Isaak Markus Jost - Literary Activity

Literary Activity

Having himself suffered from the lack of system that characterized the yeshiva, Jost took the greatest interest in pedagogics, and his earliest literary work was devoted to the writing of textbooks, among which may be mentioned a grammar of the English language (Lehrbuch der Englischen Sprache), which went through three editions (Berlin, 1826, 1832, and 1843), and a dictionary to Shakespeare's plays (Berlin, 1830). He wrote also Theoretisch-Praktisches Handbuch zum Unterricht im Deutschen Stil (Berlin, 1835; the title of the second edition was Lehrbuch des Hochdeutschen Ausdruckes in Wort und Schrift, published in 1852). To the same class belongs his Biblical history, Neue Jugendbibel, Enthaltend die Religiösen und Geschichtlichen Urkunden der Hebräer, mit Sorgfältiger Auswahl für die Jugend Uebersetzt und Erläutert: Erster Theil, die Fünf Bücher Mosis (Berlin, 1823).

In spite of his duties as a teacher and of his varied interests, Jost never neglected Jewish literature, especially Jewish history. His first work in this line was Geschichte der Israeliten Seit der Zeit der Makkabäer bis auf Unsere Tage (9 volumes, Berlin, 1820–28), which was followed by a small compendium under the title Geschichte des Israelitischen Volkes ... für Wissenschaftlich-Gebildete Leser (2 volumes, Berlin, 1832). This work, which ended with the Napoleonic era, was continued in his Neuere Geschichte der Israeliten (Berlin, 1846–47), bringing it down to the date of its publication. Toward the end of his life he wrote another historical work, Geschichte des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten (3 volumes, Leipzig, 1857–59), which deals with the whole of Jewish history down to 1858. Of other literary works of Jewish interest his edition of the Mishnah with vocalized text, German translation in Hebrew characters, and Hebrew commentary, deserves special mention (6 volumes, Berlin, 1832–36).

Jost appeared repeatedly as an apologist of Judaism against political reactionaries and detractors of rabbinical literature; his Was Hat Herr Chiarini in Angelegenheit der Europäischen Juden Geleistet? (Berlin, 1830) was directed against Abbé Chiarini's "Théorie du Judaïsme"; and his Offenes Sendschreiben an den Geheimen Oberregierungsrath Streckfuss (Berlin, 1833), against Streckfuss' "Verhältnis der Juden zu den Christlichen Staaten." When in the beginning of the reign of Frederick William IV of Prussia the rumor was spread that the king contemplated an alteration of the legal position of the Jews in a reactionary sense, Jost wrote Legislative Fragen Betreffend die Juden im Preussischen Staate (Berlin, 1842) and Nachträge zu den Legislativen Fragen (Berlin 1842). Between 1839 and 1841 he edited the Israelitische Annalen, a weekly chiefly devoted to the collection of historical material, and between 1841 and 1842 the Hebrew periodical Zion (in collaboration with his friend and colleague Michael Creizenach). He was also a frequent contributor to the Jewish press, to almanacs, and to year-books.