JEWISH PORTRAITS JEWISH PORTRAITS BY LADY MAGNUS AUTHOR OF ‘OUTLINES OF JEWISH HISTORY,’ ‘ABOUT THE JEWS SINCE BIBLE TIMES,’ ETC. _Second Revised and Enlarged Edition_ LONDON Published by DAVID NUTT in the STRAND 1897 ‘THESE, TO HIS MEMORY’ FEBRUARY 7: JANUARY 11 PREFACE The papers which form this volume have already appeared in the pages of _Good Words_, _Macmillan’s Magazine_, _The National Review_, and _The Spectator_, and are reprinted with the very kindly given permission of the editors. The Frontispiece is reproduced through the kindness of the proprietors of _Good Words_. I fancy that there is enough of family likeness, and I hope there is enough of friendly interest, in these Jewish portraits to justify their re-appearance in a little gallery to themselves. KATIE MAGNUS. CONTENTS PAGE JEHUDAH HALEVI, 1 THE STORY OF A STREET, 24 HEINRICH HEINE: A PLEA, 32 DANIEL DERONDA AND HIS JEWISH CRITICS, 57 MANASSEH BEN ISRAEL, 68 CHARITY IN TALMUDIC TIMES, 90 MOSES MENDELSSOHN, 109 THE NATIONAL IDEA IN JUDAISM, 147 THE STORY OF A FALSE PROPHET, 158 NOW AND THEN: A COMPOSITE SKETCH, 177 JEWISH PORTRAITS JEHUDAH HALEVI PHYSICIAN AND POET In the far-off days, when religion was not a habit, but an emotion, there lived a little-known poet who solved the pathetic puzzle of how to sing the Lord’s song in a strange land. Minor poets of the period in plenty had essayed a like task, leaving a literature the very headings of which are strange to uninstructed ears. ‘_Piyutim_,’ ‘_Selichoth_’: what meaning do these words convey to most of us? And yet they stand for songs of exile, sung by patient generations of men who tell a monotonous tale of mournful times-- ‘When ancient griefs Are closely veiled In recent shrouds,’