A few years later, in 1830, Zunz's attention was drawn to a book entitled _Théorie du Judaïsme_, which a French priest, Chiarini by name, had published at Paris, in which he inimically discussed the Talmud and Rabbinical literature generally. Being himself unable to read the Rabbinical writings in the original, Chiarini contented himself with the repetition of almost all the adverse criticisms which had appeared in the writings of Buxtorf, Bartolocci, Eisenmenger, and others. At the time of the publication of this book Zunz was collecting materials for his intended great work _Homilies of the Jews_, but he found time to write and issue a small pamphlet under the title of _Beleuchtung der “Théorie du Judaïsme” des Abbé Chiarini_ (Berlin, 1830), pointing out therein some of the more flagrant inaccuracies and plagiarisms of Chiarini's book. But Zunz did not belong to that class of critical reviewers who, though quick in detecting the faults of others, cannot show that they themselves would have done much better in the same field of work. For two years after the issue of Chiarini's book (in 1832) he published a work which showed at once the master-mind of a first-rate scholar, and gained for its author an enduring fame. This work was entitled _Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden_ (“Homilies of the Jews”). There the author gives a description of the evolution of culture among the Jews extending over more than two thousand years. Beginning with a general survey of the great moral influence, which the teachings of the Bible had exercised on the mind of the Jewish people, the author goes on to define Jewish tradition, and to describe its progress and its development. The reader thus becomes acquainted with the history of the genesis of the Mishna, the Talmud, and the Midrash, and likewise with the form of prayers and sermons that prevailed at different times among the Jews. Speaking of sermons Zunz shows in his _Gottesdienstliche Vorträge_ that preaching has at all times formed an important part of the synagogue service, and that, during the eighteenth century, sermons were even delivered in the vernacular in several Jewish places of worship belonging to Portuguese congregations. Zunz's special object was to show the injustice of the decree of the Prussian government, which forbade preaching in synagogues, on the plea that it was an exclusively Christian institution. This he contended was not historically correct, as long before the dawn of Christianity the use of homilies in synagogues was common, and ought, therefore, not to be interfered with in modern times. Thus it will be seen that Zunz had a double object in view in this book. In the first place, he desired to point out to his own people the vast amount of interesting and valuable material to be extracted from the wide field of Jewish literature; and, in the second, he wished to afford the outer world an insight into the intellectual life of the Jews of past ages.