He compiled a venomous book in two volumes, the title of which in itself was an invitation to Christians to massacre the Jews, and was synonymous with a repetition of earlier scenes of horror for the Jews.
"Judaism Unmasked; or a Thorough and True Account of the Way in which the Stubborn Jews frightfully blaspheme and dishonor the Holy Trinity, revile the Holy Mother of Christ, mockingly criticise the New Testament, the Evangelists, the Apostles, and the Christian Religion, and despise and curse to the Uttermost Extreme the whole of Christianity. Much else besides, either not at all or very little known, and Gross Errors of the Jewish Religion and Theology, as well as Ridiculous and Amusing Stories, herein appear. All proved from their own Books. Written for the Honest Information of all Christians."
Eisenmenger intended to hurl Wagenseil's "fiery darts of Satan" with deadly aim at the Jews. If he had merely quoted detached sentences from the Talmudical and later Rabbinical literature and anti-Christian writings, translated them, and drawn conclusions from them hostile to the Jews, he would only have proved his mental weakness. But Eisenmenger represented most horrible falsehoods, as Wagenseil had called them, as indisputable facts. He adduced a whole chapter of proofs showing that it was not lawful for Jews to save a Christian from danger to life, that the Rabbinical laws command the slaughter of Christians, and that no confidence should be placed in Jewish physicians, nor ought their medicines to be taken. He repeated all the false stories of murders committed by Jews against Christians, of the poisoning of wells by Jews at the time of the Black Death, of the poisoning of the elector of Brandenburg, Joachim II, by his Jewish mint-master, of Raphael Levi's child-murder at Metz—in short, all ever invented by saintly simplicity, priestly fraud, or excited fanaticism, and imputed to Jews. That the martyrdom of little Simon of Trent was a fabrication had been clearly proved by the doge and senate of Venice on authentic documents. Not only the Jewish writers Isaac Viva and Isaac Cardoso, but also Christians, like Wülfer and Wagenseil, recognized these documents as genuine, and represented the charge against the Jews of Trent as a crying injustice. Eisenmenger was not influenced by that, declared the documents to be forged, and maintained the bloodthirstiness of Jews with fiery zeal and energy. One would be justified in ascribing his proceedings against Jews to brutality or avarice. Although very learned in Hebrew, he was otherwise uncultured. He was willing to be bribed by solid coin into silence with regard to the Jews. But for the honor of humanity one would rather impute his course to blindness; he had lived a long time at Frankfort-on-the-Main, formerly the center of hatred to Jews in Germany, and he may there have imbibed his bitter animosity, and have wished, at first from conscientious motives, to blacken the character of the Jews.
Some Jews had got wind of the printing of Eisenmenger's work at Frankfort, and were not a little alarmed at the danger threatening them. The old prejudices of the masses and the ecclesiastics against Jews, stronger amongst Protestants than Catholics, still existed too strongly for a firebrand publication to appear in German without doing mischief wherever it came. The Jews of Frankfort therefore placed themselves in communication with the court-Jews at Vienna in order to meet the danger. Emperor Leopold I, who, at the instigation of the empress and her father-confessor, had expelled the Jews from Vienna, being in need of money in consequence of the Turkish wars, fifteen years later allowed some rich Jews to settle in the capital. Samuel Oppenheim, of Heidelberg, a banker, one of the noblest of Jews, whose heart and hand were open to all sufferers, had probably brought about this concession. As before, several Jewish families, alleged to be his servants, came with him to Vienna. Samuel Oppenheim zealously endeavored to prevent the circulation of Eisenmenger's book against the Jews. He had the same year experienced what a Christian rabble instigated by hatred of Jews could do. A riotous assault was made upon his house, which was broken into, and everything there, including the money-chest, was plundered (July 17, 1700). Hence from personal motives and on public grounds Samuel Oppenheim exerted himself to prevent the 2,000 copies of Eisenmenger's work from seeing the light of day. He and other Jews could justly maintain that the publication of this book in German, unattractive though its style was, would lead to the massacre of the Jews. An edict was therefore issued by the emperor forbidding its dissemination. Eisenmenger was doubly disappointed; he could not wreak his hatred on the Jews, and he had lost the whole of his property, which he had spent on the printing, and was obliged to incur debts. All the copies, except a few which he had abstracted, were in Frankfort under lock and key. He entered into negotiations with Jews, and proposed to destroy his work for 90,000 marks. As the Jews offered scarcely half that sum, the confiscation remained in force, and Eisenmenger, deceived in all his hopes, died of vexation.
But the matter did not terminate there. Frederick I, the newly-crowned king of Prussia, took a lively interest in the book. The attention of this prince was keenly directed to the Jews from various causes. At the beginning of the eighteenth century more than a thousand Jews dwelt in his domains. The community of Berlin had grown in thirty years, since their admission, from twelve to some seventy families. Frederick I, who was fond of show and pomp, had no particular partiality for Jews, but he valued them for the income derived from them. The court jeweler, Jost Liebmann, was highly esteemed at court, because he supplied pearls and trinkets on credit, and thus held an exceptionally favorable position. It was said that Liebmann's wife had taken the fancy of the prince; she later obtained the liberty of entering the king's apartment unannounced. Through her the Jews received permission to have a cemetery in Königsberg; but Jewish money was more highly prized by this king than Jewish favorites. Frederick, who while elector had thought of banishing the Jews, tolerated them for the safety tax which they had to pay—100 ducats yearly—but they were subjected to severe restrictions, amongst others they could not own houses and lands. Yet they were allowed to have synagogues, first a private one granted as a favor to the court jeweler Jost Liebmann and the family of David Riess, an immigrant from Austria, and then, owing to frequent disputes about rights and privileges, a public synagogue as well.
Two maliciously disposed baptized Jews, Christian Kahtz and Francis Wenzel, sought to prejudice the new king and the population against the Jews. "Blasphemy against Jesus"—so runs the lying charge. The prayer "Alenu" and others were cited as proofs that the Jews pronounced the name of Jesus with contumely, and that they spat in doing so. The guilds not being well disposed to the Jews utilized this excitement for fanatical persecution, and such bitter feeling arose in the cities and villages against the Jews, that (as they expressed themselves, perhaps knowingly exaggerating) their life was no longer safe. King Frederick proposed a course which does honor to his good heart. He issued a command (December, 1700) to all the presidents of departments to call together the rabbis and, in default of them, the Jewish school-masters and elders on a certain day, and ask them on oath whether, in uttering or silently using the blasphemous word "va-rik," they applied it to Jesus. The Jews everywhere solemnly declared on oath that they did not refer to Jesus in this prayer at the place where the lacuna was left in the prayer-books. John Henry Michaelis, the theologian, of Halle, who was asked respecting the character of the Jews, pronounced them innocent of the blasphemy of which they were accused. As the king continued to suspect the Jews of reviling Jesus in thought, he issued orders characteristic of the time (1703). He said that it was his heart's wish to bring the people of Israel, whom the Lord had once loved and chosen as His peculiar possession, into the Christian communion. He did not, however, presume to exercise control over their consciences, but would leave the conversion of the Jews to time and God's wise counsel. Nor would he bind them by oath to refrain from uttering in prayer the words in question. But he commanded them on pain of punishment to refrain from those words, to utter the prayer "Alenu" aloud, and not to spit while so doing. Spies were appointed to visit the synagogues from time to time, as eleven centuries before in the Byzantine empire, in order to observe whether this concluding prayer was pronounced aloud or in a whisper.
Eisenmenger before his death, and his heirs after him, knowing that the king of Prussia was inclined to listen to accusations against the Jews, had applied to him to entreat Emperor Leopold to release the book against the Jews, entitled "Judaism Unmasked," from ban and prohibition. Frederick I interested himself warmly in the matter, and sent a kind of petition to Emperor Leopold I (April 25, 1705) very characteristic of the tone of that time. The king represented that Eisenmenger had sunk all his money in this book, and had died of vexation at the imperial prohibition. It would seem a lowering of Christianity if the Jews were so powerful as to be able to suppress a book written in defense of Christianity and in refutation of Jewish errors. There was no reason to apprehend, as the Jews pretended, that it would incite the people to a violent onslaught against them, since similar writings had lately appeared which had done them no harm. Eisenmenger's book aimed chiefly at the promotion of Christianity, so that Christians might not, as had repeatedly happened some years ago, be induced to revolt from it and become adherents of Judaism. But Emperor Leopold would not remove the ban from Eisenmenger's book. King Frederick repeated his request three years later, at the desire of Eisenmenger's heirs, to Emperor Joseph I. With him also King Frederick found no favorable hearing, and the 2,000 copies of "Judaism Unmasked" remained at Frankfort under ban for forty years. But with Frederick's approval a second edition was brought out at Königsberg, where the imperial censorship had no power. For the moment it had no such effect as the one side had hoped and the other feared; but, later on, when the rights of Jews as men and citizens were considered, it proved an armory for malicious or indolent opponents.
King Frederick I was often urged by enemies of the Jews to make his royal authority a cloak for their villainy. The bright and the dark side of the general appreciation of Jewish literature appeared clearly. In Holland, likewise a Protestant country, a Christian scholar of this period cherished great enthusiasm for the Mishna, the backbone of Talmudical Judaism. William Surenhuysius, a young man of Amsterdam, in the course of many years translated the Mishna with two commentaries upon it into Latin (printed 1698–1703). He displayed more than the usual amount of Dutch industry and application. Love certainly was needed to undertake such a study, persevere in it, and finish the work in a clear and attractive style. No language and literature present so many difficulties as this dialect, now almost obsolete, the objects which it describes, and the form in which it is cast. Surenhuysius sat at the feet of Jewish teachers, of whom there were many at Amsterdam, and he was extremely grateful for their help. But their assistance did not enable him to dispense with industry and devotion. He was influenced by the conviction that the oral Law, the Mishna, in its main contents is as divine as the written word of the Bible. He desired that Christian youths in training for theology and the clerical profession should not yield to the seductions of classical literature, but by engaging in the study of the Mishna should, as it were, receive ordination beforehand.
"He who desires to be a good and worthy disciple of Christ must first become a Jew, or he must first learn thoroughly the language and culture of the Jews, and become Moses's disciple before he joins the Apostles, in order that he may be able through Moses and the prophets to convince men that Jesus is the Messiah."
In this enthusiastic admiration for the corner-stone of the edifice of Judaism, which the builders up of culture were wont to despise, Surenhuysius included the people who owned these laws. He cordially thanked the senate of Amsterdam because it specially protected the Jews.
"In the measure in which this people once surpassed all other peoples, you give it preference, worthy men! The old renown and dignity, which this people and the citizens of Jerusalem once possessed, are yours. For the Jews are sincerely devoted to you, not overcome by force of arms, but won over by humanity and wisdom; they come to you, and are happy to obey your republican government."
Surenhuysius was outspoken in his displeasure against those who having learned what served their interest from the Scriptures of the Jews, reviled and threw mud at them, "like highwaymen, who, having robbed an honest man of all his clothes, beat him to death, and send him away with scorn." He formed a plan to make the whole of Rabbinical literature accessible to the learned world through the Latin language. While Surenhuysius of Amsterdam felt such enthusiasm for this, not the most brilliant, side of Judaism, and saw in it a means to promote Christianity (in which view he did not stand alone), a vile Polish Jew, named Aaron Margalita, an apostate to Christianity for the sake of gain, brought fresh accusations of blasphemy before King Frederick of Prussia against an utterly harmless part of Jewish literature—the old Agada. An edition of the Midrash Rabba (1705), published at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, was accordingly put under a ban by the king's command, until Christian theologians should pronounce judgment upon it.
The best result of this taste for Jewish literature on the part of learned Christians, and of the literary works promoted thereby was an interesting historical work concerning Jews and Judaism, which may be said to have terminated the old, and foreshadowed a new epoch. Jacob Basnage (born 1653, died 1723), of noble character, a Protestant theologian, a solid historian, a pleasant author, and a person held in high esteem generally, rendered incalculable service to Judaism. He sifted the results of the laborious researches of scholars, popularized them, and made them accessible to all educated circles. In his assiduous historical inquiries, especially as to the development of the Church, Basnage met Jews at almost every step. He had a suspicion that the Jewish people had not, as ordinary theologians thought, become utterly bankrupt through the loss of its political independence and the spread of Christianity, a doomed victim, the ghost of its former self. The great sufferings of this people and its rich literature inspired him with awe. His sense of truth with regard to historical events would not allow him to dismiss facts or explain them away with empty phrases. Basnage undertook to compile the history of the Jews or the Jewish religion, so far as it was known to him, from Jesus down to his own times. He labored on this work for more than five years. It was intended to continue the history of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus after the dispersion of the Jewish people. Basnage strove, as far as was possible for a staunch Protestant at that time, to present and judge events in an impartial manner.
"Christians may not be surprised that we often acquit the Jews of crimes of which they are not guilty, since justice so requires. No partiality is implied in accusing those of injustice and oppression who have been guilty of them. We have no intention to injure the Jews any more than to flatter them.... In the decay and dregs of centuries men have adopted a spirit of cruelty and barbarism towards the Jews. They were accused of being the cause of all the disasters which happened, and charged with a multitude of crimes of which they never even dreamed. Numberless miracles were invented to convict them, or rather the better to satisfy hatred under the shade of religion. We have made a collection of laws, which councils and princes published against them, by means of which people can judge of the malice of the former and the oppression of the latter. Men did not, however, confine themselves to the edicts, but everywhere military executions, popular riots, and massacres took place. Yet, by a miracle of Providence, which must excite the astonishment of all Christians, this hated nation, persecuted in all places for a great number of centuries, still exists everywhere.... Peoples and kings, heathens, Christians, and Mahometans, opposed to one another in so many points, have agreed in the purpose of destroying this nation, and have not succeeded. The bush of Moses, surrounded by flames, has ever burned without being consumed. The Jews have been driven out of all the cities of the world, and this has only served to spread them abroad in all cities. They still live in spite of the contempt and hatred which follow them everywhere, while the greatest monarchies have fallen, and are known to us only by name."
Basnage, who by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes through the Catholic intolerance of Louis XIV was banished to Holland, could to some degree appreciate the feelings of the Jews during their long exile. He had acquired sufficient knowledge of Jewish literature to consult the authorities in the execution of his work. The historical works of Abraham ibn Daud, Ibn Yachya, Ibn Verga, David Gans, and others were not neglected; they served Basnage as building material wherewith to rear the great fabric of Jewish history of the sixteen centuries since the origin of Christianity.
But Basnage was not sufficiently an artist to unroll before the eye in glowing colors, even if in images fleeting as the mist, the sublime or tragic scenes of Jewish history. Nor had he the talent to mass together or marshal in groups and detachments facts widely scattered in consequence of the peculiar course of this people's history. One can feel in Basnage's presentation that he was oppressed and overpowered by the superabundance of details. He jumbled together times and occurrences in motley confusion, divided the history into two unnatural halves, the East and the West, and described in conjunction events without connection. Of the deep inner springs of the life and deeds of the nation he had no comprehension. His Protestant creed hindered him; he saw Jewish history only through the thick mist of Church history. Despite his efforts to be impartial and honest, he could not rid himself of the belief that the "Jews are rejected because they have rejected Jesus." In short, Basnage's "History of the Religion of the Jews" has a thousand faults. Hardly a single sentence can be regarded as perfectly just and in accordance with the truth.
Yet the appearance of this work was of great importance to the Jews. It circulated in the educated world a mass of historical information, crude and distorted though it was, because it was written in the fashionable French language, and this seed shot up everywhere luxuriantly. A people, which, despite bloody persecutions, without a home, with no spot on the whole earth where it could lay its head or place its foot, yet possessed a history not wholly devoid of splendor—such a people was not like a gipsy horde, but must find ever-increasing consideration. Without his knowledge or intention, even whilst casting many an aspersion upon the Jewish race, Basnage paved the way to raising it from its abject condition. Christian Theophilus Unger, a pastor in Silesia, and John Christopher Wolf, professor of Oriental languages in Hamburg, who were busily and earnestly engaged in the study of Jewish literature and history, became Basnage's disciples, and without his work could not have effected so much as they did in this field. Both, especially Wolf, filled many gaps which Basnage had left, and evinced a certain degree of warmth for the cause.
The admiration, or at least sympathy, felt for the Jews at this time, induced John Toland (an Irishman, the courageous opponent of fossilized Christianity) to raise his voice on behalf of their equality with Christians in England and Ireland. This was the first word spoken in favor of their emancipation. But the people, in whose favor this remarkable revulsion of sentiment had taken place in the educated world, was without knowledge of it, and felt no change in popular sentiment.
Low Condition of the Jews at the End of the Seventeenth Century—Representatives of Culture: David Nieto, Jehuda Brieli—The Kabbala—Jewish Chroniclers—Lopez Laguna translates the Psalms into Spanish—De Barrios—The Race after Wealth—General Poverty of the Jews—Revival of Sabbatianism—Daniel Israel Bonafoux, Cardoso, Mordecai of Eisenstadt, Jacob Querido, and Berachya—Sabbatianism in Poland—Abraham Cuenqui—Judah Chassid—Chayim Malach—Solomon Ayllon—Nehemiah Chayon—David Oppenheim's Famous Library—Chacham Zevi—The Controversy on Chayon's Heretical Works in Amsterdam.
1700–1725 C. E.
At the time when the eyes of the civilized world were directed upon the Jewish race with a certain degree of sympathy and admiration, and when, at the dawn of enlightenment in the so-called philosophical century, ecclesiastical prejudices were beginning to disappear, the members of this race were making a by no means favorable impression upon those with whom they came into contact. Weighed in the balance, they were found wanting even by their well-wishers. The Jews were at no time in so pitiful a plight as at the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century. Several circumstances had contributed to render them utterly demoralized and despised. The former teachers of Europe, through the sad course of centuries, had become childish, or worse, dotards. Every public or historical act of the Jews bears this character of imbecility, if not contemptibility. There was not a single cheering event, hardly a person commanding respect who could worthily represent Judaism, and bring it into estimation. The strong-minded, manly Orobio de Castro (died in 1687), the former victim of the Inquisition, whose fidelity to conviction, whose dignity, and the acumen with which he contested Christianity commanded the respect of the leading opponents of Judaism, was indeed still living. But he left no successor of equal standing within the highly cultured community of Amsterdam, certainly not outside of it, where the conditions for an independent Jewish personality possessed of culture were entirely wanting. The leaders of the community were for the most part led astray, wandering as in a dream, and stumbling at every step. But few rabbis occupied themselves with any branch of knowledge beyond the Talmud, or entered on a new path in this study. The exceptions can be counted. Rabbi David Nieto, of London (born 1654, died 1728), was a man of culture. He was a physician, understood mathematics, was sufficiently able to defend Judaism against calumnies, and, besides many platitudes, wrote much that was reasonable. The Italian rabbi, Jehuda Leon Brieli, of Mantua (born about 1643, died 1722), was also an important personage—a man of sound views, of solid, even philosophical knowledge, whose style in the vernacular was elegant, and who knew how to defend Judaism against Christian aggressiveness. Brieli had the courage to disregard two customs, which was accounted worse than criminal by his contemporaries: he remained unmarried all his life, and though a rabbi, did not wear a beard. But Brieli's influence on his Jewish contemporaries was very slight. He knew the weaknesses of Christianity, but had not the same sharp vision for the faults of Judaism and the Jews. Of the mischievous nature of the Zohar and the Kabbala generally, however, Brieli was thoroughly aware; he wished that they had not seen the light of day; but his critical knowledge extended no further.
For the rest, the rabbis of this period were not models, the Poles and Germans being for the most part pitiable figures, their heads filled with unprofitable knowledge, otherwise ignorant and helpless as little children. The Portuguese rabbis presented a dignified, imposing appearance, but they were shallow. The Italians bore more resemblance to the Germans, but had not their learning. Thus, with no guides acquainted with the road, sunk in ignorance, or filled with conceit, beset with phantoms, the Jews in all parts of the world without exception were passing from one absurdity to another, and allowing themselves to be imposed upon by jugglers and visionaries. Any absurdity, however transparent, provided it was apparently vindicated with religious earnestness, and interlarded with strained verses of Scripture, or sayings from the Talmud artificially explained, or garnished with scraps of the Kabbala, was persistently believed and propagated. "The minds of men, estranged from life and true knowledge, exhausted their powers in subtleties and the superstitious errors of the Kabbala. Teachers spoke seldom or only in the words of the Talmud to their scholars; no attention was paid to delivery, for there was no language and no eloquence." The culminating point of the Middle Ages was reached in Jewish history at a time when it had been passed by the most of Western Europe. The spread of superstitious usages with a coating of religion was in no wise checked. To write amulets (Kamea) for the exorcism of diseases was required of the rabbis, and they devoted themselves to this work; many wished to be thought conjurors of spirits. A rabbi, Simon Baki at Casale in Italy, complained to his master, the foolish Kabbalist Moses Zacut at Venice, that he had used the prescribed formulas of conjuration for a woman at Turin supposed to be possessed, without any successful result. Thereupon the latter gave him more efficacious means, viz., whilst using God's name in prayer, he was to hold burning sulphur to the nose of the possessed. The more sensitive she was, and the more she struggled against the remedy, the more might he be convinced that she was possessed by an evil spirit. An instructed Jew of the Kabbalist school of Damascus once boasted seriously before the free-thinking critic Richard Simon, that he could evoke a genius of a high order, and began to make preparations. The incredulous Father followed his movements with a satirical smile, and the conjuror got out of the predicament with the remark that the soil of France was not suited for apparitions.
To elevate Judaism in the eyes of the nations and to represent it in a manner worthy of respect was at this time not in the power of the Jews. They rather degraded and made it contemptible. Thoughtful Christians stood astonished before this wonderful monument of history, this people with its learning and its alternately glorious and tragic destiny; but its own sons were too dull to feel their own greatness, or sought it only in silly stories and absurd actions. Whilst Christians industriously and with feelings of amazement investigated the history of the Jews during three thousand years, the Jews had no such feeling, not even the cultivated Portuguese Jews. Manasseh ben Israel had outlined a history of the Jews, and probably suggested Basnage's work, but he did not accomplish his own design. Three historians, indeed, are named as belonging to this time—the itinerant rabbi David Conforte, secondly, Miguel (Daniel) de Barrios, a Marrano, born in Portugal, who returned to Judaism at Amsterdam, and lastly the Polish rabbi Jechiel Heilperin, of Minsk. But all three resemble the monkish chroniclers of the barbarous ages, and their style is more repulsive than attractive.
If literature is the true photograph of the thoughts and aspirations of an age, then the century between Spinoza and Mendelssohn, judged by its literary productions, must have had very ugly features. A good deal, it is true, was written and published; every rabbi by a fresh contribution to the already stupendous pile of Rabbinical matter essayed to perpetuate his name, to secure his future bliss, and withal to earn a pittance. Subtle Rabbinical commentaries, insipid sermons, and books of devotion, acrimonious controversial writings were the emanations of the Jewish mind or lack of mind at this time. The flower of poetry found no soil in this quagmire. This age produced only two Jewish poets, genuine sons of the Jewish muse, who lived at a great distance from each other, one in the island of Jamaica, the other in Italy—Lopez Laguna and Luzzatto—as if the old Jewish trunk, crownless and leafless, wished to reveal the life at its heart and prove its capability to renew its youth even under the most unfavorable circumstances. Lopez Laguna, born a Marrano in France (about 1660, died after 1720), came when but a youth to Spain, where he made the acquaintance of the horrible Inquisition. In his night of suffering, the Psalms, full of tender feeling, brought light and hope to him as to so many of his companions in sorrow. Released from prison, and having escaped to Jamaica, Laguna, under the Jewish name of Daniel Israel, attuned his harp to the holy songs which had revived his soul. To make the Psalms accessible to others, especially to Marranos ignorant of Hebrew, he made a faithful translation of them into melodious, elegant Spanish verse. This psalter, "a mirror of life," Daniel Israel Lopez Laguna took to London, where his work procured him a triumphant reception from several minor poets and also from three Jewish poetesses, Sarah de Fonseca Pinto y Pimentel, Manuela Nuñez da Almeida, and Bienvenida Coen Belmonte, who addressed him in Latin, English, Portuguese, and Spanish verses.
Moses Chayim Luzzatto, a victim to the dreary errors of this time, composed two Hebrew dramas full of beauty and youthful freshness. With the exception of these poetical flowers this long period shows a colorless waste. Daniel de Barrios, captain, historian, and beggar, cannot be reckoned a poet, although he composed an astonishing number of Spanish, as well as Hebrew rhymes, besides several Spanish dramas, and he sang before, and without shame begged of, nearly every Jewish and Christian magnate who possessed a full purse.
Not only the scientific and artistic spirit, but also the moral sense was lost, or at least blunted in this general demoralization. The fundamental virtues of the Jewish race continued to exist even at this time in undiminished strength—idyllic family love, brotherly sympathy towards one another, and chastity. Gross vices and crimes occurred even then but seldom in the tents of Jacob. Thoroughly corrupt outcasts were considerate enough to leave it, and to pollute the church or the mosque with their immorality. But the feeling of right and honor amongst Jews was on the whole weakened. There was a lowering in tone of that tender conscience, which with a sort of maiden shame avoids even what the precepts of religion and the paragraphs of the civil code leave unforbidden. To make money was so imperious a necessity that ways and means became indifferent, and were not exposed to censure. To take undue advantage, and to overreach, not merely a hostile population, but even their own co-religionists, was regarded for the most part not as a disgrace, but rather as a kind of heroic action. From this sprang worship of Mammon, not merely love, but also respect for gold, no matter how impure its source. The democratic equality hitherto maintained amongst Jews, who refused to recognize distinctions of class and caste, was lost in the furious dance round the golden calf. The rich man was held worthy of honor—one to whom those less kindly favored by fortune looked up as to something higher, and in whom they therefore overlooked many failings. The richest, not the most worthy, were made the managers of the community, and were granted a charter for arbitrary conduct and arrogance. A satire of the period scourges very severely the almighty power of money, to which all bowed down. "The dollar binds and looses, it raises the ignorant to the chief offices in the community."
Increasing poverty among Jews was partly the cause of this state of affairs. Only among the small number of Portuguese Jews at Amsterdam, Hamburg, Leghorn, Florence, and London, there were men of considerable wealth. Isaac (Antonio) Suasso, created Baron Alvernes de Gras by Charles II, of Spain, was able to advance to William III, for his semi-adventurous expedition to London to obtain the English crown, two million florins without interest, with the simple words, "If you are fortunate, you will repay them to me; if not, I am willing to lose them." The millionaires at Amsterdam were the Pintos, the Belmontes, David Bueno de Mesquito, Francisco Melo, who rendered many services to Holland by his wealth. One of the De Pintos bequeathed several millions for noble objects, making provision for Jewish communities, the state, Christian orphanages, clergy, clerks, and sextons. At Hamburg there were the Texeiras, who were related by marriage to Suasso, and Daniel Abensur, able to make large advances to the poor rulers of Poland. On the other hand, the Polish, German, and also the Italian and the Oriental Jews, were extremely impoverished. The changes which commerce had experienced brought about this alteration. The Jews could no longer practice usury, they had no capital, or rather Christian capitalists competed with them. Poorest of all were the Polish Jews,—they who used to lord it over all the Jews in Europe. They could not recover from the wounds which the Cossack disturbances had inflicted on them, and the disruption of the Polish kingdom that followed caused them fresh troubles. The increasing poverty of the Polish Jews every year drove swarms of beggars to the west and south of Europe. They resorted to the large communities to procure shelter and food from their rich brethren. Polish students of the Talmud, superior to all other Jews in knowledge of the Talmud, went principally to the important rabbinates, Prague, Nikolsburg, Frankfort-on-the-Main, Amsterdam, and Hamburg, and even to Italian communities. Every Polish emigrant was, or proclaimed himself to be, a rabbi or preacher, and was so regarded. Many of them were a disgrace to the rabbinical office, for which they had no qualifications, either mental or moral. They fawned on the rich from need and habit. From them sprang the ever-increasing demoralization among Jews. To their care, or rather to their neglect, were entrusted the Jewish youth, who, as soon as they could talk, were introduced to the Talmud, after the sophistical, artificial method. Through this perversity the language of the German Jews, like that of the Poles, degenerated into a repulsive stammer, and their manner of thinking and love of disputation into crabbed dogmatism that defied all logic. Their feeling for simplicity and truth was lost, and even the Portuguese Jews, who kept themselves aloof from the odious jargon, did not remain uncontaminated by the perverse manner of thinking prevalent at the time.
Added to this was the fact that the mud-streams of Sabbatian fanaticism burst forth afresh. They besmirched all who came in contact with them, but, nevertheless, they were regarded as a pure stream from the fountain-head of the Deity. Their one good effect was that they stirred up, and set in motion the stagnant swamp; or, to speak without metaphor, the sluggish routine in which the Jews lived was broken, and the rabbis, dull with unfruitful learning, were roused to a certain degree of passion and energy. After Sabbataï's death one of his followers, Daniel Israel Bonafoux, an ignorant officiating reader (Chazan) at Smyrna, kept up the faith in the dead Messiah by all sorts of jugglery. At one time he pretended to have seen a moving fire-ball; at another, to have heard a voice say that Sabbataï was still alive, and would reign forever. The community at Smyrna bribed the Kadi to banish him from the city, but Daniel Israel took up his residence in the neighborhood of Smyrna, and encouraged the sect to persevere in its belief. He was aided and abetted by Abraham Michael Cardoso of Tripoli, who reappeared on this stage, where he found a conventicle of Sabbatian associates, who flocked round him, because with his scientific education, his culture, and fluency of speech, he was far superior to them. Cardoso announced dreams and visions, declared himself Sabbataï Zevi's successor, the Ephraimite Messiah, practiced extraordinary impositions, and visited graves to be inspired by departed spirits, and obtain predictions to suit his theory. This consisted in the blasphemous assumption that there are two Gods—one the First Cause, incomprehensible, without will and influence over the universe; the other the God of Israel, the actual Creator of the world, and Lawgiver of the Jewish people, who alone should be worshiped. But the rabbis of Smyrna put a stop to Cardoso's proceedings, threatened him with death, and compelled him to leave Sabbataï Zevi's birthplace. He betook himself thence to Constantinople with his Smyrna adherents, later pursued his mischievous behavior at Adrianople, Rhodosto, in Egypt, the Archipelago, and Candia; now as Messiah, now as physician, composed numerous treatises on the advent of the Messianic kingdom, expounded his theosophical-dualistic theory, incurred debts, drew women into his Kabbalistic conventicle, and is said to have lived immorally even to old age. At last Cardoso was stabbed by his nephew, who believed that he had been cheated by him (1706). His imposture did not cease with his death; for his writings, a mixture of sense and nonsense, were eagerly read, and inflamed men's minds. Abraham Michael Cardoso remained at least faithful to Judaism, did not reverence Sabbataï Zevi as divine, vehemently contended against this blasphemy, and did not go over to Mahometanism. His prophet, Daniel Israel Bonafoux, on the other hand, assumed the turban, probably on account of the persecution suffered at the hands of the rabbinate of Smyrna.
Far more important was the Kabbalistic fanaticism spread by an itinerant Sabbatian preacher, and transplanted to Poland, where it found congenial soil, and maintained its ground tenaciously. Mordecai of Eisenstadt (Mochiach), even after the death of the renegade, remained his faithful follower. A disciple of Nathan and partisan of Cardoso, he returned to his home from the East, was of prepossessing appearance and awe-inspiring features, lived an ascetic life, fasted eleven days in succession, preached in Hungary, Moravia, Bohemia, and Italy with much impressiveness on penitence and contrition—in fact, played the part of a Jewish Vincent Ferrer. The applause which his preaching excited awakened his confidence, and he gave himself out as a prophet. In word and writing the preacher of Eisenstadt maintained that Sabbataï Zevi was the true Messiah, obliged to become a Mussulman by high mystical dispensation. The Hungarian, Moravian, and Bohemian Jews listened to these Sabbatian preachings and prophecies with eager interest. The Sabbatian frenzy had so blunted their power of thought that they were not offended at the notion of a new Messiah who had apostatized from Judaism. Mordecai went further in his folly, gave himself out as the true Messiah of the house of David, and maintained that he was Sabbataï Zevi risen from the dead. The latter had not been able to accomplish the work of redemption, because he was rich. The Messiah must be poor; therefore he, Mordecai, being poor and persecuted, was the true redeemer. All this nonsense was accepted with credulous devotion. Some Italian Jews formally invited the Hungarian Messiah to come to them, and he obeyed the summons. At Modena and Reggio he was received with enthusiasm. He talked of his mission—that he must go to Rome in order to make Messianic preparations in the sinful city. He cunningly hinted that he might be obliged to assume a Christian disguise, as Sabbataï Zevi had been obliged to veil himself in Turkish clothing: that is, in case of need he would apparently submit to baptism. Some Jews appear to have betrayed his plans to the Roman Inquisition, and his Italian followers advised him to leave Italy. He went once more to Bohemia, but could not find a footing there, and emigrated to Poland. Here, whither only a dim rumor of Sabbataï and the Sabbatians had penetrated, he found, it appears, numerous followers; for a sect was formed there which pursued its baneful career until the beginning of the age of Mendelssohn, and even beyond that period.
At the same time the old imposture reappeared under new forms in Turkey. Sabbataï Zevi had left a widow, the daughter of Joseph Philosoph of Salonica, a learned Talmudist. She is said either from ambition or, as her enemies declared, from licentious motives, to have led the Sabbatians into fresh frenzy. Having returned to Salonica, she is said to have passed off her brother, Jacob (surnamed Querido, the favorite), as her son by Sabbataï Zevi. This boy, who received the name of Jacob Zevi, became an object of devout reverence to the Sabbatians. They believed that in him the united souls of the two Messiahs of the houses of Joseph and David were born again; he was therefore to be regarded as the true redeemer, the genuine successor of Sabbataï. This new fantastic idea found the more adherents because Querido's own father, Joseph Philosoph, a man deeply versed in the Talmud, and another learned Talmudist, Solomon Florentin, joined the believers, and supported the new claimant. The widow of the Messiah and her brother Querido are said straightway to have recommended and practiced sexual indulgence as a means of promoting the work of redemption. The sinfulness of the world, they maintained, could be overcome only by a superabundance of sin, by the extremest degree of licentiousness. Among these Salonica Sabbatians, then, shameless profligacy, even incest, were openly practiced—so their enemies declared. One thing only is certain, marriage was not regarded as sacred among these people. According to the perverse teachings of the Luryan school of Kabbalists, women who were not acceptable to their husbands, being a hindrance to a harmonious mystical marriage, could be divorced without further ceremony, and made over to others, who felt themselves attracted to them. This precept was only too eagerly obeyed in the mystical circle. It was a peculiar sort of "elective affinity." Several hundreds in Salonica belonged to this Sabbatian sect, chiefly young people. Amongst them was a young man named Solomon Ayllon, afterwards rabbi in London and Amsterdam, who shared in the prevailing loose life. He married a wife, as the one appointed by heaven, whom another man had forsaken without formal divorce, and she was carried off from him by a third. The Sabbatians of Salonica stood in close connection with other members of the sect in Adrianople and Smyrna.
The rabbis could not regard this disorder with indifference, and denounced the offenders to the Turkish authorities. The latter instituted investigations, and sentenced them to severe punishments. But the Sabbatians had learned from their founder a means of appeasing the anger of Turkish rulers. They all, to the number of four hundred it is said, assumed the white turban (about 1687), and displayed more earnestness than Sabbataï in their newly-adopted faith. The pseudo-Messiah Jacob Zevi Querido with many of his followers made a pilgrimage to Mecca, in order to pray at the tomb of the prophet Mahomet. On the journey back he died at Alexandria. The leadership of the Turco-Jewish sect at Salonica was afterwards undertaken by his son Berachya, or Barochya (about 1695–1740). He also was regarded as the successor of Sabbataï Zevi, as the embodiment of the original soul of the Messiah, as the incarnate Deity. His followers lived under the name Dolmäh (properly Donmäh), that is, apostates from Judaism, a sect distinct alike from Jews and Turks, who married only one another, and attended the mosques now and then, but more frequently assembled in secret for their own mystical service, to worship their redeemer and man-God. There are still in Salonica descendants of the sect of Sabbataï-Querido-Berachya, who observe a mixture of Kabbalistic and Turkish usages. Of Judaism they retained only circumcision on the eighth day and the Song of Solomon, the love dialogues and monologues of which left them free play for mystical and licentious interpretations. Recently the sultan granted the Donmäh, now said to number 4,000 members, the free exercise of their religion.
In spite, perhaps on account of these excesses on the part of the Sabbatians of Salonica, opposed alike to Judaism and morality, they continually found fresh supporters, who clung to the delusion with pertinacity, deceived themselves and others, and gave impostors an opportunity to profit by this fanatical humor. From the East and from Poland secret Sabbatians crossed to and fro, from the latter as itinerant preachers, from the former as pretended messengers from the Holy Land, and continually incited to fresh errors. The emissary Abraham Cuenqui, from Hebron, who in Poland and Germany claimed charity for the poor of that city, at the request of a mystic gave a glowing description of the life of Sabbataï, whom he had seen and admired in his youth. This biography, a sort of Sabbatian gospel, is an excellent example of how in the field of religion history takes the shape of myth, and myth again transforms itself into history. In Poland, probably at the instigation of the crazy Mordecai of Eisenstadt, there arose a Sabbatian sect, which believed that it was hastening the advent of the kingdom of heaven by penitence. At its head stood two men, Judah Chassid (the pious) of Dubno, a narrow-minded simpleton, and Chayim Malach, a cunning Talmudist. Both agitated the people by exciting sermons, and found an applauding audience, who joined them in penances and Kabbalistic extravagances. The association was called Chassidim. In Poland ignorance was so great that the rabbis themselves did not recognize the power and mischievous tendency of these Sabbatian enthusiasts. From 1,300 to 1,500 of this sect, under Judah Chassid, emigrated from Poland at the beginning of the year 1700, intending to journey to the Holy Land, to await redemption there. Like the Christian flagellants of old, these so-called devotees distinguished themselves by fasting many days, and by mortifications of every kind. The leaders wore on the Sabbath white garments of satin or cloth, whereby they intended to signify the time of grace. Wherever they went in Germany, they preached, and exhorted to strict penance. Judah Chassid by his powerful voice, his gestures, and bitter tears, carried away his hearers. He wrought especially upon the weak minds of women, to whom, contrary to custom, he was wont to preach, with a Torah roll under his arm, in the women's gallery. While the greater number of the Chassidim were assembling in Moravia and Hungary, Judah Chassid traveled with about 150 persons through Germany from Altona to Frankfort-on-the-Main and Vienna, everywhere preaching, wailing, and warning. The sect, especially in the larger communities, was richly supported. On account of the concourse of men and women who flocked to these sectarians, the rabbis did not venture to oppose their proceedings. Samuel Oppenheim, the rich court Jew at Vienna, supported the Chassidim richly, and procured passports for them to the East.
The enthusiasm of this sect soon came to an end. On the first day after their arrival in Jerusalem their principal leader Judah Chassid died; his followers were helpless, and instead of speedy redemption found only horrible misery. Some of the Chassidim, therefore, disappointed and in despair, went over to Islam. The rest dispersed in all directions. Many were baptized as Christians, amongst them Judah Chassid's nephew, Wolf Levi of Lublin, who took the name of Francis Lothair Philippi; another nephew, Isaiah Chassid, afterwards caused fresh Sabbatian disturbances. Chayim Malach, however, who made the acquaintance of the aged Samuel Primo, Sabbataï Zevi's private secretary and counselor, remained for several years in Jerusalem, and presided over a small Sabbatian sect. He also taught the doctrine of two Gods or three Gods, and of the Divine incarnation, paid Sabbataï Zevi divine reverence, and is said to have carried about his image, carved in wood, in the synagogue, to be worshiped, and his followers are said to have danced round it. Chayim Malach aimed at the destruction of Rabbinical Judaism or Judaism in general. It is incomprehensible how the community of Jerusalem could have witnessed his proceedings for years without opposing them. Probably the rabbis there shared the Sabbatian idolatry, or profited by it. However, Chayim Malach seems at length to have been banished from Jerusalem. He then betook himself to the Mahometan Sabbatians at Salonica, the Donmäh, took part in their extravagances, then went about preaching in several Turkish communities, and openly taught the Sabbatian imposture. At Constantinople he was excommunicated, and on his second residence in that community was banished by Chacham Bashi (about 1709). He thereupon returned through Germany to Poland, scattering the seed of Sabbatian heresy, destined to undermine Judaism. His death is said to have been due to excessive drinking.
At the same time that Malach was sowing seed-grains in Poland for the process of dissolution, the torch of discord was hurled into the Jewish camp by two disguised Sabbatians, Chayon and Ayllon. The one through imposture, the other through stubbornness and dogmatism, promoted a movement which presents very unpleasant features. Solomon Ayllon (born about 1667, died 1728), of Spanish descent, was born at Safet, and his mind was filled with the errors of the Kabbala. In his youth he fell in with the Sabbatians of Salonica, and in part shared their extravagances. Later he went to Leghorn, and after the death of the worthy and accomplished rabbi, Jacob Abendana, was invited to London to fill his place (1696–1707). Ayllon had enemies in London who, having heard of his not wholly irreproachable youth, implored one rabbi after another to procure his dismissal from office. From dread of the public scandal which would arise were it known that a former adherent of the notorious Sabbataï had officiated as rabbi, all who were consulted advised that the ugly story be forgotten. Ayllon was not distinguished in any branch of learning, not even in knowledge of the Talmud, nor could he have had an over-scrupulous conscience. While treating for the post of rabbi at Amsterdam, the London community being unwilling to lose him, he swore a solemn oath that he would not accept the post offered to him, although he had already given his consent to the Amsterdam council, and actually accepted the office. He palliated his conduct in a sophistical and Jesuitical manner. His youthful predilection for Sabbatian errors, which he does not appear entirely to have abandoned even as rabbi of Amsterdam, induced Ayllon to give his aid to an arrant rogue, and thereby to help in producing profound dissensions in the Jewish world.
This arch-impostor, who in hypocrisy, audacity, and unscrupulousness had but few equals in the eighteenth century, so rich in impostors, was Nehemiah Chiya Chayon (born about 1650, died after 1726). He took especial delight in mystification and extravagances, and from his youth led an adventurous, easy life of dissimulation. The career of this Kabbalistic adventurer is characteristic of the demoralization of the age in various ways. Chayon received his Talmudical instruction at Hebron, where the Sabbatian intoxication had made many victims. He possessed considerable logical acuteness, was ready at discovering contradictions and incongruities; but his giddy brain and cold heart, bent on the satisfaction of low cravings, induced him to make corrupt use of his powers. Of the Talmud and Rabbinical literature he understood enough to be able to appear at home in them, but he had no real attraction to these studies, nor any religious feeling. He was observant from hypocrisy; when not watched, he disregarded the demands of religion and morality. He could assume a serious, awe-inspiring manner, and held men enthralled by his attractive appearance, his Kabbalistic scraps, and his mysterious demeanor. He generally enacted the part of a saint, at the same time singing love-songs and associating with women. He was, as he himself confessed, in close relation with the Sabbatians at Salonica, and had taken trouble to get possession of their writings. He frequently conversed with their leader, Samuel Primo, about Kabbalistic projects. It is said that in one of these interviews he proposed a new doctrine of a Trinity. He composed a work in which he maintained that Judaism, to be sure Kabbalistic Judaism, inculcated belief in a triune God. With this manuscript in his otherwise empty coffer he went to Smyrna, in the spring of the year 1708, intending to seek his fortune either with the Sabbatians or with their opponents. He did, in fact, succeed in hoodwinking some rich men of Smyrna. His patrons pledged themselves mutually and to Chayon to give him powerful support. The arch-rogue was treated at Smyrna as a holy prophet, and nearly the whole community escorted him to the ship which was to convey him back to Palestine. His schemes were for the moment crowned with success. But before Chayon could settle down, the rabbinate of Jerusalem launched a sentence of excommunication against him, condemned his work, which they had not even read, to be burned (June 1708), and refused to give a hearing to the author. This gross blunder revenged itself afterwards. For the moment, however, Chayon was defeated. As one formally interdicted by the chief college in Palestine, he could not settle anywhere. The enthusiasm of his patrons in Smyrna was extinguished as quickly as it had blazed up, for the favor of men is changeable.
Thus Chayon after a few days of good fortune was again reduced to mendicancy. In Italy, whither he had gone after leaving Egypt, and where he spent some years begging (1709–1711), his schemes met with little sympathy. At Venice only he met with some consideration from rabbis and the laity. Here he printed a small pamphlet, an extract from his larger work, wherein he openly set forth the Trinity as an article of the Jewish faith, not the Christian Trinity, but three persons (Parzufim) in the Godhead, the holy Primeval One, or Soul of all Souls, the Holy King, or incarnation of Deity, and a female Person (the Shechina). This nonsense, an insult to Judaism and its conception of God, was repeated by Chayon in doggerel, which he recommended as edifying prayers for the especially pious. Bold and venturesome, he interwove with the first verses the words of a low Italian song, "Fair Margaret." And this blasphemous pamphlet ("Secret of the Trinity," "Raza di Yechuda") was accepted and recommended by the rabbinate of Venice, either because they had not seen it before it was printed, or because by reason of Kabbalistic stupidity they did not perceive its drift. Chayon did not stay long at Venice. He betook himself to Prague, where he found credulous faith, favorable to his work of deception. The leaders of the community, old and young rabbis and students of the Talmud, were all filled with it.
David Oppenheim, chief rabbi of Prague, more famous for his rich collection of books than on account of his deeds and literary work, was an inveterate Kabbalist. To be sure he had no leisure to concern himself about the itinerant preacher Chayon, or the affairs of the community and the interest of Judaism. He needed his time for money transactions with the funds which, together with a considerable library, his rich uncle at Vienna, Samuel Oppenheim, had left him. David Oppenheim, therefore, seldom met Chayon; but his son Joseph, who was enchanted with his Kabbalistic juggling, took him into his house. He was well received also by the Kabbalistic rabbi, Naphtali Cohen, who was then living at Prague, and whose thaumaturgy had cost him dear. And if the house of Oppenheim, and Naphtali Cohen paid him homage, who would fail to exert himself for the pretended preacher or emissary from Palestine, as Chayon professed to be? No wonder that industrious youthful students of the Talmud, thirsting for knowledge, thronged to Chayon! Among these was Jonathan Eibeschütz, afterwards so notorious, who was living at that time in Prague. Chayon preached sermons at Prague, and entranced his hearers by his sophistical and witty manner, which made the most inconsistent things appear reconcilable. Now and then he allowed the erroneous doctrine of the Salonica Sabbatians to crop out, viz., that sin can be overcome only by a superabundance of sinfulness, by the satisfaction of all, even the most wicked, desires, and by the transgression of the Torah. He told his Prague adherents, or caused it to be circulated by his Venetian companion, that he conversed with the prophet Elijah, that he could compel the Godhead to reveal itself to him, and that he was able to call the dead to life and to create new worlds—all of which found credence. He wrote amulets, which were eagerly sought after, and at the same time in secret led a profligate life. The money derived from imposture he wasted in card-playing. At last he ventured to submit his heretical work, his Sabbatian confession of faith in the Trinity, to Naphtali Cohen for his opinion, and showed him forged testimonials from Italian rabbis. From admiration for Chayon's person Naphtali Cohen, without even having glanced at the manuscript, expressed not simply his approval, but gave him a glowing recommendation—a careless habit characteristic of the rabbis of that time, which on this occasion was destined to revenge itself bitterly.
Provided with forged and filched recommendations, Chayon deceived many other communities, those of Vienna, Nikolsburg, Prosnitz, Breslau, Glogau, and Berlin. He succeeded in passing himself off as a prophet before the credulous German Jews, and in being maintained by them. Secretly he entered into close relations with a Sabbatian enthusiast or impostor, Löbele Prosnitz, who cut out the four Hebrew letters of the name of God in gold tinsel, stuck it on his breast, and made it shine before the dazzled eyes of the credulous by means of burning alcohol and turpentine. Like savages, the Moravian Jews gazed at Löbele Prosnitz's alcohol miracle. At Berlin, where Chayon spent several months, he enjoyed the best opportunity to fish in troubled waters. The community of Berlin, increased to more than a hundred families, had fallen into disunion, apparently through two mutually hostile families at court. The widow of the court jeweler, Liebmann, was a favorite of King Frederick I, and was therefore disliked by the crown prince, afterwards Frederick William I. The latter had his own Jew in attendance, Marcus Magnus, the mortal enemy of the house of Liebmann, not merely from complaisance to the successor to the throne. The feud between the two Jewish houses in Berlin spread to the whole community, divided it into two parties, and affected even the synagogue. When the fire of faction burned most furiously, Chayon came to Berlin, and turned the quarrel to his own advantage. He joined the Liebmann party, which, though the weaker of the two, was rich, and therefore more willing to make sacrifices. The rabbi of Berlin, Aaron Benjamin Wolf, son-in-law of the court Jewess Liebmann, a simple fellow, treated Chayon with honorable distinction. Naphtali Cohen, who had come to Berlin, could have unmasked Chayon, but was afraid, as he said, to inflame the quarrel still further. Thus Chayon without molestation was able in Berlin to print his heretical book, with which he had begun his mischievous proceedings five years before at Smyrna. He gave his work the artful title, "The Belief of the Universe" ("Mehemenuta de Cola"). The main text, the production of a Sabbatian (some thought of Sabbataï Zevi himself), proclaims the "holy king," the Messiah, the incarnate Deity, as the God of Israel, and as the exclusive object of reverence and worship. Chayon added two sophistical commentaries, wherein he proved in various ways that the God of Judaism was the Trinity. In the prayer, "Hear, O Israel, God is one," every Jew must needs think of this Trinity, otherwise he cannot attain to salvation, even if he fulfills all religious and moral duties. This belief alone can make a man certain of bliss. So low had Judaism sunk, that such blasphemy was printed before the eyes and with the consent of a rabbi—Aaron Benjamin Wolf, at Berlin—probably at the expense of the Liebmann party! Chayon had the audacity to order forged testimonials of rabbis to be prefixed, as though they had read the book and recommended it. With this work he hastened by way of Hamburg to Amsterdam, to make his fortune in that Jewish Eldorado, and thus schism was introduced into the Jewish world.
The community of Amsterdam had been sufficiently warned of the machinations of the Sabbatians. The Jerusalem rabbi, Abraham Yizchaki, who had been appointed an emissary to collect alms, behaved like a papal legate, invested with supremacy over everything religious, and like a grand inquisitor commissioned to destroy the heresy which had been gaining ground. At Smyrna the heretical writings of the fanatic Abraham Michael Cardoso were in the hands of a few secret Sabbatians. At Yizchaki's suggestion these had to be given up by their owners under threat of excommunication and severe temporal punishment, and they were burned. The community of Smyrna thereby felt itself freed from a heavy burden, and was thankful to its liberator. Yizchaki had also come to Amsterdam, and had warned the rabbis and the communal council against Sabbatian emissaries, and drew attention to the hint of the Smyrna rabbinate, that a secret Sabbatian was on his way to print Cardoso's writings. In fact a Sabbatian emissary did come to Amsterdam for that purpose. Chayon at first conducted himself modestly, and affiliated with the Portuguese. He presented the council with a copy of his work on the Trinity printed at Berlin, in order to obtain leave to sell it. He appears to have passed himself off as an emissary from Palestine. Hereupon bickerings arose, which began with personal feeling and ended in wide-spread dissension.
The rabbi of the German community, Zevi Ashkenazi, called Chacham Zevi, was much excited at the news of Chayon's presence in Amsterdam. This man, whose father had belonged to the most zealous Sabbatians, while he himself and his son, Jacob Emden, were destined to fight against them with vehement zeal, was gifted with a clear head, and combined thoroughness with acuteness in the study of the Talmud. In his eighteenth year he had been consulted as an expert in the Talmud. Pampered, sought after, married while young to the daughter of a rich man at Buda and thereby rendered independent, he became proud, self-conscious, and vain of his knowledge of the Talmud. On account of his Talmudical learning he was invited to be chief rabbi of the German community at Amsterdam (1710); he preferred to be called Chacham. Here he looked down with great contempt upon his Portuguese colleagues, especially upon Solomon Ayllon, and would never regard him as his equal in rank. "Chacham Zevi wishes to rank higher even than the prophet Moses," was the judgment passed upon him by Ayllon.
As soon as the name of Chayon reached the ears of the German Chacham, he connected it with a former enemy of his at Bosna-Seraï in Bosnia, where Zevi had been rabbi for a short time, and he immediately intimated to the Portuguese authorities that it would be wise to show no sort of favor to the stranger, as he was a man of evil notoriety. Nehemiah Chayon explained that the mistake in his identity was caused by similarity of names, and behaved so very humbly towards Chacham Zevi, that the latter soon informed the council that he had nothing to urge against the stranger, whose identity he had mistaken. Chayon appeared to have removed every obstacle from his path at Amsterdam, when Moses Chages, of Jerusalem, who was in Holland, sounded the alarm against him, perhaps because he feared him as a Palestinian rival. The heretical work printed at Berlin was put before him for examination, as some members of the council did not trust their Chacham Ayllon. Scarcely had he looked into it, when he raised the cry of heresy. In fact, it did not need lengthy search in the book to find an explicit enunciation of the doctrine of the Trinity. The German Chacham, having had his attention drawn by Moses Chages to Chayon's suspicious doctrine, again notified, almost ordered, the Portuguese council, to banish instead of favoring the stranger. The council, not disposed to accept such abrupt orders, requested Chacham Zevi either to point out the heretical passages in Chayon's book, or to join with some members nominated by the council as a committee to examine it. Chacham Zevi, at the advice of Chages, rejected both proposals flatly, saying that as rabbi he was not obliged to bring forward proofs, but simply to pronounce final judgment. Still less did he choose to take council with Ayllon, as this would have been tantamount to recognizing him as a Talmudist of equal rank with himself. The haughty behavior of the Chacham, on the one hand, and Ayllon's sensitiveness, on the other, kindled a spark into a bright flame.
The Portuguese Chacham had reason to feel himself slighted and to complain. His own congregation had passed him over in this matter, shown distrust towards him, and set his opponent over him as a higher authority. Besides, he appears to have feared the cunning adventurer, who if persecuted might reveal more than was desirable of Ayllon's past history and relations to the Salonica heretics. He felt it his interest to remain on Chayon's side and protect him against the threatened banishment from Amsterdam. It was not difficult for him to prejudice a member of the Portuguese council, Aaron de Pinto, a resolute, unbending, hard man, indifferent to spiritual problems, against the German Chacham, and persuade him of his duty to guard the independence of the old, respectable, and superior Portuguese, against the presumptuousness of the hitherto subordinate German, community. Ayllon converted the important question of orthodoxy and heresy into one of precedence between the communities. De Pinto treated the affair in this light, and the other members of the council conformed to his resolute will. He straightway rejected the interference of the German Chacham in an affair of concern only to the Portuguese community, broke off all negotiations with him, and commissioned Ayllon to appoint a committee of Portuguese to examine and report on Chayon's work. Ayllon added to the college of rabbis four men, of whom only one understood the question. This one hesitated to join the committee, but was compelled to do so. The others were totally ignorant of theology, and accordingly dependent on Ayllon's judgment. Ayllon and the council, that is, Pinto, made the members of the committee swear to let no one see the copies of Chayon's work handed to them for examination, in fact, to keep everything secret until the final judgment was pronounced. The petty question of tolerating or expelling a begging adventurer thus attained great importance.
Whilst the Portuguese committee was still apparently engaged in the business of examination, Chacham Zevi, in conjunction with Moses Chages, hastened to pronounce sentence of excommunication against Chayon and his heretical book, because "he sought to draw Israel away from his God and to introduce strange gods (the Trinity)." No one was to have dealings with the author until he recanted his error. His writings in any case were to be committed to the flames. This sentence of condemnation was printed in Hebrew and Portuguese, and circulated as a pamphlet. A great portion of the objections raised by these two zealots against Chayon's writings was equally applicable to the Zohar and other Kabbalistic books. Short-sighted as they were, they saw only the evil consequences of the Kabbalistic errors, not their original cause.
Great was the excitement of the Jews of Amsterdam over this step. Chacham Zevi and Moses Chages were affronted and abused in the streets by Portuguese Jews, and it was asserted that Ayllon employed disreputable people for this purpose. When Chages appeared the rabble shouted, "Stone him, slay him." Attempts at reconciliation failed; partly through the dogmatism of Ayllon, who refused to admit himself wrong, partly through the firmness of De Pinto, who simply had in view the dignity of the Portuguese community. Pamphlets increased the bitter feeling.
The quarrel of the Amsterdam Jews made a great stir elsewhere, and was the cause of party strife. Ayllon and De Pinto forbade the members of their community, under threat of excommunication, to read pamphlets, or to express themselves either verbally or in writing upon the matter. They also hastened the delivery of the verdict, which, however, was drawn up by Ayllon alone. It declared, in direct opposition to the decision of Chacham Zevi and Chages, that Chayon's work taught nothing offensive or dangerous to Judaism; it contained only the doctrines found in other Kabbalistic writings. It was officially made known in the synagogues (August 14, 1713) that Chayon was acquitted of the charge of heresy brought against him, and that he had been innocently persecuted. The day after, the original cause of the strife was carried in triumph into the Portuguese chief synagogue, and to the vexation of his opponents, almost worshiped. The false prophet, who had openly declared, "Come, let us worship false gods," was loaded with homage by the Portuguese who had staked life and property for the unity of God. They cheered Chayon in the synagogue, and cried "Down with his adversaries." In secret Chayon probably laughed at the complications he had caused, and at the credulity of the multitude. De Pinto took care that Chacham Zevi should not be supported by his own German community, but should be left exposed, without protection, to the rough treatment of his opponents. He found himself entirely isolated, almost like a person under interdict.
But help came to Chacham Zevi from without. The rabbis whose pretended letters of recommendation Chayon had prefixed to his work declared them to be forged. The deepest impression was made by the letters of the highly respected, aged rabbi of Mantua, Leon Brieli, who, well acquainted with the past history of the impostor, unmasked him, and approved of the sentence of condemnation against his heretical book. Brieli wrote urgently to the Amsterdam council, and to Ayllon, in Hebrew and Italian, imploring them not to lend their authority to so bad a cause. But they remained stubborn, answered him politely, yet evasively. The quarrel rose higher every day in the Amsterdam community; every one took one side or the other, defending his view with bitterness, passion, and frequently with vigorous action. Peace vanished from this pattern community, and dissension was carried into family life. Matters had gone so far that the leaders could not yield. Ayllon and De Pinto went to greater lengths in their obstinacy. They suggested that the Portuguese council summon Chacham Zevi, the rabbi of the German community (over whom it had no authority whatever), before its tribunal, with the intention of shaming him or of inducing him to recant. When he paid no heed, it laid him and Moses Chages under the ban, most strictly forbidding the members of the community to have dealings with them, protect them, or intercede for them with the civic authorities.
As though the council and the rabbinate had been infected by Chayon's baseness, they committed one meanness after another. In justification of their course of action they distorted the actual state of the case, and made use of notorious falsehoods. They encouraged, or at least countenanced, Chayon in calumniating his opponents with the vilest and most revolting aspersions, not only Chacham Zevi and Chages, but even the wise and venerable rabbi, Leon Brieli, and supported Chayon in all his audacities. The Portuguese council and the rabbinate, or rather De Pinto and Ayllon, for their colleagues were mere puppets, persecuted Chayon's opponents as though they were lost to all feeling of right. With Moses Chages they had an easy game. He lived on the Portuguese community; and when they withdrew the means of sustenance, he was compelled to leave Amsterdam with his helpless family and migrate to Altona. They also pressed Chacham Zevi hard, annoyed him, accused him before the civil authorities, and prevented any one's assisting him. He, too, left Amsterdam, either De Pinto procuring his banishment at the hands of the magistrates, or Chacham Zevi, in order to anticipate scandalous expulsion, going into banishment of his own accord. He repaired to London, in the first instance, then by way of Breslau to Poland, and was everywhere honorably received and treated.
His opponents, Chayon, Ayllon, and De Pinto, were not able to enjoy the fruits of their victory. The apparently trivial dispute had assumed large dimensions. Almost all the German, Italian, Polish, and even some African communities with their rabbis espoused the cause of the persecuted Chacham Zevi, and hurled sentences of excommunication upon the unscrupulous heretic. These anathemas were published, and unsparingly revealed Chayon's villainy, bringing to light the sentence passed upon him years before at Jerusalem. The exposure of his character by witnesses who came from countries where his past history was well known, contributed to ruin the false prophet of the new Trinity.
But the Portuguese of Amsterdam, or at least their leaders, would not drop him, either because they believed his audacious lies or from a sense of shame and obstinacy. They saw clearly, however, that Chayon must take steps to calm the storm raised against him. They therefore favored his journey to the East, providing him with money and recommendations to influential Jews and Christians, who were to aid him in loosing the ban passed upon him in the Turkish capital. But the journey proved full of thorns for Chayon; no Jew admitted him into his house, or gave him entertainment. Like Cain, curse-laden, he was obliged to flee from place to place in Europe. At last he had to take ship in haste to Constantinople. He was followed by fresh accusations of heresy, not only from Chages and Naphtali Cohen, but also from the highly esteemed Kabbalist Joseph Ergas, and the London preacher David Nieto, who calmly exposed, in Hebrew and Spanish, the heresy, falsehood, and villainy of this hypocritical Sabbatian.