Jewish Ethical Wills

STOP

Early Journal Content on JSTOR, Free to Anyone in the World

This article is one of nearly 500,000 scholarly works digitized and made freely available to everyone in
the world by JSTOR.

Known as the Early Journal Content, this set of works include research articles, news, letters, and other
writings published in more than 200 of the oldest leading academic journals. The works date from the
mid-seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries.

We encourage people to read and share the Early Journal Content openly and to tell others that this
resource exists. People may post this content online or redistribute in any way for non-commercial
purposes.

Read more about Early Journal Content at http://about.jstor.org/participate-jstor/individuals/early-
journal-content .

JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary source objects. JSTOR helps people
discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content through a powerful research and teaching
platform, and preserves this content for future generations. JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit
organization that also includes Ithaka S+R and Portico. For more information about JSTOR, please
contact support@jstor.org.

436 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

JEWISH ETHICAL WILLS.

What for want of a better term may be called Ethical
Wills (niNTi2), or, in other words, the express directions of
fathers to their children and of aged teachers to their
disciples, constitute an important branch of Jewish ethical
literature. The value of these wills was recognised by
Zunz, who, in order to illustrate the elevated ethical tone
of mediaeval Judaism, quotes passages from three of these
documents. Yet the extent of this literature has, I believe,
hitherto been far from duly estimated. The most complete
bibliography is, and must continue to be, very defective.
Wills of this class are not always come-at-able, being often
hidden away in unexpected places. Besides, rapid additions
to the series are being constantly made in modern times.
For there are fashions even in death, and the ethical will
is a Jewish fashion now much honoured in the observance.
True, the main lines of thought remain identical, and there
is a strong tendency towards monotonous uniformity in the
later representatives of the class. Yet, even if the thoughts
are not new, the modes of expressing them are often fresh
and original, even now, when all that is said has already
been said before. Here is a fine passage in which a
nineteenth century father transforms a Midrashic idea into
a philosophy : —

Every father is bound to leave an exhortation for his children, to
instruct them in the fear of God, and in the manner of his worship.
Even if a man were himself quite perfect, he has not done all his
duty by perfecting himself ; for, unless he strongly feels the impulse
to perfect others, he cannot be himself perfect, inasmuch as he has
overlooked the command, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.'
Nor can he have walked in the ways of God, whose attribute of
goodness makes others good. If this be so with regard to those who

Jewish Ethical Wills. 437

are not related to a man, much more does it apply to the case of his
own sons and daughters who are a part of himself, for in setting them
right he is setting himself right.

One can almost read between the lines of this "counsel
of perfection " a pronounced antipathy to the Hegelianism
which at the moment bade fair to swamp the Universities
of Europe. Aaron ben Abraham, the author of this will
(1819), hardly maintains this same high level throughout,
yet one other remark of his may be cited, because it is true
in itself, and moreover shows how modern circumstances
do to some extent tinge the directions of Jewish fathers to
their children : —

Enthusiasm is a virtue, but it must be kept under control ; it
must not be suffered to become habitual and mechanical. For if a
man be enthusiastic from habit, he runs as much risk of being carried
wildly to do wrong as of being led to do right, his enthusiasm, and
not he, being the master of his will.

Similar brilliant flashes of originality relieve the im-
pression of sameness which a casual inspection of the later
ethical wills is apt to leave. Nor do I wish to imply that
the earlier specimens are quite free from the same imputa-
tion. From the middle of the eleventh century onwards,
the Jewish ethical wills begin to be largely composed of
moral maxims derived from the Talmud and other
Rabbinical literature. But though the jewels be more or
less identical, the setting varies very considerably ; and I
fancy that in ethical literature generally it will be found
that original thought displays itself in form rather than in
substance. Besides, it is a point of considerable interest to
observe what passages of the Talmud were the favourites
of individual Jews. The Talmud is so rich in ethical
maxims that there was little opportunity left for inde-
pendent creation. Similarly the Midrash, with its wealth
of fantastic imagery and poetical beauty, is partially re-
sponsible for the stunting of poetical originality among
Jews. Their whole efforts were directed towards imita-
tion ; and invention, at first unnecessary, ended by being

438 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

impossible. With ethics, however, the process commenced
later than with poetry, and from the Jewish ethical wills
might very easily be gathered many fine thoughts finely
expressed, which bear all the marks of pronounced
originality.

It is a serious problem to decide what value to attach to
death-bed utterances. Nicolas, the author of Testamenta
Vetmta, writing, it is true, of wills of another class,
maintains that " the corporal suffering under which a man
often labours when he makes his last testament ; the
solemn invocation with which it commences ; the asso-
ciations which it cannot fail to excite ; and, above all, the
recollection that the important document will not see the
light until he is removed from that sphere where alone
falsehood can be successful or vice be triumphant — tend
to render the statements in wills of unquestionable
veracity." Yet men have been known to leave by will
property that they never possessed, and the question of
credibility becomes intensified when the bequests deal with
moral rather than material treasures. Men may feel dis-
posed to act up to their character at the last ; they would
fain have the curtain fall on an effective tableau. The
recorded sayings of great men at the brink of the grave
are quoted and re-quoted as forming the key to character.
This is hardly true without qualification. They are the
key, not to character, but to the person's conception of his
own character — a vastly different affair. Self-portraiture,
to be faithful, must not be self-conscious. A man who has
been a hypocrite all his life is not more likely to be dis-
playing his real self when death is nigh, for he has the less
chance of being found out. When Antonio de Montezinos,
otherwise Aaron Levi, repeatedly asserted on his death-bed,
in 1644, that he had met native Jews in South America
who were the descendants of the Ten Tribes, and more
aboriginal than the Indians, he was no more correct in his
assertion than when he repeated the same fable at earlier
periods. It was natural that so emotional an enthusiast as

Jewish Ethical Wills. 439

Manasseh ben Israel should seize upon Antonio's statement
as the basis of his Messianic fantasies, and build " Israel's
Hope " upon this unstable foundation. 1

But these objections lose their weight when applied to
the wills with which we are now dealing. In the Biblical
and Talmudical periods, it is true, the dying father sum-
moned his children and addressed to them words of
counsel. But the Jewish testaments of a more formal
character were for the greater part of an altogether
different origin. They were very rarely dictated imme-
diately before the death of their authors, and only excep-
tionally emanated literally from the sick-room. Mostly
they were written calmly in old age, when death was in
the course of nature not far distant, or they were composed
at times when their authors were about to start on Ions
and dangerous journeys, and felt but scanty hope of ever
again beholding their families. The Gaon Elijah of Wilna
sent his will as a letter to his household when on the point
of setting out for Palestine, and at a much earlier date
Joseph Ibn Caspi acted in parallel fashion. A native of
Provence, where the streams of Jewish law and Arabian
philosophy came to a feeble confluence, Ibn Caspi pro-
ceeded from Argentines to Egypt in 1312, with the object
of studying in the school of his intellectual master,
Maimonides. He thought that where the tree had grown
he would find its fruit. But he was disappointed in this
hope, and turned his face homewards. In 1332 we find
him in Valencia, where he formed the intention of
journeying southward, having heard that there were great
scholars in Fez. Perchance he might at last discover a
teacher or a companion in his studies, or when his thoughts
were more sanguine he even dreamt of finding a disciple.
Before leaving Valencia he despatched to his son a noble
letter containing his ethical will, for he feared that death
might overtake him before he had ended his long and

1 Graetz, GeseliifMe, x. 97.

440 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

wearisome search after congenial minds. Perhaps he felt
less isolated when he had taken steps to ensure that his
son at least would, on growing to maturity, possess the
means of gaining an insight into his father's heart. These
instances are the rule ; it is entirely exceptional for the
will to have been produced immediately before death. A
pathetic interest attaches to the testament of Masus ben
Judah Loeb, who in the opening lines complains of his
weakness with a foreboding all too soon realised. Before
he had formally closed the document death surprised him,
and he left his work complete in its very incompleteness. 1
So far, however, is this from being more than an unusual
phenomenon, that several testaments bear clear traces of
having been composed many years before the authors'
deaths. Some of them, indeed, must have been written
piecemeal, for it is otherwise hard to account for the repe-
tition of the same sentiments that will often recur in the
body of one single document. Occasionally it is stated in
so many words that the author added and super-added
ethical codicils. 2 The length of others, again, precludes the
supposition that they could have been hastily compiled ;
some being formal treatises of considerable proportions.
Where, for instance, the writer employs the alphabetical
arrangement, we often find two or even three such ethical
alphabets, the implication being that all but the first series
were afterthoughts. Judah Ibn Tibbon even concludes
with a distinct promise of adding to his counsels for his
son if opportunity served.

Of these testaments, some were obviously written for
publication, 3 and with a passionate eagerness for post-

1 Israel Luepsehuetz also appears to have been interrupted by death, for
he intended to address each of his children individually, and does not do
so.

2 The testament of Solomon Kluger really consists of four separate
documents. Sometimes (see e.g. the Prague edition, 1783, of S. Hurwitz's
testament) a will is printed to fill up a vacant space in another hook.

3 Naphtali Cohen, Abraham Danzig, and some others, expressly direct
that their testaments were to be printed.

Jewish Ethical Wills. 441

humous reputation, betray a striving after effect and
halachic ingenuity. But most of them are charmingly
simple and naive. They were intended for the absolutely
private use of children and relatives, or of some beloved
disciple who held the dearest place in his master's regard
The publication of many of these documents must natur-
ally be quite accidental, and a large number of them —
apart from those irreparably lost — still lie unprinted in the
possession of the authors' families, or among the MS.
treasures of public and private libraries. From time to
time the latter are printed, as e.g., two very important
testaments by Judah and Jacob Asheri, which Mr.
Schechter 1 edited from a British Museum MS. in 1885.
Historically considered, these are among the most valuable
in the whole collection.

Accident, however, is not the only decisive circumstance
in the printing or non-printing of ethical testaments. To
some children, the last directions of a father are sacred ;
to give them to the world would be to profane them. To
others, the very sincerity and excellence of their fathers'
counsels is a motive for allowing others to share in a
treasure which they feel it selfish to hoard up for their
own exclusive use. Intended for them alone, they publish
them " in order to give merit to many." In the case of
distinguished men, of famous scholars and Kabbis of
repute, pressure has often been brought to bear to induce
publication on the part of the surviving members of the
family. Both of these courses have their justification. In
a sense, ethical testaments are private communications
which ought not to be published without sufficient reason.
Indeed, in printing hitherto inedited mNTO, I feel almost
as though engaged in the desecration of the dead. But it
is no mummified and shapeless skeleton that is unrolled, it
is a fresh and animate form, speaking with a living voice,

1 It is impossible for me adequately to thank Mr. Schechter for the
help he has rendered me. Without his assistance this Essay would not
have been written ; but I am solely responsible for the mistakes.

442 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

I can, I repeat, sympathise with those who have refused
to give to the world private and confidential communica-
tions. But their privacy and naivete add to their value
and their interest. They are the clearest revelation of the
man's innermost feelings, for he mostly had no reason to
think that his words would be revealed at all. I have
sometimes gained a deeper insight into an author's opinions
by reading his testament than from all his other published
writings. Joseph Ibn Caspi never so ably enunciated his
conception of the rights of philosophy nor so unanswer-
ably enforced them as in his last will and testament.
Alexander Suesskind nowhere else so clearly manifested
the stern sensitiveness of his otherwise gentle disposition,
which restrained him from fondling his own children. " I
never kissed my children nor took them in my arms," he
says, " so as not to accustom them to silly talk, such as
people are in the habit of addressing to the young." Was
there ever a more naive self-revelation than this ? On the
other hand, Naphtali Cohen's simple and perfect affection
for his wife comes out very clearly in his ethical will.
This Rabbi of Posen, who died in 1719, addresses her as
follows : —

My beloved Esther, once from our great love we clasped hands
and mutually promised that when either of us two died, the other
would pray to die soon afterwards, that we might quit the world
together. But this wish was not right, and you have my pardon if
you live a hundred years. I altogether undo our compact. If you
die first, which God forbid, you must do the same. I ask you not to
marry again, though I know I need not say it ; but I add the words
out of my overwhelming love for you.

It would be hard, again, to find a more bitter, and, at the
same time, pathetic expression of an isolation verging on
misanthropy than is contained in Saul Hirschel's short
and striking testament. In their respective wills, too, we
realise Judah Asheri's honourable reluctance to accept a
salary for his services as Rabbi.; Eleazar the Levite's pet
aversion to slander and gossip, together with his pro-

Jewish Ethical Wills. 443

nounced taste for cleanliness ; Jacob Asheri's and Abraham
Danzig's fondness for dinim — though in this they but reflect
the tendency of their published works ; Ibn Tibbon's keen
affection for his books, and relish for literary style ; the
pseudonymous Judah Ohasid's piety, that o'erleaps itself
and falls into superstition ; S. Kluger's unparalleled
honesty, that induced him to order the restoration to their
owners of all the books he had borrowed ; and more gene-
rally, the devotion of the Spanish school to intellectual
culture, with a certain display of cold indifference to the
ordinary affairs of life, and on the other hand, the predilec-
tion of the warmer and more human German school for
practical morals and the common concerns of everyday
existence. These, and a host of other deep-seated convic-
tions and quaint turns of thought, of curious habits, and
equally curious aversions, are revealed in these ethical
wills, which may seem, from their designation, to offer so
profitless and arid a field for inquiry. There is thus no
need for further explanation why so many of these little
documents — "small in quantity, but great in quality," to
use the favourite motto inscribed on their Hebrew title-
pages — have enjoyed a wide popularity. Some of them,
especially those that give a conventional presentation of
Judaism, have been again and again printed, and new
editions are not only constantly appearing, but in some
cases these exhortations have been added to the Prayer-
book as supplementary devotional exercises. 1

But whatever the passing indications of contemporary
manners, whatever the unexpected touches regarding men

1 So popular must these testaments have become that we even find
them made the subject of jargon novels. HNIIV D1JH3NS DJTI (Wilna,
1887) turns on the story of a son who was bidden by his father to adopt
a holy and religious life, and to spend his years in performing religious
offices and good deeds ; and the moral is to enforce the importance of
obeying such testamentary mandates. In the Midrash nTOin mCPJ? a
father orders his eon, Quaker-like, not to take an oath under any
circumstances, and the adventures of the son consequent on this prohibi-
tion are narrated (Jellinek, Beth Hamidrasli, I., 72).

444 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

and things — and these testaments are a rich mine for the
whole range of Jewish minhagim or customs — important
though these features clearly are, the chief interest in
ethical wills is, as their name implies, an ethical interest.
Zunz quotes a remark of Prof. Hirt, who patronisingly
cast a glance at the fourteenth century testament of
Asheri, and declared that the ethical principles enunciated
by this Jew were superior to what one might have ex-
pected even from the Christians of his age. I cannot help
thinking that this surprised utterance merely puts into
words a delusion shared by many besides Hirt ; yet as a
matter of fact, it is hard to speak calmly of the magni-
tude and purity of Jewish ethical literature. To attempt
adequately to characterise it lays one open to the charge
of prejudiced exaggeration. Our ethical literature belongs
to no one period. In some branches of Jewish literature
there are unhappily, in the ages following the close of the
Talmud, wide chasms hewn out by the constraining
hand of circumstance. Often the wedge was forged from
within, often in an external workshop. There have been
comparatively long periods during which the Jews pro-
duced neither poets nor philosophers, neither imaginative
writers nor historians; long and dark periods, during
which the light of science was obscured, and the refine-
ments of literary style and culture obliterated or ignored.
These gaps are inexpressibly sad, but they would have
been sadder still in their practical effects, but that they
were all bridged over by a broad and solid structure
against which the friction of internal faction and the
stress of external storm were equally powerless. There is
hardly any " local colouring " in the arches of this ethical
bridge, there is absolutely no variation in its high
moral level. Whether the particular moralist be philo-
sopher or " Stock - Talmudist," whether he hail from
a country in which the Jew was persecuted, or from one in
which he was free ; whether he wrote at a time of general
enlightenment or at a period of wide ignorance ; whether

Jewish Ethical Wills. 445

the inspiring fount of his thought were Aristotle or Hegel,
though the details will reflect differences in environment,
though the style of expression varies with prevailing taste,
though the abstract conception of Judaism often changes,
yet the Jewish code of morality is without variation,
and the noblest ideals form that code. In all the ethical
testaments that I have read I do not recollect to have come
across a sordid thought or hateful sentiment; intellectually,
even religiously, some are low, morally all are high. In
these confidential pronouncements may, I think, be sought
and found a most effective theoretical vindication of the
Jewish character. The conventional idea of the Jew receives
a severe blow from the perusal of these pure utterances.
This point is well illustrated by what may be termed the
burlesque testaments, two or three of which may here be
alluded to. In 1703 was printed a will supposed to emanate
from Haman. He bids his children to abstain from giving
charity as it is not profitable, and to avoid robbing the
poor because they possess nothing worth stealing. Canaan,
the son of Ham, who is himself the type of unfilial
irreverence, is again brought on the stage in the Talmud
as the spokesman of equally detestable thoughts. " Five
things Canaan ordered his sons : Love one another; love
robbery; love deceit; hate your masters; never speak the
truth." 1 Revenge, as in the Hamiliar legend, is the motive
of the testament of Amalek's ancestress. " The cause of
the hatred of Amalek was the outcome of the commands
of Timna, sister of Lotan, to her offspring. She was
anxious to marry one of the seed of Abraham, but none
would accept her. She accordingly became the concubine
of Eliphaz, son of Esau (who was of Abraham's race), and
bare Amalek. She told him all that had occurred, and
directed him with a binding oath to retain this hatred for
Israel eternally." 2 Thus, both positively and negatively,

1 Pesachim, 113 a.

2 An otherwise unknown Midrash in the "NOT) "VH¥ 75 !>.

446 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

the Jewish ethical testaments can be subjected to the most
minute moral tests. As I have mentioned burlesque testa-
ments, it may be interesting if I allude to the Hebrew will
in which Aristotle announces to his pupil, Alexander the
Great, a complete revolution in his opinions. He is dying,
he writes, and before the letter reaches its destination the
author will be no more. Let Alexander destroy all his
(Aristotle's) works, and be no longer led astray by false ideas.
" If it lay in my power I would collect all my writings and
destroy them, for God has opened my eyes, and I now see
that the Law of Moses is the only truth " {Chain of Tra-
dition, 83). Perhaps this may be paralleled by the closing
words of Chaucer's Parson's Tale, in which the poet
professes to recant his "worldly vanities," by which he
probably meant the Troilus. Maimonides too was credited
with a similar recantation of his philosophy. The tendency
in every age is to make the views of great authorities
square with current popular views, and if that be an
impossible reconciliation, so much the worse for the great
authorities.

The earliest extant ethical will, written as an independent
document, is that composed about 1050 by Eleazar ben
Isaac of "Worms, commonly known as Eleazar the Great. 1
The eleventh and twelfth centuries supply few ex-
amples, but from the thirteenth century onwards there
is no dearth of mNY)2. It is possible that the renewed
popularity of these testaments among Jews may have been
due to Mohammedan influence. The Arabs held ethical
wills (included under the general designation Wasaya) in
such high esteem, that some were falsely ascribed by them
to revered sages, like Lokman, and even to the foremost
Greek philosophers. 2 A similar process, that of wrongly

1 An interesting article on the subject of Ethical Wills was published
by Dr. Neubauer, in the Jewish Chronicle, December 4th, 1885. Some
striking contrasts between this testament of Eleazar and a Christian
poem of the 13th century are to be found in Giidemann's Cultur, etc., 1880,
page 121.

2 See Steinschneider (Preface to Testament of Ibn, Tibbon), and
D'Herbelot (Bill. Orient., sub voce Vassaia.)

Jewish Ethical Wills. 447

placing the names of the patriarchs at the head of wills
grew tip among the Jews, and thus we find a pseud-
epigraphic testament of Naphtali, 1 as well as the Christian
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. The view that
Mohammedan impulse aided in popularising the ethical
will among mediaeval Jewish writers is supported by the
fact that among the first to resume the fashion were Jewish
philosophers of the Spanish school, who had intimate
relations with Mohammedan civilisation. Among Christians
on the other hand I find no clear indication that the
fashion ever became popular. 2 Still the clergy often
from their death-beds gave parting precepts to their
brethren. From the earliest instances I may cite the
case of Bishop Egwin, who, "before his exit, called together
his monks and other disciples, and having exhorted them
to perseverance in the way of truth and perfection, and to
despise the transitory felicity of this world," died in 717.
Abbot Gildas, immediately before his demise, for seven
days gave moral and religious exhortations to his disciples
and the death of Joachim de Flore was preceded by a
similar function in the little convent of San Martino. In
the preambles of many Christian wills — in England the
custom, I believe, became less general in the eighteenth
century — may be found declarations of faith, charitable
bequests, legacies to provide poor maidens with marriage
dowries, and directions as to burial, such as frequently
occur in Jewish ethical testaments.

But I have advisedly spoken of the resumption by Jews
of the fashion in the 'eleventh century, for the earlier
Jewish literature proves that from an ancient date the
ethical will was a well-established institution amonsr
the Hebrews. The Bible contains many such counsels.

1 This, as Dr. Berliner informs me, is now published in the Jerusalem
edition of the nfo»n.

2 Poems, however, containing rules of morals and of etiquette were
current. See e.g. Dr. Furnivall's interesting Babees Booh and Dr.
Biilbring's introduction to Defoe's English Gentleman.

VOL. III. F F

448 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

Prominently among these may be mentioned the blessings
of Jacob, the dying requests of Joseph to his brethren, the
addresses of Moses to the people of Israel, the advice of
David to his son Solomon, the restriction laid by Jonadab,
the son of Rechab, upon his children against the use
of wine, and his exhortation to dwell in tents, and the
injunction of the prophet of Bethel on his sons : " When
I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man
of God is buried ; lay my bones beside his bones " (1 Kings
xiii. 31). In several of these passages the verb used is some
form of ni2 (lit. " to command"), and in later times there
has been a tendency to interpret the verb in a restricted
sense, so that m2, comes to mean " to give a nsns," i.e.,
to leave an ethical will. When Isaiah prophesies the death
of Hezekiah, he bids him "jrpab 12, and the meaning may be,
" Give your household directions for their conduct after
your death." There can be little doubt that this is the
signification of Deut. xxxii. 46, when Moses says, "Set
your heart upon all the words which I testify unto you
this day, which ye shall command your children." Even
more striking in this connection is a passage in Genesis
(xviii. 19), where God says of Abraham, " For I have
known him in order that he may command his children
and his household after him that they may keep the way
of the Lord." The latter text, in particular, has been made
the basis of an actual rubric, to be found in modern Jewish
codes, enjoining on every father, as a bounden duty, to
leave moral exhortations for his children's guidance. This
feeling is well brought out in the following Midrash :
"Jacob felt that his end was near, and besought the
divine mercy ; ' Ruler of the world !' he prayed, 'take not
my soul until I have exhorted my children.' And his wish
was granted." 1

1 "I came very near dying suddenly in the bath, and I was with
difficulty revived and rescued fromt he sad fate of passing away without

nNllX or confession." (Joel Shamariah.) " Love to one's children is
shown by leaving them a testament," says the Orchath Zadikim. Cf.
Ma'bar Yaboh, Oh. viii.

Jewish Ethical Wills. 449

The Apocrypha still further develops the ethical testa-
ment. The dying address of Mattathias to his five sons,
recorded in the First Book of the Maccabees, introduces no
new features ; but another book of the Apocrypha deserves
more attention, viz., that containing the story of Tobit.
The fourth chapter of that book is in itself a complete and
beautiful ethical will. Here the nNT)2 has reached its
highest development, and, unless I am gravely mistaken,
Tobit's directions to his son, who is about to leave him in
search of fortune and of a wife, have inspired the writers of
many a later testament. Thus, besides being intrinsically
one of the noblest in Jewish literature, the fourth chapter
of Tobit is in truth the earliest specimen of the Jewish
ethical testament, if by that term be understood the
elaborate form which post-Talmudic authors have so suc-
cessfully cultivated.

The death-scenes in the Talmud, in the course of which
many fine ethical precepts occur, are too numerous for me to
quote them all at length. Rabbi Akiba laid upon his son
seven injunctions, which are a fair summary of practical
wisdom •} — "Dwell not in the highest part of the town to
study Torah. Dwell not in a place whose governors are
scholars. Do not return home unexpectedly, and much less
should you pay sudden visits to your friends. Go not
about with bare feet. Rise early and eat — in the summer
because of the heat, in winter because of the cold. Make
your Sabbath as a week-day (in respect of food), rather
than accept help from others. Exert yourself together
with him on whom the hour smiles." The same Rabbi also
laid five injunctions on R. Simon ben Yochai, when con-
fined in prison : — " Teach me Torah, my master," said he to
Akiba. " Nay," he replied. "If you do not," said Simon,
" I will tell my father, and he will denounce you to the
Government." " My son," said Akiba, " more ardently than
the calf desires to suck, the heifer desires to suckle it."

1 Pesacliim, 112.
F F 2

450 The Jeicish Quarterly Review.

" Then," cried Simon, " who is it that is in danger ? Is it
not the calf ?" And Akiba acceded to his request. Rabbi
when about to die, called for his sons and for the wise
men of Israel, and bade the latter not to mourn for him too
long. Akabya ben Mahalalel differed from contemporary
authorities in four points of law, and, despite offers of
honour and position, refused to abandon his views. After
his death a stone was placed on his coffin to mark the ban
under which he had lived. On his death-bed he summoned
his son, and said : — " My son, follow the majority in those
four points." " But, my father, why did you yourself not
do so ? " " Because I derived my opinions from many
authorities, and, therefore, maintained my tradition just as
my opponents did. You, however, have only the solitary
view of your father to guide you ; hence you must discard
it, and adopt the decision of the majority." " My father,
speak on my behalf to thy comrades." " No, my son ! I
will not plead for you. Your own acts must bring you
whether honour or disgrace." 1 Eleazar ben Azariah was
visited by Akiba and other Rabbis near his death. He
discoursed on matters of the Law, prophesied Akiba's fate,
and, pronouncing on a legal point the verdict, " Pure," " his
soul departed in purity." 2 In old age many a Rabbi was
asked to give some reasonable explanation of his longevity.
All offer moral or religious explanations. " I never slept in
the house of learning." " I never laughed at a companion's
mishap." " I never used nicknames." " Never did I seek
honour at the cost of another's disgrace." " I never lay
down to rest while an angry word had been left unpar-

1 Uduyoth, v. 7. A later parallel is related of Isaac Albalia, who, when
near his end, ordered his young son, Barueh, to betake himself to Isaac
Alfasi, with whom he had differed. " Ask him to bury our quarrel, and
to teach thee. I know that he will accept the charge." The father's
confidence was well placed, for Alfasi received his opponent's son with
cordiality. (Juehasin, ed. Philipowski, 214, and fl?3pn "ED of Abraham
ben David, ed. Neubauer, p. 77.)

2 Sanlieclrin, 68a.

Jewish Ethical Wills. 451

doner!" 1 Said R. Joshua ben Levi to his sons, " Be very
careful to show respect to an old man who from stress (of
age or trouble) has forgotten his learning." 2

As I have previously remarked, the earliest ethical testa-
ment after the close of the Talmud is the eleventh-century
work of Eleazar ben Isaac, of Worms, and, appropriately
enough, it borrows largely from the sayings of the Rabbis.
Some of the less familiar of his precepts are here cited : —

" Think not of evil ; for evil-thinking leads to evil-doing. . . .
Take particular heed of cleanliness. Purify thy body, the dwelling-
place of thy soul. . . . Do not talk in the college during the
lecture, but listen to the words of the wise. Despise no man ; for
many pearls may be found in a poor man's cloak. ... Be zealous
in visiting the sick, for sympathy will lighten his sickness ; but stay
not too long, for his malady is heavy enough without thee. Enter
cheerfully, and speak cheerfully. ... Be ever ready to follow
the dead to the grave. For him who does a kindness for nothing
God shows unrequited favours. . . . Relieve the poor secretly,
not openly ; feed them at thy table, but do not watch them while
they eat. . . . My son, prepare for thine own journey, and light
the lamp to show thee the way. Leave it not to those who come
after thee ; perhaps they will be unable. ... Be not too much
dreaded in thine own house, for this is the cause of many evils. . . .
Talk not during the meal, not even words of Torah. . . . Do not
reveal thy secrets to thy wife. ... Be faithful to every one.
. . . Eat herbs rather than beg ; beg only of God. . . . Put
thy sins in one scale and thy penitence in another : they will balance.
Add confession and prayer, and they will turn the balance in thy favour.
. . . Sleep not with the light of the moon on thy face, especially
when the moon is new. . . . Give of all thy food a portion to
God. Let God's portion be the best, and give it to the poor. 1 '

If it be genuine, the testament of Maimonides to his son
Abraham comes next in chronological sequence. The latter

1 Mcgilla 20-7. Dr. Lerner kindly suggested this application of the
passage. Of. also Kethuboth WSa, B. Bathra 147, D^Om nSD Chs. 20
and 22. T. Jer. Kilaim, 14. Many interesting statements bearing on the
last moments of different Rabbis occur in the Aboth de Rabbi Nathan.
See Chs. xiv\, xviii. xix. (end), xxv., Additions to ed. Schechter, pp. 158
and D.

8 Beraohoth 8b. Very interesting is JBerachoth 28b.

452 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

portion of this composition looks very much like a spurious
attempt to account for the fact that Maimonides makes
little or no reference to Rashi and the French school in his
works. It consists of a strong denunciation of this school,
and recommends that exclusive attention be devoted to the
commentaries of Ibn Ezra and Maimonides ; but the earlier
section of the testament is less unworthy of the great
philosopher, and accordingly I offer a few extracts from
it :—

Fear the Lord but love him also ; for fear only restrains a man
from sin, while love stimulates him to good. . . . Accustom
yourselves to habitual goodness, for a man's character is what habit
makes it. . . . The perfection of the body is a necessary ante-
cedent to the perfection of the soul, for health is the key that
unlocks the inner chamber. "When I bid you attend to your
bodily and moral welfare, my object is to open for you the gates of
heaven. . . . Measure your words, for the more your words the
more your errors. Ask for explanations of what you do not under-
stand, but let it be done at a fitting moment and in fitting language.
. . . Speak in refined language, with clear utterance and gentle
voice. Speak aptly to the subject as one who wishes to learn and to
find the truth, not as one whose aim is to quarrel and to conquer.
. . . Learn in your youth, when your food is prepared by others,
while heart is still free and unencumbered with cares, ere the memory
is weakened. For the time will come when you will be willing to
learn but will be unable. Even if you be able, you will labour much
for little result ; for your heart will lag behind your lips and when it
does keep pace, it will soon forget. ... If you find in the Law
or the Prophets or the Sages a hard saying which you cannot under-
stand, which appears subversive of some principle of the religion, or
altogether absurd, stand fast by your faith and attribute the fault to
your own want of intelligence. Despise not your religion because
you are unable to understand one difficult matter. . . . Love
truth and uprightness — the ornaments of the soul — and cleave to
them ; prosperity so obtained is built on a sure rock. Keep firmly
to your word ; let not a legal contract or witnesses be more binding
than your verbal promise even privately made. Disdain reservations
and subterfuges, sharp practices and evasions. Woe to him who
builds his house thereon ! . . . Bring near those that are far
off, humble yourselves to the lowly and show them the light of your
countenance. In your joys make the desolate share, but put no one
to the blush by your gifts. ... I have seen the white become

Jewish Ethical Wilk. 453

black, the low brought still lower, families driven into exile, princes
deposed from their high estate, cities ruined, assemblies dispersed,
the pious humiliated, the honourable held lightly and despised —
all on account of quarrelsomeness. Glory in forbearance, for in that
is true strength and victory. . . Speech, which distinguishes man
from beasts, was a loving gift which man uses best in thinking, and
thanking and praising God. Ungrateful would we be to return evil
for good and to utter slanders or falsehoods. . . Eat not
excessively nor ravenously. Work before you eat and rest after-
wards. From a man's behaviour at a public meal you can discern
his character. Often have I returned hungry and thirsty to my
house, because I was afraid when I saw the disgraceful conduct of
those around me. . . The total abstinence from wine is good,
but I will not lay this on you as an injunction. Yet break wine's
power with water, and drink it for nourishment, not for mere enjoy-
ment. ... At gambling the player always loses. If he indeed
wins money, he is weaving a spider's web round himself. . . .
Dress as well as your means will allow, but spend on your food less
than you can afford. . . Honour your wives, for they are your
honour. "Withhold not discipline from them, and let them not
rule over you.

Judah Ibn Tibbon, the father of Jewish translators, adopts
in his last injunctions to his son a tone of affectionate
querulousness. A father is not always the best teacher of
his children ; his very love may make him unjust and even
cruel. He expects so much, he is so nervously anxious ;
and his impatience contrasts unfavourably with that of a
more indulgent because less interested instructor. Judah
does not go so far as this, but his intense love for his son
probably accounts for his peevishness without necessarily
justifying it. Sobieski was asked in extremity to make a
will but he laughed the suggestion to scorn. "The mis-
fortune of royalty," said the King, "is, that we are not
obeyed while we are alive ; can it be expected then that
we should be obeyed after we are dead ? " Ibn Tibbon
justified his testamentary injunctions from the very reverse
argument. "Though thou didst not follow me when I
was near, obey me when I am far from thee." He
then proceeds to give a series of counsels well deserving
of reproduction in full; but a few specimen passages

454 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

must suffice. The first of my quotations is worthy of
Ruskin.

Avoid bad society, make thy books thy companions, let thy book-
cases and shelves be thy gardens and pleasure-grounds. Pluck the
fruit that grows therein, gather tbe roses, the spices and the myrrh.
If thy soul be satiate and weary, change from garden to garden, from
furrow to furrow, from sight to sight. Then will thy desire renew
itself and thy soul be satisfied with delight. . . In all that thou
dost, take counsel with a friend on whose affection and prudence thou
canst rely. . . Contend not with men, and meddle not in a
quarrel that is not thine . . Let not the greatest prospect of
gain blind thee to danger ; be not as the bird that sees the grains but
not the net. . . Read every week the Sabbath portion in Arabic
to become familiar with Arabic terms. . . Honour thyself, thy
household and thy children, by providing proper clothing as far as
thy means allow, for it is unbecoming in a man, when he is not at
work, to go shabbily dressed. Withhold from thy belly, and put it
on thy back. ... At thy wedding, thou wast honoured for my
sake ; endeavour henceforth to merit honour for thine own. . . .
Thou mayst accept fees from the rich, but heal the poor gratuitously.
Examine thy drugs and medicinal herbs regularly once a week, and do
not apply a remedy which thou hast not thoroughly tested. . . If
thou writest aught, revise it afterwards, for slips creep in, even
into a short letter. Be careful as to grammatical accuracy in the
conjugations and genders, for a man's mistakes are ever quoted against
him. Endeavour to cultivate a concise and elegant style ; attempt no
rhymes, unless your versification is perfect. Use no unusual con-
structions or foreign words. Improve thy handwriting, for beauty
of handwriting, the excellence of pen, paper and ink are an index of
the writer's worth. Thou hast seen books in my handwriting and
knowest how the son of R. Jacob thy master expressed his admira-
tion in thy presence. ... Be careful in thy diet. It is a disgrace
for a physician to suffer himself from intemperance. Shall a man
be able to cure others and not be able to heal himself? All
thy sickness has been due to eating unwholesome food. Jonadab
restrained his sons from many pleasures ; I only forbid thee what is
injurious. . . . Honour thy wife, for she is intelligent and
modest. She is an excellent housewife and no spendthrift. If thou
hast to give an order or utter reproof let thy words be gently
spoken. . . Be not indifferent to any ailment that comes upon
thee or thy children ; do not say that it is a trifle ; but apply imme-
diate remedies. . . Take particular care of thy books ; cover
thy shelves with a fine covering, guard them against damp and mice.

Jewish Ethical Wills. 455

Have a complete list of them written out, and examine thy Hebrew
books once a month, thy Arabic books every two months and bound
volumes ouce a quarter. If a book is lent to any one make a memoran-
dum of it before it leaves thy house, and when it is returned cancel the
entry. Every Passover and Tabernacles call in all books out on loan
. Enquire after thy sisters in all thy letters and send thy love
to them. Read this testament once a day, morning or evening. Take
no note of anything that men may say against me, but be silent.

Ibn Tibbon's testament, written about 1190, concludes
with a long poetical summary in which chief prominence is
given to ethical and religious rules of conduct. Samue ,
let it be added, gained considerable reputation as a trans-
lator, but neither he nor his father was exactly famous for
litei'ary style. Maimonides, it is true, spoke well of both,
yet one can hardly help regretting that the creation of a
Hebrew philosophic terminology was not undertaken by
the great master himself.

Moses ben Nachman's testament, which is in the form of
a letter to his son, belongs to the middle of the thirteenth
century. It was not intended exclusively for private use,
and, moreover, its brevity has tended to popularise it. But
it well deserves its position in the regard of its readers for
its unaffeeted, if exaggerated, eulogy of humility. Unlike
Ibn Tibbon, Nachmanides was content to enjoin on his son
the duty of perusing the letter once every week.

Accustom yourself to speak gently to all men at all times, and
thus you will avoid anger, which leads to so much sin. . . .
Humility is the first of virtues ; for if you think how lowly is man,
how great is God, you will fear him and avoid sinfulness. On the
humble man rests the divine glory ; the man that is haughty to others
denies God. Look not boldly at one whom you address. . . .
Regard every one as greater than thyself. . . . Remember always
that you stand before God, both when you pray and when you con-
verse with others. . . . Think before you speak. . . . Act as
I have bidden you, and your words, and deeds, and thoughts, will be
honest, and your prayers pure and acceptable before God.

The fourteenth century presents us with several impor-
tant testaments, one of which is here published in the
original Hebrew for the first time. The Asheri family, in

456 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

the older members of which filial affection seems to have
been strong, provide three of these ethical wills. The Ways
of Life, by Asher ben Yechiel, the famous Posek father of
famous Posekim, has this especial interest, that it displays
in one and the same man a whole-hearted devotion to the
legal side of Judaism concurrently with a full appreciation
of the importance of its ethical teachings. Asheri was not
the only Jew who was at once lawyer and moralist. A
son of Germany, he transplanted his country with him to
Spain, but though an involuntary exile, his tribulation
bears far from bitter fruit in his testament. The lesson of
humility and self -surrender which Nachmanides and Asheri
inculcate, was being taught at this period by a sterner
teacher than they, viz., deadly persecution. Yet Eleazar
ben Samuel, whose testament will shortly be given in full,
a man who lived and died in the very thick of the dire
persecutions that followed the Black Death, utters no word
of anger against the persecutors, but counsels his children
to deal with Jew and non-Jew alike in a spirit of honesty
and friendliness.

Asheri 's testament consists of 132 maxims, which in
some editions are arranged in daily and weekly portions.
It contains a summary of ethics, and, therefore, quotation
must be unsatisfactory.

Avoid with utmost rigour pride, hypocrisy, falsehood, mockery,
slander and anger. . . . Do not perform the law because of the
reward, nor avoid sin because of the punishment, but serve God from
love. . . Sleep not overmuch, but rise with the birds. . . Rejoice
not excessively, for remember how frail your life is. . . .
Look not at him who is richer, but at him who is poorer ; look not at
him who is less wise, but at him who is wiser and better than you.
. . . Be not hasty to reply to offensive utterances ; raise not
your hand against another even if he curse your father and mother in
your presence. . . . Give no cause for resentment to a non-Jew,
for there is none of them who has not his hour, and their wrath lasts
for ever. . . . Associate not with an evil man, a sinner, a man of
passionate temper, or a fool, lest disgrace come also upon thee. . . .
Do not in secret what you would be ashamed to do in public, and
say not, Who will see me ? Work to gain your livelihood ; trust

Jewish Ethical Wills. 457

to the help of no man. Trust not in your wealth, for wealth
raises envious enemies. Be not unkind or disrespectful to
your wife ; if you put her off from you with your left hand,
draw her to you again, with your right hand forthwith. . . .
Utter naught but the truth ; be faithful to all men, even to non-
Jews.

The testament of Asheri's son Judah, written like some
of the others in rhymed prose, is an important historical
document, which, given to the world by Mr. Schechter, has
already been turned to account by Giidemann, and probably
by others. Yet, as its value is rather historical than
ethical, I must refrain, however reluctantly, from citing
lengthy extracts from this very remarkable piece of auto-
biography. He exhorts his sons, not because they are
worse than their contemporaries, but because he would have
them like those of former generations. "Better is open
rebuke than silent love." He tells how in infancy he
suffered from a disease of the eye, and was nearly healed
by a Jewish woman who rescued him from total blindness,
but died before the cure was fully effected. Driven by
persecution to Toledo, his father became Rabbi there, and
Judah succeeded to the office twenty-three years later.
When in doubt as to accepting the post, he opened the
Scriptures at 1 Chron. xvii. 2, and followed the favourable
omen.

My parents, by reason of the weakness of my eyes, left me to do
my will ; they never chastised or rebuked me. How, then, shall I
rebuke others? ... I cannot sternly address my children to
their face, lest I make them blush, but my heart impels me to
write this letter for them to read once a month. . . . Why do
you not walk in the ways of your fathers ? why is the fear of God
not constantly before your eyes. . . You mix with unfit com-
panions, you do not honour your parents. . . "What have I left
undone that a father could do ? You have been fed and tended ; you
have many books, and all my thoughts were for you. . . You
were not brought into the world to eat and drink, and to dress in fine
clothes. . . Head aloud passages from ethical books regularly,
but with the intention of practising what you read. . . Never
utter a falsehood. There was a man in our family (Eliakim) who

458 The Jewish Quarterly Reviea:

was always held up as a model for truth. . . Play no games
for money, for gambling is robbery. . . Avoid scandal, for it
leads to many sins. Most men are scandal-mongers. Neither praise
overmuch, for that invites depreciatory retorts. 1 . . Eschew
pride. A sage was asked, Why do you invariably show respect to all
men ? He replied, In every one I recognise some quality higher than
mine. If he is old, I say he has done more good than I ; if richer, he
has done more charity ; if he be younger than I, he has sinned less,
if poorer, he has suffered more ; if he be wise I honour him for his
wisdom, if he be not wise, then I am the more culpable if I act
wrongly. . . . Let jour children marry within our family. The
women of our family are accustomed to the ways of scholar?, and
help them to prosecute their studies. They have no luxurious tastes,
and do not worry their husbands with extravagant expenditure, and
children mostly resemble their mothers. . . . My father intro-
duced in Germany the custom of giving an exact tithe for the poor,
and in Toledo he and his children entered into a formal compact to
continue the practice. ... I am very sorry to take a salary from
the congregation ; I would do without it if I could, but if God be
with me, and I can repay the debts incurred through the failure of
my partners in business, I may afterwards live without salary, or with
only a very little, and the rest might be devoted to educational and
religious objects. This would be better than allowing the congrega-
tion not to pay me at all, for I should better use the money in this
way than they.

The testament of his brother, Jacob Asheri, is shorter and
less interesting. He repeats some of his brother's counsels.
Like his father, he bids his children avoid excessive talk ;
strangely enough he forbids the casting of lots, though Judah
Asheri, as we have just seen, himself performed an act,
" if not of divination, yet as a sign." " Do not," says
Jacob Asheri, " indulge in bodily pleasures except to the
extent necessary for keeping yourselves healthy for the
service of God." It is strange to find the author of the
Turim counselling his sons not to go in for needless discus-
sion of legal difficulties. It should have been stated above
that both these testaments belong to the first half of the

1 " Too much magnifying of men or matter doth irritate contradiction,
and procure envy and scorn." (Bacon on Praise),

Jewish Ethical Wills. 459

fourteenth century. Asheri and both his sons seem to
have died within a period of twenty years (1327-1349).

The circumstances under which the testament of Joseph
Ibn Caspi was written in Elul, 1332, have already been
alluded to. Ibn Caspi stands at the opposite pole to the
Asheri family ; to him philosophy was everything, while
they were proudly indifferent to it. Ibn Caspi's testament
is controversial, but only in the sense that the presentation
of a view warmly upheld by some and violently disliked
by others necessarily deals with polemics. Ibn Caspi
writes in no bigoted spirit; it would have been a poor
recommendation of philosophy to a young and eager mind
had the father, himself a distinguished advocate of intel-
lectual culture, betrayed narrowness, or written in a
vindictive spirit. He was too securely in the right not to
treat with indulgence views he held to be wrong. To
those who argued that the end of life was the performance
of the " commandments " Ibn Caspi here replies : " True,
but then to acquire philosophical insight is the first of these
commandments." It was a narrowing of Judaism to make
Aristotle's works in Maimonised form the only road to it,
and Ibn Caspi's testament inevitably would restrict the
number of those who could serve God with truth, for the
ordinary mortal is not a philosopher. But he never meant
to assert a " categorical imperative." He merely claimed
for himself the right to obey the law because his reason
justified his faith, while he left to others the right to serve
God without a philosophical basis for their faithfulness.
Not to believe, but to rationally know that God is, that he
is one, to love him and to fear him, are the fundamental
principles of Judaism. What, then, becomes of the rest of
the laws ? All must be kept, for " you cannot observe these
four truly without observing all the other laws of God."
The ceremonies are profitable both in themselves and for
their relation to the fundamental principles. The practical
precepts enable man's intellect to assert itself, and aid him to
know God. He counsels his son to read the halachie works

460 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

of the codifiers Maimonides and Alfasi, but does not attach
much importance to familiarity with abstruse points of
Rabbinical law. It is no intellectual or spiritual deficiency
to be ignorant of these technical points, or of the law-
regulating disputes in which one is never involved. Alto-
gether he writes with a lucidity not always associated with
metaphysics, and with a freedom which proves that he was
writing for no unfriendly eyes.

How can I know God, and that he is one, unless I know what
knowing means, and what constitutes unity ? Why should the«e
things be left to non-Jewish philosophers? Why should Aristotle
retain sole possession of treasures that he stole from Solomon ? l
. . . No one really knows the true meaning of loving God and
fearing him, unless he is acquainted with natural science and meta-
physics, for we love not God as a man loves his wife and children,
nor fear him as we would a mighty man. I do not say that all men
can reach this intellectual height, but I maintain that it is the degree
of highest excellence, though those who stand below it may still be
good. Try thou, my son, to attain this degree ; yet be not hasty in
commencing metaphysical studies, . . and constantly read moral
books. . . When you are twenty marry a wife of good family,
beautiful in body and character. Look not for a wealthy dowry, as
money is only the means to obtain bread to eat and garments to wear.
. . . My son, keep from those sciolists to whom philosophy is the
handmaid of scoffing. You will prove yourself the better philosopher
the more you study the Torah. . . I will confess to you, my
son, that though in my youth I learnt a great portion of the Talmud.
I did not acquire a knowledge of all the poseMm, and now that I am
old I have often to consult, in the matter of ritual law, Rabbis
younger than I am. Why should I be ashamed of this ? Can one
man be skilled in every work ? If I want a golden bowl I go to a
goldsmith, and do not blush that he is better able to make it than
T am. Once I had guests and a family party, when the luckless hand-
maiden put a butter spoon into the meat dish. As I knew not the ritual
law, hungry and thirsty I went impatiently to the Eabbi. He was
seated at his meal eating and drinking wine with his wife and children.
I waited at his door until the shades of evening fell, and my soul was
near to leave me. He told me the law and I returned home, where
my guests and the poor were waiting for me. I related what had
occurred, for I did not conceal that I am unskilled in law, though I

1 See Mind, July, 1888, and Graetz's Monatssehrift, 1860.

Jewish Ethical Wills. 461

have skill in other branches. Is not the faculty of expounding the
knowledge and unity of God of as great weight as familiarity with
the law concerning a small butter spoon ? I say nothing against
those who devote themselves to these halachic matters, but what have
the four " commandments of the heart " done that they should be
depreciated, or even tabooed ? . . . I am asking you to adopt
many views that you cannot yet understand. Believe me for the
present; in time you will appreciate the reasons for things. Let us
make a pledge together. You do all that I bid you, and I undertake
that you will enjoy an angelic existence in the world to come. The
end of all is, Fear God and keep his commandments, but understand
that the latter include not merely practical but also intellectual
duties.

A quarter of the century after the above was written
there died at Mayence Eleazar the Levite, on the first day
of the New Year festival. He was buried on the following-
day, viz., the 2nd of Tishri, 1357. There are several reasons
why I proceed to give a full translation of Eleazar 's testa-
ment. It is far more representative of its class than any of
those from which I have previously quoted. It will give
the reader, who may be unfamiliar with the general
character of these testaments, a fair impression of the
ordinary Jewish ethical will. Eleazar was no great Rabbi,
he was a Chazan, and evidently as simple as he was a pure-
minded man. Most of the later testaments are variations
on one and the same theme, and this of Eleazar, just
because of its lack of brilliance or originality, and because
it is merely an ordinary specimen of the whole class, may
best serve as a type of them all. 1

These are the things which my sons and daughters shall do at my
request. They shall go to the house of prayer morning and evening ;
they must be careful in the Tephillah and the Shema. Immediately
after the conclusion of the prayers they shall occupy themselves a
little with the law, the Psalms, or with deeds of charity. Their
business must be conducted honestly, their dealings must be straight-

1 Dr. Berliner has an interesting article on this testament in the
Jiklisclw Presse, 1870, p. 90, etc. My translation was made from a dif-
ferent MS., viz., that contained in the Bodleian Library. Dr. Berliner
supplies some valuable references in his article.

462 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

forward with Jews or non-Jews. They must be gentle, and prompt
to accede to every honourable request that is made of them. They
must not talk more than is necessary, and they will thus avoid slander
and scoffing. They shall give in charity an exact tithe of their pro-
perty, and shall never turn away a poor man empty-handed, but they
shall give him what they can, be it much or little. If he asks for a
lodging over night and they know him not, they shall supply him with
money that he pay an inn-keeper. Thus shall they satisfy the
demands of the poor in every way that is possible.

My daughters must respect their husbands exceedingly, and they
must be always amiable to them ; husbands must honour their wives
more than themselves.

If they can by any means contrive it, let them live in communities
and not in isolation from other Jews, so that my sons and daughters
may learn Judaism. Even if compelled to beg for the money to pay
a teacher, do not let the young go without this instruction. Marry
your children, not too old, to members of respectable families ; let not
my sons hunt after money by making a low match for that object ;
but if the family is of low origin only on the side of the mother it
does not matter, because Jews always count their descent from the
father's side. Let them be careful early on every Friday to prepare
everything before the Sabbath begins, while the day is still great, and
in winter they shall light the fire before it be dark, in order not to
profane the Sabbath. The women must prepare nice candles in honour
of the Sabbath. . . As to gambling games, I earnestly entreat my
children never to play at them, except on Festivals, and the women
on new moons, but without money. 1 My daughters ought not to laugh
and speak much with strangers, nor to dance. They ought always to
be at home, and not be gadding about. They must not stand at the
door (to see what their neighbours are doing). Most strongly I beg,
most strictly I command, that the daughters of my house be not, God
forbid, without work to do, for idleness leads to sin, but they must
spin, or cook, or sew.

I earnestly beg my children 2 to be tolerant and humble to every man,
as I was all my life. They must quarrel with none, but seek peace
With all their might. Even if they lose money thereby, they must
bear their loss and forgive, for God has many ways to sustain men.
If any one slanders you do not retaliate by counter-offence, but excuse
your calumniators and ask people to be silent about it, and you

1 The MS. is here defective.

2 Dr. Berliner's MS. refers this only to the daughters; the Bodl. MS.
reads " "33."

Jeivish Ethical Wills. 463

yourselves set the example of reticence. Be upright in business
affairs, and be not avaricious after other people's wealth.

Now, my sons and daughters, eat and drink only as much as neces-
sary, as our good parents did, who ate moderately. The regular
adoption of this course leads to habits of temperance. Be content
and happy in your lot. Eat no large and expensive dinners. Our
teachers have said, " Method in expenditure is half the cost." But
accustom yourselves and wives, your sons and daughters always to
wear nice and clean clothes, that God and men may love and honour
you. Spend a little more than you can afford in this way, but you
must not adopt non-Jewish fashions of dress. Never change the
fashions of your fathers in your attire, and let your cloaks be broad
without a buckle attached. Accustom yourselves to speak without
making vows ' or swearing to the truth of your assertions, for the
breach of vows leads to many ills. Do not say "Gott" unneces-
sarily, but speak always of the " Creator, blessed be He," and never
promise anything without the proviso, ''if God wills." Thank God
for everything. ... Be not as dumb cattle that utter no word of
gratitude, but thank God for his bounties at the time they occur,
and in your prayers let the memory of these personal favours warm
your hearts and prompt to especial fervour during the utterance of
the communal thanks. When words of gratitude occur in the liturgy
pause to silently reflect on the goodness of God to you that day. Be
very particular to keep your houses clean and tidy ; I always
made a point of it, for every injurious condition and sickness and
poverty are to be found in houses that are unclean. Be careful with
the blessings ; accept no divine gift without immediately ut'ering your
thanks. Study the Torah, because it helps the formation of a noble
character. Do not scoff, for it begins in chastisement and ends in de-
struction. Judge every man charitably and use your best effort to find
a favourable explanation of conduct however suspicious. On Sabbaths
and holidays seek to make happy poor unfortunate widows, and orphans
ought always to be at your tables. Avoid gossip, for it leads to slander,
hypocrisy and falsehood, all of which are vices abominable in the
sight of the Lord. And as you speak no scandal, so listen to none,
for if there where no customers there would be no mongers. Accept
no invitations to dinner parties except for purposes of TWO, such as
weddings and funerals ; and play no games for money, neither with
dice nor with anything else. Be one of the first in the Synagogue,
do not speak during prayers, but repeat the responses and after the
service do acts of kindness which are equivalent to studying the law.
I beg of you, my sons, my daughters, and my wife, and the whole

1 /.<?., say "T13 ^Vetc.
VOL. III. G G

464 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

congregation, let there be no funeral oration in my honour. Do not
carry me on a bier, but wash me clean, comb my hair as in my life-
time, in order that I may go clean to my eternal resting-place, just as
I used to go every Friday evening to the Synagogue. Drag me to
my grave, and stop every four cubits, that I may get pardon. Put
me in the ground at the right hand of my father, and even if it be
a little too narrow, I am sure that my father loves me well enough
to submit to the inconvenience and to draw me in unto him. If not,
put me on his left, or near my mother or grandmother ; and if that
be not possible, bury me at the side of my daughter.

In striking contrast to the simplicity of the foregoing
testament is the elaborate " Letter of Advice " which
Solomon Alami dispatched to a pupil from Portugal. As
he himself pathetically tells us, he was a participant in the
sufferings in 1391, and his testament, written twenty-four
years later (in beautiful rhymed prose), gives a very in-
teresting account of the condition of contemporary
Judaism. Fly without hesitation, he says, when expatria-
tion is the only means of securing religious freedom ; have
no regard to your worldly affairs, or to your property, but go
forth. 1 Besides the ordinary virtues, among them chastity
and continence, Alami strongly inculcates the necessity of
decorum in prayer. He laments the low esteem in which
the Rabbis were held ; and declares that Jews preferred
educating their children for the meanest trade rather than
devote them to the ministry, so low had it fallen in public
opinion. People talked and laughed in Synagogue and
ignored the Rabbi's exhortations, who, in fact, often failed
to denounce abuses. "See how the leading men of the
congregation either doze or talk in Synagogue during the
sermon, while the women babble. It is not so in Churches ;
Christian men and women listen with wrapt attention

1 " If you should, God forbid," says Alexander Suesskind to his sons
" ever actually come to the necessity of becoming martyrs for your faith,
from which God deliver you and WYlpn DJ? ?D, meet death with the com-
pletest joy, so that God will receive you in the worlds above, and will
say : ' Behold what a noble being I created ; he spared not his body but
bore chastisement or my honour, and gave up his life for the sanctifica"
tion of my name

Jewish Ethical Wills. 465

while their preachers address them. Christians are dumb,
but Jews are deaf when the clergy reprove them." In
prayer one should pray not for his own needs, but on be-
half of the afflicted ; and return good for evil.

Avoid listening to love-songs which excite the passions. If God
has graciously bestowed on you the gift of a sweet voice, use it in
praising Him. Do not set prayers to Arabic tunes, a practice which
has been promoted to suit the taste of effeminate men.

Similarly, he deprecates all attempts to foist Greek
philosophy on to the Bible. 1 He strongly upholds the
dignity of labour, but he also lays considerable stress on
the minor amenities of social intercourse. One must not
point, nor stroke one's beard, in company. He enunciates
many minute rules for behaviour at meals ; enjoining his
pupil not to be the first to begin to eat, not to swallow his
food ravenously, and to be tidy in his dress and ways.
Though he condemns luxurious expenditure in dress and
jewellery, he nevertheless keenly feels the hardship of the
enforced wearing of a distinctive Jewish attire. He
strikes a local note when he deprecates undue considera-
tion for descent. Family pride is a poor substitute for
personal merit ; it is a reliance on buried predecessors who
lie in their graves. The whole of Alami's " Letter " de-
serves translation, but I could not find space for more than
the foregoing summary.

The Jewish ethical testaments are written in Hebrew.
To this general statement there is hardly an exception. In
later times some of the most widely read have been ren-
dered into German or jargon, such as those of Asher ben
Yechiel, Nachmanides, Elijah Wilna, Alexander Suesskind,
Judah Chasicl, Naphtali Cohen and Moses Sofer. Ibn
Tibbon's testament, together with that of Maimonides, were
translated into English, but rather as literary curiosities
than for devotional use. 2 The testament of the late Chief

1 Comp. and contrast the loth century ^IDi! 1SD of Ephraim of
Modena (Lyck, 1871).

2 Israel Luepschuetz bids his sons immediately after the week of

G G 2

466 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

Babbi, Dr. N. Adler, was recently published in abstract in
English, but it was presumably composed in Hebrew.
About two years ago the ethical will of a certain Harris
Hershfield was published in Kansas City in the vernacular.
An undated, but evidently modern, Jewish Testament in
Provencal French verse, is possessed by the Library of the
British Museum. But so far back as 1410 the will of Don
Judah, 1 a Jewish native of Alba de Tonnes, was written
in Spanish, being dictated by the author from his death
bed. It appears that one of his sons was wounded in the
massacre of 1391.

Good and honourable is the man who in his last days and in old
age dies to live. G-od grant it to me ; my hope was always in his
love. . . . Do not bury me upright or lying down, but a strong
chair shall be placed in the grave and my body must be seated thereon
facing the east towards the rising sun.

Another ethical will was dictated in the same manner by
the dying testator, and is thus given in the words of the
bystanders. In 1653 Nathaniel Trabotti lay on his death-
bed in Modena, and when after a long sleep he awoke, the
spirit of God inspired him, and he called his pupils round
his bed, and was to them like a king on his throne. He
summoned the heads of the congregation, and, having
washed his face and hands and sanctified himself as an
angel of God, said : "lam 86 years old, and I know that
the owner of the trust is coming to seek it back from me.
If I have sometimes rebuked you harshly, forgive me. I
did it only to turn you from sin." Then they wept and
said, " We know it, and our sins are many. Forgive us for
the trials we have caused you." " Fear not," he replied ;

mourning to translate his testament for the benefit of his daughters, and
this is not the only instance. .Isaac Levinson wished his will translated
into Russian, but that was for legal purposes.

1 Mr. Joseph Jacobs called my attention to this testament. See,
Amador de log Sios, II., p. 615. A full translation of the will was kindly
made for me by Mrs. Isaac Benoliel. I have to thank Dr. Friedlander for
bringing Trabotti's testament under my notice.

Jewish Ethical Wills. 467

" purify your hearts, remove hatred and passion. Support
the study of the Law, be merciful to the poor, and open
wide your storehouses to them. . . My sight was
weak, and you have all come to my house to study to save
me from the trouble of walking to and fro to the College.
After my death let the study be conducted in the Syna-
gogue. . . Appoint an officer to go every Friday to
announce to all Jewish merchants that the Sabbath is
nigh, that they may shut their shops. . . Let not
the men who idly frequent places of amusement to play
dice, or games with the cards which they always carry in
their pockets, let them not mention the name of God, as is
their wont. If they act honestly and speak the truth with
heart and lip, and do not use the divine name wantonly,
their sins will be forgiven. . . Those who have
bought all the mitzvoth for the whole year must pay the
amount forthwith to the treasurer. If they refuse they
must be brought before the civil courts."

Nathaniel then called for Abraham Gratiano, whom he
wished to succeed him ; he placed his hands on his head
and " imparted his honour to him." He gave directions for
the disposal of his property, but the reporter omitted all
these as of no importance ! The whole of this scene is
impressive, and would be more so but that it is obviously
an echo of the Talmudic description of the death of Kabbi.

The disregard of money, indicated in the preceding
paragraph, is paralleled in many of the testaments. Masus
feelingly remarks : —

Let not your hearts be sore because I cannot leave you any
inheritance as other fathers do ; but my destiny was not for wealth,
and for wealth I never strove. Each day's bread to eat, and clothes to
wear, was all I sought to acquire. Naked I came into the world,
naked I leave it. Man has other aims, and my testament will teach
you what they are.

One point that I have omitted from Trabotti's injunc-
tions will recall a similar direction given by Eleazar the
Levite. Trabotti desired that his bier should be roughly

468 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

dragged to the grave to chastise his body for his sins. But
the bystanders tearfully entreated him to release them from
the obligation of dishonouring his remains, and he con-
sented to withdraw the order. But in many of the testa-
ments even more violent measures ai*e seriously suggested.
The coffin is sometimes ordered to be thrown to the ground
and other indignities to be shown. In order to avoid need-
less repetitions I will quote the form that these directions
take in the will of Masus ben Judah Loeb. Masus not
only carries the idea to an excessive length, but supplies
the explanation.

At the time when my body is removed from the bed to lie on the
ground two shall come, and one shall take my two hands and shall
seize me round the neck, one hand with outstretched fingers to the
right, the other to the left. He shall make the fingers meet, and press
tightly like a cord or cloth, as though carrying out the sentence of
execution by strangulation. Some men shall seize me by the legs
roughly, and shall lift me out of the bed, and shall throw me on the
ground ; typical of death by stoning. They shall drop on my heart
three drops (neither more nor less) of wax from a lighted candle, to
symbolise death by burning.

They shall take a stone and place it as a pillow under my head, and
my head shall remain on it for some minutes, as though I were to be
executed with the sword.

Then shall all say, " If this man during his life has incurred the
penalty of death by one of the four legal modes of execution let this
be now taken in place of it, and his sin be pardoned, so that in all it
be the same as though he had suffered in his life-time." >

Often the testator directs that his wife and children are
not to participate in the preparations for the interment ;
and, moreover, that the sons are not to follow their father's
funeral. Some command the sho/ar 2 or ram's horn to be
sounded after the purification of the body, to drive away

1 Similar directions are also given by Aaron of Karlin, (who repeats the
order), Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen (who has a curious passage on the
eubject), Naphtali Cohen and S. Kluger.

2 Perhaps originally this was merely a public announcement of the
death. See Moed Katon, 275.

Jewish Ethical Wills. 469

the " destroying children," who would otherwise come to
claim inheritance with the true children of the departed. 1
Many again leave specific directions as to the reading of
the Mishnah and Talmud during the year of mourning;
the orders vary very greatly in detail, but the main idea
is the same. The father, if an author of religious works,
usually asks his children to read and re-read his books,
and fain would have the preacher quote passages there-
from in the funeral oration. But almost without exception
the testators earnestly entreat that no eulogistic address be
delivered over their remains. Some urge this self-denying
ordinance with singular tenacity, and even anxiety. The
preacher, in the presence of the dead, might be inclined to
exaggerate the praises of the departed, and thus be guilty
of falsehood and flattery. This is the chief motive for
declining the honour of a hesped, but many were equally
moved by a sincere humility of disposition and a sense of
their unworthiness. 2 The testament itself was mostly
ordered to be read at stated intervals daily, weekly, or
monthly, or four times a year. Fasting on the Yahrzeit,
or anniversary, of the father's death, is a common Jewish
practice, and is often enjoined in the testaments. 3 Israel
Luepschuetz, however, restricts the fast to only half the day,
" for so my fathers bade me." This statement gives an
excellent insight into the way in which family traditions
grow up. The same testator frees his sons from the obliga-
tion of wearing black, and very thoughtfully tells his
daughters that they are only to put on mourning if their
husbands approve. Joel Shamariah, who died on the 1st of

1 Some are very particular in their directions on this point. Kluger
repeats the order no less than three times. See Erubin 18ft, and the
account given in the Travels of Benjamin, II., p. 171.

2 Aaron of Karlin says that any one that has anything to say in his
dispraise may say it.

3 David Altaras orders his children to fast on the following days : —
(1) the day of his death, (2) at the end of the week of mourning, (3) at
the end of the month, (4) at the end of the eleventh month, (5) at the end
of the full year.

470 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

Nisan (" for he was needed in the College on high "), and
who fasted every day except Sabbaths and festivals, is
anxious to be buried in the old cemetery by the side of his
father. Naphtali Cohen wished wax candles to be placed
on his seat in synagogue during the first year after his
death, and his wife, " whom I love as myself," is entreated
to go to his grave and pray for his soul on the day before
every new moon. Aaron of Karlin desired that no man
should be buried near him who was not confidently known
to be one whom he (Aaron) would like to have as a neigh-
bour. 1 Masus ben Judah pathetically says : — " In my life
I dwelt in narrow and straitened circumstances ; deal not
so with me in my death. Inter me not in a narrow grave,
but enlarge the place of my eternal rest." At times these
burial orders have utilitarian motives. Solomon Heine
(1844) enjoined that his funeral was not to take place with-
in seventy-two hours of his death, in order that life might
be proved to be extinct. He asks to be buried at eight
o'clock in the morning, and, despite his enormous wealth,
without any pomp and ceremony. Among his munificent
charitable bequests were two each of 4,000 marks — the one
towards the building of the Church of St. Peter, another
in aid of the re-building of the Church of St. Nicholas.
Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen minutely ordered that seven
square holes should be bored in his coffin, and gives the
dimension of each, with a diagram. Jonah Landsofer,
with prophetic foresight as to the indiscretion of modern
biographers, orders that only those of his papers that were
so marked were to be published, and even with those the
editor was to exercise a selective discretion. Samuel
Aboab, the opponent of Sabbatai Zevi, takes the famous
utterance of Micah vi. 8 as his text. He orders
that a scroll of the law shall not be placed on the bier.
Several even write their own epitaphs, which are of a

1 Naphtali Cohen begged that no one should take part in preparing
him for burial but those possessing an affinity with his soul.

Jewish Ethical Wills. 471

severely simple character. Akiba Eger left his own
epitaph : " Here lies R. Akiba Eger," but the Posen con-
gregation converted the conventional " R." into the honour-
able " Eabbenu." Aaron ben Abraham asks his children
not to incur much expense in buying a grave to bury him
among the great, for he did not desire that. So Kluger
wished to be buried not among the great and wealthy, but
near the poor. One father 1 urges his son not to postpone
his marriage until the end of the year of mourning. This
individual had been throughout his life an ardent match-
maker. Chayim Vital (1620) ordered his cabbalistic notes
to be buried with him ; Herrara, on the other hand, left a
large sum to defray the cost of publishing his own mystical
writings (1639). 2 Perhaps the most remarkable request is
that of Saul Hirschel, who died in London in 1 794. He
had been concerned in a controversy as to the genuine-
ness of a work (wvn D^at&a) which he was suspected of
forging, and seems to have lived a rather friendless life. He
directs that he was to be taken as he was found, and
buried in his clothes in some forest, or wherever else they
liked, " provided that it be distant from the graves of other
men." His wishes were not fulfilled , indeed, his testament
was not found until after his interment. At peace with men,
among whom living he had found no peace, he was buried
with every honour, and his name is still, strangely enough,
mentioned in the memorial roll of the official Rabbis of
London. We note other differences of sentiment, as, for
instance, while one testator wishes his sons to weep bitterly,
another begs them not to give way to excessive grief. One
testator orders some sods of treasured Palestinian soil to be
buried with him ; another that he was to be buried in the
cerements he always carried with him on his journeys
wrapped in a black cloth. David Altaras was wise in his
generation when he bade that no rhymes should be
engraven on his tombstone. Strangely enough, he also

1 Book of the Pious, § 505. * Graetz, x. 127, 129.

472 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

tells us that he never ate meat during Lent, because the
meat sold was often stale, owing to the Christian butchers
killing no animals at that period.

Some of these directions and prohibitions are curious
enough, but the testament of Judah Chasid, who lived at the
beginning of the thirteenth century, is a curiosity through-
out. There can be little doubt that the testament is spurious,
but whoever be the author it contains a mass of supersti-
tions, many of them in direct conflict to express statements
in the Talmud. 1 This would seem to confirm Giidemann's
hypothesis that the school, from which the Book of the Pious
(with which Judah Ohasid's testament is usually printed)
proceeded, was animated by a spirit antagonistic to
Rabbinism and the Talmud. While it is regrettable enough
that Judah Chasid's commands found obedient and willing
executors, the common sense of the Rabbis enabled them to
triumph over this attempt to foist on to Judaism ex-
traneous elements of the most pernicious and undesirable
nature. Ezekiel Landau was actually consulted as to
whether a man might marry a girl whose father was his
namesake — an alliance forbidden in Judah Chasid's testa-
ment, section 22. The response of Landau is a fine piece of

1 Ezekiel Landau miilO JHIJ question 79 of JJ'TIK. To the passages
there quoted add Tossefta on Sabbath, which characterises as idolatrous
the popular objection to "crowing hens." It is strange to note how many
of Judah Chasid's injunctions are still popularisuperstitionsiin England.
For Judah Chasid see G-udemann, " Cultur Geschichte," 1880, and the same
work, p. 2±5, for other testaments. The Jlespoma (T\"W) in general con-
tain many entries which have an intimate bearing on the testament
literature. Many of these passages naturally however concern legal
rather than ethical subjects. See 1011 W "|"0 3G&, where a HNnX by
the author of HUJ }l"6lB> is quoted. In Joseph Caro's ^3n Dp3N § 7i
there is a question concerning a DN11X (the writer left a soltano for the
scribe who wrote the document). In pi"IN HOD ms TY'lt? Part I. § 65,
the case is considered of a man who "ordered (HIS) that his eldest
daughter should be married to the son of a certain sage, and that they
should acquire for her one handmaiden." See also fllinn N"l1p ed.
Cassel, p. 466 and 36a. These are only a few of the many such that must
occur in these interesting collections of Rabbinical correspondence.

Jewish Ethical Wills. 473

indignant and scathing contempt for such puerilities. Yet
he deals tenderly with Judah Chasid himself. True, said
Landau, many of the things he forbids are in contradiction
to the Talmud ; but the author meant his remarks to apply
exclusively to his own descendants. " By prophetic fore-
knowledge he saw that certain marriages would not prosper
if contracted in his family, but he did not mean to apply
the same rule to Jews in general." Yet Landau's loyalty
to a great name did not prevent him from denouncing the
question of his correspondent as unworthy of serious con-
sideration.

From many of the testaments, which I cannot hope to
quote at any length, I have already made some citations in
the preceding paragraphs. From the sixteenth century
onwards the number of Jewish ethical wills becomes ever
greater. These testaments it is unnecessary to arrange in
chronological order, but the internal history of Judaism
continues to mirror itself forth in their pages. The con-
troversy anent the study of philosophy died a natural
death, or rather solved itself by general indifference. With
Mendelssohn a new question was brought to a culminat-
ing point, and Judaism has not yet passed beyond it.

We may note in some of the later testaments indications
of the writers' views on the adoption of a pure language, on
the maintenance of a distinctively Jewish dress, on the use
of the vernacular in prayer. As the centuries pass, ancient
custom loses its hold on the people's hearts, and some of
the testaments betray the anxiety of fathers that their
children at least shall not displace the old for the new.
But besides these less important and evanescent matters,
the durable and fundamental rules of moral conduct con-
tinue to gain in emphasis, and are enunciated in more
modern language. The time was, for instance, when, under
the heading of gambling, dice-playing was denounced;
from the fifteenth century, card-playing is raised to this
bad eminence, in the eighteenth, lotteries and betting.
The latter, which is a characteristically English vice,

474 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

accordingly recurs in the testament of Leb Norden, an
English Jew (1741), whose objection to betting was based
on the consideration that " the gambler evinced a desire to
become rich contrary to the will of God"; while it also
involved waste of time, and led inevitably to destruction.
The denunciations of mere money-making and of usury are
as vigorous as of yore, and the entreaty to freely pardon
injuries becomes even more earnestly eloquent.

Do good to all men, evil to none ; even to the non-Jew in the
street, even to an enemy who has pursued you with relentless hate.
If you have an opportunity of revenge, do not avail yourselves of
it, but load your adversary with favours. Never refuse a favour
to any person, be he non-Jew, or even an enemy. If your foe is
seeking your hurt you may prevent him, but you must not injure
him beyond the point of rendering him powerless to harm you. If an
opportunity offer of serving him, thank God for the chance, and
though he has done you the most fearful wrongs, forget the injuries
you have sustained at his hands. Make yourselves wings like eagles
to succour him, and refrain from reminding him by a word of his
former conduct.'

The same moral is enforced in the testament of Joel
Shamariah by a piece of practical psychology.

If any one did aught to injure me, yet I loved him in my heart.
If I felt inclined to hate him, I at once began to utter praises, so that
gradually I brought my heart to genuine love of the man who had
wronged me.

Fidelity to one's word must be resolutely preserved ; but
a vow to do wrong may be broken.

Charity is enforced sometimes quaintly enough, always
strongly.

Love thy neighbour as thyself ; hence, when I saw any one ill, I
dosed him with remedies I had myself tried.'

No one ever became poor through giving too much in charity. 3

Be careful with the legacy of money I leave you, for miracles do

1 Israel Luepschuetz. There is one enemy, however, whom he can
hardly forgive, that is the censor who wickedly mutilated his works.

2 Alexander Suesskind. 3 Joel Shamariah.

Jewish Ethical Wills. 475

not happen every day. But be not a miser when almsgiving is
concerned." '

Saul Wahl, whom legend places on the throne of Poland
(1630), was presented with a magnificent chain studded
with jewels, in return for important State services. He
directed, in his testament, that this chain was to be sold
and the proceeds distributed among the poor.

If a beggar comes to you, give him what you can and do not put
him to shame, for God stands at his right band. 2

Zechariah, of Porto, who had no desire for fame during
his lifetime, left behind him a compilation forming an
index to the texts adapted to the use of darshanim or
preachers. It belongs to a class of books become obsolete ;
and would hardly now serve the author's purpose of
enabling a darshan to see at a glance whether his own
ideas were original or not! The bulk of his property, which
seems to have been very large, he bestowed in ways at
least intended to be charitable. 3 The directions as to alms-
giving are cast in so generous a mould in these wills
that it is only rarely that discrimination is counselled.
Personal service, the invitation of the poor to meals, are,
as of old, favourite precepts of Jewish fathers. As to
posthumous reputation, Kluger was so little ambitious of
it that when directing the publication of his MSS. he said
that if his executors wished to print his writings as their
own he did not object ; but he wished them published at all
hazards.

Moses Sofer will not have his children read the books of
Moses of Dessau (Mendelssohn) ; they must never go to
the theatre ; his daughters are not to read German novels.*
"Say not that the times have changed, for our Father
never changes." The Rabbi who is to succeed him must

1 Leb Norden. 2 Sabbatai Hurwitz.

3 See TDTOn f|DN Venice, 1675, preface.

4 Similarly Abraham Danzig ; Jonah Landsofer permits praying in
German, and says, "Teach your daughters to read books printed in German
and see that your sons' wives can do likewise."

476 The Jewish Quarterly Review,

preach in jargon. Sofer impresses on his daughters and
his sons' wives that they must not wear low-necked
dresses, nor even wear false hair. He does not neglect moral
injunctions, however, and lays particular stress on the folly
and sinfulness of pride.

We are the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, pupils of Moses,
our master, servants of David the king. Our father said, " I am dust
and ashes," our master asked, " What are me?" our king declared, " I am
a woim and not a man." The King for whom we hope will reveal
himself in the guise of a beggar riding on an ass. Whence then
should we derive pride ?

Centuries before, Solomon Alami had spoken against the
"pride of place," which is a subtle and baneful form of the
vice.

If you go up to read the law, be called up like everyone else, and
do not make a fuss about being first or last.

Abraham Danzig 1 (1738-1821), the author of the popular
Life of Man (DIM »Ji) and similar works, is as opposed as
Sofer to the assumption of ordinary attire. With the
German Jews, he says, things were different, for they
always dressed like other Germans; hence their example
was not a precedent for imitation. He enforces quaintly,
but effectively, the serious calls of life.

In your business be honest and upright. Do not devote your-
selves to the acquisition of wealth and to the enjoyment of worldly
pleasures. If you engage in a pious and honourable life, you need
not entirely forego these pleasures, but do not make them your first
thought. A man goes to Leipzig on business : he trades energetically,
and then buys some ornaments for his wife and children. This
rejoices them. If, however, he wastes his whole time in buying
gew-gaws to the neglect of his business, and on returning has only the
presents to show and no merchandise, his wife slaps his face and says :
' Fool, what do I want with this rubbish ? Why did you not attend
to your business ? "

Virtue is praised and vice blamed ; as the one is conducive,

1 He particularly asks that his testament shall be printed without
errors. However this may have been, in the first edition (1821), the second
edition is disfigured with many misprints.

Jewish Ethical Wills. 477

the other antagonistic, to the love of God. Tears are

declared of the utmost efficacy in prayer, and Masus

laughs to scorn those who -would maintain that people
cannot cry at will.

Tears are the only refuge against oppression and suffering. I
have wept so much that my sight has been dimmed for many years.

On the other hand, while enjoining his sons to weep
copiously at their night-prayers, Moses of Prague never-
theless adds later on :

Always pray joyfully and be cheerful ; for melancholy is a great
evil.

As Francis of Assisi proved in his own character, tears
are not necessarily associated with austerity.

The saving power of family concord finds much pro-
minence. Dissension is heartily condemned, and daughters-
in-law are especially warned against rivalry and quarreling.
Brothers and sisters must pay one another attentions, and
keep one another informed of their good or had fortunes.
The Gaon Elijah entreats his mother and wife to mutual
honour and to live in peace during his absence from
them. 1

When brother parts from brother or sister, or when you meet,
always embrace ; but, my sons, kiss your sisters on, the hand, kiss the
lips only of your brothers. Help one another. . . . Every Nisan
and Elul write mutual greetings ; on the birthday of each, let all
the rest send their congratulations. 2 . . . Throughout my life,
whenever I read my prayers, I felt as though I still stood a child
before my dear and pious mother, who dictated every word to me.

The worshipper was to utter an especially fervent "Amen"
after the prayer daily repeated for peace. This mildness
and consideration was to be extended by employers to their
servants. " I never abused, much less did I ever strike a
servant," says Suesskind ; while others go yet farther : " I

1 "Honour your mother, and never cause her any sorrow ; and see that
your wife treats her with respect." (S. Kluger.)

2 A list of the birthdays of the family follows this injunction of
Luepschuetz.

478 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

never asked my servants, Jewish or Christian," says
Lupschuetz, "to do unpleasant services for me. When
I was a child and I asked the Jewish servant who was
sitting at table with us to give me some water, my mother
rebuked me."

The head of the family must take an intimate interest
in the welfare of the whole household. " It is proper to
address them for half an hour a week on any matter that
needs exhortation." The following is an amusing piece of
family advice : —

My daughters and daughters-in-law, if your husbands are angry,
go outside and do not return until their rage is over and then reprove
them."

The same father, Sheftel Hurwitz, will not permit
dancing by members of the opposite sexes, even if the
couple do not touch hands. "If you dance face to face,
Satan dances between you."

Alexander Suesskind stands out as a remarkable person-
ality. To every act of his life, he was impelled by the
love of God ; no incident however small, but had its place
in the divine purpose. This is shown in the noble tone of
his whole testament, which has become deservedly popular,
as well as in some very curious traits.

If ever I wanted anything and found that I possessed it and need
BOt borrow it from others, I thanked God. When I took snuff I did
likewise because one might be too poor to buy it. I always said God
is just whenever calamity came on me. Thus did I when I spilt my
snuff. If I found that though the box fell, none of the snuff dropped
out, I thanked God with lips filled with joy. If I could not find the
box I accepted pin pl1¥ the divine judgment, and when an hour later
I found it, I rejoiced and thanked the Lord !

His acute sensibility is further seen in the following
touching entry : —

It is a common practice with Jews that when a member of the
community has died during the night, the beadle when he comes to
summon us to synagogue, gives only two instead of the usual three
knocks, as a sign of death. "When he only knocked twice I sighed,
but when thrice, my heart leapt up with joy !

Jewish Ethical Wills. 479

An almost equal moral sensitiveness marks the sugges-
tion of Sheftel Hurwitz to keep a written account of one's
sins in order to ensure due penitence. 1 Sensitiveness of
another character is shown in the following utterance which
might easily he paralleled from other ethical wills.

It is said that at the time of death Satan stands by a man tempting
him to deny his faith, and a man is weak in his mind at that hour,
and does not know what he is doing. Therefore I declare that any
evil thoughts that may enter my mind at that time are not my
thoughts but are hereby annulled.

The controversies of the seventeenth century raging
round the Cabbala and pseudo-messiash, are reflected in
the testaments of the period. Prophecies and dreams are
not to be regarded ; astrology is forbidden. The antipathy
to the new Chassidism led one testator to leave as a
condition to a charitable bequest, that no member of that
sect should participate in its benefits. This one can under-
stand, seeing that some members of the sect were professional
beggars.

Decorum in synagogue, on which Alami expressed himself
so strongly, is a subject that recurs in the later wills. It
is better not to go to synagogue at all, than to go there and
talk even concerning matters of Torah. The custom of the
Sephardim who kept the children in order by overawing
them is in one instance lauded. The children, small and
big, were located together, and an overseer stood over them
to enforce good behaviour with a stick. 2 According to
another testator, slovenliness in utterance was the cause of
the continued trials of the Jews, for their prayers were not
efficacious from being indistinctly enunciated. If necessary,
to ensure devout attention, the eyes were to be closed

1 Cf. Howell's Familiar Letters (ed. Jacobs, p. 335). " Before I go to
bed, I make a scrutiny what peccant humours have reign'd in me that
day ; and so I reconcile myself to my Creator, and strike a tally in the
Exchequer of Heaven for my quietus est, ere I close my eyes, and leave no
burden upon my conscience."

2 This passage is not actually in the testament, but in the nrD1J\
1D1D that precedes.

VOL. III. H H

480 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

during prayer ; while one father, following a precept of
the Book of the Pious, counsels his son to stand on his toes
to recover his self-possession, and drive away strange
thoughts. Prayers were not to be mechanical ; private joys
and sorrows were to be introduced in extemporised thanks-
giving or in silent, grateful meditation when the communal
thanks were being expressed. Elijah Wilna in his testa-
ment, advises his wife and daughter not to go to synagogue
at all. Pray at home, for in synagogue you cannot avoid
scandal and frivolity. The daughter might see others
better dressed than herself, and feel envious, and gossip
about it when she got home. Elijah felt so keenly the evil
effects of the habit of scandal-mongering on the character,
of harsh words and of falsehood, that he enjoined that if
these offences were committed by his children, the latter
were to be severely beaten. Yet instruction was to be
imparted gently ; rough methods were to be avoided, and
gifts were to be bestowed in order to encourage the
children to progress. It will be noted that daughters
receive full attention from their fathers in these
testaments, though in matters of education, they were not
placed on a level with the sons. Jonah Landsofer of
Prague, particularly desires that his daughters and his sons'
wives should be taught to read German. Marriage must
not be deferred, yet very early marriages are strongly
deprecated. Originally, says Jonah, Jews married much
earlier, but physical development is slower now than in
ancient times.

"When you are arranging a marriage between two parties, never
exaggerate, and always tell the truth. Therefore it was that in the
first times, none but students of the Law were shadchanim. (match
makers). 1

The injunctions as to the choice of a wife are natural^
numerous and minute. Moral excellencies are to be sought,
not beauty or riches. Wealth coming as the bridal dowry,

1 This is against a statement in the Talmud. Maharil, I may add, was a
Shadchan, but accepted no fees.

Jewish Ethical Wills. 481

was esteemed a blessing only in so far as by relieving
the husband from the need of constant devotion to
business, it supplied the necessary leisure for "higher
culture," to use the modern phrase. Children were a loving
grace of God, in the service of whom they might renew the
father's own life.

And in the same way we could follow these moral guides
into other phases of life, but for the present as in the con-
ventional three- volume novel, we will stop short with
the arrangements for marriage. Many of the sentiments
that I have quoted in the course of the preceding passages
are of Talmudic origin, and others are the common property
of Jewish ethical writers of all ages. Perhaps at some
future date I may carry the enquiry further, and attempt
to discuss in how far the children practised what the fathers
preached. Yet it cannot be that so much simple goodness
thus simply expressed fell in dead words on dead ears ;
it spoke with a living voice pleading for the right, when
the grave had claimed its own, echoing the one constant
refrain —

" In your virtues show yourselves our sons."

I. Abkahams.

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 1

Aaron of Karlin (Johannisberg ? 1855? 8vo. Also
Warsaw, 1878, in UWlp "nm).

Aaron ben Abraham at Rawicz (n2-nrr ~isd, Breslau,
1830, 4to).

Aaron Moses, vjs v*ia (Czernitz, date bH-itt?"' 1 ? aifc "o).

Abraham ben Sabbatai Hurwitz, ^bma *»> isd,
Prague, 1615, 4to., Amsterdam, 1701. Also orrOH J-vnn).

1 I have derived a considerable part of the works here enumerated from
the Catalogues of Zedner, Steinschneider, Neubauer and Ben Jacob (Ozar
Eituqfarim).

HH 2

482 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

Abraham Danzig (arras no, Wilna, 1821; Warsaw,
1841 ; Konigsberg, 1845).

Adler, Dr. Nathan {Jewish Chronicle, London, Jan.
1891).
Akiba Eger. 1

Alexander Suesskind ben Moses (Grodno, 1794, 8vo.
Often reprinted).
Asher ben Yechiel (a^n nimN, Venice, 1578, 32mo.).
Benjamin (Zeeb Wolf) Fischhof (published in -iipa
n»3n, ed. 2, Berlin, 1711).

David ben Solomon Altaras (tp'xT *)"12, Venice,
1714, 16mo.).
David Friesenhausen (Vienna, 1820, 8vo.).
Eleazar ben Isaac (the Great) of Worms (c*n mm«,
Venice, 1623, 12mo. This is not the same as the O^n n)ITi»
w"vnrh).

Eleazar ben Samuel the Levite. The Testament of
Eleazar will, I hope, appear in the next number of the
Beview. Portions of the will next in my list will also be
given. This latter MS. I have now acquired through the
kindness of Dr. Berliner. Also the testament of Leb
Norden will probably be published in the July number.
Elijah, V'anna:: in^s '-iia nNYSi own imbs nsd
Elijah Wilna (mo ^±> maw, in nannb a^>v isd,
1856, 8vo.).

Ezekiel ben Abraham Katzenellenbogen (Amster-
dam, 1750, 8vo. Second edition, Wilna, 1871).

Harris Hershfeld (Kansas City Times, Oct. 28th, 1888).
Isaac Beer Levinson (written 1859. marorn -ibd.
Warsaw, 1878).
Isaac Pinto (nana mi, 1844).
Israel Baalshem (nw mamm W'^n msm idd,
Zolkiev, 1820, 8vo.).
Israel ben Eleazar Lesnensis (Derenfort, 1694).

1 The testament of Akiba Eger I know only from the references in the
"U>K K2*py "\ nn^in, Berlin, 1862.

Jewish Ethical Wills. 483

Israel ben Gedaliah Luepschuetz (bNi2?> mssn,
1861, 8vo.).

Jacob Asheri ben w"vnr\ (ed. Schechter, Pressburg,
1885, 8vo.).

Jacob of Lissa (published in some Siddurim ?).

Joel ben Abraham Shemariah (Wilna ? 1800 ? 8vo.).

Jonah Land-Sofer of Prague (in the cmta -pi, F.
o/M., 1717, 32mo., by Abraham ben Reuben Deutz. Also
in TTT'Xp ^»13).

Joseph Ibn Caspi (noian ~isd, in Eleazar Ashkenazis
COpt DVB, F. o/M., 1854, 8vo.).

Judah Asheri (ben u?"«nn. See Jacob Asheri).

Judah Chasid (see Cat. Bodl., column 1323).

Judah ben Saul Ibn Tibbon (ed. Steinschneideiy Berlin,
1852, 8vo.; and Edelmann, London, Qvyitfi "p*T. This is not
the same work as mentioned above).

Judah (Don) de Alba de Tormes (1410, Amador de los
Eios, vol. II., 615-7).

Juif (Testament d'un Juif de la Ville de Carpentras.
Modern Provencal French).

Leb NordeN. The MS. o£ this rw»2 is in the library
of the Beth Hamidrash, London.

Masus ben Judah Loeb (1800 ? 4to.).

Meir, bti^O (MS. Breslau Seminary, No. 16).

Moses (Chasid) of Prague (D'oia -pi, 1717, and partly
as -ID1E mas, 1720. Also in Siddurim).

Moses Maimonedes (see Judah Ibn Tibbon. The First
edition, which does not contain the first portions, Venice,,
1544, 8vo.).

Moses Nachmanides (]"asnn bss mas in :am TnsmaD,.
by Elijah ben Moses de Vides, 1623, 8vo. Also with Elijah
Wilna, q.v. ; and in Siddurim C^nn "pT).

Moses ben Samuel Sofer, nt»» nwis -.2D, Vienna,
1863, Svo. , Ungvar, 1864).

Naphtali ben Isaac Cohen (8vo., 1719? Berlin,
1729, 12mo., Frankfort o/Oder, 1750? Wilna, 1803;
Warsaw, 1878).

484 The Jewish Quarterly Review.

Nathaniel Trabotti (Berliner-Hoffmann, Magazin, Ber-
lin, 1887; IV., 11-22).

Sabbatai (Sheftel) Hurwitz (Frankfort o/Oder, 1690,
8vo. Also with S31« jnbw, 1783).

Samuel ben Abraham Aboab (Ghirondi, >bl*ra rvnVin

Saul ben Zevi Hirschel (written 1794, published in
Orient, 1844, p. 712).

Solomon Alami (no in maw, Jellinek, Leipzig, 1854;
Vienna, 1872).

Solomon Heine (nana rm. See Isaac Pinto).

Solomon, son of the Martyr Isaac ben Zadok (MS. Stein-
schneider, Cat. Heb. MSS. in Lug. Batav. Warn., 59[3]).

Solomon Kluger (pm \\ah, together with pn'oa >nvw,
Ungvar, 4to., 1870).

Selke Lichtenstadt (mi2T lain, "Wilmersdorf, 1719,
Svo.). 1

1 Jacob Emden, Chacham Zevi, and one or two others I know, wrote
rVlNIIX, but I have no information as to publication. The testament of
Phineas Katzenellenbogen (Bodl. Cat., Neubauer 2315), hardly belongs to
this series.