8. It produced some of the greatest poets and historians of the world.
THE TALMUD[12]
This book, as we have seen, is the outgrowth of the discussions of the rabbis, whose sayings, collected from the second to the sixth century A.D., are herein contained. It proclaims with great minuteness rules of life which the faithful Jew still rigidly observes. It has aided in perpetuating Jewish laws, ceremonies, customs, and religion, and has been the most potent means of preserving the national and racial characteristics of the Jews for nearly two thousand years. Driven from one country to another, they have always carried the Talmud with them and have been guided and kept united by its teachings. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century the study of the Talmud has been revived, not only among the Jews, but also among Christians and students of all classes.
EXTRACTS FROM THE TALMUD
1. Even if the gates of heaven are shut to prayer, they are open to tears.
2. Teach thy tongue to say, "I do not know."
3. If a word spoken in its time is worth one piece of money, silence is worth two.
4. Not the place honors the man, but the man the place.
5. The world is saved by the breath of school children.