Jacob Emden

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Signature of Jacob Emden

Jacob Israel Ben Ẓebi Ashkenazi Emden (born June 4, 1697 in Altona ; died April 19, 1776 ibid) - referred to in non-Jewish sources as Jacob Hertzel or Jacob Hirschel - was a rabbi , Talmud scholar and opponent of the "false messiah" movement Shabbetaj Zvi . For the 18th century, Jacob Emden can be regarded as the great Jewish scholar of Northern Germany. He embodies the transition from premodern to modern, although he himself remained standing on the threshold of the new era and was an advocate of strict traditionalism throughout his life.

Life

Childhood and youth

Up to the age of 13, Jacob Emden studied the Talmud with his father Zvi Ashkenazi , who is considered one of the greatest rabbinical authorities of his time and rabbi of the large tri-congregation of Altona-Hamburg-Wandsbek (in Jewish history, after the Hebrew initials of the communities as "Kehiloth AHU") was known. At first the family lived in Altona. After a religious dispute, the family left the city on the Elbe. Zvi Ashkenazi then followed a call to Amsterdam as a rabbi for the Ashkenazi community. There Emden continued his studies after his bar mitzvah from 1710 to 1714. In 1715 he married the daughter of Mordecai ben Naphtali Kohen, Rabbi of Uherský Brod in Moravia , and continued his studies at the yeshiva (Talmud college) of his father-in-law. He became a great connoisseur of Talmudic literature, later he studied philosophy, Kabbalah and Hebrew grammar and tried to learn Latin and Dutch, but this was made difficult by his belief that a Jew should only study secular sciences during the twilight hour . This belief is derived from the biblical verse ( Jos 1,8  EU ): "You study [the Torah ] day and night." However, Jacob Emden rejected a more intensive occupation with foreign knowledge and only advocated knowledge of it insofar as he advocated it considered necessary for defense in attacks on the Jewish religion or culture. After three years of intensive study, he left his father-in-law's home and became a traveling jewelry salesman.

As a rabbi in Emden

Emden around 1730

During a business stay in the spring of 1729, he was elected rabbi by the Jewish community in Emden . This is where he got his nickname. Presumably personal connections brought him to Emden. His childhood sweetheart was the daughter of the then community leader and merchant Jonathan ha Levi. In the following three and a half years, during which he worked as a rabbi, Jacob Emden's intellectual attitude was lastingly shaped - especially his disdain for the community leadership by Jewish lay people. The negative experiences made in Emden and his constant arguments with the Jewish community board played a decisive role. Nevertheless, due to his personality and his knowledge, he enjoyed a high reputation far beyond Emden and was widely respected as a teaching authority. During this time, he was consulted on various occasions in disputes with other Jewish religious communities, to which, as on other religious topics, he was given numerous responses (legal inquiries to a Jewish halachic authority, with the aim of receiving a normative response to the inquiry). Took a stand. In Emden he wrote six sermons and 28 responses, some of which were later published. In contrast to later publications, these were written in a tone that sought to compromise. In addition to his activity as a rabbi, he imported goods from Amsterdam in order to increase his livelihood. After three and a half years, Jacob Emden gave up the office of rabbi. He officially justified this in his autobiography with his poor health and the poor health of his wife. The reasons, however, are probably to be found in constant disputes with the Jewish community board about the wealthy merchants Jonas Salomon and the Goldschmidt family, which Jacob Emden contradicted in several religious-ritual matters. In 1732 Jacob Emden left the port city and vowed never to accept religious office again.

Jacob reports extensively on his activity as a rabbi in the East Frisian port city in his autobiography Megillat Sefer ("Scroll", written 1752–1766).

The Hamburg amulet dispute

Letter from Jacob Emden to the King of Denmark dated August 20, 1743

In 1732 Jacob Emden returned to the Danish free town of Altona and became a private scholar. Later he tried to get from the Danish King Christian VI. to obtain a concession to set up a Hebrew printing company. His first petition was rejected. It was only with the second submission - which included a self-printed book for the royal library in Emden as proof that he had mastered his craft - on November 11, 1743, he was given the privilege of running his own printing house. Here he also published his own works, with which he cemented his reputation as an outstanding scholar. He wrote missions (open letters), commentaries, a prayer book and also an autobiography, which was only published after his death. He also discussed problems of Hebrew grammar and aspects of textual criticism. He also traded in precious stones. In Altona he also opposed Rabbi Moshe Chagis , the head of the wealthy Portuguese ( Sephardic ) community, and Rabbi Jezekiel Katzenelnbogen , the successor of Emden's father as chief rabbi of the triune community. For sixteen years, until his death in 1749, he was a bitter competitor of the chief rabbi, whose decisions on religious law he repeatedly questioned.

Jonathan Eybeschütz (1690–1764)

Jonathan Eybeschütz from Cracow , who previously held rabbinical offices in Prague and Metz , was the new chief rabbi of the triune community . In him Emden saw a supporter of the movement around Shabbetaj Zvi . He had declared himself the Messiah and appointed 12 members of the community in Gaza to represent the 12 tribes of Israel . This was the beginning of the messianic movement that was called Shabbetajs and that was to shake the entire Jewish diaspora , but which also embraced some Christians: Sabbatianism .

Jacob Emden denounced Eybeschütz in public and demanded that he be excluded from the community of believers. The reason for this were amulets that Eybeschütz had given women who had recently given birth. Jacob Emden believed that he had found Sabbatian text passages on these amulets and publicly accused Eybeschütz for this in February 1751. At their request, many rabbis gave women who had recently given birth amulets to protect against childbed fever , which many women still succumbed to at the time. In addition, he accused Eybeschütz in Megillat Sefer of an incestuous relationship with his own daughter and of having a child with her. Jewish communities from all over Europe spoke up, and non-Jewish authorities in Hamburg and Copenhagen were also involved. In many places the Jewish communities split into supporters of one or the other party. In the triple community, Eybeschütz gradually gained the upper hand and achieved that in 1751 the ban was imposed on Emden. He then left the city and fled to Amsterdam in May 1751, where he had many connections and where he lived in the house of his brother-in-law Aryeh Löb B. Saul, the rabbi of the Ashkenazi community. Emden sued in Copenhagen against his ban and received a judgment in his favor on June 3, 1752. The council of the triple community was sharply criticized and sentenced to a fine of one hundred thalers . In 1753 even the four-country assembly in Poland dealt with the amulet dispute and cleared Eybeschütz of all charges and ordered that all pamphlets that had appeared against Eybeschütz should be burned. Jacob Emden returned to Altona and, in spite of progressive blindness, continued his fight against the Sabbatians in the following years without being able to effect the impeachment of his opponent. At the end of the amulet dispute there was a loss of respect for the rabbinical institution and the alienation of many Jews from traditional Judaism. The amulet dispute thus gave the final impetus for a redefinition of Judaism and the Jewish enlightenment .

Further life

Jacob Emden's tombstone in the Altona Jewish cemetery

Even if Emden was an advocate of strict traditionalism throughout his life, his liberal ideas became clearer with age. Despite the many arguments that he had led in his life and the defeat in the amulet dispute, he was considered one of the great Jewish scholars. He was recognized as an authority in the field of Jewish law and had great influence in this area even in government circles. In 1772 , he and Moses Mendelssohn were asked for advice by the Mecklenburg-Schwerin Jewish community . Duke Friedrich the Pious had issued an ordinance according to which the rapid burial of the Jewish dead had to be avoided and they should only be buried after three days. The Jews of the duchy wanted to continue to bury their dead according to traditional custom. This provided for the burial of a Jew only three hours after his death. Emden and Mendelssohn were supposed to explain to the government the religious law necessity of the early burial. While Emden apparently provided the hoped-for argumentation, Mendelssohn responded in a differentiated manner with a letter to the questioners and a “scheme” that was to be submitted to the government. Accordingly, “the early burial […] is a custom, not a command; but the custom could be changed other than a command in the light of modern medical knowledge. In order to avoid the burial of the apparent dead, the burial of Jews can, as the Christian authorities wish, only take place after a few days ”.

Later Emden entered into correspondence with Moses Mendelssohn and turned to various secular sciences. He showed great interest in astronomy, physics, botany, medicine, statecraft and history, but remained very differentiated in his attitude to the sciences. He made a strict distinction between sciences that were halachically permitted and philosophy, which he rejected for religious reasons and in which he saw a danger to the purity of faith. He continued to sharply criticize the ever more intensive contacts between Jews and Christians, even if he was very tolerant in his judgment of Christianity. According to this, Christianity is much closer to Judaism than was previously assumed, since, like Judaism, it is a monotheistic religion. Jacob Emden died in Altona in 1776 at the age of 79 and was buried in the Ashkenazi cemetery on Altonaer Königstrasse . The unadorned gravestone with the inscription in 19 lines of verse is one of the largest tombs in the Ashkenazi cemetery. From the highlighted first letters of the first lines the acrostic יעקב ישראל - Jaakow Israel, the Hebrew name Emdens results . The adjacent graves of Jonathan Eybeschütz and Jacob Emden are still among the most visited in the cemetery today.

Works

  • Siddur Jaavez , who, in addition to prayers, contains a multitude of explanations on Jewish customs
  • Mor u-Kzia to Shulchan Aruch , Orach Chajim
  • Megillat Sefer , ed. by David Kahana (Hebrew), o.O. 1897, reprint New York 1956 (translation in preparation by Jacob J. Schacter, New York; publication by Yale University Press)
  • Responses, commentaries. Estate Lost.
  • Commentaries on the Mishnah , ( Seder Olam , "World Order")

literature

  • Encyclopaedia Judaica , 2nd ed., Jerusalem 1973, Volume 6, Col. 721-726.
  • Heinz Mosche Graupe : The emergence of modern Judaism: intellectual history of the German Jews 1650–1942 , 2nd rev. and exp. Ed., Hamburg 1977, ISBN 3-87118-260-5
  • Jacob J. Schacter, Rabbi Jacob Emden: Life and Major Works , Diss., Department of Near Eastern Languages ​​and Civilizations, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1988.
  • Institute for the History of German Jews (ed.): Das Jüdische Hamburg , Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-8353-0004-0 , pp. 68/69
  • Pawel Maciejko: Emden-Eybeschütz controversy. In: Dan Diner (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture (EJGK). Volume 2: Co-Ha. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02502-9 , pp. 231-235.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Biographical Lexicon for East Friesland (PDF).
  2. ↑ Ulrich Brauche (Ed.): Four Hundred Years of Jews in Hamburg: an exhibition by the Museum of Hamburg History from November 8, 1991 to March 29, 1992 . Hamburg: Dölling and Galitz, 1991. ISBN 3-926174-31-5 , p. 69
  3. ↑ German-Jewish History in Modern Times , ed. on behalf of the Leo Baeck Institute by Michael A. Meyer with co-sponsored by Michael Brenner , 4 vols., Munich 1996–1997, ISBN 3-406-39705-0 (vol. 1: Mordechai Breuer and Michael Graetz, Tradition and Enlightenment 1600–1780 , ISBN 3-406-39702-6 , p. 246)
  4. ↑ Arno Herzig: Jewish History in Germany - From the Beginnings to the Present . Beck 2002, ISBN 3-406-39296-2 , p. 128
  5. ↑ Knufinke, Ulrich: Jewish cemetery buildings around 1800 in Germany: Architecture as a mirror of the disputes about Haskala, "emancipation" and "assimilation". In: PaRDeS: Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies eV Ed. By Nathanael Riemer and Alexander Dubrau , 11 (2005) Volume II, Potsdam 2005, p. 77
  6. ↑ a b German-Jewish history in modern times , ed. on behalf of the Leo Baeck Institute by Michael A. Meyer with co-sponsored by Michael Brenner, 4 vols., Munich 1996–1997, ISBN 3-406-39705-0 (vol. 1: Mordechai Breuer and Michael Graetz, Tradition and Enlightenment 1600–1780 , ISBN 3-406-39702-6 , p. 226)
  7. ↑ German-Jewish History in Modern Times , ed. on behalf of the Leo Baeck Institute by Michael A. Meyer with co-sponsored by Michael Brenner, 4 vols., Munich 1996–1997, ISBN 3-406-39705-0 (vol. 1: Mordechai Breuer and Michael Graetz, Tradition and Enlightenment 1600–1780 , ISBN 3-406-39702-6 , p. 156)
  8. ↑ Ulrich Brauche (Ed.): Four Hundred Years of Jews in Hamburg: an exhibition by the Museum of Hamburg History from November 8, 1991 to March 29, 1992 . Hamburg: Dölling and Galitz, 1991. ISBN 3-926174-31-5 , p. 69, s. 132; see also edition, commentary and translation of the inscription Digital Edition - Jüdischer Friedhof Hamburg-Altona, Königstraße (1621–1871 / 5937 entries): Inv.-No. 1586
  9. ^ At the end of the documentation of the oldest Ashkenazi cemetery in Hamburg
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on April 29, 2007 .
personal data
SURNAME Emden, Jacob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hertzel, Jacob; Emden, Jacob Israel Ben Ẓebi Ashkenazi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Jewish scholar
DATE OF BIRTH June 4, 1697
PLACE OF BIRTH Altona
DATE OF DEATH April 19, 1776
Place of death Altona