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diff --git a/48890.txt b/48890.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..33da81e --- /dev/null +++ b/48890.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11658 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Studies in Judaism, First Series by Solomon +Schechter + + + +This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license. If you are not located in the United +States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located +before using this ebook. + + + +Title: Studies in Judaism, First Series + +Author: Solomon Schechter + +Release Date: May 6, 2015 [Ebook #48890] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STUDIES IN JUDAISM, FIRST SERIES*** + + + + + + Studies in Judaism + + First Series + + by + + Solomon Schechter, M.A., Litt.D. + + Philadelphia + + The Jewish Publication Society of America + + 1911 + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Preface +Introduction +I. The Chassidim +II. Nachman Krochmal and the "Perplexities Of The Time" +III. Rabbi Elijah Wilna, Gaon +IV. Nachmanides +V. A Jewish Boswell +VI. The Dogmas Of Judaism +VII. The History of Jewish Tradition +VIII. The Doctrine of Divine Retribution in Rabbinical Literature +IX. The Law And Recent Criticism +X. The Hebrew Collection of the British Museum +XI. Titles of Jewish Books +XII. The Child in Jewish Literature +XIII. Woman in Temple and Synagogue +XIV. The Earliest Jewish Community in Europe +Index +Footnotes + + + + + + + [Cover Art] + +[Transcriber's Note: The above cover image was produced by the submitter +at Distributed Proofreaders, and is being placed into the public domain.] + + + + + +TO + +THE EVER-CHERISHED MEMORY + +OF + +THE LATE DR. P. F. FRANKL, RABBI IN BERLIN + +THESE STUDIES ARE REVERENTLY + +DEDICATED + + + + + +PREFACE + + +These studies appeared originally in their first form in _The Jewish +Quarterly_ and _The Jewish Chronicle_. To the Editors of these periodicals +my best thanks are due for their readiness in placing the articles at my +disposal for the purposes of the present volume. The Introductory Essay is +new. I desire to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. J. G. Frazer, Fellow +of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Dr. J. Sutherland Black, of London, for +their great kindness in revising the proofs, and for many a valuable +suggestion. To Mr. Claude G. Montefiore I am indebted for the English +version of the Essay on "Chassidim"--my first literary effort in this +country, written at his own suggestion. + +In the transliteration of Hebrew names, I have given the familiar English +forms of the authorised version. As regards post-Biblical names, I have +with few exceptions followed Zedner's _Catalogue of the Hebrew Books in +the Library of the British Museum_. A Hebrew word will be found here and +there in the text; I have purposely avoided bewildering devices for +representing the actual sound of the word, contenting myself with the +ordinary Roman alphabet, in spite of its shortcomings. + +The authorities used for the various Essays will be found indicated in the +Notes at the end of the volume, where the reader will also find short +biographical and bibliographical notices, together with brief explanations +of technical terms for which no exact equivalent exists in English. The +index will, it is hoped, facilitate reference. + +_S. S._ + +CAMBRIDGE, _February 1896_. + + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The essays published in this volume under the title of _Studies in +Judaism_ have been written on various occasions and at long intervals. +There is thus no necessary connection between them. If some sort of unity +may be detected in the book, it can only be between the first three +essays--on the Chassidim, Krochmal, and the Gaon--in which there is a +certain unity of purpose. The purpose in view was, as may easily be +gathered from the essays themselves, to bring under the notice of the +English public a type of men produced by the Synagogue of the Eastern +Jews. That Synagogue is widely different from ours. Its places of worship +have no claims to "beauty of holiness," being in their outward appearance +rather bare and bald, if not repulsive; whilst those who frequent them are +a noisy, excitable people, who actually dance on the "Season of Rejoicing" +and cry bitterly on the "Days of Mourning." But among all these +vagaries--or perhaps because of them--this Synagogue has had its moments of +grace, when enthusiasm wedded to inspiration gave birth to such beautiful +souls as Baalshem, such fine sceptics as Krochmal, and such saintly +scholars as Elijah Wilna. The Synagogue of the West is certainly of a more +presentable character, and free from excesses; though it is not devoid of +an enthusiasm of its own which finds its outlet in an ardent and self- +sacrificing philanthropic activity. But owing to its practical tendency +there is too little room in it for that play of intellectual forces which +finds its extravagant expression in the saint on the one hand, and the +learned heretic on the other. + +Eight of these essays are more or less of a theological nature. But in +reading the proofs I have been struck by the fact that there is assumed in +them a certain conception of the Synagogue which, familiar though it be to +the Jewish student, may appear obscure and even strange to the general +English reader. For brevity's sake I will call it the High Synagogue, +though it does not correspond in all details to what one is accustomed to +understand under the term of High Church. The High Synagogue has a history +which is not altogether without its points of interest. + +Some years ago when the waves of the Higher Criticism of the Old Testament +reached the shores of this country, and such questions as the +heterogeneous composition of the Pentateuch, the comparatively late date +of the Levitical Legislation, and the post-exilic origin of certain +Prophecies as well as of the Psalms began to be freely discussed by the +press and even in the pulpit, the invidious remark was often made: What +will now become of Judaism when its last stronghold, the Law, is being +shaken to its very foundations? + +Such a remark shows a very superficial acquaintance with the nature of an +old historical religion like Judaism, and the richness of the resources it +has to fall back upon in cases of emergency. + +As a fact, the emergency did not quite surprise Judaism. The alarm signal +was given some 150 years ago by an Italian Rabbi, Abiad Sar Shalom +Bazilai, in his pamphlet _The Faith of the Sages_. The pamphlet is, as the +title indicates, of a polemical character, reviewing the work of the +Jewish rationalistic schools; and after warming up in his attacks against +their heterodox views, Bazilai exclaims: "Nature and simple meaning, they +are our misfortune." By "nature and simple meaning" Bazilai, who wrote in +Hebrew, understood what we would call Natural Science and Philology. With +the right instinct of faith, Bazilai hit on the real sore points. For +though he mostly argues against the philosophical systems of Aristotle and +his commentators, he felt that it is not speculation that will ever +seriously endanger religion. There is hardly any metaphysical system, old +or new, which has not in course of time been adapted by able dialecticians +to the creed which they happened to hold. In our own time we have seen the +glorious, though not entirely novel spectacle, of Agnosticism itself +becoming the rightful handmaid of Queen Theology. The real danger lies in +"nature" (or Natural Science) with its stern demand of law and regularity +in all phenomena, and in the "simple meaning" (or Philology) with its +inconsiderate insistence on truth. Of the two, the "simple meaning" is the +more objectionable. Not only is it very often at variance with Tradition, +which has its own code of interpretation, but it is constantly increasing +the difficulties raised by science. For if words could only have more than +one meaning, there would be no objection to reading the first words of +Genesis, "In _a_ beginning God _evolved_." The difficulties of science +would then be disposed of easily enough. Maimonides, who was as bold an +interpreter as he was a deep metaphysician, hinted plainly enough that +were he as convinced of the eternity of matter as he was satisfied of the +impossibility of any corporeal quality in the deity, he would feel as +little compunction in explaining (figuratively) the contents of the first +chapter of Genesis as he did in allegorising the anthropomorphic passages +of the Bible. Thus in the end all the difficulties resolve themselves into +the one great difficulty of the "simple meaning." The best way to meet +this difficulty was found to be to shift the centre of gravity in Judaism +and to place it in the secondary meaning, thus making religion independent +of philology and all its dangerous consequences. + +This shifting work was chiefly done, perhaps not quite consciously, by the +historical school which followed upon that of Mendelssohn and his first +successors. The historical school, which is still in the ascendant, +comprises many of the best Jewish writers who either by their learning or +by their ecclesiastical profession as Rabbis and preachers in great +communities have acquired some important position among their brethren. +The men who have inaugurated this movement were Krochmal (1785-1841), +Rapoport (1790-1867), and Zunz (1794-1886). + +It is not a mere coincidence that the first representatives of the +historical school were also the first Jewish scholars who proved +themselves more or less ready to join the modern school of Bible +Criticism, and even to contribute their share to it. The first two, +Krochmal and Rapoport, early in the second quarter of this century +accepted and defended the modern view about a second Isaiah, the post- +exilic origin of many Psalms, and the late date of Ecclesiastes; whilst +Zunz, who began (in 1832) with denying the authenticity of Ezekiel, +concluded his literary career (1873) with a study on the Bible +(_Gesammelte __ Schriften_, i. pp. 217-290), in which he expressed his +view "that the Book of Leviticus dates from a later period than the Book +of Deuteronomy, later even than Ezekiel, having been composed during the +age of the Second Temple, when there already existed a well-established +priesthood which superintended the sacrificial worship." But when +Revelation or the Written Word is reduced to the level of history, there +is no difficulty in elevating history in its aspect of Tradition to the +rank of Scripture, for both have then the same human or divine origin +(according to the student's predilection for the one or the other +adjective), and emanate from the same authority. Tradition becomes thus +the means whereby the modern divine seeks to compensate himself for the +loss of the Bible, and the theological balance is to the satisfaction of +all parties happily readjusted. + +Jewish Tradition, or, as it is commonly called, the Oral Law, or, as we +may term it (in consideration of its claims to represent an interpretation +of the Bible), the Secondary Meaning of the Scriptures, is mainly embodied +in the works of the Rabbis and their subsequent followers during the +Middle Ages. Hence the zeal and energy with which the historical school +applied itself to the Jewish post-biblical literature, not only +elucidating its texts by means of new critical editions, dictionaries, and +commentaries, but also trying to trace its origins and to pursue its +history through its gradual development. To the work of Krochmal in this +direction a special essay is devoted in this volume. The labours of +Rapoport are more of a biographical and bibliographical nature, being +occupied mostly with the minor details in the lives and writings of +various famous Jewish Rabbis in the Middle Ages; thus they offer but +little opportunity for general theological comment. Of more importance in +this respect are the hints thrown out in his various works by Zunz, who +was just as emphatic in asserting the claims of Tradition as he was +advanced in his views on Bible criticism. Zunz's greatest work is _Die +Gottesdienstlichen Vortraege_--an awkward title, which in fact means "The +History of the Interpretation of the Scriptures as forming a part of the +divine service." Now if a work displaying such wide learning and critical +acumen, and written in such an impartial spirit can be said to have a +bias, it was towards bridging over the seemingly wide gap between the +Written Word (the Scriptures) and the Spoken Word (the Oral Law or +Tradition), which was the more deeply felt, as most of Zunz's older +contemporaries were men, grown up in the habits of thought of the +eighteenth century--a century distinguished both for its ignorance of, and +its power of ignoring, the teachings of history. Indeed it would seem that +ages employed in making history have no time for studying it. + +Zunz accomplished the task he set himself, by showing, as already +indicated, the late date of certain portions of the Bible, which by +setting the early history of Israel in an ideal light betray the +moralising tendency of their authors, and are, in fact, little more than a +traditional interpretation of older portions of Scripture, adapted to the +religious needs of the time. Placing thus the origin of Tradition in the +Bible itself, it was a comparatively easy matter for Zunz to prove its +further continuity. Prophecy and Interpretation are with him the natural +expressions of the religious life of the nation; and though by the loss of +Israel's political independence the voice of the prophets gradually died +away, the voice of God was still heard. Israel continues to consult God +through the medium of the Scriptures, and He answers His people by the +mouth of the Scribes, the Sages, the Interpreters of the Law; whilst the +liturgy of the Synagogue, springing up at the time when Psalms were still +being composed, expands in its later stages through the work of the Poets +of the Synagogue into such a rich luxuriance "that it forms in itself a +treasure of history, poetry, philosophy; and prophecy and psalms are again +revived in the hymnology of the Middle Ages." This is in brief the lesson +to be learned from Zunz's _Gottesdienstliche Vortraege_ as far as it deals +with the significance of Tradition; and it is in the introduction to this +work that Zunz expresses himself to the following effect: Indispensable is +the free Spoken Word. Mankind has acquired all its ideal treasures only by +Word of Mouth; an education continuing through all stages of life. In +Israel, too, the Word of Instruction transmitted from mouth to mouth was +never silenced. + +The historical school has never, to my knowledge, offered to the world a +theological programme of its own. By the nature of its task, its labours +are mostly conducted in the field of philology and archaeology, and it pays +but little attention to purely dogmatic questions. On the whole, its +attitude towards religion may be defined as an enlightened Scepticism +combined with a staunch conservatism which is not even wholly devoid of a +certain mystical touch. As far as we may gather from vague remarks and +hints thrown out now and then, its theological position may perhaps be +thus defined:--It is not the mere revealed Bible that is of first +importance to the Jew, but the Bible as it repeats itself in history, in +other words, as it is interpreted by Tradition. The Talmud, that wonderful +mine of religious ideas from which it would be just as easy to draw up a +manual for the most orthodox as to extract a vade-mecum for the most +sceptical, lends some countenance to this view by certain controversial +passages--not to be taken seriously--in which "the words of the scribes" are +placed almost above the words of the Torah. Since then the interpretation +of Scripture or the Secondary Meaning is mainly a product of changing +historical influences, it follows that the centre of authority is actually +removed from the Bible and placed in some _living body_, which, by reason +of its being in touch with the ideal aspirations and the religious needs +of the age, is best able to determine the nature of the Secondary Meaning. +This living body, however, is not represented by any section of the +nation, or any corporate priesthood, or Rabbihood, but by the collective +conscience of Catholic Israel as embodied in the Universal Synagogue. The +Synagogue "with its long, continuous cry after God for more than twenty- +three centuries," with its unremittent activity in teaching and developing +the word of God, with its uninterrupted succession of prophets, Psalmists, +Scribes, Assideans, Rabbis, Patriarchs, Interpreters, Elucidators, +Eminences, and Teachers, with its glorious record of Saints, martyrs, +sages, philosophers, scholars, and mystics; this Synagogue, the only true +witness to the past, and forming in all ages the sublimest expression of +Israel's religious life, must also retain its authority as the sole true +guide for the present and the future. And being in communion with this +Synagogue, we may also look hopefully for a safe and rational solution of +our present theological troubles. For was it not the Synagogue which even +in antiquity determined the fate of Scripture? On the one hand, for +example, books like Ezekiel, the Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes, were +only declared to be Holy Writ in virtue of the interpretation put upon +them by the Rabbis: and, on the other hand, it was the veto of the Rabbis +which excluded from the canon the works that now pass under the name of +Apocrypha. We may, therefore, safely trust that the Synagogue will again +assert its divine right in passing judgment upon the Bible when it feels +called upon to exercise that holy office. It is "God who has chosen the +Torah, and Moses His servant, and Israel His people." But indeed God's +choice invariably coincides with the wishes of Israel; He "performeth all +things" upon which the councils of Israel, meeting under promise of the +Divine presence and communion, have previously agreed. As the Talmud +somewhere expresses itself with regard to the Book of Esther, "They have +confirmed above what Israel has accepted below." + +Another consequence of this conception of Tradition is that it is neither +Scripture nor primitive Judaism, but general custom which forms the real +rule of practice. Holy Writ as well as history, Zunz tells us, teaches +that the law of Moses was never fully and absolutely put in practice. +Liberty was always given to the great teachers of every generation to make +modifications and innovations in harmony with the spirit of existing +institutions. Hence a return to Mosaism would be illegal, pernicious, and +indeed impossible. The norm as well as the sanction of Judaism is the +practice actually in vogue. Its consecration is the consecration of +general use,--or, in other words, of Catholic Israel. It was probably with +a view to this communion that the later mystics introduced a short prayer +to be said before the performance of any religious ceremony, in which, +among other things, the speaker professes his readiness to act "in the +name of all Israel." + +It would be out of place in an introductory essay to pursue any further +this interesting subject with its far-reaching consequences upon Jewish +life and Jewish thought. But the foregoing remarks may suffice to show +that Judaism did not remain quite inactive at the approach of the great +religious crisis which our generation has witnessed. Like so many other +religious communities, it reviewed its forces, entrenched itself on the +field of history, and what it lost of its old devotion to the Bible, it +has sought to make up by a renewed reverence for institutions. + +In this connection, a mere mention may suffice of the ultra-Orthodox +party, led by the late Dr. S. R. Hirsch of Frankfort (1808-1889) whose +defiance of reason and criticism even a Ward might have envied, and whose +saintliness and sublimity even a Keble might have admired. And, to take an +example from the opposite school, we must at least record the name of that +devout Jew, Osias Schorr (1816-1895), in whom we have profound learning +combined with an uncompromising disposition of mind productive of a +typical champion of Radicalism in things religious. These men are, +however, representative of two extremes, and their followers constitute +mere minorities; the majority is with the historical school. + +How long the position of this school will prove tenable is another +question. Being brought up in the old Low Synagogue, where, with all +attachment to tradition, the Bible was looked upon as the crown and the +climax of Judaism, the old Adam still asserts itself in me, and in +unguarded moments makes me rebel against this new rival of revelation in +the shape of history. At times this now fashionable exaltation of +Tradition at the expense of Scripture even impresses me as a sort of +religious bimetallism in which bold speculators in theology try to keep up +the market value of an inferior currency by denouncing loudly the bright +shining gold which, they would have us believe, is less fitted to +circulate in the vulgar use of daily life than the small cash of +historical interpretation. Nor can I quite reconcile myself to this +alliance of religion with history, which seems to me both unworthy and +unnatural. The Jew, some writer aptly remarked, was the first and the +fiercest Nonconformist of the East, and so Judaism was always a protesting +religion. To break the idols, whether of the past or of the present, has +always been a sacred mission of Judaism, and has indeed been esteemed by +it as a necessary preliminary to the advent of the kingdom of God on +earth. One of its daily prayers was and still is: "We therefore hope in +Thee, O Lord our God, that we may speedily behold the glory of Thy might, +when ... the idols will be cut off, when the world will be perfected under +the kingdom of the Almighty." It bowed before truth, but it had never made +a covenant with facts only because they were facts. History had to be re- +made and to sanctify itself before it found its way into its sacred +annals. Nor did Judaism make a virtue of swallowing down institutions. +Such institutions as crept into it in course of time had, when the +Synagogue was conscious of their claims to form part of religion, to +submit to the laborious process of a thorough adaptation to prophetic +notions before they were formally sanctioned. But when this process was +deemed impossible or impracticable, Judaism boldly denounced the past in +such fierce language as the prophets used and as still finds its echo in +such passages of the liturgy as "First our ancestors were worshippers of +idols and now God has brought us near to His service"; or "But of a truth, +we and our ancestors have sinned." + +However, it would be unfair to argue any further against a theological +system which, as already said, was never avowed distinctly by the +historical school--a school, moreover, with which speculation is a matter +of minor importance. The main strength of this school lies in its +scientific work, for which Judaism will always be under a sense of deep +gratitude. And living as we do in an age in which history reigns supreme +in all departments of human thought, we may hope that even its theology, +as far as it goes, will "do" for us, though I neither hope nor believe +that it will do for those who come after us. I may, however, humbly +confess that the sixth essay in this volume was written in a spirit of +rebellion against this all-absorbing Catholic Israel, with its decently +veiled scepticism on the one hand, and its unfortunate tendency with many +people to degenerate into a soulless conformity on the other hand. There +is, I am afraid, not much to be said in favour of this essay. It is +deficient both in matter and in style. It proved to be a futile attempt to +bring within the compass of an essay what a whole book could hardly do +justice to. The Hebrew documents bearing upon the question of dogma which +I have collected from various manuscripts and rare printed books, would +alone make a fair-sized volume. I only venture to offer it to the public +in the absence of anything better; since, so far as I know, no other +attempt has ever been made to treat the subject even in its meagrest +outlines. I even venture to hope that, with all its shortcomings, it will +contribute something towards destroying the illusion, in which so many +theologians indulge, that Judaism is a religion without dogmas. To declare +that a religion has no dogmas is tantamount to saying that it was wise +enough not to commit itself to any vital principles. But prudence, useful +as it may be in worldly affairs, is quite unworthy of a great spiritual +power. + +Jewish mysticism in the Middle Ages and in modern times is represented in +this volume by two essays ("The Chassidim" and "Nachmanides"). But in +order to avoid mistakes which might be implied by my silence, I think it +desirable to state that there are also to be found many mystical elements +in the old Rabbinic literature. Mysticism, not as a theosophic system or +as an occult science, but as a manifestation of the spiritual and as an +expression of man's agonies in his struggle after communion with God, as +well as of his ineffable joy when he receives the assurance that he has +found it, is not, as some maintain, foreign to the spirit of old Rabbinic +Judaism. There was no need for the mediaeval Rabbi to borrow the elements +of such a mysticism from non-Jewish sources. The perusal of the old +Homilies on the Song of Songs, and on the Lessons from the Prophets, or +even a fair acquaintance with the Jewish liturgy would, in itself, suffice +to refute such baseless assertions. Those who are at all familiar with old +Rabbinic literature hardly need to be told that "the sea of the Talmud" +has also its gulf stream of mysticism which, taking its origin in the +moralising portions of the Bible, runs through the wide ocean of Jewish +thought, constantly commingling with the icy waters of legalism, and +unceasingly washing the desolate shores of an apparently meaningless +ceremonialism, communicating to it life, warmth, and spirituality. To draw +attention to this fact a humble attempt has been made in the ninth essay, +"The Law and Recent Criticism," a subject which I have essayed to expound +in a series of essays on "Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology," now +appearing in _The Jewish Quarterly Review_. + +The last five essays touch rather on certain social and familiar aspects +of Judaism, and need no further comment. They are mere _causeries_ and +hardly deserve the name of studies. Perhaps it may be useful for those who +judge of the heaviness of a work by its bulk to know that there is also a +lighter side of Rabbinic literature. + +But I shall be better pleased if the more serious side of this +volume--Jewish mysticism and Rabbinic theology--should attract the attention +of students, and so draw some fellow-workers into a field which is utterly +neglected. Notwithstanding the numerous Manuals and Introductions which +all more or less touch on the subject of Rabbinic theology, there is, +after nearly 250 years, not a single work among them which, either in +knowledge of facts or in their interpretation, is a single step in advance +of the Cambridge Platonist, John Smith, in his _Select Discourses_. But +those who try so hard to determine the miraculous distance of Christianity +by the eclipses in Rabbinism, should, if they wish to be just or prove +themselves worthy scholars, also endeavour to make themselves acquainted +with the numberless bright stars that move in the wide universe of Jewish +thought. We are often told that no creed or theological system which has +come down to us from antiquity can afford to be judged by any other +standard than by its spiritual and poetic _possibilities_: this indulgence +Judaism is as justly entitled to claim as any other religion. The great +and saintly Franz Delitzsch who, born with an intellect of admirable +temper, was also endowed by Heaven with a soul--and a beautiful soul it +was--was one of the few theologians who, partly at least, admitted this +claim, and sought earnestly and diligently after these spiritual and +poetic possibilities, and was amply rewarded for his labours. + + + + + +I. THE CHASSIDIM(1) + + +Throughout the whole of that interesting field of Theological Literature +which deals with the genesis and course of religious movements, there is +probably none whose history, even whose name, is so little known to +English students, as that of the Chassidim. And yet it would be difficult +to point, in comparatively recent times, to a Dissenting movement more +strikingly complete in its development, more suggestive of analogy, more +full of interest in its original purpose, more pregnant of warning in its +decay. + +The Hebrew word "Chassidim"(2) merely means "the Pious," and appears to +have been complacently adopted by the early apostles of the sect. But the +thing--Chassidism--was, in its inception at all events, a revolt among the +Jews of Eastern Europe against the excessive casuistry of the contemporary +Rabbis. It was in fact one more manifestation of the yearning of the human +heart towards the Divine idea, and of its ceaseless craving for direct +communion with God. It was the protest of an emotional but uneducated +people against a one-sided expression of Judaism, presented to them in +cold and over-subtle disquisitions which not only did they not understand, +but which shut out the play of the feelings and the affections, so that +religion was made almost impossible to them. + +Some account of the sect is the more necessary because, although the +Chassidim have not been wholly ignored by historians or novelists, the +references to them have generally, for perfectly intelligible reasons, +been either biassed or inaccurate. The historians who have treated of them +have been almost exclusively men saturated with Western culture and +rationalism. To them the rude and uncouth manifestations of an +undisciplined religious spirit could not be other than repellent; to them +Chassidism was a movement to be dismissed as unaesthetic and irrational. + +To the purposes of fiction the romantic side of Chassidism lends itself +readily, but the novelists who have used this material have confined +themselves to its externals. Indeed, to have done more would have involved +a tedious and unremunerative study of difficult Hebrew texts, an +undertaking not to be expected from the most conscientious writers of this +class. Thus Franzos in his references to the Jews of Barnow describes +faithfully the outer signs of the man, his long coat and tangled curls, +but the inner life, the world in which the Chassid moved and had his +being, was unknown to him and is therefore unrecorded. + +As to my treatment of the subject, I confess that there was a time when I +loved the Chassidim as there was a time when I hated them. And even now I +am not able to suppress these feelings. I have rather tried to guide my +feelings in such a way as to love in Chassidism what is ideal and noble, +and to hate in it what turned out bad and pernicious for Judaism. How far +I have been successful is another question. At least I have endeavoured to +write this paper in such a spirit. But of one thing I must warn the +reader--the desire to give some clear notion of the leading ideas of +Chassidism has compelled me to quote some passages in which the Chassidim +have spoken in very offensive terms of their opponents. In justice to +these I must remark that unfortunately religious struggles are usually +conducted on the most irreligious principles. Thus the Chassidim imputed +to their antagonists, the contemporary Rabbis, many vices from which they +were free. Certainly, there was, as one can read in every history of +Jewish religion, something wrong in the state of Judaism. But I know +people who maintain that there is something very wrong in the present +state of Judaism, and who despair of a regeneration. But surely this is a +silly exaggeration. The Chassidim also exaggerated. It would be better to +take but little notice of their accusations and dwell more on that which +was spoken in a kind and loving spirit. + +As to the literature of the subject, I can only say here that I have made +use of every book I could consult, both in English and in foreign +libraries. But I cannot pledge myself to be what early Jewish writers +called "a donkey which carries books." I exercise my own choice and my own +judgment on many points. + +As an active force for good, Chassidism was short-lived. For, as I propose +to show, there lurked among its central tenets the germs of the degeneracy +which so speedily came upon it. But its early purposes were high, its +doctrines fairly pure, its aspirations ideal and sublime. + +The founder of the sect was one Israel Baalshem,(3) and the story of his +parentage, birth, and childhood, and the current anecdotes of his +subsequent career play a considerable part in Chassidic literature. But +the authentic materials for his biography are everywhere interwoven with +much that is pure legend and with much more that is miraculous. This was, +perhaps, inevitable, and is certainly not an unfamiliar feature in the +personal histories of religious reformers as presented by their followers +and devotees. + +The sayings and doings of Baalshem are an essential--perhaps the most +essential--portion of any account of the sect. For Baalshem is the centre +of the Chassidic world, and Chassidism is so intimately bound up with the +personality of its founder that any separation between them is well nigh +impossible. To the Chassidim Baalshem is not a man who established a +theory or set forth a system; he himself was the incarnation of a theory +and his whole life the revelation of a system. + +Even those portions of his history which are plainly legendary have their +uses in indicating the ideals and in illustrating the aspirations of the +early Chassidim; while their circulation and the ready credence they +received are valuable evidence of the real power and influence of +Baalshem's personality. + +In the tale as told by the sect little is omitted of those biographical +accessories which are proper to an Avatar. There is all the conventional +heralding of a pre-ordained advent; all the usual signs and portents of a +new dispensation may be recognised in the almost preternatural virtues of +Baalshem's parents, in the miraculous annunciation and exceptional +circumstances of his nativity, and in the early indication of a strong and +fearless individuality. Everywhere it seems to be suggested that Baalshem +from his infancy was conscious of a lofty mission. It is already in tender +years that he is made to give evidence of an indifference to conventional +restraints and accepted ideals. + +Rabbi Eliezer and his wife, the parents of Baalshem, dwelt, as the story +goes, in Moldavia. They are described as a pious and God-fearing couple, +who, when they had already reached old age, were still childless. They are +accredited with a spotless rectitude, which was unimpaired by a long +series of strange vicissitudes and misfortunes. + +Ultimately, an angel of God appeared to Eliezer and announced that, as he +had successfully withstood all the temptations and sufferings by which he +had been tried, God was about to reward him with a son, who was destined +to enlighten the eyes of all Israel. Therefore his name should be Israel, +for in him the words of Scripture were to be fulfilled, "Thou art my +servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." In due course the promise +was fulfilled, and to the aged couple a son was born, who was named Israel +according to the angel's word. The date of Baalshem's birth is about 1700; +his birthplace, in Bukowina, in a hitherto unidentified village which the +authorities call Ukop, then still belonging to Roumania. The child's +mother died soon after he was weaned, and his father did not long survive +her. But before Eliezer died he took his child in his arms, and blessing +him, bade him fear naught, for God would always be with him. + +As Eliezer had been greatly honoured in the community in which he lived, +his orphan son was carefully tended and educated. He was early supplied +with an instructor in the Holy Law. But though he learned with rare +facility, he rejected the customary methods of instruction. One day, while +still quite young, his teacher missed him, and on seeking found him +sitting alone in the forest that skirted his native village, in happy and +fearless solitude. He repeated this escapade so often that it was thought +best to leave him to follow his own bent. A little later we find him +engaged as assistant to a schoolmaster. His duty was not to teach, but to +take the children from their homes to the synagogue and thence on to the +school. It was his wont while accompanying the children to the synagogue +to teach them solemn hymns which he sang with them. In the synagogue he +encouraged them to sing the responses, so that the voices of the children +penetrated through the heavens and moved the Divine father to compassion. +Satan, fearing lest his power on earth should thereby be diminished, +assumed the shape of a werewolf, and, appearing before the procession of +children on their way to the synagogue, put them to flight. In consequence +of this alarming incident the children's services were suspended. But +Israel, recollecting his father's counsel to fear naught, besought the +parents to be allowed to lead the children once more in the old way. His +request was granted, and when the werewolf appeared a second time Israel +attacked him with a club and routed him. + +In his fourteenth year Israel became a beadle at the Beth Hammidrash.(4) +Here he assiduously but secretly pursued the study of the Law. Yet, being +anxious that none should know his design, he read and worked only at +night, when the schoolroom was empty and the usual scholars had retired. +During the daytime he slept, so that he was popularly believed to be both +ignorant and lazy. Despite these precautions, however, his true character +was revealed to one person. A certain holy man, the father of a young +student at the college, had discovered some old manuscripts which +contained the deepest secrets. Before his death he bade his son repair to +Ukop, Israel's birthplace, telling him that he would find one Israel, son +of Eliezer, to whom the precious documents were to be entrusted. They +possessed, so the old man declared, a certain mystic and heavenly affinity +with Israel's soul. The student carried out his father's instructions, and +at last discovered the object of his search in the beadle of the Beth +Hammidrash. Israel admitted him to his friendship and confidence on the +condition of secrecy as to his real character. The student, however, paid +dearly for this acquaintance with Israel. Contrary to Baalshem's advice, +he entered upon a dangerous incantation in the course of which he made a +mistake so serious that it cost him his life. + +Upon the death of his friend, Baalshem left his native village and settled +as a teacher in a small town near Brody. Here, although his true mission +and character were still unknown, he became much respected for his rigid +probity, and was frequently chosen as umpire in disputes among Jews. On +one of these occasions he arbitrated with so much learning and +impartiality that not only did he satisfy both parties, but one of them, a +learned man of Brody, named Abraham, offered him his own daughter in +marriage. Israel, to whom it had been revealed that Abraham's daughter was +his predestined wife, immediately accepted the offer and the act of +betrothal was drawn up. But wishing his true character to remain unknown +he stipulated that Abraham, although a "Talmid Chacham" (student)(5) +himself and therefore presumably desirous that his daughter should marry a +scholar, should omit from the betrothal-deed all the titles of honour +usually appended to the name of a learned bridegroom. While returning to +Brody, Abraham died, and Gershon his son, a scholar still greater and more +celebrated than his father, was surprised and shocked to find a deed of +betrothal among his father's papers, from which it appeared that his +sister was to wed a man with apparently no claim to scholarship or +learning. He protested to his sister, but she declined to entertain any +objections to a marriage which her father had arranged. When the time for +the wedding was at hand, Israel gave up his post as teacher, and repaired +to Brody. Disguised as a peasant he presented himself before his future +brother-in-law, who was then fulfilling some high judicial function. +Gershon taking him for a beggar offered him alms, but Israel, refusing the +money, asked for a private interview, stating that he had an important +secret to reveal. He then, to Gershon's surprise and disgust, explained +who he was and that he had come to claim his bride. As the girl was +determined to obey her father's will the affair was settled and the day +fixed. On the morning of the wedding Israel revealed to his bride his real +character and mission, at the same time enjoining secrecy. Evil fortunes +would befall them, he said, but a better time would eventually follow. + +After the wedding, Gershon, having in vain attempted to instruct his +seemingly ignorant brother-in-law, decided to rid himself of his presence. +He gave his sister the choice of being separated from her husband, or of +leaving the town in his company. She chose the latter, and thereupon the +two left Brody and began a life of hardship and suffering. Israel chose +for his new home a spot on one of the spurs of the Carpathian Mountains. +No Jews lived there, and Israel and his wife were thus separated from the +society of their fellows in a life of complete and unchanging solitude. +Israel dug lime in the ravines among the mountains, and his wife conveyed +it for sale to the nearest town. Their life at this period seems to have +been one of great privation, but the harder Israel's outward lot, the more +he increased in spiritual greatness. In his solitude he gave himself up +entirely to devotion and religious contemplation. His habit was to climb +to the summit of the mountains and wander about rapt in spiritual +ecstasies. He fasted, prayed, made continual ablutions, and observed all +the customary outward and inward exercises of piety and devotion. + +After seven years, Gershon, who was well aware of the bitter poverty which +his sister endured, relented and brought her and her husband back to +Brody. At first he employed Baalshem as his coachman, but as he proved +wholly unfit for this work Gershon rented a small inn in a remote village, +and there established his sister and her husband. The business of the inn +was managed by the wife, while Baalshem passed most of his time in a hut +in a neighbouring forest. Here he once more gave himself up to meditation +and preparation for his future work, and here, a little later, when nearly +forty-two years of age, to a few chosen spirits, afterwards his most +fervent disciples, he first revealed his true character and mission. + +From this point unfortunately the materials for a continuous biography are +wanting; we next hear of Baalshem discharging the functions of an ordinary +Rabbi at Miedziboz in Podolia, but for the remainder of his personal +history we have to be content with detached anecdotes and fragmentary +passages in his life, the sum total of which goes to show that he resided +in Podolia and Wallachia, teaching his doctrines to his disciples and +"working Wonders." He does not seem to have figured as a public preacher, +nor has he left behind him any written work. He appears rather to have +used the method, familiar to students of Greek philosophy, of teaching by +conversations with his friends and disciples. These conversations, and the +parables with which they were largely interspersed, were remembered and +stored up by his hearers. By his neighbours the country folk, Baalshem was +regarded simply as "a man of God." He was allowed to pursue his course +undisturbed by persecution of the serious character which his more +aggressive successors provoked. Such of the Rabbis as were aware of his +existence despised him and his ways, but the Rabbinical world was at that +time too much occupied in the controversy between Eybeschuetz and Emden to +concern itself with the vagaries of an obscure and apparently "unlearned" +eccentric. Baalshem also took part in the disputes which were held in +Lemberg, the capital of Galicia (1757?), between the Rabbis and the +Frankists,(6) who denounced the Talmud to the Polish Government and wanted +to have all the Rabbinical books destroyed. Baalshem suffered from this +excitement in a most terrible way. The abrogation of the Oral Law meant +for him the ruin of Judaism. + +Baalshem, in forming the little band of devoted followers who were +destined to spread a knowledge of his creed, travelled considerably about +Wallachia. He at one time decided to make a pilgrimage to Palestine, but +when he reached Constantinople he felt himself inspired to return and +continue his work at home. He died at Miedziboz on the eve of Pentecost, +1761. + +After his death his disciples, of whom one Beer of Mizriez was the most +prominent, undertook the proselytising mission for which Baalshem had +prepared them, but from which he himself appears to have abstained. They +preached and taught in all the provinces of Russia where Jews may reside, +and in Roumania, and Galicia. The number of the sect at the present day is +probably about half a million. + +Returning now to Baalshem the founder, it may be noted that his appearance +as a teacher and reformer was accompanied and justified by a customary and +adequate number of miracles. To one disciple he revealed secrets which +could have become known to him only by divine revelation; to another he +appeared with a nimbus round his head. On the evidence of the Chassidim we +learn that Baalshem performed all the recognised signs and marvels which +have ever been the customary minor characteristics of men of similar type +in similar environment. When Baalshem desired to cross a stream, he spread +forth his mantle upon the waters, and standing thereupon passed safely to +the other side. Ghosts evacuated haunted houses at the mere mention of his +name. Was he alone in the forest on a wintry night, he had but to touch a +tree with his finger tips and flames burst forth. When his spirit wandered +through the angelic spheres, as was frequently the case, he obtained +access to Paradise for millions of pining souls who had vainly waited +without through long thousands of mournful years. These and other miracles +need not be examined. Here, as in the case of other such blissful seasons +of grace, they were the ephemeral though important accessories in +establishing the inspired character of his utterances and the authority of +his injunctions. It is not as a worker of miracles, but as a religious +teacher and reformer, that Baalshem is interesting. + +Properly to understand the nature and special direction of his teaching, +it is necessary in some measure to realise the character of the field in +which he worked; to consider, in other words, the moral and religious +condition of the Jews in those districts where Chassidism first took root. + +In a Hebrew Hymn, written about 1000 A.C., and still recited in the +synagogue on the Day of Atonement, the poet expresses the strange and +bitter fortunes of his race in touching words of mingled sorrow and +exultation. + + + Destroyed lies Zion and profaned, + Of splendour and renown bereft, + Her ancient glories wholly waned, + One deathless treasure only left; + Still ours, O Lord, + Thy Holy Word. + + +And this Divine Word it was, which a persecuted religion has sought to +preserve intact through so many centuries of persecution, and for the sake +of which no labour seemed too severe, no sacrifice too large. "Bethink +Thee, O God," exclaimed one of our Jewish sages who flourished about the +same period, "bethink Thee of Thy faithful children who, amid their +poverty and want, are busy in the study of Thy Law. Bethink Thee of the +poor in Israel who are willing to suffer hunger and destitution if only +they can secure for their children the knowledge of Thy Law." And so +indeed it was. Old and young, weak and strong, rich and poor, all pursued +that single study, the Torah. The product of this prolonged study is that +gigantic literature which, as a long unbroken chain of spiritual activity, +connects together the various periods of the Jews' chequered and eventful +history. All ages and all lands have contributed to the development of +this supreme study. For under the word Torah was comprised not only the +Law, but also the contributions of later times expressing either the +thoughts or the emotions of holy and sincere men; and even their honest +scepticism was not entirely excluded. As in the canon of the Bible, +Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon found place in the same volume that +contains the Law and the Prophets, so at a later time people did not +object to put the philosophical works of Maimonides and the songs of Judah +Hallevi on the same level with the Code of the Law compiled by R. Isaac +Alfasi, and the commentaries on the Bible by R. Solomon b. Isaac.(7) None +of them was declared infallible, but also to none of them, as soon as +people were convinced of the author's sincerity, was denied the homage due +to seekers after truth. Almost every author was called Rabbi ("my master") +or Rabbenu ("our master"),(8) and nearly every book was regarded more or +less as a contribution to the great bulk of the Torah. It was called +Writ,(9) and was treated with a certain kind of piety. But, by a series of +accidents too long to be related here, sincerity ceased and sport took its +place. I refer to the casuistic schools commonly known by the name of +Pilpulists(10) (the "seasoned" or the "sharp" ones), who flourished in the +last two centuries preceding ours. To the authors of this unhappy period, +a few glorious exceptions always allowed, the preceding Jewish literature +did not mean a "fountain of living waters," supplying men with truth and +religious inspiration, but rather a kind of armoury providing them with +juristic cases over which to fight, and to out-do each other in sophistry +and subtlety. As a consequence they cared little or nothing for that part +of the Jewish literature that appeals less to the intellect than to the +feelings of men. In short, religion consisted only of complicated cases +and innumerable ordinances, in which the wit of these men found delight. +But the emotional part of it, whose root is the Faith and Love of men, was +almost entirely neglected. + +But it was precisely these higher religious emotions that were Baalshem's +peculiar province, and it was to them that he assigned in his religious +system a place befitting their importance and their dignity. And the +locality where his ministration lay was curiously adapted for such +propaganda. To that universal study of the Law of which I have just spoken +there was one exception. That exception was amongst the Jews in the +territories which bordered on the Carpathian Mountains, and comprise the +principalities of Moldavia, and Wallachia, Bukowina, and the Ukraine. + +It is historically certain that the first arrival of the Jews in Roumania +was at a very early date, but there is no trace of any intellectual +productivity among the immigrants until recent times, and it is admitted +that the study of the Law was almost entirely neglected. It was in these +districts of mental, and perhaps we might add of even spiritual, darkness +that Chassidism took its rise and achieved its first success. "The sect of +the Chassidim," says one of the bitterest but most trustworthy of their +opponents, "first gained ground in the most uncivilised provinces; in the +wild ravines of Wallachia and the dreary steppes of the Ukraine." + +Apart from the genius of its founder, Chassidism owed its rapid growth to +the intellectual barrenness of these districts as compared with the +intellectual fertility of the other regions where Jews most thickly +congregated. The Roumanian Jews were to some extent under the jurisdiction +of the Rabbis of Poland. Now the Poles were celebrated even in Germany for +the elaboration of their casuistry. These over-subtle Rabbis, delighting +in the quibbles of their sophistry, and reducing religion to an unending +number of juristic calculations and all sorts of possibilities and +impossibilities, were but too apt to forget the claims of feeling in their +eager desire to question and to settle everything. They may have been +satisfactory guides in matters spiritual to the men of their own stamp, +but they were of no avail to their Roumanian brethren who failed to +recognise religion in the garb of casuistry. It was, therefore, not +surprising that a revolt against the excess of intellectualism should have +sprung up and flourished in those districts where the inhabitants were +constitutionally incapable of appreciating the delights of argument. The +field was ready, and in the fulness of time came the sower in the person +of Baalshem. + +In the above estimate of the Polish Rabbis there undoubtedly lurks a touch +of exaggeration. But it represents the view which the Chassidim took of +their opponents. The whole life of Baalshem is a protest against the +typical Rabbi thus conceived. The essential difference in the ideals of +the two parties is perhaps best illustrated in those portions of their +biographical literature where legend treads most closely upon the heels of +fact. + +The hero of Polish Rabbinic biography at five years of age can recite by +heart the most difficult tractates of the Talmud; at eight he is the +disciple of the most celebrated teacher of the time, and perplexes him by +the penetrative subtlety of his questions; while at thirteen he appears +before the world as a full-fledged Doctor of the Law. + +The hero of the Chassidim has a totally different education, and his +distinctive glory is of another kind. The legendary stories about +Baalshem's youth tell us little of his proficiency in Talmudic studies; +instead of sitting in the Beth Hammidrash with the folios of some +casuistic treatise spread out before him, Baalshem passes his time singing +hymns out of doors, or under the green trees of the forest with the +children. Satan, however, says the Chassid, is more afraid of these +innocent exercises than of all the controversies in the Meheram Shiff.(11) +It was through external nature, the woods of his childhood, the hills and +wild ravines of the Carpathians where he passed many of his maturer years, +that Baalshem, according to his disciples, reached his spiritual +confirmation. The Chassidic hero had no celebrated Rabbi for his master. +He was his own teacher. If not self-taught, it was from angelic lips, or +even the Divine voice itself, that he learned the higher knowledge. From +the source whence the Torah flowed Baalshem received heavenly lore. His +method of self-education, his ways of life, his choice of associates were +all instances of revolt; not only did he teach a wholly different theory +and practice, but he and his disciples seem to have missed no opportunity +of denouncing the old teachers as misleading and ungodly. Among the many +anecdotes illustrating this feature, it is told how once, on the evening +before the great Day of Atonement, Baalshem was noticed by his disciples +to be, contrary to his usual custom, depressed and ill at ease. The whole +subsequent day he passed in violent weeping and lamentations. At its close +he once more resumed his wonted cheerfulness of manner. When asked for the +explanation of his behaviour, he replied that the Holy Spirit had revealed +to him that heavy accusations were being made against the Jewish people, +and a heavy punishment had been ordained upon them. The anger of heaven +was caused by the Rabbis, whose sole occupation was to invent lying +premisses and to draw from them false conclusions. All the truly wise +Rabbis of the olden time (such as the Tannaim, the Amoraim(12) and their +followers, whom Baalshem regarded as so many saints and prophets) had now +stood forth as the accusers of their modern successors by whom their words +were so grossly perverted from their original meaning. On this account +Baalshem's tears had been shed, and his prayers as usual had been +successful. The impending judgment was annulled. On another occasion, when +he overheard the sounds of eager, loud discussion issuing from a +Rabbinical college, Baalshem, closing his ears with his hands, declared +that it was such disputants who delayed the redemption of Israel from +captivity. Satan, he said, incites the Rabbis to study those portions of +Jewish literature only on which they can whet the sharpness of their +intellects, but from all writings of which the reading would promote piety +and the fear of God he keeps them away. "Where there is much study," says +a disciple of Baalshem, "there is little piety." "Jewish Devils"(13) is +one of the numerous polite epithets applied to the Rabbis by the friends +of Baalshem. "Even the worst sinners are better than they; so blind are +they in the arrogance of their self-conceit that their very devotion to +the Law becomes a vehicle for their sin." It will be found when we deal +with the most positive side of Baalshem's teaching that this antagonism to +the attitude and methods of the contemporary Rabbis is further emphasised, +and it will readily be seen that his whole scheme of religion and of +conduct in relation to God and man rendered this acknowledged hostility +inevitable. In approaching this part of our subject it should be +remembered that, as stated above, Baalshem himself wrote nothing. For a +knowledge of his sayings we are therefore dependent on the reports of his +friends and disciples. And it is not unfrequently necessary to supplement +these by the teaching of his followers, whom we may suppose in large +measure to have caught the spirit of their master. Unfortunately the +original authorities are in a difficult Hebrew patois which often obscures +the precise meaning of whole passages. + +The originality of Baalshem's teaching has been frequently impugned, +chiefly by the suggestion that he drew largely from the Zohar (Book of +Brightness).(14) This mystical book, "the Bible of the Cabbalists," +whether we regard its subject-matter or its history and influence, is +unique in literature. Its pretended author is Simeon ben Yochai, a great +Rabbi of the second century, but the real writer is probably one Moses de +Leon, a Spanish Jew, who lived eleven centuries later. The book is one of +the most interesting literary forgeries, and is a marvellous mixture of +good and evil. A passage of delicate religious fancy is succeeded by +another of gross obscenity in illustration and suggestion; true piety and +wild blasphemy are strangely mingled together. Baalshem undoubtedly had +studied the Zohar, and he even is reported to have said that the reading +of the Zohar had enabled him to see into the whole universe of things. +But, for all that, Baalshem was no copyist; and the Zohar, although it may +have suggested a hint to him here and there, was not the source whence his +inspiration was drawn. + +Its attraction for Baalshem is sufficiently explained by the fantastic, +imaginative, and emotional nature of its contents. It lent itself more +easily than the older Rabbinical literature to new explanations unthought +of by its author. But even the Talmud and its early commentaries became +apocalyptic to the heroes of Chassidism. Nay, the driest and most legal +disquisitions about _meum_ and _tuum_ could be translated into parables +and allegories and symbols full of the most exalted meanings. Baalshem, +like every other religious reformer, was partially the product of his age. +The influences of the past, the history and literature of his own people, +helped to make him what he was. But they do not rob him of his +originality. He was a religious revivalist in the best sense; full of +burning faith in his God and his cause; convinced utterly of the value of +his work and the truth of his teaching. + +Although there can be no real doubt of Baalshem's claim to originality, it +should be borne in mind that his teaching is not only distinctively +Jewish, but that for every part of it parallels and analogies could be +found in the older Hebrew literature. Indeed it is not wonderful that in a +literature, extending over 2000 years, of a people whose chief thoughts +have been religion, and who have come in contact with so many external +religious and philosophic influences, the germs can be discovered of +almost every conceivable system, and the outline of almost every +imaginable doctrine. + +The keynote of all Baalshem's teachings is the Omnipresence, or more +strictly the Immanence, of God. This is the source from which flows +naturally every article of his creed; the universality of the Divinity is +the foundation of the entire Chassidic fabric. The idea of the constant +living presence of God in all existence permeates the whole of Baalshem's +scheme; it is insisted on in every relation; from it is deduced every +important proposition and every rule in conduct of his school. + +All created things and every product of human intelligence owe their being +to God. All generation and all existence spring from the thought and will +of God. It is incumbent upon man to believe that all things are pervaded +by the divine life, and when he speaks he should remember that it is this +divine life which is speaking through him. There is nothing which is void +of God. If we imagine for a moment such a thing to be, it would instantly +fall into nothingness. In every human thought God is present. If the +thought be gross or evil, we should seek to raise and ennoble it by +carrying it back to its origin. So, if a man be suddenly overwhelmed by +the aspect of a beautiful woman, he should remember that this splendour of +beauty is owing to the all-pervading emanation from the divine. When he +remembers that the source of corporeal beauty is God, he will not be +content to let his thought abide with the body when he can rise to the +inward contemplation of the infinite soul of beauty, which is God. A +disciple of Baalshem has said: Even as in the jewels of his beloved the +lover sees only the beauty of her he loves, so does the true lover of God +see in all the appearances of this world, the vitalising and generative +power of his divine master. If you do not see the world in the light of +God you separate the creation from its Creator. He who does not fully +believe in this universality of God's presence has never properly +acknowledged God's Sovereignty, for he excludes God from an existing +portion of the actual world. The word of God (to Baalshem, a synonym for +God himself), which "is settled in heaven" and "established on earth," is +still and always speaking, acting, and generating throughout heaven and +earth in endless gradations and varieties. If the vitalising word were to +cease, chaos would come again. The belief in a single creation after which +the Master withdrew from his completed work, is erroneous and heretical. +The vivifying power is never withdrawn from the world which it animates. +Creation is continuous; an unending manifestation of the goodness of God. +All things are an affluence from the two divine attributes of Power and +Love, which express themselves in various images and reflections. + +This is the doctrine of universality in Chassidism. God, the father of +Israel, God the Merciful, God the All-powerful, the God of Love, not only +created everything but is embodied in everything. The necessity of +believing this doctrine is the cardinal Dogma. But as creation is +continuous so also is revelation. This revelation is only to be grasped by +faith. Faith, therefore, is more efficacious than learning. Thus it is +that in times of persecution, the wise and the foolish, the sinner and the +saint, are wont alike to give up their life for their faith. They who +could render no answer to the questions of the casuist are yet willing to +die the most cruel of deaths rather than deny their faith in the One and +Supreme God. Their strength to face danger and death is owing to that +divine illumination of the soul which is more exalted than knowledge. + +We should thus regard all things in the light of so many manifestations of +the Divinity. God is present in all things; therefore there is good, +actual or potential, in all things. It is our duty everywhere to seek out +and to honour the good, and not to arrogate to ourselves the right to +judge that which may seem to be evil. In thinking therefore of a fellow- +man, we should above all things realise in him the presence of the spirit +of good. Whence we have the Doctrine that each of us, while thinking +humbly of himself, should always be ready to think well, and always slow +to think evil, of another. This explains the Chassidic attitude towards +erring humanity. Baalshem viewed human sin and infirmity in a very +different light from that of the ordinary Rabbi. Ever conscious of the +Divine side of Humanity, he vigorously combated the gratuitous assumption +of sinfulness in man which was a fertile subject with contemporary +preachers. They, among the Roumanian Jews as in other communities, +delighted chiefly to dwell on the dark side of things, and found their +favourite theme in elaborate descriptions of the infernal punishments that +were awaiting the sinner after death. It is related how on one occasion +Baalshem rebuked one of these. The preacher had been denouncing woe to an +audience of whom he knew nothing whether for evil or for good. Baalshem, +indignant at this indiscriminative abuse and conceited arrogation of the +divine office of judgment, turned on him in the following words: "Woe upon +thee who darest to speak evil of Israel! Dost not know that every Jew, +when he utters ever so short a prayer at the close of day, is performing a +great work before which the angels in heaven bow down?" Great, as it would +seem, was the value set by Baalshem upon the smallest evidence of the +higher nature in man, and few there were, as he believed, who, if their +spirit was not darkened by pride, did not now and again give proof of the +divine stamp in which God had created them. No sin so separates us from +God that we need despair of return. From every rung of the moral ladder, +no matter how low, let man seek God. If he but fully believe that nothing +is void of God, and that God is concealed in the midst of apparent ruin +and degradation, he will not fear lest God be far from him. God is +regained in a moment of repentance, for repentance "transcends the limits +of space and time." And he who leads the sinner to repentance causes a +divine joy; it is as though a king's son had been in captivity and were +now brought back to his father's gaze. + +Baalshem refused to regard any one as wholly irredeemable. His was an +optimistic faith. God was to be praised in gladness by the dwellers in +this glorious world. The true believer, recognising the reflection of God +in every man, should hopefully strive, when that reflection was obscured +by sin, to restore the likeness of God in man. The peculiar detestability +of sin lies in this, that man rejects the earthly manifestations of the +Divinity and pollutes them. One of Baalshem's disciples delighted in the +saying that the most hardened sinners were not to be despaired of, but +prayed for. None knows the heart of man, and none should judge his +neighbour. Let him who burns with zeal for God's sake, exercise his zeal +on himself, not others. Baalshem said, "Let no one think himself better +than his neighbour, for all serve God; each according to the measure of +understanding which God has given him." + +From this position it is a natural step to Baalshem's view of prayer. He +is reputed to have said that all the greatness he had achieved was the +issue not of study but of prayer. But true prayer "must move," as Baalshem +phrased it, "in the realms above," and not be concerned with affairs +sublunary. Your prayer should not be taken up with your wishes and needs, +but should be the means to bring you nigh to God. In prayer man must lay +aside his own individuality, and not even be conscious of his existence; +for if, when he prays, Self is not absolutely quiescent, the object of +prayer is unattainable. Indeed it is only through God's grace that after +true prayer man is yet alive; to such a point has the annihilation of self +proceeded. + +It may be necessary to caution the reader against ascribing to Baalshem +any modern rationalistic notions on the subject of prayer. The power of +prayer, in the old-fashioned sense, to produce an answer from God was +never doubted by Baalshem for a moment. Baalshem's deity is not restricted +towards any side by any philosophic considerations. All Baalshem meant was +that any reference or regard to earthly requirements was unworthy and +destructive of this communion of man with God. The wise man, says +Baalshem, does not trouble the king with innumerable petitions about +trifles. His desire is merely to gain admission into the king's presence +and to speak with him without a go-between. To be with the king whom he +loves so dearly is for him the highest good. But his love for the king has +its reward; for the king loves him. + +It has already been implied that, with regard to our duty towards our +fellow-man, we must not only honour him for the good, and abstain from +judging the evil that may be in him, but must pray for him. Furthermore we +must work for his spiritual and moral reclamation. In giving practical +effect in his own life to this doctrine, Baalshem's conduct was in +striking contrast to that of his contemporaries. He habitually consorted +with outcasts and sinners, with the poor and uneducated of both sexes, +whom the other teachers ignored. He thus won for his doctrines a way to +the heart of the people by adapting his life and language to their +understanding and sympathies. In illustration of this, as well as of his +hatred of vanity and display, it is told how, on the occasion of his being +accorded a public reception by the Jews on his arrival at Brody, instead +of addressing to them in the conventional fashion some subtle discourse +upon a Talmudical difficulty, he contented himself with conversing upon +trivial topics in the local dialect with some of the less important +persons in the crowd. + +This incident is perhaps the more noteworthy because it occurred in Brody, +which was at that time a seat of learning and Rabbinic culture,--a place +where, for that very reason, Chassidism was never able to gain a foothold. +It is probable enough that Baalshem in his visits to this town kept aloof +from the learned and the wise, and sought to gather round him the +neglected and humbler elements of Jewish society. It is well known that +Baalshem consorted a good deal with the innkeepers of the district, who +were held in very low repute among their brethren. The following remark by +one of his followers is very suggestive in this respect. Just as only +superficial minds attach a certain holiness to special places, whilst with +the deeper ones all places are alike holy, so that to them it makes no +difference whether prayers be said in the synagogue or in the forest; so +the latter believe that not only prophecies and visions come from heaven, +but that every utterance of man, if properly understood, contains a +message of God. Those who are absorbed in God will easily find the divine +element in everything which they hear, even though the speaker himself be +quite ignorant of it. + +This line of conduct gave a fair opening for attack to his opponents, an +opportunity of which they were not slow to avail themselves. Baalshem was +pointed at as the associate of the lowest classes. They avenged themselves +for his neglect of and hostility to the learned by imputing the worst +motives to his indifference to appearances. He was accused of idling about +the streets with disreputable characters, and one polemical treatise draws +the vilest inferences from his apparent familiarity with women. To this +charge Baalshem's conduct, innocent in itself, gave some colour; for his +views and habits in relation to women marked a strong divergence from +current customs. The position of women in contemporary circles was neither +debased nor inevitably unhappy, but it was distinctly subordinate. Their +education was almost entirely neglected, and their very existence was +practically ignored. According to the Chassidic doctrine of Universality, +woman was necessarily to be honoured. "All Jews," says one Chassid, "even +the uneducated and the women, believe in God." Baalshem frequently +associated with women, assigning to them not only social equality, but a +high degree of religious importance. + +His own wife he reverenced as a saint; when she died he abandoned the hope +of rising to heaven while yet alive, like Elijah of old, saying mournfully +that undivided such translation might have happened, but for him alone it +was impossible. Then again in a form of religion utilising so largely the +emotions of Faith and Love there was a strong appeal to the female mind. +The effect of this was soon evident, and Baalshem did not neglect to +profit by it. Among the most devoted of his early adherents were women. +One of them was the heroine of a favourite anecdote concerning Baalshem's +work of Love and Rescue. It is related that in a certain village there +dwelt a woman whose life was so disgraceful that her brothers at last +determined to kill her. With this object they enticed her into a +neighbouring wood, but guided by the Holy Spirit Baalshem intervened at +the critical moment, and dissuading the men from their purpose rescued the +sinner. The woman afterwards became a sort of Magdalen in the new +community. + +Above I have endeavoured to throw together in some order of sequence the +doctrines and practical rules of conduct which Baalshem and his early +disciples seem to have deduced from their central idea of the omnipresence +of God. This was necessary in order to give a connected idea of their +creed, but it is right to say that nowhere in Chassidic literature have +these deductions been logically co-ordinated. Perhaps their solitary +attempt to formulate and condense their distinctive views is confined to a +statement of their idea of piety or service of God, and an examination of +three cardinal virtues, Humility, Cheerfulness, and Enthusiasm. What the +Chassidim held as to true service brings into relief Baalshem's +characteristic manner of regarding the Law. + +By the service of God was generally understood a life which fulfilled the +precepts of the written and oral law. Baalshem understood by it a certain +attitude towards life as a whole. For, as God is realised in life, each +activity of life when rightly conceived and executed is at once a +manifestation and a service of the Divine. All things have been created +for the glory and service of God. The smallest worm serves Him with all +its power. Thus, while eating, drinking, sleeping, and the other ordinary +functions of the body are regarded by the old Jewish moralists as mere +means to an end, to Baalshem they are already a service of God in +themselves. All pleasures are manifestations of God's attribute of love; +and, so regarded, they are at once spiritualised and ennobled. Man should +seek to reach a higher level of purity and holiness before partaking of +food and drink, than even before the study of the Law. For when the Torah +had once been given by God the whole world became instinct with its grace. +He who speaks of worldly matters and religious matters as if they were +separate and distinct, is a heretic. + +Upon the continual and uninterrupted study of the Law, Baalshem lays but +little stress. He accepted the ordinary belief that the Law (under which +term are included not only the Pentateuch, but the whole Old Testament and +the major portion of the old Rabbinic literature) was a revelation of God. +But, as the world itself is equally a divine revelation, the Torah becomes +little more than a part of a larger whole. To understand it aright one +needs to penetrate to the inward reality--to the infinite light which is +revealed in it. We should study the Law not as we study a science for the +sake of acquiring knowledge (he who studies it so has in truth been +concerning himself with its mere outward form), but we should learn from +it the true service of God. Thus the study of the law is no end in itself. +It is studied because, as the word of God, God is more easily discerned +and absorbed in this revelation of Him than in any other. The Torah is +eternal, but its explanation is to be made by the spiritual leaders of +Judaism. It is to be interpreted by them in accordance with the Attribute +of the age. For he regarded the world as governed in every age by a +different Attribute of God--one age by the Attribute of Love, another by +that of Power, a third again, by Beauty, and so on--and the explanation of +the Torah must be brought into agreement with it. The object of the whole +Torah is that man should become a Torah himself. Every man being a Torah +in himself, said a disciple of Baalshem, has got not only his Abraham and +Moses, but also his Balaam and Haman: he should try to expel the Balaam +and develop the Abraham within him. Every action of man should be a pure +manifestation of God. + +The reason why we should do what the Law commands is not to gain grace +thereby in the eyes of God, but to learn how to love God and to be united +to Him. The important thing is not how many separate injunctions are +obeyed, but how and in what spirit we obey them. The object of fulfilling +these various ordinances is to put oneself, as it were, on the same plane +with God, and thus, in the ordinary phrase of the religious mystic, to +become one with Him, or to be absorbed in Him. People should get to know, +says Baalshem, what the unity of God really means. To attain a part of +this indivisible unity is to attain the whole. The Torah and all its +ordinances are from God. If I therefore fulfil but one commandment in and +through the love of God, it is as though I have fulfilled them all. + +I have now briefly to refer to the three virtues to which the Chassidim +assigned the highest place of honour. Of these the first is called in +Hebrew "Shiphluth,"(15) and is best rendered by our word "Humility," but +in Chassidic usage it includes the ideas of modesty, considerateness, and +sympathy. The prominence given to these qualities is in sharp contrast to +the faults of conceit, vanity, and self-satisfaction, against which +Baalshem was never weary of protesting. He regarded these as the most +seductive of all forms of sin. But a few minutes before his death he was +heard to murmur, "O vanity, vanity! even in this hour of death thou darest +to approach me with thy temptations: 'Bethink thee, Israel, what a grand +funeral procession will be thine because thou hast been so wise and good.' +O vanity, vanity! beshrew thee." "It should be indifferent to man," says +the master, "whether he be praised or blamed, loved or hated, reputed to +be the wisest of mankind or the greatest of fools. The test of the real +service of God is that it leaves behind it the feeling of humility. If a +man after prayer be conscious of the least pride or self-satisfaction, if +he think, for instance, that he has earned a reward by the ardour of his +spiritual exercises, then let him know that he has prayed not to God but +to himself. And what is this but disguised idolatry? Before you can find +God you must lose yourself." The Chassidim treated Shiphluth from two +sides: a negative side in thinking humbly of oneself, a positive in +thinking highly of one's neighbour, in other words the love for our +fellow-man. + +He who loves the father will also love his children. The true lover of God +is also a lover of man. It is ignorance of one's own errors that makes one +ready to see the errors of others. "There is no sphere in heaven where the +soul remains a shorter time than in the sphere of merit, there is none +where it abides longer than in the sphere of Love." + +The second Cardinal Virtue is "Cheerfulness," in Hebrew "Simchah."(16) +Baalshem insisted on cheerfulness of heart as a necessary attitude for the +due service of God. Once believe that you are really the servant and the +child of God and how can you fall again into a gloomy condition of mind? +Nor should the inevitable sins which we all must commit disturb our glad +serenity of soul. For is not repentance ready at hand by which we may +climb back to God? Every penitent thought is a voice of God. Man should +detect that voice in all the evidence of his senses, in every sight and +sound of external nature. It is through his want of faith in the +universality of God's presence that he is deaf to these subtle influences +and can read only the lessons which are inscribed in books. + +The reader will be prepared to learn that Baalshem, taking this cheerful +view of things, was opposed to every kind of asceticism. Judaism, or +rather Israelitism, it is true, was not originally much of an ascetic +religion. But there can be little doubt that in the course of history +there came in many ascetic doctrines and practices, quite enough at least +to encourage such tender souls the bent of whose minds lay in this +direction. To one of these, a former disciple, Baalshem wrote: "I hear +that you think yourself compelled from religious motives to enter upon a +course of fasts and penances. My soul is outraged at your determination. +By the counsel of God I order you to abandon such dangerous practices, +which are but the outcome of a disordered brain. Is it not written 'Thou +shalt not hide thyself from thine own flesh?' Fast then no more than is +prescribed. Follow my command and God shall be with you." On another +occasion Baalshem was heard to observe that it is a machination of Satan +to drive us into a condition of gloom and despondency in which the +smallest error is regarded as a deadly sin. Satan's object is to keep us +away from the true service of God, and God can only be truly served from a +happy and confident disposition. Anxious scrupulosity in details is +therefore to be avoided. It is the counsel of the Devil to persuade us +that we never have done and shall never do our duty fully, and that moral +progress is impossible. Such ideas beget melancholy and despair, which are +of evil. + +The third virtue is called in the Hebrew Chassidic literature +"Hithlahabuth,"(17) and is derived from a verb meaning "to kindle" or "set +on fire." The substantive "Hithlahabuth," so far as I am aware, was first +coined by Baalshem's followers. It is best rendered by our word +"Enthusiasm." Every religious action, to be of any avail, must be done +with enthusiasm. A mere mechanical and lifeless performance of an +ordinance is valueless. A man is no step nearer the goal if he thinks, +forsooth, that he has done his duty when he has gone through the whole +round of laws in every section of the code. This essential enthusiasm is +only begotten of Love. The service of fear, if not wholly useless, is yet +necessarily accompanied by a certain repulsion and heaviness, which +effectually prevent the rush and ardour of enthusiasm. The inspiration of +true service is its own end. There is no thought of this world, and there +is none of the world to come. In the Talmud there is frequent reference to +one Rabbi Elisha ben Abuyah, an apostate from Judaism, who, when urged to +repent, replied that repentance was useless, and that for this mournful +belief he had direct divine authority. For he had been told by a voice +from heaven that even though he repented he would be excluded from sharing +the happiness of the world to come. Of him it was said by one of the +Chassidim, "This man indeed missed a golden opportunity. How purely could +he have served God, knowing that for his service there could never be a +reward!" + +From the conception of Enthusiasm springs the quality of mobility, +suggesting spiritual progress, and commonly opposed by Baalshem and his +followers to the dull religious stagnation of self-satisfied +contemporaries. Man should not imagine himself to have attained the level +of the righteous; let him rather regard himself as a penitent who should +make progress every day. Always to remain on the same religious plane, +merely repeating to-day the religious routine of yesterday, is not true +service. There must be a daily advance in the knowledge and love of the +Divine Master. Mere freedom from active sin is not sufficient; such +negative virtue may be but another word for the chance absence of +temptation. What boots it never to have committed a sin if sin lies +concealed in the heart? It is only the uninterrupted communion with God +which will raise and ennoble your thoughts and designs, and cause the +roots of sin to die. The patriarch Abraham, without any command from God, +fulfilled the whole Torah, because he perceived that the Law was the life +of all created things. In the Messianic age the law will no longer seem to +man as something ordained for him from without; but the law will be within +the hearts of men; it will seem natural and self-evident to them, because +they will realise that God and life are manifested through the law. + +Baalshem, who dealt largely in parable, has left the following, which we +may fitly add to our somewhat inadequate presentation of his doctrine. + +There was once a king who built himself a glorious palace. By means of +magical illusion it seemed as if the palace were full of devious corridors +and mazes, preventing the approach to the royal presence. But as there was +much gold and silver heaped up in the entrance halls, most people were +content to go no further, but take their fill of treasure. The king +himself they did not notice. At last the king's intimate had compassion +upon them and exclaimed to them, "All these walls and mazes which you see +before you do not in truth exist at all. They are mere illusions. Push +forward bravely, and you shall find no obstacle." + +We must not interpret the parable to mean that Baalshem denied the reality +or even the importance of the actual phenomenal world. The very contrary +is the truth. The world is for him full of God, penetrated through and +through by the divine, and therefore as real as God himself. It was quite +in Baalshem's manner when one of his disciples declared that only fools +could speak of the world as vanity or emptiness. "It is in truth a +glorious world. We must only learn how rightly to make use of it. Call +nothing common or profane: by God's presence all things are holy." + +Above we have reviewed the essential doctrines of Baalshem and his +immediate followers; we have now to see how they fared at the hands of the +sect which he founded. This is a sad part of our task, for the subsequent +history of Chassidism is almost entirely a record of decay. As formulated +by its founder the new creed amounted to a genuine Reformation, pure and +lofty in ideal. After his death unhappily it was rapidly corrupted and +perverted. This was due almost exclusively to the dangerous and +exaggerated development of a single point in his teaching. That point, the +honour due to the divine in man, was relatively a minor article in the +original creed. But the later Chassidism has given it a distorted and +almost exclusive importance wholly out of proportion to the grander and +more essential features of Baalshem's teaching, until the distinctive +feature of the Chassidism of to-day is an almost idolatrous service of +their living leaders. What little there is to say of the history of the +sect after Baalshem's death would be unintelligible without some +explanation of the origin and growth of this unfortunate perversion. + +It has been explained that Baalshem laid but little stress upon the study +of the Law or the observance of its precepts in themselves, but regarded +them only as means to an end. The end is union with God. Man has to +discover the presence of God in the Divine word and will. Now this +mystical service of God, although perhaps sufficing to sensitive and +enthusiastic natures, is scarcely plain or definite enough for ordinary +men. Few can realise abstractions: and yet fewer can delight in them and +find in their contemplation sufficient nurture for their religious needs. +What then had Chassidism to offer to the ordinary majority who could not +recognise God in all the plenitude of His disguise? The want of something +tangible whereon to fix the minds of the people, which has confronted the +teachers of so many creeds, was also encountered by the Chassidim, and +they unfortunately found their way out of the difficulty by relying on and +developing their doctrine of man's position in the Universe. Man's ideal +is to be a law himself; himself a clear and full manifestation of God. +Now, not only is he God's servant and child, but in highest development he +becomes himself a part of God, albeit in human shape, so that he may +become wholly one with his divine Father. But if man may reach this +highest level of holiness, he is virtually a kind of God-man, whom his +fellow-men of lower levels perceive by reason of his manhood, but his +essential office consists in raising them up to God by reason of his +Divinity. + +The few chosen spirits who through the successful persistency with which +they have sought God in all things have become, though yet on earth, +absorbed in Him, are known in Chassidic literature by the name of the +"Zaddikim." The Hebrew word Zaddik(18) means "just" or "righteous," and +the term was probably chosen in conscious opposition to the title of +Rabbinic heroes, "disciples of the wise." For the Zaddik is not so much +the product of learning as of intuition: his final consummation is reached +by a sudden and direct illumination from God. The Zaddik not only +resembles Moses, but, in virtue of his long communion with the Divine, he +is also the true child of God. He is, moreover, a vivifying power in +creation, for he is the connecting bond between God and his creatures. He +is the source of blessing and the fount of grace. Man must therefore learn +to love the Zaddik, so that through the Zaddik he may win God's grace. He +who does not believe in the Zaddik is an apostate from God. Here then we +have the fatal exaggeration to which I have alluded, and here its logical +consequence. The step to man-worship is short. + +This peculiar doctrine of the Intermediary soon became the distinguishing +feature of Chassidism. By a Chassid was understood not a man who held such +and such opinions in theology and religion, but a believer in the Zaddik, +and one who sought to attain salvation through the worship of the Zaddik. +Every other doctrine of Chassidism was rapidly pushed into the background +and overlooked. Even the grand and fundamental doctrine of Omnipresence in +the Creation was veiled by the special presence in the Zaddik. Chassidism +became mere Zaddikism, and its subsequent history is identical with the +downward development of that cult. + +Whether Baalshem named his successor is doubtful. But the lead after his +death was assumed by his disciple Beer of Mizriez. This man's conversion +to Chassidism was an important event for the new community; his piety and +learning were beyond dispute, and, whereas during Baalshem's life +Chassidism had found its chief adherents among the lower classes of +society, Beer managed to gather round him many of the most learned among +his contemporaries. It was to these new and ardent disciples of Beer that +the expansion of Chassidism was chiefly due. They came together from many +quarters, and after Beer's death separated and preached the new doctrine +far and wide. Many even went forth during the lifetime of their master, +and at his command, to found fresh branches of the new sect. Like Beer +himself, they directed their efforts mainly to winning over the educated +sections of the Jews. The elder men paid little heed to their word, but +the youths, just fresh from their casuistic studies, which had sharpened +their wits and starved their souls, lent a ready ear and an eager heart to +the new doctrine. The uneducated were by no means excluded; to them +Chassidism held out a deeper consolation and a grander hope than the +current Rabbinism of the age; they therefore joined the young community in +large numbers without any special effort being necessary to gain them +over. + +In their methods of Prayer the Chassidim most conspicuously differed from +the older communities. Laying as they did supreme stress on the importance +and efficacy of prayer, they soon found it necessary to secede from the +existing synagogues and erect separate buildings for themselves. The usual +salaried Reader "with the beautiful voice and empty head," who naturally +regarded his function as a matter of business, was done away with and his +place taken either by the Zaddik himself or by some other distinguished +person in the community. The Chassidim also effected many changes in the +liturgy. Instead of the German they adopted the Spanish ritual. They +excised many prayers which, lacking the authority of antiquity, were +cumbrous in form or objectionable in matter. They inserted new prayers and +hymns of their own. They paid little regard to the prescribed hours at +which public worship should be held. Prayer began when they had got +themselves into the proper devotional frame of mind. Frequent ablutions, +perusal of mystical writings, introspective meditation were the means by +which they sought to gain the befitting mood. The prayers themselves were +accompanied by the usual phenomena of religious excitement. Some in the +zeal of their devotion began to dance; others were rapt in a motionless +ecstasy; some prayed aloud; others in solemn silence. They justified their +abrogation of fixed hours for prayer by saying that you cannot order a +child when to speak with its father: such restraint were fit only for +slaves. + +As a rule the larger number of the younger Chassidim were able to devote +their whole time to religious exercises. It was the custom among the Jews +in Eastern Europe for the young men to live at the expense of their own or +their wives' parents, in order that they might give themselves up entirely +to religious study. According to the old notions, this meant the study of +the Talmud and its Commentaries; the Chassidim who cared little for the +legal side of Jewish literature betook themselves to the literature of +edification and mysticism. No small part of their time was taken up with +endless conversations about the Zaddik, his piety, goodness, and self- +sacrifice and the wonderful miracles which he had wrought. If a Zaddik was +living in his own town, the youthful Chassid spent as many hours as he +could in the Zaddik's company, in order to observe and study this embodied +Torah as constantly as possible. Where no Zaddik was at hand, periodical +pilgrimages were made to the town in which he lived, and endless were the +tales which were afterwards repeated, to those who were obliged to stay at +home, of the Zaddik's marvellous wisdom and extraordinary deeds. The last +hours of the Sabbath day were looked upon as a special season of grace, +and the Chassidim were therefore in the habit of collecting together in +the waning of the Sabbath and celebrating the so-called "Supper of the +Holy Queen." The meal was accompanied by the usual conversations as well +as by hymns and prayers. + +The Chassidim were second to no other sect in their loyalty and affection +for each other. No sacrifice for a brother Chassid was too great. They +knew no difference of rich and poor, old and young, wise and ignorant; for +they all, with one accord, worshipped one common ideal, the Zaddik, who in +his exalted position was equally raised above them all. Before him all +minor differences of rank disappeared. When a Chassid travelled, he had no +scruple in asking for lodging or entertainment in the house of any Chassid +who could afford to give them. If he was in money difficulties the purse +of his host was at his disposal. If that was not sufficient, it was +supplemented by a grant from the fund of the community. These gifts were +not looked upon in the light of charity either by giver or receiver; they +were made to the Zaddik, to whom all Chassidim alike were debtors. It +sometimes even happened that a Zaddik said that the son of some rich +merchant was to marry the daughter of a poor schoolmaster, and both +parties were equally delighted to fulfil the wish of their beloved chief. + +It may easily be imagined that the innovations of the Chassidim provoked +the wrath of the orthodox communities. But in their detestation of the +Rabbis the Chassidim returned in full measure all the hatred they +received. The Zaddik is the Moses of his age: the Rabbis its Korah and +Abiram. Where the Chassidic party in any community gained the upper hand, +the Rabbi was deposed and a Zaddik, if that was possible, elected in his +place. The issue of these bitter attacks upon the old nobility of the +Jewish race was a rigorous persecution. In many places the Chassidim were +excommunicated, in others their leaders were publicly scourged and put +into the stocks. Their books were burnt and their synagogues forcibly +closed. But persecution produced only the usual result of increasing the +popularity and the numbers of the sect. The devotion of the Chassidim to +each other and to their common cause was increased a hundred-fold by +suffering. In one case a distinguished Zaddik was accused of treason, +before the Russian authorities, and was thrown into prison. In Russia, +however, the power of money is considerable, and on payment of a large +ransom not only was the beloved Zaddik released but as an obvious +consequence his reputation greatly profited: the day of his release was +celebrated as a yearly festival, while his sufferings were regarded by his +followers as a sin-offering that atoned for the iniquities of his age. +From this time the government maintained a purely neutral attitude towards +the new sect, and ere long the persecution by the orthodox ceased. + +The cessation of persecution may possibly be accounted for by the fact +that Chassidism as a secession soon ceased to be formidable. There were +early divisions within the sect. Even Beer's disciples began to quarrel +over theological differences and to found separate communities. When once +the course of corruption and spiritual decay had begun, it was the +interest of the false Zaddikim to accentuate these differences. Each +Zaddik sought to have a whole little sect to himself, from which to draw +an undivided revenue. And each deluded little sect as it arose boasted of +the exclusive possession of the true Zaddik. + +It must not be supposed that these strictures apply to the whole class of +Zaddikim. The greater number of Baalshem's leading disciples as well as +Beer's were beyond question men of pure, unalloyed piety, who would have +rejected with scorn any idea of making a trade of their sacred profession. +Their motives and their zeal were alike ideal. Many gave up highly paid +posts as Rabbis when they joined the new sect. Some emigrated to Palestine +to lead a holy life on holy ground, others sought to become religious +specialists, following out practically, although with some exaggeration, a +favourite doctrine of the Founder, that he who observes but one +commandment devotedly and lovingly, may reach the goal desired: the union +with God. Thus one Zaddik made it his business never to tell the smallest +falsehood, whatever the cost or the inconvenience of truth might be. It is +related that the Russian Government, suspecting the Jews of his town of +smuggling, consented to withdraw the charge if he declared his brethren +innocent. Having no alternative but either to bring misfortune on his +brethren or to tell an untruth, he prayed to God to save him from this +dilemma by sending death upon him. And lo! when the officials came to +fetch him before the law court they found him dead. Another, thinking that +the commandment in Exodus xxiii. 3, relating to the help that should be +given to a neighbour or enemy when "his ass is lying under its burden," +was practically unobserved, devoted himself to its fulfilment. He was +continually to be seen in the streets, helping one man to load his waggon, +and another to drag his cart out of the mire. A third made the service of +the oppressed his religious specialty. It is said that one day his wife, +having had a quarrel with her maid, was setting out to the magistrate of +the town to obtain satisfaction. Noticing that her husband was about to +accompany her, she asked him whither he was bound. He replied, "to the +magistrate." His wife declared that it was below his dignity to take any +part in a quarrel with a servant. She could deal with the matter herself. +The Zaddik replied, "That may be, but I intend to represent your maid, who +when accused by my wife will find no one willing to take her part." And +then, bursting into a passion of tears, he quoted Job xxxi. 13: "If I did +despise the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant, when they +contended with me, what shall I do when God riseth up?" + +Several Zaddikim were learned men and thinkers of no ordinary kind. The +works of Solomon Ladier or of Mendel Witipsker, read with attention and +without Western preconceptions, certainly give the impression of both +originality and depth of thought. But most characteristic of all is the +passionate yearning of authors such as these towards the Divine. The +reader is astonished and moved by the intense sincerity and ardour of +their longing after God. But, despite the adherence of these worthy men, +the fate of Chassidism, as a regenerative force, was sealed from the day +when Zaddikism replaced the original doctrines of the sect. + +For, apart from the obvious theological considerations already suggested, +there are two points of inherent weakness in the cult of the Zaddik which +naturally doomed it to perversion and failure. The necessary +qualifications for "Zaddikship" are wholly undefined. We hear a great deal +about what a Zaddik actually is, but we hear very little about what he +should be. The Zaddik has many virtues, but we are nowhere told what are +his indispensable qualifications. Moreover, the Zaddik is a being who can +be comprehended by the understanding as little as an angel, or as God +Himself. He is realised by faith, not conceived by thought. Hence there is +no human test of a true Zaddik except the test of miracles; and every +student of religious history knows the deceitful character of that test. + +The second source of danger arose from the Chassidim holding it to be +their sacred duty to provide for the Zaddik a life of comfort and ease. +The Zaddik must pursue his divine avocations undisturbed by grosser cares. +But what were the consequences? The Chassidim believed they could win the +grace and blessing of the Zaddik by the richness and variety of their +gifts. A Zaddik's career became a very profitable concern. The result of +both defects was that not only was the opportunity given for every +scheming charlatan to become a Zaddik, but inducements were offered to +make the deception lucrative. Hence the anxiety of the false Zaddikim, +already noticed, to found separate communities. + +Among the Chassidim of to-day there is not one in ten thousand who has the +faintest conception of those sublime ideas which inspired Baalshem and his +immediate disciples. It is still the interest of the wretched ringleaders +of a widely spread delusion to crush and keep down every trace of +reflection and thought so that they may play at will with the conscience +and purses of their adherents. The new scientific movement, inaugurated by +such men as Krochmal, Zunz, and others who came under the influence of the +German critical spirit, found in them its hottest and most fanatical +opponents. That the cult of the Zaddikim has not led to still more +disastrous consequences is solely due to the fact that the Chassidim in +general have remained faithful to the Law. It is the Law, against the +excessive study of which the original Chassidim protested, that has put +limits to the license of its modern false prophets. + +Amid much that is bad, the Chassidim have preserved through the whole +movement a warm heart, and an ardent, sincere faith. There is a certain +openness of character and a ready friendliness about even the modern +Chassidim which are very attractive. Religion is still to them a matter of +life and death. Their faith is still real enough to satisfy the demands of +a Luther, but it is diverted and wasted upon unworthy objects. If +Chassidism is to be reformed, its worship must no longer be of man; it +must be brought back again to the source of all Beauty, all Wisdom, and +all Goodness; it must be restored to God. + + + + + +II. NACHMAN KROCHMAL AND THE "PERPLEXITIES OF THE TIME" + + +In her good-natured panegyric of mediocrity which is known under the title +of _Scenes of Clerical Life_, George Eliot remarked: "Let us hope that +there is a saving ignorance." + +Strange as this demand may sound, the wish of the great novelist to see +her favoured mediocrities "saved," has been shared by the great majority +of mankind. I know that I, at least, echo that desire with all my heart. +And I am afraid that I am prompted by some rather selfish reasons. It +would be somewhat hard, when one is born with small abilities, but a great +desire for being saved, to be deprived of the hope held out by the author +of _Adam Bede_. + +But there are some, I am afraid, who are not satisfied with this dictum of +George Eliot. They show a strong tendency to make salvation a monopoly of +ignorance. This is a little too selfish. With all due respect to every +form of ignorance, sacred as well as profane, we ought, I think, to +believe that there is also such a thing as a saving knowledge. Nay, we +might go even farther. There may be certain epochs in history when there +is hardly any other path to salvation than knowledge, and the deep search +after truth. + +We all know the words of the Psalmist, "The Lord preserveth the simple." +But as there are periods in the life of the individual when naivete has to +give way to sagacity and reflection, so there are times in history at +which Providence does not choose to leave men in simplicity. At such times +doubts arise, as though of themselves; questions suddenly become open when +they had been supposed solved for centuries; and the human mind is stirred +by a sceptical breeze of which no man can tell whence it came. One may +under those circumstances be indifferent, but one can be simple no more. + +Even in such cases, however, man has no cause to despair. When our dearest +beliefs are shaken by all kinds of doubts, Providence sends us also great +thinkers, earnest lovers of truth, who devote their lives to enlightening +our puzzled minds. Not that these men try to answer all the questions by +which we feel perplexed. They endeavour to satisfy us, partly by showing +that many of our difficulties are not difficulties at all, but merely +arise from superficiality, and partly by proving that the great cause +about which we feel so much anxiety does not exactly depend on the +solution of the questions that are troubling us. They give to the things +which are dearer to us than our life a fresh aspect, which enables us to +remain attached to them with the same devotion and love as before. To +speak again in the words of the Psalmist: "Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, +and they are created, and Thou renewest the face of the earth." + +This spirit that renews the face of things is what I understand by "saving +knowledge." As men of that saving knowledge we may regard Rabban Johanan +ben Zaccai(19) and his disciples, who made it possible for Judaism to +survive the destruction of the Temple, which some believed to involve the +end of the religion. As such men we may look upon R. Saadiah Gaon and his +followers, who worked at a time when Judaism was menaced in its inner +life, namely in the tradition, by the attempts of the narrow-minded +Caraites to convert it into a bookish religion.(20) Such men were +Maimonides and his successors, who came to the aid of religion when it had +got into dogmatic troubles by reason of its coming into contact with +various philosophical systems. And in order to approach the subject of the +present essay, I venture to say that a man of such saving knowledge was +also Nachman Krochmal, who lived and laboured in the first half of the +present century, when Judaism had been terribly shaken by the scepticism +of Voltaire, and the platitudes of the so-called Mendelssohnian school. + +Nachman Krochmal was born on the 17th of February in the year 1785. His +father, Solomon Krochmal, was a merchant of Brody, a commercial frontier +town in the north-east of Galicia in Austria. In his early years Solomon +often used to visit Berlin for business purposes. He is said to have seen +Mendelssohn there on one occasion, and to have learned greatly to revere +the Jewish sage. And it is not unlikely that Nachman's subsequent +admiration for Mendelssohn was partly due to his father's influence. + +Solomon was a man of considerable wealth, and he, therefore, endeavoured +to give his son the best possible education. But as a respectable member +of a Polish community a hundred years ago, Solomon had to follow the +fashion adopted by his neighbours, and the best possible education +consisted in affording the child an opportunity to study the Talmud and +other Rabbinical works. All other languages and their literatures were +sealed books to the child--a very absurd and regrettable fashion indeed. +But let us not be too hard on Polish Jews. I have been told that there are +countries on our globe where people have been driven by the force of +fashion into the opposite extreme; where, with few exceptions, they think +that the Talmud, as well as the whole Hebrew literature, must needs be +excluded from the programme of a gentleman's education. + +Happily, or the reverse, Krochmal's childhood did not last long, for in +the year 1798 we find that Nachman, a boy of fourteen, was already married +to a Miss Haberman in Zolkiew. As a result of this foolish custom of +marrying at so very early an age, Nachman was hardly ever a boy; we have +at once to deal with him as a man. + +It was then customary in Poland, and perhaps is so still, for the father +of the bride to provide for the support of the young couple for some years +after their marriage. In order to reduce the expense of this arrangement, +the bridegroom had to reside in the same house as his father-in-law. Thus +we see Krochmal removing from Brody to Zolkiew, the native town of his +wife. Here Krochmal lived in the house of her father for many years, +entirely devoted to his studies; and he certainly needed all his time for +them. For he now began to expand the sphere of his education, to embrace +subjects quite new to him. By his marriage Nachman seems to have gained a +certain amount of independence, and the first use he made of it was to +study the _Guide of the Perplexed_(21) of Maimonides, the _Commentaries_ +of Ibn Ezra on the Bible,(22) and other more or less philosophical works +written in the Hebrew language. His next step was to learn German; but, as +his biographers inform us, he was not able to follow this course without +undergoing many struggles, and overcoming many obstacles. + +It would lead us too far to give a full account of the difficulties which +the young scholar had to conquer while pursuing his new studies. They will +be sufficiently characterised by the following extract from a Hebrew +letter of his disciple, Solomon Leb Rapoport, who, writing in 1841 +concerning his master and friend, remarks: "Consider this, ye inhabitants +of Germany"--and, I may add, ye inhabitants of England--"and you will be +astounded. It is easy for you to avoid being one-sided, and to study +different sciences, for you possess many schools and teachers from every +branch of learning. It is not so in Poland and Russia even at present, +much less was it so forty years ago. There is no teacher, no guide, no +supporter, for the Jew who desires any sort of improvement. The Jew who +wishes to enter on a new path of learning has to prepare the road for +himself. And when he has entered on it, his friend will come to him and +ask, 'Is it true that you have got scientific books in your house? Mind +you do not mention it to any one. There are enough bigots in the town to +persecute you and all your family if they get scent of it.' " It was under +these conditions that Krochmal pursued his studies, which were by no means +few or easy, for he was not content with a knowledge of only the lighter +portions of German literature. He soon began to read the works of Lessing, +Mendelssohn, and more especially of Kant, who always remained his +favourite philosopher. In his later years he also became acquainted with +the writings of Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. But to the last he could not +console himself for having missed the advantages of a systematic +university education. + +After having learned German, Krochmal proceeded to acquire a knowledge of +Latin and French, and to read the best books written in those languages. +To deepen his knowledge of Hebrew, he studied Arabic and Syraic, but we +are unable to say how far he succeeded in mastering these languages. With +these studies, which appear to have occupied our philosopher for an +interval of ten years after his marriage, the first period of his life +seems also to end. But the hard work of ten years did not pass over the +delicate youth without undermining his health for ever. At the age of +twenty-four, Krochmal fell sick of an illness which compelled him to +interrupt his work. He was forced to go to Lemberg to consult the doctors +of that town, and he had to remain there for a long time. And now began +Krochmal's career as a teacher. For during his stay at Lemberg there +gathered round him a band of young scholars whom Krochmal's fame had +already reached. It is useless to enumerate the names of all these +students. Among them figured Isaac Erter, Samson Bloch, A. Bodek, and many +others. The most gifted of them was undoubtedly Rapoport, who afterwards +became even more famous than his master Krochmal. It is not easy to define +accurately the relation that subsisted between these two men. Graetz, in +his history, calls Rapoport a disciple of Krochmal. Rapoport himself, in +his memoir of Krochmal, describes the latter as a dear friend with whom he +was wont to discuss literary topics. Zunz does not mention Rapoport at all +in his account of our author. It seems to me that this relation may be +most aptly defined by the Talmudic term "Talmid-Chaber,"(23) "disciple- +colleague." + +Indeed, Krochmal's whole method of teaching was rather that of a companion +than of a professor. He gave no set lectures on particular subjects, but +conveyed his instruction rather by means of suggestive conversations with +his younger friends. His usual habit was to walk with his pupils in the +neighbourhood of the town, and to try to influence their minds each in +accordance with its bent. If any of his disciples showed an inclination +for poetry, Krochmal sought to refine his taste by directing his attention +to the best works in Hebrew and German literature. To another, whose fancy +strayed into mysticism, he recommended the writings of Philo and Ibn Ezra, +at the same time suggesting how the works of the latter should be +interpreted. A third who, like Rapoport, was interested in historical +researches, Krochmal instructed in the methods of critical inquiry. + +There must have been some fascinating charm in Nachman's personality, +which made him irresistible to all who came into contact with him. +Rapoport has described his first interview with Krochmal. "It is more than +thirty years since I first made his acquaintance, and beheld the glory of +his presence. Though he was in weak health, still his soul was strong; and +as soon as I conversed with him there came over me a spirit of judgment +and knowledge. I felt almost transformed into another man." Elsewhere the +same writer says: "Oh, how sweet to me were these walks with +Krochmal--sweeter than all the pleasures of this world. I could never have +enough of his wisdom; with his every word he conveyed a new lesson." + +After a lengthy stay at Lemberg, Krochmal partially, though not entirely, +recovered from his severe illness; he remained weak and pale for the rest +of his days. His antagonists, the Chassidim, believed him to be possessed +by a demon who could find no better dwelling-place than in the person of +this arch-heretic. Had it been in their power they would probably have +dragged him to some exorcist for the purpose of driving out his German, +French, Latin, and other symptoms of demoniacal heresy. Happily the +orthodox were powerless to do this, so Krochmal was left unmolested, and +was allowed to resume his walks and studies. It may be here remarked that +Krochmal in general avoided giving the Chassidim any cause for reasonable +complaint. Rapoport asserts that his master was "deeply religious and a +strict observer of the law. He was zealously anxious to perform every +ordinance, Biblical or Rabbinical." The only liberty that Krochmal claimed +for himself and his disciples was the right to study what they thought +best and in the way they thought best. When this liberty was attacked, he +showed a firmness and resolution which would hardly have been expected +from this quiet and gentle man. To one of his pupils, who made concessions +to the Chassidim and their Zaddikim worship, Krochmal wrote: "Be firm in +this matter unless you wish to earn the contempt of every honest man. One +who is afraid of these people, and debases himself before them bears a +mean soul that was born to slavery. The man that wishes to rise above the +mob, with its confused notions and corrupt morality, must be courageous as +a lion in conquering the obstacles that beset his path. Consideration of +what people will say, what bigots will whisper, what crafty enemies will +scheme--questions such as these can have but one effect,--to darken the +intellect and confuse the faculty of judgment." + +So Krochmal continued his studies without interruption till 1814, when the +death of his wife's mother brought his period of ease and comfort to an +end. His father-in-law seems to have died some time before, and Krochmal +was forced to seek his own living. He became a merchant, but it is to be +regretted that he did not prove as successful a man of business as he was +a man of letters. He found it a hard struggle to earn a living. But the +severest trial which he had to undergo was the death of his wife in 1826. +In a letter, dating from about this time, to a friend who had asked him +for assistance in his philosophical inquiries, Krochmal wrote--"How can I +help you now? I am already an old man; my head is gray, and my health is +broken. In the last three years I have met with many misfortunes. My +beloved wife died after a long illness. My daughter will soon leave me to +get married, my elder son will depart to seek his livelihood, and I shall +be left alone with only a child of ten years, the son of my old age. I +will lift up mine eyes unto the hills: From whence shall my help come?" + +Nachman was evidently in very low spirits at this time, but he was in too +true a sense a philosopher to despair. He turned for comfort to his +studies, and at this dark epoch of his life he first became acquainted +with the Philosophy of Hegel, whose system he was wont to call the +"Philosophy of Philosophies." + +For the next ten years the works of Hegel and inquiries into Jewish +history appear to have absorbed all the leisure that his mercantile +occupation left him. We shall presently see what the result of these +studies was. No fresh subjects were undertaken by Krochmal in the last +years of his life; he had already acquired a fund of knowledge vast enough +to engage all his thoughts. There are, however, some remaining points in +his private circumstances which it may not be uninteresting to mention. + +Krochmal, as has been already related, was not prosperous in his business. +Things went from bad to worse, and he was compelled in 1836 to seek a +situation. "There ought to be literary men poor," some writer has +maintained, "to show whether they are genuine or not." This test Krochmal +successfully passed through. Even as a young man Nachman's strength of +character was admired by his contemporaries not less than his rare +learning. In his subsequent distress, he gave evidence of the truth of +this judgment. Despite his poverty, his friends could not prevail upon him +to accept the post of Rabbi in any Jewish community. "I am unwilling," he +wrote to a friend, "to be the cause of dissensions in any Jewish +congregation. I should prefer to die of hunger rather than become a Rabbi +under present circumstances." He expressed his views on this subject even +more decidedly on a later occasion when the Berlin congregation offered +him the post of Chief Rabbi in that town. In a letter, conveying his +refusal of this honourable office, he says: "I never thought of becoming +the Conscience-counsellor (_Gewissensrath_) of men. My line of studies was +not directed to that end, nor would it accord with my disposition and +sentiments. The only post that I should care to accept would be that of +teacher in the Jewish Theological Seminary, which, as I was informed, you +were thinking of establishing in Berlin." The plan to found such an +institution was not realised till forty years later, and in the interval +Nachman had to look for his living in other regions than Jewish theology. +Being in poor circumstances, and as his children and friends had left him, +he felt very lonely at Zolkiew. "Nobody cares for me here," he writes, +"and I am equally indifferent." His one desire was to obtain a situation +at Brody, possibly as book-keeper with a salary of some thirty pounds a +year, on condition that he would be expected to devote only half the day +to his business duties, thus securing for himself leisure for +philosophical studies. + +His terms were accepted, and he obtained the humble post he sought. He +remained in Brody for the next two years, 1836-8, but at the end of 1838 +he fell so dangerously ill that he could no longer resist the pressing +request of his daughter to live with her at Tarnopol. She had urged him to +take this step even previous to his removal to Brody, but he had declined +on the plea that he preferred to live by the labour of his hands. Now, +however, he yielded to her wish, and betook himself to Tarnopol, where for +two years longer he lived affectionately tended by his children and +respected by all who knew him. In May 1840, Krochmal's illness began to +develop fatal symptoms, and he died in the arms of his daughter on the +31st of July (the first of Ab), at the age of fifty-five. As Zunz happily +remarked: "This great man was born on the 7th of Adar, the birthday of +Moses (according to Jewish tradition), and died on the first of Ab, the +anniversary of the death of Aaron, the High Priest." + +I have tried in the foregoing remarks to give a short sketch of our +Rabbi's life according to the accounts of Zunz, Rapoport, and Letteris. +There is one other point to which I must allude, as it involves a +consideration on which Letteris seems to lay much stress. This biographer +appears to think that Krochmal was in his youth greatly influenced by the +society in which he moved, consisting as it did of many learned and +enlightened men. There is, too, the oft-quoted saying of Goethe:-- + + + Wer den Dichter will verstehen + Muss in Dichters Lande gehen. + + +And I am probably expected to give some account of the state of society in +which Nachman grew up. I regret that I must ask to be excused from doing +so. I cannot consent to take the reader to Krochmal's land. And if I might +venture to give him my humble advice, I should only say, "By all means +stop at home." Goethe may be right about the poet, but his remark does not +apply to the case of the scholar. It may be true, as some think, that +every great man is the product of his time, but it certainly does not +follow that he is the product of his country. Nor could I name any other +country of which Krochmal was the product. Many a city no doubt boasted +itself a town full of "_Chakhamim_ and _Sopherim_"(24) as the Hebrew +phrase is, or, as we would express it, "a seat of learning," full of +scholars of the ancient and modern schools. But neither these ancient +scholars nor the modern were of a kind to produce a real scholar and an +enlightened thinker like Krochmal. There were many men who knew by heart +the whole of the Halachic works of Maimonides, the Mishnah, and even the +whole of the Babylonian Talmud. This is very imposing. But if you look a +little closer, you will find that with a few exceptions--such as the school +of R. Elijah Wilna--these men, generally speaking, hardly deserve the name +of scholars at all. They were rather a sort of studying engines. The +steam-engine passes over a continent, here through romantic scenery, there +in the midst of arid deserts, by stream and mountain and valley, always +with the same monotonous hum and shriek. So these scholars went through +the Talmud with never changing feelings. They did not rejoice at the +description which is given in tractate _Biccurim_(25) of the procession +formed when the first-fruits were brought into the Holy Temple. They were +not much saddened when reading in tractate _Taanith_(26) of the unhappy +days so recurrent in Jewish history. They were not delighted by the wisdom +of _Seder Nezikin_,(27) which deals with civil law; nor were they vexed of +_Seder Taharoth_,(28) which treats of the laws of cleanliness and +uncleanliness, that by their exaggeration gave cause to much dissension in +the time of the Temple. The pre-Talmudic literature, such as the _Siphra_, +_Siphre_, and _Mechilta_(29)--the only existing means of obtaining an +insight into the Talmud--were altogether neglected. All that these readers +cared for was to push on to the end, and the prayer recited at the close +was of more importance to them than the treatise they had perused. + +Not less melancholy was the spectacle presented by the so-called men of +"Enlightenment" (_Aufklaerung_). They belonged chiefly to the rationalistic +school of Mendelssohn, but they equalled their master neither in knowledge +nor in moral character. It was an enlightenment without foundation in real +scholarship, and did not lead to an ideal life, though again I must add +that there were exceptions. These men were rather what Germans would term +_Schoengeister_, a set of dilettanti who cared to study as little as +possible, and to write as much as possible. They wrote bad grammars, +superficial commentaries on the Bible, and terribly dull poems. Of this +literature, with the exception of Erter's _Watchman_,(30) there is +scarcely a work that one would care to read twice. Most of them despised +Rabbinism, but without understanding its noblest forms as they are to be +traced in the Talmud and later Hebrew literature. They did not dislike +Judaism, but the only Judaism they affected was one "which does not oppose +itself to anything in particular"; or, as Heine would have described it, +"Eine reinliche Religion." In one respect these little men were great: in +mutual admiration, which reached such a pitch that such titles as "Great +Luminary," "World-famed Sage," were considered altogether too +insignificant and commonplace. + +I will now pass to the writings of Krochmal. It must be premised that +Krochmal was not a voluminous author. All his writings, including a few +letters which were published in various Hebrew periodicals, would scarcely +occupy four hundred pages. Krochmal used to call himself "der ewige +Student" (the perpetual pupil). He did not read books, nor study +philosophical systems, with the object of writing books of his own on +them. He read and studied in order that he might become a better and a +wiser man. Besides, he did not think himself competent to judge on grave +subjects, nor did he consider his judgment, even if he formed one, worthy +of publication. He counselled his friends to be equally slow in publishing +their views to the world. "Be not," he wrote to a correspondent,--"be not +hasty in forming your opinions before you have studied the literature of +the subject with care and devotion. This is no easy matter, for no man can +obtain any real knowledge of the Torah and philosophy unless he is +prepared to give himself up in single-hearted devotion to his studies." +Severe though he was to his friends, he was still more severe to himself. +Though he had been collecting materials on subjects of Jewish history and +philosophy from his early youth, it was not until he had endured much +persuasion and pressure from his friends that he began to write down his +thoughts in a connected form. We thus possess only one work from the pen +of this author; but that work is the _Guide of the Perplexed of the +Time_,(31) a posthumous book published in 1851, eleven years after +Krochmal's death. His work had been much interrupted by illness during the +last years of his life, and as a necessary consequence many parts of his +treatise finally remained in an unfinished state. Krochmal commissioned +his children to hand over his papers to Zunz, who was to arrange and edit +them as best he might. Zunz, who in his reverence for Krochmal went so far +as to call him the man of God, gladly accepted the task, in which he was +aided by Steinschneider. Unfortunately, the work was published in Lemberg, +a place famous for spoiling books. Even the skill of these two great +masters did not suffice to save Krochmal's work from the fate to which all +the books printed in Lemberg seem inevitably doomed. Thus Krochmal's work +is printed on bad paper, and with faint ink; it is full of misprints and +the text is sometimes confused with the notes. A second edition appeared +in Lemberg in 1863; but, it is scarcely necessary to add, the reprint is +even worse than the original issue. + +The work occupies some 350 pages, and is divided into seventeen chapters. +The opening six treat of Religion in general. The author first indicates +the opposite dangers to which men are liable. On the one hand, men are +exposed to extravagant phantasy (_Schwaermerei_), superstition and +ceremonialism (_Werkheiligkeit_). Some, on the other hand, in their +endeavour to avoid this danger, fall into the opposite extreme, +materialism, unbelief, and moral degeneracy as a consequence of their +neglect of all law. He proceeds to say: Even in the ritual part of +religion, such as the regulations of the Sabbath, the dietary laws and so +forth, we find abstract definitions necessary, and differences of opinions +prevalent. In the dogmatic aspects of religion, dealing as they do with +the grave subjects of metaphysics, the mystery of life and death, the +destiny of man, his relation to God, reward and punishment, the inner +meaning of the laws,--in these spiritual matters, the difficulty of +accurate definition must be far greater and the opportunities for +difference of opinion more frequent and important. What guide are we to +follow, seeing that every error involves the most dangerous consequences? +Shall we abandon altogether the effort of thinking on these grave +subjects? Such a course is impossible. Do not believe, says Krochmal, that +there ever was a time when the religious man was entirely satisfied by +deeds of righteousness, as some people maintain. On the contrary, every +man, whether an independent thinker or a simple believer, always feels the +weight of these questions upon him. Every man desires to have some ideal +basis for his actions which must constitute his real life in its noblest +moments. Krochmal here quotes a famous passage from the Midrash.(32) The +Torah, according to one of our ancient sages, may be compared to two +paths, the one burning with fire, the other covered with snow. If a man +enters on the former path he will die by the heat; if he walks by the +latter path he will be frozen by the snow. What, then, must he do? He must +walk in the middle, or, as we should say, he must choose the golden mean. +But, as Krochmal suggests, the middle way in historical and philosophical +doubts does not consist, as some idle heads suppose, in a kind of +compromise between two opposing views. If one of two contending parties +declares that twice two make six, while his opponent asserts that twice +two make eight, a sort of compromise might be arrived at by conceding that +twice two make seven. But such a compromise would be as false as either +extreme; and the seeker after the truth must revert to that mean which is +the heart of all things, independently of all factions, placing himself +above them. + +Having dealt with the arguments relating to the existence of God as +elaborated in the philosophical systems of his time, Krochmal leads up to +his treatment of the History of Israel by a chapter on the ideal gifts +bestowed upon the various ancient nations, which, possessed by them +through many centuries, were lost when their nationality ceased. We next +come, in Chapter VII., to the ideal gifts of Israel. These are the +religious gift and the faculty and desire for seeking the ideal of all +ideals, namely, God. But Israel, whose mission it was to propagate this +ideal, was, even as other nations, subject to natural laws; and its +history presents progress and reaction, rise and decline. Krochmal devotes +his next three chapters to showing how, in the history of Israel, as in +other histories, may be detected a triple process. These three stages are +the budding, the period of maturity, and the decay. As the history of +Israel is more a history of religion than of politics and battles, its +rise and decline correspond more or less with Israel's attachment to God, +and its falling away from Him. The decay would be associated with the +adoption of either of the extremes, the dangerous effects of which have +been already mentioned. But "through progress and backsliding, amid +infectious contact with idolatry, amid survival of old growths of +superstition, of the crude practices of the past; amid the solicitation of +new aspects of life; in material prosperity and in material ruin," Israel +was never wholly detached from God. In the worst times it had its judges +or its prophets, its heroes or its sages, its Rabbis or its philosophers, +who strove to bring Israel back to its mission, and who succeeded in their +efforts to do so. Even in its decay traces of the Divine spirit made +themselves felt, and revived the nation, which entered again on a triple +course and repeated its three phases. The first of these three-fold epochs +began, according to Krochmal's eighth chapter, with the times of the +Patriarchs, and ended with the death of Gedaliah after the destruction of +the first Temple. Next, in the following two chapters, Krochmal finds the +second triple movement in the interval between the prophets of the exile +in Babylon and the death of Bar-Cochba about 135 A.C. The author also +hints at the existence of a third such epoch beginning with R. Judah the +Patriarch, the compiler of the Mishnah (220 A.C.),(33) and ending with the +expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492). This idea is not further +developed by Krochmal; but it would be interesting to ask, by the way, in +which phase of the three-fold process--rise, maturity, or decay--are we at +the present time? + +The next five chapters may be regarded as an excursus on the preceding +two. Krochmal discusses the Biblical books which belong to the period of +the Exile and of the Second Temple, such as the Second Isaiah, certain +Exilic and Maccabean psalms, Ecclesiastes, certain Apocryphal books, and +the work of the Men of the Great Synagogue. They contain, again, +researches on the various sects, such as the Assideans, Sadducees, +Pharisees, Essenes, the Gnostics, the Cabbalists and their relation to the +latter, and the Minim,(34) who are mentioned in the Talmud. In another +part of this excursus Krochmal describes the systems of the Alexandrian +Jewish philosophers, such as Philo and Aristobulus, and discusses their +relation to certain theosophic ideas in various Midrash-collections. The +author also attempts to prove the necessity of Tradition; he shows its +first traces in the Bible, and explains the term Sopherim (scribes); and +he points out the meaning of the phrase "A law unto Moses from Mount +Sinai,"(35) and similar expressions. He gives a summary of the development +of the Halachah in its different stages, the criteria by which the older +Halachahs may be discriminated; he seeks to arrive at the origin of the +Mishnah, and deals with various cognate topics. In another discourse +Krochmal endeavours to explain the term Agadah,(36) its origin and +development; the different kinds of Agadah and their relative value. +Chapter XVI. contains the Prolegomena to a philosophy of the Jewish +religion in accordance with the principles laid down by Hegel. In the +seventeenth and last chapter the author gives a general introduction to +the Philosophy of Ibn Ezra, and quotes illustrative extracts. + +The space of an essay does not permit me to give further details of +Krochmal's book. I am conscious that the preceding outline is deficient in +quality as well as in quantity. Yet, even from this meagre abstract, the +reader will gather that Krochmal reviews many of the great problems which +concern religion in general and Judaism in particular. Zunz somewhere +remarks that Krochmal was inspired in his work by the study of Hegel, just +as Maimonides had been by the study of Aristotle. I give this statement +solely on the authority of Zunz, as I myself have never made a study of +the works of the German philosopher, and am therefore unable to express an +opinion on the question. + +Now there is no doubt that Krochmal's book is not without defects. The +materials are not always well arranged, there is at times a want of +proportion in the length at which the various points are treated, and the +author occasionally seems to wander from the subject in hand. But we shall +be better able to account for these and similar technical faults, as well +as to appreciate the real value of the author's work, if we consider the +following fact. Nachman Krochmal's object was to elaborate a philosophy of +Jewish history, to trace the leading ideas that ran through it, and the +ultimate causes that led to its various phases. But, unfortunately, at the +time when Krochmal began to write, there did not exist a Jewish history at +all. The labours of Zunz were conducted in an altogether different field. +Not to mention the names of the younger scholars then unborn, Graetz, the +author of the _History of the Jews_, and Weiss, who wrote a history of the +Tradition, were still studying at college. Frankel's masterly essays on +the Essenes and the Septuagint, his well-known work, _Introduction to the +__ Mishnah_, and the results of Geiger's most interesting and suggestive +researches on the older and later Halachah, and on the Pharisees and +Sadducees, had yet to be written. Rapoport's great treatise, _Erech +Millin_,(37) had not been published at that time, and Steinschneider was +not yet working at his historical sketch of Jewish literature. It was not +till six years after Krochmal's death (viz. in 1846) that Landauer's +memorable studies on the Jewish mystics were given to the world. Even the +bad books of Julius Fuerst, such as his _History of the Canon_, and his +still worse _History of Jewish Literature in Babylon_, were then +unwritten. Neither the most charlatanic _History of the Opinions and +Teachings of All the Jewish Sects_, by Peter Beer, the universal provider, +nor Jost's most honest but narrow-minded and superficial _History of the +Jews_, was of much use to Krochmal. Jost's more scholarly works were not +published till long afterwards. Krochmal was thus without the guidance of +those authorities to which we are now accustomed to turn for information. +Excepting the aid that he derived from the writings of Azariah de +Rossi,(38) Krochmal was therefore compelled to prosecute all the necessary +research for himself; he had to establish the facts of Jewish history as +well as to philosophise upon them. Hence, in the very midst of his +philosophical analysis, the author was bound to introduce digressions on +historical subjects, in order to justify as well as to form the basis of +that analysis. He had to survey the ground and to collect the materials, +besides constructing the plan of the edifice and working at its erection. +Nevertheless, it is precisely for these historical excursuses that +Krochmal has deserved the gratitude of posterity. He it was who taught +Jewish scholars how to submit the ancient Rabbinic records to the test of +criticism and the way in which they might be utilised for the purpose of +historical studies; he it was who enabled them to trace the genesis of the +tradition, and to watch the inner germination of that vast organism. He +even indicated to them how they might continue to connect their own lives +with it, how they might derive nourishment from it, and in their turn +further its growth. I may assert with the utmost confidence that there is +scarcely a single page in Krochmal's book that did not afterwards give +birth to some essay or monograph or even elaborate treatise, though their +authors were not always very careful about mentioning the source of their +inspiration. Thus Krochmal justly deserves the honourable title assigned +to him by one of our greatest historians, who terms him the Father of +Jewish Science. + +So far, I have been speaking of the importance of Krochmal's treatise and +of its significance in the region of Jewish Science. It is necessary, I +think, to add a few words with regard to the general tendency of his whole +work. I have already alluded to the characteristic modesty of Krochmal; I +have pointed out how little he cared for publicity, how dearly he loved +retirement. The question accordingly presents itself--What can have been +the real and sufficient causes that prevailed upon him to yield to the +solicitations of his friends and to write upon what the Talmud would term +"matters standing on the heights of the world"? + +The answer to this question may, I think, be found in the title of +Krochmal's book, the _Guide of the Perplexed of the Time_. It is indeed a +rather unusual coincidence for the title of a Hebrew book to have any +connection with its subject matter. The same merit is possessed by the +_Guide of the Perplexed_ of Maimonides, the title of which undoubtedly +suggested that of Krochmal's treatise. There is, however, one little +addition in Krochmal's title that contains a most important lesson for us. +I mean the words "of the Time." By these words Krochmal reminds us that, +great as are the merits of the immortal work of Maimonides--and it would be +difficult to exaggerate its value and importance--still it will no longer +suffice for us. For, as Krochmal himself remarks, every time has its own +perplexities, and therefore needs its own guide. In order to show that +these words are no idle phrase, I shall endeavour to illustrate them by +one example at least. In the _Guide of the Perplexed_ of Maimonides, Part +II., Chapter XXVI., occurs a passage which runs thus: "In the famous +chapters known as the 'Chapters of R. Eliezer the Great,'(39) I find R. +Eliezer the Great saying something more extraordinary than I have ever +seen in the utterances of any believer in the Law of Moses. I refer to the +following passage: 'Whence were the heavens created? He (God) took part of +the light of His garment, He stretched it like a cloth, and thus the +heavens were extending continually, as it is said (Ps. civ. 2): He +covereth Himself with light as with a garment, He stretcheth the heavens +like a curtain. Whence was the earth created? He took of the snow under +the throne of glory, and threw it; according to the words (in Job xxxvii. +6), He said to the snow be thou earth.' These are the words given there +(in the 'Chapters of R. Eliezer the Great'), and I, in my surprise, ask, +What was the belief of this sage? Did he think it impossible that +something be produced from nothing?... If the terms 'the light of His +garment' and the 'snow of glory' mean something eternal (as matter) they +_must_ be rejected.... In short, it is a passage that greatly confuses the +notions of all intelligent and religious persons. I am unable to explain +it sufficiently." + +So far Maimonides; and we are quite able to conceive his perplexity in +dealing with this passage. On one side, Maimonides himself believed that +Judaism is a dogmatic religion, and that one of its dogmas is the +principle of _Creatio ex nihilo_. On the other side, he found R. +Eliezer--one of the greatest authorities of the early part of the second +century--apparently denying this dogma. The perplexity was indeed a serious +one for Maimonides, but we find no difficulty whatever in extricating +ourselves from it. In the first place, there are many who cling to the +theory which holds that there are no dogmas in Judaism at all, and to them +Maimonides' difficulty would have no relevance. Secondly, those who +believe that there are dogmas in Judaism may regard such expressions as +those quoted above from the "Chapters of R. Eliezer" in the light of mere +poetical metaphors, or may call them fairy tales or legends, or include +them in some other section of literature, known under the name of +folklore, which is an excuse for every absurdity, the fortunate authors of +which are responsible neither to philosophy nor to religion, and sometimes +not even to common sense. But there is a third consideration that affords +the best solution of the difficulty. The "Chapters of R. Eliezer," despite +their pompous title, are not the work of R. Eliezer at all. Criticism has +taught us to attach no importance to the heading of a chapter or the +title-page of a book. We are now in a position to judge from the tone, +style, and contents of the work, that the "Chapters of R. Eliezer" is a +later compilation of the eighth century, and that its author could not +have been R. Eliezer, the teacher of R. Akiba, in the second century. In +this way, these particular difficulties of Maimonides solve themselves for +us in a sufficiently easy way. But it is just these solutions that open up +new difficulties and perplexities which did not exist for the generation +of the great Spanish philosopher. Suppose that we accept the view that +Judaism is not a dogmatic religion. But how are we to conceive a religion +without dogmas, or, if you prefer the expression, without principles or +bases of belief? Or is Judaism, as some platitudinarians think, a mere +national institute with some useful dietary and sanitary laws, but with +nothing that makes for the sanctification of man, with no guidance to +offer us in the great problems of our life, and in the greatest anxieties +of the human soul? On the other hand, granted that we may consider certain +things as mere legend, how are we to discriminate between these and the +things that must be taken seriously? Does it depend on the nature of the +subject, or on the position of the book in the canon of Hebrew literature? +In the thirteenth century symbolical meanings were given to certain +difficult passages in the Talmud; but the process was carried further, and +the Biblical narratives were subjected by philosophers to a like +treatment. R. Solomon ben Adereth and his colleagues (in the thirteenth +century) settled the question by indiscriminately excommunicating all +young men who should study philosophy; but this method is scarcely one to +be commended for present use. + +The third, or the philological solution of difficulties, leads to fresh +troubles. A hundred years ago men were in that happy state of mind in +which they knew everything. They knew the exact author and date of every +Psalm; they knew the author of each and every ancient Midrash; they knew +the originator of every law and ordinance; they even knew the writer of +the Zohar, and of other mystical books. There were certainly a few who did +not know all these things, among them Ibn Ezra, Azariah de Rossi, and the +two Delmedigos.(40) But they were merely a miserable historical blunder, +men who had no right to be born when they were. But the philological +method has swept away all this knowingness as by a deluge from heaven, and +men find that they know nothing. True, there linger on a few who still +know all these things, but it is they who are now the anachronism. These, +and such as these, are the perplexities of our time, to the resolution of +which the labours of Krochmal and of a noble band of scholars have been +directed in this century. + +Have these perplexities, we must ask, and these puzzles been solved by +Krochmal and his coadjutors? We may with all certainty answer: They have +only pointed out the way, it is for ourselves to proceed by it. It would +be unreasonable to expect that difficulties which have been accumulating +during the course of thousands of years should be solved by the men of one +or two generations. Again, we live in a century in which excavations and +discoveries in other fields have added at once to our knowledge and to our +uncertainty. Each country, we might almost say, over and above the +perplexities that trouble mankind in general, has its own special +difficulties which are entirely unknown to those who dwell outside its +frontiers. I am not disposed to discuss these difficulties in this place. +Nor have I the ability to do so. But of two things I am perfectly certain: +the first is, that for a solution of these difficulties which, in the +language of Maimonides, "confuse the notions of all intelligent and +religious persons," the only hope is in true knowledge and not in +ignorance; and secondly, this knowledge can only be obtained by a +combination of the utmost reverence for religion and the deepest devotion +to truth. The poor old Rabbis who have been so foully decried by their +calumniators as hedonists, and so foolishly praised by sorry apologists as +materialistic optimists, strongly insisted that when a man woos the truth, +his suit can only prosper if he is influenced by the purest and most +single-hearted affection. "A man," says the Siphre, "must not say: 'I will +study the Torah in order that I may attain the title of Rabbi or savant, +or that I may become rich by it, or that I may be rewarded for it in the +world to come.' He must study for love's sake." Such a knowledge, which is +free from all taint of worldliness and of other-worldliness, a knowledge +sought simply and solely for pure love of God, who is Truth,--such a +knowledge is in the highest sense a saving knowledge, and Nachman Krochmal +was in possession of it. + + + + + +III. RABBI ELIJAH WILNA, GAON + + +The three great stars of German literature are usually characterised by +German scholars in the following way: Goethe they say represents the +beautiful, Schiller the ideal, while Lessing represents truth. I think +that we may apply the same characteristics to the three great luminaries, +with which the Jewish middle ages ceased--for as Zunz somewhere remarked, +the Jewish middle ages lasted till the beginning of the eighteenth +century--and the modern age of Judaism opened. I am thinking of Mendelssohn +in Germany, Israel Baalshem, the founder of the sect of the Chassidim in +Podolia, and Elijah Wilna, or as he is more frequently called, the +Gaon,(41) the Great One, in Lithuania. + +As to Mendelssohn, enough, and perhaps more than enough, has already been +written and spoken about his merits in awakening the sense for the +beautiful and the harmonious which was almost entirely dormant among the +Jews of his age. In regard to the second, namely, Israel Baalshem, I have +only to refer the reader to the first essay in this volume. The subject of +the present essay will be R. Elijah Wilna, who, among the Jews, as Lessing +among the Germans, represented truth, both by his life and by his literary +activity. + +I say that the Gaon represented truth, but these words must be taken _cum +grano salis_. For I do not mean at all to say that he was in possession of +the whole truth, still less in _exclusive_ possession of it. It is true as +we shall learn in the course of this essay, that the Gaon was a genius of +the first order. But there are matters of truth, the obtaining of which +cannot be accomplished by genius alone. R. Elijah Wilna did not know any +other language than Hebrew. Truths, therefore, which are only to be +reached through the medium of other languages, remained a secret to him. +Again, records of ancient times which are buried in the shelves of remote +libraries or under the ruins of past civilisations are not always a matter +of intuition. Even the most gifted of men have to wait patiently till +these are brought to light by the aid of spade and shovel, or the pen of +some obscure copyist. But R. Elijah lived at a time when excavation had as +yet done very little for Semitic studies, and when a Jew scarcely got +admittance into the great libraries of Europe. Thus much truth which we +get now in a very easy way was beyond this seer's eye. + +But even if all the libraries on earth had been at his disposal, even if +he had read all the cuneiform writings which ornament the British Museum, +and had deciphered all the Hieroglyphics which the Louvre possesses, even +in that case we should not be justified in terming him a representative of +the truth, without qualifying our words. + +"Truth," said the old Rabbis, "is the Seal of the Holy One, praised be +He." But Heaven has no Lord Chancellor. Neither men nor angels are trusted +with the great Seal. They are only allowed to catch a glimpse of it, or +rather to long after this glimpse. However, even the longing and effort +for this glimpse will bring man into communion with God, and make his life +divine. And the life of the Gaon was, as we shall see, one long effort and +unceasing longing after the truth. + +Again, if I say that the Gaon represented truth, you must not think that +he lacked the two other qualities. A life entirely devoted to such a great +cause as that of seeking the truth is, _ipso facto_, ideal and harmonious. +It is only in his influence on Judaism--more particularly on the Jews in +the North of Europe--that this feature in his life becomes more prominent +than his other admirable qualities. + +In what this truth consisted, how the Gaon arrived at it, and by what +means he conveyed it to others, we shall see in the course of this essay. + +R. Elijah was born at Wilna in the year 1720. His father, Solomon Wilna, +is called by his biographers the great Rabbi Solomon, and is said to have +been the descendant of R. Moses Rivkas, the author of a learned work, +containing notes to the Code of the Law by R. Joseph Caro.(42) + +Having quoted the biographers, I must point out that there are only two +biographies of the Gaon: the one by Finn, in his book _Faithful City_,(43) +on the celebrities of Wilna, the other by Nachman of Horodna, in his book +_Ascension of Elijah_.(44) The former is a very honest account of the +Gaon's life, but a little too short. The latter is too long, or rather too +much intermixed with that sort of absurd legend, the authors of which are +incapable of marking the line which separates the monster from the hero. + +Even in the region of imagination we must not for a moment forget the good +advice given to us by one of our greatest scholars who had to deal with a +kindred subject: "He," says this scholar, "who banishes the thought of +higher and lower from his study, degrades it into a mere means of +gratifying his curiosity, and disqualifies it for the lofty task which it +is called upon to perform for modern society." We shall thus cling to the +higher and stop at the hero. + +Our hero was the first-born of five brothers. They were all famous men in +their little world. According to the tradition in Wilna, Elijah was a +lovely child, with beautiful eyes, and goodly to look at, or as it is +expressed in another place, "as beautiful as an angel!" The tradition, or +rather the legend, relates that as a child of six years he was already the +pupil of R. Moses Margalith, the famous author of a commentary on the +Talmud of Jerusalem. At the age of seven years he is said to have already +perplexed the Chief Rabbi of his native town by his controversial skill in +Talmudical subjects. At the early age of nine he was acquainted with the +contents of the Bible, the Mishnah, the Talmud and its ancient +commentaries; and even the Cabbalistic works of R. Isaac Loria were no +secret to the youthful scholar.(45) At the age of twelve years he is said +to have acquired the seven liberal arts, and to have puzzled the scholars +of Wilna by his astronomical knowledge. At thirteen, when according to +Jewish law he attained his majority, he was already the accomplished or +"the great one" (Gaon); so far tradition. I am afraid that tradition is +here, against all experience, too exact in its dates. But we may learn +from it that the child Elijah showed many signs of the future Gaon, and +was therefore considered as the prodigy of his age. Again it is likewise +pretty certain that no man could boast of having been the master of +Elijah. He was not the product of any school, nor was he biassed by the +many prejudices of his time. He was allowed to walk his own way in his +struggle after truth. + +It is rather an unfortunate thing that history is so much made up of +parallels and contrasts that the historian or even the biographer cannot +possibly point out the greatness of some men without touching, however +slightly, on the smallness of others. It is only natural that every strong +shining object should push the minor lights of its surroundings into the +background and darken them. Thus, when we are speaking of the superiority +of the Gaon, we cannot escape hinting at least at the shortcomings of his +contemporaries, as well as of his predecessors. + +To indicate briefly in what this superiority consisted, I will premise +here a few words from a _Responsum_ by one of his great predecessors, the +Gaon Rabbi Hai.(46) Consulted by a student as to the meaning of certain +mystical passages in the tractate _Chagigah_,(47) Rabbi Hai, in warning +his correspondent not to expect from him a long philosophical +dissertation, writes as follows: "Know that it never was our business to +palliate matters and explain them in a way of which the author never could +have thought. This is fashionable with other people, but our method is to +explain the words of this or that authority in accordance with his own +meaning. We do not pledge ourselves that this meaning is 'right rule' in +itself, for there _do_ exist statements made by the old authorities that +cannot be accepted as norm." Thus far the words of the Gaon of the tenth +century, which speak volumes. The Gaon of the eighteenth century followed +the same course. All his efforts were directed to this point; namely, to +find out the true meaning of the Mishnah, the true meaning of the +Gemara,(48) the true meaning of the Gaonim, the true meaning of the great +codifiers, and the true meaning of the commentators on the ancient +Rabbinical literature. Whether this meaning would be acceptable to us +mattered very little to him. His only object was to understand the words +of his predecessors, and this he obtained, as we shall soon see, by the +best critical means. This was the method of the Gaon; that of other +scholars (at least of the great majority) was dictated by entirely +different considerations. They would not suffer the idea that the great +man could be wrong at times. To them, all that he said was "right rule." +Now suppose a great author like Maimonides had overlooked an important +passage in the Talmud or any other statement by a great authority, the +alternative remaining to them was either to explain away the passage of +the Talmud or to give the words of Maimonides a strange meaning. This led +originally to the famous method of the _Pilpul_ (casuistry), a kind of +spiritual gymnastic, which R. Liva of Prague in the sixteenth century, and +many others condemned as most pernicious to Judaism and leading to the +decay of the study of the Torah. + +Now it is beyond doubt that the method of the two Gaonim is the only right +one. But, in justice to the casuistic school, which includes many a great +name, it is only right to remember that this impartiality towards +acknowledged authorities as maintained by our hero is not at all such an +easy matter as we imagine. We quote often with great satisfaction the +famous saying, _Amicus Plato, amicus Socrates, sed magis amica veritas_, +"Plato is our friend, so is Socrates, but Truth is, or rather ought to be, +our greatest friend." This sounds very nicely, but let us only realise +what difficulties it involves. To be a friend of Socrates or Plato means +to know them, or in other words to have a thorough knowledge of the +writings of the one and the recorded utterances of the other. But such a +knowledge can with most men only be obtained by devoting one's _whole_ +life to the study of their works, so that there is not left much time for +new friendships. And the few who are able to save a few years after long +wanderings with these Greek philosophers, seldom see the necessity of new +friendships. For what else did those long courtships of Plato or Aristotle +mean except that those who conducted them thought that thereby they would +wed Truth? + +This impartiality is the more difficult when these friends are invested +with a kind of religious authority where humility and submission are most +important factors. The history of Lanfranc, the predecessor of Anselm of +Canterbury, gives a striking example of what this submission meant in the +Middle Ages. One day, we are told, when he was still an ordinary monk, he +was reading at the table and pronounced a word as it ought to be +pronounced, but not as seemed right to the person presiding, who bade him +say it differently; "as if he had said _docere_, with the middle syllable +long, as is right, and the other had corrected it into _docere_, with the +middle short, which is wrong; for that Prior was not a scholar. But the +wise man, knowing that he owed obedience rather to Christ than to Donatus, +the grammarian, gave up his pronunciation, and said what he was wrongly +told to say; for to make a short syllable long, or a long one short, he +knew to be no deadly sin, but not to obey one set over him in God's behalf +was no light transgression."(49) + +But this admiration--and here we turn again to the Gaon--must not prevent us +from believing that Providence is not confined to such ungrammatical +Priors, and that the men who are really working on behalf of God are those +who teach us to pronounce rightly, and to think rightly, and to take +matters as they are, not as we desire them to be on account of our +friends. + +As for the critical means to which I have alluded, the Gaon himself said +somewhere that simplicity is the best criterion of truth, and this is the +most characteristic feature of all his literary career. The Gaon studied +Hebrew grammar in order to obtain a clear notion of the language in which +the Scriptures are written. He tried to attain to the knowledge of the +Bible by reading the Bible itself; and was not satisfied to become +acquainted with its contents from the numerous quotations which are made +from it in Rabbinical literature. Again, he studied mathematics, +astronomy, and philosophy, as far as they could be found in Hebrew books. +Certainly the Gaon did not study these subjects for their own sake, and +they were considered by him only as a means to the end, or as the phrase +goes, as the "hand-maidens" of Theology, the queen of all sciences. But it +may be looked upon as a mark of great progress in an age when Queen +Theology had become rather sulky, continually finding fault with her hand- +maidens, and stigmatising every attention paid to them as conducive to +disloyalty. To these accusations the Gaon answered that Queen Theology +does not study her own interests. Knowledge of all arts and sciences, the +Gaon maintained, is necessary for the real understanding of the Torah +which embraces the whole of them. From his own writings it is evident that +he himself was familiar with Euclid, and his _Ayil Meshulash_ contains +several original developments of Euclid. It was at his suggestion that a +certain Baruch of Sclow translated Euclid into the Hebrew language. + +Another way which led the Gaon to the discovery of many truths was his +study of the pre-Talmudic literature, and of the Jerusalem Talmud. By some +accident or other it came to pass that only the Babylonian Talmud was +recognised as a guide _in the practices of religious life_. As the great +teachers and their pupils cared more for satisfying the religious wants of +their flocks than for theoretic researches, the consequence was that a +most important part of the ancient Rabbinic literature was almost entirely +neglected by them for many centuries. And it was certainly no +exaggeration, when R. Elijah said that even the Gaonim and Maimonides, +occupied as they were with the practical part of the law, did not pay +sufficient attention to the Talmud of Jerusalem and the Tosephta.(50) The +Gaon was no official head of any Jewish community, and was but little +troubled by decisions of questions which concern daily life. He was thus +in a position to leave for a little while the Babylonian Talmud and to +become acquainted with the guides of the guide. I refer to Siphra, Siphre, +Mechilta, Tosephta, the Seder Olam,(51) the Minor Tractates,(52) and above +all the Talmud of Jerusalem, which, regarded from an historical and +critical point of view, is even of more importance than its Babylonian +twin-brother. But by this means there came a new light upon the whole of +ancient Rabbinic literature. The words of the Torah, the Midrash says, are +poor in one place, but we shall find them rich in another place. The Gaon +by his acquaintance with the _whole_ of the Torah had no difficulty +whatever in discovering the rich places. If there was a difficult passage +in this or that Tractate, he showed, by giving a reference to some other +place, that it was wanting in some words or lines. Obscure passages in the +Mishnah he tried to elucidate by parallel passages in the Tosephta. The +too complicated controversies of the Babylonian Talmud he tried to explain +by comparing them with the more ancient and more simple Talmud of +Jerusalem. + +There is little to be told of the Gaon's private affairs. Even the date of +his marriage with a certain Miss Anna of Kaidon is not mentioned by his +biographers. But it may be taken for granted that, in accordance with the +custom in Poland, he married at a very early age, say about eighteen +years. It was also when a young man that he travelled for some years +through Poland and Germany. It is rather difficult to say what his object +may have been in making these travels--for the Gaon was not the man to +travel for pleasure's sake. Perhaps it was to become acquainted with the +great Rabbis of these countries. It is also possible, as others maintain, +that the Gaon considered the many privations which a traveller had to +endure a hundred and fifty years ago, as an atonement for his imaginary +sins. Indeed we find in many ascetic books that travelling, or as they +term it "receiving upon oneself to be banished into the exile,"(53) is +recommended as a very successful substitute for penance. At least it seems +that the coachmen whom the Gaon employed on his journeys looked at it from +this point of view. One of them went so far in adding to the privations of +the Gaon as to run away with his carriage when the Rabbi alighted from it +in order to read his prayers. But the reading of the Eighteen +Benedictions(54) must not be interrupted excepting in the case of danger; +and the Gaon did not consider it very dangerous to be left without money +and without luggage. + +These travels ended in the year 1745. The Gaon left Wilna again at a later +date with the purpose of going to Palestine and settling there. But he +found so many obstacles on his way that he was soon compelled to give up +his favourite plan and to return to his native town. It is not known +whether he left Wilna again. + +The position which the Gaon occupied in Wilna was, as already hinted, that +of a private man. He could never be prevailed upon to accept the post of +Rabbi or any other office in a Jewish community. I am unable to give the +reason for his declining all the offers made to him in this direction. But +it may be suggested here that it was in the time of the Gaon that there +arose a bitter struggle between the Rabbi and the Jewish wardens of his +native town, which ended in the abolition of the office of Rabbi. The +history of the struggle is the more irritating, as it arose from the +pettiest reasons imaginable. People actually discovered that there was no +light in the house of the Rabbi after the middle of the night, which fact +might lead to the conclusion that he did not study later than 12 o'clock +P.M. What an idle man! And this idleness was the less pardonable in the +eyes of the community, as the Rabbi's wife was so unfortunate as not to +have been polite enough to some Mrs. Warden. Under such circumstances we +must not wonder if the Gaon did not find it very desirable to meddle with +congregational affairs in an official capacity. The relation of the Gaon +to his contemporaries resembles rather the position in the olden times of +a Tanna or Amora,(55) who neither enjoyed the title of Nasin or that of Ab +Beth Din.(56) Like R. Akiba, or Mar Samuel, the Gaon became influential +among his contemporaries only by his teaching and his exemplary life. + +It must be said in praise of the Jews of Wilna that, notwithstanding their +petty behaviour towards their ecclesiastical chief, they willingly +submitted to the authority of the Gaon (who was devoid of all official +authority). They revered him as a saint. To converse with the Gaon was +considered as a happy event in the life of a Jew in Wilna, to be of any +use to him as the greatest distinction a man could attain on earth. But +what is remarkable is the readiness with which even scholars acknowledged +the authority of the Gaon. Scholars are usually more slow in recognising +greatness than simple mortals. Every new luminary does not only outshine +their minor lights and thus hurt their personal vanity, but it threatens +also sometimes to obscure certain traditions which they wish to keep +prominently in view. But the literary genius of the Gaon was too great to +be opposed with success, and his piety and devotion to religion far above +suspicion. Thus the Gaon was very soon recognised by his contemporaries as +their master and guide; not only in literary questions, but also in +matters of belief and conduct. + +It would lead me too far to name here all the Gaon's disciples. It seems +as if all the great scholars in his country considered themselves to be +more or less his pupils. The Gaon used to give in the Beth Hammidrash, +which he founded, public lectures on various subjects, and the students +who attended these lectures also claimed the honour of being called his +pupils. I shall mention here only his greatest disciple, R. Chayim +Walosin, who, after the Gaon, influenced his countrymen more than any +other scholar of that time. This R. Chayim also did not occupy any +official post among his brethren. He was a cloth manufacturer by +profession, and was very prosperous in his business. But it did not +prevent him from being devoted to Hebrew literature, and he enjoyed a +wide-spread fame as a great scholar. But as soon as the fame of the Gaon +reached him, he left cloth manufactory and scholarship behind, and went to +Wilna to "learn Torah" from the mouth of the great master. It must be +noticed that even the giving up of his claim to scholarship was no little +sacrifice. All our learning, said some scholar in Wilna, disappeared as +soon as we crossed the threshold of the Gaon's house. He made every +disciple who came into close contact with him begin at the beginning. He +taught them Hebrew grammar, Bible, Mishnah, and many other subjects, which +were, as already mentioned, very often neglected by the Talmudists of that +time. R. Chayim had also to go through all this course. Some would have +considered such treatment a degradation. R. Chayim, however, became the +more attached to his master for it. + +In such a way the life of the Gaon was spent, studying by himself or +teaching his pupils. It must be understood that to learn Torah meant for +the Gaon more than mere brain work for the purpose of gaining knowledge. +To him it was a kind of service to God. Contemporaries who watched him +when he was studying the Torah observed that the effect wrought on the +personality of the Gaon was the same as when he was praying. With every +word his countenance flushed with joy; with every line he was gaining +strength for proceeding further. Only by looking at matters from this +point of view shall we be able to understand the devotion and the love of +the Gaon for study. + +There has been, no doubt, among the Russian Jews a strong tendency to +exaggerate the intellectual qualities of the Gaon. But one can readily +excuse such a tendency. He was gifted by nature with such a wonderful +memory that, having read a book once, he was able to recite it by heart +for the rest of his life. Not less admirable was his sure grasp. The most +complicated controversies in the Talmud, into which other scholars would +require whole days and weeks to find their way, the Gaon was able to read +by a glance at the pages. Already as a boy he is said to have gone through +in a single night the tractates _Zebachim_ and _Menachoth_,(57) containing +not less than two hundred and thirty pages, the contents of which are +sometimes so difficult as to make even an aged scholar despair of +understanding them. Again, he possessed so much common-sense that all the +intellectual tricks of the casuistic schools did not exist for him. And +nevertheless his biographers tell us that he was so much occupied by his +studies, that he could not spare more than one hour and a half for sleep +out of twenty-four hours. This is, no doubt, an exaggeration. But let us +say five hours a day. He had not time to take his meals regularly. He used +also, according to tradition, to repeat every chapter in the Bible, every +passage in the Talmud, hundreds of times, even if they presented no +difficulty at all. But it was, as already said, a matter of love for the +Gaon; of love, not of passing affection. + +Nothing on earth could be more despicable to the Gaon than amateurs who +dabble with ancient literature. To understand a thing clearly made him +happy. He is said to have spent more than six months on a single Mishnah +in the tractate _Kilayim_,(58) and felt himself the happiest man when he +succeeded in grasping its real meaning. Not to be able to go into the +depth of a subject, to miss the truth embedded in a single passage, caused +him the most bitter grief. A story told by his pupil, R. Chayim, may +illustrate this fact. One Friday, narrates R. Chayim, the servant of the +Gaon came to him with the message that his master wanted to see him as +soon as possible. R. Chayim went instantly. When he came into the house, +he found the Gaon lying in bed with a bandage on his head and looking very +ill. The wife of the Gaon also reported to him that it was more than three +days since her husband had taken any food, and that he had hardly enjoyed +any sleep all this time. All this misery was caused by reason of not +having been able to understand some difficult passages in the Talmud of +Jerusalem. The Gaon now asked his disciples to resume with him their +researches. Heaven, he said, might have mercy upon them and open their +eyes, for it is written, "Two are better than one": and lo! Heaven did +have mercy on them; they succeeded in getting the true meaning of the +passage. The Gaon recovered instantly, and master and disciple had a very +joyful Sabbath. + +He is also reported to have said on one occasion, he would not like to +have an angel for his teacher who would reveal to him all the mysteries of +the Torah. Such a condition is only befitting the world to come, but in +_this_ world only things which are acquired by hard labour and great +struggle are of any value. The German representative of truth expressed +the same thought in other words, which are well worth repeating here: "Did +the Almighty," says Lessing, "holding in His right hand Truth and in His +left Search after Truth, deign to tender me the one I might prefer, in all +humility and without hesitation I should select Search after Truth." + +This absorption of all his being in the study of the Torah may also, I +think, account for the fact that his biographers have so little to say +about the family of the Gaon. Of his wife, we know only that she died in +the year 1783. Not much fuller is our knowledge about his children. The +biographers speak of them as of the family "which the Lord has blessed," +referring to his two sons, Rabbi Aryeh Leb and Rabbi Abraham, who were +known as great scholars and very pious men. The latter one is best known +by his edition of a collection of smaller Midrashim. Mention is also made +of the Gaon's sons-in-law, especially one Rabbi Moses of Pinsk. But this +is all, and we are told nothing either about their lives or their +callings. From his famous letter which he sent to his family when on his +way to Palestine, we see that he was rather what one may call a severe +father. He bids his wife punish his children most severely for swearing, +scolding, and speaking untruth. He also advises her to live as retired a +life as possible. Retirement he considers as a condition _sine qua non_ +for a religious life. He even advises his daughter to read her prayers at +home, for in the synagogue she may get envious of the finer dresses of her +friends, which is a most terrible sin. The only tender feature in this +letter is perhaps where he implores his wife to be kind to his mother on +account of her being a widow, and it were a great sin to cause her the +least annoyance. From other passages we may gather that his family had at +times to suffer hunger and cold by the excessive occupation of their +father with the study of the Torah and other religious works. In short, +the Gaon was a one-sided, severe ascetic, and would never have deserved +the title of a good father, a good husband, an amiable man or any other +appellation derived from those ordinary "household decencies" which, as +Macaulay informs us, half of the tombstones claim for those who lie behind +them. But I am very much afraid that many a great man who has made his +mark in history could never claim these household virtues as his own. I do +not want to enter here into the question whether Judaism be an ascetic +religion or not. But even those who think Judaism identical with what is +called "making the best of this life," will not dispute the fact that +Jewish literature contains within it enough ascetic elements to justify +the conduct of our greatest men whose lives were one long-continued self- +denial and privation. "The Torah," says the Talmud, "cannot be obtained +unless a man is prepared to give his life for it," or as the Talmud puts +it, in another place, "if it be thy desire not to die, cease to live +before thou diest." This was the principle by which the Gaon's life was +actuated. And as he did not spare himself, he could not spare others. We +could not expect him to act differently. The Scriptures tell us: "Thou +shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." But how is it with the man who never +loved himself, who never gave a thought to himself, who never lived for +himself, but only for what he considered to be his duty and his mission +from God on earth? Such a man we cannot expect to spend his time on +coaxing and caressing us. As to the charge of one-sidedness at which I +have hinted, if the giving up of everything else for the purpose of +devoting oneself to a scholarly and saintly life is one-sidedness, the +Gaon must certainly bear this charge; but in a world where there are so +many on the other side, we ought, I think, to be only too grateful to +Providence for sending us from time to time great and strong one-sided +men, who, by their counterbalancing influence, bring God's spoilt world to +a certain equilibrium again. To appease my more tender readers, I should +like only to say that there is no occasion at all for pitying Mrs. Gaon. +It would be a miserable world indeed if a good digestion and stupidity +were, as a certain author maintained, the only conditions of happiness. +Saints are happy in their sufferings, and noble souls find their happiness +in sacrificing themselves for these sufferers. + +Another severe feature in the life of the Gaon showed itself in his +dispute with the Chassidim. I regret not to be able to enter here even +into a brief account of the history of this struggle. I shall only take +leave to say that I am afraid each party was right, the Gaon as well as +the Chassidim; the latter, in attacking the Rabbis of their time, who +mostly belonged to the casuistic schools, and in their intellectual +pursuits almost entirely neglected the emotional side of religion; but +none the less was the Gaon right in opposing a system which, as I have +shown above, involved the danger of leading to a worship of men. + +Excepting this incident, the Gaon never meddled with public affairs. He +lived in retirement, always occupied with his own education and that of +his disciples and friends. It is most remarkable that, in spite of his +hard work and the many privations he had to endure, he enjoyed good health +almost all his life. He never consulted a doctor. It was not until the +year 1791, in the seventieth year of his life, that he began to feel the +decline of his health. But he was not much interrupted by the failure of +his powers. As a means of recovery, he esteemed very highly the +conversation of the preacher Jacob of Dubna, better known as the Dubna +Maggid,(59) whose parables and sallies of wit the Gaon used to enjoy very +much. On the eve of the Day of Atonement in the year 1797, he fell very +ill and gave his blessing to his children. He died on the third day of the +Feast of Tabernacles, with the branch of the Lulab(60) in his hands. The +Feast of Joy, relates a contemporary, was turned into days of mourning. In +all the streets of Wilna were heard only lamenting and crying voices. The +funeral orations delivered on this occasion in Wilna, as well as in other +Jewish communities, would form a small library. His disciples wept for +their master, the people of Wilna for the ornament of their native town, +and the feeling of the Jews in general was that "the Ark of God was taken +away." + +After the foregoing sketch, the reader will hardly expect me to give an +account of the Gaon's literary productions. The results of so long a life +and such powers of mind devoted to one cause with such zeal and fervour, +would furnish by themselves the subject of a whole series of essays. The +tombstone set on his grave by his pious admirers bears the inscription, +"The Gaon gave heed and sought and set in order"--that is to say, he wrote +commentaries or notes on--"the Bible, the Mishnah, both Talmuds, the +Siphre, Siphra, the Zohar, and many other works." Inscriptions on +tombstones are proverbial for exaggeration, and we all know the saying, +"as mendacious as an epitaph." But a glance at the catalogue of the +British Museum under the heading of Elijah Wilna, will show that this +inscription makes a praiseworthy exception. We will find that this list +might be lengthened by many other works of great importance for Jewish +life and thought. His commentary to the Code of R. Joseph Caro, in which +one will find that in many cases he knew the sources of the religious +customs and usages, put together in this work, better than its compiler +himself, would have been sufficient to place him at the head of Halachic +scholarship, whilst his notes and textual emendations to the Tosephta and +Seder Olam, to the restoration of which he contributed so much, would have +sufficed to establish his fame as a critic of the first order. And this is +the more astonishing when we consider that all this was done without +manuscripts or any other aid, and by mere intuition. We cannot wonder that +scholars who had the opportunity of visiting great libraries and saw how +the emendations of the Gaon agreed sometimes with the readings given in +the best manuscripts exclaimed very often: "Only by inspiration could he +have found out these secrets." We have no need to go so far; we shall +simply say with the Talmud, "The powers of the real sage surpass those of +the prophet." Nay, even had we possessed only his _Gleanings_, which form +a kind of _obiter dicta_ on various topics of Jewish literature, the Gaon +would have remained a model of clear thinking and real ingenuity for all +future generations. + +However, a real appreciation of the Gaon's greatness as a scholar would +only be possible either by a thorough study of his works, to which I have +alluded, or by giving many specimens of them. The short space I am limited +to makes such an undertaking impossible. I shall therefore use what +remains to me to say a few words on the salutary influence the Gaon had on +his countrymen, the Russian Jews. + +The Russian Jew is still a riddle to us. We know this strange being only +from the Reports of the Board of Guardians or from bombastic phrases in +public speeches; for he has always been the victim of platform orators, + + + So over violent or over civil, + That every man with them is God or Devil. + + +From all, however, that I can gather from the best Jewish writers in +Russia, I can only judge that the Russian Jew, when transplanted to a +foreign soil, where he is cut off from the past and uncertain of his +future, is for the time at least in a position in which his true character +cannot be truly estimated. His real life is to be sought in his own +country. There, amidst his friends and kinsmen who are all animated by the +same ideals, attached to the same traditions, and proud of the same +religious and charitable institutions, everything is full of life and +meaning to him. Thus, a certain Russian writer addresses his younger +colleagues who find so much fault with the bygone world: "Go and see how +rich we always were in excellent men. In every town and every village you +would find scholars, saints, and philanthropists. Their merits could +sustain worlds, and each of them was an ornament of Israel." And he +proceeds to give dozens of names of such excellent men, who are not all +indeed known to us, but with whom the Russian Jew connects many noble and +pious reminiscences of real greatness and heroic self-denial, and of whom +he is justly proud. + +The focus, however, of all this spiritual life is the Yeshibah (Talmudical +College)(61) in Walosin. I hope that a glance at its history and +constitution will not be found uninteresting. The intellectual originator +of this institution which bears the name _Yeshibah Ets Chayim_ (Tree of +Life College),(62) was the Gaon himself. Being convinced that the study of +the Torah is the very life of Judaism, but that this study must be +conducted in a scientific, not in a scholastic way, he bade his chief +disciple, the R. Chayim already mentioned, to found a college in which +Rabbinical literature should be taught according to his own true method. +It would seem that, as long as the Gaon was alive, R. Chayim preferred to +be a pupil rather than a teacher. When, however, the Gaon died, R. Chayim +did not rest till he had carried out the command of his master, and in the +year 1803 the College was opened in Walosin. The cloth manufacturer and +disciple now became Rabbi and master. He began on a small scale, teaching +at first only a few pupils. But even for the sustenance of a small number +he had not sufficient means, and his pious wife sold her jewellery to help +him in accomplishing his favourite plan. This is the best refutation of +the French proverb _Avare comme une Rabbine_. The number, however, +increased daily, and before he died (1828), he was fortunate enough to +lecture to a hundred students. The number of students in the year 1888 +amounted to 400, and the Russian Jews are thus right in asserting that +they have the greatest Talmudical College in the world. It is evident that +no private charity by a single man, however great, could suffice to +maintain such large numbers. Thus R. Chayim was already compelled to +appeal to the liberality of his Russian brethren. The name of R. Chayim, +and the still greater name of his master, were recommendation enough, and +besides private offerings, many communities promised large sums towards +supporting the students in Walosin. From time to time also messengers are +sent out by the committee to promote the interests of the Yeshibah. The +writers to whom I owe these data tell us that these messengers travel to +all parts of the world to collect offerings for Walosin: so that it is a +standing joke with the students that the existence of the mythical river +Sambatyon(63) may be questioned after all, otherwise it must long have +been discovered by these messengers who explore the whole world in their +journeys. But it would seem that this world is only a very small one. For +the whole income of the Yeshibah has never exceeded the sum of about +L1800. Of this a certain part is spent in providing the salaries of the +teaching staff and proctors, and on the repairs of the building; whilst +the rest is distributed amongst the students. Considering that no +scholarship exceeds L13--it is only the forty immortals of Walosin who +receive such high stipends--considering again that the great majority of +the students belong to the poorer classes and thus receive no remittance +from their parents, we may be sure that the words of the Talmud: "This is +the way to study the Torah; eat bread and salt, drink water by measure, +sleep on the earth, and live a life of care," are carried out by them +literally. But it would seem that the less they eat and the less they +sleep, the more they work. Indeed the industry and the enthusiasm of these +Bachurim (_alumni_)(64) in the study of the Torah is almost unsurpassable. +The official hours alone extend from nine in the morning until ten in the +evening, while many of the students volunteer to continue their studies +till the middle of the night, or to begin the day at three in the morning. + +As to the subject of these studies, it is confined, as may be imagined, to +the exploration of the old Rabbinic literature in all its branches. But it +would be a mistake to think that the modern spirit has left Walosin quite +untouched. It would be impossible that among 400 thinking heads there +should not be a few who are interested in mathematics, others again in +philosophy or history, while yet others would conjugate the irregular +verbs of some classical language when moving to and fro over their Talmud +folios and pretending to "_learn_." Indeed, almost all the writers who +demand that these subjects should be introduced as obligatory into the +programme of Walosin, belonged themselves to this Yeshibah. And it is +these writers who betray the secret how secular knowledge is now invading +the precincts of Walosin, as well as of other Talmudical Colleges in spite +of all obstacles and prohibitions. In conquering these difficulties seem +to consist the pleasures of life of many Bachurim at Walosin. Look only at +that undergraduate, how, after a heavy day's work he is standing there in +the street reading Buckle's _History of Civilisation_ in the moonlight! +Poor man, he is not so romantic as to prefer the moonlight to a cheerful, +warm room, with the more prosaic light of a candle, but he has got tired +of knocking at the door, for his landlady, to whom he has neglected to pay +rent for the last three terms, made up her mind to let him freeze to- +night. But still more cruel to him is his fellow-sufferer, who is also +wandering in the streets with an overloaded brain and empty stomach; he +roughly shakes him out of his dreams by telling him that Buckle is long +ago antiquated, and that he had better study the works of Herbert Spencer, +who has spoken the last word on every vital subject in the world. Still +these two starving and freezing representatives of English thought in +Walosin form only an exception. The general favourites are the +representatives of Jewish thought. That such books as the _Guide of the +Perplexed_, by Maimonides, the Metaphysical Researches of Levi b. +Gershom,(65) and other philosophical works of the Spanish school are read +by the Walosin students it is needless to say. These books now form a part +of the Rabbinic literature, and it would be almost unorthodox to suspect +their readers. But is worth noticing that even the productions of the +modern historico-critical school, such as the works of Zunz, Frankel, +Graetz, Weiss, are very popular with the Bachurim, being much read and +discussed by them. + +Thus Walosin deserves rightly to be considered as the centre of Jewish +thought in Russia, in which the spirit of the Gaon is still working. + +I have very often, however, heard doubts expressed as to the continuance +of this spirit when, as it is to be hoped, better times come for the Jews +in Russia. Is it not to be feared that liberty and emancipation will +render untenable ideas and notions which arose under entirely different +circumstances? There is no need of entertaining such fears. Rabbi Jedaiah +of Bedres(66) concludes his philosophical work _Examination of the World_, +with the following words: "The conclusion of the whole matter is, go +either to the right, my heart, or go to the left, but believe all that R. +Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides) has believed, the last of the Gaonim by +time, but the first in rank." About five hundred years have passed away +since these lines were written. Time, as we have seen, has brought another +Gaon, and probably Time will favour us in future with still another. But +times have also altered. The rebellious hearts of a liberal age are not +likely to obey always the command, "believe all that the Gaon said." But +the heart of man will in all ages retain idealism enough to love and +revere the greatest of men and to follow what was best in them. + + + + + +IV. NACHMANIDES(67) + + +R. Chayim Vital, in his _Book of the Transmigrations of Souls_, gives the +following bold characteristic of the two great teachers of Judaism, +Maimonides and Nachmanides. Their souls both sprang forth from the head of +Adam--it is a favourite idea of the Cabbalists to evolve the whole of ideal +humanity from the archetype Adam--but the former, Maimonides, had his +genius placed on the left curl of Adam, which is all judgment and +severity, whilst that of the latter, Nachmanides, had its place on the +right curl, which represents rather mercy and tenderness. + +I start from these words in order to avoid disappointment. For Nachmanides +was a great Talmudist, a great Bible student, a great philosopher, a great +controversialist, and, perhaps, also a great physician; in one word, great +in every respect, possessed of all the culture of his age. But, as I have +already indicated by the passage quoted by way of introduction, it is not +of Nachmanides in any of these excellent qualities that I wish to write +here. For these aspects of his life and mind I must refer the reader to +the works of Graetz, Weiss, Steinschneider, Perles, and others. I shall +mostly confine myself to those features and peculiarities in his career +and works which will illustrate Nachmanides the tender and compassionate, +the Nachmanides who represented Judaism from the side of emotion and +feeling, as Maimonides did from the side of reason and logic. + +R. Moses ben Nachman, or Bonastruc de Portas, as he was called by his +fellow-countrymen, or Nachmanides, as he is commonly called now, was born +in Gerona about the year 1195. Gerona is a little town in the province of +Catalonia in Spain. But though in Spain, Gerona was not distinguished for +its philosophers or poets like Granada, Barcelona, or Toledo. Situated as +it was in the North of Spain, Gerona was under the influence of Franco- +Jewish sympathies, and thus its boast lay in the great Talmudists that it +produced. I shall only mention the name of R. Zerahiah Hallevi Gerundi--so- +called after his native place--whose strictures on the Code of R. Isaac +Alfasi, which he began as a youth of nineteen years, will always remain a +marvel of critical insight and independent research. Nachmanides is +supposed by some authors to have been a descendant of R. Isaac ben Reuben +of Barcelona, whose hymns are still to be found in certain rituals. The +evidence for this is insufficient, but we know that he was a cousin of R. +Jonah Gerundi, not less famous for his Talmudic learning than for his +saintliness and piety. Nachmanides thus belonged to the best Jewish +families of Gerona. Various great men are mentioned as his teachers, but +we have certainty only about two, namely R. Judah ben Yakar, the +commentator of the prayers, and R. Meir ben Nathan of Trinquintaines. The +mystic, R. Ezra (or Azriel), is indeed alleged to have been his instructor +in the Cabbalah, and this is not impossible, as he also was an inhabitant +of Gerona; but it is more probable that Nachmanides was initiated into the +Cabbalah by the R. Judah just mentioned, who also belonged to the mystical +school. + +Whoever his masters were, they must have been well satisfied with their +promising pupil, for he undertook, at the age of fifteen, to write +supplements to the Code of R. Isaac Alfasi. Nor was it at a much later +date that he began to compose his work, _The Wars of the Lord_, in which +he defends this great codifier against the strictures of R. Zerahiah, to +which we have referred above. I shall in the course of this essay have +further occasion to speak of this latter work; for the present we will +follow the career of its author. + +Concerning the private life of Nachmanides very little has come down to +us. We only know that he had a family of sons and daughters. He was not +spared the greatest grief that can befall a father, for he lost a son; it +was on the day of the New Year.(68) On the other hand, it must have been a +great source of joy to him when he married his son Solomon to the daughter +of R. Jonah, whom he revered as a saint and a man of God. As a token of +the admiration in which he held his friend, the following incident may be +mentioned. It seems that it was the custom in Spain to name the first +child in a family after his paternal grandfather; but Nachmanides ceded +his right in behalf of his friend, and thus his daughter-in-law's first +son was named Jonah. Another son of Nachmanides whom we know of was +Nachman, to whom his father addressed his letters from Palestine, and who +also wrote Novellae to the Talmud, still extant in MS. But the later +posterity of Nachmanides is better known to fame. R. Levi ben Gershom was +one of his descendants; so was also R. Simeon Duran;(69) whilst R. Jacob +Sasportas, in the eighteenth century,(70) derived his pedigree from +Nachmanides in the eleventh generation. + +As to his calling, he was occupied as Rabbi and teacher, first in Gerona +and afterwards in Barcelona. But this meant as much as if we should say of +a man that he is a philanthropist by profession, with the only difference +that the treasures of which Nachmanides disposed were more of a spiritual +kind. For his livelihood he probably depended upon his medical practice. + +I need hardly say that the life of Nachmanides, "whose words were held in +Catalonia in almost as high authority as the Scriptures," was not without +its great public events. At least we know of two. + +The one was about the year 1232, on the occasion of the great struggle +about Maimonides' _Guide of the Perplexed_, and the first book of his +great Compendium of the Law. The Maimonists looked upon these works almost +as a new revelation, whilst the Anti-Maimonists condemned both as +heretical, or at least conducive to heresy.(71) It would be profitless to +reproduce the details of this sad affair. The motives may have been pure +and good, but the actions were decidedly bad. People denounced each other, +excommunicated each other, and did not (from either side) spare even the +dead from the most bitter calumnies. Nachmanides stood between two fires. +The French Rabbis, from whom most of the Anti-Maimonists were recruited, +he held in very high esteem and considered himself as their pupil. Some of +the leaders of this party were also his relatives. He, too, had, as we +shall see later on, a theory of his own about God and the world little in +agreement with that of Maimonides. It is worth noting that Nachmanides +objected to calling Maimonides "our teacher Moses" (Rabbenu Mosheh),(72) +thinking it improper to confer upon him the title by which the Rabbis +honoured the Master of the Prophets. The very fact, however, that he had +some theory of the Universe shows that he had a problem to solve, whilst +the real French Rabbis were hardly troubled by difficulties of a +metaphysical character. Indeed, Nachmanides pays them the rather doubtful +compliment that Maimonides' work was not intended for them, who were +barricaded by their faith and happy in their belief, wanting no protection +against the works of Aristotle and Galen, by whose philosophy others might +be led astray. In other words, their strength lay in an ignorance of Greek +philosophy, to which the cultivated Jews of Spain would not aspire. +Nachmanides was also a great admirer of Maimonides, whose virtues and +great merits in the service of Judaism he describes in his letter to the +French Rabbis. Thus, the only way left open to him was to play the part of +the conciliator. The course of this struggle is fully described in every +Jewish history. It is sufficient to say that, in spite of his great +authority, Nachmanides was not successful in his effort to moderate the +violence of either party, and that the controversy was at last settled +through the harsh interference of outsiders who well-nigh crushed +Maimonists and Anti-Maimonists alike. + +The second public event in the life of Nachmanides was his Disputation, +held in Barcelona, at the Court and in the presence of King Jayme I., of +Aragon, in the year 1263. It was the usual story. A convert to +Christianity, named Pablo Christiani, who burned with zealous anxiety to +see his former co-religionists saved, after many vain attempts in this +direction, applied to the King of Aragon to order Nachmanides to take part +in a public disputation. Pablo maintained that he could prove the justice +of the Messianic claims of Jesus from the Talmud and other Rabbinic +writings. If he could only succeed in convincing the great Rabbi of Spain +of the truth of his argument, the bulk of the Jews was sure to follow. By +the way, it was the same Talmud which some twenty years previously was, at +the instance of another Jewish convert, burned in Paris, for containing +passages against Christianity. Nachmanides had to conform with the command +of the king, and, on the 21st of July, 1263, was begun the controversy, +which lasted for four or five days. + +I do not think that there is in the whole domain of literature less +profitable reading than that of the controversies between Jews and +Christians. These public disputations occasionally forced the Jews +themselves to review their position towards their own literature, and led +them to draw clearer distinctions between what they regarded as religion +and what as folklore. But beyond this, the polemics between Jews and +Christians were barren of good results. If you have read one you have read +enough for all time. The same casuistry and the same disregard of history +turn up again and again. Nervousness and humility are always on the side +of the Jews, who know that, whatever the result may be, the end will be +persecution; arrogance is always on the side of their antagonists, who are +supported by a band of Knights of the Holy Cross, prepared to prove the +soundness of their cause at the point of their daggers. + +Besides, was there enough common ground between Judaism and thirteenth +century Christianity to have justified the hope of a mutual understanding? +The Old Testament was almost forgotten in the Church. The First Person in +the Trinity was leading a sort of shadowy existence in art, which could +only be the more repulsive to a Jew on that account. The largest part of +Church worship was monopolised by devotion to the Virgin Mother, prayers +to the saints, and kneeling before their relics. And a Jew may well be +pardoned if he did not entertain higher views of this form of worship than +Luther and Knox did at a later period. It will thus not be worth our while +to dwell much on the matter of this controversy, in which the essence of +the real dispute is scarcely touched. There are only two points in it +which are worth noticing. The first is that Nachmanides declared the +Agadoth(73) in the Talmud to be only a series of sermons (he uses this +very word), expressing the individual opinions of the preacher, and thus +possessing no authoritative weight. The convert Pablo is quite aghast at +this statement, and accuses Nachmanides of heterodoxy. + +Secondly,--and here I take leave to complete the rather obscure passage in +the controversy by a parallel in his book, _The Date of Redemption_,(74) +quoted by Azariah de Rossi--that the question of the Messiah is not of that +dogmatic importance to the Jews that Christians imagine. For even if Jews +supposed their sins to be so great that they forfeited all the promises +made to them in the Scriptures, or that, on some hidden ground, it would +please the Almighty never to restore their national independence, this +would in no way alter the obligations of Jews towards the Torah. Nor is +the coming of the Messiah desired by Jews as an end in itself. For it is +not the goal of their hopes that they shall be able again to eat of the +fruit of Palestine, or enjoy other pleasures there; not even the chance of +the restoration of sacrifices and the worship of the Temple is the +greatest of Jewish expectations (connected with the appearance of the +Messiah). What makes them long for his coming is the hope that they will +then witness, in the company of the prophets and priests, a greater spread +of purity and holiness than is now possible. In other words, the +possibility for them to live a holy life after the will of God will be +greater than now. But, on the other hand, considering that such a godly +life under a Christian government requires greater sacrifices than it +would under a Jewish king; and, considering again that the merits and +rewards of a good act increase with the obstacles that are in the way of +executing it--considering this, a Jew might even prefer to live under the +King of Aragon than under the Messiah, where he would perforce act in +accordance with the precepts of the Torah. + +Now there is in this statement much that has only to be looked upon as a +compliment to the government of Spain. I am inclined to think that if the +alternative laid before Nachmanides had been a really practical one, he +would have decided in favour of the clement rule of the Messiah in +preference to that of the most cruel king on earth. But the fact that he +repeats this statement in another place, where there was no occasion to be +over polite to the Government, tends to show, as we have said, that the +belief in the Messiah was not the basis on which Nachmanides' religion was +built up. + +The result of the controversy is contested by the different parties; the +Christian writers claim the victory for Pablo, whilst the Jewish documents +maintain that the issue was with Nachmanides. In any case, "_Der Jude wird +verbrannt_." For in the next year (1264) all the books of the Jews in +Aragon were confiscated and submitted to the censorship of a commission, +of which the well-known author of the _Pugio Fidei_, Raymund Martini, was, +perhaps, the most important member. The books were not burned this time, +but had to suffer a severe mutilation; the anti-Christian passages, or +such as were supposed to be so, were struck out or obliterated. +Nachmanides' account of the controversy, which he probably published from +a sense of duty towards those whom he represented, was declared to contain +blasphemies against the dominant religion. The pamphlet was condemned to +be burned publicly, whilst the author was, as it seems, punished with +expulsion from his country. It is not reported where Nachmanides found a +home during the next three years; probably he had to accept the +hospitality of his friends, either in Castile or in the south of France; +but we know that in the year 1267 he left Europe and emigrated to +Palestine. + +Nachmanides was, at this juncture of his life, already a man of about +seventy. But it would seem as if the seven decades which he had spent in +the Spanish Peninsula were only meant as a preparation for the three years +which he was destined to live in the Holy Land, for it was during this +stage of his life that the greatest part of his _Commentary on the +Pentateuch_ was written. In this work, as is agreed on all sides, his +finest thoughts and noblest sentiments were put down. + +Before proceeding to speak of his works, let us first cast a glance at his +letters from Palestine, forming as they do a certain link between his +former life and that which was to occupy him exclusively for the rest of +his days. We have three letters, the first of which I shall translate here +_in extenso_. + +The letter was written soon after his arrival at Jerusalem in the year +1267. It was addressed to his son Nachman, and runs as follows:-- + + + "The Lord shall bless thee, my son Nachman, and thou shalt see the + good of Jerusalem. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children + (Ps. cxxviii.), and thy table shall be like that of our father + Abraham!(75) In Jerusalem, the Holy City, I write this letter. + For, thanks and praise unto the rock of my salvation, I was + thought worthy by God to arrive here safely on the 9th of the + month of Elul, and I remained there till the day after the Day of + Atonement. Now I intend going to Hebron, to the sepulchre of our + ancestors, to prostrate myself, and there to dig my grave. But + what am I to say to you with regard to the country? Great is the + solitude and great the wastes, and, to characterise it in short, + the more sacred the places, the greater their desolation! + Jerusalem is more desolate than the rest of the country: Judaea + more than Galilee. But even in this destruction it is a blessed + land. It has about 2000 inhabitants, about 300 Christians live + there who escaped the sword of the Sultan. There are no Jews. For + since the arrival of the Tartars, some fled, others died by the + sword. There are only two brothers, dyers by trade, who have to + buy their ingredients from the government. There the Ten Men(76) + meet, and on Sabbaths they hold service at their house. But we + encouraged them, and we succeeded in finding a vacant house, built + on pillars of marble with a beautiful arch. That we took for a + synagogue. For the town is without a master, and whoever will take + possession of the ruins can do so. We gave our offerings towards + the repairs of the house. We have sent already to Shechem to fetch + some scrolls of the Law from there which had been brought thither + from Jerusalem at the invasion of the Tartars. Thus they will + organise a synagogue and worship there. For continually people + crowd to Jerusalem, men and women, from Damascus, Zobah + (Aleppo),(77) and from all parts of the country to see the + Sanctuary and to mourn over it. He who thought us worthy to let us + see Jerusalem in her desertion, he shall bless us to behold her + again, built and restored, when the glory of the Lord will return + unto her. But you, my son, and your brothers and the whole of our + family, you all shall live to see the salvation of Jerusalem and + the comfort of Zion. These are the words of your father who is + yearning and forgetting, who is seeing and enjoying, Moses ben + Nachman. Give also my peace to my pupil Moses, the son of Solomon, + the nephew of your mother. I wish to tell him ... that there, + facing the holy temple, I have read his verses, weeping bitterly + over them. May he who caused his name to rest in the Holy Temple + increase your peace together with the peace of the whole + community." + + +This letter may be illustrated by a few parallels taken from the appendix +to Nachmanides' _Commentary to the Pentateuch_, which contains some rather +incoherent notes which the author seems to have jotted down when he +arrived in Jerusalem. After a lengthy account of the material as well as +the spiritual glories of the holy city in the past, he proceeds to say:-- + + + "A mournful sight I have perceived in thee (Jerusalem); only one + Jew is here, a dyer, persecuted, oppressed and despised. At his + house gather great and small when they can get the Ten Men. They + are wretched folk, without occupation and trade, consisting of a + few pilgrims and beggars, though the fruit of the land is still + magnificent and the harvests rich. Indeed, it is still a blessed + country, flowing with milk and honey.... Oh! I am the man who saw + affliction. I am banished from my table, far removed from friend + and kinsman, and too long is the distance to meet again.... I left + my family, I forsook my house. There with my sons and daughters, + and with the sweet and dear children whom I have brought up on my + knees, I left also my soul. My heart and my eyes will dwell with + them for ever.... But the loss of all this and of every other + glory my eyes saw is compensated by having now the joy of being a + day in thy courts (O Jerusalem), visiting the ruins of the Temple + and crying over the ruined Sanctuary; where I am permitted to + caress thy stones, to fondle thy dust, and to weep over thy ruins. + I wept bitterly, but I found joy in my tears. I tore my garments, + but I felt relieved by it." + + +Of some later date is his letter from Acra, which may be considered as a +sort of ethical will, and which has been justly characterised as a eulogy +of humility. Here is an extract from it:-- + + + "Accustom yourself to speak gently to all men at all times, and + thus you will avoid anger, which leads to so much sin.... Humility + is the first of virtues; for if you think how lowly is man, how + great is God, you will fear Him and avoid sinfulness. On the + humble man rests the divine glory; the man that is haughty to + others denies God. Look not boldly at one whom you address.... + Regard every one as greater than thyself.... Remember always that + you stand before God, both when you pray and when you converse + with others.... Think before you speak.... Act as I have bidden + you, and your words, and deeds, and thoughts, will be honest, and + your prayers pure and acceptable before God." + + +The third letter is addressed to his son (R. Solomon?) who was staying (in +the service of the king) in Castile. It is in its chief content a eulogy +of chastity.(78) Probably Nachmanides had some dread of the dangerous +allurements of the court, and he begs his son never to do anything of +which he knows that his father would not approve, and to keep his father's +image always before his eyes. + +As to his works, we may divide them into two classes. The one would +contain those of a strictly legalistic (Halachic), whilst the other those +of a more homiletic-exegetical and devotional character (Agadic). As +already indicated in the preliminary lines of this paper, I cannot dwell +long on the former class of our author's writings. It consists either of +Glosses or Novellae to the Talmud, in the style and manner of the French +Rabbis, or of Compendia of certain parts of the Law after the model set by +R. Isaac Alfasi or Maimonides, or in defences of the "Earlier Authorities" +against the strictures made on them by a later generation. A few words +must be said with regard to these defences; for they reveal that deep +respect for authority which forms a special feature of Nachmanides' +writings. His _Wars of the Lord_, in which he defends Alfasi against R. +Zerahiah of Gerona, was undertaken when he was very young, whilst his +defence of the author of the _Halachoth Gedoloth_(79) against the attacks +of Maimonides, which he began at a much more mature age, shows the same +deference "to the great ones of the past." Indeed, he says in one place, +"We bow before them (the earlier authorities), and though their words are +not quite evident to us we submit to them"; or, as he expresses himself +elsewhere, "Only he who dips (deeply enough) in the wisdom of the 'ancient +ones' will drink the pure (old) wine." But it would be unjust to the +genius of Nachmanides to represent him as a blind worshipper of authority. +Humble and generous in disposition, he certainly would bow before every +recognised authority, and he would also think it his duty to take up the +cudgels for him as long as there was even the least chance of making an +honourable defence. But when this chance had gone, when Nachmanides was +fully convinced that his hero was in the wrong, he followed no guide but +truth. "Notwithstanding," he says in his introduction to the defences of +the _Halachoth Gedoloth_, "my desire and delight to be the disciple of the +Earlier Authorities, to maintain their views and to assert them, I do not +consider myself a 'donkey carrying books.' I will explain their way and +appreciate their value, but when their views are inconceivable to my +thoughts, I will plead in all modesty, but shall judge according to the +sight of my eyes. And when the meaning is clear I shall flatter none, for +the Lord gives wisdom in all times and ages." But, on the other hand, +there seems to have been a certain sort of literary agnosticism about +Nachmanides which made it very difficult for him to find the "clear +meaning." The passage in the _Wars of the Lord_ to the effect "that there +is in the art (of commenting) no such certain demonstration as in +mathematics or astronomy," is well known and has often been quoted; but +still more characteristic of this literary agnosticism is the first +paragraph of the above-mentioned defences of the _Halachoth Gedoloth_. +Whilst all his predecessors accepted, on the authority of R. Simlai,(80) +the number (613) of the commandments as an uncontested fact, and based +their compositions on it, Nachmanides questions the whole matter, and +shows that the passages relating to this enumeration of laws are only of a +homiletical nature, and thus of little consequence. Nay, he goes so far as +to say, "Indeed the system how to number the commandments is a matter in +which I suspect all of us (are mistaken) and the truth must be left to him +who will solve all doubts." We should thus be inclined to think that this +adherence to the words of the earlier Authorities was at least as much due +to this critical scepticism as to his conservative tendencies. + +The space left to me I shall devote to the second class of his writings, +in which Nachmanides worked less after given types. These reveal to us +more of his inner being, and offer us some insight into his theological +system. The great problem which seems to have presented itself to +Nachmanides' mind was less how to reconcile religion with reason than how +to reconcile man with religion. What is man? The usual answer is not +flattering. He is an animal that owes its existence to the same instinct +that produces even the lower creatures, and he is condemned, like them, to +go to a place of worm and maggot. But, may not one ask, why should a +creature so lowly born, and doomed to so hapless a future, be burdened +with the awful responsibility of knowing that he is destined "to give +reckoning and judgment before the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be +He"? It is true that man is also endowed with a heavenly soul, but this +only brings us back again to the antithesis of flesh and spirit which was +the stumbling-block of many a theological system. Nor does it help us much +towards the solution of the indicated difficulty; for what relation can +there be between this _materia impura_ of body and the pure intellect of +soul? And again, must not the unfavourable condition in which the latter +is placed through this uncongenial society heavily clog and suppress all +aspiration for perfection? It is "a house divided against itself," doomed +to an everlasting contest, without hope for co-operation or even of +harmony. + +The works _The Sacred Letter_ and _The Law of Man_ may be considered as an +attempt by Nachmanides, if not to remove, at least to relieve the +harshness of this antithesis. The former, in which he blames Maimonides +for following Aristotle in denouncing certain desires implanted in us by +nature as ignominious and unworthy of man, may, perhaps, be characterised +as a vindication of the flesh from a religious point of view. The contempt +in which "that Greek," as Nachmanides terms Aristotle, held the flesh is +inconsistent with the theory of the religious man, who believes that +everything (including the body, with all its functions) is created by God, +whose work is perfect and good, without impure or inharmonious parts. It +is only sin and neglect that disfigure God's creations. I cannot enter +into any further details of this work, but I may be permitted to remark +that there is a very strong similarity between the tendency of the _Sacred +Letter_ and certain leading ideas of Milton. Indeed, if the first two +chapters of the former were a little condensed and put into English, they +could not be better summarised than by the famous lines in the _Paradise +Lost_:-- + + + Whatever hypocrites austerely talk + Of purity, and place, and innocence, + Defaming as impure what God declares + Pure, and commands to some, leaves free to all, + Our Maker bids increase; who bids abstain + But our destroyer, foe to God and man? + Hail, wedded love, mysterious law!... + Far be it that I should write thee sin or blame + Or think thee unbefitting holiest place, + Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets. + + +The second of these two works, the _Law of Man_, may be regarded as a +sanctification of grief, and particularly of the grief of griefs, death. +The bulk of the book is legalistic, treating of mourning rites, burial +customs, and similar topics; but there is much in the preface which bears +on our subject. For here again Nachmanides takes the opportunity of +combating a chilling philosophy, which tries to arm us against suffering +by stifling our emotions. "My son," he says, "be not persuaded by certain +propositions of the great philosophers who endeavour to harden our hearts +and to deaden our sensations by their idle comfort, which consists in +denying the past and despairing of the future. One of them has even +declared that there is nothing in the world over the loss of which it is +worth crying, and the possession of which would justify joy. This is an +heretical view. Our perfect Torah bids us to be joyful in the day of +prosperity and to shed tears in the day of misfortune. It in no way +forbids crying or demands of us to suppress our grief. On the contrary, +the Torah suggests to us that to mourn over heavy losses is equivalent to +a service of God, leading us, as it does, to reflect on our end and ponder +over our destiny." + +This destiny, as well as Reward and Punishment in general, is treated in +the concluding chapter of the _Law of Man_, which is known under the title +of _The Gate of Reward_.(81) Nachmanides does not conceal from himself the +difficulties besetting inquiries of this description. He knows well enough +that in the last instance we must appeal to that implicit faith in the +inscrutable justice of God with which the believer begins. Nevertheless he +thinks that only the "despisers of wisdom" would fail to bring to this +faith as full a conviction as possible, which latter is only to be gained +by speculation. I shall have by and by occasion to refer to the results of +this speculation. Here we must only notice the fact of Nachmanides +insisting on the _bodily_ resurrection which will take place after the +coming of the Messiah, and will be followed by the _Olam Habba_(82) (the +life in the world to come) of which the Rabbis spoke. + +Irrational as this belief may look, it is only a consequence of his +theory, which, as we have seen, assigns even to the flesh an almost +spiritual importance. Indeed, he thinks that the soul may have such an +influence on the body as to transform the latter into so pure an essence +that it will become safe for eternity. For, as he hints in another place, +by the continual practising of a thing the whole man, the body included, +becomes so identified with the thing that we call him after it, just as +the Holy Singer said: I am prayer,(83) so that-- + + + Oft converse with heavenly habitants + Begins to cast a beam on the outward shape, + The unpolluted temple of the mind, + And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence, + Till all be made immortal. + + +But if even the body holds such a high position as to make all its +instincts and functions, if properly regulated, a service of God, and to +destine it for a glorious future of eternal bliss and rejoicing in God, we +can easily imagine what a high place the soul must occupy in the system of +Nachmanides. To be sure it is a much higher one than that to which +philosophy would fain admit her. A beautiful parable of the Persian poet +Yellaladeen (quoted by the late Mr. Lowell) narrates that "One knocked at +the beloved's door, and a voice asked from within, 'Who is there?' and he +answered, 'It is I.' Then the voice said, 'This house will not hold me and +thee,' and the door was not opened. Then went the lover into the desert +and fasted and prayed in solitude, and after a year he returned and +knocked again at the door, and again the voice asked 'Who is there?' and +he said 'It is thyself'; and the door was opened to him." This is also the +difference between the two schools--the mystical and the philosophical--with +regard to the soul. With the rationalist the soul is indeed a superior +abstract intelligence created by God, but, like all His creations, has an +existence of its own, and is thus separated from God. With the mystic, +however, the soul is God, or a direct emanation from God. "For he who +breathes into another thing (Gen. ii. 7) gives unto it something of his +own breath (or soul)," and as it is said in Job xxxii. 8, "And the soul of +the Almighty giveth them understanding." This emanation, or rather +immanence--for Nachmanides insists in another place that the Hebrew term +employed for it, _Aziluth_,(84) means a permanent dwelling with the thing +emanating--which became manifest with the creation of man, must not be +confounded with the moving soul (or the _Nephesh Chayah_),(85) which is +common to man with all creatures. + +It may be remarked here that Nachmanides endows all animals with a soul +which is derived from the "Superior Powers," and its presence is proved by +certain marks of intelligence which they show. By this fact he tries to +account for the law prohibiting cruelty to animals, "all souls belonging +to God." Their original disposition was, it would seem, according to +Nachmanides, peaceful and harmless. + + + About them frisking played + All beasts of earth, since wild, and of all chase + In wood or wilderness, forest or den. + + +It was only after man had sinned that war entered into creation, but with +the coming of the Messiah, when sin will disappear, all the living beings +will regain their primaeval gentleness, and be reinstituted in their first +rights. + +The special soul of man, however, or rather the "over-soul," was pre- +existent to the creation of the world, treasured up as a wave in the sea +or fountain of souls--dwelling in the eternal light and holiness of God. +There, in God, the soul abides in its ideal existence before it enters +into its material life through the medium of man; though it must be noted +that, according to Nachmanides' belief in the Transmigration of souls, it +is not necessary to perceive in the soul of every new-born child, "a fresh +message from heaven" coming directly from the fountain-head. Nachmanides +finds this belief indicated in the commandment of levirate marriage, where +the child born of the deceased brother's wife inherits not only the name +of the brother of his actual father, but also his soul, and thus +perpetuates his existence on earth. The fourth verse of Ecclesiastes ii. +Nachmanides seems to interpret to mean that the very generation which +passes away comes up again, by which he tries to explain the difficulty of +God's visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children; the latter +being the very fathers who committed the sins. However, whatever trials +and changes the soul may have to pass through during its bodily existence, +its origin is in God and thither it will return in the end, "just as the +waters rise always to the same high level from which their source sprang +forth." + +It is for this man, with a body so superior, and a soul so sublime--more +sublime than the angels--that the world was _created_. I emphasise the last +word, for the belief in the creation of the world by God from nothing +forms, according to Nachmanides, the first of the three fundamental dogmas +of Judaism. The other two also refer to God's relation to the world and +man. They are the belief in God's Providence and his _Yediah_.(86) +Creation from nothing is for Nachmanides the keynote to his whole +religion, since it is only by this fact, as he points out in many places, +that God gains real dominion over nature. For, as he says, as soon as we +admit the eternity of matter, we must (logically) deny God even "the power +of enlarging the wing of a fly, or shortening the leg of an ant." But the +whole Torah is nothing if not a record of God's mastery in and over the +world, and of His miraculous deeds. One of the first proclamations of +Abraham to his generation was that God is the Lord (or Master) of the +world (Gen. xviii. 33). The injunction given to Abraham, and repeated +afterwards to the whole of Israel (Gen. xvii. 2, and Deut. xviii. 13), to +be perfect with God, Nachmanides numbers as one of the 613 commandments, +and explains it to mean that man must have a whole belief in God without +blemish or reservation, and acknowledge Him possessed of power over nature +and the world, man and beast, devil and angel, power being attributable to +Him alone. Indeed, when the angel said to Jacob, "Why dost thou ask after +my name" (Gen. xxxii. 29), he meant to indicate by his question the +impotence of the heavenly host, so that there is no use in knowing their +name, the power and might belonging only to God. + +We may venture even a step further, and maintain that in Nachmanides' +system there is hardly room left for such a thing as nature or "the order +of the world." There are only two categories of miracles by which the +world is governed, or in which God's Providence is seen. The one is the +category of the manifest miracles, as the ten plagues in Egypt, or the +crossing of the Red Sea; the other is that of the hidden miracles, which +we do not perceive as such, because of their frequency and continuity. "No +man," he declares, "can share in the Torah of our Teacher, Moses (that is, +can be considered a follower of the Jewish religion), unless he believes +that all our affairs and events, whether they concern the masses or the +individual, are all miracles (worked by the direct will of God), +attributing nothing to nature or to the order of the world." Under this +second order he classes all the promises the Torah makes to the righteous, +and the punishments with which evil-doers are threatened. For, as he +points out in many places, there is nothing in the nature of the +commandments themselves that would make their fulfilment necessarily +prolong the life of man, and cause the skies to pour down rain, or, on the +other hand, would associate disobedience to them with famine and death. +All these results can, therefore, only be accomplished in a supernatural +way by the direct workings of God. + +Thus miracles are raised to a place in the regular scheme of things, and +the difficulty regarding the possibility of God's interferences with +nature disappears by their very multiplication. But a still more important +point is, that, by this unbroken chain of miracles, which unconditionally +implies God's presence to perform them, Nachmanides arrives at a theory +establishing a closer contact between the Deity and the world than that +set forth by other thinkers. Thus, he insists that the term _Shechinah_, +or _Cabod_(87) (Glory of God), must not be understood, with some Jewish +philosophers, as something separate from God, or as _glory created_ by +God. "Were this the case," he proceeds to say, "we could not possibly say, +'Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place,' since every mark of +worship to anything _created_ involves the sin of idolatry." Such terms as +_Shechinah_, or _Cabod_, can therefore only mean the immediate divine +presence. This proves, as may be noted in passing, how unphilosophical the +idea of those writers is who maintain that the rigid monotheism of the +Jews makes God so transcendental that He is banished from the world. As we +see, it is just this assertion of His absolute Unity which not only +suffers no substitute for God, but also removes every separation between +Him and the world. Hence also Nachmanides insists that the prophecy even +of the successors of Moses was a direct communion of God with the prophet, +and not, as others maintained, furnished through the medium of an angel. + +The third fundamental dogma, _Yediah_, includes, according to Nachmanides, +not only the omniscience of God--as the term is usually translated--but also +His recognition of mankind and His special concern in them. Thus, he +explains the words in the Bible with regard to Abraham, "For I know him" +(Gen. xviii. 19), to indicate the special attachment of God's Providence +to the patriarch, which, on account of his righteousness, was to be +uninterrupted for ever; whilst in other places we have to understand, +under God's knowledge of a thing, his determination to deal with it +compassionately, as, for instance, when Scripture says that God knew +(Exod. ii. 25), it means that His relation to Israel emanated from His +attribute of mercy and love. But just as God knows (which means loves) the +world, He requires also to be recognised and known by it. "For this was +the purpose of the whole creation, that man should recognise and know Him +and give praise to His name," as it is said, "Everything that is called by +my name (meaning, chosen to promulgate God's name), for my glory have I +created it." + +It is this fact which gives Israel their high prerogative, for by +receiving the Torah they were the first to know God's name, to which they +remained true in spite of all adversities; and thus accomplished God's +intention in creating the world. It is, again, by this Torah that the +whole of Israel not only succeeded in being real prophets (at the moment +of the Revelation), but also became _Segulah_,(88) which indicates the +inseparable attachment between God and His people, whilst the righteous +who never disobey His will become the seat of His throne. + +The position of the rest of humanity is also determined by their relation +to the Torah. "It is," Nachmanides tells us, "a main principle to know +that all that man contrives to possess of knowledge and wisdom is only the +fruits of the Torah or the fruits of its fruits. But for this knowledge +there would be no difference between man and the lower animated species. +The existence of the civilised nations of the world does not disprove this +rule both Christians and Mahometans being also the heirs of the Torah. For +when the Romans gained strength over Israel they made them translate the +Torah which they studied, and they even accommodated some of their laws +and institutions to those of the Bible." Those nations, however, who live +far away from the centre of the world (the Holy Land) and never come into +contact with Israel are outside the pale of civilisation, and can hardly +be ranked together with the human species. "They are the isles afar off, +that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory." + +What Nachmanides meant by maintaining that all knowledge and wisdom were +"the fruits of the Torah, or the fruits of these fruits," will be best +seen from his _Commentary on the Pentateuch_. I have already made use of +this Commentary in the preceding quotations, but, being the greatest of +the works of Nachmanides, it calls for some special attention by itself. +Its general purpose is edification, or as he says, "to appease the mind of +the students (labouring under persecution and troubles) when they read the +portion on Sabbaths and festivals, and to attract their heart by simple +explanations and sweet words." The explanations occupy a considerable +space. As Dr. Perles has shown in his able essay on this work of +Nachmanides, our author neglected no resource of philology or archaeology +accessible in his age which could contribute to establish the "simple +explanations" on a sound scientific basis. The prominent feature of this +Commentary, however, is the "sweet words." Indeed, how sweet and soothing +to his contemporaries must have been such words as we read at the end of +the "Song of Moses" (Deut. xxxii.): "And behold there is nothing +conditional in this Song. It is a charter testifying that we shall have to +suffer heavily for our sins, but that, nevertheless, God will not destroy +us, being reconciled to us (though we shall have no merits), and forgiving +our sins for his name's sake alone.... And so our Rabbis said, Great is +this song, embracing as it does both the past (of Israel) and the future, +this world and the world to come.... And if this song were the composition +of a mere astrologer we should be constrained to believe in it, +considering that all its words were fulfilled. How much more have we to +hope with all our hearts and to trust to the word of God, through the +mouth of his prophet Moses, the faithful in all his house, like unto whom +there was none, whether before him or after him." A part of these sweet +words may also be seen in the numerous passages in which he attempts to +account for various laws, and to detect their underlying principles. + +For though "the Torah is the expression of God's simple and absolute will, +which man has to follow without any consideration of reward," still this +will is not arbitrary, and even that class of laws which are called +_chukkim_(89) (which means, according to some Jewish commentators, +motiveless decrees) have their good reasons, notwithstanding that they are +unfathomable to us. "They are all meant for the good of man, either to +keep aloof from us something hurtful, or to educate us in goodness, or to +remove from us an evil belief and to make us know his name. This is what +they (the Rabbis) meant by saying that commandments have a purifying +purpose, namely, that man being purified and tried by them becomes as one +without alloy of bad thoughts and unworthy qualities." Indeed, the soul of +man is so sensitive to every impurity that it suffers a sort of infection +even by an unintentional sin. Hence the injunction to bring a _Korban_ +(sacrifice) even in this case; the effect of the _Korban_, as its +etymology (_Karab_)(90) indicates, is to bring man back to God, or rather +to facilitate this approach. All this again is, as Nachmanides points out, +only an affluence from God's mercy and love to mankind. God derives no +benefit from it. "If he be righteous what can he give thee?" And even +those laws and institutions which are intended to commemorate God's +wonders and the creation of the world (for instance, the Passover festival +and the Sabbath) are not meant for His glorification, or, as Heine +maliciously expressed it:-- + + + Der Weltkapellenmeister hier oben + Er selbst sogar hoert gerne loben + Gleichfalls seine Werke.... + + +"For all the honour (we give to Him), and the praising of His work are +counted by Him less than nothing and as vanity to Him." What He desires is +that we may know the truth, and be confirmed in it, for this makes us +worthy of finding in Him "our Protector and King." + +The lessons which Nachmanides draws from the various Biblical narratives +also belong to these "sweet words." They are mostly of a typical +character. For, true as all the stories in the Scriptures are, "the whole +Torah is," as he tells us (with allusion to Gen. v. 1.), "the book of the +generations of Adam," or, as we should say, a history of humanity written +in advance. Thus the account of the six days of the creation is turned +into a prophecy of the most important events which would occur during the +succeeding six thousand years, whilst the Sabbath is a forecast of the +millennium in the seventh thousand, which will be the day of the Lord. +Jacob and Esau are, as in the old Rabbinic homilies generally, the +prototypes of Israel and Rome; and so is the battle of Moses and Joshua +with Amalek indicative of the war which Elijah and the Messiah the son of +Joseph will wage against Edom (the prototype of Rome), before the Redeemer +from the house of David will appear.(91) Sometimes these stories convey +both a moral and a pre-justification of what was destined to happen to +Israel. So Nachmanides' remarks with reference to Sarah's treatment of +Hagar (Gen. xvi. 6): "Our mother Sarah sinned greatly by inflicting this +pain on Hagar, as did also Abraham, who allowed such a thing to pass; but +God saw her affliction and rewarded her by a son (the ancestor of a wild +race), who would inflict on the seed of Abraham and Sarah every sort of +oppression." In this he alluded to the Islamic empires. Nor does he +approve of Abraham's conduct on the occasion of his coming to Egypt, when +he asked Sarah to pass as his sister (Gen. xii.). "Unintentionally," +Nachmanides says, "Abraham, under the fear of being murdered, committed a +great sin when he exposed his virtuous wife to such a temptation. For he +ought to have trusted that God would save both him and his wife.... It is +on account of this deed that his children had to suffer exile under the +rule of Pharaoh. There, where the sin was committed, also the judgment +took place." It is also worth noticing that, in opposition to Maimonides, +he allows no apology for the attack of Simeon and Levi on the population +of Shechem (Gen. xxxiv. 25). It is true that they were idolaters, immoral, +and steeped in every abomination; but Jacob and his sons were not +commissioned with executing justice on them. The people of Shechem trusted +their word, therefore they ought to have spared them. Hence Jacob's +protest, and his curse against their wrath, which would have been quite +unjustified had he looked on the action of his sons as a good work. + +Besides these typical meanings, the matters of the Torah have also their +symbolical importance, which places them almost above the sphere of human +conception; they are neither exactly what they seem to be nor entirely +what their name implies, but a reflex from things unseen, which makes any +human interference both preposterous and dangerous. Of "the things +_called_ Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge," Nachmanides tells us that +their mystery is very great, reaching into higher worlds. Otherwise, why +should God, who is good and the dispenser of good, have prevented Adam +from eating the fruit (of the latter), whilst in another place he says: +"And if thou wilt be worthy, and understand the mystery of the word +_Bereshith_(92) (with which the Torah begins), thou wilt see that in truth +the Scripture, though apparently speaking of matters here below (on +earth), is always pointing to things above (heaven);" for "every glory and +every wonder, and every deep mystery, and all beautiful wisdom are hidden +in the Torah, sealed up in her treasures." + +It is very characteristic of the bent of Nachmanides' mind, that he is +perhaps the first Jewish writer who mentions the apocryphal book _The +Wisdom of Solomon_, which he knew from a Syriac version, and which he +believed to be genuine. And when we read there (vii. 7-25), "Wherefore I +prayed and understanding was given to me. I called upon God and the spirit +of wisdom came upon me.... For God has given me unmistakable knowledge to +know how the world was made, and the operations of the planets. The +beginning, ending, and midst of the times, the alterations and the +turnings of the sun, the changes of the seasons, the natures of the living +creatures and the furies of the wild beasts, the force of the spirits and +the reasonings of men, the diversities of plants and the virtues of the +roots. All such things that are either secret or manifest, them I +knew"--the wise king was, according to Nachmanides (who quotes the passages +which I have just cited), speaking of the Torah, which is identical with +this wisdom, a wisdom which existed before the creation, and by which God +planned the world. Hence it bears the impression of all the universe, +whilst on the other hand when it is said, "The king brought me into his +chambers," those secret recesses of the Torah are meant in which all the +great mysteries relating to Creation and to the Chariot (Ezekiel i.) are +hidden. + +We must content ourselves with these few sparks struck from the glowing +fires of these inner compartments, which, imperfectly luminous as my +treatment has left them, may yet shed some light on the personality of +Nachmanides, which is the main object of this essay. But I do not propose +to accompany the mystic into the "chambers of the king," lest we may soon +get into a labyrinth of obscure terms and strange ways of thinking for +which the Ariadne thread is still wanting. We might also be confronted by +the Fifty Gates of Understanding, the Thirty-Two Paths of Wisdom, and the +Two Hundred and Thirty-One Permutations or Ciphers of the Alphabet, the +key to which I do not hold. It is also questionable whether it would +always be worth while to seek for it. When one, for instance, sees such a +heaping on of nouns (with some Cabbalists) as the Land of Life, the Land +of Promise, the Lord of the World, the Foundation Stone, Zion, Mother, +Daughter, Sister, the Congregation of Israel, the Twin Roes, the Bride, +Blue, End, Oral Law, Sea, Wisdom, etc., meant to represent the same thing +or attribute, and to pass one into another, one cannot possibly help +feeling some suspicion that one stands before a conglomerate of words run +riot, over which the writer had lost all control. + +Indeed Nachmanides himself, in the preface to the above-mentioned +Commentary, gives us the kind advice not to meditate, or rather brood, +over the mystical hints which are scattered over this work, "speculation +being (in such matters) folly, and reasoning over them fraught with +danger." Indeed, the danger is obvious. I have, to give one or two +instances, already alluded to the theory which accepts the Torah or the +Wisdom as an agent in the creation of the world. But the mystic pushes +further, and asks for the Primal Being to which this Wisdom owes its +origin. The answer given is from the great Nothing, as it is written, And +the Wisdom shall be found from Nothing.(93) What is intended by this, if +it means anything, is probably to divest the first cause of every possible +quality which by its very qualifying nature must be limiting and +exclusive. Hence, God becomes the Unknowable. But suppose a metaphysical +Hamlet, who, handling words indelicately, should impetuously exclaim, To +be or not to be, that is the question?--into what abyss of utter negations +would he drag all those who despair, by his terrible Nothing. + +On the other hand, into what gross anthropomorphisms may we be drawn by +roughly handling certain metaphors which some Cabbalists have employed in +their struggling after an adequate expression of God's manifestations in +His attribute of love, if we forget for a single moment that they are only +figures of speech, but liable to get defiled by the slightest touch of an +unchaste thought. + +But the greater the dangers that beset the path of mysticism, the deeper +the interest which we feel in the mystic. In connection with the above- +mentioned warning, Nachmanides cites the words from the Scriptures, "But +let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, +lest he break forth upon them" (Exod. xix. 24). Nevertheless, when we read +in the Talmud the famous story of the four Rabbis(94) who went up into the +_Pardes_, or Garden of Mystical Contemplation, we do not withhold our +sympathy, either from Ben Azzai, who shot a glance and died, or from Ben +Zoma, who shot a glance and was struck (in his mind). Nay, we feel the +greatest admiration for these daring spirits, who, in their passionate +attempt to "break through" the veil before the Infinite, hazarded their +lives, and even that which is dearer than life, their minds, for a single +glance. And did R. Meir deny his sympathies even to Other One or Elisha +ben Abuyah, who "cut down the plants"? He is said to have heard a voice +from heaven, "Return, oh backsliding children, except Other One," which +prevented his repentance. Poor fallen Acher, he mistook hell for heaven. +But do not the struggle and despair which led to this unfortunate +confusion rather plead for our commiseration? + +Nachmanides, however, in his gentle way, did not mean to storm heaven. +Like R. Akiba, "he entered in peace, and departed in peace." And it was by +this peacefulness of his nature that he gained an influence over posterity +which is equalled only by that of Maimonides. "If he was not a profound +thinker," like the author of the _Guide of the Perplexed_, he had that +which is next best--"he felt profoundly." Some writers of a rather +reactionary character even went so far as to assign to him a higher place +than to Maimonides. This is unjust. What a blank would there have been in +Jewish thought but for Maimonides' great work, on which the noblest +thinkers of Israel fed for centuries! As long as Job and Ecclesiastes hold +their proper place in the Bible, and the Talmud contains hundreds of +passages suggesting difficulties relating to such problems as the creation +of the world, God's exact relation to it, the origin of evil, free will +and predestination, none will persuade me that philosophy does not form an +integral part of Jewish tradition, which, in its historical developments, +took the shape which Maimonides and his successors gave to it. If +Maimonides' _Guide_, which he considered as an interpretation of the Bible +and of many strange sayings in the old Rabbinic homilies in the Talmud, is +Aristotelian in its tone, so is tradition too; even the Talmud in many +places betrays all sorts of foreign influences, and none would think of +declaring it un-Jewish on this ground. I may also remark in passing that +the certainty with which some writers deprecate the aids which religion +may receive from philosophy is a little too hasty. For the question will +always remain, What religion? The religion of R. Moses of Tachau or R. +Joseph Jabez(95) would certainly have been greatly endangered by the +slightest touch of speculation, while that of Bachya,(96) Maimonides, +Jedaiah of Bedres, and Delmedigo undoubtedly received from philosophy its +noblest support, and became intensified by the union. + +But apart from that consideration, the sphere of the activity of these two +leaders seems to have been so widely different that it is hardly just to +consider them as antagonists, or at least to emphasise the antagonism too +much. Maimonides wrote his chief work, the _Guide_, for the few elect, +who, like Ibn Tibbon(97) for instance, would traverse whole continents if +a single syllogism went wrong. And if he could be of use to one wise man +of this stamp, Maimonides would do so at the risk of "saying things +unsuitable for ten thousand fools." But with Nachmanides, it would seem, +it was these ten thousand who formed the main object of his tender care. +They are, as we have seen, cultivated men, indeed "students," having +enjoyed a proper education; but the happy times of abstract thinking have +gone, and being under a perpetual strain of persecutions and cares, they +long for the Sabbath and Festivals, which would bring them both bodily and +spiritual recreation. They find no fault with religion, a false syllogism +does not jar on their ears; what they are afraid of is that, being engaged +as they are, all the six days of work, in their domestic affairs, religion +may be too good a thing for them. "To appease their minds," to edify them, +to make life more sweet and death less terrible to them, and to show them +that even their weaknesses, as far as they are conditioned by nature, are +not irreconcilable with a holy life, was what Nachmanides strove after. +Now and then he permits them a glance into the mystical world in which he +himself loved to move, but he does not care to stifle their senses into an +idle contemplation, and passes quickly to some more practical application. +To be sure, the tabernacle is nothing but a complete map of the superlunar +world; but nevertheless its rather minute description is meant to teach us +"that God desires us to work." + +This tendency toward being useful to the great majority of mankind may +account for the want of consistency of which Nachmanides was so often +accused. It is only the logician who can afford to be thoroughgoing in his +theory, and even he would become most absurd and even dangerous but for +the redeeming fact "that men are better than their principles." But with +Nachmanides these "principles" would have proved even more fatal. Could +he, for instance, have upset authority in the face of the ten thousand? +They need to be guided rather than to guide. But he does not want them to +follow either the Gaon or anybody else slavishly, "the gates of wisdom +never having been shut," whilst on the other hand he hints to them that +there is something divine in every man, which places him at least on the +same high level with any authority. Take another instance--his wavering +attitude between the Maimonists and the Anti-Maimonists, for which he was +often censured. Apart from other reasons, to which I have pointed above, +might he not have felt that, in spite of his personal admiration for +Maimonides' genius, he had no right to put himself entirely on the side +where there was little room for the ten thousand who were entrusted to his +guidance, whilst the French Rabbis, with all their prejudices and +intolerance, would never deny their sympathies to simple emotional folk? + +This tender and absorbing care for the people in general may also account +for the fact that we do not know of a single treatise by Nachmanides of a +purely Cabbalistic character in the style of the _Book of Weight_, by +Moses de Leon, or the _Orchard_, by R. Moses Cordovora, or the _Tree of +Life_ by R. Isaac Loria.(98) The story that attributes to him the +discovery of the _Zohar_ in a cave in Palestine, from whence he sent it to +Catalonia, needs as little refutation as the other story connected with +his conversion to the Cabbalah, which is even more silly and of such a +nature as not to bear repetition. The _Lilac of Mysteries_(99) and other +mystical works passed also for a long time under his name, but their claim +to this honour has been entirely disproved by the bibliographers, and they +rank now among the _pseudepigraphica_. It is true that R. Nissim, of +Gerona, said of Nachmanides that he was too much addicted to the belief in +the Cabbalah, and as a fellow-countryman he may have had some personal +knowledge about the matter. But as far as his writings go, this belief +finds expression only in incidental remarks and occasional citations from +the Bahir,(100) which he never thrusts upon the reader. It was chiefly +when philosophy called in question his deep sympathies with even lower +humanity, and threatened to withdraw them from those ennobling influences +under which he wanted to keep them, that he asserted his mystical +theories. + +Nachmanides' inconsistency has also proved beneficial in another respect. +For mysticism has, by its over-emphasising of the divine in man, shown a +strong tendency to remove God altogether and replace Him by the creature +of His hands. Witness only the theological bubble of Shabbethai +Tsebi--happily it burst quickly enough--which resulted in mere idolatry (in +more polite language, Hero Worship) on the one side, and in the grossest +antinomianism on the other. Nachmanides, however, with a happy +inconsistency, combined with the belief of man's origin in God, a not less +strong conviction of man's liability to sin, of the fact that he _does_ +sin--even the patriarchs were not free from it, as we have seen above--and +that this sin _does_ alienate man from God. This healthy control over +man's extravagant idea of his own species was with Nachmanides also a +fruit of the Torah, within the limits of which everything must move, the +mystic and his aspirations included, whilst its fair admixture of 365 _Do +not's_ with 248 _Do's_ preserved him from that "holy doing nothing" which +so many mystics indulged in, and made his a most active life. + +Much of this activity was displayed in Palestine, "the land to which the +providence of God is especially attached," and which was, as with R. Judah +Hallevi, always "his ideal home." There he not only completed his +_Commentary on the Pentateuch_, but also erected synagogues, and engaged +in organising communities, whose tone he tried to elevate both by his +lectures and by his sermons. His career in Palestine was not a long one, +for he lived there only about three years, and in 1270 he must already +have been dead. A pretty legend narrates that when he emigrated to +Palestine his pupils asked him to give them a sign enabling them to +ascertain the day of his death. He answered them that on that day a rift +in the shape of a lamp would be seen in the tombstone of his mother. After +three years a pupil suddenly noticed this rift, when the mourning over the +Rabbi began. Thus, stone, or anything else earthly, breaks finally, and +the life of the master passes into light. + +What life meant to him, how deeply he was convinced that there is no other +life but that originating in God, how deeply stirred his soul was by the +consciousness of sin, what agonies the thought of the alienation from God +caused him, how he felt that there is nothing left to him but to throw +himself upon the mercy of God, and how he rejoiced in the hope of a final +reunion with Him--of all these sentiments we find the best expression in +the following religious poem, with which this paper may conclude. +Nachmanides composed it in Hebrew, and it is still preserved in some +rituals as a hymn, recited on the Day of Atonement. It is here given in +the English translation of Mrs. Henry Lucas.(101) + + + Ere time began, ere age to age had thrilled, + I waited in his storehouse, as he willed; + He gave me being, but, my years fulfilled, + I shall be summoned back before the King. + + He called the hidden to the light of day, + To right and left, each side the fountain lay, + From out the stream and down the steps, the way + That led me to the garden of the King. + + Thou gavest me a light my path to guide, + To prove my heart's recesses still untried; + And as I went, thy voice in warning cried: + "Child! fear thou him who is thy God and King!" + + True weight and measure learned my heart from thee; + If blessings follow, then what joy for me! + If nought but sin, all mine the shame must be, + For that was not determined by the King. + + I hasten, trembling, to confess the whole + Of my transgressions, ere I reach the goal + Where mine own words must witness 'gainst my soul, + And who dares doubt the writing of the King? + + Erring, I wandered in the wilderness, + In passion's grave nigh sinking powerless; + Now deeply I repent, in sore distress, + That I kept not the statutes of the King! + + With worldly longings was my bosom fraught, + Earth's idle toys and follies all I sought; + Ah! when he judges joys so dearly bought, + How greatly shall I fear my Lord and King! + + Now conscience-stricken, humbled to the dust, + Doubting himself, in thee alone his trust, + He shrinks in terror back, for God is just-- + How can a sinner hope to reach the King? + + Oh, be thy mercy in the balance laid, + To hold thy servant's sins more lightly weighed, + When, his confession penitently made, + He answers for his guilt before the King. + + Thine is the love, O God, and thine the grace, + That folds 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, oh, 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! + + +POSTSCRIPT + +The third letter of Nachmanides to which I have alluded above, is embodied +in the following will by R. Solomon, son of the martyr Isaac. Neither the +date nor the country of the testator is known, but style and language make +it probable that he was a Spanish Jew, and lived in the fourteenth +century. I give here a translation from the whole document as it is to be +found in the Manuscripts. + + + These are the regulations which I, Solomon, the son of the martyr, + Rabbi Isaac, the son of R. Zadok, of blessed memory, draw up for + myself. That as long as I am in good health, and free from + accident, and think of it, I shall not eat before I have studied + one page of the Talmud or of its commentaries. Should I transgress + this rule intentionally, I must not drink wine on that day, or I + shall pay half a _Zehub_(102) to charity. Again, that I shall + every week read the Lesson twice in the Hebrew text, and once in + the Aramaic version. Should I intentionally omit completing the + Lesson as above, then I must pay two _Zehubs_ to charity. Again, + that I shall every Sabbath take three meals, consisting of bread + or fruit. Should I omit to do so, I must give in charity half a + _Zehub_. Again, in order to subdue my appetites, and not to enjoy + in this world more than is necessary for the maintenance of my + body, I must not eat at one meal more than one course of meat, and + not more than two courses altogether; nor must I drink more than + two cups of wine at one meal, apart from the blessing-cup (over + which grace is said), except on Sabbath, Festivals, Chanukah (the + Maccabean Dedication Feast), New Moon, and at other religious + meals (for instance, wedding-dinners and similar festive + occasions). Again, I must not have any regular meal on the day + preceding Sabbath or Festivals. I must not have during the day + more than one course, so that I shall enter upon the holy day with + a good appetite. Should I transgress this resolve intentionally I + shall have to fast a day, or to pay two _Zehubs_. Again, that I + shall not eat the fish called _burbot_,(103) if I think of it. + Again, even on the above-mentioned days, I must not eat more than + three courses at a meal, nor drink more than three cups of wine, + exclusive of the blessing-cup. Again, ... I must not swear by God, + nor mention the name of Heaven without a purpose, nor curse any + man in the name of God. Should I, God forbid, transgress it, I + must not drink more than one cup of wine on that day exclusive of + the blessing-cup. Should I, however, transgress this after dinner, + I must abstain from wine the following day. Should I transgress + it, I have to pay half a _Zehub_. Again, that I shall get up every + night to praise God, to supplicate for His mercy, and to confess. + On those nights when confession is not to be said (Sabbaths and + Festivals), I shall say hymns and psalms. This I shall do when I + am in my house, and in good health, free from any accident. Should + I transgress it, I shall drink not more than one cup of wine the + following day, except the blessing-cup. I again take upon myself + to give in charity the following proportion of my expenditure--from + each dress which I shall have made for myself or for one member of + my family, costing more than ten _Zehubs_, I must pay one + _Pashut_(104) for each ten _Zehubs_. Again, if I should buy an + animal, or a slave, or a female slave, or ground, that I shall + also pay at the same rate. And if I shall buy clothes for sale, + called _fashas_, I shall pay two _Pashuts_ for each garment. As + often as I have occasion to say the benediction of thanksgivings + for having escaped danger I shall pay a _Zehub_, except when I am + travelling [also involving danger in those times!], in which case + I shall have to pay a _Zehub_ on my arrival, and two _Pashuts_ + daily during the journey. Again, from every kind of fish bought + for me, costing more than a _Zehub_, I shall pay a _Pashut_ for + each _Zehub_. And also, if I shall be deemed worthy by God to + marry my children, and to be present at their wedding, to cause + them to give to the poor from the dowry brought to them by their + wives, whether in money or in kind, at the rate of one per cent. + If God will find me worthy of having sons, I must give in charity + according to my means at the time. + + I shall also, between New Year and the Day of Atonement in each + year, calculate my profits during the past year and (after + deducting expenses) give a tithe thereof to the poor. Should I be + unable to make an accurate calculation, then I shall give + approximately. This tithe I shall put aside, together with the + other money for religious (charitable) purpose, to dispose of it + as I shall deem best. I also propose to have the liberty of + employing the money in any profitable speculation with a view to + augmenting it. But in respect of all I have written above I shall + not hold myself guilty if I transgress, if such transgression be + the result of forgetfulness; but in order to guard against it, I + shall read this through weekly. + + I also command my children to take upon themselves as many of the + above regulations as may be in their power to observe, and also to + bind them (_i.e._ the regulations), from generation to generation, + upon their children. And he who carries them out, and even adds to + them, at pain of discomfort to himself, shall merit a special + blessing. And this is the text of the will which I, the above- + mentioned Solomon, draw up for my children, may God preserve them. + That they shall pray thrice daily, and endeavour always to utter + their prayers with devotion. Again, that this prayer shall be said + in the _Beth Hammidrash_, or in the synagogue together with the + congregation. Again, that they shall apply all their powers to + maintain the synagogues and the houses of study, which our + ancestors have built, as well as to continue the endowments + established by my ancestors and myself. They must always endeavour + to imitate them, so that goodness shall never cease from among + them. Again, that they shall always have a chair on which a volume + of the Talmud, or some other Talmudical work, shall lie; so that + they shall always open a book when they come home. At least, they + shall read in any book they like four lines before taking their + meal. Again, that they shall every week read the Lesson twice in + the Hebrew text, and once in the Aramaic version. Again, to take + three meals on the Sabbath.... + + Again, that they shall be always modest, merciful, and charitable, + for these are the qualities by which the children of Israel are + known. Let also all their thoughts and meditations be always + directed to the service of the Lord, and be as charitable and + benevolent as possible, for this is all that remains to man of his + labour. They shall also endeavour to regulate their diet according + to the rules laid down by Rabbi Moses (b. Maimon, or Maimonides), + so as to fulfil the words of Scripture: "The righteous eateth to + the satisfying of his soul." And let them always be careful not to + take the name of God in vain, to be honest in all business + transactions, and let their yea be always yea. They shall always + be under the obligation to train their children to the Study of + the Torah, but one shall devote his life exclusively to the study + thereof. And it shall be incumbent upon his brothers to support + this one, and to invest his moneys, and to provide for him that he + and his family may live respectably, so that he be not distracted + by worldly cares from his studies. Let also the elder love the + younger brothers as their own children, and the younger respect + the elder as a parent. Thus they may always bear in mind that they + are of a God-fearing family. Let them love and honour scholars, + thus to merit the honour of having scholars for their sons and + sons-in-law. This will they shall themselves read weekly, and + shall also make it incumbent upon their children, from generation + to generation, to read weekly, in order to fulfil what is written + (Gen. xviii. 19), "For I know him that he will command his + children," etc., and also the words of Isaiah (lix. 21), "And this + is my covenant," etc. But as often as they shall read this will, + they shall also read the two letters below written, which Rabbi + Moses ben Nachman sent to his sons, with a view of being + serviceable to them in many respects. Should, heaven forbid, they + be by any sad accident prevented from fulfilling the injunctions + above laid down, they must fine themselves by not drinking wine on + that day, or by eating one course less at the dinner, or by giving + some fine in charity.... + + +And this is the letter which the above-mentioned Rabbi sent from the Holy +Land to Castile, when his son was staying before the king (in his +service):-- + + + "... May God bless you and preserve you from sin and punishment. + Behold, our master, King David, had a son, wise and of an + understanding heart, like unto whom there was never one before or + after. Nevertheless he said to him (1 Kings ii. 2): 'And keep the + charge of the Lord thy God,' etc. He also said to him: 'And thou, + my son, know the God of thy father' (1 Chron. xxviii. 9). Now, my + son, if thou wilt measure thyself with Solomon, thou wilt find + thyself a worm--not a man, merely an insect; nevertheless, if thou + wilt seek God, he will make thee great; and if thou wilt forsake + him, thou wilt be turned out and forsaken. My son, be careful that + thou read the _Shema_(105) morning and evening, as well as that + thou say the daily prayers. Have always with thee a Pentateuch + written correctly, and read therein the Lesson for each + Sabbath.... 'Cast thy burden upon the Lord,' for the thing which + thou believest far from thee is often very near unto thee. Know, + again, that thou art not master over thy words, nor hast power + over thy hand; but everything is in the hand of the Lord, who + formeth thy heart.... Be especially careful to keep aloof from the + women [of the court?]. Know that our God hates immorality, and + Balaam could in no other way injure Israel than by inciting them + to unchastity. [Here come many quotations from Malachi and + Ezra.]... My son, remember me always, and let the image of my + countenance be never absent from before thine eyes. Love not that + which I hate.... Let the words of the Psalmist be always upon thy + lips, 'I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments + from me' (Ps. cxix. 19); and God, who is good and the dispenser of + good, shall increase thy peace and prolong thy life in peace and + happiness, and promote thy honour according to thy wish and the + wish of thy father who begat thee, Moses ben Nachman." + + + + + +V. A JEWISH BOSWELL + + +There is a saying in the Talmud "Nothing exists of which there is not some +indication in the Torah." These words are often quoted, and some modern +authors have pressed them so far as to find even the discoveries of +Columbus and the inventions of Watt and Stephenson indicated in the Law. +This is certainly misapplied ingenuity. But it is hardly an exaggeration +to maintain that there is no noble manifestation of real religion, no +expression of real piety, reverence, and devotion, to which Jewish +literature would not offer a fair parallel. + +Thus it will hardly be astonishing to hear that Jewish literature has its +Boswell to show, more than three centuries before the Scottish gentleman +came to London to admire his Johnson, and more than four centuries before +the Sage of Chelsea delivered his lectures on Hero Worship. And this +Jewish Boswell was guided only by the motives suggested to him in the old +Rabbinic literature. In this literature the reverence for the great man, +and the absorption of one's whole self in him, went so far that one Rabbi +declared that the whole world was only created to serve such a man as +company.(106) + +Again, the fact that, in the language of the Rabbis, the term for studying +the Law and discussing it is "to attend" or rather "to serve the disciples +of the Wise" may also have led people to the important truth that the +great man is not a lecturing machine, but a sort of living Law himself. +"When the man," said one Rabbi, "has wholly devoted himself to the Torah, +and thoroughly identified himself with it, it becomes almost his own +Torah." Thus people have not only to listen to his words but to observe +his whole life, and to profit from all his actions and movements. + +This was what the Jewish Boswell sought to do. His name was Rabbi Solomon, +of St. Goar, a small town on the Rhine, while the name of the master whom +he served was R. Jacob, the Levite, better known by his initials Maharil, +who filled the office of Chief Rabbi in Mayence and Worms successively. +The main activity of Maharil falls in the first three decades of the +fifteenth century. Those were troublous times for a Rabbi. For the +preceding century with its persecution and sufferings--one has only to +think of the Black Death and its terrible consequences for the Jews--led to +the destruction of the great Schools, the decay of the study of the Law, +and to the dissolution of many congregations. Those which remained lost +all touch with each other, so that almost every larger Jewish community +had its own _Minhag_ or ritual custom.(107) + +It was Maharil who brought some order into this chaos, and in the course +of time his influence asserted itself so strongly that the rules observed +by him in the performing of religious ceremonies were accepted by the +great majority of the Jewish communities. Thus the personality of Maharil +himself became a standing Minhag, suppressing all the other Minhagim +(customs). + +But there must have been something very strong and very great about the +personality of the man who could succeed in such an arduous task. For we +must not forget that the Minhag or custom in its decay degenerates into a +kind of religious fashion, the worst disease to which religion is liable, +and the most difficult to cure. It is therefore an irreparable loss both +for Jewish literature and for Jewish history, that the greatest part of +Maharil's posthumous writings are no longer extant, so that our knowledge +about him is very small. But the little we know of him we owe chiefly to +the communicativeness of his servant, the Solomon of St. Goar whom I +mentioned above. + +Solomon not only gave us the "Customs" of his master, but also observed +him closely in all his movements, and conscientiously wrote down all that +he saw and heard, under the name of _Collectanea_. It seems that the bulk +of these _Collectanea_ was also lost. But in the fragments that we still +possess we are informed, among other things, how Maharil addressed his +wife, how he treated his pupils, how careful he was in the use of his +books, and even how clean his linen was. Is this not out-Boswelling +Boswell? + +The most striking point of agreement between the Boswell of the fifteenth +and him of the eighteenth century, is that they both use the same passage +from the Talmud to excuse the interest in trifles which their labours of +love betrayed. Thus Solomon prefaces his _Collectanea_ with the following +words: "It is written, His leaf shall not wither. These words were +explained by our Sages to mean that even the idle talk of the disciples of +the wise deserves a study. Upon this interpretation I have relied. In my +love to R. Jacob the Levite, I collected everything about him. I did not +refuse even small things, though many derided me. Everything I wrote down, +for such was the desire of my heart." + +Thus far Solomon. Now, if we turn to the introduction to Boswell's _Life +of Johnson_, we read the following sentence: "For this almost +superstitious reverence, I have found very old and venerable authority +quoted by our great modern prelate, Secker, in whose tenth sermon there is +the following passage: 'Rabbi Kimchi, a noted Jewish commentator who lived +about five hundred years ago, explains that passage in the first Psalm, +"His leaf also shall not wither" from Rabbins yet older than himself, that +even the idle talk, so he expressed it, of a good man ought to be +regarded.' " + +Croker's note to this passage sounds rather strange. This editor says: +"Kimchi was a Spanish Rabbi, who died in 1240. One wonders that Secker's +good sense should have condescended to quote this far-fetched and futile +interpretation of the simple and beautiful metaphor, by which the Psalmist +illustrates the prosperity of the righteous man." Now Kimchi died at least +five years earlier than Croker states, but dates, we know from Macaulay's +essay on the subject, were not Croker's strong point. But one can hardly +forgive the editor of Boswell this lack of sympathy. Had he known what +strong affinity there was between his most Christian author and the humble +Jew Solomon, he would have less resented this condescension of Archbishop +Secker. + +As for the Jewish Boswell himself, we know very little about him. The only +place in which he speaks about his own person is that in which he derives +his pedigree from R. Eleazar ben Samuel Hallevi (died 1357), and says that +he was generally called "Der gute (the good) R. Salman." He well deserved +this appellation. In his Will we find the following injunction to his +children: "Be honest, and conscientious in your dealing with men, with +Jews as well as Gentiles, be kind and obliging to them; do not speak what +is superfluous." And wisdom is surely rare enough to render inappropriate +a charge of superfluousness against the work of those who in bygone times +spent their energies in gathering the crumbs that fell from the tables of +the wise. + + + + + +VI. THE DOGMAS OF JUDAISM + + +The object of this essay is to say about the dogmas of Judaism a word +which I think ought not to be left unsaid. + +In speaking of dogmas it must be understood that Judaism does not ascribe +to them any saving power. The belief in a dogma or a doctrine without +abiding by its real or supposed consequences (_e.g._ the belief in +_creatio ex nihilo_ without keeping the Sabbath) is of no value. And the +question about certain doctrines is not whether they possess or do not +possess the desired charm against certain diseases of the soul, but +whether they ought to be considered as characteristics of Judaism or not. + +It must again be premised that the subject, which occupied the thoughts of +the greatest and noblest Jewish minds for so many centuries, has been +neglected for a comparatively long time. And this for various reasons. +First, there is Mendelssohn's assertion, or supposed assertion, in his +_Jerusalem_, that Judaism has no dogmas--an assertion which has been +accepted by the majority of modern Jewish theologians as the only dogma +Judaism possesses. You can hear it pronounced in scores of Jewish pulpits; +you can read it written in scores of Jewish books. To admit the +possibility that Mendelssohn was in error was hardly permissible, +especially for those with whom he enjoys a certain infallibility. Nay, +even the fact that he himself was not consistent in his theory, and on +another occasion declared that Judaism _has_ dogmas, only that they are +purer and more in harmony with reason than those of other religions; or +even the more important fact that he published a school-book for children, +in which the so-called Thirteen Articles were embodied, only that instead +of the formula "I believe," he substituted "I am convinced,"--even such +patent facts did not produce much effect upon many of our modern +theologians.(108) They were either overlooked or explained away so as to +make them harmonise with the great dogma of dogmalessness. For it is one +of the attributes of infallibility that the words of its happy possessor +must always be reconcilable even when they appear to the eye of the +unbeliever as gross contradictions. + +Another cause of the neglect into which the subject has fallen is that our +century is an _historical_ one. It is not only books that have their fate, +but also whole sciences and literatures. In past times it was religious +speculation that formed the favourite study of scholars, in our time it is +history with its critical foundation on a sound philology. Now as these +two most important branches of Jewish science were so long neglected--were +perhaps never cultivated in the true meaning of the word, and as Jewish +literature is so vast and Jewish history so far-reaching and eventful, we +cannot wonder that these studies have absorbed the time and the labour of +the greatest and best Jewish writers in this century. + +There is, besides, a certain tendency in historical studies that is +hostile to mere theological speculation. The historian deals with +realities, the theologian with abstractions. The latter likes to shape the +universe after his system, and tells us how things _ought to be_, the +former teaches us how they _are_ or _have been_, and the explanation he +gives for their being so and not otherwise includes in most cases also a +kind of justification for their existence. There is also the _odium +theologicum_, which has been the cause of so much misfortune that it is +hated by the historian, whilst the superficial, rationalistic way in which +the theologian manages to explain everything which does not suit his +system is most repulsive to the critical spirit. + +But it cannot be denied that this neglect has caused much confusion. +Especially is this noticeable in England, which is essentially a +theological country, and where people are but little prone to give up +speculation about things which concern their most sacred interest and +greatest happiness. Thus whilst we are exceedingly poor in all other +branches of Jewish learning, we are comparatively rich in productions of a +theological character. We have a superfluity of essays on such delicate +subjects as eternal punishment, immortality of the soul, the day of +judgment, etc., and many treatises on the definition of Judaism. But +knowing little or nothing of the progress recently made in Jewish +theology, of the many protests against all kinds of infallibility, whether +canonised in this century or in olden times, we in England still maintain +that Judaism has no dogmas as if nothing to the contrary had ever been +said. We seek the foundation of Judaism in political economy, in hygiene, +in everything except religion. Following the fashion of the day to esteem +religion in proportion to its ability to adapt itself to every possible +and impossible metaphysical and social system, we are anxious to squeeze +out of Judaism the last drop of faith and hope, and strive to make it so +flexible that we can turn it in every direction which it is our pleasure +to follow. But alas! the flexibility has progressed so far as to classify +Judaism among the invertebrate species, the lowest order of living things. +It strongly resembles a certain Christian school which addresses itself to +the world in general and claims to satisfy everybody alike. It claims to +be socialism for the adherents of Karl Marx and Lassalle, worship of man +for the followers of Comte and St. Simon; it carefully avoids the word +"God" for the comfort of agnostics and sceptics, whilst on the other hand +it pretends to hold sway over paradise, hell, and immortality for the +edification of believers. In such illusions many of our theologians +delight. For illusions they are; you cannot be everything if you want to +be anything. Moreover, illusions in themselves are bad enough, but we are +menaced with what is still worse. Judaism, divested of every higher +religious motive, is in danger of falling into gross materialism. For what +else is the meaning of such declarations as "Believe what you like, but +conform to this or that mode of life"; what else does it mean but "We +cannot expect you to believe that the things you are bidden to do are +commanded by a higher authority; there is not such a thing as belief, but +you ought to do them for conventionalism or for your own convenience." + +But both these motives--the good opinion of our neighbours, as well as our +bodily health--have nothing to do with our nobler and higher sentiments, +and degrade Judaism to a matter of expediency or diplomacy. Indeed, things +have advanced so far that well-meaning but ill-advised writers even think +to render a service to Judaism by declaring it to be a kind of enlightened +Hedonism, or rather a moderate Epicureanism. + +I have no intention of here answering the question, What is Judaism? This +question is not less perplexing than the problem, What is God's world? +Judaism is also a great Infinite, composed of as many endless Units, the +Jews. And these Unit-Jews have been, and are still, scattered through all +the world, and have passed under an immensity of influences, good and bad. +If so, how can we give an exact definition of the Infinite, called +Judaism? + +But if there is anything sure, it is that the highest motives which worked +through the history of Judaism are the strong belief in God and the +unshaken confidence that at last this God, the God of Israel, will be the +God of the whole world; or, in other words, Faith and Hope are the two +most prominent characteristics of Judaism. + +In the following pages I shall try to give a short account of the manner +in which these two principles of Judaism found expression, from the +earliest times down to the age of Mendelssohn; that is, to present an +outline of the history of Jewish Dogmas. First, a few observations on the +position of the Bible and the Talmud in relation to our theme. +Insufficient and poor as they may be in proportion to the importance of +these two fundamental documents of Judaism, these remarks may nevertheless +suggest a connecting link between the teachings of Jewish antiquity and +those of Maimonides and his successors. + +I begin with the Scriptures. + +The Bible itself hardly contains a command bidding us _to believe_. We are +hardly ordered, _e.g._, to believe in the existence of God. I say hardly, +but I do not altogether deny the existence of such a command. It is true +that we do not find in the Scripture such words as: "You are commanded to +believe in the existence of God." Nor is any punishment assigned as +awaiting him who denies it. Notwithstanding these facts, many Jewish +authorities--among them such important men as Maimonides, R. Judah Hallevi, +Nachmanides--perceive, in the first words of the Ten Commandments, "I am +the Lord thy God," the command to believe in His existence.(109) + +Be this as it may, there cannot be the shadow of a doubt that the Bible, +in which every command is dictated by God, and in which all its heroes are +the servants, the friends, or the ambassadors of God, presumes such a +belief in every one to whom those laws are dictated, and these heroes +address themselves. Nay, I think that the word "belief" is not even +adequate. In a world with so many visible facts and invisible causes, as +life and death, growth and decay, light and darkness; in a world where the +sun rises and sets; where the stars appear regularly; where heavy rains +pour down from the sky, often accompanied by such grand phenomena as +thunder and lightning; in a world full of such marvels, but into which no +notion has entered of all our modern true or false explanations--who but +God is behind all these things? "Have the gates," asks God, "have the +gates of death been open to thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the +shadow of death?... Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for +darkness, where is the place thereof?... Hath the rain a father? or who +hath begotten the drops of dew?... Canst thou bind the sweet influences of +Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?... Canst thou send lightnings, that +they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?" (Job xxxviii.). Of all these +wonders, God was not merely the _prima causa_; they were the result of His +direct action, without any intermediary causes. And it is as absurd to say +that the ancient world believed in God, as for a future historian to +assert of the nineteenth century that it believed in the effects of +electricity. We _see_ them, and so antiquity _saw_ God. If there was any +danger, it lay not in the denial of the existence of a God, but in having +a wrong belief. Belief in as many gods as there are manifestations in +nature, the investing of them with false attributes, the misunderstanding +of God's relation to men, lead to immorality. Thus the greater part of the +laws and teachings of the Bible are either directed against polytheism, +with all its low ideas of God, or rather of gods; or they are directed +towards regulating God's relation to men. Man is a servant of God, or His +prophet, or even His friend. But this relationship man obtains only by his +conduct. Nay, all man's actions are carefully regulated by God, and +connected with His holiness. The 19th chapter of Leviticus, which is +considered by the Rabbis as the portion of the Law in which the most +important articles of the Torah are embodied, is headed, "Ye shall be +holy, for I the Lord your own God am holy." And each law therein +occurring, even those which concern our relations to each other, is _not_ +founded on utilitarian reasons, but is ordained because the opposite of it +is an offence to the holiness of God, and profanes His creatures, whom He +desired to be as holy as He is.(110) + +Thus the whole structure of the Bible is built upon the visible fact of +the existence of a God, and upon the belief in the relation of God to men, +especially to Israel. In spite of all that has been said to the contrary, +the Bible _does_ lay stress upon belief, where belief is required. The +unbelievers are rebuked again and again. "For all this they sinned still, +and believed not for His wondrous work," complains Asaph (Ps. lxxviii. +32). And belief is praised in such exalted words as, "Thus saith the Lord, +I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, +when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown" +(Jer. ii. 2). The Bible, especially the books of the prophets, consists, +in great part, of promises for the future, which the Rabbis justly termed +the "Consolations."(111) For our purpose, it is of no great consequence to +examine what future the prophets had in view, whether an immediate future +or one more remote, at the end of days. At any rate, they inculcated hope +and confidence that God would bring to pass a better time. I think that +even the most advanced Bible critic--provided he is not guided by some +modern Aryan reasons--must perceive in such passages as, "The Lord shall +reign for ever and ever," "The Lord shall rejoice in his works," and many +others, a hope for more than the establishment of the "national Deity +among his votaries in Palestine." + +We have now to pass over an interval of many centuries, the length of +which depends upon the views held as to the date of the close of the +canon, and examine what the Rabbis, the representatives of the prophets, +thought on this subject. Not that the views of the author of the _Wisdom +of Solomon_, of Philo and Aristobulus, and many others of the Judaeo- +Alexandrian school would be uninteresting for us. But somehow their +influence on Judaism was only a passing one, and their doctrines never +became authoritative in the Synagogue. We must here confine ourselves to +those who, even by the testimony of their bitterest enemies, occupied the +seat of Moses. + +The successors of the prophets had to deal with new circumstances, and +accordingly their teachings were adapted to the wants of their times. As +the result of manifold foreign influences, the visible fact of the +existence of God as manifested in the Bible had been somewhat obscured. +Prophecy ceased, and the Holy Spirit which inspired a few chosen ones took +its place. Afterwards this influence was reduced to the hearing of a Voice +from Heaven, which was audible to still fewer. On the other hand the +Rabbis had this advantage that they were not called upon to fight against +idolatry as their predecessors the prophets had been. The evil inclination +to worship idols was, as the Talmud expresses it allegorically, killed by +the Men of the Great Synagogue, or, as we should put it, it was suppressed +by the sufferings of the captivity in Babylon. This change of +circumstances is marked by the following fact:--Whilst the prophets mostly +considered idolatry as the cause of all sin, the Rabbis show a strong +tendency to ascribe sin to a defect in, or a want of, belief on the part +of the sinner. They teach that Adam would not have sinned unless he had +first denied the "Root of all" (or the main principle), namely, the belief +in the Omnipresence of God. Of Cain they say that before murdering his +brother he declared: "There is no judgment, there is no judge, there is no +world to come, and there is no reward for the just, and no punishment for +the wicked."(112) + +In another place we read that the commission of a sin in secret is an +impertinent attempt by the doer to oust God from the world. But if +unbelief is considered as the root of all evil, we may expect that the +reverse of it, a perfect faith, would be praised in the most exalted +terms. So we read: Faith is so great that the man who possesses it may +hope to become a worthy vessel of the Holy Spirit, or, as we should +express it, that he may hope to obtain by this power the highest degree of +communion with his Maker. The Patriarch Abraham, notwithstanding all his +other virtues, only became "the possessor of both worlds" by the merit of +his strong faith. Nay, even the fulfilment of a single law when +accompanied by true faith is, according to the Rabbis, sufficient to bring +man nigh to God. And the future redemption is also conditional on the +degree of faith shown by Israel.(113) + +It has often been asked what the Rabbis would have thought of a man who +fulfils every commandment of the Torah, but does not believe that this +Torah was given by God, or that there exists a God at all. It is indeed +very difficult to answer this question with any degree of certainty. In +the time of the Rabbis people were still too simple for such a diplomatic +religion, and conformity in the modern sense was quite an unknown thing. +But from the foregoing remarks it would seem that the Rabbis could not +conceive such a monstrosity as atheistic orthodoxy. For, as we have seen, +the Rabbis thought that unbelief must needs end in sin, for faith is the +origin of all good. Accordingly, in the case just supposed they would have +either suspected the man's orthodoxy, or would have denied that his views +were really what he professed them to be. + +Still more important than the above cited Agadic passages is one which we +are about to quote from the tractate Sanhedrin. This tractate deals with +the constitution, of the supreme law-court, the examination of the +witnesses, the functions of the judges, and the different punishment to be +inflicted on the transgressors of the law. After having enumerated various +kinds of capital punishment, the Mishnah adds the following words: "These +are (the men) who are excluded from the life to come: He who says there is +no resurrection from death; he who says there is no Torah given from +heaven, and the Epikurus."(114) This passage was considered by the Rabbis +of the Middle Ages, as well as by modern scholars, the _locus classicus_ +for the dogma question. There are many passages in the Rabbinic literature +which exclude man from the world to come for this or that sin. But these +are more or less of an Agadic (legendary) character, and thus lend +themselves to exaggeration and hyperbolic language. They cannot, +therefore, be considered as serious legal dicta, or as the general opinion +of the Rabbis. + +The Mishnah in Sanhedrin, however, has, if only by its position in a legal +tractate, a certain _Halachic_ (obligatory) character. And the fact that +so early an authority as R. Akiba made additions to it guarantees its high +antiquity. The first two sentences of this Mishnah are clear enough. In +modern language, and positively speaking, they would represent articles of +belief in Resurrection and Revelation. Great difficulty is found in +defining what was meant by the word _Epikurus_. The authorities of the +Middle Ages, to whom I shall again have to refer, explain the Epikurus to +be a man who denies the belief in reward and punishment; others identify +him with one who denies the belief in Providence; while others again +consider the Epikurus to be one who denies Tradition. But the parallel +passages in which it occurs incline one rather to think that this word +cannot be defined by one kind of heresy. It implies rather a frivolous +treatment of the words of Scripture or of Tradition. In the case of the +latter (Tradition) it is certainly not honest difference of opinion that +is condemned; for the Rabbis themselves differed very often from each +other, and even Mediaeval authorities did not feel any compunction about +explaining Scripture in variance with the Rabbinic interpretation, and +sometimes they even went so far as to declare that the view of this or +that great authority was only to be considered as an isolated opinion not +deserving particular attention. What they did blame was, as already said, +scoffing and impiety. We may thus safely assert that reverence for the +teachers of Israel formed the third essential principle of Judaism.(115) + +I have still to remark that there occur in the Talmud such passages as +"the Jew, even if he has sinned, is still a Jew," or "He who denies +idolatry is called a Jew." These and similar passages have been used to +prove that Judaism was not a positive religion, but only involved the +negation of idolatry. But it has been overlooked that the statements +quoted have more a legal than a theological character. The Jew belonged to +his nationality even after having committed the greatest sin, just as the +Englishman does not cease to be an Englishman--in regard to treason and the +like--by having committed a heinous crime. But he has certainly acted in a +very un-English way, and having outraged the feelings of the whole nation +will have to suffer for his misconduct. The Rabbis in a similar manner did +not maintain that he who gave up the belief in Revelation and +Resurrection, and treated irreverently the teachers of Israel, severed his +connection with the Jewish nation, but that, for his crime, he was going +to suffer the heaviest punishment. He was to be excluded from the world to +come. + +Still, important as is the passage quoted from Sanhedrin, it would be +erroneous to think that it exhausted the creed of the Rabbis. The liturgy +and innumerable passages in the Midrashim show that they ardently clung to +the belief in the advent of the Messiah. All their hope was turned to the +future redemption and the final establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven on +earth. Judaism, stripped of this belief, would have been for them devoid +of meaning. The belief in reward and punishment is also repeated again and +again in the old Rabbinic literature. A more emphatic declaration of the +belief in Providence than is conveyed by the following passages is hardly +conceivable. "Everything is foreseen, and free will is given. And the +world is judged by grace." Or, "the born are to die, and the dead to +revive, and the living to be judged. For to know and to notify, and that +it may be known that He (God) is the Framer and He the Creator, and He the +Discerner, and He the Judge, and He the Witness," etc.(116) + +But it must not be forgotten that it was not the habit of the Rabbis to +lay down, either for conduct or for doctrine, rules which were commonly +known. When they urged the three points stated above there must have been +some historical reason for it. Probably these principles were controverted +by some heretics. Indeed, the whole tone of the passage cited from +Sanhedrin is a protest against certain unbelievers who are threatened with +punishment. Other beliefs, not less essential, but less disputed, remain +unmentioned, because there was no necessity to assert them. + +It was not till a much later time, when the Jews came into closer contact +with new philosophical schools, and also new creeds which were more liable +than heathenism was to be confused with Judaism, that this necessity was +felt. And thus we are led at once to the period when the Jews became +acquainted with the teachings of the Mohammedan schools. The Caraites came +very early into contact with non-Jewish systems. And so we find that they +were also the first to formulate Jewish dogmas in a fixed number, and in a +systematic order. It is also possible that their separation from the +Tradition, and their early division into little sects among themselves, +compelled them to take this step, in order to avoid further sectarianism. + +The number of their dogmas amounts to ten. According to Judah Hadasi +(1150), who would appear to have derived them from his predecessors, their +dogmas include the following articles:--1. _Creatio ex nihilo_; 2. The +existence of a Creator, God; 3. This God is an absolute unity as well as +incorporeal; 4. Moses and the other prophets were sent by God; 5. God has +given to us the Torah, which is true and complete in every respect, not +wanting the addition of the so-called Oral Law; 6. The Torah must be +studied by every Jew in the original (Hebrew) language; 7. The Holy Temple +was a place elected by God for His manifestation; 8. Resurrection of the +dead; 9. Punishment and reward after death; 10. The Coming of the Messiah, +the son of David. + +How far the predecessors of Hadasi were influenced by a certain Joseph +Albashir (about 950), of whom there exists a manuscript work, "Rudiments +of Faith," I am unable to say. The little we know of him reveals more of +his intimacy with Arabic thoughts than of his importance for his sect in +particular and for Judaism in general. After Hadasi I shall mention here +Elijah Bashazi, a Caraite writer of the end of the fifteenth century. This +author, who was much influenced by Maimonides, omits the second and the +seventh articles. In order to make up the ten he numbers the belief in the +eternity of God as an article, and divides the fourth article into two. In +the fifth article Bashazi does not emphasise so strongly the completeness +of the Torah as Hadasi, and omits the portion which is directed against +Tradition. It is interesting to see the distinction which Bashazi draws +between the Pentateuch and the Prophets. While he thinks that the five +books of Moses can never be altered, he regards the words of the Prophets +as only relating to their contemporaries, and thus subject to changes. As +I do not want to anticipate Maimonides' system, I must refrain from giving +here the articles laid down by Solomon Troki in the beginning of the +eighteenth century. For the articles of Maimonides are copied by this +writer with a few slight alterations so as to dress them in a Caraite +garb. + +I must dismiss the Caraites with these few remarks, my object being +chiefly to discuss the dogmas of the Synagogue from which they had +separated themselves. Besides, as in everything Caraitic, there is no +further development of the question. As Bashazi laid them down, they are +still taught by the Caraites of to-day. I return to the Rabbanites.(117) + +As is well known, Maimonides (1130-1205), was the first Rabbanite who +formulated the dogmas of the Synagogue. But there are indications of +earlier attempts. R. Saadiah Gaon's (892-942) work, _Creeds and Opinions_, +shows such traces. He says in his preface, "My heart sickens to see that +the belief of my co-religionists is impure and that their theological +views are confused." The subjects he treats in this book, such as +creation, unity of God, resurrection of the dead, the future redemption of +Israel, reward and punishment, and other kindred theological subjects +might thus, perhaps, be considered as the essentials of the creed that the +Gaon desired to present in a pure and rational form. R. Hannaneel, of +Kairowan,(118) in the first half of the eleventh century, says in one of +his commentaries that to deserve eternal life one must believe in _four_ +things: in God, in the prophets, in a future world where the just will be +rewarded, and in the advent of the Redeemer. From R. Judah Hallevi's +_Cusari_, written in the beginning of the twelfth century, we might argue +that the belief in the election of Israel by God was the cardinal dogma of +the author.(119) Abraham Ibn Daud, a contemporary of Maimonides, in his +book _The High Belief_,(120) speaks of _rudiments_, among which, besides +such metaphysical principles as unity, rational conception of God's +attributes, etc., the belief in the immutability of the Law, etc., is +included. Still, all these works are intended to furnish evidence from +philosophy or history for the truth of religion rather than to give a +definition of this truth. The latter task was undertaken by Maimonides. + +I refer to the thirteen articles embodied in his first work, _The +Commentary to the Mishnah_. They are appended to the Mishnah in Sanhedrin, +with which I dealt above. But though they do not form an independent +treatise, Maimonides' remarks must not be considered as merely incidental. + +That Maimonides was quite conscious of the importance of this exposition +can be gathered from the concluding words addressed to the reader: "Know +these (words) and repeat them many times, and think them over in the +proper way. God knows that thou wouldst be deceiving thyself if thou +thinkest thou hast understood them by having read them once or even ten +times. Be not, therefore, hasty in perusing them. I have not composed them +without deep study and earnest reflection." + +The result of this deep study was that the following Thirteen Articles +constitute the creed of Judaism. They are:-- + +1. The belief in the existence of a Creator; 2. The belief in His Unity; +3. The belief in His Incorporeality; 4. The belief in His Eternity; 5. The +belief that all worship and adoration are due to Him alone; 6. The belief +in Prophecy; 7. The belief that Moses was the greatest of all Prophets, +both before and after him; 8. The belief that the Torah was revealed to +Moses on Mount Sinai; 9. The belief in the Immutability of this revealed +Torah; 10. The belief that God knows the actions of men; 11. The belief in +Reward and Punishment; 12. The belief in the coming of the Messiah; 13. +The belief in the Resurrection of the dead. + +The impulse given by the great philosopher and still greater Jew was +eagerly followed by succeeding generations, and Judaism thus came into +possession of a dogmatic literature such as it never knew before +Maimonides. Maimonides is the centre of this literature, and I shall +accordingly speak in the remainder of this essay of Maimonists and Anti- +Maimonists. These terms really apply to the great controversy that raged +round Maimonides' _Guide of __ the Perplexed_, but I shall, chiefly for +brevity's sake, employ them in these pages in a restricted sense to refer +to the dispute concerning the Thirteen Articles. + +Among the Maimonists we may probably include the great majority of Jews, +who accepted the Thirteen Articles without further question. Maimonides +must indeed have filled up a great gap in Jewish theology, a gap, +moreover, the existence of which was very generally perceived. A century +had hardly elapsed before the Thirteen Articles had become a theme for the +poets of the Synagogue. And almost every country where Jews lived can show +a poem or a prayer founded on these Articles. R. Jacob Molin (1420) of +Germany speaks of metrical and rhymed songs in the German language, the +burden of which was the Thirteen Articles, and which were read by the +common people with great devotion. The numerous commentaries and homilies +written on the same topic would form a small library in themselves.(121) +But on the other hand it must not be denied that the Anti-Maimonists, that +is to say those Jewish writers who did not agree with the creed formulated +by Maimonides, or agreed only in part with him, form also a very strong +and respectable minority. They deserve our attention the more as it is +their works which brought life into the subject and deepened it. It is not +by a perpetual Amen to every utterance of a great authority that truth or +literature gains anything. + +The Anti-Maimonists can be divided into two classes. The one class +categorically denies that Judaism has dogmas. I shall have occasion to +touch on this view when I come to speak of Abarbanel. Here I pass at once +to the second class of Anti-Maimonists. This consists of those who agree +with Maimonides as to the existence of dogmas in Judaism, but who differ +from him as to what these dogmas are, or who give a different enumeration +of them. + +As the first of these Anti-Maimonists we may regard Nachmanides, who, in +his famous _Sermon in the Presence of the King_, speaks of three +fundamental principles: Creation (that is, non-eternity of matter), +Omniscience of God, and Providence. Next comes R. Abba Mari ben Moses, of +Montpellier. He wrote at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and is +famous in Jewish history for his zeal against the study of philosophy. We +possess a small pamphlet by him dealing with our subject, and it forms a +kind of prologue to his collection of controversial letters against the +rationalists of his time.(122) He lays down three articles as the +fundamental teachings of Religion: 1. Metaphysical: The existence of God, +including His Unity and Incorporeality; 2. Mosaic: _Creatio ex nihilo_ by +God--a consequence of this principle is the belief that God is capable of +altering the laws of nature at His pleasure; 3. Ethical: Special +Providence--_i.e._ God knows all our actions in all their details. Abba +Mari does not mention Maimonides' Thirteen Articles. But it would be false +to conclude that he rejected the belief in the coming of the Messiah, or +any other article of Maimonides. The whole tone and tendency of this +pamphlet is polemical, and it is therefore probable that he only urged +those points which were either doubted or explained in an unorthodox way +by the sceptics of his time. + +Another scholar, of Provence, who wrote but twenty years later than Abba +Mari--R. David ben Samuel d'Estella (1320)--speaks of the seven pillars of +religion. They are: Revelation, Providence, Reward and Punishment, the +Coming of the Messiah, Resurrection of the Dead, _Creatio ex nihilo_, and +Free Will.(123) + +Of authors living in other countries, I have to mention here R. Shemariah, +of Crete, who flourished at about the same time as R. David d'Estella, and +is known from his efforts to reconcile the Caraites with the Rabbanites. +This author wrote a book for the purpose of furnishing Jewish students +with evidence for what he considered the five fundamental teachings of +Judaism, viz.: 1. The Existence of God; 2. The Incorporeality of God; 3. +His Absolute Unity; 4. That God created heaven and earth; 5. That God +created the world after His will 5106 years ago--5106 (1346 A.C.), being +the year in which Shemariah wrote these words.(124) + +In Portugal, at about the same time, we find R. David ben Yom-Tob Bilia +adding to the articles of Maimonides thirteen of his own, which he calls +the "Fundamentals of the Thinking Man." Five of these articles relate to +the functions of the human soul, that, according to him, emanated from +God, and to the way in which this divine soul receives its punishment and +reward. The other eight articles are as follows: 1. The belief in the +existence of spiritual beings--angels; 2. _Creatio ex nihilo_; 3. The +belief in the existence of another world, and that this other world is +only a spiritual one; 4. The Torah is above philosophy; 5. The Torah has +an outward (literal) meaning and an inward (allegorical) meaning; 6. The +text of the Torah is not subject to any emendation; 7. The reward of a +good action is the good work itself, and the doer must not expect any +other reward; 8. It is only by the "commands relating to the heart," for +instance, the belief in one eternal God, the loving and fearing Him, and +not through good actions, that man attains the highest degree of +perfection.(125) Perhaps it would be suitable to mention here another +contemporaneous writer, who also enumerates twenty-six articles. The name +of this writer is unknown, and his articles are only gathered from +quotations by later authors. It would seem from these quotations that the +articles of this unknown author consisted mostly of statements emphasising +the belief in the attributes of God: as, His Eternity, His Wisdom and +Omnipotence, and the like.(126) + +More important for our subject are the productions of the fifteenth +century, especially those of Spanish authors. The fifteen articles of R. +Lipman Muhlhausen, in the preface to his well-known _Book of Victory_(127) +(1410), differ but slightly from those of Maimonides. In accordance with +the anti-Christian tendency of his polemical book, he lays more stress on +the two articles of Unity and Incorporeality, and makes of them four. We +can therefore dismiss him with this short remark, and pass at once to the +Spanish Rabbis. + +The first of these is R. Chasdai Ibn Crescas, who composed his famous +treatise, _The Light of God_, about 1405. Chasdai's book is well known for +its attacks on Aristotle, and also for its influence on Spinoza. But +Chasdai deals also with Maimonides' Thirteen Articles, to which he was +very strongly opposed. Already in his preface he attacks Maimonides for +speaking, in his _Book of the Commandments_, of the belief in the +existence of God as an "affirmative precept." Chasdai thinks it absurd; +for every commandment must be dictated by some authority, but on whose +authority can we dictate the acceptance of this authority? His general +objection to the Thirteen Articles is that Maimonides confounded dogmas or +_fundamental beliefs_ of Judaism, without which Judaism is inconceivable, +with beliefs or _doctrines_ which Judaism inculcates, but the denial of +which, though involving a strong heresy, does not make Judaism impossible. +He maintains that if Maimonides meant only to count fundamental teachings, +there are not more than seven; but that if he intended also to include +doctrines, he ought to have enumerated sixteen. As beliefs of the first +class--namely, fundamental beliefs--he considers the following articles: 1. +God's knowledge of our actions; 2. Providence; 3. God's omnipotence--even +to act against the laws of nature; 4. Prophecy; 5. Free will; 6. The aim +of the Torah is to make man long after the closest communion with God. The +belief in the existence of God, Chasdai thinks, is an axiom with which +every religion must begin, and he is therefore uncertain whether to +include it as a dogma or not. As to the doctrines which every Jew is bound +to believe, but without which Judaism is not impossible, Chasdai divides +them into two sections: (_a_) 1. _Creatio ex nihilo_; 2. Immortality of +the soul; 3. Reward and Punishment; 4. Resurrection of the dead; 5. +Immutability of the Torah; 6. Superiority of the prophecy of Moses; 7. +That the High Priest received from God the instructions sought for, when +he put his questions through the medium of the Urim and Thummim; 8. The +coming of the Messiah. (_b_) Doctrines which are expressed by certain +religious ceremonies, and on belief in which these ceremonies are +conditioned: 1. The belief in the efficacy of prayer--as well as in the +power of the benediction of the priests to convey to us the blessing of +God; 2. God is merciful to the penitent; 3. Certain days in the year--for +instance, the Day of Atonement--are especially qualified to bring us near +to God, if we keep them in the way we are commanded. That Chasdai is a +little arbitrary in the choice of his "doctrines," I need hardly say. +Indeed, Chasdai's importance for the dogma-question consists more in his +critical suggestions than in his positive results. He was, as we have +seen, the first to make the distinction between fundamental teachings +which form the basis of Judaism, and those other simple Jewish doctrines +without which Judaism is not impossible. Very daring is his remark, when +proving that Reward and Punishment, Immortality of the soul, and +Resurrection of the dead must not be considered as the basis of Judaism, +since the highest ideal of religion is to serve God without any hope of +reward. Even more daring are his words concerning the Immutability of the +Law. He says: "Some have argued that, since God is perfection, so must +also His law be perfect, and thus unsusceptible of improvement." But he +does not think this argument conclusive, though the fact in itself (the +Immutability of the Law) is true. For one might answer that this +perfection of the Torah could only be in accordance with the intelligence +of those for whom it was meant; but as soon as the recipients of the Torah +have advanced to a higher state of perfection, the Torah must also be +altered to suit their advanced intelligence. A pupil of Chasdai +illustrates the words of his master by a medical parallel. The physician +has to adapt his medicaments to the various stages through which his +patient has to pass. That he changes his prescription does not, however, +imply that his medical knowledge is imperfect, or that his earlier +remedies were ignorantly chosen; the varying condition of the invalid was +the cause of the variation in the doctor's treatment. Similarly, were not +the Immutability of the Torah a "doctrine," one might maintain that the +perfection of the Torah would not be inconsistent with the assumption that +it was susceptible of modification, in accordance with our changing and +progressive circumstances. But all these arguments are purely of a +theoretic character; for, practically, every Jew, according to Chasdai, +has to accept all these beliefs, whether he terms them fundamental +teachings or only Jewish doctrines.(128) + +Some years later, though he finished his work in the same year as Chasdai, +R. Simeon Duran (1366-1444,) a younger contemporary of the former, made +his researches on dogmas. His studies on this subject form a kind of +introduction to his commentary on Job, which he finished in the year 1405. +Duran is not so strongly opposed to the Thirteen Articles as Chasdai, or +as another "thinker of our people," who thought them an arbitrary +imitation of the thirteen attributes of God. Duran tries to justify +Maimonides; but nevertheless he agrees with "earlier authorities," who +formulated the Jewish creed in Three Articles--The Existence of God, +Revelation, and Reward and Punishment--under which Duran thinks the +Thirteen Articles of Maimonides may be easily classed. Most interesting +are his remarks concerning the validity of dogmas. He tells us that only +those are to be considered as heretics who abide by their own opinions, +though they know that they are contradictory to the views of the Torah. +Those who accept the fundamental teachings of Judaism, but are led by +their deep studies and earnest reflection to differ in details from the +opinions current among their co-religionists, and explain certain passages +in the Scripture in their own way, must by no means be considered as +heretics. We must, therefore, Duran proceeds to say, not blame such men as +Maimonides, who gave an allegorical interpretation to certain passages in +the Bible about miracles, or R. Levi ben Gershom, who followed certain un- +Jewish views in relation to the belief in _Creatio ex nihilo_. Only the +views are condemnable, not those who cherish them. God forbid, says Duran, +that such a thing should happen in Israel as to condemn honest inquirers +on account of their differing opinions. It would be interesting to know of +how many divines as tolerant as this persecuted Jew the fifteenth century +can boast.(129) + +We can now pass to a more popular but less original writer on our theme. I +refer to R. Joseph Albo, the author of the _Roots_,(130) who was the pupil +of Chasdai, a younger contemporary of Duran, and wrote at a much later +period than these authors. Graetz has justly denied him much originality. +The chief merit of Albo consists in popularising other people's thoughts, +though he does not always take care to mention their names. And the +student who is a little familiar with the contents of the _Roots_ will +easily find that Albo has taken his best ideas either from Chasdai or from +Duran. As it is of little consequence to us whether an article of faith is +called "stem," or "root," or "branch," there is scarcely anything fresh +left to quote in the name of Albo. The late Dr. Loew, of Szegedin, was +indeed right, when he answered an adversary who challenged him--"Who would +dare to declare me a heretic as long as I confess the Three Articles laid +down by Albo?" with the words "Albo himself." For, after all the subtle +distinctions Albo makes between different classes of dogmas, he declares +that every one who denies even the immutability of the Law or the coming +of the Messiah, which are, according to him, articles of minor importance, +is a heretic who will be excluded from the world to come. But there is one +point in his book which is worth noticing. It was suggested to him by +Maimonides, indeed; still Albo has the merit of having emphasised it as it +deserves. Among the articles which he calls "branches" Albo counts the +belief that the perfection of man, which leads to eternal life, can be +obtained by the fulfilling of _one_ commandment. But this command must, as +Maimonides points out, be done without any worldly regard, and only for +the love of God. When one considers how many platitudes are repeated year +by year by certain theologians on the subject of Jewish legalism, we +cannot lay enough stress on this article of Albo, and we ought to make it +better known than it has hitherto been.(131) + +Though I cannot enter here into the enumeration of the Maimonists, I must +not leave unmentioned the name of R. Nissim ben Moses of Marseilles, the +first great Maimonist, who flourished about the end of the thirteenth +century, and was considered as one of the most enlightened thinkers of his +age.(132) Another great Maimonist deserving special attention is R. +Abraham ben Shem-Tob Bibago, who may perhaps be regarded as the most +prominent among those who undertook to defend Maimonides against the +attacks of Chasdai and others. Bibago wrote _The Path of Belief_(133) in +the second half of the fifteenth century, and was, as Dr. Steinschneider +aptly describes him, a _Denkglaeubiger_. But, above all, he was a believing +Jew. When he was once asked, at the table of King John II., of Aragon, by +a Christian scholar, "Are you the Jewish philosopher?" he answered, "I am +a Jew who believes in the Law given to us by our teacher Moses, though I +have studied philosophy." Bibago was such a devoted admirer of Maimonides +that he could not tolerate any opposition to him. He speaks in one passage +of the prudent people of his time who, in desiring to be looked upon as +orthodox by the great mob, calumniated the Teacher (Maimonides), and +depreciated his merits. Bibago's book is very interesting, especially in +its controversial parts; but in respect to dogmas he is, as already said, +a Maimonist, and does not contribute any new point on our subject. + +To return to the Anti-Maimonists of the second half of the fifteenth +century. As such may be considered R. Isaac Aramah, who speaks of three +foundations of religion: _Creatio ex nihilo_, Revelation (?), and the +belief in a world to come.(134) Next to be mentioned is R. Joseph Jabez, +who also accepts only three articles: _Creatio ex nihilo_, Individual +Providence, and the Unity of God.(135) Under these three heads he tries to +classify the Thirteen Articles of Maimonides. + +The last Spanish writer on our subject is R. Isaac Abarbanel. His treatise +on the subject is known under the title _Top of Amanah_,(136) and was +finished in the year 1495. The greatest part of this treatise forms a +defence of Maimonides, many points in which are taken from Bibago. But, in +spite of this fact, Abarbanel must not be considered a Maimonist. It is +only a feeling of piety towards Maimonides, or perhaps rather a fondness +for argument, that made him defend Maimonides against Chasdai and others. +His own view is that it is a mistake to formulate dogmas of Judaism, since +every word in the Torah has to be considered as a dogma for itself. It was +only, says Abarbanel, by following the example of non-Jewish scholars that +Maimonides and others were induced to lay down dogmas. The non-Jewish +philosophers are in the habit of accepting in every science certain +indisputable axioms from which they deduce the propositions which are less +evident. The Jewish philosophers in a similar way sought for first +principles in religion from which the whole of the Torah ought to be +considered as a deduction. But, thinks Abarbanel, the Torah as a revealed +code is under no necessity of deducing things from each other, for all the +commands came from the same divine authority, and, therefore, all are +alike evident, and have the same certainty. On this and similar grounds +Abarbanel refused to accept dogmatic articles for Judaism, and he thus +became the head of the school that forms a class by itself among the Anti- +Maimonists to which many of the greatest Cabbalists also belong. But it is +idle talk to cite this school in aid of the modern theory that Judaism has +no dogmas. As we have seen, it was rather an _embarras de richesse_ that +prevented Abarbanel from accepting the Thirteen Articles of Maimonides. To +him and to the Cabbalists the Torah consists of at least 613 Articles. + +Abarbanel wrote his book with which we have just dealt, at Naples. And it +is Italy to which, after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, we have to +look chiefly for religious speculation. But the philosophers of Italy are +still less independent of Maimonides than their predecessors in Spain. +Thus we find that R. David Messer Leon, R. David Vital, and others were +Maimonists. Even the otherwise refined and original thinker, R. Elijah +Delmedigo (who died about the end of the fifteenth century) becomes almost +impolite when he speaks of the adversaries of Maimonides in respect to +dogmas. "It was only," he says, "the would-be philosopher that dared to +question the articles of Maimonides. Our people have always the bad habit +of thinking themselves competent to attack the greatest authorities as +soon as they have got some knowledge of the subject. Genuine thinkers, +however, attach very little importance to their objections."(137) + +Indeed, it seems as if the energetic protests of Delmedigo scared away the +Anti-Maimonists for more than a century. Even in the following seventeenth +century we have to notice only two Anti-Maimonists. The one is R. Tobijah, +the Priest (1652), who was of Polish descent, studied in Italy, and lived +as a medical man in France. He seems to refuse to accept the belief in the +Immutability of the Torah, and in the coming of the Messiah, as +fundamental teachings of Judaism.(138) The other, at the end of the +seventeenth century (1695), is R. Abraham Chayim Viterbo, of Italy. He +accepts only six articles: 1. Existence of God; 2. Unity; 3. +Incorporeality; 4. That God was revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai, and that +the prophecy of Moses is true; 5. Revelation (including the historical +parts of the Torah); 6. Reward and Punishment. As to the other articles of +Maimonides, Viterbo, in opposition to other half-hearted Anti-Maimonists, +declares that the man who denies them is _not_ to be considered as a +heretic; though he ought to believe them.(139) + +I have now arrived at the limit I set to myself at the beginning of this +essay. For, between the times of Viterbo and those of Mendelssohn, there +is hardly to be found any serious opposition to Maimonides worth noticing +here. Still I must mention the name of R. Saul Berlin (died 1794); there +is much in his opinions on dogmas which will help us the better to +understand the Thirteen Articles of Maimonides. As the reader has seen, I +have refrained so far from reproducing here the apologies which were made +by many Maimonists in behalf of the Thirteen Articles. For, after all +their elaborate pleas, none of them was able to clear Maimonides of the +charge of having confounded dogmas or fundamental teachings with +doctrines. It is also true that the Fifth Article--that prayer and worship +must only be offered to God--cannot be considered even as a doctrine, but +as a simple precept. And there are other difficulties which all the +distinctions of the Maimonists will never be able to solve. The only +possible justification is, I think, that suggested by a remark of R. Saul. +This author, who was himself--like his friend and older contemporary +Mendelssohn--a strong Anti-Maimonist, among other remarks, maintains that +dogmas must never be laid down but with regard to the necessities of the +time.(140) + +Now R. Saul certainly did not doubt that Judaism is based on eternal +truths which can in no way be shaken by new modes of thinking or changed +circumstances. What he meant was that there are in every age certain +beliefs which ought to be asserted more emphatically than others, without +regard to their theological or rather logical importance. It is by this +maxim that we shall be able to explain the articles of Maimonides. He +asserted them, because they were necessary for his time. + +We know, for instance, from a letter of his son and from other +contemporaries, that it was just at his time that the belief in the +incorporeality of God was, in the opinion of Maimonides, a little relaxed. +Maimonides, who thought such low notions of the Deity dangerous to +Judaism, therefore laid down an article against them. He tells us in his +_Guide_ that it was far from him to condemn any one who was not able to +demonstrate the Incorporeality of God, but he stigmatised as a heretic one +who refused to believe it. This position might be paralleled by that of a +modern astronomer who, while considering it unreasonable to expect a +mathematical demonstration of the movements of the earth from an ordinary +unscientific man, would yet regard the person who refused to believe in +such movements as an ignorant faddist. + +Again, Maimonides undoubtedly knew that there may be found in the +Talmud--that bottomless sea with its innumerable undercurrents--passages +that are not quite in harmony with his articles; for instance, the well- +known dictum of R. Hillel, who said, there is no Messiah for Israel--a +passage which has already been quoted _ad nauseam_ by every opponent of +Maimonides from the earliest times down to the year of grace 1896. +Maimonides was well aware of the existence of this and similar passages. +But, being deeply convinced of the necessity of the belief in a future +redemption of _Israel_--in opposition to other creeds which claim this +redemption exclusively for their own adherents--Maimonides simply ignored +the saying of R. Hillel, as an isolated opinion which contradicts all the +consciousness and traditions of the Jew as expressed in thousands of other +passages, and especially in the liturgy. Most interesting is Maimonides' +view about such isolated opinions in a letter to the wise men of +Marseilles. He deals there with the question of free will and other +theological subjects. After having stated his own view he goes on to say: +"I know that it is possible to find in the Talmud or in the Midrash this +or that saying in contradiction to the views you have heard from me. But +you must not be troubled by them. One must not refuse to accept a +doctrine, the truth of which has been proved, on account of its being in +opposition to some isolated opinion held by this or that great authority. +Is it not possible that he overlooked some important considerations when +he uttered this strange opinion? It is also possible that his words must +not be taken literally, and have to be explained in an allegorical way. We +can also think that his words were only to be applied with regard to +certain circumstances of his time, but never intended as permanent +truths.... No man must surrender his private judgment. The eyes are not +directed backwards but forwards." In another place Maimonides calls the +suppression of one's own opinions--for the reason of their being +irreconcilable with the isolated views of some great authority--a moral +suicide. + +By such motives Maimonides was guided when he left certain views hazarded +in the Rabbinic literature unheeded, and followed what we may perhaps call +the religious instinct, trusting to his own conscience. We may again be +certain that Maimonides was clear-headed enough to see that the words of +the Torah: "And there arose no prophet since in Israel like unto Moses" +(Deut. xxxiv. 10), were as little intended to imply a doctrine as the +passage relating to the king Josiah, "And like unto him was there no king +before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart ... neither after +him arose there any like him" (2 Kings xxiii. 25). And none would think of +declaring the man a heretic who should believe another king to be as pious +as Josiah. But living among followers of the "imitating creeds" (as he +calls Christianity and Mohammedism), who claimed that their religion had +superseded the law of Moses, Maimonides, consciously or unconsciously, +felt himself compelled to assert the superiority of the prophecy of Moses. +And so we may guess that every article of Maimonides which seems to offer +difficulties to us contains an assertion of some relaxed belief, or a +protest against the pretensions of other creeds, though we are not always +able to discover the exact necessity for them. On the other hand, +Maimonides did not assert the belief in free will, for which he argued so +earnestly in his _Guide_. The common "man," with his simple unspeculative +mind, for whom these Thirteen Articles were intended, "never dreamed that +the will was not free," and there was no necessity of impressing on his +mind things which he had never doubted.(141) + +So much about Maimonides. As to the Anti-Maimonists, it could hardly +escape the reader that in some of the quoted systems the difference from +the view of Maimonides is only a logical one, not a theological. Of some +authors again, especially those of the thirteenth and fourteenth +centuries, it is not at all certain whether they intended to oppose +Maimonides. Others again, as for instance R. Abba Mari, R. Lipman, and R. +Joseph Jabez, acted on the same principle as Maimonides, urging only those +teachings of Judaism which they thought endangered. One could now, indeed, +animated by the praiseworthy example given to us by Maimonides, also +propose some articles of faith which are suggested to us by the +necessities of our own time. One might, for instance, insert the article, +"I believe that Judaism is, in the first instance, a divine religion, +_not_ a mere complex of racial peculiarities and tribal customs." One +might again propose an article to the effect that Judaism is a +proselytising religion, having the mission to bring about God's kingdom on +earth, and to include in that kingdom all mankind. One might also submit +for consideration whether it would not be advisable to urge a little more +the principle that religion means chiefly a _Weltanschauung_ and worship +of God by means of holiness both in thought and in action. One would even +not object to accept the article laid down by R. Saul, that we have to +look upon ourselves as sinners. Morbid as such a belief may be, it would, +if properly impressed on our mind, have perhaps the wholesome effect of +cooling down a little our self-importance and our mutual admiration that +makes all progress among us almost impossible. + +But it was not my purpose to ventilate here the question whether +Maimonides' articles are sufficient for us, or whether we ought not to add +new ones to them. Nor do I attempt to decide what system we ought to +prefer for recitation in the Synagogue--that of Maimonides or that of +Chasdai, or of any other writer. I do not think that such a recital is of +much use. My object in this sketch has been rather to make the reader +_think_ about Judaism, by proving that it regulates not only our actions, +but also our thoughts. We usually urge that in Judaism religion means +life; but we forget that a life without guiding principles and thoughts is +a life not worth living. At least it was so considered by the greatest +Jewish thinkers, and hence their efforts to formulate the creed of +Judaism, so that men should not only be able to do the right thing, but +also to think the right thing. Whether they succeeded in their attempts +towards formulating the creed of Judaism or not will always remain a +question. This concerns the logician more than the theologian. But surely +Maimonides and his successors _did_ succeed in having a religion depending +directly on God, with the most ideal and lofty aspirations for the future; +whilst the Judaism of a great part of our modern theologians reminds one +very much of the words with which the author of _Marius the Epicurean_ +characterises the Roman religion in the days of her decline: a religion +which had been always something to be done rather than something to be +thought, or believed, or loved. + +Political economy, hygiene, statistics, are very fine things. But no sane +man would for them make those sacrifices which Judaism requires from us. +It is only for God's sake, to fulfil His commands and to accomplish His +purpose, that religion becomes worth living and dying for. And this can +only be possible with a religion which possesses dogmas. + +It is true that every great religion is "a concentration of many ideas and +ideals," which make this religion able to adapt itself to various modes of +thinking and living. But there must always be a point round which all +these ideas concentrate themselves. This centre is Dogma. + + + + + +VII. THE HISTORY OF JEWISH TRADITION + + +There is an anecdote about a famous theologian to the effect that he used +to tell his pupils, "Should I ever grow old and weak--which usually drives +people to embrace the safer side--and alter my opinions, then pray do not +believe me." The concluding volume of Weiss's _History of Jewish +Tradition_(142) shows that there was no need for our author to warn his +pupils against the dangers accompanying old age. For though Weiss had, +when he began to write this last volume, already exceeded his three-score +and ten, and, as we read in the preface, had some misgivings as to whether +he should continue his work, there is no trace in it of any abatement of +the great powers of the author. It is marked by the same freshness in +diction, the same marvellous scholarship, the same display of astonishing +critical powers, and the same impartial and straightforward way of judging +persons and things, for which the preceding volumes were so much +distinguished and admired. + +This book, which is recognised as a standard work abroad, is, I fear, +owing to the fact of its being written in the Hebrew language, not +sufficiently known in this country. Weiss does not want _our_ recognition; +we are rather in need of his instruction. Some general view of his +estimate of Jewish Tradition may, therefore, be of service to the student. +It is, indeed, the only work of its kind. Zunz has confined himself to the +history of the Agadah. Graetz gave most of his attention to the political +side of Jewish history. But comparatively little has been done for the +Halachah, though Frankel, Geiger, Herzfeld, and others have treated some +single points in various monographs. Thus it was left for Weiss to write +the _History of Tradition_, which includes both the Agadah and the +Halachah. The treatment of this latter must have proved, in consequence of +the intricate and intractable nature of its materials, by far the more +difficult portion of his task. + +In speaking of the _History_ of Tradition, a term which suggests the +fluctuating character of a thing, its origin, development, progress, and +retrogression, we have already indicated that Weiss does not consider even +the Halachah as having come down from heaven, ready-made, and definitely +fixed for all time. To define it more clearly, Tradition is, apart from +the few ordinances and certain usages for which there is no precedent in +the Bible, the history of interpretation of the Scriptures, which was +constantly liable to variation, not on grounds of philology, but through +the subjective notions of successive generations regarding religion and +the method and scope of its application. + +Weiss's standpoint with reference to the Pentateuch is the conservative +one, maintaining both its unity and its Mosaic authorship. Those passages +and accounts in the Bible in which the modern critic discerns traces of +different traditional sources, are for Weiss only indicative of the +various stages of interpretation through which the Pentateuch had to pass. +The earliest stage was a very crude one, as may be seen from the case of +Jephthah's vow, for which only a misinterpretation of certain passages in +the Pentateuch (Gen. xxii. 2; Num. xxv. 4) could be made responsible. Nor +was Jephthah, who felt himself bound to carry out his vow, acquainted with +the provision for dissolving vows(143) that was sufficiently familiar to +later ages. When, on the other hand, Jeremiah declared sacrifices to be +altogether superfluous, and said that God did not command Israel, when he +brought them from the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or +sacrifices (vii. 22), he was not in contradiction with Leviticus, but +interpreted the laws contained in this book as a concession to popular +custom, though not desirable on their own account. This concession, +whenever it was of a harmless nature, the prophets carried so far as to +permit altars outside the Tabernacle or Temple, though this was against +the plain sense of Deuteronomy. Elijah even bewailed their destruction (1 +Kings xix. 10). He and other prophets probably interpreted the law in +question as directed against the construction and maintenance of several +chief sanctuaries, but not against sacrificing in different places on +minor occasions. This is evidently a free interpretation, or rather +application, of the Law. Occasionally the conception as to when and how a +law should be applied took a completely negative form. In this manner is +to be explained the action of Solomon in suspending the Fast of the Day of +Atonement before the festival he was going to celebrate in honour of the +consecration of the Temple (1 Kings viii. 65), the king being convinced +that on this unique occasion the latter was of more religious importance +than the former. Weiss thinks that the later custom of holding public +dances in the vineyards on the 10th of Tishri might have had its origin in +this solemn, but also joyful, festival. Ezekiel, again, though alluding +more frequently than any other prophet to the laws in the Pentateuch, is +exceedingly bold in his interpretation of them, as, for instance, when he +says that _priests_ shall not eat anything that is dead or torn (xliv. +31), which shows that he took the verses in Exod. xxii. 30, and Deut. xiv. +20, to have been meant only as a good advice to the laymen to refrain from +eating these unclean things, but not as having for them the force of a +real commandment. + +Starting from this proposition, that there existed always some sort of +interpretation running side by side with the recognised Scriptures, which +from the very looseness of its connection with the letter of the Scripture +could claim to be considered a thing independent in itself, and might +therefore be regarded as the _Oral Law_, in contradistinction to the +_Written Law_, the author passes to the age of the Second Temple, the +period to which the rest of the first volume is devoted. In these pages +Weiss reviews the activity of Ezra and Nehemiah, the ordinances of the Men +of the Great Synagogue, the institutions of the Scribes, the Lives of the +so-called Pairs,(144) the characteristics of the three sects, the +Sadducees, Pharisees, and Essenes, and the differences between the schools +of Shammai and Hillel. To each of these subjects Weiss gives his fullest +attention, and his discussions of them would form perfect monographs in +themselves. To reproduce all the interesting matter would mean to +translate the whole of this portion of his work into English. I shall only +draw attention to one or two points. + +First, this liberal interpretation was active during the whole period +referred to. Otherwise no authority could have abolished the _lex +talionis_, or have permitted war on Sabbath, or made the condition that no +crime should be punished without a preceding warning (which was chiefly +owing to the aversion of the Rabbis to the infliction of capital +punishment), or have sanctioned the sacrificing of the Passover when the +14th of Nisan fell on Sabbath. Indeed Shemaiah and Abtalyon, in whose name +Hillel communicated this last law, were called the Great +Interpreters.(145) + +Secondly, as to the so-called _laws given to Moses on Sinai_.(146) Much +has been said about these. The distinction claimed for them by some +scholars, viz. that they were never contested, is not tenable, considering +that there prevailed much difference of opinion about some of them. Nor is +the theory that they were ancient religious usages, dating from time +immemorial, entirely satisfactory. For though the fact may be true in +itself, this could not have justified the Rabbis in calling them all +Sinaitic laws, especially when they were aware that not a few of them were +contested by certain of their colleagues, a thing that would have been +quite impossible if they had a genuine claim to Mosaic authority. But if +we understand Weiss rightly these laws are only to be considered as a +specimen of the whole of the Oral Law, which was believed to emanate, both +in its institutional and in its expository part, from the same authority. +The conviction was firmly held that everything wise and good, be it +ethical or ceremonial in its character, whose effect would be to +strengthen the cause of religion, was at least potentially contained in +the Torah, and that it only required an earnest religious mind to find it +there. Hence the famous adage that "everything which any student will +teach at any future time was already communicated to Moses on Mount +Sinai"; or the injunction that any acceptable truth, even if discovered by +an insignificant man in Israel, should be considered as having the +authority of a great sage or prophet, or even of Moses himself. The +principle was that the words of the Torah are "fruitful and multiply." + +It will probably be said that the laws of clean and unclean, and such +like, have proved rather too prolific; but if we read Weiss carefully, we +shall be reminded that it was by the same process of propagation that the +Rabbis developed from Deut. xxii. 8, a whole code of sanitary and police- +laws which could even now be studied with profit; from the few scanty +civil laws in Exod. xxi., a whole _corpus juris_, which might well excite +the interest and the admiration of any lawyer; and from the words "And +thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children," a complete school- +system on the one hand, and on the other the _resume_ of a liturgy that +appears to have sufficed for the spiritual needs of more than fifty +generations of Israelites. + +Before we pass to the age of the Tannaim,(147) the subject of Weiss's +second volume, we must take account of two important events which have +greatly influenced the further development of Tradition. I refer to the +destruction of the Temple and the rise of Christianity. With the former +event Judaism ceased to be a political commonwealth, and if "the nation +was already in the times of Ezra converted into a church,"--an assertion, +by the way, which has not the least basis in fact,--it became the more so +after it had lost the last remains of its independence. But it was a +church without priests, or, since such a thing, as far as history teaches +us, has never existed, let us rather call it a Synagogue. + +From this fact diverse results flowed. A Synagogue can exist not only +without priests, but also without sacrifices, for which prayer and charity +were a sufficient substitute. With the progress of time also many +agricultural laws, as well as others relating to sacerdotal purity, +gradually became obsolete, though they lingered on for some generations, +and, as a venerable reminiscence of a glorious time, entered largely into +Jewish literature. This disappearance of so many laws and the weakening of +the national element, however, required, if Judaism was to continue to +exist, the strengthening of religion from another side. The first thing +needed was the creation of a new religious centre which would not only +replace the Temple to a certain degree, but also bring about a greater +solidarity of views, such as would render impossible the ancient +differences that divided the schools of Hillel and Shammai. The creator of +this centre was R. Johanan ben Zaccai, who founded the school of Jamnia, +and invested it with the same authority and importance as the Sanhedrin +had enjoyed during Temple times. The consciousness that they were standing +before a new starting-point in history, with a large religious inheritance +from the past, actuated them not only to collect the old traditional laws +and to take stock of their religious institutions, but also to give them +more definite shape and greater stability. As many of these traditions +were by no means undisputed, the best thing was to bring them under one or +other heading of the Scriptures. This desire gave the impulse to the +famous hermeneutic schools of R. Akiba and R. Ishmael. + +The next cause that contributed to give a more determinate expression to +the Law was the rise of Christianity. This is not the place to give an +account of the views which the Rabbis entertained of Christianity. Suffice +it to say they could not see in the destruction of the Law its fulfilment. +They also thought that under certain conditions it is not only the letter +that killeth, but also the spirit, or rather that the spirit may sometimes +be clothed in a letter, which, in its turn, will slay more victims than +the letter against which the loudest denunciations have been levelled. +Spirit without letter, let theologians say what they will, is a mere +phantasm. However, the new sect made claims to the gift of prophecy, +which, as they thought, placed them above the Law. It would seem that this +was a time of special excitement. The student of the Talmud finds that +such marvels as predicting the future, reviving the dead, casting out +demons, crossing rivers dry-shod, curing the sick by a touch or prayer, +were the order of the day, and performed by scores of Rabbis. Voices from +heaven were often heard, and strange visions were frequently beheld. +Napoleon I. is said to have forbidden the holy coat of Treves to work +miracles. The Jewish legislature, however, had no means of preventing +these supernatural workings; but when the Rabbis saw their dangerous +consequences, they insisted that miracles should have no influence on the +interpretation and development of the Law. Hence the saying with regard to +Lev. xxvii. 34, that no prophet is authorised to add a new law. And when +R. Eliezer b. Hyrkanos (about 120 A.C.) thought to prove the justice of +his case by the intervention of miracles, the majority answered that the +fact of this or that variation, effected at his bidding, in the +established order of nature, proved nothing for the soundness of his +argument. Nay, they even ignored the _Bath-Kol_(148) (the celestial +voice), which declared itself in favour of R. Eliezer, maintaining that +the Torah having once been given to mankind, it is only the opinion of the +majority that should decide on its interpretation and application. Very +characteristic is the legend connected with this fact. When one of the +Rabbis afterwards met Elijah and asked him what they thought in heaven of +the audacity of his colleagues, the prophet answered, "God rejoiced and +said, my children have conquered me." + +Into such discredit did miracles fall at that period, whilst the opinion +of the interpreting body, or the Sanhedrin, became more powerful than +ever. These were merely dogmatical consequences. But new laws were enacted +and old ones revived, with the object of resisting Christian influences +over the Jews. To expand the Oral Law, and give it a firm basis in the +Scriptures, were considered the best means of preserving Judaism intact. +"Moses desired," an old legend narrates, "that the Mishnah also (that is +Tradition) should be written down;" but foreseeing the time when the +nations of the world would translate the Torah into Greek, and would +assert their title to rank as the Children of God, the Lord refused to +permit tradition to be recorded otherwise than by word of mouth. The claim +of the Gentiles might then be refuted by asking them whether they were +also in possession of "the Mystery." The Rabbis therefore concentrated +their attention upon "the Mystery," and this contributed largely towards +making the expository methods of R. Akiba and R. Ishmael, to which I have +above referred, the main object of their study in the schools. + +It would, however, be a mistake to think that the Sanhedrin now spent +their powers in "enforcing retrograde measures and creating a strange +exegesis." I especially advise the student to read carefully that +admirable chapter (VII., of Vol. II.) in which Weiss classifies all the +Ordinances, "Fences," Decrees, and Institutions, dating both from this and +from earlier ages, under ten headings, and also shows their underlying +principles. The main object was to preserve the Jewish religion by +strengthening the principle of Jewish nationality, and to preserve the +nationality by the aid of religion. But sometimes the Rabbis also +considered it necessary to preserve religion against itself, so to speak, +or, as they expressed it, "When there is time to work for the Lord, they +make void thy Torah." This authorised the _Beth Din_(149) to act in +certain cases against the letter of the Torah. "The welfare of the World" +was another great consideration. By "World" they understood both the +religious and the secular world. From a regard to the former resulted such +"Fences" and Ordinances as were directed against "the transgressors," as +well as the general injunction to "keep aloof from what is morally +unseemly, and from whatever bears any likeness thereto." In the interests +of the latter--the welfare of the secular world--they enacted such laws as +either tended to elevate the position of women, or to promote the peace +and welfare of members of their own community, or to improve the relations +between Jews and their Gentile neighbours. They also held the great +principle that nothing is so injurious to the cause of religion as +increasing the number of sinners by needless severity. Hence the +introduction of many laws "for the benefit of penitents," and the maxim +not to issue any decree which may prove too heavy a burden to the majority +of the community. The relaxation of certain traditional laws was also +permitted when they involved a serious loss of property, or the sacrifice +of a man's dignity. Some old decrees were even permitted to fall into +oblivion when public opinion was too strong against them, the Rabbis +holding that it was often better for Israelites to be unconscious sinners +than wilful transgressors. The _Minhag_, or religious custom, also played +an important part, it being assumed that it must have been first +introduced by some eminent authority; but, if there was reason to believe +that the custom owed its origin to some fancy of the populace, and that it +had a pernicious effect on the multitude, no compunction was felt in +abolishing it. + +Very important it is to note that the Oral Law had not at this period +assumed a character of such rigidity that all its ordinances, etc., had to +be looked upon as irremovable for all times. With those who think +otherwise, a favourite quotation is the administratory measure laid dawn +in Tractate _Evidences_,(150) I. 5, where we read that no _Beth Din_ has +the right of annulling the dicta of another _Beth Din_, unless it is +stronger in numbers (having a larger majority) and greater in wisdom than +its fellow tribunal. Confess with becoming modesty that the world is +always going downhill, decreasing both in numbers and in wisdom, and the +result follows that any decision by the earlier Rabbis is fixed law for +all eternity. Weiss refutes such an idea not only as inconsistent with the +nature of Tradition, but also as contradictory to the facts. He proves by +numerous instances that the Rabbis did abolish ordinances and decrees +introduced by preceding authorities, and that the whole conception is +based on a misunderstanding. For the rule in question, as Weiss clearly +points out, originally only meant that a _Beth Din_ has no right to undo +the decrees of another _contemporary Beth Din_, unless it was justified in +doing so by the weight of its greater authority. This was necessary if a +central authority was to exist at all. Weiss is indeed of opinion that the +whole passage is a later interpolation from the age of R. Simeon b. +Gamaliel II., when certain Rabbis tried to emancipate themselves from the +authority of the Patriarch. But it was not meant that the decision of a +_Beth Din_ should have perpetual binding power for all posterity. This was +left to the discretion of the legislature of each generation, who had to +examine whether the original cause for maintaining such decision still +existed. + +The rest of this volume is for the greater part taken up with complete +monographs of the Patriarchs and the heads of the schools of that age, +whilst the concluding chapters give us the history of the literature, the +Midrash, Mechilta, Siphra, Siphre, Mishnah, etc., which contain both the +Halachic and the Agadic sayings emanating from these authorities. + +With regard to these Patriarchs, I should like only to remark that Weiss +defends them against the charge made by Schorr and others, who accuse them +of having assumed too much authority on account of their noble descent, +and who describe their opponents as the true friends of the people. Weiss +is no lover of such specious phrases. The qualifications required for the +leadership of the people were a right instinct for the necessities of +their time, a fair amount of secular knowledge, and, what is of chief +importance, an unbounded love and devotion to those over whose interests +they were called to watch. These distinctions, as Weiss proves, the +descendants of Hillel possessed in the highest degree. It is true that +occasionally, as for instance in the famous controversy of R. Gamaliel II. +with R. Joshua b. Hananiah, or that of R. Simeon b. Gamaliel II. with R. +Nathan and R. Meir, they made their authority too heavily felt;(151) but +this was again another necessity of those troubled times, when only real +unity could save Israel. + +However, Weiss is no partisan, and the love he lavishes on his favourite +heroes does not exhaust his resources of sympathy and appreciation for +members of the other schools. Weiss is no apologist either, and does not +make the slightest attempt towards explaining away even the defects of R. +Akiba in his somewhat arbitrary method of interpretation, which our author +thinks much inferior to the expository rules of R. Ishmael; but this does +not prevent him from admiring his excellences. + +Altogether it would seem that Weiss thinks R. Akiba more happy in his +quality as a great saint than in that of a great exegete. What is most +admirable is the instinct with which Weiss understands how to emphasise +the right thing in its right place. As an indication of the literary +honesty and marvellous industry of our author, I would draw attention to +the fact that the sketch of R. Akiba and his school alone is based on more +than two thousand quotations scattered over the whole area of the Rabbinic +literature; but he points in a special note to a sentence attributed to R. +Akiba, which presents the whole man and his generation in a single stroke. +I refer to that passage in Tractate _Joys_,(152) in which R. Akiba speaks +of the four types of sufferers. He draws the comparison of a king +chastising his children; the first son maintains stubborn silence, the +second simply rebels, the third supplicates for mercy, and the fourth (the +best of sons) says: "Father, proceed with thy chastisement, as David said, +Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin" (Ps. li. +4). This absolute submission to the will of God, which perceives in +suffering only an expression of His fatherly love and mercy, was the ideal +of R. Akiba. + +The great literary production of this period was the Mishnah, which, +through the high authority of its compiler, R. Judah the Patriarch, his +saintliness and popularity, soon superseded all the collections of a +similar kind, and became the official text-book of the Oral Law. But a +text requires interpretation, whilst other collections also demanded some +attention. This brings us to the two _Talmuds_, namely, the Talmud of +Jerusalem and the Talmud of Babylon, the origin and history of which form +the subject of Weiss's third volume. + +Here again the first chapters are more of a preliminary character, giving +the student some insight into the labyrinth of the Talmud. The two +chapters entitled "The instruments employed in erecting the great +Edifice," and the "Workmanship displayed by the Builders," give evidence +of almost unrivalled familiarity with the Rabbinical literature, and of +critical powers of the rarest kind. Now these instruments were by no means +new, for, as Weiss shows, the Amoraim employed in interpreting the Mishnah +the same explanatory rules that are known to us from the School of R. +Ishmael as "the Thirteen Rules by which the Torah is explained," though +they appear in the Talmud under other names, and are in reality only a +species of Midrash. Besides this there comes another element into play. It +was the exaggerated awe of all earlier authorities that endeavoured to +reconcile the most contradictory statements by means of a subtle dialectic +for which the schools in Babylon were especially famous. There were +certainly many opponents of this system, and from the monographs which +Weiss gives on the various heads of the western and eastern schools we see +that not all followed this method, and some among them even condemned it +in the strongest words. However, it cannot be denied that there is a +strong scholastic feature in the Talmud, which is very far from what we +should look for in a trustworthy exegesis. Thus we must not always expect +to find in the Talmud the true meaning of the sayings of their +predecessors, and it is certain that a more scientific method in many +cases has led to results the very opposite of those at which the later +Rabbis have arrived. This fact was already recognised in the sixteenth +century, though only in part, by R. Yom-Tob Heller and others. Only he +insisted that in this matter a line must be drawn between theory and +practice. But Weiss gives irrefragable proofs that even this line was +often overstepped by the greatest authorities, though they remained always +within the limits of Tradition. Indeed, as Weiss points out, not every +saying to be found in the Talmud is to be looked upon as representing +Tradition; for there is much in it which only gives the individual opinion +or is merely an interpolation of later hands; nor does the Talmud contain +the _whole_ of Tradition, this latter proceeding and advancing with the +time, and corresponding to its conditions and notions. As we read Weiss, +the conviction is borne in upon us that there was a Talmud before, and +another after _The Talmud_. + +Much space in this volume is given to the Agadah and the so-called +"Teachers of the Agadah." Weiss makes no attempt at apology for that which +seems to us strange, or even repugnant in this part of the Rabbinic +literature. The greatest fault to be found with those who wrote down such +passages as appear objectionable to us is, perhaps, that they did not +observe the wise rule of Johnson, who said to Boswell on a certain +occasion, "Let us get serious, for there comes a fool." And the fools +unfortunately did come in the shape of certain Jewish commentators and +Christian controversialists, who took as serious things which were only +the expression of a momentary impulse, or represented the opinion of some +isolated individual, or were meant simply as a piece of humorous by-play, +calculated to enliven the interest of a languid audience. But on the other +hand, as Weiss proves, the Agadah contains also many elements of real +edification and eternal truths as well as abundant material for building +up the edifice of dogmatic Judaism. Talmudical quotations of such a nature +are scattered by thousands over Weiss's work, particularly in those +chapters in which he describes the lives of the greatest Rabbinical +heroes. But the author lays the student under special obligations by +putting together in the concluding pages of this volume some of these +sentences, and classifying them under various headings. I give here a few +extracts. For the references to authorities I must direct the reader to +the original:-- + +"The unity of God is the keystone of dogmatic Judaism. The Rabbis give +Israel the credit of having proclaimed to the world the unity of God. They +also say that Israel took an oath never to change Him for another God. +This only God is eternal, incorporeal, and immutable. And though the +prophets saw Him in different aspects, He warned them that they must not +infer from the visions vouchsafed to them that there are different Gods. +'I am the first,' He tells them, which implies that he had no father, and +the words, 'There is no God besides me,' mean that he has no son. Now, +this God, the God of Israel, is holy in every thinkable way of holiness. +He is merciful and gracious, as it is said, 'And I will be gracious to +whom I will be gracious,' even though he who is the recipient of God's +grace has no merit of his own. 'And I will show mercy to whom I will show +mercy,' that is, even to those who do not deserve it. His attributes are +righteousness, loving-kindness, and truth. God speaks words of eternal +truth, even as He himself is the eternal life. All that the Merciful One +does is only for good, and even in the time of His anger He remembers His +graciousness, and often suppresses His attribute of judgment before His +attribute of mercy. But with the righteous God is more severe than with +the rest of the world, and when His hand falls in chastening on His saints +His name becomes awful, revered, and exalted. This God of Israel, again, +extends His providence over all mankind, and especially over Israel. By +His eye everything is foreseen, yet freedom of choice is given, and the +world is judged by grace, yet all according to the works wrought. Hence, +know what is above thee, a seeing eye and a hearing ear, and that all thy +deeds are written in a book. + +"They [the Rabbis] believed that God created the world out of nothing, +without toil and without weariness. This world was created by the +combination of His two attributes, mercy and justice. He rejoices in His +creation, and if the Maker praises it, who dares to blame it? And if He +exults in it, who shall find a blemish in it? Nay, it is a glorious and a +beautiful world. It is created for man, and its other denizens were all +meant but to serve him. Though all mankind are formed after the type of +Adam, no one is like his fellow-man (each one having an individuality of +his own). Thus he is able to say, 'For my sake, also, was the world +created'; and with this thought his responsibilities increase. But the +greatest love shown to man is that he was created in the image of God. Man +is a being possessed of free will, and, though everything is given on +pledge, whosoever wishes to borrow may come and borrow. Everything is in +the gift of Heaven except the fear of God. In man's heart abide both the +evil inclination and the good inclination; and the words of Scripture, +'Thou shalt not bow down before a strange god,' point to the strange god +who is within man himself, who entices him to sin in this world, and gives +evidence against him in the next. But the Holy One--blessed be He!--said, 'I +have created the evil inclination, but I have also created its antidote, +the Torah.' And when man is occupied with the Torah and in works of +charity, he becomes the master of the evil inclination; otherwise, he is +its slave. When man reflects the image of God, he is the lord of creation, +and is feared by all creatures; but this image is defaced by sin, and then +he has no power over the universe, and is in fear of all things. + +"Another principle of Judaism is the belief in reward and punishment. 'I +am the Lord, your God,' means, 'it is I who am prepared to recompense you +for your good actions, and to bring retribution upon you for your evil +deeds.' God does not allow to pass unrewarded even the merit of a kind and +considerate word. By the same measure which man metes out, it shall be +meted out to him. Because thou drownedst others, they have drowned thee, +and at the last they who drowned thee shall themselves be drowned. Though +it is not in our power to explain either the prosperity of the wicked or +the affliction of the righteous, nevertheless know before whom thou +toilest, and who thy employer is, who will pay thee the reward of thy +labour. Here at thy door is a poor man standing, and at his right hand +standeth God. If thou grantest his request, be certain of thy reward; but +if thou refusest, think of him who is by the side of the poor, and will +avenge it on thee. 'God seeketh the persecuted' to defend him, even though +it be the wicked who is persecuted by the righteous. The soul of man is +immortal, the souls of the righteous being treasured up under the throne +of God. Know that everything is according to the reckoning, and let not +thy imagination give thee hope that the grave will be a place of refuge +for thee, for perforce thou wast formed, and perforce thou wast born, and +thou livest perforce, and perforce thou wilt die, and perforce thou wilt +in the future have to give account and reckoning before the Supreme King +of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. + +"The advent of the Messiah is another article of the belief of the Rabbis. +But if a man tell thee that he knows when the redemption of Israel will +take place, believe him not, for this is one of the unrevealed secrets of +the Almighty. The mission of Elijah is to bring peace into the world, +while the Messiah, in whose days Israel will regain his national +independence, will lead the whole world in repentance to God. On this, it +is believed, will follow the resurrection of the dead. + +"Another main principle in the belief of the Rabbis is the election of +Israel, which imposes on them special duties, and gives them a peculiar +mission. Beloved are Israel, for they are called the children of God, and +His firstborn. 'They shall endure for ever' through the merit of their +fathers. There is an especial covenant established between God and the +tribes of Israel. God is their father, and He said to them, My children, +even as I have no contact with the profanity of the world, so also +withdraw yourselves from it. And as I am holy, be ye also holy. Nay, +sanctify thyself by refraining even from that which is not forbidden thee. +There is no holiness without chastity. + +"The main duty of Israel is to sanctify the name of God, for the Torah was +only given that His great name might be glorified. Better is it that a +single letter of the law be cast out than that the name of Heaven be +profaned. And this also is the mission of Israel in this world: to +sanctify the name of God, as it is written, 'This people have I formed for +myself, that they may show forth my praise.' Or, 'And thou shalt love the +Lord thy God,' which means, Thou shalt make God beloved by all creatures, +even as Abraham did. Israel is the light of the world; as it is said, 'And +nations shall walk by thy light.' But he who profanes the name of Heaven +in secret will suffer the penalty thereof in public; and this whether the +Heavenly Name be profaned in ignorance or in wilfulness. + +"Another duty towards God is to love Him and to fear Him. God's only +representative on earth is the God-fearing man. Woe unto those who are +occupied in the study of the Torah, but who have no fear of God. But a +still higher duty it is to perform the commandments of God from love. For +greater is he who submits to the will of God from love than he who does so +from fear. + +"Now, how shall man love God? This is answered in the words of Scripture, +'And these words shall be upon thy heart.' For by them thou wilt recognise +Him whose word called the world into existence, and follow His divine +attributes. + +"God is righteous; be ye also righteous, O Israel. By righteousness the +Rabbis understand love of truth, hatred of lying and backbiting. The seal +of the Holy One, blessed be He, is Truth, of which the actions of man +should also bear the impress. Hence, let thy yea be yea, and thy nay, nay. +He who is honest in money transactions, unto him this is reckoned as if he +had fulfilled the whole of the Torah. Greater is he who earns his +livelihood by the labour of his hands than even the God-fearing man; +whilst the righteous judge is, as it were, the companion of God in the +government of the world. For upon three things the world stands: upon +truth, upon judgment, upon peace; as it is said, 'Judge ye the truth and +the judgment of peace in your gates.' But he who breaks his word, his sin +is as great as if he worshipped idols; and God, who punished the people of +the time of the Flood, will also punish him who does not stand by his +word. Such a one belongs to one of the four classes who are not admitted +into the presence of the Shechinah; these are the scoffers, the hypocrites +(who bring the wrath of God into the world), the liars, and the +slanderers. The sin of the slanderer is like that of one who would deny +the root (the root of all religion, _i.e._ the existence of God). The +greatest of liars, however, is he who perjures himself, which also +involves the sin of profanation of the name of God. The hypocrite, who +insinuates himself into people's good opinions, who wears his phylacteries +and is enwrapped in his gown with the fringes, and secretly commits sins, +equally transgresses the command, 'Thou shalt not take the name of the +Lord thy God in vain.' + +"God is gracious and merciful; therefore man also should be gracious and +merciful. Hence, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,' which is a +main principle in the Torah. What is unpleasant to thyself, do not unto +thy neighbour. This is the whole Torah, to which the rest is only to be +considered as a commentary. And this love is also extended to the +stranger, for as it is said with regard to Israel, 'And thou shalt love +thy neighbour as thyself,' so is it also said, 'And thou shalt love him +(the stranger) as thyself.' And thus said God to Israel, 'My beloved +children, Am I in want of anything that I should request it of you? But +what I ask of you is that you should love, honour, and respect one +another.' Therefore, love mankind, and bring them near to the Torah. Let +the honour of thy friend be as dear to thee as thine own. Condemn not thy +fellow-man until thou art come into his place, and judge all men in the +scale of merit. Say not 'I will love scholars, but hate their disciples;' +or even, 'I will love the disciples, but hate the ignorant,' but love all, +for he who hates his neighbour is as bad as a murderer. Indeed, during the +age of the second Temple, men studied the Torah and the commandments, and +performed works of charity, but they hated each other, a sin that +outweighs all other sins, and for which the holy Temple was destroyed. Be +careful not to withdraw thy mercy from any man, for he who does so rebels +against the kingdom of God on earth. Walk in the ways of God, who is +merciful even to the wicked, and as He is gracious alike to those who know +Him, and to those who know Him not, so be thou. Indeed, charity is one of +the three pillars on which the world is based. It is more precious than +all other virtues. The man who gives charity in secret is greater even +than Moses our teacher. An act of charity and love it is to pray for our +fellow-man, and to admonish him. 'Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy +neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him' (Lev. xix. 18), means it is thy +duty to admonish him a hundred times if need be, even if he be thy +superior; for Jerusalem was only destroyed for the sin of its people in +not admonishing one another. The man whose protest would be of any weight, +and who does not exercise his authority (when any wrong is about to be +committed), is held responsible for the whole world. + +"Peacefulness and humility are also the fruit of love. Be of the disciples +of Aaron, loving peace, and pursuing peace. Let every man be cautious in +the fear of God; let him ever give the soft answer that turneth away +wrath; let him promote peace, not only among his own relatives and +acquaintances, but also among the Gentiles. For (the labour of) all the +prophets was to plant peace in the world. Be exceeding lowly of spirit, +since the hope of man is but the worm. Be humble as Hillel, for he who is +humble causes the Divine presence to dwell with man. But the proud man +makes God say, 'I and he cannot dwell in the same place.' He who runs +after glory, glory flees from him, and he who flees from glory, glory +shall pursue him. Be of those who are despised rather than of those who +despise; of the persecuted rather than of the persecutors; be of those who +bear their reproach in silence and answer not. + +"Another distinctive mark of Judaism is faith in God, and perfect +confidence in Him. Which is the right course for a man to choose for +himself? Let him have a strong faith in God, as it is said, 'Mine eye +shall be upon the faithful (meaning those possessing faith in God) of the +land.' And so also Habakkuk based the whole Torah on the principle of +faith, as it is said, 'And the just shall live by his faith' (ii. 4). He +who but fulfils a single commandment in absolute faith in God deserves +that the Holy Spirit should rest on him. Blessed is the man who fears God +in private, and trusts in Him with all his heart, for such fear and trust +arms him against every misfortune. He who puts his trust in the Holy One, +blessed be He, God becomes his shield and protection in this world and in +the next. He who has bread in his basket for to-day, and says, 'What shall +I have to eat to-morrow?' is a man of little faith. One consequence of +real faith is always to believe in the justice of God's judgments. It is +the duty of man to thank God when he is visited with misfortune as he does +in the time of prosperity. Therefore, blessed is the man who, when visited +by suffering, questions not God's justice. But what shall he do? Let him +examine his conduct and repent. + +"For repentance is the greatest prerogative of man. Better is one hour of +repentance and good deeds in this world than the whole life of the world +to come. The aim of all wisdom is repentance and good deeds. The place +where the truly penitent shall stand is higher than that of the righteous. +Repentance finds its special expression in prayer; and when it is said in +Scripture, 'Serve God with all thy heart,' by this is meant, serve Him by +prayer, which is even greater than worship by means of sacrifices. Never +is a prayer entirely unanswered by God. Therefore, even though the sword +be on a man's neck, let him not cease to supplicate God's mercy. But +regard not thy prayer as a fixed mechanical task, but as an appeal for +mercy and grace before the All-Present; as it is said, 'For He is gracious +and full of mercy, slow to anger, abounding in loving-kindness, and +repenteth him of the evil.' " + +The last two volumes of Weiss's work deal with the history of Tradition +during the Middle Ages, that is, from the conclusion of the Talmud to the +compilation of the Code of the Law by R. Joseph Caro. I have already +indicated that with Weiss Tradition did not terminate with the conclusion +of the Talmud. It only means that a certain undefinable kind of +literature, mostly held in dialogue form and containing many elements of +Tradition, was at last brought to an end. The authorities who did this +editorial work were the so-called _Rabbanan Saburai_(153) and the +_Gaonim_, whose lives and literary activity are fully described by Weiss. +But, while thus engaged in preserving their inheritance from the past, +they were also enriching Tradition by new contributions, both the Saburai +and the Gaonim having not only added to and diminished from the Talmud, +but having also introduced avowedly new ordinances and decrees, and +created new institutions. + +Now, it cannot be denied that a few of these ordinances and decrees had a +reforming tendency (see the second and twentieth chapters of vol. iv.); in +general, however, they took a more conservative turn than was the case in +the previous ages. This must be ascribed to the event of the great schism +within the Rabbinical camp itself. I refer to the rise of Caraism, which +took place during the first half of the eighth century. + +There is probably no work in which the Halachic or legalistic side of this +sect is better described than in this volume of Weiss. I regret that I am +unable to enter into its details. But I cannot refrain from pointing to +one of the main principles of the Caraites. This was "Search the +Scriptures." Now this does not look very dissimilar from the principle +held by the Rabbis. For what else is the Talmud, but a thorough searching +through the Bible for whatever was suggestive by time and circumstances? +The light which the Caraites applied to the searching of the Scriptures +was the same which illumined the paths of the Rabbis' investigations. They +employed most of the expository rules of the Tannaite schools. The fact is +that they were only determined to find something different from what the +Rabbis found in the Scriptures. They wanted to have gloomy Sabbaths and +Festivals, and discovered authority for it in the Bible; they wanted to +retain most of the dietary laws which had their root only in Tradition, +but insisted on petty differences which they thought might be inferred +from the Scriptures, and they created a new "order of inheritance," and +varied the forbidden degrees in marriage, in all which the only merit was +that they were in contradiction to the interpretation of the Rabbis. They +also refused to accept the Liturgy of Rabbinical Judaism, but never +succeeded in producing more than a patch-work from verses of the Bible, +which, thus recast, they called a prayer-book. There were undoubtedly +among their leaders many serious and sincere men, but they give us the +impression of prigs, as for instance, Moses Darai, when he reproaches the +Rabbinical Jews for having an "easy religion," or Israel Hammaarabi, when +he recommended his book on the laws regarding the slaughtering of animals, +as having the special advantage that his decisions were always on the more +stringent side. Those who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land were by the +Caraites canonised as "mourners." The Rabbanite R. Judah Hallevi also +visited the ruins of Jerusalem, but he did something more than "mourn and +sigh and cry," he became a God-intoxicated singer, and wrote the "Zion- +Elegy." The novel terminology which they use in their exegetical and +theological works, was only invented to spite the Rabbanites, and marks +its authors as pedants. On the other hand, it is not to be denied that +their opponents did not employ the best means to conciliate them. The +Middle Ages knew no other remedy against schism than excommunication, and +the Gaonim were the children of their time. Nor were the arguments which +the latter brought forward in defence of Tradition always calculated to +convince the Caraites of their error. When R. Saadiah, in his apology for +the institution of the Second Day of the Festival,(154) went the length of +assigning to it a Sinaitic origin, he could only succeed in making the +Caraites more suspicious of the claims of Tradition than before. In a +later generation one of his own party, R. Hai Gaon, had to declare his +predecessor's words a "controversial exaggeration." The zeal which some of +the Gaonim showed in their defence of such works as the _Chambers_ and the +_Measure of the Stature_(155) was a not less unfortunate thing, for it +involved the Rabbanites in unnecessary responsibilities for a new class of +literature of doubtful origin, which in succeeding centuries was disowned +by the best minds in Judaism. + +The Gaonic period, to which we also owe the rise of the Massorah and the +introduction of points in the text of the Bible--of which Weiss treats +fully in the twenty-third and twenty-fourth chapters of vol. iv.--comes to +an end with the death of R. Hai. The famous schools of Sura and +Pumbeditha, over which these two Gaonim presided, fell into decay, and +Babylon ceased to be the centre of Judaism. To be more exact, we should +say that Judaism had no longer any real centre. Instead of dwelling in one +place for centuries, we now have to be perpetually on our journey, +accompanying our authors through all the inhabited parts of the +world--France, Italy, Spain, Germany, with an occasional trip to Africa and +Russia. There we shall meet with the new schools, each of which, though +interpreting the same Torah, occupied with the study of the same Talmud, +and even conforming more or less to the same mode of life, has an +individuality and character of its own, reflecting the thought and habits +of the country which it represents. Thus "geographical Judaism" becomes a +factor in history which no scholar can afford to neglect. It is true that +Judaism never remained entirely unbiassed by foreign ideas, and our author +points in many a place to Persian, Greek, and Roman influences on +Tradition; still, these influences seem to have undergone such a thorough +"Judaization" that it is only the practised eye of the scholar that is +able to see through the transformation. But it requires no great skill to +discriminate between the work produced by a Spanish and that of a French +Rabbi. Though both would write in Hebrew, they betray themselves very soon +by the style, diction, and train of thought peculiar to each country. The +Spaniard is always logical, clear, and systematising, whilst the French +Rabbi has very little sense of order, is always writing occasional notes, +has a great tendency to be obscure, but is mostly profound and critical. +Hence the fact that whilst Spain produced the greatest codifiers of the +law, we owe to France and Germany the best commentaries on the Talmud. +What these codes and commentaries meant for Judaism the student will find +in Weiss's book, and still more fully in his admirable essays on Rashi +(Solomon b. Isaac), Maimonides, and R. Jacob Tam (published in his +periodical, _Beth Talmud_, and also separately). It is enough for us here +only to notice the fact of the breadth of Tradition, which could include +within its folds men of such different types as the sceptics, Maimonides, +Solomon b. Gabirol, and Abn Ezra on one side, and the simple "non- +questioning" Rabbenu Gershom, Rashi, and Jacob Tam on the other. + +The last three centuries, which occupy our author's attention in the fifth +volume, are not remarkable for their progress. The world lives on the +past. The rationalists write treatises on Maimonides' philosophical works, +whilst the German Talmudists add commentary to commentary. It is, indeed, +the reign of authority, "modified by accidents." Such an accident was the +struggle between the Maimonists and Anti-Maimonists, or the rise of the +Cabbalah, or the frequent controversies with Christians, all of which +tended to direct the minds of people into new channels of thought. But +though this period is less original in its work, it is not on that account +less sympathetic. One cannot read those beautiful descriptions which Weiss +gives of R. Meir of Rothenburg and his school, or of R. Asher and his +descendants, without feeling that one is in an atmosphere of saints, who +are the more attractive the less they were conscious of their own +saintliness. The only mistake, perhaps, was that the successors of these +"Chassidim or pious men of Germany" looked on many of the religious +customs that were merely the voluntary expression of particularly devout +souls as worthy of imitation by the whole community, and made them +obligatory upon all. + +This brings us to the question of the Code already mentioned (by R. Joseph +Caro), with which Weiss's work concludes. I have already transgressed the +limits of an essay, without flattering myself that I have done anything +like justice to the greatest work on Jewish Tradition which modern Jewish +genius has produced. But I should not like the reader to carry away with +him the false impression that our author shares in the general cry, "Save +us from the Codifiers." Weiss, himself a Rabbi, and the disciple of the +greatest Rabbis of the first half of this century, is quite aware of the +impossibility of having a law without a kind of manual to it, which brings +the fluid matter into some fixed form, classifying it under its proper +headings, and this is what we call codifying the law. And thus he never +passes any attempt made in this direction without paying due tribute to +its author--be it Maimonides or Caro. But however great the literary value +of a code may be, it does not invest it with the attribute of +infallibility, nor does it exempt the student or the Rabbi who makes use +of it from the duty of examining each paragraph on its own merits, and +subjecting it to the same rules of interpretation that were always applied +to Tradition. Indeed, Weiss shows that Maimonides deviated in some cases +from his own code, when it was required by circumstances. + +Nor do I know any modern author who is more in favour of strong authority +than Weiss. His treatment of the struggle between the Patriarch R. +Gamaliel and his adversaries, which I have touched on above, proves this +sufficiently. What Weiss really objects to, is a _weak_ authority--I mean +that phonograph-like authority which is always busy in reproducing the +voice of others without an opinion of its own, without originality, +without initiative and discretion. The real authorities are those who, +drawing their inspiration from the past, also understand how to reconcile +us with the present and to prepare us for the future. + + + + + +VIII. THE DOCTRINE OF DIVINE RETRIBUTION IN RABBINICAL LITERATURE + + +"Blessed be he who knows." These are the words with which Nachmanides, in +his classical treatise, _Gate of Reward_, dismisses a certain theory of +the Gaonim with regard to this question; after which he proceeds to +expound another theory, which seems to him more satisfactory. This mode of +treatment implies that, unsatisfactory as the one or other theory may +appear to us, it would be presumptuous to reject either entirely, there +being only One who knows the exact truth about the great mystery. But we +may indicate our doubt about one doctrine by putting by its side another, +which we may affirm to be not more absolutely true, but more probable. +This seems to have been the attitude, too, of the compilers of the ancient +Rabbinical literature, in which the most conflicting views about this +grave subject were embodied. Nor did the Synagogue in general feel called +upon to decide between these views. There is indeed no want of theodicies, +for almost every important expounder of Job, as well as every Jewish +philosopher of note, has one with its own system of retribution. Thus +Judaism has no fixed doctrine on the subject. It refused a hearing to no +theory, for fear that it should contain some germ of truth, but on the +same ground it accepted none to the exclusion of the others. + +These theories may, perhaps, be conveniently reduced to the two following +main doctrines that are in direct opposition to each other, whilst all +other views about the subject will be treated as the more or less logical +results of the one or other doctrine. + +1. There is no death without (preceding) sin, nor affliction without +(preceding) transgression.(156) This view is cited in the name of R. Ammi, +who quoted in corroboration the verses Ez. xviii. 20, and Ps. lxxxix. 33. +Though this Rabbi flourished towards the end of the third century, there +is hardly any doubt that his view was held by the authorities of a much +earlier date. For it can only be under the sway of such a notion of +Retribution that the Tannaim were so anxious to assign some great crime as +the antecedent to every serious calamity by which mankind was visited. The +following illustrations will suffice:--"Pestilence comes into the world for +capital crimes mentioned in the Torah, which are not brought before the +earthly tribunal.... Noisome beasts come into the world for vain swearing +and for profanation of the name (of God). Captivity comes upon the world +for strange worship and incest, and for shedding of blood and for (not) +giving release to the land." As an example of the misfortune befalling the +individual I will merely allude to a passage in another tractate of the +Talmud, according to which leprosy is to be regarded as the penalty for +immorality, slander, perjury, and similar sins.(157) + +If we were now to complement R. Ammi's view by adding that there is no +happiness without some preceding merit--and there is no serious objection +to making this addition--then it would resolve itself into the theory of +Measure for Measure, which forms a very common standard of reward and +punishment in Jewish literature. Here are a few instances:--"Because the +Egyptians wanted to destroy Israel by water (Exod. i. 22), they were +themselves destroyed by the waters of the Red Sea, as it is said, +Therefore I will _measure_ their former work into their bosom (Is. lxv. +7);" whilst, on the other hand, we read, "Because Abraham showed himself +hospitable towards strangers, providing them with water (Gen. xviii. 4), +God gave to his children a country blessed with plenty of water (Deut. +viii. 1)." Sometimes this form of retribution goes so far as to define a +special punishment to that part of the body which mostly contributed to +the committing of the sin. Thus we read, "Samson rebelled against God by +his eyes, as it is said, Get her (the Philistine woman) for me, for she +pleases _my eyes_ (Judg. xvi. 21); therefore his _eyes_ were put out by +the Philistines (Judg. xviii. 9)"; whilst Absalom, whose sinful pride +began by his _hair_ (2 Sam. xiv. 25), met his fate by his _hair_ (2 Sam. +xviii. 9).(158) Nahum of Gemzo himself explained his blindness and the +maimed condition of his arms and legs as a consequence of a specific +offence in having neglected the duty of succouring a poor man. Addressing +the dead body of the suppliant who perished while Nahum was delaying his +help, he said, "Let my eyes (which had no pity for your pitiful gaze) +become blind; may my hands and legs (that did not hasten to help thine) +become maimed, and finally my whole body be covered with boils."(159) +"This was the hand that wrote it," said Cranmer at the stake; "therefore +it shall first suffer punishment." + +It is worth noticing that this retribution does not always consist in a +material reward, but, as Ben Azzai expressed it: "The reward of a command +is a command, and the reward of a transgression is a transgression."(160) +So again: "Because Abraham showed himself so magnanimous in his treatment +of the king of Sodom, and said, I will not take from thee a thread; +therefore, his children enjoyed the privilege of having the command of +Zizith, consisting in putting a thread or fringe in the border of their +garments." In another passage we read, "He who is anxious to do acts of +charity will be rewarded by having the means enabling him to do so."(161) +In more general terms the same thought is expressed when the Rabbis +explained the words, Ye shall sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy +(Lev. xi. 44), to the effect that if man takes the initiative in holiness, +even though in a small way, Heaven will help him to reach it to a much +higher degree.(162) + +Notwithstanding these passages, to which many more might be added, it +cannot be denied that there are in the Rabbinical literature many passages +holding out promises of _material_ reward to the righteous as well as +threatening the wicked with _material_ punishment. Nor is there any need +of denying it. Simple-minded men--and such the majority of the Rabbis +were--will never be persuaded into looking with indifference on pain and +pleasure; they will be far from thinking that poverty, loss of children, +and sickness are no evil, and that a rich harvest, hope of posterity, and +good health, are not desirable things. It _does_ lie in our nature to +consider the former as curses and the latter as blessings; "and if this be +wrong there is no one to be made responsible for it but the Creator of +nature." Accordingly the question must arise, How can a just and +omnipotent God allow it to happen that men should suffer innocently? The +most natural suggestion towards solving the difficulty would be that we +are _not_ innocent. Hence R. Ammi's assertion that affliction and death +are both the outcome of sin and transgression; or, as R. Chanina ben Dossa +expressed it, "It is not the wild beast but sin which kills."(163) + +We may thus perceive in this theory an attempt "to justify the ways of God +to man." Unfortunately it does not correspond with the real facts. The cry +wrung from the prophets against the peace enjoyed by the wicked, and the +pains inflicted on the righteous, which finds its echo in so many Psalms, +and reaches its climax in the Book of Job, was by no means silenced in the +times of the Rabbis. If long experience could be of any use, it only +served to deepen perplexity. For all this suffering of the people of God, +and the prosperity of their wicked persecutors, which perplexed the +prophets and their immediate followers, were repeated during the death- +struggle for independence against Rome, and were not lessened by the +establishment of Christianity as the dominant religion. The only comfort +which time brought them was, perhaps, that the long continuance of +misfortune made them less sensible to suffering than their ancestors were. +Indeed, a Rabbi of the first century said that his generation had by +continuous experience of misery become as insensible to pain as the dead +body is to a prick of a needle.(164) The anaesthetic effect of long +suffering may, indeed, help one to endure pain with more patience, but it +cannot serve as an apology for the deed of the inflictors of the pain. The +question, then, how to reconcile hard reality with the justice of God, +remained as difficult as ever. + +The most important passage in Rabbinical literature relating to the +solution of this problem is the following:--With reference to Exod. xxxiii. +13, R. Johanan said, in the name of R. Jose, that, among other things, +Moses also asked God to explain to him the method of his Providence, a +request that was granted to him. He asked God, Why are there righteous +people who are prosperous, and righteous who suffer; wicked who are +prosperous and wicked who suffer? The answer given to him was, according +to the one view, that the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of +the righteous are a result of the conduct of their ancestors, the former +being the descendants of righteous parents and enjoying their merits, +whilst the latter, coming from a bad stock, suffer for the sins of those +to whom they owe their existence. This view was suggested by the +Scriptural words, "Keeping mercy for thousands (of generations) ... +visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children" (Exod. xxxiv. 7), +which were regarded as the answer to Moses' question in the preceding +chapter of Exodus.(165) Prevalent, however, as this view may have been in +ancient times, the Rabbis never allowed it to pass without some +qualification. It is true that they had no objection to the former part of +this doctrine, and they speak very frequently of the "Merits of the +Fathers" for which the remotest posterity is rewarded; for this could be +explained on the ground of the boundless goodness of God, which cannot be +limited to the short space of a lifetime. But there was no possibility of +overcoming the moral objection against punishment of people for sins they +have not committed. + +It will suffice to mention here that, with reference to Joshua vii. 24, +25, the Rabbis asked the question, If he (Achan) sinned, what +justification could there be for putting his sons and daughters to death? +And by the force of this argument they interpreted the words of the +Scriptures to mean that the children of the criminal were only compelled +to be present at the execution of their father. + +Such passages, therefore, as would imply that children have to suffer for +the sins of their parents are explained by the Rabbis as referring to +cases in which the children perpetuate the crimes of their fathers.(166) +The view of R. Jose, which I have already quoted, had, therefore, to be +dropped, and another version in the name of the same Rabbi is accepted. +According to this theory the sufferer is a person either "entirely wicked" +or "not perfectly righteous," whilst the prosperous man is a person either +"perfectly righteous," or "not entirely wicked." + +It is hardly necessary to say that there is still something wanting to +supplement this view, for the given classification would place the not +entirely wicked on the same level with the perfectly righteous, and on a +much higher level than the imperfectly righteous, who are undoubtedly far +superior. The following passage may be regarded as supplying this missing +something:--"The wicked who have done some good work are as amply rewarded +for it in _this_ world as if they were men who have fulfilled the whole of +the Torah, so that they may be punished for their sins in the next world +(without interruption); whilst the righteous who have committed some sin +have to suffer for it (in this world) as if "they were men who burned the +Law," so that they may enjoy their reward in the world to come (without +interruption).(167) Thus the real retribution takes place in the next +world, the fleeting existence on earth not being the fit time either to +compensate righteousness or to punish sin. But as, on the one hand, God +never allows "that the merit of any creature should be cut short," whilst, +on the other hand, He deals very severely with the righteous, punishing +them for the slightest transgression; since, too, this reward and +punishment are only of short duration, they must take place in this short +terrestrial existence. There is thus established a sort of divine economy, +lest the harmony of the next world should be disturbed. + +Yet another objection to the doctrine under discussion remains to be +noticed. It is that it justifies God by accusing man, declaring every +sufferer as more or less of a sinner. But such a notion, if carried to its +last consequences, must result in tempting us to withhold our sympathies +from him. And, indeed, it would seem that there were some non-Jewish +philosophers who argued in this way. Thus a certain Roman official is +reported to have said to R. Akiba, "How can you be so eager in helping the +poor? Suppose only a king, who, in his wrath against his slave, were to +set him in the gaol, and give orders to withhold from him food and drink; +if, then, one dared to act to the contrary, would not the king be angry +with him?"(168) There is some appearance of logic in this notion put into +the mouth of a heathen. The Rabbis, however, were inconsistent people, and +responded to the appeal which suffering makes to every human heart without +asking too many questions. Without entering here into the topic of charity +in the Rabbinic literature, which would form a very interesting chapter, I +shall only allude now to the following incident, which would show that the +Rabbis did not abandon even those afflicted with leprosy, which, according +to their own notion, given above, followed only as a punishment for the +worst crimes. One Friday, we are told, when the day was about to darken, +the Chassid Abba Tachnah was returning home, bearing on his shoulders the +baggage that contained all his fortune; he saw a leprous man lying on the +road, who addressed him: "Rabbi, do me a deed of charity and take me into +the town." The Rabbi now thought, "If I leave my baggage, where shall I +find the means of obtaining subsistence for myself and my family? But if I +forsake this leprous man I shall commit a mortal sin." In the end, he +allowed the good inclination to prevail over the evil one, and first +carried the sufferer to the town.(169) The only practical conclusion that +the Rabbis drew from such theories as identify suffering with sin were for +the sufferer himself, who otherwise might be inclined to blame Providence, +or even to blaspheme, but would now look upon his affliction as a reminder +from heaven that there is something wrong in his moral state. Thus we read +in tractate _Berachoth_:(170) "If a man sees that affliction comes upon +him, he ought to inquire into his actions, as it is said, Let us search +and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord (Lam. iii. 40)." This means +to say that the sufferer will find that he has been guilty of some +offence. As an illustration of this statement we may perhaps consider the +story about R. Huna, occurring in the same tractate.(171) Of this Rabbi it +is said that he once experienced heavy pecuniary losses, whereupon his +friends came to his house and said to him, "Let the master but examine his +conduct a little closer." On this R. Huna answered, "Do you suspect me of +having committed some misdeed?" His friends rejoined, "And do you think +that God would pass judgment without justice?" R. Huna then followed their +hint, and found that he did not treat his tenant farmer so generously as +he ought. He offered redress, and all turned out well in the end. +Something similar is to be found in the story of the martyrdom of R. +Simeon ben Gamaliel and R. Ishmael ben Elisha. Of these Rabbis we are told +that on their way to be executed the one said to the other, "My heart +leaves me, for I am not aware of a sin deserving such a death"; on which +the other answered, "It might have happened that in your function as judge +you sometimes--for your own convenience--were slow in administering +justice."(172) + +But even if the personal actions of the righteous were blameless, there +might still be sufficient ground for his being afflicted and miserable. +This may be found in his relations to his kind and surroundings, or, to +use the term now more popular, by reason of human solidarity. Now, after +the above remarks on the objections entertained by the Rabbis against a +man's being punished for the sins of others, it is hardly necessary to say +that their idea of solidarity has little in common with the crude notions +of it current in very ancient times. Still, it can hardly be doubted that +the relation of the individual to the community was more keenly felt by +the Rabbis than by the leaders in any other society, modern or ancient. +According to the view given by an ancient Rabbi whose name is unknown, it +would, indeed, seem that to them the individual was not simply a member of +the Jewish commonwealth, or a co-religionist, but a limb of the great and +single body "Israel," and that as such he communicated both for good and +evil the sensations of the one part to the whole. In the _Midrash_, where +a parallel is to be found to this idea, the responsibility of the +individual towards the community is further illustrated by R. Simeon ben +Yochai, in the following way: "It is," we read there, "to be compared to +people sitting on board a ship, one of the passengers of which took an awl +and began to bore holes in the bottom of the vessel. Asked to desist from +his dangerous occupation, he answered, 'Why, I am only making holes on my +own seat,' forgetting that when the water came in it would sink the whole +ship." Thus the sin of a single man might endanger the whole of humanity. +It was in conformity with the view of his father that R. Eliezer, the son +of R. Simeon (ben Yochai) said, "The world is judged after the merits or +demerits of the majority, so that a single individual by his good or bad +actions can decide the fate of his fellow-creatures, as it may happen that +he is just the one who constitutes this majority."(173) Nor does this +responsibility cease with the man's own actions. According to the Rabbis +man is responsible even for the conduct of others--and as such liable to +punishment--if he is indifferent to the wrong that is being perpetrated +about him, whilst an energetic protest from his side could have prevented +it. And the greater the man the greater is his responsibility. He may +suffer for the sins of his family which is first reached by his influence; +he may suffer for the sins of the whole community if he could hope to find +a willing ear among them, and he may even suffer for the sins of the whole +world if his influence extend so far, and he forbear from exerting it for +good.(174) Thus the possibility is given that the righteous man may suffer +with justice, though he himself has never committed any transgression. + +As a much higher aspect of this solidarity--and as may have already +suggested itself to the reader from the passage cited above from the +anonymous Rabbi--we may regard the suffering of the righteous as an +atonement for the sins of their contemporaries. "When there will be +neither Tabernacle nor the Holy Temple," Moses is said to have asked God, +"what will become of Israel?" Whereupon God answers, "I will take from +among them the righteous man whom I shall consider as pledged for them, +and will forgive all their sins;" the death of the perfect man, or even +his suffering being looked upon as an expiation for the shortcoming of his +generation.(175) + +It is hardly necessary to remind the reader of the affinity of this idea +with that of sacrifices in general, as in both cases it is the innocent +being which has to suffer for the sins of another creature. But there is +one vital point which makes all the difference. It is that in our case the +suffering is not enforced, but is a voluntary act on the part of the +sacrifice, and is even desired by him. Without entering here on the often- +discussed theme of the suffering of the Messiah, I need only mention the +words of R. Ishmael who, on a very slight provocation, exclaimed, "I am +the atonement for the Jews," which means that he took upon him all their +sins to suffer for them.(176) This desire seems to have its origin in +nothing else than a deep sympathy and compassion with Israel. To suffer +_for_, or, at least _with_ Israel was, according to the Rabbis, already +the ideal of Moses. He is said, indeed, to have broken the Two Tables with +the purpose of committing some sin, so that he would have either to be +condemned together with Israel (for the sin of the golden calf), or to be +pardoned together with them.(177) And this conduct was expected not only +from the leaders of Israel, but almost from every Jew. "When Israel is in +a state of affliction (as, for instance, famine) one must not say, I will +rather live by myself, and eat and drink, and peace be unto thee, my soul. +To those who do so the words of the Scriptures are to be applied: And in +that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and to mourning, ... +and behold joy and gladness.... Surely this iniquity shall not be purged +out from you till ye die" (Is. xxii. 12-14). Another passage is to the +effect that, when a man shows himself indifferent to the suffering of the +community, there come the two angels (who accompany every Jew), put their +hands on his head, and say, "This man who has separated himself shall be +excluded from their consolations."(178) + +We might now characterise this sort of suffering as the chastisement of +love (of the righteous) to mankind, or rather to Israel. But we must not +confuse it with the Chastisement of Love often mentioned in the Talmud, +though this idea also seems calculated to account for the suffering of the +righteous. Here the love is not on the side of the sufferer, but proceeds +from him who inflicts this suffering. "Him," says R. Huna, "in whom God +delights he crushes with suffering." As a proof of this theory the words +of Is. liii. 10 are given, which are interpreted to mean: him whom the +Lord delights in He puts to grief. Another passage, by the same authority, +is to the effect that where there is no sufficient cause for punishment +(the man being entirely free from sin), we have to regard his suffering as +a chastisement of love, for it is said: "Whom the Lord loveth He +correcteth" (Proverbs iii. 11).(179) To what purpose He corrects him may, +perhaps, be seen from the following passage: "R. Eleazar ben Jacob says: +If a man is visited by affliction he has to be thankful to God for it: for +suffering draws man to, and reconciles him with God, as it is said: For +whom God loveth he correcteth."(180) + +It is in conformity with such a high conception that affliction, far from +being dreaded, becomes almost a desirable end, and we hear many Rabbis +exclaim, "Beloved is suffering," for by it fatherly love is shown to man +by God; by it man obtains purification and atonement, by it Israel came in +possession of the best gifts, such as the Torah, the Holy Land, and +eternal life.(181) And so also the sufferer, far from being considered as +a man with a suspected past, becomes an object of veneration, on whom the +glory of God rests, and he brings salvation to the world if he bears his +affliction with joyful submission to the will of God.(182) Continuous +prosperity is by no means to be longed after, for, as R. Ishmael taught, +"He who has passed forty days without meeting adversity has already +received his (share of the) world (to come) in this life."(183) Nay, the +standing rule is that the really righteous suffer, whilst the wicked are +supposed to be in a prosperous state. Thus, R. Jannai said, "We (average +people) enjoy neither the prosperity of the wicked nor the afflictions of +the righteous,"(184) whilst his contemporary, Rab, declared that he who +experiences no affliction and persecution does not belong to them (the +Jews).(185) + +2. The second main view on Retribution is that recorded by the Rabbis as +in direct opposition to that of R. Ammi. It is that there is suffering as +well as death without sin and transgression. We may now just as well infer +that there is prosperity and happiness without preceding merits. And this +is, indeed, the view held by R. Meir. For in contradiction to the view +cited above, R. Meir declares that the request of Moses to have explained +to him the mysterious ways of Providence was _not_ granted, and the answer +he received was, "And I will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy" (Exod. +xxxiii. 19), which means to say, even though he to whom the mercy is shown +be unworthy of it. The old question arises how such a procedure is to be +reconciled with the justice and omnipotence of God. The commentaries try +to evade the difficulty by suggesting some of the views given above, as +that the real reward and punishment are only in the world to come, or that +the affliction of the righteous is only chastisement of love, and so on. +From the passages I am about to quote, however, one gains the impression +that some Rabbis rather thought that this great problem will indeed not +bear discussion or solution at all. Thus we have the legend: "The angels +said to God, why have you punished Adam with death? He answered, On +account of his having transgressed my commandment (with regard to the +eating of the tree of knowledge). But why had Moses and Aaron to die? The +reply given to them is the words, Eccl. ix. 2: 'All things come alike to +all; there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good +and to the clean and to the unclean.' "(186) Another legend records, "When +Moses ascended to heaven, God showed him also the great men of futurity. +R. Akiba was sitting and interpreting the law in a most wonderful way. +Moses said to God: Thou hast shown me his worth, show me also his reward; +on which he is bidden to look back. There he perceives him dying the most +cruel of deaths, and his flesh being sold by weight. Moses now asks: Is +this the reward of such a life? whereupon God answers him: Be silent; this +I have determined."(187) + +It is impossible not to think of the fine lines of the German poet:-- + + + Warum schleppt sich blutend, elend, + Unter Kreuzlast der Gerechte, + Waehrend gluecklich als ein Sieger + Trabt auf hohem Ross der Schlechte? + + Also fragen wir bestaendig, + Bis man uns mit einer Handvoll + Erde endlich stopft die Maeuler-- + Aber ist das eine Antwort? + + +Still, one might perhaps suggest that these passages when examined a +little closer, not only contain a rebuke to man's importunity in wanting +to intrude into the secrets of God, but also hint at the possibility that +even God's omnipotence is submitted to a certain law--though designed by +His own holy will--which He could not alter without detriment to the whole +creation. Indeed, in one of the mystical accounts of the martyrdom of R. +Akiba and other great Rabbis, God is represented as asking the sufferers +to accept His hard decree without protest, unless they wish Him to destroy +the whole world. In another place again, we read of a certain renowned +Rabbi, who lived in great poverty, that once in a dream he asked the +divine Shechinah how long he would have still to endure this bitter +privation? The answer given to him was: "My son, will it please you that I +destroy the world for your sake?"(188) It is only in this light that we +shall be able to understand such passages in the Rabbinic literature as +that God almost suffers Himself when He has to inflict punishment either +on the individual or on whole communities. Thus God is represented as +mourning for seven days (as in the case when one loses a child) before He +brought the deluge on the world; He bemoans the fall of Israel and the +destruction of the Temple, and the Shechinah laments even when the +criminal suffers his just punishment. And it is not by rebelling against +these laws that He tries to redeem His suffering. He himself has recourse +to prayer, and says: "May it be my will that my mercy conquer my wrath, +that my love over-rule my strict justice, so that I may treat my children +with love."(189) If now man is equal to God, he has nevertheless, or +rather on that account, to submit to the law of God without any outlook +for reward or punishment; or, as Antigonos expressed it, "Be not as slaves +that minister to the Lord with a view to receive recompense."(190) +Certainly it would be hazardous to maintain that Antigonos's saying was a +consequence of this doctrine; but, at any rate, we see a clear tendency to +keep the thought of reward (in spite of the prominent part it holds in the +Bible) out of view. Still more clearly is it seen when, with reference to +Ps. cxii., "Blessed is the man ... that delighteth greatly in his +commandments," Rabbi Eleazar remarks that the meaning is that the man +desires only to do His commandments, but he does not want the rewards +connected with them.(191) This is the more remarkable, as the whole +contents of this psalm are nothing else than a long series of promises of +various rewards, so that the explanation of Rabbi Eleazar is in almost +direct contradiction to the simple meaning of the words. On the other +hand, also, every complaint about suffering must cease. Not only is +affliction no direct chastisement by God in the way of revenge; but even +when it would seem to us that we suffer innocently, we have no right to +murmur, as God himself is also suffering, and, as the Talmud expresses it, +"It is enough for the slave to be in the position of his master."(192) + +This thought of the compassion--in its strictest sense of fellow- +suffering--of God with His creatures becomes a new motive for avoiding sin. +"Woe to the wicked," exclaims a Rabbi, "who by their bad actions turn the +mercy of God into strict justice."(193) And the later mystics explain +distinctly that the great crime of sin consists in causing pain, so to +speak, to the Shechinah. One of them compared it with the slave who abuses +the goodness of his master so far as to buy with his money arms to wound +him. But, on the other hand, it becomes, rather inconsistently, also a new +source of comfort; for, in the end, God will have to redeem Himself from +this suffering, which cannot be accomplished so long as Israel is still +under punishment.(194) Most interesting is the noble prayer by a Rabbi of +a very late mystical school: "O God, speedily bring about the redemption. +I am not in the least thinking of what I may gain by it. I am willing to +be condemned to all tortures in hell, if only the Shechinah will cease to +suffer."(195) + +If we were now to ask for the attitude of the Synagogue towards these two +main views, we should have to answer that--as already hinted at the opening +of this paper--it never decided for the one or the other. R. David Rocca +Martino dared even to write a whole book in Defence of Adam proving that +he committed no sin in eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge against +the literal sense of the Scriptures, which were also taken by the Rabbis +literally.(196) By this he destroyed the prospects of many a theodicy, but +it is not known to me that he was severely rebuked for it. It has been +said by a great writer that the best theology is that which is not +consistent, and this advantage the theology of the Synagogue possesses to +its utmost extent. It accepted with R. Ammi the stern principle of divine +retribution, in as far as it makes man feel the responsibility of his +actions, and makes suffering a discipline. But it never allowed this +principle to be carried so far as to deny the sufferer our sympathy, and +by a series of conscious and unconscious modifications, he passed from the +state of a sinner into the zenith of the saint and the perfectly righteous +man. But, on the other hand, the Synagogue also gave entrance to the very +opposite view which, abandoning every attempt to account for suffering, +bids man do his duty without any hope of reward, even as God also does +His. Hence the remarkable phenomenon in the works of later Jewish +moralists, that, whilst they never weary of the most detailed accounts of +the punishments awaiting the sinner and the rewards in store for the +righteous, they warn us most emphatically that our actions must not be +guided by these unworthy considerations, and that our only motive should +be the love of God and submission to His holy will. + +Nor must it be thought that the views of the Rabbis are so widely +divergent from those enunciated in the Bible. The germ of almost all the +later ideas is already to be found in the Scriptures. It only needed the +process of time to bring into prominence those features which proved at a +later period most acceptable. Indeed, it would seem that there is also a +sort of domestication of religious ideas. On their first association with +man there is a certain rude violence about them which, when left to the +management of untutored minds, would certainly do great harm. But, let +only this association last for centuries, during which these ideas have to +be subdued by practical use, and they will, in due time, lose their former +roughness, will become theologically workable, and turn out the greatest +blessing to inconsistent humanity. + + + + + +IX. THE LAW AND RECENT CRITICISM(197) + + +Professor Toy's work, _Judaism and Christianity_, gives an admirable +conspectus of the results of the modern critical school in their bearing +on the genesis of Christianity. The author takes various important +doctrines of Christianity, traces them back to their origin in +Israelitism, pursues their course through their various phases in Judaism, +until they reach their final development in the teaching of Jesus and His +disciples, which, in the author's judgment, is the consummation of that +which the prophets and their successors had to give to the world. Laying +so much stress as Professor Toy does on the saying, "By their fruits shall +ye know them," he ought also, perhaps, to have told us what, in the course +of time, has become of these several doctrines. For when, for instance, +with regard to the doctrine of original sin, he remarks that "in certain +systems of Christian theology the human race is involved in the +condemnation of the first man" (p. 185, n. 1); or that, in the New +Testament, "the demand for a mediating power between God and humanity is +pushed to the farthest point which thought can occupy consistently with +the maintenance of the absoluteness of the one Supreme Deity" (p. 121), he +is rather evading a difficulty than answering it. Such elaboration would, +however, have been outside the scope of Professor Toy's book, which claims +only to be a sketch of the progress of thought from the Old Testament to +the New. For his own solution of the indicated difficulty, Toy, to judge +from his liberal standpoint, would probably refer us to Dr. Hatch's +Hibbert lectures; the issue of such an appeal must, I imagine, remain for +long doubtful and disputed. + +A delightful characteristic of Toy's book is its transparent clearness and +sobriety, which will make it interesting reading, even to those who are +acquainted with the writer's authorities in their original sources. Almost +entirely new, as well as most suggestive, is the justice which Toy does to +the law in recognising it as a factor for good in the history of religion. +In this point Toy is not only up to his date, but beyond it. It is true +that even the Pharisees have made some advance in the estimation of the +liberal school. They are no longer condemned _en masse_ as so many +hypocrites. It is even admitted that there were a few honest men among +them, such as Rabban Gamaliel, the teacher of Paul, or R. Akiba, the +patriot of Bethar. We are now too polite to be personal. But with regard +to the law, on the other hand, there is at present a markedly opposite +tendency. The general idea seems to be that, as the doctrine of the +resurrection of Christ must be loosely interpreted in a spiritual sense, +it must logically have been preceded by a universal spiritual death, and +the germs of the disease which brought this death about are to be sought +for in the law. Hence the strained efforts to discover in the law the +source of all religious evil,--cant, hypocrisy, formalism, externalism, +transcendentalism, and as many "isms" more, of bad reputation. + +It was probably with this current representation of the law in view that +Toy, when speaking of the Levitical legislation, and of its fixing "men's +minds on ceremonial details which, in some cases, it put into the same +category and on the same level with moral duties," asks the question: +"Would there not thence result a dimming of the moral sense and a +confusion of moral distinctions? The ethical attitude of a man who could +regard a failure in the routine of sacrifice as not less blameworthy than +an act of theft cannot be called a lofty one" (p. 186). The answer which +he gives is more favourable than such a leading question would induce us +to expect. He tells us that, "in point of fact, the result was different" +(_ibid_). "The Levitical law is not to be looked on as a mere extension +and organisation of the ritual.... Its ritual was, in great part, the +organised expression of the consciousness of sin" (p. 226). Of the law in +general Toy says that it had "larger consequences than its mere details +would suggest," for it "cultivated the moral sense of the people into +results above its mechanical prescriptions," and "it developed the sense +of sin, as Paul points out" (Gal. iii. 19), "and therewith a freer +feeling, which brought the soul into more immediate contact with God" (p. +227); whilst in another place he reminds us "that much of the law is +moral, and that no one could fail to see a spiritual significance beneath +its letter" (p. 245), and he even admits that "the great legal schools +which grew up in the second century, if we may judge by the sayings of the +teachers which have come down to us, did not fail to discriminate between +the outward and the inward, the ceremonial and the moral" (p. 186). + +These and similar passages will suffice to show that Toy's estimate of the +law is a very different one from that of Smend and his school. However, it +must not be supposed that he is not on the look-out for the germs of the +disease. He must find these germs somewhere, or else the progress, which +his book is intended to illustrate, would be difficult to detect. And thus +he repeats the old accusations, though not without modification. + +Professor Toy's objections may, perhaps, be summed up in the passage in +which he represents the Jewish law as "an attempt to define all the +beliefs and acts of life" (p. 239), or as "the embodiment of devotion to a +fixed rule of belief and conduct" (p. 237). Toy does not entirely condemn +this system, and even speaks of it as a "lofty attempt" (p. 239); but, on +the whole, he considers that it must have resulted in bad theology, as +well as in doubtful conduct. Without following Professor Toy over the +whole area of his investigations, which would require a volume for itself, +I will only take the opportunity of making a few general remarks upon the +nature and character of this legal system, which seems to hold the key to +the spiritual history of Judaism. + +First, as to its theology, Toy's description of the law as an attempt to +define all the _beliefs_ of life--an assertion which is also made by +Schuerer--is not wholly accurate. For such an attempt was never made by +Judaism. The few dogmas which Judaism possesses, such as the Existence of +God, Providence, Reward, and Punishment--without which no revealed religion +is conceivable--can hardly be called a creed in the modern sense of the +term, which implies something external and foreign to man's own knowledge, +and received only in deference to the weight of authority. To the Jew of +the Christian era, these simpler dogmas were so self-evident that it would +have cost him the greatest effort _not_ to believe them. Hence the fact +that, whilst there have come down to us so many controverted points +between the Sadducees and Pharisees with regard to certain juristic and +ritual questions, we know of only one of an essentially dogmatic +character, viz. the dispute concerning the Resurrection. + +It is thus difficult to imagine to what Professor Toy can be alluding when +he speaks of the "interest they (the Jews) threw into the discussion and +determination of minutiae of faith" (p. 241). Discussions upon _minutiae_ of +faith are only to be read in the works of the later schoolmen (as Saadiah, +Maimonides and their followers), in which such subtle problems as _Creatio +ex nihilo_, the origin of evil, predestination, free will and similar +subjects are examined; but this period is very distant from that with +which Toy is concerned. The older schools and the so-called houses of +Shammai and Hillel, most of whose members were the contemporaries of the +Apostles, show very little predilection for such _minutiae_. Their +discussions and differences of opinion about ritual matters are very +numerous, scattered as they are over the whole of the ancient Rabbinic +literature, but I can only remember two of a metaphysical character, or +touching upon the _minutiae_ of faith. The one, dealing with the efficacy +of certain sacrifices, discusses whether it only extends to the remission +of the pending punishment for sins, or also includes their purification +and washing away; the other considers the question whether it would not +have been better for man not to have been created.(198) But this latter +controversy, which is said to have lasted for two years and a half, by no +means led to any big metaphysical or theological system, but only to the +practical advice that, as we have been created, we ought to be watchful +over our conduct. It is, indeed, a noteworthy feature of Judaism that +theological speculations have never resulted in the formulation of any +imposing or universal doctrine, but usually in divers ceremonial +practices. To give one illustration: according to Professor Toy (p. 210) +the conclusion which the author of 1 Tim. ii. 11-14 draws from the fact +that woman was the immediate agent of the introduction of sin was the +subordination of her sex. The Rabbis also noticed the same fact, and in +their less abstract language speak of woman as having brought death and +grief into the world; but the conclusion which they drew was that since +woman had extinguished the "light of the world," she ought to atone for it +by lighting the candles for the Sabbath.(199) Nor is Toy quite correct +when he maintains that the conception of the Memra as Creator and Lord, +etc., and as "representative of the immediate divine activity," did not +keep its hold on Jewish thought, having been discarded in the later +literature (p. 104). For the Shechinah of the Talmud, the _Metatron_(200) +of the Gaonic-mystical literature, the Active Intelligence of the +philosophical schools, as well as the Ten Sephiroth(201) (Emanations) of +the Cabbalists, all owe their existence to the same theosophic scruples +and subtleties in which the Logos of Philo and the Memra(202) of the +Targums originated. Thus, they always kept--though under various +forms--their hold on the Jewish mind. Judaism was always broad enough to +accommodate itself to these formulae, which for the one may mean the most +holy mysteries, and for the other empty and meaningless catchwords. The +objection--in fact, the active opposition--of the Synagogue began when these +possible or impossible explanations of the universe tended to transgress +the bounds of abstract speculation, and, passing over into real concrete +beings, to be worshipped as such. An instance from comparatively modern +times might be found in one of the vagaries of the followers of the +Pseudo-Messiah, Shabbethai Tsebi. For many generations the controversy had +raged among the Cabbalists, whether the first of the above-mentioned Ten +Emanations (called by some _Original Adam_, by others, _Crown_(203)) is to +be considered as a part of the Deity or as something separate, and so to +speak, having a reality in itself. The danger of establishing a Being near +the Deity, having an existence of its own and invested with divine +attributes, could not have escaped the thoughtful, and there are indeed +some indications to this effect. The Synagogue as such, however, remained +during the whole controversy strictly neutral, and allowed these +theosophists to fight in the air as much as they liked. But the moment +that the sect of Shabbethai Tsebi identified the incarnate Original Adam +with their leader, and worshipped him as a sort of God-Messiah, the +Synagogue at once took up a hostile attitude against those who separated +God from His world, and, declaring Shabbethai Tsebi and his followers to +be apostates, excluded them from Judaism for ever. + +Nor can it be proved that legalism or nomism has ever tended to suppress +the spiritual side of religion, either in respect of consciousness of sin, +or of individual love and devotion. With an equal logic quite the opposite +might be argued. Professor Toy tells us himself that it is no "accident +that along with this more definite expression of ethical-religious law we +find the first traces of a more spiritual conception of righteousness in +the 'new heart' of Jeremiah and Ezekiel" (p. 235), whilst in another +passage we read that "a turning point is marked by the Deuteronomist +Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who announce the principles of individual +responsibility and inwardness of obedience" (p. 184). Now, two things are +certain; first, that Ezekiel urges the necessity of the new heart as well +as of individual responsibility more keenly than any of his predecessors; +secondly, that in Ezekiel the legalistic tendency is more evident than in +Deuteronomy and Jeremiah. The logical conclusion would thus be that the +higher ideals of religion are not only not inconsistent with legalism, but +are the very outcome of it, and the so-called Priestly Code, by the very +fact of its markedly legalistic tendency, should be considered as a step +in the right direction. The latter assertion sounds like a paradox, but it +will seem less so when the prevailing characteristic of this portion of +the Pentateuch, as given even by Kuenen, who is by no means a champion of +the Law, is borne in mind. "The centre of gravity," according to the great +Dutch critic, "lies for the priestly author elsewhere than for the +prophet; it lies in man's attitude, not towards his fellow-men, but +towards God; not in his social, but in his personal life" (_Hibbert +Lectures_, p. 161). It is here that we seem to strike the keynote of the +_Weltanschauung_ of the Priestly Legislation. In it man is more than a +social being. He has also an individual life of his own, his joys and +sorrows, his historical claims, his traditions of the past, and his hopes +for the future--and all these have to be brought under the influence of +religion, and to become sanctified through their relation to God. Hence, +the work of the Priestly narrator and legislator opens with a cosmogony of +his own, in which we find the grand theological idea of man being created +in the Divine image; hence, too, his religious conception of the history +of the nation and the control claimed by him over all the details of human +life, which became with him so many opportunities for the worship of God. +To him, God is not a mere figurehead; He not only reigns, but governs. +Everywhere,--in the temple, in the judge's seat, in the family, in the +farm, and in the market-place,--His presence is felt in enforcing the laws +bearing His _imprimatur_, "I am the Lord thy God." By thus diffusing +religion over the whole domain of human life--not confining it to the +social institutions which are represented only by a few personages, such +as the king, the princes, the priests, the judges or elders--they made it +the common good of the whole people, and the feeling of personal +responsibility for this good became much deeper than before. Thus it came +to pass that whilst, during the first temple, the apostasy of kings and +aristocracy involved the entire people, so that the words "And he (the +king) did evil in the sight of the Lord," embrace the whole nation, during +the second temple it was no longer of much consequence which side the +political leaders took. Both during the Hellenistic persecutions, as well +as afterwards in the struggles of some Maccabean kings with the Pharisees, +the bulk of the people showed that they considered religion as their own +personal affair, not to be regulated by the conscience of either priest or +prince. It is true that this success may be largely ascribed to such +contemporary religious factors as the Synagogue with its minimum of form, +the Scribes with their activity as teachers, and the Psalmists with their +divine enthusiasm; but the very circumstance that these factors arose and +flourished under the influence of the Priestly Code would suffice to prove +that its tendency was not so sacerdotal as some writers would have us +believe. Jewish tradition indeed attributes the composition of the daily +public prayers, as well as of others for private worship, to the very men +whom modern biblical criticism holds responsible for the introduction of +the Priestly Code. Now this fact may perhaps be disputed, but there is +little doubt that the age in which these prayers were composed was one of +flourishing legalism. Nor is there any proof that the synagogues and their +ritual were in opposition to the temple. From the few documents belonging +to this period, it is clear that there was no opposition to the legalistic +spirit by which the Priestly Code was actuated. This would prove that +legalism meant something more than tithes and sacrifices for the benefit +of the priests. + +Nor is it true that the legal tendency aimed at narrowing the mind of the +nation, turning all its thoughts into the one direction of the law. Apart +from the fact that the Torah contained other elements besides its +legalism, the prophets were not forgotten, but were read and interpreted +from a very early age. It was under the predominance of the Law that the +Wisdom literature was composed, which is by no means narrow or one-sided, +but is even supposed by some critics to contain many foreign elements. In +the book of Job, the great problems of man's existence are treated with a +depth and grandeur never equalled before or since. This book alone ought +partly to compensate the modern school for the disappearance of prophecy, +which is usually brought as a charge against the Law. Then, too, the +Psalms, placed by the same school in the post-exilic period, are nothing +but another aspect of prophecy, with this difference, perhaps, that in the +Prophets God speaks to man, while in the Psalms it is man who establishes +the same communion by speaking to God. There is no reason why the critical +school, with its broad conception of inspiration, and with its insistence +that prophecy does _not_ mean prediction, should so strongly emphasise +this difference. If "it is no longer as in the days of Amos, when the Lord +Yahveh did nothing without revealing his counsel to his servants the +prophets," there is in the days of the Psalmists nothing in man's heart, +no element in his longings and meditations and aspirations, which was not +revealed to God. Nay, it would seem that at times the Psalmist hardly ever +desires the revelation of God's secrets. Let future events be what they +may, he is content, for he is with God. After all his trials, he exclaims, +"And yet I am continually with thee; thou hast taken hold of my right +hand. According to thy purpose wilt thou lead me, and afterwards receive +me with glory. Whom have I (to care for) in heaven? and possessing thee, I +have pleasure in nothing upon earth. Though my flesh and my heart should +have wasted away, God would for ever be the rock of my heart and my +portion" (Ps. lxxiii. 23-26). How an age producing a literature containing +passages like these--of which Wellhausen in his _Abriss_ (p. 95) justly +remarks, that we are not worthy even to repeat them--can be considered by +the modern school as wanting in intimate relation to God and inferior to +that of the prophets is indeed a puzzle. + +Now a few words as to the actual life under the Law. Here, again, there is +a fresh puzzle. On the one side, we hear the opinions of so many learned +professors, proclaiming _ex cathedra_, that the Law was a most terrible +burden, and the life under it the most unbearable slavery, deadening body +and soul. On the other side we have the testimony of a literature +extending over about twenty-five centuries, and including all sorts and +conditions of men, scholars, poets, mystics, lawyers, casuists, schoolmen, +tradesmen, workmen, women, simpletons, who all, from the author of the +119th Psalm to the last pre-Mendelssohnian writer--with a small exception +which does not even deserve the name of a vanishing minority--give +unanimous evidence in favour of this Law, and of the bliss and happiness +of living and dying under it,--and this, the testimony of people who were +actually living under the Law, not merely theorising upon it, and who +experienced it in all its difficulties and inconveniences. The Sabbath +will give a fair example. The law of the Sabbath is one of those +institutions the strict observance of which was already the object of +attack in early New Testament times. Nevertheless, the doctrine proclaimed +in one of the Gospels--that the son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath--was +also current among the Rabbis. They, too, taught that the Sabbath had been +delivered into the hand of man (to break, if necessary), and not man +delivered over to the Sabbath.(204) And they even laid down the axiom that +a scholar who lived in a town, where among the Jewish population there +could be the least possibility of doubt as to whether the Sabbath might be +broken for the benefit of a dangerously sick person, was to be despised as +a man neglecting his duty; for, as Maimonides points out, the laws of the +Torah are not meant as an infliction upon mankind, "but as mercy, loving- +kindness, and peace."(205) + +The attacks upon the Jewish Sabbath have not abated with the lapse of +time. The day is still described by almost every Christian writer on the +subject in the most gloomy colours, and long lists are given of minute and +easily transgressed observances connected with it, which, instead of a day +of rest, would make it to be a day of sorrow and anxiety, almost worse +than the Scotch Sunday as depicted by continental writers. But it so +happens that we have the prayer of R. Zadok, a younger contemporary of the +Apostles, which runs thus: "Through the love with which Thou, O Lord our +God, lovest Thy people Israel, and the mercy which Thou hast shown to the +children of Thy covenant, Thou hast given unto us in love this great and +holy Seventh Day."(206) And another Rabbi, who probably flourished in the +first half of the second century, expresses himself (with allusion to +Exod. xxxi. 13: Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep ... that ye may know that +I am the Lord that doth sanctify you)--"The Holy One, blessed be He, said +unto Moses, I have a good gift in my treasures, and Sabbath is its name, +which I wish to present to Israel. Go and bring to them the good +tidings."(207) The form again of the Blessing over the Sanctification- +cup(208)--a ceremony known long before the destruction of the Second +Temple--runs: "Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, who hast sanctified us by +Thy commandments, and hast taken pleasure in us, and in love and grace +hast given us Thy holy Sabbath as an inheritance." All these Rabbis +evidently regarded the Sabbath as a gift from heaven, an expression of the +infinite mercy and grace of God which He manifested to His beloved +children. + +And the gift was, as already said, a _good_ gift. Thus the Rabbis +paraphrase the words in the Scripture "See, for that the Lord hath given +you the Sabbath" (Exod. xvi. 29): God said unto Israel behold the gem I +gave you, My children I gave you the Sabbath for your good. Sanctify or +honour the Sabbath by choice meals, beautiful garments; delight your soul +with pleasure and I will reward you (for this very pleasure); as it is +said: "And if thou wilt call the Sabbath a delight and the holy of the +Lord honourable (that is honouring the Sabbath in this way) ... then shalt +thou delight thyself in the Lord" (Is. lviii. 13, 14).(209) + +The delight of the Sabbath was keenly felt. Israel fell in love with the +Sabbath, and in the hyperbolic language of the Agadah the Sabbath is +personified as the "Bride of Israel," whilst others called it "Queen +Sabbath,"(210) and they are actually jealous of a certain class of semi- +proselytes who, as it seems, were willing to observe the Sabbath, but +declined to submit to the covenant of Abraham. The Gentile Sabbath- +keepers--who, like all the nations of the world, envy Israel their +Sabbath--the Rabbis considered as shameless intruders deserving +punishment.(211) No, it was Israel's own Queen or Bride Sabbath whose +appearance in all her heavenly glory they were impatiently awaiting. Thus +we are told of R. Judah b. Ilai that when the eve of the Sabbath came "he +made his ablutions, wrapped himself up in his white linen with fringed +borders looking like an angel of the Lord of Hosts," thus prepared for the +solemn reception of Queen Sabbath. Another Rabbi used to put on his best +clothes, and arise and invite the Sabbath with the words: "Come in Bride, +come in."(212) What the Bride brought was peace and bliss. Nay, man is +provided with a super soul for the Sabbath, enabling him to bear both the +spiritual and the material delights of the day with dignity and +solemnity.(213) The very light (or expression) of man's face is different +on Sabbath, testifying to his inward peace and rest. And when man has +recited his prayers (on the eve of the Sabbath) and thus borne testimony +to God's creation of the world and to the glory of the Sabbath, there +appear the two angels who accompany him, lay their hands on his head and +impart to him their blessing with the words: "And thine iniquity is taken +away and thy sin purged" (Is. vi. 7).(214) For nothing is allowed to +disturb the peace of the Sabbath; not even "the sorrows of sin," though +the Sabbath had such a solemn effect on people that even the worldly man +would not utter an untruth on the Day of the Lord. Hence it was not only +forbidden to pray on Sabbath for one's own (material) needs, but +everything in the liturgy of a mournful character (as for instance the +confession of sin, supplication for pardon) was carefully avoided. It was +with difficulty, as the Rabbis say, that they made an exception in the +case of condoling with people who had suffered loss through the death of +near relatives. There is no room for morbid sentiment on Sabbath, for the +blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it (Prov. +x. 22).(215) The burden of the Sabbath prayers is for peace, rest, +sanctification, and joy (through salvation) and praise of God for this +ineffable bliss of the Sabbath. + +Such was the Sabbath of the old Rabbis and the same spirit continued +through all ages. The Sabbath was and is still celebrated by the people +who did and do observe it, in hundreds of hymns, which would fill volumes, +as a day of rest and joy, of pleasure and delight, a day in which man +enjoys some foretaste of the pure bliss and happiness which are stored up +for the righteous in the world to come. Somebody, either the learned +professors, or the millions of the Jewish people, must be under an +illusion. Which it is I leave to the reader to decide. + +It is also an illusion to speak of the burden which a scrupulous care to +observe six hundred and thirteen commandments must have laid upon the Jew. +Even a superficial analysis will discover that in the time of Christ many +of these commandments were already obsolete (as for instance those +relating to the tabernacle and to the conquest of Palestine), while others +concerned only certain classes, as the priests, the judges, the soldiers, +the Nazirites, or the representatives of the community, or even only one +or two individuals among the whole population, as the King and the High- +Priest. Others, again, provided for contingencies which could occur only +to a few, as for instance the laws concerning divorce or levirate +marriages, whilst many--such as those concerning idolatry, and incest, and +the sacrifice of children to Moloch--could scarcely have been considered as +a practical prohibition by the pre-Christian Jew; just as little as we can +speak of Englishmen as lying under the burden of a law preventing them +from burning widows or marrying their grandmothers, though such acts would +certainly be considered as crimes. Thus it will be found by a careful +enumeration that barely a hundred laws remain which really concerned the +life of the bulk of the people. If we remember that even these include +such laws as belief in the unity of God, the necessity of loving and +fearing Him, and of sanctifying His name, of loving one's neighbour and +the stranger, of providing for the poor, exhorting the sinner, honouring +one's parents and many more of a similar character, it will hardly be said +that the ceremonial side of the people's religion was not well balanced by +a fair amount of spiritual and social elements. Besides, it would seem +that the line between the ceremonial and the spiritual is too often only +arbitrarily drawn. With many commandments it is rather a matter of opinion +whether they should be relegated to the one category or the other. + +Thus, the wearing of Tephillin(216) or phylacteries has, on the one hand, +been continually condemned as a meaningless superstition, and a pretext +for formalism and hypocrisy. But, on the other hand, Maimonides, who can +in no way be suspected of superstition or mysticism, described their +importance in the following words: "Great is the holiness of the +Tephillin; for as long as they are on the arm and head of man he is humble +and God-fearing, and feels no attraction for frivolity or idle things, nor +has he any evil thoughts, but will turn his heart to the words of truth +and righteousness." The view which R. Johanan, a Palestinian teacher of +the third century, took of the fulfilment of the Law, will probably be +found more rational than that of many a rationalist of to-day. Upon the +basis of the last verse in Hosea, "The ways of the Lord are right, and the +just shall walk in them, but the transgressors shall fall therein," he +explains that while one man, for instance, eats his paschal lamb with the +purpose of doing the will of God who commanded it, and thereby does an act +of righteousness, another thinks only of satisfying his appetite by the +lamb, so that his eating it (by the very fact that he professes at the +same time to perform a religious rite) becomes a stumbling-block for +him.(217) Thus all the laws by virtue of their divine authority--and in +this there was in the first century no difference of opinion between Jews +and Christians--have their spiritual side, and to neglect them implies, at +least from the individual's own point of view, a moral offence. + +The legalistic attitude may be summarily described as an attempt to live +in accordance with the will of God, caring less for what God is than for +what He wants us to be. But, nevertheless, on the whole this life never +degenerated into religious formalism. Apart from the fact that during the +second temple there grew up laws, and even beliefs, which show a decided +tendency towards progress and development, there were also ceremonies +which were popular with the masses, and others which were neglected. Men +were not, therefore, the mere soulless slaves of the Law; personal +sympathies and dislikes also played a part in their religion. Nor were all +the laws actually put upon the same level. With a happy inconsistency men +always spoke of heavier and slighter sins, and by the latter--excepting, +perhaps, the profanation of the Sabbath--they mostly understood ceremonial +transgressions. The statement made by Professor Toy (p. 243), on the +authority of James (ii. 10), that "the principle was established that he +who offended in one point was guilty of all," is hardly correct; for the +passage seems rather to be laying down a principle, or arguing that +logically the law ought to be looked upon as a whole, than stating a fact. +The fact was that people did not consider the whole law as of equal +importance, but made a difference between laws and laws, and even spoke of +certain commandments, such as those of charity and kindness, as +outweighing all the rest of the Torah. It was in conformity with this +spirit that in times of great persecution the leaders of the people had no +compunction in reducing the whole Law to the three prohibitions of +idolatry, of incest, and of bloodshed. Only these three were considered of +sufficient importance that men should rather become martyrs than +transgress them. + +These, then, are some of the illusions and misrepresentations which exist +with regard to the Law. There are many others, of which the complete +exposure would require a book by itself. Meanwhile, in the absence of such +a book to balance and correct the innumerable volumes upon the other side, +Professor Toy has done the best he could with existing materials, and +produced a meritorious work deserving of wide recognition and approval. + + + + + +X. THE HEBREW COLLECTION OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM + + +The Hebrew collection in the British Museum forms one of the greatest +centres of Jewish thought. It is only surpassed by the treasures which are +contained in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. The fame of these magnificent +collections has spread far and wide. It has penetrated into the remotest +countries, and even the Bachurim (_alumni_) of some obscure place in +Poland, who otherwise neither care nor know anything about British +civilisation, have a dim notion of the nature of these mines of Jewish +learning. + +All sorts of legends circulate amongst them about the "millions" of books +which belong to the "Queen of England." They speak mysteriously of an +autograph copy of the Book of Proverbs, presented to the Queen of Sheba on +the occasion of her visit to Jerusalem, and brought by the English troops +as a trophy from their visit to Abyssinia, which is still ruled by the +descendants of that famous lady. They also talk of a copy of the Talmud of +Jerusalem which once belonged to Titus, afterwards to a Pope, was +presented by the latter to a Russian Czar, and taken away from him by the +English in the Crimean war; of a manuscript of the book _Light is +Sown_,(218) which is so large that no shelf can hold it, and which +therefore hangs on iron chains. How they long to have a glance at these +precious things! Would not a man get wiser only by looking at the +autograph of the wisest of men? + +But even the students of Germany and Austria, who are inaccessible to such +fables, and by the aid of Zedner's, Steinschneider's, and Neubauer's +catalogues have a fair notion of our libraries, cherish the belief that +they would gain in scholarship and wisdom by examining these grand +collections. How often have I been asked by Jewish students abroad: "Have +you really been to the British Museum? Have you really seen this or that +rare book or manuscript? Had you not great difficulties in seeing them? Is +not the place where these heaps of jewels are treasured up always crowded +by students and visitors?" + +Yet how little does our English public know of these wonderful things! We +are fairly interested in Graeco-Roman art. We betray much curiosity about +the different Egyptian dynasties. We look with admiration at the cuneiform +inscriptions in the Nimrod room. We do not even grudge a glance at the +abominable idols of the savage tribes. But as to the productions of Jewish +genius,--well, it is best to quote here the words of Heine, who ridiculed +this indifference to everything that is Jewish, in the following lines:-- + + + Alte Mumien, ausgestopfte, + Pharaonen von AEgypten, + Merowinger Schattenkoen'ge, + Ungepuderte Perticken, + + Auch die Zopfmonarchen China's + Porzellanpagodenkaiser-- + Alle lernen sie answendig, + Kluge Maedchen, aber, Himmel! + + Fragt man sie nach grossen Namen, + Aus dem grossen Goldzeitalter + Der arabisch-althispanisch + Juedischen Poetenschule, + + Fragt man nach dem Dreigestirn + Nach Jehuda ben Halevy, + Nach dem Salomon Gabirol + Und dem Moses Iben Esra. + + Fragt man nach dergleichen Namen, + Dann mit grossen Augen schaun + Uns die Kleinen an--alsdann + Stehn am Berge die Ochsinnen. + + +Now Heine goes on to advise his beloved one to study the Hebrew language. +It would be indeed the best remedy against this indifference. But this is +so radical a cure that one cannot hope that it will be made use of by +many. A few remarks in English, trying to give some notion of the Hebrew +collection in the British Museum, may, therefore, not be considered +altogether superfluous. + +The Hebrew collection in the Museum may be divided into two sections: +Printed Books, and Manuscripts. The number of the printed books amounted +in the year 1867, in which Zedner concluded his catalogue, to 10,100 +volumes. Within the last twenty-eight years about 5000 more have been +added. + +This enormous collection has grown out of very small beginnings. The +British Museum was first opened to the public in the year 1759. Amongst +the 500,000 volumes which it possessed at that time only a single Jewish +work, the _editio princeps_ of the Talmud (Bomberg, Venice, 1520-1523) was +to be found on its shelves. According to an article by Zedner in the +_Hebraeische Bibliographie_ (ii. p. 88), this copy of the Talmud once +belonged to Henry VIII. But very soon the Museum was enriched by a small +collection of Hebrew books, presented to it by Mr. Solomon da Costa, +surnamed Athias, who had emigrated to England from Holland. The +translation of the Hebrew letter with which the donor accompanied his +present to the Trustees of the Museum was first published in the +_Gentleman's Magazine_, February 1760, and was afterwards republished by +the Rev. A. L. Green, in an article in the _Jewish Chronicle_, 1859. I +shall only reproduce here the passage relating to the history of this +collection. After expressing his gratitude to the "crowning city, the city +of London, in which he dwelt for fifty-four years in ease and quietness +and safety," and telling us that he bequeaths these books to the British +nation as a token of his gratitude, Da Costa proceeds to say that they are +180 books, which had been gathered and bound for Charles II., with +valuable bindings and marked with the king's own cipher. These books were +intended as a present from the London Jewish community to Charles for +certain privileges which he had bestowed on them. The sudden death of the +king seems to have frustrated the intention of the first donors. The books +were scattered, and Da Costa had to collect them again. + +Small as this collection is, it is most valuable on account of its +including many early editions of Venice, Constantinople, Naples, etc. The +original letter of Da Costa, with a full list of the 180 books, is +preserved in a MS. in the British Museum (Additional, 4710-11). + +Of still greater importance is the Michaelis collection. It consists of +4420 volumes, and was bought by the Trustees of the Museum in 1848. Other +successive acquisitions, especially the purchase of a large number of +printed books from the Almanzi collection, brought the Museum into +possession of one of the most complete and one of the largest Hebrew +libraries in the world. + +After the foregoing remarks on the quantity of this collection, I shall +now attempt to give some idea of its quality. The following table, taken +from the Preface of Zedner's _Catalogue_, shows its manifold contents:-- + + + 1. Bibles, 1260 + 2. Commentaries on the Bible, 510 + 3. Talmud, 730 + 4. Commentaries on the Talmud, 700 + 5. Codes of Law, 1260 + 6. Decisions, 520 + 7. Midrash, 160 + 8. Cabbalah, 460 + 9. Sermons, 400 + 10. Liturgies, 1200 + 11. Divine Philosophy, 690 + 12. Scientific works, 180 + 13. Grammars, Dictionaries, 450 + 14. History, Geography, 320 + 15. Poetry, Criticism, 770 + + +The reader can see that almost every branch of human thought, religious +and secular, is amply represented in this collection. Looking at this +table from a geographical point of view, we may perhaps classify the +authors in the following way:--France and Germany in the Middle Ages, +Poland and the East in modern times, are represented by the fourth, fifth, +and sixth classes. The Rabbis of Spain and Italy would probably excel in +the last five classes. In the productions of classes eight and nine all +the before-mentioned countries would have an equal share. English Judaism, +by reason of its large number of occasional prayers and wedding hymns +(Zedner, pp. 472, 652), may perhaps be represented in the last class +(criticism excluded). We in England are a pious, devotional people, and +leave the thinking to others. + +But what is still more welcome to the student is the fact that all these +branches of Jewish learning are represented in the British Museum by the +best editions. It would be a rather tedious task to enumerate here all the +early editions of which this collection can boast. There is hardly any +Hebrew book of importance from the Bible down to the Code of R. Joseph +Caro of which the Museum does not possess the first printed edition. There +are also many books and editions in the Museum of which no second copy is +known to be in existence. An enumeration of these rare books and editions +would require long lists, the perusal of which would be rather trying. But +I shall say a few words to show the importance of such early editions for +the student. They possess, first, the advantage of being free from the +misprints which crept in with every fresh republication. The art of +editing books in a correct and scientific way is of a very recent date. +And even Hebrew literature does not find that support from the public +which would enable scholars to edit Jewish books in such a way as Roman +and Greek classics are prepared by Oxford and Cambridge students. A new +edition of a Hebrew book meant therefore an addition of new mistakes and +misprints. And it is only by examining the _editiones principes_ that the +scholar finds his way out of these perplexities. + +Another advantage is the fact that these early editions escaped the hand +of the censor, whose office was not introduced till a comparatively late +date. The same advantage is also possessed by the Hebrew books published +at Constantinople, Salonica, and other Mohammedan cities. Only Christian +countries indulged in the barbarous pleasure of burning and disfiguring +Jewish books. It is one of the most touching points in the life of R. +David Oppenheim, of Prague, who spent all his life and fortune in +collecting Hebrew works, and whose collection now forms one of the +greatest ornaments of the Bodleian Library, that he was not allowed by the +censor to enjoy the use of his treasures. He had to put them under the +protection of Lipman Cohen, his father-in-law in Hanover, many hundreds of +miles from his own home. With the exception of the Bible hardly any Jewish +books escaped mutilation. In certain Christian countries some books were +not allowed to be published at all; of others, again, whole chapters had +to be omitted, while of others many passages had to be expunged. The words +Roman, Greek, Gentile, were strictly forbidden, and had to be changed into +Turks, Arabs, Samaritans, or worshippers of the stars and planets. One can +imagine what confusion such stupid alterations caused. Fancy what blunders +would have been committed in history if the old chroniclers had been +compelled to change the Pope into the Grand Turk or the Shah of Persia, +the Christian rulers into as many califs and pashas, or Rome and Athens +into Pekin and Mecca! + +It may perhaps be interesting to learn that Jews sometimes imitated their +bitter enemies in this work of mutilation. Thus in the later editions of +the _Book of Genealogies_ by Abraham Zacuto,(219) a passage was left out +reproducing the evidence given by the widow of Moses de Leon to the effect +that the cabbalistic work, the Zohar, was a forgery manufactured by her +poor dear husband. Another omission of this kind is to be found in the +Code of R. Joseph Caro, mentioned above. Here the earliest editions +declare, in the heading of section 605, "a certain religious usage" to be +"a custom of folly." In the republications, the last three words were left +out. From such nonsensical omissions and changes only the earliest +editions, which are abundant in the Museum, were exempt. + +A remarkable feature about the books of this Hebrew collection also is +that many of them are provided in the margin with manuscript notes by +their former possessors. These often happen to bear very great names in +literature. I shall only mention here R. Jacob Emden, Almanzi, Michael, +Gerundi, and Heidenheim. Of the works written by R. Jacob Emden, the +Museum possesses an almost complete author's copy with abundant +corrections, notes, and emendations by the author himself. His works are +still very popular among Polish and Russian Jews, especially his Prayer- +Book, and his Responses. It would be advisable for publishers in these +countries to avail themselves of this copy on the occasion of a new +edition. Of Christian scholars I should name here Isaac Casaubon. A rather +amusing mistake occurs in Ben-Jacob's _Treasure of Books_ in connection +with this name. Among the many valuable copies of Kimchi's grammatical +work _Perfection_,(220) possessed by the Museum, there is included one +which belonged to Casaubon, and is full of notes by him. The author of the +_Treasure_ speaks of a _Perfection_ with notes by Rabbi Yitzchak Kasuban. +I was at first at a loss to guess who that Rabbi Casaubon might be. When +examining Zedner I found it was no other than the famous Christian +scholar, Isaac Casaubon. It is not known that Casaubon's ambition lay in +this direction. But when Philo was regarded as a Father of the Church, Ben +Gabirol quoted for many centuries as a Mohammedan philosopher, why should +not Casaubon obtain for once the dignity of a Rabbi? + +After having given the reader some notion of the collection of printed +works, I should like now to invite him to accompany me through the +Manuscript Department of the Museum. But I am afraid that I shall make a +bad guide here; for the Museum is still without a descriptive catalogue of +the Hebrew manuscripts, which is the only means of enabling the student to +obtain a general view of the number and nature of these works. The +manuscript catalogue of Dukes goes only as far as 1856. It was, as we +shall soon see, just after this time that the Museum made its largest and, +to a certain degree also, its most valuable acquisitions in Hebrew +manuscripts. The following remarks must, therefore, not be taken as the +result of a systematic study of this collection, which would be quite +impossible without the aid of a catalogue. They rest partly on the +descriptions given of a certain number of manuscripts in the catalogue by +Dukes, but for the greater part on occasional glances at this or that MS. + +As to the history of the collection, it has grown out of small beginnings +just as that of printed books. The collection of Dr. Sloane, which laid +the foundation of the Museum Library, contained only nine Hebrew MSS. +Later acquisitions, as the Harleian collection, the Cottonian collection, +the Royal collection, and many other smaller collections marked as +Additional up to 1854, increased the number of the Hebrew manuscripts to +232. Of much more importance was the Almanzi collection, bought by the +trustees of the Museum in 1865, and consisting of 335 MSS. Of succeeding +acquisitions I shall mention here only the Yemen MSS., which were brought +to this country by the famous Shapira. The number of Hebrew MSS. at the +present day is said to exceed one thousand. But we must not forget that +many MSS. contain more than one work; in some cases even three or four, so +that the number of Hebrew works is far greater still. + +I shall now speak of the nature and importance of these MSS. As to their +contents they may be easily grouped under the following headings: Biblical +MSS., Commentaries (to the Bible) and Super-Commentaries, parts of the +Talmud and their Commentaries, Theology, Philosophy and Ethics, Massorah, +Grammar and Lexicography, Cabbalah, Poetry, Mathematics, Astronomy, +Astrology and Magic, Historical and Polemical Literature, etc. All these +branches of theological and secular learning and even of human folly are +fairly represented in the collection of Hebrew MSS. in the Museum, though +often only by a part or a fragment of a work. + +Thus the Babylonian Talmud is to be found only in two MSS. (Harl. 5508 and +Add. 25,717) both of them including 11 Tractates, hardly a third part of +the whole work. Indeed poor "Rabbinus Talmud" had to go to the _auto de +fe_ on so many occasions that one cannot wonder if only disjointed limbs +are to be found of him in libraries. The only complete MS. copy which +escaped this vandalism is that in the Royal Library in Munich, from which +Mr. Rabbinowicz has edited his monumental work, _Variae Lectiones of the +Talmud_. + +All other libraries, Oxford included, have to be satisfied with fragments. +Still worse, as it is seen, fared the Jerusalem Talmud, and excepting the +well-known copy in Leyden from which the Venice edition was prepared, not +even fragments of this Talmud are to be found in the majority of +libraries. To my knowledge it is only the British Museum which can boast +of the Jerusalem Talmud in MS. extending over _Order of Seeds_ and one +tractate of _Order of Festivals_(221) (Or. 2122-24) with commentaries of +R. Solomon Syrillo, the first few pages of which were edited by Dr. +Lehmann of Mayence. The Museum also possesses a great part of the Tosephta +extending over 14 Tractates (Add. 27,296). Of Midrashim we find in the +Museum two excellent manuscripts of the Genesis _Rabbah_, one of the +Leviticus _Rabbah_, and one of the _Siphra_ and the _Siphre_ (Add. 27,169 +and 16,406), besides two copies of the Midrash _Haggadol_ and other +Aagadic collections brought from Yemen. The _Midrash_ by Machir b. Abba +Mari to the minor prophets included in the Harleian collection (5704) is +unique. Of Liturgies, besides a great number of MSS. representing the most +peculiar rites, I shall mention the Machzor(222) Vitri (Add. 27,200-1) +composed by the disciples of R. Solomon b. Isaac, and forming in itself +almost a small library. For, apart from the prayers for festivals and week +days which gave it its title, it includes, besides the _Sayings of the +Fathers_ with a large commentary, three of the Minor Tractates of the +Talmud, many responses by German and French Rabbis, and a whole series of +religious hymns by German and Spanish authors, and many other literary +pieces. Cabbalah is represented by various valuable writings of the pre- +Zoharistic time (see for instance Add. 15,299) and the works of R. Moses +de Leon and R. Abraham Abulafia. Of Poetry, I shall point here to the +Tarshish of R. Moses Ibn Ezra, the Makames by Judah Al Charisi (Add. +27,122), and the Divan of R. Abraham of Bedres (Add. 27,188). Of works +relating to grammar and lexicography, I may refer to a Codex (Add. 27,214) +which contains the lexicon of R. Menahem ben Saruk, which is considered as +the oldest Hebrew MS. in the Museum, dating from the year 1091. Of +historical works, I mention the chronicle of R. Joseph the Priest (Add. +27,122) and the letter of R. Sherira Gaon (Arundel 51), the oldest +existing copy of this work (1189), which was edited by Dr. Neubauer in his +_Mediaeval Jewish Chronicles_. + +These examples will suffice to show the significance of the MSS. +collection of this Library. And the student may rest assured that in +whatever branch of Jewish thought he is interested, he will always find in +the Museum some Hebrew manuscript useful for his purpose. + +I ought now to say a few words as to the value of this collection of +manuscripts. Now, if the work contained in a MS. has never been edited, as +for instance the Machzor Vitri(223) and so many others, its value is +established by the mere fact of its existence. For those who published +MSS. were not always guided by the best literary motives. And while they +published and republished many books of which one edition would have been +more than enough, many other works of the greatest importance for Jewish +literature and history remained in manuscript. As an instance, it will +suffice to mention here the Zohar, which has passed through twenty-four +editions since the sixteenth century, whilst the earliest Jewish Midrash, +the _Pessikta de Rab Kahana_, had to linger in the libraries till the year +1868, when it was edited by Mr. S. Buber. Thus there are still many pearls +of Jewish literature which exist only in MS. Likewise most publishers were +careless in their choice of the manuscript from which our editions have +been prepared. Almost the whole of Jewish literature will have to be re- +edited before a scientific study of it will be possible. But such critical +editions can only be obtained by the aid of the MSS. not yet made use of, +in which better readings are to be found. From this fact even those MSS. +the contents of which have been several times reprinted, as for instance +the MSS. of the Midrash _Rabbah_, gain the greatest literary importance. +And the more MSS. the editor of a work has at his disposal, the more +certain is he of being able to furnish us with a good text. + +But even when the whole of Jewish literature lies before the student in +the best of texts, there will still remain a great charm about +manuscripts. Printed books, like the great mass of the modern society for +which they are prepared, are devoid of any originality. They interest us +only as classes, and it is very seldom that they have a story of their own +to tell. It is quite different with manuscripts, where the fact of their +having been produced by a living being invests them with a certain kind of +individuality. This is specially the case with Hebrew MSS., which were not +copied by men shut up in cloisters, but by sociable people living in the +world and sharing its joys and sorrows. Even women were employed in this +art, and I remember to have read in some MS. or catalogue a postscript by +the lady copyist, which, if I remember rightly, ran as follows: "I beseech +the reader not to judge me very harshly when he finds that mistakes have +crept into this work; for when I was engaged in copying it God blessed me +with a son, and thus I could not attend to my business properly." + +To be sure, some of these copyists were curious folk. Their mind as well +as that of the world around them must have been of a peculiar constitution +hardly conceivable to us. Take, for example, Benjamin, the copyist of a +certain Machzor in the Museum (Add. 11,639). This Machzor was written in +times of bitter persecution. The copyist, who was himself a learned man, +alludes in one place to the sufferings which the Jews in a certain French +town had to undergo in the year 1276. On one of them, the martyr R. +Samson, Benjamin the copyist composed a lamentation written in a most +mournful strain. But this lamentation is followed by a wine-song, one of +the jolliest and wildest parodies for the feast of Purim. + +Speaking of this Machzor I should like to remark that it forms one of the +greatest ornaments of the Museum. Besides including the whole of the +Pentateuch, the above-mentioned Tarshish by R. Moses Ibn Ezra, and many +other smaller literary pieces which would require a small volume to +describe them properly, this MS. is most richly illuminated, and contains +very many illustrations. The subjects of these illustrations are biblical, +sometimes also apocryphal, such as--Adam and Eve in Paradise, Noah in the +Ark, Abraham meeting the angels, Sarah behind the door listening to the +conversation of her husband with his guests, Moses with the rod in his +hands dividing the Red Sea, Samson riding on the back of a lion, Solomon +on his throne, Daniel in the lion's den, the king Ahasuerus holding out +the golden sceptre to Esther, Judith addressing Holofernes, the Leviathan, +the mythical bird Bar Yochni, and many other similar subjects. In passing +I recommend these illustrations and illuminations to the attention of the +artist as the most worthy examples of Jewish ecclesiastical art,--if there +is such a thing as a special Jewish art. The artist will find the Museum +best suited for this purpose, its collection being considered as the +richest of the kind. Besides this Machzor I must also allude to the +illuminated Bible (Or. 2226-28) written in Lisbon for R. Judah Alchakin--it +is said to be one of the finest specimens of such works--and the +illuminated Mishneh Torah of Maimonides, executed for R. Joseph of the +famous Yachya family, also thought to be most artistically done. The +liturgies for the Passover Eve service will also offer to the artist a +rich harvest, especially Codex, Add. 27,210, which the wealthy Lady Rosa +Galico presented to her son-in-law on his wedding-day, and Codex, Add. +14,762, even the binding of which is considered as an artistic curiosity. + +Leaving now these marvels to the appreciation of the artist, the greatest +wonder which suggests itself to us is how the Jews could maintain such a +cultured taste in such unhappy times, and get the means of satisfying it. +These reflections about the owners present themselves the more strongly to +our mind when we meet with one of those old Jewish prayer-books, which in +many cases formed the whole religious and literary treasure of the family. +In their fly-leaves, in which the births and deaths of successive +generations are very often registered, the _spiritus familiaris_ seems to +be still haunting the pages. When you turn them over and see the service +for Passover Eve, are you not bound to think of the anxiety with which +these poor creatures engaged in this ceremony lest they might be attacked +suddenly by a fanatic mob? must you not ask how they could bear life under +such circumstances? And when you turn a few more pages and arrive at the +prayers read for the dead, must you not ask how did they die? Were they +perhaps burnt alive _ad majorem Dei gloriam_, or torn to pieces by a +"saintly mob"? Take again the illuminated copies of the Bible and the +Mishneh Torah, both of which were finished only a few years before the +great expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal, times when the earth +already "burnt under their feet, and the heaven was also very unkind to +them." And nevertheless Jews were still, as these MSS. show us, +cultivating science and art. Another instance of such a devotion to +science in spite of the unfavourable times may be seen from a colophon to +Codex Or. 39. It contains the book _Nissim_, a philosophical treatise on +the fundamental teachings of Judaism, together with a philosophical +commentary on the Pentateuch by R. Nissim of Marseilles, a contemporary of +R. Solomon ben Adereth in the thirteenth century. The Museum copy was +written by R. Jacob, the son of David, who also added some annotations to +the book. At the end he says: "I have copied this book _Nissim_ for my own +use, that I may study in it, I and my children and my grandchildren.... I +have finished it to-day, Sunday, the 28th of Ab, 5333 (1573), at Venice, +in the year of the expulsion which befell us on account of our sins." Now, +only observe this poor R. Jacob, who has to go through all these horrors, +yet is still occupied in copying MSS. for his own pleasure, and in +meditating on the most complicated problems of philosophy and religion. + +But it is not always stories of this heroic nature that the MSS. tell us. +They betray also very much of the instability of human affairs and their +weakness. You find in many copies the words that they must not "be sold or +given in mortgage." But scarcely a generation has passed away, and they +are already in the possession of a new owner, who writes the same +injunction to be broken again by his children in their turn. In Codex +27,122, we find commendatory letters for a worthy poor man, who is so +unhappy as to have two grown-up daughters, and not to have the means of +supplying them with marriage portions. Indeed, he must have been very +poor, not possessing even a book in his house, or else his troubles could +not have been so great. For in Codex Harl. 5702, we find the owner saying: +"To eternal memory that I have acquired this _Third Book of Avicena_ from +the hands of my father-in-law, R. Jekuthiel, as a part of my dowry." + +As a sign of human weakness I give the following two instances. There lies +before me a cabbalistic Codex (Add. 27,199), which acquired some notoriety +from the fact of its having been copied by the famous grammarian, R. +Elijah Levita, for his pupil Cardinal Aegidius. At the end of this MS. we +read: "I (Levita) have finished (the copying of) this book on Wednesday, +the day of Hoshana Rabba,(224) 5277 (1516), on which day I have seen my +head in the shadow of the moon. Praised be God (for it), for now I am sure +not to die in the following year." These words relate to a well-known +superstition, according to which, when a man is going to die in the course +of the next year his shadow disappears from him on the preceding Hoshana +Rabba. But is it not humiliating to see that the great Levita, who was +superior to many prejudices of his time, and taught Christians Hebrew, and +who denied the antiquity of the vowels in the Bible, which was considered +by the great majority of his contemporaries as a mortal heresy--is it not +humiliating to see this enlightened man trembling for his life on this +night, and anxiously observing his shadow? Another Codex lies before me +(Add. 17,053), containing the Novellae to three tractates of the Talmud. +Its owner must accordingly have been a learned man. But in the fly-leaf of +this MS. we read the following words: "Memorandum--Thursday, the 25th of +Sivan, 5295 (1535), I have taken an oath in the presence of R. David Ibn +Shushan and R. Moses de Castro, etc., not to play (cards) any more." I +might perhaps suggest on this occasion that in our days when all sorts of +Judaisms are circulating, a cooking Judaism, a racing Judaism, a muscular +Judaism, and so many Judaisms more--it would be interesting to take up also +the subject of playing Judaism, and to write its history. + +In conclusion I shall mention the colophon to Codex Harl. 5713, which may +have some interest for the English reader. It runs: "I have written it in +honour of the noble and pious, etc., Humphrey Wanley, the noble Librarian +of my Lord Treasurer. May his glory be increased. In the year 5474 (1714) +in the holy community of London, under the reign of the noble and happy +Queen Anne. May the Lord increase her splendour and glory." The signature +of the copyist is "Aaron the son of Moses, born in the city of Navaschadok +in Poland." By the way, we learn from this signature that the immigration +of Polish Jews into this country had already begun in the time of Queen +Anne, and perhaps still earlier. + +Thus everything in a MS., the arrangement of the matter, the remarks of +the owners, the signature of the copyist, sets the reader thinking, and +contributes many a side-light to the history of the Jews. + + + + + +XI. TITLES OF JEWISH BOOKS + + +It is now more than half a century since Isaac Reggio in his edition of +Elijah Delmedigo's _Examination of Religion_, made the remark that this +book adds to its other merits that of bearing a title corresponding to its +contents,--a merit that is very rare in Jewish books. Reggio proceeds to +give a few specimens confirming his assertion, and concludes his remarks +with a eulogy on Delmedigo, who in this respect also had the courage to +differ from his contemporaries. Zunz also once wrote an article on titles +of books. But this article unfortunately appeared in some German +periodical which the British Museum does not possess, and I could not even +succeed in ascertaining whether Zunz treats at all of titles of Hebrew +books, nor am I aware that the subject has been taken up by any other +scholar, Isaac D'Israeli's few notes on the subject in his _Curiosities of +Literature_ being scarcely worth mention. It seems to me, however, +interesting enough to deserve some illustration, though I can by no means +hope to be complete. + +The titles of the books contained in the Bible need not be discussed here; +information concerning them is to be found in every critical introduction +to the Old Testament. The Rabbinical works dating from antiquity also +offer little opportunity for reflection on their titles. The Talmud, as a +work, has no title at all; for Talmud simply means "teaching" or "study." +Sometimes it is termed ShaSS, an abbreviation of _Shisha Sedarim_,(225) +meaning the Six Orders or divisions contained in the Mishnah. This last +word means, according to some authors, "Repetition." Other Tannaitic +collections of laws or expositions of the Scriptures are called "the Book" +(Siphra), "the Books" (Siphre), or "Additions" (Tosephta to the Mishnah). +The word _Baraitha_(226) means the external Mishnah that enjoyed less +authority than the Mishnah of R. Judah the Patriarch. Some approach to +titles we find in the names given to the different tractates included in +the Mishnah, as _Berachoth_, because it treats of Benedictions, +_Peah_(227) (Corner) which contains the particulars concerning the law in +Lev. xix. and so forth. Of the few works quoted in the Talmud it will +suffice to mention the _Seder Olam_, the Order of the World, the name of +which is very suitable to the chronological contents of the book. In +general, I may observe that as long as the law which prohibited the +writing down of the Oral teachings was in force, there hardly existed +Jewish books. But where there are no books there is also no need for +titles. The few titles, however, which can be proved to be historical are +simple and to the point. It is not till about the beginning of the Middle +Ages, when this prohibitive law had, for reasons not to be explained here, +been abolished, that we can speak of Hebrew books. But here also the +Title-confusion begins. + +In order that we may have some general view of the thousands of titles +that are catalogued by the Jewish bibliographers, it will perhaps be well +to arrange them under the following six classes:-- + +I. _Simple titles_, that have no other object than that of indicating the +subject matter of the book. These are, as we have just seen, the only kind +of titles known to antiquity. The few books which the Gaonim left us bear +such simple titles as could have served as models to later generations. +Among them may be mentioned the _Halachoth_ or collection of Laws, _Creeds +and Opinions_, by R. Saadiah Gaon, the _Book on Buying and Selling_, by R. +Hai Gaon, containing the laws relating to commercial transactions. It may +be noticed that this last book is one of the best arranged in Jewish +literature, and displays more systematising powers than even the Code of +Maimonides. The greatest part of the literary activity of the Gaonim +consists in their Responsa, in which they gave decisions on ritual +questions, or explanations of difficult passages in the Talmud. The titles +borne by the various collections of those Responsa belong to a period +later than the author's. The great majority of the books produced by the +Franco-German school may also be included in this class. They are termed +"Commentaries," "Additions" or "Glosses," "Novellae," or "Confirming +Proofs," and similar modest titles which show both their relation to, and +dependence on, another older authority. The largest collection of +Midrashim we possess bears the simple title "Bag."(228) Many of the +Responsa satisfy themselves with the words "Questions to, and Answers by." + +II. _Titles taken from the first word with which the book begins_, or from +the first word of the Scriptural verse occurring first in the book. This +class is strongly represented by the Midrashim. Thus the Midrash to the +Song of Songs is also quoted as the Midrash _Chazitha_,(229) "Midrash, +Seest thou" (the first text with which this Midrash deals being Proverbs +xxii. 28). The Midrash to the Psalms is called Midrash _Shocher Tob_,(230) +"Midrash, He that diligently seeketh the good" (Prov. xi. 37). The Midrash +containing the legendary story of the wars of the sons of Jacob with the +Canaanites is quoted as Midrash _V'yisseu_,(231) "Midrash, And they +journeyed," as the story begins with the verse from Gen. xxxv. 5. And this +is the case with the titles of many other Midrashim. Whether the work +cited under the strange name of _Meat on Coals_ did not begin with those +words, containing some law relating to the salting of meat, I do not +venture to decide. Under this class we may also arrange those books that +are called after a phrase which is often used in the book, _e.g._, the +Midrash _Yelamdenu_ (He may teach us), or the _Vehizhir_, "And He +commanded us," almost every paragraph in these books beginning with the +phrases mentioned.(232) Probably all the books belonging to this class +received from the hands of their authors or compilers no titles at all. +The student who had to quote them gave them names after the phrase or word +which first caught his eye. In later centuries this class disappears +almost entirely (see, however, Ben-Jacob's _Treasure_, p. 201, No. 827). + +III. _Pompous titles._ The largest contributions to this class were made +by the mystical writers. Books which profess to know what is going on in +the heavens above and the earth beneath cannot possibly be satisfied with +modest titles. Thus we have the "Book of Brightness" (Zohar), "the shining +book" (Bahir), "the Confidential Shepherd" (Moses).(233) The books which +the Zohar quotes bear such titles as the Book of Adam, the Book of Enoch. +The only excuse for the Zohar is that the manufacturing of such books with +pseudo-epigraphical titles had already begun in antiquity. It is not, +however, till the Gaonic period that a whole apocryphal literature +suddenly emerges which perplexes the Gaonim themselves. No one is spared. +Angels, patriarchs, and martyrs are called upon to lend their names to +these books. What one resents most is that history came within the range +of the forger's activity. There is, for instance, the Josippon, which +professes to be written by Josephus, the well-known Jewish historian of +the first century. But in spite of all the care taken by the author to +disguise himself in the garb of antiquity, the Josippon is a forgery of +the ninth or tenth century. Of a similar kind is the Book of Jasher, +containing legendary stories relating to Biblical personages. It pretends +to be identical with the Book of Jasher quoted in Joshua x. 13 and 2 Sam. +i. 18. Some sixty years ago a certain Mr. Samuel of Liverpool had the +misfortune to make himself ridiculous by maintaining the pretensions of +this book; for, indeed, it does not require much knowledge of the Agadic +literature to see that the Book of Jasher is only a compilation of +comparatively late Midrashim. + +IV. _Titles suggested by other Titles._ As an instance of this we may take +Maimonides' great Code of Law, which bears the title _Mishneh Torah_. The +importance of the book made it the object of study for hundreds of +scholars, who wrote their commentaries and glosses on it. Among the titles +of the commentaries such Title-genealogies may be discovered as Maggid +_Mishneh_, _Mishneh_ Lammelech; which last word again suggested such +titles as Emek ha-_Melech_, Shaar ha-_Melech_, and so on.(234) + +The same process may be observed in other standard works, the importance +of which made them a subject of investigation and interpretation as the +"Prepared Table," one of the glosses to which is called _Mappah_, +"Tablecloth," whilst others provided it with the _Shewbread_ and with _New +Fruit_. + +V. _Euphemistic Titles_, as "The Tractate of Joys," treating of funeral +ceremonies and kindred subjects. It does not seem that this title was +known to antiquity, but it is certain that already the earlier authorities +quoted it by this name. "The Book of Life" (the German Jewish title of +which is _Alle Dinim, von Freuden_), is the name of a very popular book +containing the prayers to be read in the house of mourning as well as in +the cemetery, which is also called the House of Life. + +VI. _Titles taken from the Bible_, or Fancy Titles. This is the largest +class of all, though it was utterly unknown in antiquity. It will be, +perhaps, convenient to arrange this class of titles under the following +sub-divisions. (_a_) Titles taken from the Bible, but also fulfilling the +purpose of indicating the name of the author. For instance, "Seed of +Abraham" (Ps. cv. 6), is the title of nine different books, the name of +whose authors happened to be Abraham; "And Isaac entreated" (Gen. xxv. +21), is by Isaac Satanow on the Prayers; "Then Isaac sowed" (_ibid._ xxvi. +12), edited by R. Isaac Perles, contains an index to the Zohar. "Jacob +shall take root" (Is. xxvii. 6) is the name of a book on Grammar and +Massorah by R. Jacob Bassani. R. Joseph of Posen left two collections of +sermons and commentaries on the Pentateuch, of which the one is called +"And Joseph nourished" (Gen. xlvii. 12), the other "And Joseph gathered" +(_ibid._ 14). Authors with the name of Judah are represented among others +by such titles as "And this of Judah" (Deut. xxxiii.7), a treatise on the +laws concerning the killing of animals; or "Judah shall go up" (Judges i. +2), a pamphlet containing a collection of prayers to be said on a journey. +"Moses began" (Deut. i. 5) forms the title of three different books on +various subjects, the authors of which had the name Moses. "Moses shall +rejoice," a phrase occurring in the morning prayer for Sabbaths, is also +the title of two books, the authors of which were named Moses. The "Rod of +Aaron" enjoyed, as it seems, a goodly popularity; there are four bearing +this name, not to speak of a fifth, "The Rod of Aaron brought forth buds" +(Exod. xvii. 23), which is the name of a collection of Responsa by R. +Aaron ben Chayim. But other Rods also were fashionable; there are, besides +the five Rods of Moses, also Rods of Ephraim, Dan, Judah, Joseph, +Naphtali, and Manasseh. By authors of the name of David we find books with +the title "And David said," or a "Prayer of David," and other phrases +occurring in the Psalms relating to David; whilst the "Tower of David" +became the stronghold of other writers, and the "Shield of David" +protected as many as nine more. The "Chariot of Solomon" (Cant. iii. 9) +adorns the title-pages of five books by authors named Solomon. The Caraite +Solomon Troki was so fond of that title that he called his two polemical +treatises "He made himself a chariot," while R. Solomon of Mir's +collection of sermons has the title, "This Bed which is Solomon's" (Cant. +iii. 7). As to family names, there were not many authors in the enjoyment +of that luxury (especially among the German Jews), but we find them +indicating the fact of their being Priests or Levites. Among such books +are the collection of Responsa, by R. Raphael Cohen, which has the title +"And the Priest shall come again" (Lev. xiv. 39), and the Cabbalistic +treatise by R. Abraham Cohen, of Lask, with the title "And the Priest +shall reckon unto him" (Lev. xxvii. 18). Probably the author deals with +numbers. R. Hirsch Horwitz, the Levite, called his Novellae to the Talmud +"The Camp of Levi." The title "The Service of the Levite" (with allusion +to Exodus xxxviii. 21) is borne by five other books by authors who were +Levites. And there may be found hundreds of books with titles suggesting +the Priestly or Levitical descent of their authors. Most anxious is Joseph +Ibn Kaspi (Joseph the Silvern, so called after his native place +Argentiere, in the south of France) to provide most of his numerous books +with some Biblical titles combined with silver, as a "Bowl of Silver" +(Numb. vii. 13), or "Points of Silver" (Song of Songs i. 11), or "Figures +of Silver" (Prov. xxv. 10), and other similar phrases. On the other hand +Azulai manages to indicate at least one of his three Hebrew names, Chayim +Joseph David, in most of his works, of which the number exceeds seventy, +as Chayim Shaal,(235) "He asked Life" (Ps. xxi. 4), or "The knees of +Joseph" (alluding to Gen. xlviii. 12), and "Truth unto David" (Ps. cxxxii. +11). + +(_b_) The Tabernacle with its furniture was also a great favourite with +many authors. There are not only six tabernacles (two on Cabbalah, two on +grammar, and two on Talmudical subjects), but also three "Arks of the +Testimony," two "Altars of gold," two "Tables of Shewbread," four +"Candlesticks of the Light," two "Sockets of Silver," and two "Pillars of +Silver." Others again preferred the vestments of the priests as the "Plate +of Judgment," the "Robe of the Ephod," the "Mitre of Aaron," the "Plate of +Gold," the "Bell and Pomegranate," "Wreathen Chains," and the "Arches of +Gold." Many of these books were written by authors claiming to be priests. +(_c_) But besides the canonical, other costumes were also fashionable. R. +Mordecai Yafeh composed ten books, every one of them bearing the name of +some garment or apparel, as "Apparel of Royalty," "Apparel of Blue," +"Apparel of White," and so the whole suit with which Mordecai went out +from the presence of the king (Esther viii. 15). These ten works range +from codifications of the law and occasional sermons to philosophy, +astronomy, and Cabbalah. By other writers we have three "Coats of many +colours" (Gen. xxxvii. 4), one "Bridal Attire," and the "Thread of +Scarlet" is not missing. (_d_) The ingredients for incense as well as +other articles used in the Tabernacle or in the Temple were also fancied +by some authors, and we have two books with the title of "Principal +Spices," two "Pure Myrrh," three "Arts of the Apothecary," one "Oil of +Holy Ointment," five "Meat Offerings mingled or dry," three or four "Flour +of the Meat Offering," and also one "Two Young Pigeons" (Bene Yonah) by R. +Jonah Zandsopher. But the appetite of the authors did not stop at these +holy things. It extended also to such lay articles as "Spiced Wine," +"Juice of Pomegranate" (Cant. viii. 2), "Forests of Honey," the "Book of +the Apple," and "Seven Kinds of Drink." + +(_e_) Field and flock also suggested to Hebrew writers as well as to Mr. +Ruskin such titles as "The Fruit of the Hand," the "Rose of Sharon," the +"Lily of the Valleys," or "The Shepherds' Tents," and "In the Green +Pastures" (Ps. xxiii. 2). + +The specimens given for every class may with very little trouble be +doubled and redoubled. But it is not my intention to reproduce here whole +catalogues. Reggio thinks all such titles, which do not correspond with +the context of the book, absurd and confusing. He suggests that the Jews +followed in this respect the Arabic writers. There is no doubt that Reggio +is not altogether wrong in his complaint. Almost all the titles included +in class vi., as the reader might have observed, never indicate to the +student the subject of which the books treat. How can one guess that the +Responsa, the Dance of Mahanaim (two companies), is of a polemical nature +against the tendencies of reform? This list may be lengthened by hundreds +of titles. But even these incomprehensible titles are better than the +_Chad Gadyah Lo Israel_ (One Kid No Israel),(236) the un-Hebrew title of a +pamphlet trying to prove the un-Jewish origin of the well-known folk-song +sung on Passover Eve. But, on the other hand, it must not be overlooked +that even this class has, though not always, something suggestive and even +practical about it. The "Choice of Pearls" is undoubtedly more attractive +than the prosaic "Collection of Proverbs and Sayings," which is what the +book contains. "Understanding of the Seasons" (1 Chr. xii. 32), sounds +also better than the simple "Collection of Sermons on different +occasions." "The Lips of those who Sleep" recommends itself as a very +suggestive title for a catalogue, especially when one thinks of the Agadic +explanation given to Cant. vii. 10, according to which the study of the +book of a departed author makes the lips of the dead man to speak. Such +titles as "Bunch of Lilies" for a collection of poems are still usual with +us. Such a title as the "Jealousy Offering," or the "Law of Jealousies," +in polemical literature is very appropriate for its subject. R. Jacob +Emden, who named one of his pamphlets "Rod for the fool's back" (Prov. +xxvi. 3), will be envied for his choice by many a controversialist even +to-day. Wittily devised is the pun-title, "City of Sihon" for a +mathematical book by R. Joseph Tsarphathi, alluding to Numb. xxi. 27, "For +Hesbon (reckoning) is the City of Sihon." + +Other titles were probably intended more as mottoes than titles. "Go forth +and behold, ye daughters of Zion" (Cant. iii. 11), is put in the title- +page of R. Jacob's German-Jewish paraphrase of the Pentateuch, which was +written chiefly for the use of ladies. "Let another man praise thee and +not thine own mouth, a stranger and not thine own lips" (Prov. xxvii. 2), +forms the title of a book extending over only one and a half page in +quarto. It contains letters by seven Rabbis (among them R. Liva of Prague) +recommending the Ascetic, R. Abraham Wangos, who has a daughter to marry, +and wants also to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, as deserving the +support of his brethren. + +There is also another objection to these titles. It is that they seem +sometimes not quite consonant with our notions of modesty. Thus we have +"Desirable and Sweet" on astronomy, "Sweeter than Honey" or "He shall +comfort us," and many others of this kind. But it must not be thought that +we have a right to infer from the title to the author. There is, indeed, +an anecdote that three authors were rather too little careful about the +choice of their titles, namely Maimonides in calling his Code _Mishneh +Torah_ (which is the traditional title of the Book of Deuteronomy), R. +Moses Alshech in calling his homiletical commentaries _Torah_ of Moses, +and R. Isaiah Horwitz in calling his book _Shene Luchoth ha-Berith_ (The +Two Tables of the Covenant). These authors, as the story goes, had for +their punishment that their works are never quoted by the titles they gave +to them, the former two being usually cited as Rambam or Alshech, whilst +the last is more known by its abbreviated title of SHeLa(237) than by its +full name. + +I do not remember where I have read this story, but I am quite sure that +its pious author would have been more careful about repeating it had he +known that this accusation against Maimonides was a favourite topic with +apostates, who thought to hit Judaism in the person of its representative +Maimonides. But, as R. Solomon Duran in his polemical work remarks, +Maimonides was too much of a truly great man to find any satisfaction in +such petty vanity. Nor do I believe that even the character of less-known +authors can in any way be impugned by the seemingly conceited titles of +their books; just as on the other hand the humility of the author is not +proved by calling his book "The Offering of the Poor," or other modest +titles. The fancy title was in common use, and was therefore a commonplace +with no significance whatever. The real disadvantage of such titles lies +in the fact that, as already pointed out, they conceal from the student +the contents of the book which he might otherwise consult in the course of +his researches. + +Did these authors perhaps foresee that there would come a time in which +index-knowledge would pass for deep scholarship? and did they thus by +using these obscure titles try to put a check on the dabblers who speak +the more of a book the less they have read of its contents? If this be the +case we can only admire their foresight. + + + + + +XII. THE CHILD IN JEWISH LITERATURE + + +"I saw a Jewish lady only yesterday with a child at her knee, and from +whose face towards the child there shone a sweetness so angelical that it +seemed to form a sort of glory round both. I protest I could have knelt +before her, too, and adored in her the divine beneficence in endowing us +with the maternal _storge_ which began with our race and sanctifies the +history of mankind." These words, which are taken from Thackeray's +_Pendennis_, may serve as a starting-point for this paper. The fact that +the great student of man perceived this glory just round the head of a +Jewish lady rouses in me the hope that the small student of letters may, +with a little search, be able to discover in the remains of our past many +similar traces of this divine beneficence and sanctifying sentiment. +Certainly the glimpses which we shall catch from the faded leaves of +ancient volumes, dating from bygone times, will not be so bright as those +which the novelist was so fortunate as to catch from the face of a lady +whom he saw but the previous day. The mothers and fathers, about whom I am +going to write in this essay, have gone long ago, and the objects of their +anxiety and troubles have also long ago vanished. But what the subject +will lose in brightness, it may perhaps gain in reality and intensity. A +few moments of enraptured devotion do not make up the saint. It is a whole +series of feelings and sentiments betrayed on different occasions, +expressed in different ways, a whole life of sore troubles, of bitter +disappointments, but also moments of most elevated joys and real +happiness. + +And surely these manifestations of the divine beneficence, which appear in +their brightest glory in the literature of every nation when dealing with +the child, shine strongest in the literature of the Jewish nation. In it, +to possess a child was always considered as the greatest blessing God +could bestow on man, and to miss it as the greatest curse. The patriarch +Abraham, with whom Israel enters into history, complains--"Oh Lord, what +wilt Thou give me, seeing I go childless!" + +The Rabbis regarded the childless man as dead, whilst the Cabbalist in the +Middle Ages thought of him who died without posterity as of one who had +failed in his mission in this world, so that he would have to appear again +on our planet to fulfil this duty. To trace out the feelings which +accompanied the object of their greatest anxiety, to let them pass before +the reader in some way approaching to a chronological order, to draw +attention to some points more worthy of being emphasised than others, is +the aim of this essay. + +I said that I propose to treat the subject in chronological order. I meant +by this that I shall follow the child in the different stages through +which it has to pass from its birth until it ceases to be a child and +attains its majority. This latter period is the beginning of the +thirteenth year in the case of a female, and the beginning of the +fourteenth year in the case of a male. I shall have occasion later on to +examine this point more closely. + +But there is the embryo-period which forms a kind of preliminary stage in +the life of the child, and plays a very important part in the region of +Jewish legends. Human imagination always occupies itself most with the +things of which we know least. And so it got hold of this semi-existence +of man, the least accessible to experience and observation, and surrounded +it by a whole cycle of legends and stories. They are too numerous to be +related here. But I shall hint at a few points which I regard as the most +conspicuous features of these legends. + +These legends are chiefly based on the notion of the pre-existence of the +soul on the one hand, but on the other hand they are a vivid illustration +of the saying of the Fathers, "Thou art born against thy will." Thus the +soul, when it is brought before the throne of God, and is commanded to +enter into the body, pleads before Him: "O Lord, till now have I been holy +and pure; bring me not into contact with what is common and unclean." +Thereupon the soul is given to understand that it was for this destiny +alone that it was created. Another remarkable feature is the warning given +to man before his birth that he will be responsible for his actions. He is +regularly sworn in. The oath has the double purpose of impressing upon him +the consciousness of his duty to lead a holy life, and of arming him +against the danger of allowing a holy life to make him vain. As if to +render this oath more impressive, the unborn hero is provided with two +angels who, besides teaching him the whole of the Torah, take him every +morning through paradise and show him the glory of the just ones who dwell +there. In the evening he is taken to hell to witness the sufferings of the +reprobate. But such a lesson would make free will impossible. His future +conduct would only be dictated by the fear of punishment and hope of +reward. And the moral value of his actions also depends, according to +Jewish notions, upon the power to commit sin. Thus another legend records: +"When God created the world, He produced on the second day the angels with +their natural inclinations to do good, and the absolute inability to +commit sin. On the following days again He created the beasts with their +exclusively animal desires. But He was pleased with neither of these +extremes. If the angels follow my will, said God, it is only on account of +their impotence to act in the opposite direction. I shall therefore create +man, who will be a combination of both angel and beast, so that he will be +able to follow either the good or evil inclination. His evil deeds will +place him beneath the level of animals, whilst his noble aspirations will +enable him to obtain a higher position than angels." Care is therefore +taken to make the child forget all it has seen and heard in these upper +regions. Before it enters the world an angel strikes it on the upper lip, +and all his knowledge and wisdom disappear at once. The pit in the upper +lip is a result of this stroke, which is also the cause why children cry +when they are born. + +As to the origin of these legends, the main features of which are already +to be found in the Talmud, I must refer the reader to the researches of +Loew and others.(238) Here we have only to watch the effect which these +legends had upon the minds of Jewish parents. The newly born child was in +consequence looked upon by them as a higher being, which, but a few +seconds before, had been conversing with angels and saints, and had now +condescended into our profane world to make two ordinary mortals happy. +The treatment which the child experienced from its parents, as well as +from the whole of the community, was therefore a combination of love and +veneration. One may go even further and say that the belief in these +legends determines greatly the destination of the child. What other +destination could a being of such a glorious past have than to be what an +old German Jewish poem expressed in the following lines:-- + + + Geboren soll es wehren + Zu Gottes Ehren. + + +"The child should be born to the honour of God." The mission of the child +is to glorify the name of God on earth. And the whole bringing up of the +child in the old Jewish communities was more or less calculated to this +end. The words of the Bible, "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of +priests," were taken literally. Every man felt it his duty to bring up his +children, or at least one member of his family, for this calling. How they +carried out this programme we shall see later on. + +Now, regarding almost every infant as a predestined priest, and thinking +of it as having received a certain preparation for this calling before it +came into this world, we cannot wonder that the child was supposed to show +signs of piety from the days of its earliest existence, and even earlier. +Thus we read that even the unborn children joined in with the chorus on +the Red Sea and sang the Song (of Moses). David, again, composed Psalms +before perceiving the face of this world. On the Day of Atonement they +used to communicate to the unborn child, through the medium of its mother, +that on this great day it had to be satisfied with the good it had +received the day before. And when a certain child, afterwards named +Shabbethai, refused to listen to such a request, R. Johanan applied to it +the verse from the Psalm, "The wicked are estranged from the womb." +Indeed, Shabbethai turned out a great sinner. It will perhaps be +interesting to hear what his sin was. It consisted in forestalling the +corn in the market and afterwards selling it to the poor at a much higher +price. Of a certain child the legend tells that it was born with the word +_emeth_ (truth) engraved on its fore-head. Its parents named it +Amiti,(239) and the child proved to be a great saint. + +The priest, however, could not enter into his office without some +consecration. As the first step in this consecration of the child we may +consider the Covenant of Abraham. But this was prefaced by a few other +solemn acts which I must mention. One of the oldest ceremonies connected +with the birth of a child was that of tree-planting. In the case of a boy +they planted a cedar, in that of a girl a pine; and on their marriage they +cut branches from these trees to form the wedding-canopy. Other rites +followed, but they were more of a medical character, and would be better +appreciated by the physician. In the Middle Ages superstition played a +great part. To be sure, I have spoken of saints; but we ought not to +forget that saints, too, have their foolish moments, especially when they +are fighting against hosts of demons, the existence of which is only +guaranteed by their own over-excited brains. Jewish parents were for many +centuries troubled by the fear of Lilith,(240) the devil's mother, who was +suspected of stealing children and killing them. The precautions they took +to prevent this atrocity were as foolish as the object of their fear. I do +not intend to enumerate here all these various precautions. Every country +almost has its own usages and charms, one more absurd than the other. It +will suffice to refer here to the most popular of these charms, in which +certain angels are invoked to protect the child against its dangerous +enemy Lilith. But of whatever origin they may be, Judaism could do better +without them. The only excuse for their existence among us is to my mind +that they provoked the famous Dr. Erter to the composition of one of the +finest satires in the Hebrew language. + +Of a less revolting character was the so-called ceremony of the "Reading +of the Shema."(241) It consisted in taking all the little children of the +community into the house of the newly-born child, where the teacher made +them read the Shema, sometimes also the ninety-first Psalm. The fact that +little children were the chief actors in this ceremony reconciles one a +little to it despite its rather doubtful origin. In some communities these +readings took place every evening up to the day when the child was brought +into the covenant of Abraham. In other places they performed the ceremony +only on the eve of the day of the _Berith Milah_(242) (Ceremony of the +Circumcision). Indeed, this was the night during which Lilith was supposed +to play her worst tricks, and the watch over the child was redoubled. +Hence the name "Wachnacht," or the "Night of Watching." They remained +awake for the whole night, and spent it in feasting and in studying +certain portions of the Bible and the Talmud, mostly relating to the event +which was to take place on the following day. This ceremony was already +known to Jewish writers of the thirteenth century. Nevertheless, it is +considered by the best authorities on the subject to be of foreign origin. +Quite Jewish, as well as entirely free from superstitious taint, was the +visit which was paid to the infant-boy on the first Sabbath of his +existence. It was called "Shalom Zachar,"(243) probably meaning "Peace- +boy," in allusion to a well-known passage in the Talmud to the effect that +the advent of a boy in the family brings peace to the world. + +At last the dawn of the great day of the Berith came. I shall, however, +only touch here on the social aspects of this rite. + +Its popularity began, as it seems, in very early times. The persecutions +which Israel suffered for it in the times of Antiochus Epiphanes, "when +the princes and elders mourned, the virgins and the young men were made +feeble, and the beauty of women was changed, and when certain women were +put to death for causing their children to be circumcised," are the best +proof of the attachment of the people to it. The repeated attempts against +this law, both by heathen and by Christian hands, only served to increase +its popularity. Indeed R. Simeon ben Eleazar characterised it as the law +for which Israel brought the sacrifice of martyrdom, and therefore held +firmly by it. In other words they suffered for it, and it became endeared +to them. R. Simeon ben Gamaliel declares it to be the only law which +Israel fulfils with joy and exultation. As a sign of this joy we may +regard the eagerness and the lively interest which raised this ceremony +from a strictly family affair to a matter in which the whole of the +community participated. Thus we find that already in the times of the +Gaonim the ceremony was transferred from the house of the parents to the +synagogue. Here it took place after the prayers, in the presence of the +whole congregation. The synagogue used to be specially illuminated in +honour of the event. Certain pieces of the daily prayer, of a rather +doleful nature, such as the confession of sins, were omitted, lest the +harmony of the festival should be disturbed. As a substitute for these +prayers, various hymns suitable for the occasion were composed and +inserted in the liturgy for the day. As the most prominent members among +those present figured the happy father of the child and the medical man +who performed the ceremony, usually called the Mohel or Gozer,(244) both +wearing their festal garments and having certain privileges, such as being +called up to the Reading of the Law and chanting certain portions of the +prayers. It is not before the tenth century that a third member suddenly +emerges to become almost as important as the father of the child. I refer +to the _Sandek_ or Godfather. In some countries he was also called the +Baal Berith (Master of the Covenant). In Italy they seemed to have had two +Sandeks. This word was for a long time supposed to be the Greek word +{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}. But it is now proved beyond doubt that it is a corruption of the +word {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} used in the Greek church for godfather. In the church he +was the man who lifted the neophyte from the baptismal waters. Among the +Jews, the office of the Sandek was to keep the child on his knees during +the performance of the rite. The Sandek's place was, or is still, near the +seat of honour, which is called the Throne of Elijah, who is supposed to +be the angel of the covenant. Other angels, too, were believed to +officiate at this rite. Thus the angel Gabriel is also said to have +performed the office of Sandek to a certain child. According to other +sources the archangel Metatron himself attended. Probably it was on this +account that later Rabbis admonished the parents to take only a pious and +good Jew as Sandek for their children. Christian theologians also declared +that no good Christian must render such a service to a Jew. The famous +Buxtorf had to pay a fine of 100 florins for having attended the Berith of +a child, whose father he had employed as reader when editing the well- +known Basel Bible. The poor reader himself, who was the cause of Buxtorf's +offence, was fined 400 florins. Of an opposite case in which a Jew served +as godfather to a Christian child, we find a detailed account in Schudt's +_Merkwuerdigkeiten der Juden_, a very learned and very foolish book. When +the father was summoned before the magistrate, and was asked how he dared +to charge a Jew with such a holy Christian ceremony, he coolly answered, +because he knew that the Jew would present him with a silver cup. As to +the present, I have to remark that with the Jews also the godfather was +expected to bestow a gift on the child. In some communities he had to +defray the expenses of the festival-dinner, of which I shall speak +presently. In others, again, he had also to give a present to the mother +of the child. + +Much older than the institution of the Sandek is the festival-dinner just +alluded to, which was held after the ceremony. Jewish legend supplies many +particulars of the dinner the patriarch Abraham gave at the Berith of his +son Isaac. This is a little too legendary, but there is ample historical +evidence that such meals were already customary in the times of the Second +Temple. The Talmud of Jerusalem gives us a detailed account of the +proceedings which took place at the Berith dinner of Elisha ben Abuyah, +who afterwards obtained a sad celebrity as Acher. Considering that +Elisha's birth must have fallen within the first decades after the +destruction of the Temple, and that these sad times were most unsuitable +for introducing new festivals, we may safely date the custom back to the +times of the Temple. The way in which the guests entertained themselves is +also to be gathered from the passage referred to. First came the dinner, +in which all the guests participated; afterwards the great men of +Jerusalem occupied one room, indulging there in singing, hand clapping, +and dancing. The scholars again, who apparently did not belong to the +great men, were confined to another room, where they employed themselves +in discussing biblical subjects. In later times special hymns, composed +for this festival, were inserted in the grace after dinner. After the +dinner, sermons or speeches used also to be given, the contents of which +were usually made up of reflections on biblical and Talmudical passages +relating to the event of the day. Sometimes they consisted of a kind of +learned puns on the name which the child received on this occasion. + +With this meal the first consecration of the child-priest was concluded. +In some places they used to come to the father's house on the third day +after the circumcision with the purpose of making inquiries after the +child's health. In the case when the child was the first-born the ceremony +of "redeeming the child"(245) in accordance with Exodus xiii. used to take +place. The details of this ceremony are to be found in almost every +prayer-book, and there is nothing fresh to add. But perhaps I may be +allowed to draw attention to another distinction that the first-born +received in the Middle Ages. I refer to an account given by the author of +the book, _The Ordinance of the Law_,(246) who flourished in the +thirteenth century. He says: Our predecessors made the rule to destine +every first-born to God, and before its birth the father had to say, "I +take the vow that if my wife presents me with a son, he shall be holy unto +the Lord, and in His Torah he shall meditate day and night." On the eighth +day after the Berith Milah they put the child on cushions, and a Bible on +its head, and the elders of the community, or the principal of the +college, imparted their blessings to it. These first-born sons formed, +when grown up, the chief contingent of the Yeshiboth (Talmudical +Colleges), where they devoted the greatest part of their lives to the +study of the Torah. In later centuries the vow was dropped, but from the +abundance of the Yeshiboth in Poland and elsewhere it seems as if almost +every child was considered as having no other calling but the study of the +Torah. Indeed, the growing persecutions required a strengthening of the +religious force. + +With these ceremonies the first act of consecration ended in the case +where the new-born child was a boy. I will now refer to the ceremony of +the name-giving, which was common to males and females. In the case of the +former this ceremony was connected with the Berith Milah. The oldest +formula, which is already to be found in the _Ritual Rab Amram Gaon_, is +composed in Aramaic. It is, like many prayers in that language, a most +beautiful composition, and very suitable for the occasion. Our present +Hebrew prayer is far less beautiful, and dates from a much later age. In +some countries the ceremony of naming was repeated in the house of the +parents. It took place on the Sabbath, when the mother returned home from +her first visit to the synagogue after her recovery. Here the friends and +relatives of the family assembled, and after arranging themselves round +the cradle of the child they lifted it three times, shouting the new name +at every lifting. This name was the so-called "profane" name, whilst the +name it received in the synagogue was the "sacred" or Hebrew name. The +ceremony concluded with the usual festival-dinner. By the way, there was +perhaps a little too much feasting in those days. The contemporary Rabbis +tried indeed to suppress some of the banquets, and put all sorts of +restrictions on dinner-hunting people. But considering the fact that, as +Jews, they were excluded from every public amusement, we cannot grudge +them the pleasure they drew from these semi-religious celebrations. For +people of an ascetic disposition it was, perhaps, the only opportunity of +enjoying a proper meal. In the same way, in our days, the most severe +father would not deny his lively daughter the pleasure of dancing or +singing charitably for the benefit of suffering humanity. The ceremony +described was known to the authors of the Middle Ages by the name of +_Holle Kreish_. These words are proved by Dr. Perles to be of German +origin, and based on some Teutonic superstition into the explanation of +which I cannot enter here. + +Of much more importance was the ceremony of name-giving in the case of a +girl, it being the only attention the female child received from the +synagogue. The usages varied. In some countries the name was given on the +first Sabbath after the birth of the child. The father was "called up to +the Reading of the Law," on which followed the formula, "He who blessed +our ancestors Abraham," etc., "may He also bless," etc., including the +blessing and announcement of the child's name. After the prayer the +congregation assembled in the house of the parents to congratulate them. +In other countries the ceremony took place on the Sabbath when the mother +attended the synagogue after the recovery. The ceremony of Holle Kreish +seems to have been especially observed in the case of a girl. + +Though the feasting was now over for the parents, the child still lived in +a holiday atmosphere for a long time. In the legend of the "Ages of Man" +the child is described in the first year of its existence as a little +prince, adored and petted by all. The mother herself nourished and tended +the child. Although the Bible already speaks of nurses, many passages in +the later Jewish literature show a strong aversion to these substitutes +for the mother. In the event of the father of the child dying, the mother +was forbidden to marry before her suckling infant reached the age of two +years, lest a new courtship might lead to the neglect of the child. + +More difficult is it to say wherein the other signs of loyalty to the +little prince consisted; as, for instance, whether Jews possessed anything +like lullabies to soothe the little prince into happy and sweet slumber. +At least I am not aware of the existence of such songs in the ancient +Jewish literature, nor are they quoted by mediaeval writers. The +"Schlummerlied," by an unknown Jewish bard, about which German scholars +wrote so much, contains more heathen than Jewish elements. From the +protest in _The Book of the Pious_, against using non-Jewish cradle-songs, +it seems that little Moshechen was lulled to sleep by the same tunes and +words as little Johnny. The only Jewish lullaby of which I know, is to be +found in the work of a modern writer who lived in Russia. How far its +popularity goes in that country I have no means of ascertaining. This +jingle runs as follows:-- + + + O! hush thee, my darling, sleep soundly my son, + Sleep soundly and sweetly till day has begun; + For under the bed of good children at night + There lies, till the morning, a kid snowy white. + We'll send it to market to buy Sechora,(247) + While my little lad goes to study Torah. + Sleep soundly at night and learn Torah by day, + Then thou'lt be a Rabbi when I have grown gray. + But I'll give thee to-morrow ripe nuts and a toy, + If thou'lt sleep as I bid thee, my own little boy.(248) + + +But naturally the holiday atmosphere I spoke of was very often darkened by +clouds resulting from the illness of the child. Excepting small-pox, the +child was subject to most of those diseases which so often prove fatal to +our children. These diseases were known under the collective name of "the +difficulties (or the pain) of bringing up children." These difficulties +seem to have been still greater in Palestine, where one of the old Rabbis +exclaimed that it was easier to see a whole forest of young olive trees +grow up than to rear one child.(249) To avoid so mournful a subject, I +refrain from repeating the touching stories relating to the death of +children. The pain was the more keenly felt since there was no other way +of explaining the misfortune which befell the innocent creature than that +it had suffered for the sins of the parents; and the only comfort the +latter had was that the child could not have lost much by its being +removed from this vale of tears at such an early period. A remarkable +legend describes God Himself as giving lessons so many hours a day to +these prematurely deceased children.(250) Indeed, to the mind of the old +Rabbis, the only thing worth living for was the study of the Law. +Consequently the child that suffered innocently could not have a better +compensation than to learn Torah from the mouth of the Master of masters. + +But even when the child was healthy, and food and climate proved congenial +to its constitution, there still remained the troubles of its spiritual +education. And to be sure it was not an easy matter to bring up a +"priest." The first condition for this calling was learning. But learning +cannot be acquired without honest and hard industry. It is true that R. +Akiba numbers wisdom among the virtues which are hereditary from father to +son. Experience, however, has shown that it is seldom the case, and the +Rabbis were already troubled with the question how it happens that +children so little resemble their fathers in respect of learning. + +Certainly Jewish legends can boast of a whole series of prodigies. Thus a +certain Rabbi is said to have been so sharp as to have had a clear +recollection of the mid-wife who made him a citizen of this world. Ben +Sira again, instantly after his birth, entertains his terrified mother +with many a wise and foolish saying, refuses the milk she offers him, and +asks for solid food. A certain Nachman was born with a prophecy on his +lips, predicting the fate of all nations on earth, as well as fixing the +date for the advent of the Messiah. The youngest of seven sons of Hannah, +who became martyrs under the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, was according +to one version aged two years, six months, six hours, and thirty minutes. +But the way in which he defied the threats of the tyrant was really worthy +of one of seventy. R. Judah de Modena is said to have read the lesson from +the prophets in the synagogue at the age of two years and a half. A famous +Cabbalist, Nahum, at the age of three, gave a lecture on the decalogue +that lasted for three days. The Chassidim pretended of one of their +Zaddikim that he remembered all that he had been taught by the angels +before his birth, and thus excused their Zaddik's utter neglect of +studying anything. Perhaps I may mention in this place a sentence from +Schudt, which may reconcile one to the harmless exaggerations of the +Chassidim. It relates to a case where a Jewish girl of six was taken away +by a Christian with the intention of baptising her, for he maintained that +this was the wish and pleasure of the child. Probably the little girl +received her instruction from the Christian servant of the house, as has +happened many times. Schudt proves that this wish ought to be granted in +spite of the minority of the child. He argues: As there is a maxim, "What +is wanting in years may be supplied by wickedness," why could not also the +reverse be true that "What is wanting in years can be supplied by grace"? +Of a certain R. Meshullam, again, we know that he preached in the +synagogue at Brody, at the age of nine, and perplexed the chief Rabbi of +the place by his deep Talmudical learning. As the Rabbi had a daughter of +seven, the cleverness exhibited by the boy Rabbi did not end without very +serious consequences for all his life. + +Happily all these prodigies or children of grace are only exceptional. I +say happily, for the Rabbis themselves disliked such creatures. They were +more satisfied with those signs of intelligence that indicate future +greatness. The following story may serve as an instance:--R. Joshua ben +Hananiah once made a journey to Rome. Here he was told that amongst the +captives from Jerusalem there was a child with bright eyes, its hair in +ringlets, and its features strikingly beautiful. The Rabbi made up his +mind to redeem the boy. He went to the prison and addressed the child with +a verse from Isaiah, "Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the +robbers?" On this the child answered by continuing the second half of the +same verse, "Did not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned? For they +would not walk in His ways, neither were they obedient unto His law" +(Isaiah xlii. 24). The Rabbi was so delighted with this answer, that he +said: "I am sure he will grow up to be a teacher in Israel. I take an oath +to redeem him, cost what it may." The child was afterwards known under the +name of R. Ishmael ben Elisha. Such children were ideals of the Rabbis, +but they hated the baby scholar, who very often grew impertinent and +abused his elders. The Rabbis much preferred the majority of those tiny +creatures, who are characterised by the already mentioned legends on the +"Ages of Men" as little animals playing, laughing, crying, dancing, and +committing all sorts of mischief. + +But these children must be taught. Now, there is the well-known advice of +Judah ben Tema, who used to say that the child at five years was to be +taught Scripture, at ten years Mishnah, at thirteen to fulfil the Law, +etc. This saying, incorporated in most editions in the fifth Chapter of +the _Sayings of the Fathers_, is usually considered as the programme of +Jewish education. But, like so many programmes, this tells us rather how +things ought to have been than how they were. In the times of the Temple, +the participation of the youth in religious actions began at the tenderest +age. As soon as they were able to walk a certain distance with the support +of their parents, the children had to accompany them on their pilgrimages +to Jerusalem. In the Sabbatical year they were brought to the Temple, to +be present at the reading of Deuteronomy by the king.(251) The period at +which the child's allegiance to the Synagogue began is still more +distinctly described. Of the many Talmudical passages relating to this +question, I shall select the following quotation from a later Midrash, +because it is the most concise. In allusion to Leviticus xix. 23, 24, +concerning the prohibition of eating the fruits of a tree in the first +three years, this Midrash goes on to say: "And this is also the case with +the Jewish child. In the first three years the child is unable to speak, +and therefore is exempted from every religious duty, but in the fourth +year all its fruits shall be holy to praise the Lord, and the father is +obliged to initiate the child in religious works." Accordingly the +religious life of the child began as soon as it was able to speak +distinctly, or with the fourth year of its life. As to the character of +this initiation we learn from the same Midrash and also from other +Talmudical passages, that it consisted in teaching the child the verses, +"Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God _is_ One" (Deut. vi. 4), and "Moses +commanded us a Torah, the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob" (Deut. +xxxiii. 4). It was also in this year that the boys began to accompany +their parents to the synagogue, carrying their prayer-books. At what age +the girls first came out--not for their first party, but with the purpose +of going to the synagogue--is difficult to decide with any degree of +certainty. But if we were to trust a rather doubtful reading in Tractate +_Sopherim_,(252) we might maintain that their first appearance in the +synagogue was also at a very tender age. I hope that they behaved there +more respectfully than their brothers, who played and cried instead of +joining in the responses and singing with the congregation. In some +communities they proved so great a nuisance that a certain Rabbi declared +it would be better to leave them at home rather than to have the devotion +of the whole congregation disturbed by these urchins. Another Rabbi +recommended the praiseworthy custom of the Sephardim,(253) who confined +all the boys in the synagogue to one place, and set a special overseer by +their side, with a whip in his hands, to compel them to keep quiet and to +worship with due devotion. + +A strange custom is known among the Arabian and Palestinian Jews under the +name of _Chalaka_. It means the first hair-cutting of the boy after his +fourth birthday. As on this occasion loyalty to the Scripture is shown by +not touching the "corners" (Lev. xix. 17), the whole action is considered +a religious ceremony of great importance. In Palestine it usually takes +place on the second day of the Feast of the Passover when the counting of +the seven weeks begins. On this day friends and relatives assemble at the +house of the parents. Thither the boy is brought, dressed in his best +garments, and every one of the assembly is entrusted with the duty of +cutting a few hairs, which is considered a great privilege. The ceremony +is as usual followed by a dinner given to the guests. The Jews in Safed +and Tiberias perform the ceremony with great pomp in the courtyard +surrounding the (supposed) grave of R. Simeon ben Yochai, in one of the +neighbouring villages. + +Another custom already mentioned in the Talmud, but which quite +disappeared in later times, is that of weighing the child. It would be +worth reviving if performed in the way in which the mother of Doeg ben +Joseph did it. This tender-hearted mother weighed her only son every day, +and distributed among the poor, in gold, the amount of the increased +weight of her child. + +I pass now to the second great consecration of the boy,--the rites +performed on the day when the boy went to school for the first time. This +day was celebrated by the Jews, especially in the Middle Ages, in such a +way as to justify the high esteem in which they held the school. The +school was looked upon as a second Mount Sinai, and the day on which the +child entered it as the Feast of Revelation. Of the many different +customs, I shall mention here that according to which this day was fixed +for the Feast of Weeks. Early in the morning, while it was still dark, the +child was washed and dressed carefully. In some places they dressed it in +a "gown with fringes." As soon as day dawned the boy was taken to the +synagogue, either by his father or by some worthy member of the community. +Arrived at their destination, the boy was put on the Almemor, or reading- +dais, before the Scroll of the Law, from which the narrative of the +Revelation (Exod. xx. 2-26) was read as the portion of the day. From the +synagogue the boy was taken to the house of the teacher, who took him into +his arms. Thereupon a slate was brought, containing the alphabet in +various combinations, the verse, "Moses has commanded," etc. in Deut. +xxxiii. 4, the first verse of the Book of Leviticus, and the words, "The +Torah will be my calling." The teacher then read the names of the letters, +which the boy repeated. After the reading, the slate was besmeared with +honey, which the boy licked off. This was done in allusion to Ezekiel iii. +3, where it is said: "And it (the roll) was in my mouth as honey for +sweetness." The boy was also made to eat a sweet cake, on which were +written passages from the Bible relating to the importance of the study of +the Torah. The ceremony was concluded by invoking the names of certain +angels, asking them to open the heart of the boy, and to strengthen his +memory. By the way, I am very much afraid that this invocation was +answerable for the abolition of this ceremony. The year in which this +ceremony took place is uncertain, probably not before the fifth, nor later +than the seventh, according to the good or bad health of the child. + +The reverence for the child already hinted at was still further increased +when the boy entered the school. "The children of the house (school) of +the master" is a regular phrase in Jewish literature. It is on their pure +breath that the existence of the world depends, and it is their merit that +justifies us in appealing to the mercy of God. Words of Scripture, uttered +by them quite innocently, were considered as oracles; and many a Rabbi +gave up an undertaking on account of a verse pronounced by a schoolboy, +who hardly understood its import. Take only one instance: R. Johanan was +longing to see his friend Mar Samuel in Babylon. After many disturbances +and delays, he at last undertook the journey. On the way he passed a +school where the boys were reciting the verse from 1 Samuel xxviii. 3, +"And Samuel died." This was accepted by him as a hint given by Providence +that all was over with his friend. + +Especially famous for their wisdom and sharpness were the children of +Jerusalem. Of the many illustrative stories given in the Midrash to +Lamentations, let the following suffice: R. Joshua was one day riding on +his donkey along the high road. As he passed a well, he saw a little girl +there, and asked her to give him some water. She accordingly gave water to +him and to his animal. The Rabbi thanked her with the words: "My daughter, +you acted like Rebecca." "To be sure," she answered, "I acted like +Rebecca; but you did not behave like Eleazar." I must add that there are +passages in Jewish literature from which, with a little ingenuity, it +might be deduced that Jewish babies are the most beautiful of their kind. +The assertion made by a monk that Jewish children are inferior to +Christian children is a dreadful libel. The author of the _Old +Victory_,(254) in whose presence this assertion was made, was probably +childless, or he would have simply scratched out the eyes of this +malicious monk, instead of giving a mystical reason for the superior +beauty of any other children than his own. + +Another point to be emphasised is that the boys were not confined all day +long to the close air of the schoolroom. They had also their hours of +recreation. This recreation consisted chiefly, as one can imagine, in +playing. Their favourite game was the ball, boys as well as girls being +fond of this form of amusement. They did not deny themselves this pleasure +even on festivals. They were also fond of the kite and games with nuts, in +which their mothers also took part. Letter-games and riddles also occupied +their minds in the recreation hours. The angel Sandalphon,(255) who also +bears in the Cabbalah the name of "Boy," was considered by the children as +their special patron, and they invoked him in their plays, addressing to +him the words: "Sandalphon, Lord of the forest, protect us from pain." +Speaking generally, there are very few distinctively Jewish games. From +the researches of Zunz, Guedemann, and Loew on this subject, it is clear +that the Jews always adopted the pastimes of the peoples among whom they +dwelt. + +But it must not be thought that there was too much playing. Altogether, +Jewish education was far from spoiling the children. And though it was +recommended--if such recommendation were necessary--to love children more +than one's own soul, the Rabbis strongly condemned that blind partiality +towards our own offspring, which ends in burdening our world with so many +good-for-nothings. The sad experience of certain biblical personages +served as a warning for posterity. Even from the quite natural behaviour +of Jacob towards his son Joseph, which had the best possible results in +the end, they drew the lesson that a man must never show to one of his +children marks of greater favour than to the others. In later times they +have been even anxious to conceal this love altogether, and some Rabbis +went so far as to refrain from kissing their children. The severity of +Akabya ben Mahalaleel is worth mentioning, if not imitating. When this +Rabbi, only a few minutes before his death, was asked by his son to +recommend him to his friends and colleagues, the answer the poor boy +received was: "Thy conduct will recommend thee to my friends, or will +estrange thee from them." Another Rabbi declared (with reference to Prov. +xxviii. 27) that it is life-giving to a youth to teach him temperance in +his diet, and not to accustom him to meat and wine. R. Judah, the Pious, +in the Middle Ages, gives the advice to rich parents to withdraw their +resources from their sons if they lead a disorderly life. The struggle for +their existence, and the hardship of life, would bring them back to God. +When the old Rabbi said that poverty is a most becoming ornament for +Israel, his remark was probably suggested by a similar thought. And many a +passage in the Rabbinic literature gives expression to the same idea as +that in Goethe's divine lines:-- + + + Wer nie sein Brot mit Thraenen ass, + Wer nie die kummervollen Naechte + Auf seinem Bette weinend sass, + Der kennt Euch nicht, Ihr himmlischen Maechte. + + +I have spoken of a kingdom of priests, but there is one great disadvantage +of such a polity. One or two priests in a community may be sustained by +the liberality of the congregation. But if a community consisted of only +priests, how could it then be maintained? Besides, the old Jewish ideal +expected the teacher to be possessed of a divine goodness, imparting his +benefits only as an act of grace. Salaries, therefore, either for teaching +or preaching, or for giving ritual decisions, were strongly forbidden. The +solution of the question put by the Bible, "And if ye shall say, What +shall we eat?" is to be found in the law that every father was obliged to +teach his son a handicraft, enabling him to obtain a living. + +I have now to speak of the time when childhood is brought to a conclusion. +It is, as I stated above, in the case of a girl at the beginning of the +thirteenth year, and in that of a boy at the beginning of the fourteenth +year. As a reason for this priority I will reproduce the words of R. +Chisda, who said that God has endowed woman with a greater portion of +intelligence than man, and therefore she obtains her maturity at an +earlier period than man does. A very nice compliment, indeed; but like all +compliments it is of no practical consequence whatever. It is not always +the wiser who get the best of it in life. Whilst the day on which the girl +obtained her majority passed unnoticed either by her or by her family, it +was marked in the case of the boy as the day on which he became a Son of +the Law,(256) and was signalised by various rites and ceremonies, and by +the bestowing on him of beautiful presents. I miss only the wig, which +used to form the chief ornament of the boy on this happy day. + +Less known, however, is the origin of this ceremony, and the reason for +fixing its date. It cannot claim a very high antiquity. I may remark that +in many cases centuries elapse before an idea or a notion takes practical +shape and is crystallised into a custom or usage, and still longer before +this custom is fossilised into a law or fixed institution. As far as the +Bible goes, there is not the slightest indication of the existence of such +a ceremony. From Lev. xxvii. 5, and Num. xiv. 29, it would rather seem +that it was not before the twentieth year that the man was considered to +have obtained his majority, and to be responsible for his actions. It was +only in the times of the Rabbis, when Roman influence became prevalent in +juristic matters at least, that the date of thirteen, or rather the +_pubertas_, was fixed as giving the boy his majority. But it would be a +mistake to think that before having obtained this majority the boy was +considered as under age in every respect. Certainly the law made every +possible effort to connect him with the synagogue, and to initiate him in +his religious duties long before the age of thirteen. + +We have seen that the boy's first appearance in the synagogue was at the +beginning of the fourth year. We have noticed the complaints about his +troublesome behaviour. But how could we expect the poor child to be +attentive to things which quite surpassed the intellectual powers of his +tender age? There was no better reason for this attendance either in the +Temple or in the synagogue than that the parents might be rewarded by God +for the trouble of taking their children there. These cares, by the way, +fell most heavily upon the women. The mother of R. Joshua enjoyed this +burden so much that she carried her boy, when still in the cradle, to the +"House of Study of the Law," in order that his ears might be accustomed to +the sound of the Torah. In later times there was another excuse for taking +the little children to the synagogue. They were there allowed to sip the +wine of the Sanctification Cup,(257) which was the exclusive privilege of +the children; an easy way of worshipping, but, as you can observe, it is a +method that they enjoy and understand most excellently. They did not less +enjoy and understand the service with which they were charged on the day +of "The Rejoicing of the Law."(258) On this feast they were provided with +flags, which they carried before the bearers of the Torah, who feasted +them after the service with sweets. Another treat was that of being called +up on this day to the Torah, a custom that is still extant. In the Middle +Ages they went in some countries so far as to allow these little fellows +who did not wear caps "to be called up" to say the blessings over the Law +bare-headed. A beautiful custom was that every Sabbath, after finishing +the weekly lesson and dressing the Scroll of the Law, the children used to +come up to the Almemor and kiss the Torah. Leaving the synagogue they +kissed the hands of the scholars. At home the initiation began with the +blessing the child received on every eve of the Sabbath, and with its +instruction in "Hear O Israel" and other verses as already mentioned. +Short prayers, consisting of a single sentence, were also chosen for +children of this age. The function of the child on the eve of the first +day of Passover is well known. Besides the putting of the four questions +for the meaning of the strange ceremony (Exod. xiii. 14), the boy had also +to recite, or rather to sing, the "Praise."(259) But I am afraid that they +enjoyed better the song of "One Kid," which was composed or rather adapted +for their special entertainment from an old German poem. + +Within three or four years after entering the synagogue, and with the +growth of intellect and strength, the religious duties of the boy +increased, and became of a more serious character. He had not only to +attend the school, which was troublesome enough, but he was also expected +to attend the services more regularly, and to gain something by it. Yet +the Rabbis were not so tyrannical as to put unjust demands on the patience +of the child. The voice of God on Mount Sinai, the Rabbis said, was +adapted to the intellect and powers of all who witnessed the +Revelation--adapted, as the Midrash says, to the powers of old and young, +children and women. It was in accordance with this sentiment that the +Rabbis suited their language to the needs of the less educated classes. +Thus we read in the Tractate _Sopherim_ that according to the law the +portion of the week, after having been recited in Hebrew, must be +translated into the language of the vernacular for the benefit of the +unlearned people, the women, and the children. Another consideration +children experienced from the Rabbis was that at the age of nine or ten +the boy was initiated into the observance of the Day of Atonement by +fasting a few hours. Lest, however, this good work might be overdone, and +thus endanger the child's health, the sage R. Acha used to tell his +congregation after the Addition-Prayer "My brethren, let every one of you +who has a child go home and make it eat." In later centuries, when the +disease of small-pox became so fatal, some Rabbis declared it to be the +duty of every father to leave the town with his children as soon as the +plague showed itself. The joy with which the Rabbis hailed Dr. Jenner's +discovery deserves our recognition. None of them perceived in vaccination +a defiance of Providence. R. Abraham Nansich, from London, wrote a +pamphlet to prove its lawfulness. The Cabbalist Buzagli disputed Dr. +Jenner's priority, but nevertheless approved of vaccination. R. Israel +Lipschuetz declared that the Doctor acquired salvation by his new remedy. + +With his advancing age, not only the boy's duties but also his rights were +increased. An enumeration of all these rights would lead me too far, but I +shall mention the custom which allowed the boy the recital of +"Magnified"(260) and "Bless ye"(261) in the synagogue. Now this privilege +is restricted to the orphan boy. It is interesting to hear that girls were +also admitted to recite the Magnified in the synagogue, in cases where +their parents left no male issue. I have myself witnessed such a case. In +some countries the boy had the exclusive privilege of reading the prayers +on the evenings of the festivals and Sabbaths. R. Samson ben Eleazar, in +the fifteenth century, received his family name Baruch Sheamar(262) from +the skill with which he recited this prayer when a boy. He chanted it so +well that he was called by the members of the community Master Baruch +Sheamar. As to the question whether the boy, while under age, might +lawfully be considered as one of the Ten when such a quorum was required, +or one of the three in the case of grace after meals, I can only say that +the authorities never agreed in this respect. Whilst the one insisted upon +his having obtained his majority, the other was satisfied with his showing +such signs of intelligence as would enable him to participate in the +ceremony in question. Here is an instance of such a sign. Abaye and Raba, +the two celebrated heroes of the Babylonian Talmud, were sitting at the +table of Rabbah. Before saying grace he asked them, "Do you know to whom +these prayers are addressed?" Thereupon one boy pointed to the roof, +whilst the other boy went out and pointed to the sky. The examiner was +satisfied with their answer. + +The privilege of putting on the phylacteries forms now in most countries +the chief distinction of "The Son of the Law"; in olden times, however, +every boy had claim to it as soon as he showed himself capable of behaving +respectfully when wearing the holy symbol. It even happened that certain +honours of the synagogue were bestowed on boys, though under age. We +possess a copy of a Jewish epitaph dating from about the third century, +which was written in Rome for a boy of eight years, who is there +designated as archon. The fact is the more curious, as on the other hand +the Palestinian R. Abuha, who lived in the same century, maintained that +no man must be elected as Warden before he has achieved his fiftieth year. +That boys were admitted to preach in the synagogue I have already +mentioned.(263) + +From all these remarks it will easily be seen that in olden times the boy +enjoyed almost all the rights of majority long before the day of his being +"The Son of the Law." The condition of the novice is hardly +distinguishable from that of the initiated priest. The Talmud, the Gaonim, +and even R. Isaac Alfasi and Maimonides knew neither the term "The Son of +the Law" (in our sense of the word) nor any ceremony connected with it. +There is only one slight reference to such an institution, recorded in the +Tractate _Sopherim_, with the quotation of which I shall conclude this +paper. We read there: "In Jerusalem there was the godly custom to initiate +the children at the _beginning_ of the thirteenth year by fasting the +whole Day of Atonement. During this year they took the boy to the priests +and learned men that they might bless him, and pray for him that God might +think him worthy of a life devoted to the study of the Torah and pious +works." For, this author says, "they were beautiful, and their lives +harmonious and their hearts directed to God." + + + + + +XIII. WOMAN IN TEMPLE AND SYNAGOGUE + + +The learned Woman has always been a favourite subject with Jewish +students; and her intellectual capabilities have been fully vindicated in +many an essay and even fair-sized book. Less attention, however, has been +paid to woman's claims as a devotional being whom the Temple, and +afterwards the Synagogue, more or less recognised. At least it is not +known to me that any attempt has been made to give, even in outline, the +history of woman's relation to public worship. It is needless to say that +the present sketch, which is meant to supply this want in some measure, +lays no claim to completeness; but I venture to hope that it will help to +direct the attention of the friends of research to the matter, and that it +may induce others to deal more fully with the subject and do it the +justice it deserves. + +The earliest allusion to women's participation in _public_ worship, is +that in Exodus xxxviii. 8, to the women who assembled to minister at the +door of the "tent of meeting," of whose mirrors the lavers of brass were +made (cf. 1 Sam. ii. 22). Philo, who is not exactly enamoured of the +emancipation of women, and seeks to confine them to the "small state," is +here full of their praise. "For," he says, "though no one enjoined them to +do so, they of their own spontaneous zeal and earnestness contributed the +mirrors with which they had been accustomed to deck and set off their +beauty, as the most becoming first-fruits of their modesty, and of the +purity of their married life, and, as one may say, of the beauty of their +souls." In another passage Philo describes the Jewish women as "competing +with the men themselves in piety, having determined to enter upon a +glorious contest, and to the utmost extent of their power to exert +themselves so as not to fall short of their holiness." + +It is, however, very difficult to ascertain in what this ministry of women +consisted. The Hebrew term "Zobeoth"(264) would suggest the thought of a +species of religious Amazons, who formed a guard of honour round the +Sanctuary. Some commentators think that the ministry consisted in +performing religious dances accompanied by various instruments. The +Septuagint again speaks "of the women who fasted by the doors of the +Tabernacle." But most of the old Jewish expositors, as well as Onkelos, +conceive that the women went to the tent of meeting to pray. Ibn Ezra +offers the interesting remark, "And behold, there were women in Israel +serving the Lord, who left the vanities of this world, and not being +desirous of beautifying themselves any longer, made of their mirrors a +free offering, and came to the tabernacle every day to pray and to listen +there to the words of the commandments." When we find that in 1 Sam. i. +12, "Hannah continued to pray before the Lord," she was only doing there +what many of her sisters did before and after her. We may also judge that +it was from the number of these noble women, who made religion the aim of +their lives, that the "twenty-two" heroines and prophetesses sprang who +form part of the glory of Jewish history. Sometimes it even happened that +their husbands derived their religious inspiration from them. Thus the +husband of the prophetess Deborah is said to have been an unlettered man. +But his wife made him carry to the Sanctuary the candles which she herself +had prepared, this being the way in which she encouraged him to seek +communion with the righteous. + +The language in which the husband of the "Great Woman" of Shunem addresses +his wife: "Wherefore wilt thou go to him" (the prophet)? "it is neither +New Moon nor Sabbath" (2 Kings iv. 23), proves that on Festivals and +Sabbaths the women used to attend some kind of worship, performed by the +prophet, though we cannot say in what this worship consisted. The New Moon +was especially a woman's holiday, and was so observed even in the Middle +Ages, for the women refrained from doing work on that day. The explanation +given by the Rabbis is that when the men broke off their golden earrings +to supply material for the golden calf, the women refused to contribute +their trinkets, for which good behaviour a special day of repose was +granted to them. Some Cabbalists even maintain that the original +worshippers of the golden calf continue to exist on earth, their souls +having successively migrated into various bodies, while their punishment +consists in this, that they are ruled over by their wives. Rather +interesting as well as complimentary to women is the remark which the +Rabbis made with regard to the "Great Woman." As will be remembered, it is +_she_ who says, "I perceive that this (Elisha) is a holy man of God" (2 +Kings iv. 19). In allusion to this verse the Talmud says: "From this fact +we may infer that woman is quicker in recognising the worth of a stranger +than man." + +The great woman, or women, continued to pray and to join in the public +worship also after the destruction of the first Temple. Thus Esther is +reported by tradition to have addressed God in a long extempore prayer +before she presented herself before the throne of Ahasuerus to plead her +people's cause; and women were always enjoined to attend the reading of +the Book of Esther. When Ezra read the Law for the first time, he did so +in the presence of the men and the women (Neh. viii. 3). In the Book of +the Maccabees we read of "The women girt with sackcloth ... and the +maidens that ran to the gates.... And all holding their hands towards +heaven made supplication." In the Judith legend, mention is also made of +"Every man and woman ... who fell before the Temple, and spread out their +sackcloth before the face of the Lord ... and cried before the God of +Israel." In the second Temple, the women, as is well known, possessed a +court reserved for their exclusive use. There the great illuminations and +rejoicings on the evening of the Feast of Tabernacles used to be held. On +this occasion, however, the women were confined to galleries specially +erected for them. It was also in this Women's Hall that the great public +reading of certain portions of the Law by the king, once in seven years, +used to take place, and women had also to attend at the function. On the +other hand, it is hardly necessary to say that women were excluded from +performing any important service in the Temple. If we were to trust a +certain passage in the "Chapters of R. Eliezer," we might perhaps conclude +that during the first Temple, the wives of the Levites formed a part of +the choir, but the meaning of the passage is too obscure and doubtful for +us to be justified in basing on it so important an inference. Nor can the +three hundred maidens who were employed for the weaving of the curtains in +the Temple, be looked upon as having stood in closer connection with the +Temple, or as having formed an order of women-priests or girl-devotees (as +one might wrongly be induced to think by certain passages in Apocryphal +writings of the New Testament). But on the other hand, it is not +improbable that their frequent contact with the Sanctuary of the nation +produced in them that religious enthusiasm and zeal which may account for +the heroic death which--according to the legend--they sought and found after +the destruction of the Temple. It is to be remarked that, according to the +law, women were even exempted from putting their hands on the head of the +victim, which formed an important item in the sacrificial worship. It is, +however, stated by an eye-witness, that the authorities permitted them to +perform this ceremony if they desired to do so, and that their reason for +this concession was "to give calmness of the spirit, or satisfaction, to +women." + +Still greater, perhaps, was "the calmness of spirit" given to women in the +synagogue. We find in ancient epitaphs that such titles of honour were +conferred upon them as "Mistress of the Synagogue," and "Mother of the +Synagogue," and, though they held no actual office in the Synagogue, it is +not improbable that they acquired these titles by meritorious work +connected with a religious institution, viz.: Charity. There was, indeed, +a tendency to exclude women from the synagogue at certain seasons, but +almost all the authorities protest against it, many of them declaring such +a notion to be quite un-Jewish. Some Jewish scholars even think that the +ancient synagogues knew of no partition for women. I am rather inclined to +think that the synagogue took for its model the arrangements in the +Temple, and thus confined women to a place of their own. But, whether they +sat side by side with the men or occupied a special portion of the +edifice, there can be no doubt that the Jewish women were great synagogue- +goers. To give only one instance. One Rabbi asks another: Given the case +that the members of the synagogue are all descendants of Aaron, to whom +then would they impart their blessing? The answer is, to the women who are +there. + +Of the sermon they were even more fond than their husbands. Thus one woman +was so much interested in the lectures of R. Meir, which he was in the +habit of giving every Friday evening, that she used to remain there so +long that the candles in her house burnt themselves out. Her lazy husband, +who stopped at home, so strongly resented having to wait in the dark, that +he would not permit her to cross the threshold until she gave some offence +to the preacher, which would make him sure that she would not venture to +attend his sermons again. + +The prayers they said were the Eighteen Benedictions which were prescribed +by the Law. But it would seem that occasionally they offered short prayers +composed by themselves as suggested by their personal feelings and needs. +Thus, to give one instance, R. Johanan relates that one day he observed a +young girl fall on her face and pray: "Lord of the world, Thou hast +created Paradise, Thou hast created hell, Thou hast created the wicked, +Thou hast created the righteous; may it be Thy will that I may not serve +as a stumbling-block to them." The fine Hebrew in which the prayer is +expressed, and the notion of the responsibility of Providence for our +actions, manifest a high degree of intelligence and reflection. It would +also seem that some women went so far in their religious sensibility as to +lead a regular ascetic life, and, according to the suggestion of some +scholars, even took the vow of celibacy. Of these the Rabbis did not +approve, and stigmatised them as the "destroyers of the world." Perhaps it +was just at this period that Judaism could not afford to give free play to +those morbid feelings, degenerating into religious hysterics, which led +some to join rival sects, and others to abandon themselves to the gross +immorality we read of in the history of the Gnostics. + +The same circumstances may have been the cause of public opinion being led +to accept the view of R. Eliezer, who thought it inadvisable--it would seem +on moral grounds--to permit woman to study the Law. This opinion was +opposed to that of Ben Azzai, who considered it incumbent upon every +father to teach his daughter Torah. But justified as the advice of R. +Eliezer may have been in his own time, it was rather unfortunate that +later generations continued to take it as the guiding principle for the +education of their children. Many great women in the course of history +indeed became law-breakers and studied Torah; but the majority were +entirely dependent on men, and became in religious matters a sort of +appendix to their husbands, who by their good actions insured salvation +also for them, and sometimes the reverse. Thus there is a story about a +woman which, put into modern language, would be to the effect that she +married a minister and copied his sermons for him; he died, and she then +married a cruel usurer, and kept his accounts for him. + +The fact that women were exempted from certain affirmative laws, which +become operative only at special seasons--_e.g._, the taking of the palm +branch on the Feast of Tabernacles--must also have contributed to weaken +their position as a religious factor in Judaism. The idea that women +should vie with men in the fulfilment of every law, became even for the +Rabbis a notion connected only with the remotest past. This is the +impression one gains when reading the legend about Michal, the daughter of +Saul, putting on phylacteries, or the wife of the prophet Jonah making a +pilgrimage to Jerusalem at the three Festivals. It would indeed seem as if +women were led to strive for the satisfaction of their religious wants in +another direction. Yet it was said of Jewish women, "The daughters of +Israel were stringent and laid certain restrictions on themselves." They +were also allowed to form a quorum by themselves for the purpose of saying +the Grace, but they could not be counted along with males for this end. It +was also against the early notion of the dignity of the congregation that +women should perform any public service for men. + +One privilege was left to women--that of weeping. In Judges xi. 40, we read +of the daughters of Israel that went yearly to lament the daughter of +Jephthah; while in 2 Chronicles xxxv. 25, we are told how "all the singing +men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations." Of this +privilege they were not deprived, and if they were not allowed to sing any +longer, they at least retained the right to weep as much as they pleased. +Even in later times they held a public office as mourning women at +funerals. In the Talmud fragments of compositions by women for such +occasions are to be found. Indeed, woman became in these times the type of +grief and sorrow. She cannot reason, but she feels much more deeply than +man. Here is one instance from an old legend: Jeremiah said, "When I went +up to Jerusalem (after the destruction of the Temple) I lifted my eyes and +saw there a lonely woman sitting on the top of the mountain, her dress +black, her hair dishevelled, crying, 'Who will comfort me?' I approached +her and spake to her, 'If thou art a woman, speak to me. If thou art a +ghost, begone.' She answered, 'Dost thou not know me?... I am the Mother, +Zion.' " + +In general, however, the principle applied to women was: The king's +daughter _within the palace_ is all glorious (Psalm xlv. 14), but _not_ +outside of it. In the face of the "Femina in ecclesia taceat," which was +the ruling maxim with other religions, Jewish women could only feel +flattered by this polite treatment by the Rabbis, though it meant the same +thing. We must not think, however, that this prevented them from attending +the service of the synagogue. According to the Tractate _Sopherim_, even +"the little daughters of Israel were accustomed to go to the synagogue." +In the same tractate we find it laid down as "a duty to translate for them +the portion (of the Law) of the week, and the lesson from the prophets" +into the language they understand. The "King's daughter" occasionally +asserted her rights without undue reliance on the opinion of the +authorities. And thus being ignorant of the Hebrew language women prayed +in the vernacular, though this was at least against the letter of the law. +And many famous Rabbis of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries express +their wonder that the "custom of women praying in other (non-Hebrew) +languages extended over the whole world." It is noteworthy that they did +not suppress the practice, but on the contrary, they endeavoured to give +to the Law such an interpretation as would bring it into accord with the +general custom. Some even recommended it, as, for example, the author of +_The Book of the Pious_, who gives advice to women to learn the prayers in +the language familiar to them. + +At about the same period a lengthy controversy was being waged by the +commentators of the Talmud and the codifiers, about woman's partaking in +the fulfilment of the laws for special seasons, from which, as already +remarked, they were exempted. To the action itself there could not be much +objection, but the difficulty arose when women also insisted on uttering +the blessing. Now the point at issue was whether they could be permitted +to say, for instance, "Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, etc., who hast +sanctified us by Thy Commandments, and _hast commanded us_, concerning the +taking of the Palm branch," since in reality the women had _not_ been +commanded to do it. To such logical and systematic minds as Maimonides and +R. Joseph Caro, the difficulty was insurmountable, and they forbade women +to use the formula; but with the less consistent majority women carried +their point. Rather interesting is the answer received by R. Jacob, of +Corbeil, with regard to this question. This Rabbi is said to have enjoyed +the mysterious power which enabled him to appeal in cases of doubt to the +celestial authorities. Before them he put also this women's case for +decision. Judgment was communicated to him in the verse from the +Scriptures, "In all that Sarah saith unto Thee, hearken unto her voice" +(Gen. xxi. 12). Nor was it unknown for a pious Jew to compose a special +hymn for his wife's use in honour of the Sabbath. + +How long this custom of women praying in the vernacular lasted, we have no +means of ascertaining. Probably was already extinct about the end of the +fifteenth century. For R. Solomon Portaleone, who lived in the sixteenth +century, already regrets the abolition of "this beautiful and worthy +custom." "When they prayed in the vernacular," he says, "they understood +what they were saying, whilst now they only gabble off their prayers." As +a sort of compromise we may regard the various "Supplications";(265) they +form a kind of additional prayers supplementary to the ordinary liturgy, +and are written in German. Chiefly composed by women, they specially +answer the needs of the sex on various occasions. These prayers deserve a +full description by themselves, into which I cannot enter here; I should +like only to mention that in one of these collections in the British +Museum, a special supplication is added for servant-maids, and if I am not +quite mistaken, also one for their mistresses. + +It is also worth noticing that the manuals on the "Three Women's +Commandments" (mostly composed in German, sometimes also in rhymes), +contained much more than their titles would suggest. They rather served as +headings to groups of laws, arranged under each commandment. Thus the +first (about certain laws in Lev. xii. and xv.) becomes the motto for +purity in body and soul; the second (the consecration of the first cake of +the dough) includes all matters relating to charity, in which women were +even reminded to encourage their newly married husbands not to withhold +from the poor the tithes of the bridal dowry, as well as of their future +yearly income; whilst the third (the lighting of the Sabbath lamp) becomes +the symbol for spiritual light and sweetness in every relation of human +life. + +As another compromise may also be considered the institution of +"Vorsugern" (woman-reader) or the "Woilkennivdicke" (the well-knowing one) +who reads the prayers and translates them into the vernacular for the +benefit of her less learned sisters. In Poland and in Russia, even at the +present time, such a woman-reader is to be found in every synagogue, and +from what I have heard the institution is by no means unknown in London. +The various prayer-books containing the Hebrew text as well as the Jewish- +German translation, which appear in such frequent editions in Russia, are +mostly intended for the use of these praying women. Not uninteresting is +the title-page of R. Aaron Ben Samuel's Jewish-German translations and +collections of prayers which appeared in the beginning of the eighteenth +century. He addressed the Jewish public in the following terms: "My dear +brethren, buy this lovely prayer-book or wholesome tonic for body and +soul, which has never appeared in such German print since the world began; +and make your wives and children read it often, thus they will refresh +their bodies and souls, for this light will shine forth into your very +hearts. As soon as the children read it they will understand their +prayers, by which they will enjoy both this world and the world to come." + +An earlier translator of the prayer-book addresses himself directly to the +"pious women" whom he invites to buy his book, "in which they will see +very beautiful things." Recent centuries seem, on the whole, to have been +distinguished for the number of praying-women they produced. The virtues +which constituted the claim of women to religious distinction were +modesty, charity, and daily attendance at the synagogue morning and +evening. In the memorial books of the time hundreds of such women are +noticed. Some used also to spin the "Fringes," which they presented to +their friends; others fasted frequently, whilst "Old Mrs. Hechele" not +only attended the synagogue every day, and did charity to poor and rich, +but also understood the art of midwifery, which she practised in the +community without accepting payment for her services. According to R. Ch. +J. Bachrach women used also to say the "Magnified" prayer in the synagogue +when their parents left no male posterity. + +In bringing to a close this very incomplete sketch, perhaps I ought to +notice the confirmation of girls introduced during this century in some +communities in Germany, which the "Reformed" Rabbis recommended, but of +which the "Orthodox" Rabbis disapproved. It would be well if in the heat +of such controversies both sides would remember the words of R. Zedekiah +b. Abraham, of Rome, who with regard to a certain difference of opinion on +some ritual question, says: "Every man receives reward from God for what +he is convinced is the right thing, if this conviction has no other motive +but the love of God." + + + + + +XIV. THE EARLIEST JEWISH COMMUNITY IN EUROPE + + +Roman Judaism has disappeared from our guide-books. Civilisation has +levelled down the walls of the Ghetto, and its former inhabitants are not +any longer "a people that dwell alone." But with this well-deserved +destruction a good deal of the interest was also destroyed which the +traveller used to attach to "the peculiar people" enclosed in that +terrible slum of Rome. + +Still, if there is anything eternal in the "eternal city," which was +neither reconstructed by the Caesars, nor improved upon by the Popes, it is +the little Jewish community at Rome. It has survived the former; it has +suffered for many centuries under the latter, and, partaking in the +general revival which has come upon the Italian nation, it may still be +destined for a great future. Indeed, the history of the relation of Israel +to Rome is so old that it is not lacking even in legendary elements. On +the day on which King Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh, the Rabbis +narrate, there came down the angel Gabriel. He put a reed into the sea, +which, by means of the slime that adhered to it, formed itself, in the +course of time, into a large island, on which the city of Rome was +built--an event with which the troubles of Israel began. These were the +evil consequences of the first _mesalliance_. Even more unfortunate for +Israel (and it is not impossible that this is the meaning of the legend) +were the results of that spiritual mixed marriage between Judaism and +paganism which took place at a much later period, whereat a blunt soldier, +who sympathised with neither, and "who dealt in salvation as he dealt in +provinces," acted as best man. As a fact, the parties concerned never +understood each other properly. The declaration of love, and the final +proposal, were made in an Alexandrine jargon, strange to both, the +obscurities of which only grew with the commentaries each successive +generation added to them. Under such circumstances, a happy union was not +to be expected, and the family quarrel which fills the annals of civilised +Europe soon broke out. Judaism, more particularly Roman Judaism, witnessed +this struggle from the beginning, and its fortunes were greatly dependent +on the chance which of these two elements, the Jewish or the pagan, won +the ascendency. + +However, I am theologising too much, whilst I am deviating from the +subject of these lines. Nor could I think of giving here, even in outline, +the history of the oldest Jewish community in Europe. This has been +already admirably done by Dr. A. Berliner, who has made the history of the +Jews of Rome the subject of his studies for nearly a quarter of a century. +I intend only to reproduce here, in a stray fashion, some of those +impressions and reflections which, I am certain, must occur to every +Jewish traveller in Italy. + +Now I do not think for a moment that we Jews should have a point of view +of our own for looking at things and men in this paradise of Europe. It +would be as silly to have a Jewish Baedeker as to think of orthodox +mathematics or an ecclesiastical logic or a racial morality--though +unfortunately there exist such things. But on the other hand, if we have +not, like the fox in the fable, left our heart at home, let us not do +violence to our feelings by passing over everything Jewish, over sights +which might remind us of our history, with a certain indifference which +would be affected on our part. We are not all little Goethes, nor even +little Ruskins, and our artistic enjoyment is hardly so intense as to shut +our hearts against impressions which force themselves upon us either by +the way of remembrance of the past, or even as a living contrast in the +present. + +It so happened that my first visit to the Vatican was on a Friday. After +doing my work in the Vatican Library, which is open till noon, I went into +the adjoining Church of St. Peter. + +One should be, like the angel of death in the legend, full of eyes, +properly to see all the wonders of art and marvels of architecture at +which human genius and piety laboured busily through centuries, in +adorning the grandest of sacred buildings in the world. But there is +Baedeker or Murray serving at least as a pair of good spectacles to the +layman, and it was by their aid that I made my round in St. Peter. But lo, +whilst you are observing the celebrated Pieta by Michael Angelo, and, +according to the instruction of your guides, admiring both the grief of +the Mother and the death of the Son, you notice in its vicinity a little +column, surrounded by rails to which the pilgrims approach with a certain +awe; for "Tradition affirms it to have been brought from Jerusalem." +Naturally, one is instantly reminded of the report, given by the famous +traveller of Tudela, of the curiosities of Rome, which among other things +records, "That there are also to be seen in St. Giovanni in Porta Latina +(probably meant for Lateran) the two brazen pillars, constructed by King +Solomon of blessed memory, whose name, Solomon, the son of David, is +engraved upon each; of which he was also told that every year about the +9th of Ab (the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem), these pillars +sweat so much that water runs down from them." So far Benjamin of Tudela +in the twelfth century. In our days pillars weep no longer, and even of +men it is considered a special sign of good breeding to behave pillar- +like; but a sigh is still permissible at the sight of this temple-column, +which in its captivity symbolises, not less than the Pieta, the grief of a +whole people. Of course, not possessing on the spot either the _Itinerary_ +or even Urlick, one is unable to establish the connection between these +two traditions and their claim to authenticity. Perhaps one may even +comfort oneself on the same ground on which the famous cure tried to +appease his flock who were sobbing bitterly at his telling them the +Passion story. He exclaimed: "My children, do not weep so much; it +happened long ago, and even perhaps is not quite true." + +However, the Vatican is the last place in the world to exercise your +critical faculties; you are so deeply absorbed in seeing, that you have no +time to think. So on I went, from aisle to aisle, from niche to niche, +from chapel to chapel, looking, staring, and admiring, till of a sudden my +eyes were struck by a large statue, on which the words, "Thou shalt have +no other God before me," are engraved. There I stood before a question of +exegesis, where one is permitted to use his right senses without any +regard to the aesthetic side. Yet not all the manifold expositions of the +Decalogue, nor all the talk about the subjective-objective, the absolute +and the real, with which metaphysicians have tried to confuse the notion +of the Unity of God, will reconcile one to the meaning which Mediaeval Art +has impressed upon the Ten Commandments. The truth has to be sought +elsewhere, and thus my thoughts were turned to the synagogue, and thither +I went. + +The day was already drawing to its close, and, by a marvellous +coincidence, I arrived at the synagogue just as the congregation was +intoning the words: "The Lord is one, and His name is one to His renown +and glory." Here was sound, simple exegesis, though sadly lacking in the +illustrative matter in which the Vatican is so rich. But what need was +there of any real or artificial "aid to the believer," in the presence of +such a living faith, as enabled this little community to maintain its +protesting position in the teeth of the mistress of the world! And this +even at a time, when it only required a hint from the successors of the +old Roman Emperors to make the whole world renounce its right of thinking +and judging, and, were we to believe Herr Janssen, even to feel perfectly +happy in this torpor. + +But, by the way, are our own times much better? As I write these lines +(October 1893) I hear that a Bill has been brought into the German Diet, +asking that the Talmud should be submitted to a Commission (which _en +passant_, has been sitting in unbroken session in that country since the +days of Pfefferkorn in the fifteenth century) with the purpose of +examining its contents, while in the Vatican the very pupils of Loyola are +offering every convenience and comfort to the student who should care to +devote his time to Rabbinic literature. Does not the work of a great +number of our poets, historians, theologians, and so-called seers in this +blessed century of ours, in many respects prove but a strained effort to +destroy the few humanitarian principles which were established a few +generations ago, as well as to deify every brutal warrior who was +successful in his day? Again, is the national idea so much sublimer, so +much grander, than that of a universal religion, that we would willingly +permit the former to employ the means which have been denied to the latter +as inhuman and barbarous? Every age has its own idolatry, and the eternal +wandering Jew will always be the chosen victim of the Moloch in fashion. + +Let us, however, return to the synagogue, which withstood many a cruelty, +both ancient and modern. The place where the synagogue stands is near the +Ghetto, now called Piazza di Scuola. It is, besides a few other communal +houses, the only building left there,--all those narrow, dirty, and +typhoid-breeding streets which formed the old Ghetto having been +demolished by a sage and humane government, which by this action wiped out +the last stain from its history. There, on this vast blank is the +synagogue, a comparatively small, insignificant building, laden with heavy +age and looking down on her children whom she has been nursing, consoling, +and protecting for centuries, but who, now grown old, have forsaken her +and scattered to all the ends of the city. Of all her former acquaintances +there appears to be left only father Tiber, who would seem to be murmuring +to her many an old tale of the times before she was called into existence. +And if he listened to the special prayers recited within her walls by the +deputies of the Jewish communities, when preparing themselves to go to the +court of the Pope, the Tiber heard many a sigh and cry, wrung out from the +heart of a Jewish captive who, preferring death to slavery even under the +masters of the world, found his last repose in its waters. But +insignificant as this synagogue appears, she proved the spiritual bulwark +against all the attacks of the time, and you admire her brave resistance +all the more when you look at that multitude of churches and cloisters in +the closest vicinity of the Ghetto, impressing you as so many +intrenchments, all directing their missiles and weapons against this +humble, defenceless building, threatening it with death and destruction. +One of these churches, probably founded by some Jewish convert, who gained +in it both salvation and a good living, bears on its gates in Hebrew +letters the inscription: "I have spread out my hands all the day unto a +rebellious people, which walketh in the way that was not good, after their +own thoughts. A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face" +(Isaiah lxv. 2, 3). Menace is followed by persuasion, the cited verses +being accompanied by the Latin words: "Indulgentia plenaria quotodiana +perpetua pro vivis et defunctis." Theologians who like to quarrel most +about things they can know least, have for ages discussed the question, +whether prayers for the dead are of any use; here the matter is decided by +a simple advertisement. It is not to be denied that one would enjoy the +fortunes accumulated by one's late sinner of an uncle all the better for +being sure that a few pennyworths of prayer enable the legatee to make +one's benefactor in Hades comfortable and happy. + +The thought is very consoling indeed, and it is not to be wondered at that +the Roman synagogue could not entirely withstand its temptations, and +introduced into the offering-blessing after one is called up to the Torah, +the words: "To the advancing of the soul of the departed." Of course much +of this tendency may be attributed to the Ford Jabbok,(266) which was and +is still very popular in that country; but the fact that the author of +this Jewish "Book of the Dead" was an Italian (from Modena), shows clearly +that there was some Catholic influence at work, from which even the +fellow-countrymen of Azariah de Rossi and Judah Messer Leon could not +entirely emancipate themselves. + +I ought to have spoken of Roman synagogues, since the building in the +Ghetto to which I have been constantly alluding comprises four prayer- +houses devoted to Spanish and Italian rites. It says much for Roman +Judaism, that they did not consider ritual differences of such importance +as to prevent them from forming one community for all charitable and +congregational purposes. In Verona and in Modena some congregations even +retained the German rite, which their ancestors who immigrated from the +Rhine provinces brought with them, whilst they accepted the Spanish +pronunciation. I wish that the Anglo-Jewish community could see their way +to imitate their example. Not that I think for a moment that the Spanish +pronunciation is more correct than the German. Each system has its own +mistakes and corruptions; and it is more than probable that the prophet +Isaiah, or even the author of Ecclesiastes, would be as little able to +follow the prayers in Bevis Marks as in Duke's Place. But since the non- +Jewish scientific world has, though only by pure accident, accepted the +Spanish way of reading the Hebrew, I should like to see this trifling +difference of _Ba_ruch over _Bu_ruch at last disappear, by pronouncing the +camets-vowel _a_ instead of _o_, and accepting similar little changes, +which are of no real importance to us. + +The inside of these synagogues is even more simple than their outside. I +was told that the synagogue which was burned down last winter, and which +also formed a part of this building, could boast of many fine decorations +and carvings, etc., but I could observe nothing of the kind in the +synagogues I had occasion to frequent. Nor is there much of natural +decorum in them, and they reconcile one perfectly to the worst of the +Small Synagogues elsewhere. I venture to think that in this respect, too, +we have to recognise Catholic influence. It was, I think, one of the +leaders in the Oxford Movement who expressed his delight at seeing in +Italy a woman poorly-dressed coming into the church, who, after putting +down the basket from her back, kneels before one of the many altars and +says her prayers. A good deal of this familiarity in the place of worship +may also be noticed in the Roman synagogues, where I have seen a woman +come into the partition for men, notwithstanding their having a separate +gallery, without bonnet or hat on her head, and with an infant in her +arms, and listen there to the prayers, till she walked home with her +husband. The other people were also very restless, coming and going often, +whilst, as soon as the reading of the Law was over, the greater part of +the worshippers left the synagogue. It was not a very delightful sight. A +minus of decorum does not always mean a plus of devotion; just as little +as a maximum of respectability and stiffness are to be taken as signs of +true piety. + +It is not uninteresting to notice that the Roman synagogue, in spite of +its old traditions, did not entirely shut itself against modern reforms. +Among them there is that of "calling up the people to the Torah" by the +simple formula, "Let the Priest" (or "the Levite") "step forth,"(267) and +so on, not mentioning either names or titles, which I should like to +recommend most strongly to our congregations. I hope that no man will +suspect me of such heresy as that of questioning the wisdom of the +Synagogue Regulations. But I am inclined to think that the business of +conferring the degrees of _Rabbi_, "Associate" or "Master," does not +exactly fall within the sphere of activity of the Wardens. The matter +could only be decided by a proper Board of examination. As the Council is +not provided with such a Board, nor is every aspirant to this honour +prepared to undergo the examination required, the wisest course would be +to give up titles altogether, calling up all people alike in the way +indicated. + +The robes the ministers wear (somewhat similar to those of the Greek +clergy), are probably also an innovation of modern date,--the old orthodox +Rabbis looking at any special vestment for the Preacher or Reader with the +same feeling of disgust which the old Puritans entertained for surplice or +mitre. But the principle of "The Beauty of Holiness" proved too strong for +resistance, and it was only a pardonable vanity when the reformers applied +it to their own persons; "Vanity of vanities," saith the preacher, so +often, that he gets rather to like it. This vanity is greatly redeemed by +the fact that the preacher does not grudge his uniform to his humbler +brother, the beadle, who is in most cases to be distinguished from the +officiating ministry only by the brass-plate on his breast, on which the +word "Servant" is engraved. Considering the great confusion arising from +the meaningless "Reverend" and the universal white neck-tie, such a label, +indicating the proper office of the bearer, might, perhaps, prove as +useful among the English Jews as it is among the Jews of Rome. + +It was with a pupil of the Rabbinical College, in company with his +friends, that I took my first walk through ancient Rome. I felt attracted +to him by his striking face of that peculiar fine Jewish type, which is +more common among the Jews in the East than among us. And when he was +reading the lesson from the Prophets in the synagogue, where I made his +acquaintance, he reminded me of that Jewish boy with bright eyes, black +curls, and features strikingly beautiful walking as a captive from +Jerusalem through the streets of Rome some seventeen centuries ago, whose +proficiency in the words of Isaiah caused his redemption. It would be an +exaggeration to say that my companion's remarks were very instructive from +an artistic point of view. Being born and bred in Rome, he passed with +utter indifference many objects which we are bidden to admire, whilst at +others he actually shouted out "Image," or made some other prosaic remark. +But in a country where one is determined to play the heathen for so many +weeks, to worship superannuated deities, to get into raptures at every +reminiscence of superseded and vanishing religions, and to be delighted at +the sights of "greasy saints and martyrs hairy," there can be no great +harm in being called back to one's true nature. + +The feelings crowding upon one, when entering that part of the ancient +city which probably was in the mind of the Rabbis when they spoke of +"Guilty Rome," are of a conflicting nature. Every stone and every brick +there saw the humiliation of Israel, in every theatre and every circus the +Jew served as a comic figure, and was held up to ridicule, whilst there +was, perhaps, hardly a single lane or gate through which those who +resented the yoke of the "anti-Semites of Antiquity" did not pass, in +order to "be butchered to make a Roman holiday." What concerns a Jew most +in this perished world of ruins, and at the same time causes him the +deepest grief, is the triumphal arch of Titus, "commemorating the defeat +of the Jews, and dedicated to him by his successor, Domitian." Enough has +been said and written about it both by antiquarians and theologians, the +former admiring the workmanship of the reliefs, the latter perceiving in +it a proof of the fulfilment of the well-known passages in the New +Testament about the destruction of the Temple, which came to pass in spite +of the efforts made by Titus to save it. Those who have read Bernay's +essay on the "Chronik des Sulpicius Severus" know that the behaviour of +"the delight of the human species" on that occasion is rather open to +doubt, and it is more probable that, instead of trying to rescue it, he +commanded that it should be set on fire. Josephus, who witnessed the shame +of his compatriots and co-religionists, has left us a full account of the +triumphal procession. Only a flunkey like Josephus could maintain that +calm indifference with which he describes the events of the "bitter day," +the perusal of which makes one's blood boil. His description fairly agrees +with the famous relief on the arch, showing that part of the procession in +which the table with the shewbread, the candlestick with the seven lamps, +and the golden trumpets figure as the chief objects. The only thing which +we miss is the "Law of the Jews," which, according to Josephus, was +carried in the triumph as "the last of all the spoils." Was it only an +oversight of the artist, or had he no place for it, or is it Josephus who +committed the error, mistaking some other object for the Scroll of the +Law? I dearly hope that this last was the case, and that Heine was under +the impulse of a true and real and poetic inspiration when he wrote +(speaking of the Holy Scripture to which he owed his conversion): "The +Jews, who appreciate the value of precious things, knew right well what +they did when, at the burning of the second temple they left to their fate +the golden and silver implements of sacrifice, the candlesticks and lamps, +even the breastplate of the High Priest adorned with great jewels, but +saved the Bible. This was the real treasure of the temple, and, thanks be +to God! it was not left a prey to the flames, nor to the fury of Titus +Vespasian, the wretch, who, as the Rabbi tells us, met with so dreadful a +death." + +However, there were others who brought the glad tidings of the Old +Testament to Rome long before there existed a New one. And this is, on the +other side, what makes Rome a sort of Terra Sancta even to the Jew. It is +true that we have not to look for the footprints of the prophets, for whom +even tradition never claimed "the gift of missionary-travelling." But +might not the ground there have received a sort of consecration by the +fact that it was traversed by the ambassadors of Judas Maccabaeus (about +161 B.C.) "to make a league of amity and confederacy" with the Roman +Senate? Of the embassy of Simon the Maccabee (about 140 B.C.) there is +actual historical evidence that they began to propagate in Rome the Jewish +religion. Some seventy or eighty years later the Jews had already their +own quarter in Rome, with their own synagogues, which they were in the +habit of visiting, "most especially on the sacred Sabbath days, when they +publicly cultivate their national philosophy." That many of the oldest +teachers of Israel, the Tannaim, went to Rome as deputies, and that one of +them (R. Mathia ben Chares) founded a school there early in the second +century, is also an authenticated fact. One would like to know what they +taught, and in what way they expounded their _national philosophy_. Most +of all one would like to know what were the spiritual means they employed +in their proselytising work, in which they were, according to the +testimony of history, so successful. Did they preach in the streets? Or +did they hold public controversies? Or did they even send out Epistles +which, in form at least, served as a model to apostles of another creed? +How many a problem would be solved; how many a miracle would disappear; +how many a book would become superfluous, if we could obtain certainty +about these points! The Talmud tells us little, almost nothing, about +these important things, whilst we get from the Roman writers only sneers +and raillery. To these respectable Romans the Jews were only a mob of +unlettered atheists. Indeed, to a good orthodox heathen, a religion +without images and statues, with a God without a pedigree and without a +theogony, was an impossible thing. Those poor metaphysicians! + +However, why dwell so long on a past world? A famous Rabbi once exclaimed: +"If a man would ask thee, 'Where is thy God?' answer him: 'In the great +city of Rome.' " The underlying idea was the mystical notion that wherever +Israel had to migrate, they were accompanied by the Divine presence. And +Rome was, in the times of the Rabbis, the point to which the streams of +Jewish migration from the Holy Land chiefly converged. But now, instead of +to Rome, might we not point to London and New York as centres of Jewish +migrations? + + + + + +INDEX + + +This Index contains the most important names of persons, titles of books, +technical terms and Hebrew words occurring in the text. In the notes to +the text, the Hebrew words are for the most part given also in Hebrew +characters. + +Abarbanel, Isaac, 173, 174 + +Abaye, 311 + +_Ab Beth Din_, 84 + +Abba Mari b. Moses, 165, 179 + +Abba Tachnah, the Chassid, 221 + +Abraham, Baalshem's father-in-law, 7 + +Abraham, son of Elijah Wilna, 88 + +Abraham of Bedres, 262 + +Abraham Abulaphia, 262 + +Abraham Ibn Daud, 162 + +Abraham Ibn Ezra, 50, 52, 64, 71, 210, 314 + +Abraham b. Shem--Tob Bibago, 172, 173 + +Abtalyon, 186 + +Abuha, 311 + +Acha, 310 + +_Acher_, 292 + +_Adam, Primal_, 239 + +_Agadah_, pl. _Agadoth_, 64, 105, 183, 197 + +_Agadic_, 110, 156, 157, 193, 262, 279 + +_Ages of Man_, 295 + +Akabyah b. Mahalaleel, 305 + +Akiba, 70, 84, 130, 188, 190, 194, 220, 227, 228, 234 + +_Almemor_, 302 + +Ammi, 214, 217, 226, 231 + +_Amora_, pl. _Amoraim_, 17, 84, 195 + +Amram Gaon, 293 + +Anna of Kaidon, wife of Elijah Wilna, 82 + +Anselm, St., of Canterbury, 79 + +Antigonos of Socho, 229 + +Anti-Maimonists, 133 + +Aristotle, 79, 167 + +Aryeh Leb, son of Elijah Wilna, 88 + +_Ascension of Elijah_, 75 + +Asher b. Jechiel, 210 + +Assideans, 64 + +_Ayil Meshulash_, 81 + +Azariah de Rossi, 66, 71, 105, 333 + +_Aziluth_, 117 + +Azulai, 277 + +_Baalshem_, Israel, 3-12, 14-35, 73 + +Bachrach, Ch. J., 325 + +_Bachur_, pl. _Bachurim_, 95, 97 + +Bachya, 131 + +_Baraitha_, 271 + +_Baruch Sheamar_, 311 + +Bashazi, 161 + +_Bath-Kol_, 190 + +Beer of Mizriez, 11, 37 + +Beer, Peter, 66 + +Ben Azzai, 130, 216, 319 + +Benjamin of Tudela, 329 + +Ben-Jacob, 259 + +Ben Sira, 297 + +Ben Zoma, 130 + +_Bereshith_, 127 + +_Berith Milah_, 288, 292, 293 + +Berliner, A., 327 + +Bernays, Isaak, 337 + +_Beth Din_, 191-193 + +_Beth Hammidrash_, 7, 16, 84, 139 + +_Beth Talmud_, 210 + +_Biccurim_, 58 + +Bloch, Samson, 51 + +Bodek, A., 51 + +_Book of Brightness_ (_see_ Zohar) + +_Book of the Pious_, 295, 322 + +_Book of Victory_, 167 + +_Book of Weight_, 133 + +Boswell, 142, 197 + +Buckle, 96 + +_Burbot_, 138 + +Buzagli, the Cabbalist, 310 + +Cabbalah, Cabbalists, 99, 128, 129, 133, 210, 283, 315 + +_Cabod_, 120, 121 + +Caraites, 48, 160, 161, 207, 208 + +Casaubon, Isaac, 259 + +_Chagigah_, 77 + +_Chakhamim_, 57 + +_Chambers_, the, 208 + +Chanina b. Dossa, 217 + +_Chanukah_, 138 + +_Chapters of R. Eliezer the Great_, 68, 69, 316 + +Chasdai Ibn Crescas, 167-173, 180 + +_Chassidim_, Chassid, Chassidic, Chassidism, 1-4, 11, 12, 14-16, 21, 22, + 25-27, 30, 33, 35-41, 43-45, 53, 73, 90, 298 + +Chayim Vital, 99 + +Chayim Walosin, 85, 87, 94 + +Chisda, 307 + +_Chukkim_, 124 + +_Code of the Law_, by Caro, 75, 92, 206, 211, 257 + +_Collectanea_, 144 + +_Commentary on the Pentateuch_, by Nachmanides, 107, 108, 123, 135 + +_Creeds and Opinions_, by Saadiah Gaon, 162 + +_Crown_, 239 + +_Cusari_, 162 + +_Date of the Redemption_, 105 + +David Rocca Martino, 230 + +David Messer Leon, 174 + +David b. Samuel d'Estella, 165, 166 + +David b. Yom-Tob Bilia, 166. + +_Defence of Adam_, 230 + +Delmedigo, 71, 131, 175 + +_Disputation_, by Nachmanides, 103 + +Dukes, L., 260 + +_Eighteen Benedictions_, 83 + +Eleazar, 229 + +Eleazar b. Jacob, 225 + +Eliezer, father of Baalshem, 5 + +Eliezer b. Hyrkanos, 189, 319 + +Eliezer b. Samuel Hallevi, 145 + +Eliezer b. Simeon, 223 + +Elijah Levita, 268 + +Elijah Wilna, 57, 73-77, 81-92, 96, 97 + +Elisha b. Abuyah, 33, 130, 292 + +Emden, Jacob, 10, 259 + +_Epikurus_, 157 + +_Erech Millin_, 66 + +Erter, Isaac, 51, 59, 288 + +Essenes, 64, 185 + +_Examination of the World_, 97 + +Eybeschuetz, J., 10 + +Ezra, or Azriel, the mystic, 100 + +_Faithful City_, the, 75 + +Fichte, 51 + +Finn, 75 + +_Ford Jabbok_, 333 + +Frankists, 10 + +Frankl, Z., 65, 97 + +Fuerst, J., 66 + +Gamaliel I., 234 + +Gamaliel II., 194, 212 + +_Gaon_, pl. _Gaonim_, 73, 76-78, 97, 98, 206, 208, 209, 289, 312 + +_Garden of Mystical Contemplation_, 129 + +_Gate of Reward_, 115, 213 + +Geiger, A., 66 + +_Gemara_, 78 + +Gershon, brother-in-law of Baalshem, 8, 9 + +Ghetto, 326, 331-333 + +Gnostics, 64 + +Goethe, 57, 73, 306, 328 + +_Gozer_, 290 + +Graetz, 65, 97, 99, 183 + +_Great Interpreters_, 186 + +Green, A. L., 255 + +_Guide of the Perplexed_, 49, 68, 97, 102, 130, 131, 179 + +_Guide of the Perplexed of the Time_, 60, 67 + +Hadasi, Judah, 160, 161 + +Hai Gaon, 77, 208, 209, 272 + +_Halachah_, pl. _Halachoth_, 64, 66, 183 + +_Halachic_, 57, 92, 110, 157, 193, 207 + +_Halachoth Gedoloth_, 111, 112 + +Hannaneel of Kairwan, 162 + +Hegel, 51, 54, 64, 65 + +Heine, 59, 124, 254 + +_High Belief_, 162 + +Hillel the Great, 185, 186, 188, 193, 237 + +Hillel, R., 177 + +_History of Jewish Tradition_, 65, 182 + +_Hithlahabuth_, 32 + +_Holle Kreisch_, 294, 295 + +Huna, 221, 225 + +Isaac Alfasi, 13, 100, 101, 111, 312 + +Isaac Aramah, 173 + +Isaac Loria, 76, 133 + +Isaac b. Ruben, 100 + +Ishmael, 188, 190, 224 + +Ishmael b. Elishah, 222, 299 + +Israel Baalshem (_see_ Baalshem, Israel) + +Jacob of Corbeil, 322 + +Jacob Dubna, 91 + +Jacob the Levite, or Maharil, 143, 144 + +Jacob Sasportas, 101, 102 + +Jacob Tam, 210 + +Jannai, 226 + +Jedaiah of Bedres, 97, 131 + +_Jerusalem_, by Mendelssohn, 147 + +Johanan, 249, 287, 303, 318 + +Johanan b. Zaccai, 48, 188 + +Jonah Gerundi, 100, 101 + +Jonah, son of Nachmanides, 101 + +Jose, 218, 219 + +Joseph Albashir, 160 + +Joseph Albo, 171, 172 + +Joseph Caro, 75, 92, 206, 211, 322 + +Joseph Jabez, 131, 173, 179 + +Joshua b. Hananiah, 194, 299, 304, 308 + +Jost, M., 66 + +Judah Alcharisi, 262 + +Judah Hallevi, 13, 34, 152, 162, 208 + +Judah b. Ilai, 246 + +Judah Messer Leon, 333 + +Judah de Modena, 298 + +Judah the Patriarch, 63, 195 + +Judah the Pious, 306 + +Judah b. Tema, 299 + +Judah b. Yakar, 100 + +_Karab_, 124 + +_Kilayim_, 87 + +Kimchi, D., 145 + +_Korban_, 124 + +Krochmal, Nachman, 44, 46, 48-68, 71, 72 + +Kuenen, 240 + +_Law of Man_, 113-115 + +_Laws unto Moses on Mount Sinai_, 64 + +Lessing, 73 + +Letteris, M., 56, 57 + +Levi b. Gershom, 97, 101, 171 + +_Light of God_, 167 + +_Lilac of Mysteries_, 133 + +_Lilith_, 287, 288 + +Lipman of Muehlhausen, 167, 179 + +Liva of Prague, 78 + +Lowell, R., 116 + +Loew, L., 171, 285, 305 + +Lucas, Mrs. Henry, 135 + +Macaulay, 89 + +_Maggid_, 19 + +_Magnified_, 310 + +Maimonides, or Moses b. Maimon, 13, 48, 49, 68, 70, 78, 97, 100, 102, 103, + 111, 126, 130, 133, 140, 161-168, 170-181, 210, 211, 249, 274, + 280, 281, 312, 322 + +Maimonists, Anti-Maimonists, 163-165, 173, 210 + +Mar Samuel, 84 + +Mathia b. Chares, 339 + +_Measure of the Stature_, 208 + +_Mechilta_, 58, 81, 193 + +Meheram Schiff, 16 + +Meir, 130, 194, 226, 318 + +Meir b. Nathan of Trinquintaines, 100 + +Meir of Rothenburg, 210 + +_Memra_, 238 + +_Men of the Great Synagogue_, 64, 185 + +_Menachoth_, 86 + +Mendelssohn, Moses, 48, 58, 73, 147, 151, 176 + +_Metatron_, 238 + +_Midrash_, pl. _Midrashim_, 61, 64, 71, 81, 193, 195, 222, 262, 272, 273, + 304 + +Milton, 114 + +_Minhag_, pl. _Minhagim_, 143, 192 + +_Minim_, 64 + +Minor Tractates, 81 + +_Mishnah_, 57, 64, 66, 76, 78, 82, 85, 87, 91, 157, 190, 193, 195, 271 + +Mistress of the Synagogue, 317 + +Moses Cordevora, 133 + +Moses Ibn Ezra, 262 + +Moses de Leon, 18, 133, 258, 262 + +Moses of Tachau, 131 + +_Mother Zion_, 321 + +Nachman, son of Nachmanides, 101 + +Nachmanides, or Moses b. Nachman, 99-141, 213 + +Nahum of Gemzo, 215 + +_Nasi_, 84 + +Nathan, 194 + +_Nephesh Chayah_, 117 + +Neubauer, Dr. A., 263 + +_Night of Watching_, 288 + +Nissim of Gerona, 133 + +Nissim of Marseilles, 267 + +_Olam Habba_, 115 + +_Old Victory_, 304 + +Oral Law, 10 + +_Orchard_, the, 133 + +_Ordinance of the Law_, 293 + +Pablo Christiano, 103, 105, 106 + +_Pairs_, the, 185 + +_Paradise Lost_, 114 + +_Pardes_, 129 + +_Pashut_, 138 + +_Path of Belief_, 172 + +Perles, J., 99, 123, 294 + +Pharisees, 64, 185, 237, 241 + +Philo, 52, 64, 154, 238 + +_Pilpul Pilpulist_, 13, 78 + +Plato, 78 + +_Pugio Fidei_, 107 + +Raba, 311 + +_Rabbanan Saburai_, 206 + +Rabbah, 311 + +Rabbenu, 13 + +_Rabbenu Mosheh_, 103 + +Rabbinowicz, R. N. N., 261 + +Raimund Martini, 107 + +Rapoport, Solomon Leb, 50, 53, 56, 66 + +Reggio, Isaac, 270 + +_Roots_, the, 171 + +Ruskin, 328 + +Saadiah Gaon, 48, 162, 108, 272 + +_Sacred Letter_, 113 + +Sadducees, 64, 185, 237 + +Salman the Good, 145 + +_Sambatyon_, 95 + +_Sanctification-cup_, 245 + +Sandalphon, 305 + +_Sandek_, 290 + +Sanhedrin, the, 188, 190, 191 + +Saul Berlin, 176, 180 + +_Sayings of the Fathers_, _Aboth_, 262, 299 + +Schelling, 51 + +Schiller, 73 + +_Schlummerlied_, 295 + +Schorr, O., 193 + +Schudt, 291, 298 + +_Sechorah_, 296 + +_Seder Nezikin_, 58 + +_Seder Olam_, 81, 92 + +_Seder Taharoth_, 58 + +_Segulah_, 122 + +_Sephardim_, 301 + +_Sepher_, 13 + +_Sephiroth_, Ten, 238 + +_Sermon in the Presence of the King_, by Nachmanides, 165 + +Shabbethai Tsebi, 134, 239 + +_Shalom Zachar_, 289 + +Shammai, 185, 188, 237 + +_Shechinah_, 120, 121, 228-230 + +_Shema_, reading of the, 141, 288 + +Shemaiah, 186 + +Shemariah of Crete, 166 + +Sherira Gaon, 263 + +Shiphluth, 30 + +_Simchah_, 31 + +Simeon Duran, 101, 170, 171 + +Simeon b. Eleazar, 289 + +Simeon b. Gamaliel, 222 + +Simeon b. Gamaliel II., 193, 194 + +Simeon b. Yochai, 18, 223 + +Simlai, 112 + +_Siphra_, 58, 81, 91, 193, 262 + +_Siphre_, 58, 81, 91, 193, 262 + +Solomon b. Adereth, 70, 267 + +Solomon b. Gabirol, 210 + +Solomon of St. Goar, 143-145 + +Solomon b. Isaac, Rashi, 13, 210 + +Solomon b. Isaac b. Zadok, 137 + +Solomon Ladier, 43 + +Solomon Portaleone, 323 + +Solomon, son of Nachmanides, 110 + +Solomon Syrillo, 262 + +Solomon Wilna, 75 + +_Son of the Law_, 307, 312 + +_Sopherim_, 64 + +Spencer, Herbert, 97 + +Steinschneider, M., 99, 172 + +_Taanith_, 58 + +_Talmid Chaber_, 52 + +_Talmid Chakam_, 7 + +Talmud (of Jerusalem or Babylon), 16, 19, 33, 49, 52, 57-59, 64, 76, 78, + 81, 82, 86, 87, 89, 91, 92, 96, 101, 104, 105, 111, 129, 131, + 140, 151, 155, 158, 195, 196, 206, 207, 209, 210, 238, 252, + 254-256, 261, 262, 271, 272, 277 + +_Tanna_, pl. _Tannaim_, 17, 84, 187 + +_Tephillin_, 249 + +Thackeray, 282 + +Thirteen Articles of the Creed, 148, 163, 164, 170, 176, 179 + +_Thirteen Rules_ (of Interpretation), 195 + +Tobijah, the Priest, 175 + +_Tosephta_, 81, 82, 92, 262, 271 + +Toy, Prof., 233-239, 251 + +_Tractate Berachoth_, 221, 271 + +_Tractate Evidences_, 192 + +_Tractate Joys_, 194 + +_Tractate Sanhedrin_, 156, 157, 159 + +_Tractate Sopherim_, 301, 312, 321 + +_Tree of Life_, the, 133 + +Troki, Solomon, 161 + +_Variae Lectiones_ (of the Talmud), 261 + +Viterbo, Abraham Chayim, 175, 176 + +_Vorsugerin_, 324 + +_Wars of the Lord_, 101 + +_Watchman_, the, 59 + +Weiss, T. H., 65, 97, 99, 182, 183, 185-187, 191-197, 206, 207, 209-212 + +Wellhausen, 243 + +_Wisdom of Solomon_, 127, 154 + +_Woilkennivdicke_, 324 + +_Yediah_, 119 + +_Yeshibah_, pl. _Yeshiboth_, 94-96, 293 + +Yom-Tob Heller, 196 + +_Zaddik_, pl. _Zaddikim_ (Zaddikism), 36-44, 53, 298 + +Zadoc, 245 + +_Zebachim_, 86 + +Zedner, 254-256 + +_Zehub_, 137-139 + +Zerahiah Hallevi of Gerona (or Gerondi), 100, 101, 111 + +_Zion-Elegy_, 208 + +_Zobeoth_, 314 + +_Zohar_, 18, 19, 71, 91, 133, 258 + +Zunz, Leopold, 44, 52, 56, 60, 65, 73, 97, 183, 279, 305 + + + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + + 1 SUBJOINED IS A LIST OF SELECTED AUTHORITIES ON THE SUBJECT OF THE + CHASSIDIM.--_Historical and Bibliographical Works_: Graetz (xi. + including the polemical literature quoted in the Appendix), Jost, + Peter Beer, M. Bodek ({~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}, Lemberg, 1865), A. Walden ({~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~} + {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}, Warschau, 1864), Finn ({~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, Wilna, 1860), D. + Kahana ({~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~} {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~} in the periodical {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}, iv.), Zederbaum ({~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, + Odessa, 1868). _Essays and Satires_: T. Erter ({~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, Wien, 1858), S. + Szanto (_Jahrbuch fuer Israeliten_, p. 108-178, 1867), A. Gottlober + (in his periodical {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}, iii.), L. Loew (Ben Chananjah, ii.), + Rudermann ({~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}, vi.), Rapoport ({~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, Lemberg, 1873, p. 10), + Froehlich ({~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}, Warschau, 1876, p. 63 _seq._), S. Maimon + (_Autobiographie_, Berlin, 1792). Compare also the Hebrew novels by + P. Smolensky, L. Gordon, M. Brandstaetter, A. Gottlober and B. + Horowitz (German). _Occasional references_ to the liturgy or the + system of the Chassidim in the "Responses" of R. Ezechiel Landau, + Moses Sopher, E. Flekeles and T. Steinhart, and in the works of + Israel Samostsch, Salomon Chelma and Chayim Walosin. Compare also + Zunz (_Gottesdienstliche Vortraege_, p. 477) and L. Loew (_Mannheimer + Album_, Wien, 1874), Senior Sachs ({~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, i. 61) and B. L. Zeitlin + ({~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, Paris, 1846). The best book on the whole subject is E. + Zweifel's work {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} {~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~} {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~} (Zitomyr 1868, three parts), which I + strongly recommend to students. The books written by the Chassidim + would amount to more than 200. They are catalogued by Bodek and + Walden. I shall only draw the attention of the student to the works + of Beer, Salomon Ladier, and Mendel Witipsker on one side, who + developed the theory of the Immanence, and those of Nachman Braslaw + and Melech Liezensker, who, on the other hand, carried the theory of + Zaddikism to its utmost consequences. The student will find a fair + collection of sayings and sentences arranged according to + theological subjects in the books {~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} and {~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~} {~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} (Anon., + Lemberg, 1876). + + 2 {~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, "pious ones" (Ps. xxxvii. 28, lxx. 2, etc.). The reader is + probably acquainted with the term from the Maccabean history (1 + Macc. ii. 42, vii. 13), in which the strict party, opposed to all + Hellenistic influence, are called "Assideans" [R.V. "Hasidaeans"], + Gr. {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}. + + 3 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~} {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, "The Master of the Name," a term usually applied to + exorcists, who cast out devils and performed other miracles through + adjuration by the name of God (or angels). The unbelieving Rabbis + maintained indeed that in his exorcisms Baalshem employed "impure + names" (of devils), whilst the Chassidim, on the other hand, + declared that their Master never used "names" at all, his miracles + being performed by the divine in Baalshem to which all nature owes + obedience. Occasionally the Chassidim call him {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~} {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~} (The Man + of Good Name), in allusion to Eccles. vii. 1, shortened by some into + _Besht_. + + 4 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}--"House of Research" or of "study" (of the Law), but in + which also divine service is held thrice a day. + + 5 {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}--"Disciple of the Wise," the usual title of a scholar or + student. + + 6 A Jewish sect, so called after their founder Jacob Leibovicz Frank, + who was himself one of the apostles of the pseudo-Messiah Shabbethai + Tsebi of Smyrna in Turkey. Among his other doctrines he taught also + a sort of Trinity, consisting of the Holy Ancient One, the Holy King + or the Messiah, and a feminine person in the Godhead, in which he, + like his master, represented the Second Person. The sect ultimately + abolished the Law, and, after many controversies with the Rabbinic + Jews, went over to Catholicism, the dominant religion in Poland, by + which they were soon absorbed. Eybeschuetz, chief Rabbi of Prague and + Hamburg, was suspected by Emden to be a secret adherent of + Shabbethai Tsebi, which was tantamount to apostasy from Judaism. + Eybeschuetz protested. The litigants excommunicated each other, and + the Rabbis divided into two camps, taking sides either with Emden or + with his antagonist. + + 7 The works of Maimonides or Moses b. Maimon (1135-1204) are too many + to be enumerated here. The most important are the _Guide of the + Perplexed_ ({~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}) and his _Compendium of the Law_ ({~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} + {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}). Judah Hallevi or Abul Hassan flourished in the first half of + the twelfth century. He is well known as a poet by his _Divan_ and + as a deep religious thinker by his _Cusari_. The former contains + also many songs of a secular nature. Isaac Alfasi (died 1103) is + best known by his Compendium of the Talmud, which was so greatly + admired by his contemporaries that they declared it could never have + been composed "without the aid of the Holy Spirit." R. Solomon b. + Isaac, also called by his initials Rashi (1040-1105), is well known + by his commentaries on the Bible and the Talmud. + + 8 {~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~} {~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}. + + 9 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}, _Sepher_. + + 10 The Hebrew word is {~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}, meaning subtle discussion and sharp + distinction. The word is closely related to {~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~} or {~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}, which + means "pepper" or "seasoning." + + 11 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL PE~} = R. Meir Shiff, whose _novellae_ on the Talmud are of a + very subtle kind, and were very popular with the students of this + work. + + 12 {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}--{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, "The Repeaters," and "The Interpreters." The sayings + and statements of the former are embodied in the Mishnah, a work + compiled by R. Judah the Saint about 220 A.C., and covering a period + of about 250 years (30 B.C.-220 A.C.). The latter occupied + themselves mainly with the interpretation of the Mishnah, and their + discussions and controversies are incorporated in the Talmud of + Jerusalem and that of Babylon, and extend over the period from + 220-500 A.C. The Talmud of Jerusalem is mostly the product of the + schools of Palestine. The Talmud of Babylon is a growth of that + country. The authorities of this latter Talmud being far away from + the place where the first great Rabbis lived and laboured, their + traditions are naturally not so historically reliable as those of + the Talmud of Jerusalem. The authorities of Palestine were also + simpler in their method of interpretation. These again are followed + by the Babylonian schools of new interpreters (of the Talmud). + + 13 {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~} {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}, an expression that goes back as far as to the _Zohar_. + + 14 {~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}, "Brightness." Cf. Dan. xii. 3,--the authors of "The Brightness" + pretending to be the _Maskilim_ or "Wise Ones" mentioned in this + verse. + + 15 {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}. + + 16 {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}. + + 17 {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}. + + 18 {~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}, pl. {~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}. + + 19 R. Johanan b. Zaccai was a contemporary of the Apostles, and died + about 110 A.D. He belonged to the peace party in opposition to the + Zealots, and obtained permission from the Roman government to + establish the school of Jamnia, which, after the destruction of the + Temple, became the centre of Jewish religious life. See also p. 188. + + 20 R. Saadiah Gaon was born in Egypt in 892, and died as the head of + the school of Sura in Babylon in 942. He is known by his + translations of and commentaries on the Bible, and many other works, + especially his philosophical treatise _Creeds and Opinions_. He was + also a great controversialist. Most of his polemical writings are + directed against the Caraites ({~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}) or "Scripturalists," a Jewish + sect founded by Anan in the eighth century. They protested against + the Oral Law, and denied Tradition. On the title "Gaon," see note 1 + to Elijah Wilna. + + 21 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, _Moreh Nebuchim_, generally considered to be the + greatest philosophical work by any Jewish thinker. + + 22 R. Abraham Ibn Ezra, who spent some time in London, died about 1161. + He is best known by his commentaries on the Bible. He was the first + writer who doubted the unity of the book of Isaiah. + + 23 {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~} {~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}. + + 24 {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} {~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, meaning "sages" and "scribes," but used by + later writers in the sense given in the text. + + 25 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, dealing with the laws relating to the firstfruits which were + brought to the temple (Ex. xxiii. 19). The processions formed by the + pilgrims are very vividly described after the said tractate by + Delitzsch in his _Iris_, p. 190 _sq._ (English ed.). See also by the + same author, _Juedisches Handwerkerleben zur Zeit Jesu_, p. 66 _seq._ + + 26 {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, "Fast," or {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, "Fasts." + + 27 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}, "Order of Damages," treating of the civil law of the + Jews, the procedure of courts of justice, and kindred subjects. This + Order also includes the tractate {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, _Aboth_ or "Sayings of the + Fathers," which is very important for the study of Rabbinic doctrine + and ethics. + + 28 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, "Order of Purities," dealing with the laws regarding + Levitical purity. + + 29 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~} (or {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}), {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}, {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}. These three works form the + oldest Rabbinic commentary on Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and + Deuteronomy. The authorities cited in these commentaries all belong + to the period of the Tannaim. See above, note 12 to the Chassidim. + Constituting as they do, to a certain extent, one of the sources + used by the _Gemara_, they are naturally indispensable for a + scientific study of the Talmud. + + 30 {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, "_Hatsophe_," a spirited satire against the orthodox and + especially against the then prevailing belief in the transmigration + of souls taught by the mystical schools. The book is written in the + purest biblical Hebrew. + + 31 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}. + + 32 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}, pl. {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} (_Midrashim_), "Research," "Researches," a name + usually applied to the homiletical part of the Rabbinic literature. + The most important collection of this kind is the _Midrash Rabbah_ + to the Pentateuch. The usual way of quoting it is _Genesis Rabbah_, + _Exodus Rabbah_, and so on. + + 33 See above, note 12 to the Chassidim. [Transcriber's Note: Footnote + on the Tannaim and Amoraim.] + + 34 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, "Heretics," applied to the first Christians, and more so to + certain Gnostic sects. + + 35 {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}, see below, p. 186 and _note_. [Transcriber's Note: + The footnote on "laws given to Moses on Sinai."] + + 36 {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} or {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}--{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, "rule," "method,"--"narrative." The former deals + with the legal side of the Scriptures, and is thus more of a + juristic nature; the latter represents a collection of homilies + having mostly as their text the historical and exhortatory parts of + the Bible, and is thus more of an edifying character. The + theological side of Judaism, as well as its ideal aspirations and + Messianic hopes, find their expression in the Agadah. The two words + are also used as adjectives, as _Halachic_ (legalistic, juristic, + and obligatory) and _Agadic_ (poetic, edifying, and hyperbolic). + + 37 {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF~} {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}, a sort of encyclopaedia to the Talmud, of which only the + first letter appeared. + + 38 Menahem Azariah de Rossi, an Italian Jew who flourished in the first + half of the sixteenth century. His great work, {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, _Meor + Enayim_, "Light of the Eyes," is the first attempt made by a Jew to + submit the statements of the Talmud to a critical examination, and + to question the value of tradition in its historical records. + + 39 {~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~} {~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~} {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}. + + 40 Italian Jews of the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. The one, + Elijah Delmedigo, wrote an Examination of Religion, whilst his + grandson, Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, wrote various pamphlets of a + deeply sceptical character. See Geiger's Introduction to his _Melo + Chofnayim_ (Berlin, 1840). + + 41 {~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}, "The Great One." The authorities of the Babylonian schools + after the sixth century were also called the Gaonim ({~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}), + "[their] Eminences." The title was also given afterwards to great + Rabbis distinguished for their learning. + + 42 R. Joseph Caro (1488-1575) lived in Safed. The title of his code is + {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~} {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF~}, _Prepared Table_. This is a code of the Oral Law compiled + from the Rabbinic literature. + + 43 {~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, containing an account of the Jewish worthies of that + city. + + 44 {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}. + + 45 A famous mystic of the sixteenth century, from Safed, who was the + more admired the less his pupils understood him. + + 46 Hai was the last of the authorities called Gaon. With his death + (1038) the schools of Babylon fell into decay and soon disappeared. + + 47 {~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, treating of the voluntary offerings brought by the pilgrims + to Jerusalem. + + 48 {~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, "Perfection or Supplementary Explanations." By this is + understood the interpretation given to the Mishnah by the schools in + Palestine and Babylon. See above, note 12 to the Chassidim. + [Transcriber's Note: Footnote on the Tannaim and Amoraim.] + + 49 See Dean Church's _St. Anselm_, from which this story is taken. + + 50 {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, "Addition" (to the Mishnah), but also containing only the + sayings and discussions of the period of the Tannaim. + + 51 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, "Order of the World," dealing with the Chronology of the + Bible, and dating from about the end of the second century. + + 52 These "Minor Tractates" include, among others, treatises on + proselytes, on the laws concerning funerals, the writing of the Law, + and the like. Others are more of an edifying nature, treating of + good manners, conduct, etc. + + 53 {~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}. + + 54 {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, "Eighteen." They are recited thrice a day, and form the + original germ of the prayers, from which a very rich liturgy + developed in the course of time. + + 55 The titles of the old authorities from 70 B.C. to 500 A.C. See + above, note 12 to the Chassidim. [Transcriber's Note: Footnote on + the Tannaim and Amoraim.] + + 56 {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~} {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}, {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}, "Prince," or "Patriarch," religious head, of the + Jews (not political), and "Father (or president) of the Court of + Justice." + + 57 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, {~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, "Sacrifices," "Offerings." They treat of the laws + relating to sacrifices and meal-offerings. + + 58 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, the laws relating to diverse seeds and garments of diverse + sorts. Cf. Deut. xxii. 9-11. + + 59 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}, "Teller," a sort of travelling preacher. + + 60 {~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}, "palm branch." Cf. Lev. xxiii. 40. + + 61 {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, "High School," or "Academy," in which the Rabbinic literature + is studied. + + 62 {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL TSADI~} {~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}. + + 63 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER TET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}, a mythical river which is supposed to stop its course on + Sabbath. + + 64 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, sing. {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}, "Young man," by which term the Jews usually + understand the _alumni_ of their Talmudical schools. + + 65 Levi b. Gershom (1286-1344) is generally regarded as the greatest + successor of Maimonides. Besides his rationalistic commentaries on + the Bible, he wrote various treatises on metaphysics, mathematics, + astronomy, medicine, etc. + + 66 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}. + + 67 In Steinschneider's _Catalogue of the Bodleian Library_, under the + name of Moses Nachmanides, pp. 1947-1965, all the works which are + ascribed to this author are put together, and also discussed as to + their authenticity. There are only to be added the new edition of + the _Derasha_ by Jellinek (Vienna, 1872), in which the variants from + Schorr's MS. ({~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL TSADI~}, viii. 162) are already incorporated; a new + edition of the {~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, and the commentary to Is. lii.-liii. by + Steinschneider (Berlin, 1860); a _Sermon_ for the New Year, ed. by + H. Berliner (_Libanon_, v. 564); and another Sermon at a wedding + (?), ed. by Schorr (_Hechalus_, xii. 3). For the literature on + Nachmanides, besides the references given by Steinschneider, in his + _Catalogue_, and the Addenda, p. cxviii. (cf. also the pedigree in + the _Catalogue_ 2305), see also Graetz, _Geschichte_, vii., pp. + 112-143, and p. 147 _seq._; Michael, {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, No. 1125, and Weiss, + {~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}, v. 4 _seq._; Perles' _Monatsschrift_, 1860, p. 175; + Zomber, _ibid._ 421; and Z. Frankel, _ibid._ 1868, p. 449, and _The + Jewish Quarterly Review_, iv. 245 _seq._ For Nachmanides' + disputation we have to add M. Loeb in the _Revue des Etudes Juives_, + xv. 1 _seq._, and xviii. 52 (about Abner), and Dr. Neubauer's Essay + on Jewish Controversy in the _Expositor_, vol. vii. (third series), + p. 98 _seq._, with the references given there. See also his article + on the Bahir and the Zohar in _The Jewish Quarterly Review_, iv. + 357. With regard to Nachmanides' mystical system see the references + to S. Sachs (whose remarks are most suggestive), Krochmal, and + Jellinek in Steinschneider, col. 1949 and 1964, Perles' + _Monatsschrift_, 1858, p. 83 _seq._, and Steinschneider in the Heb. + _Bibliographie_, i. 34. See also Professor Kaufmann's _Die + Geschichte der Attributenlehre_, and the references given in the + index under this name. The _Novellae_ by his son R. Nachman, alluded + to in the text, are in the University Library, Cambridge (Add. 1187, + 2). The {~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL TSADI~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} is extant in the British Museum, MS. Add. 26,894, + and the passage quoted by De Rossi is to be found on p. 163_b_, but + a few words are erased by the censor. As to the poem given at the + end of this paper, see Zunz, _Synagogale Poesie_, p. 478; Landshut, + _Amude ha-Abodah_ _s.v._, the references in Sachs' _Religioese Poesie + der Juden_, and Luzzatto in the _Ozar Nechmad_, ii. 27. Compare also + Professor Cheyne's _The Origin of the Psalter_, p. 421. + + 68 New Year's Day, on the first of Tishri. It is in autumn. + + 69 A famous Rabbi of the fifteenth century, known by his various + casuistical and philosophical works. + + 70 Chiefly known through his controversial writings against the + adherents of the pseudo-Messiah Shabbethai Tsebi. He was for some + time the Rabbi of the Portuguese congregation in London. + + 71 The main objections of the opponents of Maimonides were directed + against his rationalistic notions of Revelation, and his + allegorising interpretation of the Scriptures, which amounted in + some places to a denial of miracles. He was also suspected of having + denied bodily resurrection. A history of Jewish rationalism is still + a desideratum. I am certain that it would prove at least as + interesting as Reuter's _Geschichte der religioesen Aufklaerung im + Mittelalter_ (Berlin, 1845-60). + + 72 {~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}. + + 73 {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, "Homilies." See above, p. 64 and _note_. + + 74 {~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL TSADI~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, "The end of the Redemption," that is the time when the + advent of the Messiah is to be expected. + + 75 This patriarch is famous in Jewish legend for his hospitality. See + Beer's _Leben Abrahams_, pp. 37 and 56. + + 76 This is the quorum necessary to form a congregation ({~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}) for the + purpose of holding divine service. + + 77 By _Zobah_, or _Aram Zobah_, the Jews of the Middle Ages usually + understood Aleppo. See Benjamin of Tudela's _Itinerary_, i. 88, ii. + 124 (London and Berlin, 1840-41). + + 78 See below, p. 141, where a full translation of the letter is given. + + 79 {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, a compendium of the Law, dating from the ninth + century, by R. Simon Caro. + + 80 R. Simlai flourished in Palestine in the third century. He is best + known as an Agadic teacher and a great controversialist. According + to him, 613 commandments were given to Moses on Mount Sinai, of + which 365 are prohibitive laws, whilst the remaining 248 are + positive injunctions. + + 81 {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}, "Treatise on Reward (and Punishment)." + + 82 {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}. + + 83 Ps. cix. 4; {~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~} {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}. + + 84 {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}. + + 85 {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~} {~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}. + + 86 {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, "Knowledge," "Foreknowledge," "Omniscience." + + 87 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}, {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}. + + 88 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}. See Exod. xix. 5. + + 89 {~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}. + + 90 {~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}, {~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}. + + 91 According to a Jewish tradition (the date of which is uncertain) the + advent of the Messiah, the Son of David, will be preceded by that of + the Messiah, the Son of Joseph. The latter will perish in the battle + against Gog and Magog (the Antichrist of Jewish literature), but + will soon be brought back to life on the appearance of the former. + Cf. G. H. Dalman's _Der leidende und der sterbende Messias der + Synagoge_ (Berlin, 1881). + + 92 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, "In the beginning," Gen. i. 1. + + 93 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}; Job xxvii. 12. + + 94 _Chagigah_ 14_b_. The activity of these four Rabbis falls chiefly in + the second century. R. Akiba died as a martyr in the Hadrianic + persecution (about 130). Elisha b. Abuyah, the apostate, was usually + called {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}, _Acher_, "the other one." + + 95 The former lived in the twelfth, the latter in the sixteenth, + century. They are both known for their hostility to philosophy. + + 96 Bachya wrote in the eleventh century a famous book called {~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} + {~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, _The Duties of the Heart_. For the others see above, p. 13 + and _note_, p. 49 and _note_, p. 102 and _note_, p. 97 and _note_, + p. 71 and _note_. They all belong to the rationalistic school. + + 97 A younger contemporary of Maimonides, who translated the _Guide_ + from Arabic into Hebrew. + + 98 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}. See above, p. 18. R. Moses Cordovora, the author of the + {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, lived in Safed in the sixteenth century. For R. Isaac Loria, + the author of the {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL TSADI~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, see above, note 5 to Elijah Wilna. + + 99 {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~} {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}. + + 100 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}, a forgery by a Provencal Jew of the thirteenth century, + who attributed it to a Rabbi of the first century. + + 101 This hymn is now incorporated in her excellent little book, _Songs + of Zion_, pp. 13-15. + + 102 {~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}, a gold piece. The country and the date of the writer not being + certain, it is impossible to determine the value of this coin. + + 103 The lawfulness of eating this fish (= sturgeon?) was contested for + many centuries, and the controversy still continues. + + 104 {~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TET~}, a smaller coin than the Zehub. + + 105 {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}, "Hear," the verses from Deut. vi. 4-9, xi. 13-21, and Num. xv. + 37-41, recited twice a day by the Jews. + + 106 _Sabbath_, 30_b_. + + 107 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}, pl. {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} (_Minhagim_), applied usually to those ritual + customs and ceremonies for which there is no distinct authority in + the Scriptures or even in the Talmud. + + 108 _Jerusalem_, in Mendelssohn's _Saemmtliche Werke_ (Vienna, 1838), + especially from p. 264 onwards, and a letter by him published in + Frankel-Graetz's _Monatsschrift_, 1859, p. 173. For Mendelssohn's + position, see Graetz's _Geschichte_, xi. 86 _seq._, especially p. 88 + and note 1; Kayserling, _Leben und Werke_ of M., 2d ed., p. 394; + Steinheim, _Moses Mendelssohn_ (Hamburg, 1840), p. 30 _seq._; + Holdheim, _Moses Mendelssohn_ (Berlin, 1859), p. 18 _seq._; Leopold + Loew's pamphlet, _Juedische Dogmen_ (Pesth, 1871). + + 109 See the Commentaries on Maimonides' {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, especially R. Simeon + Duran's {~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}; cf. also ancient and modern commentaries on + Exod. xx. 2. + + 110 See _Siphra_ (ed. Weiss), pp. 86_b_, 93_b_. + + 111 _Baba Bathra_, 14_b_; cf. Fuerst's _Kanon_, p. 15. + + 112 See _Sanhedrin_, 38_b_, and _Pseudo-Jonathan_ to Gen. iv. 8. + + 113 _Mechilta_, 33_b_. + + 114 {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}, Lat. Epicurus. + + 115 See _Mishnah_, _Sanhedrin_, x. e, § 1, and Talmud, _ibid._ 90_a_ and + _b_, and Rabbinowicz's _Variae Lectiones_, ix. p. 247 notes. Besides + the ordinary commentaries on the Talmud, account must also be taken + of the remarks of Crescas, Duran, Albo, and Abarbanel on the + subject. Cf. also Kaempf in the _Monatsschrift_ (1863), p. 144 + _seq._; Oppenheim, _ibid._ (1864), p. 144; Friedmann in the _Beth + Talmud_, i. p. 210 _seq._ See also Talmudical Dictionaries, _s.v._ + {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}. The explanation I have adopted agrees partly with + Friedmann's and partly with Oppenheim's views. + + 116 _Sayings of the Fathers_, iii. § 9, and iv. § 22. + + 117 See {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~} (Jovslow, 1835), p. 48. In my exposition of the + dogmas of the Caraites I have mainly followed the late Dr. Frankl's + article "Karaiten" in Ersch u. Gruber's _Encyclopaedie_ (sec. ii. + vol. xxxvi. pp. 12-18). See also his _Ein mutazilitischer Kalam_ and + his _Beitraege zur Literaturgeschichte der Karaeer_ (Berlin, 1887) on + Bashazi. Cf. also Jost's _Geschichte_, ii. c. 13. + + 118 Kairowan was one of the greatest centres of Jewish learning in North + Africa during that period. + + 119 See, however, Professor D. Kaufmann's note in the _Jewish Quarterly + Review_, i. p. 441. From this it would seem that the creed of R. + Judah Hallevi may be formulated in the following articles:--The + conviction of the existence of God, of His eternity, of His guidance + of our fathers, of the Divine Origin of the Law, and of the proof of + all this, the pledge or token of its truth, the exodus from Egypt. + + 120 {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, _Emunah Ramah_, pp. 44 and 69; cf. Gulmann, + _Monatsschrift_, 1878, p. 304. + + 121 For the various translations of the Thirteen Articles which were + originally composed in Arabic, see Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. + 1887. Cf. Rosin, _Ethik des Maimonides_, p. 30; Weiss, _Beth + Talmud_, i. p. 330, and _Ben Chananjah_, 1863, p. 942, and 1864, pp. + 648 and 697, and Landshut, {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, p. 231. + + 122 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}. See pp. 1-16. + + 123 See _Hammaskir_, viii. pp. 63 and 103. + + 124 See Steinschneider, _Cat. Muenchen_, No. 210. + + 125 See the Collection {~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}, by Ashkenazi, pp. 56_b_ _seq._ + + 126 See Albo, c. iii. Probably identical with the author mentioned by + Duran, 13_b_. + + 127 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}, "Sepher Nizzachon." + + 128 See {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~} (ed. Johannisburg), preface, and pp. 20_a_, 44_b_, 59_b_, + and elsewhere. The style of this author is very obscure. Cf. Joel's + pamphlet on this author (Breslau, 1874). + + 129 See the first pages of the {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~} (Leghorn, 1758), and his {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, pp. 13 + _seq._ + + 130 {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, _Ikkarim_, "Fundamentals." + + 131 See _Ikkarim_, i. c. 23, and Maimonides' _Commentary on the Mishnah_ + (end of tractate Maccoth). On Albo compare Schlesinger's + Introduction and notes to the _Ikkarim_, Joel's pamphlet, p. 82; + Paulus, _Monatsschrift_, 1874, p. 463, and Bruell's _Jahrb._ iv. p. + 52. + + 132 I know his work from a MS. in the British Museum, Orient. 39. + + 133 {~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF~} {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, _Derech Emunah_. Cf. Steinschneider, _Monatsschrift_, + 1883, p. 79 _seq._ + + 134 See {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}, gate 55. + + 135 See his {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} and {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}. + + 136 {~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~} {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}. + + 137 See {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, ed. Reggio, p. 28. + + 138 See {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} (Venice, 1707), 16_a_ and 23_a_. His language is very + vague. + + 139 See the Collection by Ashkenazi (as above, note 18), p. 29_b_. + + 140 See his {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} {~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}, p. 331. + + 141 See Weiss's admirable monograph on Maimonides, published in the + _Beth Talmud_, i. + + 142 The Hebrew title of the work is {~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}. + + 143 That is, vows of an ascetic nature (not vows or oaths enforced by a + court of justice), which the tribunal could annul when there was + sufficient reason for it. + + 144 The ten Rabbis who are named as the bearers of tradition during the + period between 170 and 30 B.C. The "pair" in each case is supposed + to have consisted of the president and the vice-president of the + Sanhedrin for the time being. See, however, Kuenen, _Gesammelte + Schriften_, p. 49 _seq._ + + 145 {~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} {~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}. + + 146 {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}. They amount, in the whole of Rabbinic literature, + to about forty, of which more than ten concern the preparation of + the phylacteries, whilst others relate to the libations of water at + the Feast of Tabernacles and similar subjects. + + 147 This is the time when the school of R. Johanan b. Zaccai began its + activity. Others place the Tannaitic age in Hillel's time (30 B.C.). + + 148 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}. + + 149 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}, lit. "Court of Justice," as above, note 16 to Elijah Wilna, + but it means also a sort of permanent Synod, in which of course + justice was also administered as a part of religion. + + 150 {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, "Evidences given by Witnesses." The tractate consists mostly + of a number of laws attested by various Rabbis as having come down + to them as old traditions. + + 151 The family of Hillel, which was supposed to be descended from the + house of David, supplied the Jews with patriarchs for many + generations. Gamaliel II. flourished about 120 A.C., whilst Simon b. + Gamaliel's activity as Patriarch falls about 160 A.C. + + 152 {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, _Semachoth_. It is a euphemistic title, the tractate dealing + with the laws relating to funeral ceremonies and mourning. + + 153 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}, "Elucidators" or "Explainers." The heads of the schools in + Babylon during the fifth and sixth centuries were so designated. + + 154 The Rabbinic Jews of the dispersion add one day to each festival, + and thus celebrate the Passover eight days, the Feast of Weeks two + days, etc. The custom arose out of the uncertainty about the first + day of the month, the prerogative of fixing the New Moon resting + with the great _Beth Din_ in Palestine, which had not always the + means of communicating in time the evidence given before them that + the New Moon had been seen by qualified witnesses. The prerogative + was abolished in the fourth century, and the calendar fixed for all + future time, but the additional day is still kept by the Rabbinic + Jews as the "Custom of their Fathers." + + 155 {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, "Chambers (of Heaven)" and the "Measure of the + Stature," mystical works in which occasionally gross + anthropomorphisms are to be found. Their authorship is unknown. + + 156 _Sabbath_, 55_a_. + + 157 _Sayings of the Fathers_ (ed. C. Taylor), v. 12-15. See also + _Sabbath_, 32 _seq._, and _Mechilta_ (ed. Friedman), 95_b_. + _Arachin_, 16_a_. + + 158 See _Mechilta_, 25_a_, 32_b_. _Gen. Rabbah_, ch. 48, and _Tossephta + Sotah_, iv. 7, and parallels. + + 159 _Taanith_, 21_a_. + + 160 _Sayings of the Fathers_, iv. 5. + + 161 _Baba Bathra_, 9_b_. + + 162 _Yoma_, 39_a_. + + 163 _Berachoth_, 33_a_. + + 164 _Sabbath_, 13_b_. + + 165 _Berachoth_, 7_a_. + + 166 See _Mechilta_, 68_b_, and parallels. _Siphra_, 112_b_. _Pessikta_ + of R. Kahana, 167_b_. Cp. _Sanhedrin_, 44_a_. + + 167 _Aboth_ de R. Nathan, 40_a_, 59_b_, and 62_b_. + + 168 _Baba Bathra_, 10_a_. + + 169 _Eccles. Rabbah_, ix. 7. + + 170 5_a_. + + 171 7_b_. + + 172 See _Mechilta_, 95_b_, and parallels. + + 173 See _Kiddushin_, 40_b_. _Mechilta_, 63_b_. _Lev. Rabbah_, iv. + + 174 See _Sabbath_, 54_a_. + + 175 _Exodus Rabbah_, c. 35, and parallels. + + 176 See _Negaim_, ii. 1. + + 177 _Exod. Rabbah_, c. 46. + + 178 _Taanith_, 11_a_. + + 179 See _Berachoth_, 5_a_. + + 180 _Tanchuma_, {~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~} {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}, § 2. Cp. _Mechilta_, 72_b_. + + 181 _Siphre_, 73_b_, and parallels. + + 182 _Taanith_, 8_a_. + + 183 _Arachin_, 16_b_. + + 184 _Sayings of the Fathers_, iv. 15. + + 185 See _Chagigah_, 5_a_. + + 186 _Sabbath_, 55_a_. + + 187 _Menachoth_, 29_b_. + + 188 _Taanith_, 25_a_. + + 189 _Gen. Rabbah_, xxvii.; _Pessikta_, 136_b_; _Sanhedrin_, vi. 5; + _Berachoth_, 7_a_. + + 190 _Sayings of the Fathers_, i. 3, p. 27, ed. Taylor. See also note 8. + + 191 _Abodah Zarah_, 19_a_; _Siphre_, 79_b_. + + 192 _Berachoth_, 58_b_. + + 193 See _Exod. R._, 30, and parallels. + + 194 See {~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, i. 9. + + 195 See {~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, 33_b_. + + 196 See _Sabbath_, 55_b_, and _Siphra_, 27_a_. + + 197 _Judaism and Christianity, a Sketch of the Progress of Thought from + Old Testament to New Testament_, by C. H. Toy, Professor in Harvard + University. London, 1890. + + 198 See _Pessikta_ of R. Kahana, 61_b_, and parallels, and _Erubin_, + 13_b_. + + 199 Tal. Jer., _Sabbath_, 5_b_. + + 200 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER TET~}{~HEBREW LETTER TET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}, the name of an angel, already found in the Talmud, but + playing a more important part in the _Book of Chambers_, where he is + identified with Enoch. The etymology of the word is doubtful, some + authors considering it to be of Persian origin (_Mithra_); others + again deriving it from the Greek {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, or {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}. + + 201 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}. + + 202 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}, "The Word," sometimes substituted for God. See J. Levy's + _Chaldaeisches Woerterbuch_, _s.v._ + + 203 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}, {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} {~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}. + + 204 _Mechilta_, 104_a_. + + 205 See Tal. Jer., _Yoma_, 45_b_. Cf. Maimonides, _Mishneh Torah_, {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} + {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}. + + 206 _Tosephta Berackoth_, iii. 7. + + 207 _Sabbath_, 10_b_. The name of the Rabbi is not given, but the fact + that R. Simeon b. Gamaliel (160 A.C.) already refers to this + interpretation makes it clear that its anonymous author must have + lived at least a generation before. + + 208 {~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~} {~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}. + + 209 See _Midrash_ to the Psalms xcii. and _Deut. Rabbah_ iii. The Rabbis + perceived in the words {~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~} (Isa. lviii. 13), a command to + make the Sabbath a day of pleasure, whilst the word {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL PE~} was + understood by them to mean "needs," "wants," or "business" (_not_ + "pleasure"). Cf. _Sabbath_, 113_a_ and _b_. + + 210 See _Gen. Rabbah_, xi. (and parallels), and _Sabbath_, 119_a_. + + 211 See _Maaseh Torah_ (ed. Schoenblum) and _Deut. Rabbah_, i. + + 212 _Sabbath_, 25_b_ and 119_a_. + + 213 _Betsah_, 16_a_. Cf. Baer's notes in his _Prayer-Book_, p. 203 + _seq._ + + 214 See _Sabbath_, 119_b_, and _Gen. Rabbah_, xi. + + 215 See _Sabbath_, 10_b_, and _Gen. Rabbah_, _ibid._ + + 216 {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}. + + 217 _Nazir_, 23_b_. + + 218 {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} by R. Isaac b. Moses of Vienna (thirteenth century), mostly + on legal subjects. + + 219 {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}, Yuchasin. + + 220 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}, Miklal. + + 221 {~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}, the former treating of the agricultural laws of the + Bible, the latter of those relating to the Sabbath, Passover, and + other festivals. + + 222 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}, "Cycle," containing the liturgy for the festivals. + + 223 Since then edited by the Mekize Nirdamim. + + 224 Eve of the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. + + 225 {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~} {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}. {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW ACCENT GERESH~}{~HEBREW ACCENT GERESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}. + + 226 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}. + + 227 {~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}. + + 228 {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, Yalkut. + + 229 {~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}. + + 230 {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}. + + 231 {~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}. + + 232 {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}. + + 233 {~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~} {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}. + + 234 {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF~}, {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF~}, {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~} {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF~}. + + 235 {~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW ACCENT GERESH~}{~HEBREW ACCENT GERESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}. + + 236 {~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~} {~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~} {~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~} {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}. + + 237 {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~} {~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}. {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW ACCENT GERESH~}{~HEBREW ACCENT GERESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}. + + 238 The main authorities on the subjects of this essay are _Die + Lebensalter_, by Dr. Leopold Loew; _The Jewish Rite of Circumcision_, + by Dr. Asher; an article by Dr. Perles in the Graetz _Jubelschrift_, + p. 23 _seq._; _Merkwuerdigkeiten der Juden_, by Schudt; the {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~} + {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} and other works on ritual customs; Guedemann's _Geschichte + des Erziehungswesens und der Cultur der Juden_; and _Das Kind in + Brauch und Sitte der Voelker_, by Dr. Ploss. + + 239 {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}, {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}. + + 240 {~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, Is. xxxiv. 14. + + 241 See above, note 39 to Nachmanides. [Transcriber's Note: The footnote + on _Shema_.] + + 242 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, "Covenant of Circumcision." This is the usual expression + in Hebrew literature for the rite of circumcision. + + 243 {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} {~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}. + + 244 {~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}, {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}. + + 245 {~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}. + + 246 {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, on educational matters. + + 247 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, "business," or "wares." + + 248 I am indebted for the English adaptation to Mrs. Henry Lucas. + + 249 _Bereshith Rabbah_, chapter xx. For another reading see {~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} + (ed. Cracow), p. 374. + + 250 _Abodah Zarah_, 3_b_. + + 251 This is the way in which Deut. xxxi. 10-12 was explained. + + 252 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, "Scribes"; treating of the regulations concerning the + writing of the Law, but containing also much liturgical matter. + + 253 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, by which name the Jews of the Spanish rite are designated. + + 254 {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~} {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}, a controversial work published by Wagenseil. See above, + p. 203, for another victory. + + 255 {~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~}, who is probably known to the English reader from + Longfellow's poem. + + 256 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}. + + 257 {~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}, "Sanctification"--"benediction"--on the eve of Sabbath, which + is pronounced over a cup of wine. + + 258 {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, or on the 23rd of Tishri, when the last portion from the + Pentateuch is read. + + 259 {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}, "Praise," _i.e._ Ps. cxiii.-cxviii. + + 260 {~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW POINT HIRIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}, the name of a prayer commencing {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~} {~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}, "Magnified and + sanctified be," etc. + + 261 Prayer beginning {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}, "Bless ye," etc. + + 262 {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF~} {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}, beginning of a prayer, "Blessed be He," etc. + + 263 See Schuerer's _Die Gemeindeverfassung der Juden in Rom_, p. 24. Cf. + _Hebraeische Bibliographie_, xix. p. 79. + + 264 {~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}. + + 265 {~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}. + + 266 {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}. + + 267 {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}. In olden times the weekly lesson from the Law used to be read + by seven members of the congregation who were "called up" for this + purpose; the Priest and the Levite took precedence of laymen for + this honour. At the present day, the members of the congregation are + still called up, but the actual reading is performed by an official. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STUDIES IN JUDAISM, FIRST SERIES*** + + + +CREDITS + + +May 2015 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by Chuck Greif, David King, and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. 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