Having recently posted about Shadal's reception of Hirsch's 19 Letters (written in German; Shadal was impressed by it and expressed love for its author, who was then unknown to him), here is an interesting little poem that he wrote, apparently in response to a letter he received from Rabbi Hirsch written in . . . German.
(Chinor Nahim v.2 pg. 295. Padua 1879.)
Loose translation (forgive me):
What's up with the author of the Letters Ten-Plus-Nine?Has he switched and become Geiger or Holdheim?For he wrote to Shadal in the language of Germania,Not in the language of Jerusalem and Judea.
At the end of the book (compiled by his son Isaia) is an index stating where and if the poems in this collection were written or printed. This one? It was a ditty included in an 1847 letter to Geiger! Unfortunately the letter appears neither in Iggerot Shadal or Epistolario, so I don't know what the rest of the letter was about.
10 plus 9? which words mean that? tzafon?
ReplyDeleteNone of them. It was my lame attempt at making "19" as in "Nineteen Letters" (the German title of אגרות צפון) rhyme with "Holdheim." Ten PLus Nine, Holdheim, get it? Poetic license.
ReplyDeleteAs a fan of both Hirsch and Shadal (and a descendant of the former), I've always been curious about any direct or even indirect links between them. The record is thin: there is Shadal's letter to Hirsch recommending his student Igel, there is Shadal's relatively brief critique of the Nineteen Letters, and now there is this cryptic little snippet (thanks, S., for digging it up). And so far I have seen nothing from Hirsch to Shadal, which is why this snippet is so tantalizing. On the whole, it seems that these two luminaries simply moved in different orbits.
ReplyDeleteyou should've written this post in hebrew
ReplyDeleteor at least part of it
ReplyDeleteDan, I'm assuming that R. Hirsch's letter was a response of some kind to Shadal's letter about Igel.
ReplyDeleteAs for them moving in different orbits, while this is true, there were only degrees of separation between them (although I suppose that's true for pretty much everyone). For example, Seligmann Baer's Toras Elohim has a haskamah from R. Hirsch, as well as a letter from Shadal.
Zohar, at least it wasn't in German.
"in eastern Europe a modern Jew was often called a דייטשער"
ReplyDeletemy grandfather used to sneak away to daven in a maskilic shul, referred to by the hasidim as the deitscher shil. (ultimately destroyed as a present to hitler to celebrate the liquidation of the warsaw ghetto)
"language of Germania"
ok, i see from your previous comment you wanted to preserve rhyme, although here it loses the allusion to the title
Shadal's letter to S.R.H. on behalf of Igel was written in August 1849, two years *after* his little rhymed complaint about Hirsch's German letter. So at least we now have evidence of an earlier direct contact between them. If Luzzatto ever replied to this letter, my guess is that he wrote (reluctantly) in German, which would explain why such a reply would not have been included in Iggerot Shadal or the Epistolario.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Dan! Please be assured that when I write the book "On the Relations Between Samson Raphael Hirsch of the North and Samuel David Luzzatto of the South" I will be sure to double check the dates!
ReplyDeleteI know this is late, but here is my very free rhymed translation:
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with the author of the Nineteen Letters?
Has he become a Geiger or Holdheim?
For he wrote to Shadal in German fetters.
He should write in Hebrew next time!
Lawrence Kaplan
Change line 1 to read:
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with the author of the Northern Letters?
Lawrence Kaplan
Dr. Kaplan, better effort than mine! In my defense, apart for not being a poet by any means, I didn't try very hard. Maybe I should do a rewrite!
ReplyDeleteHere's yours:
What's up with the author of the Northern Letters?
Has he become a Geiger or Holdheim?
For he wrote to Shadal in German fetters.
He should write in Hebrew next time!
In my head I keep hearing things like "There once was a man named Geiger, the criticism he practiced was higher..."