Evening star., 1935-03-17
A LIBRARY OF JEWISH LAW
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.
There repo5es at Washington thu

There repoSeS at Washington the
most complete library Of the Jewish
law in the Occident. 1t is a part
of the Library Of Congress and much
Of it has been assembled under the
supervision of DR.. Israel Schapiro,
chief Of the Semitic division of the
Library.
The law Of the Jews has an un-
usual fascination because of its world
wide application. Jews have no coun-
try of their own, not even Palestine,
but are found in every land Where
they abide they conform to the local
laws aS q matter Of course, but,
| wherever they are. they also are
ruled in large measure by their own
universal law. This is not a loose
code of religion or morals; it is a
statutory. codified corpus juris. which
might be said to bear something of
the same relation of the worlds JeWry
as the Revised Statutes of the United
States bear to the citizens Of that
Nation. And there are lawyers OF
the Jewish law and courts. One of
the most important courts is In Lon
don and so fair have been its de-
cisions, following the Jewish codes,
that in cases where appeals have
been taken to the English courts,
the findings of the Hebrew judges
nearly always have been followed
and no reversals handed down.
Leviticus is known as the Book of
the Law. but that is a Book Of the
Old Testament as used by Christen-
dom. The Talmud is the Jewish
Bible For a long time the Talmud
stood alone. Growth Of the law and
the interpretations of the law began
some time later. The Amoraim and
the Mishna were the first legitimate
expounders of the Talmud. These
so-called Tractates were partial
codifications intended to simplify
Talmudic law and unity practice
throughout the Hebraic world.
AS soon as the dispersal of the Jews
began, centuries ago, it was found
that notifications in the law were
required to meet local conditions. The
Jews were dispersed, 1t might be said,
to the winds and, as seeds dispersed
by the winds fall on different types
Of soil and must adapt themselves TO
thrive, so the Talmudic law must
needs be adapted TO fit in with local
habitations. II was inevitable that a
number Of important codes should be
set up, all, to be sure, stemming back
to the fundamental law, but geo.
graphically and, 10 some extent, poll
tically. modified.
1t has been part Of DR.. Schapiro's
work to assemble in one Jewish law
library. the more important Of these
codes of law. On the shelves OF the
library are priceless tones. some OF
great antiquity and rarity.
The Earliest Compilations.
The earliest codes are claSsed as
Babylonian. They were produced by
the geonim, the heads Of the acad-
emies who acted as lawgivers and
judges Their decisions became in
| corporated in the Jewish law in much
| the same way that the decisions OF
such great Chief Justices as Johr
Marshall and Roger Taney have be-
come accepted as part of the Law
of the United States. Law and in
depreciation become fused.
/ The first compilation, Sheiltoth
written or compiled by Ahal, contains
l9l discourses on points Of Jewish
law. One of the most priced pos
sessions Of the Library is a veritablt
first edition Of this epochal work
printed in Venice in l545. The
second compilation. called Halakhott
Pesukoth. by Jehuda. one of tht
! geonim. has survived only in frag.
mentary forms. But some of the
fragments, collected and printed ir