Jewish Literature in 1890

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314 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

JEWISH LITERATURE IN 1890.

THOSE who have read recent accounts of the literary
products of Continental nations, and have seen — notwith-
standing the famous Universities, the rich libraries, and
other large endowments which are at their disposal for the
advancement of learning — how few of the books written
during the past year are destined to make a mark in
the progress of human intellect, will certainly not expect
to meet with signs of any extraordinary advance in the field
of rabbinic literature, the study of which is more or less
confined to Jews, whose evil fortune it is to be still labour-
ing, in many countries, under difficulties depriving them
of both the means and the leisure necessary for the production
of great and lasting works. We must, then, be satisfied with
the little we have. But even of this little, my account can
make no claim to completeness, partly owing to the fact
that most of the books which are published in the East were
quite inaccessible to me, and partly because even many of
those that have reached me belong, in spite of the modern date
which their title pages bear, to a class of books which was
already obsolete at the beginning of the century. They do
not increase our stock of information on a single point, and
serve only as a warning example of the uselessness of
learning that does not submit to the control of a sound
scientific method.

A great dearth is to be noticed this year in the region
of Grammar and Lexicography, and, except the essay
of Dr. Barth, to which I shall again have occasion to
refer, I have to notice here only the sixth volume of
Dr. Kohut's Aruch Completum, 1 containing the letters

1 Aruch completum, D?Cn "|1"5J> . . . auctore Nathan Alio Jechielis
edit. Dr. Alexander Kohut. Tomus Sextus. Viennse : 1890.

Jewish Literature in 1890. 315

D, V, and a part of a, the philological merits of which,
and its usefulness for the student of rabbinic, are now
established facts, and need no further recommendation.
In the face of this magnificent work, the "|nj?n mrun
(notes on the Aruch), forming a part of the book Beth
Aharon, 1 by R. Aaron Fuld, become almost superfluous,
as the author made no use of MSS., the only means of
correcting old texts. The merits, however, of R. Aaron in
the field of Jewish literature (best known from his additions
to the Shem Haggedolim), his devotion to study and philan-
thropy fully justified his friends in saving for the world
everything that issued from his pen. Dr. M. Horovitz's bio-
graphical sketch, with which the book is prefaced, gives
us many interesting details of this noble life. One could
have wished that the writer had not been so petty as to
bereave R. Zacharias Frankel of the ?"t with which he
honours those who belong to his own party. One could
also wish that Dr. Horovitz would strive after more
correctness in his Hebrew style ; as it is, we have in it a
strange mixture of rabbinical and biblical Hebrew full
of all sorts of Germanisms, only to be understood by a
German.

A similar scarcity appears in the matter of Commentaries
on the Bible, of which I have to mention here the fol-
lowing publications. First, the essay of Dr. Neubauer on
" The Authorship and the Titles of the Psalms according to
early Jewish Authorities," 2 for which every Biblical student
will feel deeply grateful. For by the term " Jewish Authori-
ties " the learned author not only understands the Rabbis,
but also the earlier translators of the Bible, whose versions
" must be counted as Jewish documents," as well as the com-
paratively later Rabbinic and Karaite commentators. The
latter wrote mostly in Arabic, and the majority of their com-
positions are only extant in MSS., so that Dr. Neubauer had
not only to collect the materials, but also to edit unknown

1 Beth Aharon pPIX JV3 It. Aharoni Fuld Mesponsa atque adnotationes
inplerusque Talmud Babykmici, Aruch, Tisehbi Meturgeman, etc. Edi-
derunt filii auctoris. Frankfurt a. M. : 1890.

* Published in the second volume of the Studia Bibliea. Oxford : 1890.

316 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

texts, and to translate them into English. And as "the
subject has as yet made inconsiderable progress," the views
of these earlier authorities can still be consulted with great
profit. This is especially the case, I think, with the head-
ings of the single chapters. Compare, for instance, the most
recent commentary (Delitzsch) on the heading of Ps. ix. with
the opinions given by Dr. Neubauer in page 40, and it will
hardly be found that modern researches have advanced
much further in this respect. I have next to note the book
Mayan Gannim, 1 a commentary on Job, by R. Samuel
ben Nissim Masnuth, edited from a Bodleian MS., by Herr
Salomon Buber. The worth of Herr Buber's editions of
rabbinical works is well known. I would call attention to
the fact that the author often mentions the Targum to Job,
of which he sometimes gives readings differing from ours
(e.g., pp. 7, 9, 15, 48, 72, and elsewhere). It is hardly necessary
to remind the readers of this REVIEW that Herr Buber's
results as to the date and country of the author have been
contested by Dr. Neubauer. R. Saadiah's Arabic Translation of
Isaiah, which M. Derenbourg has been giving in a new edition
in Stade's Zeitschrift, 2 was also brought to an end this year.
In the same periodical we have the first part of an excellent
essay by Dr. Bacher on R. Solomon Ibn Parchon's Hebrew
dictionary "}1"iyn IVOnD. The second part will, as it seems,
contain variations from MSS. of this dictionary. Of Dr.
H. Berger's dissertation on R. Benjamin b. Jehuda, and
his commentary to Ezra and Nehemiah, 3 it is premature
to speak before the text of this commentary has ap-
peared, which he promises soon to edit from various MSS.
But it may already be recommended for the sketch that
Dr. Berger gives of the exegetical school in Italy. Dr.
Josephsohn's pamphlet on the legends relating to the
"Wars of the Maccabees has some bearing on the Apocry-

1 D^3 yW, edited by Solomon Buber, under the auspices of the Jewish
Literary Society D WO WpQ. Berlin : 1889.

2 Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, herausgegeben von
D. Bernhard Stade. 1890.

3 R. Benjamin J. Jehuda, sein Commentar zu Ezra und Nehemia, by Dr.
Heinrich Berger. Breslau : 1889.

Jewish Literature in 1890. 317

pha of the Old Testament. 1 The suggestion of the author
to supply the gap in 2 Maccabees i. 18 by the parallels
in Midrashim (p. 17) is worth considering, whilst less satis-
factory are the reasons by which he tries to account for the
confusion of the feast of Chanukah with that of Tabernacles.
Here Geiger's hypothesis (see p. 19), will probably remain the
best solution of the problem (cp. also Rapoport's ingenious
theory on the naiam mwn JV3 nnDB> in the Hashachar,
iv. p. 432 seq.) Herr Weissmann's treatise on "Judith," 2
is not devoid of some good suggestions towards restoring
the lost Hebrew text (p. 18 seq.). Whether, however, it
is necessary to alter the text (of xvi. 9) in the face of
the phrase WK b& m^piD ^onDon, by which the Eabbis
meant something less harmless than we understand (see
Nedarim 20a), I leave undecided.

From late commentaries I pass to modern editions and
commentaries on ancient Rabbinical works. Among these
there is Dr. Schwartz's new edition of, and commentary
on, the first order of the Tos3efta, 3 the fourth volume of R.
Eisler's Notes on Rabbinical Language and Archaeology,
the greatest part of which deals also with the text of the
Tossefta, 4 and a new edition of, and commentary to, the
third order of the same work by M. Friedlsender. 5 There
can be no doubt that Dr. Schwartz's work is the most
important contribution of the year. He thinks that the
Tossefta in its present state represents nothing but a
chaotic mass of various formations and layers dating from

1 Die Sagen ieber die Kampfe der Mahliabaeer gegen die Syrer iiaeh
grieeliischen und judiseh-agadischen Quellen, von Dr. Caesar Josephsohn.

Breslau: 1889.

2 Das JBueh Judith, Historisch-kritish beleuclitet von Arthur S.
Weissmann. Wien : 1891.

3 nns \vir\ enve oy mwon -no '•tb NnQDinn, or Tosi/ta juxta

Mitohnarum Ordinem Recomposita et Commentaria Instrueta auctore
Adolpho Schwarz Kabbino Karlsruhano. Pars I., Ordo Seraim. Vilnae :
Typis et sumptibus viduae fratrumque Bomm, 1890.

4 Beitragt! zur RabbinisehenSpraclh- und Alterthumshunde von Rabb.
Leopold Eisler. II. Theil. Wien : 1870. Commissions- Verlag von Ch. D.
Lippe, Buchhandlung, II. Praterstrasse 13.

s Qit*>3 -no NnSDin aveo le commentaire Heschek Schlomoh. Pres-
burg, 189D.

318 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

different periods and schools, which, owing to such revo-
lutionary causes as the terrible persecutions of those times
as well as to the ignorance and carelessness of the copy-
ists, were thrown together into one shapeles conglomerate,
without regard to order or chronology. Dr. Schwartz be-
lieves that our Tossef ta was completed by the younger con-
temporaries of R. Jehudah Hannasi with the intention of
saving from oblivion that complex of old Halachoth or
Aggadoth, which the latter from one reason or another
excluded from his official codex of the Mishnah. In this
belief, then, he attempts to reconstruct the Tossefta with
the aid of the given order of the Mishnah, on which it
was based, and to which it was meant to be an addition (the
literal translation of the word Tossefta). Dr. Schwartz does
his work admirably, and the boldness which he shows in
transposing whole sections which almost alter the face of the
Tossefta will be envied by many a Bible critic. It is true that
some of these transpositions admit of a difference of opinion.
Compare, for instance, Tossefta Berachoth, c. 3 § 9 of our
editions, which Dr. Schwartz puts after the section be-
ginning Nin ntW, in conformity with the order in the
Jerushalmi. But why should not the Tossefta, in this place,
agree with the order in the Babli Berachoth, 31a, which
— if we eliminate from it the passage given there in
the name of R. Chiya, which is really missing in the MSS.
(see Rabbinowitz, Varise Lectiones) — there is reason to suppose
is pretty near to the original text. This agreement is the
more probable as the Tossefta has in this place the readings
of the Babli, not of the Jerushalmi, which, by the way,
ought to be corrected after the parallel in the Aggadath She-
muel II. But this minor point shows only how consistent
Dr. Schwartz is in carrying out his suppositions. Certainly
these suppositions themselves still leave room for discussion.
One might ask, granting that the Tossefta was based on the
Mishnah, on which Mishnah ? For though the hypothesis
of Dr. Zuckermandel, according to which the Tossefta re-
presents the Halachic code of the Palestinian schools,
whilst our Mishnah was compiled at a later date in
Babylon, did not, as far as we know, find much acceptance

Jewish Literature in 1890. 319

amongst scholars, it is, nevertheless, hardly to be expected
that our Mishnah was exempt from the fate which befell
all ancient Jewish productions. However, we had better
postpone the discussion of this and similar points until
Dr. Schwartz furnishes us with the treatise on the
origin of the Tossefta, as well as the Boraithoth scat-
tered over both the Talmuds, and their relation to the
Mishnah, which he promises in the introduction to his
book. Of a less ambitious character is Eisler's undertaking,
which confines itself to verbal emendations in the text of the
Tossefta. Though the book contains many good points, I
am afraid that Eisler is sometimes too hasty in his emen-
dations ; perhaps he surfers from want of books. Thus he
would hardly have corrected the text in Tossefta Berachoth
c. vii. 1, if he had read the remarks of A. Krochmal (Scholien,
p. 91) and Brtill (Jahrb. vii. 113) on the same passage. M.
Friedlaender pursues the same method as in his com-
mentary on Seder Zeraim, and there is nothing fresh to
add to the verdict which was pronounced on the author's
first production. (See this Beview, II., 194.) I might
here express a wish that the scholars who devote them-
selves to the study of the Tossefta would make use of MS.
Add. 27,296 in the British Museum, which contains the
Tossefta of the whole of the second order (Moed) and
tractate Chulin. The variations presented by this codex
would probably prove of more critical value than those
which are the result of mere guesswork. Considered from
this point of view Professor Strack's edition of the Mishnah
of the tractate Sabbath 1 deserves all praise, the editor
having employed for his text all the MSS. and texts avail-
able. The glossary at the end will also make it useful for
beginners. Lector M. Friedmann's Ha?naschneh, 2 giving in
short paragraphs the contents of all the tractates of the
Mishnah, and his Talmud Baba Mesia, 3 containing extracts

1 Sehabbatlb . . . herausgegeben voa Professor Hermann L. Strack.
Leipzig : 1890.

2 HJSJ'Dn "I2D (der Mishnah-Lehrer) von M. Friedmann. Vienna : 1890.
» KJPXD J03 Zum Unterrichtsgebrauche von M. Friedmann. Vienna :

1890.

VOL. III. X

320 The Jewish Quarterly Review

from this tractate, are also calculated to pave the way for the
young student who wants to be introduced to the strange
world of the Rabbis. All Jewish teachers, I hope, will
not be slow to avail themselves of the wide learning and long
experience of this famous scholar. Entirely new is the
small tractate on Mourning (miDir ninot? roDO) 1 now edited
for the first time from MSS. by Herr HoroAvitz in the second
and third part of his collection of Ancient Boraithoth, ex-
tending from p. 28 to p. 40. One feels so grateful for this
addition to the Minor Tractates that one can pardon him
his long useless introductions and unnecessary glossaries.
I may here add that at the head of the list of authorities Avho
quoted this version of ninDB> has to be placed the Gaon R.
Samuel ben Chofni, as can be seen from his commentary to
the Pentateuch (W1 DKna), ed. J. Israelsohn, in which three
passages are given, which are only to be found in this trac-
tate (28 and 31). R. Joseph Ibn Caspi's quotation 1-|»&0
D'»no onm t6i dwdd w-ni vb !?"t »*nm (see w:p\ nvv by
Ashkenazi, p. 53), also refers to this tractate. It is to be
regretted that Dr. Klotz, in his new critical edition of
the tractate SemacJwth 2 (usually printed together with
the other minor tractates), was unable to incorporate this
small Semachoth, which would have made his work more
complete. But the good use the editor has made of
almost all the MSS. existing of this tractate — among them,
also, of a very valuable MS. belonging to Dr. Adler —
and the fulness of his references (see, for instance, p. 17,
note 5, and p. 33, note 1), will partly compensate for
this defect. The fourth part of Herr Horowitz's collection
(ma Tina) forms an introduction to the text of the Boraitha
of Niddah, to be edited in the fifth part of this collection.
We must not anticipate our judgment before Herr
Horovitz has fulfilled his promise. Of new editions of
late Rabbinic works I have to mention here the first part

1 SJlp^ny NnBDin, or Uralte Tosefta, 2 und 3. Abtheilung by Chayim
M. Horovitz. Mainz: 1890. Ditto, i. Abcheilung. Frankfurt a. M.: 1890.

2 Der Talmudische Traotat Ebel Mabbithi oder S'machoth, nach Hand-
sohriften und Parallelstellen bearbeitet, ubersetzt, etc., von Dr. Moritz
Klotz. Verlag J. Kauffmann.

Jewish Literature in 1890. 321

of the Machsor Vitri, 1 emanating from the school of
Rashi, edited from a Bodleian MS. by Rabbi S. Hurwitz
for the Society Mekize Nirdamim. The editor will pro-
bably at the end of the work give us in an appendix a full
description of his MS. and its relation to the other MSS. of
the Machzor Vitri in the British Museum and Paris. Its
authorship is also a matter which demands closer ex-
amination (see Dr. C. Taylor's remark in a note to the
Introduction to his Sayings of the Jewish Fathers). Dr.
Hildesheimer, under the auspices of the same society,
continues the Vatican Halachoth Gedoloth, 2 of which the
second part has now appeared. A very meritorious task was
the editing of the Arabic text of " The Letter of Consolation
of Maimon ben Joseph" 3 (the father of Maimonides), and
its translation into English by Mr. L. M. Simmons, of Man-
chester. The readers of this periodical had full opportunity
to admire the saintliness and simplicity of the author (see
especially p. 25, where the commentary to Ps. xc. begins), as
well as to appreciate the learning and accuracy of the editor.
I have only to add that this letter has now appeared in
a pamphlet by itself, with some additional notes and
corrections by Mr. Simmons. The "varise lectiones" to
Maimonides' Mishnah Torah, 4 according to a MS. now
in the possession of Herr Julius Hamburger, will be
cordially welcomed by students of this great code. We do
not know whether the description offered of the MS. is
trustworthy in all its parts. But even if the date given there
(the beginning of the fourteenth century) be correct, we
have in English libraries MSS. of this Code of an earlier date,
especially in Oxford (see Catalogue, Neubauer, Nos. 538-614),
and it would certainly repay the trouble of a student to
collate them for the purpose of giving us at last a critical
text of this classical work. Nor must I forget to notice

1 *"1D' I 1 "lltnD, Machzor Vitri, herausgegeben von S. Hurwitz.
Berlin: 1889.

2 IT)?nJ TTD?n Halaoholh Gedoloth, naoli dem Texte der Sandschrift
der Vaticana. Herausgegebea von Dr. Hildesheimer. Berlin : 1889.

3 Reprinted from the Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. II.

4 mm fUB>» -\Stib niXD-m nisriDU »m? Frankfurt a. M.: 1. 1889.

x 2

322 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

here the following contributions to the Rabbinic litera-
ture, though they do not exactly fall under the heading of
commentaries or editions. Thus Dr. Giidemann has de-
voted a whole monograph to the verses in Matt. v. 43, 1
and parallels in other parts of the New Testament as
well as in the Rabbinic literature. It is, indeed, one
of the best things written on the subject. (See Dr.
L. Lazarus, Zur Charakteristik der Talmudischen Ethik,
p. 10, where the literature is fairly put together, to which
must be added The Teaching of the Tivelve Apostles, by Dr.
C. Taylor, p. 8, seq.) It will have to be carefully read, both
by students of the Old Testament and the New Testament.
I can only hope to see it soon translated into English.
Professor Bloch has given us a new compendium of the
Mosaic-Talmudic Laws of Inheritance. 2 The author confines
himself mostly to Jewish sources (see, however, p. 10 and
p. 49, note 32), in which he is a complete master, and he
rectifies Michaelis in some places (see pp. 7 and 8). Dr.
Koningsberger's pamphlet on the sources of the Halacha 3 is
also worth mentioning on account of the few quotations he
gives there from the Midrash Hagadol and other MSS.
Whether, however, these MSS. or any MS. still to be dis-
covered can prove the divinity of the Oral Law, and that
it is coeval with the Torah itself, against the opinion of the
" majority of the modern Jewish historians," is a question
which the author would have done better to leave untouched.
Such useless polemics — for surely the views of these his-
torians are entirely independent of the existence or non-
existence of a Mechilta more or less — ought to be avoided in
any work which pretends to scientific treatment. Not un-
fitly I may mention here the Rev. S. Singer's English version
of the prayer-book, 4 not merely because the Jewish liturgy

1 Nachstenliebe, ein Seitrag zur ErMarung des Mathaus-Evangeliums
von Dr. M. Giidemann. Wien : 1890.

2 Das Mosaisch-Talmudisehe Erbrecht, von Prof. Moses Bloch, pub-
lished in the B. Programm of the Eabbinical Seminary in Buda-pest, 1890.

3 Die Quellen der Halaehah, von Dr. Konigsberger. Berlin: Verlag H.
Engel, 1890.

4 The authorised Daily Prayer-booh, with a new translation by the Rev.
S. Singer. London : 1890.

Jewish Literature in 1890. 323

is in the main a rabbinical production, but also on account
of its containing a new translation of the Pirke Aboth. It
requires only to take a glance at the older translations of the
Sidur in this country to see the excellence of Mr. Singer's
•work, and I can only hope that a second edition will
appear soon and meet with the same merited success as the
first. Perhaps Mr. Singer will also use the opportunity to
correct such trifles as, for instance, to leave out the note to
§ 15 in Aboth ch. ii. (p. 189). As may be seen from the
parallels put together in the Massecheth Aboth, etc., by
Noah Chayim, of Kabrin (32a), this passage has nothing to
do with abusing one's higher gifts. Possibly Mr. Singer
will justify his interpretation by a reference to the famous
simile in Jerushalmi Chagigah (76c), where the Torah is also
compared with fire, but in quite another sense. A most in-
genious piece of work is the treatise of Dr. Rosenthal on
the composition of the Mishnah, 1 whose method strongly
recalls that with which we are familiar from the works of
modern Bible critics (see, for instance, pp. 36, 87, and 89).
By this method he thinks to discover in the Mishnah parts
dating from before Hillel, which were composed with an
anti-Sadducean tendency. As the author bases his hypothesis
on the assumption that Geiger's and Wellhausen's theories
on the origin of this sect are mistaken, it still remains to be
seen how he will refute them as lie promises to do in the
second part.

I will now glance at Bibliography and Biography,
whereby we shall gain some insight into what might still be
done in the line of editing. I notice, first, Dr. Kayserling's
Bibliographical Dictionary of works concerning Judaism
written by Jewish authors in Spanish or Portuguese, 2 in-
cluding Ladino, a sort of Jewish jargon of these languages.
The book is prefaced by an excellent essay on the history
and importance of this literature, and the appendix gives a
collection of Spanish and Jewish proverbs. The pedigrees

1 TJeber den Zusammenhang der Mischna .... von Dr. Ludwig A.
Rosenthal. Strassburg : Verlag von K. J. Trubner, 1890.

2 Biblioteea Espanola - Portugueza - Judaiea. Par M. Kayserling.
Strasbourg, Charles J. Trubner : 1890.

324 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

of various Jewish families scattered throughout the book
■will be found interesting by genealogists, -whilst the Cata-
logue (page 114) of the controversial -works by Jewish
converts will probably prove useful both to the biblio-
grapher and the historian. However, it could hardly
be said that this literature equals either in quantity or
quality the Judaica written in the German language (or
in Jiidisch-Deutsch) by Jewish authors. Indeed, among
the books published during this century I cannot discover
in Dr. Kayserling's list a single production of great value,
except perhaps the W 05?D. Of far greater importance is the
Catalogue of the MSS. in Herr Halberstam's Library. 1
The name of Halberstam is known far and wide. There
is hardly any Jewish scholar of the younger generation who
is not under obligations to Herr Halberstam, not merely
for his suggestions, but also for the liberality with which he
puts his collection of MSS. at the disposal of students. But
no one had an adequate idea of the riches of this collection
until the appearance of this Catalogue, compiled by Herr
Halberstam himself. It is, in truth, the greatest Jewish
private library in the world, comprising 411 MSS. Every-
thing which has occupied the Jewish mind — Targum,
grammar, Halacha, Hagada, liturgy, philosophy, Kabbalah,
poetry, astronomy, history, and medicine — is represented
there. From this Catalogue the student can see how much
is still left for us to do. Herr Halberstam's collection
contains many a treasure still waiting for the explorer to
bring to light. Let the reader only glance over the
liturgical part, which contains many Piyutim which re-
mained unknown even to the great master Zunz, or at the
description of MS. 345, which contains almost more references
to the English Eabbis of the pre-expulsion period than all
the other sources put together. The Commentaries to the
Talmud, some of which are unique, would alone suffice to
make this Library famous. However, greatly as I admire
Herr Halberstam, who has so far made such excellent use
of his collection, I cannot refrain from asking, What will

1 nOTl? rpnp Catalog fiebraischer Handschriften, von S. J. Halberstam
in Bielibz. Vienna : 1890.

Jewish Literature in 1890. 325

become of all these treasures ? Experience has taught us
that the fate of all private libraries is to be scattered after a
generation or two, and at such dispersions many valuable
MSS. are lost for ever. May I not express the hope that
in this country, which has hitherto shown itself so generous
to Jewish literature, which has saved the libraries of Oppen-
heim, Michael, and Almanzi from dispersion — that in this
country also the Halberstam collection will find a saviour
who will preserve it to posterity. I do not in the least
grudge Halberstam his treasures, but I think that he will
agree with me that the cause of Jewish literature, which he
has so much at heart, will be best served when his MSS.
follow the way of all the great Jewish collections, which
have found their last home in England. Dr. Miiller's
Introduction to the Eesponsa of the Geonim l might, on
account of the bibliographical account it gives of the
various collections of these Responsa, also be placed here.
It is an admirable piece of work. Indeed, it pre-
viously seemed as if every newly discovered collection
only added to the difficulties of the student of the
period of the Geonim. For these collections, made at
different ages, in various countries, without the least
regard to each other, and even without much needed
discretion, often repeat themselves, and are full of inter-
polations, in which the Mystics had also their share.
On the other hand, there are many Responsa with-
out headings ; others, again, bear false ascriptions. It is
by this work of Dr. Miiller that we shall be able to
examine critically the productions of the Geonim, which
consist mostly in ritual decisions. It not only contains a
detailed account of every collection, where every heading
is closely investigated, but also a complete index of the
Responsa (including those which are scattered over the
works of the earlier authorities, Rishonim) of each
Gaon, from R. Mari down to R. Hai, the last of the
Geonim. And what is more is that this index is quite
readable, giving the essence of all the Responsa attributed

1 D\H&m T)2Wn? nnSO, Einleitung in die, Responsen BabylonUcher
Geonim, von Joel Miiller. H. Engel. Berlin : 1891.

326 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

to each. Gaon, arranged in subjects, mostly after the
system accepted by Maimonides in the Mishnah Torah.
To this are added the Miscellanea, containing many in-
teresting historical and philological items (see pp. 72, 92, 100,
103, 168, 205, 254, 265) which would be worthy of being
collected and edited by themselves. I may remark here
that the list of the MSS. of the British Museum has also
a collection of the nwturi miKTl (Add. 27,181, compare
Halberstam, Introduction to the Sefer Yetsirah, p. xxi.),
which might now, with the help of this introduction,
easily be examined, so as to ascertain whether it contains
inedited matter.

Bibliography and Biography bring us to History. In
this country we have Dr. Neubauer's contribution, Notes on
the Jews in Oxford, 1 which, in spite of its modest title, ex-
hausts the subject in all its parts, there being no document
or important note relating to the history of the Jews in this
University town which Dr. Neubauer does not print or
allude to. Especially grateful the student will feel for the
new edition of the eighth volume of Professor Graetz's
History 2 with corrections and additions in which the latest
discoveries of Spanish scholars, of Dr. Neubauer, Halberstam,
M . Lob, and others, have been utilised . One feels the more
grateful for it as this part of Graetz's work deals with the
period in which the great expulsions of the Jews from
Spain, Portugal, and many cities in Germany, took place.
Of books dealing with the earlier history of the Jews I
have to mention here : Dr. Kaminka's Studies on the
History of Galilee. 3 A critical history of the Jews in
Galilee would, indeed, be an object of interest to the Jewish
as well as to the Christian student. But Dr. Kaminka is
certainly not the man to do it, as far as I can judge from

1 Published in the Collectanea, vol. ii. of the Oxford Historical Society,
1890.

2 Gesehichte der Juden, VIII. Dritte verbesserte und stark vermehrte
Auflage. Leipzig : 1890. — I received this work at the very moment when
this article had to be sent to press, otherwise I should have treated it with
the fulness that a work by the father of Jewish history deserves.

3 Studien xur Gesehichte Qalilaas, von Dr. Kaminka. Berlin : 1889.
Verlag von Hermann Engel.

Jewish Literature in 1890. 327

this pamphlet. His objections to the general assumption
that Tiberias was avoided by noble Jewish families on
account of uncleanliness caused by the lost graves in it are
weak, and remind one of the niB>pr6l pimV B"1 ; his emenda-
tion (p. 24) of the word N"D* in the Jerushalmi into nil' is
doubtful (see Levy, s.v. 13*), whilst the preference given
by him to the Hebrew version (with regard to the
story that R. Simon ben Jochai declared Tiberias to be
clean) in Midrash Tehillim over the other six, because
they are in Aramaic, is against the acknowledged critical
rule that in such cases the claim for higher antiquity
rests with the Aramaic versions, Aramaic having been
the popular language in which the story was told. For
the Hebrew version is to be regarded only as a trans-
lation from the original, and thus belonging to a later
date. He commits also a bad blunder in referring, in hi
sketch of R. Simon ben Jochai, to Aboth ii. 9 (p. 50), the
R. Simon mentioned there being ^wnj |3 C""i, the disciple of
R. Jochanan ben Zakkai. More satisfactory is Dr. Rosen
zweig's essay on Jerusalem and Ccesarea. 1 The author does
not presume to advance new theories (excepting, perhaps,
note 2, p. 16, about the genealogy of Paul), but puts to-
gether the passages in the Rabbinic literature relating to
the antagonism between these two cities representing Judaism
and heathenism, or Christianity at a later period. Perhaps
I may also record here the third volume of Mr. Luncz's
annual Jerusalem, 2 dealing with the history of the Holy
Land, and chiefly with that of Jerusalem in ancient and
modern times. It contains among other excellent matter a
bibliographical account of works on the geography of
Palestine by Dr. Steinschneider, an essay on the topography
of Sodom and Gomorrah, according to Rabbinical sources
by Lector Friedmann — a series of letters written by different
Rabbis living in Jerusalem, dating from before the end of
the seventeenth century, and edited from MSS. by Professor

1 Jerusalem und Ccesarea, von Dr. Rosenzweig. Berlin : Mayer and
Muller, 1890.

2 DOT Jerusalem Jahrbuch, III. Jahrgang. Heransgegeben von A
M. Luncz. Jerusalem : 1889.

328 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

Kaufmann, and, lastly, etymological researches on the names
of various cities (Jerusalem, Jericho, etc., etc.), contri-
buted by M. Joseph Halevy, of Paris. I have no doubt
that the number ■will be found very instructive, and
the editor deserves special gratitude and support from
this country, where the interest in everything touching
the Holy Land is so great. The following two books,
Matamim, 1 by an anonymous writer, and Telcanoth,
etc., by Herr Schiick, 2 on Minhagim (religious usages and
customs) ought to have some bearing on history by which
alone Minhagim can be explained, but they have not. Of the
former, who supplies us with 1,300 explanations of various
Minhagim, suffice it to say that his work was suggested
to him by passages in the i~avn 3^, and thus belongs to a
school in which anything approaching to a knowledge of
history (or anything worth knowing) is considered as a
mortal sin. It requires only a glance at the book to see
that the author remained true to the principle of his school.
Some attempt at history is, indeed, made by Herr Schiick,
but he still belongs to the pre-scientific era. He takes, for
instance, infinite trouble to reconcile the legend that Joshua
composed the prayer 13vy with another story which attri-
butes it to R. Jochanan ben Zakkai (p. 37a), but it never
occurs to him to question the authenticity, of these legends.
At another place (8Z>) he tries to explain the institution of
reading the 93rd Psalm every Friday by reason of modern dis-
coveries in geology. Herr Schiick is rather afraid that his
critical views will be resented by certain hyper-orthodox
people in his country. This would be, indeed, a gross injus-
tice. Lastly, I have to notice here Dr. Lazarus' essay on the
Princes of the Captivity in Babylon, 3 whose history has re-
mained rather obscure till now. The last writer on the subject
was the late Abraham Krochmal in his Scholien, which is full

1 n*»VI2D HDD. Anonymous. Warsaw : 1890.

2 Tll^am ni3pn, die Kirchlichen und biirgerlichen Gesetze des Juden-
thums vom Jahre 2449 bis 5631, etc., von Salomon Schiick. Muncacs: 1890.

3 Die Hdupter der Vertriebenen, etc. Von Dr. Felix Lazarus, pub-
lished in volume x. of Dr. Brtill's Jahrbiicher, occupying the whole of
this number.

Jewish Literature in 1890. 329

of the deepest researches and most ingenious remarks on
this point, and to which Dr. Lazarus owes, I am inclined
to think, a great deal. But Dr. Lazarus has the advantage
of having made use of various MSS. of the text of the
Small Chronicle (Seder Olam Zuta), the chief source for the
succession of those princes, but previously known only in a
very corrupt form. Dr. Lazarus now gives us, in an appen-
dix, for the first time, a critical version of this chronicle,
after MSS. and rare editions, and this enables him to
elucidate many obscure points in the chronology of this
part of Jewish history. It is not the place, in a general
review to enter into a discussion of the details, which are
of a most complicated nature, and I shall only remark
that the obscure formula of which Dr. Lazarus speaks
on p. 97, will be clear enough if he had read correctly
HJ03 (not H'n?) as the name of the daughter of Pharaoh
(1 Chron. iv. 18), who, according to the Hagadah (Megil-
lah, 13a, and elsewhere) saved Moses from the river, and
brought him up, on which account he was considered as
her son.

The study of Jewish Philosophy is represented this year
by the following works : First, Dr. Spiegler's History
of the Philosophy of Judaism. 1 But in spite of this
promising title,, I need not dwell long on it. Its worth-
lessness will be sufficiently indicated when I point out
the fact that the greatest part of the work is taken up
with the Zohar, which Dr. Spiegler thinks was composed by
R. Simon ben Jochai and his school (p. 135). The golden
age of the Cabbalah falls, according to the author, in the
first century A.C., and R. Jochanan ben Zakkai and his school,
especially R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos, the author of the Pirke
drahi Eliezer (sic), and Akilas, the author of our Targum
Onkelos, are its greatest representatives (p. 140). The de-
scription the author gives us of Maimonides' philosophy,
does not show any sign that he ever studied Prof. Kauf mann's
Attrihutenlehre, or his work could not be so utterly empty
and superficial. Of quite another stamp is Dr. Hoenig's

1 Gesehichte der Pliilosophie de$ Judenthums. Von Dr. Julius Spiegler.
Leipzig : "Verlag von Wilhelm Friedrich, 1890.

330 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

treatise on the Ophites 1 , in -which he tries to prove that
Gnosticism is a Jewish production, and that this and the
Ophites, the first Gnostic sect, represent accordingly a Jewish
heresy. There are many ingenious points in this brochure,
and the identification of the obscure term I1V31BBK in
Midrash Koheleth i. 8 with the Greek 'O^/rijc (p. 79) is
worth noticing. But, on the other hand, the author has
brought forward little evidence to establish the early origin
of the Gnosis among the Jews, which is the chief point in his
book. All the passages he quotes from Eabbinic literature
were used by Graetz, Krochmal and others to prove that
during the second century Gnostic views found their way
into Judaism. Nor will many agree with the author, that
the theory of the Demiurge could only arise among the Jews
(p. 68). It is true that the old question, Unde Malum, forces
itself on every mind, but it does not follow that the Jews
would have answered it through the manufacture of a
demi-god. Untouched by foreign influence, the answer of
the Jewish mind, with its quick transitions from reason to
emotion, and its commutations of both, would probably
have resulted in a fervid prayer or in entire resignation to the
will of God like the Hebrew prophets and psalmists of old,
when they complained of the sufferings of the righteous.
The quotations the author gives from the chapter of R.
Eliezer are especially unfortunate, as this book dates from a
very late period, and contains already Christian elements, as
has only recently been proved by M. Israel Levi (see Revue
des Etudes Juives). By the way, has Dr. Hcenig seen the
late Bishop Lightfoot's " Essay on the Colossian Heresy," in
his Commentary to the Epistles of St. Paul (Volume
III., page 73, seq.) ? Dr. Goitein's pamphlet on Optimism
and Pessimism in the Philosophy of Judaism^ is also worth
reading. The various Theodicies, from the oldest times up
to Maimonides, which the author puts together, deserve
careful study, though the conclusion of the author with

1 Die Ophiten, Em Beitrag zur Geschichte des jiidischen Gnosticismus,
von Dr. Adolf Honig. Berlin : Mayer and Miiller. 1889.

2 Der Optimismus und der Pessimismus in der judisehen Religions-
philosopMe, von Dr. H. Croitein. Berlin : Mayer and Miiller. 1890.

Jewish Literature in 1890. 331

regard to the final influence of these two conflicting views
on Judaism may be contested. A lecture by Dr. Schwein-
burg on "Jewish Pessimists" 1 may be regarded as a sup-
plement to the preceding work. "Whether every Jewish
scholar who had a fit of depression and wrote in a pessi-
mistic vein must be looked upon as a predecessor of
Schopenhauer, is a question not permitting of closer ex-
amination in the presence of the fact that the latter philo-
sopher is now the most fashionable thinker in Germany.
Of a rather theosophic character is the lately edited cor-
respondence of R. Jonathan Eibeschiitz, from a MS. in the
library of Dr. Jellinek. 3 The attempts of R. Jonathan to
rationalise the Cabbalah, and to reconcile it with philosophy
(p. 88), are not uninteresting. The old dispute among the
Cabbalists, whether the Sephiroth are to be regarded
as an integral part of the Deity, or only as an emanation,
turns up here again. Perhaps this correspondence, when
entirely published, will throw some light on the well-known
controversy between the author and R. Jacob Emden.
I may also in this section include Dr. L. Grossmann's book
on Judaism and the Science of Religion? which is written in
a style worthy of the subject, and indicates an honest desire
on the part of the author to be just to all. I am only
afraid that he is too hasty in his application of general
theories, or he would scarcely detect in such passages as
" the Fathers are the Merkabah " a reminiscence of sun
worship (p. 174). What Dr. Grossmann means by the
reference to Tossefta Yoma, II. b, I am unable to under-
stand. Are we really to suppose that every ancient Jew
who looked at a sun-dial to see the time of day, or basked in
the sunshine, is to be suspected of sun-worship ? The well-
known passage, " The Law is like two paths," etc., which, as
it would seem, he attributes (in p. 176) to R. Akiba, is known
to me only as anonymous. (Cp. Jerushalmi Chagigah, ii. 1,

1 Jiidische Pessimisten, von S. Schweinburg. Verlag D. Lowy (Vienna).

J ivrrtN rrvpra yts^n^x jrw -h nnitj>ni ni-wx bhn tbw db\

Wien : 1891.

3 Some Chapters on Judaism and the Science of Religion, by Rabbi Luis
Grossmann. New York and London : Putnam's. 1889.

332 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

and parallels on the margin.) Of a more satisfactory
character in my judgment is Dr. Grossmann's Lecture
on Maimonides, 1 which is a very fair and sympathetic
appreciation of this great Jewish thinker.

In the region of General Literature I have only to record
two books, both excellently done. Of Mr. Joseph Jacobs'
admirable Introduction to the Fables of JEsop, 2 the results,
as regards the part played by Judaism in preserving these
fables, have been already noticed in this REVIEW. The
second part of Herr Philipp's classical edition of Jewish
Poetry in the Middle Ages 3 fully bears out the high repu-
tation the author has acquired by his previous productions.
From a prospectus I have lately received from Herr
Philipp, I learn that he intends to continue editing the
Divan of R. Jehudah Hallevi, and other poetical pieces which
he copied last summer in the Bodleian in Oxford. It is to
be hoped that he may succeed in this important under-
taking. I may also express the wish that Herr Philipp
will be a little more concise in his notes. There is hardly
any need, for instance, to illustrate the sayings of the Gaon
by passages in the Sanscrit literature. Dr. Rubin brings us
this year a treatise on the origin of arts and sciences in the
prehistoric ages, 4 which, like most of his other works, will
prove very useful to those who are incapable of reading
any other language except Hebrew. Of Dr. Maybaum's
masterly treatise on Jewish Homiletics, 5 it is only necessary
here to mention the title, as its merits have already been
ably brought before the readers of this Review.

The want of special works might, perhaps, be compensated
for by the various Miscellanea, of which we have a great
abundance. Paramount among them is the Jubelschrift, 6

1 Maimonides : a Paper. By Rabbi L. Grrossmann. Putnam, 1890.

2 The Fables of JEsoy, now again edited by and induced by Joseph
Jacobs. London: 1889. (D. Nutt.)

3 nto *sn an »tb> b &w • xn rrvnan rva, Krakau : 1889.

* njnn yy, Dr. S. Eubin. Wien : 1891.

5 Jildisohe Homiletili. Berlin : 1890.

6 Jubelschrift zum siebzigsten Geburtstag,dea Dr. Hildesheimer. Berlin:
H. Engel, 1890.

Jetcish Literature in 1890. 333

containing a collection of essays by various scholars,
dedicated to Dr. J. Hildesheimer on the occasion of his
seventieth birthday. It opens with an exegetical study of
Isaiah lxvi., by Dr. Feilchenfeld, Chief Eabbi of Posen, well
known for many excellent essays on the Bible. I am
afraid, however, that in this particular matter he has not
been quite happy in his hypothesis. According to the
author, Isaiah lxvi. forms a protest against a certain
Jewish rationalistic sect, who, in their universalistic
notions of the Jewish religion, for which they thought
they found support in the older prophecies, refused to re-
turn to Jerusalem, pleaded for amalgamation with their
heathen surroundings as a means of facilitating their
missionary work to the Gentile world, and as the result of
borrowing certain enlightened views from the Medo-Persic
religion, protested against sacrificial worship. This view is
in the main not entirely new (see Dillmann's Isaiah, p. 535).
Considering that Isaiah lxvi., according to the opinions of
most modern commentators, dates from about the end of
the sixth century, it is not altogether impossible that the
prophet's words were directed against a certain section of
the Jews, who, lacking in patriotism, did not care much for
the restoration of Jerusalem, preferring to have the temple
built in Babylon. On the other hand, the views which Dr.
Feilchenfeld attributes to this Bection are too rational for
the time, and strongly recall the doctrines of Jewish sects at
a very late period, whilst his exegesis is far-fetched. (See,
for instance, hiB explanation of the word rtNn, " Ib it not, in-
deed ? ") But what makes matters worse is that Dr. Feilchen-
feld assures us that hiB exposition is entirely independent
of the question with regard to the age of the prophet (p. 9,
note 1). Dr. Feilchenfeld is very successful in his explanation
of the obscure passage in Tractate Sabbath, 67& (p. 23). Quite
worthy of his position and his fame is the article contributed
by Dr. Rosenthal, Rabbi at Breslau, on the Institutions nupn
of R. Gershon, the light of the Exile, the most important
of which is the ordinance forbidding polygamy. As with
everything coming to us from this remote period (the tenth
century), the documents of these Tekanoth are in a most

334 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

corrupt state, and exist in different versions. Dr. Rosenthal
tries to restore the original text, as well as to establish its
authenticity by the use of MSS. and quotations in various
Rabbinical words. Secular history, so far as it has any
relation to these institutions, is also laid under con-
tribution by the learned author. To judge from the
heading of this essay, Einiges iiber die, etc., it would
seem that Dr. Rosenthal intends to publish one day a
larger treatise on this interesting subject. Perhaps he
might then be able also to employ the MSS. in the British
Museum, Or. 1989 (p. 916. seq.), and Or. 1083 (266), both of
them containing versions of the tWiJ m nupn, the former
of which would, we think, prove of special value (see
Monatsschri/t, 1855, p. 104 about this MS.) The Machsor
Vitri in the same library (Add. 27,200, page 1526) con-
tains also a paragraph ^npn ni3pn, which might, I believe,
throw some light on the subject. The group of TeJca-
notli, beginning with HO»n yx, has also been published
by Dr. Neubauer, from various MSS. in the Revue des Etudes
Juives, No. XXXIII., p. 69 seq. Dr. M. Horovitz, one
of the Rabbis in Frankfurt-on-the-Main, contributes a
Responsurn as to the validity of marriage in a certain given
case. There is nothing fresh about it, either as regards
method or line of argument. The only new feature is,
perhaps, the fact that it is written in German, whilst any
Polish or Russian Rabbi would have answered in Hebrew.
I cannot deny that I prefer n"lU> in Hebrew, when written
in a good rabbinical style. Dr. Munk, of Marburg, gives a
very interesting essay on the constitution of the Jews in
the Principality of Hesse, in Germany, as well as the Text
of their Tekanofh. The excommunication pronounced there
against dealing in false coin is worth noticing, showing that
it was not only ritual matters over -which the synagogue
kept spiritual watch. Dr. Hofmann adorns the volume by
an essay on the existence of a Mechilta dWalibi Ishmael on
Deuteronomy, fragments of which he discovers in the Mi-
drash Raggadol. As the present writer is preparing an edi-
tion of this Midrash, he will soon find occasion to enlarge
on the results of this admirable and thorough piece of work.

Jewish Literature in 1890. 335

Dr. Olitzki's essay treats of the symbolical significance
given by E. Abraham ben Ezra to certain numbers.
The relation pointed out by the author between the
symbolism of Aben Ezra and those of certain Greek as
well as Jewish mystical schools, is not without interest.
Dr. Friedlander and Dr. Bennet contribute new Hebrew
translations from certain parts of Maimonides' Commentary
to the Mishnah; the former, of the third chapter of the tractate
Rosh Hashanah, the latter, of the first chapter of the Sayings
of the Fathers. Dr. Lowenstein publishes, from a Merzbach
MS., seven Jewish songs, composed by various German
rabbis during the fifteenth century. They are mostly of a
serious character, and the fact that they were adapted to airs
of Gentile songs, which do not seem to have always been of a
very edifying character, would prove that John Wesley was
not the first who urged the principle that the best tunes should
not be left to the devil. The song against games of chance
(p. 138), deserves the special attention of the student of the
history of morals in the Middle Ages. Professor Barth's
researches on the Passive Qual and its Participles will
undoubtedly be found very instructive by specialists,
whilst Dr. Berliner's excellent essay From Sad Times
forms a most interesting contribution to the history of the
Jews in Italy. For the mwn MtO bv Win 1 ? Clin, edited
there by Herr Halberstam, from his own library, the student
of Jewish theology will be very grateful, showing, as it does,
the divergent opinions of the Jewish schools with regard to
the position of rationalism in religion. Dr. Lerner's and
Herr Hurwitz's Notes on some difficult Talmudical passages
represent again in its best method that side of Jewish learn-
ing which was current a century ago.

Not less interesting, both for variety of matter and wide
scholarship, are the collected essays and articles of the late Dr.
Low, 1 as well as those of the late M. Arsene Darmestetter. 2
The former may fairly be regarded as the greatest Talmudi-
cal scholar of the modern school. Though very liberally

1 Gesammelte Schriften von Leopold Low. Two vols. Szegedin : 1890.
Verlag von Alexander Baba.

2 Beliqnes Scient/Jiques. Paris : 1890. 2 vols.
VOL III. Y

336 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

inclined and highly accomplished in every branch of secular
learning, he shows an acquaintance with the Possekin litera-
ture which would have been admired even in a Rabbi of the
seventeenth century. This may be seen from his works
" Lebensalter," "Die Jiidische Graphic," and in the first
volume of this collection, where nothing escapes him
which has the remotest reference to his subject even in the
most obscure Responsum or Halachic Compendium. The
present volume, however, is mainly taken up with historical
studies, the most important being, in my judgment, the
biography of the well-known R. Aaron Chorin, which
deserves to be carefully read. It is certainly written
in a partial spirit, as Low was the disciple and friend
of Chorin. But this man has already suffered so much
from the prejudice of the opposite side that there will
be no harm done if Low's verdict should incline us to
a more favourable judgment. The mere fact that Zunz
received his nNTin mnn, Rabbinical diploma, from him
would serve to prove that Chorin was held in high estima-
tion by his contemporaries. Of a more strictly scientific
nature is the work of M. Darmestetter, the first volume
of which is almost entirely taken up with Jewish studies.
The essay, Le Talmud, is perhaps one of the best of the kind,
whilst the Etudes Judeo-Francaises contains an inexhaustible
mine of philological and historical material, for which the
scholarly world will feel the more grateful, seeing that the
number of those who are equally familiar with the two
languages is extremely small.

The new Hebrew annual, Kenesseth Haggedolah, edited
by Herr Suvalski, 1 which is intended to become a kind of
impartial periodical representing the view of all the different
parties among the Jews in Russia, does not come up to the
standard of such journals. I must say that I do not much
care for this mixed multitude. There is much talk in it of
nationality, of the importance of a national literature, of
quarrels about Shochetim and similar topics, but very
little of scientific value. The only articles worth reading

1 rb)~lin DD33. Warsaw: 1890.

Jewish Literature in 1890. 337

are the few notes by Reifmann, and the review by the editor
himself of various books. Rather interesting is the pedi-
gree Herr Friedstein gives ns there (I., 103), — from a
MS. bearing the signature of R. David, the son of the
well-known author of the n?3pn T\?&b& — of the Yachya
family, beginning with Adam and going down to this R.
David. As the Yachya family believed itself to be descended
from David, and this pedigree thus includes also the enu-
meration of the princes of the captivity, Herr Friedstein's
discovery gains especial importance for the historian. En-
tirely new is the statement that there was a N"n TVM CN"i, the
first Jewish exile who emigrated to Poland. It would be
desirable if Herr Friedstein would give a fuller description
of the MS. to which we are indebted for this information,
there being indeed many reasons for suspecting this
document (see the above-mentioned work by his father,
pp. 29a, 53&). Much better is the Haasif, of which
we now have the fifth volume, 1 containing historical
articles by Weiss on Nachmanides, by Kaufmann on R.
Sabbathai, Sopher of Premiszel, and by Oppenheim on the
Tendency of the Aggadoth.

That indefatigable critic, Schorr, is still working. There
is, indeed, much in the last number of his Hechalnz 2 which
comes too late — a review of R. Z. Frankel's Mebo Hayeru-
shalmi, which appeared in 1870 ; but he gives also fresh matter
on works published lately, as the Halachoth Oedolothand the
Besponsa of the Geonim, whilst the lamentation on p. 109,
which he publishes from a MS., offers a new document on
the sad history of the auto-da-fes through which the Talmud
has had to pass. Some important pieces will also be found
in the last volume of the Ozar Hassifruth, edited by Herr
Graber. 3 For the republication of the D*PSJ1 1SD, by R.
Yedayah of Bedres, with supplements by Herr Halberstam,
a work which was as rare as a manuscript, the editor deserves

1 f)*DNn, by N. Sokolow. Warsaw: 1887. Weiss' article originally
appeared in this Review (I. 289 seq.').

2 p^rtn, XIII., by H. Osias Scborr. Wien : 1889.

3 nnsDn -raw, in. ; i889-90.

Y 2

338 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

the special gratitude of the literary world. I understand
that the next volume of the Rabbins Francais, now passing
through the press, will also treat of R. Yedayah's life and
his works, and give a full description of the Pardes in its
different versions. Professor Kaufmann again continues the
publication of the minute-books in many Jewish com-
munities, which render very valuable materials to Jewish
history. This is also the case with the D'llSn plV, an
account by an eye-witness of the Chmelnizki persecution,
which was prepared for the new edition by the late Dr.
Gurland. And lastly I recommend Dr. Oppenheim's Essay
on Jewish Apostasy and its Causes to the attention of all
Jewish ministers. They cannot fail to profit by reading it.

S. SCHECHTER.

POSTSCRIPT.

SINCE the foregoing was written the fifth part of Herr
Horovitz's collection NnpTiJ? KnSDin has appeared, contain-
ing the m3 D3DD1 KIVO from a MS. in the library of Herr
Halberstam. It is to be noticed that it is only a fragment, for
the end of the Boraitha breaks off in the middle of a sentence.
Now, I have already alluded to the fourth part of this col-
lection n*0 *nns, which forms an introduction to the part which
has now followed. But we miss there the name of Schorr, the
editor of the Hechaluz, who was the first, I think, to draw
the attention of students to the quotation from this Boraitha,
as well as to throw some light on its exotic nature. Indeed,
with all his diligence, Herr Horovitz was hardly able to add a
single name to the list of the authorities who really saw this
Boraitha, as given by Schorr in the Hechaluz, vol. VIII. ,
page 50 (see also p. 160, the quotations from Nachmanides'
Derashah), and Briill in his Jahrbmher II., page 12G. All
the other writers we meet in Herr Horovitz's notes knew
it only at second and third hand. I am also inclined to
agree with Schorr, who, when the first chapter of this
Boraitha was published in 1882 by Herr Horovitz, in his
collection ni33 TV3, etc. (II., p. 24), declared it to be D'EOlB'O
D^NDl (Hechaluz XII., p. 100) corrupt and forged. A

Jewish Literature in 1890. 339

similar verdict was given by Briill (ib. 159). It is true that
it contains certain passages with regard to the isolation of the
Niddah which might have some claim to a higher antiquity
when authorities were still more stringent in this respect
(see Sabbath, 645), but on the whole it makes the impression
of a manufactured imitation of the Tossephta about the
Geonaic period, when so many other pieces were forged. The
attribution of the first Halachah to 'NOB* shows the desire
of the author to imitate the existing tractate " Niddah," which
begins with the words "H31K <XDE\ In the name of K.
Eleazar ben Arach various Halachoth are given, whilst, except
the saying in Abotk II. 12, and the fact that he was the
disciple of E. Jochanan ben Zakkai,and afterwards neglected
his study, the older Eabbinic literature knows nothing about
him, and neither the Talmud nor the Midrashim contain a
single sentence from him. It is only on the pseudo-epi-
graphic chapters of E. Eliezer that his name appears again.
E. Chanina ben Dossa, who is more known as a saint than as
a Halachic teacher, we also meet in this Boraitha (p. 11) ;
but it is a bad anachronism to represent him putting a
question to E. Chiya, who lived more than a century later.
This reminds one of the anachronism in the before-mentioned
chapters of E. Eliezer, in which Ben Azai gives an account
of the life of E. Simon ben Lakish (ch. xliii.). The story on
p. 6 about the death of the son of E. Abuha has about it an
air of solemn mockery, which one meets occasionally in
the Zohar. E. Nechunyah ben Hakanah, of whom a long
story is given on p. 86, is also the hero of later forgeries as
the Bahir. The denominative mJJW, or the verb 1B»p
(p. 27) are strange to the Talmudic literature, which ha3
instead of the former DT riDX"), and of the latter \?tW, except,
perhaps, once in Genesis Eabba xxxv. § 3, in the way of a pun.

The passage hm D»n D*n!?K nm iVni ibx • • • mew hip na nns»
c"3 nana na^n looks like a parody of the story in Erubin
13b. But the preference given to the school of Shammai
strengthens the suspicion of its Karaitic tendency, which also
other passages suggest.

However, even if this Boraitha dates only from the
Geonaic period, it is still old enough to be regarded as an

340 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

important contribution to'ancient Jewish literature. Then,
too, its very exotic nature makes it interesting enough to
deserve a thorough study. Herr Horovitz himself felt that
he was not always successful in his commentary. Indeed,
it would seem that the sources of this Boraitha have
rather to be sought in Karaitic and Samaritan writers
than among the Eabbis. The following few extracts from
MSS. might, however, prove not to be altogether useless to
the student. I give first an extract from a MS. in the
British Museum, Add. 27,129 (p. 131&), which bears the
heading mj pna containing the greater part of rD^n 'N pis
y ni 'a % and T roi?n 3 pis, but offers some different readings.
On this follow the m3 nia!?n as they are to be found in the
s"urb DTfin 'Dip!?, and the *6in mw p, concluding with the

words nb»31 tn bvh nap ma pna im pbo.
naipoi m*ayn |o npmo Nme> man n\-i mna ioin »nbb> nu
Nm it»ni mno 1 ? jrmpoi riNoion pa npmo nw niy n^i pp }&
♦ nbiDNWjon ,n ° ,N ' nosw mnto «wa nB'sn mnto 1 ? nanpon
noan nnm dn a"?aa nwsi mm maio ams? pta nrm n -ion
n^b> no 1 ? ni?^!?n nniNa noy B>ofc6 ni?ya^> man n!? d»ob> nxi* na b»i
w * n*jB> ^aom iimns? ny ab 1 ? pon d.tjbi piyiao n*aa noy*
noxy anpn n 1 ?^ no^> ntoa ay Nia^> men n^> pn niona nyaai n"?ao
'»sni tvwhw Viatani -uonn ab k>bd da!? n*ja noy*i m*ayb
biaoni -iimne> ny r6ya oy b>db6 ni? *iidn pNn oya nyaai mmeo
pifc>a pabinn ab 1 ? pon \m2& on ni?N • ewm n^yn nyaai mm
nw on na^o pDaa »1B' 1 ?1 ii?&» jptn by mi* jn!?B> pnro pbwi
rbtn • aba nyasi mm ion maoe> nyew yi n moa Nine* £>*n
D*aaim jna^na punao mm pioii? p*«i rata pi? mom pons? jn
ion ni?aoK> nye»ae> yi it moa din n*Nn dni Dn*ja to n*xapn»
P*ni piano pan *oy^> o*on Dn*jaK> |n i"?«i * mom nyjai rntn
n^T dn na ppna'O ninam piea n*a^>no pna^oi pnoii? puna d*n3
N**n -Tn ♦ pan oya nyaai mm ion matst? nyE'aK' yn it moa ens
n^ann nj&'a Dma nyjai nbo ionb> ion new i-as ncxi m^K
pio!? D*3 s aDi pyoiK> piana d»w jrn^oya o*w jna^na d*w n»33
«inB> nix n»N"i dn • mnan by jno^ty n^n iiy s!?i nJB>oi min
ny^at? yn mnoa pyoao inani nanoi inoip ^bb>oi vama on
t\k nano wi^ ns tj^no «inE> ais n*xn dni DiDa nyaa ion nboB*

Jewish Literature in 1890. 341

t vao sw pnn n-n npmi ion ay rat? ponst? nyeot? yn v*i^> i»t
-iiot5Ti noDi nmn rnmro nsw >o ^>a jn^yn tin nmipK' p i^>n

^30*3 nH33 HD33 BN ' D»0» ny3B> 101N N3»py 'n nni3 *D> ^3

tin!? nri&o bni wna nD33oi rnnn wobo H"ina nao nnN-n
nao "iK>y nn«3 nxn bn tew nrm rnocs>oi rnnn rwipya na^aa
nvxb nnsn 'i^n ioin war p onr pn : -its>y aw moB'o ^-nna
n^ya 1 ? ^sson n 1 ? nm3 hn »o» niwen • a«pa nya^ rnoB»o a»o*
n3ao n*?i b»o nperi n!?i noon dn man n^>i rnp-io vb) naiN n^>i
n»BN «a»an 't ion : mix ^a nNooo N*ne> *3ao snn ^ao a>o
Pndo3 n*33 in n^ys idvh noon *aa ^>y nppn kw ma ^e> pnn
o»oa joxy tin 1^30^ ny riDJDn jvaa Djon 1 ? p-iiDNi mix ba
noiu ma nvii n^ya riN nB>oe>on a»oan iioni msa pnnt? no!?
&Kn ' nyixs ppi"? n*33 »33 -in anry 1 ? i^bn mm i!?rw n 1 ?^ n^ya"?
»3b!? *6i m*n ^a 1 ? n!>i ran vsb vh lncst* nN e>ots6 »kb>i wn
Ta n*33 iNm avn iniN3 mynn bn no!? awn 1333 : nuaian
nr .p!? int*Ni p!? WB»ai?oi 1^> no-iu nw n^>n *iiy n"?i mx
n^a pjid ibni laynn nob> no!? m* ^k>i • mao 1333 -man
no 1 ? anaian ~<:tb • nan3 njml? pnan ?iidb> -ioNn I?ni pnas ppi^>
N»nts> n 1 ?^ Tiy k^>i D3i^3 D»aW>o n*33 insm i!?m nsynn nob*
n!?n q!?5< Nini ion »yoo nxv n^in no"?i • nm r\)pbh l"? noTi3
nB>oK>t}> n^Nn • inN e»»n3 nscnoi rnaio nn»n nhyi n3 y33t?a
pi* n»3o pina* n^n diu myt? *nK> iy n»an n!?i m riNTi n^ys oy
jn^y r3»oo jnyiao o*on inx* dn nn* nx nao^o N*ni a*on Tina
n^"?a nano yit n3oo nw qn nt?xn tin' ppt?oi p* pa*o ^
Pidb-k' n 1 ? pB'iy no nan n^y na3K> n^xn ont di*3 n 1 ? dni tint
P3n»i t^Nn /o n^yo^> \ipb\m dbtd *o*di n*3"i3 *o s o rb j*N*ao mn
Tin"? p3^oi nor n3ia!? i"? p«uo a"nNi k>n3 o^nc ny nat iain^
m3 N*n^D n^Nn n^xn iioni pDB3 Din n»o n^N^> idin pppoi D*on
r\)phh 131D1 din u DWi'i pnx!? ono nnN "?ib» nob> n*3iiss pspn n!?
-imnn n^ m3n *3b!? m3^> tidn pv n"N • msiisa pyni pnt^a
innn nob* ni3 h& noib^a ^inb* tidni at^n ^nnsi • ion noxni
yn • noo n»ao nwc mann i^bn ioin n*ona 'i • aipon ^nn^i
p noa noo Kins? max nx om^i ni»3n nnx i^ 1 ? anN iidn j3nv
: nn* ^yoo nwn^ iidni noo m3 !?cs> may
MS. Or. 1389 (p. 76), which I have already mentioned,
contains also a large quotation from this pia. In the passage

342 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

ymn ay? n»en Dn»aae> i^>xi it adds a»jni» oaw tbo o^aixi

lH? 31D P3 pan$>. In another MS. in the same library, I find
the following quotation from Midrash (ns'in ?) which might,
perhaps, have proved the conclusion of this Boraitha "ita nckl
trow ptwnn dik "varm na dw nan t* napa nrnin 't mi nmi*
mi ^ jmno m^> m or xwb> bis 1x13 naea n>ni d»d» 0?) ia
m»x* nx xantao *aa n«tn xwb> nntso nae> dv .mw d*o* *t ins 1 ?
Dnaa -I nan t* -inx^> xma> n"jK> nae> ny naiB»xn na^a nn*n x^> nin
'131 '1 DV3 1X133 Dn>3£» Dn»1X D'Dan mx 1W p From Oxford
MSS. I may, perhaps, give here a quotation from Cod. 692
(Catalogue Neubauer), 137a, which has some relation to the
subject.

t/bw rnaiyo^i np^nb noD bxnn mm 'lyixpon -isd3 31m
tnm to nnt3»*j3 feari pa» na b&zn tb "w tmn T3 iy xwn
01^ mxi ia iW ov!? mx pin* cd* JV31 di» W? ^ nan
n *:ni iiy n3 ainai pxa naityn 3man ■•ax ♦dksd pi ia nzHprw
it X3n ^>x nioini niBai nun maiyo it of?iy Viaa a"Dn vb x»n
t vnpnyn X313D onax mi ^ it n3 , -na» np:*D

Of more importance, however, is the following extract from
Cod. 1101 (Catalogue Neubauer), fol. 209a,. which is given in
n"*B* }D'D npll, with some variations in the name of the

: owton nwo

ah i^ax nana my3^> ma newan • pxa nnyD 310 (209a.
n!? nM* x^x nnis>i mn ja d»» naaa nb nyma ppi^> nut? nnn
ip^i onnx ix n"?y3 \nbv idit jb n»aisx p*pn x^>i nnnv& ^a
^>iami nias'-m ine»x ny E>atj>a K>wa iaix my p iry^x "1 • prrca
npi!? T>ai .T-a -pn^> naniai nniT-a di np&i nx 1 ^ iaix .m"pn na
Dian nx nixi?ai? iidxi jn^icn !?y 3Km man n!? px m*an • mm
nnmv new nne»x xna^n 'i idk • nxoo x»nt}> >aaD 13 nnip^nS
ncyn : X3.n cb)$ "rb inxnoi oan^a bv nana n^ya nx moswn
inun i^nnn mtao nnx mx m iabn x^>i noK' nnx T>c6n3
1!? 'oxi iDi^n3 va'y na'pn npa niatj' in mm ir iidxi iniaa^
nyaai m^a in^x nay nnx nya nx o wo muy i3y x^> fvan
Dman iin3 -pnn inun ixn nbbi • laoo mnyn iaan id^ maaa

: py pa d»d nia^y iin3

s. s.