Grets, Henry

Heinrich Grets was born on October 31, 1817 in the town of Xions of the Poznan province. Grets came from poor uneducated parents (his father was a butcher), who, however, in view of the boy's early abilities, tried to educate him. In his youth, Heinrich Grets was engaged, however, mainly in Hebrew literature and the Talmud ; of secular sciences, he learned for himself only the most necessary. Already at the age of 15, he wrote in Hebrew an essay on the Jewish calendar (it remained unprinted). Preparing for a rabbinical career, Grets went in 1831 to Wollstein in Poznan; here he studied the Talmud and (self-taught) secular sciences, Latin and Greek . After 4½ years spent in Wollstein, Grets decided to go to Prague, where he was then admitted to the university without a gymnasium exam. However, he was detained at the border, because he did not find the 20 guilders needed to cross the Austrian border.

In the spring of 1837, Graz went to Oldenburg , where he was invited by the famous rabbi Samson Rafail Hirsch , whose writings made a strong impression on Graz. Here he continued his studies. In 1840, Grets moved to Ostrovo, where 1½ g. Took the place of a home teacher. In 1842, he received permission from the minister to mimiculate himself at the University of Breslavl, without being subjected to a preliminary test for a certificate of maturity. At the university, Grets studied primarily Eastern languages ​​and philosophy, the latter in the Hegelian spirit. The influence of Hegelian philosophy on Grets was great: in Breslavl, Grets gradually freed himself from extreme orthodoxy, approaching moderate religious liberalism. Immediately he began to engage in literary work. His first scientific work was a thorough review of A. Geiger's work Lehrbuch zur Sprache der Mischna, which appeared in Literaturblatt des Orients, 1844–45. The review attracted general attention and provoked an objection from Geiger.

The first independent work of Grets was the dissertation “Gnostizismus und Judenthum” ( Breslavl . 1845), for which the author received the title of Doctor of Jena University. Subsequently, he refused the conclusions made by him in this essay, but when the book was published, it attracted the attention of scientists. After passing the exam for the title of teacher, Grets taught in Breslavl and Lundenburg (Moravia), in the winter of 1852–53, at the invitation of the community in Berlin, he gave lectures on Jewish history (for candidates for the title of rabbi) along with Zunts and Sachs and when it opened in Breslavl seminary, was invited there as an assistant professor. Grets agreed to take this post on the condition that Zachariah Frankel, with whom he had made close friendship as early as 1846, takes the place of the rector (Frankel demanded the appointment of Grets). He occupied this place until his death.

Since 1869, having received the title of professor, Grets read at the University of Breslavl; He was a regular contributor and editor of Monatsschrift v. Gesch. u. Wissenschaft d. Judentums from 1869 to 1887. In Breslavl, Grets wrote almost all of his works. Public life was not alien to G. He was interested in the development of the Alliance, participated in the Paris meeting of 1878 about the Romanian Jews and was very sympathetic to the emerging national and Zionist movements. Having visited Palestine in 1872 in order to study the country of the original history of the Jews (the first 4 volumes of his great work), Grets laid the foundation for an orphanage here. Grets’s national feelings, which penetrate the XI volume of his “History of the Jews,” even provoked Treychka’s anti-Semitic persecution and the discontent of German liberals and leading circles of German Jewry. This was expressed, among other things, in the fact that Graetz was not invited to be a member of the Historische Kommission für Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland (see). Grez’s popularity did not suffer from this. His 70th anniversary was marked by a special celebration. Friends and students brought him a collection of scientific articles (Ateret Zewi, Jubelschrift zum 70 Geburtstage des Prof. N. Graetz, Breslavl, 1887), and London Heb. society invited him to open a public lecture in London, Anglo-Heb. historical exhibition (see) in 1887. A year later, the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences in Madrid appointed Grets as its honorary member.

The main work of Grets is the broadly conceived “History of Jews from Ancient Ages to the Present,” which was published in eleven, then twelve volumes (1853–1875). First, a fourth volume appeared, covering the history of the Jews from the time of the destruction of the Jewish state (70 according to R. Chr.) To the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud. For ancient history, the first three volumes were intended. The great virtues inherent in this composition, especially the lively and exciting language, gave him a good welcome. The processing of historical material is sustained, though in a conservative spirit, but sufficiently critical that it did not fail to cause displeasure in orthodox circles. In 1856, Volume III appeared - the period from the death of Hasmonaeus Judah to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.

The chapter on Jesus Christ, Grets had to be released due to censorship conditions; added only in the second edition (1862), it is written very restrained, in a conservative spirit; the Gospel narrative is here accepted as a historical document (with very slight, however, restrictions), which Grets retained his point of view during the revision made by him for the 4th edition (1888). The material that grew during this time made it necessary to increase the size of this volume, and it came out in two parts. Grets brought "History" to the second half of the 19th century. (political until 1848) and only then processed the ancient period before the Hasmonean wars. Instead of the proposed 3 volumes, four were needed, so now the entire composition consists of 12 volumes. History has withstood several editions; individual volumes have been published up to four times. She was also translated into various languages; in Hebrew TT. 3-10 were translated by S. P. Rabinovich with notes by A. Ya. Garkavi (in 1875 3 volumes appeared in the Hebrew translation of Kaplan); individual volumes have been translated into Russian under the editorship of Bakst, Garkavi and others (cf. System. Index). The significance and influence exerted by this historical work is unusually great, although not all parts are equally successful - which is not surprising with such enormous work that required the author 25 years of work. It is also necessary to take into account the uneven amount of material for different eras.

Grets possessed great knowledge not only in the field of Jewish history, but also in the field of secular sciences and was distinguished by great diligence. He undoubtedly possessed great general historical information, and the main merit of his works is precisely what he paints. history against the backdrop of the historical drama of all mankind. To this should be added an exciting presentation, which, however, is often distinguished by subjectivity and incorrect style. Grets was one of the first in the presentation of Jewish history to adopt a tone that was pleasant to Jews. A great help for him was that he could use the best preparatory work than his predecessor Jost , for in the period between the appearance of the works of these historians, the science of Judaism moved significantly ahead, the sources of Jewish history were revealed in different directions. The assessment of the work of the Grez must therefore be done separately for each volume. Common to the whole composition is the well-known seal of conservatism.

Strange as it may seem, the first 2-3 volumes are most liberally written, covering biblical time and the subsequent era before the Syrian wars. He does not share the views of modern biblical criticism, since it concerns the Pentateuch; he even defends the unity of the Torah, rejecting the famous theory of Astryuk about its various sources. Nonetheless, he applied the critical method on a rather wide scale. This part of the “History” belongs to the weakest parts of the whole composition, for it lacks consistency. A grez begins a Jewish story. people since the conquest of Palestine by Joshua, considering the ancient biblical history as a folk tradition. Grets accepts biblical sources as historically correct, applying only in some places his bold critical corrections (see below). In processing the post-biblical period, Grets was strongly influenced by the Hegelian philosophy of history, according to which everything that has a historical development behind it is at the same time correct and reasonable. The historical Judaism in that main line in which it developed, according to Grets, is therefore a reasonable beginning in the history of the Jewish people. From this point of view, Grets considers all the phenomena of Judaism, all internal movements and disagreements. He considers the Pharisee’s Judaism to be more progressive than the Sadducees' Judaism, rabbinical Judaism is higher than Karaite. He reacts negatively to Kabbalah, as well as to mysticism in general, to which he attributes the adverse influence on the Jews. He has a no less negative attitude to Hasidism and the modern reformation movement and, in general, to all extreme currents that deviate from straightforward development. An objective assessment of its actual presentation is currently impossible. It is striking that at the end Grets loses the historical thread, for here we have no longer the history of the Jews, but the history of West European Jews, mainly even German Jews. For the history of Jews in Poland from the middle of the 18th century there were no sources in its time.

Political History Heb. The Grets depicted the people with great detail. Cultural life is drawn by the author only from the spiritual side. His work is therefore the history of literature, which sets out - the point of view is not important here - all the spiritual movements among Jews. “To teach and wander, to think and to suffer, to know and endure - this is the task of Jewry in this vast period,” these are the words of Grets in the preface to the fourth volume of “History,” so characteristic of his view of the history of Jews in exile. In contrast, economic history is not at all noted. In addition to the fact that 40-50 years ago German historiography usually did not pay attention to this side of folk life, for the Heb. there were no stories and partly still there are still no preparatory work in this area.

As a multilateral scholar, Grets has won a prominent place in various fields of Judaism. Along with historical research, he was engaged in the critical development of the Bible, in particular the critical study of texts. He attracted attention with bold corrections, which he considered quite justified. The lack of a correct flair in this area makes, however, its amendments even less satisfactory than the corrections proposed by Protestant scholars. It is characteristic that all the proposals of Grets regarding the correction of the Greek text of Proverbs Ben Sirach according to the alleged Jewish original were not confirmed by the found Hebrew texts. The Grets often deviated from the generally accepted chronology of Bible books, resorting to bold hypotheses. From the writings of Gretz relating to this area, it is worth mentioning: " Ecclesiastes ", translation and criticism (1871); Schir ha-Schirim, translation and criticism (1871); “Schir ha-Schiriin” he refers to the time of Toviev (about 200 years before P. Xp.), And “Ecclesiastes” to the period of Herod . Then he published: 1) “Kritischer Kommentar zu den Psalmen” together with the text and translation, with the application of a large textually critical introduction (2 vols., Breslavl, 1882/3) and “Der einheitliche Charakter des Propheten Joels” (1873). After the death of Grets, V. Bacher published on the basis of the remaining manuscript Emendationes in plerosque Sacrae Scripturae Veteris Testamenti libros (Breslavl, 1892–94, 3 parts). Grets's historical and critical writings are very numerous, published by him in a separate edition and in various magazines (mainly in the monthly Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums edited by him).

The following works should be noted: “Volkstümliche Geschichte der Juden” ( Leipzig , 1889–91, 3 vols.), An abridged popular edition of the history of the Jews brought to modern times (there is a translation of the first part in Russian and translation and processing in jargon); Die westgothische Gesetzgebung inbetreff der Juden (1858), Dauer der gewaltsamen Hellenisierung der Juden (1864); Frank und die Frankisten (1868); "Das Königreich Messene und seine jüdische Bevölkerung" (1879); “Die jüdischen Proselyten im Römerreich unter den Kaisern Domitian, Nerva, Trajan und Hadrian” (1884); Ueber das Sikarikongesetz (1892).

From journal articles that have retained their significance to this day, we note here: “Jüdisch geschichtliche Studien” (Monatsschrift, 1852); "Fälschungen in dem Text der Septuaginta" (ib., 1853); Die talmudische Chronologie und Topographie (ib., 1852); “Hagadische Elemente bei den Kirchenvätern” (ib., 1854); "Die mystische Literatur in der gaonäischen Epoche" (ib., 1859); Voltaire und die Juden (ib., 1868); Die Ebioniten des Alten Testaments (ib., 1869); “Zur Topographie von Palästina” (ib., 1870); "Die Söhne des Tobias, die Hellenisten und der Spruchdichter Sirach" (ib., 1872); Die Echtheit des Bücher des Propheten Ezechiel (ib., 1874); "Shylock in der Sage, im Drama und in der Geschichte" (ib., 1880; translated in "Sunrise", 1881, V); Exegetische Studien zum Propheten Jeremia (ib., 1883); “Exegetische Studien zu den Salomonischen Sprüchen” (1884), etc. In addition, Gretz's pen includes: “Historic parallels in Jewish history” (Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition, I, 1887; cp. “Week. Sunrise Chronicle” , 1887, 39-41); "Judaism and biblical criticism" (Jewish Chronicle, 1887); “La police de l'inquisition d'Espagne à ses débuts” (Rev. Ét. Juiv., 1890); Biblical Studies (Jew. Quart. Rev., 1891), etc. Gretsa also participated in the publication of the Palestinian Talmud (Krotoshin, 1866).

The article “Die Verjüngung d. jüdischen Stammes ”(Jahrb. für Israeliten, Vienna, 1863, t. X; reprinted with comments in Jüd. Volkskalender, Brunn, 1903), which triggered a trial against the publisher Compert by the anti-Semite Brunner. In addition to response articles on Treichke's attacks, Grets wrote an anonymous essay, Briefwechsel einer englischen Dame über Judentum u. Semitismus "(1883). He published an anthology of the new war. poetry Leket Schoschanim (1862; cf. Geiger's critique in Jüd. Zeitschr., I, 68–75).

Heinrich Graz mind. Sep 7 1891 in Munich , being here

The bibliography of his writings and article is compiled by Abrahams, in Jew. Quart. Review (IV, 194-203).

• Grets, Henry // Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron . - SPb. , 1908-1913.
• S. Dubnov, “Historiographer of Jewry. Heinrich Grets, his life and works ”,“ Rising ”, 1892;
• Ph. Bloch, Heinrich Graetz, Poznan, 1904 (diary from 1832-1854 was used);
• J. Abrahams, H. Graetz, The Jewish historian, in Jew. Quart. Rev., 1892, 165-203;
• B. Rippner, Zum 70. Geburtstag d. Prof. H. Graetz, 1887;
• D. Kaufmann, H. Graetz, der Historiograph des Judentums, in Jahrbuch Branna. Breslavl, 1892.