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15 Apostasy and Apostates from Judaism

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

15

had dropped the many Talmudic statutes and later on returned to the fold, having in the meanwhile remained followers of the law of Moses. Natronai Gaon expressly declared them to have been Jews

— works

number of baptized Jews of prominence used their knowledge and power as means of

full of venom against Jews and Judaism. Especially successful was he in charging Jews with reciting among their daily prayers one directed against the Christians, the "Birkat ha-Minim "; and King Alfonso XI., after having convoked the representatives of Judaism to a public dispute, issued an edict in 1336 forbidding the Jews of Castile to recite that prayer. This calumny of the Jews bore its poisonous fruit for generations to come (see Abner of

maligning their former brethren and the faith in which they had themselves been raised.

Burgos). There were, however, some Apostates

(Gratz, "Gesch. der Juden," v., note 14, p. 482). The name " apostate, " however, assumed a new

meaning and character

when a

— that

of bitter reproach

large

Famous

Many of

the Inquisitors were descendApostates. ants of converted Jews; for example, Don Francisco, archbishop of C,oria,

Don Juan de Torquemada. The first apostate that is known to have written against the Jewish creed was Moses Sephardi, known by the name of Petrus Alfonsi (physician to Alfonso VI.), baptized in 1106, and author of the well-known collection of fables, "Disciplina Clericalis." He wrote a work against Jewish and Mo-

hammedan

doctrines, entitled "Dialogi in

Quibus

Impias Judaeorum et Saracenorum Opiniones Confutantur." This book, however, seems to have had little influence. The harm which Petrus Alfonsi did to his former coreligionists can not be compared with that done by some other Apostates. Donin of Rochelle, Prance, in revenge for his having been excommunicated by the French rabbis because of doubts he had expressed concerning the validity of the Talmudic tradition, embraced Christianity, assuming the name of Nicholas. He then went to Pope Gregory IX., bringing thirty -five charges against the Talmud, stating that it contained gross errors, blasphemous representations of God, and insulting expressions regarding Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Moreover, he was the first to allege what afterward became a standing accusation that the Talmud allows all kinds of dishonest dealings with the Christian nay, declares the kilTing^f on"e a meritorious act. This led to a generafrigorous public dispute of the prosecution of the Talmud. apostate with R. Jehiel of Paris, and Maligners other rabbis of France, was held in of Latin in the presence of the queen-

—

—

—

A

Judaism,

mother Blanche and many Church

prelates; but, notwithstanding the favorable opinion created by R. Jehiel and the intercession of the archbishop of Sens, twenty-four cartloads of the Talmud were consigned to the flames in 1442 (see Disputations). Pablo Christiani or Fra Paolo, of Montpellier, was another apostate, who, having in a public dispute with Nahmanides in Barcelona, before James I. of Aragon, in 1263, failed to win laurels, denounced the Talmud before Pope Clement IV. In consequence of this a Christian censorship of the Talmud was introduced for the purpose of striking out all the passages that seemed offensive to the Church, Pablo being chosen one of the censors. Still greater evil was wrought when Abner of Burgos, known also by the Christian name Alfonso Burgensis, a Talmudic scholar, philosopher, and practising physician, adopted Christianity to become sacristan of a wealthy church of Valladolid, and then wrote partly in Spanish and partly in Hebrew

—

inspired

and

by the Church

who were

to follow in her footsteps

attempt the conversion of their former coreTo this class belonged John of Valladolid, author of two works against the Jewish creed. In 1375, in a public debate with Moses Cohen of Tordesillas, held at the church of Avila in the presence of the entire Jewish community and many Christians and Mohammedans, he endeavored to prove the truth of the Christian dogma from the Old Testament but he was no match for his learned antagonist, nor did his successor in the debate, a pupil of Abner of Burgos, fare any better in his attacks on the Talmud. Still more harmless were the following rather frivolous satirists: Peter Ferrus, who ridiculed his former coreligionists, the worshipers at the synagogue of his native town, Alcala, but evoked a pointed reply which alone Minor has caused his name to survive; and Apostates, his compeers Diego de Valensia; Juan d'Espana, surnamed "el Viejo" (the Old) Juan Alfonso de Baena, the compiler of the " Cancionero, " and Francisco de Baena, of the fifteenth century, a brother of the former (Kayserling, " Sephardim," pp. 74 et seq.). To the same category belongs Astruc Raimuch, physician of Traga, Spain, who from a pious Jew became a fervent Christian, assuming the name of Francesco Dios Carne (Godflesh). In a clever Hebrew epistle he tried to win a former friend over to his new faith, and not only met with a mild protest on the part of the latter, but also evoked a vigorous ironical reply from the sharp pen to

ligionists.





of

Solomon b. Reuben Bonfed. Of all the Apostates of the twelfth century none

displayed such delight in hurting his former brethren as did Solomon Levi of Burgos, known as Paul de former rabbi and a pillar of orthoSanta Maria. doxy, on intimate terms with the great Talmudists of the age, he joined the Church together with his aged mother, his brother, and his sons— only his wife refused to renounce her faith studied Christian theology, and quickly rose to the high position of archbishop of Carthagena, and then to that of privy councilor of King Henry III. of

A

—

Solomon Levi of Burgos,

Castile II.

and tutor of the infant Juan

He devoted

his

great

literary

and mighty intellect only to calumniate Jews and Judaism, and he talents

used his influence only to exclude his former corefrom every political office and position. His open letters and satirical poems, addressed to the most prominent rabbis in Spain, evoked many a reply, even from his pupils (see Crescas and Efodi). Strange to relate, however, one of these, Joshua ben Joseph ibn Vives of Lorca (Allorqui), although he had composed an epistle filled with reproof for the

ligionists