Chapters on Jewish Literature | Page 3

THE SPANISH-JEWISH POETS (II) 126
Jehuda Halevi.--Charizi.
XIII MOSES MAIMONIDES 134
Maimon, Rambam--R. Moses, the son of Maimon, Maimonides.--His Yad Hachazaka and Moreh Nebuchim.--Gersonides.--Crescas.--Albo.
XIV THE DIFFUSION OF SCIENCE 144
Proven?al Translators.--The Ibn Tibbons.--Italian Translators.--Jacob Anatoli.--Kalonymos.--Scientific Literature.
XV THE DIFFUSION OF FOLK-TALES 153
Barlaam and Joshaphat.--The Fables of Bidpai.--Abraham Ibn Chisdai.--Berachya ha-Nakdan.--Joseph Zabara.
XVI MOSES NACHMANIDES 160
French and Spanish Talmudists.--The Tossafists, Asher of Speyer, Tam, Isaac of Dompaire, Baruch of Ratisbon, Perez of Corbeil.--Nachmanides' Commentary on the Pentateuch.--Public controversies between Jews and Christians.
XVII THE ZOHAR AND LATER MYSTICISM 169
Kabbala.--The Bahir.--Abulafia.--Moses of Leon.--The Zohar.--Isaac Lurya.--Isaiah Hurwitz.--Christian Kabbalists.--The Chassidim.
XVIII ITALIAN JEWISH POETRY 178
Immanuel and Dante.--The Machberoth.--Judah Romano.--Kalonymos.--The Eben Bochan.--Moses Rieti.--Messer Leon.
XIX ETHICAL LITERATURE 189
Bachya Ibn Pekuda.--Choboth ha-Lebaboth.--Sefer ha-Chassidim.--Rokeach.--Yedaiah Bedaressi's Bechinath Olam.--Isaac Aboab's Menorath ha-Maor.--Ibn Chabib's "Eye of Jacob."--Zevaoth, or Ethical Wills.--Joseph Ibn Caspi.--Solomon Alami.
XX TRAVELLERS' TALES 200
Eldad the Danite.--Benjamin of Tudela.--Petachiah of Ratisbon.--Esthori Parchi.--Abraham Farissol.--David Reubeni and Molcho.--Antonio de Montesinos and Manasseh ben Israel.--Tobiah Cohen.--Wessely.
XXI HISTORIANS AND CHRONICLERS 211
Order of the Tannaim and Amoraim.--Achimaaz.--Abraham Ibn Daud.--Josippon.--Historical Elegies, or Selichoth.--Memorial Books.--Abraham Zacuto.--Elijah Kapsali.--Usque.--Ibn Verga.--Joseph Cohen.--David Gans.--Gedaliah Ibn Yachya.--Azariah di Rossi.
XXII ISAAC ABARBANEL 225
Abarbanel's Philosophy and Biblical Commentaries.--Elias Levita.--Ze?na u-Re?na.--Moses Alshech.--The Biur.
XXIII THE SHULCHAN ARUCH 232
Asheri's Arba Turim.--Chiddushim and Teshuboth.--Solomon ben Adereth.--Meir of Rothenburg.--Sheshet and Duran.--Moses and Judah Minz.--Jacob Weil, Israel Isserlein, Maharil.--David Abi Zimra.--Joseph Karo.--Jair Bacharach.--Chacham Zevi.--Jacob Emden.--Ezekiel Landau.
XXIV AMSTERDAM IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 243
Manasseh ben Israel.--Baruch Spinoza.--The Drama in Hebrew.--Moses Zacut, Joseph Felix Penso, Moses Chayim Luzzatto.
XXV MOSES MENDELSSOHN 253
Mendelssohn's German Translation of the Bible.--Ph?do.--Jerusalem.--Lessing's Nathan the Wise.
INDEX 263
CHAPTERS
ON JEWISH LITERATURE
CHAPTER I
THE "VINEYARD" AT JAMNIA
Schools at Jamnia, Lydda, Usha, and Sepphoris.--The Tannaim compile the Mishnah.--Jochanan, Akiba, Meir, Judah.--Aquila.
The story of Jewish literature, after the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem in the year 70 of the Christian era, centres round the city of Jamnia. Jamnia, or Jabneh, lay near the sea, beautifully situated on the slopes of a gentle hill in the lowlands, about twenty-eight miles from the capital. When Vespasian was advancing to the siege of Jerusalem, he occupied Jamnia, and thither the Jewish Synhedrion, or Great Council, transferred itself when Jerusalem fell. A college existed there already, but Jamnia then became the head-quarters of Jewish learning, and retained that position till the year 135. At that date the learned circle moved further north, to Galilee, and, besides the famous school at Lydda in Judea, others were founded in Tiberias, Usha, and Sepphoris.
The real founder of the College at Jamnia was Jochanan, the son of Zakkai, called "the father of wisdom." Like the Greek philosophers who taught their pupils in the gardens of the "Academy" at Athens, the Rabbis may have lectured to their students in a "Vineyard" at Jamnia. Possibly the term "Vineyard" was only a metaphor applied to the meeting-place of the Wise at Jamnia, but, at all events, the result of these pleasant intellectual gatherings was the Rabbinical literature. Jochanan himself was a typical Rabbi. For a great part of his life he followed a mercantile pursuit, and earned his bread by manual labor. His originality as a teacher lay in his perception that Judaism could survive the loss of its national centre. He felt that "charity and the love of men may replace the sacrifices." He would have preferred his brethren to submit to Rome, and his political foresight was justified when the war of independence closed in disaster. As Graetz has well said, like Jeremiah Jochanan wept over the desolation of Zion, but like Zerubbabel he created a new sanctuary. Jochanan's new sanctuary was the school.
In the "Vineyard" at Jamnia, the Jewish tradition was the subject of much animated inquiry. The religious, ethical, and practical literature of the past was sifted and treasured, and fresh additions were made. But not much was written, for until the close of the second century the new literature of the Jews was oral. The Bible was written down, and read from scrolls, but the Rabbinical literature was committed to memory piecemeal, and handed down from teacher to pupil. Notes were perhaps taken in writing, but even when the Oral Literature was collected, and arranged as a book, it is believed by many authorities that the book so compiled remained for a considerable period an oral and not a written book.
This book was called the Mishnah (from the verb shana, "to repeat" or "to learn"). The Mishnah was not the work of one man or of one age. So long was it in growing, that its birth dates from long before the destruction of the Temple. But the men most closely associated with the compilation of the Mishnah were the Tannaim (from the root tana, which has the same meaning as shana). There were about one hundred and twenty of these Tannaim between the years 70 and 200 C.E., and they may be conveniently arranged in four generations. From each generation one typical representative will here be selected.
THE TANNAIM
First