By Jean Jofen

� 1985

Part III

The Talmud (a collection of interpretations of passages in the Bible) concludes that, in our time, people should adhere to the latter suggestion in the Bible, namely, not to marry the wife of a brother who dies childless. People should follow the procedure of "Chalitza" which is the removal of the sandal (Talmud Bavli --- Babylonian Talmud, Yevamos, --- he volume on Levirate Marriage 30B).

Because of this conflict in the interpretation of the Bible, Henry VIII brought a copy of the Babylonian Talmud along with some Jewish scholars who could interpret it, back to England and into Westminster Abbey. These scholars were the first Jews to return to England (since the expulsion of the Jews in 1290).

The following is proof that Henry VIII did indeed bring a copy of the Babylonian Talmud to Westminster Abbey, in the form of an interesting letter from John Selden, Esq. to Sir Robert Cotton, dated July 4, 1629, in which he asks for the loan of the Talmud Babylon from Westminster Abbey:

Noble Sir,

Your favors are alwaies so great and ready upon all occasions to me that I take upon me the confidence to trouble you in all kinds. I have much time here before me and there is in Westminster Library the Talmud of Babylon in divers great volumes. If it be a thing to be obtained, I would beseech you to borrow them (for the Library is not yet so setled as that books may not be lent if the founder will,) of my Lord of Lincoln, and so get me the use of them. But I would not be so unmannerly as to ask them if they be that state that they may not conveniently be lent, the consideration whereof I leave wholly to your favor and judgment. And I am ever, your most affectionate and acknowledging frende and servant,

J.Selden

Even though Selden (born in England in 1584) recognized the importance of the Hebrew Bible and Rabbinics, which is based on the use of Scripture in the organization of the modern world, his attitude toward Jews was a negative one. His treatise Of the Jews Formerly Living In England was the major work in an attempt to influence Cromwell to refuse the Jews readmission to England.

To return to the conflict of the two Biblical texts about levirate marriage law propounded in Deuteronomy and Leviticus, Henry did not follow the suggestion in The Babylonian Talmud not to marry the widow of his dead brother, and the curse of childlessness, foretold in Leviticus fell on him. Catherine had six children but only one daughter, Mary, survived and after 1525 it became known that Catherine could not have any more children.

One of the ladies-in-waiting to Queen Catherine was Ann Boleyn. She was a beautiful woman and Henry VIII fell desperately in love with her. He appealed to the Pope in Rome to annul his marriage to Catherine. The Pope refused because he feared Charles V, King of Spain, who was Catherine’s nephew. Cardinal Wolsey worked hard to obtain the annulment but when it was not forthcoming, Henry deposed Wolsey and called Parliament into session in 1529. He openly denied the power of the Pope and had himself declared "supreme head of the Church of England." In 1532, Catherine was removed from the Court and Ann Boleyn established in her place. The Pope still refused to give Henry the annulment.

When Henry VIII broke with the Pope, he took the control of the church, dissolved the monasteries, confiscated their property and distributed it among laity. These people had the difficult task of finding preachers who were qualified to preach to the people, since the money which was originally allotted for the purpose of training them went to other uses.

Ann Boleyn also only bore Henry a daughter, Elizabeth.

After Henry VIII put Ann Boleyn to death for infidelity, he married again and his third wife bore him a son, Edward VI, who succeeded him, though he was only a boy of 10 when he became king. Under his rule the Protestants took over the administration of the churches in England.

Edward VI approved an English translation of the Bible to be used in churches as well as an English liturgy. After Edward’s death, Mary (the Catholic daughter of Catherine of Aragon) came to the throne. She martyred more than 250 Protestants and tried to restore Catholicism, also the dominant religion of France and Spain, to England. France and Spain subsequently fought with each other over the supremacy of Europe.

When Mary died, Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn, ascended the throne of England. Protestant exiles then returned to England from the continent.

Elizabeth immediately summoned Parliament and the clergy to assist her reorganization of the Church but many members of Parliament were exiles friends of exiles. Again they denied the power of the Pope but provided that the Church be administered by a group of bishops appointed by the Crown and responsible only to the Crown.