l + t 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 THK SLOSS COLLECTION OF THE SEMITIC LIBRARY 
 OK THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Accession No. 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 LOUIS SLOSS. 
 
 FEBRUARY, 1897. 
 
 Class No. 
 
/ 
 COLL. 
 
THE JEWISH 
 
 S 
 
 FIRST PART: 
 
 Post Biblical History. 
 
 SECOND PART: 
 Explanation of Mosaic Commands. 
 
 BY 
 
 J, MENDES DE SOLLA, DR, TH. 
 
 [^ Of THE ] AL 
 
 ( WIIYERSITY ) 
 
 Of 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 HEBREW BOOK UNION 
 
 1880. 
 
 [ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.] 
 
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1880, by 
 
 J. MENDES DE SOLLA, DR. TH., 
 in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 STEAM PRESS OF 
 
 H. O. A. INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, 
 76TH ST., NEAR THIRD AVE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The author of Ecclesiastes, already in his time, when no 
 printing and little writing was known, observed that " there 
 is no end to the making of many books." It is no wonder, 
 therefore, that in our days, when book-making has become 
 so universal, any new production issued from the press is 
 apt'to be received with the remark that we have already too 
 many books. But though the Preacher was gifted with wis- 
 dom, more than all his contemporaries, knowledge was very 
 limited then, and no intelligent person will deny that with 
 the general spread of learning the demand for new books 
 must keep pace. The method of imparting knowledge is 
 from time to time changed, and we believe improved, and 
 new mediums of instruction to correspond with the new 
 methods are naturally required. The author of this volume, 
 therefore, deems it unnecessary to say anything further by 
 way of apology for the appearance of this new production 
 of his labors, feeling as he does the earnest conviction that 
 a book such as he now ventures to lay before the public is 
 much needed to aid our scholars in the study of History 
 and Theology. 
 
 As to the first part, it is certainly desirable that every Jew 
 should have at least a superficial knowledge of the history 
 of his nation ; that he should have vividly before him at least 
 the principal links in the long chain of events since the 
 exodus from Egypt, down to our own days. As not every 
 one can devote sufficient time to the regular study of history, 
 
 24 
 
IV 
 
 this SYNOPSIS may prove both instructive and pleasant to 
 the earnest -inquirer who desires to refresh his memory, or 
 acquire some new information. 
 
 Our national history is a subject of honest pride to us; 
 the study of it is calculated to inspire us with courage and 
 fortitude in persevering in our efforts to uphold the proud 
 name of our ancestral nobility; a nobility not resting on 
 vain aristocracy or empty titles, but on the sterling qualities 
 of endurance for the sake of principle; of sacrificing worldly 
 interest to the conviction of doing right; of struggling and 
 persevering^p^the path of duty, when deviating from the 
 same would^bring honor, fame, and wealth. And it is our 
 post-biblical "history especially I might say exclusively 
 which tends to inspire us with these exalted sentiments; it 
 is the history of our martyrdom through many ages, not of 
 the time ''when Israel dwelt safely every man under his 
 vine and under his fig-tree," /which teaches us what man is ; 
 capable of enduring and accomplishing, if he has the will 
 and the firmness to walk steadily on the right courseA That 
 great lesson our rising generation stands much in need of 
 learning, and that this humble production may serve as a 
 step towards promoting this end is the writer's earnest de- 
 sire. 
 
 The second part of this book is of still greater import- 
 ance, inasmuch as it concerns the practical part of our reli- 
 gion. ^History is a great teacher of morals, but we may 
 learn ethics likewise from various other sources. A direct 
 and positive information, however, of what we ought to do 
 or abstain from doing, and the reasons why we should do 
 this and avoid doing that, ,is of far more urgent necessity, 
 particularly to the young. In the present enlightened age, 
 we cannot satisfy ourselves with the specious reasoning that 
 we do such or so because we were told to do so by those 
 wiser and better than ourselves ;^that we saw our fathers do 
 
so before us, and that we cannot be wrong in following in 
 their steps. ,^We want a reason, and a valid reason, for what 
 we are required to do;' and unless our religious perform- 
 ances are based on the consciousness that we are doing 
 what is right and useful, such performances are vain and 
 valueless. The second part of this book, then, is intended 
 to give an insight, at least, into the general intention and 
 tendency of the Mosaic Laws, in accordance with the views 
 of the great Maimonides, as laid down in his Moreh Nebu- 
 chim,!and to explain such laws especially as appear to us 
 incomprehensible because not reconcilable with our present 
 mode of thinking. In order, therefore, that those who con- 
 tinue, as far as practicable, the strict observance of the 
 Mosaic laws, may be better informed as to the origin of 
 these institutions; and that those who do not adhere to 
 them as a whole may know the reasons why some are re- 
 tained and others discarded, at is important for both to be 
 enlightened in regard to that which constitutes the basis of 
 their faith and their acts of devotion. This information 
 the second part of the book is intended, in a measure, to 
 supply. 
 
 That, in the compilation of this book, I have made use of 
 various works in English and other languages need not be 
 said, for no writer of history can give his readers but what 
 he finds in the works of his predecessors; but I here can- 
 didly state that I have not hesitated, in many instances, to 
 copy, nearly verbatim, or to translate from other works even 
 to the extent of whole paragraphs. My reason for not al- 
 ways crediting the author I copied or translated is, that I 
 have in most cases abbreviated, added, or changed, and to 
 particularize each line or phrase, mixed up as it is with my 
 own words, would produce such a confusion of inverted 
 commas, spaces, and dottings, as to disfigure the typograph- 
 ical appearance of the book, and be a source of annoyance 
 
VI 
 
 to the reader. I have done as Moliere said : " Je prends 
 mon bien oti je le trouve." I make this general statement 
 to exculpate myself of the crime of plagiarism. 
 
 J. M. DE SOLLA, DR.TH. 
 CURACAO, W. I., August, 1879. 
 
FIRST PART. 
 
 / 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF 
 
 Post- Biblical Jewish History, 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 FIRST PERIOD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The nation divided into two kingdoms, I 
 
 Termination of the kingdoms of Israel and of Judah, . . 2 
 
 Jews'in Babylon. Rebuilding of the Temple. Ezra and Nehe- 
 
 miah, ....... 3 
 
 The Samaritan and the Egyptian Temples. Jews at Alexandria, 5 
 Jews under Persian and Grecian Rule. The Maccabees, . 7 
 
 The Sadducees, Essenes, Pharisees, and Karaites, . . 8 
 
 The Asmonean dynasty, ^ . . . . 10 
 
 Pompey's attack on the Temple. Jews in contact with Romans 
 
 and Idumeans, . . . . . . .II 
 
 Herod as Governor. The last of the Asmoneans, . . 12 
 
 Herod's reign, ....... 13 
 
 Herod's reign, continued. His end, 16 
 
 Archelaus, . . . . . .18 
 
 Judea a Roman Province. The Sanhedrin, . . . 19 
 
 Agrippa I. Queen Helena, . . . . .20 
 
 Caligula's reign. Massacre at Alexandria, ... 21 
 Troubles in Babylon. Assinai and Anilai, . . .23 
 Agrippa II. The Zealots. Internal disturbances, . . 25 
 Revolt of the Jews against Rome. Cestius defeated, . .27 
 Vespasian sent to subdue the Judeans. Galilee conquered, . 28 
 Titus' advance on Jerusalem. Description of the city and Tem- 
 ple, 30 
 
 The attack on Jerusalem. Horrible scenes in the city. Final 
 
 destruction, ....... 33 
 
 Biography of Philo and Josephus, .... 36 
 
SECOND PERIOD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Revival of the Jews under rabbinical authority. They revolt 
 
 again, and are subdued by Hadrian, . . 39 
 
 Barcochab's Messiahship, . 4 1 
 
 The Patriarchate. The Mishnah, . . 42 
 
 Constantine adopts Christianity, . . 43 
 
 Origin of the Talmud, . -44 
 
 The reign of Justinian. Taking of Jerusalem by Chosroes, Jews 
 
 controlling the slave-trade, .... 45 
 
 The rule of Mohammed. Influence of Islamism upon the Jews, 47 
 The kingdom of Khozar, ..... 49 
 
 Dominion of the Patriarch of the West, and the Prince of the 
 
 Captivity, ....... 50 
 
 The Jews in Spain. Moses in sackcloth, ... 52 
 
 Spanish Jewish scholars and statesmen, . . . -54 
 
 Aben Ezra and Maimonides, ..... 59 
 
 Jews in Arabia, India, and China, . . . . .63 
 
 Jews in Africa, . . . . . . 65 
 
 Jews in Italy, . 70 
 
 Jews in France, ..... 72 
 
 Jews in Germany, . . . . . . -77 
 
 The Crusades, ....... 84 
 
 Jews in England. Jewish wealth and usury, . . .89 
 
 The Inquisition, ..... 96 
 
 New settlements of the Spanish Exiles. .... io3 
 
 THIRD PERIOD. 
 The Reformation, ...... 106 
 
 Jews in the Sclavonian Countries, . . . . .no 
 
 Shabbetai Zebi and Joseph Frank, . . . .115 
 
 Jews in the Netherlands, . . . . . .118 
 
 Eminent scholars of Holland, . . . . .126 
 
 Re-establishment of Jews in England, .... 133 
 
 Jews in France and Italy, after the middle-ages, . . 137 
 
 Jews in the East. The Damascus blood-accusations, . . 146 
 
 Jews in Germany, Austria, and the Sclavonian countries in the 
 
 latter ages, . . . . . . 150 
 
 Moses Mendelssohn and his cotemporaries. Modern Jewish 
 
 Reform, ....... 156 
 
 Jews in America, .... 165 
 
SYNOPSIS 
 
 OF 
 
 POST-BIBLICAL JEWISH HISTORY, 
 
 FIRST PERIOD. 
 
 FROM THE TERMINATION OF THE KINGDOM 
 0,F ISRAEL TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE 
 SECOND TEMPLE. 
 
 THE NATION DIVIDED INTO Two KINGDOMS. 
 
 The object of this book being to teach the post-biblical 
 history of our nation, it might be thought unnecessary to 
 repeat anything stated in the Bible. But as some of my 
 young readers may not have the later events recounted in 
 the sacred book clearly before their mind, I shall begin by 
 holding up before them a few of the principal points of our 
 biblical history, and by so doing form a link between the 
 biblical and post-biblical. 
 
 They will remember perhaps that, after the death of Solo- 
 mon, the Jewish nation was divided into two separate king- 
 doms, under different rulers ; one part being called the king- 
 dom of Judah, under Rehoboam, and the other the kingdom 
 of Israel, under Jeroboam. The kingdom of Rehoboam 
 consisted of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and 
 they held Jerusalem as their capital ; while Jeroboam ruled 
 over the remaining ten tribes, whose capital was first at 
 Shechem, but finally and permanently Samaria. 
 
 Counting from the revolt of the ten tribes against Reho- 
 
boatn, there had been nineteen kings over the people of Ju- 
 dah, besides queen Athalia ; and nineteen kings over the 
 people of Israel. Most of the rulers of both kingdoms were 
 bad, and some extremely wicked ; yet among the kings of 
 Judah there were more God-fearing men than among the 
 others, and therefore the kingdom of Judah lasted longer 
 than that of Israel. 
 
 TERMINATION OF THE KINGDOMS OF ISRAEL 
 AND JUDAH. 
 
 Now the termination of the kingdom of Israel happened 
 in this way. When Hosea, who was the last king of that 
 portion of Israel, had ruled about six years, Shalmaneser, 
 king of Assyria, declared war against him, and made him his 
 tributary. They then remained in peace for some time ; but 
 Hosea would not quietly submit to the rule of another king 
 over him, and formed a conspiracy against his superior ; 
 whereupon Shalmaneser rose against Samaria, and held it in 
 siege for three years, and in the ninth year of Hosea's reign 
 took possession of the country, made Hosea a prisoner, 
 and carried the Israelites as captives to a distant part of his 
 dominions; and this put an end to the kingdom of Israel 
 which had lasted 215 years. This portion of the descen- 
 dants of Abraham are known by the name of the Lost Ten 
 Tribes. 
 
 The kingdom of Judah still continued for about one hun- 
 dred and thirty years after the independence of the ten 
 tribes had ceased, but they were frequently harassed by the 
 surrounding powers. Jehoahaz, one of their kings, was de- 
 feated by an Egyptian king, and carried captive to Babylon, 
 where he died. Then his brother Jehoiakim was appointed 
 in his stead, but held tributary to the king of Egypt. Shortly 
 afterwards, Nebuchadnezzar sent an army to invade Judea, 
 took Jerusalem, put Jehoiakim in chains, and led a great 
 many Israelites to Babylon, and from that time we begin to 
 
count the Babylonian captivity. A small portion of the 
 Jews remained yet in Palestine and held possession of the 
 Temple, and Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, was appointed to 
 rule instead of his father. Scarcely, however, had he reign- 
 ed three months when Nebuchadezzar himself, at the head 
 of his army, took possession of Jerusalem, plundered the 
 Temple of all the golden vessels which Solomon had made, 
 and led the king Jehoiachin to Babylon, where he remained 
 in prison for thirty-seven years. 
 
 The final doom of Judah was now fast approaching. 
 Zedekiah, who was its last king, had made a treaty with 
 Nebuchadnezzar to be subject to his rule, but in the ninth 
 year of his reign he entered into a league with the king of 
 Egypt and revolted against his superior. Now came a third 
 invasion of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, who held it in siege 
 tor eighteen months; and in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, 
 on the loth of Tebet 3338 A.M., Nebuchadnezzar took 
 Jerusalem by storm, and on the ninth of Ab of the same 
 year, the first Temple, which had stood about four hundred 
 years, was totally destroyed, and Zedekiah brought in chains 
 to Babylonia, where he remained in prison till he died. 
 Thus Judah was driven away out of their land, 860 years 
 after they had been put in possession of it by Joshua. 
 
 JEWS TN BABYLON. REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. 
 EZRA AND NEHEMIAH. 
 
 The Jews in Babylonia were not ill-treated, however; they 
 were treated with kindness, were allowed to hold property, 
 and some were even appointed to posts of honor and re- 
 sponsibility ; but they were not contented; their greatest 
 longing was to return to their native land. They were, after 
 all, but captives, and often they sat by the river-side to weep 
 and mourn the loss of their beloved country, of their 
 cherished freedom. In this condition they continued some 
 fifty years. It was then that Cyrus, king of Persia and 
 
Media, conquered Babylonia, and the Jews became tributary 
 to the Persian kingdom. We must bear in mind that the 
 Jews here spoken of were those only who had constituted 
 the kingdom of Judah, and which still formed an integer, to 
 the exclusion of those of the kingdom of Israel, which had 
 been dispersed by Shalmaneser. The former now assumed 
 the name of Jews (Jehudim) after their patriarch Judah, 
 and were thenceforth so designated. 
 
 Cyrus, the new king, was friendly to the Jews. Daniel, 
 the exemplary youth who so nobly maintained his religious 
 principles, even in opposition to the decrees of his mighty 
 master Nebuchadnezzar, and refused to bow to the idol the 
 latter had erected, had grown old under the reign of the 
 Persian kings and risen to great dignity and power; and it 
 is quite probable that through his influence the welcome 
 edict was issued by Cyrus that the Hebrews might return to 
 their own land. He not only gave them permission to go 
 back and rebuild the Temple, he gave them back all the gold 
 and silver vessels, 5400 in number, which Nebuchadnezzar 
 had carried away ; and under the leadership of their chief- 
 tain Zerubbabel, some 42,000 Jews, with their families and 
 servants only a portion of those that inhabited Babylonia 
 went forth joyful and hopeful, returning to their dear native 
 land. They at once set about erecting an altar for the regu- 
 lar sacrifices, and the families went each to look after their 
 landed property, the inheritance from which they had been 
 driven. 
 
 But the Jews did not succeed in rebuilding their Temple 
 without delay. The Samaritans, being jealous of the pros- 
 perity of the Jews, spoke evil against them, and the rebuild- 
 ing of the Temple was interrupted. These Samaritans were a 
 people of mixed races, being partly of Jewish and partly of 
 heathen descent; and so was their religion a mixture of 
 Jewish and heathen practices. They had adopted the books 
 of Moses as the guide of religion, and now desired to join 
 
the genuine Jews in the erection of their new Temple ; but 
 the latter rejected them disdainfully and would have noth- 
 ing to do with them. Hereupon the Samaritans did all in 
 their power to oppose the Jews ; they sent a letter to the 
 king who had succeeded Cyrus, stating that it was danger- 
 ous to the Persian kingdom to let the Jews rise to power 
 again ; and thereupon the Jews were ordered to discontinue 
 their building. Fifteen years later, however, under the 
 reign of Darius II., the new Temple was finished and dedi- 
 cated. 
 
 During the long reign of Darius, the Jews enjoyed peace 
 and prosperity. He was succeeded by Xerxes I., and it is 
 supposed that this was the Ahasuerus mentioned in the 
 Bible, with whom happened the memorable event in the his- 
 tory of Mordecai and Esther with which I suppose you are 
 all acquainted. In the reign of the succeeding monarch 
 happened the immigration to Jerusalem of many more Jews 
 under Ezra, the great scribe, who afterwards gathered up 
 and wrote down the various books of the Bible ; subse- 
 quently Nehemiah exerted himself to re-establish the observ- 
 ance of the law among his people, and to rebuild and fortify 
 the city of Jerusalem ; and both of these men were zealous 
 workers and faithful leaders ; the history of whose life and 
 action you find fully described in the Scriptures. 
 
 THE SAMARITAN AND THE EGYPTIAN TEMPLES. JEWS AT 
 ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 Now you must know that, besides two temples which the 
 Jews built at Jerusalem, there were two others dedicated 
 to the worship of Jehovah. Manasseh, the son of a high- 
 priest, having married the daughter of Samballat, a leader 
 of the Samaritans, was expelled from among his people. 
 Thereupon Samballat assembled his people and induced 
 them to build a rival temple on mount Gerizim, not far from 
 Jerusalem, which still deepened the hatred already existing 
 
between the two parties. This temple stood two hundred 
 years, and was destroyed by Hyrcanus I., a priest of the 
 Asmonean family, of which we will speak more fully here- 
 after. Another temple was established in Alexandria, where 
 a great many Jews (some 30,000 families) had settled under 
 the Ptolemies. Onias, a genuine Jewish priest, having been 
 much in favor with Ptolemy Philometer and queen Cleopa- 
 tra, obtained from the king an abandoned and half-ruined 
 Egyptian temple which he transformed into a Jewish place of 
 worship, and where divine service was performed as at Jeru- 
 salem. This temple remained till the time of Vespasian? 
 the Roman conqueror (66 C.E.). 
 
 Alexandria being then the retreat of Grecian learning, the 
 Jews turned their attention to general literature and philoso- 
 phy. It is said that the celebrated Greek translation of the 
 Scriptures, called the Septuagint, was made or at least begun at 
 that period ; that seventy-two Jewish translators were, for 
 that purpose, shut up in separate rooms by order of Ptolemy 
 Philadelphus, where each of them completed the new version ; 
 and that, by way of a miracle, the translations were all found 
 to agree word for word. There is, however, no good author- 
 ity for this statement, and it may be regarded as a ground- 
 less tradition, a mere matter of fiction. The Alexandrian 
 Jews, though frequently annoyed by both the native Egyp- 
 tians and the Greeks, and rebuked even by their own breth- 
 ren for adopting the Greek language and literature, mingled 
 nevertheless in all national transactions, and obtained the 
 highest honors of the state. Onias, who built the temple, 
 filled the most eminent offices in the state and in the army; 
 and at a later period we find Chelcias and Ananias, two 
 Jews, commanding the armies of Cleopatra. 
 
JEWS UNDER PERSIAN AND GRECIAN RULE. THE MAC- 
 CABEES. 
 
 Returning to Palestine, we find that the Jews for a long 
 time enjoyed perfect peace under the administration of 
 their high-priests and local governors, until the time of Alex- 
 ander the Great. When this monarch became the con- 
 queror and ruler of Persia, he brought Judea' also under 
 the rule of his sceptre, but it does not appear that the Jews 
 suffered materially from this change of government. After 
 the death of Alexander, the eastern world was frequently 
 agitated by cruel wars, and Judea, in its turn, was more than 
 once attacked and conquered, again released, and again sub- 
 jected by Egyptian and by Syro-Grecian rulers, while at the 
 same time internal strife and division among the Jews them- 
 selves increased the misfortunes brought on them by foreign 
 tyranny, and eventually led to the plunder and ruin of the 
 holy city and almost to the complete extermination of the 
 Jewish people. The different sects denominated Pharisees, 
 Sadducees, and Essenes had sprung into existence by that 
 time, and constituted the different factions of the nation. 
 It was now about two hundred years since the erection of 
 the second Temple. Antiochos Epiphanes had ascended the 
 throne, and the Jews were his subjects. He determined 
 to exterminate the Jewish religion and substitute instead 
 that of the Greeks. He made a violent attempt to execute 
 his purpose ; marched against Jerusalem, took possession of 
 the Temple, slaughtered many Jews and sold many more as 
 sUves. At that time arose the heroic family of the Asino- 
 neans who, with the small forces under their command, 
 repelled the mighty Antiochos, and regained their indepen- 
 dence and the possession of their city and Temple. This 
 is the history of the Maccabees which gave rise to the 
 feast of Hannucah, the same which you hear recited every 
 
year and is therefore unnecessary to be repeated here at 
 length. 
 
 THE SADDUCEES, ESSENES, PHARISEES, AND KARAITES. 
 
 We have spoken in the preceding paragraph of the differ- 
 ent sects among the Jews. Now, before proceeding with the 
 narrative of our history, I will inform you of the origin and 
 opinions of these respective sects. Three classes chiefly 
 are to be distinguished; the Sadducees, the Essenes, and 
 the Pharisees ; and likewise the sect of Karaites may be 
 mentioned here, which, though it made no figure in history 
 till a later period, is to be considered as a branch of the 
 Sadducean school. The Sadducean sect is generally believ- 
 ed to have originated with Zadok, one of the disciples of 
 Antigonos of Socho, president of the Sanhedrin, who lived 
 about 250 years before the common era. The principles of 
 that sect were, a firm belief in the divine origin of the Bible, 
 but a total rejection of the Oral law and rabbinical tradi- 
 ions. They denied the immortality of the soul, a future 
 recompense, the resurrection of the body, and the exist- 
 tence of angels. This sect was never very numerous, but 
 its adherents were of the highest and most literary classes. 
 The origin of the Essenes is still more doubtful. Some 
 suppose it to have begun at the time of Samuel the prophet; 
 others, with more probability of correctness, believe that 
 this sect originated among the Hellenists, that is, Jews who 
 long dwelt among the Greeks, adopted the Greek language, 
 and having studied the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato, 
 amalgamated the same with the doctrines of the Mosaic 
 books. The Essenes were much given to a secluded mode 
 of life, to study and contemplation ; and their doctrines 
 were much involved in secrecy. This much, however, is 
 known, they held adoration of God and benevolence to 
 mankind to constitute the essence of religion. They believed 
 in the validity of the Mosaic laws, not so as to be bound to 
 
a literal observance, but adopting the spirit of them. One of 
 their principles "was that God can be worshiped only in 
 spirit, through inward virtue ; they therefore rejected sacri- 
 fices and all ceremonies, even those of the Mosaic code. 
 They believed in immortality, in hell and paradise. They 
 despised riches, and lived in a state of communism. We 
 find accounts of them down to the time of Justinian and no 
 further. The Pharisees were the strict adherents to the 
 rabbinical laws and traditions, believing that these oral laws 
 were of divine origin, having been verbally imparted by God 
 to Moses, and transmitted to posterity. They believed in 
 the immortality of the soul, in future reward and punish- 
 ment, and the resurrection of the body, which latter doctrine 
 they seem to have mixed up with ideas of the transmigration 
 of souls, that is, that after man's death the soul passes into 
 another body, which was the doctrine of Pythagoras. The 
 Pharisees appear to have at all times constituted the majority 
 of the nation. The sect of Karaites appears to have assumed 
 its distinct form about the time of Hyrcanus I., or shortly 
 before it. They agree with the Sadducees on the point of 
 rejecting the authority of the oral laws, and on that account 
 the Rabbinists have placed them on an equality and under 
 the same denomination with the Sadducees ; but the Kara- 
 ites emphatically disclaim the similarity, as they firmly be- 
 lieve in immortality, in future retribution, in resurrection 
 and restoration of the Jews under the Messiah. About the 
 beginning of the eighth century, Karaism revived under the 
 leadership of R. Anan and his son Saul, who are considered 
 the founders of modern Karaism, and since that time down 
 to the present it has been a confirmed sect in many parts of 
 the world. Karaite congregations are yet existing in many 
 towns in the East, in Austrian Galicia, and in the Crimea. 
 They are especially noted for their frugality, industry, and 
 integrity, and the sect has produced many men of profound 
 scholarship. 
 
10 
 
 THE ASMONEAN DYNASTY. 
 
 Resuming now the thread of our history, we begin with 
 the condition of the Jews during the reign of the Asmoneans. 
 Since the time of the first Temple, when Zedekiah, the last 
 king of Judah, was dethroned and imprisoned, the Jews had 
 had no king. They were since governed by their high-priests, 
 who did not assume the royal title or dignity. Jonathan, 
 son of Mattathias and brother of the valiant Judas the 
 Maccabee, appears to have been the first who united in 
 himself not only the functions, but also the titles of king 
 and high-priest, and with him commenced the reign of the 
 Asmonean princes. His brother and successor Simon re- 
 established the independence of his nation from the Syrian 
 sceptre; negotiated for a cessation of the taxes to which 
 they had been subject, and peace and tranquillity reigned 
 for a few years among the nation. It was in the reign of 
 Simon also that the first Jewish coin, the shekel and its 
 smaller denominations, were struck. Judas, in his time, had 
 already made a treaty of alliance with the Romans, and this 
 treaty was ratified or renewed by Simon, and thus the Jews 
 began to intermix with the Romans. Simon was assassin- 
 ated by his son-in-law Ptolemy. (None of these noble 
 Asmonean brothers had been allowed a peaceful end ; they all 
 died a? martyrs for the independence and glory of their peo- 
 ple.) After the death of Simon, his son John Hyrcanus, then 
 Aristobulus, then Alexander Janneus, then the latter's widow 
 Salome Alexandra, and after her the rival brothers Hyrca- 
 nus IT. and Aristobulus, were the successive rulers of the 
 nation. These two brothers were for some time contending 
 for the occupancy of the throne which rightfully belonged to 
 Hyrcanus, the elder of the two. But the younger was of a 
 bold and restless disposition, and having by his daring 
 enterprises gained the affections of the people, the milder 
 Hyrcanus at length yielded the sovereignty to his ambi- 
 
II 
 
 tious brother, retaining for himself but the high-priest- 
 hood. 
 
 POMPEY'S ATTACK ON THE TEMPLE. JEWS IN CONTACT 
 WITH ROMANS AND IDUMEANS. 
 
 Hyrcanus I. had subjected Idutnea, a country bordering on 
 the south of Palestine, and forced its inhabitants to embrace 
 Judaism. These Idumeans became afterwards a source of 
 great misfortune to the Israelites ; one of them, Antipater, 
 whose father had held the position of governor of Idumea, 
 acquired great influence over the feeble minded Hyrcanus, 
 who, was instigated by his crafty advisers to renew the strife 
 with his brother for possessing the throne. Both gathered 
 a number of followers and an animated struggle ensued. 
 At this juncture an outsider interfered to settle the differ- 
 ence. This arbitrator was the Roman warrior Pompey. 
 At first he put on the appearance of impartiality., listened 
 to the complaints of the parties, and put off his decision for 
 a next meeting. In the mean time Pompey attended to his 
 more important business, namely, that of conquering Arabia ; 
 and after having subjected many of the Asiatic powers, 
 marched upon Judea for the purpose of subjugating it to the 
 Roman rule. The weak Hyrcanus and his party yielded at 
 once, but Aristobulus resisted. The troops of the latter 
 posted themselves in the Temple and held it against the 
 enemy for three months. The Temple being on a hill, was 
 an almost impregnable stronghold, and was lost only through 
 an over-scrupulous observance of the Sabbath, the Jews be- 
 lieving it to be a desecration of the day to carry on war, 
 except it be absolute self-defense; and the enemy, taking 
 advantage of this circumstance, found an opportunity of 
 storming the Temple on that day without meeting with any 
 resistance. 
 
 Pompey showed himself a generous enemy. On entering 
 the Temple, he was exceedingly surprised to find that it was 
 
12 
 
 not like other temples, filled with statues or symbols of the 
 Deity. The numerous golden vessels, and the large amount 
 of treasure he found, next excited his wonder ; but he left it 
 all untouched, and ordered his soldiers to vacate the Temple. 
 He appointed Hyrcanus as high-priest, but without the 
 royal title, and exacted no more than an annual tax from 
 the country, while Aristobulus with his sons and daughters 
 were carried, to Rome as prisoners. Hyrcanus being de- 
 prived of royal power, the Idumean Antipater was appointed 
 governor, and Judea virtually, though not nominally, became 
 a Roman dependency. The Jews now became gradually 
 more and more intermixed with the Roman people. Be- 
 sides those who had been carried thither as captives, others 
 voluntarily settled there, and these really formed a commu- 
 nity of their own, and were recognized as Roman citizens. 
 Antipater, though a Jew by name, had not the interests 
 of the nation at heart, and sought to gain power by ingra- 
 tiating himself with Caesar, whom he rendered material ser- 
 vice, supplying him with troops and taking up the sword in 
 his defense. He was consequently rewarded by receiving 
 from Caesar the right of Roman citizenship and the appoint- 
 ment of procurator over the whole of Judea. The cunning 
 Idumean governor found his influence and power daily in- 
 creasing, and the object he now aimed at was to overthrow 
 the Asmonean dynasty, and substitute that of his own 
 family. For this purpose he appointed his eldest son Pha- 
 sael to the government of Jerusalem, and his younger, Herod, 
 to that of Galilee, the northern province of Palestine. 
 
 HEROD AS GOVERNOR. THE LAST OF THE ASMONEANS. 
 
 This appointment of Herod as governor of Galilee was the 
 first step which led him to that high, though not enviable 
 position which he afterwards attained. The sceptre had 
 now virtually departed from the Asmonean house. The 
 Israelites had been governed by them for more than a hun- 
 
dred years, and become attached to them, though their 
 government never was very prosperous ; Antigonus the son, 
 and Aristobulus the grandson of Hyrcanus were the only 
 surviving branches of the family, and, like the rest of them, 
 were doomed to an untimely and unnatural death. Anti- 
 gonus, it is true, had by an unexpected circumstance the 
 rising of the Parthians gained the ascendency, and held both 
 the sceptre and the office of high-priest for a short period of 
 three years and a half, but he was rather an instrument in the 
 hands of a political party than a self-dependent monarch ; 
 his power was soon wrested from him ; and being defeated 
 in battle, he was sent to Rome, where at the urgent solicita- 
 tions of Herod he was ignominiously put to death. Thus 
 perished the eighth and last of the Asmonean princes who 
 wielded the sceptre. Young Aristobulus, the son of the 
 latter, was yet alive, and his presence seemed an obstacle in 
 the way of the usurper Herod. He was tall and handsome, 
 and the eyes of the people rested upon him as the relic of 
 past grandeur and glory. Some unforeseen events might 
 concur to bestow upon this last scion the crown which his 
 ancestors had so honorably worn. But the crafty Herod 
 lacked no means for accomplishing his purpose, and des- 
 patching any object adverse to his interests. Under the 
 pretences of friendship, he invited the youth to Jericho, to 
 one of his mansions ; gave orders to his servants to drown 
 him while bathing, as if by accident ; and thus the last 
 male survivor of the Asmonean family was put out of the 
 way. 
 
 HEROD'S REIGN. 
 
 We have in the above paragraph spoken briefly of Herod, 
 so undeservedly called the great; but his career was too im- 
 portant, too full of intrigues and atrocious crimes, and of too 
 great an influence on the fate of the nation to require no 
 more than a passing notice. This wicked adventurer so 
 
14 
 
 worked himself into the favor of the emperor Augustus and 
 Mark Antony that they united in conferring on him the 
 crown of Judea. His character was bold, fiercely passionate, 
 and most barbarously cruel, yet his talents as a statesman 
 and a warrior were eminent. One of his first acts after 
 assuming the rein of government was the murder of all the 
 members of the Sanhedrin who had opposed his rule, except- 
 ing only two of them who had shown themselves favorable 
 to his cause. As proofs of his relentless cruelty we may cite 
 the following instances which constitute but a small part of 
 the long list of his atrocities. Herod married successively 
 ten wives, the second of whom was Mariamne, an Asmonean 
 princess of exceeding beauty ; indeed, she was considered 
 the most beautiful of the whole nation. The love he bore 
 her was exceeded only by his extreme jealousy. Being 
 obliged to leave Jerusalem in order to meet Mark Antony 
 on a hazardous mission concerning his government, he 
 intrusted the cares of the realm, as well as his beautiful wife, 
 to his uncle Joseph, with the strict but secret charge, that if 
 he should fail in his mission and perish, Mariamne was to be 
 immediately put to death. Joseph betrayed this secret to 
 Mariamne, and on Herod's return she asked him if it could 
 be that he truly loved her when he had given that fatal order 
 for her death. This roused his suspicions about her fidelity 
 and he would have slain her on the spot, were it not that 
 the charm of her beauty restrained him; and his whole 
 vengeance fell on Joseph, whom he ordered to be executed. 
 A second time he had occasion to leave the capital, and 
 again he committed Mariamne to the care of two friends, 
 with the same injunctions that she was to be slain if he failed 
 to return. Mariamne and her mother were imprisoned in a 
 cistle, and knowing her husband's sentiments towards her, 
 she succeeded in extorting from her jailer the secret charge 
 he had received concerning her fate. Herod returned and 
 was received by his queen with disdain ; she reproached 
 
him with his inhumanity, for having murdered her brother, 
 her grandfather, and other relations ; and scorned to re- 
 ceive his caresses. To make matters worse, Herod's 
 sister, Salome, caused a false accusation to be brought 
 against the queen, of intentions to poison the king. Herod 
 summoned the queen before a tribunal, accused her of in- 
 fidelity and murderous intentions, and the sentence of death 
 was pronounced over her. The most violent passions now 
 raged in Herod's breast. Love and indignation strove for 
 the mastery. The latter prevailed, however, and he issued 
 the fatal order for her execution. The loss of Mariamne 
 left an indelible gloom upon Herod's mind. Day and night 
 he was haunted by the image of his beloved murdered queen. 
 He" often called her name and endeavored to soothe him- 
 self in a measure by ordering the death of her executioner. 
 Another instance of this man's unbounded cruelty we 
 find in one of his last orders, issue 1 about the close 
 of his life. Feeling his end approaching, he commanded 
 that some members of all the principal families in Judea 
 be seized and imprisoned in a hippodrome ; he then 
 ordered his sister Salome and her husband that, as 
 soon as he should have expired, the whole number of per- 
 sons in the hippodrome should be unsparingly massacred, in 
 order that, with the news of his death, a general mourning 
 should spread over all the land. This sanguinary order, 
 however, was never carried into effect. To enumerate all 
 the wicked acts of this cruel monster would require several 
 more pages, and take up more space than we can here de- 
 vote to their recital. Even his own sons, Alexander and 
 Aristobulus, whom Mariamne had borne to him, he accused 
 of treason and had them executed, and we hesitate not to 
 assert that, among all wicked rulers that swayed a sceptre, 
 wore a crown, or mounted a throne, the detestable Herod I. 
 deserves to be placed at the head of the list. 
 
i6 
 
 HEROD'S REIGN CONTINUED. His END. 
 
 The history of Herod's reign would, however, be quite in- 
 complete should we neglect to give an account of some other 
 acts of his life which do not partake of that monstrosity we 
 have just depicted. It is but too often the case that we see 
 the wicked live in prosperity, even in glory; but the outward 
 appearance of their good fortune does not generally corre- 
 spond with their inward tranquillity and happiness. Solomon 
 says, "The prosperity of fools (that is, of the impious) shall 
 destroy them." And so it really was with Herod. His re- 
 peated successes served only to feed the flame of his violent 
 passions which burned in his breast, and destroyed his peace ; 
 but outwardly his magnificence was great indeed, and under 
 his reign the Jewish nation rose to great temporary splendor ; 
 though he never succeeded in gaining the attachment of his 
 subjects, who ever looked upon him as an intruder, the mur- 
 derer of the faithful Asmoneans, and the robber of their 
 national rights. The costly and magnificent palaces and 
 other structures erected by Herod surpassed all that had 
 ever been seen in Palestine and were too numerous to be 
 all mentioned here. We will describe only a few of them. 
 He rebuilt and considerably enlarged the city of Samaria, 
 the former capital of the kingdom of Israel, and peopled it 
 with his Greek and Syrian soldiers, and descendants of the 
 Samaritans (ever the eyesore of the Jews) and called it 
 Sebaste (the August*), in honor of his mighty Roman 
 protector. A small town, called the Tower of Straton, sit- 
 uated on the sea-coast, was Changed into a fine, large city and 
 its harbor made safe by the sinking of immense stones which 
 formed a pier, and thereon were placed two colossal statues, 
 
 * The student should bear in mind that this first Roman emperor here 
 alluded to bore the multifarious name of Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus 
 Augustus, and is often designated by one or other of these names. 
 
one representing Rome, the other Caesar, and it was adorned 
 with a splendid theatre and a spacious amphitheatre after 
 the Grecian style. This city was called Csesarea, in honor of 
 the imperial family, and twelve years were required to rebuild 
 it. In order to flatter still more the pride of Augustus, Herod 
 introduced the Olympic exhibitions, where all sorts of games, 
 such as wrestling, racing, fighting of wild beasts and men, 
 were performed. These ferocious amusements of the Greeks 
 and Romans were quite distasteful to the Jews, and confirmed 
 their dislike to Herod who, it was evident, endeavored to 
 replace the religious idea of the Jews by that of the heathen. 
 He also built Gaba, Heshbon, Antipatris, Cypron, Phasaelis, 
 and other towns, most of which were named after his Roman 
 friends and members of his family, and in this way he un- 
 necessarily exhausted the wealth of Judea. Seeing that he 
 was sinking more and more in the estimation of his subjects, 
 he at length determined on a measure to reconcile and 
 appease them. He announced his intentions to rebuild the 
 Temple at Jerusalem and make it more magnificent than it 
 ever had been. Consequently the old building was pulled 
 down, and on its site was erected one of greater extent and 
 surpassing splendor. White marble blocks of incredible size 
 and finest quality, costly woods and precious metals, were 
 used unsparingly ; many thousands of men and years of labor 
 were employed in its erection ; and the nation saw with the 
 utmost pride the new fabric of stately architecture with its 
 glittering towers and pinnacles of gold crowning anew the 
 brow of Moriah. Herod I. was born seventy-one years before 
 the beginning of the common era, and attained nearly to the 
 age of seventy years. In the thirty-third year of his reign took 
 place the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, upon whose reputed 
 sayings and opinions the Christian religion has been founded, 
 some two or three hundred years after his death. After long 
 mental and bodily suffering, Herod died of a loathsome dis- 
 ease, and was buried with great pomp in one of his palaces 
 called Herodium. 
 
i8 
 
 ARCHELAUS. 
 
 Herod's testament divided the kingdom of Judea among 
 his three sons Archelaus, Herod Antipater, and Olympias ; 
 but it was made subject to the approval of Augustus. While 
 this was pending, Archelaus assumed the direction of affairs 
 at Jerusalem. The populace was turbulent, divided in 
 opinion, and Jerusalem was torn asunder by the differences 
 of religious and political parties. The people demanded 
 that the severity under which they had been should be miti- 
 gated, their taxes be lightened, political prisoners released, 
 and justice be done to those who had suffered by the cruelty 
 of the late king, whereupon the new ruler addressed the 
 multitude in a conciliatory speech, promising to satisfy them 
 as far as lay in his power. The people, however, were not 
 satisfied with promises ; riots occurred daily ; strangers en- 
 tered to take advantage of the occasion and make themselves 
 master both of the royal power and of the treasures ; and 
 strife and bloodshed were the almost immediate results. 
 Archelaus had inherited much of the cruelty and rapacity of 
 his father, but not his abilities. He was not able to hold the 
 people in subjection as his father had done. The decision 
 of Augustus confirmed him in the possession of his power, 
 but without the royal title, which was reserved in case he 
 should prove himself worthy of wearing the crown, but to 
 this dignity he never attained. Complaints of his un j ust and 
 tyrannical government were repeatedly brought before the 
 emperor, with petitions from the Judeans that they might be 
 freed from the oppression of the unworthy king ; until at last 
 he was summoned to Rome to defend himself. The com- 
 plaints against him were investigated, he was convicted of 
 misgovernment, and after a rule of nine years was de- 
 throned and banished to Vienna, in Gaul, whence he never 
 returned. 
 
JUDEA A ROMAN PROVINCE. THE SANHEDRIN. 
 After the removal of Archelaus, Judea was declared as part 
 of a Roman province under the viceregency of Syria, and 
 all the internal affairs of the country were under direction of 
 Roman officers. Only the administration of the Jewish laws, 
 when they came not in contact with matters touching on pol- 
 itics, were left to the Sanhedrin ; while even the execution 
 of capital punishment, the appointment or removal of a high- 
 priest, and other important matters properly belonging to the 
 judicial power of the Sanhedrin, were controlled by a Roman 
 officer. Now it is necessary that you should know something 
 about the body called Sanhedrin, its origin and its functions. 
 The word Sanhedrin means council or assembly, and is ap- 
 plied particularly to an assembly of judges among the Jews, 
 whose province it was to debate upon and decide ecclesiasti- 
 cal and civil points of law. There was one great Sanhedrin 
 consisting of seventy-one members, usually presided over by 
 the high-priest, whose authority extended over the whole 
 nation; and there was besides a smaller Sanhedrin, consist- 
 ing of twenty-three members, in every large town of the 
 country. The great Sanhedrin was properly no more than 
 an ecclesiastical court ; its functions were chiefly to inter- 
 pret and determine the laws of the Mosaic code, not losing 
 sight of the oral or traditional interpretations connected 
 with the same and adopted as authoritative. It was further 
 in the province of that body to decide upon the opening of 
 war with foreign powers, upon the extension of the temple 
 and city limits, and to watch over and preserve the family 
 records so as to prevent any admixture of foreign blood 
 among the Jewish race ; while doubtful or difficult cases of 
 any kind were also brought before them for adjustment 
 All civil and criminal proceedings were adjusted by the 
 smaller Sanhedrin of twenty-three, and some of the minor- 
 points were treated even by a council of three. The great 
 
2O 
 
 Sanhedrin held their sittings in a semicircular form in one 
 of the chambers of the Temple ; their discussions were 
 public, and strangers were even permitted occasionally to 
 enter into their debates. The origin of the institution is 
 doubtful. Its source may be traced as far back as the 
 time of Moses, who gathered seventy elders to deliberate with 
 himself the affairs of the nation. A similar gathering in 
 the time of Ezra was called the great synagogue, and later, 
 when Grecian manners and Grecian names became more 
 prevalent among the Jews, the institution was entitled 
 Sanhedrin. 
 
 AGRIPPA I. QUEEN HELENA. 
 
 Some time elapsed between the deposition of Archelaus and 
 the appointment of his successor, who was Agrippa I., grand- 
 son of Herod. He was in Rome during the serious disturb- 
 ances between the senate and the army, and having acted 
 with great moderation, and rendered very valuable services 
 to the empire, was rewarded by having the crown of Judea 
 bestowed on him, and by the investiture of all the dominions 
 which had belonged to his grandfather. On assuming the 
 reins of government, he showed the greatest respect for the 
 national religion, and to a great extent gained the affections 
 of his subject ; and after a reign of seven years, died in the 
 fifty-fourth year of his age. Agrippa left a son of the same 
 name, who at his father's death was only seventeen years 
 old. He was thought not sufficiently advanced in years to 
 hold the reins of government, and Judea was again placed 
 under the administration of a Roman governor. A singular 
 event took place at this time, which was that Helena, queen 
 of Adiabene, a district beyond the Tigris, adopted the Jew- 
 ish faith ; and what is still more singular, her son Izates, who 
 had been sent by his father, King Monobazus, to a far-off 
 country on the Persian gulf, also embraced Judaism, without 
 the mother and son knowing of each other's conversion. 
 
21 
 
 During a grievous famine which then raged in Judea, both 
 Helena and her son sent large quantities of grain, dried figs, 
 and money to be distributed among the poor inhabitants of 
 Judea. This Jewish convert Izates succeeded his father on 
 the throne, reigned very successfully for twenty-four years 
 (a converted Jewish king over a heathen nation), and his 
 remains as well as those of Helena were transported to 
 Jerusalem and there placed in a splendid tomb. 
 
 CALIGULA'S REIGN. MASSACRE AT ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 Before speaking of the successor of Agrippa, we must turn 
 our attention for a while to the state of the Jews at Alexan- 
 dria, and the vicissitudes which befell them when Agrippa 
 began to reign. I have told you already that a large number 
 of Jews had taken up their abode in Alexandria, and that 
 they had even established a temple there, with the same 
 form of worship as was conducted at Jerusalem ; in fact, the 
 Alexandrian community had become a kind of rival to that 
 of Jerusalem, and was looked upon as such by their brethren 
 in Palestine. It is supposed there were at that time not less 
 than a million of Jews in Egypt. During the reign of Augus- 
 tus and Tiberius, the first two emperors of Rome, the Jews, 
 though not quite independent, enjoyed considerable freedom 
 in the exercise of their religion and in their civil rights ; now 
 that Caligula had ascended the throne, matters assumed a 
 different aspect. This silly monarch was not satisfied to be 
 looked upon as the sole and absolute master of a mighty 
 empire, he wished to be adored as a god,* and ordered 
 temples and statues representing his person to be placed all 
 over his dominions, that the people might worship him ; and 
 the Temple at Jerusalem was also to have a statue of the 
 
 * Not unlike Clothaire I. (560), who, astonished to find himself 
 dying, exclaimed, " Quel est ce roi des cieux qui tue ainsi les grands 
 rois de la terre ?" 
 
22 
 
 emperor. To this the Israelites could not submit, as it 
 would have been a violation of the first principle of their 
 religion. The Jews opposed themselves with all their might 
 against this mandate, and a bloody war might have been the 
 result, but fortunately for them, before the command was 
 enforced, the glad tidings came that Caligula had been 
 assassinated, and thus they escaped this imminent danger. 
 But Alexandria became the scene of terrible strife and 
 massacre. This great metropolis was inhabited chiefly by 
 Egyptians, Jews, and Greeks, each of whom was detested 
 by the other two, and hated the others in return. Now, 
 when Agrippa left Rome for Palestine to take possession of 
 his throne, he stopped on his way at Alexandria, and the 
 Greeks, exasperated at seeing a Jew in regal splendor, with 
 a large retinue in glittering armor, offered him the grossest 
 insults, and the ire of the populace being once aroused, they 
 found an easy pretense for a general attack on the Jews 
 They insisted that the image of the emperor should be 
 placed in all the Jewish places of worship, and not con- 
 tented with carrying out this design, they set about demolish- 
 ing or burning some of their oratories. Their dwellings and 
 storehouses were next plundered, and the goods openly 
 shared in the market-place. The Jews, being driven to one 
 narrow quarter of the city, suffered fearfully from the heat 
 and foul air, and. famine and pestilence were the result; 
 those who ventured to come out were slain and often put to 
 the most cruel tortures and their dead bodies dragged about 
 the streets to fully satisfy the brutal vengeance of their 
 enemies. It was the morning spectacle of the theatre to see 
 the Jews scourged and tortured in different ways before being 
 led to execution; and this horrible tragedy was succeeded 
 by dances and farces and other theatrical amusement. I 
 might tell you much more about the inhuman acts of these 
 ferocious Greeks acts which make the blood run cold and 
 make one wonder how beings in human form could be so 
 
degenerate, and so deprived of all humanity ; but the scene 
 is too horrible to dwell upon longer than necessary. We 
 will only add that these barbarities might have been pre- 
 vented ifFlaccus Aquilius, the Roman prefect at Alexandria, 
 had used his influence and power to that end, but he also 
 was a Jew-hater, and instead of opposing these rioters, 
 rather encouraged them in their bloody deeds. But we find 
 many examples, especially in the history of the Jews, of the 
 wicked receiving their reward even in this world, and 
 Flaccus may be named as one of them. He" fell into dis- 
 favor with the emperor, was seized and his property con- 
 fiscated, then banished, and ultimately put to death by 
 order of Caligula. 
 
 TROUBLES IN BABYLONIA. ASSINAI AND ANILAI. 
 
 But not only in Egypt were the Jews subjected to much 
 suffeiing, also in Babylonia, where a great many of them re- 
 sided, a cloud of rain and desolation burst over their heads. 
 You have read before, that, when the Jews left Babylon to 
 return to Jerusalem under Zerub babel, a number of families 
 remained behind. These had now become very numerous. 
 The great cities of Nehardea and Nisibis were inhabited 
 chiefly by thern, and. it was in the former that their cele- 
 brated theological school was established, from which pro- 
 ceeded so many great men of learning. The Babylonian 
 Jews did not, like those of Alexandria, build themselves a 
 temple and secede from the Palestine community; they were, 
 notwithstanding their attachment to their homes, strict ad- 
 herents to the ancient law and to the Jerusalem Temple, to 
 the support of which they largely contributed ; nor did they, 
 like the Alexandrians and Palestinians, intermix with the 
 Gentiles around them ; they preserved their nationality dis- 
 tinct and pure, and thus for a long series of years they lived 
 in peace and in affluence. But, as is often the case, an 
 occurrence, insignificant in itself, led to important and fatal 
 
24 
 
 results. Two orphan brothers, Assinai and Anilai, both 
 high-spirited youths, were apprenticed to learn the weaver's 
 trade, and one day, thinking themselves ill-treated by their 
 master, ran away. Not knowing where to go, or what to do 
 for their support, they joined a band of bold robbers which 
 infested the eastern shores of the Euphrates, and became 
 their captains. They even built a fortress and became so 
 formidable that the King of Parthia sent troops to subdue 
 them, but these were defeated with great slaughter. The 
 King rather admired their extraordinary valor, made terms 
 of peace with them, and thinking it best to enlist them in his 
 service, appointed Assinai, the elder brother, as governor of 
 an independent state in Mesopotamia. Though robbers, 
 they still remained Jews, and the state they governed was 
 Jewish, and flourished during sixteen years ; but the 
 younger brother married a heathen woman, and being up- 
 braided for this by his brother the governor, the woman, 
 fearing that she might be obliged to leave her husband, ad- 
 ministered poison to her brother-in-law, and consequently 
 the government passed into the hands of Anilai the younger. 
 The new governor was quite as brave, but not so prudent as 
 his deceased brother. He attacked some of the surrounding 
 territories, was first victorious and then was defeated, and 
 fled to his native city Nehardea. The Babylonians pursued 
 and captured Anilai, and he and his whole band were 
 routed and slain. But, not satisfied with this, the populace, 
 exasperated against the Jews because of Anilai and the 
 depredations formerly committed by the brothers, began a 
 general attack on the peaceful Jews all over the country, 
 and many thousands of them suffered persecution and death, 
 attended with the usual cruelties practised by the heathen 
 upon their conquered enemies, of which we had an example 
 in the preceding paragraph. 
 
AGRIPPA II. THE ZEALOTS. INTERNAL DISTURBANCES. 
 We now return to Judea to learn of Agrippa's successor, 
 and the general state of affairs in that country. We said 
 before that, when Agrippa I. died, he left a son too young 
 to succeed him, and that consequently the administration 
 of affairs was left to a Roman governor. This state of 
 things continued for a number of years under the magistracy 
 of three successive governors. In the mean time Agrippa's 
 brother, Herod II., was appointed by Claudius over the 
 temple and the treasury, and with power to appoint high- 
 priests. As he was not invested with any political or royal 
 authority, he cannot properly be ranked among the kings of 
 the Herodian dynasty. After- his death, Agrippa II., son of 
 Agrippa I., was made king of Judea. But this last king of 
 the Jews had not much of a Jewish heart, did not share 
 the sentiments of his subjects, and was indifferent to their 
 interests. He had long resided at Rome, was educated and 
 had formed connections there, and was consequently more 
 of a Roman than a Jew. In his time the condition of the 
 Jews in Jerusalem and in all Judea grew worse and worse. 
 Sanguinary conflicts between the Jews on one side, and the 
 Roman and Syro-Greek soldiers on the other, became the 
 order of the day, and the final ruin of Judea was fast 
 approaching. What was still worse, the Jews among them- 
 selves were not united in purpose. A political faction, who 
 assumed the appellation of Zealots, and whose deep hatred 
 of the Romans would not allow them to submit in the least 
 to the foreign yoke, endeavored to their utmost to dissemi- 
 nate the opinion that Jews ought not to submit to any rule 
 but the divine, and ought to oppose the enemy at all haz- 
 ards and at all sacrifice of property, family, and life ; while 
 others of more moderate temperament advised submission 
 to the inevitable, and others again were anxious to purchase 
 peace at any cost. Thus the spirit of discontentment 
 
26 
 
 spread, and the utmost agitation prevailed in Jerusalem. 
 While such was the state of the city, the country was not 
 much more secure. Robbers multiplied and grew bolder, 
 and no man's life or property was secure. Among those 
 who were set to regulate public affairs, there was no patriot- 
 ism, no national sentiment, each of them endeavored only 
 to dominate, and enrich himself, regardless of all probity 
 and justice. The Judeans had to submit even to the ad- 
 ministration of an unprincipled tyrannical man, by name 
 Felix, who was born a slave, associated with robbers and 
 assassins, and exercised the authority of a king by con- 
 sequence of his appointment. Also in the provinces adjoin 
 ing Judea, a war of extermination raged, and the horrid 
 retaliation which the Jews inflicted on their enemies when- 
 ever they proved the stronger party, tended only to fan the 
 flame of discord and anarchy which prevailed. I might 
 devote many pages to a description of the events which took 
 place during the short reign of Agrippa II., which, though 
 in many instances heart-rending, would yet be interesting 
 and instructive, but they are too numerous and too com- 
 plicated to find a place in this concise narrative. I will, 
 therefore, hasten to the close of this first epoch of our 
 history, giving you in but a few short items the succession 
 of events which led to the destruction of Jerusalem. You 
 will know from the history of Rome, which I suppose you 
 are studying, that after the death of Claudius there were yet 
 four more emperors of Rome before Vespasian ascended 
 the throne. These men were all so extremely wicked and 
 foolish that it is not worth while here to mention their 
 names ; and yet to the rule of such men, " tyrants, madmen, 
 fools, and monsters, the most detestable the world has ever 
 seen" (as Dr. Raphall justly calls them), to the arbitrary 
 will of these the Jewish nation and the whole Roman empire 
 were subject. 
 
REVOLT OF THE JEWS AGAINST ROME. CESTIUS DEFEATED. 
 The Jews, driven to despair by the unendurable oppres- 
 sion they had suffered for so many years, at last determined 
 to unite their forces and to risk everything for the sake of 
 gaining their independence. It certainly was a desperate 
 conclusion they had come to, for to declare war against 
 Rome was to defy the whole force of the civilized world. 
 v But what will man not do when driven to mad despair by 
 such grinding tyranny ! And we must not forget that it was 
 not so much political independence they were striving for ; 
 but their religion, which was to them dearer than life, was 
 at stake, and that had been most wantonly trampled upon 
 by their enemies. The Jews, therefore, manfully resolved 
 to conquer or die. They refused henceforth to pay tribute 
 to Rome, declared themselves openly against their governor, 
 and demanded his immediate withdrawal. Agrippa ad- 
 dressed the multitude and made some efforts to calm their rage, 
 showing them the rashness of defying the power of Rome, 
 and was enabled for awhile to arrest their fury ; but, when he 
 attempted to persuade the people to render the usual alle- 
 giance to the present governor until another should be sent 
 by the emperor, their indignation was aroused to its highest 
 pitch, they denounced also their king as treacherous to 
 their cause, assailed him first with insulting language, then 
 with stones, and he was obliged to flee from the city. While 
 the people of Jerusalem were thus preparing themselves for 
 defensive and offensive warfare, Cestius Gallus, governor of 
 Syria, hearing of the revolutionary proceedings going on 
 in Jerusalem, gathered his troops to bring the turbulent 
 Jews to subjection. The Zealots, whose numbers had now 
 increased to immense proportions, prepared to meet the in- 
 vader, and disregarding the sanctity of the Sabbath, armed 
 themselves with undaunted energy as well as weapons. 
 Cestius halted at about a mile off the city, expecting that 
 
28 
 
 the very appearance of his army of 30,000 strong would 
 overawe the Jews into quiet submission. But the Zealots 
 attacked the adversary with such vigor that they slew five 
 hundred of them, losing but twenty-three, and returned 
 home laden with rich booty. Three days later, Cestius 
 made another advance on Jerusalem and burned some of 
 the suburbs. For five days the Romans made various as- 
 saults, while the Jews defended themselves with the most 
 resolute valor, till at length the enemy were forced to 
 retreit. After a few more similar combats, Cestius with- 
 drew his troops. The insurgents had been all the while in 
 dreadful consternation and were almost ready to surrender, 
 but when they saw the enemy continue to retire, they 
 gained new courage, sallied forth from the city, and boldly 
 pursued the enemy with the utmost rapidity, and did not 
 cease until they had routed the whole army of the Romans. 
 With hymns of victory, they re-entered the capital, having 
 suffered hardly any loss and having slain of the Romans 
 5,300 foot and 380 horse, while many instruments of war 
 and an immense spoil fell into their hands. The Romans 
 had since long not suffered so disgraceful a defeat ; and the 
 sting was more keenly felt since it was inflicted, not by a 
 powerful adversary looked upon as an equal, but by a peo- 
 ple who had long and patiently endured the Roman yoke 
 and humbly submitted to the imperial will. 
 
 VESPASIAN SENT TO SUBDUE THE JUDEANS. GALILEE 
 
 CONQUERED. 
 
 The stubborn defence of the Jews against the attacks of 
 Cestius and the subsequent defeat of the latter's army was 
 tantamount to a declaration of war, and Judea was now in 
 open rebellion against Rome. This was in the year 66 of 
 the common era. Nero was then the emperor, and, learn- 
 ing with astonishment the shameful defeat of his troops 
 under Cestius, began to make preparations for the entire 
 
2 9 
 
 subjection of the insurgents. He appointed Vespasian, the 
 ablest general in the empire, as commander-in-chief of the 
 army that was to subdue Judea, and Titus, Vespasian's 
 eldest son, who was then with his father at Athens, was 
 made his lieutenant. Vespasian sent his son to Alexandria 
 to bring two legions to his aid, while he himself went to 
 Syria to collect all the Roman troops from the neighboring 
 tributary kings. When the two generals, father and son, 
 had collected an army of nearly 100,000, they marched 
 toward Galilee, there to commence operations. Joseph, son 
 Mathias, better known as Josephus, and of whom you will 
 hear more hereafter, was intrusted by the Jews with the 
 defense of Galilee. This was a very fertile country, and 
 its inhabitants, a bold, hardy, and warlike race, were very 
 numerous: Its fortifications also were many and of immense 
 strength, and Josephus, who had also about 100,000 under 
 his command, and being possessed of very eminent military 
 talents, might have successfully defended the province in- 
 trusted to his charge, but he seemed to be little inclined to 
 wage war with so powerful an opponent, and more in favor 
 of an amicable settlement between his people and the Ro- 
 mans. At all events, Vespasian made fearful inroads into 
 Galilee, took city after city, all of which, however, were de- 
 fended by the besieged with most resolute courage, but had 
 to yield to superior forces and numbers. Josephus himself, 
 finding further defense impossible, was base enough to 
 renounce his party, forsake his people and his faith, and 
 enter into a bond of friendship with Vespasian. Having 
 conquered the whole of Galilee, Vespasian allowed his 
 troops to recover from the fatigues and hard struggles they 
 had undergone ; and towards the end of February, 68, 
 entered on his second campaign. In the mean time the 
 Judeans were very active in preparing their defense of 
 Jerusalem, but unfortunately they were devoured by intes- 
 tine strife to such an alarming extent that the enemy 
 
3 
 
 thought it advisable to let them alone, as they among them- 
 selves were doing a good deal of the work of destruction for 
 him. About the middle of June, 68, Vespasian found him- 
 self at Caesarea, about fifteen miles north of Jerusalem, 
 superintending the construction of powerful battering rams 
 and other engines of war for an attack on the capital, when 
 the death of Nero was announced to him. The conflagra- 
 tion of Rome, Nero's suicide, and the assassination of two 
 other emperors are events which do not properly belong to 
 our history, and were of no material influence thereon. 
 Passing over, therefore, the transient reigns of Galba, Otho, 
 and Vitellius, we find Vespasian in possession of the throne 
 of the Roman empire and Titus in command of the army 
 in Judea. 
 
 TITUS' ADVANCE ON JERUSALEM. DESCRIPTION OF THE 
 CITY AND TEMPLE. 
 
 Political troubles at the seat of government and in other 
 parts of the Roman empire had delayed the march on 
 'Jerusalem for nearly twelve months, and it was not resumed 
 until the year 70. In the spring of that year, Titus, with 
 an army of 80,000, undertook in good earnest the long 
 projected plan of demolishing the Jewish capital and Tem- 
 ple, at once the pride and the stronghold of the nation. 
 But he found it by no means an easy task. That you may 
 have an idea of the difficulties the enemy had to overcome, 
 let me give you a short, and of course but a superficial de- 
 scription of Jerusalem and its proud Temple. Jerusalem 
 was built on three hills ; it was some five miles in circum- 
 ference ; its inhabitants may have been half a million or 
 more. It was fortified with three walls, all of immense 
 strength and thickness ; but these walls were not exactly 
 one inside the other all around the city, each one defended 
 a separate quarter of the town and required a separate siege 
 and attack before the whole could be taken. The first or 
 
outer wall was built of solid stones thirty-five feet long and 
 the wall was seventeen and a half feet thick ; on its top 
 were battlements three and a half feet and pinnacles five 
 and three quarters, making together a height of nearly 
 forty-five feet. The inner walls were nearly similar to the 
 one just described. These walls were mounted respectively 
 with sixty, fourteen, and eighty towers of the same solid 
 masonry, from which the besieged could defend themselves 
 against their assailants. The most magnificent of all these 
 towers was called Psephina, opposite to which Titus en- 
 camped. It was octagon, I22-J feet high, commanding a 
 noble view of the country and of the sea around it. Each 
 tower had a different name, after some one beloved or 
 esteemed by the monarch who built it. They were 
 differently constructed, some defended by breastworks and 
 bulwarks, divided in lofty chambers luxuriously fitted up, 
 provided with baths and large tanks above to receive rain- 
 water. These lofty towers appeared still higher from their 
 situation on a steep hill. In addition to these regular 
 defenses, there were several detached castles or fortresses 
 of great strength, of which the Antonia was the most con- 
 siderable. On one of the hills, Mt. Zion, stood the king's 
 palace or one of the palaces, surrounded by a wall thirty- 
 five feet high, adorned by towers at equal distances, and by 
 spacious barrack-rooms with a hundred beds in each. It 
 was paved with every variety of -rare marble ; timbers of 
 unequalled strength and workmanship supported the 
 roofs. The chambers were countless, adorned with all 
 kinds of figures, the richest furniture, and vessels of gold 
 and silver. There were numerous cloisters with columns 
 of different orders, the squares within of beautiful ver- 
 dure ; around were groves and avenues with fountains and 
 tanks, and bronze statues pouring out the water. The 
 fortress Antonia stood alone on a high and precipitous rock 
 
32 
 
 near ninety feet high, at the northwest corner of the 
 Temple. The whole face of the rock was fronted with 
 smooth stone for ornament, and so slippery as to make 
 an ascent impracticable. The fortress was seventy feet high, 
 and had every luxury and convenience of a sumptuous 
 palace, or even of a city ; spacious halls, courts, and baths. 
 It appeared like a vast square tower, with four other towers 
 at the corners, three of them between eighty and ninety 
 feet high. Towering above the whole city was the Temple, 
 a fortress in itself, and equal in strength to any at that time 
 known. It covered a square of a furlong (one-eighth mile) 
 each side. The hill on which it stood had been built up 
 on the sides with perpendicular walls in no part lower 
 than 525 feet ; some of these stones were seventy feet 
 square. Thus Jerusalem was a mass of fortifications, an ac- 
 cumulation of strength and beauty, and might have remained 
 inaccessible to the enemy, had its possessors been of one 
 mind, and unanimously defended it. The supply of water 
 from natural springs was abundant, and stores of provisions 
 there were sufficient to last for years, but these were mostly 
 destroyed by the inhabitants while they quarreled and 
 fought among themselves. I cannot begin to describe 
 the magnificence of the interior of the Temple, its divisions, 
 its courts, its gates, and its furniture. It would be injustice 
 to say a few words about it, you must read that in a larger 
 book than this. Even the roof of the Temple was set all 
 over with sharp golden spikes to prevent the birds from 
 nestling and defiling it. At a distance, the whole structure 
 looked literally like "a mount of snow fretted with golden 
 pinnacles," and when the sun arose above the Mount of 
 Olives, which it directly faced, it was impossible, even for a 
 Roman, not to be struck with wonder, or even for Titus 
 not to betray emotion. Yet this was the city which in 
 a few months was to lie a heap of undistinguishable ruins, 
 
33 
 
 and the Temple itself, which seemed built for eternity, not 
 "to have one stone left upon another."* 
 
 THE ATTACK ON JERUSALEM. HORRIBLE SCENES IN THE 
 CITY. FINAL DETRUCTION. 
 
 The Roman legions made their approach on Jerusalem 
 from the North, where the resistance was least formidable, 
 and before making an assault,*Titus himself, with an escort 
 of 600 horse, came close to the city to reconnoitre. Finding 
 the gates closed and not a man on the wall, not even a 
 sentinel, he apprehended no immediate danger, and the 
 squadron proceeded more closely, turning towards the high 
 tower of Psephina ; when all of a sudden the gates flew 
 open, and a multitude of soldiers rushed upon the aston- 
 ished cavalry, effectually cutting off Titus with a few follow- 
 ers from the rest of his escort. This was a critical 
 ^moment. The general could not proceed, nor turn back 
 without facing the enemy, and almost had the chief of the 
 Roman army fallen a prize into the hands of the beleaguered 
 Jews. But it seems they were so intoxicated with their 
 momentary success as to be incapable of taking advantage 
 of their good fortune ; and Titus, with redoubled vigor and 
 by the assistance of his followers, cut his way through and 
 escaped. So trifling a circumstance could not in the least 
 deter the Roman chief, though it taught him a lesson of 
 caution. The next day the work on the embankments was 
 begun and soon the enormous battering rams appeared 
 which were to play on the wall ; but no sooner were they 
 within bow-shot than the besieged harassed the men with 
 all sorts of missiles, sometimes sallying out in considerable 
 numbers and damaging in a few hours what the Romans 
 had labored days to accomplish. Night and day the 
 Romans toiled ; night and day, by stratagem and force, the 
 
 * Much of this description is taken verbatim from Milman's History. 
 
34 
 
 Jews impeded their progress. At last one tower came down. 
 The terrible engines continued their destructive work and 
 the first wall began to totter. The Jews retired to the 
 second, and after the most reckless defence and considera- 
 ble damage to the assailants, this also had to yield. It was 
 re-taken from the Romans, but again lost. The Jews still 
 kept up their courage, persevered resolutely, and fought 
 desperately; but, alas! the destruction from within was 
 worse than that from without. Provisions were short, and 
 the horrible famine began its ravages ; there was nothing 
 more to eat; men ate chopped straw, gnawed their belts, 
 their shoes. The most delicate females, accustomed to 
 abundance and luxury, prowled about the streets, mad with 
 hunger. The famine had steeled every heart, extinguished 
 even parental and filial affection. Brothers and sisters, 
 parents and children, snatched from one another the most 
 miserable morsel ; and, most horrible to relate, one woman, 
 Miriam, daughter of Eleazar, possessed of wealth which 
 availed her nothing, and finding no one merciful enough to 
 put-an end to her misery, wildly resolved to slay her own 
 infant, cook it, and consume part of it. The story reached 
 the Roman camp and touched the stoutest heart. Titus 
 then used every means to induce the people to surrender, 
 and employed Josephus to address his countrymen and 
 convince them of the impossibility of holding out, but he 
 had forfeited all influence upon them by his base desertion. 
 Exhausted with the toil of so many weeks and months of 
 constant battle, Titus withdrew his troops to allow them 
 a little rest, and give the besieged time to consider a 
 capitulation, but they remained obstinate and unyielding. 
 In the meanwhile the famine increased, and pestilence set 
 in. The houses were full of dying women and children, the 
 streets with men gasping out their last breath. % The corpses 
 remained unburied, and the stench of the putrid bodies 
 affected even the Romans outside ; yet the most horrible 
 
35 
 
 sufferings, the most appalling scenes could not move the 
 cruel and stubborn Zealots to yield their point. The 
 stately Temple still stood defiantly before the enemy; the 
 Jews said it could not be taken, for it was the Temple of God. 
 But Providence had otherwise decreed. Wall after wall, 
 and fortress after fortress fell into the hands of the enemy. 
 The fighting had been carried on most desperately for more 
 than five months, day and night, and every inch of ground 
 the Romans gained cost streams of blood. It is generally 
 conceded that the Jews fought with as much bravery and 
 skill as was ever displayed by any nation in any battle. 
 Nearly a million and a half of human lives had been 
 sacrificed. At last, on the fatal loth of Ab, also the roth of 
 August, of the year 70, the Romans entered the precincts 
 of the Temple, which Titus endeavored to spare from 
 destruction; but a soldier, without orders, threw a fire-brand 
 into one of the side chambers, and soon the flames spread 
 all over the edifice. The Romans were struck with wonder 
 at the splendor they beheld; everything around them was 
 radiant with gold, and the excited soldiers began to plunder 
 with insatiable vengeance. The treasures found in Jerusa- 
 lem were so great that gold fell in Syria to one-half its 
 value. The fertile lands of Judea were disposed of, and 
 many thousands of the captives were sold into slavery to 
 fill the treasury of the Roman emperor. Thus fell the 
 metropolis of Palestine, and with that event ceased the 
 nationality of the Jewish people. But the consuming 
 fire which destroyed the Temple became the fire of a new 
 inspiration for the Jewish people, and the storms which 
 scattered them to all parts of the earth became the fore- 
 runners of anew creation, the speedy development of which 
 became a blessing to all the world. 
 
BIOGRAPHY OF PHILO AND JOSEPHUS. 
 The young student may ask perhaps whence we derive all 
 this historical information ; how we know all these particu- 
 lars, of which they find nothing in their books or general 
 history. The answer to these questions is, that the works of 
 several historians who lived at the time those events took 
 place, or shortly afterwards, have been preserved to us. Such 
 are Dion Cassius, Strabo, and Tacitus ; but our information 
 is derived chiefly from the writings of two Jewish historians, 
 Philo and Josephus, of whom we will here give a short bio- 
 graphical description. Philo Judaeus was an Alexandrian 
 by birth, of priestly descent, born of wealthy parents, and con- 
 nected with the most influential of his countrymen ; his 
 brother being one of the chief officers or ministers of Egypt. 
 He was thoroughly acquainted with Grecian literature and 
 philosophy, as well as with the tenets of his religion, and his 
 character was that of deep moral earnestness, with a strong 
 desire to seek and know the truth, and for this purpose he 
 often retired to the wilderness to lead a more contemplative 
 life. The partiality which he felt for the teachings of Plato 
 seems to have caused much confusion in his mind, through 
 his attempts to amalgamate the Platonic philosophy with the 
 Mosaic laws, giving to the latter a mystical interpretation 
 and thus reconcile the two systems. To retain the truths 
 of Platonism in Judaism, to vindicate them and elicit them 
 from the Mosaic books, was the principal task which Philo 
 set himself, and seems to be the object of most of his writ- 
 ings, which were numerous. We know Philo more as a phil- 
 osopher, a speculator in mysticism, than as an historian ; 
 but as the things which he recorded were the events of his 
 own time, and as, moreover, his reputation is not tarnished 
 by the spot of double-dealing, treachery, and self-aggrand- 
 izement, such as attach to the character of Josephus, whose 
 statements often differ materially from those Philo, the his- 
 
torical information we have from him is of great importance. 
 Cotemporary with Philo and in the same city lived Apiori, 
 also a man of great learning, and author of a history of 
 Egypt, but a great enemy of the Jews. Philo endeavored 
 to defend his brethren against the attacks of this enemy ; and 
 when the citizens of Alexandria lodged a complaint with 
 the emperor Caligula against the Jews residing there, charg- 
 ing them with disaffection to the Roman sovereignty, they 
 sent Apion to Rome as their envoy, and Philo was selected 
 on the part of the accused to defend their cause. This mis- 
 sion was attended with considerable danger, and Philo nar- 
 rowly escaped with his life, not being permitted even to 
 speak on the subject before the prejudiced imbecile mon- 
 arch. Various editions of Philo's works are extant, and es- 
 teemed on account of their antiquity and intrinsic worth. 
 
 Josephus, son of Mathias, was descended paternally from 
 a priestly family, and by his mother's side from the Asmo- 
 neans, and was born at Jerusalem A.C. 37, when Caligula 
 was emperor. At the age of sixteen he attached himself to 
 the sect of the Essenes, and for three years led a studious 
 and ascetic life, and then became a zealous member of the 
 sect of Pharisees. At the age of twenty-six he visited Rome, 
 gained admission and influence with the empress, and on his 
 return to Judea was made governor of upper and lower Gal- 
 ilee, in which capacity he bravely defended Jotapata against 
 Vespasian. He was taken prisoner, however ; but his life 
 was spared at the intercession of Titus, to whom he predicted 
 that he would become Roman emperor, and who became his 
 friend and patron. Josephus was possessed of eminent abil- 
 ities, and bears a high reputation as an orator, a soldier, and 
 a statesman, but especially as an historian he is famous and 
 of some authority. During the conquest of Palestine by the 
 Romans, Josephus acted a very important part. Having at 
 first defended his country with all the ability of an accom- 
 plished general, afterwards, seeing the impossibility of hold- 
 
ing out against so powerful an enemy, he joined the peace 
 faction and used all his influence and oratorical powers to 
 induce the Jews to make terms with the Romans, rather than 
 sacrifice their country and Temple, but the Jews would never 
 listen to such propositions. Finding at last that all his 
 efforts at reconciliation were of no avail, Josephus forsook 
 his own people, and with many others who shared his views 
 went over to the Romans, for which base act he is justly de- 
 nounced as a traitor. He lived afterwards in Rome in high 
 favor with the emperor, who conferred on him a very con- 
 siderable portion of land and great honors, and pr rmission 
 to assume the imperial name " Flavius " Josephus. At Rome 
 he first wrote the " History of the Jewish Wars " in the 
 Syro-Chaldaic language, which was the vernacular of Pales- 
 tine, and afterwards translated the work into Greek, for the 
 benefit of the western Jews and of the Romans. Many 
 years afterwards he wrote his great work " The Jewish 
 Antiquities," two books against Apion in defense of his own 
 people, besides other works, all written in elegant pure Greek. 
 The time of his death is uncertain. History loses sight of 
 him in his $6th or 57th year. 
 
39 
 
 SECOND PERIOD. 
 
 FROM THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SECOND 
 TEMPLE TO THE TIME OF THE SPANISH 
 INQUISITION. 
 
 REVIVAL OF THE JEWS UNDER RABBINICAL AUTHORITY. 
 
 THEY REVOLT AGAIN, AND ARE SUBDUED BY HADRIAN. 
 i 
 
 After the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of 
 the Jews, it might be supposed that their national integrity 
 was entirely dissolved. This, however, was far from being 
 the case. From what appears on the records of general 
 history, and in the opinion of eminent literary men, the 
 Jews seem to be an inexhaustible race, which, notwith- 
 standing the mighty efforts to exterminate them, can never 
 be destroyed. Thus we find that the Jews ever maintained 
 their unity in character, in customs, in language, and above 
 all in religion. Deprived of their Temple, they established 
 more firmly their Synagogue, which was at once a place for 
 worship and for the study of the law, and the Rabbis, or the 
 learned in the law, were invested with supreme authority ; 
 and it is the unwavering attachment of the Jews to their 
 law and their religion which has ever enabled them to 
 hold together as one body. Milman, the historian, justly 
 observes, u Perpetually plundered, yet always wealthy, mas- 
 sacred by thousands, yet springing up again from their 
 undying stock, the Jews appear at all times and in all 
 regions ; their perpetuity, their national immortality, is at 
 once the most curious problem to the political inquirer, to 
 the religious man a subject of profound and awful admira- 
 tion." 
 
40 
 
 Though the political existence of the Jews was now 
 annihilated, and themselves dispersed all over Asia, Africa, 
 and Europe, they soon revived again under the form of two 
 separate communities, presided over by their spiritual lead- 
 ers. The one on the West of the Euphrates, who still in- 
 habited Palestine, was under the leadership of the " Patri- 
 arch of the West," and included all Jews dwelling in the 
 Roman Empire; the other in Mesopotamia, under the "Prince 
 of the Captivity," to whom all eastern Jews paid allegiance; 
 and from that time dates Rabbinism as an acknowledged 
 authority, although the introduction of traditional laws and 
 interpretations appears to have begun in the time of Simon 
 the Maccabee, and gradually attained its growth during the 
 whole period of the Second Temple. Of the offices and 
 powers of these rabbinical leaders we will speak more fully 
 hereafter. For a short period, during the reigns of the 
 emperors Domitian and Nerva, the Jews remained tranquil 
 and enjoyed the blessings of peace under the guidance of 
 their spiritual leaders ; but under the reign of Trajan, the 
 united communites of Babylon, Egypt, Cyrene, and Judea 
 rose again in open rebellion, at first with considerable suc- 
 cess, but after an obstinate struggle and an enormous loss of 
 life, estimated at 600,000, they were finally subdued and 
 afterwards most cruelly oppressed by the emperor Hadrian. 
 In order to remove forever all hopes of a restoration of the 
 Jewish kingdom, Hadrian founded a new city and a colony 
 of Romans on the site of Jerusalem, and a temple dedicated 
 to Jupiter on the spot where the Jewish Temple had stood. 
 The city was called ^Elia Capitolina. The Jews were for- 
 bidden to approach the city, and in order to keep them 
 away, the image of a swine was placed over the gate leading 
 to Bethlehem. The study of the law, to which the Jews 
 now clung as their greatest treasure, their only hope, was 
 interdicted; the observance of the Sabbath and, in short, 
 every religious observance was strictly forbidden them, and 
 
the Jewish race seemed, indeed, in danger of becoming 
 extinct; and in that dark period they had no other hope 
 but that the expected Messiah would make his appearance 
 to deliver them. 
 
 BARCOCHAB'S MESSIAHSHIP. 
 
 The prophecy that the glory of the Second Temple should 
 surpass that of the first (Hag. ii. 9) had not been verified, 
 except as to its external grandeur. Some very important 
 parts were wanting. The high-priest wore no breast-plate, 
 the oracle was there no more, the priests were not conse- 
 crated as heretofore, the nation had lost its independence, 
 and the hope that Israel would at some time or other be 
 restored to its former greatness became, and has been to 
 this day, one of our principal points of faith. The belief 
 that the Messiah, a descendant of the house of David, would 
 again redeem them, had now become deeply rooted in the 
 hearts of all Israel,* and no wonder that in such time of 
 tribulation any one bold enough to declare himself to be 
 that deliverer would soon find a number of adherents 
 among the weak-minded who had nothing else to hope for. 
 Such a bold impostor indeed appeared now under the 
 assumed name of Barcochab (Son of the Star), who pre- 
 tended to be the new redeemer of his people. Gradually 
 he succeeded in gaining multitudes of people on his side, 
 and they rose in open hostility against Hadrian. They suc- 
 ceeded to some extent, made themselves masters of the 
 ruins of Jerusalem, and the Romans suffered considerable 
 losses. Barcochab had chosen the fortified city of Either 
 
 * This Messianic idea appears to have originated*vith the Christian 
 religion, which, in its earliest stage, was nothing but a Jewish sect ; 
 and there is good reason to believe that neither the thought of a per- 
 sonal Messiah nor of a resurrection was prevalent among the Jew s even 
 in the latter days of the Second Temple. See Jost, Gesch. d. Jud. u. s. 
 S., pp. 309 and 397. 
 
42 
 
 as his stronghold, which withstood the attack of the enemy 
 for a long time. At last Julius Severus, the ablest general 
 the Romans then had, took command of the army, and the 
 Jews again suffered immense losses. Either was stormed, 
 Barcochab was killed, and his head carried in triumph 
 to the Roman camp. It was again on the fatal ninth of Ab, 
 says the Talmud, that Either fell and was razed to the 
 ground. 
 
 THE PATRIARCHATE. THE MISHNAH. 
 
 After the death of Hadrian, the Jews again breathed the 
 air of freedom, at least of tolerance. The western com- 
 munity was re-established under the u Patriarch," who re- 
 sided at Tiberias, whence he exercised full authority over 
 his scattered brethren, who sent their annual contributions 
 for the support of his magnificent court ; new synagogues 
 were erected, the Sabbath and festivals regularly observed, 
 numerous schools for the study of the law were opened, and 
 rabbinical authority rose to great power. The " Prince of 
 the Captivity" in Babylonia also had his splendid court 
 with numerous attendants, surpassing in splendor even that 
 of his rival in the West. In the latter part of the second 
 century, Rabbi Jehudah, surnamed Hanassi, the prince, 
 and Hakkadosh^ the holy, on account of his great learning 
 and spotless character, occupied the dignified position of 
 ''Patriarch," and it was he who compiled the code of tra- 
 ditional laws called Mishnah. This compilation consists of 
 traditionary explanations of the Mosaic law, said to have 
 been given by God to Moses, who taught them verbally to 
 the elders, and these again to the prophets, and so on they 
 were preserved from one generation to another till the time 
 of R. Jehudah who, in order to preserve the traditions 
 from oblivion, thought it necessary to commit them to 
 writing. 
 
 This idea that, besides the revealed Law, God had im- 
 
43 
 
 parted to Moses additional and private instructions con- 
 cerning the precepts and their proper interpretation, origi- 
 nated, says Dr. Jost (Allg. Gesch. d. Isr. Volkes, Vol. II., 
 131 and 133), in the time of the Maccabees. And as this 
 period of R. Jehudah Hakkadosh is distinguished by the 
 labors of the great Roman lawyers in the formation of a code 
 of jurisprudence for the whole empire, it seems that the 
 Jews desired to follow the example of their masters in pro- 
 viding themselves with a code regulating every act of their 
 religious and civil life. (See Jost as above, and Milrnan, 
 Vol. III., 157, Lond. Ed., 1859.) 
 
 CONSTANTINE ADOPTS CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 For a century or more, the Jews appear to have continued 
 in their peaceful and prosperous state till the time of 
 Constantine the Great. Outside of the Jewish communities, 
 the world at large was then involved in paganism. The 
 Christian religion had made little progress yet during the 
 first three ages of its existence. Jews and Christians often 
 came in furious conflict, and by turns committed horrible 
 ravages upon one another. Still the Jews enjoyed the right 
 of Roman citizenship, and were allowed to observe their 
 religion unmolested. Constantine was the first emperor 
 who embraced Christianity and made it the ruling religion 
 of his empire ; and under his rule, and more so by the 
 increased severity of the laws enacted by his son and suc- 
 cessor Constantius, the spirit of hostility against the Jews 
 increased, and their condition became gradually worse until 
 the accession of Julian to the throne. This Julian, the 
 fourth emperor after Constantine, in the year 360 renounced 
 Christianity and acknowledged the unity of God. He ad- 
 dressed a letter to the patriarch, calling him "my brother," 
 and assuring him of his earnest intentions to promote the 
 temporal and religious interests of the Jews to the utmost of 
 his power. He even issued an edict for the rebuilding of 
 
44 
 
 the Temple on Mount Moriah, and the restoration of the 
 worship of Jehovah to its former splendor. The whole 
 Jewish world was in commotion. Materials and treasures 
 poured in from all quarters to support the holy work. The 
 Christians looked on with amazement and consternation, 
 fearing the total overthrow of their religion, but the early 
 death of Julian, who fell in his expedition against the 
 Persians, reversed matters, and the hopes of the Jews were 
 totally extinguished. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE TALMUD. 
 
 Of the occurrences of the fourth and fifth centuries we 
 have but little reliable information ; at least no events of 
 great importance, either favorable or contrary, seem to have 
 materially altered the state of Jewish communities ; and it 
 appears that, with the exception of occasional outbreaks of 
 animosity between the contending religious parties, the 
 condition of the Jews must have been favorable, as the 
 splendid courts of their spiritual leaders, the wealth of the 
 people, and the nourishing condition of the Mesopotamian 
 schools show the tolerant government of their Persian 
 rulers; but it was during these two centuries especially that 
 rabbinical discussions, which furnished the material for 
 the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud, took place. It 
 should be borne in mind that, as there were two distinct 
 communities under separate heads, so there are two Tal- 
 muds, that of Jerusalem, and that of Babylon. The Mish- 
 nah, of which we have spoken above, constitutes the text 
 and ground-work of both Talmuds. That of Jerusalem, 
 collected in the third century by R. Johanan, is considered 
 of little importance and is seldom studied or consulted. 
 When, therefore, speaking of the Talmud, it is tacitly under- 
 stood that the Babylonian is meant. The Talmud, then, 
 consists of very lengthy expositions, discussions, and com- 
 mentaries on the Mishnah, in which every point is minutely 
 
45 
 
 considered and disputed, but not always settled. It is an 
 extensive work of thirty-six books, the result of centuries' of 
 labor, and containing, of course, the opinions of men of 
 various talents. Among the Jews it has been always looked 
 upon with great veneration, and very many devoted a lifetime 
 to the study of it, to the exclusion even of the study of the 
 Bible ; while the Christians, in the middle ages, looked upon 
 it as " a book very pernicious, abounding with ridiculous 
 fables, insignificant decisions, and manifest contradictions." 
 Not less than ten popes, and some of the kings of France 
 and of Spain, forbade the study of it, or ordered all copies 
 of it they could seize to be committed to the flames. 
 
 THE REIGN OF JUSTINIAN. TAKING OF JERUSALEM BY 
 CHOSROES. JEWS CONTROLLING THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 The most noteworthy events of the sixth century are, the 
 enactments of the oppressive laws of Justinian, and the 
 attacks on Jerusalem by the Persian kings Chosroes I. and 
 II. ; also the slave trade carried on by the Jews in the latter 
 half of that century; and it is at this period that the settle- 
 ments of Jews in different parts of Europe begin to attract 
 our particular notice. 
 
 Justinian, having become Roman emperor, commenced a 
 violent persecution of all who differed with him in religious 
 belief. The most noted act of his life was the reformation 
 of the Roman laws, and collecting them in one body called 
 the Justinian Code. Among these laws were some very 
 oppressive to the Jews, and still more to the Samaritans ; 
 laws which interfered with their right of property, their 
 liberty, and their religion. Every burden of society was 
 laid upon them, without the return of any reward of interest 
 or dignity. A dispute having arisen among the Jews, 
 whether the Hebrew or Greek language should be used in 
 the synagogue, the affair was brought before the emperor, who 
 decided, to the great vexation of the rabbis, that the Greek 
 
4 6 
 
 might be used ; but the study of the Talmud was strictly 
 forbidden. It was also about that time (532) that the com- 
 putation of the Christian era began ; that is, they began to 
 count time from the birth of Christ. While Jerusalem was 
 under the dominion of Justinian, Chosroes I., king of 
 Persia, proposed to conquer the holy city, and the Jews 
 looked with anxious hopes to a relief from their Roman 
 oppressor ; but a treaty of peace between the two monarchs 
 being concluded, Jerusalem remained undisturbed. A few 
 years later, Chosroes II. meditated the conquest of Palestine. 
 The Jews, still desirous of a change of government, joined 
 him in great numbers, and those outside of Jerusalem con- 
 spired to storm the city on the night of the Christian 
 Easter. The Christians, being informed of the conspiracy, 
 put the city in a state of defense, and threw the most 
 prominent Jews into prison. Those on the outside, seeing 
 the failure of their project, destroyed in the suburbs all the 
 property they could seize ; but for every church they set on 
 fire, the enemy inside the city struck off the heads of a 
 hundred Jewish prisoners and cast them over the wall. 
 Twenty churches were destroyed, and two thousand Jews 
 lost their heads. At last the Persian troops arrived, and 
 with them the Jews entered the city to wreak their vengeance 
 on their foes. Every church was demolished ; that of the 
 Holy Sepulchre was the chief object of their fury, and the 
 splendid edifice erected by Helena and Constantine did 
 not escape. The Persians, it is said, sold the Christians for 
 slaves, which the Jews bought at high prices, only to 
 slaughter them. Under the mild protection of the Persians, 
 the Jews, though not independent masters of the holy city, 
 remained again in peaceful possession of it for nearly 
 ninety years; then Heraclius sent his troops against Jeru- 
 salem to reconquer it, and the Persian king scarcely offering 
 any assistance, Palestine and the Jews passed again under 
 the rule of their former cruel masters, the Romans. 
 
47 
 
 Another notable fact is, that the slave trade in Europe 
 was for more than a century almost entirely in the hands of 
 the Jews, which is owing to the following circumstances. 
 When, about the year 400, the northern barbarians, who 
 were heathen, invaded the southern part of Europe, many 
 wealthy cities and fertile fields were devastated, and their 
 Christian inhabitants slaughtered or sold as slaves. As the 
 Jews were merely sojourners and not attached to the soil, 
 they could easily remove, and suffered little from these 
 invasions. The Israelites, who, notwithstanding their close 
 adherence to their faith, always had a peculiar aptitude and 
 penetrating eye for commerce, took advantage of these 
 revolutions, exchanged with the barbarians the valuable 
 spoils for cheap but more useful articles, and at the same 
 time bought their Christian captives at most trifling prices, 
 which traffic became a source of great wealth to them. 
 Some Christian monarchs and popes looked upon this slave 
 dealing with horror, and issued severe enactments against 
 it; while others, at later times, recognized the right of 
 Jews holding slaves as their property, but ordered that they 
 should be redeemed by Christian individuals or out of the 
 church funds ; but as people were not always willing and 
 prepared to obey these mandates at their own expense, and 
 moreover, as these orders were issued in writing, and many 
 officers of the government and even many of the clergy 
 could neither write nor read, these laws produced little 
 effect; and in one of the councils of Toledo a complaint 
 was made that even the clergy sold Christian captives to 
 Jews and heathen. 
 
 THE RULE OF MOHAMMED. INFLUENCE OF ISLAMISM UPON 
 
 THE JEWS. 
 
 Hitherto the strife for supremacy in revealed religion had 
 existed only between Jews and Christians ; but a new faith, 
 Mohammedanism, was destined to arise, and to surpass, 
 
4 8 
 
 numerically, both its rivals. Mohammed, an Arabian camel 
 driver, born at Mecca towards the end of the sixth century, 
 pretended to be inspired by the angel Gabriel to found a 
 new religion. In the fortieth year of his age he proclaimed 
 his doctrine, which was, " There is but One God, and Mo- 
 hammed is his prophet. " In a few years his followers became 
 very numerous ; his religion spread over all Asia, the north 
 of Africa, and Spain, and is now adopted by many millions* 
 of people, perhaps more than half of the human race. The 
 Arabs, or Mohammedans, are descendants of Ishmael, the 
 son of Abraham by Hagar. The tenets of their religion are 
 contained in a work called Koran, which, like the word 
 Bible, means book. The successors of Mohammed were called 
 Caliphs, now Sultans, and their religion is also called Islam- 
 ism. The establishment of the Mohammedan religion 
 caused great changes in the government and religion of the 
 eastern world, and considerably affected the condition of 
 the Jews. The Persian kingdom fell, and their religion, 
 which was the Magian religion, or the worship of fire, was 
 almost extinguished. In the Asiatic provinces, excepting 
 Armenia, Christianity sank to be an inconsiderable and 
 persecuted sect. A magnificent mosque replaced the church 
 on the summit of Moriah, where the Jewish Temple had 
 formerly stood, and Spain came entirely under the dominion 
 of the Mohammedans. To the Jews .the change was 
 generally favorable, and especially in Spain, where they 
 entered upon their era of distinction in commerce, in wealth, 
 and in literature. In the peninsula of Arabia, however, 
 uniformity of religion was enforced, and the Jews were still 
 treated with intolerance and cruelty. Later, under the 
 Caliphs, they were generally treated with much considera- 
 tion, and great honors were conferred upon them. Omar, 
 the second Caliph, intrusted a Jew with the coinage. At a 
 still later period (753) we find Jews intrusted with the office 
 of collecting a heavy fine laid upon the Christians. At the 
 
49 
 
 capture of Rhodes, the celebrated fallen Colossus, one of 
 the wonders of the world, was sold to a Jew who, it is said, 
 loaded nine hundred camels with the metal. The rabbini- 
 cal schools were then in a flourishing condition, and the 
 Prince of the Captivity governed his subjects with undis- 
 puted sway. 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF KHOZAR. 
 
 Historians tell us about a Jewish kingdom under the 
 name of Khozar or Khazar, the most important and accred- 
 ited points of which are these. It appears that at an early 
 period a tribe of Pagans inhabited the territory along the 
 Caucasus Mountains, between the Caspian and Black Seas, 
 which in course of time became very numerous and formid- 
 able. They made rapid progress in commerce and civiliza- 
 tion, and from a tribe of nomads they became a settled 
 nation, governed by a king. Their capital, Bilangiar, was 
 situated at the mouth of the Volga, and a line of fortified 
 cities extended from there to the Don. They became so 
 rich and powerful that they were not only respected, but 
 dreaded by the Persians and Greeks. ; As merchants of all 
 nations were freely admitted, the Khozars became acquaint- 
 ed with the civilized forms and doctrines of religion, and in 
 the year 740, Bulan, their king at that time, after having 
 investigated the merits of the different religions, embraced 
 Judaism, which is said to have happened in this way. (jie 
 asked the Christians which religion, outside of their own, 
 they thought best, Judaism or Mohammedanism ; they 
 answered Judaism, as that was the religion originally re- 
 vealed by God. Then he asked the Mohammedans which 
 of the two they thought preferable, Judaism or Christianity, 
 and they answered Judaism, which like their own, taught 
 the unity of God. / As, therefore, both Christians and Mo- 
 hammedans agreed in the validity of the Mosaic faith, whilst 
 themselves stood each alone in asserting the superiority of 
 3 
 
5 
 
 their own creed, the king concluded to adopt Judaism, and 
 make it the dominant religion of his nation, establishing it at 
 the same time as a fundamental law that thereafter no king 
 should be chosen except one confessing the Jewish religion. 
 This kingdom continued to exist for about two centuries 
 and a half, until the year 1000, when the monarchy was 
 subverted, and the country conquered by the Slavi. 
 
 DOMINION OF THE PATRIARCH OF THE WEST, AND THE 
 PRINCE OF THE CAPTIVITY. 
 
 We have spoken before of the two Jewish communities 
 which formed after the destruction of the Second Temple, 
 and which were governed respectively by the Patriach of 
 the West, and the Prince of the Captivity. We will now 
 treat more fully of the office and dominion of these rulers, 
 and the duration of their administration. The exact time 
 when the patriarchate began we cannot say, but it appears 
 to have been some seventy years after the destruction, and 
 that Simon Ben Gamliel was the first who held this dignity. 
 The residence of the Patriarch was Tiberias, in Palestine, 
 and the exercise of his jurisdiction extended chiefly over 
 the religious affairs of his constituents, who were voluntary 
 subjects and tributaries to their sovereign. The Patriarch 
 was acknowledged and supported in his authority by the 
 civil powers of the land, because the whole community 
 tacitly consented to the institution, and though he was not 
 legally empowered to enforce obedience to his decisions by 
 compulsory measures, he had more powerful means at hand, 
 which was that of excommunication a punishment which all 
 dreaded more than pecuniary fines or bodily chastisement, 
 both of which, however, were also occasionally administered. 
 The Patriarch was supported in his judiciary functions by 
 an Ab-beth-din and a Chacham, as well as by other assess- 
 ors, thus forming a kind of Sanhedrin, and all minor officials 
 were appointed by him. The annual contributions of the 
 
5 1 
 
 community were such as to enable their spiritual monarch 
 to live in magnificent style, which may have been the cause 
 that some of those rulers looked as much, or even more, to 
 the worldly interests of the position as to the religious 
 welfare of the people. Among those who occupied the patri- 
 achal seat, several were ambitious men, who by their severity 
 and overbearance caused strife and disunion in the com- 
 munity, yet there were many of very superior scholarship 
 and excellent character, who had nothing but the real 
 interests of the people at heart. R. Jehuda Hakkadosh, the 
 compiler of the Mishna, is acknowledged as the most illus- 
 trious of the whole series of Patriarchs. The institution 
 lasted about three hundred years, and terminated in the 
 year 429. R. Gamliel was the last of the Patriarchs. The 
 position of Resh-Galuta, or Prince of the Captivity, was not 
 unlike the preceding, but differed chiefly in this respect, 
 that the authority of the Resh-Galuta extended over the 
 secular as well as over the religious affairs of the commu- 
 nity ; in fact, at first his power extended exclusively over 
 secular concerns, while the decisions of all ecclesiastical 
 affairs were rendered at the court of Tiberias. When later,, 
 however, the Babylonian schools produced men equally as 
 well versed in the law as were the Palestinians, the eastern 
 community asserted its entire independence, and still later 
 surpassed its rival in wealth, splendor, and learning, and the 
 Prince of Captivity exercised his royal powers with an 
 authority hardly inferior to that of David or Solomon. The 
 inauguration ceremonies of this dignitary were of .truly 
 royal magnificence, and the pomp and grandeur of his 
 court perhaps equally as great as that of his Persian master. 
 Internal dissensions among those in authority prevailed in 
 Babylonia not less than in Palestine; still the eastern 
 schools and colleges increased rapidly and spread all over 
 the country, and general learning grew in proportion ; for 
 one of the most remarkable traits in the history of the Jews 
 
52 
 
 is the singular devotion they have always shown to mental 
 culture. The most famous colleges were those of Nehardea, 
 Sura, and Pumbedita. Among the many eminent scholars 
 who rose, there is chiefly to be noted Rab Asche, who under- 
 took and accomplished the compilation of the Talmud, 
 which took place about the beginning of the sixth century. 
 In course of time the power of the Romish church increased 
 and the Islam retrograded. The Babylonian schools as 
 well as the Palestinian decreased in number and import- 
 ance, and the flux of emigration set in towards Africa, to 
 Spain, and other European countries. The office of 
 Resh-Galuta continued in a lingering condition until 1038. 
 The last chief of the Captivity was Hezekiah, who, by order 
 of the Caliph Abdallah Kaim, was seized and ignominiously 
 executed. 
 
 THE JEWS IN SPAIN. MOSES IN SACKCLOTH. 
 
 We must now turn our attention to the Jews in Europe, 
 beginning with Spain. The settlement of our ancestors in 
 that country is of a very early date, by some believed to have 
 been as early as the time of King Solomon. It is certain, 
 however, that in the early ages of Christianity the Jews in 
 Spain were so numerous and influential that fears of the 
 whole community adopting Judaism were entertained by the 
 Church, and measures were taken by both king and clergy 
 to oppose the influence. As the Jews were always wealthy, 
 their presence excited the envy of their neighbors, while at 
 the same time by their industry they constituted the most 
 important part of the population. The influence of these 
 two qualities their wealth and their industry varied and 
 predominated as the sentiments and the circumstances of 
 their Mohammedan or Christian rulers changed. Hence 
 they were often persecuted and exiled in order to rob them 
 of their wealth, and again recalled or readmitted to enrich 
 the country by their industry. This has been the case in 
 
53 
 
 most European countries ; but the treatment of the Jews 
 under Mohammedan rulers has always been milder than that 
 under their Christian masters, and when in 712 the Ara- 
 bians (that is the Moors or Saracens) conquered Spain, the 
 Jews hailed with delight the change of government from 
 Christian to Mohammedan, and they are believed to have 
 been instrumental in producing that change. From that 
 time till the end of the tenth century we have but little 
 positive information. But there is no doubt that the Jews 
 shared largely in the splendor and prosperity of the Arabs, 
 and mingled freely with them, and that their common 
 Oriental origin favored the coalition. They soon wrote and 
 spoke in Arabic as well as in Hebrew, and are to this day 
 looked upon by the Christians of Spain and Portugal as their 
 first masters in every department of science. In 980 many 
 Jews came to Spain from Palestine and Mesopotamia, in con- 
 sequence of the decline of the high -school ; and many pro- 
 minent rabbis opened in Castile and Aragon in Cordova, 
 Granada, Barcelona, and other cities, schools not only of 
 Jewish theology, but also of various sciences. They were 
 treated with great consideration and respect by the Moors 
 on account of their superior learning ; and while Christian 
 Europe was enveloped in mental darkness ; while Christian 
 barons could not write their names, and Christian priests 
 could scarcely spell out their breviaries ; Mohammedan Cor- 
 dova might be considered the centre of civilization, of arts, 
 and of letters, to which the Jews were the chief contributors. 
 Hebrew poetry began to be more cultivated, and many sub- 
 lime poems found in our prayer-books, some of which yet 
 bear the stamp of Arabic rhythm, and the Arabic melody of 
 which has even been preserved among the Sephardim, were 
 then composed ; and an Arabic translation of the Talmud 
 was made under the direction of R. Moses Ben Hanoch 
 who may be considered as the founder of the great Spanish 
 schools, and of whom the following singular- incident is 
 
54 
 
 recorded. This R. Moses, together with two other rabbins 
 of great distinction, left Babylonia to settle in Spain, and on 
 their passage were made captives by a Spanish pirate. The 
 wife of R. Moses accompanied him on the voyage, and 
 fearing that she would be ill-treated, looked to her husband 
 for advice. He cited a text in Hebrew, " The Lord said, I 
 will bring back from the depth of the sea," by which he 
 hinted to her that it were better to perish than to yield her- 
 self up to the ruffians. Hereupon the high-minded woman 
 plunged into the sea and perished. R. Moses was brought 
 to Cordova as a slave, and was redeemed by the Jews, 
 though his quality and high attainments were not known. 
 One day he entered the synagogue in his coarse dress of 
 sack-cloth, while R. Nathan was presiding and discussing 
 certain points of the law. R. Moses entered into the debate, 
 and showed such profound knowledge that the presiding 
 rabbi and all present were astonished. Hereupon the chief 
 rabbi exclaimed, " I am no more your instructor, this man 
 in sack-cloth is my master, and I am his scholar." Rabbi 
 Moses was then appointed as head of the community by 
 general consent. He was succeeded by his son Enoch, and 
 the latter again by his son Nathan, who was held in such 
 high esteem, and the wealth of the members of his com- 
 munity was so great, that whenever the rabbi went to enjoy 
 a recreation in the beautiful groves and gardens near 
 Cordova, he was followed by great numbers of his scholars 
 and friends, and some 700 chariots followed in the proces- 
 sion. 
 
 SPANISH JEWISH SCHOLARS AND STATESMEN. 
 
 A full description of the elevated condition of the Jews 
 in Spain and Portugal would fill quite a number of pages, 
 much more than the scope of this work will allow ; we must 
 satisfy ourselves here with a condensed account of it. It is 
 now admitted by all impartial thinkers that the world owes 
 
55 
 
 the Jews an immense debt of gratitude, not only for the 
 preservation of the Scriptures, but for their invaluable con- 
 tributions to the sciences, to philosophy, mathematics, astron- 
 omy, and medicine, especially the latter. From the brilliant 
 constellation of literati which adorns our history we can select 
 only a few of the brightest stars, beginning with some emi- 
 nent theologians and poets. R. Menahem Ben Saruc was a 
 learned Talmudist and author of a Hebrew lexicon, the manu- 
 script of which is preserved in the library of the Vatican. R. 
 Samuel Chophni Hacohen, of Cordova, wrote an exposition 
 on Deuteronomy, still in manuscript. Another R. Samuel, 
 of Barcelona, distinguished himself by the efforts he made 
 to annul the old rabbinical decrees against the study of 
 Greek literature. Another doctor of Barcelona, Judah Ben 
 Levi Barzilai, not long after, wrote a treatise on a subject 
 not- well understood in the East, "The Rights of Woman." 
 A very singular coincidence presents itself in a group of 
 five learned men, all of whom bore the name of Isaac : R. 
 I. Ben Geath was the wealthy chief of the congregation 
 at Lucena ; R. I. Ben Moses, professor at Denia ; R. I. Ben 
 Reuben, of Barcelona ; R. I. Ben Baruch, a theologian and 
 mathematician in high esteem for his proficiency in the latter 
 branch at the court of the King of Grenada, and last, the great 
 R. I. Alphasi (z. ., of Fez), distinguished for his elaborate 
 commentary on the Talmud. R. Asher, a German by birth, 
 established himself at Toledo, and, on account of his great 
 learning, was there chosen head of all the schools and syna- 
 gogues in Spain. The prosperity of the Jews in Castile, and 
 the influence of their nobles reached its greatest height in 
 the fourteenth century. In the counsels and friendship of 
 Alphonso XI., his physicians, Don Samuel Abenhacar, Don 
 Samuel Ben Jaes, and R. Moses Abudiel held a permanent 
 and distinguished place. Spanish historians speak of Don 
 Joseph, called Almoxarife, "the treasurer," who, withOsorio, 
 the Count de Transtamare, long possessed the king's un- 
 
56 
 
 limited favor. The marriage settlement of Henry IV., of Cas- 
 tile, with the Princess of Portugal was drawn up by a Jewish 
 ambassador, R. Joseph, the king's physician. In the same 
 century, Abiathar,of Lerida,in Arragon, gained great renown 
 by curing the blindness of King John II. at the age of eighty. 
 This cure is the first instance of the operation for cataract 
 which has been recorded in the history of medical science. 
 The physician ventured to perform the operation upon one 
 eye, and having completely succeeded, felt some hesitation 
 in proceeding; but the resolute and courageous old king 
 compelled him to risk an operation on the other also. In 
 Portugal, the names of Jewish physicians are rarely wanting 
 among the officers of the king's household. The dignity of 
 " Physico-mor," or first physician, was instituted by King 
 John I., of Portugal, in 1385, and bestowed first upon the 
 Jewish physician Micer Moses, together with great privi- 
 leges for himself and nation. Other Jewish professors of 
 medicine were treated with similar consideration until the 
 reign of King Manuel. When the Jews were banished from 
 Portugal in the year 1497, the new Christians, concealed or 
 baptized Jews, and their descendants continued to distin- 
 guish themselves as professors of medicine. For example, 
 Dr. Manuel de Fonseca, and his son, Dr. Lope de Fonseca, 
 whose daughter, Ginebra, was burnt by the Inquisition on 
 a charge of Judaism ; Dr. Abraham Zacuto (Zacutus Lusi- 
 tanus), author of the "History of Celebrated Physicians;" 
 Dr. Immanuel Jacob Resales, upon whom the Emperor of 
 Germany bestowed the dignity of Count Palatine, and Dr. 
 Roderigo de Castro were equally known by their writings, 
 and celebrated for their enlightened views during the early 
 part of the seventeenth century. Don Samuel Levi was 
 Minister of Finance to King Pedro, successor to Alphonso 
 XI. The ancient Spanish chronicle of that monarch gives 
 an account of the faithful services rendered by this saga- 
 cious financier, relating how he enriched the royal treasury 
 
57 
 
 by compelling the dishonest tax-gatherers to give in their 
 accounts, and make good their receipts. Pedro, however, 
 was as ungrateful as he was cruel ; for his faithful minister, 
 together with other favorites, was condemned to the torture 
 under which he expired in 1360. We rarely find mention 
 made of a Jewish theologian or physician in Spain or Portu- 
 gal during the middle ages who was not at the same time a 
 poet, astronomer, or mathematician, often all these together. 
 R. Abraham Zacuto was professor of astronomy at the 
 Academy of Salamanca, his native town, till 1492, when, 
 having fled to Portugal, he was favorably received by King 
 Manuel, and raised to a post of honor at his court. He 
 made a perpetual almanac, dedicated to the Bishop of 
 Salamanca, published at Leiria, in Portugal, 1495. He is 
 well-known in rabbinical literature as the author of " Sepher 
 Yochasin " (book of genealogies), a valuable source of refer- 
 ence for the history of the older rabbinical schools of the- 
 ology. The principal councillors of John II., of Portugal, 
 when undertaking the expeditions that led to the discovery 
 of a new way to India round the Cape of Good Hope, were 
 the two Bishops of Viseu and Ceuta, and three Jewish physi- 
 cians, Jose, Roderigo, and Moses. The first idea of the 
 possibility of finding a passage to India was suggested by 
 the observations of two Portuguese Jews, R. Abraham de 
 Beja, and Joseph Zaphatero de Lamego, who had been sent 
 by King John II. to explore Ormuz and the coast of the 
 Red Sea. An investigation as to the best means of en- 
 couraging navigation, not along the coast only, but in the 
 open sea, was confided by the government, during the reign 
 of this prince, to the celebrated German, Martin de Behaim, 
 then established in the country, together with the before- 
 mentioned Roderigo and Jose. And let it be borne in 
 mind that we do not depend for our information on these 
 points on the evidence of Jewish writers only, but on the 
 authoritative records of the country as well. From the 
 
58 
 
 unanimous testimony of the chronicles of the church, and 
 from authentic Spanish historians, we learn how large a 
 share of influence, wealth, and consideration was at that 
 time possessed by the Jews in Spain. Also in France and 
 elsewhere, Jews frequently distinguished themselves in the 
 medical profession. A Jewish physician was called in to 
 Francis I., and is said to have been the first to recommend 
 the use of ass's milk. Another Jewish physician followed 
 the constable of Bourbon in his exile, and his son was the 
 distinguished chancellor of France, Michel de 1'Hopital, 
 celebrated for his great talent as a legist and statesman. 
 In the eighteenth century, Dr. de Silva, a Portuguese Jew, 
 was highly celebrated in France as a physician, and is one 
 of the very few upon whom Voltaire, the great enemy of 
 Israel, bestowed some words of praise, both in his poetry 
 and his history. We have scarcely spoken of the Spanish 
 Jews as poets. R. Isaac Ben Geath, whom we have already 
 mentioned, was one of the most distinguished poets in Spain. 
 His poetical productions for the penitential holidays are 
 particularly admired. His son, R. Judah, and his grandson, 
 R. Solomon, succeeded him, and both are looked upon as 
 masters of the art by such judges as Alcharisi, and Judah 
 Halevi. R. Bechai Ben Joseph Ben Pekodah also stands 
 high as a poet, and of still brighter fame is R. Moses Aben 
 Ezra, equally celebrated as a Talmudist and professor of 
 Greek philosophy. Although, like his brother poets, he ex- 
 celled in sacred song, he also tuned his lyre as an inhabi- 
 tant of the West, and sang at times of love, but more often 
 in praise of the beauties of nature. Alexander von Hum- 
 bolt, in his "Cosmos," bestows much praise on his sublime 
 description of natural scenery. So, also, Don Santo de 
 Carion, who embraced Christianity, was distinguished as 
 one of the most famous troubadours of the age. Still higher 
 in the scale of poetical genius stands R. Judah Halevi; and 
 the acme, we may say, is reached by the great R. Solomon 
 
59 
 
 Ben Gebirol, who is unanimously allowed to have far ex- 
 celled all other Jewish poets of the tenth and eleventh cen- 
 turies. Born in 1031 at Malaga or Saragossa, where he 
 afterwards resided, his life was as short as his talents were 
 brilliant, and his end tragical. His death is said to have 
 been caused by the sanguinary envy of an Arabian rival in 
 song, and the young poet, it is said, was buried by his mur- 
 derer under a fig-tree, which produced in consequence so 
 great an abundance of fruit of such exquisite flavor as to 
 attract the attention of the caliph, and led to a discovery of 
 the body, and a detection of the crime and its perpetrator. 
 The poetical talents of Gebirol were exercised on many 
 different subjects ; hymns, elegies, and confessions of sin, 
 many of which, as well as the compositions of the afore- 
 named masters, are still retained in the liturgy of the Sephar- 
 dim. His " Keter Malchut " (Royal Crown) is looked upon 
 as his masterpiece, the sublimity of which, indeed, cannot 
 be too highly estimated, and can be appreciated only by 
 those who have a taste for Hebrew style, though its grandeur 
 appears even in the many foreign tongues into which it has 
 been translated. 
 
 ABEN EZRA AND MAIMONIDES. 
 
 We have expatiated perhaps too much, considering the 
 limits we prescribed to our book on the greatness, the 
 erudition, and the nobility of the Spanish and Portuguese 
 Jews a subject which we could pursue with an ardor little 
 short of enthusiasm, and for which a sense of national pride 
 in the author may plead an excuse ; and yet we cannot take 
 leave of this interesting matter without devoting an addi- 
 tional paragraph to the biography of "the two great 
 lights," Aben Ezra and Maimonides. 
 
 Abraham Ben Meir Aben Ezra was born of a noble family 
 at the beginning of the twelfth century at Toledo. He was 
 a man of extensive erudition and wonderful genius, per- 
 
6o 
 
 fectly familiar alike with the Aristotelian philosophy and 
 the closest interwoven textures of rabbinical literature. 
 Taking in consideration the age in which he lived, he was 
 really eminent as a commentator, grammarian, philosopher, 
 physician, astronomer, and poet. In his fiery spirit, in the 
 ardor of his imagination, and in his humorous vein he is 
 unequalled by any of the Jewish literati. His style is pure, 
 expressive, and original ; his sentences are elegant, some- 
 times lively and full of wit, but often so brief as to be 
 obscure. Like many of his co-temporaries, he had a great 
 inclination for travelling. This taste is worthy of remark 
 as presenting a striking contrast to the life led by the monks 
 and the Roman Catholic clergy of that period. This desire 
 of becoming personally acquainted with a world in which 
 they met with so much hostility is especially observable in 
 Aben Ezra. The various places from which he dated his 
 different works show in a literal sense that he was a wan- 
 derer on the earth. As a commentator on the Scriptures he 
 is valued without exception by all. His hymn on the Soul 
 is a poetical development of the idea that every night, during 
 sleep, the soul, released from the body, ascends to heaven 
 to give an account of the work done uring the day. His 
 poetical compositions extend also to nuptial hymns, elegies, 
 satires, and even a series of verses on the game of chess. 
 He visited also Palestine, and held converse with the learned 
 men of Tiberias upon the Masoretic text of the Bible. He 
 died on his return from this pilgrimage at the age of seventy- 
 five, much lamented by all who knew him, among whom his 
 friend and admirer Maimonides. 
 
 Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon, or with the Greek termination 
 Maimonides, known also among us as Rambam, was born 
 at Cordova in Spain about the year 1130. His father filled 
 the office of judge in his native city, as several of his im- 
 mediate ancestors had done before him. Maimonides 
 received his early education at Lucena and subsequently 
 
6i 
 
 pursued his studies at Cordova, where he formed the acquaint- 
 ance and friendship of the great Arabian philosopher 
 Averroes, which appears to have greatly influenced his 
 mode of thinking. He made uncommon progress, not only 
 in rabbinical literature, but excelled also in mathematics, 
 metaphysics, and the medical science, and added to a 
 knowledge of the Hebrew and Arabic languages that of 
 Chaldee, Turkish, and Greek, and made himself familiar 
 with the writings of Plato, Aristotle, and other famous phil- 
 osophers. Averroes was, what may be properly called a 
 free-thinker ; was persecuted and removed from the chief 
 magistracy of Cordova, and Maimonides, unwilling to betray 
 his friend, submitted to a voluntary exile and fled to Egypt- 
 There for some time he traded in precious stones, but at 
 the same time continued his studies and completed his com- 
 meritary on the Mishnah in Arabic. His great merit intro- 
 duced him to the notice and esteem of the Sultan Alphadel 
 Abderrahim who appointed him his physician, which office 
 he continued to occupy under Salaheddin and other Egyp- 
 tian monarchs till the day of his death. The most extensive 
 work of Maimonides is his " Yad Hachazakah " (the Power- 
 ful Hand) which is a complete digest of Jewish law, drawn 
 from the confused compilation of the Talmud. He thus 
 produced a regular code of fixed laws cleared of all the 
 disputations and all extraneous matter with which they are 
 intermixed in the Talmud, thus establishing order out of 
 chaos. The work consists of fourteen books written in pure 
 and elegant Hebrew. The next in importance is his "Moreh 
 Nebuchim" (Guide for the Erring) written in Arabic. This 
 is a critical, philosophical, and theological work, in which 
 the author endeavors to explain many difficult passages of 
 the Bible, and is rendered particularly important by an 
 excellent exposition of the grounds and reasons of the 
 Mosaic laws. Maimonides, like his friend Averroes, was 
 an independent thinker. By looking upon the divine laws 
 
62 
 
 in a rational way, and finding a palpable reason for every 
 one of them, he opposed and offended the sentiments of a 
 class of rabbis who believed that we cannot penetrate into the 
 reasons of the laws, and that by endeavoring to do so we 
 detract from their sanctity. The publication of this work, 
 consequently, caused a great commotion in the rabbinical 
 world, and led to fearful results. Some rabbis of France 
 met it with the most violent opposition, and went so far as 
 to burn the books and lay the ban of excommunication on 
 the author; while others as determinately defended Mai- 
 monides and his work, and hurled back the anathema. His 
 opponents, still more irritated, ventured on the desperate 
 measure of applying to the Christians for aid, assuring them 
 that certain heretics had come forward among the Jews, who 
 entertained and disseminated dangerous opinions, and ex- 
 pressing an earnest wish that they might be treated as the 
 Christians treated such characters among themselves, by 
 burning both the books and their authors. By these extreme 
 measures the contending parties exposed themselves to 
 great contempt and danger, and the result might have been 
 yet more serious ; but the decisive and united action of the 
 Spanish congregation ultimately settled the matter in favor 
 of Maimonides and his writings. The works of this indefa- 
 tigable author amount to more than thirty in number, and 
 some of them are of great magnitude. His medical pro- 
 fession -as he declared in one of his private letters occupied 
 nearly all his hours in the day-time ; and how he could find 
 leisure to collect and digest materials for the numerous and 
 voluminous works which flowed from his pen is truly 
 astonishing. Our great author died at Cairo, at the age of 
 seventy, and was buried at Tiberias in Palestine, followed 
 by an immense concourse of admirers. 
 
JEWS IN ARABIA, INDIA, AND CHINA. 
 
 We retrace our steps to an earlier period, to contemplate 
 once more the condition of the Jews in Asia, namely, in 
 Arabia, India, and China. Arabia, in consequence of its close 
 proximity to Palestine, was at an early date (150 B.C.) visited 
 by Jews who sought a refuge there whenever their condition 
 in Judea became threatening or dangerous. They lived with 
 the Arabs on most intimate terms, and in course of time their 
 congregations increased rapidly until they assumed immense 
 proportions. Before the time of Mohammed we find them 
 spoken of in the history of the peninsula as numerous, free, 
 and powerful, constituting a considerable portion of the Ara- 
 bian population. So close was the intermixture of Jews and 
 Ara*bs, and so similar their morals and manners, that their 
 rulers, it seems, were chosen indiscriminately from either 
 portion ; and the fact is mentioned with certainty that not 
 only Jewish kings were appointed, but that Judaism, that.is, 
 in a very limited sense of the word, prevailed. This happy 
 state of mutual toleration continued till 270 (C.E.) when it 
 was disturbed by the Roman Christian emperor Aurelian. 
 Still the Jews maintained their position, at least in some 
 parts of Arabia, for we find that, in the sixth century, Dun- 
 aan, the last king of Yemen, was a Jew, and his wars, 
 achievements, and ultimate defeat are described in detail. 
 When Mohammed made his appearance, at first only as a poet 
 and reformer, he found the Arabian Jews in general favor- 
 ably disposed towards him. Some even joined his ranks, 
 and out of consideration for the Jews of Medina, he even 
 changed some of his precepts ; but when he proclaimed him- 
 self a prophet, and empowered to annul the Mosaic precepts, 
 the Jews determinately refused all adherence or submission 
 to his teachings, and from that moment they became the 
 special object of his hatred, 
 
64 
 
 We have but little reliable information concerning the 
 Jews in India. What we have been able to glean is, 
 that in the sixth century, in consequence of a persecu- 
 tion raised in Persia, seventy-two families under the 
 leadership of Joseph Rabban (/'. *?., Joseph our master) 
 sought admittance in India of King Scheram Perimal, 
 and obtained a piece of land near Granganor for the 
 purpose of establishing there an independent principal- 
 ity. Two brazen tablets, to which are attached the names 
 of seven princes as witnesses, contained the privileges grant- 
 ed to the new prince, the first of whom was Joseph. These 
 families henceforth constituted the aristocracy of the com- 
 munity and became very wealthy. Many Indians joined 
 them, and they acquired a great number of slaves, male and 
 female, all of whom were converted to Judaism and who 
 in course of time far outnumbered their masters. The colony 
 increased still more by the addition of new emigrants from 
 various parts of Western Asia, who had heard of the El 
 Dorado of their brethren, especially young men who bought 
 themselves slaves, converted them, and married them, and 
 hence the black Jewish population of India. In language, 
 features, and color these Indian Jews resemble exactly the 
 other inhabitants of the country, yet they have the " Shemah 
 Israel" and some Hebrew prayers ; strictly observe the day 
 of Atonement, and various other Jewish institutions. In the 
 latter part of the seventeenth century the Jews of Cochin 
 held some correspondence with the Portuguese congregation 
 at Amsterdam, and information was given of a series of 
 Jewish kings (satraps, we must suppose) who had succes- 
 sively reigned in the country. Another colony of black Jews 
 under the name of " Bene Israel" is found in Bombay, whose 
 ancestors evidently came thither from Persia. A Jewish 
 traveller, J. J. Benjamin, who visited them in 1849-50, gives 
 us information concerning these people much similar to the 
 particulars we just related of the other tribe. 
 
The history of the Jews in China is yet involved in much 
 obscurity. We will give only a few details which are unani- 
 mously accepted as true, and some resting on strong pro- 
 bability. It is certain that some of the Mesopotamian Jews 
 in their eastward course settled in Persia, and in conse- 
 quence of the disturbances in the Mongolian empire wended 
 their way, together with some Christian families, to the far 
 distant regions of China. j The first discovery of the exist- 
 ence of Jews in that country was made in 1642 by Jesuit 
 missionaries who met with Jews at Pekin, Nanking, and 
 Kai-fung-foo. The whole population of the Chinese Jews 
 sprang from seven tribes, or families, whose unpronounce- 
 able names seem to be derived from those of the different 
 emperors under whom, at successive periods, these families 
 established themselves in China. The Jews there are dis- 
 tinguished by a Chinese name which signifies, "the people 
 that cut out the sinew." They have at Kai-fung-foo a fine 
 Synagogue, a Sepher, and several, but not all of our books 
 of the Scriptures ; and the initiation into the Abrahamic 
 covenant, as also the Sabbath and festivals, are observed by 
 them. The religion and history of Christ is entirely un- 
 known among them, but some have been found great ad- 
 mirers of Confucius. Some inscriptions testify that several 
 Jews had been highly honored with the imperial favor and 
 had attained the rank of Mandarin ; and we read especially 
 of one named Chao, or Chong, who was much praised for 
 having rebuilt at his own expense a synagogue destroyed by 
 fire. We will only add that the source of all these Asiatic 
 Jews must be traced back to Babylonian origin, and they 
 are not to be considered as parts of the Lost Ten Tribes. 
 
 JEWS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Africa the cradle of Israel's nationality, the birthplace 
 of their great legislator, the place where they dwelt for 
 centuries, and from the small number of seventy men rose 
 
66 
 
 to more than half a million, is interesting in point of history, 
 not only for the events related in the Bible, but also for the 
 condition of the Jews there in the middle and the latter ages. 
 Long before the dissolution of the Jewish state, a large colony 
 had settled down in Egypt and established a rival temple 
 there as we have seen.. Two distinguishing characteristics of 
 the Jewish people have always been their love of learning, 
 and their ambition for commerce ; and as Alexandria offered 
 particular advantages for the exercise of both, it became a 
 resort for them both in times of peace and of war. We have 
 no room to consider the condition of our people in Africa 
 through the different stages of our history, suffice it to say 
 that, with the spread of the Mohammedan religion over Africa, 
 many Jews accompanied the Arabian hordes into their new 
 settlements, where they were often subjected to much ill- 
 treatment, while at other times their usefulness was recog- 
 nized and important positions intrusted to them. At a later 
 period their numbers were considerably increased by an influx 
 of emigrants from Spain, who joined their brethren at Tripoli, 
 Tunis, Algiers, Fez, and all over the empire of Morocco, where 
 they found numerous synagogues and seminaries noted for 
 their men of learning. Their intelligence and industry 
 secured to them the first position in society as merchants, 
 as statesmen, and as men of letters, and yet were they sub- 
 jected to severe and oppressive laws. The most impor- 
 tant branches of industry were in their hands. They were 
 occupied chiefly in vine-culture and fisheries, in weaving, 
 especially gold and silver-cloth, and in the manufacture of 
 gold and silver articles, of which they had a monopoly, and 
 the coinage was, and is even now, entirely intrusted to them. 
 In literature they distinguished themselves, not only as 
 theologians, but as linguists, mathematicians, and astron- 
 omers, particularly in the schools of Fez and Morocco. We 
 may mention the able Isaac Ben Schescheth from Saragossa, 
 who in 1391 was appointed by the king as chief of the 
 
6 7 
 
 community at Algiers. Cotemporary with him was Simon 
 Ben Semach Duran, a highly cultivated and liberal-minded 
 scholar, and adherent of Maimonides, who administered to 
 his congregation for fifty-three years. He labored indefat- 
 igably for the improvement of the elementary and higher 
 branches of instruction, and opposed the mystic speculation 
 of the Cabalah, the interpretations of dreams, and all super- 
 stitious practices to which the Jews of Barbary even now 
 attach much importance. During the administration of that 
 worthy leader, the number of emigrants from Spain was so 
 great that the use of Arabic was partly supplanted by the 
 Spanish tongue, and to the present day we hear the Jews of 
 northern Africa express themselves either in bad Arabic, in 
 corrupt Spanish, or indifferent Hebrew. Among the labors 
 of this spiritual chief was his endeavor to establish union 
 among the various congregations ; for it is to be noted as a 
 peculiarity of the Jews in those states, that the different 
 communities keep themselves quite distinct from each other ; 
 occupy different parts of the city, each having their own rabbi, 
 who is not only their leader in religion and representative by 
 the government, but at the same time their superior judge in 
 all civil matters, and from whose decision very seldom an 
 appeal is made. Thus the later emigrants from the peninsula 
 keep aloof from the earlier settlers that is, their respective 
 descendants do and both are distinguished from the 
 European Jews whom they call Franks. The ancient con- 
 gregations enjoy the privilege of a smaller capitation tax than 
 what is laid upon the others. In the second half of the 
 seventeenth century the Jews were subjected to persecution 
 and driven from the country by Muley Archey, who succeeded 
 in dethroning his brother Ismael. The Jews of Morocco 
 and Tetuan suffered most, their synagogues were destroyed 
 and themselves obliged to flee to Fez. And yet a few years 
 later, Joseph Ben Hamoshet was appointed as Sheik by the 
 same prince. When Ismael regained his throne, Don Jos. 
 
68 
 
 Toledano of Mequinez, with whom Ismael had found a 
 refuge, was elevated to the position of minister of state, and 
 sent to conclude a treaty of alliance between Morocco and 
 Holland. The affairs of finance and the negotiations with 
 European powers were almost entirely intrusted to the Jews, 
 who were often used as the instruments of the emperors or 
 sultans, and seldom allowed to die a natural death. They 
 attained distinction and wealth and were then frequently 
 betrayed into some political snare, accused of misdemeanor, 
 and ordered to be executed. At Oran, which was conquered 
 by the Spaniards under Cardinal Ximenes in 1507, the Jews 
 from Spain were permitted to reside upon sufferance. They 
 were exemplary in their fidelity to the Spanish government, 
 and gained its esteem by their personal services. The 
 valiant families of Casino and Saporta, originally from 
 Arragon, served the King of Spain against his Moorish 
 enemies in Africa ; so that when in 1669 the Spanish governor 
 forbade the Jews to remain any longer in Oran, he granted 
 letters patent to the Saportas, making honorable mention of 
 the services that family had rendered, ending with the remark- 
 able declaration, that they were banished for no other reason 
 than " because it was absolutely impossible for his Catholic 
 majesty to allow a Jew to remain within his dominions." 
 In 1775, a Jewish nobleman of Morocco, named Masahod 
 de la Mar, was sent as ambassador to the court of England, 
 a*id there treated with distinction and honor on account of 
 his talents as a diplomat and his courteous demeanor. Being 
 once out on a hunting tour with George III., the ambassador 
 saved his majesty from some impending danger and was re- 
 warded with the uncommon privilege of driving about the 
 town with six-in-hand. He was sent in a similar mission to 
 Holland, and subsequently established himself with his family 
 at Amsterdam, where he resided the remainder of his life. 
 In 1817, Masado Ben Leaho was minister of foreign affairs 
 in Moran ; Meir Ben Manin of Fez obtained in 1823 the 
 
6 9 
 
 general consulship of all foreign courts ; and yet are those 
 who do not attain to any such distinction obliged to appear 
 in different dress, are not allowed to ride on horses or mules, 
 not to use umbrellas or parasols, which are privileges reserved 
 for certain dignitaries. Algiers has often been the scene of 
 horrible persecution and suffering for the Jews, of which the 
 following instance may serve as a sample. The Dey gov- 
 ernor of the province had issued an order requiring all 
 Mussulmans to carry a lighted lamp when out at night. 
 Jews, however, were to carry a light, like all others, but were 
 not allowed to use a lantern. On a stormy night, therefore, 
 the poor Jews were exposed not only to the danger of burning 
 their hands badly, but also to the ridicule and amusement 
 of police agents, who delighted in inflicting a bastinado or a 
 fine on the offender whose light was extinguished. Since 
 1830, however, when Algiers came into the power of the 
 French, the Jews enjoy full liberty and equality of rights. 
 We* find in the Barbary states and in the Ottoman empire 
 generally a curious admixture of intolerance towards the 
 Jews with an appreciation of their talents and business 
 capacities which render them indispensable. Thus they 
 were rigorously compelled to wear the black turban, and a 
 different kind of shoes, so as to be distinguished from the 
 Mohammedans ; they were exposed to immense taxations, 
 and to the uncivil treatment of the populace ; and yet many 
 were employed by the sovereigns of the respective states in 
 important missions and intrusted with the management of 
 state affairs. Towards the end of the sixteenth century, Don 
 Samuel Palache was sent by the emperor of Morocco as his 
 agent to the Hague, where he died in 1616 and was followed 
 to the grave by the Prince Maurice, the States-General, and 
 the councillors of the United Provinces. 
 
JEWS IN ITALY. 
 
 As we have previously spoken of the dwelling of Jews in 
 Rome, it is evident that the date of their settlement in Italy 
 is very ancient. Pompey, as we have said, having invaded 
 Jerusalem, brought Aristobulus and his family to Rome as 
 prisoners, and doubtless many more were made captives and 
 sold as slaves. They were, however, soon emancipated, we 
 know not by what means, and that they soon became 
 numerous and wealthy is likewise evident, for we find that 
 Cicero, a cotemporary of Pompey, in one of his orations 
 before the senate, recommends the measure of forbidding the 
 Jews to send their annual contributions to Jerusalem, as the 
 exportation of so much treasure was detrimental to the welfare 
 of Italy. After the dispersion, when the Jews were literally 
 scattered to almost every habitable part of the globe, emi- 
 grants from Palestine joined their brethren in Italy as well 
 as in other countries, though we have no certain information 
 of their establishment at that time in any other provinces of 
 the Roman empire. From that period down to the sixth or 
 seventh century, we almost lose sight of the Jews in Italy, 
 though there is reason to believe that during this interval 
 they were never very flourishing nor did they suffer much 
 from the animosity of their neighbors. The Popes generally, 
 with some exceptions, appeared kindly disposed toward them, 
 and more than once stood forth as their protectors when 
 menaced and ill-treated by the populace and the clergy. 
 "Gregory I., in the seventh century, proved himself the friend 
 of Israel both in his writings and decrees. By this time the 
 Jews had spread over many of the Papal States, and their 
 position varied; but in commerce as well as in literature 
 they improved rapidly, and in the twelfth century we find 
 them not only possessed of great riches, but also engaged in 
 the production of many literary works. Their prosperity 
 
was owing mainly to their commercial enterprise, but also to 
 banking speculations, and to the money-lending business 
 which subjected them to the hatred of the population ; yet 
 in this branch of industry they were far surpassed, in Italy 
 at least, by the Lombard bankers, so that complaints were 
 often made that where the Jews did not manage the financial 
 affairs, usury was carried on to a more hateful excess by nom- 
 inal Christians. Persecutions took place from time to time 
 in the kingdom of Naples, where they settled about the year 
 1 200. The Portuguese Jewish historian Samuel Usgul speaks 
 of one in particular, about the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, the result of which was the compulsory baptism of many 
 Jews, and the conversion of their synagogue into a church. 
 Jewish literature prospered more in Italy than in other 
 parts of Europe during the middle ages Spain always ex- 
 cepted. Eleazar Ben Jacob Kalir, a native of Cagliari in 
 Sardinia, was distinguished as a poet, and many interesting 
 pieces of his composition have been preserved in the Jewish 
 liturgies of Rome and other communities. R. Nathan Ben 
 Jechiel presided over the Hebrew academy at Rome, and 
 undertook a work which attained much celebrity in the 
 literary world, namely his Lexicon of the Talmud, entitled 
 " Aruch, " which evidently forms the ground-work of Buxtorf s 
 celebrated Chaldee, Talmudic, and Rabbinical Lexicon. 
 Elias Levita, of German birth, philosopher and professor of 
 Grammar at Padua for thirteen years, stands pre-eminent as a 
 scholar among his cotemporaries, and his works are to this 
 day much appreciated. Many more names of celebrated 
 Italian scholars of the middle and latter ages might be added 
 here, but space does not permit. At the end of the fif- 
 teenth and beginning of the sixteenth century, a new element 
 as it were, streamed from Spain and Portugal into the Jewish 
 population of Italy which seemed to infuse fresh life and 
 vigor into the community, transplanting there the love of 
 science and literature which they had inherited from their 
 
72 
 
 fathers, and one striking consequence of this emigration 
 seems to have been the establishment and multiplication of 
 printing presses in more than one Italian city. No sooner 
 had the blessing of this invention dawned upon mankind, 
 than the Jews availed themselves of it for the purpose of dif- 
 fusing that universal knowledge of which they had been the 
 champions, and in our libraries may be found many beautiful 
 specimens of printing executed within the first half-century 
 after the invention. When in 1471 the Jews in Italy began 
 to set up Hebrew presses, their example was soon followed 
 at Lisbon. The first Hebrew book printed in the peninsula 
 is dated, Lisbon 1485. It is the " Sepher Orach Chaim" 
 (Path of Life) by R. Jacob Ben Asher. In 1489 a Hebrew 
 Pentateuch was printed at Lisbon ; and in 1494 a second 
 press was set up at Leira, which produced the Greater Pro- 
 phets in the original. Three years after this, the edict of 
 banishment was promulgated in Portugal as it had been in 
 Spain, and this abolished forever the printing of Hebrew 
 in the Spanish peninsula. Alas ! the Inquisition had been 
 founded to rob and to torture were the chief aims of this 
 priestly institution. In the place of schools and colleges 
 were found palaces of human woe, where fierce Dominicans 
 lived in boundless luxury, and where the wisest and purest 
 of their species often suffered torture and death at the 
 hands of the most infamous and the most degraded. Knowl- 
 edge and virtue perished at their approach, and Spain sank 
 into an almost irrevocable decay. 
 
 JEWS IN FRANCE. 
 
 In none of the European countries has the condition of the 
 Jews been more variable than in France. The first notice 
 found in history of their presence in that country is under 
 the reign of Childebert I. (540), who ordered that in Paris 
 no Jews should be seen in the street during the whole of 
 Passion week. Chilperic (562), one of the most wicked and 
 
73 
 
 most foolish monarchs of his time, ill-treated his jeweler Pris- 
 cus and threw him into prison because he refused to adopt 
 Christianity. The council at Paris, under Clothair (615), 
 declared all Jews unfit to hold any government office ; 
 while in Rheims the slave-trade was forbidden them ; and 
 among the many inconveniences they were put to, not the 
 least was that they were required to listen to the Bishop's 
 wretched sermons. King Dagobert (628) issued an edict 
 that the Jews should receive baptism or be banished from 
 the country ; but this order soon lost its effect. This king 
 had nevertheless Jewish tax-gatherers. Under Clovis II. we 
 find mention made of the Jews with the following circum- 
 stances. A capitation or poll-tax having been imposed on 
 all citizens, some of the poorer families sold their children 
 to satisfy this demand, but the queen forbade the Jews to 
 make any such purchases. In the eighth century, however, 
 under the reigns of Pepin and of Charlemagne, the Jews 
 rose to great opulence and power. Their commerce became 
 more and more extensive ; the port of Marseilles and of 
 Narbonne were crowded with their vessels which kept up a 
 constant communication with the East. Their warehouses 
 and their Christian slaves were numerous, and the trade 
 was almost entirely in their hands, so that by their influence 
 certain markets or fairs which were kept on the Sabbath, 
 were changed to other days. In Narbonne one of the two 
 prefects or mayors of the city was by prescriptive right a 
 Jew ; and the best and finest part of the city of Lyons was 
 the Jewish quarter. " In that Christian city," says Professor 
 Milman, "the church seemed to veil its head before the 
 synagogue." The Jews were restricted only to the observ- 
 ance of certain state-laws regarding intermarriage and the 
 treatment of their slaves, but their general prosperity was 
 such as to rouse the jealousy of their Christian neighbors, 
 and especially the clergy. Agobard, bishop of Lyons, 
 indignant at seeing the great advancement of the Jews, used 
 4 
 
74 
 
 all his influence to oppose them. He accused them of 
 cursing the Christians in their synagogue, of selling un- 
 wholesome meat and spoiled wine to the Christians ; and 
 ordered his people to have as little intercourse as possible 
 with the Jews ; not to sell them any slaves, not to eat or 
 drink with them, nor to buy their meat or wine. The Jews, 
 feeling offended at this, complained to the king, and the 
 bishop was comanded to withdraw his orders. He then 
 offered a petition to the king, and tried by every possible 
 argument to persuade him to withdraw his favors from the 
 Jews, but it was all in vain. He then went to Paris and 
 asked an audience with the king. He was ordered to wait 
 in an ante-room -while his appeal was laid before his 
 majesty, and then received permission to retire. Charle- 
 magne, whose wise and benevolent rule and whose greatness 
 of mind is universally admired, was very favorably disposed 
 towards his Jewish subjects. His father had already 
 granted them many privileges, as the right of holding 
 landed property, and under his own reign their prosperity 
 considerably increased. Wishing to send a communication 
 of a strictly private nature to the Caliph Haroun-al-Ra- 
 schid, he made choice of a Jew named Isaac, who, accom- 
 panied by two Christian counts, Sigismund and Lanfred, 
 was sent to convey the imperial message from Aix-la- 
 Chapelle to Bagdad. Isaac spent four years in the fulfil- 
 ment of his mission, returned with very rich presents for 
 his master, and acquitted himself of his duties with such 
 ability that he was afterwards sent on a similar commission 
 to the court of Persia. While we ascribe such fair treatment 
 generally to the good sense and the justice of their rulers, 
 the chief cause of it is to be found in the superior intelli- 
 gence and education of the Jews in a period when nobles 
 and kings, officers, and even the clergy could not always 
 write their own names. It is because the Jews, from the 
 earliest period of their history, always fostered knowledge 
 
75 
 
 and learning, that they were selected for offices of trust 
 and responsiblity which others were unable to fill ; they were 
 chosen as the physicians, the ministers of finance, to nobles 
 and m anarchs because of their superior ability. During the 
 reign of Louis I., the son and successor of Charlemagne, the 
 Jews were so powerful that their influence was courted by 
 the presents of nobles and princes. The king's physician, 
 named Zedekiah, and the chief of the Jewish community 
 enjoyed the privilege of residing within the precints of the 
 court. During the reign of Charles the Bald the Jews still 
 maintained their power and influence ; but when, about the 
 latter part of the ninth century, the weak-minded Louis II. 
 ascended the throne, and the feudal system became more 
 firmly established; when the country was virtually ruled by 
 barons, counts, and dukes, who paid no allegiance to their 
 king, the Jews were no longer under the protection of a 
 powerful sovereign, the clergy began more and more to 
 assert its authority," and the Jews gradually lost the advan- 
 tages they had so long enjoyed. When Philip Augustus 
 ascended the throne (1197), he passed a decree by which all 
 debts due to the Jews were cancelled, and the pledges 
 ordered to be surrendered; and shortly afterwards an edict 
 followed which confiscated all landed property of the Jews, 
 and commanded them instantly to depart from the kingdom. 
 They were then re-admitted upon certain conditions, one of 
 which was the obligation to wear a little wheel upon their dress 
 as an ignominious distinction. These unjust and barbarous 
 decrees were repeated by his successors, Louis VIII. and 
 Louis IX., and by others who alternately readmitted them 
 when in need of funds and drove them out again after they 
 had plundered them. 
 
 The literary attainments of the Jews in France were never 
 equal to those of the Spanish, yet the French Jewish schools 
 produced some very eminent men, and literature was more 
 cultivated in the southern provinces than elsewhere. Paris, 
 
7 6 
 
 Montpellier, Marseilles, Narbonne, and Lunel were promi- 
 nent seats of learning. Among the most distinguished 
 theological doctors which these seminaries produced we may 
 name R. Gershon, a thorough Talmudist, who distinguished 
 himself particularly by his instrumentality in having a 
 synodal act passed concerning the Levirate law,* by which 
 it was decided that the marriage or dismissal of a brother's 
 widow be not optional with the levir, but that in such cases 
 the ceremony of Chalitsah always take place. R. Solomon 
 Ben Isaac, better known by the initials of his name, Raschi, 
 was born at Troyes and is famous, not so much for deep 
 research or independence of thought, as for his assiduous 
 labors in writing commentaries on all the books of the Bible 
 and on all of the Talmud. Like many of the great Rabbis 
 of the middle ages, he was a great traveller, visited Germany, 
 Italy, Greece, Russia, Tartary, Persia, and Palestine; and 
 is held in high esteem as the u chief of commentators." He 
 died in the latter part of the twelfth century, and was buried 
 in Prague, Bohemia. R. Solomon of Montpellier is distin- 
 guished as having been the leader among those Rabbis who 
 so strenuously exerted themselves to oppose the works of 
 Maimonides, especially his Moreh Nebuchim. The French 
 seminaries took the part of the traditional school, against 
 the majority of those in Spain and in Provence. Another 
 French rabbi of no ordinary celebrity was David Ben Joseph 
 Kimchi, descended from a Spanish family which had pro- 
 duced many learned men, who gained great reputation as 
 linguists and grammarians. This R. David Kimchi under- 
 took and succeeded in the laudable task of reconciling the 
 contending parties in the case of Maimonides and his works; 
 and lastly, we name the excellent poet Judah Alcharisi, 
 whose work exhibits such warmth of expression, lively 
 "imagination, and such versatility of style and taste. 
 
 * See our explanation of that law posted. 
 
77 
 
 JEWS IN GERMANY. 
 
 When the Roman empire spread its power over nearly 
 all the nations of Europe, many Jews who were Roman 
 citizens, together with Christians, settled in different parts 
 of the vast realm, and of course also in Germany. An edict 
 of the Emperor Constantine shows that in the year 321 they 
 were already established at Cologne, where they soon be- 
 came numerous and prosperous in commerce, while they 
 continued to enjoy many important privileges. In the 
 course of succeeding centuries, from the fourth to the tenth, 
 their condition varied according as their rulers were kindly 
 or unfavorably disposed towards them, but no occurrences 
 of great importance seem to have affected their position. 
 But when in the tenth century Germany became an inde- 
 pendent state, the position of the Jews assumed a different 
 aspect. At the establishment of the German empire it was 
 laid down as a fixed rule that the Jews and all they pos- 
 sessed were to be considered as property of the State, and 
 as such they and their goods could be sold, pledged, or 
 otherwise disposed of, as the interest of the state required ; 
 and this power was vested in the emperor as liege-lord of 
 the realm, wherefore the Jews were designated by the name 
 of u special servants of the imperial chamber." This was 
 by no means intended to imply anything like a state of 
 slavery ; on the contrary, it denoted an exemption from any 
 other authority except the imperial power, and that at the 
 same time their rights and privileges were secured, so that 
 no prince or other power could encroach thereon without 
 the emperor's express permission. 
 
 On the accession of a new emperor to the throne, the Jews 
 were required to show their obeisance in welcoming the new 
 monarch, and likewise in Italy, whenever a new pope was 
 inaugurated. This latter ceremony was performed by a de- 
 
78 
 
 putation of the Jewish community offering the pontiff a 
 scroll of the law (Sepher) with an address in Hebrew, to 
 which the pope, returning the scroll, answered in Latin. 
 Neither one understood the other, but such was the cus- 
 tom. 
 
 The internal or religious affairs of the Jews were not in- 
 terfered with as long as they came not in contact with the 
 rules of government. This, after all, was not so bad in 
 theory. But it must be remembered that this new situation 
 assigned to the Jews was but part of the feudal system just 
 then introduced into Europe by the German and Gothic 
 tribes ; an institution by which a country was parceled out 
 to numerous barons, dukes, or other noblemen who held 
 their respective portions as a loan from the king or emperor 
 to whom they were responsible, and for which privilege 
 they were to yield a certain annual tribute. With these 
 titles granted by the sovereign to his vassals the right of 
 holding Jews with it was sometimes granted, and sometimes 
 not. Now although the Jews in Germany seldom had to 
 complain of oppression proceeding directly from the em- 
 peror, they were subject to the caprices and often to the 
 extortions and cruel treatment of the nobles under whose 
 immediate control they were, without having an opportu- 
 nity of laying their complaints before his majesty. In this 
 manner were the Jews in Germany, and likewise in other 
 European countries, from the eleventh till the sixteenth 
 century, though nominally under royal protection, subject 
 to the most cruel oppression ; existing only for the benefit 
 of their masters, for the payment of taxes and fines and 
 all sorts of extortions. Justly has this period of our history 
 been termed " the iron age of Judaism." The records of 
 these inhuman barbarities, unheard-of cruelties and outra- 
 geous crimes, committed, too, under the name of religion, 
 and of which every honest Christian now feels ashamed, 
 constitute the blackest pages in the history of mankind, 
 
79 
 
 and baffle all description. Before attempting to give any 
 instances of these atrocities practised on the Jews, not only 
 in Germany, but generally, we will state the causes that led 
 to them, which were chiefly two : Hatred on account of 
 difference in religion, and jealousy of the riches which the 
 Jews always knew how to accumulate. As true religion and 
 rational religion is a blessing to man, so when carried 
 to the excess of fanaticism it becomes a curse ; and this is 
 always the case when religion is not supported by enlight- 
 ened education. In those dark ages, when the very minis- 
 ters and teachers of religion were ignorant of almost every- 
 thing except the dogmas of their faith, their limited under- 
 standing could not grasp the grand idea that the essence of 
 religion is the aspiration after the perfect and sublime, and 
 its end the happiness of man ; they believed that God could 
 be served only in that particular way they were taught, and 
 that all who held different views were God's enemies, and 
 to destroy them was the most meritorious act they could 
 perform. Under these erroneous impressions, ignorant 
 preachers harangued their still more ignorant audiences, 
 teaching them that it was their duty to clear the community 
 of all unbelievers, and often inciting them to deeds of vio- 
 lence. The populace is easily put in commotion when 
 their political or religious prejudices are stirred up, and the 
 flame is always fed by the prospect of plunder. In ordin- 
 ary cases, however, the mob is opposed by the better classes 
 and nobility, but when the latter find it to their interest to 
 encourage rather than allay the sedition, the tumult will run 
 its full course until passion have exhausted itself. As the 
 Jews were excluded from all honorable pursuits, nothing 
 was left them but the sordid business of money-lending at 
 the highest possible rate of interest they could obtain (50 
 or 60 per cent per annum was no unusual figure). The 
 nobles who thought all business and trade, and every pro- 
 fession except the military, below their dignity, who lived 
 
8o 
 
 as nobles always live on the toil and products of others, 
 and often wanted large sums of money to keep up their idle 
 and luxurious mode of living ; who especially wasted im- 
 mense sums to carry on the wicked crusades, of which we 
 shall speak further on, these nobles were indebted to the 
 Jews to a very great extent, had pledged to them the great- 
 est part of their property which they were unable to redeem, 
 and were ignoble enough to wish to have their debts can- 
 celled by any means. Thus hatred and prejudice, jealousy 
 and avarice combined to arouse and maintain the bitter 
 feeling against the Jews. To form a better idea of the po- 
 sition of the Jews in Germany, we begin by stating that as 
 a rule they were excluded from holding any civil office, and 
 altogether from military service ; were not allowed to hold 
 landed property, nor to practise as physicians or apotheca- 
 ries, and as they were not allowed to hold slaves, they could 
 neither engage in agriculture. In short, almost every hon- 
 orable and legitimate occupation was forbidden them. To 
 these rules exceptions were often made, for which the Jews 
 sometimes paid heavily. Some emperors, more indulgent 
 than others, did not always enforce the law, and often in- 
 trusted them with responsible positions ; but under these 
 restraints only were they suffered to live, and in most cases 
 were obliged to occupy a separate quarter of the city. It 
 will be easily understood now that, under such circumstan- 
 ces, it needed but little to bring the populace in open assault 
 against the oppressed Jews, and in the absence of any real 
 offences that could be laid to their charge, to bring for- 
 ward some imaginary ones. And what is quite remarkable 
 here is the absurdity, the folly which was joined to the 
 wickedness of the accusations. It is too well known that 
 the Jews religiously abstain from the use of " all blood " 
 which is most strictly and repeatedly forbidden in the 
 Mosaic laws. Yet a hundred times were they accused of 
 killing children in order to use their blood in Passover-cakes, 
 
8i 
 
 which it was alleged Jews required for that purpose. When a 
 city or territory was visited by a pestilence, from which the 
 Jews suffered alike with their fellows, they were accused of 
 having poisoned the wells, though they themselves drew water 
 from the same sources ; and incredible, preposterous as it 
 may sound, they were once, in real earnest, accused of having 
 poisoned the Rhine and the Danube. So was every public 
 calamity or visitation attributed to the direct doings of the 
 Jews or to their magical spells. Another absurd and oft- 
 repeated accusation was, the Jews had stolen the Host, and 
 pierced *it so as to draw blood from it. The misery, the 
 woe, the sufferings brought on the Jews by these monstrous 
 charges cannot be fully described. Only a few data. In 
 1 283, the Jews of Maintz were charged with the murder of a 
 child for the purpose mentioned, whereupon they were as- 
 saulted, plundered, and ten innocents killed. Two years 
 later a similar charge was made in Munich, with more per- 
 nicious result. All efforts of the police to quell the sedi- 
 tion being ineffectual, the Jews were advised to take refuge 
 in their synagogue. The mob set the building on fire and 
 1 80 persons perished. A like accusation made in Paris in 
 1238, and disseminated in various towns, cost 2500 Jews 
 their lives. In Ratisbon, Bavaria, where the Jews had lived 
 for more than a thousand years, accumulated wealth, and 
 improved the city with fine dwellings, and where their num- 
 ber almost equalled the Christian population, the jealousy 
 of the impoverished populace and their thirst for the Jews' 
 gold prompted them to accuse the latter of having killed 
 seven children in order to use their blood for Passover. 
 The Jews' houses were searched and blood stains pointed 
 out; their owners were put to the torture, and a general 
 massacre and pillaging ensued, in which all, the higher and 
 lower classes, participated. Not only their houses, schools, 
 and synagogues were destroyed, even the hallowed reposi- 
 tory of the dead was not too sacred for the villains' hands. 
 
82 
 
 No Jew was allowed to remain in the city, and a little chapel 
 was erected on the ruins of the principal synagogue. Simi- 
 lar scenes occured in various other cities and towns, too 
 many and too horrible to relate. In 1348, a pestilence 
 broke out and spread over nearly all Europe. The Jews, 
 perhaps in consequence of their dietary, had cleanly habits, 
 suffered less. They were suspected as being the cause of 
 the evil and were persecuted. In Basle a number of them 
 were placed in a large hogshead, closed up, then set on fire, 
 and the vessel sent to float on the river. In other parts of 
 Switzerland all the Jews were guillotined or otherwise 
 massacred. From Switzerland the mania spread to Alsace, 
 and the magistrates of Strasburg refusing to yield to the de- 
 mand of the ruffians, were compelled to resign, and the new 
 mayor gratified his constituents by having 2000 Jews burnt 
 alive in the market place, and dividing their property among 
 the poor citizens. Thousands and thousands were thus 
 launched into eternity, and neither the monarchs, the ma- 
 gistrates, nor even the clergy were able to stay the mad fury. 
 Also the accusation of stealing and abusing the Host often 
 spread desolation and death in the Jewish circles. In the 
 cities of Wiirzburg, Nuremberg, and other towns of Bavaria 
 and Austria, the sacrifice was not less than 100,000 souls. 
 We will give only one particular case to conclude this dark 
 chapter. About the end of the i4th century, it is related", 
 a Jew named Jonathan, living at Enghien, France, bribed a 
 poor Christian to steal the Host for him. When the Jew 
 got possession of it, he assembled his friends to ridicule and 
 insult th'e sacred article, but they did not then injure it. 
 Later, Jonathan moved to Brussels, and on Good Friday 
 the Host was brought to the synagogue and there treated 
 with the grossest indignity, and so runs the story 
 when they pierced it with their knives, the blood flowed 
 from it in profusion. Having satisfied their vengeance, the 
 holy thing was intrusted to a woman to take it to Cologne, 
 
83 
 
 but this woman, having been secretly converted to Chris- 
 tianity, betrayed the trust and informed the clergy of the 
 whole affair. Thereupon the Jews were arrested, put to the 
 torture, condemned to have their flesh torn from them by 
 red-hot pincers, and then be burned alive. This story is 
 even yet circulated and swallowed whole by true Catholics, 
 and in the city of Brussels, as late as 1820, it has been 
 commemorated with great satisfaction as a triumph of the 
 Catholic religion. 
 
 In 1613, in Frankfort, three hot-headed vagabonds, Fett- 
 milch, Gerngross, and Schopt, after having caused consid- 
 erable disturbance in the community by inciting the peo- 
 ple to demand certain changes in the municipal govern- 
 ment, proceeded to demand also a public reading of the 
 statute concerning the Jews, wherein it was laid down 
 among other restrictions that, during the time of the annual 
 fair, the Jews were obliged to wear a certain mark on their 
 dress, not to appear in public on the Christian holidays, nor 
 to be seen at public places of amusement; not to keep 
 Christian servants ; to make sworn statements of their per- 
 sonal property and business transaction ; and many similar 
 oppressive regulations. On the pth of January, some des- 
 peradoes entered the Jewish quarter with threats of violence, 
 bat they were yet kept in awe by the authorities. The riot- 
 ers, however, gained in numbers and strength. Repeated 
 menaces were held out also against the city-council, and 
 on the 6th of May, on the occasion of an election of a new 
 mayor, the mob surrounded the city-hall and demanded the 
 keys of the treasury which were given up to them. Even 
 the imperial troops could scarcely overawe the multitude. 
 Several mandates for the arrest and punishment of the of- 
 fenders were proclaimed, but hardly heeded. On the 22d 
 of August, the robbers again entered the Jewish quarter, 
 committed fearful depredations, destroying the best property 
 and stealing all they could carry away. This general pillag- 
 
8 4 
 
 ing went on for some time, until at last new troops arrived 
 to enforce order. On February 28th, 1616, Fettmilch and 
 his consorts were arrested and executed ; having first two 
 fingers cut off, were then beheaded and quartered ; the 
 parts of the body exposed on the four principal streets ; 
 and the head stuck on a pole ; and on the place of execu- 
 tion a column was placed with an inscription as a warning 
 for offenders in future. Some 1400 Jews who had been 
 driven from the city were, by imperial order, brought back 
 in procession, with banners and music and under military 
 escort; and their losses, estimated at 175,919 florins, refunded 
 by the city, and the day (20th Adar) henceforth celebrated 
 as a second Purim. A similar attack was made at this same 
 period (April, 1615) on the Jews of Worms. Several 
 corporations joined in a petition to the magistrate that the 
 Jews might be altogether expelled. Not finding these 
 wishes gratified, they assembled on Good Friday and an- 
 nounced to the Jews, whose community numbered 14,000, 
 that they were to leave the city immediately, if they would 
 escape pillage and murder ; allowing them, however, to carry 
 away their property. No sooner had the Jews left their 
 quarters, when the populace entered and began their work 
 of destruction by tearing down a synagogue which had stood 
 767 years, desecrated the burying ground, and committed 
 further depredation's. Directly after Easter, the imperial 
 troops came forward, headed by one of the princes of the 
 royal house, who punished the ring-leaders, and notwith- 
 standing all opposition on the part of the municipality, re- 
 instated the Jews, who on the 9th of January took posses- 
 sion again of their remaining property. 
 
 THE CRUSADES. 
 
 The crushing effect of the institution of the Crusades 
 upon the Jews in Europe was overwhelming indeed. It 
 was the beginning of a long continuance of oppression, 
 
85 
 
 t 
 
 murders, and tortures which lasted for two centuries. 
 About the end of the eleventh century, some Christians 
 were inflamed with the idea of gaining possession of Pales- 
 tine, because it was the place where Christ was born and 
 buried ; they proposed to dispossess the infidels, as they 
 called the Mohammedans, of that sacred spot, and to exter- 
 minate all enemies of Christianity. Great results are gen- 
 erally brought about by small beginnings. A fanatical 
 monk of Amiens, Peter the Hermit, having made a pil- 
 grimage to Jerusalem, on which occasion he met with diffi- 
 culties and with insult, returned emboldened with the thought 
 of snatching the tomb of the crucified Nazarene from the 
 hands of its illegitimate possessors, and making Christianity 
 the ruling faith, the only religion of the world. He was 
 encouraged in his project by the pope, promulgated his 
 views among the multitude, and the success of his enthusi- 
 astic harangues was proportionate to the boldness of his 
 scheme and the ' ignorance of his auditors. The mania 
 spread over all Europe ; more than six millions of people, 
 says a contemporary authority, professed themselves the 
 soldiers of the cross. In 1096, the first expedition was 
 set on foot and headed by count Godfrey of Bouillon. 
 Nothing was too dear, nothing too sacred to be applied to 
 this grand purpose ; the highest and the lowest alike ex- 
 hausted their means in contributing to the support of the 
 Crusades ; and many a thousand the Jews must have made 
 in supplying the adventurers with funds and with the ne- 
 cessary articles ; but little did they think of the dark cloud 
 that hung over them. While these good Christians were 
 busy preparing themselves for the holy war, it occurred to 
 them that, before going to Palestine, they ought to get rid of 
 the unbelievers who were near, and among them the Jews, 
 the murderers of the Lord. Accordingly the above-named 
 Peter, Walter the Penniless, and one named Gottschalk, 
 at the head of a horde of fanatics, opened the campaign 
 
86 
 
 
 
 with a massacre of the Jews. They marched on Trier 
 (Treves) and began a merciless slaughter of all Jews they 
 could find. Driven to desperation, men slew their children 
 and themselves rather than give themselves up into the 
 hands of their murderers ; women tied large stones to their 
 necks and threw themselves into the river. A few sought 
 refuge in the castle of Bishop Egelbert, where the prelate 
 took occasion of reproaching them with their unbelief, and 
 promised them protection on condition of baptism, to which 
 in their agony they assented. The same bloody scenes were 
 repeated in almost all cities on the Rhine, in Metz, Cologne, 
 Maintz, Worms, and Spire. In Cologne two hundred 
 were dragged from the river and cut in pieces. In Worms 
 they took refuge in the bishop's palace, but it was besieged, 
 and to escape worse horrors, they slew each other. In Spire 
 they defended themselves valiantly, and then succeeded in 
 buying the protection of the bishop for a large sum. A re- 
 petition of the tragedy was performed in the cities on the 
 Maine and the Danube by a troop under Count Emice. 
 The emperor Henry IV. was one of the very few who showed 
 some humanity for the unfortunate ; in an edict issued from 
 Ratisbon he permitted those that had been involuntarily 
 baptized to return to their religion, and restored to them 
 some of their property. About this time many Jews fled 
 to Silesia, Moravia, and Poland, where their numbers in- 
 creased with incredible rapidity. The Jews had half a cen- 
 tury of respite. In 1 146 began the second crusade, to which 
 the Western Emperor Conrad III., and Louis VII., king of 
 France, lent their royal support. An unworthy monk, Ru- 
 dolph, stirred up the populace of Cologne, Strasburg, and 
 other towns of Germany to renew the horrible atrocities 
 against the "remnant of Israel," and the scenes of murder 
 and robbery under the cloak of religion were repeated. On 
 this occasion, however, Conrad III., though in favor of the 
 expedition to Palestine, showed mercy to the Jews and en- 
 
8? 
 
 deavored to protect them ; so did Frederick II. ; Pope 
 
 Eugene III. espoused the same humane part; and indeed 
 more than once the voice of humanity issued from Rome 
 by the mouth of her popes, such as Gregory IX., in 1240, 
 and Innocent IV., in 1250, who are specially noticed in plead- 
 ing the cause of the Jews with nations and kings. But the 
 most sincere and the most eloquent advocate who pleaded 
 the cause of the oppressed Jews before the beginning of the 
 second crusade was the celebrated Bernard, Abbot of Clair- 
 vaux, a man eminent for the spirituality of his writings, as 
 well as for the sanctity of his life. His great merits, which 
 had secured him almost universal respect, enabled him to 
 exercise considerable influence both in the Church and over 
 the crowned heads of Europe. We regret not having room 
 to reproduce his excellent exhortation to the clergy which 
 is well worth perusing. These Crusades were repeated 
 from time to time; the sixth and last was in 1248 under St. 
 Louis, king of France, and the horrors they brought upon 
 the Jews are incalculable; yet, notwithstanding the ill con- 
 sequences it bore to our nation and to the whole world, the 
 question whether the Crusades exercised a baneful or a 
 beneficial influence on the state of society has engaged the 
 attention of some eminent scholars, some of whom main- 
 tain that they have been favorable to the intellectual, com- 
 mercial, and political interests of the world, by establishing 
 a general intercourse between nations, and by breaking up 
 the feudal system which, it is alleged, laid the foundation 
 of the civil liberty now enjoyed by all European communi- 
 ties ; while others hold that the evil results of the Crusades 
 far overbalanced the good that followed from it ; consider- 
 ing the great waste of life and labor without an adequate 
 return ; the affliction and privation caused to almost every 
 family in Europe during two centuries ; and withdrawing 
 the attention of the inhabitants from all legitimate pursuit 
 of industry. There are many other points of consideration 
 
88 . 
 
 brought forward by the contending parties, for which we 
 have no room. Suffice it to say that the French Institute, 
 in 1806, proposed the question as a subject of general com- 
 petition to the learned of all countries, and the prize was 
 awarded jointly to the essays of Heeren and Choiseul 
 d'Aillecourt, who think that the Crusades, in spite of their evil 
 consequences, have materially contributed to the advance- 
 ment of learning and civilization in Europe. (But Palestine is 
 after all in the hands of Mohammedans.) When those holy 
 wars had terminated, another species of religious insanity 
 sprang into existence which failed not to have its baleful 
 result upon the Jewish population, and which is especially 
 worth mentioning on account of its eccentricity. In the 
 middle of the i4th century, a set of mad enthusiasts was 
 formed at Cremona in Italy, and in a few years the conta- 
 gion spread throughout Europe. The name of the sect 
 was Flagellants, from flagettum, a whip. Believing that they 
 could make their peace with God only by severe penance, 
 they went about the streets in procession, naked from the 
 loins upward, with high pointed hats partly drawn over the 
 face and on which a red cross was painted ; switches in 
 hand, with which they scourged themselves till the blood 
 flowed freely. Had their religious ceremonies been con- 
 fined to these self-inflictions, we might look upon them with 
 mere ridicule, but they thought their services incomplete 
 without an intermixture of massacre and plunder among 
 the Jews. Accordingly they entered the streets of Frank- 
 fort and other cities, and made a furious assault upon the 
 enemies of Christ, who, however, seized their weapons in 
 self-defense, and a terrible slaughter ensued. The citizens 
 interfered, and the Flagellants were driven back; still the 
 Jews refused to lay down their weapons, fearing, presum- 
 ably, that the mob would take advantage of the occasion to 
 commit further depredations. Then a skirmish between 
 them and the citizens followed, the alarm was sounded, the 
 
8 9 
 
 city-hall set on fire, and many Jews lost their lives. In the 
 mean time many of the rich had escaped with all the valu- 
 ables they could carry. The emperor appropriated the re- 
 mainder of their goods to the use of the city, with the pri- 
 vilege, however, to the fugitives to receive them back if they 
 chose to return, and moreover a remission of their taxes 
 for two years, which proves the justness of the Jewish 
 cause. 
 
 JEWS IN ENGLAND. JEWISH WEALTH AND USURY. 
 
 The Jews are known to have lived in England already in 
 the beginning of the eighth century, and their condition in 
 that country was very similar to that in France and Ger- 
 many, with this difference, that the kings of the latter two 
 countries frequently opposed the cruelties practised on the 
 Jews by the churchmen and trie populace, while the kings 
 of England were themselves foremost in tormenting their 
 oppressed subjects and draining from them their ill-gotten 
 gain. Edward the Confessor declared the Jews, by their 
 own request probably, to be the property of the king, the 
 same as in France. Many of them seem to have come over 
 to England from Normandy with William the Conqueror, 
 who introduced the feudal system, but issued no special 
 laws concerning the Jews. We find especial mention of 
 them made in the time of William Rufus, the second king 
 of the Norman line. This king, himself the enemy of the 
 clergy and very indifferent towards the Church, permitted 
 the Jews to defend their religion in public as much as they 
 pleased. What, however, he liked best in them was their 
 wealth, which, for his own sake no less than theirs, he gave 
 them every opportunity to amass, especially from the clergy. 
 At that time the Jews possessed in London and elsewhere 
 considerable mansions, resembling the castles of the nobil- 
 ity. The greatest part of Oxford belonged to them, and 
 streets were named after them. 
 
9 o 
 
 Now, before continuing the thread of our history let us 
 stop awhile to consider how it was possible that the Jews, 
 amidst their deep degradation, cruel oppression, and almost 
 entire exclusion, should still have been able to gather up 
 such immense wealth, not only in England, but everywhere, 
 which must appear incredible unless we take a view of the 
 general state of things in those ages. In the history of 
 France, several instances are recorded of enormous special 
 taxes having been laid on the Jews to replenish the ex- 
 hausted exchequer. At one time, the most valuable estates 
 of Paris and of the whole of France were mortgaged to the 
 Jews. Paris of the middle ages was almost a Jewish city ; 
 the dawn of its magnificence was due to Jewish capitalists. 
 Their wealth adorned its narrow streets with fine mansions, 
 and cultivated its environs into groves and gardens. Louis 
 X., after his father's death, b'eing much pressed for money, 
 re-admitted the Jews into his realm on the payment of a 
 considerable price. King John and king Charles V. drew 
 large sums of money from them, either by taxation or in 
 loans. The most sacred objects of the church, golden rel- 
 ics and crucifixes with precious stones, were pledged to the 
 Jews, and the Christians could not redeem them. In Eng- 
 land, also, the most unreasonable and exorbitant exactions 
 were made of them, and when in 1188 a parliament held at 
 Northampton fixed upon a tax to defray the expenses of a 
 Crusade, the whole Christian population was assessed at 
 ,70,000, and the Jews alone at ^60,000. Now whence 
 did all this wealth come, and why did the Jews hoard up 
 that which they were allowed so little to enjoy ? They 
 were not originally a commercial nation, but shepherds and 
 husbandmen ; during their long sojourn in Palestine their 
 condition was nearly the same ; their change of occupation, 
 when they became men of commerce, must be viewed in 
 connection with their position as wanderers over the earth. 
 When they entered upon their new career, trade or traffic 
 
9 1 
 
 was far from being what it is now. The Romans had early 
 looked upon commerce as unbecoming the dignity of a war- 
 like and conquering nation ; the northern tribes, who in 
 their migrations during the fifth and succeeding centuries 
 had taken the place of the Romans, manifested still greater 
 contempt for all matters of finance and traffic. The free 
 men possessed the land, the rest of the population were 
 either peasants, serfs, or artisans. Thus all trading, bank- 
 ing, and financial operations fell naturally into the hands of 
 the Jews, who, considering themselves as strangers, and 
 looked upon as enemies by the Christians, were more and 
 more excluded from the possession of land, and the pursuit 
 of agriculture. In the situation in which the Jews were then 
 placed, commerce itself soon took a more ignoble aspect, 
 and sank into petty traffic, while their financial speculations 
 not infrequently degenerated into usury. Thus persecu- 
 tion drove them to the meanness of becoming usurers, and, 
 in turn, their undignified occupation increased the hatred of 
 their oppressors, who looked upon them, not only as a 
 degraded race, but as their extorting creditors.* Crushed 
 and confined by the Christian nation within the very nar- 
 rowest circle in which existence could be endured, the Jew 
 was forced to confine his inventive genius to financial 
 speculations only. We must not, however, imagine that 
 everything to which the name of usury was given in the 
 middle ages, when the science of finance was unknown, 
 really deserves that name. To understand this accusation 
 of usury, and to pass sentence upon it with fairness, we 
 
 * " To justify the Jews from the accusation of having established an 
 almost universal system of usury, I need not repeat for it is a truth 
 no longer contested that they gave in to this vice only in those 
 countries where the ill-treatment of Christians compelled them to resort 
 to such expedients." Beignot, Les Juifs d'Occident. The Jews of 
 Spain and Portugal, during the centuries of their sojourn there, were 
 never charged with being usurers. 
 
9 2 
 
 
 
 must further take into consideration that the prejudices of 
 the time did not allow men to consider that property in 
 money, as well as in land or any other possession, ought to 
 bring in some return to its owner. The Jews, it is true, 
 contributed largely to establish this misunderstanding, by 
 changing a fair interest into a detestable system of usury; 
 but Christians, on the other hand, were no less to blame; 
 and the impartial judge, when considering the financial 
 operations of the Jews, and fairly analyzing the charges 
 against them, will at any rate acknowledge the science and 
 talents, as well as the cupidity and avarice, which they dis- 
 played. While admitting the infamous abuse of interest 
 which the Jews practised, we must at the same time recog- 
 nize the services rendered by them both to the theory and 
 practice of finance. While the enormous rate of interest 
 exacted the scriptural Neshech, the biting, corroding 
 interest cannot be justified, even towards a stranger; and 
 while there is no doubt that the Jews were often guilty of the 
 basest fraud, and scrupled not to employ any means what- 
 soever in order to amass riches, these offences may be 
 nevertheless easily accounted for as unavoidable evils. 
 Excluded by the feudal system from every honorable and 
 legitimate career, his life continually threatened, his prop- 
 erty and means of subsistence defenceless against injustice, 
 is it to be wondered that the Jew employed without scruple 
 the only weapons which were left him ? He encountered 
 violence and force with artifice and finesse ; he opposed 
 the law of the stronger with calculations and deep-laid 
 schemes; he brought to bear the power of gold against that 
 of iron. By their superiority in financial affairs the Jews 
 excited popular fury to the very utmost. Doubly detested 
 as the murderers of Christ and the vampires of Christian 
 wealth, they were a special object of severity to the laws, 
 both ecclesiastical and civil, of hatred to the nobles, and of 
 violence to the populace. The sovereigns who gave them 
 
93 
 
 protection usually made use of them as of a sponge, which 
 they allowed to fill with the money of their subjects, and 
 then squeeze its contents into the royal treasury. Some- 
 times, however, their protection availed nothing, and they 
 were obliged to leave them to the fury of their enemies, 
 when a single sermon from a fanatic or malevolent monk, 
 or an absurd report of a murder committed on a Christian 
 child to celebrate their passover with his blood, or even a 
 mere outbreak of blind fanaticism among the populace, was 
 sufficient to bring death and desolation upon the whole 
 Jewish quarter. What indeed did this nominal thing of 
 royal protection amount to, when they were debarred by 
 law from holding landed property, from exercising any civil 
 or military office, or even from the right of citizenship, while 
 the most humiliating restrictions were imposed upon them ? 
 They were shut up within the narrow bounds of a peculiar 
 quarter, often locked up at night like cattle in a yard. 
 Conspicuous marks of degradation were imposed upon them, 
 such as yellow patches on their clothes, peaked hats, and 
 the like. In Bohemia there was an edict issued prescribing 
 a peculiar manner of hanging Jews, that a distinction might 
 be made b'etween their body and that of a Christian criminal 
 who might share the same fate. 
 
 Was it possible that such a classification and such treat- 
 ment should fail to produce an effect upon the moral char- 
 acter of the Jews, and tend to enervate and harden the 
 subject of such cruel oppression ? Can we be surprised 
 that he whose toleration in society depended only on the 
 amount of money he possessed, should cling to that posses- 
 sion with the greatest tenacity, and, next to his religion, 
 centre all his activity, all his delight, in the hoarding of 
 gold? Can we be surprised that his outward appearance 
 should have suffered, as well as his inward character; that 
 is, his countenance should come to wear the expression of 
 that timidity, and trembling of heart, which belongs to the 
 
94 
 
 man of distrust, who feels no security for his property, his 
 life, or for those that are to him dearer than life ? To 
 retain their equanimity, their integrity, and an evenness of 
 character under such circumstances would have been 
 superhuman indeed. 
 
 Having thus endeavored to show in its proper light the 
 position of the Jews in those ages, we resume the thread of 
 events as they occurred in England. The rather favorable 
 condition in which they appear in the beginning of this 
 article was interrupted by fearful outrages after the reign 
 of Henry II. When the coronation of Richard I. was to 
 take place, the whole population prepared to join in the 
 festivity; but the Jews, being suspected of sorcery, were 
 strictly forbidden to make their appearance in public. A 
 few strangers, however, ventured to enter the church to 
 witness the grand ceremony. They were detected, and 
 dragged out of the church almost dead. This roused the 
 people to a tumult, and a general plunder of the Jews' 
 houses ensued. The example of London was followed in 
 several other towns, where the Jews were robbed and 
 murdered. At York many of the unfortunate took refuge 
 in the castle, where the governor admitted them, but when 
 the latter was absent, the Jews, suspecting that they were 
 betrayed, closed the gates against him, and boldy manned 
 the citadel. The indignant governor gathered an armed 
 force and gave the signal for attack. The populace, urged 
 on by the clergy, shouted: " Destroy the enemies of Christ! 
 destroy the enemies of Christ! " The besieged resisted man- 
 fully during several days, but finding their fate unavoidable, 
 their minister addressed them thus: " Men of Israel ! the 
 God o'f our fathers calls upon us to die for our law. Death 
 is inevitable, my advice is that we voluntarily render up our 
 souls to our Creator, and fall by our own hands." The 
 greater part of them consented, burned or buried their most 
 valuable effects, set fire to the castle in many places, cut 
 
95 
 
 the throats of their wives and children, and then their own. 
 The minister and his friend Joachim alone were left. The 
 latter fell by the hand of the rabbi, who then stabbed him- 
 self to the heart. The next morning, when the enemy ap- 
 proached for a new assault, they found the castle in flames, 
 while the few wretches who remained were running to and 
 fro, crying for mercy, and offering to submit to baptism. 
 The terms were accepted; but when the gates were opened, 
 the multitude poured in and put every living being to the 
 sword. No less than 500 families perished. 
 
 John of England, known for his cruelty, rapacity, and 
 cowardice, being again and again in want of money, threw 
 all prominent Jews into prison, and subjected them to most 
 cruel torments, in order to make them pay. A Jew of 
 Bristol, being suspected of having some hidden treasures, 
 was required to pay ten thousand marks.* He pretended 
 to have no money, and the king ordered that he should have 
 one of his teeth drawn every day until he should tell where 
 his money was. He resisted for seven days and lost seven 
 of his teeth, then saved the rest by paying the sum demanded. 
 Henry III., in the beginning of his reign, treated the Jews 
 with much consideration, but the people, and especially the 
 clergy, remained their inveterate enemies. The wearing of 
 two strips of white cloth, as a mark of ignoble distinction, 
 was again enforced. A crime was now laid to their charge 
 much more probable than the tales of their crucifying 
 children their tampering with and clipping the coin of the 
 realm. In 1230, one-third of all their movable property 
 was demanded and taken from them. A few years later, 
 several heavy taxes were again laid upon them, and so 
 inexhaustible seemed their resources, that it was commonly 
 believed the Jews obtained their wealth by magical or 
 
 supernatural means. The king, being ever in want of money, 
 
 A 
 
 * A mark equal to 13^. $d. 
 
96 
 
 sold the Jews to his brother, Richard of Cornwall, for 
 5,000 marks, giving him full power over their property and 
 persons. When Richard was elected king of the Romans, 
 Henry again sold them to Prince Edward, who re-sold them 
 to the merchants of Dauphiny. But Henry, devoid of even 
 common honesty, broke his bargain and took the Jews again 
 under his own power, to satisfy his insatiable thirst for 
 money, and subject them once more to his barbarous extor- 
 tions. After the death of Henry III., they were treated 
 with equal injustice by Edward I. He issued an edict, 
 however, which had a tendency to wean the Jews from their 
 usurious practices All usury was forbidden, but the Jews 
 were allowed to transact all other kinds of business, and to 
 cultivate farms, and were therein promised the royal protec- 
 tion. This, however, did not suit the taste or convenience 
 of the Jews. Many were now found guilty of having clipped 
 the coin, and in London alone two hundred and eighty of 
 them were executed in one year for this offence. At last 
 an edict was issued (1290) for the total expulsion of the 
 Jews from the realm. All their property was seized for the 
 benefit of the king, and about 16,000 of them were merci- 
 lessly driven from their homes and their country, to which 
 they were never allowed to return, nor their descendants, 
 until three centuries afterwards. 
 
 THE INQUISITION. 
 
 It is with reluctance that we begin the story of the Inquisi- 
 tion. In casting a cursory glance over the whole of this 
 horrible chapter; the injustice, the inhumanity, the systematic 
 infliction of so much unmerited suffering, the agony of so 
 many inoffensive creatures roasting and writhing over the 
 flames of the auto-da-fe, or dragging out their existence in 
 loathsome dungeons; all rise before the imagination, and the 
 mind is shocked to think thtit so much depravity can dwell 
 in the human heart. We have in the preceding paragraphs 
 
97 
 
 described much cruelty and suffering; but in those cases 
 the perpetrators were mostly the uncultivated, unprincipled 
 populace, hungry wolves ready to seize their prey wherever 
 it could be found ; while the sufferers were comparative 
 strangers to their foes, looked upon as intruding on the rights 
 of old inhabitants ; sometimes wanderers driven from place 
 to place, who did not feel themselves at home and knew 
 that they were living on the sufferance of their fellow-men. 
 Aware also of the mutual antipathy that ever existed be- 
 tween them and their neighors, they expected no kindness 
 at their hands, and when the blow came, they were more or 
 less prepared for it. But how widely different from this 
 was the condition of the Jews in Spain when the thunder- 
 bolt of the expulsion came upon them. The Jews in Spain 
 had been settled there for many centuries ; they constituted 
 part of the aristocracy of the land : they were the nobles, 
 the statesmen, the councillors of kings, the companions of 
 princes, the pre-eminent scholars ; they had been the great 
 benefactors of the country, had elevated it by their talents, 
 and enriched it by their industry ; while their enemies 
 were not of the vulgar multitude, but the highest digni- 
 taries of the church, they whose avowed profession it 
 was to enlighten the people ; to teach benevolence, charity, 
 forgiveness, and so many virtues which the Church vainly 
 claims as her own, and their wickedness was performed under 
 the cloak of that very religion they pretended to teach. 
 Now, before entering upon the facts of the inquisition, that 
 is, of the Spanish Inquisition, let us look for a moment into 
 the causes of it. Inquisition, as the word inplies, is the title 
 of a court established to inquire into offences against the 
 established religion. The idea originated with the tyran- 
 nical pope Innocent III., who in the twelfth century com- 
 missioned St. Dominic to persecute the Albigenses, a sect 
 in the south of France, who entertained views different 
 5 
 
from the Roman church. After these people had been 
 entirely conquered, a regular and permanent inquisitorial 
 tribunal was established in France in the thirteenth century ; 
 it was subsequently introduced into Italy, Germany, and 
 various other parts of Europe, though not without meeting 
 with strong opposition even on the part of the bishops and 
 clergy. It must be borne in mind that the Inquisition, when 
 first established and while it remained under the immediate 
 control of the popes, had none of those horrible features, 
 did not aim at those unheard-of barbarities which it assumed 
 afterwards. The first instructions were simply to labor for 
 the conversion of heretics ; to acquire information of their 
 numbers and their rank ; to examine and report whether 
 priests and magistrates were zealous in the performance of 
 their duties : but when the power of execution was delivered 
 into the hands of the detestable orders of Dominicans and 
 Franciscans, the ambitions and the barbarity of these mon- 
 sters knew no bounds, and the Inquisition became a cause 
 of terror even to the papacy which authorized and upheld 
 it. In Spain it was not introduced until the latter part of 
 the fifteenth century ; and then the Cortez, the nobility, 
 the great cardinal de Mendoza, and various eminent digni- 
 taries were opposed to it ; but the Dominicans, at whose 
 head was Thomas de Torquemada,the first inquisitor general, 
 were determined to have it, and they were supported by the 
 lowest orders of the populace. You will remember that 
 Spain was then divided into different monarchies. Isabella, 
 daughter of John III., inherited the throne of Castile, and 
 espoused her cousin Ferdinand, king of Arragon, and by 
 this union was founded the united kingdom of Spain, though 
 the consorts reigned independently of each other. Isabella 
 was the stronger-minded of the two. Ferdinand was subtle 
 and perfidious in his dealings, insidious in his policy, crafty 
 in his schemes; while the queen was amiable and frank, her 
 
temper was firm, her intentions upright. Neither of them, 
 especially not Isabella, entertained any hatred for the Jewish 
 race; she befriended them and felt attached to them. She 
 herself had Jewish blood in her veins, by her descent in the 
 female line from John I. of Portugal, whose mother had 
 been a Jewess. Her court, as well as that of the kings who 
 had preceded herself and consort, had always been sur- 
 rounded by Jews, in the capacity of physicians, treasurers, 
 councillors, and ministers of state; individuals of that nation 
 had many times proved their fidelity to Queen Isabella and 
 her husband. Don Abraham Senior, in a moment when 
 their succession seemed doubtful, had exerted himself on 
 their behalf with so much energy that, when a great diminu- 
 tion of favors and pensions was decreed, he was among the 
 few to whom a continuation of his pension was considered 
 due; and Don Isaac Abarbanel long enjoyed the confidence 
 of the " Catholic sovereigns," as they were pre-eminently 
 called. But Queen Isabella was also a sincere devotee, and 
 this was her weakest side. To vanquish her strongest 
 resolutions, to persuade her to the adoption of any measure 
 whatever, it sufficed to alarm her about her salvation. 
 Cardinal Ximenes, at the same time prime minister, was 
 the queen's confessor, and no doubt used his influence to 
 poison her mind. Torquemada had filled that office to the 
 infanta when she was quite young, and on the occasion of 
 her receiving the sacrament for the first time, a moment 
 when the mind and soul of the young candidate is entirely 
 given to God and to religion, the crafty monk exacted from 
 her the promise that, if ever she should come to the throne, 
 she would maintain the Catholic faith with all her power, 
 and extirpate heresy to the very root; and it is no wonder 
 that, under these circumstances, and under the power of 
 these two influential men, even the strong-minded Queen 
 Isabella was made to yield. Consequently, when in 1478 
 
IOO 
 
 Pope Sixtus IV. issued a bull for the establishment of the 
 Inquisition in Castile, the institution was accepted by the 
 king and queen. The powers granted to this new inquisition 
 were far more extensive than any of which similar tribunals 
 in other countries were possessed, and the institution was 
 such as to strike terror into the hearts of the whole popula- 
 tion, from the lowest to the highest, the king himself not 
 being exempt from its prowling searches. The fury of the 
 inquisition was directed at first against heretics and infidels 
 among its own ranks, and its suspicions rested especially 
 upon those Jews who from time to time had been converted, 
 and upon the descendants of converts whose number was 
 quite extensive. The proceedings of this tribunal were the 
 most arbitrary, surpassing all bounds of justice and equity. 
 It had a number of spies spread over all cities, towns, and 
 villages in search of victims. No one connected \\ith the 
 institution was amenable to the civil law for any of his acts. 
 Any one suspected or reported could be seized without any 
 warning, without being informed who accused him, without 
 being told of what he was thought guilty. Apprehended in 
 the midst of his family, his friends, and domestics, nobody 
 dared to move in his defense. The moment he passed the 
 threshold of the Inquisition, he was dead to the world; 
 terror chained the tongue even of his nearest relations. A 
 man was obliged to inform against his father, his brother, 
 his wife, his children, if a suspicious word or phrase should 
 escape their mouth, under pain of excommunication, and of 
 being treated as an abettor of heretics. The property of an 
 accused person was immediately seized, and if found guilty 
 it was confiscated. Penitent offenders were subjected to 
 imprisonment, scourging, confiscation, and infamy; those 
 who were condemned were burned at the auto-da-fe. Few 
 escaped the voracity of the blood-hounds of the " Holy 
 Office; " even the bodies of those who died under sentence 
 
IOI 
 
 of condemnation were, hyena-like, taken from their graves, 
 insulted, and burned; and if perchance some escaped their 
 clutches, they were burnt in effigy. In one year two hun- 
 dred and eighty were burnt in Seville alone, seventy-nine 
 were condemned to perpetual imprisonment, 17,000 suffered 
 lighter punishment. 
 
 Thus this horrible scourge of the nation went on from 
 year to year, multiplying its victims, and increasing its 
 terrors, and yet twelve years intervened between the intro- 
 duction of the Inquisition against concealed Jews and the 
 edict of banishment for those who were so openly. During 
 the interval, the latter continued on good terms with the 
 government, and were still admitted to high offices at court, 
 and too confident perhaps of their high- standing, acted 
 incautiously and gave cause for complaint and even for 
 alarm in the ranks of their enemies. For example, in the 
 year 1480, when the Cardinal de Mendoza had published a 
 catechism for the use of baptized Jews, there appeared from 
 the pen of a Jewish author a virulent attack upon the 
 Roman Catholic religion, as well as upon the Catholic 
 sovereigns. The Jews were also accused of endeavoring to 
 make proselytes, not only among the new Christians, but 
 among the old, whose descent could be traced to Jewish 
 parents, and in some cases they seem to have succeeded. 
 So formidable were they by their number, their riches, their 
 influence, and their relationship with the converses in all 
 parts of the country, and the unanimous testimony of both 
 Jewish and Christian writers establishes the fact, that there 
 is scarcely a family of note in Spain or Portugal which is 
 not descended, either in the male or female line, from Jews 
 who had embraced Christianity. At last the fatal edict, 
 which had long been threatened, was proclaimed on the 3ist 
 of March, 1492, commanding all unbaptized Jews to vacate 
 the Spanish dominions within four months. The effect of 
 
102 
 
 this cruel mandate upon the Jewish communities baffles 
 description. They made a strenuous effort to avert the 
 blow. Don Isaac Abarbanel, a man of great learning and 
 unblemished reputation, and highly respected at court, threw 
 himself at the feet of the king and queen, begging them to 
 revoke the fearful edict. He knew that Ferdinand was 
 ambitious, and that the royal treasury was nearly exhausted 
 by the late wars against the Moors. In the name of his 
 people he offered the king an immense sum if he would 
 withdraw the decree; he counted also upon the tender- 
 heartedness of the queen, and might have gained his point, 
 but the monster Torquemada placed himself before their 
 majesties, crucifix in hand, exclaiming: "Behold him whom 
 Judas Iscariot sold for thirty pieces of silver, sell ye him 
 now for a higher price and render an account of your bar- 
 gain before God." The sovereigns trembled before the 
 unrelenting demon, and the Jews had no alternative but 
 baptism or exile. They were allowed to dispose of their 
 property, but not to carry away gold, silver, or jewels beyond 
 a certain amount; for their sales they were to accept bills 
 of exchange. In the great need of the moment, and the 
 short time allowed them, their enemies naturally took every 
 advantage of the situation. "A house was sold for an ass, 
 and a vineyard for a piece of linen." It is estimated that 
 not less than 300,000 Jews were thus most cruelly driven 
 from their own native country. They left the homes of 
 their youth, the scenes of their early ancestors, the more 
 recent tombs of their own friends and relatives. They left 
 the synagogues in which they had so long worshipped their 
 God; the schools where those wise men had taught who 
 had thrown a lustre which shone, even through the darkness 
 of the age, upon the Hebrew name, 
 
NEW SETTLEMENTS OF THE SPANISH EXILES. 
 
 Let us follow the exiled Jews in their wanderings over 
 the different parts of the world where they were now obliged 
 to seek a refuge. Portugal had no inquisition yet, and being 
 the nearest by, many Jews directed their steps to that country. 
 They were admitted by Joam II. on the payment of eight 
 golden crowns per head, but were to remain only eight months. 
 After that time those who were possessed of means went 
 towards Africa, but the poor, or those who were afraid to 
 travel further on, were made slaves, and children under four- 
 teen years of age were torn from their parents' arms and 
 forcibly baptized. A number of these were sent to colonize 
 the island of St. Thomas. Don Emanuel, who succeeded 
 John II., was at first very lenient towards the Jews, and made 
 the slaves free ; but when he sought in marriage the infanta 
 Isabella, daughter of the catholic sovereign of Spain, one of 
 the conditions of the alliance was that he should banish the 
 Jews from his country, to which Manuel agreed. Thus, 
 against the advice of the king's councillors, the choice was 
 offered to the whole body of Jews in Portugal, either to 
 receive baptism or leave the country forever. This decree, 
 you will observe, had reference, not only to emigrants from 
 Spain, but to the whole community which had been established 
 there for centuries. The consequences were the same as in 
 Spain a general exodus. The Jews were divided in opinion 
 as to what course to take ; some abandoned forever the soil 
 of Portugal, others, not fewer in number, embraced or feigned 
 to embrace the Roman Catholic faith.' Thus Spain and 
 Portugal had been cleared of all Jews avowing their religion, 
 but there was a multitude of concealed Jews who bore the 
 name of New Christians, Converses, or Marranos. Being 
 outwardly attached to a religion which they detested in their 
 
IO4 
 
 hearts, because they had learned how bitter and cruel is that 
 love and charity which that religion teaches, the nominal 
 Christians embraced every opportunity secretly to observe 
 the ceremonies of their own faith, and inculcated its principles 
 in the minds of their children with the more vigor. Some 
 ten years after the expulsion, a number of them were detected 
 celebrating the Passover, which aroused the popular fury 
 against them. That same year there had been great drought 
 and scarcity in the land, and as a means of consolation a de- 
 ceiving monk exhibited to the superstitious populace a cruci- 
 fix on which a hidden light had been made to reflect which 
 the impostor declared as a manifestation of the Deity. One 
 of the New Christians in the audience observed incautiously 
 that " if God would manifest himself by water instead of 
 fire it would be more acceptable." The multitude rushed 
 upon him and murdered him right out, and his brother, who 
 stood by lamenting his death, instantly shared his fate. The 
 houses of the converts were assailed and ransacked, and a 
 general massacre ensued. 
 
 It did not fare better with the fugitives who escaped to 
 Morocco. They were not even permitted to enter the town, 
 for fear that they might bring famine and pestilence to the 
 citizens. They were left on the sea-shore without food or 
 drink, and obliged to live on a few roots or a little grass they 
 could find there. And so firm were they in their religious 
 principles that on the Sabbath they would not even pluck 
 the grass, but they laid on their knees to eat it off like cattle. 
 Some sold their children for bread, others killed them with 
 their own hands rather than see them pine away. Some were 
 landed by a barbarous captain, and left naked and desolate 
 on the African shore, where the wild beasts came to devour 
 them, and they could save themselves only by plunging into 
 the sea where they remained till the animals retired, For 
 
five days they were left in this condition, until the captain of 
 another vessel sent his boat to their relief.* 
 
 Hardly were those who went to Italy more fortunate. 
 When they reached the coast of Genoa they were perishing 
 with hunger. The clergy came to them with the crucifix in 
 one hand, and provisions in the other. The unfortunates had 
 to choose between baptism or starvation ; they yielded to the 
 cravings of nature and were baptized. In RonTe they were 
 received unfriendly even by their own brethren, who were 
 afraid that the increase of their number would bring evil on 
 the community. Even the wicked monster, Pope Alexander, 
 was moved with indignation, and to relieve himself of the 
 sight of so much distress, ordered all Jews to leave the coun- 
 try ; and they were allowed to stay only on the payment of 
 a large sum of money. 
 
 The Turkish empire, particularly its European dominions, 
 was the great final retreat of those who fled from Spain and 
 Portugal. As the Mohammedans have always been more 
 friendly to the Jews, generally treated them with consider- 
 ation, often with distinction, so they were in these hours of 
 tribulation well received by their half-brothers. They settled 
 down in Constantinople, Salonica, and other commercial 
 towns of the Levant, where they breathed again the air of 
 freedom; re-established their rabbinical schools ; and soon 
 availed themselves of the new invention of printing for the 
 publication of the Hebrew Scriptures and the literary works 
 of their ancestors. There also they established extensive 
 connections with their brethren in Italy and in other parts 
 of the world. 
 
 *An author of our days cleverly observes the striking fact, that, " ere 
 a century had passed, the flower of the youthful nobility of Portugal, with 
 king Sebastian at their head, were slain or made prisoners on the same 
 coast of Africa to which the Jewish exiles had been so barbarously driven, 
 and happy, by comparison, was the lot of those Christian captives who 
 fell into the hands of African Israelites, from whom alone they received 
 any compassion and assistance in their misfortunes." 
 
THIRD PERIOD, 
 
 FROM THE TIME OF THE SPANISH INQUISI- 
 TION TO THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 THE REFORMATION. 
 
 With the dawning of the Reformation (1520) began a new 
 era which brought about great changes in the political and 
 ecclesiastical history of the world, and at the same time 
 affected the condition of the Jews very materially. Though 
 not immediately connected with our history, it will be neces- 
 sary to give a concise account of that important turning- point, 
 its causes, and the circumstances which attended it, that our 
 young readers may be able the better to understand the re- 
 sults thereby produced, and how they were produced. 
 
 From several of the foregoing articles it appears how strong 
 a hold the Catholic religion till now the almost exclusive 
 religion of Christians had on the public mind. The pope, 
 as head of the church, claimed and still claims to be the 
 representative of God upon earth, and the claim was tamely 
 submitted to. The pontiff exercised absolute authority, not 
 only in religious matters, but in secular affairs as well. Kings 
 and emperors were made and unmade by him, and if any 
 ruler dared to oppose his authority, the pope had only to tell 
 the people that they owed no allegiance to their king, who 
 then and thereby lost all control over his subjects. The pope 
 was supposed to hold the keys of heaven, and to have the 
 power of granting pardon to sinners who paid for the immu- 
 nity, and even to grant the privilege of committing a sin or a 
 series of sins if paid for in advance. In this way an immense 
 business was carried on, and vast amounts flowed into the 
 
107 
 
 treasury of the church. As the pope could not attend to all 
 this traffic himself, numerous delegates were authorized by 
 his holiness to sell indulgences, as it is called. It can be 
 well imagined that these salesmen were not always strictly 
 honest and pious men. Many indeed there were of such 
 dissolute morals, so profligate and corrupt, as to bring dis- 
 grace on the profession. This practice had existed for ages, 
 still no one dared to oppose the holy See. In the beginning 
 of the sixteenth century, Pope Leo X., being in want of more 
 money, put up for sale a number of indulgences which were 
 disposed of in so shameful a manner as to attract particular 
 attention and indignation. It was then that Martin Luther, 
 formerly an Augustinian monk, now professor of divinity at 
 Wittenberg, boldly and publicly began to expose the corrup- 
 tions and abuses of the church. He, of course, met with strong 
 opposition, was summoned, threatened, excommunicated ; 
 but he soon gained adherents, whose number grew stronger 
 from day to day ; the Catholic church was shaken to its very 
 foundation, and the Protestant religion had taken root. 
 About the same time, though quite independent of Luther's 
 labors, an attack on the Roman church was made in Switzer- 
 land, and occasioned likewise by an excess of this unwarrant- 
 able religious traffic. Shortly afterwards, John Calvin, an- 
 other eminent reformer from popery, began to teach different 
 doctrine in France, and while the Christians were thus 
 quarrelling among themselves, the Jews were allowed a little 
 repose. Not that the changes which were going on had an 
 immediate effect on their condition, only the spirit of the age 
 began to incline a little towards toleration ; something of 
 that deep darkness and blind fanaticism of which the Roman 
 church was possessed began to be removed. Luther, though 
 not free from the common prejudice against the Jews, often 
 spoke kindly of them, was opposed to violence against them, 
 and reprobated all means of converting them except those 
 
io8 
 
 of gentleness. In short, the whole procedure gave a differ- 
 ent turn to a great portion of the public mind, which was 
 beneficial to the Jews. Another circumstance which con- 
 tributed to a better recognition of the Jews, their religion, 
 and their literature was, that mighty instrument of civiliza- 
 tion the printing press, had begun to do its work, and the 
 Jews had not been slow to avail themselves of its advan- 
 tages. The Scriptures, which hitherto could be read only 
 with such commentaries and constructions as popery 
 chose to put on them, appeared in a new light. The 
 unintelligible Talmud, which was believed to be full of 
 blasphemies against Christ, and to contain mysterious and 
 dangerous secrets applied by the Jews to illegitimate pur- 
 poses, and to the injury of Christians, was found to contain 
 much wisdom and much folly, but nothing hurtful ; the 
 immense literary labors of the Jewish doctors of the middle 
 ages were given to the world, and made it evident that these 
 people were not all money-lenders and small dealers. 
 Christian scholars began to seek a knowledge of Hebrew 
 at the hands of Jewish masters ; eminent men, such as the 
 Buxtorfs, applied themselves to the study of rabbinical 
 literature and recognized the services these writings had 
 rendered and might still render to science, as well as to the 
 proper interpretation of Scripture. The celebrated prince 
 John Pico de Mirandola, towards the close of the fifteenth 
 century, was so deeply devoted to, and so much prepos- 
 sessed in favor of these works, that he looked upon them as 
 the source of all wisdom, and labored to prove by their 
 means the truths of the Gospel. 
 
 Already a few years previous to the reformation, the 
 merits and demerits of rabbinical writings had been the 
 cause of very serious debates among Christian theologians. 
 John Pfefferkorn, an apostate Jew of Cologne, had obtained 
 from the emperor Maximilian a decree authorizing the 
 
IOQ 
 
 destruction of all Hebrew books except the Bible. An 
 edict to that effect was issued in 1510, but through the 
 intervention of Professor Reuchlin, the execution of it was 
 suspended until the opinion of the Archbishop of Spire 
 should be obtained. In the mean time, Reuchlin employed 
 his pen in defense of Jewish literature, making a distinction 
 between those of general utility and those that might be 
 injurious to Christianity. Eminent scholars of different 
 parts of the world took part in the dispute, and the contest 
 became very animated, lasting not less than ten years. 
 Reuchlin, not in the least daunted by the strong opposition 
 he met with, brought the matter before the judgment seat 
 of Pope Leo, and now his adversaries thought themselves 
 sure of victory. But the pontiff was a friend and protector 
 of science and literature, and appointed a committee of 
 investigation. The emperor Maximilian, having come to a 
 better conviction of the truth, threw the weight of his in- 
 fluence in favor of Reuchlin, and a decision for the preser- 
 vation of the Hebrew books was soon rendered. 
 
 We must further bear in mind that the discovery of the 
 New World, at this same period, opened for the dispersed of 
 Israel a new sphere of which they failed not to avail them- 
 selves very shortly after the discovery, and that within the 
 same century Holland renounced its subjection to the 
 Spanish government, and opened its doors for the reception 
 of the Jewish refugees, all of which contributed to the 
 amelioration of their general condition. Yet it must be 
 also remembered that these various causes worked but 
 slowly and gradually, that the fury of persecution which 
 peculiarly characterized the middle ages had only slackened ; 
 that the Jews were no longer massacred, tortured, pillaged, 
 or arbitrarily expelled as in the time of the crusades ; at 
 least such events were now of rare occurrence ; but the ana- 
 thema of public contempt, humiliation, and exclusion from 
 
no 
 
 every public or private connection still lay heavily upon 
 them, until the commencement of the revolutionary period 
 in 1789, when a brighter horizon rose to view, as much for 
 the whole civilized world as for the scattered remnant of 
 Israel. 
 
 JEWS IN THE SCLAVONIAN COUNTRIES. 
 
 The history of the Jews in the Sclavonian countries, 
 Russia, Poland, Bohemia, and the Austro-Hungarian mon- 
 archy, acquires an especial interest only in the centuries 
 succeeding the middle-ages, though they lived very early 
 and in great numbers in Poland, and were numerous in Prague 
 before the end of the tenth century, where Boleslaus II- 
 granted them permission to build a synagogue in recompense 
 for their services in his wars against the Pagan tribes, and to 
 Boleslaus V., duke of Poland (1264) the Jews were indebted 
 for peculiar privileges. His great-grandson King Cassimir 
 showed them still greater favor, out of love, it is said, for a 
 beautiful Jewess named Esther. An authority before us 
 courteously says, " The beauty of the Polish Jews, both men 
 and women, is remarkable, partly as the characteristic fea- 
 ture of their nation, and partly as an endowment which they 
 share in common with the population of that interesting 
 country," and further compliments them on their extraordi- 
 nary sagacity, which, we presume, will not be disputed. The 
 condition of the Jews in those countries was not unfavorable, 
 at least tolerable. They enjoyed the protection of their 
 kings, and, with exception of the usual restraints, were under 
 the general law. Banishments and persecution rarely oc- 
 curred, except by an invasion of Tartars and Moscovites. 
 
 They were allowed to have their synagogues and talmudi- 
 cal schools, and even the civil and criminal judicature over 
 their own people was left in the hands of their rabbinical 
 leaders. The royal protection was here also more of a rea- 
 
Ill 
 
 lity and more effectual than in the German states. Any 
 infraction of their rights was duly punished, and at the call 
 of " Help !" during the night, the neighbors were required by 
 law to give their assistance or be accountable for the results 
 of their neglect. Though excluded from many profitable 
 pursuits on account of not being admitted to the guilds or 
 corporations together with the Christians, they could peace- 
 fully follow the trades of baker, butcher, brewer, tailor, shoe- 
 maker, and the like. The government found these regula- 
 tions to its interest, since the Jews were more profitable to 
 the community as merchants than as mechanics. It was 
 considered a peculiar privilege to the Jews in Poland that 
 any of their nation who embraced Christianity and distin- 
 guished himself in the army became by right a noble ; and 
 to this day many of the Polish nobility acknowledge their 
 descent from Jewish families. Privileges, elsewhere con- 
 ferred upon the nobility alone, were in this country granted 
 even to unbaptized Jews. In the Sclavonic countries the 
 Jews continued for centuries to form an essential element 
 of society by means of their extraordinary activity. They 
 formed the middle class between the nobility and the rest 
 of the inhabitants who were no better than serfs, and com- 
 merce and retail trade were entirely in their hands. But they 
 were not always exempt from false accusations and conse- 
 quent persecution. Thus in 1541 they were accused of 
 having been the cause of a series of incendiary fires which 
 at that time desolated Bohemia, and they had already re- 
 ceived or lers from the emperor to leave the country, when 
 fortunately the real culprits were discovered and the Jews 
 cleared from guilt. Soon after a new persecution was raised 
 with threats of expulsion ; while an inquiry was set on foot 
 whether the Jewish prayer-book contained curses against 
 the Christians. They gained but little in being absolved 
 from this new accusation, for a decree of banishment was 
 on the point of being hurled against the whole community, 
 
112 
 
 when one of them, Mordecai Temak, obtained the interven- 
 tion of Pope Pius IV., and by this means averted the execu- 
 tion of the decree. Another disaster was, about the same 
 time, added to their misfortunes by a fire which at Prague 
 consumed the whole Jewish quarter, and when in 1648 the 
 inhabitants of Prague had to defend their city against the 
 Swedes, the Jews suffered much from the bombardment of 
 the city by the enemy ; their quarter having been most ex- 
 posed to the attack, but when the war was over, the emperor 
 bestowed much praise upon the Jews for their efficient ser- 
 vices in the erection of fortifications and batteries, and their 
 general zeal and activity in the defence of the city, and pre- 
 sented them on the occasion with a clock to adorn their 
 synagogue. When peace was established, the Jews gained 
 permission to take part in the public festivities, and join the 
 procession with two banners which had on a former occasion 
 been presented to them by the emperor of Germany. The 
 same year, however, brought great calamity on all the inhab- 
 itants of Poland in consequence of an insurrection of the 
 Cossacks, caused by some oppressive measures adopted by 
 Vladislaus. The Jews seemed to be the especial object of 
 their fury, and suffered fearfully. Scarcely a town in Poland 
 which did not share in the disaster, and great numbers of Jews 
 were driven from their homes to seek a refuge among stran- 
 gers ; many of them could not find a resting-place until they 
 reached Holland or England. The year 1744 seemed likely 
 to bring upon the two hundred thousand Jews of Bohemia 
 a catastrophe more terrible than any they had experienced 
 for the space of two centuries a banishment in perpetuity 
 from that country. The States-General of the Netherlands, 
 at the request of the synagogue of Amsterdam, took a lively 
 interest in their case, and, supported by the English govern- 
 ment, succeeded in making manifest the innocence of the 
 Jews, and -persuading the emperor to reverse this terrible 
 
decree not, however, before thousands of Jews had left the 
 country. 
 
 The Jewish population of the countries now under dis- 
 cussion was made up of emigrants from different lands. 
 The Hungarian Jews came mostly from Italy, the Polish 
 from Germany, while the Bohemian and Moravian com- 
 munities consisted of Jews from France and Italy ; but we 
 find no accounts of very early Jewish settlements in Russia 
 or in the Muscovite territory. Peter the Great admitted 
 them in his domain, but in the reign of Elizabeth (1745) 
 their residence in Russia was again forbidden on account of 
 a correspondence which had been discovered with the exiles 
 of Siberia. The large portion of the Jewish population of 
 Poland which is under the sceptre of Russia has been often 
 tyrannized over, but never driven out by the government. 
 
 We hear also of another part of Russia in which a body 
 of Jews have not only existed, but attained destinction in a 
 peculiar manner. In the Ukraine they have devoted them- 
 selves to agriculture and the study of natural history, and 
 are said to have attained a high degree of civilization. Also 
 in the Crimea there have long been whole villages of Jews 
 distinguished by their prosperity and mental culture. One 
 peculiar feature in the history of Jewish population of Poland 
 is, that some of them belong to the sect of Karaites. It 
 appears that still greater favor was shown them than to the 
 rabbinical Jews because of their aversion of the Talmud. 
 The Karaites seem to have come into Poland from Tar- 
 tary ; and King Stephen in the year 1578 issued an edict in 
 their favor. Before the beginning of the seventeenth century, 
 Prague was the principal seat of rabbinical learning. It 
 was there that the celebrated R. Jacob Falk taught, and 
 gained renown by introducing a new method of debating and 
 sifting, requiring the scholars to dispute, if necessary, with 
 the master every minor point of the subject under discus- 
 
H4 
 
 sion, in order thereby to sharpen their wit and allow full 
 scope to their mental powers. The peculiar way of intona- 
 tion or chanting in the study of the Talmud is also ascribed 
 to this master. In Prague also flourished R. David Ganz, 
 author of a well-known work, " Zemach David," on Jewish 
 history and chronology ; 'R. Judah Bezalel, R. Mordecai 
 Jaffe, and many others. Also Bohemia had its distinguished 
 academies during the same period ; but at the commence- 
 ment of the seventeenth century, the seminaries of Poland 
 rivalled and subsequently surpassed their sister-colleges, and 
 from that time forward supplied the German congregations 
 with teachers and Rabbis. We must not omit to observe 
 here that the studies pursued in colleges, and more espe- 
 cially the Polish, were confined almost exclusively to the 
 Talmud ; besides the great waste of time given to the study 
 of Cabbalah, and even worse than waste, for this study laid 
 a strong foundation in the student's mind for the reception 
 of superstitious ideas : for the belief in the supernatural, 
 power of talismans, amulets, and the like. And herein we 
 notice the striking difference between the Spanish and Portu- 
 guese schools and those of Poland and Germany. While 
 the latter occupied themselves with the hairsplittings of the 
 most trifling phrases of the Talmud, trie best result of which 
 was that it sharpened the senses, the former combined 
 with a study of the Talmud that of Jewish theology, a search- 
 ing into the spirit of the Jewish religion, the writing and the 
 study of commentaries on the Scriptures, poetry, and, what 
 is by no means the least, an earnest and steady application 
 to the sciences. That these were thus better fitted for a 
 social intercourse with their Christian fellow-men, and gained 
 a better reputation as accomplished scholars, while the others 
 by their superstitious practices often exposed themselves to 
 accusations of using magical spells drawn from the Talmud 
 to the injury of Christians, need hardly be said. 
 
SHABBETAI ZEBI AND JOSEPH FRANK. 
 
 The following account will serve as an illustration of the 
 pernicious results proceeding from a partiality for the Cab- 
 balah, though the hero of our story issued not from Poland 
 or Germany, but from Turkey. In 1625, Shabbetai Zebi was 
 born at Smyrna. In childhood already he gained the admira- 
 tion of his circle on account of extraordinary intelligence and 
 cleverness ; at fifteen he was considered a perfect Talmudist ; 
 and at eighteen commenced his career as a teacher of the 
 Cabbalah to which he drew large audiences of disciples. He 
 made himself conspicuous by frequent fasting and bathing, 
 often at the mysterious hour of midnight, in which ablutions 
 his disciples joined ; gradually he assumed the character of 
 a saint or a prophet. The story runs that he was endowed 
 with extraordinary personal beauty which, in spite of his 
 severe penitential practices, increased from day to day, and 
 that his presence imparted a delightful perfume which was 
 owing, he said, to his having been anointed by the Patriarchs. 
 At the age of twenty-four he declared himself the Messiah 
 who would soon deliver Israel from the oppression of Christ- 
 ians and Mussulmans, and in token of his authority he ven- 
 tured to pronounce the name Jehovah, which was then con- 
 sidered one of the boldest crimes a Jew could perpetrate. 
 His fame began to spread far and wide, but the saying that 
 " nobody can be a prophet in his own place" held good in 
 this case also, for the rabbinical authority of Smyrna declared 
 him an impostor and an outlaw, authorizing any one who 
 dared to take his life, and declaring themselves prepared to 
 pay the fine which the government would impose for such 
 an act. Hereupon the man fled to Salonica, where he was 
 honored by the populace, but likewise denounced by the 
 rabbis. Again he was obliged to flee from place to place 
 until he reached Jerusalem, where he contrived to remain 
 
u6 
 
 for a number of years promulgating his cabbalistic ideas. 
 After living for fourteen years in comparative obscurity, he 
 reappeared in his native city, where he was now received 
 with great enthusiasm. People came from all points to do 
 homage to the Messiah. The fanaticism rose so high in the 
 community that young men and women felt elated beyond 
 themselves, joining in song and dance to the honor of the 
 great prophet. Even his opponents had changed sides to a 
 considerable extent. At last the report of his doings and his 
 pretentions reached the sultan, who ordered his arrest. When 
 the royal messenger appeared before Shabbetai to seize him, 
 he himself was so over-awed that he dared not lay hands on 
 him and returned trembling to his master. A second officer 
 was sent, but with the same result. Shabbetai then had the 
 good sense to surrender himself; he was admitted to the pres- 
 ence of the monarch, and the man before whom so many 
 had trembled, stood himself dumbfounded in the presence of 
 the grand seignior. Being ignorant of the Turkish language, 
 a Jewish apostate was appointed as interpreter. The sultan 
 asked of Shabbetai if he was the Messiah ; he stood in trem- 
 bling silence. The sultan then proposed a practical test of 
 his messianic qualities; he said he would shoot three poisoned 
 arrows at the Messiah, and if these would leave him unhurt 
 he would acknowledge his title and join in his ranks. The 
 cowardly Messiah, seeing the sultan in earnest and fearing for 
 his life, snatched a turban from one of the pages and put it 
 on his head, exclaiming, " I am a Mussulman," stating at the 
 same time that he had only waited for so favorable an oppor- 
 tunity to publicly embrace Islamism. The sultan was not 
 only satisfied with this declaration, but ordered him to be 
 treated with distinction and conferred a title of honor on him. 
 Having escaped this danger, he was yet emboldened in his 
 imposture and stated to his followers that by the will of God 
 He had thus changed, and cited Scripture and Talmud in 
 
support of his act. For some time he sustained his double 
 character with great success ; many Jews followed his example 
 and adopted Mohammedanism ; the rabbis became alarmed 
 at the result, and succeeded in laying before the sultan the 
 confusion and damage caused to their communities by the 
 strife and conversions which took place in their midst. The 
 Messiah was then seized and confined in a castle where he 
 died of a colic in the year 1676. It might be supposed that 
 the influence of Shabbetai ceased with his death. This is 
 far from being the case. His teachings became more firmly 
 rooted in the minds of his followers, and Shabbetaism forms 
 to this day a sect whose faith and practice rest on the " bruised 
 reeds " of the Zohar and the Cabbalah. 
 
 The career of another adventurer furnishes us an additional 
 and rather stronger proof of the danger and perplexity in 
 which a departure from the plain rational principles of re- 
 ligion, and a speculation of things beyond the reach of our 
 understanding will necessarily involve those who engage in it. 
 Scarcely a century after the disappearance of Shabbetai Zebi, 
 Joseph Frank, a native of Poland, and distiller of brandy by 
 trade, organized a new sect under the name of the Zoharites. 
 He publicly renounced the Talmud, rejected and burned it, 
 and in the mystical teachings of the Zohar he discovered the 
 doctrines of the trinity, of original sin, and the appearance of 
 God on earth in the person of Christ ; it is uncertain whether 
 he meant Jesus Christ or Shabbetai Christ. He readily con- 
 sented to be baptized, and had an immense number of follow- 
 ers, who did so likewise, chiefly in Poland, his principal field 
 of activity. The bishop of Camentz gave his support to the 
 matter, and the new departure gained general favor. The 
 bishop soon after died and the church of Rome, stirred up by 
 the rabbis, began to look upon this sect as dangerous, and it 
 was persecuted on account of its Jewish cabbalistic procliv- 
 ities, as it had been by the synagogue for its Christian dogmas. 
 
The government interfered ; condemned some to hard labor, 
 and others to have one side of the beard shaved to expose 
 these half-and-halves to ridicule ; while Frank was imprisoned 
 in a fortress, from which he was delivered by the Russians 
 who took the citadel in 1777. Frank now travelled through 
 Poland, Bohemia, and Moravia with a large retinue and great 
 pomp, and established himself in Vienna, where immense 
 quantities of treasure flowed constantly into his coffers, en- 
 abling him to maintain a truly royal magnificence. He died 
 of apoplexy in 1791, having attained the age of 78. With his 
 death the influx of wealth ceased ; and his sect sank into in- 
 significance, though remnants of it are still existing in Poland, 
 Moldavia, and Turkey. Quite a number of persons might be 
 named who from time to time presented themselves under 
 the claim of being the deliverers of Israel or regenerators of 
 the world at large, and who in the end proved to be either 
 wilful deceivers or deluded zealots, and not one of these 
 pretenders ever fulfilled the mission they proposed to 
 accomplish ; on the contrary, they brought about nothing 
 but disturbance, bloodshed, and utter disappointment. 
 
 JEWS IN THE NETHERLANDS. 
 
 One of the places of refuge where the Jewish exiles from 
 Spain found a safe asylum, and where they attained to 
 great opulence and distinction, is Holland. As we have not 
 hitherto spoken of their dwelling in that country, it will be 
 necessary to begin with a short account of their residence 
 there prior to the fifteenth century. 
 
 The history of the Jews in the Netherlands during the 
 middle ages is, on a smaller scale, much like that of Ger- 
 many and the north of France. They were early settled in 
 the provinces of Belgium and the northern part of the 
 Netherlands. The records of history bear witness that, 
 after the invasion of the Normans, the commerce in those 
 
provinces was all carried on by Jews, and that the entire 
 failure of trade in Liege must be attributed to their ban- 
 ishment from that city. Jews were living in Flanders 
 already at the time of the crusades. Later some fugitives 
 from France and England established themselves there. 
 They were driven out in the twelfth century, but by the 
 fourteenth had already settled there again in great num- 
 bers. In Guelderland the Jews were numerous and enjoyed 
 the protection of its counts, especially at Zutphen, Does- 
 burg, and Arnheim ; still, a noble lady of Guelderland was 
 burnt at Cologne for having married a Jew, which was con- 
 sidered a crime equivalent to adultery. In Utrecht the Jews 
 resided till 1444, at which time they were completely 
 driven out of the town; and till the revolution of 1795 ^ n 
 Holland, a residence in that city was still forbidden, though 
 they were numerous and wealthy in surrounding towns and 
 villages. But the history of the settlement of the Jews in 
 Holland becomes most important and interesting at the 
 beginning of the sixteenth century. Several families of 
 the new Christians emigrated from time to time into Hol- 
 land whenever a favorable opportunity offered, without 
 however, removing the mask of Christianity. 
 
 The first indication of their settlement in the southern 
 part of the United Provinces after the expulsion is found 
 to have been in 1516. At that time some refugees from 
 Spain petitioned Charles V., the grandson and successor of 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, for permission to reside and exer- 
 cise their religion in his dominions. Their appeal was 
 unheeded, for several edicts entirely excluded even new 
 Christians from Holland, as well as from Spain. And yet 
 many Jews were to be found in these provinces holding the 
 same position as those who remained in the peninsula. 
 Their religion was not tolerated ; but by practising it with 
 the greatest secrecy they lived and prospered under Span- 
 
I2O 
 
 ish names. Both at the court of Madrid and in the govern- 
 ment of the Spanish Netherlands at Brussels, descendants 
 of Israel were to be found, who, afterwards, renounced 
 Catholicism to make an open confession of their true faith 
 at Amsterdam. Also, during the reign of Philip II., the 
 Dutch were strictly forbidden to give an asylum to the 
 Jews; but when, in 1579, the Netherlands threw off the 
 Spanish yoke and gained their independence, which result 
 was greatly promoted by the immense riches the Jews 
 had brought into the. country, they were not only allowed 
 more freedom, but rose to high estimation. Their talents 
 and their noble descent were recognized ; their number 
 gradually increased, and their refined manners procured 
 them an introduction in the best society, so that they sub- 
 sequently became the associates of the princes and nobles 
 of the land. 
 
 Among the many families who eagerly looked for oppor- 
 tunities to escape the tyrannical despotism to which they 
 were subjected, was the family Rodriguez Lopez, of Portu- 
 gal. Lady Rodriguez sent her son Manuel, and her daugh- 
 ter Maria, who was exceedingly beautiful, in company with 
 a few others, to find a safe home in Holland. The ship 
 which conveyed them was taken by an English man-of-war 
 under command of a duke, who became enamored of 
 Maria, and offered her his hand, which, however, she 
 refused, saying she preferred to live like a Jewess. The 
 whole party were put in prison on their arrival in London. 
 The beauty of the imprisoned Jewess, and the circum- 
 stances under which she arrived, became the general 
 subject of conversation in the town, and the eccentric 
 maiden queen Elizabeth, the promoter of Protestantism in 
 England, desiring to see the young lady who was bold 
 enough to refuse a duke's hand on the ground of religious 
 principles, sent for her, and drove with her in an open 
 
121 
 
 carriage about the town. Shortly afterwards the party 
 were allowed to proceed to Holland, and landed at Emden. 
 From there ten individuals came to Amsterdam in the year 
 1594; resumed their original Jewish names, as well as the 
 open profession of their religion. They were accompanied 
 by a German rabbi of Emden, who aided and instructed 
 them, and in gratitude for his services the synagogue 
 granted him and his posterity many privileges, and a 
 perpetual right of membership. 
 
 Henry II. in 1550 encouraged many Converses, not only 
 to settle in France, but allowed them to throw off the dis- 
 guise of Christianity and establish congregations of their 
 own ; but as Holland offered better inducements for the 
 extension of their commerce, a goodly number of Jews 
 came to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, and other mari- 
 time towns, and were later joined by Converses who had 
 been driven from the peninsula by Philip III. At Antwerp, 
 the concealed Jews were quite numerous, and the ancestors 
 of many families who later settled at Amsterdam and The 
 Hague had long resided there. Among them was Don 
 Manuel Alvarez de Pinto y Ribera, gentleman of the house- 
 hold to the king of Spain and knight of the order of St. 
 James, from whom descended the family of de Pinto, well 
 known in the Dutch synagogue ; Don Francisco de Silva y 
 Solis, afterwards marquis of Montfort, who at the head of 
 his company, when serving under the emperor Leopold I., 
 contributed greatly to the defeat of the French marshal de 
 Crequi, in the campaign of 1673; Don Antonio Lopes 
 Suasso, agent of the king of Spain, and invested by that 
 prince with the barony of Avernas le Gras, in Brabant. It 
 was this baron Suasso, who, when afterwards established 
 at The Hague, offered to William III., in 1628, a million of 
 florins for his expedition to England, to be repaid only in 
 case of success. From various records of the Portuguese 
 6 
 
122 
 
 congregation at Amsterdam, it appears that in 1596, for 
 the first time, the Day of Atonement was celebrated by a 
 small number of men. The mayor of the city having sur- 
 prised the assembly, took it at first for a meeting of Roman 
 Catholics, which was at that time forbidden, but, being 
 better informed, left them unmolested. In 1598, the first 
 -synagogue was erected ; and R. Joseph Pardo, of Salonica, 
 engaged as their chief rabbi ; ten years later, another 
 synagogue, was built, and in 1618, a third. In 1639, the 
 three which had hitherto been under separate administra- 
 tion were united to form henceforward a single community 
 of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, under the name of Bet 
 Jahacob. In 1675, they erected the splendid large struc- 
 ture which now is one of the finest buildings in the city, 
 much admired by the inhabitants and by visitors from 
 abroad. It is the largest synagogue in Europe, having a 
 capacity to accommodate about 5, coo worshippers. The 
 Portuguese congregation of Amsterdam has been always 
 distinguished for the vast capital it had at command, and 
 even now we think it no exaggeration to say that its trea- 
 sure amounts to millions. The number of scrolls of the 
 law, the solid silver and golden ornaments for the same, 
 the heavy chased and very antique lavers, some of which 
 could not be bought for 100,000 florins, the splendidly 
 embroidered coverings and other temple-furniture, form 
 the finest collection of the kind to be found in any Jewish 
 congregation. The ancient burying-ground of the congre- 
 gation is still at Ouderkerk, a village about five miles from 
 town. The first man interred there was Manuel Pimentel, 
 the playmate and confidant of Henry IV., and two years 
 later the body of Elias Rodrigo Montalto, physician to 
 queen Mary of Medicis, was by order of that lady 
 embalmed and sent to Amsterdam for interment. A 
 Hebrew printing press was soon established, and some of 
 
123 
 
 the finest specimens of Hebrew printing yet extant were 
 issued there. After Amsterdam, the prosperity and esteem 
 gained by the Jews in Holland has been highest at The 
 Hague, and one of the first Israelites to whom letters of 
 naturalization were granted, in 1672, was of Polish origin; 
 his descendants, the Polak Daniels, are still living and 
 highly respected in that city. The Spanish and Portuguese 
 community of the Netherlands have been noted for the ex- 
 tensive commercial relations in which its members were en- 
 gaged with Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Levant, Brazil, etc.; 
 by an unblemished reputation for probity and honor, ever 
 accompanying their immense riches, and by the loyal ser- 
 vices they rendered in more than one critical situation to 
 the country, and to the House of Orange. It is not, there- 
 fore, to be wondered that the Dutch government appeared 
 at all times the protector of the rights of its Jewish subjects 
 among foreign powers; and to the present day there is 
 hardly any of the princes of the house of Orange and Nassau 
 who failed to pay at least one visit of ceremony to the great 
 synagogue at Amsterdam. 
 
 Among the archives of that congregation there are 
 several records showing that a correspondence was held, in 
 the year 1622, between Christian IV., of Denmark, and the 
 Parnassim (directors) of the Portuguese community, for the 
 purpose of inviting some of its member to establish them- 
 selves in his dominions, with a promise of entire liberty of 
 conscience, freedom of commerce, and special privileges. 
 Similar invitations were received from the duke of Savoy, 
 and from the duke of Modena. It is a fact that, early in 
 the seventeenth century, families and synagogues of Portu- 
 guese Jews were settled and flourishing in the Danish states, 
 chiefly at Holstein. At Copenhagen also they had a 
 community, but their settlements at Gluckstadt and Altona 
 
124 
 
 have long been their chief establishments in that part of 
 the world. 
 
 At Hamburg their well-being has been even more re- 
 markable, and the protection granted to Jewish refugees by 
 the king of Denmark seems to have been one of its princi- 
 pal causes. From the history of commerce, we know the 
 spirit of rivalry which has ever existed between this free 
 imperial city and the commercial towns of Holstein. 
 Altona in particular was feared as a rival by the magistrates 
 of Hamburg, when they beheld her enriched by the estab- 
 lishment of a Jewish population, with its wealth and 
 important mercantile connections. Notwithstanding the 
 opposition of some of the citizens and the Protestant clergy, 
 and in spite of the complaints of the emperor that a 
 city which had expelled Roman Catholics should admit 
 Jews the magistrates of Hamburg considered themselves 
 compelled, by their commercial position with respect to 
 Altona, not only to admit, but to confer many privileges 
 upon the Portuguese Jews. This social prosperity was much 
 advanced by the high honor awarded to some distinguished 
 families, who were employed as agents or residents, by dif- 
 ferent foreign powers. The kings of Denmark, the kings 
 of Portugal, and queen Christina, of Sweden, employed 
 notable members of the synagogue as their representatives 
 in Hamburg. 
 
 The success of the Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam drew 
 a great many emigrants also from Germany and Poland, 
 and the accession was so considerable that in a short time 
 the latter far outnumbered the former. The Jews of Poland 
 and Lithuania had endured great cruelties from the Cos- 
 sacks and from popular disturbances, and no less than 
 three thousand of them embarked at one time for Holland, 
 and received hospitality at Amsterdam. This increase, how- 
 ever, was far from pleasing to the Portuguese Jews. They 
 
I2 5 
 
 looked upon the new-comers as intruders, and would not 
 allow their claims to equality and fraternity. We must 
 bear in mind that the Sephardim came with great wealth, 
 with titles of nobility, with refinement and general scholar- 
 ship, and with no small share of that haughtiness so peculiar 
 to the Spanish, which spirit they especially imbibed in 
 their intercourse with the aristocracy at home. The new 
 emigrants, on the other hand, were not provided with that 
 universal passport " money ;" from generation to genera- 
 tion they had been compelled to live in exclusion ; were 
 oppressed, degraded, crushed ; and as circumstances form 
 man's character, theirs had become debased in their own 
 estimation; they had lost their self-respect. Precluded from 
 all honorable pursuits, they had been obliged to resort to 
 the meanest occupations in order to support themselves. 
 Their naturally bright intellect had been kept under the 
 bushel of cruel oppression ; .and their unqualified prejudice 
 to all that was not strictly Jewish debarred even the few 
 gleams that might have entered to enliven their spirits. 
 Hence the Portuguese Jews could not recognize in them 
 their brethren of the house of Israel. They spoke a differ- 
 ent language; neither understood the other ; and even the 
 common password, " Shemang Israel," as the Germans pro- 
 nounced it, sounded like spurious in the ears of the Portu- 
 guese. No wonder, therefore, that they not only declined 
 all association with them, but considered their presence as 
 injurious to their own interest and reputation. For a long 
 time the German Jews in Holland had to contend with 
 many difficulties, and did not obtain equality of rights with 
 their more fortunate brethren ; still they were protected, and 
 enjoyed full liberty of conscience. But they were persever- 
 ing and industrious. In 1636, permission was at last granted 
 them to appropriate to themselves a piece of ground for a 
 burial-place, and in 1656, they were allowed to erect a house 
 
126 
 
 of prayer. Thus the Jewish population of Holland was 
 divided, and to the present day consists of two distinct and 
 separate bodies. 
 
 It might be supposed that the exiles from the peninsula, 
 now transplanted on the free soil of the Netherlands, 
 would have gained new energy in the pursuit of literature 
 and the sciences; that they would have exerted themselves 
 for the benefit of their less favored brethren ; but this was 
 not so. The zeal and activity which they had formerly 
 evinced in various departments was superseded in many 
 by the indolence which accompanies an excess of luxury, 
 the result of their great prosperity and complete security. 
 Their manners changed and became more corrupt; and 
 the glory of their former greatness degenerated into an 
 object of vanity and party spirit, in which the origin of 
 these distinctions was forgotten, while the aristocracy of 
 money exercised the greatest influence. In the mean time, 
 the German Jews had learned better to appreciate the 
 blessing of liberty, and took advantage of the privileges 
 they enjoyed. They felt that they had a great object to 
 accomplish ; they advanced, while the Portuguese retro- 
 graded ; and to-day many of their members fill some of 
 the highest and most responsible offices in the kingdom, 
 while their proud brethren have little more left than the 
 boast of their past ancestral glory. 
 
 EMINENT SCHOLARS OF HOLLAND. 
 
 The degeneracy of the Portuguese Jews in Holland, 
 spoken of above, must, of course, not be suppo-sed to have 
 begun at once with their settlement in their new home ; it 
 was a thing of slow progress, and the seventeenth and 
 eighteenth centuries produced some eminent men, without 
 a notice of whom our history would be quite incomplete. 
 
 Among the great men brought up in the synagogue of 
 
127 
 
 Holland, no one has been more generally known by his 
 learning, his literary productions, and his public acts than 
 Menasseh Ben Israel. Born at Lisbon in 1604, he came to 
 Amsterdam when yet a child, with his father Joseph Ben 
 Israel, who had greatly suffered from the Inquisition, and 
 escaped with great difficulty and the loss of his whole for- 
 tune. Young Menasseh was brought up in strict Judaism, 
 and received a liberal education. Gifted with an enlarged 
 and penetrating mind, he early became familiar with the 
 elements of Jewish theology and acquired also a know- 
 ledge of the Castilian, Portuguese, Greek, Latin, and Arabic 
 languages. At the age of fifteen he was already listened to 
 with interest as a public speaker, and several prominent 
 Christian scholars, as well as Jewish, were admirers of his 
 talents. At eighteen he was appointed chief rabbi of one 
 of the three synagogues at Amsterdam, in which office he 
 continued until he was chosen as delegate of the whole 
 community to represent the same before the protector 
 Cromwell, with a view of gaining a readmission of the Jews 
 into Great Britain, the particulars and success of which 
 undertaking we will speak of further on. His son Samuel 
 accompanied him on his voyage to England, and was honored 
 by receiving the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and of 
 Medicine from the University of Oxford. R. Menasseh 
 returned in 1658, and settled in Middleburgh, where the 
 tomb of the son, who died before his father, is still to be 
 seen. Among the numerous works written by the father, 
 some in Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, or English, we notice 
 his " Treatise on the Frailty of Human Nature," and " Man's 
 Inclination to Sin," in which he combats the doctrine of Pe- 
 lagius, a monk of the fourth century, who denies original 
 sin, and asserts man's perfect freedom to choose the good 
 or evil; ''Three books on the Resurrection of the Dead; " 
 and " The Conciliator," in which he endeavors to reconcile 
 
128 
 
 the apparent contradictions of the Bible. This last work 
 gained him much reputation among Christians also, and the 
 year after its publication, a Latin translation of it by Diony- 
 sius Vossius, appeared in print. He died at Amsterdam 
 in 1659 
 
 Uriel da Costa (in Portugal called Gabriel da Costa, also 
 A Costa) was a contemporary of the above subject. Born 
 at Oporto about 1590 of noble and wealthy parents of the 
 class of New Christians, he was brought up in the Catholic 
 faith, and at the age of twenty-four held the position of 
 canon and treasurer of a collegiate church in his native 
 city. As his conscience could find no rest in the profession 
 of the Catholic religion, he determined to yield his rank, 
 his wealth, and his country in order to adopt in Holland 
 the Mosaic religion, and thus find rest for his troubled soul. 
 His mother and younger brothers, led by his influence, ac- 
 companied him on his journey to join the synagogue at 
 Amsterdam, where the family has ever since been estab- 
 lished. Da Costa, however, did not find in Holland what 
 he eagerly looked for, namely, the Mosaic religion in its 
 purity. He had left the church which he thought too much 
 burdened with Roman traditions and inconsistencies, and 
 found instead a Mosaic religion overloaded with rabbinical 
 traditions and superstitious practices. Being excommuni- 
 cated for his too liberal views, he learned to his sorrow that 
 free thought and the expression of it was as dangerous here 
 as it was in Spain. He wrote a book under the title of 
 " Examination of Pharisaical Tradition," in which he ex- 
 pressed his views on the Books of Moses as being divine, 
 but denying the resurrection of the dead, and the life to 
 come, and all rabbinical tradition. While the book was 
 circulating in manuscript among friends, Dr. Samuel da 
 Silva took up the pen and wrote a " Treatise on the Mor- 
 tality of the Soul " in order to expose Da Costa's errors and 
 
I2 9 
 
 bring him to a better conviction. The latter, however, 
 wandered still further on the path of error, and became a 
 complete deist. Tired of a contest in which all were against 
 him, and forsaken even by his nearest relations, he resolved 
 on a reconciliation with the synagogue, at least outwardly, 
 but the contest was soon rekindled, and with more fierce- 
 ness than ever. Seven years the philosopher remained in 
 seclusion. A second reconciliation followed, which was 
 effected, however, on the condition only that the unbeliever 
 should submit to the public chastisement of receiving the 
 " forty stripes save one." The penalty was inflicted, but 
 the mind of Da Costa could not bear up under such a de- 
 gradation, and a few days after this exposure he put an end 
 to his life with a pistol, leaving behind him his own biogra- 
 phy in excellent Latin, in which he protests with the great- 
 est vehemence against the proceedings of the synagogue. 
 
 Baruch (Benedict) d'Espinosa, more generally known as 
 Spinoza, was born at Amsterdam in 1632, of parents belong- 
 ing to the Portuguese congregation. He early engaged in 
 the study of theology and philosophy, and was led to 
 doubt the principles and the authority of the religion to 
 which by birth and education he belonged. He questioned 
 the public teachers, and disputed with them on points of 
 religion, and finding no satisfaction in the answers he re- 
 ceived, he candidly expressed to them his skeptical views, 
 though he did not altogether desert the synagogue and its 
 ceremonies. Every effort to induce him to give up his 
 opinions having proved unsuccessful, he was publicly cen- 
 sured and excommunicated by the ecclesiastical authorities. 
 Being now looked upon as an outcast, a fanatic was soon 
 found who thought it would be a meritorious act to rid the 
 community of so dangerous a person as Spinoza, even at 
 the risk of transgressing the sixth commandment; and one 
 evening, coming from a public meeting, the assassin met 
 
130 
 
 him, dagger in hand, which he endeavored to plunge into 
 the philosopher's breast; but Spinoza happily perceived the 
 foul attempt and escaped unhurt. Seeing the danger of his 
 position, he determined to leave his native city and went to 
 live at Rynburg, and finally settled at The Hague. He 
 voluntarily gave up his claim to any share of the family 
 property, and earned a scanty livelihood by grinding glasses 
 for microscopes and telescopes, employing every leisure 
 hour to the study of philosophy and the sciences. As his 
 talents and erudition became known, he received an invita- 
 tion from the elector palatine to occupy a professor's chair 
 in the university of Heidelberg, but Spinoza, whose only 
 wish was literary retirement, declined the offer. Baruch 
 d'Espinosa stands foremost in the rank of modern philoso- 
 phers, and may be considered, if not the founder, at least 
 the reviver in a new form of the natural theology called 
 Pantheism. We cannot now dwell at length upon Spinoza's 
 system, but will give the essence of it, as it appears from 
 his various writings. By strictly mathematical reasoning, 
 based on a few axioms, he deduces the principles that 
 " there can be no substance but God; whatever is, is in 
 God, and nothing can be conceived without God." In 
 other words, taking the ground that God is everywhere, in 
 everything, and pervades every particle of everything, he 
 concludes that God is everything, and ergo everything is 
 God. There is, therefore, but one substance with its modi- 
 fications and ramifications, having within itself the neces- 
 sary causes of the changes through which it passes ; and 
 this universal substance Spinoza calls God. Spinoza left 
 several works in manuscript as well as in print, the most 
 celebrated of which is his "Tractatus Theologico-Politi- 
 cus." Though living in complete retirement, he maintained 
 an extensive acquaintance and correspondence with friends 
 and literary men, both in his own country and elsewhere. 
 
All that is known of the private and domestic character of 
 this extraordinary man bears the same impress of calmness, 
 moderation, and dignity; and even his enemies admitted the 
 greatness of his mind and the excellence of his character. 
 Spinoza died at the early age of forty-five, in full persua- 
 sion of the truth of his system; and lest reports might be 
 circulated that he had recanted some of his opinions, he 
 charged his hostess not to allow any clergyman to approach 
 his death-bed. A monument in memory of the great phi- 
 losopher has been lately erected in the city where he 
 labored and died. 
 
 Isaac (formerly Balthasar) Orobio de Castro was the son 
 of Jewish parents who lived as new Christians at Braganza, 
 and afterwards at Malaga, where Isaac was born in 1616. 
 Having studied the scholastic philosophy, he was appointed 
 professor of mathematics in the university of Salamanca; 
 and later taught medicine and metaphysics at Seville ; 
 but had the misfortune to be accused before the inqui- 
 sition of infidelity and Judaism. Through the tale-bearing 
 of a Moorish slave, who reported that a distinction of meats 
 and other tokens of Judaism were to be met in the house, 
 Orobio fell into the hands of that fearful tribunal. After 
 he had endured three years of imprisonment and the inflic- 
 tion of the usual tortures, the Inquisition, not being able to 
 produce a confession, nor finding any direct evidence 
 against him, declared him only suspected but not convicted 
 of Judaism, and he was at length discharged; and as may 
 be supposed, seized the first opportunity for quitting the 
 Spanish territories. He first settled at Toulouse, where he 
 was appointed professor of medicine and councillor to 
 Louis XIV. and there he conformed to the religion of the 
 country; but wishing to enjoy the free exercise of his reli- 
 gion, he left France, and at the age of forty removed to 
 Amsterdam, relinquished his Christian name Balthasar, 
 
T 3 2 
 
 and submitting to the distinguishing rites of Judaism, took 
 that of Isaac. He continued to practice as a physician in 
 that city till the year of his death, 1686, and his descend- 
 ants are to this day in the capital of Holland. Among his 
 numerous polemical works in defence of the Jewish religion, 
 his controversy with Philip of Limborch was published by 
 that learned remonstrant under title of " Friendly Discus- 
 sion with a learned Jew on the truth of Christianity." 
 Other writings of Orobio against Christianity remained to 
 our day in manuscript, and have circulated so among the 
 Portuguese Jews. 
 
 The Jews of the peninsula continued to set a high value 
 upon the poetry of their ancestors, and many more names 
 might be given of persons who distinguished themselves by 
 their poetical and other literary productions. Even the 
 synagogue witnessed within its walls the representation of 
 certain pieces of poetry, much in the same fashion as the 
 ancient mystery-plays of Spain in the middle ages. Such a 
 piece of poetry, composed by Rehuel Jesurun (formerly 
 Paulo de Pina) was recited in the synagogue Bet Yahacob, 
 by several of its most learned and distinguished members. 
 In this poetical dialogue the seven mountains, Sinai, Zion, 
 Hor, Nebo, Gerizim, Carmel, and Senir (Sirion), mutually 
 dispute the right of pre-eminence, which is decided at last 
 by king Jehoshaphat. Such entertainments, however, 
 though not considered actually unlawful, were soon thought 
 inconsistent with the sacrednes of a house of prayer. 
 Among the poetical geniuses at Amsterdam we find also the 
 names of two distinguished women, Isabella Henriquez, 
 and Donna Isabella Correa; the latter wife to the lieutenant- 
 colonel Don Nicholas de Oliver y Fullana, then in the 
 Spanish service, and much esteemed as a cosmographer. 
 The interest for literary attainments, however, gradually 
 decreased, and the eighteenth century witnessed an almost 
 
133 
 
 entire extinction of poetical genius among the Spanish and 
 Portuguese Jews of Holland, nor could they in other 
 branches of science and lettters ever vie with their ancestors. 
 Perhaps the intermingling of prosperity and oppression; 
 perhaps also the climate had exercised a happier influence 
 than the repose which they afterwards enjoyed without in- 
 terruption. 
 
 RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF JEWS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 In the preceding article on the Jews in England, we 
 stated that they were banished from that country by an edict 
 of Edward I. at the end of the thirteenth century ; and we 
 know also that toward the middle of the seventeenth, the 
 Spanish Jews were firmly and extensively established in 
 Holland, where they had formed commercial relation with 
 different countries. They had long since looked for an 
 opportunity of extending their traffic to England, but as long 
 as the parliamentary act of their banishment was in force, 
 this seemed impossible. When Oliver Cromwell came to hold 
 the reins of government of Great Britain, the time seemed to 
 have arrived for the country to reopen its ports to a people 
 that had already been favorably received on the continent, 
 both by Roman Catholic and Protestant powers. For this 
 purpose the Jews of Amsterdam delegated one of their ablest 
 members, the celebrated Menasseh Ben Israel, of whose 
 character and talents we have already spoken. He present- 
 ed a petition to the Lord Protector, in which he complimented 
 him and the nation on their humanity and enlightenment, 
 and requested permission for his people to reside and enjoy 
 the free exercise of their religion in England ; and at the 
 same time issued a pamphlet to circulate among the public, 
 in which he stated the grounds upon which he based his 
 request, and the financial advantages which would accrue 
 to the nation by a consent to his proposition. Hereupon 
 
134 
 
 Cromwell called together an assembly of lawyers, clergymen, 
 and other citizens to consider the matter, but on account of 
 the hesitation and the prolonged debates of the clergymen 
 it was left undecided ; yet from time to time some Jews 
 entered quietly into the country without meeting with 
 opposition or molestation, until the reign of Charles II., 
 1666, when they were lawfully readmitted to dwell in Eng- 
 land. It is quite probable that this permission was effected 
 by the circumstance that the negotiations for the king's 
 marriage to the infanta Catharine of Portugal had been 
 carried on by General Monk, through the intervention of a 
 Portuguese Jew. It is an ascertained fact that the infanta was 
 accompanied to England by two Portuguese brothers, one 
 of whom, Dr. Antonio Mendez, had been professor of medi- 
 cine at Coimbra, and at the request of the infanta estab- 
 lished himself in London, where, from that time, both broth- 
 ers openly professed the Jewish religion. They obtained a 
 piece of ground for burial, built a synagogue, and were 
 joined by several distinguished families from Spain and 
 Portugal, but especially from Holland. Their number was 
 soon increased by other Jews from Germany and more yet 
 from Poland, who, together, formed a new congregation. 
 The presence of the Jews in England was frequently dis- 
 cussed in public, and though no parliamentary act for their 
 legal readmission was issued, still no measures were taken 
 by the government to hinder them. They were allowed to 
 remain as strangers, and were obliged to pay a capitation- 
 tax. Under James II., they obtained relief from this charge, 
 but it was again imposed under William III. Hitherto Jews 
 could not be admitted to citizenship, because they could 
 not in truth take the oath required on such occasion, which 
 prescribed the candidate to swear " upon the true faith of a 
 Christian." This difficulty was removed in 1723 by an act 
 of parliament, which allowed the Jews to omit the objec- 
 
135 
 
 tionable clause, and to be allowed henceforth to hold landed 
 property. In the American colonies, the Jews had long 
 since been admitted on a footing of equality with the Eng- 
 lish inhabitants, and in 1739, George II. declared all those 
 who had been established there for seven years as entitled 
 to English citizenship on taking the required oath with 
 the omission as granted. Thus the Jews steadily gained 
 ground in England ; still they were far yet from enjoying 
 equal rights with their Christian neighbors. In 1753 a bill 
 was brought into Parliament "granting to all Jews who had 
 resided in Great Britain or Ireland for the space of three 
 years the right of English citizenship, with the exception 
 of patronage and admission to parliament." Notwithstand- 
 ing a violent opposition both within and without the House, 
 the bill passed by a considerable majority ; but before it was 
 yet confirmed by the royal sanction, public feeling against 
 the measure was so loudly expressed that Parliament, in its 
 next session, found it necessary, for the preservation of peace 
 and order, to repeal the act ; and, what is remarkable, the 
 Jews themselves, at that time about 12,000 in number, were 
 not anxious for the success of the measure, and were rather 
 opposed to it, for fear'that such an equality might be inju- 
 rious to their religion; which fear was perhaps supported by 
 the circumstance of a prominent Jew, Simpson Gideon, 
 adopting the Christian faith, and being subsequently chosen 
 a member of Parliament. Still the Jews persevered and 
 became eminent in every commercial enterprise. They 
 aided once more in building up the financial supremacy of 
 the country, and slowly won their way to a respect that was 
 at length awarded them. Strong was the opposition on 
 the part of the churchmen and Tories, but stronger still, 
 because supported by justice, was the brilliant defense made 
 in their behalf (1830) by Macaulay and the united force of 
 the whole Liberal Party. The friends of freedom and 
 
136 
 
 humanity everywhere assumed the defence of the Jews ; 
 the conservative faction in church and state was everywhere 
 their bitterest foe. Ten times the Liberal party in the 
 British House of Commons, by great majorities, carried a 
 bill for their enfranchisement, and ten times it was thrown 
 out in the House of Lords. Long was the struggle, but 
 glorious was the victory. In 1835, one f tne leadingmem- 
 bers of the synagogue, Mr. David Salomons, was elected 
 sheriff of London, being the first Jew that ever held this 
 high office, and an act was passed by Parliament enabling 
 him to serve. Moses Montefiore, Esq., was elected sheriff 
 of London in 1837, and on the pth of November of that 
 year was knighted by the queen, being the first English 
 Jew on whom this honor was ever conferred. In 1849, 
 Baron Lionel de Rothschild was elected to Parliament for 
 the city of London, and in 1857, alderman Salomons was 
 returned for Greenwich. Rothschild was again returned for 
 the capital in 1852, and at the two general elections in 1857 ; 
 but neither of these gentlemen was able to take his seat on 
 account of the form of the oath which was still objection- 
 able to them. In July, 1858, Parliament passed an act, 
 which received the royal assent, and which by a kind 
 of compromise enabled Jews to sit in that legislative 
 body; and on the 26th of that month Baron Lionel de 
 Rothschild took his seat as the representative of the city of 
 London. In 1855, Alderman Salomons was elected Lord 
 Mayor of London, the first Jew ever chosen to that office, 
 and in 1865 Alderman Benjamin Samuel Phillips became 
 the second Jewish Lord Mayor. At last, in 1860, Parliament 
 adopted an act permitting Jewish members to omit the words 
 " on the faith of a Christian" from the usual oath, and now 
 the election of Jews to almost the highest offices of the state 
 is, so to say, of daily occurrence. The Master of the Rolls in 
 England is an officer of the court of chancery, second only 
 
137 
 
 to the Lord Chancellor ; is appointed by the crown, and 
 holds his office for life, with an annual salary of ^7,000, 
 and has the power of hearing and determining cases the 
 same as the Lord Chancellor. Sir George Jessel was ap- 
 pointed to that office in 1873, and, as if England were anxious 
 to make amends to the Jews for past injuries, Lord Bea- 
 consfield, born a Jew, though in his infancy given to the 
 Church, now virtually rules the country as the head of that 
 conservative party which was the last to persecute his race. 
 
 THE JEWS IN FRANCE AND ITALY AFTER THE MIDDLE 
 
 AGES. 
 
 Shortly after the expulsion from the Spanish peninsula, 
 many Jewish emigrants sought a refuge on the northern side 
 of the Pyrenees; and we never find that their tranquillity 
 was in any way disturbed by the French kings. Half a 
 century later, these emigrants obtained from King Henry 
 II. letters patent securing to them, under the denomination 
 of Portuguese, their entire liberty and many desirable rights 
 and privileges. These letters were registered by Parlia- 
 ment, in the year 1550. Subsequent kings confirmed these 
 rights, and at all times protected their Jewish subjects from 
 any violence on account of their religion. When the edict 
 of Nantes was revoked by Louis XIV. (1685), this legal 
 toleration seemed for a moment in danger, but no evil con- 
 sequences ensued. An effort made in the reign of Louis 
 XV., to cut short their privileges, likewise fell to the 
 ground. In consequence of the annexation of Alsace to 
 France towards the close of the seventeenth century, that 
 kingdom contained three or four different classes of Jews 
 within its territory : those who belonged originally to 
 France, those of Alsace, who were German, the Italian 
 Jews of Avignon, and the Spanish and Portuguese Jews 
 who were settled chiefly at Bayonne and Bordeaux. The 
 
Spanish exiles who established themselves in France were, 
 generally speaking, more distinguished for probity and by 
 their great wealth than, as elsewhere, for their learned 
 men and literary productions; yet some names of note have 
 already been given, and to these we may add that of Jacob 
 Rodriguez Pereira, a native of Spanish Estremadura, to 
 whom belongs the honor of having anticipated the cele- 
 brated Abbe de 1'Espee in his plans for instructing and 
 communicating with the deaf and dumb. As a recom- 
 pense, Louis XV. bestowed on him a pension of 500 francs 
 in 1751, and appointed him his librarian, and later he was 
 rewarded by a patent for the office of royal interpreter. 
 We may also mention (though not by way of eminence), 
 the famous banker, Samuel Bernard, the Rothschild of his 
 time, who joined the Catholic Church. French memoirs 
 of his time speak of the great financial services he ren- 
 dered to Louis XV., and how the haughty and aged 
 monarch might be seen condescending to conduct the 
 Jewish banker over his palace, and showing him the curiosi- 
 ties of the royal mansion, at Marly. On the annexation of 
 Alsace, Louis XIV. extended the privileges of free com- 
 merce, that had been granted to the Jews in the southern 
 provinces, also to those of Metz, for which they paid a 
 tax of forty francs annually for each family, afterwards 
 compounded for by a payment of 2,000 francs per annum. 
 Under Louis XVI. (1784), this tax was abolished, and in 
 1788, a commission was appointed, with the wise and good 
 Malesherbes at its head, to devise means for remodelling, 
 on principles of justice, all laws relating to the Jews. But 
 the revolution burst upon France before the measures 
 could be drafted, and the tribunals of the republic were 
 more rapid in their movements than the slow justice of the 
 sovereign. In 1 790, the Jews, who had watched their oppor- 
 tunity, sent in petitions from various quarters, claiming 
 
equal rights as citizens. The measure was not passed 
 without considerable discussion, but Mirabeau and Rabaut 
 St. Etienne ably pleaded their cause, and, as if by magical 
 influence, eighty thousand inhabitants of France, hitherto 
 dependent on the will and the whims of their rulers, were 
 recognized as free citizens of the great republic. It is 
 indeed to the French revolution, more than to any other 
 cause, that the European Jews owe their final and entire 
 emancipation. 
 
 When Napoleon ascended the throne, he not only con- 
 firmed the position of the Jews as being on an equality 
 with their fellow-citizens, but desired that the Jewish 
 people should speak for themselves, and declare authenti- 
 cally, upon the authority of their own law, in what relation 
 they stood to their fellow-men of another creed; what were 
 their obligations towards non-Israelites ; and whether the 
 laws of their religion required from them any duties con- 
 trary to the laws of the land they inhabited. For this 
 purpose an edict was issued (soth May, 1806), for the 
 convocation of deputies from all parts of the country, to 
 assemble at Paris and debate and decide upon certain 
 questions that should be put to them. One hundred and 
 twelve delegates met as directed, on the 26th of July fol- 
 lowing, and twelve questions were propounded to them: 
 ist, Whether, according to Jewish law, polygamy was 
 allowed? 2d, Could divorces be established, independent 
 of the state laws ? 3d, Can Jews intermarry with Christians ? 
 4th, 5th, and 6th, Regarding the relations of Jews to other 
 citizens and to their country, yth, 8th, and 9th, Concern- 
 ing the appointment and jurisdiction of the rabbis. loth, 
 Are there any professions which the Jews are not allowed 
 to follow? - nth and i2th, Concerning the laws on usury 
 between Jews among themselves, and between them and 
 others. The assembly of deputies, presided over by M. 
 
140 
 
 Abraham Furtado, entered upon the debates and sent in 
 their answers, which were entirely approved of by the 
 emperor ; and in order to give full authenticity to the 
 decisions rendered, the emperor ordered that a committee 
 of 71 members, of whom 46 were clergymen and 25 
 laymen, should be appointed, and to which committee 
 the appellation of Great Sanhedrin was given, that they 
 might ratify, in conformity with ancient Jewish usages, 
 that which had been decided by the general assembly. 
 The Sanhedrin, of course, met and ratified; and the deci- 
 sions were received with joy and acclamation ; but in 
 honest truth it must be confessed that this Sanhedrin had 
 no authority as of old to legislate for the whole nation, 
 since it represented only a small portion of the Jewish 
 body; and further, that the answers given were not without 
 some ambiguity, not without some evasion; and it is evident 
 that both the general assembly and the so-called Sanhedrin, 
 in framing their decisions, kept steadily in view the great 
 and good purpose of firmly establishing the emancipation 
 of their people, even at the sacrifice of a little honesty. 
 The excellent result, however, which followed these pro- 
 ceedings can hardly be over-estimated, as not only they 
 placed the independence of the French Jews on a firm 
 basis, but also served as an example and an impetus to 
 others. It aroused the people to a higher sense of self- 
 esteem, it gradually cured them from that detestable prac- 
 tice of usury, they applied themselves more and more to 
 labor, to agriculture, to the arts and sciences ; though a 
 special edict against usury, for those of the Rhine provinces, 
 was still deemed necessary (iyth March, 1808). Statistical 
 returns of the same year showed that of 80,000 Jews under 
 French dominion there were 1,232 landed proprietors, not 
 including the owners of houses, 797 military, among 
 whom some officers, 2,360 artisans, and 280 manufacturers. 
 
The extension of the French dominions, and the annexa- 
 tion of tributary kingdoms were highly beneficial to the 
 Jews. In Italy, in Holland, in the kingdom of Westphalia, 
 the old barbarous restrictions fell away, and the Jew 
 became a citizen, with all the rights and duties of the 
 order. 
 
 The laws of France relating to the Jews have remained 
 unaltered, with the exception of this improvement, that the 
 law of the restoration (yth Aug., 1830), which enacted that 
 ministers of the Gospel alone should be salaried by the 
 state, was modified at the accession of Louis Philippe, so 
 that Jewish ministers should thenceforth also receive a sti- 
 pend from the state. Minister Merilhou, in proposing the 
 amendment, said, "The Jews have, for the last quarter of a 
 century, in all public positions filled by them, whether 
 under our glorious banners or in the arts and sciences, or 
 in the ordinary walks of life, most nobly refuted the calum- 
 nies which their oppressors had raised against them." 
 Though the political aspects of France have changed since 
 that time, yet neither under the empire of Napoleon III. 
 nor under the present republic has the relation of the Jews 
 towards their country suffered any change, while their 
 internal condition has continued to improve with the general 
 progress of the age. 
 
 Not so favorable an account can be given of Italy during 
 the first three centuries after the reformation. It is true 
 that, in the Papal States, the persecutions of the Jews were 
 never carried to such excesses as they were in other parts 
 of Europe, and that some of the popes granted them pro- 
 tection and certain privileges, but not till within the last 
 few years can it be said that the Jews were placed on an 
 equality with their fellow-men of the other creed. As late 
 as 1823, the ordinance was renewed that the Jews must live 
 apart in a ghetto, and every Sabbath three hundred of them 
 
142 
 
 were required to attend a conversion sermon preached for 
 them. Leo XII., in 1827, was very severe towards his Jew- 
 ish subjects, and in 1829, there were brooding murmurs of 
 an expulsion from the ecclesiastical states ; which, how- 
 ever, was not effected. The French revolution of 1792 
 brought some relief also to the Jews of Italy, but after the 
 restoration they again lost ground, and as formerly, so 
 again, four elders of the synagogue were obliged every year 
 humbly to supplicate the pope for permission to reside in 
 Rome. Pius IX. abolished this custom, and further showed 
 some liberality to the Jews by allowing them the free use of 
 the city ; and on the evening of the i7th of April, 1849, the 
 ghetto was solemnly opened, as if to proclaim that hence- 
 forth the wall of separation between the Jewish quarter and 
 the rest of the city was thrown down. Still, notwithstanding 
 these indulgences, the hand of the church lay heavily upon 
 the Jews. Though the inquisition had been abolished in 
 Italy by a decree of Napoleon in 1808, the spirit of it was 
 by no means crushed even so late as 1858, when the papal 
 church was permitted to exercise its last act of bigotry 
 and cruel oppression towards a certain family under its 
 tyrannical authority. Mr. Mortara, an humble but re- 
 spectable manufacturer of Bologna, Italy, was the happy 
 father of eight children. One evening, his house was visited 
 by several emissaries of the archbishop who claimed and 
 forcibly carried away one of the children, named Edgar, a 
 boy about seven years old, on the plea that it belonged to 
 the church, and could therefore not be allowed to remain 
 under the guardianship of its Jewish parents. It appeared 
 that a servant of the family had made a confession that, 
 some time ago, she had baptized the child when it was ill of 
 a dangerous disease. When the mother saw her dear boy 
 torn from her arms, she fell fainting upon the floor, the 
 father remonstrated, supplicated, the neighborhood was 
 
143 
 
 alarmed by the cries of the children, but the heartless 
 officials were unrelenting : the child was placed in a carriage 
 and hurried off to Rome. The affected parents followed 
 him, but were not even allowed to see their child again. 
 The archbishop and Cardinal Antonelli, the pope himself 
 were appealed to ; the most tender pleadings of humanity, 
 of outraged parental feelings were employed, but they found 
 no entrance in the cold hearts of these ecclesiastics. The 
 story of the abduction of Edgar Mortara spread all over the 
 world and created quite a furore ; indignation meetings were 
 held, and the liberal press of France, England, Germany, 
 and America, even calm and enlightened Catholics de- 
 nounced the act ; but the pope refused to give up the child, 
 even at the solicitations of foreign courts and powerful 
 diplomatic influence. Edgar Mortara was brought up in a 
 convent, forgot his parents, and, ii is said, has become a 
 priest. With the fall of the papal throne (1870), God be 
 thanked, and the liberation of Italy under Victor Emanuel, 
 the Jewish inhabitants also began to share the blessings of 
 liberty. Quite a number of them now sit in Parliament, 
 some occupy professors' chairs at the principal universities, 
 and many bear titles of nobility ; while the number of those 
 who are prominent at the bar, in the pulpit, as journalists, 
 and in the learned professions generally, as well as those 
 who cultivate the liberal arts, is quite considerable. As a 
 counterpoise to the affecting Mortara story we have just 
 related, we take the following from the "Archives Israel- 
 ites," i5th of September, 1871. On the i4th of June, a 
 noisy crowd assembled in that quarter of the city of Rome 
 called Moriti, in front of a convent appropriated as a refuge 
 for neophytes. The entrance was guarded by a number of 
 soldiers and policemen, and the doors having been forced 
 open by order of the city authorities, three nuns came forth 
 who entered a close carriage, and drove away under a strong 
 
144 
 
 escort of police. The fact was this. A Jewish girl, 
 daughter of Samuel Ascarelli, of Nettuno, had been enam- 
 ored of a young Christian, and in order to remove every 
 obstacle to her marriage on the part of her father, resolved 
 to become Catholic,, and was aided by the clergy to go to 
 Rome and reach the convent above named. It was not 
 until after several weeks and by dint of diligent searching 
 that the father discovered the whereabouts of his daughter; 
 but his request to see and communicate with her was posi- 
 tively refused, and he was told that he could not possibly 
 see her until after she should have received baptism. It 
 proved, however, that some months ago the girl had already 
 been baptized by Vice-cardinal Patrizi at St. John de 
 Latran, since which time she had been kept at the convent. 
 According to the opinion of the sisters, marriage was out of 
 the question, and Enrichetta Ascarelli would have been 
 made to take the veil, were it not, fortunately, that the 
 Italian laws of 2oth of September opposed such transac- 
 tions. The father now applied to the government, request- 
 ing that his daughter be restored to him, which request was 
 immediately granted. Still the clerical authorities refused 
 to recognize the decision of the court, and it was found 
 necessary to resort to forcible means. Not less than seven 
 doors had to be broken before the young lady was found. 
 She was then conducted to the mayor's office, where her 
 father awaited her, and her opinion on the matter was 
 asked. Filial affection was stronger than the pious exhor- 
 tations of the nuns, and Enrichetta laid off her monastic 
 habit and returned home with her father. 
 
 So strong has become the spirit of toleration, of freedom 
 of conscience, and of universal emancipation in the present 
 century, that even Spain and Portugal had to yield to its 
 influence ; and though the number of Jews now inhabiting 
 these countries is exceedingly limited, the laws regulating 
 
MS 
 
 their condition and the general sentiment towards them 
 have materially changed. A royal decree of i3th Novem- 
 ber, 1831, granted permission to English Protestants to 
 inter their dead in a ground set apart for the purpose; and 
 the 29th of August, 1855, a law was established in Spain by 
 which permission was granted to all non-Catholics to have 
 their own cemeteries. In 1865, some French Jews residing 
 in Spain thought it necessary to apply to the minister of the 
 interior for a similar permission, and were informed there 
 was no obstacle to their laying out a special burying ground, 
 provided that there should be no chapel on it or connected 
 with it, nor any public or private religious services held on 
 the occasion. In 1869, the provisional government under 
 General Prim virtually abrogated the decree of banishment 
 of 1492, and a petition of one hundred and forty Jews of 
 Amsterdam, of Spanish and Portuguese descent, asking that 
 this decree might be entirely repealed and the abolition of 
 it made public, was followed by an eloquent address by one 
 of the deputies, E. Castelar (i2th April, 1869), which had 
 the desired effect. In the same year, perfect freedom of 
 religious exercises throughout the dominions of Spain was 
 proclaimed, but our people have thus far scarcely availed 
 themselves of this right. We learn, however, that in Lis- 
 bon, a Jewish community of about fifty or sixty families, 
 some three hundred or four hundred souls, hold divine 
 service in a house rented for the purpose. The grand cross 
 of the order of Isabella the Catholic was, in 1872, presented 
 to Mr. D. Weisweiler, a Jewish banker connected with the 
 house of Rothschild ; and in Portugal an English Jewish 
 baronet possesses a noble estate, and bears the title attached 
 to it. It would seem, indeed, that the Spanish of the pres- 
 ent century feel ashamed of the barbarity of their ancestors, 
 and are anxious that it be effaced from man's memory ; for 
 in the same periodical from which we have just quoted we 
 7 
 
146 
 
 find the following anecdote. A French lawyer, M. Jules 
 Lan, writes that, being on a visit in Madrid, he was informed 
 that the building formerly occupied as the Holy Office of 
 the inquisition had been turned into a hotel, and its dun- 
 geons into wine-cellars. M. Lan had the curiosity to visit 
 the place, and inquiring of the proprietor as to the truth of 
 the fact, was answered that this was merely a trick which 
 his French competitors played on him, to injure the repu- 
 tation of his house ; that there never had been any inquisi- 
 tion in Spain ; that this was but one of those fanciful tales 
 invented to frighten children. 
 
 JEWS IN THE EAST. THE DAMASCUS BLOOD-ACCUSATION. 
 
 It is an admitted fact that the progress of civilization 
 has been ever tending westward, consequently the eastern 
 countries, generally, are to this day much enveloped in 
 darkness, and our brethren in that part of the world, as 
 everywhere else, sharing the influence of the country they 
 inhabit, have made but little advance. The Jews of 
 Palestine, notwithstanding the strong effort made in their 
 behalf by their brethren in the west, are almost in the 
 same condition as they were a thousand years ago. The 
 very venerable and celebrated philanthropist Sir Moses 
 Montefiore, as president of the Board of Deputies of British 
 Jews, and from the particular interest he takes in the fate 
 of the Jews of Palestine, has sacrificed a great deal of time, 
 personal efforts, and large sums of money for their benefit ; 
 the Board of Delegates of American Israelites (established 
 1859) has ever shown its readiness to promote the well-be- 
 ing of the wretched Jews of the Holy Land; the "Alliance 
 Israelite Universelle" (established in Paris in 1860) has 
 taken a deep interest in the affairs of the Palestinians, and 
 established schools, agricultural societies, and other useful 
 institutions among them ; but the results produced have been 
 
147 
 
 by no means adequate to the vast amount of labor, talent, 
 and treasure employed. These people have yet to learn the 
 lessons of independence, civilization, and the dignity of 
 manhood. 
 
 There is so much sameness in the general condition of 
 our brethren in Asia and Africa that it is hardly necessary 
 to enter into details as to their circumstances in any partic- 
 ular country. Ignorance and superstition prevail to a great 
 extent, and the Jews are often suffering from the prejudices 
 entertained against their race. Within the last few years 
 even (in 1872) we have had in Smyrna a repetition of the 
 absurd rumor that Jews need human blood for their Pass- 
 over cakes, and a Catholic journal of Tunis industriously 
 circulated and confirmed the falsehood. A similar accusa- 
 tion made in the capital of Syria in the year 1840 caused 
 such a universal sensation, and drew forth the eloquence and 
 activity of so many prominent men, non-Israelites as well as 
 Jews, that we deem it necessary to reproduce the particulars 
 of the case. A certain monk, named Father Thomas, who 
 practised medicine at Damascus, had suddenly disappeared. 
 On the 5th of February his body was found, and it was soon 
 suspected that the Jews had murdered him. A Jewish 
 barber was imprisoned, closely questioned, and put to the 
 torture. At last they drew from him a confession that some 
 of his people had tempted him by the offer of a sum of money 
 to assassinate Father Thomas. This statement, extorted 
 from a man on the rack and supported by no evidence 
 whatever, was considered enough to warrant the arrest of 
 the most prominent Jews of the community. Many of them, 
 foremost the rabbis, were put to the torture, the aged and 
 weak sank under the horrible torments inflicted on them ; 
 while others allowed a false confession to be drawn from 
 them; and some in despair embraced Islamism, though 
 most of them persisted with constancy in declaring their in- 
 
148 
 
 nocence. The furious populace, taking advantage of the 
 occasion, pillaged the synagogues, robbed the people in 
 their houses, and were not hindered but abetted by the 
 police. The French consul, Count Menton, who conducted 
 the search of the case, was cruel enough to imprison even 
 the school-children and put them in chains. The rumors 
 of the accusation spread to Rhodes and to other places, and 
 were made the pretexts for persecution even there. The 
 afflicted Jews communicated with their brethren in Europe 
 to enlist their sympathy, and immediately found a response, 
 not only in every Jewish heart, but the European powers 
 interested themselves in their behalf. England distin- 
 guished itself for its zeal in demanding an impartial exam- 
 ination of facts to show the innocence of the ill-treated 
 Jews. The emperor of Russia and the government of the 
 United States acted in concert with Great Britain, with the 
 object that henceforth such abuses and sucb horrors should 
 not be repeated. The interest and co-operation of all reli- 
 gious and political parties in England was general, and on 
 the i5th of June a large meeting was held in the synagogue 
 to devise means for the relief of the oppressed. This meet- 
 ing had decisive results. Sir Moses Montefiore, accom- 
 panied by several learned men, and furnished by his gov- 
 ernment with the necessary credentials, set out on his mis- 
 sion to Syria, and passing through France, was joined by 
 the celebrated advocate, now senator, Adolph Cremieux. 
 Wherever they came the benevolent missionaries were re- 
 ceived with enthusiasm, and all over the world public pray- 
 ers were offered for their success. On the 4th of August, 
 they landed at Alexandria and soon obtained an audience. 
 Supported by the representatives of all the European pow- 
 ers excepting France, whose government preferred uphold- 
 ing the inexcusable conduct of its consul they obtained a 
 firman from the pasha ordering the release of nine persons 
 
149 
 
 who were yet in prison at Damascus. M. S. Munk, the in- 
 terpreter of the company, having observed that the word 
 " pardon " had been used in the deed, and fearing that, if 
 allowed to pass, the question of their guilt might be consid- 
 ered as undecided, persevered in his efforts until he had it 
 altered. On the i6th of September, 1840, the liberated 
 Jews were conducted in procession to the synagogue, where 
 they wished to render thanks to God before returning home. 
 Sir Moses and Senator Cremieux took advantage of the oc- 
 casion to establish schools at Alexandria and Cairo, to pro- 
 vide for a Jewish hospital, and to procure many privileges 
 for their oppressed brethren. Our noble heroes, Sir Moses, 
 now in his ninety-seventh year, and M. Ciemieux, in his 
 eighty-fourth year, are still the ornaments of their respec- 
 tive communities and the pride of the Jewish people. An 
 account of their incessant labors for the benefit of the Jews 
 in the East would fill a volume. God bless them ! 
 
 The condition of the Jews in Persia has been hitherto 
 very deplorable, and perhaps the worst feature of the case 
 is with them, as with the Eastern Jews generally, that, in 
 consequence of their prejudices and want of enlighten- 
 ment, they often refuse to accept such assistance as the 
 European associatiors think most beneficial and most suit- 
 able to them ; they deem acceptable scarcely anything but 
 gifts of charity for immediate relief. They frequently 
 suffer, like the rest of the population, from famine, some- 
 times from earthquakes, and, in addition to this, from the 
 crushing oppression of their petty rulers. On the late occa- 
 sion of the Shah's visit to Europe (1875), various petitions 
 were offered to his majesty requesting him to ameliorate 
 the condition of his Jewish subjects ; the French and Eng- 
 lish Jewish delegations were graciously received by the 
 emperor, and the promise obtained that measures would be 
 employed for improving the condition of the Persian Jews. 
 
Similar favors were sought, and similar promises obtained 
 from the Sultan, in 1840, by Sir Moses Montefiore and by 
 M. Albert Cohn from the same monarch after the Crimean 
 war. But the greatest victory these indefatigable gentlemen 
 and the associations they represent have lately achieved is, 
 the resolutions passed by the Berlin congress (1878) in 
 which body it was unanimously decided that perfect liberty 
 of religion, and entire equality of all persons before the law, 
 should be established in the Danubian Principalities ; and 
 the venerable octagenarian Cremieux, in addressing the 
 last meeting of the "Alliance," in deep emotion and un- 
 speakable joy, announced as the result of so many years' 
 labor that "now, all over the East, liberty of religion 
 for the Jews, civil and political equality for the Jews, is es- 
 tablished ; the Jews of the Orient are now citizens in the 
 respective countries of their birth." 
 
 JEWS IN GERMANY, AUSTRIA, AND THE SCLAVONIAN 
 COUNTRIES IN THE LATTER AGES. 
 
 The emancipation of the Jews in Germany has been very 
 slow and tardy. What was established in France, as it 
 were in a moment, was not accomplished in Germany except 
 in a long series of years and through many hard struggles. 
 The example set by Napoleon in granting the full right of 
 citizenship to all Jews under his dominion was not without 
 effect upon the German states, but the Jewish inhabitants 
 of Germany, in consequence of the deep degradation to 
 which they had been so long subjected, were not quite pre- 
 pared for, nor willing to accept an entire emancipation. The 
 emperor Joseph II. was the first who evinced much enlight- 
 ened liberality in reducing the power of the Church, in 
 granting full toleration to the Protestants, and extending 
 the privileges of his Jewish subjects. In 1782, he issued an 
 edict which abolished all the old obnoxious regulations. 
 
The Jews were allowed to fix their residence in any town 
 they pleased; no more distinctive marks on the dress; no 
 exclusion from festivals and public walks ; no confinement 
 to any particular part of the town ; the military profession 
 as well as those of the law and medicine thrown open to 
 them; the right of wearing a sword, and bearing titles of 
 nobility was granted, though without the power of holding 
 landed property; all trades were permitted, though without 
 admission to the guilds; and protection to their children 
 against the proselytism of the Roman Catholics. On their 
 side the Jews were required to adopt surnames, or family 
 names ; to acquire a knowledge of and make use of the 
 German langua'ge instead of the so-called Jiidisch Deutsch j 
 and to send their children to the public institutions for in- 
 struction, whether Christian or Jewish. This edict, which 
 was received with great applause by the Jews of Germany 
 and Austria, formed quite a turning-point in their history; 
 still they, for whose benefit the edict was intended, in con- 
 sequence of their long habituated degradation, were not 
 yet ripe fully to enjoy these improvements. What the 
 emperor Joseph II. undertook in his Austrian dominions, 
 was carried out with far more beneficial results in Prussia 
 by king Frederic William II., in 1787. Under the reign of 
 his predecessor, Frederic the Great, some very curious and 
 absurd enactments regarding the Jews were in vogue. As 
 for instance, when the king in hunting had taken more wild 
 boars than could be consumed in his own household, the 
 Jews were obliged to purchase the superabundance of the 
 royal venison at fixed prices ; and as they could not use this 
 forbidden meat, they gave it to be consumed at the hospi- 
 tals. The law allowed only a limited number of Jews in 
 the kingdom and these were under the king's protection, 
 as it was called. This protection descended to one son ; 
 for the second an additional tax was demanded. This tax 
 
'52 
 
 consisted in the obligation of the father to purchase at one 
 of the royal porcelain factories 300 thalers' worth of porce- 
 lain, and that for foreign exportation. Frederic William 
 abolished these and similar arbitrary institutions, and by an 
 edict of March nth, 1812, granted to the Jews the right of 
 Prussian citizens, though not without some conditions and 
 restrictions. The French revolution, and the influence of 
 the French imperial government, considerably aided the 
 cause of the Jews throughout a great part of Germany. 
 Those inhabiting the cities on the western side of the 
 Rhine had now been fully emancipated ; the example re- 
 flected on the other side of the river, and the spirit of it 
 penetrated into the interior and to the opposite boundary 
 of Germany. Especially in Westphalia, in its capital Frank- 
 fort-on-the-Maine, were the improvements noticeable. It 
 was there that the worthy philanthropist Israel Jacobson, 
 formerly chamberlain to the duke of Brunswick, distinguished 
 himself by his unceasing efforts and very large pecuniary 
 contributions for the elevation of his co-religionists. The 
 abolition of a personal toll imposed on the Jews the same 
 as on cattle ; the prohibition of a drama in which the Jews 
 were loaded with insult and ridicule, and the endowment of 
 free schools, were some of the fruits of his benevolent 
 activity. By a decree of 27th January, 1808, Jerome Napo- 
 leon declared the Jews of Westphalia to be free citizens. 
 Besides many of the smaller states, the grand-duke of 
 Baden in 1809, the duke of Mecklenburgh-Schwerin in 1812, 
 the king of Bavaria in 1813, issued ordinances admitting the 
 Jews to civil rights. The act for the federative constitution 
 of Germany, passed at the congress of Vienna in 1815, 
 pledges the diet to turn its attention to the amelioration of 
 the civil state of the Jews throughout the empire. 
 
 That the newly acquired rights of the Jews met with 
 strong opposition on the part of a certain portion of the 
 
'53 
 
 population may be well imagined. Some of the ablest 
 writers employed their pens for the purpose of counteract- 
 ing the emancipation acts. Professor Ruhs openly declared 
 his opinion that the admission of the Jews to civil rights 
 would be pernicious, in consideration of their existence as 
 a nation ; of the inherent and deeply rooted vices of their 
 character ; and of the very nature of their religion. With 
 the exception of any attacks on the life and persons of the 
 Jews, he advocated the reproduction of those enactments 
 of the middle ages which tended to purge Christendom of 
 its Jewish population. In the absence of such measures he 
 foretold that in less than forty years all Christians would be 
 in a state of dependence on the Jews. In a like spirit, and 
 if possible more violent, one Frederick of Frankfort pub- 
 lished his opinion in an anonymous pamphlet. Many voices 
 then arose in defense of the Jews ; among themselves, 
 Zimmern, of Heidelberg, and Herz, of Frankfort; and 
 among the Christians Johann Ludvvig Ewald of Carlsruhe 
 and August Kramer of Ratisbon. While even some mem- 
 bers of the Catholic priesthood stood up in defense of the 
 Jews, Professor Paulus of Heidelberg distinguished himself 
 as the bitterest opponent of the Jews and declared his opin- 
 ion in favor of their entire exclusion. It was thus that 
 during the period of reaction from 1815 to 1830, the question 
 of emancipating the Jews considerably retrograded. Not 
 only in the monarchial states of Germany, also in the free 
 towns of Frankfort, Lubeck, and Bremen measures were 
 taken to restrict and revoke the rights of their Jewish 
 inhabitants. At Lubeck, as early as 1815, they had already 
 concocted the design to drive the Jews from the country 
 and as far as the precincts of the city were concerned, the 
 plan was carried into effect in 1819. I R other places the 
 excesses of the middle ages seemed likely to be revived ; in 
 some towns the old death-cry of " Hep, Hep " arose ; the 
 
'54 
 
 houses were pillaged and demolished, as in Hamburg, where 
 a similar outrage was repeated as late as the year 1835. 
 
 But in the year 1830, fresh revolutionary movements 
 arose in France, which spread afterwards over Europe, and 
 influenced Germany more especially. The old tendency 
 to a union of the German States under an Imperial Govern- 
 ment again revived. At this time, a second and even a 
 third generation of the liberal Jews had arisen. They were 
 no longer the same men who in the beginning of the nine- 
 teenth century had felt themselves encumbered by their 
 recently acquired rights, and who had been prevented to 
 take their position in society by the various prejudices of 
 Jews and Christians. Now, on the contrary, united with 
 " Young Germany " in a system of radical liberty, the new 
 generation of Jews enforced its claims to a complete eman- 
 cipation on the ground of its forming an integral part of the 
 nation. They maintained that, if hitherto all efforts to 
 organize for the Jews a limited and conditional equality 
 had failed, it was precisely on account of this limitation 
 that it had fallen to the ground. Then only can the Jew- 
 ish population fulfil its duty to Germany, and Germany be 
 what it should be to its Jewish and Christian inhabitants, 
 when, without any reserve or restriction whatever, liberty 
 and equality shall be insured alike to all. The question 
 was frequently discussed by the press, in the cabinets of 
 kings, and in the different assemblies in the states of Ger- 
 many, but not until the revolutionary changes of France 
 and Germany in 1848 was the emancipation of the Jews 
 effected to its full extent. Since then the relation of the 
 German Jews to their government has not suffered any 
 material change, but their internal condition has been 
 steadily improving ; and if the enfranchisement of the Jews 
 has been of a slower pace in Germany than in some other 
 countries, they surely have not been tardy in taking advan- 
 
155 
 
 tage of every step they gained. The rapid progress made 
 by them in the paths of science and literature has no 
 parallel. In medicine, astronomy, and mathematics, they 
 not only equal, but, in consequence of the progress of 
 science during so many centuries, surpass the great models 
 of their nation in Spain in the middle-ages. Rabbinical 
 theology, by reason of the multiplied studies and rigid 
 examinations exacted by the government, has assumed a 
 truly scientific character. Germany now forms the great 
 centre of Jewish learning; it is to her schools and seminaries 
 that the Jewish world partly owes its emancipation, or rather 
 its fitness for emancipation, and that we Americans are 
 specially indebted for the excellent preachers which fill our 
 pulpits, the rich literature which she has given us, and the 
 many accomplished teachers who labor in our religious 
 schools. 
 
 The Jews under the dominion of the emperor of Russia 
 have hitherto not been so fortunate as to attain to the full 
 enjoyment of their rights as citizens. Alexander, in 1805, 
 and again in 1809, granted them some privileges in pursuing 
 different branches of business and in agriculture, but in that 
 vast empire, where the subjects are at so great a distance 
 from the monarch and left to the control of subordinates, 
 and where the prejudice of the people against the Jews is 
 very strong, these imperial decrees effected little or no good. 
 The enterprise of a certain philanthropist, Nathan Funkel- 
 stein, in 1818, to establish Jewish settlements met with 
 considerable success, and found favor with the emperor, 
 who granted the new settlers an immunity of taxes for 
 twenty years. Several thousands of Jews availed themselves 
 of the opportunity, and seven villages, to which Hebrew 
 names were given, became the happy homes of these people 
 who devoted themselves to agriculture and the raising of 
 cattle. They were farmers in summer and talmudical stu- 
 
'56 
 
 dents in winter. In the districts of the Caucasian mountains 
 similar settlements were formed which became so flourish- 
 ing that several thousands of Russians embraced Judaism in 
 order to join them. The emperor Nicholas, not so favor- 
 able to his Jewish subjects, recalled into force some of the 
 old regulations which determined the residence of the Jews ; 
 drove them from the capital and many other cities ; and 
 otherwise restricted their movements and occupations. 
 The old blood-accusations, which were renewed about this 
 time, were, however, discredited and disdained by him, and 
 the instigators punished. Under the reign of the present 
 emperor, the condition of the Jews has somewhat improved, 
 owing to the general progress of the times, and more through 
 the intervention of Sir M. Montefiore and other benevolent 
 friends of humanity who interested themselves in their 
 behalf, but it is far yet from what it ought to be. The great 
 misfortune is that a very large portion of the Russian 
 population are yet in a state of semi-barbarism. General 
 education and the enlightenment of the present age have 
 scarcely penetrated these. In some parts of the country 
 no school can be found within a hundred miles or more, 
 and wherever there is ignorance, there is prejudice, there is 
 intolerance ; and considering that nearly half of the Jewish 
 population of the world, nor far from three millions, are 
 under Russian dominion, we may conclude that there is a 
 great deal to be accomplished yet, by those noble individ- 
 uals and by the various Jewish societies in Western Europe, 
 whose aim it is to ameliorate the condition of their brethren. 
 
 MOSES MENDELSSOHN AND HIS COTEMPORARIES. 
 MODERN JEWISH REFORM. 
 
 The life and labors of Moses Mendelssohn have been of 
 such great influence on modern Judaism and on Jewish 
 emancipation that we deem it necessary to devote a separate 
 
article to the same. The various causes which brought 
 about the successive changes in the condition of the Jews 
 in Germany and other parts of Europe, as the Reformation, 
 the revolutions and changes of government between 1789 
 and 1848, the accession of Napoleon and of Joseph II., all 
 these acted, as it were, from without, leaving the internal 
 state of the Jewish communities unchanged ; but the life of 
 Mendelssohn and his co-laborers mark a very decisive 
 period in the history of our nation, inasmuch as the labors 
 of these great men produced such an internal change in the 
 condition of their brethren as to make them fit recipients of 
 the emancipation that was in store for them. Let us trace 
 the life of this wonderful man through its different stages of 
 boyhood, adolescence, and manhood, like the life of a tender 
 but precious plant, whose growth we watch with solicitude. 
 Moses Mendelssohn was born at Dessau, September 6th, 
 1729. His father was in very humble circumstances and 
 earned a scanty living by teaching Hebrew and transcribing 
 the Pentateuch on parchment. Young Moses, who was of 
 a delicate constitution and somewhat deformed, received 
 his early instruction at home, but at the age of ten he had 
 already acquired such a familiarity with the Hebrew lan- 
 guage and literature that his father found it necessary to 
 place him under the instruction of an abler teacher than 
 himself. Not without emotion do we read in the history of 
 his life how, in the cold winter mornings before daybreak, 
 with scarcely clothes enough to keep him warm, the father 
 carried the tender child to the school of R. David Frankel^ 
 where Moses received his first talmudical lessons. At 
 that time he began to entertain a partiality for the writings 
 of Maimonides and especially his Moreh Nebuchim ; and 
 it was the study of these works which caused the develop- 
 ment of his philosophical genius. So intense was his 
 application to study that it prostrated him on the bed of 
 
sickness, from which he was scarcely expected to rise. His 
 teacher Dr. Frankel being called to Berlin, the boy Mendels- 
 sohn determined to follow him, and provided with but a few 
 small pieces of coin, without recommendation, without 
 friends, and with a natural timidity and averseness to ask 
 favors, he entered the metropolis of learning in search of 
 more knowledge. But there also poverty stared him in the 
 face, and though but fourteen years old, he was obliged to 
 relinquish his studies and work for a living which he but 
 scantily gained as a copyist and corrector of the press. But 
 no difficulties whatsoever could repress in Moses the indo- 
 mitable desire for learning. In his leisure hours, and often 
 after midnight, he pursued his studies, if it happened that 
 he was fortunate enough to have a lamp or candle by which 
 to read. Ever occupied with the Talmud and other Hebrew 
 works, he now began to feel the necessity of a correct knowl- 
 edge of the German which at that time was possessed by only 
 very few of his co-religionists ; and so well did he master 
 that language that his contributions to German literature 
 stand to this day as proud monuments of his genius. He 
 next thirsted for a knowledge of mathematics ; but how to 
 obtain the books, and where to find a teacher? Just then 
 he made the acquaintance of Israel Samos, a Polish Jew who 
 had been persecuted and driven from his home because he 
 had expressed too liberal opinions, and depreciated the Tal- 
 mud and some rabbinical institutions. This man came to 
 Mendelssohn one day and said, " My friend, I am without 
 money, but here I have six volumes of Euclid I wish to dis- 
 pose of, buy them of me." Mendelssohn eagerly grasped 
 the treasure, turned over leaf after leaf in deep and sad 
 silence, while the impatient visitor resumed, " I haven't had 
 a mouthful for twenty-four hours, and wish to buy a meal 
 with the proceeds of these books." " My good friend," 
 said Moses, "I am as poor as you are, gladly would I take 
 
159 
 
 the books at any price, but I have no means to buy them, 
 but here is some bread and fruit which I set apart for my 
 supper ; take it, I shall have a good meal to-morrow." " I 
 accept it; hunger knows no shame," said the other. " Now, 
 young man," continued he, after having somewhat satisfied 
 his craving appetite, " you have given me all you had, let me 
 do as much for you ; I not only give you the books, but I 
 shall assist you in studying them, for I have acquired some 
 proficiency in mathematics." The study of the classical 
 languages and authors was his next step, then of the mod- 
 ern languages, and thus our young philosopher mounted 
 step by step the ladder of science with astounding rapidity. 
 His bright intellect and the progress he had made on the 
 path of learning could not fail now to attract the attention 
 of other scholars, and he soon gained the acquaintance and 
 friendship of Lessing, Nicolai, Abbt, and other distinguished 
 German literati. His Phaedon, on the Immortality of the 
 Soul, by which he acquired the surname of "The Jewish 
 Socrates ;" his work "On the Sensation of the Beautiful," 
 and a volume of " Philosophical Dialogues " were particu- 
 larly admired, and gained for him greater fame among Chris- 
 tians than among his own people; indeed, some of his works 
 rather gave offence to the rabbis who saw in these writings 
 a deviation from orthodox Judaism. But his subsequent 
 publication of a commentary on parts of the Scriptures, and 
 other Hebrew works, and more especially his strict adher- 
 ence through life to all the observances of rabbinical Juda- 
 ism, allayed the uneasiness of his pious friends about his 
 suspected tendency to free thought. Some zealous Chris- 
 tians, in order to claim him as one of their own, have as- 
 cribed to him strong proclivities for the Christian faith, and 
 some have been bold enough to say that he embraced 
 Christianity, but these imputations are entirely without 
 foundation. Among others Lavater, the celebrated physi- 
 
i6o 
 
 ognomist, urged him to join the Church, in reply to which 
 he published " A letter," remarkable for its calm, dispassion- 
 ate reasoning, and a firm vindication of his adherence to 
 his paternal religion. Mendelssohn distinguished himself 
 by his mild, amiable disposition, and his readiness to serve 
 his friends, and by an extreme aversion to animated con- 
 troversy. In 1771, he was chosen a member of the royal 
 academy ; but the king disapproved the choice, on hearing 
 which, Mendelssohn mildly said, " Better the academy 
 think me worthy of membership and not the king, than if 
 the case were reversed." The scriptural passage, "The 
 man Moses was very meek," may be very properly applied 
 to him. Mendelssohn died January 4th, 1786, deeply la- 
 mented by the literary world and a host of admiring friends. 
 The fruitful results of this great man's labors upon Jew- 
 ish society can hardly he overestimated, and to appreciate 
 them we must consider that the Jews of that period es- 
 pecially in Germany lived, as we before observed, in a 
 state of exclusion. Hated and repulsed by their neighbors, 
 and withdrawing themselves from the world around, they 
 lived in the midst of society as a separate body, enjoying 
 the satisfaction that, under the rule of Providence, they 
 were not excluded as unworthy, but kept apart as a sacred 
 people. Hence all intercourse with strangers, except as 
 their pecuniary interests for self-preservation required it ; 
 all familiarity with what was not strictly Jewish, they thought 
 an infraction on their religion ; in short, all that was not 
 Jewish was anti-Jewish to them. It was the task of Men- 
 delssohn to remove this deeply rooted impression ; to show 
 the people that there were things worth knowing besides 
 the Pentateuch and the Talmud. This he did, not so much 
 by preaching or teaching, as by his own example ; by diving 
 into the depths of philosophy and metaphysics, and attract- 
 ing to himself the master spirits of the age, and yet remain- 
 
ing in practice an orthodox Jew. We look upon Mendels- 
 sohn as the first mover of modern Jewish reform, yet he did 
 not propose to introduce anything like reform such as we 
 have it now. Had he made the attempt, he would have ac- 
 complished nothing, just as many well-meaning men frus- 
 trate their own plan by attempting to do too much. Men- 
 delssohn did for his people just as much as was necessary 
 and suitable for the time : he removed the first barriers that 
 separated them from their fellow-men; he bridged the 
 chasm that lay between them by making them acquainted 
 with their native language in its purity through the very 
 channels of the Holy Scriptures, of which he furnished an 
 elegant and correct German version. Even that brought 
 down upon him the censure and anathema of some benighted, 
 over-pious rabbis, who burnt some of his Bibles in the court- 
 yard of the synagogue at Prague. But his works spread, 
 nevertheless, and were received with favor, not only in 
 Germany, but in Holland, France, England, and Italy like- 
 wise. Thus Mendelssohn awakened in his people a desire 
 for knowledge, a taste for branches of learning hitherto un- 
 known to them; he opened for them the road to mental im- 
 provement, to refinement, to civilization. And when the 
 question is asked, " What good has reform done to Judaism ?" 
 it may with justice and propriety be answered that it has 
 rendered the Jews fit to receive the blessings of entire and 
 universal emancipation, which otherwise would have been 
 as indeed in the beginning it was to them an embarrass- 
 ment, a burden, rather than a blessing. 
 
 The good work which Mendelssohn had begun was taken 
 up also by several of his cotemporaries, among whom we 
 notice especially the following : Hartwig Wessely (born 
 in Hamburg, 1725, and died 1805) distinguished himself 
 by his zeal to promote reform among his co-religionists. 
 Being engaged in a business-house at Amsterdam, he em- 
 
162 
 
 ployed his leisure hours in study, and acquired several 
 modern languages, but excelled in the knowledge of Hebrew. 
 He wrote several useful books, among which his " Hebrew 
 Synonyms" is well known and appreciated. Not being 
 successful in business, he consoled himself by following the 
 path of literature ; went to Berlin, and formed an intimate 
 acquaintance with Mendelssohn, and, like the latter, adhered 
 closely to the synagogue. He interested himself particu- 
 larly for education, and, in consequence of the edict of 
 toleration by Joseph II., being asked to furnish a plan for 
 regulating the new schools to be established, he gave it as 
 his opinion that the study of the Scriptures should be made 
 primary, and the Talmud secondary; and that a secular 
 education should be joined to the religious. This called 
 forth a severe condemnation from the pens of the Polish 
 rabbis, but Wessely's plan was adopted. His fame as a 
 Hebrew poet stands high, and his epistolary publication in 
 favor of the training and instruction of youth are consid- 
 ered valuable contributions to the cause of Jewish reform. 
 
 Isaac Euchel, born at Konigsberg in 1756, was an excel- 
 lent scholar of the same period, and in the knowledge of 
 Oriental literature excelled even Mendelssohn. He was 
 the first who undertook a German translation of the Jewish 
 liturgy, urging the necessity of people understanding their 
 prayers. He wrote a translation and commentary on the 
 Proverbs of Solomon, and a biography of his friend Men- 
 delssohn. This clever and talented author also was obliged 
 to support himself by trade till the time of his death which 
 happened in 1804. 
 
 David Friedlander, born at Konigsberg in 1749, was 
 another of those friends of Mendelssohn who, by their in- 
 defatigable activity and valuable works, acquired a name 
 among their brethren in Germany. He settled in Berlin in 
 1780, and lived in society with the most distinguished per- 
 
sons of his age, both Christians and Jews, without ever 
 losing sight of the main object he had in view, viz., to seek 
 the improvement of his nation by every means in his power. 
 With this view he translated several German classical works 
 into Hebrew, and several portions of the Bible into German. 
 He also made an improved translation of the prayers, and 
 by the establishment of schools for the poor he conferred a 
 benefit which long survived him. Always active, sometimes 
 too precipitate in his zeal for a true and thorough reform of 
 Judaism, some of his writings, in which he vigorously opposed 
 existing prejudices and abuses, elicited severe criticism- 
 When Frederic William II. issued orders for the ameliora- 
 tion of the Jews in his kingdom, and desired a statement of 
 the opinion of the Jews themselves on the subject, Fried- 
 lander, who presided over a committee appointed for the 
 purpose, drew up a document in which he displayed unusual 
 vigor and ability. He candidly stated the faults and defi- 
 ciencies which still prevailed among his people; the connec- 
 tion of these with the imperfect state of freedom the Jews 
 hitherto enjoyed; and the disadvantage to the state of hav- 
 ing in its midst a class of people who cannot enjoy an 
 equality of rights with their fellow-citizens. Even to the 
 advanced age of seventy-five, Friedlander ceased not to 
 labor in the cause of his people in the different relations in 
 which he was placed or to which he was called. His long 
 career of activity and usefulness closed in the year 1834. 
 
 The seeds sown by Mendelssohn in the field which his 
 friends and followers continued to cultivate now began to 
 produce fair and abundant fruits. The spirit of learning 
 and investigation which he had awakened began to spread 
 widely among the new generations ; many applied them- 
 selves to the study of polite literature, and the production 
 of many a profound scholar who became the pride of his 
 nation was the result of the initiative steps taken by our 
 
 ! 
 or THC 
 
1 6 4 
 
 great reformer who has been justly styled "The third 
 Moses." We have already made mention of the enlight- 
 ened and wealthy gentleman, Israel Jacobson, who at his 
 own expense established a seminary in Cassel. He it was 
 also who first introduced reform into our synagogue-service. 
 He erected an elegant temple, and inaugurated it with pom- 
 pous ceremonies on the zyth of July, 1810, and it was there 
 that after eighteen centuries the sound of instrumental music 
 and a well regulated choir was again heard to accompany 
 the prayers of a Jewish congregation who were delighted 
 and edified by what we may call an indispensable concom- 
 itant of divine worship. In the absence of a regular min- 
 ister, Mr. Jacobson often ascended the rostrum to address 
 his friends, and thus set an example to others who not un- 
 frequently entertained the audience with eloquent discour- 
 ses. Urged by political circumstances, Mr. Jacobson moved 
 to Berlin and there established a synagogue on a small 
 scale and on the same principles as that in Cassel ; where 
 some changes were introduced, and some German prayers 
 substituted for the Hebrew. In 1819, a reform temple was 
 established at Hamburg, where Dr. Kley, and afterwards 
 Dr. Salomon, both profound scholars and eloquent preach- 
 ers, enlightened their audiences with stirring and impres- 
 sive discourses. The liberal movement spread further and 
 farther, and with the immigration of Germans into America 
 was introduced into this country, where daily it gains 
 strength and stability. Outside of these countries there 
 exists very little reform yet in Jewish congregations. In 
 London, in the year 1840, a number of Jews, at the head of 
 whom stood Sir Isaac L. Goldsmith and other prominent 
 gentlemen, organized a reform congregation, and called it 
 " The Congregation of British Jews." The Rev. D. W. 
 Marks was elected and is yet their chief pastor; and later, 
 a congregation on the same principles was formed at Man- 
 
Chester. In the new grand temple at Paris, an organ and 
 choir, and some slight changes in the ritual have been 
 introduced, and also in the West Indies some congregations 
 have adopted a certain reform. The rest of the Jews in 
 Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as a number of congre- 
 gations in this country, still cling to their traditional prac- 
 tices and their ancient rituals. 
 
 JEWS IN AMERICA. 
 
 Shortly after the discovery of the New World, a few Jews 
 sought a refuge there from the oppression of the Inquisi- 
 tion, which was then in full force in Spain and Portugal. 
 We know that their first settlement was in Brazil, whither 
 it is said, in 1548, a great number of New Christians were 
 sent as a kind of banishment by the Portuguese Govern- 
 ment. There they successfully cultivated the soil, and first 
 planted the sugar-cane. Nothing more definitely is known 
 about their names, numbers, or particular places of resi- 
 dence, and it is not until a good many years afterward that 
 we have any better information about the Jews settling in 
 America. In 1624, a number of French Jews came to 
 Brazil, and together with others who had already lived on 
 the continent for years, formed a new colony with David 
 Cohen Nassi at their head. These were later joined by 600 
 emigrants from Amsterdam, under the leadership of two 
 rabbis, Raphael Moses de Aguilar and Isaac Aboab. As 
 this colony began to acquire a greater degree of influence 
 than the Catholic Government of Portugal could well tol- 
 erate, measures were proposed to check the increase and 
 power of the Brazilian Jews; but the conquest of the coun- 
 try by the Dutch brought about a complete change, entirely 
 favorable to the Jewish population. The Dutch Govern- 
 ment, and especially the new governor, John Maurice de 
 Nassau, encouraged them by the entire toleration of their 
 
i66 
 
 religion, and by every mark of distinction and courtesy. 
 The States-General passed an ordinance, in 1645, in which 
 " the persons, goods, and rights of the Jews in Brazil were 
 taken under the special protection of the government, 
 because of the fidelity and courage which that nation had, 
 on every occasion, displayed towards the said government." 
 The records of history bear witness how much the Jews 
 distinguished themselves by their valor, both at the time 
 of the conquest and in the defence of Brazil by the Dutch 
 against the Spanish and Portuguese. One de Pinto was 
 killed at his post while bravely defending one of the for- 
 tresses ; and in the trying times of 1645 and 1654, great 
 services were rendered by the family Cohen, who supplied 
 the troops with provisions and ammunition. Out of this 
 Brazilian colony grew another settlement, at Cayenne. The 
 Dutch West India Company, by an edict dated i2th 
 September, 1659, granted to David C. Nassi, above named, 
 extensive rights and liberties at Cayenne for himself and 
 companions. This congregation was increased by the arri- 
 val of several families from Leghorn, but its progress was 
 hindered by the war, first with Portugal, and then with 
 France, which took the country in 1664. Finding their posi- 
 tion too uncomfortable, the Jews of Cayenne broke up 
 en masse for Surinam, whither they were attracted by en- 
 couraging promises of Lord Willoughby who, in 1662, 
 obtained from Charles II. a charter for the colonization of 
 that country ; and in three years the banks of the river in 
 Surinam were adorned with forty or fifty plantations, and a 
 Jewish population of about four thousand. They were on 
 a footing of perfect equality with the English inhabitants ; 
 and when in 1666 the Dutch government made themselves 
 masters of that colony, the rights of the Jews were entirely 
 confirmed. At this time also a considerable number of 
 Jewish families went to form a colony at Jamaica, where the 
 
i6 7 
 
 cultivation of the sugar-cane was very much improved, 
 owing to their settlement on the island. There are at 
 present two congregations, one Portuguese and one Ger- 
 man, at Kingston, and smaller Jewish communities at 
 Spanishtown and Montego Bay. In 1652, the island of 
 Curaao, situated a few miles to the north of South Amer- 
 ica, was, as it is now again, under dominion of the Dutch 
 government, and a large tract of land was granted to Joseph 
 Nunes de Fonseca and others to found a colony of Jews in 
 that island, but the attempt failed, there being no more than 
 twelve settlers on the tract. Later, however, they became 
 numerous and flourishing, and in the beginning of the eigh- 
 teenth century they built the first synagogue, which was 
 soon replaced by a larger and much better one. In 1863, 
 a considerable number of families seceded from the old 
 community to form a congregation on reform principles, and 
 two years later erected a handsome temple, in which it is 
 the privilege of the writer now to officiate as minister. 
 
 It is well-known that in 1614 the Dutch took possession 
 of what was then called Manhattan Island, now New York. 
 This was not done by the Dutch government, but under 
 its sanction by an association of prominent merchants at 
 Amsterdam who had formed a company under the name of 
 The West India Company. We have already seen that the 
 Spanish and Portuguese Jews, who had found an asylum in 
 Holland, were wealthy and enterprising; and some of them 
 were not only shareholders to a large amount, but also di- 
 rectors of the West India Company. The object of this 
 company was ostensibly to promote the settlement of new 
 countries, and for the general purposes of traffic; but in 
 reality was organized to secure pecuniary gain by the cap- 
 ture of the richly laden Spanish vessels, and by the seizure 
 of Spanish and Portuguese possessions in the West Indies 
 and in South America. At one time this company had no 
 
i68 
 
 less than seventy armed vessels in its service. In 1630, 
 Bahia, or St. Salvador, then the capital of Brazil, was cap- 
 tured by its fleet, and for twelve successive years afterwards 
 its conquests were frequent and important. About this 
 time, however, a treaty of -peace was concluded between 
 the Dutch and the Portuguese governments ; and when in 
 1654 Brazil was re-taken by the Portuguese, the Jews were 
 ordered to leave the country, under protection, however, of 
 the authorities, and with permission to take with them all 
 their property ; the viceroy granted them further time to 
 arrange their affairs, and thirty vessels to convey them to 
 Holland. Most of these emigrants returned to old Amster- 
 dam, while a few of them set sail for New Amsterdam, now 
 New York ; and it appears that this was the first arrival of 
 Jews within the limits of what is now called the United 
 States. Only twenty-seven of them, men, women, and chil- 
 dren, arrived here in the bark St. Catarina; and it seems 
 that they were in a destitute condition, or that they had 
 been obliged to leave in great haste, for upon their arrival 
 their goods were sold at auction for the payment of their 
 passage, and the amount realized being insufficient, two of 
 their number were kept in custody; but as no further pro- 
 ceedings appear on the records, the matter seems to have 
 been amicably arranged.* 
 
 Stuyvesant was then governor of New Amsterdam, and 
 on many occasions showed his hostility to the Jews. He 
 wrote to the home government, requesting "that none of 
 the Jewish nation be permitted to infest New Netherland." 
 The answer was worthy of Holland, " that his request was 
 inconsistent with reason and justice." Still the Jews were 
 frequently annoyed by the authorities and the people ; and 
 finding their new abode uncomfortable, a number of them 
 
 * From a lecture by Judge Daly, published in the Jewish Times, 
 Vol. IV., Nos. 15-21. 
 
169 
 
 went to Newport, Rhode Island, where religious freedom 
 was made a fundamental principle of the commonwealth; 
 and we find it recorded that, in 1657, a number of Jews 
 from Cura9ao also made Newport their home. Stuyve- 
 sant's letter, instead of having the effect he desired, had an 
 opposite result, for it stirred up the Jewish members of the 
 West India Company to ask for better protection and priv- 
 ileges for their brethren in the New World, and a special 
 act was issued to that effect. In 1656, the first Jewish burial 
 place in New Amsterdam was established on a piece of 
 ground granted them for that purpose. In 1664, the city 
 was taken by the English, and received the name of New 
 York. As the Jews had to struggle with many difficulties, 
 their number did not increase for some time, still they per- 
 severed in their efforts to establish their religious union as 
 well as their worldly interests, and in 1695 a house on 
 Beaver street, between Broadway and Broad street, was 
 fitted up as a place of worship, with a congregation of 
 twenty families. About the year 1728, a small stone struc- 
 ture was erected for a synagogue in the lower part of the 
 town in Mill street, which street has since disappeared from 
 the map. The congregation was called Sheerith Israel, and 
 is the same Portuguese congregation well-known in that 
 city. In the year 1733, a small number of Jewish families, 
 about forty-five souls, immigrated from London and settled 
 in Savannah, Georgia, where they landed on the nth of 
 July of that year. They were nearly all of Spanish or 
 Portuguese descent, and soon formed themselves into a re- 
 ligious body or congregation. Later, some of these emi- 
 grants went to Charleston, South Carolina, and subse- 
 quently to other States, and from time to time many other 
 families were induced to come to these shores from differ- 
 ent parts of the world, and in this manner the number of 
 Jews in this country increased, until they assumed the im- 
 7 
 
170 
 
 mense number and the high standing in which we now find 
 them. 
 
 It would be an interesting study to trace the history of 
 the Jews in the United States from the earliest date to the 
 present time; but we have not now at hand the resources 
 for such a compilation, nor would the limits of this SYNOP- 
 SIS permit us to expatiate; we will, therefore, content our- 
 selves with giving a few interesting collateral facts. 
 
 It is a singular coincidence that the same year in which 
 happened the terrible catastrophe of the expulsion of the 
 Jews from the Spanish peninsula, was the year of the dis- 
 covery of the New World; that the same power which 
 brought on that misfortune, was also instrumental in finding 
 an asylum for all who might be persecuted for the sake of 
 their religion; and again that the same period which saw 
 in Europe the important political changes tending to the 
 emancipation of the Jews, was also the period in which the 
 Federal Union shook off all foreign trammels, and finally 
 declared all the inhabitants of the land as equal before the 
 law. It was natural that the Jews of America, who now 
 enjoyed perfect freedom, should commiserate their breth- 
 ren who still groaned under the weight of oppression. 
 Among the philanthropists who felt so inclined we notice 
 particularly the benevolent Judge Mordecai M. Noah. In 
 the early part of the present century, Mr. Noah had been 
 United States consul at Tunis, and was eye-witness of the 
 degradation and suffering to which the Jews under the 
 crescent were yet subject. His kind heart yearned to do 
 something for the alleviation of their misfortunes, and he 
 devised the noble, though premature plan of an emigration 
 of those eastern Jews on a large scale. The Judge was 
 proprietor of a beautiful and fertile island called Grand Isl- 
 and, situated by the Niagara River and Falls, which land 
 had been ceded to the Judge by the State of New York, in 
 
liquidation of a debt due to him. There he proposed to 
 establish a Jewish colony under the governorship of a judge 
 of their own nation, and in 1825 actually laid the founda- 
 tion of a city which was to bear the name of Ararat, allud- 
 ing to the mount where Noah's ark rested. He issued a 
 proclamation to the chiefs of the principal Jewish commu- 
 nities in Europe, styling himself "by the grace of God, the 
 first Judge in Israel," and asking his friends to promote 
 the grand undertaking. In order to give more publicity to 
 the project, he arranged for a grand and pompous proces- 
 sion, under the accompaniment of music and military parade ; 
 the principal personages being dressed in black with red 
 velvet and ermine cloaks, and headed by himself as " The 
 Judge/' On account of the numerous attendance, the fes- 
 tivity was held, not on Grand Island, but in the city of 
 Buffalo; they assembled in one of the churches, where di- 
 vine service was held, after which the Judge ascended the 
 pulpit and delivered a stirring address on the re-generation 
 of Israel and the approach of the messianic time, to which 
 he considered the present movement as preparatory. Had 
 the well-meaning Judge been satisfied with a more modest 
 beginning, the enterprise might have met with some success, 
 while the very grandeur he wished to impart to it seems to 
 have killed it in the bud. In 1843, the same gentleman 
 projected a plan for the establishment of a Hebrew College 
 in the United States, which plan, though apparently more 
 feasible, was likewise premature and failed of success. The 
 question has since been frequently discussed, and experi- 
 ments to establish such a seminary have been made in New 
 York and Philadelphia, but neither met with sufficient sup- 
 port. In 1873, however, the " Union of American Hebrew 
 Congregations " has been inaugurated, and in connection 
 therewith, as the principal object of the Union, a " Hebrew 
 Theological College " has been opened. This institution is 
 
172 
 
 founded on a pretty solid basis and promises good results. 
 The establishment of the " Union" and the ''College" is 
 due chiefly to the energetic labors of the Rev. Dr. Isaac M. 
 Wise, who is now president of the Seminary and occupies 
 one of the professor's chairs, without accepting any remu- 
 neration for his services. The " Board of Delegates of 
 American Israelites," of which we made mention before, 
 was called into existence at the time of the Mortara abduc- 
 tion, and had for its object the concentration of the Ameri- 
 can Jewish communities for the purpose of amelioration, 
 protection, and education among the Jews wherever found. 
 During the twenty years of its existence, it has done very 
 good work abroad as well as at home, but being superseded 
 by the establishment of the "Union" just mentioned, the 
 " Board " has last year (1878), by mutual agreement, ceded 
 its functions to that institution and dissolved. Among the 
 numerous benevolent institutions formed in this country 
 within the past forty or fifty years, the Bene Berith fraternity 
 deserves particular mention. From a small beginning in 
 the city of New York, in 1843, it has gradually increased, 
 and now extends all over the United States, and counts its 
 members by thousands. Its object was and is still, to pro- 
 mote union of feeling and union of action among American 
 Jews, and it has accomplished much in that direction. It 
 has borrowed something of the Masonic society in the man- 
 ner of conducting its meetings and the mutual recognition 
 of its members; but its outside workings in providing for 
 the widows and orphans, not only of its own members, but 
 of all needy Israelites, establishing hospitals, orphan asylums, 
 and homes for the aged and infirm in different parts of the 
 country, have been productive of unspeakable benefit. 
 
 These and similar institutions have contributed a great 
 deal to establish concord among our people, and are an evi- 
 dence to prove this fact that while preserving the chief 
 
173 
 
 traits of our character, and adhering to the principles of 
 our religion, we can yet mix in friendly intercourse with 
 persons of a different creed ; that we can be truly Jews and 
 at the same time citizens of the world. This, indeed, ap- 
 pears to be the providential dispensation, that the Jew 
 should be a true cosmopolitan ; Vfot the Jewish race, as if 
 an exception to all other races, flourishes in every climate, 
 and is as vigorous and as prolific in the frosty north or the 
 American wilderness as it was in the genial climate of Spain, 
 or on the hot plains of Mesopotamia. ) The expulsion from 
 the Spanish peninsula, like the dispersion of the people from 
 Palestine, seems to be intended to teach us that a perfect 
 concentration, an entire exclusion of our race, is no part of 
 the divine economy; that the command given to Abraham 
 " Get thee out of thy country . . . and I will make of thee a 
 great nation . . . and thou shalt be a blessing " is still applic- 
 able to his remotest offspring. And among the many les- 
 sons which a careful study of our history affords, this ap- 
 pears to be one, that the presence of Jews in the New 
 World almost simultaneous with its discovery, is but another 
 step in the long march of the wandering Jew, which is to 
 continue until the time when Jehovah shall be Ruler over 
 all the earth, and his Unity be universally acknowledged. 
 
SECOND PART. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF 
 
 Some of the Mosaic Laws. 
 
INDEX 
 
 TO EXPLANATION OF MOSAIC LAWS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction, . . . . . . .179 
 
 Distinction of clean and unclean animals. . . . 182 
 
 Prohibition of eating blood and fat, .... 185 
 
 Not to seethe a kid in its mother's milk, . . . 188 
 
 The manner of slaughtering cattle, .... 190 
 
 Heterogeneous mixtures, ..... 192 
 
 Exchange of male and female apparel, . . . .193 
 
 The manner of shaving the head and beard, . . . 195 
 
 The Nazarite, . . . . . .196 
 
 Divination, witchcraft, etc., . . . . . 198 
 
 Not to kindle fire on the Sabbath, . . . .201 
 
 Sacrifices, ....... 205 
 
 The making of fringes on the garments, .... 208 
 
 The phylacteries, . . . . . . 211 
 
 Writing on the door-posts, . . . .213 
 
 Swearing. Taking an oath, ..... 215 
 
 The right of primogeniture, . . . . .221 
 
 The levirate law, . . . . . . 223 
 
 Beheading the heifer, ...... 226 
 
 The rebellious son, ...... 228 
 
 Taking a bird's nest, ...... 229 
 
 The Sabbatical Year and the Jubilee, .... 230 
 
 The leprosy, . . . . . . 233 
 
 Not to add to the law, nor diminish from it, . . . 236 
 
179 
 
 EXPLANATION 
 
 OF 
 
 SOME OF THE MOSAIC LAWS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The great purpose of the Mosaic institution was to 
 abolish all idolatrous worship, which in the early ages of 
 the world was universal, and to train th'e Jewish people 
 gradually to the service of the true God; that they might 
 stand as a model of purity and rectitude, and be as an in- 
 strument in the hands of the Creator for the ultimate per- 
 fection of mankind generally. To accomplish this end, it 
 was necessary, first of all, that Israel should be separated 
 from the heathen nations among whom they lived, and that 
 they should be different in their laws and customs, so as to 
 lessen as much as possible their intercourse with other peo- 
 ple. To this effect, Moses endeavored to make them an 
 agricultural people, prohibiting them to make an absolute 
 sale of their lands; he endeavored to discourage commerce 
 with strangers by giving them rules of life which would 
 render it inconvenient for them to live among other nations; 
 he opposed emigration by making it the duty of all males 
 to appear three times a year at the temple in Jerusalem; 
 and he discouraged the spirit of conquest beyond Palestine 
 by forbidding the king " to multiply to himself horses, silver, 
 
i8o 
 
 and gold," and by the absence of a standing army. These 
 and many other civil and political regulations apparently 
 had no connection with the religious sentiments of the peo- 
 ple; yet in the Mosaic legislation politics and religion are 
 so closely interwoven as to be virtually one and the same, 
 since all the ordinances were delivered in the name of God, 
 and a sense of man's obligation to obey God is religion. It 
 is to be further observed that in the Mosaic Books if we 
 except the announcement of God's Unity there are no 
 articles of faith, nor is the observance of the precepts con- 
 nected by the law-giver with a recompense in a future life; 
 no relation established between the temporal and the eter- 
 nal; no connection between man's present conduct and a 
 spiritual reward. This, it would seem, was taken for grant- 
 ed, a necessary consequence. All mankind believed that 
 their prosperity or adversity in life depended upon the ob- 
 servance or non-observance of certain religious duties; some 
 believed also that the soul is immortal and that felicity or 
 suffering in a future existence were dependent on man's 
 good or bad actions in this life, and it is reasonable to think 
 that the Israelites shared this belief. Moses declared 
 simply that, if the Israelites obeyed the will of God, it should 
 be well with them, and they should live happy, and if they 
 failed to do so, they should feel the direct consequences of 
 their misconduct, to show them that they were under the 
 special supervision of their Creator, and to show the world 
 a living example and positive proof that God rewards the 
 good and punishes the evil. 
 
 The object of the Mosaic dispensation, then, being to pu- 
 rify the Hebrew people from idolatrous and immoral prac- 
 tices, the purpose of the following discussions is to explain 
 in what manner the precepts could accomplish this object. 
 The laws prescribed are quite numerous, and there are 
 many for which we cannot find any apparent cause, unless 
 
we penetrate into the study of the condition and the cir- 
 cumstances of the Jewish people at the time those laws 
 were prescribed to them. Some rabbis expressed the opin- 
 ion that many laws were given without any particular pur- 
 pose, except to try the obedience and fidelity of the people, 
 and to the end that they should, at all times and in all their 
 actions, how trifling soever, be reminded of the duties God 
 imposed upon them. Some maintained even that it would 
 be a depreciation of the divine commands to subject them 
 to mere human reasoning, while their exalted divine origin 
 is more apparent when the human mind cannot penetrate 
 into their causes. The great and deeply learned Rabbi 
 Moses Maimonides, however, took great pains to show that 
 all the Mosaic precepts have their causes and their utility; 
 and that none of them proceed from the mere arbitrary will 
 of God. "The general intention of the law," says Mai- 
 monides, "is twofold, namely, to promote the soundness 
 of the body, and the soundness of the mind ; but the latter," 
 says he, "is by far the most important." Now, as the hu- 
 man mind, generally, had been much perverted by super- 
 stition and by idolatrous practices, it was, as we said, the 
 chief purpose of the Mosaic institutions to eradicate all 
 ideas and all practices connected with idolatry or false 
 worship, and to impress the Israelites with this great fun- 
 damental truth that God is One, that he is the sole Creator 
 and supporter of all things existing; and that to him alone 
 we owe reverence and obedience. 
 
 There is much difference of opinion among men of letters, 
 whether the laws of Moses were quite original, or whether 
 he borrowed them from the Egyptians and other nations by 
 whom they were surrounded. But although the preponder- 
 ance of argument is in favor of their originality, yet it is 
 almost universally conceded that several of the Mosaic in- 
 stitutions were but modifications of more ancient established 
 
182 
 
 laws or usages, or improvements thereon, and that some 
 such laws or customs were continued in accommodation to 
 the sentiments and habits of mind of the people who had 
 so long been attached to those customs that it would have 
 been impossible at once to wean them therefrom, unless 
 God would have, in a supernatural manner, changed their 
 heart and mind. This was especially the case with regard 
 to the institution of sacrifices, but it is apparent in various 
 other instances, as we shall hereafter explain. On the 
 whole, however, we cannot but admire the wisdom of the 
 great legislator, and are forced to admit that, in laying be- 
 fore Israel this excellent code of laws, so admirably suitable 
 for the time and country in which they lived, Moses must 
 have been inspired with superior wisdom ; though the 
 modest teacher disclaims all credit for himself when he 
 says, "Behold I have taught you statutes and judgments 
 such as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should 
 do so in the land whither ye go to possess it." 
 
 EXPLANATION OF MOSAIC LAWS. 
 
 " These are the animals which ye may eat among all the beasts that 
 are on the earth." Lev. xi. 2. 
 
 The eleventh chapter of Leviticus is almost entirely de- 
 voted to a statement of the distinguishing marks by which 
 the clean and unclean animals, that is, those which are suit- 
 able or unsuitable for food, may be known ; to an enumera- 
 tion of those that might appear doubtful, and of the birds 
 which are considered unfit to be eaten ; as also of the fishes 
 and reptiles, and some that pollute even by the touch. 
 From this chapter, and from the repetition of it in Deut. xiv. 
 it appears that quadrupeds are considered as clean or 
 suitable when they have cloven hoofs and chew the cud; 
 fishes having fins and scales are allowed for food; birds are 
 not distinguished by any marks, but the carnivorous or the 
 
birds of prey are forbidden. Of serpents, worms, and in- 
 sects, all that creep or have more than four feet are prohib- 
 ited locusts excepted. The reason for the prohibition 
 of those animals named or designated has been the subject 
 of much discussion among literary men, but the principal 
 one, and the one on which all are agreed, is, that they are 
 unwholesome for food. As we have nothing new or original 
 to offer on this subject, the best information that can be had 
 will be gained by culling some extracts of commentaries of 
 the ablest writers, both Jews and Christians, on the matter. 
 First of all, Maimonides * says briefly, " All those kinds of 
 food which are forbidden in our law are unwholesome." R. 
 Levi, of Barcelona, says, " As the body is the seat of the 
 soul, God would have it a fit instrument for its companion, 
 and therefore removes from his people all those obstruc- 
 tions which may hinder the soul in its operations; for 
 which reason all such meats are forbidden which produce 
 impure blood." A learned Christian commentator f ob- 
 serves, " While God keeps the eternal interests of man stead- 
 ily in view, he does not forget his earthly comfort ; he is at once 
 solicitous both for the health of his body and his soul. He has 
 not forbidden certain aliments because he is a sovereign, but 
 because he knew they would be injurious to the health and 
 morals of his people. Solid-footed animals, such as the 
 horse, and many-toed animals, such as the cat, etc., are here 
 prohibited. Beasts which have bifid or cloven hoofs, such 
 the ox, are considered as proper for food, and therefore 
 commended. The former are unclean, /. <?., unwholesome, 
 affording a gross nutriment, often the parent of scorbutic 
 and scrofulous disorders; the latter clean, /. e. t affording a 
 copious and wholesome nutriment, and not laying the foun- 
 dation of any disease. Ruminating animals, /. *., those 
 
 * Moreh, Ch. 23. f Dr. Clark's Comment, on Lev. xi. 
 
184 
 
 which chew the cud, concoct their food better than the 
 others which swallow it with little mastication, and there- 
 fore the flesh contains more of the nutritious juices, and is 
 more easy of digestion, and consequently, of assimilation 
 to the solids and fluids of the human body. On this ac- 
 count they are termed clean, /. <?., peculiarly wholesome and 
 fitforfood. . . . On the same ground he forbade all fish that 
 have not both fins and scales, such as the conger, eel, etc., 
 which abound in gross juices and fat, which very few stom- 
 achs are able to digest. A very able French writer* says, 
 "One of the most distinguishing traits in the character of 
 Moses as a legislator, and one in which he was the most 
 imitated by those who in after-ages gave laws to the eastern 
 world, was his constant attention to the health of the people. 
 He forbade the use of pork, of the hare, etc., of fish with- 
 out scales, whose flesh is gross and oily, and all kinds of 
 heavy meat as the fat (the suet) of the bullock, the kid, and 
 the lamb; an inhibition supremely wise in a countrywhere the 
 excessive heat, relaxing the fibres of the stomach, rendered 
 digestion peculiarly slow and difficult." "The flesh of the 
 eel and some other fish," says Larcher, "thickened the 
 blood, and by checking the perspiration, excited all those 
 maladies connected with the leprosy; " and even goes on so 
 far as to suppose that this was the reason why the Egyptian 
 priests proscribed certain kinds of fish,\and caused them to 
 be accounted sacred, the better to keep the people from eating 
 so unwholesome a kind of food. Plutarch gives a similar 
 reason for swine being held in general abhorrence by them, 
 notwithstanding they sacrificed them at the full moon to 
 the Moon and to Bacchus. "The milk of the sow," he re- 
 marks, " occasioned leprosy, which was the reason why the 
 Egyptians entertained so great an aversion for this animal." 
 
 * M. de Pastoret, Moise considere, etc., ch. vii., p. 528. 
 
1 85 
 
 Several other non-Jewish as well as Jewish commentators 
 express similar views regarding the Mosaic distinction be- 
 tween clean and unclean animals ; among others, Michaelis 
 observes, " That in so early an age of the world we should find 
 a systematic division of quadrupeds, so excellent as never 
 yet, after all the improvements in natural history, to have 
 become obsolete, but, on the contrary, to be still considered 
 as useful by the greatest masters of the science, cannot but 
 be looked upon as truly wonderful."* 
 
 "It shall be an ordinance forever for your generations, in all your 
 dwelling-places, that ye eat not any fat nor blood." Levit. iii. 17. 
 
 The above is but one of the many passages in the books 
 of Moses where the eating of fat and of blood is forbidden; 
 and from the urgency and the frequent repetition of the 
 command, we may judge that Moses desired to impress it 
 strongly on the people's mind that a total abstinence from 
 these things was necessary, as, on account of their strong 
 propensity to use it, they were prone to recur to the error, 
 and because the injuries resulting therefrom were manifold. 
 This we shall find to be the case especially with regard to 
 the use of blood, and therefore we shall treat of that first. 
 
 The reasons for the prohibition of eating blood may be 
 divided into moral and physical. From a moral point of 
 view it was interdicted : ist, to prevent idolatrous practices. 
 Blood used to be sacrificed to demons, and eaten by the 
 offerers in order to seek association or communion with 
 devils. Maimonides has stated at large the superstitions 
 of the Zabii in offering blood as a sacrifice to the infernal 
 objects of their worship, and R. Moses Bar Nachmanf says, 
 " They gathered up blood from the devils, their idol-gods; 
 and then came to themselves and ate of that blood with 
 
 * Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, vol. iii., art. 204. 
 f Comment, on Deut. xii. 23. 
 
i86 
 
 them as being the devils' guests, and invited to eat at the 
 table of demons, and so were joined in federal society 
 with them; and by this kind of communion they were able 
 to prophecy and foretell things to come." Horace* gives a 
 satirical description of similar practices among his country- 
 men ; and in the sacred books of the Hindoos there is a 
 "sanguinary chapter," in which a minute description is 
 given how blood is to be offered to the goddess Chandica, 
 and the result produced by such oblations when the blood 
 is drawn from certain animals, and even from persons. 2d. 
 The use of blood was forbidden to prevent cruel practices, 
 such as eating raw flesh, especially of living animals. Plu- 
 tarch, in his discourse of eating flesh, informs us that it was 
 customary in his time to run red-hot spit through the bodies 
 of live swine, and to stamp upon the udders of sows ready to 
 farrow, to make their flesh more delicious; and Herodotusf 
 says that the Scythians, from drinking the blood of their 
 cattle, proceeded to drink the blood of their enemies ; and 
 this is done even now among the New Zealand savages. We 
 read also of a people east of Waday, in Africa, whose great- 
 est luxury was feeding on raw meat cut from the animal 
 while warm and full of blood ; and the celebrated traveller 
 Bruce relates with minuteness the scene which he wit- 
 nessed near Axum, the ancient capital of Abyssinia, when 
 some travellers he overtook seized the cow they were driving, 
 threw it down, cutting steaks from it, ate them raw, and 
 then drove on the poor sufferer before them. To oppose 
 such horrible cruelties, it was wisely ordained by Moses 
 thit the Israelites should altogether abstain from blood. 
 
 But the use of this article was forbidden also from a 
 physical point of view, and, 
 
 i st. Blood affords a very gross nutriment, and is very 
 
 *Sat. vii.,Lib. i. f Lib. iv. 
 
.8 7 
 
 difficult of digestion, and if taken warm or in large quanti- 
 ties, may prove fatal, particularly bulls' blood; which was 
 given, with this view, to criminals by the Greeks ; and 
 we read of Themistocles having purposely drunk a bowl of 
 ox-blood during a sacrifice, which produced his death. 
 
 2d. Those nations which feed largely on flesh without a 
 proper admixture of vegetable food are observed to be remark- 
 ably subject to scorbutic diseases; and if physicians are 
 right in ascribing such tendency to animal food in general 
 when too freely eaten, especially in hot climates, it must be 
 acknowledged that the grosser and more indigestible juices 
 of such food must have the greatest tendency to produce 
 such injurious consequences ; and blood, as the grossest of 
 all, be the most inimical to health and soundness. 
 
 We now come to consider the other part of the text, the 
 prohibition of fat. And here it is necessary to observe that 
 the Hebrew word Cheleb cannot be understood to mean all 
 fat, for it would be almost impossible to obtain meat from 
 which every particle of fat were extracted, just as it would 
 be impossible to extract all the blood, except it be done by 
 a chemical process, and it cannot for a moment be supposed 
 that this was the intention of the law. The prohibition 
 has, therefore, been interpreted, and universally adopted to 
 mean, that which is properly called suet, that is, the harder 
 and less fusible fat about the kidneys and the loins, while 
 that which is closely intermixed with the flesh, and forms, 
 as it were, part of it, is allowed. And this appears clearly 
 from Lev. iii., where the kind of fat which is to be offered 
 on the altar is exactly described, while the other part was 
 allowed to be eaten. The reason for -the prohibition is 
 simply, as Maimonides says, "that such fat is heavy, hard 
 to digest, and generates thick and cold blood, and is, there- 
 fore, more fit to be burnt than to be eaten. 
 
 "The first fruits of thy land shalt thou bring to the house of the 
 
i88 
 
 Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk," 
 Ex. xxiii. 19 and xxxiv. 26. 
 
 , This text is repeated in its entirety as is seen above, and 
 both times it occurs in connection with the observance of 
 the three festivals, and the appearance of every male 
 Israelite at the Temple. The second half of the text, relat- 
 ing to the seething of a kid, is again repeated in Deut. xiv. 
 2 1, and there it appears in connection with things forbidden 
 to eat. 
 
 There is no regular division or classification in the 
 Mosaic laws ; they appear promiscuously throughout the 
 Pentateuch ; and the connection in which a certain com- 
 mand is found with preceding or following passages is, there- 
 fore, not .always sufficient to determine its meaning. Still, 
 we need not quite abandon the common rule of interpreta- 
 tion, that u the sense of a passage of Scripture is illustrated 
 by the context," especially when we find passage and con- 
 text exactly repeated ; and we mean to apply the rule here. 
 Few, if any, of the Mosaic laws have been more perverted 
 and misunderstood, and carried to a further length than 
 this one. The prohibition of seething a kid has been inter- 
 preted as meaning any kind of meat ; its mother s milk, to 
 mean the milk of any animal ; from seething together we 
 have gone to the prohibition of eating together ; and from 
 eating together to that of eating any meat and any milk within 
 six hours of each other; and still further, even to keep 
 utensils and dishes altogether separate for the use of the 
 one and of the other. Now let us see what the commenta- 
 tors say. Our great Maimon, following, or rather averse to 
 opposing, the rabbinical interpretation says,* " Meat eaten 
 with milk appears to me to have been prohibited, not 
 merely because it afforded gross nourishment, but also 
 because it savored of idolatry; some idolaters probably 
 * Moreh, Ch. xxiii, 
 
1 89 
 
 doing so in their worship or at their festivals. And I am 
 the more inclined to this opinion from observing that the 
 law, in noticing this practice, does it twice immediately 
 after having spoken of the three solemn annual feasts ; as 
 if it had been said : When ye appear before me on your 
 feasts, ye shall not cook your food after the manner of the 
 idolaters who are accustomed to this practice. This reason 
 appears to me of great weight, although I have not yet found 
 it in the Zabian books. In another chapter* of his Moreh, 
 when treating of superstitious practice, at planting and 
 grafting trees, the same author says, " The ancient idolaters 
 stated in their books that it was a practice among them to 
 suffer certain things to putrefy or rot, and then, when the 
 sun was in a certain position, to sprinkle, accompanied with 
 particular magical rites, about the fruit-trees which had 
 been planted, imagining that if this was done by the man 
 who planted it, it would cause it to flower and bear fruit 
 earlier than others usually do." 
 
 And that which Maimonides did not find in the Zabian 
 books, another doctor has found in another book ; and the 
 information he gives us on the subject just forms the connect- 
 ing link between the two explanations of Maimonides just 
 quoted, and forms one whole for the elucidation of our 
 point. This scholarf gives the following extract from an 
 ancient Karaite comment on the Pentateuch, which at once 
 illustrates these magical sprinklings and explains one of the 
 Mosaic precepts. " It was a custom of the ancient heathen, 
 when they had gathered in all their fruits, to take a kid and 
 boil it in the dam's milk, and then in a magical way to go 
 about and besprinkle with it all their trees, and fields, and 
 gardens, and orchards ; thinking by this means they should 
 
 * Chapter xii. 
 
 f Dr. Cudworth, quoted by Dr. Townley, *' Researches," p. 365. 
 
190 
 
 make them fructify and bring forth fruit again more abun- 
 dantly the following year ; wherefore God forbade His 
 people, the Jews, at the time of their ingathering, to use any 
 such superstitious or idolatrous rites."* The rabbis, who 
 base upon this text the prohibition of eating meat and milk 
 together, say that "Kid includes the young of the bovine 
 kind, of sheep and of goats, unless it is specified as a kid 
 of a goat." But Aben Ezra, a more reasonable and inde- 
 pendent commentator, says, "This is not so, for nothing is 
 called kid except the young of the goats, and in Arabic, the 
 word has the same significance, and is never applied to any 
 other species. . . . It is by tradition that the rabbis received 
 that Israel should not eat meat with milk." From the fore- 
 going we conclude that, as the first part of the text relating 
 to the bringing of the first fruits to Jerusalem has ceased 
 for us, so is the prohibition spoken of in the second part 
 of the text not applicable to us, since idolatrous practices 
 are virtually abolished from our midst, and the regulations 
 of keeping meat and milk strictly separate are, therefore, 
 without any proper foundation in the Mosaic code. 
 
 " If the place which the Lord thy God may choose to put His name 
 there, be too far from thee, then mayest thou slaughter of thy large and 
 small cattle which the Lord has given thee, as I have commanded thee, and 
 thou mayest eat in thy gates to the full desireof thy soul." Deut. xii.2i. 
 
 The whole fabric of rabbinical ordinances concerning the 
 manner of slaughtering cattle and fowls, on which volumes 
 have been written, is based solely and entirely on two words 
 (in Hebrew) of the text here quoted ; but the fabric is so 
 frail that it vanishes by the very touch. These two words, 
 rendered in English, " as I have commanded thee," are taken 
 as a basis, and the inference drawn therefrom is this: Since 
 it says, " Thou shalt slaughter of thy cattle ... as I com- 
 
 * See also Brande, art. Ambarvalia. 
 
191 
 
 mand thee,'' we ask, Where do we find that the Lord com- 
 manded how to slaughter cattle ? Answer nowhere in the 
 Scriptures : ergo, Moses must have received oral instruc- 
 tions concerning the manner of slaughtering. Now, this 
 whole reasoning is founded on the presupposition that Mo- 
 ses received from God oral instructions besides the laws 
 committed to writing; and that the words, " as I command 
 thee," re'fer to the manner in which cattle are to be killed. 
 But neither is true. That additional laws, not found in the 
 Pentateuch, were revealed to Moses,(is a mere supposition 
 assumed to give weight to all rabbinical institutions and 
 consider them as divine ;)and, "as I commanded thee," 
 refers not to the manner of slaughtering, but to a passage 
 in the preceding paragraph (verse 15 same chapter), where it 
 is already stated that cattle not intended for offerings " thou 
 mayest slaughter and eat in all thy gates " (not thou shalt 
 slaughter), and need not be brought to the Temple. The 
 quintessence of our text then, expressed in modern style, 
 would be this : When you shall be settled in Palestine, 
 where the Temple will not be near to you as is now the 
 tabernacle, then you may slaughter and eat of your cattle 
 in your own towns as you like, as I commanded you above 
 (verse 15). And we find further support for our interpreta- 
 tion in the text following the one we are describing, viz., 
 " As the gazelle and hart are eaten, so mayest thou eat 
 them." This explanatory text is given chiefly to say that, 
 even as the gazelle and the hart are never brought to the 
 Temple, so your cattle for home consumption need not be 
 brought there. At the same time we may draw the compari- 
 son in full, and learn from it that even as the gazelle and 
 the hart are not killed by cutting the throat, but by shooting 
 (see Lev. xvii. 15), so your cattle at home may be killed in 
 any manner you choose. We do not at all dispute the pro- 
 priety of the Jewish manner of slaughtering and examining 
 
192 
 
 the entrails, when considered as a sanitary regulation, and 
 from the consideration of preventing cruelty to the animal 
 by giving it as little pain as possible, but we maintain that 
 there is no basis for it in the Mosaic laws. 
 
 "Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind; thou shalt 
 not sow thy field with mingled seed; and a garment of mixed texture 
 (of wool and linen) shall not come upon thee." Lev. xix. 19. 
 
 The above contains three prohibitions, the second and 
 third of which are repeated with some variation in Deut. 
 xxii. 9-11. 
 
 We pass over the first of these three without any expla- 
 nation because of the delicacy of the subject, and because 
 what is to be said of the other two will serve at the same 
 time to explain the first. But there is another kind of ad- 
 mixture yet to be mentioned, which, though not named in 
 the text, is supposed to be included in the second, and that 
 is, the grafting of trees. 
 
 Among the ancients, idolatry was much mixed up with 
 agriculture, as Maimonides informs us, because they, in their 
 ignorance of the relation of causes and effects, finding that 
 the growth of plants depended much on the sun and moon, 
 believed that these and other orbs were intelligent beings 
 who, at pleasure, caused the fruitfulness or barrenness of 
 the land, and therefore ought to be worshipped. From this 
 ill-grounded belief resulted all sorts of superstitious prac- 
 tices, some most ridiculous and abominable, and for which 
 it is often very difficult or impossible to account. One of 
 these superstitious ideas was the mixture of seeds, of ani- 
 mals, and the materials for garments, in order thereby to 
 represent the different conjunctions of the planets. In 
 Deut. xxii. 9, a mixture of seed in planting a vineyard is 
 especially forbidden, and we find that in the books of the 
 Zabii it is stated that they were accustomed to sow barley 
 
193 
 
 and dried grapes together, and this was done at a particular 
 time, when the planets were in a certain position, and, by 
 so doing, they signified, it is said, that their vineyards were 
 consecrated to Ceres and Bacchus, and were recommended 
 to their protection. Smoke was also raised on such occa- 
 sions, and certain circles made by the planter, according to 
 the number of the planets whose influence was invoked. 
 We read of such practices even in modern times, and a re- 
 liable author assures us that, even at the present day, in 
 Yorkshire, England, it is customary to raise smoke in the 
 fields when they finish ploughing ; and this is what they call 
 "Burning out the witch." Similar ceremonies were per- 
 formed at the grafting of trees, such as olives into citrons, 
 and not only such idle ceremonies, but some very immoral 
 and indecent practices were in use on such occasions. It 
 was also required that those who were engaged in such 
 worship, especially their priests, should wear garments made 
 of a texture of wool and linen. Therefore Israel were for- 
 bidden to make any such heterogeneous mixtures or follow 
 such practices, which would lessen their dependence and 
 trust in God, or draw them into immorality and indecency. 
 
 " A woman shall not wear a man's apparel, neither shall a man put 
 on a woman's garment ; for all who do so are an abomination to the 
 Lord thy God." Deut. xxii. 5. 
 
 This exchange of garments between male and female 
 would seem an innocent and harmless thing, and unless we 
 penetrate into its meaning and find the ground upon which 
 it is based, it would be difficult to understand why it should 
 be sinful to do so ; but an insight into the matter will soon 
 convince us how suitable such a prohibition was at the time 
 when it was announced, though it can be hardly of any 
 weight or applicability to our time. Like the preceding 
 command which we have explained, this also was ordained 
 
194 
 
 to prevent idolatrous practices; for, Maimonides informs us, 
 that it was a custom among the ancient heathen, when a 
 man presented himself before the star Venus, that he should 
 wear the colored dress of a woman, and when a woman 
 adored the planet Mars, she was to appear in armor. " Be- 
 sides," says our author, " such exchanges would have a ten- 
 dency to excite to licentiousness and unchastity. From 
 another author* we make the following extracts, which will 
 further elucidate the subject. " As the heathens made such 
 a multiplicity of gods out of one and the same person, so, 
 likewise, did they confound their sexes, making the same 
 deity sometimes a god, sometimes a goddess, or rather all 
 of them of both sexes. Hence it is that the Greeks used 
 the word Theos for both gods and goddesses ; and after 
 the same manner was the word Deus used by the Romans. 
 Hence it was that the Cyprians represented their Venus 
 with a beard, having a sceptre in her hand, dressed as a 
 woman, but masculine in her stature and name, Aphroditos; 
 and the statue the Syrians worshipped in the temple of He- 
 liopolis, was that of a woman clothed like a man. So at 
 Rome they had a Fortuna Mascula and Virilis, and a For- 
 tuna Barbata. The Gentiles, to signify this mystery of 
 community of sexes in their deities, counterfeited them- 
 selves to be masculine-feminine in their worshipping them. 
 They thought to please their gods by presenting themselves 
 before them as like them as they could; and by wearing a 
 habit different from their sex, to recommend themselves to 
 such deities as they supposed of doubtful, or rather of both 
 sexes. This was practised especially in the worship of 
 Venus. Their women thought they could not appear more 
 acceptable in the presence of the god of war than dressed 
 in arms, and their men, in the presence of the goddess of love, 
 
 * Young, on Idolatrous Corruptions in Religion, vol. i., pp. 97-105. 
 
than in the habit proper to the soft and tender sex ; and so 
 Philocorus, an old Greek author, tells us of the Asiatics, 
 that when they sacrificed to their Venus, " the men were 
 dressed in women's apparel, and the women in men's, to 
 denote that she was esteemed by them both male and 
 female." And we find that the same practices prevailed 
 among the Assyrians, the Africans, the Phoenicians, and 
 other nations. 
 
 "Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, nor mar (destroy) the 
 corners of your beard." Lev. xix. 27. 
 
 Of this prohibition Maimonides says simply that it was 
 so ordained " because the priests among the idolaters were 
 accustomed thus to poll and shave themselves." From other 
 authors we cull the following information on this subject. 
 " The Hebrew word which we translate corners signifies 
 also the end or extremities of anything ; and the meaning 
 is, they were not to cut their hair equal behind and before, 
 as the worshippers of the stars and the planets, particularly 
 the Arabians did; for this made their head have the form 
 of a hemisphere. Herodotus observes that the Arabs shave 
 or cut their hair round in honor of Bacchus, who, they say, 
 had his hair cut in this way. He says also that the Macians, 
 a people of Lybia, cut their hair round, so as to leave a tuft 
 on the top of the head. In this manner the Chinese cut 
 their hair even to the present day. The hair was much 
 used in divination among the Greeks ; and particularly 
 about the time of the giving of the Law, as this is supposed 
 to have been the era of the Trojan war. We learn from 
 Homer, " that it was customary for parents to dedicate the 
 hair of their children to some god, which, when they came 
 to manhood, they cut off and consecrated to the deity. 
 Achilles, at the funeral of Patroclus, cut off his golden locks 
 which his father had dedicated to the river-god Sperchius, 
 
196 
 
 and threw them into the flood." Pope, in his translation of 
 ' % The Iliad," gives us the following interesting version. 
 
 But great Achilles stands apart in prayer, 
 
 And from his head divides the yellow hair, 
 
 Those curling locks which from his youth he vow'd, 
 
 And sacred grew to Sperchius' honored flood. 
 
 Then sighing, to the deep his locks he cast, 
 
 And roll'd his eyes around the watery waste. 
 
 Sperchius ! whose waves, in many errors lost, 
 
 Delightful roll along my native coast ! 
 
 To whom we vainly vow'd at our return, 
 
 These locks to fall and hecatombs to burn 
 
 So vow'd my father, but he vow'd in vain ; 
 
 No more Achilles sees his native plain ; 
 
 In that vain hope, these hairs no longer grow ; 
 
 Patroclus bears them to the shades below. 
 
 From Virgil we learn that the topmost lock of hair was 
 dedicated to the infernal gods ; and Dryden gives us the 
 following lines in his translation of " The ^Eneid." 
 
 The sisters had not cut the topmost hair, 
 Which Proserpine and they can only know, 
 Nor made her sacred to the shades below 
 
 This offering to the infernal gods I bear, 
 Thus while she spoke she cut the fatal hair. 
 
 This offering of the hair leads us naturally to the con- 
 sideration of a similar offering required of the Nazarite at 
 the expiration of his time of abstinence, and as prescribed 
 in the following text. 
 
 "The Nazarite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of 
 the tabernacle of the congregation; and he shall take the hair of his 
 consecrated head, and put it on the fire which is under the peace 
 offering." Num. vi. 18. 
 
 A perusal of the chapter from which this text is quoted 
 will show that a Nazarite was a person who by a voluntary 
 
i 9 7 
 
 vow bound him or herself to abstain for some time from 
 strong drink and whatever comes from the vine. He was 
 not allowed to shave or cut his hair, nor to touch a dead 
 body, even of one of his nearest relations. When the time 
 of his abstinence expired, he was to bring an offering to the 
 Temple, and there cut off his hair, which he placed on the 
 fire under the burnt-offering. 
 
 Maimonides, in commenting on this precept, leaves the 
 ceremony to be performed with the hair entirely out of con- 
 sideration ; and looks upon the nazarean vow merely as a 
 temperance pledge. The cause and reason of the precepts 
 relating to the Nazarite, that is, of abstinence from wine, 
 says he, is evident; for wine has in many instances been 
 the occasion of death to multitudes, and many strong men 
 have been slain by it. It was the peculiarity of the Nazar- 
 ite to abstain from every kind of drink made from the vine, 
 that he might be thereby advanced to greater honor, and 
 learn to be content with the things that were necessary. 
 He, therefore, who thus abstained, was accounted holy, and 
 placed in equal dignity with the high-priest as to sanctity, 
 not being allowed to pollute himself for his deceased father 
 or mother. Another commentator* says: ''The direc- 
 tions which God here gives about it (the hair), are mani- 
 festly opposite to the ways of the Gentiles. For the Na- 
 zarites are here directed to cut their hair at the door of the 
 tabernacle, where it was also to be burnt; whereas the 
 Gentiles hung their hair, when they had cut it, upon trees 
 or consecrated it to rivers, or laid it up in their temples, 
 there to be preserved. The Hebrew Nazarites also are re- 
 quired to offer various sorts of sacrifices when they cut their 
 hair, of which we rarely read ?nything among the Gentiles, 
 and all the time of their separation were to drink no wine, 
 
 * Spencer, De Leg. Heb. 
 
198 
 
 nor eat grapes, etc., which was not known among the hea- 
 then. From whence it is, one may think, that they are so 
 often put in mind of the Lord, in this law of the Nazarites, 
 ... to put them in mind, that, though they used which was 
 common to other nations, yet it was in honor of the Lord 
 only, whom they acknowledged to be the author of health, 
 and strength, and growth." It is thus evident from this 
 institution, as it is from various others, that they were 
 retained in accommodation to the long acquired habits of 
 the people ; that the Israelites adhered to some of the 
 practices of other nations, but were at the same time re- 
 quired in all their doings to acknowledge the Almighty as 
 their God and Ruler. 
 
 ' ' There shall not be found among you any one who causes his son 
 or his daughter to pass through the fire, or who useth divination or an 
 observer of times, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a 
 consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or one who enquireth of the 
 dead.' Deut. xviii. 10-11. 
 
 We have selected the above text from the many which 
 contain similar prohibitions, because in this one we find 
 nearly the whole nomenclature of the superstitious practices 
 in which the heathen indulged. As we have already said so 
 much in the preceding articles about these idolatrous habits, 
 and, as every enlightened person must be convinced, not 
 only of the folly, but also of the pernicious influence re- 
 sulting from such frivolous and irrational acts, it might be 
 thought superfluous to dwell here upon or to go into an expla- 
 nation of the diverse practices mentioned in our text. Nor 
 do we intend to treat of each of them separately, which 
 would be a tedious discussion on account of the sameness 
 which prevails in them, and because we could not devote 
 sufficient space to it. But although idolatry is said to be 
 exterminated from civilized society, in what is called our 
 enlightened age, and that for this reason those Mosaic com- 
 
199 
 
 mands which have particular reference to idolatry have 
 really lost their binding force on us, yet we find many traces 
 of it still lingering even among intelligent and sensible peo- 
 ple ; and the superstitions of lucky days, of good and bad 
 omens, of fortune-telling, spiritualism, and the like, have 
 yet firm hold on the minds of many. And if we look into 
 the Shulchan Aruch which is still considered by many of 
 our people as the guide of our religion and we find there 
 certain rules prescribed concerning the use of Amulets 
 (Kemia) or herbs worn on the neck, some of which are said 
 to be allowed, and others forbidden to be carried on the 
 Sabbath outside of the city limits, according as they have been 
 prepared by an accredited person, and have proved to pos- 
 sess the virtue of healing or not ; and further, that it is 
 allowed to wear as a remedy such charms as the egg of a 
 locust, the tooth of a fox, or the nail on which a person has 
 been hanged, and that the prohibition of " following the 
 ways of the Amorites " is not applicable to these things, 
 then we have indeed reason to say that all traces of idolatry 
 are not yet banished from among us. Therefore, though it 
 will be unnecessary to enter upon the modus operandi of these 
 sorcerers, enchanters, necromancers, sooth-sayers, charmers, 
 wizards, pythonists, and whatever else they may be called, it 
 will not be amiss here to say a few words, not of explana- 
 tion, but rather of exhortation, against these barbarous prac- 
 tices which still prevail among us, and which every sensible 
 person ought to banish from his mind and oppose with all 
 his power in the midst of those under his control or influ- 
 ence. We ought to oppose these things for two reasons : 
 because they lessen our trust in God, and our submission to 
 His providential decrees; and because they foster ignorance 
 and superstition, which are the great drawbacks to civiliza- 
 tion and the spread of true religion. When people were so 
 enveloped in darkness'that they could form no idea of an 
 
200 
 
 invisible God, they looked upon the planets as divinities, 
 prayed to them and invoked their assistance, and practised 
 many things which must now appear very foolish and ridi- 
 culous. These performances may all be classed under three 
 heads, namely, acts done to avert evil, to procure favor of 
 blessing, and to foretell events ; and all what is done, not 
 in a natural way, to accomplish either of these things, or 
 what is done in the name of religion and for which we can 
 give no valid reason why it should be done, is contrary to the 
 spirit of our religion. And, therefore, such ideas as choosing 
 a day as lucky for the undertaking of business, or of a voyage, 
 observing the baying or yelping of a dog at night as the pre- 
 cursor of death ; avoiding thirteen persons to sit down to 
 table, and a thousand such unmentionable follies, should be 
 strenuously opposed as unbecoming all who lay any claim to 
 enlightenment. |So also the barbarous custom of tearing 
 one's garments, and letting the hair and beard grow in case 
 of death in the family; burning a lamp, called the perpetual 
 light, in expectation that the soul of the departed may be 
 affected by it, which may be a remnant of the vestal fires of 
 the Romans, or the perpetual lamps placed in sepulchres, 
 some of which are said to have been found burning after 
 the lapse of several ages ; all these and similar practices 
 savor of idolatry, and should be disowned by all rational 
 men. And, as a proof that no idea of true religion is con- 
 nected with such acts, but that they proceed from weak- 
 mindedness, we may mention the fact that the illiterate, and 
 those who show the greatest indifference for true religion, 
 are generally very strict in the observance of these irreligious 
 acts. Maimonides, in his Moreh, repeats again and again 
 that the scope of the whole law, and the very hinge on 
 which it turns, is this, that idolatry may be banished from 
 among us, the very name of it be blotted out, and no power 
 of assisting or injuring mankind be attributed to things 
 supernatural. 
 
201 
 
 "Ye shall kindle no fire in any of your habitations on the Sabbath- 
 day." Ex. xxxv. 3. 
 
 We proposed to discuss especially such commands as 
 are open to different interpretations, and the one contained 
 in the above text, free of all ambiguity though it may ap- 
 pear, has yet been the subject of much dispute among the 
 rabbis, who seem to be almost agreed, however, on this 
 point, that the text does not mean at all what its plain word- 
 ing implies; that it has nothing to do with the real kindling 
 of fire, but means something quite different. They set out 
 by arguing in this way. In the Ten Commandments, and in 
 several other portions of the Mosaic code, we find the pro- 
 hibition of performing any labor on the Sabbath. But then, 
 what is labor? What particular actions are to be regarded 
 as such ? Since the law is silent on the subject, and does 
 not enlighten us by giving any definition as to what is to be 
 considered as labor, nor to enumerate any particular acts, 
 it is assumed that the Sabbath ordinance is repeated here, 
 at the head of a chapter wherein the necessaries of the tab- 
 ernacle are mentioned, to teach us that just such kind of 
 work as was done in the erection of the tabernacle, these 
 same occupations are to be looked upon as labor forbidden 
 on the Sabbath. Still the question remains, What are exactly 
 the manipulations forbidden? The orders for making the 
 tabernacle are generally given in the words, " Thou shalt 
 make" this and that ; the particular names of actual labor 
 mentioned scarcely exceed half a dozen, which are engrav- 
 ing, casting, filling, and setting of precious stones, spinning, 
 weaving, and dyeing. Of the common occupations in build- 
 ing, nothing is said; still less is anything of field labor men- 
 tioned, and yet it could not be supposed that all such labor 
 would be allowed. Therefore, the rabbis took upon them- 
 selves to say that all such occupations which were mediately 
 or immediately necessary for the erection of the tabernacle 
 
2O2 
 
 are forbidden. Thus hunting and flaying, for instance, were 
 necessary to procure skins for covering the tabernacle; and 
 it was further necessary to make fires for preparing the 
 colors for dyeing those skins; therefore, kindling a fire, like 
 hunting and flaying is to be considered labor forbidden on 
 the Sabbath. If so, then, that kindling fire is to be consid- 
 ered labor, and as such is included in the general list of 
 forbidden occupations, why is this one specified more than 
 any other ? is the question asked. This interrogation is 
 variously answered ; but the final conclusion arrived at is, 
 that the command of Ex. xxxv. 3 does not mean a prohi- 
 bition of kindling, not the ignition of some combustible 
 matter, but it implies a prohibition to the Sanhedrin against 
 holding their tribunals on the Sabbath, and especially 
 against executing capital punishments, one of which was 
 burning. This exposition of the text is laid down in an 
 ancient rabbinical work called Mechiltah ; the same expla- 
 nation is given in the Jerusalem Talmud ; and appears as 
 the adopted authoritative opinion.* 
 
 But we may be excused for deviating from the opinion 
 given by the rabbis, and believing that, when the Law speaks 
 of kindling fire, it means actual fire that burns, and not 
 judicial debates and verdicts ; and when it says " in all your 
 habitations," it means wherever Israelites dwell, not only in 
 the judicial courts. Assuming, then, that the Scripture 
 means just what it says ; and basing upon the principle 
 that there must be a reason for every command laid down, 
 we ask, Why should kindling fire on the Sabbath be forbid- 
 den ? Why, when we feel cold and uncomfortable on the 
 Sabbath, should it be criminal to start a fire ; or, if we need 
 light, should it be sinful to light a lamp ? The solution to 
 these questions may be easily found when we bear in mind 
 
 * See Sepher Hachinuch in its commentary on this command. 
 
the repeated statement of our favorite author that, " the 
 very foundation on which our whole law rests is, that it is 
 designed to eradicate idolatry," and then find the relation 
 between idolatrous worship and the making of fire. It is 
 well known that among the many superstitious practices of 
 the ancients was the worship of fire. This was especially 
 the case among the Persians, and the Romans and Greeks 
 followed the example. In the Mosaic laws we find a strict 
 prohibition against passing children through the fire, and 
 that the custom obtained among the early inhabitants of 
 Palestine. And so deeply rooted seems this idea to have 
 been in the people's minds, that it continued through many 
 ages, and is not exterminated even at the present day. Sol- 
 omon built a temple to Moloch upon the Mount of Olives, 
 and Menasseh, long afterwards, imitated the impiety by 
 making his son pass through a fire kindled in honor of this 
 most abominable idol. Virgil, Horace, Theodoret, and 
 other famous authors speak of it as existing in their time ; 
 and Maimonides informs us that in his day it was a custom 
 for nurses to take new-born children and wave them to and 
 fro in the smoke of certain herbs, which was, no doubt, says 
 he, a relic of this passing through the fire. From other 
 authors* we learn that it was a heathenish custom on new- 
 moon days to make fire before the shops and houses and leap 
 over them or between them, imagining that they who did so 
 would thereby be purified and their evils burnt away, and 
 that the Council of Trullo, held 692 C.E., condemned this 
 practice; and that " on St. John Baptist's eve, the vulgar were 
 wont to make fires for the whole night, and leap over them 
 and draw lots, and divine about their good and evil for- 
 tune;" also " that there was a feast called Amphidromia, kept 
 
 * Young's Historical Dissertation on Idolatrous Corruptions in Reli- 
 gion, vol. i., p. 117, and Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities, 
 chap, xxvii. 
 
204 
 
 by private families at Athens on the fifth day after the birth 
 of a child, when it was the custom for the gossips to run 
 round the fire with the infant in their arms ; and then, hav- 
 ing delivered it to the nurse, they were entertained with feast- 
 ing and dancing." Dr. Moresin* states that he was an 
 eye-witness of a remarkable custom which then existed in 
 Scotland, to take a new-baptized infant and swing it three 
 or four times over a flame, saying and repeating thrice : 
 "Let the flame consume thee now or never." And finally, 
 Mr. Borlase, in his account of Cornwall, says, " The Cornists 
 make bonfires in every village on the eve of St. John Bap- 
 tist's and St. Peter's days, which I take to be the remains 
 of part of the Druid superstition." It appears, then, that 
 the making of fires for idolatrous purposes has ever con- 
 tinued ; that the origin of it is to be traced back to the 
 earliest ages of history ; that even some of Israel's kings 
 yielded to this gross error, and it is supposed that, in refer- 
 ence to this false worship, the prophet said in the name of 
 God, " Your new-moon days and your festivals my soul 
 hateth." 
 
 The passage in Numb. xv. 32-36 may serve also to illus- 
 trate our subject, as it appears to stand in connection with 
 the prohibition in our leading text.f A man was found 
 gathering sticks on the Sabbath, and, on being brought to 
 Moses for judgment, the severe punishment of stoning to 
 death was pronounced upon him. The probability is, that 
 he was punished, not for Sabbath-breaking, but because this 
 gathering of sticks was a preparatory act to the building of 
 a wood-pile for an idolatrous purpose. In Jeremiah vii. 18, 
 the Israelites are reproached with " collecting wood and 
 
 * The Origin and Increase of Depravity in Religion, 
 f Herz Homberg in his comm. called Hacarem, in loco, takes the 
 same view. 
 
205 
 
 kindling fire, and making cakes for the queen of heaven." 
 As all sorts of superstitious ideas were connected with idol- 
 atrous worship, it may be that the combustibles to be used for 
 such bonfires were required to be gathered from abroad, not 
 from the regular supply of wood for home-consumption, or 
 it may be that a particular kind of wood, not always at hand, 
 was desired for the purpose. 
 
 From the foregoing we conclude, then, that the command 
 "Ye shall kindle no fire in any of your habitations on the 
 Sabbath-day," was given with the same intention as most of 
 the Mosaic laws were instituted, viz., to abolish idolatry; 
 and that the lighting of fire, in our own houses or elsewhere, 
 for comfort, for use, or for any enjoyment, is no transgres- 
 sion of this command. 
 
 " The Lord called unto Moses and spoke to him from the tent of the 
 congregation, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, 
 if any person among you wish to bring to the Lord an offering of any 
 of the beasts, ye shall bring your offerings of the large cattle or of the 
 small cattle." Lev. i. 1-2. 
 
 Thus begins the book of Leviticus, the first ten chapters 
 of which are devoted to directions concerning sacrifices and 
 Temple service. That the Mosaic laws were established 
 for the great purpose of abolishing idolatry from among the 
 Israelites, that many of the ancient practices to which the 
 people were addicted were, with some modifications, retained 
 for the sake of satisfying their cravings ; and that it was the 
 intention of the legislator to bring them gradually to a bet- 
 ter and more rational worship, is apparent from none more 
 than from the institution of sacrifices. In fact, this cannot 
 be properly called a Mosaic institution, but a Mosaic modi- 
 fication of an institution which existed ever since man began 
 to live on earth. That the Jewish sacrifices were not de- 
 sired, but merely tolerated, is evident 
 
 First : From the opening of the book of Leviticus, where 
 
2O6 
 
 it says, " if any person wish to bring an offering."* It does 
 not say, " Ye shall bring offerings," but in case one wished 
 to bring a sacrifice, he is required to bring his offering to 
 God's temple and nowhere else, and particular directions 
 are given as to the manner of its manipulations. 
 
 Second : It appears more strongly from Lev. xvii. 1-7, 
 where it is ordained that whosoever shall kill an ox or goat 
 or lamb in or out of the camp, and not bring it to the taber- 
 nacle, shall be cut off from among his people. " To the 
 end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices 
 which they offer in the open field, that they may bring 
 them to the Lord . . . and they shall no more offer their 
 sacrifices to the satyrs." Here it is plainly stated that they 
 are required to bring their offerings to God, in order to keep 
 them from offering to devils. 
 
 Third : We find various passages in the Prophets and in 
 the Psalms, from which it appears that the sacrifices were 
 not considered an important institution, nor a permanent 
 one, but that moral worth in man was far more desirable 
 than offerings. " Has the Lord as much delight in burnt- 
 offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord ? " 
 "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken 
 better than the fat of rams."f " To what purpose is the mul- 
 titude of .your sacrifices to me," says the Lord.J " I will 
 not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, or thy burnt-offerings, to 
 have been continually before me. I will take no bullock 
 out of thy house, nor he-goats from thy folds. " " Will the 
 Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thou- 
 sand rivers of oil ? " | " I spoke not to your fathers, nor 
 commanded them on the day that I brought them out of 
 
 * It is so interpreted by Kimchi, followed by Mendelssohn, and so 
 commented upon by Hertz Wesseley. 
 
 f i Sam. xv. 23. Ps. 1. 7-8. 
 
 \ Isa. i. ii f | Micah iv. 7, 
 
207 
 
 the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices, 
 but this thing I commanded them, saying, ' Obey my voice 
 and I will be your God and ye shall be my people.' " * On 
 these words of Jeremiah, Maimonides comments thus : 
 "The meaning of his words is, as if he had said, 'The pri- 
 mary intention of every part of the law is, that ye should 
 know me, and forsake the service of other gods ; and the 
 precepts which enjoin oblations, and command you to wor- 
 ship in my house, are given to instruct and assist you in this 
 duty : for the reason why I have transferred this mode of 
 worship to my own name is, to efface the remembrance of 
 idolatry, and establish the doctrine of my unity/ " f 
 
 We might quote several pages from the Moreh in support 
 of this opinion, that the offerings were merely allowed 
 and not desired ; but we will give only a few in addition to 
 what has been said. " At that time the universal practice, 
 and the mode of worship in which all were educated was, 
 that various kinds of animals should be offered in the tem- 
 ples in which their idols were placed, and before which 
 their worshippers were to burn incense and prostrate them- 
 selves ; . . . therefore God did not ordain the abandonment 
 or abolition of all such worship ; for it is the well-known 
 disposition of the human heart to cleave to that to which it 
 has been habituated. ... On these accounts the Creator 
 retained those modes of worship, but transferred the venera- 
 tion from created things and shadows to his own name.J 
 It would be irrational to expect that those who have been 
 trained up in the practice of those services and modes of 
 worship should at once renounce them all, and adopt a 
 contrary course of action. ... So divine wisdom ordained 
 that a kind of worship similar to that they had been accus- 
 tomed to should be continued amongst them. . . . Although 
 
 * Jer. vii. 22-23. t Moreh Nebuchim, Ch. VII. ^ Ibid. 
 
208 
 
 God sometimes miraculously changes the nature of other 
 things, he does not in the same way change the nature of 
 man."* 
 
 From these premises we arrive at the conclusion that the 
 ordinances concerning sacrifices, as prescribed in Leviticus, 
 were intended for our ancestors only, and with the destruc- 
 tion of the second temple were forever abrogated. How 
 /can a reasonable and reasoning man entertain the idea that 
 / we should ever resort to the practice of disgracing a place 
 of worship by turning it into a slaughter house, or believe 
 that the burning of animals be acceptable to God? In an 
 enlightened age, and among nations where idolatry is prac- 
 tically abolished, there can be no utility for such an institu- 
 tion, and therefore to continue to pray for a re-establish- 
 ment of such rites is irrational and absurd, and the practice 
 maintained can be looked upon only as a stubborn adherence 
 to what is antiquated and obsolete. 
 
 " Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, that they make 
 themselves fringes on the extremities of their garments, throughout their 
 generations, and that they put on the fringes of the extremities a thread 
 of blue." Numb. xv. 38. 
 
 This is one of the few commands where the law gives us 
 a reason for its observance. " That we may look upon it, 
 and remember all the commands of the Lord," is added. 
 Still we are much left in doubt as to how the looking upon 
 the fringes would remind one of God's commands, and in 
 entire ignorance about the way of making them ; how many 
 threads, how long, how to be twisted, of what material, etc. 
 As to their effect in calling to mind God's commands, it 
 may be said, simply : since the fringes were an unnecessary 
 appendage to the garments, their very presence would put 
 us in mind that they are placed there for some purpose ; 
 
 * Ibid. 
 
209 
 
 that purpose namely, that we should bear in mind that God 
 is ever present, and sees us, and regards our actions, and 
 even our thoughts. So said David, " I place the Lord 
 constantly before me ; he is at my right hand, I shall not 
 be moved." As to the peculiar adaptability of strings or 
 fringes for this purpose, it appears that in ancient times, 
 when writing was very little known, strings of various 
 colors, peculiarly twisted, and with a certain number of 
 knots in them, were used to denote certain facts. It is 
 said, when South America was discovered, the early set- 
 tlers of Peru found among the natives certain clusters of 
 strings of various colors, with knots in them, carefully kept 
 among the archives, which, upon inquiry, they were told 
 were historical records.* 
 
 From Gen. xxxviii. 8 also it appears that it was custom- 
 ary for persons to carry with them a number of strings, 
 though it is not stated what was their use ; but they must 
 have been of some importance, since they were demanded 
 as a pledge and placed on an equality with the man's signet 
 and staff. The probability is, that Judah, who went to look 
 after the interests of his farm and the shearing of his sheep, 
 took those strings with him to mark thereon certain num- 
 bers or facts ; in short they served him for memoranda.! 
 
 * Mendelssohn's comment in loco (by Aaron Jaroslaw). 
 
 f The word 7 S J"IQ employed here is the same as used in Deut. xv. 38, 
 where it is rendered a thread of blue, and we understand it here also to 
 mean a thread or string. In Gen. xxxviii. some commentators of the 
 highest standing suppose it to mean a loose cloth, a scarf or a girdle ; 
 others a string by which the signet was suspended. But with all respect 
 due to these learned authors, we beg to differ with them, and we find 
 our support in vs. 25, same chapter, where the identical articles are 
 mentioned and there D^TIQ is used in the plural. It is not to be sup- 
 posed that Judah wore more than one loose cloth, scarf, or girdle ; and 
 as to the word meaning " a string by which the signet was suspended," 
 this is also unlikely, for why should the woman be particular in asking 
 
210 
 
 The next point for consideration is the blue thread, which 
 the law requires to be placed on the fringe, and it may ap- 
 pear strange that this particular is not at all observed among 
 those who still make use of the Talet and Tsitsitj surely the 
 law requires this additional thread, and without it the 
 fringe is incomplete. But, here again tradition steps in as 
 usual to subvert the plain dictates of Scripture. The word 
 here used for blue is rfan. But that does not really mean 
 blue; there is no known word in Hebrew to denote that 
 color; and /17Dn is the name of mussel or scollop found 
 in the Mediterranean Sea, with a blue shell, from which pur- 
 ple was made ; and the additional thread on the fringe was 
 to be of that color. But the Talmudical doctors insist that 
 the thread was to be dyed with the blood of that shell-fish, 
 and that it was to be found only once every seventy years 
 formerly, and now, that is, for the last two thousand years 
 perhaps, it is not to be found at all, and therefore the blue 
 thread is to be dispensed with. Now are we to suppose 
 that the great quantity of blue thread used for the curtains 
 of the tabernacle and the priestly robes was dyed with the 
 blood of a bivalve found only once in seventy years ; and 
 moreover that a thread which everybody was to wear on 
 his garment, " throughout their generations," was to be 
 dyed only with such blood ? Would God give his people a 
 command for daily observance which was so difficult, al- 
 most impossible to observe ? That the insect which fur- 
 nished this blue, as well as that from which the purple was 
 obtained, and the scarlet insect, were very rare, is not to be 
 disputed. But if the genuine blue for the fringe is not now 
 
 such a string, in itself of no value? This would naturally go with the 
 signet. It is more reasonable to suppose that in the first instance (vs. 
 18) the second yod'\n ^TIB has been omitted by one of the transcribers, 
 that both should be rezd in the plural, and mean stiir.gs used for such 
 purpose as we explained. 
 
211 
 
 to be obtained, another blue might be substituted, or the 
 wearing of the fringes should be altogether discarded, since 
 without this the fringe is not complete. 
 
 " Thou shalt bind them as a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be 
 as frontlets between thy eyes." Deut. vi. 8. 
 
 It is well known that this text is taken as a basis for the 
 construction and wearing of the so-called Phylacteries or 
 Tephilin. The name Phylacteries is erroneously applied to 
 these things, for that means a charm, an amulet, a thing for 
 protection, and this was never intended as the object for 
 which they were made. The name Tephilin is more appro- 
 priate, for this is derived from fPfifi, prayer, and applied 
 to these bandages intended to be worn during prayer-time. 
 But the manner of constructing the Tephilin and the duty 
 of wearing them, is altogether a rabbinical fabrication, void 
 of any foundation in the Scriptures. In the first place, the 
 very name of them is never once mentioned in the Bible, 
 nor is prayer, of which the tephilin are to be the concomit- 
 ants, as their name indicates, ever prescribed as a duty in 
 the Mosaic books. How, then, is it to be supposed that 
 Moses instituted some particular rites to be observed at 
 prayer, of which he never spoke ? But the most serious 
 objection arises from the very passage which the Talmudists 
 look to as the source of their authority. Let us examine 
 the passage and the relation it bears so the context. " Bind 
 them as a sign . . . and they shall be as frontlets." Bind 
 what? Them and they are pronouns, and must refer to 
 something previously named. And what is that previously 
 named? '* The things* which I command you this day." 
 Consequently we are to bind the things commanded, and 
 they must be frontlets. But how is this possible ? How 
 
 * We prefer things to words, because things, not words, are com- 
 manded j and *p*l expresses pne as well a the other, 
 
212 
 
 can we bind a command or make it into an ornament for the 
 forehead ? The rabbis, seeing this difficulty and yet believ- 
 ing that the verb binding is to be understood here in its 
 literal sense, concluded that something was really to be 
 bound on the hand, and built upon this their theory of the 
 Tephilin. But the verb to bind^ wherever it occurs in con- 
 nection with things immaterial, such as command, kindness, 
 truth, is always understood figuratively. Examples of such 
 figures are numerous. When Solomon said, "Let kindness 
 and truth not forsake thee ; bind them about thy neck, write 
 them on the tablet of thy heart," he surely did not mean 
 that we should actually bind or write anything. When 
 Isaiah, speaking of Israel's children, says " Thou shalt 
 clothe thyself with them all as with an ornament, and bind 
 them on thee as a bride does," who does not understand 
 that he speaks figuratively ? The same sense is to be given 
 to the expression in the preceding text : " I have graven 
 thee upon the palms of my hand ; " all of which denote a 
 cherishing, fostering, holding dear. And so is our text to 
 be understood. The things which I command you shall be 
 in your heart, teach them to your children, speak constantly 
 of them, look upon them as upon a precious thing, such as 
 a gem worn on the hand, and as a diadem on the forehead, 
 so shall they be deeply and constantly impressed on your 
 mind. 
 
 The objections against the rabbinical interpretation crowd 
 themselves so fast upon each other and are all so weighty 
 that we hardly know of which to take hold first. The 
 command of teaching them to our children evidently refers 
 to the same things as are to be bound on the hand and head 
 and written on the posts. But if it be true that only those 
 few portions the rabbis have selected are to be bound 
 and written, then we are likewise to teach our children 
 those portions only. Again, the portions selected for the 
 
2T3 
 
 Tephilin and Mezuzah, or door-post, are not the same. Or, 
 if the writing and binding on refer to all the command- 
 ments, then we should have to place a complete scroll of 
 the law, or at least, a full list of the Mosaic commands, on 
 our hand and head. Nor are the Tephilin ever placed on 
 the hand, but on the arm. In Ex. xiii. 9, occurs a passage 
 very similar to the one we are discussing: " It shall be as a 
 sign on thy hand, and a remembrance between thy eyes." 
 This refers to the exodus from Egypt; but no writing or 
 binding are mentioned in connection with it, yet the rabbis 
 apply it likewise to the Tephilin. More might be said on 
 the subject in refutation of the adopted theory, but we think 
 sufficient proof has been advanced to show clearly that the 
 text in question is to be understood metaphorically, and 
 that the making and wearing of Tephilin has no foundation 
 whatever in the Mosaic code. 
 
 " Thou shalt write them on the door-posts of thy house, and on thy 
 gates." Deut. vi. 9. 
 
 The explanation of this command has been partly anti- 
 cipated in that of the foregoing, but the meaning of it is not 
 quite so easily determined. Some commentators under- 
 stand this to be also figurative, like the words of Solomon 
 quoted above, as, when speaking of kindness and truth, he 
 says, " Bind them on thy neck, write them on the tablets of 
 thy heart," so here it would imply, Let my commands be ever 
 present to your mind, like a conspicuous thing placed on a 
 post for remembrance. This interpretation is quoted by 
 Aben Ezra, though not adopted by him. We said in the 
 preceding article that the binding on of commands is im- 
 practicable, and, therefore, cannot be taken literally; but 
 writing on a post, or affixing to it a schedule, is feasible ; 
 therefore, some commentators understand it to imply that 
 something was really to be written on the door-posts after 
 
214 
 
 the manner of " the ancient Egyptians who had their lin- 
 tels and imposts of doors and gates inscribed with senten- 
 ces indicative of favorable omen, and this is still the case, 
 for in Egypt and other Mohammedan countries in Cairo, 
 for instance the front-doors of houses are painted red, 
 white, and green, bearing conspicuously inscribed upon 
 them such sentences from the Koran as God is the Creator ; 
 God is one and Mohammed is His prophet* And the Chinese 
 likewise suspend on their door-posts slips of paper and 
 pieces of cloth with certain inscriptions on them. But in 
 the examples cited, something legible and intelligible is 
 always placed in view of those who enter and go out, and 
 the object of impressing an idea on the mind may be ex- 
 pected thereby to be accomplished. But the schedules 
 placed at our doors are not understood, cannot be read 
 even by the great majority of men, and are not visible to 
 any one. If they were intended to act as a charm or a tal- 
 isman, this would make no difference, as long as the writing 
 were there, which needed to be legible only to the spirits 
 for or against whom it was intended. By many non-Jewish 
 writers this has indeed been supposed to be the object of 
 the Mezuzah as well as the Tephilin hence they called the 
 latter Phylacteries and even some Jewish authors enter- 
 tained this view. But this idea must be entirely repudiated, 
 for the Mosaic Law opposes all that has any affinity to sor- 
 cery or spell. Since, then, the Tephilin and Mezuzah are 
 acknowledged to be used as mementos, they ought to be 
 made so as to exhibit in legible characters the facts and 
 ideas they are intended to call to mind. To what purpose 
 can be this solicitude in having the scriptural portions they 
 contain written with utmost correctness, that not one letter 
 in them shall have the least defect, nor that any one shall 
 
 * Jamieson, Commentaries on the Scriptures. 
 
215 
 
 touch upon another; that the vellum must be prepared just 
 exactly so, that even the ink must be prepared in a peculiar 
 manner, and all that for something which is never to meet 
 the eye ? Many and many a person puts on his Tephilin 
 every morning, and continues the practice to the last days 
 of his life, and dies in ignorance of what were their con- 
 tents. And it is this ignorance which has led the multitude 
 to look upon them as a mere charm ; and hence many per- 
 sons, void of all religious ideas, would not sleep a single 
 night in a house not provided with a Mezuzah, not because 
 they would miss this token of remembrance of God's com- 
 mand, but for fear lest some misfortune befall them. 
 
 The sum total of our argument is, that the text, taken in 
 a figurative sense, may be still applicable to us, indicating 
 that we should be ever mindful of God's commands, espe- 
 cially that we should duly consider their import and make 
 it our study to penetrate into their meaning ; but that the 
 literal interpretation of it if it ever was intended to be so 
 understood cannot be binding on us, because we Jews of 
 the present day do not require texts or phrases on our door- 
 posts; having ample opportunity to be reminded of our 
 duties towards God and man by reading good books, by 
 attending at our places of worship, and by seeking inter- 
 course with good and enlightened men; the conclusive 
 proof of which is found in the fact that the strict observers 
 of the Tsitsit, Tephilin and Mezuzah are, as a rule, no bet- 
 ter men than those who have discarded those observances. 
 
 ' 'An oath of the Lord shall be between the two of them." Ex. xxii. 10. 
 
 From the early records of the Bible it appears that oaths 
 existed among mankind ever since they began to live in so- 
 cial communion ; but that prior to the establishment of law 
 or government, the fulfilment of engagements between man 
 
2l6 
 
 and man depended entirely upon their own veracity, with 
 no responsibility to any authority. 
 
 As the sentiment of a superior Being who is cognizant 
 of our doings is coeval with the existence of man, an appeal 
 to the presence of that Being was made in all cases of sol- 
 emn affirmation, but the manner of invoking that presence 
 not being determined by law or common agreement, was 
 left, it would seem, to the choice of those whom it concerned; 
 hence we find different forms of swearing at different pe- 
 riods of time. The earliest form of an oath on record 
 and singular enough the same which is in vogue at the 
 present day is that of raising the hand up to heaven, in 
 token of an appeal to God as witness to the fact to be 
 affirmed. Thus Abraham said to the king of Sodom, " I 
 have lifted up my hand to the Lord, the most high God, 
 possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take, etc." 
 (Gen. xiv. 22). This mode of swearing seems to have been 
 used when the obligation to be established was not a mu- 
 tual one, but when one wished to take upon himself a vol- 
 untary vow in which either he alone was concerned, or that 
 a promise was made in favor of some one else. Another 
 manner of swearing was that the one who took the oath 
 placed his hand under the thigh of him to whom he bound 
 himself as to the performance of the deed promised ; the 
 latter, it is to be supposed, being at the time in a sitting 
 posture. This was done only when a promise was made 
 in favor of another ; the person taking the oath, by placing 
 his hand under the thigh of the one who administered it, 
 declaring thereby that he placed himself at the disposition of 
 the latter, and bound himself to obey his orders, or comply 
 with his wishes. Examples of this we find in the instance of 
 Abraham swearing his servant to go and seek a wife for his 
 son (Gen. xxiv. 3), and Jacob adjuring Joseph to remove 
 his bones to Canaan (Gen. xlvii. 29). 
 
217 
 
 Still another mode of swearing was the custom of pass- 
 ing between the pieces of an animal or animals cut in 
 halves, which was used in case of parties assuming a recip- 
 rocal obligation. This act seemed to imply that the con- 
 tracting parties were thus united and jointly bound to their 
 engagement. This appears from the covenant which God 
 made with Abraham, Gen. xv. 10, and it is also alluded to 
 in Jer. xxxiv. 19. Similar to this that is, similar in its 
 purpose of establishing a covenant was the erection of a 
 monument, or a pile of stones in commemoration of the agree- 
 ment made, such as took place between Jacob and Laban 
 on their parting (Gen. xxxi. 45), and such as the tribes of 
 Reuben, Gad, and half of Menasseh erected on the border 
 of Jordan, though this was done by one party, without the 
 knowledge of the other, and afterwards agreed to; and this 
 was done even in the case of one taking upon himself an 
 obligation towards the Lord, as Jacob did at Beth-El (Gen. 
 xxviii. 18). It should be borne in mind, however, that none 
 of those ceremonies described constituted in themselves the 
 act of taking the oath, but merely accompanied and pre- 
 ceded it; nor was it always necessary that any of the above 
 ceremonies should take place, for we find also instances of 
 swearing by the life of the king (Gen. xlii. 15-16). This 
 custom, as well as the others described, was in vogue 
 among various Oriental nations, and the last-named is still 
 in use among the Persians, and rests upon the idea that the 
 monarch represents, not only the power of the State, but 
 also that of God. Of oaths confirming what had passed, we 
 find no instances in the time of the patriarchs, though these 
 may also have obtained. In the Mosaic laws, however, 
 the affirmation by oath of things passed is clearly pre- 
 scribed, as in the text heading this article, and the oath 
 was to be taken in the name of Jehovah. u The Lord thy 
 God shalt thou fear, Him shalt thou serve, and by His 
 
2l8 
 
 name shalt them swear " (Deut. vi. 13). The prohibition 
 of false swearing is strictly enjoined in the Decalogue and 
 elsewhere, but perjury was not punishable by the civil law. 
 God himself would punish the profanation of his name. 
 The Greeks and Romans likewise considered perjury not a 
 civil, but a religious offence. Though the Jews were re- 
 quired to swear by the name of God, the ceremony accom- 
 panying it is not prescribed ; but that the raising of the 
 hand was the most prevalent, appears from the frequent oc- 
 currence of the expression, "I lifted up my hand," when 
 God would affirm what he had promised ; and in the case 
 of a suspected wife, we find that the oath was recited by the 
 priest and answered by Amen, amen. So, also, was the 
 pronouncing of a curse upon the head of him who should 
 violate his pledge of conforming to the laws of God 
 (Deut. xxvii. 15-26). 
 
 Having in the first part of this article considered volun- 
 tary vows as they existed prior to the proclamation of the 
 law, we now come to consider them from the standpoint of 
 Mosaic legislation. There is nothing in the Mosaic code to 
 show that vows were desired or recommended, but once 
 taken, they were held sacred and forever binding, even 
 when made under an erroneous impression, or as the conse- 
 quence of a false representation ; no absolution appears 
 to have been allowable under any consideration, except a 
 daughter under the control of her father, or a wife re- 
 strained in her actions by her husband. When the Israelites 
 had entered into a covenant with the Gibeonites, although 
 they discovered afterwards that they had been imposed 
 upon, they thought themselves still bound to their oath, and 
 kept it. When Jephthah made a rash vow which afterwards 
 proved to involve the life of his only child, he sought no 
 absolution, but executed his promise even in violation of 
 his parental feelings. The writer of Ecclesiastes (ch. v. 2-6) 
 
219 
 
 says, " Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be 
 hasty to utter anything before God; . . . when thou vowest 
 a vow to God, defer not to pay it, ... neither say to the 
 messenger (angel) that it was an error." It is not necessary 
 to say any more to show what great weight the Hebrews 
 attached to a vow once pronounced. Yet the Talmudical 
 doctors have taken the most unpardonable liberty in absolv- 
 ing persons of their most solemn engagements, even on the 
 slightest pretences. It must appear incredible to those not 
 acquainted with Talmudical lore, when learning to what ex- 
 tent they carried this license. On the subject of vows they 
 undertake to clear a man of his conscience as if it had never 
 been there. One may make ever so many vows, pledges, 
 engagements, and break them on any pretence, " even if he 
 vowed by the God of Israel," they say; and if he have no 
 pretence to plead, the rabbi who absolves him may suggest 
 one to him, to which he says, Yes, and he is free. One may 
 say, "The vow I am about to make shall not be valid," or, 
 " All or any vows I may make until such a time shall be 
 void," and this relieves him from all engagement. They 
 went even so far as to say, when one has made a vow, it is 
 best to get absolved at once and be bound no more. The 
 ordinary way of obtaining absolution was that one go before 
 a rabbi, or before three laymen, and, after stating his case, 
 say, " I regret," to which he received the answer, " Thou art 
 absolved." Later, however, it was thought best to em- 
 power the person himself with the right to nullify his vows, 
 either in advance or after they were made, for which pur- 
 pose the known formula Kol Nidre was established, and 
 which was later "smuggled into the synagogue service." 
 That the recital of this formula should still be continued 
 among the Jews of the present time, and the day which is 
 considered the most holy in the Jewish calendar should be 
 inaugurated by a public act of perfidy on the part of an 
 
220 
 
 entire congregation, is a matter both of regret and of shame. 
 What on earth can be said in defense of a practice by which 
 men allow themselves to break every honorable engagement 
 entered into; to swear to their neighbors to do or not to do 
 a certain thing and then go into the synagogue and say, 
 " All oaths, bonds, pledges and whatever synonyms they 
 can find to express an engagement shall be all null and 
 void, for it was all a mistake "? Foftunately, it is but an 
 empty form, for very few men are so depraved as to be in 
 earnest when they say so, or when the minister says so for 
 them, and it is to be hoped that the " Father will forgive 
 them, for they know not what they do." But in the leaders 
 of congregations who know what they do and what they 
 say ; those petrified men * who will forever adhere with 
 stubborn tenacity to the established customs of their fathers, 
 whether they be right or whether they be wrong; in them 
 the fault is unpardonable. A great deal has been written 
 against this unwarrantable practice by abler pens than the 
 one which traces these lines, and the result hitherto pro- 
 duced has not been equal to the amount of learning and 
 energy employed for checking the evil. The writer of this 
 article, therefore, cannot hope that his efforts will at once 
 effect a change among those who are determined never to 
 
 * We borrow this expression from a French author who says : 
 " Lamartine, dans sa 'Critique de 1'histoire des Girondins,' releve 
 quelques erreurs d'appreciation et justifie ses changements de croyances 
 en faisant la theorie, non pas de la versatilite, mais de I'amelioration 
 et du progres de 1'intelligence. II s'indigne contre ces hommes petri- 
 fies qui ne se dedisent jamais et ' veulent mourir, comme disait M. de 
 Chateaubriand, non pas conformes & la verite, mais conformes a eux 
 memes.' En resume, la vie est une Ie9on que la temps est charge de 
 donner a I'homme, en lui faisant epeler syllable par syllable les evene- 
 ments. Celui qui pretend avoir tout vu le premier jour est un homme 
 qui n'avait ni raison de naitre, ni raison de mourir, car il n'avait rien a 
 apprendre en naissant." Le petit Journal. 
 
221 
 
 change, but it may open the eyes of some who are willing to 
 see and appreciate the truth. And while writing an explana- 
 tion on some of the Mosaic Laws, he deems it his duty to 
 show also the force of the text. " If a man vow a vow to 
 the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he 
 shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that 
 proceedeth from his mouth." Numb. xxx. 3. 
 
 " Sanctify to me all the first-born ; the first offspring of every female 
 among the children of Israel, of man and of beast, is mine." Ex. xiii. 3. 
 
 The distinctions and privileges conferred upon the first- 
 born were an institution peculiar to the Hebrews, and not 
 in vogue among other nations. It existed among them even 
 prior to the time of Moses. Thus we find the birth-right of 
 Esau acknowledged in the family; when Zerah was born, 
 the nurse was particular in noting his first appearance in 
 the world; and so was the primogeniture of Reuben consid- 
 ered an inheritable right. We must remember that the He- 
 brew people, like their neighbors, in early ages consisted of 
 independent families, whose affairs were directed by their 
 chief or patriarch ; and this prerogative descended on the 
 eldest son, who, from his birth, was distinguished as his 
 father's successor, and privileged in the distribution of the 
 estate. " The right of primogeniture in males," says Black- 
 stone, " seems to have only obtained among the Jews, in whose 
 constitution the eldest son had a double portion of the in- 
 heritance, in the same manner as with us, by the laws of King 
 Henry the first, the eldest son had the capital fee or principal 
 feud of his father's possessions." Before the time of Moses, 
 the father had the right to dispose of this privilege and give 
 it to another of his sons, as the instance of Jacob, who 
 transferred it from Reuben to Joseph, the son of his most 
 beloved Rachel, shows ; and it appears that the eldest son 
 
 himself, when arrived at manhood, could dispose of it, as is 
 10 
 
222 
 
 seen in the case of Esau and Jacob. This power vested in 
 the father to deprive his eldest son of the right of inherit- 
 ance and give it to another, naturally caused much jealousy, 
 especially in a family where polygamy took place; therefore, 
 Moses instituted that none but the first son, if he were also 
 the mother's first child, should enjoy the right of primogen- 
 iture, and be entitled to inherit a double portion of his 
 father's estate. As this law interfered with the sentiments 
 of parents who, notwithstanding its establishment, were 
 likely to disregard it and still give the preference to a favor- 
 ite son, a sacredness was attached to it, and the first-born 
 declared holy to the Lord, so as to put a more powerful re- 
 straint upon its transgression, and the distinction extended 
 even to brutes. Before the tribe of Levi was chosen for 
 the Temple service, the first-born were honored with that 
 preference. "The first-born of man and beast shall be 
 consecrated to God," says the text, that is, the former were 
 to be redeemed with five shekels of silver, which were given 
 to the priest; the latter, namely the first issue of animals fit 
 for sacrifice, were to be brought to the Temple, and the blood 
 and fat offered on the altar, while the carcass was a gift for 
 the priest. Why the ass was made an exception to this rule, 
 and required to be redeemed with a lamb, or have its neck 
 broken, we do not know; we conjecture that, as this was, 
 besides the cattle, almost the only domestic animal in use 
 (the horse being very rare, and the swine and dog held in 
 aversion), the priest was to have his share of it, and, being 
 an unclean animal, was to be redeemed. It is well known 
 that, in the East, females always were, and are yet, looked 
 upon as degraded beings, therefore, if the first-born was a 
 female, the law of primogeniture did not apply at all. 
 Daughters were excluded from all participation in the in- 
 heritance, except when there was no son, and, in that case, 
 they were bound to marry none but one of their near rela- 
 
22 3 
 
 tives, so that the property might not be taken out of the 
 family. Among the Greeks and Romans, and other nations, 
 all inheritances, whether consisting of land or movables, 
 were equally divided, in some cases, among all the male 
 children, and, in others, among all the children alike ; but 
 since the introduction of the feudal system, most European 
 nations have, with some modifications, adopted the Jewish 
 law of primogeniture with regard to the possession of estates 
 and titles of honor. This ancient law, of course, has lost 
 its binding force on us, as all temple-service and priestly 
 gifts have ceased to exist ; still, some Jews adhere to its 
 observance by selecting some one who bears the name of 
 Cohen, and presenting him with five pieces of silver coin 
 as the ransom of their first-born son; and some go even so 
 far, when they happen to have cattle, to separate the first- 
 born and let it graze during its whole life-time until it die of 
 itself ; not shearing its wool, if it be a sheep, nor applying 
 the animal to any use whatsoever. 
 
 " If brothers dwell together, and one of them die and have no son, 
 then shall the wife of the deceased not be married abroad to a stranger; 
 her husband's brother shall come to her and take her for himself for a 
 wife, and so perform the duty of a husband's brother towards her. And 
 the first-born son which she may bear, shall succeed to the name of the 
 deceased brother, that the name of the latter be not blotted out of 
 Israel," and sequel. Deut. xxv. 5-10. 
 
 This is what is called the Levirate Law. The term Levir- 
 atc, is from the old Latin word Levir, signifying a husband's 
 brother. It was an ancient custom among different nations 
 of Asia that, if a man left a childless widow, and also one 
 or more brothers, the eldest of the brothers should marry 
 the widow. In Genesis xxxviii., we find an instance of it 
 recorded in the case of the widow Tamar, which shows at 
 the same time that, in case the second brother died, like- 
 wise without issue, the same obligation devolved upon the 
 
224 
 
 third ; and we are informed that, " the Mongols, who in- 
 habit quite a different region of Asia, and give themselves 
 very little concern about their genealogies and descendants, 
 have a law which, in like manner, enjoins the marriage of a 
 brother's widow. From the history of Ruth and Boaz it 
 appears further that, among the Hebrews, not only the bro- 
 thers, but the nearest of kin were expected to marry the 
 widow who was left without a son, so as to keep up the 
 name of their kinsman. This ancient custom was retained 
 and established as a law in the Mosaic code. It is some- 
 what analogous to the law of primogeniture treated above, 
 inasmuch as both rested upon the idea of perpetuating the 
 name and estate of the family. To die childless, especially 
 without leaving any male issue, was considered a disgrace 
 and a curse ; it was especially pronounced against certain 
 crimes mentioned in Lev. xx. 20-21. The object of the 
 Levirate law, then, was to perpetuate the name of the de- 
 ceased, as the first son proceeding from the second marriage 
 was to inherit the estate of the departed uncle, and thus 
 keep up his name. Should, however, the brother decline 
 to marry the widow, then she was to go before the judges and 
 complain of his unwillingness. He was then summoned to 
 appear before the magistrates, and, if persisting in his re- 
 fusal, was to submit to a public insult, according to the cus- 
 tom of the times. This insult was, that the widow take off 
 the shoe from his foot, spit out before him, and say, " So 
 shall be done to the man who refuses to keep up the name 
 of his brother." This ceremony is called in Hebrew Cha- 
 litsa, which means Loosening. 
 
 The Levir, it is seen, was not compelled by law to marry 
 the widow, it was optional with him. If he did marry her, 
 the first son she would give him was to bear the name of 
 the deceased man, and, as this son would be also his own 
 natural heir, the estates of the two brothers would be blended 
 
225 
 
 and the whole go by the name of the late brother, while the 
 name of the living one would be forgotten. This was actu- 
 ally a sacrifice of the man's own and his family interest for 
 the sake of perpetuating the memory of his relative. Hence 
 it would frequently happen that brothers or other near rela- 
 tives refused an alliance with the relicts of their kinsmen; 
 and upon this ground the nameless person who, in the reg- 
 ular order of succession, came in first to take Ruth for his 
 wife, declined the marriage, and said, " I cannot perform the 
 duty of a kinsman, lest I destroy the name of my own in- 
 heritance." We learn also from Ruth iv. 7, that in the 
 transaction of some important business, such as the transfer 
 of an estate, " a man take off his shoe and give it to his 
 neighbor, and this was a testimony in Israel." It signified 
 that he yielded up his title, his hold, his footing, we may 
 say, to that which he might justly claim as his own. It is 
 yet a common saying among the Dutch, when a son succeeds 
 his father in any office or position, that " he enters, or treads 
 into his father's shoes." So we say in English, " waiting for 
 a man's shoes," and the French say, " etre sur un grand 
 pied dans le monde," which originated at a time when a 
 man's rank was known by his shoe,* all of which shows that 
 anciently as well as in modern times the shoe was used fig- 
 uratively to express a man's standing in the world. Now, 
 it appears to me that the loosening or pulling off of the shoe 
 by the widow, as prescribed in Deut. xxv. 9, was to indicate 
 
 * This custom of wearing immensely large shoes arose in the eleventh 
 century, under Philip I. They were made with long points turned up 
 at the toes, and extended heels assuming sometimes the shape of a bird 
 or the tale of a scorpion. Those of a prince measured two feet and a 
 half, while those of plain citizens were allowed to be only twelve inches. 
 The fashion was invented by the earl of Anjou ; was immediately 
 adopted in France ; and the Normans brought it over to England. See 
 Markham's Hist, of France, p. IOO. 
 
226 
 
 that she took disdainfully from her brother-in-law that 
 which she thought him unworthy to hold; she wrested from 
 from him his claim to her person and his foothold to her 
 husband's property, and, as a mark of contempt for his 
 want of affection and generosity, spit out before him, upon 
 which the bond which held them together was entirely dis- 
 solved, and she was free to marry any other, which she was 
 not allowed to do until this ceremony was performed. This 
 ceremony of Chalitsa, or loosening of the shoe, and the 
 foundation upon which it rests, it will be clearly perceived, 
 has its origin in the idea which anciently prevailed of pre- 
 serving the identity of families, and preventing the transfer 
 or absolute sale of land from one tribe to another. Need it 
 be said that such distinctions are not and cannot be pre- 
 served among Jews of the present day, when we know that 
 the identity of families was lost already in the later days of 
 the first Temple ?* The ceremony in question, therefore, 
 has long since become an antiquated statute ; notwithstand- 
 ing which some of our people still observe it with utmost 
 rigor and with the usual rabbinical appendages. 
 
 " If, in the land which the Lord thy God gives thee to possess it, a 
 slain person be found lying in the field, and it is not known who has 
 slain him, then shall thy elders and thy judges go and measure (the dis- 
 tances of) the cities around the slain person, " and sequel. Deut. xxi. 1-9. 
 
 By this precept it was ordained that, if the body of a mur- 
 dered person was found somewhere in an open place, at a 
 distance from the population, and after diligent search the 
 murderer could not be found, the elders of the town nearest 
 to the spot where the corpse lay, should take a heifer that 
 had never been worked, lead it to a valley which was not 
 cultivated, and there strike off the head of the heifer. The 
 elders were then to wash their hands on the spot and declare 
 
 * See Jost, Gesch. d. J. u. s. S., p. 30. 
 
227 
 
 before God that they were ignorant of the crime, that is, 
 that they had done all they could to discover the criminal, 
 and they prayed God that the innocent might not be made 
 to suffer for the guilty. 
 
 We have no explanation of our own to offer for this pecu- 
 liar ordinance, but give here the commentary of Maimonides 
 on the subject: "The utility of the precept respecting the 
 beheading of the heifer," says he, "is also evident ; for the 
 city bringing the heifer is that which is nearest to the body 
 of the man who had been murdered ; and it most frequently 
 happens that the murderer is from that place. Then the 
 elders of the city call God to witness that they have ne- 
 glected nothing that was necessary for the security and 
 guarding of the ways, and had diligently examined and 
 searched all travellers, saying, as our rabbis expressed it, 
 ' This man was not killed through our negligence or forget- 
 fulness of any of our common or public regulations; nor 
 do we know who killed him.' Now by this investigation 
 into the deed, by the going forth and protestation of the 
 elders, and by taking the heifer and striking off its head, 
 a great deal of conversation took place about the affair, and 
 gave publicity to it, by which means the murderer was prob- 
 ably found directly, or was discovered by some one who 
 had been accessory to the murder, or had overheard some- 
 thing respecting it ; or it might become known by certain 
 signs and indications that such a one was the murderer. 
 But if any man or woman rose and said such a one com- 
 mitted the deed, the heifer was not beheaded; and, as it 
 was well known that, if any one knew the author and con- 
 cealed the fact, calling upon God as witness and as an 
 avenger that he knew him not, such would be the greatest 
 folly and sin, it was rendered highly probable that if any 
 one knew the murderer he would be detected, and the de- 
 tection would be important; for if the house of judgment 
 
228 
 
 did not put him to death, the king had the power to order 
 his execution on evidence being given against him, and if 
 the king did not cause him to suffer, the avenger of blood 
 might do it by lying in wait for him. It must, therefore, 
 be acknowledged that the beheading of the heifer was of 
 use in the disclosure and discovery of murder. This was 
 also promoted by the circumstance that the place where the 
 heifer was beheaded might never again be ploughed or 
 sowed, which was done that the owner of the land might 
 use every effort and neglect nothing to detect and appre- 
 hend the murderer, that the heifer might not be slain and 
 the land be polluted forever." 
 
 " If a man have a refractory and rebellious son, who will not hearken 
 to the voice of his father and mother, and they chasten him and he will 
 not listen to them; then shall his father and mother lay hold of him and 
 bring him out to the elders of the city and to the gate of his place "... 
 see sequel. Deut. xxi. 18-21. 
 
 We are naturally struck with the apparent seventy of the 
 law which ordains the stoning to death of what we might 
 call a bad boy. But we observe, in the first place, that the 
 age of the son is not mentioned. The law cannot well be 
 supposed to refer to a mere boy or child to whom the ex- 
 pressions rebellious, a glutton, and a drunkard cannot well 
 be applied; nor can it be applicable to one grown up to 
 manhood and beyond the control of his parents, since it 
 says, 4< his father and mother shall take hold of him and 
 bring him out to the elders of his city." It is, therefore, 
 reasonable to think that it refers to a lad, say between fifteen 
 and twenty years of age, and that it means, that if a boy 
 or young man were found so incorrigible that no admonition 
 or remonstrance of his parents could affect him ; that he, 
 notwithstanding the corrections of his parents, would in- 
 dulge in drunkenness and profligacy, they were to bring 
 him before the elders or judges of the town and declare 
 
229 
 
 that their son was incorrigible and rebellious, a glutton and 
 a drunkard, and he was then stoned to death ; for it was 
 thought better to check the evil in the beginning, and even 
 root it out by killing so stubborn a sinner than to let him 
 grow up a worthless man, a bad example, and a corrupter 
 of society. And, indeed, our experience shows even now, 
 in many cases, where the disposition is so determinately in- 
 clined to evil that no amount of correction or good example 
 can ever be expected to reform the criminal, that it would 
 have been better for the public welfare had the person been 
 early removed from society than to let him continue his 
 wicked pursuit during a long life ; and the case proposed 
 in the text could be only such an extreme one, when the 
 very parents were to be the accusers. And, although the 
 punishment of death, and that a public execution, must 
 appear even then too severe, it was necessary in those early 
 ages when no milder forms of correction were established, 
 and when the people were not sufficiently civilized to be 
 governed by gentle means ; and it is therefore that we find 
 in many instances the penalty of death prescribed even for 
 apparently small offences. 
 
 " If thou meet on the road, either on a tree or on the ground, a bird's 
 nest, in which are young birds or eggs, and the dam sitting upon them, 
 thou shalt not take the dam with the young ; thou shalt send away the 
 dam, and then mayest take the young." Deut. xxii. 6-7. 
 
 There are many of the Mosaic commands which are much 
 involved in obscurity, and we are left to conjecture the ob- 
 ject and frequently also the meaning of the command. The 
 precept regarding a bird's nest is one of those for which it 
 is difficult to assign a reason. Michaelis thinks that it was 
 forbidden to take the hen and young in order to prevent the 
 destruction of birds which were useful in destroying injuri- 
 ous insects; but then it would Have been better to order the 
 
2 3 
 
 nest to be left altogether untouched. A more reasonable 
 cause for the precept is assigned by Maimonides, who thinks 
 the object was to prevent cruelty to animals, as it would 
 pain the old bird to see her young ones carried away. If, 
 therefore, the finder wished to make use of the eggs or of 
 the young birds, he should despatch the dam, so as to give 
 her as little grief as possible. On the same ground it was 
 forbidden to harness an ox and an ass together to the plough, 
 as they are generally of unequal strength and this would 
 overexert the weaker one. For this reason also it was for- 
 bidden to muzzle an ox while threshing, and other similar 
 commands of kindness to man and beast are based on the 
 ground of humanity and beneficence. 
 
 " Speak to the children of Israel and say to them : When ye come 
 into the land which I give you, then shall the land rest, a sabbath to 
 the Lord. Six years shalt thou sow thy field, and prune thy vineyard, 
 and gather the produce thereof, but the seventh year shall be one of 
 strict rest to the land . . . And thou shalt number seven sabbatical 
 years, seven times seven years. . . . and ye shall sanctify the fiftieth 
 year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants," 
 and sequel. Lev. xxv. 
 
 The whole of this chapter is devoted to the institution of 
 the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee, and the various ordi- 
 nances connected therewith. 
 
 As the seventh day of the week was instituted as a Sab- 
 bath-day, so every seventh year was appointed a year of 
 rest for man, and beast, and land. Hebrew slaves were set 
 free; all debts and claims among Israelites were cancelled; 
 and the whole of the book of the law was read publicly be- 
 fore the multitude. This institution was of great benefit to 
 the people : they were taught thereby the principle of free- 
 dom and equality among men ; all persons, like children of 
 one family, had free and indiscriminate use of what the land 
 spontaneously produced ; and the land itself, by being left 
 
231 
 
 fallow for a year, was thereby much improved. It served 
 also as Calmet observes to inspire the people with senti- 
 ments of humanity, by making it their duty to give rest, 
 proper and sufficient nourishment to the poor, the slave and 
 the stranger, and even to the cattle ; and to accustom the 
 people to submit to and depend on divine Providence which 
 would by an extraordinary provision, support them even 
 while they were not occupied in agriculture. It served 
 further to detach their affections from earthly things, and 
 make them disinterested and heavenly-minded, and to show 
 them God's dominion over the country, that He, not they, 
 was Lord of the soil ; and further to recall to mind the work 
 of creation by the week of years as well as by the -weekly 
 Sabbath. 
 
 The Jubilee was celebrated every fiftieth year, and was 
 characterized by the same observances as the ordinary or 
 Sabbatical years, and was moreover distinguished (ist) by 
 a general sounding of trumpets on the day of atonement, 
 "to proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabi- 
 tants;" (2d) by a release of all slaves, even those who had 
 voluntarily relinquished their freedom, at the end of six 
 years, and had their ears pierced in token of their continual 
 servitude; and ( 3 d) by the returning of all landed property 
 to its primitive owners, or to his inheritors in the family 
 and tribe to which it originally belonged; so that no family 
 was allowed to accumulate too great riches, nor the poor 
 and unfortunate be forever deprived of their patrimonial 
 inheritance. An attentive consideration of the subject will 
 show the utility of this law, and the wisdom and benevo- 
 lecne which prompted its enactment. Palestine was origi- 
 nally divided by lot amongst the tribes and families of 
 Israel, and the inheritance of each family was, by the pre- 
 vious directions of the law of Moses, made inalienable, thus 
 establishing a commonwealth on truly democratic principles 
 
2 3 2 
 
 without incurring the disadvantages and dangers of com- 
 munism. Doubts have been entertained by biblical critics as 
 to whether the land of Canaan was so fruitful as to produce 
 corn and other necessaries of life in sufficient abundance 
 for three years, since the sixth year was to produce a supply 
 for its own consumption, for the seventh in which there 
 was no sowing or reaping, and for the eighth of which a 
 course of seasons was requisite to bring the crops to perfec- 
 tion. But as it is explicitly stated (Lev. xxv. 21): "I will 
 command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it 
 shall bring forth fruit for three years," it is needless here to 
 argue upon the possibility of such a thing. Independent, 
 however, of the miraculous divine intervention necessarily 
 connected with this law, and without which it must have 
 been impracticable, we cannot but admire the excellence 
 of an institution which, while establishing periodical public 
 festivals for the recreation and enjoyment of the people, 
 had at the same time the tendency to impress them with 
 such sublime ideas as equality, liberty, benevolence, and 
 dependence on a superior Being. We find that in later 
 ages the Greeks established their Olympiads, the Romans 
 their Lustra, and the Christians their Indictions, which 
 were probably derived from the Jewish Sabbatical year and 
 Jubilee. But how far superior were the latter to the former 
 which were devoted only to debasing performances and 
 tended to demoralize and corrupt those who partook in 
 them! Nor need it be supposed that the whole of the Sab- 
 batical year was given to festivity or revelry, for although 
 agricultural labor was interdicted, they could fish, hunt, 
 take care of their bees and flocks, repair their buildings and 
 furniture, manufacture cloths of wool, linen, and of the hair 
 of goats and camels, and carry on commerce. Yet, favorable 
 and excellent as this institution may appear, and suitable 
 also to the taste of the people as it would seem, it was much 
 
233 
 
 neglected even in the most flourishing time of the Jewish 
 monarchy, so that in the five centuries succeeding the reign 
 of Solomon not two Sabbatical years were properly ob- 
 served, though after the Babylonian captivity they were 
 regularly and properly celebrated. 
 
 " This shall be the law of the leper." Lev. xiv. 2. 
 
 The laws concerning the leprous and the disease itself 
 are described in the i3th and i4th chapters of Leviticus. 
 This disease is, thanks be to Heaven, hardly known among 
 us even by name; and as the ordinances concerning the 
 same can have no applicability to us, a discussion of them 
 in this book might appear superfluous. Still, as none of the 
 Mosaic precepts, even those that have become obsolete, can 
 be looked upon as entirely void of interest to us; and as 
 the chapters just named are among the weekly portions read 
 to us from the pulpit for our instruction or edification, it is 
 proper that we should be enlightened on these scriptural 
 lessons we are to listen to, especially when we hear of lep- 
 rosy in clothes and in houses, which must appear quite 
 unintelligible. The law gives but a superficial description 
 of the appearance of the disease ; to obtain a better idea of 
 it we must consult the opinions of physicians who have 
 made this malady a subject of special study. 
 
 That kind of leprosy which is spoken of by Moses ap- 
 pears to be what is called the White Leprosy, and is nearly 
 thus described by Mr. Robinson, a medical practitioner of 
 India: " One or two circumscribed patches appear upon 
 the skin, neither raised nor depressed, shining and wrin- 
 kled, the furrows not coinciding with the lines of the skin. 
 That part of the skin affected with the disease is so entirely 
 insensible that you may with a hot iron burn to the muscle 
 before the patient feels any pain. These patches spread 
 slowly until the skin of the whole of the legs, arms, and 
 
234 
 
 gradually often the whole body becomes alike devoid of 
 sense ; wherever it is so affected, there is no perspiration, 
 no itching, no pain, and very seldom any swelling. Until 
 this singular apathy has occupied the greater part of the 
 skin, it may rather be considered a blemish than a disease ; 
 nevertheless, it is most important to mark well these appear- 
 ances, for they are the invariable commencement of the most 
 gigantic and incurable of diseases. Next, the pulse be- 
 comes very slow, the toes and fingers numbed as with frost, 
 glazed and rather swelled and nearly inflexible. The mind 
 is at this time sluggish and slow in apprehension, and the 
 patient appears always half asleep. The soles of the feet 
 and the palms of the hand then crack into fissures, dry and 
 hard as the parched soil of the country ; the extremities of 
 the toes and fingers under the nails are incrusted, and the 
 nails gradually lifted up. Still, there is little or no pain. 
 The legs and forearms swell ; ulcers now appear on the in- 
 side of the fingers and toes ; a discharge of reddish matter 
 comes on ; the muscles become flabby and powerless ; and 
 the joint being penetrated as with an auger, the extremity 
 droops, and at length falls a victim to this cruel, tardy, but 
 certain poison. Thus are the limbs deprived, one by one, 
 of their extremities, till at last they become altogether use- 
 less. Even now death comes not to the relief of, nor is it 
 desired by, the patient, who, dying by inches, and a specta- 
 cle of horror to all besides, still cherishes fondly the spark 
 of life remaining, and eats voraciously all he can procure. 
 He will often crawl about with little but his trunk remain- 
 ing, until old age comes on, and at last he is carried off by 
 diarrhoea or dysentery, which the enfeebled constitution has 
 no stamina to resist." Among the properties of this terrible 
 malady are (i) that it is hereditary, (2) that it is infectious, 
 and (3) that it is incurable; at least, no means of cure have 
 hitherto been discovered. The disease is peculiar to Asia 
 
235 
 
 and to hot climates generally. It was much more prevalent 
 in olden times than it is now, but it is still a common dis- 
 ease throughout all Syria, and in Egypt it is said to be more 
 frequent and virulent. Cutaneous diseases generally are 
 ascribed by medical men to want of cleanliness, unwholesome 
 food, dampness in dwellings, and want of fresh air, to all of 
 which poor persons are often exposed ; and the Israelites 
 in Egypt undoubtedly suffered much from these causes. 
 They were poor, degraded slaves, lived sometimes in marshy 
 parts of the country along the Nile ; their families increased 
 rapidly in their crowded dwellings ; and these things all 
 tend to promote scorbutic diseases. Besides, the frequent 
 use of fish which they obtained in Egypt for nothing,* 
 tends to spread the infection. Therefore, on the entering 
 of Israel into Palestine, the preventives against the spread 
 of leprosy were a necessary and wise institution. 
 
 The infection of houses and clothes, spoken of in Leviti- 
 cus, is called leprosy merely by analogy. In Bern, for in- 
 stance, says Michaelis, they speak of the cancer of buildings, 
 which is with equal propriety a Swiss, as the leprosy of build- 
 ings is a Hebrew expression. The house-leprosy, then, 
 appears to be a kind of distemper which affects the walls 
 of houses much exposed to dampness and foul air, and 
 which produces an efflorescence we commonly but incor- 
 rectly call saltpetre. If this corrosion is allowed to spread 
 further and further, it may cause the destruction of the 
 whole wall, and ultimately of the entire building. Things 
 that are placed near such a wall are spoiled, and persons 
 sleeping close to it may be injured in their health. The 
 consideration of these circumstances, says the preceding 
 author, will render the Mosaic ordinances on this subject 
 easily intelligible. Their object was to check the evil in 
 
 * Numb. xi. 5. 
 
236 
 
 the very bud; to extirpate it while it was yet extirpatible, by 
 making every one, from the loss to which it would subject 
 him, careful to prevent his house becoming affected with 
 leprosy. 
 
 The leprosy in clothes is believed to be occasioned by a 
 species of animalcule, such as breed in wool shorn from a 
 sheep that died of disease, or such as are the cause of the 
 itch, or it may be the infection which is called mildew and 
 dry-rot. Michaelis states that, according to the information 
 he received from an eminent woolen manufacturer, the wool 
 of sheep which die by disease, and which is technically 
 called dead wool, is apt to breed vermin, especially when 
 worn close to the body and warmed by it ; he, therefore, 
 conceived that it was an additional proof of the consum- 
 mate legislative policy of the Mosaic institutes to bring 
 into discredit and disuse stuffs already become threadbare 
 and fretted, and particularly in climates which must have 
 been so favorable to the rapid multiplication of vermin. 
 
 " Ye shall not add to the thing which I command you, neither shall 
 ye diminish aught from it, but observe the commands of the Lord your 
 God which I command you." Deut. iv. 2. 
 
 From the manner in which we treated the preceding sub- 
 jects, it will be sufficiently evident that we entirely reject 
 all rabbinical authority in the interpretation of the Mosaic 
 commands, and we would here say a few words in vindica- 
 tion of our position. We reject both rabbinical authority 
 and their interpretation, because as to the first, the authority 
 exercised by the rabbis is self-assumed, usurped, not con- 
 ferred by any power we are bound to recognize, but tacitly 
 submitted to by the multitude, and as to the second, theo- 
 logical doctors of the present age are by their researches, 
 and the general progress of science, better qualified to de- 
 termine the meaning of ancient laws and customs ; they 
 
237 
 
 are better able to divest themselves of that strong partiality 
 which fettered the minds of the talmudical doctors and 
 their successors. It is further evident to every impartial 
 critic that the rabbis have in very many instances perverted 
 the plain, even the most unequivocal sense of scriptural 
 precepts, have said many things that are false, and things 
 that are foolish ; and the system of interpretation adopted 
 by them is often contrary to the rules of logic and to sound 
 reasoning. But not only have the rabbis misinterpreted 
 Scripture, they have set their authority above that of the 
 divine law, and have, in open violation of the text above 
 quoted, added to and diminished from the Mosaic commands. 
 We will give only a few instances in addition to what has 
 been said, fully to illustrate and confirm our statement. 
 The observing of two holidays instead of one is an addition 
 to the Mosaic Law, and in violation of it. When Israel 
 dwelt in Palestine, when they had no calendar, and the be- 
 ginning of each month could be determined only by the 
 appearance of the first phases of the moon,* and those 
 living at a great distance could not receive timely informa- 
 as to which day had been fixed upon by the Sanhedrin as 
 the first of the month, those people were justified in observ- 
 ing two days, so as to make sure of keeping the right day; 
 but since the Jewish calendar has been accurately computed 
 for all future time, the necessity of keeping more than one 
 day has been obviated, and to prescribe the observance of 
 an additional festival is contrary to the dictates of the Mo- 
 saic code. 
 
 Another instance where the rabbis assumed authority 
 above that of the written Law, is in the use of the Lulab 
 
 * The Turks even now reckon their year by lunar months, and watch 
 the first appearance of the moon for the celebration of their great fast 
 of Ramadan, which they observe much in the same way as we keep the 
 Day of Atonement. 
 
2 3 8 
 
 and Shophar. We are commanded in the Scriptures to 
 make use on the first day of the Tabernacles of the four 
 species of plants mentioned in Leviticus xxiii. 40. There 
 is no exception made in the text to dispense with the use of 
 them in case this first day of the feast should happen on the 
 Sabbath. Yet the rabbis have taken upon themselves to 
 ordain that no use should be made of these emblems on the 
 Saturday. And why not ? By a rabbinical ordinance, which 
 has no foundation in the Scriptures, it is forbidden to carry 
 any article on the Sabbath beyond the city-limits, or from 
 without into it. For fear now that any one who may have 
 neglected to provide himself with the four specimens alluded 
 to, might go outside of the city to fetch them, they forbade 
 the use of them on the Sabbath altogether; thus practically 
 verifying what they said, " The rabbis have fortified or en- 
 forced the observance of their own institutions more than 
 than those of the Law." The same is the case with the 
 blowing of the Shophar, which is ordained without excep- 
 tion to take place on the first day of the seventh month ; 
 and the rabbis again contradicted the order in case that day 
 should happen on a Saturday, for the reason just mentioned, 
 that it might not be at hand, and would have to be brought 
 from without the city-limits. On the other hand, they re- 
 quired us to make use of the four specimens during six 
 additional days of the Tabernacles; and to blow the Shophar 
 on the second day of the seventh month, neither of which 
 is Scriptural, and while performing the ceremonies to say, 
 " Blessed art thou, O Lord ! who has commanded us to do 
 so." This shows clearly that the rabbis both added to and 
 diminished from the word of God, though we are repeatedly 
 warned against doing so. 
 
 Besides the instances now given of Shophar and Lulab, 
 which are Scriptural ordinances, and extended by the rabbis 
 upon their own authority to a time not prescribed in the 
 
239 
 
 Law, there are other observances of which not a word nor 
 the slightest intimation appears in the Mosaic books, such 
 as the washing of hands in the morning and before 
 meals, the lighting of the Sabbath-lamp, and the Hannucah 
 lamp, the reading of the Hallel, and several others, with 
 which they have connected a blessing in which we are to 
 say that God commanded us to do these things, which, 
 however, is quite contrary to truth. 
 
 But the rabbis have gone still further in the assumption 
 of their authority, solemnly declaring that he who denies 
 the truth of their interpretation of Scripture and the oral 
 law generally, is equal to one who denies the truth of divine 
 revelation, and shall be excluded from enjoying the rewards 
 and blessings of eternal life. Thus even the enlightened 
 Maimonides, in his work Yad Hachasacah, declares, " These 
 are they who have no part in the world to come, but are cut 
 off and perish, and are condemned on account of the great- 
 ness of their wickedness and sin forever and ever the 
 heretics, and the deniers of the law," and goes on to spe- 
 cify among the latter, "he who denies the interpretation of 
 the law, that is, the oral law."* This is indeed the highest 
 degree of arrogance which any religious expounders ever 
 dared to assume, to say, if you do not accept our interpreta- 
 tions, you are everlastingly condemned. 
 
 The idea that the rabbinical decisions rest upon divine 
 authority, in consequence of a chain of traditions brought 
 down to us from the time of Moses, is long since exploded 
 and a hundred times disproved. During the whole period 
 of the first Temple, there were no rabbis nor traditions. 
 The system originated about the time of the Maccabees. 
 To establish the claim of divine authority, or even of divine 
 
 * We are strongly inclined to believe that the author held different 
 views when, later, he wrote the Moreh Nebuchim. 
 
240 
 
 sanction, for the Talmud and its collateral productions, 
 two things would be essentially necessary. In the first 
 place, a perfect unanimity of opinion among the rabbis, 
 both with regard to the exposition of the written laws, and 
 on the oral laws said to have descended traditionally from 
 the divine Author ; and second, a perfect agreement be- 
 tween these and the plain words of Scripture would be re- 
 quired. But instead of agreement, there is great diversity 
 of opinion in the interpretation of the Law, and some of 
 the oral laws are in downright contradiction with the writ- 
 ten, as we have shown. 
 
 We are quite willing to give the rabbis all the credit due 
 to their honesty of purpose, and readily admit that their 
 motives were pure, and that they labored with the best in- 
 tention of upholding the sacredness of our religion, and 
 render it invulnerable by even the smallest violation. But 
 zeal will often rise to enthusiasm and to fanaticism, and 
 our rabbinical teachers have exhibited these qualities in a 
 very high degree. While admitting their honesty of pur- 
 pose, it must at the same time be borne in mind that the 
 sphere of their thoughts and views was very narrowly lim- 
 ited. The state of almost total exclusion in which they 
 lived, and preferred to live, rather than mix with those who 
 entertained different views, and the cruel oppression and 
 hatred which they suffered on the part of those under 
 whose dominion they lived, contributed largely to those 
 false opinions being rooted deeper and deeper into their 
 minds, until they became settled maxims and principles not 
 to be doubted. This is about the best apology we can find 
 for men of intelligence, of learning, and of good motives, 
 establishing rules and principles which must appear incon- 
 sistent and repugnant to reason and common sense, and 
 overloading us with a multitude of observances preposterous, 
 puerile, and often ridiculous. 
 
 or THE 
 
 DIVERSITY 
 
241 
 
 As to ourselves, Jews of the present age, the words of 
 the law, as expounded by our modern teachers, are all- 
 sufficient for our moral and religious edification ; we need 
 no " hedges to the law," hedges, too, so closely twisted and 
 so thorny as to place the law itself beyond one's reach. 
 Our great aim is to preserve the Scriptures in their purity, 
 to penetrate into the spirit of our law and our religion, and 
 though remaining a distinct tribe among the nations of the 
 earth, to proceed on the path of progression with the rest 
 of the world, to advance with their advancement, and im- 
 prove with their improvement. 
 
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