The Legends of the Jews, Preface Volume II
THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS
BY
LOUIS GINZBERG
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN MANUSCRIPT BY HENRIETTA SZOLD
Volume II
BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS FROM JOSEPH TO THE EXODUS
PREFACE
The arrangement and presentation of the material in this volume are the same
as in Volume I. In both my efforts have been directed to bringing together as
full as possible a collection of Jewish legends that deal with Biblical personages
and events. The sources of those legends and explanations of some of them will
be given in the last volume of the entire work, and the numbers throughout the
work refer to the notes in the concluding volume.
My original intention was to continue Volume II up to the death of Moses, but
the legendary material clustering around the life and death of Moses is so abundant
that practical considerations demanded the division of this material, in order
not to make the second volume too bulky. The division chosen is a natural one.
This volume closes with the Exodus, and contains the deeds of Moses in Egypt,
while the following volume will deal with Moses in the desert.
The fact that Job is placed between Jacob's sons and Moses may appear strange
to some readers, since in the Bible Job is one of the last books; but "legend
is above time and space," and I have, therefore, given Job the place which legend
has ascribed to him.
LOUIS GINZBERG.
NEW YORK, March 28, 1910.
