FOOTNOTES:
[1] Vol. iii., p. 370, note.
[2] See the Preface to his Philosophy of Reflection, pp. 16-18.
[3] Vol. v., chap. 7.
[4] The volume bears the somewhat quaint title in full:—Maimoniana, oder Rhapsodien Zur Charakteristik Salomon Maimon's. Aus Seinem Privatleben gesammelt von Sabattia Joseph Wolff, M.D. Berlin, gedruckt bei G. Hayn, 1813.
[5] The only logical connection is the fact, that the writings of Maimonides formed the most powerful influence in the intellectual development of Maimon. In illustration of this he writes:—"My reverence for this great teacher went so far, that I regarded him as the ideal of a perfect man, and looked upon his teachings as if they had been inspired with Divine Wisdom itself. This went so far, that, when my passions began to grow, and I had sometimes to fear lest they might seduce me to some action inconsistent with those teachings, I used to employ, as a proved antidote, the abjuration, 'I swear, by the reverence which I owe my great teacher, Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, not to do this act.' And this vow, so far as I can remember, was always sufficient to restrain me." Lebensgeschichte, Vol. ii., pp. 3-4.
[6] That is, of course, the seventeenth.—Trans.
[7] Maimon himself nowhere mentions the date or place of his birth; but Wolff says that he was born at Nesvij, in Lithuania, about the year 1754 (Maimoniana, p. 10). Trans.
[8] This word is explained below, at the beginning of the next chapter.
[9] The customary Jewish salutation.
[10] The original is "ein Kalamankenes Leibserdak,"—a provincialism which, I believe, is substantially rendered in this translation.—Trans.
[11] Till quite recently it had been almost forgotten that one of the commonest manifestations of fanaticism against the Jews, especially in Eastern Europe, was to charge them with the murder of Christian children for the use of some horrid religious rite, and that scarcely ever was the dead body of a child found in the neighbourhood of a Jewish community without some outburst of this cruel suspicion, ending in an indiscriminate massacre of the Jews by the infuriated mob. It is a singularly creditable proof of the liberal government of Stephen Batory,—one of the ablest monarchs who ever sat on the throne of Poland,—that, so long ago as 1576, he issued an edict prohibiting the imputation of this crime to the Jews, as being utterly inconsistent with the principles of their religion. Yet, in spite of this enactment, the fanatical suspicion continued to display itself at frequent intervals. Milman supposed it had been finally quelled by the ukase of the Russian Government in 1835, which went in the same direction as the earlier prohibition of the Polish king (History of the Jews, vol. iii., p. 389). What would have been his astonishment, had he lived to learn that, half a century after he thought it extinguished, this ancient delusion was to revive, that an Hungarian court was to spend thirty one days in the solemn trial of a Jewish family on the charge of sacrificing a Christian girl in their synagogue, that a learned professor in the Imperial and Royal University of Prague was to write in defence of the charge, and that the trial was to form the subject of an extensive controversial literature in the language of the most learned nation in the world! An interesting account of this famous trial at Tisza Eszlar, as well as of the literature connected with it, will be found in an article by Dr. Wright, on The Jews and the Malicious Charge of Human Sacrifice in the Nineteenth Century, for November, 1883.—Trans.
[12] It seems that Maimon gives a euphemistic explanation of this word, as I am told its real meaning makes much more intelligible its extreme offensiveness to his mother.—Trans.
[13] The original runs: "Der Verstand sucht bloss zu fassen, die Einbildungskraft aber zu umfassen."—Tr.
[14] That is, The Branch (or Offspring) of David. See Jeremiah xxiii. 5; xxxiii. 15; Isaiah xi. 1.—Trans.
[15] The Hebrew word for a globe.
[16] This rabbi belonged to a family of eminent linguists. The father, Joseph Kimchi, was one of the numerous Jews who were obliged to flee from Spain to escape the cruel persecutions of the Mohades about the middle of the twelfth century. He left two sons who both followed his favourite studies. The elder, Moses, has the credit of having educated his younger and more illustrious brother, David, whose Hebrew grammar and dictionary continued in general use among scholars for centuries. Kimchi is said to have been powerfully influenced, not only by Maimonides, but also by Aben Esra, who preceded him by nearly a century, and who was one of the most learned scholars, as well as one of the most versatile authors, of his time. (Jost's Geschichte des Judenthums, vol. ii., pp. 419-423; and vol. iii, pp. 30-31).—Trans.
[17] That is, about 100 English miles.—Trans.
[18] See above, p. 14.—Trans.
[19] Solomon ben Isaac, as he is more correctly named, or Raschi, as he is also called, was an eminent Talmudic scholar of Troyes in the latter half of the eleventh century. It was his son-in-law, Meïr, and the three sons of Meïr, who may be said to have begun the Tosaphoth, referred to in the text.—Trans.
[20] As it was at one time throughout all Christendom, and probably under every civilisation at a certain stage of its history.—Trans.
[21] This seems to be Job xxvii. 17, which in our Authorised Version runs:—"He (a wicked man) may prepare it (raiment), but the just shall put it on." Maimon seems to render it from memory:—"Der Gottlose schafft sich an, und der Fromme bekleidet sich damit."—Trans.
[22] Evidently viii., 12, rendered in our Authorised Version, "Thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand (pieces of silver), and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred." Maimon translates apparently from memory, "Die tausend Gulden sind für dich, Salomo, und die Zweihundert für die, die seine Früchte bewahren." In my rendering of this the pronoun "his" must be understood in its old English latitude as either neuter or masculine.—Trans.
[23] The bulk of the gift explains its costliness. "The Babylonian Talmud is about four times as large as that of Jerusalem. Its thirty-six treatises now cover, in our editions, printed with the most prominent commentaries (Rashi and Tosafoth), exactly 2947 folio leaves in twelve folio volumes." (E. Deutsch's Literary Remains, p. 41).—Trans.
[24] Maimon gives merely the initial "R" of this name; but as he has already (Chap. i.) told us that his prince was Radzivil, there is not much mystery in this artifice.—Trans.
[25] This horror of memory tormented Maimon to the end of his days. "He dreamed often that he was in Poland again, deprived of all his books; and Lucius metamorphosed into an ass was not in a more pitiable plight. 'From this agony,' said Maimon, 'I was usually aroused by a loud cry, and my joy was indescribable on finding that it was only a dream.'" (Maimoniana, p. 94). "He once received a visit from his brother, for whom he was deeply affected. Poor as he was himself, Maimon kept him a long while, gave him clothing and everything else that he could, besides procuring from some friends enough money to pay his travelling expenses. Above all, he told me, he was affected at letting his brother go back into the wilderness; and if he had not had a wife and children at home, he would have tried to keep him beside himself." (Ibid., p. 175).—Trans.
[26] It was probably a reminiscence of this labour of deciphering, that led to the following outburst of sympathy:—"One day Maimon read in an English work, that the author had only commenced to learn the ABC when he was eighteen years of age, and that the first book which fell into his hands was one of Newton's works. His master (for he was a servant) came upon him at this task, and asked, 'What are you doing with that? you can't read?' 'O yes,' he replied, 'I have learnt to read, and I began with the most difficult subjects.' Maimon read this in my presence with tears in his eyes." (Maimoniana, pp. 230-1).—Trans.
[27] Both of these Cabbalists belonged to the sixteenth century. The former, as his name implies, belonged to Cordova in Spain; the latter, to the German community in Jerusalem (Jost's Geschichte des Judenthums, Vol. iii., pp. 137-140).—Trans.
[28] Rabbi Meïr’s teacher was Elisha ben Abuyah, "the Faust of the Talmud," as he has been strikingly styled by Mr. Deutsch. The Talmud preserves a beautiful story illustrative of the devoted affection which Meïr continued to cherish for his apostate master. Four men, so runs the legend, entered Paradise; that is, according to Talmudic symbolism, they entered upon the study of that secret science with its bewildering labyrinth of speculative dreams, through which it is given only to a few rare spirits to find their way. Of these four, "one beheld and died, one beheld and lost his senses, one destroyed the young plants, one only entered in peace and came out in peace." The destroyer of the young plants was Elisha ben Abuyah. Once he was passing the ruins of the temple on the great day of atonement, and heard a voice within "moaning like a dove,"—"All men shall be forgiven this day save Elisha ben Abuyah who, knowing me, has betrayed me." After his death flames hovered incessantly over his grave, until his loving disciple threw himself upon it and swore an oath of devout self-sacrifice, that he would not partake of the joys of heaven without his master, nor move from the spot until his master's soul had found forgiveness before the Throne of Grace. See Emanuel Deutsch's Literary Remains, p. 15; and Jost's Geshichte des Judenthums, Vol. ii., pp. 102-4.
[29] The Gates of Light.—Trans.
[30] "Thus saith the Lord" in the English version.—Trans.
[31] About 150 English miles.—Trans.
[32] Highpriest about the time of Antiochus the Great, that is, the first half of the third century before Christ.—Trans.
[33] Also named below Jehudah Hanassi or Hakades, died probably in 219 or 220 A.D.—Trans.
[34] Rabbina is a contraction for Rabbi Abina and Rabassi for Rabbi Ashe. Maimon puts Abina first, but he was the younger of the two. They both belonged to the fifth century.—Trans.
[35] This seems to be Psalm cxix., 126, rendered in our Authorised Version:—"It is time for thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void thy law." See Mendelssohn's Jerusalem, Vol. ii., p. iii., (Samuels' translation).—Trans.
[36] Charakteristik der Asiatischen Nationen, Theil ii., pp. 159-160.
[37] "And Kinah and Dimonah and Adadah" in the English Authorised Version.—Trans.
[38] Here apparently Maimon makes a slip. He seems to forget the passage he had selected for illustration; and his eye, if not his memory, glances at the last word in verse 30, instead of verse 22.—Trans.
[39] Probably Isaiah xxxiii., 6.—Trans.
[40] Psalm, lxxxi., 9.—Trans.
[41] In the original, "Das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten."—Trans.
[42] In the same way a fool, called Chosek, was going to starve the city of Lemberg, against which he was enraged; and for this purpose he placed himself behind the wall, in order to blockade the city with his body. The result of the blockade, however, was that he nearly died of hunger, while the city knew nothing whatever of a famine.
[43] In our times, when so much is said both pro and contra about secret societies, I believe that the history of a particular secret society, in which I was entangled, though but a short time, should not be passed over in this sketch of my life.
[44] That is, of course, the 17th century.—Trans.
[45] Baalshem is one who occupies himself with the practical Cabbalah, that is, with the conjuration of spirits and the writing of amulets, in which the names of God and of many sorts of spirits are employed.
[46] As I never attained the rank of a superior in this society, the exposition of their plan cannot be regarded as a fact verified by experience, but merely as an inference arrived at by reflection. How far this inference is well founded, can be determined merely by analogy according to the rules of probability.
[47] The ingenuity of this interpretation consists in the fact, that in Hebrew נגן may stand for the infinitive of play, as well as for a musical instrument, and that the prefix כ may be translated either as, in the sense of when, or as, in the sense of like. The superiors of this sect, who wrenched passages of the Holy Scriptures from their context, regarding themselves as merely vehicles of their teachings, selected accordingly that interpretation of this passage, which fitted best their principle of self-annihilation before God.
[48] Maimon in a footnote here refers, by way of a parallel, to the interpretation by a Catholic theologian of a passage in Ezekiel (xliv., 1-2) as an allegorical prophecy of the Virgin Mary; but most readers will probably prefer to leave the exposition of the allegory to the imagination of those who choose to follow it out.—Trans.
[49] A trait of these, as of all uncultivated men, is their contempt of the other sex.
[50] Of this class I became acquainted with one. He was a young man of twenty-two, of very weak bodily constitution, lean and pale. He travelled in Poland as a missionary. In his look there was something so terrible, so commanding, that he ruled men by means of it quite despotically. Wherever he came he inquired about the constitution of the congregation, rejected whatever displeased him, and made new regulations which were punctually followed. The elders of the congregation, for the most part old respectable men, who far excelled him in learning, trembled before his face. A great scholar, who would not believe the infallibility of this superior, was seized with such terror by his threatening look, that he fell into a violent fever of which he died. Such extraordinary courage and determination had this man attained merely through early exercises in Stoicism.
[51] Born 1720; died 1797. See Jost's Geschichte des Judenthums, Vol. iii., pp. 248-250.—Trans.
[52] Exodus, iii., 13, 14.
[53] These names are taken from Maimoniana, p. 108.—Trans.
[54] The method, in which, as before explained, I had learnt to read and to understand books without any preparatory studies, and to which I had been driven in Poland by the want of books, grew to such an expertness, that I felt certain beforehand of being able to understand anything.
[55] Here there seems in the original an evident misprint of Vereinigung for Verneinung.—Trans.
[56] The incident referred to was the following. Lavater had translated into German a work, which had a great reputation in its day, by the eminent Swiss scientific writer, Bonnet, on the evidences of Christianity. Out of respect for Mendelssohn, Lavater dedicated the translation to him, requiring him, however, either to refute the work, or to do "what policy, love of truth, and probity demand,—what Socrates would doubtless have done, had he read the work, and found it unanswerable." Mendelssohn was thus placed in an awkward dilemma. He could not well let the challenge pass unacknowledged; and yet, owing to the disabilities under which the Jews laboured all over the world, he would have seriously imperilled their interests by appearing even to impugn the evidences of Christianity. He had, moreover, resolved never to enter into religious controversy. Under the circumstances his reply was masterly as it was dignified and candid. Lavater saw his mistake; and it is but due to him to say, that he publicly apologised for it in the fullest and frankest manner.—Trans.
[57] This "hiatus haud valde deflendus" is in the original.—Trans.
[58] This name is taken from Maimoniana.—Trans.
[59] The love of life, that is, the instinct of self-preservation, seems rather to increase than to decrease with the diminution or uncertainty of the means of living, inasmuch as man is thereby spurred to greater activity, which developes a stronger consciousness of life. Only this want must not have reached its maximum; for the necessary result of that is despair, that is a conviction of the impossibility of preserving life, and consequently a desire to put an end to it. Thus every passion, and therefore also the love of life, is increased by the obstacles which come in the way of its gratification: only these obstacles must not make the gratification of the passions impossible, else despair is the result.
[60] "Afterwards when he spoke of Poland, he used to be deeply affected in thinking of his wife, from whom he was obliged to separate. He was really very much devoted to her, and her fate went home to his very heart. It was easy when the subject came up in conversation, to read in his face the deep sorrow which he felt; his liveliness then sensibly faded away, he became by and by perfectly silent, was usually incapable of further entertainment, and went earlier than usual home." Maimoniana, p. 177. He seems, however, at a later period, to have at least spoken to his friends about marrying a second time; but the project was never carried out. Ibid., p. 248.—Trans.
[61] He died 4th Jan., 1786.—Trans.
[62] Kant's work must still have been quite new, as it appeared in 1781.—Trans.
[63] The name is left blank by Maimon, but is known to be that which I have inserted. See Fischer's Geschichte der neueren Philosophie, Vol. v., p. 131.—Trans.
[64] Samuel Levi, according to Maimoniana, p. 78.—Trans.
[65] See above, p. 41—Trans.
[66] The last few pages have been condensed from the original; in which the author gives detailed information, which seems no longer of any special interest, about the articles he contributed to periodicals.— Trans.
[67] By the kindness of my friend, the Rev. Meldola de Sola, of the Portuguese Synagogue in Montreal, I am enabled to make an interesting note on this subject. Among the Talmudic passages enjoining industry are the following:—"Rather skin a carcase for pay in the public streets, than be idly dependent on charity," "Rather perform the meanest labour than beg." As a further evidence of the estimation in which labour was held by the sages of the Talmud, it may be mentioned that Hillel, before being admitted to the Great College, earned his livelihood as a wood-cutter; that Rabbi Joshua was a pinmaker; Rabbi Nehemiah Halsador, a potter; Rabbi Judah, a tailor; Rabbi Joshua Hasandler, a shoemaker; and Rabbi Judah Hanechtan, a baker. "Of all things," says Mr. Deutsch, "the most hated were idleness and asceticism; piety and learning themselves only received their proper estimation when joined to healthy, bodily work. 'It is well to add a trade to your studies; you will then be free from sin,' 'The tradesman at his work need not rise before the greatest doctor,' 'Greater is he who derives his livelihood from work than he who fears God'—are some of the most common dicta of the period." (Literary Remains, p. 25, where there are some striking stories in condemnation of asceticism). Mr. Deutsch elsewhere quotes, "Rather live on your Sabbath as you would on a week day than be dependent on others," (Ibid., p. 30).—Trans.
[68] See above, pp. 140-1.
[69] Maimoniana, pp. 196-200.
[70] Ibid., p. 80.
[71] Ibid., pp. 80, 83-4.
[72] Ibid., p. 95, note.
[73] Ibid., pp. 82-3.
[74] Ibid., pp. 154, 157.
[75] Ibid., pp. 80, 95, 104.
[76] Ibid., p. 84.
[77] Ibid., p. 105.
[78] Ibid., p. 159.
[79] Ibid., pp. 231-2.
[80] Ibid., p. 96.
[81] Ibid., p. 140.
[82] Ibid., p. 96.
[83] Ibid., p. 97.
[84] Fischer's Geschichte der neuern Philosophie, vol. v., pp. 133-4.
[85] Maimoniana, pp. 190-6.
[86] Ibid., pp. 90-1.
[87] Ibid., pp. 183-8.
[88] Ibid., pp. 101-4.
[89] Ibid., p. 217.
[90] Ibid., pp. 109-112, 208, 212-3.
[91] Ibid., p. 87.
[92] Ibid., p. 213.
[93] Ibid., p. 249.
[94] Ibid., p. 88.
[95] Ibid., p. 230.
[96] Ibid., pp. 86-7.
[97] Ibid., p. 89.
[98] See, for example, Ibid., pp. 112, 115, 209, 250-1.
[99] Ibid., p.
[100] Ibid., pp. 165-6.
[101] Ibid., pp. 201-210.
[102] Ibid., pp. 183-8.