Private Education and Independent Study.
In my sixth year my father began to read the Bible with me. "In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Here I interrupted my
father, and asked, "But, papa, who created God?"
"God was not created by any one," replied my father; "He existed from
all eternity."
"Did he exist ten years ago?" I asked again.
"O yes," my father said, "He existed even a hundred years ago."
"Then perhaps," I continued, "God is already a thousand years old?"
"Silence! God was eternal."
"But," I insisted, "He must surely have been born at some time."
"You little fool," said my father, "No! He was for ever and ever and
ever."
With this answer I was not indeed satisfied; but I thought "Surely papa
must know better than I, and with that I must therefore be content."
This mode of representation is very natural in early youth, when the
understanding is still undeveloped, while the imagination is in full
bloom. The understanding seeks merely to grasp, the imagination to grasp
all round.[13] That is to say, the understanding seeks to make the
origin of an object conceivable, without considering, whether the
object, whose origin is known, can also be actually represented by us or
not. The imagination, on the other hand, seeks to gather into a complete
image something, the origin of which is to us unknown. Thus, for
example, an infinite series of numbers, which progresses according to a
definite law, is for the understanding an object, to which by this law
definite qualities are attached, and an object just as good as a finite
series, which progresses according to the same law. For the imagination,
on the other hand, the latter indeed is an object; but not the former,
because it cannot grasp the former as a completed whole.
A long time afterwards, when I was staying in Breslau, this
consideration suggested to me a thought, which I expressed in an essay
that I laid before Professor Garve, and which, though at the time I knew
nothing of the Kantian philosophy, still constitutes its foundation. I
explained this somewhat in the following way:--The metaphysicians
necessarily fall into self-contradiction. According to the confession
of Leibnitz himself, who in this appeals to the experiment of Archimedes
with the lever, the Law of Sufficient Reason or Causality is a principle
of experience. Now, it is quite true that in experience everything is
found to have a cause; but for the very reason, that _every_ thing has a
cause, nothing can be met with in experience which is a _first_ cause,
that is, a cause which has no cause to itself. How then can the
metaphysicians infer from this law the existence of a first cause?
Afterwards I found this objection more particularly developed in the
Kantian philosophy, where it is shown that the Category of Cause, or the
form of hypothetical judgments used in reference to the objects of
nature, by which their relation to one another is determined _a priori_,
can be applied only to objects of experience through an _a priori_
schema. The first cause, which implies a complete infinite series of
causes, and therefore in fact a contradiction, since the infinite can
never be complete, is not an object of the understanding, but an idea of
reason, or, according to my theory, a fiction of the imagination, which,
not content with the mere knowledge of the law, seeks to gather the
multiplicity, which is subject to the law, into an image, though in
opposition to the law itself.
On another occasion I read in the Bible the story of Jacob and Esau; and
in this connection my father quoted the passage from the Talmud, where
it is said, "Jacob and Esau divided between them all the blessings of
the world. Esau chose the blessings of this life, Jacob, on the
contrary, those of the future life; and since we are descended from
Jacob, we must give up all claim to temporal blessings." On this I said
with indignation, "Jacob should not have been a fool; he should rather
have chosen the blessings of this world." Unfortunately I got for
answer, "You ungodly rascal!" and a box on the ear. This did not of
course remove my doubt, but it brought me to silence at least.
The Prince Radzivil, who was a great lover of the chase, came one day
with his whole court to hunt in the neighbourhood of our village. Among
the party was his daughter who afterwards married Prince Rawuzki. The
young princess, in order to enjoy rest at noon, betook herself with the
ladies of her court, the servants in waiting and the lackeys, to the
very room, where as a boy I was sitting behind the stove. I was struck
with astonishment at the magnificence and splendour of the court, gazed
with rapture at the beauty of the persons and at the dresses with their
trimmings of gold and silver lace; I could not satisfy my eyes with the
sight. My father came just as I was out of myself with joy, and had
broken into the words, "O how beautiful!" In order to calm me, and at
the same time to confirm me in the principles of our faith, he whispered
into my ear, "Little fool, in the other world the _duksel_ will kindle
the _pezsure_ for us," which means, In the future life the princess will
kindle the stove for us. No one can conceive the sort of feeling which
this statement produced in me. On the one hand, I believed my father,
and was very glad about this future happiness in store for us; but I
felt at the same time pity for the poor princess who was going to be
doomed to such a degrading service. On the other hand, I could not get
it into my head, that this beautiful rich princess in this splendid
dress should ever make a fire for a poor Jew. I was thrown into the
greatest perplexity on the subject, till some game drove these thoughts
out of my head.
I had from childhood a great inclination and talent for drawing. True, I
had in my father's house never a chance of seeing a work of art, but I
found on the title-page of some Hebrew books woodcuts of foliage, birds
and so forth. I felt great pleasure in these woodcuts, and made an
effort to imitate them with a bit of chalk or charcoal. What however
strengthened this inclination in me still more was a Hebrew book of
fables, in which the personages who play their part in the fables--the
animals--were represented in such woodcuts. I copied all the figures
with the greatest exactness. My father admired indeed my skill in this,
but rebuked me at the same time in these words, "You want to become a
painter? You are to study the Talmud, and become a rabbi. He who
understands the Talmud, understands everything."
This desire and faculty for painting went with me so far, that when my
father had settled in H----, where there was a manor-house with some
beautifully tapestried rooms, which were constantly unoccupied because
the landlord resided elsewhere, and very seldom visited the place, I
used to steal away from home whenever I could, to copy the figures on
the tapestries. I was found once in mid-winter half-frozen, standing
before the wall, holding the paper in one hand (for there was no
furniture in this apartment), and with the other hand copying the
figures off the wall. Yet I judge of myself at present, that, if I had
kept to it, I should have become a _great_, but not an _exact_, painter,
that is to say, I sketched with ease the main features of a picture, but
had not the patience to work it out in detail.
My father had in his study a cupboard containing books. He had forbidden
me indeed to read any books but the Talmud. This, however, was of no
avail: as he was occupied the most of his time with household affairs, I
took advantage of the opportunity thus afforded. Under the impulse of
curiosity I made a raid upon the cupboard and glanced over all the
books. The result was, that, as I had already a fair knowledge of
Hebrew, I found more pleasure in some of these books than in the Talmud.
And this result was surely natural. Take the subjects of the Talmud,
which, with the exception of those relating to jurisprudence, are dry
and mostly unintelligible to a child--the laws of sacrifice, of
purification, of forbidden meats, of feasts, and so forth--in which the
oddest rabbinical conceits are elaborated through many volumes with the
finest dialectic, and the most absurd questions are discussed with the
highest efforts of intellectual power; for example, how many white hairs
may a red cow have, and yet remain a _red_ cow; what sorts of scabs
require this or that sort of purification; whether a louse or a flea may
be killed on the Sabbath,--the first being allowed, while the second is
a deadly sin;--whether the slaughter of an animal ought to be executed
at the neck or the tail; whether the highpriest put on his shirt or his
hose first; whether the _Jabam_, that is, the brother of a man who died
childless, being required by law to marry the widow, is relieved from
his obligation if he falls off a roof and sticks in the mire. _Ohe jam
satis est!_ Compare these glorious disputations, which are served up to
young people and forced on them even to disgust, with history, in which
natural events are related in an instructive and agreeable manner, with
a knowledge of the world's structure, by which the outlook into nature
is widened, and the vast whole is brought into a well-ordered system;
surely my preference will be justified.
The most valuable books in the collection were four. There was a Hebrew
chronicle under the title of _Zemach David_,[14] written by a sensible
chief rabbi in Prague, named Rabbi David Gans. He was also the author
of the astronomical book spoken of in the sequel, and he had had the
honour of being acquainted with Tycho Brahe, and of making astronomical
observations with him in the Observatory at Copenhagen. There were
besides, a Josephus, which was evidently garbled, and a History of the
Persecutions of the Jews in Spain. But what attracted me most powerfully
was an astronomical work. In this work a new world was opened to me, and
I gave myself up to the study with the greatest diligence. Think of a
child about seven years of age, in my position, with an astronomical
work thrown in his way, and exciting his interest. I had never seen or
heard anything of the first elements of mathematics, and I had no one to
give me any direction in the study: for it is needless to say, that to
my father I dared not even let my curiosity in the matter be known, and,
apart from that, he was not in a position to give me any information on
the subject. How must the spirit of a child, thirsting for knowledge,
have been inflamed by such a discovery! This the result will show.
As I was still a child, and the beds in my father's house were few, I
was allowed to sleep with my old grandmother, whose bed stood in the
above-mentioned study. As I was obliged during the day to occupy myself
solely with the study of the Talmud, and durst not take another book in
my hand, I devoted the evenings to my astronomical inquiries.
Accordingly after my grandmother had gone to bed, I put some fresh wood
on the fire, made for the cupboard, and took out my beloved astronomical
book. My grandmother indeed scolded me, because it was too cold for the
old lady to lie alone in bed; but I did not trouble myself about that,
and continued my study till the fire was burnt out.
After I had carried this on for some evenings, I came to the description
of the celestial sphere and its imaginary circles, designed for the
explanation of astronomical phenomena. This was represented in the book
by a single figure, in connection with which the author gave the reader
the good advice, that, since the manifold circles could not be
represented in a plane figure except by straight lines, he should, for
the sake of rendering them more clearly intelligible, make for himself
either an ordinary globe or an armillary sphere. I therefore formed the
resolution to make such a sphere out of twisted rods; and after I had
finished this work, I was in a position to understand the whole book.
But as I had to take care lest my father should find out how I had been
occupied, I always hid my armillary sphere in a corner behind the
cupboard before I went to bed.
My grandmother, who had on several occasions observed that I was wholly
absorbed in my reading, but now and then lifted my eyes to look at a
number of circles formed of twisted rods laid on one another, fell into
the greatest consternation over the matter; she believed nothing less
than that her grandson had lost his wits. She did not delay, therefore,
to tell my father, and point out to him the place where the magical
instrument was kept. He soon guessed what was the meaning of this.
Accordingly he took the sphere in his hand, and sent for me. When I
came, he asked me, "What sort of plaything is this?"
"It is a _Kadur_,[15]" I replied.
"What does it mean?" he asked.
I then explained to him the use of all the circles for the purpose of
making the celestial phenomena intelligible. My father, who was a good
rabbi indeed, but had no special talent for science, could not
comprehend all that I endeavoured to make comprehensible. He was
especially puzzled, by the comparison of my armillary sphere with the
figure in the book, to understand how out of straight lines circles
should be evolved; but one thing he could see,--that I was sure of my
business. He therefore scolded me, it is true, because I had
transgressed his command to meddle with nothing beyond the Talmud; but
still he felt a secret pleasure, that his young son, without a guide or
previous training, had been able by himself to master an entire work of
science. And with this the affair came to an end.