of his religion. The unravelling of God's Word has been
from time immemorial regarded as the greatest need, the most ennobling
occupation of man--a work commanded by God. The Talmud teems with
precepts concerning this all-important subject.

"Study by day and by night, for it is written: 'Thou shalt meditate
therein day and night.'"

"The study of the Law may be compared to a huge heap that is to be
cleared away. The foolish man will say: 'It is impossible for me to
remove this immense pile, I will not attempt it.' But the wise man says:
'I will remove a little to-day, and more to-morrow, and thus in time I
shall have removed it all.' It is the same in studying the Law."[8]

It was to this incessant study of the Scriptures that Israel owed its
patience, its courage, its fortitude during centuries of persecution. It
was this constant delving for truth which produced that bright, acute
Jewish mind, which in days of fanaticism and intolerance, protected the
despised people from stupefying mental decay. It was this incessant
yearning after the word of God, which moulded the moral and religious
life of the Jews and preserved them from the fanatical excesses of the
surrounding peoples.

That this study often degenerated into a mere useless cramming of
unintelligible ideas is easily understood, and its effects were in many
cases the reverse of ennobling. At the age of five, the Jewish lad was
sent to _cheder_ and his young years devoted to the study of the Bible.
Every other occupation of mind and body was interdicted, the very plays
of happy childhood were abolished. The Pentateuch must henceforth form
the sole mental nourishment of the boy. Later on he is led through the
labyrinth of Talmudic lore, to wander through the dark and dreary
catacombs of the past, analyze the mouldering corpses of a by-gone
philosophy, drink into his very blood the wisdom, superstitions,
morality and prejudices of preceding ages. He must digest problems which
the greatest minds have failed to solve. Either the pupil is spurred on
to preternatural acuteness and becomes a credit to his parents and his
teachers, or he succumbs entirely to the benumbing influence of an
over-wrought intellect and is rendered unfit for the great physical
struggle for existence.

What is the Talmud, this sacred literature of Israel? It is a collection
of discussions and comments of biblical subjects, by generations of
rabbis and teachers who devoted their time and i