[Studies in Judaism: First Series]

XI. Titles of Jewish Books

It is now more than half a century since Isaac Reggio in his edition of Elijah Delmedigo’s Examination of Religion, made the remark that this book adds to its other merits that of bearing a title corresponding to its contents,—a merit that is very rare in Jewish books. Reggio proceeds to give a few specimens confirming his assertion, and concludes his remarks with a eulogy on Delmedigo, who in this respect also had the courage to differ from his contemporaries. Zunz also once wrote an article on titles of books. But this article unfortunately appeared in some German periodical which the British Museum does not possess, and I could not even succeed in ascertaining whether Zunz treats at all of titles of Hebrew books, nor am I aware that the subject has been taken up by any other scholar, Isaac D’Israeli’s few notes on the subject in his Curiosities of Literature being scarcely worth mention. It seems to me, however, interesting enough to deserve some illustration, though I can by no means hope to be complete.

The titles of the books contained in the Bible need not be discussed here; information concerning them is to be found in every critical introduction to the Old Testament. The Rabbinical works dating from antiquity also offer little opportunity for reflection on their titles. The Talmud, as a work, has no title at all; for Talmud simply means “teaching” or “study.” Sometimes it is termed ShaSS, an abbreviation of Shisha Sedarim,²²⁵ meaning the Six Orders or divisions contained in the Mishnah. This last word means, according to some authors, “Repetition.” Other Tannaitic collections of laws or expositions of the Scriptures are called “the Book” (Siphra), “the Books” (Siphré), or “Additions” (Tosephta to the Mishnah). The word Baraitha²²⁶ means the external Mishnah that enjoyed less authority than the Mishnah of R. Judah the Patriarch. Some approach to titles we find in the names given to the different tractates included in the Mishnah, as Berachoth, because it treats of Benedictions, Peah²²⁷ (Corner) which contains the particulars concerning the law in Lev. xix. and so forth. Of the few works quoted in the Talmud it will suffice to mention the Seder Olam, the Order of the World, the name of which is very suitable to the chronological contents of the book. In general, I may observe that as long as the law which prohibited the writing down of the Oral teachings was in force, there hardly existed Jewish books. But where there are no books there is also no need for titles. The few titles, however, which can be proved to be historical are simple and to the point. It is not till about the beginning of the Middle Ages, when this prohibitive law had, for reasons not to be explained here, been abolished, that we can speak of Hebrew books. But here also the Title-confusion begins.

In order that we may have some general view of the thousands of titles that are catalogued by the Jewish bibliographers, it will perhaps be well to arrange them under the following six classes:—

I. Simple titles, that have no other object than that of indicating the subject matter of the book. These are, as we have just seen, the only kind of titles known to antiquity. The few books which the Gaonim left us bear such simple titles as could have served as models to later generations. Among them may be mentioned the Halachoth or collection of Laws, Creeds and Opinions, by R. Saadiah Gaon, the Book on Buying and Selling, by R. Hai Gaon, containing the laws relating to commercial transactions. It may be noticed that this last book is one of the best arranged in Jewish literature, and displays more systematising powers than even the Code of Maimonides. The greatest part of the literary activity of the Gaonim consists in their Responsa, in which they gave decisions on ritual questions, or explanations of difficult passages in the Talmud. The titles borne by the various collections of those Responsa belong to a period later than the author’s. The great majority of the books produced by the Franco-German school may also be included in this class. They are termed “Commentaries,” “Additions” or “Glosses,” “Novellæ,” or “Confirming Proofs,” and similar modest titles which show both their relation to, and dependence on, another older authority. The largest collection of Midrashim we possess bears the simple title “Bag.”²²⁸ Many of the Responsa satisfy themselves with the words “Questions to, and Answers by.”

II. Titles taken from the first word with which the book begins, or from the first word of the Scriptural verse occurring first in the book. This class is strongly represented by the Midrashim. Thus the Midrash to the Song of Songs is also quoted as the Midrash Chazitha,²²⁹ “Midrash, Seest thou” (the first text with which this Midrash deals being Proverbs xxii. 28). The Midrash to the Psalms is called Midrash Shocher Tob,²³⁰ “Midrash, He that diligently seeketh the good” (Prov. xi. 37). The Midrash containing the legendary story of the wars of the sons of Jacob with the Canaanites is quoted as Midrash V’yisseu,²³¹ “Midrash, And they journeyed,” as the story begins with the verse from Gen. xxxv. 5. And this is the case with the titles of many other Midrashim. Whether the work cited under the strange name of Meat on Coals did not begin with those words, containing some law relating to the salting of meat, I do not venture to decide. Under this class we may also arrange those books that are called after a phrase which is often used in the book, e.g., the Midrash Yelamdenu (He may teach us), or the Vehizhir, “And He commanded us,” almost every paragraph in these books beginning with the phrases mentioned.²³² Probably all the books belonging to this class received from the hands of their authors or compilers no titles at all. The student who had to quote them gave them names after the phrase or word which first caught his eye. In later centuries this class disappears almost entirely (see, however, Ben-Jacob’s Treasure, p. 201, No. 827).

III. Pompous titles. The largest contributions to this class were made by the mystical writers. Books which profess to know what is going on in the heavens above and the earth beneath cannot possibly be satisfied with modest titles. Thus we have the “Book of Brightness” (Zohar), “the shining book” (Bahir), “the Confidential Shepherd” (Moses).²³³ The books which the Zohar quotes bear such titles as the Book of Adam, the Book of Enoch. The only excuse for the Zohar is that the manufacturing of such books with pseudo-epigraphical titles had already begun in antiquity. It is not, however, till the Gaonic period that a whole apocryphal literature suddenly emerges which perplexes the Gaonim themselves. No one is spared. Angels, patriarchs, and martyrs are called upon to lend their names to these books. What one resents most is that history came within the range of the forger’s activity. There is, for instance, the Josippon, which professes to be written by Josephus, the well-known Jewish historian of the first century. But in spite of all the care taken by the author to disguise himself in the garb of antiquity, the Josippon is a forgery of the ninth or tenth century. Of a similar kind is the Book of Jasher, containing legendary stories relating to Biblical personages. It pretends to be identical with the Book of Jasher quoted in Joshua x. 13 and 2 Sam. i. 18. Some sixty years ago a certain Mr. Samuel of Liverpool had the misfortune to make himself ridiculous by maintaining the pretensions of this book; for, indeed, it does not require much knowledge of the Agadic literature to see that the Book of Jasher is only a compilation of comparatively late Midrashim.

IV. Titles suggested by other Titles. As an instance of this we may take Maimonides’ great Code of Law, which bears the title Mishneh Torah. The importance of the book made it the object of study for hundreds of scholars, who wrote their commentaries and glosses on it. Among the titles of the commentaries such Title-genealogies may be discovered as Maggid Mishneh, Mishneh Lammelech; which last word again suggested such titles as Emek ha-Melech, Shaar ha-Melech, and so on.²³⁴

The same process may be observed in other standard works, the importance of which made them a subject of investigation and interpretation as the “Prepared Table,” one of the glosses to which is called Mappah, “Tablecloth,” whilst others provided it with the Shewbread and with New Fruit.

V. Euphemistic Titles, as “The Tractate of Joys,” treating of funeral ceremonies and kindred subjects. It does not seem that this title was known to antiquity, but it is certain that already the earlier authorities quoted it by this name. “The Book of Life” (the German Jewish title of which is Alle Dinim, von Freuden), is the name of a very popular book containing the prayers to be read in the house of mourning as well as in the cemetery, which is also called the House of Life.

VI. Titles taken from the Bible, or Fancy Titles. This is the largest class of all, though it was utterly unknown in antiquity. It will be, perhaps, convenient to arrange this class of titles under the following sub-divisions. (a) Titles taken from the Bible, but also fulfilling the purpose of indicating the name of the author. For instance, “Seed of Abraham” (Ps. cv. 6), is the title of nine different books, the name of whose authors happened to be Abraham; “And Isaac entreated” (Gen. xxv. 21), is by Isaac Satanow on the Prayers; “Then Isaac sowed” (ibid. xxvi. 12), edited by R. Isaac Perles, contains an index to the Zohar. “Jacob shall take root” (Is. xxvii. 6) is the name of a book on Grammar and Massorah by R. Jacob Bassani. R. Joseph of Posen left two collections of sermons and commentaries on the Pentateuch, of which the one is called “And Joseph nourished” (Gen. xlvii. 12), the other “And Joseph gathered” (ibid. 14). Authors with the name of Judah are represented among others by such titles as “And this of Judah” (Deut. xxxiii.7), a treatise on the laws concerning the killing of animals; or “Judah shall go up” (Judges i. 2), a pamphlet containing a collection of prayers to be said on a journey. “Moses began” (Deut. i. 5) forms the title of three different books on various subjects, the authors of which had the name Moses. “Moses shall rejoice,” a phrase occurring in the morning prayer for Sabbaths, is also the title of two books, the authors of which were named Moses. The “Rod of Aaron” enjoyed, as it seems, a goodly popularity; there are four bearing this name, not to speak of a fifth, “The Rod of Aaron brought forth buds” (Exod. xvii. 23), which is the name of a collection of Responsa by R. Aaron ben Chayim. But other Rods also were fashionable; there are, besides the five Rods of Moses, also Rods of Ephraim, Dan, Judah, Joseph, Naphtali, and Manasseh. By authors of the name of David we find books with the title “And David said,” or a “Prayer of David,” and other phrases occurring in the Psalms relating to David; whilst the “Tower of David” became the stronghold of other writers, and the “Shield of David” protected as many as nine more. The “Chariot of Solomon” (Cant. iii. 9) adorns the title-pages of five books by authors named Solomon. The Caraite Solomon Troki was so fond of that title that he called his two polemical treatises “He made himself a chariot,” while R. Solomon of Mir’s collection of sermons has the title, “This Bed which is Solomon’s” (Cant. iii. 7). As to family names, there were not many authors in the enjoyment of that luxury (especially among the German Jews), but we find them indicating the fact of their being Priests or Levites. Among such books are the collection of Responsa, by R. Raphael Cohen, which has the title “And the Priest shall come again” (Lev. xiv. 39), and the Cabbalistic treatise by R. Abraham Cohen, of Lask, with the title “And the Priest shall reckon unto him” (Lev. xxvii. 18). Probably the author deals with numbers. R. Hirsch Horwitz, the Levite, called his Novellæ to the Talmud “The Camp of Levi.” The title “The Service of the Levite” (with allusion to Exodus xxxviii. 21) is borne by five other books by authors who were Levites. And there may be found hundreds of books with titles suggesting the Priestly or Levitical descent of their authors. Most anxious is Joseph Ibn Kaspi (Joseph the Silvern, so called after his native place Argentière, in the south of France) to provide most of his numerous books with some Biblical titles combined with silver, as a “Bowl of Silver” (Numb. vii. 13), or “Points of Silver” (Song of Songs i. 11), or “Figures of Silver” (Prov. xxv. 10), and other similar phrases. On the other hand Azulai manages to indicate at least one of his three Hebrew names, Chayim Joseph David, in most of his works, of which the number exceeds seventy, as Chayim Shaal,²³⁵ “He asked Life” (Ps. xxi. 4), or “The knees of Joseph” (alluding to Gen. xlviii. 12), and “Truth unto David” (Ps. cxxxii. 11).

(b) The Tabernacle with its furniture was also a great favourite with many authors. There are not only six tabernacles (two on Cabbalah, two on grammar, and two on Talmudical subjects), but also three “Arks of the Testimony,” two “Altars of gold,” two “Tables of Shewbread,” four “Candlesticks of the Light,” two “Sockets of Silver,” and two “Pillars of Silver.” Others again preferred the vestments of the priests as the “Plate of Judgment,” the “Robe of the Ephod,” the “Mitre of Aaron,” the “Plate of Gold,” the “Bell and Pomegranate,” “Wreathen Chains,” and the “Arches of Gold.” Many of these books were written by authors claiming to be priests. (c) But besides the canonical, other costumes were also fashionable. R. Mordecai Yafeh composed ten books, every one of them bearing the name of some garment or apparel, as “Apparel of Royalty,” “Apparel of Blue,” “Apparel of White,” and so the whole suit with which Mordecai went out from the presence of the king (Esther viii. 15). These ten works range from codifications of the law and occasional sermons to philosophy, astronomy, and Cabbalah. By other writers we have three “Coats of many colours” (Gen. xxxvii. 4), one “Bridal Attire,” and the “Thread of Scarlet” is not missing. (d) The ingredients for incense as well as other articles used in the Tabernacle or in the Temple were also fancied by some authors, and we have two books with the title of “Principal Spices,” two “Pure Myrrh,” three “Arts of the Apothecary,” one “Oil of Holy Ointment,” five “Meat Offerings mingled or dry,” three or four “Flour of the Meat Offering,” and also one “Two Young Pigeons” (Bene Yonah) by R. Jonah Zandsopher. But the appetite of the authors did not stop at these holy things. It extended also to such lay articles as “Spiced Wine,” “Juice of Pomegranate” (Cant. viii. 2), “Forests of Honey,” the “Book of the Apple,” and “Seven Kinds of Drink.”

(e) Field and flock also suggested to Hebrew writers as well as to Mr. Ruskin such titles as “The Fruit of the Hand,” the “Rose of Sharon,” the “Lily of the Valleys,” or “The Shepherds’ Tents,” and “In the Green Pastures” (Ps. xxiii. 2).

The specimens given for every class may with very little trouble be doubled and redoubled. But it is not my intention to reproduce here whole catalogues. Reggio thinks all such titles, which do not correspond with the context of the book, absurd and confusing. He suggests that the Jews followed in this respect the Arabic writers. There is no doubt that Reggio is not altogether wrong in his complaint. Almost all the titles included in class vi., as the reader might have observed, never indicate to the student the subject of which the books treat. How can one guess that the Responsa, the Dance of Mahanaim (two companies), is of a polemical nature against the tendencies of reform? This list may be lengthened by hundreds of titles. But even these incomprehensible titles are better than the Chad Gadyah Lo Israel (One Kid No Israel),²³⁶ the un-Hebrew title of a pamphlet trying to prove the un-Jewish origin of the well-known folk-song sung on Passover Eve. But, on the other hand, it must not be overlooked that even this class has, though not always, something suggestive and even practical about it. The “Choice of Pearls” is undoubtedly more attractive than the prosaic “Collection of Proverbs and Sayings,” which is what the book contains. “Understanding of the Seasons” (1 Chr. xii. 32), sounds also better than the simple “Collection of Sermons on different occasions.” “The Lips of those who Sleep” recommends itself as a very suggestive title for a catalogue, especially when one thinks of the Agadic explanation given to Cant. vii. 10, according to which the study of the book of a departed author makes the lips of the dead man to speak. Such titles as “Bunch of Lilies” for a collection of poems are still usual with us. Such a title as the “Jealousy Offering,” or the “Law of Jealousies,” in polemical literature is very appropriate for its subject. R. Jacob Emden, who named one of his pamphlets “Rod for the fool’s back” (Prov. xxvi. 3), will be envied for his choice by many a controversialist even to-day. Wittily devised is the pun-title, “City of Sihon” for a mathematical book by R. Joseph Tsarphathi, alluding to Numb. xxi. 27, “For Hesbon (reckoning) is the City of Sihon.”

Other titles were probably intended more as mottoes than titles. “Go forth and behold, ye daughters of Zion” (Cant. iii. 11), is put in the title-page of R. Jacob’s German-Jewish paraphrase of the Pentateuch, which was written chiefly for the use of ladies. “Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth, a stranger and not thine own lips” (Prov. xxvii. 2), forms the title of a book extending over only one and a half page in quarto. It contains letters by seven Rabbis (among them R. Liva of Prague) recommending the Ascetic, R. Abraham Wangos, who has a daughter to marry, and wants also to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, as deserving the support of his brethren.

There is also another objection to these titles. It is that they seem sometimes not quite consonant with our notions of modesty. Thus we have “Desirable and Sweet” on astronomy, “Sweeter than Honey” or “He shall comfort us,” and many others of this kind. But it must not be thought that we have a right to infer from the title to the author. There is, indeed, an anecdote that three authors were rather too little careful about the choice of their titles, namely Maimonides in calling his Code Mishneh Torah (which is the traditional title of the Book of Deuteronomy), R. Moses Alshech in calling his homiletical commentaries Torah of Moses, and R. Isaiah Horwitz in calling his book Shene Luchoth ha-Berith (The Two Tables of the Covenant). These authors, as the story goes, had for their punishment that their works are never quoted by the titles they gave to them, the former two being usually cited as Rambam or Alshech, whilst the last is more known by its abbreviated title of SHeLa²³⁷ than by its full name.

I do not remember where I have read this story, but I am quite sure that its pious author would have been more careful about repeating it had he known that this accusation against Maimonides was a favourite topic with apostates, who thought to hit Judaism in the person of its representative Maimonides. But, as R. Solomon Duran in his polemical work remarks, Maimonides was too much of a truly great man to find any satisfaction in such petty vanity. Nor do I believe that even the character of less-known authors can in any way be impugned by the seemingly conceited titles of their books; just as on the other hand the humility of the author is not proved by calling his book “The Offering of the Poor,” or other modest titles. The fancy title was in common use, and was therefore a commonplace with no significance whatever. The real disadvantage of such titles lies in the fact that, as already pointed out, they conceal from the student the contents of the book which he might otherwise consult in the course of his researches.

Did these authors perhaps foresee that there would come a time in which index-knowledge would pass for deep scholarship? and did they thus by using these obscure titles try to put a check on the dabblers who speak the more of a book the less they have read of its contents? If this be the case we can only admire their foresight.