THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES P APE R S READ BEFORE THE DURING THE SESSION 1886-7. REPRINTED FROM THE "JEWISH CHRONICLE.' LONDON : OFFICE OF THE "JEWISH CHRONICLE," 2, FINSBURY SQUARE. 1887. fo CONTENTS. PAGB SECTS AMONG THE JEWS A. Neubauer, M.A. ... 1 THE INFLUENCE OF JUDAISM OVER ANCIENT, MEDLEY AL AND MODERN PHILOSOPHY : PHILO, IBN-GEBIROL AND SPINOZA Dr. H. Behrend 13 THE ROD OF MOSES, AND ITS LEGENDARY STORY Israel Abrahams, M.A. . . 28 JEWISH FOLK-LORE IN THE MIDDLE AGES '. . . . Rev. Dr. M. Ouster ... 39 THE TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM Marcus N. Adler, M.A. . . 52 RABBI NACHMAN KROCHMAL AND THE " PERPLEXITIES OF THE TIME " . . . S. Shechter 68 SOME RABBINICALLY LEARNED WOMEN Rev. I. S. Meuels .... 81 ART AMONG THE ANCIENT HEBREWS . Rev. Dr. Chotzner .... 91 JEHUDA HALEVI, POET AND PILGRIM . Joseph Jacobs, S.A. ... 98 THE EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS .... Rev. Joseph F. Stern ... 113 THE "WISDOM OF SOLOMON" . . , . Claude G. Montejiore, M.A. . 130 SPINOZA Dr.M. Friedlander ... 163 THE MESSIANIC IDEA IN JUDAISM . . . Rev. S. Singer 178 SECTS AMONG THE JEWS. BY A. NEUBAUEB, M.A., OXFORD. Ladies and gentlemen : The paper I am going to read to you on the Sects of the Jews will not contain any great novelty. For, good accounts of them can be found in the historical works of our celebrated Dr. Graetz, and also in Jost's History of Judaism, not to speak of many minor historical compilations made on the basis of these standard books. Still I have tried to collect information from the most recent documents, more especially as regards the modern Samaritans and the Karaites ; the literature of the latter has become known to us only since the pub- lication of extracts from the great collection of the St. Petersburg Library, chiefly by the late Pinsker. Much more is to be expected on this subject when Dr. Harkavy publishes the catalogue of the most recant acquisitions of this library. We hare been made acquainted with the Falashas by the accounts given by the well known Joseph Halevy and some missionaries. The Jews are at present divided into two principal sects, 1st, those who recog- nise the authority of an oral tradition, which is embodied in the Talmudio books and who are called the men of the Talmud or Babbinites ; 2nd, those who reject the Talmud, relying solely on Scripture, who style themselves Karaites, which means readers of Scripture. We shall find in each of these two sects some subdi- visions. But before giving the history and development of the Karaites, for I shall not say much of the Babbinites to whom we all belong and whose history is known to all present, you will allow me to say a word about the once important Samaritans and about sects that existed during the epoch of the Second Temple. The division between Israel and Judah appeared under a new form after the return of the exiles to Jerusalem. It was no more the worship of Jehovah as the Invisible and Almighty God as opposed to the calf and other idols that was in question, but the dispute was between Jerusalem as the centre of worship and Mount Garizim. The relics of the old Israel, now represented by the inhabitants of Samaria, accepted the authority of the Pentateuch, which they still possess in their old Ibri or Samaritan writing. Only they introduced some alterations in the text in favour of Mount Garizim and Sichem. Of course the Samaritans pretended that the Jews had altered the text in favour of Jerusalem. The Samaritans still have their great assemblies on certain feast days on Mount Garizim, they pronounce the blessings on it in their prayers, and they sacrifice the Paschal lamb there, the only sacrifice they have retained ; for they substituted, like the other Jews, prayers in place of the sacrifices. The Samaritans know nothing of any other biblical writings besides the Pentateuch. Some critics think that they rejected the prophetical and other books of the Old Testament because Jerusalem is mentioned in them as the place of worship. Bub why should they not have altered Jerusalem to Garizim while accepting them, as they did in the case of the Pentateuch ? It is more likely either that the Prophets and the Hagiographa were not yet written down when the Sama- ritans separated from the Jews, or that these books were written solely in the JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. Aramaic characters which could not be read and which were considered aa profane by them. The Book of Joshoa which the Samaritans possess in Arabic, id wholly different from the biblical book, and was composed not earlier than the eighth cen- tury, A.D., and both the Chronicles they still hare, one in Samaritan and the other in Arabic, are alike of a still later date, Mount Garizim is the centre of the Samaritan just as Jerusalem is of the Jewish religion. Upon it, or at least above it, they say that Paradise is situated, and that the rain comes from it. The first man was formed from the earth of Qarizim and dwelt there. The Samaritans still show the place where Adam and Seth built their altars. Garizim is identified by them with Mount Ararat, and here they say the Ark rested. Noah also made bin sacrifices here. The altar whereon Abraham in- tended to sacrifice Isaac, is also shown here, and even the place where the ram stood. Bethel, according to them, is to be found on the top of Garizim, and there stood the ladder which Jacob saw in his dream. Somewhat below they show the place where the house of the High Priest stood, and further on is the place where they sacrifice now. To the West of it they believe is the site of the village Makedah, where they show the cave to which the five Canaanitish kings fled. To all these places the Samaritans make pilgrimages in procession three times every year, viz., on the Passover Feast, the Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. They recite special hymns on that occasion whilst walking in procession. The Samaritans observe seven feasts, according to Leviticus xxiii. The chief feast is the Passover, when they offer the sacrifices of the lambs, at sunset on the 15th of Xisan, accompanied by prayers which end witb the High Priest's blessing addressed to 12 persons representing the congregation, most probably a reminiscence of the twelve tribes. Chapters of the Pentateuch are then read and hymns recited. When the sacrifices are roasted, they begin the evening meal which they eat in haste with sticks in their hands, as literally prescribed in the Pentateuch. They also eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs and pronounce the blessing over a kind of wine which they take before and after the hasty meal. The second feast they call the Feast of Unleavened Bread, niVO, which lasts seven days, of which the first and last days are complete feast days, as well as the intervening Sabbath, called the Sabbath of the Sea, because they read on that day the song of Miriam, and from thia Sabbath they begin to count the 50 days up to the Pentecost. Sometimes the Festival of Unleavened Bread falls on a Sabbath Day and in that case the two feasts are kept on the same day. This Sabbath is also called the Great Sabbath. On this day as well as on seven others, the most ancient Pentateuch Scroll of the five kept at Nablus is shown [and everybody kisses it. They pretend that this copy was written by Abisha son of Phineas, thirteen years previous to the entry of the Israelites into the land of Chanaan. Between the sixth and seventh Sabbaths, three days before Pentecost, they have the third feast called the Day of Sinai or the day of the dwell- ing on Sinai or the day of Scripture, for on this day the whole Pentateuch is recited. This festival falls on a Wednesday. The following Sabbath is also called the Great Sabbath or the Sabbath of the Word, viz. the Ten Commandments. Then comes the Pentecost which is called the Feast of the First Fruit ; it is celebrated by a procession to Mount Garizim, when prayers and hymns are recited, and the whole Pentateuch read out. On the Feast of the Trumpets they read the Ten Commandments and the old Scroll is shown. This day does not begin the new year with them as it does with the other Jews. They begin with the 1st of Nisan which is the first month according to the Pentateuch. On the Day of Atonement they abstain for 24 hours from eating, drinking, sleeping, and even talking, and they remain all the time in the synagogue. At the evening service the ancient Scroll is shown and the first two books of the Pentateuch are read ; the three others are read during the day's ser- SHOTS AMONG THE JEWS. 3 vice with many of their best hymns. The Feast of Tabernacles lasts eight days, the first and the last as well as the intervening Sabbath are complete feast days. They construct huts of laurel branches intermixed with other aromatic leaves and begin the feast at sunset after having recited some Pentateuch verses and some prayers. They then assemble for the general prayers, and after having read the Pentateuch proceed in procession to Mount Garizim. As far as it is known, they do not use the liulab, the Ethrog, and the willows of the brook. Neither are they acquainted with the Tefilin or the Zizit. However, when they take out the Scroll from the Ark, they put a dress over their heads which they call TalltJi. On the ordinary Sab- bath they have special prayers and read the Pentateuch in sections, which are differently divided from the Rabbinical sections. Besides these seven feasts, they have two days of Assembly in the year called J"ID, on which the high priest collects the offerings, called flDDIl. The Samaritans in some respects observe the Law more strictly than the Rab- binites and the Karaites. They, for instance, wear in the synagogues shoes prepared from skins of sheep killed in their houses. The women wear no earrings, because the golden calf was made of them. Circumcision is strictly observed, even when the eighth day falls on a Sabbath. Thanksgivings are pronounced on the Sabbath following the birth of a boy, but not of a girl. To take any notice of birthdays is strictly prohibited as a pagan custom, because Pharaoh was feasted on his birthday. I think that many amongst us would be glad to observe in this respect the Samaritan severity of custom. The wedding ceremonies are very simple. A grown-up lady can only be obtained by her consent, whilst the younger ones are given away by the father. The dowry is given to the bride and not tT the father. When the consent of the father is obtained, the priest pronounces the following sentence in the Samaritan dialect : " The covenant of Abraham, Isaao and Jacob, is true, a firm covenant according to the law of God and his messenger Moses, son of Amram, the peace of the Lord be with him." Then the marriage contract is read. The wedding ceremony usually takes place on Fridays, and on the following Sabbath chapters of the Pentateuch are read out, more especially Genesis chapter xxiv., which contains the history of Eliezer and Rebecca. Bigamy is allowed in case there are no children from the first wife, but in no case is polygamy tolerated . The obligation of the Levirate does not fall upon the brother of the deceased, but on his nearest friend, for the Samaritans translate OTIS " friends " and not " brothers." Divorce is performed by means of a written document, which the priest reads. It is signed by two witnesses, and is given to the woman with half of her dowry. The ceremonies of burial are that after the corpse has been washed, passages of the Pentateuch are read and some hymns, called the Hymns of the Angels, are sung. The Sabbath after the funeral, the whole congregation goes, after the morning prayers, to the grave, where a common meal is eaten, and passages of the Pentateuch read and the Angel Hymn sung. As to their creel, they have been as far as their docu- ments go back, pure monotheists ; they believe thoroughly in the Unity of God and reject all use of images. The late Dr. Petermann related the following curious fact, that when the High Priest paid him a visit at Nablus, he saw on the wall a portrait, from which he at once averted bis face, asking Dr. Petermann 's pardon. The story reported in the Talmud that the Samaritans have the image of a dove on Garizim cannot be relied upon, and the same is the case with the passage in which it is stated that they adore an idol called Ashima. The dove might have been mistaken for an eagle which the Romans put there after they had destroyed the Temple on the Mount, and Ashima is probably a mistake for the word Sh'mo, which the Samaritans employ for the tetragrammaton, just as the Jews employ the word 'JIK or DB7I. It has been suspected by some travellers that the Samaritans perhaps hide their idol in a partition of a wall which they never open to any visitor. Dr. Petermann, however, has succeeded in examining this famous hiding place and has found noth- JEJTS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. ing elaebnt a half rotten leaf of vellum, on which the priestly blessing, beginning ~P12' is written .according to the Samaritan tradition.by the hand of the High Priest Eleazer, son of Phineaa. Aa to their belief in angela and demons, Paradise and Gehenna, the resurrection and the advent of the Messiah, we can only speak on the authority of relatively late documents. From these we learn that they do not deny the existence of angels and demons, which they find even in the words, " the spirit of God," and the darkness at the beginning of Genesis, They believe in Paradise, Gehenna and future life, but have no traditional ideas in regard to them; indeed, the same is the case with the Talmud, where only individual reports are given as to the character of Paradise, Gehenna and the future life. Tha last judgment, they say, will come after the advent of the Messiah, whom they call Tabeh, that is he who will bring men to God or to repentance, and who will not be greater than Moses. They in fact read at the end of Deuteronomy, " And there will not arise a prophet in Israel like unto Moses," instead of " and there arose not." This is their only Messianic passage, for Shilo (Gen. xlix. 10) is interpreted by them to mean Solomon. The study of Samaritan has been alvanced during the last thirty years by the late Dr. Petermann, Dr. Kohn of Bnda Pesth, Dr. Heidenheim of Zurich, and by the Rev. J. W. Nutt, formerly sub-Librarian of the Bodleian Library. But we are still awaiting an edition of the prayer books of the Samaritans of which there exist MSS. in the British Museum and in the Bodleian Library, an edition which would not only be of importance for liturgical history, but also for Semitic philology. The Samaritans possess no great amount of literature. Besides the Samarit m Tar- gum, the liturgies, hymns, and the Chronicles, they have some Arabic commentaries on the Pentateuch. Formerly, even during the Middle Ages, there were Samaritan congregations in many localities in Palestine and in Syria. At present they are to be found only in Sichem and the neighbouring villages, and number not more than 165 souls. Not intermarrying with other nationalities, they are likely to disappear soon. They speak only Arabic and the Samaritan language is not familiar even to the High Priest. There are no sects amongst the living Samaritans, they are not numerous enough for allowing themselves such a luxury. Epiphanius, however, reports that one of the sects amongst them was called Sclitaioi. These Sectarians began the year in the autumn, which was soon followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, whilst the Feast of the Tabernacle was kept in the spring. He names also a kind of Essenian sect called Gordenoi. Abn-1-Fath in his Arabic chronicle speaks of a certain Dostan, who formed a sect, of which there are some contradictory reports. Amongst the Jews during the epoch of the 2nd Temple the two principal sects were the Pharisees and the Sadducees who are well known to yon from Josephns, the New Testament and books written on the state of the Jews in the time of Jesus. The Essenes, who are mentioned in neither the New Testament nor in the Talmud, at least under that name, seem to have formed a branch of the Pharisees, observ- ing special ceremonies, such as bathing early in the morning 'H/itpo /Sajrrtoroi JV"ri55> *?21t3 ; and others observed with the utmost rigor the Sabbath Mo(r/3wrot D'nae*D or rOB> TiaiB'. Other smaller sects mentioned in the New Testament, by Hegesippus and Eusebius formed also fractions of the two principal sects. Thus the Herodians were a section of the Sadducees and were partisans of the Herodian dynasty. The Galileans are probably the first adherents of Jesus. The Gaulanites are the Zealots or the adherents of Judah of Gaulanitis, the founder of the party of zealots. With the destruction of the second Temple all parties disappeared among the Jews who were allowed to settle at Jabneh and the neigh- bouring district. There was no longer any reason for the existence of the Sadducees whose chief points of difference from the Pharisees bore upon political matters and on ceremonies performed in the Temple. The Pharisees who for a long time SECTS AMONG THE JEWS. were the favorites of the people took the religious direction of the nation entirely in their hands under the name of Rabbanim or Rabbis, a denomination used already in the New Testament. The two schools of Palestine and Babylon gradually settled the ritual law, the discussions in which are contained in the two Talmud a and epitomised for more general use in books of precepts and treatises of the Hala- chah by the successors of the Talmudic doctors, about 700 A.D. They were known under the name of Gaonim, the proud or the honoured Rabbis. The law conti ta according to the Talmudic school of 613 precepts of which 248 are affirmative and 365 prohibitive ; these numbers correspond with the members of the human body which according to the physiology of the time were counted 248 and the number of the 365 veins, or according to others the 365 days of the solar year. To observe 613 precepts is rather a heavy obligation ; fortunately many of them are only theoretical, applying to ceremonies to be observed in the Temple ; others apply only to Palestine, such as tithes, first fruits and others. I shall pass over the enumeration of the rabbinical precepts, which are all well known to you. Let me only say that a good number of the 613 precepts are of a purely ethical character, and state which are considered the most important ones. Such is love of one's neighbour, almsgiving, the study of the law, and prayer. The various branches of the Peruzhim and the Chasidim, which still exist in Poland and Russia, in Hungary and the East, more especially in Jerusalem, are an outgrowth of Rabbinism, mixed with mystical or Kabbalistic idea". Such was the sect of Shab- bathai Zebi (usually known as the Shepg, a corruption from Shabbethai), which was a still more fanatical outgrowth and has now died out. All the Jews are now Rabbinites, more or less reformed. They amount to 6,392,000 souls, according to M. Loeb in his monograph on the Jews, 1884. Although omitting to give a descrip- tion of the Rabbinical interpretation of the ceremonies, I must ask leave to say a word or two on the manner of fixing the Jewish calendar amongst the Rabbinites in opposition to the other sects. All the Jews have lunar months, which, as you know, is also the case with the Mohametana. In order to observe the Passover in Spring and the Feast of Tabernacles in the Autumn, as prescribed in the Pentateuch, the Jewa have every three or four years an intercalated month before the spring month, which is called ve-Adar, the additional Adar. The Mohametans have no inter- calation, their feasts fall consequently in various years, in varioua months. Thus their great feast, the Ramadan, may fall in December as well as in July or August. Up to the third century the New Moon Days were fixed from observations made by a special body of the Sanhedrin and were proclaimed by fire-signals on certain moun- tains to the Jewa in exile or Babylonia. The Samaritans out of opposition having sometimes lighted fires in order to mislead the Jews outside Palestine, the Sanhedrin gave up using signals and instituted messengers who were sent to the Diaspora. As it happened sometimes that the observation of the New Moon was wrongly made, especialy on cloudy days, and that therefore the festivals had to be a day later, and it was too late to stop the messengers who had already gone to the various parts of Asia, it was settled that outside Palestine two days should be observed instead of one day prescribed in the Pentateuch, with the exception of the Day of Atonement. It would have indeed been hard to fast for 50 hours instead of 25. When the calendar was fixed in the 3rd century, the Jews in the Diaspora clung out of conservatism to the old usage and always kept a two days' feast instead of one. This tradition is still continued by the bulk of the synagogues. I must also mention the thirteen Articles of Faith, PDSD '3K, the Jewish Creeds, pub into shape by the great Maimonides, which we shall find later on among the Karaites. The last three are, as yon know, given in English : " I believe that God will reward those who keep His commandments and punish those who trans- gress them. I believe firmly in the advent of the Messiah, and if He retards his coming, I shall nevertheless expect him every day." Finally, "I believe in the resur- JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. ration of the dead at the time when it will pleaae the Creator, blessed be He." There is no mention made of what kind of reward and punishment there will be, of what will happen at the time of the advent of the Messiah and at the time of the resurrection. Whatever we read in the Talmudio literature and later works on these subjects represents individual ideas or those of a certain school. Have we not heard only lately of the existence of two messiahs, one for the Jews and the other for the Gentiles ? All comparative data bearing on Messianic times, which is introduced in order to elucidate the New Testament is valueless, and has only the result of blinding the eyes of the great public with huge extracts from the Talmud, which mostly belong to post-Talmndic works. The only certainty is that the Jews believed, and still believe, that the Messiah will be a descendant of the House of David, that he will bring together the scattered of Israel, and that Jerusalem will be rebuilt in its former glory. We now come to the second important sect, called the Karaites, or the Bible Readers. This denomination was given to the new sect at least a century later than its origin. We have no reliable documents recounting the cause of the Karaitic separation. Their own authors deny that they are successors of the Sad- ducees, whom they themselves consider as heretics, but they put the beginning of Earaism before Hillel I., at least a century before the Christian era. It is useless to produce arguments against such an unhistorical statement. The Karaites themselves admit that the real separation began with Anan, son of David, about 750, which date is further confirmed by Rabbinical chronicles and from Arabian sources. By early authors the sectarians are called Ananites, as a local sect, whilst other local sects were called Judganites, from their leader Judah, Jndgan, of Persia ; Akbarites, from the leader Meswi of Akbar ; Tiflisites, from their leader Moses of Tiflis, and BO on. At the time when Anan began his movement in 750 under the Khalif Abu Jafar Almansur, there was a similar movement in the Mohammedan religion, among thoee who believed in the Sunna, the tradition, and who declared the Koran to have existed before the creation the Midrash reports a similar opinion about the Thora and the Shiites or the adherents of Ali, to whom the Persian Mahomedans still be- long. It is possible that the semi-philosophical dissensions, by which both schools were represented in the newly built Bagdad, produced also the opposition against the Talmud, which was at that time finished and which represented the oral tradi- tion. Indeed, the philosophical system of the Arabs, known under the name of the Kelam, the Word or science of speech, and which was chiefly directed against the materiality of the qualities of God, was at first adopted by the Karaites, who applied it to the Bible just as the Mutazilites applied theirs to the Koran. It is also possible, as is reported in a Rabbinical chronicle of the 12th century, which is certainly based upon documents now lost, that Anan having had a right to the succession of the Patriarchate of the Jews in the Diaspora, called Resh Cfalutha, " Chief of the Captivity," a right which was not recognised, brought about a separa- tion through spite and revenge. Anyhow it is certain that Anan denied the very foundation of an oral tradition, which the Talmudists pretended was com- municated to Moses on Mount Sinai. Anan, probably from political reasons, was obliged to emigrate from Mesopotamia to Jerusalem, where he built a synagogue which existed up to the time of the first Crusade. The chief schools of the Karaites were in Palestine and later on in Egypt and Damascus. In the 1 1th century we find them at Constantinople and the Greek Islands, from whence they passed to the Crimea, where they are now most numerous. Some of them settled in the Polish Provinces, and they tried also to invade Spain, but without success. Their number is indeed very small ; the Rabbinites, who are scattered throughout the world exceed the number of six millions, while the Karaites count scarcely 6,000 souls. Anan's favourite saying, " Search diligently in the Law," produced involuntarily the good effect, that it introduced a more sane and rational exegesis, baaed upon SECTS AMONG THE JEWS. grammar and lexicography, than was to be found in the Talmudic schools. But for the rest the Karaites made certainly a retrograde movement in every respect. Their rigourous objervance of the Sabbath, for instance, without fire and without artificial light, makes it unbearable in cold climates ; and in not acknowledging the fixed calendar of the Talmud, but returning to the old system of observation of the new moon, they brought confusion into their camp concerning the fixing of the feast days in the congregations of the various countries. The Karaites have produ- ced no great development in the liturgical and poetical fields of literature, in fact they were obliged to borrow Rabbinic hymns for their prayer bocks ; they have done little for mathematics and medicine; whilst the Rabbinites followed the move- ment of the Arabs and by their translations from Arabic into Hebrew formed the link between the Orient and the Occident in natural science. The Karaites are pygmies in mystical etudies,which they finally took over from the Rab- biuites, whilst the Rabbinites produced gigantic follies with their Kabbalah ; and in our generation, when they are more favoured in Russia than the Rabbinites, they have made no mark at all upon modern ttudies, whilst the Rabbinites in Russia are represented by illustrious names in science, history, art and even poetry. No progress being allowed in the interpretation of the ceremonies, they have remained in a permanent state of stagnation. I shall now give you an outline of their ceremonies and jou will see that the game was not worth the candle. They say that the Law reposes on three points : Scriptnre, logical deductions and hereditary tradition. As to Scripture the Rabbin- ites count 613 precepts; the^Karaites recognise no fixed number. By "deduction " they understand for instance that from the precept, " Thou shaltnot plough with an ox and an ass together," the conclusion must be drawn that other works than ploughing should not be performed as well, and under ox and ass they decide that other clean and unclean animals are included. By hereditary tradition they know for instance how the ceremony of slaughtering ought to be performed, how the order of the prayers runs, how to perform the wedding ceremonies and so on. And with their rules they come nearly to the same results as the Rabbinites, who derive everything from Moses. They keep the Sabbath and the five feasts, viz., the Passover, Pentecost, the Day of the Trumpet, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles, but only one day instead of two. The day of blowing the trumpet they call the Day of Moving the Heart for Repentance, for by their tradition they know that on that day men ought to begin to repent and prepare for the Day of Atonement. They do not blow the trumpet ; but they do not deny that on that day the trumpet was blown in the Temple. The rabbis combined both ideas, the blowing of the trumpet and the beginning of the day of repentance. The counting of the fifty days between Pass- over and Pentecost begins among the Karaites on the Sabbath following the first Passover day, consequently their Pentecost always falls on Sunday. In consequence they sometimes have more than fifty days between the two feasts. Of fast days they keep the four mentioned in Zechariah, with the following differences : they fast on the 9th of Tamuz instead of on the 17th,and on the 10th of Ab instead of on the 9th. They observe the following additional fast days : The 7th of Ab and in some con- gregations the 23rd of Tishri, which is with the Rabbinists the Simchat Torah. They also keep the Feast of Esther without the Fast day, but they omit the Feast of Hanu- cah, which is not mentioned in Scripture. They do not observe the precept of Tefilin, of Zizith and Mezuzah, which they say must not be taken literally, but only allegorically. But how is that possible if they take Scripture literally ? It is most likely that in the congregations where Karaism began, people did not observe strictly these precepts for want of the means of doing BO. We know in fact from the Talmud that in some parts of Babylonia congregations were a little loose in their observances. In the time of Jesus phylacteries were, perhaps, not in general use, as it was noticed that some persons made ostentatious display of them. The chief points of difference of interpretation between the two sects are GO JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. be found in the law of inheritance, in the ceremonies relating to cleanliness and an- cleanliness, and finally in the chapter of blood relation, given in Leviticus, ch. 18. They read through the Pentateuch yearly, beginning with the Sabbath after Succot and finishing on Shemini Atseret. But it is reported that at an early period some congregations began the law in Nisan, the first month of the year according to the Pentateuch. Their sections are nearly the same as with us, whilst some Eaptorat are different. The wedding ceremony is accomplished by the following formula : By the covenant of Mount Sinai, by the laws of Mount Horeb, by the testimony of the Lord Sebaot and by the testimony of our ancients and superiors, I, so and so, betroth and marry, so and so, as my wife according to Levitical prescriptions by the means of a dowry, by contract and by cohabitation according to the law of Moses and Israel. They follow accordingly the rite given in the Mish- nah. Their articles of faith are according to later authors the following ten : 1. Unity of God. 2. God is not a body. 3. He created alone the world out of nothing and He conducts everything. 4. To Him alone we must address our prayers. 5. The belief in the words of the prophets. 6. Moses ia the first and the chief of the prophets, and his prophecy is true. 7. The law of Moses is true, everlasting and will not be changed. 8. God knows the thoughts of men, and will give re- wards or punishments. 9. The adent of the Messiah, who will be from the house of David, who will deliver Israel and bring them to Zion, he will fight the battle of God, and will lead the nations to the law of Mo?es. 13. The resurrection of the dead : although there are contradictory passages about it in scripture, they must not be taken literally, for we must believe that He who created all from nothing will a fortiori carry the soul whither it has to go. Are all these not also Rabbini- cal articles of faith. In Abyssinia there are about 200,000 Jewa who go under the name of Falasha*, which means " emigrants " or " exiles." The name indicates clearly that they are not of Abyssinian origin, but strangers who settled in the land. Up to the present time no written document has been found which would help us to determine the time and the mode of their immigration, I shall have therefore to give you statements from traditions, of which three are known : The first is a Christian tradition which says that the Jews or Falashas immigrated in the time of Solomon. In II. Chronicles ix. 12, we read, " And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, besides that which she had bronght unto the king. So she turned, and went away, she and all her servants." The Abyssinian legend knows something more than the author of the Book of Chronicles. According to it, Solomon had a son by the Queen of Sheba, called Menelek. She returned to Axutn with her son, but sent him later on to Jerusalem to be educated there. I am sorry to state that nothing is said about the result of his examinations ; that would indeed have been interesting for com- parison with our present system. The legend only reports that when Menelek became a man, he begged his father to allow him to return to his mother, in order to avoid political complications after Solomon's death. After great reluctance Solomon consented, with the condition that he should be accompanied to Ethiopia by every firstborn male in Israel. When they came there and Menelek succeeded to the throne of his mother, they all married native women, and from them the Falashas are descended. Amongst the immigrants were twelve priests who were intended to carry on divine service in Abyssinia, the name of the High Priest waa Azariah, the son of Zadok. But that is not all. Solomon had an Ark of the Covenant made for them on the model of that in the Temple of Jerusalem, but Menelek took with him the true Ark of Moses which is still at Axum,and left the counterfeit at Jeru- salem. What a disappointment it will be for our archaeologists if the Ark or fragments of it should be discovered in Jerusalem 1 The legend says farther that Menelek SECTS AMOXG THE JEWS. 9 escaped by miracle from the persecutions which Solomon ordered against him. A second tradition says that the Falashas are Jews who immigrated from the Assyrian and the Babylonian exile, who fled to Egypt and from thence went up the Nile and settled in the western provinces of Abyssinia, called Quara. From hence they gra- dually wandered daring the last few centuries into the neighbouring provinces of Debea, Semilu, &c. Indeed, from the dialect which the Falashas now speak amongst themselves, we may conclude that they came from Quara. A third tradition reports that the Falashas immigrated as late as the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. But as they know nothing about Purim and Hauukah, they must have left Palestine before the Book of Esther was recognised as canonical. Modern authors have also three different opinions about the Falashas. The missionary Flad thinks that the Falashas came to Abyssinia between the time of Solomon and the immigration to Egypt in the time of Jeremiah under Johanan beuQort-h. The passageof Zephaniah iii. 10, " From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughters of my dispersed, shall bring mine offerings." is cited as an argument that Jews were in Ethiopia before the Babylonian captivity. If we admit that the word Kush in this passage means Ethiopia, we cannot allow another argument which Flad brings forward in favour of his theory. He says that the Falashas worship the Queen of the Sabbath (Sanbat) to whom they burn incense and offer gifts of cake and beer. This fact is not mentioned by the dis- tinguished traveller, M. Joseph Halevi. Flad thinks that the worship of the Queen of Sabbath is nothing else but that of the Queen of Heaven of the Bible. " For when I remonstrated about this pagan worship," F, ad continues, " with one of their Debtera (wise men), telling him that they transgress the Second Commandment, he answered candi *. ly. as the women of Pathros did to Jeremiah : We do as our fathers did. Did they not say to Jeremiah ; ' Buc since we left off to burn in- cense to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.' We also, says the Falasha, fear that if we give up the worship of the Queen of the Sabbatb, she will not grant to us blessing?, for she is the mistress of sunshine, of the rain, and of the blessing of the womb." Flad concludes, therefore, that the Jews who immigrated to Abyssinia must have been acquainted with the idolatry of the Queen of Heaven. But as Flad himself mentions an Ethiopia work with the title of Precepts for the Sabbath, wherein the Sanbat is described in a most im- moral way, and adds that this book was in all probability written by a monk, why not rather suppose that the Falashas have accepted the Sanbat from the Ethiopio Christians, since they have amongst their apocryphal books many Christian apo- crypha, including the Book of Enoch with all its Christian passages 1 Besides, the Sabbath is even ca'led in Jewish Kaballah the Bride ; Queen of the Sabbath is, therefore, most likely a mystical expression, and we know how often mysticism be* comes reality. The second opinion is that held by the late Marcus to the effect that Jews from Syria settled under Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies as colonists on the coast of the Red Sea, and later on in the interior of Abyssinia. He adduces passages from classi- cal writers and more especially from Josephus, wherein it is said that the Samaritans were settled on the coast of the Red Sea. Indeed the Falashas call the Pentateuch Orit, which is the Aramaic and Syriao word Oraitha. Let me mention at once that the Falashas know no Hebrew and possess scriptures in an Ethiopia translation. The Orith consists of the Five Books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Ruth. The Orith was according to them translated into Ethiopio by the High Priest Azariah, when he arrived at Axum with Mecelek, If this legend were trae, what would become of Colenso, Wellhausen, Robertson Smith, and so many others who believe that the Pentateuch is not earlier than the Babylonian captivity I 10 JEJTS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. The third opinion is that lately expressed by M. Joseph Hale"vi to the effect that the Falasbas are descendants of Arabian Jews from Yemen, made captive by the Christian King Amedah in the 6th century when he made a successful expedition gainst the Jewish King Du Nowas. I believe this opinion unfounded ; the Jews in the 6th century, little as they knew of the Talmud, would have observed the Feasts of Pnrim and Hanukah, unless they had forgotten the whole tradition, as is the case with the Beni Israel in India. Besides, they wou'd not observe so strictly the laws of cleanness, and they would have no sacrifices, as we shall find is the case with the Falashis. I, for my part, believe that they emigrated fom Egypt when the Temple of Leontopolis was still standing. Certain it is that at the begin- ning of the 4th century, when Abuna Salama, called Frumentius, brought Chris- tianity to Abyssinia, he found a great number of Jews there. The Falashas dwell mostly in separate villages, or at least far from the houses of the Abys inians, if one of them is obliged for business purposes to dwell among the latter. They also remove blood from meat. They wash their hands before meals and pronounce prayers before and after meals in the Falasha dialect. The following is their prayer before meals, from which yon will see that they are Jews : " Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who is the God of all men. Honour and praise be to the Lord of lordp. Those who were and who will be will praise Him who gives food to the hungry. O Lord, give us Thy blessing. Bless us with the blessing with which Thou bl- seed Abraham. Bless us like Abitara [Abitara was a very charitable worn An, who re- mained rich in spite of her open-handed charity!. Bless our going out and our coming in. Thou who hast preserved Israel, preserve us. Thou hast said that praise of men is my food, therefore we bring Tnee our praise eternally. Praise the Lord with new praise, give honour to His name ; the earth, and all that is in it, praise the Lord. Halleluyah." All present respond with Amen. They slaughter the animal by cutting its throat with a sharp knife, and they also examine the stomach and the intestines, but according to other rules than those of the Rabbinites. They observe ciroumcision, whi :h is performed by women on the 8th day. The purification after childoed is as in the Pentateuch, for 40 or 80 days, when a sacrifice of two pigeons is brought to the High Priest. The first- born of men and animals is redeemed from the High Priest ; some of the firstborn aregiven over to the Falasha monks of whom I shall say a word later on. Each village has a house of prayer, which consists of the holy pla -e and the holy of holies, which last only the priest is allowed to enter. The priests are ordained by the monks, and must bear an unimpeachable character. They are the teachers in the schools, and they perform the ceremony of slaughtering animals according to their rite. Women are separated from men in the synagogue. There is an altar whereon the sacrifices are offered. On the table in the holy of holies i\\eOrit or theLaw is kept. At the door they have two vessels, in the one are the ashes of a red heifer, and in the other the water of separation. Their prayers consist mostly of Psalms and extracts from Scripture. The priest sleeps in the synagogue on Friday night, and begins the Sabbath service when the cock first crow?, and ends the prayers with sun- set. All meals are prepared on Friday,since the Falashas kindle no fire on the Sabbath. Thee is a common meal f >rthe whole congregation in the synagogue, which the Priest blesses. Then follow the les-ons from the Pentatt-nch and a final prayer. Besides the Sabbath, they keep the New Moon, the 10th, 16th, and 18th days after the New Moon. On the loth day of the New Moon of April they keep the Passover for seven days, when they eat only unleavenel bread. The house is thoroughly cleansed for the Passover and they use other vessels than on ordinary days. They offer the Passover sacrifice on the 14th day. 2. Fifty days later they observe the Feast of the Harvest. 3. The Day of Pardon on the lOoh d*y after the New Moon of Sep- SECTS AMONG THE JEWS. 11 tember, when they fast, pray and confess, and bow very frequently until quite exhausted from fatigue. 4. On the 15th day a f ter the New Moon of Sep- tember they eat for seven days only unleavened bread ; they have no booths, although they call their feast the Feast of Booths. 5. On the New Mo jn of November is the day of General Assembly. All the Falashas gather together on the top of a moun- tain, say prayers, read parts of the Law and offer gifts and sacrifices there, as well as in all the synagogues. 6. The Day of the Memory of Abraham, or the llth day of the New Moon in July, when meals are taken in the synagogue in honour of Abraham. They observe the following fast days, abstaining from eating and drinking all the day : every Monday and Tnursday, every New-Moon's-day aad the day when the Pascal lambs are offered. The monks observe some more fast days. The Falashas offer not only the sacrifices mentioned in the Bible but also others for a sick per.-on, on the occasion of opening of a new house ; in memory of a dead relative and on many other occasions, as we shall read later on. There is no special ceremony for a wedding, except the blessing of the prie.-t in the synagogue. The funeral ceremonies are the following: If soneone finds that he is near his end, he sends for hisconfes-or and confesses his sins. If he dies, there is a sacrifice offered the third day after his death. Great lamentation goes on until everybody is hoarse with pronouncing the words " God console you." The corpse is then carried to its burial place accompanied by the priests who recite Psalms, mostly Penitential, which they call Fethat or absolution. Seven days after the death lamentations are made and no meals are prepared in the house of mourning. Every visitor brings his own meals. Monks and priests are buried by their own caste. The Falashaa believe that the soul goes to a place of d-trkness, until the first Taskar, literally " memorial," takes place. TheTaskarisa sasrifije for the dead on the 3rd and 7th day after the burial, as well ajonthe first anniversary of the death. After the Taskar, which consists of several bulls, eaten by the priests and the relatives, the soul goes to the bosom of Abraham and stays there together with othar souls of just nitn. The Td and evil of Mosaism, the Oromzd and Ahriman of the Persians, the Deity and Satan of later faiths. The growth of scepticism became more marked in the philosophy of the Sophists, who denied the possibility of man's ever succeeding in acquiring a knowledge of absolute truth, and taught that one opinion is probably as good as another, but that for the sake of society, it is necessary that an agreement should be come to that a certain set of opinions should be allowed to prevail. Plato, who was their great foe, charged them with trying "to make the worse appear the better reason ;'' but this is rather a strong way of patting the matter. Their real teaching was the art of Rhetoric, so that every man might become his own advocate, and they introduced the innovation of receiving pay for their instruction ; an element hitherto unknown in philosophy and many of them acquired large fortunes. Protagoras, the first avowed Sophist, taught that Thought is identical with Sensation, and as nothing exists but sensation, which depends upon the individual, all sensations and conse- quently all thought, must be relatively true ; and that human knowledge, being consequently insufficient, it is advisable to abandon all philosophical speculation, and simply seek a working agreement. Plato and Aristotle ardently combated this view and tried, though in vain, to set up some absolute criterion or standard of truth. The Sophists, visiting various cities in the pursuit of their profession, could not fail to remark the variety of laws and ordinances existing in the different States, and this impressed them with the conviction that there were no such things as abso- lute right and wrong by Nature, but only by Convention. This became a funda- mental principle with them and was a corollary of their dogma respecting Truth. For man there was no eternal right, because there was no eternal truth. Plato per- verts their teaching, and declares that they inculcated that might is right what they really did inculcate was that all law is but convention ; the convention of each State is therefore just for it, and any such convention must necessarily be or- dained by the strongest party in the State, that is, must be the will of the majority. It follows that justice is but the advantage of the strongest. Plato's dislike to them was due to their denunciation of philosophy as tending to nought but Scepticism. And while the Sophists were thus training the Greek mind to a denial of any absolute standard of right and wrong, and of the possibility of any true philosophy, Socrates came forward as the champion of virtue over all other rules of life, and the advocate of pure justice as the source of the only real happiness. He insisted upon the necessity of rigorous definitions and substituted Dialectics for the rhetoric of the Sophists, and endeavoured to reduce ethics to a science as the one great object of study. Things divine were not to be penetrated by man, and nothing remained but to seek for certainty where it could alone be found in the dictates of the human conscience. He laid djwn the axiom that virtue is identical with knowledge, and vice is simply ignorance, an incapacity to estimate the relative values of present pleasure and future pain. And though he was not the first to teach the immortality of the soul, yet he first pntthis dogma on a firm philosophical basis. He considered the service paid the Deity by pure and pious worship the most grateful service, irrespective of the value of the sacrifice offered, and his only prayer was that the Gods would give him such things as were good, for they alone could know what things were good for man. INFLUENCE OF JUDAISM OVER PHILOSOPHY. 17 After his condemnation to death for attempting to subvert the state religion, his pupils quitted Athene, some following Euclid (not the great mathematician), to Megara, among whom was Plato, who returned to Athens later, when it became safe for Socrates' disciples to appear there again. Others followed the doctrine of Aristippus, also a pupil of Socrates, who fonndei the school of the Cyrenaicx, teaching that Pleasure is the great object of life, and that the only criterion of Truth is the sensation of pleasure or pain. Pleasure, according to Aristippus, is the only positive good, and therefore the only aim and end of life. He despised all abstract and metaphysical speculation?, and looked solely to the concrete ; but he abhorred excess, and taught that for the enjoyment of constant pleasure, the soul must preserve its dominion over material desires. But by far the most famous disciple of Socrates was Plato, not only on account of his immense mental capacity, but from the vast influence whi h he exercised over the philosophy of Christianity. In common with many other heroes of antiquity, miraculous events were recorded of his birth ; he was said to be of divine parent- age the child of Apollo, his mother being a virgin and betrothed to Ariston, his reputed father, who however delayed the consummation of his marriage, being wained in a dream by Apollo that she was with child. Plato laid down no system of philosophy : his great force a force still exerted after twenty-two centuries ooDsisted in the stimulation of the minds of others, and we shall look in vain in his teachings for conclusions, but what we shall find there is the presentation of every possible view of which a subject is capable. He looked upon Life as the immortal eonl longing to be released from its earthly prison ; and striving to catch eome glimpses of the reign of eternal Truth where it would some day rest. The mono- theistic tendencies of Plato's speculations have been one great cause of the venera- tion in which his doctrines have always been held, and his division of the Universe into the celestial region of Ideas, and the mundane region of material phenomena answers fairly well to the modern conception of Heaven and Earth. And as Goi can only be good, and as evil certainly exists, it must exist independently of Him and must therefore be eternal. Hence, the notion of an antagonistic principle is inseparable from every religious formula, and as evil cannot find place in the celes- tial region of Ideas, it must necessarily dwell in the terrestrial region of Pheno- mena ; and as Plato eaid " is inherent in matter^" Here again we have the basis of the doctrine of Original Sin, and as the terrestrial world is shown to be the region where evil dwells, the duty of man is to try to escape from it not, as the Sceptics taught, by suicide but by trying to lead the life of the God", that is by the con- stant contemplation of Truth, or the celestial world of Ideas : and man, being endowed with free will and intelligence, may choose between good and evil, and according to his choice, his future life will be regulated. It is Love, which, according to Plato, unites the human with the divine, and he defines love as tke longing for the beautiful T0 KO.\OV that is for the Truth, the radiant image of what is most splendid in the world of ideas. His view of human happiness consisted in the attainment of a measured equality of mind, and in his ideal Republic he denounced everything which interfered with this equanimity. Though Plato's teaching was thus the foreshadowing of much that holds good in modern philosophy, yet it has in great measure to be inferred from his writings, and is not explicitly laid down by him ; for it must be admitted that he was somewhat of a trimmer, and, probably influenced by the fate of Socrates, he carefully abstained from any op m disregard of the popular creed . This probably accounts for the fact that after an adventurous career, he continued teaching in the groves of the Academy at Athens, till he died there in his 83rd year, having com- bated all his life the scepticism of the Sophists and Cynics, and leaving it to th greatest of his pupils, Aristotle, to systematise his doctrine and to graft on 18 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. Ethics the experience gained by the study of Physical Phenomena. But by again bringing Physics and Metaphysics into the region of enquiry, Aristotle lei once more to an Epoch of Scepticism ; not now the immethodical pre-Socratic Scepticism of baffled gaessers, but the methodical exposure of the vanity of Philosophy as a guide to human perfection. Aristotle is to be regarded as the founder of scientific research ; he was proficient in every known branch of science, and was constantly accumulating fresh facts in physical knowledge. His father being an Asclepiad or descendant of ^Iscnlapiue, was by heredity a physician and Aristotle was educated for that profession, but In became tutor to Alexander the Great who was of much asistance to him in furthering his researches. He founded the objective method of Philosophy that is the enquiry into the nature of things as opposed to the subjective, or enquiry into the nature of ideas; his reliance was on Experience, a? based upon facts, and not upon Theories. One of his favourite sayings was, " Let us first understand the facts, and then we may seek for their causes." The antagonism between Science and Faith, emphasised by Aristotle, was further developed by the school of the Sceptics, which was founded by Pyrrho who accompanied Alexander of Macedon to India, and found there the Gymnosophists, devoutly believing in a creed, entirely strange to him. This led Pyrrho to reflect upon the nature of Be'ief in general ; he had already by the philosophy of Demo- critns learned to doubt, and now this doubt became irresistible ; he declared all the great problems of the world to be utterly insoluble, and insisted solely on the validity of moral doctrines, taking resignation, tranquillity and common sense aa the only guides for life. Pyrrhonism, as this doctrine is now styled, was systema- tised by Sextus E mpiricus, on the basis that there is no criterion of truth. His scepticism asserted that we do not know what phenomena really are, we only know what they appear to be to our senses, and we do not even know that our sensations are the true images of things. Plato and Aristotle had said reason is the criterion which distinguishes the true from the false ; Pyrrhonism replies, what proof have you that reason does not err 1 You may make a science of appearances, you cannot make one of phenomena. Modern scepticism has adled but little to Pyrrhonism ; it is a purely negative doctrine, destroying what exists, and building up nothing in its place. Faith and belief in higher things being thus eliminated from philosophy, it remained for the school of the Epicureans to regard it as the art of Life and no longer as the art of Truth. In their view happiness is pleasure, and as all animals eeek pleasure instinctively, man should do so deliberately. The philosopher knows how to fo'ego such pleasures as will cause pain and vexation hereafter, while the common herd of humanity seek only the enjoyment of the moment, and as a corollary, the philosopher will ca'm'y endure pains from which later pleasures will inevitably result. He seeks not to intensify, but to equalise sensations, aiming not at excess but at equable pleasure. No life can be pleasant, except it be virtuous, and the pleasures of the boly, though not to be neglected, are noc equal to those of the mind. Hence the golden rule of temperance. Epicurus insisted upon the neces- sity of moderation in all things for continued enjoyment, and taught that pleasure is more enduring, if luxuries are dispensed with, and that wealth consists, not in great possessions, but in small wants. He based his philosophy upon the truth of sensations ; their repeated iteration constitutes knowledge, and if sensations are the origin < f moral phenomena, there can be no other moral rule than to seek the agreeab'e, and avoid the disagreeable in life ; and to attain whatever is pleasant be- comes the great object of existence. If it be true that the school of philosophy which is predominant at any period is but a reflex of the popular sentiment, it is easy to see how the doctrine of INFLUENCE OF JUDAISM OVER PHILOSOPHY. 19 Epicarua became perverted from the pure teaching of ita founder to the pursuit of mere sensual pleasure. For by this time the power of Greece was rapidly dwindling ; the dsith of Alexander the Great marked its decadence, and the enervating effects of luxury sapped the moral and physical fibre of the nation, and rendered it an easy prey to the growing might of Rome. In vain was a rea jtion against the sensu- ality of Grecian life brought into play by the Stoics, who took their stand against the Scepticism, indifference and luxury of the day, in the true Roman spirit of energy and simplicity of life. They fixed their thoughts upon morals, which they strove to reduce to practice, regarding virtue, nst pleasure, as the object of life, and they defined virtue as active mmhbod, not to be wise, not to enjoy, but to do. Our sensations alone are not a guide ; they must be subservient to, and con- firmed by, our reason. Reason is identical with the Deity, it is the great creative law ; to live in conformity with reason is the practical law of morals, whose sole formula is" to live harmoniously with nature." Man must free himself from every- thing which interferes with a purely intellectual life, must despise the pleasures and pains of the body, and the passions of his ssnsas which serve but to enslave him, if he would be free, active, and virtuous. Tnis doctrine of the Stoics is the anticipation of Rome with its contempt of death, as contrasted with the Grecian love of life and luxury. As a reaction against effeminacy, Stoicism was of value, but as a doctrine it led up to apathy and egotism, and it failed to avert the fall of Greece. Its teachings were combated by the philosophers of the New Academy, who denied the validity of Reason as a test of truth, from its dependence upon sensa- tion, which is deceptive, and shows us things not as they really exist, but only aa they appear. With the New Academy, the second epoch of the history of speculation ter- minates. A Socrates had arisen to confute the Sophists and their scepticism, who concluded the first epoch, and now once more the sceptics usurped human intellect with greater power. For all Epicureans, Stoics, Pyrrhonists and New Academicians were sceptics ; faith in philosophic truth became utterly extinct, and centuries of thought finished with the doubt which puts an end to enquiry. In this second crisis of Greek philosophy, Reason, thus assailed, could find refuge only in Faith ; and the succeeding period opens with the attempt of the Alexandrian School, mainly under Philo, to construct a Religious Philosophy. Ethics alone had survived the wreck, and philosophy, deserting Greece, took refuge with the Neo Platonists in Egypt and in Rome, The great city of Alexandria now took the place of Athens aa the abode of science and of thought ; all the rival schools of philosophy flourished there, and the teachings of Christianity, the doctrines of Pbilo, the Pyrrhonists, Greek scepticism, orthodox Judaism and Platonism one and all existed and had their interpreters in the immediate vicinity of the tutelary temple of Serapis. I have thus how briefly and imperfectly no one is more conscious than myself taken you over a period of five centuries of human thought, and shown you how the speculations of all the leading minds of antiquity had ended but in an abyss of scepticism and doubt. Sensation was deceptive, reason was fallacious, morals were an affair of locality, no true criterion of conduct existed, and mankind could not even know whether the objects- they beheld had any real existence, or were but eidola, mere images of the things they represented. It is one of the glories of Judaism that at this crisis, equally as I hope to shew you at later crises in the history of philosophy, it took up the defence of the highest principles of the human mind, and endeavoured to construct a system which should raise it from the depths into which it had fallen, and from which there seemed no issue but blank uncertainty and despair. 20 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. The Alexandrian School wa* founded by Plotinus, who resuscitated the teach- ing of Plato ; under Julian the Apostate it became the master of the domain of thought and the rival of Christianity, and it fell only with the civilisation of which it had been the last rampart. Its originality consisted in connecting the doctrines of the East with the dialectics of the Greeks, and it attempted to make reason the justification of faith. The great question it put was how d) we know God ? and this it answered by saying that the reason of man is incompetent to such knowledge, b ?cause reason is finite, and the finite cannot embrace the -infinite ; but Ecstasy is the medium of comma licatioa between the t vo, and in ecstasy the soul is freed from its personality, and becomes absoroed in the infinite intelligence from which it emanated. This inspiration reveils the truth wh ch reason fails either to discern or omprehand, and in the earlier period of the Alexandrian School, Ecstasy was to its disciples what Revelation was to the Jews and the Chris- tian", the only means by which man could know God. The theology of this school was concentrated in the doctrine of the Trinity, of which it claims to be the originator. G id is triple, yet at the sann time one. Hi nature contains within itself three distinct Hypostases, i.e., substances or persons. The first is the Unity (jwt one being, not being at all, but simple unhy), tbe second is the Intelligence, which is identicil with Being ; the third is the Universal foul whinh is the cause of all life and activity. Those among yon who have studied the philosophy of Spinoza will not fail to recognize here the simiUrity with the three- fold nature of God in his system, aa the Infinite existence, possessing two attributes, extension and thought. These conceptions of the Alexandrian school are the result of the failure of all the ancient speculations. Water, air, soul, number, force had each in its turn been accepted as the Principium, or beginning of all things. The Alexandrians sought something beyond these failures, and were not content even with Thought (that is, the idea of ab tract existence) as the principium ; for there must be something which thinks, something which exists, beyond the thought and the existence. This, whatever it is. is the principium and the final abstraction to which the human mind can attain ; it is the ' Absolute Negation " of Plotinus the " non-being " of Proclus and of Hegel. These abstruse speculations may seem futile ; they are in reality not so, for they were the education of human thought, and marked the pro- gressive stages of human intelligence from Paganism through morals to Faith. Their latest development so far has been Christianity, and the essence and pith of this long chain is admirably summed up in the pregnant sentence of Rothe, that " the ancient world built up the Catholic Church on the foundations of the Gospel, but in so doing, built itself bankrupt ;"or, to quote Adolf Harnack, "Christianity has throughout sucked the marrow of the ancient world and assimilated it ; even dogma is nothing but the Christian faith, nourished on ancient philosophy." It is unnecessary to de f ain an audience such as I have the honour to address with details of the life of Pbilo the best known exponent of the views of the Alexandrian school of neo-Platonists. He was contemporary with, though a few years older than, Jesus of Nazareth, and was a member of one of the most influential Jewish families of Alexandria so that, upon the outbreak of one of the frequent conflicts between Greeks and Jews in that city, he was chosen to plead the cause of the latter at the court of Caligula at Rome, of which embassy he has given the world a very graphic account. He attempted to graft Grecian mythology upon Hebrew revelation, and this task was rendered easier by the circulation of the Sep- tuagint version of tne Scriptures which had by this time become widely known. A pupil of Carneades, the last of the New Academicians, Philo had learned to see the insufficiency of the senses alone to supply the knowledge of truth, and to deny that human reason could be its criterion. Both the senses and reason may deceive and INFLUENCE OF JUDAISM OVER PHILOSOPHY. 21 be powerless for good, and but one reliable faculty remains to man Faith. True knowledge is the gift of God alone ; its origin is in His goodness ; its source is piety; its name is faith. Hence Pnilo's philosophy becomes a theology ; God is incompre- hensible to human faculties ; His nature can never be known, but to know that He exista is to know that He is one, perfect and without attributes. We cannot know Him, we can only believe ; and though we cannot penetrate the mystery of His being, we can obtain some knowledge of Hi* divinity in the Logos or Word, an intermediate existence between God and man. Tnis Logos, which assumed such importance in later systems of theology, Philo defines as God's thought and as being two-fold. Thought, as thought per se, embracing ideas, and thought realised in action, and become the world. Thus we have in Philo the foreshidowing of the Christian Trinity, God the Father, pure spirit : God, the Son, or Logos, and the Son of the Logos, or the World. And as, in upholding faith, Philo anticipat< d Paul, so in the conception of the Logos, he anticipated John, or rather the writer of the Gospel attributed to John. In advocating Faith as the crowning principle of the doctrine of morals in- culcated by Plato a doctrine which is in almost every respect identical with that adopted by the Gospels Philo laid the foundation of what has been miscalled Chris- tian Philosophy : miscalled, because if it have any meaning at all, Christian philoso- phy means the solution of the metaphysical problems on Christian principles. Now, Christian principles are the doctrines revealed by Jesus, the necessity for such revelation being their inaccessibility through reason, and their acceptance through faith on account of the incompetency of .reason. But as the groundwork of philo- sophy is reason, just as the groundwork of religion is faith, there can be no reli- gions philosophy so ca'led. Religion may, and should, call in philosophy to its aid, but only to reconcile or apply its dogmas ; and the problem of the reconciliation of religion with reason remained unsolved by the scholastic philosophy which arose with the extinction of the Alexandrian School, and dominated the world of thought for a thousand years, from the 6th century of the Christian era to the emancipa- tion of Philosophy from Theology by Bacon and Descartes in the 16th. It is to Philo that the proof of the insufficiency of morals alone as a guide to truth is due, and though his allegorical interpretations of the Hebrew Scriptures were strained, and his attempt to find in them the origin of Greek mythology was futile he was nevertheless the prominent and final exponent of ancient thought, and the initiator of the philosophy which prevailed during the Middle Ages, and finally fell, crushed by the weight of dogmatic theology which it accumulated through ten centuries of scholasticism. I do not propose to detain you with the details of this scholastic philosophy which brought about the domination of the Church in succession to the domination of Rome ; it crushed science and literature, claimed absolute spiritual and temporal supremacy, despised and forbade the acquisition of profane knowledge, and denied the right of private judgment stigmatising all attempts at independent thought as heresy a word which really means in Greek " taking an opinion," but cow and henceforth came to have an opprobrious and dangerous signification. The authority of the Church had finally fixed all dogmas, and given their solution ; nothing remained for philosophic research but to reconcile these dogmas with reason, and this is what scholasticism tried to do. It began with the schools opened by Charlemagne and its headquarters were in Paris, which had succeeded to Alex- andria, as Alexandria had succeeded to Athens ; and thither its disciples nocked from all parts of Europe. Little by little, in attempting to reconcile the dogmas of the Church with Reason, scholasticism began tentatively to advance the claims of the latter, so that by the 9th century we find Scotus Erigena daring to say that " reason existed before authority and is therefore of greater validity. Authority no doubt proceeded from reason, not reason from authority, and all authority which is not 22 JJSJTS* COLLEGE LITERAET SOCIETY. approved by true reason, ends bat in weikness." Of course the Chnrch attacked him, as it afterwards attacked Abelard, who appealed to evidence and demonstra- tion in preference to authority, though guarding himself by stating that he " sought not to comprehend in order to believe, bnt believed in order to comprehend." His presumption in attempting to explain the dogmas of faith by Reason, brought on his persecution on the charge of heresy, for as Saint Bernard said, " he had dared to go beyond the bouudaries whioh our fathers had laid down." Yet Roecellinus went even further, and declared that the three persons of the Trinity were incompatible with true Unity ; either they existed sep irately and individually, and were one only in name, or else they formed but one God in which case God exists alone, without the possibility of distinction of persons. But the fear of the Church made him publicly recant this heresy in 1093, and liberty of thought, condemned by ecclesiastical authority, expired by the end of the 12th century ; all philosophical speculation was denounced as heretical ; dogma was piled on dogma and learning in Europe became enveloped in a thick darkness, relieved only by a single ray of light which shone in Spain under Mohammedan rule in the so-called Arabian Philosophy. Strictly speaking, all the philosophy and science of the Mohammedans was Greek, Jewish and Persian. Though written in Arabic, the language of Islamisna, few of its great names belong to Arabs, but to Jews, Persians and Spaniards. So that when the Abassidfs desired to illustrate their dynasty with the splendour of letters, they found Greeks, Jews and Christians ready to aid them with Syriac and Arabian versions of the great Athenian and Alexandrian writings. From Spain Arabian culture permeated Europe through France, carried by wandering and adventurous Jews, such as Isaac Israeli of Toledo, Levi ben Garson, and pre-emi- nently Ibn Gebirol, better known in philosophy under the name of Avicebron, whose work, " Fons Vitas," exercised an immediate and profound influence over European thought. Let me here in confirmation quote a passage from Mr. Lewes' ".History of Phi opophy," to which I am mainly indebted for the groundwork of this paper,and the data I have laid before you. "The part played by the Jews as physicians, merchants, and bankers " he says " has often been appreciated. The part played by them as thinkers is less frequently mentioned. Yet it has been considerable. Not to name their great monotheistic contribution, let us pause for a moment at the three great names of Philo, Ibn Gebirol and Spinoza, all three departing from the doctrines taught in the synagogue, all three teaching a doctrine profoundly opposed to Christianity, yet all three promulgating ideas that had an lirresistible fascination, overpowering even the hatred their heterodoxy excited." Confining ourselves to the more especial topics now before us Mr. Lewes goes on to say, " The Jews must be regarded as the chief instruments whereby the Arabian Philosophy was made effective on European culture, and even in Spiin the Jews were the chief students of this philosophy." And he cites a passage from Munk, who translated Ibn Gebirol's great work. " In the Mussulman, as in the Christian world, the Jews, excluded from public life, condemned by the dominant religions to hatred and con- tempt, and always in danger from the fanaticism of the crowd, found tranquillity and happiness only in complete isolation. Ignore! by society, learned Jews de. voted to science a worship of the most disinterested character." Mr. Lewes con- cludes thus : " As translators and transmitters of the Arabian culture the Jews had varied opportunities. Hated and persecuted as they were, their abi lity and perseverance made them everywhere necessary to princes and nobles. The common people having no need of culture and having no chance of borrowing money, indulged in unrestrained religious hatred, but the great pledged their estates to Hebrew money-lenders, and submitted their bodies to Hebrew physicians, whilst the learned unsuspectingly submitted their minds to Hebrew thinkers and transla- tors. The facility with which the Jews mastered languages made them ready interpreters between Mussulman and Christian. It waa thus, that through their INFLUENCE OF JUDAISM OVER PHILOSOPHY. 23 original thinkers, such as Ibn Gebirol and Moses Maimonides, the West became learned with Greek and oiiental thought." I will trouble you with but one more quotation, this time from Mr. Pollock's " Life and Philosophy of Spinoza : " " Nearly a century before Catholic scholasticism, a series of Jewish Philosophers in Spain, Provence and the East did work which has a far more important place in the general history of philosophy than is ac- corded it. They strove to systematise theology at first on an Aristotelian footing. The character of Jewish orthodoxy secured them comparative freedom ia this, for, strictly speaking, Judaism has no dogmatic theology. Thus Moses ben Maimon and Ibn Ezra were leaders in biblical criticism no less than in philosophy. Maimonides' work was continued by Levi ben Gerson, who went so far as to discover Aristotelian metaphysics in the Song of Solomon. . . Chasdai Creskas, of Barcelona in the early part of the loth century, was a more daring and original thinker, but more orthodox than his predecessors. His chief wo k, "Adona'i, the Light of the Lord," finished in the year 1410, deals with the eternity of matter, defines the Divine perfection to consist in Love, and not, according to the Aristotelians in reason and lays down the boundaries of human f ree-will. And the Jewish Neo-Platonist, Solomon Ibn-Gebirol, or Avicebron, of Cordova wrote the ' Fons Vitae,' a philosophical work, much studied and quoted by Giordano Bruno, a Platonist of the Renaissance, with whose views and writings Spinoza shews great acquaintance, and whose contempt for Aristotelian Philosophy he closely shared.' Finally, Renan adds his tribute of admiration, in the emphatic words : " The per- fection of the labours of this great Judaso-Arabic School is truly surprising." Thus in the darkness caused by theological bigotry in the middle ages, as in that bi ought about by utter scepticism twelve centuries earlier, it ?s to Jewish Philosophy that we owe a healthy reaction : the labours of Ibn Gebirol and others of the Arabian School brought about the revival of learning in the 15th century, which marks the commencement of modern philosophy, and the introduction of what Comte styles the industrial and scientific elements. In matters spiritual the Church lost its hold on human conviction, and its incompetency became contrasted with the certainties of science : in matters temporal, society ceased to be based mainly on war, and Law began to take the place of force. In England Roger Bacon insisted on the necessity for the harmony of revelation with reason ; and later on, his great namesake, Lord Chancellor Vernlam, the father of the inductive method, and of experimental philosophy, though he misconceived the true scientific method, yet led the way to a new era of the interpretation of nature, by progressive stages of certainty. In Italy, Giordano Bruno fought the battle of science, upholding the doctrines of Ibn Gebirol, and paid for his temerity at the stake, after six years' im- prisonment. In France, Descartes founded the deductive method, based on the certitude of mathematics, and declared the problems of man's being to be toluble only by reason, and their solution to be the primary object of philosophy. He made a " tabula rasa " of all previous speculation, and started from the single absolute fact known to him the fact of his own consciousness. Of all else there might be, nay, there was doubt : but at all events, he, the doubter, existed, if nothing else did : hence, his famous axiom : " Cogito, ergo sum : " "I think, therefore, I am.' His system makes consciousness the basis of all truth, and in applying his method, his first point, after the primary fact of his existence, was to prove the existence of God, whose infinity and perfection were clearly implied in his own finitude and im- perfection. The existence of a higher power is proclaimed in man's consciousness of his own existence as a fioite being : it is an innate idea, a matter, not of infer- ence, bat of consciousness a necessary truth, independent of all experience. This doctrine of innate ideas became the " cheval de bataille " of modern phi'osoj hy. Descartes thought their certainty fully equal to the certainty of mathematical proof, and as examples, gave the ideas of God, of mind, of body, of a triangle and all such as represent true, immutable and external essences. 24 JE ITS' COLLEGE LITER A R Y SOCIETY. Descartes' method undoubtedly first inspired him whom Mr. Lewes styles ' the greatest among the great thinkers." Spinoza, whose name, branded for generations with infamy as a deliberate yielding of the sonl to Satan, and as synonymous with atheism, ia now spoken of as that of a saint and a prophet, and men vie with each other in laudation of his merits. He is a standing lesson of the injustice of mankind to those who are honest in their opinions when those opinions happen to be unpopular : but he was gentle in his life as he was steadfast iu his philosophy : modest, virtuous and independent, his existence was that of a sage, despising worldly wealth and honours. Alike refusing the bribes of the Synagogue on condition of concealing his heterodoxy, and the offer of the Elector Palatine of the chair of Philosophy in Heidelberg on condition of his avoiding collision with existing creeds, he preferred to earn a precarious livelihood by the labour of his hands, as a polisher of lenses for optical and astronomical purposes. Declining to mix in the society of the wealthy, refusing a pension from Louis XIV, if he would dedicate one of his books to that monarch, he passed his life on a mere pittance, never trying to disturb the religious convictions of others, bnt firm in his own ideas that faith in God, and love of God with their necessary corollary, love of mankind, are the sum of all true religon, and that those who live most according to justice and charity are the most truly religious. He passed away at the early age of 45, having thoroughly worked out the entire scheme of his philosophy, and leaving a reputation which, though in great measure posthumous, has bean endorsed by all the great minds capable of comprehending him such a? Lessicg, Mendelssohn, Herder, Goethe, Novalis, Schleiermacher, Coleridge, Schelling, and Hegel. Two certurus have gone by since his death ; they have culminated in the erection to his memory of his statue in the Hague, where he passed the last years of his life, and in the universal recognition of his profound genius as the greatest of all modern thinkers and the founder of all durable philosophic conceptions. This reaction in favour of Spinoza, after a period of neglect and contumely, ia due in the first instance to Lessing. who in his famous dialogue with Jacob! in 1780, said, " There is no other philosophy than the philosophy of Spinoza." Ten years later, by the time of Herber, Spinoza had become as popular with the educated German mind as he had previously been the reverse. The generation succeeding Kant fully recognised his power, and to Goethe he was an ever-living guide. Goethe refashioned Spinoza's ideas, vivified and spread them abroad, and acknowledges gratefully that they gave him the guidance, sustenance and repose he had long sought in vain, Thus he says, " Aus meinem Leben," Book xvi., " Ich ergab mich dieser Lecture, und g'anbte, indem ich in mich selbst schante, niemals so deutlich erblickt zu haben." And he tells us that the great truth he learned from Spinoza, apart from mental serenity and true philosophy, was the necessity for man to learn once for all the lesson of renunciation and resignation, and to rest one's mind on that which is eternal, necessary and uniform. Again, Goethe says, " This man, who wrought wonderfully on me and who was destined to affect so deeply my entire mode of thinking, was Spinoza. After having looked round the world in vain for means of developing my nature, I met with the 'Ethics' of that philosopher. Of what I read in the work, and what I read into it, I can give no account ; but I found in it a sedative for my passions, and it feemed to unveil a clear broad view over the material and moral world. But what essentially riveted me to him was the bound- lees disinterestedness which shone forth in every sentence. That wonderful senti- ment, " He who loves God must not expect God to love him in return," with all the preliminary propositions on which it rests, and all the consequences deduced from it, filled my mind And it must not be forgotten that the closest union rests on contrasts : the all-equalising calm of Spinoza was in striking opposition to my all-disturbing activity : his mathematical mode was the direct opposite of my poetic style of thought and feeling : and that very precision which had been thought ill-adapted for moral subjects made me his enthusiastic disciple, his most decided INFLUENCE OF JUDAISM OVER PHILOSOPHY. 25 worshipper." In giving this quotation, Mr. Lewes eays, in his " Life of Goethe," ' Spinoza was to Goethe what Kant was to Schiller : he studied Spinoza much and reverently, though the mathematical form in which that tbinker cast his granite blocks of thought was an a most insuperable hindrance to systematic study on the part of one so impatient aud so desultory as Goethe. ' Hegel says, " To be a philosopher, you must first be a Spinozist : if you have no Spinozism, yon have no philosophy." And Schelling affirms that no one can attain true and full knowledge of philosophy who has not at least once plunged into the depths of Spinoza. All these great leaders of thought admit that Spinoza is the founder of Modern Philos phy : and this is now universally accepted by German, as well as other critics, with the unenviable exception of the puny school of pescimism of Schopenhauer and Hartmann, who reject Spinoza, first because he was a Jew, and secondly because thty consider him an optimist. But what he loses in the e>timation of such as these is more than compensated by his daily increasing appre- ciation by the scientis s. Johannes Miiller recognised, to the full, the scientific value of hia theory of the human passions, a'-id affirms that it is impossible to giva a better account of their mutual relations than that which Spinoza has laid down with unsurpassed mastery. And even more important than such testimony is the striking rtsemblance between the scientific results attained by Spinoza two centuries ago, and those reached in our own days by workers, who, like Wundt and Haeckel in Germany, Taine in France, and Wallace and Darwin in England, have come to psychological questions through physiology. " It may be safely affirmed," says Mr. Pollock in his 'Life of Spincza,' "that he tends more and more to become the philosopher of men of science." In our own country, Coleridge classed Spinoza's " Ethics " as one of the three great books given to the world since the introduction of Christianity : Shelley commenced to translate h ; s " Tractatus Theologico-Politicus," his works were seriously studied by F. D. Maurice and G. H. Lewes, and two great English writers, Btill living, Mr. Matthew Arnold and Mr. Froude, have greatly contributed to our apprecia'ion and knowledge of his system. This too has been effected in France by Paul Janet and Renan. I quote all this testimony to show you not k>nly the absolute necessity for the study of Spinoza to all those who wish to keep pace with modern thought, and especially to such who hive to t*ke into account the progress of theological conceptiots: but also by way of protest against the senselessness of an outbreak of anti-Semitic feeling, such as has lately arisen in Germany, whose greatest minds have without exception, been trained in and borne full justice to the Semitic sources whence they have derived their inspiration. The effects of the teaching of Spinoza cannot be eradicated from the German, or indeed, from the human intel ect, without eradicating with it all the thought and all the philosophy of the last 200 years. And as the march of the great triumvirate of Religion, Science and Philosophy progresses, it will do so directly in the lines laid down by Spinoza, whose eagle-eye foresaw every development of which they are rapidly advancing. In Theology be anticipated all the schools of criticism of the interpretation of Scripture : and you will find in his works a forecast of the strict interpretation of the text, initiated by Ernesti, Michaelis and Semler, based on philological canons : of the rationalistic interpretation of Eichhorn and Paulns, explaining miracles as the na'ive and superstitious investiture given by the Hebrew mind to real historical events ; of the moral interpretation of the Kantists who sought to disengage from the mixed contents of the Scriptures the moral element which expresses itself in reason : of the historical interpretation of De Wette and others, trying to demon- strate the comparatively late compilation of the Pentateuch, and the unreliability of the subsequent historical works : and of the mythical interpretation, the outcome of 26 JE /PS' COL LEGE L ITERARY SOCIETY. modern research into the character of early national records and mythology. All these, I say, you will find foreshadowed by Spinoza, and though his own views on this subject are open to doubt, and though he rejected much of the dogma and many of the traditions of the Synagogue which promptly excommunicated him in return, yet he ever npheld the ideal of Judaism as the one religion which bad never complicated ita formula, and be maintained the justice of the Hebrew people being the chosen people of God, as based upon those laws which under the titles '' natural selection," aod the " survival of the fittest," have now become applicable to every branch of human thought, and of which in science equally as in theology, he was the discoverer. He indubitably recognises the revelation of Scripture a revelation exceptional in kind as well as in degree ; but the object at which he aimed was not the settle- ment of points of theological controversy : rather the practical inculcation of the principles of liberty and toleration. The problem he desired to solve was to furnish the means of regula-ing life, so that the soul may achieve tie highest good, which is the love of God : this love must be founded upon knowledge, for perfect knowledge brings perfect love, and perfect knowledge consists of bringing our thoughts Into perfect harmony with the divine order. This is to be effected only by a method which discloses the divine order to man, ani the discovery of this method is the object of all philosophy. Spinoza, reasoning thus, based his tolntion of the problem on principles clearly defined and accurat-ly known, taking as their type mathematics, in which nothing arises but as the necessary sequence of what pre- ceded it : and in this order he pro eeds to develope the order of the universe from definitions and axioms, adding link by link, till he has evolved a system of theology psychology, and ethics, symmetric *1 and sublime ; of which Gol is the ever-present leality, love and resignation, the ever guiding ideas. The age in which he lived was distinguished by its freethinking literature, ecclesiasical denunciations attempted in vain to arrest the license of thought ; and it was doubtful whether atheism or superstition would prevail, and which of the two would be the more noxious. Spinoza boldly entered the breach, conflicted scepticism with the ardour and dialectics of a mind trained in all the subtleties of talmadic and cabbaliscio lore ; anl a streng heniag and liberating influence at once arose from his labours. The noble calm and the unaggressive fearle.-sness of his views acted like a mental t>nic : his unswerving C3nviction in the forje of truth and the universality of law, ani the disinterestedness and purity of his moral ideas, and the tranquil beauty of his life sufficiently answered the vulgar accusation against freedom of thrm^ht as destructive of morality EIU system became the groundwork of all modern philosophy : elaborated in this cou itry by Hobbes, Locke and Berkr.ley ; by Condillac in France ; and in Germany, by Kant, Fichte, Sohelling ani Hegel, and foreshadowing the results attained by thinkers in our own times, such as Moeschott, KarlVogt ani Herbert Spencer, it remains an imperishable monument of the strength of the Jewish intellect, aid the latest and highe-t proof of the beneficial influence which fie Jewish m'nd has exercised in all the great crises of ancient and modern philosophy. In this brief survey of the evolution of thought during twenty-five centuries it has been my object to show you tha 1 ; the action of Judaism has tended uniformly to the cultivation of the intellectual faculties, ani to the development of a higher standard of morality. For nearly a thousand years prior to the birth of Greek, philosophy, the Hebrews were the depositories of the idea of monotheism : this was the ceaseless teaching of each and all their Prophets, and when prophecy ceased, and Hellenism took up the burden which the national ruin had compelled Hebraism to relinquish, it remained still its high privilege to intervene at each great arrest of the progress of thought, and to point the way to a new departure, saving humanity INFLUENCE OF JUDAISM OVER PHILOSOPHY. 27 from a dead scepticism in the person of Philo holding up the lighted torch of know- ledge in the gloom of ecclesiastical tyranny in the hands of Ibn Gebirol and teaching the universality of Law and the pure religion of the love of God and man in the doctrines of Spinoza. That the final mission of Judaism is not yet completed, the history of the past and the hopes of the future alike testify. What remains to it, and how it will be accomplished, who shall say 1 But this much may assuredly be predicted : that if we cultivate the faith of a Philo, the ardour of an Ibn Gebirol, and the intellectuality of a Spinoza, we ehall be doing what lies in our power to advance the progress of that development of Humanity, of which our glories, our fcu/feringb and our hopes alike point to us as the instruments. 28 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. THE ROD OF MOSES, AND ITS LEGENDARY STORY. BY ISRAEL ABRAHAMS, M.A. At the preeent day, the Monks of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai continue to cul- tivate the plant (colutra haleppica) from which, they assert, Moses* Rod was cat. They are even said to supply travellers with sprigs from the veritable burning bush, but Migne seems right in regarding the latter report as emanating from the over- heated imagination of scoffers. Worshipped in Egypt in the temple of Isis, the Rod is reported to have been in later ages exhibited at Rome, in the Church of St. Jean de Latran. The Rod of St. Joseph, of which Moses' was said to be the proto- type, continue* to work wonders in various parts of Europe ; and throughout the Middle Ages every Saint performed his miracle by similar means. St. Patrick em- ployed the Rod to free his country from tin snakes tha^, never infested it ; but it would need a whole lecture to indicate even in the briefest manner the mythical absurdities which medieval mys'idsm indulged in on this fruitful topic. Some of the Jewish fancies and legends that have grown round the narrative of the Bible, even as the buds and blossoms that flourished on Aaron's Rod in the tent of meeting, will occupy a considerable portion of this paper. I trust, however, that the study of these Midrashim, early and late, will offer some suggestions towards the eluci- dation of a somewhat difficult passage in the twentieth chapter of the Book of Numbers. The authors of these Midrashim seem not to have appreciated, however, that they were playing in a rather dangerous manner with double-edged tools. They have so embellished the Bible story wi h legends, have so closely imitated Borne of its incidents, that they have smoothpd the way for critics to argue the difficulty of drawing the line. Where so much is legendary about Bible characters, why should not everything, or nearly everything, be so interpreted ? This is a question which I cannot here discuss. Ordinary readers of Exodus see no valid reason for doubting that the Rod of Moses was the common shepherd's s'aff of wood with which " he drove the flock to the back of the wilderaess." In a British Museum MS., to which, among many other points, Mr. Schechter k'ndly drew my attention, the Rod is described as i"IK>O ?* \&y " the wood or tree of Mosep." Wilkinson (Ancient Egyptians, III., 386-8) prints some illustrations in which both priests and other men of rank appear with sticks in their hands vaiying in length from 3 to 6 fee 1 ". They were made of some hard wood, generally of acacia ; and ini-tances have been found at Thebes of staffs on which the owners' names are engraved in hieroglyphics. Legend, however, noticing thit Moses on two separate occasions is reported to have struck rocks with his 6taff forcibly enough to cleave them, infers that the Rod must have been composed of some substance harder than wood, namely, of Sapphire (Mechilta, Exodus abbah 8, etc.), a precious stone that ranks next to the diamond in hardness. One authority (the Mechilta) even imagines that the Rod is meant by the word "VfH " stone " or " rock " in Exodus xvii. 6. The Arabs still describe the colutea haleppica as " sferai," a word whose meaning is questionable but which I venture to identify with sapphire. The Tosafoth to Kiddushin 30 b. quotes an ex- periment which proves the extreme hardness of the stone : A man took a sapphire THE ROD OF MOSES, AND ITS LEGENDARY STORY. 29 and having placed it on a block, attempted to crush it with a hammer ; the hammer was broken and the block was split, but the sapphire remained untouched. The sap- phire has always held a high position among magical stones (^hilte hagibborim, ch. 46) ; it was credited with impoitant medicinal virtues, it improved the vision,enlightened the mind, and restored pece between foes. For this reason Issachar reputedly studious was represented in the Breast-plats by the sapphire, and the little mist- like centre of the gem symbolises the cloud which enveloped Sinai when the Liw was given. The two tables of stone were composed of sapphire, (see par- ticularly Pirlte R. JSleaicr, 46) : and the Chartummim used this gem when applying their secret arts and enchantments (ibid.") Phoebus of o!d was believed to respond most readily to the prayers of his worshippers if the latter exhibited sapphires, the stone being regardtd as a " sign of control." That the same estimate of the sapphire prevailed at a later period when these Midrashim received the final touches, is clear from the selection of this particular stone as the episcopal gem by Innocent III., in the twelf h century. Not oiily, however, was Moses' Rod made of sapphire, but (lik-a the stones ustd for crossing the Jordan) its weight was 40 Seahs (Midrash Kabbah. Si/te CoJu'n 61"); small wonder then that the princes of Midian were, as we shall see, unable to lift it from the ground. Just as Moses' Rod was composed of no common material, eo was possession of it obtained in no ordinary way. One Arabian story tells how on his journey back from Midian to E/ypt, Moses found on the bank of a river, a prophet's robe aud a rod, which he appropriated (D'H< rbelot Bibliotlieque Orientale, 648). Armed with these credentials he presents himself before Pharaoh, but the magicians express themselves doubtful as to tha genuineness of his powers. The test was this : they secretly watched whether Moses could conjure with his Rod by night a feat impossible to common-place magicians. They found to their dismay that Moses was in the habit of placing his Rod before his door and of converting it iuto a dragon to guard him during^his sleep. (Ibid 649). It was, let me add, an ancient Egyptian custom for men to leave their walking sticks in their halls (Wilkinson ibid, 317). This legend, however, leaves the genealogical tree of the Rod in a most imperfect condition ; for it is far from clear how it came to be lying on the bank of a river at all. Better authenticated versions of its history carry us back to the creation of the world. In the twilight of the first sabbath, the Rod was created, and therewith were wrought all of God's deeds subsequent to that time iMishnah Aboth V. 6 , Zohar ou Genesis). The Death of Moses, the charming legend so beautifully rendered by Mr. Lowy, describes (Jellinek Beth Hamldrash I, 121), God as creating the world with his sceptre and Motes as wielding a Rod made in imitation of it ; the original appa- rently being more than 8 million times as large as the copy. According to a Mahommedan legend, the Rod came into existence a little later, and was a branch of a myrtle tree that grew in Paradise (Sale's Koran xxviii). When Adam was driven forih from Eden he took the Rod with him ; nay, in one version (Siphte Cohen, 6a) we are told that " on the same day on which Adam waa born, the Rod in the shape of the letter vau, was created for the chastisement of Cain, who is the same as Pharaoh." This statement is placed beyond question by the announcement that 4 j"!tDD ( Rod ) is numerically identical with jl (Judge) ; thus judgment waa to be wrought through its instru- mentality. In cours3 of time, the Rod passed into the hands of Enoch (Pirke de R.Eleazer 40 ; only this version numbers Enoch among the owners of the Rod : according to Genesis Adam just failed to survive him). Enoch gave it to Noah who bequeathed it to Shem and his descendants. As Enoch died before Noah was born, a lick in the ctain (Methustluh ?) bae evidently been omitted. Abraham bestowed 30 JEJTS 1 COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. the Rod on Isaac together with the rest of his property, and Jacob bore it with him on his flight to his kinsman Laban. There are some points of interest connected with Jacob's possession of the won- derful emblem. The ' Divining-rod " by means of which hidden treasures of water and gold have been repute Hy made in quite modern times, is sometimes described as the " Rod of Moses " (e.g., Sir T. Brown, Vulgar Errors, v. 24) but a far more famous designation of this implement and of the astrolabe is "Jacob's Rod" or "Verge de Jacob." Now, it has been more than once suggested, as by M. Chevreul, that this popular designation of the astrolabe was derived from the use made by Jacob of rods of poplar and other trees, in order to produce ring-straked lambs (Genesis xxx.). This incident may have had something to do with the spread of the title "Jacob's Rod," but I believe that in the Midrash we are now considering is to be found the true origin of the phrase. For not only was Jacob one of the many successive owners of the Rod, but he is described in Midrashim (see Raabi on Genesis xxxii. 10, Genesis Rabbah 76, Yalkut Yelamdenu, Psalms 110) as having made a remarkable use of it. Deprecating his personal claims to divine favour, Jax>b, in fearful anticipation of outrage from Esau, exclaims ' With my staff (^PO) I passed over this Jordan, and now I am be- come two companies." A Midrash (Yalkut, Psalms 110) tells us that the patriarch on his solitary flight hwl placed his staff on the Jordan, which, conscious of its master, opened its paths for Jacob to cross. It seems to me more than probable that this legend is the source of the title " Verge de (Jacob." And note this point also. Moses' Rod is here identified with the ?pD of Jacob, and the latter word is also used to describe the twigs employed in his proce-s for outwitting the crafty Laban. Another point of resemblance is thus arrived at between the the legendary Rod of Moses and the '' Divining-Rod " of the middle ages ; for like the latter, the PPD was a thin, light twig of poplar or hazel, such as could be easily held in the open hand. Hosea (iv. 12) makes a clear reference to this or some similar form ef Rhabdomancy when he complains, " My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff (1??D) declareth unto them." The repeated use of the word ?pD in this connection, added to other evidence, confirms the supposition that legend confounded Moses' Rod with the Virgula divina. To return to the adventures of the Rod. When Jacob revisited his father, he took the Rod with him, it having in the meantime passed into (and presumably out of) the hands of his son Judah (Yalkut Yelamdenu, Psalms 110). The Rod thus wonld appear to figure in the affair with Tamar ; one Midrash, indeed, distinguishes Judah's staff from the Rod of Moses, but identifies it with Aaron's Rod, mentioned in Numbers xvii. (Samidbar Rabbah, 18). At all events, Jacob must have resumed control of the Rod, for he subsequently conveyed it to Egypt and presented it to bis long-lost son. This was Joseph's " one portion above his brethren " which Jacob had wrested from Esau by might of arms. A curious difference of reading leads the LXX version of Genesis xlvii, 31, to make Jacob bow himself on the top of his "staff " in- stead of on the "bed's head." The Greek translators evidently found HDD instead of H3p in the text before them. A justification of image- worship has strangely enough been extracted from this circumstance, for the reading of the Septuagint has been adopted (not by the Vulgate, but by the Itala and) by interpreters who assumed, what is not in itself improbable, that Jacob's staff bore a carved and figured head. M'Clintock mentions a treatise by Zeibich De Jacobo ad Caput Scipionis Adorante (see also Hebrews xi. 21., where the implication seems to be that it was Joseph's staff which Jacob reverenced ; thus verifying the dream of his son). After the death of Joseph, the Rod found its way to the Palace of Pharaoh, at whose court Balaam and Jethro held honoured positions among the Royal Magicians, Balaam had counselled, while Jethro had opposed the cruel measures THE BOD OF MOSES, AND ITS LEGENDARY STOET. 31 devised against the Hebrews ; and as a result of this antagonism, Jethro was forced to flee from Egypt with the Rod in his company. Different views are taken in different Midrashim as to Jethro 's right to the Rod ; one account accuses him of stealing it. Arrived at Midian, Jethro fixed the Rod in his garden, planted it there in fact ; and all suitors to the hand of his daughter Zipporah were conducted by her exacting father to his grounds. There they were challenged to pluck out the Rod from the earth. The Princes of Midian strove in vain to satisfy this test of affection not an uncommon one in fairy tales and their suit was accordingly dismissed, and Zipporah remained unwedded. Nay, the Princes were unable even to approach the Rod ; Jethro himself being perhaps placed in the same predicament (see Pire de R . JUleaaer, 40 ). The use of Rhabdomancy in arranging marriages, was very ancient ; thus, the golden Rod of Indra was placed in front of the door- ways, and discovered wives to .the men who were locking for them. (Gabernati, La Mythologie dc Plantes, I., 52). On the Rod was inscribed the Tetragrammaton together with the mnemonic initials of the ten plagues, 3*n.<3 V~\y fl (.'lanchuma ed. Buber Tazria 10, &c.) to remind Moses of the order in which they were des ined to come, and the Rod bore other words. Here again we light on a fresh link in the legendary chain that connects the staff of Moses with the Divining Rod of later ages. The idea that the name of God was written on the Rod was due, partly to the description of the latter (in Exodus iv. 20 and xvii. 9) as the " Rod of God," and partly to the virtue attached in legend and mysticism to the ineffable Name. Thus, to go no farther, Moses slays the Egyptian by means of the Name (Shahheleth hakalbalaK) ; and through the same agency he caut-ed the coffin of Joseph (which Balaam h id concealed in the Nile to delay the Exodus), to float on the surface of the river, (Midrash Vayosha, Jeilinek, Heth Hamidrash 11.11). I think that, owing to these and similar legends, the epithet " diviuing " was confounded with the word " divine," and that the esteem in which the Divining Rod was held during later centuri. s arose, in some measure, from its popular identification with the Divine Rod, or Rod of God. (Dr. Rubin Qeschichte des Aberglaubem 112, seems to fall into the same confusion). This sug- gestion is by no means to improbable as it may at first sight appear ; for a very close parallel may be instanced. The reputat on which the S'trtes Viryilianae so long er joyed may be partly attributed to the similarity in sound between the poet's tame and riryida or twig, the implement that played so conspicuous a part in the wide- spread practice of Rhabdomancy. Some years later, Moses is sentenced to death for slaying the Egyptian agressor of his Hebrew brother. The executioner seizes the sword to put Moses to death, but the neck of the latter is transformed into marble ; the sword glances off and strikes the executioner, thus claying the would-be slayer. In a similar manner Abraham's neck had resisted Nimrod'a sword, and the neck of Isaac bad proved invulnerable to Abraham's knife, because the tears of the Angels fell upon it; hence, perhaps, arose the subsequent stiff-neckedness of the children of Israel After his miraculous escape, Moses fled to Ethiopia and ruled over that land for a period of forty years ; but on the expiration of that interval, he is again forced to fly. This time he finds his nay to the estates of Jethro in Midian. There, Moses was cast into prison by Jethro, and left to die of starvation ; bat Zipporah took pity on him and secretly supplied him with food. Ten years later, Jethro is so astonished to find his prisoner still alive, that he orders his release. Apparently Zipporah had, in the meantime, become acquainted with the religious views of Moses : for while she and her sisters described him as an " Egyptian " on their return home from the interview at the well, Zipporah refers to him at the close of his long imprisonment as a " Hebrew " (Seyher hayashar). 32 JEWS' COLLEGE LITER A It Y SOCIETY. And now the man had come " to whom the right belonged," and Moe8 approached the Rod planted in Jethio's garden. An elaborate version of the story (Midrash Vayosha) adds an interesting detail, that the Rod not only rei-isted the attempts of Zipporah'8 wooers to uproot it, but retaliated on its agr^ssors by bodily swallowing them. This detail was evidently sugge-ted by the Biblical incident of the Rod, in form of serpent, devouring the stiff* of the Magician-. M->ses, of course, succeeds where all others had failed ; and after resisting Jethro's various attempts to recover it as a tree is torn forth in the forest by a mighty gnat of wind, the Rod that had defied all others willingly yields to him. With the Rod, Moses gains a wife. Moses and Aaron next present themselves before Pharaoh. In front of tho palace, their progress is barred by two lions who prevent the entry of any but the cha r rners who understand how to soo f he their savage breasts. Moses casts his Rod over them, whereupon their anger is turned to joy ; and the lions accompany him to the presence of the king (tejrtttr hayasliar ; Story of Mogcs Jelliuek ii. 8). Pome points in this legend recall Cerberus, guarding the gates of Hades ; but the soothing process differs in detail. Toe legend of St. George (B. Gould Curious Mytfa, 299) ia however, an a ino.it ex -ct parallel. Brought face to face with Pharaoh and his advisera, Moses passes through a ee-ies of experiences which in their legendary form do not greatly differ from the Biblical account of the same events. On one subject, however, important informa- tion is Fupplied : on the personality of the leading antagonists of Moses. Balaam of whom a Midrash asserts that " first he divined and then he became a prophet " (ShalshelethhaltabbalnJC), heads the opposition in which he is actively seconded by his two sons. These are the ''two youths" of Numbers xxii. 22 ; the Jannes and Jambres of II Timothy iii, 8 ; the duumvirate who according to the Zohar were accounted as 3,000 souls in the enumeration of the deaths resulting from the con- struction of the Golden Calf. Some ancient writers represent not only Moses but even his mother, Jochabed, as belonging to the Egyptian magicians (Fabriciu* Codex Pseudepigraplius^ 817); and it is likely that in his education under Pharaoh's daughter there was included enough of the priestly curriculum to justify the state- ment of Stephen (Acts vii., 22), that " Moses was learned in all the wisd >m of the Egyptians." It is rather strange that the Midrash should make Balaam's sons ignorant of the vast difference between the sources of Moses' inspiration and their own, but it is not surprising when heterogeneous elements are pierced together into one connected whole, that some of the joints should still be visible. Moses was confronted with these two magicians who, according to the Talmud (cf . Koran xxviii.), conceiving him to be one of their own order, and astounded at his audacity in at empting magic in Egypt, the home of magic, demanded of him (Menachoth 85 a), "Do you bring corn to Aphraim ? "a question which might be paraphrased, " Do you carry coals to Newcastle?" Moses resjonds in the same spirit : Certainly, wh^re could I find a better market ? ('' In a place where herbs grow, bring herbs "). When the Rid, in serpent form, devours the serpents into which the Chartummim bad transformed their own staffs. Jannes and Jambres remark that there is nothing wonderful in the fact of one snake devouring another, for it is their ratnre to do so. Aaron accordingly confounds them by converting the Rod back again to its normal shape, and in that form the Rod swallows up the staffs of the Egyptians. This idea has been generated from a literal rendering of the words, " and Aaron's Rod swallowed up their rods " (Exodus vii. 12). The next incident in which interesting Midrashic developments are noticeable is the passage of the Red Sea. According to the MecMlta, the Sea altogether refused to obey the Rod ; in another version (MidrasTi Vayosha Jellinek II.) Moses is bidden to take his Rod and to command the Sea to open its paths for Israel. "I am the messenger of the Creator of the Universe," says Moses, " reveal thy paths to my children that TEE ROD OF MOSES, AND ITS LEGENDARY STORY. 33 they may pass through." Then the Sea answered and said, " Nay, thou son of woman ! Three days was I created before thou didst see the light." Whereupon the Lord bade Moses to treat the Sea as an unruly slave and to smite it with his Rod ; and then the Sea was opened. (It is the coffin of Joseph, which reduces the recalcitrant sea to obedience in the Pirke de R. Eleazer 42). Similarly, Rama in the Indian legend, like Xerxes in Persian history, chastises the stormy water with arrows (Gnbernatis I. 50) ; trees that failtd to produce fruit were struck with axes (II. 272), (compare the ancient custom of striking the sea in the Isle of Teneriffe in order to cause rain to descend) ; and there are many other indications that the Rod or arrow was the symbol of the solar rays or of the lightning. In Midrashim as well as in the Bible itself the Rod is at once employed as a sign of control, perhaps representing the sun, and as a symbol of transference of authority. It is satisfactory to observe in this connection that in the Revised Version of the Bible, the old error " pen of the writer" has been correcied into " the marshal's staff " (Judges v. 14). Elisha gave Gehazi his staff and anticipated the resurrection of the child (II. Kings iv) ; the precaution against saluting anyone while employing the rod revives in modern times, when wielders of the Divining Rod are subject to the same restriction (see Rubin 112), and knighting with a sword involves the same idea of transference. To return, the Midrash frequently represents the application of the Rod to inanimate objects as an act of chastisement. " A child must be chastised when young, but when he is grown up he may be reasoned with. So Moses was bidden to strike the rock with his Rod on the first of the two occasions on which he extracted water from it, but to address it on the second occasion" (Yalkut Shimoni). The most ancient Midrash {Mechilta) makes the Rod an object of terror to the children of Israel them- selves, and represents that it was used to give them water in order to allay their fears. Moses further employed his Rod to slay with his own hands both Og king of Bashan and Sihon king of the Amorites (Debarim Rabbah oh. xi.) The Bible informs us (Exodus xviii.) that Mos;s held the Rod in his hand on the day whereon Joshua defeated Amalek ; the Midrash adds that Moses prayed that God would give Israel a marvellous victory by meant of the Rod (Mechilta e i. Friedman 64.) Aaron's Rod, which miraculously budded and flowered, was, according to some Midrashim, the same Rod as the one whose adventures I have been relating ; another version, however, tells (Bamidbar Rabbah 18) how, in order to ensure fair-play in the test, Moses obtained a fresh beam of wood from which he cut twelve similar pieces for the twelve tribes. Naturally, the blossoming Rod recurs in many mediaeval legends. On the second application of the Rod for obtaining water, the rock brings forth drops of blood, and cries " Why did Moses strike me ? " (Exodug Rabbah 3 etc). Then said the Lord to Moses, " I did not give yon the Rod for this purpose : you shall no longer retain it " (Zohar on Genesis). What became of the Rod after this verdict ? Several Midrashim (Dsbarim Rabbah, Death of Motet, Jellinek 1. 128, Aboth ds. Rabbi Nathan ed. Schechter p. 56) describe a lively scene in which Moses successfully resists the attempts of Samael (the Angel of Death) on his life, by means of the " Rod of God." If we are to identify it, as some Midrashim do (Bamidbar Rabbah 18), with the rod of Aaron, then the Koran would have some reason for supposing it to have been preserved in the Tent of Meeting (Sale's Koran ch. ii.) We read in the latter reference of the " Relics " of the family of Moses left in the ark : these relics being the shoes and Rod of Moses, and the broken pieces of the two tables of stone. Certainly, though Moses transfers everything else to Joshua, he strangely omits in the Midrashim to hand over his Rod to his successor. The Midrash (ibid) however, relates that the Rod was an heirloom of all the Kings of Israel, but we are not told whether Rehoboam or Jeroboam retained it after the division of the 84 JEWS? COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. kingdom. The Koran so far agrees with the Midrash in holding that the " Relics " were to pass into the hand of Talut (or Saul) as a sign of his kingship. Bo completely, indeed, had this association grafted itself on the Hebrew figures of epeech that, though no Jewish monarch is distinctly ponrtrayed as bearing a sceptre (unless Saul's spear be interpreted as serving that purpose), the Rod is frequently used in metaphors as an emblem both of divine and regal authority. Possibly the suggestion of stretching (Ht3D from Ht33 to " stretch ") or increasing the length of the arms, was the most prominent idea in this association. A slightly different version of the story assigns the possession of the Rod to David, even during the lifetime of Saul (Yalkut Psalms 110). This was the staff, with which he went forth to do battle with Goliath (I. Sam. XVII.). But one other scene in which the Rod figures, and then its adventures are over ; for these Midrashim naturally differ from Christian legends in restricting its action to Old Testament times. Among David's heroes a prominent figure is that of " Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada : the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel," as we are told in II. Sam. XXIII. 20, " who had done mighty deeds, he slew the two sons of Ariel of Moab : he went down also and slew a lion in a pit in the time of snow : and he B lew an Egyptian, a goodly man : and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand ; but he went down to him with a staff, and slew him with his own spear. These things did Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and had a name among the mighty three." According to the Zohar (Genesis), though I have not found the legend elsewhere, this Egyptian had become possessed of the Rod of Moses, and Benaiah's mission was to recover it for David. Solomon used, not the Rod, but a ring engraved with the name of God in accomplishing his many wonderful deeds. After the destruction of the Temple, the Rod was " hidden" (T333) ; but it is destined to be carried in the hand of the Messiah, who will chastise the heathens with it (Bamidbar Kabbah 18), as it is written in the 110th Psalm " The Lord shall send forth the Rod of thy strength from Zion : Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies." The words of Jacob (Genesis, XLIX., 10) have also been applied in the Midrash to the same event. There can be little doubt that it was partly owing to this idea that the Rod of Moses became the prototype of the rod of Jesus, which, like the rods of saints, figures so prominently in Christian mysticism. The wood of the Cross was believed to have been taken from the very tree of which Moses' Rod was a branch (see Gould, Curious Myths, 379-385, for a full account of the legend). It has been ingeniously suggested that the caduceus of Mercury, like the Thyrsus of Bacchus, was derived from the Rod of Mosef. Kalisch expressed the utmost contempt of this theory, but though his objection is in the main just (for Magic Wands are mentioned in Homer), it is far too sweeping to be quite admissible. The caduceus or wand of Hermes was in its origin a simple olive branch with the ore/z/acuriv- These appendages at a later period developed into snakes : the subsequent legend being that he parted two snakes which he found engaged in a struggle, and that thence the caduceus became an emblem of peace. It seems to me that through the caduceus itself had an inde- pendent origin, the development of the snake-like crown may be attributable to the story of Moses' Rod. It is also a remarkable coincidence that the sapphire, of which, as we have seen, the Rod is supposed to have consisted, was, like the caduceus of Mercury, credited with the power of restoring peace. The foregoing Midrashim differ considerably in age, and cover a period ex- tending from the first century before, till about the thirteenth century after the Christian era. We can see how the Jews gradually absorbed Greek, and particularly Arabian mythology, and how they added to these stores by elaborate fancies founded on the literal interpretation of the text of Scripture. The Sepher Hayashar, which contains the fullest form of the legends I have quoted, though I have added TEE ROD OF MOSES, AND ITS LEO END ART STORY. 35 details from other sources, is considered by Zunz to date from the 12th century, while the Story of Moses (related in Jellinek II. 7), which also supplies a full version of the Moses legends, appears to be a little older, dating from the 9th or 10th century. The Sepher Hayashar was not known to Rashi, and the Midrash Vayoshai from which I have also quoted, belongs likewise, according to Zunz, to the eleventh or twelfth century. As to their value for the study of folk-lore, I think it easier to over, than to under-estimate their importance. They belong largely to theological folklore, which has been deliberately invented as a gloss on the Bible ; they are not so much folk-lore as caricatures of it. Nevertheless, they contain some interesting and valuable elements for the student of comparative mythology, and they supply the most clear examples extant of the habit of mind so common in the early middle-ages, which led men to build up upon the text of Scripture such marvellous structures of myth and legend. In fact, these Midrashim (which scarcely deserve the name Midrash at all), may be described as rather dramatic specimens of what are now called historical fictions, the chief object of which is to falsify history, or at least to render it difficult to discriminate between fact and fancy. I am inclined to assign many of the Rod legends to Mahommedan sources, among other reasons because of the important part played in them by Jethro. Now, Arabian fables are full of the miraculous deeds of Schoaib or Jethro, whom Arabs regard as their only prophet besides Mahommed, that was not of Jewish descent. Mahommedan legends distinctly represent Moses as receiving his Rod from Jethro when the latter was fulfilling a prophetic mission in Midian (D'Herbelot791). Even if not derived from Mahommedan sources, it is probable therefore that some of these legends were composed under Mahommedan influences. Some of the Midrashim which we have been considering have at least one exe- getical value, that they prove their respective authors to have held an opinion with regard to the contemporaries of Moses which other evidence confirms as the true one. No stress is to be laid in this connection, on the widely prevalent belief in magic and witchcraft which was held in common by the Jews of the Talmud and later ages with the adherents of other faiths. The important point is that the Egyptian contemporaries of Moses regarded him, falsely and foolishly regarded him, as the representative of a worship which might be more potent than their own, but which was dependent like their own on Magio and Sorcery for obtaining manifestations of the divine power. Pharaoh, the Midrash tells ua, admitted his mistake ; not so, the bulk of his people. Moses had to struggle both within and without the Israelite camp against a tendency to identify his methods with those in current use. There was something to strengthen that tendency. For, whatever purpose the Rod may be assumed to have served in the hands of Moses, similar instruments did also eerve his contemporaries as the emblem and medium of magical power. Moses, therefore, was bound to exercise the ut- most caution in order to prove to his people that this identification was erroneous. At Horeb (Exodus, xvii), Moses is represented as having struck the rock, and the water had gushed forth to quench the people's thirst. This scene may have sug- gested to some Israelites that Moses had discovered the presence of water and had extracted it from the rock by the application of the method with which they were already familiar in Egypt, viz., the use of the " Divining-Rod." There is no ques- tion that this method was very anciently practised, for in the Vedic hymns, Indra, with rod or arrows, opens the caverns wherein the Demons had concealed treasures of, among other things, gold and water. Hence, I venture to submit, when the in- cident repeats itself in the wilderness of Zin (Numbers xx.) Moses is described as expressly bidden to speak to the rock : he if on no account to strike it. He must hold the Rod in his hand, but he must be scrupulously careful to do nothing with it. In other words, near the close of his career he had a public and powerful oppor 36 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. tunity of proving that the source of his influence was centred not in the Rod, was not derived from manipulation of it, but was due to a Power above and beyond him. Mose?, however, disregarded what, on this theory, was the most important part of the injunction ; he assembled the people, took " the Rod from before the Lord," and forthwith strikes the rook, not once but twice. Can the onlookers avoid at- taching all importance to the Rod, and none to the Power that was wielding it 1. Moses had lost his opportunity. " Because ye believed nob in me to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them." (Numbers, xx. 12). Does not this explanation give a new meaning to these italicised words 1 Moses had failed to sanctify God in the eyes of the children of Israel, because his conduct had confirmed them in their mistake that Moses was only a magician after all. Though he had led bis people so long and so far, he could be trusted to lead them no farther and no longer. I must now offer a few remarks concerning the Biblical references to the employment of rods and arrows for purposes of divination, a practice which is some- times alluded to by writers of Scripture with evident disapproval. An account of the legends connected with Moses's Rod would be incomplete without this appendix, but I must be excused from entering fully into those parts of the subject which are treated at adequate length in any good Encyclopedia. It is necessary, however, to add a word of warning against implicitly trusting the quotations and references given in Bible dictionaries. M'Clintock, for instancer cites Willemer's De Baculo Mosis as giving an account of the later mythological fables interwoven with the stories of Moses and Aaron. Willemer's brief essay contains nothing of the kind. I think that the cup which Joseph accused Benjamin of stealing was connected with this species of divination. I am of course aware that cups were used without arrows for this purpose (BTI3 has even been explained as an enquiry by means of basins of brass. See also Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 1873, 114) But cups and bowls full of arrows are frequently observed on the inscriptions discovered in anoie at Babylon and Egypt, a ad in various parts of the East the superstition still flourishes. To the present day, Chinese places of worship are regularly provided with cups and arrows, on which various signs and letters are inscribed (Rubin Geschichte des Aberglaubens"). Letters and words written on rods formed a very common mode of divination ; and it is even thought that the German word for letter, Buchstab, is derived from the same ancient custom. Ezekiel (xxi. 26) mentions Nebuchadnezzar as resorting to this among other forms of divination ; and it is pretty clear from the context that the names " Kabbah" and " Jerusalem" were inscribed on the arrows (the LXX., let me note, reads ' rod" for " arrow") just as the legends wrote the ten plagues on Moses's Rod. The ' Samuel" that the Witch of Endor beheld (I. Sam. xxviii. 12) I believe to be the dead seer's name written on a small rod or tablet ; and possibly "Beauty " and "Bands " were actually inscribed on the two staffs of which Zecha- riah (xi) made so remarkable a use. Naturally, this incident and more particularly the strange scene enacted at; the death-bed of Elisha, (II. Kings, xiii.) when King Joa&h took a long farewell of the dying prophet, suggest familiar methods of divination. Elisha may merely have meant to declare that his original estimate of the King's character needed revision ; that it was evident from his cessation to shoot the arrows that he was not resolute and persevering enough to prosecute a great war to the bitter end. Be that as it may, the Chaldaeans and Assyrians cele- brated a festival in which the priest discharged twelve arrows from a bow, and drew conclusions from the positions in which they fell. Similarly, Wilkinson says that a fight with sticks formed part of a religious ceremony among the Egyptians A well-known passage of the Talmud (Gittin, 56a) introduces a Roman Emperor who determines to attack Jerusalem because of an omen derived from shooting THE ROD OF MOSES, AND ITS LEGENDARY STORY. 37 arrows from a bow. So the Kesamim which Balak's messengers carried with them on their embassy to Balaam may have been arrows or staffs, a meaning confirmed by the Syriac. In the Koran, (Ch. v.) divining-arrows are denounced as "an abomination of the work of Satan." In spite of this prohibition, Mahommedans continued the practice, as may be seen from the fallowing passage from Gibbon which I have never seen quoted (Decline and Fall, ch. Ivii.) After the memorable day of Zende- can, (1038, C. E.) "the victorious Turkmans proceeded to the election of a King, and " continues Gibbon, " if the probable tale of a Latin historian deserves any credit, they determined by lot the choice of their new master. A number of arrows were successively inscribed with the name of a tribe, a family and a candidate ; they were drawn from the bundle by ths hand of a child ; and the important prize was obtained by Togrul Beg, the son of Michael, the son of Seljuk, whose surname was immortalised in the greatness of his posterity." This passage reminds one of the election of King Saul ; but it passes my comprehension how it can be supposed (see, however, Rubin 151) that Jonathan, in the signal he gave to David with his bow and arrows was guided by divination. (I. Samuel xx., 20 22). The figures and metaphors strewn so profusely over the pages of Scriptures, in which Nature appears animated and conscious are not mere flowers of rhetoric They were derived from an actual belief in the animation of Nature, and remained in the poetical language and imagery long after the fancies which had given rise to them, had been relegated to mythology. Moses's Rod, on one occasion, to which I should perhaps have alluded sooner, speaks to Moses ( Yalkut Exodus 4) according to a Midrash which literally interprets " the voice of the first sign " (Exodus iv. 8) to mean " the voice of the Rod." From the Rod to or from the tree on which it grew is an easy step, in whichever direction it was originally taken ; hence the tree was used for purposes of divination as well as its branches. We have already had an incidental allusion to Hosea's denunciation of his people for practising a form of sortilege in which, besides his rod, each man used his " stock," or perhaps more literally, his tree (1JJ). The Mandragora or Mandrake (the Love-apple of Genesis, the Devil's Apple of Arabs) is associated with some rather unpleasant superstitions such as that it grows more luxuriantly under a tree on which a murderer has been hanged. All the belongings of an executed criminal are, and long have been, credited with magical power, and a trace of the notion is to be found in the Miehnah. To return, however, to Phyllomancy, the Palm-tree enjojed complete pre-emi- nence among the Chaldeans, while the Arabs continue to cultivate sacred palms This recalls a place that we find mentioned in Judges (ix. 37), viz., D^31J?D p?K which may mean either " plain," or " tree " of the diviners. The second theory is certainly the more probable, and Conder (Handbook of the Bible), identifies the site with Abraham's Oak at Moreh, which again may be one with the tree near which Jacob concealed the Teraphim, Near Hebron there was, about the time of Jesus, an ancient terebith as old as the creation (Josephus, Wars v. 9, 7) ; later tradition, however, is satisfied with the assertion that the tree sprang from the Rod of one of the angels who visited Abraham. It is still said to be a famous meeting place for merchants. The prophetess Deborah dwelt " under the palm-tree of Deborah and the children of Israel came up for judgment " (Judges iv. 5), but it does not neces- sarily follow that she was a diviner. A clearer allusion to divination by means of trees occurs int he Second Book of Samuel (v. 24). Though David had repeatedly defeated the Philistines, the latter advanced again with threatening vigour. David enquired of the Lord whether he should go up against the foe ; he was bidden not to attack them in front, but to make a detour and approach them " against the mulberry trees. And let it be when thou hearcst the sound of marching on the top of the mulberry 88 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. treet that then them shalt bestir thyself ; for then shall the Lord go forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines." It may be argued that David occasionally resorted to divination, for he certainly kept, or allowed his wife to keep teraphim in his house. Nevertheless, it may be that the passage which I have quoted supplies rather the origin of Phyllo- mancy than an application of it. It may be that, as Gersonides suggests, David was to lie hidden in the thick trees until a breeze shook the branches and deadened the sound of his men's approach. Still the text says nothing about a breeze ; and curiously enough divination by the branches of trees was always conducted on days when complete calm prevailed, and not a breath of wind interfered with the pro- posed augury. Probably the 1DJ"in HDSn " Science of the Palm " referred to by mediaeval Jewish writers was some form of Phyllomancy with palm-trees. I must, however, hurry on and reserve my laat words for the D'Ppl JUTt? or " lan- guage of the palms." The Talmud (Succah 28a) mentions this subject, but supplies no explanation. Rashi, with characteristic honesty, confessed himself ignorant of the meaning of the phrase Rashi could afford not to know, occasionally ; which is more than many of us can do. In one of the " Responsa of the Geonim," however, R. Hai writes as follows : " On a day whereon no wind is blowing, when, if you spread a cloth it does not nutter, men stani between two neighbouring palm-trees and observe the manner in which the trees incline towards one another, and thence are deduced signs for obtaining information on certain points. It is said that Mar Abraham Kobasi, the Gaon, who lived in the year 828 was a proficient interpreter of the ' language of palms.' " The Chassidim are said still to believe in the efficacy of these methods of dis- covering the future ; but a generation that has established a society for the protec- tion of ghosts, with the avowed object of preventing the dead past from burying its dead, cannot afford to laugh at any absurdity. The " Divining -Rod " still dis- covers unexpected stores of gold and of human credulity. Let me conclude, how- ever, by telling you of one very sensible act performed by a wonder-working Rabbi. A man once came to the Rabbi and cried : " Help me, my master 1 I have lost my purse and all my money." " How can I help you 1 " asked the Rabbi. " Give me a specific to enable me to recover my money," begged the suppliant. Then said the Rabbi, " Go home and repeat IHT'N three times." The poor fellow hurried to his house, and in trembling expectation opened his prayer-book and piously recited the section of the Mishnah that commences DTQT ?E> JDIpD inPK (' Which are the places of the offerings ? ') until he had read it three times, even as the Rabbi had bidden him. But time passed on and the lost money was no nearer being found ; so the man arose and went again to the Rabbi. In sorrow and anger he related that though he had re- peated inPN three times, his purse had not reappeared. " Which IHPX did you recite ? " asked the Rabbi. " Which IHT'S ? " replied his astonished visitor, " why of course, D^rUT ?W fOlpD inrN from my prayer-book." "You idiot I I didn't mean that IHT'S at all," shouted the Rabbi ; " I meant the saying of our sages, 1? print? HE -QXOn nmB> inrK 'Who is a fool ? The man who loses what he has.' " It would have been well indeed for the world if magical practitioners and others had always been as ready as this Rabbi was, to apply the Rod, not to the purposes, but to the backs of fools. JEWISH FOLK-LORE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 39 JEWISH FOLK-LORE IN THE MIDDLE AGES, BY DR. M. GASTER. When we look back to bygone times and try to picture the life of the Jews within the walla of the Ghetto, we find that it is by no means an easy task. Not only are the walls covered with cobwebs spun by time, but also with a marvellous, fabulous veil, to which love and anger, envy and ignorance have contributed; and the road which leads to this mediaeval castle, this ghost-haunted house, is covered with thistle and thorn, thus far making it akin to the castle in the fairy tale of the Sleeping Beauty. Everything there sleeps for centuries, and the palace is hidden under a living wall till the time comes when the true knight appears, and all is once more full of life. In the same way life behind the walls of the Ghetto lies sleeping till the time of awakening comes. Whenever we glance back at that period of Jewish history > we see only the gigantic towers uplifting their heads to the sky above the sur- rounding buildings, we see only the great masters and teachers in Israel, whose heads shine with the last rays of the sinking sun of science, or of the first glimpse of the new dawn, whilst all beneath them is plunged in night and darkness. From time to time we see further the gleams of the fiery pile through the dark, and we behold the glorious figures of our martyrs. Like their contemporaries, the knights, they also fought against dragons and giants, but of a more real character than those of the knights ; for they fought against the dragon, Superstition, and against the giant, Inquisition, only to succumb, without a hope of victory. Such is the picture presented to our minds when we attempt to realise the life in the Ghetto. Is this picture true ? Was there only darkness, and did not light pour into the tents of Jacob? Did the mothers, the teachers of men, not tell their children legends and stories ? Did they not soothe their little ones to sleep with lullabies ? Did they not recite nursery rhymes, planting in youthful souls the heroism characteristic of the time ? And, speaking generally, did our female ancestors not read anything ? And if so, what did they read at a time when no novel or romance, such as we have nowadays, existed ? The science which endeavours to answer these and similar questions is a new one. It finds in the nursery the history of the psychological and poetical life of nations, just as the biologist finds in the physical life of the child, the history of the psychological development of mankind. Legends and fairy tales, customs and myths, lullaby songs and nursery rhymes are the flowers which the student plucks in this field, and winds them into wreaths for the divine Muse of poetry. But this youngest amongst the sciences is also an exact science. The science of Folk-lore tries to explain in a scientific way the origin, growth and development of popular literature, it discovers the eouroes from which the popular fancy has drawn its materials and follows out the development and ramifications of every pheno- menon throughout the whole circle of mankind. Thanks to this science we now recognize as mere legends matters which were considered as facts for centuries, and on the other hand, many a poetical fiotion, a symbolical picture aspersed in the Middle Ages is reinstated in its rights. 40 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. We look with other eyes on the heaped up treasures of Jewish aggadah, on the diamonds which oriental fancy made brilliant by a fiery inspiration. Brought under this new light cast on them they glitter and gleam in a thousand colours, like the dew in the flower when lighted by the sun. We value as a poetical story, or picturesque image, legends like the following : " In the time when the Lord remembers His children, and sees them dwelling in sorrow and grief amongst the nations, He sheds two tears, and they drop into the great ocean, and their noise is heard from one end of the world to the other. Hence the earthquake" What a wonderful picture to express, the sympathy of heaven and earth with the heartstricken grief of the people I Or take another : " In the same day when King, Solomon married the daughter of Necho, the Egyptian king, the angel Michael descended from heaven and planted a reed in the great ocean ; and there came up loam, and upon that Rome was after- wards built." And further : " On the day when Jeroboam first established the two golden calves to be worshipped by Israel, Romulus and Remus erected their tents." Only ill-will, or prejudiced misunderstanding could not see the historical truth in the symbolical explanation of the relation which exists between the fall of Judah and the rise of Rome. Under the form of an allegory, they said that the power of the Jewish nation is intimately connected with true and unchanged religious belief, and a change in such belief necessarily brings about an unavoidable decline. In the curious tales of Rabbah bar-bar Channah, we recognise further, now-a- days, Indian sailor and travellers' tales, and in some of them Buddhistic legends, as for instance, the story of the gigantic fish, which destroys sixty towns, and out of whose bones the sixty towns are rebuilt. A similar story Buddha himself tells, relating to his pupils one of his former existences. Innumerable are the examples on which our feet stumble as we tread through the forest thousands of years old, called Jewish literature, where palms and hyssop, trees and bushes, flowers and thorns are often inextricably intertwined. On the other hand, we have learned to-day to recognize only as legends, the absurd accusations hurled against the Jews during the middle-ages : such as the use of blood in their ceremonials, the poisoning of wells, the piercing of the host, so that it bled, even the accusations that the Jews have been usurers to so great an extent as it was presumed. All these, and similar accusations, are the outcome of prejudice, they are cobwebs &pun by poisonous spiders, which hide the true light, and render the approach to the Ghetto disgusting and obnoxious. Bat we sweep them away, we know that they are only floating material to be found everywhere in the air, waiting only for the right time and the right men to appropriate and make use of them. They are for us nothing more than one of those numerous legends, devoid of every internal truth, and interesting only for the student of folk -psychology and folk-lore. One more legend refers to the seclusion of the Jews within the walls of their houses, who are eaid to care nothing for the movement of the times, and who let the waves of the rolling sea pass over their shelter. But be the walls as high as towers and the prejudice as powerful as ever, they never form a real barrier against the spirit, which pours in through a thousand invisible channels. " The sun shines for the righteous as well as for the sinner," and the light and bliss of poetry penetrates into every heart accessible to it. The Jews proved their high sense and their keen appreciation of everything that was grand and beautiful, they were always ready to accept with eagerness all the productions of poetical fancy, with the simple restriction that it should not be in contradiction to their moral and ethical principles. In the same natural unaffected way in which the tales and legends were told, they were also received without being put first in the JEWISH FOLK-LORE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 41 Procrustes -bed of a religious dogmatism. They did not eeek in the gentle flowers of the human soul deep mysteries -this has been reserved for another less poetical and more rigid period but they enjoyed their sweet smell, the perfume of human paradise, innocence and beauty. Surrounded with legends and tales their heroes appeared to them with a halo, like the heroes of the fairy-tale. The past was adorned by poetical creations, the future was seen in a magical light, and this helped them to forget the sad present, and lifted them above the miseries and vicissitudes of the moment. In this process of poetical and intellectual activity the Jews were in close relationship with all other nations. It is common to all men to strive after an ideal life and to corporealize it in the hero of their imagination. Therefore also we see in the development of history the continual change of the type of the ideal. It is the real measure of our progress. The ideal of one period is no more that of another. Alexander is the hero in the time of chivalry, Josapbat or St. Anthony of the time of austere monasticism, another ideal is the martyr, and again another the wise philosopher. Round them cluster a world of legends, taken from one character and conferred on another, adding new traits to the cherished figure, in order to make it as perfect as possible ; uniting all the abilities which distinguish men into one superior personage. The painter when he paints his picture borrows also the single traits from many individuals amongst whom they are scattered. There is no perfect being to be found in real life, and many have to lend their attributes in forming one. So also the popular fancy takes and borrows wherever it comes across anything that is likely to please it, to inspire it, to produce a loud echo in the human heart. It never asks whence it comes and whether it is provided with a passport or means of living before it lands on the shore, but everywhere the hero of one nation, slightly disguised, finds warm and kind hospitality. The human part in the legends or in the story is the real attraction and not the outer form. They are soon deprived of their special national character, and they get the right of citizenship throughout the wide world. The life and adventures of Alexander, or Rusten, or Roland, or of many of King Arthur's and Charlemagne's knights, made in their literary form longer travels, than the hero of them does in his life, and the success obtained by the pen was by far more extensive than the real victories fought and won by the sword. They wandered from country to country, from nation to nation, to charm the reader and to elevate his mind. This is also one of the multifarious results of the new study of Folk-lore. Not only does it reveal to us the sources of enjoyment during centurie, and the inner life of the nations, but it reveals to us unthought of connections and elements of our spiritual development, unknown and unsuspected till to-day. Strange to say, the life of nature and terreetial phenomena repeat themselves in a striking manner in the life of nations. That is why we can nearly always borrow a picture from the former, in order to illustrate in a plastic way a fact in the latter. So also in our case. Very well-known is the Gulf -stream, which originates in the tropics, and travels round the earth, carrying with it trees to the icy North pole, thus furnishing the inhabitants of regions of snow and bitter cold with the necessary warmth and light. Through the sea of nations we can also follow nowadays a similar stream coming from the hotbed of Oriental fancy to the dark North, carrying with it what we call the romantic literature, the joy and delight of centuries . There is the well-spring from which almost all the poets of Europe hare drawn the waters of " eternal youth " (the eau de jouvency) ; Shakespeare, to begin with, the giant of dramatic poetry, Chaucer, Dante, Tasso, Bo< caccio, the founder of the modern novel- literature Cervantes, Voltaire, Goethe, Victor Hugo, Longfellow, Tennyton, and all such men a 42 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. who have given the highest expression to human sentiments. They all are indebted to Folk-lore, and we find in their works we admire, frequent evidence that theirs is only the form, the polishing of the diamond, whilst the contents, the diamond itself, is the property of the people. Had the Jews any part in it ? Did they also contribute in one way or another to the accumulation of the actual spiritual wealth of Europe ? When eating honey we never ask how many bees have been at work, and out of how many flowers did they gather the elements of the honey ? This is the task left to the student to answer. The student of Folk-lore has also to answer how many bees have been at work to produce the honey of romantic literature ? And he answers that amongst all others the Jews have been most prominent and active workers in that field . It is proved to- day beyond any doubt that they have been the foremost propagators, if not always the originators of the tales, and especially to their mediation is due the spreading of Oriental literature amongst the European nations. They have been the translators and compilers, and not a little of the popular literature of the Middle Ages, including some of the romances of chivalry, are based upon and imbued with Jewish legends and Jewish traditions. The activity of the Jews was a double one : they originated some legends and accepted othero. There has been constant giving and taking, a living interchange between the nations, which did not cease even in times of deep persecution, of de- pression and sorrow. The Jews have not only coined silver and gold, they coined also the spirit and brought it into wide circulation. No wonder, therefore, that we find in the Jewish literature an ample representation of the universal popular liter- ature, and especially that of the Orient. As early as the time of the Maccabeans we find already traces of the poetical activity of the national genius. Round the Biblical personages the never ceasing popular fancy gathers stories and legends, which grow and develop in the course of centuries, like the river which is small and pure at the beginning, but widens and becomes charged with many elements in its further course. At a given period the Christian and Mahomedan literature is imbued with Jewish Aggadas, as these legends are termed. The aim is always to explain what peems incongruous or inexplicable in the biography or in the deeds of a venerable personage, and the older it is the more freedom is accorded to the fancy to hold sway over it. This tendency of ex- planation may be noted as a constant characteristic feature of all legends throughout the world. Only to take an example, among the figures of the Old Testament, none is so favoured by popular fiction as Solomon, the most romantic and wisest of all kings, wbo occupied the throne of Judah. It would be impossible to enumerate here all the feats attributed to him, all the wise judgments passed by him, and all the adventures which he went through. He is the hero of a whole cycle of legends which travelled round the world. One single episode, that of Solomon's adven- ture with the king of the genies, Asmodens, entering into the world's literature, shows us the figure of Solomon disguised in the following impersonations : as Vi- kramaditya and the Raksha in India ; as Arthur and Merlin in England ; as For and Kitovras in Russia ; as Solomon and Markulph again in England, and Germany ; as Alboni and Bertoldo in Italy ; as Jovinian or King Robert of Sicily (as better known in the works of Chaucer and Longfellow.) We can follow the traces of these biblical legends not only in the Jewish Aggadas but also in the Christian literature, where they served as models for lives and legends of saints. The Christian Iconography does also not represent the real, but the legendary life of the biblical personages and of the saints. JEWISH FOLK-LORE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 43 To the biblical personages there were added figures taken from the post-biblical times. Foreign legends, especially the Syrian and the Egyptian creep in, and are blended together. The pure Rabbinical Aggadas make their appearance, and influence in their tarn the neighbouring literature. Some of these are, for instance, incorporated into the famous Arabian Nights, which were originally Indian tales wrapped in Arabic and Persian disguises, and adorned and amplified with Jewish embellishments. Among the Jews, for centuries earlier than the " Gesta Romanorum " and Centono velle," arose the first collection of genuine tales, as a book for relief in sorrow. In order to comfort a friend in his sorrow, R. Nissim in Kairuan in North Africa com- posed in the 10th century the Maase Nissim. And one of the oldest fairy tales, in which fairy land is for the first time introduced, is attributed to no less a personage than the son of the great Maimonides. In that Aggadic literature we find a " Divina Oomedia " or a wandering through Hell and Paradise centuries before Dante ; the prototype for the ' ' Merch- ant of Venice," the " Virgilian Miracles," localised in Naples, and many other similar poetical fictions. The Troubadours in France and the Novellieri in Italy are further specially indebted to the Jewa for the " Disciplina Clericalis," composed by a certain Moses in 1101, who after his baptism at the age of 44 years took the name of Petrus Alfonsi, because King Alfonso of Arragonia was his godfather. The great event in the history of romantic literature was the introduction of Indian tales, fables and apologues into the heart of Europe. Strange and wonderful is the history of their migration and the role played by the Jews in this spiritual exchange. For almost every book or every tale which afterwards had a hold on the minds of the nations, came hither mostly through the mediation of the Jews. In the Orient as well as in Spain, in Byzantium and Italy, the Jews were busy in translating and spreading the Pantscha-Tantra, Syndipa, and even the wonderful life of Buddha, who became a Christian saint under the name of Josaphat, ia known under another name in Jewish literature ; and other similar Oriental works of Indian origin. In this way we couH add name to name, collection to collection, all proving the lively interest and the hearty collaboration of Jews in the kingdom of poetry and fiction. Names such as Simeon Seth, Harisi, Ibn Sahula, Ealonymos, Berachja Hannakdan, and others show that scattered all over the world, the Jews have been the bearers of good and mirthful tidings in times of sorow and mirthlessness. The storm which shakes the trees of the forest at the same time carries the seed far off to other countries. The storm which shook the trees of Judah has scattered the seed over all lands. Less numerous are the romances of chivalry in Jewish literature. When chivalry flourished, the Jews were too much acquainted with the real character of brutality inscribed with fire and blood in the pages of Jewish suffering, to see the charm with which later times endowed that period and the heroes thereof. An exception makes however the legendary life of Alexander the Great, con- queror of Asia, the hero who bows his knees before the Temple in Jerusalem and travels to the gates of Paradise. This fabulous life exercised a great influence on the Jewish mind. Reminiscences of it are not scarce in the Midrash and Talmud and later his biography became also widely circulated among Jews as it was among the other nations. But this was a figure of hoar antiquity, and the rudeness of his features if there were any has melted away in the distance of time. Not so with the later knights, who lived nearer to their own time. A great interval most elapse before their material life shall be forgotten, so as to appear in an attractive and not repulsive form to the victims of their oppression and persecution. The change took place in the new phase of the Jewish Folk-lore 44 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. in which we enter now, the folk-lore of the Ghetto, when the old Hebrew language was replaced by the vernacular. The literary life was interrupted by the unceasing blows aimed at the annihilation of the Jews. The garden of poetry was buried under stones, hurled down by hundreds of enemies. It is the time of elegies and lamentations. But the creative power could not be entirely suppressed. The gentle sex could not do without the resources they possessed in former times. They claimed as an inheri- tance the continuation of the work, and this in a manner more suitable to their changed position. Thus, we behold amongst the Jews, au analogous change to that observed in the literature of all nations. Instead of Latin or Hebrew, preserved only as the language of science and the language of the Church, the vernacular took its place in the literature of fiction. This is the origin of European popular literature. So it happened also with all the treasures heaped up during centnres, of which we had but a fleeting glance; they passed on enlarged and enriched, but this time they appear in the new language acquired by the Jews, namely in the peculiar German dialect, as it is known in the present day, and which is falsely called Jargon. One essential difference between Jewish and other literatures must be pointed out. It is characteristic and shows up under the very light in which it ought to be seen. From the Latin the translations into the vernacular were made for the entire people ; the translation from Hebrew into the vernacular was made only for the " women and damsels." It was the women's literature of the middle- ages. Every man knew at least the Bible and the prayers, and was always capable of reading a light book in the original. Therefore all the works in Jewish-German address themselves to the fair sex, many of them being made at their special request, and we number among the authors not a few women as the famous Litte, the author of a versified translation of a book of the Bible. So you see lady authors are not at all a modern institution, even among the Jewesses! Out of this literature they drew instruction, enlightenment, and enthusiasm, it kindled in their hearts the fire of love and devotion to their holy religion. This was their lelletrutic and romantic literature. In this German-popular language they expressed their hope and grief, their joy and anger ; their elegy and hymn, In this they told the fairy tales to the children, and sang the lullaby songs. One single glance informs us of the unexpected richness of this branch of Jew- ish literature. No other reflects more clearly all that inner life of the Ghetto which withdraws itself from the scrutinizing eye. We all know that shyness, proper to the internal life, which shrinks from an attempt to see itself unveiled before a strange eye, which might profane it. We fear even the smile or the laugh of the beholder, who is not able to indentify himself entirely with our feeling, and attaches no importance to what we cherish most. The value is not always the object itself ; but the reminiscences that linger about it endear it to us. Thus it ia with the Cinderella of Jewish literature, with the outcast child of the Jewish family. To speak of the Jewish-German dialect is a daring undertaking ; to show the importance it has for the history of Jewish culture in particular, and the history of Folk-lore in general, is no doubt an act of great temerity. And yet there are only a few prejudices to be removed, and Cinderella will occupy the place due to her. A special lecture is announced on the Jewish-German dialect, and this makes it unnecessary for me to enter into any detail upon that subject. Suffice it to say, that modern philology has proved beyoni any doubt, that this so much despised jargon is a pure Germ an dialect, very closely resembling the lan- guage of the oldest translations of the Bible naturally, long before Luther's, and in a different dialect. The peculiarity of Jewish-German dialect is the intro- duction of Hebrew and Aramaic words which give it somewhat a barocque appear- JEWISH FOLK-LOSE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 45 ance. But just these new elements are best fitted by their brevity and expressive- ness to adapt themselves to all the plies and crevices of the Jewish mind. The popular language is distinguished from the literary by its terse and witty expres- sions ; and the Hebrew words, like the epigrams of the oriental wisdom, joined with the mystic sound of the Aramaic elements, add a new force to the Jewish-German dialect. It becomes at the same time pliant and homely, and serves its purposes as the expression of thought in an admirable way. Bus let it be well understood that I speak only of the past, and the due appreciation of it, but not of the present or future when this dialect has to give place to the language of the people in whose midst we live. To return to the literature it embraces all that is interesting in a certain degree of human development. We have thus secular and sacred history books of ethics and moral doctrine, prayer books, and books of hymns and songs They all teach modesty, resignation and pious devotion. The " Tzeenah-Ureenah," the translation of the Bible, embellished by narratives, Aggadas and symbolical explanations, was for centuries the household book of every Jewish wife, in which she read, Saturday after Saturday, the portion of the week. The children listened to the words of God, and of the prophets themselves telling of the glories of the paat, and of the hopes of the future, elevating them above the misery of the present. The legends, tales and stories have also a special character. They are full of confidence in God, of His mercy, of His providence, and of His love for His people ( shown in innumerable instances. All the supernatural powers developed in other tales root here in God alone, who sends the prophet Elijah to rescue and aid the helpless and unfortunate. The influence this literature exercised upon the Jewish house in the middle-ages can by no means be valued as a small one. To its influence may be in a measure ascribed the family virtues, such as charity, kindness, beneficence and piety, and also the fact that the light of poetical yearning has never been extinguished in the house of Israel. To the old legends and tales, new ones were added, increasing the number of heroes. After the Biblical and Talmudical personages, there appeared on the stage of the world new knights of the spirit, who fought the battles of philosophy, poetry, and liberty. The people f amilarized themselves with these names in their own way,in the way of legendary description, just as the other nations did with their heroes and savants, and although separated from them by external barriers, they joined them in imagination, borrowing and lending as in former times. The new legends crystallized around the principal figures of Jewish history, explaining what seems dark ; glorifying the natural power and skill as well as the knowledge with which they were gifted ; extolling the wondrous dexterity with which they mastered their adversaries and escaped the snares of their enemies always helped by the visible or invisible assistance of God and to the benefit of the entire nation. The loftiness and sublimity of conception is mingled with the pride of numbering such men with the members of their family, and this renders clear to us how entire circles of legends were originated even in times of supposed intellectual sterility and darkness. I find myself in a position akin to that of the man in the admirable allegory of Borne, Honestus. A young man is introduced by a beggar, to his great astonishment, into a treasure house, where every object of marvellous beauty, cries to him : "Take me 1 take me ! " and when he yields to the temptation the beggar suddenly turns out to be a wonderful magician. So am I also led by a disguised beggar the Jewish jargon into the treasury of Folk-lore and every legend, every story cries : " Tell me ! tell me !" But I fear the power of the magician, and more I fear the power of my audience if I should yield too much to the temptation. (6 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. Neither time nor space allows me even to mention them all by name. I select only those tales concerning some of the best known personages of Jewish history, and more with the purpose of exciting your curiosity than to satisfy it. I merely show you the way to Aladdin's wonderful lamp. Touch it, and all the spirits of the past will appear ready to serve you and to carry you back to the life of former centuries. I begin with the famous Maimonides, whose life even before the time of his birth was embellished with many narratives. Only two of them will now occupy our attention. The first relates to his skill as a doctor ; the second is a wonderful escape that he had. It is told that the Rambam when he lived at the court of the Sultan had a number of students gathered around him, whose teacher he was. He instructed them both in Talmndical and Rabbinical knowledge, and also medical science, because he was the most skilful doctor that ever lived. Amongst his pupils was one who distinguished himself more than all the others, and Rambam took a fancy to him. He, however, had the peculiar custom, whenever a difficult case happened, of shutting his doors so that none could witness his proceedings. The pupil therefore made a hole in the floor of the room above that of the operations and looked through it. Once upon a time there came a man to the Rambam who suffered from great pain in his head. The Rambam took him in his room and opened his skull, when he saw a worm lying upon the brain. He was then just going to remove it by means of pincers, when the young man who watched his master through the hole suddenly exclaimed : " Do not touch him, else thou killeat him ! " At the sound of this unexpected voice the Rambam started back, and, finding whence it came, bade his pupil to come down. He then asked him what he should do, and the young man advised him to put a cabbage -leaf near to it. He did it, and the worm, attracted by the smell, left its place and crawled upon it, and the man was saved. From this date the Rambam studied all the mysteries of medicine together with this pupil. Amongst his books he possessed also a medical book written by Solomon, which nobody else possessed. In it were also instructions how to be- come immortal. The man must be cut to pieces, the parts mixed with various herbs, and put for a given time (say 40 days) under a glass bell, where the body was to be watched with the greatest attention, so that nothing should come near to it or move it, otherwise the body would never again revive. Induced by the wish to try the experiment, they cast lots, and the lot fell upon the young man. The legend adds that the young man was in love with the daughter of Maimonides, who promised to give him her hand if he consented to undergo the experiment. The last word of the dying man was the name of his love. Maimonides prepared everything, as was prescribed, and awaited with curiosity the result of this frightful experiment. After a short time the efficacy of the prescription showed itself, the pieces grew together and the incoherent mass began to take the shape of a human being, Then the curiosity of Maimonides suddenly changed into perplexity, for a fearful idea of which he had not thought before struck him with awe and terror. If this man should now be immortal, what would become of human faith ? Was he not now bringing a great and incalculable calamity into the world ? These and similiar ideas haunted him day and night, and the time drew near and nearer when his pupil would again be alive. An oath bound him not to touch the veseel or to destroy it and yet no other alternative seemed open to him than to destroy it. Weighing all the consequences he finally decided in favour of his pupil's annihilation, but not through his own hand. He therefore put in a cock in the room where the glass bell stood, and the cock flying about threw it down . In the same minute the Rambam threw his book of medicine into the fire, so that it should not again tempt anyone JEWISH FOLK-LORE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 47 He himself afterwards led a life of penitence and repentance for the death which he had caused. So far the legend, which, curious as it seems to be, is not without analogies in the outer literature. The same feat of extraordinary knowledge and power is attributed also to Virgil, who was considered as a magician and great sorcerer during the middle-ages. In this form it is Virgil himself who gives the order to hia famulus how to carry out his precept. The king, Augustus, seeing that Virgil does not appear for some time at the court, suspects the famulus of murdering hia master, and visits the house of Virgil . Thereby the process is disturbed, and the poet is never more resuscitated. Of Paracelsus, the founder of modern medicine, a similar legend was current in the middle- ages and so forth. Although identical in che essential part, nevertheless the non-Jewish legends differ from the Jewish legend in a very important and characteristic feature. The accomplishment of Virgil's and Poracelsus's immortality is disturbed by accident and in that way their vain desire is annihilated. Whereas in the Jewish form, Maimonides is frightened at the idea of endangering human faith, and deliberately puts an end to such an undertaking, whose consequences may become disastrous to mankind. The ideal of religion guides his hand and he pays for this experiment with a life of repentance. Of quite another character is the second tale. " The enemies of Maimonides at the court of the Sultan left nothing untried to destroy him. After several unsuc- essful attempts, they calumniated Maimonides by saying that he could not approach the Sultan without covering his mouth, as he had said that he could not bear his breath. Previously they had induced Maimonides to believe that it was so also with the Sultan. When the Sultan afterwards found the accusation, as it seemed to be, true, because Maimonides appeared next time with his mouth covered, he ordered Maimonides to go to the lime-kiln and ask if his order has been fulfilled. To the men employed there the Sultan sent an order to throw in to the fire the first who came with such a message. Maimonides, not suspecting anything, went to obey the command of his master. But a widow, whose child was lying in fever, stopped him on the way, and induced the great doctor to enter her hut and cure her only child. After performing this duty he pursued his way, and came later than he expected to the furnace When he asked there, if the order of the Sultan had been fulfilled, the servants answered, laughing and pointing to the furnace, " oh, the order is kept, and he is safe." Maimonidea then returned, wondering as much at the message as at the pnzz'ing answer. When the Sultan saw him the next morning he could not believe his eyes. But while he questioned him about his errand, a man brought the seal of the man who had been thrown into the furnace at the order of the Sultan. The bitterest foe of Maimonides had not waited till the next day, but he went himself to inquire at the furnace, whilst Maimonides was detained by the widow. Being the first to deliver the message, he underwent the fate destined for Maimonides. With a slight variation as to the cause of the hindrance, the same story occurs in many forms in the world's literature. It is one of the best known miracles of the Holy virgin, and is the subject of Schiller's ballad, " Gang nach dem Eisen- hammer." The moral of the Jewish version is that because he saved a life, his life was also saved. Whilst the other version dwells upon the performance of ritea ! Passing over an entire cycle of legends and tales of Maimonides, the next figure which catches our eye is that of the famous Rashi, who covered with an agadio veil the clarity of the Bible, and who enlightened the darkness of the Talmud by his unsurpassed commentary. We must refrain from mentioning even the numerous legends in which he is the hero, such as his visit to Maimonides the search of hia neighbour for heavenly bliss, and others of a similar nature. 48 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. Like Maimonides his future reputation was announced by a voice from heaven long before he was born. Hia father litzhak lived, according to th e legend, in Toulon. Once upon a time, as he was walking along the seashore, he found a wonderful pearl. A short time after, wards a jeweller came to buy it, but found only his wife at home. He offered her a large sum of money, and said that it was required for a monstrance ordered by the Duke for the church. When she heard of the use to be made of it she refrained from selling it, and referred the jeweller to her husban d, who might decide as he liked. When he came home they both decided to throw the pearl into the seat which they did. In the same moment a heavenly voice was heard, saying : " litzhak when the season comes round, lo thy wife shall have a son, who will expound the Law to my people." In order to avoid the wrath of the Duke they escaped from Toulon, and took up their abode in Worms. And the legend goes on to tell of the birth, growth, and death of Rashi. We pass over it, and stop only at the episode of Rashi's encounter with Godfrey of Bouillon, the chief leader of the Crusades. Attracted by the fame of Rashi's knowledge Godfrey went to see him, to ask about the result of their enterprise. On his arrival he found all the rooms of Rashi's house open, and when he asked for Rashi, Rashi answered him, although invisible. At his request Rashi became visible, and Godfrey asked him as he was a prophet and a wise man, what would be the issue of this adventure 1 And Rashi answered shortly : " My lord I I will tell you the truth. At the beginning you will be fortunate, and you will occupy Jerusalem, and reign therein for three days. But on the fourth day you will be driven out by the Ishmaelites, and yon will lose everything. All your people will die, and you will enter this city only with three men and a horse's Head." The Duke was much frightened at these words, and said : " It may be that your prophecy will be realised. But know, that if I re-enter this town with one man more I will give thy flesh to the dogs, and all the Jews shall die." So he went, away. E/erythiag happened as it was foretold by Rashi. The Duke was now returning home: when he came near to Worms he remembered the prophecy of Rashi, and behold, he had three companions with him instead of two, as Rashi had told him. He made up his mind to punish him and all the Jews, as he had threatened. But the Lord, blessed be His name, annihilates the thoughts of the wicked, for, as the Duke, with the first two men entered the gate, a port- cullis, covered with spikes, which is generally used to shut the gate at the approach of enemies, fell down unexpectedly, and knocked off the head of the fourth horse, leaving his rider outside the city. So the prophecy of Rashi was fulfilled to the letter. The Duke, humiliated at this sight, went to the house of Rashi to bow before him, but he found him lying on his bier. He put on mourning, for, as the story adds, it was only right to mourn for such a man as Rashi. In this legend the whole crusade is turned to a glorification of Rashi, and to prove the nothingness of all that great movement. The fate to which Godfrey is doomed is predicted by a Rabbi, by a hated Jew, and the leader of kings and armies, the flower of chivalry and Christendom returns home with two companions and a horse's head ! We now pass to Jehuda Halevi,the famous poet of the songs of Zion, who died at the hands of an Arab while enraptured at the ruins of Jerusalem. The legend makes him father-in-law of Abraham Ibn Ezra, the genial and critical commentator of the Bible, the great traveller, who visited England and India. R. Judeah Halevi, according to the legend, absorbed by his studies with his friend the King Knzar, whom he converted to Judaism, had totally forgotten to marry his daughter. His wife argued therefore once with him and said : We are now old, and we have only one daughter, and she is still unmarried. R. Jehudah became angry and took an oath that she should marry the first man who would come the next day. The JEWISH FOLK-LORE AV THE MIDDLE AGES. 49 next morning the first person he m^t was a ragged young mm. He took him in his house and betrothed him to his daughter. The wife of R. Jehudah felt very unhappy, and she asked her son-in-law if he knew anything. But R. Jehudah said : I will tetoh hi TO, aid I ho je that he will becjma a scholtr. But very BOOU he suv that all his t .achijg wan useless, for the young min sesmad to be utterly ignorant. One 3 upon a time they were waiting for R. Jehudah for supper, but he did not come ; they wared for him till late ; and as he still did not appear, his wife went to his schoolroom and askei him to come. He refused because he had been the whole day engaged in composing a Puritn hymn with an alphabetical acrostic, and be had stopped at the letter R. For hours he was now trying to find a corresponding word beginning with R, but in vain. Pressed by his wife, he left the manuscript there and went home. The young man, curious to know the cau-e of the delay, asked his mother-in-law why R. Jehudah caoie so late. And she anwered, " What does it matter to you ? you ignorant man ! you at any rate cannot help him ! '' But he insisted, and bhe told him th-) anger of R. Jrhudah. He then asked her again to fet ;h the manuscript. At his request she only reluctantly gave way and bro ight him the mannscrip r . He took it into his room and the Lord blessed be He gave him the right mind, and he found the fitting word for the com- mencement. So he wrote tbe whole verse. The next morning when R. Jehudah saw it he was very astonished, and asked h : s pupils if anyone among them had looked into his papers and added that verse. But they all declared thtt ih-y knew nothing about it : they only knew that his wife had fetched them la-it evening, and the pup Is thought th it he hid sent for them. R. Jehulah sent for his wife, and she told him all about the young man, how he pressed her to bring the manu- script, and that no other than he could be the author of tie verse. Entrea'ed by R. Jehudah, he disjoverei himself to be R. Abraham Ibn Ezra, already famous. And the legend goes on to say that after tbe wedding, they studied together and diffuse 1 learning throughout Isnel. This WAS the custom in the Ghetto learning and knowledge, even clothed in rags, was the only object worthy of acknowledg-nent and it was considered as a natural thing to devote it ad majorem Dei gloriam. Not so fortunate, but no less poetical is the life of the other king of Jewish poet'y : Ibn Gtbirol, author of the Kether-Malchuth. He livel in Valencia. A Moor envying hie g'ory as poet, induced him to enter his garden and unseen by anybody killed him and dug his grave at the roit of a fig tree. But where no eye of a human being is present that of the Lori is watching, and the tree disclosed the crime, for soon after the murder the tree began to blossom and produced marvellous fruit?, which were not at all in season. The sweet song of the poet had passed into the fruit The rumour of this extraordinary fact spread quickly through tbe town, and reached the ear of the King. He asked for the cause of this early blooming. The Moor was convicted of the murder and hanged, upon the same tree, whose roots had sucked the blood of the great poet. An analogous legend is further told by the dwellers in the Ghetto of another extraordinary indictment of the murderer of a poor Je v. No crime can be hiddon, and every wicked deed finds its reward, to also in the following tale : Once upon a time a Jew wandered through a field, when suddenly he was attacked by a robber, who plundered him and took away everything that he pose-sed. Not satisfied with this and fearing to be denounced by the Jew, he resolved to kill him. The Jew entreated him to spire his life, and promised no 1 ; to mention a word ; but if he would not have pity on him the bird which was on the tree would drnouo.ce the mur- der as it is said : " Fora bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter." Feel, x, 20. Tbe robber did not listen to him, and killed the man on the spot. From there he went to an inn to eat and drink. The JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. host brought in a dish of birds. When he faw the birds he began to laugh, the host who stood at tbe taSle seeing the man langh, asked him the reason of his laughter. The murderer thc.ught : it's only a Jew, and therefore it does not matter ; so he told him his adventure with the Jew who had taken the bird as a witness". Now he re- membered those words and therefore he laurhed. But the landlord did not take it eo easily, and he thought if he has killed a Jew, perhaps he has aUo killed otber people ; and he denounced him to the magistrate. The murderer was taken up and after a trial, sentenced to death. So the words of the dying Jew came true. and the words of Holy Writ were proved infallible. This story known also in ancient times as the legend of Ibycus has been preserved till to-day in the same form among German fairy-tales, as in Grimm's collection (No. 115). I really do not know how much longer to continue telling yon legends and tales, without tiring you and tresspassing on the time and indulgence allowed to me. I must pasa by with a mere mention of the miraculous travel of Nachmanides ; the mastership of Rabbi Jehiel, the prot type for Mestre Ze'chiele in " Notre Dame de Paris," of Victor Hugo; The Golem of Rabbi Low, in Prague ; the touch- ing legend of a Mortara-case in the middle-ages, when a child was stolen from the Jews and became Pope of Rome, was recognized by his father who came to ask the help of the Pope, and gives up the highest position in the world to join the misery and wretchedness of his unhappy brethren, the self-sacrifice of Rabbi Me'ir of Rothenburg, who preferred to die in prison rather than give to the Princes new means to extort money from the Jews by imprisoning their Rabbis. And FO many, many similar tales. I will pass them all, anl will only mention a parallel to the legend of Tannhauger, or the legend of the blossoming rod. There lived once a renegade, who bitterly persecuted the Jews, and caused many of them to die. This he did for years ; but after a time he came to tbe pious R. Jehud&h and said to him that he would repent his sins if there were any hope of his being forgiven. R. Jehudah was just carving a stick of cornel- tree, and he said to him, " Your Bins are too great. As little. as this stick can ever blossom again so little is the hope that yon should be forgiven." As the man heard this not very encouraging answer, he went away and said, "Now I will be worse than ever." Not long afterwards R. Jehudah beheld his rod, and lo ! it was green and blooming. Astonished at this miracle, he sent immediately for the renegade. When he came, R. Jehudah said, " Tell me what good deed have yon done, so that it has outweighed all those fearful sins you confessed to have committed ? " And the man said, " I remember I came once to a town where the Jews were accused of murdering a child for its blood. As the people knew of my coming, they said, 'We will ask him, who has abjured bis old faith, and he will tell us the truth as to thense of the blood, and we will act accordingly.' I then took an oath and told them that the accusation was groundless, and I brought many proofs for my assertion of their innocence. In const quence of my word, the Jews were released, and they did not Buffer anything ; whilst, if I had said the contrary, all the Jews would have been murdered. This is the single good work I remember." R. Jehudah gave him a penitance and as a Baal Teshuba he atoned for his sins and became a pious Jew. In Tannhauser and other similar legends, no cause for the blossoming of the rod is indicated, and this is taken only as a eymbolof the unlimited power of penitence. In our Jewish lege&d the good deed which produces the miracle and shows the peni- tence as a useful one, is that he rescued the Jews from the fearful accusation. This single act was s-ufficient in the middle ages to secure forgiveness. These few examples show what poetical life reigned in the Ghetto, and prove beyond any doubt the steady exchange between the literary property of the Jews and that of other nations. I could here add the literature of the romances of chivalry, which penetrated through the Jewish-German dialect, to the ntmost end of JEWISH FOLK-LORE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 61 the Jewish diaspora. Such as Bovo-Maase, the Enpl frh romance of Sir Bevis of South- ampton ; King Artug-hof, of the same origin ; Flore and blancheflore ; the beauti- ful Helene, daughter of the King of Constantinople, and so forth. Jewish literature contains also a number of fairy tales which contributed to the charm and delight of the people. Perhaps, on another occasion I will deal with the entire literature and study and publish it, not merely as a lecture, but as an elaborate work. Eternal is the charm exerci-ed by the romantic literature in all times over all nations. How anxiously the child watches jour lips when you tell him the wonder- ful feats, the miraculous deeds, the supernatural power and wit of the hero. It ia an ideal world, where nothing is impossible, and where the keenest finds the reward for his courage and daring. Even the man, when he listens to these children of poetical fiction, feels himelf sometimes transported back to that time which is all sunshine and light when he was a dweller in the low-land of iosy mist and shapeless castles, where the future shines before the eyes of youth like a vague, golden, glorious landscape, until material life blows away this house of cards. What is now the real interest attached to the study of folk-lore ? What is the meaning of these fabulous ta'es and legends ? Nowadays anthropology is busy with the gathering of chips of stones and of long-forgotten and buried remnants, in order to reconstruct the history of human, physical and social develop- ment. Much more important than those remote periods and than the material world, is the history of our intellectual development, to gather all the chips of the human genius, scattered and buried under the ruina of old literatures, and hidden in the popular literature. The youth of the human mind and the poetical reflection of the surrounding world are embodied in these tales and Ifgends. In vain you ask f>r the moral the mean- ing thereof. They do not intend to teach, but to rejoice and to elevate. What is the moral meaning of the bird's song, or of the perfume of the flower ? of harmony in nature ? They do not teach us either any moral or ethical principle distinguishing between evil and good, between right and wrong ; but they teach us the moral of Ksthetus, to distinguish between the beautiful and ugly, between harmony and anarchy, between anguish and peace of mind : naturally each in its own way. Art and poetry are the multicolored rainbow, the sign of peace and quiet after Btorm and disaster which unites heaven with earth, and which is in popular fancy the bridge for the angels descending from on high. Thus also the genius of the people descends upon that rainbow, art and poetry, from higher regions down to the earth. Besides this psychological and universal importance, the legends and tales have also a special national tendency. They are the everlasting monumenta more durable than those of stone and brass, which the thankful nations eiect to their heroes in their heart. They live for ever in the mind and the mouth of the people which is thus never forgetful of the past, and striving for the future. And these our legends tell us in behalf of our people and its heroes, that Pride and humilation band In hand Walked with them through the world where'er they went 1 ranii li ri and beaten were they as the sand, And yet unshaken as the continent. For in the background figures, vague and vast, Of patriarchs and of prophets rose sublime, And all the great traditions of the past They saw reflected ia the coming time. LOKGFELLOTT. 52 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. THE TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM. BY MARCUS N. ABLER, M.A. I propose to give this evening a short account of the Temple at Jerusalem, erected on what is now termed the Harain esh-Sheiif, and to trace the origin of some of the legends still current, connected with a site, which, to a large extent, was in the paat, as it will, we believe, be in the future, the House of Prayer for all nations. Another object I have in view thia evening is to arouse your attention, and through jou, I hope, the attention of the commuuity at large to the extraordinary efforts which have been made of late years by our Christian frieads, not only in this country, but also abroad, in the direction of an accurate and systematic enquiry into the Archaeology, and also into the Geology and the Natural History of the Holy Lmd. The Palestine Exploration Society has within the twenty-one years of its existence spent and it may be truly said well spent no less than 66,000 in carrying out these researches. The Ordnance Survey of Western Palestine, on a scale of one inch to the mile, and for some districts on a scale of 10.} ft. to the mile, is in itself a work for which we Jews ought to be profoundly grateful. To attain the end they had in view the Society had the good fortune to enlist the services of men of singular ability, who were endowed with that peculiar tact and perseverance, which enabled them to carry on their explorations in the faca of prejudice, and in spite of innumerable difficulties. All those who have made themselves acquainted with t*ie part which Sir Charles Warren has taken in tnis work must agree with the view, expressed by such well-known authors as Wilson and Ebera, that these excavttions are, for their extent, for the boldness with waich they ware conceived, and for the skill with which they were carried out, unparalleled in the history of archaeological explora'ion. Sir Charles Warren has kindly consentel to explain the result of his excavations at Jerusalem, and part of what I shall now proceed to say, I beg of you to lo k upon as an iutroduction to his disquisition. Jerusalem lies on a ridge of hills, which trarerse Judaea from North to South, and which here attain a height of 2.400 to 2,500 feet. The City is encompassed by two ravines, the valley of Kidron and the valley of Hinnom. These ravines rise within a short dista ce irom each other, on whvt may be called the watershed between the Mediterranein and the Dead Sea. The Ordnance Survey has established the fact that the Dead Sea is no less than 1,3JO feet b-slow the level of the ocean, and forms by far the deepest depression known in the world. I need not say that this depression exercises a most extraor- dinary influence upon the climate and vegetation of the district. The Kidron or black valley, also called the Valley of Jehoshaphat, on the East of the city skirts Mount Moiiah, the present Haram area, which it separates from the Mount THE TEMTL K AT JER USA L EJf. 5 3 of O.ives, whilst the valley of Hinnotn lies to the West of the city. These vall-ys unite south of Jerusalem, after a fall of about 650 feet, at what is now called Job's Well. Thence the Kidron river ruts through the Wady en Nar (Valley of fire) ta the Dead Se*. A thiri valley, called the Tyropse n or Cheesemaker's valley, divide Mount Moriah on the West fr^m tbe rett of the city. It meets the Kidron Valley at the Siloam Well, where a few years ago, a remarkable inscription, in old Hebrew letters, dating from the time of Hezekiah, was found. Several smaller valleys seem to have pierced the city in days gone by, but they are now more or less obliterated, through the accumulation of rubbish. The fact of these ravin e s having intersected the city makes passages in our Midrashim quite intelligible, which speak of Jerusalem as standing like Rome on seven hills. (Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, c. 10; Tanchuma Vayiktah) . In th Kidron ravine, almost 200 feet below th^ Golden Gate on the Eastern Temple wall, there is a spring called the Fountain of the Virgin possibly the En- Rogel of Scripture which is found to have an intermittent flow : at present after a dry winter it flows but once in three or four days. This peculiarity is no doubt accounted for by natural syphon action. I mention it because it throws a light on the old legend of the Sambation river, which it was said ceased to flow, or rested on the SabVath day. In olden times there must have been on the temple mount a f-pring of running water fons perennis aquae, as Tacitus calls it (Hist. v. 12), and thus we reid in Psalms (Ixxxvii. 7) " All my springs shall be in thee. 1 ' Again (xlvi. 4) " There is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the Holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High." I infer from the fact of our pro- phet sp' aking of living waters issuing forth in the latter days, that this spring must have ceased to flow or have been stopped by the enemy at gome time or other Thus, Zechariah (xiv. 8) proclaims : " And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem ; half of them towards tbe eastern sea and half towards the western sea ; in summer and in winter shall it be." Similarly, Ezekiel (chapter xlvii. 1-12), gives a vivid description of the living waters that icsue foith fr..m under the threshold of the Temple at the South side of the altar ; they will pour into the Dead Sea, and the waters shall be healed. Sir Charles Warren will no doubt tell you what remains can now be found of ancient wells and aqueducts in the Haram area and in the city. Whatev-r doubt may beeet the identification of the exaat sita of the Temple and of the Z on of o'd, as to which I trust our Chairman will give explanations, no doubt exists that on the Mount Moriah or in the Haram grounds stood our several templts. In the centre of this area is an irregular four-sided paved platform, rising some 16 feetaboveihe level of the ground, and above the centre of this platform what is called the Sakhra rock rises up. Over this rock is bulls the magnificent structure known as the Dome of the Rock, commonly called the Mosque of Omar. Never shall I forget the glorious view from Mount Olivet of this stately edifice, surrounded by lesser domes and fountah'S, by cypresses and palms, with tho Holy City lying beyond, and the land- Be ape closed in by the purple mountains of Mcab. " Th<5 Mountain of His Holiness beautiful for sitaation, tin joy of the while eartS, M*unt Zion, the sidea on the North, ihe City of the G eat King " (Ps. xlviii. 2-3). The first mention we have in the Bible of Mount M riah is in connection with Abraham offering Isaac. Wa next find Mount Moriah spoken of as the site of the threshing floor of Araunah where David built an altar and where the Lord was iutreated for the la id (li. Sam. c. xxiv., 25). Oa this M unt Solomon built the Temple an i his own palace. The Bible dwells with minuteness upon the foims and furniture of the First Temple. JEJ}'S' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. Many writers, amongst them the architect, James FerguBsin in h ; s work " T he Temple of the Jews," fully discuss this subject. Fergusson's restoration of Solomon's Temple is in any case in ire faithful to the original Lhui Hererra's Palaoe of the K sou rial \vn- meant to be. Bearing in mind that from Solomon in the year 1000, B.C., to Saladin 1187, A C. Jerusalem had to stand nineteen sieges, and was repeatedly destroyed, we must not wonder that comparatively little now remains of Solomon's Temple. Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to their land, and their first care was to erect the altar on its old site. This site, the Talmud (Sevachio, 62a) states, was pointed out to them by one of the three Prophets who returned from the captivity. The Temple itself was erected later on ia a comparatively humble style under the auspices of Ezra and Zerubabel. Part of its furniture was carried away by Antiochus, the Syrian King. The Maccabees rebuilt the altar which he had desecrated, carefully storing up the polluted stones, and restored the Temple. They also cut down Akra, probably Zion of old, because it dominated the Temple. Pompey and Crassus likewise pillaged tbe Sanctuary, bub it rose to a magnificence which outrivalled Solomon's structure under the fostering care of the splendour-loving King Herod. Josephus gives us very full accounts of this edifice, but although he spoke from personal knowledge, we must remember that he wrote his works when in Romp. His measurements are often wrong, and bis descriptions lack precision. The Tal- mud, especially the Mishnah Middoth, of which translations will be found in the publications of the Palestine Exploration Society, is a trustier guide. Herod entirely rebuilt the Temple, and in order to comply with the rigid Laws of Purification, the whole of the Temple area was arched over, so that the entire pile stood on vaults or causeways. Thus we read in the Mishnah of Parah which contaios the Laws respecting the Red Heifer (lii. 3). li The Temple MDunt and the courts or platforms were hollow underneath, on account of possible graves below." Again (iii. 6) "They made a bridge from the Temple mount to the Mount of Olives on arches (PEP3 '33 ?JJ I'B'3) the piers of each arch resting on the centre of the arch below." I recommend that a translation of the third chapter o? Mishnah Parah should be given in the Quarterly Reports of the Exploration Society, for it is full of matters of archaeological interest which should not be lost sight of when investigating the excavations. The traces of arches found below Robinson's Arch are thus readily explained. The provision that the Temple should rest upon artificially raised platforms did not, however, apply to the altar of burnt sacrifices. In Exodus, xx., 24, 25, it is enactei tb.it " an altar of earth shalt thou make unto me . . . and if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shale not build it of hewn stone." Accordingly, in the words of Maimonides the altar must rest on the virgin soil itself, and not on arches or vault*. The word JVI3 in Chap, i., 13 of ITVrm JV3 JTG?n, is evidently out of place, and d;jes not occur in the MS3. of the Text at the British Museum. The stones which were required to make the altar to the requisite square height and shape were not permitted to be brought in contact with iron, for in the words of the Mishnah Middoth iii. 4, iron is to shorten life, the altar to prolong it. It is my opinion that the site occupied by this altar is identical with the sacred or Sakhra rock in the centre of the Mosque of Omar. In support of this view I adduce the following considerations. The altar in Herod's Temple was of the same dimensions as laid down byEzekiel (xliii. 13-17), 32 cubits square, and 10 cubits high, and a sloping ascent to the south was 32 cubits long by 16 cubits wide. Taking the cubit at 21 inches, or even less, we shall be justified in assuming as the site of the altar the Sakrah rock, the dimensions of which are from North to South 56 feet, from East to West 12 feet, and which protrudes about i feet 10 inches above the marble pavement of the Mo?que. THE TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM. 55 It must not be forgotten that the site of the altar was a threshing floor, and threshing floors in Palestine are so placed on the ridges of hills that they shall be exposed to every breath of wind. In this manner the well- trodden ears are tossed in the air and the corn is separated from the chaff, as is so graphically expressed in the book of Daniel, " Like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, the wind carries them away, and no place is found for them." Moreover, it is the practice in Palestine to provide these threshing floors with excavations or caves wherein corn and wine are stored. Now this is found to be exactly the case with the Sakhra rock. It occupies the highest part of the mountain. On the South of the lock there is found to be a cave, in the centre of which is a slab of marble, which on being struck emits a hollow sound, showing that there is an ex- cavation or passage underneath. This to my mind would be the drain spoken of in the Mishnah Middoth iii. 3, which was accessible below the lavement of the altar, and was opened by means of a marble tablet which had a ring attached to it . Through this canal the drainage of the altar found its way into the Kidron brook. A further argument may be based upon the passage in the Gemarah Jomah (12a) that the boundary between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin actually intersected the altar. The Courts and Chambers belonged to Jndab, but the Sanctuary was in Benjamin's portion (cf. Joshua xv. 8, 9 and xviii. 15, 16), and this, siy our Sages, was the import of the Blessing Moses gave before his death to the Tribe of Ben- jamin. " The Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders " (Deut. xxxiii. 12). I will now very briefly describe to you the salient features of He red's Temple, for which purpose I have had prepared an enla'ged plan according to Fergusson's interpretation of the text of the Mishnah. I am far from asserting that this plan is correct, but the dimensions, in respect to which the diagrams attached to modern editions of the Mishnah Middoth are sadly deficient, are fairly well given by Fergus son. The whole of the Temple area was enclosed by magnificent colon- nades, which, on the South side, were quadruple. On the East, facing tbe Mount of Olives, was the Gate Shnshan, on which the city of Su?a was pourtrayed, in grateful remembrance of the Persians, who allowed the Jews to restore the Temple. The two Hutdah Gates were on the South of the Temple Mount, Kipaunus on the West, and Tadi on the North. The " Chel," leading to the Court of the Women, was separated from the Court of the Gentiles by lattice work, called Soreg, and notices were placed all around, prohibiting strangers from entering the inner Cjurt. A notice of this kind, engraved on stone in Greek letters, threatening death to all intruders, ba* lately been discovered among the ruins by M. Clermont-Ganneau. Aharbanel in his Commentary on Ezekiel essays to prove that a Gallery was eet apart in the inner Court for strangers, having regard to the passage in Solomon's Prayer, where God's blessing is invoked "on the stranger who cometh out of a far country " to pray in the Temple. In the four corners of the Court of Women were four roofless chambers, respectively intended for Nazarites, for the Lepers when undergoing purification, for the wood of the altar, and for the oil and wine for sacrificial purposes. In the Chamber of the Nazarites, according to the Mishnah Kelim (vi. 2), the Virgin rock protruded and here the Nazarites prepared their offerings. At the Western side of the Court of Women there was a broad flight of fifteen steps (corresponding to the 15 Songs of Degrees in the Book of Psalms), and then a beauti- ful gate the Gate of Nicanor was reached, which led to the Court of the men of Israel ; all the gates were gilt, except this, which waa cast of bronze in. 56 JEW COLLEGE LITER IRY SOCIETY. Alexandria. The Talmud (Joniah, 38a.) relates that when thefe gates were conveyed to Acco, a s'orm a-oj-e, and ote of the gates had to be thrown into the sea and floated, bat was recovered, just as was Cleopatra's Needle on its way to England. The conrt of Israel contaii ed a number of chambers ; among them was the Gazith Chamber where the great Sanhedrin sat. The Court of the Piieste contained tbe altar and its appurtenance 9 , as well as the Laver. The Tennple edifice proper contained over 38 chambers in three stories ; access to it was gaimd through the Porch having a magnificent Propy Ion ornamented with a golden vine and otbtr motive offerings. In the centre of the pile was the Holy Plice, the BHp. There s'ood the altar for the incense, the table with shewbreid,and the golden candlestick In the backgiound was the Holy o Holif s, separated from the Holy Place by the Veil or Cut tain. In the Second Temple both the Cherubim and the Ark were wanting. It is i CLerally supposed that the Ark. with othr holy objects, was coDcea'ed by Kin? Josiah in one of the pascagrg which a v ound on the Temple Mount (Cf. II, Chronicles xxxv. 3 ; Jomah 53, 54). Tbe Talmud rentes a curious incident, h w a priest one day found some ttones loose in the pavement, and on exam inn t : on saw that there was an opening, which he concluded, would lead to the place where the Ark was deposited. He went to inform his I rethren of his discovery, but fell down and expired before he could reveal the secret- Above the Holy of Holies there must have been an upper room. It was, as far as we know, only used when repairs were carried on. In Solomon's Temple, tbe hang- ing s and the fittings of the Tabernacle of the Wilderness, for which there was no further use, were stored in the upper chamber. The Sanctuary was built by the Priests, oth>r buildings were completed by Herod in nine years, but the entire work, which was on a scale of unexampled magnificence, was not finished until a few years before its destruction by Titus in the year 69 A.c. Hadrian, after quelling the revolt of the Jews under Bar Cochha, erected on the site of the Temple a shrioe dedicated to Jnpiter Capitolinus. It contained a statue of Jupiter and of timself. Subsequently, Constan- tine, after having embraced Christianity, erected a church in the Haram area, but soon afterwards the Emperor Julian gave orders to the Jews to restore their Temple. I can only find some passing allusion to tbis in our Jewish writings, but I have little doubt that then, if not before, Hadrian's Temple to Jupiter was demolished, and by a strange irony ot fate the very head of his f-tatue which w as once meant to be wor.-hipped was seen by one cf the early pilgrims built into one of the walls and has recently been re-disco vert d. Thers is a great difference of opinion as to the structure whi^h Justinian erected on the Temple mount. Bepp, the German architect, seeks to prove that Justinian bailt w' at is now called the Mosque of Omar, with the object of placing there the Temple vessels which Beiisarins had recovered from the Vatdals, who had. after the pil'age of Rome, taken them to Carthage. He further makes the statement, which however, is disputed that Chosroes, who in the year 614 plundered Jerusalem, transported the Temple vesfels to a monastery in Armenia. It may inter* st some of you to know what the Talmud sajs became of the Temple vessels. In Aboth de RaVbi Nathan, it is stated that the mortar for pounding the incense, the table, the candlestick and the cuitain were deposited in Rome. It would Sfem that these were the very objects which we find represented on the Arch of Titus at Rome. Again we read in the Je'usalem Talmud (Meilah, 17b) that Rabbi Eliezer, who when at Rome was asked to heal the Emperor's daughter, and went over the treasury to find a certain medicament, there saw deposited the various vessels from tbe Temple. In another passage of this Talmud (Jomah 57a) it is said that the plate on the High Priest'* mitre with its inscription was seen at Rome, as also the veil. TSE TEMPLE AT JE&USAIEM. 57 on which were to be noticed spots of blood. There is a spurious Midrash pub- lished by Jellinek which gives details as regards the Temple vessels seized by the Romans, which clearly bears the stamp of exaggeracion. Indeed, beyond the measurements of the Temple, and the traditions handed down from father to son by those who saw the Temple in its pristine glory, there is no genuine but only hearsay information as to what became of the Temple, to be derived from Jewish sources, because the Jews since the destruction of the Temple have never sought the privilege of viewing the spot, as they shrink from the possibility of committing the sin of approaching the Holy of Holies. Whilst the Jews eschew treading on the Haram area, they have always felt an irresistible attraction to the outside of the walls, more especially to the well-known Wailing Place on the Western wall. It is a spot well calculated to rouse the deepest emo- tions, and one can here fully realize the rapt devotion of that sweet singer in Israel, Jehuda Halevi, who, it is stated, when kissing the ground, was trodden to death by an Arab rider. The passage in Psalms cii. v. 15, is applied to this Western wall. " For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof." Here may be sren the grand stones of the venerable pile, some nearly 30 feet long and 4 feet high. The spot has been frequently illustrated and described, but no notice seems to have been taken of the numerous iron nails in the interstices between the stones. What is the object of these nails ? I learn from enquiry that when a messenger is sent by the Jerusalem com- munity abroad it has been the custom from time immemorial for him, before his departure, to drive a nail into the wall. The custom may have taken its origin, from the passage in Isaiah, (chap. xxii. v. 23) "And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place." This pas-age is at the close of the magnificent chapter about Jerusalem, which, in consequence of the late topographical discovery that the Holy City for- merly extended right down to Siloam, gains remarkably in vividness. It is the fashion now-a-^ays to decry these messengers from the Holy City, but I maintain that we owe not a little to these trusty men who in days, when posts and railroads were unknown, braved perils of which we can now form no conception, and brought to their brethren in outlying countries, tidings of the Holy City and a knowledge of the word of God. The conversion of the heathen nation of the Chozars, a thousand y*ars ago, and the knowledge of their religion by the black Jews in India, may be traced to the ministrations of these messengers. I have been led into this digression through speaking of the Western wall, and of the holy awe which restrained the Jews from treading the Temple after it destruction. Therefore, such statements as that of the Bordeaux pilgrim in the year 333, that the Jews every yew visit the "lapis pertusus "(the "pierced stone "), and anoint it and bewail themselves with groans, and tear their garments, can only apply to the stones outside the Temple, perhaps to the western wall. Again the statement of an Arabian writer, that Omar and his successors employed Jews to keep clean certain parts of his Mosque must be called in question. Sepp's contention, that the mosque had been constructed by Justinian, is supposed by the fact that the Mihrab or Prayer Niche, whicb is always scrupulously placed in the direction of Mecca, occupies quits as anomalous a position in this mosque as it does in that of Saint Sophia at Constantinople, also built by Justinian. Those who have visited this mosque must have been struck with its one-sided appearance, in consequence of the worshippers not facing the apse of the building but worshipping at a slight angle in orJer to face Mecca. This at once shows that the building was not constructed by the Moslems. I shall not dwell upon Fergusson 's theory that the Mosque was built by Constantino. The view generally adopted is that the Khalif Abd-El-Melek by the aid of Byzantine workmen built the Dome of the Rook about fifty years after the capture of Jerusalem by Omar. i 68 JEWS 1 COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. About four hundred years afterward?,* 11 the year 1099, the Crusaders wrested Jerusa- lem from the Arabs, and the Dome of the Rock was then converted into a church, but retained the name of Tempi um Domini. The Aksa Mosque occupying the South of the Temple Mount was then termed the Falatinm Solomonis, and the excavated vaults beneath were called the Stables of Solomon, Hera the Knights Templars established themselves. After the battle of Hattin, some sixty years afterwards, (in 1157) Jerusalem capitulated to Saladin, who said to Richard Coeur de Lion : " Jerusa'em in as holy to us as to yon, nay, more so, for there our prophet made his ascent to heaven, and there the angels assembled." (Bohieddin Vita Sal. chap, cxxv .) Some years after another Crusade took place, and for a time the Christians succeeded in again holding Jerusalem, but eventually the Cross had to give way to the Crescent. The Knights Templars departed from Syria, and raised in Europe many a church cm the model of the Dome, among them the Temple Church at Temple Bar. I shall now trace the origin of some of the Moslem legends, with regard to the sacred site, and I chink I shall be able to show you that most of them are derived from Jewish source?, more particularly from the Haggadah, the great storehouse of old Jewish Folk-lore. There is great truth in the words of Deufcsch in his essay on the Talmud, where he says : " Not only an entire world of pious, biblical legends which Islm has said and sung in its many tongues to the delight of the wise and simple for twelve cen- turies are to be found either in embryo or fully developed in the Haggadah, but much that is familiar among ourselves in the mediaeval Sagas, in Dante, in Cervantes, in Milton and Bunyan has consciously or unconsciously flowed out of this wondrous realm, the Haggadah.'' These legends, generally associated with some passage in Scripture, are often of a transcendental, generally of a symbolical, character, and are mostly clothed in a fantastic garb. Many of the'r ideas are derived from foreign, mostly Iranian and Chaldaean sources, with which the Jews became first acquainted in the Babylonian captivity. Mahomet and his followers, by means of the Arab Jews with whom they came in contict, became familiar with this literature, but many of the legends are wilfully altered to fit into Islam theology, and others have become naturally distorted after passing through so many channels. Let us begin with some of the legends relating to Folomon. These, al' hough embodied in Jewish literature are, I think, adaptations from Per- sian tales about Dschemschid and other heroes. Sir Charles Warren will, no doubt, speak of the enormous stems, soma hundred tons in weight, which are still found in their places and constitute the lower part of the Temple wall. The stones are so beautifully dre?sed and joined together that they have been a source of wonder through all ages. Now we red in I. Kings (chap, vi, v. 7) that " there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the bouse whi!e it was building." How, then, were these stones hewn and chiselled? The Mahommedan legend is as follows : When Solomon wished to build the Temple he called not only men to his aid, but also the living creatures of the earth. All came, except the magpie, which he turned into stone, and waich tbe guardian at the Haram shows at the present day. Solomou also assemble \ the Jins and the might- iest of demons, and appointed one division to build, another to cut the blocks and columns from the marble quarries. To an Afrite, who ruled in the ocean depths, Solomon sent a Ittter sealtd with his magical signet ring, and bade him bring adamant to cut the stones. Ttie Afrite set out and found a nest wherein were young eaglets. He covered the nest with a thick iron cage. The eigle returning, found the iron cage and tried in vain to break or push it away, in order to get at her yoang. At laet she flew away and returned with a piece of adamant wherewith to pierce THE TEMPLE AT JEHU SALEM. 59 the cage. Then the Afrite frightened the bird so that she dropped the adamant, which he took to Solomon and by its help the stones were cnt. This legend is really identical with that given in Talmud Gittin (fol. 68), which runs thus : When Solomon was abont to build the Temple without the use of iron, he bethought himself of the expedient which Moses resorted to in cutting the stones of the High Priest's breastplate for the Urim and Thumoaim. So he sent his general Benaiah armed with his signet ring to Asmodeus, the king of the demons, with orders to bring unto him Shamir, that wondrous little worm that could cut the hardest of flints. Shamir, Asmodens tells him, was the property of the prince of the sea, and he only entrusts the worm to a bird called the Naggar Tura, or mountain carver, who had taken the oath of fidelity to the prince. This bird was wont to take Shamir to the mountain, and used it to split the hard rock so as to place into the crevices seeds for clothing the mountain sides with vegetation. Benaiah finds the nest of the bird and covers it with a piece of crystal. When the bird came home and could not get at her young, Bhe flew away and fetched Shamir and laid it on the crystal. Then Benaiah shouted and seized the wondrous worm, but the poor hen in her distress slew herself." This legend recurs in the mediaeval literature of most countries in some chape or other it is either a bird, a worm, or a plant, such as the saxifrage, which eats into the rock. We recognise Shamir again iu the Greek word read (Genesis, ch. xxviii. v. 11), that Jacob "took of the atones of that place and put them for his pillows." Further (v. 18, 22) Jacob took the stone that he had put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and pourel oil upon it and vowed a vow, saying this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's House." The Midrash says, as to this text, that the many stones overnight became solidified into one, and that the oil came from heaven for Jacob to pour on the stone, and God fixed it in the foundations of the earth, whence it was called the stone Shetijah, which became the navel of the earth, and upon this the Temple was erected. The halo of sanctity, which surrounded this stone of the Holy of Holies of three finger breadth in height, was transferred by the Moslems to the rock which I have already fahown to you was probably the site of the altar. The Christian Church fathers claim that the rock in the Holy Sepulchre is the centre of the earth. The connection of Adam with the stone of the Sanctuary is deduced from Bereshith Kabbah (ch. 13). "Man," mS.it says "was created dust from the earth : he was formed from the very altar of earth, !"!D"IK, which was eventually to atone for him." Another beautiful Midrash [speaks of Adam, after his fall, dwelling on Mount Moriah, close to the Gate of Paradise, and narrates that he worked to provide himself and his helpmate with raiment. Shem and Melchizedek are both introduced in the Moslem legend, but in the Jewish Haggadah they are considered identic *1. The Midrash says that Abraham called the Mount of the Lord Jireh ; Shem called it Salem ; the Lord proclaims, I will call my City by the two-fold name Jerusalem. The Mahommedan names which the Gates of the Haram area bear at the pre- sent day are mostly associated with legends. The Koran mentions a double gate leading from the Tower of David to the Temple, called the Gate of Mercy. Proba- bly this double Gate is identical with the two Gates referred to in the following passage from Tract Soferim. " Two gates did Solomon construct devoted to acts of mercy. Through one gate the bridegrooms were wont to pass ; through the other passed the mourners and those who were excommunicated, and it was the custom that the people on the Sabbath day resorted to the Temple Mount to rejoice with the bridegrooms and console those who were afflicted." The custom of condoling on the Sabbath day with the mourners still obtains in the Synagogue. On the Friday eve- ning as the Sabbath is ushered in, the Rabbi and Reader proceed to the entrance of the Synagogue to welcome the mourners with the words, " May the Lord comfort you with the other mourners for Zion and Jerusalem." By this time I have, I think, established my argument as to the sources of the Moslem traditions. I will give one more legend connected with the Dome of the Chain, a beautiful little mosque adjoining the Dome of the Rock, and I give it to yon because I am unable to trace in this legend all the links which would connect it with the Hebrew Midrash. Perhaps one of the many Talmudists present this evening can supply this. Jalal-Addin says, that the children of Israel had an immense hole dug in the Temple Mount, wherein was placed a chain which God had given to David. The people approached with their offerings, and whatever was graciously re- ceived was taken up by the chain ; whatever was not acf-epted remained on the ground. By the aid of this chain which, to quote another legend, was suspended from heaven and reached earth at the spot where the Chain Mosque now stands, David was able to judge all bard cases. Whoever spoke the truth was touched by the chain, but from him who spoke falsely the chain recoiled. Now the legend goes on to tell of two men, of whom one confided to the other one hundreddenars, which sum he afterwards reclaimed. The other denied that he had 62 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. received it ; bat be was a crafty man and had concealed tbe gold in tbe hollow of his stick. They came to David. He said, Go ye to the chain. Then going np to the cha ! n the crafty man gives the stick 1 1 the owner of tbe denars and takes an oath that he had returned the gold. The chain touches him. Then tb.9 rightful owner of the gold restores the stick, and swears that he had never received the money. The chain touches him too. Then the people marvfil, and Divid wonders how the chain could show that they were both right. However the Lord revealed to him the truth, buc after that the chain w is removed. Now the identical story as to the denara is told in the Midrash Kabbah (Vajikrah, vi.) as having happened to Bar Talmeon (Bartholomew), but I confess I fail to trace anything in Jewish literature as to the chain that aided David in judgment. As I do not wish to interpose longer between yon anl Sir Charles War en I must conclude, but I have only given you an outline of the weird and suggestive legends which cluster round that spot of matchless interest, " tho glorious high throne from the beginning, the place of our Sanctuary." MAJOR-GEXEBAL SIR CHARLES WARREN,G.C.M.G., who presided, said: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I am sure you will all agree with me in feeling grateful to the lecturer for the most interesting and learned lecture which he has given to us this evening, throwing so much light on the ancient customs and tra- ditions of Jerusalem, and showing how the Moslems, to a very great extent, are, indebted to the Jews for their legendary lore. I cannot attempt to follow the lec- turer into all or even into many of the points wh ich he has discussed this evening and I intend to confine my remirks to a few subjects only. I may say in starting that there is one point in which I do not concur with Mr. Marcus Adler, namely, when he said that it was his Christian brethren only who had carried out the work of exploration in Palestine and Jerusalem. That is not so. We are indebted to a considerable extent to our Jewish brethren. We have several Jews on the Palestine Exploration Fund Committee, and at various times we have experienced great assistance from the Jews not only in this country, but in Palestine. Speaking for myself, I may say here, that I have received very great assistance both from Ashke- nazim and Sephardim Jews in Palestine. Dr. Hirsch. son of the late Dr. Hirschel, formerly Chief Rabbi of London, is a very old friend of mine, and I was sometimes able to give him a good turn for all his kindness to me. The Ashkenazim when they have been away from Russia for a year, and from some parts of Prussia fora certain period, are cast off by these nations and become Reyahs. Then they are taken up by the English, and the British Consul looks after their interests. Some of the Sephar- dim are Rayahs als^, and at timea the venerable Dr. Hirsch has come to me and asked me to exercise my influence in a legitimate way in their behalf ; and I have always been glad to do what I could, for from the Jews I at times got very much valuable assistance. In speaking of the remains of the Temple, it must be borne in mind that the Temple of Herod was much larger than the Temple of Solomon.and that the outer portions were not built in the same manner as the interior. We learn that the Temple was built by the Jews, whi'e the outside walls of the Court of the Geiti'es were builb by Herod, and so there may have been two dis- tinct kinds of architecture used the one differing greatly from the other . The outside architecture was probably Roman, but what the inside was it is very diffi- cult to ascertain exactly. Almost all the books of reference on the subject show great differences of design, and I do not think that we have at present arrived at any distinct idea of what the original design of the second Temple was like. I have shown here a ground plan of the Temph of Herod so far as I could gather it THE TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM. 63 from Josephns and other historians ; and with regard to measurements, the only qutsdons at the present time remaining are of a few feet. We have now a distinct idea of the general position of the Temple which mast have been situated at the top of the rock that has been described to you. I a Palestine the threshing floor is situated in such a position that the wind will be able to blow the chaff from the corn, and therefore it is quite improbable that the threshing floor could have been at the bottom of the valley between two ste?p hills where the wind could only blow at certain periods. Besides, we have collateral evidence that the thresh- ing flcor was near the brow of the hil! ; it was near the brow of the hill that David t-aw the angel standing over the threshing floor ; and it is near the brow of the hill that tie M earnest lovers of truth, who devote their lives to enlighten our puzzled minds. Not that these men try to answer all the questions by which we feel perplexed. They endeavour to satisfy us partly by showing that many of our difficulties are not difficulties at all, but merely arise from superficialness ; and partly by proving that the great cause about which we feel so much anxiety does not exactly depend on th RABBI NACHMAN KROCHMAL. eolution of the questions that are troubling us. They give to lihe things which are dearer to us than our life a fresh aspect, which enables us to remain attached to them with the same devotion and love as before. To speak again in the words of the Psalmist : " Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, and they are created, and Thou renewest the face of the earth." This spirit that renews the face of things is what I understand by "saving knowledge." As men of that saving knowledge we may regard Rabban Jochanan ben Zakai and his disciples, who made it possible for Judaism to survive the destruction of the Temple, which some believed to involve the end of the religion. As such men we may look upon R. Saadia Gaon and his followers, who worked at a time when Judaism was menaced in its inner life, namely in the tradition, by the attempts of the narrow-minded Karaites to convert it into a bookish religion. Such men were Maimonides and his successors, who came to the aid of the religion when it had got into dogmatic troubles by reason of its coming into contact with various philosophical systems. And in order to approach the subject of the present lecture, I venture to say that a man of such saving knowledge was also R. Nachman Krochmal, who lived and laboured in the first half of the present century, when Judaism had been terribly shaken by the scepticism of Voltaire, and the platitudes of the so-called Mendelssohnian school. In order to avoid misapprehension, let me tell you beforehand that I do not belong to the believers in exclusive salvation in literary matters. I feel the deepest reverence for all great teachers in Israel of past centuries as well as of our own, the men who tried their best to revive Judaism by their excellent scholarship and honest efforts after truth. My chief reason for selecting Krochmal for this lecture was that I believed this scholar to be less known among us than he deserves to be, while we are more familiar with others of our great writers. There may possibly be some other reasons which influenced my choice ; but I am myself but half conscious of them, and am therefore unable to state them clearly to you. R. Nachman Krochmal was born on the 17th of February in the year 1785. His father, Solomon Krochmal, was a merchant of Brody, a commercial frontier town in the north-east of Galicia, in Austria. In his early years Solomon often used to visit Berlin for business purposes. There he is said to have seen Mendelssohn on one occasion, and to have greatly esteemed the Jewish sage. And it is not unlikely that Nachman's subsequent admiration for Mendelssohn was partly due to his father's influence. Solomon was a man of considerable wealth, and he, therefore, endeavoured to give his son the best possible education. But as a respectable member of a Polish community a hundred years ago Solomon had to follow the fashion adopted by his neighbours, and the best possible education consisted in affording the child an opportunity to study the Talmud and other Rabbinical works. All other languages and their literatures were sealed books to the child a very absurd and regrettable fashion indeed. But let us not be too hard on our Polish brethren. I have been told that there are countries on our globe where people have been driven by the force of fashion into the opposite extreme ; where, with few exceptions, they think that the Talmud, as well as the whole Hebrew literature, must needs be excluded from the programme of a gentleman's education. Happily, or the reverse, Krochmal's childhood did not last long, for in the year 1 798 we find that Nachman, a boy of fourteen, was already married to a Miss Haberman in Zolkiew. As a result of this foolish custom of marrying at so very 70 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. early an age, Nachman was hardly ever a boy ; we have at once to deal with him as a man. It was then customary in Poland, and perhaps is so still, for the father of the bride to provide for the support of the young couple for some years after their marriage. In order to reduce the expense of this arrangement, the bridegroom had to reside in the same house as his father-in-law. Thus we see Krochmal removing from Brody to Zolkiew, the native town of his wife. Here Krochmal lived in the house of her father for many years, entirely devoted to his studies ; and he certainly needed all his time for them. For he now began to expand the sphere of his education, to embrace subjects quite new to him. By his marriage Nachman seems to have gained a certain amount of independence, and the first use he made of it was to study the " Guide of the Perplexed of Maimonides," the " Commentaries of Ibn Ezra on the Bible," and other more or less philosophical works written in the Hebrew language. His next step was to learn German ; but, as his biographers inform us, he was not able to follow this course without under- going many struggles, and overcoming many obstacles. It would lead ua too far to give a full account of the difficulties which the young scholar had to conquer while pursuing his new studies. They will be sufficiently characterised by the following extract from a Hebrew letter of his disciple, R. Solomon Leb Rapoport, who, writing in 1841 concerning his master and friend, remarks: "Consider this, ye inhabitants of Germany" and, I may add, ye inhabitants of England "and you will be astounded. It is easy for you to avoid being one-sided, and to study different sciences, for you possess many schools and teachers for every branch of learning. It is not so in Poland and Russia even at present, much less was it forty years ago. There is no teacher, no guide, no supporter for the Jew who desires any sort of improvement. The Jew who wishes to enter on a new path of learning has to prepare the road for himself. And when he has entered on it, his friend will come to him and ask, ' Is it true that you have got scientific books in your house ? Mind you do not mention it to anyone. There are enough bigots in the town to persecute you and all your family if they get scent of it.'" It was under these conditions that Krochmal pursued his studies, which were by no means few or easy, for he was not content with a knowledge of only the lighter portions of German literature. He soon began to read the works of Lessing, Mendelssohn, and more especially of Kant, who always remained hia favourite philosopher. In his later years he also became acquainted with the writings of Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. But to the last he could not console himself for having missed the advantages of a systematic University education. After having learned German, Krochmal proceeded to acquire a knowledge of Latin and French, and to read the best books written in those languages. To deepen his knowledge of Hebrew, he studied Arabic and Syriac, but we are unable to say how far he succeeded in mastering these languages. With these studies* which appear to have occupied our philosopher for an interval of ten years after his marriage, the first period of his life seems also to end. But the hard work of ten years did not pass over the delicate youth without undermining his health for ever. At the age of twenty-four, Krochmal fell sick of an illness which compelled him to interrupt his work. He was forced to go to Lemberg to consult the doctors of that town, and he had to remain there for a long time. And now began Krochmars career as a teacher. For during his stay at Lemberg there gathered round him a band of young scholars whom Krochmal's fame had already reached. It is uselesi to enumerate the names of all these students. Among them figured Isaac Erter RABBI NACHMAN EEOCHMAL. 71 Samson Block, A. Bodek, and many others. The most gifted of them was un- doubtedly Rapoport, who afterwards became even more famous than his master, Krochmal. It is not easy to define accurately the relation that subsisted between these two men. Graetz, in his history, calls Rapoport ai disciple of Krochmal. Rapoport himself, in his memoir of Krochmal, describes the latter as a dear friend with whom he was wont to discuss literary topics. Zunz does not mention Rapoport at all in his account of our author. It seems to me that this relation may be most aptly denned by the Talmudic term ")3H TO?!"!, " colleague and disciple." Indeed, Krochmal's whole method of teaching was rather that of a companion than of a professor. He gave no set lectures on particular subjects, but conveyed his instruction rather by means of suggestive conversations with his younger friends. His usual habit was to walk with his pupils in the neighbourhood of the town, and to try to influence their minds each in accordance with its bent. If any of his dis- ciples showed an inclination for poetry, Krochmal sought to refine his taste by directing his attention to the best works in Hebrew and German literature. To another, whose fancy strayed into mysticism, he recommended the writings of Philo and Ibn Ezra, at the same time suggesting how the works of the latter should be interpreted. A third who, like Rapoport, was interested in historical researches, Krochmal instructed in the methods of critical inquiry. There must have been some fascinating charm in Nachman's personality, which made him irresistible to all who came into contact with him. Rapoport has described his first interview with Krochmal. " It is more than thirty years since I first made his acquaintance, and beheld the glory of his presence. Though he was in weak health, still his soul was strong ; and as soon as I conversed with him there came over me a spirit of judgment and knowledge. I felt almost transformed into another man." Elsewhere the same writer says : " 0, how sweet were to me these walks with Krochmal : sweeter than all the pleasures of this world. I could never have enough of his wisdom ; with his every word he conveyed a new lesson." After a lengthy stay at Lemberg, Krochmal partially, though not entirely, re- covered from his severe illness ; he remained weak and pale for the rest of his days. His antagonists, the Chassidim, believed him to be possessed by a demon who could find no better dwelling-place than in the person of this arch-heretic. Had it been in their power they would probably have dragged him to some exorcist for the purpose of driving out his German, French, Latin, and other symptoms of demoniacal heresy. Happily the Chassidim were powerless to do this, so Krochmal was left unmolested, but was allowed to resume his walks and studies. It may be here remarked that Krochmal, in general, avoided giving the Chassidim any cause for reasonable complaint. Rapoport asserts that his master was " deeply religions and a strict observer of the law. He was zealously anxious to perform every ordinance, Biblical or Rabbinical." The only liberty that Krochmal claimed for himself and his disciples was the right to study what they thought best and in the way they thought best. When this liberty was attacked, he showed a firmness and resolution which would hardly have been expected from this quiet and gentle man. To one of his pupils, who made allowances to the Chassidim at the expense of his studies, Krochmal wrote : " Be firm in this matter unless you wish to earn the contempt of every honest man. One who is afraid of these people, and debases himself before them bears a mean soul that was born to slavery. The man that wishes to rise above the mob, with its confused notions and corrupt morality, must be courageous aa a lion in conquering the obstacles that beset his path. Consideration of what people will say, what bigots will whisper, what crafty enemies will scheme ques- 72 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. tions such as these can hare but one effect, to darken the intellect and confuse the faculty of judgment." So Krochmal continued his studies without interruption till 1814, when the death of his wife' s mother brought his period of ease and comfort to an end. His father-in-law seems to have died some time before, and Krochmal was forced to seek his own living. He became a merchant, but it is to be regretted that he did not prove as successful a man of business as he was a clever man of letters. He found it a hard struggle to earn a living. But the severest trial which he had to undergo was the death af his wife in 1826. In a letter, dating from about this time, to a friend, who had asked him for assistance in his philosophical inquiries, Krochmal wrote " How can I help you now 1 I am already an old man ; my head is grey, and my health is broken. In the last three years I have met with many misfortunes. My beloved wife died after a long illness. My daughter will soon leave me to get married, my elder son will depart to seek his livelihood, and I shall be left alone with only a child of ten years, the son of my old age. I will lift up mine eyes unto the moun- tains : From whence shall my help come ? " (The son to whom Krochmal here alludes is now the famous scholar, Abraham Krochmal.) Nachman was evidently in very low spirits at this time, but he was in too true a sense a philosopher to despair. He turned for comfort to his studies, and at this dark epoch of his life he first became acquainted with the Philosophy of Hegel, whose system he was wont to call the " Philosophy of Philosophies." For the next ten years the works of Hegel and inquiries into Jewish history appear to have absorbed all the leisure that his mercantile occupation left him. As to the result of these studies we shall have to speak later on. No fresh subjects were undertaken by Krochmal in the last years of his life ; he had already acquired a fund of knowledge vast enough to engage all his thoughts. There are, however, some remaining points in his private circumstances which it may not be uninteresting to mention. Krochmal, as has been already related, was not prosperous in his business. Things went from bad to worse, and he was compelled in 1836 to seek a situation. I believe, with Carlyle, that for a genuine man it is no evil to be poor. " There ought to be literary men poor, to show whether they are genuine or not." This test Krochmal successfully passed through. Even as a young man Nachman's strength of character was admired by his contemporaries not less than his rare learning. In his subsequent distress, he gave evidence of the truth of this judgment. Despite his poverty, his friends could not prevail upon him to accept the post of Rabbi in any Jewish community. " I am unwilling," he wrote to a friend, " to be the cause of dissensions in any Jewish congregation. I should prefer to die of hunger rather than become a Rabbi under present circumstances." He expressed his views on this sub- ject even more decidedly on a later occasion when the Berlin congregation offered him the post of Chief Rabbi in that town. In a letter, conveying his refusal of this honourable office, he says " I never thought of becoming the Conscience-counsellor (Gewissensrath~) of men. My line of studies was not directed to that end, nor would it accord with my disposition and sentiments. The only post that I should care to accept would be that of teacher in the Jewish Theological Seminary, which, as I was informed, you were thinking of establishing in Berlin." The plan to found such an institution was not realised till forty years later, and in the interval Nachman had to look for his living in other regions than Jewish theology. Being in poor circum- stances, and as his children and friends had left him, he felt very lonely at Zolkiew. "Nobody cares for me here," he writes, "and I am equally indifferent." His one desire was to obtain a situation at Brody, possibly as book-keeper with a salary of R A Dli I XACHMAX KROCHMAt. 71 some thirty pounds a year, on condition that he would be expected to devote only half the day to hia business duties, thus leaving himself leisure for philosophical studies. His terms were accepted, and he obtained the humble post he sought. He remained in Brody for the next two years, 1836-8, but at the end of 1838 he fell so dangerously ill that he could no longer resist the pressing request of his daughter to live with her at Tarnopol. She had urged him to take this step even previous to his removal to Brody, but he had declined on the plea that he preferred to live by the labour of his hands. Now, however, he yielded to her wish, and betook himself to Tarnopol, where for two years longer he lived affectionately tended by his children and respected by all who knew him. In May, 1840, Krochmal's illness began to develop fatal symptoms, and he died in the arms of his daughter on the 31st of July (the first of Ab), at the age of fifty-five. As Zunz happily remarked " This great man was born on the 7th of Adar, the birthday of Moses, and died on the 1st of Ab the anniversary of the death of Aaron, the High Priest." I have tried in the foregoing remarks to give a short sketch of our Rabbi's life according to the accounts of Zunz, Rapoport, and Letteris. There is one other point to which I must allude, as it involves a consideration on which Letteris seems to lay much stress. This biographer appears to think that Krochmal was in his youth greatly influenced by the society in which he moved, consisting as it did of many learned and enlightened men. There is, too, the oft-quoted saying of Goethe : " Wer den Dichter will verstehen Muss in Dichters Lande gehen." And you may have expected me to give some account of the state of society in which Nachman grew up. I regret that I must ask to be excused from doing so. I cannot consent to take you to Krochmal's land. And if I might venture to give you my humble advice, I should only say. " By all means stop at home." Goethe may be right about the poet, but his remark does not apply to the case of the scholar. It may be true, as some think, that every great man is the product of his time, but it certainly does not follow that he is the product of his country. Nor could I name any other country of which Krochmal was the product. Many a town no doubt boasted itself QHQ1D1 D^DSPl nX*?D "VJJ, which, in later times, would mean a city full of scholars of the ancient and modern schools. But neither these ancient nor modern scholars were of a kind to produce a real scholar and an enlightened thinker like Krochmal. There were many men who knew by heart the whole of the halachic works of Maimonides, the Mishnah, and even the whole of the Babylonian Talmud. This is very imposing. But if you look a little closer you will find that with a few exceptions such as the school of R. Eliahu Wilna these men, generally speaking, hardly deserve the name of scholars at all. They were rather a sort of studying engines. The steam-engine passes over a continent, here through romantic scenery, there in the midst of arid deserts, by stream and mountain and valley, always with the same monotonous hum and shriek. So these scholars went through the Talmud with never-changing feelings. They did not rejoice at the marvellous description which is given in tractate Biccurim of the procession formed when the first-fruits were brought into the Holy Temple. They were not much saddened when reading in Taanith of the unhappy days so recurrent in Jewish history. They were not delighted by the wisdom of Seder Nezikin, which deals with civil law ; nor were they vexed by Seder Taharoth, which treats of the laws of cleanliness and uncleanliness, that by their exaggeration gave cause to much dissension in the time of the Temple. The pre-Talmudic literature, such as the Siphra. Siphre. and L 74 JEWS' COLLEGE LITEltARY SOCIETY. Mechilta the only then existing means of obtaining an insight into the Talmud were altogether neglected. All that these readers cared for was to push on to the end, and the prayer recited at the close was of more importance to them than the treatise they had perused. Not less melancholy was the spectacle presented by the so-called men of " Enlightenment " (Auf -Klarung). They belonged chiefly to the rationalistic school of Mendelssohn, but they equalled their master neither in knowledge nor moral character. It was an enlightenment without foundation in real scholarship, and did not lead to an ideal life, though again I must add that there were exceptions. These men were rather what Germans would term ScJionyeitter, a set of dilettanti who cared to study as little as possible, and to write as much as possible. They wrote bad grammars, superficial commentaries on the Bible, and terribly dull poems. Of this literature, with the exception of Erter's Hatsopheh, there is scarcely a work that one would care to read twice. Most of t^iem despised Rabbinism, but without understanding its noblest forms as they are to be traced in the Talmud and later Hebrew literature. They did not dislike Judaism, but the only Judaism they affected was one " which does not oppose itself to anything in particular " ; or, as Heine would have described it, " Eine reinliche Religion." In one respect these little men were great : in mutual admiration, which reached such a pitch that such titles as " Great Luminary," " World-famed Sage," were considered altogether too insignificant and common-place. I will now pass to the writings of Krochmal. It must be premised that Krochmal was not a voluminous author. All his writings, including a few letters which were published in various Hebrew periodicals, would scarcely occupy four hundred pages. Krochmal used to call himself " der ewige Student." He did not read books, nor study philosophical systems, with the object of writing books of his own on them. He read and studied in order that he might become a better and a wiser man. Besides, he did not think himself competent to judge on grave subjects, nor did he consider his judgment, even if he formed one, worthy of publication. He counselled his friends to be equally slow in publishing their views to the world. " Be not," he wrote to a correspondent, " be not hasty in forming your opinions before you have studied the literature of the subject with care and devotion. This is no easy matter, for no man can obtain any real knowledge of the Torah and philosophy unless he is prepared to give himself up in single-hearted devotion to his studies." Severe though he was to his friends, he was still more severe to him- self. Though he had been collecting materials on subjects of Jewish history and philosophy from his early youth, it was not until he had endured much persuasion and pressure from his friends that he began to write down his thoughts in a connected form. We thus possess only one work from the pen of this author ; but that work is the fOTn '3U3 miB, "Guide of the Perplexed of the Time," a posthumous book published in 1851, eleven years after Krochmal's death. His work had been much interrupted by illness during the last years of his life, and as a necessary consequence many parts of his treatise finally remained in an unfinished state. Krochmal commissioned his children to hand over his papers to Zunz, who was to arrange and edit them as best he might. Zunz who in his reverence for Krochmal went so far as to call him the man of God, D'-n^SH K"S, gladly accepted the task, in which he was aided by Steinschneider. Unfortunately, the work was published in Lemberg, a place famous for spoiling books. Even the skill of these two great masters did not suffice to save Krochmal's work from the fate to which all the books printed in Lemberg seem inevitably doomed. Thus Krochmal'g work is printed on bad paper, and with faint ink ; it i RABBI NACJIMAN KROCIJMAL. 75 full of misprints, and the text is sometimes confused with the notes. A second edition appeared in Lemberg in 1863 ; but, as it is scarcely necessary to add, the reprint is even worse than the original issue. The " More Nebuche Hazeman " occupies some 350 pages, and is divided into 17 chapters. The opening six treat of Religion in general. The author first indicates the opposite dangers to which men are liable. On the one hand, men are exposed to extravagant phantasy (Schwarmerei), superstition and ceremonialism (Werk- heiligkeit). Some, on the other hand, in their endeavour to avoid this danger, fall into the opposite extreme, materialism, unbelief, and moral degenerateness as a consequence of their neglect of all law. He proceeds to say : Even in the ritual part of religion, such as the regulations of the Sabbath, the dietary laws and so forth, we find abstract definitions necessary, and differences of opinions prevalent. In the dogmatic aspects of religion, dealing as they do with the grave subjects of physios and metaphysics, the mystery of life and death, the destiny of man, his relation to God, reward and punishment, the inner meaning of the laws, in these spiritual matters, the difficulty of accurate definition must be far greater and the opportunities for difference of opinion more frequent and important. What guide are we to follow, seeing that every error involves the most dangerous consequences ? Shall we abandon altogether the effort of thinking on these grave subjects ? Such a course is impossible. Do not believe, says Krochmal, that there ever was a time when the religious man was entirely satisfied by deeds of righteousness, as some people maintain. On the contrary, every man, whether an independent thinker or a simple believer, always feels the weight of these questions upon him. Every man desires to have some ideal basis for his actions which must constitute his real life in its noblest moments. Krochmal here quotes a famous passage from the Midrash. The Torah, according to one of our ancient sages, may be compared to two paths, the one burning with fire the other covered with snow. If a man enters on the former path he will die by the heat ; if he walks by the latter path he will be frozen by the snow. What, then, must he do ? He must walk in the middle, or, as we should say, he must choose the golden mean. But, as Krochmal suggests, the middle way in historical and philosophical doubts does not consist, as some idle heads suppose, in a kind of compromise between two opposing views. If one of two contending parties declares that twice two make six, while his opponent asserts that twice two make eight, a sort of compromise might be arrived at by conceding that twice two make seven. But such a compromise would be as false as either extreme ; and the seeker after the truth must revert to that mean which is the heart of all things, independently of all factions, and placing himself above them. Having dealt with the arguments relating to the existence of God as elaborated in the philosophical systems of his time, Krochmal leads up to his treatment of the History of Israel by a chapter on the ideal gifts bestowed upon the various ancient nations, and which, possessed by them through many centuries, were lost when their nationality ceased. We next come, in Chapter VII., to the ideal gifts of Israel. This is the religious gift and the faculty and desire for seeking the ideal of all ideals, namely, God. But Israel, whose mission it was to propagate this ideal, was, even as other nations, subject to natural laws ; and its history presents progress and reaction, rise and decline. Krochmal devotes his next three chapters to showing how, in the history of Israel, as in other histories, may be detected a triple process. These three stages are the budding, the period of maturity, and the decay. As the history of Israel is more a history of religion 76 JEfFS* COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. than of politics and battles, ite rise and decline correspond more or less with Israel's attachment to God, and its falling away from Him. The decay would be associated with the adoption of either of the extremes, the dangerons effects of which have been already mentioned. But " through progress and backsliding, amid infectious contact with idolatry, amid survival of old growths of superstition, of the crude practices of the past ; amid the solicitation of new aspects of life ; in material prosperity and in material ruin," Israel was never wholly detached from God. In the worst times it had its judges or its prophets, its heroes or its sages, its Rabbis or its philosophers, who strove to bring Israel back to its holy mission, and who succeeded in their efforts to do so. Even in its decay traces of the divine spirit made themselves felt, and revived the nation which entered again on a triple course and repeated its three phases. The first of these three-fold epochs began, according to Krochmars eighth chapter, with the times of the Patriarchs, and ended with the death of Gedaliah after the destruction of the first Temple. Next, in the following two chapters, Krochmal finds the second triple movement in the interval between the prophets of the exile in Babylon and the death of Bar-Cochba, about 135 A.c. The author also hints at the existence of a third such epoch beginning with R. Judah Hannasi, the compiler of the Mishnah (210 A.C.), and ending with the banishment of the Jews from Spain. (This idea is not further developed by Krochmal ; but it would be interesting to ask, by the way, in which phase of the three-fold process rise, maturity, or decay are we at the present time ?) The next five chapters may be regarded as an excursus on the i preceding two. Krochmal discusses the Biblical books which belong to the period of the Exile and of the Second Temple, such as the Second Isaiah, certain Exilic and Maccabean psalms, Ecclesiastes, certain Apocryphal books, and the work of the men of the Great Synagogue. They contain, again, researches on the various sects, such as the Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, Chassidim, the Gnostics, the Cabbalists and their rela- tion to the latter, and the Minim who are mentioned in the Talmud. In another part of this excursus Krochmal describes the systems of the Alexandrian Jewish philo- sophers, such as Philo and Aristobulus, and discusses their similarity to certain theo- sophic ideas in various Midrashim. The author also attempts to prove the necessity of the Tradition ; he shows its first traces in the Bible, explains the terms Sopherim or minn *"11O ; he points out the meaning of the phrase '3'DD i"IB>D^ i"D?n and similar expressions. He gives a summary of the development of the Halacha in its different stages, the criterions by which the older Halachas may be discriminated ; he seeks to arrive at the .origin of the Mishnah, h sodden in milk ? " Then said Bav Nachman, to his cook, " give her roast breast." This passage of the Talmud (Chnlin, 109, b.) is, as is well-known, embodied in the " Silluk," of Sabbath Parshath Parab. Yalta had several daughter*, all of them noted for their modesty and thrift. Rich in knowledge was Em, the nurse of Abaji (Nachmani) ben Kailil, the principal of SOME RABBINICALLY LEARXED WOMEN. 85 the college atPambaditha (on the River Baditha 1 , the metropolis of the Jewish exiles in Babylon. Her real name is not known. In the Talmud, she is called by no other than that of Em, "mother." She was a kind of thaumaturgical doctress. She knew many, partly dietetic, partly therapeutic, mostly however, sympathetic medicines, which her foster-son Abaji, always introduces in her name with the words "Em told me." She had remedies against swoon, melancholy, the sting of a scorpion, different fevers (which she cured by sudorific potions), asphyxia, shortness of breath, and plethora in infants. As a sovereign plaster, she recommended a mixture of suet, wax and resin, something like our ceratum simplex, and in diseases of the ear she used goats' kidneys. Highly interesting are her pedagogical and dietary rules : " A child should be allowed to develop a certain amount of independence, and should from its earliest youth be trained in the exercise of its own will. Boys should begin the study of the Bible at the age of six (at variance with the teaching of Rabbi Jehuda ben Tema in the M shna. Ethics v. 24). She warns against eating dates on an empty stomach, recommends them however, as a totno after breakfast. "Roasted fruit-grains," she once says "do the heart good, and drive away cares." " And town-talk lasts no longer than a day and a half." MEDIAEVAL TIMES. I now come to some rabbinically learned Jewesses of the Middle Ages. Belletta, the sister of Rabbi Isaac ben Menaohem, a distinguished Talm idical authority in Orleans, who lived about the year 1050, was (as Graetz puts it), " a Talmudically learned woman." At his instance, she taught the women of her native town their religions duties. Hanna, sister of R. Jacob Tarn of Orleans, a Tosafist (in no wise identical or to be confounded with his great namesake, R, Jacob Tarn, Raschi's grandson), slain in London, on the day of the coronation of King Richard I. (Sept. 3rd, 1189), taught her sisters in faith that the benediction at the lighting of the Sabbath candles a duty peculiarly devolving upon women should not be pronounced until after both candles had been lighted. In the family of Raschi (R. Solomon ben Isaac) the famous Commentator on the Bible and Talmud, there exists a whole circle of learned women. Rachel, (called Bellejenne), his daughter, wife of R. Eliezer, was, like her two sisters, highly educated. " So great was her Talmudical knowledge, that during her father's illness she read to him the Rabbinical questions that came to hand, and wrote down in Hebrew the answer he dictated to her." Miriam, his grand- daughter, daughter of Rabbi Jehuda ben Nathan (Rivan) and wife of Rabbenu Tarn, was so versed in Rabbinical lore, that religious questions having a culinary bearing were submitted to her decision, and she is referred to by later Rabbinical authorities as a thoroughly trustworthy guide in snob matters. Anna, another of his granddaughters, danghter of Rabbi Meir ben Samuel of Rameru (his son- in-law), and sister, therefore, of Rabbenu Tarn, Raschbam and Rivam, taught, like Belletta, the Jewish women their religious duties. The mother of R. Mattathias ben Joseph Provenci, Chief Rabbi of France, and wife of R. Joseph ben Joohanan in Paris, was, as Zunz expresses it, " well-nigh a Lady Rabbinist." The learned R. Simon ben Zemach Duran in Algiers, author, amongst other works, of the " Taschbatz," mentions her very honourably, and agrees with her in the opinion that the master, in his instruction, should be brief and precise in expression, not, how- ever, the pupil, when putting a question. As the matter is of more than pat sing interest, I enter into it more fully. In the Gemara Pesachim, 3b., we read (according to the second, and, there- fore, accepted reading), as follows :" Two pupils, one of whom was Rabbi Jochanan, sitting before Rabbi (R. Jehuda I., the Patriarch, compiler of the Mischnah), thus asked, the one (Rabbi Joohanan) said, ' Why must we not have clean (undefiled) vessels, when gathering olive*, just aa we must for grapes' ' The other (whose name 86 JEWS' 1 COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. is not given) said, ' Why may we use nnclean (denied) vessels, when gathering olives, and not when gathering grapes'? both, it will be seen, asking the same question, bnt differently worded. Then said Rabbi, " I am confident that the former (Rabbi Jochanan) will yet be a Public Teacher in Israel, and so it was. for he indeed became one." Now, in answer to the question, put by some one to the above named Rabbi S. Duran, " Why did Rabbi not approve rather of the query, as put by the other (anonymous) pupil, who expressed himself more briefly than Rabbi Jochanan, seeing that the Talmud itself, on the very same page too, says ' One should ever adopt the briefest method of imparting instruction to his pupil, as more likely to impress itself on his mind,'" he (Rabbi Simon, Duran) ays thus : " Many are the answers given to this question, amongst others I give the following, which I heard from my honoured father (who mentioned it) in the name of the Lady Rabbinist, the mother of Rabbi Mattathias ben Joseph . It is thie, Rabbi commends Rabbi Jochanan's way of putting his question, because though not as brief as the other pupil, he was yet more select in his language, using only the word " clean," and not at all, the word " unclean." Now, (it is atill our Lady Rabbinist, who is speaking), the Talmudical recommendation to be brief applies only to the teacher, so that the learner should not be bewildered by a long speech. Whereas, when a pupil asks something of his master, it is always advisable that he should be choice in his expression, even at the risk of diffuseness, for the teacher's mind being comprehensive, there is no fear of his being confused by prolixity. And, adds the celebrated Rabbi, ' It is a good answer.' " In Rome lived Paula dei' Mansi, daughter of Abraham ben Joab, Hassopher (the scribe or writer), and wife of Jechiel ben Solomon, of the family of Anavim or Piatelli. Versed in the Hebrew language and in Rabbinical Literature, she assisted her father in his profession. In the year 1288 she copied two quartos, Com- mentaries on the Bible, so neatly and correctly, that the manuscript is even now, at this distance of time, worthy of admiration. Five years later, on Wednesday, Nissan 2nd, 5053 (March 1293), she finished, in just as beautifully executed a style, the two quartos (a strong copy), of the " Halachoth," of Rabbi Isaiah da Irani the elder, for her relative, Menachem ben Benjamin, a distinguished patron of learning. The daughter of Rabbi Samuel ben R. Ali Halevi, in Bagdad " Rosch Golah," Head of the Exile, who traced his descent to the Prophet Samuel, was so learned in the Bible and Talmud, that she delivered lectures in public to young men. Like Olympia Ful via, who taught publicly at Basle, and whose writings are also printed there, this scholarly woman, also called Bath Halevi, sat at her lectures in a kind of a box, having opaque panes of glass, so that the young men should not, through seeing her, have their attention distracted. A like caution was exercised, 100 years later, by Miriam Schapira, daughter of Rabbi Solomon Schapira, and sister of Perez of Constance, who subsequenty became the ancestress of the Loria family, so faunas in Rabbinical literature. Thoroughly conversant with the Talmud and the Rabbinical writings, she was for many years the Principal of a College, at which very many students attended as her pupils. She too, sat during the lesson with a veil over her face A remarkable woman is Dolze, wife of a distinguished German scholar and cabbalist, Rabbi Eleazer ben Jehudah (Rokeach). of Worms. She knew all the laws concerning forbidden meats, taught women the order of divine service, as well as the synagogal songs, and delivered on Sabbaths discourses in public. She was very pious, and as such uever omitted to get ready in the House of God the lights for Sabbath and holy days. She stood all day Yom Eippurand would on no account ait down for one moment even. She supported her family (husband and children), was extraordinarily charitable, and withal BO gentle in spirit that in a dirge, begin- SOME RABBINICALLT LEARNED WOXEN. 87 Ding with Proverbs xxxi. 10, (" Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rubies,") composed in her memory her husband declares that never during the whole of their married life was he pained through or by her. This woman suffered martyrdom. Together with her two daughters (Bellette and Anne), her son, and her husband's pupils engaged in study, she was slain, under circumstances of horri- ble cruelty, by two knights of Malta, on December 6th, 1213 or 1214, in Erfurt. A woman named Lea, versed in Rabbinical lore, sent (about the year 1400), in writing, a learnel question to the then Rabbi of Mayence, Rabbi Jacob ben Moses Moln Halevi, commonly called Maharil (after the initial letters of his name). Though by no meaus favourable to learned women, he yet, out of respect for her learned father, answered her in full. About this time there were, according to the testimony of the just named Rabbi of Mayenoe, many women in South Ger- many who were thoroughly familiar with all the Rabbinical laws concerning their eex, and more at home in rabbinics than many men of the period. Of these were, amongst others, h : s own sister (whose teacher was the sister of a certain Rabbi Simcha) and Fromet.the daughter of Rabbi Issachar Ahrweiler, one of his own correspondents. She (the latter) copied iu 1430 with her own hand, for her husband. Rabbi Samuel ben Moses, the rabbinical work, to this day unprinted, Mordecai Hakkatton (" the little Mordecai "), or Kt sur Mordecai ("the abridged Mordecai "), written by Rabbi Samuel ben Aaron Schlettstadt, of Strasbourg. This very correct copy is preserved in the French National Library in Paris. Hendel (Hendlin) Cohen, the widow of Palttel Cohen of Breslau, or Sohweidnitz corresponded, in a matter of succession, with Rabbi Israel Isserlein ben Petachja (Krems) Rabbi of Marpurg, the highest rabbinical authority of the period, author of " Trumath Haddeschen." So deeply impressed was he with her learned answer, that, in his second letter he addiesses her with the Biblical passage (first used in Judges v. 24 by Deborah), "Be blessed amongst the women in the tent." To this Fame woman we presume it was, that Schondel, the wife of the just- named Rabbi Lserlein, wrote a German letter, conveying to her a rabbinical decision of her husband's. Dinah Wahl, usually called " the great woman," is celebrated for hsr learning no less than for her high descent, the granddaughter, as she was, of Saul Wahl, the same who bad been elected, though buc for one hour, King of Poland. Rabbi Heechell, who had proposed for her aunt, but was refused by her, had now become a widower, having, moreover, promised his wife, on her dying bed, never to marry again. Dinah, now herself a widow, had no more ardmt wish than to become the wife of so distinguished a Rabbi. Seeing, however, that many influ- ential men in Brisk (her native town), whom she had appealed to, had declined to make the marriage offer to him, she, brave and sensible woman as she was, hit upon the following plan, in order, if possible, to bring it about herself. She wrote him a letter with her own hand, requesting a short interview, and asking him to come down to her from his study, situated on the first floor. The Rabbi, though unable to forget the insult offered him by the Wahl family, was yet polite enough to grant her request. On seeing her, he at once asked her why she troubled him. She, nothing daunted, answered him briefly in the words of Rav Papa in the Talmud, "Descend a step, if you would receive a woman;" words which, though really intended to convey a totally different meaning xamely, that in marrying, a man should look below and not abo/e him had yet in their literality, a most pertinent bearing on her case. Rabbi Heschell, startled at her appearance, was so struck and overcome by her spirited conduct that he had his vow made to his wife annulled, and married her. Dinah died in Brody. MODERN TIMES. We now come to some rabbinically-learned Jewesses of more modern times, chiefly the 17th and 18th centuries. 88 JEW COLLEOE LfTERARY SOCIETY. Fiorela, the wife of Rabbi Solomon ben Mordecai Modena (in Bologna), was well read in Bible and Talmud. In her piety she made a pi grimage to the Holy Land, where she died about the year 1585. A year later, Adar 7th, 53461586, died Gutlin, the good and learned wife of the Rabbi of Padua, R. Abraham Luzzatto. Eve Bacharaoh, the daughter of Rabbi Isaac Samson Cohen, was born in Prague in the year 1585. Her mother, Vogele, a daughter of the far-famed Chief Rabbi of Prague, R. Lob (Juda) or Liva ben Bezaleel, commonly styled " the tall Rabbi Lob," herself a learned woman, had her likewise carefully educated. Ere was well versed in Rabbinical literature, and as her grandson, the highly accom- plished Rabbi Jair Chayim Bacharach (author of the valuable work calle 1 after and in honoured memory of his grandmother, " Chawath Jair"), says of her, " as a scholar she was unique," stood alone and unparalleled " amongst her sex." She read the Midrash Rabba and thoroughly understood it too, wiitnnt the a ; d of a commentary, often, indeed, disputing the view taken in the "Mattnoth Eehuna" thereon, and explaining it in such a way that whosever heard it could not but admit that she was in the right. Quite as felicitous was she in her exp'anations on the Machsor and Selichoth (Festival and Penitential Prayers). She read with ease in the original the commentaries on the Bible, and particularity those of Raschi, un- derstood the Targumim (the Aramaic translations and paraphrases on the Bible) and wrote Hebrew elegantly. After experiencing, on April 20th, 1615, the sorrows of the expulsion and of the loss of her property, she lost a few weeks later ( v 'ay 26tb, 1615), and when she was barely 30 years old, her husband, Rabbi Samuel Bacharach, Rabbi in Worms, when she returned, with her son Samson, then 15 years old, to her mother's in Prague. Out of love for her deceased husband she could never resolve upon marrying a second time, though, learned and pious as she wan, she had no lack of marriage offers. The saintly Rabbi Isaiah Hurwitz, Chief Rabbi of Prague, author of the mystic-cabbalistical work " Sheloh,' 1 after the death of his first wifeChaja, and before starting on his journey in 1621 to Jerusalem, pro- posed for her hand, but was refused. She remained in Prague till her son Samson was, at the early age of 24 years, appointed preacher in Goding (Moravia) when she followed and stayed with him. When again in the year 1650 he accepted the Rab- inate in Worms, she accompanied him there too. After staying one year in the old Rhenish city she carried out her favourite plan a pilgrimage to the Holy City. Wherever she came on her journey, she was treated with marked respect. She did not succeed however, in her undertaking, for she died in the year 1652, on the road in Sofia (Bulgaria) where she was buried with great honour. Her two brothers R. Chayim Cohen, Rabbi in Posen, and R. Naphtali Cohen, Rabbi in Lublin vied with each other in showing honour to their distinguished sister. Like Eve Bacharacb in learning and piety was Bella Falk Cohen, a woman " whose heart was full of wisdom," as Rabbi Ezekiel Landau, Chief Rabbi of Prague, says of her. Her father, Israel ben Joseph, the rich, benevolent, and esteemed President of the congregation of Lena berg, married her, in early youth, to Rabbi Joshua Falk Cohen, the Principal of a College much frequented in Lemberg, and one of the most eminent Talmudists of the age. She also was versed in Rabbinical lore, and was the first to point out what had seemingly escaped the notice of the authorities, that on Tomtov the benediction should be said before and not (.as on Sabbath eve) after the lighting of the (Fet-tival) candles, a view wherein the above- named Rabbi Ezekiel Landau agrees with her, as against Rabbi Aberle Gumbiner. Her son, Rabbi Joseph (Juspa) Cohen, the editor of his deceased father's worka has, in one of them in the Preface, printed at the end of his father's Commentary, " Beth Israel " (Pr'ischa) on the Yore Deah given some highly interesting and instructive particulars of his mother and of her mode of life, some of which I SOME RABZIXICALLY LEARNED WOMEX. subjoin. ' She survived h-r husband (my father) about eventeen ytars, during which time she fasted every (week) day, and at night she eat no animal food or fruit of trees, and but iust enough to keep herself alive. For the Sabbath, and in its honour, she prepa>ed all manner of delicacies, of whi h she herself took but little, but eent them to the poor and to her household. All her li r e, summer and winter, she rose some hours before daybreak, and prayed much and devoutly. She kept the keys of the Ladies' Gallery, for the was the firdt aLd the lat-t in the Synagogue, staying one or two hours after the people had left it, when t-he finished her prayers. After this, she studied the Law (the weekly portion of it), with the Commentary of Raschi thereon, .as well as other commentaries, and as is well-known to everyone of my father's pupils (who eat at his table), t* at, as they were rising from the meal with some theological disscusion, she would take an active part in it. At times moreover, she would make some original remark, especially in regard to the la AS concerning women, which (laws) she knew as well as any acting Rabbi. After thus praying and studying, f-hs spent her time in the practice of benevolence, vititing the sick and comforting the mourners, there was not a single good work in the town but she had a hand in it. She look d after her household affairs and the education of her children and grand- children ; other boys too, she benefited, giving them their meals and mending tbeir clothes. There was not the least pride about her, she was charitable beyond her means, and nil her thoughts wera bent on devising some good, useful work. After my father's death. she longed to go to the Holy Land. When she came there she visited the graves of the holy men in every town. She then settled in Jerusalem, where she lived about eight years. Now I think that it is because of her austere habits of life that she lived but to the age of 58. After her death they wanted, out of respect for her, to bury her amongst the highest in the land and she was buried in Jerusalem, with every mark of honour, at a distance of four cubits from the grave of the Prophet Zecbariah." Krendal Steinhardt, a member of a learnel Rabbinical family, is herself noted as a scho'arly woman. Her father, R. Lob (Eisenstadt), Berlin was a Rabbi. Of her brothers, David was Rabbi in Altona and Hamburg, and Isaiah, known as R. Isaiah Berlin, or Pick, who prepared the way for the critical treatment of the Tal- mud, was Rabbi in Breslau. Kreudel married R. Joseph Steinhardt, District-Rabbi in Rixheim and Niederenheim (Alsace) and who live afterwards in Fiirth a recog- nised Rabbinical authority in his time. She was a clever and learned woman, and highiy respected as such~not only by her hucband and her brothers but also by her contemporaries and posterity, to whom she was known by no other name than that of the " Rebrezin " ('ha Rabbi's wife) Krendel, par excellence. So familiar was she with the Machsor (Festival Prayers) that, for the elucidation of some difficult passage, about which her husband was writing to her brother (R. Isaiah) she, as soon as it had been read over to her, added a striking proof out of it. That she was also particularly well read in the Bible is evident from the following remarkably clever and withal, true explanation of a hard pa-sage in the Midrash, communi- cated, in her name, by her husband. The passage is to be found in Pirke d' R. Elieser (cap. xxxix.) and rues thus : " Ten tim s did Jacob's sons say to Joseph thy servant, my (our) father, and because Joseph luard it and was silent, there, fore, were ten years taken from his life." Now the meaning of the Midrash is clear enough. It simply wants to pay that, because of Joseph's disregard of the duty of filial respe cr, in allowing his father to be spoken of, in his presence, and by his own brethren too, ten times as his servant, and without, in the least, attempting to prevent it ; therefore, and, as a kind of retributive justice, did he die ten years before his allotted time at the age of 110, instead of 120. Now, as a matter of fact, however, Joseph's brethren used the expression in question five and not ten times. What does, thea, the MiJrash mean by saying that N 90 JEWS 1 COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. Joseph heard it ten times 1 This evident contradiction Krendel thus shrewdly explained : though his brethren made use of the objectionable words but fire times, yet did Joseph in reality hear them twice as often, becmse. as is well- known his knowledge of Hebrew notwithstanding he acted, as if he did not understand it, and " spoke to them by an interpreter," who wonld thns, naturally, have to repeat to him (Joceph ) every time the words " thy servant my (our) father." Her husband's work, " Zichron- Joseph," appeared, as is particularly insisted upon in the Preface, at her request. Krendel had the misfortnne to lose ma>y of her children in the prime of life, and in the year 1776, her husband, aa well as her brother David, died. The time and place however, of her own death, are not given. Sarah Oppenheim was thedaughte- of Rabbi David Oppenheim, Chief Rab i of Prague noted for his splendid Hebrew library, now the glory and pride of the Bodltian and wife of Rabbi Chayim Teomim, Rabbi in Beslau. About, the year 1709 she wrote a Megilla (scroll of the Book of Esther), against the use of which however (for the purpose of divinfl service), Rabbi Me'r Perles. Rabbi ia Prague objected. His grandson, however, Rabbi Eleazer Fleckels, the Chief Judge in Prague, was of a contrary opinion. Sprinza Kempner, daughter of Rabbi Eliezer Braunschweig, and wife of R. Mordecai Kempner in Moravia, combined to a rare degree, knowledge with piety and beauty. So well read was she in the Biblp, that her knowledge extended even to the Massorah (the collection of critical, chiefly orthographical, remarks on the Hebrew Bible, &c.). She knew the whole of the Mis'ina by heirt, ani could q-iote literally the Aggadic narratives contained in the Babylonian Talmud as her grind - son, Rabbi Moses Kunitz in Ofen, proudly relates of her. Bienvenida, wife of Rabbi Mordecai Ghirondi, in Padua, the home of RO many learned men, excited wonder and admiration by reason of her learning. Whilst yet a girl she already held Talmudical disputations with some of the greatest rabbis of the age, who could not sufficiently praise and admire her know edge and penetration. She was continually occupied in the study of the Midrash and the Talmud, and would not forego the pleasure of herself giving her son, Zion Ghir-mdi (born in 1764), instruction in the Bible and Hebrew Grammar, as well as reading with him and other youths,the writings of Maimonides and the Commentary of Rashi. Her explanations, in writing, of some Piyutim (synagogal poems) ani various difficult passages of the Bible, were in the possession of her grandson, R. Mordecai Ghirondi Rabbi in Padua. Sarah Oser, a native of Poland, was the daughter of Rabbi Oser in Belbirsk, a celebrated mathematician, and wife of the learned and wealthy Isaac Selka in Wilna. She was familiar with, not only the Bible, but also the Midrash and Talmud, and was moreover so rare a proficieit in Hebrew Grammar, that she wrote verses in the Sacred Tongue, and that, according to the strict rules of prosody. She attained the advanced age of 86 years. Tscharaa Rosenthal, whose maiden name was Laipnik, of Totis, was the wife of the rich and educated Naphtali Rosenthal, in Mojr (Hungary) a friend of Moses Mendelssohn's. She read the Bible in the origina', and couli quote fluently and correctly many passages of the Talmud. She died on April 4th, 1797. These are some, but not all, of the most distinguished Jewesses, who out of love for their teligion devoted themselves to the study of our national literature, and laboured ha'd to bring religion and knowledge into harmony. They yet live on as bright patterns. May the women of our time f i llow their noble example ! ART AMONG THE ANCIENT HEBREWS. BY THE REV. DR. CHOTZNER. To many it will no doubt be a surprise to hear that the ancient Hebrews were an art-loving people, and held a fair rank among those Eastern nations of anti- quity who attained a certain decree of excellence in producing works of art. And yet, a close examination of the material at hand bearing on the subject at issue will prove the accuracy of this statement. This will especially be the case if due attention be paid to those branches of the fine arts in which the Jews of old achieved a decided success, viz., Architecture, Mmic and Poatry. This success becomes even more striking and remarkable when we consider that it had already been achieved by the Jewish nation at a time when in Greece, for instance, the cultivation of the same arts was still in its infancy. Tae period daring which the ancient Hebrews were engaged in producing works of art was a comparatively long one. It opened in the days of the Jewish Lawgiver Moses, and terminated at the time of the de- struction of the last Temple in Jerusalem by Titus (70 A.D.). The present paper is intended to deal first with the Architecture, then with the Music, and finally with the Poetry of the ancient Hebrews. Just as among most of the other nations of antiquity architecture had its origin in religion, and was greatly indebted to religion for its gradual development, so it was among tbe Jews. The firt feeble attempt at architecture was made by them at the erection of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Though this was nothing more than a large-sized moveable tent, and had no special artistic beauty about it, yet the fact that its original design was retained and used on a larger scale at the con- struction of the subsequent Temples at Jerusalem, invests it with more than ordinary importance. From this ib may also be seen that the Jewish architects of those eirly times bad already some vague notions of the art of creating symmetry and purity of form in drawing up its ground p'an. Not less remarkable is the artistic skill and beauty manifested at that time by Jewish artisans in manufac- turing the furniture of th- Tabernacle, such as the beautiful covers and curtains with their inwoven cherubim, the seven-branchel go'den candlestick of beaten work, and the circular-shaped laver made by them from the metallic mirrors pre- sented by the women of the community. (Ex. xxxviii. 8). After the erection of the Tabernacle some centuries passed during which no architectural work of artistic value was known as having been produced by the Jewish people. Tnis period includes the time of their sojourn in the Arabian Desert, the times when they were governed by the Judges, and all the years in which King Saul ruled over tlnm. All those centuries were more or less turbulent with internal and external struggles, and consequently did not admit the free de- velopment of any of those arts which, as a rule, only Sourish and prosper in times of undisturbed peace, and under the protection of a strong government. But, as soon as under the reigns of David and Solomon tha Jews began to enjoy the first fruits of peace and national prosperity, the general spread of culture and skill became at once perceptible among them, and extended gradually in every direction. Among the arte, that of architecture rose then to such a position of eminence as it 92 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. never attained at any other period of the whole ancient history of the Jewish people. Its excellence showed itself more especially in the sacred and royal build- ings erected by the various Jewish Kings ; and among these the Temple of Solomon occupies the first and foremost place. There is no doubt much exaggeration in the statement male by some writers, that classical antiquity was greatly indebted to that Temple for many details of art, and that throughout the Middle Apes the latter exercis d a vast influence on the form and shape of Christian Churches. But this, at least, appears to be certain that, since no building of the ancient world has ever excited so much att 3 nti->n and interest as the Temple did, it must have p r ssessed an extraordinary artistio value. Its original form and mode of structure have already been so often minutely described by learned men of all ages and countries, including Mr. Marcus Adler, who lately gave here a most interesting and graphic sketch of the same sacred edifice, that there is hardly anything new lefc to be said about it. A few observations, however, concerning its Guilders, and the difficulties encountered by them at its erection, may not be out of place here. It is the opinion of some writers that the Temple owed its fame and splendour entirely to t ( :e great genius and skill of Phoenician artisans and not to fie profluiemy of Jewish wjrk nen. The soundness of this theory is, however, very questionable. For, in the first place, we have it on the authority of the Bib'ical memorials that the assistance given by the Phoenicians to the Jewish workmen at the er-ction of the Temple consisted chiefly in felling cedar trees on Mount Lebanon, and in manufacturing most of the artistic metal works of the building. Then the fact already alluded to, that the original Mosaic model of the Tabernacle had been retained, and used on a larger scale at the construction of the Temple, proves at once its purely Jewish character. To the same conclusion we must come, when we consider that the internal and external decoration of the edifice in question, consisted mostly of flowers and plants that only grew on Palestinian soil. As for the structure itself, it may be mentioned that most peculiar difficulties had to be overcome at an early stage of its preparation. The summit of Mount Moriah on which King David had decided to erect the Temple, was too narrow to allow huge buildings to be placed there on a sound foundation. Art ha3, therefore, to be called upon to assist Nature, Thus gigantic supports and walls were erected , which, owing no doubt to their extraordinary strength and durability, have been preserved to the present day. They have a great similarity to the Cyclopean walls built by the oldest races of Greece in Asia Minor, and the immensity of each block of stone is such that it has excited the wonder of various modern travellers (Comp. Layard : Nineveh and Babylon, p. 6 2). These enormous stones were, strange to say, put together without the aid of tools. The latter, made as they were from a material from which weapons of war are manufac- tured, were as little as po^siole used at the erection of a building which was intended, in conformity with the true spirit of Judaism, to serve as a symbol of Peaie. Another noticeable feature in connection wi;h the structure in question is this, that all its bronze works were cast in earthen moulds in the valley of the Jordan. This spot has beea specially selected for that purpose, on account of its consisting of fine-clay soil. Thus it will be seen that even at such an early period of the history of architecture, some knowledge of the art of mining rr ist already have been possessed by the Jews. Later on, in tha time when the Romans we r e the masters of the land, the mines of Phatno enjoyed a very gtt>at reputa- tation (Comp. Ewald : History of Israel, ed. Carpenter, Vol. IV., p. 192). A modern writer of note (James Fergusson), in referring to the Temple of Solomon, expresses himself about it as follows : " Whatever the exact appearance of its details may have been, it may safely be asserted that the triple Temple of Jerusalem the lower court, standing on its magnificent terraces -the inner court, raised on ART AMONG THE ANCIENT HEBREWS. 93 its platform in the centre of this and the Temple itsalf, ris'n? out of this group and crowning the whole must have formed when combined with the beauty of it* situation, one of the most splendid architectural combinations of the old world." (Comp. Smith's Bible Dictionary sub " Temple "). In connection with the Temple two other branches of architecture may be mentioned here the wat ir-conduits and bridges, or rather viaducts, built by King Solomon. Toe former must have been of some importance, since even Tacitus refers to tiem in tie following sentence: Font perennig aquae, oavati tub terra monies (Comp. Hist., vol, 12). As for the bridges or viaducts, it is said that they were four in number, and of a most peculiar con -itruction . One led over the valley of QiJwn; another, called by Josepius, gerupka, connected Mount Zion with Mount Moriah, anl served as a viaiuct for the king on his visiting the Temple (Comp. Ant. xv., 11-5). The third and fourth are mentioned in Talmud Jer. Shekalim, 4-4. and in Jomah 4. b. In subsequent times, two more Temples were built in the same style as that of Solomon one by Zjrubabel with the per- mission and ass'staace of the Persian Kin^ Cyrus (516 B.C.), aad another by King Herod (16 B.C.). This king was, next to Solomon, the most art-loving monarch the Jews ever hai. It was especially the Greek taste that, during his reign, began to gain ground in Palestine, and we are told that, in addition to the Temple, he also built colonnades, theatres, and castles (Comp. Jos. Ant. xv., 8-1). According to the same authority (Bell. Jnd. 5, 44), the beauty of King Herod's residential palace was beyond all description. It consisted of a block of various marble buildings, with artistica ly formed roofs, each building having most magnificent halls and colonnades. Pleasure grounds, tiny forests, and gardens of every kind surrounded it en all sides, and elaborate water- works were used to give these grounds a never-failing freshness and a most attractive appearance. The Greek style did not, however, altogether supersede the Phoenician, for, even as late as the Mishna mention is made of Tyrian windows and porches (Comp. Talmud, Baba Baohra, 3 b). It would take more time than I bave at my disposal, to mention and describe here all the other architectural works built by Salomon and other Jewish kings. Ye*", the former's palace ought not to be passed over here unnoticed, especially as its splendour and architectural beauty were almost as great as those of che Temple itself. It consisted of a ro v of various large buildings, among which the king's private residence, that of the Egyptian Princess, and the so-called house at the fore-t of Lebanon were moat prominent. With the aid of his great water- works near and outside the city, Solomon laid out in great variety all kinds of gardens and pleasure grounds, the beauty of which was enhanced by the addition of fountains and artificial lak> s (Cant, iv., 13 and 14). At Etam he had a magni- ficent park and gymnasium, to which places of recreation he occasionally made pleasure excursions. Not far from Lebanon, near which he had erected lofty towers, covered with gold and glittering ivory, he also planted a famous vineyard, called Baalbamon (Cant, viii, 11 ; Ant. iii., 7-3). That the ancient Greeks have also used ivory for the ornamentation of houses and public buildings may be seen from passage in Enrip. Iph. Aul., where he sptaksof l\iavToOiToi <56/io. Referring to the great taste for landscape culture displayed by the Hebrews of old, Humboldt says, that nowhere in antiquity, and not even among the Greeks, is so much sense for the beauties of nature met with as in the Bible. With regard to sculpture, i ought to be mentioned that the ancimt Hebrews did not to any great extent culti- vate the art of using stone and marble for making images. This was in consequence of the law which forbade them the placing of any kind of graven image in their places of worship. A few monuments, however, are mentioned as having been erected by Hebrews in olden times, such as the one built by Absalom, which, according to Josephus (Ant. vii , 10-3), was a marble column. Another, erected in 94 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. memory of Queen Helena, consisted of three small pyramids, and was considered a most beautiful work of art (Hid. xx., 4-3). The tools that were used in those times by Hebrew artisans were, in addition to the more common ones, such as the axe, saw, and others, also the compasses (HJiriD) (Is. xliv , 13) ; the plumb-line Q3K) (Amos vii., 7), and the measuring reed (1?) (Job xxxviii., 5). As for the position of the Jewish artizans of old, it may perhaps be of some interest to learn that they were not merely servants and slaved as among the Greeks and Romans, but meu holding some rank in society. For instance, of Bezaleel and Aholiab, the principal architects of the Tabernacle, is said that " they were filled with the spirit of the Lord" (Ex. xxxvi. 1), and unless they were classed among the wisest men of their time, and greatly esteemed by the community at large, no reject would have been pud to them by the Biblical memorials. The number of Jewish artisans of every description appears to have been considerable, and this was specially the case during the time when the national prosperity was on the increase (Jer. xxvi. IX Even during the Captivity, and later on when the Jews were finally scattered and dispersed among all the nations of the globe, their Rabbis and spiritual leaders recommended them most urgently to teach their children some art or handicraft. The same exaggerated statement that has been made by some writers with respect to the achievements of the Ancient Hebrews in the art of architecture, was also made by others with reference to the perfection which the science and art of music attained among them. But, whatever may be said in support or in refutation of the statement in question, it can hardly be denied that the Jews of old were, on the whole, an eminently musical people. This can be seen from the comparatively large number of Hebrew words denoting song and chanting, as well as from Hebrew poetry, a large part of which has been conceived in the form of psalmody or sacred, lyric song. As among the Greeks, so does Jewish tradition ascribe the invention of the first musical instruments to shepherds. Jubal is designated in the Bible as the " father of all such as handle the harp and organ " (Gen. iv. 21) Other passages in the game book relating to musical instruments and to their use are found in connection with Laban, Miriam, and Jepthab. But a real and syste- matic cultivation of the art of music did not begin before the days of Samuel and Saul, the former of whom seems to have been the founder of a regular school for music (I Sam. x. 5). There a great number of students received their training, and the most able among them were subsequently selected for the choir of the Temple. Already in the time of David 4,000 singers, mostly Levites, assisted in the service of the Lord, being presided over by the sons of Aeaph, Heman, and Jeduthun. In subsequent ages their services are recorded in connection with the laying of the foundation of the second Temple (Es. iii. 10), and again after the great victory of the Maccabean army over Gorgias (I Mace. iv. 24), The instruments used by the ancient Hebrews were of three different kinds percussion instruments, such as tambourines, drums and cymbals ; wind-instruments such as trumpets, horns and flutes ; and stringed-instruments, such as harps, psalteries, and guitars. Another peculiar musical instrument is mentioned in the Talmud (Erachin lla.), as having been used in the Temple service which was called Magrepha (n2"IJD). This is said to have had about a hundred different tones, the sound of which was heard at a very long distance. These various musical in- struments seem to have been used in the Temple service after a pause has been made in the singing. Such a pause was perhaps notified by the word Selah ("I?D), which is so often met with in the Psalms, and is translated in the Septuagint by " diapsalma,' bianf/aXp.a'). (Comp. Bottcher: " De inferis rebusque post mortem futuris Hebraeorum et Graecornm opinionibus," Dresden 1868, p. 198). That the .Temple music must have exercised a vast influence on the cultivation and develop- ART AMONG THE ANCIENT HEBREWS. 95 ment of the Church songs and musio can hardly be doubted. Martini, who was a great authority on such matters, maintains thac the first Christian choral songs were taken from the songs of the Temple. It is quite natural, he says, that the Apostles should have introduced into the Church Services only those tunes and melodies that had beea familiar to them from their earliest infancy (Comp. Storia della musica, p. 350). But it was not in the service of religion alone [that music was greatly in use among the ancient Hebrews, for, in truth, it permeated their whole public and pri- vate life. This was especially the case during the time of their national pros- perity, and it may ba said that the whole land was then full of music and melody. Following the example of David and Solomon, who had attached to their courts " singing men and singing women " (II. Sam. xix. 36 ; Eccles. ii. 8), the rich men in Israel often employed mnsio and song at their banquets (Amos, vi. 4-6). When bridal processions passed through the streets, they were accompanied with musio and song (Jer. vii. 34). Tde same was the case when victories were celebrated, or when the Jewish armies went to battle (Ex. xvi. 1, xx. 19). There seems also to have existed a kind of Jewish troubadours who sang their love-songa in front of the windows of their chosen ones (Ezek. xxxlii. 22). Amidst the merry tunes of song and music the harvest was gathered in (Is. xvi. 10), and even in funeral processions the strains of doleful music were beard (Jer. ix. 17-20). That a high position must have been assigned by the ancient H- brews to those who were skilful in song and music may be seen from the term applied to them in the Hebrew writings. There they are frequently called Nebiim (Q'&023, Prophets), and of Jehaziel, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, is said that " th ppirit of the Lord came over him " (II. Chron. xx. 14). Thus, the art of music was looked upon by the Hebrews as being the outcome of divine inspiration, and its disciples were consequently held in great esteemj by them. But music and song only nourished among the ancient Hebrews so long as they were 'masters of their native land and enjoyed the blessings of freedom and liberty. For, when their nationality had ceased to exi t, and they were lei into captivity, they hung their harps on the willows at the streams of Babylon, and uttered the memorable touching words : " How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a foreign land " (Ps. cxxxvii.). The third branch of Arts which flourished amongst the &.ncient Hebrews with even greater honour than the two other branch* s alieady treated of, is Hebrew Poetry. Martin Luthe-, in his Table Talk, compares it to the sweet melody of a nightingale, and, indeed, the strains of both have at all times moved and swayed the hearts of all civilized nations. It has ber.n admitted by competent judges that, the Greeks and Remans perhaps excepted, no nation of antiquity has pioduced anything in the shape of poetry that can be compared with that of the Hebrews, There are three kinds of poetry in the Hebn w literature dramatic, gnomic, and lyrical poetry. The latter is the most important of all, and occupies the first and foremost place. The drama is represented by two pieces, the Book of Job and the Song of Songs, each of which pieces depicts the human mind most faithfully according to nature, and they have therefore the principal chaiacteristics which constitute a drama. The Book of Job is considered by many as the masterpiece of Hebrew poetry. The very introduction to it with its double scene in heaven and on earth, in which Satan plays so prominent a role, is inimitably grand and beautiful. It is a remarkable fact that Goethe, the greatest of all the German posts, imitated it to a great extent: in his famous dramatic poem " Faust," the prelude to which represents a scene similar to that found in the Book of Job. Equally grand and beautiful, though of a different nature, is the Song of Songs. Herder, in referring to it, says that it is the most excellent piece of poetry that has ever been produced by any poet of 96 JEJTS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. ancient or modern timea. He is of opinion that in no other poem has love been depicted so charmingly sweet and attractive as it was done there. And, indeed, the Song of Songs has, in spite of its great age. even now not lost a particle of its former freshness of colouring and beauty of diction. It is an imperishable monu- ment of genuine pastoral and idyllic poeiry, and produces a moct wonderful eff ct on the minds of those readers who are familiar with the idiom of the Hebrew tongue. The gnomic poetry of the Hebrews comprises that section of Hebrew literature which contains pithy maxims, gnomf s or proverbs. To this class of poetry belong the Book of Proverbs, the Book of Ecclesia^tes, and the Proverbs of Jesus ben Sirach, better known under the came of Ecolepiasticns. Though t w e religious ele- ment is not entirely excluded from those books, yet they chiefly treat on worldly subjects. Some passages therein contain humorous descriptions of various human characters. The book-worm, the scribbler, the miser, the dull preacher, the quarrel- some woman, the drunkard they are all referred to and spoken of with pood- natured humour and irony (comp. my brochure : "Humour and Irony cf the Bible," Harrow, 1883 ) A quarrelsome woman is, for instance, compared there to ' a con- tinual dropping on a very rainy day," and it is sai 1 that her husband would as little succeed in hiding her p-esence from the outer world as if he were to try " fco hide the wind, or to shut out the odour of scented oil " (Pro. xxvii. 1513) Equally amnsmg is a description given there (?7?'<2 xxiii. 29 35) of a drunkard, which runs thus, " Who hath woe 1 who hath pain ? who hath quarrels ? who hath babbling ? who hath wounds without cause ? who hath redness of the eyes ? They that tarry long at the wine : they that go to seek mixed drink*. . . Thine eyes shall behold strange things, and thine heart shall utter nonsensical words. Yta, thou shalt be as he that luth down in the midst of the sea, or he that lie:h on the top of a mast. Oh, how they have stricken me shale thou exclaim how they have beaten me, and I felt it Lot : when shall I awake 1 I shall yet setk it (the drink) again." The lyric poetry of the Jews is almost entirely of a religious nature. To this class belong the Psalm , wht h are confessedly the peculiar product of Hebrew Art. They have never been surpassed in anv other literature in simplicity of diction, and originality of sentiment. Being the classical expression of the speech of the religious mind, they have naturally become the mo-'t chetished prayer book of the Christian world . The Christian liturgy, and the songs of the Church teem with beautiful sentences borrowed from them. The Book of Psalms contains 150 sonjjs, most of which are said to have been composed by King David. Psalms occur also here and tlure in other parts of the Bible, such as those of Samuel's mother (I. Sam. ii.), of Isaiah (cap. xii.), of Heze- kiah (ibid.xxviii. 9), and of Flabakkak. There are also Hebrew songs which are similar to the Psalms in respect to form, but not in relation to their contents. To this c'ass of Psalms belong, for instance, Jacob's last blessing, Balaam's prophecies, the Song of Deborah, the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and a great many other poetical pieces of the Bible. In the same be ok songs are also met with which are of a joyful nature, such as wedding songs, love songs, and wine songs (Ps. xlv. ; Ez. xxxii. 32 ; Is. vi. 1). Hebrew poetry has many characteristics of its own, the principal of which is, its intensely national and local colouring. Ano'her peculiarity of it is this, that its writers always kept before their mind's eye that grand and sublime idea of their nation, which subordinates all and everything in the universe to one supreme power, called God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Even man, the crown of the creation, is, according to them, only an Adam or Enosh (BHJN, D"7N) an insig- nificant, helpless being, in comparison to Eloha (TOX, arab. allaJi) the moet powerful Lord of the universe. Thus man is compared by them to a flower that ART AMONG THE ANCIEXT HEBREWS. 97 withers, to a shadow that passes by, and to a cloud that vanishes in the air ; while at the same time they call the thunder the voice of the Lord, the wind His mes- senger, the clouds the cover of His brightness, the lightning His servant, and the sun the herald of His majetty. But, though they let Nature be subservient to, and dependent on God, yet they preserve a loving attachment to it, and endow it, as it were, with life and animation. They go even so far as to let it share man's senti- mente and feelings. It rejoices and trembles with man, and it laughs and weeps with him. Every extraordinary event in the life of the nation effects Nature to a similar extent as it does the human mind. So, for instance, when the Hebrew exiles are described as returning to the land of their nativity, the desert rejoices, and changes into a beautiful garden, filled with rose blossoms, and fragrant with the perfume of sweet plants. The mountains and the hills break forth into singing 1 , and the trees of the field clap their hands. In those happy days neither the light of the sun nor the brightness of the moon will be required by the liberated exiles, for the Lord will be unto them an everlasting light (Is. xxxv., 1 ; Iv. 12 ; Ix. 19) On the other hand, when God sits in judgment, and a great catastrophe is imminent over the inhabitants of the land, then the earth shakes and trembles, and the foundations of the hills move. The heaven becomes clouded, and the brightness of the sun disappears ; the moon and the stars shine no more (Ps. xviii., 8 ; Ez xxxii., 7). Va ith regard to the form of Hebrew poetry, it is well-known to those who have made it the subject of their particular study, that it has formed a theme for dis- cussion in ancient and modern times. While some writers of great renown, such as Philo, Josephus, Ensebius, St. Jerome, and others, maintain that several poetio pieces of the Bible were composed of Iambic, Alcaic, and Sapphic verses, like Pinda* and Horace, and that some are written in hexameters and pentameters, there are not a few savant* who contest this theory. They are rather inclined to think that the Hebrews bave neither heroic nor iambic verses, nor any measures like those of the Greeks and Latins, but only a kind of parallelism of sentences, which, hows ever, their poets used with striking effect. This kind of poetry is certainly more simple, more natuial, and more majestic than a poetry tied down to method - and rules, which must injure the loftiness of the sense and the beauty of the construction. No one will deny that the Greeks and Romans have produced literary works, which, as regards their accomplished artistic form, are much superior to those of the Hebrews. But at the same time it will be conceded by those who have a taste for genuine poetry, that, in respect to freshness of colouring, depth of thought, and vivacity of represent ition, the poetical pie.-es or the Bible are almost unrivalled. The less the Hebrew poets were fettered by the impediments of an artistic metre, the easier it was to them to pour out fully and unrestrictedly the feelings of their innermost heart. The words prompted by these ftelings, though uttered thousands of years ago, still preserve their sway over the human hf art, and afford consolation and hope to the afflicted and oppressed in all parts of the civilized world. From all hitherto said it will be seen how unfounded the charge is, BO often made in certain quarters against the Jews, that they have never rendered any practical service to the nations with whom they came in contact. Surely, if they had done nothing else but give them that sacred volume, the Book of Books, which contains so many golden rules for the cultivation of the human mind and heart, they would, for that reason alone, be entitled to expect acknowledgment and gratitude, not only from the present but from all future generations. JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. JEHUDA HALEVI, POET AND PILGRIM. BY JOSEPH JACOBS, B.A. There are some few men in the world's history whose thoughts and lives seem to rise above the bounds of space and time, and pass over into the world of ideals that ever lives anew in the souls of those coming after. In them the nation that produces them recognises its best self, in them it sees embodied its typical excel- lences. Their memory is preserved among their peop'e with something of the ardour of personal affection, and with reason ; for it is these men that give a people its rank in the hierarchy of nations. For when a race or a nation is arraigned at the bar of History and asked what are its claims to the recognition of humanity, the answer must be in the last resort that it has produced men such as these. And when that question is asked of Jews, no one will deny that among the representa- tive men of Israel must be numbered the name of Jehuda Halevi. When we look into the lives of these men of whom I have spoken, we find, I think, that they owe their proud position to a sort of art'^tic unity in their lives. Their inner thoughts and outward acts form a harmonious whole that puts to shame the petty inconsistencies and unfulfilled aspirations that distract the lives of most of us. Their lives are so rounded off that th^y eeem to possess a kind of plot which we can follow with all the interest of a drama. Each act and word of theirs seein linked together by a bond of consistency, so that, though we connot anticipate what they will do, yet when it is done it seems just the thing we should have ex- pected them to do. Thus it is that their lives for the most part are found to be dominated by one inspiring idea with which their names are for ever associated. St. Louis and saintliness, St. Francis and tenderness, Bayard and chivalry, Nelson and valour, Gordon and duty, are almost synonymous. And so with Jehuda Halevi there is a word that gives the dominant chord which harmonises the mu-ic of his life, and tb at word is Jerusalem. I shall best achieve my task of explaining the magical attraction with which the name of Jehuda Halevi is connected in the minds of Jewish scholars if I group what I have to say about this domiuant motive of his life. Much will have to be left unsaid that might well be worth the saying, but the best way to show the man Jehuda Halevi as he was and felt, is to trace the rise and growth of the master-passion of his life, his love for the discrowned capital of Jucah, and to say how he expressed his love in beautiful words and inspiring deeds. Let us however begin at the beginning and say something about the clime and time that saw our hero's birth. Jehuda ben Samuel Halevi, or a* his Arabic fellow-countrymen knew him, Abu'l Hassan ibn Hallawi, was born in Toledo about the year 1085, fourteen years before the First Crusade. He thus comes in point of time in the centre of the finest group of men that Israel has produced since Bible JEHUDA HALEVI, POET AND PILGRIM. 99 times. Ibn Gebirol, the poet and philosopher, Rashi, the exegete, and Alfasi, the jurist, were of the pre:eding generation, and Moses ibn Ezra, the sweet singer, and Abraham ibn Ezra, astronomer, wit, rover and commentator, were his contempo- raries. Maimonides, the great eagle, and Charisi, the rhymester, came soon after him, and then the great ones ceased. It was by no mere accident that all but one of these names were connected with Arabic Spain. The culture of Islam was ia some respects superior to that of Christendom, and especially in the tolerance accorded to Jews that barometer of civilization. And there were special reaBons why the Jews of Spain enjoyed an exceptional sha r e of toleration , not alone fro 21 the Moors, but even from the Christians of the country. For they held a position there somewhat analogous to that which they now hold in tne dual Empire of Austro-Hungary. In the conflict of races, their influence, though not paramount owing to their small numbers, was yet considerable enough to extort consideration from both sides in the struggle that was now going on between the Crescent and the Cross in the Peninsula. The struggle had reached its turning point just at the birth of Jehuda, the period of the Cid, Rodrigo Diaz, with whose name is connected the onward movement of the Christian hosts from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean which never ceased from his days to the final downfall of the Moors in 1492. The very city of Jehuda's birth, Toledo, had been captured by Christian valour about the year when he was born, 1085, and remained during his lifetime at once the outpost and the capital of Christian Spain. It was a fit cradle for a poet's youth, the spot where Orient and Occident met, where Christian scholars, like Michael Scot, came to study the learning of the East, including the black art. There were learned those Arabic numerals which the Arabs had brought with them from India. There a college of translators, many of them Jews, helped to bring philosophy, and science within the reach of Christendom. There, [too, lived descendants of the Khozars who were to give the historic basis of Jehuda's greatest work. We can. imagine the boy's wonder at these strangers from the outlandish Crimea, who had brought with them memories of the remarkable Jewish Kingdom that had flourished for two centuries on the northern shores of the Black Sea . Of the lad's education we know little except by the results of it to be foui.d in his work. But we have plenty of contemporary evidences of the wide spread that liberal education took among the Jew-* of Arabic Spain. Thus Samuel ibn Abbas gives the following course of study as usual in his days : Hebrew grammar, the Torah and its commentaries, engaged a boy's attention till the age of thirteen, then in the fourteenth year came Indian arithmetic and astronomy to be followed by medicine, Greek mathematics, geometry and algebra, and the whole curriculum was crowned by the study of the Talmud, which seemed to have begun at the age of fifteen. We find traces of these studies in the Kusari, and may take it that Jehuda's education was somewhat on these very broad lines. Nowhere north of the Tagus could such a liberal education have been obtained at that period. In this enumeration of his studies one important branch has been omitted. Versemaking was a favourite amusement of Arabic cultured society, and the fashion had been taken up by the Jews of Moslem countries and applied to the holy tongue so that a whole art of rhythm had been developed with elaborate rules founded on the laws of Arabic versification. Hebrew poetry thus became one of the branches of Jewish education in Spain, and it was clearly the part of Jehuda's education which most attracted him. He early obtained proficiency in the art, and his fame soon spread. The earliest glimpse we catch of him gives perhaps the occasion which brought him to the notice of the learned circles of Jewish Spain. He had gone, about 1100, to Lucena, near Granada, then the centre of Talmudic study. There he seems to have relieved the monotony of halachic dis- putations with some swallow-flights of song. To whom should he send these if not to Motes ibn Ezra at Granada, the chief literary authority of the time and one O 2 100 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. of Israel's sweetest Fingers of all time? The elder poet received the youth's at- tempts most graciously, and in his reply, which alone has reached us, expresses hit wonder at Jehnda's early proficiency, in the following words : How can a boy so young In years Bear such a weight of wisdom sage, Nor 'mongst the greybeards find his peers While ptill in tte very blossom of his age ? This interchange of civilities was followed by a close friendship which lasted for many years till Moses ibn Ezra's death in 1139. Indeed Jehuda seems to have possessed in a special degree tbe gift of attractiveness, and his friends include all the most distinguished Jews of Spain. Joseph ibn Migasch at Lncena, Jndah ben Gayath at Granada, the two Jewish Viziers, Samuel Abmollam at Seville, and Meir ibn Kamnial at Saragossa, as well as the philosopher Joseph ibn Zaddik at Cordova, all fell under th charm of his personality. In this respect he contrasts strongly with Solomon Ibn Gebirol, who seems to have been of a somewhat churlish disposition. Jehuda on the other hand seems to have possessed an almost magnetic attraction due to his bright affectionate nature that shines forth in all his poems of his early period, and is echoed in the poems addressed to him. He soon became poet laureate of the Jews of Southern Spain. No festive occasion was considered complete that was not celebrated by Jehnda's Muse. We have still extant no less than forty-three marriage odes, written by our poet with much grace of feeling and skill in adapting appropriate Biblical passages. If a distinguished Rabbi was appointed to an important post, the ceremony of reception would include an ode of Jehuda. And on more solemn occasion when Jews had to mourn the loss of some distinguished man, the general sorrow found a voice in Jehnda Halevi. Thus when Alfasi, the great codifier of Jewish law, died, Jehuda expressed in the hyperboles of the following lines, the conviction that a second Moses had passed away from among men. On Sinai's day the mountains bowed before thee f Axgels of the Lord came forth to greet tbee, Upon the tablets of thy heart they wrote the Law Upon thy head they placed the crowa of glory. Even sages cannot iearn to stand upright Unless they have sought for wisdom from thce. Besides these official epithalamia and epitaphs Jehuda contributed to the social gatherings of which he formed part many short and witty poems, contairing rid- dles which were then the fashion. A coaple of these may eerve as specimens of these elegant trifles : What is it that's blind with an eye in its head And the race of mankind its use cannot spare. Spends all its life in clothing the oead, But always itself is naked and bare. [Kiaaas y] Happy lovers, learn our law, Be joined in one, as we. Anghc that parts us through we saw And again are one, you see. [BHOSSIOg JIO HIVjl "Tis dead and scattered on the earth And men bury It all bare. Yet in the grave to children gives birth, That start full clothed from their lair. [HHOO *0 HVff KVl He seems also to have been much in request by lovers, for many of hia poems JEHUDA HALEVI, POET AND PILGRIM. 101 deal with the tender passion, whether on his own behalf or for others is difficult to Bay. The following quatrain forms a not ungraceful motif for A SERENADE Awake, dear one, from thy slumber arise, The sight of thce will ease my pain. Ifthou dream'st of one that iskissiog thine eyes, Awake, aud boon the dream I'll explain. Or again, another quatrain expresses a pretty fancy. Once I nursed Love on my knee. He saw his likeness in my eye, He kissed the lids so tenderly 'Twas his image he kissed, the rogue, not me. A note of deeper passion is struck in a poem on separation, which you will be glad to have from the more skilful hands of Miss Emma Lazarus (Songs of a Semite, p. 73), though diluted through Geiger's German version. SEPARATION. And so we twain must part I Oh linger yet, Let me still feed my glance upon thine eyes. Forget not, love, the days of our delight, And I our nights of bliss shall ever prize. In dreams thy shadowy image I shall see, Oh even in my dream be kind to me I Though I were dead, I none the less would hear Thy step, thy garment rustling on the sand. nd if thou waft me greetings from the grave, I shall driuk deep the breath of that cold land. Take thou my days, command this life of mine, If it can lengthen out the space of thine, No voice I hear from lips dealh-pale and chill, Yet deep within my heart it echoes still. My frame remains my soul to thee yearns forth. A shadow I must tarry still on earth. Back to the body dwelling here in pain, Return, my soul, make haste and come again ! Or, as a last specimen of the poet's earlier manner, we may take a literal prose version of a description of spring which, at any rate in the original, marki the highest tide mark of Jehuda Halevi's powers as a poet of the salont of Granada. SPRING Yestreen the earth like a suckling babe, drained the breasts of the wintry clouds Or, like a bride with soul t-hut up, yearning for the time of love ; Yearned for the summer of its love when its weary heart is healed. Or, like a dainty girl, blushing in her new donned robes, In garments all of golden flowers and broidered work of lilies The earth each day its robes renews and wins fresh beauty, Changing here from lily white to rosy red and there to emerald green, Now turns pale and now it blushes like a bride kissing her lover, The beauty of the flowers was surely stolen from the starry skies. To-day we sought this Paradise with wine that kindles the fire of love, Though col i as snow when held in cup, It burns like flre within As we pour it into th^ Jewelled beaker it rises like the sun above the earthcrn brim. Then walk we with Spring as she laughs at the showers ; Bhe rejoices, the raindrops are like tears on her cheek, like Jewels from a broken necklet ; To her the cry of the crane is as new wine and to the cooing dove she keeps sweet accord ; Bhe exults amidst the budding leaves like a damsel dancing and sk ippiag in her new robes. My soul seeks the moining breeze as she scatters her fragrance around the beloved. The breeze rustles the myrtle and its scent is dispersed to Join lovers that are parted. 12 JEJTST COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. How, then, one might ask, did Halevi gain such general fame if his powers enly reached the ears of the learned as must htve been the case with poems written in Hebrew ? A curious anecdote, discovered by the omni- scient Steinschneider, transcribed by the obliging Neubauer, and published by the indefatigable Kanfmann (Graetz, Monatt, Feb., 1887), gives us an insight into the cultured life of the time and explains in a measure how Halevi gained his renown. It occurs in an Arabic Commentary of Joseph ibn Aknim on Canticle*, who says : " I will mention a fine anecdote of onr poet philosopher, Jehada Halevi, that beari upon our text. One of the sages of Granada has told us that be used to meet him at conversaziones and in circles in which a company of friends and among them Jehu Jab. Halevi used to meet for friendly discui-sions in one of the most splendid palaces of the town. ' Once when we were all praising the wisdom of the Cre tor, there came in a lady whose beauty was equalled by the elegance of her t /ilette : we all began to admire her beauty and to praise God for the perfection of His creatures. Jnst aa we were noticing her fine features and stately carriage, she happened to address one of her acquaintances. Then we observed what a harsh voice she had and how badly she spoke. And when Jehuda Halevi notice! this he said, " The mouth that caused [the charm], has broken it." This witty application of the words of the Mishta (Kethuboth ii. 1.), caused the whole company the most lively amusement."' Some of the liveliness of the amusement has vanished for us with the lapse of centuries, but the whole story gives us at least a lively insight into the mingled pedantry, poetry, and piety that reigned in the Jewish talons of Granada some eight centuries ago. I have perhaps now said enough to leave with you some impression of the poet's peraonality in the early years of his life. Bright, witty, the soul of every circle he visited, surroundei by bright smiles and gay glance", we see him enter upon manhood's years under the most delightful auspices. Yet those are not the conditions that are likely to make a great post, and we shall soon see that Jehuda Halevi, like others, had to learn in suffering what he taught in song. And here it seems convenient to discuss for a moment the question which has been raisod in Germany by Professor Lagarde as to the poetic merits of Jehuda Halevi. Was ha really a great poet ? To answer that question I must ask you to make with me a distinction between poetic force and poetic form, a distinction which I can best illus-ra'e by examples. Thus Mr. Browning has great poetic force but little poetio form, Mr. Swinburne great poetic form, but only Blight poetio force. So too in German, Professor Lagarde's friend Riickert has considerable poetic form, but only moderate poetic force. Or again, consider how great an amount of poetic force there is in many of the old ballads combined with how poor a quality of poetic form. We all of us have some poetic force or else we could not appreciate poetry the poetry of deeds as well as that of words but too few of us, as I am myself painfully aware, have any power of poetic form. And so I think we can answer Professor Lagarde's question by saying that; Jehada Halevi had great poetic force, but that he worked in a medium that did not admit of great poetic form. Or if yon prefer to put it shorter, we may say he was a great poet though his poems are not great. It is necessary to recognise thie, because otherwise we shall be adopting a provincial standpoint in judging of New Hebrew poetry. Jehuda Halevi waa the greatest New Hebrew poet, but New Hebrew poetry was not, could not be, great. It was essentially a literature of reminiscence, overshadowed by the past, and is thus exactly analagous to the New Latin poetry of the Middle Ages. This ia especially the case with the religious poetry of New Hebrew literature. Here the Jewish poet had before him the Psalms, the grandest religious lyrics of the world's literature judging them merely from the literary standpoint. It was impossible for him to hope to rival them on itheir own lines, equally impossible for him to depart altogether from those lines. Hence the Piyutim are full of quotations JEHUDA HALEVI, POET AND PILGRIM. 103 popular or otherwise, and most of them ought to be printed in inverted commas Hence the greatest point of skill a Paitan could show was to wrest a Bible verse out of its true sense, somewhat in the same way as Jehuda Halevi made a new application of the Miehna text in the anecdote we have just read. I have had to say this as I have found it impos-ible to present to you any of Jehuda Halevi'a religions poetry which would not lose all point in translation, except the greatest of them all, the Zionide. Any one that has read the weary dreary versions given in the " Treasures of Oxford " will remember how every other line depends for its effect on the ingenuity with which II. Sam., chapter so-and so., verse eo-and-co, had been misapplied to mean something it could not possibly mean in its own context. That effect cannot be reproduced in translation. And there is another quality of New Hebrew pofitry whieh weakens it in my opinion. The Paitanim borrowed from Arabic poetry a fatal facility of rhyming which gives a jingling sound to their verses. And ia alopting rhyme from the Arabs the Jewish poets adapted it to a language much less fitted for it. You can understand how easy rhyming is in an inflexional language ; it would not be difficult to run off any number of Latin lines ending in it, or Greek oaes finishing with ai. Now Hebrew being philologically a younger language than Arabic, has retained many less of the primitive inflections than the sister tongue. It thus happens that three-fourths of the Hebrew rhymes are furnished by the endings 1, (Yigdal preserves this rhyme throughout) D 1 "\ and m. And when poets, to carry out the Arabic practice, used one of these rhymes right through a poem of ever so many lines, the result produces a tickling sensation to a Western ear. The only English poem that I can think of with tha sime arnfic ia Southey's "How the waters come down at Lodore." It is all very ingenions, I know, but the very ingenuity produces an air of artificiality, that disturbs the impressiveness of the poem. We could not, for example, imagine a Psalm written in that style. I do not know whether it was this to which he was referring, but towards the end of his life, Jehuda Halevi is said to have regretted that he had followed Arabic models in his poetry. At aay rate, the reasons I have given will be sufficient to explain the inadequate medium which New Hebrew verse gave for the expression of Jehuda Halevi's great poetic force. For by universal consent he was the greatest of the poets who chose that means of clothing their burning thoughts. Charisi, critic as well as poet, has expressed the general opinion of our hero's ability in some lines of rhymed prose, which I may venture to quote for their felicity of expression as well as for the illustration they give of the inadequate nature of New Hebrew rhyme in point of form " Three read verses the simple, the first is thinker the second, poet the third he knows the might of the word Thus poecs are simple sometimes the everyday man enjoy* their rhymes again they are deep and profound only philosophers their meaning can sound or their metre is full of surprises such as only a poet surmises. So different poems are for different people some they attract and some they repel. But a poem that has these qualities three is surely the highest that high can be and so is Jehuda's poetry simple, deep yet full of fire with verse that poets can admire Solomon ibn Gabiroi's song is very profound and very long. Moses ibn Ezra is the poet's post he knows his art and how to show it." (TacA ed. Lagarde xviii., 4, 46, seq.). Moses ibn Ezra refers to him as " the pearl diver and lord of most rare jewels and brilliants in song." It is thus universally agreed that Jehuda Halevi is the greatest Jewish poet of the Middle Ages. Yet Prof. Lagarde may ask, " If that be so, how is it that there is no complete edition of his poems 1 " And I fear that no s .tisfactory answer could be given to him. It is with a mixture of phame and irritation that I reflect upon the unedited condition of Jehuda Halevi's poems While the most trumpery supercommentary on any indifferent commentary is reproduced with all the honours of f urtner comment, the finest products of tha 104 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. Jewish spirit are allowed to moulder unedited in the dust of the Bodleian. There was some excuse while Luzzato lived and contemplated an edition, but Luzzato has been dead these twenty years, and an edition of Jehuda Halevi's poems seems as far off as ever. You will all join with me in the hope that this reproach to Jewish taste and Jewish scholarship will be speedily removed. We have been so long occupied with Halevi's poetry that we may well imagine Halevi himself to have passed through manhood to middle age in the interim. Of the outward events of his life we know little. He married and had an only daughter who did not marry Abraham ibn Ezra, as the well known legend tells, but who gave him a grandson also named Judah. If the following epigram were to be taken literally, we might assume that he had suffered some loss of fortune. But the epigram was probably only written for the puns which form its chief merit. I have endeavoured, as far as possible, to reproduce them. As went my money, my man he went with it With scorn in his looks, saying, " To leave tnee I'm ready." Then I asked, " But what is my sin, my son ? " "Thou art naughty, since thou hast naught," said he. The same kind of wit is shown in another epigram which records a professional experience of Jehuda's. He was a doctor and, it would seem, hai a very good practice. It was once his fortune to be called in to visit some lady patients in a harem. He langhingly confesses his disappointment that he was only received on a strictly professional footing They called me in, but did not call me. Though among them, I was not of them. I paid them a visit, though not a visitor They desired my art, and not my heart. It is right for a man to take the pleasures of life as the? pass before him, pro- vided they ba innocent pleasures, and we have seen Jehuda taking the joys of life with all the zest of youth. But life has duties as well as joys, and these duties with the nobler spirits are connected with wider issues than the merely per- sonal lot. There were circumstances of the time that made Jehuda Halevi feel acutely the lot of his people. His was the age of the Crusades ; Islam and Christ endom were meeting in the struggle which was to decide the religious future of civilization for many long centuries. In the clash of creeds, religious animosities, the most irritable of human passions, rose to fever beat, and the Jews, who were a kind of buffer between the two opposing hosts, were a -nong the first victims. It is usually assumed that the lot of Jews in Moslem countries was free from the in- tolerance that characterised Chistian usage. But as a matter of fact fanaticism on the part of the Christian induced fanaticism on the ^part of the Moslem, and from the beginning of the twelfth century there- was little to choose between the fol- lowers of the two creeds, As early as 1107 an attempt was made at forcible con- verson at Lucena, where the Israelites of that " Jew-town " as the Arabs called it were asked to don the turban. Jehuda Halevi was clear sighted enough to see that neither of .the two opposing .forces was really tolerant. In one of his poema he says A curse on Edom and on Eedar ; Whichever conquers or is conquered, Always wee is with my people. If anything, his sympathy was with Christendom. Perhaps he was influenced by memories of Alphonso VI. of Castille, who was so favourable to the Jews, that he was called " The King of the Two Creeds," and ia said to have refused to fight on Saturday for the sake of the Jewish contingent among his forces. But though ha recognised the failings of Roman Christianity, They change the Creator of the earth into an image, >'et he was the first to recognise the propaedeutic value both of Christianity and JEHUDA HALEVI, POET AND PILGRIM. 105 of Islam in a passage of his great philosophical dialogue, part of which I will venture to quote, as it strikes me as one of the most remarkable passages of that work ; the spirit of lofty toleration was certainly unique in that age of conflicting creeds. The King of the Khosars points out to the master that Christians and Moslems had passed through contempt and persecution, but with a triumphant result in the end. To what purpose had Israel gone through all the travail of the ages ? The Master replies : " You are right to reproach us with the fact that our banishment has as yet borne no fruit. But I think of the meanest among us who could shake off this slavery and contempt by a word easily spoken, and yet speak it not because they wish to remain true to their faith The wise Providence of God towards us may be compared to the planting of a seed of corn. It is placed in the earth where it seems to be changed into soil and water and filth, and is no more to be recognised. But in very truth it is the seed that has changed the earth and water into its own nature and then raises itself from one stage to another, transforms the elements, and assuming its own form, throws out shoots and leaves. .... So, too, the Law of Moses changes them who come in contact with it, evea though it seems to be cast aside by them. These peoples are the preparation and preface to the Messiah we expect, who is the fruit himself, and whose fruit they all will be when they acknowledge him and all become one mighty tree." (Kits. iv. 23). Remember that these words were spoken when Israel was being persecuted by both branches of the tree, and its noble tolerance cannot fail to strike you . Other points might be given in which Jehoda's thought shows a certain affinity to Christianity. He seems to set up an infallible Synagogue against the infallible Church. Geiger notices that the divine development in one line postulated by the Kutari is a counterpart of the Christian doctrine of hereditary sin. But it was chiefly the crusading epirit of Christendom that found a sympathetic echo in our poet's soul. The first Crusade took place when he was fourteen or fifteen." years old and we can imagine how the news of the fall of Jerusalem came to an impretsion- able lad of his temperament. He must have felt like the rightful heir when hig patrimony is being disputed for by two other relatives whose claims are not so close as his, yet he has not the means, or, worse still, has not the courage to aasert his rights. The Crusades, I have said, worsened the condition of the Jews both in Christian and in Moslem countries. In many of Jehuda's poems we see the depression brought upon him by the changed condition of his people in which he himself shared. At times he bursts forth in a sort of savage pride in persecution. " Men insult me," he cries Men insult me ; fools, they know not That m-iults borne for Thy sake are an honour. At other times he would seem to have withdrawn from all communion with hit fellows in proud isolation of self-communion. They say to me, " Canst thou delight thyself without a brother ? " I answer : ' I have that within my soul to delight me ; Thoughts delight my soul within me ; My thoughts form an Eden in my heart." For he had likewise much to sadden him within his community as without. On looking back on the past we catch eight chiefly of the more ardent spirits and attribute to an age what is special to its choicer minds. Indifference to religions duty is no prerogative of the nineteenth century. On one occasion Jehuda has to complain of what we may term an American laxity on the part of his coreligionists : in Christian Spain many kept their Sabbath on the Sunday, in Moslem Spain there were several who kept it on Friday. With oppression without and indifference within, there was enough to make an ardent soul sink. Even the resources of hia art 106 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. failed him : he lost for a time the gift of song ; the sweet bells were jangled and out of tune. In the bitterness of his soul he t-aid : Even this is vanity. Wisdom is like the mighty sea, Song but the foam on its surface. When all else fails a man in moments like these, the daily call of dnty is the last solace, the mechanic iteration dulling pain. Yet even thin last comfort was denied to our poet if we may judge from a letter written about 1130 to one David ben Joseph of Narbonne who had asked him for a solution of a mathematical problem. In apologising for not giving it (it was afterwards solved by Abraham ibn Ezra) he writes as follows : " And besides I am very busy almost every hour of the day and night in th vanities of the art of healing which has no power to heal. The city is large and its inhabitants imperious and they are hard masters. And how can the slave please his masters except by spending all his days in serving their will and by consuming his years in healing their infirmities I ' We would have healed Babylon and she is not healed ' " (Jer. i. 9). Then he bursts out with, " I have sought from my God and asked him to find a good opportunity, for He has many, to hasten the redemption, to call forth liberty out of captivity, to grant me rest and remove me to the fount of living waters.' " That last outburst is characteristic of the man. It is natural that in times of oppression, the oppressed should look for, long for the time of deliverance. And the promises of redemption for Israel form as integral a part of Judaism as the Law itself. Judaism is a discipline but it is also a hope. The Bible contains the Prophets as well as th-s Law, though both friends and foes to-day too often forget the fact. And Jehuda's significance in the history of Israel rests on the fact that he carries on the work of the prophets aa other Rabbis like Alfasi and Maimonidta and Joseph Karo, carried on the work of the Law. Not that there need be any antagonism between the two. Jehuda Halevi is the most orthodox of the orthodox in his theological treatise, and he has put into some fine verses the sentiment which Berthold Auerbach so finely expressed in prose when he epoke of a man being Frei und eins mit dem Geseti " in fres subjection to the Law," Jehuda's lines run : The servants of Time are servants of servants, The servant of the Lord is alone free, When each man seeks his lot in life My soul excla'ms, " The Lord is my lot." But combined with this willing subjection to the yoke of the Law, Jehuda haa a passionate faith in the promises of the Prophets. It finds expression on every occasion. We have just seen it burst from him in a letter to a stranger. At the end of one of his marriage-songs, the happy union of the lovers is connected with a wish for the happy union of Israel and the land of Israel. In speaking of the blessings of the Sabbath, the same wish escapes him and the passion for redemption, not of his own soul, but of his own people shines out at every opportunity. He was not alone in this passionate desire, though he was alone in the power with which he gave expression to it. The Jews of the time listened with burning feelings of mingled dismay and hope to the clash of Christian sword and Moslem scimitar contending for the possession of the land that they had never ceased to regard as theirs, for the city which remained the symbol of all that was holy for them. And some went further than mere thoughts about the matter. Maimonides, in his letter to Yemen, in 1172, says : " Forty-five years ago (i.e. in 1127), a man rose in Fez, who gave himself out as the herald of the Messiah, pretending that the latter would appear in the same year : his words, however, were not fulfilled, and the Jews only suffered fresh sorrows. About ten years before that a man had arisen in Spain at Cordova, who represented himself as the Messiah, and it wanted JJSHDDA HALEVI, POET AND PILGRIM. 10T but little that this did not produce the ruin of the Jews." It is probable that Jehuda was for a time caught by the enthusiasm for this Jewish Mahdi. For in one of his poems addressed to the Dove of Israel, a frequent expression of his for the Synagogue, he looks forward to the Return as something near at hand Rouse thyself to return to the land of beauty, And to sadden the plain of Edom and of Ishmael, Lay waste in wrath ttie house of the robbers, And throw open the house of love to thy lovers. If Akiba could have been misled by Bar Cochba, if we can call it being misled to attempt to free own's land of foreign conquerors, so we can imagine the fervent Zral of Jehuda Halevi roused by the unknown enthusiast of 1117. Thirteen years later, in a powerful poem, spoilt only by tbe inverted commatisms of its concluding lines (which I omit), he gives a vision of the downfall of Islam in the year 1130 corresponding to the eight hundred and ninetieth year of the fifth thousand since the Creation (4890). " Thou has slept and dreamt. Why rise up trembling ? What is this dream that thou bast dreamt ? Perchance thy vision made thy foe appear As poor and low while thou wert raised ? " " Say ye to the son of Hagar : Remove thy proud hand From the son of thy mistress whom thou Last subjected, I saw thee in dreams fallen and abject, Perchance on awakening I thall find thee desolate And the year 890 will see thy pride broken And all thy plans put to shame and confounded." The wish was clearly father to the thought, but neither thought nor wish were to be realised in Jehuda's days, which rather saw a revival of Saracen zeal in the Almobades who brought all the fierce fanaticism of the Koran into Spain. But fulfilled or not, Jehuda's aspirations were not daunted by failure, however long continued. And his longings for the redemption of the land of Israel concen- trated themselves at last in a mighty love that overt ame every other feeling of his soul. It was an age for such patsionate devotion. In Provence the knights and troubadours held courts of love in which minutiae of the tender passion were eettled by qnasi-halachic rules. Knights devoted themselves for years for the honour of a fair dame whom they had scarcely set n. Love for love's fake without the hope of possession became the ideal of chivalric affection. It was such a love that now seized Jehuda Halevi. It was Heine that suggested the analogy, let him carry it out. And the hero whom we sing, Judah ben Halevy. too, Had also his own lady love, But one of especial sort. She was not like the Laura Whose eyes of mortal fire, Kindled in the Minster That world-renowned flame. No Chatelaine was she, In the bloom and crown of youth, Presiding at the tourney, Awarding the victor's crown. No graduate of science gay. No lady doctrinaire, Lecturing in the Collages Of the courts ef Love. She whom the Rabbi worshipped Was a woebegone poor darling, Desolation's very imgo, And her name Jerusalem. 108 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. Heine was somewhat of an authority on the kind of love to which he alluded, bnt I should myself have compared Jehuda Halevi's passion as something more akin to the thinker's love for his own ideals, or better still, to the passionate devotion of a paint to his creed, For Jerusalem was to Jehuda a symbol and a type of all that was distinctive of the history of his race. It was an incarnation of ita glorious past, a constant reminder of its woebegone present ; it spurred him on continually to hopes of a more glorious future. It was the stirring of the historic consciouness within him that was at the root of his love for Jerusalem. And after all it is that sentiment of the historic continuity of the race which has given much of its vitality and all its romantic colouring to the varied fate of Israel. Of course, I know it has not gone alone : the religious ideal has been of even greater force. But the religions ideal has ever gone hand in hand with the political, and the collection has all the authority of the Prophets on its side. It was the spirit of the Prophets revived again within him that caused Jehuda Halevi's love for Jerusalem, and the same spirit still inspire* millions of Jews who find themselves in oppression as he did. For man ever seeks to embody his ideal in outward symbol, and the stern repression of all image making in Israel has only intensified the tendency to give a local habita- tion and a name to Israel's prophetic ideal. Thus Jerusalem has been for ages the personification of Jewish history and must continue to be so while Jewish hearts still beat and care for aught beyond the needs of the present and the self. Jehuda Halevi's love for Jerusalem thus becomes typical, and gives his figure an epic grandeur that transcends the significance of any other mediaeval Jew. Law- givers, commentators, philosophe-s give way to the claims of the poet in whom his people instinctively felt that the prophets lived anew. He gave voice to the dimly felt longings of his people. This is the greatness of the poet. The lawgiver controls our action, the thinker interprets our thoughts, but the poet gives expression to our selves, to what ia innermost and deepest within us. This merit had Jehuda Halevi, and so his claim to be a true poet is establishe3. Whether he waaagreat one is perhaps for others to say, for that is in fact the question whether the Jews of the Middle Ages, whose voice he was, were a great people. And from this point of view, we may put in some defence for the choice of poetic form which technically was so much in his way. For it was the same historic instinct which led him to put his thoughts into the language of his fathers, which almost ceases to be a dead tongue in his bands. But it is time to let the poet give expression to the feeling of longing. At one time he accounts for his depression in the following lines : My heart is in the East, but'I in the depths of the West ; How can I care for the details of our lives, How perform my vows, though the Lord's behest, While Zion's still in Edom's mares, and I in Arab gyves, All the beauty of this land of Spain is bnt vanity at best, Whilst e'en the very dust of the ruined fane survives. There IB a tone of sincerity about these lines that gives them almost as much force as the passionate outburst of the Psalmist, "If I forget thee, Jerusalem 1 may my right hand forget her cunning," words that might well stand as the motto of Jehuda' s life and were appropriately prefixed by Heine to his Romancero. At another time our poet passionately asks Who will give me wings of a dove That I may fly and dwell there; I would abandon both north and south To drink in tt e air of Zion The poet was soon to show that this was no mere empty rhetoric. The longing overcame him, and he determined on his celebrated pilgrimage to Zion, which gave him his fame and showed at any rate that his idealism could survive the test of JEHUDA HALEVI, POET AND PILGRIM. 109' practice. His child was settled with her husband and child ; his wife, of whom we hear nothing, was probably dead ; his best friend, Moses Ibn Ezra, had died in 1139, and about the following year Jehuda Halevi left his native land and sought the object of his desire Jerusalem. But before he left, he had written as a sort of testament his philosophical master- piece, the "Kueari." It is beyond the ssope of this paper to deal with this philoso- phical dialogue after the manner of Plato or " Iflatun," as the Arabs called him. The historical groundwork is the conversion of the King of the Eosars in the Crimea in the eighth century, which placed a Jewish kingdom in what is now South- ern Russia for over two centuries. Lady Magnus, in her cbarming paper on our poet, showed unusual scepticism about the reality of this Jewish Kingdom ; but we have plenty of evidence from independent observers, such as Aiabic geographers and Greek monks, as to its existence. And plenty of scope is left to the imagination as to the course of history, and of Jewish history, if Russia had become Jewish instead of Christian. The King of the Kosars seeks in turn a philosopher, a Christian , and a Mahomedan, who each gives an abstract of his creed and Halevi's abstracts are models of fairness and claims superiority over other faiths. But at all of them grant that while their own creed is the best, the Jewish faith is the next best, the King summons a Jewish Master who goes through the whole of Jewish theology, and at last converts the King. The fable points to one great strength of mediaeval Judaism which must have aided greatly in its hold on the minds of Jews. For there was a consensus of civilisation as to the claims of Judaism : every Jew could feel that both Christian and Mohammedan allowed he was right so far as he went. The argu- ments of the book do not seem very convincing nowadays : our standpoint has changed and the perplexities of our time are different. But the feeling underlying the argument has not become obsolete : thus the polemic against the Karaites is based on the feeling of historic continuity which is still powerful among some of UB. And it was only one who was both poet and philosopher who could have given utterances to that finest of aphorisms : ISRAEL 18 AMONGST THE NATIONS AS THE HEAET AMONG THE LIMBS. And thus too the abstract argumeuts of the book are often influenced by th master feeling of the poet-philosopher, e.g. he strains all his powers of dialectic to prove even against Talmudic authority that prophecy was only possible in the Holy Land, or, as he has to modify it, about the Holy Land, and he introduces a couple of dramatic touches which bear upon our immediate subject. When the Master expa- tiates on the excellencies of Palestine the King of the Khozars very pertinently asks him why he and all Jews did not go there. The Master answers " Thou has shamed me, King. Ye, that is why we have not had a complete fulfilment of the prophecies." Later on at the end of the book the Master shows he has been touched by the reproof of the King, and announces his intention to go there though at the risk of hia life, giving many quaint reasons why it was worth losing one's life in order to get foot on the laud of the glories of old. The reasons are quaint but the feeling that inspired them was not so. Even the greatest of poets and pro- f oundest of philosophers may fail to account for our deepest feelings. What he represented the Master as doing, the poet did himself. He was literally at the extreme end of the then known world, Jerusalem was in the hands of the Christians .who had murdered every Jew as they entered, the sea had its own peculiar terrors, yet the poet made up his mind to dare all in order to fulfil hi a longing. This determination roused the greatest possible enthusiasm among his fellow Jews. The whole of Israel rose at him, to use a theatrical expression. The man who was known to all of them as the greatest poet of his time, who had recently added to this the renown of being its greatest philosopher, was about to dare what they all wished to have the courage to dare no JEWS 1 COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. He wae, as it were each Jew's best self patting each man's ideal into practice. There were not wanting some friends who urged the dangers, a-id thtse he answered in tones of earnest conviction, " Shall a body of clay stop a soul nrged by eagle's wings ?" he asked. He passed through Cordova exchanging civilities with Joseph ibn Zaddik, passed on to Grana-la, and then took ship for Alexandria. A wondrous calm had fallen on him : he writes with a dignity and force tbat is often missing in his earlier poems. His muse took a higher flight and I may venture to give here a couple of sea pictures probably written during the voyage. The first is the sea in storm, and in my version I have endeavoured to give as nearly as possible the metre or at least the rhyme system of the original. Its technical name is MorvasTicch, or " Girdle rhyme," so called because the last syllable of each stanza in the poem remains the same, and to forms a girdle for it. THE STOEM. The waters roar As their wheels roll o'er, Becoming less and more On the face of the sea. The waters grow black, Grim lowers the rack, The breakers rear back Till the depths you can see. The cauldron bolls o'er With a hiss and a roar, And none can lestore Its tranquillity. To the Lord I wruld call, And I fear to recall And brave men rou s t fear As ihe waves disappear, And a mountain is here, And there a valley. The bhip turns like a vane. Bows and rises again ; And the eye asks in vain, Where, pilots, are ye ? And my heart then stands still, But bows down to His Will Who to Moses gave skill To divide the Red Sea. But to tin I've been thrall. The punishment duo. The last syllable rhymes with other stanzas and thus gives a girdle for the whole poem, which has five stanzas of the same length, each beginning with one of the letters of the poet's name so as to form an acrostic. Even the f aultinees of my version cannot hide the poetic power of the picture, which is certainly remarkable in a mediaeval poet. As a companion picture, in a simpler metre as is appropriate, we may take A CALM NIGHT AT SEA. And when the sun retires to the mansions of the skies Where all the hosts of heaven their general await. The night comes on, an Ethiop queen, her garment all of gold, Comes here decked with azure and there with pearls ornate. And the constellations wander through the centre of the sea Like pilgrims doomed to linger far fr >m all that's consecrate ; Their twinkling forms and figures their likeness reproduce In ocean's mirror and images of flaming fire create. The visage of the ocean and of the heavens mingle here And gather t-harp an i bright in a pattern complicate. And the ocean and the firmament commingle in their hue And form but two oceans that now communicate, And in the very midst of them my heart another sea contains With the echoes of its passion the billows of its fate. I have selected these two specimens of his muse at this time, because they seem to me to have least of the deficiencies of New Hebrew poetry, the naturalness of the emotion produced by the sea, that fit cradle of poetic feeling, overcoming the artificiality of the medium in which they are written. Arrived in Egypr, the poet was received with no less enthusiasm than in his native home. The be&t houses of Egypt welcomed the famous poet and philosopher with open arms, nor was he unwelcome to the daughters of these houses. The temptations, which assailed the youth in " Excelsior," assailed the man of middle JEEUDA EALEVI, POET AND PILGRIM. \\\ age in Egypt. But after a short stay, broken by a visit to Arabia, he took up again his pilgrim's staff and landed at Tyre, and made his way to Damascus, there to seek a favourable opportunity for approaching Zior, for the poet did not wish to commit a needless suicide. It was at Damascus, ylmost at the g*tes of the Paradise for which he yearned that he is said to have written the far famed Zionide, in which all the passion of that yearning is expressed. THE ZIONIDE. Zion,wilt thou not send a greeting to thy captives, Who greet thee as the remnant of thy flocks ? Prom West to East, from North to South, a greeting, From far and near, take thou on all thy sides. A greeting sends the captive of desire who sheds his tears Like dew on Htrmon : would they might fall on thy hills. When I bewail thy affliction my voice is as the Jackal's: When I dream of thy freedom, I am as a harp for thy songs My heart is sorely troubled for Bethel and Peniel, For Mahanaim and all the meetings of thy saints. There the holy Presence ia present to thee and thy Maker Over 'gainst the gates of Heaven ever opes thy gates. The glory of the Lord is thy sole light : nor hast thou Sun nor moon nor stars for thy illumination. I desire that my BOH! be poured out ia tha plase where God's spirit was poured out unto thy saints. Thou wert house of Kings and throne of God I how comes it then That slaves ascend the thrones where sat thy rulers? Who will grant me to wander around the spots where Appeared the angels to thy sight and to thy envoys? Who will make me wings that I may fly and cause The ruins of my heart to move amidst thy ruins ? I will bend my face to thy soil and I'll hold dear Thy very stones and be tender to thy dust. And then when I stand at the graves of my fathers And at Hebron admire the choicest of thy tombs, I will pass through thy fields aad thy forests and stand On Gilead and gaze at thy Mountain Abarim At Mount Abarim and Mount Hor where are The two great luminaries, thy lighters and thy leaders. Life of the soul is the air of thy earth and pure myrrh The grains of thy dust and honey of the comb thy streams It would rejoice my soul to go, even naked and barefoot, Toward* the ruins where once were thy fanes. To the place where the Ark was treasured and the spot where The Cherubim dwelt in the innermost recesses. I rend and cast hence the beauty of my locks and curse fate That in earth contaminate defiles thy Nuzarites How can I care for meat or for drink at a time When I see curs devour the whelps of thy lions ? Or how can the light of the day be a Joy to my eyes Wben I see in the maw of the raven the flesh of thy eagles ? Cup of sorrow, away I and cease for a while 1 for laden Heavily are my loins and my soul with thy bitterness At the hour that I call to mind Ohola I taste of thy poison And when I remember Oholiba I drain all thy drega. 114 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. O Zion, perfect of beauty, them oombinest lore and grace From of old and in theo unite the oul8ofthjr companions They rejoice In thy prosperity, they are pained At thy desertion, and they are weeping for thy ruin. From the depths of the captivity they are longing for thy presence Each from his place is bowing towards thy gates. The flocks of thy own host that are exiled and are spread Over mountain and o'er plain, yet do not forget Uiy folds They are clinging to the fringes of thy garments and they hasten To rise up and to seize the branches of thy palms. Shinar and Patmo?, can they near thee with all their greatness? Nay, vanities are they compared with thy Light and thy Right To what compare thy anointed and to what thy seers And to what compare thy Levites and thy singers ? Mutable and transient is the sov'ranty of idols Thy power eternal, from age to age thy crown. Thy God desires thee for His dwelling, and blessed the man He has chosen to be brought near t > dwell in thy court. Blessed is he that awaits and draws near and sees the rising Of thy lights and upon him breaks forth thy dawn And that sees the welfare of thy sa-'nts and exults in Thy Joy and thy return to the old way? of thy youth. The poem has the defects of want of concentration and over-elaboration, bnt under the old world phrases yon can hear the human heart-throbs that are of all time. In power of compressed emotion it comes nearer to the Psalms than any of the New Hebrew poems. It is a fitting swan's song for the " captive of desire," as he calls himself, the lover of Jerusalem. For at Damascus history loses sight of him. There are some indications that he was not spared the last pathos of a disappoiutment. A poem headed " After he had seen the Holy City," speaks in terms of disenchantment, but the heading i 8 uncertain, and history leaves him at Damascus. Bat if history fails us, legend supplies the gap and you all know the story of the grey haired poet, pierced with the lance of a parsing Arab, just as his longing eyes had caught sight of the walls of Jerusalem, and he was reciting the Zionide. The legend is probably false, as the only authority for it is Gedilya's "Chain of Tradition," which has been irreverently but truthfully called " The Chain of Lies." But the myth may be true though the fact is not, for it embodies the thoughts of men as to how such a man should die. And so having lived an ideal life he dies in legend a death that is also ideal. It is this union of idea and act, of inner conviction and outward deed, that gives the dramatic unity to Halevi's life, and makes him, of mediaeval Jews, the typical figure to which men of Jewish blood still look back with something akin to personal affection and enthusiastic reverence. For in all time men will regard those who, like Jehnda Halevi, have dared greatly because they loved much, as the patterns and exemplars of human excellence. THE EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS. 113 THE EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS. BY JOSEPH F. STERN. Somebody once said very pertinently of Mr. Ruskin : " When he wants to work out a subject, he writes a book on it." It is a similar reason that I have to offer to you this evening as an excuse for my rashness in complying with the request of our learned President to occupy the place which has been and, we hope, will further be occupied by great and learned men in the field of Hebrew Literature. The paper, which I am about to read, was written with a view of decreasing my own ignorance rather than of increasing the knowledge of the learned audience whom it is my honour to address, and among whom there are some who were once my teachers and others at whose feet I still gladly sit. The simple subject I have chosen will be, I am sure, a sufficient confirmation of the justice of this remark. For, it is but fair to assume that an audience which has listened with appreciative interest to lectures on such difficult and comprehensive subjects as have been treated in some papers read during the present Session, cannot be ignorant of the history of a literary fragment, which occupies the most prominent position in the Jewish Prayer Book, and, as such, forms the most important element of the three daily services of the synagogue. But at the same time, I may be a 1 lowed to express the hope that this paper will be read with interest by many \vho do not attend these meetings, and are unable to make researches for themselves on a subject upon which there is little to be read in our own language. But before I proceed to examine the Eighteen Benedictions, I will, by way of introduction, consider Prayer in the abstract, and briefly review the information which the Bible gives us on the subject. First then what is Prayer ? Prayer has been defined to be an emotion of the soul and a spiritual communication which man has with his Maker, to whom he addresses his petitions and offers his adoration. Though our reason tells us that it is inconceivable that the entreaties of creatures as erring and as blind as we are, can influence the all- wise purpose of God, yet we feel an internal voice, more potent and persuasive than reason, which assures us that to pray to Him in trouble ia an irrepressible instinct of our nature an instinct which precedes teaching, which survives experience, which defies philosophy. But although it is not my intention to offer any philosophical explanation of the mystery which attaches to Prayer it may be interesting to give the views of the great philosopher Maimonides on the subject. In the Moreh Nebuchim (Part III., chapter xxxvi), occurs a passage, which in Dr. Friedlander's translation, runs thus : " We are told to offer up prayers to God, in order to establish firmly the true principle that God takes notice of our ways, that He can make them successful if we worship Him, or disastrous if we disobey Him, that success and failure are not the result of chance or accident. In this sense we must understand the passage, ' If ye walk with me by chance' (be-kcri. Lev. xxvi, 21), i.e., if I bring troubles upon you for punishment, p 114 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. and you consider them as mere accidents, I will again send you some of these acci- dents as you call them, but of a more serious and troublesome character. This is expressed in the words : ' If ye walk with me by chance : then I will walk with you also in the fury of chance' (ibid vers., 27, 28). For the belief of the people that their troubles are mere accidents causes them to continue in their evil principles and their wrong actions, and prevents them from abandoning their evil ways. For this reason God commanded us to pray to Him, to entreat Him, and to cry before Him in the time of trouble." According to Maimonides (Yad Hachazaka, Hilchoth Tefillah i., 1), the duty of praying to God and giving expression to our feelings of gratitude for His blessings is implied in the words " Ye shall serve God" (Ex. xxiii., 25 \ Prayer has been termed the " service of the heart" (See Rashito Deut. xi., 31), in accordance with the well-known words of the Shema " and to serve Him with all your heart." And it has been justly so called, for the source of Prayer is the heart of man and its origin as old as humanity itself. Before men were distinguished by race, language or belief they felt intuitively the power of Prayer. The practice of Prayer may be traced to the very earliest times ; for as soon as man, through the exercise of his intellectual faculties, became aware of the existence of an omnipotent and beneficent God, and was thus led to reflect on his own frail nature and total dependence on that Being, it was but natural that to Him he should address his supplications and his praises. It is in this sense, no doubt, that the Midrash, which ascribes the Psalm for the Sabbath day (Psalm xcii.) to the first man, is to b e understood. To pay homage to God and to propitiate Him, to merit and obtain His protection were the objects which gave rise to the religious sentiment in man. And as a sentiment cannot long exist in the human heart without finding a material expression, and assuming an outward form, the religious sentiment has always naturally and necessarily been represented by some form of worship. One form of worship that was almost universally accepted among men, was the sacrifice of the best of God's gifts. It was undoubtedly the most ancient form ; for it may be traced not only to the patriarchs and their time, but still further back to Noah, and even to the immediate descendants of Adam, many generations before " men began to call upon the name of the Lord." The sacrifices of Cain and Abel are recorded as the earliest and most primitive form of divine worship ; and the Book of Genesis contains many other instances of prayer and sacrificial worship offered by the patriarchs to implore divine assistance in and protection from impending dangers and to express their thanks for past deliverance. We find that Moses was frequently engaged in Prayer and the historical examples he has left us of its wonderful effec s may well strike us with awe and strengthen our faith in this most spiritual of forma of worship. But although many beautiful and sublime prayers are recorded in various parts of the Bible there are no directions as to Prayer given in the Mosaic law ; the duty is rather taken for granted than enforced or elaborated. And even if in the general admonition "to serve God" (Deut. x. 12 and 20) the duty of prayer be im- plied, it does not appear that any obligation or any special formulas or appointed times for prayer were then established, but prayers were uttered as man's feelings or as occasion called them forth. The only form of prayer given for general use in the Pentateuch is the thanksgiving commanded to be recited (Deut. xxvi. 5 15 ) in connection with the offering of tithes and first fruits, and containing in simple form the important elements of prayer, acknowledgement of God's mercy, self- dedication, and prayer for future blessings. To this may perhaps be added the priestly benediction ^Numbers vi. 2426) and the short prayers of Moses at the moving and resting of the Ark (Num. x. 3538). But it is hardly conceivable that even from the beginning, public prayer did not follow every public sacrifice as regularly as the incense, to which prayer has indeed been compared by the Psalmist in the words, " Let my prayer be set forth as incense before Thee, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice " (cxli. 2). Probably it was the^custom of those at THE EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS. 115 Jerusalem to go up to tb.3 Temple at regular hours, if possible, for private prayer,and those who were absent from the Holy City were wont "to open their windows towards Jerusalem," and to pray ' towards the plaoe of God's presence" (I. Kings viii ; Dan- vi. 10). The Temple is emphatically called the " House of Prayer " (Is. Ivi. 7) ; it could not be otherwise, if " He who hears prayer " (Ps. Ixv. 2) there especially mani- fested His Presence ; and the prayer of Solomon offered at its consecration (I. Kings viii. 30, 35, 38) implies that in it were offered both the private prayers of the individual and the public prayers of all Israel. The further we proceed in history the more general the knowledge of prayer becomes, and in the later Biblical books the order to pray is still more impressively ordained (Ps. 1. 15 ; Jer. Tm'v, 12). Thus the Psalmist speaks of praying three times a day, morning, afternoon, and evening ; and by a passage in the Book of Daniel (vi. 10) it is settled beyond doubt that the Israelites had then long been accustomed to pray three times a day towards the Holy City of Jerusalem. But a proof, which renders all further enquiry on this point unnecessary, is found in the fact that King David composed for public worship many Psalms, for which there would have been no occasion unless such worship had been actually celebrated. If further arguments for the general practice of prayer as a religious duty among the ancient Hebrews be demanded, they may certainly be found in the fact that no truth is more indisputably taught in the Bible, or more frequently brought into view, both in the Historical and Poetical Books, than that God is the hearer of prayer, and that of all languages the Hebrew is essentially the language of prayer, there being no less than ten expressions for the word " Prayer " (Sif re, Dent. iii. 23), and more than twenty synonyms expressive of petition, supplication, and thanksgiving in the Hebrew language. The Midrash (Shocher Tob. Ps. xxxi.) plainly states that as Latin is the language of War, and Greek that of Oratory, so Hebrew is the lan- guage of Prayer. Nevertheless a regular formula of prayer for our nation can only be dated from the Babylonian Captivity and the time of the institution of the Great Synagogue. Some maintain (e.g., Krochmal, see Kerem Chemed, vol. v., p. 63) that the Great Assembly convened by Nehemiah(x. 1 10)was the first that received the title rPlTin OD33. At all events from tradition it seems certain that at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah the Great Synagogue existed. Dean Stanley (Lectures on the Jewish Church, lect. xli) com- menting on the revival of spiritual religion which is so remarkable a feature of the exile, aptly says : " Man's necessity is God's opportunity, the loss of earthly ceremonial is the occasion for heavenward aspirations. And hence it is that from the Captivity dates, nob indeed the first use, but the continual and frequent use of prayer ' as a potent instrument for maintaining the nobler part of man,' as the chief access to the Invisible Divinity. Prayer now literally took the place of their morning and evening sacrifice, their morning and evening incenxe. Now for the first time we hear of men ' kneeling upon their knees three times a day ' (Dan. vi. 10) praying and making application before God (Dan. ix. 3, 19). Now for the first time assemblies for prayer and lamentation and praise, as afterwards in houses and synagogues, were gathered together by the water-side 'by the rivers of Babylon' (Ps. cxxxvii. 1) by the river of Ulai' (Dan. viii. 2) 'by the river of Hiddekel' (Dan. x. 4) 'by the river of the Mesopotamian Nile ' (Dan. xii. 5, 6, 7), to supply the place of the brazen laver of the Temple Courts. Now more distinctly than before do we hear of faithful, worshippers in fixed forms of prayer ' setting their faces unto the Lord their God to seek by prayer and supplication that He would hear and do, hearken and forgive for His own sake.' The long prayers which henceforth appear in the sacred books are only the reflection of the earnestness, power, and constancy with which this most simple and wonderful instrument for strengthening the spirit laid hold on every branch of life" >Dan. ix., 3, 19). One of the elements of this regeneration of spiritual life, then, was the introduction of certain fixed Prayers, as a substitute for sacrifice, which now took root in Jewish worship. The Eighteen Blessings, which P 2 116 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. are still recited both in public and domestic worship, and of which some at least are, both by ancient tradition and modern criticism, ascribed to the time of Ezra, are the first example of a formulated Liturgy. Having thus traced the gradual development of Prayer, we are led to the con- sideration of these first traces of a Liturgy, to the Eighteen Benedictions. The history of the ritual till within recent years lay buried beneath a mass of critical difficulties which have only partly been removed by the investigations of such scholars as Zunz and Rapoport. Wide differences of opinion still exist in the minds of the learned on all questions pertaining to our liturgy. There may be some who would like to consider the whole of the Prayer Book aa we now possess it the prayer for the Royal Family perhaps included as the work of the Men of the Great Synagogue in the time of Ezra. There are, on the other hand, certainly many so-called men of culture and enlightenment who would feel ashamed to confess that in the modern synagogues of this wonderful age of progress, the same worda of prayer are uttered, and in the same old-fashioned language too, as were poured forth many centuries ago, from the hearts of our pious and patriotic ancestors as they stood in the Temple Court. But there are fortunately some, few though they be, who form the golden mean, who revere the past as the father of much that is good and wise in the present, but worship it not as an idol consecrated wholly and solely by its venerable age. It is to such men that we are indebted for what we know of the history of our liturgy. Of the several portions of the liturgy attributed to the Men of the Great Synagogue the most important is the Tefillah or Shemone Esreh. Among the Sephardim the P'-ayer is generally known as the Amedah (compare also Zohar Bere- Bhith) and is so called because it is the practice to stand still while praying (Mishnah Berachoth v. 1). These Eighteen Benedictions are mentioned in various parts of the Talmud and Midrash. In the Mishnah Berachoth (iv. 3) R. Gamaliel says that it is man's duty to say the prayer of the Eighteen Benedictions every day, and the fourth and fifth chapters of this Tractate are devoted to the rules concerning this prayer. On first glancing at the Amedah we notice that it consists of three distinct parts. The first is known as HpHD, " Praise of God " ; the second i"I>i33, " Petition or Prayer " ; and the third i"l&nin, " Thanksgiving." Of these the first and third are common to all Amedahs throughout the year, while in place of the ordinary petition dealing with our wants, cares and troubles, special passages applicable to the sacred days of rest are inserted on Sabbaths and Festivals. The above arrangement is in accordance with the dictum of the wise men who say that we should follow the example of Moses (Deut. iii. 23-25) who, in his prayer, first uttered the praise of God and then added his petition that he might be permitted to enter the promised land (Tal. Bab. Aboda Zara, 7b.). Or, as it is expressed in another part of the Talmud (Berachoth 34a), in prayer man should comport himself like a servant who first praises his master, then makes his petition and finally retires with thanksgiving from his presence. We speak of the Shemone Esreh as consisting of Eighteen Benedictions. But if we count them we shall find that there are nineteen. In another part of this paper it will be explained how the Shemone Esreh came to consist of nineteen benedictions ; for the present it will be sufficient to admit that there were once only eighteen. But our ancestors were not so easily satisfied. They wanted to know why there were just eighteen. One may as well ask why there should be Ten Commandmente or Thirteen Creed?, as why Israel's prayer should consist of Eighteen Benedictions. But it was the peculiar manner of the Talmud to find Biblical supports, or perhaps we should rather call them pleasing mnemonics, by which facts could be easily retained in memory, in the same way as we at the present time express the Jewish year, not by disconnected letters which are difficult to remember, but by a happy Biblical verse or expression of the same numerical value. So that when the Talmud introduces a question with the words 'D 1533, " to what can this be said to refer ?" the answer THE EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS. 117 must be received in the same spirit as it is given, viz., as an example of the habit that the Rabbis had, of wishing to discover something good and beautiful in every- thing and of calling to mind interesting lessons whenever opportunity offered itself. With this explanation I will give some of the Hagadic reasons for the number eighteen. Because God's name occurs eighteen times in Psalm xxix., which is alle- gorically explained as referring to the eighteen benedictions (Hidrash Tehillim Psalm xxix. ; see Jellinek Bet ha-Midrash, vol. v., p. 55). Because God's name occurs eighteen times in the Shema (Berachoth 28b ; Vayikra Rabba, chap. i.). Because the patriarchs are mentioned eighteen times in the Pentateuch (Bereshith Rabba, ch. Ixix.) Another reason is because there are eighteen Psalms before the one commencing with the words : " the Lord will answer thee in the day of trouble " (Ps. xx. 2). This last reason has preserved an interesting Biblical fact, viz., that the first two Psalms were by some considered to be one. In the same way the Hagadah has endeavoured to ascertain the basis of the order of the benedictions for which various reasons have been given. In the Talmud (Megillah 17b.) Scriptural passages are adduced in sup- port both of the subject matter and the accepted order of the Shemone Esreh. A few examples will best explain that the order of prayer was not based on such reasons but that the reasons were fancifully and sometimes ingeniously founded on the accepted order. The Talmud shall speak for itself. "Why," asks the Talmud, "does the prayer for Understanding follow immediately after the Kedusha " 1 (Sanctifica- tion of God). For an answer we are referred to the sequence of two verses in Isaiah (xxix. 23-24) where we read : " Yea, they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall stand in awe of the God of Israel. They also that err in spirit shall come to understanding and they that murmur shall learn instruction." In the first verse is mentioned the sanctification of the Holy One of Jacob, in the second Understanding and Instruction. Therefore the prayer for Understanding must follow the Sanctifi- cation. In the same way the passage, " And their heart shall understand and turn again " (Isaiah vi. 10) is quoted to show that the benediction for Repentance should follow the one for Understanding. Again it is asked (ibid) " Why should the bene- diction for Redemption occupy the seventh place ? " No verse is brought as a support but we are reminded that Israel is to be redeemed in the seventh year. But before we further examine the structure of the Amedah and its subject matter, it will be well if we consider the Talmudical references which have come down to us concerning its compilation. We are told in one passage (Sif re Deut. xxxiii. 2) that the D'JIK'SOn D^DDfl the "wise men of antiquity," instituted the Shemone Esreh. It would be impossible to fix any date, or any approximate date with any degree of certainty, to these D'JIK'fcOn D'D3H, for there is no notice of any assembly of wise men known distinctively by this name. It seems that this term is used by the Rabbis to point out the antiquity of an institution, the exact age of which it is impossible to tell. In other words it is an admission on the part of the author of this passage that the Shemone Esreh had been handed down of course orally and that its precise date was not known. And here it will be interesting to give a some, what lengthy Midrash first quoted by the author of " Shebole Haleket " (13th century) I quote it in its complete form from Sefer Tanya (14th century). (See Jellinek Bet ha-Midrash, vol. v., p. 54). " We read in the Talmud that Simon Hapekuli arranged the Eighteen Benedictions before R. Gamaliel in Jamnia " "HOil ?JJ " according to their order. " According to what order," asks the Hagadah. And it answers : " According to certain historical events ; for we find that the Eighteen Benedictions were instituted one after another from the very earliest times and were finally col- lected and arranged in this order by the men of the Great Synagogue." Thus, when Abraham our father was delivered from the fire of the Chaldees the ministering angels praised God and said : " Blessed art Thou O Lord, the shield of Abraham." When Isaac our father was bound upon the altar, and his ashes were scattered upon. 118 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. Mount Moriah, God caused dew to descend upon him and he was brought to life. (Cf . Psalm cxxxii. 2). Then the ministering angels praised God and said : " Blessed art Thou Lord who bringest to life the dead." When Jacob our father came near to the Gates of Heaven and sanctified the name of God, then the ministering angels praised God and said : " Blessed art Thou Lord the Holy God." When Pharaoh appointed Joseph ruler over Egypt and examined him in seventy languages, the angel Gabriel came and taught him the seventy languages ; then the ministering angels praised God and said : " Blessed art Thou O Lord who graciously bestowest know- ledge." When Reuben sinned (Gen. xxxv. 22) and was to be punished with death he repented ; then the angels praised God and said : " Blessed are Thou O Lord who art pleased with repentance." When Judah confessed his guilt (Gen. xxxviii. 26), and was forgiven for his sin, then the angels praised God and said : " Blessed art Thou Lord who art gracious and dost abundantly pardon." When the Egyptians made bitter the lives of our fathers and God said : " I will redeem them," then the angels praised God as the " Redeemer of Israel." When the angel Raphael came to heal Abraham, the angels praised God as the " Healer of the sick." When Isaac sowed and gathered a hundred fold the angels praised God for " Blessing the years." When Jacob came to Egypt and saw Joseph and Simeon so that the whole family was again united the angels praised God for " Bringing together the outcasts of Israel." When the Law was given and God said to Moses : " these are the judgments that thou shalt put before them," the angels praised God as "Loving righteousness and justice.' 1 When the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea the angels praised God for " De- stroying enemies and humbling the proud." When God said to Jacob : " And Joseph shall put his hand on thine eyes," he rejoiced and trusted in God's word, and when Joseph put his two hands on Jacob's eyes and kissed him and wept upon him, the angels praised God as " the support and confidence of the righteous." When Solomon built the Temple, the angels praised God as " the Builder of Jerusalem." When Israel was saved and passed over the Red Sea and sang the Song of Moses, the angels praised God for " causing the horn of salvation to spring forth." When Israel was persecuted and they cried to God and their cry went up to God, the angels praised God as " the Hearer of Prayer." When Israel made the Tabernacle and God's glory came down and dwelt among them, the angels praised God and said " Blessed art Thou Lord who restorest thy divine presence unto Zion." When Solomon brought in the Ark to the Temple and praised God, then the angels also praised God and said " Goodness is thy name and unto Thee it is fitting to give thanks. When Israel entered the promised land and the promised peace became a reality, then the minis- tering angels praised God " the Giver of peace." Therefore when the Men of the Great Synagogue came and in their wisdom arranged the Eighteen Benedictions in this order, then the ministering angels praised God and said : " Blessed is He who knows secrets and has given wisdom to those that fear Him for they are the descend- ants of a great nation as Moses said to them : " For what great nation is there that hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is whensoever we call upon Him." Many passages of this Midrash are to be found in the Boraitha of R. Elieser (according to Rapoport Kerem Chemed, vii., 17, composed about the end of the eighth century, A.C.), but there is little doubt that it contains elements of more ancient Midrashim. But behind all this cloud of legends it is not difficult to discover the nucleus of fact round which it has gathered. If we were asked to explain this Midrash we could say that it tells us in its own peculiar way, that the Eighteen Benedictions which constitute our Prayer at the present time, were a development, the component parts of which were the result of circumstances that have arisen in the history of our nation. All statements as to the age of each separate part of such a compilation must be received with great caution. For it is impossible to follow up to a living source, a stream which has been broken by so many intersections that its course gradually comes to a standstill, its bed lost in the THE EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS. 119 sand of time and its waters carried off by canals and artificial reservoirs. But there are turning points in history which are so deeply marked by religious revival that we naturally look for traces of new prayers. And no one will deny that the period of the Babylonian captivity was well suited for such prayers as those which make up the Eighteen Benedictions. The Psalms which express, the Prophecies which console, the History which records the sorrows of the exiled Israelites all support this view. For we have ample evidence that the period of the Captivity was a time of great religious activity. Among the exiles there were several prophets, and these, together with the elders of the nation, who are frequently mentioned in the literary productions of this period, were not the men to allow the national spirit to die out. Like spiritual leaders of later ages they, no doubt, did all in their power to revive the national hopes and aspirations. And to what more potent weapon could they have resorted than to that which has ever been Israel's trusty sword and arrow, to " Fervent, well-directed prayers, Which are the great artil ery of Heaven ? " Longfellow. The prophet Jeremiah, we are told, counselled the exiles, to seek the peace of the city of their captivity (Jer. xxix, 7), but we can by no means imagine that he was forgetful of the "latter end and hope," of the glorious future that had been promised to his nation. Might we not then infer that the passage in the Sif re which attributes the institution of the Shemone Esreh to the C^IKiOn D'"1231 refers to the time of the Babylonian captivity ? In accepting this view we are, to some extent, denying the accuracy of the conclusions arrived at by Zunz and other eminent critics who hold that no part of the Shemone Esreh, as it exists at the present day, is earlier thair the time of Simon the Just at the close of the Great Synagogue. This may be true as far as the language and form of the prayer are concerned, but the view of Weiss (Bikkurim 5625) which I have ventured to defend, is based on strong circumstantial evidence, and has nothing to do with the form of prayer but refers exclusively to the spirit and subject of the prayer. It is more than probable that at this early time there was no settled form or Authorised Text of the Benedictions, but if the above mentioned tradition of the Sif re is to be literally accepted, the Eighteen Benedictions were a real" ity before the time of the Great Synagogue, and if human nature has remained un- changed, the subjects of these Benedictions were after the destruction of the first Temple, such as they are at the present time, after the destruction of the second. We must now consider another Talmudical tradition, which says : " One hundred and twenty elders, and among them many prophets arranged the order of the Eighteen Benedictions" (Babli Megilla 1 7b, Jerushalmi Berachoth ii, 14,andMegillaii,3). This notice confirms the view that the Men of the Great Synagogue were not the authors of the Eighteen Benedictions, but merely its editors or compilers. After the return' to Palestine and the restoration of the Temple service the question no doubt arose as to what place Prayer should take in the new order of things, and the above mentioned tra- dition and others of a similar nature (Berachoth 33a) clearly testify as to what answer was given. The Eighteen Benedictions were now arranged by the greatest ecclesias- tical authority that has ever controlled the affairs of Judaism. And thus they were marked with a stamp of authority which did not distinguish them before. But it may be said that several of the Benedictions, such as those referring to the gathering to- gether of the exiles and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, were inappropriate to the period after the restoration. This must be denied, for it is evident that the return was not that of the whole of the exiles. Those who had been transplanted from the the North of Palestine in the Assyrian Captivity never returned at all, or only in small numbers, and of those who had been taken to Babylon and become settlers there, many were content to remain as voluntary exiles in the land of their adop- tion. In all only about 42,000 exiles made use of the permission to return and fol- lowed Zerubbabel and Joshua to the Holy Land. And here it may not be out of 120 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. place to call attention to a passage in Deutsch's article on the Targums (Literary Remains, page 321), which in so popular a work should not be allowed to remain in- corrected. Referring to the exiles who returned to Palestine, he continues, " and these, according to tradition, the lowest of the low, the poor in wealth, in knowledge, and in ancestry (Tal. Bab. Kiddushin 69b) the very outcasts and refuse of the nation as it were." In a note on this passage he quotes as a support for his assertion the saying of the Talmud (ibid.), " Ezra, on leaving Babylon, made it like unto pure flour." Deutsch's application of this saying clearly proves that he misunderstood its mean- ing. But it will at least be granted that of whatever social status the returned exiles miy have been, they evinced a noble character and a deep religious enthusiasm in unhesitatingly exchanging the comfort of their homes for the disadvantages of a ruined and desolate country. They had to contend with many grave difficulties, and it was not till twenty years after the return, till 516 B.C., that the second Temple was finished and consecrated. And when this crowning stone completed the glorious work of restoration it must be confessed that the real return fell far short of the ideal. " The Holy of Holies was empty. The Ark, the Cherubim, the Tables of Stone, the Vase of Manna, the Rod of Aaron were gone. Even the High Priest though he had recovered his official dress, had not been able to resume the breast- plate with the oracular stones." The rejoicing at the consecration was not un- mingled with tears. Thus the Benedictions of the Shemone Esreh would have a more real interest, now that prophecy was commencing to be fulfilled, than they had be- fore. Those who returned must certainly have been filled with sorrow and indignation at the voluntary absence of so many thousands of Israel who were scattered to the four corners of the earth. They must certainly have prayed for the complete restor- ation and the revival of Jerusalem's former glory as had been predicted by the pro- phets. But this enthusiasm would last but for a time. Prayers for the complete restoration of the Jewish state and the re-establishment of the house of David may h-jve been general for some time after the restoration, but this interest could not be lasting. Men are too apt to become satisfied with their present condition to reflect long on ideals which appear to be beyond their reach. And it must be confessed that prosperity is not as a rule conducive to spiritual progress. It is probable, then, that the Eighteen Benedictions began as gradually to decline and to fall into disuse as before they had begun to develop and become general. Those who were in Palestine became gradually satisfied with the restoration as it had been accomplished in them, those who were still voluntary exiles could be expected to take but little interest in the national hopes. But in addition to this indifference there were many other causes at work to account for this gradual decline in religious affairs. And here it will be well to sketch briefly the course of events in the political world which has always so great an influence on religion. Fronc the close of the Great Synagogue to the dissolution of the kingdom comprises a period of nearly three hundred years (219 B.C. to 70 B.C.). During these three hundred years the Jews underwent much persecution, Under the Syrian rule the very existence of Judaism was threatened. The most important commands of the Bible were forbidden to be observed on pain of death. Public worship could only be practised in the greatest secrecy, and even then with the utmost danger to those who took part in it. Saveral passages of the Talmud which allude to public worship being carried on in caves and other unusual places may perhaps be taken as referring to this period. Some (Landeshut, Higgayon Leb) would ascribe the composition of several of the Eighteen Benedictions also to this period, but their arguments are by no means con- clusive. Be this as it may, there is no lack of evidence to prove that it was Judaism itself that the Syrian rulers desired to overthrow and uproot. When the Jews were again under their own rulers there was still less hope for the peaceful development of Judaism. For during the Syrian wars the Jews of all classes gathered round the banner of their religion and joined hands in defence of the common cause, and thus Judaism gained the victory. But no sooner was the war at an end than disunion and THE EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS. 121 party strife, contentions between Pharisees and Sadducees much more disastrous to religion than real warfare took its place. To this internal disagreement can be traced the gradual rise of the Roman supremacy over Palestine and the final dissolu- tion of the kingdom. As long as the Jews worked with one mind and with one accord Judaism was able to battle the storm of persecution and to revive and flourish, but as soon as internal dissension became rife, the religion become endangered. " During the dominion of the Roman governors,'" says Steinschneider, "through the last struggles of the declining nation (45-70 A.C.), and under the cruel measures of the conquerors, learning could not fail to decay." And as the prayer of the synagogue was closely connected with the learning of the schools, the decay of the one meant the decay of the other. " After the complete cessation of the sacrificial worship," to quote the words of Steinschneider again, " prayers received a greater extension, the Halachah exalted irayer to a duty, and thus involved its f ormularisation almost as a necessary conse- quence." And this brings us to the consideration of the third tradition concerning the Eighteen Benedictions. In this tradition (Berachoth 28b.) the compilation of the Benedictions is ascribed to a certain Simon Hapekuli before R. Gamaliel II. in Jam- aia. " But have we not already learned," asks the Talmud with an air of surprise, " that the Men of the Great Synagogue compiled the Eighteen Benedictions /" The answer given in reconciliation of these two traditions is : " they had forgotten them and they therefore compiled them again " (ibid). These various traditions have been subjected to much severe criticism and have indeed been declared to be unauthentic.' But it is very easy and much too general to reject tradition whenever it is somewhat difficult to reconcile it with information from other sources. In the case of the Shemone Esreh the traditions we have considered are fully verified by the teach- ings of history. After the dissolution of the kingdom, the Sanhedrin was removed to Jainnia and various new institutions were introduced to suit the altered circum- stances of time and place. Nine of these Tekonoth, as they are called, are recorded in the Talmud, as having been instituted by R. Jochanan ben Zaccai, who had assumed the leadership of the Sanhedrin (Rosh Hashona, 31b). It was at this time that the Shemone Esreh was reconsidered under the supervision of R. Gamaliel II. It is very possible that on this occasion a settled text of the benedictions was drawn up for general use. For several sayings ascribed to contemporaries of R. Gamaliel II. are recorded in the Talmud, which may be considered as a protest against the rigidity of an unbending form of prayer. R. Elieser (Mishnah Berachoth, iv. 4) saya that prayers which are said as a fixed duty cannot be considered as supplication. In the same spirit R. Simon (Mishnah Aboth ii. 18 ) said : "Be careful in reading the Shema and the Tefillah so that when you pray, your prayer should not be as a fixed form but as heartfelt supplication before God." This opposition to fixed forms of prayer which was still more strongly expressed by the teachers of the third and fourth centuries, shows thati much license was still allowed among the learned in the composition of prayers. It is said of R. Jose, R. Elasar and R. Abahu (Jerushalmi, Berachoth iv. 5) that they were accustomed to introduce a new benediction or an original prayer every day. The two latter Rabbis also warned those who prayed according to the fixed form not to read their prayers as they would a letter (ibid). As a disciple of the Rabbis I may be allowed to say that fixed liturgies have always appeared to me to be of the greatest importance to devotion. For in times of great over, whelming joy or sorrow, when no words could fathom the depths of the heart when almost every human voice would fall outside it altogether, or jar rudely if it reached within, there is a wonderful comfort in the calm of these ancient immu- table liturgies. They are a channel worn deep by the joys and sorrows of ages. Their changelessness links them with eternity, and seems thus to make room for the sorrow which overflows the narrow measures of thought and time. The Shemone Esreh is indeed no ordinary prayer in which the worshipper gives utterance to the desires which most concern himself and for the gratification of which he calls upon 122 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. God. Self is to some extent forgotten in this prayer, for the mind of the worshipper is elevated far above the mere material wants and cravings of ordinary life. But at the same time the Shemone Esreh has been so skilfully constructed, and in language, so simple, that it has been aptly termed " the heart's own language ; " everyone feels as if the prayer were expressly composed for himself so well does it deal with every interest that we have occasion to pray for, both as a nation and as individuals. The Shemone Esreh is not a mere collection of Eighteen or Nineteen Benedictions strung loosely together without consideration of connection or sequence. On examination it will be found that the Shemone Esreh forms one complete prayer the ideas of which follow in a strictly logical order. In the Eighteen Benedictions it is the Jew who prays bc.t it is the voice of Judaism that speaks. The nation, as it were, comes before its King. For in this prayer the national characteristic of the Jew is most distinctly brought out. This characteristic is Religion and it is the voice of Religion, of the national Religion of the Jew, that is heard speaking in many passages of the Shemone Esreh. The highest principles of Judaism are contained in this praj'er and the worshipper who repeats it cannot fail to realise the grand teachings of his religion when they are forcibly brought home to him as he stands in prayer. The child, who is learning to translate the Shemone Esreh, is at the same time being initiated into the fundamental principles of his religion, and thus the Prayer serves a twofold purpose. It elevates the mind to God, as all prayer should ; it awakens the national character as no other prayer can. The invocation called JTQX J")3~Q brings back the mind of the worshipper to the dawn of Jewish history as he calls upon the God of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the self- same words in which God revealed Himself to Moses the Lawgiver (Ex. iii., 15). In this Invocation the belief in the existence of One only God is expressed and his- tory is brought as a witness of its truth. As the Jew utters the words of the J"I13X he is reminded of his mission, a mission firs c entrusted to the patriarchs. No more appropriate Invocation to a national prayer can be imagined than one which awakens the historic feeling by reviving in the mind of the worshipper the first founders of his nation. No Invocation more apt to arouse religious feeling can be suggested than that which testifies to the first religious truth, to the existence of God, which was so clearly manifested in the history of our first ancestors. In the second Benediction, in the mTQJ, the same idea is continued, but more clearly defined. While the first appeals to our historic sense, and therefore assumes at starting our trust in history, the second Benediction appeals, not to our faith, but to our reason. In the flm3J it is nature that proclaims the existence of God. In this Benediction the power and goodness of God are linked together, His sovereingty over the Universe with His care for the most trivial of His creatures. As in the preceding Benediction the present was connected with the past, in this the present is joined with the future, with the resurrection of the dead, when God will be universally acknowledged. Thus in the first two Benedictions we have clearly expressed, and in a most poetical style, the great creed of Israel's faith " that God was, is and ever will be." And in the third Benediction, in the ntJ^lp, the climax is reached, the greatness of God is realised in all its heavenly grandeur, man can only lift up his feeble voice in sanctification, and exclaim in the language of the Angels, " Holy ! Holy ! Holy ! is the Lord of Hosts, the whole world is filled with His glory " (Isaiah vi. 3). With the fourth Bene- diction the HtJ'pD or Prayer commences. It speaks well for the ancient Jews ? that they considered understanding to be the gummum bonum of man. For it must here be remarked that the Benedictions are arranged according to the importance of the subjects of which they treat. But it must not be thought that it is for great wisdom and knowledge for which we pray in this Benediction. Wisdom and knowledge are indeed great blessings, but they cannot be said to be the great essentials of life. Man can be happy, that is to say virtuous, for happiness and virtue are synonyms in Judaism, without being wise and THE EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS. 123 profound. In the Benediction we pray for wisdom and knowledge of the highest character, for the understanding, for which King Solomon prayed, the power to distinguish between good and evil. It can even be said that in this Benediction we ask God to give us understanding, so that we may know how to pray and for what to pray. It is interesting to point out that in the additional service of the New Year, there is a special prayer for the Reader, in which God is entreated to be with the mouths of those whom His people Israel have deputed to stand in His presence, to pray and supplicate for the House of Israel ; to teach them what they shall say, to instruct them what they shall speak. (Valentine's Edition, page 205). And here it will be well to quote a passage from the Cusari(Book III., 19), which explains not only the import of this Benediction, but its connection with the following Benedic- tions. The Master explains the Jewish order of prayer to the King and says, " It is right to place the prayer for Understanding in the first place, for it is by means of his intellect that man is brought near to God, and it is for this reason that the prayer for Repentance follows the one for understanding, viz., to teach us that our understanding should be applied to the Law and Service of God. And because man, in spite of his reason, is led into temptation and sin, he prays for Forgiveness, and joins with this Benediction, another for Redemption which can only be brought about by forgiveness of sin. Then he prays for health of body and soul, and then for bodily and spiritual support. Af terwards he prays for the regathering of Israel, for the appointment of righteous judges, for the downfall of presumptuous sinners and the prosperity of the just and good. Then follow the Benedictions for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, for the House of David and finally for the hearing of Prayer. And he concludes his Prayer with Benedictions for the restoration of the Divine glory which we hope to behold as did our ancestors of old, and then he should bow down as if he indeed were in God's presence as Israel bowed down when they beheld the divine glory, and he should offer thanksgiving to God for all his goodness and conclude his prayer with the Benediction for peace that he may depart from the Divine Presence in Peace." This passage of the Cusari clearly explains the connection and order of the Benedictions, but as the position of one of them has been impugned by one of the greatest authorities, it is necessary that a few words should be devoted to the con- sideration of this objection. Zunz (Gottesdienstlichen Vortrage, p. 366), remarks that the Benediction commencing " Look we beseech Thee on our affliction " and concluding " the Redeemer of Israel" is partly superfluous and partly out of place. He therefore assumes that it was^added at a time of great misfortune either at the time of Epiphenes or Pompey. But our learned Principal, Dr. Friedlander, has explained that the Beuediction is neither superfluous nor out of place. In the Benediction that precedes the one to which I am referring we pray for forgiveness of sin. But sin is not always forgiven ; punishment sometimes befalls the sinner, in fact sin itself is a punishment. The affliction referred to in this Benediction is a spiritual affliction, a guilty conscience if you like. It is chiefly from this affliction than which there can be none greater we seek Redemption in our prayers for Redemption generally, and especially in this Benediction called P?WJ n3~Q (The Benediction for Redemption). Even from this brief and inadequate sketch it will be seen that the Shemone Esreh is not a mere collection of Eighteen Benedictions mechanically joined together, but that they form one complete prayer in which are expressed in clear and simple language the highest teachings of Judaism, and our wants both as Jews and as men. Reference must now be made to the number of the Benedictions. According to the Babylonian Talmud (Megilla 17b.) there were Nineteen Benedictions after the insertion of D'3'B^DTl which was added by R. Gamaliel II., after the destruction of the Temple. According to the Jerusalem Talmud (Berachoth ii.4) there were never more than Eighteen Benedictions even after D'J'S??D?1 was added. Are we to assume 124 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. then that before this Benediction was inserted, the Prayer consisted of Eighteen Benedictions in Babylon and of only seventeen in Palestine ? This seems improbable but some scholars refer to a Midrash (Bamidbar Rabba and Tanchuma, Korah) which appears to support this view and which we must therefore notice. The cause of this difference of numbers in the two Talmuds is to be accounted for in this way. When D'J'S77D}1 came to be inserted in the Benedictions, the Jews of Babylon added it without altering in any way the older Benedictions. The Jews of Palestine, how- ever, thinking it desirable to retain only the original number of Benedictions, so that the well known name "Shemone Esreh" should still continue to describe the Prayer, joined the two prayers O^CPn^l and I"IO J"1X into one and concluded it D'PBTV rUUl 111 'i1?K "n *N "3 (Jerushalmi Berachoth iv. 5 ; Rosh Hashana iv., 6). It may be mentioned by the way that the original conclusion to HD HK was "in }JD as in the Benedictions now said after the Haphtorah. We are told that Kalir, who wrobe Kerovothfor Purim, Hoshana Rabba and for the fasts of Tamuz and Tebeth, always joined together these two Benedictions (Rapo- port, Life of Kalir, note 28), In the Kerovoth for Purim. the only one of these week- day Piyutim we have in our Minhag, this is indeed the case. We have yet to refer to the Midrash (Barmidbar Rabba, Korah) that gave rise to the idea that the Shemone Esreh once consisted of only seventeen benedictions. It is based on the verse : imQK> D^Q r,O?K'31 y\fo Plpl \YJ KBTl ^3 " T k e away all iniquity and accept that which is good, so will we render as bullocks the offerings of our lips " (Hosea xiv. 5). I will quote it verbatim : " Israel said, ' Lord of the Universe, when the Holy Temple stood we could offer sacrifices and make atonement, now we have only Prayer.' The numerical value of 2^D, here referred to Prayer, is seventeen. But the Tefillah consists of nineteen Benedictions and not seventeen ? You can deduc from this number," the Midrafih continues, " p'DH rO~Q which they instituted in Jamnia and "in HO DX which they instituted after that." As reference is nowhere made to 111 l"10 DX as a later Benediction there is little doubt that the Midrash was sa*: 1 at a time when noXHK came to be generally accepted as a separate Benedic- tion i. "xording to the Babylonian Talmud. Landeshut confesses his inability tog.^e a satisfactory explanation of this Midrash, and Baer solves the diffi- culty by resorting to ~a emendation of the Midrash. In order that a certain well known adage may not be applied to me, I will leave the difficulty to the considera- tion of Midrashic scholars. We will now turn our attention to several of the Benedictions, and make such remarks upon them as may be found to be necessary. I may here mention that there are, in addition to older works on the Ritual, as the Abudraham, chiefly two commentaries on the Prayer Book which will be found to be of great service to those who wish to study the Jewish ritual. The first is the commentary by Lande- shut contained in the Prayer Book Higgajon Leb (Edelman. Konigsberg, 1845), the second the commentary of Baer (Abodath Jisrael, Hodelheim, 1868), in which the various rituals and MSS. are noticed. It is not my intention to discuss these various readings. They are unimportant and only tend to show that the prayer could not have been written down till a very late age. The discussion in the Talmud (Berachoth, 3 4 a), concerning the mistakes of the Reader clearly proves that prayers were recited iby heart in those days. For the benefit of those who may wish to examine the various readings of the Shemone Esreh, I may mention that the most ancient authorities are the Siddur of Rav Amram, end of the 9th century, that of Saadiah Gaon 942, Machsor Vitre 1100, and the form of the Tefillah in the Yad Hachazaka of Maimonides (1 135-1204). I have been carefully through the Shemone Esreh in the Machsor Vitre at the British Museum more out of curiosity perhaps than for any other reason and I found that there is but little variation between our text and this old MS. An old Italian MS. of the Roman ritual also agrees, to all intents and purposes, with the text used by the THE EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS. 125 Sephardim at the present day. I may mention however, that in this Italian prayer- book there was inserted in every Benediction a private prayer in the first person singular, commencing {1ST TP, such as we now add in the HX12T for the recovery of a sick relative or friend, and in 13'?1P JJDtJ' for our own sustenance. The first Benediction which calls for remark in HUK. Zunz (G-ottesd. Vortrage, 367), ascribes the Benediction to the time of Simon the Just, and remarks that the passage ^XIJ S'3O1, " And may he bring a Redeemer to their posterity " may well refer to the Syrian rule in Palestine. This explanation shows us that Zunz took this reference to the Redeemer as words of prayer. But it is opposed to the whole arrangement of the Shemone Esreh to insert a prayer in the first three Benedictions This arrangement was scrupulously observed in the Talmud, and although we add passages of Prayer in these Benedictions during the ten penitential days, they have no Talmudical authority. These passages were instituted by the G-eonim and the first reference to them is in Tractate Soferim (xix. 8), where permission is given to say them only on the New Year and Day of Atonement. Maimonides (Tefillah II., 19,) mentions that it was customary in some places to add them, so that they were not general in his days. To take the words }K1J SUO1 as a prayer for the coming of the Redeemer is foreign to the spirit of the Benediction which is strictly Praise and not Prayer. The passage must be taken in a general sense, and as such forms a fitting conclusion to the DISK. The second Benediction J"N"*'13J is generally considered to be the composition of the Men of the Great Synagogue, but it is supposed by Landeshut that it was of a shorter form, merely consisting of DTIOil iVnO *n"K"l yniT> 1133 nntf. The passage ?3?3O is taken as a later addition which was added to counteract the heresies of Zadok and Boethus, two disciples of Antigonus, who denied the truth of the doctrines of the immortality of the soul and of future reward and punishment (Aboth de R. Nathan, ch. vi.). The two sects which they originated were not content to hold heretical opinions themselves, but insisted like most agitators, on the general adoption of their teachings. In order to achieve their ends these traitors to their religion became also traitors to their country. For during the wars of the Maccabees they were mean enough to lend an assisting hand to those who desired to uproot their religion. Fanatics generally proceed in this way. They commence either by rejecting some doctrine of belief generally accepted or by introducing some idea of their own fertile imagination, which they endeavour, generally by the most unholy means, to force upon the whole community. It is possible that such a secession may have suggested this addition to the ni"113J, for it was by no means unusual to make public worship the means of discountenancing heretical views. The Talmud informs us that the daily recitation of the Ten Commandments in the Temple was abolished (Berachoth, 12a) and the wording of the Benedictions altered (ibid 54a) in order to impress upon the minds of the multitude that the views of the Sadduoees were erro- neous and must be discouraged. But it cannot be said with certainty that the origin of D v n ?D?3D was due to the same circumstances. If the idea be correct, we cannot but confess that these unfortunate events have been the means of vastly improving the second Benediction of our Prayer. It is the opinion of Landeshut that the Benedictions in which we pray for Repentance, Foregiveness of Sin, for Health and for Heaven's blessing on the work of our hands, likewise those referring to the Restoration, were composed at the time of the wars of the Maccabees. His conclusions are based on the subjects of these Benedictions which were particularly applicable to this period. But although there was special necessity for such prayers during these wars, when divine service was interrupted, the observance of the Law forbidden, and life and property en- dangered, it is by no means proved that these Benedictions owe their origin to this crisis. I have already remarked this it is impossible to trace the origin of every Benediction, 126 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. but a view which entirely ignores tradition and leads us to believe that our nation was without a fixed form of prayer till the second century B.C., and then adopted one only by accidental means as it were, cannot possibly be accepted. Time will not allow me to discuss each Benediction, but I may be allowed to remark that the plan adopted by some scholars of endeavouring to find the date and composition of Hebrew prayers from internal evidence is most unreliable. Even English prayers are written in Biblical language and generally in an antiquated style : so that if a new prayer were adopted by the English Church to-day its composition, if internal evidence were to be relied upon, would have to be referred to the year 1611. This argument tells much more forcibly with compositions written in the Hebrew language. It is always the aim of the Hebrew writer to use as many Biblical expressions as possible BO that his compositiom may have a classical appearance. When the Chief Rabbi issues a special prayer for the celebration of the Queen's Jubilee we may rest assured that the composition, if its age be not betrayed by pen, ink and paper, may be referred, as far as style and diction be concerned, to the golden age of the Hebrew language. I shall only refer to two other Benedictions. To one because it illustrates how the same ancient Benediction was adapted to altered circumstances without changing its import ; to the other, because, having a special history of its own, it demands special consideration. The first is n~), called in the Mishnah (Rosh Hashona iv. 5 ; Tamid vi. 1) mi3y JT3~Q. This is one of the three Benedictions which the priests recited every day in the Temple (Berachoth 1 lb.). The Talmud (Taanith 27b) informs us that the "lOyD ^CWX, those of the Israelites who represented the nation at the Temple Service used to pray that the offerings of their brethren might be favourably accepted. Rashi (Berachoth lib.) gives us the original form of this Benediction as follows : " Be pleased Lord our God with the service of Thy people Israel, and the burnt offerings of Israel and their prayers receive with favour, blessed is He who receives the service of His people Israel with favour." A second conclusion given by Rashi (ibid.) is : "Blessed are Thou Lord whom we alone serve," and there is little doubt that this was the original conclusion. It is introduced (HXV3 113J7J VJD^ 3 ) in the abbreviated form of prayer used en Sabbath evenings as the Reader's repetition (Rashi, Shabboth, 24b.) and is still retained when the priests recite the Benediction on the Festivals. After the destruction of the Temple this Benediction was altered so as to introduce a prayer for the restoration of the Temple Service. The form used on the Festivals in connection with the recitation of the priestly Benediction (Midrash Shochar Tob Pa. 17) appears to be of more ancient date than the form now in general use which runs as follows : " Be pleased Lord our God with Thy people Israel and with their prayer, and restore the service to the oracle of Thy house, and the burnt offerings of Israel and their prayer in love Thou wilt receive with favour and may the service of Thy people Israel be always accept- able. And may our eyes behold Thy return to Zion, Blessed are Thou Lord who will restore His divine presence to Zion." It is interesting to point out that the original form of this Benediction has been but little altered by the passage which was added after the destruction of the Temple. Israel is still referred to in the third person, showing that this Benediction was said on bcfialf f the people and not by them, while in all the other Benedictions the first person plural is used. And further, the word pVT originally referred to the sacrifices (Lev. xxii. 20, 27) is men- tioned three times in this passage. The next Benediction to be considered isO^VDH H313. This Benediction is sur- rounded with so many difficult Talmudical questions that a Jewish writer (Weiss, Bik- kurim 5625) has said of it : " I believe that even in the days of the Amoraim they were in as much doubt concerning this Benediction as we are at the present time." It would THE EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS. 127 indeed require a special paper to collect and discuss all that has been written on this Benediction alone. The chief tradition we have concerning it runs thus : ' Simon Hapekuli arranged the Eighteen Benedictions before E. Gamaliel II. in Jamnia according to their order. Then E. Gamaliel said to the wise men, ' is there any one who is able to introduce the Benediction against the Sadducees ? ' Then Samuel Hakaton stood up and introduced it. The next year he forgot it, and he waited for some time and could not recall it to memory" (Berachoth 28a). It is, however, not quite certain whether the term 13pH used here denotes a new institution or a reintroduction. This may not have been the first occasion that the Benediction was composed, it may have been for some time in abeyance, and it was now thought necessary to re-introduce it. The difficulty concerning the number of the Bene- dictions is generally ascribed to the later introduction of the Benediction we are now considering, but it is the opinion of some that a Benediction corresponding to our D'3B'7D?1 always formed one of the Eighteen Benedictions, and that it was riD FIX that was the later addition which gave rise to the difference of numbers between the two Talmuds. I must confess that I have not been able to cut the Gordian knot which has so sorely perplexed Talmudical scholars. Neither Lande- shut nor Baer has considered the question whether our tradition refers to the first introduction or to a reintroduction of the Benediction. They pass over the difficulty and proceed to consider more interesting questions, and we will follow their example. But it may be well to give the view of a Christian scholar on the subject. I omit passages which refer to the number of the Benedictions which the author discusses in this connection. "The story of this much misunderstood prayer" says Gins- burg (Kitto's Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature *ub voce Synagogue) "which has been used as a watchword by Christians in their persecutions and massacres of the Jews is as follows : After the Babylonian captivity, when the revival of religious life in the syna- gogue, like the periodical revivals of religion in the Church, brought in its train a number of heretical sects e.g., the Samaritans, the Hellenists, the Sadducees, &c. who alternately disturbed both the political and religious peace of the Common, wealth, the orthodox community, who had suffered so much in the defence of their ancestral faith, demanded a public reprobation of those heresies. To comply with this pious wish the spiritual heads of the people compiled this prayer, which is no more than what St. Paul did when he declared those accursed who promulgated heresies (I. Cor. xvi. 22 ; Gal. i. 8, 9) and what we do at the present day when, in the Athanasian creed, we exclude from salvation all who reject the doctrines therein enunciated. As it was more especially directed against the Sadducees, who were rampant during the period of the Second Temple, this prayer is called the invocation against the Sadducees (Q'pYIX D3 n 3, Berachoth 28b.) E. Simon Hapekuli, who introduced the present order pHDi"l) of the benedictions, was for omitting the prayer against the heretics altogether, maintaining that it was no longer applicable, since the heretics, with the destruction of the Temple, had lost their political power, whilst E. Gamaliel II. of Jamnia, who was patriarch at that time, was for retaining it with some slight alterations, so as to adapt it to the altered circumstances and to the new heretics. Having carried his point, Gamaliel asked E. Samuel the Younger, who supported him in his opinion on this question, to make the necessary altera- tions. . . . This sufficiently shows how unfounded is the charge that the twelfth benediction, which was recited several centuries before the rise of Christianity, was originally composed against Christians, and how much Eisenmenger (Entdecktes Judenthum II. 107, ff.), and the more genial M'Caul, who repeats him (Old Paths, ch. xvii. xix.), have to answer for perpetuating the enmity against the Jews by th false description of this prayer." If this passage has little critical value, it de- serves recognition as coming from one well able to give an unbiassed opinion on the gubject. But some surprise may be felt that the ancient Jews should have given utter- ance to a prayer which appears to have been prompted by a feeling of vindictiveness against those of their brethren who happened to differ from them on religious 128 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. questions. But we must bear in mind that the Sadducees against whom this prayer was mainly directed, not only denied the truth of several important doctrines of the Jewish creed, but they did all in their power to spread this disbelief, and were the means of misleading many who were not strong enough to withstand their influ- ence. In addition to this they acted as spies and informers to the Romans, and brought much trouble upon their countrymen. The Rabbis endeavoured in every way to heal the wound which was fast eating away the very life of the nation, but all efforts on their part were unsuccessful. Things must indeed have been in a critical state if such a peace-loving and God-fearing man as Samuel the Younger, whose motto it is said (Aboth iv.) was the verse from Proverbs (xxiv, 1 7), " Rejoice not when thy enemy falleth." considered that it was in the interests of the nation and the religion to institute a special prayer against any section of his people. And although he instituted this special benediction, we find that in the following year he was not able to recite it, so that he could not have been prompted by feelings of revenge. It must be confessed that the benediction D^E*5D?1 contains expressions which appear harsh and unkind, but to quote the words of our learned Chairman, " It was a Christian who observed that ' we are commanded to forgive our enemies, but we are nowhere commanded to forgive our friends.' " " I do not endorse the sentiment," continued Mr. Singer, " but it explains in a measure the harshness with which we judge the misdeeds of those to whom we stand in some sort of personal and direct relation." It would have been better if the censor's ink had been more indelible and the expressions in this benediction that have provoked so much bad feeling against our nation had been omitted. The form of this benediction has been greatly altered, the number of words varying in different MSS. from twenty-two to forty -two. I will only add that according to Baer, the first word probably was DHOV^C?, and not D^J'SJ'PDPI as our version commences. The last Benediction to which I have to refer is one which, strangely enough, has not yet found its way into any English edition of the Prayer-book. Foreigners do not seem ashamed to confess that occasions sometimes occur when for some reason or another they are unable to say the full form of the Shemone Esreh. The majority of English Jews, no doubt, are not aware that there is an abbreviated form of the Shemone Esreh which they may say in cases of emergency when they are unable to say the longer form. The occasions when this short form may be substituted are worthy of notice. It may be said when one is on the road and when one does not feel sufficiently devotional to utter a longer prayer. It should also be said by labourers when working for one who only pays for work done and who even deducts the time spent in meals by his workmen. Hence religion cannot be made a plea for laziness. This Short Benediction has full Talmudical authority. In the Mishnah (Berachoth iv. 3), R. Gamaliel says that the Shemone Esreh must be said every day, but R. Joshua says the abstract of the Shemone Esreh is sufficient. R. Akiba takes the middle course and says if he is fluent in the prayer he should say the Shemone Esreh, if not, the abstract of the Shemone Esreh is sufficient. In the Talmud (Berachoth 29a) a discussion arises as to what R. Joshua meant by the abstract of the Shemone Esreh. Rav explains R. Joshua to mean that each Benediction must be said, but in cases of urgency in a shorter form, e.g., " Thou endowest man with knowledge ; Blessed art Thou, Lord, who graciously bestowest knowledge." " Forgive us, our Father ; Blessed art Thou, Lord, who art gracious and dost abundantly pardon." Samuel says that R. Joshua meant that the first and last three benedictions must be said in full, but for the thirteen intermediate benedictions, one containing references to all, and concluding " Blessed art Thou, Lord, who hearkenest to prayer," might be subtituted. Both Talmuds give a form of such a benediction (Babli Berachoth 29a. Jerushalmi Taanith II 2), and the one given in the Babylonian Talmud, which is to be found in every prayer-book except in those published in England, is considered by Zunz, Rapoport and Sachs to be the composition of Samuel himself. As most of the sen- THE EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS. 129 tences in this short form of the Shemone Esreh end in the syllable "|n which Sachs (Relig. Poesie in Spanien, p. 173), considers to be intentional, it forms a kind of rough rhyme which is reproduced in the following version, and with which I conclude : Cause us, O Lord ! to understand Thy ways And fill our hearts with rev'rent fear, all our days. Forgive us, we entreat Thee, each sin, That redemption we may hope to win. In Thy merciful goodness pain and suff'ring allay, And satisfy us with Thine abundance, we pray. Wi'.h Thine all-powerful and tremendous hand Our scattered ones gather together to our own land. Transgressors, O mighty Being, judge Thou, Sinners to Thy just wrath shall submissively bow. When Thy sacred city with juy we rebuild And Thy Sanctuary with Thy glorious presence be fill'd Then with a loud and exultant voice Will the righteous, O God of Israel rejoice. Let it be Thy divine will speedily to restore The H ouse of David, Thy servant, as of yore. And may the light of the son of Jesse blaze As in reverence Thy hallowed name we praise. P'or Thou who hearkenest to the voice of Prayer Art blessed, Thy people, O Lord I declare. 130 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. THE "WISDOM OF SOLOMON." i. A great historian has said that a good way of avoiding the reproach of qui s'excuse s'accuse is to quote the adage against oneself. The excuse I have to plead this evening is for the inadequacy with which I shall treat my subject ; and the ground on which, in addition to my own ignorance, I ask you to forgive me is the limited time within which a single lecture must be confined. But some of you may be inclined to question the relevancy of my excuse. The Wisdom of Solomon, you may fairly say, is a little book of nineteen short chapters. An hour ought in all seriousness to be enough to tell us all we want to know about such an insignificant fragment of literature. First, then, let me point out to you why, if time were no object, so much might be said about so short a treatise. The Wisdom of Solomon forms one of a collection of books which are now generally known as the Apocrypha. A lecture on any one of them might fitly point out the origin of this collection and its relation to the Canon of the Old Testament. In the second place, the Wisdom of Solomon forms one of a class of literary compositions that are full of peculiarly difficult and interesting features. For " Wisdom," as everybody knows, belongs to the Hellenistic literature. And, lastly, the little Wisdom of Solomon is a book which within its own small compass reflects so much thought that had gone before, and foreshadows so much thought that was to come. It is a meeting place of old and new ; and the two elements are not yet fused together in perfect harmony, but are sometimes merely placed alongside each other in curious, if not consistent, juxta- position. Of that old thought some was destined to pass away, and some has re- mained and will, we may hope, abide amongst us for ever ; of the new thought, which was itself the product of two mingling streams of old, it would be foolhardy to risk a forecast of its permanency, but impossible to exaggerate ite influence upon the spiritual history of mankind. The true lecturer upon the Wisdom of Solomon must be one to whom the litera- tures of two different nations are equally familiar. He would have to point out the nature and origin of the old thought and indicate the development and the value of the new. His Vorstudien must have been large and varied, his Nach&tudicn might go far before they found a limit. The present lecturer can but touch upon the Vor- studien, while as to the Nanhstudien he must skip them altogether. The old thought in the Wisdom of Solomon is, as I have already implied, two- fold in character. Two spiritual currents meet and mingle in its pages, as they meet and mingle with varying degrees of successful fusion in all the Hellenistic literature. THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 131 Jewish Hellenism might, and I hope some day will, form a suitable subject for a subsequent lecture of this Society. Its interest for us lies in this, that the mixture of Greek and Hebrew elements of which it ia composed, and which give to it its peculiar and distinctive characteristics, is a religious and a moral mixture ; the component parts on both sides are moral and religious. If the mixture con- cerned politics or science, or if the religious elements were drawn from one side and the mere literary form from the other, the result would be less interesting and less likely to disturb our sensibilities or to cause a passing qualm to some not infrequent prejudices ; but as the final outcome is religious, so also are both the sources which helped to make it what it is. We are therefore compelled, in conducting an enquiry into Jewish Hellenism or into any of its leading examples, such as the Wisdom of Solomon, to raise and answer either in a direct or an indirect form such questions as these. Was the attempted fusion desirable ; that is to say, was there anything to modify in, or to add to, the one element ; was there anything novel and also worth appropriating in the other ? Secondly, from the historic point of view the momentous question pre- sents itself, was the fusion successful, or, again, were the two elements of such a kind as to make a real and permanent fusion within the limits of possibility ? Such problems are interesting because they may throw a side light upon religious difficulties of our own day, and also because it is upon the truthful and impartial solution of them at least as much as upon any a priori theological system that our answer must be based to the great and deeply interesting question, whether that ordered and articulate system of religious doctrine, which we religionists of to-day may hold as true, has been discovered by, or revealed to, one race alone, or whether many saints and sages, of many peoples and many ages, have contributed in widely different proportions their several quota to the total store. It is this central question which, to my mind, constitutes the main interest in the detailed consideration of such a book as the Wisdom of Solomon. The object of this lecture is not to discuss, far less to answer, that question, but to offer a very unpretending contribution towards the material for its solution. And now, without further preface, let us come to the real subject of the lecture. The Wisdom of Solomon, a product of Hebrew and Hellenic thought, was written in Greek by a Jew, whose native language was Greek as ours is English, and who was influenced both directly and indirectly by the religious and ethical doctrines of Greek philosophers. The name of our author is unknown. His birthplace, or at all events the locality in which he wrote, was without reasonable doubt Alexandria. His exact date is uncertain, and is variously estimated from about 150 before to about 50 after Christ. It will be here sufficient to remember that our author lived at a time when the current of Jewish Hellenism was running strongly. The character of spiritual influences in Alexandria did not greatly vary in their general characteristics during the two hundred years between either limit of which the book was written, and, consequently, so far as the effect of environment extends, the precise date of the treatise is not a matter of any considerable importance.* I have boon unable to find space for a discussion of the difficult question when Wisdom was written. Thoro are three main views. First that of Grimm, who puts the date between 145-KH) B.C. Secondly, that of Graetz (whoso opinion is shared by Hausrath), who thinks the author was Philo'n con torn i>orary, and wrote under the influence of the persecution at Alexandria under Caligula (A.I). 40). Thirdly, that of Xellcr (III. 2, 3rd ! p. 273), who places the date at the Augustan era. Students should cousult these three authors in thoir re-pectivo works. I mybc-lf think the view of 132 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. The reasons why scholars are agreed that the book was composed in Egypt, and more particularly at Alexandria, : are first the large space devoted to detailed dis- cussion of the punishments inflicted upon the ancient Egyptians as well as the clear references to Egyptian animal worship ; and secondly, because it was at Alexandria where Jewish Hellenism chiefly, though not exclusively, flourished and flowered. * The Jewish settlements in Alexandria began with the foundation o'f the town by Alexander the Great, and their numbers were largely increased by new immigrations under the Ptolemies. At the time of Philo the Jewish population of Egypt, according to the recorded statement of the Philosopher in his essay against Flaccus, amounted to nearly a million souls. A very considerable proportion of this enormous colony was domiciled in Alexandria. One is naturally tempted to ask what kind of life did the Alexandrian Jews pursue, and what were their relations to the other inhabitants of the city. Time presses, and only the barest hints can here be given. Anyone who would like to know more about a very interesting subject can turn to the authorities which will be appended to the printed form of the present lecture. The Diadochoi the Hellenic Egyptian kings who succeeded Alexander assigned to the Jews, according to Josephns, a separate quarter " in order that they might live a purer life, mixing less with men of other blood." In Philo's time the city was divided into five districts, and of these two were mainly inhabited by Jews ; while scattered through the remaining three-quarters were other Jews " not a few." The rest of the population consisted of Greeks and Macedonians, who comprised the ruling class, the native Egyptians, and a motley crowd of representatives of other nationalities, all of whom, brought together to this great mart of the ancient world by the necessities of trade and politics, " gave a peculiarly complex and variable character " to the new Egyptian Capital, f The turbulence of the Alexandrian mob is often dwelt upon by Roman historians, and its character before the Roman Conquest was probably about the same. The status and condition of the Jews, however, were very fairly secure and prosperous from the time of Alexander till that of Caligula. A complete mingling of civic and social interests between them and the rest of the inhabitants, such as we are familiar with in modern times, was under the circumstances and customs of that age an impossibility an im- possibility to which both parties contributed, but for which neither party was to blame. That a considerable number of Jews possessed the full rights of citzenship seems to follow from the express statements of Josephus and Philo, although Mommsen, in the marvellous 5th volume of his history, holds that Josephus was in error upon this point. But even complete citizenship could not produce equal sympathies or similar ideals. It was not merely the ordinary feelings of envy at the wealth and success of the Jewish settlers which provoked those frequent petty conflicts and disputes between Jew and Hellene to which Josephus alludes (B. J., II. xviii, 7) ; it was, as Professor Schiirer has ably pointed out in his invaluable work on the internal condition of the Jewish people in the first centuries before and after Christ, the fact that civic life in antiquity rested on a religious basis, and that for men to take part in the deliberations of the Boule, but to refuse any participation in, nay, to look down with contempt and loathing upon, rites and sacrifices to the protecting deities of the town, appeared to both Greek and Oriental a contradiction alike treacherous and unnatural. It is true that Philo lays down in accurate language the political principles of modern Judaism, where he says that those Jews who live Graetz very improbable, and am inclined to agree with Zeller. The exact date is, however, of no very great consequence for a right understanding of the book, although it is of importance in the general history of the development of the Hellenistic Jewish Philosophy and in the questions con- nected therewith. * Freudenthal " Hellenist ische Studien," II., Alexander Polyhigtor, etc., p. 125130. t Mahaffy, " Alexander's Empire," p. 121. THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 133 outside Judtea, " although they regard the Holy City in which is erected the sacred Temple of God as their metropolis, they yet account those regions which have been occupied by their fathers and grandfathers and still more distant ancestors as their own country." * But it is probable that Philo, whose book against Flaccus was written for polemical purposes, was somewhat idealising the actual state of feeling prevalent in his own time ; it is, at any rate, not probable that there were many Alexandrian Jews who were able to combine ardent belief in their ancestral faith and faithful observ- ance of the sober morality of their race with any enthusiasm of civic patriotism. With whom indeed were they to feel themselves in sympathy 1 With the Egyptians to whom, as Mommsen says, religion was all in all, but where everything concerning it that met the eye seemed exclusively associated with the most degrading and silly idolatry ? With the Greeks 1 But they, too, even the wise men among them, seemed more willing to add to their Pantheon than to diminish it ; nor were the luxurious and licentious habits which prevailed among the more educated classes likely to lessen the ingrained Jewish conviction of the age that the children of Israel alike in religion and in morality were the aristocrats of the world. On the other hand wealth was not despised and was certainly acquired by the Jews themselves. The community was very prosperous. Although there existed this opposition between the Jewish and Greek elements, it did not prevent both sides influencing the other. With the influence of the Jew upon the Greek we are not concerned ; the influence of the Greek upon the Jew was various and important. First of all comes the great influence of language ; the Jews dropped and forgot their ancient Hebrew or Aramaic and adopted the language of the Hellene. If an old- fashioned inhabitant of a Judaean village had made a journey to Egypt, though he would have been struck by the manufactories, and busy work-shops of every kind with which the Jewish quarters abounded, the religious endowments would probably have most amazed him. There were many Synagogues, says Philo, in every section of the city, while the main or great Synagogue was famous throughout the dispersion for its size and magnificence. The well-known description of its proportions and of the arrangements for public worship given in the Jerusalem Talmud has been too often translated to need repetition here. But no needful compression must make us lose sight of the central fact that the language used for prayer and preaching was not Hebrew but Greek. The Greek translation of the sacred Scriptures was more prized and venerated than the Authorised Version among ourselves, and doubtless many pious Jews of Alexandria would have objected to any Ee vision of that rendering as much as many pious English Jews dislike our own new though more accurate rendering. And although a certain extreme party in Palestine stigmatised the translation as a misfortune in Israel, and would doubtless have been shocked by hearing the tongue of Polytheists within the walls of the Synagogue, there can be little doubt that the Greek services, no less than the Greek translation of the Scripture, largely contributed to the maintenance of Judaism in the Hellenic com- munities. The Greek sermons and homilies were listened to, according to Philo, with the utmost attention and zeal ; but what chiefly concerns us here is that these discourses were frequently tinged and coloured by Greek philosophy. With the language followed the literature ; and although the intimate acquaintance which Philo shows with Greek poets and philosophers was probably exceptional, it waa certainly not unique except in degree. The treasures of the great Library were not excluded from the Jews, and the literary taste and style of the Alexandrians neither of them to our notions of the highest order were copied and reflected by " Philo Contra Flaccuni." VII. Miingcy Vol . II., p. 524. 134 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. their Jewish fellow citizens. The different schools of Philosophy were all repre- sented at Alexandria ; we shall see afterwards which among them were most generally attractive to the Jews. But the religious result of these varied in- fluences, both in the way of opposition and adaptation, was itself various. There was no common Jewish Alexandrian School, but a number of contradictory opinions which, if uniformity of belief be a sign of spiritual stagnation, afford some evidence of lively and divergent currents of spiritual life flowing this way and that in the Hellenistic societies. Amid these influences both external and internal we may imagine the author of the Wisdom of Solomon to have been reared and fostered. The Egyptian worship on the one side, the Greek philosophy on the other ; the Jews themselves, some renegades to their religion and exulting in the freedom of apostacy, others steadfast, orthodox and old-fashioned, others, again, allegorising away the difficulties and externalities of their faith with successful and tempting facility. With all these phases and fashions of belief he must have been familiar ; and from out of them he composed his book. It is now high time to put and answer the questions what sort of book it is, and what are its contents, its plan and its object. II. Artistic unity, a harmony of all its parts with a predominating idea, the Wisdom of Solomon cannot boast of. The lack of these is sufficiently proved by the different hypotheses which have been formed as to ita composition. Some critics have sought to show that two distinct authors had a part in its compilation, while another has gone so far as to split it up into four separate portions from four different hands. Such critics have attempted to bring forward discrepancies of opinion between the earlier and the later chapters, although they differ as to the precise line of cleavage to be adopted. Ewald held that the work was due to one author, but that he composed the later chapters (i.e., according to Ewald, from VI. 21) after a long interval of time. All these separatist hypotheses are ably considered and successfully refuted by Grimm in the introduction to his well- known and most valuable commentary. To Grimm the curious on the subject must be referred. But now, assuming the unity of the book, let us pass on to a short analysis of its contents. We shall then be in a better position to estimate the scope and design of the anonymous author. The book may be divided roughly into two parts. The first extends from the beginning to the end of Chapter IX., the second begins with Chapter X. and con- tinues to the end. Of the first portion there are again two sub-divisions from I. to V. and from VI. to IX. The main tendency of the first five chapters is clearly hortative and apologetical. Their burden is that though the sinner and the sen- sualist may enjoy some short season of prosperity and pleasure upon earth, their children will surely suffer for parental misdeeds, and that they themselves will meet in another world with a befitting punishment. The righteous, on the other hand, the holy souls who have sought to live the life of purity and wisdom, who have preserved in days of trial their faith, their hope and their love, these sons of God, whether they pass from earth early or late, shall be admitted into the divine com- munion and find in the fuller knowledge of God their final and everlasting reward. Exhortation and rebuke are thus combined in a single argument. The hopes of the faithful are strengthened and their doubts combated ; the sophistry of the evil doers is exposed and refuted. The book opens rhetorically, suitably to the Solomonic framework, with an exhortation to the Earth's rulers (ot Kpivovrtc, n]v y>iv) to love justice and to search for the knowledge of God from a basis of goodness and humility. The author THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 135 immediately presses home the familiar doctrine expressed as clearly, though less formally, in the Book of Proverbs that God is found by those who seek Him in sincerity of faith and with purity of heart. It is an old example of reasoning in a circle, and yet the reasoning is not vicious. The fuller and deeper philosophy of the Nineteenth Century, speaking from a wider range of thought and experience, has thus inculcated the same truth by the mouth of one among the noblest of her sons : " You cannot find a verification of the idea of God or duty : you can only make it. Though the failing heart cries out for evidence, at the worst live on as if there were God and duty, and they will prove themselves to you in your life."* Within such seekers' souls, according to the Wisdom of Solomon, the Holy Spirit of God, which fills the world and contains all things within its own embrace will enter and make them participate in that true life which, begun on earth, is brought to its blissful consummation by the severance of body from soul. As righteousness leads to life, so sin brings death in its train. Death is not God's creation, but man's. The author we shall have to consider his eschatological doctrines more closely hereafter uses the word death in two senses ; first, for the ordinary earthly death which is to the righteous the beginning of life, and, secondly, for the real death which is the doom of the wicked, and consists not in annihilation of consciousness, but in an eternal deprivation of the vision of God. In the second chapter the arguments of the wicked are put forward with con- siderable skill and power. The author is doubtless alluding to Jewish apostates who having, from whatever cause, abandoned the theoretical opinions and the practical restrictions of Judaism, had thrown themselves heart and soul into the lower levels of Hellenism, and adopted for their life's philosophy the coarsest type of popular Epicureanism. Philo alludes not unfrequently to such a class of unbelievers : he accuses them with the customary exaggeration of religious polemics of abandoning the rule of the Law because of its alleged "fables," and then succumbing as a necessary sequence to the allurements of sense and sin.f The arguments of the sceptics are quite familiar to us. All men must die ; none return from Hades. There is no life and no consciousness beyond the tomb. Birth and death alike are accidents ; life is a passing shadow ; even our very names are soon forgotten. What then remains ? What is the best use to which we can put the short and toilsome journey which ends unfailingly at the grave ? And the answer is " Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they are withered ; " let us enjoy the good things we can lay our hands on, let us find pleasure and forgetf ulness in the winecup, quaffing the juice That can with logic absolute, The two-and-seventy jarring sects confute, The sovereign alchemist that In a trice, Life's leaden metal can to gold transmute. That moderate enjoyment which was recommended by the sad preacher in Jerusalem, as the wisest course under the troubled circumstances of his time, was not to the taste of our present author ; perhaps the sensualists of Alexandria used Koheleth's words with illegitimate exaggeration, and it is at any rate curious to note that many verses in the sinner's arguments of our second chapter are closely modelled upon passages in Ecclesiastes (Cp. Plumptre, " Ecclesiastes," p. 67 75). J But * Prof. T. H. Green, "The Witness of God and Faith ;" Two Lay Sermons. (Longmans, 1883), pp. 97, 98. t Philo De Confnsione Llnguarium. Mangey I. 405 ; Do Poonitentia. Mangey II., 406. t K is possible, as Plumptre suggests, that the assumed Solomonic authorship is dne to this opposition to Koheleth. Our Alexandrian Sago would show to the world what very different doctrine the historic beau ideal of Wiidom would hare promulgated from his throne. 135 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. the sophistical pleading and the immoral conclusions do not end here. The apostates no longer believe in a Day of Judgment and in a righteous ruler either in the next world or in this : hence they determine to oppress the righteous and put his humility and endurance to the test. If he be the Son of God, will not his Father deliver him 1 This passage we may regard as a piece of rhetorical ornament ; for it is not easy to see, nor is it alluded to by Philo, how the renegade Jews of Alexandria could have oppressed the believing members of their community. After this display of his rhetorical powers the author sets forth the true theodicy and the true issue of the good man's life in a short passage of remarkable beauty. The righteous, he contends, realise and fulfil the divine intention towards humanity. God made man an image or reflection of his own nature (ttrJ/y r;c iliac iSiorijTOf, II., 23), and the essence of this nature is incorruption or immortality. While the introduction of Death through the Devil's envy and the yielding frailty of man has, as it were, defeated the divine plan in its totality, the righteous in their God-given strength triumph over ithe Devil and his temptations. Both now and always " the Bouls of the righteous are in the hands of God ; no torment shall touch them. In the eyes of fools they seem to die ; their departure is thought to be misery, their going from us to mean destruction ; but they abide in peace." Through life's troubles God " proved them, and he found them worthy of himself." The author, therefore, with the full conviction of immortality the sources of his belief are to be told hereafter finds the solution of the misfortunes of the righteous in the doctrine that they are purely educational and preparatory for a future iblessedness, the exceeding gladness of which is overflowing compensation for limited and temporary woes. He next proceeds to deal in a rather confused manner with two objections to his teaching, which we shall notice in another connection, and the concluding portion of his apologia is mainly occupied with a long rhetorical picture of the wicked souls waking up in the future world to discover too late the error of their theories and practice. To the second subdivision of the first part we are probably meant to look for the central conception or doctrine of the whole book. It contains the Praise of Wisdom, and in it our author essays to show what quality it is which, in one or other of its forms, is without us the source and within us the condition of that im- mortality of divine communion on which his exhortation and his apology alike depend. The sixth chapter, like the first, opens with an appeal to kings and rulers. But by an elaborate pun, to which the second half of the chapter works up, the author indicates that the form of his exhortation is little more than a rhetorical or dramatic prelude to his main subject. Wisdom he tells the rulers of peoples shall preserve them from punishment and secure them kingdoms in very deed. But what is this Kingdom to which Wisdom alone can show the way 1 It is a Kingdom wherein all men may be crowned kings. For Wisdom's Kingdom is that nearness to God, of which the possession is granted on equal terms to small and great. The author proves his point that the desire of Wisdom leads to a Kingdom by a famous Sorites or series of syllogisms ; by it he shows that the desire of Wisdom begins in a willing zeal for restraining discipline, and that this zealous acceptance of moral and spiritual discipline is equivalent or conducive to love. But the love of Wisdom implies the keeping of Wisdom's laws, and he who keeps her laws is assured of immortality. And this immortality, which represents the full flowering of that THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 137 idea of true life so often spoken of in Proverbs, brings us near to God. " There- fore the desire of Wisdom bringeth to a Kingdom." In the seventh and succeeding chapters the author, now openly speaking in the person as Solomon, seeks to give not a definition but a description of this King- making wisdom. To that description, which is the central conception of the book, I must ask your attention later on. Wisdom we shall then find, which is in man the source of knowledge and goodness, is in its origin identified with the Holy Spirit of God. My wisdom, says the author, the far famed wisdom of the wise Solomon, was not my own acquiring ; it was the Divine Spirit of Wisdom herself - that spirit which is extended from one end of the universe to another, and orders all things well which came to me in answer to my urgent prayer and made me wise. After an elaborate panegyric of his instructress, the Alexandrian Solomon proceeds to state his conviction that through wisdom alone would he acquire earthly fame and power as well as heavenly joys, and he concludes the first part of his treatise with the repetition of his prayer to God for the thrice blessed gift of Wisdom. The second part, reaching from Chapter X. to the end, is far less generally interesting than the former portion. Its general aim may be said to consist in proving from special events in Jewish history that God or Wisdom, God's Spirit, has been of old the successful ruler of the world. By " successful " I mean that God has shown in these events that he protects the good and the wise, but that he punishes the wicked and the foolish. The ethical order of the world being justified from the past experience of Israelites, the moral to the apostate Jew, the idolatrous heathen, and the troubled believer is in each case sufficiently clear. That moral, however, is for all three classes rather implied than stated, and the author having once started on his historical retrospect, seems entirely to lose his at all times somewhat feeble sense of proportion and artistic judgment. His general object is overshadowed by two long digressions, of which the relation to the main theme is very ill defined. Having to show that God punishes the wicked, and it also being the case that the wicked were idolaters, our author takes the opportunity to explain, with no very great success, the methods of divine punishment, and sub- sequently passes on to an account of the origin, the varieties and the moral results of idolatry. Then returning to his main theme of reward and punishment, and obviously stimulated by his actual Alexandrian surroundings, he finally indulges in a lengthy and tedious contrast between the different fortunes which befell the righteous Israelites and the wicked Egyptians. After he has dwelt with very unpleasing satisfaction upon these startling contrasts and the way in which they were managed and controlled by the Divine Providence, he somewhat suddenly breaks off and concludes his book with thanks and praise to God for having magnified his chosen people and helped them in all places and at every time. This rapid sketch of the general plan is nearly all it is necessary to say in this connection of the later chapters. It will suffice to mention that in the tenth chapter the saving operation of Wisdom in biblical history is briefly illustrated from Adam, who was delivered by her from the consequences of his Fall, to the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea. In Chapter XI., in which God takes the place of personified Wisdom, the author begins the contrast between the woes of Egypt and the weal of Israel. This subject is continued in Chapter XII., but in both is made the occasion for discursive remarks upon the method and objects of divine government. In these chapters a twofold apologetic tendency is observable. On the one hand there appears a desire to meet the objections coming probably from a Jewish 138 JEWS' COLLEGE LITEEARY SOCIETY. source, to the slow and gradual method of punishment employed both in the case of the Egyptians and the Canaanites, as if this seemingly unnecessary delay in an- nihilating the enemies of the Lord implied a lack of power in the God of Vengeance himself ; on the other hand, the author seems anxious to meet the current objections of heathen critics to whom, as indeed to us, these stories of plague and destruction raised grave moral difficulties in regard to the impartial morality of the Bible's God. We shall shortly have to consider in some comparative detail how our Solomon deals with these objections. Chapters XIII., XIV., and XV. consist mainly of a long digression upon Idolatry, which contains, as we shall see hereafter, some curious and interesting features. In Chapter XVII. the subject of "contrast" is taken up again, and is illustrated at considerable length to the close of the work by some five or six striking examples to indicate how the same forces and qualities of nature were used, by the overruling power of God, as a scourge for the wicked and a blessing to the good. The scope and design of the book have perhaps been sufficiently indicated by the foregoing analysis. It is essentially practical and didactic ; it contains philo- sophical expressions, but is not written with any theoretical or scientific purpose. It is a book for the time ; it seeks to confute contemporary scoffers and believers ; to throw the light of religious beatitude upon contemporary gloom and depression.* Somewhat more difficult is the question whether it was intended by its writer for heathen as well as for Jewish readers. There is no doubt that numerous writings of the Hellenistic school were compiled at least as much for those who were without as for those who were within the pale of Judaism, and Schiirer (p. 756) thinks that this is also the case with the Wisdom of Solomon. He asks with considerable justice what conceivable practical object could the long digression upon idolatry serve for Jewish readers ? Moreover the vindication of God's justice in punishment appears aimed to meet the objections of heathen critics. Grimm (p. 27) argues that the curious omission of all names from the historical chapters would have made it utterly unintelligible to any but Jewish readers. It may however be suggested that these omissions were prompted by a desire to impart a more universalist character to the book : with omitted names and merely vaguely described as " the righteous," " the ungodly," " an unbelieving soul," " a holy prophet," " a blameless man," and so on, the Israelites and Sodomites, Lot's wife, Moses, Aaron and others become as it were moral types from which it is easier to draw general lessons.f The first nine chapters are suited equally for either class of readers, and therefore, although the repeated appeal to kings and rulers is merely employed to heighten the rhetorical effect, it seems no exaggeration to assume that much of the polemic and apologetic portions, together with the central doctrine of wisdom, were aimed at heathens as well as Jews. The objects of the book may therefore include the characteristic Hellenistic purpose of direct religious propaganda. III. The Wisdom of Solomon, though written in Greek and greatly influenced by Greek philosophy and Alexandrian surroundings, is, nevertheless, to a large extent modelled upon a distinct type of old Hebraic literature. It keeps most clearly to its model in its central teaching, the doctrine of Wisdom. Even the most casual * This is not Inconsistent with the subsequent remark that no allusions to contemporary events can safely be deduced from It. Though written to meet contemporary needs, the book has rather the character of a studious and elaborate sermon than of an allusive or polemical pamphlet. t As in Ecclesiastes the name of Solomon is not mentioned, the Solomonic authorship being merely implied. THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 139 reader of the Bible may easily have noticed that the Scriptural writings can be roughly divided into three or four main groups, each possessing its own charac- teristics. There is, first of all, the large collection of historical or narrative books ; in the second place there comes the series of the Prophets. The books which re- main, putting aside one or two minor and less easily classifiable writings, are, first, an incomparable collection of religious lyrics, which we know as the Psalms and Lamentations, and, secondly, three works of a wholly different character from any of the others. These three works are Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. What are the general characteristics of these books, applicable equally in spite of their differences from each other, to all of them ? These characteristics are both negative and positive. First of all, there is no prophetic element in these books. They differ from the Psalms not only in style, but in being the outcome not of momentary enthusiasm or individual feeling, but of calm and collected meditation. Last, and most peculiar feature of all, they have nothing to do with historic events or national aspirations. They do not concern themselves with Israel's fortunes or Israel's hopes ; they are, on the contrary, broadly human, and deal with the general incidents and accidents of mortal destiny. The quality both in God and man which these writings hold most highly is wisdom, and they form what is known as the HO3n or Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament. Proverbs is the main and central example of this literature, while Job on one side and Koheleth on the other are developments or branches of it with additional and peculiar characteristics of their own. The !"!D3n books are the works of the " Wise ; " from the priest, according to a statement in Jeremiah, comes min or ritual instruction, from the Prophets ~Q1 or predictive utterance, from the wise man, i"ly or counsel.* Who were, we have to ask, these D'D3n or wise men, and what was the counsel they were wont to give ? At what date the teaching of the Wise began is uncertain. Whether Solomon was " wise," in the later technical sense, is exceedingly doubtful. But by the time of Josiah there undoubtedly existed a class of men who gave up their time to a kind of open public instruction. They taught " in the broad places and the streets," " beside the gates at the entry of the city." They seem to have had disciples, though scarcely to have formed definite schools like the schools of the Prophets. While they may legitimately be called a class, their functions were not so sharply marked off or so openly recognised as to give their office, like priests' or prophets', the character of a profession. (Oehler " Padagogik des Alten Testaments " in Schmid's " Encyklopadie " V., p. 561.) How it comes to pass that they seemed to have cared so little, or at all events to have spoken so seldom, not only about temple ceremonials but also about the predictions of the Prophets we find in the books of the Wise no allusion to captivity or Messiah, to national suffering or national aspirations, to Israel's sins or Israel's virtues we can hardly tell. They do not seem, as was sup- posed by Bruch in his useful book " Die Weisheitslehre der Hebraer," to have been sarcastically indifferent or hostile to the outer forms of the popular religion. They, however, turned their whole attention to developing the universal side of Israel's religion and ethics, and thus occupying a sort of " middle position " between the prophets and the rude masses, and " constantly working on suitable individuals, they produced a moral sympathy with the prophets without which those heroic men would have laboured in vain." (Cheyne's "Hebrew Wisdom," p. 123.) This last touch of Professor Cheyne's may be somewhat exaggerated, but at any rate it is certainly true that the full importance of the wise men in the religious history of * Jeremiah xvili. 18. 140 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. Israel " is too seldom recognised," For their teaching was in harmony with the fundamental conceptions of the Prophets, seeing that the wisdom they adored was founded upon the fear of God. Wisdom is God's gift, and the knowledge of God is the supreme object of wisdom. Hence wisdom, while presiding over every depart- ment of human activity, so that the management of a household and the govern- ment of a kingdom are both within the wide scope of her direction and control, is yet chiefly and immediately concerned with matters of religion and practical morality Or, in other and possibly more accurate words, every kind of human action in the opinion of the wise falls under the category of morality. Ethics and religion, as they understood them, were not only inextricably blended with each other, but penetrated in this close combination into every side and aspect of life and its affairs.*. The consequence is that wisdom, according to the doctrine of Proverbs, is frequently synonymous with goodness or religiousness. The wise men looked at both these qualities mainly from the intellectual point of view. Hence the calm reflectiveness and the comparative lack of enthusiasm and emotion in their teaching. Goodness becomes a form of wisdom, and the central and most essential quality of God, on which the wise men love to dwell, is not His love, His Mercy, or His holiness, but His wisdom. Yet for all that the true opposite of wisdom is not ignorance, but vice ; the " fool " is he who deliberately and obstinately refuses to undergo that self-imposed and self -accepted moral discipline which is the condition of moral knowledge. Thus if morality is a form of wisdom, wisdom is constituted by morality. With that purely theoretical knowledge which can be associated with an immoral, though not with a wholly undisciplined life, Hebrew wisdom has no concern. It becomes apparent from the foregoing considerations that the wise men's teaching, though peculiar in many of its features, did not bring them into conflict with either prophets or priests. Their ethics were founded upon religion, and their religion was a knowledge of the same God as was worshipped by Psalmist and Seer. Even when the sages begin to realise the difficulties which the theory of an all- powerful and all-beneficent Deity presents to the moral consciousness of man, the obstinate questionings they feel and raise do not go so far as to doubt the existence or omnipotence of God. There may be evidence (Cheyne's " Hebrew Wisdom," pp. 120, 149 152) of a more radically sceptical left wing ; but its members must always have been regarded by the religionist majority as possessing no legitimate claim to the title of Wise. Even the mournful Koheleth never hesitates to assume God's existence. And Job, in the darkest moments of his mental agony, never falters in affirming the reality of the God whose justice he arraigns. Hebrew wisdom, through the mouths of its accredited representatives, never questions the truth of that " supernatural hypothesis " from which all its philosophy depends (Oehler, p. 857). With this mere outline, in which I have only touched upon those points in the teaching of the Wise that are intimately connected with my own subject, I must here content myself. Let me now attempt to point out what influence the circum- stances of Alexandrian life and of the post-Maccabean epoch produced upon the development of the i"l)D3n literature. That influence was considerable but contra- dictory. The universalist tendencies of the Hebrew sages were in harmony with the general teaching of the contemporary Greek Philosophy. The religion of the Platonists and the Stoics was no more specially Greek, in any national sense, than in a similar sense the religion of the Wise men was specially Jewish. Even Socratea had called himself a citizen of the world, and this appellation had become a common- place among the Stoics. Zeus and Olympus are insufficient to express God's nature and his home ; in their place we have the theory of the all-pervading Spirit of God. THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 141 Such teaching was attractive to the school of the Wise, and the point of connection led to a development of their doctrine in the direction of Stoic universalism. But on the other hand, the national consciousness and the national sympathies had been considerably strengthened and intensified by the struggle of the Maccabees and the exaltation of the written letter of the Law. For the Palestinian ilD3n literature of the period we may notice this increase of nationalism in the wisdom of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus, where the references to Jewish history are frequent, and the personified Divine Wisdom is for a moment identified, in the manner of later Rabbinic theology, with the written Law of Moses.* In Alexandria national feelings were excited by opposition. Though the Jews were very numerous they were nevertheless in a minority as compared with the whole population. A religious minority, whenever there is any attempt at repression or force, is always polemical and combative. That some Jews fell away altogether only served to increase the religious nationalism or particularism of the remainder. Thus the Hellenistic writings in certain respects are wider and more universal than any class of Hebrew literature which had pre- ceded them ; but sometimes they are also more intensely national, and more fiercely denunciatory of other creeds and their believers. In the Wisdom of Solomon we find both these tendencies at work in sufficient strength to cause occasional contra- dictions in the teaching of the book. The two influences have not been reconciled or harmonised in the author's mind ; each becomes uppermost according to the occasion of the moment. I will seek to illustrate this conflict of influences by considering our author's views upon the relative position in the divine economy of Heathens and Jews. That God is the universal Creator and Sustainer is everywhere assumed and frequently asserted. God made the world because He meant to love it. " Thou lovest all things which are and hatest nothing which Thou hast made, for Thou never wouldst have fashioned aught while hating it. And how would anything have continued to exist hadst Thou not desired it, or maintained itself unless it had been called into existence by Thee ? Thine incorruptible spirit is in all things." Imitating the very terminology of the Stoics, our author asserts that " God cares (ir/oovotT, VI. 7, I. 14) for all alike, and made all things that they might live." The whole doctrine of Wisdom is perfectly general. The language is even grander and wider reaching than that of Proverbs. But when our author comes to deal with events of history, the punishments which befell the Egyptians and the Canaanites, we notice the influence of the surrounding idolatry and licentiousness upon his mind, although we notice also an evident effort to justify the vengeance of God. National as his sympathies are, he resembles the wise men of Proverbs in paying no attention to the higher teaching of the Prophets. To Israel's mission to man- kind there is scarcely an allusion. Once only are the Jews described as God's children " through whom the incorrupt light of the Law was to be given to the world." Our author had certainly not profited by the words of the Second Isaiah. The Messianic age (there is no reference to any personal Messiah in the book) is alluded to, though obscurely, but ita glories are apparently confined to Israel and do not include an ingathering of the heathen nations. The inhabitants of the world, according to the author's view, seem to be divided into three great classes. First come those who are Jews by faith and practice as well as race. These are the SiKaioi or righteous men. Secondly, there are the apos- tate Jews for whom dire punishment is in store. Thirdly there comes everybody * In the " Apocryphal Book of Baruch " this tendency is even more apparent than in Sirach. Sec III. 20 IV. 3. Cp. also Aboth III. 23, in Taylor's edition and Taylor's notes thereon, as well aa on I. 2, V. 1 ; also p. 118. 142 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. else, conveniently lumped together under the generic title of Idolaters. There are degrees of idolatry, and one kind is more blameable than another, but, on the whole, not only are all non-Jews regarded as idolaters, but also all idolatry is identified with sin. I do not deny that this view fairly represents the general doctrine of the Old Testament itself. But that which is naive and spontaneous in the Hebrew Scrip- tures receives in "Wisdom" a scientific basis and justification. Chapters XIII., XIV., and XV. consist, as I have already stated, of a long digression upon the causes, the nature and the effects of idolatry. The main features of the author's teaching, though somewhat confusedly stated in his text, appear to be of the following kind. The knowledge of God is only possible to man if God impart, as a gift of grace within his soul, the holy spirit of wisdom. But this gift is not given unless desired. And to desire it requires a certain amount of humble simplicity and dis- cipline (dir\6rjc icapSiac and iraititia. Cp. ^DID in Proverbs). Hence all men who are ignorant of God may be regarded as naturally vain (ftdratoi tyvati), because they are unable to raise themselves to that degree of moral capacity from which to seek and obtain the gracious gift of Wisdom. But for this inability they are not wholly blameless, though unless they fall to lower levels of ignorance, the blame attaching to their folly is comparatively small. The first step towards the averting of idolatry was to confuse the workman with his work, to worship nature instead of its Author. It seems not improbable that in the passage where this mistake is spoken of the writer is alluding neither to the mere worship of sun and stars or other natural objects (for representatives of such reli- gions would not have been numerous in Alexandria), nor, as Grimm supposes, to the cultus of Hephaistos, Hera, Poseidon and other Hellenic deities, but, as has been pointed out, I believe for the first time, by Professor Edmund Pfleiderer, to the theories of the Greek Philosophers. Such theories he calls, in another passage, " the mischievous inventions" (KaeoYtxvof iirivoia') of men.* The exact words run as follows : " Surely vain were all men by nature who were ignorant of God, and could not out of the good things that are seen know Him that is ; neither by considering the works did they acknowledge the workmaster, but deemed either fire or wind, or the swift air, or the violent water, or the lights of heaven to be the gods which govern the world." (XIII. 1, 2.) Pfleiderer supposes that " wind and air " in this passage refers to Anaximenes ; "water" to Thales ; the circle of the stars to the Pythagoreans, and "fire" to Herakleitus. The " lights of heaven," which others held to be " the governing gods of the world," are assigned to the Peripatetics and Stoics, who regarded the stars as animated and divine beings (Pfleiderer, p. 304). How to estimate the religious position of the philosophers must have been a great puzzle to the Alexandrian Jew. (A parallel case may be discerned in a certain awkwardness among ourselves in estimating the religious value of Theists and Unitarians.) They were not idolaters, they were not Jews. Philo, without exactly telling us what he thinks of their chances of salvation or their capacities for morality, yet frequently refers to them in terms of praise and recognition. He speaks of the most eloquent Plato, the holy band of Pythagoreans, and so on. He is willing to allow that certain truths are contained in the stories of Greek mythology, and he adopts the Stoic view about the stars. He speaks of them as " endowed with life and intellect, pervading the universe, unadulterated and divine ; " and again as " rulers in heaven," though sub- At the same time it mnst be< acknowledged that the passage in Philo (de deeem oraculix), quoted by Grimm, and referring to the worship of the four elements, and the names assigned to them, is in many ways a very close parallel. (Mangey's Philo, II., p. 189.) THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 143 ject to the single, the Father of all."* The author of the Wisdom of Solomon seems less complaisant and more sternly monotheistic. He cannot praise those who, over-persuaded by the things they see or lost in the rapture of their beauty, are unable to raise their souls to Him who is the Creator of Beauty (6 row a\Xoc ytvtfftapxtic). For if " they were able to know so much that they were able to in- vestigate the world, how did they not sooner find out the Lord thereof ? " (XIII., 19.) Still, these men, whether they were disciples of philosophy or simple worshippers of the grander phenomena of nature, may be credited with an unfeigned desire to find out God. They went astray in the investigation of His works. Hence, though they are not to be pardoned altogether, the blame proportionate to their fault cannot be large, t The full scorn and hatred of the author is reserved for those who bow down before animals or the fashionings of men. Upon them shall a dire and awful punishment descend. The origin of this second and debased form of idolatry he appears to find in a peculiar variation of Euhemerism. The deification of man led to the making of idols, and the practice was fostered by the vanity of kings, the flattery of their subjects, and the zeal of the idol makers themselves. The passage is curious enough to deserve a full translation. " A father afflicted with untimely mourning, when he had made an image of hia dead child, now honoured him as a god, who was then a corpse, and instituted among his household ceremonies and rites. Thus in process of time the ungodly custom now grown strong was kept as a law, and graven images were worshipped by the commandments of kings. And in the second place, whom men could not honour in presence because they dwelt far off, they took the counterfeit of their visage, and made an express image of the king they honoured, that by their zeal they might flatter him in his absence as if he were present. Also the eagerness of the artificer helped forward the ignorant to greater intensity of worship. For he, desiring to please the ruler, used his utmost skill to make the image as beautiful as possible, and the multitude, allured by the graceful beauty of the work, took him now for a god who a little before was but honoured as a man " J (XIV., 15-20). Idolatry could not have begun had not a weakening of the moral intelligence preceded it. The state of mind which caused it is called by the author Ktvodoia, or " vain imagining." It is the source and origin of innumerable sins and horrors. It is " the beginning, the cause and consummation of all evils" (XTV., 27). If men really believe that their idols are gods, they are miserable (raXaiirutpoi aQpoviaraToi) fools and lovers of evil. Still guiltier perhaps are they who do not believe in their divinities, and are yet content to swear falsely by their names, fondly dreaming that no harm can come to them. They forgot the living avenger of perjury. The orgies of Alexandrian festivals to gods both Egyptian and Hellenic, the lascivious and grossly immoral rites practised in the celebration of the mysteries, the riots and bloodshed which were often caused by " the quarrels of various Egyptian villages among each other as to the relative superiority of the ibis over the cat, or the crocodile over the baboon " (Mommsen, V., p. 580), had evidently made a deep im- pression upon our author's mind. To him all heathen life (XIV., 25, reading with Grimm rdvTa, instead of the Vulgate rdvrac) seemed one seething mass of cor- ruption and crime. There is a horrible confusion of " blood and slaughter, theft Philo De Plantationc Noe. Mangey I., 331 ; De Gigantibus I., 263 ; De Monarchia II., 213 ; cp. also the curious passage, De Decem Oraculis II., 191, where he calls the stars our oJe'Atfioi $v. 273, note 3. 144 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERACY SOCIETY. and deceit, ingratitude and perjury, adultery and sexual uncleanness " (XIV., 25, 26 shortened). What wonder if a speedy retribution shall befall such sinners ? Our author, like the Prophets of old, thought that the punishment and day of visitation would come speedily. The ungodly and his ungodliness are alike hateful to God. A sharp and sudden end has been decreed for them. The earthly rulers who have countenanced these evils shall be visited with a sore trial. " Horribly and speedily shall he come upon you, for a sharp judgment shall be dealt out to them that be in high places " (VI., 5). The details of this divine punishment are not given, and the author's ideas upon this subject seem in no way to have advanced upon, but rather, as I have elsewhere pointed out, to have deteriorated from, the prophetic notions of the Day of Judgment and the Messianic Age. " The righteous," we are told, " shall judge the nations and have dominion over the peoples, and the Lord shall be King for ever and ever " (III., 8). It is more interesting to turn to the author's general theory of divine punish- ment, which is closely connected with his view of the heathen world, and supplies a further and excellent illustration of the conflicting influences at work within his mind. God's method of punishment had a wider range to the author of " Wisdom " than to the Old Testament writers, because it included punishment in the next world as well as this. His full conviction of a future life makes his theodicy an easier task. At the same time he is unwilling to relinquish the old view that even in this life wickedness meets its deserts and righteousness is rewarded. The earth is ruled by God and not the Devil, and the Alexandrian Jew, no less than we moderns, was anxious to show that divine or poetical justice is not, and has not been, exclusively reserved for a future world. But directly he attempts to apply this general belief, he is confronted by the difficulties which the facts of life and history present, and disturbed by national prejudice and partiality. We have already learned that God loves all things which He has made. Life, not death, is His creation and desire. Why, then, do the righteous suffer, and what is the meaning of all human woe 1 Is it the work of chance or of God 1 The answers are not wholly homogeneous. To begin with, there is no man so righteous that his soul without purification or trial is worthy to pass straightway into the presence of God. Therefore, in order that after death the righteous may be worthy of the Divine communion, they must go through some sort of cleansing test upon earth. This trial, which men think misery, is really a blessing. The righteous, "though they seem to have been punished in the sight of man, are comforted with a hope which is full of immortality. Having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded; for God proved them and found them worthy of Himself." (III., 2-5.) They who stand on a lower level of righteousness are nevertheless not without the limits of Divine mercy. If punishment befall them because of their sin, it is not retributive but educational. It is sent that they may repent and amend their ways. "Thou hast mercy upon all and dost overlook the sins of men to the end that they may repent. (XI., 23.) Therefore Thou chastenest little by little them that offend, and warnest them by reminding them wherein they have offended that leaving their wickedness they may believe in Thee." (XII., 2.) It is hard for the author to accept the painful fact that sinners can live to the end of a life of ease and pleasure. It is in keeping with the teaching of Proverbs when he declares that "their labours are fruitless, their works unprofitable, their wives foolish, and their children wicked." (III., 11,12.) The children of sinners shall reap the evil fruit which their parents have sown. Sin shall be visited in the next generation, and THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 145 visited justly, so the author seems to hold, for the children of corruption are them- selves corrupt. " Though they live long, yet they shall be nothing regarded, and their last age shall be without honour. Or if they die quickly, they shall have no hope, neither comfort in the day when they are judged." (17, 18.) With the varying fortunes of good and bad in another world we shall have to deal hereafter : it will here suffice to point out how the foregoing views are applied and modified in their relation to the past history of Israel. According to his main theory all punishment from God is to be considered as a iraiftvaif or rowOsrij^a ; it tests, warns, admonishes or reminds. Its object is repentance. Though there must be necessary variations in degree, all men should be punished according to the same principle and for the same end. But the author's hatred of the apostates within his own community, and more especially of the historic enemies of Israel, do not allow him to apply his theory with equal impartiality to all. To justify God and himself at once, he adopts the plan of minimising the sinfulness of Israel in the past and magnifying the guilt of its oppressors. The Jews are a "holy people and a blameless seed." The Egyptians are the ungodly, most foolish and most miserable men ; the enemies of God. Consequently both the sins and punishments of the Jews are lightly passed over. The story of the biting serpents in Numbers XXI. is alluded to as a short-lived trouble sent as an admonishment. The plague which ensued upon the death of Korah consumed, according to chapter XVI. of Numbers, 14,700 souls : our author calls it a irilpa Oavdrov, a "trial" of death "which endured not long." (XVIII., 20.) In his eagerness to illustrate his principle that the Jews were benefited by the same means which punished their foes, he is willing even to change the letter of Scripture to suit his purpose. In the Pentateuchal narrative the gift of quails is a sign of God's displeasure and is accompanied by a "very great plague." Our author contrasts the manner in which the Egyptians were tormented by "a multitude of beasts," with "God's gracious dealing to His own people when He prepared for them strange meat, even quails to satisfy their appetite, so that the Egyptians desiring food might for the ugly sight of the beasts sent among them be deprived of the very appetite which is necessary for life, and the Israelites Buffering penury for a short time might be made partakers of a strange taste." XVI., 2, 3.) The Israelites are tried: God's enemies are punished. In mournful but pardonable contrast to the universalist doctrine scattered through his book we find other passages to the following effect : " These thou didst admonish and try as a father; the others as a severe king thou didst condemn and punish." (XI., 16.) And again " whereas Thou dost chasten us, Thou scourgest our enemies a thousand times more." (XII., 22.) It is an old error scarcely eradicated even now. It is that identification of one's own enemies with the enemies of God, which made Romola shrink back even from Savanarola himself with the sublime indignation of outraged morality. But the author of Wisdom is not without his moral compunctions. Even the Egyptians, he tells us, were punished with "great circumspection" (XII., 20), that they might rid themselves of their own wickedness. God treated them at first as unreasonable children, and it was not until " they would not be reformed by a correction wherein he dallied with them " that they received a chastisment worthy of divine omni- potence and adequate to their sins. The Canaanites, albeit that God " knew that their generation was wicked, their vice ingrained, and that their cogitation would never be changed" (XII., 10, 11), were nevertheless annihilated "little by little," BO that " occasion for repentance " might be allowed them. God dealt with them tenderly in spite of their exceeding wickedness, remembering the frailty of man. (XII., 8.) All who touch on these high matters of Divine providence are almost sure to fall into antinomies and contradictions. It would be hard to reconcile the B 146 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. object of the gradual destruction of the Canaanites with God's foreknowledge of its uselessness ; nor is the hardening of the Egyptian's heart made any more morally intelligible by its Hellenic transformation that " the destiny whereof they were worthy drew them to their doom" (/ di'a tirl rovro ri iripnf avayrq). (XIX., 4.) It was certainly no advance upon older theories to point to the animal worshippers being punished by animals as a proof that " wherewithal a man sinneth, by the same he shall be punished " (XI., 1C), and in looking back upon the whole doctrine of the book respecting Divine punishment, it is evident that our author had neither been able to frame a consistent opinion of his own, nor to be content, without any felt moral repugnance, to abide by the mere literal statements of the Biblical writers. Hence the confusion which we have witnessed. There will, doubtless, have been noticed in the course of this discussion a certain tendency of our author to moralize or improve upon the actual words of Scripture. This was quite in keeping with the practice of the Midrashic writers and preachers of his age. It will be convenient to put together in this place a few more scattered examples of this tendency, which do not easily fall under any other head. The simple tale of Jacob's dream, about the ladder of which the top reached to Heaven, is regarded in Wisdom as a revelation of God's kingdom and the nature of the supersensual world. (X., 10.) The object of Jacob's victory over the angel in their wrestling match is that he might know that piety (tuia is not employed, and the conception of Wisdom is not essentially different from the older and purely Hebraic conception in the eighth chapter of Proverbs. The book is throughout a work of religious edification according to the recognised nOSn School, in nowise one of philosophic or theoretical instruction. But, never- theless, the writer is a man of culture and education. Although, if he did read any of Plato's dialogues, they have left no traces of their matchless beauty in his own style, he is yet acquainted with the tricks and graces of Alexandrian rhetoric. He is fond of assonance, alliteration, and paronomasia, though he is unable to use these dangerous elegancies with any artistic moderation. He even employs the Sorites. He is aware of the extent of knowledge. In the person of Solomon he declares that God's gift of wisdom had given him mastery over every science, and the list of them he draws up is long and various. Physics, Botany, Zoology, Astronomy, the knowledge of human thought and speech (dtaXoyiff/joi dvOpuiriav, arpo^tai Xoywv), and of the spirit world (irvtvudrtav /3tj), insight (0p<5vj<7ic), justice (SiKatoffvvT)*) and courage (dvlpia~). The four cardinal virtues were also named and fixed by Plato, but it is characteristic of the Stoics to regard them as the results or divisions of wisdom. The main influence of Stoicism upon our treatise and the main interest of that influence for us centres in the fundamental conception of wisdom itself. V. In the Book of Proverbs, which may be taken to represent the well of Hebrew wisdom undefiled, wisdom assumes a two-fold or double aspect. There is first of all human wisdom, a virtue in which moral and intellectual qualities are curiously blended together. In this sense wisdom is a virtue acquirable in the first instance by instruction or 1D1O, that not only includes the diligent acceptance of others' teaching, but also a course of moral schooling given and received by the self -same subject. This curious word "I DID implies, as I have already pointed out, a deliberate moral intention and the reverence of God. The life of ~!D1D will have its difficulties and trials, and it is in this sense that the Wise Man bids his disciple " despise not the "ID1D, the chastening or instruction, of the Lord, nor be weary of his reproof." But while the acquisition of wisdom, from man's point of view, maybe said to lie within his own choice as being the priceless issue of his own moral effort, it is also to be regarded as a special gift of God. Therefore the sages can say " the Lord giveth wisdom : from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." It follows that the Giver of wisdom must be asked to bestow his gifts. What man should seek is not the frail and shadowy learning which he may acquire from the working of his own conceit, but that full moral knowledge which depends on and issues from God. "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, lean not upon thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall make plain thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes : fear the Lord and depart from evil." And wisdom so sought will surely be found. Its result is that complete moral knowledge which to the Hebrew sage implied the practice of virtue and the ever-present sense of the Divine rule. Such is Wisdom how different from the intellectual virtue of the Stagirite in one of its two aspects. In the other it is the essential quality of the Godhead Himself, or the active principle by which he works and rules. In the Wisdom of Solomon the conception of i wisdom is precisely similar. There is, first of all, practical human wisdom, of which the necessary preliminary con- ditions are a moral uprightness and a simple faith in God. "For he will be found of them that tempt him not, and sheweth himself unto such as do not distrust him " (I. 2). But the finding of God is the acquisition of wisdom. Both Wisdom and Proverbs, as I pointed out before, may be accused of reasoning in a circle. To find God you must believe in Him. To become wise, which to them is equivalent to THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 155 becoming good, you must make a trial of goodness in your own person and by your own endeavour. " Crooked thoughts," on the other hand, " separate from God." They who rely on their own powers, who forget the natural weakness of human nature when it wantonly and purposely cuts itself adrift from God, are led deeper and deeper into the mire of ignorance and sin. " God's power, when tried (= tempted), chastises the foolish" (I. 3). We have already come across this teaching in the account of idolatry. Even the gifted Solomon felt that unaided human wisdom's best achievement was to recognise its limit and to pray for divine enlightenment. But the attainment of the fuller God-granted wisdom brings with it all the virtues, Through its means, too, the whole area of theoretic knowledge lies open to man's command, the possession of which, however, as the lower form of wisdom is also, truthfully, though inconsistently, allowed to be accessible to idolaters (cp. Chap. VII., 15-21, with XIII., 9). Wisdom in its highest degree is the mark of prophecy (VII., 27). The spirit of HKUJ is identified with the spirit of nD3H. Prophecy is but a form of wisdom, although its highest development. So much for wisdom on its human side ; it remains to deal with it as the active spirit of God. In this aspect it brings us close to the central problem in the philosophy of reli- gion. That problem is to determine the relation of the Deity to nature and to man. Religious thought and religious feeling are both continually desiring two qualities in the Godhead, the combination of which inharmonious unity is always of exceeding difficulty. According as one quality or another is more rigorously insisted on, the character of the entire philosophy which maintains it is determined. And where a religious system attempts the higher synthesis, there is a great danger lest the peculiar difficulties of its expression lead both to wide popular misunderstanding, as well as to much fruitless obscurity and enervating mysticism. It will, moreover, also happen that few thinkers are able to maintain the balance of the synthesis on which the essence of the system depends : some will lay more stress on one portion of it, and some upon the other ; and, consequently, different schools of the single system will propound one-sided and even contradictory doctrines in the dress of a terminology that in its entirety cannot fit either of them without casuistry or evasion. Exclusive stress upon the one quality leads to Deism the term is here used in its narrower technical sense upon the other it leads to Pantheism. The problem of all Theistic religions is to find the higher unity which shall combine and satisfy the truths for mind and heart ( Gemiith,'), which Deism and Pantheism alike contain. What are the feelings of the comparatively untutored religious consciousness upon God's relation to Nature and Man ? It cannot accept a God to whom prayer is impossible. But the God of prayer is at-least self-conscious. We cannot realise self -consciousness in any Being who cannot distinguish himself from that which is outside him. God must be conceived as other than the world which He has made. He is the Cause behind phenomena, the Condition from which all things depend. But the higher up, so to spealr, we place our God, the more inscrutable His Nature becomes. He is unique alone, self suffi- cient ; He is single, changeless, and eternal. He is a reality cognizable to Himself alone ; He is, but what His being is transcends our grasp. And even as we are more and more convinced of His existence as a conscious Reality to Himself as well as for us, He seems to have reached a transcendency which puts Him out of relation or sympathy to the life of the world, which is said to have been His making in the ages of long ago. The baffled soul is cheated of its quest. The Deity of its thought, the Divine Spirit of its love, has not been found. 158 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. Thus we are led to seek for a God not only above nature, but also within nature. Natural laws are perceived to be rather necessary manifestations of God than arbitrary arrangements of His independent will. His government of the world ia from within and not from without, and Nature herself ia replete with the Divine Glory. We are led to conceive of Nature as God-contained ; so that the innermost cause of the existence of the world is the immanence of the Divine Spirit. This we feel as regards nature ; but for man we would fain believe that his relation to Deity is yet more intimate. For the human spirit yearns for union and communion with this unknown God of its creation : and human thought is again and again convinced that the yearning is not baseless, but corresponds to the facts of God's nature and man's. The great triad of human discoveries, Truth, Beauty, and Good- ness, are referred back to God as their producer and sustainer. He best explains them, and the idea of Him best assures us of their reality. But this belief implies the other, that man's spirit is allied to God's. Hence the untutored mind asserts that the idea of God is neither exhausted nor satisfied by conceiving Him as alone, self sufficient, separate, and in His full reality unknowable ; all these attributes are only true when balanced by others as true as themselves. The unique God is also eternally communicating Himself to Hia creation ; the reality of nature is maintained and conditioned by the immanence of God, and the struggles and victories, the craving and satisfaction of the human spirit are explained and justified by the perpetual outflow of the Divine towards the Human, the reproduction or indwelling of the infinite consciousness within the finite spirit of man. As from Him all things proceed (not merely have proceeded), as in Him to this belief we cling in spite of evil all things are, so to Him do all souls, conscious of their origin, yearn forward as their gaol. But in what a sea of difficulties and antinomies are we launched ! God and the world are separate, and yet God is not apart from the World but within it ; in other words, He is both without and within it at one and the same time. So hard is this unity to realise, so opposite the aspects which we wish to synthesize into a single large conception, that the human mind begins unconsiously to make distinc- tions in the Divine Essence ( Wesen) itself. The different qualities which it believes to be harmoniously present within the single unity of God it attempts to specialize and even to name, and the special nomenclature is naturally used to express that aspect of Deity which regards Him as the vital operative influence in Nature and in Man. Upon the momentous consequences of these attempted distinctions in the history of religion and theology I must not dwell ; what I have here to point out is that the germs of these distinctions are already to be found in the Old Testament itself. The Hebrew writers were acting under an unconscious impulse, but none the less is it true to say that the twofold aspect of the Divine Nature had impressed itself upon their minds, and that by their very choice of terms they sought, without knowing it, to give expression to their conviction of its truth. At the end of an immoderately long lecture it must suffice to make mere mention of the phrases used to signify the revealing side of God's nature, and that inward operative agency in which a progressive religious consciousness discovered the truer explanation of the relation of the Creator to all created things. First of all I am here more especially alluding to the Prophets come the terms borrowed from an earlier anthropomorphism. Such are the " "1133 the Glory of God, "DK> the Name of God, and " '3D the Face of God. Secondly, there is that difficult but most interesting term of ** "|X?D which deserves the closest investigation. THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 157 Thirdly, and of greater importance for our immediate subject, are two epithets which are familiar to us both in the Prophets and the Psalms. These are the ")3T or Word and the HIT or Spirit of God. The Word of God is sent out from the innermost recesses of Deity to operate in the world ; it accomplishes the bidding of the sender and never returns empty. The Spirit of God is the principle by which all things are preserved. It is co-extensive with nature. Creation was not accomplished and disposed of once and for all, but is perpetually renewed by the Spirit. In man the spirit is the source of morality and the higher life. (Ps. li., 11.) Its highest manifestation is Prophecy, but all skill and knowledge are regarded as its gift. Lastly, in the book of Proverbs (and more especially in the later portion of it, the nine introductory chapters), the divine Spirit in nature and man is represented under the conception of Wisdom. God made the world, not at chance adventure but according to a settled plan, and the preservation of the universe is the manifestation of His intelligent will. To the " Wise " the principle of cosmic creation in God appeared the same as that which in man was the source alike of social government and individual self control. Human wisdom led to divine wisdom as its complement and condition. " The Lord by wisdom founded the earth." A further and momentous step is taken in the famous personification of Wisdom in the 8th chapter. " Wisdom," in the words of Professor Cheyne, is there presented to us as the " first-born child of the Creator. There is but one Wisdom ; though her forms are many, in her origin she is one. The Wisdom who presided over the ' birth ' of nature is the same who by her messengers (the ' wise men ') calls mankind to turn aside from evil." It is necessary that I should recall to you the very words of the imaginative and " boldly original " author, and for this purpose I cannot do better than borrow from Professor Cheyne his literal rendering. " Jehovah produced me as the beginning of his way, as the first of his works, long since. From of old I received my place, from the beginning, from the first times of the earth." Then after detailing the processes of creation before which she was produced and at which she was present, Wisdom continues : " Then (i.e., during creation) was I beside him as architect, and was daily full of delight, sporting before him at all times, I who (still) have sport with his fruitful earth, and have my delight with the sons of men." In this celebrated portraiture there are several points to be observed. The con- ception of Wisdom reaches, as we may say, to the very limits of personification. Created in God, and residing in God, Wisdom, as Oehler points out, has yet to become objective to God, who is for the moment differentiated from his production. Wisdom takes the place of God's spirit in the relations between God and man, and she even goes so far as to promise an outpouring of her own spirit upon those who seek her counsel. Nevertheless personification, though strained, is not exceeded. It is through Wisdom that God acts, and through Wisdom that He is known. But the writer does not give a personality to Wisdom, except for the purposes of his teaching. The personification, being momentary in its character, is not stiffened into any theory of permanent distinctions within the divine nature each endowed with its own separate self -consciousness. But the germ of such a theory is perceptible in the evident desire to mark off from the fulness of Deity that quality by which we know Him, and by which He is present in ourselves. For Wisdom, it may also be noted, finds her special delight among men : it is the spiritual side of God's creation with which she, as intelligent spirit, is in keenest sympathy and has most intimate concern. 168 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. In the Wisdom of Solomon the conception receives a twofold expansion. On the Hebraic side it is enlarged by absorbing the attributes of the ** rm the Spirit of God into the idea of Wisdom. On the Alexandrian side it is enlarged by the influence of the Stoic philosophy. Both developments are reciprocally related to each other, inasmuch as the identification of Wisdom with the spirit in bridged over (" Vermittelt" would be the useful German word) by the Stoic doctrine of irvtvfin and the adoption of Stoic terminology was suggested and justified by the rm teaching of the Old Testament. The union of the two conceptions of riD3n and M fin was sufficient to give a very wide scope and importance to the new conception of aoipia. A Psalmist had already taught the universality of God's spirit, and the 2nd Isaiah (whom another sublime Psalmist imitates) had deepened the idea of the M nn by the attribute of " holiness." The Septuagint had changed noun into adjective, and rendered the words by irvil'na ayiov, which marked the first appearance of the Holy Spirit in Biblical Theology. The 8th Chapter of Proverbs had told of Wisdom's work in the process of Creation ; the difficult word J1DX is rendered by the Greekjtranslators apuoZovau, the " arranger " or " fashioner " of things. The Spirit again had been spoken of as the ever-active principle of life throughout the universe ; it is sent forth (dn-o<7rsX\i') from God to renew (dvaicaiviZtiv) the face of the ground. The two ideas of Wisdom and the Spirit were both specially connected with mankind ; "Wisdom" is the principle of goodness as well as knowledge, the " Spirit " is the source of wisdom, inspiration, and prophecy. Lastly, both the Spirit in 2nd Isaiah and Wisdom in Proverbs had been personified, and, as it were, temporarily detached from their divine subject. Now, if you are able to recall the description of Wisdom which our Alexandrian Solomon has elaborated in the 7th Chapter of his book, you will readily perceive that almost every individual feature of it is borrowed from one or other of the two Biblical conceptions !"ID3n, and " fin Wisdom and the Spirit of the Lord. But what for those who can read his description in the original gives it its interest and peculiarity is that he has dressed up his Hebraic conception in Stoic terminology. Little is really added to the original Biblical sources, except that the personification is somewhat hardened and approaches more nearly to what theo- logical text-books would call Hypostatisation. Wisdom in other and misleading words appears to receive something like a distinct personality of her own. The Stoic philosophy was rigorously monistic and material. But their mate- rialism was both dynamic and pantheistic. They also, like the Platonists, spoke of a V\TI, which was aXoyoc and diroioc, irrational and without qualities, but the vXi; has never existed and will never exist by itself ; it is pervaded in intimate and nn- sunderable union by the cosmic in tv/ia. This irvtvfta or Spirit is identified with Deity. It is material but is composed of the finest ether : it is omnipresent, em- bracing and passing through all things ; it is pure and subtle and very swiftly moving ; it is also endowed with reason and is all powerful, beneficent and wise. The irvtvpa is the governing spirit of the world, and the Stoics, adopting a Platonic epithet, called it irpovoia, or Providence, and laid stress upon its QtXavOpiairia, or love of mankind. They also spoke of it as the vojioc, the Law, or indwelling Reason, and again as Destiny or Nature. Each term signified the same ; the Divine Spirit, co-extensive with the universe and immanent throughout its parts. It is obvious even from this barest outline, just picked straight out of Zeller, how similar that Stoic doctrine of the Divine irvtvpa was to the combined product of Wisdom and the Spirit of the Lord. Nothing could be more natural than that our author who, be it remembered, may have been stimulated by polemical ardour, should have used the Stoic epithets to clothe his Hebrew ideas. " Your Stoic theo- THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 159 logy," he may have wished to say, " is indeed partially true, but it is only true because it has assumed a portion of our Hebrew truth. For it is only to Jehovah's wisdom and to His Holy Spirit that your doctrine of Trvtvpa is truly applicable." The materialism of the Porch did not trouble him. He is content to use epithets which are unsuitable to any purely incorporeal Divinity without apparently no- ticing the dissonance. It would not be accurate to say that he conceived God's spirit to be material, but the sharpness of contrasted opposition between Spirit and Matter was probably, in spite of his Platonism, neither so familiar nor so important to him as to ourselves. One Stoic term, however, closely though it translated and fitted in with a well- known Biblical expression, did not influence him, and the omission is sufficiently remarkable to be noticed here. I pointed out that the Stoics, reviving the usage of Herakleitus, spoke of God as the world's Xoyoc. But the author of Wisdom when he speaks of God's Xoyoc (the word occurs three times and pijua once) does not go beyond the "I2T of the Bible. Its personification in Chapter XVIII is merely pic- torial, and is based upon a variety of Scriptural analogies of which a full list is given in Grimm. Thus, although the doctrine of ootyia is a step in the same direc- tion, the momentous teaching of Philo respecting the divine Xoyoc was not antici- pated by the Solomon of Alexandria. Nor must it be supposed that the conception of aoQia is maintained with philo- sophical consistency throughout the book. Wisdom creates and God creates ; Wisdom imparts her spirit to man, and God imparts her as His own gift. Wisdom preserved Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in their pilgrimages and trials ; Wisdom delivered the Jews from Egypt, she was to them " a shelter by day and a light of stars during the night," and yet in other passages the rescue from Egypt and the pillar of fire are referred to the direct instrumentality of God. Wisdom is not to our author what the Xoyoc is to Philo, the habitual and necessary mediator between God and the world, between Deity and man. Bearing this limitation in mind, we may now set forth the conception of erior depth, richness, and adequacy of treatment of the Hellenist over the Palestinian. The conception of aotyia. is the necessary complement and corrective to a onesided transcendentalism. To " trace the divine as working through nature and man, no longer to represent God as ademi-urge standing outside his work and putting in his hand here and there " is, we are told by a distinguished liberal churchman of our own times, the duty of the modern theologian. Bat this is precisely to teach arsd 8 162 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. develop our Solomon's theory of the all-pervading Holy Spirit of God. For this conception we may well be grateful, and not below it in value must we place that other contribution of his to Judaism, the doctrine of the soul's immortality. Though neither of these two doctrines are original to himself, he was, so far as we know, the first Jew to emphasise and lay stress upon them, and the first to give them a Jewish and monotheistic colour. Upon these two corner-stones of his teaching must rest his claim to honour and renown. And if the doctrine of the universal spirit is more conceivable by our thought, the doctrine of immortality appeals more strongly to our feelings. Let us then take leave of our author with the recollection that ha among the Jews was the first to exchange the older teaching of a bodily resurrec- tion upon earth for the purer hope in which England's supremest poet bade his own great soul find comfort. For, among the fragments at any rate of Hellenistic litera- ture which have been preserved to us, this glory belongs to him. He first bade us so live that we should " feed on death ; " he first declared " that death once dead, there's no more dying then." CLAUDE G. MONTEFIORE, M.A. AUTHORITIES. A. COMMENTARIES. The only really necessary commentary for the general student, is that of Grimm in the series of " Exegetische Handbiicher zu den Apo- kryphen des alten Testamentes " (Leipzig, 1860). None of his 300 pages can safely be neglected. Deane's "Book of Wisdom" (Oxford, 1881) contains several interest- ing quotations from Patristic literature. He and Grimm give a list of the other editions. B. BOOKS ABOUT, OR BEARING ON " WISDOM." Indispensable are ; Schiirer. " Geschichte des jiidischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi." Zweiter Theil : " Die inneren Zustande," 2nd edition, 1886. Zeller, "Philosophic der Griechen," 3rd edition, Vol. III., erste und zweite Abtheilung. Mommsen, " Romische Geschichte," Vol. V., Chapters XI. and XII. Edmund Pfleiderer, " Die Philosophic des Heraklit von Ephesos im Lichte der Mysterien-Idee." Anhang : " Heraklitische Einfliisse im Buch der Weisheit" (pp. 288 to 348), Berlin, 1836. Graetz, " Geschichte der Juden," Vol. III., Note 3. Schulz, " Alttestamentliche Theologie," 2nd edition, 1878. Oehler (G. F.), "Theologie des alten Testamentes," 2nd edition, 1882 (especially 836 to 865), Cheyne, " Hebrew Wisdom." Delitzsch, " Introduction to his Commentary on Proverbs." or his Article Spriiehe in Herzog-Plitt's " Real-Encyklopadie," 2nd edition- Philo's works which have continually to be referred to have been translated into English by C. D. Yonge in Bonn's series. The translation is, I believe, good enough for ordinary purposes, and most useful for those who, like myself, cannot read the original quickly. Useful Books are: Bruch, " Weisheitslehre der Hebraer," 1851. Hausrath, " Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte," Vol. II. Heinze, " Die Lehre des Logos in der griochischen Philosophic." Ewald's Essay " Ueber die Volks- und Geistesfreiheit Israels " etc. in his li Jahrbiicher," Vol. I. In my own translations, which are based on the rendering of the Authorised Version, I have been assisted by my friend Mr. P. E. Matheson. Fellow of New College, Oxford. SPINOZA. 163 STINOZA. HIS LIFE AND PHILOSOPHY. BY DR. M. FRIEDLAXDER. The sound just heard is, I suppose, a signal for our expedition to start. It being now the season of travelling, I propose an excursion to the Continent before we begin the principal business of the evening. As philosophers we are, of course, too advanced to employ such ordinary means of locomotion as railway or steamboat ; on the wings of our fancy we are carried high through lofty regions, where there is no fear of collision, delay, or inconvenience of any kind. We get ready our telescopes, which have this peculiar property, that they enable us to see not only scenes and events distant by miles, but also those separate i by an interval of cen- turies. Now we are just above the centre of Europe, and adjusting our instruments, memory and imagination, let us review the state of Europe in the Seventeenth Century. Above us only harmony and psace ; everything in regular order ; with the exception of one apparently irregular traveller, with a splendid long tail, who occasionally condescends to pay us a friendly visit, as in 1632 and 1661, but unin- tentionally causes anxiety to superstitious people. But we look unto the earth, and behold trouble and darkness. The existing authorities struggle to uphold their power, whilst the rising opposition, with equal energy, aims at their overthrow. Treaties of peace are only made to be broken by those first prepared for a new struggle. In the name of religion men are killed, towns burnt, and progress and prosperity checked. Look there, at Poland and Russia ; it is only a short time since an eternal peace, the }>a.r dijtidentiwn, had been concluded, and the murderous work has recom- menced. In Germany, the Protestants and Catholics, after treaties and mutual concessions, have devastated their country for thirty years. In France, Cardinal Richelieu is in power, and the Huguenots are cruelly persecuted. In England, Puritans rage against Presbyterians. In Holland, where the Protestants enjoy independence and freedom, the various sects Remonstrants and Contra-Remon. strants, or Arminians and Gomarists, attack and persecute each other with great hos- tility. It is remarkable that one of the principal points of difference between these sects was the principle of predestination, an important element in the philosophical system of Spinoza. But it is not all cloud and darkness ; bright sunshine may be noticed here and there in the constant progress of science and philosophy, poetry 8 2 164 JEW COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. and fine art. The victories of brave soldiers and cunning statesmen are outshone by the glorious achievements of men like Galileo and Keppler, Giordano Bruno and Descartes, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, Dryden and Milton, Rubens and Vandyk. As a characteristic of the time, we see Giordano Bruno burnt, accused of heresy, Keppler exiled, after his mother had been burnt as a witch, and Galileo imprisoned and compelled to retract his new theory, on which occasion the memor- able words were uttered by him E pur ge muove. Some of us may perhaps say t?p2O *33S 'CIS JIN, and ask where are our brethren in faith 1 In the midst of the general confusion we recognise, indeed, a nation " that dwelleth alone and is not counted with other people." Their lot has not fallen in pleasant places during the Middle Ages ; but the dawn begins to announce unto them the approach of daylight, though daybreak is still only the object of hope. In Poland and Russia the Jews have a precarious existence, dependent on the mercy of uncivilized Poles and Cossacks. In the south-east our brethren are unmolested by their neighbours, but bring disgrace upon themselves by their credulity, which paved the way for the temporary success of Sabbatai Zevi. From the north of Germany the Jews have been exiled, but are soon to be readmitted into Berlin and Brandenburg ; in the middle and the south of Germany they live a tolerable life. England has for a long time been closed to the Jews ; but a spirit of toleration in their favour makes itself perceptible. In Spain and Portugal the Jews are hidden under the garb of a strange faith, and exposed to all the consequences of a secret observance of a religion forbidden by the State. Fortunately they have been enabled to leave the country before every religious spark in their hearts became extinct. In Holland, their new home, they throw off the mask worn for generations, and openly profess the religion of their fathers. Here they prosper in every respect ; a Jewish congregation soon begins to nourish in Amsterdam, provided with all the institutions essential in a Jewish Community. Of the excellent school Kether-torah, the author of the bibliographical work Sifthe-yeshenim gives, in the preface, a full description. For the benefit of my pupils I will only mention that the hours of instruction were from eight to eleven in the morning and from two to five in the afternoon, and that every pupil was expected to practise at home Hebrew composi- tion, both prose and poetry, and to be taught by his private tutor other subjects, especially languages. Here, in Holland, two men attract our attention : Manasseh ben Israel and Baruch Spinoza. The former being well-known to all of us, especially since the late Hebrew Literature Society and the present Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition have brought his name so prominently before the public, you will no doubt be eager to make the acquaintance of the latter, to whom it shall now be my pleasure to introduce you. For this purpose, let us descend from the lofty position we have occupied for a while, and in the Hague, enter the house of Henry Van der Spyck, in the Paviliongracht. We are shown to a front room on the first floor, and there we see the person whom we seek, a middle-aged man, of dark complexion, black curled hair, long black eyebrows, and good features in his face. But, as we have amongst us an excellent physiognomist his name is Lavater let us consult him : " How expressive the head is ! How the man stands there, self- possessed and independent ! He undoubtedly walks his own way, not influenced by scorn or persecution ! What firmness in the forehead ! What an amount of thought and intellect lies there between the eyebrows ! The look, how sharp and deep ! How quick in discovering the weak point in every theory ! How clear the signs of hard labour in the field of thought, research and doubt ! The mouth, how expressive of wisdom, nobility and wit. The whole face a pleasant mixture of earnestness, struggle with doubt, and philosophical contentment, such as SPINOZA. 165 is produced by the conviction of having discovered the tmth." So far Lavater.* Spinoza seems to be rather weak and to suffer from some illness. He is, neverthe- less, hard at work, grinding glasses for telescopes, in order to earn, by the labour of his hand, the little he wants for the maintenance of his bodily frame. There is waiting for him on the table a dish of milk soup and some bread, and that is, we understand, the whole of his ordinary dinner. We look about in the room, and we soon become aware that there is something else, besides the glass-grinding, that engages the mind of our friend and also his hands. Numerous books on Theology, Philosophy and Science lie on the table, and between the large volumes of the Biblia Rabbinica, the Moreh Nebuchim of Maimonides, the works of Descartes, Giordano Bruno, and other philosophers we discover a few drawings, which testify to the scholar's skill as a draughtsman. He may, perhaps, in his heart be angry at our visit, and the consequent interruption of his work, but in his face no trace of that anger can be discovered. It is true that no signs of exces- sive joy at this event are perceptible. Like a true philosopher, he is master of his emotions, and preserves his calmness under all circumstances. After the customary greetings, we endeavour to open a conversation with the great philosopher. The first topic is not of a scientific or philosophical character, but of great interest for ns. We tell him how anxious we are to learn when and where he was born. A question too trifling for Spinoza ; he refuses to answer it. Reserving our scientific and philosophical questions for another time, we will not disturb him any longer, and withdraw respectfully. We attempt to satisfy our curiosity in another way. We apply to his biographer, Colerus, a Protestant minister in the Hague, who has supplied all biographers of Spinoza with the information which he himself had obtained from the people in the house in which Spinoza lived. Such information is not always trustworthy. Colerus tells us that Spinoza was born on the 24th of November, 1632. He likewise states that Spinoza was born at Amsterdam. I doubt the correctness of this latter statement. Albert Burgh, a former disciple of Spinoza, became a Catholic, and wished to convert Spinoza to the same faith, pointing to the numerous Catholic martyrs as evidence of the strength of their faith. Spinoza rejected this evidence as irrelevant, because the Jewish martyrs were at least as numerous as the Christian, and adds, Ipse novi, etc.: I myself know a certain Judah, called the Faithful, who, in the midst of the flames, when he was almost believed to be dead, commenced to sing a hymn " To Thee, Lord, I lift up my soul." According to Graetz (x, note I.), this martyr is Don Lope de Voro y Alarcon, who was burnt at Valladolid in 1649. He was imprisoned 1644, professed Judaism whilst in prison, and was executed after five years' imprisonment. There would be no reason whatever for Spinoza to name this martyr more than any other of the thousands of his f ellow-sufferers if he had not personally known Judah and witnessed his death. The words Ipsc novi, put so emphatically in the beginning of that sentence, support this view.f I willingly admit that this is no documentary or mathe- matical proof ; but there is not the slightest shadow of evidence adduced by any of the biographers for the contrary statement that Spinoza was born at Amsterdam. Additional support, though not additional evidence, I find in one of the Dutch letters of Spinoza, in which he says : " I wish I could write in the tongue in which Works ed. Zurich, 1842 ; III. Physlognomik, p. 277. t A personal knowledge ot the Jewish martyr Spinoza could only have had in Spain, as the martyr referred to became a Jew In prison, and after that he neither left Spain nor even the prison Ipse novi cannot refer to a previous acquaintance, because Spinoza would have mentioned the original name of the martyr. The phrase ipse novi does not mean " I know of a certain Judah who," etc., and it is different from the phrase parcntes tuos novisti which occurs in the same letter, but without the emphatic ij>ft. 166 JEWS 1 COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. I have been brought up, I should then perhaps have been able to express my thoughts in a clearer way." Dutch was, therefore, foreign to him. A man born in Holland, and who was in constant intercourse with the most educated men in the country, could not have said this, although Spanish may have been the language in his father's house. The letter is dated 1665, ten years after he had left his parents. Golems seems to have assumed it as a matter of course, without further inquiry, that Spinoza was born at Amsterdam. We shall soon have to notice other points in which this biographer either repeated mere gossip or gave the products of his imagination as facts. The training and education of Spinoza, born in Spain, must have been quite different from the ordinary curriculum of Jewish boys in the schools of the Amsterdam congregation. In Spain, he and his parents were compelled to live in public as Catholics, whilst at home certain Jewish rites were conscientiously per- formed. In public the Christian religion was professed, at home outbursts of hatred against persecutors, and of love for the Jewish religion were not always suppressed. It is not likely that, under these circumstances, the child was properly initiated and trained in the Jewish faith. There was, undoubtedly, fos- tered in the heart of the youth the ardent desire for liberty, the longing for the moment when disguise would no longer be necessary. But, unaccustomed to real Jewish life, to restrictions in diet and the like, young Spinoza may not have found in the new life at Amsterdam the ideal which he so ardently sought. In Spain he lived a non-Jewish life, like many of his brethren in faith ; he saw his father unable or unwilling to sacrifice his life for his faith, and when he wit- nessed the fate of Judah the Faithful, he probably did not admire the courage* steadfastness and equanimity of the martyr, but, on the contrary, pitied or even blamed him for having exposed himself to danger by open disobedience to the laws of the State. His father, Michael d'Espinoza, took up his residence in a house on the Houtgracht (Burgwall), near the Synagogue, in the neighbourhood of the present Moses en Aaron Kerk. He probably did not belong to the wealthy classes. Whether Baruch Spinoza was a good son, loving his parents, obedient and respectful towards them, cannot be ascertained. Nothing is said about it. What biographers say on this matter is simple invention. In his numerous philosophical writings Spinoza has not one word to say of the filial duties of a child towards his parents. Having received his first education in Spain, Spinoza was probably instructed in the Hebrew language, read the Bible in the original, with the commentaries of Bashi, Ibn Ezra, Levi b. Gerson, and others, studied the works of Maimonides, espe- cially the Guide ; but I do not think that on leaving Spain he possessed any know- ledge of the Talmud and the Talmudical literature. Whether at Amsterdam he earnestly devoted himself to the study of the Talmud, is very doubtful. In his works he gives us no opportunity to estimate his Talmudical learning. When he arrived in Amsterdam, a young man of about sixteen or seventeen years, he knew, besides Hebrew, Spanish and Portuguese, perhaps also Latin ; he soon learnt Dutch, French and Italian. Most of his biographers state that he was a pupil of Rabbi Morteira, but without evidence. All statements as regards his Talmudical learning I consider as mere fiction, based merely on the false hypothesis that Spinoza was born at Amsterdam, and that, as a matter of course, he was trained in the Kether- torah College under the direction of Morteira. When he came to Amsterdam he was, in fact, too old for this college. He may have attended some lectures, he read, certainly, Mishnah Aboth, and his thirst for knowledge tempted him perhaps to dive into the sea of the Kabbalah. But his inclination for natural science was much stronger, and brought him into contact with men hostile to positive religion. SPIXOZA. m The new theories of Descartes found many admirers in Holland, but the inter- preters and followers of this philosopher were stigmatised by their fellow-citizens as atheists. One of these was Franz Van den Ende ; he taught Spinoza Latin, and most probably introduced him at the same time into the philosophy of Descartes and Giordano Bruno. A story is told, that Spinoza, when studying under the direction of Van den Ende, was not only inspired by him with a love for classics and philosophy, but also with love for young Miss Van den Ende, who assisted her father in reading classics with his pupils. The story is a mere fiction. Clara Maria Olympia, in Auerbach's Romance " Spinoza, ein Denkerleben" then about ten or twelve years old, was too young to teach Spinoza Latin, or to read with him the " Ars Amatoria." When some biographers mean to infer from the inferiority of Spinoza's Latin, that he must have had a female teacher, they underrate both Spinoza's Latin and the capacities of women. As for myself, I found the Latin of Spinoza more intelligible than the German, English, or Hebrew of his translators. Van den Ende went (1671) to France, where he was convicted of high treason and executed. Some say that he was hanged for an attempt made on the life of some royal prince, but, says Colerus, if that were true, he would have been punished more severely ! ! The daughter of Van den Ende married a certain Kerkring, a Hambro' merchant, and Spinoza's disappointment, if it ever existed, found no expression. Without the diversions of love or marriage, Spinoza continued his studies and researches with unabated energy. The conduct, and more probably the associations, of Spinoza, brought him into conflict with the leaders of the Jewish Community, who had to watch over the Congregation in two directions. In the first place, they had to prevent any split- ting of the comparatively young and small congregation into different sects. Secondly, they had to take care lest the existing friendly feeling of the Dutch Government and nation towards the Jews be undermined through the conduct of any of their members, since the misdeeds of one Jew so often furnished a pretext for persecuting all Jews. The circle of students to which Spinoza belonged was generally looked upon with suspicion. The story told about some fellow students who acted as spies in order to elicit some expression of opinion from him, and then to charge him before the Rabbi with heresy, is neither true nor probable. There was no necessity for spies ; it was immaterial what Spinoza thought, so long as his conduct was blameless. He associated with atheists, and did not conform with Jewish life and custom. Without any formal charge, and, therefore, without the employment of any spies, Rabbi Morteira, or the elders of the congregation, sent for him, rebuked him, and, according to the Rabbinical maxim t>NDB> 'HO D*?1J?? ninpD POM nnn, " Whilst repelling with the left hand, seek to attract with the right," entreated him to remain faithful to the Jewish religion. Spinoza may have been told on this or another occasion, that if he remained with his brethren a remunera- tive post would be secured for him. We have no direct information of what went on in these conferences. It is unlikely that a pension of a thousand florins was offered, as Colsrus reports, to a student of about twenty years. Equally improbable is the account given by Colerus of a murderous attack made on Spinoza on coming out of the Synagogue. Colerus forgets that, according to his own account, Spinoza was promised a pension if he only would consent to pay an occasional visit to the Synagogue. It is, perhaps, for this reason that another writer substituted the theatre for the Synagogue, in order to make the story more plausible. When attempts at reconciliation, and a lenient punishment failed to soften the obstinate heart of the transgressor, the Din, or excommunication was pronounced against Spinoza, on the 6th Ab, 51161636. Colerus could not obtain a copy of the 168 JEWS 1 COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. cherem,* which perhaps never existed, but for the amusement of his readers he gives a formula of the Cherem contained in the Colbo. Neither in the code of Maimonides, nor in that of the Baal-ha-Turim, is any formula prescribed. Only the two words DiniD '3 vD were pronounced ; no written document was required. The severity of the excommunication is greatly diminished by the fact that not all intercourse with the excommunicated was forbidden ; it was provided, that such intercourse as was necessary for his living inD3~IQ H3 should not be interfered with. It is possible that in the atmosphere of religious warfare, in the age of burning or hanging heretics, Jewish zeal could not rest content without adding a chain of curses, at least, to the simple phrase nnK D"V.}D, in order to make the ceremony more impressive. The object of the cherem was a twofold one. In the first instance it was intended as a punishment inflicted on the sinner in order to effect his repentance and improvement ; secondly, the cherem was to frighten others from following the example of the excommunicated transgressor. This object was obtained in many cases. But there were also instances in which the ceremony had no effect. The same method cannot be applied in all cases with equal success. One child improves through punishment, whilst another becomes more stubborn. Our idea of the value of punishment is at present different from what it has been in former days. King Solomon recommends "Chastise thy son while there is hope, and take no regard to his crying. " We are inclined to educate our children in school and at home without the assistance of the rod. The right or effect of a cherem is not recognised by us, and we prefer friendly and free intercourse with the different sections of the Community in order to unite our efforts, as far as possible, in the interests of Jews and Judaism. We must not, however, blame the elders of the Amsterdam Congregation for having acted differently in another age, in another atmosphere, and under other circumstances. If they did not succeed as regards Spinoza himself, they were certainly successful in keeping others away from the influence of Spinoza. That our Rabbis were by no means eager to pronounce a cherem, may be inferred from the following fact. D. Netto, Haham to the London Portuguese Congregation, was once understood in a sermon to have iden- tified God and nature. The elders of the congregation complained in a letter before the Haham Zevi Ashkenazi, but the latter most readily accepted the explanation offered by Haham Xetto, that he meant no heresy. Spinoza was not present when his excommunication was proclaimed in the Synagogue. On hearing of it he said : " They do not force me to any step which I should not have taken of my own accord." His connection with the Jewish Com- munity was now entirely broken off, without his actually joining any other religious community. It appears that even the natural tie between parents and children was now severed. Only in a lawsuit about the patrimony, after the death of the father, mention is made of the relationship. The magistrate of Amsterdam expelled Spinoza from the town, at the request of the Rabbi, as some suppose. But in truth, the interference of the Rabbi was not wanted. As soon as Spinoza had left the Community, the Jews took no further notice of him or his writings. Among the numerous pamphlets pub- lished against Spinoza and his doctrines, none betrays a Jewish author. Spinoza is reported to have written a defence, " Apologia para justificarse de su abdicacion de la Synagoga," which was lost when the Synagogue was destroyed by fire. It has, at least, not been discovered up to the present day. Probably his defence is * Van Vloten published another version, the genuineness of which is likewise questionable. SPINOZA. 169 embodied in the Politico-Theological Treatise, in which he shows that the teaching of the Bible is not opposed to free and independent philosophical research. On leaving Amsterdam, he first stayed with a friend, a Remonstrant, in a suburb of Amsterdam ; he then went to Rhynsburg, where he devoted his time partly to philosophical research, partly to the trade of glass-grinding, which he seems to have been taught while still in his father's house, and thus he obtained, as an artisan, what the philosopher was unable to supply. His circle of friends in Amsterdam remained in constant correspondence with him, and the fruits of hia thought, his writings, appear to have been circulating among his admirers long before they were published, or even completed. He seems to have imitated, in this as in other respects, the example of Maimonides, who sent the successive chapters of the Guide, as they proceeded from his mind and his pen, to his pupil Joseph ibn Aknin. His name and fame went soon far beyond the narrow circle of his friends, and his acquaintance was sought by thinkers and scholars of all countries. Spinoza considered the correspondence with friends as a source of happiness and true friendship. In a letter to Blyenbergh, he says : " Among things out of my own control, there is none I prize more than friendship with those who sincerely love truth. It is as impossible for us to dissolve the friendship founded on love for truth, as it is to abandon truth when once discovered. It is, besides, the highest and most pleasant love, since nothing but truth can thoroughly unite different minds and hearts." His correspondence was, therefore, extensive, and we might well expect to find here some information about himself, and about the condition of human society at _ that time, and especially an expression of opinion on the part of the great philosopher on important events. In this point we are altogether disappointed. It is either owing to the method followed by the editor in suppressing a portion of the correspondence, or, what is more probable, to Spinoza's want of interest in things that did not directly concern his philosophical system or the branches of science which he happened to study. For instance, in the letters that were sent by Spinoza to London to Heinrich Oldenburg, the first secretary to the Royal Society, or that came from the latter to Spinoza, no mention was made of the great plague then raging in London, except in so far as the meetings of the society were suspended, and the cor- respondence interrupted. No word of sympathy, such as might be expected of great minds. The same silence is observed as regards the war between England and Holland. Oldenburg is anxious to hear Spinoza's view on Sabbatai Zevi ; but either Spinoza did not respond to that request, or his letter was suppressed by the editor.* Even interesting remarks on science are left unnoticed by Spinoza, such as the transit of the satellites of Jupiter, the ring of Saturn, the new comet, etc. But as soon as Theology or Philosophy is touched upon, every point is fully discussed, and thus the letters at one time foreshadow, at another supplement the author's peculiar theory. As I intend to give to-night an abstract of his philosophy, I shall not enter at present into the various philosophical themes discussed in the correspond- ence, and only mention a few interesting points. Petrus Balling, the translator of Spinoza's " Principia Philosophise," wanted to have Spinoza's opinion about the value of omens. This Peter Balling heard one day his child, when in good health, groaning in the same manner it did afterwards when fallen into the sickness whereof it died. Spinoza says that the father heard the groaning in imagination, but in certain cases such imagination may contain a forewarning of future events ; so it was in the case of Balling, in whose imagina- In his Theologico-Polltical Treatise, he considers the restoration of a Jewish empire as possible. 170 JEW COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. tion father and son were one and the same, and the father could thus have had a forewarning of what would happen to the child. We do not venture to think that Spinoza stated here what he really believed. Another correspondent, Jarrig Jellis, of Amsterdam, inquires whether it is true that a certain person has turned silver into gold. Spinoza actually goes to the man named and inquired into the matter, and discovers that the report was incorrect. One of the anonymous correspondents wishes to know the opinion of Spinoza about ghosts. In the reply, Spinoza states that he has never seen any, and has thus never had an opportunity of inquiring into their nature. If the questioner would give him an authenticated ghost story he would be able to enter more deeply into the matter. The stories were at once supplied, and Spinoza had then a still more easy task ; he simply showed that the stories quoted from Pliny, Suetonius, and other sources were not based on fact. The universe, he says, is perfect and in good working order, without the interference of ghosts. Albert Burgh, as mentioned before, desires to convert Spinoza to Catholicism, and receives a polite but sharp reply. Spinoza admits that the discipline of the Catholic Church is excellent, and that the Church is thus able to deceive the vulgar and subdue the mind of the people. But Mahomet has surpassed it in this ; his followers have not been split, like the Church, into so many sects. Of the remaining correspondents, I only name the German philosopher Leibnitz, who paid Spinoza a visit at the Hague, in the year 1676 ; Professor Fabricius, of Heidelberg, who officially offered him a professorship at the Heidelberg University ; Ehrenf ried Walter von Tschirnhausen, of Bohemia, an eminent physician and optician ; Isaac Orobio, of Spain, a medical man, who, after much suffering in the prisons of the Inquisition, had managed to escape to Holland, and openly to profess Judaism ; he sent Spinoza a letter of Lambert van Velthuysen, containing a criticism of his " Tractatus-Theologico-Politicus " ; Guil. Blyenbergh, a merchant of Dordrecht, criticises the theological and philosophical system of Spinoza, who is at last tired of the argumentation of his correspondent, and discontinues the discus- sion, but is willing to resume it viva race. Calmness, modesty and firmness, combined with great cautiousness, are the chief characteristics of Spinoza's letters. He seems to have feared a collision with the authorities of the State or with public opinion, and is, therefore, not always as clear as we should wish him to be. He was well aware that his theory could not be reconciled with the religious consciousness of his fellow-citizens. In a letter to De Vries, he warns his friends not to communicate his opinions to a certain young pupil of his. To Heinrich Oldenburg he confesses that the Second Part of " Principia Cartesii more geometrico demonstrata " was written for a pupil whom he did not like openly to teach his own philosophy. And although this would imply that this work contained his own views, we are informed by the editor, the physician L. Meyer, that it contained many things which were contrary to Spinoza's conviction. What value are we then to attribute to the proofs given by Spinoza more Geometrico, if he could prove by that method that which was actually false in his eyes ? If, on this account, we venture to distrust Spinoza, and to believe that he himself was not convinced by his demonstrations, it is Spinoza who gives us the example of distrust. For when Tschirnhausen asked Spinoza to let the philosopher Leibnitz see his Ethics, then in manuscript, he replied that he did not think that he could trust Leibnitz. This constant anxiety and fear, of which Spinoza, according to his own system, ought to be free, is certainly a weak- ness in his character and is in disharmony with his boldness and firmness when he turned his back to the Jews, or when he has to say something against their religious SPINOZA. 171 principles. He had no cause to fear the Jews, they were powerless ; but he feared to offend his Christian fellow-citizens, because they had the power of doing him harm. In the year 1664, Spinoza left Rhynsburg and moved to Voorburg, near the Hague, and settled ultimately at the Hague, in the house of Henry Van der Spyck, where he remained for the rest of his life. Here he lived in a very simple style, in accordance with his limited means obtained from the labour of his hands. A pro- fessorship offered him at Heidelberg he did not accept, because he was afraid lest his freedom of thought be directly or indirectly restricted. A legacy left him by his friend Simon de Vries had to be reduced to a minimum before he consented to accept it. But, on the other hand, it is strange that he condescended to enter into litigation with his sister about his share in the scanty property left by his father. When the dispute was decided in his favour, he only took a bed, leaving the rest to his sister. I cannot join his admirers in praising his generosity. The bed was probably the most valuable or the only valuable portion of the inheritance. Spinoza was in a friendly relation to De Witt when the latter was at the summit of his power. He hoped that he would be able, through his protection, to publish his writings without any difficulty ; besides, they seem to have been extremely fond of each other. Although Spinoza, as a rule, was master of his passions, signs of great emotion were noticed at the murder of De Witt. When, in the time of the French invasion, Spinoza was invited by one of the chief officers of the French army, to come to their head-quarters for a friendly conversation on various philosophical topics, the populace in the Hague, on hearing that Spinoza had gone to the enemy's head-quarters, became infuriated against him, and assumed a threatening attitude after his return. But Spinoza remained calm, showed no uneasiness, and said : "I do not fear the mob ; if they treat me in the manner they treated De Witt, I die a glorious death, well knowing that I have not done anything wrong, but have always striven to contribute as much as was in my power to the welfare and glory of the Republic." The more important events during his retirement concern chiefly his works, and when he had taken his final departure, his survivors took possession of his works with feelings of gratitude and admiration for so precious a legacy. His death took place the 23rd of February, 1677, in the presence of hia physician and friend, L. Meyer. He was buried on the 25th, in the New Church upon the Spuy. This fact may have misled people to believe that Spinoza has actually become a Christian. He had kept aloof from the Jewish Community, but he had never joined any other religious body. Colerus gives a minute description of the sale of the articles left by Spinoza, of the bills presented immediately after his death, and of the various rumours then current about the immediate cause of his death. All this we must pass over in silence. His life has been devoted entirely to philosophy, and his manners are described as those of a true philosopher. His practice was, to a great extent, in accordance with his theory. Schelling speaks of him as follows : " He felt as he thought, and was entirely animated by this feeling. It cannot be called nature-enthusiasm, such as possessed by poets, artists and naturalists. Much less is it love or devotion. But it is an all-penetrating feeling of the infinite that accompanies him in all his thoughts and elevates him far above the world of sensation." Derogatory rumours were not wanting, and when a Silesian traveller. Stolle, in the beginning of the Eighteenth Century, made inquiries at Amsterdam, he heard old people, who had known Spinoza, speak of his intemper- ance, ungodliness and similar vices. His enemies discovered in his features siynum 172 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. rrprobationi^, and Hegel adds, " True, there is in his face the sign of repulaivenessi but of that repulaiveness that is directed against human errors and passions." HIS PHILOSOPHY. Let us now proceed to take a glance at the philosophical theory of Spinoza ; more than a glance you will hardly expect or desire at this late hour. Be not afraid that you will now have to listen to difficult, abstruse and unintelligible matter. It shall be my endeavour to reduce the philosophy of Spinoza, abstruse as it may appear at first, to simple and intelligible language, as far as I am able to do so. All reference to succeeding systems will be avoided, technical terms and learned discus- sions contained in numerous books and pamphlets must be passed over in silence. An ancient Rabbi, Akabiah ben Mahalalel, said: "Consider three things if thou desirest to remain on the right path : Know whence thou comest, whither thou goest, and to whom thou art responsible for thy actions." As it is our earnest desire to remain on the right path, let us consider these three questions, and hear the answers of Spinoza. 1. Whence comest thou 1 If I were to address this question to myself, the simplest answer would be, from Jutroschin, or Germany ; or, if the question is put to our Chairman, the answer is from Bucharest, or Roumania. With these answers our curiosity is not yet satisfied. We ask further, Whence came Germany, or Roumania, or, more generally, the whole earth or even the whole Universe 1 We open the Book, and read on the first page : " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." A truer and clearer answer we could not dis- cover in the numerous works of philosophers on this question, and shall certainly not find in the philosophy of our hero Spinoza. Let us, nevertheless, hear how philosophers have attempted to solve the problem. In the above reply three elements are to be distinguished Heaven and earth, or the Universe, God, and the act of Creation. The act of Creation none of us has witnessed ; God no man can see ; of the Universe we believe to have a direct more or less perfect knowledge. What is the Universe 1 The answer is not very difficult ; the Universe is myself and something besides. I am conscious of my own existence, and I am also aware of the existence of other beings. But am I correct in assuming 'this ? Do I really exist, and, if so, is there something else in existence ? Descartes, in order to turn a new leaf, and to begin from the very beginning, doubted the existence even of him- self, till, after some reflection, he remembered that he doubted, and as this would be impossible, if he did not exist, he concluded, Cogito ergo sum not by a true logical conclusion, as he could not have studied logic before he knew that he existed. The notion of his own existence he must in truth have conceived rather intuitively ; in spite of his explanation, it must be considered as an innate idea. He employed it as a norm or test for other ideas ; any notion that was as clear to him as the idea of his own existence he admitted as true. Spinoza did not follow his master in this respect, but assumed at once, without any proof, his own existence and the existence in his mind of a variety of notions of other things. The originals corre- sponding to his notions he divided into two classes ; corporeal and incorporeal beings, or things that have extension and things that are the product of thought. We perceive* nothing else. But we must repeat our question, Whence do exten- sion and thought come ? There was one school of philosophers, the Materialists, that considered extension as the original and creative element, and thought as the product of extension ; another school, the Idealists, reversed the order ; to them thought was the original, extension the product of thought. The third possibility * This does not exclude the existence of other beings. SPIXOZA. 173 was assumed by Spinoza : extension and thought, or matter and mind are inde- pendent of each other. If neither of them have creative power to produce the other, what is the source of both / Spinoza assumes a substance of which exten- sion and thought are mere attributes. Matter and mind are, according to Spinoza, not as in the theory of Descartes, two different substances, each with its own peculiar properties, but two different properties of the same substance. Everything in existence, so far as known to us, is, therefore, either something that has exten- sion, or something that is thought. That something, as the bearer of the pro- perties, is in all cases the same ; there is nothing that distinguishes the something in the one case from the something in the other. One substance is, therefore, assumed for the whole Universe ; its definition is : That which exists and does not depend for its existence on any other thing. This substance is the foundation of Spinoza's philosophy. Before we proceed farther, let us examine the foundation and see whether it is sound enough to support the large building to be erected on it. Spinoza may have arrived at the notion of substance in the way described above, or not. If he did, it is by no means proved that a something, a substratum for the properties of the individual things has a real existence and is different from the properties we perceive. It is a mere logical form of thought, a generalisation of that perceived in single objects, and by assuming the real existence of such generalised something, Spinoza is in opposition to himself. For he decidedly rejects such realism which considers class- nouns as real beings. If, however, Spinoza arrived at the knowledge of the sub- stance by some other way, it must have been a very slippery one. For he is afraid to show it to his disciples. It is therefore more probable that he assumes the exist- ence of the substance as a postulate ; for he first gives the definition, what he wished to be understood by the term "substance," an arbitrary declaration, and a mere explanation of a name, and then proves the existence of the substance by means of this very definition. In one of his letters he attempts to remove the difficulty by assuming two kinds of definitions ; but I am sure Spinoza must have felt the weakness of his position. The question, Whence comest thou ? is thus answered by Spinoza, From the Sub- stance. But as we possess extension and thought, the substance nutet likewise be endowed with extension and thought, otherwise the substance could not have been the cause of our existence ; extension and thought are the " attributes " of the Sub- stance. There may be, as Spinoza asserts, an infinite number of attributes, and the inhabitants of Mars, Venus or Saturn may, for instance, perceive a large number of them ; we earthly creatures have only the capacity of perceiving two of them ; and we are quite content. The definition given by Spinoza of an attribute is as follows : Attribute is that which the intellect perceives of the Substance as its essence. We see here again that the attribute, like the Substance, is a mere conception ; its reality is not proved. The attributes of extension and thought are only generalisations of these two properties noticed by us in ourselves and in the things around us. Spinoza, however, in the construction of his philosophy, ignores this subjective character admitted by him in the definitions, and treats the Substance with its attri- butes as real beings. In order to see in extension and thought the cause of all existing beings, these attributes must possess creative, productive or formative power, and in so far as this is exclusively the case, viz., that they are always active and never passive, they are called by Spinoza Natura naturans, i.e., nature, that is making nature, but is itself not made by another being ; all other things are Nat ura naturata nature made directly or indirectly by these attributes. The Substance being infinite, there cannot exist anything that is not included in that Substance ; everything extended or thought, corporeal or incorporeal, must be contained in the 174 JEJTST COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. Substance, and its properties must be derived from the attributes of extension and thought. Every single thing or thought is nothing but a modus of extension or thought. In conceiving the notion of any corporeal object we conceive an idea of extension expressed in a particular way, and the consciousness of an idea is the perception of the attribute of thought expressed in a particular way. The modi are finite, transient, subject to constant change ; only the modi immediately derived from the attributes are infinite and eternal. The immediate modus of extension is motion ; the immediate mmliit of thought is intellect. Motion and intellect act according to certain fixed laws, which are, as it were, engraved on motion and in- tellect, as on the tablets of a written code. But who is the author of this code ? Who inscribed the laws on the tablets I In vain do we seek for a satisfactory answer in the system of Spinoza. We have thus arrived at a knowledge of our origin, and have been enabled to trace the source whence we came. Let us pass over to the second question, Whither goest thou I Nothing within us and round us remains stationary ; wherever we turn our eyes for two consecutive moments we notice changes. All changes of corporeal things, if thoroughly investigated, are found to be the effect of motion, and all ideas that fill our mind have their origin in the infinite intellect. Every change thit is going on in the domain of motion has its parallel idea in the realm of the intellect. One is, therefore, inclined to compare these ideas with the images of things reflected in the mirror. The comparison would, however, not hold good ; the images in the mirror are caused by the objects, whilst the ideas in our mind are not produced by the corresponding modi of extension. According to Spinoza, we must consider the Universe as consisting of one single Substance perceptible in two ways, viz., as modi of extension and modi of thought. The Universe is, therefore, per- ceived at one time as an infinity of corporeal beings, at another as an infinity of ideas. The human being in this respect a microcosmos appears likewise under a dual form. We form a combination of a finite modus of extension and a finite modus of thought ; that is, we consist of a certain number of corporeal elements and a certain number of ideas, or of body and soul. The first beginning of our soul, its foundation, is the notion of our own body, and the souls of different indi- viduals vary according to the different constitution and composition of the body. All changes in our body and in its relations to the outer world have their parallel expressions in our soul, and these constitute, as it were, its substance. In this sense must be understood the dictum of Spinoza that mind and body are one and the same thing, namely, that our mind or soul is nothing but the idea of our body and of everything that concerns our body. We must, however, not forget that the soul derives all its ideas from the infinite intellect and not directly from the body, since, according to Spinoza, there is no direct intercourse between the modi of extension and those of thought. So long as certain conditions are fulfilled, we continue to live ; when these fail, our existence comes to an end. Our body no longer exists as that particular modus of extension ; it has been transformed into another modus of extension. With thia metamorphosis of the body, the soul likewise ceases to exist as that particular modus of thought. We clearly see what becomes of the body ; it is dissolved into its elements, which enter into other combinations. But what becomes of the soul ? Is the complex of ideas again dissolved and combined into different groups, in har- mony with the changes of the body ? Spinoza does not altogether deny the immor- tality of the soul. He admits that in a certain sense our soul can attain to im- mortality. For only such of our ideas are finite and of a transient character that STINOZA. 175 are conceived in their relation to our body ; but ideas, distinctly and clearly con- ceived in their relation to the infinite Intellect and Motion, are, like these, immortal. Such are, e.g., ideas of the essence of things or of the laws which determine their particular modi of extension ; these ideas are independent of the existence of the particular modi-, and are therefore eternal. We are thus saved from utter destruc- tion, and may hope that our souls will enjoy the company of equally perfect intel- lects or souls in the eternal and infinite intellect. Guided by Spinoza, we arrive, in seeking an answer to the question, Whither goest thou ? to the same result, though in other terms, as had been found by Koheleth (XII. 7) : " And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it." There now remains for us to seek an answer to the third question, To whom art thou responsible for thy actions ? One of the most important doctrines taught by Spinoza is that of absolute determinism. Every single event, every phenomenon, every action of ours is predetermined and is the necessary result of a chain of suc- cessive causes, which are regulated and arranged according to certain fixed im- mutable laws existing and operating from eternity to eternity. In such a state of things freedom of action or free will, and, consequently, any responsibility for our actions must be denied. According to Spinoza, we have no will, and roluntas as such is a nonentity. Even the substance and its attributes have no will as a separate force or property, by virtue of which an action takes place. When we, nevertheless, speak of will, the term is only used to signify the attempt or conatus, in fact, the actual beginning of the operation. The proverb, " Where there is a will there is a way," is literally true, according to this theory, and if Spinoza were our master, he could not excuse any dereliction of duty on the plea : We were willing to do it, but could not. He would simply argue, You have not done it, con- sequently you had not the will to do it. Of course, if we have no will in the true sense of the word we have, as stated above, no free will. And yet we feel our- selves at one time impelled to do something, at another, to refrain from doing it. Whence do we receive these impulses ? From the affections or emotions. And what is the source of these ? We possess a certain tendency to self-preservation, and to this fountain we must trace all our affections or emotions. This tendency, or preparation for our self-preservation is called from different points of view will, appetite, cupidity (coluntas, appetitum, cuplditas'). That which increases our power of action, causes pleasure (laetitia) ; that which dimi- nishes it, causes sadness (tristitia). These three affections appetite, pleasure, and sadness form the spring from which all other emotions rise. Our self-preservation makes us think of that which gives pleasure, and causes us to keep away from our mind that which gives sadness. In this way love and hatred are produced, i.e., pleasure or sadness accompanied by the idea of the external cause. Hope and fear are created in us when we doubt whether the event, producing pleasure or sadness, will actually take place ; when we are certain about it, we feel security or despair, Love or hatred towards a person, as the cause of our pleasure or sadness, is inten- sified if we perceive more clearly and more distinctly that this person is the sole cause of OUF pleasure or sadness ; the more we perceive of other causes, and the more we learn that the person acted under compulsion, the more will our emotions be weakened or entirely suppressed. In the same way, hope and fear gain or lose in power according as we become convinced that pleasure and sadness caused by the objects perceived by us as their causes are permanent or transient, of a longer or shorter duration. In this way Spinoza treats all other emotions, simple and complex. Sympathy, gr;itit:ule. audacity, pride, etc., are all traced to the three simple affects pleasure. 176 JEJTST COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. sadness and appetite. In analysing the affects, Spinoza shows how each of them can be strengthened and by what means it can be weakened. We cannot reproduce here the excellent analysis given by our philosopher in the third book of his Ethics. The few examples mentioned above suffice to indicate the character and method of the analysis, and you will not find it too difficult to analyse the other affections in the same manner. These affections, being the motive of all our actions, have dominion over us, and keep us to a certain degree in servitude. All our evils are the consequences of this servitude ; and the greatest evil is that they impede our progress in knowledge. Spinoza, assuming good and evil, bonvm and malum, to signify that which is respec- tively useful or injurious to us, considers all affections with the exception of love when bestowed on the infinite intellect or on the substance as malum, and shows the way how to minimise this malum, how to escape servitude, and how to become truly free men. It is only by the increase of our knowledge, by the acquisition of correct ideas, that we are able to become free men ; true knowledge will lead us to a clear and distinct perception of the infinite and eternal ; this perception will be united with our love of the eternal, our soul will unite with it and become immortal or eternal ; the progress in this direction and the hope or conviction of attaining to this end is the highest degree of man's true happiness his beatitude. This doctrine of Spinoza is by no means new. Of the many utterances of Jewish thinkers, I only quote the words of Isaiah xi. 9 : "They will not do evil and they will not destroy : for the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord," and the remark of Ibn Ezra on these words : " It is well understood, that he who possesses such knowledge cannot destroy or injure ; he can only build up and benefit his fellow men." You will no doubt find it strange that Spinoza, who emphasises the doctrine of determinism, which excludes the theory of man's free will, should lay down rules for our conduct, and teach a method how to subdue our passions and how to seek and find everlasting bliss. I confess that I also find this, as well as a few other things in Spinoza's theory, extremely strange. The two theories cannot be reconciled. Who or what is to give the impulse ? Is it our reason ? Whence does reason receive the impulse? The fifth book of the Ethics of Spinoza, that contains these rules, is a tacit admission that the idea of the true peace and happi- ness of man, his beatitude, can only proceed from and be united with the theory of man's free will. In the above sketch of Spinoza's philosophy, I retained throughout the terms " substance," " attributes " and " modi," in order to avoid the confusion which Spinoza caused by the promiscuous use of the names God, Nature and Substance for one and the same being. Either out of fear, or lest he be accused of atheism, or in order to secure to his philosophy a better reception, he frequently introduced the name of God as identical with substance. He was wrong in this. From a religious point of view, God is that Supreme Being to which we are responsible for our actions : Spinoza's substance has nothing in common with that Being. Were it not too tiresome for you to listen, and, perhaps, too much for me to read, I should have shown how Spinoza drew his ideas, to a great extent, from Maimonides' Guide and similar works of Jewish philosophers, and given an abstract of each of his works, which I should divide into esoteric and exoteric writings. If my friend, Mr. Abrahams, President of this Society, will find for me an evening in the next Session, I will then produce what I withhold to-day. I will, therefore, conclude with some remarks from the Theologico-Political Treatise. This treatise appeared under various titles in one edition it was even described on the title-page as a medical book in order to facilitate and secure its circulation. SPINOZA. 177 The precaution was necessary. For as soon as it had made its appearance it was denounced and condemned as teaching heresy and rebellion. It was formally prohibited in 1674. The opposition came chiefly from the Christian clergy. The excitement, the bitterness and the ill-feeling displayed by the ministers of the Church were to some extent due to the irritation caused by Spinoza's attacks on Revealed Religion. But they must also have felt or imagined some personal injury in addition to the indignation felt at the profanation of their religion. The Preface, in fact, contains personal attacks on the ministers of religion. One of these is the following : " The source of the evil is the circumstance that people consider it as a matter of religion to look upon the services, dignities and offices of the Church as benefits and to reverence greatly their pastors, and this creates in the most wicked people the desire for holy orders. The love for spreading divine religion gives way to sordid avarice and ambition, and thus the temple has become a theatre, in which, instead of ecclesiastical doctors, mere orators are heard, of whom none desires to tjach. the people, but to earn admiration, to revile opponents and to say only new and strange things in order to startle their audience." I will not investigate whether and how far Spinoza was just and truthful in these attacks. But when we hear these and similar charges repeated from time to time, even in our own generation, we cannot help fearing that there may be some truth in them ; and I take this opportunity of expressing my hope and trust that our present and future ministers, by purity of action and intention, by truthfulness, earnestness and genuine religious zeal, will endeavour to make it impossible for any modern Spinoza to speak of them and their work in like terms. 178 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. THE MESSIANIC IDEA IN JUDAISM. BY THE REV. S. SINGER. On the day, says the Talmud (Sabbath 31a), wh^n a man comes before the last tribunal and account is rendered by him of hia life's thoughts and actions, one of the first questions put to him will be, " Hast thou watched for the promised salvation? " or, as the words might be more freely rendered, "Hast thou kept alive thy faith in a better future ? " It is not a bad test by which to try a man or a nation, or even the whole race of mankind. Do you believe that in the lapse of ages things have gone and are going from bad to worse 1 Do you hold with the Roman poet that A race of parents baser than their siren Gave birth to us, a progeny more vile, Who'll dower the world wlch offspring viler still ? Or do you believe, without precisely maintaining that each successive generation ia in all respects an improvement upon its predecessor, that on the whole the present ia better than the past, and that the future will be better than either ; and are you therefore disposed to join in the admission of the English poet Yet I doubt not throngk the ages one increasing purpose runs, And the thoughts of man are widened with the process of the suns ? There is more in this than a mere academic theme, started for the purpose of testing how much can be talked on either side. Upon the view taken in regard to thia question depends in great measure our attitude towards God and the world, and the harmony of the soul with itself. For, given the belief that the coming ages have nought else in store for man but the struggles, the failures, the pains, the sorrows, the sins, the corruptions of the past, if not an infinite aggravation of them, and at every period he starts upon his lifework heavy-laden, bearing his sentence of con- demnation with him and within him. Create and nourish the conviction that the world's saddest experiences are not destined to be perpetuated, except in the sense that they make a .happier future possible ; that the debris of the past is to furnish materials for the glorious edifice of the future ; that the highest triumphs of Religion and Humanity, which seem unattainable to us, will be within the reach of those who shall succeed us, and the whole of mankind becomes ennobled by anticipa- tion, while the great hope, thus tenaciously clung to, will carry within itself the germs of its own fulfilment. Now this conception is in its best and most distinctive features essentially Jew- ish. If the idea flashes forth also in the greatest luminary of the Augustan age, it was, there are good grounds for believing, because the sun had already risen in its lull strength in the East, and its rays were caught and reflected by a Virgil. The THE MESSIANIC IDEA IN JUDAISM. fourth Eclogue, however, was written for the glorification not so much of the f utura of humanity as of a then reigning sovereign, to whom men vied with each other in paying an almost divine homage. The most cultured of ancient nations were strangers to the hopeful feeling regarding the future that animated the heart of the Jew. A Hesiod and, following him, an Ovid conceived the ages succeeding each other in the order golden, silver, brazen, iron the work of degeneration going on apace. The Jew, if he would not exactly have reversed the series, would certainly have kept his golden age ahe id of him. The stream of time, he felt, was not hurry- ing him away from it, but bearing him towards it. True, there is at the commence- ment of the Bible the story of man's brief sojourn in Eden, followed by his expulsion therefrom. But how slender is the influence which a "Paradise Lost" has exercised over the minds of "the People of the Book" ! That incident once passed and recorded, one hears no wailing for the lost treasures of Eden ; no cries for a return to its " bowers of innocence and ignorance." It is not in the childhood of mankind but in its maturity that the ideal of happiness is to be sought. Leave the first chapters of Genesis, and throughout the rest of the Bible you will not meet with a single refer- ence to what in the language and for the purposes of sectarian theology is called "the fall of man." Indeed is not the phrase an altogether misleading one ? Far truer would it be to assert that the Bible proclaims what all science teaches the doctrine not of the fall, but of the rise of man. The belief in the advance of the human race and the doctrine of the Messiah are but expressions of the same great truth. They are two parallel streams, whose waters ultimately unite to flow on in a more .richly fertilising flood. Upon the banks of one of these streams we are about to make a brief stay this evening, and to indulge ourselves in a few reflections on the origin and development, the character and tendency of the Messianic idea in Judaism. The subject is one upon which there is not much hope of saying anything new. Where Schottgen , De Wette, Gfroerer, Anger, Hausrath, Castelli, Weber, Schurer, Drummond, Hamburger and Weiss have been at work to mention only a few of the modern writers, who have treated of Jewish dogmatics and whose researches are open to everybody it is not likely that any coming after will be rewarded by many new discoveries, or be able to do much more than confess their acknowledgments to some or all of these- But if the knowledge that the best things have already been said, and better said, is effectually to stop people's mouths, what a dull, silent, lectureless world this would be ! The doctrine of a Messiah and a Messianic age did not come into existence suddenly. It did not burst upon the world as an instantaneous discovery, complete in all its parts. Great ideas require a process of time, and the favouring com- bination of many elements and circumstances to bring them to maturity. The Messianic doctrine was in reality an organic growth to which many generations contributed their share. Like other such growths it had its periods of more and of less rapid development; and it had its excrescences to some of which we shall have to refer later on which sometimes concealed and disfigured the nobler, principle beneath, and drew to themselves the nutriment that ought to have fed the grand central idea. One great difficulty meets us in endeavouring to trace the origin of this idea in the Scriptures. It is the embarrassment caused by the multitude of guides that offer themselves and the pertinacity with which they press their services upon us. Theo- logical bias, now in one direction , now in another, has forcibly annexed to the Messianic realm many a Scriptural passage, which must have struggled hard against the irrational union, but which, in the course of time, in consequence of a method of bold and confident reiteration, came to b3 regarded by the popular mind as from the rery first a natural ally. T 2 180 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. Endeavouring, however, to look at the Scriptures with our own eyes, we may ask, What has the Pentateuch to tell us on the subject ? Nothing of a definite character. The name Messiah does not occur ; the notion of a king was foreign and to a certain extent antagonistic to the state Moses was bent on founding. Even the broad conception of a Messianic age or state is absent, and indeed would hardly have found acceptance at a period when the main object to be achieved was the establish- ment of an independent people, with a political and religious organisation intended to keep them for a time at least apart from other races, to secure them from the danger of absorption by their neighbours. A sound criticism, backed by a desire to treat the Scriptural records with the same fairness as we would any secular volume a combined intellectual and moral phenomenon not witnessed in every age nor always witnessed even now forces upon us the conclusion that in none of those pas- sages in which partisans of some religious system or other have detected forecasts of the person of the Messiah is anything of the sort to be found. " Sbiloh," in Jacob's blessing, has to be separated from the person with whom it has been fancifully associated not by Christians alone (see Onkelos, Pseudo-Jonathan, Targum Jeru- shalmi, Sanhed. 98b, Mid. Rab. and Jalkut in loc.), when it is seen that the word is in strict agreement with the local colouring and the limited purview marking the whole of that benediction. " The star that goes forth from Jacob and the sceptre that rises from Israel " (Onkelos and Pseudo-Jonathan, Jerushalmi Taanith iv. 8, Midrash Echa 66b, &c., notwithstanding) are defined by the very words follow- ing " And shall smite the corners of Moab," and are most naturally referred to David and his conquests. Nor are there any better grounds for regarding the "pro- phet,"' whom God would raise up in the midst of Israel after Moses, like unto him, as the Messiah (Acts iii. 22). Seeing that the people had just been warned against trusting to diviners and soothsayers, as the heathen around them did, because God would provide for them a prophet when their lawgiver was no more, " like unto him," the meaning evidently was, " like unto him" in authority, to whom they were to listen as they had listened to him ; and it would surely have been no effective appeal to say to them, that they were not to follow after false prophets then, because a true one would arise in their midst centuries or millenniums later, whom they could never consult. But although all such specific evidence must be put aside as of more than doubtful value, signs are not wanting that the germ of the idea underlying the fuller conception of a Messianic age was in existence from the time of the founders of the race of Israel. " In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed," was the promise given both to Abraham and to Isaac. It was a promise that reached far beyond the lifetime of each, farther than the limits of the temporal kingdom their descendants founded ; that has obtained but partial fulfilment up to our time, and looks for fullest realization to that future towards which each of us in his measure may contribute his share. In the midst of the gloomy picture drawn in Lev. xxvi., of the disasters that were in store for an unfaithful Israel, rays of a brighter time broke through. God would remember his covenant with the fathers ; he would remember the land : when they were in the land of their enemies he would not cast his people off. nor consume them he would remain their God. And similarly, when the sun was about to set upon the life of the Lawgiver, and he was gathering all his strength to render Ms people the last, and perhaps most memorable service, he bade them be of good hope, for that when bitter trouble had brought true repent- ance, God would again gather them from all the nations whither He had driven them. " If any of those driven out from among thee be at the outmost parts under Heaven, from thence will the Lord gather thee ; and He will bring thee unto the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it, and He will do thee good and multiply thee above thy fathers " (Dent. xxx.). That this prediction was not fulfilled, in the return of a fraction of the exiles from Babylon, that a dispersion THE MESSIANIC IDEA IN JUDAISM. 181 anticipated in the words, " thy outcasts at the outmost parts under Heaven," was far more extensive than had occurred during the first exile, need hardly be pointed out. It was to a more distant future that the Prophet now looked, and by hia example he endeavoured to accustom his people to the contemplation of an idea, which, even in its dim and imperfect form, was calculated to exercise an elevating and inspiriting effect upon those who cherished it. With the close of the career of the Lawgiver the idea seems to have with- drawn into the back-ground. If not entirely forgotten, it ceased to operate in the formation of the national character. It is not difficult to account for this. Those were the days of Israel's great struggle for existence. There was enough to do to get and to hold possession of the land for which they had set forth in high and triumphant hope. The task was more arduous and took longer than they had anticipated. A time ensued when all national affairs were unsettled. Each tribe fought for its own hand. There was no king, no central authority in Israel. The political uncertainty and confusion were reflected in the religious life of the people. " The word of God was rare in those days." Amid the din and turmoil of almost unceasing warfare, what chance had a Prophet's voice of making itself heard 1 If the nobler minds to be met with in every age, however degenerate, still cherished the patriarchal hopes for Israel's destiny, the utterance of those hopes has not been preserved to our day ; and judging from the general character of that period, they found no place in the national consciousness. By the time of David a radical change had taken place in the character of the nation. They may be said to have passed through the wild unsettled period of youth, and to have emerged into a manhood that recognised its own dignity, its duties, and its prospects. Here we reach a further stage in the formation of the great hope. It is based now upon the house and Kingdom of David, and this element henceforth enters largely into the conception of the Messianic age. The reign of David was distinguished by an unprecedented material and moral progress. But there was a yearning for something more and higher and more lasting. Accordingly special promises were received by David touching the establishment of his dynasty and the peaceful stability of the nation. The prophet Xathan brings him the assurance that God would appoint a place for his people, and plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, whence they shall move no more, and where children of wickedness shall not again afflict ; while as for David himself, " thy house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee, thy throne shall be established for ever " (II. Sam. vii., 10, 16). So rooted had this conviction become in the heart of the Psalmist-King, that towards the end of his life he put it on grateful record that God " magnifieth the salvation of his King, and sheweth mercy to His anointed, to David and his seed for ever " (Psalm xviii. 50) ; almost his last testament to his son was an exhortation to remember the divine promise made to him : " If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee a man on the throne of Israel " (I. Kings ii. 4). If we may trust the superscription of Psalm Ixviii, as well as the internal evidence, both of which point to David as the author his hopes were not limited to the future of his own race and family. He had wider views. " Princes shall come out of Egypt, Ethiopia shall quickly stretch out her hands unto God. Ye kingdoms of the earth, sing unto God, sing praises unto the Lord." In another Psalm (xcvi.), the authorship of which is hardly open to dis- pute (comp. I. Chron., xvi., 23-33), the same sentiment prevails, but is more strongly emphasized. The Lord is represented as the righteous and truthful judge of all the earth ; the families of nations are summoned to ascribe glory and strength unto Him, the whole universe participates in the joy at His comiog. It was a prophetic glance, clear and confident into the far future, for his own experiences gave the 182 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. Psalmist no grounds to expect such a result in his own life- time. He saw the brighter age ahead of him, and left his message of hope as a heritage for his fellow-men. (See this part of our subject admirably treated in Weiss' " Dor Dor Vedorshav " Book I). These ideas underwent a further development in the reign of Solomon. They grew especially in the direction of a universal hope. Israel's function was, according to him, not to monopolise, but to lead the praises of God. At the dedication of his Temple, he entreats the Most High to give ear from His heavenly habitation to the prayer of the Gentile who is not of His people Israel, and to do according to all that he prays for And why 1 " In order that all the nations of the earth might know Thy name 'to fear Thee' like Thy people Israel." (I. Kings viii. 43"). In hia measure he was privileged to advance the very end he had in view. The admiration excited by his wisdom was at times transferred to the source whence it was derived. People heard of the fame of Solomon, and through that also "concerning the name of the Lord." (Ibidx. 1). And such was the exalted level of prosperity and glory, both material and moral, that had been reached during the first period of his rule, that the poets of that time took his reign as a model on which they founded some of the noblest concep- tions of an age Messianic in all but the name. The 72nd Psalm is a relic of that period. It speaks of a King, such as had never yet been seen on earth. Solomon may have suggested the description ; he never could realise it in his own person. It meant another to appear in the fulness of time. "He shall judge Thy people with righteousness, and Thy poor with judgment ; he shall break in pieces the oppressor. So that men shall fear Thee so long as sun and moon endure. In his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. All things shall bow down to him, all nations serve him. He is to redeem man's soul from deceit and violence, to save the souls of the afflicted. Prayer shall be made for him continually. His name shall endure for ever ; men shall be blessed in him, while all nations shall call him blessed." For a considerable time after the reign of Solomon the clue to Messianic hope is lost. It is not easy to account for this. That was the time when the Schools of the Prophets flourished and produced many a worthy champion of the divine cause ; we should expect such men as these not to be silent on a subject that must have filled their minds in proportion to the moral and spiritual degeneracy by which they were surrounded, and against which they kept up a life-long struggle. Some have accounted for their silence by the very nature of that struggle. They were engaged in an active contest with present evils. "Prophetism stood opposed to idolatry and despotism and anarchy. Men who instigated revolts and deposed kings and brought about reforms by direct and practical measures were more con- cerned with deeds than with words, and have consequently left but slight literary remains of their work." (Adeney's Study of Messianic Prophecy, p. 189). Perhaps the more natural explanation would be, that we have no full record of the prophetic utterances of those times, and that much that would have been of interest and value has been lost. It should be remembered that the Bible, covering as it does a space of some 1000 years, is not a full and exhaustive account of all that was said and done during that period. There are prophets of whom only a few sentences have come down to us ; and even those, of whose speeches we possess a more abund- ant record, can hardly have compressed the literary tokens of their activity into a few score chapters. It is reasonable then to suppose that the Messianic hope, in a more or less definite form, was not unknown to those early witnesses to God's truth, but that in the vicissitudes, to which the books as well as the lives of men are subject, much that would have profited us greatly to possess has been irrecoverably lost. It is certain, however, that when once the idea reappears, TEE MESSIANIC IDEA IN JUDAISM. 183 it has grown in strength and depth and clearness, much as happens with certain rivers which at some point in their course dive into the earth and disappear from view, to emerge at a distance, swollen by unseen tributaries, and purified in their untraceable passage. Gathering up the various expressions ound in the inspired writers, the principal features of the Messianic age in its developed form would be these : The physical world has undergone a complete regeneration ; the perpetual strife now visible in nature is stilled ; want and disease are unk- own ; long life is the universal gift. The social transformation is not less complete. War is no longer practised or learnt. Weapons of destruction are broken in pieces, or converted into instruments of utility. Under a king, descended from David, ruling with equity and in the Spirit of the Lord, divinely aided and directed, Israel forms a nation once more in his own land and city ; but the lines of demarcation between him and the gentilea become almost obliterated in the growth of a larger spiritual Israel grouped around or grafted upon God's people. It is in spiritual treasures that the age is richest A hunger and thirst to hear God's word has seized upon all men ; a knowledge of the Most High is their inalienable privilege. God's Spirit is poured out on all flesh. Harmony is at length evolved out of the conflicting voices that have so long resounded under heaven, and with one language and accord the whole family of man joins in the worship of the One God. In many of the prophecies these bright colours are mingled, and as it seems to us somewhat blurred by descriptions of the judgment to be executed upon the heathen and the obdurate enemies of God. The speakers probably found it difficult to imagine how all those glorious ends to which they pointed were to be brought about so long as the triumph remained unchecked of those who seemed to live only in order to thwart them. These conceptions are of course not present in every detail in any one prophet. They are the general impression produced by the collective body of Messianic prophecies. Each prophet, receiving within him the divine light, reflected it, tinged in a manner by his own predominant hue. We may briefly glance at some of the specific utterances of these inspired messengers. As regards the period with which they deal the earliest of the pro- phetic books, strictly so called, are Jonah and Joel. In Jonah there are of course no Messianic prophecies. But the whole subject matter of the book the demon- stration of the divine love for erring gentiles, their restitution to the divine favour, and the employment of an Israelitish Prophet in a work which is based upon the idea of the universal fatherhood of God - is a remarkable anticipation of the Messianic principle in its most developed form. Joel deals in the first part of his book with a great disaster that had overtaken the land. It had been visited by a plague of locusts. The calamity suggests to him words of exhortation and warning. These, however, pasa over to a more hopeful form of address. The bodily needs of his people, he promises, shall be abundantly supplied. But there are higher wants which have to be satisfied. The transition is very striking. " Ye shall eat and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord that hath dealt wondrously with you, and my people shall not be put to shame for ever. And it shall come to pass after that, I will pour oub my spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and the hand- maids in those days will I pour my spirit." Then follows a description of certain terrifying signs and portents; after which the restoration of the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem s to take place, and judgment to be executed upon the nations in the Valley of Jehoshaph at perhaps a symbolic expression for the place where, as the name implies, "the Lord will judge." Two of the characteristics of the Messianic age in its maturest conception are lacking in this prophet -the establishment of the throne of David as the centre of 184 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. the regenerated world, and the extension to the gentile of the blessings of the new era. They are supplied by succeeding prophets, who often go over and grave more deeply the lineaments drawn by their predecessors. " After many days," says Hoeea (iii. 4), " the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their King." Micah (v. 1) points to Bethlehem, the birth-place of David, as the spot from which the Messiah shall spring. Zechariah (ix. 9, 10) eea him coming as a just and helpful King, a messenger of peace, riding not upon a battle-steed, but on the un warlike ass. " He shall speak peace unto the nations, and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." Isaiah (xi.J declares him distinctly to be "a rod from the stem Jesse, and a branch sprung from his roots." Endowed with marvellous gifts, he shall employ them righteously and faithfully. All angry passions shall be calmed, violence come to an end. " They shall no longer hurt and destroy in all my holy mountain." Not contenting himself with generalities or a vague and nebulous enthusiasm for humanity an interesting but sometimes a very cheap sentiment this great prophet was not afraid to run counter to the prejudices of his time, and must have astounded some of his countrymen not a little by the breadth and boldness of his doctrine. He and his contemporary Micah are among the first Prophets who pro- claim in unequivocal language that the coming blessedness is not to be the exclusive heritage of their listeners and friends. The northern Kingdom of Israel, notwith- standing its more serious lapse from God, and what implies a still loftier spirit of toleration on the part of the Prophet notwithstanding the bitter hostility that had BO long marked the relations of Israel with their brethren of Judah in the South* is to be restored (Isaiah xi.) in company with them. He would assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather the dispersed of Judah, and then Ephraim shall no more envy Judah and Judah not vex Ephraim. Nay more, those whom they had been accustomed to regard as their natural enemies, Egypt and Assyria, between which two rival states Judea lay, and from both of whom she suffered according as one or the other was in the ascendant even these were to be included in the great redemption of the future. " In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt and Assyria, and the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be a third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land ; whom thft Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, " Blessed be Egypt and Assyria, the work of my hands and Israel mine inheritance." Isaiah xix. 23-25. It required no little courage on the part of men to prophesy in this strain, as next to speaking unpleasant things to people about themselves, there is nothing that BO much irritates them as speaking pleasant things of their enemies. But these men were not hunters after popularity ; they were seekers after truth ; and the wider and deeper the spring of truth they found and opened to the world, the better they liked it. Theirs was the privilege not only to look far beyond their own time, but to see clearly what could scarcely shape itself in others' thoughts. All the families of man were to be heirs of the glorious time they anticipated. " It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it. And many nations shall set forth and say, come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways and we will walk in His paths ; for out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." He is to be the Judge among the nations. The reign of justice will supersede the fierce arbitrament of war ; and the weapons designed for mutual slaughter will be converted into instruments for the benefit of man. With the suppression of the brute element in human nature, the nobler qualities will have freer play ; the earth shall be full of the knowledge THE MESSIANIC IDEA IN JUDAISM. 185 of the Lord as the waters cover the bed of the sea. The root of Jesse, still surviving by the fostering care of God, shall stand as an ensign to the peoples ; to him shall the nations resort, and his rest shall be glorious (Isaiah ii. and xi., Micah iv). This universalistic spirit belongs in an eminent degree to the prophets who lived during and after the exile. It would not have been surprising had the iron entered into their soul, and their conceptions of the great future been tinged by strong 1 national prejudices and antipathies. But it is just these men in whom the spirit of humanity burned most brightly, and from whose theological creed all that was nar- row and exclusive was absent. They yearned for something grander than a mere national restoration. The sufferings of their own people, instead of contracting their sympathies, as it is apt to do in meaner natures, opened their hearts to the wants of all men. Thus, in the new distribution of the land which Ezekiel foresaw, the strangers and their children have a share (xlvii. 22, 23) ; and under the figure of a cedar tree planted in the mountain height of Israel, spreading its branches abroad and affording shelter to all the birds of heaven, the prophet foreshadows the in- gathering under the divine protection of all the races of mankind (xvii. 22, 23). " Many nations," says Zechariah (ii. 11), "shall be joined to the Lord in that day and shall be my people." :< Yea many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. In the writings of the great unknown prophet who lived at the time of the exile, these thoughts are met with in ex- traordinary profusion. There we read of one to whom it is said that "it is but a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved of Israel : I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth" (Isaiah xlix. 6) There too we read of " the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him and to love his name,' ' to whom the divine promise is extended, " I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer ; their burnt offerings and their sacri- fices shall be accepted upon mine altar ; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all the nations." (Ibid Ivi. 6, 7). These and similar prophecies formed the store-house from which later ages drew their inspirations ; using always the same materials, though now one and now another element might predominate ; combining them in various ways, expanding and elaborating them ; sometimes adorning, sometimes defacing them ; most fre- quently welding them into forms corresponding strictly to the politico-religious sentiment of the time. I regret that the limits of this lecture forbid me to even glance at the writings of Philo or at the mass of apocryphal and apocalyptic liter- ature dealing with our subject. All this is sufficiently important in itself to demand separate and careful treatment, which I trust to be able to give it on a future occasion. For the present we must content ourselves with enquiring how the Messianic idea ia conceived in those writings which, next to the Scriptures, have had the greatest influence in the formation and development of Jewish doctrine. The Messianic Kingdom is, as I understand the prevailing Rabbinical view, an earthly state, purified from the dross and the evil that cling to all earthly things in their present condition. The scene of action is this world in which we live ; the actors men and women, who have established the sovereignty of their higher over their lower natures. The time is placed in the indefinite future ; but it pre- cedes the fcOH D?1J? " the World to come," which belongs to a totally different class of conceptions. In making this statement I am perhaps doing a bold thing. In an erudite article on the Talmud, which appeared in the Westminster Retiere of January, 1885, our friend, Mr. Schechter, remarked : " What exact relation the terms ' the World to come,' ' the Kingdom of Heaven,' and ' the days of the Messiah, bear to each other, in what order they follow and in what places they shall be experienced" are all questions which have been variously disputed by Jewish scholars) 186 JEWS' COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY. without any very satisfactory result having as yet been obtained." It is true there are authorities that can be quoted to prove that the Messianic age belongs to this world, to the interval between this and the next, to the beginning of the next, and finally that it is identical with the next. But the prevailing conception in Jewish theology is that the Messianic age is to precede the " World to come." All the Prophets have but prophesied concerning the days of the Messiah ; but as to the "World to come," no eye but thine, OGod, hath seen what thou wilt do for him that waiteth for thee. (Sabbath G3a ). And as the kingdom is an exalted earthly one. with human beings in a more perfect condition than those with whom we are acquainted, so the King of this regenerated realm will be a mortal endowed with transoendant attributes. Perhaps it was the polemic spirit roused by the pretensions of the newly-risen creed that was the cause of the saying recorded in Taanith (21) : If a man says, "I am God," he lies ; if he says " I am the son of God," he will regret it ; if he says " I shall rise to heaven," he will not fulfil it In a celebrated dialogue which Justin Martyr held with the Jew Tryphon (believed to be the same as R.Tarphon), he makes the Jew express the opinion : We all expect that the Messiah will come into being as a man from among men (Dial. Ch. 49). It is to my mind the loftiest idea in the whole doctrine that it is this earth which is to be the scene of a better state of things, and that through human agencies, divinely helped and guided though they be, the Messianic glories are to be achieved. But though the vision of the brighter future is clear, and the hope that it would be reached unfaltering, it was felt that many a stormy sea would have to be crossed before the blissful haven could be entered. Evil was an active, ever present force ; it gave no signs of diminution, rather it grew and spread ; and how was that state of material and moral perfection to be attained while suffering and sin were darken- ing men's lives, and experience mocked their most ardent beliefs 1 There was a double source of evil to be dealt with one from without, another from within. In the dis- cussion of this side of our subject it must be confessed that the spirit of pessimism rules for the most part. The enemies of Israel and of God do not give up their hostil- ity, and destruction awaits them. There is something profoundly terrifying in the pictures drawn of the slaughter of the foes in the Targumim and the Talmud. If I do not dwell on these scenes or deal with the strange figure of Armilus the Anti-Christ of Jewish legend, the representative (Romulus ?) of the arch-enemy of Israel, or the eprjfj.6\ao3 was connected with OJ7 y?3), the personifica- tion of the last surviving powers of evil it is because any one who follows up these conceptions must perceive how greatly they were coloured by the embit- tered experiences of the writers. They had not yet reached that stage in religious philosophy which enables men to conceive the cause of the righteous being established without involving the destruction of their persecutors. Are we sure that me have got much beyond the theory or the sentiment expressed in these words ? How seldom do we witness the establishment of a righteous cause without a struggle that carries with it the destruction of its adversaries ! Does not liberty grow upon a soil often saturated with the blood of tyrants, and is not truth itself made triumphant in the defeat and discomfiture of the champions of falsehood 1 But gentler and more tolerant views had their advocates as well. In the days of the Messiah, we read in Abodah Zarah (24 b), all the heathens will of their own accord seek to become proselytes. According to Sifre (76 b), every one will long to have a dwelling in the Land of Israel, as the great and mighty of the nations now give themselves no rest until they have a palace of their own in Rome. The Messiah, says Shir rabba 24a, with a play upon the word "p*in in Zech., ix. 1, is called by this name, because he leads all the nations of the world in repentance before the Holy One. THE MESSIANIC IDEA IS JUDAISM. 187 It is, however, in anticipations of every kind of calamity and the last extremes of misfortune, as well as of the utter corruption and degeneracy of Israel and the world, all which events are to precede the advent of Messiah, that one perceives how deep a gloom oppressed at times the most hopeful spirits. The conviction rooted itself and spread abroad that things would be much worse before they would take a turn for the better. Messiah will not see the light of day before the rWQ^ ^31"!, the pangs of the Messianic birth, have been endured. It is noteworthy that while the apocalyptic literature, when treating of those far-off times, dwells by preference upon dread signs and portents in nature, such as earth- quakes and conflagrations, the sun shining by night and the moon by day, blood dropping from wood, and stones giving forth a voice, swords drawn across the heavens, and troops of soldiers marching through the clouds the rabbinical writings emphasize rather such sorrowful signs as the decadence and confusion of all principles and a deep and wide-spread depravity. All social and moral bonds are snapped asunder. " At the heels, or in the foot-prints of Messiah, Insolence will be triumphant and Pride prevail. The vine will give its fruits, yet wine will be dear (there will be many drunkards). The governing powers will turn themselves to heresy. There will be no reproof. The house cf assembly (the synagogue) will be used for Tile purposes. Galilee will be destroyed, and Gablan laid waste, and the men of Gebul wander from city to city, and find no favour. The wisdom of the scribes will be abhorred, and those who fear sin despised, aud truth will fail. Boys will make the colour come and go in the faces of old men. The old will rise up before the young. The son puts the father to shame, the daughter rises against her mother, the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law. The enemies of a man are the members of his own household. The face of that generation is like the face of the dog. Whom have we then on whom to rely? Our Father who is in Heaven I" (Sotah ix., 15, and Sanhed. 97a). In a similar strain the following is conceived. "Judges will cease in Israel ; traitors will multiply, and students of the law diminish ; universal poverty will prevail, and the redemption be despaired of : then the son of David will come. In the generation in which the son of David comes the disciples of the wise shall diminish, and as to others, their eyes shall fail them by reason of sorrow and groaning. Many evils and cruel decrees will be renewed. While the first is being appointed, the second hasteneth to come." (Ibid). But, gloomy as these forebodings were, those who uttered them never meant by such language to preach the Gospel of despair. It served as the dark background that threw up but the more brightly the radiant figure of Messiah. "Seest thou an age pining and dwindling away hope for him, for so it is written (2. Sam., xxii. 28): An afflicted people Thou wilt save. Seest thou a generation iwhom many troubles overwhelm as a flood, hope for him, for so it is written (Isaiah lix., 19, 20) : When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him, and the Redeemer shall come unto Zion " (Sanhed. 98a). Still more emphatic is the declaration of faith in Shir Rab. (end of rOeUin) : "If thou seest generation after generation reviling and blaspheming, look then for traces of the Messiah, for so it is said (Psalms Ixxxix., 51) : ' Remember Lord the revilings where- with thine enemies have reviled the steps of thine anointed,' following immediately upon which it is said : 'Blessed be the Lord for ever and ever ' " (52). All these passages go but to show that though their authors knew something of the evil side of human nature and were prepared for even worse than they knew, they did not allow the issue of the great struggle between hope and fear, that has to be fought oat in every human breast, to remain long in doubt for them. To their thinking also, " When need is highest, Then aid