Technical Remarks

I-D. 1. Hebrew quotations (where provided) sometimes include sentences or even paragraphs that I have not translated into English. I have provided this material in the language of its origin in order to allow the reader to form a more complete impression of the primary source without my interference. Even in Hebrew, however, I have sometimes quoted only part of a paragraph or section where I judged the rest was not essential in the context of this article; my Hebrew typing skills are poor, and I didn't want to spend the time required to copy the rest of the piece.

2. I have provided scholarly translations, with attribution, in cases where I have been able to obtain them. In cases where no translation was available to me, I have, perhaps foolishly, attempted my own. I wish to emphasize that I do not claim my translations to be precise. I have tried to convey the meaning of each passage as best I understand it, and to make the translations smooth, coherent and readable. I have often skipped over or left out sentences or ideas that I did not consider relevant to the topic of this article. I am no expert, and I have no doubt made numerous errors, but I hope that I have at least correctly understood and adequately represented the overall thrust and principal ideas of every text. Any suggestions for improvements in this regard would be greatly appreciated.

3. For the exact names (including their transliterations), life dates and countries of residence of the authorities I cite, I have used a variety of sources, some probably more reliable than others. I would not counsel the reader to rely on this article as a source of precise historical data, though I believe the information to be reasonably accurate. Again, please submit any corrections in the comments.

4. To address some – though not all – of the errors that the blog software makes in displaying Hebrew, I have introduced each quotation with the Hebrew abbreviation ז"ל instead of the colon I would otherwise have placed after the bibliographical information, and I have added עכ"ל after the final punctuation at each quotation's conclusion.