Letter From Arnold Krekel,
Judge of the U. S. Court, Western District of Missouri.
Kansas City, Mo, April 2, 1886.
Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf.
My Dear Sir:—Having attended a number of your lectures on "The History of the Jews and Moors in Spain," and read such as I did not hear, allow me to give expression to my views regarding the same. Aside from the interest the student of history must always feel in that part of history of which your lectures treat, the manner of treatment specially interested me. Relating historical facts, too often becomes dry and irksome, and it requires more than ordinary skill of presentation to make the subject interesting and attractive. In this you have fully succeeded by interweaving with the facts those matters which enliven the picture. A knowledge of the social condition of a people, and the relation to which they stand to their age, enables us to judge of their worth and the influence they exercised. Your lectures, as a whole, presented a life-breathing social picture of the times and people, and as the civilization of Europe was largely effected by the Jews and Moors, their history embraces to a large extent the history of civilization, and thereby acquires an interest not limited to the people and countries of which your lectures give so interesting an account. A publication in permanent form of your lectures would advance our knowledge of that part of history to which we have always looked for instruction and guidance, and I hope you may find a way of accomplishing this object.
Very Respectfully,
A. Krekel.
Editorial in the Kansas City Journal of Sunday, April 24, 1886.
The Journal published yesterday morning the eighteenth and last of the series of lectures delivered by Rabbi Krauskopf on "The Jew and Moor in Spain." From first to last these lectures have been of absorbing interest. The Synagogue has been crowded on the occasion of their delivery, and it was with regret that the Rabbi's hearers heard that the lecture on Friday night was the last of the series.