Hegel entry of Jewish Encyclopedia

8/10/2019 Hegel entry of Jewish Encyclopedia

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efez

egrel

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

316

a Palestinian, but it is more probable that he lived

in Kairwan. He wasthe author ofa work, nowlost,

in which, as its name Seferha-Mizwot indicates,

the 613 commandments were enumerated (see COM

MANDMENTS, THE 613). Unlike his predecessors

in this field , Hefez, besides an enumeration of the

laws, gave, in brief, reasons for their existence.

He was thus, perhaps, the first in the field of the

Ta'ame ha-Mizwot, which afterward hadsomany

exponents. Moreover, the Sefer ha-Mizwot con

tained not only the Biblical ordinances, b utalsotheir

Talmudic-rabbinical amplifications and interpreta

tions. Hefez

gave

what

maybe

described as a brief

summary of Biblical, Talmudic, and geonic litera

ture, including also formulas for prayer. The book

was highly esteemed by the Spanish and German-

French authorities, and the decisions of its author,

who was referred to as Gaon, Resh Kallah,

and Alluf, had such authority that even Maimon

ides acknowledged himself under obligation to him

(comp. his responsum in Pe 'er ha-Dor, No.140).

Hefezwas a grammarian and a philosopher as well

as ahalakist,and, what is very remarkable, he man

aged to express h is philological and philosophical

opinions even inhis Sefer ha-Mizwot. Jonah ibn

Janah, Judah ibn Balaam, Solomon Parhon, and

Tanhum Yerushalmi quote grammatical as well as

lexicographical remarks from

Hefez's

Sefer ha-

Mizwot. To judge from these quotations, Hefez

not only explained the Biblical verses of a legisla

tive nature which he had quoted in his enumeration

of the 613 laws, but also at times referred to pas

sages from Scriptural books other than those of the

Pentateuch;even post-Biblical literaturewasdrawn

upon for the interpretation of Biblical passages.

Hefez was a philosopher of authority, as a quota

tion from his work in Judah b. Barzillai's commen

tary to the Sefer Yezirah indicates (pp. 55-56).

As Kaufmann has already noted, Bahya ben Joseph

ibnPakuda'sproof of the existence of God from the

combination of the four elements, notwithstanding

their opposing natures ( Hobot ha-Lebabot, i. 6),

is derived from the Sefer ha-Mizwot of Hefez.

Bahya's teaching concerning the unity of God and

the anthropomorphism of the Scriptures may prob

ably also be traced back to Hefez, whose work is

quoted by Bahya in the introduction to his book

(comp. Kaufmann in Judah b. Barzillai's Commen

tary , p. 335). The tosafists, like the other German-

French authors,

quote legal decisions

from the works

of Hefez, while assumingtheauthor of them to have

beenR.Hananeel. It hasbeenclearly dem onstrated,

however, that not Hananeel, but Hefez, was the

author of the work. The misunderstanding arose

through a false interpretation of the abbreviation

n'D(

}*Sn D)

as

SxjJn

'D- W hether the book

Hefez is any other than the Sefer ha-Mizwot is

still in doubt; it is possible that the bookHefez

may mean the book by Hefez, and therefore the

Sefer ha-Mizwot. If both refer to the same book,

the Sefer ha-Miz wot musthave been avoluminous

codex, as the quotations from the book Hefez

cover all departments of Jewish

lawritual

law,

civil law, etc.

On the

other

hand, Rapoport's

claim,

whichmakesHefeztheauthoralsoofthe Mik:?o'ot

(see HANANEEL

B.

HUSHIEL), has been proved to be

without foundation. Nor was

Hefez

the author

of

the We-Hizhir.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Berliner,Migdal Hananel,pp. 17-30

man part); Bloch,

inR. E. J.v.

37-40: Benjacob,

Ozar

Sefarim; Ftirst, inOrient, Lit.x. 110-111; L. Levyso

x

247-350; Reifmann,

ib.

xii.

617;

Eapoport,

Toledot

Biananel,pp. 30-33; idem,inKobak'sJeschurun,

65;

idem.

In Wamhetms

Kebuzat Ifakamim,

pp. 53-

8. S. ' L. G.

HEFKER:

Ownerless property, rendered so

either by the formal renunciation of the owner, or

by an act of the court (Git. 36b), or by the death of

a proselyte who has leftnoJewish heirs (B. B. 149a;

Maimonides, Yad, Zekiyyah,i. 6).Property found

in seas, rivers, or deserts is also supposed to be own

erless,and comesunderthecategory ofhefker (Shul-

han 'Aruk,Hoshen Mishpat, 273, 12, 274, Isserles'

gloss; comp. B. K. 81a, the ten institutions estab

lishedby Joshua;seeTAKKANAH). In all thesecases

property of this kind is acquired by the firs t who

cares to takepossession of it. The renunciationof

ownership in property, whether movable or immov

able, in order to be valid mustbemade in the pres

ence of three men (Ned. 45a). The formula of such

a renunciation is very

simple:

This my property

shall be

hefljer.

If no one takes possession of the

property during the first three days, the previous

owner may retract his original statement, but not

after that, althoughhe canalways acquire possession

of it in the same manner as any one else (Ned. 44a;

comp. R.Nissim

ad loc;

Ya d, Nedarim, ii. 17;

Hoshen Mishpat, 273, 9). The renunciation is valid

only when made in general terms, not when it

is declared hefker only to a certain class and not to

another class, as when one declares it hefker for the

poor and not for the rich (Peah vi.1; Yer.Peahvi.

1; B. M. 30b; comp. No da ' Biyehuda, series ii.,

to Yoreh De'ah,154). As to whether property is

legally hefker if one or two individuals have been

specifically excepted by the owner, compare

Na-

halat Zebi

to Hoshen Mishpat, 20, 1.

With a few exceptions, the manner of acquiring

is the same in case of hefker as in other cases (see

ALIENATIONAND ACQUISITION). W hile usufructu ary

possession for aperiod of timeissufficienttoestablish

a claim to real estate when the claim is that it was

sold or given away (see

HAZAKAH),

such possession

is not sufficient in the case of hefker, where posses

sion must consist of actual acquisition of the object

(B. B. 54a). Pain ting one portion of a wall in a

house, or plowing a field with the intention of

taking possession of it, is sufficient ( Yad, Ne

darim, ii.; Hoshen Mishpat;,275). All thepoor-laws

that pertain to land are disregarded in thecase of

hefker property. If, however, the previous owner

takes possession of it again, he is obliged to observe

all those laws, except that of separating the tithes

( ma'aser :Ned.44a; Yad, Mattenot' Aniyim,v.

24). One whohas acquiredpossessionofanownerless

ox need not make restitution for the injuries theox

had committed before he acquired it (B. If. 13b;

Hoshen Mishpat, 406, 2, 3). See INHERITANCE;

POOR LAWS; PROSELYTES.

s. s.

J. H.

G.

HEGE L, GEORG WILHELM FRIED-

RICH

: German philosopher; born at Stuttgart

1770; died at Berlin 1831. After studying at the ,


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fefez

Hegel

Tubingen

he became tutor at Bern

(1801)

and

essor (1805) of philosophy at Jena. In 1808 he

Nuremberg;

in

professor at Heidelberg; and in

1818,

professor

Hegel may be said to have been the founder of a

ater half of the nineteenthcentury;even now,

England and America. His system has been de

ibed as logical idealism. According to him,

is actual

or real is the manifestation of spirit

mind; metaphysics iscoincident withlogic,which

develops the creative self-movement

H is

of spirit as a dialectic and necessary

process. God is this self-unfolding

History, spirit, and in the course of the self-

realizing, free process of unfolding,

ion leaps into being. The world is a develop

The influence of Hegel's system was especially

ion of a philosophy of history. From his point

ew history is a dialectic process, through which

, is revealed and realized. This absolute is the

imited and as such, in the fate of the various na

ifyings of certain particular phases of the dia

history

as

the

Supreme Judge.

This

of history has since become funda

al in the theology of some of the leaders of the

sh Reform movement. It has been made the

on. Furthermore, it has helped to enlarge and

dify the concept of revelation. Applying these

HIRSCH

especially) have discovered in that

story also the principle of development, a succes

of fuller growths, of more complete realizations

form and apprehension of the particular spirit or

Hegel was also the first seriously to develop a

losophy of religion. In his lectures on this sub

ject

he treats

firstof

the

concept of re-

H is ligion, then of the positive religion,

and finally of the absolute religion.

R eligion.

Religion is defined as thinking the

Absolute, or

think ing consciousness

God ; but this thinking is distinct from philoso

far as it

is not

in the form of

pure

thought,

ut in that of feeling and imaginative representa

n (

Vorstellung

).

The Godhead reveals Himself

rough man. Religion, in the main, is knowledge

God,and of the relation of man to God. There

re idea, religion operates w ith symbols, which are

forms of empirical existence, but not

the

specu

tive content. Yet th is content of highest specu

lative tru th is the essential, and is expressed in the

absolute religion. Through the

cultus

(worship)

the Godhead enters the innermost parts

( das In-

nere

)

of His worshipers and becomes real in their

self-consciousness.

Religion

thus is the

knowledge

ofthe divinespirit [in Himself] throughthemedium

of the

finite

mind. This distinction between sym

bol and content,as wellas the conception of religion

as the

free

apprehension, in an ever fuller degree,

of the divine through the

finite

(human) mind, was

utilized by Samuel Hirsch

in his

rejection of the view

that Judaism is Law, and that the ceremonies, re

garded by him as mere symbols, are divinely com

manded, unchangeable institutions. The idea (or

Lehre

)

is the essential. This idea realizes itself,

imperfectly at first, in symbol, but with its fuller

unfolding the symbols become inadequate to con

vey the knowledge of God. It

was

in this way that

Hegel's philosophy of religion

became

of importance

for modern Jewish thought.

Hegel himself, when treating of positive or defi

nite

( bestimmte )

religion, dealt with Judaism as

only

one

of the temporary phases through which the

knowledge of

God

passed in

the

course

Hegel s of its evolution

into the

absolute

relig-

View of

ionChristianity.

He divides

be-

Judaism. stimmte Religion

into (a)na tural re

ligions and(b)thereligion of spiritual

[

geistigen

]

individuality. In

the

firstgroup are

included, besides the lowest, called by him the im

mediate religions, or religions of magic, the Ori

entalreligionstheChinese religion of measure ;

the Brahman religion of fantasy ; the Buddhis

tic religion of inwardness ( Insichsein ). Mid

way between this group and the second he places

Zoroastrianism, which he denominates the religion

of

good,

or of light , and the Syrian religion, des

ignated as the religion of pain . In the second

group

he

enumerates the

religion of sublimity

(Judaism), the

religion of beauty

(the Greek),

and the religion of utility

( Zweckmassigkeit ),

or

of

intellect

(the Roman).

In thus characterizing Judaism, Hegel practically

restates, in the difficult, almost

unintelligible,

tech

nical phraseology of

his own system,

the opinion

com

mon to all Christian theologians since Pau l. The

unity (of God) as apprehended by Judaism is al

together transcendental. God is indeed known as

Non-World,

Non-Nature ; but He is merely

cognized as the Master, the Law giver. Israel

is the particular people of this particular God.

Israel is under the

Law;

yea, Israel

isjforever

indis-

solubly bound up with a particular land (Palestine).

The influence of Hegel is discernible in the wri

tings

of Samson Raphael Hirsch,

who

turned

Hegel's

system to good account in defense of

H is

Orthodoxy.

Samuel Hirsch, on the

Influence

other

hand, was induced to write his

on Jewish

Religionsphilosophie der Juden

by

Thinkers, the desire to show that his master

Hegel had misunderstood Judaism.

He showed that the central thought in Hegel's sys

tem, that man is God's image and that through him

the divine is realized ou earth, is fundamental also

to Judaism. The universal implications of the

God-consciousness, vindicated by Hegel for Chris-


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Hegesippus

Heidenheim


318

tianity alone,

were

certainly

before

that

Jewish,

in the

dialectic process

through,

which the God-conscious

nessfin llyrose to the climactic harmonizing ofNa

ture and God (the transcendental andthenatural) in

the absolute religion (Christianity). The Jewish

God-idea is not barrenly transcendental. The an

tithesis between God and non-God is overcome in

the concept of Man (not merely one God-Man) as

combining the divine and the na tural (see GOD).

The theory of Hegel that Judaism is Law, that

its motive is fear, that the holiness and wisdom of

God as cognized by it are attributes merely of the

sublime, unapproachable Sovereign, andassuch are

beyond the reach of man, as well as the other view

that Judaism is definitively Palestinian, is contrary

to the facts of Jewish history. Even the Bible

shows tha t religion as reflected by it had progressed

beyondthis stage. The Hegelian method of regard

ing man and mind as under the law of growth, and

God, not as a fact, but as a force, prepared the way

for modern theories of evolution and the science of

comparative religion.

BIBLIOGRAPHY :Hegel s Werke,especiallyVorlesungen Uber

die Philosophie der Religion, Berlin,1833; Samuel Hirsch,

Die ReligionsphilosopMe der Juden, Leipsic, 1843;Pflei-

derer,Gesch. der ReligionsphilosopMe, Berlin,1883; Pun

ier,Gesch. der ReligionsphilosopMe,Brunswick,1880,1883;

Windelband,History

of

Philosophy (transl.), New York,

1898; Zeller,Gesch. der Deutsclien Philosophic seit Leib

nitz,2d ed., Munich, 1875.

E. G. H.

H EG ES IPP TJ S: 1. One of the earliest writers

of the ChristianChurch;lived at Rome, whither he

had gone about 150 from Palestine or Syria, by

way of Corinth; died about 189. According to

Eusebius,hewasbybirtha Jew; and though this is

only an induction on

the

part of

Eusebius,

it may be

accepted as true. He wrote, in five

books/a

work

entitled

tr

trrop.vrjuara Wivre, or TLevrs ^vfypapfiara,

a h istorical apology for C hristianity, in which he at

tempts to provethetruthandcontinuity/of Christian

doctrine in the apostolic churches and /alsothe suc

cession of bishops. It was indirectly aimed against

Gnosticism and heresies in general.

Of

Jewish he

retical sects

he

mentions seven (Eusebius, His t.

Eccl. iv. 21): Essenes, Galileans, Hemerobaptists,

Masbotheans, Samaritans, Sadducees, and Pharisees.

He cites the apocryphalgospelsof the Hebrews and

of the Syrians, Jewish traditions, and Judaeo-Chris-

tian literary productions. He is thus an important

authority for Jewish heresies and for the earliest

history of the Christian Church.

Only fragments

of the YTrouvr/fiara have been

preservedin

the

Historia Ecclesiastica of Eusebius and (one ex

tract)inPhotius, Bibliotheca, p.232.

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Hilgenleld, in

Zeitsch rift fUr

Wissenschaft-

liche Theologie,1878, p. 304; idem,Ketzergesch.pp. 30, 84;

Harnack, Gesch.

der

Altchristlichen Litteratur, i. 483;

idem,

Chronologie der Altchristlichen Litteratur,

i. 180

et

seq.;

Holtzmann,

Lehrbuch der Neutestamentlichen The

ologie, p.

104;

the literature cited by

Weizsacker,

in Her-

zog-Hauck,

Real-Encyc.

vii. 531.

2. Presumed name of the author of a free Latin

translation, infivebooks, of the

Wars

of the Jews

of Josephus; lived in the second half of the fourth

century. The name is merely a corruption of Jo

sep hus ; it occurs as Joseph us as early as the

fifth century, inEucherius,and as late as the tenth,

in Widerkind of Saxony. In the latter par t of the

Ambrosian manuscript (8th or 9th cent.) the head

ing

Josippi Liber Primus

has been

changed by a

later hand to Egesippi. A Bern manuscriptof

the ninth century has Hegesippus ; whilea Vati

can manuscript of the ninth and tenth centurieshas

Am brosius as the author, though without any

foundation. The text of Josephus is treated very

freely in

Hegesippusmostly

in a shortened form..

Itwasfirst printed at Paris,1510,and hasbeen often

reprinted. It

was

used

by the

author of the Hebrew

Yosippon. SeeJosEPnus, FLAVIUS.

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Schiirer,

Gesch.

i. 73 (and the authorities th

cited),124;Rapoport, in the introduction to Stern'sed. ol

Parhon'sAruk,p. x., Posen, 1844; Zunz, 67.V.p. 159.

G.

HE-HALTJZ (lit. the armed, or the van

guard

):

Hebrew magazine or year-book which

ap

peared irregularly between

1852

and 1889. Its

Ger

man title, Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen uber

JUdische Geschichte, Literatur, und Alterthums-

kunde, indicates the nature of its contents. It was

edited and published by JoshuaHeschel Scnormas

the realization ofaplan mapped outby hisfriendand

teacher Isaac Erter, who had died one year before

the firs t volume appeared. Geiger, A.Krochmal,

J. S. Reggio, M. Dubs, and M. Steinschneider

were

among the contributors to the earlier volumes, the

major portion of which, however, was written by

the editor. The articles in the later volumeswere

written by Schorr exclusively. The dates and

places of publication are as follows: vols, i.-iii.

Lemberg, 1852-56; iv.-vi. Breslau, 1859-61;

vii.-

viii. Frankfort-on-the-Main,

1865-69;

ix.-xi. Prague,

1873-80; xii.-xiii. Vienna, 1887-89.

He-Haluz was the most radical of Hebrew

periodical publications, and Schorr's boldattacks on

the great rabbinical au thorities, and even on the

Talmud, aroused intense opposition. Entire works,

likeA.M.Harmolin's Ha-Holez (Lemberg,1861)

and

Meir Kohn

BISTRITZ'S Bi'ur Tit ha-Yawen

(German title, O. H. Schorr's Talmudische Exe-

gesen, Presburg, 1888), were written to disproveits

statements, and few men were subjected toso much

vindictive criticism and gross personal abuseas its

editor, who was equally unsparing in his counter

attacks. Many of his extreme views on Talmudical

subjects were, however, rejected even by radical

critics (see Geiger,

Jild.

Zeit.

iv.

67-80).

j. P. Wi.

HEIDELBERG: University town in the grand

duchy of Baden, Germany; it has a population of

40,240, including 882 Jews. The community there

dates from

the middle

of

the

thirteenth

century, as is

shown byhistoricalreferences tothepresenceof Jews

in the neighborhood of Heidelberg during the reign

of Ludw ig II . (1253-94). In1300the protected Jew

Anselm lived in the townitself; in1321there were

several othersthere;and in1349Jews were among

those who suffered during the Black Death. How

ever, it is probable that but few were martyred, for

the elector Rupert I. made Heidelberg at that time

a place of refuge for Jew s fleeing from Worms,

Speyer, and other places. From the middle of the

fourteenth century onward Jews were regularly re

ceived in Heidelberg under comparatively favorable

conditions. The

Hochmeister

(rabbi) Lebelang

was granted protection, and permission to open at

Heidelberg or insomeother placein thePalatinatea

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Hegel entry of Jewish Encyclopedia