ntellects to an analysis
of the Scriptures. It is a curious store-house of literary gems, at
times carefully, at times carelessly compiled by writers living in
different lands and different ages; a museum of curiosities, into which
are thrown in strange confusion beautiful legends, historical facts,
metaphysical discussions, sanitary regulations and records of scientific
research. In it are preserved the wise decisions, stirring sermons and
religious maxims of Israel's philosophers.

Although a huge work, consisting of twelve folios, it bears no
resemblance to a single literary production. On first acquaintance it
appears a wilderness, a meaningless tangle of heterogeneous ideas, of
scientific absurdities, of hair-splitting arguments, of profound
aphorisms, of ancient traditions, of falsehood and of truth. It is a
work of broadest humanity, of most fanatical bigotry.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the Talmud contains a great number
of trivial subjects, which it treats with great seriousness. It
contains, for example, dissertations upon sorcery and witchcraft as well
as powerful religious precepts, and presents along-side of its wise and
charitable maxims many utterances of an opposite nature. "For these
faults the whole Talmud had often been held responsible, as a work of
trifles, as a source of trickery, without taking into consideration that
it is not the work of a single author. Over six centuries are
crystallized in the Talmud with animated distinctness. It is, therefore,
no wonder if in this work, sublime and mean, serious and ridiculous,
Jewish and heathen elements, the altar and the ashes are found in motley
mixture."[9]

To the _jeschiva_, or Talmud school, Mendel was immediately sent after
his phenomenal recovery. The great Rabbi Jeiteles himself became the
lad's instructor. Let us accompany Mendel on this beautiful autumn day
to his school.

The house of Rabbi Jeiteles was hemmed in on three sides by decaying and
overcrowded dwellings, facing on the fourth a narrow, neglected lane.
There was nothing in its appearance to attract a passer-by. The
interior, however, was neatly and tastefully, if not luxuriously,
furnished. On entering, one found himself in a comfortably arranged
reception-room. On the eastern wall there hung a _misrach_, a scriptural
picture bearing the inscription, "From the rising of the sun to its
setting shall the name of the Lord be praised." Prints of biblical
subjects adorned