His pupils,
such as Doctor Schick and Rabbi Benjamin and Rabbi Zelmele, influenced
their contemporaries either directly, by bringing them in touch with the
new learning, or indirectly, by reforming the school system and the
method of Talmud study.[13] Of Rabbi Zelmele, who like his master became
the hero of a wonder-biography written by his disciple Ezekiel Feivel of
Plungian, we are told that he regarded grammar as indispensable to a
thorough knowledge of the Bible and the Talmud, pleaded for a return to
the order of study prescribed in the _Pirke Abot_, and complained that,
owing to the neglect of Aramaic, the benefits of comparative philology
were lost and unknown. He declared also that while he believed in all
the Bible contains, the stories in the Talmud are, for the most part,
legends and parables used for the purpose of illustration.[14]
[Illustration: MAX LILIENTHAL, 1815-1882]
Towering above all the disciples of the Gaon, the most outspoken in
behalf of enlightenment is Manasseh of Ilye (1767-1831). At a very early
age he attracted the attention of Talmudists by his originality and
boldness.
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