Mr. Herbert M. Adler has reprinted, chiefly from the Jewish
Review, some interesting articles on The Jewish Prayer-book (Union of Hebrew and Religious Classes, 4 Upper Gloucester
Place) which will be new to Christian readers. The Jews have accumulated through the ages an extensive liturgy, always adding to it but seldom altering it ; of this literature the Psalms alone, in so far as they were liturgical, are known to Christians.
Many of the prayers were handed down by oral transmission, for " it was considered wrong to write down prayers." Some of Mr. Adler's quotations are admirable. Thus, part of the call to repentance on the Day of Atonement is rendered by Mrs. R. N.
Salem= :— " Open the gate for us, Yea, even at the closing of the gate ; For day is nearly past.
The day is passing thus ; The sun is low, the day is growing late ; 0 let us come into Thy gates at last."
It would be interesting to know if there is any good modern Hebrew poetry. The poetic faculty, flourishing in the isolation of the Ghetto, was evidently strong in the Jewish race down to the Middle Ages.
Previous page
