Masterpieces of Hebew Literature: Selections from 2000 Years of Jewish Creativity

PETACHIA OF RATISBON: Introduction

Petachia of Ratisbon Juxtaposed with his contemporary, Benjamin of Tudela, the travels of Petachia offer an interesting comparison. It is important to remember that Benjamin was a representative of the Sephardic tradition, with its more tolerant attitude to secular culture, and that Petachia was a product of Ashkenazic Jewry, which devoted itself almost exclusively to Jewish scholarship and attempted to avoid contact with outside culture. Petachia, born at Ratisbon (Regensburg) Germany, began his travels (1170-1180) in Prague. The third person narrative depicts his travels through Poland, southern Russia, Armenia, Persia, Babylonia, Syria and Palestine. He dwells on descriptions of graves, sepulchers of saints and famous personalities, and describes the miracles they performed. He writes from personal knowledge—when his reports are based on hearsay, he carefully apprises the reader of this. Like Benjamin's journey, the motive for his trip may have been a desire to visit his coreligionists in other parts of the world; but, as the narrative indicates, since Petachia was a wealthy man, the possibility of a commercial voyage should not be ruled out. Otherwise unknown to Jewish history and literature, Petachia, too, did not write his own travelogue, but entrusted his notes to another person, Rabbi Judah the Pious, author of the Book of the Pious (see page 378). The travelogue was first printed in 1595 with a German translation , and was also translated into Latin, French and other languages. 358 THE TRAVELS OF PETACHIA OF RATISBON These are the travels undertaken by Rabbi Petachia, who travelled through many lands. He set out from Prague, which is in Bohemia, going to Poland, and from Poland to Kiev in Russia. From Russia he went for six days on the River Dnieper. On the other side of the river he commenced his travels in the land of Kedar [Ukraine]. There they have no ships, but sew together ten extended horse hides, with a thong round the border; they then seat themselves on the hides, placing thereon also the wagons and all the luggage. They then tie the thong which is on the border of the hides to the tails of the horses, who start swimming, and thus they pass over the water. They eat no bread in the land of Kedar, but rice and millet boiled in milk, as well as milk and cheese. They also put the pieces of flesh under the saddle of a horse, which they ride and, urging on the animal, cause it to sweat. The flesh getting warm, they eat it. They only travel in the land of Kedar under escort. This is the manner in which the sons of Kedar pledge their faith to each other. One man thrusts a needle into his finger and invites the intended companion of his journey to swallow the blood of the wounded finger. He and that other person become, as it were, the same blood and flesh. They have another fashion of entering into this bond. They fill a vessel of cast copper of the shape of a human face and the traveller and his escort drink thereout, after which they never prove faithless. They have no king, but only princes and nobles. Rabbi Petachia passed through the whole length of the land of Kedar in sixteen days. The inhabitants live in tents; they are farsighted and have beautiful eyes, because they eat no salt and live among fragrant plants. They are good archers, bringing down birds whilst on the wing. They perceive and recognize objects at more than a day's distance. There are no mountains in their country, but all is level. And a day's journey behind the land of Kedar extends a gulf [the Black Sea], intervening between the land of Kedar and the land of Khozaria [Crimea]. There it is customary for women the whole day and night to bemoan and lament their deceased fathers and mothers. This they continue until any of their sons or daughters or other members of the family die, and the last survivors lament those that preceded them in death. They teach their daughters lamentation. In the night they groan and howl. The dogs also whine and bark at their voices. .. . 359 360 MASTERPIECES OF HEBREW LITERATURE In the land of Kedar there are no Jews but only Karaites. And Rabbi Petachia asked them: "Why do you not believe in the words of the sages?" They replied: "Because our fathers did not...