History of the Jews, Vol. 3 (of 6)

by Heinrich Graetz

Isaac ben Reuben Albergeloni, in his old age, compiled an original work treating of the civil jurisprudence of the Talmud in a systematic way. He also was an earnest religious poet. He composed new "Azharoth" in pithy but awkward language, and adorned his verses with Biblical quotations aptly applied. Isaac Albergeloni is the first Hebrew writer to make use of this mosaic of Biblical verses, which are not quoted for their usual meaning, but woven together in ingenious and unexpected combinations.

Albergeloni in early youth had gone from Barcelona to Denia; at the same time the fourth Isaac (ben Moses) Ibn-Sakni was departing thence, probably because a slight had been put upon him. He wended his way to the Orient, and in Pumbeditha was made a teacher of the Law under the title of Gaon. So greatly had the times changed! Whilst the Occident had formerly lent a willing ear to the utterances of the Geonim in the Orient, it was now, scarcely half a century after the death of Gaon Haï, able to send teachers to the country in which had stood the cradle of the Talmud, and a man who found no recognition in Spain was considered an authority by the once proud Pumbeditha.

In knowledge and sharp-witted understanding of the Talmud, these four Isaacs were outstripped by the fifth, Isaac ben Jacob Alfassi, or Alkalaï. Born in Kala-Ibn-Hammad, in the neighborhood of Fez (1013), he was instructed by the last African authorities, Nissim and Chananel, and after their death in 1056 he became the representative of Talmud studies in western Africa. Indifferent to the scientific pursuits which their taste as well as consideration for their material advancement prompted the gifted Jews of Spain and Africa to cultivate, Alfassi devoted all his acumen to a profound study of the Talmud. His was a deeply earnest, independent nature, not content to keep to the beaten track of time-honored customs, but desirous of striking out into new paths. It had hitherto been the custom to follow in practice the rulings of the Geonim, whenever, as frequently occurs, the Talmud records conflicting opinions on a given subject, and to accept their explanations and decisions as norms. Alfassi, however, proceeded from the commentaries to the text itself, and sought with his peculiar acuteness to distinguish all that was incontestable and durable, and of real import, in the Talmud, from that which was doubtful, superficial, and expedient. The opinions of the Gaonic authorities were not final for him. In this spirit he compiled a work, which, in spite of the attacks leveled at it at the time, became a standard book for the entire Jewish community. His "Halachoth" abstract from the Talmud only whatever affects conduct, but fix the practical bearings of the laws thus classified with absolute certainty. Alfassi's work consigned to oblivion all similar works compiled in the course of three centuries, since Jehudaï Gaon's time. His name was borne by this work far beyond the straits into Spain where he counted still more admirers than in his native land.

A complete match for Alfassi, however, in knowledge of the Talmud was the Frenchman, Solomon Yizchaki, a man as acute and independent as himself, only less bold and impetuous, but more versatile.

Solomon Yizchaki, known under the name of Rashi, was born in 1040 (died in 1105), at Troyes, in Champagne, in the year in which the last Gaon suffered martyrdom, as if to intimate that the new spirit infused by Rashi would fully compensate for the downfall of the old institution. Rashi's mother was the sister of Simon ben Isaac, highly respected on account of his services to the community of Mayence and his liturgic poetry, and his father was well versed in the Talmud. Thus Rashi had, as it were, drawn his nourishment from the Talmud, and in it he lived and had his being. In order to perfect himself in the study of the Talmud, he frequented the Talmudical school of Mayence, but also attended the lectures of the Talmud teachers in Worms, and of Eliakim in Speyer. Like Akiba he left his home and his wife to devote himself to the study of the Law in foreign parts. He tells in what needy circumstances he pursued this study, "in want of bread, denuded of clothing and fettered by matrimony." Now and then, probably on the festivals, he visited his wife, but he always returned to the German, or as they were then called, Lotharingian centers of learning. At the age of twenty-five (1064) he settled permanently at Troyes.

In his modesty he did not suspect that at that early time he was honored as a master of Talmudic lore. In Rashi's earliest decisions which he delivered when a youth, there is no trace of the groping novice, they reveal the hand of the skilful adept, the master of his subject. His teachers, in their letters, lavished on him the most flattering praise. Isaac Halevi, of Worms, wrote to Rashi, "We owe it to you that this age is not orphaned, and may many like unto you arise in Israel."

Undoubtedly the community of Troyes and its vicinity selected him as their rabbi, though we have no proof thereof; but he drew no emoluments from the office. In a time, about which a dispassionate author, in speaking of the prelates under Pope Hildebrand, can say, "No one could become a bishop or an abbot of the empire unless he either was rich or addicted to vice; amongst the priests, he was praised most highly who had the most splendid garments, the most sumptuous table, and the handsomest concubines"—in that time, and also for a long while afterwards, it was considered in Jewish circles a sin and a disgrace for rabbis to accept remuneration for the performance of their duties. The rabbinate in Christian and Moslem countries was an honorary office to be given only to the most worthy; and the rabbi was to be a shining light to the community, not only intellectually, but also in moral character. Sobriety, frugality, indifference to Mammon, were as a matter of course expected of every rabbi. Rashi was the most perfect embodiment of this conception of a rabbi, and Jewish posterity has beheld in him a spotless personification of its ideal. His contemporaries also revered him as the highest authority. From all parts of France and Germany doubtful cases were sent to him to be decided, and his answers testified to his profound knowledge and to his mildness of temper.

After the death of the Talmudical scholars in Lorraine, about 1070, the German and French students flocked to Rashi's lecture-room at Troyes; he was looked upon as their worthy successor. He lectured on the Bible and the Talmud. Rashi was so imbued with the spirit of the Talmud that for him it contained nothing obscure. In its elucidation he surpassed all his predecessors, so that it was rightly said that without him the Babylonian Talmud would have been neglected like that of Jerusalem. His explanations of a large number of the Talmudic tractates, which he called "Commentary" (conteros), are models of their kind, simple, concise and lucid. He wrote in the clear idiom of the Talmud, and neither used an unnecessary, nor omitted a necessary word. The explanations of words and things are intended for the beginner as well as for the learned specialist. Rashi gave clearness to the text by placing himself in the position of the reader; by a skilfully chosen expression, he prevented misunderstanding, met objections and anticipated questions. Rashi, as commentator, may be called an artist. He soon supplanted the commentaries of Gershom and his own masters. Rashi also wrote a commentary of equal originality on most of the books of Holy Writ. His tact and his love of truth led him to seize the true meaning of words and passages. But he allowed himself frequently to be guided by the Agadic opinions, on the supposition that the elucidation of verses occurring in the Talmud and in Agadic works was to be taken seriously. Yet he was, to a certain extent, conscious that the simple text (peshat) was opposed to the Agadic mode of explanation (the derasha). In his old age this consciousness deepened, and he told his learned grandson (Rashbam) that he meant to revise his commentaries of the Bible in the spirit of a sober and literal explanation of the text. Rashi towered above the contemporaneous Christian expositors of the Bible, who all believed that Holy Writ contained a fourfold meaning. Rashi's skill in exposition appears the more surprising as he was not acquainted with the important achievements of the Spanish school. He was acquainted only with the first part of the Hebrew grammar by Menachem ben Saruk and that by Dunash, and these he took as his guides. Chayuj's and Ibn-Janach's works, however, being written in Arabic, remained unknown to him. Therefore, his grammatical nomenclature is clumsy and frequently obscure. Nevertheless, no commentary of Holy Writ has been so popular as Rashi's, so that at one time many considered his commentary part and parcel of the text, and every one of his words was in turn commented upon and expounded. His mantle fell upon his grandsons and sons-in-law, who were his greatest disciples. For he had no sons, only three daughters, of whom the one was so deeply versed in the Talmud that during her father's illness she read to him all the questions concerning the Talmud that had been sent to him, and wrote down the answers dictated to her. His three daughters were married to men of learning, and gave birth to sons worthy of their ancestry. One of these sons-in-law, Meïr of Rameru, not far from Troyes, was the father of three distinguished sons. Through Rashi and his school, the north of France, Champagne, became the home of Talmudic lore as Babylonia had been of old. It laid down the law for the rest of Europe. The French Talmudical students were in request even in Spain, and were liberally remunerated for their instruction. The leadership, which Jewish Spain had taken from Babylonia, from Rashi's time had to be shared with France. Whilst Spain remained classic ground with respect to Hebrew poetry, linguistic attainments, exegesis and philosophy, it had to yield the palm to France in the study of the Talmud.

At this time there were two men in Spain who occupied themselves exclusively with grammar and the study of the Bible, and although they did not particularly enrich these studies, yet they undoubtedly imbued them with fresh vitality. They were Moses ben Samuel Ibn-G'ikatilia, of Cordova, and Jehuda Ibn-Balam, of Toledo (about 1070 to 1100). The former, the disciple of Ibn-Janach, in his exposition of Holy Writ occupied his master's liberal point of view. Some of the Psalms were attributed by Ibn-G'ikatilia to a later period, whilst the common opinion prevailed amongst Jews as well as Christians that the whole psalter was the work of the royal bard. He did not think well of the division of verses by the Massora, and contrary to its directions, joined consecutive verses.

The representatives of the Spanish Jews thus distinguished themselves in science and poetry, while in France great impetus was given to the study of the Talmud. The Jews of the Italian peninsula, however, occupy a very low position in the history of culture at this period. Their poetic effusions, in harsh and barbaric language, whether liturgical or secular in character, lack the true charm of poetry, and their Talmud lore was obtained from foreign parts. Nathan ben Yechiel, of Rome, is the only Italian of that time whose name figures in Jewish literature. He compiled a Talmudic lexicon, under the title of "Aruch," in about 1001 or 1002; it was more complete than the earlier works of similar purpose, but was compiled, with little originality, from these older works, principally from the writings of Chananel, of Kairuan. This lexicon became the key to the Talmud. Kalonymos, of Rome, is also mentioned as a Talmudic authority. Rashi spoke of him with great respect; the community of Worms elected him as rabbi after the year 1096. However, he has left nothing in writing, and seems to have exerted no influence. The historical works of this period are silent respecting the political position of the Italian Jews, a proof that it was not unfavorable.