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'A Thread ofBlue': Rabbi Gershon Henoch Leiner of Radzyn and his Search for Continuity in Response to Modernity

SHAUL MAGID

HISTORIANS of eastern European Jewish culture have for the most part viewed hasidism as a response to crisis. 1 Following Dubnow, many scholars have con­ ceived of the late eighteenth century, up to 1815, as the great period of hasidic creativity. 2 Hasidism in the inter-war period has also attracted scholarly attention recently, specifically with regard to traditional responses to Zionism and the infiltrationof modernity into hasidic communities ii But the majority of studies on hasidism overlook a fertile period of hasidic thought in the mid- to late nineteenth century, viewing this period as a time of stagnation for hasidism precisely because of the movement's success, and implying that hasidism could only be a creative force in the face of crisis and opposition. Only a few studies, like that of Raphael Mahler, take the nineteenth century seriously as a creative period in the history of hasidism.4 This essay will argue that the mid- to late nineteenth-century hasidic dynasty of Izbica-Radzyn constitutes an intellectual renaissance in hasidic creativity. Its originality was much more subtle than simply being a critique of non-hasidic rabbinic culture. By the middle decades of the nineteenth century Polish hasidism was speaking to an educated audience which looked for its spiritual sustenance to the rich literary tradition of medieval Jewish mysticism and pietism. Its 1 Emmanuel Etkes, 'Hasidism as Movement: The First Stage', in Bezalel Safran (ed.), Hasidism: Continuity or Inno,•alion? (Cambridge, Mass., 1988); 1-26; Rachel Elior, 'Spiritual Renaissance and Social Change in the Beginning ofHasidism·, Alei Sejer(1990), 29-.io, 2 See e.g. Mendel Piekarz, Biyemei tscmihat hahasidut: 1Hega11101 ra 'ayoniyol hesifret derush 11111us11r ('When Hasidism was Flourishing') (Jerusalem, 1978). " See J\1endel Piekarz, Hasidut po/in: lr!egamot ra 'ayoui)'ol bein shetei h11milh11111ot ('Polish Hasidism between the Wars') (Jerusalem, 1990). Cf. Nehemiah Polen, Hof)' Fire (Northvale, NJ, 1993); Alan Nadler, 'The War on Modernity of R. Havyim Elazar Shapira of Munkacz', Modern Judaism, 14/3 (1994), 223-64; Shaul Magid, 'Modernity as Heresy: The Introvertive Piety ofFaith in R. Areleh Roth's Shomer Emunim',Jell'ishStudies Quarterly, 4·1 (1997), 74-104. " Raphael Mahler, Hasidisn1 and the Jen'ish Enligh1c11111ent (Philadelphia, 1985). 32 Shaul Magid Gershon Hc11od1 �- SearclzfiirContinuif)' 33 constituency included those who were deeply engaged in the literary tradition of In order to bring the intellectual biographies of hasidic thinkers out of the the past, an.d who wanted to see the ways in which hasidism could deepen their realm of hagiography and into the domain of history, biographical details have to understanding of that tradition. Nineteenth-century hasidism was not addressing be set in a multiplicity of contexts.8 Previous works on Rabbi Mordecai Joseph the 'uneducated masses' as much as well-trained young Jews looking for an Leiner of lzbica have largely viewed the lzbica tradition as an extension of the alternative to either non-hasidic Orthodoxy or to the Jewish Enlightenment Przysucha-Kotsk (Kock) tradition from which it emerged. When speaking (which, in their eyes, included Zionism). specifically about Mordecai Joseph Leiner, this is largely correct. However, The canonical tradition of medieval philosophic, kabbalistic, and pietistic Gershon Henoch represents a shift in this hasidic community, shared by his con­ literature emerged in mid-nineteenth-century hasidic discourse, specifically in temporary Rabbi Zaddok Hacohen Rabinowitz of Lublin among others, whereby Congress Poland, with surprising regularity. Rabbi Gershon Henoch of Radzyn the hasidic master began to engage with the broader intellectual environmcn�. (1839-91), student of his illustrious grandfather Rabbi Mordecai Joseph Leiner Although these masters were unique individuals in their own right, they were also of lzbica (1800--54), revisited medieval Jewish philosophy and kabbalah and products of a changing Poland, an environment which was being inundated with attempted to represent this rich tradition within the ideological framework of modern ideas and technology. Gershon Henoch could not ha,·e educated himself hasidic spirituality. His project seemed to have numerous goals, none of which so widely in modern languages and natural sciences, for example, if he had not was explicitly developed in his writings. First, he apparently sought to root been the product of a Poland where cultural persecution was abating and eco­ hasidism in medieval philosophical and kabbalistic tradition in an attempt finally nomic barriers against Jews were being removed. His concern with unifying to put to rest the criticism that hasidism departed fromnormative Jewish practice diverse traditions of Jewish learning was equally a response to trends in the wider and ideology." Second, Rabbi Gershon Henoch's entire programme was founded Jewish world outside his hasidic community. Setting Gershon Iknoch in these on an overt messianic impulse. His attempt to unify and synthesize the disparate contexts-the secular histor� of Congress Poland and the wider intellectual his­ philosophic and mystical traditions in Judaism should be seen in the light of his tory of contemporary Polish Jewry-enables us to achieve a new appreciation of underlying belief that redemption hung on the success of his enterprise.6 This nineteenth-century hasidism. programme, including his attempt to reinstitute the lost tradition of tekhelet, Rabbi Gershon Henoch is particularly interesting because of the wav his should be seen as representing a mid-nineteenth-century hasidic response to thought combined messianic and mystical strains with a sophisticated u�der­ modernity. This is not to suggest that Gershon Henoch had a sophisticated or standing of science and medicine. He is best known for his discoverv and advo­ even an informed notion of modern advances in philosophy, science, and litera­ cacy of a species he claimed was the l1ila.::,n11, or 'tint-fish', for making ;he blue dye ture (although he did read German, it is unlikely that he read general philosophi­ called tekhe!et described in Numbers 15: 38 as the colour of one of the ritual cal works). When I speak of his response to modernity I am referring specifically fringes worn on the corners of garments, and especially of prayer-shawls.8 to the modern Jewish attempt to historicize the tradition, creating sharp However, his work on reinstituting this ancient lost custom is not distinct from dichotomies between philosophy and kabbalah, in an attempt to reconstruct a his other literary projects; all his efforts were driven hy an underlying messianic 7 critical history of Jewish literature and ideology. For Gershon Henoch, this impulse founded on his family's tradition that his grandfather had initiated the attempt to highlight the disparity between authentic Jewish ideological trends heginning of the messianic era. Beforedeveloping these points further, two issues was not only false; it was also destructive, in that it perpetuated and deepened need to be addressed. First, briefly to survey the poiitical and ideological changes Israel's experience of separation from the divine. Drawing on the kabbalistic that were taking place in the Kingdom and which affected its hasidic communities tradition of the Zohar and sixteenth-century kabbalah, unity, in all its mani­ in the mid-nineteenth century. Second, to consider more closely the split between festations, was Gershon Hcnoch's primary goal, as only unity would serve the Rabbi Menahem Mendel Morgenstern of Kotsk and Rabbi Mordecai Joseph redemptive end. Leiner oflzbica in T839, which resulted in the birth oflzbicer hasidism. The province of Radom, where the Przysucha hasidic tradition developed, was .-, Sec Rahhi Gershon Hcnoch of Radzyri, Hal11d:damah rcl111pe1ihah, repr. as Sha 'arei emunah t't'J't'.wd hal,asidut (Henei 13erak, 1996). In this lengthy introduction to his father's treatise Beil part of the Russian-controlled Kingdom of Poland. At the Congress of Vienna in Ya 'akor, Rabhi Gershon Henoch attempts a synthesis hetween Maimonides' Guide o{the Perplexed s and the 7.ohar,respcc tivelv the classic philosophical and kabbalistic texts of the Middle Ages. , On this sec Ada Rapoport-Albert, 'Hagiography with Footnotes: Edifying: Talcs and the " Sec Morris Faicrstein, .111 is iu the Hands"{Hc,ffen (Hoboken, NJ, 1989), n-8+ Faierstein's Writing of History in Hasidism', in A. Rapoport-Albert and S. Zipperstein (eds.), Fssa.rs iu Jcn•ish u-eatmcnt ofRahbi Gershon Hcnoch's messianism does not focus on his notion of unity. Hist11ri11grt1pl,y(.'\,tlanta, Ga., 1991) 1 HJ-59- e ' See Gcrshom Scholcm, 'The Science of Judaism: Then and Now', in The Messianic Id a in ,, Sec Rabbi Isaac Heroz, Tl,, Roy,,! Blue Thread ,111d the Bibliwl Blue: Arg,//uau and TeMelet ]uJ,11su1 (New York, 1971 ), 304--13. (Jerusalem 191l7), esp I q-19. Cf. Rabbi ZYi Cohen, T,i1siit 1etcUtclc1 (1993), ch. 21. 34 Shaul Magid Gershon Ifrnoch 's Searchfi11· Colllinuit}' 35 181 5 the major European powers had divided Poland amongst themselves, and problems of modernity systematically. This initiated the formation of hasidic the central part of Poland, called Congress Poland, was controlled by Russia. political organizations, which ultimately led to the creation of Agudas Yisro'el in While we often think of Congress Poland as culturally backward compared to Warsaw in 1916. Other hasiEurope, and hoth the movement for Polish independence and the hasidic Jewish culture. These new conditions explain the (rather limited) attention to movement were based on Romantic ideology.Just as literary figureslike Ksawery political life in hasidic biographies published in the inter-war period. It is from Bronikowski and Maurycy Mochnacki looked hack to an independent Polish past, these biographies that we gain an impression that hasiJewish emancipation.11 Jews, especially hasidim. n Nationalist Jews and proponents of the Haskalah wel­ Even though the hagiographies of the hasidic leaders neglect Polish politics, comed the opportunity to show Jews as modern people, and even went so far as to there is some evidence that hasidim supported the 1830 revolt. We have an denounce the ways in which traditional Jews evaded the draft.11 account that Rabbi Menahem Mendel Morgenstern ofKotsk and his pupil Rahhi In February 18+6 as a consequence of the outbreak of revolution in the Free Isaac Meir Rothenberg Alter, founder of the Ger dynasty, actively encouraged the City ofKrakow, just south of the .h.ingdom,Jews were granted citizenship there, a Jews to aid the Poles in their rebellion and that after the Russian victory both were move which paved the way for the legal framework for Jewish emancipation in forced to traYel to Lemberg (Lwow), then the capital of the Austrian province of the Kingdom. 1.o Traditional Jewish communities were sceptical of the "·or (1981), 21· 38. Shaul Magid Gershon Henoclz 's Search for Continuity 37 assumptions which implicitly threatened traditional Jewish ways of life. The reaped considerable benefits. As compulsory peasant labour dues were replaced newspaper Tr:::,cn /vlaj, the organ of the national government of Krakow, published by rent, farmers were able to move to a more capitalist form of agricultural pro­ an editorial on 12 September 1846 saying, 'No country can tolerate a nation within duction.21 Peasants began to leave the land for the cities, and land-owners embarked a nation, a separate estate within a collective estate. If the Israelites want to have on industrial ventures, including building textile factories. This increased Polish Polish citizenship, let them be Poles of the Mosaic faith, but they must stop being exports, which necessitated expansion of the railways. From 1862 to , 887 Poland Israelites. n' The opportunity to assimilate implied bv this article was welcomed increased its railway network from 635 to 2,084 kilometres of track, and estab­ by many of the enlightened Jews in the cities of Warsaw and Krakow, but the lished railwav links between Warsaw and the major cities in Russia and the hasidic communities, still primarily based in the small towns, viewed this 'new' Ukraine, and isolated rural areas were given greater access to the cities as well as to attitude as a dangerous development. rn other provinces and countries. In addition to these general benefits of modern­ Accompanying the dangerous possibility of assimilation, which the hasidim ization, Polish Jews were permitted to purchase land in 1859, which brought them deplored, was a concomitant expansion of economic opportunity. For generations a previously unattainable level of financialsecurity. Jewish occupations and financial opportunities had been limited by law. Even For hasidim, these benefits had specific cultural repercussions. Like the rest of though Jews had long constituted a sizeable part of the Polish population, they rural Polish Jewry, they began a slow urban migration. Warsaw's Jewish popula­ had no presence in local or national government with which to voice their con­ tion more than tripled in the period between , 864 and , 897, and more than two­ cerns and lobby for their communities. The sweeping societal changes in the thirds of the 300 synagogues in Warsaw were hasidic at that time.22 Railways Kingdom, even as they were rooted in the principles of modernity which threat­ enabled hasidim to choose their rebbes more easily, as thev were more able to travel ened the cohesion of any traditional society, were none the less beneficial to the from one hasidic court to another. Opportunities for secular and scientific know­ hasidic communities. ledge, though generally shunned bv most hasidim, were also unprecedented. The oppressive conditions which had plagued the Jews in Poland forcenturies In addition to the benefits of greater mobility, the 'Era of Great Reforms' also began to change considerably in the , 840s and , 850s. In , 846 Pius IX, who held brought a flourishing of Polish Jewish culture through the publication of govern­ many well-known liberal views regarding the Jews, was anointed pope, and many ment-sanctioned Hebrew, Yiddish, and Polish Jewish newspapers. Literature, Jews in Poland hoped that papal influence would now dispel some of the long­ theatre, and music began to develop in all three languages, and by the , 88os there held negative attitudes of the Church towards the Jews. This optimism was was an expanded state-sanctioned Jewish school system, including an academy for further enhanced by Jewish participation in the rernlution of Krakow in February religious studies. Emancipation also brought with it an onslaught of modern 1846 and the famous 'Springtime of Nations' revolts in 1848-9. The loyalty dis­ Jewish ideologies: the Haskalah and modern Zionism. Progressive Jews applied played by these Jews assuaged some of the deep-seated suspicions many Poles felt Moses Mendelssohn's frameworkof German Jewish identity to their own sense of towards their Jewish neighbours. 1� Enlightened Poles, including the poet and Polish nationalism, even as they disliked Mendelssohn's negative attitude towards 2 emigd leader Adam Mickiewicz, began to argue that Polish independence was eastern Europe and east European Jews. :J Nationalist fervour in Polish society linked to Jewish liberation.20 These events culminated when Alexander II came to also turned Polish Jews towards Zionism in the , 86os, with the publication of the Russian throne in 1855. The emancipator of Russia's serfs also initiated a Moses Hess's Rome and Jerusalem and Zevi Kalischer's Seeking Zion in 1862. In period of liberalization towards the Kingdom of Poland which included the the , 88os Zionism gained further momentum with an influx of Lithuanian Jews extension of greater tolerance towards the Jewish population. into the Kingdom who saw it as a new progressive Jewish identitv. The 1850s and 1860s were boom years in the Kingdom of Poland, and Jews Hasidic communities in Poland during these decades were ambivalent in their stance towards Zionism. It was clearly preferable to the Polish nationalism which " For a more deYdoped discussion on the Polish attirnde tcrnards the Jews as reflected in the had become so popular as a result of Jewish emancipation, and much early Zionist Polish press, sec I. Oppenheim, 'On the Question_ of the Jews in the Polish Newspaper Glos (the Voice)', in Bein YiSynagogue 1806-184,,') (Jerusalem, 1993), 5 1 5. Shaul Magid Gershon Henoch 's Search for Continuity 39 thought after emancipation. Manv hasidic thinkers initially saw Zionism, in Sochaczew. These smaller courts remained devoted to Kotsk until Rabbi which messianic elements seemed strong, as a way of challenging the sweeping Menahem Mendel ofKotsk died and Rabbi Isaac Meir Alter (later the founder of trend of assimilation in Poland, even though they rejected its secular ideology, the dynasty of Ger) took over. At that point, the school split up into many differ­ which negated the hasic tenets of traditional J urebbe, on as rebbe of Kotsk. The details of his life from 1827 until his death in 1860 are Simi).atTorah of 1839 (5600). Both men were disciples of Rabbi Simchah Bunem shrouded in mystery/7 hut some time between Simi).at Torah 1839 and January of Przysucha. 25 Menahem Mendel was one of those who inherited his hasidic 1840 he went into complete seclusion, which lasted forthe last twenty years of his court after his untimely death in 1827. (Rarely in the Przysucha school did one 26 Yitshak Alfasi, Hos<1hu h11k11dosh m,Rod11s/11ts ('The Holy Old l\lan of Radoshits') (Tel AviY, individual inherit the entire dynasty. Usually a son inherited part of the court and 1957), 86-9. For an account of how non-hasidim also Yie \\cd this date as auspicious, sec Arie one or two of the more important disciples inherited the rest.) When the founder Morgenstern, Bishelihut Ycrushalr1yi111: Tol.-dot 111isl,p11l1111 P. H. Ro::.cntal 18d1 1,�19 ('Emissary to Jerusalem: The History of the P. H. Rosenthal Family') (Jerusalem. 1985), 52 ,78. Cf. id., 'The of the dynasty, Rahhi Jacob Isaac ben Asher of Przysucha, the 'Holy Jew', died, Messianic Expectations of 18+0' (Heh.), in. \frssi11nis111 ,nut Fs,/1,110/ogy (Jerusalem, 198-l)- part of his court \Vent with his son Jerahmeel, while others went with Rabbi 2' There are mam 'accounts' of Rahhi /v1enahem Mendel's life, hut almost all arc written hv Simchah Bunem. Most of Rahbi Jacob Isaac's hasidim followed Rabbi Simchah students and descend.ants of students \\ho arc hardh objecti,·e in their research. The latest studies �f Bunem to Kotsk, although smaller courts hegan in Aleksandrow, Warka, and this type are Yehudah Lcih Lewin, Beit Kot.,k (Jerusalem, 1990), which is a collection of literary frag­ ments and oral traditions about Mcnahcm Mendel and his students, and Pinhas Sadch, Es!, /,,,l,eder sagur ('Man in a Closed Room') (Jerusalem, 1993). In the scholarly world, A. J. Hcschcl's Yiddish 21 Priv.ite comersation with Rahhi Jacoh Leiner of Brooklyn. Oct. 19q3; cf. Jn11rn11I 11(Jcwisl, study Kotsk, 2 mis. (Tel )hiv, 1973), contains some historical data hut is primarih· dernted to a Studies, 3-l 188 1993),( n. lq. presentation of the Przysucha-Kotsk hasidic ideology. Morris Faicrstcin, 'The Friday Night '' Rahhi Simchah Bunem of Przysucha was the spiritual heir to Rahhi Jacob Isaac hen Asher, Incident in Kotsk: Histon of a Lcgend',]mm,a/ o/Je1risl, Studies, 3+ (1983), 179-89; and a slightly known as the 'Hoh Jew', who Years earlier departed from the court of the Seer of Luhlin, Rabbi Jacob revised version in his. JI/ ls in the Elands o(Hem·en, 89 ·{)8,attempts to gain some historical clarity on Isaac Honrnit1. the incident that preceded Rabbi Mcnahem \.1cndel'sseclusion. Shaul Magid Gershon Henodz 's Search for Continuit)' 41 life. While he left no writings, it is clear that Rabbi Mordecai Joseph Leiner's sud­ his wife, Hana, and his father-in-law,Rabbi David of Tishvits (Tyszowce), one of den departure from Kotsk had a profoundeffect on him. Rabbi Mordecai Joseph the better-known students of Rabbi Simchah Bunem of Przysucha. After his had spent thirteen years in Kotsk, and that number was of great significance for father moved to lzbica, Rabbi Jacob Leiner moved with his wife and their infant the hasidim of both Kotsk and lzbica. Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai is thought to have son, Gershon Henoch, to a house dose to the beil midrash in Izbica.'12 Jacob spent thirteen years in a cave hiding fromthe Romans and developing the Zohar, himself remained in Izbica with his fatheruntil Rabbi Mordecai Joseph's passing so the hasidim viewed this as the necessary period of private preparation before on 7 Tevet 1854. revealing oneself as the Messiah. Izbica tradition thus had it that the thirteen-year At that point, the Izbica community split again. Many of the older hasidim period meant that for Rabbi Mordecai Joseph 'the time had not yet come for him moved to Lublin, anointing Rabbi Judah Leib Eger their new rebbe, while Rahbi to teach Torah publicly', and that his departure signified his emerging from 'the Jacob Leiner remained in Izbica to maintain his father's community. Rabbi Judah cave', as Simeon bar Yohai did. Certain Kotsk hasidim viewed Rabbi Menahem Leib Eger was the grandson of the illustrious talmudist and halakhist Rabbi Akiba Mendel's subsequent seclusion as the dissipation of the messianic hope of 1840 Eger. At an early age he had run away from home and arrived in Kotsk, seeking and held Rabbi Mordecai Joseph accountable. 28 out a spiritual path. The hagiographic literature is replete with stories of how he Accounts disagree over what caused the breach between Rabbi Mordecai had been rejected by Rabbi Menahem Mendel'"3 and finally travelled with Joseph and Rabbi Menahem Mendel.29 The later lzbica tradition interprets it to Mordecai Joseph to Izbica, where he became his devoted disciple and the close be the moment of Rabbi Mordecai Joseph's revelation as Messiah. Rabbi Hayim friendof another newcomer from Lithuania, Rabbi Zaddok Hacohen Rabinowitz. Simchah Leiner writes in Dor yesharim that Rabbi Mordecai Joseph 'began to Later, when Rabbi Judah Leib Eger and Rabbi Zaddok Hacohen had become two awaken and illuminate a new and pure light, revealing the secrets of the Torah of the most famousIzbica hasidim, they moved to J ,ublin and set up a beit midrash which had been hidden until then' _:io This appears to be a variation on the zoharic there. The split between the Izbicer (later Radzyn) dynasty and the Izbicer dis­ passage cited above regarding the year 5600, coupled with a common kabbalistic ciples in Lublin was not characterized by the same severity as the split between theme that is first found in the anonymous Sefi:r temunah ( early fourteenth cen­ Kotsk and Izbica, although friction emerged between Rabbi Zaddok and Rabbi tury), and which later appears in different forms in the Zohar and subsequent Gershon Henoch in the late 1880s, specifically on the issue of tckhelet. In large kabbalistic literature, that the messianic era would being forth 'new' Torah not part both communities continued to interact with each other.:34 previously revealed. Rabbi Jacob Leiner served as rebbe for twenty-four years. Unexpectedly and After a short stay in his home town of Tomasz6w, Rabbi Mordecai Joseph forno known reason, before the completion of his thirteenth year in Izbica, Rabbi Leiner settled in Izbicai11 His son Jacob had married quite young and lived with Jacob moved to Radzyn, a small city north-east of Lublin, outside the province of Radom. This enabled him to widen the gap between his hasidim and the other "" The great rift in the community was healed decades later, when RabbiMordecai Joseph Eliezer Kotsk schools of Ger, Sochaczew, and Aleksandr6w, bringing them closer to the I ,einer, the great-grandson of Rabbi Mordecai Joseph of Izbica, befriended Rah hi Israel Pilo,, the grandson ofRabhi l\lenahemMendel, in the resort ofMarienhad in 1900. See P. Z. Glicksman, Der Lublin rebbes, with whom he had more sympathy. Rabbi Jacob lived in Radzyn for Kot�lw Re/,he (Lod7., 1938), �8, and Faicrstcin, .JI/ is in 1!1t Hands 11[Hrnffn, 19. almost thirteen years until his passing on 15 Av 5638 (1878). Although his �·, One ,ersion, Rnhhi Havim Simchah Leiner, Dor reshari,11 (Lublin, 1925), J�, states that the younger brother, Rabbi Samuel Dov Asher of Biskovitz (author of Ne 'ot deshe) split was friendly, even saving that Rabbi Menahcm Mendel escorted Rabbi Mordecai Joseph to his was well known for his piety and scholarship, it was Rabbi Jacob's eldest son, carriage that Simhat Torah night. Note that this is the 2nd cdn. of Doryesl111nm, and may soften the break with Kotsk in an attempt to end the feud; I haYe not seen the 1st edn. Another account, it that Rahhi Aaron hen Jacob of Karlin, while passing through Izhica, once said, 'I feel here the air Glicksman, Der 1'_11tdeer Rch/,c, 53, depicts the split as much more dramatic and sensational, and (spiritj of Erets Yisra'cl.' Rnhbi Jacob of lzhica replied to Rahhi Aaron of Karlin that the Seer of there arc similar versions in Porat (ed.), Scf<'r 1'_11tsk, 111, and J. L. Lewin, Ha'admorillf mehhirn Lublin had once made a similar comment. Sec Lewin, H<1 ',1d11111nm, 62. 11.hica was indeed set on the (Jerusalem, n.d.). Lewin ,,as a Cierer hasid whose allegiance was clearly with Rahbi 1\1enahem top of a mountain surrounded hy hills similar to the Judaean hills outside Jerusalem. Still others sug­ Mendel (Rabbi Isaac Meir Rothenberg Alter of Warsaw, (later of Ger), succeeded Rabbi Mcnahem gest that it was chosen for its close proximity to Kotsk. Mendel as the reh/,e of the Kotsk communitv). For a later Izbica version of the split, see S. Z. Shragai, :i·J Lewin, Ha 'admorim, 56, 57. > Bintin i hasidut hhirn-Rad�yn (Jerusalem, 1972), i. 72. In my many conversations with the Leiner i:i Tradition has it that in spite of his being rejected h, Rabbi '\lcnahem Mendel,once he became family, I have felt that neither they nor the Gcrer hasidim are interested in getting at the truth of this rebbe in Lublin in 185�, Rabbi Judah Lcih Eger refused to teach in public until Rabhi Mcnahem incident. Mendel had passed away in 1859. ·,n Leiner, Dory,,s!lllrillf, 12; Faierstcin, . ./// is 111 t/,c Hands ofHcarcn, 79-8+ ·14 On Rahbi Judah Leib Eger's arrirnl in Kotsk: Elllcr 1-ee111u,1,1h, q�; Abraham Isaac Bromberg, H Rabbi Hay im Simchah Leiner explains that Rab hi Mordecai Joseph chose Izhica to fulfil a Rab/,i /,eih Eger, .Higed11/ei hatarah rtlwh11sid111, 2� mis., xiii (Jerusalem, 1958); Nahman Shemen, prophecy made by Rabhi Jacoh Isaac Horwitz, the Seer of Lublin, who once passed through Izhica Lublin: 111 Shtotji Tora!,, r,1boncs u,1 hsi,les (Toronto, 1951), �8-52. See also Gedo/at ts,11/iki111, in and said that it would one day he the home of a great scholar (Doryesharim, 3�). Another tradition has She,11oneh scji,rim she/ ta/111/dei ha Ba '11/ Sho11 T1,1· (N], 1976), 1511, h. Shaul /Hagid Gershon Henoch 's Search.for Co11tinui()1 43

Rabbi Gershon Henoch Leiner, then 39 years old, who was chosen to become the tion to Talmud and the legal codes before beginning a systematic study of the next lzbica rchhe. Zohar and Lurianic kabbalah, Gershon Henoch's knowledge of Talmud was Rabbi Gershon Henoch h,1d been only a year old when his father moved to demonstrated by his ambitious work Sidrei tohorot. In a ten-year project Gershon lzbica. He spent his childhood attending his grandfather's lectures, apparently Henoch gathered all the relevant material scattered in the Babylonian Talmud attaining the reputation of a wunderkind at a very young age. 35 As a young man, and Palestinian Talmud that might throw light on the tractates of Mishnah he attended classes with accomplished scholars like Rabbi Judah Leib Eger and Tohorot, for which no talmudic commentary is extant,:19 This work also includes Rabbi Zaddok Hacohen, with whom he maintained a relationship long after Rabbi Rabbi Gershon Henoch's Rashi-like marginal gloss on the passages he collected. Zaddok's departure for Lublin_:i,; He is known to have had a photographic This controversial undertaking was completed and published when he was only memory and a unique talent forlanguages. According to Shlomo Zalman Shragai, 29 years old. 40 whose sources are often oral histories of Gershon Henoch's students, Gershon The polemic waged against the hasidim in lzbica-Radzyn by the remnants of Henoch spoke Yiddish, Polish, German, Russian, some French, and, after his first the Kotsk dynasty, as well as by supporters of the growing Jewish Enlightenment trip to Naples in search of the 4ila.c.on, Italian. He may also have read Spanish, in the r86os and 1870s, became Rabbi Gershon Henoch's major preoccupation. since he records in Hahakdamah 11e/111pctl�wh that he obtained a copy of Abraham His father was more even-tempered and sought to avoid the growing conflict Kohen de Herrera's Puerta de! Cicio (Sha 'ar hashamayim) in the original rather than confront it. Gershon Henoch, however, modelled himself on his Spanish.:" There are also extant handwritten documents of medical prescriptions grandfather, whose fiery personality and sharp tongue were well known in the he wrote in Latin. A modern Israeli historian of medicine has written of Gershon hasidic communities in the Kingdom. Henoch's medical knowledge: The conflict reached new heights in the summer of 1883 when Rabbi Gershon Henoch was arrested by the Russian authorities. The two hagiographic biographies Gershon Henoch Leiner did not study in primary school, secondary school, or university. He acquired his knowledge of medicine from other sources, using among other things a disagree on why he was arrested and who informed on him. According to Judah Polish and Latin dictionar) ... Rabbi Gershon Henoch had a brilliant mind. [He was able Levin, he was arrested for helping young hasidic men avoid conscription into the to accomplish all this] through self-instruction, perseverance, and a superhuman devotion Russian army.41 The draft instituted in the r84os had met with little success, to the study of ancient Hebrew texts as well as texts in other languages without previous especially among hasidim. It is unclear who Levin believes informed on Gershon knowledge of any other language . . In this the self-taught healer Gershon Henoch Henoch, but it seems unlikely that members of the Kotsk camp would have succeeded, as if to prove that one need not attend university to become a competent informed on a fellow hasid for a crime they also committed. Jewish supporters of doctor. He was known among those of his generation as a 'good doctor'_:i.� Enlightenment were known to have played the authorities against hasidic Jews in From the sources, a picture emerges of Rabbi Gershon Henoch as a widely cases like this one. Gershon Henoch suspected, however, that rival hasidim were educated person, but the basis of his education was a traditional grounding in responsible. Talmud. His father, Rabbi Jacob, was quite strict about his young child's atten- During the three weeks of his arrest, Rabbi Gershon Henoch wrote three short commentaries: one on Or4ot !Jayim, sometimes attributed to the medieval rabbi y·; Lewin, lla 'ddmonm, 66. Eliezer ben Isaac Hagadol; one on the gaonic work Sha 'arei teshuvah; and one 1 " Form exchange oflcllers on halakhic issues hct\1een !he Iwo rabbis, see Rabbi Zaddok, Resist:i on the fifty disagreements between the rabbinic sages of Babylonia and Palestine. lai!uh ;·ct.i/.:,11wt lwsl,.i;im (Jkn ei Herak, 1967), 16c;-7+; Lewin, Ha 'admorim, 87. S. Z, Shragai, Gershon Henoch's other biographer, makes use of one of these 17 .-\braham Kohen de Herrera, probably a descendant of Marranos, wrote P11ata dd Cie/11 some­ 1 time in Ihc early part of1he 171h cenlury. It\\as abridged and Iranslaied into Hebre" by Isaac ,-\boab · " .'vfostof !he mishnaic order of Tolli1rnt,with 1hc exception ofone 1ractale, lV,dah, has no Ialmudic in 1655 and la1er inio J ,alin. Sec,\ .. -\hmann, 'I ,urianic Kabbalah in J Pla1onic Ke,: .-\braham Goehn commemar) (�cmara) in ei1her the Palcsiinian Talmud or 1hc Babvlonian Talmud. Rabbi Gershon Herrera's P11ert11 Jd <:1,/11', in l. Twerskv and B. Scptimus (eds.),Jen,is!, T/101(�!11 i11 the Set'entecntlz Henoch ga1hered commenls from Ihe res! of1he Talmud 1ha1 applied IO Iopics in !he tractales Kehm C('lltllr)' (Cambridge, \lass., 1987). II is difficult Io delermine whether or how much Herrera's and O//IJ/01ofMishnah Toh11r111 and arranged I hem like agcmara 101he mishnaic malerial. Neoplatonic reading oH.abbalah affected Rabbi Gershon Henoch 's S) n1he1ic programme. '" Shragai, Bintiui hasir/111 Lhirn-Rad�pi, ii. 150 ff.,and id., 'Hasidut haBaal Shem Tov bitefisal '' David MargoliI, Harc/ii'a/1, +7+ (190+), my !rans. For reprinls of some of Rabbi Gershon Izbica-Radzyri', 175, 176. This work caused quile a stir in !he hasidic communiiy in Poland (Dur Henoch' s Lalin prescriplions, sec S. Z. Shragai, 'Hasidul haBaal Shem Tm bi1efisa1 Izbica-Radzyri' ycslzarim,71). Prof. David Weiss Halil'I1i poinicd oul Io me 1ha1 in Ihc 2nd edn. ofSiJrei 10l11m1t, the

('The Hasidism of 1hc Baal Shem Trn in Ihe Perceplion of Izbica-Radzyri'), in Sc/er l,aBcslzt publisher added !he followingwords on 1he bollom ofe,-cry page: 'Galhered and collec1ed from 1he (Jerusalem, 1960),- HJ+, 195. Sec also 1hc work on disease and medical Irealment by Gershon words ofour rabbinic sages (lza::.al)'.Halirni suggesls 1ha1 apparcn1ly 1his was a compromise belween Henoch's nephew Rabbi Hayim Simchah Leiner, DarNici hayim, JO mis, (Warsaw, 1908). Vol. i was Rabbi Gershon Henoch and Ihe publishers after 1he initial priniing caused such conlroversy. The reprin1ed in a collection of 11orks by Izbica aulhors bv Rabbi Mordecai Joseph Leiner (Brooklyn, slalemenl makes clear thal this work is no! an authcnlic piece of 1almudic liierature. 41 1988). Le,\'in,Ha 'admorim. Gershon Henoch 's Searchji1r Continuit)' ++ Shaul Magid 4-5 works to explain his arrest. According to Shragai, Gershon Henoch was in court Joseph Perl attempted to limit the publication of hasidic texts, by the 1860s this 14 rather than in prison during the period of his arrest, as one of his rabbinic too had subsided. decisions was investigated by secular authorities. Shragai quotes the preface of an Joseph Weiss suggests that Gershon Henoch may have found it difficult to 45 early edition of Gershon Henoch's work on OrlJ.otlwyim: contract a Jewish printing-house to publish ,Wei hashi!o 'alJ in Poland. One reason it may actually have been published in Vienna is that the various groups of I have written this hook ...at a time of great pain to me.There arose from the 'community followers of the Kotsk rebbc had become such a predominant part of Congress of liars' those who accused me, using lies and falsehoods.Many arose against me, both Poland hasidism that the Izbica court could not find anyone to print it, even from numerous branches of hasidim and transgressors. Thank God ... who destined me among the hasidim. By 1860 the conflict between Izbica and Kotsk hasidism had for this imestigation in the cit, of Radzyn these eight months in 1883. More specifically, become quite severe. Rabbi Isaac Meir Rothenberg Alter of Ger, who inherited the imcstigati;in was het \\ee� 17 Tamuz and 9 Av. I was required to remain in court the largest portion of the Kotsk community, became involved in political activity almost the whole Tosafot, and in influx into the city.46 Meisels was quite sympathetic to the Polish fight for in­ Or/iot har/111, ml. ii, which was attributed to Rahhi Aaron Hakohen of Lune!. Much of this wo�k defied understanding and its source was concealed ...With the help of God I was dependence and was used on numerous occasions as a liaison between the govern­ 17 able to findsatisfactory explanations and interpretations in the Babylonian and Palestinian ment and the Orthodox community in Warsaw. As a result of Rabbi Isaac Meir Talmuds and in midrashic literature. This was all completed during the three weeks Rothenberg Airer's political activity and his reputation among non-hasidic l mentioned ahItaly I was never able to should not be surprised by this. Changes in practice, especially the remst1tut10n obtain a sufficient amount. The traders [in this fish) said to me that (during the fishing of a practice that probably had not been observed since late antiquity, would months] they send all of their catch immediately to Rome to the factory which makes it invariably evoke far greater controversy than would problematic ideological or into dye [forclothing]. 50 theologi�al positions. Moreover, the subtle messianic implications of the tekh�let, Apparently, the dye was used for expensive clothing and was immediately pointing towards the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, would b� suspect ma exported to Rome for the monarch's clothes. Rabbi Gershon Henoch precedes Jewish community which still remembered the Sabbatean heresy and '.t� after�ath. this description with a historical account derived from traditional sources of how By the beginning of the gaonic period, in the ninth century, the trad1t1on of iden­ the tekhelet of old (in the days of Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire, and 18 tifying the fish had been lost, obliging Jews to wear tsitsit without tekhelet. The Titus) was used for royal clothing and thus difficultto obtain. He infers that the Joss of the tradition of tckhe!et came to symbolize the period of Jewish exile, when tradition of the Gentiles regarding the tekhelet supports the view that this fish is certain mitsvot that had been current during the Temple period could no longer be truly the �ila:::,on. Although he returned with the blood of the tint-fishin 1888, he 19 performed.· The rediscovery of tekhclet was viewed by many, including Gershon did not successfully colour tsitsit with its dye until the first day of 1:Ianukah Henoch, as a sign that the time of redemption was at hand. 1889.51 By the end of 1890 the dye was being mass-produced and Rabbi Gershon That Rabbi Gershon Henoch's messianic yearnings prompted his interest in Henoch claimed that up to 12,000 Jews were wearing tekhe/ct. Although it came tekhe/ct is shown by his publications on the issue. His first essayon the subject, almost four decades after the initial messianic fervour of 1840, the discovery of Sefunei tcmunCI l;ol, appeared a year before he first travelled to Naples. That work the tekhelet in 1888 and its reinstitution into ritual life in 1889 served to support se�s the stage for the journey and the subsequent attempts to prove the validity of the claim of Gershon Henoch's family that Rabbi Mordecai Joseph's emergence its outcome. In it he argues two points. First, he suggests that the ge 'onim and early as an independent hasidic master in 1840 was the beginning of a new era of rishomm may indeed have known of the �i/a-;;on, so the mitsrnh of tekhe/et was not redemption. dependent upon the Temple. Secondly, he uses responsa literature to describe the Negative reactions to the tekhelet appear to have become quite pronounced in physical characteristics of the �i/a:::,onas a preparation for his trip to Italy. 1889 and 1890 in Poland, Lithuania, Galicia, and Germany. Rather than seeing In 1888 Rabbi Gershon Hcnoch travelled to Naples with a companion, Rabbi this as a cause for concern, Gershon Henoch seems to have responded to each Isaac Kotsker. Though he describes the Naples aquarium in detail in Ma 'amar serious challenge in writing and stepped up his programme to spread tekhelet to petil tckhe/ct, he never states why he chose Naples. Obviously, if the �i/azon was a Jewish communities in Europe and Palestine.52 After he successfully produced fish known to the rabbis in Palestine and Babylonia, it must have lived in the the tekhelct in 1889-90, he travelled three more times to Naples, each time visiting Mediterranean Sea and not in the waters of eastern Europe. However, Gershon the same aquarium and apparently purchasing more of the dye. Henoch never explains whether he believed the aquarium in Naples to be the In the preface to his last work on the subject, Ayin hatekhelet, Gershon Henoch most advanced of its kind or whether it was merely the only place he knew of. summarized the responsa for and against the wearing of the tekhelet. His general At the beginning of Ma 'amar petil tekhclet, which appears to have been written challenge to the learned community, one which was met by very few halakhists, at the time of his first trip and immediately after, he describes the aquarium as was to oppose him on the grounds of the particular nature of his findingsas well as " There are various opinions concerning when the hi/11;:,on disappeared. See Rabbi Gershon within the framework of halakhic discussion on the possibility of renewal of the Hcnoch, Sefime, 1e1111111ei ho!, rn; id., .4yi11 hate/.:/,e/et, 11 zb. Cf. Rabbi Isaac Heras, 'When did tel·helct 50 Disappear from Israel?' (Heb.), in Sh111 le Yeshay«lm: S,fer yore! to Ra/,/,i I. fVol{sbe��(Tel Aviv, · Rabbi Gershon Henoch Leiner, Ma'a mar pet/I teklie!t l(New York, 1952), �11. 51 ' 1987); Rabbi Menahcm Bornstein, Sc/er tekhelet, q3-5; and Rabbi Jacob ofKutno, She'e/ot 11/es!,urot Rabbi Gershon Henoch Leiner,. -/yin hatekhclet (New York, 1951), t 5/,. res/111'ot mall·a, nos. 1 3. ·" For a 20th-century hasidic response to Rabbi Gershon Henoch's position on teHelet from the 5th 1 "- According to Rabbi Isaac Luria, the entire 111i1srnh of 1e/.:/1cle1only applies when the Temple ts rebbe ofLubaYitch, Rabbi Shalom Dov Beer Schneersohn, see his f�rot kodesh rasha/, (New York, 1982), standing in Jerusalem. Sec Rabbi Meir Poppers, Peri els l111yim (Jerusalem, n.d.), ch. 5. 351--4- I should like to thank my goodfriend Rabbi Lazer Lazeroffforbringing this text to myattention. Shaul Magid Gershon Hcnodz 'sScarth for C11mi1111it)' ..J.9 tekhdct without the Temple. Most of the rcsponsa he chooses to report challenged midrashic literature, and to demonstrate the integral relationship between rabbinic his position in ,·ery general terms, largely revolving around the quasi-doctrinal literature and biblical verses. The tendency to unify the rational with the mystical statement of the Hungarian talmudist and halakhist Moses Sofer that had become is also exhibited in his works on tckhe/ct. The first part of Sc(tmeitcmune ho/, for very well known in Poland at the time that fwdash asur min hatorah ('innovation example, is devoted to showing the similarities between the gaonic, Maimonidean, is forbidden by the Torah'). Gershon Henoch responds to this as follows: and kabbalistic attitudes towards tckhe/ct, all of which he argues support his thesis that tckhelet is not dependent upon the existence of the Temple. We read the Book of Ruth on the day the Torah was given [the Fcstirnl of Shavuot] to teach In his Hahakdamah uhapetifwh, Rabbi Gershon I Icnoch tried to prove that us that c,en a nc\\ thing (1/timr IJ11dash), ifit has foundation in the Torah, it is forbidden to Maimonides' philosophy is consistent with the classic work of Jewish mysticism, challenge it e,en if the sages (g,•do!im) argue 1Yith you. This is the meaning of l1ad11shasur the Zohar. As well as demonstrating his messianic belief that unifying these 111i11!t11ta rah, i.e. something that is 'ne\\' [ or perhaps here, renewed], which is 'from the traditions would bring us closer to redemption, this attempt to unify medieval Torah' [here obviously regarding td:he!tl] 'it is forbidden' (asllr) to challenge it. 53 mysticism and medieval rationalism also shows Gershon Henoch trying to expose The only other hasidim whom Rabbi Gershon Henoch persuaded to use his dye the modern historicist attempt to deepen the bifurcation of these post-rabbinic for te/.:heletwere the disciples of RabbiNahman ofBratslav. On a trip to Uman, the ideologies. Finally, by responding to the way Jewish Enlightenment thinkers used burial-place of Rabbi Nahman and the place of pilgrimage for Bratslav hasidim Maimonides, he was attempting to find a unity between Haskalah rationalism and since his death in 1810, Rabbi Abraham ben Nahman Hazan stopped in Radzyn, hasidic mysticism in order to invalidate the ways in which the Haskalah was built met Gershon Henoch, and decided to adopt the custom of tekhelet, taking dye back upon general Maimonidean assemptions. He was not the first hasidic rabbi to with him to his community in Jerusalem. It was Rabbi Abraham's student Rabbi attempt to reclaim Maimonides for hasidism, but he is the only hasidic thinker Israel Halpern who apparently brought the tekhe/et to the Bratslav community in systematically to read the Guide 11(the Pe,plcxed through the eyes of hasidic Galicia almost a decade later. However, Rabbi Abraham's willingness to adopt this thought. custom was not solely due to Gershon Henoch's persuasiveness: the reappearance The maskilim, or enlightened Jews, of Germany, Poland, and Galicia, viewed of tekhc/et as a sign of the Messiah is rooted in both Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav's themselves as the rightful inheritors of the Maimonidean tradition. They found Likutci moharan51 and Rabbi Nathan Sternhartz ofNemirov's Likute1 ha/akhot. 55 support from historians in the Wissenschaft des Judentums school, such as Rabbi Gershon Henoch 's work on tekhe/et is part of a broader project of reveal­ Heinrich Graetz, who placed Maimonides' 'rational' philosophy against the ing the concealed unity in all Jewish literature. In his earliest work, Sidrei tohorot, mystical trend in Judaism, which they argued was largely the result of 'external' Gershon Henoch gathered fragmented discussions on a single topic from talmudic influences not compatible with 'normative' Judaism."6 Contemporary scholarship and midrashic literature. In his later commentary on Or�ot �ayim, he uses the same has both refuted the accuracy of this claim as well as uncovering its ideological method, which reflected his belief that the inauguration of the messianic era would bias.57Nevertheless, Maimonides was used by the Enlightenment as the 'gateway' be the result ofuncovering the tradition of the Written Torah concealed in the Oral for liberal, rational Judaism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Torah. This act of literary reconstruction, which involved synthesizing apparently Rabbi Gershon Henoch's reading of Maimonides was an attempt to turn the disparate literary traditions,was based on the common kabbalistic notionthat gather­ Haskalah view on its head. By claiming that Maimonides shared a tradition with the ing the fallen sparks of holiness was a prelude to the messianic era. Essentially, Zahar, he suggested that his 'rationalism' was merely a veil, covering a mystical Rabbi Gershon Henoch wanted to show that esoteric, mystical traditions were tradition rooted at Sinai. This claim is not original to Gershon Henoch: its history buried in the halakhic discourse of rabbinic literature. In Sod yesharim and Sod goes back to at least Rabbi Abraham Isaac Ibn Latif (u 21 o-c.1280) and Abraham /111)'1//W, yesharim his collected commentaries on the Pentateuch, he consistently ''" H. Graetz, Histarr o(fhc]or., (PhilaJclphia, 19;6), 8 mis., i,·. 1-+6, +77 528. Sec also iJ., The attempts to show how the Zohar and subsequent kabbalah illuminate classical Stmclure o/]orish Histo,y au./ Other Essays, ed. and trans. Jsmar Schorsch (New York, 1975), rn+. 7 ' Gershom Scholem, Origius a(!he Kahhalali (Princeton, 1962), 3-12, and id .. 'The Science of " Shragai, B/11/iro /i;,s/,/u/ L/,/111- Rad::,y1i,ii. 166. For tv.o of the more supporti,e responses to JuJaism: Then anJ Now'. See also the Jiscussion of these and other te,ts in D. Hiale (eJ.), Gashom y Rabhi Ger�hon Henoch's fc'kiide!, see Rahhi Beirish hen i\lexander Turish of Warsaw in his Mo::,nei Sc/10/em: Kabba/ah a ud Co1111/c'r-Hisfor (Cambrid!(c, ;\lass., IChicago, 1990). Shuul Magid

for poorJews excluded fromthe elite world ofJewish scholarship.62 In some ways, Gershon Henoch's project of integrating the spiritual and rational prefigured a similar challenge in a later period. The disfranchised were now not the impoverished masses hut the emancipated, educated elite who felt excluded from the world of Jewish spirituality. By analysing Maimonides in mystical terms, Gershon Henoch was asserting a continuity between the rational world of the enlightened Jews and the spiritual world of hasidism. i\fter his discovery of tckhdct, Rabbi Gershon Henoch continued to lead the hasidic community ofRadzyn until his death in 1891. He wanted to leave Radzyn after thirteen years there, probably because of the significance to the Przysucha tradition of the period of thirteen years, and he did attempt to leave, hut always

6 1 returned, even after a very successful year in 1886 as rabbi of Ostrow. : He continued to live inRa

,,., For farther discussion of this :1ppraisal, see B. Dinur, Be11ufiu1t l1adorat (Jerusalem, I

83-227; and A. Rapoport-Albert, 'God and the Tzadik as the Two Focal Points ofHasidic \Vorship', Hist my a/Rd1r,i1111s, 18 ( 1')7()),296 32+. '" Hatse/irah (q Adar 1886). THE LITTMAN LIBRARY OF POLIN JEWISH CI VI LIZATION STUDIES IN POLISH JEWRY MANAGING EDITOR Connie Webber "'"'"'"'"'"'"'"' ""'"""'"'""'"' .. � ... "''"" "''"'""'" ""'"'""'" '"" VOLUME ELEVEN Focusing on Aspects and Experiences of Religion Dedicated to the memorv of LOllIS THOMAS SIDNEY LITTMAN Edited by mho jimmied the Littman Library ANTONY POLONSKY fi1r the love of God

and in memor)I of his father ».> ,,,».r »PP,,, ;pp ;pp .. ,;pp PPP,,.,,, PPP ,, HP PP ,,l.... &--..11 41 41 4 C 44 ;, q;c...... 44 4h .... 41 44 444i JOSEPH AARON LITTMAN 11"1::l C"l:Cl ll:;-t' Published.for The Institute for Polish-Jewish Studies and The American Association for Polish-Jewish Studies

'Get wisdom, get understanding: Forsake her not and she shall presen-ethee' PROV. 4: 5

London · Portland, Oregon The Littman Library ofJewish Civilization 1998