CHAPTER XVI.

AWAKENING OF INDEPENDENCE AND THE SCIENCE OF JUDAISM.

Dawn of Self-respect--Research into Jewish History--Hannah

Adams--Solomon Löwisohn--Jost--His History--The

Revolution of July (1830)--Gabriel Riesser--His Lectures--

Steinheim--His Works--His "Revelation"--Nachman Krochmal--

Rapoport--Erter--His Poems--Rapoport's Writings--Zunz--

Luzzatto--His Exegesis--Geiger--The "Nineteen Letters" of

Ben Usiel--New School of Reform--Joel Jacoby.

1830-1840 C. E.

If for a moment fancy is allowed full play, one can imagine, not only

that the houses, utensils, and pictures excavated from the ruins of

Herculaneum and Pompeii were renewed, but also that the entombed men

were suddenly aroused from their sleep of centuries, and enabled to

collect their thoughts. If these resurrected Romans could recall

their condition when the catastrophe befell them, could conjure up

before their mind's eye the splendor of their greatness, remember

the mighty institutions which they and their ancestors called into

existence, realize the heroic power which the Roman people developed,

and if they felt the same power still stirring within them, a not

altogether unjustifiable self-esteem would seize them. This supposition

is no fantastic idea: a nation actually did arise from the darkness

of the tomb, the only example chronicled in the annals of man. This

resuscitated people, the Jewish race, endeavored at its resurrection to

collect its thoughts and memories, and recall a vision of its glorious

past; feeling itself to be at once old and young, rich in memories and

lacking in experience, chained to hoary antiquity by a perfect sequence

of events, yet seeming as if of yesterday. The Jews first examined

the monuments of their intellect, which had influenced the history of

nations, and had brought forth a wealth of peculiar products. They

served as signposts in the labyrinth of Jewish history. That is the

science of Judaism--a vivid realization of its great history, and its

peculiar doctrines. This effort of memory is not merely an amusing

game, a pleasant pastime, the satisfaction of a desire for knowledge

akin to curiosity, but an irresistible impulse of self-examination.

It aroused the dormant strength in the breast of the inquirer, and

inspired him with self-confidence to act in the future as in the past.

Self-consciousness--the consciousness of being the people of God--was

awakened in this old, resuscitated nation, and it at once entered into

competition with the young nations, to assert its peculiar powers.

But history has not yet gone so far: it only shows that self-respect

was awakened; that the Jews no longer blush for their origin and

confession; no longer hesitate when questioned about them; no longer,

from false shame and their own evil plight, take a false step,

pretending belief in a faith certainly more distasteful to them than

to those born therein. As if this feeling of self-esteem were to be

particularly favored by the generative force of history, there arose

from the midst of the Jewish nation artists of great ability--artists in

tone and color, and poets of the first rank, who by their steadfastness

secured public recognition for their race. This self-respect of

the Jews was the outcome of political maturity, the latter in turn

being due to the wonderful inventions and the increase of general

intelligence during the last decades, but it has chiefly been

awakened, strengthened, and fostered by the science of Judaism and the

achievements of talented Jews in connection therewith.

Although the history of this period is still in progression--at

many points touches the fleeting present--and its results cannot be

summed up like those of bygone days, yet the fact cannot be denied that

the aim of Jewish life has been the attainment of those two precious

acquirements--self-reliance and self-knowledge. These qualities are

intimately connected, the one completing and promoting the other.

Knowledge of their own experiences and of history enabled the Jews

to make a careful, unprejudiced study of the origin and growth of

their nationality, and of the peculiarity of their teaching, and to

hide and ignore nothing. Insight into their own doctrines increased

their self-reliance, and induced them to remove the burdens assumed

by the generations that had lived under oppression. The struggles in

which the Jews had just been engaged to secure civil, political, and

social equality and to bring about the reformation and refinement of

Judaism, stand in closest connection with these two qualities--on

the one hand, with the better appreciation of their own nature, on the

other, with their growing self-reliance--influencing them, or being

influenced by them.

Step by step the mountain heaps of obstructive rubbish had to be

cleared away, an open space cut out, new building materials procured

or collected, before it was possible, to think, not of putting the

crowning stone to the edifice, but of erecting the frame of the

structure. Unconsciously the entire generation, many members of which

are still active, set to work upon this gigantic task, which had not

been dreamed of fifty years before, still less considered in any

way practicable. Deep but almost unconscious attachment to Judaism

on the part of enthusiastic spirits enabled them to attain a goal

which must be regarded as a marvel by posterity, even though it has

itself advanced beyond it. Jewish science by laborious research and

investigations has developed three important points: the course of

Jewish history in its long chain of events and its significance,

the precious basis of Jewish teaching in all its bearings, and,

finally, the enduring faculty of the Jewish race, which defied so many

persecutions, rendered certain qualities hereditary, accomplished such

wondrous miracles of history, and was the means of bringing salvation

to the world. These three aspects, the comprehension of history, of

the tenets of Judaism, and of peculiar nationality, were developed one

after the other. Each of these branches of knowledge had to be pursued

from its commencement, and followed through a long course, and if not

brought to a conclusion, it at least reached a state in which it could

be clearly grasped and understood.

All nations desirous of asserting their independence and vitality seek

to prove their age: they interest themselves in remembrances of the

past, and bring to light their ancestral portraits and their armorial

bearings, to demonstrate that they have passed through the vicissitudes

of fortune and misfortune, the alternations of strength and weakness,

victory and defeat, that they have given evidence of intellectual

capacity, and therefore may lay claim to continued existence and

development. The Jewish people had no need to make search for their

famous exploits or the monuments of their intellectual powers; even

in their apparently servile condition these were not wanting. Each

century proclaimed this fact to the next, and it was only needful

to give ear to, or not wholly to disregard this voice amid a crowd

of selfish interests. The history of the Jews naturally bore most

eloquent testimony to the people's greatness; but it was not easy to

present it in its brilliancy. The history of the Jewish nation had been

distorted by the thousand unjust prejudices of the ages. Under the

cruel persecutions of their tormentors, the Jews could not retain the

accumulated reminiscences of their great past; they knew them only in

distorted fragments. Christian scholars, attracted by the grandeur of

the theme, had indeed formed these disjointed fragments into a picture;

but it could not be a true one, seeing that many component parts were

wanting. The bright colors had faded, and there was a preponderance

of shadow, perhaps intentionally placed there. Even to well-disposed

defenders of the Jews, like Dohm and Grégoire, who had zealously

studied the annals of Jewish history, they did not give a clear idea

of its course. More than a century had elapsed since the worthy French

Protestant clergyman, Basnage, after diligently studying Jewish

history, had given to the world his somewhat fragmentary researches,

when the wife of an American clergyman, Hannah Adams, of Boston, struck

by the marvelous fate of the Jewish nation, delineated their history

from the time of the return from Babylon to recent days. For many

reasons she was not qualified to give an intelligible outline of Jewish

history, but could only string together a number of rough sketches

without connection or sequence. This crude work, nevertheless, was good

enough for the purposes of the London Society for the Promotion of

Christianity among the Jews, which besides made several alterations in

the book in order to serve its ends. Fidelity to history and truth were

entirely disregarded in the changes.

It was high time for Jews to take away the historian's pen from the

hands of Christians who only trifled with it. However feeble might be

their first attempts, and inadequate though their conception of the

peculiarity of Jewish history was, yet it was meritorious to remove

the Christian seal, impressed upon it by unconscious forgers, in order

to claim it as the property of the Church. The first Jew who bore in

his heart the great characteristics of the history of his race, and in

part published it, deserves a place of honor. He was a talented youth

whose early death was due to insanity, so often the mark of a true

poet. Solomon Löwisohn (born in Moor, Hungary, 1789, died 1822) had

succeeded under most unfavorable circumstances in acquiring secular

culture, and thereby had qualified himself to appreciate the value of

his nation's treasures. Löwisohn had a much truer comprehension of the

beauty and sweetness of Hebrew poetry, of its sublimity and simplicity,

than Herder, because he was better acquainted with it. He regarded

the history of his people from the standpoint of poetry, as from that

of faith. In his "Lectures upon the Modern History of the Jews," from

their dispersion till the present day, he succeeded in unrolling a

charming picture. He also distinguished certain important points, and

correctly showed the lines to be followed, to avoid losing oneself in

this apparent chaos.

Jewish history assumed a better form in the hands of Isaac Marcus

Jost (born at Bernburg, 1793; died at Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1860).

He had greater courage than a more gifted contemporary, and although

not possessed of sufficient resources he undertook the gigantic task,

and he deserves credit for having pointed out a way through the vast

labyrinth. When the bigoted Teutomaniacs desired to banish the Jews

from Teutonic soil, and the Jew-haters searched the pages of history

for an excuse to slander them, Jost determined to show them in a better

light. He desired to prove that they had always been peaceful citizens

and faithful subjects. They had certainly opposed the Roman Emperors,

and had maintained a vigorous war against them, but this was the act of

a few boisterous brawlers, whose folly should not be visited upon the

entire people. On the whole, the Jews had proved themselves honest men,

who had not slaughtered Christian children, nor in any way deserved

the reproaches leveled against them. Only the Pharisees and their

descendants, the rabbis, detestable men, filled with superstition,

darkness, and arrogance, had made hell hot for the people, the property

of the rabbis. This is the basis of Jost's delineation of Jewish

history. He wished to confute at the same time the admirers and the

antagonists of Jewish history. No one at the present day can deny

the one-sidedness of his representation. Nevertheless Jost performed

a real service to his people by his historical labors. He offered

something new to his age, and as accurately as possible laid down the

indispensable foundations of history--time and space. He cannot

be reproached for utilizing the sources of history without having

investigated them; his generation was not endowed with the faculty of

carefully testing historical evidences. Jost's "History" proved a good

guide and instructor to statesmen engaged in the amelioration of the

condition of the Jews.

But the main objection to Jost's narrative cannot be disregarded,

seeing that even in his old age, and in spite of instructive criticism,

he stubbornly pursued his method. He gave to Jewish history, undeniably

heroic, a dry, Philistine character, despoiling it of the brightness

with which it was endowed even in the eyes of unprejudiced Christian

observers. He tore to shreds the heroic drama of thousands of years.

Between the old Israelites, the ancestors and contemporaries of the

Prophets and Psalmists, and the Jews, the disciples of the rabbis, Jost

hollowed out a deep chasm, making a sharp distinction between them, as

if the latter were not the descendants of the former, but of entirely

different stock. And why? Because Jost, the pupil of Friedländer and

Jacobson, denied all miracles, not only those involving changes in the

laws of nature, but also such as are brought about through inspiration

and steady endurance, the miracles of history, arising out of the

peculiar combination of circumstances, blow following on blow, reaction

on action. He saw in history only an accumulation of contingencies

subject to no law. Therefore the Jews were not to be considered the

sons of the Israelites, nor the rabbis the successors of the Prophets,

nor the Talmud the outcome of the Bible, otherwise the intervention of

miracles had to be conceded.

In Europe, which had fallen into a state of almost glaring stupidity,

there now occurred a historical marvel which caused a sensation from

one end of the continent to the other. From the serene sky in the

West there came a lightning flash; a thunderclap and terrifying crash

followed, as if the end of the world had come--the Revolution of July

(1830) was indeed a miracle. No one had expected it, or was prepared

for it. Even the men who brought it about, and fought in it, were

impelled by some dark feeling, were not aware of the force of their

actions, were only the blind agents of the Ruler of history.

This revolution affected the Jews and consequently Judaism, like

every important change in history. The equalization of the Jews in

France, although sealed by the constitution, had suffered somewhat

under the two Bourbons, Louis XVIII and Charles X, as the nobility

and the Catholic clergy were possessed of great influence, and the

officials understood their hint not to be too friendly to the Jews. The

reactionary Catholic clergy began to renew their intolerance towards

the Jews, and the police displayed hostility to the Jewish ritual. Had

the Bourbons been able to gratify their own wishes by discrediting the

constitution as well as liberty and equality, the French Jews would

have been the first victims, and like their German co-religionists

would once more have been placed under exceptional laws. The July

Revolution was thus of momentous importance to them. The first assembly

of deputies under King Louis Philippe, who desired to execute the

Charter, at once considered the abolition of all existing inequalities,

however slight, between Jews and Christians. One of the deputies,

Viennet, proposed (August 7, 1830) to remove from the constitution

the recognition of a state religion. His proposition was supported on

all sides. A few months later (November 13) the minister of public

education, Mérilhou, brought forward a motion to place Judaism upon

an equal footing with the other two creeds, to pay salaries from the

public treasury to the Synagogue and the rabbis, as well as to the

Church and its ministers. He praised the French Jews, saying that

since the removal of their disabilities by the Revolution they had

shown themselves worthy of the privileges granted them. He exhorted

the deputies to agree to the law of equality for the three creeds. His

motion was adopted by a large majority.

In the chamber of peers it was more difficult to pass the law decreeing

the equality of Judaism and Christianity. The advocates of the motion

were eloquent in their recognition of Jewish virtues. The names of

those Jews who had left behind them a glorious reputation in history

were mentioned, such as Philo, the representative of Jewish philosophy

in ancient times; Maimonides, of that of "the Middle Ages and modern

days"; Mendelssohn, "the sage, whom philosophic Germany was in the

habit of comparing with Plato."

When the division was taken in the chamber of peers (January 1, 1831),

the law for the complete equalization of the Jews was carried by 89

votes to 57. Thus the last barriers between the adherents of Judaism

and their Christian neighbors were removed in France. King Louis

Philippe, on the 8th of February, ratified the law, which enacted

that the French rabbis, like the Catholic and Protestant clergymen,

should receive part of their salary from the public exchequer. The High

School (Collège Rabbinique) for the training of rabbis, which a short

time before had been founded in Metz, was also recognized as a state

institution, and partly supported from the public budget. At the same

time, the Senate at Frankfort-on-the-Main brought forward a motion to

grant civil rights to the Jews, particularly abrogating the limitations

to marriage. But of the 90 members of the legislative body, two-thirds

voted against it.

The shock caused by the events of July, which was felt also in Germany,

awakened a feeling of self-dependence; it dispelled all timidity and

false shame in speaking about Jews and Judaism, which had hitherto been

avoided, as if a loud word would have precipitated the avalanche of

Judæophobia with destructive force. Even Jews belonging to so-called

good society, who, for the sake of some material advantage, had been

anxious to have people forget that they were members of an oppressed

race, and had preferred to conceal or ignore the injustice done them,

began to appreciate their own worth and ceased to be ashamed of being

recognized as Jews. This change of sentiment manifested in different

ways, like every change, was brought about by influential personalities.

Gabriel Riesser (born 1806, died 1860), a man of noble mind and great

energy, took a prominent part in awakening this self-respect. However

bitter the complaints of the German Jews of the disgrace brought upon

them by immigrant Polish Jews, they were amply compensated by Riesser.

His spirit of firm determination he derived more from his maternal

grandfather, Rabbi Raphael Cohen, who had emigrated from Poland, than

from his weak, good-natured German father. Gabriel Riesser in every

respect belonged to modern times. Unlike most of the promoters of the

new spirit, he was not rooted in the old order of things. His thoughts,

feelings, and dreams were German, and only slight traces of his Jewish

origin are perceptible. To Judaism in its national form, as the leaven

of history, Riesser was indifferent; only the recollections of his

youth and his parental home bound him to the faith. Beyond that, he

looked upon it as an attenuated system of diluted doctrines, which

he tacitly professed without desiring to defend them. He suspected,

however, that Judaism might continue to flourish in a rejuvenated

healthy form, though he did not define clearly wherein this revival

should consist. To promote it was altogether outside his sphere. Had he

not been hampered in his chosen vocation, he would have been a quiet

German citizen, a conscientious judge or lawyer, without troubling

himself to improve the world or rectify a corrupt state of affairs.

German Jew-hatred roused him to defend the derided cause of his

fellow-sufferers. His first work as a jurist attracted attention, and

he tried to become an attorney in his native town, but was rejected. He

next sought to deliver lectures upon jurisprudence in Heidelberg, but

the professor's chair was refused him likewise. His gentle, peaceable

nature revolted against such foolish exclusions. Thus Riesser, who felt

no particular call to work for the general good, was driven to become

an agitator, not alone for the freedom of his co-religionists, but

also for that of the whole German nation. He made it his duty in life

to secure equal privileges for the Jews, and to defend them whenever

attacked. "The unspeakable sufferings throughout two centuries of many

millions of persons who patiently waited for deliverance" weighed

heavily upon him. His ideal was Lessing. In his first pamphlet (1831)

he spoke with conscious pride, not alone against German rulers, but

against the people, who refused permission to the Jews to ascend even

the lowest rung on the ladder of distinction. Nor did he spare his

co-religionists who, on account of superior education and social

position, contemptuously looked down upon the mass of Jews, and were

ashamed of the name of Jew. "If unjust hatred," he exclaimed, "clings

to our name, should we not, instead of denying it, rather use all our

strength to secure honor for it?" He contributed freely towards the

removal of the contempt cast upon this name. Riesser aimed chiefly at

defending the honor and dignity of the Jews. No selfish attainment of

advantages withheld stimulated his action; but a desire to take part

in the unceasing contest between freedom and oppression, justice and

injustice, truth and falsehood. Filled with indignation he openly

represented to the German rulers that the reason for depriving the

Jews of their rights as men was the hope that they might thereby be

induced to accept baptism. He also reproached the faint-hearted Jews

who, having a comfortable position, separated themselves from the main

body of their brethren, or by a false confession purchased equality,

or handed over their children to the Church to smooth their path

through life. Riesser desired to see societies established which should

energetically work for the emancipation of the Jews. Sympathizers were

to be united in a kind of covenant that, from a sense of honor, they

might remain true to their fellow-sufferers, until the contest was

decided. Ten years previously the Berlin Society for Culture had not

dared to publish such a programme. But between Edward Gans and Gabriel

Riesser came the July Revolution. Riesser also invited Christians to

join, inasmuch as it behoved well-disposed men of every belief to

participate in the release of an enslaved people.

Riesser's words produced their due effect; they came at an opportune

moment, when men's minds had become susceptible. His mild though

determined utterances made a deeper impression than Börne's with their

incisive keenness. The tone of positive certainty with which Riesser

foretold the ultimate victory of liberty infused hope into every heart.

Various favorable events which now took place appeared to put a seal on

his prophecy. For the first time the question of the emancipation of

the Jews began to be discussed in the English Parliament, and the chief

leaders in the House of Commons were in favor of the removal of the

disabilities. A resolution was passed in the Electorate of Hesse, the

first German province to legalize the emancipation of the Jews. This

gave Riesser courage to pursue his ideal further. He was indefatigable

in his efforts for the cause to which he had devoted his life, but he

kept in view the honor and credit to be obtained, more than any desire

for material gain. Not even the most unimportant ceremony might be

sacrificed to obtain rights of citizenship, if they could be procured

only at such a cost; a rule which he most emphatically laid down on two

occasions.

The Jews of Baden, as a token of their gratitude, presented him with

a beautifully designed picture by the Jewish painter Oppenheim, which

artistically depicted the transition period in Jewish life, the

separation of the old and the new. It was called "The Return of the

Jewish Warrior," who is represented as surprising his parents and

family in the repose of the Sabbath. In his letter acknowledging this

gift, Riesser remarked, "The father is foolish who wishes to wrap

his son in the garments of antiquity ... but wanting in dignity is

the son ashamed of his father, the generation ashamed of the past."

This deeply-rooted feeling was communicated to the younger generation

with the more intensity, because it proceeded, not from an official

representative of Judaism, but from a lawyer whose being was pervaded

by the German spirit. Riesser made the emancipation question popular

by his contest with the Judæophobists Paulus, Edward Meyer, Pfizer,

Streckfuss, and other driveling enemies of freedom in the German

Assemblies of the estates, who utilized the contempt attached to the

Jews to bring the whole struggle for liberty into disrepute. Riesser

further managed to have the Jewish question placed on the programme

of the liberalists. Young Germany, and all who took part against

oppression, were thenceforth compelled to inscribe religious liberty

and the equality of all classes upon their banner, however great

might be their antipathy against the Jews. But Riesser performed a

far greater service, by rousing a feeling of dignity in the Jews, and

destroying that false shame which so-called cultured people felt at

the name of Jew. The sincerity of his convictions and the genuineness

of his sentiments, as evinced in every stroke of his pen, opened all

hearts to him.

At this time men of commanding intellect were not to be found in great

numbers among the Jews; but the younger generation was rich in men of

character who, as it were, compensated for the losses occasioned by the

Berlin Society for Culture. One of these sterling characters was the

bosom friend of Riesser, a physician, Solomon Ludwig Steinheim (born,

Altona, 1790; died, Zürich, 1866). His was a highly gifted nature,

which dwelt upon the sunny height of thought; and from this eminence

the foolish pursuits of the multitude appeared like mist formations,

blown hither and thither by the wind.

In Steinheim was revealed, in all its splendor and all its powers of

redemption, the Jewish thought--without which Judaism were merely a

thousand years' dream--that the Jewish people has a gigantic mission,

with which its teachings and fortunes are in consonance. This idea may

have been unconsciously aroused in Steinheim by Isaac Bernays. Together

with his wealth of thought, Steinheim was skillful in clothing his

ideas in an interesting form, and adorning them with his rich gifts

of eloquence. He might be compared to Jehuda Halevi, the Castilian

poet-philosopher, had he been gifted with higher poetical talents. His

first production, "The Songs of Obadiah ben Amos in Exile," displayed

germs of the fruitful seed of thought which he disseminated. A Jewish

sage, Obadiah, in Egypt, describes to his son Eliakim, supposed to be

living at the time of the Ptolemies, the different stages of greatness

and abjection through which the Jewish people were to pass.

"It is the design of Providence that a weak people, appointed

to proclaim salvation, shall be persecuted, hunted down, and

sacrificed among millions of enemies throughout thousands

of years, and nevertheless continue alive and active. Our

ancestors received for themselves and their descendants the

consecrated office of the priesthood. The family of Jacob,

since its beginning, has been alternately dispersed and

gathered together, and thus trained for its vocation."

The Jewish people have entered upon their pilgrimage over the surface

of the globe, to scatter the luminous seeds of pure worship of God

and the ideal of exalted morality. From this moral pinnacle Steinheim

beheld the past and the future of Judaism in the clearest light. All

riddles were solved, all questions answered; the doctrines and history

of Israel afforded satisfactory and comforting replies. The priestly

mission of Israel was to be fulfilled through great sufferings; this

saviour of the world was compelled to wear a crown of thorns, and to

be humbled to the condition of a slave. Steinheim saw the past and

the future of Israel as in a magic mirror, bright, clear, and rich in

color. Only the present was puzzling to him. The estrangement of the

sons of his people from their origin, their despair of themselves,

their contempt for their teachings and descent, the daily recurring

apostasies and desertion from the flag, appeared to him as omens

of approaching downfall, as though the high priests of mankind

were secularizing themselves, profaning their sanctity, exchanging

their birthright for a mess of pottage. Such self-estrangement and

self-debasement Steinheim desired to counteract. He therefore composed

his "Songs of Obadiah in Exile," in which he worked out his system.

"Such times are dangerous, when oppression is lessened, but not

altogether removed, or when freedom is near, but not completely

attained. At these periods, to desert the customs of bygone

ages is deemed meritorious and advantageous, while a desire for

transitory benefits gives rise to indifference to the eternal.

This is the time for real lamentation, when every folly is

taken seriously, and every serious thing is considered folly;

when mockery is in every mouth, and insolence and license in

every heart, and when, by reason of satirical laughter, there

is no time for serious matters."

Steinheim's muse severely rebuked the unthinking who seceded from the

Jewish religion.

He wished, however, not only to reprove, but also to instruct and

convince. He did not address himself to the prosperous, the contented,

and the rich, but to "youth with its pains and its ardent longings,

its ready sensibility to light and justice." To these he dedicated

his book so fertile in thought, "Revelation according to the System

of the Synagogue" (February, 1835). Gifted with a philosophical

mind, Steinheim submitted the whole system of the law to a searching

examination, regarding it as the highest consideration, as the "miracle

of miracles," by which alone the restless inquiring human mind can

arrive at contentment. Boldly he attempted to give an answer to the

question: What is this highly-praised and deeply-scorned Judaism?

All Jewish thinkers had been happy in proving that its fundamental

principles agreed with the axioms of mental philosophy, or, at

least, were not in contradiction to them. If man were left solely to

the guidance of reason or of natural philosophy, he would find no

clue for his moral actions in the labyrinth of contradictions and

uncertainties. It is, therefore, concluded Steinheim, a poor compliment

to a religion to say that it is in accord with reason; for the latter

is Chronos consuming his own offspring; building up with one hand and

destroying with the other. The only religion in accordance with reason

is heathenism, or natural religion, in its various modifications--the

heathenism which was the origin of so much mischief to morality,

in which "robbers, thieves, adulterers, and sodomites found their

finest examples in the highest beings." If Christianity renounces

its joint origin with Judaism, the fashion since Schleiermacher and

Hegel, it thereby sinks to the lowest depths of heathenism. Love and

hatred, Ahriman and Ormuz, Christ and Satan, with all variations of

the opposing principles, the eternal substance about which the two

powers are ever contending, and inexorable necessity--these are the

fundamental ideas of natural religion: man himself succumbs under the

suffering inflicted by necessity:

"Through eternal, immovable, mighty laws

Must we all complete the circle of our existence."

"Like the gods, so are their priests and sages: like king, like herd."

In opposition to this sensual or perhaps refined heathenism comes

Judaism with its totally different mode of thought. It sets up a

personal God who is not identical with Nature, and is not divided

into two principles: it recognizes a "Creatio ex nihilo," without an

eternal substance. It lays stress upon free will, consequently upon

man's responsibility for his moral actions. These truths and others

have not been evolved by human reason, nor could they be so evolved;

they had been revealed upon Sinai. Although they were alien to reason,

yet they are so clear and convincing that it soon accepts them,

displacing the contradictory phases of thought regarding the perplexing

natural phenomena, whose laws reason cannot explain. Sinai, with its

lightning-flashes, shed both light and warmth over the world, clearness

of thought and moral purity. The synagogue forms a sharply defined

antithesis both to mythological religion and the church. "Out of Zion

shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem":

with inspired enthusiasm Steinheim subscribed to these prophetic,

half-fulfilled words. When he had discovered, or thought he had

discovered, the soul of Judaism, Steinheim became filled with ardent

zeal, a striking phenomenon in a time of sober speculation. This love

for Judaism so illumined his mind and facilitated his understanding of

the past, that he even learned to value the activity and energy of the

greatly despised rabbis.

In his "Revelation" Steinheim revealed many truths, or rather, he

brought to light ancient truths which had been ignored or forgotten.

No one either in his own or in the preceding age understood the

fundamental principles of Judaism so thoroughly as he did, although

several of his hypotheses and inferences cannot be completely

established. He, however, made but a slight impression upon his

contemporaries, although he set forth the grandeur of Judaism with

almost prophetic inspiration, and in an attractive manner. Whence came

his isolation? It arose from the fact that the life and actions of

Steinheim did not accord with his thoughts and sentiments. In agreement

with his words, he ought to have become intimately associated with

the Synagogue which from ignorance "became daily more deserted," to

have participated in its woes and ignominy, to have joined in the

celebration of its days of festivity and sadness, and to have clothed

himself with the pride of those who were externally slaves, but in

their hearts freemen. But Steinheim did nothing of the kind: he kept

himself aloof from the Jewish community and Jewish life. What he

correctly recognized as the reason of the resistance to the doctrines

of Judaism, "the simplicity and servile condition of its adherents,"

repelled even him.

"The name of the people, which has become its guardian, has

degenerated into a by-word, and now it is demanded that a

doctrine shall be accepted whose supporters are given up to

hatred, contempt, and persecution."

To renounce Judaism altogether, like Heine, Edward Gans, and many

others, appeared to Steinheim dishonorable and wanton; and he therefore

remained externally faithful. But, although he had recognized the truth

that the mission of Israel consisted in being not only priests, but

also sacrifices, he did not permit this knowledge to influence his

course of life. This was not due to weakness of character in Steinheim,

but to insufficient knowledge of Judaism in its many-sidedness. In

spite of his predilection for its intellectual treasury, he was more at

home in every other subject than in Jewish literature.

A deeper knowledge of Judaism was unexpectedly aroused in a country

which cultured Jews like Riesser and Steinheim were accustomed to

despise. As it was formerly asked, What good can come out of Galilee?

so now it was said, What good can come out of Poland? Yet, from this

very place there came fruitful seeds which developed into healthy

blossoms. Two men especially, Nachman Krochmal and Solomon Jehuda

Rapoport, profitably employed the knowledge gained in Germany. Both

seemed destined to fill a gap, to which the scholars of Jewish science

in Germany and France were unequal. They dug solid ore from the mines

inaccessible in these countries, and showed how to procure and work

it. They stirred up a spirit of rivalry, which within the short space

of three decades, was instrumental in removing the ruins covering the

great past of Judaism, and in bringing to light the Divine image hidden

beneath. They were the founders of a new school, which may be called

the Galician.

Nachman Cohen Krochmal (born at Brody, 1785; died at Tarnopol,

1840), the son of a well-to-do merchant interested in science, who

was accustomed to make journeys to Germany, caught up the pale, dying

light of the Mendelssohn school. Mendelssohn was the ideal upon

which Krochmal modeled himself. Married at the age of fourteen, and

transplanted to the little village of Zolkiew, where the method of

instruction so destructive to science was still in vogue, Krochmal

secretly became absorbed in the study of Hebrew literature. He also

tried to obtain the writings of the German philosophers, especially

of Kant, in order to expand and clear his mind with earnest thoughts.

The more the strict Talmudists and heretic-hunting Chassidim of Poland

endeavored to discover those who occupied themselves with works other

than the Talmud or Kabbala, or who read a non-Hebraic book, in order

to denounce them--the more did Krochmal and his fellows enjoy their

stolen pleasure. Along with a mass of knowledge from the Talmud,

Krochmal stored up many thoughts of a character hostile to Talmudism.

But open war was never declared. Krochmal, probably on account of

his health, enfeebled by continued mental activity, was too timid to

venture out of the beaten track: he avoided disputes, and followed all

the superstitiously pious Polish customs, exaggerating them indeed,

in order not to jeopardize his peace of mind. He was too earnest

and too prudent to overstep the bounds of habit; nevertheless, he

could not altogether escape suspicion. He had carried on a harmless

correspondence with a Karaite Chacham in the neighboring village

of Kukizow. Certain pious persons knew this, and represented that

he was hatching a conspiracy against the Talmud with the Karaites.

They obtained one of his letters from the unsuspecting Karaite,

endeavored to extract heresies from the innocent compliments paid his

correspondent in verse, and spread it throughout the large community

of Lemberg in order to excite the mob against him. This intrigue

greatly affected Krochmal, and becoming yet more timid and cautious, he

locked up his thoughts within his own breast, and for a long time could

not be induced to publish anything.

But he revealed the treasures of his mind to his trusty friends and

disciples, not within treacherous walls, but in the open field. His

hearers, schooled in the Talmud, and accustomed to unravel dark and

difficult problems, quickly understood his hints without diffuse

explanations. By his laconic method Krochmal could turn everything

topsy-turvy, and unfold a series of investigations, every link of

which, if made public, would have stamped him in the eyes of his

countrymen as a wicked heretic. What made his method of instruction

and his investigations especially fruitful, was the clearness and

finish of his thoughts, which were arranged in admirable sequence. Thus

his teaching was a wholesome antidote to the chaotic contradiction

and confusion from which the best Polish minds greatly suffered. His

acquaintance with German philosophy had schooled his mind, and taught

him logical discipline. Krochmal did not develop original philosophic

thoughts, which he nevertheless seems to have thought his strong point.

He was the first to take a philosophical view of history, especially

Jewish history, and make a clear survey of its intricacies. He also

pointed out how the mine of the Talmud could be utilized, and rendered

valuable in historical research. Krochmal himself devoted his attention

to this neglected and little valued literature, and applied his results

to the elucidation of Jewish history. He succeeded in throwing so much

light on the period from the Babylonian Captivity until the conclusion

of the Mishnah, which Jost and Christian scholars had completely failed

to understand, that it was an easy task for succeeding inquirers to

follow in his path. He was the first to teach scholars to examine

Talmudical sources of history through a microscope, or to reproduce

half-obliterated features. This was, indeed, a great gain, and an

immense advance compared with Jost's clumsy view of history. Krochmal's

results do not always bear investigation, because having no access to

non-Hebraic writings, he was obliged to content himself with secondary

or tertiary sources. But his acuteness and sincere devotion to this

study, did not allow him to stray from the right track often. He

inspired his disciples to engage in research, and gave them the key to

these hieroglyphic sources. Although he had not yet published many of

his discoveries, his fame extended beyond the boundaries of his own

country. The community of Berlin, which since the time of Friedländer

had felt deep aversion to Poles and rabbis, entertained the idea of

calling him as their rabbi. He was considered one of the leaders of the

young science of Judaism, and had many admirers in Germany.

The most receptive and gifted among his disciples, Solomon Jehuda

Rapoport (born Lemberg, 1790? died Prague, 1867), contested with him

for preëminence, and even overshadowed him, partly by reason of his

more fertile productions. Rapoport was descended from a respected

Jewish family, a race of learned rabbis, one of whose branches had been

transplanted from Italy to Poland. Traces of his hereditary nobility

were apparent in his bearing and appearance. Of a gentle nature,

which won for him all hearts, having a fund of genial humor, and of

a sociable disposition, Rapoport was a well-beloved and attractive

person in every circle. These qualities softened the severity of his

astonishing learning. Nothing of especial importance occurred during

his youth. At an early age he was admitted to the study of the Talmud,

and soon was at home in its labyrinths, owing to his extraordinary

memory and penetrating acuteness. He also married young.

During his youth, Rapoport became partly false to Talmudical study,

inasmuch as he favored its rivals--science and poetry. He has

graphically described the painful path trodden by him and his peers in

order to arrive at the tree of knowledge. It was difficult to obtain

any scientific book, most difficult to secure one written in a European

language. The index of books prohibited by public opinion was much more

comprehensive than that of the popes. If one thirsting for knowledge

secretly procured such a book, and it was scented out by the prying

eyes of his relatives or friends, he was implored to throw it aside,

or his friends, on their own responsibility, confiscated the heretical

work, so as to preserve the student from fanatical persecution by the

Chassidim. Even clear-minded men were doubtful whether, according to

the Talmud, the study of profane sciences was not forbidden.

Rapoport was not alone in his longing for knowledge. Here and there,

in Galicia, the germs of a fresh spirit awoke, which struggled hard to

remove the yoke of an unthinking, fanatical public opinion. Intercourse

with Vienna, the Napoleonic wars, in general, communication with the

world, caused many old forms to fall into abeyance. The spread of the

Chassidistic cult and its presumptuous, outrageous, and increasingly

frantic actions, stimulated thoughtful, reasonable men to meet it with

firm opposition, for it filled them with passionate hatred, and drove

them to invent expedients whereby to crush it. The most appropriate

method seemed to be to remove the boorish ignorance in religious and

secular matters and the childlike credulity, by means of education.

Although the Austrian government had declared it a duty of the Galician

congregations to establish schools, the lower officials had not shown

much zeal in causing this order to be carried into effect. This

neglect was to some extent advantageous, as the self-deliverance of

the Jews was the more effectual by reason of the struggle undergone.

Since the wars with Napoleon, there had arisen small circles in the

three largest Galician communities of Brody, Lemberg, and Tarnopol,

banded together for self-culture, the promotion of education, and a

war of annihilation against Chassidism. The beginning of this movement

was made in Tarnopol by Joseph Perl (born at Tarnopol, 1773; died,

1839). With great sacrifice of time and money, and with unswerving

perseverance, he founded a pattern High School for the middle classes.

He made incisive attacks upon the Chassidim in a work, intentionally

written in a corrupt, barbarous jargon, which was in no way inferior

to "The Letters of Obscure Men" in the monkish Latin of Rubianus and

Hutten, perhaps slightly more artistic. This bitter enemy of the

Chassidim entered into communication with the Jewish representatives

of education in Germany, and was elected an honorary member of the

Berlin Society for Culture. In Brody, where Jews engaged in extensive

foreign trade, the rich merchants, who traveled in Germany and Austria,

introduced the desire to imitate the German Jews. In Lemberg, where

Rapoport lived, a kind of literary circle was founded, at whose head

was a wealthy, highly-cultured man, Jehuda Löb Mises (died 1831). He

provided ambitious young men in Lemberg with money, counsel, and, what

was of especial value to them, with an excellent library of Hebrew and

European books.

From this circle arose an admired scholar, who deserves a golden page

in the records of Jewish literature. This was Isaac Erter, born in a

village near Przemysl, 1792, and died at Brody, 1851. He who by means

of his magic poetry succeeds in showing the powers of renaissance

dormant in a so-called dead language, unconsciously also demonstrates

the vitality of the race in whose midst such artistic creations can

arise, and can by many be understood, and admired. Erter's object was

to scourge the perversity of Polish Judaism, the chaos of superstition

and learning, and the coarseness of the Chassidim; but by the noble

form in which he clothed his scorn and his righteous indignation he

attested the immortality of the Hebrew language and people. Born in a

wretched Galician village, he created beautiful Hebrew pictures, such

as would have delighted Isaiah and the most refined Psalmists. Erter's

father, though a poor man, little more than a peasant, had nevertheless

not neglected the sacred duty of a Jew to have his talented son

instructed in Jewish writings. The Talmud, to be sure, was the only

work with which young Erter was thoroughly acquainted. Of the beauties

of biblical poetry, like all Jews of Poland at that time, he had no

idea in his youth. When he was thirteen years old his father imposed

the bonds of marriage upon him, and shortly afterwards, having become

a widower, the boy married a second wife. His second father-in-law,

who had promised to support him, did not keep his word, and thus Erter

tasted the bread of misery in his youth. To dispel his bitter cares

he joined the merry Chassidim, taking part in all their follies; but

his innate love of the beautiful made him feel disgust at the sight of

their moral and physical degradation, nor could he believe in their

miracles. A fortunate accident acquainted him with a cultured man,

who introduced him to two ideals, Maimuni and Mendelssohn, and so he

learned to understand, love, and imitate the highest models, viz., the

prophet Moses and Hebrew literature. A new spirit was breathed into

Erter by this old, still ever new revelation, working a change in his

views and his relation to Judaism. To increase his culture Erter betook

himself to Lemberg, where he hoped to find better means for satisfying

his thirst for science. Here he found struggling sympathizers of

his own age, who, like himself, had married early, had been tortured

by material cares, but had nevertheless directed all their energies

to the cultivation of the mind. Here he met Rapoport, to whom as

the more learned he looked up with reverence. There was a peculiar

charm in the intercourse of these young knowledge-seekers, each at

once master and pupil. Whatever was beautiful and true in European

literature they elaborated, for their own use and that of others,

in the Hebrew language, which they employed as if it were a living

language. The difficulties which members of this circle could not

overcome were submitted to the wise master, Krochmal, and to him they

made pilgrimages to Zolkiew as to a wizard. This intellectually idyllic

life, which they remembered even in their old age as a golden dream,

lasted for three years. But their occupation with profane literature

and their actions and aims gave great offense.

One day a ban of excommunication (in the name of Rabbi Jacob

Orenstein) was found affixed to the gates of the synagogue. It was

directed against four men, who were said to teach the young their

heretical views, viz., Rapoport, Erter, Natkes, and Pastor. The formal

excommunication, customary in olden days, had been forbidden in

Galicia since the time of Emperor Joseph: therefore the zealots chose

this method. At the time when they had brought Krochmal under the

accusation of heresy, they had determined to make a vigorous onslaught

upon all apostles of culture. But, seeing that the ban was directed

only against these four poor men, and that they dared not attack the

wealthy, respected Mises, who openly poured ridicule upon Talmudical

Judaism, their cowardice rendered their zeal ineffectual. The sentence

of excommunication did not have the expected result, and Orenstein

was compelled by the Austrian authorities to withdraw it. It hardly

affected Rapoport, who had a fairly independent, if somewhat inferior

position, and who had instructed the young gratuitously. In the eyes of

the common people, however, he was a heretic; but this did not hinder

him from becoming district rabbi of Tarnopol and afterwards chief rabbi

of Prague.

Poor Erter, however, was severely affected, because he had to support

himself and his family by teaching. Although the rabbi was obliged

to recall the ban, Erter found that many parents did not care to

entrust their sons to him, and he had to take up his staff and journey

to Brody. But he had his revenge upon Orenstein and the zealots: he

immortalized their bigotry and pettiness by his poetry. Indignation and

anger at being persecuted by such tormentors forced the pen into his

hand, and gave rise to his masterpieces of delineation. Erter harmed

Orenstein with his poetical thunders of excommunication more severely

than he himself had been made to suffer, and completely crushed him. In

a poem he represented a court of justice which determined the value of

objects from a standpoint dissimilar to that of the actual world. Books

of immense size shrink to nothing, because their contents prove to have

been stolen from various quarters, and the plagiarism is discovered;

only the title-page remaining the property of the author. This satire

was aimed at Orenstein, who had published a Rabbinical work in many

volumes, which he was said to have adorned with borrowed plumes.

Börne and Heine would certainly never have credited it, had they heard

that, hidden away in Poland, among the bearded Jews, there lived a

brother artist "as capable of making filigree-work of finest words,

of weaving a wire-net for the souls of gnats, or pointing a satire so

sharp that it could penetrate through the pores of glass." As they had

improved, refined, and polished the German language, so Erter improved

the Hebrew tongue. He breathed youthful vigor and freshness into

"the old woman with silvery hair and wrinkled brow, who showed only

traces of her former beauty" (as he says), made her susceptible to the

prevailing influences of the day, and docile to express new thoughts.

Was Erter a poet? In his prose he was a perfect poet. In his faithful

and touching descriptions, there is a store of magic poetry and humor,

which, like the offspring of Heine's wit, attracts and enchains our

minds.

Two thousand years after the prophets had ceased, there arose a voice

which sounded at once familiar and new. And in this intermingling of

the old and the new in Erter's style, which recalls Isaiah and Heine,

there lies an extraordinary charm. Faithfully translated, Erter's poems

would still be interesting; but the peculiar, indescribable fragrance

of his work would have passed away. In their original form and color,

in the contrast of solemnity and childlike simplicity, of sublimity and

detailed description, these poetical productions make an inexpressibly

pleasant impression upon minds susceptible to delicate shades of

thought. In perusing these masterly delineations, one only regrets that

they are not longer, and that this profound artist left no more than

six of these delightful pictures, and only a few equally beautiful

letters.

Like a true poet, Erter had come too late at the distribution of the

world's goods, and had to contend with poverty. In his thirty-third

year, when he already had marriageable daughters, he began to study

medicine, in order to earn his daily bread therewith. The time spent

in efforts to rejuvenate the Hebrew language had to be snatched from

sleep, and death hurried him away in the full maturity of his poetical

powers. Erter performed great services for Judaism. Through his proofs

of the flexibility of the Hebrew language he awakened fresh love

for it, and created a comparatively new medium for disseminating the

young science of Judaism. His influence upon his contemporaries is

unmistakable. Whilst the Hebrew style of Nachman Krochmal was rugged,

awkward, almost as stiff as that of the Tibbonides, and reads like a

translation from a foreign language, Rapoport, Natkes, Jacob Solomon

Byk, the Goldbergs, father and son, and the younger men of the Galician

school, displayed flow of language, fluency, and ease, which were

afterwards misused in rendering French novels and conceits into Hebrew.

Rapoport accordingly did not stand alone in Lemberg; he found friends

who participated in his ideas and efforts. It was especially favorable

to the development of his mental powers that Krochmal served him as a

living book, which contained all worth knowing. From the days of his

youth until far into manhood, for nearly thirty years, Rapoport made it

a practice, at least once a month, to take a journey from Lemberg to

Zolkiew, to visit the bold, and at the same time timid, philosophical

inquirer, Krochmal, and to enter into intellectual conversation with

him. This intercourse with his gifted young friend became such a

necessity to Krochmal, that whenever he was engaged in a subject of

research, he sought out Rapoport in Lemberg to reach clearness by an

interchange of ideas. Rapoport needed only suggestion; he had inborn

taste and love for Jewish history, and as he possessed both scholarship

and keen perceptions, he made prolific discoveries. In the interchange

of thought between master and disciple, they in company arrived at

important results, and in the end they did not know from whose mind

they had emanated, or rather they worked together at the solution of

problems. It is therefore perplexing to know exactly which of the

many results of their common investigations are to be ascribed to the

master and which to the disciple. These fruitful conversations between

Krochmal and Rapoport marked the birth of the science of Judaism on the

historical side.

However, despite their combined discoveries, as soon as both grew

to full maturity of intellect, the respective territories of their

research became distinct. Krochmal had more liking for general and

encyclopædic studies; details served him only as a confirmation of

his theory. Rapoport, on the other hand, was more interested in

minute, especially in biographical, research; and general studies did

not attract him. In his youth, Krochmal had planned a survey of the

development of thought in Judaism, bearing upon the varying phases of

enlightenment and obscuration. Rapoport also commenced a work in his

youth, but it was to be a biography of the most noted representatives

of Judaism and its ideas.

As this laborious task demanded a great amount of time and attention,

and as Rapoport was not master of his own time, the fruits of his

researches ripened but slowly. When, however, he published in

succession five biographies (1829-31), with great fullness of luminous

detail and suggestion, the pathway for a thorough knowledge of the

internal history of Judaism and the Jewish race was opened up. Rapoport

proved indisputably and upon strictly scientific grounds that the great

representatives of Judaism, its leaders, in the Middle Ages, instead

of shunning the light of knowledge, actually kindled and fed it. He

showed that, at a time when European nations were still steeped in

the darkness of the Middle Ages, the Jews cultivated general science.

Chronology, historical geography, the history of literature, and other

branches important for the critical investigation of history, which

had hitherto been altogether neglected, or only superficially treated,

were by him first proved necessary and applied. The acute intelligence

with which he united disjointed facts, and separated others apparently

connected; the critical touchstone which he applied to distinguish

the true from the false, and facts from legends, produced such

suggestive results that, after Krochmal, he must be considered the

father of Jewish science. All that had been achieved by Jost and other

predecessors vanished before these researches like superficial talk

before a well digested, well constructed, clearly conceived oration.

What gave these investigations an especial value, and distinguished

them from the productions of pedantry was the fervor and love with

which they were undertaken. They must, therefore, be regarded as

national performances, not as the products of idle scholarship. So

far as the Jews took an interest in these labors, they saw themselves

reflected in them, and considered the history of their mental

development as laid down in them as their own work, or the guiding-line

to be followed in future. Rapoport achieved more in this direction

than Krochmal, because he did not allow himself to be intimidated by

heretic-hunters, and displayed more manly courage openly to defend

the truth recognized by him as such. The scientific movement within

Judaism, which since his time has continually grown in force, must be

entirely attributed to him. The spring which pours forth water from

its bosom, and allows it to trickle down among the bushes unseen is of

no significance compared with the broad stream revealed to every eye,

bearing upon its surface large ships, and with its overflow fertilizing

the adjoining fields. His greatness was recognized, for he was elected

district rabbi of Tarnopol, and shortly afterwards chief rabbi of

Prague. Once again was a Pole called to Germany, but under what altered

circumstances!

The effects of Rapoport's system of research soon manifested

themselves. A scholar of the first rank, who slowly piled brick upon

brick for the construction of the inner history of the Jews, one of

the triumvirate of the Berlin Society for Culture, finding consolation

in investigation for the disappointment met with on another field,

utilized Rapoport's results and system of inquiry, to shed light upon

another side of Jewish history. Zunz, in his "Homilies of the Jews in

Divine Worship," reviewed them in their origin, their growth, their

sublimity, and their degeneration (1832). They portrayed Judaism

from another point of view, and brought conclusive proofs that the

Jews in the Middle Ages had not been a rough, half-savage horde, as

was asserted by their bitter enemies, in order to calumniate them

and deprive them of their rights of equality; that they were not a

barbarous fraternity without morals and decency, but an intelligent

community with a culture peculiar to themselves, yet actively promoting

general culture.

"From the earliest times we find in the constitution of the

Jewish nation measures for upraising men steeped in the trials

and errors of life, or chained down by sensuality and coarse

lusts. Sabbath and festivals, sacrifices and holy convocations,

public worship and instruction in the law, were to afford

comfort to the sinner, support to the weak, and teaching to

all, and to preserve a holy flame of faith and patriotism in

the midst of the nation, as in the breast of the individual.

Centuries have since then passed away, the Jews have lost their

independence and their country; but on the downfall of every

institution the synagogue remained as the sole representative

of their nationality. Towards this center their faith was

directed, and from it they obtained instruction for their daily

conduct, strength to endure unheard-of sufferings, and hope for

a future dawn of freedom. The public worship of the synagogue

became the standard of Jewish nationality, the miraculous

shield of the Jewish faith."

The form of prayers and sermons was traced in this peculiar work in

their manifold shapes from the boundary line of the Bible period and

that of the Soferim till the time of their perfection, their decline,

and their regeneration. This book was the first solid, sober, and

convincing work, by a Jewish author, conceived in the spirit of the

German scholars' guild. It displayed an array of facts which either had

been wholly unknown, or inaccurately known. It therefore made a lasting

impression, and in turn was fruitful in suggestions. It occupies

a place of high importance in the edifice of Jewish science. The

"Homilies of the Jews" was devoted also to the furtherance of two side

issues--the emancipation of the Jews and the promotion of reform.

In supporting these aims it was carefully pointed out and emphasized

that up to the last century, in Portuguese and Italian congregations,

sermons were delivered in the vernacular. But these two movements,

emancipation and reform, were not much advanced, and whatever was

accomplished in these two directions, is in no way due to the "Homilies

of the Jews." But they made scientific accuracy in the German sense

the indispensable quality of future investigations, and removed the

reproach of superficiality from Jewish authors.

Newly-fledged Jewish science soon created new organs wherein to express

itself. The oldest and most noteworthy was carried on in Hebrew: it

was called the "desirable vineyard" (Kerem Chemed), and was founded

by Samuel Löb Goldberg of Tarnopol, and during ten years was of great

use in offering the different views of Judaism the opportunity of

expression. The chief topic was Jewish history; the greatest care

was bestowed upon this subject. In accordance with their ability,

knowledge, or ripeness of intelligence, the contributors to the

"Vineyard" brought great or small offerings, without expecting any

reward or tangible honor. What university or academy was there to repay

their laborious researches by the bestowal of a professor's chair or

post of distinction? There was not even a prospect of situations as

rabbis for men engaged in subjects utterly dissimilar, often opposed,

to rabbinical studies. On the contrary, their zeal for science rendered

them unworthy of rabbinical honor in the eyes of the strictly orthodox.

The chief contributors to the new journal were the leaders of the

Galician school, among whom Rapoport held the first place, although he

incurred opposition by his candid utterances. Encouraged by Rapoport's

example, Krochmal also consented to publish over his own name single

chapters from his encyclopædic work. The German Jews supplied only

two representatives, both of whom were talented men, viz., the author

of the "Homilies of the Jews" and the high-minded Michael Sachs, to

whom, however much they differed in their conception of Judaism, Jewish

science is deeply indebted for rich increase.

The little band of Jewish inquirers received reinforcement from Italy,

a country which for a long time had been buried in slumber, and had

taken but little part in Jewish history. Besides old Reggio, Rabbi

Ghirondi of Padua, Almanzi, a wealthy layman, and Samuel Vita della

Volta, a physician of Mantua, special prominence is due to Samuel David

Luzzatto (born in Trieste, 1800; died in Padua, 1865).

The self-sacrifice of Jewish inquirers in the Middle Ages, who in the

midst of unspeakable privations and sufferings had occupied themselves

in the cultivation of their minds, Luzzatto also manifested as a

model for the younger generation. During his whole life, and although

he enjoyed European fame, Luzzatto and his family suffered through

poverty. Privations, however, did not hinder him from increasing his

knowledge with endurance all the more heroic because not publicly

displayed. To be poor in Poland, as was the case with Rapoport and

Erter, was not so distressing as to be poor in Italy, because in the

former, requirements were slight, and contentment on the smallest means

was almost universal; besides, generous, wealthy men saved the men of

science from starvation. But in Italy, where even the middle class

craved comfortable living, and where indifference to knowledge among

the Jews had reached a high pitch, it is matter for great surprise that

Luzzatto could find, amidst his struggles for daily bread, the peace

and cheerfulness necessary to accomplish so much for the promotion

of Jewish science. At every discovery, however trifling, Luzzatto

felt childlike pleasure, which appears strange to an onlooker: it was

the self-created recreation of the martyr, which for a moment causes

gnawing pain to be forgotten.

Luzzatto was not naturally gifted with aptitude for historical studies.

His most conspicuous trait was enthusiastic love of poetry, Judaism,

and Hebrew literature, and this threefold love became one within him.

But lofty enthusiasm, united with extraordinarily delicate taste for

poetical beauty, could not compensate for lack of creative power; it

could do no more than make of him a more talented Wessely. His Hebrew

verses, by which he hoped to re-animate biblical poetry, are blameless

in form, rhythmical, and of Hebraic coloring; but like Wessely's

verses, they lack soul, true poetry. Luzzatto's Hebrew prose, polished

and elegant though it be, cannot be compared with Erter's magical

language. This he felt, and he was sufficiently just to award the palm

to his Galician fellow-artist. His deep comprehension of the true art

of poetry, especially of the delicacy of biblical literature, and his

extremely refined taste, opened to Luzzatto another field of labor,

viz., the exposition of Holy Writ. To purify this treasure from the

rust of thousands of years had hitherto been the task of strangers,

who did not bring to this work proper appreciation, still less the

needful devotion. Christian Bible exegetes, such as Eichhorn, De

Wette, Gesenius, and others, had pursued the work of purification in

a clumsy manner, and for want of critical ability had flung away the

true ore as dross. Luzzatto was one of the first Jews in modern days to

devote himself to biblical exegesis. He possessed a sure instinct for

recognizing the true spirit and beautiful form of biblical literature,

and he called attention to the disturbing elements whilst restoring

the original ones. No one better than he understood the construction of

the Hebrew language, even to its most delicate points and grammatical

minutiæ.

In the new Rabbinical College of Padua (the Collegio Rabbinico)

Luzzatto found opportunities of engaging zealously in the study of the

Bible, and of ascertaining the correct meaning of the words of the

prophets and inspired writers. If Luzzatto with his happy feeling for

language and his Jewish fervor had remained true to this branch of

research, he would have produced splendid results, and he might have

performed a substantial service to Jewish science, for he would have

invited many disciples, inasmuch as his orthodoxy was unimpeachable.

But he was suddenly frightened by his own boldness, or rather feared

that he might misuse it. If the walls of the Massorah are torn down,

he feared, the sacred text will become the prey of incompetence and

unending revolution, causing direst confusion. He did not trust

criticism to heal the wounds it inflicted, or rather he did not believe

that it effected a cure by administering poison. He therefore took up

an equivocal position, and re-erected the outworks of the Massorah,

which he himself had undermined.

Roused by the achievements of Rapoport in history, he plunged into that

study, and produced important results. Owing to the dispersion of the

Jews and their tragic fate, the fairest pages of their history during

the Franco-Spanish epoch had been lost. Luzzatto's zeal was kindled

to discover these pages, and in Italy his efforts were crowned with

success. The persecuted Jews from Spain and France had mostly passed

through Italy in their flight. Here, therefore, the greater part of

Jewish literary treasures had been deposited, but they were buried from

fear of the Argus-eye of the bloody Inquisition. Luzzatto unearthed

them, published them in scientific organs or as separate works, and

so made them available. Through him the Jewish history of the Middle

Ages received its authentication, its firm basis, its coloring, and

exposition. If Krochmal and Rapoport are the fathers of Jewish history,

then Luzzatto was its mother.

Through him it became possible to obtain a clear understanding of facts

hitherto only vaguely depicted, to arrange them in proper groups, and

discern their original splendor. The beginnings of neo-Hebraic poetry,

its flourishing period in the time of Jehuda Halevi, and in general the

prolific mental activity of the Jews of Spain, were first set forth by

him. And to his last breath Luzzatto was untiring in his researches

and investigations. He collected a number of valuable works, and

stimulated other friends of Jewish science to do the same. Unstintingly

he permitted the use of his discoveries, and was happy when he could

benefit the public by his newly found treasures. He was a priest in the

service of Jewish science, and his memory will never be forgotten in

the House of Israel.

Next to the Hebrew organ of Jewish science (Kerem Chemed), various

German journals were started, which, besides dealing with the topics

of the day, treated of Jewish scientific studies, and popularized

them. One of these organs, "The Scientific Journal," from its very

commencement assumed an over-confident tone, as if desirous of setting

itself up as the highest tribunal, before which all efforts should

await final judgment. And yet, most of its contributors, unless proved

in other ways, learned by teaching. Those still among us must confess,

if they are sincere, that on beginning their undertaking, instead of

being at the head of Jewish science, they were mere tyros, possessing

only a superficial smattering, and that the Galician school was their

guide.

The soul of the periodical was its founder, Abraham Geiger (born

1810; died 1874), a man of considerable talents, of clear intellect,

penetrating sagacity, comprehensive knowledge, and stern character,

bordering almost upon obstinacy and defiance. He was also of a weak

disposition, and was easily led, and this quality helped to change what

had hitherto caused only differences of opinion concerning Judaism,

into the harsh extreme of a split amongst various sects. Although born

and bred in a family schooled in the Talmud, Geiger became filled

with burning hatred towards it, and seeing that the religious life

of the Jews had been hitherto regulated by the Talmudical standard,

he regarded it as the aim of his existence to bring about its

deposition and to introduce reforms of a radical nature, outstripping

those of his predecessors. The reform of Judaism was Geiger's chief

desire; and to further it, he used his influence as a preacher and

his scientific researches. He felt no respect for antiquity or for

religious practices, and never spared those co-religionists who

adhered to traditional customs. He did not shrink from effecting the

most thorough-going schism and disunion. Geiger's scientific labors

did not produce lasting results, as he cared less for inquiries after

truth than for plans of reform. His journal, however, succeeded in

inculcating self-reliance and self-knowledge. It courageously attacked

the shameless presumption of sciolist Jew-haters like Hartmann, and

inveighed against weak-minded Jews who attributed all ideals to

Christianity. It may be reckoned to the credit of this periodical or

this school, that it recalled neglected, because despised, personages,

the Karaites, those talented sceptics and hypocrites.

Through the impetuosity of the new school, life and action were brought

into Jewish circles, and the results of research were diluted and made

popular. Who can say now whether the gain or the loss to Judaism was

greater? For instance, it gave currency to grave errors, by making

Judaism a theologic system, and its representatives, the rabbis

and teachers of the law, mere clergymen and pastors. This tendency

narrowed Judaism, and degraded the achievements bidding defiance to the

centuries by coupling them with contemporary phenomena. In hot haste it

desired to apply practically the results of scientific investigation

but recently made, or, according to its shibboleth, to "establish

harmony between law and life"--sacrificing the half understood

law to life, _i. e._, to the promptings of convenience, to civil

equality. Science was not in itself an end, only the means whereby to

deprive Judaism of its characteristic peculiarities, and remodel it

into something entirely new. It desired to invest the arbitrariness

with which Friedländer, Jacobson, and their companions had introduced

reforms with the appearance of necessity, and justify it on scientific

grounds. By its violent, dogmatic attitude, fierce opposition was

aroused, and thus the seeds of dissension were scattered in the

vineyard of Jacob.

But even this phenomenon had its favorable side. It was a challenge to

the orthodox party, which had hitherto met innovations with silence,

or impotent rage, but always awkwardly, or, as in the person of

Bernays, had made sphinx-like utterances. They altogether denied the

justification of the reform which the advanced party so confidently

urged. The "Nineteen Letters on Judaism," by Ben Usiel, a disciple

of Bernays (1836), were the first tones of a powerful opposition

against the leveling of Judaism to a commonplace religion, to consist

of sermons, German hymns, and confirmation, so forcing its generous

proportions to adapt themselves to the narrow limits of the synagogue.

This was the commencement of a contest between two different sets of

views, a strife which has not yet ceased. The struggle was confined to

Germany. The Jews of the other European countries were not cognizant

thereof. In Germany it was so difficult to destroy the old state of

ignominy, so toilsome to obtain the new freedom, that educated Jews,

imagining the peculiarities of their belief to be one of the obstacles

in the way of securing equal privileges, were ready to sacrifice

these, trying to persuade themselves that it was not surrender, merely

a shedding of the outer skin. Christian society refused to recognize

them as Germans, and, therefore, they desired to show, by stripping off

their original garb, that they were Germans, naught but Germans, and

kept up only a distant connection with Judaism. The spirit of subtle

inquiry which had been awakened to a high degree, chiefly in Germany,

furthered the habit of fault-finding, not alone with details, but with

the whole structure of Judaism; of considering it as a work rotten with

age, which, with the exception of a few foundation-stones, ought to be

destroyed.

It was strange that thoughtful Christians admired the tents of Jacob

in their simplicity, whilst the adherents of Judaism felt confined

in them, and desired to exchange the Tabernacle and the Ark of the

Covenant for the pomp and parade of the Church, or wished to surround

them with disfiguring adornments. Two poetically-gifted Christian

scholars, astounded by the wonderful fact that the persecuted Jewish

people even in modern days produced neo-Hebraic poetry--spring

blossoms in the midst of the violence of winter--strove to spread

understanding and love of it in Christian circles. The "History of

Neo-Hebraic Poetry" (1836), by Franz Delitzsch, and the "Hebrew

Chrestomathy" (1837), by Adam Martinet, are tokens of the homage

brought by Christians to the Jewish mind. The authors were astounded

at its creative faculty, and at the capacity for development existing

in the Hebrew language, although they knew only fragments, and were

unacquainted with the most modern and the fairest specimens of

neo-Hebraic poetry. This side of Jewish ability convinced them of the

immortality of the race. "No one can deny," remarked the former, "that

the Jewish people is the most remarkable of all nations, and next to

those of the Church, its history and literature deserve the deepest

and most devoted attention. Poetry forms a large part of this colossal

mass of literature, and is the truest image of the inner history of

this people. The elegiac poetry of the synagogue reveals to us the

constant recurrence of suffering which God imposed on the exiles, and

the impressions which these sufferings have left upon the heart of the

nation. The Orient is an exile in the midst of the West, and from the

tears of its home-sickness springs forth Jewish poetry."

Martinet desired "to ascertain the height, depth, and breadth of

the Jewish spirit of our times as shown in the treasures of its

own literature," and was fortunate in having found a noble, deeply

interesting, in every way fine fragment. His "Chrestomathy" was

intended as a vindication of neo-Hebraic literature--beauteous

Eastern flowers reared upon Western soil, which he arranged in an

odorous bouquet, in order to gain admirers for them, and induce them to

cull radiant garlands of still fairer flowers from the magic garden.

The new school of reform felt little of the enthusiasm of appreciative

Christians. They regretted that doubts, conflict, and dissension had

sprung up in the place of confidence, peace, and perfect unity and

sincerity; that all minds were filled with uncertainty and discomfort,

creating a state of irritability which enervated all will-power. But

they themselves had contributed, if not actually to call this ill-humor

into existence, at least to nurse it, and so infect healthy minds.

They imagined that the decomposition of Judaism had already commenced

until they became convinced of it, and like romantic dreamers indulged

in artificial grief, until it became real. In Germany, on account

of the contest for the removal of disabilities, the awakening of

self-consciousness and the dawn of knowledge were purchased at a heavy

price, at the cost of internal disruption and self-torment.

The somber views of those who, whilst admiring Judaism in its ancient

and venerable form, yet entertained doubts as to its continuance,

were truthfully represented in "The Plaints of a Jew" (1837). The

Prussian Jews at this time were placed in a situation both comic and

tragical by an ordinance worthy of the Byzantine court promulgated by

King Frederick William III. Instead of a partial grant of the liberty

guaranteed to them, they were no longer to be officially called

"members of the Mosaic faith," but curtly "Jews," and were not allowed

to bear Christian names. The police were directed to insist that this

law be carried into effect. This method was expected to bring waverers

over to baptism. The self-respect of the Jews was not yet sufficiently

strengthened for them to endure the intended humiliation with dignity.

Many Jews in the large cities, especially in Berlin, who were nearer to

the church than to the synagogue, considered it a slight, and implored

the king to protect them against such undeserved contempt. They mourned

as if they were to be again thrust into exile. This comic sadness was

depicted after the manner of the Psalms in "The Plaints of a Jew."

"The children of my people came to me complaining and weeping.

The old men and the mothers drew near, and anxious suffering

was depicted on their countenances. I asked the little ones,

'Why are you weeping so early in life?' and to the elders I

said, 'Why are you complaining so late in life?' The children

lisped, 'Alas! we may no longer bear the bright, beautiful

names of the Christians, but have to use the dull, hateful ones

of the Jews. We are meant to be branded at our very games.'

And the old men said, 'The quiver of anger is again emptied,

and threatens our children with misery and danger.' Then I

replied, ... 'Comfort yourselves, be quiet, and bear proudly

the proud names of your fathers. They are the names of heroes,

of martyrs crowned with fame, of an ancient nobility, of an

ancient knighthood.... When the West was still sunk in utter

barbarism, your names flourished in immortal splendor, ruling

the world, and enlightening and delivering it. For I say unto

you, that before the hand of the clock of history turns round,

many empty names of the West will be swept off the face of the

earth like stubble by the sharp scythe. But as long as time

endures there will always remain royally enthroned the names of

Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah.'"

Joel Jacoby, the son of a strictly orthodox father, introduced into his

"Plaints of a Jew" many untrue outpourings of fantastic sentimentality

and a feigned sense of pain; but some of his elegies are ardent and

beautifully constructed.