the exile, comprised study in the scriptures, the commentaries and traditions, the Mishna and Gemara, (Talmud,) which was imparted orally, and committed to memory without notes. It is known among the Hebrews that the Mishna, or prose writings, had long been transmitted from master to pupil before it was committed to writing in the shape of parchment or book. In this manner the memory had always been, and now is, especially cultivated in Hebrew education, and hence they excel in mnemonics. Education with the Hebrews (as urged by the late Dr. Raphael) is the air they breathe, and without it existence is of little value. Every Hebrew is compelled, in addition to the usual education necessary to carry on the pursuits of life, to acquire some knowledge of the Hebrew, so that he may participate in the manifold observances of his religion, and obtain an insight into the literature and language of his forefathers. According to the traditions of the Rabbins, says Dr. Raphael, public schools existed before the Deluge, and it is asserted that Adam was not only the first man, but the first schoolmaster, assisted in his labors by Enoch, and succeeded by Noah. After the Deluge, Shem established and presided over a public school, and his great-grandson, Eber, taught the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob.

It is also understood that, by reason of the exemption of the tribe of Levi from hard labor during the Egyptian captivity, they were permitted to study and devote themselves to education. Certain it is that writing was known and practiced commonly at that era, and in Exodus, the first biblical mention is made of writing by the command to Moses that he should "write these laws." The Pentateuch, however, does not relate or divulge any general system of education adopted, and it therefore follows that education was looked upon as purely a religious duty, and as such intrusted to the Levites and priests. Samuel founded the "schools of the prophets," which were open to all Israelites; and although little is known of their internal polity and system of education, it is certain that the Hebrews were trained in this school to be teachers, public orators, poets, and composers of sacred music.

These schools flourished and exercised great influence upon the Hebrews. They, however, disappeared with the fall of the Hebrew monarchy, and it was only after their return from Babylonish exile that the priests resumed their duties as instructors of the people. The priest Ezra, and the "men of the great assembly," over which he presided, reestablished everywhere the schools of Samuel, and were aided in the instruction of the people by the sopherim or scribes. Every Judean town containing a certain number of inhabitants was bound to maintain a primary school, the hazan, or reader of the synagogue, usually teaching. Seminaries of higher grades were presided over by the sopherim, and a certain portion of the public revenue set apart for a school fund devoted thereto. These schools flourished wherever they were founded, particularly in Egypt, and chiefly at Alexandria, and two hundred years before the Christian era the "Septuagint" was translated from Hebrew into Greek by Judeans.

When the Jewish schools and colleges had been destroyed by the Roman conquerors of Jerusalem, a new seat of learning was founded at Tiberias, which being recognized by the Romans, flourished and maintained influence among the Jews until the fifth century, when it declined, having, however, compiled the Mishna, or Jewish commercial law. Meantime the Babylonian schools at Sura, Pumbeditha, and Nahaidea, near the Euphrates, had eclipsed the Roman Hebrew school, and being endowed liberally, were visited by Jewish students from every part of the world. Here the Babylon Talmud, in twelve large folio volumes, the work of sixty years, was completed under the supervision of the "chiefs of the schools," known as the Rishi Methibta. In the eleventh century, however, the caliphs seized on the endowments and closed the schools.

From the seventh to the tenth century the Hebrews suffered every vicissitude and persecution, sometimes meeting partial encouragement, and then being driven away to other countries. During this period, however, notwithstanding the disadvantages under which they labored, they still continued to advance education and to foster the arts and sciences. In the Italian provinces they frequently received encouragement from the Popes, and Otranto and Bari became the principal seats of Jewish learning, and their cultivated literature spread from thence into France and Germany.

In no country, however, did the Hebrews enjoy more prosperity than in Spain under the Moorish kings, who carried with their conquest culture and science. Persecutions became rare, and indeed exceptional, and, appreciating the learning of the Hebrews, the Saracen rulers encouraged their literature, permitted them to enjoy civil rights, and advanced them to the highest dignities. They founded schools in which science, the Talmud and the philosophy of Aristotle were taught, and excelled in lexicography, astronomy, ethics, geography, philosophy, law, medicine, music, painting, poetry, and in all the sciences; and in the twelfth century, the diffusion of learning among the Jews obtained its height in Europe, as well as in Egypt. The great philosopher, Maimonides, who surpassed all cotemporaries as a law-writer, (and who has been classed as next only to Moses, the prophet,) having been made subject to certain unwarrantable persecutions at Cordova, fled from Spain into Egypt, where he was kindly received and employed by the Sultan. The number of eminent Hebrew scholars domiciling in Spain

during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries was large, notwithstanding that they were frequently subjected to terrible persecutions from time to time.

In 1391, (to which allusion has been made by Mr. Parton, in the Atlantic Monthly for October, 1870,) 3,500 Jewish families were murdered at Seville, on account of a long drought, which was, through ignorance and superstition of the surrounding people, visited in punishment upon them. Throughout every part of Europe, notwithstanding their culture and education, they were subjected to massacre and exile. In England, during the reigns of Richard I, John, and Henry III, they suffered terribly, and were expelled from the realm in 1290, by Edward I.

Describing this condition of affairs as chronicled by historians, it is universally agreed that "throughout Germany their condition was deplorable; that they were circumscribed in their rights by unjust decrees and laws, civil and ecclesiastic; excluded from all honorable occupations; driven from place to place, from province to province; compelled to subsist almost exclusively by mercantile occupations and usury; overtaxed and degraded in the cities; kept in narrow and unhealthy quarters, and marked in their dress with signs of contempt; plundered by lawless barons and penniless princes; an easy prey to all parties during the civil feuds; again and again robbed of their pecuniary claims; owned and sold as serfs; butchered by mobs; burned in thousands by the crusaders; and tormented by ridicule, monstrous accusations, threats, and trials. The condition of the Jews of those countries offer, in their medieval history, a frightful picture of horror and gloom." Well may they have cried: "How long, O God, are we to bear these things!"

They were banished from France by Charles VI, in 1395, and extirpated from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1492, by the force of the terrible Inquisition. These terrorisms continued until the consummation of the peace of Westphalia, in 1648; and from that time the greater persecutions of the Jews ceased. But, although the Hebrews spread and flourished subsequently in other parts of Europe, and emigrated to America with the Dutch and English, yet in Germany and Switzerland the worst features of the mediaval treatment of the Jews were continued and maintained. It was not until 1848, after the German revolution, that the Hebrews were admitted to civil rights, taxed equally, and permitted the free exercise of professions and occupations, even in those localities where the American public has always supposed liberality and justice made their abiding places.

In other parts of Europe, schools exclusively for the Talmud were maintained, and they still flourish in some parts of Germany and in Poland. Indeed, the Polish rabbins are considered to be the deepest thinkers and most abstruse talmudical scholars in Europe. The exiled Spanish Jews migrated in large numbers to Holland, where they maintained influential and flourishing schools; but latterly these Jewish schools naturally became amalgamated with the modern system prevailing in this century through Germany, Italy, and France.

An examination of Hebrew education presents six post-biblical developments: First, the schools of the Sopherim; second, the schools of the Mishna; third, the schools of the Talmud; fourth, the scientific schools of Spain; fifth, the exclusive talmudic schools of France, Germany, and Poland; and sixth, the modern schools of Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain, and America.

It is literally true, as related by Mr. Parton, that, "in the night of superstition, no Jew could own or hold land on endurable conditions in any country of Christendom. Nor could he belong to any guild of mechanics, and hence he could not himself be a mechanic, nor apprentice his son to a mechanic. He could not enter a university or a preparatory school in any country; and so the liberal professions were closed to him." All intelligent minds must appreciate the difficulties under which the Hebrews have labored in promoting education among themselves, and that, therefore, too high an estimate cannot be placed upon their culture and their accomplishments.

There can be no question of the fact that liberty, as exemplified in the successful establishment of this Republic, with its liberal Constitution, first gave birth to Enropean Jewish freedom. As the experiment of free government and the equal and impartial execution of the laws were submited to the infallible test amid the jeers and jibes of monarchical Europe, the transatlantic Hebrews looked longingly and lovingly to our happier shores. In their synagogues, in their schools, as well as in their private circles, they fervently and secretly prayed that the United States Government might be perpetuated, so that they could find therein safe asylum, and that other nations might be influenced, by the glorious example of freedom, to better and nobler things. Those Hebrews who had migrated to America with the English and Dutch actively sympathized with and aided the patriots of the Revolution in throwing off the yoke of Great Britain, and our archives show that many of them contributed large sums of money, literally impoverishing themselves, to help in feeding, clothing, and arming the revolutionary army, not a dollar of which appears ever to have been reimbursed by the Government to them or their heirs. Many of them fought in the ranks of the revolutionary patriots, claiming it to be their privilege to do or die in the cause of the civil and religious liberty of America.

The late Mordecai M. Noah, of New York City, an American Israelite, and a noted journalist, author, lawyer, and politician, whose pleas in behalf of his race are certainly well remembered, endeavored, in 1820, to found an asylum for the Hebrews, at Grand Island, near Niagara Falls, in the State of New York. In his memorial to the legislature of New York, he made known his high appreciation of his native land by recounting the indignities the Hebrews had endured elsewhere, and the benefits that had accrued to Spain, Portugal, France, and Germany, from their education and accomplishments in learning and commerce, arguing therefrom the great advantage that would accrue to the United States if his people could exchange the whips and scorns of Europe, Asia, and Africa for the light of American liberty and civilization.

In these days, when there are probably over a million Jews resident in the United States, and exercising great influence in our communities, the idea of colonizing them appears somewhat novel, if not ridiculous. But it will be remembered that fifty years ago the population of the United States was comparatively small, and the number of Israelites, consequently, few. It was not absolutely proposed to colonize those already in America, but to prepare an asylum and abiding place for those who might, in poverty and destitution, seek refuge and liberty on our happier shores. While the idea of Mr. Noah was not encouraged by the New York legislature, and hence not carried out, no one has ever doubted that the proposition was made other than in good faith, or impelled by any other feelings than the utmost attachment to and reverence for the Constitution of the United States, and a desire to commend this country and its laws to the Hebrew people throughout the world as their true New Jerusalem, he believing that the prophesied return to Palestine was allegorical.

Having briefly reviewed the history of the Jewish people, and brought them to that position where their education can be treated from the liberal, broad, and friendly standpoint of American civilization, it will be found interesting to note some of the salient attributes and results of Hebrew education.

The first great principle inculcated by Hebrew education, next to obedience to Divine law as promulgated by the Decalogue, is charity. The study and proper exercise of charity is continually brought to the notice of Jewish youth, and every opportunity is sought whereby its practical lessons may be demonstrated. This instruction is not confined to charity in the abstract but in its exercise, not alone in precept but in practice. Nor is the study of charity to be applied solely to the benefit and relief of Jews, but to all, without reference to race or persons.

In prosperous European cities it has been the practice on the part of many Israelites, who have been successful in worldly pursuits, to set aside a certain percentage of their profits for charitable purposes. This sum is always dispensed in alleviating and ameliorating the wants of worthy objects to the uttermost farthing, and it is made a religious duty to disburse this alms as quietly and secretly as possible. It is never paraded in ostentatious subscription lists, or flaunted in the face of society, for Hebrew education teaches that it is a sin to publicly proclaim the miseries and wants of our fellow-men.

It is the education and governing rule of the Hebrew people that, when a poor man solicits alms, or comes to eat at the Hebrew's table, he is never sent to the kitchen to fare with the servants, for that would but remind him of his poverty and his dependence. But, on the contrary, the master of the household says to his wife and children, "We have a mitzvah (honor) sent to us to-day-a poor man is to partake with us. Place a clean cloth upon the board, and set upon it our brightest table-ware. Light all the lamps, and array yourselves in your best apparel. Let all we have be cooked and served, and seat the stranger-guest at my right hand." The children vie with each other in showering attentions upon the stranger, so that they may share in the mitzvah, and nothing is permitted to be done or said whereby he may have cause to feel that he is eating the bread of charity. The honor of entertaining a poor man is always envied by his fellow-Hebrews.

It is also the Hebrew education never to give alms in presence of a third or more persons, but to consider an act of charity the secret of another which has been_committed to inviolate keeping. It is a common error to suppose that Hebrews only relieve the necessities of their own race. This selfishness is especially forbidden by their education, for they are tanght from early youth the Divine command, to relieve the stranger, "seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." It frequently happens that subscriptions are presented to Hebrews, in order that they may contribute as citizens to the relief to be afforded some unfortunate person. A Hebrew always objects to placing his name upon the list, except for a small amount. If he be privately catechized for what is apparently a niggardly contribution, he will at once explain that it is the result of his education. He may not parade his charity. Strike his name from the list and he will give a "hundred fold," so that it be not known, not that he is especially more liberal than others, but, says the Talmud, "no honor or credit is due to him who publishes his alms." This is the commentary upon the scriptural adjuration,

that the one hand must not know what the other doeth.

One of the principal reasons why an Israelite seeks to educate his children, no matter

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at what cost or sacrifice, is that they may learn all these useful lessons, while at the same time acquiring the usual instruction of schools in reading, writing, and the more advanced studies appertaining to general education. A Hebrew would consider elementary education of but little avail were it not accompanied by a proper knowledge and appreciation of all the cardinal virtues, of morality, obedience to the laws, and particularly of obedience and reverence to parents. They seek to inculcate these essentials in the youthful mind, to the end that they may be conserved in manhood, and again taught to posterity.

One of the most praiseworthy results of Hebrew education is the fact that it teaches and begets education. They keenly appreciate the idea of Plato, that "education consists in giving to the body and the soul all the perfection of which they are susceptible." Therefore a poor Israelite will sacrifice everything he possesses in order that his children may be educated. In European countries, where it was not possible to promote Jewish schools, the Israelites, whenever it was permitted, contributed freely to the schools of other sects, to the end that they might enjoy the benefit of educating their youth therein, even at the expense of their religious conscience.

In the United States, however, it is worthy of remark that, as we have progressed in education, liberal laws, and unrestricted liberty, the progress and reforms of the Israelites have been commensurately achieved. unveil the obscurity and hermetic character of Jewish education. It has not been It was reserved for this republic first to compelled here to secrecy, as in medieval and even modern times it existed in Europe, and therefore has been thrown open for public examination.

The American Israelite undoubtedly rejoices in our system of free schools, and watches with anxiety and hope the progress of American education. He is grateful for the blessings of free government, and therefore is in accord with the wisdom of Aristotle, who asserts that "the most effective way of preserving a state is to bring up the citizens in the spirit of the Government; to fashion, and, as it were, to cast them in the mould of the Constitution."

It is Hebrew education to insist that inasmuch as the promoting of wise and liberal government is the true aim of education, so the government, in return, should foster and conserve it as the most important end to be attained, and as contributing the greatest happiness to the masses. formers among the American Jews do not consider it any longer absolutely essential to It therefore follows that prominent educational rethe well-being of their race that they should educate their children exclusively according to the old Hebraic customs. They feel that they are citizens of this Republic, entitled to enjoy all of its blessings, to share in its advantages and to contribute to its well-being. They believe that education should be common and universal, but leaving religious instruction to the care of the different denominations. They rejoice in the existence of civil and religious liberty, in the separation of church and state, and in the enactment of recent laws which proclaim the obliteration of all distinctions of race and condition, all being equal in citizenship and receiving equal application of the laws. This is their present education.*

It is not astonishing that the public has but little correct information regarding the Jews, for it is only recently that the prejudice entertained against them appears to have given way. It is not generally known that in all American synagogues prayers are specially offered for the President and Congress, the governors of States, and all local officers, soliciting the Throne of Divine Grace to preserve and protect all our rulers, and to endow them with wisdom and mercy to all people, and particularly toward the children of Israel, who have stood in such sore need of the blessings of wise and humane government.

It is frequently remarked by intelligent persons that they never see a poor Jew, arguing thereform that there is no poverty or suffering among them. This is far from true, for there is a proportionate number of poor Jews, who daily present themselves to their people for pecuniary relief. The especial reason why poor Jews are not seen is, that having been always prevented from receiving the benefit of the ordinary public charities, they are rarely its recipients, and do not appear at poorhouses or as paupers. Their habitual temperance operates to keep them clear from the calendar of

*At a meeting of the rabbis, held in Cleveland recently, the Rev. Dr. Lilienthal, of Cincinnati, presented the following preamble and resolutions, which were unanimously adopted:

1. Because with unshaken faith and firmness in one indivisible and eternal God, we also believe in the commnon Fatherhood of God and the common brotherhood of men.

2. We glory in the sublime doctrine of our religion, which teaches that the righteous of all nations, without distinction of creed, will enjoy eternal life and everlasting happiness.

3. The divine command, the most sublime passage of the Bible, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," extends to the entire human family, without distinction of either race or creed.

4. Civil and religious liberty, and hence the separation of church and state, are the inalienable rights of men, and we consider them to be the brightest gem in the Constitution of the United States.

5. We love and revere this country as our home and fatherland for us and our children, and therefore consider it our paramount duty to sustain and support the Government, and to favor by all means the system of free education, leaving religious instruction to the care of the different denominations.

6. We expect the universal elevation and fraternization of the human family to be achieved by the natural means of science, morality, freedom, justice, and truth.

crime, and therefore the offended majesty of the law seldom consigns them to the public lungeon. In the criminal records of rape, robbery, murder, arson, and other heinous crimes, the Hebrews rarely, if ever, figure. This is another attribute of Hebrew education; and the lesson of being temperate in all things, and to refrain from idleness and vice, is instilled constantly into the minds of their youth. In London, where the population is so mixed, it has been definitely ascertained that the lower classes of Jews were vastly superior to the same class of other people by reason of their industry, temperance, and cleanliness.

Another succinct reason why the poverty of Jews is not brought to public view lays in the fact that their immediate wants are quietly relieved by their fellows, no matter whether they be worthy or not. If they are unworthy of continued charity, they are so informed, which frequently operates to cure the evil. If they are worthy, their cases are immediately brought to the notice of benevolent societies, which generally exist, or where there are no such societies, then to the attention of individuals. The result of charity thus bestowed is eminently practical, and many instances are extant, in this country and elsewhere, where the timely but silent relief afforded has culminated in the accumulation of wealth and honor by the recipient. Recognizing this fact, the education of charity is always remembered by the Hebrews as the most honorable of all virtues.

Owing to the superior benefits of their education in temperance and cleanliness, insanity is comparatively rare among the Hebrews. This is accounted for by the fact that the predisposing causes seldom exist. They are rarely afflicted with mania, idiocy, or dementia, such as aidoiomania, pseudomania, and the like. Female chastity and rectitude are especially remarkable among this people, the statistics of vice and crime being almost void of examples of dissolute Hebrew women. That this is the result of education, no one can doubt; for ignorance generally leads to crime, although vice does not always confine itself to the uneducated. Depravity does not exist in any immediate extent in Jewish communities; their ancient laws and customs forbade and punished it severely. Jewish women do not labor under certain general disadvantages, which frequently operate to drive other females into crime and vice. Their homes are, by the effect of education, rendered happy and contented; they are always treated with respect by their male associates, and the hidden charity of their race prevents them from suffering the tortures of extreme poverty, and the consequent temptations. From the same causes, it is worthy of remark that conjugal infelicity is extremely rare among the Israelites, and the laws of divorce are seldom invoked in that behalf. Should a Jewish female go astray, and the fact be brought to the attention of her people, every effort is made at once to reclaim the lost one; her crime is hidden from sight, and she is sustained and encouraged in all efforts at well-doing. Reparation is sought to be enforced for her, should she have been wronged, and depraved in heart and soul must be that Hebrew woman who continues in her evil ways, despite her people.

Gratitude forms a prominent feature in Jewish education, for they are taught that gratitude is first due to God for his many blessings, and then to man for such favors as may by him be rendered. Ingratitude is appropriately stigmatized as one of the venal sins, and is contemned as such by every just person. Nevertheless, it is so common a crime that modern philosophy asserts that, in certainty, "death and ingratitude go hand-in-hand." The Hebrews ever keep before them the proverb that "a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold." Therefore they teach that ingratitude is a crime which may not be tolerated.

The famous address of the Hebrews of New York and Philadelphia to George Wash. ington is a marked example of their national gratitude. No Americans, of other nationalities and creeds, venerate General Washington more than the Israelites; and when he was gathered to his fathers, they mourned in their synagogues, repeating the words of Napoleon Bonaparte, that "the lamp of the world had gone out." The tribute to the moral worth and intellectual excellence of the Hebrews, which has been recently paid by Mr. James Parton, will never be forgotten. They will remember him gratefully, and as one who, even at this late day, has sought to do them justice, and to disabuse the prejudices of the world; for the true Jew appreciates the value of kind words and gracious favor more than silver and gold.

The Hebrews are extremely careful to inculcate in their youth an aversion to profanity. "The name of the Lord shall not be taken in vain," is a commandment which is probably obeyed, by them, with greater rigor than by any other people. But especially does Hebrew education operate healthfully upon the home circle, and it is refreshing to witness the intense respect which is ever manifested by husband to wife, and by children toward parents. They are ever mindful of the Divine command to "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

Frequent evidences of this respect are shown by the fact that in these days of progress, many Hebrews consent to the obliteration of certain unnecessary customs, adopted in the early, or medieval ages, both as to ritual and education. Notwithstanding their adverse judgment and opinion, they will religiously adhere to the old ideas