THE
JEWISH RELIGION.
BY
M. FRIEDLÄNDER.
SECOND EDITION,
REVISED AND ENLARGED.
LONDON:
P. VALLENTINE & SON,
7, NORTH CRESCENT, TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD, W.C.
AND 33, DUKE STREET, ALDGATE, E.C.
1900.
PREFACE.
In presenting this volume to the public the author does not claim much
originality. He merely desires to reproduce the religious principles
which were sown into his heart by his parents, ז״ל, and cultivated by
the great teachers of Israel—the Prophets, the Soferim, and their
successors—in order that the blessing which he himself has always
derived from these principles may also be enjoyed by his brethren. The
original sources of religious knowledge, viz., the Scriptures and
Post-Biblical Jewish Literature, are of course accessible to all, and
every one may sit at the feet of our great teachers and listen to their
instruction. But there are many who are in need of assistance, who
require the aid of an interpreter. The present volume is intended to
render that assistance and to serve as such interpreter. The author
therefore addresses himself to his brethren, especially to his
disciples, in the words of an ancient teacher of the Mishnah (Aboth v.
25), “Turn it, and turn it over again;” and if he cannot add also “for
everything is in it,” he hopes that that which is in it will be found
useful to those who seek religious knowledge, and that it will prove an
incentive to many “to learn and teach, to heed and do, and to fulfil in
love all the words of instruction in the Divine Law.”
To a great extent this work owes its origin to the warm interest which
the late Mr. Jacob A. Franklin, ע״ה, took in all matters connected
with Judaism. He repeatedly urged upon the author the necessity of
publishing a book on the Jewish Religion. A plan was suggested,
discussed, and finally adopted; but the progress of the work was slow
on account of other literary engagements of the author. Although Mr.
Franklin departed from our midst long before it was completed, his
philanthropy, which survived him, has a share in its completion, the
book being printed at the expense of the Jacob A. Franklin Trust Fund
for the advancement of Judaism. In recognition of these facts the
author dedicates this work—
In Piety,