Henri V.

Besso

Dramatic Literature of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam in the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries (suite)
In: Bulletin Hispanique. Tome 40, N1, 1938. pp. 33-47.

Citer ce document / Cite this document : Besso Henri V. Dramatic Literature of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam in the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries (suite). In: Bulletin Hispanique. Tome 40, N1, 1938. pp. 33-47. http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/hispa_0007-4640_1938_num_40_1_2794

DRAMATIC

LITERATURE

OF THE SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE JEWS OF AMSTERDAM IN THE XVIUl AND XVIII111 CENTURIES (Suite 1)

II The Jewish thtre2 1. Its origin and development The Jewish thtre is a subject which is still awaiting its his torian and critic. More than that it hopes to hve a life ail its own and a much longer history than the one we hve had up to now. The drama presented itself to the Jews not as their own cra tion or invention, but as something that was foreign, pagan, corrupted, and which originated in a literature other than Jewish, such as for ex ample, the hellenistic or latin. The Hebrew drama! It does soimd very strange indeed ! But if it is true that the Jews hve cultivated this form of art instead of devoting their attention to the study of the Thora, rnin and the Talmud, where did the Jewish stage orignate? Some people3, 1. Cf. Bull, hisp., 1937, n 3, p. 215. 2. The literature of the Jews has not yet been given a name that recommends itself to universal acceptance. The varions names that hve been given to it (rabbinical, neo-hebraic, theological, etc.) are ail inadquate. While the object of tbis essay is to diseuss the Jewish draina, in Holland as affecting the Sephardic Jews exclusively and not the Jewish people as a whole, nevertheless, I hve found it necessary to apply the terni Jewish literature as something that embraces the aggregate of writings produced by Jews from the earliest days of their history up to the prsent time, regardless of form, of language, and, in the middle ages, at least, of subject matter . For an interesting discussion on this question see, S. Levy, Whal is Jewish Literature, in Jewish Quarlerl;/ Review. Philadelphia, 1904, XVI, p. 300-329. :!. Sal Mezan, Les Juifs espagnols en Bulgarie. Sofia, 1925, p. 28 ; Israel Ahrahams, Bull, hispanique. 3

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BULLETIN HISPANIQUE

to be sure, hve thought they discovered the dramatic form in the Bible itself, and hve divided the Book of Job and the Song of Solomon into regular acts and scnes. They hve called this Biblical love-poem a genuine drama. This is a fascinating and a not altogether improbable idea, according to Israel Abrahams. But this belief would never hve been seriously entertained, and has been repudiated by a number of critics as faint approaches to dramatic composition, inducing no imitations . In fact, Professor Karl Budde has made it difficult to retain the notion any longer1. There could never be a dramatic poem composed amongst a people among whom there were no dramatic performances. As Professor Budde asserted in his study the entire Semitic literature, so far as we are yet acquainted with it, does not know the drama 2 . We shall, therefore, lay it down as a settled thing, that in the canonic age, the dramatic form was unknown. It is undeniable, however, that some of the Egyptian Jews turned their attention to the drama. There are still extant some fragments of a play, The Exodus from Egypt , modelled after Eurpides, by Ezekiel3 of Alexandria. This Ezekiel was a Jewish tragic poet who lived in the second century before the common era. Although his object, to ail appearances, was not to produce his play for the stage, he gave a dramatic form to the subject he had chosen, and embellished it with additions from his own fancy, and the tasteless intermixture of heathen mythology. Philo, also, of Alexan dria who, though a Jew, was miserably ignorant of Judaism was a celebrated dramatist in his native city. Even though Jewish Ufe in the Middle Ages. Philadelphia, 1896, p. 266 ; Gustav Karpeles, Jewish literature and other essays, p. 229 ; I. Zoller, Le rire dans le ghetto, in Nouvelle Revue Juive. Paris, dcembre 1930-fevrier 1931, 3e anne, p. 3. 1. Karl Budde, The Song of Solomon, in the New World, Chicago, 1894, III, p. 56 et suiv. See also Russel Martineau, The Song of Songs Again, in the American Journal of Philology. Chicago, XVI, p. 435-443, and XIII, p. 307-32* ; Duncan B. MacDonald, The Drama in Semilic Literature, in Biblical World, 1895, V (new series), p. 16-28. 2. Karl Budde, op. cit., p. 57. 3. Gustav Karpeles, Jewish literature and other essays, p. 230 ; Israel Abrahams, op. cit., p. 267-268. For a detailed account o this drama see : K. Kuiper, Le pote juif Ezekiel, in Reue des tudes juives, 1903, XLVI, p. 48-73 and 161-177.

DRAMATIC LITERATURE OF THE JEWS OF AMSTERDAM

35

the play is thoroughly Hellenistic it is quite possible that a Jewish drama might hve made its appearance in Alexandria *. But the first introduction of a taste for theatrical amusements into Palestine proper, dates from the time of Herod who built splendid thtres and devoted so much attention to the stage, that Josephus attributes to that fertile source of evil, when misdirected, the dpravation of the moris of his countrymen 2. The Talmud, as is generally known, was very much opposed to people visiting the thtre ; not only because the performances seemed a desecration and a sin but because the theatergoer receives the criticism that he is among unbelievers . Above ail, visiting the thtre was responsible for discontinuing the study of the Torah (the law). This Talmudic opposition was especially directed at the thtre that Herod had erected at Jrusalem, which was in conflict with the Jewish creed3. There were quite a number of objections to the thtre. The most important ones, summarized by Israel Abrahams in his scholarly work4 were : (a) that the thtre was immoral and idolatrous, (b) that it was the scne of scoffng and mockery, (c) that it encouraged wanton bloodshed, (d) that attendance at the shows was an idle waste of time. Furthermore it was prohibited to a Jew to listen to a woman's voice. In the f ourth century women were allowed to take part in the chorases with men, but not to sing solos 5. Under thse condit ions, without fminine actors, and unless they were particularly favored with gifted actors, an appeal to music became imposs ible. Despite the rampant antagonism and the prohibitions imposed by the Rabbis, the Greek and Latin speaking Jews did not share in this opposition to the stage and the thtre of Rome in he prime brought forth many well-known Jewish actors6. If an account is taken of the licentiousness of the stage at the 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. fi. Israel Abrahams, Gustav Karpeles, Gustav Karpeles, Jewish Ufe in the Low, Lebensaher, Gustav Karpeles, op. cit., p. 267. Jewish literature Jewish literature Middle Ages, p. p. 309, cited by Jewish literature and other essays, p. 230. and other essays, p. 230. 252. Israel Abrahams, op. cit., p. 253. and other essays, p. 232.

36

BULLETIN HISPANIQUE

time, it was not a matter of surprise that the theatrical repr sentations were pursued by Talmudic Judaism with the same bitter animosity as by Christianity1. The Jews had been made the subject of ridicule by dramatists of ail coimtries and no Jew could be introdnced on the stage, except in a grotesque or idious character 2. In the seventh and following centuries3, there are no symptoms of dramatic effort amongst the Jews of Arabia or Spain, who, however, were not altogether unaffected by the example of the Arabs. But the cause of this is perhaps to be found in the genius of Mahommedanism, which was more opposed to the dra matic entertainments than Judaism itself. With the fall of pagan Rome a new era of culture began, in which the Jews actively participated, producing a considerable quantity of dramatic literature, though written in secular languages. 2. The Jewish Stage in Spain and in Holland In the preceding pages I hve indicated in the space that this chapter allowed, the indices of a dramatic character in the Jewish people before the destruction of the second temple by Titus and before their establishment in the Iberian Peninsula. Whether the Jews produced or participated in dramatic art during the Arabie domination of Spain is difficult to tell. Moratin 1. It is interesting to note how in the XlVth century in Spain, the Church Fathers were putting rigorous injunctions against theatergoing as is evidenced by the foll owing passage : En vano, como en tiempos anteriores, algunos Obispos y aun algunos escritores laicos, se esforzaron por purificar el arte dramtico y el templo, de tamaos vicios ; en vano tambin el dcimo Alfonso habia condenado en Las Partidas las vil lanias y desaporturas ejecutadas en las iglesias, y la conducta de los clrigos... porque llegaron a tal grado de magnitud y de escndalo que a fines del siglo xv los concilios de Aranda y de Compluto juzgaron aquellos espectculos y aquellas corrupt elas dignas de las mayores penas y castigaron con la excomunin a todos los clrigos que tomasen parte en los juegos de escarnio y dems representaciones profanas. Cf. R. Alvarez Espino, Ensayo histrico- crtico del teatro espaol desde su origen hasta, nuestros das. Cdiz, 1876, p. 24. 2. Israel Abrahams, op. cit., p. 257 ; Gustav Karpeles, Jewish Ui.ernl.ure and other essays, p. 232-233. 3. It is believed that the first Jewish contribution to the drama dates from the ninth century. During this period the story of Haman, arch-enemy of the Jews, was dramatized in clbration of Purim, the Jewish carnival. More will be said about the Purim plays in another part of this study.

DRAMATIC LITERATURE OF THE -TEWS OF AMSTERDAM

37

dnies that the Arabs have ever cultivated the theater in Spain *, but it is possible that his findings might not be well founded. For Casiri mentions two dramatic compositions in the Arabie Codici of the Escurial 2. It was in Spain that Bible subjeets were first adapted to the uses of the stage and where the drama had reached its highest development. It was there, too, that the earliest Jewish writers for the regular stage made their appearance. The first and most important portion of the famous Celestina , the earliest origi nal drama in Spanish literature written about 1470-1475, is attributed to Rodrigo de Cota (died 1497) whom Karpeles, a Jewish writer, describes as a crypto-Jew3. Fitzmaurice- Kelly, in his History of Spanish Literature , casts some doubt on Cota's authorship, and he refers to him more correctly as a convert to Christianity who persecuted his own people4. The Celestina was exceedingly popular and found its way into several languages, including the English. An Englishman, Mr. Iden Payne, put on the stage a version of Celestina entitled The Spanish Lovers by Edward Garnett, in 1912, at the Little Theater in London5. The first distinctly Jewish play in Spanish that appeared after the exile of the Jews from Spain was written by Duarte Gomez, alias Salomn Usque (also known as Salusque Lusitano), who 1. The Rev. Prof. Duncan B. MacDouald expmssed the opinion that there does not oxist or ever existed a draina in Arabie. Cf. The drama in Semitic Ulerature, in Biblical World. Chicago, 1895, V, p. 18. 2. Cristian Gaehde, El teatro desde la antigedad hasta el presente traducido de la 'a. edicin alemana y completado con una resea histrica del Teatro en Espaa por Ernesto Martnez Ferrando. Barcelona, 1930, p. 162. 3. Gustav Karpeles, Jewish Ulerature and other essays, p. 235 ; Meyer Kayserling, Bibliotheca, p. x. 4. Spanish Literature. London, 1907, p. 120. There is no doubt but that Fitzmaur ice- has erred in this matter. To all appearances, Rodrigo de Cota, was the Kelly author of Celestina's first act. Cf. F. Castro Guisasola, Observaciones sobre las fuentes literarias de La Celestina . Madrid. 1924, p. 178. ngel Valbuena [Literatura dramt ica espaola. Barcelona, 1930, p. 39) on the other hand, confuses Fernando de Rojas with Rodrigo de Cota, attributing the Celestina to the former. But admits that Cota was hijo de judos que naci en la Puebla Montalvan, cerca de Toledo . In this res pect the following quotation is interesting : Atribuyese la idea y el principio de esta obra, maestra en su gnero con relacin a aquel tiempo, a Rodrigo de Cota el Viejo, vecino de Toledo, hebreo que se vio perseguido por la Inquisicin y cuyo nombre figura en la lista de reconciliados, hijos y nietos de judos condenados en aquella ciu dad. Cf. also R. Alvarez Espino, op. cit., p. 42. 5. M. J. Landa, The Jew in drama. London, 1926, p. 20.

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BULLETIN HISPANIQUE

lived in ltaly in the second half of the 16"1 century (died after 1567), a brother of the author of the Consolo as Tribulaoes de Israel. The play was entitled Esther and was written in collaboration with Lzaro Graziano 1. Salomn Usque was a dra matic poet of great power and previous to his writing Esther he had translated Petrach into polished Spanish verses2. His Esther was translated into Italian by Lon de Modena3 and was intended for the stage and not particularly for Purim cl bration. The Jews who had imitated the Spaniards and Italians in their pastorals, now tried to rival them in the drama, and though they copied them in choosing their subjects from Holy Writ, they were more subdued in their method of treatment. They consiered them as not adapted for the gorgeous embellishments or scenic display used by their Christian rivais, but treated them as inculcating a sort of philosophie moral, which, however, would hve met no favor at the hands of an orthodox synagogue. The founder of this new dramatic school was Judah Arye of Modena, a contemporary of Tasso, who not only composed a pastoral drama, Rachel and Jacob , but attempted also a regular tragedy on a biblical subject in Italian4. Belgium, or more properly Holland, to which the Jews fled for refuge after the frightful perscution against them in Catalonia, Aragon and Castille, in 1391, and later after the general expul1. Cecil Roth, op. cit., p. 332. Roth does not mention the year this play of Usque was published but Kayserling (Bibliotheca, p. 107) says that it was printed in Venice in 1612. This differs from the version given by G. B. di Rossi in his Dizionario slorico degli autori Ebrei e dlie loro opere. Parma, 1802, I, p. 164, to the effect that it was printed in 1619. Jos Rodrguez de Castro {Biblioteca Espaola, I. Madrid, 18.71) does not make any mention at ail of this play of Usque. 2. J. Lucio d'Azevedo, Judeus Portugueses na disperso, in Revista da Historia. Lisbon, 1915, IV, p. 108 ; M. Kayserling, Sephardim, p. 144. The learned Antonio Ribeiro dos Santos {Memorias de Litteratura portugueza. Lisboa, 1792, II, p. 360) inferred that Salomn Usque was the father of Abraham and Samuel Usque. (Salamo Usquo Pai e seus filhos Abraho e Samuel Usque.) Israel Abraham also {op. cit., p. 363) confuses Samuel Usque, the author of Consolo with Salomn Usque , the dramatic poet and author of the play Esther . J. Lucio D'Azevedo {Historia dos Christaos novos Portugueses. Lisboa, 1922, p. 366) says that there was another Salomn LIsque, a printer of Constantinople, who is supposed to hve been the father of the Usaues of Ferrara, Italy. 3. Cecil Roth, op. cit., p. 332. 4. Jewish Encyclopedia, VIII, sub voce : Lon of Modena.

DKAMATLC LITERATUKE OF THE JEWS OF AMSTERDAM

39

sion rom Spain, was the true natale sulum of the Jewish draina. Since about 1600 the Jews took part also in the building up of the Spanish and Portuguese thtres. The best known are Anto nio Enriquez Gomez (died 1662) called the Jewish Caldern , the author of more than twenty-two comedies, some long held to be the work of Caldern himself, and therefore received with ac clamation in Madrid1. Miguel Levi de Barrios (1625-1701) and Antonio Jos da Silva (1705-39) were others. Several of thse dramatists handed specifcally Jewish thmes. Accordingly Barr ios wrote his religious play Autos Mosaycos for the Jewish Academy of Amsterdam2. Enriquez Gornez is perhaps the writer of the anonymous Comedia famosa de Aman y Mordochay . A few years after the publication of the play Esther by Salomn Usque, prominent Jews of Amsterdam presented the Dialogo dos Montes of Paul de Pina, in the synagogue. The Hebrew dramatist Pens de la Vega acted a number of Spanish thtre pices in his Confusion de Confusiones . A collection of Jewish works from a later period (Amsterdam, 1726) contains a series of famous Spanish eramas whose thmes are taken from Jewish history3. It is not unusual that one finds traces of a highly developed stage among the Spanish an j Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam in the 17th century due to their cultural background : they belonged to the very civilized class ; they had been in contact with the arts of the people bordering the Pyrnes, who were at that time enjoying the height o civilized life. This Culture they brought over into the Netherlands. The Spanish comedies were very much in vogue in Holland in the 17th century. They held the interest of the people by their 1. In another chapter, Enriquez Gomez as well as the various otber Jewish dramat ists Holland will be discussed in more dtails with the exception of Antonio of Jos da Silva who was boni in Brazil and never set foot in Amsterdam. 2. Barrios was the historian par excellence of the Jews of Holland and the descrip tion the various Acadmies, charitable as well as literary, that were founded in of Amsterdam by the Spanish and Portuguese Jews are described in his work, Triumpho del Govierno Popular. Amsterdam, 1683, p. 59 et suiv. See also J. Mendes dos Remed ios, Os Judeus Portugueses em Amsterdam, p. 35-39 ; Jewish Encyclopedia, I, sub voce. Amsterdam. 3. Comedias nuevas de los ms clebres autores. Amsterdam, a costa de D. Garca Henriquez, 1726. Cited by M. Kayserling, Bibliotheca, p. 39.

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BULLETIN HISPANIQUE

realism and their mixture of the comic and the tragic which made the audience change from tears to laughter. Of the romantic genre, one finds many Dutch translations from the Spanish, and those who were responsible for their spreading were Jews of Spa nish origin who lived in Amsterdam 1. As translators of dramas, there were two who won particular fam, Jacobus Barokus (Barocos) and Athias2. The former translated various pices of the prolifc writer Lope de Vega, the latter wrote a prose translation of Agustin Moreto's Escarraman, which has been acted in verse by the actor Enoch Krook. To ail appearances this Athias is the same as the famous Ams terdam printer Abraham ben Joseph Athias whom David Franco Mendes praises in his Successos memorareis dos Judeos Portu gueses e Hespanhoes de Amsterdam because he was as well versed in the Portuguese as in the Dutch language. He claims, furthermore that Vondel never printed any of his verses without first having asked the ad vice of Athias 3. Moreover, many well known Portugese Jews had associations of Spanish actors corne over to play for them in their own lan guage4. The first Portuguese Jewish stage director in the Netherlands was Rehuel Jessurun (also known as Paul de Pina). On Pentecost of the year 1624, in the Synagogue Beth Jaacob, they enacteU a play of his called Dialogo dos Montes referred to in another part of this essay. It was so called because it was a conversation between seven mountains : Sinai, Tsion, Hor, Nebo, Gerizim, Karmel, and Mount Olivette (each reprsente! by one person) 1. J. S. da Silva Rosa, Geschiedenis der portugeesche Joden te Amsterdam 1593-1925. Amsterdam, 1925, p. 103. As I hve drawn very freely from Mr. Silva's book, I wish to take this opportunity to thank Miss Louise Zwart very sincerely for having generously assisted me in the translation of passages having a bearing on the essay. Cf. J. A. van Praag, La Comedia espagnole aux Pays-Bas aux XVIIe et X VIIIe sicles. Amsterdam, 1922, p. 40 ; C. F. Adolfo van Dam, Las relaciones literarias entre Espaa y Holanda, conferencia dada en el Ateneo de Madrid el da 6 de Abril de 1923. Amster dam, 1923, p. 15. 2. J. A. van Praag, op. cit., p. 40 and 50. According to van Praag Jacobus Barokus made a prose translation of La fuerza lastimosa of Lope de Vega which was later put in verse form by the famous dramatic poet Isaac Vos. See also, J. S. da Silva Rosa, op. cit., p. 103. 3. J. M. Sterck, Discussion of Vondel and his followers, 1918, p. 275 and following : Vondel and Joseph ben Abraham Athias, cited by J. S. da Silva Rosa. 4. J. A. van Praag, Comedia espagnole, p. 18 ; C. F. van Dam, op. i,t.^ p. 15.

OISAMATIC LIThUATlIUK (>!' TIIK I KWS OF AMSTKKDAM

41

who each made a speech and to whom King Josaphat gave his blessings1. This must hve been copied from the mystery plays which originated in the Catholic Churches. Later it was agreed that the synagogue was no place for such reprsentations, and by article 16 of the household rgulations of the associated organizations such performances were defnitely forbidden in the future. In the second half of the 17th century various Acadmies were founded more or less on the same style of the elocution societies. Prominent in this enterprise were the poets Miguel (Daniel) Levi de Barrios, Antonio Enriquez Gomez2 and Joseph Semah, the diplomat Don Manuel Nuez Belmonte (director of the Academia de los Floridos and of the Academia de los Sitibundos where the originator of the Hebrew drama enacted many plays) and many others3. In the year 1696 Mordecai Jonathan Henriques van Abraham Serrano rented a storehouse in Vloyenburgh for a period of six weeks beginning January 2nd, to stage comedies there. This man saw, however, that various other persons gave plays there on diffrent days, and this, naturally, met with his opposition. Above ail, the following artloving families : Pereira, Capadoce 4, Suasso and Texeira 5 furthered the culture of music ; a very noted member of the well known family of Liz of the Hague, Lopes Berachel, allowed various popular stars to appear in his famous house in the Korte Voorhout. In 1638 and from 1641 to 1651 the famous actor Jacob Lon, or Lion, earned from 10 to 15 stuivers (5 Dutch cents) per night6. 1. This play was printed at the cost of Aron de Chaves in Amsterdam by Gerhard Johan Janson, in the house of Israel Mondovy, 5527 (1767). 2. His plays A lo que obligan los celos (under the title of Isabela Princess of Iberia ) and Engaar para reinar were played in Amsterdam. Cf. J. A. van Praag, La Comedia, p. 72. 3. J. A. da Silva Rosa, op. cit., p. 103. 4. The Socit des amis d'Isral de Neuchtel has published a little book on this famous doctor of Amsterdam entitled : Conversion de M. le docteur Capadoce, Isralite portugais. Neuchtel, 1837, xvi-49 pgs, in which much can be learned about the life of this man. 5. Concerning this family see the very interesting article by Ernest David, Les Texeiras, in Archives isralites, 1882, n 2. 6. E. F. Kossmann, Nieuwe bijdragen tt de geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche tooncl in the 17c en 18e Eeuw. 's-Gravenhage, 1915, p. 95.

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BULLETIN HISPANIQUE

About 1750 various Portuguese Jews formed a Spanish stage, where operas from the French were also enacted. Outside of merabers of this organization nobody else was admitted except when introduced by the members 1. Because no women were allowed to appear on the Jewish stage , thse parts were enacted by the following members of the company : Errera, Carranca, Salom, Torres and guila. It should not be concluded from the foregoing account, however, that the diffrent Jewish stage and musical organizations could giye themselves over to their work without hindrances. As early as September 2, 1683, the Board of Aldermen of Amsterdam had passed a resolution that no foreign comedians were allowed to play in Amsterdam, neither in the thtres nor elsewhere. This was done because the net profits of the performances in the Thtre were given to the Orphanage and the Old Men's Home. Thse institutions were deprived of this when individual organi zations gave performances even though they were for members only2. Furthermore, it was thought that many Jews who would otherwise hve been faithful visitors to the municipal thtres were now being diverted to go and see the Spanish plays3. However, in 1708, the Portuguese Jews asked the state government to allow them to give one performance a week since they, on the whole, neither spoke nor understood the language of the country. This was denied them because of the above ruling. Another reason advanced by the State for refusing this ptition was that the performance given in the Spanish language by the Jews was in opposition to the belief of religious houses. Furthermore, a prcdent would be established and an opportunity would hve to be given to others to perform plays in French or other languages. It was also feared that the thtre would lose the patro1. J. A. da Silva Rosa, op. cit., p. 103 ; C. F. Adolfo van Dam, op. cit., p. 15. 2. J. A. da Silva Rosa, op. cit., p. 104 ; J. A. van Praag, La Comedia espagnole, p. 18 ; C. F. Adolfo van Dam, op. cit., p. 15. 3. It was vident that the Sephardic Jews would prefer to see a play in Spanish rather than in any other language, especially in Dutch, because the latter was foreign to them. Up to the beginning of the 19th century the whole of the communal business was conducted either in Spanish or Portuguese. Nowadays the Spanish language is used in the homes but the literature has died out. Cf. J. A. van Praag, Restos de los idiomas hispano-lusitanos, in Bol. Acad. Espaola. Madrid, 1931, XVIII, p. 177-201.

DHAMATK; UTEKA.TUKK OF Tlll

I KWK (tK AMSTERDAM

4,'>

nage of some two or three hundred Jews who attended thse per formances regularly 1. At the beginning of the hineteenth century we find in Holland a great number of Jewish professional actors, both rnale and female, who played ail sorts of parts. Since this period is outside of my sphre I shall leave it to more capable people to make a study of it taking this as a possible basis. In the next chapter I shall proceed with the discussion of the distinctly Hebrew drama which originated in Amsterdam and which is also a contribution of the Sephardic Jews of that city. 3. The Purim-play and the Drama in Hebrew We hve seen, in another part of this study, that the thtre and the circus were the opposing ples of the synagogue and of the schools where the Torah was taught. The various reasons for the opposition of the Rabbis to this form of amusement hve also been indicated. However, the Jews could no longer resist the temptation to imitate the Christian s even though they received rough treatment in the Garnival sports. Purim 2, or the Feast of Esther, occurs at about the same time as Lent, and thus Purim became the Jewish Carnival. On Purim, the Rabbis were not stern in their expectations, and though they never encouraged, nay often denounced, thse infringements of the Mosaic Law, they more or less turned a blind eye towards such innocent and mirth-provoking gambols. On this day, the Jews portrayed the history of Haman on the stage. The young folk burned effigies of Haman in the streets amidst much 1. It should be noted that tho Germn Jews who were accustomed to represent a yearly performance of the history of Queen Esther a few days after Purim, and who represented drainas translated from the Spanish, in prfrence to ail the others, were also denied a ptition to show thse various plays by an order of the State, in 1707. 2. It is necessary to cali attention to the origin of the word Purim which means fate from pour Haman had drawn lots in order to fix the date in which he would massacre the Jews Other people believe that Purim corresponds to the name of an Assyrian festival : Purhu. For a description of Purim see N. S. Doniach, Purim or the feast of Esther, An histoncal study. Philadelphia, 1933 ; Salomn Reinach, Orpheus, histoire gnrale des religions. Paris, 1909, p. 272.

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BULLETIN HISPANIQUE

singing and rejoicing1. It seems as if on Purim everything was permissible. The Rabbis, while giving the people much freedom on this happy holiday, nevertheless were opposed to theatergoing which increased as the Jews became more civilized. They did not criticize the stage from an ethical viewpoint alone, as did many Christian moral teachers, but they opposed it also from a standpoint of national motives : how could one be sorry for the plight of Jrusalem if one amused oneself by watching actors on the stage ? The origins of the Purimspiel are not known. There exists, however, a decree of Theodosius II taken in 408 by which the Jews were forbidden to burn the efigy of Haman. At that time, a puppet was hanged in the court yard of the synagogue and after' the reading of the Megillah (the scroll of Esther) they burnt it on a small pyre amid song, music, and general merrymaking. Whether right or wrong Theodosius wished to see one of thse Parodies and his dsire was well partaken by many of his conten poraries for, in-412, at Antioch, a progrom followed this ceremony of Purim 2. In its well-established form the Purim play dates from the 18th century, but Purim dramas existed since the ninth century 3. As was pointed out before the Jewish drama has in reality occupiQd the whole Jewish history and is awaiting its critic and histo rian. The dialogue may hve been fxed to the beginnings of the 18th century, but the characters and the plot belong to tradition. It is thus that the Jews (especially the Germn Jews), in the seventeenth century, followed in their Purim plays the example of the portrayal of Christ stories (which in their turn had been derived from the plays dealing with heathen culture). Like the Christians, the Jews chose stories from the Jewish bible for stage production such as : the selling of Joseph, David and Goliath and the play of Ahasvrus 4. 1. Israel Abrahams, op. cit., p. 262 ; Gustav Karpeles, Jewish Literalure and olhcr essays, p. 235. 2. Pascal Saisset, La littrature dramatique de Pouritn, in Nouvelle Revue juive. Paris, 1931, n8 10-12, p. 23. 3. Gustav Karpeles, Jewish Literature and other essays, p. 232. 4. Gustav Karpeles, Jewish Lilerature, p. 241-242; Israel Abrahams, op. cit., p. 263-266.

T)RAiVTATTC L1TER ATURE OF THE JEWS OF AMSTERDAM

45

At.about the same time, and on the occasion of Hanuka, the Jews presented plays known as the Dance of Deatk which were imitated and adopted by non -Jews as well. Thse dances go back to the years 1349 and 1350 at the time when the black scourge pervaded Europe and for which the Jews were accused of the responsibility. Toward the end of the 14th century there appeared in Spain an anonymous work, the Danza Genrale or Danza de la muerte which is attributed to the Jewish trouba dour Rabbi Samtob, of Carrion. Kayserling1 has proved that the author, even though he may not be Samtob could not hve been any other but a Jew, for the work could not hve been written without a profound knowledge of the Talmud. During modem times, thse festivals and thse reprsentations hve been multiplied, and the use of the popular language, and of the jargon in the writing of plays in prfrence to Hebrew, indcate very clearly their success as well as their diffusion. For the observer or the historian, the Purim plays constitute an interesting document concerning the conservative side of Je wish life of the place in which they were presented. Written ine jargon, they emanate from authors belonging to a plebeian milieu whose sole interest was above ail to please a public attached to his tradition ; written in Hebrew, they are the work of writers of better quality expressing the sol of an emancipated people, desirous of living their lives among the nations that surround them, and to preserve its classic language. To borrow the expres sion used by Israel Abrahams2, the jargon play is a product of the ghetto, while the Hebrew drama was only possible when the 1. Sephardim, p. 19-45. This truly dramatic poet which seems to reflect the thought prevailirig in Europe in the 14th eentury is that symbolic reprsentation known as the Danza general or Danza de la muerte and was reproduced with Jrequency in Germany. England, France, Italy and Spain. For dtails on the Spanish Danza de la muerte, the readers will find more information in the l'ollowing sources : R. AlvarezEspino, op. cit., p. 26 ; Jos Rodrguez de Castro, Biblioteca, I, p. 198-201 ; Adolfo de Castro, Historia, p. 65-66; Moise Schwab, Homlies judo-espagnoles. Paris, 1916, p. 17-22 ; James Finn, op. cit., p. 312 ; Meyer Kayserling, Biblioteca, p. x ; Cayetano de la Barrera y Leirado, Catalogo del teatro espaol, p. 367 ; George Ticknor, History of Spanish Lilcrature. London, 1849, I, p. 79-84; Gustav Karpeles, Jewish lilerature and other essays, p. 174 ; F. Janer, La Danza de la Muerte. Poema Castellano del Si glo XIV. Madrid, 1856. A more recent doctoral dissertation on the subject is that of Florence Whyte, The dance of death in Spain and Calalonia. Baltimore, 1931. 2. Israel Abrahams, o/>. rit., p. 263.

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BULLETIN HISPANIQUE

ghetto walls were tottering to their fall. It is very curious to notice that the composition of dramas in Hebrew has always coincided with a more active participation of the Jews in the national life or the European states in which they lived. Spanish- Jewish poets had already composed, in Spanish, meritorious plays \ but the Hebrew drama proper was born in Holland in the xvii"1 century. It is a product of the Sephardic Jews of that country, but it is also essentially of a national inspiration. Henee the circumstances under which this drama was produced deserve some words of explan ation. Menasseh ben Israel the man to whom the Jews owed the protection of Cromwell was still a young man when, together with the elders of the Amsterdam community, he worked for the establishment of a school for the study of Hebrew. This school was destined to unit the Marrano youths who, having fled from Spain, took refuge in Amsterdam in order to come back to Judaism. The children of thse Jews went to thse schools to acquire the rudiments of Hebrew and followed courses in the various other subjects given in the school2. In this way they also acquired a considerable knowledge of the Talmud. To this school, soon after its foundation, went young Baruch Spinoza. No doubt he looked with the customary awe of the newcomer on a rather older boy, Moses Zacut, who stood at the head of the school. Moses Zacut became famous afterwards as a mystic. His name interests us now, however, because he was the author of the first drama written in the Hebrew tongue subsquent to the completion of the Canon. As was previously pointed out, Amsterdam at this time, was 1. Salomn Usque, Esther. Venice, 1612 (1619?). This is a play written before the true Purim plays appeared. It was written for the stage and not as a Purim prsen tation. 2. Among the people named in order to take care of various subjects were : Mordohay de Castro to teach lico do alfabet and ajuntar ; Joseph de Faro to tach a 1er por cima and principies of Parashah (section of the Pentateuch) ; Jacob Gomes who would also teach the Perashah in Hebrew and Abraham Baruh in Ladino. Isaac Aboab, Manasseh ben Israel, Sal Levi Morteira, David Pardo and others preached also at various intervais. Cf. J. Mendes dos Remedios, Os Judeus Portugueses cm Amst erdam, p. 16 ; Meyer Kayserling, Une histoire de la littrature juive de Daniel Levi de Barrios, in Reue des tudes juives, 1896, XXXII, p. 90.

DRAMATIC LITERATURE OF THE JEWS OF AMSTERDAM

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the centre of a national and literary movement which gave Holland the greatest of her patriots and of her poets. The Chambers of Rhetoric, with their quaint, fanciful names and their oldworld prize comptitions, made way for a national thtre1 on whose boards were exalted the national hroes, and the Hebrew hroes of Old Testament story. It was then that Joost van Vondel, the greatest of Holland's writers wrote his dramas from whom Milton, perhaps, drew inspiration. The Jews of Holland therefore shared the dramatic aspirations of their country to the full. We may ask why the Jews of Holland composed their dramas in Hebrew and not in Dutch. By writing in Hebrew, it would look rather as if the writers stood outside the national movement and not within it. However, there was nothing like that. Dutch was not the language of the Jews who had taken refuge in this hospitable land. In Holland, as in England, their language remained Spanish for a long time. Furthermore, there was little chance that an unknown Jewish author could interest the Dutch public. Zacut tried to avoid the alination of the Dutch by writing in Spanish, and being forced to write for a Jewish public, he preferred to use Hebrew. He wished to prove thus to his fellow-countrymen in Holland that the sacred language was alive, flexible, humane and at the same time he tried to crate a feeling and a dsire in his correligionists, by force of their new patriotic motions, of cultivating the national language Hebrew. (To be continued.) 1. C. F. Adolfo van Dam, op. cit., p. 12. Henry V. BESSO.