Heinrich Graetz

Doctor Heinrich Graetz
Heinrich Graetz,c.1885
Born	Tzvi Hirsch Graetz (1817-10-31)October 31, 1817 Xions,Kingdom of Prussia
Died	September 7, 1891(1891-09-07)(aged 73) Munich,Kingdom of Bavaria
Nationality	German
Education	Breslau University,laterUniversity of Jena
Occupation(s)	Historian, principal, teacher, exegete
Notable work	History of the Jews
Spouse	Marie Monasch ​ (m.1850)​
Children	5, includingLeo

Heinrich Graetz(German:[ɡʁɛts];31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was a Germanexegeteand one of the first historians to write a comprehensive history of theJewishpeople from a Jewish perspective.

Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (nowKsiąż Wielkopolski),Grand Duchy of Posen,inPrussia(now inPoland), he attendedBreslau University,but since Jews at that time were barred from receiving Ph.D.s there, he obtained his doctorate from theUniversity of Jena.After 1845 he was principal of theJewish Orthodoxschool of theBreslaucommunity, and later taught history at theJewish Theological Seminary of Breslau(now Wrocław, Poland).

Hismagnum opusHistory of the Jewswas the first Jewish history which threaded together a unified national history across the global Jewish communities. It was quickly translated into other languages and ignited worldwide interest inJewish history,and later was used as a textbook in Israeli schools. As a result, Graetz was widely considered a Zionist or proto-Zionist, but historians have also noted his support for European assimilation.

In 1869 theUniversity of Breslau(Wrocław) granted him the title of Honorary Professor. In 1888 he was appointed an Honorary Member of theSpanish Royal Academy of Sciences.

Biography

Graetz received his first instruction atZerkow,where his parents had relocated, and in 1831 was sent toWollstein,where he attended theyeshivahup to 1836, acquiringsecularknowledge by private study. TheNeunzehn Briefe über Judenthum( "Nineteen Letters on Judaism" ) bySamson Raphael Hirsch,which were published under the pseudonym of "Ben Uziel" at Altona in 1836, made a powerful impression on him; and he resolved to prepare himself for academic studies in order to champion the cause ofOrthodox Judaism.His first intention was to go toPrague,to which place he was attracted by the fame of its old yeshivah and the facilities afforded by the university. Being rejected by the immigration officers, he returned to Zerkov and wrote to Hirsch, then rabbi of Oldenburg, indicating his desire. Hirsch offered him a place in his house. Graetz arrived there on May 8, 1837, and spent three years with his patron as a pupil, companion, andamanuensis.In 1840 he accepted a tutorship with a family atOstrowo,and in October 1842 he entered the University of Breslau.

At that time the controversy between Orthodoxy andReform Judaismwas at its height, and Graetz, true to the principles which he had imbibed from Hirsch, began his literary career by writing contributions to the "Orient", edited byJulius Fürst,in which he severely criticized the Reform party, as well asGeiger's text-book of theMishnah( "Orient", 1844). These contributions and his championship of the Conservative cause during the time of theReform Rabbinical Conferencesmade him popular with the Orthodox party. This was especially the case when he agitated for a vote of confidence to be given toZecharias Frankelafter he had left in protest the Second Rabbinical Conference inFrankfurtin 1845 after the majority had decided against prayers in Hebrew, and for prayers in the vernacular.After Graetz had obtained his Ph.D. from theUniversity of Jena(his dissertation being "De Auctoritate et Vi Quam Gnosis in Judaismum Habuerit," 1845; published a year later under the title "Gnosticismusund Judenthum "), he was made principal of a religious school founded by the Conservatives in Breslau, again under the leadership of Frankel.In the same year he was invited to preach a trial sermon before the congregation ofGleiwitz,Silesia,but failed completely.

He remained in Breslau until 1848, when, upon the advice of a friend, he went to Vienna, purposing to follow a journalistic career. On the way he stopped atNikolsburg,where Hirsch was residing as Moravian chief rabbi. Hirsch, who then contemplated the start of a rabbinical seminary, employed Graetz temporarily as teacher at Nikolsburg, and made him principal of the Jewish school in the neighboring city ofLundenburg(1850). In October 1850, Graetz married Marie Monasch, the daughter of the printer and publisher B. L. Monasch, ofKrotoschin.It seems that Hirsch's departure from Nikolsburg had an influence on Graetz's position; for in 1852 the latter left Lundenburg and went to Berlin, where he delivered a course of less than successful lectures on Jewish history to rabbinical students. His advocacy of Frankel's approach had brought him into close contact with the latter, for whosemagazinehe frequently wrote articles; and accordingly in 1854 he was appointed a member of the teaching staff of the seminary at Breslau, over which Frankel presided. In this position he remained up to his death, teaching history and Bible exegesis, with a preparatory course on theTalmud.In 1869 the government conferred upon him the title of professor, and thenceforward he lectured at Breslau University.

In 1872 Graetz went toPalestinein the company of his friendGottschalck LevyofBerlin,for the purpose of studying the scenes of the earliest period of Jewish history, which he treated in volumes one and two of his history, published in 1874–1876; these volumes brought that great work to a close. While in Palestine, he gave the first impetus to the foundation of an orphan asylum there. He also took a great interest in the progress of theAlliance Israélite Universelle,and participated as a delegate in the convention assembled at Paris in 1878 in the interest of theRomanianJews. Graetz's name was prominently mentioned in theanti-Semiticcontroversy, especially afterTreitschkehad published his "Ein Wort über Unser Judenthum" (1879–1880), in which the latter, referring to the eleventh volume of the history, accused Graetz of hatred ofChristianityand of bias against theGerman people,quoting him as a proof that the Jews could never assimilate themselves to their surroundings.

Graetz's tomb in theJewish Cemetery in Wrocław

This arraignment of Graetz had a decided effect upon the public. Even friends of the Jews, likeMommsen,and advocates of Judaism within the Jewish fold expressed their condemnation of Graetz's passionate language. It was due to this comparative unpopularity that Graetz was not invited to join the commission created by the union of German Jewish congregations (Deutsch-Israelitischer Gemeindebund) for the promotion of the study of the history of the Jews of Germany (1885). On the other hand, his fame spread to foreign countries; and the promoters of theAnglo-Jewish Exhibitioninvited him in 1887 to open the Exhibition with a lecture. His seventieth birthday was the occasion for his friends and disciples to bear testimony to the universal esteem in which he was held among them; and a volume of scientific essays was published in his honor ( "Jubelschrift zum 70. Geburtstage des Prof. Dr. H. Graetz," Breslau, 1887). A year later (27 October 1888) he was appointed an honorary member of theSpanish Academy,to which, as a token of his gratitude, he dedicated the third edition of the eighth volume of his history.

As usual he spent the summer of 1891 inCarlsbad;but alarming symptoms of heart disease forced him to discontinue his use of the waters. He went to Munich to visit his sonLeo,a professor at theuniversity of that city,and died there after a brief illness. He was buried in Breslau. Besides Leo, Graetz left three sons and one daughter.

Works

History of the Jews

Graetz is chiefly known as the Jewish historian, although he did considerable work in the field ofexegesisalso. HisGeschichte der Judensuperseded all former works of its kind, notably that ofJost,in its day a very remarkable production; and it has been translated into many languages. The fourth volume, beginning with the period following the destruction of Jerusalem, was published first. It appeared in 1853; but the publication was not a financial success, and the publisher refused to continue it. However, the publication societyInstitut zur Förderung der Israelitischen Litteratur,founded byLudwig Philippson,had just come into existence, and it undertook the publication of the subsequent volumes, beginning with the third, which covered the period from the death ofJudas Maccabeusto the destruction of theTemple of Jerusalem.This was published in 1856 and was followed by the fifth, after which the volumes appeared in regular succession up to the eleventh, which was published in 1870 and brought the history down to 1848, with which year the author closed, not wishing to include living persons.

In spite of this reserve he gravely offended the Liberal party, which inferred, from articles that Graetz contributed to theMonatsschrift,that he would show little sympathy for the Reform element, and therefore refused to publish the volume unless the manuscript was submitted for examination. This Graetz refused to do; and the volume therefore appeared without the support of the publication society. Volumes I and II were published, as stated above, after Graetz had returned from Palestine. These volumes, of which the second practically consisted of two, appeared in 1872–1875, and completed the stupendous undertaking. For more popular purposes Graetz published later an abstract of his work under the titleVolksthümliche Geschichte der Juden,in which he brought the history down to his own time.

The fourth volume of theHistory of the Jewsreceived a detailed review by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch in a series of essays in Vols. II-IV (1855-8) of his monthly journalJeschurun.In these essays, Hirsch argues that Graetz is guilty of sloppiness of scholarship: e.g., Graetz omits the second halves of quotations which, if quoted in their entirety, contradict his thesis. Graetz claims, on the basis of quotations from certain Talmudic sages, that they "were wont to do" something – despite sources explicitly to the contrary – and goes on to develop these suppositions into theories affecting the entire Torah tradition. Hirsch accuses Graetz of fabricating dates, rearranging generations, overstating results, misinterpreting and distorting the Talmudic tradition to serve his narrative needs. David N. Myers argues that Hirsch's criticisms of his one-time student's work were motivated by a complete difference of opinion on the value of historicism."Hirsch came to regard his erstwhile disciple as the embodiment of history's destructive tendencies."

A translation into English was begun byS. Tuska,who in 1867 published inCincinnatia translation of part of Vol. IX under the title "Influence of Judaism on theProtestant Reformation".The fourth volume was translated by James K. Gutheim under the auspices of theAmerican Jewish Publication Society,the title being "History of the Jews from the Down-fall of theJewish Stateto the Conclusion of the Talmud "(New York, 1873).

A five-volume English edition was published in London in 1891-92 asHistory of the Jews from the Earliest Times to the Present Day(5 vols.; edited and in part translated by Bella Löwy). According to a review in the January–April 1893 edition ofQuarterly Review,it "was passing through the press in its English version, and had received the author's final touches, when Graetz died in September 1891".In 1919, the Jordan Publishing Co. of New York published a two-volume "improved" edition, with a supplement of recent events by Dr. Max Raisin. Rabbi A. B. Rhine provided the English translation.

Exegesis

Graetz's historical studies, extending back toBiblicaltimes, naturally led him into the field ofexegesis.As early as the fifties he had written in theMonatsschriftessays dealing with exegetical subjects, as "Fälschungen in dem Texte der LXX." (1853) and "Die Grosse Versammlung: Keneset Hagedola" (1857); and with his translation of and commentaries on Ecclesiastes and Canticles (Breslau, 1871) he began the publication of separate exegetical works. A commentary and translation of the Psalms followed (ib. 1882–83). Toward the end of his life he planned an edition of the whole Hebrew Bible with his owntextual emendations.A prospectus of this work appeared in 1891. Shortly before the author's death, a part of it,IsaiahandJeremiah,was issued in the form in which the author had intended to publish it; the rest contained only the textual notes, not the text itself. It was edited, under the title "Emendationes in Plerosque Sacræ Scripturæ Veteris Testamenti Libros," by W. Bacher (Breslau, 1892–94).

The most characteristic features of Graetz's exegesis are his bold textual emendations, which often substitute something conjectural for theMasoretictext, although he always carefully consulted the ancient versions. He also determined with too much certainty the period of a Biblical book or a certain passage, when at best there could only be a probable hypothesis. Thus his hypothesis of the origin ofEcclesiastesat the time ofHerod the Great,while brilliant in its presentation, is hardly tenable. His textual emendations display fine tact, and of late they have become more and more respected and adopted.

Other literary work

Graetz had contributed scholarly articles on Judaism and history to the scholarly periodicals started by Frankel since his graduation from the university in 1846. He continued steadily in this task once theMonatsschrift für die Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judenthumswas firmly established under Frankel's editorship in Breslau, between 1851 and 1853. Frankel and Graetz practically took over the periodical with the leadership of the concept ofWissenschaft des Judentumsfrom its Reform initiators,Leopold ZunzandEduard Gans.After Frankel's retirement from the editorship in 1869, Graetz took over the task himself for the next 18 years, until he reached the age of 70 in 1887.

Graetz's activity was not limited to his special field. He enriched other branches of Jewish science and wrote here and there on general literature or on questions of the day. To the field of general literature also belongs his essay on "Shylock,"published in theMonatsschrift,1880. In the early years of the anti-Semitic movement he wrote, besides the articles in which he defended himself against the accusations of Treitschke, an anonymous essay entitled "Briefwechsel einer Englischen Dame über Judenthum und Semitismus" (Stuttgart, 1883). To supplement his lectures on Jewish literature he published an anthology of neo-Hebraic poetry under the title "Leḳeṭ Shoshannim" (Breslau, 1862), in which he made the mistake of reading the verses of a poem horizontally instead of vertically, which mistake Geiger mercilessly criticized (Jüdische Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft und Leben,1, p. 68-75). A very meritorious work was his edition of theJerusalem Talmudin one volume (Krotoschin, 1866). A bibliography of his works has been given byIsrael AbrahamsinTheJewish Quarterly Review(4, pp. 194–203).

The Kompert Affair

Graetz's essay "Die Verjüngung des jüdischen Stammes", in Wertheimer-Kompert'sJahrbuch für Israeliten,Vol. X, Vienna, 1863 (reprinted with comments by Th. Zlocisti, inJüdischer Volks-Kalender,p. 99, Brünn, 1903), caused a suit to be brought against him bySebastian Brunnerfor libeling him as an anti-Semite. As Graetz was not anAustriansubject, the suit was nominally brought againstLeopold Kompertas editor, and the latter was fined (30 December 1863).

Graetz had interpretedIsaiahchapters 52 and 53 to refer not to the personalMessiah,but rather to the entire people of Israel. Graetz and Kompert were brought to court in Vienna for publishing claims that were contrary to the Catholic faith, as well as contradicting Jewish tradition. Viennese rabbisIsaak Noah MannheimerandLazar Horowitzdefended Graetz, andAzriel Hildesheimercriticized them for doing so;Isaac Hirsch Weisspublished a pamphlet entitledNeẓaḥ Yisraelin support of their testimony.

This case, known as the "Kompert Affair," was important in defining the wedge betweenOrthodox Judaismand the nascentConservative Judaismchampioned by the likes of Graetz and Zecharias Frankel. Thus, within the Jewish fold the lawsuit also had its consequences, as the Orthodox raised against Graetz the accusation of heresy because he had denied the personal character of the propheticMessiah.

Legacy

Graetz's history became very popular and influential in its time. The material for Jewish history being so varied, the sources so scattered in the literatures of all nations, and the chronological sequence so often interrupted, made the presentation of this history as a whole a very difficult undertaking. Graetz performed his task skillfully, mastering most of the details while not losing sight of the whole. Another reason for the popularity of the work is its sympathetic treatment. Also, Graetz has been credited with finding a copying error in I Corinthians 1:12 which should have referred to a very early Christian teacher.This history of the Jews is not written by a cool observer, but by a warm-hearted Jew. On the other hand, some of these commendable features are at the same time shortcomings.

In his introduction to a 1975 volume of Graetz's essays translated into English, rabbi and historianIsmar Schorschwrote ofHistory of the Jews:"[It] still remains, a century later, the best single introduction to the totality of Jewish history.... The extraordinary combination of narrative skill and basic research which was the hallmark of Graetz's work has never been matched."

Some characterize Graetz's main elements of Jewish experience through the ages to be 'suffering and spiritual scholarship', while later Jewish scholarly works likeSalo W. Baron's 1937A Social and Religious History of the Jews,opposed the view of Jewish history as being 'all darkness and no light' and sought to restore balance, by writing a social history. Baron strove to integrate the religious dimension of Jewish history into a full picture of Jewish life and to integrate the history of Jews into the wider history of the eras and societies in which they lived. Baron brought very distinctive views to his scholarship. He inveighed against what he termed the "lachrymose conception of Jewish history," sometimes identified with Heinrich Graetz. In a 1975 interview Baron said: "Suffering is part of the destiny [of the Jews], but so is repeated joy as well as ultimate redemption." According toArthur Hertzberg,Baron was writing social history, insisting that spiritual creativity and the political situation were all borne by a living society and its changing forms.

Bibliography

• Geschichte der Juden von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart:11 vols. (History of the Jews;¹1853–75), impr. and ext. ed., Leipzig: Leiner,²1900, reprint of the edition of last hand (1900): Berlin: arani, 1998,ISBN3-7605-8673-2.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Deutsch, Gotthard;Singer, Isidor (1901–1906)."Graetz, Heinrich (Hirsch)".InSinger, Isidore;et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia.New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
• Encyclopaedia Judaica(2007, 2nd ed.)entry on "Graetz, Heinrich," by Shmuel Ettinger and Marcus Pyka
• Bibliography: Rippner, in the third edition of the first volume of Graetz's Geschichte;
• I. Abrahams, "H. Graetz, the Jewish Historian,"The Jewish Quarterly Review,Vol. 4 (Jan. 1892), pp. 165–203.
• Ph. Bloch, in the Index volume of the English translation of Graetz's work, History of the Jews Philadelphia, 1898.
• M. Wiener, "Zur Würdigung des Verfahrens G....",Ben Chananja,1863, Nos. 22, 23.
• S. W. Baron,History and Jewish Historians,1964.
• Jeffrey C. Blutinger,Writing for the Masses: Heinrich Graetz, the Popularization of Jewish History, and the Reception of National Judaism.Ph.D. diss. (UCLA, 2003).
• Marcus Pyka,Jüdische Identität bei Heinrich Graetz(Göttingen 2008) (Jüdische Religion, Geschichte und Kultur (JRGK), 5).
• George Y. Kohler: "Heinrich Graetz and the Kabbalah", inKabbalah – Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts,vol. 40, 2018, pp. 107–130.

External links

• Media related toHeinrich Graetzat Wikimedia Commons
• Complete German text (all 11 volumes) of theHistory of the Jews,including a biography of Graetz
• Works by Heinrich GraetzatProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about Heinrich GraetzatInternet Archive
• Who Was Heinrich Graetz?byDr. Henry Abramson