Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 19, scan section 29

and that he wrongfully deprived the Jews of books contain- ing no allusions to Christianity; besides, they referred, in their request to the emperor, to the privileges accorded to the Jews, by previous emperors and popes, of worshiping in their own way. The Elector of Mayence, Archbishop Uriel, en- raged at Pfefferkom' s action (we cannot learn why), simi- moned him to the city of Aschaffenburg, and informed him that the emperor's decree was in opposition to the law of the land, as it made him prosecutor, witness, judge, and executor in one ; therefore, the Jews or the people, in disregarding the decree, would be guilty of no crime against the law. He coimselled him, in fine, to ask the emperor to alter the mandate to conform with law. Pfefferkom agreed to do so, and the Dominicans of Cologne advised him to find a prominent Gentile who would actively interest himself in the matter. This man they foimd in Reuchlin, at that time very popular and respected all over the world. The Dominicans told Pfefferkom to get a letter from Reuchlin to the emperor, before going again to see the latter. John Reuchlin, of Paszheim (145 5-152 2), had a great 8o THE HISTORY OF THE TALMUD. reputation as a scholar; in addition he had a benevolent heart. He devoted himself especially to the study of Hebrew, in which his interest was enhanced by Count Pick de Marsun- della, who opened up to him the study of Kabbala, i.e., Jewish mysticism. Even this did not satisfy his desire to be master of Hebrew. He formed the acquaintance of Jacob Laanson, a Jewish physician at the Court of Frederick III., from whom he acquired a further knowledge of the language ; at this court he came in contact with many Jewish scholars, and attained to such skill in the study that he afterwards wrote a book where- in he praised Hebrew as the best of all languages. He claimed in this work that the dogmas and rites of false religions were due to the ignorance of Hebrew, and to the misconception of the meaning of significant Hebrew terms. As for the Kabbala, he ranked this study with any other branch of learning, and stated that he himself was far from understanding thoroughly its sublime mysteries, for a complete knowledge of which even a lifetime would scarce suffice. Afterwards, when he became the Ambassador of the Elector Palatine to the Court of Pope Alexander VI., he became acquainted with the physician Obadiah Eipminah, the renowned commentator on the Mishna ; and it was interesting to see the celebrated German scholar, whose discourses in Italian were greatly admired by the Italians themselves, stooping to ask a Jew to be his teacher of Hebrew literature. It was always his habit, when he came in contact with learned Jews, to obtain some useful knowledge from them. Nevertheless, Reuchlin was not entirely free from prejudice against those of the Jewish faith. In a letter to a knight who desired to convert the Jews of his dominions to Christianity, he wrote that the whole trouble with the Jews was they were disbelievers, who did not care for Christ and his apostles, and that they held in general contempt all Christians ; although it is true that later he repented of having written this letter, as will be seen further on. The Dominicans relied on Reuchlin, knowing that the words of one so throughly acquainted with Hebrew literature would be respected by all the rulers of Germany. But Reuchlin declined to take an active part in the matter, although he com- mended the project of destroying all books written against Christianity. He also called PfefEerkom's attention to the REUCHLIN, PFEFFERKORN, AND THE TALMUD. Si injustice of the emperor's decree, and told him it was doubtful whether it could be executed. Despite his not securing the wished-for testimony, Pfeffer- kom succeeded in persuading the emperor to ignore the peti- tions of the Jews and their defenders, and to give him the power to deprive the Jews of their books, in a new decree, while harshly reproving them for failing to strictly obey the first. This time the emperor commissioned Archbishop Uriel to carry out the decree. He also ordered him to seek, and to follow the advice of the German imiversities of Cologne, May- ence, Erfurt and Heidelberg, and also to take coimsel with Reuchlin, Victor Karbensky and Hochstrater (although the latter was totally ignorant of Hebrew). Uriel commanded the director of the University of Mayence, Herman Hess, to visit all the cities of Germany, and to remove all the Jewish books. Hess did so. He travelled through Germany accom- panied by Pfefferkom ; and in Frankfort alone fifteen hundred manuscripts were taken away (printed books were as yet rare). They did the same in Worms, Lorch, Birgin, Lamuven, Mayence and Dertz. Pfefferkom said that the Jews, to save their literary treasures, offered to enrich him, but he claimed he did not care to sell his soul and therefore did his duty. The Jews on the other hand, did not cease in their efforts to prevent their despoliation. They secured testimonials from the more prominent among the Gentiles, and sent a committee to the emperor to petition him to prevent these attacks on their religion. They adduced proofs to show that their books contained nothing against Christian communities. They brought forward the privileges granted to them by former emperors and popes, enabling them to worship their God with- out the interference of the Church or State. These facts so favorably impressed the emperor that he commanded that all the books should be returned to their owners. The joy of the Jews on learning of this decree cannot be described, since thereby not only were they granted possession of their books, but a peaceful residence in Catholic countries was accorded them. This joy, however, was only momentary, as both the Do- minicans and Pfefferkom still continued their malevolent activity. To add to the misfortune of the Jews, an event befell 6 82 THE HISTORY OF THE TALMUD. which the Dominicans were not slow to utiHze as a weapon in their warfare against the faithful, with the aid of which they hoped finally to bring about the latter's destruction. Sacred vessels were stolen from a Christian church by a Gentile, who was arrested and who thereupon confessed that he had sold them to the Jews. As a result, all Jews were severely perse- cuted by the Bishop of Brandenburg. At the same time, or somewhat later, the Jews were accused of having killed a Chris- tian child in the performance of their religious rites, and at the command of the same bishop the accused Jews were removed to Berlin, and thirty-eight of them were burned at the stake after suffering tortures on the rack. These events the Dominicans made use of to arouse the fanaticism of the people of Germany. They addressed them- selves to the emperor's sister, Kunigunde, to whom they