As the main intention of the present Chrestomathy is to give a
conception of the literary value of Judeo-German literature, and not of
its linguistic development, the texts have all been normalized to the
Lithuanian variety of speech. The translations make no pretence to
literary form: they are as literal as is consistent with the spirit of
the English language; only in the case of Abramowitsch's writings it was
necessary frequently to depart considerably from the text, in order to
give an adequate idea of the original meaning which, in the
Judeo-German, on account of the allusions, is not always clear to the
reader. The choice of the extracts has been such as to illustrate the
various styles, and only incidentally to reproduce the story; hence
their fragmentariness. Should the present work rouse any interest in the
humble literature of the Russian Jews, the author will undertake a more
complete Chrestomathy which will do justice to the linguistic
requirements as well.