Studies in Judaism 15

Studies in Judaism 15

After the foregoing sketch, the reader will hardly expect me to give an

account of the Gaon's literary productions. The results of so long a life

and such powers of mind devoted to one cause with such zeal and fervour,

would furnish by themselves the subject of a whole series of essays. The

tombstone set on his grave by his pious admirers bears the inscription,

"The Gaon gave heed and sought and set in order"--that is to say, he wrote

commentaries or notes on--"the Bible, the Mishnah, both Talmuds, the

Siphré, Siphra, the Zohar, and many other works." Inscriptions on

tombstones are proverbial for exaggeration, and we all know the saying,

"as mendacious as an epitaph." But a glance at the catalogue of the

British Museum under the heading of Elijah Wilna, will show that this

inscription makes a praiseworthy exception. We will find that this list

might be lengthened by many other works of great importance for Jewish

life and thought. His commentary to the Code of R. Joseph Caro, in which

one will find that in many cases he knew the sources of the religious

customs and usages, put together in this work, better than its compiler

himself, would have been sufficient to place him at the head of Halachic

scholarship, whilst his notes and textual emendations to the Tosephta and

Seder Olam, to the restoration of which he contributed so much, would have

sufficed to establish his fame as a critic of the first order. And this is

the more astonishing when we consider that all this was done without

manuscripts or any other aid, and by mere intuition. We cannot wonder that

scholars who had the opportunity of visiting great libraries and saw how

the emendations of the Gaon agreed sometimes with the readings given in

the best manuscripts exclaimed very often: "Only by inspiration could he

have found out these secrets." We have no need to go so far; we shall

simply say with the Talmud, "The powers of the real sage surpass those of

the prophet." Nay, even had we possessed only his _Gleanings_, which form

a kind of _obiter dicta_ on various topics of Jewish literature, the Gaon

would have remained a model of clear thinking and real ingenuity for all

future generations.

 

However, a real appreciation of the Gaon's greatness as a scholar would

only be possible either by a thorough study of his works, to which I have

alluded, or by giving many specimens of them. The short space I am limited

to makes such an undertaking impossible. I shall therefore use what

remains to me to say a few words on the salutary influence the Gaon had on

his countrymen, the Russian Jews.

 

The Russian Jew is still a riddle to us. We know this strange being only

from the Reports of the Board of Guardians or from bombastic phrases in

public speeches; for he has always been the victim of platform orators,

 

 

So over violent or over civil,

That every man with them is God or Devil.

 

 

From all, however, that I can gather from the best Jewish writers in

Russia, I can only judge that the Russian Jew, when transplanted to a

foreign soil, where he is cut off from the past and uncertain of his

future, is for the time at least in a position in which his true character

cannot be truly estimated. His real life is to be sought in his own

country. There, amidst his friends and kinsmen who are all animated by the

same ideals, attached to the same traditions, and proud of the same

religious and charitable institutions, everything is full of life and

meaning to him. Thus, a certain Russian writer addresses his younger

colleagues who find so much fault with the bygone world: "Go and see how

rich we always were in excellent men. In every town and every village you

would find scholars, saints, and philanthropists. Their merits could

sustain worlds, and each of them was an ornament of Israel." And he

proceeds to give dozens of names of such excellent men, who are not all

indeed known to us, but with whom the Russian Jew connects many noble and

pious reminiscences of real greatness and heroic self-denial, and of whom

he is justly proud.

 

The focus, however, of all this spiritual life is the Yeshibah (Talmudical

College)(61) in Walosin. I hope that a glance at its history and

constitution will not be found uninteresting. The intellectual originator

of this institution which bears the name _Yeshibah Ets Chayim_ (Tree of

Life College),(62) was the Gaon himself. Being convinced that the study of

the Torah is the very life of Judaism, but that this study must be

conducted in a scientific, not in a scholastic way, he bade his chief

disciple, the R. Chayim already mentioned, to found a college in which

Rabbinical literature should be taught according to his own true method.

It would seem that, as long as the Gaon was alive, R. Chayim preferred to

be a pupil rather than a teacher. When, however, the Gaon died, R. Chayim

did not rest till he had carried out the command of his master, and in the

year 1803 the College was opened in Walosin. The cloth manufacturer and

disciple now became Rabbi and master. He began on a small scale, teaching

at first only a few pupils. But even for the sustenance of a small number

he had not sufficient means, and his pious wife sold her jewellery to help

him in accomplishing his favourite plan. This is the best refutation of

the French proverb _Avare comme une Rabbine_. The number, however,

increased daily, and before he died (1828), he was fortunate enough to

lecture to a hundred students. The number of students in the year 1888

amounted to 400, and the Russian Jews are thus right in asserting that

they have the greatest Talmudical College in the world. It is evident that

no private charity by a single man, however great, could suffice to

maintain such large numbers. Thus R. Chayim was already compelled to

appeal to the liberality of his Russian brethren. The name of R. Chayim,

and the still greater name of his master, were recommendation enough, and

besides private offerings, many communities promised large sums towards

supporting the students in Walosin. From time to time also messengers are

sent out by the committee to promote the interests of the Yeshibah. The

writers to whom I owe these data tell us that these messengers travel to

all parts of the world to collect offerings for Walosin: so that it is a

standing joke with the students that the existence of the mythical river

Sambatyon(63) may be questioned after all, otherwise it must long have

been discovered by these messengers who explore the whole world in their

journeys. But it would seem that this world is only a very small one. For

the whole income of the Yeshibah has never exceeded the sum of about

Ł1800. Of this a certain part is spent in providing the salaries of the

teaching staff and proctors, and on the repairs of the building; whilst

the rest is distributed amongst the students. Considering that no

scholarship exceeds Ł13--it is only the forty immortals of Walosin who

receive such high stipends--considering again that the great majority of

the students belong to the poorer classes and thus receive no remittance

from their parents, we may be sure that the words of the Talmud: "This is

the way to study the Torah; eat bread and salt, drink water by measure,

sleep on the earth, and live a life of care," are carried out by them

literally. But it would seem that the less they eat and the less they

sleep, the more they work. Indeed the industry and the enthusiasm of these

Bachurim (_alumni_)(64) in the study of the Torah is almost unsurpassable.

The official hours alone extend from nine in the morning until ten in the

evening, while many of the students volunteer to continue their studies

till the middle of the night, or to begin the day at three in the morning.

 

As to the subject of these studies, it is confined, as may be imagined, to

the exploration of the old Rabbinic literature in all its branches. But it

would be a mistake to think that the modern spirit has left Walosin quite

untouched. It would be impossible that among 400 thinking heads there

should not be a few who are interested in mathematics, others again in

philosophy or history, while yet others would conjugate the irregular

verbs of some classical language when moving to and fro over their Talmud

folios and pretending to "_learn_." Indeed, almost all the writers who

demand that these subjects should be introduced as obligatory into the

programme of Walosin, belonged themselves to this Yeshibah. And it is

these writers who betray the secret how secular knowledge is now invading

the precincts of Walosin, as well as of other Talmudical Colleges in spite

of all obstacles and prohibitions. In conquering these difficulties seem

to consist the pleasures of life of many Bachurim at Walosin. Look only at

that undergraduate, how, after a heavy day's work he is standing there in

the street reading Buckle's _History of Civilisation_ in the moonlight!

Poor man, he is not so romantic as to prefer the moonlight to a cheerful,

warm room, with the more prosaic light of a candle, but he has got tired

of knocking at the door, for his landlady, to whom he has neglected to pay

rent for the last three terms, made up her mind to let him freeze to-

night. But still more cruel to him is his fellow-sufferer, who is also

wandering in the streets with an overloaded brain and empty stomach; he

roughly shakes him out of his dreams by telling him that Buckle is long

ago antiquated, and that he had better study the works of Herbert Spencer,

who has spoken the last word on every vital subject in the world. Still

these two starving and freezing representatives of English thought in

Walosin form only an exception. The general favourites are the

representatives of Jewish thought. That such books as the _Guide of the

Perplexed_, by Maimonides, the Metaphysical Researches of Levi b.

Gershom,(65) and other philosophical works of the Spanish school are read

by the Walosin students it is needless to say. These books now form a part

of the Rabbinic literature, and it would be almost unorthodox to suspect

their readers. But is worth noticing that even the productions of the

modern historico-critical school, such as the works of Zunz, Frankel,

Graetz, Weiss, are very popular with the Bachurim, being much read and

discussed by them.

 

Thus Walosin deserves rightly to be considered as the centre of Jewish

thought in Russia, in which the spirit of the Gaon is still working.

 

I have very often, however, heard doubts expressed as to the continuance

of this spirit when, as it is to be hoped, better times come for the Jews

in Russia. Is it not to be feared that liberty and emancipation will

render untenable ideas and notions which arose under entirely different

circumstances? There is no need of entertaining such fears. Rabbi Jedaiah

of Bedres(66) concludes his philosophical work _Examination of the World_,

with the following words: "The conclusion of the whole matter is, go

either to the right, my heart, or go to the left, but believe all that R.

Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides) has believed, the last of the Gaonim by

time, but the first in rank." About five hundred years have passed away

since these lines were written. Time, as we have seen, has brought another

Gaon, and probably Time will favour us in future with still another. But

times have also altered. The rebellious hearts of a liberal age are not

likely to obey always the command, "believe all that the Gaon said." But

the heart of man will in all ages retain idealism enough to love and

revere the greatest of men and to follow what was best in them.

 

 

 

 

 

IV. NACHMANIDES(67)

 

 

R. Chayim Vital, in his _Book of the Transmigrations of Souls_, gives the

following bold characteristic of the two great teachers of Judaism,

Maimonides and Nachmanides. Their souls both sprang forth from the head of

Adam--it is a favourite idea of the Cabbalists to evolve the whole of ideal

humanity from the archetype Adam--but the former, Maimonides, had his

genius placed on the left curl of Adam, which is all judgment and

severity, whilst that of the latter, Nachmanides, had its place on the

right curl, which represents rather mercy and tenderness.

 

I start from these words in order to avoid disappointment. For Nachmanides

was a great Talmudist, a great Bible student, a great philosopher, a great

controversialist, and, perhaps, also a great physician; in one word, great

in every respect, possessed of all the culture of his age. But, as I have

already indicated by the passage quoted by way of introduction, it is not

of Nachmanides in any of these excellent qualities that I wish to write

here. For these aspects of his life and mind I must refer the reader to

the works of Graetz, Weiss, Steinschneider, Perles, and others. I shall

mostly confine myself to those features and peculiarities in his career

and works which will illustrate Nachmanides the tender and compassionate,

the Nachmanides who represented Judaism from the side of emotion and

feeling, as Maimonides did from the side of reason and logic.

 

R. Moses ben Nachman, or Bonastruc de Portas, as he was called by his

fellow-countrymen, or Nachmanides, as he is commonly called now, was born

in Gerona about the year 1195. Gerona is a little town in the province of

Catalonia in Spain. But though in Spain, Gerona was not distinguished for

its philosophers or poets like Granada, Barcelona, or Toledo. Situated as

it was in the North of Spain, Gerona was under the influence of Franco-

Jewish sympathies, and thus its boast lay in the great Talmudists that it

produced. I shall only mention the name of R. Zerahiah Hallevi Gerundi--so-

called after his native place--whose strictures on the Code of R. Isaac

Alfasi, which he began as a youth of nineteen years, will always remain a

marvel of critical insight and independent research. Nachmanides is

supposed by some authors to have been a descendant of R. Isaac ben Reuben

of Barcelona, whose hymns are still to be found in certain rituals. The

evidence for this is insufficient, but we know that he was a cousin of R.

Jonah Gerundi, not less famous for his Talmudic learning than for his

saintliness and piety. Nachmanides thus belonged to the best Jewish

families of Gerona. Various great men are mentioned as his teachers, but

we have certainty only about two, namely R. Judah ben Yakar, the

commentator of the prayers, and R. Meir ben Nathan of Trinquintaines. The

mystic, R. Ezra (or Azriel), is indeed alleged to have been his instructor

in the Cabbalah, and this is not impossible, as he also was an inhabitant

of Gerona; but it is more probable that Nachmanides was initiated into the

Cabbalah by the R. Judah just mentioned, who also belonged to the mystical school.