Menorah · 1923-01-01 · Heft 1 · p. Seite 13

13 MENORAH Graetz, much as hc admiral tlic crudition of the famous scholar. Deutsch was too modcst, too well educated to criticize his masters; I do not rcmembcr him cver uttering a word of disapproval about either Graetz, Lazarus, Rosin, or Freudenthal, and in his sketch of those far-off Breslau days (Scrolls I. 49—52) tlic old masters are portrayed with reverence and affection. Yet I could not help noticing that he considered Graetz one-sided an lacking in that imaginative intuition which re-creatcs the pasl oul of the scantcst rnaterial and informs dead ashes with individuality, character, life. History had taken such a hold of him that he gave up the idea of becoming a rabbi. In 1880 we met in the University of Vienna. He had made up his mind to become a teacher of history al some Austrian grammar school, but his attachment lo Jewish literature was such that he often camc to listen to the lectures given in the Beth Hamidrash by the unforgettable scholars Adolf Jellinek, Isaac Hirsch Weiß, and Meier Friedmann. His plan of getting a secular mastership miscarried somehow, and it was an auspicious day both for Deutsch and American Jewry when he was elected to a professorship in the Hebrew Union College. Dryasdust historians will have little occasion lo quote G. Deulsch's books. Although a very careful scholar and imbued with proper rcgard for the minutiae of original research (Cf. his suggestive essays Minima Curat Hhloricus and De Minimis Curat Historie™ in Scrolls I, 99 ff.) he has not added much to our Knowledge of Jewish history. His Notes on and Additions to the great work of Graetz — they amount to 6000! — are in manuscript and not likely to be published. But he ne&lecled to work up the results of his extensive reading into voluminous disquisitions, for he hated pretence and parade, and, besides, the stirring present absorbed him too much. He ivas o/ive, and that is what makes every liue he wrote such a source of delight. He knew Jewry and Judaism as no olher man knew it before him, for heg ot his knowledge not from musty tomes (fond as he was of them from his Student days to his last breath) but from life. He was familiär with Jewish life in all its aspects and varieties. He had been to all the Ghetti of Europe, America, Africa; of Palestine he had seen all the scenes of our past glory and the promising beginnings of our Jewish re-birth. In his wide vision he was a compelent judgo of what was temporary, fleeting, a thing of the moment in Jewry, and of what was likely to be enduring, a building-stone for our future. By nature and training he, more than any other scholar, was in a posilion to warn, to comfort, to hearten Israel in its many vicissitudes among the Nations. He ivas the inspired Philosopher of Jewish History (cf. Philosophy of Jervish History. Scrolls I, 77 ff.). Unpretentious as the Collected Essays in the Scrolls are — the thin volumc Jen» and Centtie (Boston. 1920) bclongs to them — they contain living force and will survive many books of more substantial build. Vienna. April 192 3. Leon Kellner bz jinabi anaib eman rraa ncene ary ^vaa iaayb prS» ej^ns bv lnb-mtrn o*3ipn nann ana ran .npno«S "p^ nri m "nmrrn rrnip" "pöjr bv nsob meDini iKsnn ab rhx bz bzn ,cpya d^c1?« zitrtra» laban im« bv inran ibui iaiy ™b mj? nbnjn l/iw'paa *ppe»n inxn r*atr ,nra rrn bv D^iyn nmp cnaa ,n*ran »a* ninpaa man itrina centr -|Tsai ,emrrn nmp .am pc« .nvT.Tn bv m»nai:n /nbam bz nm nva^isp'ai« ^ina n«an nma; bv ssera nKinn jna ijrattn nb« bz ,iaj?b nai nan« ,m\T ia bzv -its»« "cbn nts" strann nec by ca-n niiTn uaSiya nnc:an mbstm bzz "Hab .»nai:n pra ♦trtrn Tintau n-na nna rptr wvbv* rat» trän nnau &mb uman rraa ,inreci btsver cv ninpb up« pa^a trtan ,<npnax) .^roroa .1921 iait£pi«a nai 1859 ruit*a jniaoSip»; b-jx nneraa -112h — ^nnn vas Sss iab xin v-nab pn "na: nn« .nabm "pn — cs:ai cwib «man rpab o;a; »jnaebip^a rpc:a»:ia ^sti» jm .1880 ij? er iabi ,1876-a nbciaa anb nvnb nva'jc mac erra ib rrn itrc« ipe» vrx "ns* ,nr.ipa vvnb n« nna -ptran r/rnpn ba .'ibciaa Tip invna naa crvby »mttoaKa n^cia»:^ necre -nna Sapnnb ,ia?a: ,»:is'^ icc rraa nna-nra bzpb nna er ratrb ^arDrob tms^p 1891 n:sra Der Mutter Sabbathsegen C/n</ ^ra/ c/re Mutter vor Jas Lichterpaar, Zum Himmel auf den frommen Blick gehoben. Da war es, als ob eine Engelschaar Im Zimmer sänge, ihren Colt zu loben. Und bebten still die Lippen ein Gebet Und hob sie segnend ihre zarten Hände, Da war es, als ob immer, früh und spät. Und überall man Gottes Seele fände. Wir Kinder still, in scheuer Ehrfurcht schier. Blickten umher im traulichkleinen Zimmer, Und dann zur Mutter hin, als suchten wir Um ihren schönen Kopf den LIeirgenschimmer. Wie war dies Mutterhaupi so schön und gut!--- Auf meines Lebens wüsten Dornenwegen, Wie oft verlieh mir neue Kraft und Mut Der Mutter Blick, der Mutter Sabbathsegen. M. M. Tauher ■wro jt:«)1 twfa p rhuw -Ii? famS -wnax »TäDri xhv gw hp no oitf fr™ t:w i