Tasuta

History of the Jews, Vol. 3 (of 6)

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At the time when Spain showed such an abundance of distinguished men, France and Germany were lacking in great creative minds, and the history of the Jews of these countries presents few interesting features. They lived entirely undisturbed, were landowners, cultivated the vine, occupied themselves with handicrafts and trade, and only had to pay to the prince, in whose territory they dwelt, a kind of Jew-tax.

The French and German Jews doubtless lacked energy and chivalry, but theirs was not a lower grade of culture than that of their Christian compatriots. Their chief occupation on both sides of the Rhine was the study of the Talmud, into which Gershom had initiated them. "They drive away sleep to absorb themselves in the Talmud."

The first Jewish persecution on Andalusian soil by the Mahometan fanatics of Granada alarmed all the communities of Spain, but it did not have the effect of discouraging them, or producing stagnation. The pursuit of science and poetry had become second nature to the Jews of southern Spain, and only frequent and crushing disasters could repress their love. The persecution was neither repeated nor imitated. The people of Granada had murdered the Jewish vizir and several of his nation, which, however, did not hinder other kings or emirs from attracting gifted Jews to their courts, entrusting them with important affairs, and placing the Jews on an equality with the ruling population of the state.

An Arab historian complained that the princes of the Faithful abandoned themselves to sensual enjoyments, placed their power in the hands of the Jews, and made them Hayibs, vizirs and private secretaries. The example of the Mahometan courts was followed even by Christian states. They also began to employ Jews in affairs of state, and their ability and faithfulness added greatly to the growth of their power. Thus the position of the Spanish Jews remained for a time wholly unaffected by the success of Christian arms and the gradual dissolution of the Mahometan principalities. They felt as much at home under the dominion of the Cross in Spain, as under that of the Crescent, and were able, unfettered, to satisfy their love of investigation. Their ardor in the domain of science and of poetry, far from cooling, increased, if possible, more and more, and the number of students grew from year to year. Yet it appears that in the period after Ibn-Nagrela and Ibn-Gebirol, poetry, philology, exegesis, and philosophy, although eagerly followed, were superseded by the study of the Talmud, which became, as it were, the central study. The dialectics of the Talmud were revived and cultivated simultaneously in Spain, Africa, and France. The study of the Talmud was so thoroughly prosecuted that the achievements of the Geonim were thrown into the shade. Six men, of whom five bear the name of Isaac, and the other, that of Yizchaki, may be regarded as the principal figures of the second rabbinical age: Isaac Ibn-Albalia, distinguished also for his political position; Isaac Ibn-Giat and Isaac ben Reuben, who were at once Talmudists and writers of liturgical poems; Isaac Ibn-Sakni; Isaac Alfassi and Solomon Yizchaki, the two creators of an independent method of Talmudic study, far surpassing that used by the Geonim.

Isaac ben Baruch Albalia, by means of documents, traced his origin to Baruch, a noble exile from Jerusalem, who is supposed to have been sent by Titus to a proconsul at Merida, in order to carry on in Spain the silk culture, in which his family was skilled. Later the Albalias removed to Cordova, and became one of the most distinguished families of the Andalusian capital. Isaac (born 1035, died 1094) early betrayed a gifted mind and a burning thirst for knowledge. His inclinations led him equally to astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, and the Talmud. Samuel Ibn-Nagrela encouraged him in his studies by gifts and books, and his son Joseph endowed him with abundant means. Isaac Ibn-Albalia lived alternately in Cordova and with his noble patron in Granada. He only trifled with poetry, and turned his mind to deeper studies. Isaac Ibn-Albalia had scarcely attained his thirtieth year, when he began a commentary to elucidate the most difficult portions of the Talmud. At the same time (1065) he was writing an astronomical work called Ibbur, on the principles of the Jewish calendar, which he dedicated to his patron, Joseph Ibn-Nagrela. Isaac Ibn-Albalia, who was at the time visiting his friend Joseph, luckily was not injured in the massacre at Granada (1066), and he afterwards made Cordova his permanent abode. Here he became acquainted with the noble prince, Abulkassim Mahomet, a lover of science and poetry. When the latter ascended the throne of Seville, under the name of Al-Mutamed (May, 1069), he summoned Ibn-Albalia to his court at Seville, and made him his astronomer, whose duty it was not so much to observe the motions of the stars as to foretell future events from the position of the constellations. He also appointed Isaac Albalia as chief over all the Jewish communities of his kingdom, which fortunate conquests had made the mightiest in Mahometan Spain. It extended northward as far as Cordova, and eastward to Murcia. Isaac, therefore, like Ibn-Chasdaï, Ibn-Jau, and Ibn-Nagrela, took the rank of prince (Nassi). He was at the same time rabbi over the communities of the realm of Seville, and his authority was acknowledged abroad. As his master, Al-Mutamed, was the most illustrious prince in Spain, so Isaac was the most illustrious and learned man among the Spanish Jews. Beautiful Seville became through him the center of Jewish Spain, as Cordova and Granada had been in the past. Al-Mutamed, the last noble ruler of the Arab race in Spain, had another Jewish functionary at his court, Ibn-Misha'l, whom he employed on diplomatic missions.

Of Albalia's contemporary, Isaac ben Jehuda Ibn-Giat (b. 1030, d. 1089), little is known. He belonged to a rich and illustrious family of Lucena (not far from Cordova). Both the Ibn-Nagrelas gave him in his youth many proofs of their respect, and he was devoted to them heart and soul. After the tragic end of Joseph Ibn-Nagrela, Ibn-Giat gave himself much trouble to raise Joseph's son, Abu-nassar Azaria, to the rank of rabbi of Lucena. But death deprived this noble house of its last scion. The community selected Isaac Ibn-Giat as its spiritual chief, on account of his learning and virtues. Liturgical poetry, philosophy, and the Talmud were the three domains sedulously cultivated by him.

Isaac ben Reuben Albergeloni, in his old age, compiled an original work treating of the civil jurisprudence of the Talmud in a systematic way. He also was an earnest religious poet. He composed new "Azharoth" in pithy but awkward language, and adorned his verses with Biblical quotations aptly applied. Isaac Albergeloni is the first Hebrew writer to make use of this mosaic of Biblical verses, which are not quoted for their usual meaning, but woven together in ingenious and unexpected combinations.

Albergeloni in early youth had gone from Barcelona to Denia; at the same time the fourth Isaac (ben Moses) Ibn-Sakni was departing thence, probably because a slight had been put upon him. He wended his way to the Orient, and in Pumbeditha was made a teacher of the Law under the title of Gaon. So greatly had the times changed! Whilst the Occident had formerly lent a willing ear to the utterances of the Geonim in the Orient, it was now, scarcely half a century after the death of Gaon Haï, able to send teachers to the country in which had stood the cradle of the Talmud, and a man who found no recognition in Spain was considered an authority by the once proud Pumbeditha.

In knowledge and sharp-witted understanding of the Talmud, these four Isaacs were outstripped by the fifth, Isaac ben Jacob Alfassi, or Alkalaï. Born in Kala-Ibn-Hammad, in the neighborhood of Fez (1013), he was instructed by the last African authorities, Nissim and Chananel, and after their death in 1056 he became the representative of Talmud studies in western Africa. Indifferent to the scientific pursuits which their taste as well as consideration for their material advancement prompted the gifted Jews of Spain and Africa to cultivate, Alfassi devoted all his acumen to a profound study of the Talmud. His was a deeply earnest, independent nature, not content to keep to the beaten track of time-honored customs, but desirous of striking out into new paths. It had hitherto been the custom to follow in practice the rulings of the Geonim, whenever, as frequently occurs, the Talmud records conflicting opinions on a given subject, and to accept their explanations and decisions as norms. Alfassi, however, proceeded from the commentaries to the text itself, and sought with his peculiar acuteness to distinguish all that was incontestable and durable, and of real import, in the Talmud, from that which was doubtful, superficial, and expedient. The opinions of the Gaonic authorities were not final for him. In this spirit he compiled a work, which, in spite of the attacks leveled at it at the time, became a standard book for the entire Jewish community. His "Halachoth" abstract from the Talmud only whatever affects conduct, but fix the practical bearings of the laws thus classified with absolute certainty. Alfassi's work consigned to oblivion all similar works compiled in the course of three centuries, since Jehudaï Gaon's time. His name was borne by this work far beyond the straits into Spain where he counted still more admirers than in his native land.

A complete match for Alfassi, however, in knowledge of the Talmud was the Frenchman, Solomon Yizchaki, a man as acute and independent as himself, only less bold and impetuous, but more versatile.

Solomon Yizchaki, known under the name of Rashi, was born in 1040 (died in 1105), at Troyes, in Champagne, in the year in which the last Gaon suffered martyrdom, as if to intimate that the new spirit infused by Rashi would fully compensate for the downfall of the old institution. Rashi's mother was the sister of Simon ben Isaac, highly respected on account of his services to the community of Mayence and his liturgic poetry, and his father was well versed in the Talmud. Thus Rashi had, as it were, drawn his nourishment from the Talmud, and in it he lived and had his being. In order to perfect himself in the study of the Talmud, he frequented the Talmudical school of Mayence, but also attended the lectures of the Talmud teachers in Worms, and of Eliakim in Speyer. Like Akiba he left his home and his wife to devote himself to the study of the Law in foreign parts. He tells in what needy circumstances he pursued this study, "in want of bread, denuded of clothing and fettered by matrimony." Now and then, probably on the festivals, he visited his wife, but he always returned to the German, or as they were then called, Lotharingian centers of learning. At the age of twenty-five (1064) he settled permanently at Troyes.

 

In his modesty he did not suspect that at that early time he was honored as a master of Talmudic lore. In Rashi's earliest decisions which he delivered when a youth, there is no trace of the groping novice, they reveal the hand of the skilful adept, the master of his subject. His teachers, in their letters, lavished on him the most flattering praise. Isaac Halevi, of Worms, wrote to Rashi, "We owe it to you that this age is not orphaned, and may many like unto you arise in Israel."

Undoubtedly the community of Troyes and its vicinity selected him as their rabbi, though we have no proof thereof; but he drew no emoluments from the office. In a time, about which a dispassionate author, in speaking of the prelates under Pope Hildebrand, can say, "No one could become a bishop or an abbot of the empire unless he either was rich or addicted to vice; amongst the priests, he was praised most highly who had the most splendid garments, the most sumptuous table, and the handsomest concubines" – in that time, and also for a long while afterwards, it was considered in Jewish circles a sin and a disgrace for rabbis to accept remuneration for the performance of their duties. The rabbinate in Christian and Moslem countries was an honorary office to be given only to the most worthy; and the rabbi was to be a shining light to the community, not only intellectually, but also in moral character. Sobriety, frugality, indifference to Mammon, were as a matter of course expected of every rabbi. Rashi was the most perfect embodiment of this conception of a rabbi, and Jewish posterity has beheld in him a spotless personification of its ideal. His contemporaries also revered him as the highest authority. From all parts of France and Germany doubtful cases were sent to him to be decided, and his answers testified to his profound knowledge and to his mildness of temper.

After the death of the Talmudical scholars in Lorraine, about 1070, the German and French students flocked to Rashi's lecture-room at Troyes; he was looked upon as their worthy successor. He lectured on the Bible and the Talmud. Rashi was so imbued with the spirit of the Talmud that for him it contained nothing obscure. In its elucidation he surpassed all his predecessors, so that it was rightly said that without him the Babylonian Talmud would have been neglected like that of Jerusalem. His explanations of a large number of the Talmudic tractates, which he called "Commentary" (conteros), are models of their kind, simple, concise and lucid. He wrote in the clear idiom of the Talmud, and neither used an unnecessary, nor omitted a necessary word. The explanations of words and things are intended for the beginner as well as for the learned specialist. Rashi gave clearness to the text by placing himself in the position of the reader; by a skilfully chosen expression, he prevented misunderstanding, met objections and anticipated questions. Rashi, as commentator, may be called an artist. He soon supplanted the commentaries of Gershom and his own masters. Rashi also wrote a commentary of equal originality on most of the books of Holy Writ. His tact and his love of truth led him to seize the true meaning of words and passages. But he allowed himself frequently to be guided by the Agadic opinions, on the supposition that the elucidation of verses occurring in the Talmud and in Agadic works was to be taken seriously. Yet he was, to a certain extent, conscious that the simple text (peshat) was opposed to the Agadic mode of explanation (the derasha). In his old age this consciousness deepened, and he told his learned grandson (Rashbam) that he meant to revise his commentaries of the Bible in the spirit of a sober and literal explanation of the text. Rashi towered above the contemporaneous Christian expositors of the Bible, who all believed that Holy Writ contained a fourfold meaning. Rashi's skill in exposition appears the more surprising as he was not acquainted with the important achievements of the Spanish school. He was acquainted only with the first part of the Hebrew grammar by Menachem ben Saruk and that by Dunash, and these he took as his guides. Chayuj's and Ibn-Janach's works, however, being written in Arabic, remained unknown to him. Therefore, his grammatical nomenclature is clumsy and frequently obscure. Nevertheless, no commentary of Holy Writ has been so popular as Rashi's, so that at one time many considered his commentary part and parcel of the text, and every one of his words was in turn commented upon and expounded. His mantle fell upon his grandsons and sons-in-law, who were his greatest disciples. For he had no sons, only three daughters, of whom the one was so deeply versed in the Talmud that during her father's illness she read to him all the questions concerning the Talmud that had been sent to him, and wrote down the answers dictated to her. His three daughters were married to men of learning, and gave birth to sons worthy of their ancestry. One of these sons-in-law, Meïr of Rameru, not far from Troyes, was the father of three distinguished sons. Through Rashi and his school, the north of France, Champagne, became the home of Talmudic lore as Babylonia had been of old. It laid down the law for the rest of Europe. The French Talmudical students were in request even in Spain, and were liberally remunerated for their instruction. The leadership, which Jewish Spain had taken from Babylonia, from Rashi's time had to be shared with France. Whilst Spain remained classic ground with respect to Hebrew poetry, linguistic attainments, exegesis and philosophy, it had to yield the palm to France in the study of the Talmud.

At this time there were two men in Spain who occupied themselves exclusively with grammar and the study of the Bible, and although they did not particularly enrich these studies, yet they undoubtedly imbued them with fresh vitality. They were Moses ben Samuel Ibn-G'ikatilia, of Cordova, and Jehuda Ibn-Balam, of Toledo (about 1070 to 1100). The former, the disciple of Ibn-Janach, in his exposition of Holy Writ occupied his master's liberal point of view. Some of the Psalms were attributed by Ibn-G'ikatilia to a later period, whilst the common opinion prevailed amongst Jews as well as Christians that the whole psalter was the work of the royal bard. He did not think well of the division of verses by the Massora, and contrary to its directions, joined consecutive verses.

The representatives of the Spanish Jews thus distinguished themselves in science and poetry, while in France great impetus was given to the study of the Talmud. The Jews of the Italian peninsula, however, occupy a very low position in the history of culture at this period. Their poetic effusions, in harsh and barbaric language, whether liturgical or secular in character, lack the true charm of poetry, and their Talmud lore was obtained from foreign parts. Nathan ben Yechiel, of Rome, is the only Italian of that time whose name figures in Jewish literature. He compiled a Talmudic lexicon, under the title of "Aruch," in about 1001 or 1002; it was more complete than the earlier works of similar purpose, but was compiled, with little originality, from these older works, principally from the writings of Chananel, of Kairuan. This lexicon became the key to the Talmud. Kalonymos, of Rome, is also mentioned as a Talmudic authority. Rashi spoke of him with great respect; the community of Worms elected him as rabbi after the year 1096. However, he has left nothing in writing, and seems to have exerted no influence. The historical works of this period are silent respecting the political position of the Italian Jews, a proof that it was not unfavorable.

Events of world-wide importance in western Europe, the extensive invasion by Christians of Mahometan Spain, and the first crusade against the Mahometans in the East, brought about important changes for the Jews of western Europe. The changes were chiefly of a deplorable kind, and interrupted their peaceful occupation with the Law. In the fortunes of Spain the Jews played no insignificant part, although their active interference is not conspicuously visible. They were helpful in digging the pit into which their great grandsons were to fall. The first powerful blow at the Islam dominion in the peninsula south of the Pyrenees was dealt by the Castilian king Alfonso VI, who was as brave in combat as he was clever in state affairs, and who placed more reliance on the sword and on diplomatic art, than on the cross and prayer. His purpose, to conquer the Mahometan kingdoms and principalities, was only attainable by fomenting dissensions among the rulers, stimulating rivalry between them, and playing off one against the other, thus weakening them all. To that end he required clever diplomatists, and among his subjects the Jews were the ones best prepared for the work. His knights were too clumsy, and his citizens too ignorant to be fitted for missions of a delicate nature. At the Mahometan courts of Toledo, Seville, Granada, there reigned a refined, cultured, intellectual tone, and frequent allusions were made in conversation to the brilliant history and literature of the Arabs. If an ambassador at these courts wanted to accomplish anything, he was obliged, not only to be acquainted with all the niceties of the Arabic language, but also to be familiar with its literature and the manners of the court. In these respects the Jews were particularly useful. Therefore Alfonso employed Jews on diplomatic missions to the courts of the Mahometan princes. One of them, the Jewish diplomatist at the court of King Alfonso, was Amram ben Isaac Ibn-Shalbib, originally Alfonso's private physician. As Ibn-Shalbib was well versed in Arabic, and possessed insight into the political circumstances of that period, the king of Castile appointed him private secretary, and entrusted him with important affairs. Alfonso had another Jewish adviser, Cidellus, who was on such intimate terms with the king, that the latter's reserve was overcome, and he permitted him to speak more freely than any of the Spanish noblemen and grandees of the empire. Alfonso, who was far from being a religious bigot, and who had acquired liberal views from his contact with the Mahometan princes, not only conferred distinctions on certain individuals among the Jews, but cleared the way to dignities and honors for all the sons of Jacob dwelling in his dominions. Alfonso had, indeed, found a certain equality in citizenship existing in many parts of Christian Spain, where custom had superseded the old Visigothic laws. According to the Visigothic code, the Jews were to be treated as outcasts, to be subjected to regulations applying to them alone, and were not to be allowed to act as witnesses. On the other hand, according to the law of custom (fueros), Christians, Jews, and Mahometans of the same town and the same country came under the same law. The Jew had to testify against the Christian on the "Torah." If Jews and Christians had a lawsuit, they had to select a Christian and a Jew as arbitrators (Alkalde). If a man wished to sell his house, two Christians and the same number of Jews had to appraise it. According to another law established by custom (fuero de Nájera), the Jews were treated on an equality with the nobles and the clergy; the same sum was fixed as compensation for the murder of a Jew, a nobleman, and a priest. Down to the smallest details of daily life, the equality between Jews and Christians before the law was made manifest. As Alfonso now confirmed these municipal laws, the civil equality of the Jews was legally acknowledged, and the ignominy of the Visigothic legislation against the Jews was effaced. Jews, under certain circumstances, were permitted to enjoy the privilege of duelling, and admitted into military service. Light seemed to be dawning upon the Middle Ages, and Roman-Christian narrow-mindedness, emanating from Theodosius II, seemed about to vanish.

 

However, the Church, whose foundation was intolerance, was not likely to countenance the promotion of Jews to honorable offices in a Christian land. The head of the Church, Pope Hildebrand, who, under the name of Gregory VII, through his legates and the shafts of excommunication plunged Europe into a condition of ferment and disruption, protested against this state of things. He, the mightiest of the mighty, before whom kings and nations groveled in the dust, wished also to humble the defenseless Jews, and to rob them of the respect and honors which they had acquired by their merit.

Emperor Henry IV had granted the same privileges to the Jews of Worms as to the other citizens of that town. When princes and priests, towns and villages, unmindful of their oath, and excited by the Pope, broke faith with him, and treated him as one under the ban, the town of Worms remained faithful to him. A year later, when Pope Gregory had treated the emperor as a boy, making him do penance in his shirt, he also became eager to humble the Jews. At the Church congress in Rome, in 1078, when the Pope issued for the second time his interdict against the enemies of the papacy, he promulgated a canonical law to the effect that the Jews should hold no office in Christendom, and exercise no supremacy whatever over the Christians. This canonical decision was directed principally against Spain, where, owing to the peculiar position caused by continual strife with the Arabs, the Roman Church had asserted a degree of independence. As Gregory wished to force upon King Alfonso foreign bishops, pliant tools in the execution of his will, so he endeavored to arrest the influence of the Jews at the court of Castile. He therefore addressed a vigorous epistle to Alfonso in 1080, in which the following words occur:

"As we feel impelled to congratulate you on the progress of your fame, so at the same time must we deprecate the harm you do. We admonish your Highness that you must cease to suffer the Jews to rule over the Christians and exercise authority over them. For to allow the Christians to be subordinate to the Jews, and to subject them to their judgment, is the same as oppressing God's Church and exalting Satan's synagogue. To wish to please Christ's enemies means to treat Christ himself with contumely."

On the other hand, the Pope was well satisfied with William the Conqueror, King of England and Duke of Normandy, who ratified the decision of the congress in Rouen, that the Jews were not only prohibited from keeping Christian bondmen, but also from having Christian nurses.

But Alfonso had to give his attention to other affairs besides the intolerance of the Church. He troubled himself but little about the decision of the great council in Rome and the autograph letter of the Pope, and retained his Jewish advisers. He was just then revolving in his mind a plan of invading the kingdom of Toledo. In order to accomplish this he had to isolate its governor from the neighboring princes of his faith and race, and to be assured of their neutrality or their co-operation with himself. For that, however, he required his Jewish diplomatists, and could not entertain the idea of satisfying the importunities of the Pope. By an alliance with the noble and valiant king of Seville, Al-Mutamed Ibn-Abbad, in all probability effected by Jewish agents, Alfonso conquered the old and important town of Toledo (1085), the first bulwark of the Spanish Mahometans against the aggressive power of the Christians. The victor of Toledo assured to the Jews of this town and the territory appertaining to it, all the liberties which they had enjoyed under the Mahometan rulers. The last unfortunate Mahometan king of Toledo, Yachya Alkader, who had to take refuge in Valencia, had a Jewish confidant in his suite, who remained faithful to him long after his death, whilst his nearest friends betrayed him.

Alfonso did not rest satisfied with the possession of Toledo, which was again elevated to the rank of capital, but wished to make use of the disagreements and petty jealousies of the Mahometan princes for the purpose of making fresh conquests. First of all he determined to attack the territory of the king of Seville, who also ruled over Cordova. He therefore suddenly dropped the mask of friendship, and made demands of Al-Mutamed, such as this noble prince could not in honor concede. With the perilous mission of revealing the true state of affairs to the king of Seville, and of facing him in a firm and defiant attitude, Alfonso entrusted his Jewish councillor of state, Isaac Ibn-Shalbib, instructing him not to pay any regard to the requirements of courtesy. Five hundred Christian knights accompanied Alfonso's Jewish messenger to the court of Seville, in order to lend dignity to his embassy. This commission cost Ibn-Shalbib his life. Acting in the spirit of his master, he spoke in terms so positive, and insisted so unflinchingly on the fulfilment of the demand he was charged to make, that Al-Mutamed fell into a violent passion, and transgressed the law protecting the person of an ambassador, had Ibn-Shalbib killed, nailed to a gibbet, and his followers imprisoned.

The breach which in consequence occurred between Alfonso and the king of Seville induced the latter to join the league of the rest of the Mahometan princes, and send for the conqueror of northern Africa, the Almoravide Prince Yussuf Ibn-Teshufin, to aid them against Alfonso. Al-Mutamed spoke the deciding word in favor of this plan. The African hero appeared in response to the invitation, and his presence eventually caused the servitude and downfall of the Andalusian princes.