PREFACE.

THE following pages are translated and adapted from a little volume in French, entitled "Prières d'un Cœur Israélite," published by the Société Consistoriale de Bons Livres.

In its present form the work is not intended to be used in place of, but as a companion to, the Jewish ritual, to be referred to during the periods of public service when the congregation is not actually employed in prayer, or in receiving pulpit instruction; so that, combined with our sacred ceremonies, it may tend to inspire devotion, and direct the attention to holy thoughts.

It is likewise designed as an aid to domestic and individual worship. We all feel the want of pouring forth the soul's emotions of joy or sorrow by communion with the Universal Father; general public forms of prayer may not always be adapted to the peculiar exigencies of every mind; the compilers of this work have therefore striven to supply in some measure this spiritual need, by meditations and prayers suited to every situation and occasion in life; and it has been the humble yet anxious endeavour of the translator to preserve the spirit of the original in its English garb. But, as the genius of the French language differs so widely from that of our own, a mere translation of phrases would render this impossible; it has often been found necessary, therefore, to arrange the same ideas in a very dif