V. From Settlement of Jews in Holland Until the Present Time.—Although the flower ing of Spanish-Jewish life, which came to an end in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, through the intrigues of their chief in quisitor, Torquemada, in 1492, was noticeable in Italy and Turkey in consequence of the wel come these countries extended to- the hapless fugitives, that flowering was most apparent in Holland. Holland had become the most ardent champion of the broadest liberty from the time that it threw off the yoke of Philip TI of Spain. Thither, therefore, countless Jews, more par ticularly the Marranos, who were 'obliged to profess Christianity outwardly and practice Judaism only secretly, found their way, and soon made of Amsterdam a second Cordova. Being unchecked and unhampered by restrictions of any kind, it was only natural that the Jews of Holland became, in due course of time, ex ponents of a comparative rationalism in re ligion, to the extremes of which as preached by Benedict Spinoza, the Amsterdam Rabbinate, Saul Levi Morteira and Isaac Aboab, objected. The Jews of Holland, never very numerous, contributed no little in defining the trend of Jewish history; and yet, however otherwise valuable their contribution to the happier and higher life of the Jews may have been, one event, for the occurrence of which Menasseh ben Israel is responsible, stands out in bold re lief. That event is the readmission of Jews into England wider Cromwell (1655), they hav ing been forbidden to dwell there for several centuries. The rationalism of Holland Jewry may not have influenced Jewry immediately all over Europe, but it worked with telling sub tlety and effected sure results the moment the Jews began to be treated with more justice than they had been previously accorded. Now a pseudo-Messiah like Berachyah may have de luded the people; now an enemy like menger (1700) may have misrepresented them; and now Chassidism (an unnatural piety) may have claimed to be the ideal conduct for the Jew, as was the case at the time of Israel Baal shem (1750), the founder of the movement; still, it was a question of only a short time, how soon the bars hemming the Jews in from with out and the bolts hemming them in from within would be broken.
The year 1729 witnessed the birth of Moses Mendelssohn (q.v.) in Dessau, Germany. Hav inggone from his native town to cultured Ber lin, having learned the sciences, philosophy and ethics and having become acquainted with Les sing (q.v.), whose °Nathan the Wise he be-1 came, he attempted to explain the Jew and his faith to the Jew himself and to the world, so as to prove the Jew's right to the privileges of citi zenship. The first attempt he made in this di rection was to translate the Pentateuch (1778) and other Biblical 'hooks into German for the Jews, in order to wean them of the jargon, which translation was soon followed by his (Jerusa-, lern) and (Morgenstunden.) He was
upon to answer not only attacks made upon his people by non-Jews, but also those made upon him by his own people, to whom the jargon had become a sacred tongue and the narrow Ghetto: life the natural Jewish life. Unwelcome as his good offices were in many quarters, they soon began to tell without and within Jewry, in France, Batavia, 'Westphalia, Hamburg and Mecklenburg. In the meantime, Jews were permitted to enter German gymnasia and uni versities. Leopold Zunz and Isaac Markus Jost availed themselves of the opportunity, with others, built on the foundation laid by Men delssohn, and hence are the fathers of the move ment which is known as the °Science of juda ism,D and has made itself felt all over the world, more especially Europe and' America. Although these men and their followers worked unceasingly to place the Jew, his faith and ideals before the world In their true light, prejudice and persecution against the Jews still continued to live. The year 1819 witnessed persecutions whose tocsin was the shout °Hep-Hepl' (Hie rosolyma est perdita, i.e., *Jerusalem is de stroyed"). The Jew's rights had to,be won by incessant fighting. The emancipation of the Jews of German states, won in 1848, required the constant defense ofa Gabriel Messer, Ferdi nand Lasalle/Eduard Lasker and Karl Marx in Germany, of an Isaac Adolphe Cremfeux inr France, of a Moses Montefiore in England, of an Alliance Israelite Universelle in the Orient and of a Union of American Hebrew Congre gations, with Isaac M. Wise as creator, in the United States. To-day the Jews live in almost all parts of the world. They number about 11,000,000, the greater part being in Russia, and 3,000,000 in the United States. Wheresoever sufficiently numerous, they in large and stately synagogues. Their mode of worship varies in degree of ceremonialism, ritualism and the language of prayer, though the Hebrew is heard in all synagogues. In every country' they have one or more theological seminaries, the first of the modern type having been founded at Breslau in 1854. A movement which has, in recent years, become prominent on ac count of Russian persecutions, but has been variously interpreted by its several factions, is °Zionism,x' which primarily aimed to estalba lish, for persecuted Jews, a legally assured home in Palestine. As a humanitarian move ment, if feasible, it appeals to all Jews. As a national movement it has opponents as em phatic in their opposition, as are its champions emphatic in their propaganda. Though the Jew is justly *Wandering Jew," he is not any the less justly termed, because of his life, despite persecutions and massacre, the *Eternal Jew?'