from old writers) was published by the Society for the Promotion of Culture among the Jews of Russia; it covers the period from 70 to 1674. The 662 documents collected by Bershadski and published by the same society in 1882, under the title of "Russko-Yevreiski Archiv," contain material relating to the Jews in Lithuania from 1388 to 1569. Very little has been written about the development of the Russian Jews in the Jews
in Russia. second half of the nineteenth century, although many of them have distinguished themselves in the industries and professions, finance, railroad-building, science, literature, and the fine arts. About 1,500 topics dealing with the Jews in Russia will be found included in The Jewish Encyclopedia, the greater part figuring for the first time in an English work, and the information being drawn in large measure from the most recent collections of Russian sources.
Of all branches of the science of Judaism, biography, and especially modern biography, has been most neglected. The whole Jewish biographical literature of the nineteenth century, general and individual, of any scientific value, would form only a very moderate collection. In the great biographical dictionaries of a general character, like those of Bayle, Moreri, Ladvocat, Michaud, and Hoefer, the "Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie" etc., Jews were almost entirely omitted. Only in the last two or three editions of such comprehensive encyclopedias as those of Meyer and of Brockhaus has Jewish biography received some attention, but the natural limitations of these books do not admit of detailed treatment. To a greater degree the want has been supplied by "La Grande Encyclopédie" and the "Dictionary of National Biography." But were one to take all national, local, and professional biographical dictionaries of the world together, one would find in them but a very small proportion of the Jewish biographies that appear in this Jewish Encyclopedia. There are biographical dictionaries of dead and of living divines and benefactors of the various Christian churches, but there is not a single systematically compiled collection of the biographies of the thousands of rabbis and Hebrew scholars, educators, and philanthropists who have worked prominently in the various countries in the world, and have contributed by their deeds to the spiritual and moral uplifting, as well as to the material welfare, of the Jewish people. The Jewish Encyclopedia is an endeavor to supply this deficiency.
While the present work has studiously sought to avoid exaggerating the merits of the more distinguished subjects of its biographical sketches, it has felt bound, on the other hand, to give due prominence to those less known men and women who have played an honorable part in Jewish life, and whose names should be redeemed from undeserved oblivion. The Jewish Encyclopedia will thus offer an alphabetically arranged register, as complete as possible, of all Jews and Jewesses who, however unequal their merits, have a claim to recognition. Under no circumstances, however, have personal and other motives been permitted to lower the standard of inclusion adopted for the Encyclopedia.
A word must be said touching two features pertaining particularly to the biographical department of a Jewish encyclopedia. It is often difficult in the case of writers, artists, and others, to determine positively whether they belong to the Jewish race, owing to the fact that social conditions may have impelled them to conceal their origin. To settle such delicate questions it has frequently been necessary to consult all manner of records, public and private, and even to ask for information from the persons themselves. While every care has been taken to insure accuracy in this regard, it is possible that in a few instances persons have been included who have no claim to a place in a Jewish encyclopedia.
An even more delicate problem that presented itself at the very outset was the attitude to be observed by the Encyclopedia in regard to those Jews who, while born
