PROGRESSIVE WORLD STRUGGLE OF THE JEWS 



every minute of his waking hours that 

 absorbed his attention and his interest. 

 With no home, no country, no kindly 

 sympathy from any one but his own 

 kind, he found his happiness within his 

 own circle and in the refuge from sorrow 

 which his life within the law gave him. 

 Their great historian says of the Jews : 

 "In the vicissitudes of their fate for a 

 great many centuries they were saved 

 'by their own inner life, pure home life, 

 idealism of the synagogue, and belief in 

 ultimate Messianic redemption' from 

 utter demoralization and despair." 



JEWS GRANTED EUEE FREEDOM BY 

 SARACENS 



From Pumbeditha and Sura, in Baby- 

 lonia, in the eleventh century, the seat of 

 Jewish ecclesiastical authority seems to 

 have passed to Spain, where, under the 

 Saracens in Cordova and Toledo and 

 Granada, the Jews were given full free- 

 dom and scope for their activities and 

 for the practice of their religion, and for 

 the further discussion of the Jewish 

 faith and philosophy. 



The two Talmuds are very voluminous, 

 and in the centuries after their issue 

 their legal contents were digested and 

 condensed into more usable form for 

 daily consultation and use. From time 

 to time philosophers and leaders of Jew- 

 ish thought appeared. 



Philo of Alexandria, Maimonides of 

 Spain, and Moses Mendelssohn were the 

 three great lights, the first in the begin- 

 ning of the Christian era, the second in 

 the Middle Ages, and the third in the 

 eighteenth century and late enough to 

 furnish the type to Lessing for that won- 

 derful character of Nathan der Weise. 



False Messiahs appeared and misled 

 many to their sorrow. Mysticism played 

 its part and books promoting it were 

 written, causing protest and controversy. 

 Commentaries were published by some 

 Jewish leaders of thought which were 

 pronounced heretical by others. Spinoza, 

 the great philosopher, was excommuni- 

 cated by the Dutch rabbis. 



But in spite of these differences, con- 

 stantly during the seventeen centuries of 

 gloom and woe, somewhere in the world 

 was a religious center of Jewish authority 

 to which Israel turned for hope and in- 

 spiration. 



The strictly orthodox Jews have al- 

 ways adhered closely to the rabbinical 

 law of the Talmud, but under the influ- 

 ence of Mendelssohn and the leadership 

 of other liberals among his successors a 

 division occurred, and there arose a lib- 

 eral and reformed school among them, 

 which grew in number as the conditions 

 for their assimilation with the local en- 

 vironment became more favorable and 

 they were relieved from the forced ex- 

 clusiveness and misery of the Ghetto. 



TWO JEWISH TONGUES 



The speech of the Jews has had an in- 

 teresting history. Hebrew, Aramaic, 

 Greek, Arabic, and all European lan- 

 guages were from time to time spoken by 

 them. Finally, in their wanderings, there 

 grew up two hybrid mediums — one the 

 Yiddish, or Jargon, and the other the 

 Ladino. 



The former, which has an extensive 

 literature, is based on the medieval Ger- 

 man, but is written in the Hebrew char- 

 acters and is mixed with Hebrew and in- 

 fluenced by the vernacular. It is used by 

 the Ashkenazim, or German Jews of 

 northern and eastern Europe. 



The latter, the Fadino, or Spaniol, is 

 Spanish in its basis and mixed with He- 

 brew and Turkish. It is used by the 

 Sephardim, or the Spanish Jews, and has 

 been carried by them to Africa, Turkey, 

 Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece. 



Recurring now to the history of the 

 race after the second dispersion : In 

 Rome, after the Christian era. Jews and 

 Christians flocked in great numbers. In 

 the chaos of skepticism, religions, and 

 philosophies, there was a cult among 

 some of the Romans that led them to 

 embrace Judaism ; but generally the Jews 

 were exclusive, unexpansive, and con- 

 temptuous of other religions. They were 

 especially hostile to the Christians, whom 

 they regarded as traitors to their race for 

 failing them in the wars of Vespasian 

 and Titus, and whom they did not hesi- 

 tate to accuse of many shortcomings in 

 order to stir up Roman hostility against 

 them. 



THE LONG, DARK NIGHT OF JEWISH 

 HISTORY 



The Christians differed from the Jews 

 in that they were most active mission- 



