In all directions, the facts of Jewish theology, history, life, and literature remain in a large measure hidden from the world, even from Jews themselves. With the publication of The Jewish Encyclopedia a serious attempt is made for the first time to systematize and render generally accessible the knowledge thus far obtained.
That this has now become possible is due to a series of labors carried on throughout the whole of the nineteenth century and representing the efforts of three generations of Jewish scholars, mainly in Germany. An attempt was made, indeed, in the sixteenth century by Azariah dei Rossi toward a critical study of Jewish history and theology. But his work remained without influence until the first half of the nineteenth century, when Krochmal, Rapoport, and Zunz devoted their wide erudition and critical ingenuity to the investigation of the Jewish life and thought of the past. Their efforts were emulated by a number of scholars who have elucidated almost all sides of Jewish activity. The researches of I. M. Jost, H. Graetz, and M. Kayserling, and their followers, have laid a firm foundation for the main outlines of Jewish history, as the labors of Z. Frankel, A. Geiger, and J. Derenbourg paved the way for investigation into the various domains of Jewish literature. The painstaking labors of that Nestor of Jewish bibliography, Moritz Steinschneider—still happily with us—have made it possible to ascertain the full range of Jewish literary activity as recorded both in books and in manuscripts. The Jewish Encyclopedia now enters upon the field covered by the labors of these and other scholars, too numerous to mention, many of whom have lent their efforts toward its production and have been seconded by eminent coworkers from the ranks of Christian critics.
With the material now available it is possible to present a tolerably full account of Jews and Judaism. At the same time the world's interest in Jews is perhaps keener than ever before. Recent events, to which more direct reference need not be made, have aroused the world's curiosity as to the history and condition of a people which has been able to accomplish so much under such adverse conditions. The Jewish Encyclopedia aims to satisfy this curiosity. Among the Jews themselves there is an increasing interest in these subjects in the present critical period in their development. Old bonds of tradition are being broken, and the attention of the Jewish people is necessarily brought to bear upon their distinctive position in the modern world, which can be understood only in the light of historical research.
The subject-matter of this Encyclopedia naturally falls into three main divisions, which have been subdivided into departments, each under the control of an editor directly responsible for the accuracy and thoroughness of the articles embraced in his department. These are: (1) History, Biography, Sociology, and Folk-lore; (2) Literature, with its departments treating of Biblical, Hellenistic, Talmudical, Rabbinical, Medieval, and Neo-Hebraic Literatures, and including Jurisprudence, Philology, and Bibliography; (3) Theology and Philosophy.
1. HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, AND SOCIOLOGY.
From the time of Josephus and the author of First Maccabees down to the nineteenth century Judaism did not produce a historian worthy of the name. What medieval times brought forth in this branch of literature were mostly crude chronicles, full of miraculous stories. Nor were the chronicles of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries much better.
But the interest displayed by Christian scholars of the seventeenth century in Rabbinical literature had the effect of directing attention to the history of the Jews. Jacques Basnage de Beauval, a French Protestant clergyman (1653-1723), has the merit of
