thing to be tended every day. The Sabbath eve, with its cession from toil, its peace and repose, is but adapted for the airing of her spiritual side. There is no fear of the soul getting rusty from disuse. The true wife and mother recreates herself on every recurring Sabbath eve and through the medium of the Tzenno Urenno she sails out on the high seas of the higher life. Long, long after the family has retired to rest, when the atmosphere of the house is heavy with Sabbath odors and the Sabbath candles are diffusing a mellow, dreamy glow, and from the adjoining room the snoring of her husband and children rises on the quiet air—'tis then that the wife and mother sits down to hold communion with herself, or rather with the Tzenno Urenno, wherein she reads with delight the "portion of the week." As she sits there, in the dim light bending over the bulky volume—what an inspiring picture she presents for the eye to behold! What peculiar devotion her race is capable of! She herself is one of the most striking examples of her people's fidelity to an ancient faith. The spectacle of a woman with her eyes fastened on the parchment pages of close Aramaic type—a woman of modern time trying to keep track of Abraham's progress towards Canaan or Esau's differences with his brother Jacob, with the interest displayed in contemporaneous affairs, is more eloquent than thrilling epics and speaks volumes for the wonderful loyalty of a people to its past. It is only an Am Olam, an Eternal People, which is capable of such tenacity, such steadfastness. After many centuries of changes and shiftings, both the letter and spirit of the law which was delivered on Sinai, had been preserved. It is stamped on the very consciousness of the Jews. Their being is saturated with it so thoroughly that no foreign influence can
lessen aught of its hold upon them. Their religion runs through every vein and sinew, is knit with every fibre of their organism. The Tzenno Urenno is the great influence in the woman's life. She looks upon it as the mediator between herself and heaven, it is her great spiritual mint, whence she coins all her knowledge. It is her Bible made accessible through its Judeo-German version. The value of this book to the Ghetto woman can not be ignored, though the man's attitude towards it is that of contempt, mingled with pity. The Taitsch Chumesh, in spite of its shortcomings, must be given its due as the educator of the women. How long the Yiddish version of the Pentateuch has been a feature of the Jewish home is difficult to ascertain, as the recording of historical data has never been a virtue of the Amma Peziza, the restless people, but it is certain that it made its appearance since the seventeenth century. The translator, a certain Rabbi Jacob ben Isaac, undertook the arduous task in order to make the Law accessible even to women who were ignorant of the Hebrew language. Evidently the translator understood the peculiar psychology of women and anticipated their love of detail, for he did not content himself with merely translating the text, but he greatly elaborated upon it and introduced Midrashic comments, and added many touches here and there in order to make the Pentateuch as readable and as complete in detail as the inquisitive nature of woman loves. It is gossipy enough to satisfy the most womanly woman. That so much was done for the sake of the woman is an evidence of the esteem and importance with which she was regarded. The Midrash was ransacked for legends and parables to illustrate the obscure passages in the Pentateuch. The result is a mine of information which enables the