A writer in the _Quarterly Review_, some years ago, in a lengthy article on Heine, said that his writings differed from other works of the same nature in their bizarre and grotesque style, as well as in the delightful humour with which they often overflow—a humour vividly reminiscent of Aristophanes. Heine, he goes on to say, who was a direct descendant of the prophets in mind and inspiration, somewhat resembled the two great seers of Israel—Isaiah and Ezekiel. Like them, he found in the use of strange metaphors and wonderful visions a ready means of appealing to the imagination of his readers. The present essay is an attempt to show that, in a spiritual sense, Heine really had something in common with some of the great authors of the Bible, whose peculiar style and beautiful diction he instinctively imitated. The first and most important question that arises is naturally, Whether Heine had ever read the Bible or some parts of it in the original Hebrew, or whether he acquired his undoubtedly deep knowledge of it from a modern version? Two of the greatest authorities, Graetz and Karpeles, say that Heine was sent in his early days by his mother, Betty von Geldern, to a Jewish school, where he actually learned some Hebrew, together with various other subjects connected with the Jewish faith. However much or little it was, Heine retained a vivid recollection of it to the end, for in some of his later works are found some Hebrew quotations, which are mainly short phrases and sentences that occur in the Bible and in other Hebrew volumes of a more modern date^[166-1]. But it was not only during the time he was at the Jewish school at Düsseldorf that he had an opportunity of learning certain important things about Judaism and its literature. It is known that he was a keen member of a Jewish society that was formed at Berlin in 1822 for the promotion of the study and knowledge of Jewish history and literature; and through his intimate acquaintance with several of the members, such as Zunz, David Friedländer, Moser, and others, Heine learnt to appreciate the charm of these studies. He was enthusiastic in his praises of the Bible, and likewise found in the poetry of the great Jewish poets of the Middle Ages a perpetual source of delight. His knowledge of them was derived from Michael Sach's well-known volume, entitled _Die religiöse Poesie der Juden in Spanien_ (“Religious Poetry of the Jews in Spain”). Though his inability to read the writings of Jehuda Halevi, Ibn Gabirol, Moses and Meïr Ibn Ezra, and Alcharizi in the original prevented him from an entire appreciation of their merits, yet he speaks of them in his _Hebrew Melodies_ in terms of great admiration. Referring, for instance, to Alcharizi, he says that he was a Voltaire six hundred years before Voltaire lived; and of his special favourite Jehuda Halevi, he says that he was kissed at his birth by the Almighty, and that the sound of the kiss echoed in all his poems and songs.