A Rabbinic Anthology
Cambridge Library Collection - Religion Series

Founder of Liberal Judaism in England, Claude Goldsmid Montefiore (1858?1938) wrote extensively on Jewish and Christian theology and ethics. His final book, published in 1938 and co-edited with Herbert Loewe (1882?1940), remains one of the most comprehensive and authoritative collections available of Rabbinic literature dating from 100 to 500 CE. The edition, which provides extensive historical and lexical context, features two introductions, one from Montefiore espousing a Liberal perspective and the other from Loewe speaking as an Orthodox Jew. Together, they argue for 'a common foundation, a common past, and a common future' linking their outlooks. Their anthology in turn models this co-operation, offering more than 1,600 rabbinical extracts, and covering topics including the nature of God, the Commandments and the Law, prayer and charity. Both a compilation of theological writings and a meditation on theology itself, this work remains a pre-eminent text of Jewish religious scholarship.

Preface; Introduction; Introduction and prefatory remarks; System of transcription, abbreviations, etc.; 1. The nature and character of God and his relations with man; 2. God's love for Israel; 3. Man's nature and God's grace; 4. Israel's love for God; 5. The Law; 6. Study, practice and goodness; 7. The Commandments, the Sabbath, and the Law; 8. Reward, merit and atonement; 9. Divine mercy and divine judgment, idolatry, martyrdom; 10. The importance of motive or intention. Kawwanah, and Lishmah. The love, the fear, and the praise of God; 11. The doctrine of the evil inclination. Righteousness and sin; 12. Man's repentance and God's compassion; 13. Hope and faith. Miracles; 14. On prayer; 15. Justice, honesty, truth in oaths; 16. On charity; 17. On industry and independence. On poverty and riches; 18. Hospitality, courtesy and good manners; 19. Pity, forgiveness and love; 20. On humility and pride; 21. Various ethical conceptions; 22. The family: (a) father and mother; 23. The family: (b) the wife; 24. The family: (c) children; 25. Asceticism; 26. Peace; 27. This life in comparison with the next life; 28. On sufferings; 29. The gentiles; 30. On proselytes; 31. The life to come: resurrection and judgment; Excursus I. The use of the adjectives 'Jewish' and 'Christian' in England; Excursus II. Rabbinical and early Christian ethics R. H. Snape; Notes; Excursus III. The Rabbis, their 'generations' and their countries; List of rabbis; Excursus IV. The dating of Rabbinic material; Table of dates of extracts; Glossary; List of editions used; List of biblical passages; List of Greek and Latin passages; List of Rabbinic passages; General index.