Aguilar, Grace. The Jewish Faith: Its Spiritual Consolation, Moral Guidance, and Immortal Hope

Preface by Isaac Leeser, Editor. Grace Aguilar (1816-1847) was an English Jewess of Portuguese Marrano descent. In 1849, Isaac Leeser published The Spirit of Judaism, Aguilar's theological work for women. In the Editor's Preface, Leeser noted a point of difference between Miss Aguilar and himself, notably Aguilar's aversion to Rabbinic tradition, or the Oral Law. See L. J. Sussman, Isaac Leeser and the Making of American Judaism (1995), pp.133-34. The present work by Aguilar, directed at Jewish youth, is framed in a series of "Dear Annie" letters to a fictitious correspondent. In his preface to the work, Leeser makes mention of his earlier involvement in editing The Spirit of Judaism. He bemoans the untimely death of Aguilar, referring to her as "our sainted sister." Leeser adds that in the present publication he has made no material alteration, "even to gratify the editor's dissenting views." He does add, however, that he finds gratuitous Aguilar's forced proofs for personal immortality from the Book of Isaiah, when in his opinion, references to the life of the soul are clear throughout the Bible and the doctrine teaching eternal life was known to the Israelites from the days of the Patriarchs