Book Description

Excerpt from The Rabbinate of the Great Synagogue, London, From 1756-1842 The following pages are an attempt to reconstruct the modern history of the Ashkenazi Community in London on the basis of almost entirely new material, hidden hitherto in volumes of Hebrew manuscripts. The period dealt with is comparatively recent, and may be regarded by many as too recent. The idea that only earlier history is worth reconstruction has taken hold of most of our eminent Jewish scholars, and may account for the fact that the manuscripts used by me were not taken note of before. The majority of these manuscripts are in the possession of Mr. Elkan Nathan Adler, M. A., whose unique collection of about 5,000 manuscripts has already furnished material for many important contributions to Jewish literature. I owe him a debt of gratitude for allowing me the unlimited use of his library, without which the present volume could never have been written. The essay appeared originally in the Jewish Quarterly Review (new series), and this accounts for Appendices I - IV being printed between Chapters I and II. I have to thank the learned Editor of the J. Q. R., Prof. Dr. Cyrus Adler, President of Dropsie College and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, for the publication in its present form. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.