THE RISE OF JEWISH-SPANISH CULTURE, AND THE DECAY OF THE GAONATE.
The Gaon Sherira and his son Haï--Sherira's Historical Letter
--The Jewish Congregations in Spain--Jewish Culture in
Andalusia--The Disciples of Menachem and Dunash--Jehuda
Chayuj--Contest between Chanoch and Ibn Abitur--Jacob Ibn
Jau--The Jews of France--Nathan the Babylonian and Leontin
--The Jews of Germany--Gershom and his Ordinances--The
Emperor Henry II.--The Caliph Hakem--The Jewish Communities
of Northern Africa--Chananel, the Son of Chushiel, and Nissim
bar Jacob Ibn-Shahin--The Jerusalem Talmud--Haï Gaon--His
Character and Importance--Samuel bar Chofni--Chiskiya, the
last Gaon--Samuel Ibn-Nagrela--Jonah Ibn-Janach.
970-1050 C. E.
When an institution of historic origin is doomed to sink into oblivion,
the most strenuous exertions of men cannot save it; and though they
succeed by generous sacrifices in deferring the time of its extinction,
its continuance is at best like that of a man in a trance.
So it happened to the Babylonian Gaonate, once so full of life. After
the most cultured communities of Spain and Africa had withdrawn their
support, and had made themselves independent of it, its fate was
sealed. It was in vain that the two men who successively adorned the
school of Pumbeditha by their virtue and knowledge, made a strenuous
effort to give it new life. They only succeeded in staying the death
of the Gaonate for somewhat more than half a century, but they were
unable to restore its vitality. These two men--father and son, the last
distinguished presidents of the school of Pumbeditha--were Sherira and
Haï (Haaja), to whom later generations gave the name of "the fathers
and teachers of Israel."
Sherira, son of the Gaon Chanina (born 920, died 1000), was of
distinguished parentage both on his father's and his mother's side,
several members of both families having filled the office of Gaon. He
boasted that he could trace his descent to the line of the Exilarchs
before Bostanaï. The seal of the Sherira family bore the impress of a
lion, which is said to have been the coat-of-arms of the Jewish kings.
Sherira was a Gaon of the old school, who valued the Talmud above
everything, and steered clear of philosophical ideas. He was
sufficiently acquainted with the Arabic language to use it in answering
questions which were directed to him by the Jewish communities in
Moslem countries. He preferred, however, to make use of the Hebrew and
Chaldee languages, and had no taste for Arabic literature. His literary
activity was entirely devoted to the Talmud and cognate subjects. He
did not trouble himself much about Biblical exegesis, but his moral
earnestness makes us overlook his lack of higher culture. As a judge,
he always endeavored to elicit the truth and to decide accordingly.
As head of the school, he spared no pains to spread instruction far
and near, hence his decisions are voluminous. But Sherira kept most
conscientiously to Talmudic precedents in framing his decisions; and on
one occasion severely criticised a master who taught his young slave
the Bible, and when he had grown up, allowed him to contract an illegal
marriage with another slave, because this was contrary to the decision
of several Talmudical teachers. Sherira was versed in theosophy, which
had but few followers at his time.
Sherira is especially distinguished on account of his "Letter,"
which is the main authority for the history of the Talmudical,
post-Talmudical, and Gaonic periods of Jewish history. Jacob ben Nissim
(Ibn-Shahin), a pupil of the Chushiel who had been taken captive
to Africa, and who taught the Talmud in Kairuan, sent a letter of
inquiry in the name of the community of Kairuan to Sherira. In it
the following questions were propounded: "In what way was the Mishna
written down? If the traditional law is of remote origin, how does
it happen that only authorities of a comparatively recent period are
known to us as bearers of the same? In what order were the various
books of the Mishna compiled?" Jacob also asked about the order of the
Saboraim and the Geonim, and about their respective terms of office.
Sherira wrote an answer (987) half in Hebrew and half in Chaldee, in
which he threw light upon several dark portions of Jewish history. The
chronicle of the Saboraim and Geonim as given by him is our guide for
this epoch. Sherira in this "Letter" answers the questions put to him
with the simple straightforwardness of the chronicler. But his opinions
about the Exilarchs of the line of Bostanaï, and about some of his
contemporaries, _e. g._, about Aaron Ibn-Sarjadu, are not altogether
unbiased. We have to thank the Gaon Sherira for the preservation of the
facts of Jewish history from the period of the conclusion of the Talmud
till his own time. It was not in his power to produce an historical
work of a critical character, nor, indeed, was this possible for the
genius of the Middle Ages.
In spite of his incessant activity as head of the school, he was
unable to prevent the decay of the school of Pumbeditha. The zeal for
the study of the Talmud and scientific activity had cooled in the
Babylonian countries. The academy had so few scholars at this time that
Sherira was compelled to promote his young son Haï, when only sixteen
years old, to the high office of chief judge. The respect for the Gaon
had vanished. Malicious persons had Sherira arraigned before the Caliph
Alkadir on some unknown charge, probably growing out of the rigor of
his administration (997). In consequence of this, father and son were
deprived of their liberty, all their property was confiscated, and
there was not enough left to them for a bare livelihood. They were,
however, liberated at the intercession of an influential man, and
restored to their dignity. Sherira soon after, on account of old age,
abdicated in favor of his son (998), and died a few years later.
His son Haï, although he was only 30 years old, was so popular that
to the reading of the Law on Sabbath, as a mark of honor to him, the
portion of the Pentateuch was added in which Moses prays for a worthy
successor, and instead of the usual prophetic lesson, the story of
David anointing his successor was read, and in conclusion the words,
"And Haï sat on the throne of Sherira his father, and his kingdom was
firmly established."
We turn gladly from the decay of the internal organization of the Jews
in the East to the vitality of the communities on the Guadalquiver and
the Guadiana. Vigorous forces and spiritual currents of most varied
character asserted themselves everywhere, and produced the brilliant
efflorescence of Jewish culture. There arose in the Jewish communities
of Andalusia intense zeal for the various branches of knowledge, and an
eager desire for creative activity.
The seed which had been sown by Chasdaï, the Jewish Mæcenas, by the
study of the Talmud under Moses the Babylonian, and by the poetical
and philological works of Menachem and Dunash, produced the fairest
fruit. Many-sided knowledge was considered among the Spanish Jews, as
well as among the Andalusian Moslems, a man's most beautiful ornament,
and brought its possessor honor and riches. Following the example of
Abdul-Rahman the Great, the Moslems admitted Jews to state offices,
owing to their superior insight and business capacity; thus we find
both Jewish consuls and Jewish ministers at Mahometan and Christian
courts. These emulated the conduct of Chasdaï in encouraging learning
and poetry. The knowledge of the period was neither one-sided nor
barren; on the contrary, it was full of healthy life, useful and
productive. The cultured Jews of Andalusia spoke and wrote the language
of the country as fluently as their Arab fellow-citizens, who were as
proud of the Jewish poets as the Jews themselves.
The Andalusian Jews were equally active in Bible exegesis and grammar,
in the study of the Talmud, in philosophy and in poetry. But the
students in any one of these departments were not narrow specialists.
Those who studied the Talmud were indifferent neither to Biblical lore
nor to poetry, and if not poets themselves, they found pleasure in the
rhythmic compositions of the new Hebrew poesy. The philosophers strove
to become thoroughly versed in the Talmud, and in many instances rabbis
were at the same time teachers of philosophy.
Nor were science and art looked upon by the Spanish Jews as mere
ornaments, but they exalted and ennobled their lives. Many of them
were filled with that enthusiasm and ideality which does not allow
the approach of any kind of meanness. The prominent men, who, either
through their political position or their merits stood at the head
of Jewish affairs in Spain, were for the most part noble characters
imbued with the highest sentiments. They were as chivalrous as the
Andalusian Arabs, and excelled them in magnanimity, a characteristic
which they retained long after the Arabs had become degenerate. Like
their neighbors, they had a keen appreciation of their own value, which
showed itself in a long string of names, but this self-consciousness
rested on a firm moral basis. They took great pride in their ancestry,
and certain families, as those of Ibn-Ezra, Alfachar, Alnakvah,
Ibn-Falyaj, Ibn-Giat, Benveniste, Ibn-Migash, Abulafia, and others
formed the nobility. They did not use their birth as a means to obtain
privileges, but saw therein an obligation to excel in knowledge and
nobility, so as to be worthy of their ancestors. The height of culture
which the nations of modern times are striving to attain, was reached
by the Jews of Spain in their most flourishing period. Their religious
life was elevated and idealized through this higher culture. They loved
their religion with all the fervor of conviction and enthusiasm. Every
ordinance of Judaism, as prescribed in the Bible and as explained in
the Talmud, was considered holy and inviolable by them; but they were
equally opposed to stolid bigotry and to senseless mysticism. Although
they often carried their investigation to the borders of unbelief,
yet there is scarcely one of the Jewish-Spanish thinkers who crossed
these bounds, nor did extravagant mysticism find favor with them during
the flourishing period. No wonder, then, that the Jews of Spain were
looked upon as superior beings by their uncultured brethren in other
lands--in France, Germany, and Italy--and that they gladly yielded
them the precedence which had formerly been enjoyed by the Babylonian
academies. Cordova, Lucena, and Granada soon took the place of Sora and
Pumbeditha. The official chief of the Jews in Andalusia was Chanoch,
of whom we have already spoken (940-1014). He succeeded his father in
the rabbinate. His rival, Joseph ben Isaac Ibn-Abitur (Ibn-Satanas or
Santas), a member of a respected Andalusian family, was as learned in
the Talmud, and excelled him in the extent of his secular knowledge.
Ibn-Abitur wrote in verse. Among other things he composed synagogue
poetry for the Day of Atonement, but his verse is harsh, awkward, and
altogether devoid of poetic charm. He had not profited by the poetry
of Dunash. Joseph Ibn-Abitur understood the Arabic language so well
that he was able to translate the Mishna into that language. The Caliph
Alhakem had expressed a wish to possess a translation of the work
containing the sources of Jewish tradition, and Ibn-Abitur gratified
that wish to his satisfaction. The refined Caliph probably only desired
to increase his library (which was of such proportions that the
catalogue took up twenty-four volumes) by the addition of the Mishna,
which was so highly valued by the Jews. The men most distinguished
in philology and Hebrew poetry during the period after Chasdaï were
the pupils of Menachem and Dunash. They carried on a controversy in
epigrams, in prose and verse. Of these, Isaac Ibn-G'ikatilia was a
poet, and Jehuda Ibn-Daud a Hebrew grammarian. The latter, whose Arabic
name was Ibn-Zachariah Yachya Chayuj, descended from a family which
came from Fez, was the first to place Hebrew philology on a firm basis,
and may be regarded as the first scientific grammarian. Chayuj, too,
was the first to recognize that Biblical Hebrew roots consist of three
letters, and that several consonants (the liquids, semi-vowels, and
the sounds produced by the same organ) become assimilated and change
into vowels. He thereby made it possible to know the different forms
and their changes, and to apply this knowledge to poetry. Chayuj thus
brought about a complete reform in the Hebrew language, and illumined
the darkness wherein his predecessors, amongst them Saadiah, Menachem,
and Dunash, and to a greater extent the Karaites, had been lost. Chayuj
wrote his grammatical works in Arabic; on this account they remained
unknown to the Jews out of Spain, who retained the imperfect systems of
Menachem and Dunash in their philological studies.
Although the rabbinate of Cordova was merely an honorary office, and
Chanoch derived no income from it, nevertheless it gave rise to
contention after Chasdaï's death. The followers of Joseph Ibn-Abitur,
amongst whom were the numerous Ibn-Abitur family, and the brothers
Ibn-Jau, silk manufacturers, who were employed at court, endeavored to
put their favorite at the head of affairs. The greater portion of the
Jews of Cordova clung to Chanoch. The quarrel became too serious to
be peaceably settled, and each party appealed to the Caliph on behalf
of its favorite. Seven hundred influential men, partisans of Chanoch,
betook themselves, in festive apparel, several days in succession to
Az-Zahra, Alhakem's residence, not far from Cordova, in order to obtain
the Caliph's favor for their rabbi.
The opposition party made up in zeal what it lacked in number.
Alhakem decided in favor of the majority, and confirmed Chanoch in
his rabbinate. But as Ibn-Abitur would not relinquish his claim, he
was excommunicated by the victorious party. In spite of this he did
not abandon hope. He appealed in person to the Caliph. He hoped to
gain him over through his knowledge of Arabic literature, and through
his service in translating the Mishna, and so effect a reversal of
the decree. But his hopes were vain. The Caliph addressed him in
the words: "If my subjects scorned me, as the community of Cordova
scorns you, I would abdicate my kingdom. My only advice to you is to
emigrate." The wish of the Caliph appeared to Ibn-Abitur a command,
and he left Cordova (975). When he saw that he could not gain any
followers in Spain, he set sail for Africa, traversed Maghreb, the
Fatimide dominion, and probably also Egypt, without finding favor
anywhere. Meanwhile, however, affairs suddenly took a favorable turn
for Ibn-Abitur. One of his chief supporters was raised to a high
position, and used his influence on his behalf. This was the silk
manufacturer, Jacob Ibn-Jau, whose checkered career bears witness to
the arbitrariness dominant in the Spanish Caliphate after the death of
the last just and cultured Caliph, Alhakem (976).
The title of Caliph appears to have descended to his son Hisham, a
sickly youth, but the chief power lay in the hands of Mahomet Almansur,
the terror of the Christians in the mountains of northern Spain and of
the Africans in their fortresses. Under this Mahometan "Major Domus,"
Jacob Ibn-Jau, the supporter of Ibn-Abitur, obtained great respect and
considerable power over the Jewish-Spanish community. The circumstances
of his good fortune are rather extraordinary. Jacob Ibn-Jau and his
brother Joseph supplied the court with costly embroidered silk. Their
goods were admired and sought after. Their business brought them into
contact with Almansur, and on one occasion they found a considerable
sum of money in the court of his palace, which had been lost by some
provincials who had been ill-treated. The brothers Ibn-Jau spent the
money in presents for the young Caliph and Almansur, so as to obtain
their favor, and procure the recall of the banished Ibn-Abitur. Their
attempt succeeded. In 985, Almansur appointed the elder brother Jacob
as prince and chief judge of the various Jewish communities in the
kingdom of the Andalusian Caliphate on both sides of the strait, from
Segelmessa in Africa as far as the Douro. He had the sole right to
appoint judges and rabbis in the communities, and to determine the
taxes for state purposes and for communal wants. Jacob Ibn-Jau held
court, as it were, had eighteen pages in his retinue, and drove about
in a state carriage. The community of Cordova, proud of the distinction
shown to one of its own members, recognized him as its chief, paid
homage to him, made his office hereditary, and the poets sang his
praises.
As soon as Ibn-Jau was appointed chief of the Jews of the Andalusian
Caliphate, he tried to realize the purposes for which he had sought
the favor of the court. He gave Chanoch notice to discontinue his
rabbinical functions, threatening that, in case he disobeyed, he would
be set adrift at sea in a ship without a rudder, thus returning to the
place whence he had come. Ibn-Jau next made preparations to recall
his favorite, Ibn-Abitur, and to invest him with the dignity of the
rabbinate. But before he could do that, the ban of excommunication had
to be removed, and for this act the consent and approval of the whole
community were required. Out of regard for Ibn-Jau, who was respected
at court, all the members of the community, amongst whom were his
former opponents, sent a flattering letter to Ibn-Abitur, inviting
him to accept the rabbinate of Cordova. Chanoch was deposed. When the
community of Cordova, and especially his friends, had made preparations
to meet Ibn-Abitur in a worthy manner, they received a letter from
him which speedily undeceived them. He inveighed, in harsh terms,
against their reckless treatment of his opponent. He praised Chanoch
in unmeasured terms, saying that in all his wanderings he had never
met with a man like him in virtue and piety, and at the same time he
advised the community of Cordova to re-instate him in his office.
Meanwhile Ibn-Jau could not maintain his authority. His patron,
Almansur, deposed him, and cast him into prison, the reason of his
condemnation being his probity and disinterestedness. The regent
(Hajib) had believed that the Jewish prince would use his power over
the communities of the western Caliphate for the purpose of extorting
money, and would make him the recipient of rich presents; but Ibn-Jau
did not burden the community, and, consequently, could not satisfy
Almansur's avarice. For this he was deprived of his liberty. After he
had been imprisoned for a year he was set free by the Caliph Hisham,
and restored to his former dignity (987). Since, however, Almansur was
unfavorable to him, he was practically powerless. When Ibn-Jau died,
one of Chanoch's relatives hastened to convey the news to him, thinking
that he would receive it with joy. But this noble rabbi wept at the
death of his enemy, and said, "Who will now care for the wants of the
poor like him who has just departed? I cannot take his place, for I
myself am poor."
Chanoch lived to see the beginning of the decadence of Cordova, and the
first general persecution of his co-religionists in Germany, Africa,
and in the East. He was killed by the fall of the reading-desk in the
synagogue on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (September, 1014).
The condition of the Jews in France and Germany at this time shows how
dependent their spiritual life was upon external circumstances.
During the feeble rule of the last Carlovingians, and even under the
first Capets in France, when the temporal and spiritual vassals became
more powerful than the kings, and also under the Saxon emperors, the
Jews were oppressed, and their literary activity almost entirely
checked. The canonical laws had long before this debarred them from
filling offices. They did not seek honor, but only desired to be
allowed to live quietly, and to observe their religion. But the chiefs
of the Church disturbed their peaceful condition without any profit to
themselves. In the French territory, the chief power lay in the hands
of the barons and the clergy. The power of the kings was as yet limited
on all sides, and could not protect the Jews from tyrannical caprice.
Only the fanatical clergy had entertained prejudices of a theological
nature against the Jews, but their zeal aroused the hatred of the
people against the Jews. The people, uncouth, brutish, and slaves to
superstition, looked upon the sons of Israel as a cursed race, unworthy
of compassion. They accused the Jews of employing evil spells against
Christians. When the king, Hugh Capet, died of a dangerous illness
(996), after having been treated by a Jewish physician, the people gave
credence to the report that the Jews had murdered him. The chroniclers,
too, looked upon this as a fact, and entered it upon their annals.
The Jews, it is true, had fields and vineyards, but they lacked
personal safety, which could be granted only by a strong government.
In the south of France, in Provence and Languedoc, where the king's
power was insignificant, the fate of the Jews was still more dependent
upon the caprice of the counts and viscounts. In one place they
possessed landed property and salt mines, and were even allowed to
become bailiffs (Bailli); in another they had to submit to be treated
as bondmen. The chief community was that of Narbonne. There had been
a Talmudical school there since the time of Charles the Great, but it
does not seem to have been well supported. There suddenly appeared on
the scene a Talmudist from the school of Sora, who instilled true zeal
for the study of the Talmud into the Jews of southern France. This may
have been Nathan bar Isaac, the Babylonian, but more probably it was
his pupil Leon or Leontin (Jehuda ben Meïr), who, although he left no
works behind him, was yet the first founder of the scientific study
of the Talmud, which henceforth flourished in France and Germany. His
famous pupil, Gershom, confessed that he owed all his knowledge to Leon.
The Jews in Germany at this time of the Saxon emperors did not suffer
oppression, though they were not specially favored. The feudal system
which existed in Germany forbade them to possess landed property, and
thus compelled them to be tradesmen. Jew and merchant were synonymous
in Germany. The rich were bankers, those of moderate means borrowed
money in order to visit the fair at Cologne, for which loan they had
to pay a low, reasonable interest. The German emperors continued the
custom, which had been introduced by the first Carlovingians, of
exacting a fixed tribute from the Jews. When Otto the Great wished to
grant a subsidy to the newly-built church at Magdeburg, he made it a
present of the revenue he derived from "the Jews and other merchants"
(965). Otto II likewise presented "the Jews of Merseburg" to the bishop
of that town in 981. In the retinue of this emperor was an Italian
Jew, Kalonymos, who was greatly attached to him, and on one occasion
assisted him at the risk of his own life (982). But the much praised
rule of the Ottos gave the Jews subject to them no chance of raising
themselves from their lowly position. The Christian peoples had learnt
much from the Arabs, but they had not learnt to encourage science
amongst members of religions different from their own. The German Jews
in consequence, although they led more moral and industrious lives
than their Christian brethren, were not more cultured. They had not
even any Talmudical teachers of note of their own, but got them from
abroad. Their first Talmudical authority was Gershom. He, together with
his brother Machir, spread the seeds of Talmudic knowledge from the
south of France to the Rhine, and gave it an importance that it had not
obtained even in the Gaonic schools.
Gershom ben Jehuda (born 960, died 1028) was born in France, and
emigrated for some unknown reason to Mayence. As was mentioned, he
was a pupil of Leon. In Mayence, Gershom founded a school which soon
attracted numerous pupils from Germany and Italy. The respect for
Gershom was so great that he was named "The Light of the Exile." He
expounded the Talmud to his pupils with a lucidity unattained by
any of his predecessors, and his commentaries to the Talmud are also
distinguished for clearness and directness.
Gershom was the first commentator of the vast Talmud, and he who
knows the difficulty of such a work will appreciate how much energy,
devotion, and patience were required for it. He was at once recognized
as an authority by the German, French, and Italian communities.
Questions were submitted to him, and unwittingly he became the rival
of the last Gaon Haï, although he looked upon him with the reverence
of a disciple. Through a peculiar combination of circumstances those
who respected the Gaonate most, contributed to its decay. Gershom's
commentaries on the Talmud, written in Hebrew, had the result that the
Gaonic school could be dispensed with, and thus severed the German
communities and those of northern France from it. Any one who chose to
do so could obtain a deep knowledge of the Talmud without first seeking
aid from Babylonia. Gershom also busied himself with the Massora, and
made a place for its study, which until then had been pursued only in
Mahometan countries, in Germany and in France.
Gershom became even more famous through his decrees than through his
commentaries. They produced a very wholesome effect upon German and
French Judaism. Amongst other things he forbade polygamy, practiced
even among European Jews, allowing it in extreme cases only. He decreed
further that the consent of the wife was necessary for a divorce,
whilst, according to the Talmud, the husband could give her a bill of
divorce against her wish. He also made an important rule about the
carrying of letters, viz., that the bearer must not read a letter, even
though it be not sealed. In those times intercourse with one's friends
was carried on by means of travelers who happened to be going in the
direction required. Hence this regulation was of the utmost importance.
Those who transgressed this decree were to be laid under the ban of
excommunication. Although these and other institutions were without
synodal formality, and the author of them was in no way invested with
official authority, yet, so great was the respect felt for Gershom,
that they were received by the German and French communities like the
decrees of a synhedrion, and scrupulously obeyed.
Contemporary with this authority of the German-French communities,
there lived in Mayence a man whose merits were, until recently,
unappreciated. This man was Simon ben Isaac ben Abun, of French
descent, from Le Mans. He was learned in the Talmud, and wrote an
original work (Yessod) on it. He was, besides, a versatile and prolific
Hebrew poet (Poetan), and wrote a number of liturgical compositions
in the style of Kaliri, as heavy and ungraceful as his, in which he
introduced the Agadic literature, often in an enigmatical way. Simon
ben Isaac was wealthy, and was thus able to avert the storm which had
gathered, and was threatening to break over the Jews of Germany.
In the eleventh century occurred the first persecutions of the Jews in
Germany. It is possible that the conversion of a churchman to Judaism,
which the chroniclers mentioned in their annals as an unlucky event,
roused the anger of the clergy against the Jews. The convert, whose
name was Wecelinus, was chaplain to Duke Conrad, a relative of the
emperor. After his conversion to Judaism (1005), Wecelinus wrote a
lampoon on his former religion, bearing witness to his own great hatred
of Christianity, and to the coarseness of the taste of the time. The
emperor Henry, however, was so angry at the conversion of the chaplain,
that he commissioned one of his clergy to write a reply. This he
did, and it was couched in equally coarse and undignified language.
Some years later (1012), the emperor decreed that the Jews should
be expelled from Mayence, as a punishment for their refusal to be
baptized. The decree was probably not confined to Mayence, but applied
to other communities. The poet, Simon ben Isaac, composed dirges,
lamenting the expulsion, as though it were a terrible persecution,
intended to uproot Judaism from the hearts of its followers.
Gershom, too, though by no means a poet, gave utterance to his grief
at the severe persecution of Henry II in penitential hymns. "Thou hast
made those who despise Thy Law," he says, "to have dominion over Thy
people; they bow down to senseless images, and would compel us, too,
to worship them. They urge Thine inheritance to change Thee for a God
of their own making. They are determined no longer to call Thee God,
and to overthrow Thy word. If I say, 'Far be it from me to forsake the
God of my fathers,' they gnash their teeth, put forth their hand for
plunder, and open their mouth in scoffing. Thy people are driven from
their homes, they raise their eyes in longing to Thee." During this
persecution many Jews became Christians, either to save their lives or
their possessions. Among them was Gershom's son. When the latter died a
Christian, his hapless father observed the mourning ceremonials for him
as for one who had died a Jew.
Simon ben Isaac, by his zeal, and probably by bribing the officials
with large sums of money, succeeded in staying the persecution, and
even in obtaining permission for the Jews to settle again in Mayence.
Those Jews who had been compelled to submit to baptism now gladly
returned to their religion, and Gershom protected them from the
scorn of their brethren on account of their temporary apostasy, by
threatening to excommunicate any one who reproached them.
The grateful community was anxious to perpetuate the memory of Simon.
It was done by mentioning his name in the synagogue every Sabbath,
and adding, "that he had exerted himself on behalf of his brethren,
and that through him persecutions had ceased." The name of Gershom
was likewise perpetuated, because "he had enlightened those in exile
through his decrees."
The school that had been founded by Gershom in Mayence flourished for
more than eighty years, and became the center of Talmudic activity
for Germany, France and Italy. At the same time, about the end of the
fourth century of the Hejira, when the Karaites expected the coming of
the Messiah, persecution broke out against the Jews in the East and
in Egypt, and lasted longer than that in Germany. The German Jews had
been persecuted because they did not believe in Christ and the saints;
the Eastern Jews were now oppressed because they would not believe in
Mahomet and the immaculate Imam, in the heavenly guide (Mahdi).
This persecution was originated by the mad Egyptian Caliph Hakim, a
Mahometan Caius Caligula, who believed that he was the incarnation of
the divine power, and the vicegerent of God on earth. Hakim persecuted
all who dared doubt his divinity--Mahometans, Jews, and Christians,
without distinction. At first he decreed that if the Jews of his
dominion did not become converts to the Shiitic Islam, they would have
to wear round their necks the picture of a calf in commemoration of
the golden calf of their ancestors in the wilderness. In addition,
they were to be distinguished from the believers by their external
appearance, as ordained by Omar. Those who transgressed were to be
punished by exile, and by the loss of all their possessions (1008).
A similar regulation was enacted against the Christians. When Hakim
heard that the Jews evaded his decree by wearing a golden image of
a calf, he added a further clause, viz., that they should wear in
addition a block of wood six pounds in weight, and have little bells
attached to their garments that they might be known at a distance as
unbelievers (1010). He afterwards ordered the churches and synagogues
to be destroyed, and drove both Jews and Christians out of his kingdom
(1014). The Fatimide dominions at that time were very extensive. They
embraced Egypt, northern Africa, Palestine and Syria, and since Hakim
had adherents also in the Caliphate of Bagdad, there were but few
places of refuge open to the Jews. Many, therefore, outwardly conformed
to Islam, while waiting for better times to come. The persecution
lasted till the Mahometans themselves grew tired of the half-witted
Caliph, and assassinated him (1020).
Northern Africa, too, which had enjoyed a brief efflorescence under
Isaac Israeli, Dunash ben Tamim, and the alien R. Chushiel, produced
its last set of great men in the latter part of the eleventh century,
and then sank into oblivion. Its two great authorities were Chananel,
the son of Chushiel, the immigrant, and Nissim bar Jacob Ibn-Shahin
(1015-1055). They lived in the same place, and are usually named
together, but they do not appear to have been on friendly terms with
each other. On the contrary, there appears to have been the same
rivalry between them as there had been between Chanoch and Ibn-Abitur,
Nissim, like the latter, being a native, and Chananel, like the former,
the son of an alien. We are not even certain which of the two was the
official rabbi of Kairuan; both of them, however, presided over the
school. Chananel, in addition, had a large business; whilst Nissim was
so poor that he had to be supported by the Jewish minister in Granada.
They, however, showed remarkable similarity in their ideas; they
pursued the same studies, and wrote works on the same subjects, but
Chananel made use of the Hebrew language, and Nissim of Arabic.
A new element in the study of the Talmud, which established it on a
firmer basis than that on which the Geonim had been able to place
it, was added by the labors of these two men. The Jerusalem Talmud,
although more ancient than the Babylonian, had suffered considerably
by the fate to which books as well as men are exposed. Whilst the
Babylonian Talmud was known and studied in the East to the boundaries
of Khorasan and India, and in the West to the end of the ancient
world, its companion remained for a long time unknown outside of its
birthplace. The former had commentators, who explained and expounded it
thoroughly; the latter was for a long time neglected. In consequence
of the connection of northern Africa with Palestine, brought about
through its conquest by the Fatimide Caliphs, the Jewish teachers of
the two lands came into contact with each other, and the Talmud of the
Holy Land (as it was called) became known in Kairuan. The two great
Talmudists, Chananel and Nissim, were the first in Talmudic circles to
busy themselves with it. In their Talmudical writings, which consisted
partly of commentaries, explanations of separate words and the
subject-matter, and partly of practical decisions, they gave prominence
to the Jerusalem Talmud. Both wrote commentaries to the Pentateuch,
in which they followed the path marked out by Saadiah for rational
exposition of difficult passages in the Pentateuch.
They were both in constant communication with Babylonia on the one
hand and with Spain on the other, and formed, so to speak, the link
between the two lands. They lived to see the utter extinction of the
Gaonate, but after their death the school of Kairuan sank into complete
insignificance. One of its pupils, who afterwards became famous as a
rabbinical authority, owed his fame solely to his emigration to Spain.
The institutions, too, and the traditions of Babylonian-Persian Judaism
showed manifest signs of decay at this time. They possessed, it is
true, two men of extraordinary ability, viz. Haï and Samuel ben Chofni,
but these were not in a position to stay its dissolution, and could
only throw a dim light upon the dying Gaonate.
Haï (or Haya, born 969, died 1038), who had in his eighteenth year been
raised to the highest office next to the Gaon, at the age of thirty
years succeeded his father Sherira in the Gaonate of Pumbeditha. At
his installation the high honor was accorded him of having his name
mentioned when a portion from the Prophets was publicly read, and he
was compared to King Solomon. Foreign communities, as well as the
Babylonians, showed him the highest respect. His character was noble,
and he was a man of independent thought. He was versed in all branches
of science as they were then taught, and displayed great literary
activity. Haï reminds one of Saadiah, whom he took as his model, and
whom he defended from attacks, but he was essentially a Talmudist,
whereas Saadiah was a religious philosopher. Like him Haï was a
thorough Arabic scholar, and made use of that language in many of his
letters, and in numerous scientific treatises. Like the Gaon of Fayum
he was free from that narrow-minded exclusiveness which permits men to
see the truth only in their own religion, and causes them to look upon
everything outside as untrue. He was on friendly terms with the head
of the Eastern Christians of Bagdad, and on one occasion, when in his
exegetical lectures he chanced upon a difficult passage, he did not
hesitate to consult the Patriarch (Mar-Elia I.).
In his explanation of rare and archaic words in the Bible, Haï
boldly sought assistance from the Koran and the old traditions
of the Mahometans in order to confirm their meaning. He was an
unprejudiced sage, who loved the light and avoided darkness. He
often had disputations with Mahometan theologians about the relation
between Judaism and Islam, and is said often to have silenced them by
his eloquence. His main study, however, was the Talmud. In this he
resembled his father Sherira, but his study was productive of better
results. He wrote a terse commentary, in which he explained the words
in the most difficult portions of the Mishna and the Talmud.
Haï treated of the civil law of the Talmud, of contracts, loans,
boundaries and oaths, with systematic precision. He did this as no one
before him had done, and he therefore became the model and authority
for later generations. He did not enter upon the field of metaphysics,
but although he was not a philosopher, he had sound opinions on
mysticism. Surrounded with a halo of religion, a mystic belief often
appears reasonable to those of weak reasoning powers, but Haï perceived
its deceptive character.
The belief in miracles has, in every country, at all times, and in
all creeds, befogged the intellect of unthinking men, and robbed them
of the ability to form a rational view of divine wisdom and of life.
This belief was fostered by the Jews in many ways, and took as firm a
hold on them, as it had on the Christian and the Mahometan world. It
was especially prevalent in Palestine and Italy. Its devotees believed
that any one who is truly pious can perform at will miracles as great
and surprising as those of the prophets of old. They thought, however,
that for this purpose it is necessary to pronounce certain magical
formulæ, consisting of various combinations of the letters in the name
of God. Haï's true religious insight prompted him to write indignantly
against this belief, which, despite the fact that his father was not
free from it, he considered a desecration of religion. A pupil of Jacob
ben Nissim of Kairuan once asked Haï what he thought of the magical
power of the names of God, which, many boasted, they could use. Haï
answered briefly and sensibly:--"If any one by the mere use of formulæ
could perform miracles, and thereby alter the course of nature, wherein
lay the distinction of the prophets?" God gave the prophets the power
of temporarily altering the laws of nature that they might prove
themselves His true messengers. Now, if pious persons could do the
same, and if there happened to be many of them, miracles would become
daily occurrences, and the motion of the sun from west to east would
appear no more extraordinary than its common motion in the opposite
direction--in short, miracles would cease to be miracles. "It is
wrong," said Haï, "to make use of the name of God for such purposes,"
and he warned the people against this practice, in which there is much
doubt and little truth; and a man must be indeed foolish who believes
everything.
Haï was universally acknowledged as an authority, and through his
influence the school of Pumbeditha somewhat recovered its prestige.
The great scholars Nissim and Chananel of Kairuan, the community of
Fez, the vizir Samuel Nagid, Gershom of Mayence, the authority of the
German Jews, and the other authorities of the communities of three
parts of the world, submitted questions to him, and honored him as
the chief representative of Judaism. He was called "the father of
Israel." The Exilarchate had been practically extinct since the death
of the grandson of David ben Zaccaï, and Haï stood at the head of
Judaism. No fitter man could have been found to represent it. Unlike
the former Geonim of Pumbeditha, who all looked askance at the sister
academy, unlike his father, who felt a keen delight when Sora was
without a chief, Haï did his best to give it a leader in the person
of Samuel ben Chofni, who filled his office during Haï's Gaonate.
Samuel was his father-in-law, and his equal in learning and character.
He wrote several systematic works on the ritual, and a commentary on
the Pentateuch, in which he set forth the same philosophical views
about the unity of God as the followers of the Mutazilist school. His
commentary on the Pentateuch, indeed, is not very much praised. It
was, like the Karaite commentaries, diffuse, and contained discussions
on irrelevant questions. But although his exegetical works mark no
distinct progress, yet they show the important fact that the Geonim
followed the scientific lines laid down by Saadiah. Samuel ben Chofni's
interpretations of the Bible are all rationalistic. He always endeavors
to explain the miraculous events narrated in the Bible as if they were
natural. He explained the story of the witch of Endor, and of Balaam,
as dreams. Like Saadiah, he attacked Karaism, the occasion being a keen
controversy which broke out at that time between the Karaites and the
Rabbanites. Samuel ben Chofni died four years before his son-in-law Haï
(1034), and thus ended the line of the Geonim of Sora.
This school does not appear to have made any effort to continue after
his death. The times were in every way unfavorable to the Gaonate, and
it was impossible for it to regain its pristine vigor. When Haï died,
in 1038, mourned by all the Jews, and eulogized by the greatest poet of
the time, Ibn-Gebirol, and by his admirer Chananel, in Africa, the time
for the dissolution of the school of Pumbeditha had also come. It is
true that the college immediately chose a successor, who acted at once
as Gaon and as Exilarch, it seems only in order to have the two offices
buried together in the same grave with his person.
Chiskiya, the great grandson of the quarrelsome Exilarch David ben
Zaccaï, was appointed head of the school. But the glory which it was
thought he would shed upon the school could not make itself visible.
Chiskiya had many implacable enemies who were jealous of his elevation.
They slandered him at court, for what reason or under what pretext
is unknown. The political power of the Eastern Caliphate was at that
time in the hands of Jelal Addaulah. He had wrested from the phantom
caliph the title of "King of kings," and exacted tribute from both
Jews and Christians. The great Sultan may have made use of the just or
unjust complaint against Chiskiya for his own profit. The last Gaon was
imprisoned, tortured probably, that he might discover his treasures,
robbed of all his property, and then executed (1040). Thus the Gaonate
came to an end through the oppression of the weak Caliphate. Babylonia
had played its part in Jewish history, and for a long time it sank into
complete oblivion. Chiskiya's two sons were also in danger of arrest,
but they escaped, and after traveling about for a long time, settled
in Spain, where they were respected as the last members of the House
of David, and under the name Ibn-Daudi, devoted themselves to the
cultivation of the muses.
Jewish Spain thus became the heir of Judæa, Babylonia, and northern
Africa, and greatly increased its inheritance for succeeding
generations. There the exiled sons of the Jewish-Chazar princes, and
of the Exilarchs, found a refuge. At the head of the community of
Andalusia was Samuel Ibn-Nagrela (or Nagdela), a man distinguished for
wisdom, virtue and position, the first of the succession of Jewish
teachers coming after the Geonim. He united in his person all the
virtues of the three men who had made Jewish Spain famous. He was like
Chasdaï, a generous chief and a patron of learning, like Moses ben
Chanoch, a thorough Talmudist, and like Dunash ben Labrat, a poet and
grammarian.
The life of Samuel (Ishmael) Halevi Ibn-Nagrela was remarkable. He was
born in Cordova (in 993), whither his father had emigrated from Merida,
and studied the Talmud in the school of Chanoch. Jehuda Chayuj, the
father of Hebrew philology, instructed him in the subtleties of the
Hebrew language, and the Andalusian capital, which was then the center
of culture, offered him sufficient opportunity to make himself master
of Arabic. When he was 20 years old, in consequence of civil war, he
and many others were obliged to quit Cordova. The Barbary chieftain,
Suleiman, having defeated the Arabs and the Sclavonian body-guard of
the Caliphs in battle, destroyed the beautiful buildings of the capital
with African fury, permitted the women to be violated, and reduced the
richest families to beggary (April, 1013).
The noble Jewish families emigrated to Granada, Toledo, and even to
Saragossa, to escape this persecution. Samuel Ibn-Nagrela settled in
the port of Malaga.
He had a small business, and at the same time pursued Talmudic and
linguistic studies. Besides Hebrew, Arabic and Chaldee, he understood
four languages, including Latin, Castilian and the Berber tongue.
Unlike most other Jews, who wrote Arabic in Hebrew characters,
Ibn-Nagrela was a master of Arabic calligraphy, an art highly esteemed
among the Arabs. To his knowledge of languages and calligraphy he owed
the high position which he held, and which had not been attained by any
Jew since the destruction of the Jewish state.
Civil wars and the ambition of the Emirs had broken up the empire of
the Ommiyyade Caliphs into small principalities. Andalusia, after the
fall of the last Ommiyyades, was subdivided like Germany and Italy
of the past. The Arab historians call the regents of this period the
"Kings of Anarchy." One race of Berbers, the Sinhajas, founded a
kingdom of their own in the south of Spain, under a leader named Maksen
(1020). Granada, largely populated by Jews, became the capital of
this kingdom, and Malaga was also a part of it. In Malaga, Abulkasim
Ibn-Alarif, the vizir of Habus, the second king of Granada, had a
palace next to Samuel's little shop. This brought good fortune to the
poor scholar, and raised him above want, and ultimately exalted him to
a height worthy of his greatness.
A slave of the vizir who frequently furnished information to her
master, regularly had her letters written by the poor Jew. These
letters displayed so much linguistic and calligraphic skill that the
vizir Ibn-Alarif became anxious to know the writer. He had Ibn-Nagrela
called into his presence, and took him into his service as his private
secretary (1025). The vizir soon discovered that Samuel possessed great
political insight, and consulted him on all important affairs of state,
and as his advice was always sound, the vizir at length undertook
nothing without Samuel's approval.
When Ibn-Alarif fell ill, King Habus was in despair as to what to
do about his complicated relations with neighboring states. The
dying vizir referred him to his Jewish secretary, confessed that
his successful undertakings had been mainly due to Samuel's wise
suggestions, and advised Habus to employ him as a counselor. The Berber
king of Granada, who had fewer prejudices against the Jews than the
Arab Mussulmans, raised Samuel Ibn-Nagrela to the dignity of minister
(Katib), and put him in charge of the diplomatic and military affairs
(1027). Thus the shopkeeper of Malaga lived in the king's palace, and
had a voice in all matters concerning the Pyrenean peninsula. For a
Mahometan who chose a vizir ruled, but did not govern. This was the
affair of the chief minister, who was answerable to the king with his
life. Habus had no reason to regret his choice. His kingdom flourished
under the rule of the wise and active Jewish vizir. Samuel knew how to
occupy the king, and how to please him. He composed a poem of praise
to Habus in seven different languages. Diplomatic, wise, and always
master of himself, Ibn-Nagrela knew how to employ circumstances, and
had the art of disarming his opponents. He drew a masterly picture of
a worthy governor, which seems to have been his own guide: "He whose
counsel is as pure as sunlight, who is free from base desires, whose
eyes do not close in sleep, whose thoughts are firm as towers, whom
dignity encompasses like shining armor, who knows how to subdue the
will of others, and keeps aloof from what brings disgrace, is worthy
to rule." His wisdom and piety preserved him from the pride peculiar
to those that have risen from low estate, making them hateful. The
gentleness with which he opposed his enemies is shown by an anecdote.
Near the palace of Habus there lived a Mussulman seller of spices,
who no sooner beheld the Jewish minister in the company of the king,
than he overwhelmed him with curses and reproaches. Habus, indignant
at such conduct, commanded Samuel to punish this fanatic by cutting
out his tongue. The Jewish vizir, however, knew how to silence him who
cursed. He gave him money, and converted the curses into blessings.
When Habus again noticed the seller of spices, he was astonished at
the change, and questioned Samuel about it. He replied, "I have torn
out his angry tongue, and given him instead a kind one." The seller of
spices, however, was not his only enemy; there were several others, and
very dangerous ones. The fanatical Mahometans beheld in the elevation
of an unbeliever to so high a rank a mockery of their religion. It
aroused their displeasure to see the numerous Jews of the kingdom
of Granada hold their heads aloft as though on an equality with the
Moslems. Two officers of state, Ibn-Abbas and Ibn-Abi Musa, plotted to
depose him. But their plots failed, and they were condemned to death.
Fortune ever smiled on this Jewish vizir, although he was at one time
in danger of losing his position and his life. When King Habus died in
1037 there arose two parties in Granada, who rallied round two princes.
Most of the Barbary grandees, and some of the influential Jews, Joseph
Ibn-Migash, Isaac ben Leon, and Nehemia Ashkafa, sided with the younger
son, Balkin (or Bologgin); a smaller party (amongst them Samuel)
desired that the elder son, named Badis, should be the successor. The
influential party were ready to hail Balkin as king, when he abdicated
in favor of his brother. Badis became king (October, 1037), and Samuel
not only retained his former position, but became the actual king of
Granada, as the pleasure-loving Badis gave but little attention to
affairs of government. Later on Balkin repented of his generosity to
his brother, and put obstacles in the way of his government. Badis
therefore hinted to the physician of Balkin to refrain from giving
him medicine during an illness, and this led to his death. After his
death the government of Badis and the position of Ibn-Nagrela remained
undisturbed. Balkin's partisans were forced to leave Granada, and
amongst them the three Jews mentioned above. They emigrated to Seville,
and were there received in a friendly manner by the king of that
country, Mahomet Aljafer, who was an opponent of the king of Granada.
One of the fugitives, Joseph Ibn-Migash, was raised by the king of
Seville to a high position, and became the ancestor of a prominent
personage. It is interesting to see in the writings of a contemporary
historian the form used by the Jewish minister in the royal decrees
addressed to the Mahometan people. Samuel, or as he was called, Ismael
Ibn-Nagrela, did not shrink from using the formulæ of Moslem rulers.
He opened with the words, Chamdu-l-Illahi (praised be God), and added,
when mentioning the name of Mahomet, the sentence, "May God pray over
him and bless him." He exhorted those to whom the circulars were
addressed to live according to the principles of Islam; and in general
his ordinances were couched in the Mahometan style.
Without doubt both Habus and Badis permitted the Jewish vizir to
exercise authority over the Jewish congregations of Granada, similar
to that which Chasdaï and Ibn-Jau had possessed in Cordova. Samuel
was named chief and prince (Nagid) of the Jews, and this title is
used by Jewish authors. The minister of state was also the rabbi; he
presided over the school, where he delivered lectures on the Talmud
to his disciples. He gave judicial decisions on religious questions,
and in fact completely filled the functions of a rabbi of the time.
The same pen which wrote the decrees of the government was used
for treatises and discourses on the Talmud. Samuel Nagid compiled
a methodology of the Talmud (Mebo ha-Talmud), in which he clearly
explained the technical expressions of the Talmud. As an introduction,
he added a list of the bearers of tradition from the men of the Great
Assembly through the successive authorities of the Tanaite, Amoraite,
Saburaite, and Gaonic schools down to Moses and Chanoch, his teachers.
He afterwards composed a commentary to the whole Talmud for religious
practices, which was afterwards highly prized, and was recognized as
the standard authority (Hilchetha Gabriatha). Samuel Ibn-Nagrela was
also a neo-Hebraic poet, and employed both rhyme and meter skilfully.
He composed prayers in the form of psalms, full of religious depth and
submission, and called the collection the Young Psalter (Ben Tehillim).
He wrote thoughtful aphorisms and parables, the fruit of his deep
observation of men and manners, and called this composition the younger
book of Proverbs (Ben Mishle). Last he compiled a book of philosophy
modeled on that of the Preacher (Ben Kohelet). The latter, written when
he had attained an advanced age, was the most successful of his works,
and is full of deep thought and eloquence. He also composed epigrams
and songs of praise, but his poetic compositions, both secular and
spiritual, are heavy and dull, full of thought, but devoid of beauty of
form. It became proverbial to say, "Cold as the snow of Hermon, or as
the songs of the Levite Samuel."
It is not remarkable that a man of such pure integrity and deep
appreciation of wisdom and religion should spread blessings around
him, should advance science and poetry, and should support learning
with princely generosity. Samuel was in communication with the
most prominent men of his time, in Irak, Syria, Egypt, and Africa,
especially with the last of the great Geonim, Haï and with Nissim.
He gave rich gifts to the learned, he had copies of books made to be
presented to poor students, arousing dormant talents and becoming
the protector of his countrymen, far and near. The greatest poet of
the time, Ibn-Gebirol, he comforted in his distress. A writer of the
following generation aptly describes him in the words, "In Samuel's
time the kingdom of science was raised from its lowliness, and the star
of knowledge once more shone forth; God gave unto him a great mind
which reached to the spheres and touched the heavens, so that he might
love knowledge and those that pursued her, and that he might glorify
religion and her followers."
The position of the Jews in a country in which one of them held the
reins of government was naturally high. In no country of the world did
they enjoy so complete an equality as in the city of Granada. It was as
a ray of sunshine after days of gloom. They were, in fact, more highly
favored by the ruling race, the Berbers, than the Arab population, who
bore the yoke of the Sinhajas with silent anger, and whose glances were
always directed to the neighboring city of Seville, in which a king of
pure Arab race wore the crown.
The minister of state and rabbi, Ibn-Nagrela, also occupied himself
with researches into the structure of the holy language, but this was
his weak point. He did not get beyond the rules laid down by Chayuj.
He was so partial to this master that he could not appreciate new
efforts. Samuel composed twenty-two theses on Hebrew grammar. Only
one, however, Sefer-ha Osher, the "Book of Riches," is worthy of
mention. The rest were only polemic treatises directed against the
great Hebrew linguist, Ibn Janach, towards whom Samuel was unfriendly.
Ibn Janach, the greatest Hebraist of his time--no less an ornament of
Spanish Judaism than the vizir Ibn-Nagrela--deserves a special page
in Jewish history, more especially because for a long time he was
unknown and then misunderstood. Jonah Marinus (in Arabic, Abulvalid
Mervan Ibn-Janach, born about 995, died 1050), was educated in
Cordova, where after the death of Chasdaï all hearts were filled with
enthusiasm for knowledge and a devoted love for the holy language.
Isaac Ibn-G'ikatilia, of the school of Menachem, taught him Hebrew
grammar, and Isaac Ibn-Sahal was his teacher in prosody. He studied
medicine in the high school of Cordova, founded by the Caliph Alhakem.
In his youth Ibn-Janach, like everybody at that period, made verses,
which even later on, when his taste was developed, did not appear to
him entirely bad. But he gave up versifying in order to devote himself
entirely to the study of the Hebrew language in all its ramifications.
He lived entirely for this study, and obtained such mastery of it that
up to the present day he has not been surpassed. Posterity has learnt
much from Ibn-Janach, but students of the Hebrew language can yet
learn much more. Like his opponent Ibn-Nagrela, he also was compelled
to leave Cordova after its destruction by Suleiman of Barbary (1013),
when he settled in Saragossa. The Jews of Saragossa were for the most
part still laboring under the delusion that rabbinical Judaism would
be injured by research, and especially by grammatical investigations.
Ibn-Janach nevertheless devoted himself to the study of the structure
of the Hebrew language and to the explanation of the text of the
Bible. He also pursued the study of medicine both theoretically and
practically; but his chief attention was directed to a thorough
exegesis of the Bible, and grammatical research with him was not an
end in itself, but simply the means for a better comprehension of Holy
Writ. Ibn-Janach, in his researches, reached conclusions not discovered
by Chayuj. The alterations which on this account he necessarily had to
make in the grammatical system of Chayuj, were made modestly and with
due recognition of its merits. He had the greatest admiration for the
founder of Hebrew philology, but like Aristotle, "his love of truth was
greater than his love of Plato." This independence of Chayuj's teaching
aroused the anger of the latter's followers, chief amongst whom was
Samuel Ibn-Nagrela, and the disputes that arose ended in bitter
personalities. The two chief exponents of the Jewish culture of this
period, the noble-minded prince and the master of the Hebrew language,
thus became bitter, irreconcilable enemies.
Feeling the approach of old age, which with Plato he calls "the mother
of forgetfulness," Ibn-Janach devoted himself to his greatest work,
wherein he summed up his researches, and deposited the treasures of his
soul life. Ibn-Janach was not only the creator of the science of Hebrew
syntax, but he also developed it almost to perfection. None before
him, and but few since his time, have entered into all the niceties of
the holy language with so much discrimination as Ibn-Janach. He first
drew attention to the ellipses, and to the misplacement of letters
and verses in the Holy Scriptures, and he was sufficiently daring to
explain that various dark and apparently inexplicable expressions
were due to the change of a letter or a syllable. He explained over
two hundred obscure passages by means of the supposition that the
writer had substituted an inappropriate word for a more fitting one.
By the insertion of the correct word, Ibn-Janach often gives the
intended meaning to a number of verses which up to his time had been
interpreted in a childish way. He was the first rational Bible critic.
Although convinced of the divinity of Holy Writ, he did not, like
others, rate the language so highly as to accept sheer nonsense; but
he assumed that, even though inspired, words addressed to mankind must
be interpreted according to the rules of human language. Ibn-Janach
did not, indeed, assert that the copyists and punctuators had altered
or corrupted the holy literature from want of understanding, but that
being human they had erred. He justly called his chief work (which with
five others he wrote in Arabic) "Critique" (Al Tanchik), and divided it
into two parts--into grammar with exegesis ("Al-Luma', Rikmah"), and
lexicon ("Kitab Al-Assval").
Although Ibn-Janach had many enemies amongst those who belittled him,
and amongst those who condemned him as a heretic on account of his
scientific treatment of the Bible, yet in his work he never mentions
them in anger, and, in fact, had he been the only one concerned, the
world would never have known of the enmity of Samuel Ibn-Nagrela
towards him. Ibn-Janach was not unacquainted with philosophy. He refers
to Plato and Aristotle in a scholarly manner. He also wrote a book on
logic in the Aristotelian spirit. But he was opposed to metaphysical
researches into the relation of God to the world, and first principles,
speculations with which his countrymen, and especially Ibn-Gebirol,
concerned themselves, because he considered that such matters did
not lead to any definite knowledge, and that they undermine belief.
Ibn-Janach was a clear thinker, and opposed to any extravagant or
eccentric tendency. He was the opposite of the third of the triumvirate
of this period, his townsman Ibn-Gebirol, with whom his relations
apparently were not of the pleasantest kind.