Der Jude was possibly the first periodical entirely devoted to Jews and Judaism. It was published by the convert Gottfried Selig (1722-1792?), who following his conversion in 1738 served as a lector of Hebrew at the University of Leipzig. In 1768, Selig founded Der Jude, which appeared in weekly installments (every quarter bound into a single volume) till 1772.

All in all, nine quarterly volumes appeared. Numerous scholars and libraries subscribed to the periodical and it fulfilled an important role as a prime means of transmission of knowledge of Jews and Judaism to the learned public. As such, it popularized the accounts of Jewish literature and lore beyond the academic circles of Christian Hebrasists. Selig saw his task as a scientific presentation of Judaism to the wider public; he claimed to have based his publication solely on Jewish sources and devoted considerable attention to correcting mistakes and inaccuracies of Christian scholars.