Scavenging Jewish History Clue #8

Congratulations, you found Clue #8! Stories like this one have fed the Jewish desire for pious storytelling for over two centuries. Read the rest of the story on your own and find out how you can rescue the princess.

(ב) - עָנָה וְאָמַר: בַּדֶּרֶךְ סִפַּרְתִּי מַעֲשֶׂה שֶׁכָּל מִי שֶׁהָיָה שׁוֹמְעָהּ, הָיָה לוֹ הִרְהוּר תְּשׁוּבָה וְזוֹ הִיא מַעֲשֶׂה בְּמֶלֶךְ אֶחָד, שֶׁהָיוּ לוֹ שִׁשָּׁה בָּנִים וּבַת אֶחָת וְאוֹתָהּ הַבַּת הָיְתָה חֲשׁוּבָה בְּעֵינָיו מְאד וְהָיָה מְחַבְּבָהּ בְּיוֹתֵר וְהָיָה מְשַׁעֲשֵׁעַ עִמָּהּ מְאד פַּעַם אַחַת הָיָה מִתְוַעֵד עִמָּהּ בְּיַחַד בְּאֵיזֶה יוֹם וְנַעֲשָׂה בְּרגֶז עָלֶיהָ וְנִזְרְקָה מִפִּיו דִּבּוּר: שֶׁהַלּא טוֹב יִקַּח אוֹתָךְ בַּלַּיְלָה הָלְכָה לְחַדְרָהּ וּבַבּקֶר לא יָדְעוּ הֵיכָן הִיא וְהָיָה אָבִיהָ מְצַעֵר מְאד וְהָלַךְ לְבַקְּשָׁהּ אָנֶה וָאָנָה עָמַד הַשֵּׁנִי לַמַּלְכוּת, מֵחֲמַת שֶׁרָאָה שֶׁהַמֶּלֶךְ מִצְטַעֵר מְאד וּבִקֵּשׁ, שֶׁיִּתְּנוּ לוֹ מְשָׁרֵת וְסוּס וּמָעוֹת עַל הוֹצָאוֹת, וְהָלַךְ לְבַקְּשָׁהּ וְהָיָה מְבַקְּשָׁהּ מְאד זְמַן מְרֻבֶּה מְאד עַד שֶׁמְּצָאָהּ [עַתָּה מְסַפֵּר אֵיךְ בִּקְּשָׁה עַד שֶׁמְּצָאָהּ].

(2) [The Princess Is Lost]
Once, there was a king. On the way I told [such] a story that whoever heard it had a thought of teshuvah, return. And this is the story. The king had six sons and one daughter. The daughter was very dear to him, and he would cherish (in other words, love) her exceedingly and play with her very much. One time, while he was together with her on a certain day he became angry with her and the words, "Let the Not-Good take you away!" escaped from his mouth. At night she went to her room; in the morning no one knew where she was. Her father (the king) was very afflicted and went here and there looking for her. The viceroy [lit. second in kingship] arose because he saw the king was very distressed, and asked to be given an attendant, a horse and money for expenses, and he went to search for her. He searched hard for her, for a very long time, until he found her. (Now he tells how he searched for her until he found her.)

Around the same time that Hassidism emerged on the scene in Eastern Europe, the Jews of England, France, & Germany encountered another Reform movement: the Enlightenment. Encouraged by Jewish scholars like Moses Mendellsohn & Baruch Spinoza, many Jews wanted to make it easier to be Jewish in a non-Jewish world.

Reform and Orthodox Judaism soon emerged. Conservative Judaism and other movement came a bit later. One of the first leaders of the Orthodox movement was a rabbi named Samson Raphael Hirsch. He wrote a book, claiming to be letters to a Jewish friend who was struggling with his religion, showing the importance of maintaining core aspects of Judaism in a modern world.

Read the opening paragraph of Rabbi Hirsch's Nineteen Letters of Ben Uziel and open the resources column to find the next clue.