Jewish Literature and Other EssaysKarpeles, Gustav
Religion
Jewish Literature and Other Essays
Karpeles, Gustav
Jewish literature -- History and criticism; Jews
Finally, mention must be made of Constance and Anna de Rothschild, whose
two volume "History and Literature of the Israelites" (1872) created a
veritable sensation, and awakened the literary world to the fact that
the Rothschild family is distinguished not only for wealth, but also for
the talent and religious zeal of its authoresses.
I have ventured to group these women of the Rothschild family together
as a conclusion to the history of Jewish women in literature, because I
take their work to be an earnest of future accomplishment. Such examples
cannot fail to kindle the spark of enthusiasm slumbering in the hearts
of Jewish women, and the sacred flame of religious zeal, tended once
more by women, will leap from rank to rank in the Jewish army. As it is,
a half-century has brought about a remarkable change in feeling towards
Judaism. Fifty years ago the following lines by Caroline Deutsch, one of
the above-mentioned modern German writers, could not have awakened the
same responsive chord as now:
"Little cruet in the Temple
That didst feed the sacrificial flame,
What a true expressive symbol
Art thou of my race, of Israel's fame!
Thou for days the oil didst furnish
To illume the Temple won from foe--
So for centuries in my people
Spirit of resistance ne'er burnt low.
It was cast from home and country,
Gloom and sorrow were its daily lot;
Yet the torch of faith gleamed steady,
Courage, like thy oil, forsook it not.
Mocks and jeers were all its portion,
Death assailed it in ten thousand forms--
Yet this people never faltered,
Hope, its beacon, led it through all storms.
Poorer than dumb, driven cattle,
It went forth enslaved from its estate,
All its footsore wand'rings lighted
By its consciousness of worth innate.
Luckless fortunes could not bend it;
Unjust laws increased its wondrous faith;
From its heart exhaustless streaming,
Freedom's light shone on its thorny path.
Oil that burnt in olden Temple,
Eight days only didst thou give forth light!
Oil of faith sustained this people
Through the centuries of darkest night!"
We can afford to look forward to the future of Judaism serenely. The
signs of the times seem propitious to him whose eye is clear to read
them, whose heart not too embittered to understand their message aright.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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