Jacob Tam is almost the only member of the school of northern France who overcame the partiality for Talmudical study, and displayed great taste for the diversified studies of the Spanish Jews. He studied their art of Hebrew versification, and wrote liturgical prayers and secular poems in a metrical form. He corresponded with Ibn-Ezra, the representative of Jewish-Spanish culture, and, as related above, exchanged poems with him. Poetry led Tam, who did nothing superficially, to a thorough course of inquiry into the Hebrew language, and he became so far advanced in the knowledge of grammar that he was able to act as arbiter in the grammatical controversy between Menachem ben Saruk and his opponent Dunash.
The large numbers of learned rabbis in northern France and in Germany, and the universally acknowledged authority of Tam, brought about a new departure, which for the first time made its appearance in the post-Talmudical period. Under the presidency of the Rabbi of Rameru, the first rabbinical synod assembled for the purpose of deciding important questions of the day. Probably the councils which had been convened in France by the fugitive popes, Pascal, Innocent II, Calixtus, and Alexander III, gave this suggestion to the rabbis. The rabbinical synods were not attended with that pomp which transformed such councils into theaters in which vanity and ambition are fostered. Those who took part in the proceedings met at some appointed place frequented by Jews, such as Troyes and Rheims, without any splendor or ceremony, and without ulterior motives or political intrigue. The decisions of the rabbinical synods included not only religious and communal matters, but also questions of civil laws, as the Jews still possessed their own jurisdiction.
It is most probable that it was at one of these synods of the rabbis, in whose minds the persecution of the second crusade was still fresh, that it was decreed that no Jew should purchase a crucifix, church appurtenances, vestments of the mass, church ornaments or missals, because such an act might involve the whole community of Jews in great danger. At a great synod, in which took part one hundred and fifty rabbis from Troyes, Auxerre, Rheims, Paris, Sens, Drome, Lyons, Carpentras, from Normandy, Aquitania, Anjou, Poitou, and Lorraine, headed by the brothers Samuel and Tam, and by Menachem ben Perez of Joigny, Eleazer ben Nathan of Mayence, and Eleazer ben Samson of Cologne, the following resolutions were passed: (1) That no Jew should summon one of his co-religionists before the courts of the country unless both parties agreed to it, or unless the accused refused to appear before a Jewish court of law. (2) Any damages which might accrue to the defendant through this ex parte litigation at a non-Jewish court of law should be paid by the complainant, according to the assessment of seven elders of the congregation. (3) That no person should apply to the secular authorities for the office of president or provost, or obtain the office by stealth, but that the president shall be elected in an open manner by the majority of the members of the congregation. A ban of excommunication was pronounced against all who transgressed these and other decisions of the synod; no Jew should hold intercourse with such transgressors, nor partake of their food, nor use their books or utensils, and not even accept alms from them. The edict of excommunication against informers and traitors was also revived at this synod.
At a synod held in Troyes, over which Tam presided, all those were threatened with excommunication who dared find fault with any bill of divorce after it had been delivered to the wife. Hyper-critical or wicked men often criticised a bill of divorce after it had been granted, causing the divorced parties much annoyance. Other decisions were made by the synods, and these possessed the force of law among the French and German Jews. Thus it was decided that the ordinance of Gershom for the prevention of polygamy could only be abrogated by a hundred rabbis from three different provinces, such as Francia, Normandy, and Anjou, and only for the most weighty motives. The rabbis did not, like the Catholic prelates, use this power of the synod against the people, but in accordance with the feeling of the nation and for the welfare of the community. Hence their decisions once made did not require frequent renewal.
In his old age, Tam witnessed a bloody persecution of the Jews in his vicinity, in Blois, which is memorable not only on account of the severity with which the martyrs were treated, but especially for the lying accusation, then for the first time brought against them, that they used the blood of Christians at the Passover. It was a base intrigue which kindled the fire at the stake for the innocent.
A Jew of Blois was riding at dusk towards the Loire in order to water his horse. He there met a Christian groom, whose horse shied at a white fleece which the Jew wore beneath his cloak, and growing restive, refused to go to the water. The servant, who was well aware of the Jew-hating character of his master, the mayor of the town, concocted a story which served as ground for an accusation. He asserted that he had seen the Jewish horseman throw a murdered Christian child into the water. The mayor bore a grudge against an influential Jewish woman named Pulcelina, who was a favorite of his lord, Count Theobald, of Chartres, and took this opportunity of revenging himself. He repeated the lie about the murder of a Christian child, and the charge read: "The Jews crucified it for the Passover, and then threw it into the Loire." Count Theobald thereupon commanded that all the Jews should be put into chains, and thrown into prison. Pulcelina alone, for whom Theobald entertained a particular affection, remained unharmed. Relying upon this, she quieted the fears of her suffering co-religionists with the assurance that she would prevail on the Count to release them. But soon the imprisoned Jews learned that there was no hope of human aid.
Pulcelina, on account of the affection shown for her, had incurred the bitter enmity of Isabelle, the wife of the Count, and she planned the destruction of the Jews. She had a watch set over Pulcelina, and prevented her from meeting the Count. The Jews had but one glimmer of hope: an appeal to the notorious avarice of the Count. He had sent a Jew of Chartres to ask what sum they were willing to pay in order to be acquitted of this charge of murder. Thereupon they consulted with friendly Christians, and it was arranged that one hundred pounds of ready money, and one hundred and eighty pounds of outstanding debts – probably the whole wealth of the small community – would be sufficient. At this point, however, a priest took part in the proceedings, and addressing the Count with warmth, besought him not to treat the matter lightly, but to punish the Jews severely in case the accusation against them was well founded. But how could any one ascertain the truth, seeing that the whole charge rested merely upon the statement of the groom, who could be said to have seen no more than a body thrown into the river? In the Middle Ages such doubts were readily solved. The water test was applied. The servant was conveyed to the river in a boat filled with water, and as he did not sink, the Count and the whole of the Christian population were firmly convinced that his statements were really true. Count Theobald issued an order condemning the entire Jewish congregation at Blois to death by fire. When they were brought out to a wooden tower, and the fagots around them were about to be kindled, the priest begged them to acknowledge Christianity, and thus preserve their lives. They nevertheless remained steadfast to their faith, and were first tortured, and then dragged to the stake. Thirty-four men and seventeen women died amid the flames whilst chanting the prayer which contains the confession of faith in One God (Wednesday, 20 Sivan – 26 May, 1171), Pulcelina dying with them. A few Jews only, through fear of death, accepted Christianity. The Christians, relying on the water test, were firmly convinced that the Jews had rightly deserved death at the stake, and the chronicle narrates in terse fashion: "Theobald, Count of Chartres, caused several Jews of Blois to be burnt, because they had crucified a Christian child at the celebration of their Passover, and had thrown its body into the Loire."
When the news of the martyrdom of the Jews reached Tam, he decreed that the day should be observed as a strict fast and a day of mourning. The congregations of France, Anjou, and the Rhine country, to whom the great teacher sent letters of request, willingly obeyed his decrees. This fast day, in memory of the martyrs of Blois, at the same time commemorates the beginning of the utterly false and groundless fabrication that the Jews use blood on their Passover, which in the course of half a century was the cause of the death of hecatombs of victims. This decree was the last public act of Tam, for a few days afterwards he died (Wednesday, 4th Tamuz – 9th June). One of his pupils, Chayim Cohen, remarked that if he had been at the burial, he would have assisted in the final disposition of the body in spite of the law that a descendant of Aaron may not touch a corpse, because for so holy a man the sanctity of a priest may be laid aside. Rabbi Tam concludes the series of creative minds of the French school, just as Ibn-Ezra marks the end of the original element in the Spanish school. There now arose a personage who completely reconciled both schools, and with whom a clearly marked transformation in Jewish history commenced.
CHAPTER XIII.
SURVEY OF THE EPOCH OF MAIMUNI (MAIMONIDES)
The Jews of Toledo – Ibn-Shoshan, Ibn-Alfachar – The Poet Charisi – Sheshet Benveniste – Benjamin of Tudela – The Jews of Provence – The Kimchis – The Communities of Béziers, Montpellier, Lünel, and Toulouse – Persecutions of Jews in Northern France – The Jews of England – Richard I – The Jews of York – The Jews of Germany – Ephraim ben Jacob – Süsskind – Petachya the Traveler – The Jews of Italy and of the Byzantine Empire – Communities in Syria and Palestine – The Jews of Bagdad – Mosul – The Pseudo-Messiah, David Alroy – The Jews of India – Conversion to Judaism of Tartars – The Jews of Egypt.
1171–1205 C. E
Before the thick clouds of deadly hatred had begun to gather from all sides over the house of Jacob, darkening the horizon without leaving even one span of the blue heaven; before the elements, pregnant with destruction, had been let loose on the head of the community of Israel, crushing it to the earth; before evil in the name of the Deity roused princes and nations, freemen and slaves, great and small, against the weak sons of Judah, and urged men with all the weapons of murder and the stings of scorn against them, to destroy this small body of men; before the haughty Popes, seated on the throne of God as judges over the living and the dead, fastened a badge of scorn upon the garments of Jewish men and women, and exposed them to persecution and mockery from all who encountered them; before fanaticism prepared instruments of torture for the most innocent of men, who were accused of crimes at which they shuddered more than their accusers, the charges being mere pretexts for torture and ill-treatment; before the gross lies about murdered children, poisoned wells, and witchcraft, became generally accepted; before all the nations of Christian Europe excelled the savage Mongolians in barbarity towards the Jews; before their thousandfold sufferings drove the blood from their hearts, the marrow from their bones, and the spirit from their brains, enfeebling them and dragging down their aspirations to grovel upon the earth; in short, before that life of hell began for the Jews, which, in the days of Pope Innocent III, reached its climax under Ferdinand the Catholic of Spain, it is well to glance around upon the circle of scattered Jewish congregations on the face of the globe, and to note their condition in different countries, in order to see what they still possessed, and of what this devilish fanaticism afterwards robbed them. The cruelty which, in the names of two religions, was preached against the Jews, had not yet succeeded in stamping them altogether as outcasts. Whilst in one place they were despised and hated and execrated, in another they were looked upon with respect as citizens and men; whilst in one country they were servants of the imperial chamber, in another they were appointed by princes and municipalities to important offices; whilst in one place they were reduced to the miserable position of bondmen, in another they still wielded the sword, and fought for their independence.
The number of Jews in Asia far exceeded that in Europe, but the general standard of the latter made them superior, so that Europe must be regarded as the chief seat of Judaism. Here true self-consciousness was aroused; here Jewish thinkers strove to solve the difficult problem connected with the position of Judaism and the Jews among the other religions and nations, and of the task allotted to each member of a community. The heart of Judaism still beat in the Pyrenean peninsula. Jewish Spain still held the highest rank, as the intellect had here reached its fullest development. Jews lived in all the five Christian kingdoms which had been formed in this prosperous peninsula, in Castile, Leon, Aragon, Portugal, and Navarre. Only in southern Spain, in Mahometan Andalusia, since its conquest by the intolerant Almohades, there were no Jews, at least none who openly professed their religion. The former seats of Jewish learning, Cordova, Seville, Granada, and Lucena had been devastated; Toledo, the capital of Castile and of the whole country, had taken their place. The Toledo congregation at this time led the van; it numbered more than twelve thousand Jews. The town, resplendent with magnificent buildings, possessed also many splendid synagogues, "with whose beauty none other could compare." Among the Jews of Toledo there were wealthy and cultured men and brave warriors, who were skilled in the use of weapons. Jewish youths practised the art of war, that they might become distinguished knights. Under Alfonso VIII called the Noble (1166–1214), many talented Jews obtained high positions, were appointed officers of state, and worked for the greatness of their beloved fatherland. Joseph ben Solomon Ibn-Shoshan, called "the Prince," was a distinguished personage at the court of Alfonso (born about 1135, died 1204–1205). Learned, pious, wealthy and charitable, Ibn-Shoshan enjoyed the favor of the king, and was probably active in affairs of state. "Favor was bestowed upon him, and goodwill manifested towards him by the king and the grandees." With great liberality he encouraged the study of the Talmud, and erected, in princely magnificence, a new synagogue in Toledo. His son Solomon equaled him in many virtues.
Another highly honored man at Alfonso's court was Abraham Ibn-Alfachar (born about 1160, died after 1223), "crowned with noble qualities and magnanimous deeds. He was exalted in word and deed, an ornament to the king, and the pride of princes." Thoroughly proficient in the Arabic language, Ibn-Alfachar wrote choice prose, and composed well-sounding verses, whose high merit induced an Arab author to make a collection of them; amongst them was a panegyric upon King Alfonso. This noble king once despatched Ibn-Alfachar on an embassy to the court of Morocco, where ruled the Prince of the Faithful, Abu Jacob Yussuff Almostansir. Although this prince of the Almohades continued the intolerant policy of his predecessors, did not permit any Jew to dwell in his kingdom, and even desired to distinguish the Jews who had embraced Islam from the native Mahometans by a prescribed dress, he was obliged to receive the Jewish ambassador of Alfonso with friendliness. When Ibn-Alfachar presented himself for an audience before the vizir of Almostansir, in order to present his credentials, he was conducted through the charming gardens of the palace, the splendor and fragrancy of which delighted the senses. The gardener was, however, as ugly as the gardens were beautiful. To the inquiry of the vizir, how the garden pleased him, Ibn-Alfachar replied, "I would positively have thought it to be Paradise, were it not that I know that Paradise is guarded by a beautiful angel (Redvan), whilst this has as its guardian an ugly demon (Malek), showing the way to the gates of hell." The vizir laughed at this witty comparison, and thought it worthy of being imparted to Almostansir. The latter remarked to the Jewish ambassador, "The ugly doorkeeper was intentionally chosen, in order to facilitate the entrance of a Jew into this Paradise, because a Redvan would certainly never have admitted an infidel."
A kinsman of this favorite of Alfonso, named Juda ben Joseph Ibn-Alfachar, also bore the title of "Prince."
Although the two patrons of Toledo at this period, Ibn-Shoshan and Ibn-Alfachar, were themselves proficient in the Talmud, and encouraged Talmudical learning, yet this study did not flourish in the Spanish capital to the same degree as with Alfassi, his disciples, and in the school of Rashi. Toledo produced no Talmudists of renown. The congregation was compelled for several centuries to obtain its rabbis elsewhere. The Toledans had a greater inclination for science and poetry. They preferred philosophy, meditated deeply upon religion, and defended their belief against doubt. They were the most enlightened of the Spanish Jews.
The aged historian and religious philosopher, Abraham Ibn-Daud, was still alive, and was an ornament to the congregation of Toledo. At length in the year 1180 he fell a martyr in a riot against the Jews, the origin and extent of which are not quite ascertained. It is possible that the very warm friendship displayed by King Alfonso towards the Jews had caused the riot. This prince, who had married an English princess, had an open liaison with a beautiful Jewish maiden, Rachel, who on account of her beauty was called Formosa. This intimacy was not a passing fancy, but lasted for seven years. Concerning this love, a poet sang:
"For her the king forgot his queen,
His kingdom and his people."
A band of conspirators attacked the fair Jewess on her richly decorated dais, and, in the presence of the king, slew both her and her companions, probably at the instigation of the queen and the clergy. On this occasion, a riot may have broken out against the Jews, in which Abraham Ibn-Daud met his death.
This did not prevent the Jews of Toledo, however, from giving great assistance to Alfonso in his wars against the Moors. When he assembled his immense army in order to subdue the great power of the Almohades, who under Jacob Almansur were again trying to penetrate into the heart of Spain, the Jews poured forth their riches into the coffers of the impoverished monarch so as to enable him to equip his forces. In the battle of Alarcos (19th July, 1195) he was defeated, and the flower of Christian chivalry lay upon the battle-field. The Almohades ravaged fair Castile, and Alfonso was compelled to shut himself up in his capital, where the Jews fought with the other inhabitants, in order to repel the onslaughts of the enemy. They rendered material assistance in compelling the retreat of the foe. The Jews of Castile had a special interest in opposing the Almohades in their attempts to gain possession of the capital, lest they should become subjected to the fanaticism of Islam. They witnessed with joy the withdrawal of the Almohades before the kings of Castile and Aragon, who had entered into a confederacy against them. Through this union, however, the Jews of the kingdom of Leon suffered severely, when the allied forces, ravaging the land, marched through their territory. In this campaign, the oldest Hebrew copy of the Bible in Spain, which had hitherto, under the name Hillali, served as a model for copyists (said to have been written in about the year 600) fell into the hands of the enemy (9 Ab, 1197).
In Aragon, of which Catalonia was a part since the time of Ramon Berengar IV, the Jews lived under favorable conditions, and were able to develop their minds. Alfonso II (1162–1196), a promoter and patron of the Provençal poetry, favored men gifted with word and thought, and amongst such the Jews at this time took a foremost place. Although Saragossa was the capital of Aragon, and since ancient times had a Jewish congregation, yet at this time the city of Barcelona was considered the center of northern Spain, owing to its favorable position by the sea, and the flourishing state of its commerce. Barcelona was pompously termed by the poet Charisi "the congregation of princes and nobles." At its head stood Sheshet Benveniste, philosopher, physician, diplomatist, Talmudist, and poet (b. 1131, d. about 1210). Well acquainted with the Arabic language, he was employed by the king of Aragon in diplomatic services, obtained honors and wealth, and like Samuel Ibn-Nagrela, owed his prosperity to his pen. Like this Jewish prince, Sheshet Benveniste supported men of science and students of the Talmud. The poets laud his noble mind and his liberality in excessive terms. Sheshet Benveniste himself, when in his seventy-second year, composed a song of praise of one hundred and forty-two verses in honor of Joseph Ibn-Shoshan of Toledo.
Next to him in importance in Barcelona stood Samuel ben Abraham Ibn-Chasdaï Halevi (1165–1216), "the fountain of wisdom and the sea of thought," as the poet Charisi extravagantly calls him. He had five learned sons, among whom was Abraham Ibn-Chasdaï, who as the author of a moral romance, "The Prince and the Dervish," and as a translator of philosophical writings, has made a name in the history of literature.
The community of Tudela, a small town on the Ebro, which was the bone of contention between the kings of Aragon and Navarre, had on two occasions courageously fought for equal privileges with the Christian and Mahometan inhabitants, and won them. They possessed a castle of their own for their security. Tudela produced a learned traveler, Benjamin ben Jonah, to whom, not alone Jewish history, but also general history, is indebted for his interesting and authentic information. He traveled through a great portion of southern Europe, Asia and Africa (1165–1173). The object of this journey is not quite known. He was either an itinerant merchant, or a pious man of an inquiring turn of mind in search of traces of a Messianic redemption. He made observations on the peculiarities of each town he visited, and his record of observations has been translated into many modern languages.
Serachya Halevi Gerundi was born (1125, died 1186) in the little town of Gerona in Catalonia. He appears to have possessed considerable knowledge of philosophy, and was probably one of the first in his country to occupy himself with this subject. He devoted himself especially to the Talmud, and being acquainted with the labors of the French and Spanish schools, he united in himself the methods of Alfassi, Rashi, Joseph Ibn-Migash, and Tam. He was a thorough and critical scholar, his mind being at once analytic and synthetic. In his youth, at the age of nineteen, he composed Talmudical works, and annotated the commentaries of Alfassi. Serachya Gerundi appears to have suffered persecution at the hands of the community of Gerona, for which he avenged himself by a satire. He left Gerona, and settled in Lünel, where he possessed many friends, and where he was maintained by a patron of learning. Here he composed various writings against a Talmudical authority of the south of France – Abraham ben David – and here also, at an advanced age, he finished his acute annotations of Alfassi's work on the greater part of the Talmud. These he published under the name of Maor. In this critical work, Serachya displayed his independence of spirit, and everywhere he insists upon a thorough understanding of the Talmud. But this very independence was displeasing to his contemporaries, who were accustomed to hedge themselves in with the decisions of the old authorities. Serachya was far in advance of his age in his view of the Talmud, and accordingly his conclusions were strenuously opposed. Of his life and position nothing further is known.
In the district on the other side of the Pyrenees, in Languedoc or in Provence, the Jews towards the end of the twelfth century lived most happily. Southern France partook of the northern Spanish character in respect of culture and morals. The country was divided into a number of small states, a circumstance which brought out the versatility of its genius, and produced a period of literary excellence, which it never afterwards surpassed. The province belonged at first partly to the French crown and partly it was a fief of the German empire; then it belonged to the King of Aragon as Count of Provence, and later to the Count of Toulouse and St. Gilles; and, lastly, to different vassals, counts, viscounts, and barons.
These were nearly all actuated by broad views of life; they were patrons of the flourishing Provençal poetry, they encouraged learning, and were not bigoted servants of the Church. Besides the nobility, a free and wealthy middle class had arisen, which guarded its independence as its dearest treasure. The intimate relations between the inhabitants and the Moslems and Jews had weakened western prejudices against the Orientals. The breadth of mind of the Provençals, which prompted them to resist the Catholic Church, to disregard papal bulls, to condemn the arrogant clergy, to apply the scourge to the vices of the Roman court, and which gave rise to the sect of the Albigenses, also rendered them capable of appreciating Judaism, and the adherents of that religion. Among the Provençal free-thinkers whom the stern, unbending Catholic Church branded as heretics, there were many who secretly and openly acknowledged that the law of the Jews was better than that of the Christians. Many of the great and minor lords of southern France appointed Jewish officers, and entrusted them with the high office of Chief Bailiff (Bailli), with which, in the absence of the regent, were united the police and judicial powers. The Jews of this country, which was so highly blessed by nature, felt themselves favored, carried their heads high, took the most lively interest in the welfare of the country, and exerted themselves in spiritual concerns with untiring zeal. As the Christians showed themselves ready to adopt innovations, so the Jews of southern France did not accept all tradition with unquestioning faith, but sought to comprehend its import, and test it before the judgment-seat of reason. Although the Jews of Provence manifested great interest in science, they cannot be considered as independent thinkers, able to strike out into new lines of thought within the limits of Judaism. Jewish Provence did not produce a single original mind, not one profound thinker, not one genuine poet, not one distinguished scholar in any branch of knowledge. The Jewish Provençals were faithful disciples of foreign masters, whose conclusions they appropriated, and steadfastly maintained; they were humble workers in science, translators and propagators of foreign intellectual productions. Judaism they loved with all their hearts, although ready to pursue the free investigation of truth. Jewish virtues flourished among them, their houses were hospitably opened to all strangers; they secretly assisted the needy, and practised beneficence at all times. The rich assisted the children of poor parents to receive higher instruction, and gave them books, which were at that time very costly. Especially noteworthy is the loyalty with which the congregations stood by one another, and interested themselves in one another's most intimate concerns. When danger threatened any particular congregation, the others immediately took measures to assist, and avert the impending danger. Their general prosperity was attained partly by agriculture and partly by commerce, which at that time was carried on with Spain, Italy, England, Egypt, and the East, and was in a most flourishing condition.
The principal congregation of southern France was Narbonne; at that time it contained 300 members. Under the rule of the sensible and masculine Princess Ermengarde, the head of the congregation was Kalonymos ben Todros, of an old family, whose ancestor, Machir, was said to have immigrated in the time of Charlemagne. Kalonymos possessed many estates, which were secured to him by absolute grants. At the head of the college was Abraham ben Isaac, who was recognized as an authority, and bore the title of Chief Justice (Ab-beth-din, died, autumn, 1172). He was a man of strictly Talmudical pursuits, and was scarcely affected by general culture. His Talmudical learning, moreover, was wide rather than deep; his disciples, Serachya and Abraham ben David, excelled him even in his lifetime. In Narbonne there lived at this time the Kimchi family, whose achievements cannot be said to correspond to their fame, but who, directly for Narbonne and indirectly for posterity, effected more than the greatest masters. The founder of the family, Joseph ben Isaac Kimchi (flourished 1150–1170), had emigrated from southern Spain to Narbonne, probably on account of the religious persecution of the Almohades. Having a knowledge of Arabic, he translated Bachya's work on moral philosophy, and many others, into pure, fluent Hebrew; composed a Hebrew grammar; wrote a commentary on Holy Writ, the nature of the extant fragments of which precludes regret for the loss of the rest, and composed many liturgical poems, artistic in form, according to the models of neo-Hebraic poetry, then brought to perfection in Spain, but of little poetic value. Joseph Kimchi's merit consists solely in the fact that he introduced the Jewish culture of Spain into southern France, and permanently established the results of Ibn-Ezra's fugitive activity. A polemical work against Christianity, in the form of a dialogue between a believer and an apostate, is also ascribed to him. Whether this work be genuine or not, in any case it belongs to this time and country, and throws a favorable light on the state of morality among the Jews as contrasted with that of the Christian population. The believer maintains that the true religion of the Jews is attested by the morality of its adherents. The Ten Commandments, at least, are observed with the utmost conscientiousness. They adore no being but God, and they take no false oaths. Among them are no murderers, adulterers, nor robbers; whilst Christian highwaymen often rob the weak, hang, or blind them. Jewish children are brought up in purity and fear of God, and no improper word is allowed to escape them. Jewish girls sit modestly at home, while Christians are careless of their self-respect. A Jew practises hospitality towards his brother Jew, ransoms prisoners, clothes the naked, and feeds the hungry. All these virtues of the Jews the Christian antagonist admits as generally known, and only blames the Jews for taking exorbitant interest from Christians. This offense the Jewish speaker palliates by pointing out that Christians also take usury even from their co-religionists, whilst Jews lend to the members of their race without interest.