Louis Loewe
A Portrait by Jessie Kurrein, Teplitz-Schönau
The fact that a person has perfect command of 39 languages, spoken as well as written, is enough to arouse interest in those around him and those that follow him. Such a man was Dr. Louis Loewe. One of his contemporary biographers stated quite rightly: "There can be no doubt, that since the great Mezzofanti's passing away, no linguist has come as close as the one, who this biography is about.
One may safely term him a giant of the field linguistics, a Briareus
of languages." To justify this
laudable stand, it may be of use to know a little more of Loewe's background and
deeds, without losing sight of the greatness of his character. Loewe climbed the
social ladder from a modest beginning without any material means or protection, until
he reached the highest societal circles. He was honoured and respected at all times,
which leaves one not only impressed by the qualities of his exceptional intellect, but
also bewildered at his ability to impress even the highest personalities and to
cultivate them as friends. Louis Loewe (Elieser halevi) was born on 24th June 1809
(10. Tammus 5569) in Sülz, Bohemia, son to the great Talmud scholar Rabbi
Mordechai halevi (Marcus Jacob Loewe). The father brought up his boy so that he
might fear God and educated him from the earliest age. At the age of six, he knew
nearly the entire Bible off by heart. The father realised that his son had the gift of an
exceptional memory and, after his arrival in Rosenberg, where he had taken on a
position of Rabbi, started teaching him the Talmud, too. At the time the Bohemian
Jews' cultivation of language in general and the German language in particular was
so neglected, that it was regarded a sin to speak German correctly. Elieser did not
care for these attitudes and instead learned German and French and called upon
Christian teachers to teach him history, geography and natural history. He had not
reached the age of 13 when he lost his father. An uncle, Salomon Sohn, who was
Rabbi in Sülz, took him in and sent him to Lissa to the famous Talmud-school of the
celebrated scholar Rabbi Hirsch Fraustadt. Here he had the opportunity to familiarise
himself with the teachings of the Talmud, of which he made ample use. But this did
not still his thirst for knowledge. Assiduously he taught himself Latin, Greek,
mathematics, geometry and history – all subjects belonging to a grammar school
curriculum. His great industriousness was met by his sharp intellect and excellent
memory. He learned all that the school in Lissa had to offer in a period of two years
and then set his sights on Nikolsburg, Moravia. The first grade Talmud scholar and
duly famous Rabbi Mordechaie Benet (Benedikt) taught there. Soon Loewe enjoyed
his teacher's favour and was allowed to listen to early morning discourses by his son,
R. Mordechais Naftali Benet. In the evenings he would learn the early and later
“Possek” of theological law in the house of Rabbi Moses Löb Sülz, who was a
member of the rabbinical assembly of Nikolsburg. Once he had completed his daily
learning quota, he would read cabbalistic literature to Rabbi Sülz, whose eyesight
had become very weak. Thus he acquired a foundation in that subject, too. But in
Nikolsburg, too, he contacted Christian scholars to help him to further his knowledge
of European languages.
From Nikolsburg, Loewe went to Pressburg to attend the Talmud college of Rabbi Moses Gofer, the most eminent scholar of his time, who authorised him to become a Rabbi. Loewe used the time to perfect his knowledge of French, Spanish and Italian, while at the same time acquiring most other European languages and developing a liking for oriental tongues. For one part his language skills paid for his upkeep, for the other, it enabled him to come to into contact with eminent personalities.
Count Apponyi
allowed Loewe the use of his library, which turned out
to be decisive, as there he found books on both Jewish language and teachings.
After three years in Pressburg he had become a Rabbi, increased his knowledge of
the Talmud, rabbinical law, the bible, philosophy and other subjects and went to
university first in Vienna, then in Berlin, where he attended lectures by
Schleiermacher, Steffens, Klander and Hengstenberg. On his way to Berlin he visited
his hometown of Rosenberg, where his sermon about psalm 111 was received with
great applause.
It did not take him long to attain his doctorate in Berlin; his subjects were
philosophy and linguistics. His friends urged him to strive for a position of Rabbi of a
large parish. Loewe, however, was fascinated by linguistics and went to Hamburg.
The Russian minister, Baron Heinrich von Struwe, recommended him to Dr. von
Spreewitz, who was a renowned numismatist and the proud owner of a sizable
collection of old and ancient coins. He was looking for a suitable person to order and
catalogue his collection, since the old catalogues had been lost. As remuneration
they agreed, that Loewe could keep all duplicate coins. Through his work Loewe not
only acquired a well founded knowledge of numismatics, but laid the basis of a
collection of his own with Dshoodsheed
, Bulgarian, Abbassidian
and Fatimidissian
coins. He was to expand this both in size and value through acquisitions during his many travels to the Orient. His knowledge of semitic languages and hieroglyphs as well as his liking for exploring ancient writings led him to London to examine the collections of scripts, coin collections and acheological museums.
He arrived in 1835 with a letter of introduction addressed to John George Children
, secretary of the
Royal Society, in his pocket. One year later (on 21st February 1836), the Kassel
parish offered him the post of Rabbi. He did not accept the position, however, as he
did not want to leave England, a country in which all citizens enjoyed equal rights.
One month later he was introduced to the Duke of Sussex (Queen Victoria’s uncle),
who took such a liking to Loewe, that he bestowed him with the court title of “Oriental
Linguist” and remained a loyal friend and benefactor for the rest of his life. When the
Herzog died, Loewe received as a memento two wonderful Meissen lamps and his
freemason’s grandmaster medal in a silver case. The committee of the Spanish-Portuguese community asked Loewe to hold the funeral sermon for this great man,
which also appeared in print. The Duke of Sussex would always gather men of
science around him following the evening meal. Loewe, too, was invited on a regular
basis and got to know leading figures of the time: Graf von Münster, Lord Holland
,
Sir Alexander Johnston
, Sir Gore Duselen and Professor H. H. Milton, all of whom
showed great interest in his work. A renowned author, Emma Roberts
, introduced
him to the Countess of Blessington, who dedicated a whole page of her memoirs to
their meeting
. It was through her that Loewe got to know the explorer and
numismatist Dr. R. R. Madden
, who in turn introduced him to Sir Gardiner
Willkinson
. The latter enabled him to gain access to all private libraries, museums
and numismatic collections in the whole of London. A few months later, a letter by his
benefactor, the Duke of Sussex, introduced him to the University of Cambridge,
where he met Rev. E. Peacock, the committee of Trinity College, Rev. E. A. Browne,
later Bishop of Winchester and the Regis Professor for Hebrew, Rev. Dr. Samuel
Lee; all of whom were to help him with his research. Oxford academics also
welcomed him heartily, enabling him to continue his studies there, too. By
coincidence his name was also registered at Exeter College, Oxford. Today his
grandson, Herbert Loewe, is lecturer at the said college in the same subject. Thanks
to a letter of introduction by the learned physician Dr. Hodgkin, the Philological
Society of London also accepted Louis Loewe as member. His admittance was a
result of a number of circumstances: The scholar Dr. Bialoblozki had announced a
lecture, from which he was forced to withdraw in the last instance. Dr. Loewe was
requested to give the talk instead. In fluent English he detailed and explained the
beginnings and origins of the Egyptian language. His lecture was very well received.
He published an academic paper on the subject in 1837.
In the same year (1837) Louis Loewe went to Paris as part of his studies.
There he got into contact with French scholars. He spent many months in the
company of Dr. John Borthwick-Gilchrist
, an authority on everything Hindu, Garcin
de Tassy
, Sylvestre de Sacy
, Quatremère
, Reinaud
, Letronne
, Joubert, Julien
de Paris, General Pepe
and Admiral Sir Sidney Smith
, the hero of Akko
. These
gentlemen helped along his acceptance by the “Societé Asiatique”, of which he
subsequently became an honorary member. Once back in London, The Duke of
Sussex, Prince Münster, the Duke of Northumberland
and Admiral Sir Sidney Smith
urged him to travel to Egypt in order to visit and explore the local monuments and
temples, royal palaces and tombs and to study their inscriptions and ancient scripts.
From 1837 to 1839 he visited Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, Syria, the Palestine, Turkey,
Asia Minor and Greece. He departed from London on 23rd July 1837. He journeyed to
Malta via Paris and Marseilles, where he deciphered the well-known candelabra
inscription and at the same time demonstrated that the scholars of the Belianti library
had interpreted 13 characters erroneously. In Alexandria, the German ambassador
Roquette introduced him to the viceroy of Egypt, Mohammed Ali Pascha, who asked
Loewe for the translation of a set of hieroglyphs. After he had completed the task to
the satisfaction of the viceroy, he received from Ali Pascha a firman,
decreeing that he was to be supported in his efforts wherever he went. In Cairo, he met with Fürst Pückler-Muskau, who was on his way back from Abyssinia.
This famous writer, author of “Letters of a Deceased”
, told in detail of the translation of a set of
hieroglyphs on a small Isis bronze, on which both Loewe and another explorer
worked. Champollion, an old authority on hieroglyphs, agreed with Loewe on the
correct interpretation in “The Return”
(B.
Aegypten, p. 220, by A. Dunker, Berlin
1846). On his journey through Upper-Egypt he stopped over in Jidda, where he
encountered Sheikh Mahomed Ajad Estantavy, who later became Professor of
oriental languages in Petersburg, with whom he read great works of Arabic literature
and became lifelong friends. During the see voyage to Nubia he followed with interest
the language of the Nubian passengers and later published an Arab-Persian
dictionary of the Nubian language. He stayed in Derr, the capital of Nubia, translated
the first book of Samuel into Nubian as well as a Greek letter, which the Patriarch of
Constantinople had sent on The Duke of Sussex’s request; in this way he had,
through hard work both day and night, explored vocabulary and origins of the Nubian
language in a matter of only six weeks. On his way through the Ethiopian desert he
translated old temple and hieroglyph inscriptions on columns, which he encountered
from Wadi Halfa along the Nile all the way to Derr. In order to investigate the Coptic
language, he contacted monasteries and learned the tongue from a Coptic priest,
who was recommended to him by the Patriarch of the Coptic church. From Egypt
Loewe went on to the Palestine, constantly collecting ancient oriental documents. In
Djouni, at the very top of the Lebanon near Sidon,
he was Lady Esther Stanhope’s
guest for a few days. Dr. Millingen
later put the meeting of these two exceptionally
interesting characters to paper in his work “The Life of Lady Hester Stanhope”
in
detail. On his way to Saffed he had a bad experience. The Druze were revolting
against their king at the time and pillaged the whole area up to Saffed and
surroundings. He encountered them in En Zetun (near Safet), had all his clothes and
belongings taken and was left to fend for himself, beaten and wounded. An Arab,
Mustapha Mahmed, took pity on Loewe and handed him a thick blanket to cover the
naked body and a spear to defend himself with. Thus the bloody Loewe wandered
nearly naked, hungry and thirsty into Safet. He would celebrate this day, on which he
escaped death by a hair’s breadth, together with his family for years to come. On
Purim his children would play “Bedouins” in memory of what had happened. His
journey continued via Damascus, Sichem,
Jerusalem, Hebron, Alexandria, Smyrna
and back to Constantinople. In Damascus he acquired a great number of valuable
coins and studied scripts on the religious customs of the Druze. He stayed in
Constantinople for three months to study the Turkish language. He also studied, as
one of the first, the Circassian language and published not only a grammar, but also
an English-Circassic dictionary – the first academic publications about the language.
In addition he translated the hieroglyphs on the obelisk of Atmedan for Sultan
Mahmud, which he had the Prussian envoy Graf Königsmark hand to the King. He
also found Karaitic scripts, which he studied. He made notes of the religious origins
of this sect, which he was to make public back home. He returned to London via
Athens and Rome. He visited the Vatican library and got acquainted with Cardinal
Mezzosanti, Angelo Mai and Lambruschini. Loewe held a sermon in the synagogue,
which was attended by Moses Montefiore and his wife Judith, who happened to be in
Rome at the time. It did not take long before a friendship was formed and Montefiore
asked Loewe to accompany him on his travels. He duly accepted and became the
Montefiores’ companion from 1840 onwards. Back in London he reported to the Duke
of Sussex, was received honourably and appointed custodian of Semitic scripts.
Every Wednesday Loewe had to inform the Duke about the Orient’s philosophy,
customs and languages. Shortly after, he became a member of the “Society of
Explorers of the Orient of Great Britain and Ireland”. Through his involvement with
Montefiore, his hitherto successful academic endeavours took a turn. In order to fully
understand the impact of his decision to accompany Montefiore, personal memories
of the author, who is Loewe’s eldest daughter, should be stated. My father owned a
big collection of letters of all the important personalities he had come into contact with
and exchanged ideas on academic as well as personal issues. In his later years he
would look through it from time to time and read out selected passages from those
letters. On one such occasion I asked him, what had made him turn down an
academic career of such promise and instead join Montefiore. He looked at me
sternly, but full of enthusiasm and said: “The chance to utilise all my capabilities and
strength for the Holy Land and our poor brothers was so enticing that I could not
refuse. Alone I could not do much, but Montefiore’s money and enthusiasm and my
work allowed hope for the great cause.”
The year 1840 has gone down in history because of the tragic blood libel
case
of Damascus. This incident was important enough for Montefiore to do everything in his power, that he might save the honour of the Jews and the people themselves. Together with Loewe he went to Damascus to uncover the truth. Because of his knowledge of the language and great oratory skills, Loewe was the constant centre of attention. The result of the investigations was a favourable one and the imprisoned and tortured Jews, against whom the most disgraceful accusations were levied, were set free. If I may, I would like to bring forward proof that it was not only Loewe’s excellent command of the language, but that it was solely his doing – and this goes against the statements of today’s historians – that the lie of Damascus was uncovered. It is clearly stated in both Montefiore’s as well as Loewe’s diaries, that it was due to the latter’s keen eye and energetic protest – and not Gremieur’s or Munks’ – that the damning word “Aloof” (free pardon) in the Turkish firman (see footnote 8), which brought about the remission of the falsely accused Jews, was spotted and replaced by the words “Itlak ve Tervîhh” – “an honourable acquittal”.
The return journey led them to Constantinople, where the Sultan received
Montefiore, together with Loewe. The Sultan immediately remembered Loewe – and
Sultan Mahmud’s report of his interpretation of the obelisk inscription – and awarded
him with an honourable decoration. As is commonly known, the meeting ended with
the Sultan decreeing a firman (see footnote 8), stating that all Jews were to receive
equal rights in the Turkish state – something, which may correctly be termed the
“magna carta libertatum” for the Turkish Jewry. Loewe held sermons in various
Constantinople parishes as well as in other Turkish cities in the language used by
local Jews: Spanish, Italian, Hebrew and German. Not only the content of the
sermons, but also the quality of the speaker’s oratory was the cause for just
admiration. Manzari Shark, the main Jewish paper in Smyrna, reported on 9th
November 1840: “The scholarly speaker demonstrated his command of four
languages without the hint of the slightest difficulty by fluently producing sentence
after sentence, thought after thought.” The reporter added: “More frequent talks of
such quality in this country, where education and wisdom have been repressed for
decades, would be of immeasurable importance.” On their way home Montefiore and
Loewe visited Cardinal Rivarolo in Rome to convince him of the removal of the
inscription on Father Thomas’
grave, whose text was inciting hatred against
Jews.
Using the opportunity, Loewe discovered important scholarly documents, for
example a beautiful poem by Samuel ha-Nagid
and one by Ibn Esra and translated
very old scripts into a variety of languages. They stopped in Paris, too, in order to win
over King Louis Philipe for the cause of the Jewry and Loewe translated the Sultan’s
firman (see footnote 8) for him. Back in London Montefiore and Loewe were to
receive the greatest reward for their toil and labour. The Board of Deputies
(Representatives of all Jews in England and her colonies) held a meeting in March
1841, which agreed on a note of thanks addressed to Loewe which read as follows:
“With the highest degree of satisfaction by its chairman, Sir Moses Montefiore, the
committee has taken note of the great help and support awarded by Dr. Loewe to Sir
Moses Montefiore on his mission in Damascus. The committee would like to express
its deepest thanks and respect.” Along with the address Loewe received two big
silver candelabras, the address itself engraved on their base. Montefiore introduced
Loewe to Queen Victoria, who appeared very pleased about the positive outcome for
the Jews and reiterated those sentiments to Loewe. The scholar Meïr Joseph
celebrated Montefiore and Loewe in a Hebrew poem, which reads:
Moses staved off his people’s disgrace, hail him!
He fought a war for God and you were his comrade;
He achieved great things and you helped him,
So your name is: Damesel Elieser!
As was always the case, Montefiore pointed to Loewe’s deeds. On every
occasion, be it in the presence of high society, at public meetings or receptions,
where Montefiore received lavish praise, he would decline, point to Loewe and say:
“It is not me, but my friend, Dr. Loewe, who you should thank; it was he who
encouraged me all the way and it is because of him that I have had my successes.”
In 1841 Loewe asked the Duke of Sussex for some time-off, so that he could return
home. There he married the daughter of the respectable merchant Salman Siberstein
in Breslau, Emma Silberstein, with whom he led a fulfilled and happy marriage which
was blessed with 10 children.
From now on he put himself completely at
Montefiore’s disposal. In 1846 Montefiore travelled to Russia to intervene on behalf of
the badly suppressed brothers-in-faith. He assured himself of his friend Loewe’s
support. Following an audience with Tsar Nicholas, they journeyed the land and
Loewe used the opportunity to influence Russian Jews by giving uncountable talks
and sermons. His sermon in Vilna, in the great synagogue in front of thousands,
became so famous, that the name Elieser halevi enjoyed lasting popularity in Russia.
Loewe was at Montefiore’s side on no less than 13 expeditions, which he undertook
on behalf of Jewry in the Holy Land, Rumania, Russia and Rome. In 1866 Montefiore
founded the Rabbi College “Ohel Mosche we Jehudith” in Ramsgate. Loewe once
again was instrumental in the success of the project. He then became the director of
the institute and had to move from Brighton to Broadstairs, a small village in the
vicinity. In the great auditorium of the college in Ramsgate, which is filled with over
100 excerpts praising Montefiore’s achievements, Montefiore installed a life-sized
picture of Loewe. By cataloguing Montefiore’s book collection, which was very
valuable bibliographically, Loewe’s input into forming the institute’s library was
significant. The friendship between the two men was never sullied. Up to his last
breath, Montefiore kept Loewe in loving memory, held him in utmost respect and had
unfailing confidence in him. In his testament Montefiore pronounced Loewe, along
with Joseph Sebag, Lord Rothschild and his nephew, the Queen’s Count Arthur
Cohen, the executor of his last will. On his deathbed, Montefiore did not allow Loewe
to leave him. When Montefiore was finally laid to rest, Loewe had to carry the bier as
the first right hand man. Montefiore knew that no other than his longstanding fidus
Achates would, on the grounds of his experiences, be equal to the task of recounting
truthfully the story of the incidents of the Israelites during such an important century
for the Jewry. Because of this, he requested in his testament, that Loewe publish his
diaries. He intended to spend the eve of his eventful life doing just that. “The Diaries
of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore” are thus a truthful account of Montefiore’s
ipissima verba and constitute a Jewish history of the 19th century. The sources of the
publication are comprised of no less than five diaries of Lady Montefiore, 85 diaries of
Sir Moses – from 1814-1883 – and all appropriate original documents of Loewe’s.
Following Montefiore’s death, Loewe moved to London. After Montefiore’s diaries
were put to print, he wanted to apply himself fully to the publication of his own
manuscripts. Amongst those are his complete Derashots, held in English, from his
college days in Ramsgate, whose purpose it was to demonstrate to the attending
Russian Rabbis how one could deliver the ancient Talmud disputations, including
Pilpul and Charifut, in classical English.
Loewe passed away on 24th November 1889 (Roseh chodesh Kishewe 5650), a
man whose intellectual gifts and whose character afforded him great academic
success and a high position in society. He chose a path where he could be of the
greatest service to his brothers-in-faith and the Jewry as a whole. He and his family
were highly religious Jews, whose strength in belief was no less than that of a pious
man and whose noble character and dignity were no less that that of any nobleman.
Salomon’s words (22,29) are true of Loewe: “If you see a man, practised in his art –
he may stand in front of kings...”