AJS Review 1985: Fall, No 2

Front Matter Source: AJS Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Autumn, 1985) Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486256 . Accessed: 30/06/2011 01:43 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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AJS VOL. FALL

X,

NO.

2

1985

io TheJournalof theAssociation forJewishStudies

('I

REVIE

Volume X, Number 2, Fall,

1985 ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

AJS Review EDITOR:

Robert Chazan, QueensCollegeand CUNY GraduateCenter ASSOCIATE EDITORS:

Seymour Feldman, RutgersUniversity Robert Goldenberg, StateUniversityof New Yorkat Stony Brook Paula E. Hyman, JewishTheologicalSeminaryof America David C. Jacobson, Universityof Pennsylvania Baruch A. Levine, New YorkUniversity Benjamin C. I. Ravid, BrandeisUniversity CORRESPONDING

EDITOR:

Lloyd P. Gartner, Tel-AvivUniversity BOOK REVIEW EDITOR:

Michael Stanislawski, ColumbiaUniversity The AJS Review (ISSN 0364-0094) is published twice annually by the Association for Jewish Studies. The Association for Jewish Studies is a constituent society of the American Council of Learned Societies. Manuscripts for consideration should be sent to Prof. Robert Chazan, Dept. of History, Queens College, Flushing, N.Y. 11367. Books for review should be sent to Dr. Charles Berlin, Association for Jewish Studies, Widener Library M, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 02138. ? 1986 by the Association for Jewish Studies

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

AJS REVIEW THE JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES

VOLUMEX, NUMBER 2, FALL, 1985

Articles 141 DAVIDBERGER

ThreeTypologicalThemesin EarlyJewishMessianism:MessiahSon of Joseph, RabbinicCalculations,and the Figure of Armilus 165

ARYEHWINEMAN

The Metamorphosis of Narrative Traditions: Two Stories from Sixteenth-CenturySafed 181

STEVEN SINGER

Jewish ReligiousThought in Early VictorianLondon 211

GILEAD MORAHG

Piercingthe ShimmeringBubble:David Shahar'sThePalaceof Shattered Vessels Book Reviews 235 Alan Mendelson.SecularEducationin Philo of Alexandria ALAN F. SEGAL

237 Mark R. Cohen. Jewish Self-Governmentin MedievalEgypt: The Originsof the Office of Head of the Jews. ca. 1065-1127 WILLIAM M. BRINNER

240 Kalman P. Bland. The "Epistleon the Possibilityof Conjunctionwith the Active Intellect"by Ibn Rushd with the Commentaryof Moses Narboni JESSE MASHBAUM

241 Basil Herring.JosephIbn Kaspi's"GeviaKesef." BARRYMESCH

245 David R. Blumenthal.ThePhilosophicQuestionsandAnswersof Hoter ben Shelomo L. V. BERMAN

250 Yehudah Bauer. AmericanJewry and the Holocaust: The American JewishJoint DistributionCommittee,1939-1945 MARC LEE RAPHAEL

CollectedStudies 253

Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis, ed. Literary Interpretations of Biblical Narratives

253 Jacob Neusner, ed. Ancient Judaism: Debates and Disputes i .-rI 254 Trinnrz"K"itn ir,-inz pip ,,nynxa ,y :qvT,.. 255 Haim Gordon and Jochanan Bloch, eds. Martin Buber: A Centenary Volume

257 Sanford Pinskerand Jack Fischek, eds. Americaand the Holocaust, Holocaust Studies Annual 257 Jonathan Frankel, ed. Studies in ContemporaryJewry

259 Books Received

Publicationof the AJS Review,VolumeX, No. 1 and VolumeX, No. 2, has beenmadepossibleby grantsfromthe National Foundationfor JewishCulture, the S. H. and Helen R. ScheuerFamily Foundation,and the Dorot Foundation.The Association is gratefulfor their supportand encouragement.The Boardof Editorsapologizesfor the omissionof this acknowledgment in Volume X, No. 1.

Three Typological Themes in Early Jewish Messianism: Messiah Son of Joseph, Rabbinic Calculations, and the Figure of Armilus Author(s): David Berger Source: AJS Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 141-164 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486257 . Accessed: 30/06/2011 01:43 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

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THREE TYPOLOGICALTHEMES IN EARLY JEWISH MESSIANISM: MESSIAH SON OF JOSEPH, RABBINIC CALCULATIONS, AND THE FIGURE OF ARMILUS by DAVID BERGER

The messianicdream owes its roots to biblical prophecyand its rich developmentto generationsof sensitive and creative exegetes anxiously awaiting redemption. Scriptureitself is less than generous in providing detailed informationabout the end of days, so ungenerous,in fact, that some modernscholarshave expressedskepticismabout the veryappearance of a messianicfigurein the biblicaltext.' Whilethis skepticismis excessive,it reflectsa realitywhich troubledthe ancientsno less than the modernsand left room for the diversityand complexitythat markthe messianicidea by late antiquity. In the first centuriesafter the destructionof the SecondTemple,many Jewswereno doubt contentto leavethe messianichope as an articleof faith whose precisecontours would be elucidatedat the time of its fulfillment.2

1. Some examples are cited in James H. Charlesworth, "The Concept of the Messiah in the Pseudepigrapha," in Aufstieg und Niedergang der R6mischen Welt II. 19.1, ed. Wolfgang Haase (Berlin and New York, 1979), p. 189, n. 4. 2. Jacob Neusner's Messiah in Context (Philadelphia, 1984) argues at length for the relative insignificance of the Messiah in most early rabbinic works.

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For others,however,it exerciseda fascinationthat sometimesborderedon obsession,and such Jews looked with both eagernessand frustrationat the messianicmaterialavailablein Scripture.The paucityof detail was simultaneously discouragingand stimulating,servingas obstacle for the faintheartedand catalystfor the daring.The intensedesireto know the events, the time, the nature,the heroes,and the villainsof the end of days couldnot be satisfiedby an examinationof the explicitrecordof biblicalprophecy, and the determinedmessianic theorist turned perforce to more creative approaches.The most fruitfulof these was the enterprisewe know as typology-the utilization of the figures, events, and periods of the past to illuminatethe messianicage. The crucial"type,"which left its markon virtuallyeveryaspectof messianic speculation,was the great redemptionof the past. "As in the days of yourexodusfromthe landof Egyptwill I showhim marvelousthings"(Mic. 7:15). On the most obvious level, this meantthat the overt miraclesof the period of the exodus could be expectedto return.Hence, "the Holy One, blessedbe He, will in the futurebringupon Edom all the plaguesthat He As in the desert,Jewswill enjoythe mannaand inflictedon the Egyptians."3 will have no need of the light of sun or moon.4Theudas,like Joshua,was to split the watersof the Jordan,5a Jewishprophetwould repeatthe miracleof and a manwouldarisewho wouldagaincommandan Jerichoat Jerusalem,6 obedient sun to stop in its tracks.' It is not, however, only in the realm of the overtly miraculousthat themesof the firstredemptionwill recurin the future.The Midrashinforms us that the final redeemer,like Moses, will make himself known to his people and then become hidden from them before revealinghimself once again at the end.8The prophetwho was going to bring down the walls of

3. Tanhuma,ed. Buber, II, p. 43 and parallels. See L. Ginzberg, Eine UnbekannteJidische Sekte (New York and Pressburg, 1922), p. 334 (hereafter cited as Sekte) = Monatsschriftfir Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums 58 (1914): 412 (hereafter cited as MGWJ) = An Unknown Jewish Sect (New York, 1976), p. 234 (hereafter cited as Sect). 4. Sekte, pp. 335-336 = MG WJ, pp. 413-414 = Sect, p. 235. 5. Josephus, Antiquities 20.5.1. 6. Ibid. 20.8.6. 7. Sibylline Oracles 5.256-259. See H. M. Teeple, The Mosaic Eschatological Prophet (Philadelphia, 1957), pp. 10-11 (and note the references on pp. 29-31 concerning the exodus as a prototype of the final redemption). Cf. also G. Vermes, Jesus the Jew (New York, 1973), p. 98. 8. Be-Midbar Rabbah 11:3; Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah 2:22; Ruth Rabbah 5:6; Pesikta Rabbati 15, ed. Friedmann, p. 72b (cf. esp. n. 63 there); Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, ed. Buber, p. 49b. See also Sekte, p. 335 = MGWJ, p. 413 = Sect, p. 234.

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Jerusalemhailed, like Moses, from Egypt.9MatthewplacesJesusin Egypt in a passagewhose dubioushistoricitymakesits typologicalschemeall the more striking.'0Like Moses, Jesus fasts forty days and forty nights in the desert," and messianicforerunnersin the first centurywere to fulfill the words of Hosea (2:16-17) and Ezekiel(20:35-36) by bringingthe Jewsinto the wildernessin preparationfor redemption.12Finally,the rabbisinformus that in light of God's promisethat He will give usjoy in accordancewith the durationof our suffering(Ps. 90:15),the messianicage will endureas long as the forty-yearsojournin the desertor the four-hundred-year periodof the Egyptianexile."3 Whilethe significanceof typologyin Jewishmessianismis beyondquestion, there are severalareas where its role has been inadequatelyappreciated, and a reexaminationof three controversialmessianictopics through the prism of typology will, I think, yield valuable and intriguingresults. I

The messianicprecursorfrom the tribe of Ephraimwho goes by the name Messiah son of Joseph is an anomalous figure who has properly arousedintense scholarlyinterest.In the most common scenario,he fights the enemiesof Israelwith considerablesuccess,only to fall on the field of battle shortly before the triumphantadvent of Messiah son of David. No such figure makes anythingresemblinga clear appearancein the Hebrew Bible, and since a dying Messiahis both inherentlymysteriousand superficially relatedto Christianbelief,unremittingeffortsto tracehis originshave producedan abundanceof diverseand creativetheories. A recent article by Joseph Heinemannproposing a revolutionaryreinterpretationof this redeemerbegins with an excellent summary and evaluationof the majortheories,and the interestedreadercan consult this

9. Or at least he said so. See Antiquities 20.8.6. 10. Matt. 2:14-15. The fact that the plain meaning of Hosea 11:1 refers to the exodus means that Matthew's citation of that verse strengthens rather than weakens the typological interpretation. 11. Matt. 4:2. This, of course, is a miracle, but not a redemptive one. 12. Antiquities 20.8.6; War 2.13.4. On the typology of Moses, see Teeple, Mosaic Eschatological Prophet, passim; S. Isser, The Dositheans: A Samaritan Sect in Late Antiquity (Leiden, 1976), pp. 131-142; Vermes, Jesus the Jew, pp. 97-98, and esp. his references in n. 61. 13. B. Sanhedrin 99a; Pesikta Rabbati 1, p. 4a.

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compactand convenientanalysis.14Oneof thesetheories,whichHeinemann (alongwith most other scholars)rejects,is a typologicalone suggestedlong ago by Louis Ginzberg.The rabbis,Ginzbergnoted, believedthat the tribe of Ephraimhad left Egyptianbondage for the land of Israel before the appointedhour, and the Ephraimites'effortsat militaryconquesthad ended in death on the field of battle. Since the ultimaterecapitulationof the first redemptionis at the veryheartof rabbinicmessianism,such an eventcould not go unreflectedat the end of days;hence,therewill arise an Ephraimite Messiahwhose earlystrugglefor redemptionwill end in deathat the hands of the enemies of Israel.'5 The essential argumentagainst this extremelyattractiveproposal was madeby ViktorAptowitzerandis endorsedby Heinemann.The Ephraimite exodus, Aptowitzerwrote, was a "sinfulundertaking"becauseof its effort to effect a prematureredemption,and messianicparallelsare to miracles, "not sacrilegiousundertakings,not catastrophes."'6In Heinemann'sparaphrase,"Thetechniqueof 'analogy'is appliedonly to miraclesand the like, not to events given a negativeevaluation."'7Finally, the sources demonstrate no negativeattitudetowardMessiahson of Joseph, who, unlike the Ephraimites,is far from a total failure. Let us leavethis explanationfor the momentand proceedto an examination of the core of Heinemann'sarticle,which will inadvertentlylead us toward a reaffirmationof Ginzberg'stypological interpretation.Heinemann's strikingthesis is that the story of Messiah son of Joseph did not originallyenvision his tragic death; on the contrary,this Messiah was a successfulwarriorhero whose genesis requiresno special explanationin light of the proliferationof messianicfiguresin this period(Elijah-Phineas, Melchizedek,and the Priestly Messiah of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the

14. "The Messiah of Ephraim and the Premature Exodus of the Tribe of Ephraim," Harvard Theological Review 68 (1975): 1-16. A Hebrew version of the article had appeared in Tarbig 40 (1971): 450-461, and has been reprinted in Heinemann's Aggadot ve-Toldoteihen (Jerusalem, 1974), pp. 131-141. References here will be to the version in HTR, where the summary of earlier theories appears on pp. 1-6. 15. Ginzberg, Sekte, pp. 336-339 = MGWJ, pp. 414-417 = Sect, pp. 235-238. The rabbinic sources about the Ephraimites are noted by Ginzberg and discussed by Heinemann, "Messiah of Ephraim," pp. 10-13. 16. Parteipolitik der Hasmonderzeit im Rabbinischenund PseudoepigraphischenSchrifttum (Vienna and New York, 1927), p. 107. 17. "Messiah of Ephraim," p. 4. In the Hebrew, "and the like" was the stronger "and acts of salvation" (noi' ), which reflects Aptowitzer's assertion more closely. Whether neutral '~•, acts, which are neither redemptive nor sinful, would be recapitulated is left ambiguous.

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Testamentsof the TwelvePatriarchs).Even though the earliestdatablediscussion of Messiahson of Josephrefersto his death,'8the originalform of the story is preservedin those later Midrashimwhich make no such reference. This follows from two considerations.First, "if the deathin battleof the Messiah son of Joseph was a generallyaccepted doctrine,it is quite inconceivablethat a good many of the sourcesshould ignoreit; this is not the sort of 'detail' which may accidentallybe omitted."Second, some of those sourcesspeakof this Messiahas a victoriousredeemer.The failureof scholarsto notice the absenceof the death motif results from "a kind of 'opticalillusion'which makesone see what is said explicitlyin some of the sources also in the ones which know nothing of it.""' Since the death of Messiahson of Joseph could not have been ignored once it was known, it follows that althoughthe passagesoblivious of his death are embeddedin later sources,they must predatethe second-century sourcewhich knows that he will die. The questionnow becomesnot where Messiahson of Joseph comes from but what it was in the second century C.E.that broughtabout the motif of his death. To this Heinemannreplies: the Bar Kokhbaexperience.DisappointedJewsattemptedto retainfaith in some sort of messianicrole for theirslainleader,and so they associatedhim with the heroic Messiahson of Joseph,now transformedinto a tragichero who will fall in battle. At the same time, Heinemannargues, another, unrelatedlegend was undergoinga radicalmetamorphosis.The Mekhiltain Beshallahregardsthe Ephraimiteswho left Egyptprematurelyas arrogantrebelswho "kept not the covenant of God and refusedto walk in his law" (Ps. 78:10);other sources, however, regardthem as victims of an error in calculation,not apparentlyas sinners,whileone source,whichidentifiesthemwith the dead resurrectedby Ezekiel, must surely consider them "essentiallyrighteous men."20 The generation of Bar Kokhba, Heinemannsays, cannot have been responsiblefor a story that reflects"complacent,righteouscondemnation" of people who attemptto hastenredemption,with all that such condemna18. The second reference in B. Sukkah 52a. On the problems of dating the earlier reference on that page, see J. Klausner, Ha-Ra'ayon ha-Meshihi be-Yisrael (Jerusalem, 1927), pp. 318-319. 19. Heinemann, "Messiah of Ephraim," pp. 6-8. 20. Ibid., pp. 10-13. Heinemann attributes special significance to this last source (B. Sanhedrin 92b and elsewhere); I have downplayed it somewhat for a reason that will soon become evident.

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tion would imply about so many members of that generation, including R. Akiva. Thus, the uncompromisingly negative attitude must have preceded the Bar Kokhba experience, while those who shared that experience transformed the old view of the Ephraimites and regarded them as victims of an error or even as tragic heroes. Finally, Heinemann suggests that because the Ephraimite exodus came to be associated with contemporary events, Bar Kokhba himself became connected with that tribe and was ultimately identified with the old, newly transformed figure of Messiah son of Joseph. This is a stimulating, often brilliant article which is nonetheless only partly persuasive. The revolutionary thesis about Messiah son of Joseph stands or falls on a single assertion: sources that speak of him as a successful, redeeming warrior without mentioning his death cannot have known of that death. To sustain Heinemann's thesis, this assertion must be more than plausible; it must have the overwhelming force necessary to compel a rearrangement of the chronological order of the sources at our disposal by dating the relevant material in the later Midrashim before the tannaitic statement about this Messiah's death. To make matters worse, the tannaitic source refers to his death in a matter-of-fact fashion as something which is apparently common knowledge.2' Moreover, Heinemann must concede that the later rabbis who "faithfully transmit" what he considers "the older version ...

must already have

been aware of the new conception of the death of Messiah ben Ephraim."22 In short, they too were presumably victimized by the same optical illusion that has afflicted modern scholars. Though the point is not decisive, it is worth noting that the later apocalyptic Midrashim explicitly describe an often victorious Messiah son of Joseph who is nevertheless killed before the final redemption and almost immediately resurrected by Messiah son of David. Most important, the psychological process by which a messianic warrior who will be killed nevertheless comes to be described as a conquering hero seems perfectly understandable. Whatever the origins of such a figure, Messiah son of Joseph is after all a Jew fighting the forces of evil at the dawn of the messianic age. How could the Jewish messianic imagination fail to hope for his success? And, of course, it need hardly be said that the desires of

21. "When [Messiah son of David] saw that Messiah son of Joseph was killed, he said before God, 'Master of the Universe, I ask you only for life' " (B. Sukkah 52a). The point was made by Klausner, Ha-Ra'ayon ha-Meshibi, p. 318. 22. "Messiah of Ephraim," p. 8, n. 31.

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the messianic imagination do not go unfulfilled in the texts that we are examining. A Messiah son of Joseph whose raison d' tre is to fight and die would nonetheless be transformed almost inevitably into precisely the warrior hero that confronts us in the Midrashim that Heinemann cites. If everyone knew that this Messiah would die-and the chronological order of our sources gives us every reason to think that this is so-then there is no need to mention this in each story of his exploits; the "optical illusion" of modern scholars may well have been the reality of the third-, fourth-, and fifthcentury reader. Finally, I would not even rule out the possibility that someone caught up in the triumphs of Messiah son of Joseph might have come to believe that his death in battle is only one possible outcome and that sufficient merit might render it avoidable.23 Whether or not this is so, Heinemann has allowed a brilliant but speculative reconstruction to overpower the extant progression of sources. On the other hand, Heinemann's insightful discussion of the Ephraimite story is, with one important exception, thoroughly persuasive. The supposed wickedness of anyone who hastened the end would simply have to be rethought in the wake of the Bar Kokhba revolt;24even if the messianic pretender could be considered a villain, his renowned rabbinic supporter could not. Unfortunately, Heinemann's direct evidence for a positive evaluation of the Ephraimites will not do. As my former student David Strauss has pointed out, the same page of the Talmud which records the view that Ezekiel resurrected the Ephraimites also reports other identifications of these revived "dry bones": they are those who denied the resurrection, those who have no enthusiasm for the commandments, or those who covered the Temple with abominations. Nevertheless, the basic point remains; for most Jews in the mid-second century, the Ephraimites were not and could not have been sinners. If we now step back and look at the broader picture, we suddenly discover that something very interesting has happened. Heinemann has unwittingly refuted the centerpiece of Aptowitzer's argument against Ginzberg. If the Ephraimites are not sinners, then the typological explanation of Messiah son of Joseph no longer involves the recapitulation of a "sinful, sacrilegious undertaking," and we have already seen abundant evidence that it is not

23. Precisely this conviction is attested in sources from a much later period; see M. Kasher, Ha-Tekufah ha-Gedolah (Jerusalem, 1969), pp. 428-431. 24. Though there are imperfections in the analogy, one cannot help but think of the Zionist reevaluation of the ma'pilim of Numbers 14:40-45 in Bialik's Metei Midbar.

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only miracles that will be repeated at the end of days.25 If there existed a favorable evaluation of the Ephraimites, the point would of course grow even stronger. Because of the structure of his article, Heinemann was virtually precluded from recognizing the implications of his own argument. By the time he reached the discussion of the Ephraimites, he had already argued that Messiah son of Joseph did not originate as a dying Messiah; if this is true, then Ginzberg's thesis is automatically refuted and is no longer a live issue. Hence, Aptowitzer's argument, which Heinemann had endorsed earlier, is no longer relevant, and the destruction of its major premise can go unnoticed. However, if we reject the article's novel thesis about Messiah son of Joseph (as I think we should) and accept its observation about the Ephraimites (as we also should), the typological genesis of Messiah son of Joseph reemerges in all its considerable attractiveness. If Ginzberg is correct, we should expect the first references to this Messiah to deal primarily with his death in battle without any heroic overtones; the Ephraimites, even to second-century Jews, were not necessarily great heroes. The glorious victories would result from a psychological process that we have already discussed and should make their appearance only as the story develops. Though we have only one certain source as early as the second century, it is at least interesting that it fulfills this expectation to perfection.26 The typological explanation, which fits the central, established pattern of rabbinic messianic thinking, has unwittingly been rescued, and it deserves first place in any discussion of the origins of Messiah son of Joseph.27

25. See nn. 8-13 above and cf. n. 17. 26. See n. 21 above. The same can be said about the possibly tannaitic source a bit earlier in Sukkah 52a. 27. Let me make it clear that I consider Heinemann's point about the likely attitude toward the Ephraimites in the post-Bar Kokhba period to be extremely useful but not absolutely indispensable for a defense of Ginzberg. A weaker defense might maintain that a condemnatory and a neutral attitude toward the Ephraimites coexisted in the pre-Bar Kokhba period and that the latter (which saw them as mistaken calculators) produced the typological figure of Messiah son of Joseph. One might even regard the severe condemnation in the Mekhilta and elsewhere as a later development-a reaction to the Bar Kokhba revolt by one (minority) faction that was so concerned to prevent a repetition of this disaster that they were indifferent to the implication for R. Akiva's reputation. Nevertheless, I agree with Heinemann to the extent that I cannot imagine this as a majority view. (For a new typological explanation that does not persuade me, see Raphael Patai's suggestion that Messiah son of Joseph dies because Moses died short of the promised land [The Messiah Texts (New York, 1979), introd., p. xxxiii].)

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II

Whetheror not the Ephraimitesof the Aggadahare modelsfor Messiah son of Joseph,they are surelythe precursorsof a long line of messianiccalculators doomed to disappointment.In the rabbinic period, attitudes towardthis seductiveenterpriserangedfroma famouscurseagainstthe calculatorsto a series of messianicdates, some of which appearon the same folio of the Talmudas the curseitself.28A carefulexaminationof thesedates will revealonce againthe overwhelmingimpactof typologyon Jewishmessianic thought. The destructionof the SecondTempleinevitablyinspiredmessianiccalculation,and one obscurereporttells us of threesuchcalculationsapparently referringto the period between the destructionand the Bar Kokhba revolt.The details,however,are too sketchyto facilitatea reconstructionof the precisedates except to say that the one ascribedto R. Akiva no doubt pointed to the 130s.29 Betweenthe Bar Kokhbarevolt and the end of the talmudicperiod,we have preciselyfive (or perhapsfour) clearrabbinicstatementsconcentrated on two pagesof the Talmudindicatingthe year,or in one casethejubilee,in whichthe Messiahwill come. (1) The worldwill last six thousandyears:two thousandchaos, two thousandTorah,and two thousandthe messianicage, though our sins have delayed the long-awaitedhour.30 (2) After the four hundredthyear of the destructionof the Temple,if someone offers you a field wortha thousanddinarsforjust one, do not buy it.~'(3) Do not buy it after the year 4231 A.M.32(4) After the year4291 A.M. the worldwill entera period of wars leadingto the messianicage.33(5) Elijahinformeda certain rabbithat the worldwouldlast no fewerthaneighty-fivejubilees,and in the

Shimon Toder's "Mashiah ben David u-Mashiah ben Yosef," Mahanayim 124 (1970): 100-112, came to my attention after this article was completed. Though it contains no reference to Ginzberg, it maintains the typological origin of Messiah son of Joseph and notes that the attitude toward the Ephraimites in the Aggadah is not uniformly negative. 28. B. Sanhedrin 97b. On rabbinic opposition to calculations, note the material assembled by A. H. Silver, A History of Messianic Speculation in Israel (Boston, 1959), pp. 195-206. 29. See the middle of B. Sanhedrin 97b, and note Klausner's emendation of R. Simlai to Rabbi Ishmael (Ha-Ra'ayon ha-Meshihi, p. 272). 30. B. Sanhedrin 97a-b; B. Avodah Zarah 9a. 31. B. Avodah Zarah 9b. 32. Ibid. 33. B. Sanhedrin 97b.

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lastjubileethe Son of David woitldcome. Whenaskedwhetherthe Messiah would arriveat the beginningor the end of the jubilee and whetheror not the jubilee would be completedbefore his advent,Elijahconfessedthat he did not know.34 It has long beenrecognizedthat the firstof thesedatesis dependentupon durationof the earthis a typologicalschemein whichthe six-thousand-year derivedfrom the six days of creation;since Abrahamcame upon the scene not far from the year 2000, anotherperiodof two thousandyearsuntil the Messiah seemed to make typologicalsense.35The typology of the second date is also blatant;the final exile will last preciselyas long as the fourhundred-yearEgyptianbondage (Gen. 15:13).36 The next date, however,is an enigma.The simplestsolutionwas formulated most explicitlyby P. Volz, who informsus matter-of-factlythat 4231 is four hundredyearsafter3831,whichis "theyearof the destructionof the The only troublewith this is Templeaccordingto the Israelitecalendar."37 in 3828,38and the Talmud the destruction dated The rabbis that it isn't true.

34. Ibid.Becauseof a misreadingof threerabbinicpassagesdealingwiththe durationof the messianicage, Silverpresentsthreeother dates for the time of its advent;see his Messianic Speculation,pp. 19-20, #3 (andcontrasthis correctreadingof analogousmaterialon p. 14,#2), and pp. 25-26, #1 and 2. Silver'smisreadingwas endorsedby YehudahEven Shmuel,Midreshei Ge'ullah(Jerusalemand Tel Aviv, 1954),introd.,p. 42; the proof-textscitedin thesepassages,however,rule out this interpretation.A rabbinicstatementwhichcould be considered typologicaldescribesBalaam'sspeechesas taking place at the midpointof world history; thoughsome medievalscited this as a messianiccalculation(and the proof-texttendsto support sucha reading),it maytell us only whentheworldwillend.SeeJ. Shabbat6:9,fol. 8d, and cf. A. Halkin'sintroductionto Maimonides'Epistleto Yemen(New York, 1952),p. xiii. For whatmay be anothertypologicalcalculationwith detailsunclear,see the last statementin section 21 of the introductionto EikhahRabbati. 35. WhateverIranianinfluencesmay haveaffectedthis calculation(see the referencein E. Urbach,

IHazal: and

Pirkei Emunot ve-De'ot [Jerusalem, 1969], pp. 610-611 = The Sages: Their

Concepts Beliefs[Jerusalem,1975],p. 678) cannotbe allowedto overshadowthe straightforwardrelationshipwith the days of creation.Cf. the associatedtalmudicstatement(B. San"Sabbatical" hedrin97a) about a six-thousand-year periodfollowedby a one-thousand-year destruction. 36. Thediscussionof this pointin Neusner'sMessiahin Context,p. 180,createstheimpression that the only durationassignedto the sojournin Egyptby Scriptureis 430 years(Exod. 12:40). 37. Die Eschatologie der jiidischen Gemeinde im neutestamentalichenZeitalter (Tiibingen,

1934),p. 144. 38. Or 3829.See the Ba'alha-Ma'or'scommentson AvodahZarah9b (= fol. 2b of the Rif), s.v. amarR. Huna.In eithercase, the last officialyear of the Templeis considered3828, and 3829 is the firstyear of destruction;hence,the four hundredthyear remains4228. The years 3828 and 3829 are 68 and 69 C.E.accordingto the currentJewishcalendar;nevertheless,the

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explicitlynotes that thereis a three-yeardiscrepancybetween4231 and the four hundredthyear afterthe destruction.39 Among the medievals,the tosafists maintainedthat 4231 was a majorityof the eighty-fifthjubilee (apparently countingby decades),whileAbravanelarguedthe samepoint,suggesting that the numberwas obtainedby addinga sabbaticalcycleof sevenyears to the midpoint of the eighty-fifthjubilee (4225 + 7 = 4232, and the Talmud, after all, speaks of the year after 4231).40 The fundamentalbasisof this date, however,may reallybe quitesimple. It is, I think, a typologicaldate identicalwith four hundredyears afterthe destructionwith a three-yeardelay resultingfrom a passagein the Book of Daniel. The basicperiodof exile is in fact the four hundredyearsof the very firstexile; Daniel, however,specificallysays that we shallhave to wait 1290 or 1335days, here taken as additionaldays (Dan. 12:11-12).Thoughmost latercalculatorsunderstoodthesedays as years,thereis a recurringmidrash which unequivocallyunderstandsthem as days which pass duringthe final messianicscenario.41Thus, Daniel 12:11,whichreads,"Fromthe time that common view that the rabbis misdated the destruction of 70 C.E. by one or two years is mistaken, because their calendar differed by a year or two from the one that became standard among medieval Jews. See the Ba'al ha-Ma'or, loc. cit., and E. Frank, Talmudicand Rabbinical Chronology(New York, 1956). This affects other rabbinic dates as well and means, for example, that the eighty-fifth jubilee is not 441-490 C.E., as scholars routinely indicate, but 442-491 or 443-492. 39. Silver, Messianic Speculation, (p. 26), apparently oblivious of the Talmud's comment, also considers 4231 as the four hundredth year of the destruction, since in the current Jewish calendar it is "c. [this little letter deserves notice] 470 C.E."In a puzzling passage, Urbach cites the talmudic remark about a three-year discrepancy between the four hundredth year and 4231, and in the first sentence of text following this footnote says that 4231 is identical with that year (HJazal,p. 613 = Sages, p. 682). Perhaps he is tacitly suggesting a new understanding of the talmudic statement which would take it to mean that there is a three-year difference in calculating the four hundredth year; he does not, however, say this explicitly, and it is not, in my view, a tenable reading of the passage. 40. Tosafot Avodah Zarah 9b, s.v. le-abar; Isaac Abravanel, Yeshu'otMeshibzo,1812, p. 10Ob. Abravanel explains 4228 (= 400 years after the destruction) in a similar fashion as a majority of the eighty-fifth jubilee in sabbatical units. (A typographical error in this edition of Yeshu'ot Meshibo has changed n"ai into nn"-.) 41. See the references in n. 8. The discrepancy between 1290 and 1335 determines that the Messiah will be hidden forty-five days. Though Rashi on Dan. 12:12 understandably interprets this midrash as a reference to forty-five years, its plain meaning resists such an interpretation. For forty-five days, not years, in this context, see also the apocalyptic midrashim in Even Shmuel, Midreshei Ge'ullah, pp. 43, 81, 104, 195. Some of the apocalypses also take the reference to "time, times, and half a time" in Dan. 7:25 and 12:7 in the literal sense of three and a half years; see Midreshei Ge'ullah, pp. 103 and 470, and R. Bonfil's plausible suggestion in his "'Hazon Daniel' ki-Te'udah Historit ve-Sifrutit," Sefer Zikkaron le-Yi;hak Baer (= Zion 44 [1979]), p. 146.

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the continualburnt-offeringshall be takenaway [me'ethusarha-tamid]and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be a thousand two hundredand ninety days," must mean that from the end of the period of exile inauguratedby the removal of the burnt-offeringthere shall be an additional1290days culminatingin some importantevent.Then,forty-five moredayswill pass, reachinga total of 1335.Sincethe periodof exileis four hundredyears,waitingan addition 1290or 1335days adds threeand a half years and leads to the conclusionthat the Messiahwill comejust after the year 4231. In sum, this date also reflectsthe typologyof the Egyptianexile; indeed,the 'et of Daniel 12:11refersspecificallyto this periodof time. The extra three years are simply an appendageforced upon us by the Book of Daniel.42 Our fourthdate (4291)can be dealtwith quickly.SinceI cannotexplain can it, and since the Hebrew abbreviations for 4231 (,K"') and 4291 (K"x•)

easily be confused, I am preparedto follow the lead of the Gaon of Vilna andemendit to 4231.43If thisis correct,thenthereis nothingto explain,and our five rabbinicdates are transformedinto four.

It should also be noted that had the rabbis taken these days as years, they would have been forced to delay the redemption unbearably. Indeed, their failure to use Daniel as an important basis for calculations may result precisely from the fact that they regarded the numbers there as references to events taking place within the final messianic process; such numbers cannot be useful in predicting when the process itself will begin. 42. Even Shmuel maintains, as I do, that the number 4231 is also based on the fourhundred-year period of exile, but he accounts for the three-year delay by a rather uncomfortable expedient. He argues that what begins after 4228 is the seven-year period during which the Messiah will come; and "after three years of this seven-year period have elapsed, normal life cannot continue" (Midreshei Ge'ullah, introd., p. 45). 43. So too Silver, Messianic Speculation, p. 26, and Urbach, Ilazal, p. 613 = Sages, p. 682. Though I remain skeptical, it is worth recording a characteristically brilliant explanation proposed by Gerson Cohen when I was his student at Columbia; 4291, he suggested, may constitute a sabbatical unit of years for each commandment (613 X 7). An elaborate but unpersuasive effort to account for this date was made by Even Shmuel in his introduction to Midreshei Ge'ullah, p. 46. The setting up of the abomination of desolation in Daniel 12:11, he says, must have been taken as the establishment of the city of Rome, and from that point we must wait 1290 days (= years). The traditional date of the founding of Rome is 753 B.C.E.,and this corresponds to 3008 A.M.(Even Shmuel [p. 54, n. 49] regarded this Hebrew equivalent, given in a late Jewish source, as approximate. In fact, it is precise; since there was no year zero, the Hebrew year 3000 = 761 B.C.E.,even though the more familiar year 4000 = 240 C.E.) 3008 + 1290 = 4298, when Rome will fall. But the rabbis often spoke of the seven-year period in which the Messiah will come, and that period will therefore begin in 4291. This is ingenious, but aside from the fact that we have no early evidence that Jews used or knew the date 3008 as the beginning of Rome (cf. the end of n. 74 below), the reference in Daniel 12:11 to the removal of the

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Finally, we reachthe most intractabledate of all. One approachto the mysteriouseighty-fifthjubilee(4201-4250 A.M.)is to regardit as a periodso rife with potentialmessianicdates that it was a convenientway to subsume them all. EvenShmuelpointsto a Romantraditionpredictingthe endof the empiretwelvehundredyearsafterthe foundingof the city. This bringsus to a point approximatelysevenyearsafterthe beginningof the crucialjubilee, and by subtractingthe oft-mentionedseven-yearperiod of the messianic advent,we can reachits startingpoint. Sinceno Jewishsourcementionsthis Roman tradition,however,we would do well to remainskeptical.More to the point, Even Shmuelnotes not only that 4228 and 4231 fall within the jubilee but that a typologicalcalculationassigningto the exile a duration equal to that of the First or SecondTemple(410 and 420 yearsrespectively accordingto rabbinicchronology)would also culminatein the eighty-fifth jubilee.44It may well be that this approachis correct,but sincethe only persuasivedates(whichare all typological)fall in the secondhalf of thejubilee, and since this would then be the only calculationwhich in effectgives us a choice of calculations,it seemspreferableto searchfor an explanationthat would account for the numbereighty-fivejubilees itself. Therehavebeen, as far as I know,only two effortsto accomplishthis. In the MiddleAges, Abravanelmadethe strikingsuggestionthat the numberis derivedfrom the eighty-fivelettersin Numbers 10:35-36;these versescon-

burnt-offering, which can have no association with the date of the founding of Rome, would appear to make Even Shmuel's proposal impossible. 44. Midreshei Ge'ullah, introd., pp. 45-46. Baron's summary of Even Shmuel (A Social and Religious History of the Jews, vol. 5 [New York, London, and Philadelphia, 1957], p. 366, n. 28) can leave the impression that this typological reasoning about the Temples is actually attested in the ancient sources. For such a calculation in the Middle Ages, see Nahmanides, Sefer ha-Ge'ullah, in Ch. D. Chavel, Kitvei Ramban, vol. 1 (Jerusalem, 1963), p. 294, citing debatable evidence from section 21 of the introduction to Eikhah Rabbati. Moshe Ber suggested that the messianic hopes associated with this jubilee may have been connected with the problems of Babylonian Jewry at the time; see Sinai 48 (1961): 299-302. On this talmudic passage, cf. also I. Levi's note in Revue des Etudes Juives 1 (1880): 110. Urbach (Hazal, p. 612 = Sages, p. 680) may have a point in stressing Elijah's uncertainty about the precise year of redemption, but that surely does not mean that there is no messianic calculation here. This explicit uncertainty, however, does have an important corollary: it prevents us from assuming that the Talmud has in mind only the last year of the jubilee, despite the fact that the Testament of Moses (1:2 and 10:12) appears to point to the year 4250 A.M. as the year of redemption. The connection of that text to our talmudic passage was already made by R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigraphaof the Old Testament (Oxford, 1913), 2:423, and was repeated by E. S. Artom in his commentary to 10:12 (Ha-Sefarim ha-Hi;;onim: Sippurei Aggadah, vol. 1 [Tel Aviv, 1965]) and by S. B. Hoenig, "Dor she-Ben David Ba," Sefer Zikkaron li-Shmuel Belkin (New York, 1981), p. 142.

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stitute a separate biblical book according to the rabbis, they are enclosed by two reversed nuns (a letter with the numerical value of fifty in Hebrew), the Mishnah makes special reference to these eighty-five letters in a legal context (M. Yadayim3:5), and, Abravanel might have added, the content of the passage deals with the dispersal of the enemies of God.45 One can only admire the ingenuity of this proposal, but the connection with the messianic age remains tenuous at best. Much more recently, Even Shmuel advanced the conjecture that messianic calculators may have cited the verse "Hitherto [ad po] shall you come, but no further" (Job 38:11) in light of the fact that the numerical value of po is eighty-five. Nevertheless, he apparently means only that the date may have been further validated, not originated, by this numerical equivalence, which appears in a verse that has no redemptive context and no connection with jubilees.46 In the absence of any satisfactory explanation of this number, it may be worthwhile to introduce a new, highly speculative typological suggestion. King David, and hence the final redeemer, had only one distinguished ancestor at the time of the first conquest of the land of Israel, which was, of course, the culmination of the first redemption. The rabbis inform us that no less a figure than Caleb, who was the prince of the tribe of Judah, was a forefather of David.47 The typologically oriented messianist would almost inevitably look at Caleb as a possible prototype of the final redeemer or at least as a source of information about the final redemption. As the conquest of the land reaches its completion, Caleb tells Joshua, "I was forty years old when Moses sent me to explore the land, and I brought back an honest report. . ... Moses swore an oath that day and said, 'The land on which you have set foot shall be your patrimony.'. .. It is now forty-five years since God made this promise to Moses, at the time when Israel was journeying in the wilderness, and today I am eighty-five years old" (Josh. 14:7-10). Consider the following. First, the passage contains unusual, apparently unnecessary emphasis on Caleb's age, even in light of the next verse, which tells us how his strength has remained unchanged; if forty-five years have

45. Yeshu'otMeshibo, p. 12a. 46. Midreshei Ge'ullah, introd., p. 46. Once again, Baron's summary (History, 5:167) can leave the impression that this is more than a conjecture. 47. B. Sotah 1lb; Sifrei Numbers 78, Friedmann's ed., p. 19b. There seems, however, no alternative to the conclusion of the Maharsha (Sotah ad loc.) that the Talmud is referring to descent through one of David's female ancestors.

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passed, of course he is now eighty-five years old. Second, the number forty is strikingly suggestive and could have drawn the attention of a numerologically oriented reader all by itself. Can it be a coincidence that Caleb was forty years old when the decree of a forty-year exile in the desert was issued, and can it be that Scripture tells us this merely to satisfy our idle curiosity? If his age at the time of the exile reflects the length of that exile, might not his age at the time of redemption, which we have been told in such a verbose and striking way, contain information about the time of redemption? Finally-and this is what removes this suggestion from the realm of sheer speculation-the Talmud informs us that the conversation between Caleb and Joshua took place close to the time when Jews began to count jubilees, and that the numbers in these verses are there to enable us to calculate precisely when the count began.48The rabbis, in other words, explicitly connect jubilees with this number eighty-five, and a messianic calculator may well have asked himself whether the connection is more than just exoteric. If this is correct, then all messianic dates in rabbinic literature pointing to the post-Bar Kokhba period result from typological reasoning. The first is based on the typology of the days of creation, the next two on the typology of the first exile and its four-hundred-year duration, and the fourth on the typology of a redemptive figure, an ancestor of the final redeemer, and his age at the culmination of the initial redemption.49 III The eschatological monster with the mysterious name Armilus has long fascinated students of early medieval apocalyptic. Born of a union between Satan and a beautiful statue, this final ruler of Rome-Edom will kill the Messiah son of Joseph only to fall victim to the ultimate, Davidic redeemer. Bald and with a leprous forehead, with one small eye and one large one, his right arm grotesquely short and his left unnaturally long, his left ear open and his right ear closed, Armilus is a figure of menacing terror.50

48. B. Arakhin 13a. I have formulated this sentence fairly strongly in light of what I think is the correct observation at the end of Tosafot ad loc., s.v. Caleb. 49. Finally-a reminder that if my speculation about Caleb is rejected, the most reasonable explanation of the eighty-fifth jubilee remains the proliferation of messianic dates within that fifty-year period, and every one of those dates is typological. Needless to say, this proliferation of dates could have enhanced the suggestiveness of the passage in Joshua as well. 50. While none of the sources portrays Armilus as Prince Charming, I have reproduced one

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Since there is general agreement that the two referencesin the Targumim may well be later additions,5' Armilus makes his first datable appearance in the third and fourth decades of the seventh century. Whatever the relevance of a few enigmatic terms in Sefer Eliyahu and Perek Eliyahu,52Armilus appears as a major actor in the eschatological drama in the Hebrew apocalypse Sefer Zerubbavel(ca. 628)53and is mentioned as a matter of course in several sections of the Greek polemic Doctrina Jacobi Nuper Baptizati (ca. 634).54 While the notion of a monstrous final ruler of Rome could have arisen directly from Daniel 7:7-8, 23-25 in conjunction with Ezekiel 38-39, it is especially likely that the Jewish apocalyptic imagination was inspired by the elaborate Christian descriptions of Antichrist as an evil Roman emperor, often taking the form of Nero redivivus.55The Christianization of the Roman Empire created an ambivalence which required Christians to envision the defeat of this monstrous figure by a good Roman emperor who is the major agent of redemption.56Jews, however, were under no such constraints. A single, Satanic ruler was all that Rome would produce in its final days, and stories of such a figure could be assimilated, reworked, and expanded without any of the usual inhibitions about the adoption of Christian legends; indeed, the myth was even more congenial to Jews, whose hatred of Rome was unalloyed and whose hope for its destruction was untainted by ambivalence.

of the most elaborate descriptions from Midrash va-Yosha',Midreshei Ge'ullah, p. 96. See also pp. 79, 131, 136, 320. For an English translation of some of the Armilus texts, see Patai, Messiah Texts, pp. 156-164. 51. Pseudo-Jonathan to Deut. 34:3, Isa. 11:4. Cf. A. Kohut, Arukh ha-Shalem (Vienna, 1878), p. 292. 52. For xtann, and n5mn, see Even Shmuel, Midreshei Ge'ullah, pp. 42 and 51, and n5••i, on cf. his discussion pp. 34-35, n. 12, 18. 53. Ibid., pp. 74, 79-83. 54. At6aKaXKia 'IaKwK3ovNEof3a7rriarov, ed. N. Bonwetsch, Abhandlungender K6niglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, phil.-hist. Klasse, n.f., vol. 12, no. 3 (Berlin, 1910), pp. 4-5, 66, 70-71, 86, and more. 55. See W. Bousset, The antichrist Legend (London, 1896); J. Berger, Die griechische Daniel Exegese-Eine altkirchliche Apokalypse (Leiden, 1976), pp. 103-150. I see no persuasive evidence that the Christian conception comes from earlier Jewish sources (other than Daniel itself). 56. For brief summaries, see M. Reeves, TheInfluence of Prophecyin the Later Middle Ages (Oxford, 1969), pp. 299-301, and N. Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium, 2d ed. (New York, 1970), pp. 31-34. Cf. also I. Levi, "L'Apocalypse de Zorobabel et le roi de Perses Siroes," Revue des Etudes Juives 71 (1920): 59-61.

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The name Armilus, however, is neither biblical nor talmudic nor Christian, and its origin and meaning cry out for explanation. Ideally, such an explanation should be more than an etymology; it should tell us something more about the ideas generating the concept and may help us place it in the typological framework which is the hallmark of Jewish messianism in this period. No such understanding is achieved by Hitzig's curious suggestion that the similarities between Suetonius' description of the armillatus Caligula and Sefer Zerubbavel'sdepiction of Armilus mean that our monster received his name from Caligula's bracelet.57Such a derivation concentrates on a triviality and has justly been ignored. Another explanation, however, which has deservedly received more serious attention, suffers from a similar, though less acute problem. Several scholars have regarded Armilus as a corruption of the name of the evil Persian deity Ahriman or Angro-Mainyus.58 This derivation reinforces a certain sense of the exotic produced by the Armilus legend, but it evokes no specific associations with the story, nor is the similarity in the names particularly satisfying. More important, a Persian god would not have produced the resonance necessary for this figure and this name to have flourished within the Jewish messianic tradition. Ahriman strikes no familiar chord, and only in the absence of an alternative explanation should we be willing to assume that so alien a villain would find a home as a standard figure in the mainstream of Jewish messianism. But we have an alternative explanation. The problem, in fact, is that we have one too many. The name Armilus has not inspired much recent controversy because one derivation has carried the day to the point where the question is generally considered resolved. Scholars might sometimes go through the motions of citing earlier theories, but the prevailing attitude appears to be that this problem is behind us. Armilus is Romulus.59

57. F. Hitzig, Das Buch Daniel (Leipzig, 1850), p. 125. 58. K. Kohler in Jewish Encyclopedia 1:296-297, s.v. Ahriman; Kohut in Arukh haShalem, loc. cit., and esp. in his Ober die Jadische Angelologie und Daemonologie in Ihrer Abhangigkeit vom Parsismus (Leipzig, 1866), p. 62. Kohler emphasized the gimel in the o•0'u1 of the Targumim (see n. 51 above). 59. See, e.g., E. Schiirer, Geschichteder Jiidischen Votkesim Zeitalter Jesu Christi (Leipzig, 1907), II, pp. 621-622; Klausner in Ha-Ra'ayon ha-Meshibi, p. 232, and in En;iklopedyah Ivrit, 5:954-957; Levi, "Apocalypse de Zorobabel," p. 59; M. Guttmann in the German Encyclopaedia Judaica 3:364-366; Baron, History, 5:145: J. Dan, Ha-Sippur ha-'Ivri bi-Mei ha-Beinayim. Iyyunim be-Toledotav (Jerusalem, 1974), p. 42.

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Now this really is an attractive identification, even more attractive than is generally realized. It is not merely that Romulus founded and hence symbolizes Rome,60 which is the empire that Armilus will rule. The Romulus identification recalls the central theme of messianic typology, in which an early figure or event recurs at the end of days. If the final redeemer will be like the first redeemer, so will the final king of Rome be like its founder. The logic of messianic reasoning led inexorably to such a notion, and it may even be that historical events provided reinforcement to the seventh-century observer. The Western Roman Empire had, after all, already fallen, and it could hardly be coincidence that the name of its final ruler was Romulus.61 As far as linguistic similarity is concerned, we face no serious problem. Romulus and Armilus are more than close enough to sustain the identification, and Armilus' Greek name, Ermolaos, which appears in one Hebrew apocalypse as o~•d~nx and which we shall discuss in a moment, is virtually identical with a Syriac form of Romulus (oixd ) that was noted long ago by N61deke.62To clinch the argument, we even have a late-seventh-century source which makes the identification explicit. The Latin translation (though not the Greek text) of pseudo-Methodius informs us matter-offactly that Romulus is Armaleus.63 The only trouble with all this is that another, widely rejected derivation is at least as attractive as this one. It has been recognized for centuries that Armilus may be the Greek Eremolaos ('Eprln6Xaos),meaning "destroyer of a people"; the possibility, in fact, is almost forced upon us by the olimfx of Nistarot de-Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai64 and the Hermolaos or Ermolaos routinely used in Doctrina Jacobi. The definition of Armilus in Mena.iem de Lonzano's early-seventeenth-century dictionary reads as follows: "This means 'destroyer of a nation.' It is a Greek word compounded from ereme, meaning 'destroy,' and laos, meaning 'a nation'; it refers to an Edomite king who will win a major victory against his enemies and destroy them and who

60. Cf. Klausner, Ha-Ra'ayon ha-Meshibi, loc. cit. 61. Since Romulus Augustulus had at least one competitor for his dubious distinction, and since a seventh-century resident of the Eastern Roman Empire may not have shared the perception that the Western Empire had "fallen," we should perhaps be cautious about pressing this point too hard. 62. Zeitschrift der Deutschen-MorgenlandischenGesellschaft 39 (1895): 343. 63. Ernst Sackur, Sibyllinische Texte und Forschungen (Halle, 1898), p. 76. The pseudoMethodian passage was noted by Bousset (Antichrist Legend, p. 105), Levi (loc. cit.), and others. 64. Even Shmuel, Midreshei Ge'ullah, p. 195.

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will consequently be called Eremolaos."65As in the case of the Romulus identification, this approach is confirmed by a very early source-in this instance by one manuscript of Sefer Zerubbavel itself, which tells us that Armilus means "destroyer of a nation" in Greek.66 Despite these early references, it was not, as far as I know, until Graetz that the real significance of this derivation was noticed. Armilus, Graetz argued, is none other than a new Balaam, the archenemy who had tried to destroy the Jews, and whose name, according to the Talmud, means Eremolaos, he says, "is a felicitous "destroyer of a people" (rY.• = r•Lb).67 Greek reproduction of the biblical archetype of enmity toward Israel."68 Armilus as eremolaos (often without reference to Balaam) has received only the most perfunctory comment by twentieth-century scholars; those who mention the derivation at all tend to reject it summarily and virtually without discussion. Klausner's comment is among the most extensive: "And the suggestion that Armilus comes from the Greek eremolaos is especially farfetched despite the fact that it is already noted in [one manuscript of Sefer Zerubbavel]."69

It hardly seems necessary to say that modern conceptions of what is or is not farfetched do not serve as trustworthy guidelines for penetrating the early medieval apocalyptic imagination. We have already seen that Eremolaos, like Romulus, is associated with Armilus in an early source and that both derivations are linguistically appropriate and attractive. Typologically, Romulus provides the return of the first king of Rome; Balaam-Eremolaos

65. Ma'arikh, ed. A. Jellinek (Leipzig, 1853), p. 15. 66. I. Levi, Revue des Etudes Juives 68 (1914): 136 = Midreshei Ge'ullah, p. 387. The text of the passage is slightly corrupt, but however we emend it (see Levi's note on p. 152), it clearly Levi notes other early scholars who proposed this translation, says that Armilus means vy •'n. David de Lara's and cf. also the citation from Keter Kehunnahin Kohut's Arukh ha-Shalem, p. 292. 67. B. Sanhedrin 105a. 68. "Eine gliickliche griechische Nachbildung des biblischen Urtypus der Feindseligkeit gegen Israel" (my translation). See Jahrbuchfur Israeliten 5265 [1864/65], ed. J. Wertheimer and L. Kompert (Vienna, 1865), p. 19. The essay has recently been translated into English by I. Schorsch in H. Graetz, The Structure ofJewish History and Other Essays (New York, 1975), pp. 151-171 (notes on p. 310). Cf. also J. Levy, Chalddisches Worterbuchaber die Targumimund einen grossen Theil des Rabbinischen Schrifttums (Leipzig, 1881), 1:66, s.v. Armilus. 69. En;iklopedyah Ivrit, 5:955. All reference to the eremolaos derivation was dropped from the abridged English translation of Klausner's article in the recent EncyclopaediaJudaica. (Why is an article on a Jewish theme that appears in a general encyclopedia abridged when it is transferred to a Jewish encyclopedia?) Cf. also the brief referencesto this explanation in Schilrer and Guttmann, loc. cit. (see n. 59 above).

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provides the return of the archenemy of the first redeemer.70In light of the frequent stress on the similarities between the first and last redeemers, the Balaam derivation may well be the more attractive in this respect. Finally, there are even some concrete resemblances between Balaam and Armilus. The physical asymmetry of the monstrous king of Edom reflects the talmudic description of a Balaam who was blind in one eye and lame in one foot,7' while Armilus' construction of seven altars in Sefer Zerubbavel is a transparent reminiscence of the seven altars built by Balak at Balaam's behest.72 These considerations force a reassessment of the regnant Romulus derivation, not because of any deficiency in that explanation, but because of the persuasiveness of an alternative. Like Buridan's ass, we are apparently condemned to eternal indecision in the face of two equally attractive options. In fact, however, a single observation dissolves the problem and presents us with a richer and more fully persuasive picture of the mysterious figure of Armilus. Balaam is Romulus! There is nothing esoteric or inordinately complex in this identification. To the seventh-century Jew steeped in midrashic lore, Balaam was Romulus not by some stretch of the exegetical imagination but as a simple matter of fact. Romulus, of course, was the first king of Rome, and the identification of Rome and Edom was the most basic commonplace. But the Bible informs us that the first king of Edom was Bela the son of Beor (Gen. 36:32; I Chron. 1:43), and some Jews made the almost inevitable identification of this king with Balaam the son of Beor.73Hence, even without a linguistic correspondence, the Jewish apocalypticist knew that Balaam is the person whom the Gentiles call Romulus or Armaleus; the identification was confirmed beyond all question when he noticed that Armaleus (= Eremolaos) is a direct translation of Balaam's name. The name-and to some degree the figure-of Armilus was generated by an exceptionally powerful typological impetus: the first king of Edom, who was also the archenemy of the first redeemer, will return at the end of days as both the final king of Rome and the archenemy of the final redeemer.74

70. On the frequent midrashic contrast between Balaam and Moses, see the references in Ginzberg, Legends, 6:125, n. 727. 71. B. Sanhedrin 105a and Sotah 10a; for Armilus, cf. n. 50 above. 72. Num. 23:29-30. Cf. Even Shmuel's note in Midreshei Ge'ullah, p. 82. 73. See the Targum to I Chron. 1:43 and the reference in Ginzberg, Legends, 5:323, n. 324. 74. In this context, I think that the argument that Romulus was the founder of the city of Rome, not all of Edom, and that Bela ben Beor's city was Dinhavah (Gen. and I Chron., loc.

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Thus far, we are on fairly firm ground, and I am tempted to end the argumentat this point; nevertheless,understandingthe messianicimagination virtuallyrequiresus to take the riskof more venturesomespeculations. In an isolated footnote in the general introductionto MidresheiGe'ullah, Even Shmuel made the following suggestion: Apparently,peopletendedto call Rome "Aram"becauseof Labanthe the deceiver(rammai), who"soughtto destroyeverything," and Aramaean, Aramaean" becauseof the verse,"Myfatherwasa wandering (Deut.26:5), whichthe midrashtook as "An Aramaean[Laban]soughtto destroymy thisnamewasgrafted Amoraim Inthetimeof thePalestinian father[Jacob]." on to (Remusand)Romulus..., andthusthe nameArmiluswasborn." AlthoughI know of no evidencethat Rome was calledAram, the Laban connection may be worth pursuing for reasons unmentionedby Even Shmuel.Labanthe Aramaean,the eremolaoswho attemptedto destroythe patriarchwhose very name was Israel,is anotheralias of Balaam.The full text of the same Targumthat identifiesBalaamas the first king of Edom reads as follows: "And these are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before any king ruled over the childrenof Israel:the evil Balaam son of Beor, that is, Labanthe Aramaean,who unitedwith the sons of Esau to do harm to Jacob and his sons and who sought to destroy them."76 We may have arrived,then, at a threefoldinterpretationof Armilusin which Romulus,Balaam(= Eremolaos),and Laban(the Arami)are identified with one another.Each is describedas the first king of Edom, and the apocalypsesmay even have understoodLaban'sepithet "the Arami" as a term bearing the dual meaning of "Aramaean"and "destroyer."77 The

cit.) would be a quibble. There is an overwhelming likelihood that in the apocalyptic mentality, where Rome and Edom had merged into synonyms, Romulus would have been perceived as the first king-and symbol-of all of Edom. On the fluid midrashic tradition about the founding of the city, which ranged from the time of Esau's grandson Zepho to the time of Solomon, see Ginzberg, Legends, 5:372, n. 425, and 6:280, n. 11. 75. Midreshei Ge'ullah, introd., p. 51, n. 67. The midrash cited is best known for its appearance in the Passover Haggadah. 76. Targum to I Chron. 1:43. On the variety of relationships between Laban and Balaam posited in rabbinic literature, see Ginzberg, Legends, 5:303, n. 229, and 6:123, n. 722. See also the references in R. LeD6aut and J. Robert, Targumdes Chroniques,vol. 1 (Rome, 1971), p. 42, n. 22. 77. Midrashic literature is not devoid of Greek puns. Is it beyond the realm of possibility

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typological richnessof the figure is furtherenhanced.History will have come full circle.The firstking of Edom,who was the archenemyof both the fatherof the childrenof Israeland the first redeemer,will returnat the end of days to rule over Edom once again. Once again he will seek to destroy Israel, but he will go down instead to a decisiveand this time permanent defeat at the hands of the final redeemer.78 As the MiddleAges woreon, the significanceof typologybeganto wane; though this mode of messianic speculationwould never be entirely displaced,79other factors gradually removed it from center stage. Amos Funkenstein'sperceptivestudyof the marginalrole of typologyin medieval Jewish exegesis is not directlyconcernedwith messianism;s0nevertheless, some of the factorsthat he proposesto accountfor the exegeticalphenomenon haveapplicationto our concernsas well. Whatis perhapsmost relevant is the suggestionthat Jewsshiedawayfromtypologybecausethey had come to see it as a classicallyChristianapproach."8 Such reservationswould have exertedspecialforcein the contextof messianictheory,and evenJewsliving in the orbit of Islam would not have escapedtheir impact.82

that the famous and problematic midrashic interpretation of' •xrmi~ x is based in part on an understanding of 'x as both "Aramaean" and "destroyer"? 78. Let me finally propose two suggestions that may be improbable but should nevertheless be noted. (a) Balaam was the son of Beor. The root b'r refers to an animal, and associations with the story of the she-wolf that suckled Romulus could have arisen despite the fact that b'r usually means a beast of burden. (b) I. Levi in "Apocalypse de Zorobabel" thought that Armilus' birth from a statue was a parody of the alleged virgin birth of Jesus. (Note especially the Christianized Armilus in Even Shmuel, Midreshei Ge'ullah, p. 320.) Though I am skeptical, someone attracted by this theory might want to suggest a connection with the possible talmudic association between Balaam and Jesus. 79. If Gerson Cohen's reading of Abraham ibn Daud's Sefer ha-Kabbalahis correct (see his edition [Philadelphia, 1967], esp. pp. 189-222), then it is a case of typological messianism in its most striking form. For another illustration of what remains a significant approach, see Yehudah Liebes, "Yonah ben Amitai ke-Mashiah ben Yosef," Mebkarim be-Kabbalah Muggashim li-Yesha'yah Tishby (= Mehkerei Yerushalayimbe-Mabashevet Yisrael 3, pts. 1-2 [1983-84]), pp. 269-311, and cf. n. 85 below. 80. "Parshanuto ha-Tippologit shel ha-Ramban," Zion 45 (1980): 35-59. 81. Ibid., p. 55. 82. The effect on such Jews would, of course, have been more limited, and it may be worth noting that the contrast between the relative messianic activism of Sephardim and the quietism of Ashkenazim in the Middle Ages is in significant measure a contrast between Jews living under Islam and those living under Christianity. In a classroom discussion of Gerson Cohen's "Messianic Postures of Ashkenazim and Sephardim," in Studies of the Leo Baeck Institute, ed.

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Nevertheless,the typologicalheritagewas extraordinarilystrong in the realm of messianism,and additionalexplanationsneed to be mobilizedto explainits relativedecline.The first of these is the virtualeliminationof a messianicenterprisefor whichtypologywas especiallysuited.The medieval mindwas too constrainedby the authorityof the now plentifulancienttexts to create new messianicpersonalities,and as a result, figures of the past could no longer give birth to tragic heroes and diabolicalmonstersat the end of days. It was primarilyin the area of calculationswhere typology could still hold sway, but here too its dominancewas challenged,this time by several new sources of informationwhose significancein the rabbinic period was minor or nil. The most importantof these was the Book of Daniel. We have already seen that in the earliestperiod'Daniel's 1335days were understoodas days and that this understandingprecludedtheir use as a clue to the time of the Messiah'sadvent.83As centuriespassed, it becamepossible to understand these days as years without inordinatelydelayingthe messianicage. Once this happened,the Biblesuddenlycontaineda messianiccalculationwhich, for all of its obscurity,borderedon the absolutelyexplicit,and the primary task of the calculator was the relativelysimple one of determiningthe terminusfrom which the count begins. In addition to the date latent in Daniel, the growing, almost promiscuoususe of numericalequivalencein some medieval and early modern Jewish circles turned Scriptureinto a treasure trove of eschatological information through a process which appearedmore promisingthan the relativelysubtleapproachof typological speculation.Finally, the talmudicmaterialitself provideda more concrete basis for calculationsthan the rabbis themselveshad possessed, and this considerationtoo made their successorsless relianton the uncertaintechniques of typology. These approaches,of course,werenot mutuallyexclusive.Daniel's 1335 years had to be coordinatedwith its "time, times, and half a time"(Dan. 7:25; 12:7);since these timeswereperceivedas eras of the past whose duration points to the length of the exile, they were understood,at least in a limited sense, typologically.Abravanelextendedthe 1335yearsto 1435by addingthe numericalvalueof the word"days."And in a tourdeforce which Max Kreutzberger (New York, 1967), pp. 117-156, my former student Avraham Pinsker made the interesting suggestion that Jews in the Christian world, who constantly saw themselves as rejecting the claims of a false Messiah, may have been instinctively more cautious about any involvement with messianic pretenders. 83. See n. 41 above.

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strikes me as the most stunning messianic calculation in history, sixteenthcentury Jews combined Daniel's number, gematria, and a typological rabbinic calculation to produce a messianic date of 5335 A.M. (= 1575 C.E.). The rabbis had said that after the year 4000, the messianic age should have begun, but our sins have delayed its arrival. Thus, when Daniel was told to wait 1335 years, the count must have commenced at the point where anticipation began to make sense, i.e., after the year 4000.84This calculation could have stood on its own, and no doubt would have. But then someone noticed the incredible: the number 1335 is embedded in the last two verses of Daniel, which read, "Happy is he who waits and comes to one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. And now go your way until the end; you shall rest, and shall stand up to your lot at the end of days." The numerical equivalence of both verses in their entirety is precisely 5335! We can only marvel at the resistance of those who remained skeptical; at the same time, we can also marvel at the creative orchestration of diverse modes of messianic calculation, an orchestration in which typology lingers, but in a decidedly secondary role.85 Whatever position messianic typology was ultimately to assume, its significance in early Jewish messianism was even greater than has hitherto been recognized. The much-debated Messiah son of Joseph was probably produced after all by typological speculation, typology is the most plausible source of every single rabbinic calculation in the post-Bar Kokhba period, and the intriguing monster Armilus is a typological figure of extraordinary resonance, richness, and complexity. BrooklynCollege GraduateCenterof The City Univerityof New York

84. See David Tamar, "Ha-Zippiyyah be-Italyah li-Shenat ha-Ge'ullah Shin-LamedHe," Sefunot 2 (1958): 65-68. 85. In the Sabbatian heresy, of course, typology was mobilized once again for the same reasons that it was mobilized in Christianity: the unorthodox career of a messianic personality had to be prefigured by biblical heroes whose own careers would be subjected to subtle, innovative scrutiny.

The Metamorphosis of Narrative Traditions: Two Stories from Sixteenth-Century Safed Author(s): Aryeh Wineman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 165-180 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486258 . Accessed: 30/06/2011 01:43 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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THE METAMORPHOSISOF NARRATIVE TRADITIONS: TWO STORIES FROM SIXTEENTH-CENTURY SAFED by ARYEH WINEMAN A storehouse of narrativescan be found within the literaturewhich emerged from and gave expression to the spiritual developments in sixteenth-centurySafed. These include legends, moral tales and exempla, anecdotes,and parableswhichcanbe garneredfromthe volumesof the kabbalisticethicalworks and otherliteratureof the sixteenth,seventeenth,and early eighteenthcenturies.In this study we shall seek to exploretwo such narrativesof that period, stories which, while quite different from one another in character,both draw upon much earlier narrativetraditions which have been subtlybut radicallyremolded.The immediateaim of tracing the prehistoryof these two stories and their routes of metamorphosis and of comparingthe Safedstorieswith the sourceswhichlie behindthemis to clarifythe literaryand historicalsignificanceof the two narrativesin the precise form which they acquiredin the Safed experience.On a broader scale, such explorationmight serveto exemplifythe transformationof narrative traditionsunder the impact of a worldviewand a cultural-spiritual milieu.

In his commentaryupon the liturgy,Sederha-Yom,a work whichcontributed to a wide acceptanceof the particularreligious practiceswhich 165

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emergedin sixteenth-centurySafed,' Moses ben Judah Makhirincludeda parable of a king who conceals his daughterin a closed tower while he calls throughouthis realmfor suitorsto seek a way to enterthe tower and win the love of the princess.Of the many who come and try, all eventually give up in the face of the apparentlyimpossibletask exceptone suitor,who persists, convinced that such a tower must logically have an opening by whichto enter.His ceaselesseffortsleadhim to discoveran openingandwin for him both the encouragementof the princess,who then leadshim to keys with whichto proceedto the innerchambersof the tower, and the favor of the king, who accepts him as his son-in-law and reveals to him further secrets and mysteries.2 This parablebearsstrikingsimilarityto a legendwhichSolomon Buber found in a manuscriptof MidrashTanhumaat Oxford. In that story, King Solomonseeksto avoid his daughter'smarriageto a lad of extremepoverty, a matchforetoldby the stars.The kingplaceshis beautifuldaughterin a tall tower situatedin the midst of the sea, a tower lackingany openingon the outside other than an inaccessibleopeningon top. But when, one cold evening,the poor lad clotheshimselfin the deadbody of an ox to warmhimself, a largebird carrieshim togetherwith the dead ox to that very towerin the sea, wherethe princessthen finds him. Whenthe guest comes to the attention of the king after the couple have alreadymarried,having signed a ketubbahwith blood and havingcalled angelsas witnesses,Solomon recognizes that the poor lad, who is a scribeand possessesa sharpmind,is indeed the one whom the stars foretold, and Solomon reconcileshimself to the inevitable,joyously acceptingthe match he had sought, at great effort, to avoid.3In this legend,the poor scribepenetratesthe impenetrableas an act of divinegrace, without any intent or effort on his own part. God's intent prevailsover the king's,and while the latterseeksto challengeinevitability, ultimatelyhe can only succumband make his peace with it. The figureof a towerin connectionwith an attemptto avoid the inevitable occurs elsewherein Jewish legends relatingto Solomon,4and Islamic legends also relate the biblical king to the same thematics of fate and destiny, althoughthere Solomon'sposition is quite different,as he claims

1. 2. 3. 4.

Gershom Scholem, Kabbalah(Jerusalem, 1974), p. 97. Moses ben Judah Makhir, Seder ha-Yom (Slavita, 1793), p. 22a. Midrash Tanbuma,ed. Solomon Buber (New York, 1946), p. 136, #42. Moses Gaster, Sefer ha-Ma'asiyot (Leipzig and London, 1924), p. 121, #336.

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and proves that whateveris destinedwill come to pass regardlessof what one does to avert it.5 Consideringthe similarityof the basic image and the plot elements,one can posit this legendor one quitesimilarto it in the prehistoryof the parable in Seder ha-Yom. One notes also, however, that while many narrative elementspersistin the lattersource,the natureof the storyundergoesconsiderablechange.In additionto the introductionof the suitor-contestmotif,6 the older legend concerningSolomon has been transformedinto a parable of the divine. It no longerrelatesto the biblicalking nor to the themeof the futility of seekingto alter or avoid the inevitable.No longer does the king seek to avoid givinghis daughterto a poor lad;instead,it is emphasizedthat the king, who representsGod in the parable,invites all interestedyoung men, irrespectiveof wealth,beauty,or familybackground,to seek to enter the tower. The readerno longer standson a higherlevel, graspingthe folly of the king's attitudes;indeed, all irony disappearsfrom the tale. The outlines and the basic image of the older tale serveas materialfor a storyof a radicallydifferentnature.One mightsuggestthatin the milieuof kabbalistic Safed, the all-encompassingintensityof mystic religiousteachingallowed little place for the lightermomentsof life and expression,and that the elements of a tale of delightsurvivedin the literatureof the periodonly when reworkedinto the much more seriousnarrativemode of a parableof God, the Torah, and the mystic. A parablefound in the Zohar(II, 98b-99b) served,in all likelihood,as a catalyst in the transformation.The parabledescribesa palace closed from all sides,with a lovely maidenin it who has only one lover;the worldknows nothingof him. As he repeatedlypassesin front of the palace,she makesa tiny opening in the palace, an opening which only her lover can perceive, and revealsher face to him only to disappearfrom his sight immediately afterward.We are then told that like the beautifulwomanconcealedin the palace,who momentarilyrevealsherselfto her belovedin orderto awaken his love but is unseenby all others,the Torahsimilarlydisclosesitself to the one whom it loves; it graduallyrevealsitself more and more and, through the level of its discourse,leadsits belovedstudentto deeperlevels of understanding,proceedingfrom the plain meaningof the text to deeperlevels of mystic meaning.In the parablefound in Ben-Makhir'swork, the image of

5. M. Griinbaum, Neue Beitrdge zur Semitischen Sagenkunde (Leiden, 1893), pp. 233-235. 6. Stithe Thompson, Motif Index of Folk Literature (Helsinki, 1932-36), H. 331.

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the closed tower, recallingthe oldermidrashiclegend,acquirednew significance drawn from the zoharic image of the closed palace.7 Ben-Makhir,who was head of a yeshivain Ein Zeitim,in the vicinityof Safed,includedhis parablein Sederha-Yomin the contextof his discussion of the studyof Torahbeforeleavingthe house of prayerin the morning.His comments relatingto the parableemphasizethe labor of learning,which requirespersistenceand regularityalong with attentioneven to the most minutedetails.Truthdoes not glarea studentin the face;just as the suitor, aftermucheffortand attentionto smallholes and cracks,found an opening in the tower,so the studentmustpreoccupyhimselfwith seeminglyinsignificant detailsthat will serveas keys enablinghim to graspthe real natureof the objectof his study. Ben-Makhirstatesthat whenGod beholdsa student who is persistentand displaysa strongdesireto understand,He disclosesthe truth to him. This cannot occur when one approachesthe Torah through surfacestudy, as though one were readinga letter, a kind of study which neverenablesone to reachbeyondthe plainmeaningof the text. The literal meaningis likened,in Ben-Makhir'sdiscussionsurroundingthe parable,to an outergarmentone placesover his betterclothesso that the latterwill not become soiled, and the studentwho nevergets beyond the literalmeaning actuallybestows a bad name on the Torahby equatingthe Torahwith its surfacelevel of meaning.The essenceof the Torah,consistingof the levelsof intimationand mystery,Ben-Makhirstresses,is necessarilyhiddenfromthe eyes of each and every student as he commenceshis study.8 work The same parableappears,also, in the early-eighteenth-century the of holy days Hemdat Yamim,a homileticaldescriptionand discussion and otheroccasionsof the Jewishyearand a workwhichreflectsthe moderate strand of Sabbateanism.9The referentof the parable there similarly

7. In a study of the writings of Moses Ijayyim Luzzatto, Pinbas Lachower (Al Gevul ha-Yashan [Jerusalem, 1951], pp. 45-49) discussed this parable from the Zohar, ve-he-Hadash to be the source of the parable appearing in Seder ha- Yom and which he considered TanYamim.He did not, however, relate the latter source to the midrashic excerpt found in the .Iemdat a exists without source such that a footnote in to mention identifying except huma manuscript it; nor did he compare the zoharic parable with the later parable, which is best understood as a transformation of the older midrashic legend under the impact of the zoharic parable. 8. Seder ha- Yom, p. 21b. 9. The parable is found in Hemdat Yamim(Venice, 1763), pt. 3 (Mo'adim), pp. 51a-b. On Yamim, see Abraham Yaari, Ta'alumat Sefer (Jerusalem, 1954); Gershom Scholem, be-Eineha Omedet," Bebinot be-Vikkoret uva-Sifrut 8 (Jerusalem,1955): "Ve-ha-Ta'alumah .Hemdat 79-95; Isaiah Tishby, Netivei Emunah u-Minut (Ramat-Gan, 1964), pp.108-168.

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concernsthe need to ponderpatientlyand deeplyin one's study of Torah, neitherexpectingto attainunderstandingquicklynor satisfiedwith the first level of meaningwhich comes to one's mind. Like Sederha-Yom,it insists that the real truth of the Torahlies far beneathits surfacedimensionand, borrowingthe same claim on the part of the medievalphilosophicaltradition,'0 accentuates the importance of intellectualendeavor. Even more Yamimstressesthe importanceof the inner emphatically,however, .Hemdat in orderto penetratebeyondthe plain meaning spiritualqualitiesnecessary of the Torahtext to its deepertruth.In contrastwith the zoharicparable,the emphatic point of the parableand of its interpretationin both Seder haYomand HemdatYamimis not the graceof the Torah'sdisclosurebut rather the need for patienteffort and laboron the partof the student.At the same time, however,understandingdependsboth upon the student'sprolonged effortsand the strengthof his desireand upon the graceof disclosureto him in the wake of his efforts;its insightstranscendwhat the mind, by its own powers,is able to attain.The parablein those sourcesconveysthe relationship of the mysticand the Torahas a love-relationshipin whichthe student must make the initial effort and perseverein that effort, whilethe Torah,in its turn, respondsin love by revealingitself. Insightinto the Torahis an act of revelation,and such revelationis a responseto the true seeker. While,in the parable,all the suitorsacceptthe invitationand mandateof the king, they accept that mandate superficially,except for the one true seeker who displays a wholenessof will. Whetherconsistingof songs and praises or self-afflictionand fasting, the strategiesof the other suitors are short-cutswhich elude the goal. In contrast,the will of the true seekeris unqualified;he stakes his very life upon his quest, as he leaves no other options for himself.His will is placedin conflictwith the apparentrealityof the closed tower, but beyond the image of the closed toweris the princess, who, impressedby his efforts, respondsto him. Similarly,the student confronts the apparentnature of the Torah as hopelessly locked and enigmatic in character,but that image, too, with ongoing persistence,proves to be the mere manifestationof a test. In a chiasmus evident in the parable's structure,the king, at the beginning, places his daughterin the closed tower, afterwhich we hear of him only at the story'sconclusion,when he presentsto the lad the keys of the palace's

10. Note Maimonides, Moreh Nevukhim 1:33, 2:48. Also the introduction to Saadiah's Emunot ve-De'ot.

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innerchambers.The older narrativeelementswhichcomprisethe legendof King Solomonbecomethe buildingblocks of a verydifferentkind of story, with a patternmoving from hiddennessto disclosure,and one which, like the zoharicparable,relatesto the graspof that whichis beyondthe known and the reachof the humanmindin itself.This kindof storyvoices,in other words, the centralconcernof Jewishmysticism. Alongsidethe nimshal,the explicitreferentof a parable-and sometimes of greatersignificance-is the implicitreferentwhich is presentonly in the parableitself and in its narrativedetails;it is neitherstatedin the referent nor relatedto the moreexplicitkindof polemicexplainedin the context."In this case, the implicitreferentconveys,amongotherthings,the paradoxof a mysticapproachto the Torah:the truthof the Torahis concealedin a mist of mystery;it is heavily guardedwithin a virtual labyrinthof chambers within chambers,each requiringa special key. Yet, at the same time, it is God's intent both that man make the effort to discoverthe hidden truth and, furthermore,that man penetratethe mystery.The Torah-truthis hidden not in orderto bar man from it but ratherto presentthe kind of challenge necessaryto enable one to penetrateto the depth of that truth. Similarly,the mystic,experiencingthe Torahas an enigmabeyondhis grasp, is yet confidentthat, like the locked tower, it, too, must have a key. Examiningfurtherthe narrativedetails of the parablefrom Seder haYomand HemdatYamim,one glaringdifferencestandsout whenthe parable is comparedwith that of the palacefoundin the Zohar,a differencewhichis possibly crucialin suggestingthe significanceof the parablein those later sources. The earlierparable,found in the Zohar, speaks of the one lover whomthe Torahleadsto moreand moreinnerdimensionsof its teachings,a loverhiddenfromthe notice of humansociety;the veryfact of the princess's presencein the closed palace is a guardedsecret.The parablefound in the two later sources, in contrast,suggeststhat God chooses to encourageas many as possibleto seek the way of the mystictruth.Throughouthis vast realm,the king announceshis daughter'spresencein the towerin orderto summonto the test all those who wish to acceptthe challengeto seekher.In the light of this contrast, the parable from Seder ha-Yom and IHemdat Yamimcan be seen to mirrorthe transitionfrom the conceptionof Kab-

11. A somewhat similar suggestion is made by Joseph Dan (Ha-Sippur ha-Ivri bi-Mei ha-Beinayim [Jerusalem 1974], p. 28) in reference to the philosophical parable in medieval Jewish literature.

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balah as an esotericteachingdesignatedfor the select few, a teachingto be carefullyhidden and guarded, to that of a more popular conception of mystic learningas a teachingintendedfor the many, the kind of transition which, in significantmeasure,markedthe sixteenthcentury.'2 II

Severaltexts, dating from the beginningof the seventeenthcenturyand extendingtoward the middle of the following century,includea legend of Rabbi Abraham ben Eliezer ha-Levi Berukhim,an historical figure of sixteenth-centurySafed,who beheldthe Shekhinahat the WesternWall in Jerusalem.Bewilderedby what he saw, the rabbi was consoled by the Shekhinahas she utteredthe verywordswhichin Jeremiah,chapter31, God spoke to Rachel,weepingas her childrenpass by her gravesiteon theirway to exile. In addition to the use of the text of Jeremiahin the legend, the Ari (RabbiIsaacben SolomonAshkenaziLuria),in most versionsof the legend, identifies Rabbi Abrahamha-Levi as a metempsychosisof Jeremiah.The encounterbetweenthe rabbi and the Shekhinahin the legend appearsas a refractionof the briefnarrativepassagein Jeremiah31:14-16, a refraction, however,whichhas undergoneseveraltransformationsbeforeassumingthe form and characterof the legend which relates to the sixteenth-century personality. In sources as varied as a first-centurypseudepigraphicaltext, an early medievalmidrashicwork, and an early medievalliturgicalpoem, one finds the highly symbolic figureof a woman weepingand mourningat the time and sceneof the destructionof Jerusalem.Theoldest knownof theseliterary sourcesis the pseudepigraphical work, the Apocalypseof Ezra,knownalso as IV Ezraor II Esdras,writtentowardthe veryend of the first centuryC.E. as an expressionof theologicalquestionsand reflectionswhich emergedin the wake of the destructionof the SecondCommonwealth.13In the fourthof a series of visions in the book, the seer-personaSalathiel(Ezra) meets a

12. This is true in a general, not a total sense, as the more advanced levels of kabbalistic teaching were still reserved for the inner circles of students; speaking more broadly, however, in this later period Kabbalah is intended for and accessible to the community as a whole. 13. R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (Oxford, 1913), 2:561.

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woman who is first seen weeping bitterly with all the signs of bereavement-ashes upon her head, rent clothes, and a grievousspirit-as she is mourningthe deathof her only son on his weddingday and refusesall consolation.'4The seer criticizesher bitter mourningby comparingher situation with the greatertragedyof the destructionof Jerusalem.Then, as the seer is still speakingwith her, her countenanceis suddenlytransformedto shine brilliantly,and later, in her place, the personabeholds a rebuiltand expandedcity, and the angel Uriel then identifiesthe woman as Mother Zion, who had been mourningthe destructionof Jerusalem.'5 In certainlater sourcesthe explicitlysymbolicfigureof MotherZion as found in IV Ezra, a bereavedwoman personifyingthe city and its people, merges with the scene of Rachel's weeping from Jeremiah31. Like the Apocalypseof Ezra,the settingin thoselatersourcesis similarlythe destruction of the FirstCommonwealthat the handsof the Babyloniansin the sixth centuryB.C.E.In none of theseis the figureof the weepingwomanidentified as Rachel,evenwhenthe motif,the situation,and the languageall reflectthe passage from Jeremiah.This traditionexists alongsidethose postbiblical interpretationsof the episode of Rachel weeping for her childrenwhich understoodthe biblicalpassageon an essentiallyliteral level.16 Turning to a considerablylater source, an early medieval midrash, PesiktaRabbati,includesa legend in which Jeremiah,returningto Jerusalem after having left the exiles, sees, upon a mountain, a woman with disheveledhair and clad in black,weepingand pleadingfor comfort.As in the visionaryaccountin IV Ezra,here,too, the plightof the grievedwoman is initially comparedwith the much greatertragedyof the destructionof Jerusalemuntil she identifies herself as Mother Zion. The prophet then offersher wordsof comfortwith the promisethat in the time-to-come,God

14. Ibid., p. 603. 15. A connection between the fourth vision from IV Ezra and the later midrashic literature appears in that the bereaved woman in IV Ezra is said to be mourning the death of her only son, who died on the morning of his wedding day. In certain midrashic sources (Eikhah Rabbah, proem 24; Eikhah Zuta, second version, #20, ed. Solomon Buber [Berlin, 1894], p. 144), God, similarly, is said to liken His situation at the destruction of Jerusalem to that of a father whose only son died beneath the wedding canopy. It would seem that both IV Ezra and those later midrashic sources ultimately draw upon an earlier shared tradition. 16. Eikhah Rabbah, proem 24 and parallels. Whereas modern biblical scholarship understands the passage in Jer. 31:14-16 as referring specifically to the tribes of the northern kingdom who were exiled at an earlier period, the midrashic sources make no such distinction and interpret the passage in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem and the beginning of the Babylonian Exile.

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Himself will rebuild Zion, which, until then, had been both built and destroyedby humanhands."7Whilethis midrashiclegendechoes the vision from IV Ezrain significantways, it also differsin that, unlikethe pseudepigraphicalsource,in whichthe seer-personawitnessesa visionof the renewal of the city, in the midrashiclegend the renewaloccurs only on the level of prophecyconcerningthe future. One finds a verysimilarsituationdescribedin a lamentfor the Ninth of Av, Az Bimlot Sefek YafahKetiraah, written by Eleazar Kallir.'8 The poem

depicts Jeremiah'sencounter,while wanderingfrom the Temple Mount, with a beautifulwomanshatteredby grief.In her dialoguewith the prophet, she explainsherselfto be the peopleIsraelandimploresthe prophetto plead before God to save her childrenfrom death and exile and to awakenthe patriarchsfrom theirrest "becausethe wolves of the steppehave seizedand torn the lamb." The poem, which describesthe Temple site in a state of desolation,concludeswith the woman'splea before God to have compassion for Zion and to restoreits people. In the light of all the above sources, the legend of Rabbi Abraham ha-LeviBerukhimappearsto be an expressionof a legend-traditionwhich has spanned many centuries, one which has largely recast the dialogue betweenGod and Rachelin Jeremiah31 into a dialogueinvolvingthe symbolic figureof a woman in mourningwho symbolizesJerusalemand Israel. Yet the similaritiesalso direct attention to an essential differencewhich separatesthe Berukhimlegendfrom IV Ezra,the PesiktaRabbatipassage, andthe Kallirlament,differenceswhichindicatea newturngivento a much older legendarymotif: while in those earliersourcesthe femalefigure is a symbolic personificationof Israel and Jerusalem,in the Berukhimlegend she transcendsthat role and is identified as the Shekhinah,the Divine Presence. A sign in the directionof this developmentcanbe heardalreadyin a passage in Tannade-veiEliyahuwhere,followingreferenceto Rachel'sweeping and to God's promisegiven her of her children'seventualreturnto their land, the midrashcomments,"Read this not as Rahel [Rachel]weepingfor her children, but rather as Ruah-El [the spirit of God] weeping for her 17. Pesikta Rabbati 26:7. 18. Seder Megillat Eikhah u-Tefillat Leil Tishah be-Av u-Kinnot ke-Minhag Ashkenazim u-Polin (Mantua, 1720), p. 22; Anthologia Hebraica, ed. H. Brody (Leipzig, 1922), p. 44; translation by Nina Davis in Jewish QuarterlyReview, o.s. 9 (1897): 291-293. Listed in Israel Davidson, Thesaurus of Medieval Hebrew Poetry (New York, 1924-33), vol. 1, #2108.

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children."l9Thismidrashic commentis an extensionof a tendencyin rabbinic thought which emphasizes God's emphathy with the plight of Israel and His unceasing grief over the destruction of the Temple.20This same tendency is applied to the passage from Jeremiah 31, with the result that there, too, it is the divine who mourns the exile and the destruction of Jerusalem. In the interpretation of the same passage from Jeremiah as found in the Zohar, it is explicitly the Shekhinah who weeps. The Shekinah... at the destructionof the Templerevisitedall the spotswhere she had formerlydwelt and wept for the habitationand for Israelwho had gone into exile and all those righteousones and saints who perishedthere. God thereuponsaid to her,"Whataileththee?". . the Shekinahrepliedwith tears ... "Seeingthat my childrenhave gone into exile and the Sanctuaryis burnt,what is thereleft for me that I shouldlingerhere?"And the answerof the Holy One, blessedbe He, was "Refrainyour voice from weeping,etc." (Jer. 31:15)21 The older legend-tradition has acquired a new dimension, as it is now grasped through the prism of the worldview of Kabbalah. The older concept of the Shekhinah as an expression of the immanence of God22 has become the tenth of the sefirot, the forms or aspects assumed by the divine light and being. In addition, as the Shekhinah alone among the sefirot is considered to be feminine, it has become the logical candidate for the role of the weeping woman at the scene of the destruction of Jerusalem. In zoharic exegesis, many female figures in the Toraitic narratives, including, for example, Rachel as she meets Jacob,23 serve to symbolize the Shekhinah. Furthermore, the Shekhinah is regarded as a divine prototype of the people of Israel,24 a detail which points to lines of continuity with older prekabbalistic expressions of the same legend-tradition.

19. Tanna de-vei Eliyahu (Jerusalem, 1959), Eliyahu Rabbah, vol. 2, chap. 30, p. 442. 20. Berakhot 3a; Eikhah Rabbah, proems 24 and 25; Tannade-vei Eliyahu, Eliyahu Rabbah, chap. 30; Peter Kuhn, Gottes Trauer und Klage in der rabbinischen (Jberlieferung(Leiden, 1978). 21. Zohar, pt. 1, p. 203a. Translation by H. Sperling and M. Simon, The Zohar (London, 1937), vol. 2, p. 271. Note also Zohar, pt. 3, p. 20b. 22. A. A. Urbach, Ilazal: Pirkei Emunot ve-De'ot (Jerusalem, 1969), pp. 50-52. 23. Zohar, pt. 3, p. 187a. 24. Ibid., p. 20b.

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A furthermetamorphosisof significanceis evident,as the same legendtraditionconnects with the Ari and, more centrally,with Rabbi Abraham ben Eliezer ha-Levi Berukhim,25who lived in Safed during the sixteenth century.The legendwhich now emerged,like many otherswhich relate to the Ari, demonstratesthe latter's wondrous knowledge,which far transcends human norms. In this particularstory, he knows when a person is approachingdeathandin whatcircumstancesa specificnumberof yearscan be addedto that person'slife span.The role of the Ari in the legendbelongs to its frame,whilethe epiphany,whichconstitutesthe dramaticcenterof the legendand definitelyovershadowsthe frame,relatesto RabbiAbrahamben Eliezerha-Levi Berukhim. Bornin Moroccoin 1515,Berukhimsettledin Safedapproximatelyhalf a centurylater.Therehe becamea followerof RabbiMosesCordovero,but like several others of Cordovero'scircle he became associated,following Cordovero'sdeath, with a group of followers of the Ari. Several of the populartexts presentingthe values and spiritualworld of LurianicKabbalah providea pictureof his evangelicalactivityin Safedboth in strengthening the observanceof the Sabbath and in awakeningthe townspeopleto participatemore vigorouslyin expressionsof repentance,in particularthe in whichthe Jewawakensin the practiceof the MidnightVigil(tikkun .bazot) middleof the night to lamentthe destructionof the Templeand the Exileof the Shekhinahin a rite which is then followed by study.26In his mystical autobiography,Sefer ha-Hezyonot,Rabbi Hayyim Vital refers to Rabbi Abrahamha-Levi Berukhimas one who is able to move people to repentance even againsttheirwill, and he comments,furthermore,in referenceto Berukhim,that the name of Elijahthe prophet,who is to appearbeforethe Messiah'scoming, has been changedto Abraham,throughwhose efforts redemptionwill come.27 The legend is found in a letterwrittenby Shlomelof Dreznitzin 1607,28 the thirdof the latter'sepistlesfromSafed,as well as in severalothersources

25. Not to be confused with the earlier Abraham ben Eliezer ha-Levi, a native of Spain who died in Jerusalem about 1530. 26. Zevi ben Aaron Samuel Koidonower, Kay ha- Yashar(Frankfurt am Main, 1705), chap. 93; Shivbei ha-Ari, included in Meir Benayahu, Sefer Toledot ha-Ari (Jerusalem, 1967), pp. 228-230; Hemdat Yamim(Venice, 1763), vol. 2 (Rosh Hodesh), p. 4a. 27. Sefer ha-Hyezyonot,ed. A. Z. Eshkoli (Jerusalem, 1954), p. 130. 28. Abraham Yaari, Iggerot Ere; Yisrael (Ramat-Gan, 1971), pp. 205-206.

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from the seventeenthand eighteenthcenturies,includingShivbeiha-Ari,29 Emek ha-Melekh,30 Kav ha-Yashar,3'Or ha-Yashar,32and

Yamim.33

informedRabbi Accordingto the accountin the epistleof Shlomel,the AriH.emdat Abrahamha-Levithat the latter'sdays were nearingan end, but that if he went to Jerusalemto prayand weep at the WesternWall, and if the Shekhinah appearedto him there, then twenty-twoyears would be added to his life.34Rabbi Abraham immediatelysold all his household belongingsto meet the expenses of the journey and went up to Jerusalem.There, after devotingthreedays and nightsto weepingand fasting,he proceededto pray at the WesternWall,wherehe saw, abovethe Wall, the likenessof a woman clad in a mannerwhich,out of respectfor the divine,he wouldnot describe. He respondedby prostratinghimselfand crying,"Mother,Mother,Mother Zion," and in bitter weepinghe struckhis face and pulled the hairs of his beard and hair until he fainted. Breakingthe more conventionalfolktale patternof a deed (or omen) to ensureprolongedlife,35the disclosureof the Shekhinahcast Berukhiminto the most intense weeping. The Shekhinah then appearedto him in a dream,dryinghis tears,and told him, "Be comforted,my son, Abraham,for thereis hope for yourfuture,and the sons will returnto their border,for I will turn back their captivityand be compassionateto them"(Jer31:16).He awokefromhis deep slumberandjoyously returnedto Safed,wherethe Ari perceivedfrom RabbiAbraham'scountenance that the latterhad, in fact, beheldthe Shekhinah,and we areinformed that Rabbi Abrahamlived for anothertwenty-twoyears. The twenty-twoyearsaddedto Berukhim'slife relateto the association, in kabbalisticthought, of the Shekhinahwith the Oral Torah, often as a personificationof the Mishnahcomposed of the twenty-twoletters of the Hebrewalphabet.36In termsof the more specificcontextof this legend,the 29. Sefer Toledot ha-Ari, pp. 228-230. 30. Naphtali ben Jacob Elhanan Bacharach, Emek ha-Melekh (Amsterdam, 1648), p. 109b. 31. Kav ha- Yashar, chap. 93. 32. Meir Poppers, Or ha- Yashar(Amsterdam, 1709), Amud ha-Avodah, chap. 11, p. 7b. 33. Yamim, vol. 2, p. 4a. 34. The H.emdat legend, in its various forms, reflects the opinion found several times in midrashic sources, among contrary opinions, that even with the destruction of the Temple, the Shekhinah never left the site of the Western Wall. See Midrash Tehillimon Ps. 11:3 (ed. S. Buber [Vilna, 1891], pp. 99-100) and Shemot Rabbah 2:2; also Urbach, flazal, p. 44. The same view appears several times in Moses Alshekh's commentary on Lamentations 1:1-2. 35. Thompson, Motif Index, D. 1855. 36. Note R. J. Z. Werblowsky, Joseph Karo, Lawyer and Mystic (Oxford, 1962), pp.

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twenty-twoyears reflect,in addition, the role of study in connectionwith the practiceof the MidnightVigil. The legendincludesa dualepiphany;in the first,RabbiAbrahammerely beholds the Shekhinah,while in the second she speaks to him. The first is thoroughlysorrowfulin character,while in the second she mandatesconsolation to him. Her words "My son, Abraham"appearto be addressed both to Rabbi Abrahamand to the people of Abrahamour father,whom the Shekhinahconsoles throughhim. The readernotes, also, that the pattern of the dual epiphanyrecalls that found in the Apocalypseof Ezra. But while this legendof an encounterwith a femalefigureat the site of the Temple'sdestructionechoes the passage from Jeremiahand the older examples of the legend-traditionof the symbolic figure of a bereaved woman,certainreversalsof roles are evidentin it. Most significantly,unlike the otherexamplesand unlikethe passagein Jeremiah31, the femalefigure is not weeping; it is the man, Rabbi Abraham ha-Levi Berukhim,who weeps, while the Shekhinahconsoles him. The legend bespeaksnot divine empathyfor the plight of Israel'sexiles but ratherthe empathyof the Jew for the divine and for the Exile which the divine experiences.Divine empathy has given place to the theme of the Exile of the Shekhiinahso importantin the teachingof LurianicKabbalah,which saw in Israel'ssuffering and exile a symbol of the divine experiencingthe pain of a greater Exile.37In the process,the legendhas becomeinfinitelymoreappalling,even as, in daringlegendaryexpression,it has moved to the brinkof experiencing the divine in human form. Equallysignificantis the time of the vision and of the encounter:unlike all the older examples,it occursnot at the time of the destructionof Jerusalem but ratherveryclose to the time of the legend'sactualappearance,as it relates to two historicalpersonalitieswho could both be presentin Safed only duringthe verylast yearsof the Ari's life, from 1570to 1572,whenthe latter resided in Safed. It is a legend which, in its time, spoke not of the remote past but of the present. These changes and reversalsof roles can serveas keys to a morepreciseunderstandingof the legendof Berukhimand the Shekhinah. It is of the nature of legend that older stories and motifs are often

265-268. The version of the legend in Emek ha-Melekh explains the twenty-two years as relating to "the Shekhinah who is the Oral Torah which is constructed of twenty-two letters." 37. Gershom Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (New York, 1946), p. 249.

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attached to a new subject without any intrinsic connection between the hero and the content of the legend.38Such legends are generally highly conventional in nature. This legend of Rabbi Abraham ha-Levi Berukhim, in contrast, closely mirrors the specific activity of the devout man and his specific hour of history. More than anyone else in Safed, Rabbi Abraham ben Eliezer ha-Levi Berukhim is associated with the practice of the Midnight Vigil, which took firm root there during his time. "He would prepare early for the Midnight Vigil, walking around the marketplaces of the town to the street of the Jews, and he raised his voice in bitter crying," recalling to his townspeople the Exile of the Shekhinah and the tragic destruction of the Temple. And he would knock upon the doors and entrancesof the houses of the holy communityof Safedand would not give rest or quiet to any of the people of Israel,and they wouldrisein awe and dreadat the earlyhour until the sound of those studyingTorah could be heard quite some distanceaway.39 The rite of the Midnight Vigil epitomizes most clearly the ascetic character of the kind of ritual which was created in sixteenth-century Safed. That type of rite is basically one of mourning, even while its ultimate significance is to transcend the element of grief in making for a world in which exile and disrepair are annulled. In the legend, when the devout figure is told to go to the Western Wall, the site of the Temple's destruction, he is cast into a state of intense weeping. The reader is led to understand that due to the depth of the sorrow which the destruction of Jerusalem and the Exile of the Shekhinah have elicited in him, he is able to perceive the figure of the Shekhinah upon the Wall. Then, upon seeing the Divine Presence in a manner signifying her dejected state of exile, his grief deepens to the point of fainting. Immersed in weeping he reaches a kind of death-point in the account which then gives ways to a dream-vision in which the Shekhinah brings him out of his great sadness. Now no longer helpless, the Shekhinah not only dries his tears, acting out God's words to Rachel in Jeremiah 31:15, "Withhold . . . tears from your eyes," but also promises a different kind of future, one which parallels the new lease of life given to Berukhim. The rhythm of the legend gives expression to the basic formula underlying the ascetic rite which appeared following the expulsion 38. Hippolyte Delehaye, The Legends of the Saints (New York, 1962). 39. lemdat Yamim, vol. 2, p. 4a.

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of the Jews from Spain40and which becameso importantin Safed,the formula that the quest to experiencemost intenselythe sorrowof exile and to take the Exile of the Shekhinahto heartalso constitutesthe way to annul that sorrowand that exile. The way to the gates of tikkun,the repairof sin and exile, lies in immersingoneself in grief. As the weepingfigure in the legend, Rabbi Abrahamha-Levi Berukhimsuggeststhe role of the Jew in lamentingthe Exileof the Shekhinah,and the legendservesas a paradigmof such lament and of its significance.Kay ha-Yasharexplicitly brings the legend as a model for each and every Jew to follow in awakeningfor the MidnightVigil.41 The legend'slocation in time in the sixteenthcenturyratherthan at the hour of Jerusalem'sdestructionmakesfor a thrustwhich is directednot to the past destructionbut ratherto redemption.This note is voicedforcefully though subtly in the Ari's identificationof Rabbi Abrahamha-LeviBerukhim as a metempsychosis(gilgul) of the prophet Jeremiah,42with its particularramificationsfor the legend.Thatidentificationon the partof the Ari may well have been the genesisof the Berukhimlegend, for we are told that the Ari also identifiedothersof his contemporariesas metempsychoses of significantfiguresfrom biblicaland talmudictimes.43The identification implies a comparisonof the prophet'sgenerationwith that of the devout man from Safed:Jeremiahhad failedto bringhis contemporariesto the kind of repentancewhichcould have avertedthe destructionand the consequent exile, whereasAbrahamha-LeviBerukhim,in his day, succeededin large measure in awakeninghis generation to repentance.That awakeningis representedby their participationin the MidnightVigil-which by nature 40. On the background of the Midnight Vigil, see Ira Robinson, "Messianic Prayer Vigils in Jerusalem in the Early Sixteenth Century," Jewish Quarterly Review 72, no. 1 (July 1981): 32-42. 41. Kav ha- Yashar,chap. 93. The same legend in slightly different form appears in Hemdat Yamim,vol. 2, p. 4a, in the context of a discussion of the vigil observed on the day of fasting and reflection which precedes the appearance of the new moon. That ascetic rite establishes a connection between the blemish in the moon's light, the days of darkness preceding the reappearance of the moon, and the Exile of the Shekhinah. The rite, as described in Hemdat Yamim,is a distinctively Sabbatean ritual (Gershom Scholem, On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism [London, 1965], pp. 152-153; also Behinot be-Vikkoret u-ve-Sifrut, vol. 8 [Jerusalem, 1955], pp. 15-16), and while it is not explicitly mentioned in the legend of Rabbi Abraham ben Eliezer Berukhim in that source, the description of the rite in the textual context of the legend has the effect of providing a sanction for the later Sabbatean rite in the practice of the generation of the Ari and of Rabbi Abraham ha-Levi Berukhim. 42. Kav ha-Yashar, chap. 93; Shivbei ha-Ari in Sefer Toledot ha-Ari, p. 228. 43. Sefer Toledot ha-Ari, pp. 155, 164, 189, 258.

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echoes the biblical Book of Lamentations, traditionally ascribed to Jeremiah-and in the studysessionfollowingthe Vigil.The act of a physical awakeningfrom slumberparallelsan inner event of spiritualawakening. Berukhim'sendeavorbore significantlygreaterfruitand, hence,withit bore promiseof awakeningdivinecompassion.Thiscomparisonis, indeed,made very explicit in Hemdat Yamim:"Whereaswhen Jeremiahused to rebuke Israelthey neitherlistenednor inclinedthe ear, now [RabbiAbraham's]fear and awe fell upon all Jews, all of whom acceptedhis discipline.""44 The age of Jeremiahis associatedwith the Exile of the Shekhinah.The movementof repentancewith its asceticritesin the time of RabbiAbraham ha-Levi Berukhimis, conversely,a sign of the movementtowardredemption and, with it, the restorationof the Shekhinahto her former glory. Hencethe parallelmust be understoodas mirroringa basicconfidencethat the communityof Safedwas clearlyon the path of tikkun,of the repairof exileitself. In sharpcontrastwith otherlegendsof that sametime and place, such as those of the failedredemptivemoment,45this legendsuggestsa confidence with no place for despair. The older legend-traditionhas been radicallyremoldedin such a way that the very scene of the destructionof Jerusalemand of the Exile of the Divine Presencebecomes the scene of a promiseof imminentredemptionin the wake of the expressionsof repentance and spiritualawakeningin the Safed community. Sufficientattentionhas yet to be given to the narrativeart evidentin the legends,moraltales, and parablespreservedlargelyeitherin the collections of legends or in the popular kabbalisticethical texts written in sixteenthcenturySafedand elsewherethroughoutthe followingcenturyand a half.A significantaspectof that artis suggestedin the abilityto remoldmucholder narrativetraditionsin a way that gave expressionto the particularspiritual worldof sixteenth-centurySafedand to its senseof its own hourin history. Troy,N.Y. Thisstudyreflects,in part,researchconductedat OxfordandJerusalemduringthe summer of 1983with the assistanceof a researchstipendawardedby the NationalEndowmentfor the Humanities. 44. Hemdat Yamim, vol. 2, p. 4a. 45. Emek ha-Melekh, third introduction, chap. 7, p. 13a; I-emdat Yamim,vol. 1 (Shabbat), pp. 40a, 81a; Ma'asei Nissim (Constantinople, 1720), p. 8a; Sefer Toledot ha-Ari, pp. 168-169.

Jewish Religious Thought in Early Victorian London Author(s): Steven Singer Source: AJS Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 181-210 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486259 . Accessed: 30/06/2011 01:43 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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JEWISHRELIGIOUSTHOUGHT IN EARLY VICTORIAN LONDON by STEVEN SINGER Religiousthoughtand observancealmostneverexist in a self-contained vacuum but are rather influenced,to a greater or lesser extent, by their social and ideologicalsurroundings.A studyof the spirituallife of earlyVictorianJewryprovidesa good exampleof this law of historyand showshow a Jewishcommunity'sreligiousbeliefsand actions can be shapedand even dominatedby the influenceof its Gentile host society. An analysisof early VictorianJudaismis reallyan investigationinto the social dynamicsof the Londoncommunityand a studyof how the endeavorsof its variousfactions to adapt to the mid-nineteenth-century Englishworld affectedits religious life. The nineteenthcenturywas one of greatturmoilfor the Jewsof Western Europe.Old institutionsand ways of livingwereabandonedwhile new ones took their place. The Jewish communitiesin this part of the world were thrustinto a radicalprocessof transformation,and they emergedvery differentfrom what they had been like only a short time before.The old legal and social barrierswhich had effectivelyisolated most Jews from the nonJewishworld began to crumble,and the Jew emerged,recognizedas a free and equal humanbeing,with the full rightof participatingin secularEuropean society. The basic problemwhich arose as a resultof this processwas the need for the Jew to find a way throughwhich he could define his religiousand ethnic identity, so that he could be acceptedin the modern secularworld and yet retainhis specificJewishorientation.The old conceptof the Jews,as a people in exile among the Gentileswith little interestin the world outside 181

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of their own community, was no longer satisfactory for individuals who wanted very much to enter the secular world and play a role in it. The various attempts made during the nineteenth century to reform Jewish worship and theology and to develop scientific Judaic studies were all really endeavors to solve the question of how one could leave medieval Judaism behind and still remain a Jew in the modern world. In discussing this basic theme of nineteenth-century Jewish history, it is necessary to remember that the transformation of Western European Jewry was not a uniform process which was the same for all communities and for all economic and social classes. There were great differences in the speed and direction of the trend toward acculturation and modernization among the different segments of Western European Jewry. For example, rich Jews from urban areas, who had high social and economic ambitions, reacted to the demands of the new age quite differently than did the rural poor or the lower classes in the cities. It is very misleading to take the adaptation process experienced at this time by the wealthy Jews of such German cities as Berlin and Hamburg, typified by the Haskalah and the beginnings of Reform Judaism, as a model for the modernization of the entire Western Jewish world. The latter process was actually far more complex and intricate.' While it is inaccurate to take the acculturation undergone by one element of a specific Jewish community and automatically apply it to all segments of that group, it is perhaps even more incorrect to extend, without full investigation, all the details of the modernization process experienced by the Jews of one country to those of another. It should be obvious that the different national Jewish communities were affected by quite varied demands and pressures and often did not react in the same way to the dictates of the nineteenth century. Despite this truism, historians who have dealt with the religious life of early Victorian Anglo-Jewry have exhibited a definite tendency of trying to force that community's pattern of thought and practice into the mold of what was happening at the same time on the Continent, without attempting to see if such a communal portrait was in accord with the facts. In a vain search for historical consistency, they have, by and large, tried to define the spiritual life of the London community in terms that

1. A discussion of the many variations involved in this modernization process can be found in Todd M. Endelman, The Jews of Georgian England 1714-1830: Traditionand Change in a Liberal Society (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1979), pp. 4-8.

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weretrue of contemporaryGermanurbancenters,but werenot necessarily true of London itself. In Germanyat this time, and to someextentelsewhereon the Continent as well, Reform Judaismwas increasinglybeing embracedby the Jewish upperand middleclasses.Thesewell-offgroupswereinfluencedby various factors in their decision to reject Orthodoxy.These reasons included an often unexpresseddesire to make Judaismconform to the model of the dominantChristianfaith and a feelingthat the traditionalJewish lifestyle was incongruouswith the nineteenth-centuryWesternworld. One of the majordeterminantsfor this behaviorpatternwas the fact that the wealthier GermanJewswereabsorbedin a ferventstrugglefor emancipationand full acceptance throughout these years. To convince their governmentsand Gentile neighbors that they were worthy of these privileges,these individuals felt it necessaryto advocate the abandonmentof the ritual and nationalistic parts of Judaism which set them apart from their fellow citizens.Orthodoxyremained,to a largeextent,the faithof the poorer,often rural elementswithin the Jewish community.2 Scholarswritingon the religiouslife of earlyVictorianLondon,in which a Reformcongregationwas begun by a small wealthygroup in 1840,have describedthat community'scharacteristicsin similar terms. Lucien Wolf claims that the struggle for full enfranchisementmade it necessary for wealthy LondonJews to abandonOrthodoxyand removethe nationalistic and irrationalelementsof Judaismfromtheirfaith.He arguesthat therewas

2. Reform Judaism on the Continent was not confined exclusively to the upper classes. It contained sizable elements of the middle classes as well. Michael A. Meyer, "Hakamoto shel ha-Hekal be-Hamburg," in Perakim be-Toledot ha-flebrah ha-Yehudit, ed. E. Atkes and Y. Shulman (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1980), pp. 218-224, makes the point that most of the founders of the Hamburg Temple were either middle class or upper middle class. It is certain, however, that by the end of the century the majority of Orthodoxy's following was found among the poorer rural Jews of Germany. Most historians argue that an important cause in the spread of Reform was a desire to prove that the Jews were worthy of emancipation. For example, see Howard Morley Sachar, The Course of Modern Jewish History (New York: Dell, 1958), pp. 148-149. Michael A. Meyer, German Political Pressure and Jewish Religious Response in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Leo Baeck Institute, 1981), pp. 11-14, argues that Jewish leaders in the struggle for emancipation repeatedly and publicly declared their unwillingness to change religious beliefs or rituals in order to secure political rights. These pronouncements may have been made in order to preserve Jewish self-respect, but Meyer brings no proof that such unexpressed desires did not play a role in the spread of Reform during this period.

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actuallya directlink betweeneventsin Germanyand those in London,stating that "the new departurein destructivereformpreachedby Geiger, in Germany,in 1838... gave the cue to the unrestof the EnglishReformers."3 Lipmanagreeswith this thesisand maintainsthat the revoltagainstOrthodoxy in London at this time was caused by the desire for emancipation joined with the importedideas of the MendelssohnianHaskalahand German Reform.4Otherhistorianshave generallyfollowedthis interpretation.5 The truth, however,is quite different.A close study revealsthat there was little similaritybetweenthe course of religiousdevelopmentsin midnineteenth-centuryGermany and those in London. On the contrary, England provided a completely alternativemodel of secularizationand modernizationto the one beingcreatedin Germany.The aspectof the German Jewishexperiencein which the greatmajorityof the upperclass advocated ReformJudaismwas not at all characteristicof London.In England, the bulkof the wealthywithinthe Jewishcommunityfoundwaysof reacting to the pressuresexertedby the nineteenthcenturywhilestill remainingwithin the Orthodoxfold. Indeed,this patternof religiositymay have beenmore typicalof generaldevelopmentswithinthe entireWesternJewishworldthan the one heretoforedepictedby most historiansfor Germany.6

3. Lucien Wolf, "The Queen's Jewry," in Essays in Jewish History, ed. Cecil Roth (London: Jewish Historical Society of England, 1934), p. 318. 4. Vivian David Lipman, "The Age of Emancipation," in Three Centuries of Anglo-Jewish History, ed. Vivian David Lipman (Cambridge: Jewish Historical Society of England, 1961), pp. 82-84. 5. For example, David Philipson, The Reform Movement in Judaism (New York: Macmillan, 1931), p. 92, is completely unaware of any differences between the pressure for religious change in Germany and England, stating that "the influence of the movement for reform in Germany ... was of moment in the agitation for religious reform in England." Israel Finestein, A Short History ofA nglo-Jewry (London: Lincolns-Prager, 1957), p. 99, similarly notes that "it was inevitable that Anglo-Jewry should feel the impact of the changes which followed the life's work of Moses Mendelssohn," and that Reform Judaism "appeared to some, not only in Germany, to be natural and proper advances in an enlightened age." 6. There definitely was a socioeconomic cleavage along religious lines in contemporary German Jewry, with the upper class favoring Reform and the less wealthy backing Orthodoxy. However, Orthodoxy survived among all classes in Germany to a much greater extent than is usually realized. See Jacob Toury, "'Deutsche Juden' im Vormfirz," Bulletin des Leo Baeck Instituts 8 (1965): 65-82, and Steven M. Lowenstein, "The Pace of Modernisation of German Jewry," Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook21 (1976): 41-54. Nineteenth-century France certainly provides somewhat of an exception to the pattern usually depicted for all the Western communities. Although the wealthy there were generally nonobservant and in favor of ritual change, to an extent much greater than in England, they still did not consider themselves Reform Jews or formally break their links with Orthodox Judaism. See Phyllis Cohen Albert,

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OrthodoxJudaismremainedthe creedof the overwhelmingmajorityof the London communityduring these years, includingthe sizable preponderance of the Anglo-Jewishupper class, who were also simultaneously striving for emancipationand full acceptanceinto Gentile society. The London Reform congregationonly attractedthe supportof a minorityof the wealthythroughoutthis periodand neversucceeded,as ReformJudaism did on the Continentand in America,in becomingthe representativeof the acculturatedand modernizedsegmentof the community.Men of the stature of Salomons, Montefiore,and the Rothschildsremainedwithin the Orthodox fold and did not feel that their loyalty to this version of their faith inhibited their social or political advancementin Gentile society. In this connection it should be noted that even the London reformers,who had officially left Orthodoxy,had little in common with the followers of the Continentalmovementbearingthe samename.They werefar moremoderate and closer to Orthodoxythan reformerswere elsewhere.It was this acceptanceof Orthodoxyand the lack of a desirefor Reformby the most acculturatedand modernizedclass in the communitywhich set London apart as a unique exampleof Jewish life in the nineteenthcentury. This is not to say that London was a bastion of traditionalOrthodox belief and practiceduringthis period. A large portion of the community, including most of the upper-classgroup, had drifted quite far from true Orthodoxideas and observances,retainingan outwardloyaltyto that creed whichwas often not consistentwith theirpersonalbeliefsand actions.However, they did not advocatethe acceptanceof ReformJudaismas a resultof their own lack of conformityto tradition,but ratherformeda partywhich remainedwithinthe Orthodoxcommunity,whileit was, in reality,no longer Orthodoxin many importantways. The religiously involved mid-nineteenth-centuryOrthodox London communitycan be dividedinto two distinctfactions.One was the partyof the old-style traditionalists,who were roughlycomparablein their beliefs

The Modernization of French Jewry (Hanover, N.H.: Brandeis University Press, 1977), pp. 50-54. There has been little research done on actual religious practice in the United States during these years, but here, too, the great majority of the community seems to have been nominally Orthodox, at least until 1870. See Leon A. Jick, The Americanization of the Synagogue, 1820-1870 (Hanover, N.H.: Brandeis University Press, 1976), pp. 174-194. Of course England differed from other Western communities in the depth to which traditionalism survived there, but the sweeping pattern of Reform coming to control the Western world by the middle of the nineteenth century does not seem to be incontestably true.

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and practicesto those groups in other Westerncountrieswho remained loyal to Orthodox Judaism. The second faction was composed of the wealthyupperclass,who remainedwithinthe Orthodoxcommunitydespite theirrejectionof that faithin manyaspectsof theirlives. For lackof a better term the first group can be referredto as traditionalistsand the secondas progressives,althoughthey themselvesdid not use these labels.It shouldbe noted that many, perhaps the majorityof the Jews of London, did not belongto eitherof thesetwo parties,sincetheyweresimplynot interestedor motivatedenough to take a stand on religiousmatters.'Nevertheless,it is only by a studyof thesetwo factions,who werethe activeforcesin the community'sreligiouslife, that a clearpicturecan be gainedof Judaismin midnineteenth-centuryLondon. The ideologicalposition of the London traditionalistsis quite easy to understand.These Jews were believersin OrthodoxJudaism,not only in namebut in realityas well. Theirideasand beliefsdid not differsignificantly fromthose held by Orthodoxcontemporarieselsewherein the Jewishworld. Basically their creed was identical with the traditionalinterpretationof Orthodoxythat had beenhandeddown throughthe ages. Manytraditionalists seem to have acceptedthe adaptationof certainelementsof Judaismto the Englishenvironment,when this modernizationwas confinedto minor matters,such as the outwardappearanceof the synagogueand the titles of its functionaries.8However,their willingnessto accept this relativelyun-

7. For example, John Mills, in his contemporary survey of the community and its religious life, noted that there were numerous Jews "to whom ... many of the facts recorded in the following pages are as strange as to the Christian reader." John Mills, The British Jews (London: Houlston & Stoneman, 1853), p. vi. A magazine article similarly observed that most Jewish youth were "equally free from the superstitions of their own sect and disinclined to take upon their necks the yoke of any other," while a contemporary novel described a wealthy Jew, undoubtedly typical of many, who, "solicitous to see his people relieved from the pressure of civil disabilities," had educated his son "in a large school, where all religious differences were smoothed down." See "The Jews of Western Europe," WestminsterReview, April 1863, p. 246, and Charlotte Elizabeth [Mrs. Tonna], Judah's Lion (New York: M. W. Dodd, 1843), pp. 5-6, respectively. The best indication that this group was substantial is provided by Jewish Chronicle, 1 June 1855, which claimed that there were 3,692 Orthodox synagogue seats in London at a time that the Jewish community numbered between 20,000 and 25,000. While this figure is definitely too low, since it ignores the many bevrot, as well as the poor who could not afford synagogue seats, it is still indicative of this situation. 8. The trend toward the Anglicization of these relatively minor parts of the community's religious life is discussed in Israel Finestein, "Anglo-Jewish Opinion During the Struggle for Emancipation," Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England 20 (1964): 124, and Vivian David Lipman, "The Anglo-Jewish Community in Victorian Society," in Folklore

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important degree of Anglicization was not symptomatic of any change in their theoretical position. In their ideology the traditionalists remained firmly grounded in the doctrines of classical Orthodoxy without any significant change. The progressives, in contrast, had developed a totally original view of Jewish belief and practice. While they maintained an outward loyalty to Orthodoxy and the Orthodox community, much of this allegiance was ostensible rather than real. In actuality this group had arrived at a unique understanding of Judaism, peculiar to early Victorian London, which constituted a dramatic break with traditional Orthodox Judaism. The extent to which this revolt by the progressives against Orthodoxy was a totally original development has not been appreciated by previous historians. These writers have portrayed the intellectual movement away from Orthodoxy in London as a parallel trend to the drift from traditional belief and thought occurring in Germany at this time.9 The truth, however, is quite the opposite. There was little similarity between the ideology motivating the London upper class in their rebellion against tradition and the ideas inspiring their German coreligionists. The beliefs and doctrines of German Reform found little popular acceptance across the Channel and had almost no effect on Jewish thought in early Victorian London. The lack of any connection between the ideas of the progressives and those advocated by the German reformers is quite evident from the critical reception given by the intellectual leaders of the London group to the measures adopted by their Continental brethren. For example, the Jewish

Research Center Studies, vol. 5, ed. Dov Noy and Issachar Ben Ami (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1975), p. 158. It is quite significant that there is relatively little mention in the records of the period of opposition by traditionalists toward these developments. Some members of this faction, especially the recent immigrants, were uncomfortable with this trend and did show their unhappiness by leaving the large "English" synagogues for the newly emerbing bevrot during this period. However, many traditionalists, perhaps even the majority of the faction, remained in the congregations exhibiting such minor signs of Anglicization, which, it seems, they were able to accept with equanimity. This was particularly true of the native-born or -bred upper-class members of this group. 9. Both Finestein and Lipman in their surveys of this period describe the community's growing disloyalty to tradition without noting that, at least on the part of the progressives, there was an original ideological basis for this departure from Orthodoxy. Indeed, they seem to be unaware of the existence of such an ideological group within the community. See Finestein, Short History, pp. 126-128, and Vivian David Lipman, Social History of the Jews in England 1850-1950 (London: Watts, 1954), pp. 34-40. The ideas of German Reform are the only intellectual influences on the early Victorian community which are noted by these historians. For example, see Finestein, Short History, p. 99, and Lipman, "Age of Emancipation," pp. 82-84.

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Chronicle, the leading progressive voice in the community, noted that the conference of Reform rabbis held at Frankfurt in 1845, which had permitted public prayer in the vernacular and accepted the introduction of the organ, had "gone so far" that English Jews could not support its conclusions.'0 Similarly, in 1855 the Chronicle observed that some congregations in Germany had instituted prayers in the vernacular, but that "we, however, consider such an innovation as unnecessary, fraught with mischief, and likely to deprive Jews of a certain aptitude which we should deplore as a real loss."" Marcus Breslau, editor of the Chronicle,probably summed up the feelings of his party about the most extreme German reformers when he denounced them as "infidels, who have thrown off the burden of all religion, who discard the oral and adopt only a few of the written laws which suit their convenience."'2 The London progressives arrived at their original view of Judaism by advocating a neo-Karaite exposition of their faith. In accordance with this concept they accepted all the biblical laws as divine and binding while rejecting the entire interpretative body of rabbinic tradition embodied in the Talmud. Unlike the German reformers they did not deny the authority of the ceremonial requirementsof the Bible, but rather maintained that all such biblical laws were fully incumbent on the modern Jew. The progressives' break with Orthodoxy was caused by their rejection, in a remarkable reenactment of the Karaite controversy of a millennium before, of the Oral Law and the rabbinic tradition. There was, of course, no direct link between the medieval Karaites and these nineteenth-century rebels against Orthodoxy, but the similarity in their views is most striking. This neo-Karaite view of Judaism was not confined to the progressives but was accepted by the London Reform congregation as well. Indeed, that group espoused this philosophy to a far greater and more open degree than did the progressives. This was because the latter, as nominal members of the Orthodox community, were unable to express their opinions as clearly and

10. Jewish Chronicle, 17 October 1845. A summary of the Frankfurt conference is given in Philipson, Reform Movement, pp. 163-183. A detailed description of how the Chronicle was consistently in the forefront of those attacking the traditionalists during these years can be found in The Jewish Chronicle 1841-1941 (London: Jewish Chronicle, 1949), pp. 31-34. 11. Jewish Chronicle, 29 June 1855. 12. Hebrew Observer,4 March 1853. Breslau was here reviewing a book of sermons by the radical Reform leader Samuel Holdheim. Again in 1857 the Chroniclereported critically on the growth of Reform Judaism in Berlin and how, as a result, "many of the rising generation manifest but too much proneness to sink the Jew in the citizen." Jewish Chronicle, 30 January 1857.

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as vociferouslyas werethe former.Neo-Karaism,on the part of many progressives,was often not a clearlystatedposition, but ratheran unexpressed assumptionwhich underlaytheir actions. As far as the London reformers were concerned,however,such ideas were the openly stated beliefsof their faith. In practicalterms,though,the viewsof both groupswerealmostidentical. They only differedin the extent to which they had developedtheir ideas and publiclygiven expressionto them. The writingsof Grace Aguilar, a leading Anglo-Jewishauthor of this period, providea good exampleof how neo-Karaitethinkingwas adopted by the progressives.Aguilar, who was born in 1816 to an old London Sephardicfamily, was raised in a remote area of Devonshire,where she came into close contactwith the strongProtestantclimateof ruralEngland. Alarmedby Christianattemptsto converther brethren,she was moved to writea seriesof books in orderto explainJudaismto English-speaking Jews and give Jewishyouth pridein theirreligiousheritage.'3Aguilarhad no connectionwith the Londonreformers,beingrathera progressivewhose father and brotherwere active in Bevis Marks,and her works providea mine of informationfor the religiousviewsof the factionwith which shewas associated.'4 In her writings Aguilar continuallyplaced the Bible on a pedestal of unquestionedauthorityand simultaneouslydowngradedthe Oral Law as having little importance.For example, she declaredthat "the Bible and reason are the only guides to which the child of Israelcan look in security. The laws for which we can find no foundationin one, and which will not stand the test of the other ... are wanderings from the true and only law,

the inventionsof man and not the words of God." She then concludedthis argumentby statingthat "thoseobservances. .. for whichno reasoncan be assignedsave the ideas of our ancientfathers,cannotbe comparedin weight

13. A study of her life and work can be found in Beth-Zion L. Abrahams, "Grace Aguilar," Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England 16 (1952): 137-148. 14. The fact that Aguilar forwarded a copy of her book The Jewish Faith to Chief Rabbi Adler for review is a clear indication of her at least nominal loyalty to Orthodoxy. A notation of a letter from Adler to Aguilar, dated 22 November 1846, in which the chief rabbi returned her book "with thanks," is listed in Index, vol. 84, Records of the Office of the Chief Rabbi. However, nothing more than this is recorded about the contents of the letter. Acceptance of her views by the progressives is indicated in James Picciotto, Sketches ofAnglo-Jewish History, 2d ed., edited by Israel Finestein (London: Soncino Press, 1956), p. 355, where the author, a definite progressive, noted that Aguilar in her works "displays signs of no mean acquaintance with Jewish and Christian philosophers and divines."

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and consequence to the piety of the heart, which but too often they supersede."'5 Again she criticized Jews who, "earnest in the cause, yet mistaken in the means, search and believe the writings of the Rabbis, take as divine truths all they have suggested, and neglect the Bible as not to be compared with such learned dissertations."'6 In another connection Aguilar emphasized the importance of teaching the Bible to Jewish children, since it would cause them "to rise superior to the superstitions of tradition and prejudice, which have shackled them so long, and to look to their Bibles alone for support."'7 As a nominally Orthodox Jew, Aguilar did not openly reject the Oral Law but rather downplayed its importance. In one passage she called the talmudic rabbis "holy and good men," but went on to argue that they never intended their enactments to remain for all time. "Circumstances," she asserted, "demand the modification, even the alteration, of some of these Rabbinical statutes; and could the wise and pious originators have been consulted on the subject, they would have unhesitatingly adopted those measures."'8 On another occasion she attempted to avoid the entire question of the Oral Law by noting that "we allude not to the Oral Law, nor would we enter into the wild labyrinth of pros and cons, with which this question is now agitating the whole Jewish nation. Our aim is simply to explain the words of the Bible."''1Again she observed that "of the delivery or non-delivery by the Eternal of an oral law, we write not at all. . . . we are

ready and willing to submit our opinions on all points to the wisdom and piety of our venerable sages," provided that "the Bible . . . be the key to

both laws, and so perfect in itself."20

15. Grace Aguilar, The Spirit of Judaism, ed. Isaac Leeser (Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1842), p. 228. This work was edited by Leeser, a traditional Orthodox Jew, who often took issue with Aguilar's views in his footnotes to the text. 16. Ibid., p. 51. Her concept of the Bible is clear from her statement that "the Bible must not be considered, as it unfortunately too often is, synonymous with the Pentateuch. The same Almighty . .. who inspired Moses to write those five books, inspired other holy men. ... One part is quite as holy and quite as binding as the other." Grace Aguilar, The Jewish Faith (Philadelphia: L. Johnson, 1864), p. 66. This was again a departure from traditional Orthodoxy, which, in contrast to Christianity and Karaism, always accepted the greater authority of the Pentateuch. 17. Aguilar, Spirit of Judaism, p. 103. She obviously was referring to the traditionalists when she criticized those in the community who were "well versed in traditional lore, but wholly ignorant of the spirit of the Bible." Ibid., p. 101. 18. Grace Aguilar, The Women of Israel, 2 vols. (New York: D. Appleton, 1854), 2:285. 19. Aguilar, Spirit of Judaism, p. 31. 20. Aguilar, Womenof Israel, 2:262. Aguilar's tendency toward neo-Karaism was noted by

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The views expressed by Aguilar were characteristic of the thinking of other progressives as well. For example, Aguilar developed the idea of a "scriptural Judaism" that would be faithful to the Bible rather than the Oral Law.2' This same concept was expressed by Moses Angel, headmaster of the Jews' Free School and a leading progressive, who stated that he wanted to "preserve only principles and scriptural ceremonies . . . because they alone are eternal."22In another passage Angel again criticized rabbinic tradition, noting that "the religion of Moses is not attacked, for no system can be more pure or more perfect," but that "what suited admirably the exposition of Judaism before the world in 1100, is by no means adapted to represent it in the nineteenth century."23 London reformers had also used the term "scriptural" to express their revolt against the Oral Law, claiming that "the had been one of adoption of a more simple and scriptural book of prayers"'24 the reasons for their break with Orthodoxy. A striking illustration of the extent to which neo-Karaite ideas had penetrated the progressive community is provided by the controversy at this time over the introduction of civil divorce for Anglo-Jewry. Until 1857 the chief rabbi and the bet din were the only authorities recognized by the government as possessing the right to dissolve Jewish marriages. In that year, however, a bill was introduced in Parliament to deprive the bet din of this right and make Jews subject to the secular in divorce matters. This caused Chief Rabbi Adler to send a letter to the Board of Deputies, which was the recognized community spokesman, urging that body to oppose the bill. During the board's discussion of the question a speaker attempted to support Adler's position by noting that with this bill "a distinct law of Moses, which they were all bound to obey, would be set aside. It was not tradition, it was the written law which would be violated." An opponent of the letter then responded that it was untrue that the proposed measure would contradict the Bible, since "the Biblical law spoke of a letter of divorcement . . . but makes no mention whatever of the interposition of an ecclesiastical court."25

a contemporary who wrote that she had "bent the combined energies of a life of love and hope towards disassociating the synagogue from tradition, and leading it back to the Old Testament." "Grace Aguilar and Modern Judaism," Eclectic Review, February 1858, p. 139. 21. Aguilar, Jewish Faith, p. 441. 22. Moses Angel, The Law of Sinai (London: William Tegg, 1858), p. 311. A biography of Angel can be found in Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. "Angel, Moses." 23. Ibid., p. 306. 24. The Appeal of the Congregation of the West London Synagogue of British Jews to Their Brother Israelites Throughoutthe United Kingdom (London: J. Wertheimer, 1846), p. 4. 25. Jewish Chronicle, 3 July 1857.

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Herewe havethe strangespectacleof the centralbody of a nominallyOrthodox communitydebatingwhethera rabbinicaldivorcewas of importance sinceit was not clearlyspecifiedin the Bible.Eventhe speakerwho defended the get arguedfor it as "a law of Moses ... the writtenlaw,"undoubtedlyin responseto the well-knownviews of his progressivecolleagues.Such a discussion would have been impossible elsewherein the Orthodox Jewish world and was a clearrevelationof the neo-Karaiteviewswhichweredominant in some London circles. A novel by an anonymousJewishwriterof this periodsimilarlyreflects theseideas.One of this book's charactersis a memberof the Orthodoxcommunity describedas "a reformerin everythingbut name,"who "admired the institutionsand the new method of carryingout the Jewishreligion,"26 obviously a phenomenoncommon to many progressiveswho officially remainedwithin the Orthodox fold. The thinking of such Jews is clearly revealedby an argumentin the story betweenthis characterand his traditionalistnephew,in whichthe uncle indignantlydemandsto know why the Sabbathis prolonged"fromtwenty-fourto nearlytwenty-eighthours ... whenit is distinctlyordainedthat the Sabbathshallcontinuefrom'sunsetto sunset'?"When the nephewanswersthat the rabbishad lengthenedit, the. uncle respondsby asking:"What right have they to make new laws?"27 It was clearly this popular neo-Karaiteapproach to Judaism which Chief Rabbi Adler meant to attack when he spoke at the WesternSynagogue in 1856about "the false views . . entertainedby manyof our brethren" and explained that he was referringto "false notions about the authorityof our sages."28Again the chief rabbi undoubtedlyhad the progressivesin mind when in 1854he denounced"some within our own pale who will believe in the divinityof the writtenlaw, and who yet deny the A divinity of the oral law ... like the Sadducees. . . and the Karaites."29 similarresponsewas madeto this groupby a traditionalistworkof the time, which observedthat the Oral Law "has been made the subject of much

26. Nathan Meritor [pseud.], The Hasty Marriage (London: Mann Nephews, 1857), p. 9. 27. Ibid., pp. 29-30. 28. Jewish Chronicle,4 July 1856. Adler probably picked this congregation for such a warning just because of its pronounced progressive leanings. It was probably the place in London that, in his view, most required such a sermon. 29. Nathan Marcus Adler, Solomon's Judgement: A Picture of Israel (London: J. Wertheimer, 1854), p. 9.

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discussion-andaccordingto my ideas,unnecessarily so," since"thereis not a shadowof a doubt ... that the whole law now in our possession,both scripturaland oral, was communicatedto Moses by the mouth of God."30 Due to their uniqueview of Judaism,the progressivesdid not rejectthe ceremoniallaws of the Bible,as was being done at this time by those groups breakingaway from traditionalOrthodoxyelsewherein the Jewishworld. The progressives,having placed so much emphasis on the words of the Bible, obviouslycould not call for the abolition of institutionswhich were clearlyprescribedin that book. For example,Aguilardefendedthe dietary laws, "whicharegenerallyseizedupon by nominalreligionists,and declared to relate solely to the EasternnatiQns,"since "we have the evidenceof the whole Pentateuch ... to convince us that the same infinite Mercy framed

these, comparativelytrivialas they are, as everyotherwhichHis book contains."3'In a similarvein she urgedthe wearingof phylacteriesand fringes as the "adoptionof the ancientdressin the hours of prayer,"given "to aid and strengthenthe spirit of piety."32However, despite this nominal allegiance to the ceremoniallaws, therewas a cleartendencyon the partof the progressivesto emphasizethe greater importanceof the ethical ideas of Judaism.Aguilarexpressedthis conceptby writingthat "ritualobservances ... cannotbe comparedin weightand consequenceto the pietyof the heart, which but too often, they supersede,"33 while Angel noted that "in the zeal with which orthodoxyhas clung to the shell it has lost the kernel."34This trendactuallyconstitutedone of the few similaritiesbetweenthe ideasof the London groupand those of theirContinentalcoreligionistsrebellingagainst Orthdoxy at this time. As mentionedearlier,the Londonreformersespouseda view of Judaism that was basicallyidenticalwith that of the progressives.Indeed,the former were even more vigorouslyneo-Karaitein their beliefsthan the latter.This is a point which has been unappreciatedby most historians,who usually describethe London reformersas an Englishbranchof the Reformmovement developingin Germanyat this time. The truth,however,is that there

30. Miriam Mendes Belisario, Sabbath Evenings at Home (London: S. Joel, 1856), p. 136. 31. Aguilar, Spirit of Judaism, p. 237. In another work she similarly praised a child who refused nonkosher food as having "upheld the sanctity of her religious ordinances." Aguilar, Women of Israel, 2:64. 32. Aguilar, Spirit of Judaism, p. 216. 33. Ibid., p. 228. 34. Angel, Law of Sinai, p. 308.

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wasalmostno connection betweentheideasof thisLondongroupandthose of theirContinental contemporaries.35

It is only by being awareof the uniqueneo-Karaismwhich permeated

the Londoncommunitythat the ideologyand practicesof the London Reformcongregationcan be understood.For example,the prayerbookused by this group was far more conservativethan anythingadvocatedby Ger-

man Reformat this time.Boththe musafservice,withits mentionof the restoration of thesacrificial cult,aswellastheprayersforthereturnto Zion and the coming of the Messiahwere retainedunabridgedby the London

at a timewhenGermanReformwasunitedin oppositionto congregation, thosepartsof theliturgy.36Inaddition,thelawsof theLondoncongregation requiredthat all prayersbe recitedexclusivelyin Hebrew,somethingwhich would have been completelyunacceptableto reformerselsewhere.37Even

the structure of thegroup'ssanctuary conformed,duringits earlyyears,to

Orthodoxpractice,with the reader'splatformbeingplacedat the rearof the

synagogueratherthanat its front,whichwas somethingnot donein any

ContinentalReformsynagogue.38Furthermore,the London congregation

35. Philipson, Reform Movement, p. 92, claims that English Reform was a direct result of the German movement, as do Finestein, Short History, p. 99, and Lipman, "Age of Emancipation," pp. 82-84. Two recent historians are, however, aware that there was a difference between the English movement and its German namesake. See Jakob J. Petuchowski, Prayerbook Reform in Europe (New York: World Union for Progressive Judaism, 1968), p. 66, and Robert Liberles, "The Origins of the Jewish Reform Movement in England," AJS Review 1 (1976): 135-137. However, neither of these two writers sufficiently emphasizes the huge gulf which separated the two movements. It should be noted that in the contemporary Manchester community, ideas imported from Germany did play a major role in the development of a Reform congregation. See Bill Williams, The Making of Manchester Jewry, 1740-1875 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1976), pp. 259-260. The Manchester congregation was dominated by recently arrived German immigrants, unlike the group in London, which was composed of native English families with a majority of Sephardim. 36. Philipson, Reform Movement, p. 101, and Petuchowski, Prayerbook Reform, pp. 66-68. There was debate within German Reform as to whether the musaf service should be totally omitted or whether it should be retained with the elimination of references to the sacrifices; however, no group within that movement favored the retention of this service without any change. The same was true of the petitions for the return to Zion and the coming of the Messiah. Petuchowski, Prayerbook Reform, pp. 240-246 and 277-297. 37. Laws and Regulations of the West London Synagogue of British Jews (London: J. Wertheimer, 1856), p. 2. This was after the Frankfurt Reform conference of 1845 had clearly stated that public prayer did not have to be in Hebrew. Philipson, Reform Movement, p. 163. 38. Jewish Chronicle, 29 June 1849, in a report of the dedication of the congregation's second building, mentioned this fact. The removal of the bimah to the front of the synagogue was a point of major conflict between Reform and Orthodox groups on the Continent. See

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continuedto advocatethe observanceof ceremoniallaws, such as phylacteries and kashrut,which werebeing attackedor deemphasizedby German Reform.39An interestingillustrationof how far loyalty to the ceremonial laws went on the part of some of the London reformersis provided by FredericDavid Mocatta,the son of a founderof the congregationand later one of its leaders,who observedthe Sabbathso strictlythat he neverwould ride in a carriageon that day.40 The London reformersopenly stated that neo-Karaismwas at the root of theirideology. David Marks,the ministerof the congregation,expressed this clearlywhen he proclaimedduringa sermonthat his party "solemnly deny, that a belief in the divinityof the traditionscontainedin the Mishna, and the Jerusalemand BabylonianTalmud,is of equal obligationto the Israelitewith the faith in the divinityof the Law of Moses."41A workof the time similarlyobserved, after describingthe Orthodoxbelief in the Oral Law, that "the Caraitesand some of the Jewsof the presentday, knownby

Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v. "Bimah." In the London congregation the platform was at the rear and not the center, in accordance with traditional Sephardic rather than Ashkenazic practice. Furthermore, this synagogue did not introduce an organ, which was everywhere the major dividing line between the Orthodox and the reformers, until 1859, almost twenty years after its founding. Philipson, Reform Movement, p. 106. 39. Voice of Jacob, 4 March 1842, noted that phylacteries were worn at this synagogue on Purim. Albert M. Hyamson, The London Board for Shechita 1804-1954 (London: By the Board, 1954), p. 24, describes how the congregation, after its formation in 1840, established a poulterer for whom its sexton, a licensed shobet, killed fowl. This fact was also noted by Belisario, Sabbath Evenings, p. 139, who stated that the reformers' meat was "provided only by Jewish butchers ... they will not eat it killed otherwise than according to our laws." Both phylacteries and the dietary laws were attacked by German Reform Judaism. See Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. "Phylacteries," and Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v. "Dietary Laws." 40. Alan Mocatta, "Frederic David Mocatta 1828-1905," Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England 23 (1971): 2. Jakob J. Petuchowski, "Karaite Tendencies in an Early Reform Haggadah," Hebrew Union College Annual 31 (1960): 223-249, mentions the unique neo-Karaism of the London reformers. He notes that the retention of the traditional musaf and lack of an organ are indications of how different their ideas were from German Reform. However, Petuchowski makes no complete survey of the London congregation's practices and theology, and how fully they accorded with the Karaite view. For example, he does not link the London group's retention of Hebrew prayers and the traditional petitions for the return to Zion and restoration of sacrifices to this faction's neo-Karaite scriptural theology. He similarly states that, aside from abolishing the second days of festivals, the congregation made no active efforts to repudiate rabbinic Judaism. No mention is made of the group's attitude and practices in regard to ceremonials and rituals of biblical origin. 41. David Woolf Marks, Sermons, 3 vols. (London: R. Groombridge, 1851-84), 1:7. Marks concluded this statement with the comment that "for Israelites, there is but One immutable Law-the sacred volume of the Scriptures."

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the name of 'ReformedIsraelites'do not subscribeto this doctrine.They professa beliefin the divinityof the writtenLaw only."42It is strikingthat this contemporarywriterwas awareof the almostidenticalviewof Judaism sharedby these early VictorianJews and the medievalKaraites. The creed and practicesof the secessionistLondon congregationwere completelyin accordancewith this neo-Karaiteway of thinking.Theirtraditionalstanceon questionssuch as the observanceof the ceremoniallaws, the restorationof sacrifices,the returnto Zion, and the use of Hebrewin prayerwas due, at least in an intellectualway, to the fact that all these requirementshad solid biblicalbacking.It would havebeenextremelydifficult for the reformers,given theirreverencefor the WrittenLaw,to oppose such measureslogically. On the other hand, they strongly advocatedthe abolitionof the second days of festivals,whichwas a proposalfound to be too radicalby some Germanreformersof the time.43Theirsupportof sucha revolutionarymove, so out of keepingwith their moderationon the other issues, can only be understoodas havingbeen due, at least in a theoretical sense, to the seconddays'providinga clearexampleof a rabbinicordinance which had supplantedan earlier biblical requirement.44 No better issue could have been chosenby the neo-Karaitesof Londonwith whichto show their rebellionagainst the Oral Law than this case, in which the rabbinic traditionactuallyseemedto contradictthe Bibleitself.Of course,theremay have been socioeconomicfactorswhich were also responsiblefor the support of thesepositionsby the Englishreformers,but the theoreticaljustification for their actions was definitelyprovidedby neo-Karaism.45

42. Moritz Davidsohn, Moral and Religious Guide(London: Houlston & Stoneman, 1855), p. 8. It has proven impossible to obtain any information about this author. 43. The observance of the second days of festivals was abolished by the London Reform congregation from its very inception. This practice was striking considering that body's moderation on other religious issues. This was indeed pointed out by an anonymous letter in Jewish Chronicle, 20 December 1844, which noted that the only real difference separating the reformers from Orthodoxy was their rejection of the second days. In Germany, on the other hand, much opposition to such an abolition was expressed at the Breslau Reform conference of 1846. Indeed, the conclusion of the conference was that the days should be retained in those communities where they were desired by the masses. Philipson, Reform Movement, pp. 214-215. 44. The origin of the second days and the relation of this observance to earlier biblical practice is described in Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v. "Festivals." 45. A recent attempt to explain the congregation's support for the abolition of the second days is given in Liberles, "Reform Movement," pp. 141-143. Liberles claims that the reformers' strong desire to achieve Jewish emancipation was responsible for their position on

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While the ideological views of the progressiveswere not expressedin

actionsto the sameextentas thoseof the reformers, did theynevertheless havea practicaleffectas well.Thiscanmostclearlybe seenfroma studyof the progressives'observanceof the Sabbath.Cessationof labor on the Sabbath was openly demandedby the Bible, but it was the Oral Law which spelledout specificallywhatactivitieswereto be includedin the prohibition. The progressives,who implicitlyrejectedthe authorityor at least the primacy of the OralLaw, developedtheirown guidelines,not necessarilyiden-

ticalwiththoseof rabbinictradition,regarding whatwasto be considered forbiddenlabor on the Sabbath.They seemto haveinterpretedthis prohibi-

tion as demanding a breakfromone'sactivityin earninga living,butnot a cessationfromotheractionsforbiddenby rabbinictradition,althoughnot done in seeking a livelihood. According to this view, an individualwho absentedhimselffrom his businesson Saturdaycould be considereda Sab-

bathobserver,eventhoughhe mightnot attendsynagogueon thatdayor refrainfrom smoking,handlingmoney, or any of the other OrthodoxSabbath prohibitions. The prevalenceof such beliefsand actions in progressivecirclesis indi-

catedby a sermongivenat theWesternSynagogue by HenryA. Henry,that congregation's preacher. In a speech on Sabbath observance, Henry stronglycondemnedthose who thoughtthat they fulfilledthis duty "by con-

sultingourownease-by indulgingin ourownpride... in a mannersuita-

ble only to our own feelingsand our own dispositions."46 In a clearallusion to the neo-Karaiteideas found amonghis audience,he noted that "we hal-

this issue. One of the charges often made at the time to deny Jews the right to hold public office was that their religion would interfere with their work due to the many holidays on which they were prohibited to labor. To counteract such a perception, he argues, the London reformers advocated the abolition of the second days, thereby attempting to reduce by half the number of festivals on which work was proscribed. This explanation probably has some truth in it, but the neo-Karaism of the reformers was certainlyjust as important in influencing their position. The group's traditional stands on Hebrew prayer and the return to Zion were also undoubtedly influenced by the reverence for such ideas current in early Victorian Christian society and not only by the reformers' neo-Karaite beliefs. These influences are more fully described at the end of this paper. 46. Henry A. Henry, Six Discourses on the Principles of the Religious Belief of Israel (London: By the Author, 1845), p. 124. Henry was born in London and educated at the Jews' Free School. He served as preacher and bazzan of the Western Synagogue from 1841 until 1849, when he left London for the United States. Though he was minister of a strongly progressive congregation, he espoused traditionalist beliefs in his sermons. Henry's obituary is found in Jewish Chronicle, 3 October 1879.

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low not the Sabbath,if we spendour timein idle pastime,or as manyareapt to do, indulgein readingthe fashionableworksof the day and thinkby such means to dischargethe duties requiredof them by the law which directs The same ideas were referredto in a them to 'rest on the Sabbath-day."''47 entitled The Festivals the Lordpublishedin 1839,which critiof pamphlet cized the view that "eachparticularclass of society,would have a different kind of labourfromwhich to abstain.Thus the schoolmaster... would be interdictedfrom affordinginstructionon the Sabbath... but mightbe permittedto carrya load, as that to him would not be a labour,but perhapsan Indeed,CharlotteMontefiore,a Reformwriter,openly agreeablechange."48 stated in 1853 that "each individualmust shape his own Sabbath, for it should realize a good to himself, and must thereforeharmonizewith the general tone of his mind."49 The actual Sabbathobservanceof many LondonJewswas quite consistent with this conceptof Sabbathrest.A considerablepartof the community who did not go to theirjobs on Saturday,nevertheless,spent the Sabbath hours at theaters,music halls, and other places of public entertainment, since after all they were resting from their daily labors. A contemporary noted this situationby statingthat on the Sabbath"thewarehouseis closed and the exchange is deserted;but still amongst many, nothing holy or solemn takes the place of their weekly avocations. . . . open shops, galleries,

exhibitions,publicplacesof resort,are constantallurements,and helpto fill up the wearinessof an emptyday."50Henrysimilarlyasked,whendiscussing popularobservanceof the Sabbath,whethertherewas "one humanvanity, but what is meant on that day to be chieflyindulged!one humanappetite, which shall not be soughtto be pampered;one humanpassionbut shall on

47. Ibid., p. 121. Also of interest is Henry's comment that "in the present day, many are apt to form an opinion of their own respecting the law prohibiting the use of fire," indicating that a reinterpretation of other Sabbath laws was also underway. Ibid., p. 110. 48. [Morris Raphall], The Festivals of the Lord (London: Hebrew Review Office, 1839), pp. 2-3. The author is not listed on the title page, but Raphall was editor of the Hebrew Review, a journal published from 1834 to 1836, and his name is written into the Jews' College Library copy of this work. Raphall served as preacher in Birmingham and was a prominent traditionalist author and speaker in England until his emigration in 1849 to New York, where he became rabbi of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun. His biography is found in Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v. "Raphall, Morris Jacob." 49. [Charlotte Montefiore], A Few Words to the Jews (London: John Chapman, 1853), p. 114. 50. Ibid., p. 88.

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that day demandto be gratified."5'Anotherobservernotedthatif a London Jew was askedhow he spentthe Sabbath:"He will tell you that he took his wife and daughtersto the theatre,because,poor things, he cannot go out with themall week,and it is the only eveningon whichtheycan go to a place of amusement.""52 Indeed,David Marks,the Reformpreacher,openlyadvocated "familyand socialdelight"on the Sabbath,statingthatall suchactivities "come within the spirit of the sanctificationof the Sabbath."" The progressives' concept of Sabbath observance influenced their response to the charge that Jews should not be admitted to Parliament becausethey would not be able to attendthereon the Sabbathand festivals. In 1848 the Jewish Chroniclerespondedto this argumentby noting that David Salomons,in dischargingall his dutiesas aldermanof Londonon the Sabbath,"felt he was actingin accordancewith the spiritof the Jewishreligion . . . because he was not there to serve any personal interest of his own,

but to promote measuresfor the public good."54This periodicalused the same reasoningin appealingto the communityto vote in the parliamentary electionsof 1857,whichwereheld on Saturday,statingthat "the Sabbathis hallowed not desecrated,by the protest againstthe violation of the sacred principleof civil and religious liberty."55 An interestingindicationof how far removedthe progressives'concept of the Sabbathwas from traditionalJewishthoughtis providedby Angel's comment that the Bibleprohibitscooking on that day in orderto limit the materialenjoymentand to promotethe spiritualityof the Sabbath.The Jew, he wrote, "byconfininghimselfto uninvitingor cold and thereforeunstimulating food ... preventedany corruptiveinfluencefrom alienatinghis soul This idea was the antithesisof from the duties entailedby the Sabbath."56

51. Henry, Six Discourses, pp. 118-119. 52. "A Few Words on the Sabbath," Jewish Sabbath Journal, 3 February 1855. This situation is confirmed by a comment in Israel Albu, A Wordin Due Season (London: By the Author, 1853), p. 15, that many profaned the Sabbath "by the levity of their frivolous diversions." 53. Marks, Sermons, 2:50. 54. Jewish Chronicle, 7 January 1848. Salomons's attendance was also mentioned in Voice of Jacob, 14 January 1848. Salomons was not alone in this attitude. Sir George Jessel, a leading Victorian Jewish barrister, regularly attended court on the Sabbath, while "he remained a member of the Orthodox community all his life, and frequently declared his pride in his association." Israel Finestein, "Sir George Jessel 1824-1883," Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England 18 (1958): 256. 55. Jewish Chronicle, 27 March 1857. 56. Angel, Law of Sinai, p. 157.

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the rabbinicconceptof the Sabbathas a day of materialpleasure,on which it is mandatoryto eat hot, tasty food. Angel was probablyunawareof the historicalbackgroundof this issue, but it was this verypoint that had beena major subjectof conflict betweenthe medievalKaraitesand Rabbanites, with the Karaitesespousingthe same view presentedhere by Angel. This entirecomplexof neo-Karaiteideas was, as noted earlier,a unique developmentwithinthe Englishcommunity,with no parallelselsewherein the contemporaryJewishworld.The roots of the ideology,sharedto a great extent by the Londonprogressivesand reformers,must thereforebe found within Gentile English society and the currentsof thought presentthere, rather than be consideredthe local result of a philosophicalmovement agitatingthe entire WesternJewish world. A major element in British Protestantthought from the Reformation onwardswas a strongtrendtoward Bibliocentrism,wherebythe Bible was placedon a pedestalas the finaland unchallengeableauthorityin all matters of religion.Thisemphasisgivento the Scripturesandthe extremeveneration given theireverywordwas far more characteristicof Protestantismin England than it was of that faith elsewherein Europe.Throughthe constant stresson the Biblethe Englishpeoplebecamemorefamiliarwithits contents than any othernationin the Christianworld,and in a numberof subtlesubconsciousways beganto view themselvesas the chosen people of God and the Scripturesas the story of their own national heritage.This trend of thoughthad its roots in the workof JohnWycliffand the Lollardmovement in medievaltimes and was greatlystrengthenedduringthe Reformation,as the varioussuccessiveEnglishtranslationsof the Biblemade that book the possession of every Englishmanable to read.57 Bibliocentrismreachedits extremepoint of developmentwith the Puritans, who were persecutedby the establishedchurch just because they After refusedto accept any religiousauthorityaside from the Scriptures.58 the Restoration,this trend,along with all otherexpressionsof religiousfervor, went into eclipse, as the aristocracybecameorientedtowardrational-

57. The best description of the origins of Bibliocentrism and its strong effects on English culture and thought can be found in Barbara W. Tuchman, Bible and Sword (New York: New York University Press, 1956). The medieval origins of this trend and its further development during the sixteenth century are discussed in this work on pp. 52-56. 58. Tuchman accurately describes this situation by writing that "the essence of the Puritan faith was the right of every man to interpret God's law, as embodied in the Bible and only in the Bible, directly to himself." Ibid., p. 80.

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ism and deism.However,primarilyas a resultof the FrenchRevolution,the nineteenthcenturywas the time of a greatreligiousresurgence,knownas the EvangelicalRevival,which broughtback traditionalEnglishProtestantism and its Bibliocentricapproach to a dominant position in society." The EvangelicalRevival'sgreatinfluencewas typifiedin the personof Anthony Cooper, the seventhearl of Shaftesbury,a leadingintellectualfigureof the early Victorianperiod,for whomthe Biblewas "'God's wordwritten'from the very first syllabledown to the very last and from the last back to the first."60The sameapproachwas expressedby manyotherfiguresof the time as well. For example,when The PentateuchCriticallyExamined,the first English work of biblical criticism,was publishedin 1862, it was violently attackedby the bishopof Manchester,who wrote:"Theveryfoundationsof our faith, the very basis of our hopes, the very nearestand dearestof our consolations are taken from us when one line in that SacredVolume on which we base everythingis declaredto be unfaithfulor untrustworthy."61 Josias Wilson, a contemporarypreacher,had similarlystated in 1846that "the Bible, the Bibleonly, is the religionof Protestants.Long may it be the boast and foundationof our religion."62 In short, early VictorianEngland was militantlyBibliocentric,to an extentunknownprobablysincethe Puritan era of Cromwell.63 This emphasis on the Bible also helped reinforce anti-Catholicism, which was another importanttrend in early Victorianthought. Hatredof the Catholic church had complex roots in popular Englishculture,going back to that church'soppositionto QueenElizabethin the sixteenthcentury and its associationwith the tyrannyof JamesII in the seventeenthcentury. This prejudicewas basedon a whole groupof emotions,includingreligious differences,politicaluneasiness,and the identificationof Rome with those

59. Ibid., pp. 95-116. 60. Ibid., p. 113. 61. Josef L. Altholz, "The Warfare of Conscience with Theology," in The Mind and Art of VictorianEngland, ed. Josef L. Altholz (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1976), p. 74. 62. Josias Wilson, "Points of Similarity Between Judaism and Romanism," Exeter Hall Lectures 2 (1846-47): 200. 63. This fact is noted by Altholz, "Warfare of Conscience," p. 72, who sums up the religious attitude of the period by writing that "'the Bible and only the Bible alone' was the watchword of English Protestantism." Tuchman, Bible and Sword, p. 116, similarly observes that "the England of Lord Shaftesbury's generation was almost as Bible-conscious as the England of Cromwell."

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forcesopposedto democracyand freedomin the modernworld.64However, an importantelement generatinganti-Catholicismwas the often-repeated chargethat Rome had neglectedthe Bible and allowedother factorsto be decisivein its approachto religiousquestions.That faith was thus regarded as a perversionof the truthand an enemyof the Scripturesas well as of the Britishpeople.65 It can easily be seen how these importantmotifs in English thought encouraged the growth of neo-Karaismwithin the wealthy progressive circles. The poor or middle-classtraditionalistswere mostly recent immigrants possessinglittle knowledgeof or interestin the ideology of British Protestantism.Eventhe moreAnglicizedindividualsamongthemwerepredominantlymiddle class with limited social and political ambitions.As a result they did not feel pressuredto bring their religious ideas more in accordwith those of Gentilesociety.It was the acculturatedupperclasswho came into close contact with Gentileviews, and they, especiallygiven their strong desire for achievingfull emancipationand integrationinto British society, could not help but be affectedby those ideas. These wealthyJews weresubtlyled, moreoften unintentionallythanintentionally,to a redefinition of theirown Judaism,givingit a biblicalratherthan a rabbinicorientation to make it more acceptablein the eyes of the Gentile world. This was especiallytruebecausethe tenetsof OrthodoxJudaismand the Talmudwere specificallybeing attackedin Britishthinkingat this time for their lack of faithfulnessto the Bible. For example, in 1851 the Family Heraldof London, aftercriticizingCatholicscholasticismas a falsification of true religion,went on to note that "the parentageof this science. . may be tracedto the JewishRabbisandthe principlesof JewishCasuistrymaybe found in the Talmud."It thenconcludedapprovingly,obviouslyin reference to the London Reformcongregation,that "a considerablesecessionhad of late takenplace amongstthe Jews ... into Talmudistsand anti-Talmudists,

64. In the words of one historian: "The Roman Church was a complex of such associations, all of them unpleasant. It was the living embodiment of every un-English vice, the national anti-type which defined all manner of native virtue, and as such was loathed ... by Englishmen of all shades of theological opinion." Sheridan Gilley, "Protestant London, No-Popery and the Irish Poor 1830-60," Recusant History 10 (January 1970): 213. A good study of this attitude can be found in G. F. A. Best, "Popular Protestantism in Victorian Britain," in Ideas and Institutions of Victorian Britain, ed. Robert Robson (London: G. Bell & Sons, 1967), pp. 115-142. 65. Best, "Popular Protestantism," pp. 122-123, discusses this situation and notes that "the relative unimportance in the Roman scheme of religious education, of Bible study" was an important element in Victorian anti-Catholicism.

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a divisioncorrespondingprettynearlyto that of Catholicand Protestant."66 This same unfavorableidentificationof rabbinicJudaismwith Catholicism was made by a contemporarypreacher,who devoted an entire lecture to provingthat thesetwo religions"beara most strikingand wonderfulresemblance... both thesechurchesgive the Wordof God an inferiorposition."67 The prestigious Timesillustratedhow far anti-talmudismhad penetrated Victorianthought when it argued, in responseto those opposing Jewish emancipation,that the upper-classJews likely to be elected to Parliament were not "remarkablefor an obstinatecredulityin all the fablesof the Talmud," and hence were deservingof political equality.68 The prevailingnegativeattitudetowardthe Talmudand the feelingthat it had subvertedthe meaningof the Bibleand corruptedtruereligionamong the Jews is evidenton a popularlevel from severalnovels of the time. For example,OsbornHeighway,the authorof a book abouta Jewwho converts to Protestantism,observedat the startof his storythat the Jews"haveintroduced an enormousrivalto divinerevelation,underthe pretencethat it is a commentupon the Lawof Moses.This they call the Mishna,or oral law."69 Laterthis same tale introducesa Jewishcharacterwho explainsthat he has lost his faith "throughreadingthe Old Testamentand comparingit with the A similarcommentwas madeby Heighwayin anothernovel, in Talmud."70 which he stated that his Jewish heroine regarded"the Talmudand all its In a third work Heighwayagain foolish fripperieswith intense disgust."7" describeda Jewish characterwho was "a strict Talmudist"and violently objectedto having his son read from the Bible.72 The missionaryeffortsdirectedat the Jewsduringthis periodused these same arguments.The JewishInquirer,a monthlypublishedduring1838and 1839by the London Society for PromotingChristianityAmong the Jews,

66. Family Herald, 6 September 1851. 67. Wilson, "Points of Similarity," p. 192. The full title of this speech, "Points of Similarity Between Judaism and Romanism," is revelatory of its entire thesis. It is evident that Jews, as least progressive ones, were sensitive about charges of this kind from an editorial in Hebrew Observer,24 March 1854, which criticized Catholicism and concluded that "Judaism, therefore, considers Protestantism, although at an immense distance, yet still nearest to herself." 68. Times, 23 March 1858. 69. Osborn Heighway, Leila Ada (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publications, 1853), p. 15. This is the American edition of the British work. 70. Ibid., p. 143. 71. [Osborn Heighway], Adeline (London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1854), p. 19. 72. [Osborn Heighway], The Morning Land (London: Wertheim & Macintosh, 1854), p. 69.

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observedin one instancethat "it is a fact ... that in all civilizedcountriesof Europethe Jewsare ashamedof the Talmud."73 Again, on anotheroccasion thisjournalnoted,in referenceto the beginningsof the Reformschismin the community,that "theTalmudiccaptivityis beginningto drawto a close.... a highly respectableportion of the Portuguesecongregationhave renewed their efforts to purifytheir faith" and returnit "to the doctrinesof Moses and the prophets."74 A morecomprehensiveattemptof this type had appearedin 1837,when AlexanderMcCaul,a leadingLondonmissionary,publishedTheOldPaths, a violent attack on rabbinicJudaismand the Oral Law.75The purposeof this workis indicatedby its subtitle,A Comparison of thePrinciplesandDoctrinesof ModernJudaismwiththe Religionof Moses and the Prophets,and McCaul, indeed, arguedthroughoutthat the Oral Law had subvertedthe Bible, since "the Mosaic law nowhere recognizesthe pretensionsof the rabbis."76McCaul'sattacks on the Oral Law were remarkablesimilarto the subsequentargumentsmade by the Londonprogressivesand reformers in supportof their beliefs. For example,in one passageMcCaulcriticized the rabbisfor demandingthat "thewrittenlaw of God is to haveonly half as muchattentionas the traditionsof men,"77whilein another,he condemned the rabbinicsystem of legislationas "an invasion of what is considereda Divine command."78 Most interestingis his strongattackon the observance of the seconddays of festivalsas "altogethera humaninstitution,"of which The rabbis'"utterwant of "the originalobject... has long since ceased."79 considerationfor the poor,"wrote McCaul,"is most strikinglydisplayedin the institutionand exactionof a second holy day, whereGod has required In the observanceof only one, as the Rabbisthemselvesacknowledged."80 McCaul'scase the influenceof the Bibliocentrismof the EvangelicalRevival in forming his attitudetoward Judaismis quite clear, as McCaulwas led

73. Jewish Inquirer, 19 October 1838. 74. Ibid., 16 November 1838. 75. McCaul, who was born in 1799 and died in 1863, was an active missionary both in England and abroad. His work was originally published as a series of pamphlets over the course of 1837, and later printed as a book in 1847. His biography is contained in Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. "McCaul, Alexander." 76. Alexander McCaul, The Old Paths (London: London Society's House, 1847), p. 16. 77. Ibid., p. 21. 78. Ibid., p. 85. 79. Ibid., p. 100. 80. Ibid., p. 97.

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into missionarywork as a resultof his comingunderthe spellof the Revival in his student days at the Universityof Dublin.8A Thereis muchevidencethat this whole complexof ideasand manyof the writingswhich expressedit had a fairly stronginfluenceon London Jews. McCaul'sbook in particularseemsto have beenfamiliarto the community, as indicatedby the fact that ThePathsof Truth,a refutationof his work,was published by London Jews in 1847.82 An anonymous pamphlet which was also obviouslywritappearedat this time,entitledJewishEmancipation, ten underthe influenceof these ideas. This work arguedthat the Oral Law is but a limitedpartof had to be abolished,since "politicalenfranchisement emancipation..... no chainsare so heavyas those that shacklethe mind."83 An exampleof how Bibliocentrismand the thinkingof the Evangelical Revivalhad begunto influenceassimilatedJewseven earlieris providedby The Geniusof Judaism,a book publishedanonymouslyin 1833 by Isaac D'Israeli, father of the famous BenjaminDisraeli. In this work D'Israeli statedthat his expresspurposewas to show that "theinstitutesof Moses are not in reality the laws of the Jews. . .. two human codes have superseded the

code deliveredfrom heaven;the one originatesin imposture-that of their traditions; the other is founded on tyranny-that of their customs."84 D'Israeliwent on to attackthe OralLaw savagelyand to praisethe Karaites remainingin the EasternJewish communities,by writing that "the most

rationalJewswouldof courseconstitutea verysmallminority... these JewishProtestants are supposednot to exceedthreeor fourthousand."85 Althoughby the time he publishedthis work D'Israeliwas totally alienated

81. Tuchman, Bible and Sword, p. 119. 82. According to its title page, this book was written by a Rabbi Judah Middleman of Warsaw in Hebrew and then translated into English by Marcus Breslau of the Jewish Chronicle. Nothing more is, however, known of Rabbi Middleman. Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. "McCaul, Alexander," also states that McCaul's book "created considerable interest among Jews." Petuchowski, "Karaite Tendencies," pp. 228-229, mentions McCaul's work as an influence on the development of neo-Karaite ideas among the London reformers. However, he makes no mention of Middleman's work as evidence of McCaul's influence. Aside from citing McCaul, Petuchowski does not refer to the whole complex of English Protestant thought with its strong Bibliocentrism and bias against the Oral Law. It was this ideology and the various works produced by it, rather than just McCaul's book, which encouraged neo-Karaite thought among London Jewry. 83. Jewish Emancipation, by an Israelite (London: D. Nutt, 1845), p. 3. 84. [Isaac D'Israeli], The Genius of Judaism (London: Edward Moxon, 1833), p. 77. 85. Ibid., p. 104. In light of the Evangelical trend identifying rabbinic Judaism with Catholicism, D'Israeli's statement gains much added significance. In an earlier passage he similarly

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from the Jewishcommunity,it was still naturalthat his book should have been readby his coreligionistsand musthave playeda role in influencingthe thoughts of at least some of them.86 While the sources for Victorianneo-Karaismcan now be understood, the problemstill remainsof explainingwhy the progressives,whose view of Judaismwas basicallyidenticalwith that of the London reformers,did not join those reformersin their openly neo-Karaitesynagogue, but rather remainedwithin the Orthodoxcommunity,which was nominallyloyal to rabbinic Judaism.The only explanationsuggestedfor this situation has been given by Robert Liberles,who arguesthat the reformersrepresented the old Anglo-Jewisharistocracy,such as the Goldsmids and Mocattas, who had beendisplacedfromtheirdominanceof the communityby a group of nouveaurichefamilies,includingthe Rothschildsand Salomons.Out of a desireto reasserttheirinfluence,the older familiesformedthe Reformcongregationas a new community,distinct from the existing one. Naturally then, the nouveauricheprogressivesremainedat the helmof the established Orthodoxcommunityratherthanjoiningthe Reformsynagogueled by their social rivals.87 Theremay be some truthto this thesis,althoughLiberlesdoes not really offer any proof for it from contemporarysources. There was, however, anotherfactor,whoseexistenceis clearlydocumentedduringthis era,which was undoubtedlyresponsibleto a great extent for this situation.England was a very traditional society with a pronouncedpreferencefor slow, organic change ratherthan violent revolution,and the progressives,who had in most respectsabsorbedEnglishpatternsof thought, sharedin this

observed that the Oral Law had "immersed the Hebrews in a mass of ritual ordinances ... hardly equalled by their subsequent mimics of the papistry." Ibid., pp. 77-78. 86. D'Israeli, although a freethinker, maintained his official connection with the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue until 1817, when he left the community and had his childen baptized. He himself, however, never converted. His biography can be found in Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v. "D'Israeli, Isaac." The influence of The Geniusof Judaism on the later anonymous pamphlet Jewish Emancipationis apparent from a number of instances. For example, the latter work claimed that since "the laws concerning the food we may eat... are at all times binding," the rabbis had no right to allow the sick to eat nonkosher food. This unusual argument was a restatement of the earlier work's comment that according to the rabbis, "a prescription of the physician is allowed to suspend the law of Moses." See Jewish Emancipation,p. 24, and Genius of Judaism, p. 167, respectively. It is unlikely that such a strange charge was originated by the later author on his own. 87. Liberles, "Jewish Reform Movement," pp. 144-149.

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typically Britishframe of mind. They desiredcertain religiouschanges in both doctrineand practice,but they wantedthose alterationsto come in an evolutionarymannerratherthan in one which would violentlydestroythe ancient usages of the Orthodox community.They shrankback in horror from the developmentsin Germany,where the reformershad loudly and dramaticallyrejectedthe traditionsof the past, and were equallyunwilling to acceptthe considerablymoremoderateactionsof the Londonreformers, if subscribingto those measures meant officially and openly rebelling againstthe Orthodoxyof the past. It was not the resultsof sucha revolution which the progressivesopposed, but the revolutionitself. A corollaryto theirconvictionthat religiouschangecould be obtainedin an evolutionary way was the progressives'often expressedbelief that the religiousauthorities, and more specificallythe chief rabbi, had the power to make such alterationseffectivejust by authorizingthem. Throughtheir absorptionof the concepts of Gentile society, the progressiveshad come to look on the chief rabbi,not as a traditionalrabbinicscholarwith the powerto interpret the law, but ratheras an Anglicanbishop,possessingthe rightto grantdispensationsfrom the observancesrequiredby Halakhah. A straightforwardstatementof this frame of mind was made by the VoiceofJacob in 1846,when it wrotethat "howevernecessary,and however salutary certain alterationsmay be, of such unauthorizedalterations,we take the sameviewthat a loyal Englishmanwouldtake.. . of the usurpation of a Cromwell... it beingnot so muchthe acts whichwe condemnedas the spiritof usurpationwhichhad dictatedthem."88Againin 1851the Chronicle made the same point when it stated that "if the necessityof reformin our liturgicalestablishmentis established,let a boardbe constituted,with a duly authorized ecclesiastic at their head . . . but a congregation on its own self-

constitutedauthority,cannotbe consideredcompetent."89 The progressives' belief that the chief rabbi did, indeed, have the power to abolish various observances was severely criticized by a traditionalistscholar, Moshe Hassan,who visitedLondonduringtheseyears.Aftermentioningdemands for the rabbisto approvereligiouschanges,Hassanconcludedby tellinghis readersnot to "fondly imaginethat the election of one Chief Rabbi may

88. Voice of Jacob, 13 March 1846. The Voice had started out as a traditionalist organ but by 1846 had clearly gone over to the progressives. See Jewish Chronicle 1841-1941, pp. 40-41. 89. Jewish Chronicle, 29 March 1851.

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'to uproottheplant.'I ambound remedytheevil,as he willbe empowered to tell him thatno ChiefRabbiis investedwithsuchpower."90 reformscontinuedto be an imporSupportfor only"dulyauthorized" tantthemein thewritingsof theprogressives theperiod.In 1852 throughout the Chronicle, aftercallingfor changesit considerednecessary,observed andrecklessinnovations is as firmand thatits "oppositionto unauthorized as our while in at of 1858 it calledon the existence,"9' unflinching anyperiod that therewere chiefrabbito approvea confirmation ceremony,writing "whoareyetwillingto bowto ecclesiastical authormanyin thecommunity to "assumeits legitimate calledon Orthodoxy ity."'92MosesAngelsimilarly function,andunderthe directionof recognizedspiritualleaders,to purify the systemof Judaism,"93whilein anotherpassagehe notedthat many wereregarded"as inalienable,becausethosewho mightact, observances declineto taketheinitiative,or to go furtherthantheirancestorswent."94 A secondelementin the thinkingof the progressives, responsiblefor was within Orthodox also taken over them the fold, by themfrom keeping GentileBritishattitudes.A dominantmotifin thesocioeconomic dynamics in the Victoriancommunitywas the identification of the of Christianity establishedand historicallysanctionedAnglicanchurchwith the upper classes,whilethe dissentingmovementswereassociatedwith the lower middleclassandthepoor.Socialstatuswasin a veryrealsenseconferred by that the in church.95 It can be the established understood easily membership whowantedmosteagerlyto beacceptedas Englishgentlemen, progressives, weremotivatedby thatdesireto conformto theChristianreligiouspattern follbwedby thesocialcastetheyaspiredto join. TheReformcongregation frameof reference, as a diswasperceived by them,usingtheiracculturated senters'chapel,andit certainlydidnot addto thesocialstatusandprestige

90. Moshe Israel Hassan, Words of Peace and Truth(London: Samuel Meldola, 1845), p. 10. The author, who identified himself as "dajan at Jerusalem now on a mission in London," ended by asking: "What authority has a Chief Rabbi of the present time to oppose the decision of the ancients?" 91. Jewish Chronicle, 8 October 1852. 92. Ibid., 4 June 1858. 93. Angel, Law of Sinai, p. 311. He concluded by saying that "he would assign to orthodox ecclesiastics their legitimate place, which is to lead, and not to be left behind." 94. Ibid., p. 304. 95. A description of the socioeconomic background behind this religious division is given in Edward R. Norman, Church and Society in England 1770-1970 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), pp. 124-126.

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of a Rothschildor a Salomonsto leave the historicand establishedOrthodox faith for sucha secessionistgroup.Paradoxicallythe veryacceptanceby the progressivesof the religious thinking of their Christianhost society caused them to remainloyal to age-old Orthodoxyratherthan to support the new Reform movement,which was closer to their own beliefs. It is quite clear that many in the Jewish community regardedthe Orthodox-Reformsplit in these typicallyEnglishterms.A good exampleof this trendof thoughtis providedby the discussionat the Boardof Deputies over the Marriageand RegistrationAct passedby Parliamentin 1856.This law empoweredthe Reform synagogueto appoint a secretaryto register with the governmentmarriagesperformedby that congregation'sministers. Priorto this act, the Orthodoxboardhad refusedto certifythe Reformcongregationto the authoritiesas a place of Jewishworship,with the rightto performweddingsrecognizedby Englishlaw. The new act got aroundthis difficultyby definingthe reformersas an independentJewishsect entitledto its own marriagesecretary.96During the board's considerationof this proposed measure,a numberof speakersemphasizedthe point that even strict Orthodoxycould not oppose the new law, since it clearlydefinedthe reformersas dissentersfrom the establishedJewishfaith. For example,one memberdeclaredthat the act could be supportedby the entire Orthodox community,sincein the proposedlaw the reformerswerebeing"insertedas dissentersfrom the synagogue,""97 while anotherobservedthat this was true because"the membersof the Margaret-street congregationwerenow characterizedas a distinct sect."98The relationshipof these speakers'ideas to those held by their Protestantcompatriotsis quite obvious here. The progressives'concept of Judaism must, thus, be understood as resultingfromthe stronginfluenceexertedby the ideasof Britishsocietyon the moreacculturatedcirclesof LondonJewry.It was specificallydue to this influencethat the strikingreligiousand ideologicalconfigurationof early VictorianJewry was created. If an example is needed to prove the well-

96. According to British law, synagogue marriages were given full legal validity, without a secular ceremony being necessary, if the congregation involved had such an officially recognized secretary. The full story of this episode is found in Henry Straus Henriques, Jewish Marriage and the English Law (London: Bibliophile Press, 1909), pp. 34-37. 97. Jewish Chronicle, 22 June 1855. Another speaker at this meeting noted that the reformers "admitted themselves they were dissenters," and should, therefore, be granted a marriage secretary. 98. Ibid., 6 July 1855.

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known historicaltruismthat individualJewishcentersthroughoutthe ages assumed many of the characteristicsof their environment, then midnineteenth-centuryLondon would seem to be the perfectcandidate.The religiousthinkingand ideas of at least the Anglicizedportionof earlyVictorianJewrywerequite clearlythe productsof the stronginfluenceexerted by the earlyEnglishVictorianworldon the community.The earlyVictorian Jewish community could truly have existed nowhere else than in early VictorianLondon. R.I. Providence,

Piercing the Shimmering Bubble: David Shahar's "The Palace of Shattered Vessels" Author(s): Gilead Morahg Source: AJS Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 211-234 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486260 . Accessed: 30/06/2011 01:43 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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PIERCING THE SHIMMERING BUBBLE: DAVID SHAHAR'S THE PALACE OF SHATTERED VESSELS by GILEAD MORAHG

All things are interrelated.I can hardly open my mouth to speak without feeling as though the sea burst its dams and overflowed.How shall I express what my soul received, how can I put it down in a book? Isaac Luria

Within the steadily growing body of fiction written by David Shahar over the past three decades, his trilogy of novels, The Palace of Shattered Vessels,' standsout as his most remarkableachievementto date. It is a com-

plex, often puzzlingwork, steepedin the spiritof Jerusalem,in which it is set, bold in the narrativetechniquesit employs,and ambitiousin its thematic aspirations.The trilogyis developedthroughwhat initiallyappearsto be

1. David Shahar, Heikhal ha-Kelim ha-Shevurim: KayiZ be-Derekh ha-Nevi'im (Tel Aviv: 1969); Ha-Massa' le-Ur Kasdim (Tel Aviv, 1971); Yom ha-Rozenet (Tel Aviv, 1976). At the time of their writing Shahar regarded these three novels as integrated components of a completed work and described Yomha-Rozenet as "the novel that concludes my trilogy" (interview with Moshe Dor, Ma'ariv, June 26, 1979). He has since changed his original conception and is planning to add three more novels to the series. The first of these has already been published: Ningal (1983). This novel is so loosely and tangentially related to its three predecessors that it does not impinge upon the structural and thematic integrity of the original trilogy. This essay will address itself only to the first three novels, which continue to constitute a self-contained narrative whole.

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a meandering streamof fragmented memoriesflowingthroughthemindof its unnamednarrator.As the flow continues,thesefragmentsgradually cohereinto broadarcsof interlocking narrativecirclesthateffecta vivid as theywerein theearlydecades evocationof Jerusalem andits inhabitants of this century.But ThePalaceof ShatteredVesselsaimsat beingmuch tributeto a nearlyforgottenerain a rapidlychanging morethana memorial city. anddigressive is boththeoutcomeand Shahar'sretrospective technique his the meansof pursuitof metaphysical discoveries andof his attemptto to the physicalrealityhe evokesin his fiction.His relatethesediscoveries techniqueenableshimto recreatethe minutiaeof a perceivedphenomenal reality-of theworldasit is perceived by thesenses-in a mannerthatseeks to subvertourhabitualperceptions of thisrealityandleadto an awareness of whathe regardsas the transcendent essencesthatlie beyondit. some of the critics who have addressedthemselvesto The Although Palaceof Shattered VesselsnoteShahar'sconcernwithtranscendent reality, fewhavechosento pursuethisaspectof hisworkandthusto exploreitscrucialrolein thetrilogy.2 Theobjectiveof thisessayis to examinetherelationorientationof the trilogyandthe structural shipbetweenthe metaphysical its that bind randomelementsintoa signifying principles seemingly design. Muchof my effortwillbe directedtowardidentifying anddeciphering the and narrative that are central to the concepts,patterns, dynamics developmentof ThePalaceof ShatteredVessels.The fragmented and digressive progressionof the narrativewill sometimesmakeit necessaryto demonstratethesubtleconnections betweenits variouselementsbytracingthemin considerable detail.In attemptingto do so I will, of necessity,disregard that muchof thework'sricheposidicscopeandmanyof thevitalcharacters I will those that serve to estabit. concentrate on best aspects populate only lish the metaphysical orientationof the trilogyandto illuminatethe rela-

2. See David Blatt, Tehumimve-Hotam (Tel Aviv, 1974), pp. 130-131; Sarah Katz, "Al Heikhal ha-Kelim ha-Shevurim," Moznayim 29 (1969): 145-147; Zvi Luz, Me;iut ve-Adam baSipporet ha-Eretz Yisraelit (Tel Aviv, 1970), p. 135; Gila Ramras-Rauch, "Mixing Memory and Desire: The Visionary World of David Shahar," WorldLiterature Today, Winter 1982, pp. 5-6; Yael Sagiv-Feldman, "Ha-Fantazyot ha-Mizralhyot shel David Shahar," Bitzaron 4, no. 16 (September 1982): 19. Naomi B. Sokoloff's "Metaphysics and Metanarrative in the Stories of David Shahar," Hebrew Annual Review 6 (1982): 179-197, recognizes the general outlines of Shahar's metaphysical concerns and effectively relates them to the narrative techniques in some of his short stories. Although she does not discuss The Palace of Shattered Vessels, many of her observations are relevant to it.

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tionship of this orientation to the complex narrating voice and the unusual narrative mode it employs. What I am about to propose is not a comprehensive interpretation of The Palace of Shattered Vesselsbut rather a conceptual framework that may aid future readers in engaging the intricacies of this tantalizing and elusive work. Contrary to many contemporary critical opinions, David Shahar believes that literature should be referential to the world outside it.3 He is very explicit in regarding phenomenal reality and transcendent reality as the essential referents for all good literary art. He is equally explicit in his claim that the role of literature is to provide meaning to reality by pursuing the connection between the phenomenal world and the transcendent realms that lie beyond it. "In my opinion," he has said, good literatureof realityis literaturethat dealswith the trueessenceof reality, namely,with that which is beyond reality.... The importanceof a writer's work is in that incrementof what is beyondreality,to the extentthat it provides meaning to reality .... I believe that literatureseeks the connection betweenthe transientand that whichis beyondit.... Everypersonfeelsthat there is somethingthat exists beyond the transientand the apparent.Literature deals with this context.4 Regardless of whether we accept the validity of this normative dictum, it should be recognized as an expression of Shahar's personal credo as a literary artist and, consequently, as a useful point of departure for an examination of his work. The Palace of Shattered Vessels embodies a quest for the connection between the transient and the transcendent. The narrator of the work is identified as its author, who is conducting this quest by writing the trilogy. The process of reconstructing past experiences by means of which the narrator pursues his metaphysical quest involves the integration of three separate narrative perspectives. The recalled perspective of the narrator as a child provides much of the narrative material in the trilogy. These childhood memories are often supplemented by later recollections of the narrator as an adult who in the course of time has acquired new information about the events of the past and a more up-to-date knowledge about the fate of the

3. For an overview of opinions to the contrary, see David Lodge, The Modes of Modern Writing (Ithaca, N.Y., 1977), pp. 57-71. 4. Yitshak Bezalel, Ha-Kol Katuv ba-Sefer (Tel Aviv, 1974), pp. 95-96.

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characterswho participated in them.The mutuallyenrichinginteraction betweenthe narrator's childhoodrecollections andthe recollections of his relatedexperiences as an adultservesto makemanyof thefactual,chronoconnections in thenarrative. Butit soonbecomes logical,andmotivational evidentthatthesetwoperspectives do notallowthenarrator to perceivethe moreessentialconnectionbetweenthe ever-changing flow of recollected eventsandtheconstantpresenceof thetranscendent realitythatliesbeyond to theintrinsically them.Thecapacityto attainsuchperception is attributed of the narratoras a writerwhodrawsupontheother differentperspective in orderto createa workof literaryart. two perspectives refersto his roleas theauthorof the Onvariousoccasionsthenarrator trilogy.He rejoiceswhena chanceencounterprovideshimwithadditional informationaboutone of the trilogy'sminorcharacters "at theverytime whenI amwritingaboutthesematters."5 He complainswhena seemingly irrevelant "arosein mymindwhileI was questionaboutanothercharacter ... and so much thatI wasunableto continue me writing beganbothering the storyuntilI had checkedthe matterin the catalogueof the National hiswritingandsettingoutto conductthisbit (III,54).Interrupting Library" of research, thenarrator realizesthatheis incapableof "enjoying thereality of the presentif the nowthatis hereis cut off fromthe resonance of what wasandtheyearningforwhatwillbe,if myspiritis notfreeto continuethe weavingof the storywhosechordsarestretchedbetweenthepastandthe future,andif I amunableto returnat willto thedeskso asto continuewriting this story"(III, 58).6 5. Shahar, Yomha-Rozenet, p. 74. All subsequent references to the third volume of the trilogy, hereafter cited as III, are in the text. The translations are mine. 6. The matter of the fictional authorship of the trilogy is complicated by the narrator's early and obscure reference to Gabriel Luria, one of the work's major characters, as "the author of The Palace of Shattered Vessels"(I, 19). This assertion is contradicted by the subsequent development of the narrative, and I was interested to note that it had been omitted from both the English and French translations of the first volume. Upon discovering this omission, I wrote to Shahar suggesting that "this was not an inadvertent omission but rather a correction made necessary by the manner in which the narrative developed in the course of writing the second and third volumes." Could it be, I asked, that "the continuation and conclusion of your literary journey turned out to be different from what you had anticipated at its outset? I have a feeling that your writing of The Palace of Shattered Vesselsinvolved as many discoveries, illuminations and changes of direction as those experienced by its readers." To which Shahar responded rather laconically in a letter dated July 2, 1982: "Your assumption is correct: I myself erased the sentence attributing the authorship to Gabriel Luria from the English and French translations, and this-among other reasons-in order to prevent, as much as possible, unnecessary and confusing difficulties."

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The majordistinctionbetweenthe perspectiveof the narratoras a writer and the perspectivesof his childhoodand adultexperiencesis establishedin the opening episode that sets the trilogyinto motion. This episode depicts the narrator'sfirst encounterwith GabrielJonathanLuria, the character who will come to embodythe quest for transcendentawarenessand whose presencedominatesthe first volumeof the trilogyand permeatesits sequels. Recountedfromthe perspectiveof the child, this encounteroccurswhilethe narratoris in his yarddrawingwaterfroma cisternthat is a constantsource of anxietyfor him: "On nights when the rain came down hard I would be filled with fear that the cistern,unable to contain the abundanceof water flowingceaselesslyinto it, would burstand we would all be drowned."7On the day of their meetingthis fearwas dispelledby "the reassuringradiance emanatingfrom GabrielJonathanLuria, from his countenance,from his voice and, strangestof all, even from his words, which in their content shouldhave servednot to bestowcalmbutjust the opposite-to confirmthe dim apprehension,to clarifyit, and to intensifyit into a basic cosmicdread: ... 'Yes, yes, the vessels will neverbe able to contain the abundance"'(I, 10-11, 3-4). Shortlyafterthis the narrativeperspectiveshiftsto a recollection of a much later encounterbetween the narrator,now an adult, and Gabriel. By this time Gabriel'seyes have become so sensitive that he is sometimesfelled by a dazzlingstroke of light and forced to lie flat on the couch with darkglassesover his closed eyes. It is aftersuchan incidentthat the adult narratorencountersGabriel, who, pointing to his eyes, repeats what he said twentyyearsearlier:"Thevesselswill neverbe able to contain the abundance"(I, 12,5). Herethe narrativeperspectiveshiftsonce againto that of the narratoras writer,who observesthat at the time of the second encounterhe had "failed to see the connectionbetweenthe cisternwhich could not containthe waterand [Gabriel's]eyes whichcould no longerbear the abundanceof light" (I, 12, 5). The connectionthatwas missedby the narratorat the timeof the eventis establishedwhen, from his perspectiveas a writer,he recallsthis event and

7. Shahar, Heikhal ha-Kelim ha-Shevurim,p. 10. All subsequent references to the first volume of the trilogy, hereafter cited as I, will appear in the text followed by an italicized reference to the English translation of the book: The Palace of Shattered Vessels(Boston, 1975). In quoting from the first volume I have, for the most part, relied on its English translation. But the reader will find occasional discrepancies between the quoted translation and the translation that is referredto. These are my modifications that were made in those instances where I found the original translation to be deficient.

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discoversits analogicalcorrespondenceswith an earlieroccurrence.A complex pattern of such analogicalconnections among its diverse narrative componentsconstitutesthe structuralmainstayof the trilogyand its major mode of transmutingmatterinto meaning.But in The Palace of Shattered Vessels,structureis inseparablefrom metaphysics.One of the basic principles underlyingthe developmentof the trilogyis that the patternof relationships amongits narrativecomponentsshouldnot be contrivedby the writer but ratherdiscoveredby him. This principleassumesan a priori, nontemporal patternof significantrelationsthat exist among the phenomenaof a physicalworld but are obscuredby our habitualmode of perceivingreality as a linearflow of eventsin time. In writingthe trilogythe narratoris seeking a new mode of perceptionthat will penetratethese barriersof time and place. By subsumingthe seeminglydisparateand transitoryevents of the past to the recollectingconsciousnessof the literaryartist,the narratorseeks to assemblethesefragmentsof memoryinto a unifiedpatternthat will confirm the insubstantialityof the transientand illuminateits connectionwith the transcendent.This, I believe, is what Shahar had in mind when he observedthat "thematerialworldis limitedand the abundancewhichflows into the vesselsshattersthem,"'and describedhis writingas an attempt"to collect the fragmentsof these vessels,to makemy reconstruction.I am trying to put the vessels togetheragain in my own way."9 In describinghis literaryenterpriseas an attemptto transcendthe limitations of the materialworld by a narrativeprocessof collectingand reconstructingfragmentsof brokenvessels,Shaharis alludingto one of the major symbolsof LurianicKabbalah.Thisis not a casualallusion.Thereis an evident correspondencebetweenShahar'sperceptionof realityand someof the central notions of Lurianiccosmology. Both share the essentiallyNeoplatonic conception of the materialworld as a debased,fragmented,and much diminishedreflectionof an originalworld of harmoniousforms that are purelyspiritual.They also sharethe vision of restoringthe lost spiritual harmonythroughhealinghumanactions. The visionaryworld of Lurianic Kabbalahprovidesa rich metaphoricalmatrixfor the openingmovements of The Palace of ShatteredVesselsand is evident in many aspects of the trilogy'ssubsequentdevelopment. The signifyingrole of kabbalistreferencesis indicatedin the title of the

8. Hayim Be'er, "Shattered Vessels: An Interview with David Shahar," Ariel 30(1972): 15. 9. Ibid., p. 18.

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of thisworkas a "Lurian."'• It is genericdesignation trilogyandin Shahar's

furtherreinforcedby the centralityof the figureof GabrielLuria,the namesake and directdescendantof the originatorof the Lurianicschool." As we have seen, it is Gabrielwho relatesthe young narrator'sdreadof the overflowing cistern, as well as the inability of his own eyes to withstandthe influx of light, to the Lurianicimage of the vessels shatteredby the abundance of light flowinginto them.The linkingof the narratorand Gabrielto the image of the shatteredvesselsinitiatesa complexflow of ancillarymetaphorical constructsthat enables the unfolding representationof Shahar's fundamentalmetaphysicalstance. Accordingto Lurianiccosmology,the natureof the archetypalformsin the created world was determinedby the often antagonisticinteraction between"thepowersof sternjustice,"includingthe powerof evil, and a residue of God's "infinitelight."'2 In orderto cleanse the elementsof creation fromthe powersof evil, a rayof lightemanatedfromthe eyesof the Creator God. But the vessels of creationthat were intendedto receiveand contain the light shattered under its impact, bringing into being the world of materialforms. The breakingof the vesselsis regardedas the decisivecrisis which ultimatelydeterminedman's place in the cosmos. The perfectharmony of the archetypalvesselswas reducedto the presentchaos of material fragments.Sparselyintermingledwith thesefragmentsare remanentsparks of the divinelight. But thesearelargelyobscuredfrom the eyes of man,who is himself a shatteredvessel living in a disjointedworld where nothing remainsas it was. But despitethesedeficiencies,manis regardedas an essential agent in the next stage of the cosmic process,in which what has been broken is to be restored.The shatteringeffects of the superabundanceof light are counteractedby a process of restoration(tikkun)initiatedby the Creator God, from whose forehead have issued healing lights with the powerof restoringthe brokenvesselsto the originalharmonyof theirdefinitive spiritualforms. But the crucial stages of this restorativemission are

10. For a discussion of the "Lurian" as a distinct genre, see Hillel Barzel, Mesapprim beYihudam(Tel Aviv, 1981), pp. 168-171. 11. Shahar, Ha-Massa' le-Ur Kasdim, p. 65. All subsequent references to the second volume of the trilogy, hereafter cited as II, are in the text. The translations are mine. 12. Gershom Scholem, On the Kabbalahand Its Symbolism (London, 1965), p. 111. My discussion of Lurianic cosmology is based largely on this and other books by Scholem: Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (New York, 1961); Kabbalah (Jerusalem, 1974); Pirkei Yesod beHavanat ha-Kabbalah u-Smaleiha (Jerusalem, 1976).

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entrustedto the ongoingacts of individualhumanbeings.By engagingin an intricateprocessof eliminatingthe powersof evil or transformingtheminto powersof love and mercy,the individualmay restorethe pristineperfection of his own spiritualbody and, ultimately,the spiritualbody of creation. The Lurianicdialectic of light, which both shatters the vessels and embodiesthe potentialfor their eventualrestoration,is incorporatedinto the figureof GabrielLuriaand constitutesone of the centralmetaphorical constructsunderlyingThePalace of ShatteredVessels.One of the kabbalist synonymsfor the breakingof the vesselsis "blinding,"'3andGabriel,whose eyes "could no longerbear the abundanceof the light," is a victimof such blinding. But he is also a source of "reassuringradiance"that emanates from his countenanceand dispells the young narrator'selementaldread. Gabriel'ssearchfor a liberatingvision leads him to a smallvillagein Brittany wherehe eventuallyexperiencesa revelatoryremovalof "the curtain from before his eyes" and is blindedby the "terribleand wondrouslight" that was heretoforehiddenby the obscuringformsof the materialworld.He is suffusedwith "a wave of wonderfulhappinessfloodingthroughhim and carryinghim towardthe secretwrittenin the sky . . . for all to see" (I, 195, 178). Even the realizationthat he may "neverbe able to deciphera single shiningletterof a single luminousword in all the scrollsthat everyeye can see, could not dim the terriblelight that was revealedwith the fallingaway of a singlepanelfromthe dividingcurtain"(I, 198, 180).Returningto Jerusalem, Gabriel proclaimsthat "the world is out of tune" (III, 127) and dedicateshimselfto the restorationof harmonyboth in his own life and in the life of the world aroundhim. Gabrielis the most explicitembodimentof Shahar'sconceptionof art as a possible meansof liberatingthe individualfrom the temporaltrap of the materialworld by actualizingthe latent potentialfor transcendentawareness. Upon his returnto Jerusalem,Gabrielengagesin a mysteriouswriting project.Whenaskedby Oritawhy he writesas he does, Gabrielinvokesthe Aristoteliannotion of poetryas a meansof creatinga temporalsequencein whichthe teleologicalpotentialinherentin the phenomenalworldis utterly realized.14"Thisis a metaphysicalquestion,"he says. "It is the problemof the transitionfrom the potentialto the actual"(II, 192).

13. Harold Bloom, Kabbalah and Criticism (New York, 1975), p. 77. 14. For a useful discussion of this aspect of Aristotle's Poetics, see Murray Krieger, Theory of Criticism (Baltimore, 1976), pp. 98-103.

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If Gabriel Luria is the guiding inspirationof The Palace of Shattered Vessels,Shoshi Raban, the protagonistof Day of the Countess,is its most significantfictional creation. Many of the narrative'sdiversecomponents lead up to her creation,contributeto her development,and cohere in the final sequenceof her actions. Shoshi is the embodimentof what may be regardedas Shahar'sinterpretationof the Lurianicnotion of tikkun.:the restorationof spiritualgrace through redeeminghuman actions. Venturing into the world from the orphanagein which she grew up, Shoshi soon discoversthat the world outside the walls is no differentfrom the world within them. Feeling like a "prisonerreleasedfrom bondage only to discover that she has gone froma smallprisonto a largerone whichsurrounds it all around"(III, 117), she embarkson a quest for freedomwhich is the centralaction of the final movementof the trilogy. After many years and several false starts, Shoshi recognizesthe error of her having marrieda thoroughly repulsiveman in order to realize her dream of freedom by obtaininga house of her own. In a momentof illumination,Shoshi discoversthat her true courselies not in preservingthe materialsecurityprovidedby her husbandbut in pursuing the spiritualawakeningprofferedby his brother,the impoverished poet Berel Raban ("EshbaalAshtarot").An inadvertentencounterwith Berel's"Poemsof Tammuzto the Ashera"piercesherverybeing"like a jet of shimmeringsun rays,"dispellingthe darknessof the world that till then had encircledher "like a stifling prison" (III, 163). She realizesthat the success of her quest depends upon her ability to take the radical action necessaryfor joining Berel'sworld to her own. Giving voice to this discovery of the connection between spiritual redemption and individual action, Shoshi employs a varietyof kabbalisttropes that relate her newly found vision to the Lurianicnotion of tikkun. Shoshi realizesthe futility of waiting passivelyfor the "holy spirit"to reveal itself to Berel and instructhim with "a voice sounding out of the silence, saying, 'Arise,go forth from your home and from your bed to the house which I shall show you ... thereyou shall seek, and thereyou shall find her whom your soul hath loved'" (III, 227-228). She concludesthat it is she who must take action and initiatecontact. For, as she says, echoing the Lurianicconceptionof individualresponsibilityfor redeemingactions, "it is knownthat the holy spiritrequireshelp fromthe individual:the deeds of the individualwill drawhernear,and the deedsof the individualwill fend her off. She will have nothingto do with flesh and blood unlessthe individual preparesfor her by good deeds that are the channelsfor her coming" (III, 228).

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In kabbalist cosmology, channels (;innorot) are "paths of reciprocal influence""'between the ten sefirot that constitute "the potencies and modes of action of the living God."l6 The totality of these potencies "forms the world of. . . the unfolding divine unity which embraces the archetypes of all being.""7With the breaking of the vessels the harmony of reciprocal emanations among the sefirot was disrupted; the channels were subverted and obstructed. Alluding to Lurianic depictions of the relations among the lower sefirot as a sexual union between male and female forces, Shoshi regards her anticipated union with Berel as an act of opening the channel that serves as a conduit for the reciprocal flow of vitalizing and harmonizing abundance that connects the created with the divine.'8 "First we must do the deed," Shoshi says to herself, "and only after the deed is done will the cavern be pierced and the channel open and abundance abound from all the spheres. Until Shoshi does the deed no heavenly voice will sound and reach Berel's ears from the silence" (III, 228). Shoshi is the only character in the trilogy who finds the strength and the means to transform vision into action. In so doing she experiences a sudden dissipation of fear and a liberating sense of transcendent harmony and grace. From the momentShoshi daredand did the deed she no longer fearedanyor surprising;on the contrary, thing,and nothingseemedto herextraordinary fit into of she had broughtabout the the revolution everything perfectly logic in her life, the revolutionthat opened the way for the holy spiritto bestow upon her and upon EshbaalAshtarotgreatabundancefromall the sphereseverythingwithin her and from without her flashedsparksof ancientsecret meaningabove and beyond the facts themselves,without any connectionto the realmof eventsand to its limitedandlimitingrules,all in all fromall in all. (III, 229-230) Shoshi's epiphany is at the heart of the trilogy's closing movement. The idiom, cadence, and substance of this epiphany exemplify the sustained association between the fictional world of The Palace of Shattered Vessels and the visionary world of Isaac Luria and his disciples. But while Shahar 15. Scholem, Kabbalah, p. 116. 16. Scholem, Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, p. 100. 17. Ibid., p. 101. 18. For a discussion of the kabbalist concept of "abundance" (shefa), see Scholem, Pirkei Yesod, pp. 231-236.

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shows a clearaffinitywith the metaphysicsof LurianicKabbalahand draws deeplyon its metaphoricalresources,thereis no indicationthat he embraces its theology or any of its prescribedreligiouspractices.Like the characters of GabrielLuria,Shoshi Raban, and a greatmanyothers,the referencesto the Kabbalah-and to a numberof other cosmologicaland metaphysical systems-serve to advancethe creationof a fictionalnarrativeby meansof whichthe narratoras writerconductsa verypersonalquestfor illumination and redemption. The three narrativeperspectives-inthe trilogyreflectdifferentstages in the developmentof a single consciousnessin its perceptionof and reaction to the connectionbetweenthe transientand the transcendent.The perspective of the narratoras writeris the last and most essentialstagein this development. To better understandits role in the narrative,we must turn to a furtherexaminationof the two earlierstageson which the writer'sperspective depends.Suchan examinationwill reveala crucialdifference.As a child the narratorwas capableof experiencingperceptionsof transcendentreality but was incapableof comprehendingthe true implicationsof these experiences and of adequatelyconnecting them to the reality of his everyday world. As an adult he becomescapableof hypothesizinga beneficientconnection between the two realms of existencebut no longer possesses the child'sabilityto experiencethe transcendentdimensionsof reality,and thus he cannot substantiatethis hypothesisin the mundanecomingsand goings of his daily life. Earlyin his life the narratoris awakenedto a sense of the insignificance and vulnerabilityof humanexistencein relationto the palpablepresenceof essences that transcendthis existence.This first occurs when, as a young child, he is taken out by Gabrielto view the world at night. It is an unnerving and terrifyingexperience. The firstmeetingwith the nightshockedme and filledme with muffleddread. I saw the sky and suddenlyit was blackwith tiny points of light in it.... The Old City walls and the mountainsaround them, the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus,werepresentin the darknessand heavywith the weightof an ancient-breathed essence,terriblein its dimensionsthat arebeyondthe dimensions of man,in its eternitieswhicharebeyondthe eternitiesof man,andin its indifference to the paltry people scurrying upon it. (I, 13, 5-6)

In this earlyepisodethe connectionbetweenthe transientand the transcendent is perceivedas an ominousoppositionbetweenthe mortalpaltrinessof

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man and the terrible dimensions of vast, mysterious forces that are beyond him. In several later instances actual encounters with the vulnerability of the human body and the transience of human life heighten the child's uneasy awareness of the transcendent dimensions of reality. One such instance occurs as he is bending over the dead body of Daoud, the vainglorious chauffeur who joined the Arab marauders and was killed by Gabriel. Peering into the dust-covered "singular face that was unique to Daoud," the boy experiences a revelation of "something deep inside it that was above and beyond it, a chord that was nothing but a tiny drop in the vastness of the general and indifferent sea that arises in sharp anger and terrible fury to drown us all" (III, 139). This and other, similar experiences serve to enhance the child's terrified sense that man is an insignificant mortal creature tenuously existing amidst ineffable forces that constantly threaten to engulf and annihilate him. The terror he experiences on such occasions is identified elsewhere with "the terror of the other reality that surrounds the world of appearances as the great sea engulfs the ship whose prow dares to cleave the swirling foam that laps at her stern" (I, 63, 46emphasis added). In his terror, the child responds to these experiences by attempting to deny their validity and to reject their implications. The threat that they pose to the world as he knows it is so great that his rejection prevails even when an encounter with the vulnerable fragility of the flesh intimates the possibility of going beyond the limitations of the physical body and experiencing a more auspicious connection between the transient and the transcendent. During a visit to Dr. Landau's eye-clinic, the child encounters a boy whose eye has been mutiliated. The sight of the crushed eye confirms to the child "how vulnerable is this vessel of flesh" which he still regards as the "only means of revealing to us the light of the entire world." He elaborates on this conviction by describing the eye as "this ball of flesh on which the pleasure, that is so spiritual, of the light with all its shades and colors, so miraculously depends." But suddenly he experiences a contrary thought, or sensation, which suggests that neither the means nor the objects of perception are exclusively physical: "However, a thought did arise in me, a kind of flickering feeling, that there may exist sensations and feelings and visions and melodies that are not of this world and do not require the mediation of the body." To the child this is an intolerable possibility, and he recoils from it in terror: "The possibility of such an indefinite, disembodied presence hovering in a vacuum between nothingness and nothingness terrified me so much that I repressed it at once and opened my two eyes wide with a sense of wonderful relief that they were both healthy and whole" (III, 34). The fleet-

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ing vision of the possibleexistenceof a realm of abundantexperiencethat lies beyond the world of appearances,hiddenfrom man's physicalperceptions yet accessibleto him by other means, is not pursued.It is rejectedin favor of a hastyretreatto the familiarworldof the senseswhich,as Gabriel had observedto the then uncomprehending narrator,consistsof vesselsthat cannot contain the abundance. As mentioned above, the consciousnessof the narratoras an adult differsfrom that of the child in that as an adult he acceptsthe concept of transcendentrealitybut is incapableof experiencingit directly.He no longer insists on the exclusivityof the physicaland regardsthe flesh and blood of the corporealbody as "thegross matterin whichthe soul garbsitself in the materialworld" (I, 141, 122). Unlike the child, who rejectedthe transcendent insight he experiencedat the moment of Daoud's death, the adult describesthe death of Gabriel'sfather as the moment in which the soul leaves the body, its materialgarment(III, 25). He is concernedwith the problem of understandingthe truth of "the connectionbetweenthe flesh and the spirit"(III, 33) and ascribeshis failureto arriveat such an understandingto the fact that, having lost its childhoodcapacityto experience transcendence,his conciousnessis confined to the nonessentialworld of appearances. The narratorconceives the dichotomybetweenhis consciousnessas a child and as an adultin termsof an oppositionbetweentwo disparatestates of the soul:"the consciousnessof the soul in sleep"and "the consciousness of the soul in waking."This hypothesisis a centralkey to understandingthe thematicand structuraldevelopmentof ThePalace of ShatteredVessels.It postulatesthat in the state of sleep our consciousnessmay enterinto essential levels of awareness,or existence,that are inaccessibleto it when we are awake. As long as we are awake we are bound to the perceptionsof the sensesand to the constructsof the intellect,whichprovideus with an erroneous and illusorysense of reality."Whereasthe realityof man in his sleep is the realityof the soul beforebirthand afterdeath."This is the truereality,in the fullnessof its transcendentdimensions,that is revealedto the soul when it is no longer attachedto a physicalbody: before birth and after death. Inaccessibleto us while we are awake, this realitymay be penetratedand perceivedin our sleep by our dreams.But only by "those that are of a certain type, the type of dreamsthat even our forgettingthem is not remembered" (I, 56-57, 41-42). By assertingthe inabilityof the wakingconsciousnessto recallthe transcendentvisionsexperiencedin sleep,the hypothesisappearsto havearrived at an ontological and epistemological dead end. That this is not so becomes

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evident in the followingthought,which suggeststhat the limitationsof the wakingconsciousnessare not absolute;that it is possibleto rememberthat which we are not even awareof havingforgottenby alteringour mode of wakingperception,or, in the words of the narrator:"The rememberingof the essentialrealitywhich is beyond the day and the night dependson the awakeningof man'swakingconsciousness,an awakeningfrom the realityof manin his wakingstate"(I, 57, 42-emphasis added).This awakeningof the waking consciousness is an instance of profound enlightenmentwhich bridgesthe gap betweenthe worldof transientappearancesandthe worldof eternalessences. It should be "countedamong such leaps over the void as the renewalof the worldand illuminationand birthand death"(I, 57, 42). Arrivingat such an awakeningis the objectiveof the narrator'sliterary enterprise and the reason for his constant recourse to his childhood memories. For childhood is regardedas a stage in which the boundaries between the two states of the soul are not yet fixed. Thus the child can experiencethe two levels of reality,which for the adult are so definitively separate,as beinginextricablyintertwined.The narratorstateshis beliefthat in childhood the gapingvoidbetweenthesetwo statesof the soul,the voidof deathand birth,didnotexistatall,andI wouldrunbackandforthbetweensleepingand wakingandbetweenwakingandsleepingas fromone roomof an enchanted awaiting palaceto another,bubblingwiththejoy of thewondroussurprises me in everycornerandat the top of everyflightof stairs.(I, 56, 41) Unlike the adult, for whom the momentof wakingfromsleep is a moment of acute anguish resultingfrom his abruptseparationfrom the world of essential reality, the child, who is not subject to such separation,always awakenswith a senseof joy that is oftenattendedby a powerfulyet undefinable yearning.'9It is only from his perspectiveas an adult, who for over twenty-fiveyearshas beendeprivedof the capacityto awakenjoyously,that the significanceof this capacityand its attendantyearningis realized.He describesthe painsof awakeningas "a cursewhichwas intendedto teachme by the long and difficultroad of sufferingthe meaningof the lost blessingof the joy of awakeningthat no longerexists exceptin the longingof memory and in the irrationalhope that it will returnone day"(I, 56, 41). Thejoy of

19. Ha-Massa' le-Ur Kasdim, pp. 157-158.

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awakeningis recognizedas a manifestationof the child's ability to experience the connectionbetweenthe transientand the transcendentdimensions betweenthem. Such of reality and to move freelybut uncomprehendingly childhoodexperiencesareidenticalin essenceto the adult'sforgottendream experiences.But they differfrom them in that while the dreamexperiences can never be remembered,the parallel childhood experiencescan be. Memory is the means by which the writerrevivesthese childhood experiences in the hope that the dynamicsof their re-creationwill lead to an awakeningof his consciousnessfrom "the routineof wakingsleep in which we are all bound by our threefold'chains"(I, 121, 100). The role of memoryas the key to unlockingthe chainsthat confine him to the desultoryworld of appearancesis revealedto the narratorin an epiphanic experienceof involuntarymemory.This experienceopens the way for his attemptto recapturethejoy of awakeningthrougha sustainedact of creative recollection.Walking home one day, the adult narratorhears a familiarvoice deliveringa sermonover a car radio that had been turnedon by one of the neighborhoodboys. It is the voice of Israel Shoshan, the librarianof the narrator'schildhood,who laterconvertedandbecamea Calvanist clergyman.But at the time of the broadcastIsraelShoshanhas been dead for over three months. Upon hearingthe voice of the dead librarian "risingup as if fromthe depthsof [his]childhood,"the narratorexperiences an acute realizationof "the fragilityof this world which is foundedon the insubstantialityof the sensesand burstslike a bubbleonly to returnand rise againwith all its illusoryimageslike a shimmeringbubble"(I, 149,131). But in its subsequent development this experience leads the narrator to a heightenedperceptionof the connection between the temporalworld of fleetingappearancesand a permanent,nontemporalrealitythat permeates andtranscendsit. Thesetwo levelsof realityare no longerperceivedas being discreteand contradictorybut ratheras interrelatedand complementary. Moreover, memory is recognizedas a means of perceivingthe liberating connectionbetweenthem. Turningto informthe boy of the speaker'sidentity, the narratorsees in the boy's innocent, wonderingeyes something which, whiledeepeningwithinme the senseof the brittleness of this shimmering in me-not bywayof contradiction bubbleof ourworld,alsodeepened butby its beingthrough wayof completion-thesenseof theexistencethatcontinues all the old bubblesthat havealreadyburstand all the bubblesthat areyet to be born and that will bubblein the future .... [Theboy] looked at me as if he

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were seeing me for the first time and out of his gaze there arose in me the memoryof the firsttime I saw GabrielJonathanLuriaon a greatand strange day in my life. (I, 150, 132) Evoked by the innocent gaze of a child, this sudden memory of his first childhood encounter with Gabriel imbues the narrator with a sense of enduring presence and constitutes the opening movement of the trilogy which is to pursue the connection between this presence and the world of transience through an evocation and exploration of memories. Sarah Katz, who has written extensively on Shahar, attempts to account for the use of memory in The Palace of Shattered Vessels. She regards the author of the trilogy as a man who, "disappointed and dissatisfied with his sober, rational adult world, yearns for his childhood and tries to reconstruct its unique experiences and perceptions. He tries to capture all 'the bubbles that have burst' and to weave them together into a narrative fabric in order to preserve them ... if only as a 'reflection' of the world that was lost."20 This is a limited view of Shahar's narrative enterprise. For Shahar is as concerned with the future as he is with the past; he is concerned not so much with preserving the bubbles of appearance as with piercing these bubbles so as to arrive at a perception of that which endures beyond their passing and connects all that was with all that is yet to be. The adult narrator undertakes the retrospective re-creation and exploration of the physical and emotional terrain of his childhood experiences with a desire to keep his "spirit free to continue the weaving of the story whose chords are stretched between the past and the future" and with a determination to distill from the "resonance of what was" and the "yearning for what will be" (III, 58) an awareness of what always is. In his excellent study Time in Literature, Hans Meyerhoff observes that "the quest for disclosing some sense of continuity, identity and unity within the context of the personal past of the individual has engaged great literature everywhere."21 Meyerhoff identifies a group of important writers, including James Joyce, Marcel Proust, and Virginia Woolf, whose works may be regarded as forerunners of The Palace of Shattered Vessels. They all arrive at a sense of unity and continuity through the realization of the constancy of an essential reality that inheres in and transcends the fragmented flow of tran-

20. Sarah Katz, "Buot u-Vavuot be-Olamenu," Moznayim 34 (1971-72): 74. 21. Hans Meyerhoff, Time in Literature (Berkeley, 1960), p. 42.

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sient events.22 In Woolf's To the Lighthouse, for example, Mrs. Ramsey experiences a joyous moment of profound stillness which, she feels, partakes of eternity and leads her to realize that there is a coherencein things,a stability;something,she meant,is immuneto change and shinesout (she glancedat the window with its rippleof reflected light) in the face of the flowing,the fleeting,the spectral,like a ruby,so that again tonight she had the feelingshe had had once today alreadyof peace,of rest. Of such moments,she thought, the thing is made that endures.23 But of all its illustrious precursors, The Palace of Shattered Vessels bears the closest affinity to Proust's Remembrance of Things Past in its narrator's

unflaggingrelianceon memoryas the majormeansof pursuinghis dreamof unity and freedom. The use of memory in Shahar's trilogy is similar in many of its aspects to its use in Proust's work, but it is different in its ultimate objective.24Whereas

Proust exploresmemoryin an attemptto discoverthe essentialidentityof the self, Shahar evokes memory as a means of relating the self to a greater, transcendent essence that lies beyond it. This difference may account for the difference in the position of the narrator in each of the works. In Remembrance of Things Past the narrator is at the center; all things relate back to Marcel and contribute to his evolving awareness of his identity as a unique individual. In The Palace of Shattered Vessels the narrator is peripheral to the action. He is a recollecting and perceiving presence in a design that is larger than any individual. Despite this fundamental thematic difference, the narrative structure of the two works is strikingly similar, and the lessons learned from the study of Proust may serve to advance our understanding of Shahar. The basic narrative principle governing the development of both Remembrance of Things Past and The Palace of Shattered Vessels may be described as a chain reaction of recollections and observations triggered by a single memory which sets the narrative on a course that is subsequently shaped by the interactions among the other memories that it evokes. This key memory is an involuntary memory which Proust, following Bergson,

22. Ibid., pp. 42-54. 23. Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (London, 1932), p. 163. 24. For a discussion of some of the similarities between The Palace of Shattered Vesselsand Remembrance of Things Past, see Ada Zemah, "Kirvah Yeteirah," Molad 3 (1970).

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distinguishedfrom the voluntarymemoriesformedby the processof habit-

ual repetition.Proustregardsvoluntarymemoryas the "memoryof the intellect,"which"preservesnothingof the pastitself."25For "the pastis hidden somewhereoutsidethe realm,beyondthe reachof the intellect,in some

materialobject(in the sensationwhichthatmaterialobjectwillgiveus) of

whichwe haveno inkling."26 Involuntarymemory,whichis calledforthby a

withsuchanobject,hasthepowerto revivethepastin all chanceencounter its "shapeand solidity."27Ada Zemahaptly describesthis experienceas "a sensationin the presentwhichleads suddenlyand in a raremomentof grace

to a similarsensationthathadbeenforgottenandbecamepartof thepast in memoryit shakesthe person'sentirebeingand and,withits emergence reviveswithinhim an incidentof his pastlife in its full reality."28 In Shahar's

workas in Proust's,"involuntary memoryis theprimemovingforceof the

narrative."29 The digressivepatternof the trilogy is often the result of the narrator'swilling submissionto the dynamicsof involuntarymemory.He follows the flow of memoriesto whereverit may lead, discoveringconnec-

tionsand discerningsignifyingpatternsas he goes along.3" Meyerhoffdefinesthe experienceof involuntary memoryas "anact of

creativerecall"which revealsa sense of unity and continuityin "the fact

that the differentcontentsof one'smemorybelongtogetherand thatthe of a single,unique,eventmakesit possibleto reconstruct recollection one's entirelifetime.Thismeansthatthe sumtotalof one'slifeis potentiallyco-

25. Marcel Proust, Remembranceof Things Past, rev. ed. (New York, 1981), vol. 1, p. 47. 26. Ibid., pp. 47-48. 27. Ibid., p. 51. For further discussion of the difference between the two types of memory, see Meyerhoff, Time in Literature, pp. 47-50; Roger Shattuck, Marcel Proust (New York, 1974), pp. 139-147. 28. Zemah, "Kirvah Yeteirah," p. 110. 29. Gerard Genette, "Metonymie chez Proust," Figures 3 (1972): 53. 30. This aspect of Shahar's narrative technique incorporates an interesting kabbalist trace. It corresponds closely to the method of mystical counterpoint developed by the thirteenthcentury Spanish kabbalist Abraham Abulafia as a means of enhancing the soul's ability to perceive transcendent forms. Scholem describes Abulafia's method of dillug and kefi;a ("skipping" and "jumping") as "a very remarkable method of using associations as a way of meditation." It provides a system of broad rules within which the mind is encouraged to jump from one association to another. Every "jump opens a new sphere, defined by certain formal, not material characteristics." This "jumping ... results in a 'widening of consciousness' and brings to light hidden processes of the mind; it liberates us from the prison of the natural sphere and leads us to the boundariesof the divine sphere" [emphasis added] (Major Trendsin Jewish Mysticism, pp. 135-136).

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present (or simultaneous)with this single event."3' In Remembranceof ThingsPast the recollectionof eating the madeleineis the key to the reconstructionof Marcel'slife.32The key memoryin Shahar'sretrospectivequest is, as we havealreadyseen,the narrator'srecollectionof the firsttime he saw Gabriel.In the particularsof its depictionand the dynamicsof its organization, this memoryconstitutesa generativenucleuswhichprefiguresthe unity and continuityof the narrativethat emanatesfromit. The evocationof this nucleusreleasesthe great flow of involuntarymemoryand shapingenergy that will transformits compressedpotentialinto expandingspiralsof narrative action.33 The opening sentenceof the trilogy introduces"the light and the water of the cisternand the mouth of the cave and the rockat its side"as the four sourcesof the "sensationsof memory"34that connectthe narratorwith the enigmaticfigureof GabrielLuria.Episodesand imagesthat relatethe four sources of memoryto Gabrielare integratedinto the opening chapterin a manner which establishesthe function of the sensationsof memory as a potential means to the end of dispellingthe terrorof transientexistenceby breachingthe barriersof time and exceedingthe limitationsof the temporal self. A full accountof the seminalrole of the four sourcesof memorywould require a comprehensiveexamination of the relationshipbetween their depictionin the openingchapterand the overalldevelopmentof the trilogy. Since such an examination deserves the scope of a separate study, my presentpurposewill be best servedby singlingout some aspectsof the cistern and the cave. Memoriesof Gabrielare associatedwith the cisternbecausethe narrator had been drawingwater from it when Gabriel first appearedbefore him. Since that day, says the narrator,Gabriel's"figurewas fixedin my memory as rising from the mouth of the cistern together with the pail of water ... I

was pullingup with a peculiarkindof pleasure"(I, 9, 1). The memoryof this occurrencenot only sets the trilogyinto motion but also reflectsthe essential dynamicsand ultimateobjectivesof its subsequentdevelopment.Thereis an analogical correspondencebetweenthe process of drawingup water from

31. Meyerhoff, Time in Literature, p. 49. 32. Proust, Remembrance of Things Past, pp. 48-51. 33. For a different perspective on the role of memory in Shahar's work, Barzel, Mesapprim be- Yihudam, pp. 161-183. 34. This important phrase is, unfortunately, lost in the English translation.

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the depthsof the cisternand the processof drawingup memoriesfrom the depths of the psyche. Preparingto draw the water, the boy is confronted with a shimmering,self-reflectingsurfacethat must be pierced:"I remove the lid and peer down at the surfaceof the darkwater.The thin, protective film of keroseneis oily and sends shimmersof colorful lights like a halo aroundmy headthat risesfromthe waterand hidestheirdepths."Using his pail, the boy penetratesthis resistingsurfaceand plumbsthe hiddendepths beneathit: "Witha sharp,vigorousmotion I insertthe lightpail, that seeks to keep floatingabove, beneaththe surface.The pail begins sinkingunder the weightof the waterthat fills it. I give it more and more rope."Having filledthe pail, the boy beginsdrawingit up again.Onceit "piercesthe upper surfaceand rises in the narrowmouth of the cistern,"its contentsbegin to spill out in "scatteringdropsthat flashfragmentsof light all around."What has been gained is in dangerof being fragmentedand lost. Some of it is. Considerableskill is necessaryto retainthe remainderof the preciousload and captureit in the awaitingvessels:"If I am not carefulhalf the waterwill spillout by the time the pail is extractedfromthe mouthof the cistern.With a vigorousmotion I pourthe waterinto one of the.. . tall, pot-belliedwater jars that stand in the kitchen"(I, 10, 2). Thereis little need to belaborthe analogybetweenthe depictedprocess of drawingup water and pouring it into jars and the creativeprocess of drawingup memoriesand pouringtheir diffuseand elusivefragmentsinto the shape-givingvessels of the narrative.But note should be taken of the fact thatin the processof drawingwater,the senseof existentialdreadthat is usuallyassociatedwith the cisternis replacedby "a peculiarkind pleasure" which is furtherenhancedby the calmingeffect emanatingfrom Gabriel, whose reflectedimage appearsin the water, replacingthat of the narrator. This transformationprefiguresthe recurrentinstances in the trilogy in which the experienceof involuntarymemoryis accompaniedby an onrush of sweetjoy and a sense of great calm. On such occasions the narratoris overcome with awe and wonder which he often describesas a feeling of being suddenlytransportedto a supernalpalace. The image of the palace combinesthe sensationsof joy, calm,awe, andwonderto establishan essential connectionbetweenthe unifyingpower of memoryand the childhood capacityto bridgethe void betweenthe two states of the soul and to "run back and forth between sleeping and waking . .. as from one room of an enchantedpalace to another bubblingwithjoy" (I, 56, 41-emphasis added).

In one representative instancethejoyous senseof beingintroducedinto a wondrouspalacein whichthe scatteredfragmentsof time suddenlycohere

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into a nontemporal unityis evokedby the sightof JudgeGutkinseating himself in a red armchair. This sight triggers in the narrator a palpable recollection of Gabriel's father, the now deceased Bey, who used to sit in the same chair. The pictureof the old Bey, as I had last seen him beforehis death,sittingon this red armchairwith the checked scarf . . . wrappedaround his neck ... superimposeditselfon the pictureof thejudge sittingon the sameverandahin the same armchairwithout eitherpictureblotting the other out, blurringor erasing its lines in the slightest degree, and my heart expanded in joyful wonder and awe in the palace in which I suddenly found myself standing. (I, 102,

82-emphasis added) The power of memory to dispel existential dread by reorienting one's waking perception of the mysteries of existence is confirmed somewhat later when the texture and odor of a moldy old dagger evoke another involuntary memory. Once again the narrator feels as if he is in a "palace" and is filled with a sense of uncomprehending wonder. But "the sense of the enigma posed by this uncomprehending wonder was not accompanied by any of the anxiety or strain usually involved in the search for a solution to a riddle. On the contrary, the very act of wondering about the meaning of the enigma was in itself imbued with a marvelouslypleasant sensation" (I, 112, 94-emphasis added). The qualities of the enigma that were so incomprehensible to the narrator as a child become more apparent to him as a writer immersing himself in the flow of memory. As memories breed memories, their discrete fragments merge into intertwining narrative spirals and their chronological moorings begin to unravel. Freed by memory from the constraints of time, events of the past become alive in the present, intimating that time is but an illusion and what appeared to be transient is actually constant. The narrator realizes that a sense of the past is created not by the actual passing of events but by the limits of our perception. He concludes that, in certain circumstances, experiences and events which we regard as having passed into oblivion arisebeforeus like Lazarusfromthe dead,to proveto us that theirbeingdead to us was merelythe resultof the narrownessof the lantern'sbeamof lightthat illuminatesonly a portionof the dirttrackon whichwe walkthroughthe great and broadfield that lies entirelyapartfromus becauseof the curtainof darkness that excludesall its vistas from our field of vision, even whenits abysses gape inside us. (I, 118, 97)

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The resurrecting circumstances of expanded vision are moments of involuntary memory in which the dark curtain of chronological time is pierced and the wide expanses beyond it are revealed. In Shahar's work, as in Proust's, "the twinge of involuntary memory is portrayed as surmounting contingency by an act that is not continuous with la duree but overleaps it."35 Winding his way through the labyrinth of memory, the narrator experiences a recollection that intimates the hidden dimensions of reality and the nontemporal constancy of existence. He remembers the moment Israel Shoshan appeared on his doorstep, as if out of nowhere: At the sight of the bespectacled little man standing at the door, "my distant childhood days, which no longer exist except in occasional dreams or in passing thoughts, crystalized into tangible form ... as if they had been existing all these years in the substance of the material world, but in a different place which imbues them with a different quality" (I, 118, 97-98). This recollection lays the ground for a subsequent recollection which superimposes itself on the memory of Dr. Shoshan's visit and connects him with the anonymous figure whose passing presence became fixed in the narrator's mind on a day of routine military duty. At such times the sense of his dismal existence as a prisoner of material reality and chronological time was most acute. "As usual ... time dragged on interminably in the insipid greyness of tangible external actions" (I, 121, 100). This feeling changes abruptly when the dim figure of an unknown man emerges from a gate in the wall surrounding a nearby hospital. Suddenly this moment is "torn free from the continuum of time." This momentappearedbefore me like the vision of an orange sunset sky in whicheverything-the stonewall and the treetopsbeyondit and the dirttrack and the black figureof the man-was immersedin a strange,wonderful,and abundantcalmwhichwas fixedand unchangingand existingas it is outsidethe courseof time like a picturein a museumwhichyou can go back to one day and find it exactlyas it was when the artistfinishedpaintingit, withoutfear that any changehad takenplacein the landscapein the courseof the moments of time. (I, 121, 100-emphasis added) The dark figure disappears around a corner and the vision fades. But when the narrator returns to the normal course of time he is still imbued with "the

35. Shattuck, Marcel Proust, p. 145.

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strange, wonderfullycalming, and spiritually upliftingflavor of this certainty that it was possible to return to this orange moment of spacious sunset that is detached from the race of time" (I, 122, 100-emphasis added). This instance constitutes a signal moment of illumination in which the capacity of memory to convert the perception of time from an ever-changing sequence of transient events to the eternal constancy of enduring presences is integrally connected to the great calm and sudden joy associated with instances of transcendent awareness.36 As is the case with so many other aspects of the trilogy, the essential connection between memory, time, and transcendence is also prefigured in the opening chapter. Like the cistern, the caves of the Sanhedrin are designated as one of the four sources of the childhood memories associated with Gabriel. It was Gabriel who used to lead the narrator to the caves, encourage him to descend into their dark depths, and dispel his fear of the disembodied spirits and creeping vermin that might lurk there. The boy would leap into the mouth of the cave trembling with the pleasure of anticipating the discovery of "the treasure hidden in the secret world of the caves." He knew that all the artifacts had been plundered from these burial caves long ago, but was convinced that "the treasure itself, buried deep down, remained as it was, just as the burial niches are the same niches from those days with their being of stone which remained as a preserve of time in a preserve of space." This eternal constancy of time and space is the treasure hidden in the depths of the cave, which, like the depths of memory, serve as a brake on the wheel of time. For the cave is like a brakeholdingback the wheelof time in its revolutions, and in the depthsof darknessbeyondthe nichesof the deadits brakingaction is so strong that fragmentsof time that were torn from their wheel cling to their brake and flutteraroundit with theirliving and their dead. (I, 17-18, 10-11) By descending into the depths of memory, the narrator discovers the hidden treasure. The sensations of memory have the power to free him from his

36. It should be noted that in Remembranceof Things Past, the experience of involuntary memory is also attended by a surge of "all-powerful joy" that transports the narrator above the malaise of his temporal existence: "An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses .... And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disaster innocuous, its brevity illusory.... I had ceased to feel mediocre, contingent, mortal" (Proust, p. 48).

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bondage to chronologicaltime by showing it to be yet another illusory dimensionof the worldof appearances.His habitualperceptionof time as a linearsequenceof finite eventsand his corollaryterrorof the transientare, at such moments,replacedby a sereneawarenessof time as an eternalconstant in whichthe past is superimposedupon the present-just as the figure of the dead Beywas superimposedon that of the livingJudge-and is partof the infinity of the future.37 As separateoccurrences,the instancesof involuntarymemoryare but fragmentaryilluminationsof the greaterrealitythat lies beyondthe illusion of appearances,largelyobscuredby the limitationsof the wakingconsciousness. The narratorseeksto furtherovercometheselimitationsby integrating the shatteredvessels of memory into the unified structureof a narrative design. The writing of The Palace of Shattered Vessels is undertaken in the

belief that sustainedcreativerecall is a liberatingact that may lead to the awakeningof consciousnessto an awarenessof the realitythat lies beyond the dimensionsof time. An understandingof the conceptualand structural principlesgoverningthe developmentof the narrativeshouldenhanceour ability to explore the digressivepatternsand signifyingconnectionsin the complex world of the trilogy. But in addition to enablingfurtheranalysis and interpretation,such understandingmay lead to a greateropennessto the actual experienceof readingthe trilogy. For, as Shaharwould surely agree, The Palace of Shattered Vessels is intended for those readers who, by

immersingthemselvesin the experiencesthat advancethe awakeningof the narrator'sconsciousness,might experiencea similar awakeningof their own. of Wisconsin University Madison,Wis.

37. Engaged in a quest similar to Shahar's, T. S. Eliot came to the same conclusion in "Burnt Norton": The end and the beginning were always there Before the beginning and after the end. And all is always now. T S. Eliot, Collected Poems 1909-1962 (New York, 1963), p. 180.

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Alan F. Segal Source: AJS Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 235-237 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486261 . Accessed: 30/06/2011 01:44 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

BOOK REVIEWS

Alan Mendelson. Secular Education in Philo of Alexandria. Cincinnati:

Hebrew Union College Press, 1982. Extantrabbinicliteratureleaves a taste of unexplainedanti-Hellenism. No one has been surprised,given the differingvaluesof rabbinicand Greek education.Much of Greekeducationbredsophisticationas an introduction to philosophy, while rabbinic discourse sharpenedthe students' moral awarenessof everydayactivity.It took a great scholarlike Saul Lieberman to show that beneaththeirdifferingaimslay centuriesof uneasycooperation and overlappinginterests.Alan Mendelsoncontinuesthe explorationof this subtle area of influenceby analyzingPhilo'sviews of the Hellenisticsystem of education. At the outset, he points out the complexityof the issue by underliningthe characteristicanti-Hellenismof many Hellenisticwriters. He then shows how these ambiguitiesare evidencedin Philo. Greek educationnot only prepareda youth to take his place in adult society but became an idealized virtue, symbolizingwhat we would call "culture"or "refinement"or "civilization."Thesegoals wereimplemented by travel and contemplationand preeminentlyby a basic curriculumof study in the liberalarts, or enkykliospaideia,as Philo calls them. Professor Mendelsonreviewsthe scholarlyliteratureon encyclicalstudiesin orderto show exactlyhow Philo'sviewscorrespondedwith and dissentedfromthose of his approximatecontemporaries. The basiccurriculumof Greekeducationconsistedmoreor less of grammar, rhetoricand dialectic,geometry,arithmetic,music, and astronomy. The Greeks appear to have been just as ambivalentabout their primary studiesas we are about reading,writing,and 'rithmetic-alternatelypraising themas a necessarypropaedeuticand criticizingtheirtediumand simplicity by comparisonto the sublimityof philosophyand art. In contradistinctionto some Greekwriters,Philo seemsless ambiguous in his praiseof encyclicalstudies.It would be impossibleto tell whetherthe motivationwas purelygratitudeto his Hellenisticenvironmentfor having 235

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been able to benefitculturallyfromthe level of materialfortuneachievedby his family or whetherit also bespeaksa recommendationthat more of his countrymentry or respect the disciplines.Probablyit was both, for no writer writes only for one audience or only with one set of values to communicate. Dr. Mendelsonis verysoundin notingthe social and politicalcontextof these philosophicalattitudes.Philo appearsto be familiarwith the gymnasium,to havewitnessedvariousfunctionsthere,and to praisethe important educationalinfluencesof this placeof rhetoricand athletics-even thoughit was administeredthroughcivic religiousexercisesand involvednakedexercise. He must have been among the most privilegedof AlexandrianJews, those who had alreadyachievedwhat many in the communitysought and fought to attain:citizenshipin the state. The loss of that battlefor emancipationat the end of Philo'slife was as or morekeenlyfelt amongthe highest classes of the Jewish community.All of this is surely reflectedin Philo's complex attitudesabout encyclicalstudies. Dr. Mendelsonis also sound in his analysis of the philosophicalrole whichthese studiesplayedin Philo'sdiscussionof the contemplativeascent of the soul to experienceGod. Primaryeducationbecamethe vehicleof the allegoryof spritualascent for Philo. Encyclicalstudiesmust be completely studiedas a backgroundto furtherknowledgebeforethe ascent,the theologicaltenorof the allegory,can be undertaken,just as milkandcerealmust be eaten before the richer foods of adulthood can be enjoyed. Professor Mendelsonmighthave emphasizedmorethe value of allegoryand scripturally basedcontemplation,which marksPhilo as differentfrom otherphilosophers. In the end, of course, Philo-like Plato-puts his highesttrustin philosophicalcontemplationwhichempowersthe ascensionof the soul (and not primaryeducation).Unlike Plato, however,Philo sees that the studyof Scriptureis completelyin harmonywith philosophicalcontemplation,guiding it to its most sublimeinsights.Thereforehe is morepositivelydisposed towardgrammarand other linguistictools and, as well, towardthe natural sciences,which attest to the handiworkof the Creator. ProfessorMendelsonhas whetted the reader'sappetite with his comments about the value of primaryeducationamong the Greeks.He might also have illustrateda bit more of the interestingambiguity in which primaryeducationwas held, thoughas I have saidabove,theseare attitudes with whichwe naturallyresonate.It is a verylearnedand sensitivetreatment of a subtle topic.

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It is also a remarkablycompressedtreatment.Havingbegunmorethan a decade ago as a dissertation,it has been reviseddown to concise insights, while losing neitherthe seriousnessof scholarlypurposenor the essential form of a dissertation.It is a book whichwill interestboththe specialistand the seriousgeneralist,givingboth a heightenedcuriosityabout the complex relationships between Greek and Hebrew thought which have been obscuredby the historicalrecord. AlanF.Segal BarnardCollege New York,N.Y. in MedievalEgypt: The Originsof Mark R. Cohen.JewishSelf-Government the Office of Head of the Jews. ca. 1065-1126. Princeton,N.J.: Princeton UniversityPress, 1980. xxi, 385 pp. Although ostensiblya study of the developmentof a single institution, the negidate,in one country,Egypt,duringa limitedperiod, 1065-1126,this book has an importancewhich far transcendsthese limitations.From the opening chapter,"The Problemof Origins,"the authormakes it clearthat this work representsanother round in a scholarlybattle which has been joined during most of this century.As in many such battles, one side has been labeled"traditional"and the other "revisionist."Cohen'sbook represents "revisionist"historicalwritingat its best, closely reasonedand based on a carefulreadingof documentarysources. The issues surroundingthe historyof the officeof nagid,or ra'fsal-yahad ("headof the Jews"),as it was knownin Arabic,are presentedby Cohenas follows: the relativeimportanceof internaldevelopmentsversus external factors;the conceptof the creationof an institutionby administrativefiat as opposed to its organic growth; the importanceand reliabilityof literary sources as against documentaryevidence. The "traditional"view, basedon literarytexts, saw the negidateas arising out of the need and interestsof the Fatimidregime,and the creationof the institutionas resultingfrom the Fatimiddesireto assertindependence from the Baghdadcaliphate.In this view, the negidatewas intendedas a counterto the exilarchatein the Abbasidcapital.Accordingly,the Fatimids decreedthe establishmentof the institution-a view which contradictsthe "revisionist"idea of its gradualevolutionfromthe needsand circumstances

Review: [untitled] Author(s): William M. Brinner Source: AJS Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 237-239 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486262 . Accessed: 30/06/2011 01:44 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

237

BOOK REVIEWS

It is also a remarkablycompressedtreatment.Havingbegunmorethan a decade ago as a dissertation,it has been reviseddown to concise insights, while losing neitherthe seriousnessof scholarlypurposenor the essential form of a dissertation.It is a book whichwill interestboththe specialistand the seriousgeneralist,givingboth a heightenedcuriosityabout the complex relationships between Greek and Hebrew thought which have been obscuredby the historicalrecord. AlanF.Segal BarnardCollege New York,N.Y. in MedievalEgypt: The Originsof Mark R. Cohen.JewishSelf-Government the Office of Head of the Jews. ca. 1065-1126. Princeton,N.J.: Princeton UniversityPress, 1980. xxi, 385 pp. Although ostensiblya study of the developmentof a single institution, the negidate,in one country,Egypt,duringa limitedperiod, 1065-1126,this book has an importancewhich far transcendsthese limitations.From the opening chapter,"The Problemof Origins,"the authormakes it clearthat this work representsanother round in a scholarlybattle which has been joined during most of this century.As in many such battles, one side has been labeled"traditional"and the other "revisionist."Cohen'sbook represents "revisionist"historicalwritingat its best, closely reasonedand based on a carefulreadingof documentarysources. The issues surroundingthe historyof the officeof nagid,or ra'fsal-yahad ("headof the Jews"),as it was knownin Arabic,are presentedby Cohenas follows: the relativeimportanceof internaldevelopmentsversus external factors;the conceptof the creationof an institutionby administrativefiat as opposed to its organic growth; the importanceand reliabilityof literary sources as against documentaryevidence. The "traditional"view, basedon literarytexts, saw the negidateas arising out of the need and interestsof the Fatimidregime,and the creationof the institutionas resultingfrom the Fatimiddesireto assertindependence from the Baghdadcaliphate.In this view, the negidatewas intendedas a counterto the exilarchatein the Abbasidcapital.Accordingly,the Fatimids decreedthe establishmentof the institution-a view which contradictsthe "revisionist"idea of its gradualevolutionfromthe needsand circumstances

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of the Jewishcommunityin Egypt, and, more specifically,from the timehonoredPalestiniangeonichegemonyover the Jewsof the FatimidEmpire. The literarysourcesreferredto arethe Hebrewchronicleof the Egyptian JosephSambari(1640-1703), which resemblesthe responsumon this topic of Ibn Abi Zimra(1479-1573), the chiefrabbiof Cairo duringthe firsthalf of the sixteenthcentury.Another literarysource is the so-called Megillat Ahima'a;,writtenby Ahimaazb. Paltielin 1054,in whichthe authorrefers to his forebear,Paltielb. Shephatiah,a powerfulfigurein the entourageof the Fatimidconquerorof Egypt, al-Mu'izz(r. 953-975), as "nagid." This conflict between literary sources and documentaryevidence is crucial. The Sambari-IbnZimra accountsmentionedabove attributethe originof the negidateto the appointmentof a scion of the Davidicline from Baghdad in response to a suggestionby the caliph's bride, an Abbasid princess,who expressedsurpriseat the absenceof this institutionat the Fatimid court. Followingthe Megillah,the earlyfigurePaltielwas placedat the headof the list of negidim.For yearsJewishhistoriansstruggledto fit names and dates into a coherentlist of holdersof the office of nagid. The great pioneerof modernJewishhistoricalwriting,HeinrichGraetz,rejectedthe historicityof the saga,but otherscontinueduntilveryrecentlyto relyon this material. As documentsfound in the CairoGenizahbeganto be published,valuable new informationbecame available.Still, the basic outlines of the old account were retained. Jacob Mann, for example, while rejecting the Davidic originof the Egyptiannegidateand statingthat "the origin of this office is still obscure,"acceptedthe Fatimiddesireto make EgyptianJews independentof Baghdadas the most probablereasonfor its creation,and Paltiel as the "most likely" first nagid. As earlyas 1939David Ayalon (thenNeustadt)publishedthe firstmajor criticalrejectionof the Sambarilegendas well as of the Paltielnegidate.He also arguedthatthe Fatimidswerelittle concernedwith the internalpolitical orientationof their Jewish subjects.This led to defensesof the traditional hypothesisby E. Ashtor, H. Z. Hirschberg,and Ben-ZionDinur, among others. In 1962 the great interpreterof Genizah material,S. D. Goitein, began a reexaminationof the title and office of the negidate.The controversy continued, however,even after he producedconvincingarguments against the traditionalview. In his painstakingintroduction,Cohen covers the developmentof this scholarlycontroversyto illustratehow difficult it can be for scholarsto

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abandonstronglyheld positionseven in the face of a mass of contradictory evidence. An importantpoint raised and developedby Cohen is that the Jewishinstitutionmust be comparedwith the Coptic patriarchateof Alexandria and its developmentunder the Fatimids as well, because Fatimid policy towarddhimmisin generalmust be taken into account.This latteris the subjectmatterof his secondchapter,"FatimidRealitiesand the Coptic Patriarchate."The third chapter,subtitled"SociologicalConsiderations," deals with the change in the self-governmentof the Jews in the Fatimid Empireas revealedby documentaryevidencein the CairoGenizah.During the latterthirdof the eleventhcentury,a shift took placein the ruleover the Jews of Egypt. The appointmentof judges and other communalofficials, previouslycarriedout by the Palestiniangaon, the head of the Yeshivahof Jerusalem,now becamethe prerogativeof the nagid and head of the Jews, Mevorakhb. Saadiahin Cairo. The remainderof the book tracesthe historyof the negidate,or headship of the Jews, from its "cautiousbeginnings"under Judah b. Saadiah(ca. 1050) to the administrationof Moses b. Mevorakh(1112-ca. 1126). It is, therefore,not a history of the institutionduringits entire duration,but a study of origins and of "the slow, organicadaptationof pre-existingstructures of Jewishself-governmentwhile contemporaryFatimidrealitiesacted as a catalyst." Cohen is at his best in presentingthe developmentof the scholarly debateand the argumentswhichhe has deducedfromthe Genizahmaterials to supporthis views. His account of Fatimid-Copticrelationsis a muchneeded correctiveto those Jewishhistorianswho have ignoredthe important connections between the historical developmentof differentdhimmi groups. The bulkof the book, fromAppendixA to Chapter3 throughChapter7, or 185pages,is a presentationof evidenceand is not as well integratedinto the argumentationas it mighthave been. But this is a minorquibbleabouta book which raises some importanthistoriographicquestionsand presents some convincinganswers.A welcome sequel would be a fulfillmentof the promiseof the book's title. It is, afterall, only a studyof origins,and not a full account of Jewish self-governmentin medievalEgypt. WilliamM. Brinner Universityof California Berkeley,Calif.

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Jesse Mashbaum Source: AJS Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 240-241 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486263 . Accessed: 30/06/2011 01:44 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

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Kalman P. Bland. The "Epistle on the Possibility of Conjunction with the Active Intellect" by Ibn Rushd with the Commentaryof Moses Narboni. New

York:JewishTheologicalSeminaryof America(distributedby Ktav), 1982. xiii, 151, 155 (Hebrew)pp. The works of the twelfth-centuryIslamicphilosopherAverroesheavily influencedJewish rationalistsof the later medieval period. Although in recentdecadestherehas been an increaseof attentionto Averroes'writings, many are not yet availablein scholarlyeditions, and fewerstill in English translation. In the Epistle on the Possibility of Conjunction,probably written late in

his career,Averroeswrestleswith the questionwhethera human intellect could achieveimmortalityor, in medievalAristotelianterms,whethersome partor phaseof the humansoul or intellectcould "conjoinwith"an eternal, cosmic intellect.If such a conjunctionwere deemedpossible, then what is the relationshipof the potentiallyimmortalpartor phaseto the mortalsoul and the mortal body? One of the approachesto these issues pursuedby Averroesin his psychologicaltreatisesand most especiallythe Epistlewas an analysisof the kinds of connectionsthat can exist betweenforms and their substrates. Half of this text was edited with a Germantranslationand notes by L. Hannes in 1892 (Des A verroesAbhandlung:"Ober die M6glichkeit der Con-

junction..."). Professor Bland's edition presents the complete text by Averroesaccompaniedby the commentaryof Moses Narboni.As is typical of the eclectic commentariesof this fourteenth-century Jewish rationalist, Narboni here compares the views of Averroes, Maimonides, and other thinkers,generallyfollowingthe lead of Averroes.Evenmorethanin Averroes'earlierworks,the discussionsin the EpistleandNarboni'scommentary are technicaland complex, invitinga clear translationand an informative explication.Unfortunatelythese needs are not filled by this edition. Aside froma new two-pagepreface,ninepagesof indexes,and a handful of additionalreferencesin the footnotes,this editionis identicalto Professor Bland's dissertation,completedin 1972. The Hebrewtext has apparently been photo-offset from the typed copy of the original dissertation.A numberof correctionsof typingerrorsin the text and criticalapparatuswere listed at the end of the dissertation;instead of incorporatingthese corrections into the text of the publishededition,the editorhas simplyreproduced the list. There remain additional typographicalerrors, e.g., 10:3, 28:14, 29:10, etc. The editor chose to follow a single text ratherthan create an

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eclectictext;consequentlyone mustkeep an eye on the criticalapparatusto avoid being misled by copyist's errors (e.g., 12:37, 14:60, 35:23). On the whole the Hebrewtext is neat, legible, and well punctuated. ProfessorBlandannounceshis intentionto writea translationthat is "as literalas Englishusage will allow" (p. 11). The resultin this case is loss of clarity.The Englishreaderis quicklyentangledin a thicketof run-on sentences, danglingclauses,and unidentifiedpronouns.It is frequentlyimpossible to maintainsight of the terminologyand conceptualdistinctionsbeing made, as well as a view of the argumentas a whole. The translationcannot stand alone. Unfortunately,the footnotes do not aid the reader'scomprehensionof the text. Thereare few notes whichanalyzetermsor monitorthe structural courseof the arguments.The footnotesthat aresuppliedcontaina wealthof bibliographicreferencesbut do not, with few exceptions,referto scholarly works publishedsince 1972. The introductionis extremelybrief,and does not analyzetechnicalterms and concepts nor place them in a largercontext of Averroistor general medievalphilosophicthought.For example,a treatmentof Averroes'"distinctionbetweenontologicaland perceptualperfection"(p. 3) promisedfor laterin the book (p. 15,n. 22) is nowhereto be found. ProfessorBlandstates that it was not his "purpose to subject ibn Rushd's . . . [theories] to critical

scrutiny"(p. 7); nevertheless,more explicationof this difficulttext would have been helpful. JesseMashbaum Baltimore,Md. Basil Herring. Joseph Ibn Kaspi's "Gevia' Kesef" New York: Ktav Publish-

ing House, 1982, 303 pp. + 45 pp. (Hebrewtext) Joseph Ibn Caspi (Kaspi) was a rather prolific writer who lived in southernFranceand northernSpainin the fourteenthcentury.As a partof the medievalJewishAristoteliantraditionhe wrote many books, including commentarieson most of the books of the Bible, summariesof Plato and Aristotle(from Averroes),commentariesto the Guide,and more. Many of Caspi'sworkswerepublishedat the beginningof this centuryby Isaac Last. His commentaryon the Guidehad alreadybeen publishedby S. Werbluner, as had his IKevu;at Kesef by Renan-Neubauer.Among the works un-

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Barry Mesch Source: AJS Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 241-245 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486264 . Accessed: 30/06/2011 01:44 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

BOOK REVIEWS

241

eclectictext;consequentlyone mustkeep an eye on the criticalapparatusto avoid being misled by copyist's errors (e.g., 12:37, 14:60, 35:23). On the whole the Hebrewtext is neat, legible, and well punctuated. ProfessorBlandannounceshis intentionto writea translationthat is "as literalas Englishusage will allow" (p. 11). The resultin this case is loss of clarity.The Englishreaderis quicklyentangledin a thicketof run-on sentences, danglingclauses,and unidentifiedpronouns.It is frequentlyimpossible to maintainsight of the terminologyand conceptualdistinctionsbeing made, as well as a view of the argumentas a whole. The translationcannot stand alone. Unfortunately,the footnotes do not aid the reader'scomprehensionof the text. Thereare few notes whichanalyzetermsor monitorthe structural courseof the arguments.The footnotesthat aresuppliedcontaina wealthof bibliographicreferencesbut do not, with few exceptions,referto scholarly works publishedsince 1972. The introductionis extremelybrief,and does not analyzetechnicalterms and concepts nor place them in a largercontext of Averroistor general medievalphilosophicthought.For example,a treatmentof Averroes'"distinctionbetweenontologicaland perceptualperfection"(p. 3) promisedfor laterin the book (p. 15,n. 22) is nowhereto be found. ProfessorBlandstates that it was not his "purpose to subject ibn Rushd's . . . [theories] to critical

scrutiny"(p. 7); nevertheless,more explicationof this difficulttext would have been helpful. JesseMashbaum Baltimore,Md. Basil Herring. Joseph Ibn Kaspi's "Gevia' Kesef" New York: Ktav Publish-

ing House, 1982, 303 pp. + 45 pp. (Hebrewtext) Joseph Ibn Caspi (Kaspi) was a rather prolific writer who lived in southernFranceand northernSpainin the fourteenthcentury.As a partof the medievalJewishAristoteliantraditionhe wrote many books, including commentarieson most of the books of the Bible, summariesof Plato and Aristotle(from Averroes),commentariesto the Guide,and more. Many of Caspi'sworkswerepublishedat the beginningof this centuryby Isaac Last. His commentaryon the Guidehad alreadybeen publishedby S. Werbluner, as had his IKevu;at Kesef by Renan-Neubauer.Among the works un-

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publishedwas a work called Gevia'Kesef found in a Turinmanuscriptof which Last was unaware.Basil Herringhas providedus with an edition of the Gevia'Kesef taken almost entirelyfrom MS Turin(a fragmentof the book foundin a Munichmanuscriptwas consulted,but a manuscriptapparently in the GuenzbergCollectionin Moscowwas inaccessible).Besidesthe text of the book, Herringhas given us an annotatedEnglish translation along with an extendedintroductionto the life and works of Caspi. In this introductionthereare chapterson Caspi'slife and writings,his exegesis,his treatmentof the namesof God in Scripture,and his treatmentof miraclesin the Bible. In the introductionto Gevia'Kesef,Caspisays that "the intentionof this work is to writewhateverI can regardingthe secretsof the Torahthat I did not see fit to write in the MaSref la-Kesef Tirat Kesef, Mizrak Kesef and

MenoratKesef' (p. 135). Herringshows that there is an intimaterelationship between this book and another book by Caspi called Kesef Siggim whichCaspidescribesas "one hundredand ten profoundquestionsworthy of considerationfrom the Pentateuchand the Prophets."'At the beginning of chapter6 of Gevia'Kesef Caspi says, "Whatis writtenin this workup to this point, as well as what is written in Mizrak Kesefand Menorat Kesef has

resolved the first sixteen questions that we enumeratedin Kesef Sigim. ThereforeI will now proceedto solve the others,one at a time"(p. 157).At the end of Gevia'Kesefhe says, "Withthis, the questionsthat I wrote that appertainto the Book of Genesis have been completed"(p. 276). In his notes, Herringtries to reconstructsome of the questionsfrom this book, which is not extant, and these reconstructionsare quite helpful. It would havebeenusefulfor Herringto havetriedto put togetherall of the questions he was ableto reconstructin an appendixso that we couldget an idea of the contents of at least the first part of Kesef Siggim. Anotherissue relatingto the text of Gevia'Kesefis whetheror not MS Turinis itself a part of a largerwork, as originallypromisedby Caspi in Kesef or is completein itself as an elucidationof philosophicprobIKevugat lems in the Book of Genesis.Herringarguesthat our text of Gevia'Kesefis complete.His argumentis basedon a numberof factorsthe most important of whichis that most of the referencesto Gevia'Kesefin Caspi'sotherworks can be locatedin MS Turin.However,thereare a numberof referencesthat cannot be found there.PerhapsCaspiintendedto writea book whichdealt 1. In Kevu;at Kesef See B. Mesch, Studies in Joseph ibn Caspi (Leiden, 1975), p. 7.

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with all of the unansweredquestionsof KesefSiggim(some of these questions had alreadybeen answeredin otherbooks of his). Herringhas already shown that Gevia'Kesefwas writtentowardthe end of Caspi'slife. It might well be that he ran out of time. At any rate,it seemsto me that the question of the completenessof Gevia'Kesefis still open. Herringhimselfrefersto his conclusionsas tentative. The Hebrewtext is presentedin a most felicitousmanner,althoughthe criticalapparatusis rathermeager,since the majorityof the manuscriptis availablein only one recension.The translationis accurateandthe notes are helpful. The long introductorysectionprovidesmuch usefulanalysisof some of the basic themes of Caspi'swritings.Herring'sfirst chapter,"Kaspi'sLife, Works, and Background,"is generallywell done, bringingup to date the earlierworks on the subject.2Caspi was a rathercontroversialfigurein his day and found antagonistsboth amongphilosophersand amongtraditionalists who thoughthe was revealingtoo much of the esotericmeaningof the Bible. Caspi showed great disdain for the masses, who never showed him muchrespect,but Herringneglectsthe fact that he also deridedand mocked who castigatedhim for delvinginto the rabbisand "pseudo-philosophers" the mysteriesof the Scripture.Caspialso tendedto use termslike "my sons" and "my son" in his writings.Herringsays that he beganthis practiceafter Kalonymoswrote his refutationof Caspi's TiratKesef,therebyaddressing "himselfin his worksto his children,convincedthat they alonecould appreciate his writings"(p. 10).This is difficultto accept,sinceCaspihad already used these expressionsin Tirat Kesef, and Kalonymos himself criticizes Caspi for referringto his readersin these terms.3 In the secondchapterHerringexaminesCaspi'smethodologyas a biblical exegete. At the beginningof this chapter Herring says that Caspi is accusedof not adding"significantlyto our understandingof the plainmeaning of Scripture"and that the purposeof the presentchapteris to examine this evaluation.Herringpresentsan excellentanalysisof Caspi'smethodology but never really offers an evaluation.It seems that he wants to claim

2. See especially I. Twersky, "Joseph ibn Kaspi: Portrait of a Medieval Jewish Intellectual," in Studies in Medieval Jewish History and Literature, ed. I Twersky (Cambridge, Mass., 1979), pp. 231-261, and Mesch, Studies. 3. Kalonymos ben Kalonymos, Sendschreiben an Josef Kaspi (Ha-Teshuvah), ed. Perles

(Munich, 1879),p. 24. See also Mesch, Studies,p. 45.

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that Caspi does indeed"addsignificantlyto our understandingof the plain meaningof Scripture."From a close readingof this chapterit is not at all clear that he has achievedhis goal. His chapter"The Names of God in Scripture"is very good. He shows that Caspi'sattemptto offeran analysisof why the namesof God changein the earlychaptersof Genesisis probablyin responseto Abnerof Burgos,the famous Jewish convert of the fourteenth century, who in TeshuvotlaMeharef(notMelbares)placesa good deal of emphasison his own interpretation of the namesof God. This would go a long way in helpingus understand Caspi's interest in Jewish-Christianpolemics in his later writings. Still, one leaves the chapterwith the sense that somethingis missing.We have not been given an overarchingsynthetic approachto the material which would give us some insights into Caspi's generalapproachto the nature of God. Herring'streatmentof Caspi'sview of miraclesis also quiteinteresting. He points out that Caspi distinguishedbetweentwo categoriesof miracles: those that he calls "naturallypossible" and those that are "impossible" (nimna'im).The problemhere is whetheror not Caspi, as a radicalinterpreter of Maimonides,believed that truly "impossible"miracles,that is, supernaturalevents which interferewith the normalcourse of nature,can occur. Herringshows that there are two kinds of impossibility:logically impossible and naturally impossible. For Caspi, according to Herring, "evenGod cannot changethe formerclass of impossibles,whereasHe can and does temporarilychangenaturallaws, therebyachievingwhatis impossible for man to effect"(p. 107).Most of the miraclesin the Bible areactually in the first categorymentionedabove ("naturallypossible"),and Caspi spends a good deal of time offeringextendedexegesisof biblicalpassages concerning miracles to show that they belong to this first category. However,Caspialso claimsthat thereare somemiracleswhichdo belongto the second class ("naturallyimpossible").The fundamentalquestion is, What miraclesfall into this lattercategory,and how do they function?Herring shows that Caspi'sposition on this questionis influencedby Ibn Ezra and Avicennaand Averroes,who arguethat the prophet,when he achieves unionwiththe ActiveIntellect,is ableto "changeor suspendnaturallawsso as to producemiracles"(p. 110).Caspiclaimsthat Moses, havingachieved this state of conjunction,was able to exert a certain power on the four elementsand therebyproducemiracles.It was this view that was challenged by Kalonymosin his refutationof Caspi. In his discussionof these issues Herring would have been helped by two recent works which appeared after

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the publication of his book: "Theoriesof Prophecy in Medieval Jewish Philosophy"by HowardKreisel(BrandeisUniversitydiss., 1980)and "The AnthropologicalTheoryof Miraclesin MedievalJewishPhilosophy"by A. Ravitzky (Heb.), in Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought 2 (1982/83):

323-362. Theseworkspay carefulattentionto the role of the prophetin the performanceof miracles. Anotherproblemlies in the fact thatCaspiis veryhardto pin downas to what exactlyqualifiesas a miracleof the secondtype.Whenreferringto this second type he sometimessays "impossibleor barelypossible"(nimna''o which then does not seem to referto authenticallysuper'efsharirahbok), naturalevents. In one place Caspi says that one shouldnot makea distinction between the three Hebrew terms for "miracle" ('ot, mofet,pele'),4 and in

anotherhe makesa cleardistinctionbetweenthe three,claimingtherethat pele' refersto the categoryof the "impossibleor barelypossible."5Herring refersto a numberof cases whereCaspi apparentlyinterpretsthe events as miraclesof the secondtype, but Caspihimselfseemssomewhatconfusedby these cases. Even though he seems to want to includethem as instancesof the second category,he is not comfortablewith his interpretation(see esp. his discussion of the First Plague).6Herring'sinterpretationof Caspi on miracles helps us unravel this complex question, but it seems to make Caspi's views clearerand more coherentthan they actuallyare. All in all, the presentationof the heretoforeunpublishedwork Gevia' Kesefalong with a good annotatedtranslationis a welcomeadditionto the developing literatureof post-Maimonideanphilosophy and exegesis. The introductorychapters,with some reservations,providehelpfuldiscussions of Caspi and his place in medievalJewishthought and exegesis. BarryMesch of Florida University Fla. Gainesville, David R. Blumenthal, ed. and trans. The Philosophic Questions and Answers

of loler benShelomo.Etudessurle Judaismem6di6val,vol. 11.Leiden:E. J. Brill, 1981. xv, 419 pp. 4. Mishneh Kesef, vol. 1 (Tirat Kese/), ed. I. Last (Pressburg, 1905), pp. 12-13. See Herring, p. 112, who was apparently unaware of the other passage. 5. Mishneh Kesef, vol. 2 (Ma;ref la-Kesej), ed. I. Last (Cracow, 1906), p. 154. 6. Ibid. pp. 172-173.

Review: [untitled] Author(s): L. V. Berman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 245-250 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486265 . Accessed: 30/06/2011 01:44 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

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BOOK REVIEWS

the publication of his book: "Theoriesof Prophecy in Medieval Jewish Philosophy"by HowardKreisel(BrandeisUniversitydiss., 1980)and "The AnthropologicalTheoryof Miraclesin MedievalJewishPhilosophy"by A. Ravitzky (Heb.), in Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought 2 (1982/83):

323-362. Theseworkspay carefulattentionto the role of the prophetin the performanceof miracles. Anotherproblemlies in the fact thatCaspiis veryhardto pin downas to what exactlyqualifiesas a miracleof the secondtype.Whenreferringto this second type he sometimessays "impossibleor barelypossible"(nimna''o which then does not seem to referto authenticallysuper'efsharirahbok), naturalevents. In one place Caspi says that one shouldnot makea distinction between the three Hebrew terms for "miracle" ('ot, mofet,pele'),4 and in

anotherhe makesa cleardistinctionbetweenthe three,claimingtherethat pele' refersto the categoryof the "impossibleor barelypossible."5Herring refersto a numberof cases whereCaspi apparentlyinterpretsthe events as miraclesof the secondtype, but Caspihimselfseemssomewhatconfusedby these cases. Even though he seems to want to includethem as instancesof the second category,he is not comfortablewith his interpretation(see esp. his discussion of the First Plague).6Herring'sinterpretationof Caspi on miracles helps us unravel this complex question, but it seems to make Caspi's views clearerand more coherentthan they actuallyare. All in all, the presentationof the heretoforeunpublishedwork Gevia' Kesefalong with a good annotatedtranslationis a welcomeadditionto the developing literatureof post-Maimonideanphilosophy and exegesis. The introductorychapters,with some reservations,providehelpfuldiscussions of Caspi and his place in medievalJewishthought and exegesis. BarryMesch of Florida University Fla. Gainesville, David R. Blumenthal, ed. and trans. The Philosophic Questions and Answers

of loler benShelomo.Etudessurle Judaismem6di6val,vol. 11.Leiden:E. J. Brill, 1981. xv, 419 pp. 4. Mishneh Kesef, vol. 1 (Tirat Kese/), ed. I. Last (Pressburg, 1905), pp. 12-13. See Herring, p. 112, who was apparently unaware of the other passage. 5. Mishneh Kesef, vol. 2 (Ma;ref la-Kesej), ed. I. Last (Cracow, 1906), p. 154. 6. Ibid. pp. 172-173.

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Judeo-Arabicthought has received somewhat uneven treatment by scholarssince the meteoricrise of historicalstudiesof all kinds in the last century.Muchattentionhas beendevotedto the classicworksof this branch of Jewishstudies up to and includingthe twelfthcentury.It is to the later periods of Judeo-Arabicthought that little attentionhas been paid up to now. D. R. Blumenthalhas begunthe task of placingthe thoughtof one of the leadingYemenitethinkersof the fifteenthcenturyin its settingby editing, translating,and annotatingthe work underreview. ben Solomon al-Dhamari,also known as Manguribn Suleiman H.oter al-Dhamiri, was a prolific Yemenitescholar of the fifteenthcentury.He was well acquaintedwith rabbinicliteratureof an aggadic and halakhic natureand also had immersedhimselfin the philosophicalthoughtcurrent in his milieu, both from the Jewishtraditionand the non-JewishenvironJewish ment. Althoughit seemsexaggeratedto speakof a fifteenth-century renaissancein Yemen (p. ix; here and subsequentlypage referencesin parenthesesreferto the book under review),on the basis of the evidence cited by Blumenthalthere does seem to have been a flurryof intellectual activityin the fifteenthcenturyof which Hoter was a principalfigure.The book consistsof threeparts:an introductiondiscussingin generalthe intellectual milieu of Hoter and importantthemesof his enterprise,an English translationof the workwith extensivenotes,anda firsteditionof the JudeoArabic text of Hoter's book. First of all, what is the natureof the book?Hoter himselfcalls it simply "The HundredQuestions,"and althoughmost of them are concernedwith philosophicaland theologicalissues, there are some which are concerned with matterswhich are legal in nature(Questions9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 84). Thus the title given by Blumenthalto the book is slightlymisleading and obscuresto some degreethe interestsof Hoter. Some of the remaining questions are general in nature, remarkablein their directness,such as: "What is the law [al-sharr'ah]?" (Question 3). "What is the most noble science and what is the least [noble]?"(Question 15). "Must a person achieveperfectionby meansof all the sciencesor is one sciencesufficientfor his perfection?"(Question16). "Whatis the humanintellectand what is its function?"(Question39). "Whatis the differencebetween'time' and 'eternity'?" (Question87). It is intriguingto see questionslike these raisedin fifteenth-centuryYemen in the Jewish tradition.The other questionsare exegetical,relatingto the interpretationof the Bible or of the rabbisor of Maimonides.Hoter believesthat the rabbinicworldviewneedsto be reconciled with the philosophicworldview,a position given up by Maimonides.

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The naivete of Hoter in comparisonwith the later Maimonidesis further revealedby his attemptto reconcileShi'urKomahwith philosophicthought. Of course, whethersomeone is naive or not is a relativejudgment, since Narbonitriedto do the samethingin southernFrancein the thirteenthcentury (see A. Altmann in Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies, ed. A.

Altmann [Cambridge,Mass., 1967],pp. 225-288, esp. 231-232). A majortheme of the introductionis Hoter's use of categoriesof Neoplatonic thought originating from Ism1'ili circles. This is in itself not surprising,for in general Judeo-Arabicthought in the Islamic East and West showedan activeinterestin non-Jewishphilosophicaland theological traditions,but it is good to have documentationof this attitude.However, the milieuin which Hoter workedwas that of the Zaydibranchof Shi'ism, not the Isma'ilibranch.Perhapsthe workof Hotermayindicatethat he continuedan older traditionof involvementwith Isma'ilithoughteven though the outside intellectualmilieu had changed in the meantime.This then would constitutea good exampleof Jewishcultural"jet lag." Blumenthal does not mention the very interestingevidenceof Jewishinfluenceon the externalphilosophictraditioncontained in a bulky Yemenitenon-JudeoArabicmanuscriptof the fifteenthcenturywhichcontainsa transcriptionof Maimonides' Guide into Arabic letters, including the Hebrew words, phrases,and quotations,whichcome out as gibberish.(See FranzRosenthal in Journal of the American Oriental Society, 75 [1955]: 14-23, esp. 14 and 20,

and also the edition of Maimonides'Guidein Arabic lettersbased on the Istanbulmanuscriptby HiiseyinAtay, AnkaraUniversitesi[IlahiyatFakiiltesi Yayinlari93], 1974.In the editionHebrewwordsand phraseshavebeen translatedinto Arabic by the editor.) Another topic taken up at some length in the introductionis the idea that Hoteris a philosophicmystic.Here,Blumenthal,followingin the footsteps of G. Vajda,tries to set up a categoryof mysticismwhichis philosophic in nature.Hoter, beingin the Neoplatonictraditionto a greaterextent than Maimonides,I think does belong to such a category.He speaksabout the union of the rationalsoul of man with the ActiveIntellect,or the Agent Intelligence,as Blumenthalprefers.However,whatis lacking,at least in the publishedwork of Hoter, is the emotive and experientialelementwhichwe find in the writingsof MeisterEckhartand Ibn 'Arabi,who also shouldbe takenas philosophicmystics.In fact, the distancebetweenthe mood of these writersand that of Hoter is very wide indeed. Perhapsone has to speak of forms of philosophicmysticismin the same way that one must speak of forms of mysticismitself. The problemsinvolvedin definingmysticismare

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notorious, and the materialwhich Blumenthalbrings to bear should be includedin the dossier of this question. I shouldnow like to turnto the translationof the work.The translation is considerablyweakerthanthe introduction.Thereare examplesof elementary misunderstandingof Arabic idiom, as well as other infelicities.Some examples of what I have in mind follow. On p. 121 Hoter questionsthe meaning of Maimonides'statementthat "commandmentswhich are not bindingfor [future]generationshave no connectionto Sinai,whetherthey were revealedat Sinaior elsewhere."Blumenthaltranslatesword for word, and doesn'trecognizethat Arabicidiom requires"whether"here.On p. 151 at the top, "similarto this is the miraculousbone"shouldsimplybe "something like this is a matterof greatamazement."On p. 165he translatesbiwith "theirbeing radiatedinto matter."The meaninghereis muqdranatiha simply"by beingconnectedto matter."See also p. 78, wherethe samepassage is quotedin the introductionwith slight differencesin the translation, indicatinga certainunfinishedqualityto the work. See also p. 226, line 9 fromthe bottom, p. 227, line 7 from the bottom, and p. 234, line 4 fromthe bottom, for the same error. Blumenthalusuallytranslatesal-mufaraq,for example on p. 149 and cf. p. 50, as "the SeparatedOne."This term may simplymean "thatwhichis separatefrom matter."He would have, I think, to make an argumentthat it has the specificmeaninghe assignsto it and refersto the Active Intellect,or the Agent Intelligence,as he prefers.On p. 166 we find the same phrasein the translation,but in the text on p. 317 we find al-mufaraqahreferringto the "beingsseparate[frommatter],"or the separateintellects,as in the next line. On p. 179 the versefrom Psalms8:6 should be translated "And you have made him a little less than ..." rather

than "And He made him a little more deficientthan the divine beings." Blumenthal'stranslationwould imply that the divine beings are deficient, intention.At the bottom of p. 180, "great which is certainlynot .Hoter's will "Sublime ideaswill cometo you fromthisin be should be yours" power questionsto come."On p. 187,in describingthe principleof contradiction, we read that "the two partsof a contradictioncannot co-exist."The better translationwould be "coincide"(yaitami'dni).Page 189, line 2: the intention is not an "easyproof" but rather"an approximateproof,"one that is not rigorous.On p. 189,line 6 from the bottom, "formalproof"is not "the knowledgeof a thing in its true nature"but rather"that which gives the knowledgeof [or defines]a thing in its true nature,"and in the note read al-mu'arrif.On p. 208, curiously, Blumenthalhas read m-1-k as mulk, "property,"whereas it should be read malak, "angel." The translation

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should be adjustedaccordingly.See also p. 255, n. 5, for the same error.On p. 212, line 13, "reproaches"shouldbe "fits."One meaningof the word has been confusedwith the correctmeaning.Page 215, n. 5: wujadis translated as "reality"and "existence.""Existence"is preferable.Page217, line 3 from the bottom:the meaningof muddfis not "addition"but rather"relativeto" or "relatively."The same error occurs on p. 246, line 10, where we find "Nor does He [possess]the parts of additivity."This should be translated "Nor is [He subjectto plurality]in the way of elementswhichare relativeto one another."The samemistakeoccurson p. 260, line 18. Page222, line 10: al-juz' al-ardi should be "the earthly part." On p. 239 the translation "Existencegives an accidentto the existentbeing"is ratherawkwardand misleading.A bettertranslationmight be "Existenceis an accidentattaching to the existingbeing."Cf. the translationof Pinesin Guide1:57.Hereit would seem that the literalityof Blumenthalhas misledhim. At p. 247, line 10, Blumenthalhas confused '-d-d, "to count," with '-w-d-,"to return," but admittedlythe passageis difficult.In general,Blumenthalhas done a prodigiousamountof work to identifypassagesand to explainthe thought of Hoter in the notes to his translation.This is a pioneeringeffort and it is commendable,but the translationshould be gone over very carefullyand improved,perhapsfor a secondedition.In addition,a moreintimateknowledge of philosophicalliteraturein Arabicand its terminology,in orderto get a firmergrip on its technicalvocabulary,would seem to be indicated. I should now like to make some brief remarkson the edition of the Judeo-Arabictext. In generalwe have a new text whichis readable.Unfortunatelythereis some evidenceof carelessness.As soon as we open the text on p. 272 the tableof contentsdoes not havethe page numbersinserted.On p. 273, line 6, nadrshould be nadd,and there are a numberof other typographicalerrors.MoredisturbingI foundthe customof Blumenthalto print the text of his mainmanuscript,whichis clearlywrong,and give the correct reading,as preservedin the variants,in the apparatuswith the note that "this is correct."See p. 286, line 6, for an example,and passim.The doubtful or wrongreadingshouldhave been markedin the text in someway even if he did not want to deviate from his base manuscript.There are also examples of clear omissions from the text because of homoioteleutonin whichthereis no attemptat restorationof the originaltext fromthe variants quotedin the apparatusor any indicationof the correcttext. See p. 308,line 7, p. 315, line 7, and p. 321,line 5. In the introductionthe conventionsof the scribe in transcribingthe Arabic into Hebrewletters are not pointed out, which is somewhatconfusingat first. From a methodologicalpoint of view

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one should,however,expectunusualusagesto be signaled.In general,in the introductionsome space should have been given to a discussion of the editorialprincipleswhich governedthe editor in publishingthis text. In conclusion, I think that Blumenthalmust be thanked for making availableto us a rich text which gives us some insightinto the intellectual interestsof YemeniteJewsin the fifteenthcenturyand their relationshipto the previoustraditionof Judeo-Arabicthoughtand that of the non-Jewish world. His introductionservesas a good treatmentof matterswhicharestill just beginningto be investigatedthoroughly.In the translationand the notes to the translationhe has done somenecessaryspadeworkto revealthis highly intriguingaspect of Judeo-Arabicthought to a wider audiencefor the first time. L. V. Berman

StanfordUniversity Stanford,Calif. Yehudah Bauer. American Jewry and the Holocaust: The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1939-1945. Detroit: Wayne State University

Press, 1980. 522 pp. The title of this carefullyresearchedand, for the most part,compellingly writtennarrativeis verymisleading.The authortoursvirtuallyeverycorner of Nazi-occupiedEurope(and Shanghai)with an incrediblegeographical familiarity,the kind most authorsbring to one area (Angel to Rumania, Brahamto Hungary,Poliakovto France,Presserto Holland,Ringelblumto Warsaw,Teichto Transnistria),or a readerto his or herown neighborhood. But Bauertells us little about AmericanJewsand even less aboutAmerican Jewry;only one of the "heroesof the Holocaust"he portraysso skillfullyis an American(JosephSchwartz,the JDC Europeanchief),and he spentthe waryearsin Europe(Lisbon),not America.Bauerhimselfadmitsthis:"The present volume ... deals only cursorily with the American background of

JDC and concentrateson its activitiesabroad"(p. 13). And the pictureof the "Americanbackground"is the weakestpart of this book. The portraitof AmericanJewryhas severalweaknesses,most minor,one more serious.The exaggeratedimportanceof the EmergencyCommitteeof the Irgunin the creationof the War RefugeeBoard;the overlookingof the pressureput on the RooseveltAdministrationlate in 1942and,increasingly, earlyin 1943by AmericanJewry;the failureto delineate,in any sensecom-

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Marc Lee Raphael Source: AJS Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 250-252 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486266 . Accessed: 30/06/2011 01:44 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

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BOOKREVIEWS

one should,however,expectunusualusagesto be signaled.In general,in the introductionsome space should have been given to a discussion of the editorialprincipleswhich governedthe editor in publishingthis text. In conclusion, I think that Blumenthalmust be thanked for making availableto us a rich text which gives us some insightinto the intellectual interestsof YemeniteJewsin the fifteenthcenturyand their relationshipto the previoustraditionof Judeo-Arabicthoughtand that of the non-Jewish world. His introductionservesas a good treatmentof matterswhicharestill just beginningto be investigatedthoroughly.In the translationand the notes to the translationhe has done somenecessaryspadeworkto revealthis highly intriguingaspect of Judeo-Arabicthought to a wider audiencefor the first time. L. V. Berman

StanfordUniversity Stanford,Calif. Yehudah Bauer. American Jewry and the Holocaust: The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1939-1945. Detroit: Wayne State University

Press, 1980. 522 pp. The title of this carefullyresearchedand, for the most part,compellingly writtennarrativeis verymisleading.The authortoursvirtuallyeverycorner of Nazi-occupiedEurope(and Shanghai)with an incrediblegeographical familiarity,the kind most authorsbring to one area (Angel to Rumania, Brahamto Hungary,Poliakovto France,Presserto Holland,Ringelblumto Warsaw,Teichto Transnistria),or a readerto his or herown neighborhood. But Bauertells us little about AmericanJewsand even less aboutAmerican Jewry;only one of the "heroesof the Holocaust"he portraysso skillfullyis an American(JosephSchwartz,the JDC Europeanchief),and he spentthe waryearsin Europe(Lisbon),not America.Bauerhimselfadmitsthis:"The present volume ... deals only cursorily with the American background of

JDC and concentrateson its activitiesabroad"(p. 13). And the pictureof the "Americanbackground"is the weakestpart of this book. The portraitof AmericanJewryhas severalweaknesses,most minor,one more serious.The exaggeratedimportanceof the EmergencyCommitteeof the Irgunin the creationof the War RefugeeBoard;the overlookingof the pressureput on the RooseveltAdministrationlate in 1942and,increasingly, earlyin 1943by AmericanJewry;the failureto delineate,in any sensecom-

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251

parableto the portraitsof the European"heroes,"the Americanleadership of the Joint;and the lack of interestin the UnitedJewishAppeal,the organization which raisedvirtuallyall of the money availableto the JDC during the war-these are perhapsminor irritations. More importantly,albeit without any documentation,Bauerattributes the response (or lack of it) of AmericanJewry during the Holocaust to "virulent American antisemitism"(p. 39). According to Bauer, "antisemitismwas rampant"(p. 28) in Americain the late thirties,and this led Jews, insecureabout their position in Americain 1940, 1941,and 1942,to hesitate to spend too much on overseascauses. Interesting-but without evidence.There is no doubt that AmericanJewrywas insecure,and even divided, and that the war only increasedthese problems.And American Jewishhistoriansagreethat even whencomparedto the brutalitywhichfills practicallyevery page of Bauer'swork-the ArrowCross militia dumping 600 BudapestJews it murderedinto the Danube in October 1944, or the Rumaniansoldierswho, at Iasi in late June 1941,shot, beat, choked, and clubbedto death 8,000 Jewsand suffocated2,645 morein two trainssealed shut with Jews but no food or water-American anti-Semitismdid exist. Yet, the fact is that Bauerdoes not even look at the nuts and bolts of fundraisingfor JDC in theseyears-at even one AmericanJewishcommunityand there is little directevidencethat, when the JDC or the UJA solicited funds in 1940or 1942,anti-Semitism-even if we acknowledgeits existence in any measurablysignificantfashion-played a role. The State Department's claim (even though its anti-Semitismwas blatant)that little could be done was undoubtedlyfelt also by AmericanJews,who were surelynot alone in not knowinghow to do the little that couldbe done,in not grasping the full impact of what was occurringto Europe'sJews, and in probably beingable to do littlemorethantheydid evenif theyhad accuratelygrasped what was really happening.Bauerplays down these realities. In fact, the amountsJDC raisedwerequite sizableeven duringthe years when "antisemiticsentimentswere spreading"(p. 51). The 1938 campaign yieldedalmost $1,500,000more than the year before,the 1939joint United Palestine Appeal-JDC campaign raised double what the separate campaignshad raisedone yearearlier,and the campaignsof the early1940stoo did impressively,untilbetween1943and 1944JDC'sincomerose by 50 percent. Most AmericanJews solicitedby the overseasfund-raisingorganizations duringthe Holocaust hardlywere affectedby anti-Semitism. While weak on America,Baueris impressiveon Europe.This volume should be called EuropeanJewry and the Holocaust, for the funds raised by

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the JDC in AmericaweredistributedthroughEuropeanlay and professional leadersof the JDC, or people and organizationssupportedby the Joint, men and women who becameleadersof sufferingJewishcommunitiesand often rose to heightsof heroismwhile aiding(mostly) and rescuing(sometimes) a beleagueredJewry. Bauer'snarration,in the earlychaptersespecially,is as grippingas that of his rather similar book, From Diplomacy to Resistance, and both demon-

strate his remarkableword-paintingtalents. The drama of clandestine operations,especiallyrescueefforts, in variousplaces, of tryingto merely keep Polish Jewryalive, of dealingwith the Japanesein Shanghai,andmost engagingof all-the JDC negotiations(whichBauerbelievesthe Nazis took very seriously)for Jewish lives in exchangefor trucks and money, especiallywhenthe Jointhad nothingto bargainwith, not only introduceus to unforgettablepersonalitiesbut demonstrate,despite all that was not done, the immensityof the Jewish responseto the Nazi terror. Some of Bauer'semphasesin the heart of the book will arouse discussion. FollowingLucy Dawidowicz,Bauerarguesthat the exterminationof the Jewswas the centerpieceof Nazi cosmology;most Europeanhistorians, I believe,would hesitateto assignkillingthe Jewsthe role in Nazi ideology which Bauergives it, or, as Bauerdoes, to see anti-Semitismas a central cause of World War Ii and to explainthe Germaninvasionof Russia by Hitler's"explicit... desireto destroythe Jewishenemylurkingbehindthe Sovietregime"(p. 454). He takesveryseriously,as I myselfdo, the notionof mass resettlementofferedby the Nazis, and though Dawidowiczdismisses it, Bauer'scase is most convincing.And Bauer'sconstantneed to mete out praise or blame, to individualsand organizations(Palestinians,especially Zionistyouthmovements,get A's; the Allies,for theircontinualsuppression of crucial facts concerningthe Holocaust, D's; the JDC's insistenceon "legality"C's; but the JDC, as a whole, a high mark),is unusualamong historians,though more common among Jewishhistoriansand very common amongHolocausthistorians.I found his subjectivejudgments(pp. 52, 104, 216, 234, 322), even when I disagreed(did AmericanJewrydo enough to save EuropeanJewry?),provocative,and surelythey reveal a historian deeplycommittedto ensuringthatthe Holocaustnot be trivialized.And this he never does. MarcLeeRaphael OhioStateUniversity Columbus,Ohio

Collected Studies Source: AJS Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 253-258 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486267 . Accessed: 30/06/2011 01:44 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

COLLECTEDSTUDIES KennethR. R. Gros Louis,ed., with JamesS. Ackerman.LiteraryInterpretations of Biblical Narratives, vol. 2. Nashville: Abington, 1982.

I. Methodology Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis, "Some Methodological Considerations." Thayer S. Warshaw,"Some PedagogicalConsiderations." II. Genesis Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis, "Genesis3-11." Idem, "Abraham:I." Idem, "Abraham:II." James S. Ackerman,"Joseph,Judah and Jacob."Edward L. Greenstein,"An EquivocalReadingof the Sale of Joseph."BruceDahlberg, "The Unity of Genesis." III. LiteraryApproachesto Selected BiblicalNarratives Ira Clark,"Balaam'sAss: Sutureor Structure?" JamesFreeman,"Samson's A of 13-16." Bones: Structural Phyllis Trible, "A Dry Reading Judges HumanComedy:The Book of Ruth."MichaelFishbane,"I Samuel3: HistoricalNarrativeand NarrativePoetics."KennethR. R. Gros Louis,"King Davidof Israel."Jon D. Levenson,"I Samuel25 as Literatureand History." KennethR. R. Gros Louis, "The Song of Songs."Idem, "NarrativeArt in the Book of Judith."Idem, "The Jesus Birth Stories."JonathanBishop, "Encountersin the New Testament."JamesResseguie,"John9: A LiteraryCriticalAnalysis." Jacob Neusner. Ancient Judaism.- Debates and Disputes. Chico, Calif.:

ScholarsPress, 1984. 283 pp. Introduction:Methodologyin TalmudicHistory I. "JewishHistory"in Theory Michael A. Meyer, Ideas of Jewish History (1975). Salo W. Baron, History and Historians (1966). Ellis Rivkin, The Shaping of Jewish History (1972). H. H. Ben-Sasson, ed., A History of the Jewish People (1977).

II. "JewishHistory"in Practice Morris Silver, The Political Economy of Ancient Israel (1984). John M. 253

254

COLLECTED STUDIES

Allegro, The Chosen People: A Study of Jewish History from the Time of the Exile Until the Revolt of Bar Kochba(1972). Alexander Guttmann, Rabbinic Judaism in the Making: A Chapterin the History of the Halakhahfrom Ezra to Judah I (1972). Wayne Sibley Towner, The Rabbinic "Enumeration of Scriptural Examples". A Study of a Rabbinic Pattern of Discourse, With Special Reference to Mekhilta D'R. Ishmael (1976). Henry A. Fischel, Rabbinic Literature and Greco-Roman Philosophy: A Study of Epicurea and Rhetorica in Early Midrashic Writingsand Wayne Sibley Towner, The Rabbinic "Enumerationof Scriptural Examples" (1975).

III. Describing"Judaism" Joseph Bonsirven, Palestinian Judaism in the Time of Jesus Christ and Robert M. Grant, Gnosticism and Early Christianity (1966). George Foot Moore, Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era: The Age of the Tannaim (1980). Abraham Joshua Heschel, Theology of Ancient Judaism (1966). Ephraim E. Urbach, The Sages: Their Conceptsand Beliefs (1976). E. P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism. A Comparisonof Patterns of Religion (1978).

IV. Interpreting"Judaism" Erwin R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period I-VII

(1963). Carl H. Kraeling, The Synagogueand Erwin R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period IX-XI (1964).

V. The Pharisees,Jesus, Paul Ellis Rivkin, A Hidden Revolution(1980). John Bowker, Jesus and the Pharisees (1974). Geza Vermes, Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels and Geza Vermes and Fergus Millar, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (1974). E. P. Sanders, Paul, The Law, and the Jewish People (1984).

VI. Three BibliographicalEssays "The HistoricalStudyof TalmudicLiterature"(1978)."The RabbinicTraditions about the Phariseesin ModernHistoriography"(1972). "Jewsand Judaismunder IranianRule: BibliographicalReflections"(1968). .1983

255

COLLECTED STUDIES

1 "Notes on ,of,'rs-nto rn ".KflT ".=11D•*jin nnw'K ,2t,, n1?tn•,V,,,~K b'Yn i 9= P',,1,V? ".ImK wn1 Klf-l .Some Poems of Abraham Ibn Ezra" ny ,, l13 , f l'vv "~12io ",.1rrn'iIn frlp,i,,,,

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"The 1678 Siddur and,pmy2 the mnyf,•nwn an '.nen1f".mn- '=n 'I

VV

VB

nVnn*,,

11 a

7t lrNli 01DtD,,,131) 2"b.t'3',m ,iT,, 00$1tn'~311):m•,a=mun "The Financiers of Menasseh Ben Israel's ,opbi '*l '5 ".nxKt,:• •tlmaps m 5u Printing House in Amsterdam, 1627-1655." nmn,-Ta a ,,,,,'po'il),~ PCDTh,:;n

"ThreeGreat Men Named 'Moses' Mentionedin JamesJoyce's,pian p~f' t2,,

,y,'•,

Ulysses." ,5-mV7nst 1avK tan1DT0,, , ".1•,'i1 13i~,'1:3~1i1n pjn, n "f.m•"• ta~n •" 'Tm'anvn

10

Haim Gordon and Jochanan Bloch, eds. Martin Buber: A Centenary Volume. New York: Ktav Publishing House, for the Faculty of Humanities and

Social Sciences,Ben-GurionUniversityof the Negev, 1984. xvii, 493 pp. Introductionby Haim Gordon. Speech of the Presidentof Israel, Prof. Efraim Katzir. YochananBloch, "OpeningRemarks." The Man and His Work Walter Kaufmann, "Buber's Failures and Triumph." Haim Gordon, "The

ShelteredAesthete:A New Appraisalof Martin Buber'sLife." The Philosophy of Dialogue

YochananBlock, "The Justificationand the Futility of Dialogical Think-

256

COLLECTED STUDIES

ing."YehoshuaAmir, "The FiniteThou and the EternalThou in the Work of Buber."Steven Katz, "A CriticalReview of MartinBuber'sEpistemology of I-Thou."Rivka Horowitz,"FerdinandEbneras a Sourceof Martin Buber's Dialogic Thought in I and Thou." BernhardCasper, "Franz Rosenzweig'sCriticismof Buber'sI and Thou." The Bible BenyaminUffenheimer,"Buberand Modern BiblicalScholarship." Social Thought Haim Gordon, "Existential Guilt and Buber's Social and Political Thought."MenahemDorman, "Martin Buber'sAddress'Herut' and Its Influenceon the Jewish Youth Movementin Germany." Critiquesof Buber Eliezer Schweid, "Martin Buber and A. D. Gordon: A Comparison." Robert L. Perkins,"Buberand Kierkegaard:A PhilosophicEncounter." EmanuelLevinas,"MartinBuber,Gabriel Marcel, and Philosophy." Buberand the Far East Robert Wood, "OrientalThemes in Buber'sWork."YoshimoriHiraishi, "Buberand JapaneseThought." Religious Thought MauriceFriedman,"MartinBuber'sApproachto ComparativeReligion." Helmut Gollwitzer, "The Significanceof Martin Buber for Protestant Theology." Pinhas ha-Cohen Peli, "'Jewish Religiosity' According to Buber."Lorenz Wachinger,"Buber'sConcept of Faith as a Criticismof Christianity."MichaelWyschogrod,"Buber'sEvaluationof Christianity:A JewishPerspective."Nathan Rotenstreich,"Summaryof the Conference."

.'OW319 01981 ,11t2vnxrn :nlnx-?m

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,,r

n

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ninin, -7piwmwn ".;1an• rroat:m, , ,n n-m,: ni:,"L •-Ir: •ll

f minni ,,t urv puo".-n•'nm • -n•-"•-•,.r--,,

minnn 4=1,,,

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257

COLLECTEDSTUDIES

Prmn~r'nv '•UiL",l-mK,

,

nmvn,,m.rn;rt ".2O•T,'K~ :1 n,'nnin,rO'nn, m32-,Kn~mrT

Sanford Pinsker and Jack eds. America and the Holocaust. HoloFla.: Penkevill Publishing caust Studies I. Greenwood, Co., Annual,vol. Fischek, 1983.

Edward Alexander, "The Attack on Holocaust Studies." Ellen Schiff, "American Authors and Ghetto Kings: Challenges and Perplexities." Robert B. Westbrook, "The Responsibility of Peoples: Dwight Macdonald

and the Holocaust."TimothyP. Maga, "TheQuestfor a GenerousAmerica: Varian Fry and the Refugee the Canal 1940-1942." D. Kohler, Zone andEric Jewish Rescue "Byways of Emigration:Panama,Cause, Lawrence of Holocaust Efforts, 1939-1941." Baron, "Oswego's "AmericanReception Drive for 1944-1946." Aaron Berman, Zionists:The Refugees, a JewishCommonwealthand the Holocaust."BarbaraBurstin,"Rescuein

the Opening Rounds the American Christopher Conference." Fritsch, AJewish Selected "America andofthe Holocaust: Bibliography." Fla: PenkevI. Studies vol.. Greenwood, Jonathan Frankel, Annualin ed.Jewry, Contemporary

Bloomington:

Indiana University for the Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew Press, 1984. of Jerusalem, University

Symposium:Ostjudenin CentralandWesternEurope Steven E. Aschheim, "The East EuropeanJew and GermanJewish Identity." David Weinberg,"'Heureuxcommaga, "The u en France':East European Jews in Paris, 1881-1914." JehudaReinharz."East EuropeanJews in the 1882-1914." Paul Mendes-Flohr, Wetanschauungof Germon Berman, "American Zionists, of Jewish Selfthe Burstincs Fin-de-ShicleOrientalism, Ostjudenand the Aestherbara and the Affirmation." Jack Wertheimer, "Jewish Lobbyists Gnference." Christopherman Affirmation."

Jack

Wertheimer,

"Jewish

Lobbyists

and

the

German

258

COLLECTED STUDIES

CitizenshipLaw of 1914:A DocumentaryAccount."A. Goren, "JudahL. Magnes'Tripto Przedborz."TrudeMaurer,"TheEast EuropeanJewin the WeimarPress:Stereotypeand AttemptedRebuttal." Essays Yehuda Bauer, "The Place of the Holocaust in ContemporaryHistory." VictorKarady,"JewishEnrollmentPatternsin ClassicalSecondaryEducation in Old Regime and Inter-warHungary."MordecaiAltshuler,"The JewishAnti-FascistCommitteein the USSR in Light of New Documentation." Sergio DellaPergola."On the DifferentialFrequencyof Western Migrationto Israel."EzraMendelsohn,"RecentWorkon the Jewsin InterWar East CentralEurope:A Survey." Review Essays Lloyd P. Gartner,"Metropolisand Peripheryin AmericanJewry."Michael Brown, "The EmergingColossus of the North: Three Recent Books on CanadianJewry."Gershon Bacon, "The Jewish Question in Pre-World War II Poland."BenjaminPinkus,"On Dissidentsand Refuseniks."Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi, "AharonAppelfeld:The Search for a Language."Dov Levin, "The Holocaust in Lithuaniaand Latvia."Urial Tal, "The Nazi Legal System and the Jews in Germany."

Books Received Source: AJS Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 259-261 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486268 . Accessed: 30/06/2011 01:45 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.

http://www.jstor.org

BOOKSRECEIVED Bokser, Baruch M. The Origins of the Seder: The Passover Rite and Early Rabbinic Judaism. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. xix, 188 pp. Blumenthal, David, ed. Approaches to Judaism in Medieval Times, vol. 1. Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1984. xi, 176 pp. Borowitz, Eugene B. Liberal Judaism. New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1984. xii, 468 pp. Brown, Raymond E. The Churches the Apostles Left Behind. Ramsey, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1984. 160 pp. Chernick, Michael L. Hermeneutical Studies in Talmudic and Midrashic Literatures. Lod: Habermann Institute for Literary Research, 1983/84. 175 pp. (Hebrew) Clifford, Richard J. Fair Spoken and Persuading: An Interpretation of Second Isaiah. Ramsey, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1984. v, 202 pp. Cohen, Steven M. American Modernity and Jewish Identity. New York: Tavistock Publications, 1983. xvi, 210 pp. Davidowicz, Lucy S. On Equal Terms. Jews in America 1881-1981. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1984. viii, 194 pp. Elazar, Daniel J.; Friedenreich, Harriet Pass; Hazzan, Baruch; and Liberles, Adina Weiss. The Balkan Jewish Communities: Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. Lanham, Md.: University Press of North America, 1984. xiv, 191 pp. Fleming, Gerald. Hitler and the Final Solution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. xxxvi, 219 pp. Friedlander, Yehuda. Be-Misterei ha-Satira: Hebrew Satire in Europe in the Nineteenth Century. Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University, 1984. 208 pp. (Hebrew) Gershom ben Levi. The Wars of the Lord. Book One; Immortality of the Soul. Translated with an introduction and notes by Seymour Feldman. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1984. viii, 256 pp. Goldstein, Israel. My World as a Jew: The Memoirs of Israel Goldstein. 2 vols. New York: Cornwall Books, 1984. 259

260

BOOKS RECEIVED

Greenspahn, Frederick E. Hapax Legomena in Biblical Hebrew: A Study of the Phenomenon and Its Treatment Since Antiquity with Special Refer-

ence to VerbalForms.Chico, Calif.:ScholarsPress, 1984.xiii, 260 pp. Herring, Basil F. Jewish Ethics and the Halakhah for Our Time. Hoboken, N.J.: Ktav, 1984. xiii, 243 pp. Klenicki, Leon, and Wigoder, Geoffrey, eds. A Dictionary of the JewishChristian Dialogue. New York: Paulist Press, 1984. 213 pp. Kluback, William. Hermann Cohen: The Challenge of a Religion of Reason. Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1984. 96 pp. Krakowski, Shmuel. The War of the Doomed: Jewish Armed Resistance in Poland, 1942-1944. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1984. xii, 340 pp. Lightstone, Jack N. The Commerce of the Sacred: Mediation of the Divine among Jews in the Graeco-Roman Diaspora. Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1984. xv, 217 pp. McCarter, P. Kyle, Jr. The Anchor Bible: II Samuel; A New Translationwith Introduction and Commentary. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1984. xvii, 553 pp. Mintz, Alan. Hurban: Response to Catastrophe in Hebrew Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984. xiv, 283 pp. Neusner, Jacob. Major Trendsin FormativeJudaism. Second Series. Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1984. 152 pp. New Humanities and Academic Disciplines: The Case of Jewish ---. Studies. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1984. xxvii, 187 pp. The Talmudof Babylonia: An American Translation:XXXII. Trac---. tate Arakhin. Brown Judaic Studies, no. 63. Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1984. 258 pp. Oring, Elliott. The Jokes of Sigmund Freud: A Study in Humor and Jewish Identity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984. xiii, 151 PP. Peli, Pinchas H. Soloveitchik on Repentance: The Thought and Oral Discourses of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Ramsey, N.J.:Paulist Press, 1984. viii, 320 pp. Perelmutter, Hayim Goren. "Shir Hama'alot L'David" (Song of the Steps) and "Ktav Hitznazzelut L-Darashanim" (In Defense of Preachers) by David Darshan. Hoboken, N.J.: Ktav, 1984. xii, 183, 52 pp. (Hebrew and English) Piette, Christine. Les Juifs de Paris (1808-1840): La Marche vers l'Assimilation. Quebec: Les Presses de l'Universit6 Laval, 1983. 211 pp. Polinsky, Elimelekh. Maimonides' Treatiseon Resurrection.Translated from

BOOKS RECEIVED

261

the Arabicby ElimelekhPolinsky.Brooklyn:Ta Shma Media, 1983.76 pp. Roskies, David G. Against the Apocalypse: Responses to Catastrophe in

ModernJewish Culture.Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress, 1984. xii, 374 pp. Rotenstreich, Nathan. Jews and German Philosophy. New York: Schocken

Books, 1984. viii, 266 pp. Rozenblit, M arsha L. The Jews of Vienna, 1867-1914: Assimilation and

Identity.Albany: State Universityof New York Press, 1984. xvii, 284 PP. Rubin, Gershon. The Hebrew Saga. New York: Philosophical Library, 1984. 204 pp. Sabar, Yona. The Book of Genesis in Neo-Aramaic in the Dialect of the Jewish Community of Zakho. Edah ve-Lashon, no. 9. Jerusalem:

Magnes Press, 1983. 48, 294, iv. pp. Saidel, Rochelle. The Outraged Conscience: Seekers of Justice for Nazi War

Criminalsin America.Albany: State University of New York Press, 1984. 246 pp. Shalom Aleichem. Why Do the Jews Need a Land of Their Own?Translated

from Yiddish and Hebrewby Joseph Leftwichand MordecaiS. Chertoff. New York: CornwallBooks, 1984. 242 pp. Shapiro,AlexanderM., and Cohen, BurtonI., eds. Studiesin JewishEducation and Judaica in Honor of Lewis Newman. New York: Ktav, 1984. xiii,

219 pp. Smolar, Leivy, and Aberbach, Moses. Studies in Targum Jonathan to the Prophets. and Targum Jonathan to the Prophets by Pinkhos Churgin.

New York: Ktav, 1983. xxiii, 435 pp. Soshuk, Levi, and Eisenberg, Azriel, eds. Momentous Century: Personal and Eyewitness Accounts of the Rise of the Jewish Homeland and State

1875-1978. Cranbury,N.J.: CornwallBooks, 1984. 471 pp. Survey of Jewish Affairs 1982. Edited by William Frankel. Rutherford, N.J.:

FairleighDickinson UniversityPress, 1984. 295 pp. Umansky, Ellen M. Lily Montagu and the Advancementof Liberal Judaism.

Studiesin Womenand Religion,no. 12. Lewiston,N.Y.: EdwinMellen Press, 1984. xvii, 283 pp. Wildavsky, Aaron. The Nursing Father: Moses as a Political Leader. Uni-

versity:Universityof Alabama Press, 1984. xi, 262 pp. Wineman, Aryeh. Agadah ve-Omanut: Iyyunim bi-Yegirat Agnon. Jerusa-

lem: Rubin Mass, 1982. 115 pp. (Hebrew)