Selavim, Vilna, 1867.
JE = Jewish Encyclopedia, 12 vols., New York, 1901-1906.
LBJ = Levinsohn, Bet Yehudah, Warsaw, 1901.
LTI = Levinsohn, Te'udah be-Yisrael, Warsaw, 1901.
WMG = Wengeroff, Memoiren einer Grossrautter, i., Berlin, 1908.

CHAPTER I

THE PRE-HASKALAH PERIOD

?-1648

(pp. 17-52)

[Footnote 1: Mention might, indeed, be made of Dr. Zunz's pioneer work
in his Aelteste Nachrichten ueber Juden und juedische Gelehrte in Polen,
Slavonien, Russland (Gesammelte Schriften, Berlin, 1875, iii. 82-87),
and Firkovich, who, in his Abne Zikkaron (Vilna, 1872), threw much light
on the history of the Crimean Jews. The best contributions to the
subject, however, are those of Harkavy, Russ i Russkiye v Sred. Yevr.
Lit. (Voskhod, 1881), and Malishevsky, Yevreyi v Yuzhnoy Rossii i Kieve,
v. x-xii. Vyekakh, St. Petersburg, 1878.]

[Footnote 2: LTI, p. 33, n. 2; LBJ, ii. 94, n. 2.]

[Footnote 3: See JE, s.v. Azov, and Kertch. See also Fishberg, The Jews:
A Study of Race and Environment, New York, 1911, pp. 150, 192-194.]

[Footnote 4: See Judah Halevi's Kuzari, Introduction.]

[Footnote 5: Minor, Rukovodstvo, Moscow, 1881, iv; Ha-Pardes, St.
Petersburg, 1902, p. 155.]

[Footnote 6: HUH, pp. 31-32, 69-76.]

[Footnote 7: Yevrey Minister, Voskhod, 1885, v. 105 f.]

[Footnote 8: JE, i. 112, 119, 223; viii. 652.]

[Footnote 9: The synagogue in Brest-Litovsk, which Saul Wahl built in
memory of his wife Deborah, was demolished in 1836. WMG, p. 84.]

[Footnote 10: HUH, pp. 77-134.]

[Footnote 11: JE, x. 569.]

[Footnote 12: The story of Zacharias de Guizolfi deserves to be given at
greater length. He was a prince and ruler of the Taman peninsula near
the Black Sea (1419). After he had been unsuccessful in a war against
the Turks, Czar Ivan III sent him a message sealed with the gold seal
(March 14, 1484) as follows:

"By the grace of God, the great ruler of the Russian land, the Grand
Duke Ivan Vassilyevich, czar of all the Russias, to Skariya the Hebrew.

"You have written to us through Gabriel Patrov, our guest, that you
desire to come to us. It is our wish that you do so. When you are with
us, we shall give you evidence of our favorable disposition toward you.
Should you wish to serve us, we will confer honors upon you. But should
you not wish to remain with us, and prefer to return to your country,
you shall be free to go."

For some reason or other, Zacharias never accomplished his contemplated
tr