New Material for the Literary History of the Engish Jews Before the Expulsion

<plain_text><page sequence="1">the english jews before the expulsion. 103 New Material for the Literary History of the English Jews before the Expulsion. By Dr. A. Marmorstein. Paper read before the Jewish Historical Society of England, March 15,1927. It is an often repeated platitude that there is very little or no evidence for the literary activities of English Jews before the Expulsion. We are told of four or five works, some of them still unpublished, which were compiled in Angevin England. We hear of the Sefer ha-Shoham by Moses ben Isaac Nesiah,1 of a few leaves of poetry by Meir ben Elijah of Norwich,2 of a Calendar by Moses ben Jacob of London,3 of the Etz Hayyim of Jacob ben Judah, the Hazzan of London,4 of the gram? matical and lexicographical work of Moses ben Yom Tob of London,5 and the Laws of Mourning by Meir of England.6 Rabbinic literature of the Middle Ages has preserved, besides these, the names of nine scholars whose teachings were repeated and discussed in the schools of France and Germany during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. WTe give 1 Zunz, Zur Geschichte und Literatur (Berlin, 1845), p. 112; Frensdorf and Dukes, Or. Litbt. (1844), pp. 518, 519. The work was edited by G. W. Collins, London, 1882, Hebr. Eibl. xxi. 121 ; J?d. Litbt. (1889), xviii. 86 ; Adler, Chief Rabbis of England, " Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition Papers," p. 275 ; Renan-Neubauer, Rabbins Francaises, p. 484; R.E.J. iv. 284, xlii. 57. 2 Hebr. Poesieen des Meir ben Eliah aus Norwich, c. 1300, aus einer Hs. der Vaticana herausgegeben, von A. Berliner, London, 1887; v. also Zunz, ibid., p. 193 ; R.E.J. xiv. 292. 3 D. Kaufmann, J.Q.R. iii. 555-566 ; Ges. Schriften, iii. 75. 4 H. Adler, Steinschneider Festschrift, G.P., pp. 271-272, Hebrew Part pp. 186-207; and A. Marmorstein, " Some hitherto unknown Jewish scholars of Angevin England," J.Q.R., N.S. (1928), xix. 17-36. 5 V. Steinschneider, Cat., Berlin, ii. 54 ; Harkavy, Iggaron of R. Sa'adyah Gaon, p. 10 ; v. also R.E.J. xii. 73, xxiii, 311. 6 Zunz, ibid., p. 161 ; (? 1245, p. 193).</page><page sequence="2">104 NEW MATERIAL FOR THE LITERARY HISTORY here a list, including scribes and teachers, but excluding the names of those who may have lived in England, but were of foreign origin. (1) Aaron of Canterbury.7 (2) Benjamin of Canterbury.8 (3) Berechyah of Lincoln.9 (4) Joseph of Lincoln.10 (5) Isaac of London.11 7 V. Zunz, ibid., p. 96 ; as to THMV fifTO Livorno, 1783, v., however, J. Levi, in R.E.J. 79, 50. According to H. Gross, M.G.W.J. 1901, p. 365, he was the grandfather of the author of the Tosafistic commentary on the Pentateuch, called the p (B.M. Add. 22, 092), which is identified by some with the mW fim? of R. Judah b. Eleazar. The question as to the authorship of Gan and its identity with the Minhath Yehuda is still unsettled, v. also R.E.J. 51, 72. Zunz, ibid., p. 75, considers that the author of the Gan was a French Jew. A short notice about the Gan appeared in Ozar Nechmad (Wien, 1857), ii. 101, by Leopold Dukes, and another by A. Neubauer, Geiger, J?d. Zeitschrift, ix. 231. Considering the numerous references to English scholars in the Gan, e.g. R. Aaron of Canterbury (spelt according to Dukes fcTTO?Jp), B. Benjamin of Canterbury, R. Moses, the author of the Onyx Book, and R. Joseph of Lincoln, who is mentioned by the most often quoted authority of the MS., namely, R. Eliakim, the authorship of the work has to be re-examined. According to S. Poznanski, Kommentar zu Ezekiel und den XII. Kleinen Propheten (Warsaw, 1913), p. xcvii, the author of the Gan is Aaron ben Joseph b. Aaron ha Cohen. Is fcTTIltttp a mistake for jrD ? or are both names justified ? Who are these three scholars ? There is an Aaron ben Jose, who lived in Canterbury in the thirteenth century, v. J. M. Rigg, Exchequer, i. 98. On Aaron of Lincoln, v. R.E.J. iii. 290, and A. ben Vyves, R.E.J. xviii. 260. [On Aaron and Benjamin of Canterbury v. Michael Adler : " Jews of Canterbury," Trans., vii. 20.] 8 V. Resp. Solomon Lurya, No. 29, Mordecai, Ab. Zara II, 876, Minhath Yehuda 37a, 77 Gan, MS. v. previous note, MS. Adler, v. M.G.W.J. 45, 1901, 366; MS. Bodl. 1205, 1465, I., where, however, instead of 'nBTipB ffc^l'l r. n&gt;TT3?Jp?; v. further M .G.W.J. 1878, p. 36. Some see in Benjamin of Canterbury the uncle of the writer of the Job Commentary, published by W. Aldis Wright and translated by S. A. Hirsch, London, 1905, v. R.E.J. 52, 54. In that case we might add the commentator to the list of Jewish authors in England. The identification is, however, doubtful. For another reference to Benjamin of Canterbury v. Marmorstein, ^pVtTX pOIDI DDJ1, Dwir, ii. 220, and R.E.J. xlvii. 49, note 2. 9 Mordecai, Ber., iv. 90. Zunz, ibid., p. 97. S. Kohn, M.G.W.J. 1878, p. 36, son of Magister Moses, brother of Elijah Menahem; v. further p. 42. He is identified with Benedict of Lincoln, who brought a writ against Walter, Arch? bishop of York, cf. Rigg, Exchequer, i. 243, v. also MS. Montefiore, ?? 375, 593. 10 Occurs MS. Adler, pp. 227, 269, Gross, M.G.W.J., p. 45, 1901, p. 371, Min. Yehuda 81 B, Mordecai, A.Z., ii. 11 Mordecai, B.K. 15,1. Glosses, Gittin, pp. 465, 467, M.G.W.J. 1878, p. 79.</page><page sequence="3">OF THE ENGLISH JEWS BEFORE THE EXPULSION. 105 (6) Yekutiel of London.12 (7) Morel of England.13 (8) Moses of Norwich.14 (9) Samuel the Scribe.15 (10) Solomon b. Isaac, ha-Nasi.16 Surely this list by no means does justice to the learning and industry, the scholarship and spiritual activity of the wise men in these islands. It is true that wisdom and scholarship must not be measured by weight of parchment and length of scrolls. Great men, who never wrote a single line, are immortal; small scribblers of large folios, who held an exaggerated high opinion of their own follies, are long forgotten. Still that commonplace remark about the poor literary output of the Jews in England does not become true by frequent repetition. I accepted, therefore, with great pleasure, the invitation of the Jewish Historical Society of England to place before you this evening the results of some of my investigations concerning a few authors of the Pre-Expulsion period whose works are fortunately still in existence or are known from references in other works.17 I will begin with an enquiry as to Hebrew Manuscripts in England in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Scholarship is dependent on books. What books did the Jews in England use, or own ? Did they possess any literary treasures apart from their valuable Shetaroth ? Did they leave them behind on that sad day, when they had to leave the shores of this island, or did they take them with them to the new countries across the Channel ? Many of their books surely perished, 12 MS. Christ Church College, 198, Neub. Cat. 2456, 10, written for his pupil, R. Yedidyah of Toulouse. 13 V- O'WT'?? P- !9; Goldblum, VintZP *?T12l?&gt; P- 49. 14 Or Zarua II, IIB. Whether Nathanel b. Sabbatai of Norwitz (?) 1499 ? MS. Bodl. 126 is to be included in this list is doubtful; v. R.E.J. x. 189 ff. 15 MS. Vatican, 402, Bodl. 1465, v. H. J. Matthew, Sepher ha-Galuy (Berlin, 1887), p. x, note 3. 16 V. Geiger, Ozar Nechmad I. 104. 17 It may not be superfluous to mention here that there are several references to England by Jewish writers of the Middle Ages, especially of the twelfth-fourteenth centuries, which ought to be collected; some will be mentioned in the course of this paper.</page><page sequence="4">106 NEW MATERIAL FOR THE LITERARY HISTORY destroyed by ignorant monks and wild peasants, but many were saved.18 Some of them survive to this day. Others were carried from land to land, sharing the sad fate of the wandering, homeless Jew. There is one amongst them which returned and found a resting place, seldom disturbed, in the country of its origin. Geraldus Cambrensis,19 an English writer of the twelfth century, tells us that Master Robert, the Prior of St. Frideswide at Oxford, whom the writer knew personally, and who was a man old and trust? worthy, a man of letters and very skilled in the Scriptures, nor was he ignorant of the Hebrew tongue,20 had sent to the diverse towns and cities of England in which Jews were dwelling and collected from them many copies of Josephus written in Hebrew. He gained these manuscripts with great difficulty, since they were acquainted with him, because of his knowing the Hebrew tongue. In two of these manuscripts he found a testimony about Jesus written fully and at length, but as if recently scratched out; but in all the rest removed earlier, as if never there. " And when this was shown to the Jews of Oxford summoned for that purpose, they were convicted and confused." It is most remarkable that the first English version of the Josippon, or Hebrew Josephus, should actually contain a passage about Jesus, which is neither in the Hebrew Josephus nor in the subsequent English translations of this work.21 This fact has a very important bearing on the recently much discussed problem of the Slavonic Josephus, which may be dependent 18 It is difficult to ascertain what is true in Tovey's report, copied from many sources, about Hebrew libraries in England after the Expulsion. Roger Bacon's Hebrew knowledge was not so far advanced that he should have greatly needed the books of the expelled Jews [v. M. Steinschneider, Z.F.H.B. i. 53 ; J. Guttmann, M.G.W.J. 1896, p. 123 ; S. A. Hirsch, Essays, p. 57). 19 Opera, viii. 65 ; J. Jacobs, Jews of Angevin England, London, 1893, pp. 285-286, Marmorstein, " Some remarks on the Slavonic Josephus," Quest, xvii. 1926, pp. 156-157, and Mead, ibid., xvii. 1926, p. 400. On Morwyn's Josippon, cf. Lucien Wolf on the Josippon translations in Transactions, vi. 277-288. 20 His name ought to be added to the list of Christian Hebraists in the Essays of Steinschneider and Hirsch, cf. note 18. 21 Peter Morwyn's Translation (London, 1596), pp. 106-7; cf. Quest, 1926, p. 400. Thanks to S. Zeitlyn (J.Q.R., N.S., xx. 7 f.) we learn that some Josippon MSS. still have the Jesus passages. Zeitlyn, however, forgot to mention that the writer of these lines was the first to draw attention to the relation of the Slavonic Josephus to the Hebrew Josippon.</page><page sequence="5">OF THE ENGLISH JEWS BEFORE THE EXPULSION. 107 on one of the versions of the Josippon, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the original Josephus. For our present purpose it is enough to show that English Jews had literary documents and works in their homes besides their bills of exchange. Whether these copies of the Hebrew Josephus handled by Master Robert of Oxford were written by Jews in England or not cannot be decided, since their existence and whereabouts are unknown to us. Yet we are able to point out a few Hebrew manuscripts, which were written by Jews born, or living, in this country. The late Dr. David Kaufmann wrote a valuable article, in which he dealt at length with MS. Goldschmidt (No. 87), and unrolled before the eyes of the readers of the Jewish Quarterly Review three centuries of the genealogy of the most famous Jewish family in England before 1290.22 The colophon begins with the words p,l?0 IT *1WK-23 The genealogy proves clearly that the work was compiled and written by an English Jew. I observed that most Hebrew manuscripts with such a colophon are of English proven? ance, or have some connection with English authors and scholars. I mention first of all MS. British Museum, Or 1389, which is not yet cata? logued, but which has been described by me in another place,24 containing references to English scholars ; it ends with the same words : IT *WN p*?Vo. The Codex from which the late Professor Berliner copied and published the rhymes composed by Meir of Norwich 25 has the same words. The scribe of this Vatican Manuscript was called Samuel.26 Professor Berliner misread the colophon, printing p^? *?0n JYHPK. On the analogy of MSS. Goldschmidt and British Museum we may read: p^O IT "WK. An Italian compiler of a Halachic Yalkut, who wrote and copied MS. Montefiore (now Jews' College) No. 375 in the latter part of the fifteenth century, copied among others a part of the Midrash on the Taggin, ascribed to R. Akiba, ending with the same words p^Vo IT TltPN. This unknown Italian Jew must have had at least four works written by English writers and scholars in his library, which he used. Are we not entitled to assume that the Midrash was in the handwriting of an English scribe ? Lately a manuscript of 22 J.Q.B. 1891, iii. 555-556 ; Ges. Schriften, 1915, iii. 67. 23 Cf. B. Ket, 10B ; see note 55. 24 J.Q.B., N.S., 1928, xix. 17-36. 25 V. above, p. 103, note 2. 26 V. about him further, p. 105, note 15.</page><page sequence="6">108 NEW MATERIAL FOR THE LITERARY HISTORY Moses of Coucy's Sefer Mizwot Gadol was shown to me, which ends with the same words.27 The compiler of the Halachic Yalkut, mentioned before, lived in Italy, but since the last leaves of the MS. are missing, I cannot determine whether he reached the figure 1000 in his excerpts or stopped short at the present No. 974, which reminds me of a number often used in the Haggada.28 This compiler must have had at his disposal a collection of at least sixty MSS., some of which are not yet identified.29 Some of 27 I have had no time to examine the MS. fully. For further reference, I mention that the Letter of Divorce is dated Paris, Monday, 17 Sivan, 5149-1389. The names of husband and wife are, as usual in these serious Halachic works, intentionally ludicrous, e.g. fjBW ITIK pip and TITO H M JTTITW. 28 In ? 971, R. Johanan of Tarbut is mentioned ; his date is given as 1417? " this yearEthrogim have been scarce." We know a few scribes of this family, e.g. Nathanel Tarbut (Zunz, Abschreiber, No. 1000); Hayyim Tarbut Zarfarthi (Zunz, ibid.,-p. 333). Johanan Tarbut may be identified with Johanan tEPIl'HBT, who occurs in MS. Adler, described by me in Dwir, ii. 222. About Johanan b. Matityahu Troyes flmiB) v. Z.F.H.B. 17 (1914), 18, Magazin xvii., Hebr. pp. 41-42. About Johanan b. Joseph T. (1505) v. H.B. xvi. 91, xix. 78, xx. 129, Tarbut, Mag., ii. 4, 24, H.B. xii. 117, Schiller-Szinessy, Cat. (Cambridge), p. 85, note 1. 29 A list of the authorities mentioned in the Halachic Yalkut is given by H. Hirschfeld in his Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. of the Montefiore Library (London), 1904, pp. 22-26, where an index of counties and cities is also supplied. It may not be out of place to give here a brief account of the works copied by the compiler. These are : (1) KITpB "H ? 300 ; (2) mJlK, ? 2 (the passage is to be found in the Tanhuma, MS. Bodl.), v. Buber, Midrash Tanhuma, Introduction, p. 134 ; (3) milK, very often; (4) niTUX, probably identical with the previous number; (5) HIV H miK, ? 500 ; (6) miK, very often ; (7) Smt T)K, often; (8) Q^H nimiK, many times ; (9) dpk, or n"tk, reading doubtful, perhaps nrVHI mO^K; (10) rVIDIOK, still in MS. ; (11) ''TtPN, very often ; (12) TSTI? IVO, ? 127 ; (13) nmi? TVO, ?? 413, 619, 623 ; (14) ^Hl "0 ; (15) ]}"?&gt; ? 147, not published; (16) H"}?"!, without any further information; (i7) ntn mn; (is) nrna^a mron, very often; (i9) n?n *p roron; (20) mirin Dpin DNT, ? 12, ascribed to the grandson of Asher ben Jehiel; this work was known to Joseph Kolon, Resp. No. 177, v. further Azulai, Shem ha Gedolim II, 55, Alfr. Freimann, Jahrbuch d. J.L.G. (Frankfurt a. M.), xiii. 1920, 272, N 4 ; (21) oVttJ "H, ?8; (22) nMHH "0; (23) d^TOH "0; (24) TIB, or d^?; (25) d*?kt "0 ; (26) nttPH "0, of R. Tarn, ? 1, v. Tashbaz, No. 416, M. G?de mann, Erziehungswesen (Wein, 1880), 260 ; A. Berliner, Aus dem innern Leben (Berlin, 1871), 58 N, 123; (27) Manuscripts T *lTO, one written by Simon della Creusa della Rochelle, mentioning Ezer, or Ezra nOplI?T Moncontour, v. R.E.J. vi. 189, 55, n. 8, and^Michael t2?2S2H2n, who were cniefs of a Rabbinic Court; the ? ends: kVt WWhp b?l Wti T m*TD? ?VD VUttttD HT *?d ,,S7,,1 pHSl?H lin KTp")*); ( 28) A manuscript of the Mordecai written by</page><page sequence="7">OF THE ENGLISH JEWS BEFORE THE EXPULSION. 109 these are of great interest for the literary history of the Jews in England. He used a number of MSS. compiled and written by English-Je wish scholars and writers, a fact which corroborates my assertion that the MS. of the Midrash of R. Akiba was of English provenance. Studying this MS. i came across many references to England. One of the MSS. used by our compiler was the Hagahoth Maimuniyoth, i.e. " Glosses and Notes on the Halachic Code of Moses Maimonides," printed in the edi? tions of the Yad ha-Hazaka, a very important source for the Rabbinic Literature of the thirteenth century. Unfortunately the editions are not very reliable. One instance will suffice to illustrate my contention. Section 256 contains the following passage : '? "1 dm 0"3En ?nD nnnn tud Vwimi noon tud im 'n njrV iV aw mna Vm 7idi nr^n nro n"n rmaTrn pD *un p ono nro """fr JWD. Here we meet for the first time a Tosafist of Dover. The printers of the Maimunian Glosses envied Dover's glory, and corrupted Jeklin Giora, OTttpn D^SD p KTin f^pSP ^TllM pr&gt;S?2 tt*^ d^DDn may be perhaps St. Goar in Germany, v. Germania Judaica, p. 117, about the passage, which is shortened in Rokeach, ed. Hanau, ? 217, fuller in the MS. Agudah, between Semahoth and Hagiga; further, Hiddushe Anshe Shem, Sabbath, ch. 10, Or Zarua, i. 275; Rapaport, Biogr. of R. Nathan, p. 19; Epstein, R. Samuel Hasid, p. 23, reprint from Hagoren, V.; 951, also contains a passage from the Bokeach, not in ed. Hanau ; (29) A MS. of R. Jacob of Orleans, ? 882, Br^mxa npsr "nna t "Da Tipron nr oaio ; (30) nwp*?, ? 105, wain pip''1?, ? 897, jura ]?r Bip*?1?; (3i) DTasn nma, ? 87; (32) uma, ? 973, and ?? 298, 607, q^OIp^Vl; and several Midrashim by names like Bereshith Rabba, Echa Rabba, Vajikra Rabba, Midrash Vajissu, etc.; (33) Midrash R. Elijahu mi-Londres ; (34) Minhage R. Isaac of D?ren, ? 975 ; (35) 'T'D, i.e. Mordecai Gadol; (36) //p//?, i-e. Mordecai Katan, several times ; (37) Mahzor Vitry; (38) niS?Sp?n *1D0, v. about this work Rapoport, Biography of R. Hananel, note 36; Zunz, H.B. = Ges. Schriften, iii. 252; Derenbourg, Magazin, iv. 172; Berliner Migdal Hananel, xx ; S. Poznanski; Anshe Kairuaan, 22-23; R.E.J. 72, 121, 4; Ginsberg, Geonica, i. 178 ; J.Q.R., N.S., i. 738; (39) T^TTO; (40) "IDO, ? 131; (41) "1"?"0; (42) "p"a"0; (43) D'TI? "0, ? 917 ; (44) TRpyn "0 ; (45) qVS7 "0, ? 551 ; (45a) d"n f 57 "0, by Jacob b. Judah of London ; (46) "0 maa np^; (47) yrxa; (48) mirka'an1? rro-a bitd ; (49) pD n ma; (50) tZmDa VKTr n 7OD "0, several times ; (51) Kma *V 70D&gt; ? 969 ; (52) X7/Dna "?pOD, i.e. R. Perez ben Elijah of Corbeil; (53) HaVtP "Tin ^pDD Hl1?? not London, ? 708 ; (54) flip mentions ?K^D^I iWa p, if the reading is correct ? ; (55) Dltttlp; (56) mXIBI; (57) npVI; (58) rnnVtfff; (59) 310 *?Dt2?; (60) *im p Vaiaty "i quoted; (6i) msoin, also n^aa meow, niDOID) and *pna Wtf; (62) Responsaof Geonim, Raschi, R. Tarn, R. Eleasar, R. Isaac Or Zarua, R. Isaiah the Great, and many others ; and (63) Tashbaz, ? 45.</page><page sequence="8">110 NEW MATERIAL FOR THE LITERARY HISTORY the name. We there read nplV ttW ???VI? VtfUn TO "?D0 D3"ttnn D"D1 "D1 in The same reading is to be found in Tos. B. Pesahim, p. iii B. It is very likely that printers, or copyists, who could not make out 'HYtt? '? put, or read, ?'0110 TV'!, which, in the early Franco-German handwriting, can easily be mistaken. Whether the scholar's name was Meir, Moses, or Menachem of Dover cannot be established, since his name does not occur elsewhere. Anyhow, it is of some importance that one of the great spiritual leaders of the twelfth century, R. Samuel ben Meir, quotes a scholar of Dover. R. Samuel ben Meir's brother, R. Tarn, a well-known authority of the same age, corre? sponded with English scholars,30 and I mention here especially his letter about the ritual slaughtering of geese in Ireland, a subject which engaged a good deal of attention of contemporary Jewish and non Jewish scholars.31 R. Meir b. Baruch of Rothenburg and other German scholars became acquainted with the correspondence between the scholars of Rome and Paris via England.32 The Italian compiler further used a MS. of the Etz Hayyim by the London Hazzan, Jacob b. Judah.33 Since the late Dr. Adler published 30 V. Resp. of Meir of Rothenburg, ed. Lemberg, ? 160. 31 f.Jacobs, J.c.,p.94, G?demann, Z.c.,p. 117, Minhat Bikkurim,^. 8jf., further on the subject, Gaster, Zur Quellenkunde d. Sagen, in Germania, 1880, p. 208; Steinschneider, Volksliteratur, p. 8; Gross, Magazin, iv. 173; M.G.W.J. 1879, p. 236; and J. Diamant, in jubilee volume for M. Bloch, Budapest, 1905. 32 V. Zimmels, Beitr?ge zur Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland im XIIlten Jhdt. (Wien, 1926), p. 99, denies without giving any reason that Meir b. Baruch meant in Resp. No. 78 under DTI England, v. ?'VfiDJ D^rti, P. 15a. The Mahzor mentioned by Eliezer b. Joel ha Levy II, 724, was also of English origin. Is it more likely that these German scholars received books or letters from North Africa than from England ? 33 f. ? 6i, beg. 'i ^ina rwx nwb yix n?V o^n r? nsoa vixs? "Di *pn p msnsK; ? 77, vmsa "mi xiarm nai1? im? -nsoatf vwatp "Di nvvisn mysb "'pH* xmnax ff"s?a ms *?n dkp nna nawna; ? i87, nm?a nrrosa ^ i?xt msrn a"s&gt;a [n]"*m "noa nmaa 'mp ]w nawn Tiaa maw "nip rn k? nawa; ? 374, a Besponsum by r. Moses of Londres about a woman who appointed a messenger to receive her letter of divorce from her husband ; ? 375 another Besponsum by the same in a similar matter rbv mint? nniT ?w? n&amp;ian *pr mn aro; ? 381, ??Kinn mV?DD inapn nn^V "?Kinn ^lDD1? "pS ; ?? 413, 414, in a similar matter by R. Menachem of Londres; ? 509, about pots and vessels made of herbs called x*v1d ; ?? 549, 682 mention a decision of Rashi in Speyers ; ? 844, a decision of R. Judah (of Paris ?) 657, 955, 964, and further on under R. Menachem of Londres.</page><page sequence="9">OF THE ENGLISH JEWS BEFORE THE EXPULSION. Ill his essay on this work, practically nothing has been done to awake the sleeping author. We know of another Italian author, who wrote in the fifteenth century, and copies quite a number of extracts from the Etz Hayyim.? The writer of the Complete Mordecai, Levi ben Half on, who lived at the same age somewhere in Italy, availed himself of this, or a similar, MS. of the Etz Hayyim for his Glosses on the Mordecai. We may remark in passing that the latter preserved the name of a scholar, hitherto unknown, who came from Warwick, R. Elijah.35 He is to be distinguished from a scholar with a similar name, of York, who is known from the Tosafoth.36 As a matter of fact the documents of the thirteenth century know a man called Elijah of Warwick.37 However, we have no proofs to identify them, nor have we sufficient ground to reject this identification. The Yalkut contains about twenty shorter or longer extracts from the Etz Hayyim.38 It is evident that the Jews in Italy used a MS. of this work, which the exiles carried with them first to France and thence to Italy. Our compiler used further a work written by Moses of London. This name is not new to us. We mentioned him above as grammarian 34 A. Marmorstein, " Haham we Posek Italki," Dwir II., I.e. 35 V. Marmorstein, " Some hitherto unknown Jewish scholars of Angevin England," J.Q.R., N.S., xix. (1918), p. 31, from MS. Sassoon, 534, pp. 528-529, the passage is quoted by Rashi in his Pentateuch Commentary to Num. xv. 41 in the name of R. Moses ha Darshan of Narbonne, Vlpflttn ]ETnn tt'*1 b&amp; TTW?l In MS. Adler, 3712, 4, I found the reading plltl HlO'a WiHl v. Berliner, 2nd ed., p. 311. 36 V. Tossafoth Yoma 27a, Zebahim 14b, p'HSIN?? who died as a martyr, and is called WnpH, v. David Conforte, imnH XTlj?, ed. Cassel, Berlin, 1846, 15b, about 1200. The name of the place is spelt pViaiK in Conforte, pTH^KO in Tos. Yoma, and Np^YnilK? in Tos. Zebahim, whilst MS. Sassoon reads p'WTIltt p'WTVUItt twice. For the spelling of York in Hebrew we may refer further to Mordecai, end of Jebamoth, who writes : *InK 0*D5?2 ntPJJD aVip'5! *pn to "win nna obd dk *o Tiroo *6 a Vi?? mva*? imrro n p'HIK1? (between Lincoln and York !). In the documents, ed. Davis, we find for York jWPK, Nos. 41, 43, 47, 107, pTTVlK, Nos. 42, 108, 196, and 197. 37 In the year 1244-5 Elias of Warwick's wife was beaten in the High Street of Warwick by Leo and other people and so maltreated that she miscarried of her infant, Rigg, Exchequer, i. 104. In the year 1220 he was one of the jury in the case of Solomon Turbe who fell from the tower of Gloucester Castle, ibid., pp. 33, 51, and 104. 38 V. above, note 33.</page><page sequence="10">112 NEW MATERIAL FOR THE LITERARY HISTORY and lexicographer. An Oxford MS. preserved a work of his on mD^H iirpV? (No. 882, pp. 104-5), and MS. Sassoon makes us acquainted with his decisions. These notes are of considerable interest for the inner life of the Jews in London in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. A case of mourning occurred on Purim day. Scholars discussed whether the mourners have to mourn on this day or not. R. Moses decided in the affirmative.39 We see that Moses was a man of authority, and further that the Jewish community could boast of having scholars in its midst. This Moses signs himself as b. Yom Tob.40 He decided in a case of divorce that a stranger may act as proxy on behalf of the woman.41 Here a Responsum of Rashi is quoted. We may see in him the well known Magister Mosseus Judeus de London of the documents.42 We hear further of women, who took cloth, or ready-made garments on commission, and sold them.43 Moses had three sons : (1) Jacob, the father of the writer of the Calendar, who signed a document in the year 1267 44 ; (2) Berechyah of Lincoln, identical with Magister Benedict filius Magistri Mossei de 39 MS. Montefiore, ? 269. iVxt^l DmDH ?V2 DD f? TW inXD Ht2^?? dv m "tct dito xVtr? im^w am *6 ox ?frrmrr ox mn1? "?t&amp;Vnn .^nxnn1? -psn rarnri7?] bttdiV? rtm Tin poDi 'idi nnatm nrwa 40 The signature reads : *?2T hid dv ntPft 'iVttfl, consequently we have here three generations of London scholars : Elijahu the son of Moses, son of Yom Tob ; since V13X refers to Elijahu, who is introduced : utvn ITiTlb *?XtP2 Vt ttnilV? about Yom Tob, v. further on. 41 MS. Montefiore, ? 374. 42 Hebrew Deeds, ed. Davis, No. 206. He must have flourished about 1200 1240, since his sons occur in the documents from the latter date onwards. The grandfather's date was probably 1160-1200. 43 MS. Sassoon, p. 89. mDIB nnX nttfXl t2r"n2V7&amp; Ttm thh vix V'TI ?7idt nwvb m iV iVxsn im?*1? jmw inx in maa 102x212? anan 44 F. about him D. Kaufmann, Z.c, p. 76. He is called there by his son 2*H2n, a title very frequent in the thirteenth-fifteenth centuries. Here some may be registered : (1) Meshullam b. Jacob of Lunel, so styled by Berechyah, the Nakdan, v. ed. Gollancz, p. 1. (Hebrew Part) Guttmann, M.G. W.J. 42, 1902, 538 ; (2) r. Jacob, npsrn nn2n rvnn ^tx nroa, ResP. of r.a.b.d., n^sn man, No. 86 ; (3) Don Solomon b. ha Nadib R. Shealtiel b. ha Nadib R. Zerachje v. r.e.J. 52, 220; (4) R. Yom Tob b. ha Nadib R. Eliezer, Resp. M. Minz, No. 108, v. also Mar morst ein, " Sur un auteur francais inconnu du treizieme siecle," r.e.J. 76, 1923, 128, and others. This Jacob sold in 1267 a certain house to Walter de Merton, founder of Merton College, Oxford.</page><page sequence="11">OF THE ENGLISH JEWS BEFORE THE EXPULSION. 113 London, in the year 1256 ; 45 and (3) Menachem, or Elijahu, or Elijahu Menachem. MS. Sassoon explicitly states that Elijahu was the son of Moses b. Yom Tob. He belonged therefore to the family, or was the uncle of the writer of the Calendar. In the Italian MS. he figures as Menachem.46 He was a versatile and prolific writer. The Halachic Yalkut knows his Decisions, his Commentaries, and his Midrash. The latter was frequently used by the Tosafists on the Bible, who knew its author by the double name. Lately the Commentaries of Elijahu Menachem on Zeraim have been discovered, partly by the help of the Montefiore Manuscript, in a MS. of the Hebrew University Library in Jerusalem47 and they have an interesting history. Yom Tob Lipman Heller, the famous expositor of the Mishna, made ample use of this work. He studied a MS. of the Mishna Zeraim in the Yeshibah of Great Nemirow, which contained also Elijah's Commentaries. Dr. I. N. Epstein compiled a list of forty-eight shorter and longer passages quoted in the Tosafoth Yom Tob, which are derived from Elijah's work. There are traces of Elijah's Commentary on Berdkoth.** Dr. Epstein is inclined to ascribe to him our Tosafoth on Bosh ha-Shanah. We find some indications for his responsibility for our Tosafoth on Baba Kama. Next to his Commentaries on Bible and Talmud we possess his Pesakim and Responsa. They can be gathered from MSS. 45 V. about him above, note 9. He is frequently mentioned in the DTlVX p, MS. Br. Mus. Add. 22092, p. 127a, ?T013 111 OttD 117] 1?K1, p. 130 B. tfVlpn? 1*013 Ilia JWb, v. MS. Harley,P. 269, ?Vlp^? 311; Zunz, p. 97, mentions him once in his list of authorities given in Judah b. Eliezer's Minhath Yehuda, also Bigg, Exchequer, i. 243. 46 ? 282 begins with 1)1 and ends with tPIITV^a a"1*? 'D, v. MS. Jerusalem, 36 B; ? 648 begins (perhaps tPl?I??) ttTTOI? IptP KlT^ia mm ends a"1,1 31*0 Wl1??, r. ttmn^?, taken from Hayyim ; ? 376, T'IH? ?1103 TlKSa 211010 *W mriD1? *p1S "D 57"! tmi'fra Dm?, v. Sepher ha-Shoham, ed. Collins, p. 5, note 12 ; ? 414, Vtt fflinba DHia Ml ^D3 HDD VlKff1? XinK 7WX\ T\1W; ?699, miV?? DHID Mia Krf??1 K^D, v. MS. Jerusalem; ?874, vran nsn kVi ^ooW ]x 3*mV )na inx acra pnan ^; ? 747, ntzraa mirfra nma 7i "oa 11 rVs? 3,oim iTina did idw mrw, ending *?3inn 'D3 ; and ? 974, rrfr?n Vrum ana ??m nan rm oion nosa vdi ^p^oa. 47 F. I. N. Epstein, D^ITI TiOTCh Htfa 13 'Wb* TT31 W1D, Jerusalem 5685, and A. Marmorstein, in N.S., xix. (1928), p. 34. 48 V. Sulzbach, Jahrbuch der J.L.G. (Frankfurt a. M.), vi., Hebr. p. 18. VOL. XII. I</page><page sequence="12">114 NEW MATERIAL FOR THE LITERARY HISTORY Montefiore and Sassoon.49 The latter throw some important light on social and literary conditions in the time of our author. There is no decision, or Responsum, in which Elijah does not make use of the Palestinian Talmud, which was rather neglected before the twelfth century in Europe. R. Elijah Menachem, who was the Ab Beth Din of the London Jews, must have had a considerable library at his disposal. No wonder, for he was a rich man, to whom noblemen and clergymen, bishops and knights of the realm were greatly indebted for his financial help (1253-1272). His teacher was R. Benjamin of Canterbury.50 Literary activity was not confined to Moses and Elijah, father and son ; the grandfather Yom Tob is reputed to be the author of a work called Sefer Hatanaim.51 The writer of the Calendar states that his father's grandfather, Yom Tob ben Moses of Bristol, wrote a Sefer Hatanaim. David Kaufmann notes : " Wenn es vorl?ufig auch nur der Name ist, den wir von dieser Leistung kennen lernen, so zeigt doch die Characteristik R. Yom Tobs durch sein Sefer Hatenaim, dass es ein Werk von hohem Rufe gewesen sein muss. Ich enthalte mich absichtlich der so naheliegenden Versuchung hinter dem Geheimnis 49 MS. Sassoon 534, 360, begins ]TTpB I1? THl T\1M '??S ITT1? nW? tmrfra wVk Tin 7idi rrfr?i; 192a, '?f? pxa otk ox 700? ?r?n run ?mai1?? irrVx Tin idi it aro ^ sn^s; p. 140, la1??? 'w\ n nVxwi ttmrfra itVx Tin rrwm 'im tu lanni pwV; to this is added a decision of Elijah's father. The latter signs himself Moses b. Yom Tob; p. 352 quotes a decision of Yom Tob from the o^ti f57. Other decisions of R. Elijah are to be found ibid., pp. 27 and 28. 50 V. Marmorstein, J.Q.B., N.S., I.e., pp. 33-36. Master Elias, son of Master Moses, occurs very often in documents and pleas between 1253 and 1272, against Roger de Burston and others, v. Rigg, Exchequer, i. 299, against the Prior of Nor? wich, ibid., p. 294, in favour of William, son of Philip de Kyme, ibid., p. 115, Select Pleas, p. 14, with William de Holecote and Alice, widow of William de Liming', ibid., p. 135, with Ralph de Gorges, ibid., p. 153, with Sir Roger de Wauton, p. 155, Milla, widow of Saulot Mortun, p. 154, a witness Leo, son of Preciosa, p. 157, and Katherine, widow of John Curvey, p. 226, in a quarrel with Gamaliel of Oxford, ibid., p. 226, in favour of Roger, son of Peter, son of Osbert, ibid., p. 273, against Roger de Burston, William de Burston, John le Barker, John Pyle, John de la Faldegate, William Fitz Adam, Martin Cappe, and William Fitz Martin, ibid., p. 276. In 1272 he possessed a house in the parish of St. Nicholas of Cande wekstrete in London, ibid., p. 300. His residence was in Milk Street, where he was the neighbour of Cok Hagin, who was excommunicated by him, and later became Chief Presbyter of the Jews of England. 61 V. the often quoted colophon in Kaufmann's Ges. Sch., iii. 76.</page><page sequence="13">OF THE ENGLISH JEWS BEFORE THE EXPULSION. 115 des Titels zu dringen." 52 I wonder what the late master meant by this sentence, whether he guessed where the lost Sefer Hatanaim is hidden ? For there is actually no reference to this work. I suggest that the manuscript is not far away from this place, namely in the British Museum, Or No. 1389. A fuller account of my suggestion is given in another place,53 where a full description of the MS. and its history can be read. Here three things may be pointed out. The author lived in the last decades of the twelfth century, that is, the age of R. Yom Tob ben Moses of Bristol. Secondly, he mentions an English scholar, R. Joseph of Bristol, who is not known from other sources.54 Finally, the colophon concludes with the words IT TlBW p*?Vo, which we find is a characteristic feature of Hebrew MSS. written in England, or by English Jews.55 Studying this MS. as well as the works of R. Yom Tob's son and grandson, we are entitled to assume that this family possessed a Hebrew library, comprising all branches of sacred studies, Bible and Grammar, Talmud and Halakah, Religious Philosophy and Lexicography, Commentaries and Responsa. Their financial transactions were no obstacles in the way of their studies at a time when the latter were still in their infancy among the most advanced nations of Christian Europe. This sad fact is responsible for the loss of these treasures of thought and teaching. 62 L.c, p. 78. 63 J.Q.R., N.S., 1928, xix. 17-18. 54 Ibid., p. 23. The writer of the article "Bristol" in the new German Encyclopedia Judaica (vol. iv., col. 1079) mentions a scholar of the thirteenth century by the name of R. Jacob of Bristol; this is a mistake for R. Joseph of Bristol. 56 Ibid., p. 22. The original meaning of the phrase p^VO IT is that the Biblical Ashur is identical with Seleukeia on the Tigris; here it stands for DID4! D^?^i\U^W rPHK, "May I live many years and days! This is finished." V. Zunz, Zur Geschichte, p. 313 ; Schorr., He-Haluz., xi. 105.</page></plain_text>