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158 The Jewish Quarterly Review.
Graetz. Oar author makes it evident that in all the quotations
adduced by Rapoport in proof of his conjecture, the name of Kara
does not occur in MSS., and even for Simeon we often read Samson.
From the extracts of late Midrashim found in the Yalqut, e.g , the
Jiabba on Deuteronomy and the Ablihir, Herr Epstein is right in con-
cluding that the Yalqut was compiled, at the earliest, at the begin-
ning of the thirteenth century ; this was also the opinion of Zunz,
but our author adduces many more proofs for his conclusion. The
bibliography of the Yalqut in print and in MSS., partially and entirely,
with which Herr Epstein finishes his learned monograph, is a very
welcome addition to the essay. A. N.
[P.S. — We are glad to find an opportunity for correcting an
erroneous statement made in our Review on Herr Epstein's Eldad
(Jewish Quarterly Review, III., p. 542), and to which he kindly
drew our attention. We there stated, following a quotation in the
Journal Asiatique, that R. Jonah, in his dictionary, speaks of Danites,
whilst in our edition of this Arabic text we adopted the reading
of the Rouen MS., where it ?aid : '•Jin ?3"l, the Danite, a reading
which is al-o confirmed by Thabbon's translation, who gives K"5<n
"OID (See Jewish Quarterly Review, I., p. 98, note 6.)]
Thomas Aquinas and Judaism.
Das Verh'dltniss des Thomas von Aquino zutn Judenthum und zur
judischen Litteratur (Avicebron und Maimonides). Von Dr.
J. Guttmann. Gottingen : 1891.
Thomas Aquinas was no philosophical fanatic. As Dr. Guttmann
shows, he adopted Maimonides' theory of creation, though it was
opposed to the current and traditional theology of the Church. His
tolerance, moreover, was extended to Jews, as well as to their doc-
trines. He objected to any violent attempts at the conversion of the
Jews, and maintained that the persecution of them was only lawful
if necessary in self-defence — "Ut eos compellant ne fidem Christi
impediant." He pronounced most emphatically against the forced
baptism of Jewish children without the consent of their parents,
partly on the prudential ground that the Church would suffer in
prestige if these children subsequently relapsed to Judaism, and partly
on the generous plea that such baptisms infringe the natural rights of
parents — " Contra justitiam naturalem esset, si puer, antequam habeat
usum rationis, a cura parentum subtrahatur, vel de eo aliquid
ordinetur invitis parentibus." Jews ought to be allowed the free
exercise of their religion and the observance of its ceremonies.
Necessary intercourse with Jews was quite permissible to pious
Critical Notices. 159
Christians, provided that the latter were sufficiently firm in their
faith to incur no danger of being shaken in it by familiarity with
unbelievers. As to the right of Jews to possess Christian slaves,
Thomas gives a twofold answer. Oq the one hand, no new right of
this kiud should be granted ; but existing rights must not be set
aside : " Jus autem divinum, quod est ex gratia, non tollit jus
humanum, quod est ex naturali ratione." A similar distinction was
drawn by Aquinas on the question of usury, which greatly exercised
the Mediaeval Church. With regard to the Jewish usurers, Thomas
points with satisfaction to the case of Italy, where the Jews did not
practise money-lending, being permitted to engage in other enter-
prises, and suggests that the Jews should be "compelled" (how
•willingly would they have undergone this compulsion !) to earn their
livelihood by industrial occupations. In bis De regimine Judteorum,
Aquinas justifies a less tolerant policy ; but Dr. Guttmann plausibly
urges that he was answering the questions of the Archduchess
Margaret of Flanders in her sense rather than in his own. Aquinas
favours the retention of the degrading Jew-badge, and bases this
opinion, as so many other theologians have done, on the fact that the
Mosaic law had already enjoined a distinctively Jewish dress. But
the Mosaic fringes were no longer worn by the Jews of his time on
their outside garments, and a voluntary uniform is quite another
thing than a legally enforced and rather hideous yellow patch.
Turning from Aquinas' views regarding the Jews to bis relations
with their literature, Dr. Guttmann points out that Aquinas escaped
one fruitful source of Jew- hatred — he was not instructed by con-
verted Jews. Only in one solitary passage does he quote the Talmud.
His knowledge of Judaism and of Jewish interpretations of Scripture
was derived from Maimonides and Jerome. In his philosophy he was
influenced from the Jewish side by the former of these, and by Ibn
Gebirol (Avicebron), and it is to these influences that Dr. Guttmann
devotes his main attention. The author's present brochure is terser
and less laboured than some of his previous works. He wisely adopts
the newer fashion of displaying in full in the foot-notes the original
passages commented on in the text ; and, as a secondary advantage,
Dr. Guttmann s essay will thus be quite intelligible to readers who
can read Latin but not German. Interesting, however, as are Dr.
Guttmann's parallels and contrasts, the interest lies rather in the fact
that Aquinas consciously studied the works of two leading Jewish
philosophers, and drew occasional inspiration from them, than in the
actual points of contact themselves. Therefore I shall only briefly
indicate what are the precise parallels elaborated by Dr. Guttmann
with his usual breadth of philosophical knowledge and depth of critical
insight.
160 The Jewish Quarterly Review.
Aquinas devotes a special treatise, De substanliis sepamtis, to a full
criticism of Ibn Gebirol's characteristic doctrines ('' quem," says
Thomas, " multi sequuntur ") regarding the distribution into matter
and form of substantia separata (angels, spiritual beings lower than
the divine grade), and Ibn Gebirol's theory that the same identical
substance is the underlying basis of material and spiritual beings.
Aquinas and the Thomists after him reject these doctrines, but they
continued to exercise an influence, since they formed one of the battle-
grounds between the Thomists and their opponents the Scotists.
Aquinas, however, owed much more toMaimonides than to Avicebron ;
and Dr. Guttmann occupies two thirds of his brochure (pp. 31-92) with
this topic. It is not merely in the adoption of isolated philosophical
doctrines that Aquinas shows his indebtedness to Maimonides, for, as
Dr. Guttmann shows, the whole theology of the Christian sc plastic
was tinged and moulded by that of his Jewish predecessor. To the
Patristic school Plato had been the guiding light, and the teachings
of the Church had gradually been brought into harmony with the
Platonic system. In the 13th century, however, Aristotle regained
the supremacy, but the more pronounced that the predominance of
Aristotle became, the more difficult grew the task of reconciling
philosophy with religion, the Bible having been proved to agree with
Plato and not with Aristotle. Moses Maimonides in his Guide to the
Perplexed had largely solved this urgent problem by elaborating a
harmony between Aristotle and the Scriptures. Maimonides' work
was translated into Latin at the beginning of the 13th century, and
gave a strong impulse to scholastic movements in the same direction.
In this tendency, Saadiah, Judah Halevi and Abraham ibn Daud had
led the way, but their works, says Dr. Guttmann, were inaccessible to
Aquinas, who was, however, well acquainted with the Guide of
Maimonides. This is no doubt true, but Thomas, it seems to me, if
under no direct obligation to Saadiah, shows a remarkable coincidence
with Saadiah's method. In the Summa Theologica Aquinas always
comes forward with a text, and then proceeds to prove his case by
arguments based on reason. This, occasionally in the reverse order, is
Saadiah's invariable course ; it is certainly not that of Maimonides.
Dr. Guttmann takes the points of contact between Maimonides and
Aquinas in the following order : — Reason and Revelation, Knowledge
of God, God and his Attributes, The Doctrine of Creation, Angels
and Prophecy, on many of which subjects Dr. Guttmann shows that
Aquinas adopted the conclusions of Maimonides. The third part of
the Guide is occupied with a more or less rationalistic explanation of
the Mosaic ordinances, which are thus forcibly wrenched into accord
with the Maimonist philosophy. Aquinas adopts a large part of this
section of Maimonides' work. He fully accepts the Jewish philosopher's
Critical Notices. 161
doctrine that all the Pentateuchal laws had a rational justification,
and were intended to promote a reasonable worship of God. Aquinas
accepts Maimonides' well-known theory of the sacrifices, but adds to
it in place of the Jewish philosopher's rational exposition a mystical
reference to types. He utilises Maimonides' views on many other
rites and ordinances ; but for a detailed account of these points of
agreement I must refer the reader to Dr. Guttmann. His essay is a
distinct contribution to the history of the influence of Jewish on
general philosophy, and forms a worthy continuation of Jellinek's
publications regarding Aquinas, and of Joel's able inquiry into the
relation of Albertus Magnus to Maimonides.
I. Abrahams.
D'"!,. ErVduterungen der Psalmen-Haggada von R. Jedaja Penini
Bedarschi, lebte im 14. Jahrhundert. Heravsgegeben und mit einer
Einleitung versehen. Von Salomon Bubee, Krakau, 1891 (in
Hebrew).
We have lately mentioned this author's indefatigable zeal for the
Midrashic literature (Jewjsh Quarterly Review, III., p. 769).
The present edition of Jedaiah's commentary on a part of the
Midrash on the Psalms, issued in honour of Dr. Jellinek's seventieth
birthday, will be welcomed by scholars, since the old edition of 1559
is not to be easily obtained. Of course, Jedaiah's philosophical com-
mentary on chapters i. — xxxvii., and cix., will not give us a better
understanding of this Midrash, but the work belongs to the better class
of rabbinic literature, and the author of it is well known by his ethical
work in rhymed prose, called Behviath Olam, or " Examination of the
World." Herr Buber follows here his usual method in giving a
preface on the life and the writings of the author whose work he
edits. He enumerates first the MSS. in which this commentary is to
be found, continuing with the commentator's biography, and the
enumeration of his works. The editor was well prepared for his task,
having derived his information from libraries and from various
catalogues, and, above all, he had the advantage of being able to make
use of the advanced sheets of the Histoire litteraire de la France, x.,
xxxi., not yet published, a work which will contain a very detailed
article concerning the poet and philosopher of Beziers, the son of the
poet Abraham of Beziers, based upon the latest researches.
A. Neobauer.
VOL. IV.
