World Union of Jewish Studies / האיגוד העולמי למדעי היהדות
ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS READ IN HEBREWSource: Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies / דברי הקונגרס העולמי למדעיכרך ב / VOLUME II ,היהדות, כרך דpp. 177-213 תשכ"ה / 1965Published by: World Union of Jewish Studies / האיגוד העולמי למדעי היהדותStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23528230 .
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ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS READ IN HEBREW
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JOINT SESSIONS 179
JOINT SESSION OF THE MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN JEWISH HISTORY
AND CONTEMPORARY JEWRY SECTIONS
Vingt ans de l'activité de l'Institut Juif d'Histoire à Varsovie
A. Rutkowski, Warsaw
(Yiddish lecture on page 3 of Hebrew section.)
Les aspects économiques de la politique antijuive des
autorités nazies dans le Gouvernement Général
T. Bernstein, Warsaw
(Yiddish lecture on page 9 of Hebrew section.)
Communal leadership under Nazi rule:
authority and responsibility
Z. A. Bar-On, Jerusalem
This paper analyzes some of the main aspects relating to
the activities of the institution destined to stand at the helm
of the Jewish community under Nazi rule in World War II. In
most of the areas in which it existed, this institution was
named by the Germans 'Judenratי or 'Aeltestenrat'.
Because of the peculiar circumstances under which this
institution operated — at the height of the Nazi destruction
of Jewish communities — there is a tendency on the part of
those who come to study its activities to emphasize the con
cept of responsibility. The principal question is usually
formulated as follows: To what extent, if at all, is it possible
to consider this institution responsible for what happened to
the community? Did it or did it not give assistance to the
murderers in carrying out their evil plan? Did it fulfil its
responsibility toward the community and its members? This
paper, however, assumes that if it is at all possible to provide
some sort of plausible answer to the question of responsibility,
it is only by tying it to the problem of authority — both the
formal and practical authority of this particular institution.
The difficulties presented by the use of the term 'authority' as
it is applied in this context are touched upon.
The joint consideration of the two problems is illustrated
by factual historical source material pertaining to the history
of one community which was seized, subjugated and finally
annihilated by the Nazis during the war, namely the com
munity of Kovno in Lithuania. Three events in the life of the
Kovno community are analyzed from this viewpoint: 1. the
appointment and organization of the Aeltestenrat in Kovno;
2. the Aeltestenrat of the Jews of Kovno during the mass
murders; 3. the contacts between this institution and the
fighting Jewish underground. For some of the aspects treated
the analysis is based on both Jewish and German source
material.
JOINT SESSION OF THE HEBREW LITERATURE AND YIDDISH LANGUAGE
AND LITERATURE SECTIONS
Problems in studying the Hebrew texts
of Mendele Mokher Sefarim
S. Werses, Jerusalem
Among Mendele's works, marked by a complicated deve
lopment of versions and variants, mention should be made
of the novel Dos Vinch-fingerel and Be'Emeq Ha-Bakha.
Students of Mendele in Yiddish have investigated problems
connected with the variegated development of this book, but
have not been concerned with the significance and nature of
the Hebrew version of this work, which appeared in the
periodical Ha-Shiloah in 1896-1909. Furthermore, they even
disregarded the Hebrew version in their discussions.
Although the Ha-Shiloah edition generally corresponds to
the Yiddish version as it was published in the Yiddishe Folks
Bibliotek in 1888-1890, it should be pointed out that only
the first parts of the book appeared in Yiddish, whereas in
Hebrew it appeared almost in its entirety in instalments until
1909. From the point of view of Mendele's ideational de
velopment as well, certain conclusions can be drawn in the
light of the first Hebrew version of the book. Moreover, the
Hebrew version which appeared in Ha-Shiloah preserved
Mendele's complaints about the Hebrew national movement
which he himself deleted from the Yiddish edition.
Studies of the above-mentioned work have recorded many
variations in the versions. However, in drawing conclusions
based on these changes, stress has been laid on the significance
of Mendele's social and ideological development and on the
stylistic transformations which took place in Mendele's
Yiddish. No suitable attention has been paid to the fund
amental significance of the changes which occurred in the
Yiddish version from 1888 to 1904-1911 from the structural
point of view (and paralleling this development in Hebrew,
between the Ha-Shiloah version and the one in his collected
works of 1909).
One version is based on the fiction of a manuscript having
been deposited with Mendele by the putative author, who is
the hero of the story. Mendele announced that he himself had
translated this manuscript, adapted it, and formulated it in
his own way. In accordance with this narrative pattern,
Mendele now and then quoted the original author, as it
were. This division between the autobiographical portions of
the author and those edited by Mendele, reveal a sort of
duplication of a descriptive version and a sentimental,
digressive one. Furthermore, this double dimension is
employed by Mendele himself as an excellent technique
for disguising experiences from his own childhood and
youth and for expressing his views on Jewish public affairs,
on the responsibility of his hero, the fictional author, as
it were.
This double time dimension was eliminated in the final
edition, both in Yiddish and Hebrew. The sentimental and
digressive statements are now made by Mendele himself,
who appears here as the sole author. In this way, these
elements of the work have been intensified and emphasized
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180 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
and the epic and descriptive flavor is sometimes blurred.
Nevertheless, a study of the various versions shows that in
the end distinct traces of the double version have been
preserved, especially as reflected in the dual time mirror of
what occurred previously. This fundamental transformation in the position of the
author-narrator sometimes even led to inconsistency in carry
ing out the changes and in textual blunders.
In examining the textual problem of Be Emeq Ha-Bakha,
use was made of the pages of the author's manuscript both in
Hebrew and Yiddish which are in the National and Univer
sity Library in Jerusalem. Among the manuscripts, it was
possible to identify by a page in Mendele's own handwriting
traces of an un-known Hebrew version of the above mentioned
work, and that, too, in two different formulations on the
same page. There is also a new aspect of the title. In a
section at the beginning of the story, Mendele slurs over
complete parts which he cited in the author's name in the
introduction called 'Story before the Story' published in Ha
Shiloah.
Problems concerning the Yiddish texts
of Mendele Mokher Sefarim
Ch. Shmeruk, Jerusalem
After a short summary of existing studies of Mendele's
texts in Yiddish, the writer presents the results of examining
a number of Mendele's works originating from the '70s
which have not yet been discussed from the textual standpoint
by critics or in scholarly literature. The discussion centres
on the following works:
1. Di Klache ('The mare'). The complete Yiddish versions
from the years 1873, 1889 and 1911, the fragments 'Yisrolik
der meshugener farflit in di hoiche oiloms', 'Aderabbe wer iz
meshuge', 'Der baybak' and the complete Hebrew versions
in Ha-olam and Ha-Shiloah in 1904-1910 and in Kol kitvei
Mendete Mokher Sefarim, Vol. II (Cracow-Odessa, 1911). 2. Yidl. The printed versions from 1875-1913 and the
fragments in manuscripts from 1906-1907 (?). A comparison of the versions shows the development of
the Yiddish style of Mendele and elimination of Slavisms in
later revisions of the texts.
JOINT SESSION OF THE HEBREW LITERATURE AND JEWISH FOLKLORE
AND FOLK LITERATURE SECTIONS
Folk narrative motifs in the Mishlé shualim
of Rabbi Berechiah Ha-Nakdan
H. Schwarzbaum, Tel Aviv
The book Mishlé shualim by Berechiah Ha-Nakdan (13th
century C.E.) which contains 119 fables dealing with animals
and birds (according to the Habermann edition, 1946) is one
of the most important and most interesting collections of
its kind both for the study of fable literature among Jews
and non-Jews and for the study of Jewish literature in the
Middle Ages. Some problems connected with Rabbi Berech
iah Ha-Nakdan's personality have not yet been solved, e. g., his place of birth, the dates of his birth and death, the scope of his literary activity, his knowledge of European languages
(did he also know Arabic?). Scholars have not yet succeeded
in pointing to the direct sources of Mishlé shualim. A de
finitely folkloristic approach — in contrast with the purely
literary approach — which takes into consideration all the
oral and written versions of every Jewish and non-Jewish
fable in world literature, with the help of indices to interna
tional 'Types' and 'Motifs', and submits these versions to
detailed analysis, enables us to determine Rabbi Berechiah's
sources, the changes introduced into them by the author, and
the degree to which Rabbi Berechiah lent them a specifically Jewish touch.
There are numerous ancient fables in the literary sources
of the Sumerians (the spiritual forebears of the Akkadians,
Babylonians, and Assyrians) and in the literature of the
ancient Egyptians, in the literatures of Greece and Rome and
in that of the Middle Ages, which live on as an oral tradition
among peoples all over the world today. There are many
fables of this sort in Rabbi Berechiah's work, although his
book also contains some which are no longer alive, either
among the Jews or elsewhere.
Comparative folklore enables us to present a comprehensive
picture, a complete biography of each and every fable, and of
the development, evolution and transformations of the nu
merous versions of each, both those which survived in
written form and those handed down by word of mouth. By
using the methods of comparative folklore, a great deal of
light may be shed on all the problems connected with Rabbi
Berechiah's fables.
The large quantity of material the author collected
in his unpublished work The Mishlé shualim of Rabbi
Berechiah Ha-Nakdan, a study in comparative fable lore
proves that Rabbi Berekhiah was actually a collector, a
first-rate anthology compiler. He gathered his fables from
various mediaeval collections, like those of Romulus (the
roots of which go back to the fables of Phaedrus in the first
century C.E.), Marie de France of the 12th century C.E., and
various versions of the collection of Avianus.
Rabbi Berechiah Ha-Nakdan was so closely attached to
the European versions of mediaeval fables that even on the
solitary occasion when he made use of a fable from Jewish
sources (Rabbi Akiva's fable on the fox and the fish in
Berakhot 61b), he did not hesitate to introduce into it ad
ditional elements from the wealth of the Aesopian fable, as it
was current in the Middle Ages (the fox brings the fish the
tidings of eternal peace, in the sense of 'and the wolf shall
dwell with the lamb', cf. Aarne-Thompson Type 62).
An important feature of the Hebrew part of this essay is
a detailed analysis of Rabbi Berechiah's 28th fable, tracing
its exact sources and parallels.
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HEBREW LITERATURE SECTION 181
The Abraham-Nimrod legend in the
poetry of Bàbài ben Lotf
E. Spicehandler, Cincinnati
Kitàb al-AnUsi by the 17th century Jewish Persian poet
Bâbâi b. Lotf (MSS. Ben Zvi 916-917) contains a variant of
the well-known legend cycle of Abraham and Nimrod.
Bâbâi's version substantially differs from previous accounts
in two ways :
1. he makes use of Muslim and Midrashic legends drawn
from the poetry of Shâhïn, a Jewish-Persian poet of the
13th and 14th century;
2. he adds a folk story which ascribes the origin of the
Coolie people to the story of Abraham and the fire.
An examination of Bâbâi's sources leads to the following
conclusions:
1. Persian Jews utilized Muslim biblical legends as early as
the 14th century and, in all likelihood, before many of
these legends were included in Jewish Midrashic texts.
2. Although he relies heavily on Shâhïn, Bâbâi employs
Muslim materials that are not found in Shâhïn.
3. The legend connecting the origin of the Coolies with the
Abraham - Nimrod cycle seems to be of Isfâhâni origin.
It is found in another source contemporary with Bâbâi's
poem.
HEBREW LITERATURE
The petihtot in aggadic midrashim,
their origin and function
J. Heinemann, Jerusalem
Most of the numerous petihtot which have come down to
us were undoubtedly originally intended for and used in public sermons. They all have in common a clearly distinguished
form pattern. The preacher starts from a scriptural verse,
chosen not from the 'lesson' to which the sermon relates,
but from elsewhere. He then proceeds by various means to
connect this 'remote' verse with the first words of the 'lesson',
with which the petihta invariably ends. This structure is
calculated to arouse interest and expectation on the part of
the audience; of the preacher it demands great rhetorical
skill and a well developed sense of form.
Scholars are divided as regards the function of the petihta.
Most of them define it as an opening or introduction, after
which the main discourse was to follow. Ph. Bloch and L.
Baeck, on the other hand, believe the petihtot to have been
originally entire sermons, complete in themselves. Neither
the name 'petihta' ('opening'), nor the relative brevity of
most petihtot can be considered decisive arguments in favour
of the former view. On the other hand, no satisfactory
answer has ever been given to Bloch's question : why did the
other parts of the sermon, alleged to have followed the
petihtot, disappear completely? For those sections which
follow after the petihtot in our midrashim are entirely amor■
phous, and a preacher who shows great skill in constructing
the opening section of his sermon would not entirely disre
gard matters of rhetorical form and structure in its other
parts.
One must conclude that the petihtot were, indeed, original
ly entire sermons. However, this still fails to explain their
most marked feature, viz. their inverted, 'upside-down'
structure, in which the beginning of the 'lesson' invariably
comes at the end of the sermon. This structure appears to
have been considered compulsory by preachers, so much so
that they insisted on it even where various strange devices had
to be employed to make it possible. It follows that we are
dealing with a characteristic inherent in the very nature of
this pattern and due, presumably, to its 'Sitz im Leben.
The only assumption which will explain this phenomenon
is that the petihtot were, originally, sermons that preceded the
scriptural readings themselves. When the sermon was but an
introduction to the actual reading, it is obvious why the
preacher insisted on concluding with the opening words of
the lesson, so as to ensure a smooth and natural transition
from the one to other. For the same reason, petihtot could,
on the whole, be comparatively short. The prevalent choice
of opening verses from the wisdom books and their like also
becomes intelligible, because such verses usually express a
general idea, suitable to focus attention on some specific
aspect or implication of the reading which is about to follow.
There are some indications in Talmudic and post-Talmudic
literature that, during certain periods, sermons were indeed
delivered before the scriptural readings.
The reason for the great popularity which the petihtot
apparently enjoyed is to be found in their formal charact
eristics ; for here we have a pattern which, due to its clearly
defined and closely knit structure and the elements of
surprise and anticipation inherent in it, was bound to
possess a special attraction for the audience.
Two supplements to the collection of
liturgical poems by Yannai
Z. M. Rabbinowitz, Tel Aviv
A study of two pages from the Cambridge Geniza collec
tion assembled by the Hebrew Bible Project has revealed two
supplements to Yannai's poems (kerovot) which were incor
porated in the Eighteen Benedictions. The script is ancient
and seems to date from about the 8th century.
The first fragment contains the first half of kerova 71 in
the Zulai edition (Piyyutei Yannai, p. 161) to the section
emor el ha-kohanim ('Say to the priests'). The half in the Zulai
edition contains passages 6-8 of the kerova; the manuscript,
passages 1 -5. The sections in the manuscript contain a number
of expressions corresponding to those in printed texts.
Parts of the kerova and verses between them are based on
the Leviticus Rabba midrash to this section and cite matters
regarding ritual cleanliness from the Mishna and Tosefta.
One fragment corresponds to the Pesikta de-Rav Kahana.
The third part of fragment A contains the name of the
poet Yannai and deals with redemption.
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182 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
The second fragment contains the final sections of a kerova
in the weekly Pentateuchal reading beginning with the words
'Ye shall be holy' to the section 'And when ye shall come
into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for
food ..(Lev. xix :23). This section was part of the triennial
cycle followed in Palestine, as evidenced by the list of sections
printed in Yaakov Sapir's work Even Sapir, part II: 'The
weekly portion "Ye shall be holy" has two sections: the
beginning and "And when ye shall come into the land, and
shall have planted" '. We had no knowledge of this section
until now. In Zulai's edition of Yannai's liturgical poems there is a kerova only to the section 'Ye shall be holy'. How
ever, it seems that one fragment in Yannai's liturgical poems to the portion 'Ye shall be holy' beginning with the words
'As one out of ten' (p. 160) also belongs to this kerova.
This kerova is interesting in that it deals with prohibitions
against the use of fruit during the first three years after
planting ('orla) and with commandments applicable to Pales
tine. Another fragment deals with a public prayer for the
success of the crops, and the poet enumerates all the fruits
cultivated in the country and how they grow. The kerovot also contain expressions which are of interest
from the linguistic point of view.
Abraham lbn-Ezra's elegies upon his son Isaac
N. Ben-Menahem, Jerusalem
In Abraham ibn-Ezra's Diwan (Berlin, 1866) there are two
elegies upon his son Isaac:
a. 'My hope has been blighted, my eye swims in tears';
b. 'Father of the son, lament, because God has taken from
thee thine son, thine only son, whom thou lovest,
even Isaac'.
We know that Isaac was converted to Islam in Baghdad, but it seems that this conversion was only for appearances.
Isaac remained loyal to his people and religion ; in one of his
poems he says explicitly: 'I have never eaten ritually unfit food,
I have considered it abomination and carrion
And if I say the madman is the prophet of the Lord
And if I praise him at the beginning of every prayer I say so with my mouth only, and my heart will echo :
You lie and your testimony is invalid.'
The question is whether the father's laments are about a
son who has abandoned the traditions of his fathers, which is
the opinion of some scholars, or about a son who died in the
prime of life.
It is clear, in my opinion, that these poems are laments for
a son who died naturally. The father heard of his son's
illness and came to him from a distant land. It is reasonable
to assume that the son was taken ill in Baghdad, at the home
of his master, the physician Nathaneel ben Eli. The father
carried him from here to various places to seek the help of
doctors and medicaments, and this involved him in many
troubles. When he saw, however, that there was no hope that
his son should recover, he brought him home to Egypt, where
the son died and where his father's soul was 'crying for him
night and day'.
Research techniques for Hasidic tales
J. Dan, Jerusalem
1. The study of Hasidic tales proceeds along three principal
lines :
a. Study of the Hebrew and Yiddish folk tale; since Hasidic
stories are interspersed to varying degrees with narrative
elements from Jewish folk tales of different periods.
b. Study of Hasidism as reflected in Hasidic tales; students
of Hasidism differ as to the place and status of the tale
among the sources for Hasidic doctrine.
c. Study of the history of Hasidism, its leaders and literary
products; since Hasidic tales contain much valuable biblio
graphical, biographical and historical material.
2. Research along these three lines is carried out in ac
cordance with established methods for studying folklore and
Jewish thought and history; no special method has been
devised for the study of the Hasidic tale and this field has
not been recognized as a literary category possessed of a
special nature requiring specialized approaches. It is to be
asked whether or not the Hasidic tale has additional charac
teristics which the above-mentioned lines of study do not
exhaust.
3. The author submits that Hasidic tales display a new
attitude to the form of the story qua story which is not to
be found in the sources influencing Hasidism and thus was an
innovation introduced by the Hasidic teachers. This attitude
has produced a special pattern for Hasidic tales requiring a
further line of literary study without which the significance
of the Hasidic tale cannot be thoroughly investigated in itself
nor its ideological, historical and folkloristic meaning be
assessed.
4. Specimens are presented of the unique narrative concept
of Hasidism based on the saying of Hasidic teachers, chiefly
Jacob Joseph of Polonnoye and Nahman of Bratslav; an
analysis of several specimen tales and suggestions of general
methodological conclusions are offered, departing from the
assumption that in Hasidism the tale has a sacred quality in
itself.
Epistolary elements in the Hebrew novel of the Haskala
D. Patterson, Oxford
In utilizing the letter form in his novels for the exposition
of ideas, for reflections on the social conditions of his time
and, in particular, for the introduction of sentiment, Abraham
Mapu performed a service for Hebrew literature comparable
with Joseph Perl's skilful exploitation of the letter form for
satirical purposes. Their influence may be perceived in the
copious supply of letters included in most of the Hebrew
novels composed during the twenty years following Mapu's
death. But Mapu's employment of the epistolary device for
the mechanics of plot and characterization reflects the less
satisfactory aspects of the European tradition, and relies too
often on crude melodrama, or third-party account, while
neglecting the subtle advantages which may accrue from a
more skilful use of epistolary techniques.
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HEBREW LITERATURE SECTION 183
Mapu's successors avidly pounced upon the mechanical
aspects of the device for the advancement of the plot, for the
purpose of outlining the previous history of the characters, or
for the whole range of melodramatic stratagems, such as
interception, forgery and blackmail, which lend themselves so
easily to epistolary treatment. The letter form, however, is
introduced even more frequently, and certainly more effect
ively for the propagation of ideas in a much more direct
manner in the novels of Smolenskin and Braudes, than in
those of Mapu. Again, a number of novelists deliberately
introduced letters written in a barbaric style, together with
footnote explanations in the manner of Perl, in order to
satirize the opponents of enlightenment. Most effective in this
respect is the humorous but devastating satire to be found in
the novels of Weisbrem.
The dual function of the letters for motivation and didacti
cism reflects the dual purpose of the hybrid novel of the
Haskala. With the gradual disappearance of the genre
towards the end of the nineteenth century, the epistolary
element in the Hebrew novel undergoes a radical change.
Rhymed stories and diverse poems
by Y. L. Peretz and G. Y. Lichtenfeld —
the book and its problems
Y. A. Klausner, Jerusalem
In the year 1877 a small book was published in Warsaw:
Rhymed stories and diverse poems by two compilers (Sippurim
be-shir we-shirim shonim me'et sheney ba'aley asuppot). The
book contains an 'Introduction1, a longish poem named
'The life of a Hebrew poet', and nine other small poems. The
names of the 'compilers' are not revealed in the book itself.
From other sources we know that they were the young
Y. L. Peretz and the father of his first wife—Gabriel Yehuda
Lichtenfeld. Peretz himself stated that he contributed to the
little volume: 'The life of the (!) Hebrew poet, Hanah and
also some of the small poems.' In spite of this statement
there are scholars who believe that Lichtenfeld's share in
'The life of a Hebrew poet' was of great importance. Out of the eleven (or rather, ten, as we shall prove that
the 'Introduction' belongs to 'The life of a Hebrew poet')
poems, three (among them the 'Introduction') lack any
signature. The rest bears no fewer than four different signa
tures—all initials: a) Y.L.P.; b) P.L.'A.Y. G.L.—Y.L.P.;
c) P.L'A.Y. G.L.; d) P.L.Y.'A. G.L.
The first signature no doubt consists of the initials of
Yishaq Leybush Peretz. However, no reasonable explanation
has so far been given of the other initials. At the same time,
it has not been definitely decided who was the author of the
unsigned poems.
The attempts (of M. Wakser) to divide, with the help of
stylistic analysis etc., parts and even single lines belonging
to each of the 'two compilers', did not produce any convincing
results. In the only case in which it is possible (thanks to an
unknown manuscript discovered by the lecturer) to put this
method to the test, it proves to be wrong.
An additional riddle is the problem of a different 'edition'
of the book. The Jewish National and University Library
possesses an apparently unique copy of our little collection
of poems with a different title-page : 'The life of a Hebrew
poet'. The 'two compilers' are not mentioned here either on
the title-page or in the book itself. Although this 'edition'
was also published in 'Warsaw, 1887', the date of the censor's
licence on the back of the title-page is here almost a year
earlier than in other copies of the book.
Far and away the greatest part of the little book was
written, in our view, by Peretz. This is more than all we knew
of his writings up to 1878, until the above-mentioned unknown
manuscript was discovered.
It therefore seems strange that even those poems whose
authorship was not in doubt were never included in Peretz'
collected works. Yet, without 'Rhymed stories and diverse
poems' our knowledge about the spiritual and literary
evolution of the great writer will be incomplete.
Tchernichovski's Israeli accentuation
E. Kagan, Haifa
Tchernichovski favoured the Ashkenazic pronunciation and
until 1933 he believed that it should continue. In that year he
wrote three poems. One of them, 'My Land, my Motherland',
uses the Israeli masculine accentuation. Thus it forms the
transition to the new pronunciation.
By the time Tchernichovski adopted the Israeli system of
stress, Shlonski had been observing a set of rules for the use
of the spoken language in prosody.
In his first transitional poem Tchernichovski did not
completely adapt himself to the new demands of the living
pronunciation. He often uses the regressive accent (רוחא גוסנ),
the choriamb is found in place of the diamb, and there is no
consistency in using the shewa at the beginning of the word.
The digressions are unconscious usages of his long Ashkenazic
past.
Does any evolution take place in his Israeli phonetics?
An examination of the poem 'Sitting at the window in a hut'
composed towards the end of 1939, shows some improve ment : 5 defects in a poem of 35 lines as against 22 correct uses
of the shewa na\ Some defects are not typical of the transition
al poets, especially in the accentuation of the words. We even
find an accent on a bataf, which was no longer used in the
Ashkenazic pronunciation. We still find formal stressing, that
is a stress on 'light' words in the verse instead of on 'heavy'
ones preceding or following them.
'The Ballads of Worms', written 3 years later, show a
further improvement, although we still find mistakes. The
stressing of words is properly done, but the use of the chori
amb is comparatively frequent and too laboured to be
considered a merit; Tchernichovski often uses the spondee
instead of the iamb, which slows the rythm while stressing
meaning.
Hebrew poetry in the Diaspora was rich in its diversity of
strophe and metre. Israeli poetry suffers by contrast. In spite
of the difficulties of transition, Tchernichovski did not neglect
the various patterns of verse. In 59 poems there are 25
different forms of rhyme and metre. No Israeli poet can
rival him in that respect.
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184 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
Anglo-American and Hebrew literature:
earliest contacts and relationships
Eisig Silberschlag, Boston
Since the first centre of the Enlightenment (Haskala)
happened to be in Germany, the influence of German
literature on Hebrew literature was very strong between the
middle of the eighteenth and the middle of the nineteenth
century. From that period onward up to the end of the
First World War the Slav factor asserted itself in Hebrew
literature. But from the beginning of the twentieth century
until the present time the Anglo-Saxon factor plays a
predominant role.
Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to think that the
Anglo-American factor has come to the fore in this century.
The standard-bearers of enlightenment introduced it into
Hebrew literature in the eighteenth century. It appears in
two guises : in original works and in translations. In original
works it is difficult to trace its action. As for translations from
English and American literature: they can be traced to the
earliest periodicals of Hebrew literature, to the so-called
ha-Meassefim and to Bikkure ha-him. Thus, the translation
of the fable of John Gay (1685—1732) — 'The Shepherd and
the Philosopher' — first appeared in ha-Meassef in 1784 and
was reprinted in Bikkure ha-Ittim in 1821-22. It is one of
the first translations from English into Hebrew in modern
times.
Perhaps translation is not the right term for what is, in
fact, a free paraphrase of a simple tale. The poetic meter of
the original — the iambic tetrameter — is abandoned in
favour of a prose rendition. But freedom from prosody is not
compensated by precision in translation. The translator
suffers from self-imposed restraints : the biblical vocabulary, used exclusively, is not the most adequate tool for translating
eighteenth century English. Like so many others who were to
follow him, he feels free to add to and subtract from the
original. The additions serve to hebraize the text completely and to adapt it to lovers of Hebrew in the period of enlighten ment. It is perhaps no mere accident that Benjamin Franklin
was the first American to be translated into Hebrew. Just as
John Gay taught morality through poetry, Ben Franklin
imparted instruction in practical ethics through maxims and
lists of commendable virtues.
The author who 'translated' Franklin was Mendel Lefin
of Satanov (1749-1826). In Berlin, where he spent two years of his life (1780-1782), he met Mendelssohn, the father of
Jewish enlightenment in Germany. There he must have heard
the name of Franklin. In 1780 the works of Franklin appeared in a German translation. Franklin's autobiography —
Memoirs he called them — was published in French in 1791
and, together with some other writings, in 1798. Since Lefin
finished his unpublished German work Nachlass eines
Sonder lings zu Abdera in 1806, he exploited his knowledge of Franklin. It is possible that his German work contained —
among other subjects — the essentials of the work Heshbon
ha-Nefesh: the way to gain moral perfection. A comparison of Heshbon ha-Nefesh with the American source material
yields the inevitable conclusion that Lefin's work is neither
a translation in the proper sense of the word nor a paraphrase,
but an independent work based on a translation of Franklin's
famous list of thirteen virtues and on a very free paraphrase
of Franklin's proverbs from the issues of Poor Richard's
Almanack. (See Figs. 9 and 10.)
It is well known that Franklin conceived 'the bold and
arduous project of arriving at moral perfection' through the
practice of thirteen virtues. Lefin, imitating his prototype,
counseled perfection in a practical way. He advised his
readers to keep a notebook and mark deviations from the
path of virtue by little spots. Both promised progress and
joy which comes through fulfillment.
The difference in method is this: Franklin is concise in
the description of virtues, Lefin devotes a chapter to each
virtue. But both have a didactic purpose: Franklin teaches
himself and serves as a model to others ; Lefin teaches others.
What it also of cardinal importance, Nahman Krochmal,
the Jewish philosopher in the period of enlightenment, was
drawn to Franklin under Lefin's influence. And he translated
a tale of Franklin which appeared under the guise of an
apocryphal chapter lxvii of Genesis.
The Hebraic element in contemporary Hebrew poetry
J. Bahat, Tel Aviv
Contemporary Hebrew poetry here means poetry from
Yehuda Amihai onwards. As regards the Hebraic element in
this poetry, the following considerations may be olfered:
1. It may be assumed that 'all poetry written in Hebrew by
the Hebrew' is Hebrew poetry.
2. This opinion may be disputed and it may claimed that
some Hebrew poetry, which is merely translation from a
foreign language, contains no intrinsic Hebrew elements.
3. It may be held that there is a Hebraic element in Hebrew
poetry in so far as the subject matter, the motifs and the
imagery are Hebrew, and if there are allusions to the Jewish
heritage.
4. It may also be argued that poetry is Hebraic if it is
esoteric, if it is incomprehensible to the non-Jew.
The work of several poets is discussed in the light of these
considerations.
On parallelism in Bialik's ,Poems of wrath1
I. Rabinovich, Chicago
In studying metaphors in Hebrew poetry, two diverse
psychological and artistic aspects should be examined:
1. that of the numerous parallelisms to be found in the songs and prophetic writings of the Bible, and 2. those extant in
the poetry of Bialik, chiefly in his 'Poems of wrath'. Common
to both aspects is their initial sharing of the same pattern; both the Bible and Bialik employ their imagery for lending
potency to an idea, whether in the limited realm of Jewish
life or on a universal plane. The imagery in the parallelism of
both is a sort of concretization of an abstract idea.
However, the features which both the biblical and Bialik
parallelisms have in common concern only the obvious and
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HEBREW LANGUAGE SECTION 185
superficial aspects of the two. A more penetrating analysis will
reveal an intrinsic difference between the two types. The
biblical parallelism is for the most part static: all its rhythmic al and metaphorical significance is exhausted in clarifying the idea with which it is concerned.
A parallel, the second part of which repeats the first
section, is for Jeremiah a sort of dialectical mechanism
originating from the musical rhythm of the ancient folk
lament in which the melody is repeated. The same holds
true for the ideational clarification of the parallel in Isaiah.
The metaphorical repetition of 'They have seen a great light,
upon them light hath shone' is only a rhetorical, poetic
mannerism of the prophet's exalted style, although Tight hath shone' is sharper than 'seen a great light'.
Completely different is the nature of the parallelism in
Bialik's 'Poems of wrath'. The first part of a Bialik parallel is never fully up to the mark as it stands. It is driven to seek
support from the second part of the line in its striving to
achieve an adequate metaphorical expression which would
considerably sharpen a given idea.
In a passage from the poem 'Call the snakes', the idea
that the Dispersion is a desert is expressed first by the
metaphor 'you have been cast into the desert', which seeks
'fulfilment' in a further metaphorical image, 'you have been
made to cling to naked rock' which intensifies considerably
the significance of the first metaphor. However, concurrently with this process, something occurs which sets in motion the
entire aesthetic experience of both metaphors, so that they are no longer self-sufficient, and are impelled to create for
themselves a sort of metaphoric reinforcement in the parallel of the poem's second couplet:
'The world's bareness is all around you
And the mute curse of God.'
The parallel in the second couplet, which is superior to
the first one in its metaphoric power and is also exposed to
the same aesthetic-psychological process as the first, remains
unsatisfied, as it were. Thus the process goes on repeating itself
in a succession of metaphoric impulses; the impulses or
thrusts become autonomous, taking possession of the poem
for themselves. Thus, the image not only serves as a metaphor for the primal idea of the poet, it also becomes a symbol of
his latent psychic impulses. To sum up: the personalized poems are not the only ones
to mirror the poet's individuality; those poems for which
Bialik was hailed as a 'voice of the people' or a ,prophet' are also in the final analysis an expression of his particular
personality.
HEBREW LANGUAGE
On the vocalization of the Babylonian
Talmud in the Geonic period
Sh. Morag, Jerusalem
Our knowledge of the phonology and morphology of
Babylonian Aramaic — the Aramaic of the Talmud and
Geonic literature — is quite limited. This limitation is due,
on the one hand, to the rather poor textual form of the
current editions of the Talmud, and, on the other, to the lack
of a generally accepted tradition for vocalizing the Babylonian
Aramaic literature. One of the main sources for a reconstruc
tion of the grammar of Babylonian Aramaic is the vocalization
of certain Mss. The aim of this paper is to present a description of the vocalization of a number of Mss.
Two Mss. of Geonic works contain a considerable number
of vocalized words: Ms. no. 273 of the Sassoon library, the
Halakhoth Pesuqoth, and Ms. no. 1402 of the Bibliothèque
Nationale in Paris, a part of the text of Halakhoth Gedoloth.
The vocalization employed in both Mss. is Babylonian:
'Simple Babylonian' in the former, 'Complicated Babylonian'
in the latter. Certain Talmud Mss., such as the Munich Codex
and the Hamburg Codex also have a few vocalized words.
The Geniza collections also include fragments of partly
vocalized Talmud and Geonic works. The vocalization of the
above Mss. and fragments has hitherto not been systemati
cally studied.
Of the vocalized fragments of the Cambridge Geniza only a few use Babylonian vowel signs, while the majority employ
the Tiberian system. A close study of the Mss. of the latter
category reveals that they vary in regard to the phonological
and morphological features underlying the vocalization.
From a phonological point of view, the following categories
may be distinguished :
1. Tiberian vocalization reflecting a Babylonian tradition :
here the vowel signs for segol and patah interchange : among
other features, this is typical of the Babylonian pronunciation. 2. Tiberian vocalization reflecting a Palestinan tradition:
here the vowel signs for qame$ and patah interchange. In
these fragments Palestinian accents appear — an additional
proof of their Palestinian provenance. 3. Tiberian vocalization reflecting a phonological tradition
which must be either Palestinian or Sephardi. In these
fragments, as in those classified under (2), the vowel signs
for qameç and patah interchange; however, here there are
no features to indicate clearly whether the tradition is
Palestinian or Sephardi. 4. Tiberian vocalization which, though mainly reflecting a
Palestinian tradition, also reveals some Babylonian features.
5. Tiberian vocalization which does not necessarily reflect
any of the known traditions of Hebrew or Aramaic.
For the study of Babylonian phonology and morphology,
the vocalization of the fragments classified under (1) and (4) is
significant. A comparison of the vocalization of these frag
ments with that of Halakhoth Pesuqoth and Halakhoth{
Gedoloth yields the valuable observation that a number of
features are common to the Geniza fragments and to Hala
khoth Pesuqoth. The vocalization of Halakhoth Gedoloth, on
the other hand, stands quite apart. The phonological and
morphological differences between the vocalization of this
Ms. and that of Halakhoth Pesuqoth (and the Geniza frag
ments) may be attributed to dialectal variations. An alterna
tive explanation, however, is possible. The vocalization of
Halakhoth Gedoloth may reflect a 'literary tradition' of
Babylonian Aramaic, whereas that of Halakhoth Pesuqoth
and the Geniza fragments, by contrast, reflects a 'popular
tradition', that is, one corresponding more closely to the
linguistic structure of the Aramaic vernacular, or vernaculars,
of Jewish Babylonia in the Geonic period.
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186 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
Biblical borrowings in the Mishna
G. Haneman, Bnei Brak
Several Mishna scholars have already remarked on the
fact that the Mishna often uses biblical elements. Some
aspects of this phenomenon are briefly discussed.
A. Identification of the biblical elements. These can be
identified 1. by philological comparisons (particularly in
morphology and vocabulary such as השרואמ ,ידוד);
2. by literary comparisons through which it is mainly
possible to discover set phrases.
B. The forms of borrowing. The borrowing can be 1. a
complete one, without change; 2. the biblical element
receives the Mishnaic form (די גשיה,יוטיב) or is translated
into Mishnaic (...3 ;(הנבללו המהל. only the form of the
biblical phrase is borrowed (ןצוי calqued on ץתוי). C. Distribution. Biblical elements are numerous 1. amongst
Halakhic terms; 2. in the Midrashim on the Scriptures;
3. in rules formulated following on a biblical original;
4. in the field of ,high' literature.
D. The problems involved in the delimitation of the
borrowing in its strict sense. We should distinguish between
a borrowing and a biblical vestige, i. e. a Mishnaic word
which has kept the ancient biblical form. If such a word has
no clear Mishnaic parallel, it should most probably be re
garded as a vestige (תקנימ). Even if such a parallel exists,
there is a possibility-that the difference between the parallels
is geographic and dialectal (הפורח in Judah), or diachronic
םייק)—
Both literary comparison (above A. 2.) and an .(דמוע
examination of the literary field in which a phrase is found
can help us in determining a borrowing with certainty. It is
certainly best to regard most Halakhic terms as vestiges butin
other fields one may probably suppose deliberate borrowing
from the Bible.
Criteria for determining the states of development of the Babylonian system of vocalization
i. Yeivin, Jerusalem
The extant Babylonian Mss., which embrace various
literary categories — the Bible, Halakha, and Piyyut — and
originate from different areas and differing in their dates,
represent various systems of vowel signs and reflect pro
nunciations differing from each other, to a small or large
extent. A study of the grammar of Hebrew as reflected by
Mss. employing Babylonian vocalization based on an examin
ation of all available Babylonian Mss. has shown that the
reconstruction of the original Babylonian phonology neces
sitates criteria for the classification of these Mss. Such a
reconstruction should be based not only on the few Babylon
ian Mss. which are relatively ancient, but in fact on all
Mss., since even late Mss. have preserved some phonological
data which reflect the original Babylonian pronunciation.
Since most Mss. present no evidence for the identification
of their time or place, the criteria can be based only upon the
pronunciation they represent. The author has tentatively
established criteria founded on a number of phonological
characteristics, indicating the stages of development of the
Babylonian pronunciation of Hebrew. By these criteria the
Mss. are divided into categories determined by the degree
to which the above characteristics are present:
I. A completely Tiberian pronunciation with traces of a
Babylonian phonology.
II. A predominantly Tiberian pronunciation, but with a
number of Babylonian elements, viz. : the vocalization of the
conjunctive \aw; fiireg and shureq in unaccented close
syllables. On the other hand typical Babylonian characterist
ics are lacking e.g., the noun pattern לטקמ; the vocalization
of the laryngals, etc. are the same as in the Tiberian tradition.
III. A Babylonian pronunciation but not an ancient one:
as in the Babylonian tradition; the laryngals ,לטקמ ,ודגב ולגר
occasionally as in the Babylonian (ףסאת ,דמעת) and some
times according to the Tiberian tradition.
IV. A rather ancient Babylonian pronunciation: the
laryngals always as in the Babylonian tradition; the auxiliary
vowel appears (תוכלממ) ; the verbal suffixes have a o (ינרמישית).
V. An ancient Babylonian pronunciation. These texts are
generally not completely vocalized. There is a Babylonian X V ;the resh comes with daghesh and raphé ;(הבונג חתפ (עמשא
and there are unusual uses of the daghesh and raphe.
Although these criteria are not based on accurate, objective
phenomena, and their use for classifying the Mss. has
demonstrated that there exist numerous intermediate catego
ries, their establishment appears to be of some importance:
it is preferable to have incomplete criteria than none at all,
and even the incomplete criteria do afford a means for a fair
orientation in various texts.
After classifying the Bab. Mss. according to the above
criteria, thé writer presents the results of the following
groupings :
Biblical Mss., Mishna Mss., and Piyyut Mss.
Mss. with simple and complicated vocalization.
Mss. which exhibit a regular interchange of vowels.
The problem of dehiq and até mérahiq
A. Dotan, Tel Aviv
The definitions of dehiq and ati mérahiq in scientific
Hebrew grammars are formulated in a different way than
those found in mediaeval grammars and in Masoretic
treatises.
In the author's opinion these two terms represent one and
the same linguistic phenomenon, the twofold terminology
being due either to two different aspects of the phenomenon
(the phenomenon itself as against its graphic designation), or
to the •different sources of the terms, which at first were
intended for one and the same thing. Only in the course of
time did the two terms come to serve jointly. The rules of
dehiq and até merahiq of all generations up to our own time
are nothing but the reflection of the grammarians' efforts to
determine for each of these synonymous terms a special
(artificial) sphere of the phenomenon as a whole.
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HEBREW LANGUAGE SECTION 187
Hebrew elements and Hebrew script
in mediaeval Judaeo-Arabic
J. Blau, Jerusalem
Mediaeval Arabic-speaking Jews affected Arabic even in the
most sacred matters of Judaism (like Bible exegesis, responsa). It stands to reason that, when superseding Aramaic in the
Fertile Crescent, Arabic almost automatically supplanted
Aramaic in all its usages, including religious writings.
Aramaic was, one might say, the spearhead, and, but for it,
linguistic development might have taken a different course.
On the other hand, Hebrew, and not Arabic, was used
almost consistently in poetry, presumably because the
severe tradition of Arabic poetry demanded mastery of
Classical Arabic, which the Jewish poets, whose mother
tongue was Middle—not Classical—Arabic, did not possess.
Having the alternative of Jewish poetry either in Hebrew or
in Classical Arabic, both of them artificial linguistic media,
the Jewish poets chose Hebrew.
In its essence, Judaeo-Arabic does not differ from Middle
Arabic in general. In its topics, however, Judaeo-Arabic is
suffused, even when not dealing specifically with halakhic
matters, with a religious element. Moreover, with some
exceptions, to be sure (Saadia Gaon?), it is written in Hebrew
characters. So common is the use of Hebrew script that
Judaeo-Arabic texts written in Arabic characters have,
prima facie, to be regarded as being of Karaite extraction
(since among Karaites there were circles so permeated with
Arabic culture that they wrote even the Hebrew Bible with
Arabic characters).
Judaeo-Arabic differs from common Middle Arabic also
in the use of Hebrew and Aramaic words and phrases. The
fundamental fact concerning the contact of Hebrew with
Arabic is that, despite the great prestige of Hebrew as the
hallowed language, it was Arabic, backed by a mother-tongue
group, that absorbed Hebrew, which was no longer a living
language. It is surprising to what degree the Hebrew elements
adapt themselves to the structure of Arabic, both in the
domain of phonetics, and in morphology and syntax.
Nevertheless, the integration of Hebrew elements is not
always complete: Hebrew words continue to contain sounds
not occurring in Arabic, and Hebrew phrases are regarded
as some kind of quotation. These cases, however, are excep
tional. Moreover, in accordance with the well-known
phonetic shift, Hebrew sh may be converted into s in Arabic.
However large the portion of Hebrew elements, they do not
alter the basic structure of the text, which still remains
Arabic: functional words (as conjunctions and prepositions)
are as a rule Arabic. Even Arabic bound morphemes may
be added to Hebrew words.
The main sphere where Hebrew loan words have enriched
the vocabulary is religious literature. Some words belong to
the slang of Jewish merchants, others to the cryptic language
of the whole Jewish community. On the other hand, the
origin of words like fa'ar 'distress' or sakkûnâ 'danger' is
not quite clear.
Despite the lingual similarity of Judaeo-Arabic and
common Middle Arabic, one is inclined to regard Judaeo
Arabic, invariably exhibiting Jewish topics, containing many
words borrowed from Hebrew and written in Hebrew script, as a separate language.
The study of mediaeval Hebrew as influenced
by Arabic — achievements and objectives
M. H. Goshen-Gottstein, Jerusalem
The study of mediaeval Hebrew 'Arabicized' prose has
remained a stepchild of Hebrew philology. Even after Jewish
scholars began to join the ranks of Hebrew philologists in the 19th century, the scope of systematic investigation and presentation was never expanded beyond the study of
Rabbinical Hebrew. Although mediaeval Hebrew literature
occupied a place of honour in the masterplan of the ' Wissen
schaft des Judentums', mediaeval Hebrew was never studied
in its own right and linguistic problems were mainly discussed
incidentally, in footnotes to text editions etc. Some small
scale projects in our own generation have not yet materialized
because of what seemed more urgent needs in other fields
of Hebrew philology and Semitic linguistics. The main 'achievement1 in this field is that we now have
a general idea of the linguistic innovations of that period
(which lasted about seven hundred years). Our knowledge in this respect is based almost entirely on printed books, with only a few critical editions to rely upon. Studies were
carried out with varying degrees of completeness. In the
field of syntax we possess a fairly exhaustive listing of the
principal innovations, with special reference to the syntax of verb-goal constructions. In lexicography we possess studies in those fields in which some scholars happened to
be especially interested (philosophy, grammar and to some
extent mathematics). Other fields are rather underdeveloped and the lexicography of mediaeval Hebrew in general can
be hardly termed satisfactory (this is true of 'Ashkenazic'
Hebrew too). We shall refrain from touching in the present discussion
upon problems connected with editions and manuscripts! evidence, nor shall we deal with parallel questions in the
language of mediaeval poetry. The following periodization is suggested and discussed :
1. Early Hebrew Arabicized documents, including (non
literary) Geniza fragments. 2. Hebrew Arabicized writings (grammar, sciences etc.) of
the pre-classical period. 3. Translated treatises of the pre-classical period (until the
Tibbonides).
4. Classical translations (the Tibbonides and their period).
5. Translations and writings of the post-Tibbonide period.
6. Hebrew writings (mainly 14-15th century) modelled on
classical 'Arabicized Hebrew'.
The following main objectives of future study are outlined:
a. The study of idiolects and of the crystallization of
linguistic innovations within mediaeval Hebrew (diachronic
development in mediaeval Hebrew).
b. The comparative study of a writer as author and as
translator: linguistic usage as influenced by linguistic
ideology; the comparative study of parallel translations.
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188 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
c. The comparative study of Rabbanite, Karaite (and
Samaritan) mediaeval Hebrew.
d. Arabicized Hebrew in the light of modern 'translation
linguistics' and of the 'Languages in Contact' problems.
e. Mediaeval Arabicized Hebrew as foreshadowing
problems in modern Hebrew (including modern Arabicized
Hebrew).
f. The influence of mediaeval Arabicized Hebrew on
Modern Hebrew.
The tense and mood system of the
Hebrew of Sepher Hasidim
Chaim Rabin, Jerusalem
The Sepher Hasidim was composed in the 13th century in
Southern Germany. Its Hebrew exhibits, inter alia, the
influence of Middle High German, as spoken by its author
and his circle. This influence affected a language which was
mainly a late form of Mishnaic Hebrew, altered and ex
panded by elements from biblical Hebrew.
Middle High German had a system of two tenses: past
and present, with future events being expressed by the
present tense or rarely by compound forms. Each tense had
two moods: indicative and subjunctive, the latter both in
subordinate and independent clauses. Mishnaic Hebrew had
three tenses: past, present and future (pa'al, po'el, yiph'al)
and, apart from one instance (yehë), no means for expressing
modus.
The Hebrew of Sepher Hasidim adapted the Hebrew
tense-forms to the German system by giving new functions to
some of the Hebrew forms, while keeping the basic meaning
of the Hebrew tense-forms intact.
The result of this re-organization can be summed up as
follows :
German Hebrew
Indicative Subjunctive Indicative Subjunctive
Present-future er nimet er tiëme po'el yiph'al
Preterite er nam er naeme pa'al hayah po'el
The Hebrew of Sepher Hasidim also adopted from German
the extensive use of indirect speech, as well as the sequence of tenses, with the dependent verb in the subjunctive.
On the other hand, cases of yiph'al for the future still
occur, probably through the influence of the sources; and
hayah po'el has in addition the function of a past continuous, which seems to be inherited from the French Hebrew style
(Judah the Pious came from Speyer, and culturally belonged to French Jewry).
The use of attached and independent possessive pronouns in modern Hebrew
U. Ornan, Jerusalem
The question presented in this inquiry is whether the at
tached possessive pronoun in Hebrew (e.g. haberi, 'my friend')
and the independent one (e.g. hehaber selli; idem.) are to
be considered as free variants, or else there can be found
laws which govern their use in different circumstances.
It has been found that in contemporary written Hebrew
the attached possessive pronoun is found ten to fifteen
times more often than the independent one. In addition, the
use of the independent pronoun is governed by conditions
which can be defined in clear terms; fourteen such conditions
are listed. On the basis of this analysis, the distinction made
by Professor H. Rosén between the use of the two types
of pronoun, according to which the attached pronoun
expresses inalienable possession whereas the independent
one designates alienable possession, is seen to be merely
accidental.
Word order and syntactic structure
in Hebrew child language
A. Bar-Adon, Austin, Texas
This paper discusses the general problem of innate ideas
and the early process of language acquisition by Israeli
children. Findings on word order and syntactic structures
in the early Hebrew of children, in relation to the target
language of adults, are compared with the findings in
English. The use of the terms implicator and explicator is
introduced for explaining the first phase of syntactic structure
in the child's language.
Juxtaposition of proper noun and title
Y. Peretz, Tel Aviv
A. A noun can actually be modified at times not by an
adjective and not by its construct, but by a parallel noun. In
other words, a syntagm may be constructed not only through
coordination, as for example: הנמלא השא. This syntagm
is built by simply placing the constituent nouns next to one
another without changing their form. Usually part B com
plements part A, but sometimes it is part A which comple
ments part B. For example: ךלמה דוד (II Samuel xii:39) —
The two constituent nouns of this .(I Kings 1:1) דוד ךלמה
syntagm are in juxtaposition. The complementary noun is
called juxtaposed, the principal noun — nucleus or modified. As for the relationship between the nucleus and the jux
taposed noun, several kinds are possible. A juxtaposition
composed of a common noun and a proper noun possesses
special value. The common noun often denotes status or a
title.
B. The order of the juxtaposed constituents, when they are
a common noun and a proper noun, is not rigid ; nor is it the
same in all periods of the Hebrew language. 1. A common noun followed by a proper noun: This order
is frequent in the Bible, also when a morpheme is joined to
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YIDDISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE SECTION 189
the modified noun. It occurs rarely in the language of the
Talmud. Its usage is frequent in our period through the
influence of the Bible and foreign languages. Examples of
different types are taken from the Bible, the Talmud, from
contemporary literary and spoken Hebrew.
2. A proper noun followed by a common noun: This order is
common in all of the periods of Hebrew. In modern Hebrew
it occurs more frequently in the literary language than in the
everyday language (where it is rare). Examples of different
types are taken from all periods.
The order of the syntagm ךלמה דוד —
is דוד ךלמה
different in the Book of Chronicles from that in the Early
Prophets.
C. In certain verses of the Bible the order of the common
noun and the proper noun is actually intentional, the in
tention being either on account of the contents or on account
of literary form.
D. In the Bible and Talmud the order of the constituent
nouns in juxtaposition in cases where one of them means
either priest or prophet, is different from the juxtaposition
containing the constituent noun king.
E. The use of a title for a proper noun is rare in the Bible
and Talmud. This is demonstrated by a table.
F. Repetition of the preposition before the second constitu
ent noun occurs only in those cases where the common
noun comes first, then the proper noun. For example, 'Is it
well with the boy, with Absalom?' (II Samuel xvm : 32).
This particular juxtaposed noun is in substitution.
Identification of complex Hebrew semantic units
M. Z. Kaddari, Ramat Gan
Lexical units which are made up of more than one word
(the term word being used here in its graphic sense) are
complex semantic units. Synchronic descriptions of the
various levels of these complex units must be based upon
formal criteria, not upon the semantic contents of these units.
The simplest level of the complex units is the compound
unit (compositum), being the outcome of merging a number
of words into one word (e.g. המילב ;אלוליא !ףוסניא ;עונפוא).
A higher level is that of the phrase, having the dimensions
of a syntagme. If the phrase possesses formal criteria, and if
the internal relations among its components can be estab
lished, the phrase is a. syntactical compound (e.g.,הארוה הרומה
דירש .otherwise it constitutes only a series (e. g ,(ןיד ךרועה
Further classification of the phrases will be made .(טילפו
according to forms (nominal, verbal, 'grammatical'), the in
ternal relation of the components (coordinate, subordinate)
and the semantic field (only in coordinate phrases ; synonymic,
antonymic, heteronymic).
In biblical Hebrew a syndetic coordinate nominal phrase
will be defined as a syntactical compound if one of the
following morpho-syntactic criteria appears; 1. non-repetition
of the regent before the second member of the phrase, which
functions as nomen rectum, e.g. ךיתונבו ךינב רשב (Deut.
xxvin :53); 2. use of the /-genitive, when the phrase is a kernel
of possessive attribute, e.g. — לכל םישרפה תאו בכרה תא
3. lack of concord in number ;(Ex. xxiv:28) הערפ ליח
between the phrase, which functions as subject, and its
verbal (or adjectival) predicate (when the predicate follows
the subject), e.g. ץתי םייריכו רונת (Lev. xi:35); 4. in poetry
and elevated prose, the use of the phrase as parallel to one
word (or one complex sematic unit), e.g. וידלי I ומאו ויבא
(Zac. xiii :13). These signs are always accompanied by
regularity in the frequency of the members, their distribution
and order of occurrence. If the phrase does not possess
the above criteria (nor the regularity in the frequency of the
members etc.) it constitutes a series.
An asyndetic coordinate nominal phrase (juxtaposition) will
be recognized as a syntactical compound by the frequency,
distribution, and order-regularities of its members, e.g. ינולפ
.(non-idiomatic) ידש לא ,(idomatic) ינומלאA subordinate nominal phrase (construct state) is a syntac
tical compound when one of the following morpho-syntac
tical criteria appears: 1. the phrase is equal to a coordinate
phrase having the same members, e.g. קדצ יטפשמ (Jes. lvii:2);
2. the use of the article with the regent, e.g. תירבה ןוראה
(Jos. 111:14); 3. from the phrase as a whole an adjective may
be derived, e.g. ימחלה תיב (from 4 ;(םחל תיב. a possessive
suffix is added to the phrase as a whole, e.g. ךשדק רה I ךלהא
(Ps. xv:l); cf. שדקה רה (Jer. xxxi : 23); 5. use of the I -
genitive as a substitute for the regular genitive, when a
number of genitives follow in succession, e.g. תובאה ישאר
6. the phrase has one ;(Num. xxxvi:1) דעלג ינב תחפשמל
word (or one complex semantic unit) as its parallel, e.g. דסח
.(Hos. vi:6) םיהלא ו תעד
Other subordinate phrases, and phrases which are structur
ally equal to sentences, require special treatment. A compari
son of the formal criteria obtained from a syntactic study of
biblical Hebrew with those of post-biblical Hebrew yields
instructive results with regard to one of the least known
domains of our language.
YIDDISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
Folklore in Yiddish language and literature
D. Y. Tcherniak, Jerusalem
(Yiddish lecture on page 147 of Hebrew section.)
Dr. Israel Zinberg on the beginnings of modern Yiddish
literature
Michael C. Astour, Waltham, Mass.
The subject of this paper is the newly found volume IX-A
of the late Dr. Israel Zinberg's History of Jewish Literature.
Brandeis University obtained in 1964 a microfilm of its
unpublished manuscript from the archives of the Institute
for the Peoples of Asia, Leningrad, U.S.S.R. It was edited
and prepared for print by this lecturer and will soon appear
as a joint publication of Brandeis University and the CYCO
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190 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
Publishing House, New York City. The new volume (part XIII of the whole work) is entitled 'The flourishing period
of the Haskalah' and embraces approximately the years
1856-1872. These were the years of great change in the
life of Eastern European Jewry. Zinberg's new volume
differs from other works devoted to this period in its original
approach and structure. All aspects of Jewish literature
and journalism are treated within the wider context of the
political, social, and cultural history of Russian Jewry;
and Jewish writings in Hebrew, Yiddish, and alien languages
are considered not as separate divisions, but as facets of
one entity. This unique synthetic approach makes the author's
views and attitude no less important than the facts and
trends he describes.
The new volume devotes a significant part of its contents
to the beginnings of modern literature in Yiddish. These
are presented against the wider background of internal
struggle within the Jewish community. Zinberg regards the
bitter fight of most Maskilim against the 'despicable jargon' as an expression of growing assimilationist tendencies
advocated in the Jewish press in Russian, Polish and Hebrew.
This long and violent campaign was not crowned with
success. The growing role of Yiddish in social and cultural
life was, according to Zinberg, the result of an inevitable
process, a natural synthesis of trends toward secularization
and modernization of Jewish life on one hand, toward
national togetherness and cultural independence on the
other. The mass character of the Yiddish literature and
press, their appeal to the widest circles of the people, helped them to overcome obstacles from within and without, and
their own temporary shortcomings and the Maskilic limi
tations of the 'sixties. Among Zinberg's masterly character
izations of Jewish writers and social leaders of the period are those of the early Yiddish writers as A. M. Dik, Y. M.
Lifshitz, Mendele Mokher Sefarim, I. Y. Linetzky, several
minor characters, and entire groups and circles. They make
Zinberg's picture of this crucial period particularly vivid and colourful.
On the Slavic elements in Mendele's literary Yiddish
M. Altbauer, Jerusalem
The paper examines the elimination of territorial and
regional Slavicisms by Mendele Mokher Sefarim in his Dos kleyne mentshele, as illustrated by a comparison between
the third and the later editions of this novel. Mendele
himself corrected the edition of 1879 and eliminated a large number of local East Slavicisms, using instead Yiddish
words and expressions of Hebrew and German origin and
some common Slavic borrowings, The paper deals with
the elimination process, and explains it mostly in terms of
'communicative' reasons.
MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN JEWISH HISTORY
Les sceaux hébraïques des Juifs
allemands au moyen-âge
Z. Avneri, Haifa
Au cours des dernières années, j'ai examiné les matériaux
archivaux ayant trait â l'histoire des Juifs d'Europe centrale,
antérieure à 1350, et maintes fois j'ai porté mes recherches jus
qu'à la fin du 15e siècle. Le nombre des sceaux ou, plus préci
sèment, des empreintes en cire de sceaux de Juifs, appendues à
des documents latins et allemands que je connais, se monte à
62, et il n'est pas probable que beaucoup d'autres antérieures
au milieu du 14e siècle m'aient échappé. Mais 14 de ces 62
sceaux sont seulement mentionnés dans les documents ori
ginaux ou dans les copies de tels documents, sans que des
empreintes en soient conservées. 57 cachets (dont 46 con
servés) appartenaient à des individus, et 5 (2) sceaux à des
communautés: Augsbourg, Cologne, Ingolstadt, Ratisbonne
et Ulm. J'ai examiné presque toutes les empreintes, dont un
petit nombre d'originales, une grande quantité par le moyen
de photos et quelques exceptions à l'appui de descriptions.
Les sceaux datent des 13e, 14e et 15e siècles.
Il n'y a que sept cachets dont nous connaissons plusieurs
empreintes, et il est évident que les 48 sceaux conservés ne
constituent qu'une minime partie de ceux qui étaient en
usage. Néanmoins, ces matériaux suffisent pour poser quelques
questions et, peut-être, y répondre. 1. Dans tous les sceaux le nom du détenteur est gravé en
hébreu, et parfois aussi en latin. L'orthographe des mots
hébraïques est sans faute: il est donc probable que les sceaux
furent exécutés par des Juifs, bien que je n'aie trouvé aucune
mention de graveurs juifs ni dans les 'responsa' ni dans les
sources non-juives.
2. La plupart des sceaux sont circulaires, une minorité —
ovales-pointus. En général, le nom du détenteur encercle le
milieu du sceau, et là se trouve une image, semblable à
celles qui étaient en usage chez les non-juifs: calices et
chapeaux; animaux et fleurs; croissant et astres. Parfois
l'image se trouve sur un bouclier triangulaire, ou enfermée
dans une étoile â cinq branches ou 'de David'. L"Etoile de
David' se recontre pour la première fois sur la cachet de
Jacob b. Nethan'el (ou Daniel), receveur des finances de
l'archevêque de Trêves en 1341-1347, et on ne doit pas voir
un symbole juif dans cette étoile. On peut constater trois
différences entre les sceaux des Juifs et ceux des chrétiens :
l'inscription hébraïque, l'image de 'chapeaux juifs' et
l'absence de toute figure humaine.
3. Un Juif qui s'appelait Lamb ('Mouton') portait l'image d'un mouton sur son cachet, un Juda — un lion (d'après Gen. 49, 9), Pfefferkorn ('Grain de poivre') — trois grains de
poivre, de même que les chrétiens, qui avaient la coutume de
rappeler le nom du détenteur d'un cachet par une figure
propre. Les Juifs n'avaient point de scrupule à fixer de telles
images dans leurs cachets, et le sceau d'un grand maitre de
la Loi, Maharil, portait la tête d'un lion.
4. Originellement, ce n'étaient que les rois, les ecclési
astiques, les nobles, les abbayes et les cités qui usaient des
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MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN JEWISH HISTORY SECTION 191
sceaux, mais lors de l'ascendance de la bourgeoisie, des
marchands suivirent leur exemple, et au 13e siècle l'empreinte d'un cachet, et non plus la signature, fut considérél comme
l'endossement principal d'un document. La première em
preinte d'un Juif qui nous soit connue date de 1257, et elle
appartient à un officier ducal autrichien, alors que la première
empreinte d'un financier privé remonte à 1297 (à Ratisbonne).
Apparemment les Juifs n'ont commencé à se servir de cachets
que quelque temps après les chrétiens. (Viz. Figs. 11-17.)
Sources on the final stages of the Khazar Jews
and their transformation into Ashkenazis
A. N. Poliak, Tel Aviv
The term 'Khazar Jews' in this paper refers to the Jews and
proselytes who during the late Middle Ages inhabited:
a. the Khazar country in the Caspian region and b. former
Khazar territories (e. g., the Sea of Azov basin and the
Crimea) which continued to maintain connections with
Khazaria and were often called by the same name.
There are numerous sources for the general history of
Caspian Khazaria in that period as well as of Judaism as the
principal religion of the region. The unique position of
Judaism was of particular interest to contemporary writers
in western and central Europe. Their accounts refer to a
populous Jewish community regarded as comprising a majori
ty of the Jews in the world and believed to have been produced
chiefly by immigration from and through Persia — a Jewry
united by sentiments and spiritual features.
Towards the end of the mediaeval period, the steppes of
eastern Europe were constantly losing their populations
through migrations, notably from the Caspian shores to the
Crimea and the Sea of Azov littoral, and thence into the
Polish-Lithuanian state. The migrations of Armenians parti
cularly paralleled those of the Jews in their socio-economic
aspects (an increase in the number of persons engaged in
commerce and handicrafts as a consequence of the reloca
tions). Migration reduced even more the differences both
within Khazar Jewry and between it and the Jews of adjacent
regions. The Jews and proselytes remaining on the Caspian shores
were mainly absorbed by the 'Mountain Jews' of the eastern
Caucasus. This process was already in evidence in the 13th
century. The last remnants of the Caspian Khazars found
refuge in these mountains towards the end of the Middle
Ages. Late 16th-century maps still called the region Gazara:
the western spelling of Khazara, a late form of the Khazars'
name. Afterwards, the inhabitants of the region used the
term 'Khazars' only to designate the 'Mountain Jews'.
The fate of the Jews and proselytes emigrating westwards
was influenced by the pre-existing use of the term Ashkenazi
to describe the Khazars and the Jews living in the lands
under their domination. The use followed the practice of
Christian writers in western and central Europe of calling
the eastern European steppes 'Gothia' (as a former Germanic
territory) and of styling the Caspian Khazars 'Goths'(!) and
regarding Germany as extending to the border of Asia. When
these migrants entered the regions of the more scholarly
'Ashkenazi,-German Jews, they were regarded as long-lost
returning members of the community, requiring its guidance.
The use of the term Ashkenazi increased as the emigrants
progressed westward. The Crimea and Azov Sea basin were
particularly designated 'Ashkenazeither just because of the
usage of referring to local inhabitants as 'Khazars' or owing
to the presence of true Germanic Goths there.
On the other land, Christian writers employed the term
'Cozarי to refer to the populations on both sides of the
present Rumanian-Hungarian frontier, and apparently in
southern Poland as well. This obliterated even more the
memory of the diverse origins of the later Ashkenazic Jews
in Poland and Lithuania and their environs.
The migration from the east was not entirely forgotten in
local traditions, but its memory faded increasingly in the
wake of growing permanent contacts with Germany. More
over, the Haskala (Enlightenment) movement gave rise to
admiration for German culture.
The Jewish Congress in Hungary, 1868-1869
N. Katzburg, Ramat Gan
The Jewish Congress in Hungary in 1868-1869 assembled
for the purpose of constituting the communal organization
of the Jewish community by adopting a constitution for that
organization on the local, regional and national levels. The
Congress was convened under the sanction of the Govern
ment, which controlled the election of the representatives and
sanctioned the resolutions of the Congress, thus giving them
the effect of a law, binding upon each member of the Jewish
community. The constitution adopted by the Congress was
rejected by the Orthodox minority, who organized themselves,
by permission of the authorities, into a separate organization,
both local and national.
The Congress is a turning point in the history of Hungarian
Jewry. It marks the beginning of the great schism within the
community, which left a deep impression on the life of
Hungarian Jewry and led the Orthodox and Neologue
parties on an entirely different course of development.
Actually, two types of sharply different Jewish communities
came into being in Hungary as a result of the Congress.
The division within Hungarian Jewry is remarkable also
from the more general Jewish point of view, as a significant
manifestation of the spiritual contest within Jewry in the
second half of the 19th century.
The Congress was one of the most significant attempts by
government in the period to influence the formation of
Jewish communal organization.
The events which led to the Congress, its deliberations and
consequences are treated in Hungarian Jewish historical
literature either from the Neologue or from the Orthodox
point of view, but no due attention has been given to views
which deviated from those held by the majority within each
party. In order better to understand the real nature of the
controversy, it is essential to look at the various shades of
opinions which were expressed in the course of the polemics.
The external influences exerted in the course of the debate
in the 1860s should also be examined. How far did Jewish
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192 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
leaders and interested groups in other countries try to
influence the course of events in Hungary? Of special
importance is the attitude of the Hungarian Government,
which attached great importance to the Congress. It seems
that the Government's role in this matter should be viewed
within the broader framework of its endeavours to put the
organization of all religious communities on a new basis
and thus establish the relations of State and Church after
the Compromise of 1867 on a new footing.
The position of women according
to the Cairo Geniza documents
S. D. Goitein, Philadelphia
In Hebrew literature, men write about women. In the
Cairo Geniza documents, the women themselves talk to us.
They write or dictate letters or are quoted in the letters of
their male relatives. They appear in courts, where their
depositions are preserved by the court clerks. They make
wills which reveal to us what was near to their hearts. In
many contracts of sale or partnership one or both of the
contractors were women. Most important of all: the en
gagement and marriage settlements clearly evidence the
economic and social position of the bride.
Marriage contracts normally stipulated that the husband
was not allowed to marry an additional wife. The courts
presupposed the existence of such a condition, when the
contract was not available. The prohibition of concubinage
with slave girls favourably distinguished Jewish (and Christ
ian) spouses from Muslim wives. A number of marriage
contracts give the right of choosing the domicile to the
female partner. In many agreements, a wife is empowered to
conduct her financial affairs without requiring the consent of
her husband. In some contracts she is even permitted to
retain her income from work, although her husband is under
the obligation to maintain and clothe her. The favourable
economic and social position of women is reflected also in a
certain measure of participation in the spiritual and commun
al life of the Jewish congregations. Basically, however, the
world of the Cairo Geniza was a stag society.
The beginnings of Jewish Safed
David Tamar, Jerusalem
There is evidence for the existence of a Jewish
community in Safed in the second half of the 11th century.
Benjamin of Tudela and Pethahiah of Regensburg (1170
1180) do not mention Safed, but it is mentioned by the
traveler Samuel ben Samson, who passed through the Holy Land in 1211. Judah Alharizi, who visited the country a
few years later, mentions the town. Apparently the Jewish
community of Safed was reestablished at the end of the 12th
or the beginning of the 13th century, in the period of the
wars between the Arabs and the Crusaders.
In the first half of the 14th century, Rabbi Shem Tov ben Gaon lived in Safed; Eshtori ha־Parhi, who arrived in the Holy Land at the beginning of the 14th century, mentions it in his book Kaftor va-Ferah. There was apparently a small community of Arabicized Jews in the town, especially towards the end of the 15th century. From the end of the
century, we have the well-known letters of Joseph de
Montagna and of a pupil of Rabbi Obadiah of Bertinoro.
After the Expulsion from Spain, we know that Perez Colon
and Rabbi Joseph Saragossi headed the Safed Jewish
community. Both these men are mentioned in the important documents about Safed in the period preceding the Expulsion which were published by Gottheil-Worrell and Benayahu. In a letter from 1504 published by Beneyahu, we find a
picture of harmonious relations among the scholars. On
the other hand, the three letters published by Gottheil
Worrell, which were written at about 1507-1509, present a
bitter complaint against Rabbi Moses the Dayyan, doubt
lessly identical with Rabbi Moses ben Isaac ha-Levi, the
religious court judge who signed the letter dating from 1504
who is accused of unlawfully seizing authority and power and acting irregularly in a number of instances.
Palestine was conquered by the Turks at the end of 1516.
The Jews of the Holy Land certainly must have hoped for
an improvement in their condition compared to what it
had been during the period of the Mamelukes. The reception accorded to the Spanish exiles in Turkey also bolstered this
feeling. There may have been instances when the Jewish
inhabitants even extended physical and moral aid to the
Ottoman conquerors. Evidently they even expressed in
prayer and by other means their hope for the Sultan's
victory. Consequently, when a false rumour arrived about a
defeat suffered by the Sultan's army at the hands of the
Mamelukes in Egypt, the Arab inhabitants of Safed who
sided with the Mamelukes allowed themselves to attack
and rob the Jews. But for the assistance of the Jews of Egypt, Safed might have been abandoned by its Jewish inhabitants
and left entirely in ruins. The unusual aid also proves that
considerable importance was attributed to the Galilean
center even then.
Language geography as an aid to historical
research with special reference to Jewish
settlement in the Ukraine
Marvin I. Herzog, New York
This paper directs the attention of the professional his
torian to the significance of Yiddish dialect boundaries for
the reconstruction of Jewish history. Since a dialect boundary
is assumed to reflect a breach in the communications network
of a speech area, it challenges the dialectologist and the
historian to uncover the historical events that gave rise to it.
Often, it serves as the only clue to the existence of an import ant historical problem that might otherwise go unnoticed.
(The data on which the accompanying maps [p. 189-193 in
Hebrew section] are based are from the files of the Language
and culture atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry, founded by Uriel
Weinreich, Columbia University, New York. The support
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MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN JEWISH HISTORY SECTION 193
of the United States National Institute of Mental Health
under Grant MH 08106 is hereby gratefully acknowledged.)
Two examples from Yiddish in Northeastern Poland
illustrate these hypotheses: the westernmost boundary in
Map 2, apparently inexplicable in terms of topographical or
political factors, is shown to correspond to the easternmost
limits of Jewish settlement in Mazovia to the end of the 15th
century. Further, the total penetration of Northeastern
Yiddish (so-called Litvish Yiddish) into northeastern Ma
zovia — an area which, in contrast to neighbouring Podlasie,
has always been part of Poland (cf. the easternmost boundary
in Map 2) — is attributed to settlement by Jews from Lithua
nia after their expulsion from that country in 1495.
The discussion takes up, in greater detail, linguistic evidence
that permits inferences concerning Jewish settlement history
in the Ukraine. Language boundaries are subdivided in
terms of the structural compatibility of the linguistic variants
they separate, and the types of historical inference that each
subgroup permits.
A detailed analysis of the linguistic data strongly suggests
the Mazovian-Podlasian origin of the earliest Jewish settlers
in the Ukraine and indicates the probable limits of migration
from both the Polish-Galician area and the Belorussian
Lithuanian area in the settlement of the Ukraine before 1648
and in its resettlement after 1650. These inferences, based on
linguistic evidence alone, are borne out by evidence derived
from published historical findings (cf. Map 6).
Hungarian Jewry in Halakhic literature
of the 11th and 12th centuries
E. Roth, Frankfurt
In the 11th century, there lived in Hungary a scholar called
R. Isaac who was mentioned by Rabbi Zedekiah son of
Abraham the Physician (Shibbolei ha-Leqet, section 205;
13th century) as well as by Rashi in his Pardes, who wrote,
'And that is how it was taught in Hungary by a certain
officer, Isaac Yuskonto.' The tosafist Isaac (died c. 1210) sent
a responsum to an inquiry concerning a divorce brought to
France from Hungary and even explained their practice of
writing שרגמ instead of אתמ.
The opinion held by many that the word 'Hagar' was at
one time used for designating an Arab country and was not
applied to Hungary until 1415, when the Turks invaded it,
was refuted by Dr. Kohn. It is noteworthy that in a manu
script of Shibbolei ha-Leqet from 1404 (codex Levi 112), the
word 'Hagar' appears twice as Hungary.
The name 'Yuskonto' or 'Yuskont' adds to the confusion
since it is not known from any other source. Kohn did not
accept the analogy of Yuskont and Zusskind current in
Germany and supposed that Yuskonto is connected with the
Hungarian place name Jâszkont. However, both forms of
this name are interchanged in the responsa of Meir Ben
Baruch of Rothenburg (Prague edition, section 934), and we
must, therefore, conclude that the name mentioned by Rashi
is Isaac Zusskind,
R. Eliezer Ben Isaac of Boehm wrote to Judah ha-Hasid
(c. 1190) that the condition of Hungary's Jews in his time
was bad, 'and Hungary .. . has no students of the To־'a
because of their poverty' (Or zarua 20, 4); however, there
really were students of the Tora there, as can be seen from
some further sources:
a. R. Jacob Ben Meir (Rabbenu Tam) strongly opposed
the practice current in France with respect to a bill of divorce,
of writing the husband's name in the document's supplement 'and whatever name and surname I have', and he wrote to
R. Joseph of Orleans, 'and I have seen that in Hungary and
Germany they have not fallen into this error.'
b. A Hamburg MS., No. 17, 152 in Steinschneider (148, a),
dating from 1317, says, 'I saw a statement by R. Eliezer Ben
Nathan that after Kol Nidrei we should not say "and as it
is written". . . and Eliezer Ben Nathan said that in all the land
of Hungary they do not say "and as it is written" '.
c. A MS. in the University Library of Frankfurt an Main
(Oct. 227, p. 152, b), containing the takkanot of R. Gershom
Ben Judah and R. Jacob Ben Meir, has regulations introduced
by R. Samuel Ben Meir and his brother R. Jacob in the
following style, 'this is the decree accepted in France,
Hungary, Russia, and elsewhere'. This means that the Jews of
France considered the Jewish communities of Hungary
important.
Zunz and Jost and their attitude
to the revolution of 1848
N. N. Glatzer, Waltham, Mass.
Leopold Zunz in Berlin and I. M. Jost in Frankfurt represent
two distinct approaches to the revolution of 1848 on the part
of modern Jewish scholarship. They are compared on the
basis of private letters of both scholars, most of them
addressed to the Ehrenberg family in Wolfenbiittel and the
Jost part of the correspondence still unpublished.
Zunz is known to have actively participated in the democ
ratic movement as public speaker, elector and organizer.
His letters reveal the spiritual roots for his involvement. Zunz
interpreted the European revolutions (of which the 1848
affair was only one phase) in Messianic terms. Rejecting the
concept which removes the Messiah into a distant future and
cultivates the attitude of patient waiting, Zunz expects the
realization of the Messianic promise in the near future —
in the form of a new, free, liberal, united Europe.
Zunz, the idealist, is a contrast to Jost, the sober, practical,
and cowardly bourgeois. Jost would welcome the fruits of
the people's uprising — abolition of disabilities, grant of
rights etc. — but as a Jew committed to assimilation he did
not wish the Jewish group 'to get involved' in the revolution.
While Zunz believed in the goodwill and sincerity of the
people, Jost distrusted them and doubted the progress of
humanitarian ideas. Rather, he attributed the change in the
status of the Jew to the change in the position of German
Catholicism 'which took us in tow'.
In contradistinction to Zunz who expected the turn of
political events to bring about encouragement of Judaic
scholarship, Jost envisaged the collapse of the Jewish com
munity and its institutions. When the revolution failed and
the period of reaction set in, Zunz returned to mediaeval
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194 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
Hebrew literature and especially to the liturgy of the syna
gogue; Jost found solace in the writings of Greek antiquity.
Venetian policy towards the Jews in the
Republic's mainland towns in the 15th century
D. Carpi, Jesusalem
An attempt is made to explain the attitude of the Venetian
authorities towards the Jews in the 15th century. A certain
discrepancy existed between the strict manner in which the
Venetians treated their Jewish subjects inside the town and
their attitude towards Jews in the mainland towns, where
they generally protected them. There was a difference of
interests between the central authorities and the local
townspeople, and various external pressures explain many of
the vacillations in the treatment of the Jews.
The policy of Spain towards the settlement of Jews
in Savoy
H. Beinart, Jerusalem
In 1882 M. Lattes published a privilege granted in 1572 by Manuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, to Jews who were about to
settle in his Dukedom. Additional material on the settlement
of Sephardi-Portuguese Jews was published by S. Foa in his
important publication on the Jews in Italy. A group of documents, mainly reports, sent by Juan de
Vargas Mexia, the Spanish representative in Turin, and Don
Luis de Requesens, Comendador de Castilla, its commissioner
in Milan, reveal and explain the Spanish attitude towards the
coming of Jews to settle in the Piemonte. In their reports they describe who were the first settlers, their itinerary and their
means of existence. They advised Philip II what measures
should be taken to hamper the settlers and how to stop the
whole undertaking entirely. Spain at that time was very much
concerned about the Turkish expansion and belligerency in
the Mediterranean and was just after her great sea action, which culminated with her victory at Lepanto (1571). The
Crown of Spain saw it as her main duty to know who were
the immigrants to Piemonte, since the privilege opened the
gates of Nice, as well as the whole Dukedom, for settlers
from the East.
Apart from this, Spain wanted to stop the return to
Judaism of Conversos, fleeing from Spain and Portugal, whose intention it was to join openly the fold of their brethren
outside Spain. One of the first paragraphs of the privilege
granted an asylum to settlers in Savoy, and gave complete
immunity from trials by the Inquisition to Jews of Converso de-cent.
Spain's general concern and interests in Italy and the
Mediterranean led her to pay much attention to the migrations of Sephardi Jews, and of course of Conversos, in their search for a haven, where they could live openly as Jews.
The points stressed above may offer an explanation to the
policy of Spain and her relations with the Dukedom of Savoy.
European Jewry according to Seder Eliyahu Zuta
S. Simonson, Tel Aviv
The historical works of the chronicler R. Elijah b. Elkana
Capsali contain two long passages which deal with the history
of the Jews in Europe. One passage occurs in his great
chronicle Seder Eliyahu Zuta (ch. 40-83), and concerns the
history of the Jews on the Iberian Peninsula from early times
to the expulsions from Spain and Portugal. The other passage
is a separate opus (in our manuscripts it follows on the other
chronicle) : The History of the 'Kings' of Venice. It recounts
the history of the Jews in the Republic of Venice, and it also
contains information about the Jews in other European
countries.
Capsali's writings are a mixture of fact and fancy. Ac
cording to him (in his introduction to Seder Eliyahu Zuta); '... (regarding) the stories of Spain — the poor were always
of our household, and the exiles (from Spain) were sheltering
under our roof... and when they came to us ... they told us
all about the great and terrible expulsion from Spain . .. and
... I found written on a leaf the date of the expulsion and
the names of the king and queen, and the text of the procla
mation, and all the rest. . . and regarding the stories of
Andalusia God sent me a learned and sagacious man of the
rich and wise of Andalusia ... and thus (I did) for the other
stories I have told ... since I came to know them verily from
reliable people... but with regard to some stories I was
guided by the writers of fiction, who exceed in telling things that did not take place ... so that we may enjoy the poetry of fiction, since it is pleasant. . .\
The author's tendency to narrate 'things that did not take
place' does not enhance the usefulness of his writings as an
historical source. Apparently he obtained most of his infor
mation by word of mouth. One of the few written sources for
the history of the Jews in Spain which he quotes verbally is the Book of Tradition by Abraham ibn Daud. For all that
some importance has to be attached to his 'stories of Spain'.
They include many traditions prevalent among the generation of the exiles from the Iberian Peninsula. Some of these
traditions are based on historical fact, while others are
legends of Spanish Jewry — sometimes unknown from other
sources.
Of particular import are the passages dealing with the Jews
of Italy — especially those of Venice. At the beginning of the
16th century the author spent several years in Padua and in
Venice, and was an eyewitness to the war between Venice
and the forces of the League of Cambrai, and to the tribula
tions of the Jews on the terra ferma. He also imparts import ant data, otherwise unknown, concerning the history of the
Jews in Northern Italy, and their scholars and academies. On
the other hand his stories about the Jews of Germany derived
from the legends which he was told by Ashkenazi emigrants in Northern Italy, have, for the most part, no historical value.
Capsali's writings betray him as a mystic, and show that
he adopted the views of his teachers at the Ashkenazi academy of Padua. For all that historical events and problems arouse
his curiosity, and he attempts to whet the appetite of his
readers. For this reason, and thanks to his fluent style, his
chronicle remains readable to the present day.
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MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN JEWISH HISTORY SECTION 195
The internal migrations of the Jews
of Bohemia in the 19th century
R. Kestenberg-Gladstein, Haifa
Within half a century, many Jews of Bohemia changed
their place of residence twice. The first migration began right
after the revolution of 1848. For the most part, they only
travelled a few kilometers to nearby villages, every family
settling separately in one village. The dispersal of the Jews
of Bohemia was already striking in the 18th century, but
reached its zenith in the middle of the 19th century. In 1724,
and because of the restrictive laws in 1847 as well, Jews
lived in 800 localities; in 1852, however, Jews dwelt in
2,000 localities!
The second migration was in all respects the reverse of
the first. It was centripetal and focal, even besides the move
to the capital which will not be considered here. In Bohemia,
the classic country of national struggle, this well known
phenomenon had a national meaning as well, and this will
be the main point of this paper. The old places of habitation
were mostly in the eastern and central areas of Bohemia,
which were Czech. Already in 1852, a slight growth of
Jewish communities in the German sector can be found,
and in 1893 there are more big Jewish communities in the
German regions than in the Czech. This development is to
be seen clearly only in the big communities.
For illustration of this process, three maps have been
prepared (p. 217 in Hebrew section). As the population in
general grew, we may consider a community of 57 families
or more as big in 1724, 75 or more in 1852, and 89 or more
in 1893. The communities in Czech environments are
indicated by a circle, those in German environments by a
triangle, and those in mixed environments by a hexagon.
The map of 1724 shows the big communities (eight out
of ten) mainly in Czech areas. In 1852 things were still
similar: nine out of thirteen big communities in the Czech
sector. But in 1893 there were only eight big communities
in the Czech parts of Bohemia as against nine in the German
parts and four in the mixed parts. Seven of those big German
communities were founded only in the 'sixties and the
'seventies. Of the four communities in the mixed parts,
the two largest, namely Plzen and Prague, were in actually
Czech cities, but the Jews there were actively German.
However, beginning from the twentieth century most of the
Jews went slowly over to the Czech side.
The reason for this astonishing development is the process
of industrialization which characterized the period. Since
the old, well-to-do middle class was German and con
centrated in the northern and northwestern border regions,
industrial enterprises (coal, textiles etc.) first came into being
in their areas. For this reason, many Czech villagers migrated
from the the centre of the country to the northern industrial
regions. In 1890, 138,000 Czech workers lived in areas in
which only Germans had dwelt previously.
Like the Czech workers, many Jews left their homes,
especially in those places in which they had settled after
1848, during the first migration. Their second migration was
influenced mainly by economic factors, but also by growing
anti-Semitism. Three important changes took place as a
result of this second migration :
a. the old communities (antedating 1848), except Praha
and Teplice, declined and were left, while the new ones
developed and grew;
b. the new communities were from the very outset reform
minded, whereas most of the old ones, Praha and Teplice
again excepted, continued to follow the traditional forms of
worship. The demographic and religious transformation oc
curred irrespective of whether the new community arose in
a German or Czech environment (e.g., Plzen). However,
c. from the 'national' aspect, the Jewish communities —
old as well as new — on both side of the language frontier
were not similar. At a time when the Czech workers fought
for their national character in German towns and succeeded
in transforming a number of them into Czech centres (for
instance, Brux-Most), the Jews in their own consciousness
became Germans in German areas and Czechs in Czech
regions, as this all happened at the peak of the assimilation
period.
As for the significance of these two migrations, the first
one was a transitory phenomenon, but the second shaped
the map of Jewish population centres in modern times.
Because of the connection between the distribution of
Jewish areas of habitation and the Jewish consciousness, the
second migration had a noticeable effect on their political
and cultural attitude. Therefore, these recently created
demographic facts were not able to make the Czechs fond
of the Jews. This had its bitter consequences, in spite of
the democratic education, which Masaryk, 'the philosopher
on the king's throne', had given to his nation.
Jewish guilds in Moldavia in the 19th century
E. Feldman, Jerusalem
Guilds of Jewish craftsmen appeared in Moldavia only in
the second half of the 18th century, when the number of
Jews in the principality began to grow following the arrival
of Jewish immigrants, chiefly from Poland. We know of ten
guilds which functioned in Moldavia during the last quarter
of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th. Copies of the
records of three of these guilds are now preserved in the
YIVO archives in New York.
An examination of these records reveals that in their
principles and in many details the Moldavian guilds re
sembled those of Poland. Like other guilds, those in Moldavia
were concerned with the prevention of unfair competition
and the encroachments of the members on each other's
domain, and sought to assure for their members the exclusive
right of practising their profession. Qualifications for new
members were generally the same as those determined by
the guilds in Poland, although in practice they usually were
not adhered to. Numerous restrictions were imposed on the
workmen, and the relations between the master craftsmen
and their workers were based on the same principles as those
known from other places. In addition to their economic
functions, the guilds in Moldavia, again as those in Poland,
were also concerned with providing for the religious and
social needs of their members. The managing institutions of
the guilds were constituted in accordance with the pattern
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196 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
current in all Jewish guilds. This similarity can serve as
additional evidence of the basic cultural unity of the Jewish
population in all of eastern Europe.
However, there are factors which are unique in the
Moldavian guilds and set them apart from those in Poland,
which were not uniform either and displayed considerable
difference. In the Moldavian guilds, the regulations designed
to prevent internal competition and even external rivalry
were not as numerous nor as detailed as those in many
guilds in Poland. In Moldavia, we find no trace of the rights
to established claims or of a regular clientele, etc. The
Moldavian guilds were less strict than others in the matter
of accepting new members and granting the right to engage
in one's profession. This seems to reflect the fact that econo
mic conditions were generally better in Moldavia than in
many regions included in the former Polish kingdom,
and while such areas stimulated the emigration of Jews,
Moldavia, like southern Russia, absorbed Jewish immi
gration. There are few sections dealing with professional
and economic matters in the regulations of the Moldavian
guilds, which also lack provisions for vocational training,
occupational skill, etc. On the other hand, there are
numerous regulations treating of matters outside the eco
nomic sphere. From this point of view, the guilds of Jewish
craftsmen in Moldavia resembled non-economic associ
ations.
Special conditions which prevailed in Moldavia are also
reflected in a number of organizational provisions. These
include the relations between the craftsmen's groups and
burial society (hevra qaddisha), which for a long time enjoyed
a special status in Moldavia and sometimes even performed
functions usually carried out by the community. Another
problem was posed by the existence of foreign nationals
who, by virtue of the capitulations in force in Moldavia,
were not subject to the authority and jurisdiction of local
institutions.
From several points of view, the Jewish guilds in Moldavia
resembled those of non-Jewish craftsmen there. This resem
blance should be attributed to a single common source
from which both the Jewish and non-Jewish guilds derived
their traditions, either directly or indirectly, although it
would appear that in certain details the Jewish guilds were
influenced by the non-Jewish groups.
The Sanz-Sadagora controversy: two schools of
thought at the decline of the Hasidic movement
R. Mahler, Tel Aviv
The Sanz-Sadagora controversy, which split the Hasidic
movement in and around Galicia in 1869, stemmed mainly from a conflict between opposing Hasidic trends, although it also reflected the personal considerations and clashing interests of the two rival dynasties of tsaddikim.
Sanz represented conservative Galician Hasidism at the
time of its coalescence with the movement of Orthodox
Mitnagdim. Its social composition was determined by the
middle class, while the upper strata of the wealthy class
contained elements attracted to Haskala. In addition to the
emphasis laid on Talmudic study, it was characterized by
vociferous, ecstatic praying, exacting observance of religious
practices, and a measure of asceticism derived from contact
with Mitnagdim. Simplicity, democracy, and strict ad
herence to Orthodoxy were the keystone of its existence.
The Sadagora faction, descended from Ukrainian Hasidim,
developed the cult of the tsaddik to its highest point, abetted
by the dynasty's tracing its ancestry to the House of David.
The aristocratic atmosphere of the tsaddik's court was
further enhanced by silent, motionless attitudes in prayer.
Charity — unlike the position it occupied in Sanz as the
personal performance of a religious duty — was distributed at
Sadagora by an organized sort of ministerial office of the
tsaddik's 'court'. Holding court unwittingly brought with it a
trace of modernization in dress and external appearance both
among men and women.
The Hasidism of Sadagora preserved most of the religious
liberalism present in the movement's early period, e. g., the
negation of asceticism, minimal study of the Gemara, and
joyous and noisy festivities at the tsaddik's court which
were often convoked for the purpose of chanting his praises.
This liberalism did not lack examples of speculative antinomy
as, for example, the preference for studying the Kabbala and
Hasidic teachings rather than the Talmud. Thus, there is a
great deal of similarity between the condemnation leveled
at the Sadagora faction by the rabbi of Sanz and his followers
and the description of Hasidism in the early polemics of the
Mitnagdim.
The followers of Sadagora were spread over Bukovina,
Moldavia, Bessarabia and the adjacent regions of the Ukraine
in areas where there was no tradition of learning, and where it
remained at a low level. The lenient demands of the Sadagora
brand of Hasidism, with its emphasis on devotion to the
tsaddik, was well suited to these people. A modern type of
Jewish middle class had not yet come into being and the
Haskala movement was still in its early stages. Among the
wealthy class, the external 'modernization' of their apparel and the frills of luxury served as a substitute for learning
and enlightenment.
Just like the early polemics between the Hasidim and
Mitnagdim, the controversy between the adherents of Sanz
and Sadagora seemed outwardly only to center around
pedantic condemnations of petty 'transgressions' : there it had
involved such points as the time for reading the Shema,
modifications in the liturgy, the omission of yotserot, etc.
from the morning service; here — the faintest suspicion of
sha'atnez in woven garments, and women dressing too much
according to the dictates of fashion.
Just as the Mitnagdim had wanted to preserve traditional
Judaism against the danger of the growing Hasidic move
ment, so the Hasidim of Sanz now regarded the practices of
the Sadagora faction as a danger both to Hasidism and to
Judaism as a whole. This also xplains why the most highly
respected rabbis of Galicia, as ell as a number from central
Poland, arrayed themselves on t e side of Sanz.
However, most of the Mitnagdim's rabbis and many Hasidic leaders stood aloof from both rival camps in the
hope that unity would be restored to Orthodoxy in general, which was facing the dangers of Haskala and enlightment.
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MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN JEWISH HISTORY SECTION 197
Le changement d'attitude vis-à-vis des juifs
en Alsace à la suite de la Révolution
M. Catane, Jérusalem
La situation des juifs en Alsace à la veille de la Révolution
de 1789 est bien connue: ils sont littéralement au ban de la
société. C'est un privilège qu'on leur accorde de les laisser
vivre dans certains territoires, sans qu'ils soient autorisés ni
à y acquérir des propiétés stables, ni à s'y multiplier librement.
La conséquence de ce statut est la misère pour presque tous
et, pour les quelques-uns qui atteignent l'aisance, par des
moyens qui sont forcément exceptionnels, la haine. Or, une
cinquantaine d'années plus tard (1841), tombent les dernières
barrières qui les séparaient des autres Français: les Israélites
sont désormais des citoyens égaux à tous les autres, se
considèrent comme tels et sont considérés comme tels, au
point qu'une assimilation galopante va bientôt décimer leurs
rangs.
Ce changement a été provoqué essentiellement par l'idéo
logie révolutionnaire, issue de la pensée philosophique. Alors
que l'esprit de chrétienté, qui se maintient en France jusqu'à
la fin de l'Ancien Régime, voit dans le juif un être à part,
néfaste et en tout cas différent par nature, l'humanisme du
nouveau système reconnaît de prime abord tout être humain
comme un membre à part entière de la société. La qualité de
citoyen ne peut désormais lui être refusée s'il la demande et
en accepte les obligations, et, lorsque Napoléon, quels que
soient à ce propos ses sentiments personnels, édicté des
mesures d'exception (1808) contre les juifs, elles ne remettent
pas le principe en question, et les autorités cherchent à les
appliquer comme des 'illégalités légales', inévitables mais
provisoires, et n'entraînant en aucune manière la suspension
des droits naturels de ceux qui y sont assujettis. Il est même
curieux de noter qu'on les presse aussi instamment de
devenir propriétaires fonciers, ce qui leur était interdit deux
décades auparavant.
De nombreux documents des archives nationales, départe
mentales, municipales et consistoriales de France sur les
juifs d'Alsace prouvent que ce point de vue est généralisé chez
les fonctionnaires et les élus, que préfets, sous-préfets et
maires défendent souvent avec ardeur la cause des Israélites,
et que même leurs adversaires n'emploient plus les mêmes
arguments qu'autrefois pour les écarter, car nul n'ose plus
contester que tout individu a accès aux droits de l'homme.
Une telle transformation de l'esprit public, bouleversant
dans l'espace de moins de vingt ans une tradition millénaire,
est un phénomène des plus frappants.
Dans ces conditions, on ne peut s'étonner de voir le
'Grand Sanhédrin' de Paris, les consistoires et les commu
nautés israélites et toute la population juive nourrir pour
la France nouvelle une vénération enthousiaste.
Boruchov's link with Bogdanov
M. Mintz, Ramat Gan
A perusal of Boruchov^ writings, both printed and un
published, indicates that he was not inclined to Plechanov's
compromising school but based his views on the system of
A. Bogdanov (Malinovsky). This is proved not only by the
adjectives he used in quoting from his teacher, as 'the gifted thinker' and the like, but also by the fact that Boruchov never
defined himself as a materialist in philosophy or as a dialectic
al materialist, but characterized himself as a *historical
materialist'; he once defined himself as 'a materialist without
matter'.
Boruchov even sought to contact Bogdanov in order to
publish his studies. In 1909, he wanted to publish an article
in a pamphlet prepared by 'The Empiriomonist and Com
pany'.
Boruchov's bond to Bogdanov must serve as a guiding line
in examining his sociological conceptions and should help us
to understand them. Three terms used by Boruchov should
be commented upon:—
I. 'Class' is defined by him not as a function of the posses sion of the means of production but as the functioning of
organization or implementation. In Bogdanov's views also,
every social organism is divided into organizers and impie mentors and possession is only a supra-legal structure.
Boruchov uses this formulation even in his 'Our Platform'.
II. 'The productive forces of the proletariat' is a concept which is uncommon in Marx, except in the formulation : the
productive forces of a certain society, feudal or capitalistic.
Boruchov adopts this concept, identifying himself with
Bogdanov for whom class is a psychophysical function or a
mental faculty, adaptation. The productive force of the
proletariat is at first 'implementing adaptation', which
slowly gives way to 'organizing adaptation', which the
proletariat makes its own when it serves the machinery in a
capitalistic enterprise.
m. 'The strategic base' of the Jewish proletariat is also
anchored in Bogdanov's class theory. This conception means
that the Jewish proletariat is inferior because of its concentra
tion in the final branches of production. Therefore, in its
class war, it seeks to acquire a strategic base, i.e., it strives to
penetrate to the basic branches of production, in which the
influence of class struggles is of decisive importance. This
approach fits in with Bogdanov's view which argues that the
revolution is an outcome of the contrast between the pro ductive forces of the proletariat and the relations of produc
tion, meaning: the contrast between the organizing skill
which the worker acquires while standing beside machines
and operating them and the relations of production which
maintain the organizational function in the hands of the
bourgeoisie alone and, as a matter of course, the benefits
as well. A sensing of the contrast and the collective ideals
growing out of it exists only in large enterprises and is lacking
in the final stages of production in which the technological
standard is inferior and the proletariat suffers from a perver
sion of its struggle and of its ideals.
The anti-Hasidic treatise Shever posh'im —
its author and its composition
Mordecai Wilensky, Boston
The treatise Shever posh'im (Tourberg Ms., preserved at
the National Library, Jerusalem) is one of the most important
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198 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
sources for the study of the polemics between the Hasidim
and the Mitnagdim. Selections from it have been published,
but the main body of the treatise is still in manuscript.
Shever posh'im is also known by two other names: Zoth
torath ha-knaoth (Oxford Ms.) and Zimrath am ha-aretz
(Leningrad Ms.). The name of Rabbi David of Makow, the
ardent antagonist of Hasidism, appears as the author on the
title page of the Leningrad Ms. only.
The treatise is apparently composed of two parts: the
second part, fols. 55b-78 (Jerusalem Ms.), was written first
and originally constituted a separate pamphlet, called Zimrath
am ha-aretz by the author (fol. 60); whereas the first part,
fols. 2-55, was written at a later date and clearly named
Shever posh'im by the author (fol. 4).
Recently, a new attempt was made to contest categorically
the assumption accepted in Jewish historiography that
Rabbi David of Makow was the author of the treatise and to
attribute its composition instead to two different authors:
the first part to Rabbi Ezekiel of Radzimin, son of Rabbi
David of Makow, and the second part to an anonymous
author.
In this paper, an attempt is made to prove, through an
analysis of both parts of the treatise, that the contesters'
arguments do not suffice to exclude Rabbi David as the
author of the treatise.
The letters added to the Leningrad Ms. and the ethical
will added to the Oxford Ms., which were beyond doubt
written by Rabbi David, are also examined. On the basis of
their content and language, the thesis that Rabbi David is the
author of Shever posh'im, as well, can be further supported.
An analysis of the Colophons attached to the Oxford Ms.
adds more weight to this argument.
CONTEMPORARY JEWRY
The social basis of anti-Semitism today
A. Tartakower, Jerusalem
I. The rather frequent assumption in the years immediately
following the last war, according to which anti-Semitism was
bound to disappear or dwindle away, proved unjustified.
On the contrary, the propaganda of hatred is much more
widespread today than it has ever been, although not mani
fested by overt acts of physical violence.
II. Again contrary to the situation existing in previous
years and generations, when anti-Semitism was based mainly on clearcut issues — religion, economic competition, na
tionalism, race, etc. — such a distinct classification cannot
be made today. Anti-Semitism appears at present in a variety
of forms: neo-Nazism, chauvinism, Arab anti-Semitism, anti-Semitism based on general social factors, etc.
hi. The following two examples of anti-Semitism based
on general social factors may be cited :
1. Anti-Semitism in Latin America, where the growing social tension is caused by the great disproportion between
the wealth of small groups and the low standard of living of
the masses of the population;
2. Anti-Semitism in the U.S.S.R., as part and parcel of a
totalitarian regime which tends to consider the Jews undesir
able because they are different and do not fit into the general framework of a strictly homogeneous society.
There may, of course, be additional factors involved in
both cases, such as 'historic atavism' — Russia, the 'classic'
country of anti-Semitism for many centuries — exaggerated
nationalism, etc.
iv. In addition to the above-mentioned, other forms of
contemporary anti-Semitism may be considered a con
sequence of the crisis caused by the breakdown of the funda
mental tenets of society held by previous generations without
their replacement by new ones. Several phenomena have
resulted from this development, such as totalitarian regimes, the division of mankind into hostile blocks, the growing
disproportion between culture and technical development, and others. Anti-Semitism may also be included in this
category and this accounts for its rapid growth even in places where objective reasons for its existence are not apparent. The social basis of contemporary anti-Semitism may also be
explained by the fact that it now appears mainly as a voluntary
movement, whereas official anti-Semitism had disappeared with a few exceptions, such as in the U.S.S.R. Arab anti
Semitism is largely the consequence of the Palestine conflict.
v. Recognition of the social basis of anti-Semitism today
may also assist in combating it, for instance by considering it
as a crime to be fought by means of legal process (and not
as previously by enlightment and education), by international
action — especially through the United Nations — and by
cooperating with other institutions also endangered by
present trends, in the first place the churches.
The relations of governments to non-governmental schools
with special reference to Jewish complete schools
A. M. Dushkin, Jerusalem
It is important that the theme of Diaspora Jewish education
should be discussed not only by educators but also by other
scholars participating in world congresses of Jewish studies.
Broadly speaking, there are two types of Jewish schooling in the Diaspora — the complete school (general and Judaic
studies) and the supplementary school (Judaic studies only),
each having several forms. Great variation obtains in the
lands of the Diaspora regarding the proportion of Jewish
children in the complete (day, integral) schools and in the
supplementary (afternoon, Sunday) schools. In many
Jewish communities there is heated conflict of opinions
regarding the desirability of non-governmental complete
schools for Jewish children; the relation of the governments
to Jewish education being frequently, but not always, the
determining factor. The legal and the social status of non
governmental school systems are analyzed according to
(a) full governmental support; (b) recognition and partial
support; (c) recognition without support; (d) non-recognition
and prohibition. Related to this end, analysis is made of the
school patterns in the U.S.S.R., the U.S.A., England, France
and Canada. Certain conclusions are drawn from the above
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CONTEMPORARY JEWRY SECTION 199
discussion for desirable community attitudes toward complete
Jewish schooling.
The historical and social background of
Jewish education in Turkey
J. Ben Rahamim, Jerusalem
The peculiar problems of Jewish education in Turkey are
discussed, and the present states of affairs is explained by
reference to the Turkish laws and the position of Jews.
Beginnings of the mass migration of Jews in
liberated Europe 1944-5
Y. Bauer, Kibbutz Shuval
Bricha (escape) is a term applied to two separate events:
1. the mass migration of Jews in Europe after the liberation
from Nazi oppression, whose general purpose was to leave
East and Southeast Europe and get to Germany, Austria,
Italy and countries further west whether in order to reach
Palestine or to immigrate to other countries; 2. the Zionist
body which directed, organized and ordered the greater
part of this movement with the express purpose of leading
the survivors of the Catastrophe to Palestine. Both aspects are dealt with in this paper.
The bricha began while battles were still raging, during
the first half of 1944, in Eastern Poland, Lithuania and the
Ukraine. Border transfers had existed prior to it in 1940-1941
on the frontier between Rumania and the areas then under
Soviet domination. Since 1942 there had been in Slovakia
and Hungary regular organizations, a part of whose members
later joined the bricha movement after the war. The difference
between these migrations and the bricha lies in the fact that
during the war the purpose of the migrations was to save
people from physical annihilation, whereas after the war this
was a migration for the purpose of going to Palestine as a
result of the Catastrophe. The seeds for the first bricha were planted in Rovno,
Vilna, Czernowitz and Soviet Asia, centres at first uncon
nected with one another. At the end of 1944 the various
groups met in Lublin, after the attempt to make Czernowitz
the main débouché for the escapees had failed. The leadership of the first bricha, under Abba Kovner, directed the escapees
toward Rumania in the hope that it would be easier to reach
Palestine from there. Until May 1945, some two to three
thousand Jews arrived in Rumania, among them partisans,
people who had formerly been members of pioneer move
ments and those who had returned from Soviet Asia. A
fourth to a third of the Jews included in these figures con
sisted of unorganized Jews who accompanied the organized
bricha.
As soon as it became evident that the way from Rumania
to Palestine was actually blocked, the camp, led by partisan
members of the 'Unit of the Remnants of Eastern Europe'
turned to Italy, accompanied by about 500 Rumanian and
Hungarian Jews. They went through Hungary and Yugosla
via and the first among them reached the 'HayW (the Jewish
Brigade group of the British Army), who in July were en
camped in Italy. Meanwhile, the Polish bricha, commanded
by Mordecai Rosman and later Moshe Meiri ('Ben') directed
the refugees through Budapest to the region of Graz, which
was then passing from Soviet domination into British hands.
In the early part of June, after the 'Hayil' first learned
about the survivors of the German camps, delegations were
sent to Austria and Germany to ascertain the nature of the
situation. Some of the Jews in Austria and Germany who
had been liberated tried to reach Italy at all costs and the
'Hayil' transferred them; after the 'HayiV had moved to
Belgium this task was carried out mainly by the Palestinian
transport units who remained in Italy.
In the summer of 1945 the Polish bricha began to send
people through Czechoslovakia to Germany in order to
offer the escapees temporary refuge in the displaced persons'
camps where conditions were ameliorated after the Harrison
report (see instructions of the U.S. Army of August 5, 1945
and August 22, 1945). When some 12,000 refugees had been
assembled in Graz (under the leadership of Israel Eichen
wald) they were directed through Bratislava and Vienna to
Salzburg and from there to Germany or Italy, depending on
various considerations. In Czechoslovakia they passed
through Kattowicz-Kladsko-Prague-As-Munich and also
through Bratislava-Salzburg. For this reason the Czech
organizer (Levi Argov) became the coordinating organ izer for the bricha. The problem of authority was not
settled in 1945, but M. Surkis, who was responsible for the
Palestinian soldiers in the British army in this area, conse
quently assumed responsibility for the transfers through Italy,
while Levi Argov and the Polish bricha people controlled
the departure and the transfer.
The organized bricha began at the initiative of the remnants
of Zionist youth movements in Eastern Europe and the
various fighters and partisans. After laying the foundations
for almost a year, the thousands of refugees came in contact
with the Palestinian soldiers in the British army who now
took an important part in the bricha. The shlihim from
Palestine began arriving around the end of 1945 and took
upon themselves full or partial responsibility for the bricha
according to conditions in each country. Alongside the
organized bricha flowed a stychic bricha which at times
joined the organized bricha and at others conflicted with it.
The financing of these activities came mainly from the Vaad
Hahatzala of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem and afterwards
mainly from the American J.D.C.
Churchill's and Roosevelt's approaches to Zionism
O. K. Rabinowicz, New York
This paper does not concern itself with the question of
what Churchill and Roosevelt did or did not do for Zionism
and Jewry. It only analyzes their theoretical approaches to
Zionism and traces their sources. For this, an understanding
of their backgrounds is necessary. The two men, both born
in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, hailed from
societies fundamentally different socially, culturally and
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200 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
politically. Churchill's Victorian England was then at the
zenith of the Empire's power, and Roosevelt's post-Civil War
United States were slowly emerging as the champion of the
common man. These different worlds were symbolized by
the first school each man attended: Harrow in Middlesex,
with its old traditions, and Groton in Massachusetts, estab
lished only in Roosevelt's childhood. The influence of these
backgrounds on both men was deep and lasting, and was
reflected in their approach on national and international
problems.
Churchill saw in Zionism a national-political movement,
rooted in Jewish history and tradition, aiming at restoring
its glory in Palestine in cooperation with the British Empire.
Roosevelt evaluated Zionism as a humanitarian refugee prob
lem; as an American, himself a descendant of immigrants,
he understood the Jews' longing for a home to end refugeedom.
Churchill would, accordingly, not consider the solution of
the Jewish question anywhere else but in Palestine; while
Roosevelt, when confronted with obstacles regarding Pales
tine, initiated refugee conferences in Evian and Bermuda,
and sought other outlets for Jewish refugees. Churchill thus
saw in Zionism its comprehensive national aspect, and
Roosevelt, its day-to-day requirements and humanitarian
principles. Churchill could therefore say, as he did, that he
was a Zionist. Roosevelt could never identify himself with
the national movement in a clear-cut adherence, and he
never did.
This basic difference between the two men is not confined
to their approaches to Zionism; it permeates the essence of
their personalities, and found its expression in their spoken
and written words. While Churchill was carried away and
carried his listeners away with the magic of a prophetic
vision, Roosevelt's down-to-earth formulations gave con
fidence to the peoples of the world that he would provide for
better days for the needy. This explains their different
impact on the Jewish people. Churchill did not move Jewish
masses nearer to Zionism ; Roosevelt's repeated enunciations
of the need of a refuge in Palestine, pronounced in the shadow
of the Nazi holocaust, helped considerably to bring American
Jewry together. Even former anti-Zionists now spoke openly
of this humanitarianism because it became officially 'Ameri
can' thanks to the stand of the President. It was not national
political Zionism, but it strengthened the pressure and enabled
a capable Zionist leadership to channel it into state Zionism.
The difference between the two men was bridged over by their mutual admiration and understanding; they thus
complemented each other.
Ways of life and length of life of Jewish communities in Israel
H. V. Muhsam, Jerusalem
It is a widely accepted opinion in Israel that the Oriental
communities suffer higher mortality than the Ashkenazim,
similarly to the corresponding advantage enjoyed everywhere
by the upper social classes. However, some physicians noticed that members of the Oriental communities are very rare among patients suffering from certain diseases, particu
larly from degenerative diseases of the heart. Such an obser
vation brings up two questions: What protects people of
Oriental origin from these diseases; and do they escape from
them perhaps only because they succumb to other diseases
before they contract these? A reply to the latter question
may imply one to the former. But this can be obtained only
from a comprehensive study of morbidity and deaths from
all causes. The study of deaths, irrespective of cause, reveals
indeed that the length of life of people of Oriental origin
exceeds that of the Ashkenazim — if infant mortality is
disregarded. This shows that the advantage of members of
the Oriental communities extends over a broad range of
diseases, and it is, therefore, doubtful whether it may be
the effect of a definite, specific factor such as one or another
dietary habit; it seems that it should rather be ascribed to
the way of life of members of these communities.
The Israel population census of 1961 as a source of
demographic data on the Jews in the Diaspora
O. Schmelz, Jerusalem
The population census taken in Israel in 1961 supplied,
inter alia, data on demographic conditions in Diaspora
Jewries. Though these data are subject to some caution
insofar as they relate directly only to those Jews who
immigrated to Israel, they are of considerable value in the
absence of other information. Especially for some Oriental
Jewries that were almost in their entirety transferred to
Israel within a short time, the Israeli census data about
conditions abroad are both the only systematic information
available and virtually free of the methodological reservation
mentioned.
Five aspects of the demography of Diaspora Jewries have
been studied in this paper: age at first marriage, fertility,
child mortality, educational attainment and occupation. In respect of all these matters, profound differences have
been revealed between the demographic characteristics of
the Jews in Europe and in Asia-Africa. Among the latter,
the backwardness of the Jews in Yemen contrasts with the
relatively advanced position of the Jews in Turkey and
Egypt. Among European Jewry before the Holocaust, the
Jews of Central Europe showed most strongly the tendencies
towards high educational level, concentration in 'white
collar' occupations, and birth control. The 1961 census data
reflect also some of the direct and indirect demographic
influences of the Holocaust on European Jewry, as well as
some characteristics of the Jews who left countries like
Poland and Rumania after the post-war regimes had firmly established themselves there.
(See tables on p. 291—7 of Hebrew section.)
Changes in the life of the Jews in Iraq from World War I until 1951
H. Cohen, Jerusalem
The years 1864-1917 marked the beginning of the period of
change in the life of the Jews of Iraq. During this period,
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JEWISH THOUGHT SECTION 201
they began receiving a modern education and occupying
important posts in the country's economic life. They also
enjoyed nearly absolute freedom. However, after the British
conquest, the tempo of change was accelerated, especially in
the following fields :
Education: Until 1920, only individual Jews succeeded in
graduating from a secondary school, and even fewer from an
institution of higher learning; however, at the end of the
1940s, secondary school graduates amounted to several
hundred each year, and in 1950, more than 100 persons
received higher education both in Iraq and abroad.
The status of women: Until 1920, there was hardly a Jewish
woman who would dare go out with her face unveiled, but
in 1950 only a few Jewish women in Baghdad and Basrah
(where 0/"5ר of the Jewish population of Iraq lived) covered
their faces. The number of girls receiving an education also
increased during this period.
Economic life: Immediately after the war, many Jews grew
rich from trade, and, above all, a large percentage of Jewish
wage earners in Iraq discovered a new occupation at that
time — office work, a type of work in which few Jews had
previously engaged.
Religion: Until the British occupation, few Iraqi Jews
desecrated the Sabbath; however, since the British conquest,
the number of Jews desecrating the Sabbath increased,
especially among the younger people. This secularization,
however, caused almost no conversions.
Health: As a result of their educational and economic
progress and following the establishment of government and
Jewish health institutions, there was considerable improve
ment in the health of the Jews of Iraq.
At the same time, however, and certainly because of the
shortness of the period during which the change occurred
(1920-1950), illiteracy had not disappeared among the Jews
of Iraq (and this holds doubly true for older women), nor had
most of the Jews of Iraq become wealthy. But the changes
that did occur were enough to facilitate the absorption of
Iraqi Jewish immigrants in Israel.
JEWISH THOUGHT
The seeker of enlightenment, Levi ben Abraham ben Hayyim
A. S. Halkin, New York
Levi ben Abraham ben Hayyim of Provence aroused a
great deal of anger among those who opposed philosophy
because of the alleged harm it inflicted on the Tora. A fair
investigation leads to the conclusion that the activity of
philosophy did not constitute a danger and that Levi did
not sin more than others. Levi's biblical commentary Livyat
If en is discussed, and it is shown by quoting extracts from it
that his position did not depart from that of Maimonides and
his school in matters of the allegorical exegesis of the Bible.
The polemic against Christianity as a factor
in shaping Joseph Albo's doctrines
E. Schweid, Jerusalem
The contents of Joseph Albo's Sefer ha-iqqarim ('Book of
principles') were decisively influenced by the various apolo
getic, and sometimes contradictory, trends of the author.
Among them, his polemic with Christianity occupies a central
position, as is evident against the background of his period.
However, attention must be paid not only to the increasing
bitterness of the dispute between Jews and Christians but also
to the growing rapprochement between the contending sides
with respect to certain basic concepts. The methodical basis
of Joseph Albo's position in his polemic with Christianity is
closer to the Christian position than to that of Maimonides,
from which he dissents.
The doctrines of Sefer ha-iqqarim are predicated on two
basic concepts, over which he disagrees with Maimonides:
grace and faith as religious values. He reaches both of them
in the attempt to defend the Tora against the dangers of
Aristotelian rationalism, but in the two of them he approaches
typical Christian views. An illuminating manifestation of
this influence is to be found in the formulation of the problem
which bothered him : is a person entitled to probe the truth
of his own religion in relation to another faith? Doesn't
the very probing undermine the faith in which man finds
salvation? In the end, Albo begs the question, designating
the special relationship between Christianity and Judaism,
but this fact only emphasizes the dilemma in which he
finds himself in his attitude towards Christianity. He ac
knowledges a common ideological basis for the debate
between the two religions and establishes the very existence
of the Christian faith as an internal theological problem
of Jewish thinking.
Thus, Albo's entire quarrel with Christianity reflects
affinity with reservations. This is evidenced by the following
two questions which appear to him as internal theological
problems: are two divine laws possible at the same time?
Can the same people believe in different divine laws in
various periods? From a study of Jewish tradition itself,
Albo must give an affirmative reply to both questions, since
despite the fact that from the point of view of the giver the
Tora can not change, it can change from the point of view
of the receiver. Thus, it is obvious that the affirmative
answer places him in explicit conflict with Christian argu
ments. He must prove that despite the possibility of a
change, Christianity's pretence to being a true divine law
is false. This he does by examining the relationship between
its primary and secondary dogmas and by delving into the
historical evidence of its founding revelation. However, he
must also explain when and for what reasons the exchange of
one divine law for another takes place. It is typical that
he recognizes a change stemming from a defect and the need
for rectifying it but does not recognize a change stemming
from the maturation of the human spirit. Such a conception,
which antedates Moses Mendelssohn's views on Christianity,
is calculated to establish the unprecedented uniqueness of
the revelation on Mount Sinai after it has occurred, despite
the fact that in principle Albo assumes, contrary to Maimoni
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202 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
des, that the Tora may change. He seems, thus, to reiterate
Maimonides' position, but the difference between before and
after is a decisive and material change.
The departure from Maimonides' position and the ap
proach to views characteristic of Christianity indicate a
turning point which is of considerable interest for modern
Jewish thought, faced with a similar confrontation. An
examination of Albo's influence on Mendelssohn's views
regarding Christianity proves this hypothesis.
Two Hebrew writings of Rabbi Moses de Leon
and their relation to the Zohar
Jochanan Wijnhoven, Northampton
Both the Hebrew writings of Moses de Leon examined
here are illustrations of basic doctrines in the Zohar.
The Sefer ha-mishkal was written in 1290, and dealt with
the doctrine of the soul as a basis for the understanding of
the Sefiroth, as well as for the practice of the commandments
in a mystical (Kabbalistic) way. The book is extant in several
Mss. and in one very bad edition of 1608. A new critical
edition has been prepared on the basis of twelve Mss. An
analysis of the book shows perfect harmony, and to a
certain extent an elaboration of similar themes in tht Zohar.
The Sefer maskioth kesef is a minor work of Moses de
Leon, written in 1293, and is perhaps Moses de Leon's last
writing. The book is extant in only one manuscript, now in
the Adler collection of the Jewish Theological Seminary in
New York. It would seem that the book was never finished.
The matter to be dealt with breaks off abruptly. The book is a
commentary on the shaharit prayer and shows ideas familiar
both to the Zohar and the Sefer ha-mishkal. Whereas Moses
de Leon can be very profuse in his explanations of the
Kabbalistic mysteries in other works, this short commentary on the shaharit is very condensed and sums up the themes dealt
with elsewhere. It bears the characteristics of a late stage in
Moses de Leon's development. The rich inventory of his
symbols and associations has fallen into unified patterns. A few examples will illustrate the relationship between
these two Hebrew writings and the Zohar. Moses de Leon's
authorship of the Zohar hardly needs additional proof after
G. Sholem's thorough treatment of this subject. The similarity of these two writings with the Zohar and the consistency in
doctrine and imagery only serve to underline what has
become a foregone conclusion.
An analysis of the philosophical and mystical sources
of Isaac ibn Latif's Sha'ar ha-shamayin
S. O. Heller-Wilensky, Boston, Mass.
Isaac ibn Latif — a paradoxical, multifaceted personality who lived in Spain during the thirteenth century — occupies a
unique position in the history of mediaeval Jewish thought.
To Kabbalists, Latif was a gifted philosopher on whose
Kabbalistic theories, however, they reserved judgement. To
philosophers, on the other hand, Latif was primarily a
Kabbalist whose philosophic doctrines they criticized. A
fifteenth century Kabbalist describes him as being perched
at the crossroads of mediaeval Jewish thought, 'one foot
outside' — in philosophy, and 'one foot inside' — in Kabbala.
The fact that Latif takes an intermediate stand between
philosophy and Kabbala, and tries to formulate his own
unique synthesis of the two, at a time when Kabbala was
taking its first halting steps in Spain, obviously holds great
interest for the historian. Yet to this day no serious attempt
has been made to clarify Latif's theories or to determine his
position in mediaeval Jewish thought.
Hence, the purpose of our paper is twofold :
1. To present Latif's teachings and determine his position in mediaeval Jewish thought.
2. To trace the influence of philosophy on the beginning of
Spanish Kabbala.
We think it best for this purpose to analyze Latif's literary
sources, both philosophic and mystic. Our analysis is based
primarily, although not exclusively, upon Latif's chief work
Sha'ar ha-shamayim, hitherto unpublished.
Our analysis of Latif's philosophical sources reveals that
he belongs to the Neoplatonic trend in general and to
Gabirol's school of thought in particular. In fact he should
be considered as one of the main continuers of Gabirol's
school in mediaeval Jewish philosophy. It seems almost
certain that Latif knew the Fons Vitae in its Arabic original
and borrowed from it not only Gabirol's theory of the will
but also many of his philosophic doctrines, methods of
exposition, analogies, usages of language, as well as direct
quotations. On the other hand, our analysis of Latif's
mystical sources reveals that he had personal and literary
connections with contemporary Kabbalists in general and
members of the Gerona circle in particular. We find many
important doctrines which they held in common with Latif,
as well as similar mystical interpretations of Scripture and
rabbinic legend, use of language, turns of phrase and
analogies borrowed from Gabirol's Fons Vitae.
The lecturer aims to analyze Latif's dialectical relationship to both philosophy and Kabbala, and to indicate, how, as a
result of his disappointment in both philosophy and Kab
bala, he formulated his own unique synthesis between the
two.
In Latif's interesting attempt to strike a synthesis between
Neoplatonic philosophy and Kabbala, we observe the
influence of the former upon the latter. We see clearly the
process of transition from philosophic to Kabbalistic con
cepts, the intricate process of recasting philosophic doctrines
as Kabbalistic perceptions, involving the translation of
philosophic terminology into the realm of myth.
When we come therefore to place the name of Latif in the
history of Spanish Kabbala, we must see him as one of the
major representatives of the philosophical-mystical stream, in which Neoplatonic philosophy joined Kabbala. The
peculiar contribution, however, of Latif to the development of speculative Kabbala is in the ontological, rather than the
anthropological aspect of mysticism.
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JEWISH THOUGHT SECTION 203
Communion with God and prophecy in Otsar hayyim by Isaac ben Samuel of Acre
E. Gottlieb, Jerusalem
The connection between devekut and the holy spirit and
prophecy is expressed in the book Meirat eynayim by Isaac
Ben Samuel of Acre. It contains instructions for the individu
al and for the community for performing this kind of devekut
which consists of visual concentration on the letters of the
Tetragrammaton and fixing the mind on the Infinite. There
are intermediate stages — 'becoming equal' and 'seclusion' —
between devekut and the holy spirit and prophecy.
In the work Otsar hayyim (MS Ginzburg 775) which was
read by the Safad Kabbalists and apparently influenced
them, the concept of devekut has several meanings. Some
times it denotes concentration of the mind and sometimes,
combining letters. The book also contains the term dibbuq
nakhon ('proper cleavage') which generally signifies purifying
the mind of every object other than the Infinite. From the
point of view of the object of devekut, the fact is stressed a
number of times that it is directed to the Infinite, which for
this author has a distinct personal nature. He also describes
a personal experience of seeing his soul cleaving to the
Infinite.
Devekut leads to complete union with the Infinite, at
which state the soul no longer keeps its individuality.
There are descriptions showing the living soul of man
swallowed up by the stage of the divinity which it has
reached or to which it has cleaved. The union is explained by
likening the relationship between them to that of a pitcher
of water pouring into a bubbling spring.
The concept of 'seclusion' in Otsar (tayyim is treated at
length. In addition to describing external conditions such as
sitting in a purified attic containing myrtle and books and
combining letters of the alphabet, this concept denotes es
pecially the negation of the material world. The author
presents the idea that 'cutting off the plants' (qitsuts ba
neti'ot) means also suspending contemplation by vagrant
thoughts. This is an unavoidable failure about which it was
said 'Whoever engages in ma'ase merqava (speculations on
the 'chariot') must fail.'
The circumstances of seclusion and combining letters
draw divine splendour into the soul. By combinations of
letters the soul clothes itself in the holy spirit; however,
the combinations themselves are incomprehensible to those
who practice them since they are the secret of divinity itself.
There is a process of lifting the soul up to the Infinite from
which man draws the divine emanation to all the sephirot,
and from there, to the spirit of man.
The conditions of seclusion and forming letter combinations
prepare the soul to serve as a sanctuary for the splendour
drawn from above. 'And let them make me a sanctuary,
that I may actually dwell among them.' The motif of ecstasy
in the sense of the soul departing from the body only occurs
rarely in the work.
The prophet is in a state of actual ecstasy when the pro
phecy is revealed to him. The divine splendour within him
is also the source of prophecy. The degrees of prophecy
depend on the partitions or screens which serve as clothes for
the divine ray of light dwelling in the prophet. There are
two categories of partitions in prophecy : 1. sacred partitions—
1.e., those between the Infinite and the world of angels which
diminish in number depending on the stature of the prophet.
2. partitions of acts and thoughts from the material world.
Every material act and all participation in social life, even
leading the people and teaching them the divine command
ments, constitutes a dividing screen and some interruption
in prophecy. This holds true even with respect to Moses.
Nevertheless, we distinguish between the existence of the
divine splendour and the manifestations of prophecy, despite
the fact that prophecy and the splendour dwelling within man
are interdependent. The manifestation of prophecy is not an
automatic process but a volitional one on the part of God.
While prophesying, the prophet sees his own image speaking
when he is wholly immersed in an ecstatic situation. In such a
circumstance, ma^s spirit dwells outside his body.
The prophecy of Moses according to Maimonides
Y. Levinger, Tel Aviv
Despite the declaration of Maimonides in the Guide of the
Perplexed (II, 35) that he would not discuss in his book
(or, at any rate, in the chapters devoted to prophecy)
Moses' prophecy 'either explicitly or implicitly', it is difficult
to escape the impression that he repeatedly alludes to it.
One of the ideas most frequently quoted is that no
'imaginative faculty' participated in the prophecy of Moses
(see II end of chapter 34 and chapters 35, 36, and 45). If Mai
monides actually believed that man's highest station is
'abundance flowing from God... on the rational faculty
first, and later on the imaginative faculty' (36)—then it should
be asked how he conceived of Moses' situation without the
participation of the imaginative faculty.
It would seem to me that the answer to this question is to
be found in Maimonides' novel approach in his understanding
of prophecy in general. Despite his acceptance of Al־Farabi's
definition concerning the 'truth and nature of prophecy'
(beginning of chapter 36), he considers its special nature to
be the transmittal of spiritual information which the prophet
could not actually have achieved by his mental efforts alone
(chapter 38). This knowledge is acquired by the prophet
through his 'intuitive faculty', a term which was borrowed by
Maimonides from Avicenna, which Maimonides, however, in
terpreted in an entirely new light — the faculty of stirring up
and hastening the processes of thought (ibid). In the case of
an ordinary man, this enlargement of his thinking powers
is closely connected with an unusual psychological situation
in which he is compelled to think visually. Only a man such
as Moses, rising above his corporeal faculties (including the
imaginative faculty) by virtue of his superior mind and
spiritual devotion, could achieve a state in which his mental
faculties functioned under ordinary circumstances in the
same way as the faculties of other prophets did under special
spiritual conditions.
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204 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
The commentary to the first weekly reading in Genesis
by Judah Romano, and its sources
J. B. Sermoneta, Jerusalem
The commentary to the first weekly portion in Genesis by
the philosopher and translator Judah Romano has not yet
been investigated. In accordance with a practice widely
current in his time, Judah Romano, with the help of the
first weekly portion of Genesis, constructs a sort of condens
ation of his entire philosophic system by associating with
the verses of the portion a large selection of problems
drawn from the fields of metaphysics and physics, cosmo
logy and astronomy, psychology and the theory of know
ledge.
In his commentary, the author summarizes the most recent
conclusions reached by the scholastic thought of his time,
thus transmitting precious historical information concerning
the views and disputes of scholasticism's golden age. Romano
translates or summarizes large sections from the writings of
the tractates of the Christian scholasticists Albertus Magnus,
Thomas Aquinas, and Aegidius of Rome. He compares
their opinions and selects those conclusions which seem to
him most cogent from a rational point of view. At the same
time, his sympathy for the 'Jewish Avicennian' philosophical
tradition which most of the Jewish thinkers in Italy still
professed is apparent. Numerous Neo-Platonic and Avicen
nian concepts are to be found in his system. This explains his
avowed refusal to accept some of the conclusions of Thomas
Aquinas. Examples of this are his definition of light as a
spiritual substance 'quae habet esse intentionale in medio' and
the conclusion that man can achieve a knowledge of the
different kinds of reason composed of reality and form in
spite of the fact that he will never succeed in knowing the
First Cause. The first definition is shared by Romano,
Albertus, Aegidius, and the Franciscan schools, while the
second conclusion, which is partly original, reached Romano
through Aquinas' tractate De ente et essentia, the hypotheses of which he made use of without accepting their conclusions.
The union of the potential intellect with the active intellect is
the ultimate goal of mankind, and this is also the guiding
principle of the entire commentary. The annals of mankind
as related in the Bible are the history of the relationships between the potential intellect and active intellect through
the generations. The purpose of human beings is to become
'intelligibilia in actu', which they can attain by studying
Platonic and Aristotelian metaphysics.
From Judah Romano's commentary it can be proved that
the Neo-Platonic interpretation which Albertus Magnus gave
to a number of principles of Aristotelian metaphysics was
accepted in the West together with the Averroistic com
mentaries to Aristotle without producing any contradictions
between them. This gave birth to a mixed philosophical
school, half Neo-Platonic and half Averroistic, which was
to influence the Neo-Platonic humanists of the 15th century. Pico della Mirandola read Romano's commentary, which
had been translated into Latin for him by Mithridates.
Romano translated the works of Albertus and Aquinas into
Hebrew and Mithridates retranslated the same texts from
Hebrew into Latin.
We here witness the complete 'Judaization' of Christian
scholasticism. This symbiosis with the world around them
characterized the circles of Jewish thinkers who lived in Italy
during the 14th century and paved the way to their becoming
completely rooted in the humanistic current and in the early
growth of modern thought, in contrast to Jews in other lands
of the Diaspora.
The problem of language in the theology of
the Enlightenment
M. Schwartz, Ramat Gan
The problem of the religious language is connected with
the general difficulty of interpreting language. Plato sought to
solve this problem by his theory of ideas, according to which
being can only be known on its own, without the intermediary
of language. Mendelssohn adopted the Platonic conception
of language. According to him, the process by which truths,
whether eternal or factual, are known, is not bound by
linguistic symbols. Language is but a vessel to receive the
pure concepts of the mind. The use of language is established
through arbitrary and pragmatic considerations which are
irrelevant to the process of perceiving the truths. The
various modes of expression are instruments formed to
enable us to preserve truths for ourselves and to communicate
them to others.
This instrumental conception of language forms the basis
of Mendelssohn's theological views. Thus the revelation of
the Tora lacks dogmatic value by force of the argument that
religious language cannot represent the conceptual contents
of religion. There is essential conflict between the eternal
concepts of religion and its linguistic representations, which
are necessarily temporal and historical. Religious ritual has
clear preference in Mendelssohn's eyes over linguistic symbols
precisely because it lacks representational character, and its
value lies in the fact that it encourages man to acquire a
correct awareness of religious truths.
In the more recent developments of modern Jewish thought
two new positive approaches towards religious language have
been formed. One is that of Nachman Krochmal and the
other is that of Rosenzweig and Buber. Krochmal distin
guishes, following Hegel, between the external language,
which is the outcome of natural mechanistic activity, and the
internal language, which is a symbol of the spirit. The re
lationship between the idea and its linguistic symbol is not
instrumental. Language, on the contrary, is a power which
strengthens the spirit, and its function is that of revealing the spirit to itself. There follows from this metaphysical
approach to language a positive attitude to religious tradi
tion, both written and spoken, as well as a historicist view of it.
In Krochmal's philosophy language is still bound to a
world of ideas. Only in Rosenzweig's theology of the dialogue
does the conception of language go beyond this point.
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JEWISH FOLKLORE AND FOLK LITERATURE SECTION 205
JEWISH FOLKLORE AND FOLK LITERATURE
Marriages of humans and female demons
in fable and folk-tale
Z. Kagan, Haifa
The concept of sheda (female demon) is clarified, and the
roles of Lilith and Naamah (sister of Tuval-Cain) in Jewish
demonology are explained.
The origin of female demons is studied, as well as the
characteristic traits of female demons, including the sterile
ones (vengeance on the rival by strangling her children),
and the seduction of men sleeping alone in remote and out
of-the-way places.
In the early Aggada there are hints at the chance mating of
human men with female demons, but the motif of marriage
crept into the later (Middle Ages and after) folk story:
'Ma'ase Yerushalmi' and its parallels; the versions of the
ZIotnik edition; M. Ben-Yehezkel's Sefer Ma'asiyot, Part I
('Shimon Flamm'); a manuscript published by Yosef Dan in
Tarbiz 30; four oral versions in the Israel Folktale Archives
(IFA). Marriage to a female demon has always come as punish
ment for a sin or for breaking a vow, violating a tabu or not
carrying out the terms of a will. There is a link between the
sin and its punishment (rationalization of fear as a principal
motivation).
The areas frequented by demons according to folk mentality
(forest s,mountain tops, the sea) are areas of danger, for
people are not entitled to trespass on the demons' territory.
On the other hand, there is a constant struggle on the part
of the demons to extend the zone of their influence by means
of marriage and inheritance.
Swearing as a magic act is associated with magic names,
and with setting up a boundary that must not be crossed.
When a human being crosses the boundary he violates the
order of the worlds, and injures both angels and demons.
The female demons in 'Ma'ase Yerushalmi', since they are
not sterile, strangle the deceiving husband and not his
children or their rivals' children.
The four versions in IFA (Aarne-Thompson 470*) are
from Iraq (a realistic version, with a strange woman instead
of a demon), Yemen (two versions) and Syria (Sephardi
Israeli tradition). Clarification of their differences of form
and content, while examining the connection between the
changes of motif and style in a given version, brings out the
influence of the narrator's background, and of his ego, on
the story.
General and Jewish folktale types
in the Decalogue Midrash
D. Noy, Jerusalem
The Decalogue Midrash, addressed to the general, un
educated public, contains many stories which appealed to
this kind of public, and especially women. The connection
between individual stories and the universal motifs is
discussed.
A structural and formal study of
Talmudic-Midrashic legends
D. Ben-Amos, Philadelphia, Pa.
Current folkloristic scholarship stresses three aspects of the
legend: its cultural function in terms of the explanation of
natural phenomena and the validation of social institutions,
its focus upon human beings reacting in the real world, and its
acceptance as historical truth by the group in which it is told.
The purpose of this paper is to attempt to determine the
plot structure of the legend as it is found in the Talmudic
Midrashic literature. Previous attempts in this direction deal
with only one form of the legend or analyze it from a psy
chological, evolutionary or literary point of view.
The legend is a folk narrative which is based on a dichotomy
between two levels of reality — the supernatural and the
natural. The action of the plot is a consequence of the in
trusion of one level into the other. This intrusion is brought
about either by a medium, working within his own environ
ment, or by an agent from the other reality.
Neither the potential positive or negative effect of this
intrusion nor the divine nature of the supernatural is of any
consequence to the basic structure of the plot. Thus, human
activity in divine or demonic reality is analogous in terms of
plot structure to supernatural intervention in human reality.
The level on which contact occurs may change, but the
structure remains essentially the same. Although martyr
legends would appear to be an exception, in reality, textual
examination of several Talmudic-Midrashic sources indicates
that the expectation of divine intervention exists, based on
the precedents of Abraham and Hananiah, Azariah, and
Mishael.
Talmudic-Midrashic narratives which do not follow this
pattern are not necessarily historical accounts, rather, they
may be other narrative forms.
Hersch Leib Gottlieb — a folk jester and poet
M. Gorali, Haifa
The badhan (jester), bearing the ancient tradition of joke
smiths and wandering clowns of the early Middle Ages, was
especially conspicuous in the colourful gallery of Jewish
folk artists.
As opposed to the klezmer (musician), the jester seemed to
grow out of himself, by virtue of his talents and abilities. He
needed no instruments, for he himself was the creator
serving as both instrument and performer.
The qualities which a badhan must have are:
a. He should have an eloquent tongue for composing
poetry and improvising; b. He must be a singer and a
composer just as much as a poet.
Since the badhan's craft is limited to the seven days of the
wedding feast conducted in the rooms of a house, he is
subject to certain restrictions. Professionally, he must
protect his creation to keep it from coming to the attention
of other members of his craft who might imitate him and
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206 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
compete against him. This is why the jesters did not publicize
their work and most of their compositions were neither
printed nor preserved.
The most celebrated badhan produced by Hungarian Jewry
was Hersch Leib Gottlieb. His date of birth is disputed,
some advancing it to 1829, while others hold that it was
1844. His life extended over an epoch of many events which
transformed the life of the Jews of Hungary and of Central
and Eastern Europe.
Born in the town of Sziget in the Hungarian district of
Marmores, Hersch Leib Gottlieb received a traditional
religious education and studied in a Talmudic academy for the
purpose of becoming a rabbi. But from the time he began
composing songs in Yiddish and Hebrew, he followed his
inclinations and became a famous badhan in all of Hungary,
Rumania, and Galicia. His creative work in the sphere of
jesting, a small part of which appeared posthumously in the
book Lider fun mein Leben and a portion of which is still in
manuscript recorded and collected by me, is one of the finest
contributions to badhan literature. Here, Hersch Leib Gottlieb
displays wit, humour, erudition, scholarship, a sense of the
satirical, poetic ability, a developed sense for rhyming, and
a thorough knowledge of the Yiddish language which is
pithy, folksy, and picturesque.
Jesting was only one field of Gottlieb's activities and
variegated talents. The fact that he was a poet and folk singer
is evidenced by lyric poems some of which were printed in the
above mentioned collection, in the various newspapers which
he put out, or remained in manuscript. As an enlightened Jew
with outstanding ability, he translated into Hebrew and
Yiddish works by German poets, including Goethe and
Schiller. He also composed romances and ballads.
In addition to these fields, Gottlieb was also active as a
writer on current events in the capacity of the editor of
newspapers in Hebrew and Yiddish. Gottlieb, who was an
adherent of the Haskala movement, joined the Zionists and
was one of the disciples of Theodor Herzl and was even helped
directly by him. All this he did in the face of harassment and
excommunication by the rabbis and Hassidic rebbis, on the
one hand, and the authorities and the police, on the other.
JEWISH ART
The mantle and case of the Tora scroll
Y. L. Bialer, Jerusalem
During the period of the Second Temple, the Tora scroll
was already of central importance in Jewish life, especially
as a sign and symbol of spiritual independence in the people's
consciousness. However, literary sources of that period and
later make no mention of decorations for Tora scrolls.
Archaeological finds also lack evidence of decorations.
Various accessories used for keeping the Tora scrolls or
setting them apart from unbecoming domestic uses are
mentioned in both Talmuds and the Midrashim. The com
monest references are to tig (case) and te va (box). It may be
assumed that the leva was chiefly used in public and in
communal services and the tig, in private homes or on travels.
Various cloths used for the Tora scrolls, chiefly mappa
(napkin) and mitpafiat (apron, wrap), are also mentioned in
Talmudic literature. The term me'il, which is of biblical
origin and has been accepted by Jews everywhere to mean
the outer mantle of the Tora scroll, is not to be found in the
ancient sources, only appearing in later ones.
Mention is made of stuffs designed for sacred scrolls such
as embroidered, painted cloths and fine silks. The Talmud
tells of professional craftsmen who made such cloths, and we
also have a sort of proof from the Temple period that indi
viduals possessed fine Tora scrolls. But it is not clear whether
the references are to a mantle or to a case.
The question thus arises, when was the use of gold and
silver for ornamenting Tora scrolls introduced ? Apparently,
as the economic life of the Jews improved in their new
homes, the tradition of simplicity was forgotten and a natural
desire arose to adorn the Tora scrolls with gold, silver, and
precious cloths associated with the Temple. The revival of a
cult of statues among Christians and the spread of plastic
arts influenced the Jewish sages to seek to enhance the glory
of the Tora in the eyes of the Jewish masses by adorning it.
Thus we find that in the Middle Ages it was customary to
draw above the holy arks or on their doors a royal crown
and the verse 'By me kings reign, And princes decree justice.'
All the Tora adornments known to us bear relation to the
king's magnificent clothes and especially to those of the
High Priest.
Thus, the tig and the me'il continued developing in a
parallel fashion. Under the influence of the art of the environ
ment and the creative imagination of the craftsmen, they
constantly changed until three forms crystallized — Sephar
die, Yemenite, and European.
Among the Oriental communities whose customs originated
in Spain, except for Tangier, the Tora scroll is kept in a
wooden case plated with ornamented, beaten silver and
wrapped in a coloured cloth. All the cases we know of date
from the period after expulsion from Spain. The tower-like
form of the tig may have been influenced by the 'Golden
Tower' in the city of Seville, Spain, where the Jewish jewellers
lived, just as Jewish jewellers in Europe at that time used to
adapt the forms of their spice boxes to the towers of the
towns in which they lived.
The Yemenites also use a carved or inlaid wooden case in
which the Tora scroll is placed wrapped in a number of
coloured cloths. This community also used to wrap the out
side of the case in a coloured mantle in the form of a rectangu
lar cloth tied on top with a ribbon and having on its hem
hollow silver buttons which tinkle to commemorate the
mantle of the High Priest on whose hem golden bells tinkled.
With the exception of Sicily, use of the case has completely
vanished from Europe for unknown reasons. In Europe,
the me'il developed instead, reaching great artistic heights,
especially in Italy. The me'il is made of expensive cloth
embroidered with gold, silver, pearls, and precious stones.
Woman volunteered to embroider figures of Temple vessels
and dedicatory phrases on the mantles. The correct ancient
form exactly resembles the mantle of the High Priest as it is
described in the sources : 'the opening is woven and divided
into two wings which descend below.' In the course of time,
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JEWISH ART SECTION, JEWISH MUSIC SECTION 207
the form underwent changes and we find the me'il possessing
a number of variations.
JEWISH MUSIC
The source of Falaquera's chapter on music
inhisSefer ha-mevaqqesh
A. Shiloah, Jerusalem
Shem-Tov ben Joseph Falaquera engaged in musicology
and assigned it a place among the sciences in his two main
works Reshit hokhma and Sefer ha-mevaqqesh. In both
instances, Falaquera did not introduce any new idea but drew
his information from well-known sources, the most
important of which are Kitâb ihfa al-ulum by al-Fârâbî
(Reshit hokhma) and the Epistle on music by the Ikhwân a
$afâ' (Ha-mevaqqesh).
A thorough examination of the chapter on music in
Sefer ha-mevaqqesh clearly shows that, but for several sentences
which are either biblical quotations or a more or less accurate
reiteration of statements already made in Reshit hokhma, all
the replies of the 'melodist' are literal quotations from the
first part of the Epistle on music by the Ikhwân af-$afâ' or
paraphrases of it. We are thus enabled to enrich our know
ledge about a number of Hebrew musical terms which
Falaquera used by comparing them with the Arabic text
which he took as his model. The technical terminology of all
peoples in the Middle Ages presents difficult problems
because of the lack of clarity and regularity. For example
the key term of this chapter is ha-nigguni ('the melodist')
derived from the root niggun ('melody'). This is a translation
of mulahhin or musicator and in this instance means a theore
tician and philosopher dealing with musicology. Further
more, the above-mentioned Epistle helps to clarify certain
basic ideas expressed by Falaquera in a fragmentary and
obscure fashion.
One of the problems which ought to preoccupy us is the
choice of motifs from the innumerable topics included in the
lengthy Epistle of the ikhwân ay$afà\ which covers about
50 closely printed pages of the Cairo edition. Was this
choice fortuitous or by design? This problem can be linked
to the evasive answer of 'the melodist' to the last question.
It may indeed be asked why the melodist's reply to it should
be 'I don't know', while later on in the above-mentioned
Epistle the answer does appear. Two possibilities exist:
either Falaquera had before him an incomplete version of the
Epistle, or the complicated theory cited in the reply moved
Falaquera to pass it over in silence.
Finally, the contrast in the basic views on music between
al-Fârâbî and the Ikhwân af-$afâ', both of which served as
Falaquera's sources in both his works, deserves mention.
However, the choice of the Epistle by Ikhwân aç-Safâ' as
the principal source of the chapter on music in Sefer ha
mevaqqesh is quite reasonable, for it accords with the main
objectives of this work in general.
Musical ethos in the theory and practice of the Jews
Mich al Smoira, Jerusalem
In their paper on the philosophy and theory in the Judaeo
Arabian literature, comparison is made by Werner and
Sonne (Hebrew Union College Annual, Vols. 16 and 17)
between the small interest shown by the Jews in the philo
sophy of music and the great interest in music and its
philosophy appearing in the writings of Arab and general
philosophers. It is the purpose of this paper to inquire into
the question of why this should have been so.
As a result of music's two fundamental qualities — the
abstraction of the musical sound and the movement of
sound, that alone creates the language of music — there
exists an almost primeval connection between time — being
considered a dynamic and abstract expression of superior
powers — and music. Thus the intimate tie came about
between the religious conciousness and human musical
expression: music became the most elevated servant in the
temple of divine worship. Being mainly an abstract ex
pression, religion and music (understood here in its broad
sense, comprising sound, word and movement) were in need
of a counteracting visible factor — the mythos, which
became the creator and origin of all art.
Returning to the particular place and relationship of music
in the context of the Jewish religion, we will find that as
distinguished from others the Jewish religion has abandoned
all mythological elements. It was brought about by external
circumstances, conditioned by wandering and characterized
by the utter lack of permanency. The covenant was made in
the desert, in itself barren and bare of beauty and rather a
negation of all concepts of form, at a time when the past was
dismissed and the present held no tangible good to make it
into a form for the abstraction of mind. Jewish religion was
renewed at a time following the destruction of the Temple.
Again the present was discarded for hopes of the future and
wandering started afresh.
Because of the oneness of time and music, music is con
ditioned by and dependent upon time, which is, for this
purpose, identical with the present. All musical creation
presupposes the assertion and the consciousness of the present.
It is exactly those which are lacking in the Jewish religious
philosophy, as the Jewish religious conception is historical.
The past is explained, the future contemplated — and the
present rejected.
The fact that the Jewish religion transcends all concepts of
time and permanency of form — a fact which enabled
Judaism to remain free from the adversities of time and
imbued its religion with a quality of pure mind — deprived
it, at the same time, of the fundamental capacity to create
music.
While dealing with Judaism as a general manifestation,
mention must be made of one particular period, namely the
glorious period of the Jewish kingdom in the Jewish land.
According to strict religious criteria, these were bad times,
the prophets roaring their ferocious prophecies, forecasting
the impending doom. But it was during this time that the
king built the first Temple of God. It was made to be beauti
ful, in the greatest of splendour, and the king and its people
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208 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
felt the beauty and enjoyed it. The king sings the praise of
everything that lives and grows. There is a general awareness
of the present — and behold: this is the period in which
there existed a rich musical creativity. And music that was
desirable to men was offered to God enthusiastically.
Gentile song as a source of inspiration for Israel Na|arah
H. Avenary, Tel Aviv
The title-page of the first edition of Nagarah's Zemirôt
yisra'el (Safed, 1587) bears an explicit statement that all of
the songs 'are constructed on the foundations and models of
the tunes of Arabia and Turkey and sundry other chants'.
By this are meant those gentile songs which were at that
time also sung by Jews. The elevation of folktunes from
profane to religious use, as well as the general impetus
towards religious expression in song, originate in the contem
porary Kabbalistic circles of Safed which were increasingly
favouring such ideas, and it was the poet's intention to
satisfy these demands (see his preface).
For this reason Nagarah names the gentile song-models in
the headings of his poems. A set expression is used: 'lahan
(Romance — Partisteis amigo)' ; lahan (Dostlar salma beni)
Turkish'; 'lahan (Sayyidï tnawldy) Arab', and similar ex
pressions. While examining these headings from a musical aspect it
became apparent that the 'initium' does not only denote the
tune prescribed for performance; there also exist close re
lations between the original and the Hebrew text. This is a
phenomenon which should not be overlooked in the evalu
ation of Nagarah the poet. These relations are expressed in
several ways, as follows :
1. The gentile song often initiates the creative process by
furthering motives, basic situations or moods, or certain
poetic symbolisms. Examples: Nagarah 'In my winter days
you loved me' — Turkish song 'When I was young you
loved me'; Nagarah 'My heart hoped till wrath would pass' — Turkish song 'Have patience, heart! this too will pass';
Nagarah 'Towards the mountains' — Spanish song 'A las
montahas'; Nagarah 'To a verdant garden' — Spanish song 'El huerta'.
2. Nagarah strives to obtain a phonetic similarity between
the Hebrew and the original text. Examples: 'רצ ןש קדהי
Turkish song—'םלה בל םלה ,קלוד יYalan se eyfelek, Yalan
sen yalan'; 'םיאבלמ ישפנ הרמש לא אנא' —Arabic song "And
al-samrâ wa-samûnî sumayra' ;
Spanish song
'ArboXeda., arboXeda, 'הדלוס יב הדלוי ליה
arboleda tan gentil. ליתפב בל לע הרושק
la raîz tiene de oro ורוא ריתסה ינמ דוד לע
y la rama de marfiV לןפאה זאמ ינועמו.' 3. The utilization of a pre-existent melody obliged the poet
to keep to the syllabic and metrical scheme of his prototype,
and thus also to the entire construction of strophe and rhyme.
This is the way in which foreign forms infiltrated into Hebrew
song. As yet only the Spanish forms Villancico and Romance
have been traced and studied. These entered Hebrew litera
ture already at the beginning of the sixteenth century
(Baqqasot, Constantinople edition). Nagarah wrote many Hebrew villancicos, and also romances modelled on those
still sung today by Jews of Spanish provenance (Silvana,
Àmadi, Dona Aida, Alixandre).
Equal studies" should be devoted to the Turkish and
Arabic poetical forms (among which there appears the
Mauwwâl), since their influence can be assumed to a similar
extent.
We have called these various relationships 'inspiration', in the sense of an artistic impetus obtained from existing
poetic motives, phonetic structures, rhythms and melodies.
All these are valuable aids for the appreciation of the poet's
personality — but they do not constitute the appreciation
itself, this being the task of the historians of Hebrew poetry.
Evidently, the study of poetry and the study of Jewish music
can and must contribute to each other's achievements in the
future as well, each from its own point of view.
The four differentiae in the
Samaritan reading of the Law
S. Hofman, Tel Aviv
The reading of the Law by the Samaritans is extremely
impressive because of its primaeval traits. The Samaritans
reveal the substance of their music when reading the Law
and. chanting their pîyyûtim.
The profusion of timbre indications in the headings to the
pîyyûtim (Cowley) are a valuable testimony to the attention
which they devoted to their musical expression and its
elements : pitch, rhythm, pace and intensity.
The ten sidrey miqretâih) (cantillation accents) pronounced
by the Samaritans: sedclri maqrâtâ(h) — 'enged, 'afsaq,
'annaù etc. — served both syntactic and musical purposes, as
they helped the chanters to 'read well with good meter'
(Abraham b. Jacob ha-danfi) and 'with sweet tunes and
melodies' (Tabia b. Darah or Durathah) (Ben Hayyim).
The sidrey miqrelâ(h) have fallen into complete desuetude.
Instead the present-day Samaritans now observe four dif
ferentiae (cadences) in reading the Law. These are: 1.
1. demirakzâ(h) and 2. rakzâ(h) both with the same sign and
placed at the end of the phrase; 3. waqfa{h) — at the end of
the verse, and 4. nahwaQi) — at the end of the section.
The range of cantillation is predominantly of a major third
(in no way resembling the equal temperament of the West)
(Cohen and Katz).
The opening note (initium) is generally the upper one,
followed by the lower second which serves as tenor for the
main part of the melodic content of the phrase, and finally
by another lower second (terminatio) serving as a kind of
leading note restoring the cantillation to the tenor note.
The chanting of the demirakzctih) is mostly monosyllabic
and almost devoid of melodic élan, with the pause very brief.
However, the melodic line of the rakzâQi) rises here and
there above a third and even reaches a tritone and a fifth, its
final note being rather prolonged.
The waqfdQi) comes at the end of the phrase and its
melodic line is more diversified, often non-syllabic and
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JEWISH MUSIC SECTION 209
abundantly embellished. The vibrato is rendered not only on
the main notes but also on grace notes; the range is more
extensive than that of the rakzafji).
The iwhwS(h) is characterized by melodic impetus and
vigorous intervals, reaching even a seventh and octave. Not
only the range but also the tessiture is more extensive than
that of the other differentiae, and is coupled here with
profuse vigorous vibrato.
While the community is chanting one can often discern a
clearly-cut organum (Ravina); but intervals of fourth and
fifth are by no means essential traits in Samaritan polyphonic
or rather polyvocal cantillation texture and are certainly not
rendered consciously. Simultaneously with these intervals one
can also hear some entirely different parallel intervals such as
minor thirds, major thirds, sevenths, seconds and even parallel
tritones.
Another interesting trait is the interpolation of 'neutral'
phonemes, mostly at the end of the nâhwa(h). But the most
peculiar phenomena in Samaritan cantillation are undoubtedly
the spasmodic outbursts of sforzati followed or preceded, or
both, by an emphatic, glissando or rather portamento, which
I would call a za'aq (or na'aq), a shout or groan, za?iqa(h)
also being a Samaritan accent meaning shout, roar, moan.
The restricted range,• the vibrato coupled with portamento
and the shift of tonic accents; the Samaritan temperament,
the attaching of vowels to unvoiced phonemes and their
vocalises for phonic purposes; in addition to this the specific
phonetic quality of most Samaritan Hebrew and Aramaic
vowels and even of some consonants (Ben Hayyim); and
above all the peculiar Samaritan zâ'aq-na'aq — all these
together form the essential traits which can be observed in
the reading of the Law by the Samaritans, and determine
their Samaritan specificity. (See Figs. 86, 87; music on p.
389—394 of Hebrew section.)
The new music fragment of Obadiah the
Norman Proselyte and its importance
for Jewish music research
I. Adler, Jerusalem
Since the discovery, in 1921, in the E. N. Adler Genizah
collection, of a folio containing the religious poem *mi'al
har horev ha'amidi' together with its melody in neumatic
notation, many studies have been devoted to this important
fragment preserving the oldest notated melody to a Hebrew
text.
In spite of the efforts of Judaists and musicologists many
problems concerning this source, which was unique until now,
remained unsolved. The more important among these ques
tions concerned the origin and date of this document, the
occasion for which the poem was written and especially the
problem of transcription of the melody (the question of the
clef 'dalet') and its relation to synagogal tradition.
New and important material which has been brought to
our knowledge within the past months sheds new light on
this source. Prof. A. Scheiber and Prof. N. Golb identified
the scribe of the fragment as the well known convert to
Judaism, known under the name of Obadiah the Norman
Proselyte. This identification is mainly important for estab
lishing the Oriental origin of the source (Obadiah stayed in
the East after his conversion) and its date at the first half of
the 12th century. Dr. N. Allony discovered a second version
of the poem '/m'a/ har horev ha'amidi', which helps to
complete the defective version known to us until now; it also
points to the occasion for which the poem was destined (the Feast of Pentecost).
Yet the most important discovery, also made by Dr.
Allony, is the finding of a new folio containing further
Hebrew texts together with neums in the handwriting of
Obadiah the Norman Proselyte. The main conclusions which this new source enables us
to reach may be summarized as follows:
1. The solution of the problem of the clef 'dalef permits an assured transcription of the music of both folios.
2. Obadiah's collection of synagogal melodies contained at
least four folios of which only two have as yet been discovered ; it may be hoped that other fragments will be brought to
light in the future.
3. Among the three melodies notated by Obadiah and
known to us today, two are settings of religious poems. It is
possible that Obadiah not only notated these melodies but
also composed them.
4. The third melody is certainly hot a composition by Obadiah but a traditional cantillation of biblical texts
(Jeremiah, Proverbs, Job) which has been faithfully preserved in the oral tradition of Oriental Jews until present times.
This last conclusion is of utmost importance for Jewish
music research which, because of the rarity of notated
documents, is dependent on sources transmitted by oral
tradition. For the first time we are now able to confirm the
findings of 20th century Jewish ethnomusicology by basing
them on an ancient written source. The fact that this biblical
cantillation has been faithfully preserved for more than
800 years, after having been written down in the first half
of the 13th century, implies that it already existed as a
tradition in Oriental Jewry for a considerable time before it
came to be notated by Obadiah the Norman Proselyte.
The paper is followed by extracts from the discussion
.which took place after the lecture, and in which Dr. N.
Allony, Prof. N. Golb, Prof. E. Werner, Dr.Avenary, Mr. A.
Herzog and Dr. Gerson-Kiwi took part.
(See Figs. 88, 89; music on p. 398-401 of Hebrew section.)
Music in mediaeval biblical exegesis
H. Shmueli, Tel Aviv
The paper discusses the way in which musical themes are
reflected in the biblical exegesis of Jewish mediaeval
writers.
The interpretations given by Rashi, Abraham Ibn Ezra and
Saadia Gaon are discussed. Commentaries on the following
musical terms are quoted and compared: hammena$eah,
kinnor, 'ugav, neginot, nehilot, gittit etc.
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210 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
WORKING SESSIONS ON SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS:
THE HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE
A new method In lexicography
Z. Ben Hayyim, Jerusalem
The great difference between the state of the material at
the disposal of the historical lexicographer of the biblical
period and that of the other periods is stressed. We are
very far from having completed the collection of data for
the post-biblical period as regards either form or meaning;
an effort must first of all be made to collect the maximum of
material before proceeding to the compilation of the diction
ary itself. For the collection of materials, the editorial board
has adopted a mechanical method, for the moment partly
through conventional machines and partly through the use
of a computer, but in the near future the computer should
be used exclusively.
The accepted image of the historical lexicon, such as the
famous New English Dictionary on Historical Principles
(the 'Oxford Dictionary') and Diccionario Histôrico de la
Lengua Espahola, which is now in course of publication,
was formed during the middle of the last century and was
the magnificent and characteristic outcome of the historical
trend which prevailed in those days in philology.
The paper notes several limitations of the common
historical dictionary, which were also evident to its compilers,
in particular the fact that it deals with a given lexical item
disregarding its links with the other items. This raises the
question whether the compilation of an historical lexicon
in our time (when the prevalent conception in linguistics
is that no phenomenon in language should be considered
on its own, but only as part of a coherent system) is not a
complete anachronism.
The author objects to this aproach and stresses the im
portance of an historical dictionary in the various fields of
Hebrew research.
The new methods for the collection of material and its
analysis offer the lexicographer opportunity to overcome the
limitations of an historical lexicon of the common type.
The proposal to compile a series of dictionaries according
to periods which together should form a complete historical
dictionary, as a remedy to the Weaknesses of the conventional
lexicon, is discussed; the reservation that the splitting up of
diachrony does not necessarily turn it into synchrony is
articulated with regard to this proposal.
The leading principles for the system of work adopted by
the editorial board for the project are briefly surveyed.
Mechanical analysis of the vocabulary of the Mekilta
Gad Sarfatti, Jerusalem
The author describes the different stages in the mechano
graphic analysis of the vocabulary of a Hebrew text, the
aim being to produce a concordance and to compile various
lists of words; he relies on the experience acquired by the
editors of the Historical Dictionary of the Academy of the
Hebrew language in processing the Mekilta of R. Ishmael.
The first stage consists in copying the text on punched
cards, each card holding one short passage. From these
line-cards through a mechanical process word-cards are
produced, a series of cards each of which holds one word
of the text and its reference. The lemma is written on each
word-card by a researcher. A way has been found to shorten
this lengthy manual task; after the lemma is punched on a
certain number of word-cards, the cards are compared
mechanically to the remaining word-cards; lemmata are
being transferred by the machine to all new cards having
words identical with the first set. When the first 27,000 cards
of the Mekilta, provided with lemmata, were compared to
the remaining 28,000 cards, 19,000 of the new cards were
mechanically marked with lemmata, and this marking
proved wrong on 500 cards only. It was correct in all the
other cases.
In addition to the lemma it is possible to punch on the
word-cards other linguistic data, enabling classification
according to various criteria which can make it possible to
draw conclusions with regard to the language of the text
from several points of view.
The paper is accompanied by two appendices. The first
table shows how a single word of an unvocalized Hebrew
text may belong to several different lemmata (in the given
instance, 14 lemmata). The other appendix compares the
results of the alphabetical arrangement of the words as
they appear in a section of text in Hebrew and English: in
Hebrew the alphabetical order obtained for words as they
occur in the text is considerably different from that obtained
by arranging the words by their lemmata; this is not the
case in English.
An analysis of the grammar and style of Yannai's
vocabulary.
R. Mirkin, Jerusalem
Work on the vocabulary of the Piyyutim of Yannai is
reaching completion: a complete concordance (ca. 55,000
words) and an analysis of the vocabulary from the lexico
graphic, grammatical and stylistic points of view, similar to
the work done on Megillat Ahima'az. (The Book ofAhimaaz — text, concordance and lexical analysis—The Academy of
the Hebrew Language and the Bialik Institute: The Historical
Dictionary of the Hebrew Language, Jerusalem, 1965, XI -j
273 pp.).
In the course of the work we have singled out linguistic
phenomena of particular interest as regards both the spelling
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WORKING SESSIONS 211
and the vocalization of words in the manuscripts and their
form, syntax and the way they are used. These peculiarities
are each marked by a special sign (according to a system
worked out in advance); this makes it possible to collect
by way of mechanical classification all words having one
or another of the peculiarities mentioned. The choice of
what is peculiar or deviates from the norm depends, of
course, on the discretion of the researcher. However, there
is no need to be apprehensive about this, as it is always
possible to refer back to the complete card-index of the
original, which is organized according to lexicographical and grammatical principles, and where each individual word
is formed.
Examples are quoted in the paper to show the benefit
which the linguist may draw from the fact that these peculi arities are marked.
The listing of peculiarities is not intended to replace
systematic research into the language, grammar and style
of the poet, but may serve as a basis for such a research.
The mechanical processing of the vocabulary of a certain
work or author results in a great abundance of statistical
data which are of great interest to the linguist. Examples
of numerical comparisons regarding several Midrash and
Piyyu( sources, prepared in the Historical Dictionary and
processed by machines, are quoted in the paper.
The statistical processing of a great number of sources
of different kinds might provide the linguist with the key
to understanding the particular style of an author, of a
literary genre or of a period in the history of the language.
PALEOGRAPHIA HEBRAIC A
Comité de Paléographie Hébraïque
M, Bet-arie, Jerusalem
Le projet de fonder un Comité de Paléographie hébraïque
a été soumis à l'Académie israélienne des Sciences et au
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique à Paris, et il a
été approuvé par ces deux institutions, qui ont décidé d'en
assurer le partonage en commun.
Ce projet comporte trois stades.
Au cours du premier, tous les manuscrits hébraïques dont
la date ou le lieu d'écriture sont indiqués explicitement ou
implicitement seront décrits d'après un questionnaire paléo
graphique détaillé. Cet examen portera d'abord sur les manu
scrits en forme de codex antérieurs à 1540, puis sur les
feuillets séparés (documents et lettres) de la même période,
enfin sur les manuscrits postérieurs à cette date. Le question
naire paléographique a été établi après de longs préparatifs
et sur l'avis de spécialistes de la paléographie non-hébraïque.
Il contient, outre des détails sur la teneur du manuscrit, sa
date et son lieu d'écriture, le scribe et le texte du colophon,
etc., des indications sur la forme du manuscrit, son apprêt et
les caractères paléographiques ne relevant pas de la morpho
logie des lettres, tels que les matériaux, la disposition des
cahiers, les signatures et les réclames, la réglure (piqûres, pointe
sèche, mine de plomb, encre) sous ses différentes formes, la
justification, les dimensions des lettres et des lignes et leur
rapport mutuel, l'encre, la nature de l'ornementation, les
formes des signes de ponctuation, les rubriques et les vedettes,
les abréviations et les sigles, l'aspect des corrections et des
ratures, la manière de noter le nom divin, les formules de
bénédiction, la reliure et l'histoire du manuscrit.
Le deuxième stade consistera à traduire sur fiches perforées
les renseignements fournis par les questionnaires. Chaque
fiche portera également les indications qui ne sont pas
susceptibles de codage (titre du manuscrit, nom du scribe,
texte du colophon, etc.) et la photographie de trois ou quatre
lignes du manuscrit en grandeur originale. Cette mise en
oeuvre des renseignements provenant des questionnaires
permettra un classement rapide d'après les particularités
paléographiques, mais aussi d'après d'autres indications plus
générales telles que le sujet, le pays, la date. Après la con
stitution d'un tel fichier, lorsqu'on voudra identifier un manu
scrit sans lieu ni date, on isolera les fiches se rapportant à
des manuscrits connus ayant des particularités paléogra
phiques analogues, et l'on pourra comparer leur mode
d'écriture à celui du manuscrit étudié.
Dans un troisième stade, la matériel fiché sera classé et mis
en oeuvre en vue de la publication d'un traité de paléographie
hébraïque.
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY RESEARCH PROJECT IN THE LANGUAGE
TRADITIONS OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES
The Hebrew University Research Project in the Language
Traditions of the Jewish Communities : A report
Sh. Morag, Jerusalem
The Research Project in the Language Traditions has as its
aim the gathering and recording of the language traditions
of the various Jewish communities and the scholarly in
vestigation of these traditions. The traditions disappear at
a rapid rate and, therefore, they must be recorded without
delay.
The language traditions recorded by the Research Project
fall into the following categories :
a. Reading traditions of the Bible.
b. Reading traditions of the post-biblical literature,
primarily the Mishna.
c. Prayers and liturgical poetry.
d. Reading traditions of the Aramaic translations of the
Bible (the Targumim).
e. Reading traditions of the Aramaic parts of the
Babylonian Talmud.
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212 ABSTRACTS OF HEBREW LECTURES
f. Translations of the Bible that in some communities
have been transmitted orally.
The Research Project commenced to study certain aspects
of the recorded material which are of scholarly interest.
Among the topics which are studied, mention should be
made of the following: the morphology of post-biblical
Hebrew as reflected in the reading traditions of various
communities; the relationship between the orally transmitted
traditions and the vocalizations of the Mishna appearing
in certain MSS. and in some printed editions; the morphology
of Babylonian Aramaic as reflected by the reading traditions
of the Talmud (primarily by the Yemenite tradition); the
orally transmitted translations of the Bible — their linguistic
significance.
A concise catalogue of the recordings (up to July 1965) is
given in the Hebrew part of this volume, p. 451—452.
The traditional pronunciations of Hebrew extant with
the Jewish communities of Asia and Africa
I. Garbell, Jerusalem
In this paper the late Prof. Garbell classified the traditional
pronunciations of Hebrew into the following categories: I. The traditional pronunciations of Arabic speaking
communities. This category includes five groups: a. the
Yemenite; b, that of southern and central Iraq; c. that of northern Iraq; d. that of Syria, Lebanon,
and Egypt; e. that of North Africa.
II. The traditional pronunciations of Aramaic speaking communities. This category consists of three groups: a. that of West-Kurdistan; b. that of East-Kurdistan;
c. that of Persian Azerbaijan and the adjacent regions in Anatolia.
hi. The traditional pronunciations of Persian speaking communities.
iv. The traditional pronunciation of Georgian speaking communities.
The pertinent characteristics of each pronunciation are
presented in the paper. For a geographical representation of
the various traditional pronunciations, the maps which
accompany the Hebrew text of the paper (in this volume,
p. 454) should be consulted.
The Ashkenazi traditions of Hebrew pronunciation with
reference to Yiddish dialectology
M. Altbauer, Jerusalem
Examples are given for the way in which the division of
dialects in Yiddish, based as it is on the pronunciation of
German vowels, is not always helpful for defining the
differences in the pronunciation of Hebrew vowels in the
Ashkenazi masorot.
THE INSTITUTE FOR HEBREW BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Hebrew Bibliography Project
G. Scholem, Jerusalem
The Hebrew Bibliography Project was established in 1959.
Actual work on the preparation of a main card-index and
of secondary indices, according to requirements, started in
the first months of 1960 under the direction of Mr. Naftali
Ben Menahem and is being carried out in close co-operation
with the National and University Library and on its premises.
The editorial board has so far held twenty-four meetings, in which technical problems that arose were discussed and
rules for the registration have been established, so that
practical work could proceed. The main results of these
deliberations are to be found in the sample-brochure which
we have published. We have also given in this publication
the main decisions in a concise manner, these being rules that
govern the manner in which the work is to be carried out.
A number of workers have been recruited for the project;
they include expert and scholarly people, with a fine sense
for bibliography.
When the work on the main card-index is completed, a
second stage is due to begin, in which research work is to be
conducted in the other public and private libraries in this
country. Having done this work, we shall have to send
people to work in the great libraries abroad in order to
complete what we miss here.
The sample brochure has been well received by the
experts, and a number of observations have been made
concerning various points. Problems of bibliography require formal solutions even though these may be arbitrary. We all
know that no single universally accepted method exists in
bibliographical listing; there are several recognized methods.
We have always been governed by one rule: to find a way which would leave as little room as possible for a subjective
approach on the part of the person who registers the entries.
For this reason we decided to adopt a unified position,
although this may sometimes lead, as every formal decision
inevitably does, to certain absurd results.
Indexes have not yet been prepared for the bibliography, as the work has not yet reached the stage in which it would be
practical to compile them.
Method of The Hebrew Bibliography Project
N. Ben-Menahem, Jerusalem
The paper surveys the method in which decisions as to
the rules governing the work have been taken by the editorial
board, usually after a long and detailed discussion; examples are given.
Apart from the rules for bibliographical registration given in the brochure, scores of further rules have been established
as guidance in the practical work. The problem of the
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WORKING SESSIONS 213
search for books not found in the Jewish National à
University Library in Jerusalem is likely to be difficult.
The 'haskamotי have, alone so far, been provided with an
index.
THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN JEWISH LAW
Index to Rosh's responsa
Menahem Elon, Jerusalem
The Hebrew University has assigned the Institute for
Research in Jewish Law various research and publications
objectives, the first of which was the preparation of a
detailed index of all the legal material available in the
wealth of responsa literature.
The Institute initiated regular work on this project at
the beginning of April 1963, and is presenting before this
Congress the first fruit of its efforts — an index to 1,051 items in the Rosh's book of responsa. This volume is intended
to serve as a model for the method and the framework for
responsa indexes. At the same time, this index will be in
corporated into the overall, general index of all responsa.
It is well known how extremely important the responsa literature — which is actually the Jewish 'Case Law' — is
for study and research in Jewish Law, for a knowledge of
rabbinical literature, and for a familiarity with the history of the Jewish nation in its various places of exile. However,
approaching this voluminous body of material, even for
one adept in the intricacies of Jewish law, entails laborious
and painstaking efforts. And even then, one can never
know what percentage of the responsa pertaining to a given
subject one has succeeded in tracing. The unavoidable
outcome of this state of affairs is that research and deliber
ations are often based on incomplete evidence.
The purpose of the index is to exhaust, to the maximum
extent possible, all of the legal and historio-legal material
contained in the responsa, to classify and arrange this
material in such a manner and form as to make it easier
for the law student and researcher to find what he seeks as
conveniently and quickly as possible. This dual goal — ex
haustiveness on the one hand and convenience on the
other — confronts those engaged in this undertaking with
numerous difficult and fatiguing problems. These problems,
and the general method of work, have been considered in
the foreword to the Index of the Rosh's responsa and in
various remarks that preface and are in the body of the
different sections of the index. A few of them are:
A. The problem of scope and degree of subdivision,
particularly with regard to the first and principal section
of the index, i.e. the index of legal subjects. In this index
are given the legal subject and all its subdivisions, sometimes
down to the fourth or fifth subheadings. The Institute did
not see fit to exercise selection as to what is of greater or
lesser importance, which would be particularly perilous
where the work is being conducted by a team of researchers
each of whom would have had to decide upon the degree
of importance of some particular or other. When there
exists a detailed index it will always be possible, if the need
arises, to utilize it for the preparation of a concise index,
which for example might contain only main headings and
first subheadings.
B. The problem of terminology confronted the staff with
difficult challenges. The unique character of the concrete
terminology of Jewish law, the fact that a particular term
frequently is used with several different meanings, the
absence of unequivocal equivalents for the legal terms
currently accepted — all required a solution. As a funda
mental guide-line, the original Hebrew terminology was
accepted, to which were added clarifications by various
means so as to make it an efficient and convenient index
also for the legal student who is familiar with general legal
terminology.
C. The main entries in the index of legal subjects are
arranged alphabetically, and not according to an arrangement
of legal-halakhic groupings nor linked with books of rulings.
The method chosen is the most convenient for the reader
to find his way to what he seeks quickly. For the same
reason the secondary heading, the tertiary heading and so
forth, have all been internally arranged alphabetically. Here,
however, arose several problems, which the staff has at
tempted to solve, as may be seen by a perusal of the index.
D. Another difficult problem is that of how intensively
to use references. As a general guide-line it was sought to
indicate the reference, in so far as possible, alongside each
and every subject, and alongside each and every sub-item,
without troubling the reader to refer to a different entry, but
in this, too, there are not a few exceptions.
In the first section of the index there are, besides, various
appendices, such as legal principles, table of contents of
rules and customs, table of contents of foreign laws, etc.
These appendices are presented in addition to the discussion
of the legal problems arising in connection with the rules,
the customs and foreign laws, a discussion contained in the
index of legal subjects.
In the second section of the index are presented the
sources contained in the responsa — from the Bible, talmudic
literature and the post-talmudic literature. In the third
section is given all the historio-legal material contained in
the responsa. Further particulars on these two sections are
given in the foreword and in the footnotes to the Index of
Rosh's responsa.
Another question that is beginning to interest the Institute
is the possible use of a computer to aid in indexing the
responsa. The staff is now in the initial stages of examining
this subject.
The Institute is carrying on with the indexing of six
further books of responsa (of Rif, Ri Migash, Rambam,
Rabbeinu Abraham ben Maimon, R. Meir Halevy Aboulafia,
and Rambam). The next goal will be to index the responsa
of the Sages of Spain (11th to 15th centuries). Upon the
termination of this portion of the indexing work, the indexes
of the responsa of the Sages of Spain will be published.
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