Editing Zecharias Frankel (section)

== Biblical studies ==
His second great work was his ''Historical-Critical Studies on the Septuagint as Addition to the ''Targumim ''Contributions: Preliminary Studies for the Septuagint''<ref>Frankel, Zechariah. 1850. ''Historical Continuity in Jewish Practice''. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus.</ref> (Leipzig, 1841).  To the same category belong three later works: ''On the Influence of Palestinian Exegesis on Alexandrian Hermeneutics''<ref>Frankel, Zechariah. 1852. "Positive-Historical Reflections on Reform." In ''Jewish Historical Writings'', edited by Solomon Schechter, 22-42. Berlin: Julius Springer.</ref> (Leipzig, 1851); ''About Palestinian and Alexandrian Writing Research''<ref>Geiger, Abraham. 1845. ''Preface to the Frankfurt Prayerbook''. Frankfurt: M. J. Kaufmann.</ref> published in the program for the opening of the Breslau seminary (Breslau, 1854); and ''On the Targum of the Prophets''<ref>Geiger, Abraham. 1848. "The Role of Language in Jewish Prayer." In ''Collected Works on Reform Judaism'', edited by Michael A. Meyer, 15-26. Leipzig: Gustav Engel.</ref>  (Breslau, 1872).

In all these works it was his object to show that the exegesis of the [[Alexandrian Jews]], and with it that of the early [[Church Fathers]], was dependent on Talmudic exegesis. In this investigation he became a pioneer, and many of his disciples followed him with similar investigations, not only of the [[Septuagint]], but also of the [[Vulgate]] and of the [[Peshitta]]. A political motive was involved in his study on legal procedure, "Der Gerichtliche Beweis nach Mosaisch-Talmudischem Rechte: Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis des Mosaisch-Talmudischen Criminal-und Civilrechts: Nebst einer Untersuchung über die Preussische Gesetzgebung Hinsichtlich des Zeugnisses der Juden" (Berlin, 1846). The law of [[Prussia]] discriminated against the Jews insofar as the testimony of a Jew against a Christian was valid only in civil cases, and in these only when they involved a sum less than fifty thalers. It was due to Frankel's work, which was cited as an authority in the Prussian Diet, that the new law of 23 July 1847 referring to the Jews, abolished this discrimination.