LITERATURE. Hebrew throughout the Middle Ages WAS the literary language of the Jews, and was employed not only in religious services, but also in business correspondence, in bookkeeping, and in the preparation of legal documents. As early as the sixteenth century translations of the Bible into Yiddish began to make their appear ance to supply the wants of women, who did not receive a Hebrew education, and of the ignorant. The most popular Yiddish edition of the Penta teuch and of the Five Scrolls is the one known as Zeenah Urcenah. This is not a translation, but a paraphrase of the biblical text, embellished with the homiletic interpretations of the Talmud and Nidrash. The compiler of the hook was Jacob ben Isaac, of Janowo, Poland, who lived at the end of the sixteenth century. It has gone through many editions and to-day can he found in almost every Jewish household of Eastern Europe. Besides translations of the Bible there appeared books of a purely religious or moral character, the most popular of which were the 8efer Hainareli, "The Book of the Mirror" ( Fra nkfort. l700) ; Ile nef eslt, "The Joy of the Soul" (ib., I706) ; and Kai) Ilayashar, "The Correct Measure" (Sulz bach, 1724). Of historical works the most fa mous were Josippon, after Josephus (Amster dam. 166I), and Shrerit Israel, "The Remnant of Israel," by Menahem Man (ib., It was not, however, until the beginning of the nineteenth century that Yiddish began to be tined as a literary language. The movement for reform and for modern culture (Tlaskalah ), aroused by the Mendelssohnian translation of the Bible, soon gained a firm foothold in Russia and in Galicia, and while the desires of the learned were satisfied by books written in Hebrew, the people at large had to be appealed to through the medium of the Yiddish. At first Yiddish was looked upon with scorn by those who had tasted of European civilization, and it was from them that the language received its unfortunate appellation of 'Jargon,' a name by which it has since been generally known among Jews. With the rise of able writers and poets who use Yid dish, the language is now receiving more con siderate treatment at the hands of philologists and literary men. Diming the last fifty years
an extensive Yiddish literature has developed, which includes science, belles-lettres, poetry, and history. Its home is almost exclusively in Rus sia and the United States.
Solomon Jacob Abramowitsch, better known by his pseudonym 'Mendele Moeller Sephorim,' easily ranks first, among Yiddish authors of modern times. Best known of his works are Die Klatsche (The Mare), a beautiful and touching allegory of the history of Jewish persecution and its effects on the national character (Vilna, 1873) ; Das Urine Ilenschele (The Mannikin), a cruel analy sis of the soul of a 'self-made' man OIL, 1879) ; Vischke der Kramer ( Fischke the Lame), a study of beggar life ( Zhitomir, ISO) ; and Die Taksc (The Tax), a criticism of the Jewish communal system. .Abramowitsch's work is marked by a quaintness of humor and a depth feeling which are enhanced by the practically amorphous medium in which he writes. His masterly ar raignment of sham and wrong entitle hiin to a place with the great satirists of the recognized literatures. 1. J. Linetzki's Das.polnisehr Jfingel (The Polish Boy) is valuable for the picture it gives of the Chassidic life among the Jews. A. M. Dick was a prolific writer of the romantic school. Jacob Dienensolin produeed a number of popular sentimental novels. M. R. Sehaike witsch, otherwise known as 'Schomer,' wrote more than a hundred lengthy books marked by a talent for narration and little else. Mordechai Spektor, Solomon Rabinowitsch, better known as 'Seholem Mechem,' and J. L. Perez are, after Abramowitsch, the most prominent of contempo rary prose writers in Yiddish. They resemble Abramowitsch in the general undercurrent of sad ness which runs through all their work. but like him, too, they display prominently a rich taste for humor, which in Rabinowitsch is often mingled with acute satire and in Perez with pathos and mysticism.