Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/247

* JEWS. 221 JEWS. the written targums or Aramaic versions of the Bible (see TAKGUii), which sprang at a much later period from oral translations of the Penta- teuch in the synagogues instituted after the return from the Exile; further, to this period belongs the whole of the Apocrypha (q.v.J, and the earliest Christian writings, which are at least the productions of men nurtured in the principles of Judaism, and which contain many traces of .Judaistic culture, feeling, and faith. It was also characterized by the drawing up of prayers, scrip- tural expositions, songs, and collections of pro- verbs. Josephus and Philo are names specially worthy of mention ; so also are the doctors of the oral law — Hillel, Shammai, Johanan ben-Zakkai, Gamaliel, Eleazar ben-Hyrcivn, Joshua ben-Han- anya. Ishmael, Akiba, and others of like eminence. Riihhi (master), talmid kakam (disciple of the wise), were the titles of honor given to those expert in a knowledge of the law. Besides the Maecabeau and Bar Cochba coins, Greek and Latin inscriptions belonging to this period are extant. The tkird period reaches from 135 to 475. In- struction in the Halaclia and Haggada now be- came the principal employment of the flourishing schools in Galilee, Syria, Rome. and. after 219, in Babylonia ; the most distinguished men were the masters of the Mislina (q.v. ) and the Talmud Iq.v.) — viz. Eleazar ben-.Jacob, Jehuda, Jose, ileir, Simeon ben-Yohai, Jehuda the Holy, Xathan, Hiyya, Rab, Samuel, Johanan, Hunna, Rabba, Rava, Papa, Ashe, and Abina. Besides expositions, ethical treatises, stories, fables, and histoiy w^re also composed; the liturgy began to assume larger dimensions, the targum to the Pentateuch and the Prophets was completed, and the calendar fixed by Hillel the Second, 340. After the suppression of the academies in Palestine, those of Mesopotamia — viz. at .Sura. Pumbeditha, and Nehardea — became the centre of .Jewish lite- rary activity. On Sabbaths and festal days the people heard, in the schools and places for prayer, instructive and edifying discourses. Of the bibli- cal literature of the Greek .Jews we have only fragments, such as those of the versions of Aquila and Svmmachus. The fourth period was from 475 to 740. By this time the .Jews had adopted the language of the country they happened to dwell in. During the sixth century the Babylonian Talmud was con- eluded, the Palestinian Talnnid having been re- dacted about a hundred years before. Little remains of the labors of .Jewish physicians of the seventh century', or of the first gconim or presi- dents of the Babylonian schools, who first appear in 589. On the other hand, from the sixth to the eighth century, the Masora was developed in Pal- estine (at Tiberias) : and besides a collection of the earlier haggadas (e.g. Bereshith rabba). inde- pendent commentaries were likewise executed, as the Pesilfn. the Pirke of Eliezer (700), etc. See ^IlDRASH ; HAGG. .. In the fifth period (from 740 to 1040). the -irabs, energetic, brilliant, and victorious in lite- rature as in war. had appropriated to them- selves the learning of Hindus. Persians, and Greeks, and thus stimulated the Oriental .Jews, among whom now sprang up physicians, astron- omers, grammarians, commentators, and chron- iclers. Religious and historical haggadas. books of morality, and expositions of the Talmud were likewise composed. The oldest Talmudic compends belong to the age of Anan {circa 750), the earliest writer of the Karaite Jews. The oldest prayer-book was drawn up about 880, and the first Talmudjc dictionary about 900. The most illustrious yeonim of a later time were Saadia (died 942), equally famous as a commen- tator and translator of .Scripture into Arabic, a doctor of law, a grammarian, philosopher, and poet; Sherira (died 998), and his son Hai (died 1038). who was the author, among other works, of a dictionary. From Palestine came the comple- tion of the ilasora and of the vowel system; numerous midrashim,te hagiographical targums, and the first writings on theological cosmogony were also executed there. From the ninth to the eleventh century Kairwan and Fez, in Africa, produced several celebrated Jewish doctors and authors. Learned rabbins are likewise found in Italy after the eighth century — e.g. Julius in Pavia, etc. Bari and Otranto were at this time the great seats of Jewish learning in Italy. After the suppression of the Babylonian academies (1040) Spain and Egypt became chief seats of Jewish literature. To this period belong the old- est Hebrew codices, which go back to the ninth century. Hebrew rhyme is a product of the eighth, and modern Hebrew prosody of the tenth century. The sixth period (from 1040 to 1204) is the most splendid era of .Jewish mediaeval literature. The Spanish .Jews busied themselves about the- ology, exegetics, grammar, poetrs'. the science of law, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, rheto- lie. and medicine. They wrote sermons and ethical and historical works. The languages em- ployed were Arabic, rabbinical Hebrew, and an- cient or classical Hebrew. We can only mention here the great doctor, Samuel Halevi (died 1055), and the renowned ilaimonides, whose death closes this epoch. The literature of the French rabbins was more national in its char- acter, and kept more strictly within the limits of the halacha and haggada. In Languedoc, which combined the literary characteristics of France and Spain, there were celebrated Jewish acad- emies at Lunel, Xarbonne. and Xlmes. and we find Talmudists, such as Berchia Halevi, Abra- ham ben David, etc. The fame of the Talmudist.9 of Germany, especially those of Mainz and Regensburg. was very great. Among the most illustrious .Jewish writers of this period belong- ing to that country are Simeon, the compiler of the Midrashie collection known as the Yalkut, .Joseph Kara, and Petahya. Only a few names belong to Greece and Asia ; still the Karaite .Jews had a veiy able writer in .Juda Hadassi (1148). The seventh period (from 1204 to 1492) bears manifest traces of the influence exercised by -Maimonides. Literary activity showed itself partly in the sphere of theologico-exegctic phil- osophy, partly in the elaboration of thie national law. With the growth of a religious mysticism there also sprang up a war of opinions between Talmudists. Philosophers, and Cabbalists. The most celebrated .Jews of this period lived in Spain, later in Portugal. Provence, and Italy. To Spain belongs (in the thirteenth century) the poet .Jehuda al-Hanzi. etc. In the fifteenth cen- turi' a decline is noticeable. Books written in Hebrew were printed at Ixar in Arason (1485K at Zamora (1487). and at Lisbon (1489). During this epoch the chief ornaments of .Jew- ish literature in Languedoc were Moses ben