By Philip
Remarkable Study of Rashi,
Christian Hebraists . . . Expose
SIOMOVitZ
of Blunders in Britannica
in
Hebrew
learning, Dr.
As
an
analysis
of
Christian
interest
Dr. Hailperin's Masterful Work on Rashi„
Hailperin's "Rashi" is a masterful work.
Nicolas de Lyra and the Christian Hebraists
Both from this point of view as well as an analytical work on
When he first began his rabbinic career, 42 years ago, Dr. Herman Rashi, Jewish literature has been enriched by this valuable study in
Hailperin enrolled in a course in ancient Semitic history and learned a rabbi's lifetime.
from his teacher, Prof. George B. Hatfield, that a French Franciscan,
Nicolas de Lyra (1270-1349) depended in his studies and writings upon Expose of Blunders in Encyclopaedia Britanncia
Encyclopaedia Britannica's blunders, as exposed by Dr. Harvey
Rashi — Rabbi Shelomo Itzhaki (1030-1105), the French rabbi who
became the most famous of the Jewish commentators on the Bible Einbinder in "The Myth of the Britannica," published by Grove Press
(64 University Pl., N.Y. 3), will prove a real shock to many who
and the Talmud.
On a bleak day in January 1923, the non- have accepted the encyclopaedia as the last word in accuracy.
Dr. Einbinder, an eminent consulting physicist, was so amazed
Jewish teacher and his rabbinic pupil took three
street cars to travel to the library of Western by the appearance of a legendary item about Galileo in the encyclopae-
Theological Seminary and there to find the evi- dia that he began to study its contents in 1958 and found distortions,
dence in Lyra's Postilla." Thus began a life- obsolete and "unguarded" statements, misinterpretations, and shallow
time of study, the result of which is described treatment of some issues.
as an "Intellectual Adventure" in Dr. Hailpe-
Revealing that the article on Spain and the Inquisition attempts
rin's "Rashi and the Christian Scholars," pub-
not only to "fix the cause of the Inquisiion of the Jews" but to
lished by University of Pittsburgh Press.
exonerate it, Dr. Einbinder enters into a full discussion of the
It is a most remarkable and a very scholarly
Spanish issue and he points to the "painful example" in the
work in which we have a masterful account of
encyclopaedia article "which singles out the Jews as one of the
the work of Rashi as well as a compilation of principal factors in the establishment of the Inquisition."
data about Christian scholarship in the Old
The abusive sentence to which he refers reads: "It cannot be
Testament and Hebraica.
denied that the Inquisition was guilty of abuses and cruelties in the
So important is this scholarly work that
course of its long history, but it was no more unjust or inhumane
three learned men joined in writing the fore- than most other courts of the Europe of its day."
Dr. Hailperin word, in three parts: Dr. Louis Finkelstein's
Dr. Einbinder refutes this claim, shows inconsistencies in the
is a brief essay on Rashi under the title, "A Master in the
Britannica articles, charges that "the Inquisition casts a dark shadow
Universal and Timeless Search for Truth"; there is a tribute to
over the history of the Catholic Church," and he make the further
Rabbi Hailperin's accomplishments by George B. Fowler, University
of Pittsburgh professor of history, entitled "A Judeo-Christian Com- charge:
"The entire on Concentration Camps in the 1959 edition occupies
munity of Scholarship," and Eligius M. Buytaert, Universite
only eight lines and simply notes, 'The Nazi regime used them in
Catholique De Louvain, Belgium, wrote on "Biblical Exegesis, a
peace and war'."
Catalyst of Universal Humanist Understanding."
He charges that the article on Nazism "speaks in vague
Lyra's book had been printed in Basle in 1507. Dr. Hailperin
terms about the party's 'Anti-Judaism," but says nothing about the
"Glossa
Ordinaria,"
a
compilation
of
scriptural
interpreta-
points to
liquidation of European Jewry during the war."
tions by Catholics, in which Lyra was both commended and condemned
Dr. Einbinder further points out that "although the article on
been
a
for his resort to Rashi: Paul of Burgos (1351-1435), "who had
single page to the
Jew, Solomon Halevi, and was Bishop of Burgos, Spain, after his con- anti-Semitism is eight pages long, it allots only a
systematic destruction of European Jewry;" that nothing is said about
Lyra
for
his
abundant
use
of
Rashi;
but
a
Franciscan,
version," assailed
the German chemical industry which supplied cyanide for the destruc-
Mathias Doering, who died in 1469, defended Nicolas de Lyra and tion of Jews in extermination camps. He adds:
refuted Paul of Burgos.
"An honest account should record how Ukrainians and Hungarians
From his study of manuscripts in the Jewish Theological Seminary joined in programs in German-occupied territory, and report how
in
Library, Rabbi Hailperin found 35 direct references to Rashi
Poles frequently blackmailed Jews hiding from the Gestapo."
Lyra's "Commentary on the Five Books of Moses. He found corrobora-
There are many more revelations of the encyclopaedia's failure
studies
he
continued
in
Europe
and
then
again
tion of his thesis in
to present all the facts regarding the holocaust and Dr. Hans Kohn
country.
He
found
Lyra's
writings
"saturated
pursued them in this
is selected among the guilty authors of special articles who failed to
with Jewish knowledge drawn from very wide sources," and in the
the basic facts. Kohn is quoted, from his revised article on
course of his research he learned that the Rashi-Lyra relationship describe
National Socialism:
have
been
either
the
first
or
the
last
in
history
"could not possibly
"It was a stroke of genius on the part of Hitler to find this
of such Jewish and Christian intellectual relations."
common denominator in the Jews and Judaisms. This enabled him
An impressive list of Christian scholars who resorted in their
to discover the 'Jew' behind all his changing adversaries . . ." And
writings and studies to Hebrew sources, the Jewish origin of Jesus
Kohn further is quoted as referring to Dachau and Auschwitz as
and the Apostles, the Hebrew elements in Christian scholarship and
"sppecial detention camps." Commenting upon which Dr. Einbinder
other factors in Hebraic influences upon Christianity are outlined by asks:
Dr. Hailperin, whose study shows that Rashi did not give light to
"What insight can be possessed by an editor who accepts an
Jews alone, that Christians also leaned upon him and looked to him
essay on National Socialism that passes so hurriedly over Nazi
deeds and describes Auschwitz and Dachau as 'special detention
for enlightenment.
Pointing to the links in the Judeo-Christian intellectual relation- camps'?"
Dr. Einbinder charges and points to distortions in the Britannica
ships, Dr. Hailperin refers especally to St. Jerome (331-420) who
in
Biblical
references. There is the accusation that the Hebrews idea
and
mentioned
that
"Hebrew
was
Man's
original
language,"
believed
examines
in his writings three of his Hebrew teachers. Dr. Hailperin states that of monotheism is not discussed; that "the account of Isaiah
not explore the
while it diminished the Hebrew legacy of St. Jerome did not disappear, the dates and origins of successive passages, but does
spiritual meaning or poetic grandeur of the prophet's message"; that
and he is confirmed by the numerous other Christian scholars he lists
"the article on the Book of Exodus neglects the religious significance
to
Hebrew
origins
in
their
studies.
as having adhered
of the Ten Commandments and the Exidus from Egypt."
Impressive as history is Rabbi Hailperin's analysis of the world
Another amazing revelation is the reference by the German gen-
of Rashi, his review of the conditons of that era, of pleasant Jewsh- eral, Erich Ludendorff, Hitler's associate and arch bigot, who was
Christian _relationships. Jews were indistinguishable from Frenchmen, described as a man of action, who is called by Britannica, a man
there were intermarriages, Jews even possessed Christian slaves. But 'whose "brain, heart and will were all unsparingly enlisted in the
the Jewish standard of education was higher.
service of one aim, the honor of his country.
Dr. Einbinder is right in his challenge: "This naive defense of
There was a renewed interest in the Midrash and Rashi became
Pussian militarism is surprising in an American reference work."
the leader of that school of scholarship. His ancestry—he is said to
Only a few of the shocking, obsolete, misrepresentative statements
have descended from Rabbi Johanan ha-Sandlar—his studies, his
are quoted here. Dr. Einbinder has earned gratitude from all who
disciples are described in the life of the great commentator.
seek fairness in historical analyses for his expose of immense blunders
Of immense value in Rabbi Hailperin's book is his evaluation
in a work that is most frequently and very widely used as a reference
of "The Bible of Rashi." Here we have a very able and very work. It must hence forth be referred to more cautiously. Perhaps
thorough view of the commentaries of Rashi — "the first of all com- Dr. Einbinder's exposes will serve to compell a complete revision of
mentators in the West to write a commentary on the whole of the
the blunders in Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Hebrew Scriptures." This chapter is a masterful essay and is a
worthy part of a great book.
The third part of his book deals with "Christian Acquaintance
with the Works of Rashi (1125-1300)"; the fourth with the Franciscan,
Nicolas de Lyra, and the author's conclusions are in the book's final
part.
Rashi's commentary "was already a household word throughout
Jewry when Rashi died in 1105" and Christians "were simply _con-
tinuing an already established tradition, to reckon with the Hebrew
inheritance." Dr. Hailperin lists the noted Chrstan scholars, the theolo-
gians who were acquainted with Rashi and who continued studying
his methods of interpreting the Bible..
Among those who were thoroughly acquainted with the Rashi
midrashim were Hugo of St. Victor (d. 1141) and his disciple Andrew
of St. Victor (d. 1175). The references to and quotations from Rashi
by many of the Christian scholars are utilized extensively.
The lengthy chapter on Nicola de Lyra shows how the latter's
commentaries were clearly in the spirit of Rashi and the Targum.
Lyra did not approve of everything Rashi wrote, he disapproved of
his Jewish messianism in the exegesis of Song of Songs and there
also are mild polemics against other excerpts. There are others that
were acceptable to Lyra.
Dr. Hailperin views Lyra as a master in exegegis. He describes
the widened intellectual horizon in the scholarship of the 13th cen-
tury, with St. Thomas and Dante as well-known examples of "that
intellectual inquiry and procedure which must turn to Jew, to Arab
and to Greek . .. " He speaks of Lyra as "an exegete" and he asserts
that "the interest of the Renaissance and Reformation in Hebrew was
Horst Adolph Eichmann, 24, wears a swastika armband as he
not new"; that: "If they added new problems, they had, nevertheless, talks to reporters in Buenos Aires on the second anniversary of his
the old material and traditional lines of thought upon it—St. Jerome father's death by hanging in Israel. He called his father "a martyr
of National Socialism who devoted his life to the struggle for a freer
and Nicolas de Lyra."
and more just' fatherland." . Eichmannn's son declares himself the
"fuehrer" of Argentine's Nazis.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, June 12, 1964
2
Purely Commentary
Eichmann Junior: A New Fuehrer?
JTA Completes
Worldwide Circuit;
Frost Gets Post
(Direct JTA Teletype wire
to The Jewish News)
NEW YORK—The Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency has completed
mechanization of its worldwide
transmission service with the open-
ing of new radioprinter circuits to
Latin America, Eleazar Lipsky,
JTA president, announced Monday.,'--\
The new radioprinter circuits'
replace the old system of trans-
mission in Morse Code employed
by JTA for many years in the de-
livery of news to Buenos Aires,
Sao Paulo and Lima. News copy
is moved on the new circuits at
the rate of 66 words per minute.
Reception in the three cities is on
automatic receivers pretuned to
the JTA frequencies.
JTA now transmits by radio-
printer from New York to Lon-
don, Tel Aviv, Johannesburg,
Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo and
Lima, and from London to New
York and Tel Aviv.
Appointment of Charles Frost of
New York, industrialist and Jew-
ish communal leader. as JTA's na-
tional development chairman was
announced Tuesday by Lipsky.
ss
CHARLES FROST
Frost will spearhead the drive
to secure wider distribution of the
JTA services in this country and
to broaden the base of JTA sup-
port.
Frost is a member of the board
of directors of the United Jewish
Appeal of Greater New York, for
which he has served as a general
chairman for many years, and is
active in many organizations and
Israel causes. He is a member of
the JTA board of directors and
of the JTA finance committee.
Baltimore Jews First
in Building Monument
for 6 Million Victims
BALTIMORE (JTA)—A monu-
ment to- the 6,000,000 European
Jewish victims of the Nazi holo-
caust which was dedicated re-
cently in Philadelphia as the first
in the United States was preceded
by 12 years by one in Baltimore.
A spokesman for the Associated
Jewish Charities of Baltimore
said that a nine-foot shaft was
erected in the Randalls town ceme-
tery and dedicated on Nov. /a,
1951. On it is engraved an
Eleventh Commandment in He-
brew, "Thou shalt not forget.'
The monument was donated by
Holiday Services of Baltimore, a
group organized in 1939 by a
group of German-Jewish immi-
grants. The group in turn organ-
ized a Burial Society which ar-
ranged for placement of the monu-
ment.
The -shaft is topped by a Star of
David, and the Hebrew inscription.
Below this are the words "In
memory of the six million victims
of tyranny in Europe and to those
who fell in the defense of human
dignity and freedom 1938-1945."
L
c/
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