volume ii / כרך ב || abstracts of papers read in hebrew

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



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


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



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.



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.




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.



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.




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



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.




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.



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.




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



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


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




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



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




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




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




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.




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




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.




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




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



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




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,



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




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.



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.




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.



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




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,



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




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



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.




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



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.




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



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.



volume ii / כרך ב || abstracts of papers read in hebrew

Documents