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Page 5
That the Russian Jews of the day were not altogether unenlightened, that
they not only practiced the Law devoutly, but also studied it
diligently, and cultivated the learning of the time as well, we may
safely infer from researches recently made. Cyril, or Constantine, "the
philosopher," the apostle to the Slavonians, acquired a knowledge of
Hebrew while at Kherson, and was probably aided by Jews in his
translation of the Bible into Slavonic. Manuscripts of Russo-Jewish
commentaries to the Scriptures, written as early as 1094 and 1124, are
still preserved in the Vatican and Bodleian libraries, and copyists were
doing fairly good work at Azov in 1274.
Jewish scholars frequented celebrated seats of learning in foreign
lands. Before the end of the twelfth century traces of them are to be
found in France, Italy, and Spain. That in the eleventh century Judah
Halevi of Toledo and Nathan of Rome should have been familiar with
Russian words cannot but be attributed to their contact with Russian
Jews. However, in the case of these two scholars, it may possibly be
ascribed to their great erudition or extensive travels. But the many
Slavonic expressions occurring in the commentaries of Rashi (1040-1105),
and employed by Joseph Caro (ab. 1140), Benjamin of Tudela (ab. 1160),
and Isaac of Vienna (ab. 1250), lend color to Harkavy's contention, that
Russian was once the vernacular of the Russian Jews, and they also argue
in favor of our contention, that these natives of the "land of
Canaan"--as the country of the Slavs was then called in Hebrew--came
into personal touch with the "lights and leaders" of other Jewish
communities. Indeed, Rabbi Moses of Kiev is mentioned as one of the
pupils of Jacob Tam, the Tosafist of France (d. 1170), and Asheri, or
Rosh, of Spain is reported to have had among his pupils Rabbi Asher and
Master (Bahur) Jonathan from Russia. From these peripatetic scholars
perhaps came the martyrs of 1270, referred to in the _Memorbuch_ of
Mayence. It was Rabbi Moses who, while still in Russia, corresponded
with Samuel ben Ali, head of the Babylonian Academy, and called the
attention of Western scholars to certain Gaonic decisions. Another
rabbi, Isaac, or Itshke, of Chernigov, was probably the first Talmudist
in England, and his decisions were regarded as authoritative on certain
occasions. These and others like them wrote super-commentaries on the
commentaries of Rashi and Ibn Ezra, the most popular and profound
scholars medieval Jewry produced, and made copies of the works of other
authors.[18]
Soon the Russo-Polish Jews established at home what they had been
compelled to seek abroad. Hearing of the advantages offered in the great
North-East, German Jews flocked thither in such numbers as to dominate
and absorb the original Russians and Poles. A new element asserted
itself. Names like Ashkenazi, Heilperin, Hurwitz, Landau, Luria,
Margolis, Schapiro, Weil, Zarfati, etc., variously spelled, took the
place, through intermarriage and by adoption, of the ancient Slavonic
nomenclature. The language, manners, modes of thought, and, to a certain
extent, even the physiognomy of the earlier settlers, underwent a more
or less radical change. In some provinces the conflict lasted longer
than in others. To this day not a few Russian Jews would seem to be of
Slavonic rather than Semitic extraction. As late as the sixteenth
century there was still a demand in certain places for a Russian
translation of the Hebrew Book of Common Prayer, and in 1635 Rabbi Me�r
Ashkenazi, who came from Frankfort-on-the-Main to study in Lublin, and
was retained as rabbi in Mohilev-on-the-Dnieper, had cause to exclaim,
"Would to God that our coreligionists all spoke the same
language--German."[19] Even Maimon, in the latter half of the eighteenth
century, mentions one, by no means an exception, who did not "understand
the Jewish language, and made use, therefore, of the Russian."[20] But
by the middle of the seventeenth century the amalgamation was almost
complete. It resulted in a product entirely new. As the invasion of
England by the Normans produced the Anglo-Saxon, so the inundation of
Russia by the Germans produced the Slav-Teuton. This is the clue to the
study of the Haskalah, as will appear from what follows.
Russo-Poland gradually became the cynosure of the Talmudic world, the
"Aksanye shel Torah," the asylum of the Law, whence "enlargement and
deliverance" arose for the traditions which the Jews carried with them,
through fire and water, during the dreary centuries of their dispersion.
It became to Jews what Athens was to ancient Greece, Rome to medieval
Christendom, New England to our early colonies. With the invention and
importation of the printing-press, the publication and acquisition of
the Bible, the Talmud, and most of the important rabbinic works were
facilitated. As a consequence, yeshibot, or colleges, for the study of
Jewish literature, were founded in almost every community. Their fame
reached distant lands. It became a popular saying that "from Kiev shall
go forth the Law, and the word of God from Starodub." Horodno, the
vulgar pronunciation of Grodno, was construed to mean Har Adona�, "the
Mount of the Lord." A pious rabbi did not hesitate to write to a
colleague, "Be it known to the high honor of your glory that it is
preferable by far to dwell in the land of the Russ and promote the study
of the Torah in Israel than in the land of Israel."[21] Especially the
part of Poland ultimately swallowed up by Russia was the new Palestine
of the Diaspora. Thither flocked all desirous of becoming adepts in the
dialectics of the rabbis, "of learning how to swim in the sea of the
Talmud." It was there that the voluminous works of Hebrew literature
were studied, literally "by day and by night," and the subtleties of the
Talmudists were developed to a degree unprecedented in Jewish history.
Thither was sent, from the distant Netherlands, the youngest son of
Manasseh ben Israel, and he "became mighty in the Talmud and master of
four languages." Thither came, from Prague, the afterwards famous
Cabbalist, author, and rabbi, Isaiah Horowitz (ab. 1555-1630), and there
he chose to remain the rest of his days. Thither also went, from
Frankfort, the above-mentioned Me�r Ashkenazi, who, according to some,
was the first author of note in White Russia.
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