THE GRACIOUS AMBIGUITY OF GRACE AGUILAR (1816–47): ANGLO-JEWISH THEOLOGIAN, NOVELIST, POET, AND PIONEER OF INTERFAITH RELATIONS

Grace Aguilar was an early nineteenth-century Anglo-Jewish writer who concerned herself with the reform of Jewish religion and its relationship to Christianity in her theological works, novels, and poetry. She was interested in challenging the ways in which Jews and Christians represented each other in their teachings, tried to present both perspectives on the vexed question of Christian mission to the Jews, and sought to demonstrate that the theological barriers constructed between the two faiths were often less immoveable than tradition would have it. As a female Jewish theologian writing well before her time, she offered a remarkably innovative conception of female spirituality that allowed her to cross and re-cross the boundaries between the Jewish and Christian religious cultures she inhabited. Any student of the history of Jewish-Christian relations is interested in Jewish views of Christianity. These views include ‘relational theologies’, that is, focused attempts by Jews to create a theological space for Christianity or to highlight the special relationship between Judaism and Christianity. As anyone familiar with the history of Jewish-Christian intercourse will know, such relational theologies have rarely been positive, and have tended to concentrate upon the construction and maintenance of the barriers that separate the two faith systems.1 Over the centuries Jews have traditionally regarded the Christian as the idolatrous oppressor who denies the unity of God, prays to saints, worships icons, and abrogates the Torah. The Christian is perceived to have misinterpreted the scripture and to be profoundly mistaken in claiming that the messianic age has begun. At best, Christianity has been understood as an instrument of God to help prepare the pagan world for the coming of the Jewish messiah, or to test the faith of his Chosen People. Against this backdrop, a positive, or constructive, or appreciative Jewish view of Christianity stands out starkly. In particular, positive relational * Professor of the History of Jewish-Christian Relations at the University of Manchester. Email: daniel. Association for Jewish Studies (BAJS) in Birmingham in 2005. 1 Some well-known studies that emphasise the antagonistic nature of Jewish and Christian conceptions of the other include: James Parkes, (London: The Soncino Press, 1934) Jules Isaac, 1st ed. (New York: Holt, 1964) Rosemary Radford Ruether, (New York: Seabury Press, 1974) Hans Joachim Schoeps, [1st ed. (New York: Holt, 1963) Edward H. Flannery, (New York: Macmillan, 1965), Franklin H. Littell, , 1st ed. (New York: Harper & Row, 1975) Marc Saperstein, (London: SCM Press, 1989) Joel Carmichael, , 1st U.S. ed. (New York: Fromm International Pub. Corp., 1992) Leon Sheleff, (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2004). 2 MANCHESTER JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES are often regarded by Jewish commentators as inauthentic, or heretical, or unJewish. 2 or historians such as Joseph Klausner,3 or writers such as Scholem Asch4 and Franz Werfel.5 And this raises a host of questions about the nature of appreciative Jewish theologies of relation. What historical, social and personal factors account for such a theological endeavour? How do different ideological assumptions and different methodological approaches affect the reception of such an attempt? At the heart of the matter lies the issue of authenticity and a sense that the line has been crossed. What is it about the generation of an appreciative theology of relation which appears to undermine the theologian’s Jewishness? Or to put it another way, does the brush with Christianity leave an enduring trace, and is it this which accounts for such suspicions? This is the context for the following discussion of the theology of Grace Aguilar. Rather than offer a literary analysis or historical contextualization of her writings, which can be found elsewhere,6 the focus here will be on the theological meaning and implications of her positive appreciation of Christianity and Christians for her conception of Judaism. In her precise nature of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. While she offers a positive appreciation of Christianity on many levels, we must acknowledge from the start her

are often regarded by Jewish commentators as inauthentic, or heretical, or unJewish.
2 or historians such as Joseph Klausner,3 or writers such as Scholem Asch 4 and Franz Werfel. 5 And this raises a host of questions about the nature of appreciative Jewish theologies of relation. What historical, social and personal factors account for such a theological endeavour? How do different ideological assumptions and different methodological approaches affect the reception of such an attempt? At the heart of the matter lies the issue of authenticity and a sense that the line has been crossed. What is it about the generation of an appreciative theology of relation which appears to undermine the theologian's Jewishness? Or to put it another way, does the brush with Christianity leave an enduring trace, and is it this which accounts for such suspicions?
This is the context for the following discussion of the theology of Grace Aguilar. Rather than offer a literary analysis or historical contextualization of her writings, which can be found elsewhere, 6 the focus here will be on the theological meaning and implications of her positive appreciation of Christianity and Christians for her conception of Judaism. In her precise nature of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. While she offers a positive appreciation of Christianity on many levels, we must acknowledge from the start her 2 (1909) was criticised by Ahad Ha-Am who claimed he had detected "a subservience of the Jewish thinker to the Christian doctrine". Ahad Ha-Am, 'Judaism and the Gospels', reprinted in , LXXXVII, no. 21 (23 September 1910) from , I (3 September 1910), 203. 3 Klausner, a prominent Zionist and disciple of Ahad Ha-Am, saw his historical study (1929) attacked as 'a trucking and kow-towing to the Christian religion, and an assertion of great affection for the foggy (New York) May 1922, cited in H. Danby, (1927, 102-103. 4 Amongst the many and varied criticisms Asch incurred for his Christian-themed novels (1939), (1943), and (1949) was a book-length polemic, published in 1953, in which he is described as having 'carried on in the course of years a missionary activity on a scope never before known among Jews' and in which his treatment of Paul was castigated as a betrayal of Judaism. Chaim Lieberman, , trans. from the Yiddish by A. Burstein (New York: Philosophical Library, 1953), 1, 139. 5 In response to a barrage of inquiries as to his baptismal status, following the debut of his play (1926), Werfel insisted in one newspaper interview: 'I have never moved away from Judaism, I am in feeling and thinking a conscious Jew. ' Interview with (1926), cited in L.B. Steiman, ambiguity. It will be argued that this ambiguity can be explained in part by the complications attendant to drawing upon Christianity in her reforming programme for Judaism -and her keen awareness of the dangers she ran in the eyes of many of her co-religionists. It will be suggested that Aguilar's ambivalent presentation of Christianity and unfamiliar ways of expressing her Jewish identity are instructive in terms of understanding why some theologies of relation are so often regarded as somehow inauthentic or compromised. 7 Aguilar's is not a systematic theology, and some of the interpretations offered here are necessarily tendentious. In particular, one might ask: How sound is a methodology that can be given to writings that were published posthumously and which she herself might never have wished to publish? In answer to such questions, the defence made here is that it is posthumous writings will be treated as reliable expressions of her own theology. Likewise, the unsystematic nature of her work makes it particularly vulnerable to mistaken emphases and misunderstandings, and so an attempt will be made to focus upon themes and ideas that appear repeatedly in a wide variety of her writings. In the systematic survey that follows, then, Aguilar's views of Judaism and Christianity will be organised according to three themes crucial to her religious identity. That is, we will consider the way in which she (i) drew upon and privileged her individual or personal experiences, (ii) related this to her tradition and scriptures, and (iii) related both of these to her community and to the relationship between Jews and Christians.
Grace Aguilar (1816-1847) has been described as the most important female Jewish writer in the nineteenth-century, and, as already mentioned, it is literary critics who have taken the 7 As we shall see, Aguilar herself was only too aware of the risks of presenting a positive appreciation of the traditional enemy, and a heightened consciousness of her vulnerability to the charge of Christianizing suffuses all her writings. It would not have helped that in Aguilar's own day Christian conversionist periodicals praised her books as being 'imbued with the spirit of Christianity.' Unsigned review of in 3 ( July 1848), 29, cited in Valman, , 98. Later commentators have frequently used the language of compromise and bargaining, even if they did not doubt that she was a committed Jew. Galchinsky has argued that Aguilar 'bargained' with the dominant British Christian culture and was prepared obviously Jewish. Galchinsky, , 135-151. Page has mused as to whether D'Israeli, are more likely for 'a more Jewish writer seeking to appeal to a wider audience in the Victorian period.' Page, 'Anglo-Jewish Identity and the Politics of Cultivation in Hazlitt, Aguilar and Disraeli', 19, and Page, the anti-traditional aspects of Aguilar's thought as 'a form of Jewish Protestantism'. Beth-Zion Lask-Abrahams, "Grace Aguilar: A Centenary Tribute" in 16 (1952), 142. Valman sees Aguilar's conception of a bibliocentric Judaism as 'a Jewish imitation of an Evangelical [Christian] form of imitation of Judaism', and goes on to suggest that Aguilar not only adopted literary genres popularised by the Evangelical Christians but 'also echoed their theology', and dedicates a section aside to consider the extent to which one might describe her as a 'Jewish Evangelical?' While Valman certainly regards Lask-Abrahams' comment on persuasive polemical strategy for the cause of the Jews'. Valman,,10,92,94,95. greatest interest in her. 8 She belonged to a traditionally observant Sephardic family from Hackney, London, although, in her youth, she made Christian friends and attended Protestant services near her family's somewhat isolated rural home in Devonshire and later in provincial Brighton. 9 There is no evidence that she ever seriously contemplated conversion and she herself records that she attended these services in some trepidation, fearful that people would think she had abandoned her faith. 10 According to one report, Aguilar solved to her belief." 11 While she herself regarded her attendance at these Christian services as a way of clarifying her own Jewish sensibilities, there can be little doubt that this exposure to Christianity is also important in terms of familiarising her with how Judaism and Jews were represented within Christian culture. For most of her life she taught at a private boy's boarding school run by her mother where, amongst other things, she taught Hebrew. 12 She was of fragile health, and died while convalescing in Germany, aged only 31.
Aguilar had been a precocious child, reading and writing voraciously from an early age. Of her 15 books, seven were published posthumously by her mother. 13 , 135. 9 In a work which arguably should be read semi-autobiographically, Aguilar writes "Our very position as aliens in a land whose religion is not ours. . . in a small country town almost entirely surrounded by Christians. . . must almost entirely among Protestants; and from your peculiar disposition, longing unconsciously for the high and pure, you have always made those your intimate friends who are serious thinkers". Grace Aguilar, (Philadelphia: L. Johnson, 1846), 34. 10 There are several examples of this among the poetry contained in her handwritten manuscripts. 'Aguilar Papers' (1831-1853), MS ADD 378 University College London. 11 Lask-Abrahams quotes a letter from an unnamed Christian sent to Aguilar's mother, "Her love for many Christian friends, and her desire to search after truth in every garb, induced her to attend Trinity Chapel [Brighton] Lask-Abrahams, "Grace Aguilar: A Centenary Tribute", 139.
12 An advertisement in the Aguilar's Preparatory Establishment for Young Gentlemen, from four to ten years of age, No. 5 Triangle, Hackney, with liberal board, and instruction in Religion, the English and Hebrew languages, Writing, Arithmetic, Geography and History." Cited in Ibid.: 141.
13 Before her death she published (1839), as (1845). The same was true for her more formal theological works, such as (1842) and (1846) -although in writing these studies she was also highly conscious of a male audience, again both Christian and Jewish. 16 Aguilar's mid-nineteenth-century historical context was that of Victorian religiosity and the emergence of Anglo-Reform Judaism and the establishment of the West London Reform Synagogue in background is also important. Crypto-Jewish families in early-modern Portugal or Spain, that is, Jewish families pretending to be Christian on pain of death or expulsion, could only have risked expressing their Judaism within the secret realm of the home, the territory of the mother. Aguilar believed that her own family history offered a precedent for a woman storyteller who took responsibility for the generational transmission of Jewish identity. 17 What were Aguilar's aims, broadly speaking? From even a cursory glance at her various works, it is clear that she had set out from the beginning to persuade Christians to respect Judaism, and to encourage and develop among Jews, especially Jewish women, a pietistic form of spirituality. She was concerned to break down the fence that separated the true exponents of the two faiths, or, at least, she was concerned that the fence should not be allowed to impede the development of good relations between neighbours. And from a collection of copied newspaper clippings and letters now held at the UCL archives, there is no doubt that she was indeed an inspiration to many in these regards. 18  as considered as it regards our domestic and social duties; 5: Brief review of the commandments and the Social Duties therein described; 6: Hints on the religious instruction of the Hebrew Youth; 7: The spirit of religion regarded as pervading and guiding our conversation, profane reading, admiration of works of nature; 8: The spirit and forms of Judaism considered separately and together. 21 Lask-Abrahams sees it as typical of "the Sunday-School character of a great deal of Grace Aguilar's writings." Lask-Abrahams, "Grace Aguilar: A Centenary Tribute", 142. same time as exploring a variety of theological themes and controversies. That this was an of an American rabbi, Isaac Leeser. 22 Within , Aguilar presented religion as powerfully connected with emotion. "Religion" she said, "is strongest, loveliest, in those hearts ever susceptible to emotion, whether pleasure or pain; the love of their God glows warmest in such bosoms." 23 Feeling was certainly as important as traditional learning, which could not generate the gentle and loveable qualities of the person of true faith. 24 Those who disagreed with her, she said, devalued the prayers of the unlearned and were presumptuous and haughty "like the Pharisees of old," 25 a comparison that riled her editor. 26 The long-suffering Jew, she argued, had greater need of this kind of faith than the Christian, and could easily point to his Bible to demonstrate Israel's original discovery of the God of love. 27 External forms and religious ceremonies were of far less importance than was the life of the spirit, 28 and she drew on her own family history of Iberian crypto-Jews to make this point.
The determination, in secret to adhere unchangeably to the Law of Moses, incited many to live a holier life, and ponder frequently on Him, in whose service their very lives were risked. When occupying posts of high trust and favour in the Spanish court, their lineage unknown, their race unsuspected, though they could scarcely keep the forms, the SPIRIT glowed more warmly within. 29 This sounds like the familiar classic Anglo-Reform Jewish argument which set spirit against form. 30 But in fact Aguilar went on to argue that the ideal was obedience to God's ordinances, , through the power of the spirit. She wrote, 22 founder of the Jewish Publication Society. Aguilar's argument is constantly undermined by Leeser's patronizing corrections and often openly critical claims of exaggeration or inaccuracy (e.g. regarding her apparent exaggeration of the number of converts to Christianity; and of the extent of Jewish neglect of Bible). His rare agreements tend to be in the form of provision of biblical or rabbinic references or of a fuller/better explanation of the point. 23 Aguilar,,[46][47] their most eloquent appeal is lost entirely. But very different is the effect of discovering religion to be the secret admire and revere at a distance, then as we draw near and love, comes the question, why cannot we too 'go and do hearers along with it: the spirit is ready to condemn others, as far as its inferiors in religious fervour, simply because they cannot speak so well; and yet, while the lips may speak so piously and well, the heart may remain stubborn and unmoved." Ibid., 94, 184. 25 "[A]nd yet does the presumptuous and haughty Hebrew, imitating the Pharisee of old, dare to say, their prayers are less acceptable than his [the meek and lowly]?" Ibid., 19. 26 Pharisees] which our opponents entertain of these people." Ibid.
27 "Is he [the Hebrew] accused of having no faith, let him prove he has more need of faith, and feels it yet more deeply than the Nazarene. . . Is he told his is a stern, cold, spiritless religion, that can only look to a rigid and revealed to the Israelites, many centuries before the birth of him the Christians call their messiah." Ibid., 90. 28 "[Religious ceremonies] are given to and the spirit of piety, resting within this spirit, yet NOT to take its place. . . The form. . . springs from, and yet assists the spirit resting within. Thus should every Hebrew rite be considered, and reason, not superstition, be traced as its foundation." Ibid., 216, 227. 29 Ibid., 85. 30 See for example, the classic study of the worldwide movement, Michael Meyer, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). See also the slightly more recent study of Anglo-Reform Judaism, Anne Kershen and Jonathan Romain, (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 1995).
of the contrary extreme. . . If they adhere not to the rites of their forefathers, they cannot take unto themselves the gracious promises made to the children of Israel; for their religion degenerates into that, which is termed, natural theology; in a word, they are Deists not Hebrews, and they deprive themselves alike of faith, hope, and comfort. . . There are many, very many laws, which, . . . the religion of no Hebrew is perfect, unless the form be hallowed by the spirit, the SPIRIT quickened by the FORM. 31 Again drawing upon her Sephardi heritage, Aguilar argued that it fell to Jewish mothers to cultural encouragements for religion that Christian children did at home and in the wider society.
The Hebrew child has not these advantages [of the Christian child]. Debarred from the public exercise of devotion on his Sabbath day; never hearing public prayers in a language he can understand; -having no public minister on whom he can call for that instruction he may not have received at home; -never hearing the law expounded, or the Bible in any way explained: to his mother alone the Hebrew child must look, on his mother alone depend for the spirit of religion ‫בּם‬ ‫ָת‬ ‫ רְ‬ ‫ בֵּ‬ ‫דִ‬ ‫ן‬ ְ ּ 'and thou shalt speak of them' to be ‫ֵבּר‬ ‫ַדּ‬ to utter one's sentiments aloud, to speak or to converse together. . . Yet when do we speak of these things? When, even amidst a domestic circle, does conversation turn upon these topics which would enable us to obey this command? 32 Aguilar went on to suggest that powerful tools in this sacred duty of education included the study of God's providential work within history, the reading of edifying literature 33 and the cultivation of wonder at his creation of the natural world. 34 Once the Jewish child had been sensitized spiritually, the result would be a proud Hebrew, fully able to relate the traditions of his fathers to his loving Heavenly Father. As she put it, [Properly educated by his mother] It will be [the Hebrew's] pride to prove to the nations the of his faith. . . He will not throw off the bondage of our [external] forms, he will not condemn their dictates; for he will trace their minutest regulations to the same merciful Father, whose love supports, whose arm sustains him. 35 31 Ibid., [235][236]254. 32 Ibid.,[147][148]150,181,182. 33 "There is scarcely any profane history which, if read attentively, will not afford matter for instruction, thought, and subsequent conversation on the wonderful providence of the Lord. . . Did the spirit of piety pervade, as was intended, the intellect, those very works read for profane instruction would assist to promote obedience to the command we are regarding. Nor is it only history that may do this. There are tales, simple, domestic, highly moral of the world, is continually passing around us." Ibid.,[192][193] 34 "There are others again who, continually eulogizing Nature, yet never seem to cast a thought, or speak a word Nature is not herself a deity. She is the frame, not the FRAMER, the created, not the CREATOR." Ibid.,[197][198] Such a spiritual education would result in a Jewish faith that would properly testify to the surrounding Christian nations and support the eternal truths of Judaism. 36 Aguilar felt obliged to make this point because she knew that her emphasis upon the need to inspire spirituality within the Jewish community would sound suspiciously alien to many within that community. 37 And, indeed, this provoked criticism that was not so much a work of Jewish theology, but rather one that drew too heavily upon her own idiosyncratic experiences in the Christian community for its conceptualisation of spirituality. 38 To gain a clearer picture of this ideal Jewish spirituality, it is useful to consider Aguilar's epic mix of scriptural commentary and literary imagination entitled (1845). In this multi-volume work of 576 pages, Aguilar used the lives of biblical and historical Jewish women as a source of spiritual strength and inspiration for modern Jewish women.
instructor, poet and sacred singer; her very existence and accomplishments demonstrated that Jewish women were not degraded within Judaism, as some claimed. 39 But while recognition of poetic abilities was granted, Aguilar felt that this was not where Deborah's true greatness lay. Nor was it in her military role in Barak's victory over Sisera. 40 Crucially, Aguilar played down Deborah's outward power and public triumphs and emphasised instead home. 41 The important thing to notice here, Aguilar claimed, was that Deborah's quiet, low-36 "Every Hebrew should look upon his faith as a temple extending over every land, to prove the immutability, the eternity of God, the unity of His purposes, the truth of the past, the present, and the future; and regard himself strength, the durability, and the beauty of the whole." Ibid., 245. 37 which the three preceding chapters contain; that it is following the false lights of the Nazarene, and spiritualizing and mystifying a simple truth; that the command to love the Lord with all our heart, and soul, and might, simply means to pray to Him and praise Him, and obey His laws as far as lies in our power." Ibid., 109.
38 For example, Lask-Abrahams comments, "One also has the feeling that her frequent decrying of traditional usages represents a form of Jewish Protestantism drawn from her early close association with non-Jewish acquaintances. . . [This] led her sometimes to oppose the Bible to the traditions of the Rabbis and minimize the role of the Rabbis in the development and spirituality of Judaism." Lask-Abrahams, "Grace Aguilar: A Centenary Tribute," 142. 39  or privilege for herself individually, than the being recognised as the mother of the people whom the Lord alone 41 phrase, that 'the land had rest for forty years' -the land, the whole land, not merely that which was under her direct place when used, as were Deborah's, to the glory of God, and the good of her people. Silently and perhaps unperceived, they spread over space and time; and oh, how glorious must be the destiny of that woman, who, that "the land had rest for forty years" -a far more powerful demonstration of what a woman can achieve than were military exploits. 42 This, she went on, offered a model for the present and future duties of contemporary women of Israel, even if the situation in the real world meant that they "can no longer occupy a position of such trust and wisdom in Israel".
[they] can in the least degree suppose." 43 With many such examples in Aguilar made it clear that her ideal of womanly spirituality was a reassuringly traditional one, nonthreatening in its refusal to compete with men in the public sphere. 44 (1846), Aguilar advice from a Sephardi Jewess called Inez Villena to a young girl called Annie, who was contemplating conversion, having had only a nominal Jewish upbringing. Interestingly, Aguilar here reversed her earlier claim that the crypto-Jewish experience had encouraged a spiritual understanding of their faith. Instead, she now argued that that kind of Anglo-Judaism which privileged external form over spirituality had had its origins in the Sephardi experience of Inquisition and crypto-Judaism. Their lives had been habituated to caution [in which they] adhered so very strictly to the , to the utter exclusion of the of their religion", had continued upon their arrival in England. This state of affairs was, while understandable, a matter of regret. 45 Attitudes were changing, of course, sometimes too without one moment quitting her natural sphere, can yet by precept, example, and labour, produce such blessed efforts as to give the land peace, and to bring a whole people unto God! " Ibid., 216. "[T]he greatness of Deborah consisted not at all in outward state, in semblance of high rank, or in any particular respect or homage outwardly paid her; but simply in her vast superiority of mental and spiritual acquirements which were acknowledged by her countrymen, and consequently revered." Aguilar,,212. 42 There is an unpretending simplicity about her very greatness. . . To a really great mind, domestic and public duties , 217-218. 43 how to , without in any way . She will know how to serve the Lord in her household, without society at large, secretly and unsuspectedly indeed, but more powerfully than she herself can in the least degree suppose." Ibid., 217. 44 authors such as Sarah Stickney Ellis who wrote (London: Fisher, 1839), a work with which Aguilar was very familiar. 45 "In Portugal, as you know, to be even suspected as a Jew exposed our ancestors to all the horrors of the Inquisition, sequestration, torture, and often, death. The religion of our fathers, therefore, was instilled with such impenetrable secrecy, and so burdened with caution and the constant dread of discovery, that, to do more than attend to its mere elements, and keep the mind faithful to the doctrine of the Divine Unity and the perpetuity of the Jewish Faith, in contradistinction to the bewildering dogmas of saints, martyrs, infallibility of the Roman Church, masses, etc, was impossible. To become spiritual was equally so, for the Bible was a forbidden book to the Catholics, other countries, were unable to throw off the caution of centuries. They could not realise that the yoke was so far removed from the necks, as to permit the practice, and confession of their faith. To speak of, or impart it, by means of reference to, and discussion upon the Bible, had so long been an utter impossibility, that it was scarcely unnatural, they should suppose it impossible still, when in reality no impossibility existed. This is the reason why so violently for Villena/Aguilar's own liking, but "a mighty movement", by which she meant Reform Judaism, had thankfully begun. 46 of an eminently sympathetic woman gave Aguilar greater intellectual freedom than she had had in . Here, in this work which did not purport to be a formal work of theology, she could talk at length about non-theological aspects of religion, including attitudes and feelings and, in so doing, draw heavily upon her own personal experience without fearing the attentions of religious authorities. ( had received some poor reviews). It was undoubtedly written with Jewish and Christian audiences in mind, concerned as it was to present Judaism in a positive light and to challenge common In this work, support for Reform Judaism seems less muted, as if Aguilar had begun to believe that it held the hope for Jewish spirituality.
women, Aguilar also experimented with historical romance. Although only published in 1850, Aguilar's had been composed in the early 1830s and is a gothic tale 47 It tells the adventures of a young crypto-Jewess, an intimate of Queen Isabella called Marie, her innocent Christian former beau who is blamed for the murder of her noble husband (also a crypto-Jew), and the consequences Marie must face when the truth of her Jewishness is revealed. Others have found in its pages a clear appeal for Jewish emancipation. 48 Here, we are more interested in the way Aguilar uses this particular novel to explore unfamiliar forms of spirituality. To a Christian readership, the Jewess Marie is presented as a paragon of steadfast loyalty to her father and the religion of her fathers, a potential martyr with the sweetness of an angel, easily contrasted with the unspiritual, murderous dungeon-keepers of the Catholic Inquisition. For the Jewish audience, however, one is struck by the remarkable presentation of Catholic queen Isabella as a deeply spiritual and wise Christian, whose womanly religious virtue. 49 With somewhat broad brush-strokes, history is re-written to reveal that the Isabella has been tragically misunderstood, and that only under considerable duress from Torquemada was she reluctantly persuaded to institute the Inquisition and expel many of our ancient Spanish and Portuguese families, when they came to England, adhered so very strictly to the , to the utter exclusion of the of their religion; and never spoke of nor attempted to teach it, except by desiring a soulless obedience, which had no power, when the young mind began to enquire for itself." Aguilar, The , 35-36. 46 "If we compare the thoughts and sentiments on the religion of the Hebrews in almost all countries of the merely looking on the present, we may feel the movement is so small as to be almost invisible, and we sometimes are led to despond more than hope. We may watch too, with dread, the too violent reforms, the too indiscriminate clipping away of the old established, and so somewhat treasured forms; but better, far better, this agitation, than the 47 Galchinsky estimates its date of composition sometime between 1831 and 1835. Galchinsky, , 139. 48 Ibid., 137ff. 49 extent was never known, either to himself or to his people, till after her death. . ." Grace Aguilar, (London: Groombridge and Sons, 1850), 218.
the Jews. 50 pages of the novel, as she struggles to see beyond Marie's heretical Jewish shell, and love her -and free her -despite her refusal to convert to Christianity. 51 There are two observations that can be made about Aguilar's Isabella. Firstly, the painful irony that Isabella has such effective and poignant warning to the reader concerning contemporary Christian attitudes towards Jewish spirituality. Secondly, it is revealing that in the story Marie's primary concern in disclosing her Jewish identity is not that she will have to face the Inquisition, but that she will lose the love of her adored Christian patroness. 52 This fear of Christian disapproval is a theme found in a number of Aguilar's writings. In this brief survey of different works by which means we have explored Aguilar's personal conception of spirituality, we might note an ambiguous attitude towards Reform Judaism, both cautious and hopeful. The same is true of her attitude towards Christianity. Aguilar is Christian emphasis, and she is keen to make it clear that this focus is one way of preventing conversion. On the other hand, she values her interactions with Christians, adopts the Christian negative view of Pharisees, admires Christian family and social encouragement to religion to the extent of creating a caricature, and is concerned not only to convince Christians of the reality of Jewish spirituality but even hints at a fear of receiving their disapproval.
Integral to Aguilar's conception of true faith in her theological treatise was the need to base it upon an authoritative foundation. This foundation was to be the divinely inspired Bible as transcribed by Moses, 53 which would provide all the defences a Jew needed against the temptations and threats of a Christian world. Her rationale makes this clear. 50 would do violence to her most cherished wishes. . . This spirit would. . . have led her a willing martyr to the stake; as it was this same spirit led to the establishment of the Inquisition, and the expulsion of the Jews -deeds so awful in their consequences, that the actual motive of the woman-heart which prompted them is utterly forgotten, and only able to achieve it by emotional blackmail. Aguilar, , 242-243, 292. 51 Isabella's fear for Marie's soul obliges her to attempt her conversion, but the failure of the disputation (which features a learned cleric's doctrinal arguments), which certainly disappointed Isabella, did not stop her protecting Marie from "the necessity of severity" for which Torquemada called. 52 Marie, alluding to the immanent revelation of her secret Jewish faith, cries "Oh, madam, thou wilt hear a strange tale tomorrow -one so fraught with mystery and marvel, that thou will refuse to believe it. . . And then, if thou hast ever loved me. . . whatever thou mayst hear, do not condemn me. . . do not cast me from thee." Aguilar,,135. 53 his soul the infused eloquence and wisdom, which impelled him to proclaim them to his countrymen. Every page of the Bible breathes the voice of God." Aguilar, , 32. Aguilar assumes throughout the divine It is alleged that it is dangerous to associate intimately with those of other creeds, that it is as dangerous to our faith as the open warfare of old. They are mistaken who thus think; were the Jewish religion studied as it ought to be by its professors of every age and sex; were the BIBLE, , its foundation and defence; were its spirit felt, pervading the inmost heart, giving strength nor the slow, still constant dripping of the waters can bend or shake. . ..
[To] enable us to mingle amongst those of another creed, without fearing to imbibe it. . . the Bible must be our constant study. . . Faith indeed is the golden key to unlock its stores, for without faith its pages are in truth 'sealed'. . . Those who deny its divine truths are neither Jewish nor Christian; for the acknowledgement of its divinity is equally binding to the one as to the other. 54 Aguilar called for educational programmes that would familiarize Jewish youth with the texts themselves, enabling them to defend their beliefs. 55 The Word of God was the only means by which the poor and uneducated could come to understand His will for them and long". 56 Like the Reform minister David Woolf Marks, 57 Aguilar felt that any "inventions of man" such as rabbinic tradition that "choke up the law of Love which came direct from was the source of all Jewish ethics. 58 She was quick to condemn those who valued the rabbinic tradition over the Bible itself, arguing that was a common cause of conversion, and she called for a Jewish translation of the Bible into English, which did not exist at that time. 59 There is a debate around the origins for the bibliocentric, that is, bible-based, characteristics of many reform-minded British Jews in the mid-nineteenth-century, but it is 54 Ibid.,20,22,[50][51] Ibid., 175-177. 56 "The poor, even as children, need instruction in their religion; it will not come untaught, nor can its mild consoling lustre beam from the trammels of tradition, which must increase in incomprehensible obscurity with each may do our needy brethren by leading them to read and understand the word of God, by. . . inciting them to rise alone for. . . their instruction how to live and for their hopes of immortality." Ibid., 100, 103-104. 57 One of the founding fathers of Anglo-Jewish Reform, and minister at the West London Synagogue of British anti-rabbinism. 58 ordinances of Scripture we refer. There may be some observances which superstition and bigotry have introduced, some of which tarnish and choke up the law of love which came direct from Heaven; but to them we allude not. The Bible and reason are the only guides to which the child of Israel can look in security. The laws for they are not the dictates of the law, they are wanderings from the true and true and only law, the inventions of man, but frequently occasion ordinances of far more weight to be neglected, and for which no reason can be assigned save the ideas of our ancient fathers, cannot be compared in weight and consequence to the piety of the heart, which but too often they supersede." Aguilar, , 227-229. 59 "Others again, earnest in the cause, yet mistaken in the means, search and believe the writings of the Rabbis, take as divine truths all they have suggested, and neglect the Bible as not to be compared with such learned dissertations. And why should this be? Why should the Bible be shunned by that people, to whom it was so peculiarly intrusted? [sic]. . . Mournfully they err, who thus preserve the English Bible from the hands and hearts of their children [for fear of conversion in reading a Christian translation]. It is this great error, which prevents the spirit of piety from taking possession of the heart, and binds us to cold and lifeless forms; it is this which is the real cause of so many Israelites having embraced Christianity." Ibid., 52-54.
of Judaism, which was also vehemently anti-Talmudic. 60 Aguilar's protestation that her vision of a biblical Judaism would prevent conversion might appear to undermine such an interpretation, but it certainly failed to convince many of her contemporaries otherwise. 61 A little earlier we saw how the biographical sketches in could be understood as a platform upon which Aguilar sets out her vision of ideal womanly spirituality. But Aguilar claimed that it was also very important to her that her Jewish contemporaries did not have to look to Christian moral literature or religious commentary for such guidance. She was determined that there should be no necessity for Christian writings to "make Israel spiritual." 62 One way to avoid this was to return to the Divine Word. As she put it, "[T]he Bible must become indeed the book of life to the female descendents of that nation whose earliest history it so vividly records. . ." 63 In drawing upon the Bible, primarily, she sought to generate a set of edifying lessons for her community that was entirely dependent on Jewish sources. With examples such as Deborah, aimed "to prove that we have no need of Christianity, or the examples of the females in the Gospel". 64 , Aguilar continued with this theme, when, as the Sephardi matron Villena, she sought to convince Annie, the Jewish girl who was considering conversion, that the inspirational texts of promise, narrative and spiritual guidance, that sounded as though they belonged to the New Testament, actually belonged to their own Bible. 65 At times, this was not always obvious, and it was often necessary to look beyond the surface meaning in the "search for divine lessons". 66 Even so, she said, 60 Upon the Origins of Reform and Liberal Judaism in England" in 3 (2004). 61 In this context, the editor, Isaac Leeser, comments, "Again I must remark that Miss A. has relied too much upon the calumniators of the Jewish character as authority." Aguilar, , 52. 62 "With such [biblical] writings , and ours from centuries long past, do we need the works of Christian divines to make Israel spiritual?" Aguilar, , 569. 63 Ibid., 15. 64 Ibid., 18. 65 promise, narrative, and spiritual guidance, which you thought were only revealed in the New Testament, were found in our's ages and ages before; and that it is our utter neglect and disregard of these precious things which has so concealed them, as to cause the supposition that they were given to the stranger rather than to us. . . [Y]ou always supposed that they [comforting verses] came from the New, not the Old Testament, and were, especially, the privileged possession of Christians, as they were frequently quoted in Christian books, and those of your own found yourself longing to believe in the New Testament, parts of which, seemed so much more simple and clear than the [86] old." Aguilar, , 40-41, 59-60, ninety and nine who have not sinned,' is a sentiment found in the Gospel; and therefore supposed to be the spirit of the Christian religion, [179] in contra-distinction to that of the Jew. But this, like many other similar assertions, is a great mistake. It was the essence of the Jewish religion , and thence, and by , was preached to the Christians." She cites Rabbi Abraham Belaish (sic), 'Biblical Expositions', 44, 88. Aguilar, , 178-179. Abraham Belais (1773-1853 was a Tunisian rabbi with a history of himself in 1844 in Hebrew and English. 66 mere dream of an enthusiast, dearest Annie. The word of God is granted us to be our guide, not merely by precept, but by examples -not only by revelation in direct words, but by analogy. We are to look upon all it records as instruction, and for divine lessons, not be content with merely those which lie upon the surface." Aguilar, The , 360.
We must remember the Old Testament is OURS. That of the glorious truths it reveals, and the precepts it bestows, no-one can deprive us, unless we disregard them ourselves, and by indifference and neglect, permit others to think that we have neither right nor interest in them. 67 Villena/Aguilar observed with some pleasure that modern expressions of Judaism were increasingly dependent upon the bible, suggesting that erroneous teachings would soon be a thing of the past, 68 for, she said, the Talmudic sages had never intended that their ingenious commentaries would have taken the place of the Word of God. 69 The same would be true of contemporary un-biblical hopes such as the much-discussed Jewish return to Palestine. 70 There was a dire need for religious, edifying literature for Jewish women in the English vernacular, 71 for whom the wisdom of the Jewish sages was impossible to master. (It is interesting to hear a sense of regret in this observation). 72 And although many other modern 67 Ibid. 68 "That the doctrine [of transmigration] may be found in the writings of the Hebrews is very probable; but it must be found in the Bible to be Judaism." Ibid., 275. "That there may be in certain portions of our theological works in which the Jewish doctors of the early ages wrote such an idea as Milton embodied in his 'Paradise Lost,' [i.e. 'the Christian doctrine of heaven and hell, Jesus and Satan'] with the exception of Jesus, as some Christians assert, I cannot deny; for I am not acquainted with the deep Jewish works in question. But even if it did, their opinions can no more be adopted as articles of belief than the poem of Milton for the New Testament gives no more foundation for the latter than the Old for the former." Aguilar, , 435-436. 69 "The ancient sages, whose notions we have been considering [in the context of outlining how the four intellect, and their peculiarly imagination, in illustrating certain simple texts, so as familiarly to instruct and delight the masses of their countrymen. They never intended these various illustrations and commentaries to take the place of that venerable Word, which was their foundation, but merely as an intellectual exercise to amplify and , 57. Aguilar's chapter on spirituality was highly dependent on the four sermons of Abraham Belash (sic), concerning earth ('which, they say covertousness and ambition' 54), water ('incites to mercenary craving for worldly treasures and pleasures' 55), and air ('tends to all those petty levities and abuses of speech' 54). Ibid. 70 "Palestine, struggled for by Christian and Mahometan (sic), and still lying waste, as the Lord ordained, giving not to strangers the fruition, and the beauty, and luxuriance, which given, and will again be given, to the Jews: -Palestine, still regarded with an eye of longing by the true Hebrew, as his only home; by the Christian as indissolubly linked to the Past, -is not Palestine itself, then an evidence of the truth of revelation. . . ?" Ibid., 127. "I am aware, that many amongst us, and even amongst Christians, imagine that the repeopling of Judea, will be accomplished naturally (so to speak); and occasional efforts have been made, and pamphlets have been written, to manifest the wisdom of a co-operation of certain nations, or promulgation of certain statutes, compelling or holding out rewards and privileges, for the Jews to return to Judea: but to my feelings, these efforts are utterly useless. It is impossible to read the Prophets with any attention, and not to perceive, that our return will be attended by miracles yet more stupendous than those which marked our progress from Egypt; by a regeneration of the heart, and annihilation of all inclination to sin, which, in the present state of man, is impossible; and by the resurrection of the dead, which will not be till the end of days 'when the sun shall not give light by day, nor the moon by night, but the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and they God thy glory. // Our promised restoration, then, is a , instead of a denial of our soul's immortality; for every reference to it marks the triumph of the spiritual over the merely corporeal, and this in itself is proof of our nature, and of the continued existence of the spirit, however the body may lie in corruption. . . Such and such alone, is the promise attendant on our restoration; and how shall we call this thought. It has no foundation in our Scriptures; therefore it is wrong, and has no part in Judaism." Aguilar, The , 367-368, 369. 71 "To women especially, a religion in which love is the vital essence, is imperatively needed. And, therefore, am I so earnest in endeavouring to display its true spirit to you." Aguilar, , 83. It was the editor of 72 "For them [our FEMALE YOUTH], there is literally no help in the way of vernacular religious literature. For our young men, there are the works of ancient sages; there are ministers and teachers to instruct in their obsolete authorities had proved a bitter disappointment, 73 Villena/Aguilar had found inspirational the bibliocentric Reform minister David Woolf Marks' attempt to reconcile the threat of the law with the comfort of the prophets. 74 So, what can we say about how Aguilar orientated herself to her faith's sacred writings? Certainly, she repeatedly claims to have founded her faith upon the Hebrew Bible, of which she wanted a Jewish translation into English, and thus she regards the Talmud as a very secondary text, quite unnecessary for appreciating the true essence of Judaism. In this context, her attitude towards Christianity once again appears torn in two directions. On the one hand, she remains vocally opposed to conversion, determined to offer Jewish alternatives Testament) origins of so many spiritually uplifting texts. On the other, despite an occasional note of regret that she was denied access to the wisdom of the rabbis, she appears to have internalised the anti-Talmudic critique of contemporary Evangelical Protestant Christians along with their conviction that the bible was the sole authority.

In
Aguilar had argued for the need to stress spirituality over the external forms that characterized much of Judaism as she found it, and had denigrated rabbinic relationship between Jews and Christians or, at least, between those Jews and those Christians who she believed shared common religious sensibilities. There were undoubtedly serious doctrinal issues on which Jews and Christians could not agree, such as the Jewish concept of the unity of God as taught in the , 75 or the Christian need for a saviour which resulted 76 But Aguilar was primarily concerned to stress the common religious outlook. She observed that many Protestants were redemption and who looked at the Jews with a mixture of admiration, awe and love. 77 She learning and theology open to them. Their larger intellect, deeper reasoning, greater intensity and power of concentrating thought, will enable them to enter into, and master them; but this to woman is utterly impossible. sisters, husbands and children." Ibid., 8-9. Traditional authorities mentioned by Aguilar included sages 152-3, Joseph Albo 156-158, Maimonides 202,209,228,429. 73 Regarding Mendelssohn's (1767), she wrote,"[T]he feeling of disappointment with which I laid down the book was absolutely painful. There was no evidence of the Hebrew within its pages; the follower of any creed might have compiled it. It could not teach the Christian the immortal hope and spiritualised faith of the Jew. . ." Ibid., 423. 74 This was second-hand knowledge, Aguilar commenting, "I do not know the exact words, not having heard, or read his sermon." Ibid., 193. 75 Aguilar, , 4-7. 76 Aguilar discussed at some length the Christian need for a saviour in contrast to the Hebrew creed -"one of the great distinctions between the Hebrew and Christian" -and of the law -"They look on our beautiful law as 77 will be, in some way, connected with the restoration of Israel? Do not the truly religious of all sects look upon us with feelings near akin to admiration and awe, ay, and even love?" G. Aguilar, could readily sympathize with their spiritual concern for those trapped within loveless, lifeless traditional forms of Judaism, asking "Why should we so condemn the[ir] custom of seeking converts?. . . Why should we be angry with the[ir] wish to lead us where these blessings are supposed to be found?" 78 Between a true Christian and a true Jew the points of agreement were many, and the differences, however important, were few and "need never be brought forward". 79 The similarities were only natural, for, as we have seen, the source of their knowledge of the God of love was the shared text of the Old Testament, 80 from which 81 She therefore misrepresented Judaism. 82 For this reason, and adopting the opposite position to that presented in wealth of Christian devotional resources.
[T]here are many, very many excellent aids to the spirit of religion found in books written indeed for Christians. . . Why should we be startled at selecting portions [for laudable employment] from Christian authors? The morality they inculcate, the spirit they breathe, come from the fount in which they both believe, the Old Testament. 83 Edom, Egypt, Moab, Ammon, Palestine itself, as proofs and evidences of the truth of religion. How easy it would be to select portions from these very books for the instruction of our children; and eternal nature of our law, of the whole Book of Life, according to belief. . . Proofs of the truth of Christianity are to the young Hebrew, proofs of the truth of Judaism. Conversion cannot take place on either side; but mutual esteem and charity will take the place of such desire; for if both religions appear to have the same foundation, it is evident God alone in His own good time can remove the veil which each believes 84 78 She went on: "Why should we so condemn the [Christian] custom of seeking converts? If but to too many the Jewish religion is allowed to bring no comfort, no devotion, no spirit, and it is from those misguided ones, the whole religion is regarded; why should we be so angry with the wish to lead us where these blessings are supposed to be found. If there be aught to condemn, it is the lukewarmness and ignorance of those of our own people, who declare there is no comfort, no spirit in their faith. . ." Aguilar, , 22-23. 79 She continued: "[T]he points of agreement are many, so many that our conversation might ever be of our mutual Father which is in heaven, of His glorious works, and attributes and love - [as] though that in which we differ never mingled with it." Ibid., 23.
80 "This is the God the Nazarene [i.e. Christian] emphatically calleth love; this is their God and OUR God, for it is from us -from us alone -that they have learned in part to know Him." Ibid., 36. 81 "Why do we only too often hear even amongst professing Hebrews, that the morality of the New Testament of Christianity is that, in which WE were instructed by God Himself, either in direct communion with Moses, or through His chosen servants the prophets! Its only change is from the lofty language of inspiration which the chosen of the Lord alone could be supposed to understand, to the brief and simple phrases better suited to the comprehension of the heathen to whom it was addressed. . . [S]hall we declare the Christian Ethics are the best, when we know nothing, seek to know nothing of our own?" Ibid., 54-56. 82 "This [making manifest the spiritual beauty of Judaism] would be evincing our love to our universal Father, and our desire to exalt His glory, much more to the improving of our own hearts, and to the enlarging of charity towards our fellows, than the endeavour, too often made in scorn and hate, to found the truth of our own belief on the falsity and degradation of the Christian." Ibid., 88. 83 Ibid.,102. 84 Ibid.,[162][163] In this passage we are reminded that while Aguilar certainly disapproves of conversion, yet she clearly believes that the common biblical foundation of both religions belied the differences that each saw in the other. It is entirely possible to read as an impassioned plea for Jew and Christian to recognise himself in the other; and to see that the biblically-based spiritual Jew shared more in common with the biblically-based spiritual Christian than either did with formalists in their own camps. Likewise, in a work of historical (1844), Aguilar puts the case that Christians have unfairly failed to interpret the historical persecution of the Jews in the same way as they do persecution of 85 The two romantic tales concerning the Jewish expulsion from Spain in 1492 and the troubled lives of historical truth more clearly forward." 86 In , this interest in identifying one's true community is played out in a female-only environment. In the introduction to this extended meditation upon the individual experiences of Jewish women, ancient and modern, she was certainly prepared to take issue with some female Christian authors. These, she said, had misrepresented the ideal 87 In particular, she took exception to the role they gave to Christ in their construction. Their works, which, like her own, sought to draw inspiration from the lives of biblical women, were written for the Christian world and, as she put it, Education and nationality compel them to believe that 'Christianity is the sole source of female excellence'. . . nay, more, that the value and dignity of women's character would never have been known, but for the religion of Jesus; that pure, loving, self-denying doctrines, were unknown to women; she did not even know her relation to the Eternal; dared not look upon Him as her Father, Consoler, and Saviour, till the advent of Christianity. . . We feel neither anger nor uncharitableness towards those who would thus deny to Israel those very privileges which were ours, ages before they became theirs; and which, in fact, have descended from us to them. Yet we cannot pass such assertions unanswered. . . 88 Aguilar was concerned throughout to defend Judaism against the charge that it had degraded its women. She was not even prepared to accept that the Talmud had devalued women in any way, even though elsewhere she was quite keen to dismiss it. 89 At one point she even reversed the charge, arguing 85 'The Edict; a Tale of 1492' and 'The Escape; a Tale of 1755'. In her preface, Aguilar writes, "[I]f persecution and intolerance be always the signs of divine chastisement, how shall we account for the massacres and cruelties divinity of the cause for which they suffered. Why, then, should not the faithfulness to a religion far more persecuted than any other in the world, be considered in the same glorious light when applied to the children of God?.. Yet who draws examples from the Jew?" Grace Aguilar, (London: J. Mortimer, 1844), vi. 86 Ibid., viii. 87 "Female [Christian] biographers of Scripture have, we believe, often appeared; although the characters of the improvement could be derived from their perusal." Aguilar doubts whether the writings of Sanford, Ellis, and Hamilton "with 'women's mission' marked so simply, yet so forcibly, in the little volume of that name" have done enough to teach women of every race and creed their duty. Aguilar, , 10. 88 Ibid. 89 "To the Gentile assertion, that the Talmud has originated the above-mentioned blessing, and commanded or inculcated the moral and mental degradation of women, we reply, that even if it did so, which we do not believe it woman, till the reformation opened the Bible, the whole Bible, to the nations at large, when civilization gradually followed. If, then, the situation of even Christian women was so uncertain, but too often so degraded, for nearly fourteen centuries after the advent of Jesus, who His glorious heritage, and shared in the barbarity around him? 90 Aguilar thus reacted angrily to the implied claim that Christianity had a monopoly on spirituality and that it should serve as a model for Jewish women. 91 Despite these reservations concerning Christian women's arrogance, however, Aguilar was inclined to see a good deal in common between her idea of true spirituality and that of many Christian women. She could speak of "the spiritual system common to Protestants and Jews," 92 and in terms of Christian women novelists to make her point. The work of one was described as "so essentially SPIRITUAL, that. . . we know it must be the religion of God's word". 93 This As we saw with Queen Isabella in , Aguilar was quite capable of presenting a Christian woman sympathetically as a spiritual model in a Jewish historical romance. However, in several of her novels in which she is engaged in illustrating the spirit of true piety, Aguilar tells the stories entirely without reference to Jews or Judaism, the cast of characters being exclusively Christian. In the introduction to her best-selling novel , which was published in 1847 (although written ten years previously), 94 she acknowledged that some Christian mothers might be suspicious of her reputation as a Jewish author and "explainer of the Hebrew Faith". She was quick to appease them.
[The author] begs to assure them, that as a simple domestic story, the characters in which are all Christians, believing in and practising that religion, doctrinal points have been most carefully avoided, the author seeking only to illustrate the spirit of true piety. 95 does, its commands are wholly disregarded, and its abolishment [or replacement by NT] is not needed to raise the Hebrew female to that station assigned her in the word of God. . . If, indeed, there are such laws [of female degradation], they must have been compiled at a time when persecution had so brutalised and lowered the intellect of man, that he partook the savage barbarity of the nations around him, and of the age in which he lived. . ." Ibid., 11. 90 Ibid., 12.

91
Judaism, "infused" as it was with Christian doctrine. Cited in Scheinberg, , 150. 92 "Let me repeat, and enforce the repetition, that by the spiritual system common to the Protestants and Jews, I do not in the very least allude to doctrinal points, for in our of creed we are , , and mutually binding laws: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy soul, and all thy might; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;' to both being commanded to practice charity, modesty, humility, brotherly love, forgiveness which we agree; points it would be well for both parties to ponder on more frequently, but which too often become invisible from the too often haughty arrogance of the Christian refusing us the very privileges, spiritual and moral, which he has derived from us alone." Aguilar, , 560. 93 "Every single line by Mrs S.C. Hall. . . is so essentially SPIRITUAL, that without a single syllable unduly introduced of religion, we know it must be the religion of God's word, which is the mainspring of her being." Other female writers "in the same beautiful class" include Mrs. Howitt, Mrs. Southey, Joanna Bailie. Admired as moral, rather than spiritual writers are Miss Edgeworth and Miss Austin. Ibid., 570. 94 Lask-Abrahams, "Grace Aguilar: A Centenary Tribute," 144. 95 Grace Aguilar, (London: R. Groombridge, 1847), vii.
This tendency to appeasement, the sense of a nagging fear of Christian disapproval, permeates a lot of Aguilar's writing. Her poem 'The Hermit', one of her earliest publications from a collection of poems entitled, (1935), is but one example. In it she calls a friend to accompany her to "the old monk's cell", describing its shrouding hood, His strange coarse fashion'd gown" but, over time she has come to see that 96 Her feelings towards this romantic image of the Christian other whose inner spirituality cannot be denied, neatly captures Aguilar's own experience: her one-time fear of Christianity as a threat had long-since been replaced by her acknowledgement of its goodness and by her fear, rather, of its disapproval.
Aguilar's later devotional poetry was more ambiguous with regard to Christianity, however. In a poem entitled, 'A Visit to Jerusalem: While Listening to a Beautiful Organ in One of the Gentile Shrines' (1844), Aguilar turns on its head the traditional convention of reading Christian meanings into Jewish biblical texts and history. Ostensibly describing the Christian organ-music, priest's vestments, altar, and congregational worship, her use of biblical language and symbols transforms this Church service into the noisy, colourful ancient world of biblical Jewish celebration and spiritual ecstasy.
Methought the cymbals' sacred sound came softly on my ear, The timbrel, and psaltery, and the harps's full notes were near; And thousand voices chaunted, His glory to upraise, More heavenly and thrillingly than e'en in David's days. The poem can be understood on at least two levels. It could be read as a gentle swipe at the Christian tendency to think of biblical Judaism only in terms of how it prophesized Christian truths. By doing the reverse, by portraying the Gentile shrine as a type or shadowy slightly uncomfortable territory, whereby the very conventionality of the supersessionist practice is subtly undermined. But one could as easily interpret Aguilar's last verses here to 96 He'll tell you many; do not fear,/ He loves a gentle child." G. Aguilar, 'The Hermit' in Grace Aguilar, (Brighton: W.H. Mason, 1839).
suggest that a glorious platonic reality lies behind the shadows of the humble Christian service, and that while, for a Jew, the spirituality of this lost, great world of biblical Judaism can only be occasionally glimpsed, it is not so very far away and might even be recovered by those with appropriate spiritual sensitivity, that even among the Nazarenes, one might say, both antagonistic and sympathetic attitudes towards Christianity. It is in , that collection of letters to Annie, a Jewish child who was tempted to convert following the loss of her family, that Aguilar wrestled most profoundly with the including the comforting, ever-vaunted hope of a re-union with lost loved ones, 97 the families lived their religion in stark contrast to Jewish families. For example, she writes to Annie, had felt that, if you were a Christian, you might hope to experience all this, but that as a Jewess, it was impossible -that there were so many books, not merely to explain the Christian religion, but many home-speaking, heart-appealing prayers to help them to lift up their thoughts to God, that could you but be a Christian, you might be comforted, and even happy -that you have been tempted most strongly to adopt the Christian faith. . . [W]henever you asked any questions regarding religion, your friend had entreated you to seek information from your own -that in her family, as in other of your Protestant friends, religion was actually taught, made a rule for life, and you could not recall any Jewish family in which this was the case, even your own. . . I agree with you in the many and far superior advantages of the Christian over us [ Jews]. Religious books adapted for our youth and sympathising in our feelings, we have not indeed. With the sole exception of one Synagogue in London, our houses of worship cannot be to our youth as the Christians' are to theirs. . . 98 But such grounds, Villena/Aguilar argued, were not reason enough to convert, for the doctrine of immortality had been a Hebrew one before Christian, 99 and it was not a Christian 97 "[Y]ou cannot help sometimes drawing a comparison between the sentiments of your Christian and Jewish friends. In the one, the thought of belief in, Immortality seemed so ever present, that even the heaviest bereavements were soothed by the hope, not only of the happiness of those who were gone, but of an everlasting re-union; and, hypothesis, that it seemed to you, that it could have no solid foundation, and really was wanting in our religion. . .
[Y]ou could neither think of those you had lost, nor of death, as it related to yourself, without a shuddering dread, which made you long to embrace the faith of Christians." Aguilar,,[226][227][32][33] In the context of her own experience of loss, she writes, "As if to tempt me from my sole Rock of help and salvation, the belief of the Christian came to me, as it has come to you, and promised comfort and redemption, if me to His word for my sole guidance and relief. . . I saw no need for embracing another faith, when the religion of my father gave me not only all I required both for heart and mind, but showed me that if I deserted that, I could not embrace the Christian faith, for all that the Christian's [sic] taught of death and immortality was the Hebrew's centuries and centuries before. . . How then can we, dare we, by indifference and silence, by living as if we had no life which gave peace, but rather one properly centred on the Bible. 100 More problematic was the fact that Villena/Aguilar was prepared to acknowledge throughout that, when it came to matters of spirituality, there was little to distinguish Christian from Jew. 101 Why, then, concern oneself about the label? Why not convert? Her answers included loyalty to one's birthreligion, 102 and the observations that spontaneous prayer was as Hebrew as it was Christian, 103 that adherence to Christianity was no guarantee of spirituality, 104 because the Christians were fragmented amongst themselves, 105 and that many forms of Christianity suffered from superstitious teachings, too, which had nothing to do with the teachings of its founder. 106 But in the light of her obvious high regard for Christian spirituality, none of these were terribly thought or hope beyond this earth, give a colouring to the mistaken idea that all our knowledge of and belief in Immortality is derived, unconsciously to ourselves, from our intercourse with Christians; and that it forms, and formed, no part of the Jewish faith! How can Jew or Christian read the Old Testament, and yet read this?" Ibid., 270-271, 410. 100 "[But] it is not the actual creed which marks the difference in individuals or families. It is the or of the Bible. The spiritual, the consoling and strengthening piety to which you allude, as characterising your friend and her family, does not proceed from the fact of her being a Christian, but from her having made the Bible her sole rule of action." Ibid., 34.
101 "Ask any enlightened Protestant, and he will tell you that the actual of belief are of little moment, compared with the which he supposes that doctrine breathes, and which the preaching of Jesus and his apostles diffused over a benighted world. And that spirit (but wholly and entirely distinct from doctrines, on the precise nature of which, not two congregations could be found to agree as early as the second century after its propagation) convincing. And Villena/Aguilar admitted as much when she said that if Annie could not be 107 Aguilar's position seems to have been a ready acceptance that Anglo-Jewry was in a poor, lifeless state, but she remained convinced that there was no need for the spiritually-minded to lose hope and abandon their ancestral faith. What was required was the re-vitalisation of Judaism. To achieve this, one needed to return to the Bible, of course. But another effective means was to learn from the example offered by spiritually-minded Christians.
Villena/Aguilar develops in a theory of Christianity that could be reconciled with Judaism and valued positively. Christianity was a part of God's providential nations of the earth shall be blessed." Jesus had been a Jew whose followers had taught the Gentiles the knowledge of the Lord and the Moral Law in "simpler words". 108 Consequentially, who brought "some knowledge of the divine commands. . . to benighted lands". 109 Of course there were enemies among the Nazarenes, who had forgotten the debt they owed Israel, 110 but where Christians dedicated themselves to the Bible, there had been less persecution of the Jews. 111 And, undoubtedly, certain doctrinal differences, such as the Jewish 107 comfort, and the beauty of our spiritual faith; if, after due and patient examination, your heart and mind shall between us." Ibid., 61. 108 Apostles taught the Gentiles, in simpler words, the knowledge of the Lord, and of the Moral Law, already revealed to us. From us, then, the blessing of revelation certainly came, whoever might be the ministers to bear it, mingled with some human error permitted for a time, over the known world. "In thy seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,' God said to Abraham centuries before the advent of Moses; and in our dispersion, in the wider spread of OUR scriptures, in the immortal hopes, and glorious future destiny they reveal, in the ennobling aspirations they inspire, in their very revelation of a Father, who has dearer and tenderer, more enduring and more forebearing love, Abraham, every nation blessed?" Ibid., 104-105. 109 often deride and contemn [sic], the missionaries, who seek to preach even their gospel to benighted lands, and so win them to some knowledge of the divine commands. I know that many would loudly condemn this as an entirely anti-Jewish idea: but believing as I do, and as my Bible authorizes me to believe, that all the present systems of Revealed Religion are working God's will, and gradually bringing nearer that glorious day, when all darkness, all error shall be removed, and when, chastisement being ended, we shall be restored to our own land, and all in some degree to know God, this will not be accomplished -I nations) to remove ignorance and reveal the Bible, or (as in the case of the Koran) at least of Revelation." Ibid., 160-161. 110 "I have already called your attention to the principles of the two great systems, Christianity and Mahomedanism, which, grafted on the Mosaic revelation, have been permitted to spread over the earth, as to forget without whom both systems must fall meaningless to the ground." Ibid. 69. 111 "Of course there are exceptions to this fearful treatment of a people [constantly endeavouring, but without success, to vilify and exterminate the Jews], for whom those moral laws [contained in the Word of God] were The more the Bible, the whole Bible, is made the guiding star of the land, and the Old as well as the New Testament studied, the more consideration the Jews receive, the less we read of persecution." Ibid., 96.
insistence on God's unity, 112 and the Christian insistence on original sin 113 and on the 114 had to be maintained. But the only criteria that really mattered, she maintained, were those of "feeling" rather than of "doctrine", 115 for both systems ultimately upheld the same moral truths and principles. 116 There was therefore no need to convert these fellow "heirs to Immortality" to Judaism. 117 Despite their differences, her attitude was manifested in the exclamation: "I respect, from my very heart, the true spiritual believing 112 acknowledging the same guiding books, and therefore the same God, far advanced as she is in spirituality and enlightenment, and in holding forth many a bright example to us, of true and beautiful piety still, even she cannot embrace the doctrine of the one sole indivisible God, cannot realise the perfection and unity of His attributes, strange, that where we have so much, so very much in common, the Christian idea of the Godhead should be so distinct from that of the Hebrew; that where a religious system has advanced so near the sublimest truth, it should yet pause, incomplete, and present a stumbling block, which the enlightened Jew can never over-leap. It if the Christian idea of the Eternal were in all points like our own." Ibid., 67.
113 "The Christian creed is, that not only did Adam's sin bring death into the world, but condemned his own and that of all his unborn descendents, even the spotless babe, to everlasting perdition; that man has no power whatever in himself to pursue the good and strive for Heaven; that unless baptised, and so, through his sponsors, receiving Jesus, he is lost eternally; that without such acknowledgement, every effort after righteousness is futile, and the most earnestly pious lover of God and man condemned, without hope of redemption or escape; while the greatest and most impious sinner may be saved, if he only declare his belief in Jesus. I do not tell you this is the belief of all . I know many who would shrink from it; but it is undoubtedly the general doctrine of , and so accounts for their anxious desire to convert all people to the same saving creed. . . You see, then, though the groundwork of both faiths is the believes that every thought and act of man is clogged with sin. The Hebrew cannot believe so; because his Bible tells him, that there are thoughts, actions, ay, and even feelings, which pure, and holy, and acceptable to his God." Ibid., 186-187, 190. 114 must consider them of such importance, that all heart worship was imperfect without them. The latter, on the contrary, are taught, both by their Law and their Prophets, that they are merely : but part of the outward and ceremonial rite, which was of , but was accepted as in which it was offered." Ibid., 221. 115 "I am quite aware, that the assertion of similitude between religions, whose doctrines of belief are so opposed, would meet with violent opposition, from many who term themselves orthodox Hebrews; but opposition will not alter truth, and I am ready to agree with them that between the and the , there is indeed a barrier which can never be passed; but this holds as good between Jew and Jew, Christian and Christian, as between Hebrew and Protestant. It is not the , but the which are so impassably opposed. I would not check your intimacy with any Christian friend." Ibid., 31-32. 116 "Christianity in all, save its actual doctrine of belief, is the offspring of Judaism; and as one of our most enlightened and purest feeling Divines very lately said, 'The differences between Christianity and Judaism, however , disappear in the .' And the more we know of each other's faith and practice, the more clear and striking becomes this fact." Ibid., 12-13. The reference is to Rev. M.J. Raphall, Jewish Chronicle of 9th January, 1846. 117 who look to Him, and love God, according to the law they follow, are our brothers, and equally with us heirs of Immortality! We do not believe that God has mercy, and has opened the gates of His Heaven to the Jews . You will, no doubt, often be told by the nominal Jew, as well as by the nominal Christian, that this is only an individual, not a notion; but do not let your faith be shaken by such remarks. Our Bible tells us, that the law of Moses is incumbent on the Jews alone, not on the nations; and our ancient fathers (men with deep learning and profound wisdom, who of the present day can compare?) have told us in clear and simple words, 'THE RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD HAVE A SHARE IN THE WORLD TO COME.' " Ibid., 158, 162-163.
Christian". 118 This vision of Christianity helps account for why Villena/Aguilar encourages her young protégé to maintain close relations to her Christian friends, telling her to ignore the gossip of Jewish observers because there was no reason to fear conversionary efforts from a "true and enlightened Protestant." 119 It was true that Anglo-Judaism was in a poor state but this had nothing to do with exposure to its Christian surroundings. 120 Quite the reverse -Anglo-Judaism was lagging behind Anglo-Christian spirituality and intellectuality. 121 Therefore it would do no harm and much good if the girl was to draw upon Christian devotional literature, for example, 122 for a thorough grounding in one's own religion would keep one alive to the rare possibility of confusion of doctrine. 123 Annie would be spiritually uplifted, and should not be afraid. As she explained, Till that is obtained [i.e. Jewish spiritual literature is published], if we would seek aid for serious thought, we must go to Christian books, choosing, of course, those which are more spiritual than 118 "Remember, I do not wish to touch on the Christian faith as regards . As I have said repeatedly, I trace the workings of the Eternal in its progress, as a preparation for that great and glorious day when we shall all know Him. I respect, from my very heart, the true spiritual believing Christian. I only wish to make it clear to you, atonement]." Ibid., 209.
119 "Not thinking very deeply, they [the only Hebrews you have known] imagine it quite impossible for any serious Christian, to take an interest in a young Jewess without desiring her conversion; and that Hebrews and Christians may have much, very much in common; that the very link between them may be religion, entirely and wholly distinct from the doctrines of creed, is so utterly incomprehensible, that they not only disbelieve in its possibility, but are always looking for some ulterior motive. I have no such feelings. No true and enlightened Protestant, ever yet descended to the petty and wicked meanness, of tampering with the faith of a young and almost friendless girl as yourself. Mistaken zealots there are, indeed, who deem the attempt to convert the most meritorious act they can perform; but these are seldom found among calm, enlightened Protestants. Know your own religion ever to fear even an attempt at conversion. [As if to a Christian audience:] It is the mere formalists amongst us, who thrown." Ibid., 30-31. 120 "I am aware that it is said repeatedly, that the Jews of England cannot feel as the Jews of former times; because they must have imbibed, from association with Christians, so many of their religious ideas." Ibid., 418. 121 Aguilar admits, "we are so far behind our Christian brethren in spiritual and intellectual religion." Ibid., 445. 122 "Our huge tomes of Hebrew wisdom and learning are inaccessible to woman. . . [But] All she requires, is to understand the unspeakable comfort, and the religion she follows, so as to obey its dictates from the calm conviction of the mind, as well as from the heart. Many suppose that this comes intuitively, and requires neither instruction nor sympathy. It may be for some: but the generality of our youth demand it, yearn for it with such an intensity of we are astonished, if they are more Christian than Jewish in their thoughts. A charge, by the way, incomprehensible to us individually, as we know not, and never could discover, the distinction between Jewish and Christian , spirituality is common to every creed and to every nation who earnestly seek to know and love the Lord, according to the dictates of the Laws that each believe that He has given, and so observe. And if this be the case with every creed, how much more in common ought those to have, who acknowledge the same Book, and the same foundation? / But if the imbibing of Christian spirituality will do our young sisters no harm whatever, for it is Jewish spirituality as well, the imbibing of the peculiar creed of the Christian undoubtedly will, and this is the great evil to be counteracted in the indiscriminate perusal of Christian books." Ibid., 9-10. In addition to the Gospels, other Christian sources cited by Aguilar included Thomas Carlyle 75, Humphrey Davys 89-90, Gibbon 127, and Rev. Robert Anderson's of Trinity Chapel, Brighton, 340. 123 but so intimately mingled with the peculiar bearing of the Christian faith, that unless fully and thoroughly versed in our own, it is next to impossible not to share the writer's belief in the excellence of his own religion, over and above that of any other." Ibid., 40.
doctrinal. The spirit of the Christian religion is equally the spirit of the Hebrew; for both owe their origin to the same Bible. We have but clearly to understand our own, and a glance will divide especially, a very beautiful work, 'Keith's Evidence of Prophecy,' was once lent me, not with any wish for its religious doctrines to convert me (that I knew from the upright character of the lender), but for the exquisite beauty of its language and sentiments. It is many years ago, for I was scarcely with which I began its perusal -trembling lest my dawning hope and trust should be shaken by this Christian book. But both were strengthened, dearest Annie. It was a strange, an almost others were still to be accomplished; and the truth, the perpetuity, the unchangeableness of my holy faith, the impossibility of its ever merging into another, stood before me clearer and more convincingly than had ever done before. I have no fear of you perusing similar works. 124 Christianity in this construction of a spiritualised Judaism. 125 Those who denied such a thing only strengthened the hand of Christian critics who regarded Judaism as unspiritual. 126 This account, synthesized from the letters, is as close to a coherent theology as we are likely to In discussing Aguilar's sense of community, one is impressed by her conviction that it was entirely possible to learn true spirituality from the lives and actions of Christians, both real acknowledges the spiritual poverty of contemporary Anglo-Jewry. By emphasising a shared community of spiritual Jews and Christians, she can explain why there is no need to convert among the Christian faith. And yet the ambiguity remains. Aguilar insists, of course, on 124 Ibid., 144-145. Aguilar is referring to Alexander Keith's (Edinburgh: Waugh & Innes, prophecies; of less interest to Aguilar was Keith's argument for a restoration of the Jews to their ancient homeland. 125 "But what can we say for those who amongst themselves can assert any thing so absolutely and scripturally, and even talmudically false, as the non-spirituality of their thrice holy faith? It is to me so marvellous, so incomprehensible, that any Jew can read his Bible, and its commentaries by many of our earliest sages, and yet believe this, that the only possible way to explain it, is the supposition that he actually cannot know the meaning of the word causes its condemnation as too Christian for the approval of any Jewish mind." Ibid., 52.
126 "Concerning this mistaken charge of non-spirituality in a religion which preceded from the mouth of God himself; that God whom we only know as SPIRIT, without form or substance, a pure essence pervading Heaven and Earth, and whom we are expressly commanded to worship in and in truth, it seems to me that Christians have adopted and asserted it, simply from the mistaken supposition that we now receive and follow the ordinances of and superstitions of man, in lieu of the word of the living God. They suppose this partly from observation, and partly from the received, yet erroneous, assertions of books. Now, there is no such thing as ancient and modern Judaism. . . When our opponents bring forward the constantly reiterated assertion, that the Hebrews have mingled is quite true; but human weakness and human error cannot tarnish the intrinsic beauty, nor interfere with the they proceed from the intense desire of our ancient sages, to preserve the undying spark of religion alive within us by means of outward ordinances, which, by their constant occurrence, would bring our Creator to our thoughts, when, from slavery and misery, we were debarred from all more spiritual communion." Ibid., 46. maintaining the distinction between Jewish and Christian doctrines, even as she undermines these distinctions with her attempts to convince Christian readers of their shared worldviews. the use of Christian literature, but also bitterly regrets the need to use it and denounces the Christian misrepresentation of the treatment of women in Judaism. She admires the morality and bravery of Christian missionaries but dismisses their New Testament as a perfectly, in the way it both emphasises the similarity of spirit, and at the same time subtly and criticism of Christianity, often revealing an anxious hope of Christian approval.
Judaism and Christianity is complicated by the fact that she was engaged in a one-woman it is worth stressing her independence from the Anglo-Jewish Reform movement whose synagogue was established only seven years before her death. In sharp contrast to the London reform community, Aguilar stressed women's spirituality as paradigm for a Woolf Marks, might have shared Aguilar's sensitivity to an Evangelical, bible-based, antirabbinic Christian critique of Judaism, and therefore also espoused a bibliocentric emphasis, he did not share Aguilar's sense of a shared spiritual community with, and her profound empathy towards, Christianity. 127 theology' in that it sought to portray 'the other' in a way that encourages mutual understanding and respect. But Aguilar was more than simply a reform-orientated Jew with a burning desire to convince Christians of the respectability of Judaism. 128 She was one should remain a Jew, that presented a robust critique of Christianity's distinctive doctrines, 127 Montagu, did share this sense of shared spiritual community, however. See Daniel R. Langton's (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2002) and "Piety, Tradition and Community in the Thought of Lily Montagu: An Anglo-Liberal Jewish Theology of Relation" in 7:2 (2010).
128 Scheinberg argues, "Aguilar fervently believed that only through active 'defensive' engagement with Christian culture could Jews and Judaism advance in Diaspora life. . . If she sought strategies that could speak conclusively rhetorical strategy, I would argue, rather than an ideological commitment to Christian/Protestant doctrine." Scheinberg, , 154. Galchinsky notes , 151ff.
began with the desire to relate to Christianity in a positive way, which can no doubt be attributed to positive personal experiences in her youth and a growing sense of dissonance in seeing how each community tended to regard the other in wholly negative terms. (ii) Aguilar exclusivist Jewish terms. Thus she recognised that neither Judaism nor Christianity could claim a monopoly over what she regarded as the essence of true religion, namely an emotive, romantic form of spirituality, which was to be prioritized over tradition. Likewise she acknowledged the shared claim to those sacred texts which she regarded as most authoritative, namely the Hebrew Bible. And in focusing upon the feminine perspective, she developed a sense of community that embraced a Christian as well as a Jewish sisterhood. (iii) As a result of her appreciation of Christianity, she committed herself to a process of reform: on the one hand, reform of Christian misconceptions of an authentic, spiritual form of Judaism. On the other hand, reform of Judaism itself so as to bring this authentic, spiritual form of Judaism into existence. As a result, there would no longer be a need for Christian missionaries to inculcate a 'living religion' among her brethren. (iv) Aguilar became obsessed with the goal of capturing and conveying the ephemeral sense of relation, of shared-but-distinct identity, between Jew and Christian. It was not easy for her to articulate this perceived reality and she drew upon all her skills, expressing the complex sense of religious identity in different literary forms and genres. This observation is useful for explaining Aguilar's unusual combination of writing styles, which range from the 'edifying literature' of her novels, poetry, and dialogues, to formal works of exegesis and theology. Finally, (v) the ambiguity of from her writings strongly suggests that she was forever oscillating between that which BIBLIOGRAPHY Ahad Ha-Am. 'Judaism and the Gospels' in , I (3 September 1910). Aguilar, Grace.