Page:Annotated Edition of the Authorised Daily Prayer Book.djvu/10

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VI
Preface

belong to both these categories. Those who conceive themselves to be "unlearned" need not be deterred from reading these Notes because of the frequent use of Hebrew. The Notes have been so written that their sense can, in the vast majority of instances, be assimilated even though the Hebrew in the Notes be left unread. In order to facilitate the reader's work of reference, an alphabetical list has been prefixed of the authorities and terms most frequently quoted. The nature of these and of many other authorities is explained in the body of the Notes, but those most commonly used are repeated in this alphabetical list.

I have had the great advantage of the help of Dr M. Berlin of Manchester in the correction of the proofs. To that scholar very much is owing, and the debt is here gratefully acknowledged. Other friends, among them Mrs N. L. Cohen, have made useful suggestions. Mr C. G. Montefiore has been of assistance in this direction, besides making the publication of this edition possible by a generous contribution to its cost. It was a great pleasure to me to find that the London Dayanim cordially recommended that the Jewish Religious Education Board should cooperate in the publication of this issue of the Prayer Book. The fact of this general approval seems to me good evidence that I have carried out the work in principle as Mr Singer would have wished.

The explanations which so often appear in these Notes are not offered dogmatically. Other explanations might have been given in many cases; I have merely selected or proposed those for which I conceive the historical basis to be soundest. Dealing with so many topics, I am conscious that I cannot have avoided frequent error. Those who best know the difficulties of liturgical