History of the Jews, Vol. 6 (of 6): Containing a Memoir of the Author by Dr. Philip Bloch, a Chronological Table of Jewish History, an Index to the Whole WorkGraetz, Heinrich
History
History of the Jews, Vol. 6 (of 6): Containing a Memoir of the Author by Dr. Philip Bloch, a Chronological Table of Jewish History, an Index to the Whole Work
Graetz, Heinrich
Jews -- History
and guided the efforts of the scholars interested in Jewish history at
the time. Besides, he was an indefatigable, impulsive worker, and his
name was one to conjure with. The slight put upon Graetz called forth
decided ill-humor among his numerous friends and disciples, a large
portion of whom were the rabbinical heads of respected congregations.
Their irritation could not long remain without tangible effect.
Moreover, though the commission was composed of highly esteemed
scholars, among them Christians who were master historians of the
first rank, there was not one member who had attained to more than
respectable dilettanteism in his acquaintance with Jewish literature,
a thorough knowledge of which was indispensable for the proper
realization of the plan, and only one member who had given evidence
of his special interest in Jewish history by a work of note. This
exception was Professor Stobbe, a humane Christian scholar and eminent
jurist, who has described the historico-legal status of the German Jews
in “The Jews in Germany during the Middle Ages,”[79] a book that has
not yet been superseded. The absence of Jewish scholars, specifically
of Jewish historians, awakened distrust in the ability of the
commission. In fact, its achievements, as displayed in the “Journal for
the History of the Jews in Germany”[80] and in separate publications,
are far from realizing the expectations awakened by the boastful,
arrogant tone of scientific conceit in which the leaders announced
the undertaking, and are out of all proportion to the expenditures
incurred. The most ambitious production, “Documents on the History of
the Jews, etc.,”[81] is a fragment. Quietly, unnoticed, the experiment
died one day in the year 1892.[82]
The inconsiderate treatment accorded him by the Berlin coterie or other
circles did not cause Graetz much heart-ache, and whatever soreness
it may have produced was completely healed by London, whence he
received the flattering invitation to open the Anglo-Jewish Historical
Exhibition with a lecture. The honorable reception accorded him in
the English capital, the persons whose acquaintance he made, and the
impressions he carried home with him, all this refreshed him, and put
him into a buoyant frame of mind. The visit to England he accounted one
of the happiest and most enjoyable events of his life. The experiences
gathered there strengthened the hope, to which he had often given
expression, that salvation would arise for Judaism out of England and
America.
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