BOOKS.

THE SOCIETY OF HEBREW LITERATURE.*

THESE are the first publications of a Society which was formed in 1870, " with the object of rendering the literary treasures of the Jews accessible to those who sympathise with the intellectual activity for which Jewish scholars in all ages, and amidst the severest trials, have been eminently distinguished."

The Miscellanies are partly translations from Hebrew, partly from modern German, though, at the same time, Jewish writers. Of the latter, the most important-for it presents "a tragedy which extends over fifteen centuries, and which has been composed and enacted by the heroes themselves "-is the essay on the "Sufferings of the Jews in the Middle Ages," by Dr. Zunz, of Berlin, who, with all the learning of a modern German and the patriotism of an ancient Hebrew, has devoted a long life (he was in his 80th year when this translation was published) to making us acquainted with the literature of his people, and especially with the Liturgies and the Poetry of the Synagogue of the Middle Ages. The object of Dr. Zunz in this essay is to illustrate historically the great collections which he, and others, following him, have made of the " Selichah," or Penitential Psalms, in which, during those long ages of terrible suffering, the martyred Jews poured forth their prayers to the God of their fathers, though He seemed no longer to hear them, unless, indeed, by giving them a more than human strength of endurance. These psalms de- scribe, with touching pathos, how those who thus expressed their griefs were plundered by every form, not only of extortion, but open robbery, and tortured to death by every kind of cruelty, and even driven to save their children from forced baptism by themselves-fathers and mothers-killing them as sacrifices, hallowed offerings, to their God.

Though the Mohammedans were not blameless in this matter of persecution of the Jews, they contrast very favourably with the Christians of the same periods. And especially was this the case in Spain, where the Jews had settled in very early times, and where the Arab Conquest not only enabled them to avow their faith in peace, but gave them opportunity of rising to social and

• Publicatiou of the Society of Hebrew Literature. Miscellanies, Vol. L ; Commen- tary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah, Vol. I. London : Trilbner and Co. 1873.

political distinction and honour. This volume gives two instances, in the biographies of Chisdai and Samuel Halevi, the former of whom was Vizier to the Caliphs Abdurahman III. and Hakem between 911-976 A.D., at Cordova ; and the latter held the like office in the kingdom of Granada between 1027-1054 A.D. Chisdai was originally a physician, and as such first became known toAbderrahman. Hewes then employed tosupertutend the shipping and customs duties of Cordova, which was both the capital and the chief sea-port of Moorish Spain ; and subsequently in still more important and difficult affairs of State,-in negotiations with the Christian Kings of Navarre and Leon, in which his skill as a physician was added to his other diplomatic resources; and again in other difficulties, on occasion of an embassy sent by Otho I., Emperor of Germany, to the Caliphs. But though Chisdai was thus eminent as a Moorish minister of finance and diplomacy, he did not forget his own people, their faith, and their learning. He held the office of Nasi (elsewhere called Nagid), or temporal head of the Jewish Congregations of the land. He used his political position and the favour in which he stood with the Caliphs to protect his brethren from the injuries of the Moslems ; and "imbued as be was with the Jewish national lore, and crowned by his panegyrists with the Rabbinical title of honour, Resh-kalla (Head of the College), he sought to advance Jewish studies in every possible way ; assembled scholars and poets about him, supported needy orphans, and provided copies of religious books." The oldest Hebrew dictionary was now framed, under his auspices ; the new forms of liturgic and other Judaic poetry began to flourish in his time ; and he was helped in his

promotion of Talmudic studies 14 an event which laid the foundation for that high place which the Spanish Jews have ever since maintained in this branch of Jewish learn-

ing. At that time, a thorough knowledge of the Talmud could only be attained in the schools of Babylonia, and thither young men went to acquire the necessary learning, and thence were pro- cured decisions on difficult points of doctrine or ritual. But several great Jewish scholars were taken at sea by a Moorish admiral and sold for slaves, and one of these, Moses by name, he so sold, together with his son Channoch, at Cordova, and there they were redeemed by the Jews, apparently without their eminence as scholars being known. Moses, in the garb of a slave, repaired to- the house where the Chief Rabbi, Nathan, a good, but not very learned man, was giving instruction in the Talmud, and eat listen- ing in a corner unobserved. But when the Rabbi came to a diffi- cult place which he could not well explain, Moses stepped forward, and by a few words directed attention to himself, and soon showed how far he excelled them all in knowledge. The generous Nathan left his place, declaring that the stranger was the teacher and he his pupil, and he induced the community at once to appoint Moses their Chief Rabbi. The Caliph was well pleased that his Jews should no longer go out of his dominions for their theology. The admiral in vain tried to cancel the bargain, and demand a higher price than that for which be had sold Moses as a common slave. And thus, with the powerful aid and protection of Chisdai, the Spanish school was founded. In this school, under Channoch, the son of Moses, was educated Samuel Halevi, whom we have men- tioned above, the Vizier of the King of Granada. Ilia career, which both as a Moorish statesman and as a learned patron of Hebrew learning, was not unlike that of Chisdai, is also related in this volume, by Dr. H. Graetz.

Another of the Spanish Jews was the great philosopher, theo- logian, and physician, Maimonides, who was born at Cordova in, the year 1135. At the age of thirteen, he and his whole family had to quit the country, to escape from a fierce religious perse- cution, which left them only the choice between conversion to.

Mohammedanism or exile. After long wanderings, during which be continued his studies and his writings, he eventually settled is Egypt, at Fostat, a suburb of Cairo, " where his lectures soon attracted attention, brought him fame, a large medical practice, and an influential patron in Sultan Saladin's Vizier, the learned,.

noble-minded, and most tolerant Al Fadhel." He had (very prudently, no doubt,) declined to become the physician of Richard I. of England. In an epistle to Samuel Ibn Tibbon, who had translated from Arabic into Hebrew Maimonides' great work, Moreh Nebuchim, and who wished to pay him a visit, he thus describes his daily life :-

"Do not expect to be able to confer with me on any scientific subject for even one hour, either by day or by night, for the following is my daily occupation dwell in Mizr (Fostat), and the Sultan resides at Rehire (Cairo); these two places are two Sabbath-days' journeys (about one mile and a half) distant from each other. My duties to the Sultan are very heavy. I am obliged to visit him every day early in the morning, and when he, or any of his children, or any of the inmates of his harem are indisposed, I dare sot quit Kahira, but must stay during the greater part of the day in the palace. It also frequently happens that one or two of the royal °Seers fall sick, and I must attend to their healing. Hence, as a rule, I repair to Kahira very early in the day, and even if nothing unusind happens. I do not return to Mizr until the afternoon. Then I air almost dying with hunger ; I find the ante- chambers filled with people, both Jews and Gentiles, nobles and common people, judges and bailiffs, friends and foes,—a mixed multitude, who await the time of my return. I dismount from my animal, wash my hands, go forth to my patients, and entreat them to bear with me while I take some slight refreshment, the only meal I take in the twenty-four hours. Then I go forth to attend to my patients, write prescriptions and directions for their several ailments. Patients go in and out until nightfall, and sometimes even, I solemnly assure you, until two hours and more in the night. I converse with and prescribe for them while lying down from sheer fatigue, and when night falls I am so exhausted that I can scarcely speak. In consequence of this, no Israelite can have any private interview with me except on the Sabbath. On that day, the whole congregation, or, at least, the majority of the members, come to me after the morning service, when I instruct them as to their pro- ceedings during the whole week ; we study together a little until noon, when they depart. Some of them return, and read with me after the afternoon service until evening prayers. In this manner I spend that day. I have here only related to you apart of what you would see if you wore to visit me. Now when you have completed for our brethren the translation you have commenced, I beg that you will come to me, but not with the hope of deriving any advantage from your visit as regards your studies, for my time is, as I have shown you, excessively occupied."

Maimonides then proceeds to specify the philosophical works that his correspondent should study, giving the first place to Aristotle, and naming the commentators whose help is essential to understanding this author. He advises Ibn Tibbon not to waste time upon' the writings of Empedoclea, Pythagoras, Hermes, and Porphyrius, but says of Aristotle that " he, indeed, arrived at the highest summit of knowledge to which man -can ascend, unless the emanation of the Divine Spirit be vouch- safed to him, so that he attains the stage of prophecy, above which there is no higher stage."

Another admirer of the sage Maimonides has thus recorded the result of his attempt to visit him :—

"I call on the prince in the morning, I am told he has ridden away, I call again in the evening, I hear he has retired to rest. Whether he be out on horseback, or rest on his couch, Disappointment is my lot, ill-starred that I am."

This was Abraham Ibn Ezra, whom we commonly call Ibn Ezra, and who ranks among the first of those Jewish heroes who held up the standard of their faith and learning in the middle ages, in the midst of the general superstition and ignorance which rested alike upon their own people and the Christians, and in spite of the terrible persecution which was the special portion of the Jews. Ibn Ezra was born at Toledo, in Spain, about the end of the eleventh century. There, in the midst of the sieges by which Moors and Christians strove to conquer or reconquer the city, he found opportunity, in the schools of Toledo and in the society of its learned men, so to cultivate his intellect and acquire knowledge, that " he is said to have been a genius who possessed all the learning of his time"; and Dr. Zunz says of him that "he was equally celebrated as a poet, grammarian, commentator, and theologian ; be was an excellent mathematician and astronomer ; he possessed very little money, but very much wit ; he had an innate aversion to all superficiality." He travelled much, visiting Italy, Provence, France, England, Africa, Rhodes, Palestine, Persia, and India, and his commentaries abound in illustrations from the manners and customs of these places, and from the geographical and other local observations which he made there. It is worth noticing that some critics have doubted his having gone to Jerusalem, because he says that Zion is in the -north of that city ; but the most modern topographers, since Mr. Fergusson, have come to the conclusion that Ibn Ezra was right, and that it was only in later times that Zion became the name of the south-west quarter, to which it is now attached.

A very interesting biographical sketch, which.we have here followed, is prefixed by Dr. FriedlUnder to Ibn Ezra's Commentary on Isaiah, which forms a volume of this series, and which he has not merely translated from Hebrew MSS., but carefully edited, with notes, introductions, and indexes. It thus forms a valuable addition to the critical literature upon the Book of Isaiah, which is, indeed, already very great, but which no real student will ever think too great, if it is enlarged by the addition of real thought and learning. Not that the student can expect to find much of what Mr. Grote calls " applicable knowledge," for the better inderetauding of the text, in the Commentary of Ibn Ezra, which be will not have in a more complete form in those of the latest .German scholars. Yet we could point out instances where his plain sense has explained places which their " higher criticism" has only confused, and probably much even of their more accurate and complete knowledge may have had its origin in the sober and

rational study of the Bible which he so greatly promoted. It is curious—and curious, too, that the fact remained unnoticed till it was pointed out by Mr. Cheyne, in his own commentary on Isaiah —that Ibn Ezra hints, in enigmatical language, that the later chapters of Isaiah may have been written by another, later, pro- phet ; but he does not build on the suggestion any such vast superstructure as has been raised on the like hypothesis, since it was propounded by Doderlein in the last century.

As we read these records of what the men of this heroic race did as well as suffered, and of the way in which they read, studied, thought, and wrote, in the midst of habitual persecutions which rarely allowed them any rest but that of the grave, we think how it was indeed a race of which, even more than of the Roman, it

might be said,— "Dania ut ilex tonsa bipennibus

Nigra3 feraci frondis in Algido, Per damns, per casdes, ab ipso Ducit opes animumque fern."