Jacob Joshua had been trained as a teacher at a major school in Berlin. This was a young school as the Jews had only been in Berlin a little over 20 years when Jacob Joshua began his studies. He had difficulty getting into this school because he was a gypsy Jew. The school officials felt that his education at Kloster Malchow was inferior. The Rabbi who had taught Jacob Joshua was persistent and he was able to arrange for an interview and for a test for him at school. The test was purposely designed to be hard, with the intent that Jacob Joshua would fail. During the interview portion, Jacob was impressive because he could give his family tree back to a point before Alexander the Great. The Rabbi was impressed, yet skeptical. On the way back
