DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

8

LEOPOLD ZUNZ

(Continued from Page 6)

responded in every way to the
reconstruction made by Zunz-
a conclusion as thrilling as that
of any mystery story.
Zunz next undertook, as a con-
tribution to the knowledge of
Jewish history, a study of Jew-
ish martyrdom through the cen-
turies. But his chief interest, as
before, was in Jewish literature;
he turned to study Jewish syna-
gogue poetry, especially that
which commemorates the events
of Jewish life and reveals the
feelings of the Jewish poets. He
produced three great studies

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which became classics in the
field: "Die Synagogale Poesie
des Mittelalters" (Synagogual
Poetry of the Middle Ages;
1855); "Der Ritus des Synagog-
Oen Gottesdienstes, Historisch
Entwickelt" (History and Devel-
opment of the Synagogue Rit-
ual; 1859); "Literaturgeschichte
der Synagogalen Poesie" (Liter-
ary Histoy of Synagogue Poetry;
1866, with a supplement the fol-
lowing year). These works have
become classics in the field, and
students who seek any informa-
tion on these subjects must first
of all "go to Zunz."
Besides these major works,
there are numerous essays of
Zunz on almost every field of
Jewish scholarship. There are
studies of the personal names of
the Jews, lists of place names
in Jewish literature, plans for
gathering Jewish statistics, notes
on bibliography, descriptions of
the culture and ethics of the
Jews of the Middle Ages, illu-
minating presentations of sec-
tions of Jewish history which
had previously been disregarded.
Thereby Zunz paved the way for
the work of the hundreds of
Jewish scholars who came for-
ward to cultivate the field of
the Science of Judaism; guided
by the paths which he had cm
into the labyrinth of Jewish
knowledge, they followed secure-
ly, confidently and fruitfully.
But Zunz was more than a
mere scholar, content to produce
magnificent works within the
confines of his study. He was
keenly interested in all that went
on around him, and his scholar-
ship had a twofold purpose. He
wanted to improve the spiritual
condition of the Jews; he want-
ed to elevate their standing in
the world. He vigorously lashed
the abuses that he found in Jew-
ish life. "The Jews and Juda-
ism," he wrote, "are torn to
pieces and are a prey to bar-
barians, idiots, fools and Perna-
ism . . . Our present Judaism
is a sickening mixture of praying
'money-bags,' Rachmonous (char-
ity), with a few crumbs of sec-
ular knowledge . . . Our large

--- —
ROSH HASHONAH GREETINGS

populations and their education
produce very little of enthusiasm
and ideal interest, and their want
of knowledge is caused by their
want of a great moral principle,
by their indifference and arro-
gance."
Recalling the modesty and self-
sacrifice of the great Jews of the
Middle Ages, he goes on to say:
"How much could our so-called
respectable people learn from
these rabbis! But I utterly for-
get that Jewish celebrities are
not social celebrities, but only
poor persecuted teachers and
sufferers. For such people we
have too little heart, too little
enthusiasm and too little leisure,
whilst on the other hand we
possess too many acquaintances,
too much money, and too much
culture to care for them. Our
carpet knights, who have got rid
of everything Jewish, look upon
all Jewish authors as idiots with
whose activity the educated ladies
of our fashionable drawing-
rooms have no longer any sym-
pathy."
Yet, with all his criticism of
contemporary Jewish life, Zunz
never considered abandoning his
people. He wished rather to re-
store them to the glories of their
past. The synagogue poetry of
the Middle Ages inspired him to
write one of the most notable
characterizations of Jewish his-
tory: "If there are ranks in
suffering, Israel takes precedence
of all nations—if the duration
of sorrow and patience with
which they are born ennoble, the
Jews are among the aristocracy
of every land—if a literature is
called rich in the possession of

NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS

MILDRED

GORVITZ

Superfluous Hair

Removed

Friday, September 15, 1944

ers for Germany. The plan failed
but Zunz did not follow Noah in
turning to Zion as the solution
of Jewish problems; instead h e

a few classic tragedies, what
shall we say of a national trag-
edy lasting for fifteen hundred
years, in which the poets and
actors were also the heroes?"
His whole career was motivat-
ed by the idea of redeeming this
tragic situation. In his early
years he looked with favor upon
Mordecai Manuel Noah's ambi-
tious and unsuccessful plan to
establish a place of refuge for
the Jews in America, and a cor-
respondence is known to have
existed between the American
leader and the members of the
Verein; in fact, it is noteworthy
that when Noah issued his gran-
diose proclamation he chose Zunz
and Gans to act as commission-

sought to win a place for the

Jews in the countries in Whi ch
they lived. particularly in his
own Germany.
In his preface to the "Gottes-
dienstlichen Vortrage" (which,
incidentally, was suppressed by
the Prussian government), Zunz

See LEOPOLD ZUNZ—Pag e 15

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