Who Knew?
Page 8
Nevertheless, the thirst for Hebrew language continued. Some classes in Hebrew were available for purposes of fostering conversions to Christianity, but in Italy Hebrew was a subject in its own right.4
The Jewish Kimhi family of rabbis did their major work in Hebrew grammar and critical interpretation of the Bible during the period from 1105 to 1235. The great German intellectual Johannes Reuchlin may have based his groundbreaking 1506 De Rudimentis Hebraicis on the work of the Kimhis; it became a valuable tool of Renaissance scholars.1
When the Authorized Version of the King James Bible was compiled in about 1611, the Jews were officially absent from England following their expulsion in 1290. However, it was generally accepted that the influence of David Kimhi was present on every page.2
Another renaissance figure mentioned elsewhere in this volume is Abraham Zacuto. He is credited with supplying Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama with the astronomical charts used in their epic voyages of discovery. However, like other Renaissance figures, Zacuto stood on the sturdy shoulders of some earlier Jewish scholars.
In the thirteenth century Alfonso X of Castile commissioned Abraham ibn Sid, the cantor of the Jewish community, to compile a revision of the Ptolemaic planetary tables. This compilation was translated into Hebrew by Moses ben Nimes in 1460. These tables were further revised by Zacuto before he presented them to Columbus.3
Conversely, France was quite tardy in reaping the benefits of the Renaissance because the country was largely devoid of Jewish influences.4 Thus it was that amidst expulsions and ghettoization, the Jews were able to make substantial contributions to the Renaissance.
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1. Cecil Roth, The Jews in the Renaissance (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1959), 65–66, 71.
2. Berel Wein, Herald of Destiny: The Story of the Jews in the Medieval Era, 750–1650 (New York: Shaar Press, 1996), 246, 258.
3. Roth, The Jews in the Renaissance, 87.
4. Ibid., 137–39.
1. Gordon Laird, “The Kimhi Family: Their Writings in the Reformation,” http://www.glaird.com/kim-hom.htm.
2. Israel Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1896), xix, 372.
3. Raphael Patai, The Jewish Mind (New York: Scribner, 1977), 125.
4. Ibid., 222.
...Renaissance Jews were renowned dancing masters
During the Italian Renaissance, Hebrew teachers in cultured households instructed the pupils, not only in Bible and Talmud, but also in music, singing, and dancing.1 Relationships between dancing instructors and their pupils were extremely close, so much so that the clergy in 1443 ordered the closing of schools of music and dancing kept by Jews.2
Because of their popularity, some Jewish dancing masters continued to teach Christians. However, it was very difficult to do so when the pupils were royal personages and their presence was conspicuous.
One of the great Jewish dancing masters, Guglielmo de Pesare, converted to Christianity,3 presumably so that he could continue in his profession.
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1. Cecil Roth, The Jews in the Renaissance (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1959), 275.
2. Ibid., 275–76.
3. Ibid., 278.
...Jews deliberately invited the Inquisition to censor their books
Moses Maimonides (Rambam) was possibly the greatest commentator on Jewish religious topics. He was, however, not without some severe critics. So controversial were his writings that some of his opponents, in 1232, put Maimonides’ writings under a ban.1 Moreover, in order to strengthen their proscription of Maimonides, they foolishly invited the Dominicans and the Franciscan Friars to assist them in rooting out the writings that they opposed.
While the Inquisition was limited to converted Christians returning to Judaism, this invitation by the Jews themselves was too good to pass up. Before long, the Inquisitors were looking into a wide array of Jewish writings. Tens of thousands of volumes of the Talmud and other Hebrew writings were burned by the Inquisition in widespread locations.2
Pope Gregory IX instituted debates concerning Jewish writings with the inevitable result that the books were consigned to the flames. When Louis XV permitted the Jews to return to France after their expulsion, he stipulated that nobody would be allowed to own a copy of the Talmud.3
So it was that what should have been a scholarly discourse among Jews on the validity of Maimonides’ writings turned into an unmitigated disaster lasting right up into modern times.
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1. Joshua Trachtenberg, The Devil and the Jews: The Medieval Conception of the Jews and Its Relation to Modern Anti-Semitism (New York: Harper and Row, 1943), 178.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid., 179.
...a woman with marital problems needs a cantor
During the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries in the Middle East, cantors did much more than lead their congregations in song. As a minimum requirement, a cantor had to be literate and musical and had to be familiar with a number of variations of the tunes he was to perform. Cantors were also linguists whose abilities were often put to use.
Aside from the musical requirements of the job, cantors of those days were required to appear as beyond reproach in their religiosity and moral conduct. Once the cantors had attained these personal credentials as pillars of the community, they were well positioned to begin performing all the community functions required of them.
Officiating at weddings, funerals, and other family affairs, cantors lent dignity and honor to the proceedings as well as providing additional income for themselves. Another source of income for the cantor was “the tour.” From the eleventh through thirteenth centuries, cantors would visit nearby towns to demonstrate their skills, and grateful patrons would reward their efforts by monetary contributions.
Since cantors spent a great deal of time on the road, they were often entrusted with bearing public announcements to other towns and were also engaged to carry goods from place to place.
Cantors also functioned within the legal system of Jewish communities. The cantor might be retained to visit the homes of women experiencing problems in their married life. The depositions taken down by the cantor might very well be used in a subsequent legal proceeding. Indeed, cantors frequently were vested with power of attorney by virtue of their reputed honesty. Because they traveled to other places, such powers of attorney might eliminate the necessity of somebody else making additional trips outside their immediate vicinity.
The time-honored practice of ransoming captives was another area where cantors were pressed into service. Cantors also were charged with seeing to it that needy Jews were provided for by public funds.
Finally, cantors frequently acted as matchmakers. If the match eventuated in marriage, the cantor might logically be engaged to perform the nuptials.1
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1. S.D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society: An Abridgement in One Volume, revised and edited by Jacob Lassner (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 278–81.
...Maimonides practiced medicine lying down
Moses Maimonides (Rambam) was one of the greatest Jewish philosophers and commentators on the Talmud who ever lived. In addition to his accomplishments in the Jewish religion, Maimonides was much sought after as a physician. When Maimonides was sixty-four years old, his friend Samuel ibn Tibbon, who lived far away, wrote that he would like to come for a visit with the great man.
Maimonides wrote back that he would love to have the visitor, but he had to forewarn him of his grueling schedule and lack of time for visitors. In his letter, Maimonides describes his daily routine. Each morning, he rides about two miles on horseback from his home in Fu-stat to Cairo, where he serves as the physician to the Sultan, his family, and members of his court. He is obliged to stay there at least until the noon hour, but is often required to stay later into the afternoon, if there are many patients to see.
; After leaving the palace, Maimonides rides home, where he is greeted by a throng of patients awaiting his return. He hurriedly eats his only meal of the day and begins to see the patients who have come for treatment. This lasts until the evening and sometimes until about eight o’clock at night. So exhausted is he, that he describes himself as follows: “I converse with and prescribe for them [the patients] while lying down on my back from sheer fatigue; and when night falls, I am so exhausted, I can hardly speak.”1
He goes on to say that on the Sabbath after services he instructs the people until noon, and some of them come back in the afternoon. This is the only time he has for conversation.
At the age of seventy, Maimonides died. “The cause of death was listed as weakness.”2
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1. “Maimonides,” Encyclopedia Judaica, CD-ROM Edition (Jerusalem: Keter, 1997).
2. Ibid.
...there was a Golden Age for Jews in Lithuania
In 1388, King Vytautas of Lithuania (1392–1430) granted the Jews of his country a charter exempting synagogues and Jewish cemeteries from taxation. Jews were allowed freedom of transit and trade and were allowed to mint coins. While most Catholic countries outlawed Jewish land ownership, Jews of Lithuania were able to obtain property rights through licenses purchased from the government. Jews were allowed to trade in liquor and had rights to peddle or sell in stores equal to the rights enjoyed by Christian merchants.
Christians owing money to Jews were expected to pay on time. A late interest payment by a Christian obligated him to pay twice the sum due. Jews did not have to make payments on time if the due date fell on the Sabbath or Jewish holidays. Jews were also exempt from jurisdiction of Church or municipal courts, because those courts were traditionally biased against Jews.
By papal order, the blood libel was proscribed. Christians testifying against Jews had to have their evidence corroborated by a Jewish witness, and Christians bearing false witness against Jews faced confiscation of all their property and possessions. Jewish property, including synagogues and cemeteries, was protected by statutes.
A Christian who was guilty of killing a Jew was subject to having all his property seized. Injuring a Jew made the Christian liable for medical care and a fine. In other situations, one who killed a townsman had to remit twelve shoks to the exchequer. Killing a Jew or a nobleman required the payment of one hundred shoks.1
King Vytautas was succeeded by the thirteen-year-old boy king Casimir the Great (1444–1492). Under pressure from the Catholic Church, Casimir was forced to sign the Statute of Niezawa limiting the freedoms enjoyed by the Jews. Having signed the statute, Casimir disregarded its provisions, continued Jewish freedoms, and also continued to appoint Jews to responsible and lucrative positions.2
These statutes were truly remarkable for that period of time. It should also be noted that pagans were rulers in Lithuania during most of the “golden age” for Jews.3
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1. Masha Greenbaum, The Jews of Lithuania: A History of a Remarkable Community, 1316–1945 (Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, 1995), 8–9, 16.
2. Ibid., 10–11.
3. Yaffa Eliach, There Once Was a World: A 900-Year Chronicle of the Shtetl of Eishyshok (Boston: Little, Brown, 1998), 22–24.
...kosher slaughter was a capital offense
In the thirteenth or fourteenth century, a group of Jewish merchants presented gifts to the Mongol Khan, a powerful Asian ruler. The Khan, in turn, held a banquet for his guests. Noticing that the Jews were not eating the food set before them, the Khan inquired as to the reason and was told that the food was “not clean,” which meant more specifically, not kosher, because the animal had not been slaughtered according to the Jewish dietary laws.
The Khan was furious and issued the following decree:
From now on, the people with green-blue eyes, and The People of the Book are forbidden to slaughter sheep by slitting their throats [the kosher method of slaughter]. Sheep must be disemboweled in the Mongol fashion. Whoever slaughters a sheep by cutting its throat shall be executed in the same manner. His wife and children shall be confiscated and given to the man who has exposed them.1
An indication as to how serious were the Jews in their observance of the rules of ritual slaughtering is the fact that they were known as the Sinew-plucking Religion.2 This process of removing a certain vein from the hind quarter is so labor intensive that this part of the animal is rarely prepared for Jewish consumption and is routinely sold to non-Jews.
It is not known how widespread was the injunction of the Mongol Khan, nor how long it was in effect, but its enforcement would have had serious consequences for Jews coming under the Khan’s edict.
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1. Sidney Shapiro, Jews in Old China: Studies by Chinese Scholars (New York: Hippocene, 2001), 195–96.
2. Ibid., 41.
...Torah reading was interrupted for adjudicating a grievance
For many years, organized Jewish communities have had well-defined procedures for adjudicating grievances, disagreements, and violations of community standards. However, in some particularly serious or emergency conditions, one or more congregants would resort to the interruption of the reading of the Torah1 in order to get an immediate hearing and possible resolution of their case.
One such case occurred in the shtetl (small town) of Eishyshok, involving a group of Jewish soldiers who had been drafted into the Polish army. These soldiers were being subjected to an array of discriminatory practices among which was the frequent delay or nonpayment of their salaries. This practice posed a particular hardship to men of modest means.
On the day the men resorted to the interruption of the Torah reading, the congregation voted to supply the soldiers with a monthly stipend out of their own coffers to make up for the shortfalls occasioned by the discriminatory practices of the Polish army.2 Only then was the worship service resumed.
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1. The Torah reading is the recitation of a portion of the Scriptures at a given point in the synagogue service. Such readings take place on Mondays, Thursdays, Sabbaths, and holidays.
2. Yaffa Eliach, There Once Was a World: A 900-Year Chronicle of the Shtetl of Eishyshok(Boston: Little, Brown, 1998), 84–86.
...the story of Faust has virulently anti-Semitic origins
One of the most popular and enduring literary works of all time is the story of Faust. Faust is a scholar on a quest for the true essence of life. In order to attain it, he is willing to barter his soul to the devil. The story has been retold in literally hundreds of dramas, operas, classical music, popular music, and movies, and has been presented in every conceivable medium all the way to comic books and advertising.1 However, this seemingly benign tale has more sinister overtones in its origins.
From very early times, Christians have attempted to associate Jews with the devil. Depictions of Satan give him decidedly Semitic features. The mandatory Jew badges often display horns or other features associated with the Devil. Because of his failure to accept Christianity, goes the reasoning, the Jew is much more vulnerable to the temptations set out by Satan. If a Christian were to be tempted by Satan, he would most likely have a Jew serve as the intermediary. In some instances, the Jew is the Devil.2 Michelangelo’s horned Moses is probably more than a mere mistranslation of the Hebrew text.3
In countless passion plays and Christmastime presentations, the Jews and the Devil are shown working together. Moreover, very few people doubted the use of Christian blood in Jewish ceremonials on Passover, circumcisions, and at weddings.4 Perhaps Shakespeare summed it up best in some lines from The Merchant of Venice: “Let me say amen betimes, lest the devil cross my prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew” (act 3, scene 1, lines 19–21).5 In act 2, scene 2, line 27, Shakespeare puts it as plainly as could be: “Certainly the Jew is the very devil incarnation.”6
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1. Theodore Ziolkowski, The Sin of Knowledge: Ancient
Themes and Modern Variations(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000), 5.
2. Joshua Trachtenberg, The Devil and the Jews: The Medieval Conception of the Jew and Its Relationship to Modern Anti-Semitism (New York: Harper and Row, 1943), chapter 1.
3. The verse in Exodus 34:29 describes Moses coming down from the mountain after receiving the Torah (Five Books of Moses), and karan or (his skin was shining); the Latin Vulgate translation of the Pentateuch mistranslated karan (was shining) as “was horned,” a cognate meaning.
4. Trachtenberg, The Devil and the Jews, chapter 1.
5. William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice,” in The Riverside Shakespeare, edited by G. Blakemore Evans (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974), 267.
6. Ibid., 261.
...a Christian scholar saved the Talmud from a book-burning Jew
In 1509, an apostate Jew named Johannes Pfeffercorn conspired with the priests of the Dominican Order to have all Jewish writings, except for the Bible, burned because they allegedly contained material defaming Christianity and the Church. Their special target was the Talmud, and permission for the confiscation of the books was given by the German Emperor Maximilian. Pfeffercorn and the Dominicans recruited Johannes Reuchlin for assistance in this endeavor. Reuchlin was one of the most respected Christian scholars in all of Germany. He was learned in Hebrew and a master of the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). Although he knew little of the Talmud, he realized that the Dominicans and Pfeffercorn knew even less. He told them that the Talmud had been around for centuries, and if it was blasphemous toward the Church, it would have been destroyed long ago. Moreover, Reuchlin told them that the entire Christian faith rested on Jewish writings.