These twenty-five short chapters on Jewish Literature open with the fallof Jerusalem in the year 70 of the current era, and end with the deathof Moses Mendelssohn in 1786. Thus the period covered extends over morethan seventeen centuries. Yet, long as this period is, it is too brief.To do justice to the literature of Judaism even in outline, it isclearly necessary to include the Bible, the Apocrypha, and the writingsof Alexandrian Jews, such as Philo. Only by such an inclusion can thegenius of the Hebrew people be traced from its early manifestationsthrough its inspired prime to its brilliant after-glow in the centurieswith which this little volume deals.
One special reason has induced me to limit this book to the scopeindicated above. The Bible has been treated in England and America in avariety of excellent text-books written by and for Jews and Jewesses. Itseemed to me very doubtful whether the time is, or ever will be, ripefor dealing with the Scriptures from the purely literary stand-point inteaching young students. But this is the stand-point of this volume.Thus I have refrained from including the Bible, because, on the onehand, I felt that I could not deal with it as I have tried to deal withthe rest of Hebrew literature, and because, on the other hand, there wasno necessity for me to attempt to add to the books already in use. Thesections to which I have restricted myself are only rarely taught toyoung students in a consecutive manner, except in so far as they fallwithin the range of lessons on Jewish History. It was strongly urged onme by a friend of great experience and knowledge, that a small text-bookon later Jewish Literature was likely to be found useful both for homeand school use. Such a book might encourage the elementary study ofJewish literature in a wider circle than has hitherto been reached.Hence this book has been compiled with the definite aim of providing anelementary manual. It will be seen that both in the inclusions andexclusions the author has followed a line of his own, but he lays noclaim to originality. The book is simply designed as a manual for thosewho may wish to master some of the leading characteristics of thesubject, without burdening themselves with too many details and dates.
This consideration has in part determined also the method of the book.In presenting an outline of Jewish literature three plans are possible.One can divide the subject according to Periods. Starting with theRabbinic Age and closing with the activity of the earlier Gaonim, orPersian Rabbis, the First Period would carry us to the eighth or theninth century. A well-marked Second Period is that of the Arabic-Spanishwriters, a period which would extend from the ninth to the fifteenthcentury. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century forms a ThirdPeriod with distinct characteristics. Finally, the career of Mendelssohnmarks the definite beginning of the Modern Period. Such a grouping ofthe facts presents many advantages, but it somewhat obscures the varyingconditions prevalent at one and the same time in different countrieswhere the Jews were settled.