History of the Jews, Vol. 4 (of 6)Graetz, Heinrich
History
History of the Jews, Vol. 4 (of 6)
Graetz, Heinrich
Jews -- History
In another work, "Touchstone" (composed at the end of 1322), Kalonymos
ben Kalonymos held up a mirror for his Jewish contemporaries, in which
they could recognize their perversities, follies, and sins. To avoid
giving himself the appearance of an irreproachable censor of morals, he
enumerated his own sins, more in satire than as a confession. Kalonymos
whimsically satirized even Judaism. He wished he had been born a woman,
for then he would not have had to bear the burden of six hundred and
thirteen religious laws, besides so many Talmudical restrictions and
rigorous ordinances, which could not possibly be fulfilled, even when
a man tried with the most exacting conscientiousness. As a woman,
he would not have to trouble himself with so much reading, to study
the Bible, the Talmud, and the subjects belonging to it, nor torment
himself with logic, mathematics, physics, astronomy, and philosophy. By
and by Kalonymos' satire grew deeply serious. The degradation of his
Jewish co-religionists, and the bloody persecutions occasioned by the
Shepherds and the lepers, dispelled his mocking humor, and satire was
changed into lamentation. In Rome, which King Robert assigned to him as
a place of residence, Kalonymos, having been furnished with letters of
recommendation, obtained entry into a joyous, vivacious, imaginative
circle of men, by whom he was stimulated to write a peculiar parody.
He composed a treatise for the Jewish carnival (Purim), in which he
imitated the tenor and spirit of the Talmud, its method, controversies,
and digressions, with considerable wit. It is a fine parody, exciting
laughter at every step, and one can not tell whether it was intended
as a harmless carnival joke or as a satire on the Talmud. Kalonymos
occupied a position of importance in the Roman congregation. Handsome
in form, of abundant accomplishments, solid character, all his
excellencies enhanced by the good opinion of King Robert of Naples,
he was everyone's favorite. The Italian Jews were proud of him. But
Kalonymos was not a true poet, still less an artist.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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