Jewish Literature and Other EssaysKarpeles, Gustav
Religion
Jewish Literature and Other Essays
Karpeles, Gustav
Jewish literature -- History and criticism; Jews
"This furthermore I heard from my pious father, when, in 1734, he lay
sick in Fürth, where there are many physicians. I went from Marktbreit
to Fürth, and stayed with him for three weeks. When I was alone with
him, he dictated his will to me, and then said in a low voice: 'This I
will tell you that you may know what happened to our ancestor Saul Wahl:
After the nobles had elected a king for Poland, and our ancestor had
become great in the eyes of the Jews, he unfortunately grew haughty. He
had a beautiful daughter, Händele, famed throughout Poland for her wit
as well as her beauty. Many sought her in marriage, and among her
suitors was a young Talmudist, the son of one of the most celebrated
rabbis. (My father did not mention the name, either because he did not
know, or because he did not wish to say it, or mayhap he had forgotten
it.) The great rabbi himself came to Brzesc with his learned son to urge
the suit. They both lodged with the chief elder of the congregation.
But the pride of our ancestor was overweening. In his heart he
considered himself the greatest, and his daughter the best, in the land,
and he said that his daughter must marry one more exalted than this
suitor. Thus he showed his scorn for a sage revered in Israel and for
his son, and these two were sore offended at the discourtesy. The Jewish
community had long been murmuring against our ancestor Saul Wahl, and it
was resolved to make amends for his unkindness. One of the most
respected men in the town gave his daughter to the young Talmudist for
wife, and from that day our ancestor had enemies among his people, who
constantly sought to do him harm. It happened at that time that the wife
of the king whom the nobles had chosen died, and several Jews of Brzesc,
in favor with the powerful of the land, in order to administer
punishment to Saul Wahl, went about among the nobles praising his
daughter for her exceeding beauty and cleverness, and calling her the
worthiest to wear the queenly crown. One of the princes being kindly
disposed to Saul Wahl betrayed their evil plot, and it was
frustrated.'"[72]
Rabbi Pinchas' ingenuous narrative, charming in its simple directness,
closes wistfully: "He who has not seen that whole generation, Saul Wahl
amid his sons, sons-in-law, and grandsons, has failed to see the union
of the Law with mundane glory, of wealth with honor and princely
rectitude. May the Lord God bless us by permitting us to rejoice thus in
our children and children's children!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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