The Jews have, on past occasions, liked to refer to themselves as the People of the Book, that is, of the Bible. Yet it might be almost as true (if not as theologically significant) to say that they have been the people of books, for it is doubtful if book learning has elsewhere been as widespread and as highly prized-prized sometimes, indeed, so highly as to become a subject for caricature in our day. But it was in no satirical mood that Simone Luzzatto wrote of Learning Among the Hebrews: he was both too learned and too Hebraic.
Rabbi Simone ben Isaac Luzzatto (1583-1663) was born, lived, and died in Venice, where he sat on the rabbinical collegium. A humanistic rabbi of the Renaissance, he championed Maimonides against the Cabala, wrote an Italian treatise on the compatibility of science with faith, as well as the book Discorso circa il stato degli Ehrei (“Discourse on the Situation of the Hebrews”), from which this selection, somewhat condensed from the original, is taken. The “Discourse” is a work of apologetics, of a rational rather than theological order, distinguished by its clarity, frankness, and fine prose style. Previous chapters from this volume appeared in the April and May 1947 issues of COMMENTRY.
The translation, the first into English, is by Felix Giovanelli.—ED.
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Consideration XVI
Of the zeal for learning and the several classes of Doctors amongst the Hebrews
Whatsoever People and nation dedicated its memory to sempiternity, aspired thereto by Arms or Learning. The Greeks immortalized themselves by inventing the most noble Arts and Sciences, and the Romans by Triumphs and Empires.
As long as it was protected by Divine favor, the Hebrew Nation was celebrated for both Arms and Learning amongst all the peoples coeval with it. As for the handling of Arms, famous are the accounts unfolded in Holy Writ and the narrations of Josephus the Hebrew [Flavius Josephus]. It is noteworthy that even at the time they had fallen from Divine favor and sunk to the nadir of their Dominion, they were still capable of great valor and magnificent energy, after the manner of fire which at the very moment of its extinction redoubles its light and splendor. The human kind had already been subjugated by the Roman power, save that part of it which the intractability of the heavens [the climate], the sterility of the terrain, and hostility of the sea defended from so vexatious an oppression. Only the Hebrews, so insignificant compared to the multitude and number of other Peoples, took up arms to vindicate their liberty and defend their Religion; and willingly exposed their lives to slaughter. On which account such valiant Emperors as Vespasian and Titus, though able to draw upon the concourse of all men, fell often to doubting of their victory. Nor less famous and illustrious were the Hebrews in the exercise of letters and sciences, since by universal consent, to them is attributed the honor of having had the most lofty Doctrines; this, Eusebius shows most excellently in his Book of Preparation. And Holy Writ more often glorifies the Nation for its Wisdom than for its martial qualities.
But once constrained by Divine decree, they were subjugated by the Romans, their Temple was destroyed, their City invaded, Religion oppressed, the People captured and dispersed. They lost every vestige of martial glory and their spirit was crushed and abased. Not only this, but every intellectual light within them was extinguished and a shadow fell over the splendor of their erudition, since the virtues demand to be accompanied and nourished by ease and the comforts of life.
This proved an even greater disaster and calamity than military defeat. Though the decay of martial glory occasions subjection, it does not follow in the least that the honor and glory of a people is thereby lost, for all its being subject to another. Rare are the Cities with absolute power, infinite those which made subject have yet been resplendent in the radiation of their virtues. Though submissive to the Romans, Greece was most celebrated, as long as Learning flourished. So much so that it shaped at will those who were to impose their laws upon her. On which account it became a nice question whether the Romans had conquered the Greeks (by violence and Domination), or whether the latter had conquered the former, since they bent and configured them in their own image by infusing in them their Learning and ideas, and stamping them with their customs. But in the sequel, when they [the Greeks] were overrun by barbarians destitute of sciences and liberal arts, they sank before the eyes of the world into oblivion. Wars and Victories unenhanced by the Praises and Encomiums of Poets are but vain noise and tumult; but Letters and Learning look to eternity.
With the fall of their Empire and in the course of their long and miserable dispersion, the Hebrews would have been plunged into ignorance, had not the need to understand Holy Writ, so laden with hidden Doctrines, spurred them to some application of intelligence and curious knowledge. And it is noteworthy that just as Zeal for their own Religion withheld them from an employment of certain humanist disciplines out of fear that a dissolute curiosity should lead them to erroneous opinions or evil affirmations, so did this self-same Zeal and feeling induce them not to abandon learning altogether, that they might be rendered capable of formulating Articles of faith and pursuing Scriptural exegesis.
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But to say something of the Literary pursuits of the Hebrews in that vast space of time which the Nation hath been captive but during which not every scintilla of Learning had been extinguished, be it known that three are the main Classes into which can be reduced their studies centering round Sacred writings.
First are the Rabbis and Talmudists; second, Philosophizing Theologians; and third, Cabalists and other professors of Arcana. Amongst Hebrew Rabbis are those who ascribe unto themselves the possession of traditions governing the observance and performance of the Rituals contained in the Law. Over a long span of years, these traditions had been orally transmitted, from the time of the Legislator [Moses] to the age of Antoninus the Emperor. In the latter’s time, Aphorisms and Treatises were set down by one Rabbi Judah, a man of great renown. Rabbis claim the Scriptures to be obscure and succinct, wherefore it is impossible that, by human conjecture, its true and germane purport can be divined; hence, it is not credible that so prudent a Legislator [as Moses] should relinquish so hazardous an enterprise to the arbitrament and placid temerity of each and all; rather is it reasonable to suppose that he had revealed its exposition to those most familiar to him, and hence most elect, thus assuring in every time its successive communication to posterity.
For example, when the Scripture establishes that the Holy Feast of the Sabbath is to begin at Sundown of the sixth day of work, it does not declare from what Horizon of the Earth must Sundown be reckoned; the Horizons of the earth being infinite, we are left in ignorance as to the literal meaning of the Scripture, as to which place must be the first to Solemnize the Feast Day and which must be next. Moreover, it assigns the observance of certain Feasts to specified days of the month and certain seasons of the Year, though not explaining whether the month is to be computed from the moment of the Moon’s emergence from a certain position in the Zodiac to its return to that position (denominated by the Astrologers one periodic cycle); or whether from the conjunction of the Moon with the Sun to the conjunction following; or, further, from the Moon’s appearance (after having extricated itself from the solar rays) to the second appearance (after having completely lost its illumination by reason of its conjunction with the Sun).
Thus do Rabbis sustain it to be reasonable to suppose that Moses had designed to anticipate all scruples and doubts by means of an Oral Tradition. Circumcision itself, so solemn a Ritual of the Jews, was never clearly explained in the Scriptures, e.g., what member or part of our body was to be affected? For even Ears have been called uncircumcised by the Prophets. Jeremiah says: Ecce incircuncisae aures eorum, et audire non yossunt (Behold their uncircumcised ears; they cannot hear). Like citations could be drawn elsewhere. Wherefore it is credible that the Rite had been consigned to tradition and custom.
It can be further adduced in their [the Rabbis&39;] favor that the Hebrew Language, which is wanting written vowels, had also been without vowel points (which serve in the stead of vowels) for thousands of Years, from the time of Moses Legislator till after the time of the Most Learned Translator of the Scripture, who according to his own testimony, pursued his labors without resorting to vowel points. It must needs be confessed that over a long space of time, tradition insured the correct and irreproachable reading of Holy Writ.
Many other reasons are advanced by the Rabbis in question, but I wish to tarry no longer at this point. Unto these Doctors, the Hebrews have, universally, in every time and place, lent punctual assent in whatsoever pertained to the performance of Rituals and the execution of Precepts, and especially of ceremonials. Since these last are open and visible observances that have undergone no alteration through a variety of periods, the Jews believe in all faith that these self-same Rabbis have brought away and transmitted what they had actually seen performed by their elders, deeming them loyal and veracious reporters and narrators of the things of Antiquity.
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Next is the second Class, the Scholarly Theologians, or Philosophizing Ones, as we are fain to style them. They have been those who, coupling human reason with the authority of the Divine Word, have attempted to expound the Scriptures while preserving a harmonious concert between reason and authority. Amongst these may be named two very illustrious men who flourished amidst the Nation at a time when some vestige of liberty clung to it.
The first was Philo of Alexandria, who lived before the destruction of Jerusalem, in the reign of Caius Caligula, to whose court he was named Ambassador by the Hebrews. An account of his Legateship has come down to us; and Josephus, in the sixth book of his De Bello Judaico [Of the Jewish War] makes honorable mention of him, not only as a man of surpassing erudition in the Greek tongue, but of incomparable wisdom both Human and Divine. In expounding Holy Writ, he was inclined in the Allegorical Mode; though he joined to Allegory philosophic, natural, moral, and political concepts. His method of explication was that followed by Origen, amongst Christians the most learned, and likewise an Alexandrine. It is not to be believed that he [Philo] utterly abandoned the literal and Historical sense, but rather that he did this in order to entice and seduce the minds of the Greeks, to whom his efforts were addressed. For that reason he availed himself of the Translation of the Seventy [the Septuagint] rather than of the Hebrew Text, notwithstanding that that translation deviated some from the Hebrew. This he did to adjust and conform himself to the humor of the Greeks. His works, though they were translated from the Greek into the Latin, have never been rendered into the Hebrew language. Had he applied his efforts to teaching the Hebrews rather than to converting the Greeks, he would no doubt have garnered a greater harvest from his labors; and finding his people already disposed to an apprehension of his doctrines, he would have honored the Nation more, and would have obtained greater applause than he found amongst the Greeks.
The second great Author was Josephus Sacerdotus [Flavius Josephus], that renowned and most prudent Historian, who in the books entitled The Jewish Antiquities, shed not a few lights upon many Scriptural passages; his works were also published in the Greek Language.
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Aside from these two illustrious men there are no others of our Nation who have left behind them monuments in the Greek or Latin languages. But when Learning had passed into the Arab Nation after the decline of the Roman Empire, many of the [Hebrew] Nation composed books of various sciences in the Arabic Language. Amongst the most ancient of them to come to mind is Rabbi Saadia, who thrived eight hundred years ago and was styled Excellentissimus. He enriched us with a most learned book on the Articles of the Faith. All those Hebrews who followed in his wake for the next five hundred years or thereabouts also composed their books in the Arabic and Agarene languages; which books have since been lost, by reason of the passing of time and the decline of the Arab Empire.
Preeminent amongst the learned of that time was Rabbi Moses [Maimonides] of Cordova, a Spaniard, but by Residence an Egyptian. He was coeval with Averroës the Commentator; and by the excellence of his Learning, by his universality in all sciences, he hath been reputed amongst the greatest men ever to flourish in the Nation. Amongst many books that he has left us, he composed a Theological work [Guide to the Perplexed], which is authoritatively cited on more than one occasion by the greatest and most eminent Theologians of Christendom. It was translated and printed in the Latin language and is replete with the highest learning; in it are expounded the most important dogmas of the Hebrew belief.
For brevity’s sake, I shall not enumerate other conspicuous doctors of this second Class. To these Doctors aforementioned do Hebrews bow in opinions and dogmas appertaining to the Articles of their Religion, as well as in matters of deportment in human society and civil life amidst any nation or people. For, if Rabbis [the first Class] have in such and such a wise laid down rules no longer adaptable to the present state of things, they [the Doctors of the second Class] say that such ought not to be observed as an immutable and eternal law, holding that the Rabbis had written as befitted the state and conditions of those peoples amidst whom they had been dispersed. They deem them to be incorruptible Reporters of ceremonial observances, not Prophetic Legislators for all posterity, especially in what concerns human affairs that are subject to contingency and diversity and dependent on an infinitude of circumstances. And their civil law is not constitutive and imperative, for they themselves have taught us that any pact and voluntary constitution or convention in civil matters supersedes all previous ones. Though the Hebrews do much depend upon the Doctors of this second Class, they do not fail, nevertheless, to reduce their dicta and pronouncements to conformity with Doctrines commonly embraced.
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Next are the Cabalists, the Third order of Hebrew Doctors. Their doctrine, though receiving the plaudits of some part of the Nation, does not oblige them to any acceptance thereof. Especially is it well received in Levantine parts and Poland.
“Cabal” signifies properly that which is received; and the word is to be related to him who learns from a master, just as the word “tradition” has to do with him who teaches and inculcates the Doctrine. The Cabalists say, therefore, that just as the tradition for the observance of Rituals was consigned to Rabbis, so was the hidden interpretation of the Scriptures delivered to the Cabalists.
Their Doctrine is divisible into two principal parts. One, which can well be called practical, concerns itself with certain extravagant combination of Letters, calculations of numbers, figures of Hebrew characters; even the apex of an alphabetical letter is scrutinized by them with marvelous attention. In these endeavors, the Cabalists exercise themselves chiefly upon the names of the Deity. There is another part, more theoretical and scientific, which considers the dependence of the corporeal world upon the spiritual, the bodies of things and their Archetypes. They hold that there subsist a number of seminal principles and origins of all sensible things, which are like to continuous founts; and, in the manner of aqueducts and canals, divert into things the efflux of Divine power and energy destined for this, our corporeal world. They enumerate ten fundamental principles that are applied to such functions. The Pythagoreans also had recourse to this number in the determination of their principles, but these were doubled in consequence of their distinct [or differentiating] principle of good and bad.
The principles of the Cabalists resemble in part the Ideas of Plato. But in my judgment the Cabalists were led to introduce them for divers reasons. Plato followed the notion of Heraclitus, Cratylus, and Protagoras, who held the All, which we feel and apprehend, to be continual movement and flux, wherefore, we have cognitions only of motion and relation, and we come to know only our internal passions and commotion.
But the Cabalists, basing their thought on tradition, make a further addition, in order to lend it greater probability. They observed that all worldly things are closely related by short and distinct gradations. The elements, for example, are annexed to each other, as hath been shown by Aristotle in his Book De Coelo et Mundo; thus, between stones and metals intervene mineral substances; and amongst metals, Nature does not pass over immediately from lead to gold, but there intervenes between them a diversity of metals that ascend by gradations to the value of gold. Similarly, Coral comes after minerals and before vegetables.
All other things are distinguished by subordination and do not admit of abrupt transitions; rather are they bound and conjoined in a gentle progression. Thus, according to the Cabalists, in the passage from the infinite, which is One, immutable, and incorporeal, to what is finite, multiple, variable, and corporeal, there must mediate certain essences, which, in part, by their spirituality and excellence have some correspondence with God; and by their dependency and created quality similarly partake sympathetically of worldly creation.
These essences are the Ideas of the Cabalists, differing amongst themselves according as their purposes differ-some of these Ideas looking to rigorous justice, others to piety, and still others to a clemency. These essences differ from the Angels in that the latter have as function contemplation and the execution of Divine commands, even assuming a corporal guise under which they appear before men.
Then, in addition, the Cabalists posit an essence between body and soul, by means of which the soul is made capable of passions and feelings; this essence they suppose to be a spirit of most tenuous body corresponding to the vehicles that Platonists assert. And they hold that, after the passing of the Body, this essence mingles with the Air, where it suffers the afflictive pains arising from errors committed in life.
The Pythagorean transmigration of souls was another opinion held by the Cabalists in question, though never by the Talmudists.
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This is what I have bethought me to say concerning the learning of Hebrews in matters of Holy Writ. As for their application to human sciences, not only are they under no ban, but they are enjoined by Legal precept to dedicate themselves to the contemplation of natural things, the end proposed being a probable recognition of God’s greatness. Even more do they deem themselves bound to address themselves to the study of Astronomy, both in virtue of the need to determine the Institution of Feast Days, and because that science is a kind of introduction to the apprehension of Divine power and wisdom; this last in conformity with the saying of the Psalmist: In coelis praeparabitur Veritas [or fides] tua in eis. That is, the heavens are the place and the means whereby God prepares the souls of men for faith; this, through a contemplation of their vastness, celerity of motion, constancy of periods, and immutability of cycles.
Of a truth, the Hebrews being in their present state of subjection and free only to give a scholarly employment to their minds, ought to apply themselves thereto single-mindedly and assiduously. And they ought to hold for a certainty that the unity of dogmas, the Princely protection with which they have been favored, and the self-preservation which through so long a course of time they have against so much oppression assured themselves, have, humanly speaking, been a consequence of the virtue and learning of some few of them, who had acquired credit and authority before Ruling sovereigns. Since they have no other means whereby to aspire to the favors and graciousness of the Powerful, they must take heed that, failing an appreciation of Letters and the esteem of the judicious, they stand on the brink of some notable declination and despised oppression greater than any they have ever suffered in the past.
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