homilists. I was fortunate in being able to avail myself also of
fragments of Midrashim of which only manuscript copies are
extant.

The works of the older Kabbalah are likewise treasuries of
quotations from lost Midrashim, and it was among the Kabbalists,
and later among the Hasidim, that new legends arose. The
literatures produced in these two circles are therefore of great
importance for the present purpose.

Furthermore, Jewish legends can be culled not from the writings
of the Synagogue alone; they appear also in those of the Church.
Certain Jewish works repudiated by the Synagogue were accepted
and mothered by the Church. This is the literature usually
denominated apocryphal-pseudepigraphic. From the point of view of
legends, the apocryphal books are of subordinate importance,
while the pseudepigrapha are of fundamental value. Even
quantitatively the latter are an imposing mass. Besides the Greek
writings of the Hellenist Jews, they contain Latin, Syrian,
Ethiopic, Aramean, Arabic, Persian, and Old Slavic products
translated directly or indirectly from Jewish works of
Palestinian or Hellenistic origin. The use of these
pseudepigrapha requires great caution. Nearly all of them are
embellished with Christian interpolations, and in some cases the
inserted portions have choked the original form so completely
that it is impossible to determine at first sight whether a
Jewish or a Christian legend is under examination. I believe,
however, that the pseudepigraphic material made use of by me is
Jewish beyond the cavil of a doubt, and therefore it could not
have been left out of account in a work like the present.