Literary Activity
Frankel began his literary career rather late. His first independent publication was his work on the Jewish oath, "Die Eidesleistung bei den Juden in Theologischer und Historischer Beziehung" (Dresden, 1840, 2d ed. 1847). This work owed its origin to a political question. The law of 16 August 1838, had improved the position of the Jews in Saxony, but still discriminated with regard to the Jewish oath, which was to be taken under conditions which seemed to involve the supposition that a Jew could not fully be trusted in his testimony before a civil court. Frankel proved that no Jewish doctrine justified such an assumption, and owing to his work a new regulation (13 February 1840) put the Jews on the same basis as Christians as regards testimony in court.
Read more about this topic: Zecharias Frankel
Famous quotes containing the words literary and/or activity:
“The purifying, healing influence of literature, the dissipating of passions by knowledge and the written word, literature as the path to understanding, forgiveness and love, the redeeming might of the word, the literary spirit as the noblest manifestation of the spirit of man, the writer as perfected type, as saint.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
“The mob is man voluntarily descending to the nature of the beast. Its fit hour of activity is night. Its actions are insane like its whole constitution. It persecutes a principle; it would whip a right; it would tar and feather justice, by inflicting fire and outrage upon the houses and persons of those who have these. It resembles the prank of boys, who run with fire-engines to put out the ruddy aurora streaming to the stars.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)