self examine its contents, and partly that his judges might acquaint themselves with the grounds of legal decisions among the Jews. The task was accomplished by Joseph to the sovereign's satisfaction. In this way the Spanish Jews became inde pendent of foreign influence; and they were wont to take a natural pride in the possession of this venerated monument of the piety and erudition of their forefathers, in addition to the literary knowledge of their Arab neighbors, which they also strove to make their own. This honest pride was one of the principal characteristics of the Jews of the Peninsula; and it afterwards caused them to be distinguished, even under the most dreadful reverses, by an independence of spirit, a strictness of principle, and an ardor in literary pursuits, not possessed by the rest of their brethren in exile.

After the death of Moses and Chasdai, the Jewish community in Spain became separated into two parties, on the occasion of electing a spiritual head; one of them supporting the claims of Moses' son, Enoch, and the other those of Joseph Stanas, who, in consequence of his proficiency both in rabbinic and Arabic literature, considered himself entitled to the highest office in the gift of his people. After a long dispute, Enoch was proclaimed elected; and as Joseph Stanas still persevered in his opposition, sentence of excommunication was pronounced against him. Two brothers, silk manufacturers, named Jacob and Joseph Gav, who continued to exert themselves in his cause, succeeded by means of rich presents in gaining the favor of King Hashem. Jacob Gav was in consequence appointed secular chief of the Jews and successor to Chasdai. He immediately ordered Enoch to cease the exercise of his official functions, and authorized Joseph Stanas to fill his place. The latter, however, refused to accept the appointment, holding it unworthy of him to get the better of his opponent by such intrigues. Jacob, falling soon after under the king's displeasure, offered no further molestation to Enoch, who performed the duties of his office for fifteen years in a praiseworthy manner. At the expiration of this period (1015), he was accidentally killed by the falling in of the roof of the synagogue at the feast of tabernacles. Joseph Stanas died in obscurity at Damascus.

The next who distinguished himself, after Enoch, was Samuel Hallevi of Malaga, who resided in Grenada, and enjoyed the title of Prince (). He was the first who undertook to systematize the materials of which the Talmud is composed.

His Introduction to the Talmud* shows him to have been a man possessed of clear and liberal views. He divided the Talmud into two parts, the Mishnah and the Gemara. The former comprises the traditions said to have been handed down from Moses himself; and this he subdivided into two parts, consisting of 1, the code of laws embraced in these traditions; and 2, the decisions of the learned on the minute points that had arisen for discussion in the lapse of ages. The second part includes later additions as well as tracts on legal topics of every kind; these Enoch considered as mere comments on obscure points, and consequently as of no authority except in so far as they agree with the dictates of reason and common sense. A still more important labor of this diligent scholar is his enumeration and classification of the various modes in which the Talmudic discussions are conducted; by means of which one is easily enabled to determine the principles on which the conclusions of the Talmud are arrived at. He wrote moreover a Hebrew Grammar and likewise some poetry; in addition to which he kept up a constant correspondence with Hai Gaon in Palestine, whose decisions he held in great respect. His death took place between the years 1050 and 1060.

Samuel was succeeded in his office by his son Joseph, a man equally conspicuous for natural abilities, but possessed of a stern, unbending character, which created general dissatisfaction; and notwithstanding his acknowledged generosity, he is also deeply censured by the rabbies. After being eight years in office, he was massacred or executed, in company with fifteen hundred Jews of respectability, for some cause or causes now unknown. Upon this dreadful catastrophe, the synagogue in Grenada was dissolved; and every Jew left the city, and sought a shelter elsewhere. Among the fugitives were two sons of Hiskiah, the Resh Glutha of Babylon, who had met in Spain with a kind reception on the part of Joseph. The latter's wife took refuge in Lucena, where a number of rabbies were collected together, and among them several of Joseph's friends and pupils. One of these, the rich and learned Isaac ben Geath, was at the head of the assembly. He, being under many obligations to his deceased friend, offered to confer the office of

* 12 12 printed in the first tract of the Talmud, and separately published with a Latin translation by Basel Nuysen, under the title of "Clavis Talmudica maxima," Hanau, 1714.

chief rabbi on Joseph's son, Assariah; but as the latter died shortly after his arrival there, Isaac was constrained to take it himself. Isaac ben Moses ben Sakhne, another of Joseph's pupils, taught at Deria; but, undertaking a journey to Hai Gaon, he surrendered his place, which was supplied by Isaac ben Reuben of Barcelona. All these, and especially the last, distinguished themselves by their Hebrew poetical productions. A still greater man was Isaac ben Jacob ben Baruch, of the family of Albaliah, a pupil of Samuel and Joseph, and who formed a collection of their writings. He was in the service of Abulcastem ibn Abad Almuhamed, king of Seville, and was his councillor and astrologer, besides being in high repute with his own people as a learned rabbi and poet.

These men, however, were all cast into the shade by the celebrated Isaac ben Jacob of Kaleth Hamam in Fez, called also Isaac Alfez, who, on coming to Spain, went first to Seville, then to Cordova, and finally settled in Lucena, where the above mentioned Judah ben Geath had just died. He was an admirable scholar and a man of a noble and generous disposition. His principal work, the Halachoth,* has given him an undying reputation. It consists of extracts of such parts of the Talmud as were still applicable (omitting the treatises on agriculture, on sacrifices, on cleanness and uncleanness, etc., now become obsolete), arranged in a more scientific order, and accompanied by a commentary. This collection, from the facility of reference afforded by its arrangement, was of singular utility to the rabbies; while the elucidatory remarks accompanying it, formed a contribution to Jewish literature of no small value. The judicious critique, with which Zechariah Hallevi enriched it, contributed to render it still more popular. Alfez died in his ninetieth year (1163) universally lamented. The school at Lucena was maintained in a flourishing state after his decease, by his two favorite pupils, Joseph ben Megas and Baruch ben Albalial; the former of whom was celebrated chiefly as a Talmudist, and the latter as a philologist and philosopher.

We will now revert to Chushiel, another of the four rabbies captured by the pirate, and who was taken to Cairwan, where he obtained the post of chief rabbi. This gives us occasion to mention his celebrated son and pupil, Chananel, ben Chushiel,†

* The principal editions are those of Constantinople, 1599, 3 vols. fol.; Cracow, 1597; Amsterdam, 1720; Sulzbach, 1764. † His life is given by Rapoport, entitled bibin.

quar

who succeeded him in his office. He was born in the last ter of the tenth century, and died 1050; hence he was a contemporary of Hai Gaon, Resh Glutha of Babylon, with whom he maintained a correspondence. Although the situation in which he was placed was far from giving him the extensive influence which Hai enjoyed, he much excelled the latter in the amount and value of his literary labors. He composed a commentary on the Pentateuch, which is characterized by a simple and sound style of exegesis, that favorably contrasts with the tendency of similar productions in his day. The independent and philosophic cast of his mind is shown to great advantage in his Talmudic writings. He was the first who composed a distinct work for the elucidation of the Talmud; this he conducted on a plan similar to that afterwards pursued by Isaac Alfez in his commentary. The author declares it as his opinion, that all such Talmudic narrations, as do not admit a natural and reasonable explanation, are to be regarded as mere allegories; and that prophetic visions, giving anthropomorphite views of the Deity, are simply the result of the writers' limited human conceptions. This was an important step; since the literal truth of these legends had hitherto been held indisputable; and the only mode of dealing with them had been either to modify them in part, so as to render them somewhat conformable to reason, or else to neglect them altogether. His ideas did not meet with a favorable reception from the learned of his own age; but in the subsequent one, they were held in the greatest esteem,—so much so that they were followed to a great extent by Isaac Alfez in composing the Halachoth, which, on account of its conciseness and the more favorable position of its author in the literary and influential community of Spain, soon surpassed the work of Isaac in popularity.

Contemporary with Chananel was Nissim ben Jacob; his father Jacob ben Nissim was chief rabbi in Cairwan before Chushiel, by whom he was succeeded. Chushiel and his son Chananel did not spring from the Arabico-rabbinical school, but first became acquainted with it during their stay in Africa. The case was different with Jacob and his son Nissim. The former had already composed a philosophical commentary on the Talmudic writings, as also on the tracts of Rabbi Eleizer (17), and on the book Jezirah.* The latter composed

* This book, which has not been translated into Hebrew, is to be published for the first time in the original Arabic in

a number of works, in which he endeavored to reconcile the discrepancies of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. He was accustomed to write either in a mixture of rabbinical Hebrew and Arabic, or else in pure Arabic. His ethical work alone, which contains a number of Talmudic and Medrashic moral tales, has been translated into Hebrew, and published several times. He enjoyed great esteem and popularity in his day, so much so that he was honored with the title of Gaon, which however he would not consent to bear. He forms the connecting link between Hai Gaon and Samuel Hannasi.

All the writings of this period, although tinged with the more liberal and enlightened principles that were beginning to prevail, exhibit a profound reverence for the traditions contained in the Talmud. This respect for tradition was accompanied by a deep-seated feeling of piety, and by that devoted resignation to the will of God, which results from a full sense of his power and of human frailty and insignificance. But although this excessive self-abasement, originating in the holiest sentiments of our nature, has produced many misguided actions among the votaries of other religions, causing men to desert the sphere of activity allotted them, and convert themselves into monks, hermits and santons of the desert, it had but little effect on the outward conduct of the Jews, notwithstanding the oppressed and humbled condition in which they so long remained. Indeed there are but few of their writings in which any tendency of this sort appears; one such is the ethical work of Bechai ben Joseph, called the Duties of the Heart (l), originally written in Arabic, and translated into Hebrew by Abram ben ChasThe Duties of the Heart are so termed by him in contradistinction to those of the body; by the former he understands purity of thought and feeling, and by the latter the observance of commandments. He bitterly complained that no book had yet been written to inculcate those duties of the heart which form the true basis and essence of a pious life. "Heretofore," he says, " the sole endeavor has been to explain the most trifling observances enjoined by the law, and to find out decisions applicable to the most unusual and improbable occurrences; while those things in which true piety and morality mainly consist, have been utterly neglected.” He

חבת הלבבות dai, under the title of

the promised Arabico-rabbinical Chrestomathy of M. Munk of Paris. 15

SECOND SERIES, VOL. VI. NO. I.