Jochanan Hakkadosh

( Jocoseria : 1883.) The Hebrew which Mr. Browning quotes in the tale as the title of the work from which his incidents are derived, may be translated as “Collection of many Fables”; and the second Hebrew phrase means “from Moses to Moses [Moses Maim on ides] there was never one like Moses.” Although the story of this poem is not historical, it is founded on characters and events which are familiar to students of Jewish literature and history. Hakkadosh means “The Holy.” Rabbi Yehudah Hannasi (the Prince) was the reputed author of the Mishnah , and was born before the year 140 of the Christian era. On account of his holy living he was surnamed Rabbenu Haḳkadosh. Jochanan means John. In the Jewish Me enger for March 4th, 1887, the poem is reviewed from a Jewish point of view by “Mary M. Cohen,” from which interesting study we extract the following particulars:—The scene of the poem is laid at Schiphaz, which is probably intended for Sheeraz, in Persia. “I think,” says the authore , “that, with artistic licence, Mr. Browning does not here portray any individual man, but takes the names and characteristics of several rabbis, fusing all into a whole. Jochanan finds old age a continued disappointment. He is represented as almost overtaken by death; his loving scholars, as was usual in the days of rabbinism, cluster about him for some worthy word of parting advice. One of the pupils asks: ‘Say, does age acquiesce in vanished youth?’ The rabbi, groaning, answers grimly: “Last as first The truth speak I—in boyhood who began Striving to live an angel, and, amerced For such presumption, die now hardly, man. What have I proved of life? To live, indeed, That much I learned.” It was suggested to the dying rabbi that if compa ionating folk would render him up a portion of their lives, Hakkadosh might attain his fourscore years. Tsaddik, the scholar, well versed in the Targums, was foremost in urging the adoption of this expedient. By yielding up part of their lives, the pupils of Jochanan hope to combine the le ons of perfect wisdom and varied experience of life. But experience proves fatal to all the hopes, the aspirations, the high ideals of youth. Experience paralyses action. Experience chills the aspirations which animate the generous mind of the lover, the soldier, the poet, the statesman. When the men of experience contributed their quota, ‘certain gamesome boys’ must needs throw some of theirs also. This accounts for the rabbi being found alive unexpectedly after a long interval: “Trailing clouds of glory do we come from God, who is our home.” The rabbi utters heaven-sent intuitions, the gift of these lads. Under the influence of the Ruach , or spirit, Jochanan declares that happine , here and hereafter, is found in acting on the generous impulses, the noble ideals which are sent into the mind, in spite of the testimony of experience that we shall fail to realise our aspirations. ‘There is no sin,’ says the rabbi, ‘except in doubting that the light which lured the unwary into darkne did no wrong, had I but marched on boldly.’ What we see here as antitheses, or as complementary truths, are reconciled hereafter. This reconciliation cannot be grasped by our present faculties. The rabbi seems to ‘babble’ when he tries to expre in words the truth he sees. The pure white light of truth, seen through the medium of the flesh, is composed of many coloured rays. Evil is like the dark lines in the spectrum. The whole duty of man is to learn to love. If he fails, it matters not; he has learned the art: ‘so much for the attempt—anon performance.’ Love is the sum of our spiritual intuitions, the law of our practical conduct.” Notes. — Mishna , the second or oral Jewish law; the great collection of legal decisions by the ancient rabbis; and so the fundamental document of Jewish oral law. Schiphaz , an imaginary place; or perhaps Sheeraz , on the Bundemeer, referred to at end of poem. Jochanan Ben Sabbath a i , not historical. Khubbezleh , a fanciful name of the poet’s invention. Targum , a Chaldee version or paraphrase of the Old Testament. Nine Points of Perfection : Nine is a trinity of trinities, and is a mystical number of perfection; the slang expre ion “dre ed to the nines” means dre ed to perfection. Tsaddik == just, not historical. Dob == Bear (the constellation). The Bear , the constellation. Aish , the Great Bear. The Bier : the Jews called the constellation of the Great Bear “The Bier.” Three Daughters , the tail stars of the Bear. Banoth == daughters. The Ten : Jewish martyrs under the Roman empire. Akiba , Rabbi , lived A.C. 117, and laid the groundwork of the Mishna. He was one of the greatest Jewish teachers, and was at the height of his popularity when the revolt of the Jews under Barcochab took place. (See for a history of the revolt, and of Akiba’s influence, Milman’s History of the Jews , Book xviii.) He was scraped to death with an iron comb. Perida : a Jewish teacher of such infinite patience that the Talmud records that he repeated his le on to a dull pupil four hundred times, and as even then he could not understand, four hundred times more, on which the spirit declared that four hundred years should be added to his life. Uzzean : Job, the most patient man, was of the land of Uz. Djinn , a supernatural being. Edom : Rome and Christianity went by this name in the Talmud. “ Sic Jesus vult ,” so Jesus wills. The Statist == the statesman. Mizraim == Egypt. Shushan == lily. Tohu-bohu , void and waste. Halaphta , Talmudic teachers. Ruach , spirit. Bendimir : no doubt the Bundemeer, one of the chief rivers of Farzistan , a province in Persia. Og’s thigh bone : “Og was king of Bashan. The rabbis say that the height of his stature was 23,033 cubits (nearly six miles). He used to drink water from the clouds, and toast fish by holding them before the orb of the sun. He asked Noah to take him into the ark, but Noah would not. When the flood was at its deepest, it did not reach to the knees of this giant. Og lived 3000 years, and then he was slain by the hand of Moses. Moses was himself ten cubits in stature (15 feet), and he took a spear ten cubits long, and threw it ten cubits high, and yet it only reached the heel of Og.... When dead, his body reached as far as the river Nile. Og’s mother was Enach, a daughter of Adam. Her fingers were two cubits long (one yard), and on each finger she had two sharp nails. She was devoured by wild beasts.— Maracci. ”