Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/511

463 pelled by fact.

Just the reverse has taken place. In 1790, out of a population of about 600,000 in Alsace, there were from 20,000 to 23,000 Jews - more than one-thirtieth of the total. In 1871, more than eighty tears later, the Jews numbered 30,000 in a total population of 1,200,000 or about one fortieth of the whole. Moreover, through the removal of the Jews into the towns, the rural districts were relieved of a large part of the population, that could not live by other means than Usury: such localities lost one-half of their Jewish inhabitants. Bergheim is an example of this. In 1874 this district had 327 Jews; in 1890 it had only 129. The population of Darmenach decreased from 340 to 232, and that of Hegenheim from 409 to 230. The annexation of Alsace by Germany in 1871 led to the migration of a large number of Jews from the region to France (where anti-Semitism was then entirely unknown), to Switzerland, and even to America. In spite of the immigration of the German Jews in considerable numbers, the whole of Alsace Lorraine, as late as 1890, contained but 34,613 Jews in a population of 1,560,000 or about one forty-fourth of the whole. Of this number Lower Alsace contained 17,840. Upper Alsaic 9,760, and Lorraine only 7,075. The district of the city of Strasburg contained 4,023 Jews, that of Mulhausen 3,642, and that of Colmar 2,859, while the country district about Strasburg contained 2,606, and Hagenau 2,479: but there are several districts of the Upper Rhine that contain no more than 5OO to 600 Jews each, and the larger number of those of Lorraine have only 600 or 700 Jews. In 1900 in Strasburg, of the total population of 136,000, the Jews numbered about 4,000.

the

.

these

works has been published.

The name

HMolrc

BiDLiOGRArilY: Scheld,

tics Juifit

il'

Alsace, Paris,

HMiiire dcs Juifa dc Htun'cnaii. In Hcv. Kt. Jttivcs, IW.'*; FliM'lK'r, Etude ifur VHistoirc dcs Juifn d; Fellchenfeld. Hahlii Jttsel run Itttshrim, cin liiilntii zitr Gcsch.tlcrjndi n im lieformatinnszcitaltcr, i^tn^huviz, IHS>H: jdeiii, Lcs IsReuss, Lilsttcc an xrii' Su'cle, fi. ">7.'>-.')»l raelites d'Alsacc au xrii' Sicrle, Vnris, ISIW; idem. Selinmann Alcritndrc. im les Trihulatinns tVun Israelite Strashdiirueois I'endant la Terreur, Slmslmrc. ISTS; KniK and Ba.sst', L'Alstice Arant Vn'J. pp. SiU-ajll iLes Juifs), I'urts, is::); Hallcz, Des .luifs en Franre, pp. iC 1« (Elatdes Juifs en .i8aee.vunt In ltev, l'ari.s 1K4'>; Levy, t'lii/jiiCfKii }Iisliirique sur I'Etat dcs Juifs en France, ct Parliculit'rement en Alsace, liev. d'Alsacc, WVt,i.^Mi-^^if>, Vi^nmand Kevlllt', l^s Juifs d'Alsacc seats VAncien Heifime, in Her. il'Alsucc. WA, pp. STl-afl): (!)<• Helll. Les Juifs d'Alsacc

Ditirent-ibt etre Atlmis n« littnu tie Citniiens Actifsf ITtIO tZuselirift tier Klsdssischett Jwlen au die Chrtuen Kinvtihnertles Flsasscs, ITtifi): hninrkt. liapisirt lu ti Itt Sitciele ties Amis tic Itj Ct^nstitutitni le :i7 Fi-vrier, i:nn, sur la t^uestitat tic I'Ktat I'iril ties Juifs tl'Alsace. siraslnirvr, IT!*); Jjctlre tl'un Alsacien sur les Juifn if Alsace, I*arts, ITttn; Veltrr the Vertreihitnu tier Jutleti, ITItii; Vntcrthaeniiist tleltirrsamslc Vttrstellunu tier Ittstimuitcn fictneititic tier Sttitit Strtisshurii tin the ytdianalversttwiulung, stnislmnr, ITlto, Schreilten Kines Sicht^utlrn tin tlen Verfitssir the Rcuublikaiii'^eht n I'hrmiiK. tins Jutlenthuin Jielrelfiutl, (

ITW. IJ.

AL-SAMERI



K.

The man who nmdc the golden

See S.WIKIll. Teacher of Ilebri w and grauMiiariiiii, wlin li>r eighteen years leeluri'd in lletirew in Zeikowo. Prussian Poland, near the liussian frontier. His son Joseph, bom in Zerkowo in l.'^o."), In- family nanii' into Ger eliiinis to have Ininslaleil man. an (Iniin

autbentlelty given

l>y

Zur Geschichte tier Jlldischen information of somewliat doubtful

JuUus

Fiirst), Leipsic,

ISB.

P.

Jews mimbered

I

calf

Alsace Alshech

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

463

ALSARI, JOSEPH.

ALSHECH

lAiab.

Wi.

See First, Jri.irs.

"the Elder"?),

MOSES:

Habl)i ill Salcd. Palestine, in the second half of the si.xleenlh century, and son of Hayyini Alshech. He wasadiscijileof H. Joseph Caro. author of the "Shull.ian 'Aruk " and liis own discijiles included the cabalist K. Hayyim Vidal. Although .lshech belonged to the circle of the cjibalists who lived at Safed, liis works very rarely betray any traces of the Cabala. He is celebrated as a teacher, preacher, and casuist. Little is known of his life. In his works he avoids mention of himself, telling only of his course of study: thus in the preface to his commentary on the Pentateuch he says:

"

never aimed at thinm too liigh or beyond me. From my days the study of the Talmud was my chief occupation, a.ssi(iuinisly atlemled the yt^shiUih r<""llejre] where! made myself familiar with the discussions of .baye and Itaha. Ttie DiL'ht I devoted to n'seareh and the day to Halakah. In the I

earliest

and

I

ituTuin^' I read the 1'aliiuid and in the ufternoon the Posekim '^as^Ii^Ist. (niy on Fridays could I Iliid time for the reading of Scripture and .Midrash in preparation for i^iy le4-tures on the sidra of the week and simitar topics, which I delivered every Sabbatlx before large audiences, eager I*) listen to my instruc(

tion."

These lectures were afterward published as " Commentaries" (perushim) on the books of the Holy Scrijitures. and .Vlshech gives a remarkable rea.son for their public:itioii. He sjiys: ".Many of those who had listened to my lectures reHis Lee- jieated them partly or wholly in their own names. These ofTenses will be pretures. vented by the jiublication of my own work." These lectures, though somewhat lengthy for our taste, were not tedious to his audience. The author repeatedly declares that in their [irintcd form (as "Commentaries") he greatly curtailed them by omitting everything which was not absolutely necessary, or which he had already mentioned in another place.

Like Abravanel and some other commentators, Alshech headed each section of his comments with a number of t|Ucstions which he anticipated on the part of the reader: lie then proceeded to give a summary of his view, and concluiUil with answerHis Commentaries ing all the (|Uestions seriatim. abouiul in references to Talmud, .Midrash, and Zohar, but contain scanty references to other commentaries, such as the works of Abravanel. R. Levi His e.x|<lanations an- all b. Gerson, or Maimonides. of a honiiletical character; his sole object being to find in each sentence or in each wonl of the Scriptuies a moral le.s-son, a suii|iort for trust in GihI, encouragement to patient endurance, and a proof of the vanity of all earthly goods as compared with the everlasting bliss to be acquired in the future life. He fie(|Uently and earnestly appeals to his brethren, exhcdting them to repent, and to abandon, or at least restrict, the pursuit of all worldly pleasures, and thus accelerate the approiuh of the .Me.s.sianic .Vlshech posses.sed an easy lunl lluent style; era. his expositions are mostly of an allegorical characIn liis ter, but very rarely approach mysticism. commentary on the .'^ong of .Solomon, he calls pes/ia^ (literal explanation) and *"</ (mystical interpretation) the two opposite extremes, wliile he declares his own niethtKl of intriHliicing allegorical the safe mean between these exexposition to

W

tremes.