How Hebrew Came to Yale
(1700's)
Few Americans have heard of Rabbi Haim
Isaac Carigal, but every Yale University graduate has
seen the evidence of his influence over the history
of that institution. Because of Carigal’s relationship
with Yale’s fifth president, Reverend Ezra Stiles,
in 1777 Hebrew became a required course in the freshman curriculum.
Many colonial-era American Christians
had a respect for – even a fascination with —
the Hebrew language and Jewish religion.
In part, their interest stemmed from a belief that the Hebrew Bible, which
they dubbed the "Old Testament," laid the
ground for the Christian "New
Testament." Educated American Christians, especially
New England clergymen, assumed that an accurate reading
of the Old Testament was best done in its original language.
By the 1720s, it was possible to study Hebrew at Harvard
College under the tutelage of Professor Judah
Monis.
The philo-Semitic attitudes of many New England Christian ministers
led to early interfaith relationships between Christian and Jewish clergy.
Perhaps the best of documented these is that between Reverend Stiles
of the Second Congregational Church in Newport, Rhode Island and Rabbi
Carigal, who resided in Newport for six months in the spring and summer
of 1773. The two men developed a friendship that personally influenced
Stiles and turned him into a Hebrew scholar.
What we know of Rabbi Carigal comes
to us mainly through the writings of Reverend Stiles,
who kept a detailed diary of their six-month friendship.
Carigal matched the 18th century’s archetype of
the "wandering Jew." Born in Hebron,
Palestine in 1733, Carigal became a rabbi at age seventeen.
At age 19, he traveled to Egypt,
and Turkey; in 1757,
he toured Italy, Austria,
Bohemia, Germany,
the Netherlands and England. Between
1761 and 1764, Carigal visited Curacao,
Amsterdam, Germany and Italy before returning to Hebron.
He visited France and England in 1768, Jamaica in 1771, and Philadelphia,
New York and Newport in 1772 and 1773. We do not know
with certainty why Carigal traveled so often; most likely
it was to raise funds for the religious Jews of Hebron.
Stiles first encountered Carigal at
the Newport synagogue when Carigal presided over a Purim service in March 1773. Stiles recorded that Carigal
"was dressed in a red garment with the usual Phylacteries
and habiliments, the white silk Surplice; he wore a
high fur cap, had a long beard. He has the appearance
of an ingenious and sensible man." Impressed by
Carigal, Stiles returned to the synagogue to hear him lead Passover services four weeks later, an event about which Stiles
wrote copiously, including the fact that on his shaved
head Carigal wore "a high Fur Cap, exactly like
a Womans Muff, and about 9 or 10 Inches high, the Aperture
atop was closed with green cloth." Stiles described
the singing at the service as "fine and melodious."
Stiles invited Carigal and Aaron Lopez,
a leading Newport Jewish merchant, to visit his home
on March 30, 1773. Stiles and Carigal struck up a remarkable
friendship. Stiles records no fewer than 28 meetings
with Carigal before the latter departed for the Caribbean
in September of that year. The topics of their conversations
ranged widely through cabbalistic mysticism, the nature
of Hebrew and Arabic languages, the question of which
language Moses wrote in, the relationship between Turks and Jews in
Palestine; ancient coins and books, circumcision among
Coptic Christians, the coming of the Messiah and numerous other subjects.
During this period, Carigal tutored Stiles intensively in Hebrew. Stiles
already had a basic knowledge of the language; by the time Carigal departed
from Newport, Stiles and he were exchanging lengthy letters in Hebrew.
Stiles began translating major portions of the Hebrew Bible into English.
Carigal was elected rabbi of Congregation Kaal Kodesh Midhi Israel in
Barbados. He and Stiles continued corresponding until Carigal’s
death there in 1777.
In that same year, Stiles was called
to Yale to become its president; a year later, he became
the school’s first Semitics professor. While the
Revolutionary War had forced the postponement of Yale’s
commencement since 1776, in September 1781, the ceremonies
were held – although "in constant fear that
they will be interrupted by the Enemy" — and
Stiles delivered an address in Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic.
A Yale student wrote in 1788, "The President insisted that the
whole class should undertake the study of Hebrew…For the Hebrew
he possessed a high veneration." As it turns out, Stiles’s
prescription was not popular and by 1790, he modified his edict: "From
my first accession to the Presidency ... I have obliged all the Freshmen
to study Hebrew. This has proved very disagreeable to a Number of the
Students. This year I have determined to instruct only those who offer
themselves voluntarily." While enrollment in his courses dropped,
the valedictorians of the classes of 1785 and 1792 did deliver their
orations in Hebrew.
Stiles preserved Carigal’s memory
by hiring Samuel King to paint a portrait of the rabbi
that was hung at Yale. There is perhaps no more central
symbol of the university’s early devotion to Hebrew
learning than its official seal, at the heart of which
are the words Hebrew words "Urim" and "Thummin."
With the Latin terms "Lux et Veritas" —
light and truth — Hebrew is given equal prominence
on the University’s logo.
Sources: American
Jewish Historical Society |