PREFACE.
This volume is a reprint of newspaper reports of a series of lectures delivered by the author from the pulpit of Congregation B'nai Jehudah, Kansas City, Mo., during the Fall and Winter of 18851886.
The lectures were prepared to fulfill the requirements of popular discourses, and designed to convey information upon a highly important epoch of the world's history, that is almost neglected in English literature.
The thought of publishing these lectures in book form was utterly foreign to the author throughout their preparation, until an urgent solicitation from very many persons, both Jews and Gentiles, in all parts of this country, whose interest in these lectures was aroused by their wide-spread republication by the Press, made it a duty.
Kansas City, Mo., January, 1887.
The following are two of the many letters addressed to the author, requesting him to have his lectures on " The Jews and Moors in Spain " published in book form.
Letter from Hon. T. T. Crittenden ,
Ex-Governor of the State of Missouri.
Kansas City, Mo., March 29, 1886.
Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf.
Dear Sir :Having read with pleasure and edification the series of lectures delivered in the Synagogue, Kansas City, Mo., entitled " The Jews and Moors in Spain ," in which you treat of the social, political, religious and intellectual life of these Oriental nations, may I inquire if it is your purpose to have them published in book form?
I think the lectures too valuable, too full of prolonged historic research and thought to live only one day in the columns of a daily newspaper. Even if they were designed "to adorn a tale or point a moral" of the great race to which you belong, whose history commenced with Abraham and will end with that of the human race, still the history of that race was (and is) so intimately interlaced with the history of the other races for the intervening centuries, that the lectures are in part, so much the history of the other races, that they can be read and studied by all men without prejudice or animosity. One thing is certain, you have in the lectures divested history of much of its dry and useless details, and make it a thrilling romance of facts, presented in the simplest and purest Anglo-Saxon language.
I know not how others view the lectures, only speak this for myselfno library is complete without the History of the Jewish race, and no history of that race for the period covered, is more comprehensive, truthful and impartial than that presented in these lectures. I think the book would find a ready sale in all thinking, reading communities.
Very Truly Yours,
Thos. T. Crittenden.
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.
It is the purpose of Rabbi Krauskopf to have his lectures issued in book form. They will make an attractive volume, and will no doubt be widely read. Rabbi Krauskopf is a graphic writer, and his lectures upon " The Jew And Moor in Spain " are a series of historical occurrences related in a manner that serves to chain the reader's attentionold world scenes are accurately and vividly described. The reader is taken through all the struggles, the defeats and the triumphs of the Jews. Their arts, their industry, their upright dealings and their steadfast adherence to their religion through trials and persecutions are related with a proud belief that they were God's chosen people, working out their destiny according to His will. The lecturer started with the Jews as he found them, a prosperous community in southwestern Europe, busily engaged in transforming Spain into a granery and garden spot of Europe, respected by their heathen neighbors, happy and contented. He passed on to the period of persecution in the Sixth Century when Christianity of a somewhat forcible nature attempted the conversion of the Jews by persecution; when many were massacred and others driven into exile. Then came the Arab invasion and during the period of Mohammedan supremacy the Jews were again allowed to live in peace and the exercise of their own religious rites. For eight centuries the Jews and the Moors worked side by side and the once down-trodden people rose to affluence and high position.
With the decline of Mohammedan power, and the expulsion of the Moors by the Spaniards, the Jews were again reduced to a pitiable state. Spain arose to enormous power, but that, too, has waned, and the population of 30,000,000 people has dwindled to about half that number. The manufactures, the commerce and the agricultural, the universal prosperity which the Jews had built up disappeared, and the glory of Spain departed as rapidly as it had been acquired. In the expulsion of the Jews and Moors alone does Rabbi Krauskopf attribute the ruin of Spain.
The lectures read like a romance. They are an historical romance, told in a charming manner, full of descriptions accurate, truthful. When they are compiled the volume will undoubtedly meet with a large sale. It was not the original intention of the Rabbi to issue his lectures in book form, but many people, both Jews and Christians, have requested him verbally and by letter to do so, and he has decided to grant their requests.
