The Renascence of Hebrew Literature (1743-1885) | Page 9

learned men of the Middle Ages for _Ha-Meassef_.
It were far from the truth to say that Mendes succeeded in rivalling the French and Italian authors whom he set up as models for himself. Nevertheless he was endorsed and admired by the literary men of his time as the heir of Luzzatto.
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An enumeration of all the writers and all the scholars who, directly or indirectly, contributed to the work of _Ha-Meassef_, would be wearisome. Only those who are distinguished by some degree of originality will be set down by name.
Rabbi Solomon Pappenheim (1776-1814), of Breslau, was the author of a sentimental elegy, _Arba' Kosot_ ("The Four Cups", Berlin, 1790). The poem, inspired by Young's "Night Thoughts," is remarkable for its personal note. In his plaints recalling Job's, this Hebrew Werther mourns the loss, not of his mistress--that would not have been in consonance with the spirit of the ghetto--but of his wife and his three children. The elegy came near being a popular poem. Its vapid sentimentality and its affected and exaggerated style were to exercise a baneful influence upon the following generations. It is the tribute paid by Hebrew literature to the diseased spirit of the age. Pappenheim wrote, besides, on Hebrew philology. His work, _Yeri'ot Shelomoh_ ("The Curtains of Solomon"), is an important contribution to the subject.
Shalom Hacohen, the editor of a second series of _Ha-Meassef_, published in 1809-1811 (Berlin, Altona, and Dessau), deserves mention. He won considerable fame by his poems and articles, which appeared in the second series of _Ha-Meassef_ and in _Bikkure ha-'Ittim_ ("The First Fruits of the Times"), and especially through his historical drama, "Amal and Tirzah" (R?delheim, 1812). The last, a na?vely conceived piece of work, is well fitted into its Biblical frame. Hacohen is one of the intermediaries between the German Meassefim and their successors in Poland. [Footnote: Another writer of the epoch, Hartwig Derenburg, whose son and grandson have brilliantly carried on, in France, the literary and scientific traditions of the family, was the author of a widely-read allegorical drama, Yoshebe Tebel ("The Inhabitants of the World", Offenbach, 1789).]
Mendelssohn, the master admired and respected by all, contributed, as was mentioned before, only minor controversial articles to _Ha- Meassef_. His preface to the Biur and his commentary on Maimonides' treatise on logic are in good style. His philosophical works, "Jerusalem" and "Phaedon," translated into Hebrew by his disciples, were largely instrumental in giving prevalence to the idea that the Jewish people is a religious community rather than a nation. This circumstance explains the banishment of Hebrew from the synagogue by his less religious followers, such as David Friedl?nder, and the attacks of Herz Homberg on traditional Judaism in his pamphlet "To the Shepherds of Israel" (_El Ro'e Yisra?l_).
The chief editor of _Ha-Meassef_, Isaac Euchel (1756-1804), became known for his polemic articles against the superstitions and obscurantism of the fanatics of the ghetto. Euchel wrote also a biographical sketch of Mendelssohn, which was published at Vienna in 1814.
There were also scientific writers among the Meassefim. Baruch Lindau wrote a treatise on the natural sciences, Reshit Limmudim ("The Elements of the Sciences", Br��nn, 1788), and Mordecai Gumpel Levisohn, the learned professor at the University of Upsala, was the author of a series of scientific essays in _Ha-Meassef_, which contributed greatly to its success.
Up to the time we are speaking of, Poland had supplied the Jewish people with Rabbis and Talmudists, and when the German Jews became imbued with the new spirit, their Polish brethren did not lag behind. Polish authors are to be found among the Meassefim, and several of them deserve special notice.
Kant's brilliant disciple, the profound thinker Solomon Maimon, published only his exegetical works and his ingenious commentary on Maimonides in Hebrew. Another Polish writer, Solomon Dubno (1735-1813), one of the first to co-operate with Mendelssohn in his _Biur_, was a remarkable grammarian and stylist. Among other things he wrote an allegorical drama and a number of poetic satires. Of the latter, the "Hymn to Hypocrisy", published in _Bikkure To'elet_, is a finished production.
Judah Ben-Ze?b (1764-1811) published in Berlin a Manual of the Hebrew Language (_Talmud Leshon 'Ibri_), planned on modern lines, a work contributing greatly toward spreading a knowledge of philology and rhetoric among the Jews. His Hebrew-German Dictionary and his Hebrew version of Ben Sira are well known to Hebraists.
Isaac Satanow (1732-1804), a Pole residing at Berlin, was a curious personage, interesting alike for the variety of his productions and the oddity of his mental make-up. He possessed a surprising capacity for assimilation. It was this that enabled him to excel, whether he imitated the style of the Bible or the style of mediaeval authors. Hebrew and Aramaic he handled with the same ingenious skill. All his works he attributed to some ancient author. His collection of