Heman^ be able to heal the proud waters and the
afflicted of the time? Unto whom of the holy ones
shall we turn, and who is the faithful of the genera-
tion to bring the balsam from Gilead for the tottering
foot and for the wound of long continuance? It is
in the place of judgment and in the place of righteous-
ness that we have seen many cracks, but there is none
to repair the breaches. O land, land, land, where the
men of renown were born, in whose midst was the Law
of God, and upon whose heart was the breastplate
of judgment ; there thrones for judgment had been set,
attended by the holy seed, the judge and the litigant.

*_This epistle, which is in rhymed prose, is the second of a
series of three letters written on this subject. In vehement
language the author denounces those who make light of the
words of the Law, and prefer philosophy to the word of God.
The three epistles were written with the consent of the Jewish
community at Barcelona.

^ Names of wise men mentioned in the Bible ; comp. Proverbs
30. i; J Kings 5. 11.

176



SOLOMON B. ABRAHAM IBN ADRET 177

And even up till this day all the congregation, with
the exception of a few men, are holy ; they are the
elect of the congregation, and because of their ex-
cellence are chiefs over all the people. But their
children who arise after them have created a waster
to destroy ; and as a band of prophets, with harp and
lute, they go about the city, and pursue vanity. When
they spoke their fearful words, they thought that they
were exalted in Israel ; and at the head of every street
they said concerning false gods : ' These are thy gods,
O Israel.' It is now some time since our attention
has been drawn by people from the land of Provence,
the chosen remnant, who were jealous for the faith
of Moses and the Jews, to the fact that there are men
there who falsify the Law, and that he is regarded
wise who sits down to demolish the walls and who
destroys the words of the Law. They hew out for
themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, and they impute
unto the words of the Law and the words of the
sages things which are not right. Concerning the
two Laws they expound in the synagogues and in
the houses of study words by which none can live.
To provoke the eyes of the Glory of all Israel they
break down all the fences of the Law ; and even
against our holy fathers they put forth their tongue,
a thing which the worshippers of idols have not done.
For they say that Abraham and Sarah represent
matter and form, and that the twelve tribes of Israel
are the twelve constellations. Has a nation ever heard
such an evil thing since the world was divided into
territories? Or has such a thing ever been heard,
that men should reduce everything to chaos? The
blasphemers of God further say that the holy vessels
which were sanctified, the Urim and the Thummin, are
12



178 POST-BIBLICAL HEBREW LITERATURE

the instrument known as astrolabe, which men make for
themselves. Have such false children ever been found
before? They in truth bite the people more danger-
ously than do the fiery serpents. Without any bene-
fit and without any cause they commit the sin of
slander, and say that the four who fought against
the five ^ are the four elements and the five senses.
May the souls of these men be wholly consumed as
offerings ! A man who does such things reduces the
entire Bible to useless allegories ; indeed they trifle
with, and pervert all the commandments in order to
make the yoke of their burden lighter unto themselves.
Their reports terrify us, and all who arrive here tell
us new things. Truth has stumbled in the street, for
some of them say that all that is written from the sec-
tion of Bereshit as far as the giving of the Law is noth-
ing more than an allegory. May such men become a
proverb and a by-word, and may they have no stay
and no staff. Indeed they show that they have no
faith in the plain meaning of the commandments ;
they inscribe on their hearts and on the walls of their
altars that they have no portion in the God of Israel,
nor in the Torah which their fathers had received on
Sinai. They are more estranged than the Gentiles ;
for the latter fulfil some of the commandments in
the proper form, while they (may they have no rem-
nant in the land!) strongly desire to uproot all. The
chief reason of all this is because they are infatuated
with alien sciences, Zidonian and Moabitish, and pay
homage to the Greek books. They mingle with stran-
gers, and bear them children. The children that are
consecrated unto heaven from their birth and from
their mothers' womb are drawn away from the breasts,
and are taught the books and the language of the
' The allusion is to Genesis 14. 1-15.



SOLOMON B. ABRAHAM IBM ADRET 179

Chaldeans, instead of rising early to study the Jew-
ish faith in the house of their teachers. Now a boy
born upon the knees of natural science, who sees
Aristotle's sevenfold proofs concerning it, really be-
lieves in it, and denies the Chief Cause; if we refute
him, he becomes all the more impious. They only
read the Law, but their heart is not right inwardly,
and they pervert it in seven ways. For thus says one
of their sages, who is esteemed as the chief of the
heads of their sects : * It is good that the study of the
Law should be combined with secular sciences ; it is
a good thing, but without the wisdom of the Greeks
a man is called a wild ass used to the wilderness. They
that study the Law, what manner of wisdom is in
them? for they themselves are but as beasts.' They
are therefore ashamed when they speak and lecture ;
they speak with their mouths, and point with the
fingers that it is impossible to change nature, and they
thereby declare to all that they do not believe in the
creation of the universe, nor in any of the miracles
that are recorded in the Torah. Lo, these are but
the outskirts of their ways ; were we to relate the
rest of their words and deeds as they actually are, the
ink would not suffice. We have thus explained enough
here. They have nearly caused God's people to for-
get His name ; they went forth from His land, so that
His place (God for fend !) no longer knows them. They
that make a covenant with God, and surname them-
selves by the name of Israel, shall not their heart grow
hot at that ? Can those heretics put fire into our bosoms,
and their flame not consume our reins? Shall
the lovers of the Law respect the person of their
brother or kinsman? Has the divine word completely
gone away? Has instruction failed? Shall it be said



i8o POST-BIBLICAL HEBREW LITERATURE

unto my children, as these men actually say in our
presence : ' Let the Law return to Sinai ' ?

Now when we saw that the fire was kindled, we
feared lest the fire should break out, and catch in
thorns, namely, a man whose soul is empty, who will be
smitten through ignorance. God forbid that the earth
should become empty, and void, and waste ! When we
saw that the generation had become corrupted and
ready to treat religion lightly, we made a fence, and
strengthened the wall round our perfect Torah. Had
we not made a strong hedge round the vineyard of
the Lord of hosts, we would have shared in the blame
for their deeds. We have therefore interdicted in a
perfect manner of interdiction, as ye see recorded with
writing of truth in the book of the covenant which
we made with our God,* any one to teach or to learn
these sciences, until the student and the teacher are
twenty-five years old, and until they have become full
of the delicacies of the Law, so that they will not
remove it from being queen ; for he v/ho espouses it in
his youth will not turn away from it even when he
grows old. And indeed we shall not have done our
duty, until we have pursued them, and brought them
low, and removed the abominations from between their
teeth ; the books which they composed should be
burned in the public place in their presence. It is
about three years now since we have endeavored to
carry out our wish in accordance with our aim ; we
have made many supplications, asking, requesting, and
praying, to restore the crown of the Torah to its
pristine glory, in its place. All this did we, so that
the sword should not be against the dove which is
foolish and without understanding, and that we should

* The allusion is to the first epistle.



SOLOMON B. ABRAHAM IBN ADRET i8i

not afterwards be reviled by the mouth of the reviler.
Our words, however, did not enter into their ears ;
they made their words, which are directed against
us, harsher still, because of their ability to write and
to speak. Nevertheless we did not cease to write to
them. But many strict communities of those provinces
inscribed their name to God, and decided to ban and
excommunicate them, and they acted wisely after us,
as ye see from the copies of their letters.

Now, ye chiefs of righteousness, is the thing good
in your sight? For the thing which they do is not
good, and the report which the people of the Lord
caused to transpire is not good. Far be it from us,
lest the nation should be divided into two, and God
forbid that the name of Heaven should be profaned
through them. For it is really the duty of every
Israelite to tell them that. We have trustworthy evi-
dence in that which the Israelites did, when the
children of Gad and the children of Reuben built an
altar on the other side of the Jordan.' Did they not
hasten to assemble for war on account of the sus-
picion of the intention? How much more have we
to do it, since these men destroy the cluster " in the
sight of all ! Far be it from us that, by hiding our
face from the evil report, we should be included in the
prophet's accusation : ' There they stood ; no battle
was to overtake them in Gibeah.' '

Ye mountains of Israel, may ye bear your fruit for
ever ! ye people of the God of Abraham^ set your eyes
upon the palace,^ lest their folly should destroy the fence
of the Law. Let us be one band, for we are all the
children of one man. With many covenants we

° The reference is to Joshua 22. 10-34.
* That is, traditional Judaism.
' Hosea 10. 0.



i82 POST-BIBLICAL HEBREW LITERATURE

and our fathers received truthful Laws, written and
oral, at the hands of the master of the prophets. How
can we deal falsely against our soul and entice our heart
to seek the deceptions of Greek philosophy? They
vhose eyes go in front of them, how can they walk
with their faces backward and ally themselves with
Arabic philosophy? Arise, ye princes, anoint the
shield, and the Lord shall defend you and your
houses ; for the Master of your work is faithful to
pay the reward of your labor.



XXXII. JEDAIAH HA-BEDERSI

[Poet, philosopher, and physician. He was born in Beziers
about 1270, and died about 1340. As a boy he w^^ very preco-
cious, and composed a prayer of a thousand words, each word
beginning with the letter D. Being an eloquent writer, he
earned for himself the title ha-Melic (the Rhetorician). He
was the author of several treatises in prose and poetry, but his
fame rests upon the Behinat 'Olavi (Examination of the
World).]

The Nothingness of Man and His Pursuits'

The world is a tempestuous sea of immense depth
and breadth, and time is a frail bridge constructed
over it, the beginning of which is fastened with the
cords of chaos that preceded existence, while the end
thereof is to behold eternal bliss, and to be enlightened
with the light of the King's countenance. The width
of the bridge is a cubit of a man, and it lacks borders.
And thou, son of man, against thy will art thou living,
and art continually travelling over it, since the day
thou hast become a man. When thou considerest that
the path is narrow and that there is no way to turn
either to the right or to the left, shalt thou glory
in position and fame? When thou seest that destruc-
tion and death are unto thee a wall on thy right
and on thy left, shall thy heart endure, or shall thy
hands be strong? Even if thou pridest thyself with
the desirable acquisitions and the abundance of pos-
sessions which thou hast amassed and discovered with
thine arm, hast sought with thy bow, and hast gone
down to possess with thy net, what wilt thou do

^Behinat 'Olam, chapters 8 and 9. Soncino edition (1484),
183



i84 POST-BIBLICAL HEBREW LITERATURE

against the tempest of the sea and the roaring- thereof,
when it rages, overflows, and passes through, so that
even thy dwelling-place is about to be broken? Glory
thou over this immense sea in whose midst thou art ;
rule over the horsemen and chariots thereof; go out
now, I pray thee, to fight against it. For even while
thou reelest to and fro and staggerest with the wine
of thy rebellious arrogance which deceived thee, and
with the juice of the pomegranates of thy haughtiness
which misled thee, thou wilt soon incline slightly
toward one side or another, and wilt perish in the
terrible depths, and none will seek thy blood from
them; thou wilt go from abyss to abyss, perplexed in
the depths of the sea, and none shall say : ' Restore.'
Shall I trust in falsehood, shall I rely upon the staff
of the bruised reed, to consider a lodging-place of
wayfarers like this as a strong fortress and a king's
sanctuary, the wing of a flea as a point of diamond,
a spider's web as coral and crystal? When thou seest
that the days are pleasant, that time frisks and dances,
that the moment goes on to give thee repose, and that
the hour frolics and rejoices before thee in the world,
thou wilt despise the latter days in thy heart. But
it is in falsehood that thou trustest: thou seest
the shadow of a gourd as though it were a high and
lofty mountain. Is it for these things that thou hast
cast the soul behind thy back, and hast turned thy
way toward the pleasures of the flesh which cause
grief? Whenever thou seest that thy soul loves her
God, being mindful of her end, and preparing pro-
visions for her journey with the labor of her hands,
thou enragest her ; whenever she goes up to the house
of the Lord, thou provokest her. Shalt thou forsake
eternal glory and everlasting delight for the vanities



JEDAIAH HA-BEDERSI 185

of imaginary pleasures? And it shall come to pass,
when thy heart will ask thee to-morrow, when the
vicissitudes of time will leap upon thee : ' Who has
begotten me these ? ' that thou shalt answer : ' The
stubbornness of thy heart and its evil counsel.' If a
servant spoils the work apportioned to him, will the
spirit of the ruler not despise him? If a man walks
about with his master without acknowledging him,
will he not hate him?

Wilt thou pride thyself, O mighty man, when thou
grazest in the green pastures after the youths in the
presence of the sun, when thy stones are set in fair
colors in midday, with the multitudes of thy compan-
ions ? They say to themselves : ' Eat and drink ', but
they have no heart. They only oossess bodies and
imaginary height of stature: vainglorious and cor-
poreal things which have no spirit. Knowest thou not
that there is a record of thy deeds, and that above
thee there is an eye that sees and an car that hears thine
arrogance and raging? And now on whom trustest
thou to break down the fences which the mightiest of
the shepherds have founded? Is there no God above
thee to know thy going out and thy coming in? Are
no graves beneath thee wherein to take vengeance
on God's enemies? How is it then that thou didst
not lay it to thy heart that these vicissitudes which
befall thee are the messengers of Providence? They
turn not aside when they go to reward or to punish
the individuals of mankind or the sects thereof. It
is out of the mouth of the Most High that the decree
comes to lay the noble low and to set the ignoble on
high. When the base man goes up on the ladder of
success, it has been brought about by the Lord; and



i86 POST-BIBLICAL HEBREW LITERATURE

when the man of God goes down from his high place,
it is the King who has said : ' Go down.'

How is it that thou didst not open thine eyes upon
these things? Have presumptuous thoughts and idle
meditations deluded thee, and prevailed over thee?
In the day the lustful reins have given thee counsel,
and yet in the night seasons they have chastised thee
with whips. With the venom of asps, mixed with the
poison of serpents, did they make the clods of in-
dolence sweet unto thy palate. With wanton words
did they corrupt, make abominable, and mar for thee
every good portion; salvation did they spoil with the
flattery of words that are softer than oil. What mean-
est thou, O sleeper? How did they deceive thee by
making thee forever the possessor of the riches of
such lands, while thou art merely a sojourner for an
appointed time in the innermost part of thy house?
Cursed be they, for they have driven thee out that
thou shouldst not cleave unto the inheritance of the
holy ones, from whose rock thou wast hewn, and that
thou shouldst not mingle in the assembly of the holy
beings that gave thee life (but the lions' dens became
thy dwelling-place). If, because of the hoards of gold
and the treasure of provinces which thou didst amass,
thou hast added haughtiness to thy pride, and hast
humbled the generous spirit before it, see then how
thou art beaten with the rod of folly and the plagues
of blindness. Hast thou, because of the treasures of
darkness which thou didst bind up, despised the soul
that is bound in the bundle of life? Hast thou, for
the sake of pieces of silver, crushed and suppressed
a truthful longing and a glorious desire? Verily the
glory of wealth lasts not. In a little while an evil
spirit of the Lord shall come forth to scatter thy



JEDAIAH HA-BEDERSI 187

possessions, and the fifty thousand pieces of gold, for
the sake of acquiring which thou has sold thy soul,
shall be as though they had not been. Time will turn
round in a little moment, and take away grace and
glory from thy head. A fire shall come down from
heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty.

Why shall I covet the earth which is like Admah
and pleasure which is like Zeboim ? ^ Her wrath is
stored up in her company ; her conspiracy is tightly
fastened to her covenant; her sweetness and honey-
comb are like chaff before the whirlwind ; her end
and conclusion are eternal disgrace and everlasting
shame. Moreover, how can my flesh be delighted
when it is announced to me that I shall live long,
since there is no escape from the destruction of death?
What avails the age of strength, since at the end
thereof come wrath and the grave? What pleasure is
there in eighty years, since by their side is the shadow
of death? What cheerfulness is there in ninety years,
since there is no salvation in their border? Shall ants
that languish and perish, and creeping things that
melt away like water, exalt themselves to reign ? Even
if they endure for a day or for two days, will they
never be devoured with the sword? How can the
fields of Sodom and the sheaves of Gomorrah prosper?

* Comp. Deuteronomy 29. 22.



XXXIII. IMMANUEL B. SOLOMON
OF ROME

[Italian scholar and satirical poet. He was born at Rome
about 1270, and died at Fermo in the first half of the four-
teenth century. He excelled as poet, and his style is vivid and
fluent. His best known work is Mahherot 'Immannel, which is
modelled after al-Harizi's Tahkemoni. He boasts, however,
that he surpassed his model, and in some respects this is not
without justification.]

The Poet Visits Paradise ^

While we walked to and fro through the streets of
Eden, and looked upon the gallery of the men of wis-
dom, I perceived men full of splendor and majesty,
compared to whose beauty the sun and moon are
dark; a place was given them in the world of angels.
Not recognizing any one of them, I asked the man
who talked with me, that I might know concerning
them. And he said unto me : These are the pious
of the Gentiles, who prevailed with their wisdom and
intellect, and ascended the degrees of the ladder of
wisdom in accordance with their ability. They were
not as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious genera-
tion; but they investigated with their intellect as to
who is the Maker, and who the Creator that fashioned
them with His lovingkindness, took them out from
nothingness to existence, and brought them to this
world; and as to what is the purpose for which He
created them. When they asked their fathers, and

* This is part of the twenty-eighth composition of the
Mahberot 'Immanuel, and is entitled ha-Tofet we-ha-Eden
(Hell and Paradise). It is written in a manner similar to that
of Dante's Divine Comedy.



IMMANUEL B. SOLOMON OF ROME 189

considered their answers, they knew that they were
worthless ; they despised their creed, and set their
mind to investigate the creed of other nations. Hav-
ing investigated all the creeds, and having found that
the hands of each of them are steadfast in strengthen-
ing its own foundations and in disparaging other
creeds, they did not say : ' Let us remain in our creed,
for it has been handed down to us by our fathers,'
but out of all creeds they chose those doctrines which
are true, and concerning which the wise men did not
differ ; these doctrines they accepted, and to them they
clung. But to those opinions which all nations dis-
parage they turned their back, not their face. As re-
gards God, they arrogantly call Him by a name at
which our heart trembles and shudders, for every
nation calls Him by a special name. We, however,
say : * Let His name be what it may, we believe in
the truly First Existence, that produced life; that was,
is, and will be; that created the universe, when His
wisdom so decided; that is hidden from us through
the intensity of His revelation; that faints not, and
is not weary, and of whose understanding there is no
searching; that has mercy upon His creatures, and
feeds them, as a shepherd tends his flock ; who will
call us unto Him, when our end draws nigh, and whose
glory will gather us together.'

When we ascended the steps of Eden, we saw
wonderful things, for there were set lofty and ex-
alted thrones that appeared to my sight exceedingly
marvellous, so that the eye could not be satisfied with
seeing. Among them was one throne, the radiance of
which filled the world with splendor ; it was like the
work of bright sapphire, and like the very heaven for
clearness. Its footstool had long edges, and the



190 POST-BIBLICAL HEBREW LITERATURE

bright metal thereof flashed continually ; I longed
to sit upon it, and I said : ' I pray thee, my lord, for
whom is this honored and pleasant throne, and for
whom is the footstool of image work?' And he said
unto me : ' As thou livest, this throne is prepared for
the mightiest of the shepherds, and for him shall it
be ; that is Judah, the lion's whelp, who prevailed
above his brethren. The footstool wdth its flowers
and buds is for the lawgiver that departeth not from
his presence. And thou shalt sit near him, and
shalt be close unto him.' And it came to pass, when
I heard these words, that I remembered the rank of
Daniel ^ my brother, who had led me in the right way,
and directed my path, and who had been near me when
I fled. He is the plate of the holy crown upon my
forehead, the life of my flesh and the breath of my
spirit. I thought of the full account of his greatness,
of his generosity and excellence, of his prudence and
understanding, of his humility and righteousness, and
of his renown which fills the ends of the earth. I
then said unto the man who held my right hand : * I
pray thee, my lord, show me the place of Daniel and
his habitation ; what manner of house do ye build for
him, and what place is his rest ? ' And he said unto
me : ' Know of a certainty that his rank is very high,
and that the ends of the earth are full of his renown ;
even thy rank is too low to reach him. For he bore
the sin of many, and made intercession for the trans-
gressors. But because the Highest Wisdom knew
that without thee he would find no rest and no repose,
it placed thy booth near his booth, though thy worth
is less than his ; for the Highest Wisdom knew that
he will have delight in thy company: he would be

* This is supposed to be Dante his friend.



IM MANUEL B. SOLOMON OF ROME 191

Moses, and thou wouldst be Joshua unto him ; in order
that all may declare, as it is said : Your souls are united,
they cling together, and cannot be sundered. Will
two walk together, except they have agreed ? '

There is nothing to marvel at that I was joyful, for
I knew that my lot fell in pleasant places, being aware
that I shall have redemption on account of him. And
I said unto the man : ' As thou livest, show me the