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 l> i storico - Critical School of the 
 
 nineteenth Century 
 
 BY 
 
 NATHAN STERN, A.M. 
 
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 FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 
 
 IN THE FACULTY OF PHLLOSOPHY 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 
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 NEW YORK 
 
 MDOOOOl 
 
Che Jewish 
 
 l>i stori co -Critical School of the 
 
 nineteenth Century 
 
 BY 
 
 NATHAN STERN, A.M. 
 
 SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 
 
 FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 
 
 IN THE FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 &UJFOKN!J 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 MDOOOOI 
 
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VITA 
 
 The author was born February 12, 1878, in New York. He 
 attended the Public Grammar School No. 32 in that city, Halsey's 
 Collegiate School, and Columbia College, from which he was gradu- 
 ated in 1898 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1899 he 
 received the degree of Master of Arts from Columbia University. 
 
 The author desires to thank the Eev. Dr. Gustav Gottheil and 
 Mr. Abraham Guranowsky for generous help extended to him in his 
 studies. He also wishes to recognize the assistance of Mr. Albert 
 Porter, of the staff of "The Jewish Encyclopedia," in preparing the 
 manuscript for the press and in examining the proofs. 
 
 To Prof. Kichard J. H. Gottheil the author is indebted for many 
 kindnesses, and for having placed his time and his library at the 
 author's service. 
 
 2 1 OlQn 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAOB 
 
 I. — Introduction ........ 1 
 
 II. — Nachman Krochmal ....... 6 
 
 III. — Solomon Judah (Loeb) Rapoport . . . .12 
 
 IV. — Isaac Samuel Reggio ...... 24 
 
 V. — Samuel David Luzzatto ...... 29 
 
 VI. — Leopold Zunz ........ 37 
 
 VII. — Abraham Geiger ....... 50 
 
 VIII. — Zacharias Frankel ....... 58 
 
 IX. — Isaac Marcus Jost . 63 
 
 X. — Heinrich Graetz . 67 
 
 XI. — Moritz Steinschneider 71 
 
Of THC ^ 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 Of 
 
 THE 
 
 JEWISH HISTORICO-CRITICAL SCHOOL 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NINETEENTH CENTURY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The period including the second half of the eighteenth century 
 and the whole of the nineteenth may be characterized as one of pro- 
 test and revolution. There prevailed generally a yearning for freedom 
 from institutions that held the intellect captive. This yearning was 
 experienced by the Jew. Having had practically no share in the 
 outer world, he devoted all his energy to the development of his 
 religious life and his Talmudism. The claims of scientific truth were 
 ignored by the Rabbis ; and research was forbidden by them. 
 
 The Protestant Reformation was a revolt against ignorance and 
 the tyranny of the Church. What may be termed "the Jewish Ref- 
 ormation/' heralded by Moses Mendelssohn (1728-1786), was a 
 reaction against medieval survivals within the Jewish body, and a 
 protest against the sway that the Jewish faith, in the form of -Cabala 
 and Rabbinism, had exercised over the minds of its adherents. As 
 within Christendom the Protestant Reformation promoted the study 
 of the sciences and the encouragement of investigation generally, so 
 throughout Judaism the Jewish Reformation ultimately produced sim- 
 ilar results. 
 
 Mendelssohn and his contemporaries paid little attention to the 
 critical study of Jewish history and literature; but, by cultivating 
 the tastes of the Jew, by introducing him to modern culture, by 
 
acquainting him with the simple instead of the casuistic interpretation 
 of the Scriptures, by the reorganization of the Jewish schools, and 
 by taking the first steps toward the emancipation of the Jew in Ger- 
 many, they paved the way for its introduction, about the second 
 decade of the nineteenth century. 
 
 Economic and social conditions during this period were favorable 
 to the new method of inquiry. During the Middle Ages the Jew found 
 no home. He belonged to the state, but was not part of it. Injury 
 was inflicted upon him with impunity. As the times became more 
 settled, and commerce engrossed the attention of the nations, Hebrews 
 were granted a wider toleration. At the beginning of the nineteenth 
 century the Jews had already taken an important position in the com- 
 mercial life of the people among whom they dwelt. Being a very 
 active race, they had readily adapted themselves to existing condi- 
 tions. Some had found their place in the ranks of labor; others, 
 more enterprising or ambitious, had risen high and made their influ- 
 ence felt in the social and economic worlds ; while some had even been 
 the recipients of royal or imperial honors. In America social and 
 political equality had been accorded to the Hebrew ; while in Europe 
 the French Ee volution and the Napoleonic era, by abolishing the old 
 conditions, were preparing the way for similar privileges. In the 
 short-lived kingdom of Westphalia, over which Jerome, brother of 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, reigned, the Jew was given in 1808 freedom and 
 equality of rights. 
 
 The impress that these tumultuous times left on civilization in 
 general and on Europe in particular was manifested in the widening 
 of social concepts. With the passing away of the old conditions 
 the Jew rose socially. He could no longer be considered a chattel 
 of the state, but was regarded as part of the social constitution. 
 This change in social conditions brought about an increase of atten- 
 tion on the part of governments to the education of the Jew. At 
 first, special schools were erected for him. Later, the same school- 
 room was used simultaneously by Jewish and Christian children, 
 with, however, separate benches for the former. Ultimately this 
 distinction was abolished, and school, gymnasium, and university 
 were thrown open to all, irrespective of religion. 
 
 In the school and in the university the Jew was brought in con- 
 tact with new studies and new influences. The history and literature 
 
of other peoples were systematically taught, with the result that the 
 Jew began to bring system into the study of his own, which the 
 scientific spirit of the age had not yet reached. A comparison of 
 what he learned in the schools with what he had been taught at the 
 synagogue made him skeptical of his tradition ; for in many instances 
 this tradition did not harmonize with the new learning. The prob- 
 lems, What shall be and what shall not be studied? What is and 
 what is not sacred ? What is and what is not true ? were considered 
 in a new light ; resulting in a complete revolution of the conception 
 of the past, and in a thorough and an effectual reaction against 
 Cabala, Hasidism, and Eabbinism. 
 
 It may rightly be claimed, however, that though admission to the 
 universities stimulated the pursuit of knowledge among the Jews in 
 Germany during the first half of the nineteenth century, and among 
 Jews generally in the second half, the conditions in Austria were 
 not such as to warrant the assertion that university life was an impor- 
 tant factor in the inception of methodical Jewish study in Galicia. 
 Though public schools were erected for the instruction of Jewish chil- 
 dren, they were looked upon with suspicion. On the whole, the 
 Galician Jew preferred to pay the tax, imposed upon all who refused 
 to send their children to such schools, rather than to have his children 
 instructed in the secular sciences. It was owing to these conditions 
 that Nachman Krochmal (1785-1840) and Solomon Judah Rapoport 
 (1790-1867), the earliest and, perhaps, the greatest of the Galician 
 students, had to pursue their secular studies under many difficulties. 
 They were what the Germans style "autodidacten," and never at- 
 tended either public school or university. 
 
 To have produced such men as these, there must have existed 
 another element besides admission to the higher seats of learning: 
 this element is to be sought for only within the Synagogue itself. 
 That there was, indeed, some inherent quality in Judaism, which, 
 developing slowly by reason of obstruction due to ignorance and mys- 
 ticism, was bound, under favorable conditions, to assert itself, is 
 evident from the case of Elijah Wilna (1720-1797). Living in 
 Poland, surrounded for the most part by fanatics, removed from all 
 contact with a highly cultured society, Elijah strove to effect a change 
 in the intellectual condition of those about him, and to this end 
 exhorted them to apply themselves to the study of the secular sci- 
 
ences. The impulse that actuated Elijah could only have emanated 
 from within Judaism; and it was the same force that impelled 
 Krochmal and Eapoport to the prosecution of their studies. 
 
 Briefly, the agencies of the renaissance of Jewish learning may 
 be summarized as follows: Economic conditions had everywhere 
 altered. These changes in the economic world had been followed by 
 corresponding changes in the political and social conditions of the 
 European nations and of the Jews. These in turn affected the intel- 
 lectual status of the Jew, which resulted in a systematic study by 
 him of his past. This study was favored by a slow development 
 within Judaism itself, and by the admission of Jews into the schools 
 and universities. In short, the same Zeitgeist that was tending toward 
 the emancipation and social equality of the Jew was impelling him 
 to study his past and to study it scientifically. 
 
 The field to be worked was very extensive, and difficult as well. 
 Jewish literature — understanding thereby not only compositions of 
 literary value, but all writings on Jewish subjects, whether in 
 Hebrew or in other languages — had been very prolific. During the 
 persecutions of the Middle Ages many literary documents and his- 
 torical sources had been destroyed, or lost, or had been hidden in 
 libraries, so that their existence was not known. The difficulty lay 
 not in the want of material, but in the uncertainty with regard to the 
 means of rediscovering what had been lost. With the revival of 
 Jewish learning, the libraries throughout Europe were ransacked in 
 search of manuscripts that might assist the student in his investiga- 
 tions; and constant correspondence having a similar aim passed 
 between Jewish scholars of the North and the South, of the East and 
 the West. 
 
 The greatest need was felt in the department of history ; for the 
 sources upon which scholars might base their studies were compara- 
 tively few. So sparse indeed were the historical data, that Zunz 
 found it necessary to begin his " Literaturgeschichte " with these 
 words : " We must not be surprised if the Jewish Middle Ages can 
 boast of no historian. A nation in partibus performs no feat : her 
 sufferings may produce chroniclers and poets, but no historian. 
 Scientific faculty, yea even the necessity thereof, was wanting for 
 historical investigation." For the student of Jewish history these 
 data were like oases in an extensive desert. They were not histories 
 
In the general sense of the word, but annals ; and their contents were 
 often inaccurate or mere strings of names and dates. Some of them 
 were interwoven with fiction; and their chronology was frequently 
 adjusted to fit some preconceived scheme. Since the time of Josephus, 
 no really authoritative history of the Jews had been composed. 
 
 Such were the foundations upon which the student of history had 
 to build. His work was by no means easy. He had to proceed 
 cautiouslv in order to find the facts ; to remove the accretions that 
 had hidden the truth during many years of exile. Such removal 
 required great astuteness and critical insight. Men were not lacking, 
 however, who by a thorough training were qualified to discriminate 
 between the real and the unreal, to separate the true from the false. 
 This was the work of the modern school of critics. Though a study 
 of history was, perhaps, the main interest of this school, it was not 
 the only one : it reviewed what had been done in all the departments 
 of Jewish learning. 
 
 This activity, once manifested, spread rapidly. Volume after vol- 
 ume appeared. Among the more favorite means of publishing the 
 results of study, especially the working out of details, were the peri- 
 odicals. At first these were few; but to-day there are numerous 
 journals and reviews devoted wholly to the presentation of the results 
 of Jewish study. This activity has displayed itself in other forms. 
 There are now many societies whose object is the study of Jewish 
 history. Of these the best work has been done by the Commission 
 fur Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland, the Socie'te' des fitudes 
 Juives (Paris), the American Jewish Historical Society, and the 
 Historical Society of England. 
 
 The present dissertation does not pretend to be an exhaustive 
 study of the work of the modern critical school. In a complete ac- 
 count, many other illustrious names — Munk, Dukes, Sachs, Low, 
 I. H. Weiss, Jellinek, Cassel, and Kaufmann, for example — would 
 have been included. An attempt has here been made merely to 
 sketch the lives and to present a brief analysis of the works of the 
 foremost scholars and authors in three branches of this school — 
 the Galician, the Italian, and the German. 
 
 Of the Galician branch Krochmal and Eapoport were by far the 
 most important. They were the pioneers. Their work was the in- 
 centive for the entire critical school; their method of criticism, the 
 
study of their successors. Isaac Samuel Reggio (1784-1855) and 
 Samuel David Luzzatto (1800-1865) are the representatives of the 
 Italian branch. Having come into closer contact with the results of 
 the Italian Eenaissance, they studied the art of presentation, and 
 purified modern Hebrew style. This style added to the weight of 
 their historical and critical studies. Of the three branches, the Ger- 
 man has been the most productive and the most far-reaching in its 
 results. Its leaders were Leopold Zunz (1794-1886), Abraham 
 Geiger (1810-1874), Zacharias Frankel (1801-1875), Isaac Marcus 
 Jost (1793-1860), Heinrich Graetz (1817- 1891), and Moritz Stein- 
 schneider (born 1816). By their works, written for the most part 
 in German, Jewish learning has been made accessible to all; and for 
 this reason the work of the German branch is more generally known. 
 Through the steadfastness with which these scholars have applied 
 themselves to their tasks, and the thoroughness of their study, allied 
 to their indefatigable zeal in investigation, their astute analyses, and 
 their scientific inductions, the history of Israel has been presented to 
 the world in a manner worthy of profound consideration. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 NACHMAN KROCHMAL 
 
 Nachman Krochmal, 1 Biblical critic, historian, and philosopher, 
 was born February 17, 1785, in Brody, Galicia. His father, a mer- 
 chant of ample fortune, in the course of his travels to Berlin and Leip- 
 sic, had met Mendelssohn and David Friedlander, and, being greatly 
 impressed by them, resolved to give his son a thorough education. 
 The education of a Jew in the Galicia of his day was confined to a 
 study of the Bible and the Talmud. In this study Krochmal excelled 
 all his companions in the rapidity with which he grasped the subject. 
 
 In his fourteenth year he was married to a Miss Haberman, of 
 Zolkiev, and went to live with his father-in-law. This change of 
 residence was beneficial to Krochmal, as it hastened the maturity 
 of his mental faculties and broadened his intellectual horizon. In 
 Zolkiev he had at his disposal the library of Hirsch New, 2 a district 
 
 1 The family name was originally " Krochmalniq " and was later shortened by 
 Nachman (Zunz, Gesammelte Schriften, ii. 150). 
 
 2 Letteris, Introduction to the Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman, 1863, p. 15. 
 
teacher, who was far in advance of his environment. Alone Kroch- 
 mal studied Arabic, Syriac, Latin, German, French, mathematics, and 
 the natural sciences. Philosophy was his favorite study. Ibn Ezra, 
 Maimonides, Spinoza, Lessing, and Mendelssohn were his favorite 
 authors. Kant controlled the views of his early years, but soon 
 yielded place to Schelling, Fichte, and Hegel, each of whom in turn 
 dominated his thought. Notwithstanding the variety of the subjects 
 studied, he never ceased to perfect his knowledge in the Law and in 
 Hebrew literature. 
 
 Excessive study and neglect of his own personal comfort so weak- 
 ened Krochmal that he never fully recovered from their effects. The 
 Hasidim (" pious ones ") said : " The demons have hold of him ; an 
 evil spirit which will never leave him terrifies him ; his affliction is 
 due to too intimate an acquaintance with idolatrous books. Hence 
 he goes about in the shadow of death; and the image -of God has left 
 him." ' But Krochmal refused to yield to physical weakness, which 
 he regarded as a divine dispensation. After each successive attack 
 had spent its force, he arose more determined than ever to accomplish 
 his task. He dreaded the onslaughts of mystic fanatics considerably 
 more than bodily ailment. Despite much opposition, he devoted a 
 great portion of his time to the instruction of the young. His repu- 
 tation increased; and there gathered about him the more ambitious 
 of the Galician students. To all he gave instruction and counsel in 
 the branches in which they were particularly interested ; for he was 
 a man of versatile genius. 
 
 After the death of his mother-in-law, in 1814, he was compelled 
 to work in order to support himself and his family. He refused to 
 enter the miuistry. Perhaps his ill health forbade him ; perhaps also 
 he recognized that a position in the synagogue was not in keeping 
 with his views. He wished to give no provocation for strife, pre- 
 ferring want to contention. 3 "My health has failed," he wrote.' 
 " Evil has passed over my head these last few years. Not long since 
 my wife, after a lingering illness, passed away [1826]. . . . Deserted, 
 I remain here alone with my youngest child, a lad of ten. My eyes 
 
 1 Letteris, ibid., p. 16. 
 
 8 Zunz, ibid., pp. 156, 168; Letteris, ibid., p. 23, note 1, 
 8 Letter ii. p. 65, appended to Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman; Kerem Itemed, ii. 
 109. 
 
8 
 
 lift themselves to heaven ; whence shall come my help ? " His re- 
 maining strength soon gave way, and he was compelled to seek shelter 
 with his daughter in Tarnopol. Here the wise men gathered around 
 him: he was their leader; his home, their meeting-place. He died 
 on July 31, 1840, and was followed to the grave by most of the Jew- 
 ish population of the city. 
 
 Owing to excessive humility, to bodily infirmity (which, as it 
 increased in force, rendered intellectual labor more arduous), to finan- 
 cial straits, and to the attacks of fanatics, Krochmal wrote but little. 
 He seems to have been contented to teach and to depart from life 
 without leaving any token of his greatness other than the love em- 
 bedded in the hearts of his pupils. He was continually rebuked for 
 his avoidance of public notice ; and one of his admirers called ' to him : 
 " Lo, thou art great ; great things has thy soul discovered ! Shouldest 
 thou be wise for thyself alone? Did not God send thee here to give 
 light to others ? " Incessant exhortations ultimately had the effect of 
 inducing him to put in writing some of his thoughts. 3 
 
 Krochmal' s first articles were contributed to the periodical "Kerem 
 Hemed," 3 and fully confirmed the reports of his scholarship. 4 After 
 their appearance, the wise man maintained a stubborn silence. On 
 his death-bed, he reluctantly produced a manuscript which was to be 
 published only if Zunz would consent to read, arrange, and edit the 
 same. 5 This manuscript was the product of a life's work. Krochmal 
 had no fixed time for study or composition. He wrote spasmodically ; 
 now on one theme, now on another. 6 Moreover, he was very irreg- 
 ular in his work, beginning many chapters at one and the same time. 7 
 No one chapter is complete ; and many which he had planned were 
 never written, death preventing their completion. The editing of 
 such a manuscript was a difficult task; but Zunz was equal to it. 
 He prepared the work for the printer, and published it (1851), eleven 
 years after the death of the author. 
 
 1 Kerem Hemed, i. 74. *lbid., vi. 491. 
 
 z Ibid., iv. 260, v. 51, which later found their place in the Moreh Nebuke ha- 
 Zeman. Krochmal also contributed to the Sulamith (1818) and to the Zefira (Zol- 
 kiev, 1824). *l. H. Weiss, Zikronotai, p. 113. 
 
 5 This manuscript represents all of Krochmal's work. After his death a care- 
 ful search was made ; but no other manuscript was to be found. 
 
 6 Weiss, ibid., pp. 114-115. 
 
 7 Zunz, Introduction to the Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman 1863, p. 5. 
 
Krochmal's purpose in writing his work may be summed up in 
 his own words : " If to any of my readers our taste appear trilling — 
 and, perhaps, he may regard all our words as the ravings of a dream, 
 because they are not in accordance with the language, the style, and 
 the form with which he has been acquainted since his youth, — 
 behold, his is the power [to accept or reject]. Let him not charge the 
 author with guilt, nor suspect him [of evil intent], thereby repaying 
 good with evil. Our aim, especially in chapters xiii. and xiv., was 
 to shed honor on our wise men, to glorify their names and memory, 
 and to make peace between the two laws, 1 to lay bare the root and 
 origin of those words against which other nations plead and at 
 which the frivolous of our congregation mock." 2 Krochmal hoped to 
 counteract the effect of folly and fanaticism on Jewish learning, to 
 make known the events of history as they befell Israel, to trace the 
 origin of the law (Halakah), to characterize the Midrashic literature, 
 to discuss the beginnings of Jewish philosophy, to present the ideas 
 of Jewish philosophers, and to comment upou them; in short, to 
 effect a synthesis between Jewish theology and Jewish philosophy, 
 on the one hand, and the principles of Ibn Ezra and of Maimonides, 
 modified by those of Hegel, on the other. In his historical research 
 the work of Azariah dei Kossi s served as model. 4 
 
 Krochmal desired his work to be called "Moreh Nebuke ha- 
 Zeman" (Guide of the Perplexed of the Time). It was intended to 
 be a hand-book for present needs, as Maimonides' " Moreh Nebukim " 
 (Guide of the Perplexed) had been in the Middle Ages. The work 
 is divided into seventeen chapters, 5 of which the first six are 
 introductory. The author discountenances superstition, fanaticism, 
 hypocrisy, materialism, skepticism, degeneracy, and the belief that 
 salvation may be attained through deeds of piety. Salvation can be 
 obtained only in the Golden Mean. Having defined Aristotle's defini- 
 
 1 The oral and the written laws. 
 
 2 Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman, 2d ed., p. 154. 
 
 3 Azariah dei Rossi (1614-1578), author of the Me'or ''Enayiin, was the pre- 
 cursor of the modern Jewish critical school. Zunz's life of Dei Rossi, in Kerem 
 Jlemed, iv. 148. 
 
 4 Zunz, Gesammelte Schriften, ii. 156. 
 
 5 Compare Zunz's introduction to the Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman, and S. Schbch- 
 ter's paper on Rabbi Nachman Krochmal, read before the Jews' College Literary 
 Society, London, 1887, and reprinted in his Studies in Judaism, Philadelphia, 
 1896. 
 
10 
 
 tion of " the good " or Golden Mean, and having discussed at some 
 length those arguments that are advanced by the various philosophical 
 systems with the view of tracing all phenomena to a primary cause, 
 and of proving the existence of a God, Krochmal passes to chapter 
 vii., in which the subject proper is introduced. The ancient history 
 of Israel, whose religion was monotheistic, is compared with the his- 
 tory of other ancient but idolatrous peoples. Like all other nations, 
 Israel has developed in accordance with the natural laws of growth, 
 maturity, and decay, and has even passed through several cycles of 
 such a development. 
 
 The first cycle, according to Krochmal, runs thus : Growth, from 
 the beginning of Israel's existence to the entrance into Palestine; 
 maturity, from the entrance into Palestine to the death of Solomon; 
 
 decay, from the death of Solomon to the murder of Gedoliah (ch. 
 
 ... . 
 vni.). 
 
 The second cycle runs : Growth, from the beginning of the Baby- 
 lonian exile till the time of Alexander of Macedon (ch. ix.) ; matu- 
 rity, from Alexander the Great to the quarrel between the two sons 
 of Alexander Jannaeus, which period is noteworthy for having pro- 
 duced the Great Synagogue, the three great sects, and the Apocrypha ; 
 decay, from that time till the fall of Bether and the completed Eoman 
 sovereignty (ch. x.). 
 
 In the third cycle, this triple system is not developed, probably be- 
 cause of the failure of the author's health. Chapter xi. is divided 
 into fourteen sections, treating of a variety of subjects, such as the 
 religious life of Israel without national life ; the composition and the 
 antiquity of the old Testament ; the Second Isaiah ; Ezra ; Chronicles ; 
 Zachariah ; Esther ; Daniel ; Ezekiel ; Ecclesiastes ; many of the Psalms 
 and Apocrypha; the completion of the Canon; the sects of the time; 
 the Great Synagogue; and the relative importance of tradition. 
 Chapter xiii. deals with the rise of Jewish philosophy in the Greek 
 cities, Philo, Gnosticism, and the Greek versions of the Bible. Chap- 
 ter xiv. contains a brief history of the Halakah, the Haggadah, and 
 the Midrashim. In ch. xv. is an attack on Cabala and Gnosticism, 
 and a definition of Metatron, Messiah, and soul. In chapters xvi. 
 and xvii. the influence of Hegel and Ibn Ezra is clearly seen. In 
 chapter xvi. Krochmal gives a sort of introduction to a philosophy of 
 Jewish history, based upon the principles of Hegel. Chapter xvii. is 
 
11 
 
 a synopsis of Ibn Ezra's philosophy, and an explanation of his idea 
 of God. 
 
 It was not an easy matter to present a systematic and compre- 
 hensive view of the philosophy of Jewish history. Because so little 
 had been done in this line of work, it was necessary for Krochmal to 
 go far afield to discuss all kinds of problems. He was the first to 
 offer a systematic philosophy of Jewish history, regularly divided into 
 parts, and to treat critically, yet with reverence, moot points of the 
 Scriptures, the Apocrypha, and Talmudic and Midrashic literature. Of 
 this volume, I. H. Weiss, one of the greatest living Jewish scholars, 
 critics, and historians, 1 says: "Know that, despite the exaltedness of 
 his imagination, — for he had taken wings and had risen to the heights 
 of philosophy, — it is to be lamented that he forgot the world of 
 reality. Besides ... he filled a great portion of his book with 
 investigations concerning the ideas of Kabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, a phi- 
 losophy secret and hidden, by means of which he interpreted secret by 
 secret, riddle by riddle ; so that in the end both the secret and the 
 interpretation thereof remain almost unsolvable conundrums. I am 
 not ashamed to acknowledge that some of his interpretations are 
 beyond my grasp." 
 
 Krochmal was the philosopher among these early students. His 
 influence on the historico-critical school is not to be gaged so much 
 by this volume as by the stimulus he gave to the researches of others. 
 The work itself was not published till after the middle of the nine- 
 teenth century, by which time other scholars had treated upon the 
 historical data that form the nucleus of the "Moreh Nebuke ha- 
 Zeman." The greatest of his disciples was Solomon Judah Eapoport. 
 
 It would be erroneous to infer that the work discouraged the con- 
 tinuance by his successors of the labors of the author; for the por- 
 tions on Halakah were later developed by Isaac H. Weiss, in his " Dor 
 Dor we-Dorshaw," and by others. 
 
 Krochmal was the first of the modern school of critics to break 
 away from the medievalism in which Galicia was steeped. Because 
 of his powers as an educator and reformer, Zunz has well styled 
 him the "Mendelssohn of Galicia." a 
 
 1 Zikronotai, p. 119. 9 OesammeUe Schriften, ii. 153. 
 
12 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 SOLOMON JUDAH (LOEB) RAPOPORT 
 
 Solomon Judah (Loeb) Eapoport was born in Lemberg, Galicia, 
 June 1, 1790. Both on his father's and on his mother's side he 
 descended from a worthy line 1 of Talmudists, from whom he inherited 
 his intellectual qualities and his love for Hebrew. Like Krochmal, 
 Rapoport grew up in the Jewish culture which had been inherited 
 from medieval times, and was surrounded by influences antagonistic 
 to modern scholarly research. In attempting to free himself from 
 the old regime, he, too, became the target at which the arrows of 
 those opposed to progress were directed. Despite all this, despite 
 even the objections of those about him, he would not be satisfied 
 with what seemed to him to be inaccurate or uncertain. In the 
 service of true knowledge he resolved to dedicate his life to solving 
 some of the difficulties that beset him at every step in Jewish history. 
 
 Rapoport was a thorough Talmudist and Biblical exegete, ac- 
 quainted with French, Italian, Latin, Greek, Persian, and Arabic, in 
 all of which he was self-educated. But what is more astonishing is 
 the fact that he also possessed strong religious convictions. These 
 convictions the acquisition of secular knowledge, and the influ- 
 ence which various literatures must have had upon him, railed to 
 shake. He was alwavs true to his inner self, and never wavered in 
 his belief; for this belief was embedded too deeply in his nature to 
 be uprooted by any temporary doubt. In religious matters, while 
 Rapoport' s views were not in sympathy with those of the older ortho- 
 dox party, in his reform he was conservative, and opposed all radical 
 measures. 2 He insisted upon the necessity of observing not only the 
 
 1 The family Rapoport was an old and honorable one, of which there are records 
 dating from the fifteenth century. For a history of the family, the origin of its 
 name, and its connection with Raven and Puerto, cf. Brann, Die Familie Rapoport 
 — das Geschlecht der jungen Raben, in Das Centenarium S. J. L. RapoporVs in 
 Festgabe der Oeslerreichischen Wochenschrift, June 1, 1890 ; Eliakim Carmolt, 
 Ha-Orevim u-Bene Yonah, Rbdelheim, 1861, and Jacob Reifmann in Smolen- 
 ski's Ea-Shahar, iii. 353-376. Compare, also, S. Wiener, Da'atKedoshim, pp. 
 135 el seg., St. Petersburg, 1897. 
 
 2 Hence Rapoport's Or ha-Torah, a criticism of Geiger's Urschrift, pub- 
 lished, after his death, in Nahalat Judah, by his son, Cracow, 1868. 
 
13 
 
 written law, but also the traditional law. Yet the man — upright in 
 all his ways, pious and sincere in all his views — was declared by his 
 enemies to be a heretic, a destroyer of morals, unfit for the company 
 and the instruction of the young. Plots of all description were so 
 frequently and at times so ingeniously concocted against him that his 
 life was one continuous torture. His enemies were able to malign 
 him and to make his life more unbearable than Krochmal's had been, 
 because Rapoport sought rabbinical honors. Continual were the at- 
 tempts to sully his reputation, to blast his hopes and aspirations, even 
 to take away his means of support. But as in Krochmal's case each 
 successive .illness made him more steadfast in purpose, more deter- 
 mined to push on investigation, so with Eapoport each attack made 
 him more than ever resolved to conquer. He set himself tasks the 
 mere conception of which would frighten men less bold. Having to 
 defend his opinions, attacked on all sides, sometimes justly, more 
 often unjustly, and not being free from cares, he could not devote 
 his attention to the completion of the work he had mapped out for 
 himself; the mere plan of which suffices to show that labor had no 
 terrors for him. 
 
 Notwithstanding his unfulfilled promises, that which Eapoport 
 accomplished entitles him to a place among the foremost of the great 
 Jewish scholars of the nineteenth century. In all his works, he 
 united a thorough knowledge of specifically Jewish with secular wis- 
 dom : he pleaded that the young should not only be instructed in the 
 Bible and the Talmud, but that they should receive a better general 
 education. " Dost thou think that Judaism can stand by itself with- 
 out taking from other people ? . . . God scattered us over the world 
 to learn here a little, there a little, ... to be both pupil and teacher." ' 
 
 Rapoport' s work will appeal more to us and will appear in a bet- 
 ter light if the conditions and the drawbacks that hampered it are 
 thoroughly realized. His whole self was centered in a professional 
 life ; he had little or no inclination for trade or for a business occupa- 
 tion. A bright future had early been prophesied for him. His father, 
 who during the early years of his son's life had ample means to give 
 him a good training and to indulge him in all his desires, became 
 impoverished ; and from that time Rapoport was compelled to shift 
 for himself. He began a small business of his own ; but it was not suc- 
 1 Letter to Luzzatto, dated 28 Nisan, 6601 (1841) : Letters of Rapoport, p. 108. 
 
14 
 
 cessful. In 1815 he accepted a position as bookkeeper and cashier 
 with a firm that had rented from the Government the farming and 
 collection of the tax levied upon each Jew for the right to eat ritually 
 killed meat. 1 During these years (till 1832) Rapoport continued his 
 studies. His articles began to attract the attention of the learned as 
 well as the antagonism of the ignorant. The time left him after 
 the completion of his clerical duties was not sufficient to finish his 
 work. He saw he could not serve two masters at the same time. If 
 he should pay attention to the dictates of his heart and give all his 
 time to the support of his family, his intellect must starve ; if he 
 should yield to the demand of his intellect his family must starve. 
 Either was an evil in essentia? "The support of my house occupies 
 the time of day. Only a few hours of the night are left me to provide 
 for my soul ; and these are not sufficient to investigate and to put the 
 result into proper form. During the last few years I began to seek a 
 place as rabbi, thinking that in such a position I might rest, . . . that 
 I might dwell in the house of God all the days of my life, that I might 
 produce pleasant thoughts, and bring to light my great works. " 3 
 Here was a poor bookkeeper, consumed by the love of knowledge and 
 by hatred of his occupation, seeking a position as rabbi, in order to 
 have more certain means of sustenance, and more leisure to concen- 
 trate his thoughts on his work. 
 
 In 1832, probably at the instigation of his enemies, Eapoport was 
 discharged from his position. In attempting to secure a call as rabbi, 
 he gave his accusers a wider field for attack. 
 
 We can not follow him in his frequent applications for positions, 
 nor in his numerous letters imploring those with whom he corre- 
 sponded to exert their influence in his behalf. There was always 
 some objection : now it was doubt as to his ability to deliver sermons 
 in the vernacular ; now his advanced ideas were to his discredit ; and 
 again, not having a university education or degree he was disqualified, 
 according to the laws of certain countries, for appointment to the 
 positions for which he applied. Back of all were the hands of his 
 enemies. 
 
 1 Bernfeld, Toledot Shir, p. 15. 
 
 9 Letter to Luzzatto, in Kerem Hemed, i. 23. 
 
 3 Letters to Solomon Rosenthal, dated 23d of Adar 5592 (1832) ; Skai le-Morek 
 p. 24, edited by Alexander Buchler, Budapest (possibly 1895). The "great 
 works " here alluded to are Toledot Anshe Sfiem and 'Erek Millin. 
 
15 
 
 Rapoport' s first call to a rabbinate came when he was forty-seven 
 years old. In 1837 he was elected rabbi in Tarnopol, Galicia. But 
 even there his time was fully occupied in defending himself from 
 his accusers. A vacancy occurred in the rabbinate of Prague, and 
 Rapoport after much difficulty was proposed as a candidate. In 
 1840, through the instrumentality of Michael Sachs, then preacher in 
 Prague, and the Maskilim (educated members) of the congregation, 
 he was called there as rabbi of the Alt-neue Synagoge. 1 
 
 His first sermon in Prague satisfied all his hearers, and quieted all 
 doubts as to his ability to fill the position. Unfortunately, the ardor 
 that at first attended his presence in the city gradually lessened, and 
 he was regarded with less veneration. The Maskilim who brought 
 about his election had expected him to be more liberal; the hyper- 
 orthodox thought him insincere. "That which thou hast asked 
 about our friend, the wise Rapoport, and concerning his achieve- 
 ments in Prague, I will tell you in a few words. Both factions are 
 now against him. The Maskilim believed that Rapoport would bring 
 about changes in religious observances according to the times. Now 
 they see that their counsel was not taken. The learned and God- 
 fearing [i.e., hyper-orthodox], on the other hand, are against him be- 
 cause although Rapoport, like them, retains all the customs of Israel, 
 they do, nevertheless, suspect him of hypocrisy." 3 
 
 Eagerly as Rapoport sought quiet and rest " to dwell in the house 
 of God, to study the Torah and investigate the ancient history of 
 Israel, to work over the words of the ancient rabbis, to dispel the 
 clouds that darken justice," 3 the longed-for peace never came. From 
 the time of his acceptance of the rabbinate in Prague until his death, 
 October 16, 1867, his life was a continual strife. He himself ac- 
 knowledged that he had greater freedom of action during the years 
 of his clerkship. During those years of comparative independence, 
 the best of his works were planned and written. While in Tarnopol, 
 he produced nothing of value, and in Prague little more. Active 
 
 1 He had no specified salary, but the wealthy of the congregation gave him 
 annually a purse of five hundred florins in addition to certain perquisites. This 
 sum was later raised to six hundred (Bernfeld, Toledot Shir, p. 106). 
 
 9 Letters from Moses Landau to Samuel Rosenthal, 1841, cited by Bernfeld, 
 Toledot Shir, p. 105. 
 
 3 First letter to Luzzatto after Kapoport's arrival in Prague (Letters of Rapo- 
 port, p. 216). 
 
16 
 
 almost till his death, he published some articles after his arrival in 
 Prague, 1 but these are not marked by the originality and spontaneity 
 of thought of his earlier years. 2 
 
 Eapoport' s works may be divided as follows: 
 
 I. Early Prose Writings. 
 
 II. Verse: 
 
 (a) Hebrew. 
 
 (b) Translations into Hebrew. 
 
 (1) Poems. 
 
 (2) Drama. 
 
 III. Correspondence and Polemics. 
 .IV. Critical Works : 
 
 (a) Biblical. 
 
 (b) Historical — bibliographies of scholars of the Middle Ages. 
 (" Anshe Shem " — which, though promised, never appeared.) 
 
 (c) Talmudic. 
 
 Early in life Eapoport exhibited a taste for literature. His youth 
 had been devoted mainly to the study of the Talmud, the keen dis- 
 cussions of which sharpened his intellect and made possible acute 
 thought and nice distinctions. Fortunately, he soon discarded the 
 use of pilpul, 3 though, when hard pressed to defend his theories, he 
 would use the same. Innate keenness was allied to graceful style, 
 which was rendered the more forcible and convincing by a thorough 
 mastery of the subject in hand. His first Hebrew prose work was a 
 "Description of the City of Paris and the Island of Elba." 4 The 
 first work to draw attention to the author, however, was an article 
 in the "Bikkure ha-'Ittim," 6 on "The Free Jews of Arabia." Be- 
 cause of its value, the article was translated into German by Furst. 6 
 The kind reception of this early work was more than the author 
 had counted upon, and served as an incentive to more earnest 
 effort. 
 
 In poetry Eapoport was not so successful as in prose ; for the 
 
 'The '■Erek Millin was published after his arrival in Prague, but was 
 planned, begun, and doubtless partly written before. The best of his works writ- 
 ten entirely in Prague was an article published in the Eerem Hemed, v. 197-232, 
 an attack on the perjuries and falsifications of the Karaites. 
 
 2 M. Steinschneider, Gegenwart, 1867, p. 338. 
 
 3 The technical term for Rabbinical casuistry. 4 Anonymous, Lemberg, 1814. 
 
 5 1823, iv. 51-77. * Orient, i., No. 25; ii. 397. 
 
17 
 
 thought he wishes to convey is frequently vague, and his expression 
 is heavier than in prose, because he pays greater attention to form 
 than to the thought expressed. 1 He lacked both the poetic tempera- 
 ment and poetic inspiration. Possibly because he felt this defect, he 
 applied himself to the translation of verse rather than to the composi- 
 tion of original themes. 3 In poetry he was pre-eminently an imitator. 
 His first attempt was " Hazlahat ha-Bayit " (the Prosperity of the 
 House), 3 a partial translation and revision of Schiller's "Glocke." 
 The same theme served later as material for another translation, 
 "Ha-Be'erah" (the Fire-Bell). 4 He wrote and translated many other 
 poems ; but they added very little to his reputation. His dramas are 
 better known than his poems. When thirty-five years old, he pub- 
 lished one which is in the main a translation of Racine's "Esther," 
 entitled "She'erit Yehudah " (the Remnant of Judah), 6 in the intro- 
 duction to which are to be found some of Rapoport's first attempts at 
 Biblical criticism. 
 
 The writing of verse was for Rapoport only a passing fancy. Yet 
 the periods spent in belles-lettres during his early years were not 
 entirely without direct benefit to him. They formed, as it were, his 
 apprenticeship in literature, and served him later in good stead ; for 
 during these years of apprenticeship his style was refined, and his 
 taste given time to mature and develop. His style became pure and 
 simple, his vocabulary being preferably that of the Bible. Few of 
 his contemporaries could equal him in prose writing. 6 
 
 More interesting than his early writings are his letters 7 and his 
 contributions to polemical literature. He maintained an extensive 
 correspondence with all the leading Jews of his day. Scholars 
 gladly kept in touch with him, and used this means of communica- 
 tion to place before him for solution many difficult problems. In 
 
 1 Bernfeld, Toledot Shir, p. 99. 9 Weiss, Zikronotai, p. 87. 
 
 8 Bikkure ha- 1 Ittim, 1820, i. 110. 4 Ibid., 182C, vii. 11G. 
 
 6 Ibid., 1827, viii. 172-254. 6 Weiss, Zikronotai, p. 87. 
 
 1 His letters to Luzzatto have been edited : (a) Zikkaron la-Aharonim con- 
 taining six letters (1829-1833) to S. D. Luzzatto, by A. Harkavy with notes by 
 S. J. Halberstam, Wilna, 1881 ; (6) Iggerot Shir, letters to S. D. Luzzatto, 1833- 
 1800, edited and annotated by S. J. Halberstam, Przemysl, 1885. Some of his 
 letters relative to his career in Prague will be found in Shai le-Moreh, ed. Alex- 
 ander BCchler, 1895. Other letters appeared in the various periodicals of his 
 time. A few relative to his appointment in Prague have been translated into 
 German in the Centenarium Rapoport's, already referred to. 
 
18 
 
 this way many writers, even the masters, 1 received their inspiration 
 and much of their information. The direct and indirect influence of 
 Eapoport's correspondence, irrespective of his own publications, upon 
 the pamphlets and books of others can, perhaps, never fully be told. 
 In his day his superiority was recognized. He was an encyclopedia 
 of Jewish learning; and on questions of difficulty, he was the final 
 authority. 2 
 
 His polemical writings present a different side of the man's char- 
 acter. Unlike Krochmal, he was proud and at times overbearing and 
 headstrong. 3 His polemics were directed against two different classes : 
 (1) the Hasidim, and (2) that type of men of which the editors of 
 the "Ha-Eo'eh ' (the Spectator) were the representatives, who used 
 their journal to abuse Rapoport, Zunz, Luzzatto, and Beggio rather 
 than criticize their views, who frequently incited the mob against 
 Eapoport, and tried to wrest from him all chance of election to the 
 rabbinical office in Prague. Justifiable as his wrath was, his retort 
 but aggravated the situation. In this part of his polemical writings 
 we can sympathize with him ; but his others were not so justifiable, 
 as they were directed against those within his own circle who meant 
 no harm to his person nor desired to diminish his fame, but who, 
 like him, strove for truth, and hence tested the veracity of his state- 
 ments. 
 
 Eapoport resented criticism, and disliked any one who questioned 
 his assertions. 4 He used all means to. controvert their opinions, and 
 did not have the heart to acknowledge the truth 5 of their argument. 
 But dear to him as were his own writings, equally so were those of 
 Maimonides and Ibn Ezra. He who ventured to controvert aught 
 written by them had to reckon with Eapoport. 
 
 This spirit, naturally, plunged him into lengthy controversies, 
 and deprived him of much time that might have been spent on the 
 works he had hoped to finish." By one of these controversies the 
 friendship between the two scholars, Luzzatto and Eapoport, was 
 
 1 Compare Zunz's acknowledgment of his debt to Rapoport through his cor- 
 respondence, Gottesdienstliche Vortrage, 2d ed., p. xiii. 
 
 2 Such as the questions of the 49 Middot of Rabbi Nathan of Babylon. Com- 
 pare Behinat ha-Dat (Examen religionis) of Rabbi Elijah del Medigo, edited by 
 I. S. Reggio, 1833, p. 91, note 6. 
 
 3 Weiss, Zikronotai, p. 91. 4 Weiss, Ibid., p. 90. 
 
 6 Ibid., p. 93. «Ibid. t p. 90. 
 
19 
 
 broken. 1 When Rapoport saw that not one scholar only, but all 
 scholars were in arms against his overbearing disposition, he was 
 compelled to modify his tone. " It is not my purpose to reprove, but 
 to instruct ... If, as you say, you have found errors in my works, 
 or if you think you will find more, behold ! I am man and not God. 
 What man is there who shall say, 'I have purged my works of all 
 error and cleansed them of doubt ' ? What can you say against my 
 works in general ? Are not the paths I lay bare good ? Did I not 
 work with all my heart to come nigh to truth? Did you not find in 
 many places wisdom and good taste? Have I not shown the way 
 to others? Long since have all those who examined with upright 
 heart acknowledged that I am he who made known in Israel the way 
 of learning. I dug the ancient history of Israel from beneath mounds 
 of dust in order to shed light upon it. From that time the spirit of 
 investigation spread in Italy and Germany ... By my soul, only 
 for your sake and for the welfare of Jeshurun — not mine own — I 
 turned to speak to you in the fulness of my heart." a 
 
 The importance, however, of Rapoport is to be found in the work 
 he has done as a critic. 3 In his historico-critical studies the full 
 extent of his erudition and wisdom is seen. In these he was most 
 successful; and it is solely because of them that his name will go 
 down to posterity. 
 
 After the close of the Talmud and throughout the Middle Ages 
 much obscurity seemed to surround many of the Jewish celebrities. 
 Rapoport set himself the task of clearing this away ; so that in pre- 
 senting the results of his study he revivified names which, though 
 current among the Jews, were mere shades of a dead past. 
 
 1 Luzzatto had disparagingly criticized Maimonides and Ibn Ezra, for which 
 Rapoport challenged him. 
 
 *Kerem TTemed, vi. 94. Other semi-polemical, semi-critical works were: (a) 
 Or ha-Torah, Cracow, 1868, a criticism of Geiger's Urschrift for having handled 
 the material of the Bible too freely ; (b) Bibre Shalom we-Emet, Prague, 1801, which 
 was directed against S. M. Hirsch, and in defense of Z. Franker s Darke ha-Mish- 
 nah; (c) a dispute with Jost, in Kerem Ilemed, iv. 104 et seq., vii. 138 et seq. in 
 regard to Judah the Prince. 
 
 3 Rapoport's essay on Biblical criticism in the notes of the She'erit Yehudah 
 has already been mentioned. As a Biblical critic he was modest; yet, consider- 
 ing his surroundings, he must be judged liberal. Though he thought he was ever 
 in keeping with the Masoretic text — and he no doubt always meant to restrict 
 himself to its dicta — he confessed he found traces of Maccabean influence in 
 the Psalms, and traces of Persian influence in the Second Isaiah. 
 
20 
 
 The manner in which Rapoport was first directed to this particular 
 field of study is interesting. Some time after he had begun to read 
 French, a copy of Bayle's " Dictionnaire historique et critique " — a sort 
 of encyclopedia of the bibliographies of historic personages — fell into 
 his hands. 1 After having studied its contents it occurred to him to 
 produce something similar in Hebrew, which should contain the biog- 
 raphies of eminent Jewish historic persons and should be entitled 
 " Toledot Anshe Shem " (Biographies of Eminent Men). From re- 
 peated references in his earlier writings, especially in his correspond- 
 ence, he led scholars to believe that his " 'Erek Millin " and his 
 " Toledot Anshe Shem * had already been completed, or were very near 
 completion. 2 After his death, no trace of such a work as the "Anshe 
 Shem " was to be found. That the author did intend to publish such 
 a work is certain. He regards his biographies as a "few sketches 
 culled from the contents of my greater work." 3 According to Weiss, 
 the historical notes appended to the ' Erek Millin " might serve as a 
 nucleus for such a work. 4 If his biographical studies are representa- 
 tive of his greater work, it is a pity that the task was never com- 
 pleted: for the study of Jewish literature and Jewish history its 
 worth would have been inestimable. 
 
 Of his biographies the first to appear was that of Saadia (1828). 6 
 This was followed in 1829 by the biographies of Nathan of Rome, 6 
 
 j Kurlander, S. L. Rapoport, p. 20; Das Centenarium RapoporVs, p. 390. 
 
 2 Zunz, in his Gottesdienstliche Vortrdge, 2d ed., p. zii., mentions the forth- 
 coming volume: "Ansche Schem, worin das Leben und Werken der hervor- 
 ragendsten jiidischen Gesetzlehrer, Rabbiner und Schriftsteller, namentlich aus 
 dem talmudischen und der gaonaischen Zeit beschrieben werden." 
 
 3 Shai le-Moreh, p. 24. 4 Zikronotai, p. 90. 
 
 5 Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayyumi (892-942), Gaon of Sura, philosopher, gram- 
 marian, lexicographer, and translator. 
 
 6 Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome [circa 1000], compiler of the ''Aruk or Talmudic 
 lexicon. This biography later caused him much inconvenience and almost lost 
 for him his appointment as rabbi in Prague. Between 1819 and 1822, Moses 
 Landau, the president of the congregation to which Rapoport was later called, 
 had published in five parts an 'Aruk which he called Ma'arke Lashon. In 
 his biography of Nathan of Rome, Rapoport gave Landau due praise for his 
 attempt, but at the same time showed the true nature of Landau's work, 
 which at best was Rabbi Nathan's 'Aruk changed somewhat in form. This 
 is but one instance of Rapoport's fearlessness. Future benefit, or the influ- 
 ence that any one exerted, never deterred him from proclaiming the truth. In 
 this biography Rapoport announced the appearance of the ''Erek Millin, as a 
 continuation of the ' Aruk. 
 
21 
 
 Hai Gaon, 1 and Eleazar Kalir; 2 while those of Rabbi Hananeel 3 and 
 Rabbi Nissim ben Jacob 9 appeared in 1831. These biographies 
 were the best work that Rapoport produced, and were completed six 
 or seven years before his appointment to Tarnopol. 
 
 Rapoport was too poor to publish them in book-form, and was 
 compelled to resort to the periodicals, in which they appeared as 
 monographs. In this case poverty was a benefit to Rapoport' s fame; 
 for the periodicals spread much farther and reached readers who 
 would not have had the means to invest in books. The biographical 
 studies made him famous ; and the world began to recognize him as 
 an authority. Rapoport was now forty years old. Though there were 
 many errors of detail in his work, yet, as a whole, it was thorough, 
 and gave a certain direction to the study of Jewish history. " The 
 six biographies in the ' Bikkure ha-' Ittim ' were diamond-mines for 
 the historian of Jewish literature." 4 
 
 Besides giving a lucid account of the biography of each of his 
 heroes and an instructive resume' of their work, he embodied in his 
 studies an accurate portrayal of the culture of the time in which they 
 lived. He outlined the relation and intercourse of the Jewish com- 
 munities in the different parts of Europe, North Africa, and Asia 
 during those ages of which so little was known. In some cases he 
 settled dates which hitherto had been quite uncertain; in others, he 
 corrected gross errors that had been made by previous scholars ; and 
 he showed that an exact idea of the development of Jewish learning 
 could not be obtained by the study of any individual community or 
 of any particular group of scholars dwelling in any one locality, but 
 that, as intercourse between Jews the world over was so constant, 
 and as each community was influenced by others, a knowledge of the 
 state of the Jews in one place, to be thorough, must include a knowl- 
 edge of their condition throughout the world. 
 
 His other great critical work was the " 'Erek Millin," B an encyclo- 
 
 1 Hai ben Sherira [969-1039], Gaon of Pumbedita, and an eminent Talmudist. 
 He was the representative of the Judaism of his day ; and all difficult questions 
 were referred to him. 
 
 'About Eleazar Kalir very little is known. He is supposed to have lived 
 at the beginning of the ninth century and was a great payye^an (religious poet). 
 
 8 Hananeel and Nissim ben Jacob, both of Kairwan, North Africa, were 
 noted Talmudists in the first half of the eleventh century. 
 
 4 F. Delitzsch, Zur Geschichte der judischen Poesie (1836), p. 119. 
 
 6 'Erek Millin, opus encyclopcedicum, alphab. ordine dispositum in quo et res 
 
22 
 
 pedia of Talmudic terms arranged alphabetically. The work repre- 
 sents the toil of an entire life. It was begun in Eapoport's youth; 
 and had not the troubles which befell him during the period of his 
 greatest intellectual activity interrupted his studies, we should have 
 had a voluminous encyclopedia — a herculean task for one man. His 
 troubled life in Tarnopol and Prague, however, gave him no time to 
 finish his "great works." 
 
 When Kapoport resumed his work on the encyclopedia, he had 
 passed his sixtieth year without having published a single volume. 
 He felt that his remaining years were few, and, therefore, hastened 
 the work as much as possible, with the result that the first part, con- 
 taining the entire letter Aleph, was published. 1 After the enthusi- 
 astic welcome his biographies had received, the reception of the first 
 volume of the long-promised encyclopedia must have grieved the old 
 scholar ; for it did not realize the anticipations of the learned world. 
 
 Whatever the faults of the work, it had many good qualities. By 
 it were explained many passages in the Talmud and the Midrashim 
 relative to historic occurrences which, because of vagueness, had hith- 
 erto been misunderstood and misinterpreted, and had been a source 
 of much perplexity to scholars. Owing to Eapoport's investigations 
 many doubtful passages have received their correct historical setting, 
 many ambiguous terms have been given their correct signification, 
 and to formerly unknown places localities have been supplied. 
 
 Eapoport presented much interesting matter relating to the sects 
 among the Jews in Talmudic times ; and by his study of the Hagga- 
 dah and the classification of the same, he simplified to a considerable 
 extent the work of Zunz. Though the " 'Erek Millin " was published 
 long after "Die Gottesdienstlichen Vortrage," it is probable, judging 
 from Zunz's recognition of his debt to Eapoport, in the introduction 
 to the latter work, that he made use of the wide knowledge of the 
 Galician student. 
 
 In the " 'Erek Millin " there are evident traces of Krochmal's influ- 
 
 et voces ad historiam, geographiam, archceologiam, dignitates, sectas, illustresque 
 homines spectantes quae, in utroque Talmude, Tosefta, Targumicis, Midrashicisque 
 libris occurrunt necdum satis explicate sunt, illustrantur. I. Continens totam Lit- 
 teram Aleph, Prague, 1852. 
 
 1 Rapoport made a special journey to Berlin to consult with his friends, Zunz 
 and Sachs, in regard to raising the necessary funds for the publication of the 
 volume (Beenfeld, Toledot Shir) , p. 124. 
 
23 
 
 ence upon Rapoport. In his eulogy ' on Krochmal, Rapoport acknowl- 
 edged that from the time he came in contact with his teacher and 
 friend he was a different man. To Krochmal is due much of Rapo- 
 port' s knowledge, and especially his interest in historical research. 8 
 Where the influence of Krochmal upon Rapoport began and where 
 it ended may never be known. Yet it is evident that Rapoport' s 
 Talmudic studies were guided, to a very great extent, by Krochmal' s 
 spirit. 3 Weiss goes further and says 4 "that all the things worth 
 hearing in the chapter on Haggadah are taken from Krochmal, differ- 
 ing only in form and expression ; and that the additions made by 
 Rapoport are of small value." In other words, Rapoport' s Talmudic 
 investigations are supplementary to those already made by his master, 
 and augmented Krochmal' s results but little. 
 
 In his biographical and purely historical studies Rapoport was 
 undoubtedly a pioneer. In these he was entirely original. Because 
 of his wide knowledge of the Talmud and Midrash, and because of 
 his critical turn of mind, he was the first to extract historical data 
 from passages out of which none had hoped to obtain information. 
 In this lay his originality. It is true that Zunz's life of Rashi ante- 
 dated the appearance of Rapoport' s biographies. What if Rapoport 
 saw this and used it as the pattern for his biographies ? This does 
 not detract from the merit of the Galician, whose articles, by the 
 method of criticism he employed, paved the way in which all who 
 wished to treat of Jewish history must follow, and which articles 
 were used by the great German student, who willingly admits his in- 
 debtedness. Zunz himself acknowledged that the palm belonged to 
 Rapoport. 5 Wherefore for Rapoport may justly be claimed the honor 
 of having been the father of modern Hebrew biography. 
 
 l Kerem Hemed, vi. 41. 
 
 8 Sitzungsberichteder Wiener Akademie, 1853, p. 312, note. 
 
 8 Bernfeld, Toledot Shir, p. 31. 4 Dor Dor we-Dorsfiaw, ii. 24, note. 
 
 'Bernfeld, Ibid., p. 32, note. 
 
24 
 CHAPTEK IV 
 
 ISAAC SAMUEL EEGGIO 
 
 The first of the Italian school to attract our attention is Isaac 
 Samuel Reggio (Yashar). He was born August 15, 1784, in Gorizia, 
 and died August 29, 1855. His life, as he himself acknowledged, 1 
 was uneventful and devoid of interest to others. Son and successor of 
 Rabbi Abraham Vita Reggio, who was noted for his attack upon the 
 local rabbis and his defense of Wessely's program of higher educa- 
 tion for the Jew, a Isaac was reared at home in an atmosphere whose 
 chief characteristics were extreme piety and liberality of view. The 
 Bible and the Talmud were the bases of his rabbinical studies; the 
 best grammatical and exegetical works were most carefully read. 
 Secular studies, however, were not ignored. For these he attended 
 the gymnasium and college of his native city. Of the subjects taken 
 while at college, mathematics was his favorite study. When eigh- 
 teen years old, he solved a prize problem offered by a Hungarian 
 Society of Science 3 which made him famous in his native town, and 
 later secured for him a professor's chair at the college of Gorizia. At 
 the end of the Napoleonic influence in Illyria, Reggio was compelled 
 to resign this chair ; and the rest of his life he devoted to the study 
 of the history, literature, and religion of his people. To further that 
 study, he used every possible source of information. A Persian gram- 
 mar, to which was appended a vocabulary of Persian words, is said * 
 to have fallen into his hands. Reggio set himself to learn this gram- 
 mar and vocabulary in order to be able to trace the Persian influences 
 which he was convinced were to be found in the Talmud. 
 
 Like most of the Jews of the Italy of his day, Reggio was in his 
 youth greatly interested in the Cabala, and eagerly read and studied 
 all the cabalistic works that came within his reach. But in the 
 Cabala he could find no solace ; and he, therefore, turned to what, at 
 that time, must have been considered the other extreme. He began 
 to study thoroughly the works of Mendelssohn and Wessely. A new 
 field was opened to him, and gave him renewed inspiration. In Italy 
 
 1 Maskeret Yashar, p. 4, Vienna, 1849. 
 
 2 Philippson's Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, 1837, i. 228. 
 
 3 Maskeret Yashar, p. 21. 4 Zikronotai, p. 153. 
 
25 
 
 Mendelssohn and Wessely were practically unknown. Reggio re- 
 solved to be their disciple, their exponent. 1 
 
 The first article published by Reggio in Hebrew was an intro- 
 ductory study of the Pentateuch (Vienna, 1821), in which he upheld 
 the inspiration of the Law. In the same year he published a new 
 translation of the Pentateuch in Italian, together with a commentary, 
 which was very well received. A series of translations of and com- 
 mentaries on the Scriptures followed. Among these, the translation 
 of Isaiah (1821) deserves special mention, in that it was a paraphrase 
 prompted by Gesenius' translation of the same book.* Such work 
 was more or less in imitation of his masters'. Mendelssohn's and 
 Wessely' s translations were his patterns; their exegesis was the basis 
 for his commentaries. In these commentaries the liberal training of 
 his youth asserted itself. He cared for and sought only truth. The 
 Bible was sacred only in so far as it proclaimed the truth. He em- 
 ployed the methods of modern Biblical criticism. " Thus I show you, 
 my friend, one of many examples of the use of modern criticism and 
 its preference over ancient investigation." 3 He attacked the tradi- 
 tional view that the Psalms, even those inscribed "to David," or 
 "by David," were written by that king. According to Reggio, their 
 contents renders such a theory untenable. He also attempted to de- 
 termine the date of Joel. 4 Joel, he affirmed, lived and prophesied in 
 the first years of the reign of King Joash of Judah, during the su- 
 premacy of the priests. Because the priests were then all-powerful, 
 the king's name is not mentioned. 
 
 Reggio' s ideals were high. He wanted to be more than a trans- 
 lator and an exegete. 5 He did not wish to be simply a bibliographer; 
 for bibliographers, he wrote, 6 "deal only with trivial and secondary 
 information. Patience and perseverance, not erudition, are required 
 to accomplish their joyless task." Neither did he care to do such 
 work as Zunz had accomplished, " to spend day and night in search 
 of piyyut, seliha, and other forms of poetry, or to correct what was 
 only a misprint." "When a book like this appears, a great shout 
 arises in the camp of the Hebrews. With a voice of joy, mirth, and 
 
 1 Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, Beiblatt No. 36, p. 163. 
 ^Der Prophet Jesaja, 1821 (not completed till 1829). 
 3 Maskeret Yashar, p. 46. 4 Ibid., p. 44. 
 
 8 In the Yalkut Yashar, 1854, Reggio published a collection of critical notes 
 on the Bible. 6 Maskeret Yashar, pp. 6, 7. 
 
26 
 
 exultation, the grand and wonderful discovery is heralded as if the 
 prosperity of the nation depended on it." 1 All such knowledge was 
 secondary in Eeggio's eyes. His task was to be the exploration of 
 that realm from which the greatest possible good would come to 
 Israel. In his Biblical studies he was an imitator. But he did not 
 wish to be merely the disciple of Mendelssohn and of Wessely : he 
 desired to be their successor, to be a philosopher, to rank among 
 those who had written on the philosophy of religion. He aspired to 
 be the philosopher of modern Judaism. 
 
 He persuaded himself that his mission lay in reconciling phi- 
 losophy and Judaism. The desire to do this arose from a considera- 
 tion of conditions within the ranks of the Jews, and because of a 
 certain pressure from without. In Israel two factions were arrayed 
 against each other, each party holding steadfastly to its own doc- 
 trines. On the one hand, were the strict followers of tradition and 
 the Talmud, who did not consider it necessary to go outside of that 
 which had been handed down by the Fathers ; on the other, were 
 those who believed that truth and knowledge were to be found only 
 through science and philosophy, and who in the pursuit of these studies 
 eyed^Talmudism with a certain scorn. 
 
 The governmental decree forbidding communities to instal rabbis 
 who had not taken courses in science and philosophy 2 widened the 
 breach; for it tended to produce rabbis having only a secular educa- 
 tion. This had, at all hazards, to be prevented. "If rabbis," said 3 
 Keggio, "who are not philosophers may not be acceptable, then phi- 
 losophers who are not Bible students shall not be welcomed." He 
 pointed out the need of a seminary where Jewish theological students 
 should be instructed in rabbinical studies after they had fulfilled all 
 requirements imposed upon the clergy by the Government. 4 The 
 next problem was to reconcile the two opposing parties within the 
 Jewish body ; and this could only be solved by constructing a system 
 that should obviate in the future all discussion concerning the incom- 
 patibility of religion and science. "Had I seen that the bitter strife, 
 waging between those who sought knowledge and their opponents, had 
 been confined to ancient times, I should have remained silent. The 
 
 1 Maskeret Yashar, pp. 6, 7. *Ibid., p. 10. 3 1822. 
 
 4 Pursuant to this plea, the Collegium Rabbinicum of Padua was incorporated 
 in 1829. 
 
27 
 
 bitterness continues, and in an increased measure. . . . For Israel's 
 sake, it is essential that a remedy be found before the evil be beyond 
 repair." ' This was the Motif of Reggio' s greatest work, "Ha-Torah 
 we ha-Philosophia " (the Law versus Philosophy). 
 
 Before treating of this work, it may be well to say a word on two 
 other works which Reggio prepared with the same end in view. In 
 1833 he edited, with notes, the "Behinat ha-Dat " (Examen religionis) 
 of Elijah del Medigo " for the purpose of enlightening our people on 
 the bases of pure religion," a and of weaning them from ceremonials 
 and ideas which he considered to be mere survivals of the Middle 
 Ages. In 1847 Reggio edited the "Behinat ha-Kabbalah" (Examen 
 traditionis) of Judah (Aryeh) de Modena. Both of these works had, 
 centuries before, given expression to views that thoroughly coin- 
 cided with Reggio' s own. Of the two, the latter is the more radical. 
 It depicts medieval Jewish culture and the striving of an individual 
 to rise superior to his environment. In this volume questions were 
 discussed that were crucial ones for the scholars of the nineteenth 
 century. Reggio' s edition caused great excitement, and estranged 
 many that had been his friends. Some even suggested that the story 
 of his having found the manuscript in Parma in Judah' s own hand- 
 writing was a fabrication, and that Reggio had written the entire 
 volume. 3 Reggio emphatically denied this. 4 "In working over the 
 volume," wrote 5 Reggio, "a new light was opened to me, by which 
 I might publish my views, how reform might with advantage change 
 some religious observances." The notes appended are each a separate 
 study, and contain Reggio' s ideas on the origin and the chain of the 
 oral law, the sources of the Talmud, and the purposes of its com- 
 pilers. 8 
 
 The " Torah we ha-Philosophia " was an attempt to reconcile the 
 two opposing factions. To the Talmudists he wished to show that a 
 study of philosophy, far from doing harm, would assist the student in 
 explaining many obscure points in Bible and Talmud. The real 
 danger lay in the one-sided study of both parties. Both were wrong 
 in arguing from a false premise that the Talmud interdicted the study 
 
 1 Ha-Torah we ha-Philosophia, Vienna, 1824, introduction, p. 4. 
 
 2 Behinat ha-Dat, introduction, p. 6. 8 Zikronotai, p. 154. 
 4 Ozar Nehmad, i. 33, 35; ii. 20. ^Maskeret Yashar, p. 37. 
 •Reggio had partially treated on these in Jost's Annalen, 1839, p. 09; 1840, 
 
 pp. 106, 114, 121, 130; 1841, pp. 121, 130. 
 
28 
 
 of philosophy. The " Torah we ha-Philosophia is divided into three 
 parts, which may be summarised as follows : 
 
 Part 1 : The Jews before the Babylonian exile were occupied with 
 the study of the Law; and only when they came in contact with the 
 people of other nations — especially with the Greeks in Alexandria — 
 was philosophy made known to them (pp. 3-7). The study of phi- 
 losophy was never forbidden by the Talmud (pp. 8-13). After the 
 close of the Talmud, some scholars opposed the study of philosophy 
 (pp. 14-18) ; but these were far outweighed in importance by those 
 who encouraged it (pp. 18-24). 
 
 Part 2 : This section of the work shows that philosophy will aid 
 the elucidation of Scripture and Talmud by doing away with falsehood. 
 Under philosophy Eeggio includes astronomy, medicine, psychology, 
 logic, ethics, physics, mineralogy, botany — in short, all the sciences 
 except the Torah (Law). 
 
 Part 3 : Is a general essay on the reconciliation of Judaism and 
 philosophy. 
 
 Good as were the intentions of the author, as a philosophic study 
 the work must be regarded as a failure. Its title does not fit the 
 contents. There is in it no philosophy, and but little Torah. 1 The 
 book cannot claim to rank among works treating on the philosophy 
 of religion ; for it contains few passages evidencing depth of thought, 
 and such portions as are speculative in character have been taken 
 from other books. 2 Only in one place does the author acknowledge 
 this, — p. 163, in a note, — in which he begs the reader to remember 
 that the rest of the volume has been written under the influence of 
 Wessely. Levinson has proved 3 that the entire contents were plagiar- 
 ized; that Eeggio copied the mistakes of those from whom he bor- 
 rowed; and that he is guilty of numerous errors in citations from 
 secondary sources. These sources were Dei Eossi's "Me' or 'Enayim," 
 the "Torat ha-Dorot," Wessely' s works especially, and others less 
 important. 
 
 As Eeggio lacked originality of thought, and failed as a philos- 
 opher, his importance must be looked for elsewhere. It lies in the 
 fact that he was a profound student, a thorough scholar in Hebrew 
 
 1 Libowitch, Iggeret Bikkoret, New York, 1896, p. 13. 
 
 2 Ibid. ; I. Goldenthal, in Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, Beiblatt No. 
 35, p. 160. 
 
 3 1. B. Levinson, Jehoshaphat, Warsaw, 1884. 
 
29 
 
 grammar, Bible, and Talmud, and, preeminently, a stylist. In this 
 respect Reggio has few equals; and his works show the extent to 
 which modern Hebrew can be used. To him and his colleague is 
 due the purification of modern Hebrew. They attempted to build 
 up a modern Hebrew style upon the basis of the Biblical expression, 
 and to coin words where the Bible did not offer a vocabulary sufficient 
 to express modern thought. 
 
 Reggio's works will always command respect on account of their 
 belles-lettristic value. In studying the history of the critical school, 
 however, Reggio's importance will be found to lie in the fact that he 
 acted as a medium for the transmission of influences other than his 
 own. Through his translations and commentaries he was the herald 
 of a new school for Italy, which Dr. Goldenthal has well styled ' "the 
 Biurists," 2 of whom S. D. Luzzatto was by far the most important. 
 
 In all his works Eeggio stimulated investigation. He was for 
 Italy what Krochmal was in a much greater degree for the North. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 SAMUEL DAVID LUZZATTO 
 
 Of far greater powers than Reggio was Samuel David Luzzatto 
 (Shedal); born in Trieste, August 22, 1800; died at Padua, Sep- 
 tember 29, 1865. Like many of his colleagues, Luzzatto descended 
 from a family renowned for its scholars, of whom Moses Hayyim 
 Luzzatto (1707-1747), mystic, poet, and dramatist, was the most 
 eminent. Samuel's father, by trade a turner, was extremely poor, but 
 very pious. Having lost two elder children, he superstitiously hoped 
 to rear Samuel by training him religiously. 
 
 When only three and a half years old, Samuel was sent to school; 
 at seven he began the study of Job. His love for Hebrew soon made 
 itself evident; even at that early age the future grammarian and 
 Biurist was beginning to develop. Young as he was, he felt the 
 need of newer and better Bible commentaries than the ones which 
 were ordinarily used by the Jews ; and to his companions he confided 
 
 1 Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, Beiblatt No. 36, p. 163. 
 
 2 Biur denotes "explanation," and is the name for Mendelssohn's commentary 
 on the Pentateuch. The aim of these " Biurists " was to give a simple explanation 
 of the text. 
 
30 
 
 the hope that some day he would write even a better commentary than 
 Eashi had written. 1 At the age of eleven he tested his powers by 
 composing a Hebrew grammar in Italian, and by writing some notes 
 on the Pentateuch ; and at one and the same time he was engaged in 
 the study of Hebrew, Italian, German, French, Latin, mathematics, 
 and history. 
 
 The death of his mother in 1814 was a turning-point in Luzzatto' s 
 life. His straitened circumstances necessitated his leaving school to 
 take care of the household; and he was frequently called upon to 
 assist his father in providing bread for the family. These years of 
 trial, which might easily have been fatal to his mental progress, 
 proved in reality a decided blessing. Left to himself most of the 
 time, he reflected upon his own and upon Israel's future. Studying 
 unflaggingly, though without guide, without library, and without 
 means, he read whatever book chance put in his way. Thus he 
 perused the works of Soave, Condillac, and Locke, commenced to 
 collect works on Hebrew poetry and to study its forms, especially the 
 sonnet, and tried his strength at composition. 
 
 His father, thinking the boy indolent, urged upon him the neces- 
 sity of learning some trade or profession. When fourteen years old, 
 Luzzatto had some inclination to the practise of medicine, and began 
 the preparatory studies for this calling; but, on his seeing Buxtorf's 
 "Lexicon Talmudicum " and Coccejus' "Lexicon Sermonis Hebraici et 
 Chaldaici," his love for Hebrew conquered, and his medical studies 
 ceased. He refused to enter the ministry on account of the weakness 
 of his voice, and because he wished his liberty in investigation to be 
 in no way restricted. 
 
 Like Eeggio, Luzzatto was for a time interested in the Cabala. 
 He very soon saw that the whole science rested upon an unsound 
 basis; and he set out to controvert its principles. 5 The Cabala, in 
 his opinion, had undermined true knowledge. Luzzatto also reached 
 the conclusion that even the Bible was not free from errors, and that 
 commentators, in their attempts to rectify such errors, had fallen into 
 
 Luzzatto, Autobiography (German translation by M. Grunwald), p. 46, 
 Padua, 1882. 
 
 2 As early as 1817, in a treatise entitled Ma'amar ha-Nikkud, Luzzatto gave 
 his views on the age of the cabalistic book, Zohar, and on the antiquity of the 
 punctuation and vocalization of the Scriptures. Similar material was published 
 in Wikkuah 'al ha-Kabbala, Gorizia, 1852. 
 
31 
 
 others still graver. His literary feeling detected the fact that modern 
 Hebrew literature was devoid of all beauty: a reform was neces- 
 sary ; and he resolved to be one of the reformers, to instruct his gen- 
 eration, to rekindle the love of purity and terseness, to regenerate the 
 Hebrew language, and to regulate its use. He, therefore, resolved to 
 study the Bible, in order to purge it of error, and to instil new life 
 into the dead word. He determined to do all this and more not for 
 personal aggrandizement, but from veneration of God, out of respect 
 and love for the Law, and in token of gratitude toward his people. 
 
 Opportunities to engage in these studies soon presented them- 
 selves. Owing to the spirited plea of Reggio in behalf of a rabbin- 
 ical college and the subsequent meetings on the subject in Northern 
 Italy, a seminary was founded in Padua in 1829, to afford young men 
 a systematic and scientific training in theological studies; and to 
 Luzzatto, whose ability had by this time been recognized, was given 
 the chair of philology, hermeneutics, and Biblical exegesis. 
 
 This was the crowning-point of Luzzatto' s life: fame was his; 
 students came to him from all quarters; and scholars sought his 
 friendship and his counsel. His professional position gave Luzzatto 
 independence, and enabled him to devote the rest of his life to his 
 studies. "All my days," he wrote, 1 "my soul longed to investigate 
 history . . . but I saw that such investigation required more books 
 than were in my possession, and therefore I applied myself to lin- 
 guistic research." 
 
 The preparation for his college work led him for a time to the 
 almost exclusive study of the Bible and the Hebrew grammar. Later 
 in life, the general inclination of scholars toward historical investiga- 
 tion, the repeated requests from students for information, and espe- 
 cially the influence of the works of Zunz and Eapoport, induced him 
 to enter the lists of the students of Jewish history — with what suc- 
 cess is well known. 
 
 Luzzatto' s name first became prominent through contributions to 
 the "Bikkure ha-'Ittim," which were marked by elegance of style 
 and poetic genius. His first noteworthy publication was the " Kinor 
 Na'im " a (A Pleasant Harp), a collection of Hebrew poems, mainly 
 
 1 Letters of Luzzatto, p. 166. 
 
 2 Vol. i., composed at the age of fifteen, Vienna, 1825; vol. ii., posthumous, 
 Padua, 1879. 
 
32 
 
 translations from the Italian and the Latin. In 1821 had appeared a 
 translation into Italian of a German prayer-book, which added little 
 to his means, but much to his fame. Luzzatto's reputation rests 
 upon: (1) The style of his prose writings as well as of his poetical 
 works ; (2) his grammatical and linguistic works ; (3) his writings on 
 Biblical exegesis ; and (4) his historical studies. 
 
 Throughout his life, Luzzatto took for his guide the words of La 
 Bruyere: "He who in his composition pays attention only to the 
 taste of his century, thinks more of his person than of his production. 
 One should always strive for perfection. That justice which contem- 
 poraries deny will then be granted by posterity." * With these in 
 mind, he went forth to battle with the Middle-Age Hebrew which 
 was still in use. In this he rendered modern Hebrew a great service. 
 By nature a poet, he sought to introduce form into the Hebrew prose 
 of his day. All his writings are marked by a thorough appreciation 
 of sentence-form. Few could " be compared to Luzzatto in the ability 
 to penetrate into, the shrine of the Hebrew language ; before him lay 
 open its secrets and the beauty of force ... he soared high, and 
 elevated our souls by the beauty of his explanations and the pleasant- 
 ness of his poems. " 2 
 
 As a grammarian and linguist Luzzatto had no equal among his 
 contemporaries. His knowledge was drawn from a close study of the 
 Masorah, of the Jewish grammarians and exegetes, of the Talmud, 
 the Targumim, and other sources. He paid particular attention to 
 the study of roots and derivatives, their generic and applied meaning ; 
 also to word usage, especially the use of synonyms. In his study of 
 the latter 3 he was assisted by a similar study of Wessely, 4 but pushed 
 his investigation much further than Wessely had done. By the nice 
 distinctions he drew, he showed Hebrew writers how they might per- 
 fect modern Hebrew. 
 
 Luzzatto's chief grammatical works are: "Prolegomeni ad una 
 Grammatica della Lingua Ebraica " b (Padua, 1836); "Grammatica 
 
 1 Autobiography., ibid. , p. 76. 
 
 2 D. Kaufmann in the introduction to his letters ; Weiss, Zikronotai, p. 163. 
 z Bikkure ha-'Ittim, vi. 25; vii., 147, 151; viii., 86, 141, 149, 154; ix., 82. 
 
 Kerem Hemed, ii. 162. Bet ha-Ozar, ii., Przemysl, 1888. 
 
 4 Geiger's Jiidische Zeitschrift fur Wissenschaft und Leben, iv. 6. 
 
 5 Translated by S. Morais in the Proceedings of the Jewish Theological Semi- 
 nary Association of New York, vol. v. 
 
33 
 
 della Lingua Ebraica " (Padua, 1853-4); and "Ma'amer Biyesode ha- 
 Dikduk " ("Elementi Grammaticali del Caldeo Biblico"), 1865. 1 Not 
 only are his grammatical and linguistic contributions to be found in 
 the works just cited, but throughout his writings are scattered sug- 
 gestions and notes invaluable for the study of Hebrew. 
 
 Luzzatto was one of the first to draw the attention of scholars to 
 the necessity of being acquainted with the grammatical constructions 
 of the Aramaic portions of the Bible and the Targumim. His Ara- 
 maic studies led him to pay special attention to the Targum Onke- 
 los, the result of which was the "Oheb Ger" a (Philoxenus). The 
 "Oheb Ger" was a study of the text and methods of Onkelos, and 
 an attempt to correct some of the errors that had crept in through the 
 carelessness of copyists. In the " Oheb Ger," Luzzatto followed the 
 idea of Dei Eossi, 3 that, despite the fact that in both Talmuds and in 
 the Midrashic literature the same stories circulated about Onkelos and 
 Aquila, the two were separate individuals. Rapoport attacked Luz- 
 zatto for accepting this view, and argued that there was no historical 
 personage by the name of Onkelos, but that when the need of an 
 Aramaic translation of the Bible was felt, Aquila' s Greek version, 
 which had found favor with the Babylonian doctors, was by them 
 retranslated into Aramaic. In the change from Greece to Babylo- 
 nia, " Aquila " became " Onkelos " — a mere phonetic change. Luz- 
 zatto afterward discarded his theory and accepted that advanced by 
 Rapoport. 4 
 
 Luzzatto' s work in the Chaldaic grammar has a certain worth, in 
 that it was the first attempt to write a grammar for the Aramaic 
 idiom of the Babylonian Talmud. But his grammatical writings 
 lack depth, because Luzzatto did not possess a knowledge of all the 
 Semitic languages. This often makes his grammatical work one- 
 sided. 
 
 The keynote of all Luzzatto' s work, and of his Biblical criticism 
 
 in particular, is sounded in the words of a letter written by him 5 to 
 
 Rapoport on the occasion of the latter' s seventieth birthday: "Truly 
 
 thou knowest that every nation dwelling within certain definite 
 
 1 Translated into English by J. S. Goldammer, New York, 1876. 
 9 Vienna, 1830. Luzzatto may be playing both on the name of his son, Phi- 
 loxenus, and upon the name " Onkelos ha-Ger " (Onkelos the proselyte) . 
 3 Me'or 'Enayim, chap. xlv. 4 Bernfeld, Toledot Shir, p. 53. 
 
 5 Letters of Luzzatto, p. 370. 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 boundaries may exist without faith. Israel, scattered to the four cor- 
 ners of the earth, has existed to this day only by virtue of strict 
 adherence to its faith. Should Israel cease to believe that the Law 
 is divine, it must cease to be a people. The name of Israel will 
 then no longer be remembered, but, like all small streams, it will 
 eventually be engulfed in the great sea." 
 
 Luzzatto deprecated anything that tended toward a fusion be- 
 tween the Jew and his Christian neighbor ; and he opposed the eman- 
 cipation of the Jew, lest by it Israel should lose its individuality and 
 identity. The same dread manifests itself throughout the greatest 
 part of his commentaries. He wanted to save Israel ; to rebuild, not 
 to destroy it. Every suggestion that tended to infringe upon Israel's 
 identity he abhorred and religiously avoided. This abhorrence 
 drew a sharp line of demarcation between him and the German 
 Biblical school. "I hate modern German criticism," said he, 1 "yet 
 I love the true critic. The difference between their views and mine 
 springs from this, namely, that their investigation is not born within 
 them, but comes from without ; therefore they place no limit to their 
 denial. My investigation has come from out of the Bible, and the 
 love of truth is its foundation. Wherefore, all the spirits of the 
 world could not move me from my faith." Luzzatto' s chief studies 
 on the Bible and on Judaism are: "Mishthaddel," a fragmentary 
 commentary on the Pentateuch, Vienna, 1847; a commentary on 
 the Pentateuch, Padua, 1871-76; another on Isaiah, 1857-67; 
 "Perushe Shedal," a commentary on Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Proverbs, 
 and Job, Lemberg, 1876; "Yesode ha-Torah" 2 (Elements of the 
 Law), Przemysl, 1880; "II Giudaismo illustrato " (vol. i., Padua, 
 1848; vol. ii., ibid., 1852), and a translation of the greater part of 
 the Bible in "La Sacra Biblia volgarizzata da S. D. L.," Eovigo, 
 1866-75. 
 
 In his Biblical criticism, Luzzatto' s aim was to be like Eashi 
 and Eashbam (Samuel ben Meir, a grandson of Eashi), simple and 
 direct without perplexing his readers. 3 "I write my words with the 
 
 1 Letters of Luzzatto, p. 698 ; Weiss, ibid., p. 165. 
 
 2 Luzzatto began in 1841, a translation of the Yesode ha-Torah to be pub- 
 lished in the Giudaismo illustrato (part ii.), which was, however, withheld by the 
 censor. It was partially published in Italian in Educatore Israeleta, 1853 ; cf. 
 Yesode ha-Torah, edited by Eisig Graber, p. 5, Lemberg, 1880. 
 
 3 Letters, p. 157. 
 
35 
 
 triteness and brevity of Eashi and those ancient Jews of whose 
 fountain I drank and continue to drink." ' 
 
 In criticism, unfortunately, Luzzatto's religious training would 
 not allow him to go beyond certain limits. He had begun his critical 
 career boldly ; but timidity and the uncertainty whither his skepti- 
 cism would lead him made him retrace his steps. When twenty-one 
 years old, he had passed 2 judgment on Ecclesiastes, which book he 
 regarded as not having been written by Solomon. Its author may 
 Lave been an alien ; for its theme is entirely non- Jewish. In order 
 to gain for it admittance into the Canon, changes and additions were 
 necessary to tone down its pessimism. In these changes and addi- 
 tions were to be seen the hands of the later compilers. Had Luz- 
 zatto continued to be skeptical in like measure with reference to the 
 other Biblical books, he would have wrought a great benefit for the 
 Bible ; for there was no other scholar of his day with such capabilities 
 for this particular work. 
 
 Herein lies Luzzatto's inconsistency. The method he employed 
 for Ecclesiastes he rejects when commenting on the rest of the Scrip- 
 tures. Hence, he sees in no portion of the Bible traces of Maccabean 
 influence. The suggestion that a second Isaiah existed — first pro- 
 pounded by Ibn Ezra and supported by Krochmal and Eapoport — he 
 repudiates. The entire Book of Isaiah was written by the same hand ; 
 chapters xl. to the end, instead of being descriptive of past events, 
 he considered to be prophetic revelations of the future. Luzzatto 
 firmly believed that the Pentateuch was a unit, dating from the time 
 of Moses. 
 
 The importance of Luzzatto's criticism does not lie in these views, 
 but in the method of his dealing with the text. His attention had 
 been directed 3 to the text of the Bible in his study at school ; and 
 in Jewish literature he found repeated references to the antiquity 
 of the vocalization and accentuation of the Bible, the gist of which 
 was that though the text was read as we have it now, the systems 
 of vowel-points and accents did not exist in the time of the Talmud. 
 
 With this as a starting-point, Luzzatto reared his system of text- 
 ual emendation. Error could have crept into the text during the 
 change from the ancient to the square characters, and also through 
 the carelessness of scribes. The extent of the errors in the text 
 
 1 Ibid. , p. 756. ' Ozar Nekmad, iv. 47. * Autobiography, p. 61. 
 
36 
 
 differed in various portions of the Bible. 1 Owing to the jealous care 
 with which the Pentateuch had been surrounded throughout the ages, 
 error could not have crept into the text of those books ; but the rest 
 of the Scriptures had not been so carefully guarded, and there error 
 could easily have found an entrance. In no place, however, was it 
 wrong to change either accents or vowel-points. 8 The changes that 
 Luzzatto suggested in the text prove that he was not dogmatic in his 
 criticism. So excellent were many of his emendations, which he was 
 the first to offer, that he had the good fortune to see many of them 
 accepted by scholars during his lifetime. 
 
 Though his work at the college was devoted mainly to a study of 
 linguistics and of the Bible, it did not claim all his attention. Luz- 
 zatto was the greatest Hebrew scholar in Italy ; and his library was 
 stored with the richest historical treasures. Of these, numbers of 
 scholars, by the kindness of Luzzatto, availed themselves freely, and 
 many of the most prominent members of the Jewish Historico-Crit- 
 ical School received from this source most valuable help. Much of 
 the information in Zunz's histories of the synagogue poetry was 
 obtained from Luzzatto; and Zunz acknowledges this debt in the 
 introduction to his " Literaturgeschichte. " 3 How extensive was the 
 direct assistance to scholars given by Luzzatto in this way can never 
 be known. 
 
 Urged by numerous and repeated requests, Luzzatto resolved to 
 undertake some historical research for himself, and to gather material 
 for the study of the history and literature of the Jews in Spain and 
 France during the Middle Ages, the documents for which he knew 
 were to be sought for in Italy, whither the unfortunate Jews had 
 carried them after the persecutions of the Inquisition. In 1840 he 
 published the " Be thulat BatYehudah" (Virgo 'filia Jehicdah, Prague, 
 1840), a collection of poems from a diwan of Judah ha-Levi, with 
 preface and notes. In 1864 (Lyck) he edited an entire diwan — the 
 manuscript of which he discovered — by the same author, with notes, 
 emendations, and correct punctuation. In the knowledge of Jewish 
 poetry in general Luzzatto excelled; 4 and in that of piyyutim, or 
 synagogue poetry, he ranked close to Zunz. 
 
 1 Letters, pp. 13, 172, 183 ; Kerem Hemed, iii. 178. * Letters, p. 367. 
 
 3 See also Zunz, Zur Geschichte und Literatur (1845) , p. 5 ; Steinschneider, 
 Bibliographisches Handbuch, p. xxxi., Leipsic, 1859; idem, Catalogus Librorum 
 hebroeorwn in Bibliotheca Bodleiana, p. xliv. 4 Ahiasaf, 1900, p. 337. 
 
37 
 
 Throughout the latter part of his life Luzzatto published fre- 
 quently, either in the periodicals or in book-form, historical data 
 from which "the history of the Middle Ages received its authentica- 
 tion, its firm basis, its coloring, and its exposition." ' 
 
 CHAPTEK VI 
 
 LEOPOLD ZUNZ 
 
 Of the little band of Jewish scholars in Germany, the one whose 
 erudition was the widest, whose constructive power and consequent 
 influence were the greatest, was Lipman Yom-Tob Zunz, or, as better 
 known, Leopold Zunz. To a certain extent his name has become 
 synonymous with the whole movement. Eapoport alone may be 
 considered his equal in critical acumen, but was far behind him in 
 the breadth of his view and in his faculty of presentation. Written 
 in German, with much warmth and with literary ability, — despite 
 what the late Paul de Lagarde had to say on this subject, — his works 
 have certainly exercised a greater influence than those of any of his 
 coworkers. 
 
 For him tradition is reliable only in so far as it can be shown to 
 be trustworthy and in accord with historical data. A science of 
 Jewish history must be built up in a logical manner, if the reproach 
 is to be completely taken away from the Jews. "If there be an 
 ascending scale of affliction," he wrote, " Israel has reached its highest 
 grade. If the duration of pain, and the patience with which that 
 pain is borne ennoble, the Jew may vie with the nobility of all 
 nations. If a literature which possesses few classical tragedies shall 
 be considered rich, what recognition should be given to a tragedy 
 which was composed during fifteen centuries and presented by the 
 heroes themselves?" 8 "If men recognize that Israel has a history, 
 a philosophy, and a poetic literature, like other nations, they will 
 grant the Jew the right of mental and spiritual equality . . . Mutual 
 understanding and good-fellowship will follow. The admission of the 
 claims of Israel's science and literature will result in a concession of 
 equality of rights to Jews in practical life." 3 
 
 1 Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, xi. 502; English translation, v. 625. 
 9 Die Synagogale Poesie, p. 9, Berlin, 1855. 
 z Zur Geschichte und Literatur, 1845, p. 21. 
 
38 
 
 Zunz did not, like Krochmal, turn his thoughts to transcendental 
 speculation. Philosophy, whether religious or purely ethical, was 
 not his chosen field of work. Like Eapoport, he contented himself 
 with the critical study of history. He never wrote a complete account 
 of his people, though it was his intention to do so. 1 Upon the 
 appearance of Jost's history of the Jews, which anticipated the work 
 Zunz had hoped to do, Zunz gave up the idea of writing a history of 
 Israel and applied himself to special studies, the foundation-stones 
 upon which a perfect history of Israel should at some future time be 
 reared. He presented to scholars exhaustive studies of many phases 
 of that history ; by numerous articles and countless notes he directed 
 the study of most if not all of its departments. Zunz's importance 
 lies in the complete revolution that his articles and books wrought in 
 the study of Jewish history. Without his books at hand, no student 
 of Jewish history and literature may proceed. 
 
 Zunz, who was descended from an old and honorable family that 
 had early settled in the region of the Ehine, near Frankfort, was born 
 at Detmold, in the principality of Lippe, Germany, August 10, 1794; a 
 died 1886. Among his ancestors were many rabbis and men well 
 informed in Hebrew letters. 3 At the death of his father, in 1802, 
 Leopold was sent to Wolfenbuttel to attend the free Talmud Torah, 
 later transformed into the Samson Free School. Here he met his 
 colleague, the later historian, Isaac Marcus Jost. The two boys imme- 
 diately became warm friends. In a squalid and uncongenial atmos- 
 phere, surrounded by strangers, instructed by a master who knew 
 little more than these his pupils, they confided to each other their 
 dreams; painting bright visions of Israel's future, and evoking plans 
 by which Jewish learning should be more generally cultivated. By 
 hard work, diligence, and fortitude, they accomplished more outside 
 than inside the class-room. The institute was by no means a model 
 one. 4 In order to have light, by means of which they could devote 
 part of the night to study, the two boys carefully collected the drip- 
 
 1 Steinschneider, in the Introduction to the second edition of the Gottes- 
 dienstliche Vortrage, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1892, p. 14. 
 
 2 The name "Zunz." as Zunz himself averred, is derived from a town in the 
 Ehine provinces; possibly from Zonz bei Neuss (Monatsschrift filr Geschichte des 
 Judenthums, xxxviii. 494, note 4. 
 
 3 Ibid, pp. 482, 483, 495 ; Rabbinowitz, Life of Zunz, p. 20, Warsaw, 1896 ; 
 Chotzner, Ot Zikkaron, p. 1, Berlin, 1891. 
 
 4 Zirndorf, Jost und seine Freunde, pp. 96 et seq. 
 
39 
 
 pings from the wax " Jahrzeit " lights which mourners placed in the 
 synagogue, and fashioned them into candles. 1 Together they studied 
 Talmud, pored over the contents of the "Yosippon," 3 and read Greek 
 and Latin. 
 
 While yet in the institute, Zunz gave evidence of a marvelous 
 memory, of phenomenal critical insight, of exceptional wit, of exact- 
 ness in study, and of a habit of carefully collecting and arranging his 
 notes for future use. From the Samson School, he went to the gym- 
 nasium at Wolfenbuttel, — the first Jew in Germany to enter a higher 
 institute. Thence in 1815 he went to the University of Berlin. 
 From now on till his death, with but few exceptions, he was a resi- 
 dent of Berlin. At the University he pursued courses under Schleier- 
 macher, De Wette, Friedrich August Wolf, August Boeckh, and 
 Savigny. Having no source of income, he had to work hard to 
 defray his expenses. At one time (November, 1815, to March, 
 1818) we find him an inmate of the household of Henrietta Herz — 
 probably as tutor. 3 Again he is found officiating in a private syna- 
 gogue erected in Berlin by J. H. Beer. His career as a clergyman, 
 however, was brought to a sudden close by a royal edict forbidding 
 sermons or services to be delivered or held in the vernacular. A 
 volume of his sermons, published in 1823 (2d ed., 1846), shows that 
 the scholar had a fervent religious mind; these sermons are among 
 the best preached in the synagogue at a time when the use of the 
 vernacular for such purposes was only commencing to be felt in the 
 Synagogue. 
 
 The ministry, however, was not entirely to Zunz's liking. 4 He 
 saw it brought him no nearer his goal, and gave him no scope for the 
 work he desired to do. 
 
 By nature Zunz was very versatile, and when the ministry was 
 no longer attractive, he became a journalist. The initial steps in this 
 career had been taken in 1819 by the organization of the " Verein fur 
 Cultur und Wissenschaft der Juden." Assisted by an enthusiastic 
 
 1 Rabbinowitz, I. c, p. 23 ; Karpeles, Jewish Literature and Other Essays, p. 
 321, Philadelphia, 1895. 
 
 9 A popular history of the Second Temple, compiled from an Arabic transla- 
 tion of the Book of Maccabees and a Latin translation of Josephus. 
 
 3 S. Maybaum, Aus dem Leben von L. Zunz (Zwblfter Bericht iiber die Lehran- 
 staltf. d. Wissenschaft des Judenthums in Berlin), p. 3, Berlin, 1894. 
 
 4 After 1822. except for a few months in 1835 spent as preacher in Prague, 
 Zunz had nothing to do with ministerial duties. 
 
40 
 
 band called "Young Israel," in which were notably Edward Ganz, 
 Moses Moser, and later, Heinrich Heine and Emanuel Wolf, Zunz was 
 foremost among those who were attempting to so remodel Jewish 
 religious practise as to make it harmonize with modern life. His 
 object was reform; not only reform in the Temple service, but reform 
 in the social status of the Jew. By a systematic training of the 
 young, through the founding of schools, colleges, and seminaries, he 
 hoped to dispel ignorance and to open for the Jew entrance to all 
 occupations. Greater toleration, he believed, would thus result ; and 
 toleration being once established, emancipation must follow. To 
 accomplish all this, an organ for propaganda was needed. In 1822, 
 edited by Zunz, the "Zeitschrift fur die Wissenschaft des Juden- 
 thums " ' appeared. 
 
 The ideals of the organization were too high and somewhat in ad- 
 vance of the times. After its third number the issue of the periodi- 
 cal ceased, the "Verein" being disbanded. Zunz's disappointment at 
 the failure of his project was keen. " I am so disheartened that I can 
 nevermore believe in Jewish reform . . . many a change of season 
 will pass over this generation and leave it unchanged . . . The 
 only imperishable possession rescued from this deluge is the science 
 of Judaism. It lives, even though not a finger has been raised in its 
 service since hundreds of years. I confess that, barring submission 
 to the judgment of God, I find solace only in the cultivation of 
 the science of Judaism. " 2 
 
 After the failure of his first attempt at journalism, Zunz became, 
 in January, 1824, editor of the "Spenerschen Zeitung in Berlin." 3 
 For eight years he was at the head of this journal. In December, 
 1832, because of the political position taken by the "Zeitung," Zunz 
 resigned his position as editor. 
 
 In politics Zunz took an active interest ; for he saw therein the 
 means of furthering the emancipation of the Jew. He sided with a 
 liberal form of government, which was more in keeping with the 
 hopes he entertained for Israel's future in Germany. In united Ger- 
 many he foresaw the regeneration of German Judaism. In the trou- 
 blesome times of the forties and sixties he delivered many stirring 
 
 1 Most of the articles were written by Zunz. 
 
 2 Cited by Karpeles, I. c, p. 325. 
 
 3 S. Maybaum, Aus dem Leben von L. Zunz, p. 12. 
 
41 
 
 orations. 1 In 1845, in recognition of his merit, the Government 
 appointed him a member of a commission to devise measures for the 
 improvement of the educational and the political condition of the 
 Jews in Prussia. In 1861 he was nominated member of the Reich- 
 stag. 2 Frequently Zunz was called to the Empress Augusta, who 
 sought his counsel on social and charitable questions. 3 His value 
 was also appreciated by foreign governments. At one time he was 
 approached by a representative of the Russian Government for the 
 purpose of ascertaining whether he would accept a civil office or pro- 
 fessorship in Eussia. 4 
 
 From 1839 till 1849 he was principal of the Jewish seminary in 
 Berlin; and from the latter year till his death in 1886, he received a 
 stipend from the Jewish community. 
 
 The clergy, journalism, and politics throw much light upon the 
 many sides of his character, and indicate the diversity of his interests. 
 By these he was brought into public notice. But not for his work in 
 any of these fields will his name be handed down to posterity : his 
 historical studies are his living monument. 
 
 His first publication was a small article, " Etwas liber die rabbin- 
 ische Litem tur" (1818). 5 This article shows a thorough grasp of 
 the subject for one so young. He rebukes those who, without suffi- 
 cient knowledge of Jewish literature, assume that the Jews through- 
 out the past have had only a theological literature. Religion always 
 interested the Jews, but not exclusively. They were at all times 
 interested in other branches of education. They produced mathema- 
 ticians, philosophers, poets, grammarians, jurists, etc. "Thank God! " 
 exclaims Zunz, "times are changed. Keen and faithful writers now 
 spread truth and enlightenment." 8 He points out to scholars along 
 what lines a thorough criticism and an exact study of Jewish history 
 and literature must be constructed. The article contains the germ, 
 and in a measure is the condensed form, of all the departments that 
 engaged the attention of Jewish scholars during the rest of the cen- 
 tury. 7 
 
 Soon after the appearance of this essay, Zunz tried his strength at 
 
 1 These are to be found in his Gesammelte Schriften, 1875. 
 
 2 Rabbinowitz, Life of Zunz, p. 297. z lbid., p. 298. 
 * Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, 1895, p. 236. 
 
 5 Gesammelte Schriften, i. 1-31. * Etwas iiber d. rabb. Literatur, p. 24. 
 
 1 Weiss, Zikronotai, p. 132; Jewish Quarterly Review, April, 1896, vii. 366. 
 
42 
 
 historico-geographical and biographical themes. In the short-lived 
 "Zeitschrift fiir die Wissenschaft des Judenthums " (p. 114) appeared: 
 (1) "The Names of the Cities of Spain mentioned in Jewish Liter- 
 ature " ; (2) sketch of the life of Eabbi Solomon Yizhaki (Eashi) ■ 
 (p. 277). The first of these, *when compared with his later works, 
 appears somewhat uninteresting; but it evidences that thorough 
 scholarship which characterizes all of Zunz's later works. 
 
 More interesting than his article on the cities of Spain is his life 
 of Eashi. 2 It was the first critical attempt of any student to present 
 biographical material. Zunz treats not only of the life of Eashi, but 
 of his commentaries on the Bible and the Talmud, his epigrammatic 
 style, his ideas, and his sources. He includes the works of Eashi' s 
 pupils, who followed the lines laid down by their master. He is not 
 satisfied with merely giving the names of those he has occasion to 
 mention, but gives biographical data of all, and frequently enters into 
 lengthy discussions concerning many of them. This life of Eashi still 
 remains a classic. 
 
 Ten years of hard study passed between the appearance of the life 
 of Eashi and Zunz's next publication. During these years Zunz was 
 by no means inactive. He traveled, visited libraries in search of 
 treasures, and collected material. In 1832 appeared his greatest 
 work, "Die Gottesdienstlichen Vortrage der Juden, historisch en- 
 twickelt." Zunz had been convinced that the future of German Juda- 
 ism lay, to a very great extent, in the hands of the Government. By 
 the machinations of the anti-Eeform party, certain changes necessary 
 for the spiritual welfare of the Jews had been interdicted. As has 
 already been mentioned, freedom of religious service, innovations 
 which the times demanded, had been checked. Zunz felt that the 
 sermon, if properly presented, was the only means of withholding 
 many weak-minded people from apostasy. Let politics but be 
 removed from the Jewish question, let legislation be divested of 
 hatred and partizan antipathies, and Israel would be saved. "At 
 last it is time that the Jews in Europe, especially in Germany, 
 should be given, not rights and liberties, but right and liberty." 3 
 Civil disabilities account for the stagnation of Jewish learning and 
 
 1 Rashi (1040-1105), commentator of the Bible and the Talmud. 
 
 2 Translated into Hebrew by S. Bloch, Lemberg, 1840. 
 
 3 Gottesdienstliche Vortrage, 2d ed, p. v. 
 
43 
 
 culture. In past ages Judaism had been kept intact by the purity 
 and freedom of its service, of which the homily was the chief feature. 
 The very same exigencies were felt as formerly. Free and instruc- 
 tive homilies alone would insure German Judaism a bright future. 
 The Government was not sufficiently informed concerning Israel's 
 past to know what was innovation. 1 
 
 Wherefore Zunz determined to show the civil authorities that 
 sermons and services in the vernacular were not innovations, but 
 that whenever and wherever the need was felt, the Jew prayed and 
 listened to sermons in the vernacular. Zunz gave a general outline 
 of Jewish history, and showed that the lecture or sermon had lived 
 throughout the centuries from Ezra till modern times. " From ancient 
 days we find that means have been found in the Jewish community, 
 by which those weighed down by daily care, or bound by error and 
 temptation, may be brought back to God. On Sabbath and festivals, 
 on holy convocation, prayer was offered and the Scriptures elucidated 
 as a solace to the sinner, a support to the weak ... In the course 
 of time the Jew had lost independence and fatherland. Notwith- 
 standing the dissolution of all other institutions, the synagogue 
 remained the only testimony of Israel's nationality . . . The serv- 
 ice in the synagogue was the rallying-point of Jewish nationality, the 
 shelter of the Jewish faith. 
 
 "Prayer was offered in the synagogue for which every time and 
 every language was suitable." 2 
 
 The " Gottesdienstliche Vortr&ge " 3 was epoch-making. It was 
 the first thorough and scientific attempt to unravel and present in 
 good form the entire fabric of the Midrashic or homiletic literature. 
 In this single volume is condensed material which might have been 
 expanded into several. The author has charged his sentences and 
 notes to their full capacity. For this reason, he never published a 
 second edition 4 of this work. He recognized that in a second edition 
 the material he had compressed between two covers would have to be 
 reworked, and that, if properly done, it would have to be developed 
 into many volumes. This he refused to do. 
 
 It is surprising what a wealth of new data the "G. V." contained. 
 
 1 Gottesdienstliche Vortrage, pp. v.-viii. *Ibid., p. 1. 8 Abbr. "G. V. " 
 4 A second edition was edited in Frankfort^on-the-Main, 1892, by M. Brull 
 with an introduction by Steinbchneider. 
 
44 
 
 In it the full extent of Zunz's information was shown. By the flood 
 of new data presented, by fixing dates of the Midrashic works and of 
 Jewish authors, it stimulated students to continue the investigations 
 of the author. The copious notes appended to the "G. V." have in 
 themselves given rise to an extensive literature ; for these notes were 
 later developed by others in numerous volumes and articles. The 
 work "afforded material help toward the comprehension of the evolu- 
 tion of culture among the Jews at successive periods, and may claim 
 to have established the principles upon which Jewish history should 
 be based." ' Despite some errors in detail which more recent research 
 has brought to light, the book, after seventy years, still remains the 
 authority. 
 
 Not alone in the " G. V. " did Zunz lay the foundation-stones of 
 Jewish history. From now on, one work after another appeared, — 
 works which are invaluable for a thorough comprehension of such a 
 study, and without due consideration of which no complete history 
 of the Jews is possible. After his defense of the sermon, he turned 
 his attention to another practical question. "Jewish and Christian 
 names [ Vomahmen] were spoken of as if they were two incompatible 
 elements." 2 The cause of his writing the little pamphlet "Namen 
 der Juden " 3 was the action of the Government in forbidding the Jews 
 of Germany to use Germanized names. 4 "The attention given to 
 Jewish names arises, on the one hand, from a desire to find therein a 
 subject for reproach ; on the other, as a pretext to restrict the rights 
 of the Jew." 6 The Jews appealed to Zunz. In order the more 
 forcibly to present his plea, he investigated the origin, the derivation, 
 and the meaning of names borne by Jews : for " names contain a 
 secret history; they are histories in cipher to which investigation 
 offers the key." 
 
 Zunz showed that error or imitation of neighbors determined the 
 choice of names, and that from very early times the Jew had been 
 accustomed to drop the old and more Biblical names, in order to 
 adopt new ones : he always bore the same names as did the Chris- 
 tian and the heathen. Zunz ridiculed the proposition to deprive the 
 Jew of the right of using any name. Long before any of the German 
 
 1 Weiss, Zikronotai, p. 135 ; Jewish Quarterly Review, April, 1895, vii. 370. 
 
 2 Namen der Juden, Leipsic, 1837; republished in Gesammelte Schriften, ii. 
 1-82. 3 December, 1836. 4 I6id., p. 70. 5 I6id.,p. 2. 
 
45 
 
 states existed the Jews had borne German names. So well was the 
 task done by Zunz that the Jewish community presented him with 
 a substantial sum in recognition ' of his labors. 
 
 The desire to benefit a certain class of Jews to whom Hebrew was 
 unknown next seized hold of Zunz. There were many who could not 
 read the Bible in the original. Translations, it is true, were not 
 wanting; but these were, in the main, antiquated, or could not be 
 used because religious ideas foreign to them had been introduced into 
 the text. The Mendelssohnian Bible in its day had served a good 
 purpose ; but it had been confined to certain portions of the Scriptures, 
 it was expensive, and the language was obsolete. Zunz feared that 
 the use of translations published by missionary societies might cause 
 havoc in the Jewish home. To obviate all difficulties the " Zunzische 
 Bibel " was published (1837-38). Its aim was to render the Hebrew 
 into pure German without losing clearness, force, or elegance, and 
 without perverting the context. Associated with Zunz were Michael 
 Zachs, Julius Furst, and H. Arnheim. The translation of the two 
 books of Chronicles was left to Zunz. It is surprising that so little 
 of the translation was done by Zunz : the Chronicles are by no means 
 the important books of the Old Testament. The new Bible contained 
 all of Mendelssohn's translation in a revised form and, added thereto, 
 the Prophets and the Hagiographa. 
 
 Besides translating and editing the Bible, Zunz was interested in 
 Biblical criticism. The second chapter of the "G. V." treats of 
 " Dibre hajamim oder die Bucher der Chronik " (the chroniclers of the 
 Bible). The material therein is gathered from Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, 
 the Psalms, and the two books of Chronicles. From the contents of 
 these books Zunz indicated that their date of composition could not 
 have been that generally alleged. His attitude toward Pentateuchal 
 criticism, however, was withheld until he was quite old. In 
 1873-74 he published a lengthy article styled * Bibelkritisches " a in 
 which he ventured to give his ideas relative to the date, the nature, 
 and the composition of the Pentateuch, Ezekiel, and Esther. Deu- 
 teronomy he compared with Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Esther. Some 
 parts of Deuteronomy, such as Moses' Blessing, he grants are old — 
 
 1 Rabbinowitz, Life of Zunz, p. 134 ; Chotzner, Ot Zikkaron, p. 7. 
 5 Gesammelte Schriften, i. 217-270. Part of the article appeared in Z. D. M. 
 <?., xxvii. 669-689. 
 
46 
 
 older even than Isaiah. 1 On the whole, Deuteronomy is a very late 
 book. His view regarding Ezekiel, whom he considers the last of 
 the Prophets, coincides with the tradition that Ezekiel was one of 
 the men of the Great Synod. 2 Leviticus he compares with Ezekiel, 
 and shows that the phraseology of the former echoes the latter. "At 
 the time of the composition of Leviticus, the Israelites had been out 
 of Palestine for a long time," 3 and its date was a thousand years later 
 than Moses. 4 Deuteronomy knows nothing of Succoth, of the Feast 
 of the Trumpet, of the Atonement Day, of a high priest and the 
 various sacrifices. 6 New Year's Day, the Day of Atonement, and the 
 Feast of Haman were unknown to the ancient Jews, and are due to 
 later and foreign influence. 6 
 
 The object of Exodus and Numbers is not to write history, but to 
 rework old proverbs and traditions. 7 "The eighty -eight chapters be- 
 tween Moses' song of triumph in Exodus and the last chapter of Num- 
 bers impress one as a codex collected by various hands and in various 
 times, and compiled from poetic and historical works, from laws and 
 priestly regulations. In this codex contradiction and repetition are 
 as natural as gradual corrections and lack of connection. To us it is 
 a conundrum. Therein is to be found as little truly Mosaic material 
 as elsewhere in the Bible Davidic." 8 
 
 Zunz's views of Genesis may be summed up in a few words. 
 There are two series of writings or redactions in Genesis ; one using 
 the appellative " Elohim " ; the other, YH WH. As to its date he 
 says : " In fact, Genesis in more than one place shows that it was com- 
 posed in the time of the Jewish kingdom, many centuries after the 
 tribes had established themselves in Palestine." 9 "The author of 
 Genesis, younger than Jacob's Blessing, is hardly older than the 
 prophet Isaiah." 10 These views, in which Zunz was no doubt influ- 
 enced by modern Christian Biblical criticism, were offered merely as 
 scientific hypotheses, and were not meant to affect the life and the 
 conduct of the people. He repudiated all attempts to return to Mo- 
 saism " and all reform whose object was solely to break away from the 
 observance of Jewish tradition. Though a " severe Biblical critic, his 
 scientific criticism had no connection with the living practise of re- 
 
 I Gesammelte Schriften, i. 226. *Idem, p. 233. 3 Idem, p. 236. 
 4 Idem, p. 242. *Idem, p. 241, No. 4. 6 Idem, p. 242, No. 32. 
 1 1dem, p. 245. 8 Idem, p. 262. 9 Idem, p. 267. 10 Idem, p. 270. 
 
 II Compare his answer to Abbe - Chiarini in Gesammelte Schriften, ii. 296-298. 
 
47 
 
 ligion, in which he did not deviate by so much as a hair's breadth 
 from the customs of his people. M ' 
 
 His chief interest, however, was not centered in Biblical criti- 
 cism. As a Jew and as a sincere critic he felt himself bound 
 to give his opinions on Biblical questions. History was his 
 main study. Though he frequently made excursions into other 
 fields, as soon as he was able he was back in the historical do- 
 main. 
 
 In 1845 appeared his "Zur Geschichte und Literatur." In these 
 Beitrage, his object is primarily to show that Israel has a historical 
 past and that great men and telling incidents were not wanting in 
 that past ; that like all other people Israel influenced, and in turn 
 was influenced by, others. The chief excellence of the book lies in 
 the new data brought forward relative to the Tosafists or Glossarists 
 on the Talmud. Zunz dilates upon the great medieval authors, but 
 especially upon those of France and Germany, who wrote ethical, 
 grammatical, and Biblical treatises. The volume is not a history of 
 the Jews nor one of Jewish literature, though it contains data that 
 must be used in the composition of such histories. For the most 
 part, it contains series of bibliographical and biographical notes ar- 
 ranged in alphabetical and chronological order. 
 
 The synagogue poetry was the next subject to which Zunz gave 
 his attention. Having presented a history of the homily, he thought 
 it advisable to trace the history of synagogue poetry : first, to instruct 
 those ultra-Kef orm rabbis who, ignoring the historical value of this 
 poetry, were making great furrows in the liturgy; secondly, because 
 the " synagogue poetry may be called the companion of Jewish his- 
 tory" ; 2 and thirdly, because of its connection with the early Mid- 
 rashic or homiletic literature. For, in its decay, the Midrash gave 
 rise to the piyyut. 3 
 
 The material was too vast to be condensed into one volume. The 
 author, therefore, published in three volumes and a supplement all 
 the material available. The first of the series was "Die synagogale 
 Poesie des Mittellaters " (1855), which was followed, in 1859, by the 
 "Kitus des synagogale Gottesdienstes," in 1865 by "Die Literature 
 
 1 Weiss, Zikronotai, p. 148 ; Jewish Quarterly Review, April, 1895, vii. 392. 
 5 Liter atur geschichte der synagogalen Poesie, 1865, p. iii. 
 
 3 The technical name for synagogue poetry. The writers of piyyu^im were 
 called "piyutanim," "payye^anim," and "poetanim." 
 
48 
 
 geschichte der synagogalen Poesie," and in 1867 by a "Nachtrag zur 
 Literaturgeschichte der synagogalen Poesie." J 
 
 Great uncertainty reigned in regard to the personality and the 
 time of the many hundreds of poets. Very few had applied them- 
 selves to a study of synagogue poetry. Christians knew naught of it, 
 and Jews were badly informed in regard thereto. Synagogue poets 
 who had become famous were not remembered because they had written 
 synagogue poetry, but for some other quality. Such had been great 
 poets, rabbis, Talmudists, or martyrs. Carelessness and wilful false- 
 hood had increased the chaos in which the poets lay. Poems were 
 ascribed to the Prophets, the Kings, even to the Apostles. The same 
 poem was frequently attributed to different authors. 2 The "Nish- 
 mat " was ascribed to Simon ben Shetah and to St. Peter ; " Ahabah 
 Kabbah," to the Apostles Paul and John. In Hebrew literature the 
 question of authorship has always been a difficult one. Until recent 
 times, it was not considered dishonorable to give an article or a poem 
 circulation by affixing thereto the name of some famous man. Fur- 
 thermore, there were numerous poems extant the names of whose 
 authors were unknown. 
 
 Therefore, the work Zunz accomplished in the history of the syna- 
 gogue poetry — gathered largely as it was from manuscript — is mar- 
 velous. By him was published for the first time material which 
 could be found in no other book. Its value for the history of the 
 Jews will be readily understood. Given the customs of any people 
 within a certain period, one may easily arrive at the conditions of 
 history in that period. Zunz has presented to scholars a history of 
 the service in the synagogue, of the rise and nourish of the payyet- 
 anim, and of the gradual modification of the various forms of prayer 
 and rituals, and has translated many of the piyyutim that have found 
 their way into the rituals. In general, the payyetanim sang " to give 
 to the service a polish, to the deeds of the fathers a stately abode, to 
 the Midrash a pleasing garment, and to sentiment a holy expres- 
 sion." 3 
 
 From a literary standpoint, Zunz divides the synagogue poets into 
 
 two classes: the Spanish and the non-Spanish. "Those in Spain 
 
 1 An index to the Literaturgeschichte was made by Gestetner, Mafteah ha- 
 Piyyutim, Berlin, 1889. 
 
 ' 2 Literaturgeschichte der synagogalen Poesie, 1865, pp. 4-6. 
 8 Synagogale Poesie, p. 60. 
 
49 
 
 were poets, hence synagogue poets, and were urged to tune their lyres 
 by poetic endowment. In France, Germany, and elsewhere, they 
 were merely celebrants who wrote verse because their calling and the 
 exigencies of the time demanded it." ' 
 
 Zunz's work has a wider circle of readers than that of Kroch- 
 mal, Kapoport, Keggio, and much of Luzzatto's, because he wrote 
 mainly in a modern language. He was, however, not unskilled in 
 the use of Hebrew. He wrote several articles in Hebrew, of which 
 the most important is the "Life of Azariah dei Rossi." a Had he not 
 been master of Hebrew, the illustrious Krochmal would never have 
 entrusted to him the task of editing the " Moreh Nebuke ha-Ze- 
 man." 3 When Zunz received the manuscript it was a shapeless mass. 
 Zunz gave it form and order. Not satisfied with the mere reconstruc- 
 tion of the volume, he wrote an introduction in Hebrew, in which he 
 mentions the difficulty of his task, criticizes the work before him, 
 and divides it into its component parts. 
 
 After his seventieth year, Zunz no longer published voluminous 
 works. His powers, however, were not yet spent : he was continu- 
 ally lecturing and writing. The last works of importance that he 
 published after his seventieth year were the " Bibelkritisches " (1874), 
 already referred to, and "Die Monatstage des Kalenderjahres : ein 
 Andenken an Hingeschiedene," Berlin, 1872, in which he has re- 
 corded, and thus saved from oblivion, the names of many Jews and 
 Christians who assisted the advance of Judaism. 
 
 The work Zunz has accomplished has been more or less severely 
 criticized, but by none so bitterly as by Ludwig Techen 4 and his 
 master, Prof. Paul de Lagarde. 5 In answer, Dr. A. Berliner, 6 and 
 Prof. David Kaufmann 7 showed conclusively that prejudice and 
 ignorance were at the basis of these criticisms. The ODiy valid 
 objections of Lagarde and Techen are, that Zunz might have arranged 
 his material to better advantage and that his method of presentation 
 might have been improved. For Zunz never described the manu- 
 scripts that he used, nor told whence he obtained them, neither did 
 
 l Ibid., p. 322. *Kerem Ilemed, v. 131 ; with additions, vii. 19. 
 
 3 Edited by Zunz, 1851. 
 
 4 Zwei Gbttinger Machzorhandschriften— doctor's dissertation, Gottingen,1884. 
 
 b Lipman Zunz und seine Verehre, Gottingen, 1886. 
 
 6 Professor Paul de Lagarde, nach seiner Natur gezeicknet, Berlin, 1887. 
 
 ''Paul de Lagarde' s Jiidische Gelehrsamkeit, Leipsic, 1887. 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 he indicate from what codex he took his poems. 1 The lack of a 
 proper index made the use of his history of the synagogue poetry very 
 laborious. This difficulty, however, has been obviated by Gestetner's 
 index, already cited. 
 
 Another objection that has been urged against Zunz's work in 
 general is that it is too fragmentary and overloaded with notes. Pos- 
 sibly, Zunz found it necessary to present his material in this fashion. 
 Little was done in Jewish history in his days ; and so much had to 
 be accomplished before ^ complete and reliable history of the Jews 
 could be written, that he may have felt himself compelled to condense 
 his knowledge into notes, one heaped upon the other. 
 
 Whatever criticism may be advanced against errors of detail or of 
 presentation, the greatness of Zunz will in no wise be diminished. 
 In 1871, fifty years after he had received his degree of doctor of 
 philosophy, the University of Halle presented him with the honorary 
 degree of doctor. In testimony of the esteem in which Zunz was 
 held, the "Curatorium der Zunz-Stiftung " published in 1874, on the 
 anniversary of his eightieth birthday, in three volumes, a collection of 
 his minor treatises (Gesammelte Schriften); and in 1884, in honor of 
 his ninetieth birthday, a number of scholars published the Zunz " Ju- 
 belschrift." 
 
 By the depth of his scholarship and his many happy conjectures, 
 Zunz brought to light a vast amount of new material, and taught 
 others how to proceed. "With wonderful art and brevity, and by 
 simply confining himself to the issues, he performed his task. He is 
 the historian of his people ; for he portrayed the dark days of its 
 calendar. " 2 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 ABRAHAM GEIGER 
 
 The study of Jewish research in the nineteenth century would be 
 incomplete without taking into consideration the work of Abraham 
 Geiger. He was one of the most original thinkers and critics among 
 the Jews that the century brought forth. As will be seen from the 
 following pages, he was pre-eminently a religious reformer and 
 Jewish theologian. It may, therefore, be doubted whether a place 
 
 ^echen, i&id.,pp. 17, 18; Lagarde, ibid., p. 148. 2 Kadfmann, ibid., p. 20. 
 
51 
 
 should be assigned to him in the Jewish Historico-Critical School. 
 Though a theologian, he was, however, also a scholar, a critic, a student 
 of Jewish history, and, above all, a historian of Jewish theology. For 
 this reason he must be counted among those who have helped to build 
 up the science of Judaism. 
 
 Geiger was born May 24, 1810, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and 
 died in Berlin, October 23, 1874. At the age of five, he is said to 
 have commenced the study of the Bible, and at seven to have laid 
 the foundation of his Talmudic studies. 1 In his eleventh year he 
 was sent to the gymnasium. It is somewhat curious to notice that 
 even at this very early age his studies seem to have rendered him 
 skeptical. His doubts he carefully concealed; knowing that the 
 avowal would inflict pain upon his father, a devout rabbi, who had 
 been his early instructor. Skepticism had, however, taken such a 
 hold of him that at the death of his father, two years later, he broke 
 with traditional Judaism and refused to acknowledge the Talmud as 
 an authority for conduct. In 1829 he went to the University of 
 Heidelberg, which he soon afterward left for that of Bonn, in order 
 to be under the instruction of Freytag, one of the ablest Oriental 
 scholars of his day. 
 
 Because of his views, Geiger entertained grave doubts as to his 
 success as a clergyman, and at one time thought of giving up the idea 
 of entering the pulpit. Yet he saw that a period was at hand which 
 would materially change Judaism in Germany, and that during the 
 process of such change his services might be needed. In 1833, after 
 much difficulty, he was elected rabbi of a congregation in Wiesbaden. 
 
 Geiger was by no means contented to preach his reforms to his 
 congregation only : he desired a larger audience. For this reason he 
 founded in 1835 the " Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift fur judische The- 
 ologie." 8 As the name implies, the journal was dedicated to scien- 
 tific research in Jewish history and theology and to the discussion of 
 problems of interest to the Jews of the day. It essayed to instruct 
 the Jew and to develop his esthetic sensibilities. In the attempt to 
 do this the journal had but three predecessors : the " Ha-Measef " 3 
 (The Gatherer), which was the earliest venture in Jewish periodical 
 
 1 Rabbinowitz, Life of Zunz, p. 164. 
 
 2 Vol8. i.-iv., Frankfort and Stuttgart, 1835-39; vols, v.-vi., Grunberg and 
 Leipsic, 1842-47. 8 Berlin, 1783-1790. 
 
52 
 
 literature in Germany; the " Zeitschrift fiir die Wissenschaft des Ju- 
 denthums," ' edited by Zunz, which has already been mentioned; and 
 the "Bikkure ha-'Ittim" 2 (Fruits of the Season), the first Jewish 
 periodical in Galicia. Later, Geiger edited the " Judische Zeitschrift 
 fiir Wissenschaft und Leben," 3 which he also used to spread his ideas 
 of reform, and to which, as well as to his earlier journal, the greatest 
 Jewish savants of the age contributed. 
 
 In 1838 Geiger was called to Breslau as assistant to Babbi Solo- 
 mon Tiktin, the representative of ultra-orthodoxy in Posen. It was 
 but natural that the opposing views of these two men should clash. 
 The contest was watched with interest throughout Germany ; for it 
 signified the success or defeat of reform. All kinds of obstacles were 
 placed before Geiger to keep him out of Breslau, even the Govern- 
 ment being appealed to for assistance. At first it appeared that 
 Geiger would be worsted ; for, having been born in Frankfort and not 
 being a citizen of Prussia, he could not officiate in Prussia until he 
 had become naturalized. Naturalization required two years' residence. 
 The greater part of these two years he spent in Berlin, where he met 
 Zunz. Of his stay in Berlin and his intercourse with Zunz he wrote : 4 
 " My stay in Berlin brought me much good : much I learned from 
 Zunz. How fortunate I am that I have made him my companion 
 and friend ! " 
 
 Having become a citizen, Geiger returned to Breslau; and the 
 conflict there was reopened with renewed vigor. In the end Tiktin 
 was displaced, and reform won the day. Possessed of a wonderful 
 flow of language and charm of address, Geiger became the idol of the 
 hour. In 1863 he was called to Frankfort, his native city, where he 
 remained till 1870, in which year he was called to Berlin. His long- 
 cherished hope was at last realized. After many years of ceaseless 
 and weary struggles, he was in Germany's greatest center, rabbi of 
 one of the most important Jewish congregations, docent at the newly 
 established Babbinical "Hochschule fiir die Wissenschaft des Juden- 
 thums," a leader in the reform movement, and a scholar recognized 
 by his peers. 
 
 Geiger felt that the greatest impediment to the advance of Juda- 
 
 1 1822-23. 2 Partly in German, partly in Hebrew; 12 vols., 1821-1831. 
 
 3 Breslau, 1862-1874. 
 
 4 Nachgelassene Schriften, v., letter 35, pp. 146-150. Owing to the radical 
 views of Geiger, the two scholars later became estranged. 
 
53 
 
 ism lay in the divergence of opinion among the rabbis. Each clergy- 
 man interpreted Judaism in accordance with his purely personal 
 considerations. The future welfare of Israel demanded that these per- 
 sonal elements be removed. This could be accomplished only by the 
 adoption of some general plan and the establishment of an authorita- 
 tive body which should define the essence of Judaism. As early as 
 1837 he was active in bringing together such a body. In the influ- 
 ence he exerted on the later conference of Jewish rabbis, Geiger was 
 one of the foremost workers for Reformed Judaism in Germany. 
 "The healthy portion," he wrote, 1 "even if numerically small, will 
 develop in time in its solidity and its harmony with the age ; while 
 the sickly and unsound portion will be swept away by the waves of 
 the new era." 
 
 In his demands for reform Geiger went further than his immediate 
 associates. It was his purpose to effect a distinct demarcation between 
 orthodoxy and reform. "The division between the two unlike parts 
 must occur ; and then, only then, can a new life be fostered by those 
 susceptible of reform." 3 All observances to which reason entertained 
 the slightest objection were to be abrogated. In the prayer-book 
 which he edited in 1854, all prayers referring to certain customs, as 
 the priestly blessings, the counting of the days between Passover and 
 Pentecost, the blowing of the trumpet on New Year's Day, the shak- 
 ing of the palm on Tabernacles, etc., were abolished. In order that 
 his sincerity should not be doubted, and lest he should be charged 
 with advocating a religion of convenience, he himself scrupulously 
 observed every precept of traditional Talmudism. 
 
 Geiger' s first attempt at composition was characteristic; and it 
 shows how he made use of his knowledge of Hebrew literature to 
 light up general Oriental themes. Toward the end of Geiger' s uni- 
 versity career, a prize was offered by the University of Bonn for the 
 best thesis on the relation between Judaism and Mohammedanism. 
 Geiger' s thesis on this subject was the prize essay, and was published 
 in 1833 under the title, "Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthum 
 aufgenommen? " s This essay brought its author fame, and, notwith- 
 
 1 Letter to Jacob Auerbach, April 18, 1842. Nachgelassene Schrtften, v. 161. 
 Cited in E. Schreiber, Abraham Geiger, 1892, p. 61. 
 
 2 Nachgelassene Schriften, v., letter 67, written to Wechsler in 1849. 
 
 8 Translated into English by "a member of the Ladies' League in aid of the 
 Delhi Mission," London, 1899. 
 
54 
 
 standing the contributions since made to the subject by Wellhausen, 
 Hirschfeld, and Grimme, it still remains the standard work. The 
 reputation acquired by this book was enhanced by the publication of 
 a collection of unprinted manuscripts, "Melo Hofnayyim" ' (Two 
 Handfuls), in Hebrew and German, Berlin, 1840, which was followed 
 by the " Lehr- und Lesebuch zur Sprache der Mischna " (Breslau, 
 1845), of which the first part was a grammar, the second a reader 
 and vocabulary. Much time had always been spent in making 
 the Jewish youths acquainted with the difficulties of the Mishnaic 
 language, but too little had been devoted to a systematic instruction 
 in the development of the Bible Hebrew into the Hebrew of the 
 Mishnah; so that the intricacies of this language proved too difficult 
 for the student, or could be mastered only after repeated failures. 
 Geiger's "Lehr- und Lesebuch " was the first attempt in the German 
 language to introduce modern methods into the grammatical study of 
 the Mishnah. By it many of the difficulties that the beginner en- 
 countered in his study of the Mishnah were simplified. 
 
 In 1853 Michael Zachs, then editor of the "Kerem Hemed," asked 
 Geiger to contribute to his periodical. In response Geiger wrote an 
 article entitled "Sheminit," 2 which was revised and published in 
 the " Parshandata " (1855-57), a treatise also partly in German, 
 partly in Hebrew. The Hebrew portion is an edition of critical notes 
 on Job by Saadia Gaon, quoted by the French exegetes in their com- 
 mentaries, and of unpublished fragments of exegetical manuscripts 
 found by Geiger in the Munich library ; and the German is a succinct 
 account of the work of the northern French school of exegetes. 
 
 The wide scholarship of Geiger is manifested in the variety of his 
 works and in his ability to turn from one subject to another. From 
 Islam he passed to the Mishnah ; from the Mishnah to the exegetes ; 
 and from the exegetes to the poets; for. in 1851 he translated some of 
 the poems of Judah ha-Levi (b. 1085), to which were added notes and 
 a biography, 3 the whole serving as a fitting introduction to the great 
 
 1 Containing a letter of Del Medigo to Serah ben Nathan ; an introduction 
 to the Tahkemoni ; an astrological commentary of the Sefer Yezira by Sabbatai 
 Donolo ; a responsum of Rashi on Jeremiah ; five responsa of Maimonides, etc. 
 The German portion is to be found in Gesammelte Schriften, iii. 1-96, treating on 
 Candia and the life of Joseph del Medigo. 
 
 2 Kerem Hemed, 1853, pp. 41 et seq. 
 
 3 Published also in Nachgelassene Schriften, iii. 97-178. 
 
55 
 
 Castilian Jewish poet. In 1856 * he published "Zizim u-Ferahim w 
 ("Judisehe Dichtungen der spanischen und italienischen Schule "), 
 which contains a brief account of the greatest Jewish poets of Spain 
 and Italy, with examples of their poems. 3 The last of this series of 
 Geiger's was "Solomon Gabirol und seine Dichtungen " (1867). In 
 these three works he brought home to the Jews the value of their 
 great poets of the Middle Ages. By translating their poems, many 
 of which are done into excellent German, he has interpreted the pas- 
 sions and the thoughts that aroused the Hebrew poet. 
 
 From the poets Geiger passed to his most important work, the 
 critical study of Judaism. One part of this study treats of the Bible 
 and is represented by the " Urschrif t und Uebersetzungen der Bibel in 
 ihrer Abhangigkeit von der inneren Entwickelung des Judenthums * 
 (1857); the second part, "Die Sadducaer und Pharisaer" (1863), 
 deals with the history of these sects ; and the third, " Das Judenthum 
 und seine Geschichte " (3 vols., 1865-71), treats of the general devel- 
 opment of Judaism. 
 
 The " Urschrift " embodies the results of a critical study of the 
 Bible during a period of nearly twenty-five years. 3 Extensive Bibli- 
 cal research had been conducted by Christians and had been developed 
 into what is now commonly styled the "higher criticism." It is be- 
 yond the province of the present thesis to criticize the labors of such 
 Christian students as Eichhorn, De Wette, Gesenius, Vater, von Boh- 
 len, Michaelis, Rosenmuller, and a host of others who lived and wrote 
 in the latter part of the eighteenth century and in the first half of the 
 nineteenth. In many respects their work is entitled to generous 
 praise. They effected a more rational criticism of the Bible, and 
 exercised, even in certain sections of Judaism, considerable influence. 
 But it must be said of .them generally that, having been born outside 
 the pale of Judaism, they were not able to make use of Jewish tradi- 
 
 1 About the same time, Geiger was also studying the Jewish grammarians. 
 In 1856-57 appeared the biographies of Joseph Kimhi (Ozar Nehmad, i. 977 ; ii. 
 98) and of his sons, David (ibid., ii. 157) and Moses (ibid., ii. 17). These biogra- 
 phies were republished by R. Kirchheim (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1877) in the 
 Hebrew part of vol. v. of Geiger's Nachgelassene Schrijten. Geiger was the first 
 to treat of the Kimhis, to give the meager details of their lives as they have come 
 down to us, and to indicate the importance and influence of their works. 
 
 8 In Hebrew and German. The German portion will be found in the Nachge- 
 lassene Schriften, iii. 224 et seq. 
 
 3 Preface to the Urschrift, v. 
 
56 
 
 tion, nor could they control Jewish sources. Among Jews, however, 
 there was always some hesitancy in criticizing the Bible ; the Scrip- 
 tures being regarded by them as spiritual food, too sacred to be handled 
 except with veneration. Krochmal, Luzzatto, and Rapoport were 
 reluctant to criticize the Bible ; and Zunz never went deeply into 
 Biblical investigation. Geiger was the first Jew of the modern school 
 of research to cast aside all timidity and to approach to the higher 
 criticism. In at least one respect Geiger' s work is superior to that 
 of Christian students : he was able to make use of Jewish sources ; and 
 he employed them to the fullest extent. 
 
 In the " Urschrift " Geiger attempts to ascertain what was the 
 original text of the Scriptures, what was the condition of the Jews 
 at the time of its compilation, and what was the relation of the versions 
 to the original text. In this work the skepticism that had mani- 
 fested itself in his early years broke forth anew in all its strength. 
 
 The "Urschrift " was certainly an epoch-making work. Geiger' s 
 criticism is ingenious; and his translations and combinations are 
 exceedingly happy. His work has dominated Jewish thought to such 
 an extent that it has fully justified the author's forecast: "If its [the 
 " Urschrift' s "] theories are established, then it has opened a new and 
 secure road to the determination and the correct understanding of the 
 Bible." ' So thoroughgoing were Geiger' s ideas on reform, and so in- 
 cisive his criticism, that on the twentieth anniversary of his rabbinate 
 the orthodox Luzzatto wrote : " May God in his goodness bless Abra- 
 ham; may he crown his endeavors in behalf of science; and may he 
 grant him long life to make good what he has destroyed. " 3 
 
 Having dealt fully with the Biblical material, Geiger next took 
 up the study of a period of Jewish history that has had an important 
 influence on the development of Judaism and that had always been 
 obscure ; namely, that of the conflicts between the Pharisees and the 
 Sadducees. This had been treated to some extent in the "Urschrift." 
 Geiger gives a vivid portrayal of the contests ; and his style is clear 
 and vigorous. 
 
 The most popular of Geiger' s writings is his series of lectures on 
 "Das Judenthum und seine Geschichte." 3 This is not an exhaustive 
 
 1 lbid., p. l. 
 
 2 Luzzatto, Autobiography, translated by M. GrUnwald, p. 134. 
 
 3 In three parts : the first has been rendered into English by Maurice 
 Mayer, New York, 1886. 
 
57 
 
 history of Judaism, but an outline of it; and it is characterized by 
 the freedom and originality with which Geiger handled all his sub- 
 jects. Originally, the lectures were not written with the view of 
 being printed, but were intended for oral delivery, and to be, as he 
 says in the preface, an honest presentation of the author's views; not 
 for the purpose of insidiously opposing generally adopted opinions, 
 but as the outgrowth of a desire to authenticate his convictions. 
 Geiger defines Judah not merely as a people, but as the depositary 
 of an idea ; and he traces the development of this idea from its be- 
 ginning. 
 
 In dealing with the origin of Christianity, he shows, more than 
 in any other of his works, his characteristic boldness. His philo- 
 sophic and poetic interpretation of the " logos " and * the only begot- 
 ten Son of God " is clever, but daring as coming from a Jew. He 
 knew that with zealots his views would have no weight, and was 
 ready to receive their abuse. He even exulted in the thought that 
 such abuse might be directed against him, yet at the same time he 
 feared that the expression of his views might cause harm to the 
 Jews. 1 "I alone and exclusively bear the responsibility of all I have 
 said in the following lectures ; how many or how few of my co-relig- 
 ionists share or approve my views, I know not. Hence I make ex- 
 clusive claim to the entire honor of being attacked. My words must 
 not afford a pretext for an accusation against Jews and Judaism." 3 
 
 After Geiger' s death five volumes of " Nachgelassene Schriften" 
 were published by his son Ludwig, himself a student of Jewish his- 
 tory, especially in Germany. 
 
 To understand the influence of Geiger it must be remembered 
 that he was pre-eminently a theologian in the modern sense of the 
 term. In his capacity as docent at the Hochschule, opportunity was 
 given him to disseminate his views through the Eeform rabbis, who 
 went thence to all parts of Europe and America. The theologian in 
 him dominated the student and the critic, so that his theology can 
 in no wise be separated from his works. His critical studies were 
 written with the view not only of offering scientific hypotheses, but 
 of fixing a standard of conduct for Israel. In this he differed from 
 
 ■ • 
 
 1 Part I. , lecture ix. 
 
 2 Das Judenthum und seine Geschickte, p. xii. ; English translation by 
 Mayer, p. vii. 
 
58 
 
 Zunz. Both were liberal critics ; both scrupulously observed the pre- 
 cepts of tradition, though from different motives; both sought to 
 develop the esthetic side of Jewish life. They differed in the method 
 pursued and in the extent of their criticism. Zunz, however much 
 he doubted the validity of tradition, rejected all reform whose object 
 was solely to break away from it. He regarded the time as not yet 
 ripe for the abrogation of tradition. Let Israel be educated in the 
 truths of Judaism, and its inner development will in time cast off the 
 unnecessary. Let the advance be slow, so that there be no rupture 
 within Israel; for history has shown how injurious to any cause 
 division is. The future is more important than the present. 
 
 Geiger took an opposite course ; for he was a man of action. The 
 objectionable must be weeded out of the daily practise. At all haz- 
 ards, schism must be brought about. Thus, Zunz and Geiger are 
 two different types of the same school. One was the Conservative, 
 the other the extreme Radical, of the German school of critics. 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII 
 
 ZACHARIAS FRANKEL 
 
 Having considered two branches of the German school — the 
 Conservative, of which Zunz was representative, and the Kadical, of 
 which Geiger was typical — we now come to a third branch, known, 
 in contradistinction to the Reform party, as the " orthodox historical " 
 school. The members of this school were not affiliated with the 
 ultra-orthodox party, which opposed all critical investigation and 
 which was represented by Samson Raphael Hirsch. They joined with 
 Zunz and Geiger only in their support of the renaissance of Jewish 
 historical studies. 
 
 The leader of this division was Zacharias Frankel, born in Prague, 
 October 18, 1801; died in Breslau, February 13, 1875. Like all 
 orthodox boys, he was instructed in Bible and Talmud ; and for sec- 
 ular studies he went to the University at Pest. In 1832 he was 
 chosen rabbi of the " Leitmeritzer Kreis," and four years later was 
 called to Dresden as chief rabbi. From this time Frankel' s was one 
 of the most celebrated of Jewish names throughout Germany ; for all 
 his work was centered in the desire to do service to his people. He 
 
59 
 
 directed his attention to what was one of the greatest impediments to 
 emancipation. Of the many distinctions continually being made in 
 daily life between Jew and Christian none was so humiliating as the 
 special oath administered to Jews before giving testimony in court. 1 
 In 1840 Frankel laid before the Diet of Saxony an article entitled 
 "Die Eidesleistung der Juden " (Dresden and Leipsic, 1840). This, 
 together with a similar article, "Der gerichtliche Beweis nach mo- 
 saisch-talmudischen Rechte " (Berlin, 1847), placed before the Prus- 
 sian Diet of 1847, resulted in the abolition of the oath throughout 
 Germany. 
 
 During his early years Frankel devoted a great deal of energy to 
 bringing about the recognition of the Jewish religion on the part of 
 the state. The abolition of the oath was one great step toward this 
 recognition, and had Frankel done nothing else, his name would for 
 this alone have been cherished in Israel. Frankel saw, however, 
 that what the Jews needed was not so much the repeal of hostile leg- 
 islation, and the increase of rights and privileges, as a reform within 
 their own body — a spiritual and intellectual regeneration. This 
 reform, he believed, had to commence with the leaders themselves. 
 There was too little harmony among them as to the fundamental doc- 
 trines upon which modern Judaism was built. The only means of 
 securing such harmony lay in the organization of some central body 
 and the establishment of a theological seminary in which should be 
 given methodical instruction in Jewish theology and literature. 
 
 This need was felt by others besides Frankel. Geiger was work- 
 ing for the same end, but, for a time, could interest but few in his 
 project because those interested in the founding of a Jewish seminary 
 doubted the expediency of having at its head a man with such thor- 
 ough Reform principles. The propositions of Frankel met with a 
 more immediate success. In 1854, owing to the good offices of 
 Jonas Frankel, a seminary was founded in Breslau to which Zacharias 
 Frankel was called as director, and Heinrich Graetz and Jacob Bernays 
 as assistants. As head of this rabbinical seminary, Frankel' s posi- 
 tion was one of great importance not only in Breslau, but throughout 
 Germany ; for the only Jewish seminary then in existence was the 
 one in Padua, founded in 1829. From Breslau went forth rabbis and 
 
 1 On the literature concerning the "Moreh Judaico" 
 Zeitschrift fur hebrdische Bibliographie, i. 17 et aeq. 
 
 see Steinschneider in 
 
60 
 
 teachers to all parts of the world, wherever Jews were congregated; 
 and with them went the doctrines that Frankel had impressed upon 
 them. In order to propagate his views and to arouse interest in his 
 party, Frankel edited the " Zeitschrift fur die religiosen InteresseD des 
 Judenthums" (Breslau, 1844-46) and the " Monatsschrift fur Ge- 
 schichte und Wissenschaft des Judenthums" (1851-1867), in both 
 of which he wrote numerous articles. 
 
 Frankel was one of the greatest Talmudic authorities of his day. 
 For him, the basis of Judaism was the Bible ; and without the Torah 
 Israel could not exist. Eapoport, another great Talmudist, though 
 timid in Biblical criticism, did not hesitate to criticize the text of the 
 Bible. Frankel objected not only to any change in the text, but also 
 to any criticism that might lead to such a change. He was not in 
 sympathy with the Rabbinism of the Middle Ages. He recognized 
 that reform in certain things was necessary, and was willing to allow 
 it a certain leeway. For this reason he attended the second confer- 
 ence of Eeform rabbis, held at Frankfort in 1845. The extreme 
 radicalism displayed there, however, forced him to retire; and he 
 resolved never to attend these conferences again. 
 
 The life-work of Frankel was a scientific investigation of the Tal- 
 mud and of the Halakah. Throughout the Middle Ages the Talmud — 
 then the basis of all Jewish education — was more or less critically 
 studied. Numerous commentaries had been composed, some lexicons 
 had been written, and, since 1606, the Mishnah had been translated 
 into Latin, Spanish, and German. Of the modern school of critics, 
 Krochmal, Eapoport, Luzzatto, Geiger, and others had studied single 
 phases of the Talmud ; but they had not exhausted the subject. A 
 comprehensive introduction to the Talmud and the halakic literature, 
 according to the methods of the modern Jewish school of criticism, 
 was still a desideratum. To supply this need was Frankel' s endeavor. 
 He sought to trace the development of the Halakah by a study of 
 the Septuagint, the Mishnah, the Jerusalem Talmud, 1 and the Ee- 
 sponsa literature. 
 
 Frankel' s Talmudic studies led him to a careful survey of the 
 Septuagint. He felt that with the close of prophecy in Israel the 
 
 1 Frankel had hoped to publish an introduction to the Babylonian Talmud, 
 but it never appeared. Preliminary studies of this subject, however, he pub- 
 lished in the Monatsschrift, 1861, x. 186, 206, 258, under the title Beitrage zu einer 
 Minleitung in den Talmud. 
 
61 
 
 creative power of Judaism had not ceased. The prophet had but 
 yielded place to the teacher. " There was no longer any need of dis- 
 suading the people from idolatry. Complete subservience to God and 
 His law had filled the hearts of all Jews. This law, which was re- 
 garded as the noblest inheritance, had caused a new demand ; namely, 
 acquaintance with that law and instruction as to its execution . . . 
 The time needed teachers, not prophets." ! 
 
 The divine commands (Halakah) were carefully reviewed in order 
 that the daily life of the people might be regulated in accordance 
 with them. This activity resulted in the science of the Jewish 
 religion. 2 Data of its origins in Palestine are lacking. In Alexan- 
 dria, where there was a large Jewish colony, a greater religious 
 activity and hermeneutic literature existed earlier than in Palestine. 
 Of this literature the Septuagint was, as far as is known, the first pro- 
 duction, and is, therefore, of the utmost importance for the study of 
 the Bible. The greatest ignorance existed even as to the origin and 
 the purpose of the Septuagint and its relation to the written and oral 
 law. In three works, " Yorstudien zu der Septuaginta " (Leipsic, 
 1841), " Ueber den Einfluss des paMstinensischen Exegese auf die alex- 
 andrinische Hermeneutik " (Leipsic, 1851), and "Ueber palastinische 
 und alexandrinische Schriftforschung " (Breslau, 1854), Frankel dis- 
 cussed the question of the Septuagint more exhaustively than it had 
 ever been treated before. 
 
 These three works may be regarded as the preliminary investiga- 
 tions in his study of the Halakah ; for the author was certain that 
 there was a very close affinity between "Alexandrian hermeneutics," 
 of which the Septuagint was the representative, and the " Palestinian 
 exegesis " which developed into the Midrash and the Talmud. This 
 connection had frequently been overlooked. He was also certain that 
 the spirit that led to the compilation of the Talmud was to be found 
 in the early versions, in Philo, and in Josephus. In other words, he 
 showed conclusively that "those writings which had served as the 
 basis for Christianity contained. Talmudic elements." After his study 
 of the Alexandrian hermeneutics he turned to the study of the 
 Kesponsa literature, and published his "Entwurf eine Geschichte der 
 Literatur der nachtalmudischen Kesponsa." The Eesponsa literature 
 
 1 Frankel, Ueber den Einfluss der palitstinensischen Exegese auf die alexandrin- 
 ische Hermeneutik, p. 1, Leipsic, 1851. *lbid., p. 2. 
 
62 
 
 originated in the seventh century (soon after the close of the Talmud) 
 and extends to the present day. "No field of human activity and 
 human science was untouched by it." ■ These responsa, which are 
 answers to questions addressed to the most noted men of every age, 
 were the authorities for conduct. They are the continuation of the 
 same spirit in Judaism that produced the early versions of the Bible, 
 the Mishnah, and the Gemara. They explain difficult passages in the 
 Talmud, and throw much light on its text as well as on the history of 
 Jewish culture ; interpreting the momentous questions of philosophy, 
 religion, mathematics, and chronology of every age. Owing to the lack 
 of proper histories, these responsa, which depict the conditions of 
 many Jewish communities, must be used by the historian. There 
 were myriads of them, but large numbers have been lost. The names 
 of some of them, however, have been preserved in references in other 
 books. Frankel in his " Entwurf " gives a historical sketch of these 
 responsa, which, though not exhaustive, was at least the first of 
 its kind, and treats of the times in which they were called forth, 
 of their authors, of the language in which they were written, and of 
 their authenticity. 
 
 From the Kesponsa literature Frankel turned to his most important 
 productions, studies in the Talmud, which resulted in the publication 
 of three separate works : (a) An introduction to the Jerusalem Tal- 
 mud (Treatise in Hebrew in five parts, Breslau, 1870), treating of the 
 conditions of the Jews in Palestine at the time of the compilation of 
 the Talmud, the colloquial language of the Jews of that period, the 
 Halakah and Haggadah, the chronology of the Amoraim (sages of 
 the Gemara) and their methods, and of the commentaries to the Jer- 
 usalem Talmud ; (b) an edition of parts of the Jerusalem Talmud ; a 
 and (c) "Darke ha-Mishnah" (Hodegetica in Mishnam librosque cum 
 ea conjunctos, Leipsic, 1859). 
 
 This last work was the production for which Frankel was most 
 vigorously attacked. It is also in five parts, and treats of the history 
 of the Mishnah; its origin and development; of the chronology of 
 the Tannaim (sages of the Mishnah) and of the religious and philo- 
 sophic problems with which they had to deal ; of the schools of Hillel 
 
 1 Introduction to the Entwurf. 
 
 2 Frankel had hoped to edit the entire Talmud, but only two parte appeared : 
 toI. i., Berakot and Pesahim, Vienna, 1874; vol. ii., Demai, Breslau, 1875. 
 
63 
 
 and Shammai, of the compilation of the Mishnah and its arrange- 
 ment into subdivisions; of the principles and rules of the Mishnah. 
 It critically surveys the Mishnaic literature; i.e., such works as the 
 "Mekilta," "Tosefta," etc., and the commentaries on the Mishnah. 
 The part most seriously objected to was Franker s explanation of the 
 oral law, which, together with the written law, tradition claimed was 
 given to Moses on Sinai. 
 
 This oral law was part of the lex gentium, which was not incor- 
 porated into the Scriptures, but was collected and found a resting- 
 place in the Mishnah and Gemara. According to Frankel, the phrase 
 "Halakot le-Mosheh mi-Sinai" (Laws Given to Moses on Sinai) 
 must not be taken literally. By it were meant those precepts which 
 were observed from time immemorial, whose origin none knew, but 
 whose formulation may have dated from the discussions in the Great 
 Synagogue. Because they were ancient, these Halakot were held as 
 sacred as if they had been given to Moses on Sinai. For holding 
 this view Frankel was rated as a blasphemer and an infidel, and was 
 especially attacked by Samson Kaphael Hirsch. Rapoport, in a pam- 
 phlet, "Dibre Shalom we-Emet," came to Frankel's assistance, and 
 showed that this view was entirely in accord with orthodox principles. 
 
 In summing up Frankel's work it will be seen that his importance 
 lies in his having brought into existence the orthodox historical 
 school. He presented an introduction to the Jerusalem Talmud, to 
 the Mishnah, and to the study of the Halakah, based upon modern 
 methods of criticism. He showed that Talmudic tradition was un- 
 broken, and that the same spirit that permeated the Bible may be 
 traced in the Greek versions, in the works of Philo and Josephus, in 
 the Talmud, and throughout the Responsa literature. As Zunz was 
 greatest among those who treated of Haggadah, so, of all this modern 
 school of critics, was Frankel greatest among those whose attention 
 was claimed by the Halakah. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 ISAAC MARCUS JOST 
 
 Of the entire historical school, the works of the historian Isaac 
 Marcus Jost were, perhaps, the most severely criticized. However 
 just such criticism may be, it must be acknowledged that Jost is most 
 
64 
 
 completely allied with the resurrection of Jewish historical research 
 in Germany. 
 
 Jost was born February 22, 1793, at Bernberg, Germany, and 
 died November 20, 1860, in Frankfort-on-the-Main. Circumstances 
 compelled him at a very early age to help maintain the family. 1 His 
 first instruction he received in the Hebrew school at Bernberg, but 
 on the death of his father, in 1803, he was sent to the Samson Free 
 School, where he met Leopold Zunz. In 1811 he entered the Bruns- 
 wick gymnasium, from which in 1813 he went to Gottingen, where 
 he studied history, philology, theology, and philosophy. While at 
 Gottingen Jost made the acquaintance of Israel Jacobson, a wealthy 
 banker, who was attracted by the extent of Jost's capabilities. With 
 him Jost went to Berlin, and through his kind assistance was enabled 
 to be graduated from the University of Berlin. 
 
 Despite the requests and offers of Jacobson, Jost would not enter 
 the ministry. After his graduation, he became an educator, first in 
 Berlin — where he founded a school open to Jews and Christians alike 
 — and later, from 1835 till his death, in Frankfort, where he was 
 head master of the Jewish school. 
 
 When at the Samson institution, both Jost and Zunz had deter- 
 mined to write a history of the Jews ; and they were continually col- 
 lecting material for it. Zunz doubted the advisability of writing a 
 history till its elementary studies had been completed, and sufficient 
 data for an authentic history were forthcoming. This was character- 
 istic of Zunz. He was no doubt right in his unwillingness to endan- 
 ger his reputation by writing a work which, because of the absence 
 of material, would be trustworthy only to a limited extent. Jost also 
 must have felt the force of this objection ; but he also saw the need 
 of a history in German. 
 
 While Zunz hesitated and was engaged in special studies of Jew- 
 ish history, Jost was working under great difficulties toward the com- 
 pletion of his task — the composition of a comprehensive history of the 
 Jews. 2 
 
 At all times, a history of the Jews is a most difficult subject to 
 
 1 Zirndorf, M. Jost und seine Freunde, p. 94, Cincinnati, 1886. 
 
 2 For the purpose of encouraging historical research he founded and edited 
 the Israelitische Annalen (1839-41). He also edited in connection with Michael 
 Creizenach the Hebrew periodical Zion (1840-41), in order to arouse interest in 
 the Hebrew language. 
 
65 
 
 compass ; its extent is so great that very few men can do justice to 
 such vast material, even when the necessary authentic data are at 
 hand. And a history of the Jews includes not only a history of the 
 national existence of Israel, but also a study of the influences under 
 which Judaism developed. 
 
 With the Diaspora a new life began for Judaism, and the Jews 
 were scattered over the world. In Asia, Africa, Europe, and later in 
 America, individual communities developed their own history. These 
 communities were united by a common danger and by the possession 
 of like moral codes and religious traditions. The sum of the histories 
 of these infinite numbers of communities forms a complete history of 
 Judaism. The historian of the Jews must therefore not only be able 
 to control the incidents of any and all of these sections in any given 
 time, but he must also be intimately acquainted with the history of 
 civilization in general and with the literary, political, social, and 
 economic history of all the people in the midst of whom the Jews 
 have dwelt. If the task be so difficult with the required material at 
 hand, how much more arduous was it for Jost when knowledge was 
 meager and records were faulty. 
 
 Before Jost but two noteworthy attempts at a history had been 
 made, and both of these were by Christians. The first was ' by a Prot- 
 estant clergyman named Jacob Basnage (1653-1723) ; the second a by 
 Hannah Adams, wife of a Boston clergyman. Basnage's History, 
 the standard work in Christian and in some Jewish circles before 
 Jost's work appeared, was fragmentary. Of it Graetzsays: 8 "De- 
 spite his [ Basnage' s] efforts to be impartial and honest, he could not 
 rid himself of the belief that the ' Jews are rejected because they 
 have rejected Jesus.' Basnage's ' History of the Jews ' has numerous 
 faults. Hardly a single sentence can be regarded as perfectly just 
 and in accordance with the truth." 
 
 The history by Hannah Adams was also fragmentary and very 
 imperfect; for her training in Jewish history did not furnish her 
 with the knowledge to do justice to her theme. Her "crude work, 
 
 l Eistoire de la Religion des Juifs (tepuis Je'sus Christ jusqu'a present, pour 
 servir de supplement et de continuation a Vhistoire de Joseph. Five vols., Rotter- 
 dam, 1707-1711. 
 
 * The History of the Jews from the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Present 
 Time. London, 1818. 
 
 3 Geschichte der Juden, x. 317 ; English ed., v. 97. 
 
 5 
 
66 
 
 nevertheless, was good enough for the purposes of the London Society for 
 the Promotion of Christianity among the Jews, which, besides, made 
 several alterations in the book in order to serve its ends. Fidelity to 
 history and truth were entirely disregarded in the changes." 2 
 
 Such was the work done before the appearance of Jost's "Gesch- 
 ichte der Israeliten seit der Zeit der Maccabaer bis auf unsere Tage " ■ 
 (9 vols. Berlin, 1820-29), which was followed by the "Neuere Gesch- 
 ichte der Israeliten von 1815 bis 1845 " (3 vols, ibid., 1846-47), and 
 Geschichte des Judenthums und seiner Sekten " (3 vols., Leipsic, 
 1857-59). 3 ' f 
 
 Jost's importance in the historico-critical school lies in the fact 
 that he was the first to produce a comprehensive history of the Jews 
 which might be used with some sense of safety and which was in 
 accordance with modern critical methods. When Jost wrote his first 
 history, the investigations of Eapoport, Zunz, and others had not yet 
 been published. Jost was, therefore, compelled to explore ; as Stein- 
 schneider said, 4 he had to resort to unreliable Christian sources which 
 were not primary. The errors of his early work are due to the lack 
 of better information, and represent the views of the learned of that 
 time. His later works, especially the "Geschichte des Judenthums 
 und seiner Sekten," which was the first attempt to present a history 
 of Judaism, shows marked improvement. But even in this work 
 many of Jost's bad methods are discernible. He frequently makes 
 blunders which he would never have made had he read his sources 
 more carefully. For these blunders, he was bitterly attacked on all 
 sides. "I hate, I despise Jost," wrote Luzzatto, "and as long as my 
 soul and a pure heart are within me, this abhorrence shall not leave 
 me. I hate him and ever will hate him, not for his thoughts, but for 
 the words he has. written. " 5 In addition to showing frequent per- 
 versions of the truth, his works are unmistakably one-sided. 6 Granted, 
 
 x lbid., German ed. , xi. 452; Englished., v. 593. 
 
 * An abridgment of this work appeared 1831-32 in two volumes under the 
 title Allgemeine Geschichte des israelitischen Yolkes. 
 
 3 A good piece of work outside of the historical field was done by Jost in his 
 translation of the Mishnah into German in Hebrew characters. 
 
 4 Bibliographisches Handwbrterbuch fur hebrdische Sprachkunde, p. xxxii., 
 Leipsic, 1859. 
 
 5 Letter to Rapoport, January 28, 1831 ; Letters of Luzzatto, Przemysl, 1882, 
 p. 178. 
 
 •Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, xi. 455; English ed., v. 595. 
 
67 
 
 however, that Steinschneider is fully justified in saying ! that " in the 
 eyes of all critics Jost must be regarded as a shameless plagiarist, a 
 dangerous inventor, and a literary perjurer, " Jost's influence in his- 
 torical studies was by no means unimportant. He was the first Jew 
 to attempt a complete history ; and his influence was felt by all his 
 successors, both Jewish and Christian. His "Geschichte der Juden 
 und seiner Sekten," which is his best work, is still very frequently 
 used. It is now, however, customary in a measure to overlook Jost, 
 because with advancing science more is known than he could know, 
 and because his works were inferior in presentation and accuracy to 
 those of his successor, Heinrich Graetz. In studying Jost and his 
 relation to the progress of Jewish knowledge, we must judge him not 
 by what we now know, but by the position he held among his con- 
 temporaries, and by the influence his work had upon them. Jost's 
 work came at the proper moment and fulfilled the need of its time. 
 When compared with his peers, he may not have been a genius : nor 
 may he have been able to make their discoveries. In the light of 
 his time, he was a man of extraordinary erudition and of great talent 
 and resolution. As a pioneer, his attempts must be applauded ; and 
 his works must be classed among the important and epoch-making 
 volumes of his century. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 HEINRICH GRAETZ 
 
 Of all Jost's successors, the only historian of the Jews who has 
 entirely supplanted him is Heinrich Graetz. Graetz was born October 
 31, 1817, at Xions, Posen, and died September 17, 1891, at Munich. 
 As a child he gave no signs of his future distinction, but seems to 
 have impressed most people as being dull and stupid. His early 
 instruction he received at the Heder or Hebrew school, in Zerkov, 
 whither his parents had moved shortly after his birth ; then at Woll- 
 stein ; and finally at Oldenburg, to which place he went hoping to 
 receive a scientific training in the Talmud from Samson Raphael 
 Hirsch. In 1840 he attended the University of Berlin, and in 1845 
 was graduated from the University of Jena with the degree of doctor 
 of philosophy, his dissertation being "De auctoritate et vi quam 
 
 1 Bibliographisches Ilandworterbuch, p. xxxii. 
 
68 
 
 gnosis in Judaismus habuerit " (published in 1846 under the title, 
 " Gnosticismus und Judenthum"). 
 
 After his graduation Graetz met with many disappointments. As 
 a preacher, he was an utter failure; and as a teacher, he changed his 
 positions frequently without improving his condition. At the open- 
 ing of the Breslau seminary in 1854 he was appointed a member of 
 the staff of instructors, and in 1870 was made professor in the Uni- 
 versity of Breslau. 
 
 Graetz first attracted attention by a series of articles published in 
 Fiirst's "Orient," 1844-45, among which a criticism of Geiger's 
 " Lehrbuch zur Sprache der Mischna " deserves special notice ; for it 
 was Graetz' s first attack on the Eeform of Geiger. By this article, 
 the author showed clearly his intention of championing that branch 
 of the historical school headed by Zacharias Frankel. Graetz' s doc- 
 tor's dissertation and his contributions to Frankel' s " Zeitschrif t " 1 
 and " Monatsschrift " 2 were favorably received. His greatest work 
 is his "Geschichte der Juden." 3 The first volume to appear was the 
 fourth of the series, viz., "Vom Untergang des judischen Staates bis 
 zum Abschluss des Talmud" (1853). This together with volume 
 iii. (the second part to be published), "Geschichte der Juden von 
 dem Tode Juda Maccabis bis zum Untergang des judischen Staates " 
 (1856), commanded immediate approval and established Graetz's rep- 
 utation. These volumes are scholarly, and give evidence of pains- 
 taking original research. They were the most carefully elaborated 
 parts of the history, and shed much light upon a period of which 
 comparatively little was known. 
 
 The remainder of the History, vols. v. to xi., which bring it down 
 to the present day, is not so good; for it was written hurriedly, per- 
 haps because Graetz feared some one might appear in the field before 
 him and wrest from him the laurels for which he had so long been 
 toiling. The last parts published were vols. i. and ii. (1874-76), 
 which treat of Bible history. Before these two volumes were written, 
 the author made a journey to the Holy Land, to be the better able to 
 
 1 Die Septuaginta im Talmud (1845) ii. 429, and Construction der jiidischeii 
 Geschichte (1846), iii. 81, 121, 361, 413. 
 
 2 Preliminary sketches of his history, Jiidische geschichtliche Studien, i. 112, 
 156, 192, 307. 
 
 3 Eleven volumes, 1853-76. Graetz published a popular abridged edition in 
 three volumes, Volksthumliche Geschichte, 1888. 
 
69 
 
 give correct coloring to his work. In the second and third editions 
 of the individual volumes, Graetz has tried to include material pub- 
 lished while he was working, without, however, materially changing 
 the text. 
 
 Graetz had the ability — characteristic of the entire critical school 
 — to collect vast material, and to master and arrange the same. A 
 Jew himself, he could understand the conditions of his people in the 
 past, could sympathize with them in their suffering, and rejoice in 
 their well-being. Brought up in the Jewish tradition, he could, like 
 Jost, make use of that tradition to the full extent. But he had one 
 characteristic which Jost lacked — an imaginative temperament. 
 
 His task was rendered less difficult than Jost's had been; for 
 there was more material upon which to build. Before the middle 
 of the nineteenth century, scholars had published treatises on Jewish 
 history ; and many epoch-making volumes had appeared before Graetz 
 began his task. Due credit must be given him for the original and 
 new material he presented. But he has to a large extent made use 
 of the works of others, which were not always primary sources. By 
 accepting some of their views without close examination he has in- 
 corporated errors into his history. This is even true of the best of 
 his volumes. 1 
 
 When compared with Jost's histories, Graetz' s work presents many 
 superior qualities. First, Graetz had a better method and a better 
 control of his material. Being more of a philosopher than Jost, 
 Graetz joined his narratives more closely with a clearer study of cause 
 and effect, thereby producing a more united and accurate whole. As 
 has already been suggested, Graetz was of a more poetic temperament 
 and gave to his work the coloring of a productive imagination. Jost 
 is correct in saying : a " Graetz began a comprehensive history with 
 surprising imagination. But this productive imagination has often 
 led him astray." His desire to make history has at times caused him 
 to overvalue things. For this reason his history is unequal in parts. 
 In some accounts the work is very good ; in others he has gone too 
 much into detail, so that some parts, like the Reuchlin and Pfefferkorn 
 contest, are unnecessarily drawn out. 
 
 Graetz' s subjective treatment of the men he described led him to 
 
 1 Compare Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschajt, xvi. 291. 
 
 2 Jost, Geschichte des Judenthums, iii. 304. 
 
70 
 
 make errors which Jost's objectiveness would hardly have committed. 
 Graetz is either for or against the leaders of any movement. When 
 dealing with those with whom his views are not in sympathy, and of 
 whose theories and actions he disapproves, his remarks become per- 
 sonal. This is especially true of the eleventh volume, which treats 
 of the Reformed Judaism in Germany. This volume is not a critical 
 study of men and events, but an abuse of historical data. Criticism 
 has given way to partisan feeling, which has so controlled the author 
 that his judgments are not just. 1 It is a pity that a man of Graetz' s 
 ability, who could read character as probably few others could, should 
 have misused that gift and have become biased in his criticism. Had 
 he been less subjective in this volume, he would have rid himself of 
 his antipathies. It might have been greatly to the advantage of 
 Graetz' s reputation had he never published the eleventh volume. 
 
 If we except his last volume and the first two, which treat of 
 Bible history but present no new material, and are, perhaps, the 
 weakest part of the History, the remaining eight contain critical 
 analyses — stamped, it is true, by the author's personality, but scien- 
 tific and thoroughly honest. A feature of the History that tends to 
 make it very pleasant reading is its arrangement. The narrative is 
 not interrupted by polemics or lengthy and scientific disquisitions in 
 defense of the author's theories, or in rebuttal of those held by others. 
 By relegating all such discussion to the notes, the author has served 
 the purpose both of the student and of the general reader. 
 
 Besides being a historian, Graetz was an exegete. His Biblical 
 criticisms are to be found in the first two volumes of his History, 
 begun in 1871 ; 2 in a translation of and a commentary on Ecclesi- 
 astes and The Song of Songs (1871); in a translation of the Psalms 
 (1881); and in a "Kritischer Commentar zu dem Psalmen nebst Text 
 und Uebersetzungen" (1882-83), as well as in some minor contribu- 
 tions to the "Monatsschrift," of which he was editor from 1869 to 
 1887. Of these exegetical works, the commentary on the Psalms is 
 the best. Although not a thorough Greek scholar, Graetz has made 
 use of the Septuagint in his emendations. As an exegete he was not 
 successful; for he was too fanciful and "permitted his zeal to run 
 
 1 Cf. Emanuel Schreiber's Graetz's Geschichtsbauerei, Berlin, 1881. 
 
 2 It has been suggested that Graetz left these two volumes to the last in order 
 not to incur the displeasure of the head of the Breslau seminary, and that the 
 journey to Palestine was merely a pretext to conceal his real motive. 
 
71 
 
 away with him until he had lost the solid ground from under his 
 feet. His acumen displayed and dissipated itself chiefly in the blind- 
 ing pyrotechnics of rocket-like emendations." ' 
 
 Graetz will be remembered only for his historical studies. His 
 History has been translated into French, English, and especially into 
 Hebrew. In recognition of his services to the science of Judaism, 
 on the occasion of his seventieth birthdav, the " Graetz Jubelschrift " 
 was published (Berlin, 1887). Excepting the first two and the last 
 volumes, his History remains a valuable contribution to Jewish 
 studies; and, with a few changes and additions which the advance 
 of science may render necessary, it will be the standard work for sev- 
 eral decades to come. 
 
 CHAPTEK XI 
 
 MORITZ STEINSCHNEIDER 
 
 The last scholar to engage our attention, and who, after Zunz, has 
 done more than any other scholar in Germany to promote the science 
 of Judaism and to stimulate investigation, is Moritz Steinschneider. 
 This " grand old man " of the school of modern Jewish critics, born 
 in the second decade of the nineteenth century, still lives, and writes 
 with unabated vigor. He is one of the marvels of the age, an exam- 
 ple of intellectual fecundity and physical vitality. The mere manual 
 labor of writing what has come from his pen would more than occupy 
 the time of most men. But to copiousness of production is added 
 rare scholarship and a high degree of originality. There is no greater 
 living authority on Hebraica. 
 
 The biography of this great scholar is to be found in his books ; 
 for his interests are centered in them. They are his companions, and 
 they occupy his time to the exclusion of all else. So wrapped up 
 is he in them that he is indifferent to all honors that may be given 
 him. He has taken comparatively no part in politics ; he has minis- 
 tered to no congregation. He has become known entirely through 
 his works. By his zeal and earnestness he has given to his contem- 
 poraries and to f uture generations volumes in which the achievements 
 of his people are recorded in plain but fitting and forcible language, 
 
 1 Philipp Bloch, Memoir of H. Graetz, in the English edition of Graetz's 
 History of the Jews, vol. vi. 75, Philadelphia, 1898. 
 
72 
 
 and for which his name will ever be prominent in the history of 
 Jewish literature. 
 
 Moritz Steinschneider, Hebraist, Arabist, and Aramaic scholar, 
 was born March 30, 1816, in Prossnitz, Moravia. His father, an 
 eminent Talmudist, realizing that the one-sided view of most Jewish 
 scholars was due to their peculiarly Jewish training, took great care 
 that his son Moritz should not suffer in this respect, and therefore 
 gave him a most liberal and sound education. 
 
 At the age of six Steinschneider was sent to a Christian school in 
 Prossnitz, so that his surroundings should not be entirely Jewish and 
 that he might receive impressions from the outer world, of which so 
 many Jews were, ignorant or in which they were initiated too late to 
 prevent them from being biased. In this respect, Steinschneider 
 started in life with more advantages than many of his colleagues, such 
 as Krochmal and Eapoport, who had no school training whatsoever. 
 He was thus enabled to cultivate a broader and more tolerant judg- 
 ment. 
 
 His Hebrew studies were not neglected, and were indeed pursued 
 with the view of preparing him for the ministry. At the age of 
 thirteen he attended the yeshibah or Jewish college of his native 
 city; in 1832 he went to Nikolsburg in order to be with his early 
 instructor; and, later, he continued his studies at Prague and Vienna. 
 In 1835, together with some young enthusiasts, he formed the bold 
 and very immature plan of founding a Jewish state to which the 
 Jews of Germany and Austria should go. Though the project was a 
 failure, it was not entirely without results; and it may be regarded 
 as in a measure the precursor of the Zionist movement of the present 
 day. After the society disbanded, the idea was fostered in England, 
 whither some of Steinschneider' s associates went, hoping to receive 
 among a liberal people a more ready response to their exhortations. 
 Steinschneider himself nurtured his scheme for some years, but, 
 finally recognizing its futility, directed all his efforts to the regenera- 
 tion of Israel by promoting the intellectual renaissance that had broken 
 forth under the guidance of men like Zunz and Eapoport. 
 
 In Vienna, where he had hoped to find available all resources 
 necessary for the continuation of his special studies, the civil disabil- 
 ities placed upon Jews hampered him in his work. The Govern- 
 ment, possibly informed of the design of the expatriation of the Aus- 
 
73 
 
 trian Jews, and considering it advisable to be rid of him as soon as 
 possible, ordered Steinschneider to leave Vienna as soon as he had 
 completed his course of study. Despite the many inconveniences he 
 had to undergo in Vienna, and notwithstanding the refusal of the 
 Government to grant him special privileges, such as making extracts 
 from the catalogue of the Hebrew collection in the Imperial Library, 1 
 Steinschneider endeavored to make rapid strides in acquiring knowl- 
 edge. Hebrew, Arabic, and Syriac were his chosen studies, and to 
 these he directed all his energy. Seeing that there was no chance of 
 advancement in Vienna, he set out for Berlin, where he hoped to 
 have more liberty to work. He, however, got no further than Leipsic ; 
 for, not having a pass, he was compelled to remain there. This 
 enforced stay in Leipsic was not without its benefits ; for it brought 
 the energetic student in touch with the University of Leipsic, and 
 especially with the well-known Arabic scholar, Fleischer. 
 
 Having obtained his doctorate from the University and been fur- 
 nished with a pass, he resumed his journey to Berlin in 1839. Here 
 he met Leopold Zunz, and readily recognized him as his master. 
 Zunz's influence on Steinschneider must have been considerable; for 
 the latter acknowledges that the written and personal communications 
 and the works of Zunz " traced out the pathway leading to the science 
 of Judaism." His stay with Zunz, however, was short; for, in 1842 
 he went to Prague, where he had accepted a position as teacher in a 
 girls' school. He returned to Berlin in 1845; and there, with 
 occasional travels to various parts of Europe in search of manuscripts, 
 he has made his home. 
 
 From 1869 to 1890 Steinschneider was director of the Jewish 
 schoolfor girls in Berlin. In 1872 he was offered a chair at the 
 "Hochschule fur die Wissenschaft des Judenthums," and in 1877 
 he was invited to the Jewish seminary at Budapest, both of which 
 offers he declined. Despite the importance of his work, the Prussian 
 Government was slow to recognize his greatness, and only grudgingly 
 and sparingly bestowed honors upon him. For many years he has 
 been head of the Hebrew department of the Kb'niglische Bibliothek, 
 and in 1893 was presented by the Government with the title of pro- 
 fessor. 
 
 Columbia University must take a certain amount of personal 
 1 G. A. Kohut, in American Hebrew, 1900, April 13, p. 699. 
 
74 
 
 interest in him ; for on the seventieth anniversary of his birthday 
 the University conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of 
 laws. 
 
 Since 1838 Steinschneider has written incessantly in Hebrew, 
 German, French, Italian, and Latin. His works have been so numer- 
 ous that the mere enumeration of them would fill many pages. 1 He 
 has written upon almost every phase of Jewish literature, and has 
 made incursions into Arabic and Syriac as well. He has contrib- 
 uted to many encyclopedias and to numerous periodicals dedicated to 
 Orientalia, mathematics, and medicine. His articles treat of poetry, 
 fables, homilies, Talmud, Haggadah, philosophy, metaphysics, Cabala, 
 history, chronology, geography, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, 
 linguistics, " Yolksliteratur," and chess. He has been translator, edi- 
 tor, and book reviewer. At one time he proposed to edit a Jewish 
 encyclopedia, wrote letters in behalf of such an undertaking, 8 and 
 with David Cassel even issued a prospectus of the proposed work. 
 Though the need of such an encyclopedia has at all times been urgent, 
 it has remained for American enterprise to bring such a work to a 
 successful issue. 
 
 In reference to the sources the bibliographer has had at his service, 
 the reader is referred to the introduction of Steinschneider' s " Bibli- 
 ographisches Handbuch," 1859, of his "Catalogus Librorum he- 
 brseorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana," 1857, and of Fiirst's "Bibliotheca 
 Judaica" vol. iii., "Vorwort." It should, however, be stated that 
 Steinschneider' s bibliographies have excelled and supplanted all the 
 works of his predecessors, among the more recent of whom are Johann 
 Christian Wolf, Dei Rossi, and Julius Furst. 
 
 Steinschneider' s reputation rests upon his bibliographical works 
 and upon his studies in Jewish and Arabic literature and history. 
 Many of his best articles, which are standard works on Jewish liter- 
 ature, are to be found scattered through the various encyclopedias and 
 journals to which he contributed. Of these the most noteworthy is 
 the article " Jiidische Literatur " in the " Allgemeine Encyklopadie 
 
 1 Two lists have been made : one by Dr. A. Berliner in his Schriften des 
 Dr. Moritz Steinschneider, Berlin, 1886; and a more complete one, published by 
 George A. Kohut in the Festschrift zura achtzigsten Gebitrstage Moritz Stein- 
 schneider' 1 s, Leipsic, 1896, which covers some twenty octavo pages of very fine print. 
 
 'Fiirst's Literaturblatt des Orients, 1840, pp. 465-71, 491-4, 500-4; and The 
 Jewish Encyclopedia, i., preface, p. xix., New York, 1901. 
 
75 
 
 der Wissenschaften und Kunste," ! edited by Ersch and Gruber. The 
 difficulties that Steinschneider encountered in writing this article 
 were numerous. The field had been only partially worked. Further- 
 more, as the article was intended for an encyclopedia, it had to be 
 very concise, yet not obscure, and to be confined to mere outlines so 
 as not to trespass upon detailed accounts the exposition of which had 
 been assigned to other contributors. Though the article turned out 
 to be much longer than originally planned, 2 the author has in no 
 instance encroached on the domain of his collaborators. " Jlidische 
 Literatur " was the first attempt to present a history of Jewish liter- 
 ature in which every phase of that literature should receive its proper 
 share of attention. The method employed by the author is critical; 
 his exposition is historical. Though much has been written on 
 Jewish literature since its first appearance, though every encyclopedia 
 contains some articles on the subject, Steinschneider' s " Jiidische Lit- 
 eratur " still remains the authority. 
 
 The other great historico-literary and critical works that Stein- 
 schneider has produced are "Die hebraische Uebersetzungen des 
 Mittelalters und die Juden als Dolmetscher : ein Beitrag zur Literatur- 
 geschichte des Mittelalters meist nach handschriftlichen Quellen," 
 Berlin, 1893, and "Die arabischen Uebersetzungen aus den Grie- 
 chischen," 1889-96. 
 
 One very remarkable feature of both works is that they were pub- 
 lished long after the period in life at which most men retire from a 
 literary career. Both works represent the toil of more than half a 
 century. The sources were scattered all over Europe, in public and in 
 private libraries. To get at these required years of travel and research ; 
 and even then much of the necessary material was beyond Stein- 
 schneider' s reach. Happily, good fellowship was an inherent quality 
 of this band of students, and each was ready at a moment's call to 
 render his fellow laborer assistance and to furnish all the information 
 
 1 Section 2, vol. xxvii. 357-359. This article has been translated into Eng- 
 lish by William Spottiswood, under the title Jewish Literature from the Eighth 
 to the Eighteenth Century; with an Introduction on 'Talmud and Midrash, Lon- 
 don, 1857. An index to the article was made by Steinschneider and published at 
 Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1893. A Hebrew translation was made by Hirsch Maltar, 
 Warsaw, 1897. 
 
 2 The English translation covers more than two hundred and fifty octavo 
 pages, not including notes and indices. 
 
76 
 
 that was needed. In this way the Northern Jewish scholars received 
 information of manuscripts in the libraries of the South, and vice versa. 
 As Zunz had received data from Luzzatto and from others in all parts 
 of Europe, so also was Steinschneider assisted in his "Ueberset- 
 zungen " by the willing hands and brains of his peers. Both these 
 contributions were prize essays submitted to the French Acad^mie 
 des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, which fact of itself is a testimony 
 to their great value. In 1880 the Acade'mie offered a prize for the 
 best essay on the theme, "Faire 1' Enumeration compl. et systemat. 
 des traductions h^braiques qui ont 6t6 faites au moyen-^ge, d'ouvrage 
 de philosophie et de sciences grecs, arabes, ou meme latins," ' and in 
 1882 offered another prize on the subject, "Relever sur . . . le 
 Fihrist toutes les traductions d'ouvrages en arabe; critiquer ces 
 donnEes bibliographiques d'apres les documents imprimis et manu- 
 scrits." a In response Steinschneider wrote two separate dissertations 
 in French, and later translated them into German. Of the two, "Die 
 hebraische Uebersetzungen des Mittelalters " is the better known and 
 more generally consulted. The other, "Die Arabischen Ueberset- 
 zungen," was never published separately, but was printed in three 
 parts in various periodicals. 3 Of these two dissertations the "Heb- 
 raische Uebersetzungen " alone is of immediate interest for our present 
 study of the work done in Jewish history and literature during the 
 nineteenth century. The " Hebraische Uebersetzungen " treats of 
 translations made by the Jews of the Middle Ages from Arabic, 
 Greek, Latin, and, to a less extent, from modern languages. 
 
 Steinschneider claims that translations were made at a very early 
 date, much earlier than most students are aware. It is true that the 
 greatest activity of the Jewish translations occurred in the twelfth 
 century. But long before that time, the desire was felt to become 
 acquainted with thought expressed in a language unknown to most 
 Jews. To this desire we owe translations from the Greek, a study 
 of which was stimulated by contact with Greek thought through 
 
 1 Kohut, Bibliography of Steinschneider's writings in Festschrift, 1896, 
 p. xi. 2 Ibid. 
 
 3 The introduction was published in the Centralblatt fur Bibliothekswesen, 
 1889, vii. 51-85; chap. i. was published under the title Philosophie, ibid., 1893, 
 xii. 129-240; chap. ii. in Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, 
 1896 ; chap. iii. Medicine, in Virchow's Archiv, 1891, cxxiv. 115-36 ; 268-96, 
 455-87. 
 
77 
 
 Arabic sources. Translations were also made from the works of 
 Arabs, of Jews who wrote in other languages than Hebrew, and of 
 Christians, as well as from many anonymous compositions. Not 
 only were religious treatises translated, but books on medicine, phi- 
 losophy, fables, and astronomy were rendered from one language into 
 another. No matter how low the political and social condition of 
 the Jews may have been during the Middle Ages, their intellectual 
 standing was always of a comparatively high degree. 
 
 The "Hebraische Uebersetzungen " is arranged according to the 
 subject-matter with which the translations deal: philosophy, mathe- 
 matics, medicine, etc. The author has been very careful to give 
 detailed information in regard to biographical and bibliographical 
 data, to the commentaries and supercommentaries made upon the 
 translations. In 1,077 pages the author has traced, more clearly than 
 it had ever been traced before, the part taken by the Jews in the 
 development of culture in Europe and in the renaissance of learning. 
 He has showed how the Jew has acted the part of mediator between 
 Europe on the one hand, and Greek and Arabic thought on the other. 
 
 Though the " Judische Literatur " and the " Hebraische Ueberset- 
 zungen " are to be placed among the best of Steinschneider's works, 
 his greatest achievements are his catalogues. He is par excellence 
 the bibliographer of this school. To his exertions we owe cata- 
 logues of collections of Jewish books and manuscripts in some of the 
 most important libraries of Europe and in many private collections. 
 The most valuable of these are the "Catalogus Librorum hebraeorum 
 in Bibliotheca Bodleiana," 1852-69; "Conspectus Codicum hebrae- 
 orum Bibliothecse Academise Lugduno-Batavae," 1858; "Die Hebrii- 
 ischen Handschriften der K. Hof- und Staatsbibliothek in Munchen," 
 1875; 2d ed. 1895-96; "Catalog der hebraischen Handschriften in 
 der Stadtbibliothek zu Hamburg und der sich anschliessenden in 
 anderen Sprachen," 1878. Of these catalogues, that of the Bodleian 
 Library is one of the greatest works that any Jewish scholar of the 
 century has produced. It is a storehouse of information; dealing 
 with those authors that have made Jewish literature, and treating 
 of them in alphabetical order. 
 
 Steinschneider has also edited the "Hebraische Bibliographie" 
 (1858-65, 1869-1881), a journal treating on Jewish literature in all 
 its various branches. 
 
78 
 
 The mere manual work required of the author in the production 
 of Steinschneider's books, especially his catalogues, is almost in- 
 credible : the value of the works themselves to the student of Jewish 
 history and literature cannot be overestimated. He has treated, 
 briefly yet as exhaustively as his sources would permit, all Jewish 
 authors; he has given their biographies, the editions of their works, 
 and has shown the relative importance of each writer. 
 
 Most of Steinschneider's works were not written for a reading 
 public, nor were they intended to be read continuously by the student. 
 They are mainly reference books, veritable encyclopedias of Jewish 
 literature and Jewish culture in general, indispensable alike for the 
 student and the scholar. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 In addition to the works of the authors treated in this dissertation the 
 undermentioned books and articles have been consulted : 
 
 General References 
 
 Cassel, D. Lehrbuch derjUdischen Geschichte und Literatur, Leipsic, 
 1879. 
 
 Geiger, A. JUdische Geschichte von 1830 bis zur Gegenwart, in Geiger's 
 Nachgelassene Schriften, ii. 246-273, Berlin, 1875. 
 
 Goldenthal, I. Die neueste Schule in der jUdischen Literatur, in Sit- 
 zungsberichte der Wiener Akademie, 1853, ix. 306. 
 
 Graetz, H. Geschichte der Juden, 11 vols., 1853-1876., Translation edited 
 by the Jewish Publication Society of America, 5 vols. , Philadelphia, 
 1891-98. 
 
 Jost, I. M. Neuere Geschichte der Israeliten von 1815 bis 1855, Berlin, 
 1846-47 ; idem, Geschichte des Judenthums und seiner Sekten, 
 1857-59. 
 
 Karpeles, G. Geschichte der judischen Literatur, Berlin, 1886. 
 
 Kayserling, M. Die JUdische Literatur von Moses Mendelssohn bis 
 auf die Gegenwart, in vol. iii. of Die jiidische Literatur, edited by 
 Winter and Wunsche, Treves, 1896. 
 
 Hitter, I. H. Geschichte der jiidischen Reformation, Berlin, 1858. 
 
 Schach, F. Eine auferstandene Sprache, Berlin, n. d. 
 
 Steinschneider, M. Catalogus Librorum hebraiorum in Bibliotheca 
 Bodleiana, Berlin, 1852-60 ; idem, Jewish Literature, London, 1857. 
 
 Weiss, I. H. Zikronotai, Warsaw, 1895. 
 
 Weissberg. Neuhebraische Aufklarungs-Literatur, Leipsic and Vien- 
 na, 1898. 
 
 Zeitlin, William. Bibliotheca hebraica post-Mendelssohniana, Leip- 
 sic, 1891-95. 
 
 Galician School 
 
 NACHMAN KROCHMAL : 
 
 Anonymous, in Jost's Israelitische Annalen, 1840, p. 301. 
 
 Hein, M. Drei Forscher der neuesten Zeit, in Monatsschrift, 1889, 
 
 pp. 315, 337, 378, 406. 
 Letteris, M. Introduction to the Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman, 2d edition, 
 
 1863. 
 
80 
 
 Rapoport, S. J. Eulogy on Krochmal, in Kerem Hemed, iv. 4. 
 Schechter, S. Studies in Judaism, Philadelphia, 1896, pp. 46 et seq. ; 
 
 idem, Rabbi Nachman Krochmal : a paper read before the Jews' 
 
 College Literary Society, Jan. 23, 1887, London, 1887. 
 Zunz, L. Introduction to the Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman, 2d edition, 
 
 1863; idem, Nekrolog N. Krochmal s in his Gesammelte Schriften, ii. 
 
 150 et seq. 
 
 S. J. RAPOPORT: 
 
 Bernfeld, S. Toledot Shir, 1900 ; idem, A Sketch of the Life of Rapo- 
 port, in Ahiasaf, 1900, p. 349. 
 
 Brann, M. Die Familie Rapoport; in Das Centenarium S. J. L. 
 RapoporVs {Festgabe der oesterreichischen Wochenschrift, June 
 I, 1900), Vienna. 
 
 Buchler, Alex. Die Wahi RapoporVs in Prag und Solomon Ro- 
 senthal, ibid. 
 
 Carmoly, Eliakim. Ha-Orevim u-Bene Yonah, Rodelheim, 1861. 
 
 Epstein, Abraham. Dibre Bikkoret, Cracow, 1896. 
 
 Geiger, A. Edward Kiev und S. L. Rapoport, in Geiger's Jildische 
 Zeitschrift, v. 241. 
 
 Grun, Nathan. S. L. R. und seine Bibliothek, in Das Centenarium 
 RapoporVs, Vienna, June 1, 1900. 
 
 Halberstam, S. J. and Kaufmann, D. S. L. RapoporVs Schriften, 
 Bibliographisch verzeichnet, in Das Centenarium RapoporVs, 
 Vienna, June 1, 1900. 
 
 Kaufmann, D. Eine Festbetrachtung, in Das Centenarium Rapo- 
 porVs, Vienna, June 1, 1900. 
 
 Kurlander, A. Biographie S. L. RapoporVs, Pest, 1899. 
 
 Libowitch, N. G. Iggeret Bikkoret, New York, 1896. 
 
 Reifman, Jacob. Genealogy of Rapoport, in Smolenski's Ha-Shahar, 
 iii. 353 et seq. 
 
 Rosin, D. Erinnerungen an S. L. R., in Das Centenarium Rapo- 
 porVs, Vienna, June 1, 1900. 
 
 Steinschneider, M. Gegenwart, 1867, i. 338. 
 
 Zunz, L. Gottesdienstliche Vortrage 2d edition, 1892, p. xiii. 
 
 Italian School 
 
 I. S, REGGIO: 
 
 Goldenthal, I., in Philippson's Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, 
 
 Beiblatt No. 35, pp. 160, 228. 
 Levinson, I. B. Jehoshaphat, Warsaw, 1884. 
 Libowitch, N. G. Iggeret Bikkoret, p. 13, New York, 1896. 
 
 S. D. LUZZATTO : 
 
 Bernfeld, S. A Sketch of the Life of Luzzatto, in Ahiasaf, 1900, 
 p. 332. 
 
81 
 
 Elbogon, J. S. D. Luzzatto > 8 Stellung zur Bibelkritik, in Monats- 
 
 schrift, October, 1900, p. 460. 
 Geiger, A., in JUdische Zeitschrift fur Wissenschaft und Leben, 1863, 
 
 ii. 270-275 ; 1866, iv. 1-21 ; v. 142. 
 
 German School 
 
 LEOPOLD ZUNZ: 
 
 Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, 1891, p. 44 ; 1895, pp. 54, 236. 
 
 Berliner, A. Paid de Lagarde, nach seiner Natur gezeichnet, Berlin, 
 1887. 
 
 Chotzner, J. Ot Zikkaron, Toledot Rabbi Yom-Tob Lipman Zunz, 
 Berlin, 1891. 
 
 Gaster, M. Catalogue of Zunz Miscellanea. Appendix to Judith Mon- 
 tefiore College Report for 1891-92, London, 1892. 
 
 Geiger, A., in Nachgelassene Schriften, i. 296. 
 
 Karpeles, G. Jewish Literature and Other Essays, p. 318, Philadel- 
 phia, 1895. 
 
 Kaufmann, D. Paul de Lagarde' s judische Gelehrsamkeit,ljeipsic,1887; 
 idem, L. Zunz, in Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, 1900, xlv. 490. 
 
 Lagarde, Paul de. Lipman Zunz und seine Verehre, Gottingen, 1886. 
 
 Maybaum, S. Ausdem Leben von Leopold Zunz, Berlin, 1894. Zivolfter 
 Bericht uber die Lehranstalt fur die Wissenschaft des Judenthums 
 in Berlin. 
 
 Monatsschrift fur Geschichte des Judenthums, xxxviii. No. 11 con- 
 tains articles on Zunz by Kaufmann, Brann, Rosin, and Theodor. 
 
 Rabbinowitz, S. P. Rabbi Yom-Tob Lipman Zunz, Warsaw, 1896. 
 
 Steinschneider, M. Preface to the second edition of the Gottesdienst- 
 liche Vortrdge, 1892, p. xiv. 
 
 Techen, Ludwig. Zwei Gottinger Machzorhandschriften, Gottingen, 
 1884. 
 
 Weiss, I. H. Leopold Zunz, in Jewish Quarterly Review, April, 1885, 
 p 365. This article is a translation of the section of I. H Weiss's Zik- 
 ronotai treating on Zunz. 
 
 ABRAHAM GEIGER: 
 
 Schreiber, Emanuel. The Greatest Reform Rabbi of the 19th Cen- 
 tury, Spokane, Washington, 1892. 
 
 ZACH ARIAS FRANKEL: 
 
 Beer, B., in Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenldndischen Gesellschaft, 
 
 1860, xiv. 323. 
 Brann. Jahrbuch zurBelehrung und Unterhaltung, 1898, p. 100. 
 Perles, in Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, 1878, vii. 266. 
 
 6 
 
82 
 
 I. M. JOST : 
 
 Bernfeld, S. A Sketch of the Life of Jost, in Ahiasaf, 1900, p. 341. 
 
 Brann, M. Jahrbuch zur Belehrung und TJnterhaltung, 1893, p. 15. 
 
 Brull, in Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, 1881, xiv. 577. 
 
 Friedenthal. I. M. Jost: Eine Biographische Skizze, in Kleinsche 
 Jahrbuch, 1844, pp. 77 et seq. 
 
 Stein's Volkslehrer, 1860, pp. 241, 337. 
 
 Steinschneider, M. Introduction to his Bibliographisches Hand- 
 wort erbuch ficr hebraische Sprachkunde, Leipsic, 1859. 
 
 Zirndorf. Marcus Jost und seine Freunde, Cincinnati, 1886. 
 
 HEINRICH GRAETZ: 
 
 Abrahams, Israel. The Writings of Prof. Graetz (Bibliography), in 
 Jewish Quarterly Review, 1891-92, iv. 194 ; idem, H Graetz, the 
 Jewish Historian, in Jewish Quarterly Review, iv. 165. 
 
 Bloch, Ph. Memoir of H Graetz, in vol. vi. of the English transla- 
 tion of Graetz's Geschichte der Juden, Philadelphia, 1898. 
 
 Kaufmann, D., in Brann's Jahrbuch zur Belehrung und TJnterhal- 
 tung, 1893, p. 3. 
 
 Schreiber, Emanuel. Graetz's Geschichtsbauerei, Berlin, 1881. 
 
 MORITZ STEINSCHNEIDER : 
 
 Kohut, G. A. Moritz Steinschneider, in American Hebrew, lxvi. 633, 
 680, 699 ; Ixvii. 173, 397. Bibliography of the writings of Dr. Moritz 
 Steinschneider, in Festschrift zum achtzigsten Gebur stage Moritz 
 Steinschneider*' s, pp. v.-xxxix., Leipsic, 1896. 
 
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