HISTORIC PARALLELS IN EWISH HISTORY. A DISCOURSE DELIVERED AT THE 3nglo=3[etoisF) Historical i6TH JUNE, 1887, BY PROF. H. GRAETZ, OF BRESLAU UNIVERSITY. ? California Regional ^ -i., LONDON: WERTHEIMER, LEA & CO., CIRCUS PLACE, LONDON WALL. 1887. LONDON : PRINTED BY WERTHEIMER, LEA AND CO., CIRCUS PLACE, LONDON WALL HISTORIC PARALLELS IN JEWISH HISTORY.* EVERY one knows the myth of the Wandering Jew who wanders wearily through the world without sleep or rest, waiting with yearning for the Last Judgment that shall give him salvation and the repose of the grave. The myth has spread through all the lands of civilisation, and has produced a whole literature. Equally well-known is the envenomed application of the myth to the Jewish people who are represented as foredoomed to wander weary and aimless over the whole earth, till the end of time. It is not so well known that it was no stroke of poetic imagination that created the figure of the Wandering Jew with all its untruth and unreality. The legend has not the slightest claim to the authority of great age, but first came into existence in the epoch after the Reforma- tion, as the offspring of a downright mystification or of crass superstition. The Wandering Jew was in the first instance put forth as an apology for Christianity. The Reformation had not alone produced an incurable split in the hitherto unbroken unity of Christianity ; it had also called into existence doubt and scepticism. The cries of war and battle resounded in all directions. The Pope as Anti- * Translated by Mr. Joseph Jacobs, B.A. 1821659 Christ, and Rome as the sinful Babylon on the one side was opposed by Luther as the child of Satan, and Wit- tenberg as the throne of Hell on the other. These cries of opposite import shattered faith and brought forth sceptical Rationalism. Day by day, throughout the cen- turies, men had expected the re-appearance of Jesus in the heavens, and the coming of the Last Day, when quick and dead should be judged, and eternal peace should be established. Instead of this, hatred and despair entered Christendom with the warfare of every man against his brother. Faith and Hope and Love seemed to have fled from the earth. In the midst of all this, the bodily presence of the Wandering Jew was to be a solace and a help. He had seen the crucifixion with his own eyes, and had wandered about ever since. He could bear witness to the New Testament legends, not alone against blind heathens and obstinate Jews, but also against writings crammed with scepticism. Bishop Paul of Eitzen is said to have met the Wandering Jew living in a wretched plight, under the name of Ahasuerus, near Wittenberg or Hamburg, about the time of Luther's death, and to have learnt from him his well-deserved punishment for a harsh word spoken to Jesus. If this Wandering Jew existed, and proved the truth of Jesus' death on the cross, then faith stood fixed and unassailable. Thus Ahasuerus could disperse the clouds of doubt and save the Scrip- tures. A publisher's hack in Basle got hold of the story, and distributed it in book form through all Germany in 1602, and it soon went the round of Europe in translations and adaptations. Such is the origin of the legend of the wandering Ahasuerus, or whatever else he may be called. . While in Germany the Wandering Jew was put forth as a caricature of the picture presented by the persecuted and oppressed German Jews, a talented writer in France gave another and more appropriate account of him. The " Turkish Spy," who was supposed to be commissioned to report on the political events of Europe in the time of Louis XIV., also professes to have met him in the flesh, and to have conversed with him. This supposed Turkish spy depicts him in far different colours from the coarse German anonymous writer. He appeared before him without any marks of degradation, and as a man made wise by experience, to whom a thousand years were as yesterday. You might call him the youngest brother of Time. This Wandering Jew under- stood all languages, knew all Christian and Moslem dynasties, their rise and fall, their follies, and their aimless actions. He had seen from a lofty hill the flames of Rome when Nero set it alight. He had been at the Court of Vespasian, and spoke of the catastrophe that brought about the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. This Wandering Jew had passed through the tortures and horrors of the Inquisition in Spain, Portugal, and Rome, and at this his auditor is astounded, as at a miracle. This portrait of the Wandering Jew seems to have been painted by a Marrano (he is called Sieur Paule Marana), and was intended as a contrast to the mystifi- cation of the German legend. The author was never- theless a scoffer and scorner, and wished to press home the application of his allegory. The Wandering Jew is wandering Judaism, that stands on a lofty turret, and from this position surveys the rising and falling billows of the world's history. It speaks all tongues, for it has been in all lands. It escapes, in a manner that must be regarded as a miracle, all dangers and terrors. It is the youngest brother of Time. It has a mighty memory of all the events of the thousands of years which have passed before it. This mighty memory is enshrined in the historic tablets of the Jewish people. No other people on earth can compare with this in the duration of its historical memory. It has seen the lofty forms of antiquity rise and pass away. It has lived through the wild chaos of the Middle Ages, which pressed on it like a mountain, and it has helped to cause this chaos to vanish like the visions of a dream. It has seen the dawn of Modern Times arise, and this same people, almost unchanged, has a hold upon the present, bound into a community by holy memories and religious institutions, even though without a common land. The history of this community runs parallel with that of the world on which it has often actively worked, and by which it has been passively influenced. The history of Israel is a miniature history of the world. They bear the same relation to one another as the microcosm to the macrocosm. Israel has received light or shade from all the important events of the world's history, and has, too, cast them back upon the world. Nevertheless, the glory of being a historic people from the time of hoary antiquity, of having lasted on into the present, and of playing no unimportant part in it, this glory would not be so enviable were it not accompanied by an effulgence which stamps it as a marvellous phenomenon. Your great countryman, Charles Darwin, has dis- covered a terrible law of nature, and won universal acceptance for it. A shudder is produced by the mere name of the law, as given in the formula which sums it up : The struggle for existence, that rules among the infinite bodies of the universe, as much as among the lowest organisms. The stronger assails and destroys without mercy the weaker in longer or shorter time. Weak peoples are conquered by strong ones, and are eaten up and destroyed, even in the historical sphere. Such is the will of this merciless law of nature, and no one can rescue himself from its influence. This inex- orable law reaches its final expression in the formula Might before Right. But is there really no exception to this fatality? Yes, the Jewish people, or Jewish race, offers a remarkable and imposing anomaly. Can there be anything weaker among peoples than this one, especially since it was enslaved by the Romans, scattered to all the ends of the earth, chased like a wild beast, and hunted to death in the Dark Ages, and despised and avoided, hated and threatened, even up to the verge of this century? Is there anything weaker? Such a people might say with patient Job, " Is then my power of stone and my body of brass ? " According to the ruthless laws of Nature, this little people should have long ago been broken, destroyed, and have disappeared from the earth. And yet it is still in existence. This ineradicable persistence of the Jewish people was observed and mentioned more than two thousand years ago. A Psalmist even made it the subject of his song, " Israel may say : Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth : yet they have not prevailed against me." Does it not seem as if this fatal law of Nature, and even Death itself, had no power over the individuality of this people ? This small and weak people still lives, and has survived all the mighty powers of the past, who could easily have shattered it, and who often desired to shatter it. It survived the swarms of barbaric inroads, the bloody crusades and the Holy Roman Empire, to which it provided Camera servi. It survived the Inqui- sition with its Auto-da-fe"s. And it has lived through the dawn of the Renaissance, which it has in part forwarded . Who can deny that such a people form an anomaly ? Further, it was from its greatest weakness and most debasing inferiority that it raised itself, to its own astonishment, to power and influence. Thrice was it released from the most disgraceful slavery, and became not alone free, but powerful, with all the strength of youth. The Exodus from Egypt, the Return from the Babylonian Exile, we know; but the third Release and Rise, when was that ? That we have ourselves lived through ; we ourselves belong to the rejuvenated, re- leased from the fetters of a spiritual death. A century ago Israel stood with downcast eyes and bowed back all over the earth, despised like an out- cast. And to-day? This brilliant assembly, the elite of Judaism, who have established a Jewish Historical Exhibition to display to our eyes the antiquities of our past, the outward signs of our former condition this assembly speaks more clearly and efficaciously of our marvellous metamorphosis, of our rise and phenomenal position, than any picture in words, however dramatic it might be. The heart is rejoiced at such an Exhibition, and at the eagerness of all the world to make it as interesting and complete as possible. For a Jewish visitor from the Continent, it is especially surprising and praiseworthy to see such an exhibition. From the Continent, I say, for there such a thing would be an impossibility. The importance and influence of this Exhibition consist in large measure in the sentiment which it expresses. For after all, of what importance are these relics and records, even though they may run to thousands, compared with the brilliant trophies of other nations, the documents and memorials of their heroic deeds, their triumphs and their actions? Any such comparison would be ridiculous. But it was no idle vanity or thirst for glory that influenced the exhibitors and those who took such a warm interest in the work. If I interpret your motives aright, you desired rather to give evidence of your true Jewish convictions. You wished to display the inner connection of your Past and your Present. You wished to show that while you, as English patriots, are attached to this happy isle with every beat of your hearts, you wished to preserve your connection and continuity with the long series of generations of Israel. And without exactly wishing it, you have thereby raised a practical protest on the one side against thoughtless in- difference, and on the other against unprincipled apostasy, two hateful types within the ranks of Judaism which to your honour be it said are rarer here than on the Continent. I have no wish to pay you mere compliments. I de- sire only, on the scene of this Exhibition, to establish the fact that a New Birth, full of brilliant hope, has again come to despised and powerless Israel, and to give ocular demonstration that our people, with all its seem- ing want of strength, has renewed its youth for a ihird time. It will be worth our while to consider how it has come A 5 10 about that such weakness has been able to withstand the attacks of the mightiest powers of the world's history. Does not this persistence of a single small people in the midst of an inimical world, hunted to death for more than a thousand years does not this contradict the iron law of Nature, the survival of the strongest? Not entirely. It depends on what one means by strength and weak- ness. An ancient Greek maxim puts pointedly the rela- tion between strength and weakness. Nature has given to each creature different means of defence : the lion his jaws, the ox his horns, the bee its sting, and woman her beauty. An artistic picture of early date repre- sents, in a striking manner, how weakness conquers strength, Venus riding on the lion's back, and binding his eyes. The human spirit, which seems but a breath compared with the mighty powers of nature, yet rules them, and makes them subservient to its interests. Thus the essential property of the superiority of spirit is its invincible force. Now the spirit of a nation is its ideal, and this alone can produce such energy as to over- come opposing material forces. Of course it depends on the character of the ideal and the capacity of the idealist. Among the known peoples of antiquity there were, besides Israel, only two nations that showed a capacity for the ideal, the Greeks and Romans. The ideals of the Greeks were Beauty and Knowledge ; but these ideals only served them for comfort, pleasure and enjoyment. Did they ever show any self-sacrifice, or produce any martyrs for these ideals ? Did they ever consciously attempt to spread a love for beauty or the thoughts of their philo- sophers as the elements of general culture ? By no means. It was for this reason, because they were with- eut this earnestness and energy, that they and ihtir ideals II have fallen, and only grateful memories and a few memorials of them remain. Still less could the old Romans preserve for them- selves their ideals ; their tendency to expansion and con- quest, and above all, their practical political organisa- tion, were in themselves of a material nature. They fell before the superior power of nations, strong in the vigour of their youth. Not so Israel. For it clung to its ideal with marvellous tenacity, despising death itself ; it clung to it and treasured it till this ideal became the Palladium of the people. Its ideal was, and in another fashion still is, higher and purer. Its characteristic cannot be mis- taken. The Revelation on Mount Sinai taught it to the world, the prophets formed its commentary and interpretation, the poets have sung it, the martyrs have sealed it with their blood. From the beginning we have been predestined to establish and to spread this ideal of a purer knowledge of God on the one hand, and of a higher morality on the other; to carry light to the people ; to be a kingdom of priests, a holy people, a Messianic nation. And in order to reach this lofty aim, the holders of this ideal have had to traverse the sad path of dispersion and wan- dering. The tragical prospect of being scattered through all the quarters of the globe was prophesied over the cradle of their race. The sages of the Talmud have expressed the deep symbolism of this fateful dispersion in the form of an interpretation of a verse of the Bible, "God has been good unto Israel in ordaining that he should be scattered through all the earth." The Disper- sion was so far a blessing that the weapons of destruction that were so often directed against Israel, now in one part of the earth and now in another, could never reach the 12 whole body, but only separate members. And the Dis- persion was a blessing in the development of the world's history, for Israel could, by means of its wanderings, fulfil its mission to bring light to the nations. It scattered some sparks at Alexandria, Antioch and Rome, and thus gave rise to Christianity. It scattered some seeds in Mecca and Medina, and thus gave rise to Islam. From a few traces of light left by it was derived the scholastic philo- sophy in the second half of the Middle Ages, and the Protestantism of the Continent in the sixteenth century, and more definitely the Independents in your island, in- fluenced so strongly by the spirit of the Old Testament. Not in vain, then, has this people dragged its weary feet round the world, and thus, to some degree, solved one of its tasks. And this steadfast belief that it has preserved a miraculous power from hoary antiquity this consciousness has sustained it and given it power to suffer and persist. Its apparent weakness was, in truth, its strength. It could with justice say, " The Lord is my strength: He has given to my feet the speed of the hind." The Dispersion and Wanderings of the Jewish people have a third favourable side to them. When anyone desires to be a teacher of the peoples in the two cardinal points of human destiny, clear knowledge of God and clear recognition of morality, he must not alone bury himself among the treasures of human thought, but must come in contact with the outer world and compare him- self with it, so as to appraise his own possessions better. He must co-ordinate his experiences, and thus reach the maturity of manhood, which cannot be reached in the confined area of his original home. He must move in the midst of the peoples, so that his eyes may be opened and his intelligence sharpened. It is easy for a nation to declare itself to be a kingdom of priests and a holy people, but hardest of all to realise this claim and transform the world. Thou- sands of years are needed for the work, and Israel must wander in order to be better fitted for his task. But the wandering Jew does not wander without a goal, driven by chance hither and thither, but follows a path pointed out to him by Providence. The emigration of the Jews began long before the rise of Christianity, and was at first carried out voluntarily, and without any compulsion from others, for expulsion only became the fashion in the twelfth century. Emigraiion followed the course of civilization from East to West. The most fruitful emigration, or rather colonisation, occurred in the tenth century, from the Jewish Universities on the Euphrates and Tigris, from Pumbaditha, Sura and Bagdad, to Cordova, Toledo, and other Spanish towns already peopled by Jews. It was the crowning epoch of Mohammedan culture. The elite of Judaism was at that time collected in Spain, and produced there another classical period of scientific research into the Word of God, of philosophy, and of Hebrew poetry. A galaxy of stars of the first order shone for two centuries in the Peninsula: Jonah ibn Ganach, the first thoroughgoing Biblical exegetist; Samuel Nagid, minister and author ; Solomon ibn Gabirol, and Jehuda Halevy Abulhassan, both poets and thinkers; Abraham ibn Daud, historian and philosopher ; Abraham ibn Esra, exegetist and wit; and last, not least, Moses Maimonides, a beacon and authority for many centuries, besides a crowd of workers in Jewish science and Hebrew poetry, of the second and third rank. In this land, and at this epoch, Judaism was deeply 14 studied and philosophically explained, and its import, task, and aim settled. The 'elite of Judaism reached here a high state of maturity. They held the leadership for the whole of Judaism, just as the prophets did earlier in the Holy Land, and the Talmudic teachers in Mesopotamia in later times. And when the bigoted rulers of the Peninsula began the suicidal policy of expelling nearly half a million Jews and forcing the remainder to a hypocritical change of faith, this terrible and tearful expulsion and the conse- quent conversions, turned out in a marvellous way a blessing for Judaism. New centres were created in lands which had hitherto been closed to the sons of Israel. The largest stream of wanderers and refugees fled eastwards to Turkey and Palestine. But there it was impossible to form a centre of gravity, and raise Judaism to a higher stage, or even to keep it at the one already reached. In these lands the insane theories of the Kab- bala had spread their snares, and disturbed the minds and produced pseudo-messianic orgies which cast shame upon Judaism, even to the end of last century. A small remnant of the refugees, which had been lucky enough to escape the Moloch of the Inquisi- tion, established themselves in lands where civil freedom and religious toleration were political principles in Holland and England. They were a remarkable class of Jews who wandered thither. They were born and bred in Christianity, the third or fourth generation of those who had received baptism from motives of fear and despair. They could not of course be satisfied with a religion which preached the doctrine of love by means of human sacri- fices. On the contrary, their love to Judaism increased in proportion to their horror against the inhumanity of the Church. In their almost fanatical love for Judaism, these pseudo-Christians Marranos, they were called risked all the dangers of death which flight caused to hang over them. They formed a brilliant body, these brands plucked from the burning, men of the cultured professions, doctors, lawyers, soldiers, poets, monks and nuns, unfrocked Dominicans and Jesuits, among them the confessor of a Spanish Infanta. It was a wonderful occurrence. They formed a series of brilliant names, with the proud bearing of Spanish hidalgos, the men that created first the Dutch Jewish Colony, and then its offspring, the London Community. The Jewish Colony in London and in other English towns (which gradually received accessions from Ger- many and Poland) produced, it is true, no movement of consequence for nearly 200 years after its slight begin- nings, but it preserved in its midst the germs of a maturer development. In the first place its moral con- duct earned for it respect and consideration, even in the highest circles of the English people. It is worth mentioning in this connection that already in the middle of the last century the House of Lords introduced the Bill for naturalising the Jews dwelling in England, and for treating them no longer as aliens. This Bill for a time parsed by the three estates of the realm, and granting citizenship, though of somewhat conditional nature, was passed at the time when Maria Theresa, the Empress of Austria, drove her Jews from out her kingdom, and even the philosophic King of Prussia treated those dwelling in his territories as pariahs and Gipsies. . But you need not fear that I shall attempt to unroll before you in detail your own annals. I should be i6 plagiarising from Mr. James Picciotto, who has written them from the sources. You will, however, permit me to select a few facts of eminently historic importance, especially as they belong to the development of my theme. One of these interesting facts is the way in which your community, in a single hour, sprung from a state of passiveness into energetic action, like the mira- culous tree in the legend, which brought forth leaves, blossoms and fruit in one night. A tragical event roused it to determined action the blood accusation brought against the Jews of Damascus in 1840 at the instance of a monk, and resulting in inhuman tortures for the victims. The whole body of Jews as adherents of the Talmud were then for the first time involved in this charge of ritual murder of Christians by malevolence and credulity on the Continent. Many still living can remember that year so full of anxiety for Judaism. Bitter grief assailed the hearts of all the descendants of Israel when this spectre of the Middle Ages was raised again in the clear daylight of modern times. All felt the bitter grief, but only the English community roused itself eagerly to action to save the accused and bring the truth to light. Ever memorable in the history of Israel will be the meetings of the Board of Deputies, and equally memorable the meeting of distinguished Christians at the Mansion House to protest against the horrors of Damascus, and to give a brilliant testimonial to their Jewish fellow-citizens. And never to be forgotten that journey to Alexandria of Sir Moses Montefiore, in company with Adolphe Cre'mieux, filled with the same fiery zeal, and their triumphant success. That was an historic deed, a glorious act. The horrors of Damascus and the raising of the cry of " Hep- hep " had important 17 consequences. They aroused and accentuated the feeling of solidarity in Jews all over the world. One result of this revival of Jewish feeling took place in your midst, the cordial re-union of your two divisions, the Sephar- dim and Ashkenazim, who had previously been sepa- rated by so deep a gulf that intermarriage was pre- vented. Another event of the highest interest to you, and of considerable importance to Jewish history deserves to be mentioned not the mere fact that you gained complete emancipation, but how you gained it. At first sight it seems very perplexing that the Jews of England gained their emancipation considerably later than those in the remaining lands of civilised Europe, although the English people are ahead of all others in liberality and humanity. Neither the French Revolution of 1789, which freed the Jews of France and Holland, nor the stormy period of 1848, which gave equal rights even to the Jewish Pariahs of Galicia, induced the English Legislature to grant the same to the Jews of their country. Were they less worthy of the rights of men and citizens? No; just because they were, generally speaking, even more worthy, arose this hesitation against full emancipation. On the Continent, especially in Germany and Austria, emancipation was forced upon the rulers in a moment of despair, and was granted by them with a mental re- servation to restrict or even to revoke it. In England, on the contrary, your freedom was to be granted fully, and with all its consequences. These consequences would deeply influence existing laws and religious relations. The Legislature had to make heavy sacrifices for your sakes, and accordingly scruples were long enter- tained, and freedom, though often brought near, was i8 often withdrawn. But when public opinion stood firm, after due consideration, and regarded it as a shame that full rights should be withheld from a highly respected class of citizens merely on account of their religious belief, they were at last it is scarcely thirty years ago granted to you without the slightest reservation. You had not to give solemn assurance that you are good patriots, that you love your native country as much as your fellow-citizens. Nor had you on this account to give up a jot of your religious convictions, as the French Sanhedrin had to do at the demand of the Corsican despot. The honours you have received have been granted you sans phrase as the descendants of Jacob, as the guardians of your ancient birthright. Recently another event of historical importance to Jews has occurred in your midst, the foundation of the Anglo-Jewish Association, which has already in its short term of existence done much, and given rise to great expectations. It may appear to be merely a branch of the Alliance Israelite Universelle, with which it goes hand in hand. But important as is this latter institution, founded by Adolphe Cre'mieux and Charles Netter, yet it has one fault, even though this be regarded in its programme as a special claim. It excludes all considera- tion of religion, and especially fails to give sufficient attention to desolate Zion. But the Anglo-Jewish Asso- ciation takes thought for our mother Zion, afflicted, tossed with tempest and disconsolate. In this you follow the example which Providence gave you in Sir Moses Montefiore, of whom one can say without exaggeration, " The memory of the just brings a blessing with it." Just as he, notwithstanding his glowing patriotism for England, notwithstanding his wide philanthropy, yet kept '9 heart and eye steadily fixed on Jerusalem, so do you in your thoughts. You have attempted to remove the disgrace that for thousands of years has lingered over the Holy Land, and bring back the glories of old. But before Jerusalem can rise from the dust, it must shake off the fetters of the spirit. Or, to put it clearer, if Israel is to think of realising its ideal task of bringing light to the nations, it must first and above all have light within itself. It must recognise clearly its Past and its Future, what it means and what it implies. It must consider the road by which Providence has hitherto guided it, and the goal which it must reach at the end of days. But for this it needs guidance, and this post you, more than any other community of Israel, seem called upon to fill. God has blessed you with special blessings. You dwell in a land blessed by God, where the Holy Scriptures, the study of our lives, our Alpha and Omega, are highly honoured, and the study of our glorious an- tiquity greatly encouraged. You live with your Christian fellow-citizens in full accord, so that they fully recognize that your love for your fatherland need not exclude love for the land of your fathers. Let me, in conclusion, connect with this fact the expression of an earnest desire of mine. Noblesse oblige. Establish your claims to this leadership which would be granted you without envy, by founding a JEWISH ACADEMY. I need not dilate on the fact that Judaism in its nature and development is a science, an object of research. "Thou shalt reflect thereon day and night." This science, or to give it its name, Jewish theology, has spread over an astonishingly wide field. There is, first, Biblical exegesis, which by itself needs a whole lifetime. We who used to be the teachers of Christian exegetes, 20 are now a-days almost entirely surpassed by them, and many cast in our teeth that we have fallen behind in this branch of study. A new method of Biblical inquiry has been recently introduced which clears up all doubts, and makes all commentaries superfluous : this method is only slightly utilised by us. For the study of the Bible is further needed the geography of the Holy Land, and Biblical Archaeology, which again embraces a wide field of study. This field can only be rightly cultivated by a Jewish Academy. Then there is next the Talmud, which has been repre- sented as a well of poison by ignorant and malevolent men; and we are all made responsible for this, even the great mass of Jews who have no notion of the Talmud, and even believe that it contains monstrous doctrines. We cannot deny or shake off the Talmud : it is ours. We do not wish to deny it, for it was our manna through the years of wandering, and is full of light, though it may have its less bright side. But the Talmud is a labyrinth for which no Ariadne has yet found a clue, a chaos that can be illuminated, but only by a number of workers working with united forces. A translation of the Talmud, with its many subsidiaries, would be an insane undertaking; but an Encyclopaedia of the Talmud both can and must be prepared j so as to show the world what it contains, and especially what it does not contain. But such an Encyclopaedia could only be called into existence by a Jewish Academy. Then comes the subject-matter and the history of Jewish Philosophy and Ethics, with their widely-spread- ing contents. Here we have also to repel charlatans who wish to make this subject a pedestal for their own pretentious importance. A satisfactory performance, of 21 this difficult task would be a desirable object for a Jewish Academy. And, finally, the almost inexhaustible field of Jewish History, the sources of which spread over centuries, and are as scattered as the Jewish people themselves. r i he sources speak in various tongues, ancient, mediaeval, and modern. We have to collect these polyglot sources, to sift, explain, arrange, and criticise them. A Jewish Academy would have, as one of the most important of its tasks, to form a Corpus Historicorum Judaicorum. You will recognise from this sketch that a Jewish Academy would have enough to do, and that in order to master Jewish science it must be separated into various sections, dealing with (i.) Biblical Exegesis, (ii.) Talmud, (iii.) Philosophy and Ethics, (iv. ) Hi>tory and Archasology. There are, at present, thank (Jod, seminaries for Jewish Theology, in which these studies are pursued, in London, Paris, Berlin, Breslau, Amsterdam, Buda-Pesth, and recently also in Rome. But, for various reasons, the teachers at these institutions cannot deal with these studies with that thoroughness that modern science demands. Even the teachers would be glad to have the results worked out for the purposes of their own teaching. Only such scientific workers as are entirely free from every yoke can produce really academic results. You have within a short time performed worthy service, and added one more golden leaf to the annals of Jewish history. You have offered the world this spectacle of the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition, on which the curtain has not yet fallen. Set now the crown to your work and establish a Jewish Academy, or at least make a beginning with one of its four sections. JKNZ MAY 7 139] 000262 rl I Universit; Souths: Librai