TOHOROT HA-KODESH

TOHOROT HA-KODESH , an important work of ethical literature. First printed in Amsterdam in 1733, this anonymous work has been wrongly attributed to Benjamin Wolf b. Mattathias. The error arose from the fact that Benjamin's name is mentioned on the title page, not as the author but as the person who brought the work to the press, and, it seems, collected the funds necessary to finance the printing. According to his introduction, the author chose to remain anonymous in order to avoid pride of authorship, and probably also because of the harsh criticism of contemporary rabbis, institutions, and customs contained in the work. The original title of the work, the introduction indicates, was Hanhagot Yesharot ("Right Ways of Behavior"). Evidence in the book shows that the author was from Poland, and in the work he occasionally compares the customs of Eastern Europe with those of the Orient. It seems that the author was poor, wandered from place to place, and knew Russian. I. Halpern attempted to prove that the author lived in Poland during the *Chmielnicki persecutions (1648–49), which left a deep impression on him, and that he finished the work a decade or two later. B.Z. Dinur and D. Tamar, however, hold that the work was probably written in the first decade of the 18^th century. The later date is somewhat more credible in view of the historical and biographical facts recorded in the work itself. The writer, a Lurianic kabbalist like most authors of ethical works at that time, divided the book into six parts: (1) daily behavior, including the proper way to study at night and to perform the morning rites; (2) synagogue and prayer; (3) business and ethics, and the necessity to study and pray even while attending to daily tasks; (4) evening rites; (5) behavior during Sabbath and festivals; and (6) all aspects of social conduct. Social criticism holds a central place in this work. Ethical literature's preoccupation with just social behavior as the supreme religious goal is clearly presented, especially in the criticism of contemporary rabbis. In fact, the author emphasizes that right social behavior takes precedence over study of the Torah. Dinur included Tohorot ha-Kodesh among those East European ethical works which anticipated modern Ḥasidism and carried some of its social and religious message.

bibliography:

B. Dinur, Be-Mifneh ha-Dorot (1955), index; I. Halpern, in: ks, 34 (1959), 495–98 (= Yehudim ve-Yahadut be-Mizraḥ Eiropah (1968), 396–400); D. Tamar, in: Aresheth, 3 (1961), 166–72 (= Meḥkarim be-Toledot ha-Yehudim (1970), 131–7).