Nor were science and art looked upon by the Spanish Jews as mere ornaments, but they exalted and ennobled their lives. Many of them were filled with that enthusiasm and ideality which does not allow the approach of any kind of meanness. The prominent men, who, either through their political position or their merits stood at the head of Jewish affairs in Spain, were for the most part noble characters imbued with the highest sentiments. They were as chivalrous as the Andalusian Arabs, and excelled them in magnanimity, a characteristic which they retained long after the Arabs had become degenerate. Like their neighbors, they had a keen appreciation of their own value, which showed itself in a long string of names, but this self-consciousness rested on a firm moral basis. They took great pride in their ancestry, and certain families, as those of Ibn-Ezra, Alfachar, Alnakvah, Ibn-Falyaj, Ibn-Giat, Benveniste, Ibn-Migash, Abulafia, and others formed the nobility. They did not use their birth as a means to obtain privileges, but saw therein an obligation to excel in knowledge and nobility, so as to be worthy of their ancestors. The height of culture which the nations of modern times are striving to attain, was reached by the Jews of Spain in their most flourishing period. Their religious life was elevated and idealized through this higher culture. They loved their religion with all the fervor of conviction and enthusiasm. Every ordinance of Judaism, as prescribed in the Bible and as explained in the Talmud, was considered holy and inviolable by them; but they were equally opposed to stolid bigotry and to senseless mysticism. Although they often carried their investigation to the borders of unbelief, yet there is scarcely one of the Jewish-Spanish thinkers who crossed these bounds, nor did extravagant mysticism find favor with them during the flourishing period. No wonder, then, that the Jews of Spain were looked upon as superior beings by their uncultured brethren in other lands—in France, Germany, and Italy—and that they gladly yielded them the precedence which had formerly been enjoyed by the Babylonian academies. Cordova, Lucena, and Granada soon took the place of Sora and Pumbeditha. The official chief of the Jews in Andalusia was Chanoch, of whom we have already spoken (940–1014). He succeeded his father in the rabbinate. His rival, Joseph ben Isaac Ibn-Abitur (Ibn-Satanas or Santas), a member of a respected Andalusian family, was as learned in the Talmud, and excelled him in the extent of his secular knowledge. Ibn-Abitur wrote in verse. Among other things he composed synagogue poetry for the Day of Atonement, but his verse is harsh, awkward, and altogether devoid of poetic charm. He had not profited by the poetry of Dunash. Joseph Ibn-Abitur understood the Arabic language so well that he was able to translate the Mishna into that language. The Caliph Alhakem had expressed a wish to possess a translation of the work containing the sources of Jewish tradition, and Ibn-Abitur gratified that wish to his satisfaction. The refined Caliph probably only desired to increase his library (which was of such proportions that the catalogue took up twenty-four volumes) by the addition of the Mishna, which was so highly valued by the Jews. The men most distinguished in philology and Hebrew poetry during the period after Chasdaï were the pupils of Menachem and Dunash. They carried on a controversy in epigrams, in prose and verse. Of these, Isaac Ibn-G'ikatilia was a poet, and Jehuda Ibn-Daud a Hebrew grammarian. The latter, whose Arabic name was Ibn-Zachariah Yachya Chayuj, descended from a family which came from Fez, was the first to place Hebrew philology on a firm basis, and may be regarded as the first scientific grammarian. Chayuj, too, was the first to recognize that Biblical Hebrew roots consist of three letters, and that several consonants (the liquids, semi-vowels, and the sounds produced by the same organ) become assimilated and change into vowels. He thereby made it possible to know the different forms and their changes, and to apply this knowledge to poetry. Chayuj thus brought about a complete reform in the Hebrew language, and illumined the darkness wherein his predecessors, amongst them Saadiah, Menachem, and Dunash, and to a greater extent the Karaites, had been lost. Chayuj wrote his grammatical works in Arabic; on this account they remained unknown to the Jews out of Spain, who retained the imperfect systems of Menachem and Dunash in their philological studies.
Although the rabbinate of Cordova was merely an honorary office, and Chanoch derived no income from it, nevertheless it gave rise to contention after Chasdaï's death. The followers of Joseph Ibn-Abitur, amongst whom were the numerous Ibn-Abitur family, and the brothers Ibn-Jau, silk manufacturers, who were employed at court, endeavored to put their favorite at the head of affairs. The greater portion of the Jews of Cordova clung to Chanoch. The quarrel became too serious to be peaceably settled, and each party appealed to the Caliph on behalf of its favorite. Seven hundred influential men, partisans of Chanoch, betook themselves, in festive apparel, several days in succession to Az-Zahra, Alhakem's residence, not far from Cordova, in order to obtain the Caliph's favor for their rabbi.
The opposition party made up in zeal what it lacked in number. Alhakem decided in favor of the majority, and confirmed Chanoch in his rabbinate. But as Ibn-Abitur would not relinquish his claim, he was excommunicated by the victorious party. In spite of this he did not abandon hope. He appealed in person to the Caliph. He hoped to gain him over through his knowledge of Arabic literature, and through his service in translating the Mishna, and so effect a reversal of the decree. But his hopes were vain. The Caliph addressed him in the words: "If my subjects scorned me, as the community of Cordova scorns you, I would abdicate my kingdom. My only advice to you is to emigrate." The wish of the Caliph appeared to Ibn-Abitur a command, and he left Cordova (975). When he saw that he could not gain any followers in Spain, he set sail for Africa, traversed Maghreb, the Fatimide dominion, and probably also Egypt, without finding favor anywhere. Meanwhile, however, affairs suddenly took a favorable turn for Ibn-Abitur. One of his chief supporters was raised to a high position, and used his influence on his behalf. This was the silk manufacturer, Jacob Ibn-Jau, whose checkered career bears witness to the arbitrariness dominant in the Spanish Caliphate after the death of the last just and cultured Caliph, Alhakem (976).
The title of Caliph appears to have descended to his son Hisham, a sickly youth, but the chief power lay in the hands of Mahomet Almansur, the terror of the Christians in the mountains of northern Spain and of the Africans in their fortresses. Under this Mahometan "Major Domus," Jacob Ibn-Jau, the supporter of Ibn-Abitur, obtained great respect and considerable power over the Jewish-Spanish community. The circumstances of his good fortune are rather extraordinary. Jacob Ibn-Jau and his brother Joseph supplied the court with costly embroidered silk. Their goods were admired and sought after. Their business brought them into contact with Almansur, and on one occasion they found a considerable sum of money in the court of his palace, which had been lost by some provincials who had been ill-treated. The brothers Ibn-Jau spent the money in presents for the young Caliph and Almansur, so as to obtain their favor, and procure the recall of the banished Ibn-Abitur. Their attempt succeeded. In 985, Almansur appointed the elder brother Jacob as prince and chief judge of the various Jewish communities in the kingdom of the Andalusian Caliphate on both sides of the strait, from Segelmessa in Africa as far as the Douro. He had the sole right to appoint judges and rabbis in the communities, and to determine the taxes for state purposes and for communal wants. Jacob Ibn-Jau held court, as it were, had eighteen pages in his retinue, and drove about in a state carriage. The community of Cordova, proud of the distinction shown to one of its own members, recognized him as its chief, paid homage to him, made his office hereditary, and the poets sang his praises.
As soon as Ibn-Jau was appointed chief of the Jews of the Andalusian Caliphate, he tried to realize the purposes for which he had sought the favor of the court. He gave Chanoch notice to discontinue his rabbinical functions, threatening that, in case he disobeyed, he would be set adrift at sea in a ship without a rudder, thus returning to the place whence he had come. Ibn-Jau next made preparations to recall his favorite, Ibn-Abitur, and to invest him with the dignity of the rabbinate. But before he could do that, the ban of excommunication had to be removed, and for this act the consent and approval of the whole community were required. Out of regard for Ibn-Jau, who was respected at court, all the members of the community, amongst whom were his former opponents, sent a flattering letter to Ibn-Abitur, inviting him to accept the rabbinate of Cordova. Chanoch was deposed. When the community of Cordova, and especially his friends, had made preparations to meet Ibn-Abitur in a worthy manner, they received a letter from him which speedily undeceived them. He inveighed, in harsh terms, against their reckless treatment of his opponent. He praised Chanoch in unmeasured terms, saying that in all his wanderings he had never met with a man like him in virtue and piety, and at the same time he advised the community of Cordova to re-instate him in his office.
Meanwhile Ibn-Jau could not maintain his authority. His patron, Almansur, deposed him, and cast him into prison, the reason of his condemnation being his probity and disinterestedness. The regent (Hajib) had believed that the Jewish prince would use his power over the communities of the western Caliphate for the purpose of extorting money, and would make him the recipient of rich presents; but Ibn-Jau did not burden the community, and, consequently, could not satisfy Almansur's avarice. For this he was deprived of his liberty. After he had been imprisoned for a year he was set free by the Caliph Hisham, and restored to his former dignity (987). Since, however, Almansur was unfavorable to him, he was practically powerless. When Ibn-Jau died, one of Chanoch's relatives hastened to convey the news to him, thinking that he would receive it with joy. But this noble rabbi wept at the death of his enemy, and said, "Who will now care for the wants of the poor like him who has just departed? I cannot take his place, for I myself am poor."
Chanoch lived to see the beginning of the decadence of Cordova, and the first general persecution of his co-religionists in Germany, Africa, and in the East. He was killed by the fall of the reading-desk in the synagogue on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (September, 1014).
The condition of the Jews in France and Germany at this time shows how dependent their spiritual life was upon external circumstances.
During the feeble rule of the last Carlovingians, and even under the first Capets in France, when the temporal and spiritual vassals became more powerful than the kings, and also under the Saxon emperors, the Jews were oppressed, and their literary activity almost entirely checked. The canonical laws had long before this debarred them from filling offices. They did not seek honor, but only desired to be allowed to live quietly, and to observe their religion. But the chiefs of the Church disturbed their peaceful condition without any profit to themselves. In the French territory, the chief power lay in the hands of the barons and the clergy. The power of the kings was as yet limited on all sides, and could not protect the Jews from tyrannical caprice. Only the fanatical clergy had entertained prejudices of a theological nature against the Jews, but their zeal aroused the hatred of the people against the Jews. The people, uncouth, brutish, and slaves to superstition, looked upon the sons of Israel as a cursed race, unworthy of compassion. They accused the Jews of employing evil spells against Christians. When the king, Hugh Capet, died of a dangerous illness (996), after having been treated by a Jewish physician, the people gave credence to the report that the Jews had murdered him. The chroniclers, too, looked upon this as a fact, and entered it upon their annals.
The Jews, it is true, had fields and vineyards, but they lacked personal safety, which could be granted only by a strong government. In the south of France, in Provence and Languedoc, where the king's power was insignificant, the fate of the Jews was still more dependent upon the caprice of the counts and viscounts. In one place they possessed landed property and salt mines, and were even allowed to become bailiffs (Bailli); in another they had to submit to be treated as bondmen. The chief community was that of Narbonne. There had been a Talmudical school there since the time of Charles the Great, but it does not seem to have been well supported. There suddenly appeared on the scene a Talmudist from the school of Sora, who instilled true zeal for the study of the Talmud into the Jews of southern France. This may have been Nathan bar Isaac, the Babylonian, but more probably it was his pupil Leon or Leontin (Jehuda ben Meïr), who, although he left no works behind him, was yet the first founder of the scientific study of the Talmud, which henceforth flourished in France and Germany. His famous pupil, Gershom, confessed that he owed all his knowledge to Leon.