Who Knew?

by Jack Cooper

  ...The Merchant of Venice mirrors Christian views

  When Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice, he was mirroring the widely held Christian view of the perceived differences between Judaism and Christianity.

  Antonio, a Christian merchant, acts as guarantor for a loan contracted by a friend. Shylock, the Jewish moneylender, strikes a strange bargain with Antonio, his longtime tormentor. The loan will be interest free, but a pound of flesh must be forfeited if the loan deadline is not met. The time lapses and Antonio is unable to pay. Even though Antonio’s friends raise more than the required amount, Shylock insists on the grisly fulfillment of the contract.

  This episode displays two contrasts between perceived actions of Jews and Christians. On the one hand, Shylock slavishly adheres to the letter of the Venetian law in the fulfillment of contracts, just as Jews were perceived as following the letter of the Mosaic Law in their everyday dealings, regardless of the consequences. Also, by insisting on the exact performance of the contract, Shylock is displaying a distinct lack of mercy and compassion, another widely held perception of Jews in Shakespeare’s time. By contrast, the Christians are depicted as willing to bend the law a little in the interest of mercy and forgiveness.1

  A fake trial is held wherein Shylock is outwitted in the judge’s injunction against shedding any blood during the excision of the pound of flesh. Shylock attempts to bail out of the contract, but he is held to the conditions, unless he will pay a major penalty. The ruling is that half of Shylock’s estate is to be paid to the state and the other half to Antonio as a penalty for threatening the life of a Venetian citizen; Antonio magnanimously agrees to relinquish his half of Shylock’s estate, if Shylock will become a convert to Christianity and will bequeath the remainder of his estate to his daughter Jessica at the time of his death.2

  The legal injunction on Shylock hints to more themes of Jewish-Christian relations. From the late 1570s and early 1580s, Elizabethan England was deeply involved with the necessity of converting the Jews to Christianity; one writer even went so far as to say that only the conversion of the Jew stood in the way of the final judgment. Shakespeare is emulating a widely held belief.3

  To add to Shylock’s woes, his daughter Jessica converts and elopes with a Christian. This is another theme of Jewish-Christian relations: Jewish women are “young and desirable” while Jewish men are “invariably old and impotent,” never accepted even after conversion to Christianity.4

  ________________

  1. Ross Douthat and David Hopson, SparkNotes: The Merchant of Venice (New York: Spark Publishing, 2002), 16.

  2. Ibid., 42.

  3. James Shapiro, Shakespeare and the Jews (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), 134, 144.

  4. Ibid., 132.

  ...Shakespeare plagiarized The Merchant of Venice

  When the famous author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a child, his education included writing exercises in Latin. One of his selections relates the story of a court case involving a Jewish borrower and a Christian moneylender. In this case, a Jew named Welsch borrowed money from Johann George Junker. The Jew deposited a substantial security pledge and the package was sealed. When the pledge was redeemed, the package had been looted of most of its valuable contents, but the seal was unbroken. In the course of the trial, it was brought out that Junker had engaged the services of a seal maker to duplicate the original seal.1

  Although these were the facts brought out at the trial, Goethe’s story alters the portion where it would appear that the honest Jew was being victimized by a Christian knave.2

  If this sounds similar to the story of Shylock and Antonio as told in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, that’s because it is. The reversal of the roles is recorded by the Catholic biographer of Pope Sixtus V, Gregorio Leti. He relates that the victim who was to lose a pound of flesh was a Jew named Sampson Ceneda, and the villain was a Christian, Paul Secchi.

  How much anti-Semitism was engendered by a plagiarized, fake story?

  ________________

  1. Mark Waldman, Goethe and the Jews: A Challenge to Hitlerism (New York: Putnam, 1934), 25.

  2. Gerald Friedlander, Shakespeare and the Jew (New York: Dutton, 1921), 15.

  ...a non-Jew was jailed for keeping the Sabbath and not eating pork

  As part of the Reformation, Protestants were encouraged to read the Scriptures. In doing so, many people had their first exposure to Jewish teachings as set forth in the Hebrew Bible. Some of the people were moved to emulate the practices of the people in the Pentateuch.

  Among these was an Englishman named John Traske. Traske was an ordained minister preaching in London when he and some of his followers were arrested in 1618. Traske was accused of “having a fantastical opinion of himself with ambition to be the father of a Jewish faction.”1 Traske was convicted of “teaching that the laws of Moses concerning the differences of meats, forbidding the eating of hog’s flesh, conies, etc., are to be observed and kept.”2

  Following his conviction, Traske was expelled from the ministry, fined, sent to prison, had one of his ears nailed to the pillory, and was burned with a “J” on his forehead. In prison, Traske was allowed to eat only the meats that Jewish law had forbidden.3

  Traske subsequently won his freedom by recanting his Judaic views in a publication he issued entitled A Treatise of Libertie from Judaisme. Traske’s wife refused to recant her views and was imprisoned for a long time. There were others who were similarly persecuted.4

  Members of Traske’s group later settled in Amsterdam and joined the synagogue there. A number of them are buried in the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish cemetery.

  ________________

  1. James Shapiro, Shakespeare and the Jews (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), 23.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Ibid., 24.

  ...French anti-Semitism created great Jewish bankers

  During the reigns of Louis XIV and XV of France (1638–1774), there was a protracted struggle between the Crown and the Parliament of Bordeaux. The kings wished to expel the Jews from the kingdom and enacted a series of restrictive measures including locking the ghetto at night. New Christians, those Jews who had recently become Christians, were being similarly squeezed into the position of being treated more and more like Jews, leading many to emigrate.

  The government officials, on the other hand, wanted the Jews to stay. At issue was the French banking system. There was a woeful shortage of liquid capital, which was proving to be a major obstacle in improving the banking and credit system of France.

  To this problem, the Jews could provide the answer. Because of the restriction on the Jews in purchasing real estate outside of their own residential districts, they possessed liquid capital and were willing to invest it. Moreover, they were able to successfully appeal to their Portuguese-Jewish brethren in England, Amsterdam, and the Iberian Peninsula to invest in the French endeavor. Thus it was that the Jews were launched into the French banking and credit system.1

  ________________

  1. Esther Benbassa, The Jews of France: A History from Antiquity to the Present (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999), 43–51.

  ...Spinoza was first offered a pension, then excommunicated

  Baruch Spinoza began his career as a student in the Spanish-Portuguese school in Amsterdam. He was an outstanding student, and soon began to develop his own religious philosophy. It was rooted in the concept that “there is one God who demands justice and neighborly love and forgives those who repent.”1 Spinoza rejected the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, and the possibility of genuine prophesy. He also insisted that miracles were impossible and that all tenets of religion should be subject to reason.

  Soon Spinoza began to attract some negative attention in the Amsterdam Jewish community. There were many former Marranos (secret Jews) in the Jewish community who feared that if Spinoza converted to Christianity, it would have a devastating affect on Jews still within reach
of the Inquisition.2 (In fact Spinoza did not convert.)

  The Jewish community of Amsterdam offered Spinoza the opportunity to recant his ideas and to accept a generous annual pension. Spinoza refused, and he was subsequently excommunicated from the Jewish religion.3

  As his fame as a scholar and philosopher began to spread, Spinoza was offered in 1673 the chair of philosophy at the University of Heidelberg. He was to be given “freedom in philosophizing” provided that he would not “disturb the publicly established religion.”4 Spinoza declined the post saying that he “could not control the occurrence of religious dissension.”5

  Spinoza spent the rest of his life writing on philosophy, the Bible, and Hebrew grammar. He earned a modest living grinding lenses for eyeglasses and died in 1677 of a lung disease at the relatively young age of forty-five.

  Some assert that Spinoza’s ideas influenced John Locke, 6 who in turn influenced Thomas Jefferson in his writing of the Declaration of Independence. Spinoza is also credited with helping to undo the “Protestant (both Calvinist and Lutheran) denigration of mankind as infinitely unworthy of an all-powerful and distant God,”7 and with paving the way for “an Enlightenment hope” that man could take responsibility for his own life.8

  In spite of everything that happened to him and the content of his writings, Spinoza has frequently been referred to as “a God-intoxicated” person, and he is ranked as one of the major philosophers of all time.

  ________________

  1. Steven T. Katz, Jewish Philosophers (New York: Bloch Publishing Company, 1975), 141.

  2. Professor Heinrich Graetz, History of the Jews, vol. 5 (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1898), 93.

  3. Ibid., 94.

  4. Steven Nadler, Spinoza: A Life (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 311–14.

  5. Katz, Jewish Philosophers, 139.

  6. James Carroll, Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001), 412.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Ibid.

  ...a fictional character dominated parliamentary debate in 1753

  In 1753 the British Parliament passed the Jewish Naturalization Act, more generally known as the “Jew Bill,” granting citizenship to Jews. So great was the protest raised that the act was soon repealed. During the heated political debate that accompanied the passage and repeal of the bill, a central figure emerged: Shylock, the Jewish antagonist in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice.

  One of the fears expressed in the parliamentary debate was that one hundred years hence, in 1853, England would be ruled by Jews. A fraudulent publication called The Hebrew Journal made its appearance, showing that by 1853 a certain Jew named Shylock would be standing for election to the Sanhedrin1 (no longer Parliament) in the land of Canaan2 (no longer England). The ever-popular play Merchant of Venice would be banned from the British stage.3

  Another contemporary writer cites Shylock’s hatred of Antonio, Shylock’s putative victim, when he says, “I hate him for he is a Christian.” The writer continues with three more pages of continuous quotations from The Merchant of Venice and ends with the following admonition: “And now, Englishmen and countrymen, judge ye, what advantage it can be to you to have these Jews naturalized!”4

  As the controversy heated up, the London Evening Post and shortly after the Cambridge Journal ran a parody entitled “The Thirty-Fourth Chapter of Gen[esis],” dealing with the rape of Dinah. The writer of the essay substitutes the names of some of the political figures, including Salvador and Pelham and, of course, Shylock. Those familiar with the biblical narrative will recognize the story relating to the rape of Dinah.

  The essay reads in part as follows:

  And it came to pass, in the Year Seventeen hundred sixty-three, that the Daughters of the Britons, which their Wives bear unto them, went into the Synagogues of the Jews, to see the Daughters of the Israelites.

  And when the sons of Gid[eon], of Shylock...and Salv[ador] saw them, they took them, and defiled them...

  And Gid[eon] and Shylock came to the Gate of the [Ex] change, and communed with the Men of their own nation...

  And unto Gid[eon] and Shylock hearken’d all the Jews that went [in]to the [Ex]change. And they told the Pelh[ami]tes, who ordered every male to be circumcised...

  And it came to pass on the Third Day, whilst their Private Parts were sore, that the Jews took their Swords, and slew every Male of the Britons.1

  There were writings featuring Shylock too numerous to mention. Even in later years, after the controversy had died down, the fictional “Shylock” was still credited with writing books such as The Jew Apologist and The Rabbi’s Lamentation Upon the Repeal of the Jew Act.2

  All this from a character who never lived!

  ________________

  1. The Sanhedrin was the ecclesiastical court/legislature that functioned during times of Jewish independence or autonomy under a larger empire.

  2. Canaan was the biblical name given to the area that at the time encompassed Palestine.

  3. James Shapiro, Shakespeare and the Jews (New York: Columbia University Press, 1966), 217.

  4. Ibid.

  1. Quoted in Catherine M. S. Alexander and Stanley W. Wells, Shakespeare and Race (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 131.

  2. Ibid., 221.

  ...a decision not to expel the Jews led to an increase in lip reading

  During the reign of Louis XV there was much talk about expelling the Jews from France. When the decision came not to expel the Jews, the dividends began to accrue rapidly. Among those who stayed in France was Jacob Rodrigues Pereire, an educator of the deaf. Pereire used his knowledge of physiology and anatomy to develop a system of sound articulation and lip reading. He earned great distinction for his achievement and was awarded a grant by Louis XV. A mathematical invention earned him another grant, and his work on increasing the speed of sailing vessels won him still greater recognition.1 This Marrano returned to Judaism and became one of the leaders of the Sephardic Jewish community in France.

  ________________

  1. William Brickman, “Jacob Rodrigues Pereire,” Encyclopedia Judaica, CD-ROM Edition (Jerusalem: Keter, 1997).

  ...Napoleon convened a Sanhedrin

  At the beginning of the French Revolution, a great deal of land had been confiscated from the Church and from the nobles and given to the peasants of the area known as Alsace. The peasants wanted to work the land, but lacking the money to do so, turned to Jewish moneylenders. The government had unfortunately imposed high taxes and devalued the money, making it very difficult for debtors to pay. They blamed the Jews for their problem, and a prominent French newspaper offered the opinion that emancipation of the Jews had been a great mistake. It further stated that the only way French Jews could become true Frenchmen was to convert to Christianity. Some wished to expel the Jews.

  In answer to those who wanted to expel the Jews, Napoleon said, “It would be a weakness to chase away the Jews; it would be a sign of strength to correct them.” Napoleon then declared a one-year moratorium on debts owed to Jews and convened an assembly of prominent Jews to “study ways of remedying the situation.”1

  The Jews gave generally satisfactory answers to all of Napoleon’s questions, including one that asked if the Jews considered France their country and would defend it. When the Jews answered, “To the death!” Napoleon was very pleased and decided to convene a Jewish court of law called a Sanhedrin, to govern Jews according to Talmudic law.2

  According to Napoleon’s wishes, the Sanhedrin consisted of seventy-one members and included leadership patterned after that of Temple days. The Sanhedrin gave religious sanction to all the laws regarding Jews passed by the French Assembly except the laws relating to mixed marriages.

  Once these decisions had been rendered, the Jews were perceived to have given up rabbinical jurisdiction, corporate status, and the hope for a return to the Land of Israel. They were now inseparably tied to France. As Abraham Furtado, one of the
prominent French Jews, declared, “We are no longer a nation within a nation. France is our country. Jews, your obligations are outlined; your happiness is waiting.”3

  Although Napoleon was soon deposed and the position of the French Jews somewhat altered, the action of this short-lived Sanhedrin, in renouncing separate nationhood, had an effect on Jewish life in Western Europe for a long time to come.

  ________________

  1. Abba Eban, My People: The Story of the Jews (New York: Behrman House, 1968), 259.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Ibid., 261.

  ...an essay contest hastened the emancipation of French Jews

  In 1785 the Société Royale des Arts et Sciences at Metz conducted an essay contest on the question “Are there possibilities of making the Jews more useful and happier in France?”1 The contest was won by a French Catholic clergyman, Abbé Henri Baptiste Grégoire. In his essay, Grégoire suggested that the Jews should become westernized and integrated into French society. He further stated, as had been mentioned before in many times and places, that the social and moral shortcomings so often attributed to the Jews are the result of the discrimination practiced against them. He also suggested the abolition of social and political separatism, communal autonomy, Jewish quarters, Yiddish, and “the superstitious beliefs” to which the Jews adhered, because they had been misled by their rabbis.

  Grégoire rejected the thesis that the Jews must forever suffer because of their guilt of deicide. He further pointed out that the prophets, at the destruction of Jerusalem, foresaw a time when the consequences of that disaster would come to an end. He suggested that it would be following the will of the Deity if the French nation would take the lead “in preparing by our humanity the revolution by which these people are to be reformed.”