Another masterpiece of Zunz, ranking almost as high as his _Homilies of the Jews_, is _Die synagogale Poesie_, which deals specially with the _Piyutim_ and _Selichoth_, and which was published in 1855. It is virtually only the first volume of a work, which would certainly have remained incomplete without the two additional volumes, issued in 1859 and 1865 under the respective titles _Die Ritus des synagogalen Gottesdienstes_ and _Nachtrag zur Literaturgeschichte der synagogalen Poesie_. Each of these volumes treats of a variety of subjects, though they all belong to one and the same department. Though the literary matter contained and discussed in _Die synagogale Poesie_ is extremely copious and interesting, it is impossible to do more, within the limits of a short essay, than to refer to it briefly. Beginning with the Psalms the author describes the process of the gradual development of psalmody into the so-called _Agadah_, and that of the latter into the various kinds of prayers usually read in the synagogue, including the “Penitential Poems,” called _Selichoth_. These, containing, as they do, some of the most heartrending incidents in the mediaeval history of the Jews, Zunz discusses with special warmth and feeling. One particular passage excited the admiration of George Eliot, who printed a translation of it in _Daniel Deronda_. It runs as follows:— “If there are ranks in suffering, Israel takes precedence of all the Nations;—if the duration of sorrows, and the patience with which they are borne, ennoble, the Jews are among the aristocracy of every land;—if a literature is called rich in the possession of a few classical tragedies, what shall we say to a national Tragedy lasting for fifteen hundred years, in which the poets and actors were also the heroes.” When some later writers, including Professor Paul Legarde, criticized the _Synagogale Poesie_ adversely, asserting that Zunz had wasted his time and energy in the preparation of an elaborate work on the _Piyutim_, most of which are admittedly valueless, the late Professor David Kaufmann defended his friend, the author, in a remarkable pamphlet. He says, _inter alia_, that in writing about the _Piyutim_ Zunz was chiefly actuated by the desire to display before the eyes of the world the unexampled miseries and sufferings, which the Jewish people endured during a period extending over more than a thousand years. Thus it was obvious that, whether the _Piyutim_ have by their existence enriched Hebrew literature or not, Zunz has, at all events, by his long dissertation on them, brought to light a piece of history of his people which, for various reasons, was worthy of a permanent record.