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Page 7
Polyglots they were compelled to be by force of circumstances. When the
exotic Judeo-German finally asserted itself as the vernacular, the
language in which they wrote and prayed was still the ancient Hebrew,
with which every one was familiar, and commercial intercourse with their
Gentile neighbors was hardly feasible without at least a smattering of
the local Slavonic dialect. "Look at our brethren in Poland," exclaims
Wessely many years later in his address to his countrymen. "They
converse with their neighbors in good Polish.... What excuse have we for
our brogue and jargon?" He might have had still better cause for
complaint, had he been aware that the Yiddish of the Russo-Polish Jews,
despite its considerable Slavonic admixture, was purer German than that
of his contemporaries in Germany, even as the English of our New England
colonies was superior to the Grub Street style prevalent in Dr.
Johnson's England, and the Spanish of our Mexican annexations to the
Castilian spoken at the time of Coronado. But we are here concerned with
their knowledge of foreign languages. We shall refer only to the
Hebrew-German-Italian-Latin-French dictionary _Safah Berurah_ (Prague,
1660; Amsterdam, 1701) by the eminent Talmudist Nathan Hannover.[33]
In medicine Jews were pre-eminent in the Slavonic countries, as they
were everywhere else. They were in great demand as court physicians,
though several had to pay with their lives "for having failed to effect
cures." Doctor Leo, who was at the court of Moscow in 1490, was
mentioned above. Jacob Isaac, the "nobleman of Jerusalem" (Yerosalimska
shlyakhta), was attached to the court of Sigismund, where he was held in
high esteem. Prince Radziwill's physician was Itshe Nisanovich, and
among those in attendance on John Sobieski were Jonas Casal and Abraham
Troki, the latter the author of several works on medicine and natural
philosophy.[34]
Medieval Jewish physicians were prone to travel, and those of
Russo-Poland were no exception. We find them in almost every part of the
civilized world, and their number increases with the disappearance of
prejudice. Some were noted Talmudists, such as Solomon Luria and Samuel
ben Mattathias. Abraham Ashkenazi Apotheker was not only a compounder of
herbs but a healer of souls, for the edification of which he wrote his
_Elixir of Life_ (_Sam Hayyim_, Prague, 1590). To the same class belong
Moses Katzenellenbogen and his son Hayyim, who was styled Gaon. In 1657
Hayyim visited Italy. He was welcomed by the prominent Jews of Mantua,
Modena, Venice, and Verona, but he preferred to continue the practice of
his profession in his home town Lublin.[35] Nor may we omit the names of
Stephen von Gaden and Moses Co�n, because of their high standing among
their colleagues and the honors conferred upon them for their
statesmanship. Stephen von Gaden, who with Samuel Collins was
physician-in-ordinary to Czar Aleksey Mikhailovich, was instrumental in
removing many disabilities from the Jews of Moscow and in the interior
of Russia. Moses Co�n, in consequence of the Cossack uprising, escaped
to Moldavia, and was made court physician by the hospodar Vassile Lupu.
But for Co�n, Lupu would have been dethroned by those who conspired
against him. To his loyalty may probably be attributed the kind
treatment Moldavian Jews later enjoyed at the hands of the prince. Co�n
also exposed the secret alliance between Russia and Sweden against
Turkey, and his advice was sought by the doge of Venice.[36]
The personage who typifies best the enlightened Slavonic Jew of the
pre-Haskalah period is Tobias Cohn (1652-1729). He was the son and
grandson of physicians, who practiced at Kamenetz-Podolsk and Byelsk,
and after 1648 went to Metz. After their father's death, he and his
older brother returned to Poland, whence Tobias, in turn, emigrated
first to Italy and then to Turkey. In Adrianople he was
physician-in-ordinary to five successive sultans. In the history of
medicine he is remembered as the discoverer of the _plica polonica_, and
as the publisher of a Materia Medica in three languages. To the student
of Haskalah he is interesting, because he marks the close of the old and
the beginning of the new era. Like the Maskilim of a century or two
centuries later, he compiled and edited an encyclopedia in Hebrew, that
"knowledge be increased among his coreligionists." His acquaintance with
learned works in several ancient and modern languages of which he was
master, enabled him to write his magnum opus, _Ma'aseh Tobiah_, with
tolerable ease. This work is divided into eight parts, devoted
respectively to theology, astronomy, pharmacy, hygiene, venereal
diseases, botany, cosmography, and chemistry. It is illustrated with
several plates, among them the picture of an astrolabe and one of the
human body treated as a house. From the numerous editions through which
it passed (Venice, 1707, 1715, 1728, 1769), we may conclude that it met
with marked success.[37]
* * * * *
To understand the _raison d'�tre_ of the Haskalah movement, it may not
be superfluous to cast a glance at the inner social and religious life
of the Slavonic Jews during pre-Haskalah times. The labors of the farmer
are crowned with success only when nature lends him a helping hand. His
soil must be fertile, and blessed with frequent showers. Nor would the
Maskilim have accomplished their aim, had the material they found at
hand been different from what it was.
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