literature, in philosophy, in theology, in ethics,
in Bible exegesis, the race is equally prolific in minds of the first
order. Glancing back for a moment, our eye is arrested by Moses
Maimonides, the great systematizer of the Jewish Law, and the connecting
link between scholasticism and the Greek-Arabic development of the
Aristotelian system. Before his time Bechai ibn Pakuda and Joseph ibn
Zadik had entered upon theosophic speculations with the object of
harmonizing Arabic and Greek philosophy, and in the age immediately
preceding that of Maimonides, Abraham ibn Daud, a writer of surprisingly
liberal views, had undertaken, in "The Highest Faith," the task of
reconciling faith with philosophy. At the same time rationalistic Bible
exegesis was begun by Abraham ibn Ezra, an acute but reckless
controversialist. Orthodox interpretations of the Bible had, before him,
been taught in France by Rashi (Solomon Yitschaki) and Samuel ben Meir,
and continued by German rabbis, who, at the same time, were preachers of
morality--a noteworthy phenomenon in a persecuted tribe. "How pure and
strong its ethical principles were is shown by its religious poetry as
well as by its practical Law. What pervades the poetry as a high ideal,
in the application of the Law becomes demonstrable reality. The wrapt
enthusiasm in the hymns of Samuel the Pious and other poets is embodied,
lives, in the rulings of Yehuda Hakohen, Solomon Yitschaki, and Jacob
ben Meir; in the legal opinions of Isaac ben Abraham, Eliezer ha-Levi,
Isaac ben Moses, Meir ben Baruch, and their successors, and in the
codices of Eliezer of Metz and Moses de Coucy. A German professor[13] of
a hundred years ago, after glancing through some few Jewish writings,
exclaimed, in a tone of condescending approval: 'Christians of that time
could scarcely have been expected to enjoin such high moral principles
as this Jew wrote down and bequeathed to his brethren in faith!'"

Jewish literature in this and the next period consists largely of
theological discussions and of commentaries on the Talmud produced by
the hundred. It would be idle to name even the most prominent authors;
their works belong to the history of theologic science, and rarely had a
determining influence upon the development of genuine literature.

We must also pass over in silence the numerous Jewish physicians and
medical writers; but it must be remembered that they, too, belong to
Jewish literature. The most marvellous