all; those I have mentioned are a fair sample of the whole. I have read most of them, and find in them much to admire and nothing to condemn. The Board did not consider themselves at liberty to select and recommend religious books; neither did they suppose that such were most needed. Most of the children in the commonwealth are supplied with books of a religious character from the Sabbath school libraries. It seemed more necessary that they should have access to works of information, to popular treatises upon natural and physical sciences, to memoirs, histories, and interesting miscellaneous publications. The School Library is edited with great care and ability. Each volume has an index and glossary, in which every word in the book, not found in school dictionaries, is fully explained. Every quotation from other languages is translated, and the volumes are adapted to the capacities as well as to the wants of the young.

I need not say any thing by way of argument to show the importance of libraries in district schools. I do not know that any one denies that they are valuable. The time is probably not far distant, when a library will be considered as essential to the welfare of a common school, as it now is to the interest of a Sabbath school. The munificent appropriation made by the state of New-York is important testimony in their favor.*

The great objection, that has been urged against school libraries in Massachusetts, is, that the Board of Education, in making the selection, will introduce books that inculcate the sentiments of some one religious sect, and exclude others. The majority of the Committee on Education, in the legislature of 1840, recommended that the Board be abolished; and one of the reasons was the following: "It is professed, indeed, that the matter selected for this library will be free both from sec-. tarian and political objections. Unquestionably the Board will endeavor to render it so. Since, however, religion and politics, in this free country, are so intimately connected with every other subject, the accomplishment of that object is utterly impossible; nor would it be desirable, if possible. That must, indeed, be

* The legislature of New-York by two acts, passed in 1838 and 1839, have appropriated $110,000 annually for three years, for the purchase of libraries; which is to be divided among the districts, and any one may draw its share, if the inhabitants of the district will add to it an equal sum.

an uninteresting course of reading, which would leave untouched either of these subjects."*

I can hardly believe that the writer of that report seriously believed his own assertions. Is it essential to the interest and utility of every book, that it should dwell more or less upon religion and politics? Are not such books as the Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties, Buel on Agriculture, and popular treatises on Chemistry, Philosophy, Astronomy, Geology and the Arts, free from partisan views of religion and politics, and, at the same time, interesting and useful? I suppose the writer of the above mentioned report presumed that the library was to be a religious and political library, and still contain nothing more favorable to one party or sect than to another. It is admitted that such a book, if it could be made, would do no good, but much hurt. I see no difficulty, however, in selecting a valuable library made up of books of information, to be used in a school composed of children from families differing widely in their political and religious opinions, which shall be useful and acceptable to all. Let not the objections, that have been made to a Board of Education, to school libraries and to plans for improving schools in Massachusetts, discourage the people in other states, and keep them from improving their common school system. A variety of circumstances have operated in this state to create some division among the people, and to awaken opposition. If the Board had been organized two years earlier or two years later, there would have been fewer objections urged against it. But it is well as it is; opposition has produced discussion, and I have no doubt that the people generally are better informed upon every thing pertaining to common schools, than they would otherwise have been.

It was my intention to have dwelt upon the subject of moral and religious instruction in the public schools in New England, but I cannot do justice to this topic without protracting this article to an unreasonable length. I have endeavored to present as correct a view of the common school system of New England, and as faithful a narrative of the improvements that have been made, as the brief space to which I limited myself would allow. Frequent inquiries are made by the friends of education in other states respecting the common school system of the eastern states. If I have succeeded in presenting the great outlines of the system my object is accomplished.

Massachusetts School Journal, Vol. II. p. 228.

ARTICLE VII.

THE RABBIES AND THEIR LITERATURE.

By Isaac Nordheimer, D. P. Prof. Orient. Lang., Univ. of the City of New-York.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE RABBINICAL SCHOOLS IN PERSIA.

AFTER the composition of the two Talmuds, the Jewish teachers, being no longer under the necessity of communicating the mass of their doctrines by means of oral tradition, confined themselves chiefly to the explanation of these written documents, by assigning for the precepts contained in them various reasons of their own, which were afterwards altered aud appended to the Talmud. These learned men were named Sopherim (), to distinguish them from the authors of the Mishnah, called Tenaim, and of the Gemara, called Amaraim. (See the former Article.)

The influence of the rabbies became gradually confined to the districts under their immediate jurisdiction; and the office of Resh Glutha, now grown more secular in its character, came to be an object of ambition to persons of wealth and importance, who farmed or purchased it of the sovereigns of the country. The Beth Nasi ( ), or family in whom it had for centuries been hereditary, was nearly extinct. One Rabbi Hanina, who had formerly been sentenced by the Resh Glutha to lose his beard, on account of some opposition offered by

* The first article of this series, on The Talmud and the Rabbies, (Bibl. Rep. Oct. 1839,) contained an outline of the his tory of the Rabbinical schools till the composition of the Talmud, with a brief summary of the contents of that work. This history we now continue to the time of Maimonides; and, although the obscurity and barrenness of the details, that have reached us concerning this period, may give the article a fragmentary character, the writer hopes it will not be found entirely destitute of interest and information. It may be affirmed as a surprising fact, that while almost every department of historical science has been cultivated with success, the his-, tory of this ancient and certainly interesting people has not

him to the latter's authority, had the magnanimity to adopt and educate the last surviving descendant of this once powerful house, a boy named Mar Sutra. On reaching the age of fifteen, the lad was brought before king Firus (A. D. 480), and received from him the appointment to the vacant office of Resh Glutha; the former incumbent, one Pahara, having just died from the sting of an insect in his nose ;-a circumstance which Mar Sutra and his posterity commemorated by placing the figure of the insect on their seal. About twenty years after, however, Mar Sutra came to an untimely end; he being executed together with his adopted father by king Kobad, in consequence of a revolt raised by one Mir, who undertook to fulfil an ancient oracle by obtaining the independence of the Jews. Mar Sutra, junior, the son of the preceding, thereupon fled to Tiberias, where he was well received, and where he gave a new impulse to Talmudical studies.

The condition of the Jewish schools in Palestine became greatly changed, by reason of the disturbed state of the country from the year 589 to 630. The head of the schools now received the appellation of Gaon (78, excellency), in imitation of the

yet received that degree of attention which it deserves. The result is, that the few treatises on Jewish history that we possess are mostly mere recitals of the numerous harassing persecutions that the nation has undergone, and enumerations of the reproaches, just and unjust, that have been made against it, in all times and in all parts of the world; while but little attention has been given to the important task of investigating the hidden causes of the occurrences which chroniclers relate: at the same time the prevalent idea respecting the literature of the nation, is that it consists of a small number of volumes containing little else than puerilities and useless subtleties. One distinguished exception, however, exists in the learned and truly classical work of Dr. Jost (Allgemeine Geschichte des Israelitischen Volkes), quoted by usinthe former article. This writer has exhibited great diligence and accuracy in developing the origin of the events of Jewish history; while he has also bestowed a good share of attention on the national literature. His work and a well conducted periodical (Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift für jüdische Theologie), edited by Dr. Geiger with the aid of several learned Jewish theologians, have constituted our principal sources in preparing this sketch.

titles illustres and clarissimi bestowed by the court on the rabbies of Tiberias. In several cities there were seminaries of some note, and those in Sura and Pumbeditha again acquired, and for a time maintained, somewhat of their former superiority. The principal seat of the Gaon was accordingly in Sura, while the Resh Methibhta (n ), or head of the school, was stationed at Pumbeditha. Besides these dignities, there was the more secular one of Resh Glutha, who was chosen by the representatives of the congregations, the two above mentioned chiefs presiding at the election. The candidates for this important station were nominated by the king, whose choice was greatly influenced by the value of the presents they severally made him. At the close of the election, the two chiefs of the schools consecrated the new official by the imposition of hands. The conclusion of the ceremony was announced by sound of trumpet to the people, by whom rich offerings were made to the newly installed dignitary; while he in his turn entertained his electors with a feast that lasted several days. The following Sabbath, after a solemn service, the appointment of the new Resh Glutha was proclaimed; it being at the same time notified that the congregation was to be under his immediate charge, and also what taxes they would be required to pay. After returning home from the synagogue, the Resh Glutha no more went abroad on foot, but rode in a gilded carriage, with an escort of fifteen men and a foot-runner. He no longer attended religious services in public, but had them performed in his own house. He kept his secretary, and held a separate court for his own diocese, independent of those in Sura and Pumbeditha. His authority was upheld by the king, at whose court, when business called him thither, he always appeared with a princely retinue.

In like manner, but with less pomp and ceremony, the two subordinate chiefs of the school were elected by the college of rabbies out of their own body; and to each of them was assigned a diocese from which his income was to be derived. The three courts thus instituted sent out judges, furnished by them with diplomas, among the smaller congregations; and each of these judges, with two respectable inhabitants of a place, formed a temporary or circuit court, in which they settled disputes, made legal contracts, and performed other judicial functions, for which they received stated fees. The surplus of the income derived from this source was assigned to the support of studious