A Manual for Teaching Biblical History

Rabbi of Congregation Chizzuk Emunah Baltimore, Md.
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NEW YORK THE UNITED SYNAGOGUE OF AMERICA 5677—1917
Copyright, 1917 BY THE UNITED SYNAGOGUE OF AMERICA
To the memory of SOLOMON SCHECHTER ז״צ״ל this book is reverently inscribed
The author cannot permit this book to go to press without acknowledging his indebtedness to the Education Committee of the United Synagogue for their encouragement and assistance. He is especially grateful to Dr. Julius H. Greenstone for his many helpful suggestions and his careful reading of the text, both in manuscript and in proof. To Dr. Cyrus Adler and Professor Mordecai M. Kaplan his thanks are also due in large measure for their aid in removing crudities and improving the form and content of the work.
Jewish pedagogic literature is still in its infancy. While text-books for children, more or less satisfactory, have been produced by many authors during the past century, the effort to provide the teacher with proper material for his guidance in instruction is of very recent origin and the supply has thus far been very slight. The students in our several normal schools, and especially the large army of teachers, scattered throughout the country, who have not had the advantage of a normal school training, are often obliged to resort to works by Christian authors for information and guidance. While these may supply them with the facts and with the most approved method of presentation, they cannot give them the Jewish point of view which is so essential to the Jewish teacher. As the late Dr. Schechter once remarked, We cannot have our love letters written for us. We must write them ourselves, even at the risk of bad grammar. We must place in the hands of our teachers books which will inspire them with loyalty and devotion to Judaism, which will give them the proper attitude to the Bible and to Jewish tradition, and which will provide them with an adequate understanding of Jewish strivings and ideals.
It is with this object in view that the Committee on Education of the United Synagogue requested Rabbi Eugene Kohn to prepare the work which is now given to the Jewish public. The author has succeeded admirably in his undertaking and has produced a work which contains valuable aids to the earnest teacher who is anxious to become more proficient in his calling. This volume, which is the result of considerable class-room experience, intimate knowledge of the sources of Jewish history, and arduous labor, gives correct and adequate data of the lessons treated, stimulating suggestions as to the manner of imparting each individual lesson to the average child, and, what is perhaps of greatest importance, an exalted attitude that the teacher should assume towards his work. While the responsibility of the work rests entirely upon the author, the Committee feels gratified in being able to present, as its first publication, a work that so fully responds to an urgent need. It is hoped that this book will be followed by many other volumes which may help in the better equipment of the Jewish teaching profession.