Part 15

Even on his death-bed Heine could not refrain from a jest. Reviewing his by no means irreproachable past, he said he hoped that his heavenly Father would readily overlook his peccadillos, for _c'est son métier_. This remark is typically Jewish, and it recalls a similar one once made by a dying Rabbi, who had been all his lifetime extremely religious, but had likewise always suffered much want and misery. “Do you know,” he said to those in the sick room, “if, after all the sad experiences I have had in the past, there is no future life, I shall be greatly amused.”

There is still one further remark to be made in conclusion. While there is much that is fine, much that is genuinely charming in Heine's work, it must be admitted that there is also much in which he might be said to rival Rabelais and Swift for licence. If any excuse for this be possible it may, perhaps, be regarded as an extenuating circumstance that he merely reproduced in his own language some faint reminiscences from the contents of certain parts of the Book of Ezekiel, of the Talmud, and the Midrash.

Footnotes:

[166-1] Among these may specially be mentioned _Im eshkacheych Yerush'layim tishkach yemini_, “If ever I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand wither”; _Lecha dodi likrath kallah_, “Come, my friend, to meet the bride”; _Mosheh Rabbenu_, “Moses, our teacher.”

[167-1] Cp. _Heine über Börne_ in Heine's collected works.

[169-1] The author of this translation is Mr. C. G. Montefiore.

[170-1] Cp. _Song of Songs_, iv and vi.

[170-2] See the previous note.

XVI

MODERN HEBREW JOURNALISM

Hebrew is generally considered to be, like ancient Syriac, Arabic, Greek and Latin, a dead language, and yet it possesses so much flexibility, and has, moreover, been enriched in modern times with so many new words, phrases, and expressions that it has in some respects almost become modernized. There are at the present day, both in the Old World and the New, quite a respectable number of Hebrew periodicals, including a few daily papers, which seem to enjoy considerable popularity and support among a moderately large section of the Jewish reading public. These constitute as a whole what may appropriately be termed modern Hebrew journalism.

Modern Hebrew journalism has an interesting history of its own, and likewise an intimate connexion with the rise and development of Neo-Hebrew literature. It dates from the time when the sage of Berlin, as Moses Mendelssohn is commonly called, began to issue his epoch-making German translation of the Pentateuch, which made its first appearance in the year 1780. This translation was accompanied by an excellent Hebrew introduction to the Bible, or rather to the five books of Moses, entitled _O'r-La-netibah_ (‪אור לנתיבה‬), of which Mendelssohn was the author, and likewise by an equally excellent commentary, now well known under the name of _Biur_. Mendelssohn had several eminent Hebraists for co-operators in the commentary, among whom may specially be mentioned Hartwig Wessely, the renowned composer of the fine heroic poem, _The Mosaid_, called “Songs of Glory” (‪שירי תפארת‬). The introduction and commentary were both distinguished by their learning, as well as by the purity and freshness of their style. They were thus a great advance on the earlier criticisms, which were written in a Hebrew dialect that was a mere mumbling of a decrepit tongue, and they attained great popularity among the cultured community.

Among those who especially profited by these works were two clever young Jewish students, called Isaac Euchel and Mendel Bresselau. They had both enjoyed a Talmudical and academical training, and were tutors in the house of the wealthy and cultured Friedländers, residing in Königsberg, in Prussia, which city in those days stood in close literary relationship to the Prussian capital. These young men, in 1782, resolved, in the interests of Hebrew literature; to invite all the representative and cultured Jews in the world to help to found and to support a Hebrew periodical, the title of which was to be _The Gatherer_ (‪המאסף‬). This invitation was readily accepted by many educated Jews living in Germany, Austria, Holland, France, Italy, Russia and Poland. Thus encouraged they set to work, and soon issued the first number of _The Gatherer_, which was the progenitor of modern Hebrew journalism. This number contained a variety of articles written almost exclusively in Hebrew, the most notable of which were two biographical sketches, one dealing with Don Isaac Abrabanel (1437–1509), and the other with Joseph del Medigo (1591–1655). There were also a few charming Hebrew poems, including some anonymously contributed by Moses Mendelssohn, and the well-known Hebrew wine-song by Solomon Ibn Gabirol. Wessely contributed an article on Biblical exegesis, a subject which had been sadly neglected by the Jews of that period. _The Gatherer_ thus started under happy auspices. It had been a bond of union between Judaism and modern culture, so much so that some Christians of note saw in it a powerful medium for educating the general mass of the Jewish people.

_The Gatherer_ continued to be issued for fourteen years (from 1783–97), during which time it numbered among its contributors, in addition to those already mentioned, several other masters of Hebrew style, among whom may specially be mentioned Isaac Satanow, Ben-Zeeb, Joel Löwe, Aaron Halle, Moses Ensheim, and David Franco Mendes, the author of the Hebrew historical drama _Gemul Athalia_ (“The Punishment of Athalia”).

After its demise, nearly a quarter of a century elapsed before another Hebrew periodical of the same stamp made its appearance. This was called _Bikkurey Ha-Ittim_ (“The Firstling of the Times”), and was started in Vienna (in 1820) by an able Hebraist, named Shalom Ha-Cohen. It had some of the most eminent Hebrew scholars of the day among its regular contributors, including Rapoport, Luzzatto, and Erter, the former of whom published therein five biographies of prominent leaders of Judaism of the Middle Ages, which gave an important impulse to the study of Neo-Hebraic literature. Erter, the greatest of Hebrew humorists of modern times, contributed some of his delightful sketches of Jewish life in the Ghetto.

After about twelve years the _Bikkurey Ha-Ittim_ ceased to appear, but a little later another annual Hebrew magazine was first issued by Goldenberg, and then by Senior Sachs, in Vienna and Prague respectively, having _Kerem Chemed_ (“The Pleasant Vineyard”) for its title. This publication was, like its two predecessors, largely devoted to the promotion of the Hebrew language and literature, but its principal interest was the study of Jewish history, which had been generally neglected before. Its chief contributors were Rapoport, Zunz, and Luzzatto, the last-named of whom published therein several valuable extracts from rare Hebrew MSS. The _Kerem Chemed_ was, with regard to its learned contents and the purity of its style, one of the best Hebrew periodicals that has ever existed, but it only appeared for a period of ten years, viz. from 1833 to 1843.

Noticeable also are the _Otzer Nechmad_ (“The Desirable Treasure”), which was edited for a short time in Vienna by Ignatz Blumenfeld, and had Dukes, Geiger, Steinschneider, Luzzatto, Carmoly, and Kirchheim as contributors; the _Kochbey Yitzchak_ (“The Stars of Isaac”), issued for several years by M. E. Stern, of Vienna; and the _Jeshurun_, of which the editor, Joseph Kobak, of Lemberg, only published four insignificant numbers at irregular intervals. But it cannot be said that their influence on Neo-Hebrew literature had been very extensive. There were, however, two other magazines, which, having some special characteristics of their own, and being, moreover, of permanent literary value, are deserving of more than a passing notice.

One of them was started (in 1852) in Vienna by O. H. Schorr, under the title of _Ha-Chalutz_ (“The Armed One”), and it counted among its contributors Krochmal, Geiger, Zunz, Steinschneider, and Erter. Though chiefly dealing with the history of Jewish literature, the _Chalutz_ was, as its title indicates, a Hebrew periodical with radical tendencies, advocating extensive reforms in the Jewish ritual. The editor himself, a highly learned man, devoted several articles to a consideration of certain abuses and superstitions found in some of the Rabbinical writings, by which pure Judaism was thought to have been disfigured. The essays were distinguished by the vigour of their tone, their caustic humour, and their amusing irony, and have served as a model to more than one writer of modern Hebrew prose.

The other was called _Ha-Shachar_ (“The Dawn”), and made its first appearance in Vienna in 1868, under the editorship of Peter (or Perets) Smolensky, an excellent writer of classical Hebrew prose. His own sketches were remarkable both for humour and pathos, and have a certain ring of Thackeray about them. Among the contributors to _The Dawn_ may be noted Rapoport, Jellinek, and Juda Löb Gordon (1830–92). The latter was an excellent poet and humorist, whose collected Hebrew verses were published in 1884 by Baron Ginsburg, of St. Petersburg, in memory of their deceased author. Several of them had previously appeared in _The Dawn_, and as they are pretty and rich in humour the following free prose translation of one of them may serve here as an appropriate specimen. It has a highly orthodox Russian Rabbi for its subject, and runs as follows:—

“On a sultry Sabbath afternoon a middle-aged Rabbi was sitting in his study dozing over a large folio of the Talmud. Suddenly an extremely religious member of his flock rushed in full of excitement, and told him that a Jewish lad had just been caught in the act of desecrating the holy Sabbath by carrying a watch in the open street. On hearing this shocking news the Rabbi gave orders that the young culprit should at once be brought into his presence, that he might receive his well-deserved chastisement for openly breaking one of the Rabbinical laws. When the boy was brought in, the Rabbi looked at him, and lo and behold! he was no other than his own little son, who had furtively gone into the street, carrying in his waistcoat pocket the watch which had been given to him as a ‘Bar-Mitzwah^[178-1]’ present. The Rabbi was for a moment rather perplexed, but soon a happy thought struck him, and turning abruptly to the excited crowd of bystanders, he addressed them as follows:—‘Rabbothay’ (gentlemen), he said, ‘I have just come to the conclusion that my boy is guiltless of the charge you have brought against him. For, had you been as well versed in the Rabbinical writings as I am, you would have known that a watch is but an ornament, which is allowed to be worn by a Jew or a Jewess on a Sabbath day even in the open street. Thus my boy had only done what was right, and therefore deserves no punishment whatever.’ When the people left the Rabbi's house, a wit among them observed to his neighbour, with a sly twinkle in his eye, that their ‘Rav’ was a cunning man, indeed, and knew how to turn matters to his own advantage, or to that of his near relatives. Thus, when a son-in-law of his ordered a cargo of citrons from Corfu, the ‘Rav’ forbade the members of his flock on the Feast of Tabernacles to use citrons grown in Palestine; and he also interdicted them from buying any ordinary wine after one of his married daughters had opened a shop for the sale of cheap raisin wine.”

As regards the numerous Hebrew periodicals, which appear in different parts of the world, it is enough to say that, although they are not without merit, it is impossible within the limits of a short sketch to do more than mention a few of the more important. Three of them are here selected as being specially worthy of note, on account of the fruitful work which they have done and are still doing in various ways in the field of Hebrew literature. The first to be considered are the three or four volumes issued annually at Berlin (under the editorship of Prof. Dr. A. Berliner) by the society _Mekitze-Nirdamim_, these being most useful literary publications, though perhaps not exactly periodicals. This society has, for instance, during the last few years brought out all the admirable religious and secular poems of Jehudah Halevi^[179-1].

Equally useful and interesting is a monthly Hebrew periodical, entitled _Ha-Shiloach_ (“The Messenger”), which was established in Berlin about eight years ago by Asher Ginsberg, of Odessa. A good many articles have a permanent literary value; others again, though less scientific, are written in such excellent Hebrew that, like Erter's works, they may be re-read with no diminution of pleasure.

The third Hebrew periodical that deserves special notice is _Ha-Magid_ (“The Narrator”), which has, however, lately ceased to exist. It was started about half a century ago (in 1856) at Lyck, in Prussia, by the late L. Silbermann, Rabbi of the Hebrew congregation of that town, who issued it weekly with the laudable object of affording entertainment and information on general topics to those of his co-religionists, who were unable to read papers published in the vernacular^[180-1]. The number of Jews of this description was, fifty years ago, fairly large, but has now, thanks to the spread of general education, been greatly reduced. Several Jewish _literati_ used to contribute articles, and the paper had in consequence gradually become a medium for propagating a knowledge of Hebrew literature among its numerous readers. Since then the Hebrew vocabulary has been greatly developed and amplified in such a manner as to be capable of describing not only the newest move in the politics of the world, but also the latest invention in the field of practical science. It is interesting to notice that there are at present three Hebrew daily papers in circulation in Russia, viz. _Ha-Yom_, _Ha-Meliz_, and _Ha-Zefira_, which were founded respectively by L. Kantor, A. Zedernbaum, and C. Slonimsky.

Summarizing now the merits of modern Hebrew journalism it may be said that they are far greater than is generally supposed. In fact, it has exercised a beneficial and far-reaching influence upon a large section of the Jewish community. For, not only has it enriched Hebrew literature with valuable additions, but it has also familiarized its readers, through the medium of translations, with some of the best-known ancient and modern works on general science and literature.

Footnotes:

[178-1] ‘Confirmation.’

[179-1] Several other poems by the same author hitherto unknown have recently appeared in a volume issued annually by another Hebrew literary society, called “Achiasaph,” that was established some years ago in Warsaw.

[180-1] To the _Magid_ several Jewish savants have contributed interesting articles which have a permanent literary value. In the same Hebrew weekly also appeared a number of humorous _makāmāt_ _à la_ Alcharizi, composed by the author of the present volume. They were subsequently published in book form by David Nutt, London, under the title of: _Zichronoth_, or “Reminiscences of a Student of Jewish Theology.”

INDEX

Abalzapha, 113 _n._ Abrabanel, 175. Abrahams, Isr. 63 _n._, 111 _n._ Abram (“the exalted father”), 44. Absalom, the monument of, 29. Academy, the French, 146. Achan, or Achar, 44. _Achiasaph_, 179 _n._ Adelaide, the wife of Leopold Zunz, 142. Aeneid, 18, 19, 23. Aesop, 55. Agada, 51, 52, 54, 56, 147, 171. Agadaists, humorous, 52. _Aix_, the Jewish community of, 116. Akiba, Rabbi, 8, 48, 49. Albo, Joseph, 113. Alcharizi, 59, 63, 69, 91, 122, 126, 180 _n._ Alexandrian Jews, 162. Alfabri, 80. Alfakar, 117. _Allah_, an Arabic term for the Hebrew _Eloha_, 33. Amos, 7, 9. Amphis, 5. Anacreon, 23. “_Ancient Hebrew Poetry_,” 13. Anibert, 103 _n._ _Annales_, 15 _n._ _Apion_, 14. Apostles, the, 31. Aquinas, Thomas, 83. Arabic language, 174. — translations made by Jews from the, 125. Architecture of the ancient Hebrews, 24. Aristophanes, 3, 165. Aristophanic punning in Hebrew, 1. Art among the ancient Hebrews, 24. _Asaph_, 30, 31. Ashe, Rabbi, 50. Asia Minor (Ιωνία), 15. Assyria, King of, 18. Astruc of Noves, 103. Atonement, the Day of, 151. Augustus, Emperor, 17. Athalia, 40. Aurora, 41. Avignon, the Jewish community of, 104.

_Baal-Zebub_, 45. _Baba Bathra_, 36. _Baba Kamma_, 55 _n._ _Bachrach, Rabbi von_, 152. Bachya, 109 _n._, 120 _n._ _Balaam_, 44. _Balak_, 44. Bartolocci, 71, 78, 80, 104. _Bashan_, the kine of, 9. _Bechînath Olam_, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 105. Bedaresi, Abraham, 78. Bedaresi, Yedaya, 71–81, 105. _Beiträge zur Geschichte und Literatur_, 145. Benedit, Maestro, 110. Beneviste, Don Samuel, 110. Ben-Jacob, 69, 70 _n._ Benjamin ben Yechiel, 82, Ben-Sira, 20. Ben-Zeeb, 68, 69, 176. Bernays, Jacob, 161. _Beth-aven_, 8. _Beth-lehem_, 45. Bezaleel, 29. Bible, humour of the, 1–12. Biblical criticism, 151. _Bibliotheca Hebraica_, 72, 78, 116, 141. _Bikkurey-Ha-Ittim_, 129, 167. “_Birds, The_,” 3. _Biur_, 174. Blumenfeld, Ignatz, 177. Boccaccio, 90, 118, 121. Bodenstedt, Friedrich, 149. Boekh, 141. Bosone da Gobbio, 85. Bötticher, 30. Breslau, Jewish Theological Seminary at, 161. Bresselau, Mendel, 175. Buxtorf, 38, 92.

_Cabbala_, 114. Caleb, 38. Calvin, 44. _Calvinus_, 44. Canaan, the land of, 11. _Canticles_, 41. Captivity, Babylonian, 29, 45. Carlyle, Thomas, 165. _Carlyle's Life in London_, 70. Carmel, Mount, 1. Carmoly, E., 177. Caro, Joseph, 90. Carrière, Dr., 142. Cartel, Don Juda des, 110. Casalary, Abraham, 110. Catalogue of Hebrew MSS. at the Montefiore College Library, 68 _n._ Cavalier, Don Jonah, 110. Cervantes, 1. _Chalutz, Ha_, 138, 177. Chasdai, Abraham Ibn, 117–26. _Chassidim_ (“pious ones”), Gr. Ἀσιδαῖοι 128, 134. Chess, 80. Chiarini, Abbé, 144. _Choboth Ha-lebaboth_, 109 _n._, 120 _n._ Chotzner, J., 180 _n._ Church, Gallic, 149. Church, Roman, 47. Cicero, 2, 15. Cino da Pistoza, 86. Classics, Ancient, 13. Cohen, Shalom, 129, 176. _Collection of Sermons_, 141. _Collegio Rabbinico_, 154, 155, 157. Conath, Abraham, 73. “_Confessions_,” Heine's, 168. Crescas, Don Chasdai, 110. Crespin, Don Astruc, 110. “Crown,” The Royal, 59. Cupfigne, 146. “Curiosities of Biblical Names,” 43–46. _Curiosities of Literature_, 52 _n._ Cyrus, 27.

Daniel, a friend of the poet Immanuel, 100. Dante, 15, 82, 83, 85, 99, 100, 103, 126. Dante's birthday, a Hebrew sonnet written on, 158. D'Aquin, Ph., 73. _Darkè-Hammishnah_, 161, 163. David, King, bewails the death of King Saul, 41. “_Dawn, The_,” 177. Deborah, 33, 40, 45, 46. _Decameron_, 121. Delitzsch, Franz, 117, 150, 154, 156. Democritus, 114. Demosthenes, 2, 15 _n._ Derenbourg, J., 143. _Deronda, Daniel_, 147. “_Desert of Kedemoth, The_,” 80. “_Desirable Treasure_,” 176. Deutsch, Emanuel, 50. De Wette, 141. Dialect, Hebrew, 175. _Dinah_, 46. Diogenes, 10. _Divan_, compiled by Bedaresi, 80. _Divina Commedia_, 98, 101. Don Pedro IV, 110. Dryden, 17 _n._ Dukes, L., 60, 67, 114, 150, 156, 177.

_Eben Bochan_, 104, 108, 139, 110, 114. — — by Immanuel, 87. _Ecclesiastes_, 5, 22, 32. _Écrivains Juifs français du XIV^e siècle, Les_, 115. Edersheim, 41. Ehrenberg, M., 141. Elijah on Mount Carmel, 1, 74. Eliot, George, 147. _Elkanah_, 38. _Eloha_ (Arabic _Allah_), 34. Ensheim, Moses, 176. Epigram, the Hebrew, 69. _Epigrammata ac Poemata varia_, 69 _n._, 70 _n._ _Ersch and Gruber's Real-Encyklopädie_, 98. Erter, Isaac, 127–139. _Erubin_, 20. _Esheth Chayil_, 18. Estellina Conath, 73. _L'État littéraire des Juifs dans le moyen âge_, 146. Euchel, Isaac, 175. Euripides, 28. Eusebius, 34. Eve, 43, 46. Ewald, J. L., 27. _Examen mundi_, 73. Exiles, Hebrew, 34. Ezekiel, 10. Ezekiel, the Book of, 173. Ezra, “The Helper,” 45.

Falstaff, 43. Fano, Jacob of, 78. _Faust_, 5, 32. Fergusson, James, 27. Festivals, the Jewish, of the New Year and the Day of Atonement, 151. _Flacco, Pro_, 15 _n._ Fra Guittone di Arezzo, 89. Frankel, Rabbi David, 142. — Z., 154–65. Frankfort, Assembly of Rabbis at, 161. Frankl, Ludwig August, 20. Friedländer, David, 66, 175. Froude, 70 _n._ Fürst, Julius, 91, 154, 156.

Gabirol, Solomon Ibn, 59, 74, 166, 175. Gallic Church, 149. Gans, D., 142. “_Gatherer_,” _The_, 175. Gaunt, John de, 43. _Gedaliah_, 153. Geiger, Abr., 91, 100, 104, 112, 151, 156, 177. Geldern, Betty von, 166. _Gemara_, 50. _Gemul Athalia_, 176. Gentilomo, Pavia, 157. German Translation of the Bible, Mendelssohn's, 174. _Gerupha_, 27. _Geschichte der jüd. Poesie_, 117 _n._, 155. _Geschichte und Literatur_, 145. Ghasali, 117. _Ghetto_, 176. Ghirondi, 156. Ginsburg, Asher, 179. Ginsburg, Baron de, 170. Goethe, 15, 32, 126, 149. Goldenberg, B., 176. Goldenthal, 117. “Golden Tongue,” the, 79. Goodman, Rabbi Tobias, 73. Gordon, Juda Löb, 177. Gorgias, 30. “_Gottesdienstliche Vorträge_,” 145. Graetz, H., 71, 72, 79, 92, 104, 112, 130. Grammarians, Hebrew, 115. Greeks and Romans, literary works of the, 34. Gross, 104. Güdemann, M., 82, 92, 143.

_Habakkuk_, 33. Habib, Ibn, 80. Hades, 156. _Haham_, the post of the, 158. _Halacha_, 51. — Development of the, 162. Halevi, Jehudah, 61, 62, 67, 122, 156, 157, 166, 179. Halle, Aaron, 176. Halm, 55 _n._ _Hamuna_, Rabbi, 20. Hannah, 46. _Harem_, 40. Hariri, 63. Harkavy, A., 73. “Hebrew Melodies,” 166. Hebrew Poetry, 15. Heine, Heinrich, 1, 62, 83, 130, 142, 152, 165–173. “_Heine über Börne_,” 167 _n._ Heineman's “_Yedidya_,” 151. _Helena_, Queen, 29. _Heman_, 30. _Hephaestus_, 1. Herod, King, 27. _Hesiod_, 6. Hirsch, Baron de, 139. Hirschel, Solomon, Chief Rabbi of London, 73. Hirschfeld, H., 68 _n._ History of European Morals, 15 _n._ _Histoire des langues sémitiques_, 70 _n._ _Hodegetica in Mishnam_, 163. Homer, 1, 17, 21, 40. — Translations from, 126. “Homilies of the Jews,” 144, 147. Horace, 8, 15, 91, 96, 126. _Hosea_, 7, 8. _Hoshana-Rabba_, 148. _Huldah_, 40. Humboldt, 28, 59. Humour of the Bible, 1–12. — of some mediaeval and modern Hebrew writers, 58–71.

Ibn Caspi, 103 _n._ Ibn Ezra, Abr., 59, 61. — — Moses, 63, 122, 166. Ibn-Sina, 79. _Iliad_, 1, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 37. Immanuel, 82–103, 104, 126. Infanz, Don Solomon del, 77. _Inferno_, 98, 99. Isaac, Don Todros, 110. Isaiah, 2, 3, 4, 5, 165.