Chapter I: To the Editor of the Jewish Chronicle

DEAR SIR,――As a constant reader of your well conducted Journal, I venture to hope that you will kindly afford me space in it for the insertion of these few lines.

I am anxious to know how the following two statements are to be reconciled:――“But, let me tell you, that you had great men men living in England eight hundred years ago. The sayings of the wise men of Norwich and of York are quoted in some of the additions made by the expounders of the Talmud.”――Moses Samuels’ Address on the Position of the Jews in Britain, p. 27. “_Von Schulen ist keine Spur in England, daher auch nicht von Gelehrten; kein dortiger Rabbiner hat einen Platz in den Jüdischen Jahrbüchern der Gelehrten. Zum Studiren war keine Zeit, und keine Ehre lockte unde stärkte den Wissbegierigen._”――J. M. Jost’s Geschichte der Israeliten, vol. vii., p. 165.

I know there is a current opinion amongst the Jews of England in favour of Mr. Samuels’ statement; but after reading through the Talmud again very carefully, at the expense of a great deal of time, and finding that “the sayings of the wise men of Norwich and of York” either escaped my eye, or are omitted in my copy (באמשטרדם לפרט תע׳ו), I bethought me to apply to you. Perhaps this letter may elicit from some of your numerous well-educated readers a reconciliation of the above. Ben Virga mentions the learning of the ancient Jews of Britain, but does not say anything about Norwich and York. He only says, הי״ח האי אשר נקרא היום אנגלאטירה נעשה שם שמד גדול ועצים בכל אותם קהלות גדולות ועצמות אשר היו שם בימים ההם בחכמה ובינה וכבוד וביחוד העיר הגדולה לונדרוש אשר היו שם קרוב לשני אלפים בעלי בתים כלם אנשים בעלי חכמה ועושר וכו׳. An early insertion will greatly oblige me.

I am, dear Sir, yours very truly,

MOSES MARGOLIOUTH.

Glasnevin, Dublin, August 18, 1845.

_See Jewish Chronicle, Vol. I., No. 27._

K.

The following brief account of De Lyra is given by Bishop Bale in his “Illustrium Majoris Britanniæ Catalogus.”

“Nicolaus Lyranus ex Judæorum genere Anglus; atque Hebræorum Rabbinos in literis Hebraicis ab ipsa pueritia nutritus, illud idioma sanctum ad unguem, ut loquuntur, novit. Qui mox ut frequentasset scholas publicas, ac minoritarum quorundam sincerioris judicii audisset conciones; abhorrere coepit a Talmudicis doctrinis, atque ita a tota sua gentis insania stultissima. Conversus ergo ad Christi fidem, ac regenerationis lavacro lotus, Franciscanorum familiæ, se statim adjunxit. Inter quos scripturis sanctis studiosissimus ac longa exercitatione peritus, Oxonii et Parisiis, cum insulsissimis Rabbinis, qui plebem Judaicum vana Messiæ adventuri pollicitatione lactaverant, disputationibus et scriptis, mirifice conflictavit. Denique contra eorum apertissimas blasphemias, utrumque Dei testamentum diligentiori examine et elucidatione explanavit. Si in plerisque, ut ei a multis imponitur, deliravit, tempori est imputandum, in quo fere omnia erant hypocritarum nebulis obscurata. Meliorem certe cæteris omnibus per eam ætatem navavit in scripturis operam. De verborum simplicitate non est quod conqueritentur homines, cum a vocabulis æstimanda non sit æterni patris veritas. Præclara scripsit opuscula, ut prædictus Tritemius habet, quibus nomen suum celebriter devenit ad posteritatis notitiam.――Doctor Martinus Lutherus, in secundo et nono capitibus in Genesim, se ideo dicit amavisse Lyranum atque inter optimos posuisse, quod præ cæteris interpretibus diligenter fuerit historiam prosecutus. Claruit A. C. 1337, quo Danielem exposuit, ac Parisiis demum obiisse fertur.”

THE END.

PROSPECTUS
OF THE
PHILO-HEBRAIC SOCIETY,

For Promoting the Study of Hebrew Literature,

AND ESPECIALLY FOR REPRINTING THOSE WORKS OF HEBREW WHICH HAVE
NOW BECOME SCARCE AND RARELY TO BE MET WITH.

* * * * *

COMMITTEE.

PRESIDENT――THE REV. THE PROVOST OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN.

REVS. S. HINDS, D.D. | REVS. C. P. REICHEL.
REVS. J. WEST, D.D. | REVS. T. CRADOCK.
REVS. A. CAMPBELL. | REVS. M. RAINSFORD.
REVS. M. MARGOLIOUTH. | DR. LITTON.
REVS. G. H. CARROLL. | G. A. CRAWFORD, Esq.

* * * * *

THE Committee of the above Society beg leave to draw your attention to the reasons of its establishment, and solicit your co-operation with it. The beauties of Hebrew literature have been long and fully admitted by the few whose superior tastes have led them to explore its treasures, still, we regret to say, too little known. The necessary brevity of a Prospectus prevents the Committee saying much on the importance of a knowledge of that literature, especially to those who spend a great deal of their time in making themselves acquainted with the writings of the ancients. Suffice it to say, that those who have impartially studied the compositions of the Greeks, of the Romans, and of the Hebrews, have found the productions of the latter unrivalled either in beauty or elegance by those of the two former.

It is a libel on the literary character of the Jews to say, that they confined themselves to the cultivation of one department of literature――a supposition which gave rise to the idea, that their literature is very scanty, and consists only of the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud.――The Jewish authors grace the literary pages of Spanish history as pre-eminent philosophers, philologists, physicians, astronomers, mathematicians, historians, grammarians, orators, and highly-gifted poets. The Committee have had the privilege of meeting many of the Hebrew race, highly distinguished in the above attainments, and the only education they received was a purely Hebrew one. The Jew spoke the truth when he affirmed, “That no nation in the universe can, during a continuous period of full five hundred years, produce a line of men so truly eminent, so universally learned, as can the Jews of Spain, from the year 980, until their expulsion from that kingdom in the year 1492.”――(_Heb. Review_, vol. ii., p. 39.)

The object of the PHILO-HEBRAIC SOCIETY is――as has been already stated at the head of the Prospectus――to promote the study of Hebrew literature more than has been ever done before, by reprinting the most valuable treatises and choicest works of the Hebrew sages, such as those of Saadia Gaon, Ben Gabriol, Samuel Nagid, Kimchi, Aben Ezra, Ralbag, Maimonides, Joseph Albo, Joseph Pinso, Luzzati Mendelssohn, Weizel, &c., &c., with translations of the same on opposite pages.

The Society is formed on the principle of the Parker, Camden, and other similar Societies. Every Subscriber of One Guinea a year (Subscription to be paid in advance) will be entitled each year to two volumes, handsomely printed in octavo, and illustrated with prolegomena, biographies, and notes, by well-qualified editors.

The Committee earnestly solicit the co-operation of the literary public, and would feel very much obliged for an early favour of the names of those who are interested in this important undertaking.

Signed for the Committee,

MOSES MARGOLIOUTH,

_Honorary Secretary_.

⁂ The Editorial department will be conducted by the Revds. G. H. CARROLL, M. MARGOLIOUTH, and C. P. REICHEL.

N.B.――All communications to be addressed to the REV. MOSES MARGOLIOUTH, Incumbent of Glasnevin, near Dublin.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.