Rashi Part 10

The preceding chapters show how voluminous and varied was Ras.h.i.+'s work. And yet we are far from possessing everything he wrote; a number of texts have disappeared, perhaps are lost forever. But this fertility is not Ras.h.i.+'s sole literary merit. If the excellence of a work is to be measured not only by its intrinsic value, but also by its historical influence, by the scientific movement to which it has given the impulse, by the literature which it has called into being, in short, by its general effect, no work should receive a higher estimate than that of Ras.h.i.+, for, it may be said without exaggeration, no other work was ever the occasion of so much comment and discussion, and none exerted an influence so far reaching and enduring. From the moment of their appearance his writings spread rapidly, and were read with enthusiasm. After profoundly affecting his contemporaries, Ras.h.i.+ continued to guide the movement he had started. His influence upon rabbinical literature is comparable only with that of Maimonides. Indeed, it was more wholesome than his. The Talmudic codex established by Maimonides aimed at nothing less than to shut off the discussions and to give the oral law firm, solid shape. Ras.h.i.+, on the contrary, safeguarded the rights of the future, and gave his successors full play. Again, not having introduced into his work philosophic speculations, he was s.h.i.+elded against criticism, and his renown was therefore more immaculate than that of the author of the Mishneh Torah, who had to undergo furious attacks.

Ras.h.i.+ dominates the entire rabbinical movement in France and Germany. Generally, the influence of a writer wanes from day to day; but as for Ras.h.i.+'s, it may he said to have increased by force of habit and as the result of events, and to have broadened its sphere. Limited at first to French, Lotharingian, and German centres [centers sic] of learning, it soon extended to the south of Europe, to Africa, and even to Asia, maintaining its force both in the field of Biblical exegesis and of Talmudic jurisprudence.

Since it is impossible to mention all the authors and works following and preceding Ras.h.i.+, it must suffice to point out some characteristic facts and indispensable names in order to bring into relief the vitality and expansive force of his achievement, and to show how it has survived the ravages of time, and, what is more, how it has overcome man's forgetfulness - edax tempus, edacior h.o.m.o. We shall see that Ras.h.i.+ directed the course of the later development at the same time that he summed up in his work all that had previously been accomplished.

"The example of a man as revered as Ras.h.i.+ for his piety, his character, and his immense learning was bound to make a profound and lasting impression upon his contemporaries. His descendants and his numerous disciples, pursuing with equal zeal the study of the Talmud and that of Scriptures, took as their point of departure in either study the commentaries of their ancestor and master, to which they added their own remarks, now to enlarge upon and complete the first work, now to discuss it, refute it, and subst.i.tute new views. Thus arose the Tossafot, or additional glosses upon the Talmud, and thus in the following generations arose new commentaries upon the Pentateuch or upon the entire Bible, in which the rational spirit evoked by Ras.h.i.+ a.s.sumed a more and more marked and exclusive form."[131]

Finally, Ras.h.i.+'s influence was not confined either within the walls of the Jewries or within the frontiers of France, but it radiated to foreign lands and to ecclesiastical circles.

I

It may be said without exaggeration that Ras.h.i.+'s Talmudic commentary renewed rabbinical studies in France and in Germany.

It propagated knowledge of the Talmud there and multiplied the academies. In fact, schools were founded in all localities containing Jewish communities no matter how insignificant; and it is difficult for us to obtain any idea of the number and importance of these "Faculties," scattered over the length and breadth of Northern France, which thus became a very lively centre [center sic] of Jewish studies and the chief theatre [theater sic] of the intellectual activity of the Occidental Jews. Its schools eclipsed those of the Rhenish countries and rivalled [rivaled sic] in glory those of Spain.

What in the first instance contributed to the success of the movement begun by Ras.h.i.+, is the fact that he moulded [molded sic]

numerous disciples - in this more fortunate than Maimonides, who was unable to found a school and who sowed in unploughed land.

It was only with the lapse of time that his work little by little made its way, while Ras.h.i.+ through his teaching exerted an absolutely direct and, as it were, living influence. Ras.h.i.+'s authority was such that Troyes became the chief centre [center sic] of studies. Many pupils flocked to it and there composed important works, casting into sure and permanent form the intellectual wealth they had gathered while with their master.

They put the finis.h.i.+ng touches to his work and labored to complete it, even during his life, and as though under his protection.

I have already spoken of Simhah ben Samuel de Vitry, author of the liturgical and ritual collection, Mahzor Vitry.[132]

Among other disciples not so well known are Mattathias ben Moses, of Paris, Samuel ben Perigoros, Joseph ben Judah, and Jacob ben Simson (1123), who lived at Paris or Falaise and wrote Responsa at the dictation of his master, and, besides commentaries, a Mahzor, and an astronomic work. He was in turn the master of Jacob Tam.

Judah ben Abraham, of Paris, aided by suggestions from his master, wrote a ceremonial for the Pa.s.sover. In carrying out his task, he availed himself of the notes of his older fellow disciple Simhah, and his collaborator was Shemaiah, who had already worked on Ras.h.i.+'s commentary on Ezekiel. Besides, Shemaiah made additions to Ras.h.i.+'s Talmudic commentaries, and composed several commentaries under his guidance. He also collected and edited Ras.h.i.+'s Decisions and Responsa, serving, as it were, as Ras.h.i.+'s literary executor. Moreover, he was a relative of Ras.h.i.+'s, though the degree of kins.h.i.+p is not known, the evidence of authors upon the subject being contradictory.

Some maintain he was Ras.h.i.+'s grandson, or son-in-law, or the son- in-law of his sister; according to others - and this seems more exact he was the father-in-law of a brother of Jacob Tam.

At all events, it was Ras.h.i.+'s relatives who contributed most to his renown. "In regard to his family Ras.h.i.+ enjoyed unexampled good fortune," says Zunz. "It was not only through his disciples, but also through his family that the founder of rabbinical literature in France and Germany established his reputation, spread his works, and added to the l.u.s.tre [l.u.s.ter sic] of his name." A fact which no doubt helped to a.s.sure the direction of the studies made by Ras.h.i.+'s descendants, is that they possessed the ma.n.u.scripts written and corrected by their ancestor; and these autographs were veritable treasures at a time when books were rare and copies inexact.

One of Ras.h.i.+'s sons-in-law, Judah ben Nathan,[133] was a scholarly and highly esteemed Talmudist. At the suggestion of his father-in-law, he completed Ras.h.i.+'s commentaries and continued the work after Ras.h.i.+'s death, using as his chief aid the oral explanations he had received from him. The son of Judah, Yomtob, was also a good Talmudist.

The other son-in-law, Meir ben Samuel (about 1065-1135), was originally from the little town of Rameru,[134] which through him and his sons became an important intellectual centre [center sic]

for more than a half century. Meir was a distinguished scholar whom his sons sometimes cite as an authority. He wrote Responsa in a.s.sociation with his master and father-in-law. As I have already stated, Meir ben Samuel married a daughter of Ras.h.i.+, Jochebed, by whom he had four sons and a daughter, Miriam, the wife of Samuel of Vitry. One of the sons, Solomon, has been known to us for only about twelve years, although he had a reputation as a Talmudic and Biblical scholar, chiefly the latter, having received the surname of "father of grammarians."

His reputation, however, was eclipsed by that of his three brothers, who have poetically been called the three vigorous branches of the tree of which Ras.h.i.+ was the trunk. These were Samuel ben Meir, surnamed Rashbam, Jacob ben Meir, surnamed Jacob Tam, or Rabbenu Tam, and finally Isaac ben Meir, surnamed Ribam.

The last, who lived without doubt at Rameru and there composed Tossafot,[135] died during the life-time of his father, leaving seven young children. He did not equal his brothers either in knowledge or renown.

Samuel ben Meir (about 1085-1158) studied under his grandfather.

As we have seen[136] he discussed exegetic questions with Ras.h.i.+, and went so far as to express opinions in his presence concerning points of casuistry. On Ras.h.i.+'s death, it seems, he a.s.sumed the direction of the school at Troyes; but he was more prominently identified with the academy which he, following in the steps of his master, founded at Rameru, and which soon became prosperous.

It was at Rameru, too, that he wrote his valuable Talmudic commentaries.[137] Among his pupils are said to have been Isaac ben Asher ha-Levi, of Speyer, and Joseph Porat ben Moses, known also as Don Bendit. Samuel ben Meir's was a bold, independent spirit. In some instances he sacrificed a Talmudic explanation for the sake of one that seemed more natural to him. In addition he had a fair amount of scientific and philosophic knowledge, and he was very productive in the field of literature.

But Rashbam's authority, if not his knowledge, was exceeded by that of his younger brother Jacob. Jacob Tam, born about 1100, was still a very young child when Ras.h.i.+ died. He studied under the guidance of his father, on whose death he a.s.sumed the direction of the academy of Rameru in his father's place. Then he went to Troyes, where he was surrounded by numerous pupils, some from countries as distant as Bohemia and Russia. One of his best known disciples was Eliezer ben Samuel, of Metz (died about 1198), author of the Sefer Yereim (Book of the Pious).

Other pupils of his mentioned were Moses ben Abraham, of Pontoise, to whom he wrote in particularly affectionate terms, and Jacob of Orleans, a scholar held in high regard, who died at London in 1189 in the riot that broke out the day of Richard I's coronation. A year later, in 1190, the liturgical poet and Biblical commentator Yomtob de Joigny died at York. It seems that Jacob Tam, like his successors, had to suffer from the popular hate and excesses. In fact he tells how, on one occasion, on the second day of Pentecost (possibly at the time of the troubles resulting from the Second Crusade), he was robbed and wounded, and was saved from death only through the intervention of a lord. The end of his life was saddened by the auto-da-fe of Blois, at which numerous Jews suffered martyrdom. He perpetuated the memory of that occasion by inst.i.tuting a fast day. He died in 1171, universally regretted for his clear and accurate intellect, his piety, uprightness, amiability, and modesty. His contemporaries considered him the highest rabbinical authority, and he was consulted by persons as remote as in the south of France and the north of Spain. He possessed a remarkably original, broad yet subtle intellect, and his writings display keen penetration and singular vigor of thought. He devoted himself chiefly to Biblical exegesis; but in this domain he obtained a reputation less through the purely exegetical parts than through the critical work in which he defended the grammarian Menahem against the attacks of Dunash.[138] His liturgical compositions and the short poems with which he sometimes prefaced his Responsa show that he was a clever poet, an imitator of the Spaniards. Abraham Ibn Ezra while on his rovings in France was one of his correspondents.

However, Jacob Tam, or, to call him by his t.i.tle of honor, Rabbeun Tam, - in allusion to Gen. xxv. 27, where Jacob is described as "tam," a man of integrity - owed his renown to his Talmudic activity, which he exerted in an original line of work though he was not entirely free from the influence of Ras.h.i.+. If he was not the creator of a new sort of Talmudic literature, he was at least one of its first representatives. Either because he considered the commentaries of his grandfather impossible to imitate, or because he could not adapt himself to their simplicity and brevity, he took pleasure in raising ingenious objections against them and proposing original solutions. These explanations joined to his Decisions and Responsa were collected by him in a work called Sefer ha-Yashar (Book of the Just), of which he himself made two redactions. The one we now possess was put together - rather inaccurately - after the death of the author according to the second recension. The Sefer ha-Yashar was used a great deal by later Talmudists. It may be said to have inaugurated the form of literature called Tossafot.

As the word signifies, the Tossafot are "additional notes,"

"Novellae," upon the Talmud. They display great erudition, ingenuity, and forcible logic, and they represent a prodigious effort of sharp a.n.a.lysis and hardbound dialectics. The authors of the Tossafot, the Tossafists, were marvellously [marvelously sic] skilful [skillful sic] at turning a text about and viewing it in all its possible meanings, at discovering intentions and unforeseen consequences. Their favorite method was to raise one or more objections, to set forth one or more contradictions between two texts, and then to propound one or more solutions, which, if not marked by simplicity and verisimilitude, none the less bear the stamp of singularly keen insight. In their hands the study of the Talmud became a st.u.r.dy course in intellectual gymnastics. It refined the intellect and exercised the sense of logic. Yet it would be a mistake to see in the Tossafot nothing but the taste for controversy and love of discussion for the sake of discussion. The Tossafists, even more than Ras.h.i.+, sought to deduce the norm, especially the practical norm, from the Talmudic discussions, and discover a.n.a.logies permitting the solution of new cases. Thus, while Ras.h.i.+'s commentary is devoted to the explanation of words, and, more generally, of the simple meaning of the text, the Tossafot enter into a searching consideration of the debates of the Talmud. Moreover, Ras.h.i.+ composed short but numerous notes, while the Tossafists wrote lengthier but less consecutive commentaries. At the same time one of Ras.h.i.+'s explanations is a fragment of the Tossafot explanation. Thus, the commentary of the Tossafists exists in abridged form, as it were, in germ, in the commentary of Ras.h.i.+. Ras.h.i.+ was the constant guide of the Tossafists. His commentary, "the Commentary," as they called it, was ever the basis for their "additions." They completed or discussed it; in each case they made it their point of departure, and his influence is apparent at every turn. The species of literature called Tossafot is not only thoroughly French in origin, but, it may said, without Ras.h.i.+ it would never have come into existence. The authors of the Tossafot are as much the commentators of Ras.h.i.+ as they are of the Talmud.[139] The Tossafot bear the same relation to his Talmudic commentary as the Gemara to the Mishnah. Like the Amoraim in regard to the Tannaim, the Tossafists set themselves the task of completing and correcting the work of the master; for, despite their veneration for Ras.h.i.+, they did not by any means spare him in their love of truth.

The first Tossafists, both in point of age and worth, were not only the disciples, but also, as we have seen, even the descendants of Ras.h.i.+. "We drink," said R. Tam, "at the source of R. Solomon." One of the most celebrated Tossafists was a great-grandson of Ras.h.i.+, Isaac ben Samuel (about 1120-1195) surnamed the Elder, son of a sister of R. Tam and grandson, on his father's side, of Simhah, of Vitry. Born without doubt at Rameru, he attended the school of his two uncles, Samuel ben Meir and Jacob Tam. When Jacob Tam left for Troyes, Isaac ben Samuel took his place. Later he founded a school at Dampierre,[140]

where, it is said, he had sixty pupils, each of whom knew one of the treatises of the Talmud by heart. Through his departure, Rameru lost its importance as a centre [center sic] of study. He collected and co-ordinated various explanations growing out of Ras.h.i.+'s commentaries. Thus he established the foundations for the Tossafot, on every page of which his name appears.

He was the teacher of the most learned Talmudists of the end of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth century. His son and collaborator Elhanan, a highly esteemed rabbi, died before him, some say as a martyr. Among his disciples are said to have been Baruch ben Isaac, originally from Worms, later resident of Ratisbon, author of the Sefer ha-Terumah (Book of the Heave-Offering), one of the first and most influential casuistic collections (about 1200); Isaac ben Abraham, called the Younger to distinguish him from his master, whom he succeeded and who died a little before 1210; and the brother of Isaac, Samson of Sens (about 1150-1230), whose commentaries, according to the testimony of Asheri, exercised the greatest influence upon the study of the Talmud. He was one of the most ill.u.s.trious representatives of the French school, and his authority was very great. His usual abiding place was Sens in Burgundy, but about 1211 he emigrated to Palestine in the company of some other scholars. He met his death at St. Jean d'Acre.

By this time Champagne had proved too contracted a field for the activity of so many rabbis. Flouris.h.i.+ng schools arose in Ile-de- France and Normandy; and it is related that at Paris, in the first half of the twelfth century, lived the scholarly and pious Elijah ben Judah, who carried on a controversy about phylacteries with his kinsman Jacob Tam. But the most celebrated Tossafist of Paris without reserve was Judah Sir Leon, born in 1166 and died in 1224, a descendant of Ras.h.i.+. The school of Paris having been closed after the expulsion of 1181, Judah went to study at Dampierre under the guidance of Isaac and his son Elhanan. Among his fellow-disciples, besides the rabbis already mentioned, were Samson Sir of Coucy, Solomon of Dreux, Simon of Joinville, Abraham ben Nathan, of Lunel, and others. In 1198 Philip Augustus recalled the Jews he had expelled, and the community again prospered. Judah re-established the school, which soon a.s.sumed the first place in the list of academies. Among his numerous pupils mention is made of Moses ben Jacob, of Coucy, brother-in-law of Samson and 'author of the famous Sefer Mizwot Gadol (Great Book of Precepts), abbreviated to Semag, which shows the mingled influence of the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides and of the Tossafot of the French masters; Isaac ben Moses, of Vienna, who carried into Austria the methods and teachings of his French masters, surnamed Or Zarua after the t.i.tle of his work, a valuable ritual compilation; and Samuel ben Solomon Sir Morel,[141] of Falalse (about 1175-1253), whose most celebrated pupil was Meir of Rothenburg, the greatest authority of his country and his time, known for his dramatic end as well as for his great intellectual activity (1225-1293).

The successor of Judah Sir Leon was Jehiel ben Joseph, or Sir Vives, of Meaux. At this time the school is said to have counted three hundred pupils. In the disputation of 1240,[142] Jehiel ben Joseph together with Moses of Coucy, Samuel of Falaise, and another less well-known rabbi, Judah ben David, of Melun, represented the Jews. A Christian source calls Jehiel "the cleverest and most celebrated of all the Jews." When he left for Palestine in 1260 the school of Paris was closed not to be opened again.

Jehiel left behind him in France two important disciples, his son-in-law, Isaac ben Joseph, of Corbeil (died in 1280), who in 1277 published the "Columns of Exile," also called Sefer Mizwot Katan (Little Book of Precepts), abbreviated to Semak, a religious and ethical collection, which enjoyed great vogue; and Perez ben Elia, of Corbeil (died about 1295), who mentions Isaac as his master also. Perez visited Brabant and Germany, where he maintained relations with Meir of Rothenburg.

Among his pupils there was Mordecai ben Hillel, an authority highly esteemed for his decisions, who died a martyr at Nuremberg in 1298. Another master of his was Samuel ben Shneor, of Evreux (about 1225), a much-quoted Tossafist, who studied under the guidance of his elder brother Moses, editor of the "Tossafot of Evreux," largely used for the present printed editions of the Tossafot. In the second half of the thirteenth century, Eliezer of Touques compiled the Tossafot of Sens, of Evreux, etc., adding his own explanations on the margin. His work forms the chief basis for our present Tossafot to the Talmud.

As always with redactions and compilations, these mentioned here are a sign of the discontinuance of studies, worn threadbare by two centuries of intense activity. Decadence, moreover, was brought about more rapidly, as we shall see, by the misfortunes that successively befell the Jews of France.

II

Ras.h.i.+'s influence was no less enduring and no less wholesome in the province of Biblical exegesis. An idea of the impression he made may be gained from the fact that more than fifty super- commentaries were written on his commentary on the Pentateuch, to explain or to complete it, to defend it, and occasionally to combat it. But Ras.h.i.+'s influence was productive of still more than this. It called into being original works superior even to his own. His disciples shook off the yoke of Talmudic and Midras.h.i.+c tradition that had rested upon him. But even when they surpa.s.sed him, it was nevertheless his influence that was acting upon them and his authority to which they appealed.

Samuel ben Meir, diffuse as were his Talmudic commentaries, was admirably brief in his commentary on the Pentateuch, which is a model of simplicity and accuracy, and is marked by insight and subtlety. It is possibly the finest product of the French exegetic school. It sets forth general rules of interpretation, as, for instance, that the Bible should be explained through itself and without the aid of the Haggadic or even Halakic Midrash. Literal exegesis, said Samuel ben Meir, is more forceful than Halakic interpretation. He so resolutely pursued the method of Pesbat, that Nahmanides felt justified in declaring he sometimes overdid it. The same admirable qualities exist in Rashbam's commentaries on the Prophets and the Hagiographa, in which he everywhere turns to excellent account the works of his ancestor, sometimes merely referring to them, but also combating Ras.h.i.+'s explanations, though in this case he does not mention Ras.h.i.+.

Eliezer of Beaugency and Moses of Paris (middle of the twelfth century) were doubtless among the disciples of Samuel ben Meir.

Moses of Paris, in turn, had a pupil by the name of Gabriel.

Occasionally Rashbam did not disdain the Midrash. But the same cannot be said of his friend and collaborator Joseph ben Simon Kara (born about 1060-1070, died about 1130-1140), a nephew and disciple of Menahem ben Helbo, and the friend if not the disciple of Ras.h.i.+, to whom he acknowledges himself indebted. He wrote additions to Ras.h.i.+'s commentaries, and on Ras.h.i.+'s advice wrote a part of his Biblical commentaries, several of which have been published. They enjoyed great vogue, and in certain ma.n.u.scripts they are set alongside of, or replace, Ras.h.i.+'s commentaries.

They fully deserve the honor; for, in fact, Joseph Kara surpa.s.ses Ras.h.i.+ and rivals Rashbam in his fair-minded criticism, his scrupulous attachment to the literal meaning, and his absolutely clear idea of the needs of a wholesome exegesis, to say nothing of his theological views, which are always remarkable and sometimes bold. He frankly rejected the Midrash, and compares the person making use of it to the drowning man who clutches at a straw. Contrary to tradition he denies that Samuel was the author of the Biblical book bearing his name.

Side by side with Joseph Kara belongs his rival and younger contemporary Joseph Bekor-Shor, doubtless the same person as Joseph ben Isaac, of Orleans, who was a disciple of Rabbenu Tam, and must, therefore, have lived in the middle of the twelfth century. His commentary on the Pentateuch, which has been published in part, is frequently cited by later exegetes, and its reputation is justified by its keen insight and its vein of odd originality. Joseph Bekor-Shor had felt the influence of the Spaniards, but he had yielded to the attractions of Talmudic dialectics, which he had acquired at a good school, although, like his master, he cites, in connection with the Bible, a certain Obadiah.

Quae secutae sunt magis defieri quam narrari possunt. In the works of the second half of the twelfth century this fault becomes more and more perceptible, and signs of decadence begin to appear. Moreover, the writings at this time were very numerous, fostering, and, in turn, stimulated by, anti-Christian polemics. The greater number of the Tossafists study the Bible in conjunction with the Talmud. Citations are made of explanations or Biblical commentaries by Jacob of Orleans, Moses of Pontoise, Isaac the Elder, Isaac the Younger, Judah Sir Leon, Jehiel of Meaux, and Moses of Coucy. All these rabbis wrote Tossafot to the Bible as well as to the Talmud. This comparative study of Bible and Talmud was continued for some time, untill [until sic] at the beginning of the thirteenth century intellectual activity was exhausted. Original works were replaced by a large number of compilations, all related to one another, since the authors copied without scruple and pillaged without shame.

Chief among these works, which bear the general t.i.tle of Tossafot to the Torah and some of which have been printed, are Hazzekuni, by Hezekiah ben Manoah (about 1240), Gan[143] (Garden), by Aaron ben Joseph, (about 1250), Daat Zekenim (Knowledge of the Ancients), in which many exegetes are cited (after 1252), Paaneah Razah (Revealer of the Mystery), by Isaac ben Judah ha-Levi (about 1300), Minhat Yehudah (Offering of Judah), by Judah ben Eliezer (or Eleazar), of Troyes (1313), Hadar Zekenim (Glory of the Ancients; beginning of the fourteenth century), and Imre Noam (Pleasant Words), by Jacob of Illescas (middle of the fourteenth century).

All these works were more or less inspired by Ras.h.i.+, and some, such as Hazzekuni, might be called super-commentaries to Ras.h.i.+. But these disciples were not true to the spirit of the master. They gave themselves up to the Haggadah more than he did, and also to a thing unknown to him, Gematria and mystical exegesis. Thus this French school, which for nearly a century had shone with glowing brilliance, now threw out only feeble rays, and abandoned itself more and more to the subtleties of the Midrash, to the fancifulness of the Gematria. It almost consigned to oblivion the great productions in rational exegesis, always excepting Ras.h.i.+'s commentaries, the popularity of which never waned, as much because of the author's renown as because of his concessions to the Midrash.

It remained for a Christian exegete to free rational exegesis from the discredit into which it had fallen. The ecclesiastical commentators even more than the authors of the Biblical Tossafot were steeped in allegorism and mysticism; but among them were some who cultivated the interpretation of the literal meaning of Scriptures, and even appealed to Jewish scholars for explanations'. Unfortunately, Ras.h.i.+'s works, written in a language unintelligible to the Christians, could not in any degree influence a general intellectual movement.

However, exception must be made of the celebrated Franciscan monk Nicholas de Lyra (born about 1292, died in 1340), author of the Postillae perpetuae on the Bible which brought him the t.i.tle of doctor pla.n.u.s et utilis. Nicholas de Lyra possessed knowledge rare among Christians, knowledge of the Hebrew language, and he knew Hebrew so well that he was thought to be a converted Jew. In his works, polemical in character, he comes out against the mystical tendencies in the interpretations of the rabbis, and does not spare Ras.h.i.+, even attributing to him explanations nowhere existing in Ras.h.i.+'s writings. But these criticisms of his, as he himself says, are "extremely rare."

Moreover he does not refrain from accepting for his own purposes a large number of Midras.h.i.+m borrowed from Ras.h.i.+. It was from Ras.h.i.+'s commentaries, in fact, that he learned to know rabbinical literature - only to combat it. On one occasion he said, "I usually follow Rabbi Solomon, whose teachings are considered authoritative by modern Jews." He sometimes modified the text of the Vulgate according to the explanations of the rabbi, and his commentary on the Psalms, for instance, is often only a paraphrase of Ras.h.i.+'s. For this reason Nicholas de Lyra was dubbed, it must be admitted somewhat irreverently, simia Salomonis, Ras.h.i.+'s Ape. Nevertheless, he exercised great influence in ecclesiastical circles, comparable to that of Ras.h.i.+ among the Jews. His commentary was called "the common commentary." Possibly it was in imitation of Nicholas's work that the name glosa hebraica (the Hebrew commentary), or simply glosa, was bestowed upon Ras.h.i.+'s work by a Christian author of the thirteenth century, who, if not the famous scholar and monk Roger Bacon, must have been some one of the same type. Another Christian exegete of the same period, William of Mara, cites Ras.h.i.+'s commentary under the t.i.tle of Perus. The admiration felt for Nicholas de Lyra, which now seems somewhat excessive, is expressed in the well-known proverb: Si Lyra non lyra.s.set, totus mondus delira.s.set. A modification of the proverb, si Lyra non lyra.s.set, Lutherius non salta.s.set, is not an exaggeration; for the works of the Franciscan monk were soon translated into German, and they exercised a profound influence on the leader of the Reformation when he composed the translation of the Bible, epoch-making in the history of literature as well as of religion. It is known that Luther had large knowledge of the Hebrew and a strong feeling for it, a quality he owed to Nicholas de Lyra and, through him, to the Jewish exegetes, although his scornful pride would never permit him to concede that "Ras.h.i.+ and the Tossafists made Nicholas de Lyra and Nicholas de Lyra made Luther."

At the time when Ras.h.i.+'s influence was thus extended to Christian circles, the Jewish schools called into being by his work and his teachings fell into decay on account of the persecutions that shook French Judaism to its foundations and almost deprived it of existence. This shows how firmly intellectual activities are bound up with temporal fortunes - a truth manifested in the period of growth and maturity and ill.u.s.trated afresh in the period of decadence.

Even after the First Crusade, the situation of the jews of France had remained favorable. It did not perceptibly change as a result of the various local disorders marking the Second Crusade. Nevertheless, the second half of the twelfth century witnessed the uprise of accusations of ritual murder and piercings of the host. Popular hatred and mistrust were exploited by the greedy kings. Philip Augustus expelled the Jews from his domain in 1181, though he recalled them in 1198. Yet the example had been set, and the security of the Jews was done for. The lords and bishops united to persecute them, destroy their literary treasures, and paralyze their intellectual efforts. They found the right king for their purposes in St.

Louis, a curious mixture of tolerance and bigotry, of charity and fanaticism. "St. Louis sought to deprive the Jews of the book which in all their trials was their supreme consolation, the refuge of their souls against outside clamor and suffering, the only safeguard of their morality, and the bond maintaining their religious oneness - the Talmud." In 1239 an apostate, Nicholas Donin, of La Roch.e.l.le, denounced the Talmud to Gregory IX. The Pope ordered the seizure of all copies, and an investigation of the book. In France the mandate was obeyed, and a disputation took place at Paris. Naturally, the Talmud was condemned, and twenty - four cartloads of Hebrew books were consigned to the flames. The auto-da-fe of 1242 marks the decadence of an entire literature, the ruin of brilliant schools, and the check to the movement so gloriously inaugurated by Ras.h.i.+. All the living forces of French Judaism were deeply affected.

But the fall was neither complete nor sudden. It was not until 1306 that the Jews were exiled from France by Philip the Fair, and a hundred thousand persons had to leave the country in which their nation had long flourished and to whose prosperity they had materially contributed.

The expulsion of 1306 withdrew French Judaism to the provinces directly attached to the crown. In vain were the Jews recalled in 1315 "at the general cry of the people." Only a very few profited by the tolerance shown them. After that their existence was troubled by riots, and broken in upon by expulsions. The schools, of old so flouris.h.i.+ng, fell into a state of utter decay.

About 1360 France could not count six Jewish scholars, and the works of the time show to what degree of degradation rabbinical studies had sunk. With the expulsion of 1394 Charles VI dealt the finis.h.i.+ng stroke. Thereafter French Judaism was nothing but the shadow of itself. Having received a mortal wound in 1306, its life up to the final expulsion in 1394 was one long death-agony.

Thus disappeared that French Judaism which contributed so large a portion to the economic and intellectual civilization of its fatherland during the time the sun of tolerance shone on its horizon, but which was destined to perish the moment the greed of princes and the fanaticism of priests, hoodwinking the ma.s.ses, united to overwhelm it. Nevertheless the three centuries of fruitful activity were not entirely lost to the future; and the Jews of France, who had gone in numbers to foreign lands, carried with them their books and their ideals.

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