VALUE IN STUDY OF HEBREW

Dr. Israel Abrahams of Cambridge University, England, lectured on "The Present Day Value of the Study of Rabbinic Literature" in Sever 11 yesterday afternoon. Apart from all commercial advantages to men intending to enter the diplomatic service in the Orient, the study of Hebrew literature is becoming an important branch of learning, because it is essential to a proper understanding of the Bible. It aids the Jewish scholar of the Old Testament to see the Hebrew institutions in the light of their underlying and spiritual significance, rather than as mere law; and it helps the Christian scholar to reconcile the discrepancies and understand the contradictions involved in the controversies between the eschatological and liberal schools in modern New Testament criticism. The Rabbinic scholar knows that the parables, for example, are neither absolutely original in the Gospels, nor on the other hand, taken directly from the Old Testament. He can refute the theory held by many that Christ never lived, for in comparison with other Hebrew writings, he perceives that it was only a real and historically true personality that could have made the Gospels such a living force today. In short, the study of Rabbinic not only precludes the possibility of narrowness or dogmatism, but it adds a deep understanding of some of the leading controversies of today.