Rabbi Chaim Yehoshua Kasovsky

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Rabbi Chaim Yehoshua Kasovsky, who died recently at the age of eighty- eight, was one of the many great and brilliant scholars with which Jerusalem was blessed in the last generation.

His many monumental books, the concordances of the Mishna and the Targum Onkelos as well as the not yet completely printed concordances of the Tosefta and the Babylonian Talmud, have served as important guides in many a field of Jewish learning and grace the reference shelves of every important Jewish library.

Of Kosovsky it may truly be said, that while the world of Jewish scholarship depended on his erudition and learning, he himself subsisted materially on a “Kav Charubin.”

 During his long life he was constantly caressed by worries, and many a time while his books were accorded an enthusiastic welcome, he suffered acute want, which paralyzed him spiritually for long periods and prevented him from continuing his work. “Ani Mehaleh Eth Hazeman, Vehazeman Mehaleh Othi” (with inactivity, grown out of despair and want, I kill my time, and time wearies me out) – he wrote to his friends with bitterness.

 In later stages of his literary activity, he received from various sources some financial aid and support, but these seldom gave him the economic security he so sorely needed and wanted.

 In penning down a few words on Kasovsky’s life and achievements, I ought to discard the conventional type of description of great scholars: He was an ilui, he was a Masmid. With reference to him, I shall have to use these words with certain qualifications. He was an Illui- certainly! His enquiring and sharp mind, however, could not be tied down to a single field or subject. While yet a very young man he contributed to the “Chavatzeleth” and to “Or Torah”, and published several books among them novellae on the Talmud, a book on Hebrew grammar, a plan for a new commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud and a treatise on mathematics. He was a Masmid- no doubt. Days and night he would spend in uninterrupted study, hardly partaking of any food. But there were also days when he was very far from being a Masmid. In those days he was described as “the enfant terrible” of Jerusalem, the “shtiffer” par excellence.

Why is it necessary to say a special prayer for the peace of Jerusalem, “Hapores Sukkath Shalom Alenu, Veal Kol Amo Yisrael Veal Yerushalayim?” He replied once to someone jokingly: “Because in Jerusalem heated arguments, conflict and discord are not infrequent.” Heated arguments and discord were not absent either in the days of ChayimYehoshua’s youth. The Jewish population of the city was divided into old and young. Old settlers and newcomers, Sephardim and Ashkenazim; and later into Perushim and Chassidim, both of which were composed of different Kollelim and factions and thus, there was ample opportunity for friction and collision.

Young Kasovsky was not only a “Kol Bo”, a man of wide and varied interests, but also “Yado Bakol Veyad Kol Adam Bo”- His hand was against every man, and every man’s hand upon him. Whenever and wherever there were heated arguments or clashes between the various groups and factions in the city, he was sure to be there and to make his presence felt. Kasovsky was always either giving or receiving Klep; no difference whether it was in the street, Shul or Mikveh. Neither was it rare to see him in Shul benching “Gomel”, for having succeeded in evading of fending off a portion of blows intended for him.

There were noble people in Jerusalem, who viewed with regret and apprehension the doings of the young man. Here he was the son of the old age of Reb Avrohom Able, the venerated Dayan of the Ashkenazic Beth Din: an Illui and Masmid, the darling of Rabbi Shmuel Salant, who gave rise to great hopes and yet! There was only one solution: To interest the young man in a task, large enough to tax and absorb all his extraordinary abilities and overflowing energy. Among the people who took benevolent interest in young Kasovsky was Y. Shachovitz. He tried to impress upon the young man the importance of compiling a concordance of the Babylonian Talmud. At long last he succeeded. Young Kasovsky declared himself ready to undertake this great and gigantic task.

A concordance of the Talmud might serve many purposes, not only that of a reference guide whereby a word or an expression in the Talmud can be easily found. It should be of exceptional value in ascertaining the correct reading for meaning of many an expression or phrases. This would be achieved by comparing the doubtful reading or the word about whose meaning we are in doubt, with all other places in the Talmud where it is used. The concordance would also be of help in the correct usage of the Hebrew language. The complete listing of every word in its various forms and in all contexts in which it appears furnishes us with the information, in what grammatical form and in connection or reference with what noun, pronoun or adjective a certain verb may be used.

It is for this reason that the compilation of a concordance of the Talmud has been advocated by scholars, among them Meir Ish Shalom (Friedmann), the well known editor of Midrashim, who in 1808 published in “Hashiloach” an article, where he stressed the importance of a concordance for the study of the Talmud.

Normally, in such an enterprise, tens of scholars and researchers would have to be employed, and in addition thereto secretaries, hundreds of index boxes and millions of index cards. Moreover, even then, we would not have been assured that this staff would be able to accomplish the task.

Chayim Yehoshua Kasovsky undertook this task single-handed, and he accomplished it. The little Jew from Jerusalem- he was of very slight physical stature- compiled concordances of the Mishna, Targum Onkelos, Tosefta and the Talmud Bavli, though he did not live to see all of them published in their entirety. He compiled them without the aid of assistants, researchers, hundreds of index boxes and millions of reference cards. Long strips, odds and ends of paper, including the insides of cigarette boxes, were his only auxiliaries; on them he collected the material for his monumental works.

There was even a time in the early stages of his work, when he not only prepared single- handed the concordances, but in order to save expenses, also set the type for the printer. He would do this at home and every Friday carry to the press the ready set pages of his concordance of the Mishna.

In the preparation of the concordance, he had to consult several editions of the Mishnah in order to choose the best text on which to base the concordance. The search for competent readings greatly increased the difficulties of the already most difficult task. The concordance lists all words mentioned in the Mishnah, even pronouns- which are not fully enumerated in Mendelkern’s concordance of the Bible- and all places where they occur. Every item is preceded by a precise and concise explanation of its meaning. The concordance was accorded an enthusiastic welcome by Jewish scholars throughout the world, who recognized that it was not a mechanical compilation but the produce of a man who had mastered the language of the Mishnah and had penetrated deeply into the peculiarities of its style. Jewish scholars wondered how one man could have produced such a work. The astonishment increased manifold when Kasovsky started to publish parts of his concordances of the Tosefta and the Targum Onkelos, and revealed to the startled scholars that he had also compiled a concordance of the Babylonian Talmud.

One volume of his concordance of the Mishnah he had dedicated to Herbert Samuel, who after the first Word War became the first British High commissioner of Palestine. Later on when it developed that Herbert Samuel was more of an Englishman than a Jew and acted many times contrary to Jewish National interests, Kasovsky declared void the dedication, and tore its page from every copy of which he got hold.

Between 1932 and 1951 four volunteers of “Otzar Leshon Hatosefta” were published. They comprise all words of the Tosefta beginning with the letters from Aleph to Mem. His concordance of the Targum appeared in 1940.

Those who had the least doubt about Kasovsky’s boast, that he had compiled a concordance of the Babylonian Talmud, were finally convinced when in 1954 the first volume of this work was printed. Since then several additional volumes have appeared of the work, which when published in full, will certainly comprise 80 or even 100 volumes.

How was it really possible for one man to accomplish all this? Kasovsky claimed that he had conceived of a method which greatly facilitated his work. The Mafteach (key) as he was wont to call his method, he kept secret and refused to reveal.

I already described the many purposes for which a concordance may be used.

Now, I would like to illustrate these by two examples.

In his concordance of the Mishnah, Kasovsky pointed out that in the Mishnah as well as in the Tosefta the word “Avi” (my father) is never used, but instead of it Abba. In the period of the Mishna, Abba was used for ‘my father’ (as well as for our father) but did not generally mean ‘father’.

Keeping in mind this strict meaning of ‘Abba’, in which it is also used in the Targum Onkelos, who always translates Avi with Abba, we can well explain the reading of Rabbeinu Chananel in the conversation between Rabbi Chiya and Rav described in the Talmud (Pesachim 3b-4a, Moed Katan 20 a,b).

Rabbi Chiya settled in Eretz Yisrael while his parents remained in Babylon. When Rav, his nephew arrived in Eretz Yisrael from Babylon, Rabbi Chiya asked him about his family in Babylon.

According to the reading of Rashi the conversation between them, ran as follows:

Rabbi Chiya: Is Abba (father or Elbo- name of the father of Rav) alive?

Rav: Is mother alive?

Rashi explains that Rabbi Chiya asked Rav whether Rav’s father was alive. Rav by evading Rabbi Chiya’s question and by replying with a counter- question, wanted to indicate to Rabbi Chiya that his father, who was Rabbi Chiya’s brother, had died. (There is also another explanation of that reading, but Rashi does not accept it).

According to the reading of the Rabbeinu Chananel the conversation ran as follows:

Rabbi Chiya: Is Abba alive?

Rav: Abba is alive!

Tosafos explains this reading: Rabbi Chiya asked: is ‘my father’ alive? Rav answered ‘My father’ (and not your father) is alive; and thereby indicated to Rabbi Chiya that his father had died.

Rabbeinu Chananel and Tosafos were still aware of the original strict meaning of Abba as ‘my father’ which had been lost to us, and has been re-established by Kasovsky’s concordance (for a fuller treatment of the meaning of Abba, see “Hegyone Lashon” by Yitzchak Epstein, Tel Aviv, 1947).

My second example deals with a grammatical problem. Hebrew purists had been arguing whether it is correct to use the “double Eth.” May one for example say: “Hu Amar Eth Otham Hedevarim”.

‘Eth Otham’ is obviously wrong, as ‘Otham’ is derived from ‘Eth’. The ‘Eth’ should therefore, be eliminated. However, with the publication of Kasovsky’s concordance it became apparent the double Eth occurs in the Talmud and its use is therefore quite legitimate.

Kasovsky has died, but his work will live on and will not be forgotten. His concordances will still serve as guides in many a field of Jewish scholarship.

With his books will also live his memory, and generations will also know of the privations he had suffered while he dedicated himself to the great tasks of compiling concordances of Talmudic literature.

Those who will use his books will come across on the last page of the first volume of the concordance of the Tosefta the following note by the author: my nerves are strained because of my uncertain state and because of my daily worries…” Reading this they will realize under what conditions Kasovsky’s monumental works were compiled.

During the last years of his life he was assisted in his work by his sons Benyamin and Moshe. Moshe had under the supervision of his father undertaken the revision of the concordance of the Mishna. He dedicated himself fully to this task. Whenever and wherever we would meet, he had his pocket stuffed with proof- sheets and had ready a Chiddush on the language or style of the Mishnah. The last volume of the revised edition of the concordance of the Mishnah, which comprises four volumes, was published a short time ago.

It is hoped that Kasovsky’s sons will continue the work of their father and prepare and publish the last volume of the concordance of the Tosefta and the many volumes of the unfinished concordance of the Talmud.

By: Tovia Preschel

Jewish Press

July 1-16, 1960