +Some of the Amoraim, again, were merely receptive, the medium through +which tradition was handed on; others were creative as well. To put the +same fact in Rabbinical metaphor, some were Sinais of learning, others +tore up mountains, and ground them together in keen and critical +dialectics. + +The oldest of the Amoraim, Chanina, the son of Chama, of Sepphoris +(180-260), was such a firm mountain of ancient learning. On the other +hand, Jochanan, the son of Napacha (199-279), of dazzling physical +beauty, had a more original mind. His personal charms conveyed to him +perhaps a sense of the artistic; to him the Greek language was a +delight, "an ornament of women." Simon, the son of Lakish (200-275), +hardy of muscle and of intellect, started life as a professional +athlete. A later Rabbi, Zeira, was equally noted for his feeble, +unprepossessing figure and his nimble, ingenious mind. Another +contemporary of Jochanan, Joshua, the son of Levi, is the hero of many +legends. He was so tender to the poor that he declared his conviction +that the Messiah would arise among the beggars and cripples of Rome. +Simlai, who was born in Palestine, and migrated to Nehardea in +Babylonia, was more of a poet than a lawyer. His love was for the +ethical and poetic elements of the Talmud, the _Hagadah_, as this aspect +of the Rabbinical literature was called in contradistinction to the +_Halachah_, or legal elements. Simlai entered into frequent discussions +with the Christian Fathers on subjects of Biblical exegesis. + +The centre of interest now changes to Babylonia. Here, in the year 219, +Abba Areka, or Rab (175-247), founded the Sura academy, which continued +to flourish for nearly eight centuries. He and his great contemporary +Samuel (180-257) enjoy with Jochanan the honor of supplying the leading +materials of which the Talmud consists. Samuel laid down a rule which, +based on an utterance of the prophet Jeremiah, enabled Jews to live and +serve in non-Jewish countries. "The law of the land is law," said +Samuel. But he lived in the realms of the stars as well as in the +streets of his city. Samuel was an astronomer, and he is reported to +have boasted with truth, that "he was as familiar with the paths of the +stars as with the streets of Nehardea." He arranged the Jewish Calendar, +his work in this direction being perfected by Hillel II in the fourth +century. Like Simlai, Rab and Samuel had heathen and Christian friends. +Origen and Jerome read the Scriptures under the guidance of Jews. The +heathen philosopher Porphyry wrote a commentary on the Book of Daniel. +So, too, Abbahu, who lived in Palestine a little later on, frequented +the society of cultivated Romans, and had his family taught Greek. +Abbahu was a manufacturer of veils for women's wear, for, like many +Amoraim, he scorned to make learning a means of living, Abbahu's modesty +with regard to his own merits shows that a Rabbi was not necessarily +arrogant in pride of knowledge! Once Abbahu's lecture was besieged by a +great crowd, but the audience of his colleague Chiya was scanty. "Thy +teaching," said Abbahu to Chiya, "is a rare jewel, of which only an +expert can judge; mine is tinsel, which attracts every ignorant eye." + +It was Rab, however, who was the real popularizer of Jewish learning. He +arranged courses of lectures for the people as well as for scholars. +Rab's successor as head of the Sura school, Huna (212-297), completed +Rab's work in making Babylonia the chief centre of Jewish learning. Huna +tilled his own fields for a living, and might often be met going home +with his spade over his shoulder. It was men like this who built up the +Jewish tradition. Huna's predecessor, however, had wider experience of +life, for Rab had been a student in Palestine, and was in touch with the +Jews of many parts. From Rab's time onwards, learning became the +property of the whole people, and the Talmud, besides being the +literature of the Jewish universities, may be called the book of the +masses. It contains, not only the legal and ethical results of the +investigations of the learned, but also the wisdom and superstition of +the masses. The Talmud is not exactly a national literature, but it was +a unique bond between the scattered Jews, an unparallelled spiritual and +literary instrument for maintaining the identity of Judaism amid the +many tribulations to which the Jews were subjected. + +The Talmud owed much to many minds. Externally it was influenced by the +nations with which the Jews came into contact. From the inside, the +influences at work were equally various. Jochanan, Rab, and Samuel in +the third century prepared the material out of which the Talmud was +finally built. The actual building was done by scholars in the fourth +century. Rabba, the son of Nachmani (270-330), Abayi (280-338), and Rava +(299-352) gave the finishing touches to the method of the Talmud. Rabba +was a man of the people; he was a clear thinker, and loved to attract +all comers by an apt anecdote. Rava had a superior sense of his own +dignity, and rather neglected the needs of the ordinary man of his day. +Abayi was more of the type of the average Rabbi, acute, genial, +self-denying. Under the impulse of men of the most various gifts of mind +and heart, the Talmud was gradually constructed, but two names are +prominently associated with its actual compilation. These were Ashi +(352-427) and Rabina (died 499). Ashi combined massive learning with +keen logical ingenuity. He needed both for the task to which he devoted +half a century of his life. He possessed a vast memory, in which the +accumulated tradition of six centuries was stored, and he was gifted +with the mental orderliness which empowered him to deal with this +bewildering mass of materials. + +It is hardly possible that after the compilation of the Talmud it +remained an oral book, though it must be remembered that memory played a +much greater part in earlier centuries than it does now. At all events, +Ashi, and after him Rabina, performed the great work of systematizing +the Rabbinical literature at a turning-point in the world's history. The +Mishnah had been begun at a moment when the Roman empire was at its +greatest vigor and glory; the Talmud was completed at the time when the +Roman empire was in its decay. That the Jews were saved from similar +disintegration, was due very largely to the Talmud. The Talmud is thus +one of the great books of the world. Despite its faults, its excessive +casuistry, its lack of style and form, its stupendous mass of detailed +laws and restrictions, it is nevertheless a great book in and for +itself. It is impossible to consider it further here in its religious +aspects. But something must be said in the next chapter of that side of +the Rabbinical literature known as the _Midrash_. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +THE TALMUD. + +Essays by E. Deutsch and A. Darmesteter (Jewish Publication Society + of America). + +Graetz.--II, 18-22 (character of the Talmud, end of ch. 22). + +Karpeles.--_Jewish Literature and other Essays_, p. 52. + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, p. 20. + +Schiller-Szinessy.--_Encycl. Brit._, Vol. XXIII, p. 35. + +M. Mielziner.--_Introduction to the Talmud_ (Cincinnati, 1894). + +S. Schechter.--_Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology_, _J.Q.R._, VI, + p. 405, etc. + +---- _Studies in Judaism_ (Jewish Publication Society of America, + 1896), pp. 155, 182, 213, 233 [189, 222, 259, 283]. + +B. Spiers.--_School System of the Talmud_ (London, 1898) + (with appendix on Baba Kama); the _Threefold Cord_ (1893) + on _Sanhedrin, Baba Metsia_, and _Baba Bathra_. + +M. Jastrow.--_History and Future of the Text of the Talmud + (Publications of the Gratz College_, Philadelphia, 1897, Vol. I). + +P.B. Benny.--_Criminal Code of the Jews according to the Talmud_ + (London, 1880). + +S. Mendelsohn.--_The Criminal Jurisprudence of the Ancient Hebrews_ + (Baltimore, 1891). + +D. Castelli.--_Future Life in Rabbinical Literature_, _J.Q.R._, + I, p. 314. + +M. Güdemann.--_Spirit and Letter in Judaism and Christianity_, + _ibid._, IV, p. 345. + +I. Harris.--_Rise and Development of the Massorah_, + _ibid._, I, pp. 128, etc. + +H. Polano.--_The Talmud_ (Philadelphia, 1876). + +I. Myers.--_Gems from the Talmud_ (London, 1894). + +D.W. Amram.--_The Jewish Law of Divorce according to Bible and + Talmud_ (Philadelphia, 1896). + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MIDRASH AND ITS POETRY + + Mechilta, Sifra, Sifre, Pesikta, Tanchuma, Midrash + Rabbah, Yalkut.--Proverbs.--Parables.--Fables. + + +In its earliest forms identical with the Halachah, or the practical and +legal aspects of the Mishnah and the Talmud, the Midrash, in its fuller +development, became an independent branch of Rabbinical literature. Like +the Talmud, the Midrash is of a composite nature, and under the one name +the accumulations of ages are included. Some of its contents are earlier +than the completion of the Bible, others were collected and even created +as recently as the tenth or the eleventh century of the current era. + +Midrash ("Study," "Inquiry") was in the first instance an _Explanation +of the Scriptures_. This explanation is often the clear, natural +exposition of the text, and it enforces rules of conduct both ethical +and ritual. The historical and moral traditions which clustered round +the incidents and characters of the Bible soon received a more vivid +setting. The poetical sense of the Rabbis expressed itself in a vast and +beautiful array of legendary additions to the Bible, but the additions +are always devised with a moral purpose, to give point to a preacher's +homily or to inspire the imagination of the audience with nobler +fancies. Besides being expository, the Midrash is, therefore, didactic +and poetical, the moral being conveyed in the guise of a _narrative_, +amplifying and developing the contents of Scripture. The Midrash gives +the results of that deep searching of the Scriptures which became second +nature with the Jews, and it also represents the changes and expansions +of ethical and theological ideals as applied to a changing and growing +life. + +From another point of view, also, the Midrash is a poetical literature. +Its function as a species of _popular homiletics_ made it necessary to +appeal to the emotions. In its warm and living application of abstract +truths to daily ends, in its responsive and hopeful intensification of +the nearness of God to Israel, in its idealization of the past and +future of the Jews, it employed the poet's art in essence, though not in +form. It will be seen later on that in another sense the Midrash is a +poetical literature, using the lore of the folk, the parable, the +proverb, the allegory, and the fable, and often using them in the +language of poetry. + +The oldest Midrash is the actual report of sermons and addresses of the +Tannaite age; the latest is a medieval compilation from all extant +sources. The works to which the name Midrash is applied are the +_Mechilta_ (to Exodus); the _Sifra_ (to Leviticus); the _Sifre_ (to +Numbers and Deuteronomy); the _Pesikta_ (to various _Sections_ of the +Bible, whence its name); the _Tanchuma_ (to the Pentateuch); the +_Midrash Rabbah_ (the "Great Midrash," to the Pentateuch and the Five +Scrolls of Esther, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of +Songs); and the _Midrash Haggadol_ (identical in name, and in contents +similar to, but not identical with, the _Midrash Rabbah_); together with +a large number of collected Midrashim, such as the _Yalkut_, and a host +of smaller works, several of which are no longer extant. + +Regarding the Midrash in its purely literary aspects, we find its style +to be far more lucid than that of the Talmud, though portions of the +Halachic Midrash are identical in character with the Talmud. The Midrash +has many passages in which the simple graces of form match the beauty of +idea. But for the most part the style is simple and prosaic, rather than +ornate or poetical. It produces its effects by the most straightforward +means, and strikes a modern reader as lacking distinction in form. The +dead level of commonplace expression is, however, brightened by +brilliant passages of frequent occurrence. Prayers, proverbs, parables, +and fables, dot the pages of Talmud and Midrash alike. The ancient +_proverbs_ of the Jews were more than mere chips from the block of +experience. They were poems, by reason of their use of metaphor, +alliteration, assonance, and imagination. The Rabbinical proverbs show +all these poetical qualities. + + He who steals from a thief smells of theft.--Charity is the + salt of Wealth.--Silence is a fence about Wisdom.--Many old + camels carry the skins of their young.--Two dry sticks and one + green burn together.--If the priest steals the god, on what + can one take an oath?--All the dyers cannot bleach a raven's + wing.--Into a well from which you have drunk, cast no + stone.--Alas for the bread which the baker calls bad.--Slander + is a Snake that stings in Syria, and slays in Rome.--The Dove + escaped from the Eagle and found a Serpent in her nest.--Tell + no secrets, for the Wall has ears. + +These, like many more of the Rabbinical proverbs, are essentially +poetical. Some, indeed, are either expanded metaphors or metaphors +touched by genius into poetry. The alliterative proverbs and maxims of +the Talmud and Midrash are less easily illustrated. Sometimes they +enshrine a pun or a conceit, or depend for their aptness upon an +assonance. In some of the Talmudic proverbs there is a spice of +cynicism. But most of them show a genial attitude towards life. + +The poetical proverb easily passes into the parable. Loved in Bible +times, the parable became in after centuries the most popular form of +didactic poetry among the Jews. The Bible has its parables, but the +Midrash overflows with them. They are occasionally re-workings of older +thoughts, but mostly they are original creations, invented for a special +purpose, stories devised to drive home a moral, allegories administering +in pleasant wrappings unpalatable satires or admonitions. In all ages +up to the present, Jewish moralists have relied on the parable as their +most effective instrument. The poetry of the Jewish parables is +characteristic also of the parables imitated from the Jewish, but the +latter have a distinguishing feature peculiar to them. This is their +humor, the witty or humorous parable being exclusively Jewish. The +parable is less spontaneous than the proverb. It is a product of moral +poetry rather than of folk wisdom. Yet the parable was so like the +proverb that the moral of a parable often became a new proverb. The +diction of the parable is naturally more ornate. By the beauty of its +expression, its frequent application of rural incidents to the life +familiar in the cities, the rhythm and flow of its periods, its fertile +imagination, the parable should certainly be placed high in the world's +poetry. But it was poetry with a _tendency_, the _mashal_, or +proverb-parable, being what the Rabbis themselves termed it, "the clear +small light by which lost jewels can be found." + +The following is a parable of Hillel, which is here cited more to +mention that noble, gentle Sage than as a specimen of this class of +literature. Hillel belongs to a period earlier than that dealt with in +this book, but his loving and pure spirit breathes through the pages of +the Talmud and Midrash: + + Hillel, the gentle, the beloved sage, + Expounded day by day the sacred page + To his disciples in the house of learning; + And day by day, when home at eve returning, + They lingered, clustering round him, loth to part + From him whose gentle rule won every heart. + But evermore, when they were wont to plead + For longer converse, forth he went with speed, + Saying each day: "I go--the hour is late-- + To tend the guest who doth my coming wait," + Until at last they said: "The Rabbi jests, + When telling us thus daily of his guests + That wait for him." The Rabbi paused awhile, + And then made answer: "Think you I beguile + You with an idle tale? Not so, forsooth! + I have a guest whom I must tend in truth. + Is not the soul of man indeed a guest, + Who in this body deigns a while to rest, + And dwells with me all peacefully to-day: + To-morrow--may it not have fled away?" + +Space must be found for one other parable, taken (like many other +poetical quotations in this volume) from Mrs. Lucas' translations: + + Simeon ben Migdal, at the close of day, + Upon the shores of ocean chanced to stray, + And there a man of form and mien uncouth, + Dwarfed and misshapen, met he on the way. + + "Hail, Rabbi," spoke the stranger passing by, + But Simeon thus, discourteous, made reply: + "Say, are there in thy city many more, + Like unto thee, an insult to the eye?" + + "Nay, that I cannot tell," the wand'rer said, + "But if thou wouldst ply the scorner's trade, + Go first and ask the Master Potter why + He has a vessel so misshapen made?" + + Then (so the legend tells) the Rabbi knew + That he had sinned, and prone himself he threw + Before the other's feet, and prayed of him + Pardon for the words that now his soul did rue. + + But still the other answered as before: + "Go, in the Potter's ear thy plaint outpour, + For what am I! His hand has fashioned me, + And I in humble faith that hand adore." + + Brethren, do we not often too forget + Whose hand it is that many a time has set + A radiant soul in an unlovely form, + A fair white bird caged in a mouldering net? + + Nay more, do not life's times and chances, sent + By the great Artificer with intent + That they should prove a blessing, oft appear + To us a burden that we sore lament? + + Ah! soul, poor soul of man! what heavenly fire + Would thrill thy depths and love of God inspire, + Could'st thou but see the Master hand revealed, + Majestic move "earth's scheme of things entire." + + It cannot be! Unseen he guideth us, + But yet our feeble hands, the luminous + Pure lamp of faith can light to glorify + The narrow path that he has traced for us. + +Finally, there are the _Beast Fables_ of the Talmud and the Midrash. +Most of these were borrowed directly or indirectly from India. We are +told in the Talmud that Rabbi Meir knew three hundred Fox Fables, and +that with his death (about 290 C.E.) "fabulists ceased to be," Very few +of Meir's fables are extant, so that it is impossible to gather whether +or not they were original. There are only thirty fables in the Talmud +and the Midrash, and of these several cannot be parallelled in other +literatures. Some of the Talmudic fables are found also in the +classical and the earliest Indian collections; some in the later +collections; some in the classics, but not in the Indian lists; some in +India, but not in the Latin and Greek authors. Among the latter is the +well-known fable of the _Fox and the Fishes_, used so dramatically by +Rabbi Akiba. The original Talmudic fables are, according to Mr. J. +Jacobs, the following: _Chaff, Straw, and Wheat_, who dispute for which +of them the seed has been sown: the winnowing fan soon decides; _The +Caged Bird_, who is envied by his free fellow; _The Wolf and the two +Hounds_, who have quarrelled; the wolf seizes one, the other goes to his +rival's aid, fearing the same fate himself on the morrow, unless he +helps the other dog to-day; _The Wolf at the Well_, the mouth of the +well is covered with a net: "If I go down into the well," says the wolf, +"I shall be caught. If I do not descend, I shall die of thirst"; _The +Cock and the Bat_, who sit together waiting for the sunrise: "I wait +for the dawn," said the cock, "for the light is my signal; but as for +thee--the light is thy ruin"; and, finally, what Mr. Jacobs calls the +grim beast-tale of the _Fox as Singer_, in which the beasts--invited by +the lion to a feast, and covered by him with the skins of wild +beasts--are led by the fox in a chorus: "What has happened to those +above us, will happen to him above," implying that their host, too, will +come to a violent death. In the context the fable is applied to Haman, +whose fate, it is augured, will resemble that of the two officers whose +guilt Mordecai detected. + +Such fables are used in the Talmud to point religious or even political +morals, very much as the parables were. The fable, however, took a lower +flight than the parable, and its moral was based on expediency, rather +than on the highest ethical ideals. The importance of the Talmudic +fables is historical more than literary or religious. Hebrew fables +supply one of the links connecting the popular literature of the East +with that of the West. But they hardly belong in the true sense to +Jewish literature. Parables, on the other hand, were an essential and +characteristic branch of that literature. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +MIDRASH. + +Schiller-Szinessy.--_Encycl. Brit._, Vol. XVI, p. 285. + +Graetz.--II, p. 328 [331] _seq._ + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, pp. 5 _seq._, + 36 _seq._ + +L.N. Dembitz.--_Jewish Services in Synagogue and Home_ + (Jewish Publication Society of America, 1898), p. 44. + + +FABLES. + +J. Jacobs.--_The Fables of Æsop_ (London, 1889), I, + p. 110 _seq._ + +Read also Schechter, _Studies in Judaism_, p. 272 [331]; + and _J.Q.R._, (Kohler), V, p. 399; VII, p. 581; + (Bacher) IV, p. 406; (Davis) VIII, p. 529; (Abrahams) I, p. 216; + II, p. 172; Chenery, _Legends from the Midrash_ (_Miscellany + of the Society of Hebrew Literature_, Vol. II). + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE LETTERS OF THE GAONIM + + Representative Gaonim: + Achai, Amram, Zemach, Saadiah, Sherira, Samuel, Hai. + + +For several centuries after the completion of the Talmud, Babylonia or +Persia continued to hold the supremacy in Jewish learning. The great +teachers in the Persian schools followed the same lines as their +predecessors in the Mishnah and the Talmud. Their name was changed more +than their character. The title _Gaon_ ("Excellence") was applied to the +head of the school, the members of which devoted themselves mainly to +the study and interpretation of the older literature. They also made +original contributions to the store. Of their extensive works but little +has been preserved. What has survived proves that they were gifted with +the faculty of applying old precept to modern instance. They regulated +the social and religious affairs of all the Jews in the diaspora. They +improved educational methods, and were pioneers in the popularization of +learning. By a large collection of Case Law, that is, decisions in +particular cases, they brought the newer Jewish life into moral harmony +with the principles formulated by the earlier Rabbis. The Gaonim were +the originators or, at least, the arrangers of parts of the liturgy. +They composed new hymns and invocations, fixed the order of service, and +established in full vigor a system of _Minhag_, or Custom, whose power +became more and more predominant, not only in religious, but also in +social and commercial affairs. + +The literary productions of the Gaonic age open with the _Sheeltoth_ +written by Achai in the year 760. This, the first independent book +composed after the close of the Talmud, was curiously enough compiled +in Palestine, whither Achai had migrated from Persia. The Sheeltoth +("Inquiries") contain nearly two hundred homilies on the Pentateuch. In +the year 880 another Gaon, Amram by name, prepared a _Siddur_, or +Prayer-Book, which includes many remarks on the history of the liturgy +and the customs connected with it. A contemporary of Amram, Zemach, the +son of Paltoi, found a different channel for his literary energies. He +compiled an _Aruch_, or Talmudical Lexicon. Of the most active of the +Gaonim, Saadiah, more will be said in a subsequent chapter. We will now +pass on to Sherira, who in 987 wrote his famous "Letter," containing a +history of the Jewish Tradition, a work which stamps the author as at +once learned and critical. It shows that the Gaonim were not afraid nor +incapable of facing such problems as this: Was the Mishnah _orally_ +transmitted to the Amoraim (or Rabbis of the Talmud), or was it +_written down_ by the compiler? Sherira accepted the former alternative. +The latest Gaonim were far more productive than the earlier. Samuel, the +son of Chofni, who died in 1034, and the last of the Gaonim, Hai, who +flourished from 998 to 1038, were the authors of many works on the +Talmud, the Bible, and other branches of Jewish literature. Hai Gaon was +also a poet. + +The language used by the Gaonim was at first Hebrew and Aramaic, and the +latter remained the official speech of the Gaonate. In course of time, +Arabic replaced the Aramean dialect, and became the _lingua franca_ of +the Jews. + +The formal works of the Gaonim, with certain obvious exceptions, were +not, however, the writings by which they left their mark on their age. +The most original and important of the Gaonic writings were their +"Letters," or "Answers" (_Teshuboth_). The Gaonim, as heads of the +school in the Babylonian cities Sura and Pumbeditha, enjoyed far more +than local authority. The Jews of Persia were practically independent of +external control. Their official heads were the Exilarchs, who reigned +over the Jews as viceroys of the caliphs. The Gaonim were the religious +heads of an emancipated community. The Exilarchs possessed a princely +revenue, which they devoted in part to the schools over which the Gaonim +presided. This position of authority, added to the world-wide repute of +the two schools, gave the Gaonim an influence which extended beyond +their own neighborhood. From all parts of the Jewish world their +guidance was sought and their opinions solicited on a vast variety of +subjects, mainly, but not exclusively, religious and literary. Amid the +growing complications of ritual law, a desire was felt for terse +prescriptions, clear-cut decisions, and rules of conduct. The +imperfections of study outside of Persia, again, made it essential to +apply to the Gaonim for authoritative expositions of difficult passages +in the Bible and the Talmud. To all such enquiries the Gaonim sent +responses in the form of letters, sometimes addressed to individual +correspondents, sometimes to communities or groups of communities. These +Letters and other compilations containing Halachic (or practical) +decisions were afterwards collected into treatises, such as the "Great +Rules" (_Halachoth Gedoloth_), originally compiled in the eighth +century, but subsequently reedited. Mostly, however, the Letters were +left in loose form, and were collected in much later times. + +The Letters of the Gaonim have little pretence to literary form. They +are the earliest specimens of what became a very characteristic branch +of Jewish literature. "Questions and Answers" (_Shaaloth u-Teshuboth_) +abound in later times in all Jewish circles, and there is no real +parallel to them in any other literature. More will be said later on as +to these curious works. So far as the Gaonic period is concerned, the +characteristics of these thousands of letters are lucidity of thought +and terseness of expression. The Gaonim never waste a word. They are +rarely over-bearing in manner, but mostly use a tone which is persuasive +rather than disciplinary. The Gaonim were, in this real sense, +therefore, princes of letter-writing. Moreover, though their Letters +deal almost entirely with contemporary affairs, they now constitute as +fresh and vivid reading as when first penned. Subjected to the severe +test of time, the Letters of the Gaonim emerge triumphant. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +GAONIM. + +Graetz.--III, 4-8. + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, p. 25. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE KARAITIC LITERATURE + + Anan, Nahavendi, Abul-Faraj, Salman, Sahal, al-Bazir, Hassan, + Japhet, Kirkisani, Judah Hadassi, Isaac Troki. + + +In the very heart of the Gaonate, the eighth century witnessed a +religious and literary reaction against Rabbinism. The opposition to the +Rabbinite spirit was far older than this, but it came to a head under +Anan, the son of David, the founder of Karaism. Anan had been an +unsuccessful candidate for the dignity of Exilarch, and thus personal +motives were involved in his attack on the Gaonim. But there were other +reasons for the revolt. In the same century, Islam, like Judaism, was +threatened by a fierce antagonism between the friends and the foes of +tradition. In Islam the struggle lay between the Sunnites, who +interpreted Mohammedanism in accordance with authorized tradition, and +the Shiites, who relied exclusively upon the Koran. Similarly, in +Judaism, the Rabbinites obeyed the traditions of the earlier +authorities, and the Karaites (from _Kera_, or _Mikra_, i.e. "Bible") +claimed the right to reject tradition and revert to the Bible as the +original source of inspiration. Such reactions against tradition are +recurrent in all religions. + +Karaism, however, was not a true reaction against tradition. It replaced +an old tradition by a new one; it substituted a rigid, unprogressive +authority for one capable of growth and adaptation to changing +requirements. In the end, Karaism became so hedged in by its supposed +avoidance of tradition that it ceased to be a living force. But we are +here not concerned with the religious defects of Karaism. Regarded from +the literary side, Karaism produced a double effect. Karaism itself gave +birth to an original and splendid literature, and, on the other hand, +coming as it did at the time when Arabic science and poetry were +attaining their golden zenith, Karaism aroused within the Rabbinite +sphere a notable energy, which resulted in some of the best work of +medieval Jews. + +Among the most famous of the Karaite authors was Benjamin Nahavendi, who +lived at the beginning of the ninth century, and displayed much +resolution and ability as an advocate of free-thought in religion. +Nahavendi not only wrote commentaries on the Bible, but also attempted +to write a philosophy of Judaism, being allied to Philo in the past and +to the Arabic writers in his own time. At the end of the ninth century, +Abul-Faraj Harun made a great stride forwards as an expounder of the +Bible and as an authority on Hebrew grammar. + +During the ninth and tenth centuries, several Karaites revealed much +vigor and ability in their controversies with the Gaonim. In this field +the most distinguished Karaitic writers were Salman, the son of Yerucham +(885-960); Sahal, the son of Mazliach (900-950); Joseph al-Bazir +(flourished 910-930); Hassan, the son of Mashiach (930); and Japhet, the +son of Ali (950-990). + +Salman, the son of Yerucham, was an active traveller; born in Egypt, he +went as a young man to Jerusalem, which he made his head-quarters for +several years, though he paid occasional visits to Babylonia and to his +native land. These journeys helped to unify the scattered Karaite +communities. Besides his Biblical works, Salman composed a poetical +treatise against the Rabbinite theories. To this book, which was written +in Hebrew, Salman gave the title, "The Wars of the Lord." + +Sahal, the son of Mazliach, on the other hand, was a native of the Holy +Land, and though an eager polemical writer against the Rabbinites, he +bore a smaller part than Salman in the practical development of Karaism. +His "Hebrew Grammar" (_Sefer Dikduk_) and his Lexicon (_Leshon +Limmudim_) were very popular. Unlike the work of other Karaites, Joseph +al-Bazir's writings were philosophical, and had no philological value. +He was an adherent of the Mohammedan theological method known as the +Kalam, and wrote mostly in Arabic. Another Karaite of the same period, +Hassan, the son of Mashiach, was the one who impelled Saadiah to throw +off all reserves and enter the lists as a champion of Rabbinism. Of the +remaining Karaites of the tenth century, the foremost was Japhet, the +son of Ali, whose commentaries on the Bible represent the highest +achievements of Karaism. A large Hebrew dictionary (_Iggaron_), by a +contemporary of Japhet named David, the son of Abraham, is also a work +which was often quoted. Kirkisani, also a tenth century Karaite, +completed in the year 937 a treatise called, "The Book of Lights and the +High Beacons." In this work much valuable information is supplied as to +the history of Karaism. Despite his natural prejudices in favor of his +own sect, Kirkisani is a faithful historian, as frank regarding the +internal dissensions of the Karaites as in depicting the divergence of +views among the Rabbinites. Kirkisani's work is thus of the greatest +importance for the history of Jewish sects. + +Finally, the famous Karaite Judah Hadassi (1075-1160) was a young man +when his native Jerusalem was stormed by the Crusaders in 1099. A +wanderer to Constantinople, he devoted himself to science, Hebrew +philology, and Greek literature. He utilized his wide knowledge in his +great work, "A Cluster of Cyprus Flowers" (_Eshkol ha-Kopher_), which +was completed in 1150. It is written in a series of rhymed alphabetical +acrostics. It is encyclopedic in range, and treats critically, not only +of Judaism, but also of Christianity and Islam. + +Karaitic literature was produced in later centuries also, but by the end +of the twelfth century, Karaism had exhausted its originality and +fertility. One much later product of Karaism, however, deserves special +mention. Isaac Troki composed, in 1593, a work entitled "The +Strengthening of Faith" (_Chizzuk Emunah_), in which the author defended +Judaism and attacked Christianity. It was a lucid book, and as its +arguments were popularly arranged, it was very much read and used. With +this exception, Karaism produced no important work after the twelfth +century. + +On the intellectual side, therefore, Karaism was a powerful though +ephemeral movement. In several branches of science and philology the +Karaites made real additions to contemporary knowledge. But the main +service of Karaism was indirect. The Rabbinite Jews, who represented the +mass of the people, had been on the way to a scientific and +philosophical development of their own before the rise of Karaism. The +necessity of fighting Karaism with its own weapons gave a strong impetus +to the new movement in Rabbinism, and some of the best work of Saadiah +was inspired by Karaitic opposition. Before, however, we turn to the +career of Saadiah, we must consider another literary movement, which +coincided in date with the rise of Karaism, but was entirely independent +of it. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +KARAITES. + +Graetz.--III, 5 (on Troki, _ibid._, IV, 18, end. M. Mocatta, + _Faith Strengthened_, London, 1851). + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, p. 115 _seq._ + +W. Bacher.--_Qirqisani the Qaraite, and his Work on Jewish Sects_, + _J.Q.R._, VII, p. 687. + +---- _Jehuda Hadassi's Eshkol Hakkofer_, _J.Q.R._, VIII, + p. 431. + +S. Poznanski.--_Karaite Miscellanies_, _J.Q.R._, VIII, + p. 681. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE NEW-HEBREW PIYUT + + Kalirian and Spanish Piyutim (Poems).--Jannai.--Kalir. + + +Arabic to a large extent replaced Hebrew as the literary language of the +Jews, but Hebrew continued the language of prayer. As a mere literary +form, Rabbinic Hebrew retained a strong hold on the Jews; as a vehicle +of devotional feeling, Hebrew reigned supreme. The earliest additions to +the fixed liturgy of the Synagogue were prose-poems. They were +"Occasional Prayers" composed by the precentor for a special occasion. +An appropriate melody or chant accompanied the new hymn, and if the poem +and melody met the popular taste, both won a permanent place in the +local liturgy. The hymns were unrhymed and unmetrical, but they may have +been written in the form of alphabetical acrostics, such as appear in +the 119th and a few other Psalms. + +It is not impossible that metre and rhyme grew naturally from the +Biblical Hebrew. Rhyme is unknown in the Bible, but the assonances which +occur may easily run into rhymes. Musical form is certainly present in +Hebrew poetry, though strict metres are foreign to it. As an historical +fact, however, Hebrew rhymed verse can be traced on the one side to +Syriac, on the other to Arabic influences. In the latter case the +influence was external only. Early Arabic poetry treats of war and love, +but the first Jewish rhymsters sang of peace and duty. The Arab wrote +for the camp, the Jew for the synagogue. + +Two distinct types of verse, or _Piyut_ (i.e. Poetry), arose within the +Jewish circle: the ingenious and the natural. In the former, the style +is rugged and involved; a profusion of rare words and obscure allusions +meets and troubles the reader; the verse lacks all beauty of form, yet +is alive with intense spiritual force. This style is often termed +Kalirian, from the name of its best representative. The Kalirian Piyut +in the end spread chiefly to France, England, Burgundy, Lorraine, +Germany, Bohemia, Poland, Italy, Greece, and Palestine. The other type +of new-Hebrew Piyut, the Spanish, rises to higher beauties of form. It +is not free from the Kalirian faults, but it has them in a less +pronounced degree. The Spanish Piyut, in the hands of one or two +masters, becomes true poetry, poetry in form as well as in idea. The +Spanish style prevailed in Castile, Andalusia, Catalonia, Aragon, +Majorca, Provence, and in countries where Arabic influence was +strongest. + +Kalir was the most popular writer of the earlier type of new-Hebrew +poetry, but he was not its creator. An older contemporary of his, from +whom he derived both his diction and his method of treating poetic +subjects, was Jannai. Though we know that Jannai was a prolific writer, +only seven short examples of his verse remain. One of these is the +popular hymn, "It was at Midnight," which is still recited by "German" +Jews at the home-service on the first eve of Passover. It recounts in +order the deliverances which, according to the Midrash, were wrought for +Israel at midnight, from Abraham's victory over the four kings to the +wakefulness of Ahasuerus, the crisis of the Book of Esther. In the last +stanza is a prayer for future redemption: + + Bring nigh the hour which is nor day nor night! + Most High! make known that thine is day, and + thine the night! + Make clear as day the darkness of our night! + As of old at midnight. + +This form of versification, with a running refrain, afterwards became +very popular with Jewish poets. Jannai also displays the harsh +alliterations, the learned allusions to Midrash and Talmud, which were +carried to extremes by Kalir. + +It is strange that it is impossible to fix with any certainty the date +at which Jannai and Kalir lived. Kalir may belong to the eighth or to +the ninth century. It is equally hard to decide as to his birth-place. +Rival theories hold that he was born in Palestine and in Sardinia. His +name has been derived from Cagliari in Sardinia and from the Latin +_calyrum_, a cake. Honey-cakes were given to Jewish children on their +first introduction to school, and the nickname "Kaliri," or "Boy of the +Cake," may have arisen from his youthful precocity. But all this is mere +guess-work. + +It is more certain that the poet was also the singer of his own verses. +His earliest audiences were probably scholars, and this may have tempted +Kalir to indulge in the recondite learning which vitiates his hymns. At +his worst, Kalir is very bad indeed; his style is then a jumble of +words, his meaning obscure and even unintelligible. He uses a maze of +alphabetical acrostics, line by line he wreathes into his compositions +the words of successive Bible texts. Yet even at his worst he is +ingenious and vigorous. Such phrases as "to hawk it as a hawk upon a +sparrow" are at least bold and effective. Ibn Ezra later on lamented +that Kalir had treated the Hebrew language like an unfenced city. But if +the poet too freely admitted strange and ugly words, he added many of +considerable force and beauty. Kalir rightly felt that if Hebrew was to +remain a living tongue, it was absurd to restrict the language to the +vocabulary of the Bible. Hence he invented many new verbs from nouns. + +But his inventiveness was less marked than his learning. "With the +permission of God, I will speak in riddles," says Kalir in opening the +prayer for dew. The riddles are mainly clever allusions to the Midrash. +It has been pointed out that these allusions are often tasteless and +obscure. But they are more often beautiful and inspiring. No Hebrew +poet in the Middle Ages was illiterate, for the poetic instinct was fed +on the fancies of the Midrash. This accounts for their lack of freshness +and originality. The poet was a scholar, and he was also a teacher. Much +of Kalir's work is didactic; it teaches the traditional explanations of +the Bible and the ritual laws for Sabbath and festivals; it provides a +convenient summary of the six hundred and thirteen precepts into which +the duties of the Law were arranged. But over and above all this the +genius of Kalir soars to poetic heights. So much has been said of +Kalir's obscurity that one quotation must, in fairness be given of Kalir +at his simplest and best. The passage is taken from a hymn sung on the +seventh day of Tabernacles, the day of the great Hosannas: + + O give ear to the prayer of those who long for thy + salvation, + Rejoicing before thee with the willows of the brook, + And save us now! + + O redeem the vineyard which thou hast planted, + And sweep thence the strangers, and save us now! + O regard the covenant which thou hast sealed in us! + O remember for us the father who knew thee, + To whom thou, too, didst make known thy love, + And save us now! + + O deal wondrously with the pure in heart + That thy providence may be seen of men, and save us now! + O lift up Zion's sunken gates from the earth, + Exalt the spot to which our eyes all turn, + And save us now! + +Such hymns won for Kalir popularity, which, however, is now much on the +wane. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +KALIR AND JANNAI. + +Graetz.--III, 4. + +Translations of Poems in Editions of the Prayer-Book, and _J.Q.R._, + VII, p. 460; IX, p. 291. + +L.N. Dembitz,--_Jewish Services_, p. 222 _seq._ + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SAADIAH OF FAYUM + + Translation of the Bible into Arabic.--Foundation of a Jewish + Philosophy of Religion. + + +Saadiah was born in Fayum (Egypt) in 892, and died in Sura in 942. He +was the founder of a new literature. In width of culture he excelled all +his Jewish contemporaries. To him Judaism was synonymous with culture, +and therefore he endeavored to absorb for Judaism all the literary and +scientific tendencies of his day. He created, in the first place, a +Jewish philosophy, that is to say, he applied to Jewish theology the +philosophical methods of the Arabs. Again, though he vigorously opposed +Karaism, he adopted its love of philology, and by his translation of the +Bible into Arabic helped forward a sounder understanding of the +Scriptures. + +At the age of thirty-six Saadiah received a remarkable honor; he was +summoned to Sura to fill the post of Gaon. This election of a foreigner +as head of the Babylonian school proves, first, that Babylonia had lost +its old supremacy, and, secondly, that Saadiah had already won +world-wide fame. Yet the great work on which his reputation now rests +was not then written. Saadiah's notoriety was due to his successful +championship of Rabbinism against the Karaites. His determination, his +learning, his originality, were all discernible in his early treatises +against Anan and his followers. The Rabbinites had previously opposed +Karaism in a guerilla warfare. Saadiah came into the open, and met and +vanquished the foe in pitched battles. But he did more than defeat the +invader, he strengthened the home defences. Saadiah's polemical works +have always a positive as well as a negative value. He wished to prove +Karaism wrong, but he also tried to show that Rabbinism was right. + +As a champion of Rabbinism, then, Saadiah was called to Sura. But he had +another claim to distinction. The Karaites founded their position on the +Bible. Saadiah resolved that the appeal to the Bible should not be +restricted to scholars. He translated the Scriptures into Arabic, and +added notes. Saadiah's qualifications for the task were his knowledge of +Hebrew, his fine critical sense, and his enlightened attitude towards +the Midrash. As to the first qualification, it is said that at the age +of eleven he had begun a Hebrew rhyming dictionary for the use of poets. +He himself added several hymns to the liturgy. In these Saadiah's +poetical range is very varied. Sometimes his style is as pure and simple +as the most classical poems of the Spanish school. At other times, his +verses have all the intricacy, harshness, and artificiality of Kalir's. +Perhaps his mastery of Hebrew is best seen in his "Book of the Exiled" +(_Sefer ha-Galui_), compiled in Biblical Hebrew, divided into verses, +and provided with accents. As the title indicates, this book was written +during Saadiah's exile from Sura. + +Saadiah's Arabic version of the Scriptures won such favor that it was +read publicly in the synagogues. Of old the Targum, or Aramaic version, +had been read in public worship together with the original Hebrew. Now, +however, the Arabic began to replace the Targum. Saadiah's version well +deserved its honor. + +Saadiah brought a hornet's nest about his head by his renewed attacks on +Karaism, contained in his commentary to Genesis. But the call to Sura +turned Saadiah's thoughts in another direction. He found the famous +college in decay. The Exilarchs, the nominal heads of the whole of the +Babylonian Jews, were often unworthy of their position, and it was not +long before Saadiah came into conflict with the Exilarch. The struggle +ended in the Gaon's exile from Sura. During his years of banishment, he +produced his greatest works. He arranged a prayer-book, wrote Talmudical +essays, compiled rules for the calendar, examined the Massoretic works +of various authors, and, indeed, produced a vast array of books, all of +them influential and meritorious. But his most memorable writings were +his "Commentary on the Book of Creation" (_Sefer Yetsirah_) and his +masterpiece, "Faith and Philosophy" (_Emunoth ve-Deoth_). + +This treatise, finished in the year 934, was the first systematic +attempt to bring revealed religion into harmony with Greek philosophy. +Saadiah was thus the forerunner, not only of Maimonides, but also of the +Christian school-men. No Jew, said Saadiah, should discard the Bible, +and form his opinions solely by his own reasoning. But he might safely +endeavor to prove, independently of revelation, the truths which +revelation had given. Faith, said Saadiah again, is the sours absorption +of the essence of a truth, which thus becomes part of itself, and will +be the motive of conduct whenever the occasion arises. Thus Saadiah +identified reason with faith. He ridiculed the fear that philosophy +leads to scepticism. You might as well, he argued, identify astronomy +with superstition, because some deluded people believe that an eclipse +of the moon is caused by a dragon's making a meal of it. + +For the last few years of his life Saadiah was reinstated in the Gaonate +at Sura. The school enjoyed a new lease of fame under the brilliant +direction of the author of the great work just described. After his +death the inevitable decay made itself felt. Under the Moorish caliphs, +Spain had become a centre of Arabic science, art, and poetry. In the +tenth century, Cordova attained fame similar to that which Athens and +Alexandria had once reached. In Moorish Spain, there was room both for +earnest piety and the sensuous delights of music and art; and the keen +exercise of the intellect in science or philosophy did not debar the +possession of practical statesmanship and skill in affairs. In the +service of the caliphs were politicians who were also doctors, poets, +philosophers, men of science. Possession of culture was, indeed, a sure +credential for employment by the state. It was to Moorish Spain that the +centre of Judaism shifted after the death of Saadiah. It was in Spain +that the finest fruit of Jewish literature in the post-Biblical period +grew. Here the Jewish genius expanded beneath the sunshine of Moorish +culture. To Moses, the son of Chanoch, an envoy from Babylonia, belongs +the honor of founding a new school in Cordova. In this he had the +support of the scholar-statesman Chasdai, the first of a long line of +medieval Jews who earned double fame, as servants of their country and +as servants of their own religion. To Chasdai we must now turn. + + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +SAADIAH. + +Graetz.--III, 7. + +Schiller-Szinessy.--_Encycl. Brit._, Vol. XXI, p. 120. + +M. Friedländer.--_Life and Works of Saadia_. _J.Q.R._, + Vol. V, p. 177. + +Saadiah's Philosophy (Owen), _J.Q.R._, Vol. III, p. 192. + +Grammar and Polemics (Rosin), _J.Q.R._, Vol. VI, p. 475; + (S. Poznanski) _ibid._, Vol. IX, p. 238. + +E.H. Lindo.--_History of the Jews of Spain and Portugal_ +(London, 1848). + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +DAWN OF THE SPANISH ERA + + Chasdai Ibn Shaprut.--Menachem and Dunash, Chayuj and + Janach.--Samuel the Nagid. + + +If but a small part of what Hebrew poets sang concerning Chasdai Ibn +Shaprut be literal fact, he was indeed a wonderful figure. His career +set the Jewish imagination aflame. Charizi, in the thirteenth century, +wrote of Chasdai thus: + + In southern Spain, in days gone by, + The sun of fame rose up on high: + Chasdai it was, the prince, who gave + Rich gifts to all who came to crave. + Science rolled forth her mighty waves, + Laden with gems from hidden caves, + Till wisdom like an island stood, + The precious outcome of the flood. + Here thirsting spirits still might find + Knowledge to satisfy the mind. + Their prince's favor made new day + For those who slept their life away. + They who had lived so long apart + Confessed a bond, a common heart, + From Christendom and Moorish lands, + From East, from West, from distant strands. + His favor compassed each and all. + Girt by the shelter of his grace, + Lit by the glory of his face, + Knowledge held their heart in thrall. + He showed the source of wisdom and her springs, + And God's anointment made them more than kings. + His goodness made the dumb to speak his name, + Yea, stubborn hearts were not unyielding long; + And bards the starry splendor of his fame + Mirrored in lucent current of their song. + +This Chasdai, the son of Isaac, of the family of Shaprut (915-970), was +a physician and a statesman. He was something of a poet and linguist +besides; not much of a poet, for his eulogists say little of his verses; +and not much of a linguist, for he employed others (among them Menachem, +the son of Zaruk, the grammarian) to write his Hebrew letters for him. +But he was enough of a scholar to appreciate learning in others, and as +a patron of literature he placed himself in the front of the new Jewish +development in Spain. From Babylonia he was hailed as the head of the +school in Cordova. At his palatial abode was gathered all that was best +in Spanish Judaism. He was the patron of the two great grammarians of +the day, Menachem, the son of Zaruk, and his rival and critic, Dunash, +the son of Labrat. These grammarians fought out their literary disputes +in verses dedicated to Chasdai. Witty satires were written by the +friends of both sides. Sparkling epigrams were exchanged in the +rose-garden of Chasdai's house, and were read at the evening assemblies +of poets, merchants, and courtiers. It was Chasdai who brought both the +rivals to Cordova, Menachem from Tortosa and Dunash from Fez. Menachem +was the founder of scientific Hebrew grammar; Dunash, more lively but +less scholarly, initiated the art of writing metrical Hebrew verses. The +successors of these grammarians, Judah Chayuj and Abulwalid Merwan Ibn +Janach (eleventh century), completed what Menachem and Dunash had begun, +and placed Hebrew philology on a firm scientific basis. + +Thus, with Chasdai a new literary era dawned for Judaism. His person, +his glorious position, his liberal encouragement of poetry and learning, +opened the sealed-up lips of the Hebrew muse. As a contemporary said of +Chasdai: + + The grinding yoke from Israel's neck he tore, + Deep in his soul his people's love he bore. + The sword that thirsted for their blood he brake, + And cold oppression melted for his sake. + For God sent Chasdai Israel's heart to move + Once more to trust, once more his God to love. + +Chasdai did not confine his efforts on behalf of his brethren to the +Jews of Spain. Ambition and sympathy made him extend his affection to +the Jews of all the world. He interviewed the captains of ships, he +conversed with foreign envoys concerning the Jews of other lands. He +entered into a correspondence with the Chazars, Jews by adoption, not by +race. It is not surprising that the influence of Chasdai survived him. +Under the next two caliphs, Cordova continued the centre of a cultured +life and literature. Thither flocked, not only the Chazars, but also the +descendants of the Babylonian Princes of the Captivity and other men of +note. + +Half a century after Chasdai's death, Samuel Ibn Nagdela (993-1055) +stood at the head of the Jewish community in Granada. Samuel, called the +Nagid, or Prince, started life as a druggist in Malaga. His fine +handwriting came to the notice of the vizier, and Samuel was appointed +private secretary. His talents as a statesman were soon discovered, and +he was made first minister to Habus, the ruler of Granada. Once a Moor +insulted him, and King Habus advised his favorite to cut out the +offender's tongue. But Samuel treated his reviler with much kindness, +and one day King Habus and Samuel passed the same Moor. "He blesses you +now," said the astonished king, "whom he used to curse." + +"Ah!" replied Samuel, "I did as you advised. I cut out his angry +tongue, and put a kind one there instead." + +Samuel was not only vizier, he was also Rabbi. His knowledge of the +Rabbinical literature was profound, and his "Introduction to the Talmud" +(_Mebo ha-Talmud_) is still a standard work. He expended much labor and +money on collecting the works of the Gaonim. The versatility of Samuel +was extraordinary. From the palace he would go to the school; after +inditing a despatch he would compose a hymn; he would leave a reception +of foreign diplomatists to discuss intricate points of Rabbinical law or +examine the latest scientific discoveries. As a poet, his muse was that +of the town, not of the field. But though he wrote no nature poems, he +resembled the ancient Hebrew Psalmists in one striking feature. He sang +new songs of thanksgiving over his own triumphs, uttered laments on his +own woes, but there is an impersonal note in these songs as there is in +the similar lyrics of the Psalter. His individual triumphs and woes +were merged in the triumphs and woes of his people. In all, Samuel added +some thirty new hymns to the liturgy of the Synagogue. But his muse was +as versatile as his mind. Samuel also wrote some stirring wine songs. +The marvellous range of his powers helped him to complete what Chasdai +had begun. The centre of Judaism became more firmly fixed than ever in +Spain. When Samuel the Nagid died in 1055, the golden age of Spanish +literature was in sight. Above the horizon were rising in a glorious +constellation, Solomon Ibn Gebirol, the Ibn Ezras, and Jehuda Halevi. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +CHASDAI. + +Graetz,--III, p. 215 [220]. + +DUNASH AND MENACHEM. + +Graetz.--III, p. 223 [228]. + +JANACH. + +_Encycl. Brit._, Vol. XIII, p. 737. + +CHAYUJ. + +M. Jastrow, Jr.--_The Weak and Geminative Verbs in Hebrew by + Hayyûg_ (Leyden, 1897). + +HEBREW PHILOLOGY. + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, p. 131. + +CHAZARS. + +_Letter of Chasdai to Chazars_ (Engl. transl. by Zedner, + _Miscellany of the Society of Hebrew Literature_, Vol. I). + +Graetz.--III, p. 138 [140]. + +SAMUEL IBN NAGDELA. + +Graetz,--III, p, 254 [260]. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SPANISH-JEWISH POETS (I) + + Solomon Ibn Gebirol.--"The Royal Crown."--Moses Ibn + Ezra.--Abraham Ibn Ezra.--The Biblical Commentaries of Ibn Ezra + and the Kimchis. + + +"In the days of Chasdai," says Charizi, "the Hebrew poets began to +sing." We have seen that the new-Hebrew poetry was older than Chasdai, +but Charizi's assertion is true. The Hebrew poets of Spain are +melodious, and Kalir is only ingenious. Again, it was in Spain that +Hebrew was first used for secular poetry, for love songs and ballads, +for praises of nature, for the expression of all human feelings. In most +of this the poets found their models in the Bible. When Jehuda Halevi +sang in Hebrew of love, he echoed the "Song of Songs." When Moses Ibn +Ezra wrote penitential hymns, or Ibn Gebirol divine meditations, the +Psalms were ever before them as an inspiration. The poets often devoted +all their ambition to finding apt quotations from the sacred text. But +in one respect they failed to imitate the Bible, and this failure +seriously cramped their genius. The poetry of the Bible depends for its +beauty partly on its form. This form is what is called _parallelism of +line_. The fine musical effect produced by repeating as an echo the idea +already expressed is lost in the poetry of the Spanish Jews. + +Thus Spanish-Jewish poetry suffers, on the one side, because it is an +imitation of the Bible, and therefore lacks originality, and on the +other side it suffers, because it does not sufficiently imitate the +Biblical style. In spite of these limitations, it is real poetry. In the +Psalms there is deep sympathy for the wilder and more awful phenomena of +nature. In the poetry of the Spanish Jews, nature is loved in her +gentler moods. One of these poets, Nahum, wrote prettily of his garden; +another, Ibn Gebirol, sang of autumn; Jehuda Halevi, of spring. Again, +in their love songs there is freshness. There is in them a quaint +blending of piety and love; they do not say that beauty is a vain thing, +but they make beauty the mark of a God-fearing character. There is an +un-Biblical lightness of touch, too, in their songs of life in the city, +their epigrams, their society verses. And in those of their verses which +most resemble the Bible, the passionate odes to Zion by Jehuda Halevi, +the sublime meditations of Ibn Gebirol, the penitential prayers of Moses +Ibn Ezra, though the echoes of the Bible are distinct enough, yet amid +the echoes there sounds now and again the fresh, clear voice of the +medieval poet. + +Solomon Ibn Gebirol was born in Malaga in 1021, and died in 1070. His +early life was unhappy, and his poetry is tinged with melancholy. But +his unhappiness only gave him a fuller hope in God. As he writes in his +greatest poem, he would fly from God to God: + + From thee to thee I fly to win + A place of refuge, and within + Thy shadow from thy anger hide, + Until thy wrath be turned aside. + Unto thy mercy I will cling, + Until thou hearken pitying; + Nor will I quit my hold of thee, + Until thy blessing light on me. + +These lines occur in Gebirol's "Royal Crown" (_Kether Malchuth_) a +glorious series of poems on God and the world. In this, the poet pours +forth his heart even more unreservedly than in his philosophical +treatise, "The Fountain of Life," or in his ethical work, "The +Ennoblement of Character," or in his compilation from the wisdom of the +past, "The Choice of Pearls" (if, indeed, this last book be his). The +"Royal Crown" is a diadem of praises of the greatness of God, praises to +utter which make man, with all his insignificance, great. + + Wondrous are thy works, O Lord of hosts, + And their greatness holds my soul in thrall. + Thine the glory is, the power divine, + Thine the majesty, the kingdom thine, + Thou supreme, exalted over all. + + * * * * * + + Thou art One, the first great cause of all; + Thou art One, and none can penetrate, + Not even the wise in heart, the mystery + Of thy unfathomable Unity; + Thou art One, the infinitely great. + +But man can perceive that the power of God makes him great to pardon. If +he see it not now, he will hereafter. + + Thou art light: pure souls shall thee behold, + Save when mists of evil intervene. + Thou art light, that, in this world concealed, + In the world to come shall be revealed; + In the mount of God it shall be seen. + +And so the poet in one of the final hymns of the "Royal Crown," filled +with a sense of his own unworthiness, hopefully abandons himself to God: + + My God, I know that those who plead + To thee for grace and mercy need + All their good works should go before, + And wait for them at heaven's high door. + But no good deeds have I to bring, + No righteousness for offering. + No service for my Lord and King. + + Yet hide not thou thy face from me, + Nor cast me out afar from thee; + But when thou bidd'st my life to cease, + O may'st thou lead me forth in peace + Unto the world to come, to dwell + Among thy pious ones, who tell + Thy glories inexhaustible. + + There let my portion be with those + Who to eternal life arose; + There purify my heart aright, + In thy light to behold the light. + Raise me from deepest depths to share + Heaven's endless joys of praise and prayer, + That I may evermore declare: +Though thou wast angered, Lord, I will give thanks to thee, +For past is now thy wrath, and thou dost comfort me. + +Ibn Gebirol stood a little outside and a good deal above the circle of +the Jewish poets who made this era so brilliant. Many of them are now +forgotten; they had their day of popularity in Toledo, Cordova, Seville, +and Granada, but their poems have not survived. + +In the very year of Ibn Gebirol's death Moses Ibn Ezra was born. Of his +life little is certain, but it is known that he was still alive in +1138. He is called the "poet of penitence," and a gloomy turn was given +to his thought by an unhappy love attachment in his youth. A few stanzas +of one of his poems run thus: + + Sleepless, upon my bed the hours I number, + And, rising, seek the house of God, while slumber + Lies heavy on men's eyes, and dreams encumber + Their souls in visions of the night. + + In sin and folly passed my early years, + Wherefore I am ashamed, and life's arrears + Now strive to pay, the while my tears + Have been my food by day and night. + + * * * * * + + Short is man's life, and full of care and sorrow, + This way and that he turns some ease to borrow, + Like to a flower he blooms, and on the morrow + Is gone--a vision of the night. + + How does the weight of sin my soul oppress, + Because God's law too often I transgress; + I mourn and sigh, with tears of bitterness + My bed I water all the night. + + * * * * * + + My youth wanes like a shadow that's cast, + Swifter than eagle's wings my years fly fast, + And I remember not my gladness past, + Either by day or yet by night. + + Proclaim we then a fast, a holy day, + Make pure our hearts from sin, God's will obey, + And unto him, with humbled spirit pray + Unceasingly, by day and night. + + May we yet hear his words: "Thou art my own, + My grace is thine, the shelter of my throne, + For I am thy Redeemer, I alone; + Endure but patiently this night!" + +But his hymns, many of which won a permanent place in the prayer-book, +are not always sad. Often they are warm with hope, and there is a lilt +about them which is almost gay. His chief secular poem, "The Topaz" +(_Tarshish_), is in ten parts, and contains 1210 lines. It is written on +an Arabic model: it contains no rhymes, but is metrical, and the same +word, with entirely different meanings, occurs at the end of several +lines. It needs a good deal of imagination to appreciate Moses Ibn Ezra, +and this is perhaps what Charizi meant when he called him "the poet's +poet." + +Another Ibn Ezra, Abraham, one of the greatest Jews of the Middle Ages, +was born in Toledo before 1100. He passed a hard life, but he laughed at +his fate. He said of himself: + + If I sold shrouds, + No one would die. + If I sold lamps, + Then, in the sky, + The sun, for spite, + Would shine by night. + +Several of Abraham Ibn Ezra's hymns are instinct with the spirit of +resignation. Here is one of them: + + I hope for the salvation of the Lord, + In him I trust, when fears my being thrill, + Come life, come death, according to his word, + He is my portion still. + + Hence, doubting heart! I will the Lord extol + With gladness, for in him is my desire, + Which, as with fatness, satisfies my soul, + That doth to heaven aspire. + + All that is hidden shall mine eyes behold, + And the great Lord of all be known to me, + Him will I serve, his am I as of old; + I ask not to be free. + + Sweet is ev'n sorrow coming in his name, + Nor will I seek its purpose to explore, + His praise will I continually proclaim, + And bless him evermore. + +Ibn Ezra wandered over many lands, and even visited London, where he +stayed in 1158. Ibn Ezra was famed, not only for his poetry, but also +for his brilliant wit and many-sided learning. As a mathematician, as a +poet, as an expounder of Scriptures, he won a high place in Jewish +annals. In his commentaries he rejected the current digressive and +allegorical methods, and steered a middle course between free research +on the one hand, and blind adherence to tradition on the other. Ibn Ezra +was the first to maintain that the Book of Isaiah contains the work of +two prophets--a view now almost universal. He never for a moment +doubted, however, that the Bible was in every part inspired and in every +part the word of God. But he was also the father of the "Higher +Criticism." Ibn Ezra's pioneer work in spreading scientific methods of +study in France was shared by Joseph Kimchi, who settled in Narbonne in +the middle of the twelfth century. His sons, Moses and David, were +afterwards famous as grammarians and interpreters of the Scriptures. +David Kimchi (1160-1235) by his lucidity and thoroughness established +for his grammar, "Perfection" (_Michlol_), and his dictionary, "Book of +Roots," complete supremacy in the field of exegesis. He was the favorite +authority of the Christian students of Hebrew at the time of the +Reformation, and the English Authorized Version of 1611 owed much to +him. + +At this point, however, we must retrace our steps, and cast a glance at +Hebrew literature in France at a period earlier than the era of Ibn +Ezra. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +TRANSLATIONS OF SPANISH-HEBREW POEMS: + +Emma Lazarus.--_Poems_ (Boston, 1889). + +Mrs. H. Lucas.--_The Jewish Year_ (New York, 1898), and in + Editions of the Prayer-Books. See also (Abrahams) _J.Q.R._, + XI, p. 64. + +IBN GEBIROL. + +Graetz.--III, 9. + +D. Rosin.--_The Ethics of Solomon Ibn Gebirol_, 7. _J.Q.R._, + III, p. 159. + +MOSES IBN EZRA. + +Graetz.--III, p. 319 [326]. + +ABRAHAM IBN EZRA. + +Graetz.--III, p. 366 [375]. + +Abraham Ibn Ezra's Commentary on Isaiah (tr. by M. Friedländer, 1873). + +M. Friedländer.--_Essays on Ibn Ezra_ (London, 1877). See also + _Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England_, + Vol. II, p. 47, and J. Jacobs, _Jews of Angevin England_, + p. 29 _seq._ + +KIMCHI FAMILY. + +Graetz.--III, p. 392 [404]. + +SPANISH-JEWISH EXEGESIS AND POETRY. + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, pp. 141, 146-179. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +RASHI AND ALFASSI + + Nathan of Rome.--Alfassi.--Rashi.--Rashbam. + + +Before Hebrew poets, scientists, philosophers, and statesmen had made +Spain famous in Jewish annals, Rashi and his school were building up a +reputation destined to associate Jewish learning with France. In France +there was none of the width of culture which distinguished Spain. Rashi +did not shine as anything but an exponent of traditional Judaism. He +possessed no graces of style, created no new literature. But he +represented Judaism at its simplest, its warmest, its intensest. Rashi +was a great writer because his subject was great, not because he wrote +greatly. + +But it is only a half-truth to assert that Rashi had no graces of style. +For, if grace be the quality of producing effects with the least +display of effort, then there was no writer more graceful than Rashi. +His famous Commentary on the Talmud is necessarily long and intricate, +but there is never a word too much. No commentator on any classic ever +surpassed Rashi in the power of saying enough and only enough. He owed +this faculty in the first place to his intellectual grasp. He edited the +Talmud as well as explained it. He restored the original text with the +surest of critical instincts. And his conscience was in his work. So +thoroughly honest was he that, instead of slurring over difficulties, he +frankly said: "I cannot understand ... I do not know," in the rare cases +in which he was at a loss. Rashi moreover possessed that wondrous +sympathy with author and reader which alone qualifies a third mind to +interpret author to reader. Probing the depth of the Talmud, Rashi +probed the depth of the learned student, and realized the needs of the +beginner. Thus the beginner finds Rashi useful, and the specialist +turns to him for help. His immediate disciples rarely quote him by name; +to them he is "_the_ Commentator." + +Rashi was not the first to subject the Talmud to critical analysis. The +Gaonim had begun the task, and Nathan, the son of Yechiel of Rome, +compiled, in about the year 1000, a dictionary (_Aruch_) which is still +the standard work of reference. But Rashi's nearest predecessor, +Alfassi, was not an expounder of the Talmud; he extracted, with much +skill, the practical results from the logical mazes in which they were +enveloped. Isaac, the son of Jacob Alfassi, derived his name from Fez, +where he was born in 1013. He gave his intellect entirely to the Talmud, +but he acquired from the Moorish culture of his day a sense of order and +system. He dealt exclusively with the _Halachah_, or practical contents +of the Rabbinic law, and the guide which he compiled to the Talmud soon +superseded all previous works of its kind. Solomon, the son of Isaac, +best known as _R_abbi _Sh_elomo _Iz_chaki (Rashi), was born in 1040, and +died in 1105, in Troyes, in Champagne. From his mother, who came of a +family of poets, he inherited his warm humanity, his love for Judaism. +From his father, he drew his Talmudical knowledge, his keen intellect. +His youth was a hard one. In accordance with medieval custom, he was +married as a boy, and then left his home in search of knowledge rather +than of bread. Of bread he had little, but, starved and straitened in +circumstances though he was, he became an eager student at the Jewish +schools which then were dotted along the Rhine, residing now at Mainz, +now at Speyer, now at Worms. In 1064 he settled finally in Troyes. Here +he was at once hailed as a new light in Israel. His spotless character +and his unique reputation as a teacher attracted a vast number of eager +students. + +Of Rashi's Commentary on the Talmud something has already been said. As +to his exposition of the Bible, it soon acquired the widest popularity. +It was inferior to his work on the Talmud, for, as he himself admitted +in later life, he had relied too much on the Midrash, and had attended +too little to evolving the literal meaning of the text of Scripture. But +this is the charm of his book, and it is fortunate that he did not +actually attempt to recast his commentary. There is a quaintness and +fascination about it which are lacking in the pedantic sobriety of Ibn +Ezra and the grammatical exactness of Kimchi. But he did himself less +than justice when he asserted that he had given insufficient heed to the +_Peshat_ (literal meaning). Rashi often quotes the grammatical works of +Menachem and Dunash. He often translates the Hebrew into French, showing +a very exact knowledge of both languages. Besides, when he cites the +Midrash, he, as it were, constructs a Peshat out of it, and this method, +original to himself, found no capable imitators. + +Through the fame of Rashi, France took the leadership in matters +Talmudical. Blessed with a progeny of famous men, Rashi's influence was +carried on and increased by the work of his sons-in-law and grandsons. +Of these, Samuel ben Meir (Rashbam, 1100-1160) was the most renowned. +The devoted attention to the literature of Judaism in the Rhinelands +came in the nick of time. It was a firm rock against the storm which was +about to break. The Crusades crushed out from the Jews of France all +hope of temporal happiness. When Alfassi died in 1103 and Rashi in 1105, +the first Crusade had barely spent its force. The Jewish schools in +France were destroyed, the teachers and scholars massacred or exiled. +But the spirit lived on. Their literature was life to the Jews, who had +no other life. His body bent over Rashi's illuminating expositions of +the Talmud and the Bible, the medieval Jew felt his soul raised above +the miseries of the present to a world of peace and righteousness, where +the wicked ceased from troubling, and the weary were at rest. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +ALFASSI AND RASHI. + +Graetz.--III, p. 285 [292] _seq._ + +ALFASSI. + +I.H. Weiss.--_J.Q.R._, I, p. 290. + +RASHI. + +Schiller-Szinessy.--_Encycl. Brit._, Vol. XX, p. 284. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SPANISH-JEWISH POETS (II) + + Jehuda Halevi.--Charizi. + + +Turning once more to the brighter condition of Jewish literature in +Spain, we reach a man upon whom the whole vocabulary of praise and +affection has been exhausted; a man of magnetic attractiveness, whom +contemporaries and successors have agreed to admire and to love. Jehuda +Halevi was born in Toledo about 1085, the year in which Alfonso VI +recaptured the city from the Moors. It was a fit birth-place for the +greatest Jewish poet since Bible times. East and West met in Toledo. The +science of the East there found Western Christians to cultivate it. Jew, +Moor, and Christian displayed there mutual toleration which existed +nowhere else. In the midst of this favorable environment Jehuda Halevi +grew to early maturity. As a boy he won more than local fame as a +versifier. At all festive occasions his verses were in demand. He wrote +wedding odes, elegies on great men, eulogies of the living. His love +poems, serenades, epigrams of this period, all display taste, elegance, +and passion. + +The second period of Jehuda Halevi's literary career was devoted to +serious pursuits, to thoughts about life, and to practical work. He +wrote his far-famed philosophical dialogue, the _Cuzari_, and earned his +living as a physician. He was not an enthusiastic devotee to medicine, +however. "Toledo is large," he wrote to a friend, "and my patients are +hard masters. I, their slave, spend my days in serving their will, and +consume my years in healing their infirmities." Before making up a +prescription, he, like Sir Thomas Browne, used to say a prayer in which +he confessed that he had no great faith in the healing powers of his +art. Jehuda Halevi was, indeed, dissatisfied with his life altogether. +"My heart is in the East, but I am sunk in the West," he lamented. He +was unhappy because his beloved was far from him; his lady-love was +beyond the reach of his earnest gaze. In Heine's oft-quoted words, + + She for whom the Rabbi languished + Was a woe-begone poor darling, + Desolation's very image, + And her name--Jerusalem. + +The eager passion for one sight of Jerusalem grew on him, and dominated +the third portion of his life. At length nothing could restrain him; go +he would, though he die in the effort. And go he did, and die he did in +the effort. The news of his determination spread through Spain, and +everywhere hands were held out to restrain him. But his heart lightened +as the day of departure came. His poems written at this time are hopeful +and full of cheery feeling. In Egypt, a determined attempt was made by +the Jews to keep him among them. But it was vain. Onward to Jerusalem: +this was his one thought. He tarried in Egypt but a short while, then he +passed to Tyre and Damascus. At Damascus, in the year 1140 or +thereabouts, he wrote the ode to Zion which made his name immortal, an +ode in which he gave vent to all the intense passion which filled his +soul. The following are some stanzas taken from this address to +Jerusalem: + + The glory of the Lord has been alway + Thy sole and perfect light; + Thou needest not the sun to shine by day, + Nor moon and stars to illumine thee by night. + I would that, where God's spirit was of yore + Poured out unto thy holy ones, I might + There too my soul outpour! + The house of kings and throne of God wert thou, + How comes it then that now + Slaves fill the throne where sat thy kings before? + + Oh! who will lead me on + To seek the spots where, in far distant years, + The angels in their glory dawned upon + Thy messengers and seers? + + Oh! who will give me wings + That I may fly away, + And there, at rest from all my wanderings, + The ruins of my heart among thy ruins lay? + + * * * * * + + The Lord desires thee for his dwelling-place + Eternally, and bless'd + Is he whom God has chosen for the grace + Within thy courts to rest. + Happy is he that watches, drawing near, + Until he sees thy glorious lights arise, + And over whom thy dawn breaks full and clear + Set in the orient skies. + But happiest he, who, with exultant eyes, + The bliss of thy redeemed ones shall behold, + And see thy youth renewed as in the days of old. + +Soon after writing this Jehuda arrived near the Holy City. He was by her +side at last, by the side of his beloved. Then, legend tells us, through +a gate an Arab horseman dashed forth: he raised his spear, and slew the +poet, who fell at the threshold of his dear Jerusalem, with a song of +Zion on his lips. + +The new-Hebrew poetry did not survive him. Persecution froze the current +of the Jewish soul. Poets, indeed, arose after Jehuda Halevi in Germany +as in Spain. Sometimes, as in the hymns of the "German" Meir of +Rothenburg, a high level of passionate piety is reached. But it has well +been said that "the hymns of the Spanish writers link man's soul to his +Maker: the hymns of the Germans link Israel to his God." Only in Spain +Hebrew poetry was universal, in the sense in which the Psalms are +universal. Even in Spain itself, the death of Jehuda Halevi marked the +close of this higher inspiration. The later Spanish poets, Charizi and +Zabara (middle and end of the twelfth century), were satirists rather +than poets, witty, sparkling, ready with quaint quips, but local and +imitative in manner and subject. Zabara must receive some further notice +in a later chapter because of his connection with medieval folk-lore. Of +Charizi's chief work, the _Tachkemoni_, it may be said that it is +excellent of its type. The stories which it tells in unmetrical rhyme +are told in racy style, and its criticisms on men and things are clever +and striking. As a literary critic also Charizi ranks high, and there is +much skill in the manner in which he links together, round the person of +his hero, the various narratives which compose the _Tachkemoni_. The +experiences he relates are full of humor and surprises. As a +phrase-maker, Charizi was peculiarly happy, his command of Hebrew being +masterly. But his most conspicuous claim to high rank lies in his +origination of that blending of grim irony with bright wit which became +characteristic of all Jewish humorists, and reached its climax in Heine. +But Charizi himself felt that his art as a Hebrew poet was decadent. +Great poets of Jewish race have risen since, but the songs they have +sung have not been songs of Zion, and the language of their muse has not +been the language of the Hebrew Bible. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +JEHUDA HALEVI. + +Graetz.--III, II. + +J. Jacobs.--_Jehuda Halevi, Poet and Pilgrim_ (_Jewish + Ideals_, New York, 1896, p. 103). + +Lady Magnus.--_Jewish Portraits_ (Boston, 1889), p. 1. + +TRANSLATIONS OF HIS POETRY by Emma Lazarus and Mrs. Lucas + (_op. cit._): Editions of the Prayer-Book; also _J.Q.R._, + X, pp. 117, 626; VII, p. 464; _Treasurers of Oxford_ (London, + 1850); I. Abrahams, _Jewish Life in the Middle Ages_, chs. 7, 9 + and 10. + +HIS PHILOSOPHY: _Specimen of the Cusari_, translated by A. + Neubauer (_Miscellany of the Society of Hebrew Literature_, + Vol. I). John Owen.--_J.Q.R._, III, p. 199. + +CHARIZI. + +Graetz.--III, p. 559 [577] + +Karpeles.---_Jewish Literature and other Essays_, + p. 210 _seq._ + +M. Sachs.--_Hebrew Review_, Vol. I. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MOSES MAIMONIDES + + Maimon, Rambam = R. Moses, the son of Maimon, Maimonides.--His + Yad Hachazaka and Moreh Nebuchim.--Gersonides.--Crescas.--Albo. + + +The greatest Jew of the Middle Ages, Moses, the son of Maimon, was born +in Cordova, in 1135, and died in Fostat in 1204. His father Maimon was +himself an accomplished scientist and an enlightened thinker, and the +son was trained in the many arts and sciences then included in a liberal +education. When Moses was thirteen years old, Cordova fell into the +hands of the Almohades, a sect of Mohammedans, whose creed was as pure +as their conduct was fanatical. Jews and Christians were forced to +choose conversion to Islam, exile, or death. Maimon fled with his +family, and, after an interval of troubled wanderings and painful +privations, they settled in Fez, where they found the Almohades equally +powerful and equally vindictive. Maimon and his son were compelled to +assume the outward garb of Mohammedanism for a period of five years. +From Fez the family emigrated in 1165 to Palestine, and, after a long +period of anxiety, Moses Maimonides settled in Egypt, in Fostat, or Old +Cairo. + +In Egypt, another son of Maimon, David, traded in precious stones, and +supported his learned brother. When David was lost at sea, Maimonides +earned a living as a physician. His whole day was occupied in his +profession, yet he contrived to work at his books during the greater +part of the night. His minor works would alone have brought their author +fame. His first great work was completed in 1168. It was a Commentary on +the Mishnah, and was written in Arabic. But Maimonides' reputation rests +mainly on two books, the one written for the many, the other for the +few. The former is his "Strong Hand" (_Yad Hachazaka_), the latter his +"Guide of the Perplexed" (_Moreh Nebuchim_). + +The "Strong Hand" was a gigantic undertaking. In its fourteen books +Maimonides presented a clearly-arranged and clearly-worded summary of +the Rabbinical Halachah, or Law. In one sense it is an encyclopedia, but +it is an encyclopedia written with style. For its power to grapple with +vast materials, this code has few rivals and no superiors in other +literatures. Maimonides completed its compilation in 1180, having spent +ten years over it. During the whole of that time, he was not only a +popular doctor, but also official Rabbi of Cairo. He received no salary +from the community, for he said, "Better one penny earned by the work of +one's hands, than all the revenues of the Prince of the Captivity, if +derived from fees for teaching or acting as Rabbi." The "Strong Hand," +called also "Deuteronomy" (_Mishneh Torah_), sealed the reputation of +Maimonides for all time. Maimonides was indeed attacked, first, because +he asserted that his work was intended to make a study of the Talmud +less necessary, and secondly, because he gave no authorities for his +statements, but decided for himself which Talmudical opinions to accept, +which to reject. But the severest scrutiny found few real blemishes and +fewer actual mistakes. "From Moses to Moses there arose none like +Moses," was a saying that expressed the general reverence for +Maimonides. Copies of the book were made everywhere; the Jewish mind +became absorbed in it; his fame and his name "rang from Spain to India, +from the sources of the Tigris to South Arabia." Eulogies were showered +on him from all parts of the earth. And no praise can say more for this +marvellous man than the fact that the incense burned at his shrine did +not intoxicate him. His touch became firmer, his step more resolute. +But he went on his way as before, living simply and laboring +incessantly, unmoved by the thunders of applause, unaffected by the +feebler echoes of calumny. He corresponded with his brethren far and +near, answered questions as Rabbi, explained passages in his Commentary +on the Mishnah or his other writings, entered heartily into the +controversies of the day, discussed the claims of a new aspirant to the +dignity of Messiah, encouraged the weaker brethren who fell under +disfavor because they had been compelled to become pretended converts to +Islam, showed common-sense and strong intellectual grasp in every line +he wrote, and combined in his dealings with all questions the rarely +associated qualities, toleration and devotion to the truth. Yet he felt +that his life's work was still incomplete. He loved truth, but truth for +him had two aspects: there was truth as revealed by God, there was truth +which God left man to discover for himself. In the mind of Maimonides, +Moses and Aristotle occupied pedestals side by side. In the "Strong +Hand," he had codified and given orderly arrangement to Judaism as +revealed in Bible and tradition; he would now examine its relations to +reason, would compare its results with the data of philosophy. This he +did in his "Guide of the Perplexed" (_Moreh Nebuchim_). Maimonides here +differed fundamentally from his immediate predecessors. Jehuda Halevi, +in his _Cuzari_, was poet more than philosopher. The _Cuzari_ was a +dialogue based on the three principles, that God is revealed in history, +that Jerusalem is the centre of the world, and that Israel is to the +nations as the heart to the limbs. Jehuda Halevi supported these ideas +with arguments deduced from the philosophy of his day, he used reason as +the handmaid of theology. Maimonides, however, like Saadiah, recognized +a higher function for reason. He placed reason on the same level as +revelation, and then demonstrated that his faith and his reason taught +identical truths. His work, the "Guide of the Perplexed," written in +Arabic in about the year 1190, is based, on the one hand, on the +Aristotelian system as expounded by Arabian thinkers, and, on the other +hand, on a firm belief in Scripture and tradition. With a masterly hand, +Maimonides summarized the teachings of Aristotle and the doctrines of +Moses and the Rabbis. Between these two independent bodies of truths he +found, not contradiction, but agreement, and he reconciled them in a way +that satisfied so many minds that the "Guide" was translated into Hebrew +twice during his life-time, and was studied by Mohammedans and by +Christians such as Thomas Aquinas. With general readers, the third part +was the most popular. In this part Maimonides offered rational +explanations of the ceremonial and legislative details of the Bible. + +For a long time after the death of Maimonides, which took place in 1204, +Jewish thought found in the "Guide" a strong attraction or a violent +repulsion. Commentaries on the _Moreh_, or "Guide," multiplied apace. +Among the most original of the philosophical successors of Maimonides +there were few Jews but were greatly influenced by him. Even the famous +author of "The Wars of the Lord," Ralbag, Levi, the son of Gershon +(Gersonides), who was born in 1288, and died in 1344, was more or less +at the same stand-point as Maimonides. On the other hand, Chasdai +Crescas, in his "Light of God," written between 1405 and 1410, made a +determined attack on Aristotle, and dealt a serious blow at Maimonides. +Crescas' work influenced the thought of Spinoza, who was also a close +student of Maimonides. A pupil of Crescas, Joseph Albo (1380-1444) was +likewise a critic of Maimonides. Albo's treatise, "The Book of +Principles" (_Ikkarim_), became a popular text-book. It was impossible +that the reconciliation of Aristotle and Moses should continue to +satisfy Jewish readers, when Aristotle had been dethroned from his +position of dictator in European thought. But the "Guide" of Maimonides +was a great achievement for its spirit more than for its contents. If it +inevitably became obsolete as a system of theology, it permanently acted +as an antidote to the mysticism which in the thirteenth century began to +gain a hold on Judaism, and which, but for Maimonides, might have +completely undermined the beliefs of the Synagogue. Maimonides remained +the exemplar of reasoning faith long after his particular form of +reasoning had become unacceptable to the faithful. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +MAIMONIDES. + +Graetz.--III, 14. + +Karpeles.--_Jewish Literature and other Essays_, p. 145. + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, pp. 70, 82 _seq._, + 94 _seq._ + +Schiller-Szinessy.--_Encycl. Brit._, Vol. XV, p. 295. + +HIS WORKS: + +_Eight Chapters_.--B. Spiers in _Threefold Cord_ (1893). + English translation in _Hebrew Review_, Vols. I and II. + +_Strong Hand_, selections translated by Soloweycik (London, 1863). + +_Letter to Jehuda Ibn Tibbon_, translated by H. Adler + (_Miscellany of the Society of Hebrew Literature_, Vol. I). + +_Guide of the Perplexed_, translated by M. Friedländer (1885). + +CRITICAL ESSAYS ON MAIMONIDES: + +I.H. Weiss.--_Study of the Talmud in the Thirteenth Century_, + _J.Q.R._, I, p. 290. + +J. Owen.--_J.Q.R._, III, p. 203. + +S. Schechter.--_Studies in Judaism_, p. 161 [197], etc. + +On MAIMON (father of Maimonides), see L.M. Simmons, _Letter of + Consolation of Maimon ben Joseph_, _J.Q.R._, II, p. 62. + +CRESCAS. + +Graetz.--IV, pp. 146 [157], 191 [206]. + +ALBO. + +Graetz.--IV, 7. + +English translation of _Ikkarim, Hebrew Review_, Vols. I, II, III. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE DIFFUSION OF SCIENCE + + Provençal Translators.--The Ibn Tibbons.--Italian + Translators.--Jacob Anatoli.--Kalonymos.--Scientific + Literature. + + +Translators act as mediators between various peoples and ages. They +bring the books and ideas of one form of civilization to the minds and +hearts of another. In the Middle Ages translations were of more +importance than now, since fewer educated people could read foreign +languages. + +No men of letters were more active than the Jews in this work of +diffusion. Dr. Steinschneider fills 1100 large pages with an account of +the translations made by Jews in the Middle Ages. Jews co-operated with +Mohammedans in making translations from the Greek, as later on they +were associated with Christians in making Latin translations of the +masterpieces of Greek literature. Most of the Jewish translations, +however, that influenced Europe were made from the Arabic into the +Hebrew. But though the language of these translations was mostly Hebrew, +they were serviceable to others besides Jews. For the Hebrew versions +were often only a stage in a longer journey. Sometimes by Jews directly, +sometimes by Christian scholars acting in conjunction with Jews, these +Hebrew versions were turned into Latin, which most scholars understood, +and from the Latin further translations were made into the every-day +languages of Europe. + +The works so translated were chiefly the scientific and philosophical +masterpieces of the Greeks and Arabs. Poetry and history were less +frequently the subject of translation, but, as will be seen later on, +the spread of the fables of Greece and of the folk-tales of India owed +something to Hebrew translators and editors. + +Provence was a meeting-place for Arab science and Jewish learning in the +Middle Ages, and it was there that the translating impulse of the Jews +first showed itself strongly. By the beginning of the thirteenth +century, Hebrew translation had become an art. True, these Hebrew +versions possess no graces of style, but they rank among the best of +their class for fidelity to their originals. Jewish patrons encouraged +the translators by material and moral support. Thus, Meshullam of Lunel +(twelfth century) was both learned and wealthy, and his eager +encouragement of Judah Ibn Tibbon, "the father of Jewish translators," +gave a strong impetus to the translating activity of the Jews. + +Judah Ibn Tibbon (about 1120-1190) was of Spanish origin, but he +emigrated from Granada to Provence during the same persecution that +drove Maimonides from his native land. Judah settled in Lunel, and his +skill as a physician won him such renown that his medical services were +sought by knights and bishops even from across the sea. Judah Ibn Tibbon +was a student of science and philosophy. He early qualified himself as a +translator by careful attention to philological niceties. Under the +inspiration of Meshullam, he spent the years 1161 to 1186 in making a +series of translations from Arabic into Hebrew. His translations were +difficult and forced in style, but he had no ready-made language at his +command. He had to create a new Hebrew. Classical Hebrew was naturally +destitute of the technical terms of philosophy, and Ibn Tibbon invented +expressions modelled on the Greek and the Arabic. He made Hebrew once +more a living language by extending its vocabulary and adapting its +idioms to the requirements of medieval culture. + +His son Samuel (1160-1230) and his grandson Moses continued the line of +faithful but inelegant translators. Judah had turned into Hebrew the +works of Bachya, Ibn Gebirol, Jehuda Halevi, Ibn Janach, and Saadiah. +Samuel was the translator of Maimonides, and bore a brave part in the +defence of his master in the bitter controversies which arose as to the +lawfulness and profit of studying philosophy. The translations of the +Tibbon family were in the first instance intended for Jewish readers +only, but later on the Tibbonite versions were turned into Latin by +Buxtorf and others. Another Latin translation of Maimonides existed as +early as the thirteenth century. + +Of the successors of the Tibbons, Jacob Anatoli (1238) was the first to +translate any portion of Averroes into any language. Averroes was an +Arab thinker of supreme importance in the Middle Ages, for through his +writings Europe was acquainted with Aristotle. Renan asserts that all +the early students of Averroes were Jews. Anatoli, a son-in-law of +Samuel Ibn Tibbon, was invited by Emperor Frederick II to leave Provence +and settle in Naples. To allow Anatoli full leisure for making +translations, Frederick granted him an annual income. Anatoli was a +friend of the Christian Michael Scot, and the latter made Latin +renderings from the former's Hebrew translations. In this way Christian +Europe was made familiar with Aristotle as interpreted by Averroes (Ibn +Roshd). Much later, the Jew Abraham de Balmes (1523) translated Averroes +directly from Arabic into Latin. In the early part of the fourteenth +century, Kalonymos, the son of Kalonymos, of Aries (born 1287), +translated various works into Latin. + +From the thirteenth century onwards, Jews were industrious translators +of all the important masterpieces of scientific and philosophical +literature. Their zeal included the works of the Greek astronomers and +mathematicians, Ptolemy, Euclid, Archimedes, and many others. Alfonso X +commissioned several Jews to co-operate with the royal secretaries in +making new renderings of older Arabic works on astronomy. Long before +this, in 959, the monk Nicholas joined the Jew Chasdai in translating +Dioscorides. Most of the Jewish translators were, however, not +Spaniards, but Provençals and Italians. It is to them that we owe the +Hebrew translations of Galen and Hippocrates, on which Latin versions +were based. + +The preceding details, mere drops from an ocean of similar facts, show +that the Jews were the mediators between Mohammedan and Christian +learning in the Middle Ages. According to Lecky, "the Jews were the +chief interpreters to Western Europe of Arabian learning." When it is +remembered that Arabian learning for a long time included the Greek, it +will be seen that Lecky ascribes to Jewish translators a role of the +first importance in the history of science. Roger Bacon (1214-1294) had +long before said a similar thing: "Michael Scot claimed the merit of +numerous translations. But it is certain that a Jew labored at them more +than he did. And so with the rest." + +In what precedes, nothing has been said of the _original_ contributions +made by Jewish authors to scientific literature. Jews were active in +original research especially in astronomy, medicine, and mathematics. +Many Jewish writers famous as philosophers, Talmudists, or poets, were +also men of science. There are numerous Jewish works on the calendar, on +astronomical instruments and tables, on mathematics, on medicine, and +natural history. Some of their writers share the medieval belief in +astrology and magic. But it is noteworthy that Abraham Ibn Ezra doubted +the common belief in demons, while Maimonides described astrology as +"that error called a science." These subjects, however, are too +technical for fuller treatment in the present book. More will be found +in the works cited below. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +IBN TIBBON FAMILY. + +Graetz.--III, p. 397 [409]. + +JACOB ANATOLI. + +Graetz.--III, p. 566 [584]. + +Karpeles.--_Sketch of Jewish History_ (Jewish Publication Society + of America, 1897), pp. 49, 57. + +JEWISH TRANSLATORS. + +Steinschneider, _Jewish Literature_, p. 62 _seq._ + +SCIENCE AND MEDICINE. + +Steinschneider.--_Ibid._, pp. 179 _seq._, 260 _seq._ + +Also, A. Friedenwald.--_Jewish Physicians and the Contributions of + the Jews to the Science of Medicine_ (_Publications of the + Gratz College_, Vol. I). + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE DIFFUSION OF FOLK-TALES + + Barlaam and Joshaphat.--The Fables of Bidpai.--Abraham Ibn + Chisdai.--Berachya ha-Nakdan.--Joseph Zabara. + + +The folk-tales of India were communicated to Europe in two ways. First, +there was an oral diffusion. In friendly conversation round the family +hearth, in the convivial intercourse of the tavern and divan, the wit +and wisdom of the East found a home in the West. Having few +opportunities of coming into close relations with Christian society, the +Jews had only a small share in the oral diffusion of folk-tales. But +there was another means of diffusion, namely, by books. By their +writings the Jews were able to leave some impress on the popular +literature of Europe. + +This they did by their translations. Sometimes the Jews translated +fables and folk-tales solely for their own use, and in such cases the +translations did not leave the Hebrew form into which they were cast. A +good example of this was Abraham Ibn Chisdai's "Prince and Nazirite," +compiled in the beginning of the thirteenth century. It was a Hebrew +version of the legend of Buddha, known as "Barlaam and Joshaphat." In +this the story is told of a prince's conversion to the ascetic life. His +father had vainly sought to hold him firm to a life of pleasure by +isolating him in a beautiful palace, far from the haunts of man, so that +he might never know that such things as evil, misery, and death existed. +Of course the plan failed, the prince discovered the things hidden from +him, and he became converted to the life of self-denial and renunciation +associated with the saintly teaching of Buddha. This story is the frame +into which a number of charming tales are set, which have found their +way into the popular literature of all the world. But in this spread of +the Indian stories, the book of Abraham Ibn Chisdai had no part. + +Far other it was with the Hebrew translation of the famous Fables of +Bidpai, known in Hebrew as _Kalila ve-Dimna_. These fables, like those +contained in the "Prince and Nazirite," were Indian, and were in fact +birth-stories of Buddha. They were connected by means of a frame, or +central plot. A large part of the popular tales of the Middle Ages can +be traced to the Fables of Bidpai, and here the Jews exerted important +influence. Some authorities even hold that these Fables of Bidpai were +brought to Spain directly from India by Jews. This is doubtful, but it +is certain that the spread of the Fables was due to Jewish activity. A +Jew translated them into Hebrew, and this Hebrew was turned into Latin +by the Italian John of Capua, a Jew by birth, in the year 1270. +Moreover, the Old Spanish version which was made in 1251 probably was +also the work of the Jewish school of translators established in Toledo +by Alfonso. The Greek version, which was earlier still, and dates from +1080, was equally the work of a Jew. Thus, as Mr. Joseph Jacobs has +shown, this curious collection of fables, which influenced Europe more +perhaps than any book except the Bible, started as a Buddhistic work, +and passed over to the Mohammedans and Christians chiefly through the +mediation of Jews. + +Another interesting collection of fables was made by Berachya ha-Nakdan +(the Punctuator, or Grammarian). He lived in England in the twelfth +century, or according to another opinion he dwelt in France a century +later. His collection of 107 "Fox Fables" won wide popularity, for their +wit and point combined with their apt use of Biblical phrases to please +the medieval taste. The fables in this collection are all old, many of +them being Æsop's, but it is very possible that the first knowledge of +Æsop gained in England was derived from a Latin translation of Berachya. + +Of greater poetical merit was Joseph Zabara's "Book of Delight," written +in about the year 1200 in Spain. In this poetical romance a large number +of ancient fables and tales are collected, but they are thrown into a +frame-work which is partially original. One night he, the author, lay at +rest after much toil, when a giant appeared before him, and bade him +rise. Joseph hastily obeyed, and by the light of the lamp which the +giant carried partook of a fine banquet which his visitor spread for +him. Enan, for such was the giant's name, offered to take Joseph to +another land, pleasant as a garden, where all men were loving, all men +wise. But Joseph refused, and told Enan fable after fable, about +leopards, foxes, and lions, all proving that it was best for a man to +remain where he was and not travel to foreign places. But Enan coaxes +Joseph to go with him, and as they ride on, they tell one another a very +long series of excellent tales, and exchange many witty remarks and +anecdotes. When at last they reach Enan's city, Joseph discovers that +his guide is a demon. In the end, Joseph breaks away from him, and +returns home to Barcelona. Now, it is very remarkable that this +collection of tales, written in exquisite Hebrew, closely resembles the +other collections in which Europe delighted later on. It is hard to +believe that Zabara's work had no influence in spreading these tales. At +all events, Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans, all read and enjoyed the +same stories, all laughed at the same jokes. "It is," says Mr. Jacobs, +"one of those touches of nature which make the whole world kin. These +folk-tales form a bond, not alone between the ages, but between many +races who think they have nothing in common. We have the highest +authority that 'out of the mouths of babes and sucklings has the Lord +established strength,' and surely of all the influences for good in the +world, none is comparable to the lily souls of little children. That +Jews, by their diffusion of folk-tales, have furnished so large an +amount of material to the childish imagination of the civilized world +is, to my mind, no slight thing for Jews to be proud of. It is one of +the conceptions that make real to us the idea of the Brotherhood of Man, +which, in Jewish minds, is forever associated with the Fatherhood of +God." + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +J. Jacobs.--_The Diffusion of Folk Tales_ (in _Jewish Ideals_, + p. 135); _The Fables of Bidpai_ (London, 1888) and _Barlaam + and Joshaphat_ (Introductions). + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, p. 174. + +BERACHYA HA-NAKDAN. + +J. Jacobs.--_Jews of Angevin England_, pp. 165 _seq._, 278. + +A. Neubauer.--_J.Q.R._, II, p. 520. + +ZABARA. + +I. Abrahams.--_J.Q.R._, VI, p. 502 (with English translation + of the _Book of Delight_). + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MOSES NACHMANIDES + + French and Spanish Talmudists.--The Tossafists, Asher of + Speyer, Tam, Isaac of Dompaire, Baruch of Ratisbon, Perez of + Corbeil.--Nachmanides' Commentary on the Pentateuch.--Public + controversies between Jews and Christians. + + +Nachmanides was one of the earliest writers to effect a reconciliation +between the French and the Spanish schools of Jewish literature. On the +one side, his Spanish birth and training made him a friend of the widest +culture; on the other, he was possessed of the French devotion to the +Talmud. Moses, the son of Nachman (Nachmanides, Ramban, 1195-1270), +Spaniard though he was, says, "The French Rabbis have won most Jews to +their view. They are our masters in Talmud, and to them we must go for +instruction." From the eleventh to the fourteenth century, a French +school of Talmudists occupied themselves with the elucidation of the +Talmud, and from the "Additions" (_Tossafoth_) which they compiled they +are known as Tossafists. The Tossafists were animated with an altogether +different spirit from that of the Spanish writers on the Talmud. But +though their method is very involved and over-ingenious, they display so +much mastery of the Talmud, such excellent discrimination, and so keen a +critical insight, that they well earned the fame they have enjoyed. The +earliest Tossafists were the family and pupils of Rashi, but the method +spread from Northern France to Provence, and thence to Spain. The most +famous Tossafists were Isaac, the son of Asher of Speyer (end of the +eleventh century); Tam of Rameru (Rashi's grandson); Isaac the Elder of +Dompaire (Tam's nephew); Baruch of Ratisbon; and Perez of Corbeil. + +Nachmanides' admiration for the French method--a method by no means +restricted to the Tossafists--did not blind him to its defects. "They +try to force an elephant through the eye of a needle," he sarcastically +said of some of the French casuists. Nachmanides thus possessed some of +the independence characteristic of the Spanish Jews. He also shared the +poetic spirit of Spain, and his hymn for the Day of Atonement is one of +the finest products of the new-Hebrew muse. The last stanzas run thus: + + Thine is the love, O God, and thine the grace, + That holds the sinner in its mild embrace; + Thine the forgiveness, bridging o'er the space + 'Twixt man's works and the task set by the King. + + Unheeding all my sins, I cling to thee! + I know that mercy shall thy footstool be: + Before I call, O do thou answer me, + For nothing dare I claim of thee, my King! + + O thou, who makest guilt to disappear, + My help, my hope, my rock, I will not fear; + Though thou the body hold in dungeon drear, + The soul has found the palace of the King! + +Everything that Nachmanides wrote is warm with tender love. He was an +enthusiast in many directions. His heart went out to the French +Talmudists, yet he cherished so genuine an affection for Maimonides that +he defended him with spirit against his detractors. Gentle by nature, he +broke forth into fiery indignation against the French critics of +Maimonides. At the same time his tender soul was attracted by the +emotionalism of the Kabbala, or mystical view of life, a view equally +opposed to the views of Maimonides and of the French school. He tried to +act the part of reconciler, but his intellect, strong as it was, was too +much at the mercy of his emotions for him to win a commanding place in +the controversies of his time. + +For a moment we may turn aside from his books to the incidents of his +life. Like Maimonides, he was a physician by profession and a Rabbi by +way of leisure. The most momentous incident in his career in Barcelona +was his involuntary participation in a public dispute with a convert +from the Synagogue. Pablo Christiani burned with the desire to convert +the Jews _en masse_ to Christianity, and in 1263 he induced King Jayme I +of Aragon to summon Nachmanides to a controversy on the truth of +Christianity. Nachmanides complied with the royal command most +reluctantly. He felt that the process of rousing theological animosity +by a public discussion could only end in a religious persecution. +However, he had no alternative but to assent. He stipulated for complete +freedom of speech. This was granted, but when Nachmanides published his +version of the discussion, the Dominicans were incensed. True, the +special commission appointed to examine the charge of blasphemy brought +against Nachmanides reported that he had merely availed himself of the +right of free speech which had been guaranteed to him. He was +nevertheless sentenced to exile, and his pamphlet was burnt. Nachmanides +was seventy years of age at the time. He settled in Palestine, where he +died in about 1270, amid a band of devoted friends and disciples, who +did not, however, reconcile him to the separation from his Spanish home. +"I left my family," he wrote, "I forsook my house. There, with my sons +and daughters, the sweet, dear children whom I brought up on my knees, I +left also my soul My heart and my eyes will dwell with them forever." + +The Halachic, or Talmudical, works of Nachmanides have already been +mentioned. His homiletical, or exegetical, writings are of more literary +importance. In "The Sacred Letter" he contended that man's earthly +nature is divine no less than his soul, and he vindicates the "flesh" +from the attacks made on human character by certain forms of +Christianity. The body, according to Nachmanides, is, with all its +functions, the work of God, and therefore perfect. "It is only sin and +neglect that disfigure God's creatures." In another of his books, "The +Law of Man," Nachmanides writes of suffering and death. He offers an +antidote to pessimism, for he boldly asserts that pain and suffering in +themselves are "a service of God, leading man to ponder on his end and +reflect about his destiny." Nachmanides believed in the bodily +resurrection, but held that the soul was in a special sense a direct +emanation from God. He was not a philosopher strictly so-called; he was +a mystic more than a thinker, one to whom God was an intuition, not a +concept of reason. + +The greatest work of Nachmanides was his "Commentary on the Pentateuch." +He reveals his whole character in it. In composing his work he had, he +tells us, three motives, an intellectual, a theological, and an +emotional motive. First, he would "satisfy the minds of students, and +draw their heart out by a critical examination of the text." His +exposition is, indeed, based on true philology and on deep and original +study of the Bible. His style is peculiarly attractive, and had he been +content to offer a plain commentary, his work would have ranked among +the best. But he had other desires besides giving a simple explanation +of the text. He had, secondly, a theological motive, to justify God and +discover in the words of Scripture a hidden meaning. In the Biblical +narratives, Nachmanides sees _types_ of the history of man. Thus, the +account of the six days of creation is turned into a prophecy of the +events which would occur during the next six thousand years, and the +seventh day is a type of the millennium. So, too, Nachmanides finds +symbolical senses in Scriptural texts, "for, in the Torah, are hidden +every wonder and every mystery, and in her treasures is sealed every +beauty of wisdom." Finally, Nachmanides wrote, not only for educational +and theological ends, but also for edification. His third purpose was +"to bring peace to the minds of students (laboring under persecution +and trouble), when they read the portion of the Pentateuch on Sabbaths +and festivals, and to attract their hearts by simple explanations and +sweet words." His own enthusiastic and loving temperament speaks in this +part of his commentary. It is true, as Graetz says, that Nachmanides +exercised more influence on his contemporaries and on succeeding ages by +his personality than by his writings. But it must be added that the +writings of Nachmanides are his personality. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +NACHMANIDES. + +I.H. Weiss, _Study of the Talmud in the Thirteenth Century_, + _J.Q.R._, I, p. 289. + +S. Schechter.--_Studies in Judaism_, p. 99 [120]. + +Graetz.--III, 17; also III, p. 598 [617]. + +JACOB TAM. + +Graetz.--III, p. 375 [385]. + +TOSSAFISTS. + +Graetz.--III, p. 344 [351], 403 [415]. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE ZOHAR AND LATER MYSTICISM + + Kabbala.--The Bahir.--Abulafia.--Moses of Leon.--The + Zohar.--Isaac Lurya.--Isaiah Hurwitz.--Christian + Kabbalists.--The Chassidim. + + +Mysticism is the name given to the belief in direct, intuitive communion +with God. All true religion has mystical elements, for all true religion +holds that man can commune with God, soul with soul. In the Psalms, God +is the Rock of the heart, the Portion of the cup, the Shepherd and +Light, the Fountain of Life, an exceeding Joy. All this is, in a sense, +_mystical_ language. But mysticism has many dangers. It is apt to +confuse vague emotionalism and even hysteria with communion with God. A +further defect of mysticism is that, in its medieval forms, it tended to +the multiplication of intermediate beings, or angels, which it created +to supply the means for that communion with God which, in theory, the +mystics asserted was direct. Finally, from being a deep-seated, +emotional aspect of religion, mysticism degenerated into intellectual +sport, a play with words and a juggling with symbols. + +Jewish mysticism passed through all these stages. Kabbala--as mysticism +was called--really means "Tradition," and the name proves that the +theory had its roots far back in the past. It has just been said that +there is mysticism in the Psalms. So there is in the idea of +inspiration, the prophet's receiving a message direct from God with whom +he spoke face to face. After the prophetic age, Jewish mysticism +displayed itself in intense personal religiousness, as well as in love +for Apocalyptic, or dream, literature, in which the sleeper could, like +Daniel, feel himself lapped to rest in the bosom of God. + +All the earlier literary forms of mysticism, or theosophy, made +comparatively little impression on Jewish writers. But at the beginning +of the thirteenth century a great development took place in the "secret" +science of the Kabbala. The very period which produced the rationalism +of Maimonides gave birth to the emotionalism of the Kabbala. The Kabbala +was at first a protest against too much intellectualism and rigidity in +religion. It reclaimed religion for the heart. A number of writers more +or less dallied with the subject, and then the Kabbala took a bolder +flight. Ezra, or Azriel, a teacher of Nachmanides, compiled a book +called "Brilliancy" (_Bahir_) in the year 1240. It was at once regarded +as a very ancient book. As will be seen, the same pretence of antiquity +was made with regard to another famous Kabbalistic work of a later +generation. Under Todros Abulafia (1234-1304) and Abraham Abulafia +(1240-1291), the mystical movement took a practical shape, and the +Jewish masses were much excited by stories of miracles performed and of +the appearance of a new Messiah. + +At this moment Moses of Leon (born in Leon in about 1250, died in +Arevalo in 1305) wrote the most famous Kabbalistic book of the Middle +Ages. This was named, in imitation of the Bahir, "Splendor" (_Zohar_), +and its brilliant success matched its title. Not only did this +extraordinary book raise the Kabbala to the zenith of its influence, but +it gave it a firm and, as it has proved, unassailable basis. Like the +Bahir, the Zohar was not offered to the public on its own merits, but +was announced as the work of Simon, the son of Yochai, who lived in the +second century. The Zohar, it was pretended, had been concealed in a +cavern in Galilee for more than a thousand years, and had now been +suddenly discovered. The Zohar is, indeed, a work of genius, its +spiritual beauty, its fancy, its daring imagery, its depth of devotion, +ranking it among the great books of the world. Its literary style, +however, is less meritorious; it is difficult and involved. As +Chatterton clothed his ideas in a pseudo-archaic English, so Moses of +Leon used an Aramaic idiom, which he handled clumsily and not as one to +the manner born. It would not be so important to insist on the fact that +the Zohar was a literary forgery, that it pretended to an antiquity it +did not own, were it not that many Jews and Christians still write as +though they believe that the book is as old as it was asserted to be. +The defects of the Zohar are in keeping with this imposture. Absurd +allegories are read into the Bible; the words of Scripture are counters +in a game of distortion and combination; God himself is obscured amid a +maze of mystic beings, childishly conceived and childishly named. +Philosophically, the Zohar has no originality. Its doctrines of the +Transmigration of the Soul, of the Creation as God's self-revelation in +the world, of the Emanation from the divine essence of semi-human, +semi-divine powers, were only commonplaces of medieval theology. Its +great original idea was that the revealed Word of God, the Torah, was +designed for no other purpose than to effect a union between the soul of +man and the soul of God. + +Reinforced by this curious jumble of excellence and nonsense, the +Kabbala became one of the strongest literary bonds between Jews and +Christians. It is hardly to be wondered at, for the Zohar contains some +ideas which are more Christian than Jewish. Christians, like Pico di +Mirandola (1463-1494), under the influence of the Jewish Kabbalist +Jochanan Aleman, and Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522), sharer of Pico's +spirit and precursor of the improved study of the Scriptures in Europe, +made the Zohar the basis of their defence of Jewish literature against +the attempts of various ecclesiastical bodies to crush and destroy it. + +The Kabbala did not, however, retain a high place in the realm of +literature. It greatly influenced Jewish religious ceremonies, it +produced saintly souls, and from such centres as Safed and Salonica sent +forth men like Solomon Molcho and Sabbatai Zevi, who maintained that +they were Messiahs, and could perform miracles on the strength of +Kabbalistic powers. But from the literary stand-point the Kabbala was a +barren inspiration. The later works of Kabbalists are a rehash of the +older works. The Zohar was the bible of the Kabbalists, and the later +works of the school were commentaries on this bible. The Zohar had +absorbed all the earlier Kabbalistic literature, such as the "Book of +Creation" (_Sefer Yetsirah_), the Book Raziel, the Alphabet of Rabbi +Akiba, and it was the final literary expression of the Kabbala. + +It is, therefore, unnecessary to do more than name one or two of the +more noted Kabbalists of post-Zoharistic ages. Isaac Lurya (1534-1572) +was a saint, so devoid of self-conceit that he published nothing, though +he flourished at the very time when the printing-press was throwing +copies of the Zohar broadcast. We owe our knowledge of Lurya's +Kabbalistic ideas to the prolific writings of his disciple Chayim Vital +Calabrese, who died in Damascus in 1620. Other famous Kabbalists were +Isaiah Hurwitz (about 1570-1630), author of a much admired ethical work, +"The Two Tables of the Covenant" (_Sheloh_, as it is familiarly called +from the initials of its Hebrew title); Nehemiah Chayun (about +1650-1730); and the Hebrew dramatist Moses Chayim Luzzatto (1707-1747). + +A more recent Kabbalistic movement, led by the founder of the new +saints, or Chassidim, Israel Baalshem (about 1700-1772), was even less +literary than the one just described. But the Kabbalists, medieval and +modern, were meritorious writers in one field of literature. The +Kabbalists and the Chassidim were the authors of some of the most +exquisite prayers and meditations which the soul of the Jew has poured +forth since the Psalms were completed. This redeems the later +Kabbalistic literature from the altogether unfavorable verdict which +would otherwise have to be passed on it. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +KABBALA. + +Graetz.--III, p. 547 [565] + +MOSES DE LEON. + +Graetz.--IV, 1. + +ZOHAR. + +A. Neubauer.--_Bahir and Zohar_, _J.Q.R._, IV, p. 357. + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, p. 104. + +ISAAC LURYA. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 618 [657]. + +SABBATAI ZEVI. + +Graetz.--V, p. 118 [125]. + +CHASSIDIM. + +Graetz.--V, 9. + +Schechter.--_Studies in Judaism_, p. 1. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +ITALIAN JEWISH POETRY + + Immanuel and Dante.--The Machberoth.--Judah + Romano.--Kalonymos.--The Eben Bochan.--Moses Rieti.--Messer + Leon. + + +The course of Jewish literature in Italy ran along the same lines as in +Spain. The Italian group of authors was less brilliant, but the +difference was one of degree, not of kind. The Italian aristocracy, like +the Moorish caliphs and viziers, patronized learning, and encouraged the +Jews in their literary ambitions. + +Yet the fact that the inspiration in Spain came from Islam and in Italy +from Christianity produced some consequences. In Spain the Jews followed +Arab models of style. In Italy the influence of classical models was +felt at the time of the Renaissance. Most noteworthy of all was the +indebtedness of the Hebrew poets of Italy to Dante. + +It is not improbable that Dante was a personal friend of the most noted +of these Jewish poets, Immanuel, the son of Solomon of Rome. Like the +other Jews of Rome, Immanuel stood in the most friendly relations with +Christians, for nowhere was medieval intolerance less felt than in the +very seat of the Pope, the head of the Church. Thus, on the one hand +Immanuel was a leading member of the synagogue, and, on the other, he +carried on a literary correspondence with learned Christians, with +poets, and men of science. He was himself a physician, and his poems +breathe a scientific spirit. As happened earlier in Spain, the circle of +Immanuel regarded verse-making as part of the culture of a scholar. +Witty verses, in the form of riddles and epigrams, were exchanged at the +meetings of the circle. With these poets, among whom Kalonymos was +included, the penning of verses was a fashion. On the other hand, music +was not so much cultivated by the Italian Hebrews as by the Spanish. +Hence, both Immanuel and Kalonymos lack the lightness and melody of the +best writers of Hebrew verse in Spain. The Italians atoned for this loss +by their subject-matter. They are joyous poets, full of the gladness of +life. They are secular, not religious poets; the best of the +Spanish-Hebrew poetry was devotional, and the best of the Italian so +secular that it was condemned by pietists as too frivolous and too much +"disfigured by ill-timed levity." + +Immanuel was born in Rome in about 1270. He rarely mentions his father, +but often names his mother Justa as a woman of pious and noble +character. As a youth, he had a strong fancy for scientific study, and +was nourished on the "Guide" of Maimonides, on the works of the Greeks +and Arabs, and on the writings of the Christian school-men, which he +read in Hebrew translations. Besides philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, +and medicine, Immanuel studied the Bible and the Talmud, and became an +accomplished scholar. He was not born a poet, but he read deeply the +poetical literature of Jews and Christians, and took lessons in +rhyme-making. He was wealthy, and his house was a rendezvous of wits and +scientists. His own position in the Jewish community was remarkable. It +has already been said that he took an active part in the management of +communal affairs, but he did more than this. He preached in the +synagogue on the Day of Atonement, and delivered eulogistic orations +over the remains of departed worthies. Towards the end of his life he +suffered losses both in fortune and in friends, but he finally found a +new home in Fermo, where he was cordially welcomed in 1328. The date of +his death is uncertain, but he died in about 1330. + +His works were versatile rather than profound. He wrote grammatical +treatises and commentaries, which display learning more than +originality. But his poetical writings are of great interest in the +history of Jewish literature. He lived in the dawn-flush of the +Renaissance in Italy. The Italian language was just evolving itself, +under the genius of Dante, from a mere jumble of dialects into a +literary language. Dante did for Italy what Chaucer was soon after to do +for England. On the one side influenced by the Renaissance and the birth +of the new Italian language, on the other by the Jewish revival of +letters in Spain and Provence, the Italian Jews alone combined the +Jewish spirit with the spirit of the classical Renaissance. Immanuel was +the incarnation of this complex soul. + +This may be seen from the form of Immanuel's _Machberoth_, or +"Collection." The latter portion of it, named separately "Hell and +Eden," was imitated from the Christian Dante; the poem as a whole was +planned on Charizi's _Tachkemoni_, a Hebrew development of the Arabic +Divan. The poet is not the hero of his own song, but like the Arabic +poets of the divan, conceives a personage who fills the centre of the +canvas--a personage really identical with the author, yet in a sense +other than he. Much quaintness of effect is produced by this double part +played by the poet, who, as it were, satirizes his own doings. In +Immanuel's _Machberoth_ there is much variety of romantic incident. But +it is in satire that he reaches his highest level. Love and wine are the +frequent burdens of his song, as they are in the Provençal and Italian +poetry of his day. Immanuel was something of a Voltaire in his jocose +treatment of sacred things, and pietists like Joseph Karo inhibited the +study of the _Machberoth_. Others, too, described his songs as sensuous +and his satires as blasphemous. But the devout and earnest piety of +some of Immanuel's prayers,--some of them to be found in the +_Machberoth_ themselves--proves that Immanuel's licentiousness and +levity were due, not to lack of reverence, but to the attempt to +reconcile the ideals of Italian society of the period of the Renaissance +with the ideals of Judaism. + +Immanuel owed his rhymed prose to Charizi, but again he shows his +devotion to two masters by writing Hebrew sonnets. The sonnet was new +then to Italian verse, and Immanuel's Hebrew specimens thus belong to +the earliest sonnets written in any literature. It is, indeed, +impossible to convey a just sense of the variety of subject and form in +the _Machberoth_. "Serious and frivolous topics trip each other by the +heels; all metrical forms, prayers, elegies, passages in unmetrical +rhymes, all are mingled together." The last chapter is, however, of a +different character, and it has often been printed as a separate work. +It is the "Hell and Eden" to which allusion has already been made. + +The link between Immanuel and his Provençal contemporary Kalonymos was +supplied by Judah Romano, the Jewish school-man. All three were in the +service of the king of Naples. Kalonymos was the equal of Romano as a +philosopher and not much below Immanuel as a satirist. He was a more +fertile poet than Immanuel, for, while Immanuel remained the sole +representative of his manner, Kalonymos gave birth to a whole school of +imitators. Kalonymos wrote many translations, of Galen, Averroes, +Aristotle, al-Farabi, Ptolemy, and Archimedes. But it was his keen wit +more than his learning that made him popular in Rome, and impelled the +Jews of that city, headed by Immanuel, to persuade Kalonymos to settle +permanently in Italy. Kalonymos' two satirical poems were called "The +Touchstone" (_Eben Bochan_) and "The Purim Tractate." These satirize +the customs and social habits of the Jews of his day in a bright and +powerful style. In his Purim Tractate, Kalonymos parodies the style, +logic, and phraseology of the Talmud, and his work was the forerunner of +a host of similar parodies. + +There were many Italian writers of _Piyutim_, i.e. Synagogue hymns, but +these were mediocre in merit. The elegies written in lament for the +burning of the Law and the martyrdoms endured in various parts of Italy +were the only meritorious devotional poems composed in Hebrew in that +country. Italy remained famous in Hebrew poetry for secular, not for +religious compositions. In the fifteenth century Moses Rieti (born 1389, +died later than 1452) imitated Dante once more in his "Lesser Sanctuary" +(_Mikdash Meät_). Here again may be noticed a feature peculiar to +Italian Hebrew poetry. Rieti uses regular stanzas, Italian forms of +verse, in this matter following the example of Immanuel. Messer Leon, a +physician of Mantua, wrote a treatise on Biblical rhetoric (1480). +Again, the only important writer of dramas in Hebrew was, as we shall +see, an Italian Jew, who copied Italian models. Though, therefore, the +Hebrew poetry of Italy scarcely reaches the front rank, it is +historically of first-rate importance. It represents the only effects of +the Renaissance on Jewish literature. In other countries, the condition +of the Jews was such that they were shut off from external influences. +Their literature suffered as their lives did from imprisonment within +the Ghettos, which were erected both by the Jews themselves and by the +governments of Europe. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +S. Morals.--_Italian Jewish Literature_ (_Publications of the + Gratz College_, Vol. 1). + +IMMANUEL AND KALONYMOS. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 61 [66]. + +J. Chotzner.--_Immanuel di Romi_, _J.Q.R._, IV, p. 64. + +G. Sacerdote.--_Emanuele da Roma's Ninth Mehabbereth_, + _J.Q.R._, VII, p. 711. + +JUDAH (LEONE) ROMANO. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 68 [73]. + +MOSES RIETI. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 230 [249]. + +MESSER LEON. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 289 [311]. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +ETHICAL LITERATURE + + Bachya Ibn Pekuda.--Choboth ha-Lebaboth.--Sefer + ha-Chassidim.--Rokeach.--Yedaiah Bedaressi's Bechinath + Olam.--Isaac Aboab's Menorath ha-Maor.--Ibn Chabib's "Eye of + Jacob."--Zevaoth, or Ethical Wills.--Joseph Ibn Caspi.--Solomon + Alami. + + +A large proportion of all Hebrew books is ethical. Many of the works +already treated here fall under this category. The Talmudical, +exegetical, and philosophical writings of Jews were also ethical +treatises. In this chapter, however, attention will be restricted to a +few books which are in a special sense ethical. + +Collections of moral proverbs, such as the "Choice of Pearls," +attributed to Ibn Gebirol, and the "Maxims of the Philosophers" by +Charizi, were great favorites in the Middle Ages. They had a distinct +charm, but they were not original. They were either compilations from +older books or direct translations from the Arabic. It was far otherwise +with the ethical work entitled "Heart Duties" (_Choboth ha-Lebaboth_), +by Bachya Ibn Pekuda (about 1050-1100). This was as original as it was +forcible. Bachya founded his ethical system on the Talmud and on the +philosophical notions current in his day, but he evolved out of these +elements an original view of life. The inner duties dictated by +conscience were set above all conventional morality. Bachya probed the +very heart of religion. His soul was filled with God, and this +communion, despite the ascetic feelings to which it gave rise, was to +Bachya an exceeding joy. His book thrills the reader with the author's +own chastened enthusiasm. The "Heart Duties" of Bachya is the most +inspired book written by a Jew in the Middle Ages. + +In part worthy of a place by the side of Bachya's treatise is an ethical +book written in the Rhinelands during the thirteenth century. "The Book +of the Pious" (_Sefer ha-Chassidim_) is mystical, and in course of time +superstitious elements were interpolated. Wrongly attributed to a single +writer, Judah Chassid, the "Book of the Pious" was really the combined +product of the Jewish spirit in the thirteenth century. It is a +conglomerate of the sublime and the trivial, the purely ethical with the +ceremonial. With this popular and remarkable book may be associated +other conglomerates of the ritual, the ethical, and the mystical, as the +_Rokeach_ by Eleazar of Worms. + +A simpler but equally popular work was Yedaiah Bedaressi's "Examination +of the World" (_Bechinath Olam_), written in about the year 1310. Its +style is florid but poetical, and the many quaint turns which it gives +to quotations from the Bible remind the reader of Ibn Gebirol. Its +earnest appeal to man to aim at the higher life, its easily +intelligible and commonplace morals, endeared it to the "general reader" +of the Middle Ages. Few books have been more often printed, few more +often translated. + +Another favorite class of ethical books consisted of compilations made +direct from the Talmud and the Midrash. The oldest and most prized of +these was Isaac Aboab's "Lamp of Light" (_Menorath ha-Maor_). It was an +admirably written book, clearly arranged, and full to the brim of +ethical gems. Aboab's work was written between 1310 and 1320. It is +arranged according to subjects, differing in this respect from another +very popular compilation, Jacob Ibn Chabib's "Eye of Jacob" (_En +Yaakob_), which was completed in the sixteenth century. In this, the +Hagadic passages of the Talmud are extracted without arrangement, the +order of the Talmud itself being retained. The "Eye of Jacob" was an +extremely popular work. + +Of the purely devotional literature of Judaism, it is impossible to +speak here. One other ethical book must be here noticed, for it has +attained wide and deserved popularity. This is the "Path of the Upright" +(_Messilath Yesharim_) by Moses Chayim Luzzatto, of whom more will be +said in a later chapter. But a little more space must be here devoted to +a species of ethical tract which was peculiar to Jewish moralists. These +tracts were what are known as Ethical Wills. + +These Ethical Wills (_Zevaoth_) contained the express directions of +fathers to their children or of aged teachers to their disciples. They +were for the most part written calmly in old age, but not immediately +before the writers' death. Some of them were very carefully composed, +and amount to formal ethical treatises. But in the main they are +charmingly natural and unaffected. They were intended for the absolutely +private use of children and relatives, or of some beloved pupil who +held the dearest place in his master's regard. They were not designed +for publication, and thus, as the writer had no reason to expect that +his words would pass beyond a limited circle, the Ethical Will is a +clear revelation of his innermost feelings and ideals. Intellectually +some of these Ethical Wills are poor; morally, however, the general +level is very high. + +Addresses of parents to their children occur in the Bible, the +Apocrypha, and the Rabbinical literature. But the earliest extant +Ethical Will written as an independent document is that of Eleazar, the +son of Isaac of Worms (about 1050), who must not be confused with the +author of the _Rokeach_. The eleventh and twelfth centuries supply few +examples of the Ethical Will, but from the thirteenth century onwards +there is a plentiful array of them. "Think not of evil," says Eleazar of +Worms, "for evil thinking leads to evil doing.... Purify thy body, the +dwelling-place of thy soul.... Give of all thy food a portion to God. +Let God's portion be the best, and give it to the poor." The will of the +translator Judah Ibn Tibbon (about 1190) contains at least one passage +worthy of Ruskin: "Avoid bad society, make thy books thy companions, let +thy book-cases and shelves be thy gardens and pleasure-grounds. Pluck +the fruit that grows therein, gather the roses, the spices, and the +myrrh. If thy soul be satiate and weary, change from garden to garden, +from furrow to furrow, from sight to sight. Then will thy desire renew +itself, and thy soul be satisfied with delight." The will of Nachmanides +is an unaffected eulogy of humility. Asher, the son of Yechiel +(fourteenth century), called his will "Ways of Life," and it includes +132 maxims, which are often printed in the prayer-book. "Do not obey the +Law for reward, nor avoid sin from fear of punishment, but serve God +from love. Sleep not over-much, but rise with the birds. Be not +over-hasty to reply to offensive remarks; raise not thy hand against +another, even if he curse thy father or mother in thy presence." + +Some of these wills, like that of the son of the last mentioned, are +written in rhymed prose; some are controversial. Joseph Ibn Caspi writes +in 1322: "How can I know God, and that he is one, unless I know what +knowing means, and what constitutes unity? Why should these things be +left to non-Jewish philosophers? Why should Aristotle retain sole +possession of the treasures that he stole from Solomon?" The belief that +Aristotle had visited Jerusalem with Alexander the Great, and there +obtained possession of Solomon's wisdom, was one of the most curious +myths of the Middle Ages. The will of Eleazar the Levite of Mainz (1357) +is a simple document, without literary merit, but containing a clear +exposition of duty. "Judge every man charitably, and use your best +efforts to find a kindly explanation of conduct, however suspicious.... +Give in charity an exact tithe of your property. Never turn a poor man +away empty-handed. Talk no more than is necessary, and thus avoid +slander. Be not as dumb cattle that utter no word of gratitude, but +thank God for his bounties at the time at which they occur, and in your +prayers let the memory of these personal favors warm your hearts, and +prompt you to special fervor during the utterance of the communal thanks +for communal well-being. When words of thanks occur in the liturgy, +pause and silently reflect on the goodness of God to you that day." + +In striking contrast to the simplicity of the foregoing is the elaborate +"Letter of Advice" by Solomon Alami (beginning of the fifteenth +century). It is composed in beautiful rhymed prose, and is an important +historical record. For the author shared the sufferings of the Jews of +the Iberian peninsula in 1391, and this gives pathetic point to his +counsel: "Flee without hesitation when exile is the only means of +securing religious freedom; have no regard to your worldly career or +your property, but go at once." + +It is needless to indicate fully the nature of the Ethical Wills of the +sixteenth and subsequent centuries. They are closely similar to the +foregoing, but they tend to become more learned and less simple. Yet, +though as literature they are often quite insignificant, as ethics they +rarely sink below mediocrity. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +ETHICAL LITERATURE. + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, pp. 100, 232. + +B.H. Ascher.--_Choice of Pearls_ (with English translation, + London, 1859). + +D. Rosin.--_Ethics of Solomon Ibn Gebirol_, _J.Q.R._, + III, p. 159. + +BACHYA. + +Graetz, III, p. 271. + +YEDAYA BEDARESSI. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 42 [45]. + +J. Chotzner.--_J.Q.R._, VIII, p. 414. + +T. Goodman.--English translation of _Bechinath Olam_ (London, 1830). + +ETHICAL WILLS. + +Edelmann.--_The Path of Good Men_ (London, 1852). + +I. Abrahams, _J.Q.R._, III, p. 436. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +TRAVELLERS' TALES + + Eldad the Danite.--Benjamin of Tudela.--Petachiah of + Ratisbon.--Esthori Parchi.--Abraham Farissol.--David Reubeni + and Molcho.--Antonio de Montesinos and Manasseh ben + Israel.--Tobiah Cohen.--Wessely. + + +The voluntary and enforced travels of the Jews produced, from the +earliest period after the destruction of the Temple, an extensive, if +fragmentary, geographical literature. In the Talmud and later religious +books, in the Letters of the Gaonim, in the correspondence of Jewish +ambassadors, in the autobiographical narratives interspersed in the +works of all Jewish scholars of the Middle Ages, in the _Aruch_, or +Talmudical Lexicon, of Nathan of Rome, in the satirical romances of the +poetical globe-trotters, Zabara and Charizi, and, finally, in the Bible +commentaries written by Jews, many geographical notes are to be found. +But the composition of complete works dedicated to travel and +exploration dates only from the twelfth century. + +Before that time, however, interest in the whereabouts of the Lost Ten +Tribes gave rise to a book which has been well called the Arabian Nights +of the Jews. The "Diary of Eldad the Danite," written in about the year +880, was a popular romance, to which additions and alterations were made +at various periods. This diary tells of mighty Israelite empires, +especially of the tribe of Moses, the peoples of which were all +virtuous, all happy, and long-lived. + + "A river flows round their land for a distance of four + days' journey on every side. They dwell in beautiful houses + provided with handsome towers, which they have built + themselves. There is nothing unclean among them, neither in + the case of birds, venison, nor domesticated animals; there + are no wild beasts, no flies, no foxes, no vermin, no + serpents, no dogs, and, in general, nothing that does harm; + they have only sheep and cattle, which bear twice a year. + They sow and reap, they have all kinds of gardens with all + kinds of fruits and cereals, beans, melons, gourds, + onions, garlic, wheat, and barley, and the seed grows a + hundredfold. They have faith; they know the Law, the + Mishnah, the Talmud, and the Hagadah.... No child, be it + son or daughter, dies during the life-time of its parents, + but they reach a third and fourth generation. They do all + the field-work themselves, having no male nor female + servants. They do not close their houses at night, for + there is no thief or evil-doer among them. They have plenty + of gold and silver; they sow flax, and cultivate the + crimson-worm, and make beautiful garments.... The river + Sambatyon is two hundred yards broad, about as far as a + bow-shot. It is full of sand and stones, but without water; + the stones make a great noise, like the waves of the sea + and a stormy wind, so that in the night the noise is heard + at a distance of half a day's journey. There are fish in + it, and all kinds of clean birds fly round it. And this + river of stone and sand rolls during the six working-days, + and rests on the Sabbath day. As soon as the Sabbath + begins, fire surrounds the river, and the flames remain + till the next evening, when the Sabbath ends. Thus no human + being can reach the river for a distance of half a mile on + either side; the fire consumes all that grows there." + +With wild rapture the Jews of the ninth century heard of these +prosperous and powerful kingdoms. Hopes of a restoration to former +dignity encouraged them to believe in the mythical narrative of Eldad. +It is doubtful whether he was a _bona fide_ traveller. At all events, +his book includes much that became the legendary property of all peoples +in the Middle Ages, such as the fable of the mighty Christian Emperor of +India, Prester John. + +Some further account of this semi-mythical monarch is contained in the +first real Jewish traveller's book, the "Itinerary" of Benjamin of +Tudela. This Benjamin was a merchant, who, in the year 1160, started on +a long journey, which was prompted partly by commercial, partly by +scientific motives. He visited a large part of Europe and Asia, went to +Jerusalem and Bagdad, and gives in his "Itinerary" some remarkable +geographical facts and some equally remarkable fables. He tells, for +instance, the story of the pretended Messiah, David Alroy, whom Disraeli +made the hero of one of his romances. Benjamin of Tudela's "Itinerary" +was a real contribution to geography. + +Soon after Benjamin, another Jew, Petachiah of Ratisbon, set out on a +similar but less extended tour, which occupied him during the years 1179 +and 1180. His "Travels" are less informing than those of his immediate +predecessor, but his descriptions of the real or reputed sepulchres of +ancient worthies and his account of the Jewish College in Bagdad are +full of romantic interest, which was not lessened for medieval readers +because much of Petachiah's narrative was legendary. + +A far more important work was written by the first Jewish explorer of +Palestine, Esthori Parchi, a contemporary of Mandeville. His family +originated in Florenza, in Andalusia, and the family name Parchi (the +Flower) was derived from this circumstance. Esthori was himself born in +Provence, and was a student of science as well as of the Talmud. When +he, together with the rest of the Jews of France, was exiled in 1306, he +wandered to Spain and Egypt until the attraction of the Holy Land +proved irresistible. His manner was careful, and his love of accuracy +unusual for his day. Hence, he was not content to collect all ancient +and contemporary references to the sites of Palestine. For seven years +he devoted himself to a personal exploration of the country, two years +being passed in Galilee. In 1322 he completed his work, which he called +_Kaphtor va-Pherach_ (Bunch and Flower) in allusion to his own name. + +Access to the Holy Land became easier for Jews in the fourteenth +century. Before that time the city of Jerusalem had for a considerable +period been barred to Jewish pilgrims. By the laws of Constantine and of +Omar no Jew might enter within the precincts of his ancient capital. +Even in the centuries subsequent to Omar, such pilgrimages were fraught +with danger, but the poems of Jehuda Halevi, the tolerance of Islam, and +the reputation of Northern Syria as a centre of the Kabbala, combined +to draw many Jews to Palestine. Many letters and narratives were the +results. One characteristic specimen must suffice. In 1488 Obadiah of +Bertinoro, author of the most popular commentary on the Mishnah, removed +from Italy to Jerusalem, where he was appointed Rabbi. In a letter to +his father he gives an intensely moving account of his voyage and of the +state of Hebron and Zion. The narrative is full of personal detail, and +is marked throughout by deep love for his father, which struggles for +the mastery with his love for the Holy City. + +A more ambitious work was the "Itinera Mundi" of Abraham Farissol, +written in the autumn of 1524. This treatise was based upon original +researches as well as on the works of Christian and Arabian geographers. +He incidentally says a good deal about the condition of the Jews in +various parts of the world. Indeed, almost all the geographical +writings of Jews are social histories of their brethren in faith. +Somewhat later, David Reubeni published some strange stories as to the +Jews. He went to Rome, where he made a considerable sensation, and was +received by Pope Clement VII (1523-1534). Dwarfish in stature and dark +in complexion, David Reubeni was wasted by continual fasting, but his +manner, though harsh and forbidding, was intrepid and awe-inspiring. His +outrageous falsehoods for a time found ready acceptance with Jews and +Christians alike, and his fervid Messianism won over to his cause many +Marranos--Jews who had been forced by the Inquisition in Spain to assume +the external garb of Christianity. His chief claim on the memory of +posterity was his connection with the dramatic career of Solomon Molcho +(1501-1532), a youth noble in mind and body, who at Reubeni's +instigation personated the Messiah, and in early manhood died a martyr's +death amid the flames of the Inquisition at Mantua. + +The geographical literature of the Jews did not lose its association +with Messianic hopes. Antonio de Montesinos, in 1642, imagined that he +had discovered in South America the descendants of the Ten Tribes. He +had been led abroad by business considerations and love of travel, and +in Brazil came across a mestizo Indian, from whose statements he +conceived the firm belief that the Ten Tribes resided and thrived in +Brazil. Two years later he visited Amsterdam, and, his imagination +aflame with the hopes which had not been stifled by several years' +endurance of the prisons and tortures of the Inquisition, persuaded +Manasseh ben Israel to accept his statements. On his death-bed in +Brazil, Montesinos reiterated his assertions, and Manasseh ben Israel +not only founded thereon his noted book, "The Hope of Israel," but under +the inspiration of similar ideas felt impelled to visit London, and win +from Cromwell the right of the Jews to resettle in England. + +Jewish geographical literature grew apace in the eighteenth century. A +famous book, the "Work of Tobiah," was written at the beginning of this +period by Tobiah Cohen, who was born at Metz in 1652, and died in +Jerusalem in 1729. It is a medley of science and fiction, an +encyclopedia dealing with all branches of knowledge. He had studied at +the Universities of Frankfort and Padua, had enjoyed the patronage of +the Elector of Brandenburg, and his medical knowledge won him many +distinguished patients in Constantinople. Thus his work contains many +medical chapters of real value, and he gives one of the earliest +accounts of recently discovered drugs and medicinal plants. Among other +curiosities he maintained that he had discovered the Pygmies. + +From this absorbing but confusing book our survey must turn finally to +N.H. Wessely, who in 1782 for the first time maintained the importance +of the study of geography in Jewish school education. The works of the +past, with their consoling legends and hopes, continued to hold a place +in the heart of Jewish readers. But from Wessely's time onwards a long +series of Jewish explorers and travellers have joined the ranks of those +who have opened up for modern times a real knowledge of the globe. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, p. 80. + +A. Neubauer.--Series of Articles entitled _Where are the Ten Tribes_, + _J.Q.R._, Vol. I. + +BENJAMIN OF TUDELA. + +A. Asher.--_The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela_ (with English + translation and appendix by Zunz. London, 1840-1). + +PETACHIAH OF RATISBON. + +A. Benisch.--_Travels of Petachia of Ratisbon_ (with English + translation. London, 1856). + +ABRAHAM FARISSOL. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 413 [440]. + +DAVID REUBENI. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 491 [523]. + +H. WESSELY. + +Graetz.--V, p. 366 [388]. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +HISTORIANS AND CHRONICLERS + + Order of the Tannaim and Amoraim.--Achimaaz.--Abraham Ibn + Daud.--Josippon.--Historical Elegies, or Selichoth.--Memorial + Books.--Abraham Zacuto.--Elijah Kapsali.--Usque.--Ibn + Verga.--Joseph Cohen.--David Gans.--Gedaliah Ibn + Yachya.--Azariah di Rossi. + + +The historical books to be found in the Bible, the Apocrypha, and the +Hellenistic literature prove that the Hebrew genius was not unfitted for +the presentation of the facts of Jewish life. These older works, as well +as the writings of Josephus, also show a faculty for placing local +records in relation to the wider facts of general history. After the +dispersion of the Jews, however, the local was the only history in which +the Jews could bear a part. The Jews read history as a mere commentary +on their own fate, and hence they were unable to take the wide outlook +into the world required for the compilation of objective histories. +Thus, in their aim to find religious consolation for their sufferings in +the Middle Ages, the Jewish historians sought rather to trace the hand +of Providence than to analyze the human causes of the changes in the +affairs of mankind. + +But in another sense the Jews were essentially gifted with the +historical spirit. The great men of Israel were not local heroes. Just +as Plutarch's Lives were part of the history of the world's politics, so +Jewish biographies of learned men were part of the history of the +world's civilization. With the "Order of the Tannaim and Amoraim" +(written about the year 1100) begins a series of such biographical +works, in which more appreciation of sober fact is displayed than might +have been expected from the period. In the same way the famous Letter of +Sherira Gaon on the compilation of the Rabbinical literature (980) +marked great progress in the critical examination of historical +problems. Later works did not maintain the same level. + +In the Middle Ages, Jewish histories mostly took the form of uncritical +Chronicles, which included legends and traditions as well as assured +facts. Their interest and importance lie in the personal and communal +details with which they abound. Sometimes they are confessedly local. +This is the case with the "Chronicle of Achimaaz," written by him in +1055 in rhymed prose. In an entertaining style, he tells of the early +settlements of the Jews in Southern Italy, and throws much light on the +intercommunication between the scattered Jewish congregations of his +time. A larger canvas was filled by Abraham Ibn Daud, the physician and +philosopher who was born in Toledo in 1110, and met a martyr's end at +the age of seventy. His "Book of Tradition" (_Sefer ha-Kabbalah_), +written in 1161, was designed to present, in opposition to the Karaites, +the chain of Jewish tradition as a series of unbroken links from the +age of Moses to Ibn Baud's own times. Starting with the Creation, his +history ends with the anti-Karaitic crusade of Judah Ibn Ezra in Granada +(1150). Abraham Ibn Daud shows in this work considerable critical power, +but in his two other histories, one dealing with the history of Rome +from its foundation to the time of King Reccared in Spain, the other a +narrative of the history of the Jews during the Second Temple, the +author relied entirely on "Josippon." This was a medieval concoction +which long passed as the original Josephus. "Josippon" was a romance +rather than a history. Culled from all sources, from Strabo, Lucian, and +Eusebius, as well as from Josephus, this marvellous book exercised +strong influence on the Jewish imagination, and supplied an antidote to +the tribulations of the present by the consolations of the past and the +vivid hopes for the future. + +For a long period Abraham Ibn Daud found no imitators. Jewish history +was written as part of the Jewish religion. Yet, incidentally, many +historical passages were introduced in the works of Jewish scholars and +travellers, and the liturgy was enriched by many beautiful historical +Elegies, which were a constant call to heroism and fidelity. These +Elegies, or _Selichoth_, were composed throughout the Middle Ages, and +their passionate outpourings of lamentation and trust give them a high +place in Jewish poetry. They are also important historically, and fully +justify the fine utterance with which Zunz introduces them, an utterance +which was translated by George Eliot as follows: + + If there are ranks in suffering, Israel takes precedence of + all the nations--if the duration of sorrows and the patience + with which they are borne ennoble, the Jews are among the + aristocracy of every land--if a literature is called rich in + the possession of a few classic tragedies, what shall we say + to a National Tragedy lasting for fifteen hundred years, in + which the poets and the actors were also the heroes? + +The story of the medieval section of this pathetic martyrdom is written +in the _Selichoth_ and in the more prosaic records known as "Memorial +Books" (in German, _Memorbücher_), which are lists of martyrs and brief +eulogies of their careers. + +For the next formal history we must pass to Abraham Zacuto. In his old +age he employed some years of comparative quiet, after a stormy and +unhappy life, in writing a "Book of Genealogies" (_Yuchasin_). He had +been exiled from Spain in 1492, and twelve years later composed his +historical work in Tunis. Like Abraham Ibn Baud's book, it opens with +the Creation, and ends with the author's own day. Though Zacuto's work +is more celebrated than historical, it nevertheless had an important +share in reawaking the dormant interest of Jews in historical research. +Thus we find Elijah Kapsali of Candia writing, in 1523, a "History of +the Ottoman Empire," and Joseph Cohen, of Avignon, a "History of France +and Turkey," in 1554, in which he included an account of the rebellion +of Fiesco in Genoa, where the author was then residing. + +The sixteenth century witnessed the production of several popular Jewish +histories. At that epoch the horizon of the world was extending under +new geographical and intellectual discoveries. Israel, on the other +hand, seemed to be sinking deeper and deeper into the slough of despond. +Some of the men who had themselves been the victims of persecution saw +that the only hope lay in rousing the historical consciousness of their +brethren. History became the consolation of the exiles from Spain who +found themselves pent up within the walls of the Ghettos, which were +first built in the sixteenth century. Samuel Usque was a fugitive from +the Inquisition, and his dialogues, "Consolations for the Tribulations +of Israel" (written in Portuguese, in 1553), are a long drawn-out sigh +of pain passing into a sigh of relief. Usque opens with a passionate +idyl in which the history of Israel in the near past is told by the +shepherd Icabo. To him Numeo and Zicareo offer consolation, and they +pour balm into his wounded heart. The vividness of Usque's style, his +historical insight, his sturdy optimism, his poetical force in +interpreting suffering as the means of attaining the highest life in +God, raise his book above the other works of its class and age. + +Usque's poem did not win the same popularity as two other elegiac +histories of the same period. These were the "Rod of Judah" (_Shebet +Jehudah_) and the "Valley of Tears" (_Emek ha-Bachah_). The former was +the work of three generations of the Ibn Verga family. Judah died before +the expulsion from Spain, but his son Solomon participated in the final +troubles of the Spanish Jews, and was even forced to join the ranks of +the Marranos. The grandson, Joseph Ibn Verga, became Rabbi in +Adrianople, and was cultured in classical as well as Jewish lore. Their +composite work, "The Rod of Judah," was completed in 1554. It is a +well-written but badly arranged martyrology, and over all its pages +might be inscribed the Talmudical motto, that God's chastisements of +Israel are chastisements of love. The other work referred to is Joseph +Cohen's "Valley of Tears," completed in 1575. The author was born in +Avignon in 1496, four years after his father had shared in the exile +from Spain. He himself suffered expatriation, for, though a +distinguished physician and the private doctor of the Doge Andrea Doria, +he was expelled with the rest of the Jews from Genoa in 1550. Settled in +the little town of Voltaggio, he devoted himself to writing the annals +of European and Jewish history. His style is clear and forcible, and +recalls the lucid simplicity of the historical books of the Bible. + +The only other histories that need be critically mentioned here are the +"Branch of David" (_Zemach David_), the "Chain of Tradition" +(_Shalsheleth ha-Kabbalah_), and the "Light of the Eyes" (_Meör +Enayim_). Abraham de Porta Leone's "Shields of the Mighty" (_Shilte +ha-Gibborim_, printed in Mantua in 1612); Leon da Modena's "Ceremonies +and Customs of the Jews," (printed in Paris in 1637); David Conforte's +"Call of the Generations" (_Kore ha-Doroth_, written in Palestine in +about 1670); Yechiel Heilprin's "Order of Generations" (_Seder +ha-Doroth_, written in Poland in 1725); and Chayim Azulai's "Name of the +Great Ones" (written in Leghorn in 1774), can receive only a bare +mention. + +The author of the "Branch of David," David Cans, was born in Westphalia +in about 1540. He was the first German Jew of his age to take real +interest in the study of history. He was a man of scientific culture, +corresponded with Kepler, and was a personal friend of Tycho Brahe. For +the latter Cans made a German translation of parts of the Hebrew +version of the Tables of Alfonso, originally compiled in 1260. Cans +wrote works on mathematical and physical geography, and treatises on +arithmetic and geometry. His history, "Branch of David," was extremely +popular. For a man of his scientific training it shows less critical +power than might have been expected, but the German Jews did not begin +to apply criticism to history till after the age of Mendelssohn. In one +respect, however, the "Branch of David" displays the width of the +author's culture. Not only does he tell the history of the Jews, but in +the second part of his work he gives an account of many lands and +cities, especially of Bohemia and Prague, and adds a striking +description of the secret courts (_Vehmgerichte_) of Westphalia. + +It is hard to think that the authors of the "Chain of Tradition" and of +the "Light of the Eyes" were contemporaries. Azariah di Rossi +(1514-1588), the writer of the last mentioned book, was the founder of +historical criticism among the Jews. Elias del Medigo (1463-1498) had +led in the direction, but di Rossi's work anticipated the methods, of +the German school of "scientific" Jewish writers, who, at the beginning +of the present century, applied scientific principles to the study of +Jewish traditions. On the other hand, Gedaliah Ibn Yachya (1515-1587) +was so utterly uncritical that his "Chain of Tradition" was nicknamed by +Joseph Delmedigo the "Chain of Lies." Gedaliah was a man of wealth, and +he expended his means in the acquisition of books and in making journeys +in search of sacred and profane knowledge. Yet Gedaliah made up in style +for his lack of historical method. The "Chain of Tradition" is a +picturesque and enthralling book, it is a warm and cheery retrospect, +and even deserves to be called a prose epic. Besides, many of his +statements that were wont to be treated as altogether unauthentic have +been vindicated by later research. Azariah di Rossi, on the other hand, +is immortalized by his spirit rather than his actual contributions to +historical literature. He came of an ancient family said to have been +carried to Rome by Titus, and lived in Ferrara, where, in 1574, he +produced his "Light of the Eyes." This is divided into three parts, the +first devoted to general history, the second to the Letter of Aristeas, +the third to the solution of several historical problems, all of which +had been neglected by Jews and Christians alike. Azariah di Rossi was +the first critic to open up true lines of research into the Hellenistic +literature of the Jews of Alexandria. With him the true historical +spirit once more descended on the Jewish genius. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, p. 75, _seq._, 250 + _seq._ + +A. Neubauer.--Introductions to _Medieval Jewish Chronicles_, + Vols. I and II (Oxford, 1882, etc.). + +SELICHOTH. + +Zunz.--_Sufferings of the Jews in the Middle Ages_ (translated by + A. Löwy, _Miscellany of the Society of Hebrew Literature_, + Vol. I). See also _J.Q.R._, VIII, pp. 78, 426, 611. + +ABRAHAM IBN DAUD. + +Graetz.--III, p. 363 [373]. + +ABRAHAM ZACUTO. + +Graetz.--IV, pp. 366, 367, 391 [393]. + +ELIJAH KAPSALI. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 406 [435]. + +JOSEPH COHEN, USQUE, IBN VERGA. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 555 [590]. + +_Chronicle of Joseph ben Joshua the Priest_ (English translation + by Bialoblotzky. London, 1835-6). + +ELIA DELMEDIGO. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 290 [312]. + +DAVID GANS. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 638 [679]. + +GEDALIAH IBN YACHYA. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 609 [655]. + +AZARIAH DI ROSSI. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 614 [653]. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +ISAAC ABARBANEL + + Abarbanel's Philosophy and Biblical Commentaries.--Elias + Levita.--Zeëna u-Reëna.--Moses Alshech.--The Biur. + + +The career of Don Isaac Abarbanel (born in Lisbon in 1437, died in +Venice in 1509) worthily closes the long services which the Jews of +Spain rendered to the state and to learning. The earlier part of his +life was spent in the service of Alfonso V of Portugal. He possessed +considerable wealth, and his house, which he himself tells us was built +with spacious halls, was the meeting-place of scholars, diplomatists, +and men of science. Among his other occupations, he busied himself in +ransoming Jewish slaves, and obtained the co-operation of some Italian +Jews in this object. + +When Alfonso died, Abarbanel not only lost his post as finance +minister, but was compelled to flee for his life. He shared the fall of +the Duke of Braganza, whose popularity was hateful to Alfonso's +successor. Don Isaac escaped to Castile in 1484, and, amid the friendly +smiles of the cultured Jews of Toledo, set himself to resume the +literary work he had been forced to lay aside while burdened with +affairs of state. He began the compilation of commentaries on the +historical books of the Bible, but he was not long left to his studies. +Ferdinand and Isabella, under the very eyes of Torquemada and the +Inquisition, entrusted the finances of their kingdom to the Jew +Abarbanel during the years 1484 to 1492. + +In the latter year, Abarbanel was driven from Spain in the general +expulsion instigated by the Inquisition. He found a temporary asylum in +Naples, where he also received a state appointment. But he was soon +forced to flee again, this time to Corfu. "My wife, my sons, and my +books are far from me," he wrote, "and I am left alone, a stranger in a +strange land." But his spirit was not crushed by these successive +misfortunes. He continued to compile huge works at a very rapid rate. He +was not destined, however, to end his life in obscurity. In 1503 he was +given a diplomatic post in Venice, and he passed his remaining years in +happiness and honor. He ended the splendid roll of famous Spanish Jews +with a career peculiarly Spanish. He gave a final, striking example of +that association of life with literature which of old characterized +Jews, but which found its greatest and last home in Spain. + +As a writer, Abarbanel has many faults. He is very verbose, and his +mannerisms are provoking. Thus, he always introduces his commentaries +with a long string of questions, which he then proceeds to answer. It +was jokingly said of him that he made many sceptics, for not one in a +score of his readers ever got beyond the questions to the answers. +There is this truth in the sarcasm, that Abarbanel, despite his +essential lucidity, is very hard to read. Though Abarbanel has obvious +faults, his good qualities are equally tangible. No predecessor of +Abarbanel came so near as he did to the modern ideal of a commentator on +the Bible. Ibn Ezra was the father of the "Higher Criticism," i.e. the +attempt to explain the evolution of the text of Scripture. The Kimchis +developed the strictly grammatical exposition of the Bible. But +Abarbanel understood that, to explain the Bible, one must try to +reproduce the atmosphere in which it was written; one must realize the +ideas and the life of the times with which the narrative deals. His own +practical state-craft stood him in good stead. He was able to form a +conception of the politics of ancient Judea. His commentaries are works +on the philosophy of history. His more formal philosophical works, such +as his "Deeds of God" (_Miphaloth Elohim_), are of less value, they are +borrowed in the main from Maimonides. In his Talmudical writings, +notably his "Salvation of his Anointed" (_Yeshuoth Meshicho_), Abarbanel +displays a lighter and more original touch than in his philosophical +treatises. But his works on the Bible are his greatest literary +achievement. Besides the merits already indicated, these books have +another important excellence. He was the first Jew to make extensive use +of Christian commentaries. He must be credited with the discovery that +the study of the Bible may be unsectarian, and that all who hold the +Bible in honor may join hands in elucidating it. + +A younger contemporary of Abarbanel was also an apostle of the same +view. This was Elias Levita (1469-1549). He was a Grammarian, or +Massorite, i.e. a student of the tradition (_Massorah_) as to the +Hebrew text of the Bible, and he was an energetic teacher of +Christians. In the sixteenth century the study of Hebrew made much +progress in Europe, but the Jews themselves were only indirectly +associated with this advance. Despite Abarbanel, Jewish commentaries +remained either homiletic or mystical, or, like the popular works of +Moses Alshech, were more or less Midrashic in style. But the Bible was a +real delight to the Jews, and it is natural that such books were often +compiled for the masses. Mention must be made of the _Zeëna u-Reëna_ +("Go forth and see"), a work written at the beginning of the eighteenth +century in Jewish-German for the use of women, a work which is still +beloved of the Jewess. But the seeds sown by Abarbanel and others of his +school eventually produced an abundant harvest. Mendelssohn's German +edition of the Pentateuch with the Hebrew Commentary (_Biur_) was the +turning-point in the march towards the modern exposition of the Bible, +which had been inaugurated by the statesman-scholar of Spain. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +ABARBANEL. + +Graetz.--IV, II. + +I.S. Meisels.--_Don Isaac Abarbanel_, _J.Q.R._, II, p. 37. + +S. Schechter.--_Studies in Judaism_, p. 173 [211]. + +F.D. Mocatta.--_The Jews of Spain and Portugal and the Inquisition_ + (London, 1877). + +Schiller-Szinessy.--_Encycl. Brit._, Vol. I, p. 52. + +EXEGESIS 16th-18th CENTURIES. + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, p. 232 _seq._ + +BIUR. + +_Specimen of the Biur_, translated by A. Benisch (_Miscellany + of the Society of Hebrew Literature_, Vol. I). + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE SHULCHAN ARUCH + + Asheri's Arba Turim.--Chiddushim and Teshuboth.--Solomon ben + Adereth.--Meir of Rothenburg.--Sheshet and Duran.--Moses and + Judah Minz.--Jacob Weil, Israel Isserlein, Maharil.--David Abi + Zimra.--Joseph Karo.--Jair Bacharach.--Chacham Zevi.--Jacob + Emden.--Ezekiel Landau. + + +The religious literature of the Jews, so far as practical life was +concerned, culminated in the publication of the "Table Prepared" +(_Shulchan Aruch_), in 1565. The first book of its kind compiled after +the invention of printing, the Shulchan Aruch obtained a popularity +denied to all previous works designed to present a digest of Jewish +ethics and ritual observances. It in no sense superseded the "Strong +Hand" of Maimonides, but it was so much more practical in its scope, so +much clearer as a work of general reference, so much fuller of +_Minhag_, or established custom, that it speedily became the universal +hand-book of Jewish life in many of its phases. It was not accepted in +all its parts, and its blemishes were clearly perceived. The author, +Joseph Karo, was too tender to the past, and admitted some things which +had a historical justification, but which Karo himself would have been +the first to reject as principles of conduct for his own or later times. +On the whole, the book was a worthy summary of the fundamental Jewish +view, that religion is co-extensive with life, and that everything worth +doing at all ought to be done in accordance with a general principle of +obedience to the divine will. The defects of such a view are the defects +of its qualities. + +The Shulchan Aruch was the outcome of centuries of scholarship. It was +original, yet it was completely based on previous works. In particular +the "Four Rows" (_Arbäa Turim_) of Jacob Asheri (1283-1340) was one of +the main sources of Karo's work. The "Four Rows," again, owed everything +to Jacob's father, Asher, the son of Yechiel, who migrated from Germany +to Toledo at the very beginning of the fourteenth century. But besides +the systematic codes of his predecessors, Karo was able to draw on a +vast mass of literature on the Talmud and on Jewish Law, accumulated in +the course of centuries. + +There was, in the first place, a large collection of "Novelties" +(_Chiddushim_), or Notes on the Talmud, by various authorities. More +significant, however, were the "Responses" (_Teshuboth_), which +resembled those of the Gaonim referred to in an earlier chapter. The +Rabbinical Correspondence, in the form of Responses to Questions sent +from far and near, covered the whole field of secular and religious +knowledge. The style of these "Responses" was at first simple, terse, +and full of actuality. The most famous representatives of this form of +literature after the Gaonim were both of the thirteenth century, +Solomon, the son of Adereth, in Spain, and Meir of Rothenburg in +Germany. Solomon, the son of Adereth, of Barcelona, was a man whose +moral earnestness, mild yet firm disposition, profound erudition, and +tolerant character, won for him a supreme place in Jewish life for half +a century. Meir of Rothenburg was a poet and martyr as well as a +profound scholar. He passed many years in prison rather than yield to +the rapacious demands of the local government for a ransom, which Meir's +friends would willingly have paid. As a specimen of Meir's poetry, the +following verses are taken from a dirge composed by him in 1285, when +copies of the Pentateuch were publicly committed to the flames. The +"Law" is addressed in the second person: + + Dismay hath seized upon my soul; how then + Can food be sweet to me? + When, O thou Law! I have beheld base men + Destroying thee? + + Ah! sweet 'twould be unto mine eyes alway + Waters of tears to pour, + To sob and drench thy sacred robes, till they + Could hold no more. + + But lo! my tears are dried, when, fast outpoured, + They down my cheeks are shed, + Scorched by the fire within, because thy Lord + Hath turned and sped. + + Yea, I am desolate and sore bereft, + Lo! a forsaken one, + Like a sole beacon on a mountain left, + A tower alone. + + I hear the voice of singers now no more, + Silence their song hath bound, + For broken are the strings on harps of yore, + Viols of sweet sound. + + I am astonied that the day's fair light + Yet shineth brilliantly + On all things; but is ever dark as night + To me and thee. + + * * * * * + + Even as when thy Rock afflicted thee, + He will assuage thy woe, + And turn again the tribes' captivity, + And raise the low. + + Yet shalt thou wear thy scarlet raiment choice, + And sound the timbrels high, + And glad amid the dancers shalt rejoice, + With joyful cry. + + My heart shall be uplifted on the day + Thy Rock shall be thy light, + When he shall make thy gloom to pass away, + Thy darkness bright. + +This combination of the poetical with the legal mind was parallelled by +other combinations in such masters of "Responses" as the Sheshet and +Duran families in Algiers in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In +these men depth of learning was associated with width of culture. +Others, such as Moses and Judah Minz, Jacob Weil, and Israel Isserlein, +whose influence was paramount in Germany in the fifteenth century, were +less cultivated, but their learning was associated with a geniality and +sense of humor that make their "Responses" very human and very +entertaining. There is the same homely, affectionate air in the +collection of _Minhagim_, or Customs, known as the _Maharil_, which +belongs to the same period. On the other hand, David Abi Zimra, Rabbi of +Cairo in the sixteenth century, was as independent as he was learned. It +was he, for instance, who abolished the old custom of dating Hebrew +documents from the Seleucid era (311 B.C.E.). And, to pass beyond the +time of Karo, the writers of "Responses" include the gifted Jair Chayim +Bacharach (seventeenth century), a critic as well as a legalist; Chacham +Zevi and Jacob Emden in Amsterdam, and Ezekiel Landau in Prague, the +former two of whom opposed the Messianic claims of Sabbatai Zevi, and +the last of whom was an antagonist to the Germanizing tendency of Moses +Mendelssohn. + +Joseph Karo himself was a man of many parts. He was born in Spain in +1488, and died in Safed, the nest of mysticism, in 1575. Master of the +Talmudic writings of his predecessors from his youth, Karo devoted +thirty-two years to the preparation of an exhaustive commentary on the +"Four Rows" of Jacob Asheri. This occupied him from 1522 to 1554. Karo +was an enthusiast as well as a student, and the emotional side of the +Kabbala had much fascination for him. He believed that he had a +familiar, or _Maggid_, the personification of the Mishnah, who appeared +to him in dreams, and held communion with him. He found a congenial home +in Safed, where the mystics had their head-quarters in the sixteenth +century. Karo's companion on his journey to Safed was Solomon Alkabets, +author of the famous Sabbath hymn "Come, my Friend" (_Lecha Dodi_), with +the refrain: + + Come forth, my friend, the Bride to meet, + Come, O my friend, the Sabbath greet! + +The Shulchan Aruch is arranged in four parts, called fancifully, "Path +of Life" (_Orach Chayim_), "Teacher of Knowledge" (_Yoreh Deah_), +"Breastplate of Judgment" (_Choshen ha-Mishpat_), and "Stone of Help" +(_Eben ha-Ezer_). The first part is mainly occupied with the subject of +prayer, benedictions, the Sabbath, the festivals, and the observances +proper to each. The second part deals with food and its preparation, +_Shechitah_, or slaughtering of animals for food, the relations between +Jews and non-Jews, vows, respect to parents, charity, and religious +observances connected with agriculture, such as the payment of tithes, +and, finally, the rites of mourning. This section of the Shulchan Aruch +is the most miscellaneous of the four; in the other three the +association of subjects is more logical. The Eben ha-Ezer treats of the +laws of marriage and divorce from their civil and religious aspects. The +Choshen ha-Mishpat deals with legal procedure, the laws regulating +business transactions and the relations between man and man in the +conduct of worldly affairs. A great number of commentaries on Karo's +Code were written by and for the _Acharonim_ (=later scholars). It fully +deserved this attention, for on its own lines the Shulchan Aruch was a +masterly production. It brought system into the discordant opinions of +the Rabbinical authorities of the Middle Ages, and its publication in +the sixteenth century was itself a stroke of genius. Never before had +such a work been so necessary as then. The Jews were in sight of what +was to them the darkest age, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. +Though the Shulchan Aruch had an evil effect in stereotyping Jewish +religious thought and in preventing the rapid spread of the critical +spirit, yet it was a rallying point for the disorganized Jews, and saved +them from the disintegration which threatened them. The Shulchan Aruch +was the last great bulwark of the Rabbinical conception of life. Alike +in its form and contents it was a not unworthy close to the series of +codes which began with the Mishnah, and in which life itself was +codified. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, p. 213 _seq._ + +I.H. Weiss.--On _Codes_, _J.Q.R._, I, p. 289. + +ASHER BEN YECHIEL. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 34 [37]. + +JACOB ASHERI. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 88 [95]. + +SOLOMON BEN ADERETH. + +Graetz.--III, p. 618 [639]. + +MEIR OF ROTHENBURG. + +Graetz.--III, pp. 625, 638 [646]. + +JUDAH MINZ. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 294 [317]. + +MAHARIL. + +S. Schechter.--_Studies in Judaism_, p. 142 [173]. + +DAVID BEN ABI ZIMRA. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 393 [420]. + +JAIR CHAYIM BACHARACH. + +D. Kaufmann, _J.Q.R._, III, p. 292, etc. + +JOSEPH KARO. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 537 [571]. + +MOSES ISSERLES. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 637 [677]. + +CHIDDUSHIM. + +Graetz.--IV, p. 641 [682]. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +AMSTERDAM IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY + + Manasseh ben Israel.--Baruch Spinoza.--The Drama in + Hebrew.--Moses Zacut, Joseph Felix Penso, Moses Chayim + Luzzatto. + + +Holland was the centre of Jewish hope in the seventeenth century, and +among its tolerant and cultivated people the Marranos, exiled from Spain +and Portugal, founded a new Jerusalem. Two writers of Marrano origin, +wide as the poles asunder in gifts of mind and character, represented +two aspects of the aspiration of the Jews towards a place in the wider +world. Manasseh ben Israel (1604-1657) was an enthusiast who based his +ambitious hopes on the Messianic prophecies; Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) +lacked enthusiasm, had little belief in the verbal promises of +Scripture, yet developed a system of ethics in which God filled the +world. Manasseh ben Israel regained for the Jews admission to England; +Spinoza reclaimed the right of a Jew to a voice in the philosophy of the +world. Both were political thinkers who maintained the full rights of +the individual conscience, and though the arguments used vary +considerably, yet Manasseh ben Israel's splendid _Vindiciæ Judeorum_ and +Spinoza's "Tractate" alike insist on the natural right of men to think +freely. They anticipated some of the greatest principles that won +acceptance at the end of the eighteenth century. + +Manasseh ben Israel was born in Lisbon of Marrano parents, who emigrated +to Amsterdam a few years after their son's birth. He displayed a +youthful talent for oratory, and was a noted preacher in his teens. He +started the first Hebrew printing-press established in Amsterdam, and +from it issued many works still remarkable for the excellence of their +type and general workmanship. Manasseh was himself, not only a +distinguished linguist, but a popularizer of linguistic studies. He +wrote well in Hebrew, Latin, English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and was +the means of instructing many famous Christians of the day in Hebrew and +Rabbinic. Among his personal friends were Vossius, who translated +Manasseh's "Conciliator" from Spanish into Latin. This, the most +important of Manasseh's early writings, was as popular with Christians +as with Jews, for it attempted to reconcile the discrepancies and +contradictions apparent in the Bible. Another of his friends was the +painter Rembrandt, who, in 1636, etched the portrait of Manasseh. Huet +and Grotius were also among the friends and disciples who gathered round +the Amsterdam Rabbi. + +An unexpected result of Manasseh ben Israel's zeal for the promotion of +Hebrew studies among his own brethren was the rise of a new form of +poetical literature. The first dramas in Hebrew belong to this period. +Moses Zacut and Joseph Felix Penso wrote Hebrew dramas in the first half +of the seventeenth century in Amsterdam. The "Foundation of the World" +by the former and the "Captives of Hope" by the latter possess little +poetical merit, but they are interesting signs of the desire of Jews to +use Hebrew for all forms of literary art. Hence these dramas were hailed +as tokens of Jewish revival. Strangely enough, the only great writer of +Hebrew plays, Moses Chayim Luzzatto (1707-1747), was also resident in +Amsterdam. Luzzatto wrote under the influence of the Italian poet +Guarini. His metres, his long soliloquies, his lyrics, his dovetailing +of rural and urban scenery, are all directly traceable to Guarini. +Luzzatto was nevertheless an original poet. His mastery of Hebrew was +complete, and his rich fancy was expressed in glowing lines. His dramas, +"Samson," the "Strong Tower," and "Glory to the Virtuous," show +classical refinement and freshness of touch, which have made them the +models of all subsequent efforts of Hebrew dramatists. + +Manasseh ben Israel did not allow himself to become absorbed in the +wider interests opened out to him by his intimacy with the greatest +Christian scholars of his day. He prepared a Spanish translation of the +Pentateuch for the Amsterdam Jews, who were slow to adopt Dutch as their +speech, a fact not wonderful when it is remembered that literary Dutch +was only then forming. Manasseh also wrote at this period a Hebrew +treatise on immortality. His worldly prosperity was small, and he even +thought of emigrating to Brazil. But the friends of the scholar found a +post for him in a new college for the study of Hebrew, a college to +which it is probable that Spinoza betook himself. In the meantime the +reports of Montesinos as to the presence of the Lost Ten Tribes in +America turned the current of Manasseh's life. In 1650 he wrote his +famous essay, the "Hope of Israel," which he dedicated to the English +Parliament. He argued that, as a preliminary to the restoration of +Israel, or the millennium, for which the English Puritans were eagerly +looking, the dispersion of Israel must be complete. The hopes of the +millennium were doomed to disappointment unless the Jews were readmitted +to England, "the isle of the Northern Sea." His dedication met with a +friendly reception, Manasseh set out for England in 1655, and obtained +from Cromwell a qualified consent to the resettlement of the Jews in the +land from which they had been expelled in 1290. + +The pamphlets which Manasseh published in England deserve a high place +in literature and in the history of modern thought. They are +immeasurably superior to his other works, which are eloquent but +diffuse, learned but involved. But in his _Vindiciæ Judeorum_ (1656) +his style and thought are clear, original, elevated. There are here no +mystic irrelevancies. His remarks are to the point, sweetly reasonable, +forcible, moderate. He grapples with the medieval prejudices against the +Jews in a manner which places his works among the best political +pamphlets ever written. Morally, too, his manner is noteworthy. He +pleads for Judaism in a spirit equally removed from arrogance and +self-abasement. He is dignified in his persuasiveness. He appeals to a +sense of justice rather than mercy, yet he writes as one who knows that +justice is the rarest and highest quality of human nature; as one who +knows that humbly to express gratitude for justice received is to do +reverence to the noblest faculty of man. + +Fate rather than disposition tore Manasseh from his study to plead +before the English Parliament. Baruch Spinoza was spared such +distraction. Into his self-contained life the affairs of the world +could effect no entry. It is not quite certain whether Spinoza was born +in Amsterdam. He must, at all events, have come there in his early +youth. He may have been a pupil of Manasseh, but his mind was nurtured +on the philosophical treatises of Maimonides and Crescas. His thought +became sceptical, and though he was "intoxicated with a sense of God," +he had no love for any positive religion. He learned Latin, and found +new avenues opened to him in the writings of Descartes. His associations +with the representatives of the Cartesian philosophy and his own +indifference to ceremonial observances brought him into collision with +the Synagogue, and, in 1656, during the absence of Manasseh in England, +Spinoza was excommunicated by the Amsterdam Rabbis. Spinoza was too +strong to seek the weak revenge of an abjuration of Judaism. He went on +quietly earning a living as a maker of lenses; he refused a +professorship, preferring, like Maimonides before him, to rely on other +than literary pursuits as a means of livelihood. + +In 1670 Spinoza finished his "Theologico-Political Tractate," in which +some bitterness against the Synagogue is apparent. His attack on the +Bible is crude, but the fundamental principles of modern criticism are +here anticipated. The main importance of the "Tractate" lay in the +doctrine that the state has full rights over the individual, except in +relation to freedom of thought and free expression of thought. These are +rights which no human being can alienate to the state. Of Spinoza's +greatest work, the "Ethics," it need only be said that it was one of the +most stimulating works of modern times. A child of Judaism and of +Cartesianism, Spinoza won a front place among the great teachers of +mankind. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +MANASSEH BEN ISRAEL. + +Graetz.--V, 2. + +H. Adler.--_Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of + England_, Vol. I, p. 25. + +Kayserling.--_Miscellany of the Society of Hebrew Literature_, + Vol. I. + +Lady Magnus.--_Jewish Portraits_, p. 109. + +English translations of works, _Vindiciæ Judeorum_, _Hope of Israel_, + _The Conciliator_ (E.H. Lindo, 1841, etc.). + +SPINOZA. + +Graetz.--V, 4. + +J. Freudenthal.--_History of Spinozism_, _J.Q.R._, VIII, p. 17. + +HEBREW DRAMAS. + +Karpeles.--_Jewish Literature and other Essays_, p. 229. + +Abrahams.--_Jewish Life in the Middle Ages_, ch. 14. + +Graetz,--V, pp, 112 [119], 234 [247]. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +MOSES MENDELSSOHN + + Mendelssohn's German Translation of the + Bible.--Phædo.--Jerusalem.--Lessing's "Nathan the Wise." + + +Moses, the son of Mendel, was born in Dessau in 1728, and died in Berlin +in 1786. His father was poor, and he himself was of a weak constitution. +But his stunted form was animated by a strenuous spirit. After a boyhood +passed under conditions which did little to stimulate his dawning +aspirations, Mendelssohn resolved to follow his teacher Fränkel to +Berlin. He trudged the whole way on foot, and was all but refused +admission into the Prussian capital, where he was destined to produce so +profound an impression. In Berlin his struggle with poverty continued, +but his condition was improved when he obtained a post, first as +private tutor, then as book-keeper in a silk factory. + +Berlin was at this time the scene of an intellectual and æsthetic +revival dominated by Frederick the Great. The latter, a dilettante in +culture, was, as Mendelssohn said of him, a man "who made the arts and +sciences flourish, and made liberty of thought universal in his realm." +The German Jews were as yet outside this revival. In Italy and Holland +the new movements of the seventeenth and the eighteenth century had +found Jews well to the fore. But the "German" Jews--and this term +included the great bulk of the Jews of Europe--were suffering from the +effects of intellectual stagnation. The Talmud still exercised the mind +and imagination of these Jews, but culture and religion were separated. +Mendelssohn in a hundred places contends that such separation is +dangerous and unnatural. It was his service to Judaism that he made the +separation once for all obsolete. + +Mendelssohn effected this by purely literary means. Most reformations +have been at least aided by moral and political forces. But the +Mendelssohnian revival in Judaism was a literary revival, in which moral +and religious forces had only an indirect influence. By the aid of +greater refinement of language, for hitherto the "German" Jews had not +spoken pure German; by a widening of the scope of education in the +Jewish schools; by the introduction of all that is known as culture, +Mendelssohn changed the whole aspect of Jewish life. And he produced +this reformation by books and by books alone. Never playing the part of +a religious or moral reformer, Mendelssohn became the Jewish apostle of +culture. + +The great event of his life occurred in 1754, when he made the +acquaintance of Lessing. The two young men became constant friends. +Lessing, before he knew Mendelssohn, had written a drama, "The Jews," in +which, perhaps for the first time, a Jew was represented on the stage as +a man of honor. In Mendelssohn, Lessing recognized a new Spinoza; in +Lessing, Mendelssohn saw the perfect ideal of culture. The masterpiece +of Lessing's art, the drama "Nathan the Wise," was the monument of this +friendship. Mendelssohn was the hero of the drama, and the toleration +which it breathes is clearly Mendelssohn's. Mendelssohn held that there +was no absolutely best religion any more than there was an absolutely +best form of government. This was the leading idea of his last work, +"Jerusalem"; it is also the central thought of "Nathan the Wise." The +best religion, according to both, is the religion which best brings out +the individual's noblest faculties. As Mendelssohn wrote, there are +certain eternal truths which God implants in all men alike, but "Judaism +boasts of no exclusive revelation of immutable truths indispensable to +salvation." + +What has just been quoted is one of the last utterances of Mendelssohn. +We must retrace our steps to the date of his first intimacy with +Lessing. He devoted his attention to the perfecting of his German style, +and succeeded so well that his writings have gained a place among the +classics of German literature. In 1763, he won the Berlin prize for an +essay on Mathematical Method in Philosophical Reasoning, and defeated +Kant entirely on account of his lucid and attractive style. +Mendelssohn's most popular philosophical work, "Phædo, or the +Immortality of the Soul," won extraordinary popularity in Berlin, as +much for its attractive form as for its spiritual charms. The "German +Plato," the "Jewish Socrates," were some of the epithets bestowed on him +by multitudes of admirers. Indeed, the "Phædo" of Mendelssohn is a work +of rare beauty. + +One of the results of Mendelssohn's popularity was a curious +correspondence with Lavater. The latter perceived in Mendelssohn's +toleration signs of weakness, and believed that he could convert the +famous Jew to Christianity. Mendelssohn's reply, like his "Jerusalem" +and his admirable preface to a German translation of Manasseh ben +Israel's _Vindiciæ Judeorum_, gave voice to that claim on personal +liberty of thought and conscience for which the Jews, unconsciously, had +been so long contending. Mendelssohn's view was that all true religious +aspirations are independent of religious forms. Mendelssohn did not +ignore the value of forms, but he held that as there are often several +means to the same end, so the various religious forms of the various +creeds may all lead their respective adherents to salvation and to God. + +Mendelssohn's most epoch-making work was his translation of the +Pentateuch into German. With this work the present history finds a +natural close. Mendelssohn's Pentateuch marks the modernization of the +literature of Judaism. There was much opposition to the book, but on the +other hand many Jews eagerly scanned its pages, acquired its noble +diction, and committed its rhythmic eloquence to their hearts. Round +Mendelssohn there clustered a band of devoted disciples, the pioneers of +the new learning, the promoters of a literature of Judaism, in which the +modern spirit reanimated the still living records of antiquity. There +was certainly some weakness among the men and women affected by the +Berlin philosopher, for some discarded all positive religion, because +the master had taught that all positive religions had their saving and +truthful elements. + +It is not, however, the province of this sketch to trace the religious +effects of the Mendelssohnian movement. Suffice it to say that, while +the old Jewish conception had been that literature and life are +co-extensive, Jewish literature begins with Mendelssohn to have an +independent life of its own, a life of the spirit, which cannot be +altogether controlled by the tribulations of material life. A physical +Ghetto may once more be imposed on the Jews from without; an +intellectual Ghetto imposed from within is hardly conceivable. Tolerance +gave the modern spirit to Jewish literature, but intolerance cannot +withdraw it. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +MOSES MENDELSSOHN. + +Graetz.--V, 8. + +Karpeles.--_Sketch of Jewish History_, p. 93; _Jewish Literature + and other Essays_, p. 293. + +English translations of _Phædo, Jerusalem_, and of the + _Introduction to the Pentateuch_ (_Hebrew Review_, Vol. I). + +Other translations of _Jerusalem_ were made by M. Samuels (London, + 1838) and by Isaac Leeser, the latter published as a supplement to the + _Occident_, Philadelphia, 5612. + +THE MENDELSSOHNIAN MOVEMENT. + +Graetz.--V, 10. + + + + +INDEX + + +Abayi, Amora, 51. + +Abba Areka, Amora, 47, 48, 51. + popularizes Jewish learning, 49. + wide outlook of, 50. + +Abbahu, Amora, 48-49. + +Abraham de Balmes, translator, 149. + +Abraham de Porta Leone, historian, 220. + +Abraham Ibn Chisdai, story by, 154-155. + +Abraham Ibn Daud, historian, 213-214. + +Abraham Ibn Ezra, on Kalir, 88. + life of, 115. + quotations from, 115. + activities and views of, 116, 123, 151. + +Abraham Abulafia, Kabbalist, 171. + +Abraham Farissol, geographer, 206. + +Abraham Zacuto, historian, 216. + +Abul-Faraj Harun, Karaite author, 77. + +Abulwalid Merwan Ibn Janach, grammarian, 101. + works of, translated, 148. + +Achai, Gaon and author, 70. + +Acharonim, later scholars, 240. + +Æsop, used by Berachya ha-Nakdan, 157. + +"Against Apion," by Josephus, 34. + +Akiba, a Tanna, 23, 24-26. + characteristics and history of, 24-26. + school of, 26. + fable used by, 65. + Alphabet by, 175. + +Al-Farabi, works of, translated, 185. + +Alfassi. _See_ Isaac Alfassi. + +Alfonso V of Portugal, Abarbanel with, 225. + +Alfonso VI of Spain, takes Toledo, 126. + +Alfonso X of Spain, employs Jews as translators, 150, 156. + +Almohades, the, a Mohammedan sect, 134, 135. + +"Alphabet of Rabbi Akiba," Kabbalistic work, 175. + +Amoraim, the, teachers of the Talmud, 44. + characterised, 45-46. + some of, enumerated, 46-52. + +Amram, Gaon, liturgist, 70. + +Anan, the son of David, founder of Karaism, 75. + +Andalusia, the Spanish Piyut in, 85. + +"Answers." _See_ "Letters"; "Responses." + +"Antiquities of the Jews," by Josephus, 34. + +Antonio de Montesinos, and the Ten Tribes, 208, 247. + +Apion, attacks Judaism, 36. + +Apocrypha, the, addresses of parents to children in, 194. + +Aquila, translates the Scriptures, 26. + identical with Onkelos, 26-27. + +Aquinas, Thomas, studies the "Guide," 140. + +Arabic, used by the Gaonim, 71. + in Jewish literature, 83. + poetry, 84. + translation of the Scriptures, 91, 93, 94. + commentary on the Mishnah, 135. + +Aragon, Spanish Piyut in, 85. + +Aramaic, translation of the Pentateuch, 27. + used by Josephus, 37. + language of the Talmud, 44. + used by the Gaonim, 71. + translation of Scriptures in the synagogues, 94. + language of the Zohar, 173. + +Arbäa Turim, code by Jacob Asheri, 234, 239. + +Archimedes, works of, translated, 150, 185. + +Aristotle, teachings of, summarized, 140. + interpreted by Averroes, 149. + works of, translated, 185. + +Aruch, the, compiled by Zemach, 70. + by Nathan, the son of Yechiel, 121, 200. + +Asher, the son of Yechiel, the will of, 195-196. + codifier, 234. + +Ashi, Amora, compiler of the Talmud, 51-52. + +Atonement, the Day of, hymn for, 162. + +"Autobiography," the, of Josephus, 34. + +Averroes, works of, translated, 148, 149, 185. + +Azariah di Rossi, historian, 221-222, 223. + +Azriel, Kabbalist, 171. + +Azulai, Chayim, historian, 220. + + +Babylonia, Rabbinical schools in, 44. + centre of Jewish learning, 49, 68. + loses its supremacy, 92. + +Bachya Ibn Pekuda, works of, translated, 148. + ethical work by, 190. + +Bacon, Roger, on the scientific activity of the Jew, 150. + +Bahir, Kabbalistic work, 171. + +Bar Cochba, Akiba in the revolt of, 24. + +"Barlaam and Joshaphat," by Abraham Ibn Chisdai, 154-155. + +Baruch of Ratisbon, Tossafist, 161. + +Beast Fables, in the Midrash, 64-67. + examples of, 65-66. + +Bechinath Olam, by Yedaiah Bedaressi, 191-192. + +Benjamin of Tudela, traveller, 203. + +Benjamin Nahavendi, Karaite author, 77. + +Berachya ha-Nakdan, fabulist, 156-157. + +Berlin, under Frederick the Great, 254. + +Beruriah, wife of Meir, 28. + +Bible, the. _See_ Scriptures, the. + +Bidpai, Fables of, and the Jews, 155-156. + +Biur, the, commentary on the Pentateuch, 230. + +Bohemia, the Kalirian Piyut in, 85. + +"Book of Creation, The," Kabbalistic work, 175. + +"Book of Creation, Commentary on the," by Saadiah, 95. + +"Book of Delight, The," by Joseph Zabara, 157-158. + +"Book of Genealogies, The," by Abraham Zacuto, 216. + +"Book of Lights and the High Beacons, The," by Kirkisani, 80. + +"Book of Principles, The," by Joseph Albo, 141. + +"Book of Roots, The," by David Kimchi, 117. + +"Book Raziel, The," Kabbalistic work, 175. + +"Book of the Exiled, The," by Saadiah, 94. + +"Book of the Pious, The," ethical work, 191. + +"Book of Tradition, The," by Abraham Ibn Daud, 213-214. + +Braganza, Duke of, friend of Abarbanel, 226. + +Brahe, Tycho, friend of David Gans, 220. + +"Branch of David, The," by David Gans, 219, 220-221. + +"Breastplate of Judgment, The," part of the Shulchan Aruch, 240. + +"Brilliancy," Kabbalistic work, 171. + +Browne, Sir Thomas, alluded to, 127. + +Buddha, legend of, 154-155. + +Burgundy, the Kalirian Piyut in, 85. + +Buxtorf, as translator, 148. + + +"Caged Bird, The," fable, 65. + +Cairo, Old. _See_ Fostat. + +Calendar, the Jewish, arranged, 48. + +"Call of the Generations, The," by David Conforte, 220. + +"Captives of Hope, The," by Penso, 246. + +Castile, the Spanish Piyut in, 85. + +Catalonia, the Spanish Piyut in, 85. + +"Ceremonies and Customs of the Jews," by Leon da Modena, 220. + +Chacham Zevi, author of "Responses," 238. + +"Chaff, Straw, and Wheat," fable, 65. + +"Chain of Tradition, The," by Gedaliah Ibn Yachya, 220, 222-223. + +Chanina, the son of Chama, Amora, 46. + +Charizi, on Chasdai, 99-100, 107. + on Moses Ibn Ezra, 114. + as a poet, 131-132. + influences Immanuel of Rome, 184. + ethical work by, 189. + geographical notes by, 200. + +Chasdai Ibn Shaprut, patron of Moses ben Chanoch, 97. + Charizi on, 99-100, 107. + activities of, 100. + as a patron of Jewish learning and poetry, 100-101, 102. + and the Chazars, 102-103. + as translator, 150. + +Chasdai Crescas, philosopher, 141. + studied by Spinoza, 251. + +Chassidim, the, new saints, 176. + hymns by, 177. + +Chayim Vital Calabrese, Kabbalist, 176. + +Chazars, the, and Chasdai Ibn Shaprut, 102-103. + +Chiddushim, Notes on the Talmud, 234. + +Chiya, Amora, 49. + +Chizzuk Emunah, by Isaac Troki, 81. + +Choboth ha-Lebaboth, by Bachya Ibn Pekuda, 190. + +"Choice of Pearls, The," by Solomon Ibn Gebirol, 110, 189. + +Choshen ha-Mishpat, part of the Shulchan Aruch, 240. + +"Chronicle of Achimaaz," 213. + +Clement VII, pope, and David Reubeni, 207. + +"Cluster of Cyprus Flowers, A," by Judah Hadassi, 80. + +"Cock and the Bat, The," fable, 65. + +Cohen, Tobiah, geographer, 209. + +"Collections." _See_ Machberoth. + +"Come, my Friend," Sabbath hymn, 239. + +"Conciliator, The," by Manasseh ben Israel, 245. + +"Consolations for the Tribulations of Israel," by Samuel Usque, 217-218. + +Constantine, forbids Jews to enter Jerusalem, 205. + +Cordova, centre of Arabic learning, 96-97. + a Jewish centre, 103, 112. + in the hands of the Almohades, 134. + +Corfu, Abarbanel in, 226. + +Council, the Great. _See_ Synhedrion, the. + +Cromwell, and Manasseh ben Israel, 248. + +Crusades, the, and the Jews of France, 124. + +Cuzari, by Jehuda Halevi, 127, 139. + + +Damascus, Jehuda Halevi in, 129. + +Daniel, the Book of, commentary on, 48. + +Dante, influences Jewish poets, 179, 182, 183, 186. + +David, the son of Abraham, Karaite author, 79. + +David ben Maimon, brother of Moses, 135. + +David Abi Zimra, author of "Responses," 238. + +David Alroy, pseudo-Messiah, 203. + +David Conforte, historian, 220. + +David Gans, historian, 220-221. + +David Kimchi, grammarian, 117, 123. + +David Reubeni, traveller, 207. + +"Deeds of God, The," by Abarbanel, 229. + +Descartes, studied by Spinoza, 250. + +"Deuteronomy." _See_ "Strong Hand, The." + +"Diary of Eldad the Danite," 201-203. + +Dictionary, Hebrew rhyming, by Saadiah, 93. + _See also_ Lexicon. + +Dioscorides, works of, translated, 150. + +Doria, Andrea, doge, physician of, 219. + +Dramas in Hebrew, 246-247. + +Dunash, the son of Labrat, grammarian, 101, 123. + +Duran family, writers of "Responses," 237. + + +Eben Bochan, by Kalonymos, 185. + +Eben ha-Ezer, part of the Shulchan Aruch, 240. + +Egypt, Jehuda Halevi in, 129. + +Eldad the Danite, traveller, 201-203. + +Eleazar of Worms, writer, 191. + +Eleazar the Levite, will of, 196-197. + +Eleazar, the son of Azariah, saying of, 25-26. + +Eleazar, the son of Isaac, will of, 194-195. + +Elias del Medigo, critic, 222. + +Elias Levita, grammarian, 229. + +Elijah Kapsali, historian, 216. + +Elisha, the son of Abuya, and Meir, 28. + +Emden, Jacob, author of "Responses," 238. + +Emek ha-Bacha, by Joseph Cohen, 218, 219. + +Emunoth ve-Deoth, by Saadiah, 95. + +En Yaakob, by Jacob Ibn Chabib, 192. + +Enan, giant in "The Book of Delight," 157-158. + +England, the Kalirian Piyut in, 85. + Jews re-admitted into, 244. + "Ennoblement of Character, The," by Solomon Ibn Gebirol, 110. + +Eshkol ha-Kopher, by Judah Hadassi, 80. + +Esthori Parchi, explorer of Palestine, 204-205. + +Ethical Wills, prevalence and character of, 193-194. + examples of, and quotations from, 194-198. + +"Ethics, the," by Spinoza, 251. + +Euclid, works of, translated, 149. + +Eusebius, used in "Josippon," 214. + +"Examination of the World," by Yedaiah Bedaressi, 191-192. + +Exilarchs, the, official heads of the Persian Jews, 72. + +"Eye of Jacob, The," by Jacob Ibn Chabib, 192. + +Ezra, Kabbalist, 171. + + +Fables. _See_ Beast Fables; Fox Fables. + +"Faith and Philosophy," by Saadiah, 95. + +Fathers, the Christian, and Simlai, 47. + +Fayum, birthplace of Saadiah, 91. + +Ferdinand and Isabella, Abarbanel with, 226. + +Fez, the Maimon family at, 135. + +Fiesco, rebellion of, 217. + +Folk-tales, diffusion of, 153. + +Fostat, Maimonides at, 135. + +"Foundation of the World, The," by Moses Zacut, 246. + +"Fountain of Life, The," by Solomon Ibn Gebirol, 110. + +"Four Rows, The," code by Jacob Asheri, 234, 239. + +"Fox and the Fishes, The," fable, 65. + +"Fox as Singer, The," fable, 66. + +Fox Fables, by Meir, 64. + by Berachya ha-Nakdan, 156-157. + +France, the Kalirian Piyut in, 85. + a Jewish centre, 116, 119, 124. + Jewish schools of, destroyed, 124. + +Fränkel, teacher of Mendelssohn, 253. + +Frederick II, emperor, patron of Anatoli, 149. + +Frederick the Great, the Berlin of, 254. + + +Galen, works of, translated, 150, 185. + +Galilee, centre of Jewish learning, 20. + explored by Esthori Parchi, 205. + +Gaonim, the, heads of the Babylonian schools, 68. + work of, 68-69. + literary productions of, 69-71. + language used by, 71. + "Letters" of, 71-74. + religious heads of the Jews of Persia, 72. + as writers, 74. + Karaite controversies with, 78. + works of, collected, 104. + analyze the Talmud, 121. + +Gedaliah Ibn Yachya, historian, 222-223. + +Gemara. _See_ Talmud, the. + +Genesis, commentary on, by Saadiah, 94. + +Geographical literature among the Jews, 200. + +German Jews, stagnation among, 254. + +Germany, the Kalirian Piyut in, 85. + +Gersonides. _See_ Levi, the son of Gershon. + +"Glory to the Virtuous," by Luzzatto, 247. + +Graetz, H., quoted, 21, 168. + +Grammar, Hebrew, works on, 77, 79, 117. + +Granada, Jewish literary centre, 112. + +Greece, the Kalirian Piyut in, 85. + +Greek, translation of the Scriptures, 26. + used by Josephus, 37. + used in the Sibylline books, 39. + used among the Jews, 48. + +Grotius, friend of Manasseh ben Israel, 245. + +Guarini, influences Luzzatto, 246. + +"Guide of the Perplexed, The," by Moses Maimonides, 136, 139-141, 142. + + +Habus, Samuel Ibn Nagdela minister to, 103. + +Hagadah, the poetic element of the Talmud, 47. + +Hai, the last Gaon, 71. + +Halachah, the legal element of the Talmud, 47, 55. + +Halachoth Gedoloth, compilation of Halachic decisions, 73. + +Haman, a fable concerning, 66. + +Hassan, the son of Mashiach, Karaite author, 78, 79. + +"Heart Duties," by Bachya Ibn Pekuda, 190. + +Hebrew, the, of the Mishnah, 29. + used by the Gaonim, 71. + the language of prayer, 83. + influenced by Kalir, 88. + translations into, 145, 146. + a living language, 147. + studied by Christians, 230. + +Heilprin, Yechiel, historian, 220. + +Heine, quoted, 128. + +"Hell and Eden," by Immanuel of Rome, 182, 184-185. + +"Higher Criticism," the, father of, 116. + +Hillel I, parable of, 62. + +Hillel II, arranges the Jewish Calendar, 48. + +Hippocrates, works of, translated, 150. + +Historical works, 33-34. + +Historical writing among the Jews, 211-212, 213, 217. + +"History of France and Turkey," by Joseph Cohen, 217. + +"History of the Jewish Kings," by Justus, 34. + +"History of the Ottoman Empire," by Elijah Kapsali, 216. + +Holland, a Jewish centre, 243. + +Homiletics, in the Midrash, 57. + in Sheeltoth, 70. + +"Hope of Israel, The," by Manasseh ben Israel, 208-209, 248. + +Hosannas, the Day of, hymn for, 89. + +Huet, friend of Manasseh ben Israel, 245. + +Huna, Amora, 49-50. + + +Ibn Roshd. _See_ Averroes. + +Icabo, character in Samuel Usque's poem, 218. + +Iggaron, dictionary by David, 79. + +Ikkarim, by Joseph Albo, 141. + +Immanuel, the son of Solomon, Italian Jewish poet, 179, 180. + life of, 180-181. + works of, 182-185. + +Isaac the Elder, Tossafist, 161. + +Isaac, the son of Asher, Tossafist, 161. + +Isaac Abarbanel, in Portugal, 225-226. + writes commentaries, 226, 227. + in Castile, 226. + in Naples and Corfu, 226-227. + in Venice, 227. + as a writer, 227-228. + as an exegete, 228, 229. + as a philosopher, 229. + +Isaac Aboab, ethical writer, 192. + +Isaac Alfassi, Talmudist, 121-122. + +Isaac Lurya, Kabbalist, 176. + +Isaac Troki, Karaite author, 81. + +Isaiah Hurwitz, Kabbalist, 176. + +Isaiah, the Book of, Abraham Ibn Ezra on, 116. + +Islam, sects of, 75-76. + +Israel Baalshem, Kabbalist, 176-177. + +Israel Isserlein, author of "Responses," 237. + +"It was at Midnight," by Jannai, 86. + +Italian Jewish literature, 178-180, 187. + +Italy, the Kalirian Piyut in, 85. + +"Itinera Mundi," by Abraham Farissol, 206. + +"Itinerary," by Benjamin of Tudela, 203. + + +Jabneh. _See_ Jamnia. + +Jacob Ibn Chabib, writer, 192. + +Jacob Anatoli, translator, 148. + patron and friend of, 149. + +Jacob Asheri, compiler of the Turim, 234, 239. + +Jacob Weil, author of "Responses," 237. + +Jacobs, Mr. Joseph, quoted, 65, 66, 156, 158-159. + +Jair Chayim Bacharach, author of "Responses," 238. + +Jamnia, centre of Jewish learning, 19-22. + +Jannai, originator of the Piyut, 86. + date of, 87. + +Japhet, the son of Ali, Karaite author, 78, 79. + +Jayme I of Aragon, orders a public disputation, 164. + +Jehuda Halevi, models of, 107. + subjects of, 109. + prominence of, 126. + youth of, 126-127. + as a philosopher and physician, 127-128, 139. + longs for Jerusalem, 128. + on his journey, 128-129. + quotation from, 129-130. + works of, translated, 148. + +Jerome, under Jewish influence, 48. + +"Jerusalem," by Mendelssohn, 256. + +"Jewish War, The," by Justus, 34. + +"Jews, The," by Lessing, 256. + +Jochanan, the son of Napacha, Amora, 46, 47, 51. + +Jochanan, the son of Zakkai, characterized, 20-21, 24. + as a Tanna, 23-24. + +Jochanan Aleman, Kabbalist, 174. + +John of Capua, translator, 155. + +Joseph Ibn Caspi, will of, 196. + +Joseph Ibn Verga, historian, 218-219. + +Joseph al-Bazir, Karaite author, 78, 79. + +Joseph Albo, philosopher, 141. + +Joseph Cohen, historian, 216-217, 219. + +Joseph Delmedigo, on Gedaliah Ibn Yachya, 222. + +Joseph Karo, prohibits the Machberoth, 183. + compiler of the Shulchan Aruch, 233. + life of, 238-239. + _See_ Shulchan Aruch, the. + +Joseph Kimchi, exegete, 116. + +Joseph Zabara, poet, 157-158. + geographical notes by, 200. + +Josephus, Flavius, historian, 34-38. + works of, 34. + characterized, 35-36. + champion of Judaism, 36, 37-38. + style of, 36-37. + language used by, 37. + used in "Josippon," 214. + +Joshua, the son of Levi, Amora, 47. + +"Josippon," a romance, 214. + +Judah the Prince, a Tanna, 23, 28-29. + characterized, 28-29. + +Judah Ibn Ezra, anti-Karaite, 214. + +Judah Ibn Tibbon as a translator, 146, 147. + as a physician, 146-147. + +Judah Ibn Verga, chronicler, 218. + +Judah Chayuj, grammarian, 101. + +Judah Chassid, ethical writer, 191. + +Judah Hadassi, Karaite author, 80-81. + +Judah Minz, author of "Responses," 237. + +Judah Romano, school-man, 185. + +Judaism, after the loss of a national centre, 21. + championed by Josephus, 36, 37-38. + philosophy of, 77. + +Justus of Tiberias, historian, works of, 34. + + +Kabbala, mysticism, 170. + development of, 171. + and Christian scholars, 174. + the later, 175. + +Kalila ve-Dimna. _See_ Bidpai, Fables of. + +Kalir, new-Hebrew poet, 85, 86, 87. + date of, 87. + style of, 87-88, 107. + subject-matter of, 88-89. + quotation from, 89-90. + +Kalirian Piyut, the, 85. + +Kalonymos, the son of Kalonymos, translator, 149, 185. + as poet, 179, 180, 185-186. + +Kant, and Mendelssohn, 257. + +Kaphtor va-Pherach, by Esthori Parchi, 205. + +Karaism, rise of, 75-76. + a reaction against tradition, 76. + defect of, 76. + literary influence of, 77. + history of, 80. + Rabbinite opposition to, 82. + opposed by Saadiah, 91, 92. + +Kepler, correspondent of David Gans, 220. + +Kether Malchuth, by Solomon Ibn Gebirol, 110. + quotation from, 111-112. + +Kimchi. _See_ Joseph; Moses; David. + +Kirkisani, Karaite author, 80. + +Kodashim, order of the Mishnah, 31. + +Kore ha-Doroth, by David Conforte, 220. + + +"Lamp of Light, The," by Isaac Aboab, 192. + +Landau, Ezekiel, author of "Responses," 238. + +Lavater, and Mendelssohn, 258. + +"Law of Man, The," by Nachmanides, 166. + +Lecha Dodi, Sabbath hymn, 239. + +Lecky, on the scientific activity of the Jews, 150. + +Leon da Modena, historian, 220. + +Leon, Messer, physician and writer, 187. + +Leshon Limmudim, by Sahal, the son of Mazliach, 79. + +"Lesser Sanctuary, The," by Moses Rieti, 186. + +Lessing, and Mendelssohn, 255-256. + +"Letter," by Sherira, 70-71, 212. + +"Letter of Advice, The," by Solomon Alami, 197-198. + +"Letter of Aristeas," by Azariah di Rossi, 223. + +"Letters," the, of the Gaonim, scope of, 71-73. + style of, 74. + geographical notes in, 200. + and the "Responses," 234. + +Levi, the son of Gershon, philosopher, 141. + +Lexicon, by Sahal, 79. + by David, 79. + by David Kimchi, 117. + +Lexicon, Talmudical. _See_ Aruch, 70. + +"Light of God, The," by Chasdai Crescas, 141. + +"Light of the Eyes, The," by Azariah di Rossi, 220, 223. + +Literature, Jewish, oral, 21-22. + principle of, 23-24. + under the influence of Karaism, 77. + _See_ Mishnah, the. + +Liturgy, the, earliest additions to, 83. + _See_ Piyut, the. + +Lorraine, the Kalirian Piyut in, 85. + +Lost Ten Tribes, book on, 201. + in Brazil, 208. + +Lucas, Mrs. Alice, translations by, quoted, 63. + +Lucian, used in "Josippon," 214. + +Luzzatto, Moses Chayim, Kabbalist and dramatist, 176. + ethical work by, 193. + as dramatist, 246-247. + +Lydda, centre of Jewish learning, 20. + + +Machberoth, by Immanuel of Rome, 182-185. + +Maggid, familiar of Joseph Karo, 239. + +Maharil, collection of Customs, 238. + +Maimonides, Moses, the forerunner of, 95. + youth of, 134-135. + activities of, 135-136. + disinterestedness of, 136. + attacks on, 137, 141. + prominence of, 137-138. + as a philosopher, 138-141, 142, 151. + works of, translated, 148. + and Nachmanides, 163. + studied by Spinoza, 250. + +Mainz, Rashi at, 122. + +Majorca, the Spanish Piyut in, 85. + +Manasseh ben Israel, and the Lost Tribes, 208-209, 243, 247-248. + political activity of, 244, 248. + life of, 244. + attainments and friends of, 245. + activities of, 247. + as a pamphleteer, 248-249. + and Spinoza, 250. + +Manetho, historian, and Josephus, 36. + +Massechtoth, tractates of the Mishnah, 31. + +"Maxims of the Philosophers," by Charizi, 189. + +Mebo ha-Talmud, by Samuel Ibn Nagdela, 104. + +Mechilta, a Midrashic work, 57. + +Megillath Taanith. _See_ "Scroll of Fasting, The." + +Meir, a Tanna, 23, 27-28. + characterized, 27-28. + fables by, 64. + +Meir of Rothenburg, poet, 131, 235-237. + writer of "Responses," 235. + +"Memorial Books," historical sources, 216. + +Menachem, the son of Zaruk, grammarian, 100, 101, 123. + +Mendelssohn, Moses, antagonized by Ezekiel Landau, 238. + life of, 253. + objects to the separation of culture and religion, 254. + service of, to Judaism, 254-255. + and Lessing, 255-256. + style of, 257. + and Lavater, 258. + translates the Pentateuch, 258-259. + circle of, 259. + influence of, 259-260. + +Menorath ha-Maor, by Isaac Aboab, 192. + +Meör Enayim, by Azariah di Rossi, 220. + +Meshullam of Lunel, patron of learning, 146, 147. + +Messiah, the, Joshua on, 47. + +Messilath Yesharim, by Moses Chayim Luzzatto, 193. + +Metre, in Hebrew poetry, 84. + +Michlol, by David Kimchi, 117. + +Midrash, the, characterized, 55-57. + poetical, 56, 57. + popular homiletics, 57. + works called, 57-58. + style of, 58-59. + proverbs in, 59-60. + parables in, 60-64. + beast fables in, 64-67. + and the Piyut, 86, 88-89. + used by Rashi, 123, 124. + +Midrash Haggadol, a Midrashic work, 58. + +Midrash Rabbah, a Midrashic work, 58. + +Mikdash Meät, by Moses Rieti, 186. + +Minhag, established by the Gaonim, 69. + +Miphaloth Elohim, by Abarbanel, 229. + +Mishnah, a paragraph of the Mishnah, 31. + +Mishnah, the, origin of, 22. + principle of, 24. + compiled by Rabbi, 28. + contents and style of, 29-31. + divisions of, 31. + development of, 43. _See_ Talmud, the. + date of, 52. + Sherira on, 70. + Maimon's commentary on, 135. + commentary on, 206. + personified, 239. + +Mishneh Torah. _See_ "Strong Hand, The." + +Moed, order of the Mishnah, 31. + +Mohammedanism assumed by the Maimon family, 135. + +Moreh Nebuchim. _See_ "Guide of the Perplexed, The." + +Moses, teachings of, summarized, 140. + +Moses of Leon, author of the Zohar, 172, 173. + +Moses, the son of Chanoch, founds a school at Cordova, 97. + +Moses, the son of Maimon. _See_ Maimonides, Moses. + +Moses Ibn Ezra, and the Scriptures, 107, 109. + life of, 112-113. + quotation from, 113-114. + hymns of, 114. + Charizi on, 114. + +Moses Ibn Tibbon, translator, 148. + +Moses Alshech, homiletical writer, 230. + +Moses Kimchi, grammarian, 117. + +Moses Minz, author of "Responses," 237. + +Moses Rieti, poet, 186-187. + +Mysticism, an element of religion, 169-170. + in Judaism, 170. + + +Nachmanides, Moses, Talmudist, 160-168. + on the French Rabbis, 160, 162. + as a poet, 162. + gentleness of, 163. + in a disputation, 163-164. + in Palestine, 165. + as an exegete, 165-168. + teacher of, 171. + will of, 195. + +Nahum, poet, 109. + +"Name of the Great Ones, The," by Chayim Azulai, 220. + +Naples, Abarbanel in, 226. + +Nashim, order of the Mishnah, 31. + +"Nathan the Wise," by Lessing, 256. + +Nathan, the son of Yechiel, lexicographer, 121. + +Nehardea, centre of Jewish learning, 44. + +Nehemiah Chayun, Kabbalist, 176. + +New-Hebrew, as a literary language, 83. + +New-Hebrew poetry, and the Scriptures, 107. + characteristics of, 108-109. + after Jehuda Halevi, 130-131, 132. + _See also_ Piyut. + +Nezikin, order of the Mishnah, 31. + +Nicholas, monk, translator, 150. + +"Novelties," Notes on the Talmud, 234. + +Numeo, character in Samuel Usque's poem, 218. + + +Obadiah of Bertinoro, Rabbi of Jerusalem, 206. + +Omar, forbids Jews to enter Jerusalem, 205. + +Onkelos. _See_ Aquila. + +Orach Chayim, part of the Shulchan Aruch, 239, 240. + +"Order of Generations, The," by Yechiel Heilprin, 220. + +"Order of the Tannaim and Amoraim," 212. + +Orders of the Mishnah, 31. + +Origen, under Jewish influence, 48. + + +Pablo Christiani, convert, and Nachmanides, 164. + +Palestine, the Kalirian Piyut in, 85. + the Maimon family in, 135. + explored, 204-205. + open to Jews, 205-206. + +Parables, in the Midrash, 60-64. + examples of, 62, 63. + +Parallelism of line, in the Scriptures, 108. + +Passover, hymn for, 86. + +"Path of Life, The," part of the Shulchan Aruch, 239, 240. + +"Path of the Upright, The," by Moses Chayim Luzzatto, 193. + +Penso, Joseph Felix, dramatist, 246. + +Pentateuch, the, translated, 27, 247, 258. + as viewed by Meir, 27. + commentary on, 166-168, 230. + _See also_ Scriptures, the. + +Perakim, chapters of the Mishnah, 31. + +Perez of Corbeil, Tossafist, 161. + +"Perfection," by David Kimchi, 117. + +Persia, the Jews of, independent, 72. + _See also_ Babylonia. + +Pesikta, a Midrashic work, 58. + +Petachiah of Ratisbon, traveller, 204. + +"Phædo, or the Immortality of the Soul," by Mendelssohn, 257. + +Philo, on Judaism, 38. + +Philosophy, Jewish, created by Saadiah, 91, 95. + +Pico di Mirandola, and the Kabbala, 174. + +Piyut, the, characteristics of, 83-84. + two types of, 84-85. + Kalirian, 85. + Spanish, 85. + creator of, 85-86. + by Samuel Ibn Nagdela, 105. + in Italy, 186. + +Poetry. _See_ New-Hebrew poetry; Piyut. + +Poland, the Kalirian Piyut in, 85. + +Porphyry, on the Book of Daniel, 48. + +Prayer-Book, the, compiled by Amram, 70. + arranged by Saadiah, 95. + +Prester John, Eldad on, 203. + +"Prince and Nazirite," by Abraham Ibn Chisdai, 154-155. + +Provence, the Spanish Piyut in, 85. + Jewish learning in, 146. + +Proverbs, in the Midrash, 59-60. + quoted, 59. + +Psalms, the, and new-Hebrew poetry, 104-105, 108. + mysticism in, 169, 170. + +Ptolemy, works of, translated, 149, 185. + +Pumbeditha, centre of Jewish learning, 44, 72. + +"Purim Tractate, The," by Kalonymos, 185-186. + +Pygmies, the, discovered by Tobiah Cohen, 209. + + +"Questions and Answers," decisions, 73. + + +Rab. _See_ Abba Areka. + +Rabba, the son of Nachmani, Amora, 51. + +Rabbi. _See_ Judah the Prince. + +Rabbinical schools, in Babylonia, 44. + +Rabina, Amora, compiler of the Talmud, 51, 52. + +Ralbag. _See_ Levi, the son of Gershon. + +Ramban. _See_ Nachmanides, Moses. + +Rashbam. _See_ Samuel ben Meir. + +Rashi (R. Shelomo Izchaki), importance of, 119. + style of, 119-120. + characteristics of, 120-121. + life of, 122. + as an exegete, 123-124. + descendants of, 124, 161. + +Rava, Amora, 51. + +Rembrandt, friend of Manasseh ben Israel, 245. + +Renaissance, the, and Italian Jewish literature, 178, 182, 184, 187. + +Renan, on the students of Averroes, 148. + +"Responses," on religious subjects, 234-235, 237-238. + +Reuchlin, Johann, and the Kabbala, 174. + +Rhyme, in Hebrew poetry, 84. + +"Rod of Judah, The," by the Ibn Vergas, 218-219. + +Rokeach, by Eleazar of Worms, 191. + +"Royal Crown, The," by Solomon Ibn Gebirol, 110. + quotation from, 111-112. + + +Saadiah, Gaon, 70, 91-97. + activities of, 91, 95. + opposes Karaism, 92, 94. + translates the Scriptures, 93, 94. + style of, 93. + conflict of, with the Exilarch, 95. + arranges a prayer-book, 95. + as a philosopher, 95-96, 139. + works of, translated, 148. + +Sabbatai Zevi, and the Kabbala, 175. + opponents of, 238. + +"Sacred Letter, The," by Nachmanides, 165. + +Safed, Kabbalist centre, 175. + +Sahal, the son of Mazliach, 77-78. + +Salman, the son of Yerucham, Karaite author, 78. + +Salonica, Kabbalist centre, 175. + +"Salvation of his Anointed," by Abarbanel, 229. + +"Samson," by Luzzatto, 246. + +Samuel, Amora, 47-48, 51. + astronomer, 48. + +Samuel, the son of Chofni, Gaon and author, 71. + +Samuel ben Meir, exegete, 124. + +Samuel Ibn Nagdela, Nagid and minister, 103. + as a scholar, 104. + as a poet, 104-105. + +Samuel Ibn Tibbon, translator, 147, 148. + son-in-law of, 148. + +Samuel Usque, poet, 217-218. + +Scientific activity of the Jews, 151. + +Scot, Michael, friend of Anatoli, 149, 151. + +Scriptures, the, translated into Greek, 26. + commentaries on, 77, 79, 123, 229. + translated into Arabic, 91, 93, 94. + translations of, in the synagogues, 94. + and new-Hebrew poetry, 107-108. + characteristics of the poetry of, 108. + addresses of parents to children in, 194. + _See also_ Pentateuch, the. + +"Scroll of Fasting, The," contents, character, and purpose of, 40-41. + +Sedarim, order of the Mishnah, 31. + +Seder ha-Doroth, by Yechiel Heilprin, 220. + +Sefer Dikduk, by Sahal, the son of Mazliach, 79. + +Sefer ha-Chassidim, ethical work, 191. + +Sefer ha-Galui, by Saadiah, 93. + +Sefer ha-Kabbalah, by Abraham Ibn Daud, 213-214. + +Sefer Yetsirah, by Saadiah, 95. + Kabbalistic, 175. + +Seleucid era, the, abolished, 238. + +Selichoth, elegies, Zunz on, 215-216. + +Sepphoris, centre of Jewish learning, 20. + +Septuagint, the, style of, 26. + +Seville, Jewish literary centre, 112. + +Shaaloth u-Teshuboth, decisions, 73. + +Shalsheleth ha-Kabbalah, by Gedaliah Ibn Yachya, 220. + +Shebet Jehudah, by the Ibn Vergas, 218-219. + +Sheeltoth, by Achai, 69-70. + +Sheloh, by Isaiah Hurwitz, 176. + +Shelomo Izchaki. _See_ Rashi. + +Sherira, Gaon and historian, 70-71. + +Sheshet family, writers of "Responses," 237. + +"Shields of the Mighty, The," by Abraham de Porta Leone, 220. + +Shiites, the, Mohammedan sect, 75. + +Shilte ha-Gibborim, by Abraham de Porta Leone, 220. + +Shulchan Aruch, the, publication of, 232. + scope of, 232-233. + sources of, 233-234. + parts of, 239-240. + value of, 241. + +Sibylline books, the Jewish, 38-40. + on the Jewish religion, 38-39. + language of, 39. + quotations from, 39, 40. + +Siddur, the, compiled by Amram, 70. + +Sifra, a Midrashic work, 57. + +Sifre, a Midrashic work, 57. + +Simlai, Amora, 47, 48. + +Simon, the son of Lakish, Amora, 46. + +Simon, the son of Yochai, alleged author of the Zohar, 172. + +Solomon, the son of Adereth, writer of "Responses," 235. + +Solomon Ibn Gebirol, and the Scriptures, 107. + subjects of, 109. + life of, 109-110. + works of, 110. + quotations from, 111-112. + works of, translated, 148. + +Solomon Ibn Verga, chronicler, 218. + +Solomon Alami, ethical writer, 197-198. + +Solomon Alkabets, poet, 239. + +Solomon Molcho, and the Kabbala, 175, 207. + +Song of Songs, the, and new-Hebrew poetry, 107. + +Spain, Moorish, the centre of Jewish learning, 96-97. + +Spanish-Jewish poetry. _See_ New-Hebrew poetry. + +Spanish Piyut, the, 85. + +Speyer, Rashi at, 122. + +Spinoza, Baruch, influenced by Chasdai Crescas, 141. + philosopher, 243, 244, 249-251. + life of, 250-251. + works of, 251. + +Steinschneider, Dr., on Jewish translators, 144. + +"Stone of Help, The," part of the Shulchan Aruch, 240. + +Strabo, used in "Josippon," 214. + +"Strengthening of Faith, The," by Isaac Troki, 81. + +"Strong Hand, The," by Moses Maimonides, 136-137, 139, 232. + +"Strong Tower, The," by Luzzatto, 246. + +Sunnites, the, Mohammedan sect, 75. + +Sura, centre of Jewish learning, 44, 72. + Saadiah at, 91, 96. + +Synhedrion, the, at Jamnia, 19-20. + + +"Table Prepared." _See_ Shulchan Aruch, the. + +Tables of Alfonso, in Hebrew, 221. + +Tachkemoni, by Charizi, 131-132, 183. + +Talmud, the, commentary on the Mishnah, 43. + language of, 44. + two works, 44. + the teachers of, 44. + character of, 45, 50, 53. + the two aspects of, 47. + and Rab and Samuel, 47-48, 51. + influences traceable in, 50-51. + compilation of, 51-52. + beast fables in, 64-67. + lexicon of, 70. + and the Piyut, 86. + commentary on, by Rashi, 120. + geographical notes in, 200. + Notes on, 234. + +Talmud, the Babylonian, 44. + the larger work, 44. + +Talmud, the Jerusalem, 44. + +Tam of Rameru, Tossafist, 161. + +Tanchuma, a Midrashic work, 58. + +Tannaim, the, teachers of the Mishnah, 22. + four generations of, 23. + +Targum Onkelos, Aramaic translation of the Pentateuch, 27. + +Tarshish, by Moses Ibn Ezra, 114. + +"Teacher of Knowledge, The," part of the Shulchan Aruch, 239-240. + +Teharoth, order of the Mishnah, 31. + +Teshuboth. _See_ "Letters," the; "Responses," the. + +"Theologico-Political Tractate," by Spinoza, 244, 251. + +Tiberias, centre of Jewish learning, 20. + +Todros Abulafia, Kabbalist, 171. + +Toledo, Jewish literary centre, 112. + cosmopolitanism of, 126. + +"Topaz, The," by Moses Ibn Ezra, 114. + +Torah, the. _See_ Pentateuch, the. + +Tossafists, the, French Talmudists, 160-161. + +Tossafoth, Additions, 161. + +"Touchstone, The," by Kalonymos, 185. + +Tractates of the Mishnah, 31. + +Tradition, the Jewish, investigated at Jamnia, 21. + Sherira on, 70. + reaction against, 76. + _See_ Mishnah, the. + +Translations, value of, 144. + made by Jews, 144-145, 146, 149-151, 153-154, 155-156. + +"Travels," by Petachiah of Ratisbon, 204. + +Troyes, Rashi at, 122. + +"Two Tables of the Covenant, The," by Isaiah Hurwitz, 176. + +Tyre, Jehuda Halevi in, 129. + + +Usha, centre of Jewish learning, 20. + + +"Valley of Tears, The," by Joseph Cohen, 218, 219. + +Venice, Abarbanel in, 227. + +Vindiciæ Judeorum, by Manasseh ben Israel, 244, 249, 258. + +"Vineyard," the. _See_ Jamnia. + +Vossius, friend of Manasseh ben Israel, 245. + + +"Wars of the Jews, The," by Josephus, 34. + the language of, 37. + +"Wars of the Lord, The," by Gersonides, 141. + +"Wars of the Lord, The," by Salman, the son of Yerucham, 78. + +Wessely, N.H., pedagogue, 210. + +"Wolf and the two Hounds, The," fable, 65. + +"Wolf at the Well, The," fable, 65. + +"Work of Tobiah, The," by Tobiah Cohen, 209. + +Worms, Rashi at, 122. + + +Yad Hachazaka. _See_ "Strong Hand, The." + +Yalkut, collected Midrashim, 58. + +Yedaiah Bedaressi, writer, 191-192. + +Yeshuoth Meshicho, by Abarbanel, 229. + +Yoreh Deah, part of the Shulchan Aruch, 240. + +Yuchasin, by Abraham Zacuto, 216. + + +Zabara, satirist, 127. + +Zacut, Moses, dramatist, 246. + +Zeëna u-Reëna, homiletical work, 230. + +Zeira, Amora, 46. + +Zemach, the son of Paltoi, Gaon and lexicographer, 70. + +Zemach David, by David Gans, 220-221. + +Zeraim, order of the Mishnah, 31. + +Zevaoth. _See_ Ethical Wills. + +Zicareo, character in Samuel Usque's poem, 218. + +Zion, odes to, by Jehuda Halevi, 109, 129-130. + +Zohar, the, Kabbalistic work, 172-174. + style and language of, 172-173. + contents of, 173-174. + Christian ideas in, 174. + importance of, 175. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Chapters on Jewish Literature, by Israel Abrahams + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13678 *** |