Produced by Tom Allen, Charles Franks and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team.
Author of "Jewish Life in the Middle Ages," "Chapters on Jewish
Literature," etc.
1912
The chapters of this volume were almost all spoken addresses. The authorhas not now changed their character as such, for it seemed to him that toconvert them into formal essays would be to rob them of any littleattraction they may possess.
One of the addresses—that on "Medieval Wayfaring"—was originally spokenin Hebrew, in Jerusalem. It was published, in part, in English in theLondon Jewish Chronicle, and the author is indebted to the conductors ofthat periodical for permission to include this, and other material, in thepresent collection.
Some others of the chapters have been printed before, but a considerableproportion of the volume is quite new, and even those addresses that arereprinted are now given in a fuller and much revised text.
As several of the papers were intended for popular audiences, the author ispersuaded that it would ill accord with his original design to overload thebook with notes and references. These have been supplied only whereabsolutely necessary, and a few additional notes are appended at the end ofthe volume.
The author realizes that the book can have little permanent value. But asthese addresses seemed to give pleasure to those who heard them, he thoughtit possible that they might provide passing entertainment also to those whoare good enough to read them.
CAMBRIDGE, ENG., September, 1911
i. George Eliot and Solomon Maimon ii. How Milton Pronounced Hebrew iii. The Cambridge Platonists iv. The Anglo-Jewish Yiddish Literary Society v. The Mystics and Saints of India vi. Lost Purim Joys vii. Jews and Letters viii. The Shape of Matzoth
[Transcriber's Note: Index not included in this e-text edition.]
Joseph Zabara has only in recent times received the consideration justlydue to him. Yet his "Book of Delight," finished about the year 1200, ismore than a poetical romance. It is a golden link between folk-literatureand imaginative poetry. The style is original, and the framework of thestory is an altogether fresh adaptation of a famous legend. The anecdotesand epigrams introduced incidentally also partake of this twofold quality.The author has made them his own, yet they are mostly adapted rather thaninvented. Hence, the poem is as valuable to the folklorist as to theliterary critic. For, though Zabara's compilation is similar to suchwell-known models as the "Book of Sindbad," the Kalilah ve-Dimnah, andothe