Association for Jewish studies 2005-29(2)

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Front Matter Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005) Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131731 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:19 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

VOLUME29, NUMBER 2

NOVEMBER,2005

REV IE

THE

W

JOURNAL

OF

THE

ASSOCIATION

FOR

JEWISH

STUDIES

AJS Review ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES NEW YORK,NEW YORK EDITORS

Hillel J. Kieval, WashingtonUniversityin St. Louis MartinS. Jaffee, Universityof Washington,Seattle EDITORIAL BOARD

MichaelAlexander,TempleUniversity YaakovElman,YeshivaUniversity TalyaFishman,Universityof Pennsylvania SusanNiditch, AmherstCollege Derek Penslar,Universityof Toronto ChavaWeissler,Lehigh University BOOKREVIEW EDITOR JeffreyRubenstein,New YorkUniversity MANAGING EDITOR

SarahMassey The AJS Review (ISSN 0364-0094) is publishedtwice annually by the Association for Jewish Studies Manuscriptsfor considerationshould be sent to AJS Reviewc/o Prof. Hillel J. Kieval, WashingtonUniversityin St. Louis, Busch Hall 15, Box 1121, One BrookingsDrive, St. Louis, MO. 63130. Books for review should be sent to Prof. JeffreyRubenstein,New YorkUniversity,53 WashingtonSquareSouth, Room 100, New York,NY 10012. C 2005 by the Association for Jewish Studies Publishing, Subscription, andAdvertising Offices: CambridgeUniversity Press, 40 West 20th Street,New York,NY 10011, U.S.A.; or CambridgeUniversityPress,The Edinburgh Building, ShaftesburyRoad, CambridgeCB2 2RU, England. Annual subscriptionrates for Volume 30, 2006: Institutionsprint and online ?81/$130; institutions online only ?69/$110; institutionsprint only ?74/$120; single part ?40/$66, payablein advanceor on receipt of invoice; institutionalcheck or credit cardonly. Special ratesexist for membersof the Association for Jewish Studies;membershipinformationcan be found at http://www.brandeis.edu/ajs. AJSReviewand all otherCambridgeJournalscan be found at http://journals.cambridge.org/ Photocopying Information (for users in the U.S.A.): The Item-Fee Code for this publication (0364-0094/05 $12.00) indicates that copying for internal or personal use beyond thatpermittedby Sec. 107 or 108 of the U.S. CopyrightLaw is authorizedfor users duly registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) TransactionalReporting Service, providedthat the appropriateremittanceof $12.00 per article is paid directly to: CCC, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers,MA 01923. U.S.A. Specific writtenpermissionmust be obtained for all other copying; contact the nearest CambridgeUniversityPress office. Postmaster:Send address changes in the U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico to: AJS Review, JournalsDept., CambridgeUniversityPress, 100 BrookHill Drive,WestNyack, NY 109942113, U.S.A. Sendaddresschangeselsewhereto:AJSReview,JournalsDept.,CambridgeUniversityPress,The EdinburghBuilding,ShaftesburyRoad,CambridgeCB2 2RU,England.

A JS

Review

THE JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES

VOLUME 29, NUMBER2

NOVEMBER 2005 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARTICLES

Pamela Barmash At the Nexus of History and Memory:The TenLost Tribes..............................207 Magda Teter The Legend of Ger Zedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance

................................237

Ken Frieden Joseph Perl'sEscape from Biblical EpigonismthroughParodyof HasidicWriting ......265 Geoffrey Herman Ahasuerus,the FormerStable-Masterof Belshazzar,and the WickedAlexander of Macedon:Two Parallelsbetween the BabylonianTalmudand PersianSources..........283 Gad Freudenthal Aaron Salomon Gumpertz,GottholdEphraimLessing, and the FirstCall for an Improvementof the Civil Rights of Jews in Germany(1753) ..............................299 REVIEW ESSAY

Elliott Horowitz Tosaphists and Taboo: A Review of Haym Soloveitchik's "Yeinam".............................355 BOOKREVIEWS BIBLICAL STUDIES

J. Edward Wright. BaruchBen Neriah: FromBiblical Scribe to ApocalypticSeer BENJAMIN G. WRIGHT III .......................................

.......................361

Louis H. Feldman. "Remember Amalek!" Vengeance,Zealotry,and Group Destruction in the Bible Accordingto Philo, Pseudo-Philo, and Josephus STEVEN BOWMAN

.................................................

.............363

JUDAISMIN LATEANTIQUITY

David Noy and Hanswulf Bloedhorn. InscriptionesJudaicae Orientis.III Syria and Cyprus STEVENBOWMAN

..............................................................365

Hindy Najman. Seconding Sinai: TheDevelopmentof Mosaic Discourse in Second TempleJudaism ALEX JASSEN ........................367 ................................................................................ Andrew S. Jacobs. Remains of the Jews.: The Holy Land and Christian Empire in Late Antiquity MARINA GREATREX..........................

.....................

...........................369

Edward Kessler. Bound by the Bible: Jews, Christiansand the Sacrifice of saac JOELKAMINSKY .......................................................370 Cynthia M. Baker. Rebuildingthe House of Israel:Architecturesof Gender in JewishAntiquity FINE............................................................. STEVEN .................

372

Yizhar Hirschfeld. Qumranin Context,Reassessing theArchaeologicalEvidence RAMI ARAV ............................................................373 .................... Rachel Elior. The ThreeTemples:On the EmergenceofJewish Mysticism JONATHAN KLAWANS

..

.........................................

..............376

MEDIEVAL

J. H. Chajes. Between Worlds:Dybbuks,Exorcists,and Early ModernJudaism ANNE ORAVETZ ..........................................

..............................378

MODERN

Christopher R. Browning. The Origins of the Final Solution: TheEvolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September1939-March 1942, with contributionsby JiirgenMatthdus DAVIDENGEL.....................................................................................380 Judah M. Cohen. Throughthe Sands of Time:A History of the Jewish Community of St. Thomas,US. VirginIslands ALAN E BENJAMIN .................................

...................

...............382

Derek J. Penslar. Shylock'sChildren:Economicsand Jewish Identity in ModernEurope TODD M. ENDELMAN ...........................

..................................................384

Moshe Halamish. TheKabbalahin NorthAfrica:A Historical and CulturalSurvey 387 ................ PINCHAS GILLER ........................................................................... Elisheva Carlebach. Divided Souls: Convertsfrom Judaismin Germany, 1500-1750 HSIA......................................................388 R. PO-CHIA John M. Efron. Medicine and the GermanJews: A History STEVEN M. LOWENSTEIN ....................................................... Haya Bar-Itzhak. Jewish Poland-Legends of Origin: Ethnopolitics and LegendaryChronicles EZRAMENDELSOHN ...............................................

390

................392

Eli Lederhendler. New YorkJews and the Decline of UrbanEthnicity,1950-1970 DASHMOORE DEBORAH ............................................... .........................................394 Menachem Klein. Jerusalem:The ContestedCity BERNARD REICH ...............................................................396 Luis M. Gir6n-Negr6n. Alfonso de la Torre'sVisi6n Deleytable:Philosophical Rationalismand the Religious Imaginationin Fifteenth-CenturySpain NORMAN ROTH ........................................

.............

......................397

Gary Weissman. Fantasies of Witnessing:PostwarEffortsto Experience the Holocaust BERELLANG ..............................................................

................

399

Iris Parush. ReadingJewish Women:Marginalityand Modernizationin Nineteenth-CenturyEasternEuropeanJewish Society ELIYANAR. ADLER ........................................

..............

...............402

Ahuva Belkin. ThePurimshpil,Studies in Jewish Folk Theater JEANBAUMGARTEN .........

..........................

.................404

Peter Eli Gordon. Rosenzweigand Heidegger:BetweenJudaism and GermanPhilosophy ZACHARY BRAITERMAN .....................................

....................

405

Michael Walzer, Menachem Lorberbaum, Noam J. Zohar, and Ari Ackerman, eds. TheJewish Political Tradition.VolumeTwo:Membership JULIE E. COOPER .................................................................407

Marianne R. Sanua. Going Greek:Jewish College Fraternities in the UnitedStates, 1895-1945 DIANATURK.............................................................................409 Ofira Seliktar. Divided WeStand: AmericanJews, Israel, and the Peace Process HAROLD M .

WALLER...............................................................................

412

At the Nexus of History and Memory: The Ten Lost Tribes Author(s): Pamela Barmash Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 207-236 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131732 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:19 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

AJS Review 29:2 (2005), 207-236

AT THE NEXUS OF HISTORYAND MEMORY:

THE TENLOSTTRIBES

by Pamela Barmash I. INTRODUCTION

In 883 CE, a man appearedin Kairouan,one of the centersof Jewish life at the time and told a tale aboutthe lost tribes of the NorthernKingdom.' He called himself Eldadand claimedto be fromthe tribeof Dan. Since then, the story of the TenLost Tribes-that the tribesof the NorthernKingdomstill exist intactin a faraway land, living in exile beyond the sabbaticalriver,a mysteriousbody of water that was passable only on the Sabbath-has continuedto generateexcitement. It is astonishing,however,to realize that this motif did not develop until many centuries after the fall of the NorthernKingdom.After the destructionof the Northern Kingdom,manynorthernersremainedin theirancestralhomelandin the north. Other northernerslived among their southerncompatriotsin Judahafter fleeing south, while deported northernersand southernersmingled in exile in Mesopotamia.It is only afterthe end of the Second Templeperiodthatthe notion of the Ten Lost Tribes,inviolableand unreachable,developed. There is, then, a sharp disjunctionbetween what actually happenedto the northerntribesandthe memoryof whathappenedto them. Fathominghow this rift occurredrequiresus to enterthe enchantedrealmwhere the events of the past are transformedinto memory.Formost of the millenniumafterthe fall of the Northern Kingdom,the existence of northernersliving amongsouthernerswas assumed. The creationof the Septuagint,for example, accordingto the Letter of Aristeas, and its very name, are predicatedon the existence of all twelve tribes.2Six elders from each tribewere sent by the High Priestat Ptolemy'srequest,andthe name of the resultingtranslationwas derivedfrom their total numberof seventy-two.Yet, just afterthe end of the SecondTemplePeriod,a new assumptionemerged-northernerswere isolated in a distantland. II. THE

FATE OF THE NORTHERNERS

Understandingthis transfigurationof memorymust startby examiningwhat in fact did happento the populationof the North.The evidence demonstratesthat 1. Adolph Jellinek, Bet ha-midrash, 3rd ed. (repr., Jerusalem: Wahrmann, 1967), 2:102-13,

3:6-11; 5:17-21. 2. R. J. H. Shutt, trans., "Letter of Aristeas," in The Old Testament Pseudipigrapha, ed. James

H. Charlesworth(GardenCity,NY: Doubleday,1985), 16.

207

Pamela Barmash only partof the populationappearsto havebeen deportedby the Assyriansandthat a significant numberseem to have fled to the South, while many other northerners remained in their homeland. Three circumstancesserved as an impetus for northernersto escape deportation:(1) EarlierAssyrianattacksand deportationsof population,both in the region in generaland in the NorthernKingdomin particular, warnedof what might be in store for the futureand may have inspirednortherners to flee in anticipation. (2) The conquest of Samaria was interrupted, allowing northernersan opportunityfor flight. (3) The Assyrians in the end enforced only a partialexile, leaving many northernersin theirnative land. IIa. Prior AssyrianAttacks The Israelitesknew aboutthe Assyrian deportationpolicy. Amos, an eighth century BCE prophetto the north,warnsthe northernersthat they will be exiled, and althoughhe does not name the Assyrians directly,Amos refers to population transfersthatwill occurin the future(Amos 5:5, 27; 6:7; 7:11, 17).3 Hosea, a northern prophetfrom the eighth century BCE, admonishesthe northernersthat they will end up in a foreign land (Hosea 8:9; 9:6; 11:5). The Assyrianshad alreadybegun to pressurethe North by dismemberingit piece by piece, startingmore than a decade before the North'stotal capitulation.4 Tiglath-PileserIII5 had put pressureon the North in 738 BCE duringthe reign of Menahem, who was forced to raise money from 60,000 landowners(50 shekels from each for a total of 1,000 talents of silver)6to preservehis hold on the kingdom (2 Kings 15:19).7 Assyrianinscriptionsalso recordthatMenahemwas among 3. Hayyim Tadmorand Mordechai Cogan, II Kings (Anchor Bible; New York:Doubleday, 1988), 175. ShalomM. Paul arguesthatthe Israeliteswere not affectedby the Assyriansduringthe period of Amos's propheticoffice because Assyria was ruledby a series of ineffectualkings duringthat time (Amos:A Commentaryon the book ofAmos, Hermeneia[Minneapolis:Fortress,1991], 1, 198). Amos must have completedhis propheticoffice, accordingto Paul,before 745 BCE, because thereare no clear indicationsin the book of the domestic misfortunesthat occurredafterthe deathof Jeroboam II or of the militaryadvancesof Tiglath-PileserIII.However,while the enemy threateningthe Israelites remains anonymousin the book of Amos, this enemy is portrayedas utilizing deportations,a policy initiativeof Tiglath-PileserIII. (On Tiglath-Pileser'snew policies, see Georges Roux, AncientIraq, 3rd ed. [London:Penguin, 1992], 307). 4. K. LawsonYoungerJr.,summarizesthe campaignsagainst the North in "The Deportations of the Israelites,"JournalofBiblical Literature117 (1998): 201-27. Youngernotes thatTiglath-Pileser III alludes to his previous campaigns(in the plural)in his account of the campaign of 732 BCE, implying that a numberof campaigns against the NorthernKingdom were undertakenbefore the campaign of 732 BCE. 5. The Assyrian king Pul is consideredto be Tiglath-PileserIII. See Hayyim Tadmor,TheInscriptions of Tiglath-PileserIII King ofAssyria (Jerusalem:IsraelAcademy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994), 280 n. 5, and Steven W. Holladay,"The Quest for Sargon,Pul, and Tiglath-Pileserin the NineteenthCentury,"in Mesopotamiaand the Bible: ComparativeExplorations,ed. MarkW Chavalas and K. LawsonYoungerJr.(GrandRapids, MI: BakerAcademic, 2002), 68-87. Enjik6. A talentis 3,000 shekels(see Exodus38:25-26). See EphraimStern,"Midotumishkalot," lopediyaMikra'it4:861-77; MarvinA. Powell,"WeightsandMeasures,"AnchorBibleDictionary6:905. 7. The enormous size of the tributeis most likely attributedto the fact that Menahemwas a usurperwho purchasedAssyriansupportwith his tribute.Huge quantitiesof tributewere also given by other kings with shaky claims to theirthrone(see Tadmor,TheInscriptionsof Tiglath-PileserIII, 171,

208

At the Nexus of History and Memory the kings of the west who delivered tributeto Tiglath-PileserIII-although the amountis not recordedin this inscription,it is reasonableto assume that both the biblical andAssyrian inscriptionsreferto the same event.8This tributewas exacted by Tiglath-PileserIII from the northernking Menahem and other rulers bordering the Assyrian provinces newly established by his successful campaign against Syria and Phoenicia in 738.9 In 734 BCE, the Assyrians were in Gaza as partof a process to gain control over the commerce of the Mediterraneanseaports.'l The presence of the Assyrians was probablythe primarycause of the anti-Assyriancoalition of Israel and Aram, ratherthan the usual explanationthat the Assyrians were drawnto the region by the anti-Assyriancoalition."IThe Assyrianswantedto controlthe coastal strip and the Phoenicianand Philistine cities for commercialreasons, and as part of this process, they subjugatedthe western part of the NorthernKingdom along the coast into the Assyrianprovinceof Dor. The first deportationfrom the North was carriedout by Tiglath-PileserIII in 733-32 BCE. Duringthe reign of Pekah,accordingto the biblical text, the Assyrian emperorassumed control over the northernparts of the westerntribes and over Gilead and exiled the populationto Assyria (2 Kings 15:29).12This Assyrian invasion of the Galilee and Gilead'3 is also recordedin a numberof inscriptions from the Annals and other inscriptionsof Tiglath-Pileser.4 SummaryInscription 4:6'-7' recordsthe annexationof land from the NorthernKingdom:15 n. 16'; BustanayOded,"PhoenicianCities and the AssyrianEmpirein the Time of Tiglath-PileserIII," Zeitschriftdes deutschenPaldstina-Vereins90 [1974]: 49). Hulli of Tabal(explicitly called "a son of nobody")paid 10 talentsof gold and 1,000 talentsof silver(Tadmor,TheInscriptionsofTiglath-Pileser III, 171 [SummaryInscription7, rev. 15']) and Metenna of Tyrepaid 50 (or 150) talents of gold and 2,000 talentsof silver (Tadmor,TheInscriptionsof Tiglath-PileserIII, 171, 191 [SummaryInscription 7, rev. 16'; SummaryInscription9, rev.26]). 8. Tadmor,TheInscriptionsof Tiglath-PileserIII, 68-69 (Annal 13*: 10), 106-107 (Stele III a:10). ContraTadmorand Cogan, II Kings, 175, who suggest that the two texts may refer to different campaigns.In the end, we cannotbe sure. 9. Bob Becking, TheFall of Samaria:An Historical and Archaeological Study(Leiden: Brill, 1992), 4. 10. Tadmor,"IntroductoryRemarksto a New Editionof the Annals of Tiglath-PileserIII,"Proceedings of the IsraeliAcademyofArts and Sciences 2:9 (1967): 181-82; BenediktOtzen, "IsraelUnder the Assyrians,"in Power and Propaganda:A Symposiumon AncientEmpires,ed. Mogens Trolles Larsen(Copenhagen:AkademiskForlag, 1979), 255. 11. Otzen, "IsraelUnderthe Assyrians,"254-55. 12. For a discussion of the relationshipof this conquestto Tiglath-Pileser'sPhilistia campaign and the Syro-Ephraimitewar and the date of the deportationfrom the north,see JohnH. Hayes and J. Maxwell Miller,Israelite and JudaeanHistory (London:SCM Press, 1977), 425-32. 13. Thereis a possibility that Gilead was underArameancontrolon the eve of the invasion,although with a partial Israelite population. See N. Na'aman, "Rezin of Damascus and the Land of Gilead,"Zeitschriftdes deutschenPaldstina-Vereins111 (1995): 105-17. 14. Tadmor,TheInscriptionsof Tiglath-PileserIII, 80-83 (Annal 18:3'-8'; Annal 24: 3'-11'), 140-41 (SummaryInscription4:15'-17'), 188-189 (SummaryInscription9: rev. 9); 202-03 (Summary Inscription13:17'-18'). 15. Tadmor,The Inscriptions of Tiglath-PileserIII, 138-39. See also SummaryInscription 13:17'-18' discussed later in this essay.

209

Pamela Barmash (6-7) [thecitiesof... ]nite,Gilead,16andAbel-.. ,17whicharetheborder of Bit-Humri[a] (Israel),theentirewidelandof Bit-Haza'ili (Aram),I annexed to Assyria. Anotherinscription,of which there are two copies (Annal 18:3'-8'; Annal 24: 3'11'), recordsthe numberof captivesfromeach city in the Galilee, butunfortunately the inscriptionsarepoorly preservedat thatpoint. Only one of the two copies, Annal 24, does preservea number,13,520 deportedin total. Annal 18.3'-7' 3' [ ... of the 16] districtsof Bit-[Humri](Israel) ... ] 4' [ ... . captives from the city of... ]bara,625 captives from the city

of[... ] 5' 6' 7'

[ ... . x captives from the city of] Hinatuna,650 captives from the city of Ku[ ... ] [ ... x captives from the city of Ya]tbite,656 captives from the city of Sa... [ ... ] the cities of Arumaand Marum[... ]

Annal 24.3'-9' 3' of the 16 districtsof Bit-Humri(Israel) ... 4' captives from... 5' 226 [captivesfrom... ] 6' captives [from... ] 7' 400 [+ x captives from] 8' 656 cap[tives from the city of Sa ... (altogether)] 9' 13,520 [people... ] 10' with theirbelongings ... [the cities of Arumaand Marum] 11' [situatedin] rugged mountains[I conquered]'8 Of the cities mentionedin the Akkadianinscription,-bara cannotbe identified; Hinatunais Hannaton,now Tell el-Bedawiain the LowerGalilee;19ku- is un16. Forthe reconstructionof this name, see Tadmor,TheInscriptionsofTiglath-PileserIII, 186, n. 3; M. Weippert,"Reviewof Simo Parpola,Neo-AssyrianToponyms," G6ttingischegelehrteAnzeigen 224 (1972): 154-55. 17. Tadmorargues that this word cannot be the Akkadianfor Abel-Beth-Ma'acahof 2 Kings 15:29, in "Kibushhagalil bidei TiglatPil'eserhashlishimelekh 'ashur,"in All the LandofNaphtali, ed. H. Z. Hirschberg(Jerusalem:Israel ExplorationSociety, 1968), 65-66, because the originalnotes of the scholarwho publishedthe text indicatethathe could not identifythe signs at all. The readingof the signs by E. Schrader,Die Keilinschriftenund das Alte Testament(Giessen: J. Ricker, 1872), 145-46, is in error. 18. Forthis reconstruction,see Tadmor,TheInscriptionsof Tiglath-PileserIII, 83, and"Kibush hagalil bidei TiglatPil'eserhashlishi melekh 'ashur,"64. 19. Tadmor,The Inscriptions of Tiglath-PileserIII, 82; Becking, The Fall of Samaria, 15; YohananAharoni, The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography,trans. Anson E Rainey, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia:Westminster,1979), 372.

210

At the Nexus of History and Memory sa- might be either Saruna, known;20Iatbiteis Jotbah,laterJosephus'sJotapata;21 now KhirbetSarunain the Lower Galilee, or Shimon/Shimron,now KhirbetSemuniye (Tell Shimron) in the Lower Galilee;22Aruma is Rumah, a place near Shechem mentionedin 2 Kings 23:36 or Khirbetel-Rumehnear Hannaton;23and Marumis the place mentionedin eitherJoshua9:5 or 11:5, 7, now Tell el-Khirbeh, in the Upper Galilee.24The biblical passage, 2 Kings 15:29, reportsthat particular cities were conquered-Iyyon, now Tell el-Dibbon,25and Abel-beth-maacah, now Abil al-Qamh, both in northern-mostIsraelite territory;26Yanoah,modem Yanun in the Galilee;27Qedesh and Hazor, in the territoryof Naphtali in the Galilee28-and that the Galilee, Gilead, and the territoryof Naphtaliwere vanquished.29Because the lists found in 2 Kings 15:29 and Tiglath-Pileser'sinscrip20. In Rost's edition, the inscriptionreadsqa, and Aharoniidentifies it as Qanna,now Khirbet Qanain the LowerGalilee (TheLandof theBible, 372). Tadmordismisses this readingas an errormade by Rost in transliterationbecause it is not found in Rost'scopy of the cuneiform("Kibushhagalilbidei Tiglat Pil'eserhashlishi melekh 'ashur,"63, n. 15). 21. Tadmor,TheInscriptionsofTiglath-PileserIII, 82; Becking, TheFall ofSamaria, 16;Aharoni, TheLand of the Bible, 372. 22. Tadmor,TheInscriptionsofTiglath-PileserIII, 82. Othershave readit as ir-[... ] andhave identified it as Yiron, modem Yaronin the UpperGalilee (Aharoni, TheLand of the Bible, 372). 23. Tadmor,TheInscriptionsofTiglath-PileserIII, 83; Becking, TheFall ofSamaria, 16;Aharoni, TheLand of the Bible, 372, 441. 24. Tadmor,TheInscriptionsofTiglath-PileserIII, 83; Becking, TheFall ofSamaria, 16;Aharoni, TheLand of the Bible, 372. 25. Becking, TheFall ofSamaria, 17;Tadmorand Cogan,II Kings, 174;Aharoni,TheLand of the Bible, 436. 26. Becking, TheFall of Samaria, 17; Aharoni, TheLand of the Bible, 373, 429, 436; Tadmor and Cogan,II Kings, 174; Tadmor,"Kibushhagalil bidei Tiglat Pil'eserhashlishi melekh 'ashur,"6566. 27. Aharoni, TheLand of the Bible, 373, 437. Becking offers an alternatesuggestion of a city near Tyre(The Fall of Samaria, 18), but this would not be in Israeliteterritory.It is possible that the biblicaltext recordsthe captureof one particularnon-Israelitecity but omits the restof Tiglath-Pileser's depredations.J. Kaplan, "The Identificationof Abel-Beth-Maachahand Janoah,"Israel Exploration Journal 28 (1978): 159-60, argues for Giv'at Ha-shoqet,a site in the upperHuleh valley. 28. Becking, TheFall of Samaria, 18; Aharoni, TheLand of the Bible, 373, 436, 438; Tadmor and Cogan,II Kings, 174. Qedesh is modem Tel Qadish, 10 miles northwestof Hazorin upperGalilee (see Joshua 12:22; 20:7; 21:32), and Hazor is modem Tell el-Qedah. 29. 1 Chronicles 5:26 recordsthat the tribes in Transjordanwere exiled by Tiglath-PileserIII to Halah,the Habur,Hara,and the riverof Gozan, where, the writernotes, they remainto his day.The Chroniclerhas apparentlycombined two notices about deportationsin Kings. Accordingto 2 Kings 15:29, Tiglath-PileserIII sliced off the northernarea of the tribes on the western side of the Jordan and Gilead on the eastern side of the Jordanand forced them into exile in Assyria. The exact location of theirAssyrian exile was left unspecified. In 2 Kings 17:6, ShalmanesercapturedSamariaand exiled the populationto Halah,the Habur,Hara,the riverof Gozan, and the cities of Media. The Chronicler has combined the Assyrian king from the first passage with the location of the places to which the populationwas exiled from the second passage and has transformedthe exile that included part of the easternpopulationto include all of the easternpopulationand none of the westernpopulation. See SaraJaphet,I & II Chronicles:A Commentary(Louisville, KY: Westminster/JohnKnox, 1993), 141.

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Pamela Barmash tions do not overlap,it is possible thatthey referto two separatecampaigns,especially because Tiglath-PileserIII campaignedin the area for two years.30 The numberof deporteesfromthe Galilee seems reasonable.31The 600-plus numberof deporteesfromeach city is comparableto the numberof deporteesfrom the Arameantowns thatTiglath-PileserIII conquered,especially consideringthat each city absorbed refugees from surroundingless-defensible towns. The total numberof deportees, 13,520, is less thancomparablefigures fromthe conquestof Samaria,27,280 (or 27,290), or of Hamath,30,300. How much of the population of the Galilee does this numberrepresent? Zvi Gal arguesthatthe Galilee was depopulatedafterthe deportationbut not deserted.In his archaeologicalsurvey,he has founda significantdecline in the settlement of the Lower Galilee at the end of the eighth century,a decline that continued to the sixth century.32Gal also estimates that the total populationof the Lower Galilee at the time was between 17,600 and 22,000 people. If the figure fromTiglath-PileserIII'sinscriptionsincludes only the numberof deporteesfrom the Lower Galilee, then we can obtain an enumerationof the remainingpopulation. At thattime, 4,000 to 8,500 people remainedin the LowerGalilee:this would be approximately23 to 39 percentof the previouspopulation.This is clearlya significant loss of population,but it is not a complete obliterationof the population of the LowerGalilee.33 Indeed,perhapsas a reflection of the continuingpresence of northernersin the Galilee, Tiglath-Pileserdid not transferpopulationto there,an exceptionto the general practice of the Assyrian empire. Furthermore,a strong connection may have developedbetween Judahand the essentially pure Israelitepopulationof the Galilee, as evidenced by queen mothers from the Galilee during the reigns of Judeankings afterthe fall of Samaria(2 Kings 21:19; 23:26). Theirbeing fromthe very cities ravagedby Tiglath-PileserIII may indicatethatthe cities remainedIsraelite.34 Thereare a numberof otherreferencesthatmay indicateotherdeportations 30. Tadmorand Cogan, II Kings, 174;Younger,"The Deportationsof the Israelites,"208. 31. Tadmor,"Kibushhagalil bidei Tiglat Pil'eserhashlishi melekh 'ashur,"66-67. 32. Zvi Gal, Lower Galilee During the IronAge (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns,1992), 109. Gal writes that the Galileanhills, or upperGalilee, were desertedfrom 700-600 BCE ("Galilee,"The OxfordEncyclopediaofArchaeology in the Near East, 2:370). 33. Tadmor,"Kibushhagalil bidei Tiglat Pil'eserhashlishi melekh 'ashur,"67; Gideon Fuchs, "Hayishuvhayhudibagalil min hakibushha'ashurive'ad lesipuahhagalil lamedinahhahashmona'it," Beth Mikra84 (1981): 94; Aharoni,TheLandof the Bible, 403. However,two scholarshave arguedthat the Galilee was almostcompletelydepopulated.Youngerarguesthatthe remainingpopulationwas negligible and thatthe reasonthe Galilee was left desertedwas to ensureunchallengedAssyrian access to the importantDamascus-Megiddo-Egyptrouteandto the Philistinecities ("TheDeportationsof the Israelites,"213, 225). Megiddo was rebuiltas an Assyriancity, and there are indicationsof otherAssyrian residenceselsewherein the Galilee. However,if the Assyrianswantedto preservetheircontrolover the region, why did they not move a docile populationinto the area, like they did elsewhere?Another scholar,NadavNa'aman,arguesthatthe Galilee had poor economic potentialand political importance and was, therefore,left depopulated("PopulationChanges in Palestine Following Assyrian Deportations," Tel-Aviv20 [1993]: 106). However,Na'amanfails to account for the differencebetween the total populationof the Galilee and the numberof deportees. 34. Assuming that these women would have lost their geographic designation had they fled

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At the Nexus of History and Memory from the North duringthe reign of Tiglath-PileserIII. One of Tiglath-Pileser'sreliefs recordsa deportationfrom As-tar(a)-tu,Ashtarot,a city in Transjordan.351 Chronicles 5:6 refers to a Reubenite chieftain exiled by Tiglath-PileserIII, and Judges 18:30 refers to the priests ministeringto the Danites until their exile. The Assyrians continuedto pressurethe North in otherways. They were informed about events internalto the NorthernKingdom and may have instigated some of them. While the biblical text recordsthatPekahwas overthrownby Hosea without any outside interference,a Summary Inscriptionof Tiglath-Pileserrecords, along with the deportationfrom the NorthernKingdomduringthe reign of Pekah,that Pekahwas overthrownand thatTiglath-PileserIII may have been the one who had Pekahkilled and Hosea installedas king.36 15' 16' 17' 18' 19'

... .The land of Bit-Ijumria(Israel) [ ... . its] auxiliaryarmy,[ ... ] all of its people, [ ... ] I carriedto Assyria. [I/they killed] Peqah,their king, and I installed Hosea [as king] over them. I received from them 10 talents of gold, x talents of silver, [with] theirpropertyand [to Assyria I carr]riedthem.

The immensetributereceivedby Tiglath-PileserIII at thattime, ten talentsof gold and an unknownnumberof talents of silver, indicates an amountthat a usurper would offer to shore up his claim to the throne.Otherinscriptionsrecordthe coup d'ytat. SummaryInscription13:18' recountsthe attackon the Galilee andthe overthrow of Pekah.37SummaryInscription9: rev. 10 recalls the depredationof the Galilee and the installationof Hosea.38SummaryInscription9: rev. 11 recounts that Hosea appearedbefore Tiglath-Pileser.39 The Assyrians also tightened the vice on the SouthernKingdom. Another SummaryInscriptionrecountsthe tributepaid by the Judeanking Ahaz to TiglathPileser III.40Also at this time, the city of Gezer may have been taken from the SouthernKingdom.The coastalplainnorthof Gezerbecame anAssyrianprovince, and a relief, now lost, shows an Assyrian attackon Gezer.41 The Assyrian pressuredthe NorthernKingdom for more than a decade besouth, Gal arguesthat althougha motherof a Judeanking was identified as fromYotba,this does not necessarilymean that the site was occupied duringthe seventhcentury (see 2 Kings 15:33; 2 Chronicles 24:1). The city of Ruma,associatedwith anotherroyalmother,mightbe locatedin Samaria(Judges 9:41) or even in Judah(if therewas a graphicconfusion of the lettersdalet and resh, Joshua 15:52). 35. Tadmor,TheInscriptionsof Tiglath-PileserIII, 210. 36. Tadmor,TheInscriptionsofTiglath-PileserIII, 140-41 (SummaryInscription4: 15'-19'). 37. Tadmor,TheInscriptionsof Tiglath-PileserIII, 202-03. 38. Tadmor,TheInscriptionsof Tiglath-PileserIII, 188-89. 39. Tadmor,TheInscriptionsof Tiglath-PileserIII, 188-89. 40. Tadmor,TheInscriptionsof Tiglath-PileserIII, 170-71 (SummaryInscription7:11'). 41. R.D. Barnettand M. Falkner,TheSculpturesofAslur-nasir-apli11(883-859 BC), TiglathPileser III (745-727 BC), and Esarhaddon(681-669 BC)from the Centraland South-WestPalaces at Nimrud(London:Trusteesof the BritishMuseum, 1962), pl. lxii, pp. xxiv-xxv, 24; William G. Dever,

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Pamela Barmash fore the North'stotal capitulation.Sections of the NorthernKingdomwere sheared off, and the Assyrian empire manipulatedthe monarchyof the North. Israelites were deportedby the Assyrians, and northernprophetsadmonishedthe northerners that they would be exiled. The inhabitantsof the North had ample warningof what the futurewould bring, and althoughwe cannotbe certain,northernersmay have taken heed before the total capitulationof their country and fled south. We can be certainof the othertwo factors that allowed the northernersto escape, the delay in the process of the conquest of Samariaand the limited scope of the deportationfrom the North. lib. Interruptionin the Conquestof Samariaand the Extent of the Deportationsfrom Samaria The conquest of Samariaand the concomitantvanquishingof the Northern Kingdomwere interrupted,allowing northernersto escape, andwhen the deportation from the North afterthe fall of Samariafrom the North did occur,the Assyrians exiled only partof the population. ShalmaneserV capturedSamariashortlybefore his death after a two-year siege.42 The city fell in late summeror early autumn723 BCE, and when Shalmaneserdied in the winterof 722 BCE, the deportationswere at most in theirvery earliest stages.43Upon Shalmaneser'sdeath,his armyretreatedto Assyria. When Sargonestablishedhimself on the thronea yearor so later,he engagedin a lengthy process of pacifying the citizens of Assur and counteringthe increasing strength of the Elamites and their alliance with Merodach-Baladanof Babylonia.44Only afterthis did he launcha campaignto the west, in 720 BCE, to deal with the formerly subjugatedcities, Hamath,Arpad, Simirra,Damascus, and Samaria,that shook off Assyrianrule in the meanwhile.45Sargon'squellingof Samariawas part "Excavationsat Gezer,"BiblicalArchaeologist30 (1967): 43-44; Tadmor,TheInscriptionsofTiglathPileser III, 210. Bob Becking suggests thatTiglath-PileserIII conqueredGezer, a town thatmay have belonged eitherto the northernor southernkingdom,because of its strategicimportancein controlling entry to the Judeanhill-country(The Fall of Samaria, 9-10). An attackby Tiglath-PileserIII on the southernkingdom, althoughwithoutany specification with regardto Gezer, is mentionedin 2 Chronicles 28:20-although this is not found in 2 Kings-Chronicles may havepreservedan historicallyaccurate record.Two cuneiform tablets from the seventh century BCE have been excavated at Gezer, possibly attestingto Assyriancontrol:see Bob Becking, "TheTwoNeo-AssyrianDocumentsfromGezer in theirHistoricalContext,"JaarberichtEx OrienteLux27 (1981-82): 76-89. Becking also argues that Gezer was in fact partof the NorthernKingdombefore the Syro-EphraimiteWar. 42. HayimTadmor,"TheCampaignsof SargonII ofAssur: A Chronological-HistoricalStudy," Journal of CuneiformStudies 12 (1958): 37. Bob Becking reevaluatesTadmor'shypothesisin TheFall ofSamaria, 21-45. 43. It is possible thatthe fall of the city did not occur untilthe winter(722 BCE). See Ron Tappy, TheArchaeology of Israelite Samaria, Vol.II: The 8th CenturyBCE, HarvardSemitic Series 50 (WinonaLake:Eisenbrauns,2001), 2:559. The BabylonianChronicledates his deathto Tevet 12. See Tadmor,"The Campaignsof SargonII,"37 n. 136, and Tappy,TheArchaeologyof Israelite Samaria, 562 n. 229. 44. Tadmor,"The Campaignsof SargonII,"37-38. 45. Younger,"The Deportationsof the Israelites,"217-18.

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At the Nexus of Historyand Memory of his largerundertakingto subduethe west.46The "final"fall of the city took place between spring720 BCE and spring719 BCE.47 The numberof deportees,accordingto the Assyrianmaterial,was 27,290 or 27,280. The GreatSummaryInscription48 (23-25) I besiegedandcapturedSamaria.I tookas booty27,290peoplewho livedthere.I gathered50 chariotsfromthem.AndI taughttherest(of thedeportees)theirskills.49I setmygovernoroverthem,andI imposeduponthem the(same)tributeas thepreviousking. The Nimrud Prism50so of Sa]maria, whoagreed[andplotted]witha king (25-30) [Theinhabitants [hostileto] me, notto endureservitudeandnotto bringtributeto Assurand who did battle,I foughtagainstthemwiththe powerof the greatgods,my lords.(31-33) I countedas spoil27,280people,togetherwiththeirchariots, andgods,in whomtheytrusted.(33-36) I formeda unitwith200 of [their] chariotsformy royalforce.I settledtherestof themin themidstof Assyria. Samaria morethanbefore.I broughtintoit peoplefrom (37-41) I repopulated countriesconquered as governor mycommissioner bymy hands.I appointed overthem,andI countedthemasAssyrians. It may appearthatif this deportationwere only fromthe city of Samaria,this number,either 27,280 or 27,290, seems improbable.The archaeologistswho excavatedthe site offered populationestimates varying from 25,000 to 40,000 people but recognizedthatthe watersupplysystem of Samariacould not sustainmore than a few thousand.5'Moreover,the only clearly inhabitedareaof the site is the royal/administrativecompound,that is, the area inside the casemate walls-an areaof about 1.96 hectares-which wouldhave 500 inhabitantsat most.52The area 46. Fora reviewof SargonII'sactivities,seeYounger, "RecentStudyon SargonII,Kingof AsforBiblicalStudies," in ChavalasandYounger, andtheBible,288syria:Implications Mesopotamia 329. 47. Tadmor, "TheCampaigns of SargonII,"31;Tappy,TheArchaeology of IsraeliteSamaria, 2:568-69. 48. AndreasFuchs,DieInscriften Cuvillier,1994),197, SargonsII.ausKhorsabad (G6ttingen: 344. 49. A. LeoOppenheim assume translates thissentenceas "hemadetheremaining (inhabitants) their(social)positions"(Ancient NearEasternTextsRelatingto theOldTestament, 285,n. 2). Seealso theAssyrianDictionaryof theUniversity wouldbe anothof Chicago,E, 180;I/J,152.Thisrendering erpieceof evidencethatsignifiestherewerestillnortherners intheirnativelandaftertheAssyrianconquest. 50. Fuchs, Die InscriftenSargonsII, 87-88, 313-14. The KhorsabadAnnals lines 11-17 parallel the NimrudPrism.

51. J.W.Crowfoot, PalesK.M.Kenyon,andE.L.Sukenik,TheBuildingsatSamaria(London: tineExploration Fund,1942),1-4. 52. Tappy,TheArchaeology oflIsraeliteSamaria,2.170,n. 633.Whathadbeenidentifiedasthe

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Pamela Barmash outside the casematewalls does not reveal signs of a domestic quarter.Therefore, the figures of 27,280 or 27,290 appearunrealistic. Thereare,however,otherconsiderationsthatmustbe analyzedin determining whetherthe figure is reasonable.While the numbercould includerefugeesswarming to the city duringtheAssyrianinvasion,it is doubtfulthatthe capitalcould have had sufficientroom for them.A more likely explanationis thatthe entirekingdom was called Samariaby theAssyrians,andthe deportationmentionedrefersto the entire kingdom,not just the capital.53It is also possible thatthe numberrefersto the total numberof deporteesfromthe region of Samariaflooded by othernortherners displacedby eitherTiglath-PileserIII, ShamaneserV, or SargonII. Grantedthatthe numberof 27,280 or 27,290 deporteescould be realistic,it must be emphasizedthat it would still consist of only a small partof the population of the NorthernKingdomas a whole, no matterwhich estimateof the population is used. The currentmethodologyused to determinethe density of population is based on two methodsof calculation.54One is based on analogywith the population of traditionalsocieties thatsurviveduntil the twentiethcentury,and the other is based on the housing layout of excavated sites. The density coefficient obtainedby these methods is 25 people per dunam(250 per hectare)." According to this method, the overall built-up area of the Lower Galilee, 90 hectares, held 22,500 people in IronAge II. The overall built-uparea of Samaria,410 hectares, held 102,500 people. The Northern Kingdom, as a whole, had a population of about 350,000.56 The populationof Judahwas 110,000 people. Their combined populationreached460,000 people. In comparison,the city-statesof Philistiaheld only 50,000 people. This estimateof the percentageof the populationof the North show thatthe deportationfrom Samariarepresentedonly a small part of the populationof the North. Otherestimatesare similarin leadingto this conclusion.AdamZertalnotes thatthe deportationfrom the North afterthe fall of Samariawas composed of less than half of the populationof the region of Samaria,and obviously that percentage, 20 to 25 percentin his estimation,wouldbe less for the populationof the North remainsof the final Israeliteoccupationprobablybelong to the periodof Assyrianoccupation(Tappy, TheArchaeologyof Israelite Samaria, 2:174-226). 53. Na'aman,"PopulationChanges in Palestine,"107. 54. Broshi andFinkelstein,"Populationof Palestinein IronAge II,"48; Yigael Shiloh, "Minyan toshavei 'erez yisra'el bitekufathabarzella'or nittuahmidgami shel tokhniyothe'arim, shithan,uzfifut ha-'okhlosiyahbahen,"EretzIsrael 15 (1981): 277-78; Joel P.Weinberg,"DemographischeNotizen zur Geschichteder nachexilischenGemeinde in Juda,"Klio 54 (1972): 49-58. 55. BroshiandFinkelstein,"Populationof Palestinein IronAge II,"48. Shiloharguesfor a higher coefficient of 40 to 50 people in towns ("Minyantoshavei 'erez yisra'el bitekufathabarzella'or nituah midgami shel tokhniyot he'arim, shithan, uzefifut ha-'okhlosiyah bahen,"278), a figure that Broshi agrees with for urbanareas with the proviso that it must have been denser in antiquity("Demography,"The OxfordEncyclopediaofArchaeology in the Near East, 2:142-44). 56. LarryG. Herrargues thatthe figure for the NorthernKingdomas a whole should be lowered to 250,000 to 300,000 because Broshi and Finkelsteinbase their figure on a comparabledensity of inhabitantsfor both east and west of the Jordan,but surveys have demonstratedthattherewere fewer sites east of the Jordanthan west of the Jordan("TheIronAge II Period:EmergingNations,"BiblicalArchaeologist 60 [1997]: 137).

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At the Nexus of History and Memory as a whole.57EdwinYamauchiarguedfor as little as 5 percentof the entireNorthern Kingdom,but his estimateof the populationof the North seems too high.58A populationof about 350,000 minus those taken in previousAssyrian attacksstill leads us to the conclusion that many northernerswere not deportedand remained in the land. Another piece of evidence about the percentageof the Israelites deported comes from the Persianperiod. The settlementpatternduringthe Persianperiod was in two particularareas, the DothanValley and the region aroundthe area of Samaria.Eighty percent of the sites in the DothanValley were newly founded in the Persianperiod.A possible explanationpoints at a continuedIsraelitepresence in the North. A verse from Judith,a book that reflects both the Persianand Hellenistic periods, indicates that the community in the Dothan Valley consisted of northernerswho had returnedshortly after the rebuildingof the Temple (Judith 4:3). The DothanValleyhad alreadybeen heavily settledduringIronII,59andthere is no evidence thatthe Assyrians deportedlarge numbersfrom the DothanValley. Accordingto this argument,the Israelitepopulationof the DothanValleyremained and increasedso heavily thatnew settlementswere foundedin the Persianperiod. More evidence that the NorthernKingdom was not drainedof population comes significantlyfroma studyof the materialremainsin the provinceof Samaria in the period of Assyrian occupation.60Accordingto the materialremains,life after the conquest continuedmuch as it had before the conquest.The ceramicspreserve a consistencyin style fromthe eighth into the sixth centurieswith a modicum of development.Only new administrativeand militaryposts reflect new architecture and materialremains,where new settlerswere placed in sites foundedby the Assyrians.Apparently,they decided to keep the nativepopulationof Israelitesand the populationof new settlers separate.The Assyrians left most of the towns and villages intactand demolishedonly some of the largercities. A new upper class was brought in from Babylonia and perhaps Syria (2 Kings 17:24), and this may reflect thatonly the upperclass of the NorthernKingdom was deported.Otherbiblical texts refer to othersbroughtin by the Assyrians at a laterperiod.Esarhaddonbroughtin a groupof colonists (Ezra4:2; Isaiah7:8b), as did Assurbanipal(Ezra4:10). 57. A. Zertal, "The Pahwahof Samaria(NorthernIsrael) During the PersianPeriod:Types of 3 (1990): 14. He revisedhis esSettlement,Economy,HistoryandNew Discoveries,"Transeuphratdne timate for Samariain "TheProvinceof Samaria(Assyrian Samerina)in the Late IronAge (Iron III)," in Oded Lipschits and Joseph Blenkinsopp,Judah and the Judeans in the Neo-BabylonianPeriod (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns,2003), 385. Zertal uses the nomenclatureIron III to distinguishthe period of 722-587/6 BCE from the period 1000-587/6, because he believes thatthe standarddesignation, Iron II, which includesthe entireperiod from 1000-587/6, is overly broadand does not allow the historicalsignificance of 722-587/6 to emerge. 58. EdwinYamauchi,"The EasternJewish DiasporaUnderthe Babylonians,"in Chavalasand Younger,Mesopotamiaand the Bible, 357. 59. Adam Zertal, Arubot, hefer, vehanezivuthashilishit shel shelomo (Tel-Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuhad,1984), 4. 60. Zertal,"TheProvinceof Samariain the Late IronAge," in Lipschitsand Blenkinsopp,Judah and the Judeans in the Neo-Babylonian Period, 377-411.

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Pamela Barmash As the preponderanceof evidence demonstrates,the "Lost Tribes"of the North were never actually lost. The Assyrian deportationswere very limited in scope, and most northernerswere not deported.The Assyriansallowedthem to remain in their northernhomeland. The othercriticalfactorthatallowednorthernersto escape deportationis that the transportationof the Israelitedeporteeswas interrupted.First,the deathof Sennacheriband the concomitantflight of the Assyrian armyback to Assyria allowed the inhabitantsof Samariaandothernorthernersan opportunityto escape. Second, even after SargonII reassertedcontrol over the NorthernKingdom, the deportations did not occur immediately.The deportationof the Israelitesto the cities of Media, for example, could not have takenplace until afterthe Assyrianstook over in 716.61 The cities of Media mentioned in the Bible were the city of Harharand its neighboringtowns, which had alreadybeen incorporatedinto the Assyrianempire in the previouscenturybut were lost when a civil war broke out at the end of the reign of Adad-nirariIII in 783 BCE. These cities were located in a borderregion: while the Assyriansraidedfurthereast, their administrativecontrol stopped there. The Assyrians had ample reason to be concernedabout controlling Harhar itself. Even afterthey had taken control of the city, the populationrevoltedwhen it was formallyturnedinto anAssyrianprovince,probablybecause they fearedbeing deportedthemselves. Bringingnewcomerswithoutties to the areawas an Assyrianmethodof ensuringloyalty.Northernerswere deportedtherefor this reason, but the deportationcould not have occurreduntil years afterthe fall of the North, allowing northernersthe time to leave and escape deportation. An indicationof the flight of the northernerssouthwardis that in the very late eighth century,the size of the city of Jerusalemincreasedto threeor fourtimes its formersize.62This expansionwas not a result of naturalpopulationgrowthor of the economic attractivenessof the city. Judahdid not experience any increase in tradeduringthis periodwhen the internationaltraderoutesbypassedit. The populationexpansionwas causedby two factors:the immigrationof the Israelitesfrom the North andthe refugees fromthe areasin Judeanterritorythatthe Assyriansappropriatedfrom the Judeansand transferredto Philistine control. Afterthe fall of Samaria,Jerusalemgrew froma size of 32 acresin the eighth centuryto 125-150 acres in the seventhcenturyand from a populationof 6,00061. I. M. Diakonoff, "TheCities of the Medes,"in Ah,Assyria ... : Studies in AssyrianHistory and Ancient Near Eastern HistoriographyPresented to Hayim Tadmor,ed. MordechaiCogan and IsraelEph'al(Jerusalem:Magnes Press, 1991), 17-18. 62. M. Broshi, "TheExpansionof Jerusalemin the Reigns of Hezekiahand Menasseh,"Israel ExplorationJournal 24 (1974): 21-26; NahmanAvigad,Discovering Jerusalem (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983), 55-60; Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron,"The UrbanDevelopmentof Jerusalemin the Late Eighth CenturyBCE,"in Jerusalem in Bible andArchaeology: TheFirst TemplePeriod, ed. AndrewG. VaughnandAnn E. Killebrew,Society of Biblical LiteratureSymposiumSeries (Leiden:Brill, 2003), 217; LynnTatum,"Jerusalemin Conflict:The Evidencefor the Seventh-CenturyBCE Religious Struggle over Jerusalem,"in Vaughnand Killebrew,Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology,297. Hillel Geva offers alternateexplanationsfor the populationexpansionbut does not evaluatetheirvalidity;he does analyzethe populationnumbers("WesternJerusalemat the Endof the FirstTemplePeriodin Light of the Excavationsin the Jewish Quarter,"in Vaughnand Killebrew,Jerusalemin Bible andArchaeology, 203, 206, n. 50).

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At the Nexus of History and Memory 8,000 to 24,000-25,000. Until the expansion of Jerusaleminto the upper city at the end of the eighth century,Jerusalemremainedon the narrowstrip of land of the Lower City, the Ophel, and the TempleMount.Tombs in the area that would become the Upper City were still in use duringthe eighth century,indicatingthat the areawas still uninhabitedbecause no cemeterywas locatedinside the city (except for the royal cemetery).63An Iron II C structurehas been excavatedunder the Broad Wall built by Hezekiah at the end of the eighth century and demonstratesthatthe city expandedpriorto the building of the wall. This indicatesthat the populationhad alreadyswelled before the directthreatto Jerusalemposed by theAssyriansin the final yearsof the eighthcenturyBCE. In additionto the eighthcenturyexpansionbefore the attackin 701 BCE, suburbswere located outside of the Broad Wall to accommodate the expanded population during the seventh century.The two sets of finds, the late eighth-centuryexpansionand the seventhcentury expansion, indicate two waves of growth,the first between the Assyrian attackon the North and the Assyrian invasion of the South and the second after the Assyrian siege of the South: the first consisted of refugees from the North, and the second was the influx from the Judeanterritoriestransferredto Philistine control. Duringthe same time thatJerusalemexpanded,a parallelexpansionwas occurringelsewherein Judeanterritory.The numberof settlementsin the Judeanhill country increasedby 40 percent, and abandonedsites were repopulated.64There was a significant increasein inhabitedareasin the Negev and the Judeandesert.65 Thereis also the possibility thata numberof sites were foundedafterthe destruction of the North in the northernpartof the Judeanhill country,the partof Judean territorythatborderson the NorthernKingdom.66 That northernerswere coming to the SouthernKingdom is indicatedindirectlyby biblical materialthatreflects northerntraditions.Deuteronomy'sphraseology and religious ideology parallelthat of Hosea, a northernprophet,and these points of contact may indicatea northernorigin for Deuteronomy.67 Judeanfinds in northernterritoryduringIronIIIa in sites such as Samaria, 63. DavidUssishkin, TheVillageofSilwan: TheNecropolisFromthe Periodof theJudeanKingdom (Jerusalem:Israel ExplorationSociety;YadIzhakBen-Zvi, 1993), 294-95. 64. M. Kochavi, Yehudah,shomronvehagolan:seker arkhe'ologibishnat 1967-1968 (Jerusalem: Carta,1972), 21, map;Avi Ofer, "'All the Hill Countryof Judah':Froma SettlementFringeto a ProsperousMonarchy,"in From Nomadism to Monarchy:Archaeological and Historical Aspects of EarlyIsrael, ed. IsraelFinkelsteinand NadavNa'aman(Jerusalem:YadIzhakBen-Zvi, 1994), 105-6. 65. Pessah Bar-Adon,"Midbaryehud uvik'atyerayho,"in M. Kochavi, Yehudah,shomronvehagolan, 93-94 and map;Bar-Adon,"HafirotbamidbarYehudah,"Atikot9 (1989); Avi Ofer,"Judah, The OxfordEncyclopediaofArchaeology in the Near East, 3:256; RudolphCohen, "Negev,"The Oxford EncyclopediaofArchaeologyin the Near East, 4:121; NadavNa'aman,"Hanegevbeshilhi yameiha shel mamlekhetYehudah,"Kathedra42, 7-8. 66. Ofer,"Judah,"TheNew EncyclopediaofArchaeologicalExcavationsin the Holy Land,816. 67. Adam C. Welchwas the first to makethis proposal(The Code ofDeuteronomy:A New Theory of its Origins [London:James Clarke, 1924], 32-33). See as well AlbrechtAlt, "Die Heimat des Deuteronomiums,"Kleine Schriftenzur Geschichtedes volkes Israel II (Munich: C.H. Beck, 1953), 270-71; Moshe Weinfeld,Deuteronomyand theDeuteronomicSchool(WinonaLake,IN: Eisenbrauns, 1992), 366-70; Weinfeld,Deuteronomy1-11 (Anchor Bible; New York:Doubleday, 1991), 44-55.

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Pamela Barmash Shechem, and Megiddo, have inspiredspeculationthatJudahmay have controlled these sites.68At the very least, they do testify to culturalor trade contacts. Accordingto biblical texts, Josiahlauncheda campaignnorthwardto incorporatethe people living in the area aroundSamariain his kingdom (2 Kings 23:15-20 [in 622]; 2 Chronicles34:6-7 [628]).69 As we have seen, there is ample evidence to conclude that the northerndeportees consisted of only a partof the populationof the North. Many northerners were not exiled, whether they remained in the geographic area of the North or whetherthey lived in the SouthernKingdom after fleeing thereto escape the Assyrians. Unlike the fascinatingtale of the Ten Lost Tribesborne away in exile to the farthestreachesof humanhabitation,most northernersremainedin theirhomeland or lived in the SouthernKingdom.And as we shall see, those northernerswho were deporteddid not disappearto an unreachableShangriLa. Quitethe contrary. IN EXILE III.THE ISRAELITES

The Israelitedeporteesdid not fade away in exile. Indeed,they werejoined by their southerncompatriotsin less than two decades. The northernersand southernerswere resettlednear each other.The places to where the northernerswere deportedaccordingto 2 Kings 17:6 were: 1. Gozan (Tell Halaf), the capitalof the AssyrianprovinceBit Bahian,is on the HaburRiver.70The notationof Gozan as a riverin the biblical text, ratherthan a city, is an error.Gozan is an Arameancity thathad been broughtunderAssyrian rule about 800 BCE. Haburis a tributaryof the Euphratesand is a districtof the same name, northwestof Assyria, mostly settled by Arameans.71 2. Halah(Akkadianhalahha) was a districtnorthof Nineveh.72 3. The city Harais unknown. 4. The cities of Media are on the easternperipheryof the Assyrian empire. The northerndeporteesaccordingto the biblical text were resettledin both border areasand centralAssyria. The biblical accountsin 2 Kings 18-19, Isaiah 36-39, and 2 Chronicles32 do not mention any deportationfrom the SouthernKingdom in 701 BCE,73but 68. GabrielBarkay,"The Iron Age II-III," in TheArchaeologyof Ancient Israel, ed. Amnon Ben-Tor(New Haven:Yale UniversityPress, 1992), 355-56. 69. MordechaiCogan notes the ambivalencein the sources incorporatedin the book of Kings. Forthe Deuteronomistichistorianof 2 Kings 17: 34-40, the Israeliteexiles have forfeitedtheirrights to restorationby their continued idolatry,a sharp contrastto the actions of Josiah, who moves into Northernterritoryincorporatedas an Assyrianprovinceto destroythe altarin Bethel andto rid the other towns of theirbamot (2 Kings 23:15-19; 17:29) ("Israelin Exile-The View of a JosianicHistorian,"Journal of Biblical Literature97 [1978]: 40-44). 70. RudolphH. Dornemann,"Halaf,Tell,"TheOxfordEncyclopediaofArchaeologyin theNear East, 2:460-62; B. Hrouda,"Halaf,Tell,"Reallexikonder Assyriologie, 5:54; Tadmorand Cogan, II Kings, 197. 71. Tadmorand Cogan, iHKings, 197; J. N. Postgate, "Hibiir,"Reallexikonder Assyriologie, 4:28-29. 72. J. N. Postgate,"HJalalhu," ReallexikonderAssyriologie, 4:58. 73. Solving the conundrumof the numberof attackson Judahand the success or failureof the

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At the Nexus of History and Memory therearea numberof obliquereferencesin propheticliteratureascribedto prophets who lived at the time of the exile in 701 BCE thatwarn of destructionand depopulation(Isaiah 1:4-9; 5:5-6, 13; 6:11-12; 7:20; 10:33-34; Micah 1:16).74AnAssyrianinscriptionrecordsthatwhen Sennacheribattackedthe SouthernKingdom in 701, he took 200,150 captives from the SouthernKingdom.75 This number,200,150 deportees,76seems exceptionallylarge, especially,in light of the numbertakenfrom the far more populousNorthernKingdom (27,280 or 27,290) andthe populationof the Southin general(only 110,000).77It has been explainedin a numberof ways: 1. A.T. Olmsteadarguesthatjust as 1,235 sheep in Sargon'sdisplay inscription increased to 100,225 in his annals, the number200,150 was originally 150 [sic] deportees,an intentionalinflation.78 2. A. Ungnad casts doubton the number200,150. He notes thatthe number of captives, 208,000, from Babylonia deported in the first campaign of Sennacheribwas only slightly largerthanthe deportationfromJudahandthatSargon's deportationfrom a large numberof villages, either 140 or 146, dependingon the version,was significantlyless, 6,170 or 20,170 deportees.79Ungnadargues,therefore, thatthe numberof deporteesfrom Judahis not correctand that the cause of the inflatedquantitywas an inadvertentscribalerror,not an intentionaloverstatement. The scribe erroneouslywrote 2 ME.LIMinsteadof 2 LIM because he erred in readinga decimal numberas sexagesimal notation.Ungnadarguesthat the addition of ME was the cause of the discrepancyin the numberof sheep in the SarAssyriancampaign(s)is beyondthe scope of this essay.Fora surveyof the issues andtheories,see John H. Hayes and J. Maxwell Miller,Israelite and Judaean History (London:SCM Press, 1977), 446-51. 74. Some of the texts about exile in late eighth-centuryprophetsmay be linked to the Babylonian Exile of the sixth century.Isaiah 11:12-16 could be comparedto the highway in the desert of Deutero-Isaiah,40:3-4; 42:16; 57:14; 27:8, reflecting an exilic date, but also could be comparedto Hosea 11:11, evidence for an eighth-centurydate. 75. Rykle Borger,Babylonisch-AssyrischeLesestiicke,2nd ed. (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1994), 73-75, 134-36; EckartFrahm,Einleitungin die Sanherib-Inschriften(Archivffir Orientforschung,Beiheft 26; Vienna:InstitutffirOrientalisktikder Universitdit;Horn,Austria:F. Berger, 1997), 102-105. 76. Unfortunately,Sennacherib's"Letterto God"breaksoffjust where it recountsthe booty of livestock and where it might tell of humandeportees(NadavNa'aman,"Sennacherib's'Letterto God' on his Campaignto Judah,"Bulletin of the AmericanSchools of OrientalResearch 214 [1974]: 2539). 77. The total numberof all Assyrian deportationsfor which there is unequivocalevidence is 157, with at least 1.2 million people exiled. To give an idea of how many people were deported,of the 43 deportationsfor which we have complete enumerations,13 cases have more than 30,000 deportees each, eight cases have between 10,000 and 30,000 deportees, and 22 cases have less than 10,000 deportees. See BustenayOded,Mass Deportationsin the Neo-AssyrianEmpire(Wiesbaden:Dr. Ludwig ReichertVerlag, 1979), 18-19. This total numberof deporteesis summedup from the documentsthat containnumbers.Oded refersto a statisticalcalculationfor an estimate of all deporteesof 4.4 million plus/minus 0.9 million (Oded,Mass Deportations,20, n. 5). 78. A.T. Olmstead,History ofAssyria (New York:Charles Scribner'sSons, 1923), 305, 579580. 79. A. Ungnad, "Die Zahl der von Sanherib deportieren Judier," Zeitschriftfar alttestamentlicheWissenschaft59 (1942-1943): 199-201.

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Pamela Barmash gon texts as well. A numberof scholarshave sought to refuteUngnad'sproposal. Rykle Borger argues that this was impossible because the scribes were adept at readingnumbersaccuratelyandcopying them accurately.80BustenayOdedargues thatUngnad'sproposal,thatall x-hundredthousandsin Neo-Assyriantexts be read x thousands,is in directcontradictionto the explicit wordingof the text.81Marco de Odoricopoints out that the discrepanciesin numerationsare often difficult to link to scribalerrorsandthat low numbers,such as thousandsor ten thousandsfor prisoners, appearrealistic, while the large numbers appear questionable in our eyes.82 Some of these low numbersare rounded,a numberthat could result from an approximationgiven to the authorof an inscription,an approximationmade by the authorof the inscription,or an approximationinventedby the authorwhen he had no data.The smallernumbersshould be consideredas suspicious as the large numbers. 3. Stephen Stohlmann argues for the nuanced veracity of the number 200,150.83 He believes that the number200,150 refers to the inhabitantsof the Judeantowns capturedwho were liableto deportationandthatin the courseof time only a partialnumberof the possible deporteeswere in fact deported.Stohlmann derivesthis fromthreepieces of data.First,the royalinscriptionspecifically states thatthe Assyrianking took them as booty, ashlul, ratherthat he broughtthem out, usesamma.This, accordingto Stohlmann,meansthatthe inhabitantsof Judahwere taken out of their towns and countedbut not deportedat that time. Second,when the Rabshakehspeaksto the inhabitantsof Jerusalem,he tells themwhen they submit to Assyrianrule, they would eat of their own food and drinkof their own water until he returnedto deportthem (2 Kings 18:31-32). This wordingimplies that the deportationwould take place some time later and in fact, accordingto Stohlmann, was never completed. Third,there is no indication that the Assyrians repopulated the region: if the complete number of deportees were removed from Judah,the landwould havebeen left vacantandwould need to be repopulated.The problemwith Stohlmann'sproposalis that this way of countingwould be unique among the Assyrian royal inscriptions. 4. RaymondDougherty and E Albright argue, based on archaeological W. evidence, thatthe towns mentionedin Sennacherib'sinscriptionas destroyedwere not.84Albrightextendedthis argumentto mean that 200,150 were countedas sub80. Borger,Babylonisch-AssyrischeLesestiicke, 136. 81. Oded,Mass Deportationsand Deportees, 19, n. 2. 82. Marco de Odorico, The Uses of Numbersand Quantificationsin the Assyrian Royal Inscriptions, State Archives of Assyria Studies 3 (Helsinki: Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1995), 85-87. He also arguesthatif Ungnadis correct,thenthe annalsmust have erroneouslyread 1285, that is 1 lim 2 me 1, 20 +5, ratherthan 1 lim 2 me 30+ 5, wherethe numberwrittenin the annalsmust have had a vertical wedge, ratherthana Wickelhaken.See de Odorico, The Uses of Numbersand Quantifications, 73. 83. Stephen Stohlmann,"The Judean Exile After 701 BCE," in Scripturein ContextII, ed. William W. Hallo, James C. Moyer,and Leo G. Perdue(WinonaLake, IN: Eisenbrauns,1983), 14775. 84. RaymondDougherty,"Sennacheribandthe WalledCities of Judah,"JournalofBiblical Literature 49 (1930): 160-71; W. E Albright, "The Fourth Joint Campaign of Excavations at Tell Beit Mir-

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At the Nexus of History and Memory jects of Assyriabut not deported.The archaeologicalevidence on which Dougherty andAlbrightbase their contentionhas been decisively refuted.85 5. MarcoDe Odorico arguesin his systematic analysis of the enumerations in Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptionsthat the numeral200,150 was deliberatelydesigned to expressed both vastness and precision, creatingan atmosphereof verisimilitude, and, therefore,by implication, the number is contrived. De Odorico writes: Thetendencyto use highernumbershownby Tiglath-Pileser's inscriptions will be fullydevelopedin SargonandSennacherib's times.Theirinscriptions arequiteinclinedto use "veryhigh-exact" numbersderivingfromthesumof a veryhigh"round" numberwithan "exact"one on the orderof somehundredsandsometens(as, e.g., 100,225,or 200,150).Thesenumbersin some casesappearveryartificial,owingto theirformof "roundnumbersexacted," andaresubjectto numerous It is thereforeunlikelythattheycould variations. and"exact"quantibe thesumof partialaccountings by"round" represented ties ... Onthecontrary, thereis nota singleexampleof a veryhighnumber formedby a singledigit,as wouldbe, e.g., 100,000.Thenearestto it is perIII'sarmada,a numhapsrepresented bythe... 120,000menof Shalmaneser while in ber thatwas not takenup by laterinscriptions. Thus,apparently, earlierperiodsthe use of "round" numberson the orderof thousandsor of sometensof thousandsseemedproperor sufficient,whenpassingto higher of thousands), a changeinthis"policy"wasnecessary. (hundreds magnitudes Numberson the orderof hundredsof thousandswith a single digit, as inflatedfigures, "100,000"or "200,000,"wouldhaveresultedin abnormally andthereforenotrealisticat all.86 In Sennacherib'sinscriptions,the strategyimplementedis to use figures on the order of hundredsof thousandsthatare "exact."The amount200,000 reflects a high numberand the amount 150 conveys an exactness meantto promoterealism. De Odovico explains the impetus for the new strategy of quantificationby noting, "The new imperialdimensions and aspirationstowarda (truly)universaldominion would explainthe tendencyto increasethe numerals,both in relationto the dimensions of the palaces and to the deeds narratedin the foundationdeposits or on the inscribedbas-reliefs."87De Odovico arguesthatwhile the numbersin Assyrian royal inscriptionsin general may still be far from reality,they do reflect other sim,"Bulletinof theAmericanSchoolsof OrientalResearch47 (1932):3-17. Theyarguethatthere wasnoevidenceof widespread destruction atLachishin701BCEandthatStratum III,withitsremains of large-scale reflectstheactionsof theNeo-Babylonian destruction, empire. andNebof Sennacherib 85. AnsonE Rainey,"TheFateof LachishDuringthe Campaigns at Lachish:TheSanctuary andtheResidency(LachishV),ed.Yohanan uchadnezzar," Investigations Aharoni(Tel-Aviv:Tel-AvivUniversity,Instituteof Archaeology, 1975), 47-60. Olga Tufnellproved

thatStratum PalestineExploration IIIreflectedthedestruction andLachish," of 701("Hazor, Samaria, 91 [1959]:90-105). Quarterly 86. De Odorico, The Uses of Numbers, 171-72.

87. De Odorico,TheUsesofNumbers,172.

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Pamela Barmash considerations.88They arenot random.They may not have any practicalimportin texts thatarenot receiptsor othercommercialdocuments,but they do reflect a desire on the partof the Assyriansto magnify theirvictory. Indeed,Sennacherib'saccountis shapedso as to emphasizethe degradation of Jerusalemand the capitulationof Hezekiah. For example, the freeing of Padi, king of Ekron,fromhis confinementin Jerusalem,andhis restorationto the throne, is describedafterthe captureof Ekron,even thoughit must have occurredafterthe captureof Jerusalemat the end of the campaign.89A majorgoal of Sennacherib's campaignwas to subdueHezekiah,probablyone of the leaders of the anti-Assyrian coalition, and to weaken Judah,the most powerful kingdom in the region.90 The best proof of the success of Sennacherib'sexpedition is that his successors, Esarhaddonand Ashurbanipal,did not have to campaignagainst any western alliances or againstJudah. The number200,150, then, was designed to look realistic and to emphasize the magnificence of the Assyrianvictory over Judah.It does not representthe actualnumberof deporteesfromthe SouthernKingdom,andwe do not have any data by which we could reconstructthe number. However,we can use archaeologicaldata aboutthe extent of settlementbefore and afterthe Assyrian invasion.The populationof Judahin the IronIIB lived in an areaof 1,500 acres.91In IronIIC-III,the inhabitedarea is about 1,000 acres. Jerusalemremainsthe same size, 150 acres.The extent of the destructionin Judah is reflectedin the majorsites thatwere destroyedand remaineddepopulatedin the seventh century (Beth Shemesh, Tell Beit Mirsim), and the Shephelah shows 25 percent of the numberof inhabitantsin the seventh century as comparedto the eighth century.92 Clearly,then, the Assyrian military campaignsbroughtabout havoc in the demographyof Israeland Judah.93Death and deportationreducedthe population. The takeoverof the NorthernKingdominspireda migrationof northernerssouthward,and the Assyriantransferof the westernprovincesof Judahto the controlof the Philistine city-statescaused Judeanrefugees to move to otherpartsof Judean territory.Those inhabitantsof the SouthernKingdom,whethernative Judeansor escaped Israelites,who were deportedby the Assyriansas a resultof the 701 campaign were taken to Nineveh, near Halah, to where northernerswere deported. They joined their alreadydeportedcompatriotsin Assyrian exile. 88. De Odorico, The Uses of Numbers,2, 159. 89. Nadav Na'aman, "Sennacherib'sCampaignto Judahand the Date of the LMLKStamps," VetusTestamentum29 (1979): 65, n. 9; H. H. Rowley,"Hezekiah'sReform and Rebellion,"Bulletin of the John RylandsLibrary44 (1961-62): 395-431, especially 415-16. 90. Na'aman,"PopulationChanges in Palestine,"113. 91. Ofer, "Judah,"The OxfordEncyclopedia ofArchaeology in the Near East, 3:256. He believes thatthe populationof the Southwas 120,000-150,000, a highernumberthanBroshi and Finkelstein. 92. Na'aman,"PopulationChanges in Palestine,"113-14. 93. Magen Broshi and IsraelFinkelstein,"ThePopulationof Palestinein IronAge II,"Bulletin of theAmericanSchools of OrientalResearch 287 (1992): 47.

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At the Nexus of History and Memory What is strikinghere is the transfigurationof the past into collective memand collective amnesia.The exile of the northernersat the time of the fall of ory the North becomes partof collective memory,but there is complete silence about the deportationfrom Judah.Judeanexile in 701 is not recountedin any fashion. The northernersremainingin the North are invisible. The northernerswho fled south are never mentioned.The amalgamationof northernersand southernersin the SouthernKingdomor in Assyrianexile is passed over in silence. The reality of what happenedwas forgotten. The DeuteronomisticHistory, the major historical narrativeof the Bible, makesthe effortto explainthe pastin moralterms,andthatattemptdetermineswhat is rememberedandwhatis forgotten.In 2 Kings 17, the Northis utterlycondemned and,therefore,is exiled. Northernerswho do not fit into the categoryof exile are disregarded.The exile for the Southis deemedto be later,at the handsof the Babylonians, and so southernerswho are exiled by the Assyriansin 701 are ignored. IV THE EXILE The silence about the Judeandeportees of 701 is strikingbecause the Assyrians,in general,attemptedto increasethe success of the resettleddeporteesby allowing transplantedcommunitiesto stay togetheras homogeneoussmall groups and did not dispersethem as individualfamilies.94The deporteesfrom the Northern and SouthernKingdom were allowed to retain their communal identity and were resettledin such a way as to increasethe potential of preservingtheir communalindependence.Those deportedby the Assyrians,whetherIsraeliteor Judean or other, appeared to live as free persons-marrying, owning property (land, slaves, silver), and engaging in business and legal transactions.95The greatestpercentage of deporteeswere resettledinto the main cities of Assyria,96and the principal Assyrian cities were cosmopolitan, harboringnon-Assyrian communities. Those deporteesresettledas farmersmay have had a less uniformstatus,and some were tied to the land they cultivated.97Deportationswere also tied to the needs of the Assyrian war machine.98Deportees were incorporatedin the Assyrian army, filling the ranks, and deporteeswere also used to replaceAssyrians in domestic occupationsso thatAssyrianscould serve in the military.Those of foreign extrac-

94. Oded,Mass Deportations,25. The generallypositive treatmentof deporteesby the Assyrians was also practiced earlier in Mesopotamianhistory: see I. J. Gelb, "Prisonersof War in Early Mesopotamia,"JournalofNear EasternStudies32 (1973): 70-98. This patternholds truefor the NeoBabylonianand Persianperiods: see M. Dandamaev,"Aliens and the communityin Babylonia in the 6th-5th centuries,"Recueils de la SocietWJean Bodin pout I 'histoirecomparativedes institutions41 (1983): 142-45. ContraK. LawsonYounger,"'Give Us Our Daily Bread,'EverydayLife for the Israelite Deportees,"in Life and Culturein the Ancient Near East, ed. RichardE. Averbeck,Mark W. Chavalas,and David B. Weisberg(Bethesda, MD: CDL Press, 2003), 269-88. 95. Oded,Mass Deportations, 87. 96. Oded,Mass Deportations, 30. 97. Oded,Mass Deportations,95-98. 98. Oded,Mass Deportations, 50. Younger,"TheDeportationsof the Israelites,"219.

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Pamela Barmash tion, whetherdeportees or their descendents,held positions, even as high as the rankof eponym holder,in the Assyrian administration.99 Deportees in generalwere a very low percentageof the populationin Mesopotamia and, therefore,are poorly documented.'00One factor that makes identifying deportees difficult is that they did adopt names from the country in which they were settled.'0' Nonetheless, there has been some success in identifying exiled northernersand southerners.02 It is generallyassumed that an individualwith the theophoricelement ia-u indicates a person of Israelite-Judahiteorigin because of the element'shomophony to theYahwisticelement -yahu.'03RanZadokuses the theophoricelementyhw to identify Israelite and Judean deportees in Mesopotamiaand argues that it is used almost exclusively in Israeliteand Judeannames. 04 Non-YahwisticIsraelite names, like &abbatay,can be identifiedbecause they are not attestedin Babylonia before the Judeanexiles arrive.Othernames, for which thereis no proof thatthey areexclusivelyJewish,namesthatmightbe Hebrewor Canaanite,namesthatmight be Phoenicianor Hebrew,names that might be Hebrewor Aramean,must be left to the side and not included.105 Forexample, of the Jews of Nippurthathave been identified, 38 had Yahwisticnames, 23 had West Semitic names, 6 had Akkadian names, and 2 had Iraniannames.106 There are no more than 70 identifiableJews out of 2,500 individualsmentionedin the Murashuarchive,3 percentof the popu99. Ran Zadok, "Notes on the Early History of the Israelitesand Judaeansin Mesopotamia," Orientalia 51 (1982): 391-93. 100. Ran Zadok, TheJews in Babylonia during the Chaldean and AchaemenianPeriodsAccordingto the BabylonianSources(Haifa:Universityof Haifa, 1979), 1-2. Nomadic infiltrationswere more importantto the makeupof the Babylonianpopulationthan deportations. 101. Oded,Mass Deportations, 12. 102. The possibility does exist thatthese referencescould be to individualswho may have settled thereindependentlyratherthanas a consequenceof being deported(Oded,Mass Deportations,14). 103. Israel Eph'al, "Le-'avhanatgolei yisra'el vi-yehudahbe-mamlekhet"ashur"in Essays in Honour of ProfessorShemuelYeivin,ed. YohananAharoni(Tel-AvivUniversity,Instituteof Archaeology, 1973), 202 n. 7; Michael David Coogan, "Patternsin Jewish PersonalNames in the Babylonian Diaspora,"Journalfor the StudyofJudaism 4 (1973): 183-91; MatthewStolper,"ANote on Yahwistic PersonalNames in the MurasuTexts,"Bulletin of the AmericanSchools of OrientalResearch222 (1976): 25-28; M. Weippert,"Jahwe,"Reallexikonder Assyriologie 5:248-50. 104. Zadok,TheJews in Babylonia,4-5, 15.Thetheophoricelementyhw does seem to appearin the name of the northSyrianruleraz-ri-ia-(a-)u/tu(NadavNa'aman,"Sennacherib's'Letterto God' on his Campaignto Judah"39, n. 56) and in the namesof the rulersof Hamath,Y6ramand(d)ia-(i-)bi-'-di (John Gray,"TheGodYw in the Religion of Canaan,"JournalofNear EasternStudies 12 [1953]: 281 82). The relationshipbetweenYHWH (Iaco),the Hamatheantheophoricelement, and the deities 'IetEo and'oA, mentionedby Philo of Byblos and Macrobius,has not been clarified (see Marvin H. Pope, "Jw,"in W6rterbuchder Mythologie:Band 1, GotterundMythenin vorderenOrient,ed. Hans Willem Haussig [Stuttgart:ErnstKlett, 1965], 291-92; Albert I. Baumgarten,ThePhoenician History ofPhilo ofByblos, A Commentary[Leiden:Brill, 1981], 54-55). The theophoricelementyhw is not extant in northernSyria afterthe Neo-Assyrianperiod. It neveroccurs in Phoenicianor Punicnames. Names withyhw cannotbe Phoenicianfor phonologicalreasons:a name in the form qatal + (divine name) in Phoenicianwould be qat6l + (divine name) in a Canaanitelanguagelike Hebrew. 105. Zadok, TheJews in Babylonia, 22-30. 106. Zadok, TheJews in Babylonia, 33.

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At the Nexus of History and Memory lationof Nippurregion.Only 36 out of 70 boreYahwisticnames,a percentagelower thanthe percentageof Yahwisticnames among ElephantineJews but aboutthe same percentageof Jews in Judea,based on lists in Ezraand Nehemiah.107 There are 231 identifiable Israelites and Judeans,23 at Kalhu, duringthe Neo-Assyrian,Neo-Babylonian,and LateBabylonianperiods.108 The actualnumber must be higherfor two reasons.Deportees adoptedAkkadiannames voluntarily, andthe names of hostages andprisonersof warwere changedby Assyriansand Babyloniansto Akkadianones.10924 were definitely Israelite,and 44 were either Israelite or Judean.110There were 161 Judeans in Babylonia, and 2 Judeans at Susa."' Those found in Assyria are found mostly at Kalhu,Kouyunyik,Nineveh, Gozan, Ma'allinite andAssur as well as scatteredelsewhere.In Assyria, the number of individuals is 65 ? 3, and in Babylon, 152 + 8. We must rememberthat archival documentationis limted to urbaniteBabylonians, to whom cuneiform writing was confined.112 In Neo-Assyria, there are at least 19 documentedpeople who might have been Israeliteor Judean,if the documentationderives from after 701. Most Jews were tenantsor holdersof small or mediumfiefs. 13 A varietyof examples can attest to the range of material: 1. An individualnamed Paqaha,mentioned in a document from 710-09, was an estate managerand may have been exiled as early as 732-31 by TiglathPileser III.114 2. ABL 633 refersto Halbishuthe Samarian,who may or may not have been an Israelite, being present in Gozan, but two other individualsmentioned in the text, with definiteYahwisticnames, served as minorstate officials, pal-ti-ia-u and ni-ri-ia-u.115Pal-ti-ia-u was apparentlya senior official in the finance ministry. This shows thatIsraelitesrose to positionsof authorityin theAssyriangovernment. 3. There are also Yahwisticnames on bronze and ivory objects that may or not refer to Israeliteor Judeanresidentsof Kalhubecause they might be obmay jects broughtfrom Israelor Judah."16

107. Zadok, TheJews in Babylonia, 78-79. 108. RanZadok, TheEarliestDiaspora:IsraelitesandJudeansin Pre-HellenisticMesopotamia (TelAviv:TelAviv University,2002), 10. 109. Zadok, TheEarliest Diaspora, 18. 110. Zadok, TheEarliest Diaspora, 20-26. 111. Zadok, TheEarliest Diaspora, 27-47. 112. Zadok, TheEarliest Diaspora, 62. 113. Zadok, TheJews in Babylonia, 88. 114. Zadok, TheJews in Babylonia, 153. 115. Eph'al, "Le-'avhanatgolei yisra'el vihudahbe-mamlekhet'ashur,"201-204; Zadok, The Jews in Babylonia, 7-22, 97-99; Zadok, "Notes on the EarlyHistory of the Israelitesand Judeansin Mesopotamia,"Orientalia 51 (1982): 391-93; Becking, TheFall of Samaria, 66-67; Postgate, Taxation and Conscription in the Assyrian Empire (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1974), 287- 89; E M. Fales, "New Assyrian Letters from the KouyunjikCollection,"Archivfir Orientforschung27 (1981): 142-46. 116. A. R. Millard,"AlphabeticInscriptionson Ivories from Nimrud,"Iraq 24 (1962): 45-49, plate XXIVa;R. D. Barnett,"Layard'sNimrudBronzes and TheirInscriptions,"EretzIsrael 8 (1967):

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Pamela Barmash 4. ADD 755 refers to an Ahiqam.The name alone is not sufficient to prove that he is a deportee,but because the provinceof Halah is also mentioned,along with other alien names, there is evidence to supportthe claim that this text refers to exiles.'17 5. ND 6231, an Aramaic ostacon from Nimrud contains a list of West Semitic names, deporteeseither from Israelor southernSyria to Kalhu.1•8Albright arguesthatbecause the list is so homogeneous,four names appeareleven times, it suggests thatthereare kinshipties among the group and thatthese individualsare mainly from the Northern Kingdom.119Most of the names on this ostraca are foundin the Bible or in Israeliteinscriptions.The names areclearlyIsraelite,rather thanPhoenician,because a few of them exhibitfeaturesof Hebrew:In~nhcontains the use of the rootn-t-n,whereasPhoenicianhas y-t-n,120and wouldbe xtwr in Phoenician.121They are not Arameannames, because if so, wrn'• the text would have -n in place of In. The use of obviates identifying this name as Ammonite, a. or Canaanite. It does not Edomite, negate the identificationas Israelite,because as a element theophoric appearsin the Samariaostraca.The spelling ?b is ?.n problematic:Albrightsuggests thatthe ayin was omittedunderthe influence of the Aramaicpronunciationbaal as bel.122 6. ADD 148 uses the measure"3 homers of wheat accordingto the seah of the land of Judah."123 The use of this measure might indicate the presence of a Judeandeportee.124 3*-5*; M. Heltzer,"EighthCenturyB.C. Inscriptionsfrom Kalakh(Nimrud),"Palestine Exploration Quarterly110 (1978): 3-9. 117. S. Schiffer, "KeilinschriftlichenSpuren,"OrientalistischeLiteraturzeitung210 (1907): 29, claims that there was a large Israelite settlement in Kannu, but the tablets dealing with Kannu cannot be taken as evidence of deportees because there is no evidence of a deportationto Kannu. Schiffer also arguesthat the Akkadiannames ending in -a-u were Yahwistic,but it appearsthat final element in these names signified apil-adad or apla-adad. See Oded, Mass Deportations, 15; Avraham Malamat, "Exiles,"Encyclopaedia Judaica 6:1036; Emile Lipinski, "Apladad,"Orientalia 45 (1976): 57-63. 118. Becking, TheFall ofSamaria, 80-82. ContraJ. Naveh, "TheOstraconfrom Nimrud:An AmmoniteName List,"Maarav 2 (1979-80): 163-71. 119. W.E Albright,"AnOstraconfrom Calahand the North-IsraeliteDiaspora,"Bulletinof the AmericanSchools of OrientalResearch 149 (1958): 33-36. 120. Albright,"AnOstraconfrom Calah,"35. See Zellig S. Harris,A Grammarof the Phoenician Language(New Haven:AmericanOrientalSociety, 1936), 108; Dictionary of the North-WestSemitic Inscriptions,478-80, 766-70. ContraJ. B. Segal, "AnAramaicOstraconfrom Nimrud,"Iraq 19 (1957): 142; S. Segert, "Kanndas Ostraconvon Nimrud Aramiiischgehalten werden?"African ftir andAsian Studies 1 (1965): 149-50. 121. Albright,"An Ostraconfrom Calah,"35. Cf. Harris,A Grammarof the Phoenician Language, 85 s.v. n~~ma, [n]3ma. 122. Albright,"AnOstraconfrom Calah,"35, n. 15. 123. J. Kohler and A. Ungnad,Assyrische Rechtsurkunden(Leipzig: EdwardPfeiffer, 1913), 210, number325. 124. IsraelEph'alsuggeststwo possibilities: 1) the presenceofa Judeandeportee,who still uses the measureof his native country;or 2) the presenceof a Judeantrader("Le-'avhanatgolei yisra'elvihuda be-mamlekhet'ashur,"203). Eph'al leans towardthe second possibility because he is sceptical that a Judeandeporteewould continueusing a Judeanmeasuredecades afterdeportation.

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At the Nexus of History and Memory 7. BT 105 from 687 recordsthe name ia-u-da in an archive 15 miles from Nineveh.125 What is importantto note is thatwhile the biblical text describesthe northerners as being deportedto particularperipheraland centralareas, the Akkadian texts show that they were in the core cities of Assyria, Kalhu, Nineveh, and Dur Sharruken. Israeliteswere included in the Assyrian military.Tiglath-Pileser'sdeportation from Samariaincluded adding 200 or fifty chariotsto his army,and Sargon added200 chariotsfrom Samariato his army.126A listing of chariotcommanders for the Samariancohort, CTN III 99 ii. 16-23, containstwo Yahwisticnames and might even be the remnantof the northernchariotryincorporatedinto the Assyrian army.127ADD 234/ARU 523 refersto a chariotdriverwho was eitheran Israelite or a Judean.128 ABL 1009 refersto Samarians,who might be nativeIsraelitesserving in the Assyrian army.129 Wehaveclearevidence of eighth-centurydeporteesfromthe NorthernKingdom andthe SouthernKingdomin Mesopotamia.Despite the biblicaltexts' silence about the Judeandeportationsas a result of Sennacherib'sinvasion(s),the southernerswere grantedby the Assyrian authoritiesthe economic and social opportunities to retaintheirJudeanidentity.At the same time, northernersand southerners were most likely in contactwhile in Mesopotamia,and they probablyamalgamated to a certain extent duringtheir 200-year sojourn.130 Yet, it is as if the southern deportees of 701 never existed. The only deportationsfrom the South that are preservedin biblical memory are the later ones accomplishedby the Babylonians. V THE

RETURN OF NORTHERN DEPORTEES

The Babyloniansdeportedsouthernersas partof theircampaignsof 597 and 587-586, and in 538, Cyrus called for these southerndeporteesto returnto their homeland.What happenedto the northerndeportees? Prophetictexts assumethatthe northernexiles will returnandjoin with their southernbrethren,and seventh- and sixth-centuryprophetsare concerned about 125. See BarbaraParker,"EconomicTabletsfrom the Temple of Mami at Balawat,"Iraq 25 (1963): 91. 126. C. J. Gadd,"InscribedPrismsof SargonII from Nimrud,"Iraq 16 (1954): 179-80, plates xlv-xlvi; Tadmor,"TheCampaignsof SargonII,"34; Tadmorand Cogan,IIKings, 166; StephanieDalley, "ForeignChariotryand Cavalryin the ArmiesofTiglath-PileserIII and SargonII,"Iraq47 (1985): 36. 127. S. Dalley and J. N. Postgate, The Tabletsfrom Fort Shalmaneser(CuneiformTexts from Nimrud III; Oxford, 1984), 177; Dalley, "ForeignChariotryand Cavalry,"33-34; Becking, TheFall ofSamaria, 74-75. 128. Becking, The Fall of Samaria, 65-66; Theodore Kwasman,Neo-AssyrianLegal Documents in the KouyunjikCollection of the British Museum(Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1988), 408-9. 129. Becking assumes they are Israelites(The Fall ofSamaria, 77). 130. AlbertusPieters, The TenTribesin History and Prophecy(GrandRapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1934), 45.

229

Pamela Barmash the futureof the northerners,reflectingboth the continuedexistence of the northernersand their distinct identity."'3Jeremiahenvisions the repatriationand resettlementof the northernIsraeliteremnant,cleansedby exile (Jeremiah3:6-13, 1925; 31:1-22, 27-37). Jeremiah'sinterestin the North is demonstratedwhen he includes the north in his preaching to Judah.The superscriptionto the oracle in Jeremiah2:4 is addressedto a mixed group, includinga NorthernKingdomaudience-whether exiled in Assyria or still living in the North or living in the South. 32 In the oracle stemming from the potter and the clay, Jeremiahrefers in 18:6 to "the House of Israel."Because in the adjoiningoracle Jeremiahrefers to the people of Judahand the inhabitantsof Judah(18:11), it may be thatJeremiah is addressingthe northernersin the first oracle. The NorthernTribeswere to be reunitedwith SouthernTribes,accordingto prophetictexts.133Isaiah 11:11-13 promisesthe redemptionof IsraelitesfromAssyria and a wide rangeof places.134 Jeremiah3:18 vouches for the reunitingof Israel and Judah from the land of the north. Ezekiel 37:21-22 pledges that the Israelites will be gatheredfrom their dispersion and be reestablishedin a single kingdom.Accordingto Hosea 2:2, the northernersandthe southernerswill join together.Some propheticmaterialpromisesthatthe northernerswere to be resettled into their own land (Jeremiah23:8). Evidence from the sixth-centuryprophetEzekiel reflects the continuedexistence of the northernersalmost 200 years aftertheir kingdomwas destroyed.At times, Ezekiel distinguishes between the two groups (4:5, 6; 9:9; 27:17; 37:1523) and between two groups of elders (14:1; 20:1, 3 versus "the elders of Judah," in 8:1). He addressedhimself to "theentireHouse of Israel"(37:11; 39:25; 45:6), where he appearsto be includingboth the northernersand the southerners. Nonprophetictexts from the early Second Templeperiod presentthe return of northernexiles. Despite the fact thatEzra2:1 andNehemiah7:6 enumerateonly the Judeansas returning,other verses in these books indicate otherwise. First, in Ezra6:17, offeringsare made for all twelve tribes. Second,the Nobites mentioned in Ezra2:29 and 1 Chronicles5:26 may have been formerReubenitesdeportedby Tiglath-PileserIII.'35This identificationis reflected in the similaritybetween the names and genealogy in 1 Chronicles5:4-8 and Ezra 10:43. Third,the returnees 131. The Israelitesmaintainedties with their homeland.In 2 Kings 17:28, a priest who served the Israelitesis sent back from exile to serve the new settlersin the territoryof the NorthernKingdom. See AvrahamMalamat,"Exile,"EncyclopaediaJudaica 6:1036. 132. Jack R. Lundbomsuggests that the inclusivity is a result of the mention of the ancestors stretchingall the way back to the Wanderingin the Wildernesswhen all twelve tribeswere in existence (Jeremiah1-20 [AnchorBible; GardenCity,NY: Doubleday,1999], 258). Does this mean that the inclusion of the NorthernTribesis a literaryfiction? Lundbomhimself does not think so, as he argues for the possibility of northernersstill living in the North in his earliercommenton the verse. 133. Zechariah 11:14 is a rareverse that tells of futuredisunity between the northernersand southerners. 134. The first triad,Egypt, Pathros,and Nubia, is aligned geographicallyfrom northto south, while the second triad,Elam, Shinar,andNubia, is aligned from southeastto northwest(Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 1-39 [AnchorBible; New York:Doubleday,2000], 267-68). 135. Cogan, "Israelin Exile,"43 n. 15. ContraZ. Kallai, "Nov,noveh,"EnziklopediyaMikra'it 5:684.

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At the Nexus of History and Memory from exile who are assigned to axminnr (Ezra 2:6 = Nehemiah 7:11; Ezra 8:4) seem to have been from an originally Israelite province.1361 Chronicles 5:3-8 refersto a Reubenitenoble whose lands extendedto Aroer,Nebo, and Baal-Meor. Since this areawas conqueredby the Moabites(Isaiah15-16; Jeremiah48; Zephaniah 2:8-11), it was laterincluded in the provinceof Moab. Fourth,the returnees includedin the lists in EzraandNehemiah are those from Israeliteterritoryon the coast and Mt. Ephraim.This evidence is usually taken as reflecting Judahitecontrol duringJosiah'sreign, but it could reflect northernersreturning.Fifth, as for Iraniansurnamesmentionedin Ezra andNehemiah,because clans have thousands of descendents,theirancestorsmust havebeen froma numberof generations(Ezra 2:8, 14 = Nehemiah 7:13, 19). If these names were not newly adoptedafter Persian conquest, perhapsthe people holding such names were descendents of the northernerswho were deportedto Media by Assyria.137Sixth, if 1 Chronicles9:3 reflects the situationof the restorationperiod,then those mentionedare either descendentsof the northernexiles to Assyria or descendentsof the northernrefugees to the south.Lastly,therewere men who had difficultyprovingtheiridentity(Ezra 2:59). It is hardto believe that the childrenor grandchildrenwould have trouble provingdescent, and it can be surmisedthatthese were the descendentsof eighthcenturyexiles, whethernorthernor southern.138 Early Second Temple texts preserve the contentionthat some Northerners were not exiled at all.1392 Chronicles30:6, for example,refersto the remnantthat escaped the hands of the Assyrian kings, a remnantthat appearsto be different from those exiled by the Assyrians. Bustenay Oded argues that this text demonstratesthat a mixed Israeliteand Judeanpopulationlived in Transjordan.An Israelite population,composed of refugees (2 Chronicles30:6, 10-11), lived in the Peraea,an area west of the Jordan,in what was the NorthernKingdom, after the destructionof the NorthernKingdom.140They were descendents of a mixed Israelite-Judeanpopulationthat did not go into exile.'14 This latterclaim was first made by BenjaminMazar,who arguedthat the Tobiadsknown from the Second Templeperiod were descendentsof those exiled by Tiglath-PileserIII from their lands in Transjordanwho laterreturnedto their lands. He qualifies theirnorthern origin by arguingthatthey were partof a Judeanfamily thathad estates in Gilead, and who, upon their return,found Israeliteswho had not been exiled.142Prophe136. B. Mazar,"TheTobiads,"Israel ExplorationJournal 7 (1952): 232. 137. Zadok, TheEarliest Diaspora, 41-42. In the eighth century,Media, unlike seventh-century Media, divided into city-statesruled by I'EN.URU. 138. Pieters, The TenTribesin History and Prophecy, 51. 139. Accordingto some FirstTemplepropheticmaterial,the northernerswould remain in the Land of Israel.In Amos 9:9, the promise is made that some northernerswill remain.According to Jeremiah 50:20, some of the northernersand the southernerswill be purgedof their sins and allowed to remainin the land. Hosea 3:5 predictsthat the northernerswill eventuallyrepent. 140. Bustenay Oded, "Observationson Methods of Assyrian Rule in Transjordaniaafter the Palestinian Campaign ofTiglath-Pileser

III," Journal of Near Eastern Studies 29 (1970): 183.

141. Oded,"Observationson Methodsof Assyrian Rule in Transjordania," 177-186; Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 370, 419.

142. B. Mazar,"TheTobiads,"Israel ExplorationJournal 7 (1957): 232-33. He is followed by

231

Pamela Barmash cies do referto Israelitesreturningto Gilead (Jeremiah1:19;Obadiah19;Zechariah 10:10). The Chronicler,a writerof the Persianperiod, seems to have genuine concern for the northernersafterthe destructionof the north.143Hezekiahis described as sending messengers to the North as far as the tribe of Zebulon to invite the Israelitesto join in the celebrationof Passover(2 Chronicles30:5, 11). The realmof Josiah'sreformactivitiesare expandedfrom Bethel andthe cities of Samariamentioned in Kings (2 Kings 23:15-20) to Menasseh,Ephraim,andNaphtaliin Chronicles (2 Chronicles34:6). When Josiah requestsaid from the prophetessHuldah, the Chroniclerhas him include the North (2 Chronicles 34:21 versus 2 Kings 22:13), and his actions encompassthe North (2 Chronicles34:33). No blanketcondemnationof the North is found in Chronicles.Some northerners receive positive references, even in the days of the division of the kingdom (2 Chronicles11:16-17). Northernersenteredintothe covenantinitiatedby the inhabitantsof Judahand Jerusalemto seek the Lord duringthe reign of Asa (2 Chronicles15:9-15). Hezekiahexplicitlyincludesthose fromEphraim,Menasseh, Issachar,and Zebulonin his prayerfor pardonfor those not rituallyfit to celebrate the feastin its propertiming(2 Chronicles30:18).Thenorthernersliving in the south as well as visitors are mentionedas participatingin the celebration(2 Chronicles 31:25).Afterthe celebrationconcluded,the destructionof high places andaltarsextendedto Ephraimand Menasseh(2 Chronicles31:1). The story of Josiah'sreform specifically statesMenassehand Ephraimand all the remnantof Israelcontributed the money necessaryto repairthe Temple(2 Chronicles34:9 v. 2 Kings 22:4). The Chroniclershowspositivefeelings towardthe Northandshows interestin the North. This may reflect a Judean'sinterestin redeemingthe past of his acquaintancesof northerndescentor perhapseven the Chronicler'sown descentfrom the north. Prophetictexts of the eighth, seventh,and sixth centuriesBCE promisethat the northernerswill return from exile. Prophetic texts from the sixth century demonstratethat a distinct communityof northernersstill existed in exile. Some texts dating from the period of the restorationassume that descendentsof the deportees from the North returnedfrom exile, and others presume that other descendentsof the North were still living in their homeland. VI. THE

NORTHERN TRIBES BECOME LOST

Throughoutthe Second Templeperiod,the assumptionwas that the northern tribesstill existed.Yetright afterthe end of the SecondTempleperiod,we hear the first faint echoes of lost tribes. A first century apocalypticwork, IV Ezra, refers to the nine tribes of the North existing in a farawayland (IV Ezra 13:39-47).144 They had on their own

H. L. Ginsberg,"Judahand the TransjordanStates from 734-582 BCE,"in AlexanderMarx Jubilee Volume(New York:JewishTheological Seminary,1950), 356 n. 33. 143. Roddy L. Braun,"AReconsiderationof the Chronicler'sAttitudeTowardthe North,"Journal of Biblical Literature96 (1977): 59-62. 144. Differentmanuscriptsof IV Ezrapreservedifferentnumbers.See Michael Stone, Fourth

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At the Nexus of History and Memory volition decided to withdrawfrom othernationsto preservetheir own laws, seeking a place that no humanbeing had ever lived, and they embarkedon a trip to a land that was so distantthat travellingthere lasted a year and a half.145God enabledtheirjourneyby miraculouslyallowingthempassagethrougha riverby stopping up its springs. The tribes are no longer sinners deserving of exile, but chastenedandrepentant,loyal to the commandmentsthey hadnot kept in theirown land,and waiting for redemption. Josephusincludestwo elementsthatwould laterbe combinedinto the motif of the Lost Tribes,the multitudinousnumberof the northerntribesandthe sabbatical river, yet without the northerntribes being unreachable.Josephus includes materialbased on biblicalmaterial:Hezekiah'sinvitationto the northernersto participate in the Feastof UnleavenedBread(2 Chronicles30:11, 18;Antiquities,ix, 263-67), and the northerntribes'deportationto Media and Persiaby Shalmaneser (2 Kings 17:6;Antiquities,ix, 277-82). But then Josephusexplainsthe existenceof two populationsof Jews, one underRomanrule and the otherunderParthianrule, by telling thatthe BabylonianJews returnedwith Ezrawhile only some of the Jews in Mediareturnedat thattime (Antiquities,xi, 131-33). He describesthe Jews "beyond the Euphrates"as numberingcountless multitudes.The description"beyond the Euphrates"would include Jews in Babyloniaand,therefore,would imply that some BabylonianJews remainedor thatsome Jews in Media moved.This imprecision makes it appearthatJosephusis conflatingtwo explanationsfor the two populations:the argumentthatonly partof the Jewsin Mediareturnedwouldexplainwhy manyJews still live there,andthe storyof the returnwould explainthe existenceof Jews in the Landof Israel.In eithercase, Josephusassumesthat the populationof Jews "beyondthe Euphrates"consists of the descendentsof the northerners. The otherelement that Josephusrecountsis the sabbaticalriver.In the Jewish War,Josephushas to fill in the long gap in the historicalnarrativebetweenthe fall of Jerusalemand the siege of Masada.'46He depicts an empire whose every part is in turmoil (Jewish War,vii, 79) and,therefore,describes a series of revolts and attacks,showing Romanrule challenged from within and without.Titus'striumphantmarchback to Rome symbolizes the restorationof the empire'sintegrity underthe rule of the Flaviandynasty.Along the way,Tituspreservesthe privileges of the Jews of Antioch, an episode more germaneto Josephus'sfocus on Jewish history,and passes by the sabbaticalriver.Josephusdescribes it flowing between Arka,a town at the northernend of the Lebanonmountains,andRaphanea,a town in northernSyria.This river flows on the Sabbath,leading non-Jewsto designate it the Sabbaticalriver,afterthe famousJewishpractice.It is ironic for the riverthat flows on the Sabbathto be called a sabbaticalriverbecause it violates Sabbathrest. Ezra (Minneapolis:Fortress,1990), 404. There were nine tribes in the north:Reuben,Dan, Naphtali, Gad,Asher,Issachar,Zebulun,Ephraim,Menasseh(split into two parts);and threein the south:Judah, Benjamin,and Simon. The Levites occupied an ambiguousposition as a tribe. 145. W A. Wright suggested that the land's name, Arzareth,is derived from the Hebrew of Deuteronomy29:28, n-nt y'K ("Noteon the 'Arzareth,'"TheJournalofPhilology 3 [1871]: 113-14). 146. TessaRajak,Josephus:TheHistorianand His Work(Philadelphia:Fortress,1984 [1983]), 216.

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Pamela Barmash Anotherversion of the sabbaticalriveris found in anotherfirst-centuryCE text, Pliny the Elder'sNaturalHistory, a huge and unwieldy ancientencyclopedia in thirty-sevenbooks. Pliny cites the riverthatdoes not flow on the Sabbathin the section on bodies of water with unusualcharacteristics(NaturalHistory, XXXI, 24). Pliny locates the riverin Judea,and it seems naturalthatthe location of a river that rests on the Sabbathis in the homelandof the Jews, who rest on the Sabbath. By contrast,Josephusplaces the mysteriousriveroutside of Judeain Syria. Pliny inserts the SabbatyonRiver in his discussion of bodies of waterwith marvelouscharacteristics.In this particularsection of Book 37 of his NaturalHistory, Pliny has describedbodies of water in which every object sinks followed by bodies of waterin which every object floats. (Pliny fails to mentionthe Dead Sea.) He then describeda body of waterthat moves while retainingits fish. These fish foretellthe futurefor those who offer them food by eithersnappingit up or knocking it away with their tails. Pliny continues with a descriptionof other prophetic waters,includingone whose dry spells are an evil portentfor visitors. It is at this point thatPliny parentheticallymentionsa streamin Judeathatdries up every Sabbath, anotherbody of waterwith dry spells but without ominous powers.Because one of the (in)famous characteristicsof Jews in antiquitywas their observanceof the Sabbath,it would be naturalfor such a riverto be located in the homelandof the Jews.147 Pliny apparentlynever visited Judea:his public service was in the western part of the Roman empire.148His lack of familiaritywith Judea caused him to err in describingthe area near the home of the Essenes in his topographical survey of Judea:he writes that there are palm trees in the vicinity, a description more apt for Jericho than Qumran(NaturalHistory V, 73). Although in his huge and unwieldy work Pliny does lapse in credulityfrom time to time, in general, he soberly amasses practicaldata.149In contrast,Josephus'slocation of the river outside of Judeaand predominantlyJewish territorymay be a consequence of his knowledgeof the actualterrainof Judea-he knows of no suchriverin Judea and,therefore,cannotlocate it where it does not exist. Josephus'sriveralso differs from Pliny'sriverin thatJosephusrecountsthat the river flows only on the Sabbath.The legendarystreamclearly has a relationship with the Sabbath,but whetherit rests or flows on the Sabbathhas not yet been 147. See ErnstBaltrusch,"Bewunderung,Duldung,Ablehnung:Das Urteil fiberdie Juden in der grieschisch-rimischenLiteratur," Klio 80 (1998): 403-21; RobertGoldenberg,"TheJewish Sabbathin the RomanWorldup to the Time of Constantinethe Great,"AufstiegundNiedergangder Romischen Welt19.1 (1979): 415-22, 430-36. 148. J. Reynolds,"TheElderPliny andhis Times,"in Science in the EarlyRomanEmpire:Pliny the Elder, his Sources and Influence,ed. Roger Frenchand FrankGreenaway(Totowa,NJ: Barnes & Noble Books, 1986), 3-9; Mary Beagon, Roman Nature: The Thoughtof Pliny the Elder (Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1992), 2-4. However,JohnJ.Collins arguesthatPlinythe Elderwas probablyin Judea with Vespasian,Anchor Bible Dictionary 2:621. AccompanyingVespasianwould account for Pliny's familiaritywith Judea.However,Pliny includes descriptionsof much of the known world, including the Parthianempireand India,farmore thanhe could have possibly visited personally,andthe fact that a particulararea was included in his work cannot be evidence that he had personalknowledge of the area. 149. Beagon, RomanNature, 7-8, 11, 16-17.

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At the Nexus of History and Memory fixed. It is as if there is a rumorabouta riverwith a bizarrecharacteristic,vaguely reminiscentof Jewish behavior.It is importantto note that this river has nothing to do with the Lost Tribes.'5oOthersourcescontemporaryto these assumethe existence of the twelve tribes living together,withoutnortherntribes in a faraway land.15' These elements will be joined togetherlater in Jewish texts that speak of a numberof places to where the northernerswere exiled and that contain a variety of views about whetherthe northernerswill be redeemedor not and how.'52 The varietywithin these texts and even within a single text is salient.The northerners are portrayedas living in an identifiablesite in Syria'53or in mysterioussites, beyond the sabbathriveror hiddenundera cloud (e.g., Y. Sanhedrin,10:6,29c). They are depicted as never being worthy of redemptionor as certainly worthy of redemption.154 Collective amnesia enabled Jews to forget their mixed northernand southern ancestryand forge an image of punished and chastenednortherntribes, now piously waitingto rejointheirbrethren.The process of the creationof the motif of the Lost Tribes startedin the biblical period. The only word about the fate of the northernersin the DeuteronomisticHistory is that they were exiled. That any northernerat all remainedin the North or sought refuge in the South was passed over in silence. Thatany southernerwas deportedby the Assyrianswas disregarded. The paradigmwas absolute: the northernkingdom destroyedand the northernersdeportedby the Assyriansas a resultof apostasy,and the southernkingdom destroyedand the southernersdeportedby the Babyloniansbecause of apostasy. Northernerswho were not deportedwere excluded,and southernerswho stayedin their homelandafter the Babyloniandeportationswere eclipsed.155Those northernersand southernerswho did not fit the patterndid not meritmention. 150. The name of the riverGozan may have inspiredspeculationaboutthe whereaboutsof the TenTribes.The word be associatedwith two roots in Aramaic,TnaandYu.The root na in Ara1•~ may maic signifies "to go across,"(Michael Sokoloff, A DictionaryofJewish PalestinianAramaic[RamatGan:Bar-IlanUniversityPress, 1990], 122) and it is to be speculatedthat this riveris the one thatthe northerntribescrossed over.The root nmmeans "to cut off,"(Sokoloff, 125), andperhapsthis meaning led to the idea thatthe riversomehow cut the tribesoff from the Judeansin a permanentway.The connection with the sabbaticalriverappearssecondary:a riverthatrests on the sabbathbut is impassable the other days of the week explains why the tribes do not return. 151. E.g., Acts 26:7; James 1:1. 152. For a survey of these texts, see Adolph Neubauer,"Whereare the Ten Tribes?"Jewish QuarterlyReview 1 (1889): 14-28, 95-114, 185-201, 408-23; Judah David Eisenstein, Otzar midrashim(New York:E. Grossman, 1915), 2:466-73; Louis Ginzberg,Legends of the Jews (1928; repr.,Baltimore:Johns HopkinsUniversityPress, 1998), 6:407-9. 153. Formore on this place, DaphneofAntiochia, see AdolphNeubauer,Le Geographiedu Talmud (1868; repr.,Hildesheim:Georg Olms, 1967), 313-14. 154. For example, M. Sanhedrin10.3 and PesiktaRabbati31 (ed. Friedman). 155. Debate has raged over whetherJudahwas an empty land afterthe Babylonianexile. See Hans M. Barstad,TheMythof the EmptyLand:A Studyin the HistoryandArchaeologyofJudah During the "Exilic"Period (Oslo: ScandinavianUniversityPress, 1996); Lipschits and Blenkinsopp,Judah and theJudeansin the Neo-BabylonianPeriod;Lipschits, Yerushalayimbaynhurbanlehithadshut (Jerusalem:YadBen-Zvi, 2004).

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Pamela Barmash VII. CONCLUSION Ronald Hendel avers that "Culturalmemories tend to be a mixture of historical truth and fiction, composed of 'authentic' historical details, folklore motifs, ethnic self-fashioning, ideological claims, and narrativeimagination."156 Because memory is recalled more than it is preserved,because we look back into the past ratherthan establishthe shape of an event exactly as it happened,we may see the past in terms of the present,not on its own terms. The past is assimilated into a conceptualframeworkthatmay be far differentfrom its actualcontours.157 Whatis rememberedis not necessarilywhathappened.Historycan be at odds with memory.158

The transformationof the tribesof the NorthernKingdominto the "TenLost Tribes"occurredbecause culturalmemory is selective and interpretive.The motif of the "TenLost Tribes"once gave comfortto medievalJews by paintinga picture of numerousbattalionsof well-armedIsraelitesliving in a paradise,an Edenwhere no insects existed and no child died in the lifetime of a parent,andwho were waiting to sweep forwardand save their fellow Jews from oppression.Today'sJews, anxious over populationnumbers,find lost cousins in the oddest places. True it is that the Assyrians deportednorthernersto farawaylands, where theirdescendantslived for hundredsof years. But, in fact, many of the inhabitants of the NorthernKingdomwere able to stay in theirhomelandor seek refuge in the SouthernKingdom. Those deportedto Assyria were joined two decades later by deportees from the South. The expectations were that one day the northerners would return,andthe texts fromthe earlySecondTempleperiodindicatethatsome of the descendents of the northerndeportees did, joining other northernerswho never departed.In biblical memory, however, the reality was transfigured.All northernerswere envisioned as deportees, and any southernersdeportedby any power other than Babylonia were ignored. The mixing of the two populations, whetherin the Land of Israel or in Mesopotamia,was passed over in silence, and the creationof the motif of the Lost Tribescommenced. PamelaBarmash WashingtonUniversityin St. Louis St. Louis, Missouri

156. Ronald Hendel, "The Exodus in Biblical Memory,"Journal of Biblical Literature120 (2001): 602. 157. MauriceHalbwachs,On CollectiveMemory,ed. andtrans.Lewis A. Coser(Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1992), 61. 158. Foran overview of the history of the study of memory and a considerationof the allureof the studyof memoryin academiccircles, see KerwinLee Klein, "Onthe Emergenceof Memoryin Historical Discourse,"Representations69 (2000): 127-50.

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The Legend of Ger Ẓedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance Author(s): Magda Teter Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 237-263 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131733 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:19 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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AJS Review 29:2 (2005), 237-263

THE LEGEND OF GER ZEDEK OF WILNO AS POLEMICANDREASSURANCE*

by Magda Teter Some time in the second half of the eighteenthcentury,thereemergeda Jewish legend that glorified a conversionto Judaismand a martyr'sdeath of a Polish noble from a very prominentPolish aristocraticfamily, sometimes referredto as WalentynPotocki, or GrafPotocki-the legend of ger zedek, a righteousconvert, ofWilno.1The storywas enthusiasticallyembracedby EasternEuropeanJews, and it subsequentlybecame a subjectof numerousnovels and novellas. Even today its appealcontinues.It is currentlymentionedon a numberof Jewish web sites as "a true story of a Polish Hrabia (count) ... who descendedfrom a long line of noble Christianrulersand who sacrificed wealth andpowerto convertfrom Christianity to Judaism,"and it serves as a basis for school plays in some Haredi schools for girls.2 Although converts to Judaismwere not unheardof in the premodernera, * I would like to thank the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research for awardingme the Dina AbramowiczEmergingScholarFellowshipin supportof this article and for giving me the opportunity to give a public lecture on the topic, duringwhich I received several valuable comments. I would also like to thankProfessorGershonBacon of Bar Ilan Universityin Israel for his interestin this project and for sharinghis knowledge and insights with me; they were invaluable.Thanksalso go to Professor EdwardFramof Ben GurionUniversityof the Negev in Israel, for readingand commentingon the manuscript,and to the anonymousreadersfor the AJS Review.Earlierversions of this article were given at a conference on conversionsat the Universityof Groningenin May 2003, at the faculty seminarof the Departmentof JewishHistoryat the Ben GurionUniversityof the Negev, andthe earlymodem groupat the HebrewUniversityin Jerusalemin the Springof 2004. I benefited tremendouslyfrom comments and suggestions I received duringthose events. 1. According to the definition of a legend used by culturalanthropologistsstudying folklore, legends, or historicallegends, "areprose narratives,which, like myths, are regardedas trueby the narratorand his audience, but they are set in a period less remote, when the world was much as it is today."William Bascom, "The Forms of Folklore: Prose Narratives,"in Sacred Narrative, ed. Alan Dundes (Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1984), 9, see also 10-11. On the definition of the legend and its functions, see also, Linda Degh, Legend and Belief Dialectics of a Folklore Genre (Bloomington:IndianaUniversityPress,2001), especially chapters1-2. W.LynwoodMontellandBarArv [StockbaraAllen, "Some Characteristicsof HistoricalLegendry:The Narrativeandthe Narrator," holm] 37 (1981). 2. A. Litvin "Mayseger zedek in likht fun legende un virklikhkeit"Zukunft[The Future,New York]31, no. 12 (1926): 704-707; Israel Hayyim Ben-David, GrafPotozki:o Ger Ha-Zedek:Agadah DramatitBe-HameshMa arekhot(TelAviv: Snir, 1940);AbrahamKarpinowitz,Di GeshikhteFun Vilner Ger Zedek, Graf ValentinPotozki (Tel Aviv: Vilner Pinkas, 1990); YehoshuaLeiman and Selig Schachnowitz,AvrohomBenAvrohom(Jerusalem,New York:FeldheimPublishers,1977);NatanMark, Ben-Ha-Rozen(Haifa:Renesans, 1968); E. Z. PortugalandZviYosefMiski, Shirim,DerzeylungenFun

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Magda Teter few stories of this kind emerged. Rabbinicauthoritieshad an ambiguousattitude toward non-Jewish conversions, and few encouraged proselytizing or glorified non-Jewishconverts.The legend of ger zedek of Wilno, though said to be a true story,appearsto be a carefullycraftedtale of conversion,a polemical and apologetic responseto a numberof challenges thatthe Polish Jewish communityfaced from the mid-eighteenthcentury. Tworelativelyearlyversions of the tale of ger zedekhave come down to us: a Hebrewmanuscriptpreservedon microfilm in the Jewish National and University Library(JNUL) in Jerusalem,whose exact dateis ratherdifficult to establish,3 and a Polish translationof anotherHebrewmanuscriptpublishedby J6zef Ignacy Kraszewski,a well-knownPolishintellectual,writer,andhistorian,in 1840.4Kraszewski statedthat "havingfound out aboutthe existence of a manuscriptthat describedall the events [thathe had heardfrom Jews], with great difficulty we have managed to acquire the original, whose translation,apparentlya unique Jewish chronicle, we publish here at the end, in all its uniquenessand originalnaivete of form and style."5Its physical descriptionprovidedby Kraszewskidoes not match that of the JNUL manuscript.6The texts differ also in content,althoughsome differencesbetweenthe HebrewandPolishversionsof the story arerelatedto the fact thatthe Polishtranslationwas aimedat a Polishaudience,whereasthe HebrewverZvi YosefMiski(New York:H. Myski, 1981); Saul Saphire,Der Ger ZedekFun Vilna:HistorisherRoman (New York, 1942); Selig Schachnowitz,De Conde Polaco a Judio Observante:la Historia Del Conde Pototski(Argentina:EditorialYehuda,n.d.); Moses Seiffert (Zeyfert), GrafPotozki,Oder,Der GerZedek:A HistorisherRoman(New York:HebrewPublishingCompany,n.d.), ShalomZelmanoviz, Ger-zeydek:VilnerGrafPotozki:DramatisheLegende in 3 Aktn,8 Bilder (Kaunas: 1934). The quote comes from"WalentynPotocki'sstory,"a descriptionof Selig Schachnowitz'sbook AvrahambenAvraham, http://chelm.freeyellow.com/pagel7.html.See also, Berel Wein, "Converts,Apostates and Heroes,"RabbiWein.com,http://www.rabbiwein.com/column-699.html (originallypublishedin Jerusalem Post, January9, 2004); the Jewish Agency for IsraelWeb site, "The History of the Jewish People [a timeline],"http://www.davidsconsultants.com/jewishhistory/history.php?startyear= 1740&endyear= 1749. Forprintedworks,see IsraelKlausner,Vilnah,Yerushalayim De-Lita:DorotHa-Rishonim14951881 (Tel Aviv: Bet lohme ha-getaot, 1988), 79. Klausnersees the conversionof WalentynPotocki as a historical fact and cites Kraszewski'sversion of the story as evidence. Most recently, see Joseph Prouser,Noble Soul: TheLife and Legendof the VilnaGer TzedekCountPotocki(Piscataway,NJ: Gorgias Press, 2005). I would like to thankRachel Manekinof HebrewUniversityfor pointingout thatthe Potockiplays are still performedin Haredi schools. 3. Hebrewmanuscript,JNUL, Microfilm F 52930. One of the names mentioned in the text is that of Eliezer Shiskes, who in 1766 was a beadle (shames) in one of Vilna's synagogues. He is mentioned as a young prepubescentboy at the time of the execution of the ger zedek, but the text indicates thathe was dead at the time. His brother,Shaul Shiskes died at an old age in 1797. I would like to thank Dr. MordekhaiZalkin from the Ben-GurionUniversity of the Negev for informationon Shiskes and bibliographicreferencesthatfollow, the following bibliographicreference,IsraelKlausner,ToldotHaKehilahHa-'IvritBe- Vilnah,vol. 1 (Israel,no place: 1968), 135. 4. J6zef Ignacy Kraszewski, Wilno:Od Poczatk6wJego Do Roku 1750 (Vilna: J6zef Zawadzki, 1841), 3:173-81. But subsequently,otherversions of the story were also publishedmostly in Yiddish and Hebrew. 5. Kraszewski,Wilno,169. In the note, he explainedthathe boughtthe manuscriptfor the price in gold equal to its weight "oreven more."Kraszewski, Wilno,183, n. 7. 6. Kraszewskinotes it was a tightlywritteneight-pageHebrewmanuscript,Kraszewski,Wilno, 184, n. 13. The JNUL manuscriptis nine pages long.

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The Legend of Ger Zedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance sions were aimed internallyfor Jews. The Polish translation,for example, omits the names of the noble families and does not translatethe most offensive passages against Catholicism.' The discrepanciesbetween the two texts also point to the evolutionof the legend in time fromthe eighteenthcenturyonwardsrespondingto historicaldevelopmentsat a given time.8 TheLegend There was a great nobleman,Duke Potocki, who had a gifted son. The noblemansent his son to Paristo get an educationin an academythere,because Paris was a "city full of wise men and writers."9At the same time, therewas a lesser nobleman, Zaremba,who also had a gifted and intelligent son. Because Zaremba could not affordto send his son to Paris,he sent him to Wilnoto studyat the "academy" there.This was presumablythe famous JesuitAcademy that trainedsons of the nobles and affluent townsmen.10Zaremba'sgifted son gained respect from some importantand affluentnoblemen, including LordTyszkiewicz,who in turn decided to sponsorZaremba'sson's studies in Paris,and who eventuallywas to become his father-in-law. The two young men met at the Parisacademyand became friends. One day walked aroundthe city.As they became thirsty,they decidedto stop in a small they to vineyard get a drink.Therethey noticed a tent,1 in which an old Jew was studying the Talmud.12The two were intrigued.Not understandingthe language, they asked the old man to tell them more aboutthe book. The Jew told them that it was a holy book in a holy languageand explainedsome of the passages he was studying. The two young Polish noblemenliked what they heardand asked whetherthe teachings representedthe truth.The old man respondedthatthey did. They asked why their teacher13 did not teach them this, to which the old man said, according to the much more elaborateHebrewtext here thanthe Polish, "you are Christians, and your faith comes from a man leading you astray [ha-mesiah'etkhemve-hamateh 'etkhemme-ha-derekhha-yashar],"'4who, the old man continued,issued a 7. The Polishtext has "Pot.. ." for Potocki,and "hetmanTys .. ." for Tyszkiewicz.Kraszewski, Wilno,176. Kraszewskiadmittedthatsome editorialdeletionswere made,Kraszewski,Wilno,183, n. 7. 8. Forexample, the mentionof Russia and the tsarat the end of the tale point to lateradditions. Legends are by their natureachronological.Montell and Allen, "Some Characteristics,"78-79. 9. Hebrew'ir mal'ei hakhamimve-sofrim. Polish "miastapehnegomqdrc6wi pisarzy."Kraszewski, Wilno,173. Francewas famous for establishingacademies for well-born membersof aristocracy to receive educationthat focused on studies of academic subjects,music, dance, and mannersas well as militarytraining.Perhapsit is these academiesthat the text refers to, or perhapsit simply refers to Parisas the increasinglyimportantintellectualcenter,and the word academyis inconsequential. On the educationof aristocracyin FranceandEngland,see, for example, Patricia-AnnLee, "Some English Academies:An Experimentin the Educationof RenaissanceGentlemen,"History of Education Quarterly10, no. 3 (1970). 10. StanislawObirek,Jezuici w RzeczpospolitejObojgaNarodcw 1564-1668 (Cracow:Wydzial Filozoficzny TowarzystwaJezusowego, 1996), 77. The word in the Hebrewtext is akademie. 11. Translatedinto Polish as namiot, and in Hebrew,it is referredto as sukkah. 12. Hebrewtext: bavli and in Polish it is referredonly as a book. 13. Ha-Rav in the Hebrewtext and "rabin"in the Polish text. 14. The Polish text has: "Youget your religion from the Pope."Kraszewski, Wilno,174.

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Magda Teter ban [herem]prohibitinganyoneto teach his son this book, the Talmud.15 The two young noblemenasked whetherhe would teach the Talmudto them and offered a lot of money for the lessons. After they began studyingwith the Jew,they stoppedattendingtheir acadeand my going to church.'6Withinhalf a year they learntthe Pentateuchand then the whole Bible [tanakh].Finally,the son of the Duke confided in his friend and said that he was planningto go to Amsterdamand convertto Judaism,"because this faith is true.""7His friend seconded, "I will also do that if I have means"to go.'8 So they made a pact [brit]thatwhen Zarembasaved money for the journey, he wouldjoin his friend in orderto convert. Despite these apparentconvictionsof the truthof Judaism,some doubtsstill lingered,and the son of the Duke asked his fatherfor money so that he could go to Rome to study at the Papalacademy.He wantedto find out whetherhe indeed had discoveredthe truthin Judaism.While in Rome, he organizedbanquetsfor the "papalprinces"[sareipopusin?], and saw that everythingrevolved aroundmaterial goods and deceit. One day,he wantedto find out what the pope did in his innermostchamber(heder ha-hadarim)when he soughtto communewith God on a special festival. After bribing a servant,he found out that the pope did not communewith God at all, butthattherewas a whorewaitingfor him. She cooked meals for him as well. Disappointed,but happy that God had exposed the lies of the Catholic Churchto him, Potocki left for Amsterdamwhere he convertedto Judaism. Meanwhile,Zarembareturnedto Lithuania,forgettingaboutthe pact he had madewith Potocki.He marrieda daughterof the wealthyand influentialnobleman Tyszkiewicz,who had sponsoredhis studies.Rightaroundthe time when a son was born to Zaremba,news began to spreadthat the son of the noblemanPotocki had disappearedafter studying in Rome. Zarembaimmediatelyrecalled their conversation in ParisandunderstoodthatPotocki'sson had gone to Amsterdamand convertedto Judaism.Zarembabecame depressedbecause he knew he had brokenhis promise. So he decided to go to Amsterdam. Zaremba'swife and theiryoung son went along, not knowingthe purposeof the trip. They first went to K6nigsberg,a mostly Protestantcity in East Prussia, where they "liked the customs of the Prussiansbecause their religion was much better than that of the Lithuanianlords."'19They asked for more money from 15. The Polish text only statedthat "the Popes strengthenedthe faith and issued a ban on your nation not to teach your son from this book."The Polish text implies that the ban was issued against Christiansstudyingthe text. But the Hebrewimplies thatthis ban was more generaland perhapsrefers to the burningof theTalmudandsubsequentbanon publishingit in the PapalStates.Kraszewski,Wilno, 174. On the Talmudin early modernCatholicthought,see, for example, KennethR. Stow,"The Burning of the Talmudin 1553 in the Light of Sixteenth CenturyCatholicAttitudes towardthe Talmud," Bibliothequed'Humanismeet Renaissance 34 (1972). 16. Hebrew:bet ha-tiflah.A traditionalexpression and pun on bet ha-tefilah, house of prayer. 17. Kraszewski, Wilno,175. HebrewJNUL manuscript,p. 3. 18. Kraszewski, Wilno,175. 19. The Polish text says "Andthey liked the customs of the Prussianpeople because the rural dwellings were much more beautifulthan the dwellings of the Lithuanianlords, and a peasant'shome lived in a house as nice as a Lithuanianlord."Kraszewski, Wilno,177.

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The Legend of Ger Zedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance Tyszkiewiczand decided to continue on to Amsterdam.Once there,Zarembaleft his wife and convertedto Judaismalong with his five-year-oldson.20 He and his son were circumcised.The wife looked for them and was shockedwhen she found out thatherhusbandhadbecome a Jew.But people in Amsterdamtold herthatconversion to Judaismwas permittedthere. So she went to her husbandand declared that she also wanted to embraceJudaism.He welcomed it but said she needed to learnaboutthe religion more. So she did. She "sentfor wise andrighteouswomen [nashim hakhamotve-zedekot]"21to teach her the Jewish religion. After their coaching, the women sent her to the rabbiwho furtherinstructedher in the commandments,and the rewardsand punishments,and finally the women took her to the mikveh,and "she was made a Jewish woman."22 After her conversionshe went back to her husband,but he wantedto marry a Jewish woman, so that, he argued,she could teach him how to observe Jewish law properly.Zarembasuggested to his wife that she should marrya Jewish man for the same reason. But she protested,saying that while they had been living in falsehood they were together,and it was unfairthat now that they had found the truththey shouldbe separate.So they stayedtogetherand eventuallymoved to live in the "Landof Israel."23 In the meantime,Potocki decided to go back to Lithuania,aftertravelinga bit. On this account,the Polish and the Hebrewtexts differ slightly.According to the Hebrewtext, he had traveledto "theLandof Israel,"then back to Amsterdam, then to Germanlands, then to Russia, and finally to Lithuania.According to the Polish translation,he went from Amsterdamto Germany,"where he could not stand the customs there because Jews there mixed with gentiles and parroted them."24In Lithuania,he settled in a small town nearWilno, which the Polish text identified as Ilia.25There he saw a child in the synagogue who was dancing and screaming,and when the ger zedek scolded the child, the boy respondedharshly. The ger zedek then respondedthat it was clear thatthe child would not grow up in the religion of the Jews [ke-datmosheh ve-yisra'el]. He suspectedthat the child 20. A child can be convertedby his father.If there is no father,and the child wants to accept Judaism(alone or with a mother),the conversionhas to take place before the rabbiniccourt.Shulhan ?Arukh,YorehDe'ah, 268:7. 21. The descriptiveadjectivesare missing from the Polish text. The Hebrewnashimhakhamot ve-zedekotseems awkward.More common is nashimzadkaniot,insteadof zedekot,see also even closer, nashimhakhamotzadkaniot,see, e.g., MidrashTanhuma(Warsaw),ParshaPinhas,no. 7, or nashim zadkaniot ve-hakhamot,MidrashTanhuma,ParshaPinhas, no. 8, availablethroughthe Bar Ilan Responsa Project,version 12. 22. Ve-ne'aset 'ivriyah.This follows rabbinicproceduresfor convertingwomen. See B. Yevamot 47a-b for the proceduresof convertingnon-Jewsto Judaism.On 47b it is statedthatone instructs the ger for the second time just before the immersionin the ritualbath. For women, she is accompanied by Jewish women to the ritualbath and instructedby learnedmen standingoutside the pool. See also Luria, Yamshel Shelomoh,B. Yevamot4:49; Turand Shulhan?Arukh,YorehDe'ah, 268:2. 23. On marriagelaws governingconverts,see, ShulhanArukh,YorehDe'ah, 269. 24. Kraszewski, Wilno,179. 25. Filip Sulimierski,BronislawChlebowski,and WladyslawWalewski,StownikGeograficzny Kr6lestwa Polskiego I Innych Kraj6w Stowiariskich(Warsw:WydawnictwaArtsytyczne i Filmowe, 1975 [1880]), 3:258-59.

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Magda Teter would apostatize.After the fatherof the child found out about this exchange, he became angryandreportedto the local lordthattherewas a proselytein town.The lord had the ger zedek arrestedand sent to Wilno.26 In Wilno, the noblemenrecognizedthe arrestedman as Duke Potocki'sson and tried to convince him to returnto Catholicism.Ger zedek steadfastlyrefused. So the noblemen sent for the bishop, who arrivedcarryinga crucifix. Potocki refused to bow to the crucifix, admittingthathe shouldbow to the lords andthe bishops because he was just a lowly Jew in exile, but he could not do so because of the cross.27He was tried at the Tribunalas a noblemanand was convicted for apostasy and sentencedto be burnedalive. According to the legend, the execution took place on the second day of Shavuot,accordingto the Hebrewtext, in 1749, and, accordingto the Polish translationin 1719. Potocki,having had his tongue ripped out was burnedat the stake, and his ashes were scatteredin the air. On the day of the execution, Jews were forced to stay in their homes, but one young man, Eliezer Shiskes, "who had not yet signs of beard,"sneakedto the place of execution, and through bribery managed to obtain some ashes of the "holy and pure body,"and, according to the Hebrew manuscript,one finger, or, accordingto the Polish translation,"theblood of the holy and [most] faithful [ger zedek]."28 After the execution,the story continues,God took vengeance on the Christians. Those who had deliveredwood for the stake had "theirhouses burntdown to the ground."29According to the Polish text, a Christianwoman who laughed when the ger's tongue was being cut became dumb.Justafterthe execution, a letter came from the King or the Tsar that was to preventthe execution.30The tale ends with an assertion that the ger zedek was received in heavens by angels, by Abrahamand other righteouspeople [ha-zaddikim].It concludes with a hope for redemptionandthe coming of the Messiah.The publisherof the Polishtranslation, J6zef Ignacy Kraszewski,noted that the Jews commemoratedthe anniversaryof the convert'sdeathon the second day of Shavuot.31 Convertsin Jewish Tradition In contrastto Christianswho viewed Jewish conversionsto Christianityin triumphalistterms as proofs of the verity of their religion, in the premodernperiod, Jewishreligious and communalleaderstook a very ambiguous,and sometimes even outright negative, position toward non-Jewish converts to Judaism, only rarelyexpressing a sense of triumphin such cases. The BabylonianTalmudprovides both negativeand positive models of how one shouldtreatproselytes.While 26. HebrewMS, JNUL, Microfilm F 52930, 7 (unnumbered);Kraszewski, Wilno,179. 27. HebrewMS, JNUL, Microfilm F 52930, 8 (unnumbered);Kraszewski, Wilno,180. 28. Kraszewski, Wilno,181. Hebrew MS, JNUL, Microfilm F 52930, 9 (unnumbered). 29. Kraszewski, Wilno,181. HebrewMS, JNUL, Microfilm F 52930, 9 (last page). 30. It is found only in the Hebrewtext, koser. In the Polish text it only states that a letter came by mail. This probablywould point us to a postpartitiondate, because traditionally,the Polish king was referredto as melekhin Hebrewtexts. 31. Kraszewski, Wilno, 169. On J6zef Ignacy Kraszewski, see Polski Stownik Biograficzny (Wroclaw,Warsaw,Cracow:ZakladNarodowyOssoliniskich,1970), 15:221-29.

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The Legend of Ger Zedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance some authoritiesembracedconvertsto Judaism,citing the biblical Ruth,a Moabite woman who became an ancestressof King David, others expressed strong reservations aboutthem.32The most prominentexample of the negativeview is thatof RabbiHalbo that "proselytesare hardfor Israellike a scab on the skin."33Rabbis tended to regardconverts whose conversion was motivatedby ulterior motives, such as a desire to marrysomeone Jewish, or to advancetheir career,with suspicion. In a similarvein, some authoritiesarguedthatduringthe messianicera, when Israel would be prosperous,converts to Judaismwould not be accepted because at that point, one would not be able to assert that the conversion is sincere.34To ensure that conversion to Judaismwould be sincere for its own sake and not for any earthlybenefit, rabbisinstitutedelaborateprocedures,which included scrutinizing potential converts' motives, advising them that Jews were persecuted and downtrodden,and instructingthem in the commandmentsthatJews must observe and in rewardsand punishments. If the candidates were not discouraged, the whole process was culminated by a ritual immersion for women or circumcision followed by immersion for men. During the immersion, furtherinstruction was to take place. At the end, a convert was to be regarded"as Israel in all respects."'35 Still, convertsto Judaism,the gerim, even those convertedout of sincerity, were not alwaysgrantedthe same statusas Jews bornto Jewishparents,retaining, in some aspects of Jewish life, a hue of being an outsider.36Rabbinicauthorities debatedwhetheror not convertscould say blessings thatcontainedthe phrase"God of our fathers,""ourfathers"posing the problem.Consequently,the rabbisalso expressed reservationsabout allowing converts to be leaders of prayers in synagogues, during which that phrase was used. Similar reservations were raised concerningthe morningprayersaid dailyby Jewishmales in whichthey thankGod, among other things, for not being made non-Jews (she lo, 'asanigoy). Werecon32. For the referencesto Ruth, see B. Yevamot47b. For otherpositive examples of proselytes, see B. AvodahZarah 1la. 33. R. Halbo'sstatementis to be found in B. Yevamot47b. This section of the Talmudalso heavily relies on Ruth chapterI to highlight the value of true proselytes. Halbo's statementis widely repeated both in the Talmudand the post-Talmudicrabbinicliteraturedealing with conversions,e.g., B. Yevamot109b, B. Niddah 13b;Joseph Caro,Beit YosefYorehDe'ah, 268:2. "TureiZahav"and "Siftei Cohen"on Shulhan?Arukh,YorehDe'ah, 268:2. Halbo's statementis based on his interpretationof a combinationof two biblical verses: Leviticus 13:2 and Isaiah 14:1. 34. B. Yevamot24b and B. AvodahZarah3b. See also, Shulhan?Arukh,YorehDecah,268:12. 35. B. Yevamot47a-b. On the developmentof conversionprocedures,see Shaye J. D. Cohen, TheBeginnings ofJewishness: Boundaries, Varieties,Uncertainties(Berkeley:Universityof California Press, 1999), chap. 7. 36. See, for example, B. Kiddushin70b for a discussion on the relationshipbetween God and Israel and God and the converts.M. Yevamot8:2 allows a Jewish man with an injuredpenis to marry a convertor a freed slave but not a Jewish woman. See also, the discussion in B. Yevamot76a-b on the marriageand acceptance of the converts into the congregationof Israel. I am indebted to Dr. Rami Reiner of Ben GurionUniversityfor pointing me to the following rabbinicsources concerning a differentstatusof the converts:M. Bikkurim1:4;contrastingview in Y. Bikkurim1:4 (64a). Maimonides rejectedthe Mishnahand followed TalmudYerushalmiallowing the convert,Obadiah,to say all blessings, see Maimonides,Responsano. 283 (Bar Ilan Responsa Project, 12). See also Cohen, TheBeginnings ofJewishness, chap. 10.

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Magda Teter verts allowedto say that,some rabbinicauthoritiesquestioned,since, afterall, they were born non-Jews?37 In Christianlands, Jews increasinglyperceived gentile conversions to Judaism as a potentialthreatto their communalsecurity.The medieval rabbinicauthority,Rashi, explainingRabbiHalbo'sstatement,statedthatproselyteswere not familiar with commandments,and brought on "calamities."38In early modern Poland,Jewish leaders seem to have followed this negative stance, althoughsome still acknowledgedthe existingambivalenceof rabbinicattitudestowardconverts.39 Perhapsthe most famous pronouncementby a Polish rabbiagainstconverts to Judaism,one thatunderlinesthe vulnerabilityof the Jewish communityaccepting proselytes, is that by Solomon Luria,a sixteenth-centuryPolish rabbinicauthority,in his halakhic compendium Yamshel Shelomoh. Luria statedthat while earlierJews had once had authorityon their own to accept proselytes, even when they were underRoman rule, "now,we are not in a land of our own and are like slaves underthe hands of our lords, and should any one accept him [a proselyte] he is a rebel responsiblefor his own life."40Luriathen proceededto warn against engaging in such an activity.His sharplynegative attitudetowardaccepting converts to Judaismhas been generally attributedto the apparentrepercussionsthat Polish Jewish communities faced as a result of a wave of converts in Poland in 1539-40.41

Still conversionsto Judaismcontinued in the Polish-LithuanianCommonwealth beyond the sixteenthcentury,and Jewish communalleaderslikewise continuedto be wary of proselytizing.In 1644, the Vacad MedinatLita (the Council of Lithuania)forbadethe acceptanceof converts,indicatingthatthe communitywas liable for expenses relatedto rescuing Jews accused of proselytizing and to protecting the communitiesfromthe consequencesof violating Christianlaw against proselytismand Christianapostasy.The ordinanceorderedpunishmentsfor anyone who engaged in such activity and was repeatedin 1647.42 In the Polish-Lithuaniancommonwealth,too, Christianlaw that prohibited apostasy from Christianityand punishedit by death was in partto blame for this increasinglynegative attitudetowardgerim. The law appliednot only to apostates but also to those who proselytizedor who knowingly accepted such proselytes.43 The noted sixteenth-centuryrabbinic authority,Moses Isserles of Cracow, the 37. On the question of cantors,see, e.g., Shulhan'Arukh,OrahHayyim, 53:19, and "TureiZahav."On the morningprayersee, TurOrahHayyim,46:4; Joseph Caro,Beit Yosef,ad loc.; Yoel Sirkes in Beit Hadash, ad loc. Also, ShulhanArukh,OrahHayyim,46.4, and "TureiZahav,"ad loc. For a discussion of some of these issues, see Cohen, TheBeginningsof Jewishness, 324-36. 38. Rashi on B. Niddah 13b. See also Rashi on B. Yevamot47b, and on B. Kiddushin70b. See also Tosafoton B. Kiddushin70b. 39. See, e.g., Isserles on Shulhan'Arukh,OrahHayyim,46:4, and "TureiZahav,"ad loc. 40. Shlomoh Luria, YamShel Shelomoh,B. Yevamot4:49. 41. JacobKatz, Exclusivenessand Tolerance:Studies in Jewish-GentileRelations in Medieval and ModernTimes(New York:Schocken Books, 1973), 144-45. 42. Takkanah410, Simon Dubnow,Pinkas VaadHa-Medinah(Berlin:'Ayanot,1925). See also a takkanahof the communityof Lycznain 1681, which deals with a similar issue of expenses related to, among otherthings, proselityzing.Dubnow,Pinkas VacadHa-Medinah,285. 43. Apostasy from Catholicismwas punishableby deathaccordingto two sets of law in use in

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The Legend of GerZedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance Rema, acknowledgedthe existence of such law in his commentaryon the Shulhan ?Arukh,YorehDe'ah, 267:4, which discussed the requirementto circumcisea slave if he was to stay in a Jewish home. Isserles wrote: "Inthese lands [Poland]where it is forbiddento convertnon-Jews [shumcovedkokhavim],"it was not necessary to circumcisea non-Jewishmale servant,and one was allowedto keep "theuncircumcised"at home as long as he himself wantedto stay. Real ConvertswithoutLegends Despite harshlaws punishingChristianapostatesandthe Jewishleadership's reluctanceto accept them, Polish Jewish history in the premodernperiod does not lack evidence of actualconvertsto Judaism,some of whom died in spectacularacts of martyrdom.Yet,beforethe second half of the eighteenthcentury,no tales of glorifying such Christianconvertsto Judaismemergedin Poland. Studentsof east EuropeanJewryarefamiliarwith the case of KatarzynaWejglowa, who was burnedat the stake in 1539 in Cracow for "falling into perfidious and superstitiousJewishsect" (inperfidamet superstitiosamsectamjudaicam sit collapsa).44 Although subsequently Protestantsembraced Katarzynaas an in Poland,Jews or Jewish hisearly Protestantmartyr,or a proto-anti-Trinitarian torians never claimed her as their martyr;at best she was seen as one of the sixteenth-century"judaizers,"Christians flirting with ideas found in the Hebrew Bible (the ChristianOld Testament),but never a Jewishmartyr.In fact, despite assertions by contemporarychroniclersthat she indeed accepted Judaism,historians-especially Jewish historians-have tended to discount her case as part of broader,and in theirminds baseless, accusationsthathad surfacedat the time that Jews proselytizedamongChristians.45ShmuelEttinger,for example,called the alin 1658 and subsequentlywidened Poland.The laws passed initiallyagainstthe PolishAnti-Trinitarians to include any non-Catholicreligion, includingJudaism,subjectedapostatesto deathpenalty [na gardie ma bye karany].StanislawKonarski,ed., VoluminaLegum:PrzedrukZbioruPraw StaraniemXXY. Pijarow WWarszawieOdRoku 1732 Do Roku< 1793> Wydanego,2nd ed., 10 vols. (Petersburg:Nakl. i drukiemJozafataOhryzki, 1859; reprinted1989), 4:238-39, 5:355. Also the Magdeburglaw prevalent in Polish towns subjectedapostatesto deathpenalty,BartlomiejGroicki,PorzgdekSQdowi Spraw MiejskichPrawa MajdeburskiegoWKoroniePolskiej(Warsaw:WydawnictwoPrawnicze,1953), 199. On the rabbinicreservationsto accept back repentingJews who had convertedto Christianity,see EdwardFram,"Perceptionand Receptionof RepentantApostates in MedievalAshkenazand Premodern Poland,"AJS Review 21, no. 2 (1996). 44. MS Acta episcopalia 18 (1538-40) in Archiwum Kurii Metropolitalnej(Cracow), fol. 88v-92v. The notice of her executionon Saturday19 April 1539 appearsin the same volume, fol. 96v, as well as in MS Acta officialia 62 in ArchiwumKuriiMetropolitalnej(Cracow),645-6. 45. JanuszTazbir,A State withoutStakes:Polish Religious Tolerationin the Sixteenthand Seventeenth Centuries (Warsaw:PatistwowyInstytutWydawniczy,1973), 47. MajerBalaban, Historja Zyd6w WKrakowiei Na Kazimierzu:1304-1868, 2 vols. (Cracow: KrajowaAgencja Wydawnicza, 1991), 1:125-27. Sourcesconcerningthe 1540s allegationsof Jewishproselytismsee, E. Zivier"Jiiche Bekehrungsversucheim 16. Jahrhundert"in Beitrdge zur Geschichte der deutchenJuden (Leipzig, 1916), 96-113. Historian,WaclawSobieski, saw Wejglowaas the first Polish Anti-Trinitarian/Arian, WaclawSobieski, "ModlitewnikArjanki,"Reformacjaw Polsce 1, no. 1 (1921): 58. For an example of Protestantappropriationof Wejglowa'smartyrdom,see Wojciech Wegierski,KronikaZboru Ewangelickiego Krakowskiego(Cracow: 1651 [1817]), 3-4.

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Magda Teter legations that Jews soughtproselytes,whom they circumcisedand sent to Lithuania in 1530s and 1540s as calilatha-gerim, a proselyte libel.46 But there were other cases of Christianconversionsas well. In additionto the ordinancesof the Council of Lithuaniain the 1640s, there is evidence from Christiancourt records illustratingthe existence of such cases. In the late 1650s and 1660s, a local priestfromthe town of Sluck in the easternterritoriesof PolandLithuania,now in Belarus, filed severalcomplaintsthat Jews who had previously convertedto Christianityarrivedin Sluck to returnto Judaism.47Fromthe Christian perspective, apostasy from Christianityto Judaismcould also include Jews who hadbeen convertedto Christianityandrelapsed.In these instances,as Edward Framhas shown,receivingsuchrepentingJewishconvertsto Christianityback into the Jewishcommunityposed a dangersimilarto thatof proselytismand,therefore, also resultedin the communalleaders'reluctanceto acceptthemback.48The Sluck case shows both the repentingJews and,indirectly,otherChristianconvertsto Judaism as well. The priest mentioned,for example, a numberof relapsed Jewish converts,and discussed a case of a Jewish woman who returnedto Judaismwith "herMuscovitehusband"and his family.It appearsthatthe womanhad converted to Christianity,married"a Muscovite"man, had children,and then all of them including, as it is implied, othermembersof his family arrivedin Sluck to join the Jewish community.Althoughthe childrenwould have been consideredJewish accordingto Jewish law, because their motherwas Jewish, his statusand that of his family would have requiredconversion to Judaismto be included in the Jewish community.49 In 1716, MarynaWojciech6wna(hername indicatesthatshe was unmarried and was a daughterof a certainWojciech),was arrestedfor apostasy at a Jewish wedding in the Ukrainiantown of Dubno, at which she was the bride.50 Duringher trial, she confessed that she had come from Mielec, now a small town in southeastern Poland,where she had served for three years as a maid in the house of a certain Jew. She then moved to a nearbytown, Lezajsk, where, accordingto her testimony,she was persuadedto convertto Judaismby some local Jewishmen and women. During her trial, Maryna Wojciech6wnawas torturedand reverted to Christianity.In doing so, she expressedher "disgustwith the Jewish religion"and her willingness to die for Christ. Because she repented,she was spared being burnedalive and was sentencedto death by beheading.Her body was burnedaf46. Shmuel Ettinger, "Ma'amadamHa-MishpatiVe-Ha-HevratiShel Yehudei Ukraina BaMe'ot Ha-15-17," Zion 20 (1955): 131. Interestingly,in anotherarticle,he acceptedJewish influences on Russian fifteenth-centuryJudaizers,also a topic of scholarly controversy.Shmuel Ettinger,"HaHashpa'ahHa-Yehudit'al Ha-TesisahHa-DatitBa-MizrahShel EiropaBa-Sof Ha-Me'ah Ha-15," in Sefer YovelLe-YitzhakBaer, ed. Shmuel Ettinger(Jerusalem:Ha-hevrahha-historitha-israelit,1960). 47. Arkheograficheskisbornik dokumentovotnosiashchikhsiak istorii severo-zapadnoiRusi (Vilna, 1870), 7:112-13 and 142-43. 48. Fram,"Perceptionand Receptionof RepentantApostates." 49. Arkheograficheskisbornik dokumentovotnosiashchikhsiak istorii severo-zapadnoiRusi, 7:142-43. 50. Arkhivlugo-Zapadnoi Rossii, ed. Komissiia dlia razboradrevnikhaktov (Kiev: 1859-), 1/5: 268-70.

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The Legend of Ger Zedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance terwards.Jews involved in the wedding were also tried on the account of proselytism, but,to theirdefense, they claimedtheirignoranceof the fact thatthe woman was in fact a formerChristianand were acquitted.But the fact thatthey needed to defend themselves highlights the continuousvulnerabilityand dangerassociated with acceptingproselytes.5' At the same time, anotherwoman, MarynaDawidowaof Vitebsk, a town in the easternterritoriesof present-dayBelarus,was also triedandconvictedof apostasy in Dubno. Unlike Wojciech6wna,Dawidowa did not recant her beliefs and died a martyr'sdeath.52Accordingto recordsof the trial,afterthe deathof her husband,Dawid Syrowajec,MarynaDawidowadecided to "acceptthe Jewish faith." A formal conversionis never mentionedin the extantrecords.Having made this decision, she left her nativeVitebsk on a horse, and about50 miles away from her home town, so the court recordstates, she began to introduceherself as a Jewish woman.As she testified duringher trial,she had receivedhelp fromJews until she reachedthe town of Dubno. In Dubno, she was arrestedfor apostasy,but it is not knownwho denouncedher. She was askedwhethershe was willing to returnto the Christianfaith, but she steadfastlyrefused,stating"I do not want [to returnto the Christianfaith] and I am readyto die in the Jewish religion for the living God, because it is a better religion than your Christianreligion, because your religion is false."53She was torturedbut maintainedher stance. This defiance brought a cruel death sentence. She was burned alive at the stake after having had three pieces of her body rippedoff, presumablyas a symbol of the Trinity. A multilayeredcase of Abram Michelevich, a Jew from Mohilev, and his Christianpartner,ParaskaDanilowna,tried and executed in Mohilev in 1748, is yet anotherexampleof Christianconversionsto Judaismin premodernPoland.The list of chargesrangedfrom infanticide(they abandonedtheir newbornchild) and adultery(as a relationshipbetween a Jew and a Christianwas regarded)to Paraska's chargeof apostasyandAbram'sof proselytizing.54 But, it was a 1753 case in Wilno thatmay have providedmaterialfor the ger zedek legend. On May 29, 1753, the LithuanianTribunalcondemnedto death by burninga Croatman, Rafal Sentimani,for having convertedfrom Catholicismto Judaism.55Accordingto the decree, Sentimani,born of Catholicparentsand educated in Catholic religion, began having doubts at the age of 12, and eventually "daredto invalidatewhat the Christianworld values as priceless, [i.e.,] the holy baptism,by performinga disgustingceremonyaccordingto Jewish rites,"likely a 51. ArkhivIugo-ZapadnoiRossii, 1/5:270. 52. ArkhivIugo-ZapadnoiRossii, 1/5:267-69. 53. ArkhivIugo-ZapadnoiRossii, 1/5:270. 54. Istoriko-luridicheskieMaterialyIzvlechennyeIzAktovKnug GuberniiVitebskoii Mogilevskoi KhraniashchikhsiaVTsentralnom ArkhiveVVitebskei IzdannyePodRedaktseiuArkhivariusa Sego ArkhivaSozonova,ed. Sozonov,32 vols. (Vitebsk: 1884), 15:229-38. See also MagdaTeter,Jews and Heretics in CatholicPoland:A Beleaguered Churchin the Post-ReformationEra (CambridgeUniversity Press, 2005), chap. 4. 55. The documentis publishedin Adam Kaimierczyk, ed., ZydziPolscy 1648-1772: Zr6dta, vol. 6, Studia Judaica Cracoviensia (Cracow: Uniwersytet Jagiellofiski KatedraJudaistyki,2001), 187-89.

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Magda Teter referenceto the circumcision.6" He took the name AbrahamIzakowicz and wanderedarounduntil he reachedthe small town of Ilia, nearWilno, wherehe was apprehended.He was then examinedby secularand religious authoritiesbut refused to returnto Catholicism and was thereforesentenced to death by being burned alive, "so that,"as the decree states, "infectiousdesire [pestilentialfames] contaminatingthe faithful in the Catholic kingdom, may not go unpunishedaccording to the rigor of the laws."'7The executionwas to be performedoutside of town on June 2, 1753. Before burning, Sentimani'stongue, "which had utteredblasphemies,"58was to be rippedout by the executionerandhis ashes were to be shot into the air througha mortar.59 Sentimani'scase resemblesthe ger zedeklegend.As in the Polish translation of the legend,so here the convertwas apprehendedin the town of Ilia.Also, in both texts, the tongue of the convertwas rippedout, but in the legend this act was accompaniedby God's punishmentof those who laughed when this happened.His name, however,is different,as is his social status,and the date of his death,which accordingto the legend was to take place on Shavuot 1749 (or 1719), not in 1753. In 1749, Shavuotfell on May 23-24, and in 1753, on June 7-8, not on June 2. Still, the timing of Sentimani'sexecutionwas close enoughto Shavuotthatyear to allow for a conflation of the dates of the festival and the execution. Moreover,it actuallyfell on Saturday,the Shabbat. The question still remains as to why this case found its way to the Jewish lore but not the othertruestories, such as those of KatarzynaWejglowaandMaryna Dawidowa,which, instead,inspired a negative reaction, like that of Solomon Luria, or have been passed over in silence by contemporariesor later scholars. While the genderof these earlierconvertsmay have playeda role, the timing in the second half of the eighteenthcenturyappearsto be an importantfactoras well. In the second half of the eighteenthcentury,things beganto change in Polandamong both Christiansand Jews. In 1768, on pressure from Russia, Prussia, Denmark, England,and Sweden, Polish Christianlaw repealedthe deathpenalty for apostasy.60But the legend seems to be more than a reactionto the change in law. It appears to be a response to a numberof challenges the Jewish communityfaced at the time, and polemical elements within that story highlightjust that.

56. Kaimierczyk, ZydziPolscy, 187. 57. Kaimierczyk, ZydziPolscy, 188. 58. Kaimierczyk, ZydziPolscy, 188. 59. The cuttingof a tongue in case of trialsof hereticswas not uncommonin premodernEurope; see, for example, the trial of Michael Sattler,an Anabaptistput on trial in 1527, Denis R. Janz, ed., A ReformationReader:PrimaryTextswith Introductions(Minneapolis:FortressPress, 1999), 180-83. 60. Forlaws concerningthe non-CatholicChristianspromulgatedat the 1768 Sejm, see Konarski, VoluminaLegum, 7:256-74. Article I, ? III deals with the repeal of the death penalty and sets expulsion as the punishmentfor apostasy:"Cumreligionem RomanamCatholicamin Polonia dominantem,IuribusCardinalibusannumeremus,transitumab EcclesiaRomanaad aliam quamcunquereligionem in hoc Poloniae Regno, Magno Ducatu Lit. et in annexis Provinciis cirminale delictum declaramus.Qui itaque futuris temporibustranspireausus fuerit, exul Dominiis Reipublicae esto," Konarski,VoluminaLegum,7:257.

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The Legend of Ger Zedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance TheStory of Reassurance Folkloristsregardlegends as a "humanreactionto threateningconditions,as 'fear and overcoming fear' . . . as a collective response to social ambiguities."61 LindaDegh has arguedthat legends are dialectic and "canmake sense only within the cross fire of controversies."62 She sees themas "productsof conflictingopinions" that provide answersto controversiesduringwhich they emerge.63Indeed, their function is to "confirm or question a momentarilyvalid conception of the world."64Folk legends, which become part of collective memory, are fluid, and they respondto the challenges of the present.PatrickGeary arguedthat historical tales and memories are "mademeaningfuland connected to the present."65What was transmittedhad a function:it createda past;thatpast neededto be useful, and what was not useful was discarded.66Orally transmittedstories, like medieval manuscripts,could not have survived without being actively preservedby those who found them appealingand useful. Among Christians,typical tales of conversion and martyrdomwere often constructedand used at times of crisis. From the earliest days of Christianity, stories of martyrsfor Christianitysought to reassureChristianlisteners of its validity, when their faith was challenged. These stories usually emphasized the martyrs'strong commitmentto their faith, and discussed miracles that followed after their deaths. Christianstories of Jewish conversionsto Christianityserved a similarpurposeandwerevery popularin Christianhomileticandpolemicalworks. Afterthe Reformation,for example,tales of Jewishconversionsto Catholicismbecame prominent,for they showed that the Jews, "blind"for so long, in the end The same was true for nonetheless chose Catholicismover Protestant"heresy."67 Protestantconversiontales. The goal behindthese tales was to reassurethe listeners of the validity and veracityof their own religion. In Jewish tradition,primarilythe tales of Jewish martyrdomserved the purof reassurance.There were the ten sages whose deaths as martyrsduring pose Hadrian'srule have been memorializedin the Midrash'AsarahHarugei Malkhut. The BabylonianTalmudtells of Rabbi Haninaben Teradionwho died a martyr's deathfor occupying himself with the Torah,68of 400 young martyrswho chose to 61. Degh, Legend and Belief 24. 62. Degh, Legend and Belief 2. 63. D6gh, Legendand Belief 2-3, 38. 64. Rudolf Schenda,Hans ten Doornkaat,and ErikaKeller,SagenerzdhlerUnd Sagensammler Der Schweiz: StudienZur ProduktionVolkstiimlicherGeschichte Und GeschichtenVom16. Bis Zum Friihen20. Jahrhundert(Bern; Stuttgart:Haupt, 1988), 12, quotedin Degh, Legendand Belief 46. 65. PatrickJ. Geary,Phantomsof Remembrance:Memoryand Oblivionat the End of the First Millennium(Princeton,NJ: PrincetonUniversityPress, 1994), 19, see also 165. 66. Geary,PhantomsofRemembrance,165-66, see also 177, 179-80. 67. On this see, for example, KennethR. Stow, "Church,ConversionandTradition:The Problem of Jews Conversionin Sixteenth-CenturyItaly,"Dimensioni e problemidella ricerca storica: rivista del Dipartimento di studii storici dal Medioevo all'et'a conemportanea dell'Universit'a "La Sapienza"di Roma2 (1996); MagdalenaTeter,"JewishConversionsto Catholicismin the Polish-LithuanianCommonwealthof the Seventeenthand EighteenthCenturies,"Jewish History 17, no. 3 (2003). 68. B. AvodahZarahend of 17b-18a.

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Magda Teter drownratherthan profess idolatry,and of a motherand her seven sons who were slaughteredfor refusingto serve idols [pelah le-'avodahzarah].69 In Europe,most renownedare the powerfulchroniclesof the Crusadesand elements of martyrdom in the chronicles of the 1648 massacresin Ukraine.70But to my knowledge, stories of righteousconverts in Jewish sources, whose purpose was to provide comfort and serve as a polemic against another religion in a way similar to the above-mentionedstories of Jewishmartyrdom,or of Jewish conversionsin Christian hagiographyandhomiletics are few and farbetween, scatteredin the vast rabbinic literature. In the BabylonianTalmud,there is the story of conversionof Onkelos, who in one version is said to have been the nephewof EmperorTitus.71 In laterJewish sources one can also find some referencesto righteousconverts,but they are generallynot very prominent.Forexample, in the Hebrewchroniclesof the Crusades, thereis a story of the martyrdomofYaakovbar Sullam,describedbriefly as someone who "didnot come from a prominentfamily and whose motherwas not Jewish."72The medievalSeferHasidimencouragesthe acceptanceof sincere converts to Judaism,but even here, the text is devoid of any sense of need for assuranceor apologia in admitting,or encouragingothers to admit, converts to Judaisminto the Jewish community.73Of the medieval works, the Sefer Nizahon Yashan(also known as Nizahon Vetus)might be exceptionalin that it uses a story of an emperor testing the faith of a Jew, a Christian,and a Muslim by asking each of them to convertto eitherof the two remainingreligions or face death. In this tale, the Jew remainedsteadfastin his commitmentto Judaism,the Christianvilified Islam and convertedto Judaism,while the Muslim criticizedChristianityand also embraced 69. Both stories in B. Gittin 57b. 70. It is unclearhow widely disseminatedthe Hebrewchronicles were before they were published in the nineteenthcentury,but the chroniclesof 1648-49 were publishedstill in the seventeenth century,a few years afterthe massacres.Forexample,the most famous, YevenMezulahby NathanNata Hanover,was published in 1653 and republishedin 1727; and Zok hacittimby Meir ben Shmuel of Szczebrzeszynwas publishedin 1650 and then in 1656. For the discussion of the Hebrew chronicles of the first crusades,see RobertChazan,EuropeanJewry and the First Crusade(Berkeley:University of CaliforniaPress, 1987). Forthe texts of the Hebrewchroniclesof the Crusades,see AbrahamMeir Habermann,ed., Sefer GezerotAshkenazVe-Zarfat:Divre ZikhronotMi-BeneHa-Dorot Shebi-Tekufat Mas'eiHa-Zelav U-MivharPiyutehem(Jerusalem:Mosadha-RavKook, 1945). Forthe Hebrewchronicles and poetry of the 1648 massacres,see Hayyim JonahGurland,Le-KorotHa-Gezerot'al Yisra'el (Przemysl: 1887). For a discussion of the question of martyrdomin Ashkenaz, see Jacob Katz, "Ben Tat-Nu Le-Tah-Tat,"in Halakhah Ve-Kabalah:MehkarimBe-Toldot Dat Yisra'el'Al Medoreha VeZikatahHa-Hevratit(Jerusalem:Magnes Press, 1984). See also: EdwardFram,"Ben 1096 Ve 164849- 'Iyun Me-Hadash,"Zion 61, no. 2 (1996); EdwardFram,"Ve-'AdayinEn Ben 1096 Le-1648-49," Zion 62, no. 1 (1997). 71. On Onkelos see, B. Gittin 56b, and B. AvodahZarah 1la. For the English translationof a version from the Mayseh bukhsee, Moses Gaster,Ma'aseh Book. Book of Jewish Talesand Legends (Philadelphia:The Jewish PublicationSociety of America, 1981). 72. Habermann,ed., Sefer GezerotAshkenazVe-Zarfat,35. 73. SeferHasidimin some cases encouragesJews to acceptandto love them, see especially nos. 116, 377. Samuel Ha-HasidJudahben and Reuben Margulies,Sefer Hasidim (Jerusalem:Mosad haRav Kook, 1957), 141.

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The Legend of Ger Zedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance Judaism.In the end, convinced of the veracity of Judaism,the emperoralso convertedto Judaism.74This story resemblesanothermedievalpolemical work-Judah ha-Levi's The Kuzari,in which a Khazarking, on discussing religion with a philosopher,a Christian,a Muslim, and a Jew,embracesJudaism.75 One of the popularearly modem works, The Mayseh Bukh, first published in 1602, also containssome tales of convertsfromthe Talmudand Midrashim,including the story of Onkelos, and retells other tales of medieval origin. In one of these tales, a wicked bishop convertedto Judaism.The bishop tried to kill Judah the Pious, one of the authorsof the SeferHIasidim,andwas subsequentlypunished by miracles that led to his conversionto Judaism.In some of these stories, nonJews convertbecause they want something:to marrya beautifulJewish woman, to partakein the PassoverSeder,76or to repentfor evil deeds that they did or intended to do against Jews. There is also a story of a Jewish pope, who had been kidnappedas a child by his Christianwet nurse, baptized,and subsequentlybecame a pope, only to returnto Judaismon learningthe truthabout his identity.77 Withthe exceptionof the Jewishpope story,none of the convertstoriesin the Mayseh Bukhconvey a strongaffirmationof Judaismthat is coupled with an overtrejection of anotherreligion, be it paganismor Christianity. The legend of ger zedekof Wilno, therefore,differs fromearlierJewish conversion stories.Not only is a convertto Judaisma centralfocus of the tale, but the tale also resembles a typical Christiantale of conversion/martyrdomending with reassurance,miracles, and even an appreciationfor relics-the ger zedek'sashes, his finger, and even blood. Yet, in this legend, the typical actorsfound in a Christian tale are reversed.It is not a Jew who convertsto Christianitythrougheither reasoningor a miracle,but it is three adultCatholicsand one child who convertto Judaism,one of whom dies a martyr'sdeath.78These Catholics are no ordinary Catholics;they are all membersof the nobility:a son of a Duke, his friend,andhis wife-herself the daughterof a prominentnobleman-along with theirfive-yearold son. The symbolismof the powerfulandprivilegedCatholicsconvertingto the religion of the "lowliest of the people," as Jews often described themselves, is stark,and it only underlinesthe carefulconstructionof this conversionnarrative. The effectiveness of Christiantales of Jewishconversionsto Catholicismas tales of reassurancewas weakened by the fact that a convertingJew potentially stood to gain after conversionto the dominantreligion. This fact was recognized by Christians,the Church,and the state, which often provided financial support 74. David Berger,TheJewish-ChristianDebate in the High MiddleAges: A CriticalEdition of the Nizzahon Vetus(Philadelphia:Jewish PublicationSociety of America, 1979), 216-19 (English), 151-53 (Hebrew),no. 227. 75. JudahHa-Levi, The Kuzari (KitabAl Khazari).:An Argumentfor the Faith of Israel (New York:Schocken Books, 1964). 76. Prohibitionof non-Jewishparticipationat the PassoverSeder stems from Exodus 12:43. 77. Gaster,Malaseh Book, 368-75, 410-18. On the Jewish pope legend see, David Lerner, "The EnduringLegend of the Jewish Pope,"Judaism40, no. 2 (1991) and Joseph Sherman,TheJewish Pope: Myth,Diaspora and YiddishLiterature(Oxford:Legenda,2003). 78. For a discussion of such tales in early modern Poland,see Teter,"Jewish Conversionsto Catholicism,"267-69.

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Magda Teter for Jews convertingto Christianity.79However,such financial benefits often increasedChristians'distrustof Jews embracingChristianityand impededtheir absorptioninto the Christiansociety. Jews acknowledgethis as well. The anonymous medieval authorof the polemical work Sefer NizahonYashanwrote: Withregardto theirquestioning us as to whetherthereareproselytesamong us, theyaskthisquestionto theirshameandto theshameof theirfaith.After at thebaddeedsof anevil Jewwhobecomes all, one shouldnotbe surprised anapostate,becausehis motivesareto enablehimselfto eatall thathis heart to removefrom desires,to givepleasureto hisfleshwithwineandfornication, himselftheyokeof thekingdomof heavenso thathe shouldfearnothing,to cleaveto sin, andconcernhimself freehimselffromall thecommandments, withworldlypleasures.80 However, Christiansconverting to Judaism, the medieval polemicists asserted, could only lose: Butthe situationis differentwithregardto proselyteswho convertedto Judaismandthuswentof theirownfreewill fromfreedomto slavery,fromlight to darkness. If theproselyteis a man,thenhe knowsthathe mustwoundhimthathe mustexile himself by removinghis foreskinthroughcircumcision, selffromplaceto place,thathemustdeprivehimselfof worldlygood,andfear and forhis life fromtheexternalthreatof beingkilledby theuncircumcised, thathe will lackmanythingsthathis heartdesires;similarly,a womanproselytealso separatesherselffromall pleasures.Anddespiteall this,theycome to takerefugeunderthe wing of the divinepresence.It is evidentthatthey wouldnotdo thisunlesstheyknewforcertainthattheirfaithis withoutfoundationandthatit is all a lie, vanity,andemptiness.Consequently, youshould be ashamedwhenyoumentionthematterof proselytes.81 In the legend the ger zedek, the righteous convert, son of a duke, Potocki, openly acknowledgedhis decline in statuswhen he statedthathe was a Jewishman dwelling in the exile or, in the Polish text, "a Jew, a lowly, downtroddenman in a bitterexile" who should give respectto the Polish noblemen.82A nobleman'sconwritersandleaders,wroteaboutcon79. PolishBishopKobielski,followingearlierChristian in 1749:"Butalmostall requiresupport[suffragio] in his dioceseof Luck-Brest vertsto Catholicism so andalmsandshouldbe assistedandprovidedfor [duringtheir]life by me andotherbenefactors, in Archivio MS.464 Luceoriensis thattheymaynotreturnto theirvomit[nead vomitum redeant]." RelationesStatusad Limina.Also in RelationesStatusDioeceSegretoVaticano,S. Congregationis siumin MagnoDucatuLithuaniae (Rome:1978),2:155. 80. Berger,NizzahonVetus,206-7 (English),144-45 (Hebrew),no. 211. 81. Berger,NizzahonVetus,206-7 (English),144-45 (Hebrew),no.211. PolThelanguageusedhereseemstobea formulaic 82. InPolish"mizerny, nizki,pohafibiony." usedbyJews.See,forexample,BohdanBaranowski, ishexpression Gospodarcze Instrukcje D6br Dla Wieku ZXVII-XIX i Szlacheckich 1958-).I wouldlike (Wroclaw: Zakladim.Ossolifiskich, Magnackich to thankGershonHundertof McGillUniversityin Montreal, Canada,forpointingthisparallelto me meto thissource. andreferring

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The Legend of Ger Zedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance version to Judaismwould have meantnot only relinquishinghis aristocraticprivileges but also, accordingto the laws in Poland,losing his life.83This stood in stark contrastwith the possibility that-according to the thirdLithuanianstatutepassed in 1588 and appliedfrom then on in the Polish-LithuanianCommonwealth-"if a Jew or a JewessacceptChristianFaith,thenthey andtheiroffspringshouldbe considerednobles."84A nobleman'sconversionto Judaism,therefore,could not have been opportunistic;it had to be sincere, and a tale presentingsuch a narrativewas guaranteedto be effective.85 The story's careful narrativeof provingthe validity of Judaismwas further amplified by placing the time of ger zedek'smartyrdomon Shavuot,a holiday of the revelationof the Torahon Mt. Sinai, and the tale's repeatedreferencesto the sanctityof the Torah.86But, the festival of Shavuotis also considereda festival of convertsto Judaism.During the festival, the portions relatedto the revelationof the Torahon Sinai (Exodus 19:1-20:26) and,on the second day,the Book of Ruth are read. Ruth, as the ancestressof King David, was one of the most prominent biblical"converts,"andher deathhas been traditionallyplaced on Shavuot.87Placing the ger zedek'sdeathon that festival, and more specifically on its second day, appearsto be a conscious use of a topos. To furtherhighlightthe carefulcompositionof the ger zedek story,it is worth noting that elements of the story are found both in earlier and contemporary Catholic sources. A Polish nobleman, Marcin Matuszewicz, mentioned in his memoirs an incident from the end of the seventeenthcentury,in which a noblewoman, the wife of a certainEstko, Matuszewicz'sgrandfather'sneighbor,studied the Bible and subsequentlybegan to practice Judaism. She eventually left Poland for Amsterdamwith her Jewish estate administrator,where she was reportedto have convertedto Judaism.Herhusbandeventuallyfollowed her and also 83. See Konarski,VoluminaLegum,4:238-39 and 5:355. Also the Magdeburglaw prevalentin Polish towns subjectedapostatesto the deathpenalty,Groicki,PorzgdekSadow, 199. 84. Statut WielkiegoKsiCstwaLitewskiego(Vilna, 1819), 317, chapter12, article 7, paragraph 5: "Ajesli kt6ry2yd abo 2ydowka do WiaryChrzescianiskieyprzystgpili,tedy kazda takaosoba i potomstwo ich za Szlachcicapoczytanibye maja."Also publishedin StatutVelikagoKniazhestvaLitovskago: S Podvedeniem V NadlezhashchikhMestakh Ssylki Na Konstitutsii,Prilichnyia Soderzhaniiu Onago: PerevodS Polskago, (Sankt Petersburg:PravitelstvuiushchiiSenat, 1811), 2:271. Also, "Konstytucye Seymu Koronacyjnego1764" in Konarski,VoluminaLegum, 7:420-21. On this, see Jacob Goldberg,Ha-MumarimBe-MamlekhetPolin-Lita(Jerusalem:MerkazZalman Shazar,1985), 48. 85. AdmittedlyZaremba'swife could have been consideredan opportunisticconvert,because she appearsto have acceptedJudaismto stay with her husband. 86. B. Pesahim68b. 87. I place the quotationmarks aroundthe word "converts"here because Ruth cannot be regardedas a convertto Judaismas understoodlaterby the rabbis.ForreadingRuth as a symbolic convert see, e.g., RuthRabah (Vilna), parsha2:16 [Lernerno. 12], 2:22 [Lernerno. 16], see also Zohar Hadash, vol. 2 (Megillot), MegilathRuth 38a, Rashi'scommentaryon Ruth 1:16, in TheBar Ilan Responsa Project, version 11. On the reading of Book of Ruth on Shavuot see, e.g., SeferAbudraham, Tefilot Pesah, passage beginning with nehagu ha-'olam; Moses Isserles was aware of Abudraham's workandhe referredto it in one of his responsumin which he also reiteratedthe custom of readingthe Book of Ruth on the second day of Shavu'ot, Shut ha-Rema', no. 35; see also Magen Avrahamon Shulhan'Arukh,OrahHayyim,no. 490.8 and 490.17.

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Magda Teter converted.88"His wife," Matuszewicz wrote in his memoirs, "who loved to read books, beganto readthe Bible. Readingthe Old Testamentbut not graspingit with her intelligence, she developed an inclinationfor the Jewish religion and began to celebratethe Jewish Sabbathand otherholidayswith the Jew,an arrendator.When her husbandleft for a trip, she fled to Amsterdamwith her two daughtersand this Jew.When Estko found out that she had gone to Amsterdam,he went afterher to retrieve her. On reaching Amsterdam,he himself became Jewish."89Matuszewicz's fatherthen met Estko on the street in Amsterdam,where they had a small religious disputationin Latinand Polish, in which otherpeople apparentlyjoined in. At the end, Estko'swife died, and his daughtersworkedas "servantsfor some richJewishwoman,"Matuszewiczwrote,underliningthe consequencesof the conversion to Judaism.Estko'sdaughtersnot only lost their noble statusbut also fell as low as to become servantsin Jewishhomes, a statuseven lowerthanthatof Jews in Poland,who often employed Christianservantsin their homes.90According to Matuszewicz, after his wife's death, Estko returnedto Polandto claim his estate but was arrested.He managedto escape back to Amsterdam. This story, somewhataltered,found its way into a polemical work against Protestantspublishedin 1750by a Jesuitpolemicistandtheologian,JanPoszakowski (1684-1757). PoszakowskiwrotethatEstko,"havingbecome Jewishwith his wife, moved to Amsterdamin Holland,wherehe was forcedby Jews to divorcehis wife. [He then]marrieda Jewishwoman,while his wife marrieda Jewishman."91Poszakowskiused thistaleto polemicizeagainstindividualunsupervisedBible studiesand The Estkostoryhas elProtestantism,which for him was a steptoward"Judaizing." ementsparallelingtheger zedekstory,mixingthe PotockiandZarembaplots-such as the travelto Amsterdam,conversionto Judaism,returnto Lithuania,the arrest, and,in the polemicalversion,also a forceddivorceand a marriageto Jewishpartner. Althoughit is difficultto proveits directinfluenceon the developmentof the legend, the factthatfromthe late-seventeenth-century unpublishedmemoirsof Matuszewicz, it enteredCatholic narrativemay perhapssuggest that the Estko tale was known also amongJews andmay have in partinspiredthe Jewishnarrativeof ger zedek.92 88. MarcinMatuszewicz,Diariusz Zycia Mego, 3 vols. (Warsaw:PIW,1986), 385-86. Daniel Stone discussed this case in Daniel Stone, "Knowledgeof ForeignLanguagesamong EighteenthCentury Polish Jews,"Polin 10 (1997): 215-16. Amsterdamwas a well-known safe heaven for Christian converts to Judaism,it included Sephardiccrypto-Jewsto returnsafely to Judaism,Ashkenazi Jews who had convertedto Christianityto do the same, andChristianswho decided to embraceJudaism,too. On this see, ElishevaCarlebach,"'Ich Will Dich Nach HollandSchicken .. .': Amsterdamand the Reversion to Judaismof GermanJewish Converts,"in Secret Conversionsto Judaism in Early Modern Europe, ed. MartinMuslow and RichardPopkin(Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2004). 89. Matuszewicz,Diariusz Zycia Mego, 385. 90. Matuszewicz,Diariusz Zycia Mego, 386. 91. Jan Poszakowski,AntidotumContra '"Antidotum Abo ZbawiennaPrzestroga,"Ze LekarstwoDusznePrzeciwkoApostazyiWoyciechaWqgierskiego ZborowEwangelickich NiegdySuperintendenta Sporzqdzoney WygotowaneTerazSwiezo w Kr6lewcuRokuPariskiego1750 DrukiemOpublikowaney Ogloszone (Wilno:Typis Societatis Jesu, 1754), 4. 92. Othertales of conversioncirculatedas well. MateuszMieses mentionedthata Germanwork publishedin 1714 mentioneda Polish priestwho allegedly convertedto Judaismin Amsterdam.Julian UrsynNiemcewiczalso talkedaboutMarcinMikolajRadziwill(1705-81), who allegedlycelebratedSab-

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The Legend of Ger Zedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance The legend also contains fictitious elements closely resemblingthe second tale in Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron.93In Boccaccio's Decameron, "a Jew namedAbraham,encouragedby Gianottodi Civigni, goes to the court of Rome" to find out whether Catholicism is indeed a valid religion.94When he reached Rome, he carefullyobserved: thebehaviorof the Pope,the cardinals,andotherprelatesandcourtiers;and fromwhathe heardandsawforhimself... fromthehighestto thelowestof in the sin of lust,notonly them,theyall in generalshamelesslyparticipating thenaturalkindof lustbutalsothesodomitic,withouttheleastbitof remorse orshame.Andthistheydidto theextentof thatthepowerof whoresandyoung in obtaininggreatfavors.Besidesthis,he obboyswasof notlittleimportance servedthatall of themwereopengluttons,drinkers,andsots, andthatafter theirlechery,just likeanimals,theyweremoreservantsof theirbelliesthan of anythingelse;themorecloselyhe observedthem,themorehe sawthatthey wereall avaricious andgreedyformoneyandthattheywerejustas likelyto bloodas theywereto sell religiousobbuyandsell human(evenChristian) orto benefices.. . 95 jects,belongingto the sacraments Unlikethe ChristiannoblemanfromPoland,who aftersimilarobservationsin Rome decided to convertto Judaism,the Jew Abraham,to Gianotto'sutterastonishment, embracedChristianity.Abrahamreasonedthat despite all this "lust, avarice,gluttony, pride" and all the efforts "to reduce the Christianreligion to nothing and driveit from the face of the earth,"Christianity"continuouslygrows and becomes more illustrious"and,therefore,it must have "theHoly Spiritas its foundationand GerZedekstoryis in effect an inversionof Boccaccio'stale;it is a Chrissupport."96 tian-not a Jew-who goes from Paristo Rome to discoverthe CatholicChurch's immoralityand who then convertsto Judaism.How this story enteredPolish Jewish lore is unclear.Therewere manyYiddish renditionsof non-Jewishstories, includingthose by Boccaccio'sDecameronin premodernEurope,but I am not aware of a Yiddish version of this particularstory.97 ItalianAshkenazic Jews certainly bathand kashruth.MateuszMieses, "JudaizanciWe WschodniejEuropie,"MiesiCcznikZydowski4, no. 3 (1934): 259-60. See also, AbrahamG. Duker,"PolishFrankism'sDuration:FromCabbalisticJudaism to RomanCatholicismand fromJewishnessto Polishness,"JewishSocial Studies25, no. 4 (1963): 311. 93. I am deeply indebtedto Prof.GershonBacon of BarIlanUniversityin Israelfor this insight. 94. GiovanniBoccaccio, TheDecameron:A New Translation,trans.MarkMusa andPeterBondanella(New York:Norton & Company,1977), 28. 95. Boccaccio, TheDecameron, 30. 96. Boccaccio, TheDecameron,31. 97. For a version of a few Boccaccio's stories in Yiddish see, e.g., SheyneArtliche Geshichtn (Amsterdam,1710). On this, see an article by MarionAptroot,"AYiddishAdaptationof Boccaccio's Decameron (Amsterdam1710)" in Zutot 2003, ed. Shlomo Berger (Amsterdam:Kluwer,2004). For anotherexampleof an adaptationof EuropeanliteratureintoYiddish,see Elia Levita'sBoveBukh.Levita adaptedan Italiantranslationof the Anglo-Romanromance,"Sir Bevis of Hampton"into Yiddish, first publishedin 1541 and then followed by many editions. Stenschneidermentions an "imitation"of Dante's Divine Comedy, Moritz Steinschneider,LetteraturaItaliana dei Giudei: Cenni (Rome: Tipografia delle scienze matematichee fisiche, 1884), 33.

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Magda Teter knew it. In the 1616 Italianversion of BenjaminSlonik'sSeder mizvotnashim,the translatorof the originallyYiddish work on women's commandmentsurged the AshkenazicJewishwomen in Italyto readhis book so thatthey mightbenefit more fromit thanfromreading"profanebooks,"suchas those by Ariosto,theDecameron (le cento novelle), and Amadis de Gaula.98It is possible that it became known to Jews throughotherversions as well. Boccaccio'sDecameronbecame very popular in otherEuropeanlanguagesandwas publishedin numeroustranslationsand adaptationsin Latin,German,French,and English.Its Frenchversion,for example,was publishedas earlyas 1485, and its Germanversionappearedalreadyin 1509; they were followed by numerouseditions throughthe eighteenthcentury.Even Martin LutheradaptedBoccaccio's story of Abrahamthe Jew in his TableTalk,although he claimed thatit was an authenticcontemporarystory: A Jewcameto me at Wittenberg, andsaid:He was desirousto be baptized, andmadea Christian, butthathe wouldfirstgo to Rometo see thechiefhead of Christendom. Fromthisintention,myself,PhilipMelanchton, andotherdilaboured to dissuadehim,fearinglest,whenhe witnessedtheoffences vines, andknaveriesat Rome,he mightbe scaredfromChristendom. Butthe Jew wentto Rome,andwhenhehadsufficientlyseentheabominations actedthere, he returned to us again,desiringto be baptized,andsaid:Now I will willingforhe is a patientGod.If he canendure ly worshiptheGodof theChristians, suchwickednessandvillainyas is doneatRome,he cansufferandendureall thevices andknaveriesof theworld.99 Justas LutheradaptedBoccaccio's storyto his agendaof condemningCatholicism and affirminghis own version of Christianity,so was the Jewish version modified to affirm Judaism.Both claimed to be true stories. A PolemicAgainst Catholicism In affirmingJudaism,the legend is also a polemic againstCatholicism.The Hebrewtext of the ger zedeklegend includesa numberof condescendingpassages against Catholicismthat were, perhapsnot surprisingly,lost in the Polish translation. It is possible that before publishing the Polish translationof the legend, Kraszewski,or the translatorof the text,AlexanderEllenbogen,chose to gloss over 98. See Precettida esser imparatidalle donne hebree,(Venice:GiacomoSarzina,1616), 3. The tales entereddifferentculturesand influenced futurewriters.GothholdEphraimLessing'sNathan the Wiseis modeled on the third story of the first day in Boccaccio's Decameron.The story of Abraham was adaptedby a numberof differentEuropeanauthors,includingLutherwho adaptedthis tale in his Tischreden,see below. See also, FlorenceNightingale Jones,Boccaccio and His Imitatorsin German, English, French, Spanish and Italian Literature,"theDecameron" (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1910), 12; Sonja Zoeller, "Abrahamund Melchisedech in Deutschland,oder Von Religionsgesprdichn,Unblelehrbarkeitund Toleranz:Zur Rezeption der beiden Juden aus Giovanni Boccaccios "Decamerone"in der deutschenSchwankliteratur des 16.Jahrhunderts," Aschkenas7, no. 2 (1997): especially, 308, 12-16. 99. MartinLuther,TheTableTalkofMartinLuther,trans.WilliamHazlitt(London:H. G. Bohn, 1857), 353-54, no. 869.

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The Legend of Ger Zedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance some of the anti-Catholicstatements.'00The whole tale, fromthe beginningto the end, can be seen as a polemic against Catholicism.This is especially true of the Hebrewtext, but even the Polish versionretainssome of these polemical elements, and afterall, Judaismtriumphstheretoo. When Potockiand Zarembaencountered the old Jew studyingtheTalmud,for example,they hearda diatribeagainstCatholicism, coupled with a reassurancethat the Talmudcontainedthe truth: TalAndtheoldmanresponded thatthisbookis calledbavli[theBabylonian in is him what it in to tell them and the is And asked mud] holytongue. they thisbookandhe readtothemmanypassagesandexplainedthem[totheyoung men].And they likedthe wordsof this book andthey askedthe old man whetherall whatwaswrittentherewasthetruth.Andtheold manresponded thatall of thiswasverymuchtrue[hu''emetme'od].[Andtheyasked],"Ifthis is alltrue,thenwhydoesourteachernotteachus usingthisbookandwhyare "YouareChristiansandyour you readingit?"Andthe old manresponded, faithcomesfroma manwholeadsyouastray,awayfroma straightpath[ha'ish ha-masiahotkhemve-ha-matehotkhemme-ha-derekhha-yashar.]"'0'

TheTalmudandits validityaresharplyjuxtaposedto the falsehoodof Catholicism. Its unquestionabletruth[hu' 'emetme'od] is contrastedwith the humanorigin of the Catholicbeliefs, which ultimatelyleads to error.Indeed,it could not lead anywhere else, as the ger zedek discoveredin Rome, for it was all based on lies. For example,whenger zedekwentto Rome, he wantedto find out whathappenedwhen the pope, while sitting in his innermost chambers [be-hedero ha-hadarim], ascended to the heavens on a holy day.102The papal servant,on receiving a generous gift, yet anothersign of corruptionin Rome, said the ascension was a total lie. Instead,the servantclaimed,thereis a whore in the innermostchamberwaiting for the pope, who preparedall his meals for him. This narrativeof the pope ascending to the heavens from the innermostchamber,again, may have been a consciously constructedcounternarrative,for it parallels and inverts the Jewish traditionon the role of the High Priest.When the Templestill stood,the High Priestenteredthe Temple'sHoly of Holies on the fast day of Yom Kippur.In addition,accordingto the rabbinictradition,the priestwas removedfromhis house beforethe fast of Yom Kippurand entereda separatechamberin the Temple,among otherthings, lest he have an intercoursewith his wife and become polluted,should she be in a state of impurity.'03By presentingthe pope's functionsentirelyreversed,the narratormay 100. Kraszewskiadmittedto shorteningsome "loose passages,"which perhapsmight explain some of the inconsistencies.Kraszewski, Wilno,183, n. 7. 101. The text actuallyhas a spelling mistakeand insteadof masiahhas metsah.I thankEdward Framof Ben GurionUniversityin Beer Sheva,Israel,for pointingout to me thatthe second partof this expressioncomes from JosephAlbo's Sefer Ikarim(4:28). The Polish text simply says "thePope." 102. I am not awareof any Catholic holidays duringwhich the pope is believed to enter a secret holy chamberto communewith God or to ascend to heaven. 103. Leviticus 16. Heder ha-haderim may be a parallel of kodesh ha-kadoshim, perhaps avoidedhere not to link the pope to the kodeshha-kadoshim.See also M. Yoma 1.1 on the High Priest's preparationsfor Yom Kippur,and B. Yoma2a-b, an entire discussion of the role of the High Priest.It

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Magda Teter have sought to underlinenot only the corruptionof the Catholic Churchbut also to refute any notion that CatholicismreplacedJudaism,and thatthe pope was the high priest. Another example of the anti-Catholicpolemic in the Hebrew text comes from the subplotof Zaremba,the ger zedek'sfriend.When Zaremba,his wife and theirchild left LithuaniaandreachedPrussia,the narratorinserteda comment,lost in the Polishtranslation,thatthey liked the customsof the Prussianpeople because theirreligionwas unquestionablybetterthanthatof the lordsin Lithuania-a clear stab at Catholicism,because most of Prussiannobles were Lutherans.'04The descriptionof the religion of the Lithuanianlords in ratherunambiguousnegative terms was likely not accidentaland may have been intendedto counterthe potential temptationthat the possibility of ennoblement,accordingto the 1588 Third LithuanianStatute,may have offered to Jews convertingto Catholicism. Finally,anotherexampleof anti-Christianinvectivesis foundtowardthe end of the tale. There, the Hebrewtext refers to the crucifix as "deaddog" [ha-kelev ha-met], a powerful invective to describe the symbol of the ChristianGod.105It was clearlytoo harshto appearin Polish, where it was renderedas "goldencross." Why was therea need for such apologeticsandpolemic amongPolish Lithuanian Jews in the second half of the eighteenthcentury.After all, the Lithuanian Statutehadbeen in place since 1588. Forone thing,Polishlaw changed.In 1768, on pressurefromRussia,Prussia,Denmark,England,and Sweden,PolishChristianlaw repealedthe deathpenalty for apostasy.106This may have emboldenedJews, who were no longer fearfulof seriousconsequencesfor proselytism.But more likely,it was pressuresfromthe CatholicChurchandotherreligiouschallengesthatthe Jewish communityfaced thatcreateda need for such polemic andreassurance. may also be a vague reference to the Jewish legend of St. Peter, who was supposed to have been sent by Jews to be the first leader of Christians but had to conceal his true beliefs and had his servants build a tower with a room in which he would secretly perform Jewish rituals. I thank David Lerner for referring me to this story and his article, Lerner,"The EnduringLegend of the Jewish Pope," 163- 64. 104. The Polish text instead focused on the prosperityof Prussia."Andthey reachedKdnigsberg and settled there for a year. They liked the customs of the people in Prussia because the rural dwellings there were more beautifulthan the dwellings found in Lithuania.And a peasant in Prussia lives in a house as beautifulas a lord in Lithuania."Kraszewski, Wilno,177. 105. Anti-Christianinvectivesarenothingnew here. See, for example,SeferToledotYeshu,Gurland,Le-KorotHa-Gezerot?AlYisra'el,Habermann,ed., Sefer GezerotAshkenazVe-Tsarfat,Ha-Levi, TheKuzari(KitabAl Khazari).The phrase"deaddog,"kelev met, is used in I Samuel 24:14, in an exchange between Saul and David;ha-kelevha-met in II Samuel 9:8, in Mephiboshet'shumbleresponse to David:"Whatis your servantthatyou should regardfor a dead dog like me?";and in II Samuel 16:9 by Avishai as an insult:"Whylet that dead dog abuse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!" 106. For laws concerning the non-Catholic Christians promulgatedat the 1768 Sejm, see Konarski,VoluminaLegum, 7:256-74. Article I, ? III repeals deathpenalty and sets expulsion as the punishmentfor apostasy:CumreligionemRomanamCatholicamin Polonia dominantem,luribus Cardinalibus annumeremus, transitum ab EcclesiaRomana ad aliam quamcunque religionem in hoc Poloniae Regno, Magno Ducatu Lit. et in annexis Provinciis cirminale delictum declaramus. Qui itaque

futuris temporibustranspireaususfuerit, exul Dominiis Reipublicaeesto, Konarski,VoluminaLegum, 7:257.

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The Legend of Ger Zedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance In the late seventeenthandthe entireeighteenthcentury,the CatholicChurch in the Polish-LithuanianCommonwealthbecame increasinglymore interestedin convertingJews.'17 In 1737, in the Wilno diocese, a priest SzczepanTurczynowicz, founded a religious ordercalled Sisters of MariaeVitae (mariawitki),whose goal was to convertJewish women to Catholicism.'08Jesuits in this diocese also intensifiedtheirmissionaryactivityin the eighteenthcenturyandpreachedin synagogues.109So too, in the neighboringdiocese of Luck-Brest,the zealous bishop FranciszekAntoni Kobielski (1679-1755) preachedin synagogues and encouraged missionaryactivities among Jews. Kobielskiapproachedthe DominicanGeneralin Rome to be informedabout methodsused by the Dominicansto convertJews in Rome and then publishedthe general'sdetailedresponse into a collection of his letters."I0The bishop seems to have triedto apply some of these methodshimself, and in publishingthem, he certainlywantedto make them knownin Poland."'IHe also publisheda collection of his conversionarysermonsaimedat Jews. 12 In his 1741 pastoralletterto the Jews of his diocese, FranciszekAntoni Kobielskiwrote that"outof our Pastoralobligation andthe authoritygiven to us by God over all neighbors"he desiredthe Jews' conversion,and, therefore,he "commandedthe superiorsof the Churchesin our diocese, havingadvisedyou aboutthe time, to demonstrateat least once every four monthsto you, gatheredin your synagoguesor schools, the proofs aboutthe Messiah and IncarnatedGod, from your Prophetsand Scriptures,clearly describedby the Patriarchs,Prophets,and St. David,your King of Israel,by ProphetJeremiah, in your Psalms and otherbooks."Jews also had their obligations.Kobielski commandedthem "toreceive with respectthe priestswho come to you with God'sword and teachings in your schools, and to listen to them."'13 107. For more on this, see Teter,"JewishConversionsto Catholicism." 108. Goldberg,Ha-MumarimBe-MamlekhetPolin-Lita,37-39. 109. Teter,"JewishConversionsto Catholicism." 110. LitteraePastorales ad Clerumet PopulumutriusqueDiaecesis ... in Anno 1740 et 1741 ac Praesenti 1742 Emanatae, 1742, E2-E2v. In 1749, severalyearsafter Kobielski'sinquiry,the pope issued a letterendorsingforced preachingto Jews, but I found no evidence that Polish clergy were familiarwith this document.MarioRosa, "La SantaSede e gli ebrei nel Settecento,"Storia d 'Italia:Annali 11/2 (1997): 1073. 111. Elsewhere,I have overemphasizedthe inabilityto implementsuch policies in Polandas a result of a differentpolitical structureand the Church'slack of access to executivepowers.Kobielski's efforts were still limited in Poland,Teter,"JewishConversionsto Catholicism." 112. Swiattona os/wiecenienaroduniewiernegoto iest Kazania w Synagogachzydowskichmiane oraz Relfexyey List odpowiadaigcynapytania SynagogiBrodzkieyz RozkazuJasnie Wielmoznego Jego MosciXiqdzaFranciszkaAntoniegoKobielskiego,BiskupaLuckiegoy Brzeskiego... opozyskanie Dusz zelusem nieustannympracuigcego do drukupodane, (Lvov, 1746). For a detailed discussion of this work, see JudithKalik "Ha-KnesiyyahHa-KatolitVe-Ha-YehudimBe-MamlekhetPolin-LitaBaMe'ot Ha-17-18" (Ph.D. diss., Hebrew University, 1998), 41-45. Unlike the Protestantmissionaries to Jews in Polandfromthe InstitutumJudaicumet Muhammedicumin Halle, who learnedYiddishand approachedJews in this language,there is no evidence that Kobielski preachedin any other language than Polish. 113. Wszemwobec y kazdemuz osobna, osobliwie niewiernymRabinomKahalnym,y catemu posp6lstwu Zydowstwaw Diecezyi Naszey Luckieyy Brzeskieyzostaigcym (Luck, 1741). Also pub-

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Magda Teter In his 1749 reportad limina, Kobielskiwrote to Pope Benedict XIV thathe "visitedJewishsynagoguesin all places,"wherehe "preachedpastoralsermonsso that they may convert."''14 He boasted that "God so blessed the works of my pastoral care that many of the infidels were convertedand baptized,and the number of those receiving religious instruction[catechumenorum],just as that of the other poor, rises daily.""15 Withthis increasingpressureto convert,Jews musthave felt the need to take measuresthatwould counteractthese incursions.The fact that Rafal Sentimani,a Catholic, was willing to die for Judaismoffered Jews a good opportunityto reaffirm the truthof their faith. This was at least some of the backgroundin which the ger zedek tale emergedand soon took a life of its own. Such polemic and apologeticswere indeed necessary,for the second half of the eighteenthcenturybroughtanothercrisis-this time within the Jewish community,with the participationof the CatholicChurch.In the 1750s, a hereticaland antinomianmovementled by Jacob Frankemergedamong Jews in Poland,which led to the involvementof the CatholicChurchin internalJewish affairsand eventually resulted in conversionsto Catholicism and the ennoblementof Frankand numerousfollowers.116 Born in the Polish-LithuanianCommonwealth,in Podolia,the south-eastern borderlandsof the country,Jacob Frankgrew up in the OttomanEmpireand arrived back in the Polish-LithuanianCommonwealthin 1755. In the OttomanEmpire, he was influencedby Sabbateantrendsandinternalizedthe teachingsof some Sabbateangroups still active there in the eighteenth century.While in Izmir and Salonika (present-dayThessaloniki), Frankhad mystical visions and began engaging in antinomianbehavior,delighting,accordingto his autobiography,in trying to force pious Jews into antinomianactivities."17The Jews of Salonikatriedto expel him and apparentlyeven assassinate him, and so in 1755, Frankleft for lished in Literae Pastorales ad UniversumClerum,et Populum UtriusqueDiaecesis Illustrissimi & ReverendissimiDomini Francisci Antonii in Dmenin Kobielski Episcopi Luceoriensis et Brestensis, SerenissimaeReginalis Maiestatis CantellariicumAnnexisde Verboad Verbumin TersimoniumLegis Suae SanctissimiDomini Nostri Benedicti Papae XIV ConstitionibusEt Literis in Anno 1740 Et 1741 Ac Praesenti 1742. (no place, 1742), E3-Fv. More recentlyin Goldberg,Ha-Mumarimbe-Mamlekhet Polin-Lita, 76-81; and KazmierczykZydzipolscy, 53-7. Kobielski also proselytizedamong Protestants, something that raised their ire and made the bishop abandonhis efforts. See Jan Dokt6r, W PoszukiwaniuZydowskichKryptochrzelcijan:DziennikiEwangelickichMisjonarzyz ich Wedr6wekpo Rzeczypospolitejw Latach 1730-1747 (Warsaw:Tikkun, 1999), 228-29. 114. MS. 464 Luceoriensisin Archivio SegretoVaticano,S. CongregationisRelationes Status ad Limina.Also in Relationes Status Dioecesium in Magno Ducatu Lithuaniae,2:155. Studio itaque deperditoaliudassumpsimediumoffici meo Pastoraliincumbensevangelissandividelicet in Sinagogis verbumDei unde circumeundo, ac lustrandodiaecesis meam in omnibus lucis SynagogasJudaeorum visitavi, praedicationesac sermonespastoralespro conversioneeorundemipsemetfeci, ac per aliaspersonas habiles et eruditadeosdem fieri curavi. 115. MS. 464 Luceoriensis and Relationes Status Dioecesium in Magno Ducatu Lithuaniae, 2:155. 116. AlexanderKraushar,Franki Franki.ci Polscy, 1726-1816, 2 vols. (Cracow:G. Gebethner i sp6lka, 1895), 1:21. 117. Kraushar,Franki Frankiici, 1:59-60.

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The Legend of Ger Zedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance Poland.Although,accordingto his version of events, he left because of the calling he hadreceived,it is more likely thathe left because of the pressuresfrom the Jews of Salonika."18 After arrivingin the Polish-LithuanianCommonwealth,Frankcontinuedto travel. He visited Mohilev, a town in present-dayBelarus, and several towns in southeasternpartsof the state. He continuedto engage in antinomianbehaviorfor which he was excommunicatedby local rabbisin 1756. After that, as Pawel Maciejko has recently argued,the rabbis turnedto Catholic Churchto muster help against Frankand his followers and caused a tide of allegations of heresy among Jews.119The bishop of KamieniecPodolskiseized the opportunityto asserthis authorityover Jewish mattersand began investigatingthese claims. Frankandhis supportersattackedthe rabbinicJews, whom they called "Talmudists,"on religious questions, especially the Talmud,casting them as blasphemers and heretics for using the Talmud.This was a preludeto the longer conflict and the two disputationsbetween Frankand his followers and the Jews in 1757 in KamieniecPodolskiand in 1759 in Lw6w, held underthe auspices of the Catholic Churchleadership.The two debatesbecame known in Polandas debatesbetween the Talmudistsand Counter-Talmudists. This whole affair opened up possibilities of furtherincursionsby the Catholicclergy into Jewishcommunities.Indeed,Bishop Dqbowskiwas able to summon Jewish rabbisto attendthese debates undera threatof corporalpunishment(sub poenis etiam corporis afflictivis).'20In 1760, a special catechism was publishedby an anonymousJesuit in Lw6w for instruction of "thosewho come fromthe Jewish faith to ChristianCatholicfaith"as a result of Jacob Frank'sactivity,or the "Counter-Talmudists."'2' The crisis broughton by Frankand his followers, their attackson the Talmud, and the general pressuresfrom the Churchin the eighteenthcentury could not have gone unnoticed by Jewish leaders in Poland.122They may explain the 118. Kraushar,Franki Frankiici, 63-64. 119. Earlierview was thatit was the Frankistswho turnedto the Churchfor help. Krausharcites a statementof Bishop Dqbowski of Kamieniec Podolski, saying that Frankistssub Nostramprotectionemrecurrentes[turnedto Us for Ourprotection].Kraushar,Franki Frankikci,1:77. But PawelMaciejko arguesin his workthat it was the rabbiswho turnedto the Churchto fight the spreadingheresy. Pawel Maciejko, "The Developmentof the FrankistMovementin Poland,the Czech Lands, and Germany (1755-1816)" (Ph.D. diss., HertfordCollege of the Universityof Oxford,2003). 120. Kraushar,Franki Frankiici, 1:88-89. 121. Katechizm Missionarski Pismem Starego y Nowego Zakonu Tudzie?Podaniem StarodawnymIsraelskim Obiasniony.Dla Nauki y Cwiczenia TychKt6rzyz WiaryZydowskieydo Wiary ChrzescianskieyKatolickieyPrzychodzgNapisany Przez KaplanaSoc: Jesu, (Lw6w: DrukarniaAkademicka, 1760), see the foreword"Przedmowa." 122. These debatesresonatedamongthe Polish Catholicclergy as well; severalclergymenpublished workson this topic. KonstantynAwedyk,KazaniePo DysputachContraTalmudyst6ww Lwowie w Kosciele KatedralnymLwowskimMiane. PrzytemHistoria o ContraTalmudystachWszystkieDwornieysze Okolicznoici, Nawrocenia Ich do WiarySw i Dalszych PostepkowOpisujqca(Lw6w: Typis Societatis Jesu, 1760); KonstantynAwedyk, Opisanie WszystkichDwornieyszychOkolicznosciNawr6cenia do Wiary S. Contra Talmudyst6wAbo Historya Kr6tka Ich PoczQtkii Dalsze Sposoby Przystepowaniado WiaryS. Wyrazajqca(Lw6w: Typis Societatis Jesu, 1760); StanislawKleczewski, Dyssertacya Albo Mowa o Pismach Zydowskichy TalmudziePodczas WalneyDysputy Contra Tal-

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Magda Teter emergenceof the legend of ger zedek in the second half of the eighteenthcentury. The legend, after all, is both an anti-Catholicpolemic and a strongvoice in support of the validity of the Talmudand other Jewish writings, which it juxtaposes to the Catholicreligion and presentsas inspirationfor the Polish Catholicnobles to convertto Judaism. OtherInternalDisruptions The mid- and late eighteenthcenturybroughtalso otherchallengesto the Jews of Poland-Lithuania.In the second half of the eighteenthcentury,Jews in easternEurope saw the rise of the hasidic movement and, somewhat later in the nineteenth century,the Haskalah,both of which to variousdegrees were resistedby the Jewish leadership,and, as was the case of Hasidism,turnedinto an outrightideological war.123Wilno was the center of resistanceto Hasidism.The ger zedek legend contains minorelements that seem to relateto these struggles as well, suggesting thatthe narratorsadjustedit to their contemporaryneeds. The legend'smotif of glorifying the studyof the Torahandotherrabbinicliteraturemay be seen as an indirectresponse also to the early hasidic apparentneglect of the studyof the Torah.Lettersfromthe 1770s issued by Wilno community leadersagainsthasidim emphasizethatthey neglect (mevatlim)the Torahstudy,a frequentaccusationin the anti-hasidicliterature.124 The opponentsof the hasidic movement (the mitnagdim)in Wilno emphasized thathasidim split the communityand were going againsttraditionsand customs established by generations of ancestors.125 The separation occurred on various levels: hasidim organizedtheir own prayergroups, turnedaway from the traditionallyadhered to Ashkenazic rites, and followed Sephardic rites. They slaughteredtheir own meat and did not buy from the community.126But, one of the most frequentaccusationsagainstthe hasidim voiced in the early anti-hasidic documents was that of the way they prayed."Andamong them they learn to be reckless in theirprayers,andthey arevain because they area perversegeneration," one letter stated. "They behave strangelyin front of the Ark of the Covenant,"it continued,"withcommotionsof the strangersand gentiles, with theirheads down and their legs up ... in disrespectfor the Law [afkiruta].And their religion is differentfrom that of all of the Jewish people, and they do not follow the religion of the King of Kings, Holy Blessed be He; and they organizethemselves into separategroupsto leaving customs of our ancestors,and in theirprayerthey transgress mudzist6wz TalmudzistamiPod RzgdemJ WXiqdzaSzczepanaz MikuliczMikulskiego(1759); Gaudenty Pikulski, Zloid ZydowskaPrzeciwko Bogu i Bliiniemu Prawdziey SumieniuNa Obiadnienie PrzekletychTalmudyst6w(Lw6w: 1758). 123. See, e.g., David E. Fishman,Russia 'sFirst ModernJews: TheJews ofShklov,Reappraisals in Jewish Social and Intellectual History (New York:New YorkUniversity Press, 1995), especially chap. 1. 124. Mordekhai Wilensky, Hasidim U-Mitnagdim:Le Toledot Ha-Pulmus She Beneihem (Jerusalem:Mosad Bialik, 1970), 38, and also note 13 there,and 59. See also there, 52-53 for the emphasis on the study of Torah,Talmud,and Halakhah. 125. Wilensky, Hasidim U-Mitnagdim, 45, 46-47, 126. Fishman, Russia s First Modern Jews, 12.

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50, 51.

The Legend of Ger Zedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance the limits that our ancestorsset, and all of them rise their voices and make noises in theirprayers.... And they stop in the middle of the prayer,andthey despise the studentsof the Holy Torah,and always they shout in play and mockery and the merrimentof madness."127Another letter accused the hasidim of "dancingand leaping" during prayers,and of opening their mouths wide in screams that are heard from afar.128In this light, the glorification of the Torahand, perhapsalso, the commentthatthe ger zedek made to the unrulychild in the synagoguein Iliathat he would not grow up in the Jewish religion-may perhapsbe residue of a polemic againsthasidimin the area,or perhapsthis, too, refersto JacobFrankand his movement.129 So too, comments surroundingthe ger zedek'strip to Germanyreveal hints of oppositionto the Haskalah,a Jewish enlightenmentmovementthat emergedin Germanyand then spreadwith limited success to easternEurope.130"Andthe ger zedekwent first to Germanyafterhe left Amsterdam,"the text thatKraszewskihad at hand,but not the Hebrew version availabletoday, says "buthe could not bear their customs because they mixed with Gentiles and acceptedtheir ways."'31Assertingthe validityandsuperiorityof JudaismoverChristianity,as the legend does, may have resonatedwith LithuanianJews also at the times of their first encounters with modernity. From the second half of the eighteenth century,the Jewish community in EasternEuropefaced religious challenges fromCatholicism,Frankism,Hasidism, and the Haskalah.It needed religious stability,and the legend of ger zedek, which affirmedthe truthof Judaismin no uncertainterms, served thatpurpose.The legend continuesto resonatewith the Jewish public and to respondto new pressures, as its appealwithin the haredi communitysuggests. But this legend is also about permeabilityof social and culturalboundariesbetween Jews and Christians,not only because it tells of Christianswho become Jews, but also because it illustrates Jewish appropriationof Christianliterary topoi, such as Boccaccio's Abraham from Parisor othertales of conversions. MagdaTeter WesleyanUniversity Middletown,Connecticut

127. Wilensky,Hasidim U-Mitnagdim,39-40. 128. Wilensky,HIasidimU-Mitnagdim,54. A book Sheverpesh'im claimed that when hasidim want to banish strangethoughtsduringprayers"they begin to scream greatly and loudly."Wilensky, Hasidim U-Mitnagdim,54. In anotherplace their screamswere comparedto those of bears,as cited in Wilensky,Hasidim U-Mitnagdim,59 n. 15. 129. The battlebetweenhasidimandmitnagdiminvolvednumerousdenunciationsandcounterdenunciationsto the Russiangovernmentin the 1790s. Fishman,Russia First ModernJews, 21. s 130. On the early Haskalahin Russia see, e.g., Michael Stanislawski,TsarNicholas I and the Jews: TheTransformationof Jewish Society in Russia, 1825-1855, 1st ed. (Philadelphia:Jewish Publication Society ofAmerica, 1983), 49-96. 131. Kraszewski, Wilno,179.

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Joseph Perl's Escape from Biblical Epigonism through Parody of Ḥasidic Writing Author(s): Ken Frieden Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 265-282 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131734 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:19 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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AJS Review 29:2 (2005), 265-282

JOSEPH PERL'SESCAPE FROM BIBLICALEPIGONISM THROUGHPARODYOF HASIDIC WRITING*

by Ken Frieden JosephPerl'stwo epistolarynovels, publishedin 1819 and 1838, far surpass typical Hebrew prose from the early nineteenthcentury.The leading Enlightenment authors(the maskilim)were deliberateepigones, because they favored the rhetorical modes called shibuz and melizah.' By imitating the Hebrew of the Prophets-under the influence of the ornatestyle known from medieval Spainthe Berlin Enlightenmentauthorsand their followers strove for what they considered to be "pure language" (leshon gah). Their preference for allusion and quotation encouraged epigonism and made originality a lesser priority; many Berlin maskilimvalued the adherenceto norms more than original self-expression. The epitome of that devotion to literarynorms was the genre of the Briefsteller, exemplified by Buchner'sand Naiman's works, which taught Jews how to write polite Germanor Hebrewlettersand sound like cultivated,well-educated Europeans.2 * Researchfor this

essay was completed with generous supportfrom a 2003-04 Harry Starr Fellowship in Jewish Studies at HarvardUniversity.The author thanks Ruth Wisse, Avi Matalon, MoniqueBalbuena,AvromNovershtern,ChanaKronfeld,JonathanMeir,and JeremyDauberfor their encouragementand for helpful conversationsaboutPerlduringthe fellowship period.Earlierversions of the argumentwere presentedat the Centerfor Jewish Studies at Harvard(April 2004), at the second annualYiddish conference at the Universityof California,Berkeley (May 2004), and at the European Association for Jewish Studiescolloquiumin Oxford(July 2004), wherethe theme was epigonism.An anonymousreaderfor the AJS Reviewmade helpful suggestions for revision. 1. Shibuzinlays quotationsas ornaments;melizah is a flowery style associated with both the Bible and medieval Hebrewpoetry from Spain.The maskilim,when they createda mosaic from biblical sources, did not necessarilyuse a biblical style. See Boaz Shahevitch,"Arb'aleshonot:'iyunimshel sifrutba-lashonha-maskilim'al pi 'Ha-me'asef,'"Molad 212 (1967): 236-42. His first footnote cites H. N. Shapira'sToldotha-sifrutha-Ivrit he-hadashah:"The languageof Wessely (andnot only his, but also thatof the Haskalain general)is by no meansbiblical, as manyandvariouspeople areaccustomed to state up until today,but rathera new creationbased upon the Bible" (210). 2. Threeof the popularcontemporarylettercollections were Ze'ev Wolf Buchner'sSefer zahut ha-melizah (Prague: Hladkyschen, 1805), Mosheh Shemu'el Naiman's Sefer mikhtevei "Ivrit:oder Ebreyish-Daytsherbrifshteler(Prague:Shalal, 1817), and Shalomben JacobHa-Cohen'sKetavyosher: tavnit mikhtavimve-'igrot cIvriyotve-'Ashkenaziyot(Vienna:Anton Schmid, 1820). These collections werereprintedmanytimes. Fora thoroughstudyof the Hebrew(andGerman/Hebrew)Briefsteller, see YehuditHalevi-Tzvik, Toldotsifrut ha-'igronim(ha-brivnshtelers)ha-clIvriim (me'a 16-me'ah 20) (Tel Aviv: Papyrus,1990). Halevi-Tzvikdiscusses the collections that were contemporarywith Perl's epistolarynovel in chapter4.

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Ken Frieden Unlike most Hebrewauthorsin the earlynineteenthcentury,JosephPerlwent his own way and developeda distinctivepostbiblicalvoice thatcurtailedthe role of shibuzandmelizah. In the contextof a literarytrendthatso stronglyfavoredepigonism, parodyenabledhim to avoid becoming a mere imitator.Insteadof mimicking the Bible, Perlparodiedthe newly popularhasidicwritings,in particularShivhei ha-Beshtand Nahmanof Bratslav'sSippureimayses. Parodymade it possible for him to escape the orbit of biblical epigonism througha kind of satiricrealism. In his majorworks, Perl seldom wrote sublime or even "high,"eruditeHebrew;instead,to satirizethe hasidim,he attributed"low"Hebrewto his hasidiccharacters. Fromthe usual Enlightenmentstandpoint,hasidic workswere writtenin low-class Hebrew,and yet Perl distilledtheirmode of expression-mistakes and all-into a potent new style. In his laterwork, Perl moved beyond satireagainstthe hasidim andparodyof hasidic writing,and he began to use this style independently. After 1816, when Perl was unable to publish his German article "On the Essence of the Hasidic Sect,"3he wrote a scathingparodyof Nahmanof Bratslav's tales. The first Hebrewedition ofShivhei ha-Beshtwas publishedin late 1814, and Nahman'sseminal stories-in the bilingual Hebrew-Yiddishedition preparedby NathanSternharz-appeared in 1815. Because censorshipmade it impossible for Perl to printhis open critique,he chose to convey his criticism of hIasidiclife and letters obliquely,throughthe medium of fiction. Thus arose his parodicMa'asiot ve-'igrotmi-zadikim'amitiimu-mi-'ansheishlomeinu,which remainedunpublished in his lifetime. This early and incomplete text shows Perl using fictional hasidic lettersas a framingdevice aroundtwo parodiesof hasidic storytelling:a supposed "completion"of Nahman'stale "The Loss of the Princess"and a new tale called "The Loss of the Prince."4Many elements of Perl'slater parodies are present in this work, includingHebrewcalques fromYiddish,insertedYiddishwords, coded namesfor actualtowns, ironicreversals,anda final, crushingvictory of the maskilim over the hasidim. Perl must have realized that his parodiesdid not succeed in counteringNahman'sfolktales,however,because thereis no evidence thathe ever tried to publish this book. Perl'sas-if hasidic tales fall short as parodies,because these Hebrewnarrativesdo not measureup to their source; from a literarystandpoint, the originalsaremore effective thanthe parodies.Not until Perlturnedaway from narrativeand fully embracedthe epistolaryform was he able to achieve his desiredresults. Perl'smasterpiece,Megaleh temirin(RevealerofSecrets, 1819), purportsto be a collection of 151 letterswrittenmainly by hasidim.In the course of the novel, as the interceptedletters reveal rampantcorruptionand immorality among hasidic groups, Perl mocks their use of Hebrew.Perlpreservesan ironic distance from them; as Linda Hutcheon shows in her book A Theoryof Parody, one dis3. JosephPerl,"Almahutkatha-hasidim/ Uiber [sic] das Wesender Sekte Chassidim,ed. Avraham Rubinstein(Jerusalem:IsraeliAcademy, 1977). See Raphael Mahler,Hasidism and the Jewish Enlightenment:TheirConfrontationin Galicia and Poland in the First Half of the NineteenthCentury,trans.Eugene Orenstein,AaronKlein, and JennyMachlowitzKlein (Philadelphia:The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1985), 110, 125-27. 4. Joseph Perl, Macasiot ve-'igrot mi-zadikim 'amitiim u-mi-'anshei shlomeinu, ed. Khone Shmerukand ShmuelWerses(Jerusalem:IsraeliAcademy, 1970).

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Joseph Perl'sEscape FromBiblical Epigonism tinctive featureof parodyis irony or critical distance.5One might arguethat Perl sometimes wrote ironic pastiche of hasidic writing, targetingtheir flawed use of Hebrew for correspondence.Perl's literaryaccomplishmentclearly depended on the priorhasidic authors:althoughhe initiallyimitatedthem to satirizethem, their texts and distinctiveHebrewformedthe necessarybasis for his earlyparodiesand later literaryinnovations. This paperbriefly discusses the key works of hasidic narrativebefore turning to the criticalreceptionof Perl'sHebrew.It shows how Perl'sMegaleh temirin uses the hasidic style creatively-both imitating and debunking.Finally, examples from the later novel by Perl, Bohen zadik (Test of the Righteous, 1838), illustratethe author'simportantsteps beyond his hasidic models. In that work he recombinedthe most effective featuresof mishnaic, medieval, and hasidic-style Hebrewto forge some of the most natural-soundingHebrew from the early nineteenth century. The low Hebrew associated with many hasidic texts is clearly at odds with prescribedEnlightenmentnorms. Insteadof drawingprimarilyfrom the Hebrew of the Prophetsor the complex style known from medieval Spain,hasidic authors typically used a simpler,less ornate,mishnaic base.6That postbiblicalsimplicity applies to grammar,sentence structure,and vocabulary.'At a distance from the hasidic writers,an atypicalmaskilic proponentof writing in a neo-mishnaicstyle was Mendel Lefin, who contributedto the modernuse of a neo-mishnaic style.8 For example, he retranslatedMaimonides' Guide to the Perplexed into a simple, more readableHebrew.9 Art Forms 5. See Linda Hutcheon,A Theoryof Parody: The Teachingsof Twentieth-Century (New York:Methuen, 1985):"Parodyis, in anotherformulation,repetitionwith criticaldistance,which marks difference ratherthan similarity"(6); "Parody,then, in its ironic 'trans-contextualization'and inversion,is repetitionwith difference.A critical distance is implied between the backgroundedtext being parodiedand the new incorporatingwork, a distanceusually signaled by irony"(32). 6. One notableexception is the first segment of Shivheiha-Besht,which quotes and alludes to many biblical passages to give dignity to the Besht's simple origins. 7. Abba Bendavid'sclassic study Leshon mikrau-leshon hakhamim(TelAviv: Dvir, 1967) analyzes the syntacticaland semanticcharacteristicsof mishnaic Hebrew.In the nineteenthcentury,one seminal model for writingin a mishnaic style was Maimonides'MishnehTorah,whereasthe Tibbonic translationof his Guide to the Perplexedepitomized one prominentornatestyle of Hebrewwriting in Spain. For a linguist'sastutediscussion of Maimonides'Hebrewstyle, see Chaim Rabin'sPh.D. Diss. from Oxford University(1943), publishedas TheDevelopmentof the Syntaxof Post-BiblicalHebrew (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 63-67. 8. On MendelLefin's works,seeYosefKlausner,Historiyashel ha-sifrutha-'Ivrithe-hadashah: Shi'urim,vol. 1 (Jerusalem:HebrewUniversity,1930), lesson 6, part4; see also Nancy Sinkoff's doctoral dissertation,"TraditionandTransition:Mendel Lefin of Satan6wand the Beginnings of the Jewish Enlightenmentin EasternEurope, 1749-1826" (ColumbiaUniversity,1996), andher book, Outof the Shtetl:MakingJews Modernin the Polish Borderlands(Providence:Brown JudaicStudies, 2004), esp. chaps. 3 and 4. 9. See Moshe ben Maimon,Moreinevukhim,trans.MendelLefin (Zholkva:MeirHofer, 1829). The title page indicatesthat Lefin has translatedthe work into "the simple and pure [or 'the light and clear,'ha-kala ve-ha-nekiah]languageof the Mishna."This interpretationof "pure"or clear language is at odds with that of the Berlin Enlightenmentwriters and their epigones, who equated "purelanguage"(leshon zah) with biblical melizah.

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Ken Frieden Beyond theirrelianceon mishnaicelements,the hasidic authorswrote a Hebrewthatremainedclose to the vocabularyand syntaxof Yiddish,theirspokenvernacular.10 As is well known,for generationsthe seminalfolktalesaboutthe founder of HasidismwerepasseddownorallyinYiddish.At the sametime as theHebrewpublicationof Shivheiha-Beshtlends it an auraof sanctity,the Hebrewstyle reflectsits oralYiddishsources."ISimilarly,Nahmanof Bratslavfirst told his Sippureimayses inYiddish,andtheyweresubsequentlyrecordedin HebrewandYiddishby Nahman's scribe,NathanSternharz.'2Sternharz'snarrativeHebrewstyle relies so heavily on the Hebrewcomponentof Yiddishthatit is readilyaccessible to Yiddish speakers. HasidicHebrewaround1815 is epitomizedby Nathan'spublicationof Nahman's stories. Even the fictional editor of Megaleh temirin,Ovadya, emphasizes the centralityof Nahman'sstories in his preface.13Nathan Sternharzuses numerous Yiddishwords and incorporatesmany Hebrewphrasesand structuresthat are based on Yiddish usage. One idiosyncrasy that Perl especially parodies is the overuse of the words iinyv nx as a translationof the Yiddish reflexive 1'l. This is not as frequentas Perl suggests in his parodies, but the first tale of the Sippurei mayses provides some pertinentexamples.14 When a characterneeds to deliberate, we find the Hebrew haya meyashevazmo, which translatesfrom the Yiddish expressionhot er zikh meyashevgeven (2).15Then comes the phrasehaya meza'er a.zmo,also translatedfrom a Yiddish phrase,hot er zikh zeyer metsaergeven (3). Perl exaggeratesthis use of et azmo to make it look ridiculous.16Anotherfeature 10. In the eighteenthcentury,Yiddishwritingwas looked down upon in rabbiniccircles; in one telling episode of Shivhei ha-Besht, Rabbi Gershonbecomes angry at the young Baal Shem Tov because he uses Yiddish sources (sifrei taytsh) for a halakhic decision. See Shivhei ha-Besht, ed. Avraham Rubinstein (Jerusalem: Reuven Mass, 1991), 55; In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov [Shivhei ha-Besht]: TheEarliest Collectionof Legendsabout the Founderof Hasidism,trans.and ed. Dan BenAmos andJeromeR. Mintz (Bloomington:IndianaUniversityPress, 1970), 27, tale 14. RabbiGershon representstraditionalrabbinicculture,in which biblical Hebrewand laterloshn kodeshwere ascribed sanctity and status.But Hasidism,with its populistbase, embracedYiddishmore willingly. 11. The Hebrewof Shivheiha-Beshtretainsmanytracesof oral transmission,particularlyin its use of Yiddish and Russian words. An article by Menashe Unger lists more than a hundredYiddish words in Shivheiha-Besht, some of them used severaltimes. See "Yidisheverterin Shivheiha-Besht," Yidisheshprakh21 (1961): 65-73. 12. The socioeconomic side to this situationis beyond the scope of this essay. It is significant, however,that because hasidic writings gave voice to a less educatedsegment of the population,their Hebrewwas Yiddish-inflectedand less associatedwith biblical or medievalmelizah.At the same time, NathanSternharzdeliberatelyrejectedmelizah;see Shmuel Werses'discussion of this point in the introductionto Joseph Perl'sMa'asiyotve-'igrotmi-zadikim'amitiimu-mi-'ansheishlomeinu,45. 13. JosephPerl,Megaleh temirin(Vienna:Strauss, 1819), 2a. 14. Sippureimayses [1815], ed. NathanSternharz(Jerusalem:Hasidei Braslev, 1979). 15. How did a verb meaning"to sit" come to mean "to ponder"?The closest thingto an ancient precedentfor this usage is the Talmudicphraseyashav 'al ha-medokha,which means to pondera problem, because it evokes the metaphorof sitting over a mortarand pestle to grind somethingup into a powder.See Even-Shoshan'sHa-milonhe-hadash(Jerusalem:Kiryatsefer, 1985), 2:632. This is analogous to the derivationof"to ruminate"from the literalmeaningof the Latinverb ruminan,"to chew." 16. Thereare countlessexamples of the typical,Yiddish-based,hasidic et azmo.The editorwho appendedthe paragraphat the end of Nathan'ssecond preface to Sippureimayses, for example, uses

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Joseph Perl's Escape From Biblical Epigonism ofNahman'sSippureimaysesthatPerlparodiesis the use of glosses to explainless familiarHebrewwords.Forexample,at the startof "TheLoss of the Princess,"the wise man sees a mivzar,which is glossed by the parenthetical,Aramaic tinged wordsshe-korinshlos. ExplanatoryYiddish glosses also occur in Perl'swritings, where they work both as parodyand as aids to less educatedreaders. At the end of his second preface to Sippureimayses, Nathan Sternharzrespondsto contemporarycriticismsand touches on his reasonfor using simple Hebrew. He apologizes for the lowly and even vulgar language (he calls it leshonot gasim) in the stories.17An editorof the 1850 edition-possibly RabbiNahmanof Tulchin'8-explains the reason for this: Nahmanof Bratslav"toldthe tales in the Yiddish(leshonAshkenaz)used in ourland,"andthenNathan"translatedthem into the Holy Tongueand deliberatelyloweredhimself to a simple language-in order thatthe matterwould not be changedfor a personreadingthem in the Holy Tongue (leshon ha-kodesh)"(xiv). According to this explanation,then, the Yiddishized Hebrewis motivatedby a wish to convey Nahman'sYiddish storytellingaccurately in Hebrew.19Nathan Sternharzgives two examples, both based on Yiddish expressions: necasehbrogez Caleiha-he became angry with her (in the parallel Yiddishversion:iz afir brogezgevorn, 1) and lakahet Cazmo el ha-shtiah--he took to the bottle (in the parallelYiddish:hot er zikhgenumentsumtrunk,119; the concern is linguistic;if the issue were shockingcontents,the apology could have mentioned the next sentence, ve-halakhle-veit ha-zonot.) In any event, the preface to the second editionofSippureimaysesacknowledgesthatthe Hebrewmightbe considered substandard.But that lowly Hebrew,mimickingYiddish, was justified by the desire to remainas close as possible to Nahman'sown words-the Hebrewis supposed to sound like Yiddish. In turn, following Nathan Sternharz'sexample, Perl used a low Hebrew to parody the hasidic style of writing. The critical reception of Perl'swork, in the early twentiethcentury,emphasizedthat the Hebrew of Megaleh temirinwas "a barbarousjargon,"20which enabledPerlto mock "thecorruptHebrewof the Zaddikim."2'According to IsraelDavidson, "thenatureof this style is that it pays no heed to grammar,mixes the Hebrew with Yiddish, Polish and Russian words indiscriminately,and gives manyYiddish idioms in a literal Hebrewtranslation."22 the phrasesmezarezet azmo andhorid et azmo.Anotherinstanceof NathanSternharz'sYiddish-sounding Hebrewis the phrase"yeshrahmonesalav" (4). 17. The passage discussed here was found,accordingto the editor of the 1850 edition, among Nathan'sposthumouswritings. 18. See Mendel Piekarz, Hasidut Breslav: p'rakim be-hayei meholelah, bikhtaveiha uvesafiheiha, 2nd ed. (Jerusalem:Mossad Bialik, 1995), 188. 19. CompareLewis Glinert, "The Hasidic Tale and the Sociolinguistic Modernizationof the Jewsof EasternEurope,"section4, in Ma'asehsippur:Studiesin Honorof YoavElstein,ed. Rella Kushelevsky (Tel Aviv: Bar Ilan UniversityPress, forthcoming). 20. NathanGordon,"JosephPerl'sMegallehTemirin,"Hebrew Union CollegeAnnual (1904): 235. 21. Israel Davidson, Parodyin Jewish Literature(New York:ColumbiaUniversity, 1907), 61. 22. Davidson, Parody in Jewish Literature, 62.

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Ken Frieden Recently, Dov Taylorhas agreed simply that "the Hebrew style of Perl'shasidic charactersis corrupt,"and his translationof the book amply conveys this view.23 In his renderingof Revealer of Secrets, the hasidim write like illiteratesand talk like ignoramuses. We need to rehabilitate the allegedly "barbarous"Hebrew of Megaleh temirin-because the Hebrew of Perl'slow-class charactersmade a seminal, enduringcontributionto Judaicliterature.Some critics have seen a line of development fromPerl'sHebrewto the style of S. Y.Abramovitsh,24the "nusahMendele" that was championedby H. N. Bialik in 1910-12.25 But Abramovitsh-Mendele usually avoidedthe Hebrewstyle of Perl'shasidimandkeptto the high roadof biblical and mishnaicHebrew,medievalpoetry,and some Aramaicfromthe Talmud. As a result,Abramovitsh'sHebrewnovels, when they were translatedand adapted from his Yiddish originals,never fully succeeded in capturingthe vernaculartone of his Yiddish. SholemAleichem, who was the masterat creatingfolk voices, had a greaterappreciationfor the significance and humorof "the language of Megaleh temirin."26 The synthesis of biblical and rabbinicHebrewstratawas not Perl'sgreatest accomplishment.By mimickingYiddish speech, Perl succeeded in imitatingthe spoken word even more thanAbramovitshlater did in Hebrew-and in so doing he anticipatedthe anti-nusahof I. L. PeretzandY. H. Brenner,as well as much of the Hebrewnow spoken in Israel.27The evolution of Perl'sHebrew style may be followed from his Luah ha-lev (1813-16) and his parody of Nahman's stories 23. Joseph Perl s RevealerofSecrets: TheFirst HebrewNovel, trans.Dov Taylor(Boulder,CO: WestviewPress, 1997), lii. 24. Jeremy Dauber,Antonio's Devils: Writersof the Jewish Enlightenmentand the Birth of ModernJewishLiterature(Stanford:StanfordUniversityPress,2004): "Inthe Hebrewof Perl'sMegale Temirin,a complex interplayof various strataof language, of resonanceand nonresonance,of Biblicism and secularism,emerges that had yet to appearin any earliermodernHebrewliterature.This final synthesis of Perl'swork becomes the stylistic startingpoint for the laternusakhMendele,which in turnsubsequentlyinfluencedwriterslike Bialik andAgnon"(269). This may be true,but thereare also significant featuresin Perl'sHebrewthat were neglected by the nusah. 25. Bialik wrote the first of two key essays for the celebrationof Abramovitsh's75th birthday, which only partlyaccounts for its exaggerations.See H. N. Bialik, "Yozerha-nusah,"Ha-colam4, no. 50 (1910-11): 6-8, and "Mendeleu-shloshet ha-kerakhim,"in Kol kitvei Mendele MoykherSforim, vol. 3 (Odessa:Va'adha-yovel, 1912), 324-31. Fora reexaminationof Bialik'stheses regarding"nusah Mendele,"see Ken Frieden,"'Nusah Mendele'be-mabatbikoreti,"Dappimle-mehkarbe-sifrut14-15 (2005), and "EpigonismafterAbramovitshand Bialik,"StudiaRosenthaliana(2006), forthcoming. 26. Shimon Dubnov states that he and Sholem Aleichem "carriedon a humoristiccorrespondence ... in the languageof Megaleh temirin."David Assaf has examinedthe pertinentlettersclosely, however,and has concluded that this formulationis imprecise. See Dubnov'sFun "zhargon" tsu Yidishun andereartiklen:literarishezikhroynes(Vilna:Kletzkin, 1929), 40 and 59, andAssaf's "'Ahuvi re'i, ha-magid miDubna': mikhtevei bedihot ba-signon 'Megaleh temirin' she-hehlifu beneihem Sholem Aleichem ve-Shimon Dubnov,"Chulyot5 (1999): 61-107. 27. On the anti-nusah,see Gershon Shaked,"I. L. Peretz,"in Ha-sifrut ha- Ivrit 1880-1980, vol. 1 (TelAviv: Keter, 1977), 130-63, 468. On IsraeliHebrew,see Abba Bendavid'sremarkat the beginning of his prefaceto the 1967 edition ofLeshon mikra'u-leshonhakhamim.He refersto the dulled linguistic sensibilities of his currentgeneration,which "writesHebrewwords, but translated:the older people translatefromYiddish, and the young people from English"(v).

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Joseph Perl's Escape From Biblical Epigonism (1816?), throughMegaleh temirin (1819), to his final and stylistically most advanced work,Bohenzadik (1838). In 1937Yosef Klausnersummedup the standardview of Perl'smock-hasidic Hebrew:"Tothis day, 'the languageof Megaleh temirin'is a name for faulty,Yiddish inflected,barbarouslanguage."28Yet Klausnerdoesn't simply accept a pejorative view of the hasidic style in Hebrew.He reconsidersthe usual critiques of hasidic writing and adds: Thefolklanguageis alwaysdifferentfromthatof theenlightened, andespeciallyfromthatof writers.Andindeed,muchof whatthereis in thefolklanandthe guage,andwhichis considered corruptin theeyesof theenlightened a after certain naturalized amount of time becomes and authors, slowlyenters the enlightenedliterarylanguage.... Sometimesthecorrupt,folk language of thehasidimis morealiveandmorenaturalthantheflowery,Enlightenment That language.... PerlwaswrongwhenheridiculedandscornedfolkHebrew. thatareunlanguagebegsto be cleansedof coarsemistakesandbarbarisms simplybenecessaryandmisplaced;butit shouldnotbe entirelysuppressed causeit'snot the flowerybiblicallanguage.. . . YetPerlhadno notionof a living,folk Hebrew,andbecauseof this he scornedthe languageof the hasidim.29 [Ellipsesmine.] From our standpoint,the content of Perl'ssatire is less importantthan are the literaryeffects he achieved by parodyingand then transforminghasidic Hebrew. Z. Kalmanovitsh,in his 1937 discussionof Perl'sYiddishwritings,also comments on Perl'sHebrew style. He claims that it is not really a parody of hasidic writing, because it accuratelyemulates it and exaggerates its flaws: "Perldidn't need to thinkup anythingnew, he drew from what was alreadythere. In Megaleh temirin,his achievementwas that he conveyed this linguistic usage in a concentratedform, suitedto the content."30Kalmanovitshaddsa sociolinguisticpoint:"If one may say thatHebrewalso lived among the Jewishpeople before the recentattempt to revive it as a spoken language, it lived in exactly this form of a 'folkloristic' Hebrew,as one could characterizeit. And it still [thatis, in 1937] sounds this way in the Land of Israel, in the mouths of adults who come from among the Yiddish-speakingcommunities."31Insteadof seeing hasidic Hebrewand "thelanguage of Megaleh temirin"as just corruptionsof melizah, then, we can revalue them as more natural,folk expressions of the revival of Hebrew.Lewis Glinert corroboratesthis view, writing that "thepopularstyle of the Hasidic tales played an essential part in the emergence of the new Hebrew of the Yishuv, sociolinguistically-in terms of creatingnew social functionsfor Hebrewand attitudesto it-and ethnolinguistically,in terms of the new actions that Hebrew would per28. "Lashonshel Megaleh temirin" hi cadha-yom kinui le-lashon meshubeshet,mezhorgenet u-barbarit.YosefKlausner,Historiyashel ha-sifrutha-7Ivrithe-hadashah,vol. 2 (Jerusalem:Hebrew University, 1937), 303. 29. Ibid., 304-06. 30. Yidisheksovim,ed. IsraelVaynlezand Z. Kalmanovitsh(Vilna:YIVO, 1937), xcix. 31. Ibid., xcix.

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Ken Frieden form.""32 Perlfirst extractedhasidic-styleHebrewandmade it availableto Hebrew writersas the butt of parody;he then distilled the hasidic mode into a substratum for the original style of his late fiction. Klausnerand Kalmanovitshwere followed by lesser authorsin this revaluation of lhasidicHebrew.Regardingthe languageof hasidic books, AharonBen-Or (Orinovski)writes that "Perlpoints to it as a symbol of barbarismand ignorance, and we value it as the beginning of popular [or national, amamit]Hebrew,alive and natural."33In a relatedvein, following the new appreciationof hasidic writing, BaruchKurzweilrecognizedthatPerlwas second to none in Hebrewprosebefore Abramovitsh.34More recently, Shmuel Werses and Khone Shmeruk have writtenextensively on Perl'sHebrewandYiddish work.35Of particularrelevance here is Werses' recognitionof ways in which the Hebrew of Megaleh temirinis based on an implicitYiddish model.36 Alreadyin 1813-16, influencedby his friendandmentorMendelLefin, Perl expressed his opinion about the importanceof writing Hebrew in a simple, clear style. Initiallyhe may havebeen motivatedby pedagogicalconsiderations,because at the time he was establishinghis new, modem school for Jewish children.37For threeyears he printedLuahha-lev, which consisted of Hebrewwritingsappended to a popularcalendar;his prefatorycommentsalways includedthis passage:

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32. Glinert, "The Hasidic Tale and the Sociolinguistic Modernizationof the Jews of Eastern Europe,"section 5 (as cited in footnote 19). 33. AharonBen-Or(Orinovski),Toldotha-sifrutha-7Ivrithe-hadashah,vol. 1 (TelAviv:Yizreel, 1966), 77. 34. BaruchKurzweil,Be-ma'avak'al 'arkheiha-Yahadut(Jerusalem:Schocken, 1970), 70. 35. In additionto their extensive introductionto Perl'sMacasiyotve-'igrotmi-zadikim'amitiim u-mi-anshei shlomeinu, see chapter six in Shmeruk'sSifrut Yidish:prakim le-toldoteiha (Tel Aviv: PorterInstituteof Tel Aviv University, 1978) and the many pertinentchaptersand articles in Werses' Sippuru-shoresho:"iyunimba-hitpathutha-prozaha-7Ivrit(RamatGan:Massada,1971), Mi-lashonel lashon: yezirot ve-gilguleihembe-sifruteinu(Jerusalem:Magnes, 1996), and 'Hakiza ami': sifrut hahaskala ba-Cidanha-modernizazia(Jerusalem:Magnes, 2001). 36. See "Mi-lashon el lashon: samemenei ha-nusah be-yidish shel 'Megaleh temirin' me'et Joseph Perl,"Chulyot3 (1996): 80, and JeremyDauber'sdiscussion in Antonio'sDevils, 286-87. 37. See "JosephPerl vi a bildungs-tuerun zayn shul in Tarnopol(125 yor nokh ir grindung)," YIVObleter 31-32 (1948): 131-90. Nancy Sinkoff discusses Perl'sactivities, includinghis creationof the IsraeliteFree School in Tarnopol-the first modernJewish school in Galicia-in her book Out of the Shtetl, 225-37. 38. Luahha-lev 1813-16 [reprintof the essayistic sections of three calendarsoriginallyprinted by JosephPerl in Tarnopol],ed. MenuhaGilboa (TelAviv:Tel Aviv University,n.d.), 1, 27, 59. One exemplarypassage is Perl'smoralisticretelling of an aggadic story of a fisherman.See Luahha-lev 2 (1814-15): 8-10; in the TelAviv reprint,33-36. The only thoroughanalysisof these earlywritingsby Perl is by RaphaelMahlerin Hasidismand the Jewish Enlightenment(as cited in note 3), chapter5; he

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Joseph Perl'sEscape From Biblical Epigonism AndbecauseI spoketo theheartof mypeople,I havetoldthingsthatarepleasingto thespirit;in orderthatthateverypersonwillreadit witheaseandwithout toil, I havewrittenin a purelanguagethat is simplefor everyoneto hereand fromourTalmud, understand. AndeventhethingsthatI haveexcerpted thereI havechangedtheAramaic, whichwascommontheninspeech,butwhich is nowforeignandstrangeto people.I havechosento speakin a Hebrewthat all Israelwill listento, andtheywillunderstand thewordsof thesagesandthe of their hearts. What I have is done nothingnewunderthesun... .39 thoughts Even before he began to write his parodies of hasidic speech, then, Perl experimented with a pared-downHebrew style that deviated from norms of maskilic melizah.He was alreadymoving towarda "low"registerandwas ableto give fullest expressionto this when makingfun of the hasidim.At the same time, thereare still traces of biblicism-for example, in Perl'suse of the wordsya'an ki, lemacanasher, Cata,and in the allusion to Ecclesiastes, ein zeh hadash tahatha-shemesh.40 An example of quotedspeech fromMegaleh temirinillustratesthe powerof Perl'sHebrew.In letter80, the Rebbe'sassistantexplainsthathe decided to eavesdropon a conversationbetween the Rebbe and his wife, because he expectedhigh spiritualityto resoundfromthe Rebbe'ssecludedroom (beit hitbodedut).The representationof lively dialogue is particularlysignificant in this scene: 1 11inn tlo T K6ml7-ilnfl: n'-inn m,7lTkru' 1 rTfP'-flf131 Yl1n,' nnu'l-n' n711"01 712~,-n' ' -71<11M ntrirr ta1'-t7V ,'t2rri2 -KWrIM ntan7 ,rn'711:1nn . rrmui,"'rxn , x ,n runi inn ,'',n" iv',n • -1 ,v•,nt 5n ,rir ,rmr unl ' Im " mmw n, nnwm ,rawvun ta,27.7tnVIar;113.,27 i'a lYp .rrn nn ra

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arguesthatPerl'saestheticof simplicity is really a pretextfor replacinglate Hebrewby biblical Hebrew (152-53). The Hebrewedition of Mahler'sbook is Ha-hasidutve-ha-haskala(Merhavia:Sifriatpoalim, 1961). Compare Shmuel Werses' comments in the introductionto Perl'sMa'asiyot ve-'igrot mizadikim'amitiimu-mi-ansheishlomeinu,42. 39. All translationsof Perl'sHebrewareby the authorof this article;here and in subsequentexamples, periods have been added to phrases in which Perl simply uses a string of commas. The only majorworkby Perlto have been translatedinto English is RevealerofSecrets, trans.Dov Taylor(Boulder, CO:WestviewPress, 1997). A measureof the extent to which his writinghas been undervaluedis the fact that Perl'stwo Hebrewnovels have not even been reprintedin Israel, though JonatanMeir is currentlyworking on a critical edition of Bohen zadik. One unfinished book was edited by Khone Shmerukand Shmuel Wersesusing extantmanuscripts:Ma'asiyotve-'igrotmi-zadikim'amitiimu-mianshei shlomeinu(Jerusalem:IsraeliAcademy,[1970]). 40. Accordingto Abba Bendavid,however,Ecclesiastes providessome of the best examples of late Hebrew,closer to the style of the Mishnah(Bendavid 1967, 77-80); see also the first edition of this work,Leshon ha-mikrao leshon hakhamim?(Tel Aviv: Mahberotle-sifrut, 1951), 82-86.

273

Ken Frieden AndI wantedto hearwhatourholyRebbewouldtalkaboutwithhis saintly wife,longmayshelive.Forthethingsthathe talksaboutwithherin hishouse of seclusion-obviouslytheyaretimelessandsecretandexaltedto thehighest heights,becauseat thattimeno one is permitted to go there.AndI stood neartheroomfor abouta quarterof an houranddidn'thearanything.After thatI heardoursaintlyRebbe,long life to him,say:In my opinion,fifty is enough.Andhis saintlywife,longmayshelive,said,You'realwaysstingyjust withme.Howmanypeopleeatanddrinkatyourhouse,thoughyougetnothing fromthem?You'renotstingythen,butwithme you'realwaysstingy.Our it?Of courseit hasto be Rebbe,longlife to him,said,Youdon'tunderstand thatway.I knowverywellwhyI'mnotstingyaboutfoodwhentheycometo myhouse.OurRebbealsosaid,Didn'tI promiseyouno morethanfifty?His saintlywife, longlife to her,said,Whatdo youmean?Youdidn'tpromiseme becauseyouhaven'tknownthatso muchmoneywouldcomeyourway.But nowthattheybroughtyoua lot,whydon'tyougiveme at leastseventy-five? AndourRebbe,longlifeto him,said,WhatcanI dowithyou?You'reso stubborn.AndI heardhimcountingoutmoneyforher.(31b) The humorof this passage derives from the clash between the assistant'sspiritual expectations and the mundanereality of the Rebbe's life. The imperfectHebrew enhances this effect while conveying the concretenessof an argumentover money. Among hints of the implicitYiddishoriginalis the compoundpast (lo haitayodeca for host nit gevust), translatedhere as "you haven't known" to suggest its awkwardness.The marital dispute sounds quite contemporary,and apart from some of the grammaticalmistakes (e.g., ata for at), most of the dialogue could be spoken in Israeltoday.41 Soon afterMegaleh temirinwas published,the young Isaac Ber Levinsohn known as "RIBaL")wroteone of the first literaryresponses:a dialoguecalled (later in a Hebrewstyle thatsomewhatresemblesthatof Perl'sbook. Levinsod, Megaleh sohn sent the short manuscriptto Perl, who acknowledgedhaving received it in a letter datedNovember 17, 1820. Perl praisedLevinsohn'stext and recommended that Levinsohnexpandthe work and publishit.42Forreasonsthat remainunclear, however, Levinsohn did not add to his dialogue; instead, Perl eventually added three lettersand arrangedto have the book publishedin 1830.43 41. Thispurportsto be thetranslation of a Yiddishdialogue.Accordingto the fictionalconAnotherpasmistakesarethoseof theRebbe'seavesdropping vention,then,thegrammatical secretary. Anangryperson aYiddishexpression. sagein letter97 givesa clearinstanceof Hebrewthattranslates from ki 'anie'asehlekhasofshahor.Thesecondphraseis implicitlytranslated says,lekhteikefmimeni, Yiddish,ikhveldirmakhna shvartsnsof 42. See JonatanMeir'sintroduction to his Hebreweditionof Divreizadikim,entitledWords of theRighteous: AnAnti-Hasidic SatirebyJosephPerlandIsaacBaerLevinsohn (LosAngeles:Cherub DiPress,2004),21. TheHebrewtitleof thisscholarlyeditionis GilgulavshelMegalehsod:kuntras vreizadikimle-RIBaL ve-YosefPerl. 43. I. B. Levinsohn and Joseph Perl, Divrei zadikim: lehodia ezei derekhyishkon 'or; kolel shalosh 'igrotve-siha bein shnei hasidimbe-veit tefilatamha-nikr'ahasidimshtibl 'o kleyzl/ asher be-

kehilatkodeshAluk/ 'al 'odotSefermegalehtemirinha-meuhas leha-hasidrebOvadyabenPesahia (Vienna:AntonSchmid,1830).

274

Joseph Perl's Escape From Biblical Epigonism Levinsohn'sHebrewdialogueis a kind of missing link between Perl'sMegatemirin and his second novel. Most significantly,Levinsohnmoves beyondthe leh form when he structureshis responseto Megaleh temirinas a dialogue epistolary betweenhasidim.The fact thatone characteris named"RebHenoch"suggests, in addition,thatLevinsohnmay be alludingto the plays by Isaac Euchel andAharon Wolfsohn.The dialogue opens with Reb Hirsh Itsik wonderingaloud who wrote Megaleh temirin.Reb Henoch says, "Of course,one of the briyot,"probablyreferring to the maskilim.After Reb Henoch says that his cousin is also a briya, they have this exchange: 6 ,rnmin-i ?-Y, -mi'x =1 7 -rln vn MW t3-TK 15f Mlr 5~Y

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Reb HirshItsik.Whatareyousaying,yourcousinis alsoa briah,Godsave us.Whatdoeshe say,forexample?Whatdoeshe do? RebHenoch.What'she goingto sayandwhat'she goingto do?Hedoeswhat all of thebriyotdo, sitsall dayoverbooksandstudiesnonsenseandhe never goes outwithanyone,evensometimesto drinkbrandyat thetavern. Reb HirshItsik.Godsaveus, it'sa frightto hear,buttell,pleasetell forexamplewhat'swrittenin theirbooks. Reb Henoch. I don't know, it's all nonsense and rhymes. (Divrei zadikim,

1830,8-9) Like the hasidim in Megaleh temirin,Levinsohn'scharactersoveruse the Yiddish reflexive form invr nx (e.g., saying lomed et 'azmo for the Yiddish lernt zikh). Moreover,Levinsohn anticipates Perl's Bohen zadik in this heavily Yiddish-inflected exchange. The charactersuse Yiddish words (e.g., sforimlekh)and typical YiddishAramaisms(e.g., rahmanaleizlan). There is little in Hebrewprose of the time that compareswith Levinsohn's creationof whatsoundslike a colloquialdialogue.The closest precedentis perhaps AharonHalle-Wolfsohn'sHebrewversion of his Yiddishplay Laykhtzinunfremelay (1796), which was circulatedin manuscriptamong maskilimbut was not published until 1955.44 Otherforerunnerswere Wolfsohn'sdialogues,including"Siha be-erezha-hayim,"which was printedseriallyin Ha-me'asseffrom 1794 to 1797.45 44. See BernardWeinryb,"AnUnknownHebrew Play of the GermanHaskalah,"in Proceedings of theAmericanAcademyfor Jewish Research24 (1955): 1-36 (Hebrewnumbering).Dan Miron provides a numberof insights into this work in the introductionto his edition of Wolfsohn'splay,Kalut dacatve-zvi'ut[Reb Hanokhve-RebYoseJkhe](Tel Aviv: Siman kri'ah, 1977). Perhapsthe most essential similarity in this line of development--from Wolfsohn, through Levinsohn, to Perl-is the implicit presenceof severalcompetinglanguages,in which the Hebrewconveys the languagestruggle that is takingplace. 45. "Sihahbe-erez ha-hayim,"Ha-me'assef7 (1794), 1:54-67; 7 (1795), 2:120-53; 7 (1796),

275

Ken Frieden Dialogues were a populargenre in Hebrewhaskalawriting.46But apartfromtheir rareplays, authorslike Wolfsohngenerallywrote stilteddialoguesof historicalpersonages, such as Maimonidesand Mendelssohn, in the ancient traditionof "dialogues of the dead." It seems thatPerlwas influencedby LevinsohnandWolfsohnwhen he chose to makethe dialogueform a centralfeatureof his second book.47At aboutthe same time as Perladdedhis threelettersto Levinsohn'sdialogueDivreizadikimand prepared the manuscriptfor publication,he wrote Dover 'emet,which was the first draftof Bohen zadik.48Perl'sindebtednessto Levinsohn may be reflected in his recycling of his title-transferring the roots of both words in Divrei zadikiminto the successive, singulartitles Dover emet and Bohenzadik. Moreover,the overall conceptionof Bohenzadik closely resemblesthe opening thrustof Divrei zadikim: in both texts, readersdiscuss the book Megaleh temirin. InPerl'sBohenzadik,thepremiseis thatOvadya-the fictionalauthor-plans to become invisibleandrecordeverythinghe hearspeople (like the charactersin Divreizadikim)sayingaboutthe priorcollectionof lettershe supposedlyedited,Megaleh temirin.He knows, however,thathe will not be able to write as fast as people talk.Aheadof his time,therefore,Perlhasto inventa kindof taperecorder-or voicerecognitionsoftware.Ovadyafinds a magic writingpad (shraybtafel)thatwill take downeverythingpeople say.Afterit is full he will need to erasethe pages, so he hires two scribes who "will copy [and translate]them into loshn kodesh."49One of the scribesis a descendantofAlexanderShohet,who was a scribefor the Besht for eight years;his son-in-lawis often consideredto have compiled Shivhei ha-Besht.This makes explicitthatPerl'sscribewill write Hebrewin the hlasidicmode-much like Nathan,when he translatesNahman'soralYiddishstorytellinginto Hebrew. There is a majordifferencebetween this literarypretenseand that of Megaleh temirin.Like other epistolarynovels, Megaleh temirinconsists of letters sup3:203-27; and 7 (1797), 4:279-98. CompareMoshe Pelli, Dor ha-me'asfimbe-shaharha-haskalah: terumatamha-sifrutitshel haluzeiHa-me'assef ktav-ha-cetha-lvri ha-rishon, le-haskala ha-'lvrit bereshita (Tel Aviv: Ha-kibbuzha-me'uhad,2001), 93-98. See also JuttaStrauss,"AaronHalle-Wolfssohn: Ein Leben in drei Sprachen,"in MusikundAsthetikim Berlin Moses Mendelssohns,ed. Anselm Gerhard(Tilbingen:Max Niemeyer, 1999), 73-74. 46. See Moshe Pelli, Sugot ve-sugiot ba-sifrut ha-haskala ha-WIvrit: ha-genre ha-maskili veavizareihu(Tel Aviv: Ha-kibbuzha-meuhad,1999), 48-60. 47. Shmuel Werses mentions the possibility that Perl was influenced both by real dialogues aboutMegaleh temirinand by Levinsohn'sdialogue in draft,Megalehsod. See "Bein mezi'ut le-bidyon: 'Megalehtemirin'shel JosephPerlbe-'einei maskilimve-hasidim,"in Be-macagaleihasidim:kovetz ma'amarimmukdashl'zekhroshel MordechaiVilenski(Jerusalem:Mossad Bialik, 2000), 213. Moreover, Khone Shmerukrefers to the possibility that Perl drew from actualhasidic letters. See "Dvarim kehaviatam ve-dvarim she-bedimion be-'Megaleh temirin' shel Joseph Perl," in the collection of Shmeruk'sessays: Ha-kri'a la-nav'i: mehkareihistoria ve-sifrut,ed. Israel Bartal(Jerusalem:Shazar Center, 1999), 151. A seminal study of connections between Perl's literarywriting and his reformist activities is Raphael Mahler'sarticle "JosephPerls kamf kegn khasides in likht fun ofitsiele dokumentn,"in the earlyYiddish edition of his book, Der kamftsvishn haskole un khasides in Galitsia in der ershter helftfun 19tn yorhundert (New York: YIVO, 1942), 164-202; Hasidism and the Jewish Enlightenment, 121-48.

48. See JonatanMeir'sintroductionto Divrei zadikim(2004), 26. 49. JosephPerl,Bohenzadik (Prague:Landau,1838), 15.

276

in the English translation,

Joseph Perl's Escape From Biblical Epigonism posedly writtenby the fictional characters.Yet in the most innovativesegment of Bohen zadik (pages 18-37 in the first and only edition of this neglected masterwork),the book purportsto be a transcriptionof dialogues.Because the characters in Bohen zadik speakYiddish,we readthe Hebrewtranslationof theiroral speech. This conveys what we alreadyknow about the hasidic Hebrew writing of Perl's characters:it is translatedfromYiddish.As Kalmanovitshputs it, the Hebrewversion of Megaleh temirin"is built upon a Yiddish foundation."50 Whatmakes Bohen zadik especially interestingis how Perl writes-or pretends to have his scribes write-a Hebrewthat he considers adequateto convey oral speech. At a time when maskilic Hebrew was still dominated by biblical melizah, Perluses the "folkloristicHebrew"influencedby Yiddish speech as well as by the Hebrew of Shivhei ha-Besht and Nahman'sworks (as written down by NathanSternharz).InBohenzadikPerlis less concernedto satirizethe hasidicway of writingHebrewandmoreinterestedin giving the impressionof ordinaryspeech. Long before "nusahMendele"pushed beyond the limits of haskalaHebrew,Perl experimentedwith anotherway to create lifelike dialogue. In the beginningof the first argumentPerlhearsaboutMegaleh temirin,two charactersdispute whetherit is "full of nonsense"or "full of hamzoes": nni rmnm 73 3ni rlnr lx 2riMi -11)3113

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h

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[Itsik:]Haveyou seenthebookMegalehtemirin?It'sfullof nonsense. Yehudah:Listento meandbe quiet,becausepeoplewill laughatyou.It'sfull of noveltiesandsmartideas,andeverything writtenin it is true.(18) Thereis a liveliness aboutthis dialoguethatdifferentiatesit frommelizahandfrom the contemporaryHebrewin publicationslike Keremhemed.Perl'scharacter'suse of the word shtut is mishnaic-mediated by hasidic usage and Levinsohn'sparobut dic use, quoted above, in Divrei zadikim.The more common pluralis rrilu•w, anin literature.52 Yehuda's as is also in medieval found (shtusim, Yiddish) t•rnlu swer contains three Hebrew words that had picked up new meanings by passing throughtheirYiddish usages: ha-oylem,hamzoes, and hokhmes.The Yiddishized version of hamza'otworkswell with the irony in this passage. The origins are medieval, as when the Hebrew translationof Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed uses the wordhamza'otto mean creationsor inventions.53But the Yiddish-inflect50. See Joseph Perl's Yidisheksovim,as cited in footnote 30, ci. 51. The typesettersadded many more errorsto those Perl intendedhis fictitious scribes to appearto make.A long erratalist correctsthem;in this passage, for example,she-katavshouldbe emended to she-katuv. 52. See AvrahamEven-Shoshan'sentryunder"Shtut"in Ha-milonhe-hadash(Jerusalem:Kiriat sefer, 1985), 4:1353, and ErnestKlein's entry in A ComprehensiveEtymologicalDictionary of the HebrewLanguagefor Readers of English (Jerusalem:Universityof Haifa, 1987), 652. 53. Even-Shoshan,Ha-milon he-hadash, 1:275; Klein, ComprehensiveEtymologicalDictionary of the HebrewLanguage, 154.

277

Ken Frieden ed hamzoescan mean schemes, stratagems,or novelties.54And while hokhmahis usually a good thing in Hebrew,in Yiddishkhokhmesare false, as-if "wise"ideas. So, if a charactersays thatPerl'sbook is full of these things, Perlhimself preserves an ironic ambiguity:does the charactermeanthatMegalehtemirinis full of worthwhile inventionsandwise remarks,or thatit is characterizedmoreby schemes and the false wisdom of the rebbes? In the next roundof debates,Avromasks: "Haveyou seen the new book?" (A long list of errataat the end of Bohen zadik corrects,among otherthings, hasefer hadashto ha-sefer he-hadash-the printeraddedmistakesto those made by Perl'sfictional scribes.) n~nurtnnK ?[in erratalist = w'vnr]vwrn MWU

1:

1 Iv--1111M K 1111K I -my, .01rr1P~n r1KII xnnm xx1K nn-nIM ix ,Y'Itr -73x my mnnu n-ms-1 :1n-1n11-K

3 vLjK-n

-mrix nrin orn-i ~ -m7m -Inx t3wU 5ion', x-.m wn-75 =55nn -non tnK nxlmz In< nnormb; .n xK

.nm

rvu

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i

tri

ionrim

im

1:3

trT

tri-mix

Mordechai:I lookedat a few lettersin it. It seemsto havebeenwrittenby someapikores. YehielLeybush:An apikoreswrotethebook?Whosaidthat?I don'tknow,I didn't see any apikorsusin it.

Mendl:I readit andit seemedto me thatsomehasidwroteit. Whynot?I saw some things about a rebbe and they were just the same as rebbes really are.

YehielLeybush:Whatareyousaying,a hasidwrotethebook?Howdoessuch a thingoccurto you?(20-21) As in Divrei zadikim, the characterswonder who could have written Megaleh temirin.Linguistically,the last phraseis an amusingtwist: eikh nofel lekhemzot? is an over-literaltranslationof the Yiddish vifalt es aykhayn? In addition,Perl is again making a joke of ambiguity.Mendl argues for the genuineness of Megaleh temirinbecause, he says, it reflects the true natureof hasidic leaders. Left unsaid is whetherthis means thatit praises or defames the rebbes.More to the point, this Hebrewdialogue resemblesthe way people speak-in Yiddish, that is.55 54. See AlexanderHarkavy,Yiddish-English-Hebrew Dictionary,2nd ed. (New York:YIVO and Schocken, 1988), 194; Uriel Weinreich,ModernEnglish-YiddishYiddish-EnglishDictionary, reprint vert(New York:YIVO, 1990), 635; andYitskhokNiborski and BernardVaisbrot,Yidish-Frantseyzish

in theopenuseof hamza'a erbukh(Paris:Medem-Bibliotek, AharonWolfsohn's 2002),238.Compare ve-zviut (ed.Miron,1977),61, a calqueon theYiddishnzxy•n thatis found ing linesof KalutdaCat in theYiddish/German versionof Laykhtzin unfremelay. 55. Anotherinterestingaspect of this passage relatesto the claim thatan apikoreswrote Megaleh temirin.In his prefaceto Megaleh temirin,Ovadyastatesthatthe simple Hebrewstyle of the rebbes

is becomingmorewidespread-tothepointthat"whenwe see oneof ourpeoplewritingin language thatis, theveryfact Froma hasidicperspective, thatis calledzah,he is considered to be anapikores." of writing "pure"biblical Hebrewcould be evidence that the authorhad been influencedby the secu-

278

Joseph Perl's Escape From Biblical Epigonism Soon after,Avrommakes a comment that, in Hebrew,echoes his idiomatic Yiddish way of expressinghimself: X?W

t;-n'7'K IKl1:1 X? vmy 1:1 wnm? *-7m .7n.1-y ni-Im ?. .nxT .73K -Inrnp IrlY ?In IV"

1:

'7?Xrllt)-1-j)'JD

1 73K~l

3'7-lnlX

n

t~lvXW

WX

13

71

7 -1rI

Avrom:Haveyoureadthebook,whatyousaythereis no apikorsusin it?I reallyhaven'treadit anddidn'tevenwantto lookat it. Whatdo I needwithit? I needit afkapores.(22) The opening question parallelsthe grammarof an implicitYiddishphrase,hot ir geleynt dos bukh,vos ir zogt az es iz in im nito keynapikorsus?Later,the Hebrew Calkaporesani zarikhzot is based on theYiddishexpressionikhdarfes afkapores. This is one of many instancesin which Hebrewwordswere borrowedby Yiddish, took on new folk meanings, and were then importedback into Hebrew.The combination of rhyme and metathesis between apikorus and af kapores adds to the humor. Fifty years before Abramovitshreturnedto Hebrew and developed the socalled nusah,Perlachievedremarkableresultsbased on a simple mishnaicHebrew that emulatedYiddish. Insteadof flowery language following the Hebrew of the Prophets,we get vibrantspeech, stichomythia,and lively dialogue like this conversationin a shop:

Y-nj

n

.,i~i, nw

my

-nnnrn

ri

nx3n

mixl7?

?x

xm-l

YehielLeybush:TodayI hada littlebattlein thebesmedreshaboutthebook Megalehtemirin. Elia:Inmyopinion,theauthordidn'thaveanythingto do andwrotethebook. YehielLeybush:Don'tsaythat-the authorknewwhathe waswriting.(26) The final phrase, using the Hebrew haya yode'a, calques the Yiddish composite past-tense form, hot gevust. Apart from this comic quirk,however,the fictional Hebrewof Ovadya'sscribe sounds colloquial and even contemporary.It has aged as well as any other nineteenth-centuryHebrew.In the following exchange, Perl saw fit to insert, as an explanatorygloss, the Yiddish expressionshlim mazl:

lix jpn

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-inurm

wnn?

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whichmight larizinghaskala.Yetmostof Megalehtemirinis in factwrittenin simple,hasidicHebrew, seemto support Yehiel'sviewthatit doesnotcontainapikorsus.

279

Ken Frieden Itsik:I don'tknowwhoaskedthe authorto writethisbook.He reallywants to fix (l'takein)the world[orpeople,ha-'olam].Bad luck(shlimmazl)for us-they wantto improveus by force. Yehiel:I don'tknowwhatyouwant.Theauthordidn'thaveanythingto do,so he wrotethebook. Itzik:He didn'thaveanythingto do?He shouldhavebeatenhis headagainst thewall.(29) Heret3lnvrrnx lpnr both suggests a kabbalistictikkuncolam and anothermeaning fromYiddish,in which the oylemmeans the people, the crowd,or the audience.In accordancewith this ambiguity,Itsikrefersto the author'spseudo-kabbalisticleanings, which mask his truemaskilic goals. The next sentencedispels the ambiguity, tipping the balance towardthe concealed meaning by adding that "they want to improve us by force." It may be that Perl's use of the parentheticalwords shlim mazl, as a gloss on rodamazal, reflects his goal of reaching a popularaudience. This device also remindsus thatthe fictional charactersareactuallyspeakingYiddish, no matterhow naturalthe Hebrewmay sound.Anothersuggestionof Yiddish usage lies in the word davka, an Aramaismthat came to modernHebrewthrough Yiddish. In this respect, using Aramaic to convey the popular level, Perl anticipates a distinctive featureof "nusahMendele"as developed by Abramovitshand Bialik. Perl createdthe illusion of a workablevernacular,both by using a mishnaic base andby emulatingYiddish.This is not the style of his own Hebrewletters,but he knew that it was necessary to convey the speech of everydaypeople. Tojustify using low Hebrew,Perlpretendsthatthese Yiddishdialogues have been translated by a hasidic scribe. In one laterdialogue, some people at an inn are arguingwith a book peddler who is trying to sell copies of Megaleh temirin: lu -ino 3YKwT K K?y n nm• -73yno,-1 yl-3 n nvan 'nn • 117U 37*-177m .17~~~i7 t1'113 lnnnmY IUxK in 'u-inur,

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Benjamin:It'sreallynecessaryto sell thisbook,whichis full of apikorsus? Obviouslyit'sveryimportant. on Avli:Pleasedon'tget angryatme.I'ma poorman,andI earn15kreutzers eachbook. Benjamin:I'll giveyou 15kreutzersif youdon'tcarrythishorridthing(hadvar mies ha-zeh) for sale.

Avli:I don'tknowwhyyou'remakinglightof me andwantmeto takea handoutfromyou.Godprotectme fromtakingcharity.I earnwhateverI need,so faras possible,in anhonorable manner,andI don'twantto takecharity.(32)

280

Joseph Perl's Escape From Biblical Epigonism Again,Yiddish-inflectedloshn koydeshwords-xvulw ando•1Kn-add a second, ironic layerof meaning. "Obviously"the book is important,or is it just mies?56 How was it possible to representeveryday speech in Hebrew,early in the nineteenthcentury?Jews were prayingand studyingin Hebrew,but seldom thinking originalthoughtsin Hebrew.Basically,lively Hebrewhad to be translatedfrom anotherlanguage-usually Yiddish."Lifelike"dialoguein Hebrewwas most often based on the existing vernacular.The Germanmaskilim stuck to their epigonic melizah,because they consideredany otherHebrewstyle "impure."Theirwriting, with its reliance on allusions to biblical Hebrew,almost automaticallydistancedit from featuresthat could sound like naturalspeech. Perl was more willing to use "low"Hebrew,at least to representeverydayJews. He moved beyond melizah and its biblical pastiches by mimickinghasidic HebrewandYiddishphrases. Following Linda Hutcheon,we may define parodyas repetitionwith a critical or ironic distance. Perl'saccomplishmentwas his parodyof several forms of hasidic writing:the mayse, the letter,and the shevah.And this parodyhelped Perl escape from mere epigonism in his Hebrew style, moving toward dialogue. In Megaleh temirin, the hasidic letters have a liveliness and vibrancy that is unmatchedby any otherhaskalaHebrew. FromMendel Lefin, Perlgained a more favorableview of Yiddishthanwas commonat his time andplace.57Like Lefin, PerltranslatedseveralworksintoYiddish, including his own Megaleh temirin and Fielding's TomJones, which enhanced his sense of what could be done in a vernacularmode. This is similar to what is often said of Abramovitsh,thathis laterHebrewstyle was enrichedby his Yiddishphase from 1864-78. Perl's Hebrew writing evolved rapidly from 1813 to 1819, from his early efforts in Luahha-lev to Megaleh temirin.Subsequentlyinfluencedby I. B. Levinsohn'sDivrei zadikim(writtenin 1820, but not publisheduntil 1830), Perl supplemented the epistolary form with dialogues. This had far-reachingconsequences. His parodicHebrewlettersfromhasidimoften mockedtheirfaultyusage while revealing corruptionfrom within. When Perl has Ovadyadecide to collect conversations among variouspeople discussing Megaleh temirin,he takes a major step forward.In the most innovativesections of Bohenzadik, Perl leaves literaryparody behind.His Hebrewstyle has attaineda powerand fullness that enables Perlto representYiddishconversationsin Hebrew.A new measureof mimesis has become possible, apartfrom all didactic or polemical intentions.Ovadyahas turnedaway is anotherinterestingcase of Yiddish-influencedmodem Hebrew:there is 56. The word mt••n a late Hebrewuse of moux as a noun, butYiddishusage seems to have inventedthe adjectivein the pronunciationo1x~1. See Even-ShoshanHa-milon he-hadash, 1985, 2:612 for entriesunderthe adjective and abstractnoun; compareC.D. Spivak'sand Solomon Bloomgarden'sYiddishDictionary: Containing all the Hebrew and Chaldaic Elementsof the YiddishLanguage (New York:Yehoash, 1911), 138, and YitskhokNiborski and Simon Neuberg, Verterbukh fun loshn-koydesh-shtamikeverter in Yidish (Paris: Bibliothbque Medem, 1999), 164. 57. See Khone Shmeruk's discussion of Lefin's Yiddish writing, especially his Yiddish translation of Proverbs, in Sifrut Yidish be-Polin: mehkarim ve- iyunim historiim (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1981), 165-83.

281

Ken Frieden from Hasidism,and as he comes to value a returnto the simplicity of farmingthe land,his authoralso upholds simplicity and directnessin Hebrew. Hebrewliteraryhistoryhas been skewedby Bialik'snotionthatAbramovitsh createdthe dominantnusah of modem Hebrewliterature.Perl'swriting is an important early stage in anothertradition,which preceded the creation of "nusah Mendele"and eventuallybecame associatedwith the anti-nusah.One of Perl'sdescendantsis I. L. Peretz,whose remarkableHebrewwriting has been unjustlyneglected. Also drawingfrom hasidic traditionsin his neo-hlasidicwritings, Peretz uses a Hebrewthat deviates widely from both the formerlyacceptedmelizah and the laternusah. His best early Hebrewworks in the neo-hasidic genre (1891-94) are contemporaneouswith Abramovitsh'sHebrewstories. One commondenominatorforthe effective Hebrewof PerlandPeretzis their parodyof the Hebrewused by hasidim.Drawingon a mishnaicbase, medievalrabbinic writing, and Yiddish, that Hebrew is the antithesisof melizah. We need to recognize the importanceof this aspect of modernHebrewwriting. Insteadofjust seeing the high road that runs from Berlin to Odessa and then Yafo, we must follow the detourthroughMezhibozh and Nemirov,Tarnopoland Warsaw.Hasidic writing and Perl'sparodies offered an importantalternativeboth to haskala Hebrew and to what Bialik subsequentlycalled "nusahMendele." For Perl and his circle, there was a choice between pastiche of biblical Hebrewandparodyof hasidicHebrew.The latter,with its calquesfromYiddish,eventually provedmore successful as the inspirationfor a languageof mimetic fiction. Although in theoryPerl sharedthe GermanEnlightenmentprejudicesagainstYiddish and favoredmelizah, in practicehe showedhow lively Hebrewcould become when it mimickedYiddish.Perlcreatedan illusion of oralitywith the help of a Yiddish pretext,and he transcendedepigonism throughparody. Joseph Perlmay have been the most original Hebrewauthorin the first half of the nineteenthcentury.While moving away from epigonism in relationto biblical melizah,he not only secureda new place for himself and modernHebrewliteratureby parodyingthe hasidic writers;Perl also drew from the Europeangenre of guides for letterwriting. SamuelRichardsonchangedthe course of English and European literatureby transformingthat genre into the first epistolary novel, Pamela, in 1740. Perl would have read Richardsonand his imitatorsin German translations.Then Perl made his mark with Megaleh temirin-the first Hebrew epistolarynovel. It appearedsoon afterthe popularGerman/HebrewBriefsteller. In spite of Perl'sastonishingoriginality,one might arguethathe was nevertheless an epigone in relationshipto the epistolary models supplied by precursorslike Richardson.Epigonismis hardto escape, even with the help of parody. Ken Frieden SyracuseUniversity Syracuse,New York

282

Ahasuerus, the Former Stable-Master of Belshazzar, and the Wicked Alexander of Macedon: Two Parallels between the Babylonian Talmud and Persian Sources Author(s): Geoffrey Herman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 283-297 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131735 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:19 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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AJS Review 29:2 (2005), 283-297

AHASUERUS,THE FORMER STABLE-MASTEROF BELSHAZZAR,ANDTHE WICKED ALEXANDEROF MACEDON:Two PARALLELSBETWEENTHE BABYLONIANTALMUDAND PERSIAN SOURCES

by Geoffrey Herman INTRODUCTION

Throughoutthe Talmudicera, the Jewish communityof Babylonialived under Persianrule while Zoroastrianism,serving as a state religion, was enjoying somethingof a renaissance.1In Babylonia,known in the latergeographicalliterature as the Persianheartland,Jews lived alongside Persians.2BabylonianJews had also alreadyexperiencedPersianrule for centuriespriorto the Talmudiceraunder the Achaemenids, and later under the persianizedArsacid dynasty.3This alone 1. A. Christensen,L'Iransous les Sassanides (Copenhague:Efnar Munksgaard,1936), 13673; K. Mosig-Walburg,Die friihen sasanidischen Konige als Vertreterund F6rderer der zarathustrischenReligion (Frankfurta. Main-Bern:PeterLang, 1982); Gh. Gholi, TheIdea oflran (Roma:Istituto italianoper il Medio ed EstremoOriente, 1989), 129-74. The precise institutionalframeworkof the Zoroastrianclergy at the commencementof the Sasanian era, its evolution in the course of the Sasanianera, and the relationshipbetween religion and state in generalhas come underreview of late. See, for example, Ph. Gignoux, "Church-StateRelations in the SasanianPeriod,"Monarchiesand Socio-Religious Traditionsin the AncientNear East: Papers read at the 31st InternationalCongressof Human Sciences in Asia and North Africa, ed. H.I.H. Prince T. Mikasa (Wiesbaden:Harrassowitz, 1984), 72-80. For a survey of the views, cf. K. Schippmann,Grundzige der Geschichtedes sasanidischen Reiches (Darmstadt:WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft, 1990), 92-102. 2. Kudamaibn Ja' far (De Goeje, Bibliotheca GeographorumArabicorum,6:234, 1. 15). 3. The culturalaffinity of the Parthiansto the Iranianpeoples was great. This was not always believed.An over-emphasison the "phil-hellenic"aspect of the Parthiansfromthe earliestscholarship, (partly the result of a paucity of indigenous Parthiansources and partly of pro-classicalprejudices), was compoundedby the apparentefforts of the Sasaniansto downplaythe achievementsof their forerunners-as reflectedin the literatureassociatedwith the Sasanians.Fordiscussion of the phil-hellenic aspect see J. Wolski, "Sur le philhellenisme des Arsacides,"Gerion 1, (1983) [1984]: 145-56. New sources on the Parthianshave served to nuancethe formerappraisal.Cf. more recentsurveysof Parthian history and society, such as K. Schippmann,Grundziigeder parthischen Geschichte(Darmstadt: WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft, 1980); A. D. H. Bivar, "The Political History of Iranunder the Arsacids,"in CambridgeHistory of Iran Vol. 3(1), TheSeleucid, Parthianand Sasanian Periods, ed. E.Yarshater(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress, 1983),21-99; J.Wolski,"L'Empire desArsacides," Acta Iranica 32 (1993); J. Wiesehifer, AncientPersiafrom 550 BC to 650 AD, trans.A. Azodi (London-NewYork,1996), 115-49. Jewishscholarshave soughtconfirmationof the alleged "phil-hellenic" side of the Parthiansin B. Bava Kamma'I117a,e.g., M. Beer, TheBabylonianExilarchatein theArsacid

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GeoffreyHerman shouldhave sufficed to lure a numberof scholarsinto exploringvariouscross-culturalcontactsbetween the two neighboringreligious communitiesduringthis period. Until recently,however,scholarshiphas not been greatlydrawnto this field,4 despite an exhaustivefocus, of venerableantiquity,on the relationshipbetween Israel and Persiain the biblical and Second Templeperiods, includingthe Qumran library.5 Earliergenerationsof Jewish scholarswith rabbinictraining,influencedby the wave of studieson the subject,had,however,enthusiasticallytakenup the challenge of exploringPersianinfluenceandparallelsin the Jewish sources,including, but not prioritizing,the BabylonianTalmud(henceforth,BT) in theirefforts. One thinks of, in particular,Joshua Heschel Schorr,6Alexander Kohut,7 and Isidor Scheftelowitz.8Notwithstandingthe provisos that the scientific study of rabbinic and Sassanian Periods (TelAviv: Dvir, 19762), 61; I. M. Gafni, TheJews ofBabylonia in the Talmudic Era,A Social and CulturalHistory (Jerusalem:ZalmanShazarCenter,1990), 32 n. 67. This interpretation is, however,untenable;see my article, "The Story of Rav Kahana(BT Bava' Kamma' 117a-b) in Light of Armeno-PersianSources,"Irano-Judaica(forthcoming). 4. One suspects that the need to exercise competence in both fields has served as a majordeterrentfor some, cf. the opening remarksby D. Sperber,"BabNahara,"IranicaAntiqua8 (1968): 70; andthe commentsby E. Spicehandlerin his article,"-i-xT'- and Notes on Gentile Courts xnr•r''T x•'r: in TalmudicBabylonia,"Hebrew Union CollegeAnnual26 (1955): 335-39. 5. There is an enormous literatureon this field. The following is a selection of some of more useful (recent) discussions on the topic: J. Duchesne-Guillemin,The WesternResponse to Zoroaster, (Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1958); J. Barr,"TheQuestion of Religious Influence:The Case of Zoroastrianism,Judaismand Christianity,"Journal of the AmericanAcademy of Religion 53, no. 2 (1985): 201-35; A Hultgird,"Das Judentum,in der hellenistisch-rdmischenZeit und die iranischeReligionein religionsgeschichtlichesProblem,"AufstiegundNiedergangder rimischen WeltII 19, no.1 (1979): 512-90; S. Shaked,"IranianInfluenceon Judaism:FirstCenturyBCE to Second CenturyCE,"in The CambridgeHistoryofJudaism,ed. WD. Davies andL. Finkelstein,Vol. 1 (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press, 1984), 308-25, bibliography:441-42. S. Shaked,"Qumranand Iran,"Israel Oriental Studies 2 (1972): 433-46; R. N. Frye, "Qumranand Iran:The State of Studies,"in Christianity,Judaism and OtherGreco-RomanCults,ed. J.Neusner,Vol. 3 (Leiden,E.J.Brill, 1975), 167-73. We shall not addressthe issue of the alleged religious relationshipbetween early Persianreligion and biblical and later Jewish religion. Nevertheless, it should be said that the ease with which scholars can advocate Persianinfluenceon essentiallyJudeancommunitieswhose contactswith Persianswere rathertenuous, whilst essentially ignoring their Babylonian coreligionists is striking. The predicament of intermediacy,especially acute for the laterSecondTempleperiod,has not gone unnoticed.Babylonian Jewryhas, often, but without significantprovisionof evidence, been evoked as the primecandidatefor this alleged transmissionof Persianideas to Palestinianminds. See, for example,the remarksby Hultgard,"Das Judenthum,"516. 6. See Y. H. Schorr's(Hebrew) studies in the journal He-haluz 7 (1865): 1-88; 8 (1869): 1120. He publishedthree other studies of relevance,"Replik,"Ben Chananja9 (1866): 325-28; "Milot yevaniot she-nishurabotenuz'l le-katvanbe-toarmilot 'ivriot,"He-haluz 10 (1877): 46-60; "Rubintargemonia,"He-haluz 11 (1880): 74-75. 7. A. Kohut, Jiidische Angelologie und Ddmonologie in ihrerAbhiingigkeitvom Parsismus, (Abhandlungenfiir die Kundedes Morgenlandes4, Leipzig, 1866); Kohut,"Washat die talmudische Eschatologie aus dem Parsismus aufgenommen?,"Zeitschrift der Deutschen morgenliindischen Gesellschaft21 (1867): 552-91. 8. I. Scheftelowitz, Die altpersische Religion und das Judentum.Unterschiede,Ubereinstimmungenundgegenseitige Beeinflussungen(Giessen:Verlagvon AlfredTrpelmann, 1920); idem., "Ein

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AhasuerusandAlexander:Two Parallels texts was in its early days, that of Zoroastrianones in its infancy,to which access was often by means of second-handpreliminarytranslations,and thattheir scholarshipmight be informedby a radicaland polemical undercurrent,their work is neverthelessnot withoutvalue, and worthyof reexamination.9 Recent years, however,have witnessed a re-awakenedawarenessof the value of studyingBabylonianJewrywithinthe broadPersiancontext.Evidentlythere is muchto be done before a comprehensiveexamination,or even a satisfactorysurvey, of the impact of Persianculture,in all its aspects, on this Jewish community may be undertaken.This impact would have had many manifestations,and one need not expect them all to be directlyacknowledgedin the sources.10The cases of explicit referenceto each otherin Jewishor Zoroastrianworksare of ratherlimited scope1"andthis has led a numberof scholarsto underratethe degree of crossculturalcontact.12However,the insularquality of this religious literaturewould Beitrag zur Methode der vergleichendenReligionsforschung,"Monatsschriftfir Geschichteund Wissenschafts des Judentums65 (1921): 107-30. I have not encountereda furtherstudy entitled "Die Beziehungender Judenzu den Persern"that Scheftelowitzpromisedin the above book (216 n. 2). M. Gaster,who reviewedhis book (Journalof the RoyalAsiatic Society [1921]: 429-32), consideredit as confirming his own approachto the subject,publishedas "Parsismin Judaism,"in Encyclopaediaof Religion and Ethics 9 (Edinburgh,1908-26): 637-40. Gaster'sstudy is, however,among otherthings, less informedand more heavily apologetic.Anotherbrief review,by B. Violet, publishedin Orientalistische Literaturzeitung25 (1922): 79-81, is laudatory. 9. This is particularlytrue with regardto Schorr.He set out to demonstratethe lack of originality of rabbinicJudaismand its Persianprovenance.See, in general, E. Spicehandler,"JoshuaHeschel Schorr-The MatureYears,"Hebrew Union College Annual 40-41 (1969-1970): 503-28. On Schorr's contributionto the study of the relationshipbetween Israel and Persia see Spicehandler, "JoshuaHeschel Schorr,"521. 10. Cf. Elman,"Acculturationto Elite PersianNorms and Modes of Thoughtin the Babylonian Jewish Communityof Late in NetidotLedavid,Jubilee Volumefor David WeissHalivni, ed. Antiquity,' YaakovElman,EphraimBezalel Halivni,Zvi Arie Steinfeld(Jerusalem:OrhotPress, 2004), 31-33. 11. Many references were collected well over a century ago by James Darmesteter (J. Darmesteter,"Textespehlevis relatifsau Judaisme,"Revuedes etudesjuives 18 [1889]: 1-15; andRevue des etudesjuives 19 [1889]: 41-56). Overtreligious polemics with Judaismin Zoroastrianworks were recentlyexploredby Shaul Shaked("ZoroastrianPolemics againstJews in the Sasanianand Early Islamic Period,"Irano-Judaica2 [Jerusalem,1990]: 85-104) and EliahuAhdut("Jewish-Zoroastrian Polemics in the BabylonianTalmud,"[Hebrew]Irano-Judaica4 [Jerusalem, 1999]: Cf., too, a-r,). L. H. Gray,"TheJews in PahlaviLiterature," Actes du XIVeCongresInternationaldes Orientalistes 1 (Paris, 1906): 177-92 [Reprintedwith correctionsandadditionsfrom TheJewishEncyclopedia9 (New York, 1905): 462-65]; J. Neusner,"A ZoroastrianCritiqueof Judaism,"Journal of theAmericanOriental Society 83 (1963): 283-294; idem., Judaism and Zoroastrianismat the Dusk of LateAntiquity (Atlanta:ScholarsPress, 1993). Forthe Geonic era see R. Brody,"ZoroastrianThemes in Geonic Responsa" Irano-Judaica4 (Jerusalem:Ben-Zvi Institute,1999): 179-86. 12. Cf. J.Neusner,"How Much Iranianin JewishBabylonia,"in TalmudicJudaismin Sasanian Babylonia (Leiden:E.J.Brill, 1976), 139-49; idem., "BibliographicalReflections,"in A History of the Jews in Babylonia,Vol. 4 TheAge of ShapurII (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1969): 424-36; cf. Shaked'scomments in the introductionto Irano-Judaica4 (Jerusalem, Ben-Zvi Institute, 1999) xii-xiii; I. Gafni, "BabylonianRabbinic Culture"in Culturesof the Jews. A New History, ed. David Biale (New York: SchockenBooks, 2002), 238-53. Neusner'sskepticismappearsto have impactedon others,cf. A Hultgird, "Das Judentum,"580. Hultgird'sdiscussion on the rabbisand the Iranianreligion is very brief, even if he concludes by stating (582): "Es scheint mir klar, dal jiidische Zeugnisse dieser Art, auch

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Geoffrey Herman naturallytend to avoid explicit references. It would, indeed, not be surprisingto find variousreligious and otherinfluences or borrowingsdressedup, reformulated, or otherwisejudaized. Some areasof Jewish-Persiancross-culturalinteraction duringthe Talmudicera have received more consistent scholarlyattentionwhilst others only recentlyexamined. The studyof Persianloanwordshas, on the whole, been one of the more fortuitous fields. Studiesby E. S. Rosenthal'3and Spicehandler'4with theiremphasis on the collation of the variantsfrom good textual witnesses are examples of what is needed.15The standardworkis by the Hungarianphilologist,Telegdi.16Of signal importanceare the brief lexicographicalnotes by B. Geiger on the wordsof reputedPersianorigin, in Additamentaad librumAruchCompletumAlexandriKohut."7 Morerecently,Shakedhas devoteda numberof studiesto Persianloanwords in BabylonianAramaic,'8and the new dictionaryof Jewish BabylonianAramaic by M. Sokoloff,'9 has expandedthe field to include Persianloanwordsfrom the wenn sie spdirlichvorkommen,aufeine unmittelbareBeriihrungzwischen Rabbinenund zoroastrischen Priesternhinweisen,bei der auch religi6se Fragener6rtertwordensind."David Winston("TheIranian Componentin the Bible, Apocrypha,and Qumran:A Review of the Evidence,"History of Religions 5 [1965-66]: 183-216, esp. 186) finds the difficulty of datingthe Zoroastriansources prohibitivewith respect to examiningtheirrelationshipwith the rabbinicmaterial,preferringto considerthe Hellenistic and laterJewish material,much of Palestinianprovenance. 13. See, E. S. Rosenthal"Forthe TalmudicDictionary-Talmudica Iranica,"Irano-Judaica,ed. S. Shaked,(Jerusalem:Ben-Zvi Institute,1982), 38-134 (HebrewSection). 14. See, Spicehandler,"Notes on Gentile Courts." 15. Cf. Sabato'scomments on the good state of preservationof Persianwords in the Yemenite manuscriptof Sanhedrin:Mordechai Sabato,A YemeniteManuscriptof TractateSanhedrin and its Place in the TextTradition(Jerusalem:YadIzhakben-Zvi, 1998), 142-43, 324-25. 16. S. Telegdi,"Essaisur la phonetiquedes empruntsiraniensen arameentalmudique,"Journal Asiatique226 (1935): 177-256. His list of Persianwordsis not, however,restrictedto TalmudicAramaic. 17. Geiger,Additamentaad librumAruch CompletumAlexandriKohut(Wien, 1937). Geiger also publishedtwo articleson the subject:"Zuden iranischenLehnw6rternim Aramaeischen,"Wiener Zeitschriftfilrdie Kundedes Morgenlands37 (1930): 195-203; "MittelpersischeW6rterund Sachen," WienerZeitschriftftirdie Kundedes Morgenlands42 (1935): 114-28. He studiedthe Pahlaviinscriptions found on the walls of the synagogueat Dura.See TheMiddleIranianTexts(1956; reprintedfrom The Excavationsat Dura-Europos,Final Report,Vol. 7, pt. 1 [1936]: 283-317). On his contributions to the Arukhsee the introductionby Krauss,Additamenta,iv-v. His entriesare a correctiveto Kohut's earlierefforts. Kohuthad been a little too enthusiasticin his quest for Persianloanwords,see the criticism by W Bacher, "Kohut'sAruch completum,"Zeitschriftder Deutschen morganlandischeGesselschaft 47 (1893): 487-514. See, too, and especially for his description of the history of the scholarshipon the identificationof Persianloan words in the Talmudand the dilettantismthatcharacterizedmuch of the earlierefforts, Rosenthal,"Forthe TalmudicDictionary,"andthe remarksby Spicehandler,"Notes on Gentile Courts,"336-37 ns. 9-10. Vol. 18. See, e.g., "IranianLoanwordsin MiddleAramaic,"EncyclopaediaIranica,ed. E.Yarshater, 2 (LondonandNew York:Routledgeand KeganPaul, 1987), 259-61; idem, "A PersianHouse of Study, A King's Secretary:Irano-AramaicNotes,"Acta OrientaliaAcademiaeScientiarumHung 48, nos. 1-2 (1995): 171-86; idem,"IranianElementsin MiddleAramaic:Some particlesandverbs,"in Medioiranica (Leuven,UitgeverijPeeters:DepartementOrieentalistiek,1993), 147-56; idem.,"Itemsof DressandOther Objects,"Irano-Judaica3, ed. Sh. ShakedandA. Netzer(Jerusalem:Ben-ZviInstitute,1994), 106-17. 19. M. Sokoloff,A Dictionary ofJewish BabylonianAramaicof the Talmudicand Geonic Periods (RamatGan:Bar-IlanUniversityPress, 2002).

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AhasuerusandAlexander:Two Parallels Geonic period and from extra-Talmudicsources, such as magic bowls. The magic bowls from this region, discovered in the hundreds,are our principle primary source for BabylonianJewishattitudesto magic practices-to which the BT must, perforce,be relegatedto a more ancillaryrole. They are also an importantsource on Jewish-Zoroastriansyncretistictendenciesin the period.20 The comparativestudyof SasanianandBabylonianTalmudiclegal dictawas hardlyattemptedin the past, a rareexceptionbeing the little knownarticleby Herbert Finkelscherer,"ZurFrage fremderEinfliisse auf das rabbinischeRecht."21 There has surely been some resistanceto examiningthis field in greaterdepth.22 It is now, however,becoming the subjectof carefulexaminationby Talmudscholar,YaakovElman.23At the same time, MariaMacuch, an expert in Sasanianlaw, has devoted some studies to Sasanianlegal terminologythat is found in the BT.24 Among the futurechallenges,as alreadybeing pursuedby Elman,will be the identification of legal processes and principles,common to both SasanianandTalmudic corporathatarenot necessarilyidentifiedas such in the BT.A vital preliminary step is the carefuland clear identificationof those elements particularto the legal traditionof BabylonianJewry.The scholarwill need to seek out legal terminology, case formulation,hermeneutics,and so on, notwithstandingthe externalAramaic garb,that is paralleledin Sasanianjurisprudence.25The existence of the law book of the Persianarchbishop,Ye'ob6xt-a Syriac translationof a Middle-Persian original-will surelyhelp in this endeavor.26 20. S. Shaked,"Bagdina, King of the Demons, and other Iranianterms in BabylonianAramaic magic,"Acta Iranica 25, MonumentumM. Boyce (1985): 511-25. 21. Monatsschrift~firGeschichte und Wissenschaftdes Judentums75/5-6 (1935): 381-98, 431-42. M. Beer [The BabylonianAmoraim.Aspects of Economic Life, (Ramat-Gan:Bar-IlanUniversity, 19822),Appendix III:365-70] also consideredthe statusof slaves in Persianlaw as an appendix to his discussion of slavery among the BabylonianJews. 31-38. 22. See the remarksby Elman, "Up to the Neck": 100-101; idem., "Acculturation": 23. See Elman, "Marriageand MaritalPropertyin Rabbinicand SasanianLaw,"in Rabbinic Law in its Romanand Near Eastern Context,ed. C. Hezser (Tiibingen:Mohr Siebeck, 2003), 227-76; "ReturnableGifts in Rabbinic and Sasanian Law" Irano-Judaica4 (forthcoming);"Acculturation"; "'Up to the Ears'in Horses'Necks (B.M. 108a):On SasanianAgriculturalPolicy and Private'Eminent Domain,'"Jewish Studies,an InternetJournal3 (2004): 95-149, http://www.biu.ac.il/JS/JSIJ.See his survey of formerscholarshipin the field in "Up to the Ears:"95-101. I am gratefulto Prof. Elmanfor providingme with prepublicationcopies of his articles. 24. Macuch,"IranianLegalTerminologyin the BabylonianTalmudin the Lightof SasanianJurispudence,"Irano-JudaicaIV (1999): 91-101; "TheTalmudicexpression"servantof fire" in light of Pahlavilegal sources,"JerusalemStudies in Arabicand Islam 26 (2002): 109-29. 25. Theprincipletext for Sasanianlaw is Madiydn HazdrDddestdn.See Farraxvmart i Vahrimmin, andTranslation TheBook ofa ThousandJudgments(A SasanianLaw-Book),Introduction,Transcription of the PahlaviText,Notes, GlossaryandIndexesby AnahitPerikhanian, trans.fromRussianby Nina GarPersica,1997);MariaMacuch,Das soian,(CostaMesa, CA andNew York:MazdaPublishers/Bibliotheca Gesellschaft/ sasanidischeRechtsbuch"Mdtakdan IHazdrDatistdn"(TeilII),DeutscheMorgenliindische zuBeundGerichtspraxis Kommissionsverlag,(Wiesbaden,FranzSteiner,1981);eadem.,Rechtskasuistik des Farrohmardi Wahrdman (Wiesbaden: ginn des siebentenJahrhundertsim Iran:Die Rechtssammlung Harrassowitz,1993). The debtto paganBabylonianlegal traditionsshould also not be ignored.On rab40. binic exegeticalmethodsparalleledin Zoroastriancommentariessee Elman,"Acculturation," 26. E. Sachau,SyrischeRechtsbiicher,III (Berlin:Verlagvon Georg Reimer, 1914).

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Geoffrey Herman On the otherhand,Persianliteraturecontemporaneouswith the BT-a mine of motifs, images, and ideas-has been explored little by scholars of the BT. An importantexception-an articlepublishedmore than twenty years ago by Daniel Sperber-served well to illustratethe advantagesof such explorationfor enriching our understandingof the legendarypartsof the BT.27Discussing the story of Rav Kahana'sexperiencesin the academyof RabbiYohananin Palestine,he summoned evidence fromboth literaryand material(artistic)sources of Persianprovenance that provided vital contextual data. The comparativematerialhelped to understandthe developmentof the story andits date.28Withinthe Rav Kahanastory, the authorhad absorbedand naturalizedPersianliterarymotifs, suggesting a markeddegree of acculturationby the BabylonianJewish authorand prospective audience of the story.The Rav Kahanastory is by no means unique. Next, I shall presenttwo furtherinstancesof the assimilationof Persianelementsin the aggadah of the BT. In the one case, Persianepic works dealing with kings are concerned; in the other,the Persianliteratureadducedis of a more religious quality,stemming from compositionsreflecting a distinctlyZoroastrianoutlook. OFARDAVAN ARDASIR,THESTABLE-MASTER The legends surrounding the rise of ArdaTirI, the founder of the Sasanian dynasty,

are told in a PahlaviworkentitledKdrndmag-TArdahir Bdbagdn,"thebook of the deeds of Arda-ir, son of This work, generally believed to stem from B.bag."29 Sasaniantimes,30served as a source for laterproductionsthat chronicledthe his27. D. Sperber,"Onthe UnfortunateAdventuresof Rav Kahana:A Passageof SaboraicPolemic from SasanianPersia,"in Irano-Judaica,ed. Sh. Shaked(Jerusalem, 1982), 83-100, reprintedas "The Misfortunesof Rav Kahana.A Passageof Post-TalmudicPolemic,"in D. Sperber,Magic and Folklore in RabbinicLiterature(RamatGan, 1994), 145-64. 28. I have discussed the significance of these and additionalPersianfeaturesin this story in my forthcomingarticle, "The Story of Rav Kahana." 29. This work was first translatedinto German by T. N61deke,"Geschichtedes Ardachgir-i und einer Einleitungversehen,"Bezzenbergers P~pakan,aus dem Pehlewiiibersetzt,mit Erliiuterungen BeitrdgezurKundeder indogermanischen Sprachen4 (G6ttingen,1878):22-69. Editionsof thetext: The TPdpakdn... The OriginalPahlaviTextedited for the first time with a TransliterKdrndmeTArtakhshfr ation in Roman Characters,Translationsinto the English and GujeratiLanguages,with Explanatory and PhilologicalNotes, and Introduction,and Appendices,D.P Sanjana(new edition, revised and enlarged),Bombay,1896 (thistranslationis viewableon theWebat www.avesta.org/pahlavi/kamame.htm); in Avestacharacters,transPdpakdn,The originalPahlavitext,with transliteration Kdrndmak-MArtakhshir lations into Englishand Gujarati,and selectionsfromthe Shdhndmeh,E.K. Antid,(Bombay,1900);text and Persiantranslationby M.J. Mashkoor,Tehran,1950; text and translationby B. Farahvashi,Tehran, 1975;Pahlavitext by H.S. Nyberg,A ManualofPahlavi, 1 (Wiesbaden:OttoHarrassowitz,1964), 1-18; RahamAsha, ed., TheBook of the Acts ofArda?lrson of Pdbag: kdrndmag-T ardaslr-Tpdbagdn,text, see also http://titus.unitransliteration,andtranslation(Erman,1999).Forthe Pahlavitext in transcription frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/iran/miran/mpers/kap/kap.htm. Briefly on the work see the commentsby P. de PahlaviWritings,"TheCambridgeHistoryoflran, Vol. 3(2) TheSeleucid,ParthiMenasce,"Zoroastrian an and Sasanian Periods, ed. E. Yarshater (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 1187-88. 30. See, for example, T. N6ldeke, Das iranische Nationalepos, (Berlin: Verein; Wissensch: Verleger, 1920), sections 6-7; W. Barthold, "Zur Geschichte des persischen Epos," Zeitschrift der Deutschen morganlandishen Gesselschaft 98 (1944): 136; H.S. Nyberg, A Manual ofPahlavi, 1 (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1964): XII.

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Ahasuerus and Alexander: Two Parallels tory of the Iraniankings but was itself, no doubt,based on earliersources and inspiredby a time-worncustom of relatingthe legends of past kings.31In this work we follow the rise of Arda'ir,the son of Bibag, from relativeobscurityto becoming the founderof the new Sasaniandynasty.In one of the early scenes we hear that Ardasir excelled in his riding ability.32After word of his equestrianskills reached the royal court, he was invited to accompanythe nobles when hunting. During the hunt he enteredinto a dispute with the king's son that resulted in his demotion from the king's favor.He was sent to the stables33and found himself a mere stable-handfor his sovereign, the Parthianking, Ardavan,and prohibited from riding at any time. Nevertheless he escaped from the king, revoltedagainst him, and ultimatelydefeatedand killed Ardavanin battle andbecame king. Later, in this account,he marriedArdavan'sdaughter.Tabari'saccountof the rise of Ardasir also has him marryArdavdin'sdaughter,although under different circumstances than in the Karnamagversion. Tabari,known to have made extensive use of earlierPersiansources for his history,states thatArdasirmassacredevery last one of the Arsacids, men and women, not sparinga single one of them. He then addsthe following: "itis mentionedthathe left no one alive except a maidenwhom he had found in the royalpalace. He was struckby her beauty and askedher-she was really the slaughteredking's daughter-about her origins. She statedthat she was the handmaidenof one of the king's wives."34He takes her as one of his concubines. Later,when pregnantshe reveals her true status to him and the exciting adventure,which need not occupy us here, marcheson. THE STABLE-MASTER IN PERSIAN AND TALMUDIC SOURCES

The storyteller'sdecision to makeArdasira stable-handof the reigningking is neither incidentalnor insignificant.35Apparently,the stable-masterwas not a 31. On this literature,and Iraniannationalepic literaturein general see E. Yarshater,"Iranian National History,"in TheCambridgeHistory oflran, Vol. 3(1), 359-477. Reliablehistoricalinformation on the founderof the Sasaniandynasty must be sought primarilyfrom other sources, such as the contemporaryepigraphicremains.Fora recentbrief historicalaccountof the history of Arda~ir,see J. Wiesehdfer,"Arda'ir,"EncyclopaediaIranica ed. E. Yarshater,II (London and New York:Routledge and KeganPaul, 1987), 371-76. 32. Antid,Bombay, 1900 edition: 2-8. 33. Antid,Bombay, 1900 edition, p. 8, 6: axwarr-i storrn. 34. Ta'rikhal-rusulwa-al-mulik, ed. M. J. de Goeje et. al., Annales quos scripsit Abu Djafar Mohammedibn Djarir at-Tabari,2, (Leiden, 1979-1901), [reprintE. J. Brill, 1964], 823; TheHistory ofal-Tabari,Vol. 5. TheSasanids, the Byzantines,the Lakhmids,and Yemen,trans.C. E. Bosworth(Albany: State University of New YorkPress, 1999), 24. This story, with modifications, also appearsin Firdawsi[Ed. Moscow, vol. 7, 1968, 156ff]; Dinawar! [Al-Akhbaral-Tiwal,ed. Guirgas(Leiden:Brill, 1888), 45]; Nihlyatu'l-irab [E.G. Browne, "Some Account of the Arabic Workentitled "Nih'yatu'lirab fi akhbiri' 1-Furswa'l-'Arab,"particularlyof thatpartwhich treatsof the PersianKings,"Journal of the RoyalAsiatic Society (1900): 219]; and Bal'ami, [Chroniquede Abou-DjafarMochammed-ben Djarir-ben-Yezid Tabari traduite sur la version persane d4'Abou-'AliMo'hammed Bel'ami, H. Zotenberg,

2 (Paris:ImprimerieImp~riale,1860), 76]. 35. ArdaSiris also described as a slave of Ardavanin George Pisidas, Heracliados, Acr. II, Migne PatrologiaGraeca, 92 (Paris, 1865), 1328. Lowly origins are also ascribedto him by Agathias, believed to have used a Persiansource. See A, Cameron,"Agathiason the Sassanians,"Dumbarton

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Geoffrey Herman very high dignitaryin the Sasaniancourt hierarchy.In a mid-thirdcenturymonumental trilingualinscriptionon the Kacba-iZardu'tin Persia,relating,incidentally, among others,to the very sameArdahirof ourstory,his courtofficials are listed in orderof importance.The title, ixwarrbed,"stable-master"appearsas the twenty-sixth dignitaryout of the total of thirty-one.36Ardasir'ssuccessor,SbiburI, who actually set up the monument,lists 66 of his own courtdignitariesin the same inscriptionbut the stable-masterdoes not even make his list. Hence, Arda-ir'sposition, workingunder such a dignitary,would be particularlyignoble. Whatis more significant is thatthe low statusof the stable-masterwithin the royalhierarchyappearsto have acquiredfor itself a somewhatproverbialplace in contemporaryPersian folklore. This may be adduced from a few sources in the BT. In B. Shabbat 113b, in an effort to impress on the audience the immense wealth that the Palestinianpatriarch,JudahI, was alleged to have possessed, it is anonymouslyasserted that "Rabbi'sstable-masterwas richerthan King What is implied is that even the lowest memberof JudahI's household was richerthan Sabir.38 S.bir!"37 JudahI was, of course, no contemporaryof any of the three Sasaniankings the name of Sabjir.One suspectsthatthe name Sabir became synonymouswith by "Persianking"for the earlycreatorsof the BT much in the same way as Caesarfor the Romans and Xusr6 for the later Persiansand Arabic historiographybecame Oaks Papers 23-24 (1969-70): 107-08. Cf. Ctesias' version of the rise of Cyrus. Cyruswas the son of a Persianbanditand a shepherdesswith no relationshipto Astyages. He obtainsa menial position at the Mediancourtand laterrevolts.See R. Henry,Ctesias, les sommairesde Photius (Bruxelles:Office de publicit6, 1947), 12ff. 36. Line 58 in Maricq'sedition. Parthian:Wrdn'hwrpt; in the Greek, Ouardan tou epi tis pathnis. The Middle-Persianwordin the inscriptionis illegible. See A. Maricq,Syria 35 (1958): 32425 [repr.in Classica et Orientalia(Paris, 1965):66-67]. See also M. Back,Die sassanidischenStaatinschriften,ActaIranica 18 (Leiden:E. J.Brill, 1978), 353; P.Huyse, "Die dreisprachigeInschriftSabuhrs I. an der Ka'ba-i Iranicarum,PartIII,Vol. 1, Band II: 146-47. Zardugt(SKZ),"CorpusInscriptionum On the term see A. Tafai2oli, "Axwarrbed," EncyclopaediaIranica, 3, ed. E. Yarshater(London and New York:Routledgeand Kegan Paul 1989), 124. 37. "64K rnn'any mn an T nnri ". On the etymology of the Persian word see H. Hiibiawr schmann,Persische Studien(Strassburg:K.J.Trubner,1895): 5ff; S. Telegdi,"Essai sur la Phonetique des EmpruntsIraniensenArambenTalmudique," JournalAsiatique226 (1935): 226; P.de Lagarde,Semitica, 1 (G6ttingen:Dieterich, 1878), 1, 42; Fleischer,in J. Levy, ChalddischesW6rterbuchiiber die Targumim(Leipzig: Baumgiirtner,1867), 418; A. Kohut,Aruch Completum,1:43; S. Krauss,Additamenta, 12 (note by B. Geiger); I. Gershevitch,"IranianNouns and Names in Elamite Garb,"Transactions of the Philological Society (1969): 170; E. Segal, The BabylonianEsther Midrash,A Critical Commentary(Atlanta,GA: ScholarsPress, 1994), 1:266, n. 80. The wordappearsin the MSS and editions as A found in the Cremonamunicipal archive in a thirteenth-to n-irnxr, i''nnl-x. fragment fourteenth-centurySpanishhand has (No. 58, National LibraryInstituteof Microfilms in rn,,ninx Jerusalem,No. 34136). nrix, with the read as a n (as found in some of the textualwitnesses) is the Persianword,dxwarr,stable. 38. This sense of the saying is lost in the secondaryuse of this source in B. Bava' Mezia' 85a, where the stable-master'swealth is a superfluousdetail, unnecessaryfor the story told there. It does, however,give us an example of the ratherpredictableduties of the stable-master:feeding the animals. The explanationoffered by the Tosafist in Bava' Mezia' loc. cit. stems from an attemptto read significance into that detail, but cannotbe accepted.

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AhasuerusandAlexander:TwoParallels generic terms for king in theircultures.39This might have evolved duringthe long and eventfulreign of SaburII, who ruled from 309-79 CE. It is not impossibleto imagine that this Talmudicsource might have been composed duringthis period. Of this S5burin fact, a story is relatedin a contemporarysource stemming from the northwesternfrontiersof the Sasaniansphereof influence, which thoroughly corroboratesour impressionsof the proverbialhumblestationof the stable-master in the Iranianliteraryimagination.WhilstArsak,the king of theArmenians,40was visiting the PersianKing of Kings and takinga strollthroughthe royal stables,the stable-master41of King Sibir II audaciously insulted the Armenianking to his face. He called out: "You[there],king of Armeniangoats, come sit on a bundleof grass!"In swift response,the Armeniansparapet,42Vasak,who was accompanying the Armeniansovereigndrewhis swordand slew the stable-masteron the spot in a spontaneousdisplay of loyalty towardshis Armenianlord. Sabjir,we are then told, however,did not seek vengeance for his loss, but declaredhis admirationand greatlyextolled the subordinate'sloyalty to his master.Devotion to one's lord is a value to be recognized and esteemed whereverit is found. Evidently the life of Siblir's stable-master,however,is portrayedhere as quite expendable.43 39. Cf. Shevu'ot 6a. Only a few Sasaniankings are mentionedby name in the BT. Of the Arsacids, Ardavin, the last Arsacidruleris mentionedonce as a contemporaryof Rab (B. 'AvodahZarah 10b). He is also mentioned in the PalestinianTalmud,Y. Pe'ah, 1:1, 15d (cf. Bereshit Rabbah, 35, Theodor-Albeck:333 [see the Apparat])as a contemporaryof JudahI. Lastly,a place near Pumbedita bears the name of one of the Parthiansovereigns by this name, see B. 'Eruvin 5 lb. The name of another Arsacid monarch,Vologeses, is preservedin the name of the city-porthe founded not far from Ctesiphon,see B. Bava' Batra'98a; B. Bava'Mezia'a' 73b; andpossibly the Arsacidking,Vardln(Vardanes) lies behindthe name of the city ',13rn(B. Sotah 10a) or xK3'r (B. 'Eruvin49a). See T.N6ldeke, "ZurorientalischenGeographie,"Zeitschriftder DeutschenmorgenlandischenGesselschaft28 (1874): 100, n. 1. Of the Sasaniankings, there were basically 13 fromthe first until (including)YazdgirdI, the contemporaryof Rav Ashi, but only six distinctnames.The name Sabliris mentionedmost, including a number of sources that would suite the first, and other sources, the second Sabir. YazdgirdI, who reigned from 399-420 CE, a contemporaryof Rav Ashi, is mentioned, too (B. Zevahim 19a, B. Ketubot61a-b). An obscureallusionto PNr6z(457-84 CE) appearsin B. Hullin 62b. See B. Heller, "PersischeK6nigsnamenin einem halachischenMerkspruch," Monatsschriftfir Geschichteund Wissenschaftsdes Judentums69 (1925): 448-449. The nameArdai~rappearsin the name of cities founded by him, or in his honor,Weh-Ardailr(B. Gittin6a, B. "Eruvin57b, cf. also B. Yevamot37b; B. Yoma 18b) and Hormizd-ArdaiTr (B. Bava' Batra'52a), and also in a referenceto a boardgame (B. Ketubot 61b). The late traditionassociatingthe foundationof Hormizd-Ardagirto king OhrmazdI (272-73 CE) is apparentlyin error.See J. Markwart,A Catalogueof the Provincial Capitals of Erdnshahr,(Pahlavi text, version, and commentary)(Roma, 1931), 19, ? 46, pp. 95-96) and R. Gyselen, La Geographie administrativede 'empiresassanide (Paris, 1989), 56. The name one would, perhaps,have expected to find is Warahrtn(Bahrim). Three kings who ruled consecutively in the late third centuryCE bore this name and two more until 438 CE. 40. Ar'ak II, 350?-367/8 CE. 41. Arm. agorapet.Literally:stablechief. 42. General,commander(Pahlavi:spdhbed). 43. Epic Histories, attributedto P'awstos"Buzand (The Epic HistoriesAttributedto P'awstos Buzand(BuzandaranPatmut'iwnk'),TranslationandCommentaryby N. G. Garsoi'an(Cambridge,MA: HarvardUniversityPress, 1989), 146. A stable-masterplays a role, althoughnot quite comparableto anythingwe have discussed, in leading the Achaemenidmonarch,Darius, astrayby a ruse duringhis

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GeoffreyHerman OF BELSHAZZAR AHASUERUS,THESTABLE-MASTER

For our comparisonwith Ardasirthere is, in fact, in the BT an even closer text. In the first chapterof the tractateMegillahselect verses fromthe Book of Esther are analyzed.In B. Megillah 12b the discussion focuses on Vashti'srefusalto appearbeforethe king at his banquet.On learningof herrefusalwe hearas follows: "Thereforethe king was very wroth, and his angerburnedin him" (Esther 1:12). KingAhasuerus'responseto herrefusalis deemeddisproportionateto the situation had she simply declinedto come. The questionis raisedas to what message Vashti could have sentAhasuerusto warrantthis heatedresponse.Accordingto Rava,she senthim the followingmessage:"Ohson of my Father'sstable-master!Fatherwould drinkwine beforea thousand(cf. Daniel 1:5)andwas not satiated.Yetthatman (i.e. Ahasuerus)was intoxicatedwith his wine."44The insulthere is multipleandreveals somethingof the way this story was being readby the Babylonianrabbis.Thereis the attackon his virility,as being incapableof holding his drink,so to speak. One is remindedof the renownedreferencein AthenaeusthatDariushad writtenon his tomb "I could drinkmuch wine and bear it well."45More significantly,perhaps,it is insinuatedthatAhasuerusis not of royalblood but a usurper.He had been a servant of the previous king who was Vashti'sfather.The citation from Daniel indicates thatVashtiis consideredthe daughterof Belshazzar.In otherwords,Ahasuerus is a usurperwho has marriedthe daughterof the reigningmonarch,the last king of the previousdynasty.46Elsewherethe BT tells us thatAhasuerushimself killed the previousking, Belshazzar.47Finally,Vashticalls him the son of the king's stablemaster.Fromthe context it is evident that this is a gross insult, but the source of such an insult is less clear.There is nothing, of course, in the biblical writings to suggest in the remotest way that Ahasuerusmight have served in this capacity. Rather,it would appearthatRavais applyingto the biblical story a popularcalumny found in Persiantales aboutkings.48This same calumnymust have attacheditself to Ardakiras well. In the Persianequestrianculture,where ridingone's mount expedition against the EasternSakas in 520-19 BCE, accordingto an account relatedby the second centuryCE Macedonianwriter,Polyaenus,Strategemata(Melberedition, Leipzig, 1887), 324, which certainlyreflects an earlier Persiansource. One final referenceto a stable-handof King Sabir II appears in a Christianchronicle, known as the Chronicleof Seert. cf. Histoire Nestorienne,Patrologia Orientalis,t. IV,f. 3, No. 17 (Chroniquede S6ert),Part,I, (texteArabeavec traductionfranqaise)(Paris: A. Scher, 1907) [EditionsBrepots,Turnhout/Belgique,1971], 301. a ~-' ii 'm rn 44. ;n u1mn',n,' "'i"? Knrn ".r'inrin:'nuvK Kr rn- -iK xKi . 45. Athenaeus,Deipnosophists, 10.45.434d. 46. This theme is furtherembellishedin latermidrashim.See L. Ginzberg,Legendsof theJews, 4 (Philadelphia:Jewish PublicationSociety, 1947), 372-79. For a discussion on the rabbinicunderstandingof the PersianAchaemenidkings see J.Tabory,"ThePersianPeriodAccordingto Hazal,"(Hebrew), Milet, Vol. 2, ed. S. Ettinger,Y. D. Gilat, S. Safrai(Tel-Aviv,1985), 65-77. 47. B. Megillah 10b. 48. Whilstthis slanderis repeatedin the late Palestinianversions of the story,with the Latinofcomes stabili [or stabuli] (in Greek K6plrlgo~dl3kou), e.g., "AbbaGorion,"in fice, m••tumrx uimp, A. JellinekBet ha-Midrash,3rd ed.; repr.(Jerusalem:Wahrmann,1967), 4, the BT is the earliestcomposition to use it and appearsto be the originatorof this insult. In addition,the Latintitle does not appear to have borne the same stigma as the Sasanian,see the discussion, and for furtherreferences, E Segal, TheBabylonianEsther Midrash,A Critical Commentary,266-68.

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Ahasuerus and Alexander: Two Parallels meanteverything,what could have been more denigratingandhumiliatingthanalleging that one of high rankhad been no more than a stable-master?If this is the full significance of the stable-mastermotif, we also have the motive for revolt. Whilst the Kdrndmagaccountprovidesomens of Ardasr's futuretakeover,andthe requisiteAchaemenidlineage, no othercause is indicated.The personalinsult inflicted on Arda'irjustifies his rebellionagainsthis master.This is a themecommon to many stories of Persianprovenance.49In sum, here we have a Talmudicsource elucidatinga Persianone for us, helping us to fully appreciateArdasir'sdegradation, as impliedin the Persiansourcewe have cited. This allegationagainstArdaTir would have made its appearanceat an earlierdate thanthe redactionof the current Kdrndmagversion,forthatversionappearsto be respondingto it in some way.Thus, in additionto a mythicaltale of the beginningsof the family,the Kdrndmaghas also includeda storyof a huntto explainhow Ardasirfoundhimself in the stablesto begin with. Hence, it does not disputethis versionof affairsbutratherdirectsthe reader to understandthat this was neitherhis rightfulnor original state. Because it is highly unlikelythatthis motif traveledfromthe Jews to the Persians,as the Persian equestrianbackgroundwould have providedthe naturalpasturefor the conception of such a motif, it mustbe assumedthatit was alreadycurrentin Persiantales when it enteredthe BT passages we have mentioned.Rava,the only namedauthorityin these Talmudictraditions,lived in the fourthcenturyCE. This would provide us with an indicationof the terminusad quemforthis Persianmotif, which,at any rate, is manycenturiesearlierthanthe Kdrndmagversionwe possess. Acceptingthe hypothesized Persianorigins of this motif we can observe in this case that when the creatorsof the BT wished to bring to life the biblical legends of ancient Persian kings (althoughnot exclusively this topic) they drew inspirationfrom the popular Persianlegends of theircontemporarycounterparts. WICKED ALEXANDER OF MACEDON

We shall now considera sourcethatappearsin B. Sukkah51b. Followingan enthusiasticdescriptionof the greatnessof AlexandrianJewryduringthe late Second Templeperiod and perhapsa little beyond,a source for which there is a close parallelin the Toseftaand the PalestinianTalmudsowe find the following curtremarkattributedto the fourth-centuryBabyloniansage, Abaye:

b~~~P~LK 1T~~~Ui71;71~151

?Il~~~n

AndAlexanderof Macedonkilledthemall. 49. Cf, also, two examples of this theme from the Arsacid era: the rise of Anilaeus and Asinaeus in Josephus,Antiquities, 18:314-15; the rise of the Arsacids accordingto the account provided by Arrian,cited by Photius,Bibb. Cod. 58: 17a, 23, and in a slightly abbreviatedform by Syncellus: 539, 14. For the texts see: F. Jacoby,Die Fragmenteder GriechischenHistoriker II (Berlin, 1929): 858-59; Flavii Arriani,ed. A .G. Roos, Vol. 2, ScriptaMinoraet Fragmenta,(reprint,Leipzig, 1967), 224-25. 50. T. Sukkah4:6 (Zuckermandel,ed., 198);Y. Sukkah5:1, 55a-b. 51. Thus MS. Miinchen95, but all textualwitnesses (as appearingin the materialgatheredby

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GeoffreyHerman As is well knownthe most famous devastationaffecting ancientAlexandrianJewry, consideredto have resultedin the destructionof the community,occurredduring the Diasporarevolt between the years 115 and 117 CE. The Roman emperor at the time was Trajan,and this is the name we would expect to find here. Indeed, the PalestinianTalmudparallelattributesthe destructionto Trajan.52Hence, this saying attributedto Abaye is unexpected.53Whatis surprisingbesides its gross inaccuracyis how this statementstandsin starkcontrastto the admirablereputation Alexanderof Macedonenjoys in many otherJewish sources, from Josephusto the many other cases preservedin rabbinicliterature.54Awarenessof this problemis far fromnew and discussion on the anomalyof this source, from an historicalperspective, has a venerablebibliography,datingback to the Renaissanceera! It has been assumedto be a corruptreadingin one way or another.Variousscholarshave suggested corrections in the text on the basis of the PalestinianTalmud.55This readingis howeverattestedin all the manuscriptsof the BT and in addition,graphically the two names are so differentthatthis differencecan hardlybe attributedto a scribalerror.It shouldthereforenot be dismissed so quicklyas a corruption.Various alternativesuggestions have been offered to account for Abaye's statement, which do not involve such majorchanges to the text. One directionwas to assume confusion betweenAlexanderof Macedonand a differentAlexander.The famous exegete, Don IsaacAbravanel,in the introductionto his commentaryon the Book of Kings, suggestedthatAbaye had in mind a laterRomanemperorcalled Alexander.He suggestedthe emperorwas AlexanderSeverus.56This suggestion, however,has nothingto commendit andwas rightfullydismissedby Azariahde' Rossi.57 the MachonHatalmudHayisraeliHashalematYadHaravHerzogin Jerusalem)are in basic agreement, the variationsbeing negligible. 52. Trogianus, vwri On the spelling of this name in the Palestinianand Babylonian 0•i•,nu. traditionsee P. Mandel, "Between Byzantium and Islam: The Transmissionof a Jewish Book in the Byzantine and Early Islamic Periods,"in Y. Elman and I. Gershoni, TransmittingJewish Traditions: Orality,Textuality,and CulturalDiffusion (New Havenand London:Yale UniversityPress, 2000), 95, 104. 53. See I.J.Kazis, TheBook of the Gests ofAlexander ofMacedon (Cambridge,MA: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1962), 25; A. Kasher,TheJews in Hellenistic and RomanEgypt, TheStruggle for Equal Rights (Tiibingen:Mohr Siebeck, 1985), 350-51; J. Ephron,"Bar-Kokhvain the Light of the Palestinianand BabylonianTalmudicTraditions,"in TheBar-KokhvaRevolt:A New Approach, ed. A. Oppenheimerand U. Rappaport(Jerusalem:Ben-Zvi Institute, 1984), 80, n. 157. The problem of anachronismin this attributionwas alreadyobservedby the Tosaphist,RabbiBezalel of Regensburg, see below. 54. Josephus,Antiquities,XI, viii, 5-6 (329-45). For a discussion of the Jewish sources on Alexander of Macedon see S.J.L. Rapoport,'Erech Millin, 1 (Prague, 1852), 66-95; R. Stoneman, "JewishTraditionson Alexanderthe Great,"TheStudiaPhilonica Annual4 (1994): 37-53. Examples of the negativeperceptionof the Greekinvadersin some of the earlierJewish apocalypticworks,presumablywith Alexanderof Macedon alluded to, include Daniel, 11:3; and the beginning of the first Book of Macabees(1:1-9). 55. See the marginalnotes in the Vilna edition loc. cit. by Gaon RabbiEliyahu Gaon and Rabbi Betsalel of Regensburg. 56. Don YitshakAbravanel,Perush cal nevi'imrishonim,(Jerusalem,5715), 425. He refersto the "24th"Romanemperor,who lived "150 years afterthe destructionof the temple." 57. Azariahde' Rossi, Me'or'Enayim,ed. D. Cassel (Vilna, 1864-66), 12:181-87; TheLight

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AhasuerusandAlexander:TwoParallels After a detailedexaminationof the questionin his historicalmagnumopus, he advancedhis own candidate:TiberiusJuliusAlexander.58As prefectof Egypt,he had orderedRoman soldiers to attackthe Jews in the wake of a riot there.59This theory, too, however,cannotbe maintained.It entails ignoring"of Macedon,"contradicts the PalestinianTalmud'shistorically more credible text, replaces a major slaughterwith a minorone (while manythousandsof Jews arereputedto havebeen slaughteredin TiberiusJuliusAlexander'ssuppressionof the disturbances,it does not fit such a complete destruction),andbesides all that,assumes the unlikely fact thatthe BT would have knowledge aboutchronologicallyand geographicallydistantAlexandriaconcerningthe lesser disturbanceand not aboutthe principleand slightly more recentdestruction. If the BT versions readingAlexander of Macedon cannot be respectfully removed,they may,at least, be reasonablyaccountedfor. It may be possible to explain how this statementcame about by comparisonwith the Zoroastriantraditions. One shouldnote thatAlexanderof Macedonhada totallydifferentreputation in traditionalZoroastrianhistoriographythan that which he enjoyed in the West. Ultimately,the PersianandArab authorswould succumbto the foreign influence of the Alexander-romanceliteraturethathad penetratedthe East and would incorporatehim more favorablyinto their tradition,but this was a much later development.60He was for traditionalZoroastriantexts the most hatedmortalever known to Zoroastrianism.Beyond the predictablegrievance for conqueringthe ancient Persian Empire and supplantingthe native Persian Achaemenid dynasty,61the Zoroastriansources also accredithim with the destructionof much of the Zoroastrianreligioustraditionandthe devastationof theircountryand cities.62In Pahlavi ofthe Eyes,Azariahde 'Rossi,trans.J.Weinberg(New HavenandLondon:YaleUniversityPress,2001), 239-47. 58. De' Rossi'sexplanationwas subsequentlyacceptedby S.Y.Rapoport,,ErechMillin(Prague, 1852), 97. 59. See Josephus, Wars,II, xviii, 7-8 (487-98). 60. On the evolving PersianattitudetowardsAlexanderthe Great,see J. Darmesteter,"La legende d'Alexandrechez les Parsees,"MOlangespublidspar la Section historiqueet philologique de 1'Ecole des Hautes Etudes pour le dixieme anniversaire de la foundation (Paris, 1878), reprint:J. Darmesteter,Essais Orientaux(Paris, 1883), 227-50; A Abel, "LaFigureD'Alexandreen Iran,"in La Persia e il Mondo Greco-Romano(Roma: Accademia Nationale dei Lincei, 1966), 119-36; E.G. Browne, A LiteraryHistory of Persia 1 (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press, 1951), 118; Mary Boyce, A HistoryofZoroastrianism,3 (Leiden:E.J.Brill, 1991), 60, n. 40 and furtherreferencesthere. 61. If the testimonycan be takenat face value, alreadyin the earlythirdcentury,the new Sasanian dynastyhad declaredits intentionof reversingthe achievementsof Alexanderof Macedon,and returningto the bordersof the Achaemenids. See Herodian,VI, 2:2; Dio Cassius, LXXX, 4:1. On the otherhand,it has been arguedthatmemory of the Achaemenidswas minimalin the early Sasanianera. See E. Yarshater,"Werethe SasaniansHeirs to the Achaemenids?,"in La Persia nel Medioevo(Rome: AccademiaNationale dei Lincei, 1971), 17-31. A. Sh. Shahbazi,"EarlySasanians'Claim to Achaemenid Heritage,"(Web,http://www.sasanika.com)NJme-yeIran-e Bdstdn, 1:69-79, advocatesan intermediateposition. 62. Denkerd,Bk. IV,ed. M. Madan,412.3-413.17, Translationin M. Shaki,"TheDenkardAccount of the History of the ZoroastrianScriptures,"ArchivOrientalni49 (1981): 114-25; Bk. VII, ch. 6, 2, 6; J. Darmesteter,"Lettrede Tansarau Roi de Tabarastan," JournalAsiatique 1 (1894): 212, 516;

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GeoffreyHerman Zoroastrianreligious works the epithet,gizistag, "accursed,"is typically appended to his name. He is also associated in these texts, somewhatunexpectedly,with Egypt.63The following lines, appearingin the Pahlavicomposition,ArddWirdz Namag, should serve as a good example: ThentheaccursedEvil Spirit... misledtheaccursedAlexander theRoman, residentof Egypt,andsenthimto thelandof Iranwithgreatbrutalityandviolenceandfear(?). He killedthe Iranianruleranddestroyedandruinedthe courtandthe sovereignty. Thatwicked,wretched,heretic,sinful,maleficent Alexander theRoman,residentof Egypt,tookawayandburntthosescriptures, namelyall theAvestaandZand... Hekilledmanyof thehighpriestsandthe of thereligionandtheable judgesandHerbadsandMobadsandtheupholders onesandthewise menof Iran.64 The cataclysmicdestructionhe allegedly broughtabout has a centralplace in the Zoroastrianwritingson the history of the evolution and transmissionof theirreligious tradition.65Thus, from the perspectiveof a subjectof the Sasanianempire, the authorof the words attributedin the BT to Abaye may well have been familiar with, and, indeed, influenced by the PersianattitudetowardsAlexanderof Macedon, andit wouldnot be so surprisingto find him attributingto Alexanderof Macedon, the "accursedAlexander the Roman, resident of Egypt," an evil that the Romans inflicted on the illustriousand ancientJewish communityof Egypt.66 The Letterof Tansar,trans. M. Boyce (Rome, 1968): 37, 65; The GreaterBundahiin, 214:8; JamaspAsana. Pahlavi Texts,Asduh ud Sahigih i Sagastan, 9-15; a Sogdian fragment, deriving from the Pahlavisource, cited by W.B. Henning,"The Murderof the Magi,"Journal of the RoyalAsiatic Society (1944): 133-44; Markwart,J.A Catalogue of the Provincial Capitals of Eranshahr(PahleviText, Version,and Commentary),ed. G. Messina (Roma: S. I., 1931), 9, 11, 21, 34. For a discussion on the Zoroastriantraditionsrelatingto the destructionof the religious literature,see H.W.Bailey, Zoroastrian Problemsin theNinth-CenturyBooks (Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1943, repr.1971), 149-76 and Shaki, ibid.. On the PersianandArabhistorianssuch as Ibnal-Balxi, Mastidi,and Ibn-i Hazm on this topic see M. Minbwi, ed., Ndma-yi Tansar(Tehran,19752), 54-55, 140-41. 63. Masoudi also appearsto testify to the confusion regardingAlexander'splace of origin between Egypt and Macedonia. See Magoudi,Les Prairies d'Or, II, C. Barbierde Maynard,(Paris:Societ6 Asiatique, 1914), 257. 64. ArddWirdzNdmag, 1, 3, cited from FereydunVahman,Arda WirazNamag (London and Malmo, 1986), 191. This work is generallyconsideredto havebeen writtenin the late Sasanianera,but the beginning,includingthe section we are citing, may have been writtenafterthe Muslim invasionof Persia.Nevertheless, the attitudeto Alexanderof Macedon portrayedhere reflects the earlierperiod, see the following note. 65. Elias Bickerman,for example,in "TheSeleucidsandthe Achaemenids,"La Persia e il Mondo Greco-Romano(Roma:AccademiaNationale dei Lincei, 1966), 15, assumes these anti-Alexander traditionsto havedevelopedduringthe Sasanianperiod.Fora view concedingto these Pahlavitraditions a certainhistoricalveracitysee Mary Boyce, A HistoryofZoroastrianism,2 (Leiden:E.J.Brill, 1982), 290; and M. Boyce and F. Grenet,A HistoryofZoroastrianism,3 (Leiden:E.J.Brill, 1991), 12-17. 66. On the possible connection between Zoroastriantraditionson the loss of their holy scripturesby Alexanderthe Great,and early traditionson the loss of the Jewish holy writings, see S. Pines, "A Parallelbetween Two Iranianand Jewish Themes,"Irano-Judaica2, eds. S. Shakedand A. Netzer (Jerusalem:Ben Zvi Institute,1990), 43-44.

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Ahasuerus and Alexander: Two Parallels CONCLUSION

We have examined two cases of Persianinfluence on sources from the BT. In the case of the Esthersource, it seems that the BT has taken a typical Persian topos and appliedit to the biblical retellingportrayingthe biblical protagonistsas charactersfamiliarfrom such as the IranianXwaddy-ndmag(Book of Lords)tradition. Familiaritywith some Persianoriginal shouldbe taken for granted.Forthe source on Alexanderof Macedon, it would appearthat the impact of the Zoroastrian antagonismtowardsAlexander lies behind the BT's attributionof the destructionof AlexandrianJewry to him. As for the conduit for this activity, it is unnecessaryto posit a BabylonianJewish communitywell readin the Middle Persian literatureof the kind where such themes abound.In fact, probablyfew Persians were. Rather,one suspects that the transferof these themes was facilitated by the largelyoral characterof the Persianliterature.67Jews would probablyhave been exposed to works of this genre, the popularliteratureof the rulingnation.As we have seen, the identificationof these culturalexchanges serves not only to enrich the Talmudicpalette, but may also contributetowardsa betterunderstanding of the Persiansources, themselves. Geoffrey Herman Jewish Theological Seminaryof America New York,New York

67. The mannerby which oral traditionswere transmittedis consideredby Mary Boyce, "The ParthianG6sin and IranianMinstrelTradition,"Journal of the RoyalAsiatic Society (1957): 10-45.

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Aaron Salomon Gumpertz, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and the First Call for an Improvement of the Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) Author(s): Gad Freudenthal Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 299-353 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131736 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:19 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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AJS Review 29:2 (2005), 299-353

AARON SALOMONGUMPERTZ, GOTTHOLDEPHRAIMLESSING,ANDTHE FIRST CALL FORAN IMPROVEMENTOF THE CIVIL RIGHTS OF JEWS IN GERMANY(1753)

by Gad Freudenthal wasbereitsKayserling [Es]giltvonAronGompertz, gesagthat:eristheutefast durchstdirkere verschollen. Um so h6herist es zu bewerten,dassFreudenthal neuenMaterials unddurchdie Beibringung Betonungdes bisherBekannten wiederaufdie Bedeutung diesesManneshinweist:er ist nebenMendelssohn derBefreierdesJudentums ausseinemgeistigenGhetto.(1907)1 -Saura-t-onunjourquia r6dig6ce texte?(2004)2 derJuden ChristianWilhelmvon Dohm'sUberdie biirgerlicheVerbesserung of 1781 is generally believed to be the first call issued in Germanyfor the improvementof the Jews' civil rights.3This commonly held belief is mistaken.Following in the footsteps of VolkmarEichstdidt'sBibliographiezur Geschichteder Judenfrageof 1938,4JacobTourycalled attentionto the Schreibeneines Judenan Abbreviations:DNB = Dictionary of National Biographyup to 1900, ed. Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee (London:OxfordUniversityPress, 1949-50); EJ = EncyclopediaJudaica, 16 vols. (Jerusalem:Keter,1972);JubA = Moses Mendelssohn,GesammelteSchriften.Jubildumsausgabe,vols. 1, 2, 3(1), 7, 11, 14, 16, ed. I. Elbogen,J. Guttmann,and E. Mittwoch(Berlin:AkademieVerlag, 1929-38); othervolumes ed. by A. Altmannand E.J.Engel (Stuttgart:FriedrichFromannVerlag,1971 ff.). 1. N[athan] M[ose] Nathan, "Review of David Kaufmannand Max Freudenthal,Die Familie Gompertz(Frankfurt/M.,1907)," Monatsschriftfur Geschichte und Wissenschaftdes Judentums51 (1907): 747-56, quote on 754. 2. Dominique Bourel, Moses Mendelssohn.La naissance dujudaisme moderne (Paris:Gallimard,2004), 94. 3. On ChristianWilhelmvon Dohm (1751-1820) and the context of his treatisesee, for example, RobertLiberles,"Dohm'sTreatiseon the Jews:A Defense of the Enlightenment,"TheLeo Baeck InstituteYearbook33 (1988): 29-42; idem, "FromTolerationto Verbesserung:Germanand English Debates on the Jews in the EighteenthCentury,"CentralEuropeanHistory22 (1989): 3-32; AlbertA. Bruer, Geschichteder Juden in Preujfen(1750-1820) (Frankfurt/NewYork:CampusVerlag, 1991), 63-68; PeterR. Erspamer,"ChristianWilhelmvon Dohm's On the Civic Improvementof theJews,"in YaleCompanionto Jewish Writingand Thoughtin GermanCulture,1096-1996, ed. SanderL. Gilman and JackZipes (New Havenand London:Yale UniversityPress, 1997), 75-83. 4. VolkmarEichstlidt,Bibliographiezur Geschichteder Judenfrage.Vol. 1: 1750-1848 (Hamburg:HanseatischeVerlagsanstalt,1938), 6, no. 75a. Eichstlidt,of the PreussischeStaatsbibliothekin Berlin, preparedhis bibliographyat the behest of Wilhelm Grau(1910-2000), the managingdirector

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Gad Freudenthal einen Philosophen nebst der Antwort (in what follows: Schreiben), a pamphlet publishedanonymouslyin Berlin in 1753, which is "thefirst Germancomposition on the Jewish question"calling for complete equality of the status of the Jews in Germany.5Touryshed importantlight on this work but was unableto identify its author.Subsequenthistoriographytook little notice of the Schreiben,perhapsbecause its author,andhence the contextin which it was composed,remainedunidentified. In this article,I show thatthe authorof the Schreibenis the Berlinphysician and early maskil Aaron Salomon Gumpertz,also known as Aaron Zalman Emmerich(1723-1769) and thathis friend,the notedpoet, playwrightand critic Gotthold EphraimLessing (1729-1781), was directlyinvolvedin its publication.This identificationshould give Gumpertzand his Schreibenthe place they deserve in Germanhistory and in the history of the Jews in Germany;at the same time, it enhances our appreciationof Lessing as a centralfigure in promotingthe rights of Jews in Germany. I. THE SCHREIBEN:SOME BIBLIOGRAPHICALDATA The Schreibenwas first publishedin Berlinin 1753, "beyChristianFriedrich Voss."Contraryto what Toury and others believed, copies of this edition are extant.6In this originaledition,the Schreibenconsists of threeparts:Pages 3-13 carry a purportedepistle, entitled "Schreibeneines Juden an einen Philosophen," signed by "Levi Israel"on March24, 1753, at M**; pages 14-24 carry the "reply,"entitled"Antwortdes Philosophen,"signed by "R.C.D.N"on April 30, 1753 atA***; andpages 15-32 arean appendixentitled:"Anhangdie in Engellandverstattete Naturalisirungder Juden betreffend."This edition of the Schreibenwas reviewed on August 4, 1753, by GottholdEphraimLessing and, in 1755, anonymously, in Krafts neue theologische Bibliothek.7The pamphlet was reissued in

of the "Reichsinstitutftir Geschichte des neuen Deutschland"foundedby WalterFrank(1905-1945) in 1935; see ibid., p. V and Patriciavon Papen-Bodek,"Die Bibliothek der ForschungsabteilungJudenfragein Miinchen 1936-45," in Freundeskreisdes Lehrstuhlsfir JiidischeGeschichteund Kultur e.V. [Universityof Munich],Rundbriefno. 3 (October2001): 10-12. Eichstdidt'swork is surprisingly free of anti-Jewishrhetoric. 5. JacobToury,"Einevergessene Friihschriftzur EmanzipationderJudenin Deutschland,"Bulletin des Leo Baeck Instituts 12, no. 48 (1969): 253-81. The Schreibenhad been briefly discussed in JacobKatz, "Theterm 'JewishEmancipation':Its Originand HistoricalImpact,"in Emancipationand Assimilation:Studiesin ModernJewish History (Westmead,Farnborough,Hants [England]:Gregg International,1972), 21-45, on 30-31. Forthe historicalcontext see also Toury,"Die Behandlungjiidischer Problematikin derTagesliteraturderAufklirung (bis 1783),"Jahrbuchdes Institutsftr deutsche Geschichte(Tel-Aviv)5 (1976): 13-47. 6. At least in the following two libraries:Weimar,Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek (shelf mark: Dd 6: 90 [7]) and Stuttgart,WiirttembergischeLandesbibliothek(shelf mark:Theol. oct. K 4712). 7. Lessing'sreviewwas publishedin BerlinerprivilegirteZeitung(knownas VossischeZeitung), 1753, 93. St., Saturday,4 August 1753; reprintedin: GottholdEphraimLessing, WerkeundBriefe.Vol. 2: Werke1751-1753, ed. JiirgenStenzel (Frankfurtam Main:DeutscherKlassikerVerlag, 1998), 52324 (with notes on 1108-09). Kraftsneue theologischeBibliothekSt. 92 (1755): 183-87; the review is signed by "M."

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) Hamburgin 1759, underthe title Schreibeneines Judenan einem [sic] Philosophen nebst der Antwort.Mit Anmerkungen(no publisher indicated). This edition, of which apparentlyonly a single copy survives today,is the work of an anonymous adversaryof the improvementof the Jews' standing.8It differs from the original edition in two respects:it adds a "Vorbericht"of fourteenpages in which the author criticallydiscusses the originalSchreiben,and it accompaniesthe conscientiously reproducedtext of the original Schreibenwith critical notes that endeavor to refuteits theses.9It was this, the 1759 edition,which JacobTouryused and from which he retrievedthe text of the editioprinceps, which he reproducedin his 1969 publication.' This overtly anti-Jewishedition will not interestus here as an historic object in its own rightbut only occasionally as the responseof an early reader of the originalSchreiben.11 II. THESCHREIBEN. CONTENTS The first part of the Schreibenis ostensibly a letter addressedby "Levi Israel"to an unnamedChristian"philosopher."Levi Israelbegins by thankingthe latterfor having sent him a draftof his Politik, a composition he read with much pleasure (3).12 In this work, the philosopherdeveloped the thesis that a countryshould increase its population,and that to this end the prince should encouragemarriage, attendto the educationof orphans,andattemptto acquireforeigncolonies (4). Levi Israelsets out to proposeto his correspondentyet anotherway to achievethe same goal. He realizes, he writes, that most Christianswould regardhis suggestion as ridiculousand thatthe proposalitself involves "manyhurdles[Unbequemlichkeiten],"buthe is confidentthatthe philosopher,his friend,wouldgive him a fairhearing (4). Levi Israelintroduceshis subjectwith a sentencethatindirectlypresentshim as a Jew and suggests thatthe Jews are at the centerof his concern:"youknow that the people of my nationcannotat all reside in Spainand Portugal"(4). He continues by observingthat in Germany,the Jews are not allowedto own land or real estate and are thus forced to earn their living throughtrade.If, however,they were given the permission to own land and houses, and to exercise professions other than trade,he continues,they would quickly become wealthierand,consequently, 8. HebrewUnion College, Cincinnati,USA (shelf numberR B R. DS 147 18 and Mic. 2343). I am indebtedto Ms. Noni Rudavskyof the Hebrew Union College Libraryfor having providedme with a copy of this work.The copy that Eichstdidtsaw in Hamburgwas destroyedduringthe war. 9. This "Vorbericht"quotes in extenso the review published in Kraftsneue theologischeBibliothek. Furtherbibliographicaldata are given in Toury,"Eine vergessene Friihschrift,"257 and need not be repeatedhere. 10. Toury,"Eine vergessene Friihschrift,"270-82. Tourypublishedonly the beginning of the Anhang. 11. Touryanalyzedthis commentedrepublicationof the Schreibenandput forwardsome ideas on the possible circle behind it in "Einevergessene Friihschrift,"266-69. 12. The text has: EntwurfderPolitik;three words that can also be taken to be a title meaning: "A Scheme for Politics."ForcommodityI will henceforthuse the name "Levi Israel"to referto the alleged authorof this partof the Schreiben,although,as I will argue,there was no personby that name. Here and in what follows all page numbersgiven in bracketsin the text refer to the first edition.

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Gad Freudenthal attractthe immigrationof "manythousands"of Jews from other countries.This would lead to an increasein the circulationof money and consequentlyto a rise of the prices of real estate, therebyraising the state'sincome from taxes (4-5). Levi Israel adds that he is confident that the philosopher,knowing him well, will not suspect him of writing only in the interest of his "brethrenin faith" (GlaubensgenoJfen;5). He is also confident that the philosopherwould not raise any criticism of the Jewish religion: As a philosopher,he naturallyperceives those who believe in a Messiah thathas alreadycome and those who believe in one who still is to come as equally congenial (6). Levi Israelnext formulatesand answersa series of possible objectionsto his suggestion.13The Jews would inundatethe entirecountry?Yes,but this is precisely the goal sought, namely to increasethe country'swealth (6). The Jews would deprive the Christiansof their income?Yes, but by loweringprices they would benefit the population at large, and this benefit to the entire population would outweigh the prejudiceeventuallysufferedby some individuals(7). The Jews are "not so orderlyin their clothing and theirhouses"as the Christians?As a philosopher, his correspondentis certainly awarethat these traits are not "essential"to by them;rather,they are the "effects"of misery and despise, as is "demonstrated" the fact thatthe serfs in Polandand Russia are much dirtierthanthe Jews, whereas the PortugueseJews equal the Christiansin tidiness. The Jews are unfit as soldiers, and even if they were fit it would run againsttraditionto enlist them to the army?Levi Israel objects that nothing in the "constitutionof the [Jews'] bodies nor in their [religious]Law"rules out theirbecoming soldiers, yet recognizes that the "habit"in Christianlandsmakestheirdraftingratherimpractical.He observes, however,thatwith the income thatthe immigratingJews will generatefor the state, the regent will easily be in a position to hire foreign soldiers to replace the Jews (8). If Jews were freely allowed into the country,only the poor would come, and they are of little value for the state?No, the poor,too, of both religions, contribute to the generalwealth and,moreover,not only poor Jews would settle in the country (9-10). At this point in the letter, the purely matter-of-facteconomic--mercantilist-discourse on the possible benefits the state would derive from a massive Jewish immigrationgives way to a sociological discussion of the causes for the Jews' present deplorablecircumstancesand of the reasons they are hated. The philosophercould think, Levi Israelwrites, that the foregoing argumentsin favor of the Jews are canceled out by the "strongeffect of the negative views [Vorstellungen]" concerning Jews that people have "everywhere."It is true, Levi Israel concedes, thatthe preachingof the theologianson the one hand,and the misery of most Jews on the other,induce in the Christians"very evil and almost inerasable notions"concerningthe entireJewish nation.This is why they usually oppose the idea that a ruleraccord liberties to the Jews, or open his countryto Jewish immi13. Below I offer a hypothesis as to the origin of this techniqueof writing.A readerof a draft of this paperraised the possibility that it reflects the method of "disputatio,"which the authorcould have acquiredat the university.This is unlikelyto be the case, however:The doctoraldissertationof the authoras I will identify him bears no markof it.

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) gration.To this argumentLevi Israelobjects in detail,pointing out thatthe hate is the resultof the Jews' miserablestate, which, however,can be changedby removing the causes thathave producedit. In the present "enlightenedtimes" (erleuchteteZeiten), he says, reflection should allow one to realize thatthe Jews were oppressedfor hundredsof years by a combinationof cruelty and religious zeal (10). It is this repressionthat has led to their decline: Jews get no trainingin the arts and the sciences nor receive physical education;they cannothold official posts; and are obliged to earntheir living throughcommerce.It is the Christians,therefore,who push the Jews into poverty andbad morals;it is the circumstancescreatedby themthat"entailnecessarilythat the Jewishnationbe a miserableand despisedpeople,"whose "slavishstate"rules out that it possess "thevirtues of a magnanimoussoul [groJfmiithige Seele]" (11). However,when causes are removed,so are their effects (11). Consequently,if a sovereignwere to eradicatethe causes of theirmisery,the Jews would become the Christians'equals. Jews and Christians,Levi Israel urges, "posses the self-same bodies and souls, and the self-same capacitiesof the body and the mind"("da sie eben solche Cirper und Seelen, eben solche Fdhigkeitendes Leibes und Geistes besitzen";11), a memorablephraseto which we will come back. It has been made clear,Levi Israelconcludes-and this is the pinnacleof his letter-that giving the Jews "equal privileges with the other inhabitantsof the country [gleichmdiiigeVorrechtemit den iibrigenEinwohnern]"will bring happiness to an "abandonednation"andat the same time lead to the increaseof the number of subjectsandof the country'swealth.These developmentswill eventuallyput an end to the Christians'aversiontowardthe Jews (12). Levi Israel expresses the hope that the philosopher,his correspondent,will subscribeto the argumentshe has adduced,and asks him to include them in his forthcomingtreatise (12). He adds a personalcall, or ratherchallenge:If only you could assume the role thatLe Fort assumed with respect to Peter the Great,then perhapsthere will be a (German)princewho would"unitethe strongestmindwith the greatestpower"and free the Jewish nation from its low state.14"Shouldthis happen,"Levi Israel assures, "I am certainthat the reverence[Ehrfurcht]they [the Jews] will feel towardthat prince will lead them to believe that their hope for the coming of a Messiah has been fulfilled in his person."They will express their immense gratitude both throughmaterialsacrifices, and by inscribinghim in their and their descendents' memory and in Jewish history (13). In his reply,the philosopherstates that he finds the submittedpropositions "congenial":not only do they concern his esteemed friend'snation,but he would assent to them even if he were the Jews' enemy, simply because they agree with 14. A footnote (p. 13) explainsthatLe Fortwas "amemberof the suite of a Danishambassador to Moscow,"whose reportsof the excellent social institutionsin France,England,Holland,and other countriesinducedthe princeof Moscow,the laterCzarPeterthe Great,to makereformsaimingto "free the Russiannation from its barbarianstate."FrancoisLe Fort(1656-1699) of Genevaarrivedin Moscow in 1675 and workedfirst as a secretaryof the Danish ambassadorand laterof the English ambassador.In 1689, he became the close adviser of PeterI or Peterthe Great(1672-1725), Czarof Russia (1682-1725) and was at the origin of many modernreforms,includingthe foundationof SaintPetersburg(1703).

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Gad Freudenthal the truthand because the "proofs"are compelling (14-15). Having fully accepted Levi Israel'sideas, the philosopherconsolidatesthem with furtherarguments. The proposalsput forwardby Levi Israelhave alreadybeen implementedin Holland andEngland,he argues,whereJews can buy land andreal estate, and also exercise professions. Owing to their good manners,their splendor,and their good taste, some of these Jews have even been ennobled:this lays to rest the erroneous notion that the Jews are the only exception to the rule that educationand wealth can make everyoneworthyof belonging to the nobility (15). At this point, the text inserts (16) a footnote consisting of two short paragraphs.The first states that not only do the Jews in Englandhave all the abovementionedrights,but a bill has been putbeforethe UpperHouse of Parliamentthat they be naturalized.The second,precededby the acronym"N.B.,"addsthat"it can now be reportedto the reader"thatthis bill has alreadybeen passed by both houses of Parliamentand has been approvedby the king, adding that the news concerning this matter,as well as the text of the bill itself, are given in the Appendix.'5We will come back to the significance of this footnote later. Having grantedJews freedom,the philosophercontinues, the rulers of England and Holland had extremelywealthy Jews among their subjects:"a Pinto, a Dulitz, and a Suasso."'16Specifically, he adds, Suasso lent Prince William of Or15. This abbreviation(which standsfor notabene)clearlycarriesherethe meaningof"P.S.";cf. the following words:"it can now be reported.. .". 16. The financierIsaacDe Pinto(1715-1787) lived in Amsterdamin the 1740s and 1750s, "enjoying a spectacularpersonal wealth" (OxfordDictionary of National Biography,60 vols. [Oxford, 2004], 44:385-85). He laterwrote several importantbooks on nationaleconomy and engaged a controversywith Voltaireover the latter'santi-Semitism.See also HermanPrinsSalomon,"The 'De Pinto' manuscript.A Seventeenth-CenturyMarranoFamilyHistory,"StudiaRosenthaliana9 (1975): 1-62; PeterBuijs and Irene Faber,"SourcesRelating to the History of Portuguese-JewishFamilies.The De Pinto and Lopes Suasso Family,"Studia Rosenthaliana32, no. 2 (1998): 190-94. The name "Dulitz" is a corruptionof"de Liz."The authormust have had in mind JacobLopez de Liz, who was a wealthy art lover andbon vivant of Portugueseorigin who lived in The Hague from the 1720s to after 1742. He belonged to the high society, funded an orchestraand a theater,and owned a large libraryand a vast collection of valuableobjects. In 1739, he was attackedby PierreDesforges, the directorof the French anecComedy in The Hague, who apparentlyfelt threatenedby de Liz's theater.Desforge'sMWmoires dotes pour servir c l 'histoirede M. Duliz, et la suite de ses aventuresapres la catastrophede celle de MademoisellePelissier,Actrice de l'Opera de Paris (London [in fact: Paris], 1739) was quickly translated into Germanas Des reichen holldndischenJuden FranzDuliz geheime seltsame Begebenheiten ... (Bastia [i.e., Frankfurt]:Verlegts Francesco Giovanni Ottoiano, Hof-Buchhindler [i.e., Stock], 1739). This was barely a year after Joseph Siiss Oppenheimer,known as "JudSiiss," was hanged in Stuttgart(February4, 1738), an event to which the title page of the Germanedition of the book alluded throughan engravingshowing SiiB'hangingwith the following charmingcaption:"Der SiiUhingt hier und Diilitz dort // So find die Wolliist ihren Ort."(The spelling "Diilitz"in this caption suggests thatthis book may have been the author'ssource of informationon Dulitz/de Liz.) In 1742, de Liz had a legal guardianappointedoverhim at the requestof his only daughterSaraandher husbandAbraham, alias FranciscoLopes Suasso. The above informationis all drawnfrom Mozes HeimanGans, Memorbook: History of Dutch Jewryfrom the Renaissance to 1940, trans.Arnold J. Pomerans(Baarn:Bosch & Keuning, 1977), 241. I am most gratefulto OdetteVlessing of the AmsterdamMunicipalArchive for having identified the unknown"Dulitz"as "de Liz" and to Resianne Fontaineof the Universityof Amsterdamfor having providedme with a photocopy from the Memorbook.Dutch testamentswere

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) ange very considerable sums of money.17England and Holland thus benefited from greatfortunesof the Jews who fled the Inquisitionin Spainand Portugal(16). Hadthey followed "thevoice of superstitionand self-interest[Eigennutz]"andnot abolished the oppression [Unterdriickung]of the Jews, which is still perpetuated in othercountries,they would not have benefited from this wealth and the wealth createdby Jews generally.Levi Israel'sposition, the philosopherargues, is sustainedby the considerationthatthose who envy the affluenceof EnglandandHolland cannot disapproveof the means thathave producedit (17). The philosophercontinuesby expressinghis "astonishment"aboutthe Jews' oppression,which is "unjust"and also "extremelydetrimental"to the Christian countriesthatpracticeit (17): whereverthe Jews are grantedfreedomthey enrich the host countrythroughtheir work and industry,but they are consideredas useless subjects. That this perceptionis entirely wrong is shown by the Portuguese Jews, who in all respectsarethe Christians'equals.Moreover,througha heroic effort, even a few "GermanJews" (verschiedeneder Deutschen Juden) have succeeded to free themselves frommisery and deficient education.The contemporary Russians similarlyshow that a people can be made "polite"(gesittet) throughthe willed decision of a monarch(18). In the following paragraph(18-19), printedin bold characters,the philosopher puts in the mouth of the Jews the following statements,which, he says, they can legitimatelycry out: "Youevil Christians:stop persecutingus! ... Can you demandthatwe love a religion thatostensiblyinstructsyou [Christians]to hateus? ... Reject our [religious] errors, but not our persons!" Rather,you Christians shouldtry to win ourheartsthroughcharity,compassionwith one's neighbors,and love of humankind:"Forthe God that you and we worship is kindhearted."The concludingsentence encapsulatesthe philosopher'sargumentation,which continuously oscillates between the economic and the moral points of view: "payheed to justice, or at least to your own interest." Switching back to economic-utilitarianarguments,the philosopher states that he endorseshis correspondent'sargumentto the effect thata "Jewishcolony" enjoying "all freedoms"will be as beneficial to the state as any other population (19-20). He thereforewishes thatthese freedomsno longerbe deniedto the Jewish nation.As a "citizen of the terrestrialglobe" (als ein Mitbiirgerdes Erdkreises) he will consequentlyintegratehis correspondent'ssuggestions into his Politik, and expresses his hope that he will be able to expose them with sufficient force. He adds, however,that he does not share Levi Israel'sconfidence that this partof his treatisewill contributeanythingto saving the latter's"compatriots"from their miserablestate (20-21). then registeredin English in London and threetestamentsby membersof the de Liz family are registered between 1725 and 1781 in the British National Archives (PrerogativeCourtof Canterburyand relatedProbateJurisdictions:Will Registers);the last (datedApril 12, 1781) is by SaraSuasso de Liz, Jacob Lopez de Liz's daughter.I am very gratefulto Michael Silber for this piece of information.For Suasso see next note. 17. The authorrefers to Antonio (Isaac) Lopez Suasso (second half of the seventeenthcentury), who was indeed ennobled(as statedby the philosopher);see EJ, 15:467;Daniel Swetschinskiand Loeki Schonduve, De Familie Lopes Suasso, Financiers van WillemIII/The Lopes Suasso Family,

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Gad Freudenthal Tojustify thejust expressedskepticism,the philosophernext turnsto possible hindrancesthat may foil Levi Israel'sand his own project.Even if a ruler intendedto make a step in the right direction,a single unfortunateevent can bring it to naught,given that"theentirenation-the clergy,the bourgeoisin the towns, and the inhabitantsof the countryside"-are looking for an opportunityto thwartit (21). To illustratehis point thatthe Jews' statusdependson unforeseeablecircumstances,the philosopherdrawsa parallelbetweenthem andthe FrenchProtestants. The latter contributedmuch to their country'swealth and enjoyed the favor of Louis XIV;yet, afterthe deathof Colbertandfollowing "unfoundedreports"made to the king by two advisers,they came to be consideredas rebels and were persecuted (21-22).18 This thought is then carried further:"Yourbrethren,esteemed friend,are Europe'sHuguenots:your plea is in some respect identicalwith that of the Reformedin France"(22). The philosophernext evokes in a single sentencethe religious oppositionas anotherprobablesourceof danger:the clerics, he anticipates,will arguethata ruler is not entitled to bring to an end the misery of a people that God's will has made into the subjectof disdain in Christendom(22). Anotherpossible source of opposition to the improvementof the Jews' stateis thatpeople as a rule prefertheirown personalgood to the generalwelfare. Consideringthatthey regardwith envy their own coreligionists,how much more would they oppose a ruler'sintentionto favor the immigrationof a nation they loathe? They would draw on all possible arguments to make the case that it is impossiblethatChristianand Jewish citizens can thrivesimultaneously(23). These considerationsconcerninglikely sourcesof oppositionto the philosopher'sand Levi Israel'sscheme lead the philosopherto conclude in a ratherpessimistic note: "Letus therefore,worthyfriend,contentourselveswith the hope that the Jews will eventuallymake themselves bettermannered[gesitteter]andthus be less hated by the Christiansand ultimately acquire the citizen's right [BiirgerRecht] in all countries"(23). He thus seems to have abandonedthe hope that the ruler'saction could rapidlyimprovethe Jews' state. But this pessimism does not last: "I have gone too far in my doubts,"he immediatelysays, and comes back to his-and Levi Israel's-original notion. For the happinessof the Jewish people, only a single instantis needed,he proclaims,namelythe instantin which a monarch would have the will to embody humanity'skindness, to resist superstition,and to respondto the desire of a "greatnation"that he become its sovereign and benefactor(23-24). The Schreiben'sthirdandlast partis anAnhang(appendix)consistingof material relatedto the English so-called Jew Bill of 1753. We need not here go into the history of that bill, introducedin the House of Lords on April 3,1753, passed by Parliamentin late Juneand,following vehementpopularclamoragainstit, was Bankersto WilliamIII (Zwolle: Waanders,1988). A memberof this family, FranciscoLopes Suasso, was marriedto Sara,Jacob Lopez de Liz's daughter;see last note and Buijs and Faber,"Sources Relatingto... the De Pinto andLopes Suasso Family,"in Swetschinskiand Schonduve,De FamilieLopes Suasso, Financiers van Willem III.

18. The philosopher,of course, has in mind the revocationof the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) repealed in December 1753.19This Anhang reproducespress reports (to whose source we will come back), carryingthe story from April to up to June 22, 1753, that is, after the law was passed but before it was repealed. I discuss the Anhang in detail below (AppendixI). Having presentedin outline the contents of the Schreiben,I now turnto the question of its authorship. III.THE SCHREIBEN. REAL CORRESPONDENCEOR LITERARYDEVICE? The Schreibenpresentsitself as a letterwrittenby the Jew Levi Israelto the philosopherR.C.D.N.,andthe latter'sanswer.But the few readersof the Schreiben quicklyperceivedthatthis "correspondence"is a literaryfiction. Lessing, its first reader,nonchalantlyreferredto "theauthor"of the entireSchreiben,withouteven feeling a need to justify why he does not take at face value the Schreiben'sclaim to be a correspondencebetween a Jew and a non-Jew.20The anonymousreviewer in Kraftsneue theologischeBibliothek,by contrast,explicitly remarkedthat both texts "sing with the very same tone [singt aus eben dem Tone]"and thattheirstyle makes it obvious thatthey "flowedfrom a single pen."21Scholars,too, sharedthis impression.JohannesDominicus, the authorof a shortwork on Lessing's attitude to the Jews, alertedto the existence of the SchreibenthroughLessing'sreview,ascribed to "Levi Israel"the entire pamphlet:He opined that the philosopher'sresponse to the latter'sepistle was "ratherunphilosophical,"and was written by a "fictionalphilosopher."22 The view thatthe entireSchreibenwas writtenby a single person was sharedalso by Jacob Katz and JacobToury.23 This contentionhas been based, it seems, mainly on impressionisticappreciations of style. It can be corroboratedby the following observations.Consider the sequence of events as presentedin the Schreibenif taken at face value. At an unknown date, the philosopher sent his good friend Levi Israel the draft of his book, perhapsentitledPolitik,askingfor his comments.Levi Israelrespondedwith an epistle dated March24, 1753, suggesting to the philosopherto include in his treatiseargumentsin favorof a policy aiming at increasingthe populationby a liberal policy towardthe Jews. Impressedby this line of reasoning,which had total19. The most detailed account is: Thomas S. Perry,Public Opinion,Propagandaand Politics in Eighteenth-CenturyEngland:A Studyof the Jew Bill of 1753 (Cambridge,MA: HarvardUniversity Press, 1962). For a recent concise descriptionsee David S. Katz, Jews in the History of England, 1485-1850 (Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1994), 240-53, as well as the very illuminatingJamesShapiro, Shakespeareand the Jews (New York:ColumbiaUniversityPress, 1996), 195-224. See also Norman D. Roth, Social and Intellectual Currentsin England in the CenturyPreceding the Jew Bill of 1753 (Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 1978). 20. Lessing, Werke1751-1753, 523:18-19: "Diese Blitter ... machen sowohl der scharfsinningen Einsichtdes Verfassers,als der guten Sache Ehre";see also note ad loc. on 1108; alreadynoted by Toury,"Eine vergessene Friihschrift,"260, 263. Two furtheroccurrences of "der Verfasser" (524:15, 19) refer specifically to the authorof the partostensibly signed by "Levy Israel." 21. Kraftsneue theologischeBibliothekSt. 92 (1755), 184 and note. 22. JohannesDominicus,Lessings StellungzumJudentum(Dresden:G1lss, 1894), 20-22. Dominicus identified "Levi Israel"as Israelb. Moses ofZamosc; see Appendix III. 23. Katz, "The Term 'Emancipation,"'31 ("a probably fictitious correspondence");Toury, "Einevergessene Friihschrift,"260, 263.

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Gad Freudenthal ly escaped him, the philosopherset out to revise his treatise.At the same time, on April 30, 1753, he also sent Levi Israel an enthusiasticanswerto his letter.Now, in this missive, the philosopherutters no word about any intention to publish a brochurecontainingthe correspondence(being presumablytoo busy with writing his own, assuredlyweighty treatise).The Schreiben'snarrativethus implies that it was Levi Israelwho took the initiativeto bringto printthe epistolaryexchangeand who eventuallydid so: He put togethera pamphletconsisting of his own and the philosopher'stexts, added the Anhang, and the entire Schreiben eines Juden an einen Philosophen nebst der Antwortappearedin July or earlyAugust 1753.24 The presence of the Jew Bill in the Schreiben deserves special attention. While Levi Israel'sletternaturallydoes not alludeto it (it is ostensiblydatedMarch 24, i.e., before the bill was put before Parliament),the bill is briefly mentionedin the footnote to the philosopher'sletter:the first part of this footnote laconically mentionsthat a bill concerningthe "naturalizationof the Jews"had been submitted to the English House of Lords;its second part,purportedlyadded only in the last minutebefore going to print,addsthatthe bill has been passed and directsthe readerto pertinentnewspaperreports,reproduced(in translation)in the Anhang. As we just saw,the Schreiben's own narrativeimplies that the Anhang is the work of Levi Israel;the same conclusion thus holds also of the footnote (or at least its second part).25 The scenario implied by the Schreibenposits an extraordinary,quite improbablecoincidence of two entirely independentsequences of events. One sequence was triggeredby the philosopher.He sent Levi Israela draftof his treatise, to which the addresseerepliedby an epistle in which he broughtup the Jewish aspect that did not at all featurein the Politik. His suggestions having met with the philosopher'simmediateand total approval,Levi Israel decided to bring to print their correspondence.The exchange itself allegedly took place in March-April 1753, with some additions(notablyof the Anhang) made in June 1753. Concurrently,the second,entirelyunrelatedsequenceof events, concerningthe enactment of the English Jew Bill, took place in London between early April and late June 1753.Accordingto the Schreiben'snarrative,the two sequencesof events intersect, namely when the news reportsconcerningthe Jew Bill reach the compiler of the Schreiben,preciselyin time to be reproducedin theAnhangof the pamphlethe was just rushingto press (the first press reportis datedApril 6, 1753, and the last, the news of the Bill's final enactment,is datedJune22, 1753). The extraordinaryfeature of the Schreibenis thus that both allegedly independentsequences of events felicitously converge:accordingto the narrativeofferedby the Schreiben,Levi Israel must have been dumbfoundedone morning when, in earlyApril, barely two weeks afterhaving submittedto the philosopherhis ideas on betteringthe statusof 24. Lessing's review appearedin the Berlinerprivilegirte Zeitung dated Saturday,August 4, 1753. 25. Takingthe correspondenceat face value, this second partof the footnote cannothave been writtenby the philosopher:Forone thing, it directlyaddressesthe readerof the Schreibenand,as noted, the philosopherdoes not at all alludeto an impendingpublication;for another,the philosopher'sreply is datedApril 30, 1753, whereasthe Anhang contains reportsstretchingfromApril 6, to June 22, 1753 (see Appendix I).

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) Jews in Prussia,he learnedfromthe newspaperthata bill which looked as if it had been readoff his mind was put before the English Parliamentin far-awayLondon. ("Wondrousare the Lord'sways,"he would perhapshave mutteredto himself.) All this is too good to be true, however:Unless we assume a preestablished harmony,the concatenationof events as proposedby the Schreibenis hardlycredible. The chronology implied by the Schreibenis also belied by the fact that the philosopher'sreply,allegedly writtenon April 30, 1753, makes no allusion to the immediatelyrelevantand encouragingdevelopmentsin Englandof which Levi Israel was so keenly aware. The following reconstructionseems more likely. In earlyApril 1753, a person interestedin the state of the Jews in Germany-he who was to be the author of the entireSchreiben-learns thata bill concerningthe naturalizationof the Jews had been submittedto the English Parliament.26This news gives him the idea to publish a call for what he takes to be an analogousimprovementof the Jews' condition in Germany.(In point of fact, the bearingof the Jew Bill was ratherlimited, but like many of his contemporaries,the authorof the Schreibenwrongly saw in it a step on the road to equality of rights.)27He chooses to conceal the fact that his initiativeis triggeredby thatbill, presumablyso as not to createthe impressionthat he was calling for an emulationof a foreign power.Having opted for the literary form of an epistolaryexchangebetweena Jew and a Christianphilosopher,andintent on creatingthe impressionthatthe correspondencehad begun independently of the news concerningthe English bill, he dates the Jew's writing to March24, and, moreover,ascribes the beginning of the correspondenceto the philosopher's having sent his treatiseto his correspondenteven earlier.The authorthus writes as if at the moment of replyingto the philosopherLevi Israeldid not know anything of the bill and as if the philosopher,whose letter is datedApril 30, learned of it only afterhe had completedhis letterandjust as he was aboutto mail it (he refers to the bill only in the first partof the footnote,purportedlywrittenby himself). At that first stage the Schreibenconsisted only of the two alleged letters, including the first part of the footnote to the philosopher'sletter.Subsequently,in late June 1753, when the authorlearnedof the adoptionof the bill, he addedthe second part of the footnote to the philosopher'sletterand the Anhang:it appearsthat the good (but short-lived)news thatthe bill was approvedby both houses of Parliamentand by the king came as a surpriseto the authorjust when he was about to bring his brochureto print("it can now be reportedto the readerthat ... ").28 The upshot of our discussion so far is that the exchange of letters making the Schreibenis a literaryartifact.As Lessing and the reviewerin Kraftsneue up theologischeBibliothekperceivedlong ago, "Levi Israel"and "R.C.D.N."areboth 26. The first part of the footnote to the philosopher'slettermentions merely that the bill has been submittedto the House of Lords, without referingto the subsequentevents: It thus echoes precisely the press reportdatedApril 6, 1753, and not laterreports. 27. Katz, "TheTerm'Emancipation,'"31. 28. It is possible of course, althoughI think unlikely,thatthe second partof the footnote is yet anotherartisticdevice used by the authorto enhancethe effect of his pamphletand that the Schreiben was composed in a single strokein late June.

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Gad Freudenthal fictive characters,and the Schreiben is the work of one author.Moreover,the Schreiben,the first call in Germanlands for equal civic rights for Jews, was triggered by the English Jew Bill, although the authorsought to conceal this fact. Toury,it should be noted, intuitivelyperceivedthis and referredto the Schreiben as a "reaction"to the Jew Bill.29 IV THE

AUTHOR OF THE SCHREIBEN: JEWISH OR CHRISTIAN?

To identifythe anonymousauthorof the Schreiben,we shouldbegin by asking whetherhe was a Christianor a Jew. Curiously,this importantquestion, on which hinges our appreciationof the historic significance of Schreiben,has never been formulatedexplicitly.30Internalevidence, I believe, establishesbeyonddoubt the author'sJewishness.Considerthe following points. First, the authorchose to presentthe entire Schreibenas the endeavorof a Jew, Levi Israel, to improvehis brethren'scondition in Germany,namely by persuadingthe gentile philosopherto include in his treatiseon political theory an argument on the Jews' economic usefulness to the nation. It furthermoreintimates that the correspondenceand the Anhangwere broughtto printby Levi Israel.The Schreibenthuspresentsitself as a Jewishventure,a featurethat is broughtout with emphasis in the very title page, which announces:Schreiben eines Juden, the philosopher'spartbeing reducedto a mere Antwort.Now for a Christianwishing to call for the improvementof the conditionof the Jews with purportedlyneutral, purely economic argumentsit would clearly have been highly counterproductive to presentit as the work of a Jew, who can be presumedto act out of partisaninterest. Conversely,on the partof a Jew who (encouragedby the English Jew Bill) wishes to issue such a call it seems naturalto presentit as a Jewish initiative,and it appearsas a felicitous move on his partto presentthis initiativeas having been The very way the Schreiben approvedandendorsedby a Christian"philosopher."31 addressesitself to the readerthus clearly points to a Jewish author. It is doubtfulthata Christianwould go as faras to imaginea pamphletwhose 29. Toury,"Einevergessene Friihschrift,"254; also: "thewriting [i.e., the Schreiben]is doubtless stronglyinfluencedby the events in England"(256). 30. Lessing, we saw, simply referredto "the author"of the pamphlet.The reviewerin Krafts neue theologischeBibliothekstatedthatboth partsof the Schreiben"flowedfromone pen,"but did not ask whetherit was moved by a Jewish or a Christianhand.The authorof the annotationsaccompanying his re-editionof the Schreibenin 1759 doubtedthatthe authorof the first partwas Jewish (Schreiben, 2nd ed., 16 note e: "gesetztauch,derersteBrief wire wirklichvon einem Judengeschrieben,woran doch aus mehr als einer Ursachezu zweifeln ... "). Similarly,JacobToury,who did not recognizethat the correspondencewas fictive, examined and rejectedpossible identifications of "Levi Israel,"and finally concluded, without argument,that he was "a constructionof the non-Jewish author"("Eine vergessene Friihschrift,"263). Dominicus, by contrast,identifying "Levi Israel"with Israel Zamosc, referredto the authorof the entire Schreibenas "the Jewish letterwriter"(Dominicus, Lessings Stellung, 20-21);

see also below Appendix III.

31. Conceivably,the Jewish authorcould also have triedto presentit as the workof a Christian. We will understandbelow why he did not: the author,as I will identifyhim, was intenton being a "gobetween"for Jewish and Christiansocieties, and the Schreiben'sstructureas a dialoguebetween a Jew and a Christianreflects his thoughtand motivations.

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) centralpiece would be a letterwrittenby a Jew,with that of the Christian,that is, his "own"contribution,being only the answerto it.32 Specifically, we should rememberthatup until 1753, very few worksin Germanhad ever been publishedby Jews (with the exception of converts):when Moses Mendelssohn published his first Germanwritingthis was perceivedas a sensation.33It seems ratherunlikely, therefore,that a Christianwould have fathomedthe idea of ascribingto a Jew a piece of Germanwriting,one which would have been the very first of its kind. In 1753, only a Jew who was himself capableof writingon mattersof nationaleconomy in Germancould dareto conceive of the then ratherimprobablecharacterof "Levi Israel."34 Moreover,had a Christianauthorwished to issue a call on behalf of the Jews, he would presumablyhave done so in a plain (if perhapsanonymous)treatiseon politics and nationaleconomy,precisely of the kind ascribedto the philosopherin the Schreiben.Fromthe vantagepoint of a Christianinterestedin his country'swelfare, the Jews are no partyor partnerto the debateand he would have no reasonto choose the literarydevice of a fictive correspondencewith a Jew. Still less would he have reason to presentthe propositionshe broughtforwardas coming from a Jew.By contrast,the Jewishauthorwrites fromthe vantagepoint of Jewish self interest, and thus it seems useful to presentthe argumentsas if they were endorsed by a neutralChristianwho argues from a purely"professional"stance. The contentionthat the Schreibenwas writtenby a Jew is strengthenedby its contents.Although "Levi Israel"and the philosopherboth groundtheir argumentationessentially in economic (mercantilist)considerations,with no explicit referenceto anythingJewish or Christian,carefulreadingreveals one or two fairly subtle considerationswhich seem to point to a Jewish authorship.The first is one of the two allusions our text makes to the Messiah.At the very end of his epistle, Levi Israel writes that if the sovereign grants Jews the requestedrights, then "thereverencethey [the Jews] will feel towardthatprincewill lead them to believe thattheirhope for the coming of a Messiah has been fulfilled in his person"(13). This quite startlingidea, it seems, can have come only from the pen of a Jew, indeed only from a Jew subscribingto the view of the Messianic erapropoundedby Moses Maimonides (1137/8-1204). For even if we make allowance for a thick dose of flattery (in 1753 Prussia, the above phrase amountedto suggesting that should FrederickII grantcivic rights to the Jews, they would considerhim as the Messiah), this idea still distinctivelyechoes Maimonides'rationalistidea of political and realist Messianism (as opposed to the much more common apocalyptic 32. True, the Marquisd'Argens composed his Lettresjuives (1738) as if they were writtenby a Jew.This workis not comparableto the Schreibeninasmuchas d'Argensused the Jews only as a kind of externalviewpoint from which to examine Christiansociety. 33. One of the very rare exceptions to this rule is RaphaelLevi Hannover(1685-1779), who in the late 1740s and 1750s publishedin Germana few books of elementarymathematics;see: Steven and Henry Schwarzschild,"Two Lives in the Jewish Friihaufklirung:Raphael Levi Hannoverand Moses AbrahamWolff,"Leo Baeck InstituteYearbook29 (1984): 229-76, on 242-43. 34. Lessing, it is true, in Die Juden imaginedthe "improbable"figure of a noble Jew. But his literaryimaginationattributedto his hero magnanimousmoralqualities,not yet intellectualexcellence, which was even more improbable.

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Gad Freudenthal notions of Messianism).35By contrast,this idea is so far removedfromthe Christian idea of the Messiah that it seems to me next to impossible that it could occur to a Christian,even if he triedto think as a Jew.36 A furtherpossible indicationof a Jewish authorshipis this. As noted earlier, Levi Israel arguesthat at the present enlightenedtimes, it can be recognized that the miserable state of the Jews is in part caused by laws enacted by Christians, which enforcedon the Jews "customs"leading to their decline, which lasts to this very day (11). Specifically,"no care is takenof the Jews' educationin the free arts, the sciences, and physical exercises [Man triigetfiir den Unterrichtder Juden in den freyen Kiinsten, Wissenschaftenund Leibesiibungenkeine Vorsorge]"(12). Now allusion to deficient educationof the Jews was soon to become a characteristic topos of the self-criticismof the Haskalah.Althoughit was raisedalso by nonJewish thinkerswho wantedto improvethe Jews' lot, its formulationis so close to that used by maskilimthat it seems to confirm that it was writtenby a Jew. Let me finally note thatthe authorof the anonymousreview of the Schreiben in Kraftsneue theologischeBibliothek,who wrote from an emphaticallydeclared Christianvantagepoint, seems to have felt that the text attributedto the philosopher was not written by a Christian:he opines that the philosopherknows little about Christiantheology or about Christianstout court.37The annotatorof the 1759 re-edition similarlyfound fault with the philosopher'sknowledge of Chris35. Amos Funkenstein,"Maimonides:PoliticalTheoryandRealisticMessianism,"Miscellanea Mediaevalia 11 (1977): 81-103, reprintedin idem, Perceptionsof Jewish History (Berkeley:University of CaliforniaPress, 1993), 131-55; Aviezer Ravitzky,"'To the Utmost of Humancapacity':Maimonides on the Days of the Messiah,"in Perspectiveson Maimonides:Philosophical and Historical Studies, ed. Joel L. Kraemer(Oxford:Oxford UniversityPress, 1991), 221-56; FriedrichNiew6hner, Maimonides.Aufkldrungund Toleranzim Mittelalter(Heidelberg:VerlagLambertSchneider, 1988); Dov Schwartz,Ha-radayonha-meshihiba-hagutha-yehuditbi-yemeyha-beynayim(Ramat-Gan:BarIlan UniversityPress, 1997), passim. 36. The authorof the 1759 edition of the Schreiben,who commentedon it from a decidedly Christianviewpoint, rejectedthe idea thatthe Jews be given civil rightsqua Jews, suggesting instead that all shouldbe done to convertthem to Christianity;see Schreiben(1759 ed.), "Vorbericht," fol. 5b6a. This correspondsto an establishedtrendin contemporaryGermanliterature:Pietists favoreda collective, nationalconversionof the Jews at the end of days afterthe Returnto Zion to fulfill the prophecies of the second coming. This trend is associated, for example, with the name of Joh. Heinrich Callenberg;see Toury,"Die Behandlungjiidischer Problematik,"15. Interestingly,in 1751, barelytwo years before the Schreiben was published, the Christian Hebraist and missionary David Friedrich Megerlin(1698-1778) publisheda book containinginter alia a Germantranslationof Hilkhot melakhim 11-12, the text in which Maimonidesdescribes his view of the messianic times (reproducedin Niew6hner, Maimonides.AuJkldrungund Toleranz,47-54); this Germantext does not seem to have been knownto the authorof the Schreiben.The Schreiben'ssecond allusionto the Messiahoccurswhen Levi Israelascribesto the philosopherthe idea thatthe ChristianMessiah (who has alreadycome) and the Jewish Messiah (who still is to come) are equally acceptable(6). This thought,too, althoughless distinctively,is easier attributableto an (enlightened)Jew than to a Christian(enlightenedor not). 37. Kraftsneue theologische Bibliothek,op. cit. 185n (note the phrase:"had the philosopher been a Christianor endeavoredto be one.. .").The authoradmittedlyalso writes thatLevi Israel"must have known as little of the Jewish as of the Christian[theological] postulates"(185n), but the argumentationthat follows concerns only his alleged ignoranceof the principlesof Christianity.

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) tians.38It thus seems that while the Schreiben'scamouflage as an exchange between a Jew and a Christianphilosopherwas quite ablydone, it yet had some flaws thatmade some of its Christianreadersskeptical. We may thus conclude, I believe, thatthe Schreibenis the workof a Jew.In"Levi Israel"is a name a Jewishauthorwould choose to denoteany Jew,that deed, the is, representativeJew in general. A last suggestion. It seems to me thatthe presentationof the Schreibenas an exchangestartedby an initiallyneutralphilosopherwith "aJew"whose arguments carrythe day and lead the formerto adhereto the Jewish cause may have been inspiredby a classic of medieval Jewish thought:JudahHalevi'sKuzari.As is well known, this work of "Apologyfor a Despised Religion"is presentedas consisting essentially of a dialogue between the King of the Khazarsand a learned Jew, in which the former,although skeptical at the outset, is graduallyconvinced of the truthof the Jewish religion. The Schreibenresemblesthe Kuzarinot only in its dialogical form, in which an impartialinterlocutoris led to supportthe Jewishcause, but also in having a framestory.It seems possible thatboth featureswere adapted from the Kuzari,althoughto be sure this is a surmise that cannot be furthersubstantiated.Because in eighteenth-centuryGermanythe Kuzariwas known only to very few non-Jews, its possible echo in the Schreibenagain suggests a Jewish authorship.39I will argue below that the authorof the Schreiben,as I will identify him, was indeed particularlywell acquaintedwith the Kuzari.

V THESCHREIBEN. THELESSING CONNECTION JacobToury,who devoted to the Schreibenthe most detailed study to date, alreadyfelt that it was somehow connected to Lessing. He observed that Lessing discussed the Schreibenso soon afterits appearancein printthatone may suspect that he saw it in manuscriptprior to its publication.Toury also noted that in his exceptionally long and warm review of the Schreiben,Lessing clearly identified himself with its contents. In addition, Lessing's referenceto "the author"of the Schreibensuggests that Lessing knew (ratherthan guessed or surmised)that the Schreibenwas the workof a single author.Touryconcludedthat"it is probablethat [Lessing] was acquaintedwith the authorand endorsedhis opinions.... We can supposethatthe author[of the Schreiben]must somehow have been in touch with Lessing's circles."40In what follows, I will endeavorto substantiateToury'sthesis and also seek to identify Lessing's role in the genesis and publication of the Schreiben.Before that, a few words on Lessing's attitudeto the Jews are in order. 38. Schreibeneines Juden, 2nd ed., 33-34 (note k). The annotatorbelieved thatthe first partof the Schreiben,signed by "Levi Israel,"was not writtenby a Jew and consequentlythe inverse possibility, namely that the authorof the second partwas not a Christian,did not at all occur to him. 39. Those not knowingHebrewcould readthe Kuzarionly in JohannesBuxtorfII'sLatintranslation publishedin Basel in 1660.A full Germantranslationwas publishedonly in 1853(by DavidCassel). 40. Toury,"Eine vergessene Friihschrift,"263-64. This view is followed in Britta L. Behm, Moses Mendelssohn und die Transformation derjiidischen Erziehung in Berlin. Eine bildungsgeschichtliche Analyse zurjiidischen AuJklarung im 18. Jahrhundert (Miinster/New York: Waxmann Verlag,

2002), 98-99, but without a renewedexaminationof the text.

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Gad Freudenthal Culminatingin Nathander Weiseof 1779, GottholdEphraimLessing's attitudeto Jews was consistentlypositive throughouthis life.41This is too well known to be discussed here in any detail, and I will simply recall a few facts related to Lessing's early acquaintancewith and attitudeto Judaism,which are directlyrelevant to the purpose at hand.42Curiously,the roots of Lessing's exceptionalphilo-semitic outlook are unknown.43Already in his very first play, Der junge Gelehrte(1748), writtenat a time at which he was not yet acquaintedwith either of his future Jewish friends Gumpertzor Mendelssohn, Lessing evinced a surprising familiaritywith facts relatedto Judaism.He refers in Scene 1 to "des Ben MaimonJad chasaka,"noting thatit is in Hebrew.Indeed,we learn (Scene 1) that the play'shero, the young scholarwho doubtlessborrowedmany of his traitsfrom Lessing himself, had a "perfectknowledge"of six foreign languages,one of which was Hebrew (a language Lessing had indeed studied alreadyat the age of twelve at St. Afra).We also learnthata rabbicalled on the young scholarat his home. This awareness of things Jewish is certainly exceptional for the time. Much better known is Lessing's next comedy Die Juden, publishedin 1754 but completed already in 1749. Lessing thereindescribesa travelingJew (not recognizedas such), who saves a noblemanfrom robbers,and he depicts the nobleman'sdistressedreaction when he learnsthathis selfless and generoussavioris a Jew.44 This play, in which Lessing skillfullyunmasksanddenouncesthe anti-Jewishprejudicesin contemporaryGermanupperclasses andwhich in some respectsforeshadowsNathan der Weise,has become a classic of the upcoming Enlightenmentand has secured Lessing a place in the history of the evolutionof a tolerantattitudetowardJews in 41. With one exception:in 1751, following an infamousdisputebetweenVoltaireand a Jewish money lender,Lessing wrote an epigram(publishedin 1753) in which, at the very least, he uses quite derogatorystereotypesof Jews. They show how long was the way that even a Lessing had to travelbefore freeing himself of ubiquitousprejudices.Cf. Wilfried Barner,"Vorurteil,Empirie,Rettung.Der junge Lessing und die Juden,"in Juden und Judentumin der Literaur,ed. HerbertA. Strauss and ChristhardHoffmann(Munich:DeutscherTaschenbuchVerlag, 1985), 52-77, on 60-61. 42. Forrecentdiscussionsandbibliographysee, in additionto Barner'sstudyjust noted:Karl S. in JudenGuthke,"Lessingund das Judentum.Rezeption,Dramatikund Kritik.Krypto-Spinozismus," im ZeitalterderAukldirung,ed. the Lessing-Akademie(Wolfenbiittler StudienzurAuJkldrung, vol. tumrn 4) (Bremen/Wolfenbiittel:Jacobi Verlag, 1977), 229-71; Wilfried Barner,"Lessings Die Juden im in HumanitdtundDialog. Lessing undMendelssohnin neuerSicht, Zusammenhangseines Friihwerks," ed. EhrhardBahr,EdwardP. Harris,and LaurenceG. Lyon (Detroit:WayneStateUniversityPress and Munich:EditionText + Kritik,1982) (Beiheft of Lessing Yearbook),189-209; RitchieRobertson,The 'JewishQuestion'in GermanLiterature,1749-1939 (Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress, 1999), 34-36. 43. Danzel made the intriguingsuggestion that Lessing's desire to break out of conventional artistic forms and norms induced him to seek the company of social outsiders:actors, Jews and soldiers, in whose companyhe could "ohnealle hergebrachtenRiicksichtenseinen ganzen Menscheneinbringen."See TheodorW. Danzel and GottschakE. Guhrauer,GottholdEphraimLessing. Sein Leben und seine Werke(Berlin:T. Hoffmann, 1880-1881), 83 (see also 270). Barner("Vorurteil,Empirie, Rettung,"61-64) has pointedly arguedthat Lessing's early familiaritywith Jews could be a result of his having observed East EuropeanJews on the way to and duringthe Leipzig fairs. It is not entirely clear,however,how this familiaritymay have positively influencedLessing's attitudetowardJews. 44. Die Judenwas one of the first, but not the very first, Germanliteraryworkto portraya positive Jewish figure. See, for example, Robertson,The 'JewishQuestion'in GermanLiterature,33-34; Bourel,Moses Mendelssohn,89-91 points out the differencesbetweenDie Judenand its predecessors.

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Gumpertz,Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany(1753) Germany.It is thus not at all surprisingthat in 1753 he should endorsethe standpoint expressedby the Schreibenin exceptionallystrongterms. But Lessing'sinvolvementwith the Schreiben,I will now argue,was farfrom being limitedto an a posteriori endorsement.This has to do with Lessing's central position in the publishinghouse that publishedthe Schreiben.45Shortly afterhis arrivalin Berlin in December 1748, Lessing became acquaintedwith JohannAndreasRiidiger(1683-175 1), one of the greatestpublishersand booksellersin Germany,whose rich libraryhe put in order.46In 1750, Riidigerproposedto Lessing that he replace ChristlobMylius (1722-1754)47 as editor-in-chiefof the Berlinische privilegirte Zeitung,publishedby him, but Lessing declined.After Riidiger's death,his publishinghouse mergedwith thatof his son-in-law,ChristianFriedrich Vo3 (1722-1798). Vo3, who had met Lessing throughRiidigerin 1748 and who was by thena close friendof his, againofferedLessingthe editorshipof the Berlinische privilegirte Zeitung(now commonly referredto as the VossischeZeitung).48 In February1751, Lessing accepted the post, albeit under the condition that he would be responsibleonly for the cultural(and not the political) part.Lessing assumed this task throughouthis two sojourns in Berlin-most of 1751 and then from December 1752 to October 1755-leaving his mark on the newspaperfor decades to come. In 1753, the Berlinischeprivilegirte Zeitungwas renamedBerlinische Privilegirte Staats- und gelehrte Zeitung,a change clearly reflecting the increasingweight of the partfor which Lessing was responsible.49 Lessing quicklybecame a centralfigure both in VoW'snewspaperand in his publishing house, whose intellectualprofile he largely determined.Specifically, 45. Forwhat follows, see Danzel-Guhrauer,GottholdEphraimLessing, 187-90. See also Giinin ther Holzboog, "Moses Mendelssohnund die Situationvon AutorundVerlegerim 18. Jahrhundert," Moses Mendelssohnund die Kreise seiner Wirksamkeit, ed. MichaelAlbrecht,Eva J. Engel, and Norbert Hinske (Tiibingen:Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1994), 215-48, on 230-32. 46. On Riidiger,his family, and his activity as a publishersee Arend Buchholtz,Die Vossische Zeitung.GeschichtlicheRiickblickeaufdrei Jahrhunderte.Zum29. Oktober1904 (Berlin, 1904), 1634, 212-20, 261-67. 47. Mylius was a next-of-kin and a close friend of Lessing. The two had collaboratedin publishing variousperiodicalsin Leipzig duringthe late 1740s; see Danzel-Guhrauer,GottholdEphraim Lessing, 91-97; Renate Klar and KurtW1lfel, "Chronikzu Lessings Leben,"in Lessings Leben und Werkin Daten undBildern, ed. KurtW61fel(Frankfurt/M.:Insel Verlag,1967), 175-229, on 184-85. Mylius played an importantrole in introducingLessing to variousliteraryfigures in Berlin (including Riidiger),and afterhis prematuredeath, Lessing publisheda collection of his writings (whose critical introductionwas howeverjudged unfriendly);see ibid., 259-64. Mylius' colorful but talentedpersonality is all but forgottentoday.See Neue deutscheBiographie,vol. 18 (Berlin:Dunckerand Humboldt, 1996), 666-67; Buchholtz,Die VossischeZeitung,31-33; Erich Schmidt,Lessing. Geschichteseines Lebensundseiner Schriften,2 vols. (Berlin, 1923), 1:243-44; andJ.C.Poggendorff,Biographisch-Literarisches Handw6rterbuchzur Geschichteder exacten Wissenschaften,vol. 2 (Leipzig, 1863), col. 249. 48. Duringhis second sojournin Berlin,Lessing'sapartmentwas nearVol3'sbookshop;see Klar and Wd1fel,"Chronikzu Lessings Leben,"191. In lateryears, Lessing'sbrotherKarlwas to marryone ofVo8's daughters;see Danzel-Guhrauer,GottholdEphraimLessing, 187. See also Buchholtz,Die Vossische Zeitung,221-22. 49. See Buchholtz,Die VossischeZeitung, 36-37. For Lessing's own articles publishedin the VossischeZeitungsee Danzel-Guhrauer,GottholdEphraimLessing, 215-19.

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Gad Freudenthal he played a centralrole in the publicationof books: he had many of his own books published by Vo3 beginning in 1749 (including, in 1753, his translationsfrom Frenchinto Germanof King FrederickII's three epistles) and he also broughtto VoBa numberof his friends,most notablyMoses Mendelssohn(1729-1796) and Karl Wilhelm Ramler (1725-1798).5o The following well-known anecdote is telling of Lessing's capitalrole in the publicationof books by VoB.Encouragedby Lessing, Mendelssohn(who became acquaintedwith Lessing in 1754) wrotewhat was to be his first book: Philosophische Gesprdche.He gave Lessing the manuscript, asking for his opinion. For some time Lessing gave no news of the matter, and Mendelssohnwas too embarrassedto press him. Duringthis time, and without the priorknowledge of the author,Lessing arrangedfor the publicationof the book, which was published by VoB in early 1755.51 As AlexanderAltmann remarks, the timid Mendelssohn appearsto have needed Lessing's initiative to be launchedinto the literaryworld.52Although he had been directlyresponsiblefor the publication,Lessing had no qualmsaboutreviewingthe book immediatelyfollowing its appearancein the Berlinischeprivilegirte Zeitung (March 1, 1755).53 Similarly,when Mendelssohn'snext work, Oberdie Empfindungen,was published laterin same year-again by VoBandpresumablyalso with Lessing as intermediary-Lessing was quick to review it, again in the Berlinischeprivilegirte Zeitung (September4, 1755).54 Lessing had an expansive idea of his role in the Republicof Letters,and he did not contenthimself with publishingmanuscriptssubmittedto him. Thus,in addition to the two instancesjust considered,he askedMendelssohnfor a translation of Rousseau'sDiscours on the origin of the inequality among men, and when Mendelssohnsent him the manuscriptin January1756, he quickly saw it to print with VoB.55Mendelssohn'sessay "Gedankenvon der Wahrscheinlichkeit"was published by Vof3in 1756, soon after Mendelssohn had sent Lessing the manuscript.56Finally,let us recall that Lessing was also the editor of the Theatralische Bibliothek(1754-1758), also publishedby VoB,in which he publishedhis review of the Schreiben,as well as his and Mendelssohn'srejoindersto Michaelis' criticism of Lessing's Die Juden. It thus seems certain that at the very least the 50. FriedrichII, Schreibenan das Publicum;ZweytesSchreibenan das Publicum;and Drittes Schreibenan das Publicum,trans.GottholdEphraimLessing (Berlin:[VoB3], 1753). In lateryears,Lessing also broughtto the Vof3publishinghouse more authorssuch as JohannJakobEngel (1741-1802), his brotherKarl, and the Jewish authorsMarkusHerz (1747-1803), LazarusBendavid(1762-1832), and Salomon Maimon(1754-1800). See Buchholtz,Die VossischeZeitung,222-26. 51. I advisedly write "arrangedfor the publication"and not "published,"as earlier accounts, now put to rest by Altmann and others, assumed. See Moses MendelssohnsFriihschriftenzur Metaphysik, ed. AlexanderAltmann (Tiibingen:J.C.B. Mohr, 1969), 1-5, and AlexanderAltmann,Moses Mendelssohn.A BiographicalStudy(Tuscaloosa:AlabamaUniversityPress, 1973; reprinted:London: The LittmanLibrary,1997), 38-39, with the referencesgiven there. 52. Altmann,Moses MendelssohnsFriihschriftenzur Metaphysik,1-2. 53. Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,39. 54. Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,43. Seeing thatits appearancehadbeen announcedby Lessing immediatelyon publication,we can assume that it was again he who arrangedfor the publication. 55. Altmann, Moses Mendelssohn, 48-49.

56. Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,76.

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) Schreibenwould not have been publishedby Vof3without Lessing's priorknowledge and approval. While anonymouspublicationswere fairlycommon at this periodof the early Enlightenment,it seems that Lessing was particularlyfond of them. Mendelssohn'sPhilosophische Gesprdche,Oberdie Empfindungen,and the translationof Rousseau'sDiscours, all publishedby Vo13,appearedanonymously.And, in 1755, when Lessing and MendelssohntogethercomposedPope ein Metaphysiker!,they also published it anonymously.57Again, in 1756, Mendelssohn wrote "Sendschreibenan einenjungen Gelehrtenzu B.,"publishedin vol. 2 of Vermischte Abhandlungenund Urtheile fiber das Neueste aus der Gelehrsamkeit,a periodical publishedby Vo.3:the shorttext was publishedanonymously,but Lessing was informed and probablyinvolved.58Even more important,Mendelssohn'sletter to Gumpertzin reaction to Michaelis' criticism of Lessing's Die Juden was published-by Lessing-anonymously again.59And even late in life, between 1774 and 1778, Lessing posthumouslypublishedpartsof a work by the rationalisttheologian HermannSamuel Reimarus(1694-1768), presentingit as an anonymous manuscripthe discoveredin the Wolfenbiittellibrary. The Schreiben, let us recall, was published anonymouslyin 1753 by Vo13. Lessing, we saw,was in total agreementwith its contents,obviously was (as Toury alreadyperceived) in contactwith the anonymousauthorpriorto the publication, andheld a centralpositionwith its publisher.Puttingtwo andtwo together,we now realize thatthe Schreibenmusthave been broughtto printby none otherthanLessing. Justas Lessing initiatedthe publicationby Vo13of Mendelssohn'sbooks, subsequentlywritingenthusiasticreviews of some of them, so also he must have been behindthe publicationby the same publisherof the Schreiben,which he was quick to review glowingly.An anonymouspublicationneeds a strong"promoter"in the publishinghouse, all the more so in politically sensitive cases such as the present one (wherethe call for the improvementof the statusof Jews appearedmerelythree years after FriedrichII's General Regulation had toughened the legislation on Jews).60For such an enterprise,the young Lessing was the right man, and the Schreibenfits well within the fairly long series of books publishedby Lessing in 1753 chez Vol3.Indeed,in those years Lessing was acquiringa reputationas an expert in bringing to print anonymous books.61 Thus, when in 1755 Lessing and 57. And for good reason,because its objectivewas to embarrassthe influentialanti-Leibnizian fraction of the Acadimie which was led by Maupertuis.See Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,46-48; "Entstehung,"in Lessing, Werkeund Briefe, ed. Wilfried Barner,12 vols., vol. 3: Werke1754-1757, ed. ConradWiedemann,et al. (Frankfurtam Main:DeutscherKlassikerVerlag,2003), 1338-40. 58. Mendelssohn,JubA, vol. 1: Schriftenzur Philosophie und Asthetik,ed. Fritz Bamberger,

539. XXXIV,

59. In October 1755, Lessing left Berlin and his position in ChristianFriedrichVof's publishing house, and Mendelssohn from now on published his writings with other publishers, notably FriedrichNicolai; only his two very last books were again publishedby VoB(1785, 1786). Holzboog, "Moses Mendelssohnund die Situationvon Autorund Verleger"(226), gives a useful overview of the distributionof Mendelssohn'sworks among his publishers. 60. See, for example, Bruer,Geschichteder Juden in Preuflen,62. 61. The exchange of letters(March 1755) betweenRamlerandWilhelm Ludwig Gleim (17191803, reprintedin RichardDaunicht,ed., Lessing im Gesprach[Munich:WilhelmFinkVerlag, 1971]),

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Gad Freudenthal Mendelssohndecidedto publishPope ein Metaphysiker!anonymously,they chose a publisher in far away Danzig to cover their trail-a clear indication of their awarenessthat publishingthe book by VoBwould have implied that Lessing was its author.62Only a few books publishedby VoB in the early 1750s were anonymous, and of them, the ones related to Lessing's fields (letters and philosophy) were precisely the two composed by Mendelssohnand seen to printby Lessing. Thus by virtue of the very fact that the Schreibenwas publishedanonymouslyby VoB,it bears Lessing's fingerprints. The text possibly containsyet anotherindicationof Lessing's involvement. We already came across the phrase (in Levi Israel's letter) stating that the Jews "possess the self-same bodies and souls [as the Christians],and the self-same capacities of the body and the mind"("da sie eben solche C6rper und Seelen, eben solche Fdhigkeitendes Leibes und Geistes besitzen";11). Therecan be little doubt thatthis phraseechoes Shylock'sfamous speech "I am a Jew": I ama Jew.Hathnota Jeweyes?Hathnota Jewhands,organs,dimensions, senses, affections,passions,fed with the same food, hurtwith the same weapons,subjectto thesamediseases,healedbythesamemeans,warmedand is? If youprickus, do cooledby thesamewinterandsummeras a Christian we notbleed?If youtickleus, do we notlaugh?If youpoisonus, do we not die?63 Now in 1753, Shakespearewas virtuallyunknownin German-speakinglands. JohannChristophGottsched(1700-1766), who then still dominatedGermanletters, ferociously denigrated Shakespeare(although he apparentlyread-in translation-only Julius Caesar, the first and for many years only play to be integrally translatedinto German [1741]).64 It is well known that Lessing played a pivotal role in reversingthis prevailingnegative attitude:he did so notablyby launching (in 1759) a frontaland eventuallysuccessful attackon Gottschedand urging the introductionof the Englishman'sdramasinto Germany.Yetas earlyas 1750, Lessing had alreadyreferredpositively to Shakespeare,listing his plays among those that should be introducedinto Germany,and his writings indeed include one ex79-81, clearly shows that at the time Lessing was perceived as the designatedmiddlemanfor having books publishedby VoBanonymously. 62. Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,46-48. 63. TheMerchantof Venice,III, i. The Shakespeareanmotif perhapsalso reverberatesin Levi Israel'sremarkthatthat nothing in the "constitutionof the [Jews'] bodies" rules out thatthey become soldiers. 64. Rudolf Genee, Geschichteder Shakespeare'chen Dramenin Deutschland(Leipzig, 1870; reprintedHildesheim:G. Olms, 1969), 70-71. Only in 1763-1766 did a completetranslationof Shakespeare'splays appear(in eight volumes); see ibid. 203-04, 206-12. See also HansjiirgenBlinn, Der deutsche Shakespeare = The German Shakespeare:Eine annotierteBibliographiezur ShakespeareRezeption des deutschsprachigenKulturraums(Berlin: E. Schmidt, 1993). An account of the early adaptationsand performancesof the Merchantof Veniceon Germanstages is given in GunnarOch, Imagojudaica.JudenundJudentumimSpiegel der deutschenLiteratur1750-1812 (Wiirzburg:K6nighausen & Neumann, 1995), 180-207.

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) plicit mentionof TheMerchantofVenice,althoughits datecannotbe ascertained.65 The echo of The Merchant of Veniceis thus a quite remarkablefeature of the Schreiben,whose very likely source is Lessing. Manyyears later,in 1779, Nathan der Weisewas to containa distantreverberationof both texts: "Sind Christenund Judeneher Christund Jude als Mensch?"66 The last observationnaturallyraises the question: could Lessing himself have composedthe Schreiben?This, I think,is certainlynot the case. Forone thing, we have seen thatin all likelihoodthe authorwas Jewish.Moreover,the Schreiben's entire line of argumentis based on economic and political considerations,ideas that are totally absent from Lessing's thoughtand writings and in which Lessing was uninterested;Lessing's argumentsin favorof the Jews were insteadgrounded in humanisticideas and formulatedin terms of tolerance-ideas and terms that are conspicuously absent from the Schreiben.67Last, we can safely assume that had Lessing been the authorof the Schreibenhe would have mentionedthis fact in his abundantcorrespondence,notablywith Mendelssohnor with his family. It thus seems to me establishedbeyond doubtthat Lessing, althoughnot its author,is responsible for the publicationof the Schreibeneines Juden an einen Philosophen nebst derAntwort,the first call for equal rightsfor Jews in Germany. This hithertounknownfact of Lessing's biographyis a new jewel to be addedto the alreadyglorious crown of Lessing the Wise. It is also clear that the authorof the Schreibenis to be sought in the circle aroundLessing. Takinginto consideration our earlierconclusion thatthe authorwas Jewish,the numberof possible suspects suddenlybecomes astonishinglysmall. In fact, it shrinksto one. In the earlyandmid-1750s, Lessing had two Jewish friends:AaronSalomon Gumpertzand Moses Mendelssohn.Variousconsiderationsestablishunquestionably that Mendelssohnwas not the authorof the Schreiben.First,he met Lessing (throughGumpertz)only in 1754, and thus after the Schreibenhad already appeared(Lessing reviewedit in August 1753). Second,in 1753, Mendelssohn'sGerman was not yet good enough to compose the Schreibenby himself; and if we assume thatsomeone revised it, as Lessing was to do in 1755 with the Philosophische Gesprdche,then we would presumablyhave had echoes of this in Mendelssohn's correspondence.68Third,Mendelssohnbecame famous alreadyduringhis 65. Genee, Geschichteder Shakespeareschen Dramen, 83-94. CurtisC.D. Vail, Lessings Relation to the EnglishLanguageand Literature(New York:ColumbiaUniversityPress, 1936), 174, with a referenceto G.E. Lessings sdmtlicheSchriften,ed. KarlLachmann,vol. 16 (Leipzig, 1902), 152 (see also 96 for the impossibilityto date the reference). 66. On the parallels and differences between Shylock's and Nathan'sfigures see Ludwig W Kahn, "The Changing Image of the Jew: Nathan the Wise and Shylock,"in Identity and Ethos: A Festschriftfor Sol Liptzinon the Occasion of his 85th Birthday,ed. MarkH. Gelber (New York:Peter Lang, 1986), 235-52. 67. Recall that when Lessing assumed the position of the editor-in-chief of the Vossische Zeitung,he did so underthe conditionthathe would not have to deal with the political partof the newspaper. 68. Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,39; see also 80. Danzel writes that Mendelssohnbecame a Germanwriter only thanks to Lessing after they met in 1754 (Danzel-Guhrauer,GottholdEphraim Lessing, 264).

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Gad Freudenthal lifetime, and,as a result,we arewell informedof his biography;yet nowherein his writings or his correspondencedoes Mendelssohn ever refer to the Schreiben (which indeed is not even mentioned in Altmann'scomprehensivebiographyof Mendelssohn).69Finally,Mendelssohnwas alwaysof the opinion thatcalls for the improvementof the state of the Jews should not be issued by Jews, for they are boundto be misunderstood;70even late in life, at the peak of his fame, he engaged ChristianWilhelm von Dohm to compose his well-known call for the civil improvementof the Jews, ratherthan issue it himself.7 Proceedingby elimination, we remainwith virtuallya single candidate:Gumpertz. VI. AARONSALOMONGUMPERTZ Aaron Salomon Gumpertz,also called Aaron ben Zalman Emmerich,was born in Berlin on December 10, 1723, to a very wealthy family of Hofjuden,one was of the few allowed to dwell in the city permanently.72His great-grandmother 69. In his introduction,writtenin 1782, to the Germantranslationof Menassehben Israel'sVindiciae Judaeorum(1656) (see on this enterprise:Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,463 -74) Mendelssohn briefly touches on argumentspracticallyidenticalwith those of the Schreiben,yet withoutmentioning it. See: Moses Mendelssohn,"Vorrede"[to Menasse Ben Israel,Rettungder Juden],"in JubA,vol. 8: SchriftenzumJudentumII, ed. AlexanderAltmann,1-25, esp. on 11-13 [ = Schriftenzur Philosophie, AesthetikundApologetik,ed. Moriz Brasch, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1880), 2:473-500, on 484-89], summarizedin Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,468. Nor does the Schreibenappearin the list of books found in his house afterhis death: Verzeichnif3 der auserlesenenBiichersammlungdes seeligen HerrnMoses Mendelssohn(Berlin, 1786). It thus seems thathe probablywas not at all acquaintedwith the Schreiben. (It should yet be rememberedthat Mendelssohnnever mentionedin writingthe short-livedperiodical Qohelet Musar which he himself produced.)I will suggest below why the Schreibenwas so little noticed by contemporaries. 70. See Mendelssohn'sletter to Leopold Freiherrvon Hirschen, dated October 18, 1785, in: Moses Mendelssohn'sgesammelteSchriften,5:640; quotedin Bruer,GeschichtederJuden in Preuflen, 63-64; Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,463. 71. Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,449-61. 72. The following accountwill be limitedto the pointsmost salientin the presentcontext.Much of whatwe know aboutGumpertz'slife comes fromhis autobiography,in the Prefaceto his Sefermegaleh sod (The Revealer of Secrets) (Hamburg, 1765), unpaginated,and from a letter he wrote to Gottsched on March8, 1745 publishedin Th. W. Danzel, Gottschedund seine Zeit (Leipzig, 2nd ed., 1855), 333-35. The fullest biographyof Gumpertzis Max Freudenthal,"AhronEmmerich-Gumpertz, der LehrerMoses Mendelssohns,"in Die Familie Gompertz,ed. David Kaufmannand Max Freudenthal (Frankfurt/M.,1907), 164-200. Veryvaluableis still L. Landshuth,"Dr.AronGumpertzgen. Aron Emmerich,"Die Gegenwart.Berliner Wochenschriftfu'r JiidischeAngelegenheiten1 (1867), 318-19, 324-26, 330-31, 340-41, 347-48, 357-58, 365-67. J[oseph] Eschelbacher,"Die AnfaingeallgemeinerBildungunterden deutschenJudenvor Mendelssohn,"in Beitrdgezur Geschichteder deutschen Juden.Festschriftzum siebzigsten GeburtstageMartinPhilipsohns(Leipzig 1916), 168-77, is mostly devotedto Gumpertz.More recentdiscussions are:David B. Ruderman,Jewish Thoughtand Scientific Discovery in Early Modern Europe (New Haven:Yale University Press, 1995), index s.v.; David Sorkin, "The Early Haskalah,"in New Perspectives on the Haskalah, ed. Shmuel Feiner and David Sorkin (London:LittmanLibraryof Jewish Civilization,2001), 9-26; Hans Lausch,"A.S. Gumpertz und die Academie royale des sciences et belles lettres in Berlin: Zum Auftakt der Euler-Dollondschen Achromasie-Kontroverse," Leo-Baeck Institute Bulletin 88 (1991), 11-26; idem, "'The Ignorant Hold Mendelssohn and Other Back Their Judgment and Await the Conclusions of the Knowing'--Moses Mathematicians," Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism 2 (2002): 93-109; Gad Freuden-

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Gumpertz,Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany(1753) the famous memoiristGlueckel of Hameln(1645-1724). His motherwantedhim to follow in the footstepsof herforefathersandbecome a Torahscholar,buthis fatherseems to have thoughtof alternativepossibilities as well: As a child Gumpertz was trainedin the traditionalJewish subjects, but in parallel studied also literary German,Frenchand mathematics.73His fatherbought for his rich librarysecular books in differentEuropeanlanguages,and as a young boy Gumpertzstudied"the tongues known in the [foreign] countries, such as Latin, French,English, Greek and their like," and read these books that had been "destined"for him.74Beginning in 1742, Gumpertzstudied for some years with Israel b. Moses of Zamosc (1700-1772), the well-known scientifically mindedTalmudscholar who had arrived in Berlin shortlybefore." IsraelZamosc taughtGumpertzmedieval Jewish philosophyas well as mathematicsandastronomy(using mainlystandardmedieval Hebrew texts).76Gumpertzgreatly appreciatedhis teacher, describing him as a "supernalhelp" sent to him by God to "enlighten[his] eyes."77Gumpertz'slifethal, "New Light on the PhysicianAaron Salomon Gumpertz:Medicine, Science and EarlyHaskalah in Berlin,"Zutot3 (2003): 59-70. 73. "LiteraryGerman"is to be distinguishedfrom the Judeo-Germandialect spoken by Jews in Berlin andwrittenin Hebrewcharacters.See the appositeremarkin Eschelbacher,"DieAnfaingeallgemeiner Bildung," 172. On mathematics,see Gumpertz'sletter to Gottsched of March 8, 1745 in Danzel, Gottschedundseine Zeit, 333 (this letteris reprintedin Landshuth,"Dr.AronGumpertz,"331). 74. Sefer megalehsod, Preface,unpaginated[i recto]. 75. Foran overview of Zamosc's life and workuntil his arrivalin Berlin, see Gad Freudenthal, "SephardiMedieval Science on Polish Soil: Towardan IntellectualBiography of Rabbi Israel ben Moses Halevy of Zamosc (c. 1700-1772)," in Sepharadin Ashkenaz:MedievalKnowledgeand Eighteenth-CenturyEnlightenedJewishDiscourse, ed. R. Fontaine,A. Schatz,I.E. Zwiep (Amsterdam:Edita, forthcoming2005); for a brief overview of his entire life and work see idem, "Jisraelben Moshe Halewi Zamosc,"in Lexikonjiidischer Philosophen und Theologen,ed. AndreasKilcher and Otfried Fraisse(Stuttgart:VerlagJ. B. Metzler,2003), 174-46 and idem, "Zamosc,Israelben Moses Halevy," in The YIVOEncyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, ed. Gershon Hundert(New Haven:Yale University Press, forthcoming2008). 76. I noted above that the Schreibenmay to some extent echo the medievalJewish classic The Kuzari.In view of the claim to be made below for Gumpertz'sauthorship,it is interestingto note that Israel Zamosc was particularlyknowledgeablein the Kuzari on which he composed a famous commentary(Ozar nehmad,printedposthumouslyin 1796). It is known that Moses Mendelssohn,also a studentof his, copied portionsof it, probablystill in the periodin which he and Gumpertzstudiedwith Israel Zamosc. (Mendelssohn at first copied the commentaryon the margins of the Buxtorf edition [Basel, 1660] of the Kuzariand lateron sheets insertedin the book. The manuscriptwas separatedinto several partsof which two are known to survive:New York,Jewish Theological SeminaryMic. 2520 and Warsaw,Jewish Historical Institute 1215 [Jerusalem, Institutefor Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts,Nos. 28773 and 10113 [also 31022], respectively].) 77. Sefer megalehsod, Preface,unpaginated[ii recto]:nishlah mi-shamayimle-hoshiceniCezer celyonme'ir einai. In his letterto Gottschedof March8, 1745 Gumpertzuses a similarexpression:he says thathis interestin the sciences and the liberalarts"bekamallererstvor drey Jahrenein Licht;und fand den Steg der zu seinem Endzweckleitet";see Danzel, Gottschedundseine Zeit, 333 (reprintedin: Landshuth,"Dr.Aron Gumpertz,"331). The publisherFriedrichNicolai confirms this judgment:"Israel Zamosc war Schulmeisterin Berlin, ein armerMann, aber ein sehr trefflicherKopf und grosser Mathematiker.... Er hat den Verdienst,des Dr. GumperzGeisteskraefteentwickelt zu haben."See "FriedrichNicolai'sAnmerkungenzu Moses Mendelssohn'sBriefwechselmit GottholdEphraimLessing,"in GottholdEphraimLessing, SdmtlicheSchriften,ed. KarlLachmann,vol. 29 (Berlin and Stet-

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Gad Freudenthal long friendshipwith Moses Mendelssohn,on whom he exerteda formativeinfluence, also dated from this period.78In 1744 or early 1745, feeling that he had acquiredconsiderablescientific knowledge, Gumpertzfelt self-confident enough to turn to members of the Academie royale des sciences in Berlin for advice concerning his futurestudies.79 He was well acquaintedwith at least two majorfigures of theAcadkmie:JeanBaptistede Boyer,Marquisd'Argens(1703-1771), the author of the Lettresjuives (1738)80 and Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759), the greatNewtonian scientist and futurepresidentof the Acadimie (from 1746 to 1754). In March 1745, still moved by a desire to deepen his knowledge, now especially in Germanliterature,Gumpertzaddressedhimself to Johann ChristophGottschedin Leipzig, the most brilliantand influentialman of German lettersof the time, asking him to be taken in as his student.8'Although Gottsched replied favorably,nothing came out of the plan, because the outbreakof the Second Silesian War(1745-1746) made it impossible for a Jew from Prussiato obtain from the royal court of Saxony the indispensablespecial permit to dwell in Leipzig. GumpertzinsteadstudiedLatin,andperhapsothersubjectsas well, at the JoachimsthalerGymnasium,to which he was introduced(soon to be joined by the young Moses Mendelssohn)82by Louis Isaac de Beausobre(1730-1783), the son of the great HuguenotpreacherIsaac de Beausobre(1659-1738) and futureadviser of FrederickII and member of the Academie. At about the same period, Gumpertzbecame a secretaryto the Marquisd'Argens: he saw him almost daily and became a regularparticipantin the discussion groups at the latter'shome.83 By 1745, the twenty-two-yearold Gumpertzwas alreadyfamous within the Jewish communityfor his multifacetedintellectualcompetence.The community chargedhim with the preparationof the Jewishcalendar,a privilegethatit held under the auspices of the Acadcmie, and Gumpertzfulfilled this role from 1745 to tin, 1828), 373. Echoes of Gumpertz'sacquaintancewith Zamosc may also be found in his reference to heliocentricastronomyas "New Heavens"(the title of a treatiseZamoscplannedon thatsubject)and in his allusionto the persecutionof scholarsstudyingthe sciences, even the mathematicalones in which thereis "no dangerwhatsoever";see Sefermegalehsod, Preface,unpaginated[ii recto]and second Hebrew numbering13b. 78. "He [Gumpertz]never refuses his instruction,as I know from my own experience.To him alone I owe everythingI have acquiredin the sciences,"Mendelssohntold his bride.See letterto Fromet Gugenheimof June 16, 1761, in JubA,vol. 19: HebrdischeSchriftenIII, ed. Haim Borodianski(BarDayan), Letterno. 13, p. 16 [transcribedin JubA. vol. 20(2): Briefwiechsel(1761-1785), ed. Reuven Die Familie Gompertz,194; M. KayMichael, Letterno. 13, p. 23]. Quotedin Freudenthal-Kaufmann, serling,Moses Mendelssohn.Sein Leben und seine Werke(Leipzig, 1862), 22. 79. The date of this contact with the illustrious members of the Acaddmie is implied by Gumpertz'sletter to Gottschedof March 8, 1745, in which he alreadyrefers to the advice he had received from the Acaddmie'sprofessors(Danzel, Gottschedund seine Zeit, 334 for the professors' advice). 80. Availableat http://gallica.bnf.fr/. 81. See Danzel, Gottsched und seine Zeit, 332-34. The letter is reproducedin Kayserling, Moses Mendelssohn, 18-21. 82. Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,24. 83. See Gumpertz'ssecond letterto Gottsched,datedDecember 15, 1747, in Danzel, Gottsched und seine Zeit, 335-37, on 335.

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Gumpertz,Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany(1753) 1752.84 Gumpertz'sskills in German were appreciatedalso: when FrederickII concluded the Dresden peace treatyafter having defeated the Austrianarmy,the Berlin Jewishcommunitycelebratedthe event in the synagogue(on December28, 1745), in the presenceof the king andthe queen. David Fraenkel(1707-1762), the new rabbiof the Berlin community,85composed a Hebrewpoem and a solemn sermon, and the task of preparingGermantranslationsof both, to be readto the king and his entourage, was entrustedto Gumpertz.86The latter, Freudenthalcomments, "wascertainlythe only individualin the entirecommunityto be capableof doing it," and the translationitself confirms that he "masteredGermanskillfully."87In fact, most Jews in Berlinhadnot yet acquaintedthemselveswith high German andthe leadershipof the Berlin Jewishcommunitysystematicallysuppressed such knowledge.88Tellingly,in 1746, a fourteen-year-oldfriendof Mendelssohn 84. Moriz Steinschneider,"HebriiischeDrucke in Deutschland. 10: Berlin, 1733-1762. Anhang: Der Berliner Kalender,"Zeitschriftfir Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland 3, no. 2 (1889): 271-74, esp. 274 (available at: http://www.compactmemory.de/);Freudenthal,"AhronEmmerichGumpertz"in Kaufmannand Freudenthal,Die Familie Gompertz,181; Eschelbacher,"Die Anflinge allgemeinerBildung," 173; Lausch, "A.S. Gumpertzund die Acadimie royale des sciences," 13-14; idem., "'The IgnorantHold Back TheirJudgment,'"96-7; Bourel,Moses Mendelssohn,95. 85. FamouslyR. Fraenkelwas Moses Mendelssohn'steacherin Dessau andthe instigatorof the printingof the JerusalemTalmudand of the Guide of the Perplexed.See, for example, Max Freudenthal, Aus der Heimat Mendelssohns.Moses Benjamin Wulffund seine Familie, die Nachkommendes Moses Isserles (Berlin, 1900); idem, "R. David Frdinckel," Gedenkbuchzur Erinnerungan David Kaufmann, ed. M. Brannand E Rosenthal(Breslau, 1900), 569-98. 86. Gumpertz'stranslationinto high Germanof the poem was subsequentlyturned into the Berlin Judeo-Germanwrittenin Hebrew charactersand publishedin a separatebrochure,which was alreadyextremelyrarein the ninteenthcentury.[A copy is at the AmsterdamUniversityLibrary(call number:Br. Ros. 132-7). I am very much indebtedto Mr.JanVellekoop of the Leiden UniversityLibraryfor having broughtit to my attentionand to Dr. Emile Schrijverof the Menassehben Israel Instituteat the UniversityofAmstrdamfor havingsent me a scan pictureof it.] This version was reprinted in L. Landshuth,Toldotanshei ha-shem u-peculatamba-'adatBerlin (Berlin, [5]644 [1884]), 40-48. Landshutbelievedthis versionin Judeo-Germanto be the only one printed,but H. Pick, "AronSalomon Gumpertzals UbersetzerpatriotischerGelegenheitsschriften," ZeitschriftfiirhebraischeBibliographie 14 (1910): 183-85 announcedthe discovery of two brochures,in high Germanand in Germancharacters, carryingFraenkel'ssermon and the poem. (These copies, then held at what is now the StaatsbibliothekPreul3ischerKulturbesitzin Berlin, were both destroyedduringWWII.I recentlydiscovered anothercopy of the sermon,which I intendto describeelesewhere.)Interestingly,the translationof the poem was done by Gumpertzalone, but that of the sermon he made togetherwith a certain Lazarus Nehemias, describedas a Schutzjudeand as "learned";see Pick, "AronSalomon Gumpertzals Obersetzer."On the entireepisode see Landshuth,"Dr.Aron Gumpertz,"366b. See also M. Roest'sadditions to M. Steinschneider,"Zurloyalen und patriotischenPoesie und Andacht,"IsraelitischeLetterbode5 (1879-80): 131-35 or 132 (I owe this referenceto Michael Silber). 87. Freudenthal,"AhronEmmerich-Gumpertz"in Kaufmannand Freudenthal,Die Familie Gompertz,182. 88. Kayserling, Moses Mendelssohn, 11-13; Eschelbacher,"Die Anfinge allgemeiner Bildung," 172-3. Valuableindications on the beginning of the knowledge of the Germanlanguage by Jews, mainly for practicalpurposes, are given in Behm, Moses Mendelssohnund die Transformation derjiidischenErziehung,57, 73-74, 75 n. 182. Steven Lowenstein,TheBerlinJewish Community:Enlightenment,Family,and Crisis, 1770-1830 (New York:OxfordUniversityPress, 1994), 46-48, gives some informationon the transitionfrom Judeo-Germanto High Germanand from Hebrewto German script.

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Gad Freudenthal was expelled from Berlinbecause an official of the Jewishcommunitycaughthim with a Germanbook underhis arm.89 Gumpertzwas always interestedin the sciences. In additionto the mathematical sciences, especially astronomy,he was attractedin particularto anatomy, which he beganto studybookishlyin his father'svast library.Eventually,Gumpertz decided to studymedicine, with a view to acquiringa profession.In all likelihood, he studiedfor some years in Berlin at the Collegiummedico-chirurgicumandthen registeredfor a short while at the Facultyof Medicine in Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, where he received his M.D. on March 19, 1751, after having defended his thesis entitledDe Temperamentis.90 It is noteworthythathis opponentin the defense was Louis de Beausobre,alreadyencounteredabove, who was soon to become member of the Acadimie des sciences (on February27, 1755).91 About this time, Gumpertz,who neverpracticedmedicine,became the secretaryof Maupertuis,the Acadimie's president,to whom he dedicatedhis doctoralthesis; Gumpertzheld this post until late 1751 when he set on a Bildungsreise.92 During these years, Gumpertzdeveloped a broad network of social contacts-both in the milieu of the PrussianintellectualestablishmentaroundFrederick II, andamongthe risingyoung intellectualelite. Both networksarethe facets of a newly emerging public sphere and sociability, in which the game of chess played an importantsocial function.93To his social networkbelonged also Chris89. This little knownanecdoteis revealingfor life in Berlin in the middle of the eighteenthcennoch lebenderMann[footnote:HerrS. Bleichturyanddeservesto be quotedin full: "Einehrenwerther, rider in Berlin] teilt uns mit, daBsein Vaterihm folgendes aus seinem Leben erzihlt habe: 'ich kam im Jahre1746 als armer14jhriger KnabenachBerlinund fand Moses Mendelssohnin derLehranstalt fir den Talmud.Dieser gewann mich lieb, unterrichtetemich im Lesen und schreibenund theilte oft mit mir sein kiimmerlichesBrodt. Aus Dankbarkeitwar ich dem Mendelssohn durch kleine Dienstleistungenbehiilflich,und so schickteer mich unterandermirgendwohin, um ein deutschesBuch zu holen. Mit diesem Buche in der Hand begegnete mir ein jiidischerArmenverweser,der mich mit den Wortenanfuhr:was hast du da? wohl gar ein deutsches Buch! Sogleich riB er mir das Buch aus der Handund schlepptemich zum Vogt, dem er den Befehl gab, mich aus der Stadtzu weisen. Mendelssohn, der KenntniBvon meinem Schicksal erhielt, gab sich alle Miihe, meine Riickkehrzu bewirken, allein vergeblich.Er schafftemir spditereine Stelle aufder damaligenTalmudschulein Halberstadt,und ich verdankeihm mein zeitiges wohl.'" Quoted from "Moses Mendelssohn'sLebensgechichtein drei Abschnitten,"in Moses Mendelssons gesammelte Schriften.Nach den Originaldruckenund Handschriftenherausgegebenvon G.B. Mendelssohn,7 vols., vol. 1 (Leipzig, 1843), 1-56, on 9-10. The footnote identifies the source as the bankerS[amuel] Bleichr6der(1779-1855; see EJ, 4:1081). (The anecdote is quotedwith a few insignificantvariantsin: Kayserling,Moses Mendelssohn, 12.) 90. See Freudenthal,"New Light on the PhysicianAaron SalomonGumpertz;"Gumpertz,"De Temperamentis"(M.D. thesis, Frankfurtan der Oder, 1751). 91. Freudenthal,"AhronEmmerich-Gumpertz"in Kaufmannand Freudenthal,Die Familie Gompertz,184. 92. Landshuth,"Dr. Aron Gumpertz,"348a. Freudenthal,"AhronEmmerich-Gumpertz"in Kaufmannand Freudenthal,Die Familie Gompertz,186, 189. 93. The public sphere is a centraltheme in JakobKatz, Die Enstehungder Judenassimilation in Deutschland und deren Ideologie (Inaugural-Dissertation,Frankfurt/M.,1935; reprintedin idem, EmancipationandAssimilation, 195-293), notably21-46 (215-40). See also Michael Graetz,"The Jewish Enlightenment,"in MordechaiBreuerand Michael Graetz,German-JewishHistory in Modemrn

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Gumpertz,Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany(1753) tian AndreasCothenius,whom Gumpertzcalls (in 1758) his "very honorablepatron and benefactor."94 Cothenius(1708-1789) was FriedrichII'spersonalphysician (from 1747), then (from 1750) the Chief Surgeonof the army,as well as one of the two directorsof the Collegiummedico-chirurgicumandmember(1750), later (1760) honorarymember,of the Acad6mie:he was thus a memberof the inner circle of Prussianpolitical power.95How well Gumpertzwas integratedin these higher strataof the intellectualcum administrativespheres of Berlin society can also be gaugedfromthe fact thatin 1754 he attended-presumably he was the first Jew to do so-as a nonmember-a meeting of the Acadcmie in Berlin.96 Gumpertzwas also linkedto earlyAufkliirer:he participatedin the so-called Montagclub97and lateralso in that of the Kaffeehausgesellschaft.98Of particular importanceis Gumpertz'sacquaintancewith Lessing, which may go back to 1748, when the latter wrote the first version of his play Die Juden, perhaps having Gumpertzas a model for its hero.99It is not knownhow the two met, but it seems to me likely that the connection was establishedthroughthe astronomerJohann Kies (1713-1781).100 Kies came to Berlin in 1742 and stayed there until 1754, when he was appointedprofessor of mathematicsand physics in Tiibingen.During his years in Berlin, Kies was OrdinaryMemberof the Berlin Acadcmie (folTimes,ed. Michael A. Meyer,vol. 1: Traditionand Enlightenment,1600-1780 (New York:Columbia UniversityPress, 1996), 261-374, on 270-71. 94. Gumpertz dedicated to Cothenius the revised edition he prepared of Johann Ludwig LeberechtL6secke'smedical treatise.See n. 124. 95. See Ernst Graf zur Tippe, Militaria aus Kinig Friedrichsdes GrossenZeit (Berlin 1866), 27-35; Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, 4:517-18; Biographisches Lexikon der hervorragenden Artztealler Zeiten und V5lker,ed. August Hirsch, 3rd ed., vol. 2 (Munich and Berlin 1962), 123-24; Adolf Harnack,Geschichteder kdniglichpreussischenAkademieder Wissenschaftenzu Berlin, vol. 1 (1) (Berlin, 1900), 473, 475. 96. See EduardWinter,Die Registres der berlinerAkademieder Wissenschaften,1746-1766 (Berlin, 1957), 203 (no. 351; meeting July 11, 1754). 97. The Montagclubwas foundedin 1749, and for manyyears,it was headedby FriedrichNicolai (1733-1811). Forvariousperiodsit was attendedby Lessing (as from 1752), the poet KarlWilhelm Ramler (1725-1798), and the philosophers Johann Georg Sulzer (1720-1779) and Thomas Abbt (1738-1766). This learnedsociety establisheditself as a centerof the early Enlightenment.The Swiss philosopherSulzer seems to have had particularlyclose contactswith Gumpertz(Freudenthal,"Ahron Emmerich-Gumpertz"in Kaufmannand Freudenthal,Die Familie Gompertz,196). In 1747, he was professorof mathematicsat the JoachimsthalerGymnasiumat which Gumpertzstudied (or had studied), and in 1750, he was appointedto the Academiedes sciences. Moses Mendelssohnwas not a member of this society; see Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,76. 98. The Kaffeehausgesellschaft,an informallearnedsociety devoted specifically to the discussion of the naturalsciences, was foundedin 1756, apparentlyby JohannGeorg Miichler(1724-1819), a close friend of both Lessing and Mendelssohn. On him and on the society, see JubA, vol. 11: BriefwechselI, ed. Bruno Straussand AlexanderAltmann, notes, 397, 402-3; and Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,74-75. See also Lausch,"'The IgnorantHold Back TheirJudgment,'" 94-95. 99. Freudenthal,"AhronEmmerich-Gumpertz"in Kaufmannand Freudenthal,Die Familie Gompertz,186-87. 100. For what follows see Allgemeine deutscheBiographie,vol. 19 (Leipzig, 1882), 725; J.C. Handwdrterbuchzur Geschichteder exacten Wissenschaften, Poggendorff,Biographisch-Literarisches vol. 1 (Leipzig, 1863), coll. 1254-1255.

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Gad Freudenthal lowing, it may be added,the recommendationof LeonhardEuler,with whom we know Gumpertzto have been in contactabouta decade later)and occupiedthe official position of "Observator"at the Berlin observatory.In the lattercapacity,he was in chargeof the annualpreparationof the Berlin Calendaruntil his departure from Berlin.'1' Owing to his own work (since 1745) on the Jewishcalendarunder the auspices of the Academie, Gumpertzwas certainlyin continuouscontactwith Kies. Lessing, for his part,was introducedto Kies by Mylius in about 1748.102 A few months after having obtainedhis medical degree, Gumpertzset out on the traditionalBildungsreise abroad.103Parts of this journey can be reconstructed from external sources. On Thursday,October 24, 1751, we find him in London, attendinga meeting of the Royal Society, to which he had "leave to be present"by EmanuelMendes da Costa (1717-1791; Fellow of the Royal Society since 1747, one of the most knowledgeableconchologistsand mineralogistsof the time).104It seems likely thatGumpertz'sconnectionto da Costawas facilitatedby virtue of the fact that the latterwas a SephardiJew. In the following months, da Costa broughtGumpertzwith him to a numberof meetings of the Royal Society and apparentlyalso introducedhim to otherFellows, both Jewish (Jacob Sarmento de Castro[1692-1762])105 andnon-Jewish(HenryBaker[1698-1774)], SirDr. John Pringle [1707-1782], James Short [1710-1768]),106 who in their turn also broughtGumpertzalong with them to severalmeetings.107In one of the notes to his revisededition of L6secke'smedical treatiseto be describedlater,Gumpertzin 101. See L. Euler to T. Mayer,Letterof August 17, 1754, in Eric G. Forbes, TheEuler-Mayer Correspondence(1751-1755) (London: Macmillan 1971), 89-90, on 90; see also the discussion 16-17. 102. See Danzel-Guhrauer,Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, 171, 257; Schmidt, Lessing, 1:243. Mylius came from Leipzig to Berlin on the suggestion of Kies and Euler. 103. Megaleh sod, Preface, unpaginated[iv recto]. 104. London, The Royal Society, Journal Book (fair copy; henceforth:JB), vol. 20 (17481751), 543. On da Costa see David B. Ruderman,Jewish Enlightenmentin an English Key (Princeton: PrincetonUniversity Press, 2000), 204-14; G.S. Rousseau and David Haycock, "The Jew of Crane Court: Emanuel Mendes da Costa (1717-1791), Natural History and Natural Excess," History of Science 38 (2000): 127-70; Geoffrey Cantor,"TheRise and Fall of EmanuelMendes da Costa:A Severe Case of 'the Philosophical Dropsy'?,"English Historical Review 116 (2001): 584-603; idem, "EmanuelMendes da Costa:Constructinga Careerin Science,"in FromStrangersto Citizens.TheIntegrationof ImmigrantCommunitiesin Britain, Irelandand ColonialAmerica, 1550-1750, ed. RandolphVigne and CharlesLittleton(London:The HuguenotSociety of GreatBritainand Ireland,2001), 230-36. 105. DNB, 17:794;IsraelSolomon, "DavidNieto, Hakhamof the SpanishandPortugueseJews' Congregations... ," Transactionsof the Jewish Historical Society of England 12 (1931): 1-131, Appendix II, on 83-88. 106. Writingto da Costa fromParison October27, 1753, Gumpertzrefersto Shortas "ourdear friend,"therebysuggestingthatthe contactbetweenhimself and Shortwas establishedthroughda Costa. In his letterto Euler,too, Gumpertzdescribes Shortas his "truefriend"(wahrerFreund), suggesting a close relationship(Lausch,"A.S. Gumpertzund die Academieroyale des sciences," 16). 107. Gumpertzthus attendedthe following meetings of the Royal Society underfollowing patronages:10-24-1752 (da Costa;JB 20 [1748-1751], 543); 12-5-1751 (da Costa;JB 21 [1751-1754], 1); 1-9-1752 (da Costa; ibid., 12); 1-16-1752 (da Costa; ibid., 22); 1-23-1752 (de Castro;ibid., 29); 2-13-1752 (Baker;ibid., 41); 5-14-1752 (de Costa; ibid., 133); 6-4-1752 (Pringle; ibid., 151); 6-111752 (Short;ibid., 157).

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Gumpertz,Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany(1753) 1758 referredto a "bezoar-stone"the size of a chicken egg that he donatedto his friend "HerrMendez d'Acosta" in London, who included it in his "famous collection of minerals."108 Gumpertzclearly was well connectedin London scientific circles, for in May 1752, he served as an intermediarybetween Newtonian members of the Royal Society and the mathematicianLeonhardEuler (17071783), then in Berlin.109Throughda Costa Gumpertzalso met Peter Collinson (1693/94-1768), the well-knownnaturalhistorian(below, n. 115). Concerningthe next chapterof Gumpertz'slife, we have some information from a letterhe addressedto da Costa fromParison October27, 1752.110 We learn thatafterhavingleft England,he slowly traveledthroughthe Low Countrieson his way to France("I rambledabout, not unlike the everlastingJew").1" He visited Dunkirk, Brugges, Brussels, Antwerp, Leuven, and Mechelen, but found them ratherdull ("thereis nothing to be seen for a CuriousEye .... [M]any good naturedPeople, but hardlyone man thatthinksof whatis worthadmirationabovehis head [i.e., no one interestedin astronomy,Gumpertz'sown discipline], nor what amazingProductionsare hiden [sic] in the Bowels of the earth [i.e., no one interested in mineralogy,da Costa's field]; in short, there is no such thing as usefull [sic] Learningin vogue.")."OtherDutch Towns,"which he consideredas "painted Beauties,"notablyRotterdam,The Hague, and Leiden, he found to "containa little more, especially Leyde, where by and by I had the honourto wait upon Mr Prof. [David Jerome]Gaubius[1704 or 1705-1780], whom I gave your Compliments and receiv'dhis ones for You." Gumpertzarrivedin Parisin mid-October1752, andhe was still therein late April of the following year.'12Here, too, he set out to establisha networkof scientific connections,notablywith persons for whom he had lettersof introduction 108. Loesecke, Abhandlung,215, note i; quoted from Freudenthal,"New Light on the Physician Aaron SalomonGumpertz,"75. 109. Lausch,"A.S.Gumpertzund die Acadimie royaledes sciences."Gumpertzwrites to Euler that he persuadedhis "good friend"James Shortnot to read before the Royal Society his criticism of Euler before he, Euler,could have time to reply to cricism levelled aginst him by Dollond (ibid., 15). This is in keepingwith whatwe learnfromtheJournalBook of the Royal Society (vol. 21 [1751-1754]: 102), whose entry for April 9, 1752, reads:"A letterfromMr. ShortFRS to PetereDavall SRS [Secretary of the Royal Society] dated SurryStreet9th April 1752 was read.... This letterMr Shortdesired to deposit with the Society, till Mr Euler has had a sufficient time to answeranotherletterwhich Mr Dolland has writtento him, at Mr Short'sdesire, shewing the mistake,and desiringto know Mr Euler's reasons for thatHypothesis.WhereuponMr Dolland'sletterto Mr Shortwas locked up among the Society's Papersby Mr Dovall one of the Secretaries."Gumpertzdid not attendthatmeeting, but da Costa did. The letters were subsequentlypublished in the Philosophical Transactions48 (1753-1754): 289-91. 110. London,BritishLibrary,Add MSS 28537, fol. 436. Summarizedin Ruderman,JewishEnlightenmentin an English Key,211-12. On the top of the letteranotherhand,obviously da Costa's,noted: "N.B. I did not answerit." 111. Gumpertzprobablyleft England in June or July 1752, for in his letterto Euler he writes on May 26, 1752, that he intendsto leave for France"shortly"(bald;Lausch,"A.S. Gumpertzund die Academieroyaledes sciences," 16) and in Octoberhe was alreadyin Parisaftera longjourneythrough the Low Countries. 112. "It'snow a fortnightsince I am here in the Parisianair,"he wrote to da Costa on 10-271752. See also Appendix II below.

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Gad Freudenthal from da Costa:he mentions Ren&-AntoineFerchaultde Reamur(1683-1757),113 Dr. Ant6nio Ribeiro Sanches (1699-1783),114 and Louis-GuillaumeLe Monnier (1717-1799),115 but presumablythere were more of whom we have no information. Despite these connections,therewas no questionof reiteratingthe experience in London and attending meetings of the Acad6mie royale des sciences, of course.116In Paris, Gumpertzalso met with Gualtherus(Wouter)van Doeveren (1730-1783), then a studentof medicine and science at the Universityof Leiden, who was soon to receive his medical degree and laterbecame a Dutchmedical authority."7 Forreasons thatwill become clear later,it seems likely that in May or June 1753, Gumpertzreturnedto Berlin, where he spent the following years. During this period, Gumpertz collaborated closely with Mendelssohn and Lessing.1"8 When Die Juden appearedin printfor the first time in 1754 (in the fourthpart of Lessing's Schrifften),the influential G6ttingentheologian and orientalistJohann David Michaelis (1717-1791) publisheda scathingreview in his periodical GottingischeAnzeigenvon GelehrtenSachen (GGA).119His main complaint,grounded in his own aesthetic theory,was that the plot was altogether"improbable"(a characteristicGottschediancategory), namely because the hero was describedas a noble-heartedand generous Jew, a characternot existing in reality; as a result, he urged,the play could not arousecompassionin the public and was thereforeof 113. "YourLetters, Sir, for Mr De ReamurI have not yet delivered as these Gentleman[sic] come not out of the Countriein town before St Martin'sDay,"he writes to da Costa. 114. "My Direction may be to Dr. Sanchez ru? d'Orleans St. Honor6."In all likelihood Gumpertzwas recommendedto Ribeiro Sanchesby Gaubius,who knew him well; see: S. W.HamersVanDuynen,ed., Gaubius(1705-1780): Ziin CorrespondentiemetAntonioNunes RibeiroSanchesen Andere Tijdgenoten(Assen: Van Gorcum, 1978). On Ribeiro Sanches see: Georges Dulac, "Science et poltique: Les r6seaux du Dr Ant6nio Ribeiro Sanches," Cahiers du monde russe 43, nos. 2-3 (April-Sept. 2002): 251-74. Ribeiro Sanches indeed lived at that address in 1752. I am indebtedto Georges Dulac and Michael Silber for their advice on Ribeiro Sanches. 115. "I have not yet spoken with Mr Le Monier [sic], as soon as I see him I shall give his [da Costa's]Complimentsto him,just as he [da Costa] orderedme."Gumpertzcontinues:"Meanwhilehe [da Costa] may lay his Commands[for minerals and other specimen] upon me & depend upon to be waited on. Likewise to Mr Collinson."Gumpertzclearly undertookto supply da Costa and Collinson with samples of mineralsand plants. 116. The Acad6mie royale des sciences was a state-fundedbody whose very limited membership includedprofessionalscientists only.The recordsfor the meetings of 1752 and 1753 show thatno nonmembersattended them as guests. See Paris, Academie des sciences, Procis verbaux, Vol. 71 (1752) and vol. 72 (1753). 117. See Appendix II below. 118. The following episode is describedin Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,40-43. 119. G6ttingischeAnzeigen von GelehrtenSachen no. 70 (June 13, 1754): 620-22; reprinted in Lessing, WerkeundBriefe, vol. 1: Werke1743-1750, ed. Stenzel, 1246-49. On Michaelis'negative attitudeto Jews and his subsequentcontroversieswith Mendelssohnsee the overview in Anna-Ruth Lbwenbriick,"JohannDavid Michaelis und Moses Mendelssohn. Judenfeindschaftim Zeitalter der ed. Michael Albrecht,Eva J. Aufkliirung,"in Moses Mendelssohnund die Kreise seiner Wirksamkeit, Engel, and NorbertHinske (Tiibingen:Max NiemeyerVerlag, 1994), 315-32; idem,Judenfeindschaft im ZeitalterderAufklkrung:Eine Studiezur Vorgeschichtedes ModernenAntisemitismusam Beispiel des GottingerTheologenund OrientalistenJohann David Michaelis (1717-1791) (Frankfurta.M.: P Lang, 1995).

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) mediocreliteraryquality.Lessing preparedhis ripostein accordwith his two Jewish friends, Mendelssohn and Gumpertz.'20The three decided on a rejoinderto Michaelis-to be published in Lessing's TheatralischeBibliothek-that would consist of three texts: (i) a short response by Lessing himself; (ii) a letter from Mendelssohn to Gumpertz"complaining"about Michaelis' review; (iii) Gumpertz'sreply to Mendelssohn.The fact that the personae of these two Jews existed in realitywould thus palpablyrefuteMichaelis' allegationsthat a noble Jewish characterwas "improbable."Mendelssohn dutifully sent his letter to Gumpertz, who composed a reply and then forwardedboth texts to Lessing. Lessing, however, found that Gumpertz'sletterto be too vehement and decided against its publication. The publishedresponse to Michaelis thus consisted only of Lessing's and Mendelssohn'spieces.121Lessing introducedMendelssohn'sletter,writtenin late June 1754, with the following words: I would,however, ratherletanother speakwhomthismattertouchestotheheart, thathe oneof thisverynation.I knowhimtoowellto denyherethetestimonial is a manas spiritedas honest.He wrotethefollowingletterin responseto the whosegood G6ttingenreviewto a friendamonghis nation[viz. Gumpertz] to this inclination I believe and an his. to a reluctance qualitiesequal anticipate to convince assumethatthisletteris a fictionof my own,butI amprepared Hereit is.122 irrefutably anyonewhois concernedaboutits authenticity. Mendelssohn'sletter appearedanonymously:neitherhis name nor that of the addressee, Gumpertz,were mentionedby Lessing. During the mid and late 1750s, Gumpertzdevised many literaryplans, including one for a periodical:some of the plannedpublicationswere to be in Hebrew,for an intendedJewish audience,othersin German,for an intendedGerman learned public.123Yet, very little came out of these projects. In 1758 Gumpertz publisheda much-expandededition of a popularmedical treatiseby JohannLudwig LeberechtLdsecke (1724-1757), which testifies to his up-to-date medical competence.124In 1761 he moved to Hamburg(where a partof his family resided 120. Altmann,Moses Mendelssohn,41. Mendelssohn'sletter,to be discussedpresently,is clearly not writtenas a privatedocument,but ratheras one intendedto be read by a large public. 121. Lessing's response and Mendelssohn'sletterare reprintedin Lessing, Werke1743-1750, ed. Stenzel, 489-97. Mendelssohn'sletteralone is reprintedin Mendelssohn,JubAvol. 11:Briefivechsel I, 9-13, with notes on 387-89; it is partlytranslatedand partly summarizedin Altmann, Moses Mendelssohn,41-42. Gumpertz'sletter(which Lessing describedas havingbeen written"in too much passion")is now lost. See n. 138 below for a conjectureon its contentsand tenor. 122. Translationquoted fromAltmann,Moses Mendelssohn,42. 123. Landshuth,"Dr.Aron Gumpertz,"365b; Freudenthal,"AhronEmmerich-Gumpertz"in Kaufmannand Freudenthal,Die Familie Gompertz,190, 196, 200. 124. JohannLudwig LeberechtLisecke, Abhandlungder auserlesenstenArzneymittel,nach derselben Ursprung,Giite,Bestandtheilen,Maase undArtzu wiircken,insgleichen wie dieselben aus derApotheckezu verschreibensind; zumNutzenseiner Zuhorerabgefaft. MitAnmerkungenversehen, und mit einer Tabellevermehretvon A.S. Gumperz,der Arzneygelahrheit Doctor (Berlin: Friedrich Nicolai 1758, 1763). 658 pp. plus a Register (unpaginated).Curiously,this publicationwas unknown to Gumpertz'searly biographers(Landshuthand Freudenthal)and was first made known in my "New Light on the PhysicianAaron Salomon Gumpertz,"66-69.

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Gad Freudenthal and where he had himself sojournedfor longer periods in the late 1750s).125 Unfortunately,he soon fell ill with a severepulmonarydisease thatwas to undermine his physical and mentalwell-being for the rest of his life.126 In 1765 he published privatelyhis only Hebrewbook: Megalehsod (TheRevealerofSecrets). This slim volume contains,in additionto an introduction,which amountsto a brief intellectual autobiography,a super-commentaryon AbrahamIbn Ezra'scommentaryon the Five Scrolls, and the shortMa 'amarha-mada' (A Treatiseon Knowledge).127 The latteris an overview of the subjectsstudied in the differentbranchesof contemporaryscience, which was writtenin lieu of the comprehensiveoverviewof all branchesof the sciences that Gumpertzhad intendedto write in Hebrew,but was now too weak to do so.128 A true Kampfschrift,129 it urges Jews to study "secular wisdom," which it seeks to legitimize by arguingthat it is compatiblewith a fidelity to Judaism.'30Gumpertzseems to have publishedthis work, a small fraction of his writings,in haste, feeling thatdeathwas close.131Duringhis final years, his disease made him constantly ill-tempered: "Ein Mensch ohne Lunge kan schwehrlichlibreich sein,"Mendelssohnpointedly observed. He became isolated andeven detested,a circumstancethatpossiblycontributedto his havingfallen into oblivion rapidlyafterhis deathat the age of forty-five (on April 10, 1769).132 VII. AARONSALOMONGUMPERTZ: THEAUTHOROFTHESCHREIBEN Our inquiryinto Lessing's involvementwith the Jewish cause, into his role in VoB'spublishinghouse, and into his practicesas a publisherleft little doubtthat he was the man who broughtthe Schreibento print.I have also arguedthatbecause 125. Freudenthal,"AhronEmmerich-Gumpertz"in Kaufmannand Freudenthal,Die Familie Gompertz,190. 126. Letterfrom Mendelssohnto FrometGugenheimon May 21, 1762, in JubA,vol. 19: Hebriische SchriftenIII, Letterno. 85, p. 102 [transcribedin JubA,vol. 20(2): Briefvwechsel (1761-1785), Letterno. 85, p. 130]. 127. Commentingclassic, authoritative,texts was a literarygenre used by many maskilim.See Amos Funkenstein,"DasVerhiltnisderjiidischenAufklirung zur mittelalterlichenjiidischen PhilosoundHaskalainjiidischerundnichtjiidischerSicht(= Wolfenbiitteler phie,"inAuJkldrung Forschungenzur AuJkldrung,14), ed. K. GriinderandN. Rotenstreich(Heidelberg:L. Schneider,1990), 13-20; incorporatedinto his PerceptionsofJewish History(Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1993), 234-47. 128. Sefer megaleh sod, Preface, unpaginated [iii recto], first Hebrew numbering:2b, 11 [wronglynumbered10]b (bottom), second Hebrewnumbering:13b. 129. Eschelbacher,"Die Anflinge allgemeinerBildung,"176. 130. See also Ruderman,Jewish Thoughtand Scientific Discovery, 334-35. As is well known, Mendelssohnfavorablycommentson Gumpertz'sMa'amarha-mada'in the Introductionto chapter14 of his commentaryon Millot ha-higgayon;see Landshuth,"Dr.Aron Gumpertz,"366a. 131. Freudenthal,"AhronEmmerich-Gumpertz"in Kaufmannand Freudenthal,Die Familie Gompertz,196-9. Gumpertzhimself confirmsthatthe workwas writtenearlier:see Megalehsod, Preface, unpaginated[iiia, bottom]. 132. Letter from Mendelssohnto Joseph Meyer (Schmalkalden)on April 25, 1769, in JubA, vol. 19: Hebrdische Schriften III, Letter no. 105, pp. 127-28 [transcribed in JubA, vol. 20(2): Briefwivechsel(1761-1785), Letter no. 105, pp. 174-75]. On July 19, 1769, his widow, nde Getting, al-

ready left Hamburgand moved to Berlin. See M. Grunwald,"Hamburgsdeutsche Juden bis zur Auflosung

der Dreigemeinden

1811," Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft fur jiidische

(1903): 45.

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Volkskunde 12

Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) the authormust have been a Jewish friendof Lessing, Gumpertzis the only possible candidatefor the job. It remainsto be seen whetherwe can positively connect him with the anonymouspamphlet.AlthoughI cannotproducea manuscriptof the Schreibenin Gumpertz'shandwriting,I think there is overwhelmingcircumstantial evidence substantiatingthe thesis thathe is the author. A first, weighty, considerationis the simple fact that in 1753 Berlin, there was simply no other Jew besides Gumpertzcapableof producinga work like the Schreiben.In fact, because Gumpertzwas the only Jewish intellectualin Berlin in 1753 to be integratedinto non-Jewishsociety, the inference that he is the author of the Schreibenwould have been warranted,even if our searchwas not limited to the circle aroundLessing. A crucialaspect is the masteryof high German.We saw that Gumpertzlearnedhigh Germanas a child and thathis lettersto Gottschedas well his translationof R. Fraenkel'spoem and sermonattestto the fact thathe mastered literaryGermanbeautifully.133 As alreadynoted,althoughin mid-eighteenth Berlin and some Jews Prussia, century already spoke German,especially for the of was the purpose trade,Gumpertz only Jewish intellectualin Berlin at the time who really masteredthe language-Mendelssohn having acquireda mastery of Germanonly threeor fouryearslater.The fact, then,thatin 1753 therewas no Jewish intellectualsocialized in Germanletters otherthan Gumpertzstronglypoints to him as the authorof the Schreiben. This thesis is corroboratedby relatedconsiderations.The translationsfrom Frenchto Germanof press reportsrelatedto the Jew Bill, includedin the Schreiben (see Appendix I), demonstratethat the authormasterednot only Germanbut also French,precisely one of the two foreign languages Gumpertzknew particularly well.134A relatedaspect is the familiaritywith contemporarythought.The Schreiben displays a good acquaintancewith the then-currentdiscussions in economic theory.Gumpertzwas at home in circles aroundthe Acadcmie and the court and was the only Jew in Berlin at the time who could be creditedwith such notions.135 Lessing indirectlyconfirms the assessmentthata Jew with intellectualqualities such as Gumpertz'swas unique at the time. In his preface to Mendelssohn's "scandalized"reactionto Michaelis' criticism of Die Juden, he anticipateson the partof his readers"aninclinationto assumethatthis letteris a fiction of [his] own." Lessing obviously perceivedthat the idea that two Jews could exchange lettersin perfect high Germanwould appearas dubious to his readers.He was even more outspokenin his privateletterto Michaelis, which accompaniedthe issue of TheatralischeBibliothekcontaininghis rejoinder.Therehe deems it necessaryto make 133. See also Appendix II. 134. In the autobiographicalaccountgiven in his first letterto Gottsched,Gumpertzmentions Frenchas the first foreign languagehe studied(see also Megaleh sod, Preface,unpaginated[i recto]). FriedrichNicolai in his obituaryof Mendelssohnwrites that Frenchand English were the foreign languages that Gumpertzknew particularlywell (in Moses Mendelssohn,JubA, vol. 23, Dokumente, II, 13). 135. The Schreiben'sprecise intellectualbackgroundin economic theory remains to be studied. In particular,the possibility that Gumpertzmet Isaac de Pinto (above, n. 16) in Holland,London, or Paris(places in which both sojournedin the roughlythe same periods) and became acquaintedwith his ideas priorto theirpublicationshould be explored.

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Gad Freudenthal clear: "Er ist wirklich ein Jude,"thereby showing that such an idea appearedas ratherimplausibleat that time.136 Considernow Gumpertz'sroles in society. As one of the very few contemporaryJews to have received a Germaneducation,and as the first and for a number of yearsthe only Jew in Berlinto be in touch with non-Jewishintellectualsand statesmen,Gumpertzhad one foot in the Jewish cultureand communityand another in Germanletters and Berlin society. Gumpertzconstantlysought to bring these two social roles together.His letterto Gottschedon March8, 1745, provides a valuableinsight into how he viewed himself and Jews generallyin theirrelation to the non-Jewishsociety.While he explicitly writes to Gottschedas a Jew,he also invokes two other identities:he speaks of "we Germans"(wir Deutsche) and also says of himself that he is a "memberof the society of men" (Mitglied der menschlichen Gesellschaft).137The very same duplicityof identitiescharacterizesthe authorof the Schreiben.To begin with, we recall that it refers to "GermanJews" (verschiedeneder DeutschenJuden)who freedthemselves from misery and ignorance. The expressions "GermanJews" and (coming from a Jew) "we Germans" were both unheardof at the time and remainedso for a long time. Here we apparently have their very first occurrences:the great similarityof these two singular expressions clearly points to one authorwho so viewed himself and his brethren. By the same token, the expression "member of the society of men," used by Gumpertzto capturehis self-perception,is almost identicalto the expression"citizen of the terrestrialglobe" (ein Mitbiirgerdes Erdkreises),used by the authorof the Schreibento describe the philosopher'sposture,a similaritythat again designates one and the same author. Gumpertz,let me now observe, was awarethathis simultaneousparticipation in Jewish and Germansocieties would not be welcomed by most membersof both. Thus, his only Hebrewpublicationmakes no allusion to his involvementin Germanculturallife, while his two works addressedto the non-Jewishpublic (his doctoral dissertation in Latin and the revision of Ldsecke's medical treatise in German)make no referenceto his Jewish identity.Specifically and strikingly,although we have straightforwardpositive evidence that Gumpertzhad strongfeelings aboutthe Jews' situationin Prussia-Lessing, we recall,judged Gumpertz's rejoinderto Michaelis to be unpublishablebecause it was writtenwith too much temper-there is no trace of these feelings in his HebrewworkMegaleh sod, not even where the context seems to call for it, namely in the discussion of the Scroll

136. Letterdated October 16, 1754 in: GottholdEphraimLessing, Werkeund Briefe, ed. Wilfried Barner,vols. 11(1-2)-12, Briefe von und an Lessing 1743-1770, ed. Helmuth Kiesel, et al. (Frankfurtam Main:DeutscherKlassikerVerlag, 1987, 1988, 1994), 11(1):58-59, on 58. On January 24, 1756, ChristianFiirchtegottGellert similarlywrites in a letter to GottliebWilhelm Rabenerapropos of Mendelssohn'sUber die Empfindungen:"Die Briefe von den Empfindungensind die Werke eines jungen Juden in Berlin... Ein Jude! Sollte diese Nation gar noch fruchtbaran witzigen Kipfen werden?"Quotedfrom:Moses Mendelssohn,JubA,vol. 22: DokumenteI, 9. 137. Letterto Gottschedon March8, 1745;in Danzel, Gottschedundseine Zeit, 333-34; Landshuth,"Dr.AronGumpertz,"331. In the same letterGumpertzsimilarlyrefersto Gottschedas the "savior of the [i.e. our] German[literary]honor."

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) of Esther.138Gumpertz'sinterventionsin his two worlds, the Jewish and the German, were clearly sealed off from one another.This explains why Gumpertzchose to publish the Schreiben, his only public interventionon behalf of his brethren, anonymously-as was to be his letter on the same topic to Lessing-and why there is no allusion to it in his Hebrewwork. It is instructiveto note thatGumpertzseems to have harboreda deep-seated desire to resolve conflicts, to assumethe social role of a go-betweenmediatingbetween conflicting parties.In 1747, he proposedto step in as a "Mittler"(intermediary) between Gottschedwith his then patron,the Marquisd'Argens (who in his Lettresjuives had criticized German literature)-precisely the role he also assumed when he attemptedto mediate between Euler and his English critics. This role fits the task undertakenby the authorof the Schreiben,who sought precisely to be an "intermediary," reconciling the Jewish and the Christiansocieties. Also, the viewpoint fromwhich the Schreibenwas writtenbearsthe markof Gumpertz'srole in society. The philosopheris construednot only as the authorof a forthcomingtreatisein political science, but also as a close adviser of the king. Levi Israelchallenges his fictional correspondentwith the following words:"Assume the position of a Le Fort; perhaps also a Peter the Great will be found" (13).139 We recall that Gumpertzhad among his friends not a few close advisers of King FrederickII-notably the Marquisd'Argens, Louis Isaac de Beausobre, and Cothenius:they andtheirlike were the model for conceiving the philosopher's literaryfigure.At the same time, they were also the readersGumpertzhad in mind when he composed the Schreiben.He believed thata strongwill on the partof the enlightenedmonarch,who would be guided by a no less enlightenedand strongwilled adviser,could instantlyimprovethe Jews' situationin Prussia.The call to the prince'scounselorwas arguablythe most operationalsentencein the Schreiben; Lessing apparentlyappreciatedthis and quoted it in full in his review.140 Anotherconsiderationis relatedto the anonymouscharacterof the publication. We saw that Lessing had a predilectionfor such publicationsand was considered by authorsas an expert in the art of publishingbooks anonymously.But Gumpertz, too, had a penchant for this kind of affectation:when he wrote to Gottschedin 1747, he sent him his Schreibenan Doris, asking him to publish it, but anonymously.141Gumpertzand Lessing must thus have found in one another 138. It does not seem farfetchedto surmisethatGumpertz'sletterwas along the lines of the reproachwhich the philosopherof the Schreibenput in the mouthof the Jews: "Youevil Christians:stop persecutingus! ... Can you demandthat we love a religion thatostensibly instructsyou [Christians] to hate us? ... Reject our [religious] errors,but not our persons!"(18-19). 139. The text adds a referenceto a princewho would "unitethe strongestmind with the greatest power,"a remarkthat, as alreadynoted, was obviously tailoredto flatterKing FrederickII. 140. Lessing, Werke1743-1750, ed. Stenzel, 523:36-524:14; note thatwhereGumpertzwrote "meineNation"(13) Lessing, deliberatelyor not, quoted"eine"(524:5). 141. "I obedientlyrequestto keep my insignificantname secret, for I neverwished to glimmer throughlearning,much less throughwritings of this kind."Gumpertz'sletter to Gottschedof 15 December 1747, in Danzel, Gottschedund seine Zeit, 336. When he writes that he did not wish to glimmer "throughwritings of this kind" Gumpertzprobably refers to satirical writings for polemical purposes.

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Gad Freudenthal kindredspiritsand must have been happyto collaborateon an anonymouspublication. We may note in passing the similarityof the two titles: Schreibenan Doris and Schreiben eines Juden. Secrecy is also in keeping with what we know of Gumpertz'scharacter:Mendelssohn, we recall, acknowledged that he owed to Gumpertzalone all he knew in the sciences andthatGumpertzwas a greatteacher; we know nothing of this from any other source, least of all from Gumpertzhimself. This clearly shows that Gumpertzwas a man who chose to work behind the scenes, unrecognized. Circumstantialevidence, too, links Gumpertzto the Schreiben.The English Jew Bill arousedlittle public attentionin Germany.Tourydiscoveredonly two discussions of the bill in the Germanpress.142The source of informationon which the authorof the Schreibendrew is indeed foreign. The Anhang to the Schreiben (25-32), which reproducesextractsfromthe press reportson which the authorrelies, indicates their origin as "FrenchLeiden newspapers"(FranzosischeLeidensche Zeitungen).I havebeen able to identifythese as the Nouvelles extraordinaires de divers endroits,betterknownunderthe name Gazettede Leyde.143This French language newspaper,which was to have its heyday in the time of the American Revolution,was foundedin 1677 in Leidenby a ProtestantFrenchrefugee andcarried political, military,and diplomaticnews from all Europe,especially London and Paris. Since 1735, it was in the hands of the Luzac family, also of French Protestantorigin. Between 1738 and 1772, it was written and edited by Etienne Luzac (1706-1787) and publishedby his older brotherJean(1702-1783).144 The Gazettede Leydewas readmainly in France,and so the fact thatthe German-writing authorof the Schreibenderivedfrom it his knowledge of the Jew Bill is noteworthy.We will now see that the fact that the authorof the Schreibenused the improbableGazettede Leyde again points to Gumpertz. It seems certainthat Gumpertzsaw the issues of the Gazettede Leyde carrying the first reports about the upcoming English Jew Bill in Paris.145Now, 142. Toury,"Die BehandlungjiidischerProblematik,"esp. 22. Quite interestingly,one who was well informedof these events in Germanyis none otherthanJohannDavid Michaelis, who referredto them in the course of his criticism of Lessing's Die Juden: "wir haben in unsern Gedanckendieses LeBingsche Lust-Spiel aus Deutschland nach England hiniiber gebracht, wo im vorigen Jahre eine Com6die von der Art n6thig gewesen seyn k6nnte, um das Volck von seinem ausschweifendenHaB gegen die Judenund von seiner Widersetzunggegen die Juden-Actezuriickzu bringen.Dis wdireein Schau-Platz,wo es sich Ruhm erwerbenk6nnte."GdttingscheAnzeigen von GelehrtenSachen dated June 13, 1754, text quoted from Lessing, Werke1743-1750, ed. Stenzel, 1248; this passage is quoted also in Danzel-Guhrauer,GottholdEphraimLessing, 234. 143. For what follows see: Jean Sgard, ed., Dictionnaire des Journaux, 1600-1789, vol. 1 (Paris:Universitas, 1991), 468-69, no. 514. 144. On the biographiesof the differentmembers of the Luzac family see notably E. and E. Haag, La Franceprotestante,vol. 7 (Paris, 1857), 151-56; Jean Sgard,ed., Dictionnairedesjournalistes, 1600-1789 (Oxford:VoltaireFoundation,1999), 1:663-65 (nos. 534-36). 145. Although the Spanish and Portuguese synangogues in London began "lobbying"for a change in the naturalizationlaws as early as 1746, the first moves towardwhat was to be the Jew Bill of 1753 were made only in January1753, and the formalpresentationof the bill in the House of Lords was made only on April 3, 1753 (Perry,Public Opinion, 17, 19, 22). Because Gumpertzwas in Paris since mid-October1752, it was there that the informationconcerningthe bill reachedhim.

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) not only was the Gazettede Leydemuch readin Parisin general,but there existed a personallink between Gumpertzand the Gazettein the person of van Doeveren, who studiedin Leidenandwas soon to returnthereandwhom Gumpertzmet, probably not for the first time, on April 27, 1753 (see Appendix II). Presumably,however, this was not Gumpertz'sfirst encounterwith the Gazette. Etienne Luzac's nephew was EilieLuzacfils (1723-1796), also a publisherin Leiden, and he was the publisherchosen by the energetic PerpetualSecretaryof the Acadcmie, Jean Henri Samuel Formey (1711-1797) for the Bibliotheque impartiale, a shortlived (1750-1758) bimonthly carrying news from the Republic of Letters.146 Elie Luzac and Formey correspondedintensively during the years of their collaboration,and their letters show that the Luzacs were in constant contact with the milieu of the Berlin Academie, leading members of which were also of FrenchProtestantorigin.147We recall that Gumpertzwas in constanttouch with the Acadcmie as early as 1745 and remained so as long as he remained in Berlin.'48 Specifically, Elie Luzac was in contact with Maupertuis,two of whose books he published in 1750-51-the very same period that Gumpertzwas his secretary.149Last but certainly not least, the publisher Elie Luzac was represented in Germanyby no other than ChristianFriedrichVo1, Lessing's publisher, friend, and even neighbor.150 Now Elie Luzac himself tells us that "the only newspaperI read is that of my uncle,"that is, the Gazette de Leyde, and this obviously makes him an ideal conduit for passing the Gazetteto his correspondents in Berlin.'151 It seems certain,then, thatGumpertzsaw the first reportsof the Jew Bill in April while in Paris. It is not impossible that he remainedin Parisduringthe following two months,wrote the Schreibenthere, and forwardedit to Lessing by the post. It seems more likely, however,thathe soon returnedto Berlin and produced the Schreibentherein concertwith Lessing:as we saw,he could easily continueto

146. See Sgard,Dictionnairedes Journaux, 189-91 (no. 164). 147. Luzac's letters alone have been publishedin: Hans Bots and Jan Schillings, eds., Lettres d'Elie Luzac d Jean Henri Samuel Formey(1748-1770). Regardsur les coulisses de la librairie hollandaise du XVIIIesiecle (Paris:Honor6Champion,2001). 148. Gumpertzand Formeymet on at least one occasion, namely the meeting of the Academie on July 11, 1754, at which both were present.Formey'sextremely rich correspondence(over 16,000 letters) contains no letters from or to Gumpertz(perhapsbecause they dwelt in the same town); I am grateful to Anthony McKennafor this information.See: La Correspondancede Jean Henri Samuel Formey (1711-1797): inventairealphabetique.Etabli sous la dir. de Jens Hiiseler,avec la Bibliographie des 6critsde JeanHenriSamuelFormey6tablieparRolf Geissler(Paris:Honor6Champion,2003). 149. Bots and Schillings, Lettresd' lie Luzac, 87, n. 2; 138-39, 144, 157, 161. 150. See Bots and Schillings, Lettresd'•lie Luzac, index, s.v. "Voss"and the editors'notes ad loc. The relationshipsbetweenVoW'sandElie Luzac'spublishinghouses may be an interestingsubject for furtherresearch,but the following can alreadybe noticed: in October 1748, La Mettrie,a favorite of FrederickII, apparentlyintercededin favor of VoBwhen he appliedfor a privilege allowing him to settle in Berlin (Buchholtz,Die VossischeZeitung, 35); between 1748 and 1752, Vo.3publishedsome ofLa Mettrie'sworks, includingL'Hommemachine,a controversialworkwhose first edition had been published(anonymously)by Ilie Luzac (causing him much trouble). 151. Bots and Schillings, Lettresd 'AlieLuzac, 74 (letterof July 1749).

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Gad Freudenthal follow the developmentsas reportedin the Gazettein Berlin, where the circles in which he was at home-the milieu of the Academiedes sciences and the (related) one aroundthe publisherChristianFriedrichVoB-were in continuoustouch with the Luzacs. In any event, both in Parisand in Berlin, a directline of communication connectedGumpertzto the Gazettede Leyde,makinghim into themanto draw from it the informationon the Jew Bill. A further,tiny, but very telling, confirmationthat Gumpertzindeed is the authorof the Schreibenis the idiosyncraticuse of the acronym"N.B.,"which we find both in the Schreibenand in one of Gumpertz'sletters.We noted earlierthat the secondpartof the philosopher'sfootnoteis precededby the abbreviation"N.B." (notabene),which, in fact, is used to standfor "P.S."(postscriptum).In a letterthat Gumpertzaddressedto da Costa from Hamburgon May 8, 1767, he recommended to his old friend"thecarryer[sic] of this present,"whose qualitieshe describes, butwithoutnaminghim.152As an afterthoughthe addedbelow his signature:"N.B. The name of the Gentlemanis Doctor Kleteker."153 Here, too, "N.B."is used in lieu of"P.S."This is highly peculiar:in contemporarycorrespondence,addendato a letter were systematically signaled either by "PS." or (in German)by "N.S." (sometimes:Nachschrift).154A perusalof Lessing's entireactive and passive correspondence,for example, showed that "P.S."or "N.S."were used methodically, and thaton the few occasions on which "N.B."was employed,it was not confused with the otherabbreviations.'55The singular(in fact: erroneous)usage of "N.B." insteadof"P.S."thatwe have identified in the two writingsis thus a personalidiosyncrasy,which is all the more strikingas the two texts are in two differentlanguages. This rarelapsus calami can be likened to fingerprints,a sort of personal characteristic"signature,"which stronglycorroboratesthat both texts were written by the same person. VIII. CONCLUSION In the precedingpages I have soughtto establishthatthe Schreibenwas composed by Aaron Salomon Gumpertzand was publishedwith the active assistance of GottholdEphraimLessing. While I thinkthatthere can be no doubtthat this is the overallpicture,I now wish to introducea nuance. As noticed above, the Schreiben seems to contain a clear echo of Shakespeare'sTheMerchantof Venice.Seeing that in the early 1750s Shakespearewas 152. London,BritishLibrary,Add MSS 28537, fol. 437. The letteris mentionedin Ruderman, Jewish Enlightenmentin an English Key, 211. 153. A check in majorGermanlibrariesshowed that Dr. Kleteker(or Kletteker)publishedno book; nor does his name appearin the DeutscherBiographischerIndex(Munich, 1986). 154. I am gratefulto Didier Kahn(CNRS, Paris)and to AntonyMcKenna(Universityof SaintEtienne) for their advice on this point. 155. Lessing, WerkeundBriefe, vols. 11(1-2)-12, Briefe von undan Lessing 1743-1770, ed. HelmuthKiesel, et al.,: in the 1,627 letters,there are eighteen occurrencesof"P.S.,"22 of"N.S.," and seven of"Nachschrift."There are two occurrencesof"N.B." at the end of letters(11[2]:415; 12:262), but they seem to be properly used, i.e., they do not stand for "P.S." or "N.W." Another occurrence

(11[2]:26) is in a letterwithout signatureand clear ending.

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) barelyknownin the GermanculturalareaandthatLessing was one of the very few who were familiar with his writings, I suggested that the Schreiben's"Shakespearean"phrase was inspired (or even written) by Lessing.156It seems likely that the Schreibenwas written by Gumpertzafter he discussed its contents with Lessing or perhapsshowedhim a first draft:the Schreiben'sformas a series of proposals, anticipatedobjections, and answers may reflect their discussions. Moreover,we know thatGumpertzoccasionallyshowedLessing his manuscripts,and it is thus not impossible that Lessing added a phrase or two to Gumpertz'stext.157 This reconstructionis in keeping with what we know of Lessing'srole in bringing to printMendelssohn'swritings.Whatseems very likely,in any event, is thatLessing had some influence on the contents of the Schreiben. The Schreibenmay bear yet anothermarkof Lessing'sintervention.We observed that the philosopher'sepistle contains a curious discontinuityin the argumentation.The philosopherdescribes"greatandcountless"obstacleson the way to the improvementof the situationof the Jews (21-23). Apparentlyoverwhelmed,he concludesthatthe Christiancitizens of any Europeannationall sharethe conviction (printedin bold characters)that"it is impossibleto bringsubjectsof boththe Christian and the Jewish religion simultaneouslyto prosperity"(23). This sentence, in fact, flatly thrustsaside the entireargumentput forwardby Levi Israel,as does the next one, which opens a new paragraph:"Letus, honorablefriend,contentourselves with the hope thatthe Jewswill eventuallymakethemselvesbettermannered(gesitteter),so thatthey will be less hatedby the Christiansandwill ultimatelyobtainthe right to citizenship (das Biirger-Recht)in all counties. This howeverwill require manyyears and centuries"(23; emphasismine). The following sentence,however, totallyreversesthis darkpessimism:"ButI go too farwith my doubts.The happiness of the Jewishpeople requiresonly a single instant(Augenblick),in which a monarch will havethe noble desireto be the fulfillment( Wollust)of humankind... ."andwill decideto prevailoverthe heritageof superstition(23-24). This decidedlyoptimistic sentence, which concludes the philosopher'sletter,expresses a sudden change of mind. It can hardlyhave been writtenin one strokewith the precedingtext, and it seems to me to testify to a revisionof a first version.The optimisticconclusioncan of course be due to a suddeninsight on Gumpertz'spartthat a positive tone at the end of his pamphletwouldbe pedagogicallymore constructive.But the suddenand totalreversalmayvery well be a resultof a spurfromsomeoneelse, who wouldthen be Lessing, the Schreiben'sfirst readerand its publisher:Lessing may eitherhave encouragedGumpertzto changethe end or have done this himself. Lessing himself, then, may be giving us a hint concerning his involvement in producingthe Schreiben.At the very end of his rejoinderto Michaelis, intro156. AdmittedlyGumpertzcould have been become acquaintedwith Shakespeareduringhis or eight- nine-monthstay in London. 157. Landshuth,"Dr.Aron Gumpertz,"358a. Mendelssohn, Lessing, and Gumpertzplanned various common publications;see Mendelssohn'sletters to Lessing dated February18, 1755; end of October1755; andJanuary10, 1756; in: Moses Mendelssohn,JubA,vol. 11:Briefivechsel,14-15, 1719 (on 18), 31-33 (on 33). In the second of these letters, Mendelssohnasks Lessing whetherone of Gumpertz'smanuscriptswas in his hands.

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Gad Freudenthal ducing Mendelssohn's(anonymous)letter, Lessing writes (June 1754): "I anticipate a reluctanceto believe this [i.e., thatthe following letterhas been addressed by one Jew to another] and an inclination to assume that this letter is a fiction of my own, but I am preparedto convince irrefutablyanyone who is concerned about its authenticity"(emphasis mine). This could well be an instance of a hat burning on the thief's head: having indeed taken part in fabricatingand in publishing a fictitious correspondencebetween an unrealJew and an unrealphilosopher less than a year earlier,Lessing now anticipatesin his readersprecisely this suspicion. Lessing's involvementin producingthe Schreibenmay contain the clue to the riddle of the initials R.C.D.N. with which the philosophersigns his letter.At this stage of our inquiryno one (I trust)will anymoreexpect these lettersto be the initials of a real person. Indeed,Touryalreadyraised the possibility that the four letters are an acronym, although he was at a loss to suggest a reasonable solution.158I put forwardthe following possibility: RechtschaffnerChristDeutscher Nation.The adjective"rechtschaffner" (righteous)appearsin Lessing'swritingsin similar contexts: in Die Juden (Scene 2) the expression "rechtschaffneChristen" now apoccurs, and in his rejoinderto Michaelis the adjective"rechtschaffner," plied to Jews, appearsfour times.'59 Indeed the word "rechtschaffner"perfectly capturesthe philosopher'sentireendeavor.Althoughin the Schreibenthe philosopher of course does not speak qua Christian,it yet seems appositeto referto him as a Christianphilosopherinasmuchas the entireconfrontationis construedas being between Jews and Christians.Similarly,the Jews are referredto as a "Nation," so that referringto the philosopheras belonging to the correlative"Germannation" seems appropriatetoo.160 To be sure, this is not an irrefutablesolution, but it seems to me to be a plausible suggestion. Last,we shouldask why the Schreibenhas had so little effect on posterity.161 Thatit (as also Lessing'sDie Juden,publishedthe same year) left little impression on the contemporaryGermanpublic is quite understandable:it was a premature precursorof Dohm'swriting;the times were not yet ripe for a public discussion of Jewish civil rights. In fact, it ranhead-on againstFrederickthe Great'spolicy: the GeneralRegulationof 1750 was unfavorableto the Jews, aiming in particularto reduce the Jews' role in trade,and in 1752, the king bannedJewish entrepreneurs from the silk market.'62This policy was just the opposite of that which the Schreibensoughtto promote.Further,the position of the Schreibenwas of course 158. Toury,"Einevergessene Friihschrift,"262, n. 30. Tourysuspectedthe acronymto refer to a Latinproverb. 159. Lessing, Werke1743-1750, ed. Stenzel, 490:27 (rechtschaffnerund edler Jude;similarly 491:1); 492:1; 492:19 (referringto Mendelssohn). 160. Thus the qualification "of the Germannation"would be the exact parallel to the name "Levi Israel"accordingto the interpretationsuggested above. On the contemporarymeaning of the term "Nation"see the note in Lessing, Werke1743-1750, ed. Stenzel, 1157. 161. We alreadynoted thateven Mendelssohnwas not acquaintedwith it. Nor was Dohm; see Och, Imago judaica, 12.

162. HubertC. Johnson, Frederickthe Great and His Officials (New Haven:Yale University Press, 1975), 92.

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) considerablyweakenedby the fact thatthe EnglishJew Bill, to whichthe Schreiben devoted an entire appendix,was repealedbefore the end of the year. Indeed, even the protagoniststhemselves, Gumpertzand Lessing, did not mentionthe Schreibenin theirlaterwritings. Lessing, we noted,warmlyreviewed the Schreibenimmediatelyon its publication,never to mention it again. The reason for this is quite clear:the Schreiben'smain thrust,the economic-mercantilist argumentsin favor of accordingthe Jews citizen rights, followed a differentpath from Lessing's own, humanistic,way of thinkingand arguing.Further,in the early 1750s Lessing was involved in numerouspublicationinitiatives,so that for him the Schreiben presumablywas a minor affair. Lessing thus saw no reason to mention the Schreiben later in life, so much so, indeed, that, as we saw, even Mendelssohnwas unawareof its existence. As for Gumpertz,he was a rathersecretivepersonwho above all shunnedpublicity:his very autobiographicalaccount (in Hebrew) leaves out importantaspects of his life, such as the fact that he obtained an M.D. from a Germanuniversity,was involved in the gentile intellectual life in Berlin, and even publisheda medical treatisein German.There is no wonder, therefore, that he did not mention the Schreiben anywhere, not even to Mendelssohn. The 1753 Schreiben is thus a document that acquires its considerable importanceonly from historical hindsight:because we know the sequel, and the end too, of the Jews' integrationto Germansociety, we appreciateits foresight, or at least its audacity.Now, I submit,we also know who shouldbe credited with it.* Gad Freudenthal CentreNational de la RechercheScientifique Villejuif, France

* Acknowledgments:Researchfor this study was done at the Herzog-AugustBibliothek(HAB), Wolfenbiittel, at the Staatsbibliothekzu Berlin, at the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem,and at the libraryof the Royal Society in London. I am very gratefulto the staff of all librariesfor their assistance.To ProfessorsEva Engel-Hollandand FriedrichNiewdhnerat the HAB I am gratefulfor theirkind helpfulness.It is a pleasurefor me to give thanksto ProfessorsDavid B. Rudermanand Michael Silber for their unflagging interestand advice. I am also very gratefulto Professor WilfriedBarnerfor his observationson a draftof this paper.Lastbutnot least, I thankalso Francesca Albertini, Gideon Freudenthal,Rachel Livneh-Freudenthal,and FriedrichSteinle for kindly having helped me to obtainvarious items. For researchgrantswhich made possible my stays in Wolfenbiittel and in Berlin I am much indebtedto the HAB, the CNRS (cooperationprogramwith the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft[DFG]), and the HanadivCharitableFoundation.

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Gad Freudenthal APPENDIX I The Gazettede Leyde as a Source for the Schreiben'63 The Schreiben,we saw, was triggeredby the newspaperreportsof the discussions precedingthe enactmentof the short-livedso-called Jew Bill in England. The source for these reports,of which long quotationsare given in the Anhangto the Schreiben,is given as the "theFrenchLeiden newspapers"(Franz6sischeLeidensche Zeitungen), which I have identified as the Nouvelles extraordinaires de divers endroits, commonly known underthe name Gazette de Leyde. To substantiatethis identification,and also to show how the author,Gumpertz,used the informationat his disposal, I compare below the pertinent reports concerning the Jew Bill carried by the Gazette de Leyde with the reports quoted in the Schreiben.'164The comparisonshows Gumpertzto havebeen a careful,precise, and competent translatorof highly technical (juridical) texts. But it also shows that Gumpertzacted tendentiously,namely by deleting informationhe considered as potentiallydamagingto the cause he defended:he abridgedreportsby omittinginformationconcerningthe oppositionto the bill, and some such reportshe did not translateat all. To facilitatethe comparison,I give the texts in parallelcolumns: in the left columnI reproduceall the reportsconcerningthe Jew Bill publishedby the Gazette de Leyde from the first (datedApril 6) to the reportdated June 29, 1753 (which probablyappearedwhen the Schreibenwas already completed and which Gumpertz did not translate).165On the right, I give the correspondingtranslationsby Gumpertz.The untranslatedreportsor parts of reportsare made visible by being underlined.All texts are reproducedunaltered,with italics and bold charactersas in the respectiveoriginals.

GAZETTE DE LEYDE

THE SCHREIBEN

De Londres,le 6. Avril[1753]

Londonvom6tenApril1753.

Le 3. de ce mois, on presentaa la Chambre DendrittendiesesMonats,wurdedenHer-

des Seigneurs,en consequencedes ordres qu'il en avoientdonnes,un Bil [sic] pour permettrequeles Personnes,quiprofessent la ReligionJudaique,soient naturalisees

ren des Ober-Hausesdem ihren disfalls ertheiltenBefehl gemiiBeine Bill iiberreichet,des Inhalts:DaBmandenenso sich zurJiidischenReligionbekennendie Frey-

163. Forone reasonor another,copies of the Gazettede Leydefor 1753 arevery rare.I am most gratefulto ProfessorAnne-MarieMercier-Faivreand MadamePascale Ferrand,of the Centred'Itude du XVIIIe Siecle in Lyons(UMR 5611 of the CNRS and Universit6de Lyon2), for kindly having supplied me with a CD-ROMcarryingthe entireyear(made from a copy at the BibliothequeroyaleAlbert Ier in Luxembourg,call-number:III 38645 A). 164. The reportsin the Gazetteare exhaustiveand objective, as is shown by their comparison with the accountgiven in Katz,Jews in the History ofEngland. The matchis so close thatKatz'sbook can serve as a guide to the identificationof the sources on which the Gazettedrew. 165. Noteworthyis the long reportcarriedby the Gazettede Leydeno. 59, datedTuesday,July 24, 1753 (7-8; Suppl.). It gives a very matter-of-fact,fair, account of the history of the Jews' legal

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Gumpertz,Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany(1753) par le Parlement;Et l'on en fit d'abord la 166 premibrelecture.

heit verstattenm6ge, vom Parlamentnaturalisiretzu werden. Und man laB gedachte Bill sogleich zum erstenMahl.'67

De Londres,le 13. Avril

Londonvom 1Iten [sic] April169

Hier, les Seigneurs approuverenten Committ&le Bil, pour toldrerla Naturalisation des Juifs.168

Gestern hat die bey dem Ober-Hauseverordnete Commission die Bill die Naturalisirung der Juden betreffend genehm gehalten.170

De Londres,le 17. Avril

London vom 17tenApril.

Hier, les Seigneurs passbrentle Bil pour naturaliserles Juifs.'71

Gestern bewilligten die Herren des Ober-Parlamentsdie Bill wegen der Naturalisationder Juden.'72

De Londres,le 2 7. Avril L'Acte pendant actuallementau Parlement pour naturaliser les Juifs fait naitre autant de mecontentement parmi le Peuple en general, que celui de la naturalisationdes Protestans Etrangersen a cause ci-devant, quoiqu'on n'ait encore fait aucune demarchepour s'y opposer:173 Suite des nouvelles de Londresdu 4. Mai.

in theEnglishpress.Itsopeningsentencesareas follows:"Suite standingin Britainthathadappeared desJuifs,n6senPays6trangers, desNouvellesdeLondresdu20.Juillet.LaNaturalisation intriguetoude D6put6sauParlement, la Nation.IIne se faitpresquepointd'61ection qu'ilne joursextremement de quoiremplir soit questionde cetteaffaire.LesAuteursdes Papierspublicsy trouventamplement leurterrein." (7). 13Avril1753"(8, unpaginated), 166.Gazettede Leydeno. 30, "Vendredi partentitled"Supde diversendroitsde Leyde." plementauxNouvellesextraordinaires 167. Schreiben,26. 168. Gazettede Leyde, no. 31 "Mardi17 Avril 1753" (4, unpaginated).

169.Gumpertz's slipin writing"11"insteadof "13"resultedfromthefactthatthepassagejust examinerent enCommitt6 abovetheonehewastranslating beganwiththewords"Le11.lesCommunes .";thispassageis notrelatedto theJewBill. 170. Schreiben,26.

171.Gazettede Leyde,no. 33 "Mardi24.Avril,1753"(3, unpaginated). 172. Schreiben,26.

173.Gazettede Leyde,no. 35 "Mardi1. Mai1735"(4, unpaginated).

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Gad Freudenthal Hier ... le Bil concemant la Naturalisation des Juifs a 6t6 lu une seconde fois. & mis en Committ&.174 De Londres le 18. Mai. Les clameurs du Peuple contre la naturalisation des Juifs s'augmentent de plus en plus. 11paroitcependant,que ce Bil passera en Loi; Mais que ce Peuple ne sera naturalise de certainesconditions. La Chambrequ'. des Communesaiant examine ce Bil en Committ6le 15. de ce mois, plusieurs des plus opulens Juifs de cette Ville y assist rent.pourrepr6senterles motifs, qui les avoient engages a solliciter qu'il leur ffit permis d'etre naturaliss, &c.175 De Londres le 22. Mai. On compte, qu'il y aurades debats dans la demiere des ces Chambres[i.e. des Communes] au sujet de la Naturalisationdes Juifs. Entre autres conditions sous lesquelles leur Naturalisationest proposee, ils doivent avoir resid6 ici pendant un certain nombred'ann6es;Et ils seronttenus de produiredes preuvesincontestables,qu'ils possedent en Fonds [p. 4] plus de 10. [?] mille Livres Sterling: Il ne sera permis a aucun d'eux d'acheter des Biens a perp6tuit",ni par eux-memes, ni par des voies indirectes; Mais ils devronttoujours&treassujettis au Payementd'une redevanceannuellepourles Terres,qu'ils aurontacquises pour un tems limit. I1y a aussi d'autresconditions& restrictionsa leur 6gardtrbs-propres,dit-on, a appaiserles clameurs du Peuple contre cet Acte, puisqu'en effet il paroit que cet arrangementn'a pour but, que d'6tendrele Commerce& d'accroitreles richesses de ce Roiaume: Cependant la Magistrature de cette Ville a pr6sent6au Parlementune Requete,qui prouveplus que tout gue ce gu'on 174.Gazettede Leyde,no. 38 "Vendredi 11.Mai1753." 175.Gazettede Leyde,no. 41 "Mardi22. Mai 1753"(8, unpaginated; partentitled"Suppl6mentauxNouvellesextraordinaires de diversendroitsde Leyde").

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Gumpertz,Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany(1753) en a dit, gue la repugnancecontrece Bil est presque g6n6rale:Elle vient d'acqu6rirun nouveau d6gr6de force, par les d6marches d'un riche N6gociant 6tabli en cette Juif, Capitale: Accuse de quelques men6es illicites, il a 6t6 mis sous la garde d'un Messager d'Etat.176 De Londres,le 25 Mai

London vom 25ten May.

Les Communesont passe le Bil, pour naturaliser les Juifs, apresde vifs d6batsqu'il y a eu dans la Chambrea ce sujet. On fit auparavantl'examen de la R6quete du Lord Maire & du Corps de Ville contrece Bil, & d'une autreR6quite d'un grandnombrede N6gocians de cette Ville en faveur du Bil; Et l'on reconnut enfin apres une mure deliberation,qu'une telle Loi ne peut que produire des avantages reels a la Nation, sans pouvoir lui faire aucun prejudice, attendu les conditions & restrictions. auxquelles on a pourvu par cet Acte, &c. Quoique le Bil, dont on vient de faire mention, ait passe au Parlement,on assure, que le Corps de Ville se propose de supplierle Roi parune Rgquete,de ne pas y donnerson consentementRofal; Mais, quandmeme on auroit recours a cet expedient, on ose presumer,qu'il seroit infructueux.'77

Die Cammer der Gemeinden hat nach heftigen Wortwechsel[p. 27] die Bill die Naturalisirungder Judenbetreffendbewilliget. Vorherountersuchteman auf der einen Seite die Beschwerdendes LordMayor und der Biirgerschaftwider diese Bill, und auf derandernSeite die Bittschriftvieler Kaufleute zu Unterstiitzunggedachter Bill. Und manfandendlichnacheinerreifen Ueberlegung, daB ein solches Gesetz der Englischen Nation nicht nur gar keinen Nachtheil verursachenk6nne, sondern ihr noch iiberdem wichtige Vortheilezuwegebringenmiisse.178

De Londres le 8 Juin Avant-hieril se tint en presence du Roi, un Conseil &Kennsington,dans lequel on motiva le Discours, que S.M. feroit au Parlement en congediant cette Assemblee. On assure, qu'Elle prit ce jour-lI en consideration les Representationsde la Ville de Londres contre le Bil de la Naturalisationdes Juiffs179

176.Gazettede Leyde,no.43 "Mardi29. Mai1753"(3-4, unpaginated). 177.Gazettede Leydeno 44 "Vendredi 1. Juin,1753"(3, unpaginated). 178.Schreiben, 26-27. 179.GazettedeLeydeno.47 "Mardi12.Juin1753"(8, unpaginated; partentitled"Supplment auxNouvellesextraordinaires de diversendroitsde Leyde").

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Gad Freudenthal Londonvom 22ten Junius.

De Londres,le 22. Juin

Le Gouvemementa temoign6du mecontentementde ce que deux Ecclesiastics tres-renommesde cette Ville ont entrepris en Chaire de censurersa conduite au sujet de l'incorporationd'un Peupleerrantparmi nous. La Nation en general se recrie contre Die Acte wodurch den Personen so l'Acte, qui autorise la naturalisationdes Juifs: On croit, qu'il s'y fera quelques sich zur Jiidischen Religion bekennen das changemensa la prochaineconvocationdu Recht der Naturalisation verstattet wird, Parlement:Et qu'il y sera inser6 quelques lautetwie folget: autresrestrictions& conditions,que l'on reconnoitra necessaires. Quoi qu'il en soit, voici la teneur de celui dont il s'agit i present. Commedans l'Acte passe la 7meannee du regne de Jaques[sic] I. sous le Titre, Acte qui oblige tous ceux qui veulent se faire naturaliser,a recevoir auparavantle ' Sacrementde la Ste. Cane,& praterle Serment de Fidelit6& de Suprematie;il est dit que toute Personne,adge de dix-huitans & au-dessus,desirantad trenaturaliseepar un Acte du Parlement,doit avoir regu le Sacrement de la Ste. CUne un mois avant de presenter son Bil ou sa Requetepour cet effet; d'oiuil arrive que nombrede Personnes professans la Religion Judaique, considerables d'ailleurspar leurs Facultis & leur etat, se trouverontexcluses du bendfice de naturalisation,faute de pouvoir presenter leur Bil ou Requeteau Parlement. Et, commeen vertude l'Actepasse la 13me.annee dupresentRegnede Sa Majeste, Acte pourlaNaturalisationdes EtranintitulM & autres y mentionnees, Protestans, gers lesquels sont 6tablis ou s'6tablissent[p. 8] dansquelqu'unedes Coloniesde Sa Majeste en Amerique,les Personnesquiprofessentla Religion Judaique, etablies, ou qui iront s'etablir dans une des Colonies de Sa Majeste en Amerique,poury demeurersept ans, sans s 'absenterplusde deuxmoisduranttout le cours des dites sept annees, sont naturalisees apres1'accomplissement de ce terme& de la conditionstipulke,quoiqu'elles n 'aient point regule Sacrementde la Ste. Cane.

Demnachin derActe, welche in dem siebenden Jahr der Regierung Jacob des Ersten genehm gehalten worden und den Titelflihret:Acte wodurchalle diejenigenso naturalisiretzu werden verlangen, verbunden sind zuvor das Sacramentdes heiligen Abendmahls zu empfangen, und den Eyd der Treueund Unterthiinigkeitgegen die in den Gesetzen verordnete Regierungsform zu leisten; ausdriicklich benannt ist, daB eine jede Person [p. 28] von einem Alter von achtzehnJahrenund dariiber,die durch eine ParlamentsActe naturalisiretzu seyn begehret, zu beweisen gehalten seyn soll, einen Monat vor Ueberreichung ihrer zu dem Ende dienendenBittschriftdas Sacrament des heiligen Abendmahlsgenossen zu haben;woher es denn geschiehet, daBviele Personen die sich zur Jiidischen Religion bekennen,und sonst von ansehnlichenVerm6gen und Umstdindensind, sich von der Wohlthat der Naturalisation aus geschlossen befinden, weil wegen oberwehnter Ursache ihre Bittschriftbey dem Parlament nicht angenommenwerdenkann. Und demnach kraft der Acte die in dem dreyzehnten Jahr der gegenwdirtigen Regierung Seiner Majestit bewilliget worden und betitelt ist: Acte wegen Naturalisirungder Fremdenvon der Protestantischen und den iibrigen benanntenReligionen, die in einer derAmericanischenColonien Sein-

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Gumpertz,Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany(1753) er Majestditsich niedergelassenhaben,oder noch niederlassen werden; die Personen welche sich zur JiidischenReligion bekennen, und sich in einer der Americanischen Colonien niedergelassenhaben, oder noch niederlassen wollen, und sieben Jahre daselbst zu bleiben, ohne sich linger als zwey Monate in der gantzen Zeit der sieben Jahrenzu entfernen, nach Erfiillungdieser Zeit und der versprochenenBedingung [p. 29] naturalisiretsind;ob sie gleich nicht das Sacramentdes heiligen Abendmahls empfangen haben. "A ces Causes, il a 6t6 arret6par Sa Als wird aus vorstehenden UrMajest6le Roi, par & avec avis & consente- sachen von Seiner Majestait dem Kinig ment des SeigneursSpirituals& Temporels, auf Vorstellung, und mit Genehmhaltung ainsi que des Communes, assembles dans der in gegenwartigen Parlament versamce present Parlement,& par l'Autorit6des melten Geist- und Weltlichen Herren, wie memes: Que les Personnes, qui professent auch der Gemeinden, und aus der von dela Religion Juda'ique,peuvent, sur leur nenselben erhaltenen Vollmacht und Requete,etre naturaliseespar le Parlement, Gewalt verordnet: Dal3 die Personen sans avoir regu le Sacrement de la Ste. welche sich zur JiidischenReligion bekenCane; nonobstantle sus-dit Acte de la 7me. nen, auf ihr Ansuchen vom Parlament annee du Regne de JaquesI. ou autresLoix, naturalisiret werden kinnen, ohne das Statuts, Faits & choses quelconques a ce Sacramentdes heiligen Abendmahls empcontraires. fangen zu haben; ohngeachtetder erwehnten Acte in dem siebenden Jahre der Regierung Jacob des Ersten, oder anderer Gesetze, Verordnungen, Bescheide und Dinge die dem entgegen stehen migten. "Arret6 en outre, & 6tabli par la Ferner wird aus eben dieser habenmeme Autorit6:Que Personnedal'avenir ne den Gewalt verordnet und festgesetzet; pourra itre naturalist en vertu du present daB3niemand ins kiinftige der gegenwdirtiActe, si dans le Bil ou Requite de Naturali- gen Acte gemdi3 soil naturalisiretwerden sation ne se trouve inserie la Clause, qui k6nnen, woferne in dem schriftlichenAndkclare que le Requerant sera soumis & suchen um die Naturalisationsich nicht die assujetti aux Incapacit6s exprimees dans Clausulbefindet, welche anzeiget,daBSupl'Acte de la Ire. annee du Regne defeuii Sa plicant denen Bedingungen unterworfen Maj. le Roi George I intitule,Acte pour ex- bleiben [p. 30] wolle, in denen entstehenden pliquer l'Acte pass6 la 12me. ann6e du Erf'illung die nataruralisirtePersonen ihr Rbgne du Roi Guillaume III. lequel Acte a erlangtes Recht verlieren, welche Bedinpour objet de limiter ulterieurement la gungen ausgedriicketsind in der Acte des Couronne,& de mieux assurer les Droits & ersten Jahresder Regierung seiner HSchstles Libertis des Sujets;Et d6sormaisaucun seeligen MajestditKinig George des ErBil de Naturalisation ne sera regu dans sten, welche den Titel fiihret: Erklirung l'une ou l'autre des Chambres du Par- iiberdie Acte welche in dem zwdlften Jahre lement, si la sus-dite Clausene s 'y trouve der RegierungKdnig Wilhelm des Dritten formellementins'ree. bewilliget und abgefassetist, um die Rechte

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Gad Freudenthal

De plus arrit6, qu'aucune Personne ne pourra etre naturalisee en vertu de quelque Acte a faire ou passer en consequence de celui-ci, si, avant depresenter un Bil • cettefin, elle n 'a demeuree1'espacede 3. ans, ou au-deld,dans les Etats de Sa Maj. en Angleterreou en Irlande,sans en avoir ete absenteplus de 3. mois durantle cours des dites troisannees; ce qu 'elle sera obligee de prouverpar deux Thmoinsdignes de foi, dans celle des deux Chambresdu Parlement,ouielle aurapresent? son Bil.

"Arrete aussi, qu'aucune Personne de la dite Religion ne pourra etre naturalisee en vertud'un Acte dfaire ou passer en consequencede celui-ci, qu 'ellen 'aitprouve par deux Thmoinsdignes de foi qu 'elle professe la Religion Judaique;& qu 'elle la professe depuis trois ans; & la preuve de ces deux cas se devradonner de la maniere qui se pratique dans les deux Chambresdu Parlementa"1'.gard de ceux qui, pour etre naturalises, y prouvent & certifient leur Participationa"la Ste. Cane.

"Arreteenfin, que depuis & apres le 1. Juin de la presente annee 1753. toute Personne professant la Religion Judaique sera incapable, comme elle l'est en vertu du present Acte, defaire l'Acquisition, directement ou indirectement, en son nom, ou au nom d'autrui, & d'heriter ou de jouir, par voie de Succession, de Legs, de Reserve, de Reversion ou de ROsidu,d'aucun Droit de Patronage,de Prisentation, & de tout autre Droit & Intirits quelconque, soit d l'dgard des Bindfices, Prdbendes, &

der Crone niher zu bestimmen, und die Freyheiten der Unterthanen besser zu versichem. Und kiinftighin soll beyden Cammern des Parlaments keine Naturalisations-Bill angenommen werden, wenn gedachte Clausulnicht ausdriicklichdarinn angefiihretstehet. Hiernechst wird verordnet, daB niemand der gegenwirtigen Acte zufolge soll naturalisiretwerdenk6nnen,woferneer nicht vor Ueberreichung seiner zu dem Ende dienenden Bittschrift eine Zeit von drey Jahren oder dartiberin den Staaten Seiner Majestditin Engelland oder Irrland [sic] gewohnet hat, ohne mehr als drey Monat in der Zeit von gedachten drey Jahrenentferntgewesen zu seyn; welches er durch zwey glaubwiirdigeZeugen vor derjenigen von beyden Cammem wo er seine Bittschrift iibergeben hat, zu beweisen gehalten seyn soll. [p. 31] Nechstdem wird verordnet, daB niemand von erwehnterReligion der Acte gemdBsoil naturalisiret gegenwdirtigen werden k6nnen, es sey denn daB er durch zwey glaubwiirdigeZeugen beweisen, daB er sich zur JildischenReligion bekenne,und daBer bereits drey Jahrlang sich zur selbigen bekennethabe. Und der BeweiBsowohl von dem einen als von dem anderenFall soll auf dieselbe Art geschehen, die bey den Cammem des Parlamentsin Ansehung derjenigen gebriuchlich ist, welche darselbst, um naturalisiretzu werden, den GenuBdes heiligenAbendmahlsmit den geh6rigenBeweisen bescheiningen. Uebrigens wird verordnet, daBeinjeder welcher sich zur Jiidischen Religion bekennet seit und nach dem Iten Junius des jetztlauffenden1753stenJahresunfdihig seyn soll, so wie er durchgegenwirtige Acte dafiirerkliret wird, das Recht des Kirchenpatronats,das Recht Prediger,Kirchen-und Schulbediente vorzuschlagen; und andere Rechte und Einkiinfteso wohl in Ansehung der Canonicate, Prebenden und anderer geistlichen Giiter, als in Absicht auf die Bedienungen bey den Hospitilem und

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Gumpertz,Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany(1753) autres Biens Ecclesiastiques, soit par rapport aux Charges des H6pitaux, Ecoles; & d'aucunes Donations, Concessions, ou Privilkges de cette nature:Ainsi toute Acquisition,Disposition, Donation des choses ci-dessus specifies, faites depuis & apris le 1. Juinde lapresente annee,ad'Iegarddes Personnesprofessant la Religion Judaique, soit pour leur propre usage, ou pour l'utilitWd'autrui, mediatement ou immediatement, de quelque maniere en un mot [read: en un mot de quelque maniere]que ce soit, seront rdputeesnulles & de nul effet dans quelque intention, vu&,& dessein, que le tout ait itj fait, &c.'80

Schulen; oder einige Einkiinfte und Privilegien von dieser Art, es sey mittelbaroder unmittelbar,in seinem eigenen oder fremden Namen kiiuflichan sich zu bringen,zu erben, oder durchErbfolge,Vermachtnisse, [p. 32] Vorbehalt,Vertauschungund Schuldforderung zu geniessen. Dergestalt daB aller und jeder Kauff, Veriusserung und Schenckung von jetztbenannten Stiicken seit und nach dem ersten Junius des jetztlauffendenJahresin Ansehung der Personen so sich zur JiidischenReligion bekennen, es sey zu ihrem eigenen oder fremden Nutzen, mittelbar oder unmittelbar, mit einem Wortauf welche Weise und in welcher Absicht und Endzweck solches immer geschehen mag, fir null und nichtig gehalten werdensoll.'81

De Londres.le 29 Juin. 1paroitici plusieursEcrits tendansa justifier la conduite du Ministere par rapport a la naturalisationdes Juifs; Et l'on commence a se persuader g6n6ralement. que cette Loi n'a r6ellementpour objet, que l'encouragementdes Manufactures,& l'avancement du Commerce de la Nation, &c.182

180.Gazettede Leydeno 51 "Mardi26 Juin1753"(7-8, unpaginated; partentitled"Suppl6mentauxNouvellesextraordinaires de diversendroitsde Leyde"). 181.Schreiben, 27-32. 182.Gazettede Leydeno. 54 "Vendredi 6 Juillet1753"(4). Thisreportpresumably appeared aftertheSchreiben wasalreadycompleted,and,in anyevent,Gumpertz couldnothaveusedit given thathis readerswereuninformed of theoppositionto theBill.

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Gad Freudenthal APPENDIX II Gumpertz'sInscriptionin the AlbumAmicorumof GualtherusVan Doeveren Gumpertz'sliteraryNachlass seems to have been very extensive, certainly in Hebrew,andpresumablyin German,too. No piece of it has so far come to light, and it must be supposedlost. Only few documentsin Gumpertz'shandareknown: in German,his letters to Gottschedand his letter to LeonhardtEuler, and in English his two letters to EmanuelMendes da Costa. I recently discovereda further short text in Gumpertz'sown hand,namely an inscriptionhe made on April 27, 1753, in theAlbumamicorumof Gualtherus(Wouter)van Doeveren(1730-1783), preserved at the Dutch Royal Library in The Hague (call number 78 J 1, fol. 57v).183Van Doeveren studiedmedicine in Leiden from 1747, then for a while in Paris, and received his M.D. on his returnto Leiden in October 1753.184 The inscriptions(mostly in Latin)in the young van Doeveren'sAlbumstraddlethe years 1750 to 1754.185 Forthe most part,van Doeveren'sacquaintanceswere physicians or priests, with the most noted personalityto write an inscriptionbeing (as far as I can tell) the famous physicist Petrusvan Musschenbroek(1692-1761), one of van Doeveren'steachers,given at Leiden on June 26, 1752 (fol. 45r). The greater partof the inscriptionswere writtenat Leiden,but abouttwentyof themwere written duringvan Doeveren'ssojournin Paris, showing that it lasted from late September 1752 to June 1753. One of the Paris inscriptionsis by Gumpertz,who describeshimself as van Doeveren's"truefriendand sincere admirer."The text of the inscription is given in extenso below. It consists of a main text in German, and-added in the margin-a few lines in Latin,French,and Hebrew.

183. According to the catalogue description(forthcoming),van Doeveren'sAlbumamicorum carriesninety-five inscriptions;it measures 113x 185 mm, is in paper,and contains III+ 160 fols., of which 95 are blank. 184. For a detailed biography see Bayle and Theillaye, Biographie medicale (Paris, 1855), 2:545-46. See also Nieuw nederlandschbiografisch Woordenboek,vol. 4 (Leiden, 1918), coll. 51112 andPietervan derZwaag, Woutervan Doeveren,Medicus, 1730-1783 (Assen: VanGorcum,1970). From 1754 to 1771, van Doeveren was professorof medicine at the University of Groningen,thereafter at the Universityof Leiden. 185. This informationis derivedfrom a detaileddescriptionof the Album,preparedby the staff of the Dutch Royal Libraryin The Hague, to be publishedwithin two years. I am gratefulto Dr. Kees Thomassenfor having put it at my disposal priorto publication.

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Gumpertz,Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany(1753)

Albumamicorumof Gualtherusvan Doeveren'86 Den Haag,RoyalLibrary,ms 78 J 1, fol. 57v (Maintext) Der troz dem faulen Stankin halb verwestenLeichen, Die feinsten Fadensucht, wo Sinn und Messer weichen; Einjedes R6schen kenntundjedes Astchen zehlt, Und aus Athen und Rom Benennungenverwiihlt; Der Aerzte Wdrterbuchdurchsolchen Stoff vermehret, Das weder Cicero noch Demosthen erkliret; Auf steilen Felsen klimmt, hier Hals und Bein zerbricht, In finsternBiischen forschtwo jedes Pflinzchen sticht, Bestiirztwenn er den Mann,nicht auch das Weibchenkennet, Nach vielen Jahrenweis wie jedes Buch es nennet, Wie dieses Bliimchenheisst, wie jenes Blitchen griinnt; Machtder sich um die Kunstzu heilen wohl verdient? Den nenn ich Kriiuter-Hengstundjenen Nasen-Weisen, Und ihreThatensinds die meinen Satz beweisen.

186.Reproduced withthekindpermission It is a greatpleasurefor of theDutchRoyalLibrary. me to givemy sincerethanksto Dr.KeesThomassen of theDutchRoyalLibraryforhavingsupplied mewitha scanpictureof therelevantpage,repliedto myqueries,and-last butnotleast-transcribed thetext,writtenin Germancharacters. I amalsoindebtedto Mr.JanVellekoopof theLeidenUniversityLibraryforhavingdirectedmeto thisdocument.

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Gad Freudenthal Hierdurch empfiehltsichdemHerrnBesitzerdiesesBuchsdessenwahrerFreund undaufrichtiger Verehrer A.S. Gumpertz M.D. Parisden27stenApril1753 Added in the margin: Parturiunt montes,nasceturridiculusmus.187 L'artde guerirn'estpasce qu'unvainPedantpense, Ce sontdesChimereset nonpasla science.'88 Symbolum: ~.n jx. 189 1••

The modest poem in praise of medicine, or ratherits practitioners,tells us nothingnew aboutits author,except, perhaps,that it shows Gumpertzto have had some sense of humor.It confirms Gumpertz'sclassical educationand his mastery of German.The fourlines in the marginexpressGumpertz'sgloomy vision of medicine. They also bear out Gumpertz'smasteryof classical and Jewish learning.

APPENDIX III How the SchreibenCame to be Misattributedto Israelb. Moses of Zamosc Twomodernscholars,N. M. GelberandGedaliahElkoshi (writingin the authoritativeEncyclopaediahebraica), affirmed that a small booklet with the title: Schreibeneines Juden, Levi Israel Samosch an einen Philosophen nebstAntwort (Berlin, 1753), resultedfrom a discussion thattook place between Israelb. Moses of Zamosc (1700-1772) and the publisherFriedrichNicolai (1733-1811), Mendelssohn'sand Lessing's friend.190Tourynoted thatthis title is not strictlyidentical with that of the Schreibenas he knew it from the second (1759) printing,and regardedthis attributionwith disbelief.191Inasmuchas neitherGelbernor Elkoshi provide a reference substantiatingtheir assertion, Toury could not check it, and instead adduced a number of reasons that led him to think that this was a misattribution.To his compelling arguments,the following, possibly strongest,can be 187. Horace,Arspoetica, 139. (Gumpertzinadvertentlywrote"nascitur"insteadof"nascetur.") This aphorismhas been reworkedin La Fontaine's"Lamontagnequi accouche."I am indebtedto Jose Chabaisfor his help with this line. 188. Seeing thatthe two lines in Frenchappearbetweentwo quotations,it seemed naturalto inquirewhetherthey are not a citationas well. Here is the unflatteringcommentof Didier Kahn(CNRS, Paris), to whom I am grateful for his advice: "ce ne sont que des vers de mirliton, avec des fautes grossieres de versification, ce qui me paraitexclure qu'il puisse s'agir d'une citation." 189. Prov.8:17. 190. N.M. Gelber, ToldotyehudeiBrodi (Jerusalem,5715 [1955]), 173; G[edaliah]E[lkoshi], in Encyclopaediahebraica, vol. 16 (Jerusalem, 1963), coll. 867-68. 191. Toury,"Eine vergessene Friihschrift,"255-56; 258-60. On IsraelZamosc see the references given above (n. 75).

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Gumpertz, Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany (1753) added.FriedrichNicolai himself wrotea shortnotice on Israelb. Moses of Zamosc, whom he must have met in person, presumablythough Lessing or Mendelssohn. In this notice, he explicitly statesthatthe Hebrewscholar,whom he admired,knew no German:"IsraelZamosc verstandkeine Sprache,als Hebriisch,"he wrote.'92 Nor does Nicolai allude to any "controversy"or discussion between himself and Israel Zamosc. It is thus excluded that Israel Zamosc conducted any kind of exchange with Nicolai or composed the Schreiben. While there can be little doubtthat Israelof Zamosc has nothingto do with the Schreiben,it is not withoutinterestto ask how the misattributioncame into existence. Its origin is traceableto the article "Haskalahin Zamosc" (in Yiddish), publishedby historianJacob Shatzky(1893-1956) in YIVOBleter in 1952. In the course of the overview it offers of the Haskalah in Zamosc, Shatzkynaturallydiscussed Israelof Zamosc, albeit ratherbriefly.Among otherthings, Shatzkywrote: In 1740he left [thetownof Zamosc]forBerlin,wherehe metwiththeyoung Haskalahmovement, wasMendelssohn's teacher,befriended Lessingandthe Nicolai.... WithNicolaihe evenconducteda publiccontroverphilosopher he autodidacts, sy in German,a languagewhich,like manyEast-European learntby himself.Thiscontroversy is theonlythingthismaskilpublishedin German;thelanguagein whichhe wrote[otherwise]wasHebrew.'93 These statementswere accompaniedby the following footnote: Schreibeneines Juden, Levi Israel (Samosch),an einen Philosophen nebstAntwort,Berlin, 1753. There can be no doubt that Gelber relied on Shatzky'sarticle:his main researchinterestwas the culturalhistoryof Jews in Poland,and he was thus certainly acquaintedwith Shatzky'spaper.Note that Shatzkyput the name "Samosch"in parentheses,therebyindicatingthat it was addedby him, but that Gelberdropped them.'94 Elkoshi, in his turn, derivedhis informationfrom Gelber,whose article appearsin his bibliography.(Elkoshi indeed gives the title exactly as Gelber did, and not in Shatzky'sversion.) One riddleis thus solved: we know where Gelberand Elkoshifoundtheirerroneous information.This, however,leaves us with anotherenigma:on whatbasis did Shatzkymake his claim, for which he naturallygave no substantiatingreference? The chain of reasoningand inferencesthat led him to his literaryinvention can be reconstructedas follows. As has just been noted, FriedrichNicolai mentioned Israel b. Moses of Zamosc in one of his annotationsto the Mendelssohn192. FriedrichNicolai, "Anmerkungenzu Moses Mendelssohn'sBriefwechsel mit Gotthold EphraimLessing,"in GottholdEphraimLessing, SdmtlicheSchriften,29 (Berlin and Stettin, 1828), 373; republishedin Moses Mendelssohn,GesammelteSchriften,vol. 5 (Leipzig, 1844), 205. Most curiously, Gelber (n. 190), referredto this precise passage to substantiatethe claim that Israel Zamosc knew Nicolai. 193. "Haskalahin Zamosc,"YIVOBleter 36 (1952): 24-63, on 24; the article was republished in Pinkas Zamosc [Yiddishand Hebrew](Buenos Aires, 5717-1957), 185-220. 194. JacobDov Mandelboim,the authorof an admirablebibliographyof the worksof the Jews of Zamosc, reproducesthe title as given by Shatzky;see his "HakhmeyZamosc,"in Pinqas Zamosc, 221-316, on 271.

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Gad Freudenthal Lessing correspondence.This fact was reportedin numerousstandardbiographical accountsof Israelof Zamoscwrittenby Jewishliteraryhistorians,who pridedthemselves in it.195Thus, the fact that FriedrichNicolai was acquaintedwith Israel of Zamosc was well known,and Shatzkywas certainlyawareof it. Now Shatzkymust have been acquaintedalso with Eichstidt'sBibliographiezur GeschichtederJudenfrage of 1938, the bibliographythatrevealedthe existenceof the Schreibento historians:this is establishedbeyonddoubtby the fact thatin the title of the Schreibenas he gives it, the Jewishwriteris named"LeviIsrael,"a piece of informationShatzky could have obtainednowhereelse. (Shatzkyobviously never saw any copy of the Schreibenitself.) Israelof Zamosc was also known as "Segal"(acronymof segan leviyah, i.e., officer of the Temple Levites), and thus as belonging to the large family of the Levis. Shatzky,who knew thatIsraelof Zamoscwas in Berlinas from 1741, quicklyconcludedthat"Levi Israel"-the name of the Jew of the Schreiben eines Juden as given by Eichstidt-must be none otherthan Israel Segal/Levi of Zamosc.Perhapshe was also misledby Graetz,who referredto Israelas "IsraelLevi Zamosc."196 Fromhere it was easy to identify the philosopherwho respondedto "Levi Israel"as FriedrichNicolai, Israelof Zamosc'sacquaintance,a step Shatzky was quickto make, concludingthatthe Schreibengrew out of a public controversy between Israelb. Moses of Zamoscandthe well-knownFriedrichNicolai. (Shatzky is indeedknownto havebeen a littlehastyat times anda similarconfusionwas made by JohannesDominicus.)197Eitherbecause he wrote from memory,or because he wantedto betterestablishhis case, Shatzkycomplementedthe title thathe found in Eichstidt's bibliographywith the name of the Jewish authoras he identified him, obtainingSchreibeneines Juden,LeviIsrael (Samosch)an einenPhilosophennebst Antwort.Unsurprisingly,he could give no referencesubstantiatingthe existence of a publicationby thatname, still less an indicationof its contents. Occasionally,though, errors are productiveof knowledge. For whateverit be may worth,I note thatI first learnedof the existence of the SchreibenfromGel195. The first to reportthis fact correctlyseems to have been S. Stanislavsky,"IsraelZamosc: A BiographicalEssay" [Russian], Voschod6 (1886): 131-37, on 134, followed by Israel Zinberg:A History ofJewish Literature,vol. 6: The German-PolishCulturalCenter,trans.and ed. BernardMartin (Cincinnati:HebrewUnion College and New York:Ktav, 1975), 244, n. 17. Shatzky,who in 1949, edited a collection of Zinberg'sarticles,was certainlyfamiliarwith this standardwork,which first appearedin Yiddish in 1929-37. It should be mentionedthatearlierJewish historiographershad wrongly believed that it was Lessing who highly appreciatedIsrael Zamosc, no doubt because Nicolai's remarkwas first publishedin Lessing'sSdimtlicheSchriften.See: IsraelBaer Lewinsohn,Zerubbabvel [1st ed. 1863] (Warsaw,1901), 68: "Thewise Lessing (in his letters)mentionshim [Israelb. Moses of Zamosc] with much respect and praise and says of him that he was learnedand accomplishedin the mathematicalsciences";SamuelJosephFuenn,KnessethYisrael(Warsaw,1886), 690-92, on 690: "his name became known even among the greatest Christianscholars in Berlin, and the greatest of their scholars,Lessing, says of him in one of his lettersthat he was learnedand accomplishedin the mathematical sciences" (Fuenn indicated Zerubbavelas his source); the popular Simon Moses Chanes, Toldotha-posqim(Warsaw,1911), 453 copies this passage. 196. Heinrich Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, vol. 11: VomBeginn der Mendelssohn "schenZeit

(1750) bis in die neueste Zeit (1848) (Leipzig: OskarLeiner, 1870), 6. 197. See EJ, vol. 14, col. 1318. Dominicus,Lessings Stellung,20-21. I was unableto find any biographicalinformationon this author.

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Gumpertz,Lessing, and Civil Rights of Jews in Germany(1753) the life andworkof Israelb. ber'sandElkoshi'spublicationswhileresearching thathe couldnot Mosesof Zamosc.LikeJacobToury,I wasintuitivelypersuaded havebeenthe author.Followingthetrail,I endedup identifyingthetrueauthoras one of Zamosc'sformerstudents:AaronSalomonGumpertz,the first"German Jew."

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Review: Tosaphists and Taboo: A Review of Haym Soloveitchik's "Yeinam" Author(s): Elliott Horowitz Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 355-360 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131737 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:19 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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AJS Review 29:2 (2005), 355-360

REVIEW ESSAY TOSAPHISTSAND TABOO:

A REVIEW OF HAYM SOLOVEITCHIK'S"YEINAM"

by Elliott Horowitz Haym Soloveitchik. "Yeinam": sahar be-yeinamshel goyim 'al gilgulah shel halakhah be-olam ha-ma'aseh.(Principles and Pressure: Jewish Tradein Gentile Winein the MiddleAges.) Tel Aviv:Am Oved, 2003. 184 pp. Among the strangerassertions made by WernerSombartin TheJews and Modern Capitalismwas that "it can be provedwith great certaintythat the Jew's freedom from the evil effects of alcohol (as also from syphilis) is due to his religion."'Yet,the Jewishreligion, unlike Islam,neverprohibitedalcohol per se,2 and even when "kosher"wine-untouched by gentiles-was in short supply,beer or more potentbeveragescould be foundby those so inclined. More to the point is S. D. Goitein'strenchantremarkin the final (and posthumouslypublished)volume of his A MediterraneanSociety that"theproverbialsobrietyof East Europeanimmigrantsto the United States should not be taken as inherentto the genes of the race."3AlthoughMaimonidesin his Guidememorablydescribed"gatheringswith a view to drinkingintoxicants"as "moreshamefulthan gatheringsof nakedpeople ... who excretein daylightsittingtogether,"he was clearlyspeakingtheremore as philosopherthanhalakhist.4In the medieval"Genizasociety"in which he lived, as we learn from Goitein, all "importantmatters,such as sending a son overseas or promisinga bequest, would be arrangedat a drinkingbout."5 Unfortunately,we have no Geniza for the Jews of medieval Europe, but throughhis stethoscope-likesensitivityto the nuancesof halakhicdiscourse,Haym Soloveitchikbrings alive for us, in his recentmonograph(rootedin his 1967 master's thesis at the Hebrew University),the complex realities of a Jewish world in which the production,consumption,and especiallytradeof wine were centralfea1. WernerSombart,TheJews and Modern Capitalism,trans.M. Epstein (TransactionBooks: New Brunswick, 1982 [Germanoriginal, 1911]). 2. See, for example,A. Z. Itzkovitz,Shetiyahve-shikhrutba-halakhah(MazkeretBatya, 1982). 3. S. D. Goitein, A MediterraneanSociety: TheJewish Communitiesof theArab Worldas Portrayedin the Documentsof the Cairo Geniza, vol. 5, TheIndividual(Berkeley: Universityof California Press, 1988), 38. 4. Maimonides,Guideof the Perplexed,III, 8. 5. Goitein,A MediterraneanSociety, 38-39.

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Elliott Horowitz tures. In his carefultreatmentof the reciprocalrelationsbetweenhalakhahand socioeconomic realties, Soloveitchikfollows in the pioneeringfootsteps of his late teacher,JacobKatz, to whom this book, like its predecessor,is dedicated.6He has also made excellentuse of recentstudiesby such contemporaryGermanscholarsas Alfred Haverkamp,AnnegretHoltmann,FranzIrsigler,GerdMentgen,and FranzJosef Ziwes, not to mentionRoger Dion's classic Histoire de la vigne et du vin en France des origines au XIXesiecle (1959). Thus, like the Jewish wine tradein the high MiddleAges, Soloveitchik'sbook reflects the combinedefforts-sometimes cooperativelyand sometimesindependently-of Jews and gentiles.And, like some of the best wines of all ages, it is complex and bold, with subtletracesof acidity.7 Its complexity stems from the fact that it combines economic and agriculturalhistory with the history of halakhah,and even throwsin, for good measure, some homespunanthropologicaltheorizing.And the historyof medievalhalakhah, as Soloveitchikhas alreadydemonstratedin previous studies, can be meaningfully pursuedonly by meticulouslycomparingboth printededitions andmanuscripts, andby seeking whathe has called "thecrucialangle of deflectionthatis necessary for any demonstrationthatextraneousfactorswere impingingon the course of immanentdevelopments."8At first, in the eleventh century,the rabbisof the Rhineland, which was famous for its wines, reluctantlypermitted the acceptance of gentile wine as paymentin kind,but prohibitedentrepreneurialtradein what was for them (accordingto Soloveitchik)not only a rituallyprohibitedbut abhorrent commodity.Abstentionfrom such lucrativetradeby Jews who lived in proximity not only to the best vineyardsbut to the largestriver in the region was no simple matter.(Imaginemodern Swiss Jews abstainingfrom working in the banking industryon accountof the biblicalprohibitionof takingintereston loans!) Medieval Europeanrabbis, some of whom figure prominentlyin the book under review, found ways, as Soloveitchikmasterfullydemonstratedin an earlierstudy,of overcoming halakhic obstacles that stood in the way of Jews engaging in loan-banking.9 When it came to trade in gentile wine, however, he now shows us that Franco-Germanscholarsof the eleventh and twelfth centuriesalmost willfully ignored intellectual solutions that virtuallybeckoned, and that were later "discovered"by rabbisof no greaterintellectualdistinction.Throughwhat he calls "the law of unintendedconsequences,"Soloveitchikargues,the earlierreluctanceof halakhists to permit trade in gentile wine caused their coreligionists to became in6. Haym Soloveitchik,She'elot u-teshuvotke-makorhistori (Jerusalem:MerkazZalmanShazar, 1990). 7. Note, for example, the absence fromthe bibliographyof AbrahamGrossman'sHakhmeizarfat ha-ri'shonim(Jerusalem:Magnes Press, 1995) althoughthat work contains an enormouschapter, of more than a hundredpages, devotedto Rashi and his writings. It is only fair to note, however,that Grossman'sdiscussion of Rashi'sposition regarding"wine of the gentiles" (155-56) omits any reference to Soloveitchik'sseminal article on the subject (see next note). 8. Haym Soloveitchik,"CanHalakhicTextsTalkHistory?"AJS Review3 (1978): 176. 9. Idem,Halakhah,kalkalah,ve-dimui'azmi(Jerusalem:Magnes Press, 1985). Foran English summaryof the book underreview see now idem, "Halakhah,Taboo, and the Origin of Moneylending in Germany,"in TheJews of Europein the MiddleAges (Tenthto FifteenthCenturies),ed. C. Cluse (Turnhout:Brepols, 2004), 295-303.

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Review Essay volved in this lucrativebusiness throughthe "backdoor"-by lending money, as savvy investmentbankers,to those involvedin the wine trade,andeffectively sharing their considerableprofits (68-90). The boldnessof the book lies not only in its broadtheses on the interrelations betweenhalakhahandeconomic history,but in its attemptto reveal-and take ample cognizance of-the distinct personalitiesof its dramatispersonae,especially those who were membersof the northernFrenchdynastyoriginatingwith Rashi, the Jewish commentatorpar excellence. These include Rashi's "tempestuous" grandson,RabbenuTam of Ramerupt-a dazzling dialecticianwith a crippling writing block-and the latter'snephew (and Boswell), R. Isaac of Dampierre, whose unassumingintroversionSoloveitchik,who knows a thing or two about dynasties, compares to that of Ri's great-grandfather(24-25). In an earlier study Soloveitchik described Rashi as resembling "more than any other figure of the [Jewish] MiddleAges ... Keats'poet, in thathe seems 'to have no self, to have no identity,but to be constantlyinformingand filling anotherbody.'" RabbenuTam, throughwhom flowed,accordingto Soloveitchik,"theimperioussense of bringing a freshlywrestedvision of truthto the world,"was also colorfullydescribedthere as havinga "leoninepersonality."' Some readersof the presentstudymay also feel thatthroughits authorflows "theimperioussense of bringinga freshlywrestedvision of truthto the world."This often makesfor stimulatingreading,but it may also be responsiblefor some unfortunateomissions, which will hopefullybe rectified in the largerstudyto which this book is a prolegomenon(13, 63, 67). Soloveitchikargues,as he did alreadyin 1978,11thatthose rabbiswho avoided finding halakhicsolutions for Jewish tradein gentile wine were influencedby such psychological factors as disgust and revulsion (32, 43, 61, 65, 80, 95, 98100, 102, 113-15, 118-19), especially, he now asserts, duringthe decades after 1096 when, following Gavin Langmuir,he sees Europeananti-Judaismas having become less "rational"and more "pathological"(115-18).12 He does not explain, however,why these same mental barriersdid not preventleading medieval European rabbis(includingR. Eliezerb. Nathan,who took a highly conservativestand on the question of tradingin wine) from permittingnot only the acceptance as pawns, but actual trade in, a range of ritualobjects closely related to the "idolatrous"Christianreligion-chalices, ecclesiasticalgarments,and candles for lighting in church.'13Wouldthese objects not have arousedno less disgust than wine produced(or touched) by gentiles? Moreover,in his new book he goes a step furtherto assert that the Jews (or at least rabbis)of medieval Germanyand northernFranceregardedwine touched by gentiles as virtually "taboo"(see 16, 59, 61, 63, 74-75, and especially 11310. Idem, "CanHalakhicTextsTalkHistory?"171, 179. 11. Ibid., 188. 12. See Gavin Langmuir,Towardsa Definition ofAntisemitism(Berkeley: Universityof California Press, 1990), 13-15, 305-306. 13. See, for example, TeshuvotRabbenuGershomMe'orha-Golah, ed. Shlomo Eidelberg(New York, 1955), 75-77; Eliezer b. Nathan,Sefer Raban (Warsaw,1904), 131 (no. 229); Sefer ha-'eshkol, ed. H. Albeck (Jerusalem,1938), 134;E. E. Urbach,Bahaleiha-tosafot(4th enlargededition;Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 1980), 177, 235.

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Elliott Horowitz 15)-a Polynesianword (sometimes spelled "tabu")introducedinto Westernparlance by CaptainJames Cook late in the eighteenthcentury,which subsequently became quite popular in anthropologicaland psychoanalyticwriting of the late nineteenthand earlytwentiethcenturies.14WhenWilliamRobertsonSmith,in his Lectureson the Religion of the Semites (first publishedin 1889), made use of the word"taboo,"he immediatelycited the entryon the subjectby his Cambridgecolleague JamesFrazerin the ninthedition of the EncyclopediaBritannica.And Sigmund Freud,in Totemand Taboo(first publishedin 1913), priorto setting out his own powerfultheory linking taboo with emotional ambivalence,summarizedthe recent discussions of N. W.Thomas(in the eleventhedition of the Britannica)and the GermanscholarWilhelmWundt,who regardedthe essence of taboo as the fear of demons. Soloveitchik,however,who mentions none of these worthypredecessors, offers his own "scientific"definition:"Separationfrom or aversionto something beyondthe degree requiredby a society's own rationalpostulates,"thatis, by those postulatesa particularsociety accepts as rational(16). By this definition using a timer to listen to the radio or watch television on the Sabbath(as opposedto merelyturningon the lights) wouldbe consideredtaboo among modem OrthodoxJews, because the logic of using the timerto circumvent the prohibitionshould apply (at least in the Diaspora)to radio and television as well. Yet,the earlytwentieth-centuryscholarshave stressed"theimmanenceof the sanction"normallyattributedto the taboo. As MargaretMead put it: "If the term is to be employedeffectively in comparativediscussions,"it must be restrictedto situationsof where the prohibitionimplies "such inherentdangerthatthe very act of participationwill recoil upon the violator."The recoil, in Mead'sview, can also be psychological, so that the term would also apply to "those aspects of behavior which are rooted in the individualpersonalityto such a degree thatthey are so automatic and emotionallychargedthatthe personalitysuffers inevitablyfrom their infringement."'15

Applying this to the Middle Ages we might say that a Jew who discovered thata piece of meat he ate was actuallypork(or even rabbit)ratherthanbeef might indeedhaverecoiled in horror,just as-to move closer in the Freudiandirectionhe would upon discoveringthat the somnolent woman with whom he had sexual relationson returninghome late one night aftera long tripwas his sisterratherthan his wife. But would this have also been the reactionof a medieval FrenchJew on discoveringthat the excellent Burgundyhe had just sipped had been taken from the wrongbarrel,or had been pouredby his new Christianservant?I thinknot, and I suspectthat Soloveitchikwould agree. If so, why the greatreluctanceon the part of halakhiststo permittradein gentile wine side by side with tradein chalices and ecclesiastical garments? 14. See R. R. Marett,"Tabu,"in the Encyclopaediaof Religion and Ethics v. 12 (1921), 18182. On Soloveitchik'sproblematicuse of the term "taboo,"see also YisraelYuval'sreview in Haaretz, 15 September,2004. 15. Marett,"Tabu,"183; MargaretMead,"Tabu,"in Encyclopaediaof the Social Sciences v.14 (1934), 501-5. On the connectionbetween taboo and the "likelihoodof some minor or majormisfortune"befalling the transgressorsee also A. R. Radcliffe-Brown,"Taboo,"in Structureand Function in Primitive Society (Glencoe, IL: The Free Press, 1952), 134-35.

358

Review Essay Perhaps Freud can be helpful. In his view taboos are "prohibitionsof primevalantiquity,which were at some time externallyimposedupon a generation of primitive men," and which "concernedactivities towards which there was a stronginclination."The persistenceof a taboo, he argued,indicatesthat "theoriginal desireto do the prohibitedthingmust also persistamongthe tribesconcerned. They must thereforehave an ambivalentattitudetowardstheirtaboos."At the unconscious level "thereis nothingthey would like to do more thanviolate them, but they are afraidto do so; they are afraidprecisely because they would like to, and the fear is strongerthanthe desire."16The triumphof fear over desire, and the ambivalencewhich often yokes them uncomfortablytogetherprovide,I would argue, a useful perspective from which to observe developments in the history of halakhah-both in the MiddleAges and more recent centuries. JacobKatz, in his classic Exclusivenessand Tolerance,arguedthatthe relative leniency of RabbenuTam regardingthe permissibility of trading in gentile wine in contrastto his instinctivelystricterpositionagainstdrinkingit derivedfrom the fear,buttressedby Talmudicsources,thatdrinkingwine with Christianswould lead to closer social and sexual ties than were desirable.17 Although Soloveitchik now takes issue with his late teacheron this matter,arguingthatRabbenuTamand his nephew R. Isaac were simply concernedwith the dangerthat a time-honored stricturewould collapse (108-12), the question is not so much what these rabbis had reasonto fear,as whatthe logic of taboo (as understoodby Freud)would cause them to fear-namely, what they and their coreligionists most desired. Soloveitchik has aptlyquotedKeatson the elusive poet behindthe poem, butthere is room also to quote Shelley,who in Epipsychidion(1821) describedhis heartas "wrecked in that convulsion / Alternatingattractionand repulsion."'8 Medieval EuropeanJews, like their Christianneighbors, consumed, as we learn from Soloveitchik, large-and sometimes enormous-quantities of wine (37-39), which like coffee in moderntimes was not merely a popularbeverage, but a conduitof sociability.Wine symbolized,then, the narrowline that ultimately separatedJews from Christians,even if and when ties of friendshipdeveloped between them-a line, paraphrasingFreud,thattherewas nothingthey would like to do more than cross, but which they were afraidto cross, and they were afraid "preciselybecause they would like to."Chalices and ecclesiastical garments,precisely because they were so closely associated with an abhorrentlyalien religion, did not give rise to the same level of ambivalence,andthereforedid not need to be 16. SigmundFreud,Totemand Taboo:Some Points ofAgreementbetweenthe Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics,trans.James Strachey(London, 1950), 31. 17. Jacob Katz, Exclusivenessand Tolerance:Jewish-GentileRelations in Medieval and Modern Times(Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress, 1961), 46-47. Foran incisive analysisof the book in both its English and Hebrew (1960) versions see David Berger,"JacobKatz on Jews and Christiansin the Middle Ages," in The Pride of Jacob ed. J. M. Harris (Cambridge,MA: HarvardUniversity Press, 2002), 41-63. RegardingKatz'sdiscussion of RabbenuTam'sposition on gentile wine, see esp. 5960. 18. The CompletePoetical Worksof Percy Bysshe Shelley ed. T. Hutchinson(London, 1947), 419. See also RichardHolmes, Footsteps:Adventuresofa RomanticBiographer(London:Hodderand Stoughton, 1985), 161.

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Elliott Horowitz distancedby means of a taboo on trade.But the simple sociabilityof sharinga bottle of wine with a Christianneighbor-and perhapsalso his wife-was in some ways more seductive(despite,I would argue,the rise of pathologicalanti-Judaism), and therefore,following Freud,more frightening.By denyingthemselves, at great expense, morethana marginalrole in the lucrativewine trade,19the Jews of France and Germany-and especially their rabbis-allowed, Freudmight say, their deep fear of intimacywith the Christianworld to triumphover the dangerousdesire to achieve such intimacy. I mention this only as an alternativethesis to the one Soloveitchikhas advanced so eloquentlyin his scintillatingbook. Perhapsin his forthcomingstudyhe will reconsideror amplify some of the argumentshe has made in this brieferone. We have reasonto look forwardto a work thatwill be not only bold and complex, but also full-bodied.Whetherit will be certifiablykosher,however,is less certain. Elliott Horowitz Bar-IlanUniversity Ramat-Gan,Israel

19. To the many sources Soloveitchikcites on the profitabilityof the wine trademay be added the commentsof the FranciscanfriarSalimbenede Adamin the mid-thirteenthcentury.Passingthrough Auxerre, in the northernreaches of Burgundy,Salimbene,who was a native of Parma,was surprised to find that"themen of this land do not sow or reap,nor do they store anythingin barns,but they send wine to Paris,because they have a riverright at hand ... and they sell it for a good price, which pays entirely for their food and clothing."These comments, from Salibene's Cronica, are quoted in both George Duby,RuralEconomy and CountryLife in the Medieval West,trans. C. Postan (London:EdwardArnold, 1968), 140, and L. K. Little, Religious Povertyand the Profit Economyin Medieval Europe (Ithaca,NY: CornellUniversityPress, 1978), two books that Soloveitchikmight have addedto his bibliography,which also contains,as is inevitablythe case, some typographicalerrors.The English title of Ariel Toaff'sLove, Work,and Death: Jewish Life in Medieval Umbriais garbled,and on the same page (171) the title of the GermanjournalAschkenasis misspelled."Jews'College"is the correctpunctuationof the Londoninstitutionreferredto on pp. 103, 173. Finally,the Oxfordcollege referredto on p. 14 is ChristChurchratherthan ChristCollege, as fans of BridesheadRevisitedmight recall.

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Review: [untitled] Author(s): Benjamin G. Wright III Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 361-362 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131738 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:19 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

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AJS Review 29:2 (2005), 361-413

BOOK REVIEWS J. EdwardWright.BaruchBen Neriah: FromBiblical Scribe to ApocalypticSeer. Studieson Personalitiesof the Old Testament.Columbia:Universityof SouthCarolina Press, 2003. xii, 186 pp. The purpose of Wright'sstudy is to trace "the evolution of the depictions of Baruch ben Neriah ... from the biblical materials through the early Jewish and Christiantexts and traditionsthat either mention Baruch or were allegedly written by him" (xi). The book succeeds admirably.In three main chapters, Wright collects and analyzes most of the material about Baruch from the first mention of him in Jeremiahas the prophet'sscribal assistant to works as late as 3 Baruch that picture him as a recipient of apocalyptic visions. A fourth chapter contains traditionsabout Baruch in Jewish, Christian,and Muslim sources into the Middle Ages. Wrightarguesthat differentcommunitiesintentionallymolded the persona of Baruchto fit their images of an ideal leader.His chaptertitles set out a gradual transformationof the figure of Baruchfrom"TheScribe"(Chap. 1) to "TheSage" (Chap. 2) to "TheApocalyptic Seer"(Chap.3). So, for example, one of the earliest interpretationsof (at least one form of) the book of Jeremiah,the Greektranslation in the Septuagint,makesBaruchthe propheticsuccessorof Jeremiah,an idea that is at best implicit in the Masoretictext. This elevationof Baruchfrom scribal assistant to prophetic successor "providesat least part of the reason for the increasingprominenceof Baruchin laterJewish and Christiantexts"(37). Wrightsuccessfully shows thatthe developmentsin the characterof Baruch are essentially groundedin the biblical accounts,but as the idea of what makes a scribe or prophetchanges, Baruch gets constructedalong those lines. Thus, the Book of Baruch, written somewhere in the late second century BCE to the first centuryCE, expandsthe protagonist'srole as a scribespecializingin writingto that of a scribe who is also a sage or wisdom teacher,a position most notablyembodied in the Jerusalemitescribe and wisdom teacher, Jesus ben Sira. As a sage, Baruchgives wisdom teaching,and the book thatbearshis name includes a poem praisingWisdom (3:9-4:4) in which access to God'swisdom comes only through obedience to the Mosaic Torah.Along similar lines, Baruch'srole as Jeremiah's propheticsuccessor leads to the composition of works like 2 Baruch in which he receives revelations from God providing him access to matters otherwise unknowableto ordinaryhuman beings. In each of these cases, Wright argues that these developments in the persona of Baruch reflect community interests and needs. So, Baruchthe sage reflects the growing importanceof the scribe-sage as a community leader in Second Temple Jewish society, and Baruch the seer provides the explanationsand comfort for the suffering of the Jewish people in the wake of the destructionof the Templeby the Romans. While Wright'sstudy reveals the contoursof the pictureof Baruchas it develops overtime, the way he structuresthe book highlightsthe complicatednature 361

Book Reviews of identifying specific social positions or roles such as sage or seer or scribe in Second TempleJewish society. In many cases these roles overlap,and it is difficult to separatethem as distinct positions as Wright does in his book. Indeed, Wright frequentlyhas to refer in one place to a role he has discussed somewhere else. For example, he notes in Chapter3 that the Book of BaruchportraysBaruch as following in the footsteps of Moses, Jeremiah,Ezekiel, and Ezrawhen he gathers the people to hearthe "wordof the Lord."In this way he speakswith a prophetic voice, and thus, the sage also acts as prophet(which he discusses in Chap.2), a role that Ben Sira also adopts (see Sirach 24). In the same chapter,Wright discusses the Paraleipomenaof Jeremiah in which Baruch receives angelic revelations about the fate of Jerusalem(the subject of Chap. 4). In Chapter4, Wright analyzes2 Baruch,which often portraysBaruchas an inspiredinterpreterofTorah, a function more characteristicof the scribe-sage than of the recipient of apocalyptic visions. Wrightis certainlyawareof these complications,and I suspect that because the book is intended for a general ratherthan for a scholarly audience Wrightmade each chapterfocus on a single ideal type. One final issue furtherunderscoresthe complex relationshipsbetween the variousroles thatBaruchplays in the traditionsabouthim. Wrightnotes at the very beginning of the book that Baruch may very well have come from a family of priests. In a number of places Wright comments on the intercessory role that Baruchplays. In one remarkablepassage in 2 Baruch,Baruchleaves the people to go to the ruinedTemplein Jerusalemto get furtherinformationfromGod. He says to them, "God forbidthat I should forsakeyou or leave you. I am going alone to the Holy of Holies so thatI may ask from the Holy One on your and Zion's behalf if I may be enlightened some more, and afterwardI will returnto you" (82). By going to the Holy of Holies alone-essentially to act as an intermediarybetween God and the people-Baruch takes on a high priestly role. Yet, Wright does not concentrateanywhereon Baruch'spriestlyor intercessoryrole, althoughhe mentions it often. Overall,however,Wrightpulls togetherand synthesizes a large quantityof material.He is to be commendedfor bringingsuch widely diversetraditionsinto a study that is readily accessible to the general reader.Scholars often work in a world where they are almost completely concerned with communicatingthe results of theirinvestigationsto otherscholars.More andmore, though,scholarsare looking to find avenues for bringing their work to the continuallygrowing nonspecialist audience that is interestedin ancient Judaismand Christianity.One of the strengthsof this book is thatspecialists and interestednonspecialistsalike will find it engaging and informative. BenjaminG. WrightIII Lehigh University Bethlehem,Pennsylvania

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Review: [untitled] Author(s): Steven Bowman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 363-364 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131739 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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Book Reviews Louis H. Feldman. "RememberAmalek!" Vengeance,Zealotry,and GroupDestructionin the BibleAccordingto Philo, Pseudo-Philo, and Josephus.Cincinnati, OH: HebrewUnion College Press, 2004. x, 272 pp. Genocide, a neologism coined duringWorldWarII and now enshrinedin internationallaw, reflects an ancestralphenomenonas old as humanhistory,if not older. It is a secularizedversion of what our predecessorsunderstoodby holy war, just war,andjihad as divine sanctionsof murderand mayhem.The twentiethcentury anachronisticallyhas applied the term to the Armenianmassacres of World WarI, and the United Nations today struggles how not to apply its definition to similaractions such as the tragic events in Rwanda,Bosnia, and Sudan,let alone threatsof mass terroristmurderby a bevy of religious killers. While our contemporarymarketis nearly saturatedwith books on the rebirthofjihad in its current terroristmanifestation,and a numberof studies have examined the biblical antecedents of genocide, Louis Feldmanoffers a unique perspectiveon several ancient rereadingsof a reveredtext that can be read as potentiallygenocidal. Feldmanexaminesthreefirst-centuryJewishtexts-Philo's oeuvre,PseudoPhilo'sLiberAntiquitorum Biblicarum(LAB), andthe worksof JosephusFlaviusnone of which paradoxicallyinfluencedJews directlyfor the next fifteen centuries on the questionof the commandmentto destroyAmalek and othersimilarbiblical texts thatdescribeor advocatemass murder.But "RememberAmalek!"is only the surface commandmentin this discussion. Feldmanidentifies a numberof other cases of mass murderin the biblical corpus beginning with the story of Noah, a moralizedversion of the Flood story thatpermeatedthe ancientNear East. Sodom and Gomorrah,too, representedan ethical interpretationof the total destructionof the inhabitantsof these two cities. More selected mass murdersincludedthe slaying of the first-bornEgyptians-including the animals, which raises interesting theologicalandphilosophicalquestions.Philo offers a sophistic anddismissiveresponse to the questionwhy animals lacking free will were also killed. Otherincidents, such as the commandmentto exterminatethe seven invading(archaeology) or resident(biblical)peoples of Canaan,the slayingof the Hivites of Shekhem,the annihilationof the subjectsof Sihon andOg, andthe ruthlesssack of Jericho.Within the Israelitefamily thereis the problemof the priestsof Nob whom David slew. (No discussion of the near exterminationof the tribe of Benjaminis found however.)All of these questionshad to be dealtwith by analysisor by omission among the three authors.The last majorethical question is the story of Pinhas (Feldman follows the Latin LAB and calls him Phinehas),whom God praises for his zealousness, clearly an embarrassmentto Josephus,who witnessed the destructionof Jerusalemas a result of zealous insurgentswho cited Pinhas as their icon. These three corporaare usually designatedas "rewrittenBible" and hence constitutea preciousinsightinto the ways thatfirst-centuryJews in the face of Roman power,whetherwary of it as in the case of Philo or in fear of it as in the case of LAB and Josephus,adjustedtheirinheritedsacredtexts-still pre-Tanakh-to the realitiesof the RomanImperium.Hencethey dancedaroundthe evolving equation of Esau/Edomwith Rome, althoughmore could have been said by the author

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Book Reviews on this enigmaticpoint. The importanceof these threetexts to contemporaryJewish scholarshipobscurestheirrecentimport.Until the nineteenthcentury,few Jews were awareof them, let alone studied and commentedon them. Except for Sefer Yosippon,in which appearthe names of Philo (called Yedidyah) and Josephus (knownas Josephben Gurionha-Cohen),theirmemorywouldhave been lost completely from the Hebrew record. Hence Feldman'scareful and comprehensive analysisof these threetexts is an importantcontributionto our ongoing interestin these individualsand their corpus of interpretations. Philo the philosopherwas primarilyinterestedin applying the middle platonic methodology of allegory to rewriteancient texts to the contemporarytaste. Just as his sophistand philosophicalcolleagues were carefulto sublimatethe violence of theirsacredtexts (e.g., Homer'stwo epics), so, too, Philo rewrotethe biblical stories occasionally ignoring the more problematicexamples. Josephusalso had to make an apologetic representationof the Bible as well as the recenthistory of the Jews in light of his privileged status as an honoredguest in the emperor's villa. His continuedrewritingof his wartimecareerindicateshow deep was the antagonism to his position among Jews subject to the Roman Imperium.His interpretationof the question of genocide in the texts bears the interestingand serious comparisonthatFeldmanprovides.Pseudo-Philo,an enigmaticfigure extantonly in a (perhapsfourth-century)Latin translationof the Greek, which appearsto be based on a first-centuryHebreworiginal,is a pious God-fearingJew who has few difficulties with such texts thatappearto him to be justifiable punishmentsby God who was prone to burnoff the gloss of iniquityfrom his creation. Feldman'sdetailed analysis and description of their attitudestowardsthe texts of destructionin the Scripturesadumbrateslater discussions by the rabbis about similar instances elsewhere in Scripture(none of the three, for example, touch on the problem at the end of the Book of Estherdespite its relationshipto Amalek).And following the rabbinicaldiscussions arethe modernseculardiscussions by scholarsand othersaboutthe natureof genocide traditionsandthe role of sacred scripturesin theirjustification and development.Unfortunately,genocide has been one of the centralconsequencesof modernnationalismoccasionallyjustified by resort to scripturaljustification in the mix of authoritiesthat constitute the transitionfrom a religious society to a secularone. The transitionof Jewish society in the first century from an independentpower to a subduedminoritymay shed some light on such transitionalshifts and allow for some useful observations and perhapsremedies to the chronic chaos contemporaneouslydesignatedunder the rubricof genocide. Steven Bowman Universityof Cincinnati Cincinnati,Ohio

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Review: [untitled] Author(s): Steven Bowman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 365-367 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131740 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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Book Reviews David Noy and Hanswulf Bloedhorn. InscriptionesJudaicae Orientis. III Syria and Cyprus.Textsand Studies in Ancient Judaism102. Tiibingen:Mohr Siebeck, 2004. 284 pp. David Noy has laboredin the past decade to updateJ. B. Frey'sCorpus inscriptionumiudaicarum(vol. 1 [Rome 1936; revised by B. Lifshitz, New York, 1975]; vol. 2 [Rome, 1952]). He has alreadyproducedtwo volumes on the North Mediterranean(the Balkans and southernItaly, 1993, and Rome, 1995) and another for Greco-RomanEgypt (with William Horbury,1992). Noy offers in this volume (No. III of the IJO) the JewishInscriptionsof Syria andCyprus,completinga projectinitiatedby HanswulfBloedhornfor the Karte B VI18 of the TiibingenAtlasdes VordererOrients.Earliervolumes oflJO include (1) EasternEurope and (2) North of Syria, that is, Kleinasien, edited by Walter Ameling. These studies are a welcome tool to scholars and students.When completed, Noy's corpus will be a basic referencetext for researchinto Jewish settlement and communalstructureas well as epigraphy.In the meantimethe Bulletin ofJudeo-GreekStudies providesbiannualupdates on bibliographyand occasionally publishesnew inscriptions. As with earliervolumes, this one has a cutoff date of 700 CE. (Hence his 1993 volume excludes the Hebrew epitaphs of SouthernItaly, and scholars will have to searchout the seminal studies of CesareColafemminafor these.) The geographicalrange includes the Romanprovince of Syria and Mesopotamia(as far east as Dura-Europus)in the second andthirdcenturies,excludingthose sites within the bordersof ModernIsrael, althoughone may find EretzYisrael inscriptions in the corpus (e.g., Syr 5, p. 6, and the relevantepigraphyof Beth Shearim)and west to Cyprus.The volume throws interestinglight on some of the best-known centers of Jewish life in Syria. Scholars familiarwith Noy's previous volumes are awareof his thoroughness: all inscriptionsin Hebrew,with Jewish symbols or terminology,or names whose presence indicates a synagogue or a Jewish graveyard,or pertaining to Samaritans-or any partof above-is includedby definition. Otherlanguagesinclude Greek,Aramaic, local Semitic dialects, and Persian. Spuriousor doubtful epitaphsare in appendices.Hence we can be confident for the nonce that all the basic texts are included in the volume, thus supersedingother collections with varying criteriafor inclusion, that is, CIJ, and L. Roth-Gerson's(Hebrew)collection of Greekinscriptionsfrom Syria (Jerusalem,2001). A few commentsand observationsaboutthe texts: in general,the argument based on the Jewishnessof a nameraises the questionof Jewishassimilation.Jews are notoriousfor adoptingnames of the dominantculture-even if theophoricor religiously identified:for example, Eshbaal,Hyrcanus,Isidore,Peter,Paul;hence one shouldbe wary of assuminga priorithe oppositein individualcases (e.g., p. 4). Syr 27: pino means "I drink"ratherthan "I am hungry"while the reverse reads "I pine", CrlK~V (ratherthan the editor's izrgyKev), possibly from which gives a possible readingof"Lord,help Salome, whomT•K•CO Ester [AuTlnp] 365

Book Reviews "pinedfor"(ratherthan"whomEsterbore).The readingof ACOHP in Syr6 is not strongenough to assume a misspelling in Syr27. The threevertical I's on the obverseremaina mystery.The ibis (?) andthe snakerecall Josephus's midrashon Moses and the Ethiopians. Can Sambati... be a female archon?Greekusuallywrites B as "MP";here 30: Syr the M closes a syllable makingthe B emphaticratherthan a V [Hence from Shabbat?].The date reads 30 March416, not 316. Syr 35 line 2: The aleph looks like a ligaturefor %xwhile line 3 illustratesthe difficulty of Hebrewepigraphy. Syr 40 recalls the late antique"Synagogueof the Hebrews"in Corinth. Syr 50 notes thatthree generationsin Palmyracarrythe same name, Samuel. Syr 51 from Palmyraremembersthe "only bankerrecordedin Antiquity". P. 116 notes thatAntioch preservesonly one clearly Jewish inscription. Syr 73: Unfortunatelythere is no pictureof the menorah. Syr 75: Symbol 2 on p. 120 looks like a line drawingof a rosette. Syr 76 is an interestingamulet fromAleppo now in Jerusalem. Syr 77 parallelsthe well-known medallion in the Jewish Museum of London.A pictureof both in tandemwould be useful. 81: Syr um0is clearlyone word;Jastrowhas sub ua:uuaemphaticuun [engraving]. Zigzag line above lettersbegs for a pictureshowing the context. Syr 82 and Syr 83: More letterscan be read on these graffiti. Syr 88: 'Apo6you is known from Josephusas the king of the Parthians.Perhaps we can read "BothAbramof Arsaces and Silas of Salmanhelped". Syr 104: -umoKtransliteratesGreekAcTz~p. Syr 105: x7?rntransliteratesGreek'Ekta(). The Dura graffiti and inscriptionsprovide grist for speculationas summarized by Noy and indicatesthe necessity for readercaution. Cyp 2 is printedbackwards.The menorahstyle is similarto Greece and Southern Italy eighth to eleventh centuries. 3: Cyp The translationof to nav Apyov -TYOV'EppaiKrlg (hedera) as "the whole of the Hebrew (community?)"is debatable.Apyov means "work" building while EppaiK7iis the standarddesignationfor the Jewish Quarterin Byzantium. The inscriptionmay read as: "Yose,presbyter,son of Synecius, renovated all the work of the Jewish Quarter."The suggested (hedera) and commentaryis superfluous.The verb in plural, if not a mistake (unacceptable to a literatepresbyter),suggests that both fatherand son renovatedthe quarter. Cyp 4: It is a little prematureto say that "it [Kition] is the origin of the Hebrew termKittim".Most scholars,however,follow Josephuswho contributesthis etymological midrash(AntiquitiesI, 128). The precedingcommentsdo not detractfromthe thanklesslaborthatthe editor,his colleagues, and his predecessorshave exertedto recoverandpresentthese valuable shreds of evidence. The volume's seventeen pages of bibliographyand eighteen pages of indices make this a user-friendlyreference volume. Noy de-

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Book Reviews serves best wishes for continued strengthto complete the presentationand discussion of all ancientJewish inscriptions. Steven Bowman Universityof Cincinnati Cincinnati,Ohio

Hindy Najman.Seconding Sinai: The Developmentof Mosaic Discourse in Second TempleJudaism.Supplementsto the Journalfor the Studyof Judaism77. Leiden: Brill, 2003. xiv, 176 pp. In the present study,Hindy Najmanaddressestwo fundamentalaspects related to SecondTempleJewish literature:pseudepigraphaandthe rewrittenBible. Pseudepigraphaas a literarygenre signifies texts which claim as theirauthorsome privileged individualfrom the past. In reality,however,the attributionof authorship to some ancient figure masks the present-daycomposition of the text. The term rewrittenBible, in its broadestuse, refersto the interpretivereworkingof the scripturaltext and story throughsuch means as expansion, deletion, harmonization, and conflation.The final productretainsthe narrativesequence of the scriptural account though in a significantly modified form. Both of these literary techniquesseemingly have at their base a manipulationand subversionof the integrity of the scripturalstory and text. Pseudepigraphaasserts for a latterday author the authorityand prestige of an ancientfigure; rewrittenBible presentsitself as a new and improvedscripture. Najman'sstudy sets out to explorethe natureof the relationshipbetweenthe older text and the currentreworkedversion. Is the latterintendedto replace and supersedethe former,deliberatelypassed off as an ancient text in orderto attain authorityfor the currentcomposition?(2-3). Indeed,most contemporaryscholarly approachesassume that the anonymousauthorsobscuredtheir own contributions "to secure for new myths or laws an authoritythat they would not otherwise possess" (4). However,as Najmanobserves, much of our readingof ancienttexts is conditionedby modem conceptions of authorshipand text production.She argues that we must inquire how the ancient writers who hid their labors behind pseudepigraphicciphers or "rewritten"narrativesconceived of their own role in the creationandcontinuedproductionof scripturalwritings(10). Namely,whatdo the texts themselves reveal about their compositionalintentionsand the relationship between the reworkedtext and its scripturalbase? Najman focuses her study on a restrictedcorpus of literature-those that center on the figure of Moses. Here she has in mind works that assume for themselves Mosaic authorship(Deuteronomyand Jubilees) and those in which Moses is portrayedas crucial to the text production(the Temple Scroll and the relevant sections of Philo discussed). Deuteronomy,itself an elaborationof other parts of the Torah,is the earliesttext to assume for itself Mosaic authorship.Ascriptionof

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Review: [untitled] Author(s): Alex Jassen Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 367-369 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131741 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews serves best wishes for continued strengthto complete the presentationand discussion of all ancientJewish inscriptions. Steven Bowman Universityof Cincinnati Cincinnati,Ohio

Hindy Najman.Seconding Sinai: The Developmentof Mosaic Discourse in Second TempleJudaism.Supplementsto the Journalfor the Studyof Judaism77. Leiden: Brill, 2003. xiv, 176 pp. In the present study,Hindy Najmanaddressestwo fundamentalaspects related to SecondTempleJewish literature:pseudepigraphaandthe rewrittenBible. Pseudepigraphaas a literarygenre signifies texts which claim as theirauthorsome privileged individualfrom the past. In reality,however,the attributionof authorship to some ancient figure masks the present-daycomposition of the text. The term rewrittenBible, in its broadestuse, refersto the interpretivereworkingof the scripturaltext and story throughsuch means as expansion, deletion, harmonization, and conflation.The final productretainsthe narrativesequence of the scriptural account though in a significantly modified form. Both of these literary techniquesseemingly have at their base a manipulationand subversionof the integrity of the scripturalstory and text. Pseudepigraphaasserts for a latterday author the authorityand prestige of an ancientfigure; rewrittenBible presentsitself as a new and improvedscripture. Najman'sstudy sets out to explorethe natureof the relationshipbetweenthe older text and the currentreworkedversion. Is the latterintendedto replace and supersedethe former,deliberatelypassed off as an ancient text in orderto attain authorityfor the currentcomposition?(2-3). Indeed,most contemporaryscholarly approachesassume that the anonymousauthorsobscuredtheir own contributions "to secure for new myths or laws an authoritythat they would not otherwise possess" (4). However,as Najmanobserves, much of our readingof ancienttexts is conditionedby modem conceptions of authorshipand text production.She argues that we must inquire how the ancient writers who hid their labors behind pseudepigraphicciphers or "rewritten"narrativesconceived of their own role in the creationandcontinuedproductionof scripturalwritings(10). Namely,whatdo the texts themselves reveal about their compositionalintentionsand the relationship between the reworkedtext and its scripturalbase? Najman focuses her study on a restrictedcorpus of literature-those that center on the figure of Moses. Here she has in mind works that assume for themselves Mosaic authorship(Deuteronomyand Jubilees) and those in which Moses is portrayedas crucial to the text production(the Temple Scroll and the relevant sections of Philo discussed). Deuteronomy,itself an elaborationof other parts of the Torah,is the earliesttext to assume for itself Mosaic authorship.Ascriptionof

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Book Reviews Mosaic authorityand authorshipcontinuesin the exilic and postexilic periodsand is most apparentin Moses' elevated statusin Second Templetexts. In light of the questions discussed above, should one see a work such as Jubilees as a "fraudulent" attemptto subvertand usurp the authorityof the Torah?All the more so, is Deuteronomythe "pious fraud"that early source critics assumed it to be? Drawingon the insights of Michael Foucault,Najmansuggests thatthe Mosaic texts shouldbest be understoodas an "exampleof discoursesthat are inextricably linked to their founders"(12). In such discourses, later authors claim to possess the authenticunderstandingof the founder.In ancient societies, ascribing one's work to the founderprovidedthe most effective way of authenticatingone's own understanding.Najman cites the self-reflective remarksof lamblichus and Tertullianto this effect (12-13). ForNajman,Mosaic Discourse seeks "to rework an earliertext in a way thatone claims to be an authenticexpressionof the law already accepted as authoritativelyMosaic" (13). Thus, ascribing a contemporary law or ideology to Moses is not a subversiveappropriationof Mosaic authority. Rather,as a participantin an ongoing Mosaic Discourse, the authoris asserting that the presenttext is in accordwith the authenticteachingsof Moses. What qualifies a text as a participantin this Mosaic Discourse? Najman identifies four featuresthat must be present,or somehow alternativelyrepresented, for a text to be classified as a contributorto ongoing Mosaic Discourse (1617): (1) the new text assumes the authorityassociated with the earlierreworked and expandedtradition;(2) the new text presumes a status as Torah;(3) the new text sees itself as a re-presentationof the revelationat Sinai; (4) the new text is ascribedto Moses either as the authoror as a significant figure. With this model, Najman examines Deuteronomy,Jubilees, the Temple Scroll, and the portions of Philo that treatMoses to determinethe natureof their participationin this ongoing Mosaic Discourse. Deuteronomyrepresentsthe first attemptto engage in this Mosaic Discourse; it, in turn,providesthe model for all later participants.Likewise, Najman argues thatJubilees and the Temple Scroll, though presentedas pseudepigraphicrewrittenBible, are not intendedto replace earlierMosaic traditions.Rather,as participantsin the Second Templeperiod Mosaic Discourse, they supplementearlierMosaic traditions.In doing so, they claim to possess the correctinterpretationandunderstandingof earlierMosaic traditions, namely the Torah.Najmanalso places Philo as a participantin Mosaic Discourse, though admittedlyin a dramaticallydifferentfashion than eitherJubilees or the Temple Scroll. Like Jubilees and the TempleScroll, Philo sees himself as "aninspired interpreter,initiatedby Moses," whose own interpretationsare "copies of Mosaic originals"(107). Thoughotheraspects of the Mosaic Discourse model are not present,this is enough to markPhilo as a participantin the Mosaic Discourse of the SecondTempleperiod. Najman has presenteda provocativethesis. Based on the model developed, Najman demonstratesthe existence of an ongoing Mosaic Discourse in Second TempleJudaism.It remainsto be seen whethersuch a model can successfully be appliedto othertypes of literatureand the existence of other sustaineddiscourses can be established. In doing so, we must caution against typological definitions that span across broad corporaof literature.The employmentof pseudepigrapha 368

Book Reviews and the practiceof rewrittenBible need not be universalthroughtime and space. Nonetheless, Najman'sfinding have set the stage for a rethinkingof commonly held assumptions about pseudepigrapha,rewrittenBible, and the general categories of Second TempleJewish literature. Alex Jassen New YorkUniversity New York,New York

Andrew S. Jacobs.Remainsof the Jews: The Holy Land and ChristianEmpirein LateAntiquity.Stanford:StanfordUniversityPress, 2004. 249 pp. Chapter1 introducesJacobs'methodology.He summarizesthe main critical approachesto Jerusalemas a ChristianHoly Land in the fourthto the sixth centuries,and outlines the purposeandusefulness of postcolonialcriticismas applied to the Christianwritings and geography.The book is laid out thematicallyand at times in sequence, reflecting the centralpremise of the book, that "the colonizer and colonized cannotremainfixed binarysubjectsin the perpetuallyshiftingcontest of power and identity"(9). Part 1 deals with the Christianliterature.Chapter2 sets out how the Christians developed a totalizing discourse to constructknowledge and power and to identify deviant others. Jacobs quotes from Eusebius of Caesarea,whose Christianizingversion of Jewish history integratedthe Jews into the scope of Christian identity; Cyril of Jerusalem,whose complete Christianbeing in the Catecheses comes into being in direct opposition to the Jews; and Epiphaniusof Salamis, whose Panarion identifies the Jews as the ultimateheresy.Thus "the new Christian self is inextricablybound up in the certain knowledge of the Jewish other" (54-55). Chapter3 discusses Jerome'shatredfor the Jews and reliance on them for instruction,contrastinghis use of his knowledgeof Hebrewand contemporary Jewish sources to exert religious and culturalauthorityover the Jews with thatof his predecessorOrigen, who aimed to define more clearly the Jewish-Christian differences,therebygroundingChristianity'sown legitimacy.Jerome'sdetractors Rufinus of Aquileia and Augustine of Hippo point out that this intimateknowledge permitsnot only dominationbut also allows the boundariesto be permeable: Knowing and becoming may be confused. Part2 explores the appropriationof the land as a Biblical space. Chapter4 discusses pilgrimagenarratives,in which the holy land took on sacredand material importance.A veneer of Christianityoverlaysthe land throughthe historicization of the native population in the narrativeof the pilgrim from Burdigala, in which dead Old Testament(OT) figures hauntthe land;througha process of textualizationin the narrativeof Egeria, in which she imposes textualOT figures on the empty land; and throughthe aesthetizationof the land in the narrativeof Piacenza, in which Christiansappropriatethe place for theirown pleasurein its Jewishness. Chapter5 discusses the furtherappropriationof the landby the process of 369

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Marina Greatrex Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 369-370 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131742 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews and the practiceof rewrittenBible need not be universalthroughtime and space. Nonetheless, Najman'sfinding have set the stage for a rethinkingof commonly held assumptions about pseudepigrapha,rewrittenBible, and the general categories of Second TempleJewish literature. Alex Jassen New YorkUniversity New York,New York

Andrew S. Jacobs.Remainsof the Jews: The Holy Land and ChristianEmpirein LateAntiquity.Stanford:StanfordUniversityPress, 2004. 249 pp. Chapter1 introducesJacobs'methodology.He summarizesthe main critical approachesto Jerusalemas a ChristianHoly Land in the fourthto the sixth centuries,and outlines the purposeandusefulness of postcolonialcriticismas applied to the Christianwritings and geography.The book is laid out thematicallyand at times in sequence, reflecting the centralpremise of the book, that "the colonizer and colonized cannotremainfixed binarysubjectsin the perpetuallyshiftingcontest of power and identity"(9). Part 1 deals with the Christianliterature.Chapter2 sets out how the Christians developed a totalizing discourse to constructknowledge and power and to identify deviant others. Jacobs quotes from Eusebius of Caesarea,whose Christianizingversion of Jewish history integratedthe Jews into the scope of Christian identity; Cyril of Jerusalem,whose complete Christianbeing in the Catecheses comes into being in direct opposition to the Jews; and Epiphaniusof Salamis, whose Panarion identifies the Jews as the ultimateheresy.Thus "the new Christian self is inextricablybound up in the certain knowledge of the Jewish other" (54-55). Chapter3 discusses Jerome'shatredfor the Jews and reliance on them for instruction,contrastinghis use of his knowledgeof Hebrewand contemporary Jewish sources to exert religious and culturalauthorityover the Jews with thatof his predecessorOrigen, who aimed to define more clearly the Jewish-Christian differences,therebygroundingChristianity'sown legitimacy.Jerome'sdetractors Rufinus of Aquileia and Augustine of Hippo point out that this intimateknowledge permitsnot only dominationbut also allows the boundariesto be permeable: Knowing and becoming may be confused. Part2 explores the appropriationof the land as a Biblical space. Chapter4 discusses pilgrimagenarratives,in which the holy land took on sacredand material importance.A veneer of Christianityoverlaysthe land throughthe historicization of the native population in the narrativeof the pilgrim from Burdigala, in which dead Old Testament(OT) figures hauntthe land;througha process of textualizationin the narrativeof Egeria, in which she imposes textualOT figures on the empty land; and throughthe aesthetizationof the land in the narrativeof Piacenza, in which Christiansappropriatethe place for theirown pleasurein its Jewishness. Chapter5 discusses the furtherappropriationof the landby the process of 369

Book Reviews monumentalizationand piety. The imperial presence is imposed on the land throughbuildingprojectsand the piety and imperialpomp of the female members of the imperialhouseholdtriumphsoverJerusalemasceticism. In the desertChristian ascetics opened up and resettledempty yet significant spaces, and there was a conquest and appropriationof relics, which are tracedback to "old"Jerusalem. The intense interest,however,gave space for the Jews to subvertandresist, as well as be seen as forever"the other"who will rise up when they can, even when uprisings are caused by others such as the Persiansin the 614 sack of Jerusalem. In his conclusion, Jacobs summarizesthe debatebetween rhetoricand reality. The literaturewas initially considered to give no more than a stereotypical pictureof Judaism,contributingnothingmeaningfulaboutJewish-Christianrelations. Jacobs arguesconvincinglythatthey in fact contributedto the creationof a new world,in which we see the interplayof power and resistance. This is an extremelywell-researched,well-writtenbook and is a significant contributionto the field. MarinaGreatrex Universityof Ottawa Ottawa,Ontario

EdwardKessler.Bound by the Bible: Jews, Christiansand the Sacrifice of saac. Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress, 2004. xii, 222 pp. Kessler'seruditebook aims to provenot only that exegetical encountersoccurredbetween the ancient rabbisand the early churchfathersin both directions, but also that "to understandproperlyJewish or Christianexegesis in late antiquity it is essential to understandeach other's interpretationsand the influence of one upon the other"(182). He begins by reviewing the shortcomingsof previous approachesto Jewish-Christianinteractionin late antiquity.Kesslerthenputs forwardwhathe termsthe exegeticalapproach,suggestssome controlson this method, and proceedsto test his hypothesisby conductinga verse-by-verseexaminationof Genesis 22. In each chapter,he first surveys a few majorearly interpreters,such as Philo and Josephus,and then comparesRabbinicand early Christianinterpretations on Genesis 22 in some detail. There is also a final chapterthat examines ancient artisticrenderingsof Abraham'snear sacrifice of Isaac. This is a book from which any scholarof the Bible and postbiblicalJewish and Christianinterpretationwill learnmuch. However,the authorhas fallen short of demonstratinghis thesis. Although Kessler brings forth a few very compelling instancesthat stronglysuggest Jewish awarenessof a Christianinterpretivemove or vice versa, all too often the evidence demonstratesnot how these communities are interconnected,but rather,how they "aredivided by a common Bible" (112, citing J. Kugel). At times, Kessler's assumptionsconcerningpotential interactionsbetween the rabbis and church fathersleads him to ignore other more mundaneexplana370

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Joel Kaminsky Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 370-372 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131743 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews monumentalizationand piety. The imperial presence is imposed on the land throughbuildingprojectsand the piety and imperialpomp of the female members of the imperialhouseholdtriumphsoverJerusalemasceticism. In the desertChristian ascetics opened up and resettledempty yet significant spaces, and there was a conquest and appropriationof relics, which are tracedback to "old"Jerusalem. The intense interest,however,gave space for the Jews to subvertandresist, as well as be seen as forever"the other"who will rise up when they can, even when uprisings are caused by others such as the Persiansin the 614 sack of Jerusalem. In his conclusion, Jacobs summarizesthe debatebetween rhetoricand reality. The literaturewas initially considered to give no more than a stereotypical pictureof Judaism,contributingnothingmeaningfulaboutJewish-Christianrelations. Jacobs arguesconvincinglythatthey in fact contributedto the creationof a new world,in which we see the interplayof power and resistance. This is an extremelywell-researched,well-writtenbook and is a significant contributionto the field. MarinaGreatrex Universityof Ottawa Ottawa,Ontario

EdwardKessler.Bound by the Bible: Jews, Christiansand the Sacrifice of saac. Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress, 2004. xii, 222 pp. Kessler'seruditebook aims to provenot only that exegetical encountersoccurredbetween the ancient rabbisand the early churchfathersin both directions, but also that "to understandproperlyJewish or Christianexegesis in late antiquity it is essential to understandeach other's interpretationsand the influence of one upon the other"(182). He begins by reviewing the shortcomingsof previous approachesto Jewish-Christianinteractionin late antiquity.Kesslerthenputs forwardwhathe termsthe exegeticalapproach,suggestssome controlson this method, and proceedsto test his hypothesisby conductinga verse-by-verseexaminationof Genesis 22. In each chapter,he first surveys a few majorearly interpreters,such as Philo and Josephus,and then comparesRabbinicand early Christianinterpretations on Genesis 22 in some detail. There is also a final chapterthat examines ancient artisticrenderingsof Abraham'snear sacrifice of Isaac. This is a book from which any scholarof the Bible and postbiblicalJewish and Christianinterpretationwill learnmuch. However,the authorhas fallen short of demonstratinghis thesis. Although Kessler brings forth a few very compelling instancesthat stronglysuggest Jewish awarenessof a Christianinterpretivemove or vice versa, all too often the evidence demonstratesnot how these communities are interconnected,but rather,how they "aredivided by a common Bible" (112, citing J. Kugel). At times, Kessler's assumptionsconcerningpotential interactionsbetween the rabbis and church fathersleads him to ignore other more mundaneexplana370

Book Reviews tions for certainexegetical moves. For example, he arguesthat the rabbisportray Isaac as a matureadultto counteractthe widespreadChristianreadingthat he was a child, an interpretationthat Kessler argues is driven by the Christiantypology thatIsaacthe child'sdeed is consummatedin Christthe matureadult.But one need not assumeany exegeticalencounterat all to explainthe Rabbinictendencyto turn Isaac into an adult.In fact, it likely stems from the rabbis'assumptionthat Sarah's death in Genesis 23 occurredin directproximityto the events of Isaac'snear sacrifice, perhapsbecause word of it reached her. In Gen 23:1 Sarahis reportedto have died at 127 yearsold. If she bore Isaacwhen 90 (Gen 17:17),this would make Isaac 37, a figure thatoccurs in manyrabbinictexts. Furthermore,as Kesslerhimself notes, certainprerabbinicworks alreadyconceive of Isaac as a matureadult (e.g., Josephusand Judith).It may be true, as Kessler states, that the rabbis'drive to make Isaac a willing participantin the sacrifice could have contributedto the need to turn him into a matureadult, but in any case these interpretationscould have developed from a set of internalrabbinictheological ideas with no influence from Christianinterpreters. On the Christianside, Kesslerpresentssome possible examples of attempts to counter the idea that Isaac was a mature adult. However, it is the Christian propensityto engage in typologicalreading,not the rabbinicnotion thatIsaac was a willing adult, that generatethe vast majorityof such Christianexegeses. Even when one finds the occasional reactionagainstor borrowingfrom the rabbis,this sheds little light on the social particularitiesof Jewish-Christianinteraction. In fairness,Kessleradmitsthat some of his argumentsfor influence are less than conclusive. While such nuancing is welcome, his method is at times problematic. Forexample, he cites the use of the word "stake"(or "cross"in his translation)foundin GenRab56:3 as evidencethatthe rabbishaddrawnthis image from Christianexegetes (113). Then he arguesthat this midrashiccomment'sterseness indicates that later rabbis sought to suppress this Christian connection. Here Kesslerclaims thatthe existence of this wordandthe fact thatit is in a tersemidrash show two differinginstancesof exegetical encounters.If both use and nonuse imply an encounter,is thereany way to disconfirm such an encounter? The truthis that many of his examples show no exegetical encounterwhatsoever, as even Kessler acknowledges.However,these instances still are of great value in terms of understandingeach religion'sunique theological interpretation of the Bible. It is unclearto this readerwhy Kesslerdoes not set out to accomplish the more modest goal of teaching the readerthat Jews and Christianscan gain tremendousinsight into their own traditionby understandingthe sister tradition's interpretations. Therearealso a few minorirritationsin Kessler'slanguageas well as in technical aspects such as the printingand indexing.A numberof times Kessler speaks of the Rabbis, noting that God "abhorredsacrifice" (46, 55), when he means human sacrifice. On page 104 he implies that Jephthah'sdaughteris named Seila even within the biblical account.In his chapteron ancientartisticrenderings,several of the plates are reproducedin such poor fashion that this middle-agedreader could make out few if any of the details in them.And most frustratingis the fact that many of the rabbinicreferences found within the notes are not indexed (for 371

Book Reviews example, the references in notes 37-39, pp. 88-89). Occasionally,references in the text, such as the one to Pseudo-Philo(p. 136), arealso not indexed.In the computerage, there is no excuse that such a scholarlybook has been made less accessible to the researcherby poor indexing of the primarysources. None of the above criticisms detracts from the fact that this is a learned and carefully researchedbook that does indeed enhance our knowledge of rabbinic and early Christianbiblical interpretation.In a few places Kessler has established how one tradition'sexegetical insights were employed or counteredby the sister tradition.More important,Kessler has furtherreinforced the value of careful scholarlystudy in unpackingthe developmentof these two faiths and how both faiths grew out of a common biblical heritage and closely related interpretive systems. Joel Kaminsky Smith College Northampton,Massachusetts

CynthiaM. Baker.Rebuildingthe House of srael:Architecturesof Genderin Jewish Antiquity.Stanford:StanfordUniversityPress, 2002. 260 pp. CynthiaBaker'sRebuildingthe House of Israel is one of a handfulof studies that seek to interpretJewish culture during late antiquityby setting rabbinic sources and archaeologicalremainsfrom the Land of Israel in dialogue. Baker is a careful and perceptivereaderof both the primarytannaiticsources that she discusses and of the materialrecord.In fact, the body of the book, in which she discusses the domestic context (well titled "TheWell-OrderedBayit: Bodies, Houses and Rabbis in the Ancient Galilee") and the marketplace("Men,Womenand the Shuk:CulturalCurrencieson the Open Market")is a well-writtendescriptionand analysis of the preservedevidence. Baker shows, for example, that rabbinicnotions of privacyandthe placementof windows within extantstructuresreflect similar interests.More important,she shows the ways thatvariousspaces, both public and private,were used by ancient Jewish women, and how gender issues played out within environmentsconstructedby Jewish men and women in Roman Palestine. The impetus for this study was not ultimatelyRabbinicliteratureor archaeology, however.It is what Baker sees as a misconception in recent scholarship. Baker arguesagainst a position wherebyJewish women in antiquitywere starkly limited to the domestic realm, while the public realm (and even elements of the private)were reservedfor men. Baker'smethodologicaldiscussion("Space,MaterialDiscourses andthe Art of CulturalProduction")is noticeablydifferentfromthe rest of the book. Here her prose is far less clear.This section is clearly addressedto initiatesof the postmodern discourse. Baker ties the "architecturesof gender"to the supposed "rebuilding" of Judaismby that "small handfulof Jewish voices"-the ancient rabbis372

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Steven Fine Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 372-373 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131744 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews example, the references in notes 37-39, pp. 88-89). Occasionally,references in the text, such as the one to Pseudo-Philo(p. 136), arealso not indexed.In the computerage, there is no excuse that such a scholarlybook has been made less accessible to the researcherby poor indexing of the primarysources. None of the above criticisms detracts from the fact that this is a learned and carefully researchedbook that does indeed enhance our knowledge of rabbinic and early Christianbiblical interpretation.In a few places Kessler has established how one tradition'sexegetical insights were employed or counteredby the sister tradition.More important,Kessler has furtherreinforced the value of careful scholarlystudy in unpackingthe developmentof these two faiths and how both faiths grew out of a common biblical heritage and closely related interpretive systems. Joel Kaminsky Smith College Northampton,Massachusetts

CynthiaM. Baker.Rebuildingthe House of srael:Architecturesof Genderin Jewish Antiquity.Stanford:StanfordUniversityPress, 2002. 260 pp. CynthiaBaker'sRebuildingthe House of Israel is one of a handfulof studies that seek to interpretJewish culture during late antiquityby setting rabbinic sources and archaeologicalremainsfrom the Land of Israel in dialogue. Baker is a careful and perceptivereaderof both the primarytannaiticsources that she discusses and of the materialrecord.In fact, the body of the book, in which she discusses the domestic context (well titled "TheWell-OrderedBayit: Bodies, Houses and Rabbis in the Ancient Galilee") and the marketplace("Men,Womenand the Shuk:CulturalCurrencieson the Open Market")is a well-writtendescriptionand analysis of the preservedevidence. Baker shows, for example, that rabbinicnotions of privacyandthe placementof windows within extantstructuresreflect similar interests.More important,she shows the ways thatvariousspaces, both public and private,were used by ancient Jewish women, and how gender issues played out within environmentsconstructedby Jewish men and women in Roman Palestine. The impetus for this study was not ultimatelyRabbinicliteratureor archaeology, however.It is what Baker sees as a misconception in recent scholarship. Baker arguesagainst a position wherebyJewish women in antiquitywere starkly limited to the domestic realm, while the public realm (and even elements of the private)were reservedfor men. Baker'smethodologicaldiscussion("Space,MaterialDiscourses andthe Art of CulturalProduction")is noticeablydifferentfromthe rest of the book. Here her prose is far less clear.This section is clearly addressedto initiatesof the postmodern discourse. Baker ties the "architecturesof gender"to the supposed "rebuilding" of Judaismby that "small handfulof Jewish voices"-the ancient rabbis372

Book Reviews whose classical period continuedfrom the late first into the fourthcenturies.She then provides an image of the household and village life of women. Most of the architecturalevidence adduced by Baker dates to the fourth through sixth or seventh centuries. Although it is true that Jewish culture in late antiquity was extremely conservative, this chronological disconnect between the literary and archaeologicalsources should be dealt with explicitly, especially because Baker accepts notions of"non-RabbinicJudaism"developedby the Goodenough/Smith school. Baker'sstudy would have been enrichedand strengthenedthroughcomparison with parallel Semitic languages and the ample evidence for non-Jewish housing in Palestine and in neighboringregions. Deeper interactionwith Amoraic literatureandByzantine-periodsourceswouldhave addedsignificantly,because these do date to the same time as the buildings that Baker discusses. In addition, Bakermight have engaged more seriouslythe tools of modernTalmudicresearch. There is little evidence that she consultedeithermanuscripttraditionsnor the medieval andmoderncriticalliterature(otherthanAlbeck'sMishnahandLieberman's Toseftaki-fshutah). CynthiaBaker'sRebuildingthe House oflsrael: Architecturesof Genderin Jewish Antiquityprovides importantinsights into the role of women in Jewish "places"in rabbinicPalestine. Baker has shown that the place of Jewish women duringlate antiquitywas truly in the home, as well as in the marketplace,and in all otherareaswhere Jewish cultureflourishedduringthese pivotal centuries. Steven Fine Universityof Cincinnati Cincinnati,Ohio

YizharHirschfeld.Qumranin Context,Reassessing theArchaeologicalEvidence. Peabody,MA: HendersonPublishers,2004. 220 pp; 136 figures. About 35,000 books and articles have been publishedthus far on the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS). The vast majoritydeal with the literaturefound in the eleven caves in the vicinity of Qumranand only a few deal with the archaeologicalremains of KhirbetQumrannearby.The site was exhaustivelyexcavateda few times in the past fifty-four years. The first that also determinedthe natureof its interpretationwas carried out during 1951 to 1956 by Fr. Roland de Vaux from the Frenchschool of biblical studies at Jerusalem,the Ecole Biblique.Most of the site was unearthedduringthis excavation.The latest excavationswere carriedout in the past ten years and thus far with extremelymeagerpublications. The prevailingtheory since the onset of the excavationswas that the scrolls were writtenby a sectarian,communal,monasticandcelibate groupcalled the Essenes at the site of Qumran. Yizhar Hirschfeld of the Hebrew University in Jerusalemfollows a small numberof scholarswho challenge this interpretation.Because the scrolls, the site, 373

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Rami Arav Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 373-376 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131745 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews whose classical period continuedfrom the late first into the fourthcenturies.She then provides an image of the household and village life of women. Most of the architecturalevidence adduced by Baker dates to the fourth through sixth or seventh centuries. Although it is true that Jewish culture in late antiquity was extremely conservative, this chronological disconnect between the literary and archaeologicalsources should be dealt with explicitly, especially because Baker accepts notions of"non-RabbinicJudaism"developedby the Goodenough/Smith school. Baker'sstudy would have been enrichedand strengthenedthroughcomparison with parallel Semitic languages and the ample evidence for non-Jewish housing in Palestine and in neighboringregions. Deeper interactionwith Amoraic literatureandByzantine-periodsourceswouldhave addedsignificantly,because these do date to the same time as the buildings that Baker discusses. In addition, Bakermight have engaged more seriouslythe tools of modernTalmudicresearch. There is little evidence that she consultedeithermanuscripttraditionsnor the medieval andmoderncriticalliterature(otherthanAlbeck'sMishnahandLieberman's Toseftaki-fshutah). CynthiaBaker'sRebuildingthe House oflsrael: Architecturesof Genderin Jewish Antiquityprovides importantinsights into the role of women in Jewish "places"in rabbinicPalestine. Baker has shown that the place of Jewish women duringlate antiquitywas truly in the home, as well as in the marketplace,and in all otherareaswhere Jewish cultureflourishedduringthese pivotal centuries. Steven Fine Universityof Cincinnati Cincinnati,Ohio

YizharHirschfeld.Qumranin Context,Reassessing theArchaeologicalEvidence. Peabody,MA: HendersonPublishers,2004. 220 pp; 136 figures. About 35,000 books and articles have been publishedthus far on the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS). The vast majoritydeal with the literaturefound in the eleven caves in the vicinity of Qumranand only a few deal with the archaeologicalremains of KhirbetQumrannearby.The site was exhaustivelyexcavateda few times in the past fifty-four years. The first that also determinedthe natureof its interpretationwas carried out during 1951 to 1956 by Fr. Roland de Vaux from the Frenchschool of biblical studies at Jerusalem,the Ecole Biblique.Most of the site was unearthedduringthis excavation.The latest excavationswere carriedout in the past ten years and thus far with extremelymeagerpublications. The prevailingtheory since the onset of the excavationswas that the scrolls were writtenby a sectarian,communal,monasticandcelibate groupcalled the Essenes at the site of Qumran. Yizhar Hirschfeld of the Hebrew University in Jerusalemfollows a small numberof scholarswho challenge this interpretation.Because the scrolls, the site, 373

Book Reviews and the Essenes are all entwined into a cohesive theory,it is virtuallyimpossible to dismiss one without revising the others. Hirschfeldlogically addresseseverything, and naturally,not all with the same degree of success. In spite of some flaws, his archaeologicalrevision is perhapsthe best partof his entireattempt.One such a flaw is the lack of a chapterthatpresentsa thorough history of the research.Readersare frequentlylost between what Hirschfeldproposes as new and what is traditionallyinterpretedand known. To offer a new interpretation,Hirschfelddismisses de Vaux'sexcavationsentirely as "unscientific"and useless. The reasonhe gives is that,contraryto what is used today,de Vaux assigned the same loci numbersto single architecturalunits, althoughdiscerningseveralsequentialfloors in the same unit.This means thatthe finds assignedto loci numbersmay originatefrom differentstrata,hence different periods.Forexample,thejewelry found at the site-conventional women'sadornment with no elevationreported-can be assignedto the Essenes' celibate society, which createsa severe conceptualproblem.But this problemcan be eliminatedif thejewelry is assignedto the upperstratumof the Romanmilitary,or to a Bedouin shepherd.In fact loci numbersare not so critical as long as the elevation of each find and basket are recorded.This data, matchedwith the elevation of the floors, would retrievethe finds' assemblages and indicate their precise association. Can this informationbe retrieved?Hirschfelddoes not say. Having dismissed de Vaux'sstratigraphy,Hirschfeldmoves on to suggest a new stratigraphybased on architecturalalterationsandremodeling.Insteadof the three "periods"suggestedby de Vaux,he suggests four differentstratawith architecturaldifferences.The first occupationlevel, stratumI, dates from the late Iron Age, sevenththroughsixth centuriesBCE.No distinctivearchitecturewas ascribed by Hirschfeldto this period. The next, stratumII, is assigned to the Hasmonean period.It consists of a small fort (0.34 acre)protectedby a strongtowerreinforced by a revetmentwall. The fort containeda courtyard,a pool, and a mikveh.Stratum III is assignedto the Herodianperiod,the periodwhen the site reachedit peak.The military strongholdwas changed into a manor,a local Judeanversion of a Villa Rustica, owned by a patricianfamily from Jerusalem.New wings were added in all directions,and the site containedlocal industryas well as a centerfor production of the precious balsam ointment.StratumIV marksthe period afterthe Jewish Roman war in which Qumranserved as a station for a small Roman garrison until the Bar Kokhbarevolt in 132-35 CE. As evidence for his proposal, Hirschfeldpresentsthe differentstratain an archaeologicalcontext,hence the name of the book. The Hasmoneanfort is, therefore, similarin concept to otherknown forts. In this respectthe town of Stratonos Pyrgos, the formername of Caesareaon the Mediterraneancoast, perhapshad a similarappearance.1 Howeverplausible,this proposalremainsa hypothesisand requirespresentation of the entire array of evidence. All pertinentwalls have to be carefully

1. R. Arav,"Some Notes on the Foundationof Straton'sTower"Palestine ExplorationQuarterly 121 (1989), 144-48.

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Book Reviews recordedand analyzed.Thus far, only a few nonsufficient samples are presented in the book. The context of the Herodianfortified manoris the culminationof the book and the one that instigatedthe research.Hirschfeldfinds that the fortified manor is similarto several known elsewhere and particularlyto HorvatcAqavat Ramat Hanadivon the southernCarmelrange,which he excavatedfor severalyears. Placing Qumranin the context of Herodianestates would place the DSS out of context-and indeed this is what they are in this book! The eleven caves were not the librarywherescrolls originallywereplaced,a fact thatalmostnobodyquestions. Whatwere the exact circumstancesby which the scrolls arrivedat the caves and what was their original context are the next key questions. Instead of concluding with the true and simple answerthat"Wedon't know,"Hirschfeldinvents a story that is on the verge of science fiction and reads like a novel. He suggests thatthe ownersof the library,Sadduceesin his opinion, decided to take the scrolls out from "the doomed city to someone close to them, apparentlyof the same social status,the owner of the estate at Qumran.He may have also suppliedthe jars in which some of the scrolls were found ... we can imagine that a whole convoy of pack animals was needed to deliver them to Qumran.The owner of Qumran, probablyfamiliarwith the area, helped locate the most suitablecaves in which to conceal the scrolls. . . ." (243). All that is needed to add is that this took place in

the middle of the night underthe pale light of the moon.... Hirschfeld'snext challenge is the Essense identificationwith the DSS sect. Hirschfeldexcavatedtwenty-eightpoor cells next to ancientcultivatedterracesat a distance of 200 meters from Ein Gedi. Based on a combinationof readingtwo first-centuryCE records-though not eyewitness-Philo and Pliny the Elder,he suggests that these cells were the home of the Essenes. The cells (most probably shelterfor seasonalworkers)look poor enough to Hirschfeldto be identified with the descriptionof the Essenes by Philo. Pliny the Elderprovidesthe location:"below the mountainsof Ein Gedi."While Philo'stendencytowardoverstatingis well attested,the sources of Pliny the Elder remain a mystery. Some suggest that he accompaniedVespasian,and others suggest that he derivedhis informationfrom Romanmilitaryrecords.2Pliny also errselsewhere.Out of the fourplaces he mentions aroundthe Sea of Galilee, only two are placed correctly.ThereforePliny should not be takenas reliableevidence. In sum, the acceptedidentificationof the DSS sect and the Essenes still holds fast. Except for minorhistoricalinaccuraciesanda mild polemical tone, the book is nicely written, illustratedwith high-quality,full-page photographs,numerous drawingsand plans that clearly enhancethe text. To sum up, Hirschfeld'smost importantachievementis that he thinks outside the box. This is the right recipe for scholarlyprogress. Challengingconformity is an importantmeritand the courageto speakup is valuable.However,much more work still needs to be done if one wishes to collapse the standardtheory sur2. MarkD. Smith,"Bethsaida intheNaturalHistoryof PlinytheElder"inBethsaida,a Cityby MO:TrumanStateUnitheNorthShoreof theSeaof Galilee,ed. R.AravandR. Freund(Kirksville, versityPress,2004),83-92.

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Book Reviews roundingthe identificationof the triad of the DSS sect, the Essenes and Khirbet Qumran. Rami Arav University of Nebraskaat Omaha Omaha,Nebraska

Rachel Elior. TheThreeTemples:On the EmergenceofJewish Mysticism.Oxford: The LittmanLibraryof Jewish Civilization,20004. xiv, 301 pp. In this bold and ambitiousbook, Rachel Elior seeks to tracethe early history of Jewish mysticism, from biblical throughrabbinictimes. In the course of ten chapters,the authorcovers a wide rangeof material,with special attentiondevoted to Ezekiel, 1 Enoch, the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, and of course the Hekhalottexts. While not all scholarswill be convincedby the analysispresented here, one should welcome this latest installmentin the author'swide-rangingand creativeefforts to understandbetterthe origins and later developmentsof Jewish mysticism. Elior's work posits that the ancient Jewish mystical tradition-which in essence conceives of a temple in heaven-was formedandjoined by threegroups of "secessionist"priests (ix, 31-33): (1) those, like Ezekiel, who were expelled from the first temple in 586 BCE; (2) the (Zadokite)priestswho were forcedfrom the second temple duringthe conflicts of the second centuryBCE; and (3) those, like the Merkabahmystics, who emergedfrom the rubbleof the Second Temple's destruction in 70 CE. But in an argumentstated early on and then expanded throughoutthe book, Elior posits that there is a fundamentalcontinuitybetween these stages of earlyJewish mysticism, such thatwe can speak of a continuousliterarytradition,composed by secessionist priests (15-17). Some of Elior'sargumentsfor the continuityof the traditionshe seeks to anare alyze compelling. Much of Elior'sanalysis-including the bulk of chapters3 6-focuses on the 364-day solarcalendarknownfrom,amongothertexts, through 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and the TempleScroll, these being documentsthat Elior attributes to secessionist priests. Following in the footsteps of Annie Jaubert,1Elior argues that the impact of, and evidence for, the 364-day calendar,with its sevenfold pattern,can be seen not only in these and otherancientJewish texts, but even in various passages of the Hebrew Bible, notably priestly traditions(34-62 and 82-87; see esp. 44-52). This calendaris closely tied to what Elior understandsto be a core mysticalidea:the correspondencebetweenthe heavenlyand earthlytemples requiresadheringto a calendarthatclearlyand predictablycoordinatesearthly holidays with astronomicalsigns (82-110). Elior has noticed many echoes of 1. Annie Jaubert,The Date of the Last Supper:The Biblical Calendar and ChristianLiturgy (Staten Island:Alba, 1965).

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Review: [untitled] Author(s): Jonathan Klawans Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 376-378 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131746 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews roundingthe identificationof the triad of the DSS sect, the Essenes and Khirbet Qumran. Rami Arav University of Nebraskaat Omaha Omaha,Nebraska

Rachel Elior. TheThreeTemples:On the EmergenceofJewish Mysticism.Oxford: The LittmanLibraryof Jewish Civilization,20004. xiv, 301 pp. In this bold and ambitiousbook, Rachel Elior seeks to tracethe early history of Jewish mysticism, from biblical throughrabbinictimes. In the course of ten chapters,the authorcovers a wide rangeof material,with special attentiondevoted to Ezekiel, 1 Enoch, the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, and of course the Hekhalottexts. While not all scholarswill be convincedby the analysispresented here, one should welcome this latest installmentin the author'swide-rangingand creativeefforts to understandbetterthe origins and later developmentsof Jewish mysticism. Elior's work posits that the ancient Jewish mystical tradition-which in essence conceives of a temple in heaven-was formedandjoined by threegroups of "secessionist"priests (ix, 31-33): (1) those, like Ezekiel, who were expelled from the first temple in 586 BCE; (2) the (Zadokite)priestswho were forcedfrom the second temple duringthe conflicts of the second centuryBCE; and (3) those, like the Merkabahmystics, who emergedfrom the rubbleof the Second Temple's destruction in 70 CE. But in an argumentstated early on and then expanded throughoutthe book, Elior posits that there is a fundamentalcontinuitybetween these stages of earlyJewish mysticism, such thatwe can speak of a continuousliterarytradition,composed by secessionist priests (15-17). Some of Elior'sargumentsfor the continuityof the traditionshe seeks to anare alyze compelling. Much of Elior'sanalysis-including the bulk of chapters3 6-focuses on the 364-day solarcalendarknownfrom,amongothertexts, through 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and the TempleScroll, these being documentsthat Elior attributes to secessionist priests. Following in the footsteps of Annie Jaubert,1Elior argues that the impact of, and evidence for, the 364-day calendar,with its sevenfold pattern,can be seen not only in these and otherancientJewish texts, but even in various passages of the Hebrew Bible, notably priestly traditions(34-62 and 82-87; see esp. 44-52). This calendaris closely tied to what Elior understandsto be a core mysticalidea:the correspondencebetweenthe heavenlyand earthlytemples requiresadheringto a calendarthatclearlyand predictablycoordinatesearthly holidays with astronomicalsigns (82-110). Elior has noticed many echoes of 1. Annie Jaubert,The Date of the Last Supper:The Biblical Calendar and ChristianLiturgy (Staten Island:Alba, 1965).

376

Book Reviews "solar"traditionsmissed by earlier scholars, and those who would minimize the popularityor influence of the 364-day calendarin ancientJudaismneed to reckon with Elior'sanalysis. Elior is also correct,I think,to emphasizethe priestlycontributionto the literatureat the heart of her interest.The alignmentof priests with angels (see esp. 165-200) and the earthlytemple with the heavenly one is certainlya key feature of much of second temple Jewish literature,and the suppositionthatpriests were involved with the productionand dissemination of this literatureis reasonable enough, even convincing. Yet,thereis a problematictensionbetweenourauthor'stwo overallaims. On the one hand,she seeks to understandthe mystical traditionas createdby a series of priestlyprotests-those who imagine a temple in heaven are those who can no longer (by choice or force) participatein the tangiblesacrifices of the earthlytemple. However,in her quest for continuity,she seeks to find evidence for this priestly traditionin practicallyevery strainof Jewish literaturefromthe Second Temple period.Virtuallyevery ancient Jewish text relatingin some fashion to a heavenly temple, the 364-day calendar,or othermystical,priestly,or liturgicalthemes is attributedto the broadmovementof secessionist priests, regardlessof whetherthe workcan be reliablydatedto one of the threespecific stages of priestlyprotestthat her book focuses on. But if these ideas are as widespreadand as continuallyheld as she claims, how can we possibly be certainthatall of these texts and ideas were created by secessionist priests? For all we know, at least some of this literature could have been producedby priests,Levites, or even Israeliteswho were perfectly at home in an earthlytemple thatthey believed correspondedto a heavenlyone. Mysticism is not necessarilythe exclusive reserve of the oppressed,the expelled, or the self-exiled. Ourextantsources do not allow us to know with certaintywhat a mysticaltext composedby an officiating second templepriestmighthave looked like. But if we wanted to imagine the characteristicsof such a text, we might do very well to think of somethingalong the lines of the Songs of the SabbathSacrifice. To be fair, Elior might be willing to grant this point, as she does speak at times of older priestly traditionspreservedwithin the secessionist literature(e.g., pp. 83-84). But the clearerstatementsin this book all focus on the mystical creativity of the secessionist priests, over againstthose who served in the temple. A second problempertains to the calendardisputes. Elior argues that the 364-day,52-week calendarestablishesa fixed andunchangingcorrespondencebetween heaven and earth.This stands in starkcontrastto the traditionalJewish lunar calendar,which is subject to constantand chaotic humanmanipulation(4445, 55-56, 86-87, 106-08, 220-21). Elior'sargumentheretoo is marredby overstatement.On the one hand, Elior overlooks the fact that the moon is also in the heavens, so that a lunarcalendartoo can serve to connect sacredseasons with the cosmos. On the other hand,Elior overstatesthe virtues of the "solar"calendar.If the 364-day calendarhadbeen trulyfixed and unchanging(in accordancewith Jubilees 6:31-32), then it would not in fact have maintaineda correspondencebetween heaven and earthat all, for the calendarwould lose more than a day a year against the true solar year.The inadequacyof even a 365-day calendarwas well knownin antiquity,as attestedby the institutionof the Juliancalendarwith its quad377

Book Reviews rennial leap year in 46 BCE and the subsequentreform of the 365-day Egyptian civil calendarin 22 BCE.2 Indeed,Elior assumes that the 364-day calendarmust have been intercalatedin some fashion (43, 92-93 n. 17, 103) to keep up with the sun. But it is not adequatelyexplainedpreciselyhow this calendarcould havebeen periodicallyintercalatedso as keep up with the sun while still preservingits "fixed, eternal,cosmic, sevenfold and fourfoldsymmetry"(44). If we look beyondthe exaggerations,we can recognize thatElior is onto somethinghere too. Ancient Jewish calendardisputeswere aboutmore thanjust dates and numbers.The differing calendarslikely reflecteddistinctideas abouthow ancientJews understoodthe relationshipbetween heaven and earth. Despite its overstatedarguments,this is a book that shouldbe readby those who are interestedin the history of Jewish mysticism, the Jewish temple cult and, indeed,second temple or early rabbinicJudaismbroadlyspeaking.This is an ambitious, broadlyconceived, work, one that covers a lot of groundand tries to synthesize a wealth of material.It's all too easy to find points of disagreementwith such a work. So it should also be said to Elior'screditthat it is primarilythrough such broadlyconceived projectsthat scholarshipcan really move forward. The workunderreview here translatesa book publishedin Hebrewin 2002 by Magnes Press, bearingthe title Templeand Chariot,Priests andAngels, Sanctuary and Heavenly Sanctuaries in Early Jewish Mysticism. Minor changes in structureand formatwill frustratethose who wish to quicklycomparethe two editions. While the English matchesthe Hebrewreasonablyenough, manyreadersof this journalmay choose to consult the Hebrewif for no otherreasonthanthe fact that the Magnes Press publicationprovidesan index of textual citations. In place of this invaluableindex, the English edition much less helpfully presentsreaders with advertisementsfor otherLittmanLibrarypublications. JonathanKlawans Boston University Boston, Massachusetts

J. H. Chajes. Between Worlds:Dybbuks,Exorcists, and Early Modern Judaism. Philadelphia:Universityof PennsylvaniaPress, 2003. 278 pp. Jewish mystical and magical texts are remarkablyrelevantto some of the most centralhistoriographicalthemes of early modern Europe;they are also remarkablyesoteric and confoundingto any nonspecialist. Providinga remedy to this incongruity,J. H. Chajesmakes a majorcontributionto both Jewish and general early modem historiographywith his first book, on Jewish spiritpossession and exorcism. His workoffers a useful narrativeof the developmentof Jewishexorcism traditions,presentingthe complex subject in terms that make it more ap2. On the Egyptianand Romancalendars,see JackFinegan,Handbookof Biblical Chronology (Revised ed.; Peabody,MA: Hendrickson,1998), 18-25 (Egypt) and 64-68 (Rome).

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Review: [untitled] Author(s): Anne Oravetz Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 378-380 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131747 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews rennial leap year in 46 BCE and the subsequentreform of the 365-day Egyptian civil calendarin 22 BCE.2 Indeed,Elior assumes that the 364-day calendarmust have been intercalatedin some fashion (43, 92-93 n. 17, 103) to keep up with the sun. But it is not adequatelyexplainedpreciselyhow this calendarcould havebeen periodicallyintercalatedso as keep up with the sun while still preservingits "fixed, eternal,cosmic, sevenfold and fourfoldsymmetry"(44). If we look beyondthe exaggerations,we can recognize thatElior is onto somethinghere too. Ancient Jewish calendardisputeswere aboutmore thanjust dates and numbers.The differing calendarslikely reflecteddistinctideas abouthow ancientJews understoodthe relationshipbetween heaven and earth. Despite its overstatedarguments,this is a book that shouldbe readby those who are interestedin the history of Jewish mysticism, the Jewish temple cult and, indeed,second temple or early rabbinicJudaismbroadlyspeaking.This is an ambitious, broadlyconceived, work, one that covers a lot of groundand tries to synthesize a wealth of material.It's all too easy to find points of disagreementwith such a work. So it should also be said to Elior'screditthat it is primarilythrough such broadlyconceived projectsthat scholarshipcan really move forward. The workunderreview here translatesa book publishedin Hebrewin 2002 by Magnes Press, bearingthe title Templeand Chariot,Priests andAngels, Sanctuary and Heavenly Sanctuaries in Early Jewish Mysticism. Minor changes in structureand formatwill frustratethose who wish to quicklycomparethe two editions. While the English matchesthe Hebrewreasonablyenough, manyreadersof this journalmay choose to consult the Hebrewif for no otherreasonthanthe fact that the Magnes Press publicationprovidesan index of textual citations. In place of this invaluableindex, the English edition much less helpfully presentsreaders with advertisementsfor otherLittmanLibrarypublications. JonathanKlawans Boston University Boston, Massachusetts

J. H. Chajes. Between Worlds:Dybbuks,Exorcists, and Early Modern Judaism. Philadelphia:Universityof PennsylvaniaPress, 2003. 278 pp. Jewish mystical and magical texts are remarkablyrelevantto some of the most centralhistoriographicalthemes of early modern Europe;they are also remarkablyesoteric and confoundingto any nonspecialist. Providinga remedy to this incongruity,J. H. Chajesmakes a majorcontributionto both Jewish and general early modem historiographywith his first book, on Jewish spiritpossession and exorcism. His workoffers a useful narrativeof the developmentof Jewishexorcism traditions,presentingthe complex subject in terms that make it more ap2. On the Egyptianand Romancalendars,see JackFinegan,Handbookof Biblical Chronology (Revised ed.; Peabody,MA: Hendrickson,1998), 18-25 (Egypt) and 64-68 (Rome).

378

Book Reviews proachablewithout over-simplification.At the same time, Chajeslends the material depthand relevancethroughsensitive analysis of the chronologicallyand geographicallylocal circumstancesof the most significant early moderntreatments of the phenomenon.The appendix alone would be an offering of some significance, consisting of eleven originaltranslationsof early modernaccountsof spirit possession, andthis qualityof presentingimportantrawmaterialrunsthroughout the volume. Competentand detailed legwork is evident in the exposition of various exorcists'techniquesfromthe ancientworldandMiddleAges, throughLuria's unique methods in sixteenth-centurySafed, and up to later seventeenth-century attitudesto possession and demonology.Much of this materialis in the first chapter, "The Emergenceof DybbukPossession,"which arguesthat "therewas something new in the sixteenth century"as a long percolation of diverse traditions culminatedin the formationof the "classic"view of the dybbukin a period of unprecedentedfrequencyof possession and exorcism events. The second chapterthen swoops in closely on the Safediancontext,dwelling on the physical and historicalcharacteristicsof the city to overcomethe unfortunately necessary reliance on accounts that were written or published a century laterthanthe events themselves. Self-consciously anthropologicalas much as historicist, Chajesreadsthe possession narrativesclosely with an eye to the "spiritual economy"of the city, convincinglyelucidatingthe relationshipsand conditions that are only hinted at in the texts, and often wisely admittingof several spiritual, cultural,and interpersonalpossibilities at once. The thirdchapter,"TheTaskof the Exorcist,"delves into the details of the exorcismtechniquesthemselves,beginning with Luria'sinnovationsand then contrastingthese with more traditional,magical incantationsto which laterpractitionersreturned.Laterchaptersexploremoreperspectives on possession, as Chajes exposes the large role of spirituallypowerful early modem women in "DybbukPossession and Women'sSpirituality,"and explains Menassehben Israel'suse of Jewish traditionsabout spiritpossession as a tool against skepticism in soon-to-be-enlightenedseventeenth-centuryAmsterdam, in "Skepticsand Storytellers." Each such perspectiveis well chosen for its relevanceto salient characteristics of the earlymodem periodand the relationshipof the Jewishminorityto those characteristics.As Chajespoints out, the earlymodem periodhas long been known as a time of profusionof possessions and exorcismsin the Christianwest. The phenomenon has been evaluatedby general historiansin connection with the interrelatedfactors of gender,witchcraft,social and economic tensions, and religious change.Althoughmanyof these previousframeworksfor understandingpossession apply mainly or exclusively to Christiancontexts, Chajes complicatesmattersby showingthatJews, too, experienceda suddenrise in an interestin demons andpossession. He rejects the "influence model" as "largelypredicatedupon a view of Jewish cultureas foreign to its local environment.Seeing Jews as integralto their local environmentallows us to see themas full participantsin broadculturalmovements and mentalitiesthat were no more owned by Christiansthan by Jews"(8). Unfortunately,Chajes is unableto explore this complex relationshipfully, but the comparativeperspectiveundoubtedlyinformsmany of his choices throughoutthe book. 379

Book Reviews Between Worldsis also rich with materialrelevantto fascinatingquestions aboutthe earlymodem historyof Jews in particular.Women'sspirituality,the modernizing role of kabbalahand magic, and the role of the Sephardidiasporaboth in early exiles and later exconversos in Amsterdam,are all illuminatedas Chajes throws a spotlighton specific examples.At times, one wishes for more extensive analysis of the materialthus exposed: there is hardlymore thanpassing reference to the importantrecent debates about the impact of the expulsion on Jewish culture, especially mysticism,and Chajesonly touches on considerationsof elite versus popularreligious practices and knowledge as he considersthe role of gender in dybbukpossession. Even in the chapteron women's spirituality,the emphasisis on showing off the rawmaterial,while comparativeor phenomenologicalanalysis is relegatedto brief comments. Ultimately,these severalviewpointsover the valley of the possessing spirits give only partialimpressionsof underlyingconnections or drivinghistoricalfactors. However,as Chajespoints out, this complex territorywas previouslyso barrenthathe mustdevotemuchenergyto plantingthe first seeds. Even as he discusses the potentialof such a comparativeapproach,he makes the disclaimerthat his remarkswill necessarilybe "provisionaland speculative"(7). This book does show thatthereis prodigiousfruitto be hadfromthe shoots;some indicationof the growing interestin this areais also given by the felicitous publicationof MattGoldish's collection of diverseessays on the subject,SpiritPossession in Judaism:Cases and Contextsfrom the MiddleAgesto the Present(WayneStateUniversityPress,2003) at nearlythe sametime. It appearsthatmore scholarlyattentionto Jewishspiritpossession can be expected,and in the meantime,Chajeshas providedan inestimable service by bringingthis materialto light with sensitivityand aplomb. Anne Oravetz University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia,Pennsylvania

ChristopherR. Browning.TheOriginsof the Final Solution:TheEvolutionofNazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942, with contributions by Jiirgen Matthius. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, and Jerusalem:Yad Vashem, 2004. xii, 615 pp. ChristopherBrowningis perhapsmost widely known for his seminal study of the motives of the "ordinarymen" who perpetratedthe systematic murderof EuropeanJewry at the behest of the Third Reich. Nevertheless, in the past two decades he has devoted much of his attentionto studyingthe processes and decisions that led the Reich to make systematicmass murderits official policy and to providethe impetusandmeans for its implementation.Now he has broughthis empirical findings and interpretationstogetherin a single volume that provides the most rigorous,cogent, and lucid analysis currentlyavailableof this crucial problem in the history of the encounterbetween Nazi Germanyand the Jews. 380

Review: [untitled] Author(s): David Engel Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 380-382 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131748 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews Between Worldsis also rich with materialrelevantto fascinatingquestions aboutthe earlymodem historyof Jews in particular.Women'sspirituality,the modernizing role of kabbalahand magic, and the role of the Sephardidiasporaboth in early exiles and later exconversos in Amsterdam,are all illuminatedas Chajes throws a spotlighton specific examples.At times, one wishes for more extensive analysis of the materialthus exposed: there is hardlymore thanpassing reference to the importantrecent debates about the impact of the expulsion on Jewish culture, especially mysticism,and Chajesonly touches on considerationsof elite versus popularreligious practices and knowledge as he considersthe role of gender in dybbukpossession. Even in the chapteron women's spirituality,the emphasisis on showing off the rawmaterial,while comparativeor phenomenologicalanalysis is relegatedto brief comments. Ultimately,these severalviewpointsover the valley of the possessing spirits give only partialimpressionsof underlyingconnections or drivinghistoricalfactors. However,as Chajespoints out, this complex territorywas previouslyso barrenthathe mustdevotemuchenergyto plantingthe first seeds. Even as he discusses the potentialof such a comparativeapproach,he makes the disclaimerthat his remarkswill necessarilybe "provisionaland speculative"(7). This book does show thatthereis prodigiousfruitto be hadfromthe shoots;some indicationof the growing interestin this areais also given by the felicitous publicationof MattGoldish's collection of diverseessays on the subject,SpiritPossession in Judaism:Cases and Contextsfrom the MiddleAgesto the Present(WayneStateUniversityPress,2003) at nearlythe sametime. It appearsthatmore scholarlyattentionto Jewishspiritpossession can be expected,and in the meantime,Chajeshas providedan inestimable service by bringingthis materialto light with sensitivityand aplomb. Anne Oravetz University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia,Pennsylvania

ChristopherR. Browning.TheOriginsof the Final Solution:TheEvolutionofNazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942, with contributions by Jiirgen Matthius. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, and Jerusalem:Yad Vashem, 2004. xii, 615 pp. ChristopherBrowningis perhapsmost widely known for his seminal study of the motives of the "ordinarymen" who perpetratedthe systematic murderof EuropeanJewry at the behest of the Third Reich. Nevertheless, in the past two decades he has devoted much of his attentionto studyingthe processes and decisions that led the Reich to make systematicmass murderits official policy and to providethe impetusandmeans for its implementation.Now he has broughthis empirical findings and interpretationstogetherin a single volume that provides the most rigorous,cogent, and lucid analysis currentlyavailableof this crucial problem in the history of the encounterbetween Nazi Germanyand the Jews. 380

Book Reviews The book was commissionedin the early 1980s as partof YadVashem'scomprehensivehistory of the Holocaust. It was envisioned as the second of three volumes examiningthe evolutionof Nazi Jewishpolicy, following one devotedto the intervalbetween the establishmentof the ThirdReich in 1933 and Germany'sinvasion of Polandsix years laterandprecedingone surveyingthe so-called final solution's actual execution.These three works, in turn, were to provide a backdrop for a series of country-focusedstudies concentratedlargely on victims and bystanders.Only some of the country-focusedstudieshavebeen completed,andthey have been publishedonly in Hebrew.Browning'sis the first of the threeperpetrator-focusedvolumes to appearin any language. To understandthe book's scope and argument,this context must be kept in mind. Indeed,some readersmay be disturbedby the title's seeming suggestionthat "theorigins of the final solution"are to be found no earlierthan September1939. Browninghas workedaroundthis editoriallyimposed difficulty by construingthe notion "final solution"strictlyand delimiting his focus accordingly.Because the term appearedin Nazi documentsonly after that date, in the context of plans for mass expulsion of Polish and otherJews to a territorybeyond areasdesignatedfor Germansettlement,the book's first task must be to determinethe connectionbetween the conquestof Polandand Nazi thinkingabouthow to eliminatethe ostensible Jewish danger once and for all. And because the sense of the term was eventuallytransmutedfrom expulsion to systematic total killing, the course and causes of the transmutationmustbe the book'scentraltheme. Hence the book does not purportto explain the entire complex of phenomenacommonly grouped together as "the Holocaust"but only the thinking and actions of the Nazi regime's leadersand agents duringthe intervalwhen they themselves spoke of finally solving the Jewish question. Much has changedduringthe twentyyearsof the book'sgestationin the way historiansapproachthat subject.When Browningbegan his study,the intentionalist-functionalistdebatewas at its height. Browningwas an early critic of both positions: unlike the functionalistshe believed that the total murderof European Jewry was always a possible outcome of Hitler'sworld view, but he also rejected the intentionalistnotion that the Nazi regime aimed with systematic deliberation at that outcome from the start.Today most historianshave joined Browning in maintainingthat by late 1941 Nazi leaders had moved from a Hitler-inspireddeterminationto solve the Jewishproblemone way or anotherto the conviction,similarly encouragedby Hitler,that the only acceptable way to accomplish this goal was to kill every Jewish man, woman, and child within the regime'sreach. Most also agreethatthatmovementoccurredgraduallyandin stages,with changingconditions on the easternfrontserving as a principalcatalystfor the testing and eliminationof alternativeapproaches.Whatremainsat issue (in a voluminousliterature of which Browning is a master)is the set of contexts that gave rise to increasing radicalizationand ultimatelyinduced the regime to pursuemass murder.Browning arguesthatthe matrixfor radicalizationwas "theeuphoriaof victory."Indeed, he states, "thevision of the [ultimate]Final Solution ... crystallizedin the minds of the Nazi leadership"between mid-Septemberand late October 1941, at a time when the Germanarmywas advancingagainstLeningrad,Moscow, and Kiev, and 381

Book Reviews Hitler anticipatedimminent Soviet collapse (424, cf. 327). In this heady atmosphere,he suggests,Nazi leadersbelieved they could remakeEuropehoweverthey wished, includingrealizing Hitler'sprophecyof a continentcleansed of Jews. The "euphoriaof victory" thesis remains hotly contested. Browning marshals much evidence for his position while noting differentinterpretations.In the end, as he admits,some speculationmust enterthe debate,because the papertrail is not complete. His case is strongbut hardlyairtight.For example, the dating to October 1941 of the notion that mass killing was the preferredway to deal with Jews throughoutEuropeseems persuasive,but Browningnotes that at thattime it remainedunclearwhethersystematickilling would begin the following springor afterthe war.The decision to begin even before spring 1942 must then have been taken subsequently,and somethingother than victory euphoria,which dissipated duringNovember 1941, must have broughtit on. Browningdoes not offer a way out of this problem. Otherpoints can be debatedas well. Some recentresearchhas indicatedthat mass killings of Jews perpetratedby groups of Romanians,Croats, Ukrainians, Balts, and Poles duringthe first weeks afterGermany'sJune 1941 invasionof the Soviet Union may have startedsome Nazi officials thinking about making total murdertheirown policy. Browningdoes not considerthis argument(althoughJiirgen Matthiius,whom Browning invited to contributea chapterparallel to his on the evolutionof Nazi policy in the wake of the Soviet invasion,gives it some guarded credence).Also, althoughBrowningengages suggestions in the literaturethat decisive pressureto adopt systematic killing as Reich policy may have come up the chain of command from military and civilian personnel in the east, he still prefersa top-downanalysisand does not fully rebutsome seeminglytelling pieces of evidence pointing to a greaterrole for local officials. These quibbles, however, are minor compared to the book's surpassing achievementas a work of incisive analysis, intelligent synthesis, and clear explication. David Engel New YorkUniversity New York,New York

JudahM. Cohen. Throughthe Sands of Time:A History of the Jewish Community ofSt. Thomas,US. VirginIslands. Hanover,MA: BrandeisUniversityPress,2004. xxvi, 298 pp. Immediatelyfollowing his acknowledgments,Cohenbegins his volume with an invitationthat aims to evoke our interestin the Jews of St. Thomas.This chapter structure-in which the volume commences with what is in essence a justification for its publication-elicits an intriguingquestionaboutthe study of Jewish life. Cohen is asking us to consider why one should be interestedin this (and by implication,any?) small communityof Jews. His subsequentintroductorychapter 382

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Alan F. Benjamin Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 382-384 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131749 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews Hitler anticipatedimminent Soviet collapse (424, cf. 327). In this heady atmosphere,he suggests,Nazi leadersbelieved they could remakeEuropehoweverthey wished, includingrealizing Hitler'sprophecyof a continentcleansed of Jews. The "euphoriaof victory" thesis remains hotly contested. Browning marshals much evidence for his position while noting differentinterpretations.In the end, as he admits,some speculationmust enterthe debate,because the papertrail is not complete. His case is strongbut hardlyairtight.For example, the dating to October 1941 of the notion that mass killing was the preferredway to deal with Jews throughoutEuropeseems persuasive,but Browningnotes that at thattime it remainedunclearwhethersystematickilling would begin the following springor afterthe war.The decision to begin even before spring 1942 must then have been taken subsequently,and somethingother than victory euphoria,which dissipated duringNovember 1941, must have broughtit on. Browningdoes not offer a way out of this problem. Otherpoints can be debatedas well. Some recentresearchhas indicatedthat mass killings of Jews perpetratedby groups of Romanians,Croats, Ukrainians, Balts, and Poles duringthe first weeks afterGermany'sJune 1941 invasionof the Soviet Union may have startedsome Nazi officials thinking about making total murdertheirown policy. Browningdoes not considerthis argument(althoughJiirgen Matthiius,whom Browning invited to contributea chapterparallel to his on the evolutionof Nazi policy in the wake of the Soviet invasion,gives it some guarded credence).Also, althoughBrowningengages suggestions in the literaturethat decisive pressureto adopt systematic killing as Reich policy may have come up the chain of command from military and civilian personnel in the east, he still prefersa top-downanalysisand does not fully rebutsome seeminglytelling pieces of evidence pointing to a greaterrole for local officials. These quibbles, however, are minor compared to the book's surpassing achievementas a work of incisive analysis, intelligent synthesis, and clear explication. David Engel New YorkUniversity New York,New York

JudahM. Cohen. Throughthe Sands of Time:A History of the Jewish Community ofSt. Thomas,US. VirginIslands. Hanover,MA: BrandeisUniversityPress,2004. xxvi, 298 pp. Immediatelyfollowing his acknowledgments,Cohenbegins his volume with an invitationthat aims to evoke our interestin the Jews of St. Thomas.This chapter structure-in which the volume commences with what is in essence a justification for its publication-elicits an intriguingquestionaboutthe study of Jewish life. Cohen is asking us to consider why one should be interestedin this (and by implication,any?) small communityof Jews. His subsequentintroductorychapter 382

Book Reviews poses a second fundamentalquestion. It asks whether,in an age in which prevailing historicalmodels have been subjectto criticalreexamination,a history that is organizedby chronologyratherthan by theme can have scholarlyvalue. The core of his response to these questions is that the St. Thomas Jewish communityis an unusualinstance of "accumulativeethnicity"(xxii) and thus constitutesa pattern in Jewish ethnicity worthy of scholarly attention.The narrativeis arrangedin chronologicalsequenceto convey this pattern.Its unfoldingtemporalstructureallows the readerto watch Jewish ethnicitiesemerge both from, and in place of one another.In raising these questions, Cohen brings a reflexive stance to the narrative. Yet,socially constructedmemory seems to lie at the heartof the notion of accumulative ethnicity. Most Jews currentlyliving on St. Thomas are transplants from the American mainland. Might the volume's frameworkalso representan Americansearch for roots, and for roots that are special? It is after 1790 that St. Thomas becomes home to more than a few individual Jews. WesternPortugueseSephardicJews arrivefrom the Dutch colony of St. Eustatius(following Rodney'sattack)and from St. Domingue (escaping the battles for its independencefrom France). Several Jews from Morocco arrive contemporaneously.They are fleeing an ascending sultan'sretributionfor the loyalty shown to his predecessor.This heterogeneouspatternof immigrationcontinues into the present.SephardicJews arrivesporadicallyoverthe next centuryfromCuragao,in the 1850s and 1860s from Venezuela,and Ashkenazic Jews arrivefrom EasternEurope in the late nineteenthcentury.More have been arrivingfrom the U.S. following WorldWarII, and othersnow are arrivingfrom the Stateof Israel. Each small influx of Jews brings its own culturaltraditions,which alter without erasingthe patternsof Jewish worshipand the social relationsthatthey encounter in St. Thomas. This leads to changes in Jewish communal life that are accumulative more than transformative.Each new group of arrivalshas been small in number,thus unlikelyto replaceprevioustraditions.Heterogeneityin culturaldispositions has requiredcompromises.The continuingsmall size of the Jewishpopulation-rarely surpassing500-has meantthatthe proportionof ongoing to new residents has remained large enough to preserve preexisting practices until the mid-twentiethcentury. In many ways, this is a story about individuals, families, their social networks, and their reappearancesin variedsettings as much as it is of a community. Take, for example, Elijah Levy-Yuly (who so displeases the sultan referred to above), his bondservant,Elias Sarquy,and their descendants.After escaping to Gibraltar,Levy-Yulyfrees Sarquy,who settles in St. Thomas by 1795, and, after Levy-Yuly'sdeath, is followed to St. Thomas by Levy-Yuly'swife, daughter,and son, Moses Elias Levy (having droppedYuly from his name). The families then follow differing trajectories.Sarquywill remain a respected member of the St. ThomasJewish communityuntil his deathin 1849. He enters into business with a PortugueseSephardicJew,owns an impressiveamountof propertyin 1803 (20,048 squarefeet), and his wife owns a business in 1807. Moses Elias becomes a dry goods merchanton St. Thomas,a supporterof a statefor Jews in the U.S., andraises his two sons to be secular,proto-Zionists.At some point, the business partner of Moses Elias is EmanuelBenjamin,a PortugueseSephardiand cousin of Judah 383

Book Reviews P.Benjamin(who will become secretaryof state for the confederacy).When a fire destroyshis business in 1831, Moses Elias Levy moves to Floridaand attemptsto establisha homelandfor Jews there.A Floridacounty bears the Levy name in his honor. David, one of his sons, converts to Christianity,changes his surnameto Yulee, and becomes the first U.S. senatorfrom the state of Florida.Intriguinginterconnectionssuch as these are found throughoutthe volume. They provide a sense of continuityto events thatmight otherwisehave seemed fragmented,and a close look at the mechanismsof accumulativeethnicity. Although many of the congregation'sfiles have been lost, Cohen has conducteda diligent searchfor documentsthatcould compensatefor the gaps. He has drawnon a varietyof archivalsources as well as interviewswith currentresidents to achieve a remarkablybroadpictureof Jewish life on St. Thomas.These sources shapethe type of narrativethathe is able to present,a narrativethat while sympathetic and accessible avoids the nostalgic sentimentalitytoo often found in histories preparedwith congregationalsupport.And, while the notion of accumulative ethnicity may reflect a kind of wishful thinking(i.e., of memory), it also receives a good deal of detailed support. Alan E Benjamin PennsylvaniaState University UniversityPark,Pennsylvania

Derek J. Penslar.Shylock'sChildren:Economics and Jewish Identity in Modern Europe. The S. MarkTaperFoundationImprintin Jewish Studies. Berkeley:University of CaliforniaPress, 2001. xi, 374 pp. In the early modern and modern periods, the occupationalprofile of Jews in the West diverged dramaticallyfrom that of their neighbors and fellow citizens. Commerce,ratherthan agricultureor artisanalor industrialmanufacturing, provided the arena in which Jews labored to make a living. From an economic perspective,this was not a problem.It did not place Jews at a competitivedisadvantage. Indeed,the opposite was true. In the context of industrialization,urbanization, and mass consumption, buying and selling was more profitable than tolling in a field, workshop,or factory.Havingbeen forced into a narrowrangeof occupationsearlierin their history,Jews in the West now found themselves in an advantageousposition economically. However, for Gentiles, who rarely viewed Jews in a disinterestedlight, the Jewish distinctiveoccupationalprofile was problematic and often viewed as symptomaticof a more profoundpathology.In the nineteenthand twentieth centuries,with Jews becoming citizens of the states in which they lived and moving rapidly into the middle class, their economic distinctivenessbecame a centralfeatureof the debateabouttheirfate andfuture,what was known at the time as the "JewishQuestion." Derek Penslar'sShylock'sChildrenis an expansive treatmentof the history of this discourse about Jews and its impact on the self-understandingof Jewish 384

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Todd M. Endelman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 384-386 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131750 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews P.Benjamin(who will become secretaryof state for the confederacy).When a fire destroyshis business in 1831, Moses Elias Levy moves to Floridaand attemptsto establisha homelandfor Jews there.A Floridacounty bears the Levy name in his honor. David, one of his sons, converts to Christianity,changes his surnameto Yulee, and becomes the first U.S. senatorfrom the state of Florida.Intriguinginterconnectionssuch as these are found throughoutthe volume. They provide a sense of continuityto events thatmight otherwisehave seemed fragmented,and a close look at the mechanismsof accumulativeethnicity. Although many of the congregation'sfiles have been lost, Cohen has conducteda diligent searchfor documentsthatcould compensatefor the gaps. He has drawnon a varietyof archivalsources as well as interviewswith currentresidents to achieve a remarkablybroadpictureof Jewish life on St. Thomas.These sources shapethe type of narrativethathe is able to present,a narrativethat while sympathetic and accessible avoids the nostalgic sentimentalitytoo often found in histories preparedwith congregationalsupport.And, while the notion of accumulative ethnicity may reflect a kind of wishful thinking(i.e., of memory), it also receives a good deal of detailed support. Alan E Benjamin PennsylvaniaState University UniversityPark,Pennsylvania

Derek J. Penslar.Shylock'sChildren:Economics and Jewish Identity in Modern Europe. The S. MarkTaperFoundationImprintin Jewish Studies. Berkeley:University of CaliforniaPress, 2001. xi, 374 pp. In the early modern and modern periods, the occupationalprofile of Jews in the West diverged dramaticallyfrom that of their neighbors and fellow citizens. Commerce,ratherthan agricultureor artisanalor industrialmanufacturing, provided the arena in which Jews labored to make a living. From an economic perspective,this was not a problem.It did not place Jews at a competitivedisadvantage. Indeed,the opposite was true. In the context of industrialization,urbanization, and mass consumption, buying and selling was more profitable than tolling in a field, workshop,or factory.Havingbeen forced into a narrowrangeof occupationsearlierin their history,Jews in the West now found themselves in an advantageousposition economically. However, for Gentiles, who rarely viewed Jews in a disinterestedlight, the Jewish distinctiveoccupationalprofile was problematic and often viewed as symptomaticof a more profoundpathology.In the nineteenthand twentieth centuries,with Jews becoming citizens of the states in which they lived and moving rapidly into the middle class, their economic distinctivenessbecame a centralfeatureof the debateabouttheirfate andfuture,what was known at the time as the "JewishQuestion." Derek Penslar'sShylock'sChildrenis an expansive treatmentof the history of this discourse about Jews and its impact on the self-understandingof Jewish 384

Book Reviews elites andtheirconductof communalpolicy. In tracingthe origins of modernGentile anxiety about Jewish economic activity, Penslarbegins with Greco-Roman and early Christianhostility to trade,attitudesthattook shape when there was little that was distinctive about Jewish economic activity. In the medieval period, Christiantheological investmentin the idea of Jewishmisanthropy,along with the association of Jews and money lending, gave birth to notions of Jewish avarice, materialism,and oppression,while, in the early modernperiod,the concentration of Jews in low-status,marginaloccupations-money lending, pawnbroking,petty trade-strengthened these sentiments. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with the freeing of social and economic life from earlier restraints, a transformationthat benefited Jews, those who saw themselves as victims of this transformationidentified Jews as the creatorsand bearers of modernity and its troubles. Penslar's explanation of the development of Gentile ideas about Jewish economic behavioris richerand more complex thanthese few sentences suggest. His explanationweaves its way back and forth between changes in materialcircumstances and shifts in values and ideas. It is both balanced and satisfying. While his themes and materials are not novel, his treatmentof them is consistently intelligent and instructive. In this regard,let me single out his discussion of Germanresponses to the markedincrease in both very rich andvery poor Jews in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Court Jews, on the one hand, and beggars, bandits, and vagabonds, on the other). To shelter the essentialism of their view of Jews from evidence to the contrary,Germanwriters mentally collapsed the gap between the two extremes, asserting that both exhibited the same economic sensibility. In the early modern German imagination, rich and poor Jews behaved similarly in the marketplacebecause they sharedcommon values, which, in turn, derived from a common unitary mentalit&,or essence. All were thieves, profiteers, manipulators,scoundrels, rogues, and the like. In Penslar's words: "The Court Jew and the Jewish bandit were typologically similar; both were pariahswho, coming from the marginsof Germansociety, used unconventional methods to improvetheir status.Anti-Semitic sensibility graspedthis similarity, but, by placing it within a pre-existing stereotype of the Jew as usurer, merely transformedand strengthenedpreexistingprejudicesagainst Jewish economic behavior"(21). Penslaris less concernedwith the history of this discourse, however,than with its impact on Jewish identity and policy from the haskalah on. The disturbing truththatemerges fromhis accountis thatwesternJewish leaderseverywhere, includingwesternizedJews in EasternEurope,internalizedthe Gentile belief that Jewish economic life was flawed (in one way or another)and called for its reformationor complete overhaul.While less likely to acceptthe idea that Jewishcommercial ethics were corrupt,they did acceptthe notionthat the overrepresentation of Jews in commercewas a liability,in largepartbecause it createda bad impression amongnon-Jews.Maskilim,Zionists, Bolsheviks,andwesternphilanthropists alike believed that too many Jews laboredwith their minds and not enough with their hands. They repeatedly launched schemes to turn Jewish peddlers, shopkeepers,and salesmen into manuallaborers,farmers,craftsmen,and,later,indus385

Book Reviews trial workers.It is now clear, of course, that theirs was a monumentalmisunderstandingof macroeconomictrends.As Penslarnotes, Jewish proponentsof occupational restructuring"rarelyshowed the slightest awareness"that the sectors of the economy in which they wished to directJews were in the long run less secure than trade(121). Fortunatelyfor their descendents,most Jews ignored the advice of their leaderson this score. In the second half of the twentiethcentury,interestin the economic regenerationof the Jews vanished.As Penslarexplains, in the yearsbetween the French Revolutionand WorldWarII, thinkingaboutthe place of the Jews in Europewas linked to anxieties about industrialcapitalismand its social consequences.When Europeanscame to terms with modernity,howeverreluctantlyand incompletely, commerce lost much of its stigma and Jewish concentrationin business much of its problematiccharacter.(The proliferationof American-stylebusiness schools in Europein recentdecades is eloquenttestimonyto this shift in sentiment.)It is not clear how far Penslarwishes to push his notion of the "inextricablelinkage"between the "JewishQuestion"and "anxietyabout the new industrialorder"(262). If I understandhim correctly,it accounts for more thanthe rise and fall of the discourse of Jewish economic dysfunction. More broadly,it would seem to help explain why societies with politically assertive industrialand commercial bourgeoisies who were confident about the universalityof their values (the United States and GreatBritain)displayedless anti-Semitismthan societies in which liberal capitalismwas less firmly rooted.After all, even in Germany'sbrief heyday of political liberalismin the 1860s, when publicists and intellectualshailed commerce and industryas the saviors of the nation, there was a markeddecrease in public concernaboutJewisheconomic distinctiveness.At this time, Penslarwrites, "the German middle class's most popularjournal, Die Gartenlaube,portrayed Jews in a most positive light, in keeping with its generallyhigh opinion of commerce as an ennoblingactivity and its associationof parasitismnot with Jews but with the idle aristocracy"(139). Whatwe have here is a revival,reworking,and extension of Salo Baron'sinsights aboutthe connectionbetween early capitalismandtoleration,briefly developed sixty years ago in the final chapterof his three-volumework The Jewish Community(1942). Because Baron did not complete his magnumopus and thus never fleshed out his thinkingaboutthis connection,his work has not been influential in shaping the historiographyof the modern period. This is a shame, for Baronsaw linkagesthathave eluded laterhistorians,especiallythose who have focused on the haskalah and other reformist movements as agents of change. Penslar'srevival and deploymentof these ideas is most welcome. Todd M. Endelman Universityof Michigan Ann Arbor,Michigan

386

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Pinchas Giller Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 387-388 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131751 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews Moshe Halamish. TheKabbalah in NorthAfrica:A Historical and CulturalSurvey. TelAviv: Ha-KibbutzHa-Meuhad,2001. 239 pp. (Hebrew). In his Kabbalah:New Perspectives,Moshe Idel envisioned a reorderingof scholarly inquiry into Kabbalah,in which the intellectual divisions between the world of the traditionalkabbalistsand academic scholars would be bridged.The writingsof Moshe Halamish,while not conceived with the specific purposeof fulfilling such a mandate,nonethelesscreatea realmof discoursein which traditional models are, at least, not outraged.Halamishwrites in such a way that a dialogue with the traditionalpurveyorsof Kabbalahmay be at least envisioned. Like many scholarsemerging from Israel in the last century,Halamishinitially devotedhimself to addressingunansweredquestionsand unexploredgaps in the body of writings left by Gershom Scholem. In carving up of turf that characterizes the structureof the "JerusalemSchool" of Kabbalahstudy,Halamishhas concentratedon prayer.His authorityand expertise in that area has been amply demonstratedin the recentHebrewanthologyof his collected writingson the subject: Kabbalah:In Liturgy,Halakhahand Customs(RamatGan: Bar IlanUniversity Press, 2000). This volume, TheKabbalahin NorthAfrica, seeks to fill anothergap in contemporaryscholarship.Recent allegationsof an anti-Easternbias among scholars of Kabbalahremain undemonstratedand probablyunfair.The truth,however,is that the religious communitiesof the non-Ashkenazicworld remainrelativelyunservedby scholarlystudies,with the exception of the oeuvreof Meir Benyahuand the studies of specific figures by younger scholars such as Boaz Huss and Yoni Garb.There is an absence of comprehensivetreatmentssuch as Jacob Elbaum's Opennessand Insularity:Late SixteenthCenturyJewish Literaturein Poland and Ashkenaz(Jerusalem:Magnes, 1990) detailing the religious life and intellectual activity of large areasof the Sephardicworld. This overview seeks to illuminatethe contributionsof the mystical communities of Morocco,Tunisia,andAlgeria-an areathatwas no less a cradleof mystical thoughtandpracticethanthe Pale of Settlement.As an introductionandguide to the flourishingof Kabbalahin those communities,from its origins to the present, this modest work is indispensable.Halamish describes the ways in which mysticalideas enteredNorthAfrica andtracesthe growthof differentmysticalcircles and the communitiesthatnurturedthem. He lists as many mystical figures as possible, from illustrious figures such as Shimon Lavi and AbrahamAzulai to shadowy figures alluded to in a few emendationsto a single manuscript.He describes the paths throughwhich the ideas of the Safed KabbalistsIsaac Luriaand Shalom Sharcabiwere introducedinto variousNorthAfricancommunities,andthe extent of their receptionamong differentcircles of mystics. Halamishdescribesthe ways in which kabbalisticideas andpracticesshaped and influencedthe daily life and folk religion of differentNorthAfrican communities. He shines a strongandvivid light on the communityin Djerba,an islandoff the coast of Tunisiathatwas predominantlyJewish.In separatechapters,Halamish surveys the effects of mysticism on daily life in the differentJewish communities of the cosmopolitancities on the coast as well as the wilder reaches of the Atlas 387

Book Reviews Mountains.He discusses the impact of Kabbalahon Jewish Law (halakhah)and ritual. In additionto enteringdaily life throughthose conventionalvenues, there was an efflorescenceof practicalKabbalahin the form of shamanisticandhealing practicesand an explosion of gravesitepilgrimageafterthe practicesof the Safed kabbalists.There was prodigious composition of scripturalcommentaries,theoretical literature,religious poetry,prayersand devotionaltikkunim,or specialized rites. In these chapters,a pictureemergesof a series of communitiesin which Kabbalah served as the popularreligion, being incorporatedinto Jewish life with less of the self-consciousness or angst of communitiesacross the Mediterranean. Although it only begins to scratchthe surfaceof its subject,this modest volume should point scholarstowardsmany rich and hithertoneglected areasof further research.Forthatreason alone, it deserves the widest possible circulation. Pinchas Giller University of Judaism Los Angeles, California

Elisheva Carlebach.Divided Souls: Convertsfrom Judaism in Germany,15001750. New Haven:Yale UniversityPress, 2001. xii, 324 pp. Unlike the Sephardim,who acceptedthe concept of taqiyyaandthe practice of marranismto cope with forced conversionsunder Islam, the Ashkenazim, especially the Jewish communitiesof GermanophoneCentralEurope,developed an uncompromisingrejectionof Christianbaptism.Insteadof marranismand deception under Islam, the Ashkenazim,in the persecutionsof the Crusadesand after, developed a strong sense of martyrdomand detested baptism, whetherforced or voluntary,as ritual and spiritualdefilement and pollution. The small numberof Jewish convertsto Christianitywere not so much sinnersbut apostates(meshummadim or the vertilgten).Given this Ashkenazi tradition,it is not surprisingthat converts were marginalizedin Jewish historiographyand scholarship.Nevertheless, as Carlebacharguespersuasivelyin this book, they played a significant role in Jewish-Christianrelations in early modern Germany;and given the fact that conversionsrose rapidlyin the late eighteenthcentury,it is all the more important to understandthe prehistoryof Jewish conversionand integrationin Germanyafter Emancipation. Carlebach'sstudyis based on an exhaustiveanalysisof the autobiographical writings of converts in German-speakinglands between 1500 and 1750. Before she embarkson a thoroughexaminationof these texts, Carlebachprovidesa helpful frameworkin the first two chapters,in which she contraststhe notion of conversion in the Sephardi and Ashkenazi communities and briefly discusses the negative images of the convertin the medievalconfrontationbetween ecclesia and synagoga. Chapter3 focuses on the sixteenth century as a turningpoint in conversion andoffers incisive analysisof the writingsof the threemajorconverts:Vic-

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Review: [untitled] Author(s): R. Po-chia Hsia Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 388-389 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131752 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews Mountains.He discusses the impact of Kabbalahon Jewish Law (halakhah)and ritual. In additionto enteringdaily life throughthose conventionalvenues, there was an efflorescenceof practicalKabbalahin the form of shamanisticandhealing practicesand an explosion of gravesitepilgrimageafterthe practicesof the Safed kabbalists.There was prodigious composition of scripturalcommentaries,theoretical literature,religious poetry,prayersand devotionaltikkunim,or specialized rites. In these chapters,a pictureemergesof a series of communitiesin which Kabbalah served as the popularreligion, being incorporatedinto Jewish life with less of the self-consciousness or angst of communitiesacross the Mediterranean. Although it only begins to scratchthe surfaceof its subject,this modest volume should point scholarstowardsmany rich and hithertoneglected areasof further research.Forthatreason alone, it deserves the widest possible circulation. Pinchas Giller University of Judaism Los Angeles, California

Elisheva Carlebach.Divided Souls: Convertsfrom Judaism in Germany,15001750. New Haven:Yale UniversityPress, 2001. xii, 324 pp. Unlike the Sephardim,who acceptedthe concept of taqiyyaandthe practice of marranismto cope with forced conversionsunder Islam, the Ashkenazim, especially the Jewish communitiesof GermanophoneCentralEurope,developed an uncompromisingrejectionof Christianbaptism.Insteadof marranismand deception under Islam, the Ashkenazim,in the persecutionsof the Crusadesand after, developed a strong sense of martyrdomand detested baptism, whetherforced or voluntary,as ritual and spiritualdefilement and pollution. The small numberof Jewish convertsto Christianitywere not so much sinnersbut apostates(meshummadim or the vertilgten).Given this Ashkenazi tradition,it is not surprisingthat converts were marginalizedin Jewish historiographyand scholarship.Nevertheless, as Carlebacharguespersuasivelyin this book, they played a significant role in Jewish-Christianrelations in early modern Germany;and given the fact that conversionsrose rapidlyin the late eighteenthcentury,it is all the more important to understandthe prehistoryof Jewish conversionand integrationin Germanyafter Emancipation. Carlebach'sstudyis based on an exhaustiveanalysisof the autobiographical writings of converts in German-speakinglands between 1500 and 1750. Before she embarkson a thoroughexaminationof these texts, Carlebachprovidesa helpful frameworkin the first two chapters,in which she contraststhe notion of conversion in the Sephardi and Ashkenazi communities and briefly discusses the negative images of the convertin the medievalconfrontationbetween ecclesia and synagoga. Chapter3 focuses on the sixteenth century as a turningpoint in conversion andoffers incisive analysisof the writingsof the threemajorconverts:Vic-

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Book Reviews tor von Carbon,JohannesPfefferkorn,and Anton Margaritha.Chapter4 follows the chronologicalunfoldingand tells the story of the SabbataiZvi movementand the impact of failed messianism on conversionin the Holy Roman Empire. The next six chapters(5- 10) form the heartof the book and representCarlebach's original contribution.Based on a careful reading of conversion autobiographies, anti-Jewishwritings, and ChristianHebraica,Carlebachpresents the majorthemes of this book: the divided self of the convert,as revealed in autobiographies,with the permanenttension between the Jewish and Christianselves; the professions of the converts, who tended to be recruitedfrom second-ranking religious positions in the Jewish communitiesand whose prospectsfor social advancementafter baptismremainedbleak throughoutthe early modernperiod; an especiallygood analysisof the familyruptureoccasionedby conversion,especially in disputes over child custody and child baptism;a short discussion of language and identity;the examinationof the contributionsconvertsmade in their writings on Jewishrituals;and lastly,the rivalrybetweenJewishconvertsand ChristianHebraists.The final chapterlooks at the convert in the age of Enlightenment,when fewer obstacles stood in the way of social integration. The natureof Carlebach'ssources helps to determinethe shapeof the analysis. The self-referential nature of convert writings, the high-degree of intertextuality (Margaritha'sDer GantzJiidisch Glaub, 1530 was cited into the late eighteenthcenturyby both convertsandChristianHebraists,for example),andthe ahistoricalcharacterof exempla citations in the writings all make for a rich and nuancedtextualanalysis. Particularlyimpressivein this regardis Carlebach'ssensitive readingof the issues of language, identity,and the largerinterplaybetween the residualJewish self and the new identity strivenafterin convertwritings.The combinationof ChristianprejudicetowardJewishconvertsandthe need felt by the latterto bridgetheirtwo communitiesimplied thatthe convertcould never escape his Jewish identityduringthe early modernperiod.While self-referentialsources privilege the interpretationof self and text, they can sometimes provideinformation on the real lives of converts.In her discussion of family rupture,for example, Carlebachskillfully draws on other courses to contextualizethe cases of family dispute, but the social picture remains rathersketchy,a shortcoming that could have been compensatedfor if judicial sources in city archiveshad also been used. All in all, within the declaredgoals of Divided Souls, Carlebachhas given the readeran insightfuland sensitive interpretationof the writings by convertsin early modern Germany.She has furthercontextualized this reading within the larger milieu of Jewish-Christian relations. This is an impressive intellectual achievementthat leaves the readerwishing to know more about the social world of the convert. R. Po-chia Hsia State University Pennsylvania UniversityPark,Pennsylvania

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Review: [untitled] Author(s): Steven M. Lowenstein Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 390-391 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131753 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews John M. Efron.Medicine and the GermanJews: A History. New Haven and London:Yale UniversityPress, 2001. viii, 343 pp. This volume is an ambitiousand wide-ranging(perhapstoo wide-ranging) study of the interrelationshipbetween medicine and German-speakingJews throughoutthe ages. In essence it deals with two separatebut intertwinedissues: German-speakingJews in the medical professionandthe use of medical discourse to analyze and evaluate the Jewish people. The book covers a wide area both chronologicallyand geographically."GermanJews" is interpretedvery broadly and includes a numberof East Europeanfigures who either wrote in Germanor were trainedin Germanuniversities.Althoughthe bulk of the volume (Chaps.47) deals with the period from around 1870 to the beginning of WorldWarI, the first three chapters"beginat the beginning"(the MiddleAges) and carrythe story up to the late eighteenthcentury. This book is a broadeningof Efron'searlier work, Defenders of the Race: Jewish Doctors and Race Science in Fin-de-Siecle Europe,widening the chronological frame and narrowingthe geographic area while expanding beyond the racial aspects of the scientific and medical analysis of the Jews. Efron'sanalysis is heavily influenced by the currentlypopularschool of study of the body often associated with the name of Sander Gilman. Efron claims, with considerable justification, that his findings shed light on broaderaspects of CentralEuropean culture,especially the natureof modernJewish identityand of modernanti-Semitism. Medicine and the GermanJews is based on a wide variety of primaryand secondary sources in English, Hebrew, German, and Yiddish. Efron generally handles his sources well, though occasionally he misses the nuances of some of the Germanand Yiddish original sources he quotes. The book is markedby numerous fascinatingdigressions into the generalhistory of the medical profession or wider aspects of Jewish culture (e.g., a discussion of the feldshers [medical healers without formal medical school training] or Jewish diet and its relationship to health). To my mind, the sections of the book that deal with the role of medicine in constructingthe image of modernEuropeanJews are strongerthanthe sections of the history of Jews in the medical profession.The first chapter,on the emergence of the medievalJewishphysician,seems overlygeneraland covers a vast topic too sketchily.In the second chapter,the lengthy section on the early modernpolemic against Jewish doctors (45-57) was particularlyinteresting.It seems to justify Efron'sclaim thatsixteenth-centuryGermany"developeda vocabularyand a canonized set of beliefs aboutthe Jewishphysicianthatremaineda permanentfixture of German anti-Semitism into the modern period" (46). The third chapter,on "Haskalahand Healing,"concentrateson a close analysis of the writing of three Jewish physicians of the eighteenth century: Elcan Wolf, Moshe Markuze, and MarkusHerz. I found Efron'sanalysis of Herz'sattackon the Jewish traditionof early burial in the context of late eighteenth-centuryfears aboutburial alive particularityilluminating.Despite the interestingcontent in Markuze'swork, I won-

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Book Reviews deredaboutthe inclusion of his workwrittenin Yiddishby an East Europeandoctor (even if trainedin Prussia). If, as Efron claims, the Haskalahdoctors set an agendafor laterJewishcriticismsof tradition,one wonderswhy he skips to the late nineteenthcenturywith virtuallyno chronologicalbridge between his three Haskalah doctorsand the nineteenth-century fin de siecle. The heartof the book is in Chapters4 to 6: "TheJewishBody Degenerate?," "The Psychopathologyof EverydayJewish Life," and "In Praise of Jewish Ritual."The clever titles give only an approximateidea of the contents of each chapter. Chapter4 deals at length with the contradictionbetween medical statistics, which showed Jews to be healthierthan the rest of the population,and the widespread image of "an enduringJewish type-the sickly Jew."After detailed discussion aboutthe lowerinstanceof alcoholismand tuberculosisamongJews, their lower infant mortalityrate and longer life expectancy,Efron gives a fascinating gender-basedanalysis.The image of the male Jew was "feminized,"depictinghim as lacking the "manly"vice of alcoholism but instead,like women, having a hysterical concern abouthis own health. Jews as urban,rootless, and homeless did not fit into the image of national greatness based on a healthy peasantryor knightly warriorsconstruedby fin de sidcle Europeannationalism.Chapter5 analyzes the image of Jews as neurotic, hysterical,and disproportionatelyprone to mental illness. The sixth chapterdeals with medical and scientific debates about Jewish rituals such as kashruth,ritual slaughter,and circumcision.Again he shows the contrastbetween the generally positive opinions or medical expertsand the overwhelminglynegativeimage propoundedby anti-Semiticpublicists.The seventhchapter,dealing with Jews in the fin de siecle medical profession, returnsto the earliertheme of polemical attacks on Jewishphysiciansand connects them with the huge increasein the numbersof Jewish doctorsin the period. Not only are the sections of the book dealing with Jews in the medical profession less originalthanthe sections on medical views of the Jews, but they also include more errors.Although the errorsdo not generally invalidatethe general argumentof these parts of the study,they do show a lack of care in dealing with statistics. In one example, Efron misreads a statistic that 59 percent of Jewish universitystudentsstudiedmedicine as if it showedthat 59 percentof medical students were Jews. There are also occasional chronological or geographicalmisstatementssuch as Efron'sreference to the "emancipationdiscussion" in 1743, almost forty years before the discussion began. Despite such errors,the book is full of fascinatingfacts and insights. It helps us understandanti-Jewishhostility in a new way and adds significantly to our understandingof the ways in which the modernimage of Jews has been constructed. Steven M. Lowenstein Universityof Judaism Los Angeles, California

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Review: [untitled] Author(s): Ezra Mendelsohn Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 392-393 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131754 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews Haya Bar-Itzhak.Jewish Poland-Legends of Origin: Ethnopolitics and Legendary Chronicles.Detroit:WayneStateUniversityPress, 2001. 195 pp. The author,an Israeli folkloristwho teaches at the Universityof Haifa, has hadthe excellent idea of scrutinizingthe various"legendsof origin"of Polish Jewry. She makes use of worksby HebrewandYiddish authors,publishedin modern times but based on folk materialof considerableantiquity,and of materialscollected by ethnographersof pre-Holocaust Jewish Eastern Europe and by researchersin Israel. Her linguistic skills are admirable(she discusses materialin Germanand Polish as well as both Jewish languages),andher book, while it does not altogetheravoid professionaljargon, is definitely accessible to the nonspecialist. This short volume is divided into five chapters.The first chapterdiscusses "namemidrashim,"that is, stories that derive the very name of Poland from the Hebrew wordspo-lin, meaning "dwell here."The second deals with "legends of acceptance,"that have to do with the variousways in which the Jews were greeted on theirarrivalby theirPolish hosts. In this case the authordetects two models: one emphasizingthe close and friendlyrelationsbetween Jews and Poles and the other placing more emphasis on the voluntarysegregationof the Jews from their non-Jewish neighbors. Chapter3 is devoted to tales concerning AbrahamProchownik, the Jewish gunpowdermerchantwhom the ninth-centuryPoles wished to make theirking, and Chapter4 takes up the story of Esterke,the legendarymistress or wife of the fourteenth-centuryking, Casimirthe Great.Finally,Chapter5 discusses the various legends that grew up aroundthe founding of Polish synagogues. Bar-Itzhakbelieves thatthese legends of origin have much to teach us about Jewish attitudestowardstheir own community and towardthe country in which they lived, and she succeeds in convincing the reader.Indeed,as a historianI can only welcome the author'simportantobservationthat these ancient legends have evolved overtime, thatthey have meantdifferentthingsto differentgenerationsof Polish Jews, and that the publishedversions of these legends must be understood in their properhistorical and social context. This context, however,is not always fully demarcated.Bar-Itzhakis surely right to insist that the version of the Jews' first arrivalin Polandpublishedin 1861 by MarekDubs in the Jewish-Polishjournal Jutrzenkareflects this journal'sintegrationiststance and its desire to emphasize the amicable and mutuallybeneficial aspects of the early relations between Jews and Poles, but she does not tell us very much aboutthe "integrationistcamp" then emergingwithin Galicianand Russian-PolishJewry.Nor am I convincedthat the eighteenth-centuryGalician memoirist Dov Ber of Bolech6w (here rendered Bolichow), who publisheda version of this story that promotesthe "segregationist model" of early Polish-Jewishcoexistence, should be called a maskil (46). She is, however, surely right to read all of these legends as, among other things, a species of Jewishapologetics.In her summaryshe notes thatthey servedto bestow a "spiritualandreligious stampof approvalto the very act of settlementin andcontinuedpresencein Poland"to demonstratethe Jewishpresenceon Polish soil since

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Book Reviews time immemorial,emphasizethe importantJewish contributionsto the welfare of the Polish state (includingthe Jews' magical abilityto insurethe properamountof rain), and point out that good relationshad existed between the "hosts"and their "guests,"althoughthese relationssouredover time (159). The authordevotes a good deal of space to a close readingof the reworking of some of these tales by ShmuelYosef Agnon, the great Galician-bornHebrew writer.This seems, at first glance, a ratherunexpectedexercise for a folkloristAgnon, after all, was a highly sophisticatedauthorand an impeccablerepresentative of Jewish "high culture,"not exactly a representativeof the "folk."Nonetheless, Bar-Itzhak'sanalysis of his renditions of the legends of Polish Jewry constitutes,for this reader,the highlight of her book. We are shown how Agnon, while basing himself on the ancient tales, subvertsthem by suggesting in various subtleways thatJews and Poles were not destinedto live togetherin harmony,and thatthe only propercourse for modernPolish Jewrywas to seek redemptionin the Landof Israel.In otherwords,Agnon rejectedthe idea-suggested in the name of midrashim-that Polandwas a sacred space for Jews and impartsto the various legends a Zionist sensibility.As far as he is concerned,"the pact [between Jews and Poles] is likely to be breachedbecause of the disparitybetween pagan Polish materialismand the Jewish view that real life depends upon the life of the spirit" (85). His version of the Esterkestory-according to which the king of Polandfell madly in love with a simple Jewish girl and,as a result,treatedhis Jewish subjects with exemplarygenerosity-makes the same point. We have here, then, another fascinatingexampleof how the ideologicalbent of the teller of the tale informsthe tale itself, bending it to his particularworldview-"segregationist" in the case of the traditionalistDov Ber of Bolech6w, "integrationist"in the case of Dubs, and Zionist in the case of Agnon. The book is enhancedby a largenumberof interestingillustrations,although it must be said that not all of them are closely relatedto the text. The artisticrepresentationof the arrivalof the Jews in Polandand the Esterkestory were themes takenup by severalprominentPolish artistsof Jewishorigin, includingAleksander LesserandMaurycyGottlieb.On the Polish side, no less a figure thanJanMatekjo, the greatest representativeof nineteenth-centurynationalist art, devoted a remarkableand highly idiosyncraticcanvasto the "receptionof the Jews in Poland" in 1096, in which a Jewish delegationto the courtof WiadyslawHermanin Plock is led by the Jewish travelerBenjaminof Tudela!An analysis of the visual renditions of these "legends of origins"would no doubt serve as a fascinatingsupplement to Bar-Itzhak'sanalyses of the texts. For the time being, we can be grateful to her for demonstratingthat these stories have much to teach us aboutthe internal world of Polish Jewry. Ezra Mendelsohn HebrewUniversity Jerusalem,Israel

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Review: [untitled] Author(s): Deborah Dash Moore Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 394-395 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131755 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

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Book Reviews Eli Lederhendler.New YorkJews and the Decline of UrbanEthnicity,1950-1970. Syracuse:SyracuseUniversityPress, 2001. xix, 275 pp. The firstthinga readershouldknowaboutthis book is thatit was writtenfrom Jerusalem.No Jewishcity in history,certainlyno diasporacity,can hope to compete with Jerusalem.Lookingdown fromJerusalem,New Yorklooks decidedlygrim.As Lederhendlernotes withadmirablebrevity,the "eventsof May-June 1967threwinto relief the apparentgulf betweenIsraelis(who could fend for themselves)and Jews (who could not)" (190). DiasporacondemnsJews to mere ethnic existence, to life as one groupamongothers.In the 1960s New YorkJews recognized"thatDiaspora life hadbecome existentiallyproblematic"(190). They faced "culturaldespair,"decline of community,and a loss of nerve thatchallengedtheirearlier,"utopian"optimism abouturbanlife, its freedom,and its Jewishpossibilities(87). The second thing a readershouldknow is thatthis reviewer'sbook, At Home in America: Second GenerationNew YorkJews (1981) is explicitly challenged. Lederhendlerinvites an "ongoingcollegial exchange"in his preface(xvi). This review is offeredin thatspirit.I havebeen waitingfor at least a decadefor such a book to appearthatbothbuildson my workon ethnicityin the interwardecadesandseeks to extendthe story and revise it. Lederhendler,however,writes not as a social historianbut as a culturalhistorian.I confess at the onset that I find Lederhendler's culturaltack elusive and frustrating,leavingme wonderingwhy certainindividuals get a lot of attention(NathanGlazer,IrvingHowe,Alfred Kazin,and Saul Bellow) and others(fill in your own list of importantnovelists,essayists,philosophers,rabbis, musicians, artists,critics) don't. I should state my conclusions at the outset: Lederhendlerdoes not convinceme of "theJews' inabilityto maintainandtransmit the urbanethnic lifestyle thattheirparentshad invented"(202). Despite the title, the book focuses on the 1960s, specifically the half-decade from 1964 to 1969 when New York succumbedto riots, bitter conflict between AfricanAmericansandJewsoverpubliceducation,anda breakdownin city services. Jewishpopulationin the city plummetedduringthe 1960s.This late and short-lived departurefor the suburbsreducedthe city's Jewishpopulationfrom approximately 2.1millionto 1.2million.Whatis strikingaboutJewishparticipationin "whiteflight" is how rapidit was andhow brief,unlikethe movementof otherwhites,who started leaving in 1950 and continuedto leave after 1970. Thus Jews remaina significant percentageof the city's white population,and a majorityof the metropolitanarea's Jewishpopulationcontinuesto live in New York.Suburbanization providesthe context for Lederhendlerto explorethe weaknessesof Jewishculture,the fragmentation of Jewishpolitics, the vapidityof religiousactivity,and the failureof Jewishlabor unionsto integratea new workingclass into the promiseof urbanlife. Lederhendler'sindictmentis powerful.He characterizesJewishculturein the 1960s as one of "retrieval," burdenedby nostalgiafor a lost partin EasternEurope and the LowerEast Side. Judaism,too, floundersin the 60s, despite an impressive arrayof religious thinkersliving and writing in New York.Lederhendleris not interestedin institutionaldevelopment,althoughhe mentions briefly the enormous numbersof nationaland internationalorganizationsheadquarteredin the city. Nor is he concernedwith congregationalrabbis,despite their intellectualprominence 394

Book Reviews (e.g., Milton Steinberg)and leadership(e.g., EmmanuelRackman).Theological pessimism accompaniedpolitical pessimism and culturalpessimism. All moved resolutelytowardan inward,postintegrationist,Judaism.Lederhendlerarguesthat Jews sought "civility"in politics. He prefersthis term to liberalismas it also defends the legitimacy and authorityof law, a position sharedby Jewish neoconservativesas well as liberals.The pursuitof civility fragmentedJewishpolitics andthat ultimatelygave Jews morepower.Indeed,Jews emergefromthe 1960s more firmly entrenchedin positionsof authoritythanin previousdecades.Ultimately,Lederhendleragreeswith NathanGlazer'sextraordinarily ahistoricalstatement:"Evenif all the Jews had gone to Argentinaor Canada,New Yorkwould still be New York, andBuenosAires andMontrealwould still only be prettymuchwhatthey are"(50). In short,Jews didn'tshapeNew York,thoughthe city did influencetheirethniclife because they came as immigrantswith such weak ethnicity. So what'swrong with this picture?Well, if one assumes that diasporaJewish life is not hopelessly ineffectual,then one must ask how the impressivecultural achievementsof New YorkJews in the postwar decades emerged.As a social historian,I look to lived realities:the communitiesof artistsand writers,the congregations and institutionsthat sustainedreligious thinkersand intellectuals,the audiencesthatattendedconcertsandperformancesandpurchasedbooks andmagazines. New YorkJews nourishedall those writersand sociologists who attacked them for their bourgeois pretensions,their lack of religious zeal, and their hopeless love affairnot with "civility"but with America.New YorkJews also continued to produce labor leaders on the left who organizedAfrican American and Puerto Rican workers (e.g., local 1199) and who struggled against national antiurbanpolicies that encouragedsuburbanizationthroughmassive highway subventions and the GI bill. Changes and conflicts occurredin the city. Jews moved out of old occupations into new ones; they moved out of old neighborhoodsinto new ones; they tore the city down and built it up. But neitherchange nor conflict spell decline (though there are strongcurrentsin Americanand Jewish culturethat bemoanboth). Ethnicity is interactive.Jews come to understandthemselves in relationto otherJews and to non-Jews among whom they live. In the postwardecades, New YorkJews had to reconfiguretheir identity as Americansin relationto Israeland as Jews in relation to African Americans and Puerto Ricans. But shared values, attitudes, ways of living and, yes, moral communityenduredamong New YorkJews. Were AvromReisin to returnto the city today,he could easily pen his poem thatpraised not only the multitudeof "countries"and "tongues"but also the experienceof being "nowherea stranger"and "everywhere,a free man."The languagesmay be different(IsraeliHebreworYiddish)but the fundamentalNew YorkJewishdiasporic experienceendures. DeborahDash Moore VassarCollege Poughkeepsie,New York

395

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Bernard Reich Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 396-397 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131756 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews MenachemKlein. Jerusalem:The ContestedCity.New York:New YorkUniversity Press (in associationwith the JerusalemInstitutefor Israel Studies), 2001. viii, 363 pp. Jerusalemis an ancientvenue thathas been not only a symbol of peace and a focus of religious belief but also a city of dispute. For centuries,indeed millennia, it has been a magnet for conflict between diverse groups with divergentreligious interests and others with competing political and/or national claims. It is sacredto Judaism,Christianity,and Islamandclaimedas a nationalcapitolby both Israelis and PalestinianArabs. Since the mid-1950s it has been a centralissue of the Arab-Israeli conflict that emerged to be even more problematicafterthe Six Day Warof 1967, in which Israel gained full control over the entire city that had been dividedbetween it and the HashemiteKingdom of Jordanin the first ArabIsraeliwar of 1948-1949. In recentyears it has became the ultimateissue among the final settlementstumblingblocks for an Israeli-Palestinianpeace. It has served as a pretextfor Osamabin Ladenand as a concern for Muslim regimes as diverse as Iranand Saudi Arabiabecause of Jewish control over Muslim holy places, in this instancethe thirdholiest site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina. The authorhas taken on himself a difficult and complex task: to examine Jerusalemas a contested city; he deals with variousaspects of the city and its political history in Arab-Israeli relationssince the 1960s. Using a multidisciplinary approach(history,political science, geography,city planning, sociology, and internationalrelations)he seeks to dispel manyof the mythsthatshapethe discourse and to examinethe political andreligious fault lines relatingto Jerusalem.He presentsthe geographicalandurbanrealityandits historicalbackground;he describes how Jerusalemfared duringthe Israel-Egypt peace negotiationsof 1977-79; he analyzes the Israeli-Palestiniannegotiationsfrom the early 1980s to the Declaration of Principlesnegotiatedin Oslo and signed in Washingtonin 1993. He considers the role and the concerns of both the Arab League and the Organizationof the Islamic Conference,as well as those of Jordan,concerningthe city's Islamic holy places. Klein also analyzes the Palestinians'position and relationsbetween their local representativesand nationalinstitutions.He discusses the "Palestinian identity of East Jerusalem"as well as Israelipolicy and actions underboth Labor and Likudgovernments. Klein is a Senior Lecturerin the Departmentof PoliticalScience at Bar-Ilan University and a Board Member of B'tselem, the Israeli InformationCenter for HumanRights in the OccupiedTerritoriesthat is generallycritical of Israeli governmentpolicies and actions in the occupied territories.He is also a Researcherat the JerusalemInstitutefor Israel Studies. As with most writers on the subject of Jerusalemand the Arab-Israeli conflict the author(indeed,the revieweras well) is not wholly objectiveor dispassionate,andone might ask whetheranyonecan be. His views arethose of the left-of-centerin Israel'spolitical spectrumandthese are reflected in his work.The blurbon the book jacket notes: "indeedthe Al-Aqsa Intifada was precipitatedby a visit to Jerusalem'smost holy Muslim site by Ariel Sharon."This not only points to the contemporaryimportanceof the city, but also clearlyidentifies the perspectiveof the author,who does not note thatSharon'svis396

Book Reviews it was to a Jewish holy site on the TempleMountand approvedby the IsraeliGovernment. The book is dense, loaded with arguments,data, information,analyses, and points of view. There are lots of details (it is well, if not overly, documentedsometimesto the point of obscuringthe story and the analysis). It makes for difficult reading;the argumentsare hardto follow, and the organizationof the work is trying. It provides the readerwith a wealth of usually accurateand useful information,but despite, or perhapsbecause of, the overwhelmingamountof information provided,the authorhas a problem in communicatingclearly his ideas and proposals as the readeris overwhelmedwith references and notes. Nevertheless various assertions remainundocumented.Curiously,while the city is holy to all three monotheistic faiths, there is little discussion of Christianor Jewish holy places. Indeedthe index does not even list the Temple,and the TempleMountlisting providesa cross-referenceto the section on Islamic Holy Places. Althoughhe seeks to dispel myths,he seems to contributeto some even while deflatingothers. Primarysources are not often used althoughhe notes a wide range of documents and sources in English, Hebrew,and Arabic. Israeli and Hebrew language secondarysources are widely and liberallyused even to the point wherediscussion of United Statespolicy is often based on andrefersto Israelinewspapersources.This is particularlysurprisinggiven the ready availabilityof official and primaryU.S. governmentsources in printand online. His maps are good and useful. The author purportsto describethe reality of the situationas a basis for a futurepracticalsolution.The work furtheramplifies the issues in concernbut does not offer a compromise solution that is possible and practical. The author'soptimism about the futureabounds.He arguesthat "the foundation laid at Camp David will constitute a reference frameworkfor all future arrangements,since its basis is solid"(5). Nevertheless,he admitsthat"whenguns are blasting and people dying it is hardto see how the two sides can begin to negotiate again, in orderto complete what they began in Camp David" (5). The aftermathof Camp David II with the al-Aksa Intifadaand escalation in the early monthsof 2002 seem to endorsethis sentimentand raise serious doubtsaboutoptimism concerningthe futureof Jerusalem.Specialists and studentswill find this work contributessome new ideas and perspectiveson old issues. BernardReich George WashingtonUniversity Washington,DC

Luis M. Gir6n-Negr6n.Alfonsode la Torre'sVisi6n Deleytable:PhilosophicalRationalismand the ReligiousImaginationin Fifteenth-CenturySpain. Leiden:Brill, 2001. xvi, 306 pp. Alfonso de la Torre (ca.1417-60), a person of somewhat obscure background,wrote Visi6ndelectablede lafilosofla artes liberales,metafisicayfilosofia 397

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Norman Roth Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 397-399 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131757 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews it was to a Jewish holy site on the TempleMountand approvedby the IsraeliGovernment. The book is dense, loaded with arguments,data, information,analyses, and points of view. There are lots of details (it is well, if not overly, documentedsometimesto the point of obscuringthe story and the analysis). It makes for difficult reading;the argumentsare hardto follow, and the organizationof the work is trying. It provides the readerwith a wealth of usually accurateand useful information,but despite, or perhapsbecause of, the overwhelmingamountof information provided,the authorhas a problem in communicatingclearly his ideas and proposals as the readeris overwhelmedwith references and notes. Nevertheless various assertions remainundocumented.Curiously,while the city is holy to all three monotheistic faiths, there is little discussion of Christianor Jewish holy places. Indeedthe index does not even list the Temple,and the TempleMountlisting providesa cross-referenceto the section on Islamic Holy Places. Althoughhe seeks to dispel myths,he seems to contributeto some even while deflatingothers. Primarysources are not often used althoughhe notes a wide range of documents and sources in English, Hebrew,and Arabic. Israeli and Hebrew language secondarysources are widely and liberallyused even to the point wherediscussion of United Statespolicy is often based on andrefersto Israelinewspapersources.This is particularlysurprisinggiven the ready availabilityof official and primaryU.S. governmentsources in printand online. His maps are good and useful. The author purportsto describethe reality of the situationas a basis for a futurepracticalsolution.The work furtheramplifies the issues in concernbut does not offer a compromise solution that is possible and practical. The author'soptimism about the futureabounds.He arguesthat "the foundation laid at Camp David will constitute a reference frameworkfor all future arrangements,since its basis is solid"(5). Nevertheless,he admitsthat"whenguns are blasting and people dying it is hardto see how the two sides can begin to negotiate again, in orderto complete what they began in Camp David" (5). The aftermathof Camp David II with the al-Aksa Intifadaand escalation in the early monthsof 2002 seem to endorsethis sentimentand raise serious doubtsaboutoptimism concerningthe futureof Jerusalem.Specialists and studentswill find this work contributessome new ideas and perspectiveson old issues. BernardReich George WashingtonUniversity Washington,DC

Luis M. Gir6n-Negr6n.Alfonsode la Torre'sVisi6n Deleytable:PhilosophicalRationalismand the ReligiousImaginationin Fifteenth-CenturySpain. Leiden:Brill, 2001. xvi, 306 pp. Alfonso de la Torre (ca.1417-60), a person of somewhat obscure background,wrote Visi6ndelectablede lafilosofla artes liberales,metafisicayfilosofia 397

Book Reviews moral (or Visi6ndeleytableas Gir6n-Negr6ninsists) ca. 1440 at the urgingof the priorof Navarre,who was close to the crownprince Carlos de Viana.An unusual philosophicalworkfor a Christianauthor,it does not conformto standardScholastic doctrine,but is clearly dependentto a very great extent on the Guidefor the Perplexed(Morehnevukhim)of Maimonides.As such, the work,and this detailed analysis of it, is of particularinterestto studentsof Jewishphilosophy.At the outset, let it be said that Gir6n-Negr6nhas done a thoroughand brilliantjob in this book, a revision of his doctoraldissertation.He was aided by Jewish advisors in understandingand translatingHebrew texts, but one assumes that, as is the case with many Spanishscholars,his knowledgeof Arabicis his own. He also has done an extensive amountof readingin secondaryJewishliterature.(Thereare some errors, nevertheless;e.g., the philosopherAbrahamBivagch, not "Bibago,"did not engage in a "philosophicaldiscussion"with JuanII of Arag6n;rather,it was with an unnamedChristian"sage,"and it was a polemical debate, not a philosophical discussion.) Gir6n-Negr6ndevotes the first chapterto backgroundand possible sources, including a discussion of Scholasticism in fifteenth-centurySpain. He discusses briefly (17-18) the scholarlyconsensus thatthe authoris identicalwith a student from Burgoswho had earnedhis degree in theology at the Universityof Salamanca, and presumablymoved to Navarrewhere he wrote his work,probablyin 1440. Of particularinterestis the questionof his possible conversobackground(19 ff.). For some inexplicablereason, however,the authorsides with the view of Marcel BataillonthatAlfonso was not the same as the "Bachillerde la Torre"of Burgos, as a resultof alleged "aragonisms"(use of some Aragoneseterms) in his work,arguing that the fact that he knew little Hebrew,if at all, suggests a second-generation converso background(21). Yet he himself admits that the "aragonisms"can easily be explainedon othergrounds.It is a greatleap of logic to assume,also, that merely because he seems not to have known Hebrewhe had to be a "second-generation"converso, for in the fifteenth century a great many SpanishJews, much less conversos,did not know Hebrewor knew it very poorly.The issue of whether a converso could have studied at the particularcollege of Salamanca that the "bachiller"attended,because of a supposed prohibitionon persons of "Jewish blood" studyingthere (the limpieza de sangre statutes),is dismissed (22) by siding with Sicroff and attackingthe contraryviews of Asensio; however,it is by no means so simple. Nor is it correct(n.75) thatthe distinguishedscholarDominguez Ortiz "also sides with Sicroff";he did not (see on this my Conversos,Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jewsfrom Spain [Universityof Wisconsin Press, 1995; revised papered., 2002], p. 230 and n. 72, and also elsewhere there for information about Alfonso de la Torre;it is unfortunatethat the authordid not use this book). Nor, contra Salinas Espinosa, cited in the same note, do we have any evidence of Jews or conversos who studiedat Salamancaat this time. Gir6n-Negr6n makes an interesting suggestion that, in addition to Maimonides, the polemical treatiseof HasdaiCrescas,Bitul cikareiha-nozrim,which was originally written in Catalan,was known to Alfonso (27). In additionto the possibility of the influence of the Spanish Muslim philosopher Ibn Tufayl (that Carrerasy Artau referredto him as "Jewish"was no doubt a slip of the pen, or 398

Book Reviews editorialerror),and the possibility of a Spanishversion of his work should not be overlooked-a workby BartolomeoFazzio (d. 1457), "Dialogues defelicitate vitae" (unpublished,manuscriptat MadridB.N.) ought to be considered(he is not mentionedby Gir6n-Negr6n). The lengthy second chapterdetails the author'sreligious philosophy,also in connection with possible Jewish influences, including speculationon Kabbalah. This is also not without some errors.Enriquede Villena said nothing about"kabbalistic"amuletsattributedto variousJewishscholars(153; he misreadhis source), IbnAdretmost definitely did not "espousetalismanicmagic ... as an efficacious means of astralmanipulation"(155; cf. Responsa of Ibn Adret II, No. 281). Yet these are minor faults in what otherwiseis an exceptionaltourdeforce in correctly demonstratingfor the first time the extent of Alfonso's dependence on Maimonides, a dependence, which was almost total. Alfonso, of course, used the Spanishtranslationby the conversoPedro(Diaz) de Toledo(availablenow in a critical edition by Moshe Lazar, 1989; see also I. Bar-Lewaw,"Pedrode Toledo,"in Homenajea AntonioRodriguezMoniino[Madrid,1966] 1:57-64; an importantarticle not cited by Gir6n-Negr6n;nor was Pedro'sothertranslation,Plato'sPhaedo [Libro llamdo "Fedr6n,"ed. Nicholas G. Round, 1993], consulted; could it be demonstratedthatAlfonso knew this work?). Thereare some minoreditorialproblems,such as the failureto correctsome understandable(for one whose first language is not English) grammaticalerrors, and the misprint of the letter nun for gimmel throughoutin the quotationfrom ShevetYehudah(219). This book should be of great interestto those who wish to see the influence of medieval Jewish philosophy on Christianthought, and its apparentcontinued influence on at least some converso circles. In that respect, it should be noted (as the authordoes not) that Carlosde Viana, the prince for whom Alfonso wrote the work, was himself of Jewish descent. Norman Roth Universityof Wisconsin Madison,Wisconsin

GaryWeissman.Fantasies of Witnessing:PostwarEffortsto Experiencethe Holocaust. Ithaca,NY: CornellUniversityPress, 2004. 288 pp. This is a compelling, meticulously argued,subtle, and literatebook on an importantsubject-although the question of what that subject is remains oddly open. Gary Weissmaninterpretsa numberof authoritativeand popularrepresentations of the Holocaust (principally those by Elie Wiesel, Lawrence Langer, Stephen Spielberg,and ClaudeLanzmann)as evidence of their-and presumably theiraudiences'-post-Holocaust "effortsto experiencethe Holocaust"and somehow to recapturethathorrific realityin feeling. These efforts,Weissmanshows in a measureddiscussion thatcontrastswith the high-pitchedregisterof much Holo399

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Berel Lang Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 399-402 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131758 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews editorialerror),and the possibility of a Spanishversion of his work should not be overlooked-a workby BartolomeoFazzio (d. 1457), "Dialogues defelicitate vitae" (unpublished,manuscriptat MadridB.N.) ought to be considered(he is not mentionedby Gir6n-Negr6n). The lengthy second chapterdetails the author'sreligious philosophy,also in connection with possible Jewish influences, including speculationon Kabbalah. This is also not without some errors.Enriquede Villena said nothing about"kabbalistic"amuletsattributedto variousJewishscholars(153; he misreadhis source), IbnAdretmost definitely did not "espousetalismanicmagic ... as an efficacious means of astralmanipulation"(155; cf. Responsa of Ibn Adret II, No. 281). Yet these are minor faults in what otherwiseis an exceptionaltourdeforce in correctly demonstratingfor the first time the extent of Alfonso's dependence on Maimonides, a dependence, which was almost total. Alfonso, of course, used the Spanishtranslationby the conversoPedro(Diaz) de Toledo(availablenow in a critical edition by Moshe Lazar, 1989; see also I. Bar-Lewaw,"Pedrode Toledo,"in Homenajea AntonioRodriguezMoniino[Madrid,1966] 1:57-64; an importantarticle not cited by Gir6n-Negr6n;nor was Pedro'sothertranslation,Plato'sPhaedo [Libro llamdo "Fedr6n,"ed. Nicholas G. Round, 1993], consulted; could it be demonstratedthatAlfonso knew this work?). Thereare some minoreditorialproblems,such as the failureto correctsome understandable(for one whose first language is not English) grammaticalerrors, and the misprint of the letter nun for gimmel throughoutin the quotationfrom ShevetYehudah(219). This book should be of great interestto those who wish to see the influence of medieval Jewish philosophy on Christianthought, and its apparentcontinued influence on at least some converso circles. In that respect, it should be noted (as the authordoes not) that Carlosde Viana, the prince for whom Alfonso wrote the work, was himself of Jewish descent. Norman Roth Universityof Wisconsin Madison,Wisconsin

GaryWeissman.Fantasies of Witnessing:PostwarEffortsto Experiencethe Holocaust. Ithaca,NY: CornellUniversityPress, 2004. 288 pp. This is a compelling, meticulously argued,subtle, and literatebook on an importantsubject-although the question of what that subject is remains oddly open. Gary Weissmaninterpretsa numberof authoritativeand popularrepresentations of the Holocaust (principally those by Elie Wiesel, Lawrence Langer, Stephen Spielberg,and ClaudeLanzmann)as evidence of their-and presumably theiraudiences'-post-Holocaust "effortsto experiencethe Holocaust"and somehow to recapturethathorrific realityin feeling. These efforts,Weissmanshows in a measureddiscussion thatcontrastswith the high-pitchedregisterof much Holo399

Book Reviews caust writing, encounterwhat he sees as fundamentaldifficulties-and not only because of PrimoLevi'schilling reminderthatif directexperienceis a requirement for authenticity,the only true witnesses of the Holocaust are not those who survived butthose who died.The difficulties he identifies vary in the worksdiscussed, andhis book'sconcludingchapter,in which he ends up questioningthe warrantfor any "fantasiesof witnessing,"providesonly a brief conspectus.He thus leaves his readersto make their own way back to the Holocaustfrom the post-Holocaustfrom which, when the survivorsare gone, everyonewill set out. This careful line of argumentseems to me to lend itself to an even broader renderingof the same evidence.Weissmandirectshis criticismagainstattemptsto feel the Holocaustanew-more generally,againstclaims for that as the exclusive criterionof authenticaccess to the Holocaust. But it is arguablethat the true object of his critiqueis not thefantasy of currentattemptsto experience the Holocaust-a fantasy defined by its failure-but a broaderdenial of all accessibility whateverto the Holocaust. Forthe insistence on direct experience follows from a priorclaim of the Holocaust'sbasic incomprehensibility;for all theirother differences, the figures Weissmandiscusses, from Wiesel to Lanzmann,assert in common that there is no understandingor explainingthat event. The one route left to them for addressingthe Holocaust (as they see it) is then throughexperience, or feeling-unmediated contact in contrastto the mediationsof analysis or reason. The sharp dichotomy assumed here between understandingand feeling is itself questionable,but it is the assumptionwhich appearsin it of the inadequacyof all mediatedHolocaust-representation that leads into the special pleading (or fantasy) on behalf of a form of unmediatedexperience-one which also turns out (by the claimants'own lights) to fail. The widely held thesis thatWeissmanattacksthuscomes to this:All attempts to explain the Holocaust are bound to be inadequate;the most that can be hoped for, then, is to convey something of the experience-but this, too, must fail because feeling and emotion, even at their fullest, are also inadequatewitnesses: They, too, turn out to be mediated. And Weissman's own counter-thesisthen emerges:Against the claim that the Holocaust is incomprehensibleor inexplicable, understandingand explanationare held to be preconditions(andpossible, at least to some extent) for access to the Holocaust.It is becausethe exclusionaryappeals to experiencedeny this thatthe inconsistencieswhich impede them recur. The fallacy thatWeissmanbringsto light in this way comes out clearlyin an otherwise slight incident which he recounts:A dispute between Elie Wiesel and Alfred Kazin over the latter'squestioningwhethera particularepisode in Wiesel's Night-the hanging of a young boy in the camp-was historically accurate. Wiesel's reactionto this challenge was sharp (and ad hominem).Underneathhis polemic, however,Weissmanidentifies a substantiveissue:Wiesel'sassumptionof the privileged authorityof the eyewitness (himself) versus the merely historical claims of the scholar(Kazin).This claim of first-personprivilege, we are reminded, also groundsWiesel's conceptionof nonfiction: His book, Night, which on the basis of both internaland external evidence is a novel-libraries typically catalogue it as fiction-is held by Wiesel himself to be historicallyfactual (or even more truthfulthan that). Weissmansees in this stance Wiesel's conception of the 400

Book Reviews Holocaustas metahistorical,beyond analysisor understanding-an assumptionto which Weissmanattributesthe inconsistencies and fissures in much of Wiesel's writing;the unmediatedaccess alleged in Wiesel's retrievalof the past turnsout in fact to be mediatedin the present,by literaryor historicalor ideological obtrusions or by language itself. Weissmanfinds similar lines of reasoning-and difficulties-in Langer's(inconsistent)privilegingof "HolocaustTestimonies,"in Spielberg's concealments and omissions in Schindler's List, and in Lanzmann'sstark insistence-notwithstanding his own Shoah-on the Holocaust'sincomprehensibility. (Just what else, the questionpersists,would Lanzmannconsiderthe import of Shoah to be?) Even after the many previous readings of the figures and works Weissman discusses, his critiqueof them is instructive-so much so thatI have here gone beyond the reviewer'snormal commission by broadeninghis argument.Indeed,his objectionsto whathas become a near-canonicalconceptionof Holocaustdiscourse which assertthatthe event'sunintelligibilityfor anyonewho was not in it suggest a numberof more general questions. Unlike many-arguably, most-writers on the Holocaust,Weissman'sanswerto threeprincipalsuch questionswould almost certainlybe no: 1. Is any descriptiveor analyticaccount(even of trivialevents,afortiori of momentous ones)fully adequateto the events themselves?(Considerhow often such expressionsappearas "Wordsfail me . . . ." "NothingI say can measureup to .... ,' and so forth. Indeed, those locutions representa standardfigure of speech: The preteritio-"No descriptioncan come close. .. ."-has been appliedto events as large as the Holocaust and as slight as victory in a basketballgame. 2. Is personalexperienceof an event or situationsnecessaryto be able to explain, describe,or understandit? (This claim has at times been made for virtuallyevery type of significant event or experience:sorrow,love, ecstasy, religious belief, dying, fear, beauty. And yet, of course, the efforts of representation-and their achievements-are all around.Is it true in general that one cannotfully grasp or analyze an event or experience without actually living it? Perhaps,but there also areways of understandingor explainingevents and experiencesless thanfully but significantly-even the Shoah(see againQuestion 1). (Weissmanunderscoresthe often-ignoredpoint that victims of the Holocaust would rarely have seen themselves as experiencingthe Holocaust; brutalizedand murdered,they still experienced that individuallyor in small groups.) And then 3. Is the history of the Holocaustas historymore difficult to represent-or to understandor to explain-than other complex historical events, for example, the FrenchRevolutionor the AmericanCivil War?Perhapsit is the Holocaust'smoral enormitythat is held to be impossible to comprehend;but what then of radicalor even ordinaryevil on a smallerscale? In the platonic/rationalisttraditionof ethics, all wrongdoing, even the most trivial, is unintelligible, irrational:Is this what makes representationof the Holocaust so difficult? But why accept that platonic view? 401

Book Reviews The negative answersto these three leading questions shape an agenda for futurediscussions of Holocaust-representation. Again, these attributedanswersgo Weissman's even statements-but withoutthis extension,I would beyond explicit underscorethe acutenessof his critiqueof importantfigures in Holocaustthought who otherwisehave largely escaped criticism(certainlyas a group). If my elaboration of his views goes too far, readersmay (I hope in any event, will) turn to Weissman'sown account.To be sure, he might preferto reach that goal by a less circuitousroute-but only a book well worth readingcould reach it this way either. Berel Lang WesleyanUniversity Middletown,Connecticut

Iris Parush. Reading Jewish Women:Marginality and Modernizationin Nineteenth-CenturyEastern EuropeanJewish Society. Waltham,MA: BrandeisUniversity Press;Hanover,NH: UniversityPress of New England,2004. xix, 340 pp. Severalyearsago I hadthe good fortuneto meet IrisParush,andI askedhow she, a scholarof Hebrewliteratureknownbest for her interestin canon formation, turnedto the topic of women readersin EasternEurope.She explainedthat it was her work on the writerand critic David Frischmannthatpiqued her interestin the topic. The emotionaland contradictoryrhetoricof this refined thinkerled Parush to embarkon an enormousand importantresearchproject. Reading Jewish Women:Marginality and Modernization in NineteenthCenturyEastern EuropeanJewish Society is the result of her work. It is a remarkablebook for its scope and depth,but most of all for its perspective.One of Parush'smain conclusions is that one of the unexpectedconsequences of Jewish women's exclusion from the traditionalJewish educationalsystem was that they were free to pursuea seculareducation.Parushdubs this phenomenon"thebenefits of marginality,"as it was women'svery marginalitythatparadoxicallyallowed them access to literaturedenied to their brothers.I would suggest that, similarly, Parush'sstatusas a scholarof literature,and thus marginalto the majorhistorical debates and concerns, endows her with a degree of creativityfrom which we all benefit. The concept of Jewish women as readersis not new. Anyone familiarwith the literatureof the Eastern-European Jewishpast knowsto expect the dualimages of the pious olderwomanwith her tsena-urenaandthe vibrantyoungerwomanengrossed in Tolstoi or Schiller.Parush'scontributionis not in bringingto light new sources. Certainlyher knowledge of the literatureof the period is great, and she uncoveredand read an impressivenumberof memoirs by both men and women. She also mined the Hebrew,Yiddish, and Russian languagejournals of the late nineteenthcentury,but what she really adds is a new perspective.

402

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Eliyana R. Adler Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 402-404 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131759 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews The negative answersto these three leading questions shape an agenda for futurediscussions of Holocaust-representation. Again, these attributedanswersgo Weissman's even statements-but withoutthis extension,I would beyond explicit underscorethe acutenessof his critiqueof importantfigures in Holocaustthought who otherwisehave largely escaped criticism(certainlyas a group). If my elaboration of his views goes too far, readersmay (I hope in any event, will) turn to Weissman'sown account.To be sure, he might preferto reach that goal by a less circuitousroute-but only a book well worth readingcould reach it this way either. Berel Lang WesleyanUniversity Middletown,Connecticut

Iris Parush. Reading Jewish Women:Marginality and Modernizationin Nineteenth-CenturyEastern EuropeanJewish Society. Waltham,MA: BrandeisUniversity Press;Hanover,NH: UniversityPress of New England,2004. xix, 340 pp. Severalyearsago I hadthe good fortuneto meet IrisParush,andI askedhow she, a scholarof Hebrewliteratureknownbest for her interestin canon formation, turnedto the topic of women readersin EasternEurope.She explainedthat it was her work on the writerand critic David Frischmannthatpiqued her interestin the topic. The emotionaland contradictoryrhetoricof this refined thinkerled Parush to embarkon an enormousand importantresearchproject. Reading Jewish Women:Marginality and Modernization in NineteenthCenturyEastern EuropeanJewish Society is the result of her work. It is a remarkablebook for its scope and depth,but most of all for its perspective.One of Parush'smain conclusions is that one of the unexpectedconsequences of Jewish women's exclusion from the traditionalJewish educationalsystem was that they were free to pursuea seculareducation.Parushdubs this phenomenon"thebenefits of marginality,"as it was women'svery marginalitythatparadoxicallyallowed them access to literaturedenied to their brothers.I would suggest that, similarly, Parush'sstatusas a scholarof literature,and thus marginalto the majorhistorical debates and concerns, endows her with a degree of creativityfrom which we all benefit. The concept of Jewish women as readersis not new. Anyone familiarwith the literatureof the Eastern-European Jewishpast knowsto expect the dualimages of the pious olderwomanwith her tsena-urenaandthe vibrantyoungerwomanengrossed in Tolstoi or Schiller.Parush'scontributionis not in bringingto light new sources. Certainlyher knowledge of the literatureof the period is great, and she uncoveredand read an impressivenumberof memoirs by both men and women. She also mined the Hebrew,Yiddish, and Russian languagejournals of the late nineteenthcentury,but what she really adds is a new perspective.

402

Book Reviews Through sensitive and careful readings of the contemporaryautobiographies, Parushcomparesthe "readingbiographies"of men and women. In doing so she demonstratesthat the well-known eurekamoment of Jewish men on first encounteringscientific texts or maskilicautobiographydid not exist for women. Jewish women were able to assimilate secular literatureinto their lives without a breachwith theirpast.Manyscholarshavereadthese same memoirsoverthe years, but Parush'sunique trainingand interestin books allowed her to pay attentionto both what and how people readto reachthis importantinsight. Parushquite correctlydevotes separatechaptersto the educationaltraining and readingpaths of women who read in Yiddish, Europeanlanguages, and Hebrew.Although many women passed from one category to another,this division allows Parushto focus on importantdistinctions.Thus,whereaswomenhad to rely on men to teach them Hebrew,in quite a few cases the reversewas true for European languages. Parushuses this finding to write at greaterlength on women as agents of social change. The final chapter returns to Parush's original inspiration, David Fischmann. Parush shows how, despite the very real pain, anxiety, and even rage of Frischmannand others over women's trespass into the sacred sphere of Hebrew, ultimately concerns over the decline of readership led to their embrace of women as both readersand writers of Hebrew literature.Parush'sacute reading skills and comfort with the arrayof sources are particularlyimpressive in this essay. Parush'sunique literary engagement endows the book with indisputable merit. At the same time, the nonstandardapproachleads to certain difficulties. Most significant is that learningaboutJewish life in EasternEuropemainly from the maskilimcan createmisconceptions.Parushfrequentlyrefersto the "warbetween the maskilim and the haredim"in a mannerthat is both anachronisticand overlydeterministic.Althoughit is certainlytruethattraditionalJews andtheirdetractorshad conflicts duringthe nineteenthcentury,to speak of a warbetween two opposing camps is to reflect a laterrealityback on the 1860s. Parushdoes not use datesvery frequentlyandseems to assumea commonalitybetweenthe experiences of men and women born in the 1830s and the 1870s. Equallydisturbing,she credits both the traditionalistsand the progressiveswith a degree of cohesion and autonomy that they certainlydid not have. She writes of rabbisbarringJews access to Hebrewgrammarand of maskilimdeliberatelycreatingschools for girls without properJudaiccurriculaas if neitherof these groups operatedwithin an educational tradition and within communities with their own expectations. These misunderstandingscan be distractingto the historian,but they do not detractfrom the overallimportof the book. We have the TauberInstitutefor Jewish Studies and BrandeisUniversityto thankfor bringingout this importantwork in English.Althoughthe English translation does not fully capturethe beautifulliteraryqualityof Parush'sHebrewstyle and includes the odd choices to leave both "Laaz"and "haredim"untranslated,as well as some highly idiosyncratictransliterationsof names andplaces (e.g. Havulson, Telshie), it remainsquite readable.

403

Book Reviews Withouta doubt,this book is a seminal contributionto the studyof EastEuropeanJewry.Scholarsof this period,and especially historians,would be well advised to considerParush'snovel approachand findings. Eliyana R. Adler Universityof Maryland College Park,Maryland

Ahuva Belkin. ThePurimshpil,Studies in Jewish Folk Theater.Jerusalem:Bialik Institute,2002. 287 pp. (Hebrew). In the Early Modem period,the Jewish people did not develop theaterarts comparableto thatof othercultures.One reasonoften given to explainthis absence of theatricaltraditionis the virulent denunciationsof theaterby the rabbis,who likened it to idolatry and heresy, and condemned it as being incompatiblewith monotheism.The biblicalinjunction(Ps.1:1):"Blessedis the manthatsits not in the seat of the scornful"has often been cited as condemningthe theater,interpreting the Hebrewwordlezim,not as mockingor impious,but as buffoonorjester,andby extension, actor.Ahuva Belkin attemptsto explain this culturalfact while at the same time challengingthe argumentthat Jews did not create any theatricaltradition. Fromthe MiddleAges on, Ashkenazisociety producedmany forms of popular entertainment,the most accomplishedof which was the Purim-shpil.Belkin's work,which makesuse of the pioneeringstudiesof Yiddishtheaterby B. Gorin,Y. Shatsky,I. Shipper,and Ch. Shmeruk,offers much new and originalmaterial. Unlike some historians,for whom Purimplays had no artisticvalue, she reminds us to what extent these plays offer a privileged access to many fundamental aspects of Ashkenazi culture. The vernacularlanguage, more than Hebrew, became a space for linguistic creation,social criticism and a questioningof values. Using differentmethods of investigation,Belkin reveals the complexity, diversity,andplasticityof the Purim-shpil,with referenceto the social historyof the Jews, the sociology of Ashkenazi culture, the history of art forms and cultural transfersbetween Jewish society, and the surroundingsocieties. Above all, she opens the studyof the Purim-shpilto a multitudeof domains, includingthe history of mentalities,the anthropologyof Ashkenazi culture,comparativehistory of theatricaltraditionsin Europe,and the theory of literaryforms. Tracingthe historic evolution of the Purim-shpil,whose oldest writtensource goes back only as far 1697, she presentsthe theatricalgenre as a fusion of disparateelements from differenteras. She retracesits emergence and evolution from ancient improvisations on the jubilation following the hanging of Haman,as well as from medieval parodiesof derashotand burlesquesketches on daily life in Jewish communities. Froman anthropologicalviewpoint,(J.G.Frazer,A. van Genep,V Turner)the Purim-shpiltraditionis likenedto a riteof passageconnectedwith the changeof seasons and the carnival-liketransgressionsthataccompanyit. Althoughrelatedto the readingof the Scrollof Estherin the synagogue,Purimtime remainsan occasionfor 404

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Jean Baumgarten Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 404-405 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131760 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews Withouta doubt,this book is a seminal contributionto the studyof EastEuropeanJewry.Scholarsof this period,and especially historians,would be well advised to considerParush'snovel approachand findings. Eliyana R. Adler Universityof Maryland College Park,Maryland

Ahuva Belkin. ThePurimshpil,Studies in Jewish Folk Theater.Jerusalem:Bialik Institute,2002. 287 pp. (Hebrew). In the Early Modem period,the Jewish people did not develop theaterarts comparableto thatof othercultures.One reasonoften given to explainthis absence of theatricaltraditionis the virulent denunciationsof theaterby the rabbis,who likened it to idolatry and heresy, and condemned it as being incompatiblewith monotheism.The biblicalinjunction(Ps.1:1):"Blessedis the manthatsits not in the seat of the scornful"has often been cited as condemningthe theater,interpreting the Hebrewwordlezim,not as mockingor impious,but as buffoonorjester,andby extension, actor.Ahuva Belkin attemptsto explain this culturalfact while at the same time challengingthe argumentthat Jews did not create any theatricaltradition. Fromthe MiddleAges on, Ashkenazisociety producedmany forms of popular entertainment,the most accomplishedof which was the Purim-shpil.Belkin's work,which makesuse of the pioneeringstudiesof Yiddishtheaterby B. Gorin,Y. Shatsky,I. Shipper,and Ch. Shmeruk,offers much new and originalmaterial. Unlike some historians,for whom Purimplays had no artisticvalue, she reminds us to what extent these plays offer a privileged access to many fundamental aspects of Ashkenazi culture. The vernacularlanguage, more than Hebrew, became a space for linguistic creation,social criticism and a questioningof values. Using differentmethods of investigation,Belkin reveals the complexity, diversity,andplasticityof the Purim-shpil,with referenceto the social historyof the Jews, the sociology of Ashkenazi culture, the history of art forms and cultural transfersbetween Jewish society, and the surroundingsocieties. Above all, she opens the studyof the Purim-shpilto a multitudeof domains, includingthe history of mentalities,the anthropologyof Ashkenazi culture,comparativehistory of theatricaltraditionsin Europe,and the theory of literaryforms. Tracingthe historic evolution of the Purim-shpil,whose oldest writtensource goes back only as far 1697, she presentsthe theatricalgenre as a fusion of disparateelements from differenteras. She retracesits emergence and evolution from ancient improvisations on the jubilation following the hanging of Haman,as well as from medieval parodiesof derashotand burlesquesketches on daily life in Jewish communities. Froman anthropologicalviewpoint,(J.G.Frazer,A. van Genep,V Turner)the Purim-shpiltraditionis likenedto a riteof passageconnectedwith the changeof seasons and the carnival-liketransgressionsthataccompanyit. Althoughrelatedto the readingof the Scrollof Estherin the synagogue,Purimtime remainsan occasionfor 404

Book Reviews a clusterof ritualsand practicesconcernedwith social contention,the breakingof taboosandthe portrayalof a topsy-turvyworld.The authoranalyzesthe complexdialecticthatexists betweenrespectandtransgression:respectof religiousthemesand codes concerningthe readingof the Book of Estherandthe transgressionsevidentin parody,laughter,social criticism,andcarnival-likeinversion.Basedon the studiesof M. Bakhtin,the authordefines the characteristicfeaturesof popularJewishculture relativeto oralforms,insults,obscenity,the corporal,andthe grotesque.She analyzes thepoeticformsused in festivereversal,includingparodiesof sacredtexts,wordplay, matches.The texts play on the clashbeburlesquemonologues,andverbal-sparring tween the most extremeelementsof Jewish culture:sacredand transgression,pure andimpure,high culturein Hebrew,andpopularcultureinYiddish.Thepoliticaland social dimensionsarealso of greatimportance.Theatricalperformancesofferan outlet forpassions,conflicts,andsocial frustrations, as shownin the diatribesagainstthe and the rabbis and learned rich,against communityleaders.Withthe denunciationof Hamaninspiredby the TargumSheni,Purimalso affordsan occasionto targetantiJewish stereotypescirculatedby Christiansand to reappropriate them, the betterto combatthemand stigmatizetheirirrationalaspect. The work containsa great deal of informationaboutthe actors,staging,and conditionsof theperformances.Thereweresomeprofessionalactors,butforthemost part,theplayswerewrittenandactedby cantorsandyeshivahstudents,craftsmen,or ordinaryhouseholders.They werepresentedeitherin privatehomes or on an improvised stage in a publicplace. The authorgoes beyondthe bordersof Jewishculture, using a comparativeapproachto illustratethe phenomenaof culturalpermeability. She showshowthePurim-shpilwas influencedby thecelebrationsandtheatricalgenres of the surroundingsocieties, in particularsuch forms as the Comediadell'arte and the biblicaldramasof the Christianworld.Belkinpresentsa universalgrammar of theatricalformslinkedto carnivalandcelebration,manyingredientsof whichwe find in the traditionof the Purim-shpil.The eighteenthcenturysaw the gradualdecline of Purimplays and the birthof moderntheater,which beganto be recognized and respectable,while still plungingits roots in the themes, characters,and writing of the Purim-shpil.The workof ItzikManger,evokedat the end of the book, bears witness to the existence of a traditionthatwent throughmultiplemutationsand,in every era,nourishedthe Jewishimagination.Belkinhas produceda scholarly,original, and innovativework which, beginningwith an exhaustivestudy of the Purimshpil, shows the modernityof popularformsof Ashkenaziculture. Jean Baumgarten CNRS-EHESS Paris, France

PeterEli Gordon.Rosenzweigand Heidegger:BetweenJudaismand GermanPhilosophy.Berkeley,Universityof CaliforniaPress, 2003. 357 pp. This importantstudy of FranzRosenzweig is among the first book-length forays into the silence surroundingMartinHeidegger in modernJewish thought. 405

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Zachary Braiterman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 405-407 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131761 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews a clusterof ritualsand practicesconcernedwith social contention,the breakingof taboosandthe portrayalof a topsy-turvyworld.The authoranalyzesthe complexdialecticthatexists betweenrespectandtransgression:respectof religiousthemesand codes concerningthe readingof the Book of Estherandthe transgressionsevidentin parody,laughter,social criticism,andcarnival-likeinversion.Basedon the studiesof M. Bakhtin,the authordefines the characteristicfeaturesof popularJewishculture relativeto oralforms,insults,obscenity,the corporal,andthe grotesque.She analyzes thepoeticformsused in festivereversal,includingparodiesof sacredtexts,wordplay, matches.The texts play on the clashbeburlesquemonologues,andverbal-sparring tween the most extremeelementsof Jewish culture:sacredand transgression,pure andimpure,high culturein Hebrew,andpopularcultureinYiddish.Thepoliticaland social dimensionsarealso of greatimportance.Theatricalperformancesofferan outlet forpassions,conflicts,andsocial frustrations, as shownin the diatribesagainstthe and the rabbis and learned rich,against communityleaders.Withthe denunciationof Hamaninspiredby the TargumSheni,Purimalso affordsan occasionto targetantiJewish stereotypescirculatedby Christiansand to reappropriate them, the betterto combatthemand stigmatizetheirirrationalaspect. The work containsa great deal of informationaboutthe actors,staging,and conditionsof theperformances.Thereweresomeprofessionalactors,butforthemost part,theplayswerewrittenandactedby cantorsandyeshivahstudents,craftsmen,or ordinaryhouseholders.They werepresentedeitherin privatehomes or on an improvised stage in a publicplace. The authorgoes beyondthe bordersof Jewishculture, using a comparativeapproachto illustratethe phenomenaof culturalpermeability. She showshowthePurim-shpilwas influencedby thecelebrationsandtheatricalgenres of the surroundingsocieties, in particularsuch forms as the Comediadell'arte and the biblicaldramasof the Christianworld.Belkinpresentsa universalgrammar of theatricalformslinkedto carnivalandcelebration,manyingredientsof whichwe find in the traditionof the Purim-shpil.The eighteenthcenturysaw the gradualdecline of Purimplays and the birthof moderntheater,which beganto be recognized and respectable,while still plungingits roots in the themes, characters,and writing of the Purim-shpil.The workof ItzikManger,evokedat the end of the book, bears witness to the existence of a traditionthatwent throughmultiplemutationsand,in every era,nourishedthe Jewishimagination.Belkinhas produceda scholarly,original, and innovativework which, beginningwith an exhaustivestudy of the Purimshpil, shows the modernityof popularformsof Ashkenaziculture. Jean Baumgarten CNRS-EHESS Paris, France

PeterEli Gordon.Rosenzweigand Heidegger:BetweenJudaismand GermanPhilosophy.Berkeley,Universityof CaliforniaPress, 2003. 357 pp. This importantstudy of FranzRosenzweig is among the first book-length forays into the silence surroundingMartinHeidegger in modernJewish thought. 405

Book Reviews In seeking to establish an elective affinity between these two thinkers, Gordon subvertsthe firewall established by Karl L6with between Rosenzweig's passion for eternity and Heidegger's focus on the pure temporality of human existence (Dasein). In doing so, he bucks the link in contemporaryJewish philosophy between Rosenzweig and Levinas, in which an ethics based on a good beyond Being upends ontology as first philosophy. In Gordon'sreading, eternity is to the Jewish people as Dasein is to Being. Jewish existence, understoodontologically, not metaphysically, assumes the uncanny, ungrounded,and self-sustaining characterof Heideggerian authenticity.Ontologically radical, eternity thus becomes like time, a this-worldlyframework,constitutingthe ultimate horizon of redemption. The matchbetween Rosenzweig and Heideggeris an unevenphilosophical, cum culturalmix-up. Gordonilluminatescommon philosophical featuresshared by both thinkers:the antiplatonicelan, the critiqueof scientific positivismand historicism, the introductionof archaicelements to irradiatemodernconsciousness, the significance ascribedto the individualanddeath,time and language,being and nothingness.To be sure, critical readerswill note that all these hallmarksidentified were such standardfixtures of late Wilhelminecultureas to renderthe presence of Heidegger and Weimar superfluous. In "VertauschteFronten" (1929), Rosenzweig notes the affinity between himself and Heidegger.But I suspect that here, as elsewhere,Rosenzweig was inclinedto overdrawtenuousassociationsbetween himself and others (e.g., HermannCohen, JudahHalevy). The conversationbetween Rosenzweig and Heidegger depends on fundamental contrastsraised and then droppedby Gordon,most notablythe difference between beings and being. For Rosenzweig in part I of The Star of Redemption, world and "man"and even God are ontic phenomena.Unlike Heidegger,Rosenzweig neverpursuesthe ontological questionof Being and questionsregardingthe type of being we are. Nor, conversely,is Rosenzweig particularlyengaged by "the nothing" that for Heidegger constitutes an existential condition of possibility. Rosenzweig does not accord "primacy"to "nothing,"as Gordon insists he does (174), because for Rosenzweig, nothing refers not to the naughtof our existence but to our first knowledge and its operationpriorto what we can formally know aboutGod, world,and person.The key termthatmarksthe thoughtof God, world, and "man"is neitherall nor nothing,but something. The more importantinsight raisedby Gordonconcernstime. In subverting L6with'sscheme, Gordongoes beyond the basic point that for Rosenzweig eternity is enmeshedin temporalstructures.His moreradicalcounterclaimthattheology and ontology are "identical"with time is one that flattensthe one into the other (235). Comparingthe circularflow of time to blood,a centralimage of Jewishpeoplehood for Rosenzweig, Gordonneglects the fact that for Rosenzweig time stops dead and coagulates.Deathhas lost its theatricalcharacteras a cosmic, ontic event (166). As the utmost ontologicalpossibility defining humanbeing-in-the-world,it becomes too much like time. And so almost does God. Very late in the text, Gordon concedes that Rosenzweig's understandingof God remains atemporal(190, 235). Hadthis atemporaldimensionbeen introducedearlierandless grudgingly,the mismatchbetweenRosenzweigandHeideggerwouldhaveassumedan alteredcast. 406

Book Reviews In drawinga line connectingRosenzweig and Heidegger-Rosenzweig and Germanmodernism-Gordon insists that Rosenzweig was not a Jewish thinker and that Judaismwas for him "merely [a] medium"(307, 36, 311-13). Flouting the fundamentalimportance that both Rosenzweig and Heidegger ascribed to linguistic form in relation to content, Gordon'sclaim is based on one isolated prooftextin "TheNew Thinking,"where Rosenzweig asserts that TheStar ofRedemption, is not a Jewish book. In refusing to read this statementcritically (as what? the desire to reach out to a broaderreadership?wounded vanity that only Jews had botheredto purchasethe book, most of whom never saw anythingin it past a call to keep kosherkitchens?),Gordonignores the aggressiveparticularism that first drove Rosenzweig to Judaism;and he feeds the very parochialdivision betweenJudaismand"Germanism"thatRosenzweig rejectedout of handafterthe publicationof his magnumopus. Rosenzweigand Heidegger remainsa remarkablebook. Its chief virtue is to the drag formerinto Germanstudies and continentalphilosophyand the latterinto modernJewishthought.Gordonhas brokena serious tabooby violatingthe philosophical and historicalantipathiesand loyalties expressedby L6with and Levinas regardingHeideggerand the Holocaust.If GordoncarriesmodernJewish thought towardsa still active and importantphilosophical center, many in the field will continueto dig in theirheels. They will maintaina criticaldistancefor good philosophical reasons, not just for the political ones dismissed too quickly by Gordon (19). However,they will have to do so simultaneousto this groundbreakingwork to reflect seriously abouttime, space, and language. ZacharyBraiterman Departmentof Religion SyracuseUniversity

Michael Walzer,MenachemLorberbaum,Noam J. ZoharandAri Ackerman,eds. TheJewish Political Tradition.VolumeTwo:Membership.New Haven:Yale University Press, 2003. 656 pp. Fortoo long, scholarshave deniedthat"Jewishpoliticalthought"constitutes a viable field of study.Withouta sovereign state, scholarsargue,Jews lacked occasion to debate the questions of power,obligation, and authoritythat preoccupy Westernpolitical theorists. TheJewish Political Traditionoffers a devastatingrebuttal to this argument,for it reconstructsa continuous and vibranttraditionof Jewish political thought. Editedjointly by Michael Walzer,an eminent political theorist, and Israeli scholars associated with the Shalom HartmanInstitute,this ambitious anthology (two of four volumes have now been published) pairs primary texts spanningJewish history with commentaryby contemporaryscholars. Uncoveringpolitical reflectionin genres previouslyghettoizedas legalistic or theological (e.g. Midrash,responsa,biblical exegesis), the editors open up an exciting field for research.But TheJewish Political Traditionis not merelyof scholarly 407

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Julie E. Cooper Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 407-409 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131762 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews In drawinga line connectingRosenzweig and Heidegger-Rosenzweig and Germanmodernism-Gordon insists that Rosenzweig was not a Jewish thinker and that Judaismwas for him "merely [a] medium"(307, 36, 311-13). Flouting the fundamentalimportance that both Rosenzweig and Heidegger ascribed to linguistic form in relation to content, Gordon'sclaim is based on one isolated prooftextin "TheNew Thinking,"where Rosenzweig asserts that TheStar ofRedemption, is not a Jewish book. In refusing to read this statementcritically (as what? the desire to reach out to a broaderreadership?wounded vanity that only Jews had botheredto purchasethe book, most of whom never saw anythingin it past a call to keep kosherkitchens?),Gordonignores the aggressiveparticularism that first drove Rosenzweig to Judaism;and he feeds the very parochialdivision betweenJudaismand"Germanism"thatRosenzweig rejectedout of handafterthe publicationof his magnumopus. Rosenzweigand Heidegger remainsa remarkablebook. Its chief virtue is to the drag formerinto Germanstudies and continentalphilosophyand the latterinto modernJewishthought.Gordonhas brokena serious tabooby violatingthe philosophical and historicalantipathiesand loyalties expressedby L6with and Levinas regardingHeideggerand the Holocaust.If GordoncarriesmodernJewish thought towardsa still active and importantphilosophical center, many in the field will continueto dig in theirheels. They will maintaina criticaldistancefor good philosophical reasons, not just for the political ones dismissed too quickly by Gordon (19). However,they will have to do so simultaneousto this groundbreakingwork to reflect seriously abouttime, space, and language. ZacharyBraiterman Departmentof Religion SyracuseUniversity

Michael Walzer,MenachemLorberbaum,Noam J. ZoharandAri Ackerman,eds. TheJewish Political Tradition.VolumeTwo:Membership.New Haven:Yale University Press, 2003. 656 pp. Fortoo long, scholarshave deniedthat"Jewishpoliticalthought"constitutes a viable field of study.Withouta sovereign state, scholarsargue,Jews lacked occasion to debate the questions of power,obligation, and authoritythat preoccupy Westernpolitical theorists. TheJewish Political Traditionoffers a devastatingrebuttal to this argument,for it reconstructsa continuous and vibranttraditionof Jewish political thought. Editedjointly by Michael Walzer,an eminent political theorist, and Israeli scholars associated with the Shalom HartmanInstitute,this ambitious anthology (two of four volumes have now been published) pairs primary texts spanningJewish history with commentaryby contemporaryscholars. Uncoveringpolitical reflectionin genres previouslyghettoizedas legalistic or theological (e.g. Midrash,responsa,biblical exegesis), the editors open up an exciting field for research.But TheJewish Political Traditionis not merelyof scholarly 407

Book Reviews interest.Invitingreaders"tojoin the argumentsof the texts, to interpretand evaluate, to revise or reject, the claims made by their authors,"the editors insist that the traditionremainsa vital resourcefor contemporaryJews (8). Indeed,the project makes an audacious(and salutary)contributionto Israelidebates:Against advocates of a state ruled by halakhah, the editors contend that traditionalJewish texts sanctiontoleration,pluralism,and the secularizationof politics. In VolumeII, the broadquestionof membershipis addressedin chapterson election, social hierarchy,gender hierarchy,converts,heretics and apostates,and gentiles. One of the volume's great achievementsis to remindus that "Who is a Jew?"is itself a political question,the subjectof controversy,debate, and negotiation.AlthoughJewishthinkersoffer myriadanswersto the question,theirdebates generallyrevolve aroundtwo axes: Thinkersboth delineatecommunalboundaries and articulate(or, in laterperiods,interrogate)hierarchieswithin the community's borders. The editors link "the possibility of pluralism"to these exercises of boundary drawing(3). To the editors'chagrin,certainstrandswithin the traditionadvocate chauvinism,zealotry,and dogmatism.To their credit,the editors forthrightly acknowledge the ethnocentrismof figures like YehudaHa-Levi, whose "genetic account of election" imputes racial superiorityto Jews (12). Otherstrandsprove morehospitableto exchangewith gentiles,andpluralismamongJews.Forexample, commentatorDonniel Hartmanreads Maimonides'tolerantapproachto Karaites as a template for interdenominationalcoexistence. Although Maimonidesdeems Karaitetheology heretical,he preachestoleranceof individualswhose deviance is not their own fault-who were born and raised as Karaites.Moreover,in a responsumn,Maimonides concedes that Karaitesare monotheists who share select Rabbanitegoals (e.g., praisingGod,eliminatingidolatry)andthereforedeserverespect. Hartmanexhortscontemporaryorthodoxyto adoptthe latter,ostensiblyless patronizingargumentfor tolerance as a model for interactionwith nonorthodox Jews:To foster"mutualaccommodation,"the orthodoxshouldcelebratenonorthodox Jews' monotheismand downplaytheir"heretical"beliefs andpractices(359). Hartman'sMaimonideanrecipe for toleranceis preferableto dogmatismand heresy hunting,which also have traditionalwarrants.However,nonorthodoxJews may judge Hartman'sconciliatoryapproachan insufficient foundationfor pluralism: To the "heretic,"argumentswith normativeJudaismmay have greaterweight than areasof consensus. When Hartmandismisses the heretic'schallenge as incidental, comparedto his or her monotheism,he insulates orthodoxyfrom radical criticism.Hartman'scommentaryis symptomaticof the volume'sapproachto pluralism. Although contributorsuphold diverse religious and political viewpoints, the volume'sorganizationdoes not alwaysreflect this diversity.Too often, debates aboutmembershipare reconstructedfrom the perspectiveof the pious. Forexample, in the chapteron "HereticsandApostates,"the premodernauthorsare all stalwarts of normativeJudaism.The editors devote an entire section to "Rabbanite AttitudesTowardKaraites"but omit KaraiteattitudestowardRabbanites.Volume does excerpt a Karaitetext. But in VolumeII, the editors'selecI, on "Authority," tions validate normativeJudaism'sdecisions aboutwho remains inside, and who is heretical. 408

Book Reviews Other chapters offer a more expansive view of tradition, enfranchising voices once deemed marginal.VolumeII registerswomen's protestsagainst"religiously-sanctionedhierarchicaldistinctions"anddocumentssecularZionistredefinitions of Jewish peoplehood (109). While the editors depict secularZionism as a challengeto orthodoxcriteriaof membership,at times they risk enshriningZionism as a new orthodoxy.Accordingto the editors,premodernJews defined membership largely through a theological lens. With the advent of modernity,new membershipcriteriaemergeto challenge, and ultimatelyshatter,the religious monopoly.The editors trace this modernrenegotiationto Zionism: "But ethnic, like religious, membershiphad no secularreferentin Jewish history from 70 CE until the end of the nineteenthcentury,when Zionist writersworkedout a new understandingof Jewish nationhood"(6). When the editors credit Zionists with developmentof secularidentity,they elide the contributionof Bundists,Yiddishists,and secular humanists.Indeed,the volume implicitly privileges the state of Israel as the most fertile ground for the Jewish political tradition:four of six chapters conclude with (admittedlyfascinating)examples from Israelicase law. Immersed in Israeli debates, the editors overlook one of their most powerful insights: ThroughoutJewish history,the absence of sovereigntydid not mean the absence of politics, becausepolitics takesmanyforms.Moreattentionto debatesin the contemporary"diaspora"wouldhighlightways thatJewishmembershipdivergesfrom Westerncitizenship. Further,in the absence of an institution,such as the Israeli SupremeCourt,which was establishedto resolve "thehardquestionsof membership,""diaspora"debatesremainopen-endedand, in a strong sense, political (7). Withouta binding legal arbiter,individualsmust assume responsibilityfor negotiating the bounds of their own communities.Of course, this remarkablevolume is an invaluableresource, and source of inspiration,for these ongoing debates, whetherthey takeplace in IsraelicourtsorAmericansynagogues,universities,and communitycenters. Julie E. Cooper ColumbiaUniversity New York,New York

MarianneR. Sanua.Going Greek:Jewish CollegeFraternitiesin the UnitedStates, 1895-1945. AmericanJewish Civilization Series. Detroit:WayneState University Press, 2003. 446 pp. MarianneR. Sanua offers a balanced examinationof a largely unexplored topic, the Jewish Greeksubsystemthatdevelopedon Americancollege campuses in the late nineteenthand early twentiethcenturiesand thriveduntil the closure, merger, or reorientationof many of these organizationsin the 1960s and early 1970s. One of the first studies to take the Greek system seriouslyand recognize it for the social and culturalforce it was during its heyday in the early part of the twentiethcentury, Sanua'sbook provides readerswith rare access to the aspira409

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Diana Turk Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 409-412 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131763 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

Book Reviews Other chapters offer a more expansive view of tradition, enfranchising voices once deemed marginal.VolumeII registerswomen's protestsagainst"religiously-sanctionedhierarchicaldistinctions"anddocumentssecularZionistredefinitions of Jewish peoplehood (109). While the editors depict secularZionism as a challengeto orthodoxcriteriaof membership,at times they risk enshriningZionism as a new orthodoxy.Accordingto the editors,premodernJews defined membership largely through a theological lens. With the advent of modernity,new membershipcriteriaemergeto challenge, and ultimatelyshatter,the religious monopoly.The editors trace this modernrenegotiationto Zionism: "But ethnic, like religious, membershiphad no secularreferentin Jewish history from 70 CE until the end of the nineteenthcentury,when Zionist writersworkedout a new understandingof Jewish nationhood"(6). When the editors credit Zionists with developmentof secularidentity,they elide the contributionof Bundists,Yiddishists,and secular humanists.Indeed,the volume implicitly privileges the state of Israel as the most fertile ground for the Jewish political tradition:four of six chapters conclude with (admittedlyfascinating)examples from Israelicase law. Immersed in Israeli debates, the editors overlook one of their most powerful insights: ThroughoutJewish history,the absence of sovereigntydid not mean the absence of politics, becausepolitics takesmanyforms.Moreattentionto debatesin the contemporary"diaspora"wouldhighlightways thatJewishmembershipdivergesfrom Westerncitizenship. Further,in the absence of an institution,such as the Israeli SupremeCourt,which was establishedto resolve "thehardquestionsof membership,""diaspora"debatesremainopen-endedand, in a strong sense, political (7). Withouta binding legal arbiter,individualsmust assume responsibilityfor negotiating the bounds of their own communities.Of course, this remarkablevolume is an invaluableresource, and source of inspiration,for these ongoing debates, whetherthey takeplace in IsraelicourtsorAmericansynagogues,universities,and communitycenters. Julie E. Cooper ColumbiaUniversity New York,New York

MarianneR. Sanua.Going Greek:Jewish CollegeFraternitiesin the UnitedStates, 1895-1945. AmericanJewish Civilization Series. Detroit:WayneState University Press, 2003. 446 pp. MarianneR. Sanua offers a balanced examinationof a largely unexplored topic, the Jewish Greeksubsystemthatdevelopedon Americancollege campuses in the late nineteenthand early twentiethcenturiesand thriveduntil the closure, merger, or reorientationof many of these organizationsin the 1960s and early 1970s. One of the first studies to take the Greek system seriouslyand recognize it for the social and culturalforce it was during its heyday in the early part of the twentiethcentury, Sanua'sbook provides readerswith rare access to the aspira409

Book Reviews tions, concerns,and ideals of a large segment-estimated between one fourthand one third-of the AmericanJewish college-going populationof this time period. Sanua begins her book by justifying her focus on the Greek system-one can almost hear throughher prose the challenges she must have faced along the way from those who did not take the Greek system or its Jewish subsystem seriously enough to warrantstudy.She states that fraternityand sororityrecordsprovide a wealth of materialthroughwhich to trackhow so many Jewish collegians managedto surmountthe obstaclesof recentarrival,limitedmeans,anti-Semitism, and closed college admissionspolicies, among otherchallenges, to climb the ladder to middle-class prosperitywithin a shortperiod of time. In addition,because they detail the actions and concerns of a large segment of the college-going Jewish population,these recordsallow Sanuato focus on "ordinary"Jewishpeoplethe men andwomen who went to college, married,raisedfamilies, workedin businesses and in the professions,andotherwiserepresentedthe typical Jewish-American bourgeoisie-rather thanjust on the religious leaders,laborleaders,radicals, or intellectualswho were the sources and foci of most other identifiably Jewish writings at this time. Finally, given that these records were written by Jewish Greeksfor the eyes of their fraternitybrothersor sororitysisters only, the memos, letters, speeches, journal reports, magazine articles, and other documents of Greek-societylife containa candidnessanda freedomthatdid not exist outside of Jewish-onlyor largely Jewish organizations.As such, these recordsprovide Sanua with a window into the desires and concernsof an important,yet understudied, segment of the Jewish population,and she mines them for much thatthey have to offer. Foundedto providesupportand solidarityto Jewishcollegians who were excluded from membershipin the historicallyChristianGreek-letterorganizations thatranthe extracurriculumon manycollege campuses,the Jewishfraternitiesand sororitiesdevelopedto fill a wide varietyof needs: They offered room and board for those who might be barredbecause of their religion from the local rooming houses; they offered social outlets and introductionsto members of the opposite sex who might make appropriatedating partners and even potential marriage mates;they offeredvocationaltrainingandaccess to jobs and internships;and they offered a sense of familiarityto Jewish studentswho had left theirhometownsand familiar environsand traveledto farawayparts of the countryin search of a college educationat an institutionthatwelcomed or at least toleratedtheirenrollment. Overall,these organizationsofferedboth tacit and overt instructionto their members in how to be "good Americans"-how to blend in as much as possible with the mainstreamcampus culturearoundthem, in the hopes that this would alleviate anti-Semitism."The rules were: watch your manners,behave like ladies and gentlemen,avoid impropriety,keep your head low, be good and loyal citizens, and contributeto the welfare of your community"(249). Just how Jewish these organizationswere and should be, and whom they claimed as members,were highly contestedquestions.By and large,their answers dependedon which groupwas in questionand who withinthe groupwas doing the answering.Some fraternities,such as Zeta Beta Tau,were founded specifically as Jewishorganizations,with a constitutionandritualsteepedin Jewishtradition;oth410

Book Reviews ers, such as Pi Lambda Phi, explicitly shunned sectarianism;still others, such as Phi Epsilon Pi, chose to leave the issue up to individualmembers to decide, and they decided differentlyat differentpoints in time. Some groups appealedto native-born,relatively well-off, German-Jewishcollegians. Others attractedthe childrenof more recently arrived,less well-off Russian immigrants.Sanua'sexplorationof these distinctionsamong the groups and the ways the differentfraternities and sororitieschose to separatethemselves from coreligioniststhey labeled "hopeless"-usually because they looked "tooJewish"or spoketoo loudly or with an accent-make for some of the more interestingand complex discussions in the book. Internalprejudiceand shunningat the handsof fellow Jews hurtas much as, if not more than, that encounteredat the handsof non-Jews. Sanua'sskill at dealing with this issue enables the readerto understandboth how those excluded by theirown must have felt, andyet at the same time recognizehow importantit must have seemed to many Jewish Greeks to set themselves off from and above those they consideredcoarse or vulgar, in the vain belief that fine mannersand proper comportmentwould help them prove their worth to others, especially non-Jews, on campus. Indeed, much of the history of the early Jewish Greek subsystem as explored by Sanua is filled with tension. For example, the Jewish fraternities(and, to a lesser extent, sororities), like their non-Jewish counterparts,made much of the vocational access they enabled,with insiders not only advising fellow fraternity members on careers and strategiesbut also providingthem entree to desirable internshipsandjobs. But not only did the Jewish groups aid their members in seeking careers;at the same time they trod an almost contradictorypath-going to great lengths to keep many of their own out of some professions, in the belief that the oversaturationof Jews in fields such as medicine and law would contributeto anti-Semitismand lend credence to myths of Jewish world domination. Another tension Sanua explores nicely deals with how Jewish Greeks both welcomed and resisted the dropping of "sectarianclauses" (also called "exclusionary clauses" because they named who could or could not join an organization) in the post-World War II era. On one hand, as men and women who themselves struggled against prejudice, Jewish Greeks largely considered the loweringof barriersa good thing;on the otherhand,the very raison d'etre of their organizations,to provide solidarityto those shut out of the historicallyChristian Greeksocieties, would disappearif the older and more establishedgroups agreed to take in Jewish members. Going Greekis best when it exploresbroadthemes and questionswithinthe Jewish collegiate Greek system-how the different groups responded to antiSemitismandclosed dooradmissionspolicies; the ways the differentorganizations wrestledwith how "Jewish"a Jewishfraternityshouldbe; how the fraternitiesand sororitiesrespondedto externalevents, such as the Depression,the rise of Hitler, and the two WorldWars.Thereare times in the book when the authorseems to get bogged down in details, as though once she found this treasuretroveof undiscovered (by scholars)documents,Sanuawantedto use them all. In addition,she provides far more insight into the mechanisms of the men's organizationsthan she does into the women's-a fact she recognizes but does not adequatelyexplain. 411

Book Reviews Still, this is an important,provocative,and highly readablestudy,and it deserves close attentionby scholarsand lay readersalike. Diana Turk New YorkUniversity New York,New York

Ofira Seliktar.Divided WeStand:AmericanJews, Israel, and the Peace Process. Westport,CT: Praeger,2002. xvi, 272 pp. Israel,and before thatthe idea of a Jewish state in the traditionalhomeland, has long capturedthe imaginationof many, if not always most, AmericanJews. The close connection between Jews in Israel and the United States intensified as the events of the last centuryunfolded,especially the Holocaust, the struggle for Israel'sindependence,andthenthe unendingeffortto safeguardthatindependence and ensure security.The 1967 Six-Day War,the run-upto which conjuredup images of anothercalamity,had a profoundeffect in the Diaspora,drivinghome the reality of Israel'sprecarioussecurityand the state'scentralimportancein modern Jewishlife. Thatwatershedproduceda relativelyshort-livedperiodwhen it seemed that AmericanJews were united in their supportfor Israel. But, since 1977, that "sacredunity"has been called into question as sharpdivisions have appearedexacerbatedby controversialIsraeligovernmentdecisions and the pressuresof the peace process since 1991. In retrospect,one wonderswhetherthe brief decade from 1967 to 1977 was a unique respite from habitualJewish disunity and infighting.After all, both before 1948 and during the first nineteen years of the State's existence, American Jews exhibited considerable ambivalence and diversity of opinion. And, since 1977, therehavebeen what Seliktarcalls "deepdivisions"thatweakenedwhathad become an Israel-centeredcivil religion. By the turn of the century,as control of the Israeligovernmentseemed to be shifting dramaticallyevery few years, the intensity of the conflict between supportersof the two main Israeliorientationswere more intense than ever. Of course,all these developmentsdid not occur in a vacuum.AmericanJews were part of a relationshipinvolving the governmentsof Israel and the United States. In what Seliktarcalls a triadicrelationship,AmericanJews actedpolitically to try to influence the policies of the two governments,while each government triedto use AmericanJews to furtherits goals vis-a-vis the othergovernment.This process has led to a crisis within AmericanJewry,wherebythe communityfinds it increasinglydifficult to speak with one voice and to confrontpolitical realities with a display of unity. Seliktardoes reachsome importantconclusions. One has to do with the way in which AmericanJews have reactedto the frequentlychanging signals emanating from Jerusalemsince 1977. Given their well-known penchantfor liberalism, American Jews have generallybeen comfortablewith Labor-ledgovernmentsin 412

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Harold M. Waller Source: AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 412-413 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4131764 . Accessed: 21/07/2011 02:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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Book Reviews Still, this is an important,provocative,and highly readablestudy,and it deserves close attentionby scholarsand lay readersalike. Diana Turk New YorkUniversity New York,New York

Ofira Seliktar.Divided WeStand:AmericanJews, Israel, and the Peace Process. Westport,CT: Praeger,2002. xvi, 272 pp. Israel,and before thatthe idea of a Jewish state in the traditionalhomeland, has long capturedthe imaginationof many, if not always most, AmericanJews. The close connection between Jews in Israel and the United States intensified as the events of the last centuryunfolded,especially the Holocaust, the struggle for Israel'sindependence,andthenthe unendingeffortto safeguardthatindependence and ensure security.The 1967 Six-Day War,the run-upto which conjuredup images of anothercalamity,had a profoundeffect in the Diaspora,drivinghome the reality of Israel'sprecarioussecurityand the state'scentralimportancein modern Jewishlife. Thatwatershedproduceda relativelyshort-livedperiodwhen it seemed that AmericanJews were united in their supportfor Israel. But, since 1977, that "sacredunity"has been called into question as sharpdivisions have appearedexacerbatedby controversialIsraeligovernmentdecisions and the pressuresof the peace process since 1991. In retrospect,one wonderswhetherthe brief decade from 1967 to 1977 was a unique respite from habitualJewish disunity and infighting.After all, both before 1948 and during the first nineteen years of the State's existence, American Jews exhibited considerable ambivalence and diversity of opinion. And, since 1977, therehavebeen what Seliktarcalls "deepdivisions"thatweakenedwhathad become an Israel-centeredcivil religion. By the turn of the century,as control of the Israeligovernmentseemed to be shifting dramaticallyevery few years, the intensity of the conflict between supportersof the two main Israeliorientationswere more intense than ever. Of course,all these developmentsdid not occur in a vacuum.AmericanJews were part of a relationshipinvolving the governmentsof Israel and the United States. In what Seliktarcalls a triadicrelationship,AmericanJews actedpolitically to try to influence the policies of the two governments,while each government triedto use AmericanJews to furtherits goals vis-a-vis the othergovernment.This process has led to a crisis within AmericanJewry,wherebythe communityfinds it increasinglydifficult to speak with one voice and to confrontpolitical realities with a display of unity. Seliktardoes reachsome importantconclusions. One has to do with the way in which AmericanJews have reactedto the frequentlychanging signals emanating from Jerusalemsince 1977. Given their well-known penchantfor liberalism, American Jews have generallybeen comfortablewith Labor-ledgovernmentsin 412

Book Reviews power and considerablyless at ease when Likudhas been at the helm. This is due in partto the stylistic differencesof expressionbetweenthe two partiesbut also to substantivedifferences.Formost of the twenty-sevenyears since 1977, whenever Likudhas been in controlthere have been significant divergencesbetween Israeli policy and American policy, thereby creating tension. The currentperiod, with Ariel Sharonand GeorgeW. Bush leading their respectivegovernments,is probably atypical for the extent of policy convergence. But this has not lessened the cognitivedissonancefelt by so manyAmericanJewswith what Seliktarcalls a "liberal-universalist"orientation.Nor has it eliminatedthe gap between them and fellow Jews with a "nationalist-Orthodox" orientation,which of course parallelsthe Israeli situation. Seliktarhelps us to understandthe triadicrelationshipthrougha painstaking examinationof the entireperiod since 1948. Much of that is familiarground,but she providescontinuityto the analysisby virtueof her impressivecommandof the innumerableorganizationsthat have appearedon the AmericanJewish scene over the decades. Some of them have come and gone, while othershave demonstrated stayingpower.But when viewed in their totality,her point aboutthe lack of unity within the communityis evident. However,many of these organizationsare elite bodies that lack extensive grassrootsmemberships.Is it possible that American Jews at the individuallevel are not as concernedwith the details of policy as their organizationalleaders?Thatmighthavebeen the case thirtyor fortyyearsago. But now there is public opinion datathat indicatethatthe rankand file of the community frequentlyis dividedexcept in a very basic sense (the existence of a secure Israel) and that increasingnumbersare less involved with Israel than was the case in the past. Ultimatelykey questionsfor AmericanJewry are whetherthe youngergenerationwill commit to the political struggleon behalf of Israelto the same extent that theirparentshave and whetherthey will find the presentturf and ideological battles between organizationsrelevant. One final observation:the value of this worthyeffort is seriouslydiminished by an embarrassingnumberof spelling, wordusage, and factualerrors.Even proper names are misspelled. How did a reputablepublishercountenancesuch a poor job of copyediting? HaroldM. Waller McGill University Montreal,Canada

413

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AJS Review THE JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONTRIBUTORS AJSReviewpublishesscholarlyarticlesandbookreviewscoveringthe field of JewishStudies.Frombiblical andrabbinictextualandhistoricalstudiesto modernhistory,socialsciences,the arts,andliterature,thejournal welcomesarticlesof interestto bothacademicandlay audiencesaroundthe world.A substantialportion of each volumeis devotedto reviewsof the latestscholarlyJudaicaandreviewessayson currenttrendsin publishing. MANUSCRIPTSUBMISSION forconsideration shouldbe sentto Prof.HillelJ.Kieval,Washington Universityin St.Louis,Busch Manuscripts Hall 15,Box 1121,OneBrookingsDrive,St. Louis,MO63130.Booksforreviewshouldbe sentto Prof.JeffreyRubenstein,NewYorkUniversity,53 WashingtonSquareSouth,Room 100,NewYork,NY 10012. shouldbe submittedin duplicateandshouldconformto ChicagoManualofStyle,ed. 15.Please Manuscripts the diskandthe hardcopyversionsshouldmatchperfectly. includea disketteversionof the manuscript; Theentiremanuscript(includingfootnotes)shouldbe typeddouble-spacedon 8 1/2x 11 inchpaper,withno less than 1-inchmarginson all foursides. Manuscriptpagesshouldbe numberedconsecutively.Includethe Authorsof acceptedarticleswill be name(s)andaffiliation(s)of the author(s)at the end of the manuscript. askedto preparea final versionin thejournal'sstyle andto submitit on disktogetherwitha hardcopy version. Figures: Charts,graphs,or otherartworkmustbe drawnby a Figuresmustbe readyfor photographicreproduction. professionalartistor computergeneratedon a laserprinter,in blackink on whitepaper,andshouldremain legibleaftera 50%reduction.All labelsanddetailson figuresshouldbe clearlyprinted. CITATIONSOF TEXTS 1. Forall intentsandpurposes,AJSReviewfollowsthe documentation guidelinesas laidout in the Chicago ManualofStyle, ed. 15. 2. All notesshouldappearas footnotes. Translitera3. Thetitles of worksnot in Englishshouldappearin the originallanguageor in transliteration. tionofHebrewtitles:only the firstwordof the articleandpropernamesarecapitalized. 4. The shortenedversionsof editedby (ed.), translatedby (trans.),andcompiledby (comp.)arepreferred. 5. The factsof publicationsystem(place:publisher,date)is preferredto (place,date). 6. Whencitinga note,the pagenumbershouldbe listedfirstfollowedby n. andthe notenumber:20 n. 17. Some examplesfrom the ChicagoManualof Style: Books: 1.Yves Bonnefoy,New and SelectedPoems,ed. JohnNaughtonandAnthonyRudolf(Chicago:University of ChicagoPress,1995). 2. Allen Forte,TheHarmonisticOrganizationof "TheRite of Spring"(New Haven,CT:YaleUniversity Press,1978). 3. WilliamH. Keating,"FortDearbornandChicago,"in PrairieState:Impressionsof Illinois 1673-1967, by Travelersand OtherObservers,ed. PaulM. Angle (Chicago:Universityof ChicagoPress,1967),8487. Shortforms of books: 4. SaraClarkeLippincott,"Chicago"in Angle,PrairieState,362-70. 5. Bolinger,Language,200 n. 16. Journals: 6. ChristopherS. Mackay,"Lactaniusand the Successionto Diocletian,"ClassicalPhilosophy94, no. 2 (1999): 205.

7. JudithLewis,"'Tisa Misfortuneto Be a GreatLadie':MaternalMortalityin theBritishAristocracy,15581959," Journal of British Studies 37 (1998): 26-53.

ConsumingFan8. RussellW.Belk andJaneenArnoldCosta,"TheMountainManMyth:A Contemporary tasy,"Journal of Consumer Research 25, no. 3 (1998): 218-40.

Shortforms ofjournals: 9. Belk andCosta,"MountainManMyth,"220. Thesesand Dissertations(for PhD dissertationuse PhD diss.): 10. DorothyRoss, "TheIrish-Catholic Immigrant,1880-1990:A Studyin SocialMobility"(Master'sthesis, ColumbiaUniversity,n.d.), 142-55. CITATIONSOF ANCIENTTEXTS: Biblicaland ExtracanonicalTexts 1. Biblicalcitationsshouldcite thetitlein full (e.g., "Genesis")followedby chapterandverse(e.g., 1:1)followingthe JPStitlesandversification. 2. Extracanonical Jewishtextsof SecondTempleperiodshouldbe cited in accordwith TheHarperCollins Study Bible. New Revised Standard Version, Withthe Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books (1993). Alter-

as follows:II Macnativelythesetextsmaybe citedin accordwitha specificcriticaleditionortranslation, cabees2: 19 (J. Goldstein,tr., TheAnchorBible.II Maccabees [NewYork,et al.: Doubleday,1983],p. 189). 3. DeadSea Scrollsshouldbe citedin accordwiththe titlesandidentifyingrubricof the editionspublished by the DJD series,e.g., 4Q MMT394, 3 (E. QimronandJ. Strugnell,eds., Discoveriesin the Judaean Desert X Qumran Cave 4. V Miqsat Ma'ase Ha-Torah [Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1994], p. 47). Al-

ternativelythese textsmaybe cited in accordwith a specific editionor translation,as follows:The Halakhic Letter (4Q MMT 394, 3 in the edition of E Martinez, tr., The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The

Rapids:E.J.Brill/WilliamB. Eerdmans, QumranTextsin English,2nded. [NewYork& Cologne/Grand 1994],p. 80). 4. Greekworksof Hellenisticauthorsshouldbe citedin accordwiththemostrecentLoebeditionunlessone is not available.In thatcase, citationshouldfollowa reputablescholarlyeditionor translation. 5. New Testamentcitationsshouldfollowthe conventionsof theHarperCollinsStudyBible(see above). Patristic,andotherearlyChristiancitationsshouldfollowthe conventionsof reputablescholarlyeditionsor translations. RabbinicWorks 1. Worksincludedin the mishnaiccanonshouldbe cited in accordwith standardprintededitions,e.g., M. Berakhot1:1,M. Bezah 1:1,etc. 2. Worksin the toseftancanonshouldbe cited in accordwith standardprintededitions,e.g., T.Berakhot 1:1,T.YomTov 1:1,etc. 3. Worksin the Palestiniantalmudiccanonshouldbe cited in accordwiththe divisionsandpaginationof theVeniceeditionandits variousreprints,e.g., Y. Berakhot1:1(2d). 4. Worksin the Babyloniantalmudiccanonshouldbe cited in accordwiththe paginationof theVilnaedition andits variousreprints,e.g., B. Berakhot2b. 5. Midrashiccompilationsshouldbe cited,wherepossible,in accordwiththe conventionsof a well-known edition.Somemodelsfollow: * Mekhiltade-RabbiIshmael,par B'o, to Exodus12:1(ed. Horovitz-Rabin, page p. 1 or corresponding of ed. Lauterbach). * Sifra,Diburade-nedavah, pageof ed. Finkelper.3:2,to Leviticus1:3(ed.Weiss,p. 5a orcorresponding steinwhereavailable) * Sifra,Diburade-nedavah, page of ed.Finkelper 3:1,to Leviticus1:2(ed.Weiss,p. 5a orcorresponding steinwhereavailable) * SifreiBamidbar,Nas'o,pis. 1, to Numbers5:3 (ed. Horovitz,p. 3) * SifreiDevarim,'Ekev,pis. 42, to Deuteronomy11:14(ed. Finkelstein,p. 89) * BereshitRabba,Va-yer'a, 2:480) par.48:6, to Genesis18:1(ed. Theodore-Albeck, * VayiqraRabba,Shemini,par 12, to Leviticus10:9(ed. Margoliot,2:244) * Pesiktad'RavKahana,Parah'adumah,pis. 4:2, to Numbers19:2(ed. Margoliot,1:55) * Avotd'RabbiNatan,A:2 (ed. Schechter,p. 8) * Avotd'RabbiNatan,B:2 (ed. Schechter,p. 10) MedievalHalakhic,Mystical,and PhilosophicalWorks In citingsuchworks,authorsshouldattemptto followconventionalcitationsystems.In the firstreference to suchtexts,authorsshouldprovidefull publicationinformationaboutthe editionused.Thereafter,it is sufficient to cite the text in an abbreviated title. COPYRIGHT Submission of an article is taken to imply that it has not been previously published and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. Authors must obtain written permission for material for which they do not own

thecopyright.A CopyrightTransferAgreement,withcertainspecifiedrightsreservedby theauthor,mustbe Thisis necsignedandreturnedto theEditorsby seniorauthorsof acceptedmanuscripts, priorto publication. essaryforthe protectionof bothauthorandtheAssociationundercopyrightlaw. HebrewTranscriptionChart HEBREW x-aleph a-bet 2-vet a-gimmel "1-dalet n-heh 1-vav-consonant 1-vav-vowel T-zayin n-het U-tet '-yod-consonant ,-yod-vowel

ENGLISH b v g d h v o, u z h(h withdot) t y i k kh 1 m n s

?-kaf z-khaf s-lamed n-mem a-nun t-samekh .-ayin p ,-peh n-feh f Y-tsadi z (z withdot) k p-kuf r "-resh w-shin sh tv-sin s n-tav t Vocalizationsmaybe representedby the Englishvowelsoundsa, ai, e, ei, i, o, u. CommonTermsderivedfrom Hebrewor Aramaic amoraic Amoraim tannaitic Tannaim Torah Mishnah Talmud midrash(not as title) gemara

Also: Bible biblical Rabbi(as title) rabbis rabbinic

0364-0094(200510)29:2;1-V