The Reception of Haskalah Literature

STUDIA ROSENTHALIANA 42-43 (2010-2011), 83-105 doi: 10.2143/SR.43.0.2175921

The Reception of Haskalah Literature (Jewish Enlightenment) in Amsterdam in the beginning of the Nineteenth Century A Perspective from Abraham Keyser’s Library (1805)*

HAGIT COHEN

Introduction

o what extent was Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) literature read T by the Jewish public in Amsterdam? Did it reach beyond the nar- row circle of Haskalah writers and supporters? A study of prenumerantn (subscribers) lists indicates that certain genres of Haskalah literature were widely distributed and the subject of a diverse readership. These genres included religious literature, such as Moses Mendelssohn’s Bi’ur (exegesis) and its sequels; various liturgical publications in bilingual editions in German and in Hebrew; and textbooks in various disciplines.1 Other sources that testify to the reception of Haskalah literature by the Jewish public are private Jewish libraries. Library owners left behind them various records of the books they owned. Some of these records include lists of books that were put out for sale after the death of their owners. These lists were published in separate catalogues. Other records were book lists that were included in the inventories of estates at Jewish

* Translated from the Hebrew by Dr. Dror Abend-David. I would like to thank Prof. Shlomo Berger, Mr. Shimon K. Cohen, Prof. Shmuel Feiner, Prof. Dan Michman, Prof. Zohar Shavit and the members of the Haskala research group Dr. Louise Hecht, Dr. Tal Kogman, Dr. Stefan Litt and Dr. Natalie Naimark-Goldberg. Their comments were very vital in the process of my research. 1. S. Feiner, The Jewish Enlightenment in the 18th-Century (Jerusalem 2002), p. 236-237. S. Lowenstein, The Readership of Mendelssohn. Hebrew Union College Annual LII (Cincinnati, OH 1982), p. 179-205. 84 HAGIT COHEN testaments (of either men or women) alongside items such as Jewelry, clothes and household items. Finally, records of books were provided by the registries (pinkasim) of private libraries that were prepared by their owners during their lifetime. One such pinkas (registry) was prepared by Abraham Keyser in Amsterdam in 1805.2 Each one of these types of records provides a different perspective for the understanding of reading patterns among Jewish readers in general, and the reception of Haskalah literature by the Jewish public in particular. The catalogues of books that were offered for sale after the death of library owners usually listed large collections of professional scholars and rabbis, which would be taken seriously in the book market. The lists of books that appeared in Jewish estate inventories, however, were usually those of a lay readership. These books were recorded in details in order be appreciated in terms of property and tax value, to be shared among the inheritors. These lists often include any printed matter that the deceased owned, and they testify to the reading habits of most members of the Jew- ish community. Finally, the pinkasim of private libraries were intended as public statements by library owners who took a great deal of trouble to record the books that they owned. And since their purpose was most likely to bolster the reputation of their libraries (see a further discussion below), they would probably not have included in their pinkasim any texts other than what they regarded as appropriate and beneficial to their social status. By studying the Abraham Keyser Library through its pinkas from 1805, I am trying to assess the reception of Haskalah literature by the Jewish public in Amsterdam while answering the following questions: Which Haskalah books did Keyser own? How large was his Haskalah collection in proportion to the entire library? Did the library have any unique features in comparison with other collections in Amsterdam? And are there any regional differences between the Keyser Library and other libraries outside Amsterdam? In this article I demonstrate that the Keyser collection expresses the multi-cultural character of Amsterdam, which served as a location for exchange among mutually dependent and

2. The pinkas of Abraham Keyser’s Library can be found in the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana (ROS 261). It did not receive any academic attention with the exception of a short description by Leo Fuks in L. Fuks et al., Hebrew and Judaic manuscripts in Amsterdam public collections [part I]: Cata- logue of the manuscripts of the Biblioteca Rosenthaliana (Leiden 1973), p. 266-267. Fuks was wrong, however, in dating the pinkas. The correct date is 1804-1805 (5565) rather than 1795. See ibid. p. 266. THE RECEPTION OF HASKALAH LITERATURE 85 influential Jewish literatures: Hebrew Haskalah, Yiddish literature and traditional religious literature. In addition, Keyser’s library reflected the multilingual reality of Amsterdam in the beginning of the nineteenth century, where Yiddish, Dutch and German were simultaneously used for reading and for inter-communal communication.3 The first part of this article describes Amsterdam as a unique location for printing and book trading. The second part is dedicated to the contents of the Keyser Library. In the third part, the Keyser Library is compared with the book collection of Shlomo Dubno, who also lived in Amsterdam and was well known as a bibliophile. The fourth and last part of the article contains a comparison between the Keyser Library and other private Jewish collections in Central Europe (in Frankfurt an der Oder, Prosnitz, and Presburg). This regional comparison will enable the reader to ascertain the uniqueness of Amsterdam as centre of the Jewish book.

Amsterdam as a Jewish Centre for Printing and Book Trading

Starting in the seventeenth century, Amsterdam replaced Venice as an important centre for Hebrew printing. The local authorities had a liberal attitude towards the print industry, as well as towards the Jewish community in general. Jewish printing, therefore, developed shortly after the establishment of the Jewish community in Amsterdam. More than 650 titles came out in Amsterdam between 1630 and 1730. These were produced by both Ashkenazi and Sephardi printers, accounting for a quarter of the entire number of Hebrew titles that came out during that time. Among the best known printers are Menasseh Ben Israel, a bookseller and owner of the first Jewish printing house in Amsterdam; Daniel de Ponshika who began printing in 1627; and Emmanuel Benbenisti who, among other titles, published the well known Amsterdam edition of the Babylonian Talmud between 1644 and 1648.4

3. For a discussion of the complicated linguistic reality in Amsterdam in the late eighteenth century as it was reflected in the Diskursen, the publications of the Ashkenazi Jewish community between 1797-1798, see M. Aptroot, ‘Yiddish, Dutch and German Among Late 18th Century Amster- dam Jewry’, in J. Israel and R. Salverda (eds), Dutch Jewry; Its History and Secular Culture (1500- 2000) (Leiden 2002), p. 201-211. 4. A.M. Habermann, The History of the Hebrew Book: From Marks to Letters; From Scroll to Book, (Jerusalem 1968), p. 155; S. Berger, ‘Yiddish and Jewish Modernization in the 18th Century’, Braun Lectures in the History of the Jews in Prussia, No.12 (Ramat Gan 2006), p. 18; Y. Kaplan, ‘The 86 HAGIT COHEN

Simultaneously, following the decline of the Yiddish print centres in Italy and Poland, Amsterdam had turned into a Yiddish print centre serving the entire Jewish population in Europe. The popularity of Amsterdam also had to do with the lack of censorship over Hebrew and Yiddish books. Various old Yiddish editions were updated, and texts that were prepared in Amsterdam for distribution in Eastern Europe were edited for Dutch-Yiddish expressions. On the other hand, texts in old Yiddish were adapted to Dutch-Yiddish for local distribution. Among various Yiddish Musar books (books of ethics), a Yiddish translation of Menorat ha-ma’or (‘The Candelabra of Light’) was prepared in 1722 in cooperation between Ashkenazi printers Moses Frankfort and Hayyim Ben Jacob alias Hayyim Drucker. Such Musar books were distributed throughout Amsterdam as well as through various Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. The local market of Yiddish books in Amsterdam responded to a growing demand for both local and imported publications. As Shlomo Berger indicates, printers used to append to their books a list of titles that were sold to local costumers. For example, in an introduction to a book of prayers, printer Joseph Athias refers to a number of titles that were available in his shop: ‘These books cannot be found any- where in Amsterdam, except in the shop of Senior Joseph Athias, where they are available at low prices.’5 Another testimony to the reciprocal relations between Jewish printers in Amsterdam and elsewhere is a street ad by the printing house of the Proops brothers, which was probably posted all over the Jewish quarter. This ad lists 350 titles in Hebrew and in Yiddish, 30 percent of which were imported titles listed under the heading of ‘Foreign Books.’ Like Athias, the Proops brothers functioned simultaneously as printers, publishers and book sellers. This fact testifies to the size of the local market, and the need to develop venues for importing and exporting books. Books in Yiddish were exported from Amsterdam throughout Jewish communities across Europe. At the same time, other Yiddish books have

Libraries of Three Sephardi Rabbis in Early Modern Western Europe’, in Y. Kaplan and M. Sluhovsky (eds), Libraries and Book Collections (Jerusalem 2006), p. 226; L. Fuks and R.G. Fuks-Mansfeld, Hebrew Typography in the Northern Netherlands 1585-1815, Historical Evaluation and Descriptive Bibliog- raphy (Leiden 1984-1987); M.J. Heller, ‘The Hebrew Book Trade as Reflected in the Book Catalogues’ in idem, Studies in the Making of the Early Hebrew Book (Leiden/Boston 2008), p. 246-247. 5. S. Berger, ‘Yiddish Book Production in Amsterdam’, in Y. Kaplan (ed.), The Dutch Inter- section. The Jews and the Netherlands in Modern Time (Leiden 2008), p. 203-212. THE RECEPTION OF HASKALAH LITERATURE 87 found their way into Amsterdam, either to have an entire edition sold there, or to be exported in part to further locations. Books in Amsterdam were funded and distributed in various ways. Local printers used to give several copies to Jewish visitors from out of town to be distributed elsewhere on commission. For example, printer Hayyim Drucker published in 1695 a historical poem. On the front inside cover of the book he indi- cated that anyone who will purchase a hundred copies of the poem will receive a special price (‘a portsye fun mea [a portion of one hundred]’).6 Amsterdam was unique in its innovations in distributing books and other publications. As Avriel Bar-Levav demonstrates, Amsterdam was home to the first Jewish newspaper, and for a wide development of a system of book distribution through subscriptions. These were accom- plished either by a weekly purchase of folios, or by a previous a commit- ment to purchase an entire book (prenumerantn). The same systems existed in Venice and Kushta (Istanbul), but they were more efficiently established in Amsterdam. Various religious publications were distributed in this fashion, such as a new edition of Mikraot Gedolot (Rabbinic Bible) under the title of Kohelet Moshe which was printed by Moses Frankfort between 1724 and 1727. This edition is considered to date the most extensive printed collection of Biblical interpretations. This sub- scription system created a community of readers that crossed boundaries of social status and ethnicity, bridging the cultural gap between Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews. Later one, the same community of readers has encountered Haskalah literature in Hebrew and in other languages.7 The height of Haskalah activity in The Netherlands was between 1790 and 1830. Dutch Jews were previously exposed to the ideas of the European Enlightenment, but the response to these ideas came mainly from Sephardi Jews, who already had a long lasting relationship with European Culture. Therefore, this early exposure to Enlightenment does not indicate an ideological development.8

6. Quoted by Berger, ‘Yiddish Book Production’, p. 211. 7. A. Bar-Levav, ‘Between Library Awareness and the Jewish Republic of Letters’, in Kaplan and Sluhovsky, Libraries and Book Collections, p. 216-218. 8. On the development of the Haskalah in Amsterdam see P. Tuinhout-Keuning, ‘Kitvei ha- chevra ha-Amsterdamit To‘eleth ve-ha-Haskalah be-Germania’, Studies on the History of the Jews in the Netherlands (Jerusalem 1975), p. 269-217. For Studies on Dutch Haskalah, see J. Michman (Melkman), Michmanei Yosef: Studies on the History and Literature of the Dutch Jews (Jerusalem 1994), p. 45-263. 88 HAGIT COHEN

The first stage of Haskalah in Amsterdam was carried between 1795 and 1806 by a small group of scholars. This group has been more inter- ested in winning political rights and legal equality for Jews than in Jew- ish education. Following the strong rabbinical objection to Haskalah activity, a small group of scholars seceded from the congregation, establishing a new congregation under the name Adath Jeshurun. Neverthe- less, this new congregation never maintained any educational activities, and it did not address the issue of Jewish education in its bylaws. The second stage of Haskalah in Amsterdam (1806-1814) was already characterized by a great deal of attention to Jewish education. This interest was not only expressed by the local authorities and Jewish supporters of emancipation, but also by Dutch Hebrew scholars, the best known of whom were Moses Cohen Belinfante, Zvi Hirsch Somerhausen, and Moshe Lemans. Following the annexation of The Netherlands to France and the advent of Louis Napoleon in 1806, the Jewish autonomy was revoked. When the high consistory was formed to unify the entire Jewish Dutch population, it accepted the responsibility for establishing Ashkenazi Jewish education throughout The Netherlands in the spirit of Haskalah.9 Between 1755 and 1812, 40 books related to Haskalah were printed in 22 printing houses throughout Amsterdam, including those of Yohanan Levi Rofe Banav ve-gisav (‘Yohanan Levi Rofe, sons and sons-in-law’) as well as Leib Ben Moshe Zusman and partner. This is a small number in comparison with the number of Haskalah books that were printed in Berlin during the same years (229 books in 47 printing houses) but in comparison with other cities in which Jewish literature was printed, this is a considerable amount. One cannot point to any one printing house in Amsterdam that could be identified with Haskalah. Such a printing house existed in Berlin, belonging to Hevrat Hinukh Ne‘arim (‘A Society for the Education of Young Men’), which printed mainly the works of Haskalah scholars. In Amsterdam, however, Haskalah books were printed alongside religious literature in Hebrew and in Yiddish.10

9. J. Michman, Dutch Jewry during the Emancipation, 1787-1815, (Amsterdam 1995). 10. The data regarding the number of Haskalah books that were printed in Amsterdam is taken out of a bibliographical research conducted simultaneously at Tel Aviv and Bar Ilan University by Professors Zohar Shavit and Shmuel Feiner between 2004 and 2010. As a part of this research, more than 400 Haskalah books in Hebrew and in German published between 1755 and 1812 were studies and recorded. The recorded information includes typographical and bibliographical details, genres, subscribers, distributors, and writers of Haskamot (approbations). Special software has been THE RECEPTION OF HASKALAH LITERATURE 89

Abraham Keyser and his Pinkas (Registry)

There is little biographical information available about Abraham Key- ser. The information at hand indicates that Keyser belonged to a family that fulfilled various public functions in the Ashkenazi community in Amsterdam. Members of the Keyser family have been community leaders since the beginning of the eighteenth century. In 1796, Leon Her- manos Keyser (Leib Ben Manos) held the position of community leader. He was succeeded by Eleazer Herman Keyser in 1808. Neither of the two belonged to the social circles of Haskalah or to the new congregation of Adath Jeshurun that was founded in Amsterdam in 1795 in order to fight for social equality and inter-communal reforms in the spirit of Haskalah. In fact, in the debate over the character of the Jewish leader- ship in Amsterdam, which took place between modern reformers and the leaders of the old community, the members of the Keyser family were among the latter.11 There is no available information as to whether Keyser took a part in the debate over the cultural and political character of his community, and whether he supported the conservatives. He did, nevertheless, like elegant ornamented manuscripts which he used to give out as Bar-Mitz- vah gifts to relatives and sons of friends. As Iris Fishof has shown, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, the costume of writing out and decorating manuscripts regained popularity. These were mainly personal prayer books, Omer charts (counting the days between Passover and Shavuot) and Passover Haggadah. With the exception of pinkasim for circumcisers and cantors, these books were intended for personal use at home. Wealthy Jews used to requisition such books and to give them away as gifts.12 In 1794, Keyser gave a Passover Haggadah that was illustrated by Meir Moshe Kornick of Glogau to his nephew Zalman (son of Leyzer) who lived in London. It was written partially in Yiddish,

developed for the purpose of collecting and processing the data in this project. The resulting bibliographical database is referred to in this article as the ‘Haskala Library Software’. The entire project was funded by the GIF foundation and the Israel Science Foundation (ISF). 11. For more information about the debate between the conservative members of the Jewish community in Amsterdam and the new congregation of Adath Jeshurun – and for some information about the Keyser family, see Michman, Dutch Jewry during the Emancipation, p. 114, 141, 150. 12. I. Fishof, The Hamburg-Altona school of Hebrew illuminated manuscripts of the first half eighteenth century, Ph.D. Dissertation, The Hebrew University (Jerusalem 1992), p. 3-5. 90 HAGIT COHEN and included additional notes of the liturgy of ‘Hodu’ (‘Give Thanks’). During the same year, Keyser gave a manuscript of the Omer prayer to the young Ber, son of Moshe Melitz of Prague, for his Bar-Mitzvah. Like the Passover Haggadah, this manuscript was decorated with various illustrations and ornaments. Even if one cannot clearly associate Abraham Keyser with any of the social milieus of late eighteen century Ashkenazi community in Amster- dam, one can assume that he adopted some of the mannerisms that characterized an urban society of wealthy Jewish merchants. These merchants were in constant exchange with Christians and adopted an appropriate lifestyle in terms of language, culture, interior decoration and style. Some of these Jews collected artefacts, including illustrated manuscript. One fashionable custom was of keeping publications that were printed on quality parchment, which was by far more expensive than paper.13 The same practice was repeated in Keyser’s library, which included an illustrated Passover Haggadah on parchment.14 There is a clear relationship between the popularity of manuscripts in the eighteenth century and the phenomenon of book collection and interest in artistic books. Azriel Shohet regards bibliophilia as a phenomenon that originates during this time, and provides examples of a number of wealthy court Jews who were book collectors, such as David Oppenheim, Süß Oppen- heimer and Samuel Wertheimer.15 Library pinkasim provide some of evidence to the growing popularity of bibliophilia and book collection among the Jewish public. One could argue correctly that Jews used to own book collections since very early on. However, the tendency to exhibit one’s collection, and to doc- ument it in an elegant illustrated pinkas, is part of various esthetic choices that were made by wealthy Jews since the eighteenth century. Such pinkasim were found throughout Ashkenazi Diaspora in Western and Central Europe, in cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Ham- burg, Prosnitz and Presburg. For example, the cover of the library

13. To compare: The average price of a printed Hebrew book in Prussia at the end of the eighteenth century was 1 reichsthaler, while the average price of a written parchment was 100 reichsthalers. 14. Keyser kept manuscripts in his library belonging to different fields of knowledge, such as the Shulkhan arukh (‘Set Table’), Nitzahon Ahituv (‘Ahituv’s Triumph’), and Tzalmon. 15. A. Shohet, Beginnings of the Haskala Among German Jewry (Jerusalem 1960), p. 34. THE RECEPTION OF HASKALAH LITERATURE 91 pinkas of Feisch Ehrnshtamm from Prosnitz (1817) featured a figure of a man reading a book, and the pages of the pinkas were illustrated with flowers, birds and other animals. The pinkas cover of the library of Hirsch Pollak from Presburg (1817) was illustrated with Cupids bearing flower baskets. And Abraham Keyser’s pinkas cover of was illustrated with columns decorated with plants and other features.16 The pinkas of Keyser’s library might have been inscribed and illustrated by Meir Ben Moshe Kornick of Glogau who also inscribed and illustrated a Passover Haggadah that was owned by Keyser. Kornick was a Bass Singer at the Polish synagogue in Amsterdam, for which he inscribed and illustrated a pinkas in 1792. The synagogue’s pinkas included the order of Sabbath celebrations and the names of the deceased in the Jewish Polish congregation.17 Kornick also authored two short books related to his occupation as singer and cantor. One of the two books was titled Ezrat sofer (‘A Writer’s Guide’, printed by Joseph Proops in Amsterdam in 1796) and contained an exegesis of the Megilat Esther. The other was titled Hadarey kodesh (Dyhernfurth 1812): (‘Sacred Exultations: Exegesis of Words out of the First and Last Mishnah of Sefer Yetzirah and the Texts of the Zohar, to be Taught on the Eve of Shavuot’). Keyser’s library pinkas was eleven pages long. The titles were written in with ink and in square letters. The titles were arranged according to format (folio, quarto and octavo) in alphabetical order. The name and location of the printing house was sometime recorded as well. The pinkas contained some four-hundred and sixty titles.

16. For a description of the library pinkasim (registries) from Prosnitz and Presburg see V. Sadek, ‘The MSS Collections of the State Jewish Museum in Prague. Manuscript Works by Jewish Scholars in Bohemia and Moravia (18th-19th Centuries)’, Judaica Bohemiae 8/1 (1972), p. 16. Idem, ‘The MSS Collections of the State Jewish Museum in Prague’, Judaica Bohemiae 10/2 (1974), p. 111-112. 17. Meir Ben Moshe Kornick, Synagogue pinkas of people of Polish descent in Amsterdam. Amsterdam. 1792. ROS 81; One can follow Kornick’s biography through his unpublished and published works. During the seventeen-nineties, Kornick (young at the time) made his living in various ways such as performing as a singer in the Polish synagogue and writing and illustrating liturgical texts. In the beginning of the nineteenth-century, Kornick resided in Berlin and in Glogau, and wrote an extensive work about the Jewish calendar titled ‘Meir Ivrim’ (‘The Illuminator of the Hebrews’). He tried to promote his unpublished book both by publication in the journal, Ha- Me’asef, and by distributing a brochure titled Davar be-ito (‘An Object at its Proper Time’, printed in Breslau in 1817). Kornick supported his book with endorsements from both rabbis and academ- ics, and disagreed in his text with the claims about the Hebrew calendar of Lazarus Bendavid. 92 HAGIT COHEN

The Contents of Abraham Keyser’s Library

Haskalah books, bilingual editions of the Bible and liturgical literature

Abraham Keyser’s Library contained bilingual editions of the Bi’ur (exegesis) and other parts of the Bible that were interpreted and translated by Moses Mendelssohn, his partners and his successors. Some examples are ‘A Pentateuch from Rabbi Moshe Dessau (interpretation)’, ‘Genesis and [an interpretation of] Exodus’, the book of Jonah ‘with Ashkenazi [Ger- man] Translation by Joel Brill’ (printed in Berlin) and editions of Minha hadasha (‘New Offering’) addressing the book of Joshua, Judges and Samuel (printed in Vienna). Mendelssohn had strong ties and a great deal of influence over the Jewish community in The Netherlands. One testimony to this relationship was the printing of Alim li-terufah (‘Pages for Medicine’), the prospectus for the German translation of the Bible in Amsterdam in 1778. This prospectus was signed by Solomon Dubno, Mendelssohn’s partner in the Bi’ur. Dubno moved during the end of his life to Amsterdam and had a great deal of influence over Hebrew enthu- siasts, as will be discussed further on. It seems that Keyser read German and had use for bilingual Biblical editions produced by Haskalah scholars in Berlin. He also had use for bilingual literature in Hebrew and English as well as Hebrew and Dutch. His library contained a Passover Haggadah with an English translation (printed in London), ‘A Prayer with English’ (printed in London) and The Psalms with ‘Lashon Holandish’ (Dutch tongue). These bilingual editions in Hebrew and in English give some indication as to the unique cultural orientation of Dutch Jews. The Netherlands maintained economic and political ties with various cities in England, and Jewish merchant used to send their sons to England to open up commercial branches which later on turned into independent local businesses.18

18. For the cultural and religious ties of Dutch Jews with Germany, see Michman, Michma- nei Yosef, p. 245-261. For the Jewish commerce in diamonds and precious metals between England and The Netherlands see G. Yogev, Diamonds and Coral: Anglo-Dutch Jews and Eighteenth-Cen- tury Trade (New York 1978), p. 51-53. It should be mentioned that one Jewish merchant from Amsterdam who moved to London to trade gold and silver was called Alexander Isaac Keyser. Since Abraham Keyser had a family in London, this merchant could very likely have been one of his relatives. THE RECEPTION OF HASKALAH LITERATURE 93

Alongside the bilingual Biblical editions that were prepared by Haskalah scholars from Berlin, Keyser kept a Pentateuch with the interpretation of David Franco-Mendes (1713-1792), an Amsterdam resident, a sephardi poet and playwright. Franco-Mendes had strong ties with Haskalah scholars in Berlin and published articles in Ha- Me’asef. The Bible printed at the Proops printing house was bounded in red calf skin (‘royt kalbs leder’), a binding which seems to have been Keyser’s favorite. Alongside Liturgical literature and the Bible, Keyser kept in his library the book Divrei shalom ve-emet (‘Word of Peace and Truth’) by Naphtali Hirtz Wessely (1782) which can be regarded as the educational manifesto of the Haskalah. He also kept a book titled Ethics that was printed in Berlin. However, since the author is not mentioned, it is unclear whether this is Wessely’s Book of Ethics (Berlin 1786) or Aristotle’s Ethics (Isaac Satanow edition; Berlin 1790). Wes- sely visited Amsterdam a number of times and some of his books were printed in that city. He was also an admirer of Sephardi culture and befriended some of the Sephardi scholars associated with David Franco Mendes. The only book associated with early Haskalah in Keyser’s library was Yesod olam (‘The Origin of the World’), a book of astronomy by Israel Itzhaky that was reprinted by Barukh Shick in Berlin in 1777. Alongside bilingual books (Hebrew-English; Hebrew-German; and Hebrew-Dutch), Keyser also kept two Latin translations of Chronicles and Seder nashim (the order of women) in the Mishnah (both printed in Amsterdam). This is yet another expression of Abraham Keyser’s multilingual environment. The contents of Keyser’s library reflect the strong religious, political and educational ties of Dutch-Jews with the center of Haskalah in Ber- lin. The struggle over the rights of Dutch Jews was joined by Men- delssohn’s disciple, David Friedrichsfeld (1755-1810), and the scholars of Berlin Haskalah inspired the call for reforms in Jewish education in The Netherlands. It should also be mentioned that Keyser kept in his library a eulogy for Frederick II of Prussia. This was a clear expression of his sense of belonging to the German territories. On the other hand, the Keyser library reflected other cultural ties that characterized Dutch Jews, such as strong ties to England. 94 HAGIT COHEN

Yiddish books in Keyser’s library

Max Weinreich referred to the linguistic reality of traditional Ashkenazi community as internal bilingualism. By this he meant that Hebrew and Yiddish have been used alongside each other while fulfilling different functions. He referred to the linguistic reality that characterized modern Ashkenazi community – which was undergoing certain processes of assimilation – as external bilingualism. The latter phenomenon included the disappearance of Yiddish as a language for internal communication within the community, an increased use of non-Jewish languages, and a use of Hebrew only for purposes of ritual and prayer.19 To judge by the contents of Keyser’s library during the beginning of the nineteenth century, one must conclude that the linguistic reality of the Jewish community in Amsterdam must have been more complex. Alongside bilingual books, non-Jewish literature (in Latin) and religious literature (in Hebrew), the library also contained books in Yiddish. Keyser’s Yiddish collection included various genres: fiction, ethics, Kabbalah, history, the Pentateuch, and liturgy.20 Most of these books were printed in Amsterdam. With the exception of one book (Di zibn weyzen mansters; printed in Amsterdam in 1776), most of the books were printed during the first half of the eighteenth century. The library contained no publications from later periods. Could this be a testimony to erosion in the use of Yiddish by the Keyser family to the extent that they did not feel a need to renew their Yiddish collection?

The Home Library in Comparison with a Professional Haskalah Library in Amsterdam (The Shlomo Dubno Collection)

Was Keyser’s library typical to the Jewish reading public in Amsterdam? I try to answer this question by comparing Keyser’s pinkas with another book list from Amsterdam, composed by scholar and linguist Shlomo Dubno (1738-1813). In comparison with Dubno’s collection, Keyser library can be regarded as a ‘home library’, a book collection belonging to an educated reader who is neither a professional scholar nor an active member of the Haskalah literary republic.

19. Aptroot, ‘Yiddish, Dutch and German’, p. 201-202. 20. For Yiddish books in Keyser’s library see appendix number 1. THE RECEPTION OF HASKALAH LITERATURE 95

The personality and the achievements of Shlomo Dubno have been the subject of various studies related to the Haskalah. He lived in Amster- dam between 1767 and 1772. During his time in Amsterdam he found in the library of the Portuguese rabbinical seminary Etz Chaim a rare copy of the play Leyesharim Tehila [Praise for the Righteous] by Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1743). Dubno reprinted the play and added an introduction in which he encourages young Jews to study Hebrew well. Dubno regarded the reprinting of this play a contribution to the redemption of forgotten key texts in Hebrew literature, poetry and science. This activity comple- mented the initiative of other early Haskalah scholars who, during the seventeen-forties and fifties strived for new aesthetics in language, literature, nature, and everyday life.21 During his time in Berlin, after 1772, a time when he collaborated with Mendelssohn in the preparation of the Bi’ur, Dubno kept strong ties with people in Amsterdam. In 1789, following a disagreement with Mendelssohn regarding the Bi’ur project, Dubno came back to Amster- dam. He was impoverished, and supported himself by loaning out books from his large library and by teaching Hebrew. In 1813, the year of his death, he either initiated or inspired the foundation of Reshit hokhma a society that conducted its annual meetings in Hebrew, and dedicated study groups to Dubno’s interpretations of the scriptures.22 Dubno was a book enthusiast and a book trader. He spent his entire life writing and printing books, and the list of the books in his library, which he put together in 1771, included three-hundred and fifty titles. Among these titles, one can find books of early Haskalah that Dubno collected, sold and distributed during his voyages throughout the region between Amsterdam and Vilna.23 In 1814, one year after Dubno’s death, his library was offered for sale by his estate executors. A list of his books was recomposed and printed in a special catalogue that was sold to the public. Upon request, one could also examine the actual books prior to the great sale that was scheduled in

21. For early Haskalah and its literary and philosophical attributes, see Feiner, The Jewish Enlightenment, p. 65-92; Michman, Dutch Jewry during the Emancipation, p. 164-165. 22. Tuinhout-Keuning, ‘To‘eleth ve-ha-Haskalah be-Germania’, p. 226-227. 23. Among these books were Nehmad ve-na‘im (‘Nice and Pleasant’) by David Genz; Men- delssohn’s Bi’ur milot ha-higayon (‘Eexegesis to The Words of Logic’; most likely by Maimonides]; Sefer Tekhunat ha-shamayim (‘Astronomical Treatise’, 1756) by Raphael Halevi of Hanover. See also Feiner. The Jewish Enlightenment, p. 66. 96 HAGIT COHEN

July that year. The list from 1814 is divided by formats (folio, quarto and octavo) and it is substantially longer than the list of 1771. One can learn from this list of Dubno’s great enthusiasm for purchasing and collecting books over some forty years. One can conclude that Dubno created a professional library that reflected his involvement in the Haskalah literary republic, as a book collector, author and distributor. In addition to books, the library contained one hundred and two manuscripts on various issues, as well as a large number of copies of Dubno’s publications from the seventeen-seventies and eighties. Some of these copies were unbounded. Among them one could find copies of Le- Yesharim tehila (105 copies) and Sha‘arei ne‘ima (‘Gates of Melody’, 350 copies). Even after some forty years, Dubno seemed unable to find buyers for his publications. This is a later testimony to his complaint in a letter to Moses Mendelssohn from 1766. In this letter, Dubno writes that his copies of Shlomo Ben Moshe Chelm’s Sha‘arei ne‘ima (printed in 1766): ‘… are left in an idle corner; neither required nor inquired about. I gave many of them as free copies to the young men.’24 In the list of 1814 one still finds books of early Haskalah. Yet with them one can find books of the Berlin Haskalah that were printed in the seventeen-eighties and nineties.25 One can also find in Dubno’s library the literature of the Amsterdam Haskalah. For example, a number of copies of Bikurei hinukh (‘First-Fruits of Education’), a bilingual (Dutch- Hebrew) textbook by the society of Hanoch La Na’ar al pi Darko [‘train a youth according to his way’]. This society was founded by scholars of the Amsterdam Haskalah in 1808 with the purpose of furthering Jewish integration into Dutch society by reforming Jewish education and teaching the Dutch language. Dubno’s library also included Kol mevaser (‘An Apprising Voice’) by David Friedrichsfeld, a song of praise celebrating the end of the war between Spain, France and the Batavian Republic through the treaty of Amiens (Amsterdam 1802).26

24. Quoted in Feiner, ibid. 25. Among them one could point out Mendelssohn’s Ha-Nefesh (‘The Spirit’) and Phaedon; books by Isaac Satanow including Siftei renanot (an exposition of Hebrew grammar); the Book of Ethics; volumes of Ha-Me’asef (1784-1789); text books that were published by Berlin maskilim such as Mesilat ha-limud (‘The Railway of Learning’); Reshit limudim (‘Beginning of Learning’); and various editions of the Bi’ur. See Reshimat sefarim rabbim ve-hashuvim (a book catalogue, Amsterdam 1814), p. 18. 26. For more information about the goals and members of the society of Hanoch La Na’ar al pi Darko as well as the textbook Bikurei hinukh, see Michman, Michmanei Yosef, p. 215-228. THE RECEPTION OF HASKALAH LITERATURE 97

There is no doubt that the collection of Haskalah books in this library is considerably larger and more diverse than in Keyser’s library. Additionally, one could find in it bibliographical works that reflect Dub- no’s professional interest in book collection. One of them is Wolf’s com- position, consisting of four volumes, about Jewish literature: ‘Bibliotek min Profesr Volf [A Library by Professor Wolf] similar to Siftei yeshenim.’ The executors of the estate found it necessary to describe Wolf’s compo- sition carefully to potentials buyers, and even to compare it with Siftei yeshenim, a famous bibliographical work by Shabtai Meshorer Bas of Prague (Amsterdam 1680). To some extent, however, Dubno’s library is a larger reflection of Keyser’s, as both provide insight into the unique multilingual reality of the Jewish community in Amsterdam at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. The library estate included books in Yiddish, Hebrew, Latin and German, much like in Keyser’s library.27. And in further similarity to Keyser, Dubno kept a small, yet diverse selection of Yiddish books including the Bible and liturgical literature in Yiddish, Musar books, Belletrism, and History (Sefer Yosifon, Sefer Yehudit and Sefer ha-Makabim). The following, and last part of this article, will consider whether such linguistic diversity could also be found in private Jewish libraries in places other than Amsterdam.

The Keyser Library in Comparison with Other Jewish Private Libraries in the Ashkenazi Region

A perspective from Jewish Testimonies in Frankfurt an der Oder

In this part of the article I compare the contents of Keyser’s library with private collections in places other than Amsterdam, concentrating on Frankfurt an der Oder (1782-1808), Prosnitz (1817) and Presburg (1817). Common to these collections is the fact that they were owned by readers who were not patently associated with the Haskalah literary republic either as authors, publishers or distributers. Here, I have a

27. Also like Keyser, Dubno kept Jewish literature in Latin translation including Sefer ben Sira, Chronicles, Sefer Yosifon, Sefer Yetzira, Mate Dan (‘The Stick of Dan’, better known as Kuzari sheni [‘The Second Kuzari’]) and Toledot Yeshu (‘The History of Jesus’). 98 HAGIT COHEN special interest in examining the reception of Haskalah in the private libraries of people who can be labelled lay readers. As mentioned above, some of the more accessible sources for recon- structing private libraries are the book lists found in the inventories of estates at Jewish testimonies. A rather extensive collection of such testimonies including book lists was kept at Frankfurt an der Oder (referred to below as Frankfurt A.O.). There are ten lists at different sizes, some listing under ten books while others list a number of dozens of books. The earliest estate inventory was prepared in 1782, and the latest at 1808.28 It should be mentioned that the number of Haskalah books on these lists is relatively small. The earliest book list belonged to the estate of Isaac Reed who died in 1782. Out of thirty-five books in his inventory, only one can be associated with early Haskalah: Ma’ase Tuvya (printed in Yesnitz in 1707). During the seventeen-nineties, Reed died at Frankfurt A.O., leaving behind him a list of 128 books, none of which was associated with Haskalah. Another woman, whose estate did contain one of the bilingual Bibles produced by the Berlin Haskalah, was Bina, ‘widow of rabbi Shoel’. In 1791, Widow Bina pre- ordered a Psalms edition of Zemirot Yisrael [Melodies of Israel], which was printed in Berlin in 1790. And at the library of Yozfa, who died in 1802, one could find the scientific lexicon, Sefer ha-Gdarim [The Book of Definitions], which was printed in Berlin in 1798. This book, authored by Menahem ben Abraham of Perpignan, was reprinted by Isaac Satanow as part of his extensive project of publishing and distributing the texts of Jewish thinkers from the Middle-Ages and the Renaissance. Was there really no readership of Haskalah literature in cities such as Frankfurt A.O. during the peak period of the Berlin Haskalah? The data in the Haskalah Library Software (see footnote 10) balances out this information. According to the software, thirty-five members of the Jew- ish community in Frankfurt A.O. were involved in the Haskalah project either as prenumerantn of Haskalah books, book sellers, writers of Haska- mot (approbations), or printers. Sixteen Haskalah books were printed in Frankfurt A.O., which while being a small number in comparison to

28. D/Fr/59-D/Fr61, Central Archives for History of the Jewish People, Jerusalem. THE RECEPTION OF HASKALAH LITERATURE 99

Haskalah centres in Prussia, still bears testimony to a target audience of Haskalah literature in this city. How can one settle the contradiction between the scarcity of find- ings in the estate inventories and the information provided by the Haskalah Library Software? This might be a generational issue. The cultural perception of the estate owners was formed before the development of Haskalah literature, which is therefore underrepresented in their libraries. An interesting demonstration of this theory is provided by the estate of the Bucki family. In the modest library of Jacob, the head of the family who passed away in April 1785, there is no represen- tation of Haskalah literature. He owned four books: ‘Makhzor Gadol im Taytsh’ (‘a great Makhzor with Yiddish translation’); Kitzur ha- shelah (‘The Abbreviation of Rabbi Yeshayahu Halevi Horowitz’); Melamed siah (a guide to the Pentateuch); and Shulkhan arukh (‘A Set Table’). However, his son, Eliyahu, pre-ordered five Haskalah books between 1777 and 1802, and contributed six reichsthalers to the literary projects of Berlin Haskalah scholar Isaac Satanow. Eliyahu Bucki was also one of the twenty-two members of the society of Marpe la-Nefesh (‘a healing to the soul’) which created in 1794 a fund for the printing of textbooks and books of science and philosophy under Satanow’s direction.29 When comparing Keyser’s library in Amsterdam with home libraries at Frankfurt A.O., one can find a number of common characteristics. They all contained a small selection of Haskalah books in comparison with a rich variety of religious and traditional literature. Like Eliyahu Bucki, Keyser kept a copy of Shick’s Yesod olam and bilingual editions of the Bible that were produced by scholars of the Berlin Haskalah. In terms of linguistic diversity, the libraries at Frankfurt A.O. did contain Yiddish books belonging to various genres. However, there is no doubt that Keyser’s library was distinguished by its linguistic variety that extended to bilingual publications in German, English, Latin and Dutch, while the libraries at Frankfurt A.O. did not contain books in non-Jew- ish languages.

29. I. Satanow, introduction, Sefer ha-Kuzari (Berlin 1795) (unnumbered pages). Eliyahu Bucki was a subscriber of several Haskalah books, among them: Sha‘arei ne‘ima, Yesod olam, bilingual edition of Sefer Tehilim, Megilat hasidim, Mishlei Asaf. 100 HAGIT COHEN

Library pinkasim from Prosnitz and Presburg (1817) More apparent testimony to the reception of Haskalah literature in Jew- ish home libraries can be found in two book collections from two different locations in Central Europe. The first is the library of Feisch Ehrn- shtamm of Prosnitz and the second is that of Hirsch Pollak of Presburg.30 Both collectors prepared their Pinkasim in 1817, and like Keyser, used elegant and illustrated Pinkasim to record their books. Another common trait to Keyser, Ehrnshtamm and Pollak was their high social and economic status. Ehrnshtamm, like Keyser, belonged to the economic, religious and social elite of his community. He belonged to a pioneering family of the Habsburgian textile industry, inheriting his family business in 1790 and becoming wealthy as a textile supplier to the Habsburgian military. In 1801, he founded a modern textile factory and employed hundreds of people, manufacturing textile both for the military and for export.31 I will concentrate more on Ehrnshtamm’s library, which is the more interesting out of the two. Unlike Keyser and Pollak, Ehrnshtamm divided his collection by subjects. Ehrnshtamm did not create a special category for Haskalah literature. Haskalah books were divided among various other categories. Noticeable in his booklist are titles of grammar books that were prepared by Haskalah scholars. In fact, twelfth out of fifteen grammar books in his library were prepared by such scholars.32 Under the subject heading Tekhuna (astronomy), Ehrnshtamm listed Musar books as well as books in philosophy, geography and astronomy. These included books such as The Kuzari, Behinat olam (‘The Examination of the World’), Mosdot tevel (‘The Structure of the Uni- verse’), Shevilei olam (‘The Trails of the World’) and Sefer ha-Brit (‘Book of the Covenant’). It seems that this subject heading was used as a general category for any non-religious publication.

30. List of Books in the Library of Feisch Ehrenstamm, Jewish Museum of Prague Ms. 86; List of books from the private library of Hirsh Pollak, Jewish Museum of Prague Ms. 168. On the reception of the Haskalah in Moravia and Hungary see H. Kieval, ‘Caution Progress: The Modern- ization of Jewish Life in Prague, 1780-1830’, in J. Katz (ed.), Toward Modernity: The European Jew- ish Model (New Brunswick/Oxford 1987), p. 71-105; M.K. Silber, ‘The historical experience of Ger- man Jewry and its impact on Haskalah and reform in Hungary’, ibid., p. 107-157; L. Hecht, Ein jüdischer Aufklärer in Böhmen. Der Pädagoge und Reformer Peter Beer (1758-1838) (Cologne 2008). 31. On Feisch Ehrenstamm, see Encyclopedia Judaica, (Detroit 2007), vol. 6, p. 241; B. Heillig, ‘Aktuelles aus der Geschichte des Hauses Ehrenstamm, 1752-1852’, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Vereines fur Geschichte Mahrens und Schlesiens, vol. 1/2 (1934), p. 9-28. 32. For the division into subjects in Ehrnshtamm’s library see appendix 2. THE RECEPTION OF HASKALAH LITERATURE 101

In comparing the library of Hirsch Pollak from Presburg to that of Ehrnshtamm, it is difficult to discern any regional difference between Prosnitz and Presburg in terms of the variety of Haskalah publications. Like Ehrnshtamm, Pollak kept Mendelssohn’s Bi’ur, grammar books and textbooks (such as Reshit limudim and Mesilat ha-limud). When compared with these two home libraries, Keyser’s Haskalah collection seems modest. He did not keep any textbooks, grammar books, or annotated Haskalah editions of Jewish literature. For example, his editions of Behinat olam (printed in Fürth) and Sefer ben Sira (printed in Amsterdam) were not of the maskilic annotated editions.33 Nevertheless, Keyser’s library was characterized by a linguistic diversity unparalleled by any of the other private libraries that were studied in this research. Unlike Ehrnshtamm and Pollak, who did not include Yiddish titles in their Pinkasim, Keyser recorded and publically displayed Yiddish books his collection. It is unclear whether Ehrn- shtamm and Pollak did not include Yiddish titles in their Pinkasim because they did not own books in Yiddish, or because they did not regard such books as respectable enough for a public display. One should also consider that Yiddish books were listed in the inventories of estates at testimonies because these inventories were conducted in order to appraise the property of the deceased, and the books in Yid- dish were part of the property that the deceased left behind them. It should be mentioned that the executors of the estates did not always bother to list the titles of the Yiddish books, recording them collec- tively. For example, one inventory listed: ‘fir stik taytsh bikher’ (‘four pieces of Yiddish books’). In Keyser’s library, however, books in Yid- dish were recorded in similar detail to those of books in other languages. And while the libraries of Ehrnshtamm and Pollak only held bilingual literature in Hebrew and in German, Keyser owned bilingual editions in these languages as well as Hebrew- Dutch and Hebrew- English editions, and books in Latin. This linguistic diversity testifies

33. For comparison, Pollak and Ehrnshtamm had in their libraries Juda Leib Ben Zeev’s annotated edition of Sefer Ben Sira (Breslau 1798) and a bilingual Hebrew and German edition of Behinat olam annotated and published by the maskilic group of Dessau in 1807. On Dessau as centre of Haskalah, see D. Sorkin, ‘Preacher, Teacher, Publicist: Joseph Wolf and the Ideology of Emancipation’, in F. Malino and D. Sorkin (eds), From East and West: Jews in a Changing Europe 1750-1870 (Oxford 1991), p. 108-125. 102 HAGIT COHEN to the multi-cultural character of the Jewish community in Amster- dam, and its role as a meeting place between different literatures, as well as a global centre of the Jewish press.

Summary: A Road to Modernity?

The study of Keyser’s library corroborates to a great extent what is already known about the reception of Haskalah literature in the Ashke- nazi region. Keyser belonged to the external perimeter circumventing the Haskalah literary republic. As Lowenstein and Feiner demonstrate, this reading public is made up of a Jewish elite including independently wealthy Jews, industrialists, physicians, merchants and bankers whose monetary support enabled the continued literary activity of the Haskalah republic. The greatest distribution was of Mendelssohn’s Bi’ur and bilingual liturgical books such as the Hebrew-German prayer books that were published in Berlin and in Königsberg in 1786, and were pre-ordered by 604 readers.34 But it seems that Keyser’s own interest went beyond the Bi’ur and the bilingual prayer books of Berlin maskilim. He purchased also additional Haskalah publications such as Wessely’s Divrei shalom ve-emet. A common tendency to all the libraries that are mentioned in this article is the small number of Haskalah books in comparison with the number and variety in genres of various religious and traditional publications. This is true both of Shlomo Dubno’s professional library and various home libraries such as Keyser’s. Does the presence of Haskalah books in a library indicate the modern tendencies of its owner? This is a difficult question since there isn’t enough biographical information to reconstruct the worldviews of the different book collectors. The impression from the study of the libraries of Ehrnshtamm, Pollak and Keyser is that these three men had extensive religious training, and that they expanded their intellectual horizons on issues that were addressed by Haskalah literature, such as natural sci- ences, geography, medieval philosophy, Hebrew grammar and new Bib- lical interpretations. These Haskalah books were not regarded by them

34. Feiner, The Jewish Enlightenment, p. 236-237. Lowenstein, The Readership of Mendelssohn, p. 179-205. THE RECEPTION OF HASKALAH LITERATURE 103 as separate collections that should be placed either on a separate shelf or under a unique category. Instead, these books have been accepted as an integral part of Jewish literature. Nevertheless, based on the limited biographical information that is available, I assume that reading these books was a venue to modernization, and an additional expression of the collectors’ middleclass lifestyle that was a part of their social and economic upper mobility. This article explores the unique cultural status of the Jewish community of Amsterdam within the Ashkenazi region, as it is reflected in Abraham Keyzer’s Library. It reveals that the cultural affinity of Dutch Jews was not only to Germany, but to England as well, as deducted from the presence of bilingual Hebrew and English books in Keyser’s collection. Another cultural distinction of this library is its linguistic diversity, which is unparalleled by any other collection that was exam- ined in this research. Keyser’s library included bilingual editions in English, German and Dutch, as well as translations into Latin. In addition, Keyser owned Yiddish publications on a variety of subjects. This linguistic diversity reflects the multicultural character of Amsterdam and its function as a point of exchange and mutual influence among various Jewish literatures. 104 HAGIT COHEN

Appendix 1: Yiddish Books in Abraham Keyser’s Library (1805)

Subject Date and Printer Author Title place of publication Kabbalah Amsterdam Joseeph Abir Ya’acov 1717 Dayan Narrative Amsterdam Solomon ben Aler lay geshikhte prose, 1723 Joseph Geography Proops History Amsterdam Asher Anshel Solomon Shevet Yehuda 1700 ben Eliezer & Ibn Verga partners Ethics Amsterdam Solomon ben Solomon b. Hakirot ha-lev, Taits 1723 Joseph Simeon Proops Wetzlar Ethics Zultzbach No name of Aharon ben Even bohan ve-derekh 1705 printer Uri ha-yashar, Taits Liphman Narrative Amsterdam Solomon ben Jacob b. Di zibn weyzen mansters prose 1776 Joseph Me’ir Proops Maarssen Ethics Frankfurt Johnes Moses Brent shpigel am Main Wosht press Henochs 1703 Altschul Jerusalmi Biblical Hanau 1718 No name of Ya’acov ben Tam ve-yashar, Taits legends printer Matatya ha-Levi Yiddish Amsterdam Press of Yankev ben Tsene-rene adaptation s.d. Hertz Levi Yitskhok of the Rofe Ashkenazi Pentateuch Liturgy Amsterdam Solomon ben Jacob ben Ma’ane lashon be-lashon 1723 Joseph Abraham Askenaz Proops Solomon, transl; Eliezer Lieberman b. Judah Lob THE RECEPTION OF HASKALAH LITERATURE 105

Appendix 2: The division into subjects in Ehrnshtamm’s library

Bible Mishnayot and Talmud Halakha Commentaries Midrash and Hagadah Responsa Kabbalah Grammar Astronomy Miscellaneous