Page:A Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Genesis (Morgenstern, 1919, jewishinterpreta00morg).pdf/11



A word of explanation is due the readers of this book, to whom it may seem at first glance that it is intended to reach two altogether different publics. The book spreads constantly of Jewish children and their instruction, yet it contains much that is far beyond the comprehension of children, and that may seem technical even to the religious school teacher and trained Bible student. No one realizes this better than I, and no one appreciates more the difficulty, and even the danger, of writing for more than one body of readers.

However, circumstances make this condition unavoidable. The preparation of this book was undertaken four years ago, at the request and under the supervision of the Board of Editors of the Department of Synagogue and School Extension of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. The intention of the Board of Editors was that this work should not be published, but should serve only as the basis for a series of lessons on the stories of Genesis, to be prepared by a Jewish religious school teacher, able and thoroughly experienced in just this particular field of instruction. These lessons were not to be given into the children's hands, but were to constitute a text-book for teachers, and were to indicate the actual material to be presented in teh class-room, and the best method of presentation. This book was to be accompanied by a children's text-book or Bible reader, containing the stories of Genesis in the language of the Bible itself, but simplified so far as possible by the omission of all matter unessential to the main narrative or unsuitable for children. This plan involved a reduction of