The sole reply which these occurrences elicited from the intelligent
members of the Jewish community was a more strenuous effort on their
part to complete the work of inward purification, and renewed zeal
in the study of their historic past. They trusted that the image of
Judaism, if presented in its proper light, would remove the odium which
rested upon their people, and would furthermore become their sure guide
in the work of reconstructing the religion of their ancestors.
Late in the year 1819 a "Society for the Culture and Science* of the
Jews" was founded at Berlin. Its object was twofold: first to promote
a more effective prosecution of the "Science of Judaism"; secondly, to
elevate the moral tone of the people, to counteract their prevailing
bias toward commerce, and to encourage them in the pursuits of
agriculture, the trades, and such of the professions as they had access
to.
* Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, X. p. 361.
** Throughout this article we use the word "science" in the
sense of the German Wissenschaft.
The science of Judaism embraces the departments of history, philosophy,
and philology, the last being of special importance, since it presents
the key to the correct understanding of the two former. The means
adopted to secure these objects were chiefly three,--a scientific
institute, a journal whose columns were enriched by many contributions
of enduring value, and a school in which instruction was imparted gratis
to poor students and Partisans. Among the members of the society
we mention Edward Gans, the President, afterwards Professor of
Jurisprudence at the University of Berlin; the eminent critic, Dr. Zunz;
the poet, Heinrich Heine;* Moser; the noble Wholwill; and others.
* Heine was for some time an instructor in the society's
school. For an account of the Cultur-Verein, and of the
poet's cordial interest in its success, vide Strodtmann,
"Heine's Leben und Werke," p. 237.
Unfortunately, the public mind was not yet prepared to appreciate the
labors of these men; the society languished for want of support, and
after a few years its formal organization was dissolved. But in the
brief term of its existence it had accomplished its main object; the
science of Judaism was securely established, and it could safely be left
to the industry of a few gifted individuals to cultivate and propagate
it. The ten years following the "Hep-Hep" excitement witnessed a series
of literary achievements whose importance it would be difficult
to overrate. Zunz and Rappoport, the pioneers of the new science,
discovered the thread by which they were enabled to push their way
through the labyrinth of Jewish literature. Profound erudition,
critical acumen, and a subtle insight amounting almost to intuition, are
displayed in their writings. A band of worthy disciples followed their
lead. The chain of tradition, which had seemed hopelessly tangled, was
unravelled; many of its missing links were ingeniously supplied, and the
sequence of events, on the whole, satisfactorily determined. The dimness
and vagueness that had hung over the history of the Jews was giving way,
and the leading figures in the procession of past generations assumed
clear and distinct outlines. At this time Jost was employed in writing
the first connected history of his people which had ever emanated from
Jewish sources.