Slike strani
PDF
ePub

84

JEWS AND JUDAISM—JEW IN ART, SCIENCE AND LITERATURE (6)

and Vasco de Gama, to our time, a lengthy list could be given. In recent times can be mentioned J. J. Benjamin, Jacob Saphir, J. Halevy, while among explorers are Emin Pasha, Emil Bessel, Oscar Neumann, Eduard Glaser, Herman Vambéry, Edouard Foá, Adolph Strauss, W. G. Palgrave (of Jewish descent), and in America Angelo Heilprin and Franz Boas, who is associated with Arctic research. In this connection may be recalled the labors of Jews in engineering, science and invention, etc., with Jos. Hirsch, Maurice Levy, J. Bachman for France, E. Herman and G. Schlesinger for Germany, Mendes Cohen, Emil Berliner, Elias E. Ries, Albert Edward Woolf, E. Zalinski for the United States. Here, too, may be included prominent names in numismatics, statistics and economics. In the latter branch Profs. E. R. A. Seligman and J. H. Hollander are authorities in the United States; A. Raffalovicz in Russia; L. Luzzatti, Leone Wollenberg in Italy; as statisticians, Maurice Block is preeminent in France, Josef Körösi in Hungary, while Leone Levi did useful work in England. Here belong the founders of modern Socialism - David Ricardo, Karl Marx, Ferdinand Lassalle, E. Bernstein, with J. Jastrow, Max Hirsch, Edgar Loening, E. Warschauer, Ludwig Hamburger. As numismatists we can refer to Julius Friedländer, Wilhelm Löwy, A. Merzbacher, Leopold Hamburger, M. A. Levy.

Law. Biblical and Talmudic legislation shows clearly that the Jews from olden days showed special inclination toward law and its interpretation. Coworkers in the compilation of the Pandects, they furnish distinguished jurists, judges and lawyers. In France they can point to Adolphe Cremieux, August Bédarrides, A. Lyon-Caen; in England to Sir George Jessel, Sir George Lewis, J. Waley, Earl Reading; in Holland to the Assers, Goudsmit, Gódefroi; in Germany and Austro-Hungary, to Eduard Gans, Levin Goldschmidt, Paul Laband. Karl Grünhut, Herman Staub, Heinrich Harburger, Heinrich Wiener, H. Friedeberg, H. Makower, Eduard von Simson, Wolfgang Wessely, David Rubi, Ferd. Frensdorf, Julius Unger, Max Neuda, H. Dernburg, J. Glaser; in America they include a number of State and city judges.

Philosophy. Recent writers call the Jews "the people of philosophy," and in fact to reflect on the highest questions of life has ever been their custom. Philosophy was regarded among them as one of the weightiest sciences both during the Middle Ages and to-day. We have to thank the Jews for the diffusion in Europe of Neo-Platonism, for being intermediaries between the Arab and Christian philosophy, for the basis of Scholasticism, the popularizing of Greek philosophy in Europe, and the birth of a new conception of the universe. In the construction of this new-world philosophy, above all else in spreading the systems of Kant, Hegel and Schopenhauer, Jews have taken a conspicuous part. Among the Alexandrian philosophers Philo is pre-eminent, Solomon Ibn Gabirol opened a new path for Platonism, and was Scholasticism's pioneer, Moses Maimonides raised Aristotelianism to speculative heights. (See article JEWISH PHILOSOPHICAL WRITERS in this section). Baruch Spinoza was influenced by him and later investigators, who were more inclined to mysticism. Jews

were associated with the achievements of the Renaissance and Humanism, because they were teachers of the leaders of those movements. It was Moses Mendelssohn who popularized philosophy. Markus Herz and Salomon Maimon, Lazarus Bendavid, were enthusiastic supporters of Kant, whose most important representative in the new philosophy is Prof. Hermann Cohen of Marburg. The founders of the school of folk-psvchology, Moritz Lazarus and H. Steinthal, champion Herbart's philosophy. Hegel's best followers were Eduard Gans and Julius Braniss; Schopenhauer's most ardent disciples, Julius Frauenstädt, D. Asher, Moritz Venetianer. In addition belong to philosophy Ludwig Stein, H. Bergson, Adolph Lasson, S. L. Steinheim, Adolphe Franck, S. Alexander.

Philology. In the line of language, too, the Jews have labored with zeal. They count among the foremost workers in philology, as well as in literary history and bibliography. A brief summary of names will be sufficient proof

such as G. Ascoli, Jules Oppert, Jacob Bernays, Theodor Gompertz, Michele Amari, Theodor Benfey, M. Breal, James and Arséne Darmesteter, Jos. and Hartwig Derenbourg, H. Weil, W. Freund, Julius Fürst, Lazarus Geiger, Theodor Goldstücker, Ignatz Goldziher, J. Halévy, Wilhelm Bacher, H. Hirschfeld, S. Landauer, Gustav Weill, A. Harkavy, Salomon Munk, Adolf Mussafia, Daniel Sanders, S. Benedetti, L. Kellner, I. Gollanz, and in the United States, Marcus Jastrow, Alexander Kohut, M. Bloomfield, and a number of younger scholars v.ho have done much to arouse interest in Semitic studies at American universities.

History. In the Middle Ages history was neglected they had no time to write their history, for before their old sufferings were narrated, new trials were to be endured. A few chronicles alone survive, with some Memor. Books. From the historian Josephus, of the 1st century, to our time, Judaism has produced no eminent historian of the outside world. With so much more zeal have Jews in more recent years devoted themselves to this department, men like Philipp Jaffé, Martin Philippson, Max Büdinger, Harry Bresslau, Samuel Sugenheim, Alfred Stern, Adolf Beer, Ernst Bernheim, Jacob Caro, Heinrich Friedjung, Salomon and Theodor Reinach, Julius Schwarz, Cesare d'Ancona, Alfred Przibram, E. Szanto. Samuel Romanelli is the historian of Venice, and Robert Davidson of Florence. Charles Gross, of Harvard, is an authority on early English history, as is Felix Liebermann on English law. In the history of the Jews in its varied departments Jewish scholars have naturally displayed particular ability- one need only mention names like Graetz, Zunz, Jost, Steinschneider, Geiger, Kayserling, Güdemann, A. Berliner. In the closely-allied branch of archæology, Charles Waldstein is a pre-eminent name, with B. Berenson in art criticism.

[ocr errors]

Literature. In its earliest historical period Israel gave to humanity its best achievement in literature-the Bible, which with prophets and psalmists, despite the latest discoveries and researches, remains without a peer in the entire stretch of the world's literature. Since the close of the Canon until to-day the Bible has furnished a wealth of inspiration to the

JEWS AND JUDAISM-JEW IN ART, SCIENCE AND LITERATURE (6)

poets and writers of every race. The greatest poets in the world have been impelled by its words; it has exerted a distinct influence on the literary genius of every European literature, and how much plastic art is its debtor is far from being appreciated.

In the Early and Middle Ages. The first translation of a book into another language was the Greek translation of the Bible the Septuagint. This leads us to the participation of Jews in Greek literature. Of Philo, who has already been mentioned, it was said in Alexandria that he wrote as fine Greek as the divine Plato. Then lived, too, the first Jewish dramatist, Ezekiel; then a long line of philosophers, poets, historians, the author of the Sibylline books, and many other writers in Greek.

were

In the Middle Ages the Jews familiarized themselves with Arabic literature, under whose influence the new Hebrew poetry in Spain developed. What Arab and Jew united in those centuries accomplished is not to be overlooked. They rescued the treasures of classical antiquity from oblivion and preserved them for posterity; they enriched the arts and sciences and truly promoted the intellectual growth of humanity. Jews appear, too, among the Arab poets, like Abraham Ibn Sahl, who is praised by them as one of the most graceful singers of love, Ibn el Mudawwer, Kasmune, etc. The Indian and Greek world of fable was communicated to Europe by Jews. During the entire Middle Ages, when the old literary treasures practically lost, they preserved almost the only knowledge of those romances, stories and fables which were to enter modern literature by a roundabout way through Arabia and Spain from the world of the ancients and the pictured pomp of India. They took a prominent part in those stories from the Orient, which still serve as material for our narrative literature. Later, too, when the Mohammedans were driven from Spain, the Jews displayed a lively interest in the development of the Arabic literature and language. A Moorish Israelite, Ibn Alfange, wrote the first 'Chronicle of the Cid'; another the first Spanish romance; a third-the baptized Petrus Alphonsus- the first story in Oriental manner, Disciplina Clericalis'; a fourth was the first Castilian troubadour, Santob de Carrion; and a fifth, Rodrigo de Cota, is credited with the authorship of the first Spanish drama 'Celestina.' In the Spanish songbooks of the 15th century can be found many poems of baptized Jews. At the same era Jews were familiar with French literature. From the glosses of Rashi, the famous Biblical commentator, the old French language has been partly reconstructed; and Rashi's contemporaries, who through Nicolas of Lyra directly influenced Luther, already knew German and utilized that language. At the very period when the Jews in Germany were persecuted in the cruelest fashion, there lived a Jewish minnesinger, Süesskind von Trimberg; a Jew shared in the authorship of Percival. Their epics and elaborations of romantic legends aid to-day in interpreting old German literature.

In Modern Times.- When through Lessing and Mendelssohn the Jews in literature, at least, were emancipated, they devoted themselves to authorship with special zeal. Jewesses, like, Henriette Herz, Rachel Varnhagen von Ense, Dorothea Veit, founded the Berlin Salon and

85

Moses

gave distinct impetus to Romanticism. Mendelssohn was not only a philosopher, but one of the first authors in the era of rationalism. Heine is unquestionably the greatest German lyric poet after Goethe, Ludwig Börne the first German critic after Lessing. Berthold Auerbach founded the school of village tales; Fanny Lewald that of the woman's social romance. Jews have taken marked interest in all later literary movements. One may mention in this field the German authors, Karl Beck, Michael Beer, Theodor Creizenach, L. A. Frankl, Leopold Kompert, Karl Emil Franzos, E. Kulke, Moritz Hartmann, L. Kalisch, S. Kapper, Hieronymus Lorm, S. H. Mosenthal, Max Ring, Ludwig Robert, J. Rodenberg, August Silberstein, M. G. Saphir, H. Stieglitz, Daniel Spitzer, J. V. Weilen, L. Wihl, O. L. B. Wolff, Wilhelm Wolfsohn; and of later writers Theodor Herzl, L. Hevesy, A. L'Arronge, F. Lubliner, Fritz Mauthner, Oscar Blumenthal, Max Bernstein, J. J. David, L. Fulda, Max Nordau, Georg Hirschfeld, Felix Holländer, L. Jacobowski, J. Löwenberg, A. Schnitzler, J. Wassermann, Ernst Rosmer, Henriette Ottenheimer, Lina Morgenstern, Betty Paoli, Jenny Hirsch. In the history of literature Ludwig Geiger, Richard M. Meyer, Gustav and Otto Hirschfeld, Otto Pniower, Max Hermann, Eduard Engel, Max von Waldberg, E. Wolff can be mentioned.

In

In France Jews contribute to all branches of poetry-in dramatic composition may be included Catulle Mendes, Abraham Dreyfus, Ernest Blum, Leon Halévy, A. d'Ennery, A. Valabrègue, and as lyric poet León Gozlan, Gustav Cahn, Eugène Manuel, Louis Ratisbonne. England Sir Philip Magnus has written extensively on education, Joseph Jacobs is an authority on folklore, Sidney Lee is a leading Shakespeare scholar, Emanuel Deutsch was the first to tell the English world what the Talmud really was, B. L. Farjeon was a voluminous novelist, while I. Zangwill is prominent in various lines. In Italy one may point to Alessandro d'Ancona, David Levi, Tullo Masserani, Erminia Fuá; in Denmark to Henrik Hertz, M. Goldschmidt, Georg and Eduard Brandes, Silvia Benet; in Sweden to O. Levertin and Sophie Elkan; in Holland to Isaac d'Acosta of the past and H. Heijermans of the present; in Russia to S. Frug, S. Nadson, N. Minsky; in Rumania to Ronetti Roman, the greatest poet of our day, and to H. Tiktin, the greatest philologist; in Hungary to Ludwig Doczi, Josef Kiss, Adolph Agai, A. Nemény, all writers of distinction. In the United States Isaac Harby, Mordecai M. Noah are names of the past; with Emma Lazarus admittedly the leading poet and essayist, and among present-day storywriters I. K. Friedman, Ezra S. Brudno, Emma Wolf, Miriam Michaelson, Martha Wolfenstein, Mary Moss, Abraham Cahan, Montague Glass. Prof. L. Wiener has written on the history of Yiddish literature, Oscar S. Straus on 'The Origin of the Republican Form of Government,' and 'Roger Williams.' Professor Winkler has edited a number of German classics. In journalism Jews have undoubtedly attained prominence, as names like L. Sonnemann, Dernberg and Bernstein in Germany, Brody in Hungary, Lawson and Lucien Wolf in England, Pulitzer, Ochs, Rosewater, De Young in America, amply prove.

We have given merely a survey, necessarily

86

JEWS AND JUDAISM — THE TALMUD (7)

incomplete, of Jewish activity in art, science and literature, in all ages and among all nations. It has been shown, however, with sufficient clearness that they have always striven with ardent enthusiasm for ideal aims, and with marked energy, despite unfavorable conditions, have taken an active interest in all the developments of the world's intellectual life.

Bibliography.-Art.- Kaufmann, 'Zur Geschichte der Kunst in Syn' (1897); Güdemann, 'Das Judenthum und die Bildenden Künste (1890); A. Wolff, Jüdische Künstler) (1902); S. J. Solomon, 'Art and Judaism' (in J. Q. R. XIII_533 ff.); D. H. Müller, 'Die Hagadah von Serajewo (1898).

Science-Steinschneider, 'Die hebr. Ubersetzungen des Mittelalters'; Güdemann, 'Gesch. der Cultur und des Erzieh, bei den Juden'; M. J. Schleiden, 'Die Verdienste der Juden für die Erh, der Wiss. im Mittelalter'; I. Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages'; A. Kohut, Berühmte Israel Männer und Frauen,'

etc.

Literature-Steinschneider, Jewish Literature; G. Karpeles, Jewish Literature and Other Essays'; and his 'Allgem. Gesch. der Litteratur.' GUSTAV KARPELES,

Author of Jewish Literature and Other Essays.

7. THE TALMUD, a code or digest of Jewish laws and opinions. The Talmud is in reality a combination of two entirely separate works the Mishna being the text and the Gemara its commentary. The name signifies "study," and has come to be applied to the combined text and commentary, although it refers properly to the Gemara alone. There are two recensions of the Gemara, one called the Palestinian Talmud, originating in Palestine, the other Babylonian, in Babylon. They differ both in language and contents. There are only slight variations in their respective Mishnas.

The Mishna.- The word Mishna has been differently interpreted, according to its etymology, either as "second" or as "doctrine," oral teaching. It is a codification of the oral or unwritten law, based upon the written law of the Torah or Pentateuch, and was compiled during the era of the second Temple, and completed at the end of the second Christian century. As in course of time the oral law became unwieldy in bulk and hard to be remembered, owing to its lack of order and arrangement, Hillel, who presided over the Sanhedrin in Herod's days, made the first attempt to systematize the immense mass of material by arranging it in six divisions, which were accepted by later revisers. Rabbi Akiba, who participated in the Bar Cochba revolt, went a step further by employing a more correct method of division. His disciple, Rabbi Meir, continued the work of revision, or, rather, collation, of old-time usages and teachings. Toward the end of the 2d century, R. Judah, the Prince, called "Rabbi," a descendant of the wise Hillel, strove to complete the work of his predecessors, sifted anew the mass of traditional ordinances, and became, by his intellectual vigor and freedom, the real compiler of the Mishna. In his later years he subjected the work to further revision, although some additions after his death

were made by others. Whether Rabbi wrote the Mishna or merely transmitted it orally to his disciples is not definitely known, and has long been a moot point among scholars, with the probability in favor of his having written the work.

Divisions of the Mishna.- The Mishna is divided into six chief sections, called Sedarim or Orders: (1) Zeraim, seeds or products of the field, containing the ritual laws respecting agriculture. (2) Moed, Festival, referring to laws of the Sabbath and festivals. (3) Nashim, Women, including rules about marriage and divorce. (4) Nezikin, Damages, a large section of the civil and criminal law. (5) Kodashim, Sacred Things, discussing the laws of sacrifice and the Temple service. (6) Teharoth, Purification, treating of regulations as to things clean and unclean. Each Order is divided into Masechtoth, or treatises, which are 63 in all in the Mishna. Each treatise is subdivided into chapters, or Perakim, and each chapter or perek into paragraphs, each of which is called Mishna or halakhah, law principle. The arrangement of the Orders is fixed, although the sequence of treatises, chapters and paragraphs is more open to question.

Contents of the Treatises of the Mishna. -The best way to describe the subject matter of the Mishna is to give a list of the various treatises and their contents. These are as follows, according to the six Orders: I (1) Berakhoth, benedictions, treating of liturgical rules. (2) Peah, corner, about the corners and gleanings of the field. (3) Demai, uncertain, about corn bought from those suspected of not having given tithes. (4) Khilayim, mixtures, about the prohibited mixtures in plants, animals and garments. (5) Shebiith, the Sabbatic year. (6) Terumoth, heave offerings for the priests. (7) Maaseroth, tithes to be given to the Levites. (8) Maaser Sheni, the second tithe, according to Deut. xiv, 22-26. (9) Challa, the dough, to be given to the priests, as ordered in Num. xv, 20-21. (10) Orla, treating of the fruits of the tree during its first four years, as commanded in Lev. xix, 23-25. (11) Biccurim, or first fruits. The contents of Order II: (1) Sabbath, giving an account of labors prohibited on that day. (2) Erubin, combinations, continuing the subject of the preceding treatise and referring to the Sabbath boundary. (3) Pesachim, relating to the laws of Passover and the paschal lamb. (4) Shekalim, the law of the half-shekel temple tax. (5) Yoma, of the day of Atonement. (6) Sukkah, of the laws concerning the Feast of Tabernacles. (7) Betsah, of the work permitted or prohibited on the festivals. (8) Rosh Hashonah, of the feast of the New Year. (9) Taanith, as to the public feasts. (10) Megilla, the scroll, about the reading of the book of Esther on the feast of Purim. (11) Moed Katan, minor feasts, referring to the intermediate days of the festivals of Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. (12) Chagiga, feast offerings, referring to the private offerings on the three pilgrim festivals. Order III: (1) Jebamoth, sistersin-law, about levirate marriage. (2) Khetuboth, marriage contracts, of dower and marriage settlements. (3) Nedarim, as to vows and their annulment. (4) Nazir, of the laws concerning Nazarite. (5) Sotah, about the woman sus

JEWS AND JUDAISM

pected of infidelity, according to Num. v, 12-31. (6) Gittin, the laws of divorce. (7) Kiddushin, of betrothals. Order IV: (1) Baba Kama, of damages and injuries. (2) Baba Metsia, of laws concerning found property, buying and selling, lending, hiring and renting. (3) Baba Bathra, of real estate, trade and hereditary succession. (4) Sanhedrin, of courts, their procedure, and capital punishment. (5) Maccoth, stripes, referring chiefly to false witness and its penalties. (6) Shebuoth, oaths, about the various kinds of oaths, private and public. (7) Eduyoth, testimonies, laws and decisions collected from the testimonies of famous teachers. (8) Abodah Sara, idolatry, of idols and their worshipers. (9) Aboth, a collection of ethical sentences from the fathers or Mishna teachers. (10) Horayoth, decisions, as to the effect of erroneous decision by a religious authority, according to Lev. iv, 5. Order V: (1) Sebachim, sacrifices, of animal sacrifices and the mode of offering. (2) Menachoth, meat-offerings, about meat and drink offerings. (3) Chullin, of the methods of slaughtering animals for food and of the dietary laws. (4) Bekhoroth, of the laws concerning the firstborn. (5) Arakhin, values, as to how things or persons dedicated by vow are legally appraised to be redeemed. (6) Temurah, exchange, of the laws about dedicated things which have been exchanged, according to Lev. xxvii, 10-27. (7) Kherithoth, excisions, of the sins subject to the penalty of excision and their expiation. (8) Meila, trespass, concerning the sins of profaning sacred things. (9) Tamid, the daily sacrifice, a description of the Temple service connected with the daily morning and evening sacrifice. (10) Middoth, measurements, giving chiefly the measurements and description of the Temple courts, gates and halls. (11) Kinnim, birds' nests, an account of the sacrifices which consist of fowls, the offering of the poor. Order VI: (1) Khelim, as to how domestic vessels become unclean ritually. (2) Ohaloth, tents, as to how tents and houses become ritually unclean. (3) Negaim, of laws as to leprosy of men, garments and houses. (4) Parah, the heifer, treats of the red heifer and its ashes as a purifying agent. (5) Teharoth, purification. (6) Mikvaoth, wells, how wells and reservoirs are fit to be used for ritual purification. The remaining six treatises concern various kinds of ritual uncleanness.

The Mishna Rabbis.-The men who are mentioned as authorities in the Mishna are among the most notable names in Jewish history for about five and a half centuries from the era of the scribes to the death of Rabbi (210). They include the scribes of Soferim, who succeeded Ezra, and continued for about two centuries, the teachers who headed the Sanhedrin in pairs from the Maccabean struggle until the period of Hillel and Shamai, and finally the disciples of the two latter and their successors. These were called Tanaim teachers, whose opinions extend over fully two centuries, and whose disputations reveal marked intellectual keenness. Another class of rabbis received the name of Amoraim, speakers or expounders, whose labors were carried on in the schools of Tiberias, Sepphoris and Cæsarea in Palestine, and in Nahardea, Sura and Pumbaditha in Babylonia. Their province was to explain the terse Mishna phrases, examine into their sources,

[blocks in formation]

reconcile apparent contradictions and apply the traditional principles to new cases. The Palestinian Amoraim were titled rabbis, the Babylonian rab or mar. They date from the death of Judah the Prince to the end of the 5th century, which marks the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud. They number several hundreds, while their predecessors, the Tanaim, amounted to about 120.

The Gemara.- The name Gemara, which means completion or, doctrine, which has come to be used interchangeably with Talmud, is practically a commentary on the Mishna, although some of its elements may be older. It embraces the discussions and interpretations of the Amoraim, but contains in addition a vast bulk of matter often unconnected with the Mishna text and touching upon law, history, ethics and homiletics. The Palestinian Talmud, the work of the schools and schoolmen of Palestine, was more distinctly national, being composed on Jewish soil, and was completed about 370, although a later date is claimed by some. The Babylonian Talmud was finished about a century later. If rabbis like Jochanan, Rab and Samuel were pioneers in the work, others gave the finishing touches, men like Rabba (270-330), Abayi (280–338) and Rava (299– 352), while Ashi (352-427) and Rabina (d. 499) are associated with its actual compilation. The Palestinian Gemara in its present form extends only over 39 out of the 63 treaties of the Mishna, thus indicating a probable loss of many treatises. The deficiency may partly be due to persecutions which abruptly closed the schools in Palestine, and partly to the fact that the Palestinian Gemara hardly received the favor and attention which commentators have given to the Babylonian. It is stated that Ashi devoted 30 years to the task of compilation and then revised the entire work. His Gemara covers only 37 of the treatises of the Mishna.

The Two Gemaras Compared.- The Gemaras differ in language, style and method. The Mishna is in new Hebrew, which was developed during the era of the second Temple. While the popular language was Aramaic, the ancient Hebrew was retained for the liturgy and legal forms. Contemporary languages had their influence on it, and the Aramaic, Greek and Latin were drawn upon and modified by the Hebrew idiom. In regard to the Palestinian Gemara, the language is the West Aramaic, which was current in Palestine in the age of the Amoraim. The language of the Babylonian is a blend of Hebrew, East Aramaic and Persian, with other dialects whose decipherment is often attended with much difficulty. Of the main elements of the Gemara, the halakhah or abstract law element, and the hagadah or legend, the former is more fully represented in the Palestinian, while the latter is more at home in the Babylonian edition. In size the Palestinian is about one-third of the Babylonian, and only in modern times has aroused the attention of Jewish scholars. The study of the Babylonian Talmud, however, flourished in North Africa and thence passed to Spain, France, Germany and Poland and was ever a subject of interest and devotion. It gave rise to a vast library of rabbinical literature. Not the least curious incident connected with the spread of this study is that the four messengers sent by the schools of Babylonia in their days of decline to collect funds from their

88

JEWS AND JUDAISM-THE TALMUD (7)

richer brethren in other lands were taken captive by the Spanish pirates and sold in different slave-markets. All were redeemed by their coreligionists and they became the heads of the community at Cairo, Kairwan in Africa, Cordova and possibly in Narbonne. Among names eminent in the diffusion of Talmudic learning from the East to the West after the era of Sherira Gaon, his son Hai Gaon and Samuel bar Hophni, were Gershom ben Judah of Metz, Isaac of Troyes, Jacob ben Yakar of Worms, Nathan ben Jechiel of Rome, Isaac ben Judah of Mayence and the famous Rashi, his sons-inlaw and disciples. After the expulsion of the Jews from England (1290) and France (1306), Poland became a favored home for them and a seat of Talmudic learning whose glory has not yet been extinguished, although in other lands such lore is less cultivated. Of recent years, however, a fresh impulse has been given to Talmudic studies both in Europe and the United States.

The Talmud in History. The history of the Talmud is essentially a history of the religious and intellectual development of the Jews, which has been elsewhere treated. A spiritual temple arose among the Israelites when the Temple at Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans. The Talmud's history, however, is an important theme, and a brief glance at the varying fortunes of this volume will show the continuous persecution which it has received, like the Jew himself. It was proscribed by state and church, mutilated by the official censor, condemned by councils, burned by popes and kings. Earlier centuries show a scattering fire of fulminations against it, from the era of Justinian, but the Middle Ages were persistent in such incidents of violence. In 1240 the Jews of France were compelled to surrender their copies of the Talmud and the work was put on trial, the result of which was that it was ordered to be burned. Twenty-four carloads of the Talmud and similar writings were seized by Saint Louis and publicly burned in Paris in June 1242. The anniversary was held as a fast and elegies were written on the event. Barcelona had a four days' trial of the Talmud on 20 July 1263. In 1264 Clement IX issued a bull of confiscation and subjected the Talmud to examination by the Franciscans and Dominicans, who expunged what they deemed abusive and blasphemous. Tortosa, Aragon, witnessed a public trial of the Talmud, which lasted from February 1413 until 12 Nov. 1414 and had 68 sessions. Pope Benedict XIII presided, condemned the work to the flames and prohibited its further study. His bull of 11 clauses issued 11 May 1415 never came into effect, for he was deposed by the Council of Constance. The hue and cry against the Talmud in the beginning of the 16th century was to have a marked influence on the Reformation and to pave the way for a Hebrew renaissance. On 19 Aug. 1509 the Emperor Maximilian gave Pfefferkorn full power over the Talmud and similar works; but when he demanded their surrender the Jews of Frankfort appealed to the archbishop of Mayence, who temporarily checked the Dominicans. Reuchlin, the head of the Humanists, was asked to describe the character of the Talmud and by him it was vindicated. Hutten and the author of 'Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum,' lampooned Hoogstraten

and the Dominicans. The Talmud gained new adherents, including Erasmus and Franz von Sickingen. The universities were appealed to for their opinion and the University of Paris condemned the Talmud. Finally the subject was brought before the Lateran Council and the Dominicans were compelled to pay the costs of their suit against Reuchlin, while Leo X_permitted the Talmud to be printed by Daniel Bomberg at Venice. It was in the very year of the editio princeps of the Talmud (1520) that Luther at Wittenberg burnt the Pope's bull. On 12 Aug. 1553 Pope Julius III signed_the decree laid before him by the Inquisition-General, condemning to confiscation and the flames throughout Italy all copies of the Talmud and Hebrew books. Paul IV continued hostile, but Pius IV modified somewhat the harsh laws of his immediate predecessors. His bull (24 March 1564), in accordance with the decision of the Council of Trent, allowed the Talmud to be printed provided its name were omitted and it had been submitted before publication to the censor. The mutilations of the Talmud in accordance with the whim of an ignorant censor were often very curious; that the word heathen can refer to a non-Christian and that the Rome of the early rabbis was not the Rome of the papacy did not dawn upon the intelligence of the learned inquisitors. A brighter day was now to follow, with the Hebrew renaissance. In Holland, England and Switzerland, Talmudic studies attracted a host of scholars, and the Buxtorfs, L'Empereur, Sheringam, Selden, Surenhuys, were among those who strove to popularize rabbinical lore and who were to be succeeded by a host of learned men down to our own day-translators and interpreters in varied fashion. It is true, the Talmud was now and then subjected to condemnation; as recently as 1757, a large number of copies were burned in Poland by fanatics. Germany, too, during the wave of anti-Semitism, revived oldtime accusations. But the Talmud has survived the storm and Christian scholars like Franz Delitzsch, August Wünsche, H. L. Strack and W. H. Lowe have joined with a host of Jewish scholars in its vindication and interpretation. After all its vicissitudes, it seems to have found rest as a distinct addition to the world's culture. Pope Clement's proposal in 1307 to found Talmudical chairs at the universities has been adopted to some extent in Europe and America.

Talmud Manuscripts, Editions and Translations. It is not to be expected that many manuscripts of the Talmud have been preserved after its experiences during the Middle Ages. The bonfire at Cremona in 1559, in which 12,000 volumes of the Talmud were burned, was only one of such incidents. The only known complete manuscript of the Babylonian Talmud, 1369, is in the Royal Library of Munich. Codices of single portions are preserved in the Vatican Library and in the libraries at Oxford, Paris, Leyden and other cities of Europe. Columbia University has secured from South Arabia a collection of manuscripts containing four treatises which date from 1548. The University Library of Cambridge, England, has a fragment of the Talmud Pesachim, from the 8th or 9th century, edited in 1879, with an autotype facsimile by W. H. Lowe. Manuscripts of the Mishna or portions of it are found in a few libraries

« PrejšnjaNaprej »