Anti-Semitism Ism

Renascence of Jewish Culture.

With the barbarian inva sions a momentary improvement had come about in the position of the Jews. The new rulers displayed at first that tolerance which arises from indifference, while those who adopted the Arian form of Christianity were sympathetically inclined towards the adherents of a stricter monotheism. Later, however, a reac tion followed. In the 7th century there was a simultaneous wave of forced conversion throughout Europe from Constantinople to Toledo, reaching its height under the Visigoths in Spain, where the practice of Judaism was for a time utterly proscribed. It was the Arab invasion which brought salvation. The ancient com munities in northern Africa, especially at Cairo and Kairouan, which had waned under Byzantine intolerance, awakened to a new life. In Spain there came about a remarkable revival. The Jew knew no restriction upon his activities. His linguistic or financial abilities won him high place in the administration. Under the aegis of Hasdai ibn Shaprut (c. 915-970) and Samuel haNagid (993-1055) there was a remarkable renascence, in which the old traditions of the schools of Palestine and Mesopotamia, the mani fold interests of the Moors, and the rediscovered sciences of an cient Greece were marvellously blended. Jewish poetry came to a new life, based on Arabic models, with Jehudah haLevi (1086 1141) and Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021-1056). Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) represents in his many-sided activities, as physi cian, Talmudist, codifier, and philosopher, the Spanish school at its best. This tradition was proof against the intolerance intro duced by the fanatical Almoravides and Almohades in the 12th century; for, partly from reasons of policy and partly imi tatively, the earlier Moorish toleration was adopted by the grow ing Christian kingdoms.

Meanwhile, under the favourable rule of the Carolingians im portant Jewish settlements had come into being in northern France and the Rhineland. Cultural life inevitably followed. But the tendencies of northern Jewry were sterner than those of Spain and centred in the interpretation and development of Talmudic law rather than in humanism or philosophy. The first great name is that of Gershom, "the light of the exile," who pub lished about the year I 000 the famous ordinance which forbade amongst western Jews the polygamy long since abandoned in prac tice. Solomon ben Isaac of Troyes ("Rashi") (1o40-1105) summed up the tendency, his writings preserving for after-gen erations the old traditions of rabbinic scholarship. An extensive body of Tosaphists, or "supplementers," whose activities' ex tended to almost every township of north-eastern France, car ried on his work. But these were only varying faces of an intel lectual activity which knew no boundary of country. A remark ably comprehensive educational system, insisted upon as a re ligious duty, resulted in a general distribution of culture un equalled in any other section of the population. The speculative

tendency everywhere found its outlet in a vast mystical literature, afterwards grouped about the Zohar. The 13th century renas cence was forwarded in no small measure by the translations from the Arabic made by, or with the help of, Jewish scholars—some times under the sedulous patronage of monarchs like Alfonso the Wise of Castille and Robert of Anjou. In Immanuel of Rome (1270-1330), Dante's parodist if not his friend, Hebrew poetry became infused with something of the careless spirit of Italian verse, in which he was equally proficient. The Jewish physician or astronomer, living under the highest patronage, was fully as characteristic a figure as the merchant or financier.

The Jews of Europe of the 11th century onwards were eco nomically far removed from their ancestors in Palestine and Mesopotamia. The original settlers had included agriculturalists and the calling lingered on in many places, particularly in the south, to a late date. But the peaceful immigrant into a country already inhabited cannot easily settle on the land, and the growth of the feudal system, from which the Jew was naturally ex cluded as a stranger, tended to accentuate his divorce from the soil. Accordingly, there was an inevitable tendency for him to specialize in commerce, for which his acumen and ubiquity gave him especial qualifications. In the dark ages the commerce of western Europe was largely in his hand, in particular the slave trade, and in the Carolingian cartularies Jew and merchant are used as almost interchangeable terms. With the growth of a mer cantile class, however, they became excluded from commerce, particularly in northern Europe. Hence they were forced to employ their capital in the only way left open to them, by lending it at interest. The attitude of the church in endeavouring to sup press "usury" naturally tended to concentrate the profession more and more in the hands of those to whom the canonical prohi bitions did not apply. Ultimately, all other professions were closed to them by law in the greater part of Europe, though in Spain and Sicily they remained to some extent addicted to handi crafts and agriculture. The high probabilities of violence or ex propriation naturally resulted in forcing up the rates of interest, though in point of fact the Jews charged no more than other usurers. Yet the advantage accrued rather to the Crown, which did not scruple to avail itself to the utmost limit of its rights of taxation. The floating wealth of the country was soaked up by the Jews, who were periodically made to disgorge into the ex chequer. The holy Roman emperors in particular, as heirs to Vespasian, claimed exclusive proprietary rights, and their claims were imitated by other rulers. As servi camerae regis, those of any particular place or country could be pledged, alienated, or even expelled without compunction.