I.

'Is thy day of persecution to return, lost, unhappy Israel?' exclaimed

the old rabbi, Philip Moses, sadly shaking his venerable grey head, as

one evening in the autumn of 1819 stones were thrown in through the

windows of the house in which he resided, whilst the rabble of Hamburg

shouted in the street in derision the first words of the Jew's lament

for Jerusalem.

'Yes! ye are right,' he continued mournfully; 'Jerusalem is demolished

and laid waste. Ye could not stone us against Jehovah's will! But His

wrath is sore kindled against us. His patience was great, but His

people have forgotten Him in the midst of their banishment; they have

forsaken the Law and the Prophets amidst the dwellings of strangers;

they have mingled their blood with the blood of the unbeliever; and lo!

therefore God's people are thrust forth from the earth, and blotted out

from among the living.'

'Oh, grandfather, grandfather!' cried his weeping grandchildren,

clinging to him in their terror, 'protect us from the fearful

Christians!'

'If ye be still the children of Israel,' answered the old man calmly,

'fold your hands and bow your knees, turn your faces towards the

east--towards the ruins of God's holy city--and pray to Jehovah, the

God of your fathers! While thus engaged in prayer, what if these stones

crush your heads and dash out your brains? Praise Jacob's God with me,

and die in the name of the Lord God of Sabaoth! Then shall His cherubim

bear ye in peace to our father Abraham's bosom!'

'Is that the only comfort you can bestow, simple old man?' said his son

Samuel, the father of the children. He was the richest jeweller in

Hamburg, and now saw his valuable shop exposed to be ransacked and

plundered by the furious mob. 'Can you give us no better advice than to

pray? _I_ know something better. We will all let ourselves be baptized

to-morrow.'

'Would you renounce the faith of your fathers on account of your

anxiety about your jewellery, my son?' said the old man, casting a

contemptuous glance on the wealthy, trembling Israelite, who, overcome

with fear, was rushing from keeping-place to keeping-place, gathering

together and packing up his most valuable articles.

'Truly it is indifferent to me whether they call me Jew or Christian,'

replied Samuel, 'so I can save my goods and my life. When the question

is, whether I shall be a rich man to-morrow or a beggar--whether I

shall walk the streets, and go to the Exchange in peace, or if I am to

be pelted in open day by the very children, and risk my health, my

limbs, my life itself--when my jewels, my furniture, my wife, my

children, and my windows are in question--I should be a great ass if I

hesitated to let a handful of cold water be thrown upon me. It is only

a stupid ceremony; but I daresay it is just as good as our own

crotchets. Now-a-days that is the best creed which gives security and

advantages in trade and commerce.'

'Miserable being!' cried old Philip Moses, drawing himself up to his

full length, 'accursed be the spirit that speaks by your mouth! It is

that pestilential spirit which has wrought evil among God's people, and

caused them to become a byword to the nations of the earth, and an

abomination to the Lord of Heaven! Accursed be those goods and that

life for which you would barter the faith of your forefathers, and mock

even the altar of the strangers, to which you would fly in your abject

cowardice! Accursed be the security and the advantages for which you

would betray Jehovah! Accursed be the trade and the commerce that have

enticed God's people to become the slaves of Mammon, and frantic

worshippers of the golden calf!'

'You talk wildly, old man!' replied Samuel. 'You do not know how to

accommodate yourself to the times. You are aged, and cling to old

notions; but the days of your prophets are gone by.'

'Their words shall stand to the last of days,' said the old man,

raising his head proudly; 'and be it my care to proclaim them among ye,

even if the earth should burn around me, and sink beneath my feet! Is

it not enough that we are a stricken and dispersed race, cast forth

into the wide world, and condemned to live despised in the land of the

stranger? Shall we add humiliation to humiliation, and despicably

constrain ourselves to laud and call those just who scorn us and

trample us in the dust?'

The jeweller's handsome saloon was full of fugitive Israelites, who

sought refuge and protection at the abode of the wealthy Samuel; whilst

the police and the watchmen _pretended_ to be endeavouring to quiet and

disperse the mob outside.

The assembled Jews loudly deplored their misfortunes, and some of them

gazed with astonishment on the aged Philip Moses, who stood there

firmly and fearlessly, like a prophet among them, and poured forth

words of wisdom and instruction to his trembling fellow-believers.

Two or three of the old rabbis, with long beards and black silk

_talars_, or robes, alone listened attentively and with calm

seriousness to him, the most ancient of their community. But the young

beardless Israelites uttered cries of lamentation, bewailing the

conduct of the people of Hamburg, bewailing their broken windows, and

all the damage that would accrue to their trades or business in

consequence of this new persecution.

'Ah! if my mother had not been so over-faithful to my father,' said a

conceited young Jew, 'I might have gone with comfort to the theatre,

and seen that pretty Ma'amselle Wrede, without being recognized as a

Jew, and abused accordingly; and running the risk of getting my head

broken to boot.'

'Oh! that we had never been circumcised!' cried another; 'our lives are

actually not safe in the streets.'

'Would that we were all baptized!' groaned a third. 'Ay, with some

philter that would turn our dark hair to red, and remove the too

apparent marks with which Jehovah has signalized us and cast us out

among our foes.'

'Oh!--woe--woe!' shrieked the women and children--'whither shall we fly

in our great distress and misery? Ah! were it but morning, and this

dreadful night were past!'

'Leave off your lamentations, ye foolish and untoward ones!' cried

Philip Moses. 'The Lord has struck ye with imbecility, and with

blindness, and with corruption of heart. He has scattered ye abroad

among all the tribes of the earth, because of your perversity; he has

given thee a timorous heart, oh Israel! so that the sole of thy foot

cannot find rest, and thou feelest that thy life is in jeopardy, and

goest about groaning night and day; and in the morning thou sayest,

Would that it were evening! and in the evening, Would that it were

morning! because of the terror of thy heart, and the visions that are

before thine eyes. But hearken what the Lord declares unto you by the

mouth of His servants from the tabernacle in your foreign synagogue. If

your affliction and your humiliation be greater than your

transgressions, shake the dust from your feet, and go forth from the

place where ye are treated with ignominy and oppression. Leave the

iniquitous Mammon in the hands of the evildoers, and take only with you

that to which there cleaves no curse in the sight of Jehovah! Come! I

will lead ye from city to city, and from land to land, until we find

some spot on earth where Jehovah may veil our disgrace and grant us

freedom among the children of mankind, or else, like our fathers of

old, among the wild beasts of the wilderness!'

'What are you dreaming of, old man?' exclaimed his rich kinsmen, in

dissatisfied chorus. 'Should we leave our hard-won gains, and go forth

like beggars into the world, with old sacks on our shoulders? Where

shall we find a more commercial town than this? And in what part of the

world would we not be exposed to annoyances and persecutions? No path

leads back to the promised land, and were we to be guided by your

dreams, we should neither be able to feed our wives and our little

ones, nor to gather golden pieces and silver ducats.'

'If ye believed in Jehovah,' replied Philip Moses, 'ye would also

believe that there is a way to the promised land; but that thought is

too grand for your contracted souls. The flesh-pots of Egypt are dearer

to you than the manna from heaven in the wilderness; and if the Lord

God were to call up Moses among you, ye would stone him as your fathers

stoned the prophets.'

'What avails all this long discourse, poor, foolish old man?' said his

son, the rich jeweller, interrupting him. 'Sit down there in your

comfortable arm-chair, and amuse yourself with the children, Moses,

while the rest of us consult together what is best to be done. He is

going into his dotage,' added he, turning to the other Jews, 'and

sometimes he is not quite in his right senses, he has quarrelled with

all his family, and I keep him here, out of charity, in my house, as

you see; but for all that I have to put up with many hard words, and

much abuse from him.'

Then there commenced a mumbling in the room, and a buzzing sound as in

a bee-hive, everyone giving his opinion as to the best way of quieting

the people of Hamburg, and making up matters with them. Some proposed

that a deputation should be sent to the Senate to demand the protection

of the military for their houses.

'It would be of no use,' said others. 'These mean, abominable members

of the Hanseatic League are our worst enemies; these stupid, paltry,

petty dealers, who envy our cleverness in business, and covet our

profits--it is just they themselves who set the populace against us.'

'Then let us remove to Altona,' cried some. 'Those Danish blockheads

will at least have sense enough to be willing to receive us with all

our riches; and they will be glad to have an opportunity of causing a

loss to the impudent Hamburgers, in return for their "_Schukelmeier_"

_cry_.'[3]

'But when the worst part of the storm is over, we will repent having

gone,' argued others; 'for there is not so much business done, or so

much money to be made there, as here. It is better for us to put up

with rudeness and with temporary annoyances, than to run the risk of

seriously injuring our business, and lessening our gains.'

'If the worst happens, we can but let ourselves be baptized,' said

Samuel, 'and then we can no more be called Jews than the Hamburgers

themselves.'

'What good would that do?' exclaimed a shabby-looking Jew, with a long

beard. 'It is not on account of our religion that they persecute us; it

is only our wealth and the luxuries we can afford, that excite their

envious dislike. Our handsome houses are our misfortune, and our

splendid equipages; our beautiful villas on the Elbe and the Alster,

and all the braggadocio of our young fops. Go about like me, with a

matted beard and tattered garments. Live well in the privacy of your

own houses, but let not your abundance be seen by anyone. You will then

find that no one will envy you, or persecute you. Let the children in

the street point at us, and abuse us. Is it not for being what it

should be our pride to be called? If they even treated us as if we were

lepers, they could not prevent us from being God's chosen people. We

are blessed in our affairs, and in our wedlock; we multiply, and fill

all lands, and devour the marrow thereof; we are _really_ the lords of

the people, though we do not blush to seem their slaves.'

This advice was rejected by the richer and more modern Israelites, who

had no inclination to array themselves in sackcloth and ashes, and to

relinquish the ostentatious display of that wealth which, in the midst

of so many humiliations, and with so many equivocal acts, and little

tricks in trade, they had amassed.

'No, no! I know a much better plan,' said one of the richest men

present, who had originally been a sort of pedlar, and sold tapes and

ribbons. 'We will take it by turns to give turtle-feasts; we will

invite all the young men, the sons of the merchants, to our tables; our

wives and our daughters must show all manner of kindness and

complaisance to them, and not keep them at such a cold distance as they

do now; let them lay aside their reserve, and try to please them. It is

better, far better, even to marry among the Christians, than to have

them as enemies, now-a-days.'

On hearing these words, old Philip Moses arose; he could no longer

endure to listen to his people humbling themselves, as he thought, so

basely. He tore his clothes, and anathematized the tongue that spoke

last. He then tried, with all the eloquence of which he was master, to

touch the hearts and rouse the spirits of those who were the best among

the assembly, by setting forth to them the misery and degradation which

their own selfishness and cupidity had brought upon them. He

characterized their present persecution as a just punishment from

Jehovah for their degeneracy, and their being so absorbed in the

pursuit of money. He condemned their indifference to the faith and the

customs of their forefathers; their neglect of the Sabbath, and of its

holy rites; their shaving off their beards, and their being ashamed to

be known to be what they were. He inveighed against their connection

with Christians, and more especially their marriages with them, by

which two of his own sons had disgraced him. And he denounced their

excessive keenness in the pursuit of gold, as likely to be ruinous to

them, as being certain to have an injurious effect on their settling

happily in any and every country in the world.

But this was too much for his fellow Jews to harken to in silence. They

all attacked him vehemently, calling him a crazy old traitor, who only

wished their destruction. Loudly, however, as swelled their chorus of

abuse, still more loudly arose the voice of the old man, as he, in the

words of the prophet Jeremiah, reproved them: 'O Israel! thine own

wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee.

I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how then art thou

turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? For though

thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity

is marked before me, saith the Lord God. Your sons have withholden good

things from me. For among my people are found wicked men; they lay wait

as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage

is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit, therefore they

are become great and waxen rich. They are waxen fat--they shine; yea,

they overpass the deeds of the wicked. They judge not the cause of the

fatherless, yet they prosper. Shall I not visit for these things? saith

the Lord. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Go ye

upon her walls and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her

battlements, for they are not the Lord's!'

Scarcely had he uttered these last words than a shower of stones,

hurled against the closed window-shutters, demolished them, and dashed

in, while this new attack was followed by shouts of triumph and

derisive laughter from the streets.

'Away with him--away with the old prophet!' cried several of the Jews.

'His imprecations are bringing fresh evil and persecution upon us.'

'This is not a time to be preaching all that old twaddle to us about

our sins,' said his son, the rich Samuel. 'I will not listen to another

word; and if you expect to remain longer in my house, you must keep

your tongue to yourself, I can tell you. It would be more to the

purpose if you went to your room, and shaved off that beard of yours,

that you might look like other men. We must howl with the wolves we are

among, and if the mob were to catch a glimpse of your long beard, which

is just like that of an old he-goat, and your masquerade garb, they

would pull the house down about our ears.'

'Oh, grandfather, grandfather!' exclaimed the youngest of his

grandchildren, starting away from him, 'how your eyes are blazing! You

are not going to hurt my father?'

'For _your_ sakes, I will not curse him,' said the old man, in a low,

tremulous voice; 'but accursed be the spirit which influences him, and

my unfortunate, perverted people! I shall shake the dust from my feet

at the threshold of your door, my son, and never more shall you behold

my countenance in this world; but, in your last moments, you will

remember _this_ hour. I will wander defenceless among our enemies; I

will bare this grey head to their insults, stand amidst their showers

of stones, and peradventure be torn asunder by their violent hands,

before my own child shall pluck out the beard from my aged cheeks, or

turn me out of his house as a beggar.'

'Stay!--are you mad?' cried Samuel; 'you will not pass alive through

that mob outside. Hold him, some one!' he exclaimed to those around.

'He is deranged, as you see, and is going into his dotage. I should be

sorry if anything were to happen to him, or he were to meet with any

injury.'

But old Philip Moses went away, like Lot, from the doomed Sodom, and

never once looked back. No one attempted to detain him, for his

denunciations, and his terrible look, had frightened them all. With his

snow-white locks uncovered, and in his torn dark silk _talar_, alone,

and without his staff, he went forth, and shook the dust from his feet

as he stepped from the door.

When the Hamburg populace perceived him, a group of children began to

abuse him, but no one took up the cry, and not a hand was lifted

against the silent, venerable-looking old man.

'Let him go in peace!' said one to the other; 'it is old Philip Moses.

He is a good man; it would be a sin to hurt _him_, or to scoff at him.'

'But if we had his son Samuel in our clutches,' said others, 'he should

not get off so easily; he is the greatest bloodsucker among them all!'