Humanist Readings In Jewish Folklore

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Excerpt from Contentions With God: A Study in Jewish Folklore My dear Professor, Since the occasion some two years ago, when I had the honour to deliver a lecture under the same title as this essay to the Basle Section of the Swiss Society for Folk-lore I have not ceased to prosecute my humble investigations further in this field. In the trust that the publication of the results of my own inquiries may stimulate others with wider knowledge and greater ability to carry the subject further, I have ventured to publish this essay, and in this I have been encouraged both by Israel Zangwill's and your own friendly criticism of my book "Rosinkess mit Mandlen." Moreover I feel sure that you will deal kindly with any errors which may appear to your scientific eye, more especially in some story or other which you may consider to be not altogether germane to the title. Yet are they undoubtedly cognate to the subject; and therefore they arc included,-to use a word of Ariosto, per raccontar pincevole a ricreazione delle persons il'nninto gentile. And oven though I am keenly aware that my tales are not nearly so piacevole told as those of Ariosto, yet I believe that the animo gentile of the reader will see beauty even in those stories which may be rejected by tho vulgus. In reading some grotesque anecdote you will with your deeper understanding not find it to accuse: "How impious is this people who, even when speaking of God, sees fit to jest." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.